Wishes for a Happy New Year!

Your beloved Peasant wishes you, my great and grand readers,
a blessed, prosperous, joyous, love-filled, Happy New Year!
I'm taking things easy during this stretch encompassing both
Christmas and New Year's day, so I'll be back with you in a
rejuvenated and refreshed state.

Together we'll make 2019 a year to remember! I'll see you all
in its first week! In the meantime, enjoy this lovely little
New Year's song by the Beatles' George Harrison, which quite
captures the feelings and the joyful expectation of the brand
new year!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN2q472rJC0
Be sure to type into YouTube's browser the following:
George Harrison + DING DONG DING DONG
Yes, that's the song's title. But believe me, it's a great song for
the occasion, especially for a New Year's Eve party!


Happy New Year!


MEM

Good Christmas Tidings All Around!

Friends, your faithful Peasant, in the spirit of the season,
wishes all of you a most Merry Christmas! May you all
get together with your families and friends, enjoy your
services in your houses of worship, give and get some
wonderful presents, enjoy sumptuous Christmas dinners,
and perhaps even run a DVD of a Christmas-themed movie,
such as "It's a Wonderful Life" or "Miracle on 34th Street".

And Christmas is another wonderful time of year for getting
up a left-winger's nose! Whenever you encounter one,
especially if he's one of those who wants to abolish greeting
people by saying "Merry Christmas" to them so as not to
"offend" those who are not of the Christian faith and its
denominations, say those very words anyway! If he's some-
one with whom you are on at least a polite and cordial basis,
invite him to your home to partake of your Christmas dinner.
You and yours, with your guest, will certainly have a
Christmas for the books! Think of it as a sort of a cultural
exchange! Hopefully it won't devolve into a food fight!

And we'll get together back here for another visit or two
after the big day and before the arrival of the new year!
As Tiny Tim said in Charles Dickens' "A Christmas
Carol", "God bless us everyone!"


MEM

Fighting City Hall in Milwaukee

Last month your favorite Peasant took part in a protest in downtown
Milwaukee; it was the first protest which I had attended in too many
years, so I thought that it would be good to get back into the game.
On this occasion I had gone to protest the launching of the Milwaukee
streetcar, the "Trommey" as we who are opposed to this boondoggle
call it, as it is the pet taxpayer money-wasting project of Milwaukee
Mayor Tom Barrett. The white elephant on tracks was situated by
Cathedral Square, where the mayor, several of his chums on the city's
Common Council, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, and some other municipal
officials along with some wealthy liberals all in support of the thing
(never mind that they will never ride in it, as they will stick to their
Cadillacs, Lincolns, and Mercedes Benzes; they back Barrett to the
hilt on anything that is obscenely expensive, not at all necessary,
a burden to the taxpayers, and makes them and Barrett feel oh so
visionary, so intelligent, so intellectual, so much smarter, better than,
and superior to the local peasantry whom they hold in such disdain
and contempt, for they see these Great Unwashed as being simply
too stupid to see what is truly best for Milwaukee --- a trolley which
precious few will ride, as opposed to an improved bus system and
safer neighborhoods through hiring, training, and sending more police
to make them so. All plebeian concerns, not at all worthy of the city's
elites' time and efforts, you understand.

I was invited by Thomas Brian, the founder of G.R.A.S.P.
(Group Resistance Against Streetcar Policy), whom I had mentioned
in an earlier post on this topic, to join him and some other members
of our organization for a protest there at the launch party. I happily
accepted, and what I saw there made me so glad that I moved to
the suburbs! Hizzoner and his aforementioned chums and cronies
were gathered there, with Barrett and the municipal officials giving
self-congratulatory speeches, and doing more than a wee bit of
mutual backside-kissing. To witness it was as nauseating as watching
the Oscars for all this stomach-turning behavior! It made me again
ask a question that has been rattling inside my head since the last city
elections: Why did the people of Milwaukee re-elect the clueless
elitist Mayor Barrett, and by a huge margin? They complain about
the soaring crime in the city, the potholes in the streets begging to be
filled in, and other things that Barrett and Co. can't seem to be
bothered with, but they vote overwhelmingly to keep him on?
Talk about voting against your interests, to steal a favorite phrase of
left-wingers when they criticize people for not voting for their
candidates and causes.

Thomas handed me some placards to hand out, listing the Top 10
Reasons to oppose the Streetcar, and I immediately got busy. After
a while, a nicely dressed middle-aged woman who, as it turned out,
was one of the Barrett people putting on the party, politely but firmly
informed me that I couldn't hand out our material on the park grounds
while the bash was proceeding. I found it very odd and most discom-
fiting, but I played along just to see where this would lead, reasoning
if there was to be a scene, I would not be the one to start it. Thomas and
I were there just to make our side of the issue known, to ensure that we
would have our half of the inning. She guided me to a spot on a corner
across the street from the square, saying I would be free to distribute
my lit there. I still went along with this, and if she was hoping to quash
distribution of the literature, she miscalculated greatly. I gave out half
of the sheaf that Thomas gave me, and then I decided to head back to
the square.

I caught up with Thomas and told him what happened, then we went to
look for this woman. Upon finding her, Thomas demanded to know
why we weren't allowed to give out our information to the attendees,
to which the woman gave a bunch of reasons which didn't make much
sense or none at all. She even said that she was concerned that our lit
would end up on the ground (!) after the event. Thomas said that as
head of the group he'd take full responsibility for the literature, but
she was unpersuaded. Thomas said that we had every right to be
there with our materials, the First Amendment and all that, as she
walked away. Then it was time for Mayor Barrett to address the
gathering, followed by the aforementioned big shots joining him.
Thomas had something else up his sleeve; signs to hold up, one
saying "Boo!" (to hold aloft when cheering and clapping interrupted
the speeches), and another saying "Say No to the Trolley!". He had
other signs, but the others who said they'd show up didn't, including
some friends of mine whom I had called to ask them along. And we
gave out more of our "Top 10" placards, in defiance of the Barrett
stooge. By the by, City Hall never complained about the signs, lit,
and other items strewn on the ground by left-of-center protesters
at their gatherings at Cathedral Square and elsewhere around
Milwaukee. I've seen the terrible state in which they left the city's
public squares and other gathering places and can attest to their
making pigs look like The Odd Couple's Felix Unger to their
Oscar Madison. And not a peep from the city's bigwigs!

We chatted with attendees who were opposed to the streetcar but
came out of morbid curiosity to see how big a turnout there would
be, what the streetcar looked like, would there be any others there
in opposition to the "Trommey". I had my picture taken by a couple
of these folks with my big sign. Although we didn't have much of
a turnout for our protest, we did encounter people there who shared
our opposition to the thing, all for the same reasons. And we learned
that dissent in Milwaukee, when aimed at the powers that be, is
NOT patriotic, and is to be frowned upon and discouraged. Such as
it is when dealing with liberals in positions of power. And a reminder
of what we as a nation are facing across the political divide in the
war for the heart and soul of our country. Fighting the flight of fancy
of a left-wing mayor is but a skirmish in this nationwide war. We
have many bigger clashes ahead. This all is far from over, my grand
readers, so count on our being in it for the long haul --- and it
shall be very long.


MEM

George H. W. Bush, R.I.P.

After a long and full life, one filled with accomplishment,
adventure, excitement, breathtaking peaks and deep, dark
valleys, George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the United
States, passed away after several years of declining health
at the grand age of 91.

Born to a prominent political family in Milton, Massachusetts,
his father being U.S. Sen. Prescott Bush, George Bush lived a
life of service. The future president postponed his university
academics to enlist in the U.S. Navy on his eighteenth birth-
day and became one of the youngest aviators in the navy during
WWII, having flown 58 missions.  Having been shot down over
the Pacific Ocean, George cheated death by evading sharks, an
island populated by cannibals, and more Japanese airmen. He was
rescued by the crew of a U.S. Navy submarine and was awarded
the Distinguished Flying Cross for his meritorious service.

After returning to his studies, upon graduation Bush went to the
Texas oil fields to forge a business career, in which he became
wealthy in his own right, becoming a millionaire in 1964 at the
age of 40. The young New England Republican next entered
politics, running unsuccessfully as a candidate for the U.S. Senate
that year (he would again run for the Senate with the same result),
but would taste victory running for the House of Representatives
twice consecutively. President Richard Nixon was so impressed
with the young dynamo that he appointed Bush to be Ambassador
to the United Nations, followed by stints as Chairman of the
Republican National Committee, Chief of the Liasion Office
in China, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA).

The patrician Bush would make his first try for the biggest prize
in U.S. politics, the presidency in 1980, vying for the Republican
Party nomination, but couldn't withstand the Reagan juggernaut.
But in seeking party unity, California Gov. Ronald Reagan would
offer Bush the Vice Presidential spot on the GOP ticket, which
he accepted. They were elected in a landslide over incumbent
President Jimmy Carter and his Vice President Walter Mondale,
and would be re-elected in a bigger landslide four years later on
the strength of a strong, improved economy spurred by tax rate
reductions along with a strengthened military and accompanying
resolve in the face of our principal Cold War enemy, the Soviet
Union, finally bringing the decades-long standoff to a victorious
conclusion over a favorable arms control treaty with Moscow,
with the Strategic Defense Initiative (nicknamed "Star Wars" by
Reagan's detractors) as the ace in the hole. Bush would run to
succeed Reagan as president in 1988, handily defeating Democrat
Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. After waging a short and
victorious war in the Middle East and garnering lofty approval
numbers in polls, Bush punctured the balloon by agreeing to a
budget deal with Congressional Democrats who proposed that
Bush go back on his promise not to raise taxes in exchange for
spending reductions, only to be burned by the dishonest, welshing
Dems resulting in the economy spinning into a recession which
sent Bush's ratings plummeting and his presidency crashing, losing
his re-election bid in 1992 to Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton.

