The real peril behind vote-by-mail

Tucker Carlson puts it into a short, concise segment.  This is a "must-see" if you're to understand why certain political parties, pressure groups and influencers are trying to promote universal vote-by-mail as a "solution" to the coronavirus pandemic and the risks it poses.

I think he's right.  If this pressure succeeds, you can effectively say goodbye to democracy in the USA.

Peter

Nah. I'm sure there's no connection. None at all . . .

Headlines to make you see red, when taken together:

California will pay illegal immigrants

not included in coronavirus stimulus

Newsom Proposes Cuts For

State Worker Pay, Schools, Health Care

In Grim COVID-19 Budget Revision

Western governors join Gavin Newsom

in $1 trillion appeal to Congress

for coronavirus aid

What a coincidence!  That the states falling over themselves to hand out taxpayer dollars to illegal aliens, the homeless and what they define as "needy" groups, should turn around and demand that the rest of us pay them ONE TRILLION DOLLARS for "coronavirus aid"!  And what a coincidence that only a few days after announcing millions in taxpayer dollars as a handout to illegal aliens, California's governor is asking state employees to tighten their belts!  There can't possibly be a relationship between them.  Right?  Right?  Anyone . . . Bueller?

Perish the thought that the "coronavirus aid" Western states are demanding might not be for costs related to the current pandemic, but instead to replenish their states' coffers that they've depleted wasted through misspending, overspending, ideological blindness and just plain incompetence - so they can turn around and waste that money all over again in the name of "compassion" or "tolerance" or "equality".

None of those things could possibly be more than coincidental . . . could they?




Peter

Has the FBI institutionalized malfeasance of office?

I'm glad that the Attorney General has withdrawn the charges against General Flynn:  but I'm sickened that they were ever brought at all.  The entire affair demonstrates that a major US government agency deliberately disregarded both the law and the facts in going after an individual for partisan political purposes.

Something has got to be done about this.  It's simply intolerable to think that those responsible can continue their lives and careers, getting away with their crimes - because they were crimes.  Be in no doubt about that.  If we allow them to pass now, then future administrations and bureaucrats and officials will take that as a sign that they, too, can get away with it.  Examples need to be made.  Heads need to roll - and very senior heads, at that - not only through dismissals, but through criminal prosecution, too.

Tucker Carlson put it very well.  Please take the time to watch the video below, if you haven't seen it already.  He hits all the right notes, IMHO.

Senior officials were willing to destroy the life and livelihood of an innocent man, in order to get at his boss.  Politics triumphed over the rule of law - at least in the past.  That may have been prevented, finally, in General Flynn's case . . . but there's nothing except the rule of law to prevent it happening again.  That's a very scary thought.  Therefore, that rule of law needs to be applied to the perpetrators.  It's as simple as that.

Peter

The corruption of the "news" media into the "propaganda" media

Two recent articles have underlined the collapse in objectivity, factual reporting and trustworthiness of the news media.

Victor Davis Hanson asks, "Do the media even exist?"

The problem is not that reporters are human and therefore sometimes err. The rub is not even that they are poorly educated or rarely write well ... The crisis instead is that they are now almost always wrong, and predictably wrong because they are lazy and biased—and they deny it to the point of self-delusion. The result is that, for all practical purposes, journalists no longer exist for the general public as sources of news.

More than half the country now assumes that the New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, the networks, and the cable news outlets are culpable not of merely failing to tell the truth but of being incapable of telling the truth. Even if they wished to, or had the skills to report empirically and dispassionately, they simply cannot, given their investments in the progressive agenda, and its investments in them. In other words, they are owned—creatures of that agenda.

. . .

To understand the media coverage of the greatest economic self-inflicted wound in American history is simple: as long the virus remains active, Trump is cast as culpable for the spread of the epidemic by not locking down the country earlier and longer; once the virus disappears, Trump caused the ensuing depression by locking down the country too early and far too long.

Every story until Election Day will serve those two master media themes. After Journolist, the John Podesta email archive, the serial CNN fables, the daily White House correspondents circus, and Trump Derangement Syndrome, no one can believe the news anymore—to the extent Americans still read and watch it.

There's more at the link, including many examples of journalistic malfeasance.

Supporting Mr. Hanson's contention, Daniel Greenfield points out that many journalists being sponsored to work in local news media are, in fact, political activists first, and journalists second.

