Jan. 20, 2020
Permission to republish original opeds and cartoons granted.
Impeachment takes center stage as the circus comes to town
The circus is coming to Washington, D.C. and Senators are not
getting any popcorn. Speaker Pelosi’s
imperial trooper like march with impeachment documents last week triggered the
Senate impeachment trial. Impeachment is an extremely grave process, as no
trial has ever successfully removed a President. Three out of four impeachment inquiries/votes
have occurred in the past 45 years with President Nixon resigning prior to a
House vote, Bill Clinton surviving a Senate trial, and now President Trump
facing accusers. While it is the
Senate’s responsibility to vote, ultimately, the fight on the Senate floor is
for the hearts and minds of the American public. So, in a very real sense, the House managers
and the President’s team will be seeking to convince you, your family, friends
and neighbors. So stay informed so you
can provide the facts to your circle of influence to avoid the public
supporting conviction due to the biased Google search headlines which are
designed to color public opinion.Impeachment is here. The fight for America is on.
Video: Trump pulls U.S. out of NAFTA with passage of USMCA, keeps key promise to put America first on trade
With Senate passage of the USMCA, President Donald Trump has kept
a key campaign promise to end NAFTA and to reorder the rules of international
trade with an America first emphasis.
Carson's housing fairness rule is a winner for America
Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning: “Since
2015, Americans for Limited Government has led the charge to reform the
Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulation to remove any requirements for
localities that take community development block grants to make changes to
local zoning. We are pleased that HUD Secretary Ben Carson produced a final
rule that protects local zoning prerogatives while encouraging evaluation as to
whether regulations have an adverse impact on housing affordability. This
rightly stops the nationalization of zoning while still encouraging fair
housing, once again placing primacy on cities and counties to make the best
decisions for their communities. The last thing Americans needed was
Washington, D.C. bureaucrats dictating zoning requirements based on Census
maps, and Secretary Carson successfully ended this overreach.”
Victor Davis Hanson: Chaos in Europe – It's tricky being world's largest importer of gas, oil and critic, too
“The American-Iranian standoff in the Middle East, coupled with
radical drop-offs in Iranian and Venezuelan oil production, has terrified
Europe — and for understandable reasons. In a logical world, Europeans would
retake control of their own destiny. That recalibration would entail beefing up
their military power, and their navies in particular. The European Union has
almost no ability to guarantee the delivery of critical oil and gas supplies
from the Middle East should Iran close the Strait of Hormuz or harass ships in
the Persian Gulf. Europe’s only maritime security is the NATO fleet — a synonym
for the U.S. Navy. Vladimir Putin’s Russia supplies an estimated 30 percent of
Europe’s oil needs. In times of crisis, Putin could exercise de facto control
over the European economy. In other words, Europe refuses to develop its own
gas and oil reserves, and won’t fund the necessary military power to ensure
that it can safely import energy from problematic or even hostile sources.”
Impeachment takes center stage as the circus comes to town
By Rick Manning
The circus is coming to Washington, D.C. and Senators are not getting any popcorn. Speaker Pelosi’s imperial trooper like march with impeachment documents last week triggered the Senate impeachment trial and this is what you can expect.
Chief Justice John Roberts will be in the chair, and Senators will have to sit quietly in their seats without cell phones, computers or any other electronic devices as House impeachment managers and the President’s defense team scuffle over the rules of conduct for the trial on Tuesday with the Chief Justice making rulings subject to the agreement of a majority of the Senate. These rules will set the stage for the conduct of the trial, because unlike a normal judicial proceeding, an impeachment trial is conducted under the closed rules agreed upon by a majority of Senators, so don’t expect this to look much like “Law and Order”, “Perry Mason” or any other court based crime show you have watched.
If all goes as planned, here is what you can expect to happen for the first five days of the trial.
Wednesday and Thursday will feature House managers, led by Representative Adam Schiff, who will present their case to the Senate. No witness will be called, so Schiff will just lay out the case for the two Articles passed by the House. It is likely that he will attempt to bring into evidence witness statements and other things that were not presented or heard in the House, that he feels helps their case as part of this presentation. There will likely be clash between the President’s team and the House over claims that go outside of the scope of the Articles and the Chief Justice and Senate will have to decide whether they will be allowed.