Throughout his life, Bush remained true to his personal creed of
a life of service; he even teamed with the man who defeated him
for the presidency for charitable causes, including a golf
tournament which they played in together. Bush could easily have
immersed himself in his monumentally successful business interests
and his considerable money, but he remained a man of service to
his church, his community, his state, and his country.
A model husband and father, Bush's sons George W. and Jeb
involved themselves in politics as the elder Bush had, with "W"
winning the governorship of Texas followed by election to the
presidency, thereby making George H. W. and George W.
Bush just the second father and son presidential pair in U.S.
history after John Adams and son John Quincy Adams. Warm
and avuncular, a contrast to the typical stern and stuffy patrician
image of prominent New Englanders, Bush left a legacy
of love to his family, friendship to his friends and political rivals,
and consistent service to community and country. He now is
enjoying our Lord's hospitality, along with the company of his
wife of over 70 years Barbara Pierce Bush and their daughter
Robin, who unlike her parents was denied a long life by cancer
at the tender age of three. Rest well, Mr. President.


MEM

An Election With Something for Everyone

The Democrats jubilantly predicted that there would be a mighty
"Blue Wave" which would sweep them into power, driving out
scads of Republican members of Congress in both chambers,
as well as change the political landscape of many states with
new governors and new legislators. The Republicans confidently
asserted that they would stop any "Blue Wave" with a red one of
their own. After the dust settled, neither color wave prevailed
but each side made gains, some of which were surprising in
scope and some in even happening at all.

The Democrats captured control of the House, while the Republicans
added a couple of seats to their slim majority in the Senate.
I have yet to see the tallies for the governors and state legislatures,
but with great sorrow I must report the defeats of my state's
courageous and principled governor, Scott Walker, who lost by a
razor-thin margin to an over-glorified bureaucrat, Superintendent
of Public Instruction Tony Evers (he oversees the public education
system of Wisconsin), a very left-wing ally of the teacher's union.
Your observant Peasant listened to the election returns on
WISN1130 AM Milwaukee, and just around 11:00 PM one of the
co-hosts for the broadcast announced "Breaking news! Breaking
News!", then said that some bags containing cast ballots suddenly
appeared in Milwaukee County. With Governor Scott Walker
starting to pull ahead in the statewide vote tally against Democrat
challenger Tony Evers, this discovery could certainly have great
bearing on the electoral outcome. Well, it certainly proved to do
that; after the counting and adding of all of the votes, Evers finished
ahead of Walker by 1.2%, just enough over the 1% threshold in which,
by a law signed by Gov. Walker, put the results just out of reach
for an automatic recount as mandated by the state and paid for by
same. Attorney general Brad Schimel lost his contest by a similar
percentage to Democrat challenger Josh Kaul. Interestingly,
the Republicans held onto their majorities in the Assembly and
the Senate, even adding a few seats in the process. Lots of
ticket-splitting here, to be sure. But why would our state's voters
cast out Walker and Schimel, as well as elect Democrats to the rest
of the state's Constitutional offices (Treasurer, etc.), but keep the
GOP in control of both chambers of the state legislature? Most
curious.

Now, Walker could still have requested a recount, but would have had
to pay for it himself, that is, his campaign team and/or the Wisconsin
Republican Party would have had to foot the bill. Or, Walker could
have asked for an investigation by the state's Election Commission to
investigate the matter to see if there was any shenanigans.
Your inquiring Peasant asks this question: How was it that these
ballots, most of which happened to have been cast for the Democrats'
candidates for Governor as well as for Attorney General Josh Kaul
(who likewise edged incumbent Republican Brad Schimel), were
--- lo and behold! --- found so late in the count, and right at the time
when both Walker and Schimel were starting to take the lead in
their respective races? How very convenient for the Democrats!
And now we Wisconsinites are out two excellent public servants who
had greatly improved the quality of life in the Badger State.
More bad news from here: my longtime Assemblywoman and State
Senator Leah Vukmir lost her race for the U.S. Senate to incumbent
Democrat Tammy Baldwin. I'm still trying to figure out how that
happened! One key factor: Baldwin and the Dems raises three times
as much money for Baldwin's campaign as had Vukmir. And your
favorite Peasant has a sneaking suspicion that some conservative PACs
and similar groups which had funded Leah's GOP primary
opponent Kevin Nicholson may have petulantly given little or
mo money to her campaign after her primary victory. I shall of course
investigate this matter to see what happened and shall report what
I discover here for you, my tremendous readers, to read and mull over.

There were similar happenings in the gubernatorial races in Georgia
and Florida, and the U.S. Senate race in the latter, but happily the
Republican candidates fared better in these three contests.
U.S. Representative Ron DeSantis overcame a mudslinging campaign
by Florida Democrats and their candidate, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew
Gillum (an avowed socialist, by the by; gee, the Dems are nominating
more and more of such candidates in state-wide and national races!).
Gillum and chums tried to paint DeSantis to be a racist, but not many
Florida voters were buying it. Outgoing Gov. Rick Scott also won a
whisker-close race against incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator Bill
Nelson, after nearly two weeks of a contentious recount took place
showing Scott winning by 10,033 votes, after Scott had been at first
declared the winner with over five times that many votes. Nelson
wisely conceded the race after a manual recount was done, showing
the narrower margin of victory for the Scott.

In Arizona, very far left-wing Democrat Kyrsten Simena, who has
stated in an interview just before the election that she had "no
problem" with any American going off to join Al-Qaeda or any other
terrorist group in the Middle East and repeated a reprehensible joke
uttered on The Daily Show calling Arizona "the meth lab of
Democracy" won a nail-biter for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by
retiring Republican Senator Jeff Flake, defeating GOP opponent
Martha McSally amid some questions regarding voting irregularities
there. Could this be an electoral pattern with the Dems?

The Democrats captured the House of Representatives, gaining a slim
majority, while the Republicans added two seats to their very slim
majority in the Senate. I have yet to see all of the gubernatorial and
state legislative race results, so I don't know which party has what
in terms of either. But I will say this: At least as far as my state goes,
there were two factors which made for much closer races for governor
and attorney general than there should have been.

Here in Wisconsin both the Republicans and the Democrats superbly
turned out their voters. The polls, especially in Milwaukee and Dane
Counties (Madison, our capital city, is in Dane County), were absolutely
slammed by the voters coming to cast their votes. However, the Dems
did an even better job of this, as their voters were motivated by their
long-standing hatred for Gov. Walker, fueled by his signing his massive
reform package featuring Act 10 (which clipped the public sector
workers' unions' wings as far as their hold on their rank-and-filers
as well as tremendous influence on state budgets) as its centerpiece,
then fanned by the winds of failure to do anything about it all until
this election. What put them over the top in the gubernatorial and
attorney general contests was the discovery (!) of 45,000 uncounted
absentee ballots after 11:00 PM, three hours after the polls closed.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the city waited to count
those ballots until after they counted the ballots. Okay, fair enough
so far. But Brian Reisinger, a spokesman for the Walker campaign,
stated "Thousands of ballots were damaged and had to be recreated,"
what supposedly happened is some of the ballots were damaged by
a machine that opens the envelopes in which they were sealed before
being brought to the election officials' tables for counting. "Until
there is a comparison of the original ballots to the recreated ones
(replacing the damaged ones), there is no way to judge their validity."
Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson said that Evers
received double the votes cast in Milwaukee County as did Walker,
the breakdown being 263,199 votes for Evers against 124,880 votes
for Walker. Although Walker has long had a contentous relationship
with Milwaukee's municipal and county governments, he was quite
popular with much of the electorate when he restored order and
integrity to the county government and its budget in the wake of
the Tom Ament pension shenanigans after Walker defeated Ament
in a recall election to become the County Executive. Milwaukee
County is, and perhaps always will remain, a very blue (Democrat)
county, but Walker attracted more votes in his races there, including
the 2018 gubernatorial contest, than many other possible GOP
candidates would have. Your dependable Peasant, who takes nothing
for granted, asks another question; if there were damaged ballots,
and plenty of them (and maybe there were), was there any switching
of some votes for Walker and Schimel, thus given to Evers and
Kaul? What an opportunity for such mischief with there being
damaged ballots, or even merely the claim of there being damaged
ballots! Again, all the more reason why Walker and Schimel could
have, and should have, called for an investigation.

Finally, your quizzical and sorrowful Peasant has to ask: How many
voters who had elected Scott Walker governor in the first place, and
had voted to keep him through the controversial recall attempt and
his campaign for another full term after that. turned around and gave
Walker the boot? What was your reasoning? What did he say or do
that suddenly put you off, what legislation did he sign or veto which
angered you? Perhaps some of you turned him out because you thought
it was "time for a change", that someone from the other party should
have a turn as governor like a child having a turn at riding a shiny new
bike bought for his brother so said brother wouldn't "hog" the bike?
I personally do not know anyone who voted for Evers against Walker
for this vapid reason but anyone here in Wisconsin who did so as
far as I'm concerned can take a long walk off a short pier wearing
cement swim trunks! People who vote for such nonsensical reasons,
who don't care about the stands of the candidates on the burning issues
of the moment, who don't give any thought to the direction of their
communities, their state, the country itself should simply stay home,
or at least do anything other than vote! For they have neither the good
sense nor the maturity to inform themselves about the candidates and
the issues in order to make a rational, logical, and informed decision
about our governance and are therefore derelict in their duty as
citizens. These people are not fit to govern themselves, nor to
have a hand in deciding who should govern us.

