Congress
September 4, 2023 — Scott Johnson
When I attended the Pritikin program in 2016, Rep. Charlie Rangel was one of my classmates. Rep. Rangel’s long career in politics was preceded by his distinguished Army service in Korea. Contrary to my first impression when I met him in the waiting room before our initial physical on Monday morning, I found him to be a gregarious guy. He attended by himself, but he joined the group tables at
»
July 24, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Devon Archer is one of Hunter Biden’s former business partners. He is now facing jail for his role in a $60 million bond fraud, but is scheduled to testify this week before the House Oversight Committee. Miranda Devine reports that Archer will testify about meetings he witnessed that were attended by Joe Biden either in person or via speakerphone when Hunter would call the gentleman we have come to know
»
July 15, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
A new Issues&Insights/TIPP poll found that 56% of those surveyed think it’s either very likely or somewhat likely that President Joe Biden took bribes from foreign nationals during his vice presidency. Just 27% said it was not very likely and 18% were not sure. Participants were asked, “How likely is it that the claims made by government whistleblowers alleging that President Biden, his son Hunter, and other members of his
»
June 8, 2023 — Scott Johnson
I have been waiting for a New York Post editorial or column to bring us up to date on House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer’s struggle to extract the Form FD-1023 in which the FBI “recorded allegations, from a long-term trusted, paid confidential FBI source, that Joe Biden was allegedly paid a $5 million bribe by someone in Ukraine while he was vice president.” Miranda Devine performs the service in
»
May 23, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
During a Monday meeting with House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY), the FBI refused once again to turn over an FD-1023 (a report from an informant) that allegedly details a bribery scheme between then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national. Comer issued a subpoena for this document three weeks ago. In a May 3 letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray, Sen. Chuck Grassley
»
March 30, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Do not get within spitting distance of Dem Rep. Jamaal Bowman when he is instructing the press (“ask them every day — what are they going to do about gun violence?”), expounding on the need for “gun control” (“Why the hell won’t you do anything to save America’s children?”), and condemning colleagues who who disagree with him (“they’re all cowards,” “they’re freaking cowards,” “they’re gutless,” etc.). You are highly likely
»
March 10, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
In testimony before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic on Wednesday, former Centers for Disease Control and Protection Director Robert Redfield confirmed that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases had deliberately tried to shut down debate about the lab leak theory. Lawmakers focused on a Jan. 31, 2020, email from Scripps Research Institute virologist Dr. Kristian Andersen to Fauci in which
»
March 10, 2023 — Scott Johnson
I think the Twitter Files revelations are the most important story out there. Yesterday morning journalists Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger testified at the Hearing on the Weaponization of the Federal Government on the Twitter Files conducted by the House Judiciary Committee. This was Taibbi’s opening as posted at his Racket News site (C-SPAN video of the hearing is posted below in its entirety — Taibbi’s statement begins at about
»
March 8, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Happier with their government, anyway? I find this Rasmussen poll finding inexplicable: A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 28% of Likely U.S. Voters rate Congress’ performance as good or excellent, up from 25% in December and the highest approval in more than 15 years of polling this question. Thirty-nine percent (39%) think Congress is doing a poor job, down from 45% in December, and the
»
March 8, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was not amused by Tucker Carlson’s airing of unseen footage from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot on Monday night. He took to the Senate floor on Tuesday to express his anger: Last night, millions of Americans tuned into one of the most shameful hours we have ever seen on cable television. With contempt for the facts, disregard of the risks, and knowing full well he
»
January 11, 2023 — Scott Johnson
AP congressional reporter Farnoush Amiri report via Twitter (below) that Speaker Kevin McCarthy will follow through on his promise to remove Reps. Eric Swalwell (Intelligence), Adam Schiff (Intelligence), and Ilhan Omar (Foreign Affairs) from their committee assignments. Of the three, I think Schiff is the worst. He should be tarred and feathered and run out of town for abuse of his position as Intelligence Committee chairman to perpetuate the Russia
»
January 9, 2023 — Steven Hayward
That was quite a dramatic scene on the House floor Friday night when Kevin McCarthy walked up the aisle and confronted Matt Gaetz. I’m not a good enough lip reader to know what passed between them, but fortunately we have the experts at Bad Lip Reading on the job, and they have decoded it for us: Everything changes once you know what McCarthy and Gaetz were actually saying#118thCongress #KevinMcCarthy #MattGaetz
»
January 8, 2023 — Steven Hayward
The media and the left were content to munch popcorn this week as House Republicans struggled to select a Speaker, but now that the deed is done largely on terms dictated by the so-called “Chaos Caucus” (I prefer Rebel Alliance), they are starting to wring their hands about how terrible this is. Which means they are worried. Which means the outcome is probably good. There is a disturbance in The
»
January 7, 2023 — Steven Hayward
I’ll ask readers to indulge a roundabout introduction, as I think it useful for setting up such a rare occasion as a substantial disagreement with what Brother John has written here about the McCarthy Question. It has become a frustrating and annoying practice of the Supreme Court to issue decisions whose summary begins as follows (in this case, Allegheny County v. Greater Pittsburgh ACLU in 1989): “BLACKMUN, J., announced the judgment of
»
January 5, 2023 — Steven Hayward
Unless I am mistaken about the order of things, the impasse over selecting the next Speaker of the House will end very soon for a simple reason: since no members can be officially sworn in until there is a Speaker, it means none of them can draw a paycheck. That will tend to concentrate the mind of many House members. I am not as averse to the current general scene
»
December 21, 2022 — Scott Johnson
What are we to make of the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill that is speeding its way through Congress? If you check out FOX News every once in while, or keep up with Bill Melugin’s Twitter feed, you may have heard that we have something worse than a crisis at our southern border. Here is one “surprise” that we were probably not meant to find buried in the bill any
»
October 31, 2022 — Scott Johnson
This Washington Free Beacon editorial includes Nancy Pelosi’s fundraising appeal on the back of the attack on her husband. The Free Beacon editorial responds to the call for Republicans to “spend the final week of the campaign sitting on the bench, reflecting, atoning” for the attack on Paul Pelosi. Minnesota 6h District Rep. and NRCC chairman Tom Emmer received the impassioned instruction of Margaret Brennan for Republicans to quit their
»