While Report for America claims that it’s funding local journalism, what it’s actually doing is embedding social justice activists in local papers who are often targeted at pursuing a narrow political agenda.

Leah Willingham was placed at the Associated Press to focus on the "Mississippi state legislature" and its "actions affecting the poor", Kyeland Jackson was planted in Twin Cities Public Television to cover the "causes, effects and solutions to racial disparities in Minnesota", Shivani Patel was dispatched to the Ventura County Star to write about “equity in education in the county”, and Devna Bose was shoved into The Charlotte Observer to report on "poor and minority communities in prosperous Charlotte".

The agenda is often built into the very description of what Report for America’s activists are doing. Or at least it is to Report for America’s donors who are told what the activists they fund are doing. But ordinary readers of local publications and stations are often not told that what they’re reading isn’t real local reporting: it’s the work of activists funded by a national organization and its wealthy backers.

The lack of transparency is dishonest, unethical, and a new low even in the era of fake news.

The left-wing foundations and donors aren’t funding journalism, they’re buying coverage that fits their agenda. And local newspapers are renting out their newsrooms to wealthy left-wing organizations. Beyond the usual radical foundations like the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Knight Foundation, the Facebook Journalism Project has poured millions of dollars into RFA.

. . .

Facebook has often been accused of spreading fake news. Here it, along with the Google News Initiative, which kicked in $400,000, is literally financing a fake news project which pays half the salaries of the reporters it embeds in local newsrooms, while its own funding comes from wealthy left-wing groups.

Most newspapers are happy with the arrangement: it’s the readers who are cheated.

Facebook has claimed that its Journalism Project will fight fake news, instead it’s funding it. If the social media monopoly giant wanted to support journalism, it could do so in any number of ways. By financing Report for America’s activism, it’s helping fund papers on the condition that they run propaganda.

This isn’t philanthropy, it’s politics.

Again, more at the link.

Both articles underline the fact that we can no longer depend on or trust any news report at face value.  We now have to verify it, sift through evidence for or against the claims made in the report, and make an informed judgment about what's believable - and what isn't.  Sadly, the average voter can't or won't take the time or trouble to do that . . . which is perilous indeed for the survival of our democracy - and is, of course, the reason behind the manipulation of our news media in the first place.

Peter

Bailing out the states: the momentum - and the prospect for violence - builds

Regular readers will know that for years, I've predicted that the failing states in the Union - failing because of their feckless, fiscally inept and terminally greedy politicians, plus the cronies to whom they pour out largesse from the state budget - are going to demand that the federal government bail them out, and assume responsibility for their catastrophically large, otherwise unpayable debts, deficits and overheads.

I was right.

As I reported last week, Illinois Democrats have asked for over $41 billion in financial aid, ostensibly related to the costs of the coronavirus pandemic, but in reality specifically earmarked to make up the shortfall in state pension funding, pay off the state's deficit, and basically cover their overspending for the past decade or two.  The money has little or nothing to do with the coronavirus, but everything to do with ensuring that their past misdeeds are paid for by the taxpayers of the entire United States, not just those in Illinois.  What's more, you and I know full well that if they succeed, they won't change their spendthrift ways.  Within a few years, they'll have dug themselves into yet another fiscal hole, and demand to be bailed out yet again - citing this bailout as precedent.

If you want to know some of the facts underlying Illinois' predicament, read this article.

Our analysis at OpenTheBooks.com shows that an Illinois family of four now owes more in unfunded pension liabilities ($76,000) than they earn in household income ($63,585). In a state of 13 million residents, every man, woman, and child owes $19,000 — on an estimated $251 billion pension liability.

Our auditors discovered 110,000 public employees and retirees who earned more than $100,000 last year.

We found tree trimmers in Chicago making $106,663; nurses at state corrections earning up to $277,100; junior college presidents making $491,095; university doctors earning up to $2 million; and 111 small town managers who out-earned every governor of the 50 states ($202,000).

There's more at the link.

It's becoming clear that almost every state and major city that's in similar self-inflicted dire straits is hoping for a similar bailout.  Democrats are demanding it;  Republicans are pushing back.

Democratic leaders on Tuesday doubled down on their demand for $500 billion in aid to states to help with the coronavirus crisis while rejecting a suggestion by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that some struggling states may need to declare bankruptcy.

“Right now the House is hard at work for the next bill CARES 2, which must contain robust funding for state and local government to pay frontline workers,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a call with reporters. “Governors and mayors, Republicans and Democrats, are crying out for support.”