So, as far as the battle for the direction of our states and our country
goes, this election was a push, a draw, a wash. But it can certainly
be said that in the election results there was something for everyone.


MEM

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

My magnificent readers, your faithful Peasant wishes you all
a Happy Thanksgiving, and also wants to tell you that I am
taking some extra time to prepare a post regarding our very
recent election. I am gathering my thoughts and impressions,
as well as pertinent information to weave into the piece along
with some careful analysis and a few predictions, as I want to
give this subject matter the treatment it richly deserves.

Meanwhile please accept my utmost gratitude for your under-
standing. And enjoy the holiday which honors and celebrates it!


MEM

Veterans Day Gratitude

Today, November 11, is Veterans Day, the day we Americans
give thanks to all our veterans, past and present, those among
the living and those who made the Ultimate Sacrifice so that
we can have a country with a way of life filled with abundance,
a cornucopia of freedom, comfort, safety and security. Although
one should give thanks every day for these gifts that our brave
and selfless veterans made possible for us, and in fact many of
us do, it is good to have a nationally established and recognized
day to focus our attention on all this, especially with our workaday
lives and their relentless schedules of duties and recreation too
easily fill our time and our heads to the point that we tend to take
what we have as citizens of a free and strong country for granted.

Please take time, all who are reading this post today, to thank our
vets for these fruits of their hard and dangerous work on our behalf.
At the very least, say a prayer to them, to ask God's blessings on them
and their families, and to take heavenly good care of those who have
gone to glory, including of course by way of a battlefield. We owe
these courageous men and women a debt so great that we can never
even begin to repay, but that does not excuse us from trying.

I realize that Memorial Day is the day to honor our passed veterans
and that Veterans Day is the day to honor our living vets, but your
grateful Peasant's gratitude for our all our veterans knows no bounds,
so I always have an overflow! Please don't be put off by this, as I
mean only the utmost gratitude and respect. And I am thus grateful
each and every day of the year!

The Peasant salutes you, all who have served, suffered, sacrificed,
and toiled to make and keep our country great and free. God bless.


MEM

Three More Brief Endorsements

Your hurried and harried Peasant wants to get these endorsements
out before the big day, which is of course tomorrow.

My fellow Wisconsinites, let us return Attorney General Brad Schimel
to office for another term! In his first term as our state's top lawyer,
he has taken a tougher stand on crime and criminals than has his
predecessor, and has been in the forefront of handling the opioid crisis
which has been troubling our nation and now has come to Wisconsin.
Brad Schimel has combined an emphasis on more and better treatment
programs for opioid addicts along with tougher measures in dealing
with the dealers of these powerful drugs. Schimel is also pro-life and
will continue to fight for the right to life for the unborn. His Democrat
opponent has never prosecuted a criminal case, and his campaign has
been propped up by much out of state money from big-moneyed
left-wing interests who hope to have a minion in one of our state's
high offices.

Travis Hartwig, the Republican candidate for Treasurer, is another
endorsee of the Peasant. His private sector experience, which includes
having been Mutual Funds Administrator for U.S. Bank Fund Services
in Downtown Milwaukee where he worked with auditors during highly
complex audits. Hartwig was a double major in Finance and Economics
in college while minoring in Accounting, making him very knowledge-
able in regards to money matters on a large scale. While in college
he was also active in the College Republicans, and in 2011 Hartwig
went to Madison to protest the protesters who railed against
Governor Scott Walker and Act 10, exposing himself to danger
amid the wild and menacing throng of radicals. This shows you
the man's committment to conservatism, the rule of law, and the
will of the people! Exactly the kind of candidates we should strive
to elect to all offices! Furthermore, I have had the pleasure of meeting
and discussing the issues with Travis, and I can attest that he is
articulate, whip-smart, and quick on his feet with answers to
questions regarding the issues the next state treasurer will contend
with!

Finally, for those in Leah Vukmir's state senate district which includes
Wauwatosa, Brookfield, Elm Grove, and a few other suburban
communities near Milwaukee, do come out and vote for Assemblyman
Dale Kooyenga as he is running to succeed Leah as that district's
state senator. Dale is also very well-schooled and knowledgeable in
monetary matters, as he is a CPA and has been instrumental in
crafting Act 10, Gov.Walker's sweeping fiscal reform legislation.
I have known Dale for several years, and have much regard for
him and his fiscal and political acumen. He will be as fine a state
senator as he has been an assemblyman.

And as for the rest of the ballot, VOTE RED VOTE RED VOTE RED!
Don't give any quarter to the Democrats, and don't be fooled by any
of their candidates who may have uttered some conservative or
moderate sounds on the campaign trail. They are just trying to con
you to reel you in, and if they get enough of your votes to get into
office they will then revert to their true political selves and vote
uncompromisingly left on everything, having successfully worked
their "Gotcha!" ruse. Accept no substitutes! Let us elect as many
conservatives as we can! Even a moderate Republican will be better
than a hard lefty Democrat, for at least the moderate GOP candidate
will vote our way some of the time as opposed to the Democrat
who will not vote our way at all. Wherever you live in our great and
wonderful country, please please please VOTE!

The polls will be open from 7:00 AM until 8:00 PM. For those of you
who haven't voted early or absentee you should thus have ample time
to get to your polling places. Let's do this!


MEM

Two Brief Endorsements

A note to my fellow Wisconsinites:

Two endorsements from your faithful Peasant ---

Scott Walker for another term as Governor
and Leah Vukmir for the United States Senate!

Gov. Walker's record speaks for itself, with the
preponderance of jobs and people going back to
work, many after months or even years without
a job! And the improvement of our state's economy
to make that happen is but ONE accomplishment!
State Senator Leah Vukmir has been a big help to
Gov. Walker in this regard, as well as on other issues
of importance to we Badger Staters, and has much
respect and regard for our veterans, unlike the incumbent
whom she is running against. Besides, Leah has a son in
our army and she is a nurse by profession!

Now, Election Day is on November 6 --- just three short
days from now! Be sure to get to your polling precincts
if you have not voted early! And make a surging Red Wave!
RED RULES: BLUE DROOLS!

And God Bless America!


MEM

Have a Politically Incorrect Happy Halloween!

Friends, it's that time of year again. The day of masks and costumes,
candy galore, parties aplenty, spooky stories told by the campfire
or the fireplace, and ... being haunted by political correctness.
Oh, yes; the frighteningly far left-wingers have trained their PC
guns on this most surreal and supernatural of holidays, seeking to
play their malicious tricks on those of us who love this seasonal treat.
What is their stratagem? Halloween costumes. Specifically, costumes
of certain characters being of races and ethnicities, i.e. Native
American (Pocahontas), Arab (Aladdin), and Asian (Mulan) to name
but a few. Appropriation of another culture, don't you know. And
these PC rules are imposed in some communities, especially on college
campuses. Notre Dame University strongly discourages dressing up
as any of the aforementioned Disney characters, including
Snow White (?!). You may be wondering, my great and wonderful
readers, why Snow White, who is as white as her name suggests,
has been added to this list of forbidden characters to dress up for
Halloween as. Notre Dame's diversity enforcers say that the young
lady is offensive because she is by definition (you can't make this up!)
a white supremacist (!!). Robert Ripley, call your office.

Also out, according to the PC cops on the campus scene: afros,
dreadlocks, ponchos, tattered rags and patches (offensive to the poor,
even though it's the style with many students in high schools and
colleges), or prison garb (no orange jumpsuits, very hurtful to anyone
who is serving or has served time). Cowboys and Indians? Horrors!
Can't have anyone running around dressed like them either.
Smacks of racism on the frontier. Gee, it's a good thing that
John Wayne isn't around to witness this astounding stupidity.

Your favorite Peasant's own alma mater, the University of Saint
Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota issued an edict which was printed
on handbills and distributed to all their students prohibiting wearing
headdresses, Mexican sombreros, and geisha outfits. One UST coed
stated "I can't dress up as Pocahontas, so I think I'll go to the (campus)
party dressed as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a white lady pretending to be
an Indian." Sounds like a sharply witty response to the ridiculousness
of the school's officials and their PC rules; let's hope that the young
lady doesn't get in Dutch for her humorous display (Oops, your
very politically incorrect Peasant just appropriated a nationality!
Mea culpa!).

So, what to do? How then to celebrate Halloween in style?
DRESS UP IN ONE OF THE FORBIDDEN COSTUMES ANYWAY!!
This is, to the consternation of the ever-so-PC Left, still a free country!
Especially with You-know-who in the White House and the GOP in
charge of Congress! You'll be a hit with those of us who love and
cherish our freedom as Americans! And don't forget to vote on
November 6, when we can add to the majorities in both chambers
of Congress as well as to elect like-minded candidates to the state
governorships and legislatures. The more such fine folks we elect,
the more we will thwart the lefties and their plans to transform our
free and wonderful country into a woeful place where one would be
afraid to express himself for fear of being persecuted and prosecuted!

And have a wonderful, fun-filled, delightfully spooky, politically
incorrect, Happy Halloween!



MEM

An Unprecedented Invasion

As we gather here to discuss the latest news on our political scene
there is a huge mass of people moving steadily northward from
Central America, through Mexico, heading toward our southern
border. Observer's estimates peg their number at around 7,000
as they ignore police and immigration officials on their relentless
march.