Friday and Saturday will feature the President’s defense, which will be heard for the first time, as the House did not allow the President’s team to enter facts into the record beyond cross-examining witnesses. It would be reasonable to expect that the Chief Justice and Senate will allow the President’s team a tremendous amount of leeway in detailing their case, since he has not been allowed heretofore to take apart the House impeachment claims.
When the Senate returns on Monday, Senators will have submitted written questions to the House managers and the President’s defense team to be read by the Chief Justice, with a high degree of potential for clash between the sides.
When the Senators’ questions have been addressed, it is expected that the Senators will retire to their respective party conferences to answer the question of whether they want to hear witnesses or not. Upon returning to the floor, the Senate can either choose to allow witnesses to testify with a vote on each witness likely, or they can move to dispose of the case either through acquittal or conviction.
The discussion of the grounds for impeachment have been debated ad nauseum already, but it is my hope and expectation that the President’s team will be allowed to show the video of Joe Biden bragging about extorting the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating the company which his son served on the Board of Directors. While this might astonish readers, the simple fact is that many Senators have not seen this clip, and it goes to the heart of why the President mentioned Joe Biden and Burisma when speaking to the Ukraine President about corruption.
Another piece of evidence that has not been widely reported is the telephone conversation between Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and the President on Aug. 31, immediately preceding a meeting involving Vice President Pence, Johnson and the Ukrainian President. The meeting occurred right after the news that Ukrainian aid was being held up broke, and Johnson asked the President what he wanted to ask for in exchange for the aid being released. The President told him nothing: “No way. I would never do that. Who told you that?” And, that he would likely be happy with the decision that was made: “We’re reviewing it now, and you’ll probably like my final decision,” indicating he would support it, which he did on Sept. 11.
This directly contradicts the entirety of the House “quid pro quo” case since it was based upon the “presumption” of a U.S. ambassador about what the President wanted without that ambassador actually having talked to the President about it.
As an aside, there is nothing wrong with the President of the United States seeking to use foreign aid to influence that actions of foreign governments. One would expect that foreign aid would be tied to behaving in U.S. interests in some meaningful way, otherwise, the entirety of the foreign aid program would be nothing more than an international welfare system, and should be abandoned as not serving our nation’s interest.
Americans for Limited Government will be following the trial in the Senator closely with analysis, articles, tweets and Facebook posts, to make certain that you have the facts as controversies erupt.
Impeachment is an extremely grave process, as no trial has ever successfully removed a President. Three out of four impeachment inquiries/votes have occurred in the past 45 years with President Nixon resigning prior to a House vote, Bill Clinton surviving a Senate trial, and now President Trump facing accusers.
While it is the Senate’s responsibility to vote, ultimately, the fight on the Senate floor is for the hearts and minds of the American public. So, in a very real sense, the House managers and the President’s team will be seeking to convince you, your family, friends and neighbors. So stay informed so you can provide the facts to your circle of influence to avoid the public supporting conviction due to the biased Google search headlines which are designed to color public opinion.
Impeachment is here. The fight for America is on.
Rick Manning is the President of Americans for Limited Government.
Video: Trump pulls U.S. out of NAFTA with passage of USMCA, keeps key promise to put America first on trade
To view online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOleG5CvHaw
Carson's housing fairness rule is a winner for America
Jan. 17, 2020, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising the Department of Housing and Urban Development's new Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulation that removes requirements to make changes to local zoning to qualify for federal funds:
"Since 2015, Americans for Limited Government has led the charge to reform the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulation to remove any requirements for localities that take community development block grants to make changes to local zoning. We are pleased that HUD Secretary Ben Carson produced a final rule that protects local zoning prerogatives while encouraging evaluation as to whether regulations have an adverse impact on housing affordability. This rightly stops the nationalization of zoning while still encouraging fair housing, once again placing primacy on cities and counties to make the best decisions for their communities. The last thing Americans needed was Washington, D.C. bureaucrats dictating zoning requirements based on Census maps, and Secretary Carson successfully ended this overreach."
To view online: https://getliberty.org/2020/01/carsons-housing-fairness-rule-is-a-winner-for-america/
ALG Editor’s Note: In the following featured column from Fox News, Victor Davis Hanson makes the case that if only Europe would access their own oil and natural gas:
Victor Davis Hanson: Chaos in Europe – It's tricky being world's largest importer of gas, oil and critic, too
By Victor Davis Hanson
Despite its cool Green parties and ambitious wind and solar agendas, Europe remains by far the world’s largest importer of oil and natural gas.