. . .

"In terms of funding we may have two packages, one for states and one for locals," Pelosi said. Later she clarified: “It looks like we’re going to need 500 [billion] for the states and we may also need a very big figure for counties and municipalities."

. . .

On Monday, President Trump appeared open to signing such a bill, but also asked why taxpayers should bail out “poorly run states.”

“Why should the people and taxpayers of America be bailing out poorly run states (like Illinois, as example) and cities, in all cases Democrat run and managed, when most of the other states are not looking for bailout help?” Trump tweeted Monday. “I am open to discussing anything, but just asking?”

Again, more at the link.

New York City is trying to get in on the act as well.

The word “absurd” doesn’t even begin to describe this ridiculous demand by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio as he publicly says he wants the federal government to replace all of the missing revenue from the COVID-19 economic shut-down.  This is bonkers.

If the federal government was to even consider taking such action it would essentially be promoting all states and cities to remain shut-down forever; because, in the mind of those who live from the government trough, there would be no need to reopen.  The mental disconnect here is incredible. I think the needle on my ‘nope-meter‘ just broke off.

While private citizens, private companies and private workers are forced –by government– to remain locked in their homes; unable to earn a living and on the cusp of financial despair, or face arrest; the NYC Mayor wants the government system and workers to be isolated from any economic impact via a federal bailout.

Sundance, blogging at The Last Refuge, believes this is part of a deliberate wider strategy by Democrat-controlled cities and states to prolong the economic impact of the pandemic for as long as possible, hoping that the misery it inflicts will bring them votes in November.  It's hard to disagree with him.  Bold, underlined text below is my emphasis.

It is being reported the San Francisco Bay area will remain in a state of forced lock-down with an extension of the stay-at-home orders throughout May.  Considering this is the home of Speaker Nancy Pelosi,… this decision highlights an expectation that the federal government will bail out local and state governments.

We anticipated this type of approach where Blue states & Blue regions will keep their economies closed as long as possible to inflict maximum political damage.  Simply, if San Francisco were not confident they will gain a federal bailout they would not be keeping their economic system closed for another entire month.

. . .

It is likely that Democrat governors and Democrats in the House have organized a specific media allied approach to demand the federal bailout.  There is simply no way any state or local region would remain shut down unless they were confident of funding.

Any bailout would only help the local and state government. It would not help the private sector, or private sector workers. By using federal taxpayer funds to replace missing tax revenue, the Blue states/regions would be protecting their own big government ideology.

The three step plan seems predictable:

1. Get out ahead of President Trump.
2. Defy the ‘all clear’ and shape economic benefit to their political allies.
3. Then use Fauci’s upcoming dossier to hit the administration for heartlessly opening the economy too early.

This is going to be one hell of a battle.

Essentially we are looking at a Spring and Summer conflict, an economic civil war between Blue states/regions and Red states/regions.

More at the link.

Essentially, many state and local governments are using the pandemic as an excuse to suspend constitutional rights and liberties, and govern by decree.  They're now trying to extend that to the federal government as well, by making it dance to their fiscally irresponsible tune.  As the American Spectator points out, "Now that officials have learned they can suspend our civil liberties by edict, expect such “emergency” measures any time there’s another crisis, real or perceived."  I expect that'll apply to bailouts as well.

I don't think those agitating for a federal bailout, using the economic misery generated by the pandemic as a lever to apply pressure, have thought this through.  If their residents find that government largesse is no longer flowing (at least in the amounts they want);  and if they believe (or have been told, loudly and repeatedly, by their politicians) that they're entitled to such largesse;  then they're going to get out of control and try to take what they want.  The results are likely to be catastrophic for law and order, and civil society.

I think the ordinary people of America realize this.  After all, that's why they bought more guns in March than any other month in previous US history.  They're getting ready to defend what's theirs - and I believe they're right in anticipating the need to do so.  Again, bold, underlined text is my emphasis.

"Simply put: I wanted peace of mind when it comes to the safety of my family," Eaton said.

. . .

"To me, it's all about protecting my family, and if a gun makes that easier, so be it," Scott, a California tech worker with a wife and daughter, said.

Many of the new gun owners cited concerns about personal protection as states began emptying jail cells and police departments announced they would no longer enforce certain laws. Jake Wilhelm, a Virginia-based environmental consultant and lacrosse coach, purchased a Sig Sauer P226 after seeing Italy enact a nationwide lockdown on March 9.