This mass of men, women and children were joined by many more
as they made their way from Honduras up through Mexico, whose
government officials have been pressured by President Donald Trump
to somehow stop them. Meanwhile, President Trump has been massing
soldiers and Marines at the border to prepare to turn back the hordes.

While some of the bedraggled army of humanity have escaped terrible
situations in Honduras, some of them involving themselves or their
children to sell drugs for local gangs there, others have included people
looking to come to the U.S., legally or not, to take up residence as well
as some reportedly being terrorists from the Middle East, trying to pass
themselves off as Hondurans or Mexicans to enter the country. And
while Congressional republicans have been drafting legislation to both
stop and punish this mass on the move, their Democrat counterparts
have, predictably, done nothing of the sort; they have long made it
clear that they want to ease the borders and welcome all immigrants,
their obedience to our immigration laws not mattering, to our land.
One big reason for their doing so is to get as many of these question-
able newcomers onto the voter rolls and voting for their candidates
in our elections. Don't believe it? Don't think it possible? The city
of San Francisco recently passed a law allowing such immigrants,
without citizenship, to vote in local elections for school board seats.
It won't be any stretch to legalize their voting for city council
members, mayoral candidates, then candidates for the state legis-
lature and the governorship, then Congressional candidates, both
House and Senate, and the Presidency itself. And other cities in
other states, and the states themselves would follow suit if they
have Democrats holding enough key offices. And we've already seen
how these places and their officials have done nothing to punish
or deport lawbreaking immigrants who have come here illegally,
effectively giving a great big middle finger to the families and friends
of their victims (remember Kate Steinle?).

Oh, and another such massing of the same has formed in Guatemala,
and are beginning their trek northward as well. Your news-observant
Peasant learned of this just a couple of days ago on Fox News. And
the funding source for this escapade? Nicolas Madurro and his com-
rades in Venezuela. The socialist (practically communist) regime
there would love to do anything to make trouble for the U.S., now that
their pal Obama is gone from the presidency and Donald Trump is
in charge. President Trump has made it clear that he is no kindred
spirit where Madurro and his brand of politics is concerned, and
that makes the Venezuelan dictator most uncomfortable, as well it
should. Madurro realizes that our current president will not brook
any revolutionary mischief in the region, and most certainly
will closely follow the situation in Venezuela regarding human rights,
which are under the totalitarian gun there. This strategem, then,
is a clever way for Madurro to both lash out at the U.S. and our
president, as wellas to make a distraction both big and messy enough
to divert American attention away from the goings on with and within
Venezuela.

All your amazed Peasant has to say about this unprecedented situation
is thank God we have Donald Trump in the White House rather
than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton! President Trump respects
our law and the Constitution, and cares enough about our country to
protect it from such an invasion, and make no mistake, this is indeed
an invasion which we are facing. And the Republican majority in
both chambers of Congress are rallying around our courageous
President, working with him to stave off this catastrophe in the making.
They are doing what We the People have elected them to do, and are
not caring about what the Washington Post, the New York Times,
MSNBC or CNN will say as they will predictably go into their
histrionics. They know who put them in office, and they know
and perform their duty. Let us keep this in mind when we go to
the polls in a couple of weeks.


MEM

The Injustice Done to Justice Kavanaugh

The Left has declared its intention to make our country
ungovernable for Donald Trump and the Republican
Party as soon as Trump was declared the winner in
the last presidential election. And they have done their
damnedest to carry out their vow.

Their latest antics have been their slanderous smearing
of the name and reputation of one of our country's finest
judges in a shameful attempt to disqualify him from being
confirmed for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. Thank
God their malicious campaign was a resounding failure.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh walked through fire to take the
seat on SCOTUS which was vacated with the retirement
of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. A Constitution-respecting
conservative, the left-wingers saw him as a threat not just
because of his judicial mien but as an additional conservative
voice on the nation's highest court, making a conservative
majority on the Court. After all, President Trump has already
nominated Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Court, ensuring a
conservative continuance in the seat held by Justice Antonin
Scalia until his sudden passing. And, horror of horrors,
Justice Kavanaugh has a history of ruling in favor of life
in cases regarding abortion! So what's a good progressive
radical left-winger to do? Why, attend the Senate's hearings
on the nominee's SCOTUS confirmation and raise holy hell,
take to the streets with signs proclaiming him to be a
misogynist, and find a woman willing to testify to a lie
about having been sexually assaulted by the judge back
when they were teenagers. Never mind that the testimony
proves to have more holes than a block of Swiss cheese;
never mind the many women in the candidate's past, going
back to those aforementioned youthful years with stops
along the way to visit and view his judicial career; never
mind his years coaching a girl's basketball team, winning the
respect and admiration of these female colleagues, friends
family and acquaintances as he went. And for good measure,
cover the man's home with hateful graffiti further smearing his
good name. Why, it matters not that the peasants, er, the people
duly elected President Trump fair and square, because they
preferred his politics, his policies, and whom he would choose
for openings on the Supreme Court. Heck, the American people
are a bunch of "deplorables" that you could "smell from the
nearest Wal-Mart, and are a collection of this-a-phobes,
that-a-phobes, fill-in-the-blank-a-phobes! And they're stupid,
much too stupid to determine who should govern them and
how they should be governed!

And when Brett Kavanaugh fired back at his enemies in the
confirmation hearings, he became emotional; describing what
his family went through in the hellacious process, the baseless
accusations against him and the pain it caused them (his wife
and children were in the Senate chamber for the hearings), and
the toll it was taking on them, could one blame him? Yet that's
exactly what the leftist bullies did, they blamed their victim
just as a schoolyard bully blames his smaller quarry for
wearing a certain color or style of shirt, or an abusive husband
blames his wife for doing this or not doing that. Gee, if only
the bully were simply given his way every time, all the time,
there would be no need to attack anyone, because all would be
right with the world --- well, as far as the bully is concerned.
And make no mistake, the Left is one big collective bully,
seeking to impose its will on the rest of us. They are still cheesed
off over the last presidential election, and they are getting back at
the electorate for having chosen Donald Trump rather than
Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders (their overwhelming favorite
who was deprived the Democrat Nomination by the party's
bosses because they had preordained Hillary to be the Heir
Apparent to their precious Barack Obama. Some lefties wrote
in Sanders rather than vote for Hillary). They will stop at nothing,
will stoop to any depths, destroy the names, the reputations, the
careers and the lives of anyone who dares oppose them, especially
if they are allied with President Trump, all to quench their thirst
for absolute power --- the Constitution and the will of the people
be damned. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), not known for his
titanium-spined conservatism, said this at the hearings to the
Democrats, but his words apply just as aptly to the aggregate
Left:

"Boy, you all want power ... God, I hope you never get it!"

Yes, Brett Kavanaugh survives the massacre launched against him
and was sworn in as the newest U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Yes,
it was yet another victory for our indomitable President Donald
Trump. But the Left never ceases in its attempts to remake our great
country into one which we wouldn't recognize and wouldn't want to
live in. We won another important battle, my friends. But the war is
far from over.

And we have a mid-term election coming up next month. It will be
the most important mid-term election in years, maybe ever.
Remember this episode on Election Day. And for the sake of our
country, our liberty, and our future generation, vote. We don't have
the luxury of sitting this one out. Let us not let Sen. Graham's fear
that the Left regains power in Congress become our dark reality.



MEM

A New Development for Us

My wonderful readers, your busy Peasant has some news for you,
this time of a personal nature. Due to some extra work I have
picked up in addition to my handyman business, and the schedule
I am now committed to, for the time being I shall post on any day
in which I get time to do so. Not to worry, we can still get together
every week for our visits; it's just that the days in which we will
meet will vary. But we shall get together!

I am most grateful for this economic bonanza, as this year has been
a financially difficult one for me. And I am also grateful that we can
still gather here at this very place, this blog, to examine and discuss 
the political and economic news of the day as before. I treasure you,
my grand audience, more than you'll ever realize! And it's not simply
for the reason that if it weren't for you I wouldn't be publishing this
blog. I enjoy sharing my thoughts and observations of these aforemen-
tioned topics with you, because you are a sharp, aware, astute, and
knowledgeable audience and that we are on the same wavelength
where our keeping current on the news is concerned. And although
not all of you are conservatives, you still enjoy our get-togethers,
appreciating a different perspective and being unafraid of encountering
same. You enjoy reading other points of view, in that it gives you
insight into different angles on news stories along with different
views and ideas, providing intellectual challenges and adventure.
And for that your grateful Peasant certainly prizes you, and enjoys
having your company here each week!

So to recap, your favorite Peasant shall still be here with you on our
weekly basis; the days of each week will vary but our visits will
continue to take place. Thank you all for your ongoing support!
You're the very best readership I could ever ask for!


MEM

Following Up With Helpful Information re: Protesting Barrett's Folly (The Streetcar)

Friends, I feel that I, your dependable Peasant would be remiss
if I didn't provide just a wee bit more information re: protesting
the Milwaukee streetcar, a/k/a (Mayor) Barrett's Folly, a/k/a/
The "Trommey" (Tom Barrett, trolley combined), a/k/a The
Trolley to Nowhere. There are some other nicknames for the
trolley, but for the sake of decorum your faithful Peasant won't
publish them here.

For my fabulous readers who live in or near Milwaukee and
commute into the city at all, here are some phone numbers of
key individuals who will have a say as to whether or not
Milwaukee will receive a BUILD grant (formerly known as
TIGER grants) for a cool $9 million to run the streetcar on
its limited route through downtown. Please do call these folks
to let them know your opposition to the funding of this colossal
waste of money, for you just might sway them to refuse its
funding!