Oil output in the North Sea and off the coast of Norway is declining, and the European Union is quietly looking for fossil fuel energy anywhere it can find it.
Europe itself is naturally rich in fossil fuels. It likely has more reserves of shale gas than the United States, currently the world’s largest producer of both oil and natural gas. Yet in most European countries, horizontal drilling and fracking to extract gas and oil are either illegal or face so many court challenges and popular protests that they are neither culturally nor economically feasible.
The result is that Europe is almost entirely dependent on Russian, Middle Eastern and African sources of energy.
The American-Iranian standoff in the Middle East, coupled with radical drop-offs in Iranian and Venezuelan oil production, has terrified Europe — and for understandable reasons.
In a logical world, Europeans would retake control of their own destiny. That recalibration would entail beefing up their military power, and their navies in particular.
The European Union has almost no ability to guarantee the delivery of critical oil and gas supplies from the Middle East should Iran close the Strait of Hormuz or harass ships in the Persian Gulf.
Europe’s only maritime security is the NATO fleet — a synonym for the U.S. Navy.
Vladimir Putin’s Russia supplies an estimated 30 percent of Europe’s oil needs. In times of crisis, Putin could exercise de facto control over the European economy.
In other words, Europe refuses to develop its own gas and oil reserves, and won’t fund the necessary military power to ensure that it can safely import energy from problematic or even hostile sources.
It’s no wonder that Europe’s traditional foreign policy reflects these crazy paradoxes.
Energy neediness explains why the EU was so eager to maintain the so-called “Iran deal” with the theocracy in Tehran, and also why it was nervous about the anti-Russia hysteria that arose in the United States after the 2016 election.
Past European distancing from Israel reflected Europe’s fear of alienating Arab oil producers in the Middle East and North Africa.
Europeans are also uneasy about the Trump administration. They see the current U.S. government as nationalist and unpredictable. Americans appear not so ready as in the past to enter the world’s hotspots to ensure unimpeded commercial use of sea and air lanes for the benefit of others.
The result is a sort of European schizophrenia when it comes to America and foreign policy in general. On one hand, the European Union resents its military dependence on Washington, while on the other it prays for its continuance. The EU loudly promotes freedom and democracy abroad, but it is careful to keep ties with oil-exporting Middle Eastern autocracies that are antithetical to every value Europeans promote.
Germany agrees with its allies that Russian imperial agendas could threaten European autonomy. But privately, Berlin reassures Putin’s Russia that it wants to buy all the gas and oil that Moscow has to sell. Germany increasingly seems far friendlier with a suspicious Russia than it is with an America that protects it.
In sum, what ensures that Europeans have enough daily gasoline and home heating fuel are not batteries, wind farms and solar panels — much less loud green proselytizing. They count instead on a mercurial Russia, an array of unstable Middle Eastern governments and an underappreciated U.S. military.
In a logical world, Europeans would retake control of their own destiny. That recalibration would entail beefing up their military power, and their navies in particular.
They also would begin to frack and horizontally drill. Europeans would push ahead with more nuclear power, hydroelectric projects and clean-coal technologies — at least until new sources of clean energies become viable.
Europe should applaud U.S. gas and oil development, which has upped world supplies, diversified suppliers and lowered global prices. Europeans should especially remember that the U.S. military keeps global commerce safe for all vulnerable importers such as themselves.
But these remedies are apparently seen in Europe as worse than the disease of oil and gas dependency.
The result is again chaos. Europe lectures about greenhouse gases while it desperately seeks supplies of fossil fuels. Germany usually sets the tone in Europe, and it is the most hypocritical in both denouncing and buying fossil fuels from unsavory sources.
The danger for Europe now is that the charade may soon be over.
Americans are self-sufficient in gas and oil. They have lost interest in Middle East quagmires and petro-regimes. And they don’t like patrolling the world for countries that both count on and ankle-bite the U.S. military. Meanwhile, the more Europeans pander to oil-rich Russia, Iran and various Gulf states, the less respect they earn in return.
It is hard to be both the world's largest importer of gas and oil and the loudest critic of fossil fuels, but Europe has managed to do it.