"[My fiancée and I] came to the conclusion in early March that if a nation like Italy was going into full lockdown, we in the U.S. were likely on the same path," Wilhelm said. "Given that, and knowing that police resources would be stretched to the max, I decided to purchase a handgun."

. . .

"I think a lot of people were afraid of exactly what's happening now," Viden said. "They're afraid if it continues to go on longer, things are going to get worse."

. . .

The fear extended past the disease to how communities would bear the strain of job loss, lockdown orders, and law enforcement policies adopted in the wake of the spread. One Tampa inmate who was released over coronavirus concerns has now been accused of murder, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Brian, a 40-year-old living near Tampa, lost his full-time bartending job in March but was concerned enough about deteriorating public safety that he dipped into his savings to purchase a Smith & Wesson M&P Shield.

"My biggest fear is that our local police force comes down with the virus," he said. "If the good guys are all out sick, who is going to stop the bad guys? When people have no hope, they get desperate. And we fear the worst is to come."

More at the link.

You want to know why my friends want me to upgrade their rifles?  You want to know why I've been warning about COVID-19 as a threat to personal security, and suggesting ways to keep your shooting skills honed, even during the lockdown?  You want to know why I wrote my recent three article series about personal defense rifles?  Look no further.  To quote a sixties trope, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."  As I pointed out a few weeks ago, the grasshoppers are already coming after the ants.

I expect that problem to become exponentially worse during the next two to three months.  Other observers are even more pessimistic than I am.  (Try this one as an example:  "The economy is dead on arrival, the pin to the grenade has already been pulled, the majority of Americans simply don't realize it yet.")

I don't think it's going to be as bad as that, but it's certainly going to be a very difficult few years ahead.  I can only hope and pray that the worst expectations and predictions are wrong.

Peter

Voting by mail will be "The Most Massive Fraud Scheme in the History of America"

That's the opinion of lawyer Jim Bopp Jr., who's filed suits in more than one state to prevent unsupervised, check-and-balance-free postal balloting.

“I don’t use the word ‘voters,’” he says, “I use the word ‘people on the registration rolls’ because many of them are ineligible to vote. They’re not voters. They’re people that are on the registration rolls that are ineligible to vote.”

As the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the nation, Democratic officials and activists began pushing states to switch to voting by mail, eliminating in-person voting altogether — and probably permanently.

But organizations that have spent years reviewing the voter rolls in many states estimate that more than 20 million of the names nationwide are duplicates, people who have moved away, are deceased, non-citizens or felons who have not had their voting rights restored.

“Democrats have been trying to register everybody in the country and then fight purging the rolls of ineligible people, and now they want to mail ballots to every single one of them,” says Bopp. “It’s just like, talk about the most massive fraud scheme in the history of America. Makes Tammany Hall looks like a bunch of pikers, or the Pendergast Machine in Kansas City look like they didn’t even know how to steal elections.”

. . .

All-mail voting is not the same as absentee voting as voting absentee involves the voter requesting an absentee ballot, usually by mail, with a signature.

Some states have more stringent requirements than others. In Kansas, for example, people requesting an absentee ballot are required to send a copy of a driver’s license or State ID with the application for an absentee ballot.

“Part of the problem with this discussion is, we are familiar with absentee ballots, and that does involve quote mailing a ballot, end of quote,” says Bopp, “but there are numerous safeguards, the most important of which is the prior application. You have to apply.

“You have an audit trail, and all sorts of things. And that’s why a lot of these Democrats and liberal activists don’t like absentee ballot,” he says. “They want wholesale mailing out without application because it eliminates half the fraud protection.”

There's more at the link.

Equally dangerous, IMHO, is the push to legitimize so-called "ballot harvesting".  That resulted in all the Congressional districts in Orange County, CA - previously solidly Republican - turning Democrat in the last election, due solely to a flood of mail-in and absentee ballots "collected by volunteers".  Republicans used similar shenanigans to win an election in North Carolina.  The problem isn't limited to one political party.

I think there's likely to be absolutely massive electoral fraud this November as Democrats try to ensure, by hook or by crook, that they retain the House, take back the Senate, and defeat President Trump.  They've never forgiven him for defeating Hillary Clinton last time, and they want to make him a one-term President to exact revenge.  If they can't do that, they at least want to emasculate his policy agenda by controlling Congress.  Endangered Republican incumbents will be sorely tempted to indulge in shady tricks of their own to defend their seats, or unseat key Democrat players.  I think Mr. Bopp's warning needs to be taken very seriously indeed.