When you call, be sure to raise these points to emphasize your
opposition to this misbegotten project:

1) Milwaukee is not a rural community; in Wisconsin, priority
is given to rural projects, so as to avoid any possible taint of bias
favoring the cities.

2) Safety concerns; the design of the layout for the tracks which
the trolley will roll along was poorly drawn up. It would be sharing
traffic lanes with cars, causing confusion and traffic snarls, not to
mention accidents.

3) It's not at all innovative, like Mayor Barrett and his fellow local
elitists proclaim. As a matter of fact it is very similar to the trolley
system Milwaukee had for much of the twentieth century, going up
to the 1960s before it was taken down, having outlived its usefulness.

4) Also contrary to what Barrett and his pals trumpet, Milwaukee's
quality of life will not be improved one iota by the streetcar.
If anything, it may well cause its deterioration, what with the
aforementioned traffic problems that would manifest. And what
about the noise level? How loud would it be when operating?
How would that affect city residents?

5) The local bus system, run by MCTS (the Milwaukee County
Transit System) could make better use of any grant money
provided by the taxpayers in that it would be able to restore
routes which were either pared back or eliminated due to budget
constraints. The city and Milwaukee County could partner to
find ways to enhance the bus system and make it more convenient
to ride for people (including your intrepid Peasant).

6) Moreover, Mayor Barrett made deep cuts in the budgets for the
city police and fire departments to fund his rail-traveling pet
project. The residents of the increasingly crime-ridden urban
neighborhoods here have been begging the clueless mayor for
more police to patrol their deteriorating communities but have
been given a deaf ear and the middle finger from Hizzoner.
This is the chief reason why your favorite Peasant moved to
the suburbs, as my former neighborhood, Washington Heights,
has become a haven for thieves who steal, and steal from cars.
There is also an increase in drug-related activity there as well.

7) And Barrett wonders why more and more people are fleeing
Milwaukee for safer environs! Restore funding to the police and
firefighters, beef up the bus system, forget about the Trommey
and you'll attract people to Milwaukee again!

Now for the contacts:

1) DOT (Department of Transportation) Region 5 Chicago office
P: (312) 353-1653
Note: Jason Ciavarella is the person to ask for here. He is 
Planning Director at this office. If he is not available, ask for
Bill Wheeler (title unknown).

2) Tonya Iverson, WISDOT (Wisconsin Department of Transportation)
P: (608) 266-2574
Note: Tonya is in charge of approving CMAQ grants (Congestion
Mitigation and Air Quality). She has a lot of say re: these grants!

   
One last point: when you call, be polite, be pleasant, and be soft-
spoken. However, be businesslike. Have the aforementioned points
written on a pad to have handy when you are discussing your
opposition to the streetcar, so the people you are talking to will
know that you know what you're talking about. This way, they
will take you seriously and treat you as such!

Good luck everyone! And yes, your action-taking Peasant has
already called these folks, and was received most respectfully,
utilizing the tips I've given here.


MEM

The Top Ten Reasons That Milwaukee Does Not Need A Streetcar (Mayor Tom Barrett, Are You Listening?)

Although the tracks have been laid in downtown Milwaukee
and the first new streetcar has made its initial run, there is
still considerable vocal opposition accompanied by pushback
to Mayor Tom Barrett's white elephant on wheels. A group
of such determined citizens, G.R.A.S.P. (Group Resistance
Against Streetcar Planning) has recently been established by
one such activist, Thomas Brian, and has welcomed many
Milwaukeeans aboard in its mission to derail the costly
boondoggle.

One of the ways in which G.R.A.S.P. is making its case is
its creation of a list of the top ten reasons that the streetcar
is a bad idea for Milwaukee, a' la David Letterman (remember
his "Top 10" lists from his old TV show? Your bemused
Peasant thought it one of the few genuinely funny features
on that show). But this list is all business in its purpose
and its substance; the cancellation of the Mayor's choo-choo
and the savings of the people's tax monies are its goals.

So here are G.R.A.S.P.' s Top 10 Reasons to Oppose the Streetcar,
as stated on the group's Facebook page (followed here by observa-
tional comments from your favorite Peasant):


1) It wasn't needed. Milwaukee did not, and does not, have a
transportation problem.

Indeed. In my opinion, Milwaukee simply needs a beefing up of
the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) which provides
the bus service for Milwaukee and many of its suburbs. The city
could team up with the county by redirecting some of the funds
allocated to the streetcar instead to the County, under whose
auspices the local bus system operates, to fund the restoration of
some of the routes which were cut back for budgetary reasons.
More drivers could be hired and trained for the route restoration.
As a regular bus rider myself, this would benefit your non-driving
Peasant no end. There is a bus route that goes close by my new
home, but it would be nice if it had more runs during its daily
schedule in the mornings and evenings.

2) 69% of Milwaukee area residents are opposed to the streetcar
(Marquette Law School poll).

Furthermore, many of these residents have strenuously objected
to the shifting of funding of the police and fire departments to
the streetcar, especially with crime rising dramatically in some of
the neighborhoods where they live. Strange priorities, Mayor
Barrett has.

3) It's a waste of federal tax dollars. Federal tax dollars should
be off limits.

Amen to that! Why should anyone outside of Milwaukee have to
pay anything toward this ridiculous scheme? It's bad enough that
local taxpayers are expected to fund it.

4) Fixing potholes and resurfacing our terrible streets is more
important.

I'll offer no argument here! One needs a Humvee or a dune buggy to
traverse some of Milwaukee's crumbling roads without damaging
their vehicles. More badly needed things being ignored, all for the
sake of a mayor whose parents likely never bought Tommy boy a
train set when he was but a wee brat!

5) A poor design from the start. Streetcars should not share traffic
lanes with cars.

A safety hazard to be sure! But then, Milwaukee has a mayor who
doesn't seem terribly concerned with public safety to begin with
(see my earlier remarks re: Reason #2).

6) Many potential safety hazards. Lawsuits are already pending.

Dovetails with Reason #5.

7) The streetcars is going to cause traffic delays and congestion
like we've never seen before.

It's challenging enough to travel through downtown as it is!

8) The streetcar benefits special interests ... developers, general
contractors, investors etc.

The very people who support Mayor Barrett at election time with
their huge wads of cash! We peasants certainly don't have the scratch
to buy a mayor or other official.

9) Project could have been done much cheaper, with less disruption,
with traditional "trolley-type" buses.

And Milwaukee has them! I see them a lot during the many ethnic
festivals, Summerfest, etc. And riding them would be very similar to
riding the buses, and every bit as efficient.

10) The streetcar will not help (the) citizens who need it most, (to)
get to good paying jobs.

Despite claims by the streetcar supporters that the streetcar system
would "spider out" and travel along more streets in Milwaukee,
downtown and the neighborhoods, they would not get workers
and job seekers to where the jobs are. And the ridership is not going
to be high enough to justify expanding the routes of the streetcar;
it will be an uphill battle just to keep up the main route(s) with paltry
revenues resulting from scant ridership.


And there you have it. The streetcar scheme (scam?) is a turkey,
just in time for Thanksgiving. And not nearly as appetizing as
the traditional holiday entree'. Anyone interested in learning more
about G.R.A.S.P. with an eye toward joining, look up the group
on Facebook as well as its founder Thomas Brian. They will be
happy to have you and your efforts in turning back Barrett's Folly.
This is a true grassroots effort to get City Hall to respect the wishes
of the people of Milwaukee.

And tell G.R.A.S.P. that The Peasant sent you!


MEM

So Grateful for Nine Fantastic Years!

Your grateful Peasant wishes to thank you,
my wonderful readers, for nine great years
together! It was nine years ago yesterday
(I wasn't able to find the time to go online
that day) that we first began our weekly
gatherings here at this blog to examine and
discuss the latest political and economic news
each week. Being with all of you is, and has
always been the height of my week!

Thank you all for your support and your company!
We'll get together here this coming Thursday to
kick off our tenth year of keeping abreast of the
news and our support for our champions of free
markets, free minds, and a free society!

I love you all! Thanks a trillion!


MEM

Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.: "Muhammad Ali and The Negro Movement" ...

The Peasant Catches His Breath (And Settles Into His New Home)

Sorry, friends, but your harried Peasant is taking this week off
to rest and catch up on some personal tasks while continuing
to settle into my new home; just eleven days ago I moved into
a lovely apartment in New Berlin, a pleasant suburb of Milwaukee
where I just happened to spend most of my formative years!
This is my homecoming, in a manner of speaking.

Besides, I have been planning for a while to leave Milwaukee
to head for the suburbs. I love Milwaukee, please don't misunder-
stand, it's just that I have no confidence in the leadership at City
Hall, you know this from my prior posts regarding Mayor Tom
Barrett and his chums on the Common Council. And although
I love the people of Milwaukee along with the city itself, they
will on one hand complain about the poor condition of the
streets, or the need for a greater police presence in their
neighborhoods, or how they'd rather have improved bus service
instead of a trolley system which few will ride with any regularity
(and funding for the police and the firefighters diverted to funding
the boondoggle!) but vote the very same people who is making
their woes in the first place (?!), and by huge margins.
Mayor Barrett himself was re-elected with 70% (!!) of the vote.
So I decided to vote with my feet. Ich bin ein New Berliner!

I love Milwaukee, but barring a miracle I see no hope for a
badly needed change in its leadership. And Milwaukee will
suffer the same fate as Detroit and Saint Louis, with people
leaving for the suburbs and communities further afield to
escape the crime, the taxes, the arrogance of the city elected
officials, ...

So I am currently getting everything unpacked and situated
just so in my new digs. And I love my new home! I am most
grateful for a dear friend who helped me to become aware of
and to get the place through her connections to the peope who
bought the place earlier in the summer. They are a non-profit
group who rescue dogs from horrible situations, and will make
the lower level their headquarters while your joyful Peasant
resides upstairs in a one bedroom apartment in the house.
Among other things I shall be able to host sessions of my
Chuck Ward Celtic Song Circle with all the space I have!
And the dog charity downstairs, Canine Cupids is their outfit's
name, will be keeping banker's hours so they won't be around
evenings. There are next door neighbors but they are not in all
that close proximity so we won't be disturbing anyone with our
evenings of song!

I'll share more on all this in due course, but for now I have to
depart to take care of some of my aforementioned chores. I'll
be back of course next week! Gee, I just wrote an entire blog
piece today after all! No rest for the wicked, including your
wicked Peasant (well, left-wingers consider me to be wicked)!
See you later ...


MEM

A Liberal Calls Out His Own

The mania for driving President Donald Trump from office
by any means possible has reached epic, and epically
desperate proportions. The Liberal Establishment and their
"Deep State" chums, along with the ever-compliant, always
reliable propaganda machine-cum-lamestream media have
been trying their absolute damndest to find or manufacture
some charge(s) to impeach and remove the president from
office. Now they have seized on this stratagem: tie President
Trump to his now ex-lawyer Michael Cohen and the latter's
recent guilty plea to violation of campaign finance laws in
arranging monetary payments to Stormy McDaniels and
Karen McDougal, two women that Trump had allegedly
had affairs with long before he ran for the presidency.

Esteemed Harvard University Constitutional law Professor
Alan Dershowitz, who has voiced his discomfort regarding
the attempts to remove President Trump from office
and the dogging of people close, or formerly close to the
president, told Fox News this week that "The law is clear
that a president may contribute to his own campaign so if
the President had paid $280,000 to these two women even
if he had done so in order to help his campaign that (it)
would be no problem, that's legal, and if Cohen had made
the contribution that would be unlawful because he has a
limit of $5,200 so the complicated issue is what if Trump
told him to do it as Cohen says?" Cohen perhaps was coaxed
by the prosecution to confess to a campaign law violation
which, according to Prof. Dershowitz was not a campaign
law violation at all, in order to have Cohen say something
negative about the President in order to have something to
pin on him with an eye toward impeachment.

Dershowitz explained that, in that case, it would still not
constitute a crime because Cohen would be acting as
President Trump's representative. He further averred
"The campaign contribution would be lawful as long as the
president ultimately paid for it, so the prosecutor's in a
bit of a Catch-22. If he believes Cohen that the president
directed him to do it then it's not a crime at all; if he
doesn't believe Cohen then Cohen committed a crime
but not the president." That is to say that if the prosecutor
believes that Cohen isn't being truthful here, then Cohen
was acting on his own, separately from the president.
Many Democrat senators along with the establishment
press have been trying to pin the label of "unindicted
co-conspirator" on President Trump regarding the actions
of Cohen, who had fallen out with the president over, among
other things, Cohen having secretly taped conversations
with him in 2016 re: transferring money to someone they
called "a friend". The audio was muddled so it was not clear
whether or not Trump had directed Cohen to "pay with cash"
or to not so pay more than one woman with whom Trump
had allegedly had an affair. CNN obtained it and ran with
it to try to implicate Trump in something illegal, and
some prominent Senate democrats joined in after Cohen's
guilty plea.

But the details from that tape were obscured and therefore
sketchy at best, causing Prof. Dershowitz dismissed the label of
"co-conspirator" on that basis. The professor stated "You don't
become an unindicted co-conspirator if your action is lawful even
though the action of the other person is unlawful.And why did
Cohen tape his discussions with Trump regarding monetary
payments to anyone? What was his reason? What motivation
had he? It sounds like he had violated his duty to confidentiality
between himself and his client. Admittedly your factual Peasant
doesn't have the answers to these questions, but hopes that
they are soon revealed and brought before the public. It certainly
seems understandable though as to why Trump had dropped
Cohen as his attorney and confidant.

So if Trump ultimately made the payment through his then-
representative and attorney Cohen, reimbursing the campaign
fund, then indeed no crime was committed. The prosecution
must make the case that Cohen did not act on instruction by
Trump in making the payments, but there is no solid evidence
indicating this. But anything to tarnish the name and reputation
of a president who is so reviled by the establishment creatures
in what President Trump and his supporters have labeled
"The Swamp", so as to weaken him and his presidency and,
quite possibly, impeach and remove him from office. Prof.
Dershowitz, though a political liberal and longtime member
of the Democrat Party, has shown that he is unafraid to call
out and criticize those on his side of the political spectrum
when they act in a manner contrary to the constitutional
protections that safeguard us all, including the president.
He is a man of great integrity, and someone on the Left
whom I have great respect and regard for; I cannot say that
about very many over there! If Prof. Dershowitz cannot
shame his fellow Democrats out of their unconstitutional
and deranged quest to drive from office a duly elected
president who enjoys the support of many Americans, then
the Democrats simply have no shame.

And these people would therefore be unfit to govern.


MEM

John McCain, R.I.P.

Your quizzical Peasant wants to pay tribute to the recently
deceased longtime United States senator, Vietnam War
POW, Naval Academy graduate, and former presidential
candidate John McCain. The problem is, just what do I
say here in this blog?

We humans are truly complex beings. There are good things
and bad things about us, the noble and the shameful in each
of us. With some of us, there are many elements of both that
just scream out at one; such people seem to alternate between
the opposites so vividly that they stand out a mile. The late
Republican senator from Arizona was one of these.
Sometimes bold of action, sometimes petty of demeanor,
sometimes a staunch friend and ally, sometimes a rabid
detractor and a bitter foe. Tabbed a maverick by many in
the U.S. Senate on both sides of the aisle and by many
political observers, McCain sometimes went for the option
in a disagreement which he thought would work best and
serve the people best. Other times he seemed to take a
route which served just himself, consequences be damned.
The Arizona Republican was a strong, unwavering defender
of the unborn in the battle over abortion. A longtime
critic of President Obama's Affordable Health Care Act,
he nevertheless voted against its repeal in the first year
of President Trump's presidency, to the dismay and
disgust of his fellow Republicans in the Senate and
in the party as a whole. And he reportedly did so to
nurse a personal grudge against President Trump,
with whom he rarely agreed with politically; McCain
was one of the biggest "Never Trumpers" in the
Republican Party.

When he knew that further efforts to treat his brain cancer
would prove fruitless, McCain gave instructions to his
family and his staff to not invite the president to his
funeral service, nor his 2004 GOP running mate
former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. The latter added
whatever excitement to their ticket that it had, and almost
closed the gap in the polls leading up to the election,
while the public found McCain to be just a grumpy old
pol just hanging on for one more hurrah. When the
biased press savaged Palin at every turn neither McCain
nor his campaign staff did anything to come to Palin's
defense. And some in the party, including McCain's
cohorts,  were reportedly relieved that the ticket lost
so that Palin wouldn't steal the show as Vice President.

Yet during a campaign rally that year while talking on the
mic with some of the attendees, one woman made some
hostile remarks about McCain's opponent and eventual
election winner Barack Obama which called into question
his loyalties (U.S. or Islam?), to which McCain interrupted
to say that her allegations were not true and very unfair
before walking away with mic in hand. So much for the
charge against him by the Left of being racist, the very
accusation that they make as a matter of course against
Republican presidential candidates in general.
Here McCain showed his better angels for all to witness.

While your fair-minded Peasant recognizes this positive
quality in the man, I also cannot forget and will be a long
time in forgiving his self-serving moments which cropped
up among his service to others moments in his political
career, such as voting to not repeal Obama's craptacular
health coverage program just to spite President Trump.
But he did one thing in his life for which I shall always
have not a small measure of respect for him; when he was
a POW in the infamous North Vietnamese prison camp
nicknamed "the Hanoi Hilton" he was offered the chance
of release ahead of his fellow U.S. POWs, as he was
regarded as a "prince" by his captors when they learned
that he was a third generation Naval officer and Annapolis
alumnus. McCain, a U.S. Navy captain and fighter pilot,
was having none of it. He turned down their offer, saying
that he wanted other American POWs who were there
longer than he was (he would remain imprisoned at the
prison camp for over five years) to be released first,
otherwise no deal. This, after endless torture and privation
while kept in captivity by the North Vietnamese;
for the rest of his life McCain could not raise his arms
above his head. He had to have someone brush and comb
his hair for him, for his arms were broken multiple times
and were never set properly to heal correctly.

So, your faithful Peasant wishes Senator John McCain
God's love and mercy, and gives his condolences to
McCain's family, friends, colleagues and constituents.
All who knew or knew of John McCain have formed
opinions about him and his service, but it will require
a higher, greater wisdom to judge the man, his life,
and his soul. Rest in Peace, Senator.


MEM

The Border War

In recent years a raging battle has engaged many Americans;
the battle over who should be welcomed into our country, and
how much security should we employ at our entry points,
including our national borders, and whether or not people
who enter our country illegally should be kept from the
consequences for not only their means of entry but also for
their actions while they are here.