Perhaps we need to throw out every incumbent, irrespective of their party affiliation, and elect fresh blood?

Word!




Peter

"Fake news", caught in the act

The Gateway Pundit reports:

Many of you have by now seen various photos of medical workers boldly standing in front of lock down protesters like they are in Tiananmen Square or something — but what the media hasn’t shown you is that the photos are being faked.

In an instance of photo staging by the media caught on Facebook Live, a car with lock down protesters comes to a stop at a traffic light. As soon as they did, a medical worker hopped in front of their car with photographers, had a few photos snapped, then crossed the street like nothing happened.

The woman filming the staged photo-op quickly called the photographers out and urged them not to publish the faked photos.

“You’re a fraud!” she screamed as they walked off, never having actually protested.

Click over there to follow the Twitter link and see the video for yourself.  It's a classic example of media fakery - and proves that photographic "evidence" may not necessarily be true at all.

It's come to the point where one should automatically distrust any and every media report about the coronavirus pandemic, or President Trump's handling of the situation, unless and until it's corroborated by independent, trustworthy sources.  The media generally isn't interested in the truth - only in how they can twist the "facts" to suit their partisan political agenda.




Peter

The sheer, unmitigated gall of it!

The dictator governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, is displaying all the hallmarks of a wannabe tyrant in her handling of her state.  Her latest atrocity was to make even the gathering of health information into an exercise in partisan politics.

Michigan Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer has handed over control of the state’s new contact-tracing operation to one of her own campaign vendors and one of the left’s biggest technology firms. The move has sparked concern that she is using the coronavirus to strengthen the Democratic Party’s data operation, potentially at the expense of public health.

The Whitmer administration announced Monday that it had awarded a contract for contact tracing in the state to Every Action VAN, an arm of the Democratic data behemoth NGP VAN ... The group is run by Stuart Trevelyan, a longtime Democratic campaign operative who worked in the Clinton White House and is currently assisting presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s campaign with voter outreach and fundraising, according to Federal Election Commission reports. Whitmer’s own gubernatorial campaign paid NGP VAN nearly $5,000 in 2019, according to state campaign finance records. Every Action is a branch of the firm that works with nonprofit organizations.

. . .

Partnering with Every Action, Michigan hopes to collect information from thousands of individuals across the state to better understand the spread of the coronavirus. Trained volunteers are placing phone calls to those who have been in contact with coronavirus-infected individuals, inquiring about their health and advising them on appropriate precautions.

But state Republicans are raising concerns that the project will give the Democratic firm access to health and other private data of unwitting residents.

There's more at the link.

The public outcry was immediate, and so strong that Whitmer rapidly backtracked.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's administration acknowledged Tuesday that normal protocols were bypassed when a no-bid contract for coronavirus contact tracing was awarded by the state to Great Lakes Community Engagement, which is operated by a well-known Democratic consultant Michael Kolehouse -- who has previously written that President Trump should "get Coronavirus ASAP" and that someone should "do the country a favor and cough on that man," Facebook posts reviewed by Fox News show.

. . .

The state abruptly canceled the contract Tuesday.

“Nearly every major Democratic campaign in America is powered by NGP VAN's software, including the Obama campaign’s voter contact, volunteer, fundraising and compliance operations in all 50 states," NGP VAN boasts on its website. The Washington Post has described NGP VAN as "the voter file provider for Democratic campaigns and independent groups up and down ballot."

NGP VAN has previously exposed secretive and proprietary information due to technical glitches, The Washington Post has reported, including when a software patch was improperly applied.

. . .

“I want to know how Gov. Whitmer’s administration decided to hire this company without a competitive bid process, or letting the Legislature — charged with ensuring accountability within state government — know about it,” wrote GOP state Rep. Shane Hernandez in a letter to Whitmer that was first reported by The Detroit News. “I want to know what safeguards the governor has in place to ensure the information gathered during this COVID-19 response doesn’t wind up in the hands of any campaigns."

Again, more at the link.

I'm mind-boggled by the sheer chutzpah displayed by the Governor.  How on earth did she think she was going to get away with this?  Did she really think her opponents were going to turn a blind eye to such malfeasance of office, or roll over and play dead and allow her to ride roughshod over normal State acquisition and purchasing rules and procedures to benefit her own partisan supporters?