One irrefutable fact must be acknowledged here: the fact that
for a country to be a country it must have and maintain
definable borders. Borders define a country by geographic
territory, the scope of residence by a people united by a main
language, law, and customs. A country's people through their
government can and should determine the flow of people
entering the country, including of course immigrants, as well
as visitors on business or vacation. But our Left is having none
of it; they want to welcome all and sundry here, borders be
damned along with our immigration laws. And in these
waves of all and sundry have been some criminal elements
which have preyed upon some Americans after their arrival,
committing various crimes against them including murder.

You remember the murder of Kate Steinle, a young woman
out for a stroll along the wharves of San Francisco, a
"sanctuary city", with her father. She was shot by an illegal
immigrant who had already been deported five times and
snuck back into our country after each deportation. When
the killer went to court he was let off scot-free, having
been sentenced to time served upon arrest for his ghastly
crime of shooting a person whom he didn't know, who
never did him any harm. Just a bloodlust driving the
thug to murder Steinle, who died in her father's arms.
The city's officials who wrote and enacted the horrible
law declaring San Francisco a sanctuary city in which
people in the country illegally who come to the city
cannot be turned over to ICE (Immigration and Customs
Enforcement) for the process of deportation, regardless
the crime(s) committed by said offender hailed the
court's ruling as a victory for their despicable cause,
celebrating in the face of the grief-stricken father
there in the courtroom and in a press conference
which followed. That was their way of giving the
finger to Steinle, her father, and to all who want our
government to regulate our borders with our safety in
mind.

Just a few days ago, the body of a young woman, a
student at the University of Iowa, was found in an
cornfield not far from her Brooklyn, Iowa home.
Mollie Tibbets, just 20 years of age, disappeared
while out jogging and was missing for a full month.
The police investigation turned up an illegal alien
who went by a false name with the aid of a stolen ID,
even using it to gain work on a local farm. He
followed and assaulted Tibbets, causing a massive
head injury which likely was the cause of death,
then abandoning her body in the cornfield where
it was found. The case is presently going to trial,
and the open borders advocates are hoping for the
same result as the one in San Francisco. Meanwhile,
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) weighed in on
the Tibbets murder in predictable fashion; a backer
of eased immigration laws, she had this to say on
CNN:

"I'm so sorry for the family here, ... (but) one of the
things we have to remember here is that we need an
immigration system that is effective, that focuses on
where real problems are ... "

Cold and callous, is she not? Sen. Warren thinks that
it's not a "real problem" when dangerous criminals
who enter our country illegally kills someone. She
went on to say that our present immigration policy
separates children from their families at our borders,
and that the children are not seen by their parents for
days or weeks afterward. But somehow it is not a
problem if the parents of a child who was murdered
by a bloodthirsty thug who has no legal right to be here
never sees their child again as a result. And the
frightening thing, the maddening thing is that the
left-wing senator is far from the only government
official who holds such sentiments. Notice how these
people are all on the Left? Once again, the lefties
are showing their preferential treatment for criminals,
be they homegrown or from elsewhere. Law abiding
citizens? Victims of crime? Mere peasants, no big
deal! What's all the fuss? Besides, this is such a rotten
and immoral country that it deserves to have this happen,
to take it down a few pegs! It's an awful country with
awful people, and it's time for its comeuppance.
That's how the Left views the United States. This is
also the substance of their support for the veritable
erasure of our borders, as they can hasten the demise
of our country by diminishing border protection and
increasing entry of elements who will never contribute
anything positive to our society but rather be like
a cancer, eating away at our society and good order.
Establishing sanctuary cities is the main method of
carrying out their nefarious scheme. By the by, your
angry Peasant is sad to report that Milwaukee has
also been established a sanctuary city as well by its
left-wing municipal leaders.

Maintaining borders not only preserves a country, it
preserves public safety. Keep out the people who
try to illegally enter, and you'll keep out those who
would do the populace harm. And no, I'm not at all
saying that all who come here by other than legal
means are violent criminals, but certainly some of
them have proven to be so. Stronger border
enforcement (building The Wall, as President Trump
wants to do, would help), plus allowing ICE to do
its job without being hampered by stringent rules
which would result in the diminishment of safety
for all would likely have prevented the murders
of these young women who had lots of living
ahead of them, who had dreams and goals and
aspirations which now will never be fulfilled.
Instead, they have families and friends who are
mourning their sudden, untimely and violent
deaths, while elected public officials belittle
them and their deceased loved ones.


MEM

A True Conservative Wins in Wisconsin!

Your pleased as all-get-out Peasant is happy and proud
to announce that State Sen. Leah Vukmir, my longtime
state assemblywoman and senator won the Wisconsin
Republican Primary to run for the U.S. Senate challenging
incumbent Democrat Tammy Baldwin. My heartiest
congratulations to you, Leah, on your momentous
victory! Now Baldwin will have to face a double-threat;
a conservative woman who will neither let the radical
feminists speak nor act for her, and a woman who
unapologetically stands for the values which enhances
families and guides our state and our nation. Furthermore,
Baldwin cannot accuse her opponent of being incapable
of understanding a woman's point of view and political
desires, because she is going to face a woman in the
general election!

Leah had to overcome a vigorous challenge from former
Democrat-turned-Republican Kevin Nicholson, a former
Marine who saw combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although
I was impressed by the latter's background and being
mindful of the fact that newcomer candidates for office
can be successful candidates and officeholders (President
Trump and our U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson are prime examples),
I was leary of the ads that the Club for Growth and some
other political advocacy organizations produced which
falsely accused Vukmir of being "establishment", of being
anti-Trump, and/or some other criticisms that have no basis
in truth. I saw some of these ads online and on TV, as well
as having heard some which were aired on the radio.
While it was one thing to tout Nicholson as an outsider,
and therefore a fresh alternative, it was disingenuous
at best and malicious at worst to run ads which not only
distorted Leah's record in Madison but some which
besmirched her character as well. It simply goes to show
that there are people and groups in or affiliated with the
Republican Party that don't want true conservatives who
will follow the Constitution and the will of their constituents.
Nicholson may well be a conservative, but he hasn't the track
record to bear that out while Vukmir is likely the most
conservative legislator in Madison and will be a force for
conservatism, constitutional rule of law, and for advancing
the president's vision and ideas. Although if Nicholson is,
as he claims, to be disenchanted with the ever-leftward
drift of the Democrats and wants to embrace conservatism
and join the Republican Party he is certainly welcome to
do so. However, he didn't get off to an auspicious start
with this little episode. And few, if any could be sure as
to just how conservative Nicholson would have been
if elected to the Senate, as he has no record to go unlike
Vukmir.

Moreover, when asked by one of our wonderful local radio
talkers Dan O'Donnell is he would disavow and disassociate
himself from these malicious ads, Nicholson just begged
the question rather than answer it; he merely danced
around it like a ballerina. When asked this same question by
other local radio show hosts he offered nothing different, and
that bothered your favorite Peasant greatly. I'm certain that
many other conservative voters in the Badger State were
put off by all of this. We want to send Baldwin packing,
but we're also conscientious as to who we will replace her
with. Simply having an "R" next to a candidate's name is
not sufficient; we must have a candidate of substance and
proven good character, and this week we have chosen
just such a candidate.

Good on ya, Leah! The Peasant promises his full support
to you all the way to and including Election Day! You
have done us, your district's constituents proud and we
know you'll do Wisconsin proud in Washington.


MEM

A Socialist Zeitgeist in the Democrat Party?

In some Democrat primaries around the country some
avowed socialists have made some noise, a few even
scoring upsets against longtime entrenched incumbents
to win the party's nomination and get on the ballot for
the general election in November. One of these nominees,
one Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, stunningly defeated
incumbent U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley to run on the
Democrats' ticket for the 12th Congressional District
seat. No mean feat, for Crowley is the fourth-ranking
House Democrat, and had been a real possibility to
succeed House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi if
she were to be jettisoned by a majority of House
Democrats.

Now, Crowley is by no measure a conservative;
he is, in fact, one of the most liberal members
in the House Democrats' caucus. But next to
socialist firebrand Ocasio-Cortez he looks like
another Ronald Reagan. Consider Ocasio-Cortez'
stands and ideas:

Like former presidential hopeful and fellow socialist
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, whom she was an organizer
for, Ocasio-Cortez supports free college education,
free healthcare, open borders (believing that there are
no "illegal immigrants") and sanctuary cities, and
wants to end capitalism. It has been said that socialists
who seek office as candidates of the Democrat Party
are at least honest about their politics and political
ideas, and 28-year-old Ocasio-Cortez is certainly that.
She backs up her first two policy brainchildren thus:
" ... It's that we .. you know, they say 'How are you
going to pay for it?' as though they haven't used those
same ways to pay for unlimited wars, to pay for trillion
dollar tax cuts and tax cut extensions. They use these
mechanisms to pay for these things all the time."
But she neglects to say just what those "same ways"
and "mechanisms" are, the tax cuts enacted by President
Trump and the GOP are benefitting workers and families
while enabling businesses big and small to ignite job
growth, we were able to find and eliminate some of the
deadliest radical Muslim terrorists (including the master-
mind behind the 9/11 attacks, Osama Bin Laden) in
our "unlimited wars" thereby making the world a little
less dangerous, and the benefits from these unnamed
"same ways" and "mechanisms" have helped to
rebuild our economy and to strengthen our military
to aid our fighting forces in their task of stopping the
forces of jihad. By the by, did I mention that she
studied economics at Harvard?