From issuing plainly nonsensical (not to mention unconstitutional) orders, to managing the state of Michigan for the benefit of her partisan supporters rather than all its citizens and residents, Governor Whitmer is demonstrating every day that she's unfit for office.  I don't know how Michiganders propose to remove her, but they'd better do so as quickly as possible, before she and her cronies ruin or destroy their state around their ears.  She's a disaster in the making.




Peter

Am I a prophet, or what? - Illinois edition

I've been warning about the budget woes and pension underfunding of Illinois in general, and Chicago in particular, for years.  It's a classic case of politicians who spend, spend, spend (using money they haven't got - deficit spending) in order to favor the constituencies (unions, liberal and progressive pressure groups, etc.) that re-elect them.  (Illinois isn't alone in that, of course.  Earlier this year there was a sneaky, underhanded attempt to fix up a federal bailout [to the tune of billions, perhaps even trillions of dollars] for such mismanaged state pension systems.  It's still on the back burner, but if the Senate and the White House change hands in November, I expect it to be rammed through faster than prunes through a duck.)

A couple of years back, I wrote:

... before long, Illinois' corrupt politicians and their union cronies will be calling upon the Federal government to bail them out, at the expense of every taxpayer in the USA.  Other states that have similarly mismanaged their finances (California for sure) will probably do likewise.  I can only hope and pray that the response to such demands will be "Not just no, but HELL, NO!"  Why should US taxpayers have to bail out Illinois unions and politicians, only to allow them to continue in the same vein as before?

Looks like I was exactly on target.  Using the current coronavirus pandemic as an excuse, Illinois Democrats are doing precisely that.

Illinois Senate Democrats are asking the federal government for more than $41 billion in federal aid — about a quarter of it for a pension fund bailout — to keep the state financially afloat as the coronavirus pandemic continues to slash revenues across the board.

A letter from Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, addressed to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, went out Tuesday to Illinois’ entire congressional delegation — a day before Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced the economic shutdown would result in an estimated $2.7 billion revenue shortfall in the state’s current budget.

“I realize I’ve asked for a lot, but this is an unprecedented situation, and we face the reality that there likely will be additional, unanticipated costs that could result in future requests for assistance,” Harmon wrote on behalf of the state senate Democratic caucus.

Harmon’s federal wish list for the second phase of federal coronavirus relief includes $15 billion in block grant funding to shore up the state’s spending plans for this fiscal year and the next two.

The Oak Park Democrat also asked for $10 billion for the state’s desperately underfunded pension plans.

The Illinois Republican Party slammed that request on Twitter, accusing Democrats of “brazenly using a global pandemic as an excuse to ask the [federal government] to bail them out of the fiscal disaster they manufactured over the last two decades.”

Harmon also wants $9.6 billion for local governments, $6 billion for Illinois’ overloaded unemployment insurance system and $1 billion in public health support for “historically underserved communities”.

There's more at the link.  There are also more details of the request at Wirepoints, which has accurately and consistently covered Illinois' fiscal fecklessness for years.

It was Rahm Emanuel (until recently Mayor of Chicago) who opined during the Obama administration, "You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."  Clearly, his advice has not been lost on his party, or his successors in office.

Illinois' fiscal problems are almost entirely of its own making.  The state, and left-wing/progressive strongholds within it, have overspent and wasted money for not just years, but decades.  They're now trying to make the rest of us, the taxpayers of this country, pay for all their excesses and mis-spending.  As far as I'm concerned, and as I've said before, the answer should be not just "No", but "Hell, no!"

Look for other states to make similar demands during this crisis.  They think that since so much federal money is being thrown around, no-one will notice (or care very much) that they're taking the opportunity to divert billions, even trillions of federal dollars to pay for their own excesses and self-indulgence.  We dare not let that happen, because it will establish a precedent that will be used again in future.  If we pay off Illinois', or California's, or any other state's deficits, what's to stop them spending just as much all over again, then demanding another bailout?  What makes you think they've learned anything from their excesses, and won't repeat them at our expense given half a chance?

We, the taxpayers of this country, should all be writing to our representatives and Senators to protest any attempt to foist others' economic incompetence and corruption onto our backs.  If we don't, and it happens, we'll have only ourselves to blame.




Peter