On foreign policy matters Ocasio-Cortez is laughingly
ignorant. When she was a recent guest on the reintroduced
political talk show Firing Line Ocasio-Cortez claimed
that Israel is occupying Palestine (!) --- never mind the fact
that there is no such nation called Palestine, and that the
long-running conflict there has centered on the attempts
by Israel's hostile neighbors who are supporting the
Palestinian people while said neighbors are seeking Israel's
destruction and obliteration. She topped it off by admit-
ting on the show that she didn't know very much about
said conflict. This just after winning the Democrats'
nomination to run for Congress --- and her popularity
in her district hasn't diminished, nor has her appeal with
far Left activists from around the country. To them,
she's the greatest thing since ice cream.

After eight years of President Obama and the Democrats
trashing national security and making a hash of our
foreign policy, including Obama going on an "apology
tour" to apologize to our enemies for our alleged arrogance
and self-serving behavior in our dealings with them and
with the world in general, it has been refreshing to see
President Trump turning these around. In less than one
year he has smashed ISIS, made Russia think twice
about making further mischief in the Middle East and
in Ukraine, froze the flow of money into Iran which
will make it difficult for the mullahs to further pursue
the development of a nuclear arsenal with which to
threaten Israel and other American allies in the region,
and has opened serious peace talks with North Korea
for the first time in history. And all that the Marxist
maiden from Queens can do is berate the president
for involving us in "unlimited wars". FYI, Miss O-C,
it was President Obama who got us into four such
"unlimited wars", extending the war in Afghanistan
beyond any useful purpose, and transforming a war
which we were winning (Iraq) into a bloody hash
with the rise of ISIS and the emergence of various
warlords with their thuggish minions. And through
it all, you were an enthusiastic supporter of Obama.

Back on the home front, Ocasio-Cortez claims the
Democrats are better on family values than the
Republicans. This, the party of abortion, single-
parent homes and the casting of sexual responsi-
bility to the wind. And this walking political
disaster has an excellent chance of being elected
as the next U.S. Representative from New York's
12th District.

And this is what many Democrats hail as the future
of their party, and what they are working for to have
as the future of our country. The Democrat Party has
embraced full-on extremism, and the Republican
Party had better strengthen its spine and its resolve
to stop this wayward one-time mainstream political
party. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may be a joke,
but her aims and those of an increasing number of
Democrat Party members are anything but.


MEM

The Governor Who Does Unto Others --- Then Runs!

New Jersey's Governor Phil Murphy, a very liberal Democrat,
has been a busy bee since taking office last year; he has raised
taxes for nearly everyone in his state, proposed a so-called
"millionaire's tax" to ensure that New Jersey's millionaires
will pay their supposed "fair share" to shoulder the costs of
Murphy's massive social spending, and has fought tooth and
attempts in the state legislature initiated by his own party (!)
to rein in certain gubernatorial powers Murphy has, due to
their fears about how much revenue he wants his taxes and
programs to raise each year, as the New Jersey guv strives to
wring out of the taxpaying citizenry and businesses all the
money that he can, especially millionaires. The power to
formulate state revenue estimates is essential to determining
how much the state will need to increase taxes in order to
fund spending priorities. The Democrats in the legislature
(and they are in firm control of both chambers with huge
pluralities!) want to transfer this role to a three-member
panel which would supposedly remove the politics from
budget drafting and increase transparency. But Governor
Murphy protests this idea vehemently, stating through a
spokesman that the New Jersey Constitution "carefully
divides the authority in the budget process between ...
the legislature and the Executive (branch) ... "; whether
or not such a measure is constitutionally allowable
according to New Jersey's Constitution, your inquiring
Peasant has no knowledge but would love to find out
and share the facts with you, my grand readers. But the
takeaway here is that New Jersey has a governor who is
such a big tax-and-spender that legislators in his party
are actually drawing a line and telling him "No, you
are being excessive with the budget!". Robert Ripley,
call your office (ever visit the Believe It or Not! Museum?).

Governor Murphy is also doing his very best not to deliver
on a campaign promise to ease overcrowding and to address
service problems with the New Jersey Transit System.
Although Murphy promised to add additional rail cars
to the lines, after leasing eight cars from the Maryland
Transit Administration he stunningly returned them after
just two months (?). One commuter commented that "If (his)
Uber bill was any measure of success, improvement would
not be the term I would use," Many NJTS riders resorted to
Uber and Lyft rides as well as taxis to commute to and from
their jobs due to the two aforementioned transit system
woes.

Away from his office and the legislature, Governor Murphy
has other troubles to deal with: he is a co-owner of a woman's
soccer team, Sky Blue FC, which is facing allegations that
it is grossly mismanaged, provides inadequate living
arrangements and poor practice facilities for its players.
According to Fox News, some of the players were made to
live with an elderly man who consistently made inappropriate
comments to them and made them generally uncomfortable.
Governor Murphy purchased the team ten years ago, supposedly
to show his daughter, herself a soccer player, that women can
play at the professional level as well as at the amateur level.
A wonderful gesture. But Murphy didn't provide his charges
with facilities worthy of a professional soccer team, or really
any soccer team; the training facility he provided has no
lockers, no running water, and inadequate laundry facilities
where they can wash their uniforms, necessitating their
practicing in body odor-permeated clothes. When confronted
with these facts in an interview, Governor Murphy replied
"I don't find the status quo tolerable, and they deserve better,"
but to date has not made any effort to provide better for his
team. Although having invested half a million dollars in the
club, Murphy seems to have shown precious little interest
in it.

Finally, the governor's troubles include his wayward 20-year-old
-son Joshua Murphy. The lad campaigned tirelessly for his dad
in the 2016 election campaign in which the father was elected
governor. In his spare time, though, he managed to get arrested
for underage drinking and disorderly conduct, having shouted
obscenities at the police officer who came to investigate reports
of rowdyism on Joshua's college campus. A few months later
he rolled his car down an embankment (he was not seriously
injured).

So what does this under pressure governor do as a response to
all of this? He took an eleven-day trip to Italy, where the guv has
a 7 million dollar vacation home. He took this little flyer just six
months into his term as governor. And he is sticking New Jersey's
taxpayers with the tab for his personal protection --- $100,000!

With all the trouble he has at home, much of it of his own making,
Governor Phil Murphy might want to stay in Italy. And also pick
up the tab for his protection and other needs. In the meantime,

New Jersey's electorate may want to rethink their having had

elected him governor.


MEM

A Master Manipulator at Work

President Trump's enemies, who are found in abundance
in both major political parties, have been trying ever since
not his inauguration but his election to oust him, by hook
or by crook. They have been joined in their nefarious efforts
by The Deep State, defined as inclusive of the intelligence
community --- the FBI and the CIA. We have seen the testi-
mony of Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Peter Strzok
claiming to be without bias against the president but still
refers to him as "disgusting" and "horrible", he of the
correspondence with Lisa Page, an attorney with the FBI and
Strzok's paramour in which he said that they would stop
Trump from being elected. Former FBI Director James Comey,
whom President Trump had fired for the partisan overtones in
his work in that capacity, had recently urged Americans on
Twitter that it was their duty to vote Democratic in this
year's mid-term election.

But the bigger menace in all this is former Central Intelligence
Agency Director John Brennan, President Obama's appointee
to the post. On Twitter as well, Brennan tweeted that President
Trump's press conference in Helsinki was "nothing short of
treasonous," and that the president was guilty of "venality,
moral turpitude and political corruption." Such heated partisan-
ship is why his role in the 2016 Spy Scandal merits the closest
scrutiny. It must also be noted that prior to his nomination as
CIA director Brennan was a close advisor to Obama.

At a House Intelligence Committee hearing in May 2017,
Brennan stated that he became "aware of intelligence and
information about contacts between Russian officials and
U.S. persons." Brennan also claimed credit for launching
the Trump investigation. As to the veracity of his claim
your scrutinizing Peasant is unable to say, but he certainly
has shown himself to be an Obama-Clinton minion.

Brennan also had a major role in forming the Russian
narrative --- the story that had Russia interfered in the
2016 presidential election intending to assist candidate
Trump against his Democrat challenger, Hillary Clinton.
This was kneaded into the Trump - collusion narrative
which soon followed. But Brennan couldn't get the FBI
to buy what he was selling; the bureau believed that
Russian cyberattacks were aimed at playing havoc with
the U.S. political system in general, not at benefitting
candidate Trump. Since he couldn't get the FBI or his
own agency the CIA to back him up, Brennan couldn't
go public with his overall narrative, so he went to Sen.
Harry Reid, the then-Senate Minority leader, the top
Democrat in that chamber. In a subsequent briefing,
he told Reid that Russia was attempting to help
Donald Trump win the presidency and that Trump's
advisors were in collusion with the Russians (by the
by, in the two years since there is STILL no public
evidence that has been discovered which could
support this serious accusation).

A few days after the meeting between Brennan and Reid,
the latter wrote a letter to FBI chief Comey, which
immediately became public. Reid echoed Brennan's
story, claiming that evidence of a direct tie between
Russia and the Trump campaign continued to amass.
Sen. Reid's letter was the first official salvo of the
collusion narrative being fired into the open. 
Comey then announced in October that the FBI had
reopened their investigation into the Republican
candidate, but the timing may well have affected
the election in a negative, rather than a positive way
for Democrat Hillary Clinton, and Clinton supporters
maintain this is indeed the case. However, Trump's
supporters claim that the publicizing of the collusion
narrative was harmful to their candidate and could
have cost him the election.

And through it all, at its center was partisan politics
and John Brennan. And he had the unmitigated gall
to accuse President Trump of treason.

There had better be an even larger investigation con-
ducted into this sordid affair, resulting in some people
going to prison. And John Brennan had damn well better
be one of them.


MEM