The Official Unlikely (…or maybe not so…) Predictions for 2018, and Beyond…

Happy New Year.

For the third consecutive eve of the coming new year, this offers a list of unlikely, or maybe not so unlikely, predictions for the coming new year. If nothing else, might it and may it bring a smile to your face as we all bid 2017, “adieu…”

–  Allegations of sexual misconduct amongst current and former House and Senate legislators grow to a point where both houses of congress pass emergency legislation to stop any and all further allegations from being made “until such time as the appropriate ethics committees can investigate all those claims having already been alleged.” It is the first time that President Trump vetoes legislation approved by both houses of congress.

–  During an unfortunate “hot mic” moment, Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) is heard describing a rival Republican candidate by using the “n-word.” In response to news reports about the incident, she charges that the recording itself is racist because it was recorded on equipment manufactured in Japan, and because Japanese corporations have no African-American board members, “they must be inherently racist,” says Jackson-Lee.

–  Following the coldest winter in seventy-eight years, President Trump tweets, “fake news reports that our pulling out of the unfair Paris climate agreement has already resulted in increased global warming- more fake news- worst winter ever.” Trump’s use of the word “ever” in the tweet prompts calls for new investigations into Trump’s tweets by congress, to see if that, in and of itself, could be cause for impeachment, since other attempts have thus far proved futile.

–  Democrats, the mainstream media, the few NeverTrump Republicans left- meaning retiring Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ)- all claim that President Donald Trump colluded with Russian President Vladimir Putin to shift the arctic air masses towards the United States during the winter of 2018, just so he could then call into question global warming dogma and try to justify his decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. Democrats call for special counsel investigations into “climate collusion,” as it has come to be referred.

–  In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court rules that the section of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017, which rescinds the individual mandate in ObamaCare, is well within the constitutional purview of both congress and the president. In their dissent, Justices Ruth Bader-Ginsberg, Elena Kagan, Sonya Sotomayor and Steven Breyer sided with the overturned Ninth Circuit Court ruling that stated “ObamaCare is established law, that neither congress nor the president have the authority to alter or change its requirements, until such time as Democrats hold both houses of congress, as well as the White House.”

–  In the first full season of NFL football since the controversy of national anthem kneeling erupted in 2017, overall disenchantment with pro football by fans who choose not to renew their season tickets has also resulted in the “fire sale” of permanent seat licenses (PSLs) in all NFL stadiums where such licenses exist. Once valued in some cases at $15,000 per seat, and up, PSLs in prime seating locations are now going for $500. Television networks are demanding contract renegotiations for game coverage at season’s end, while NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has appealed to congress for legislation guaranteeing home attendance sellouts, to which President Trump tweets, “Fat chance to Goodell and failing NFL- No Fan League- stand for the anthem, or stands will empty.”

–  As construction begins on the U.S./Mexico border wall, which is part of the $ 2.9 trillion Infrastructure Reinvestment Act of 2018, a lawsuit by the National Endowment for the Arts to halt construction is entered into the Ninth Circuit Court in San Francisco. The initial injunction cites the lack of space on the wall for graffiti (due to its design and engineering) infringes on the right of both Mexicans and U.S. citizens to express themselves, thus violating their first amendment rights. A subsequent 5-4 ruling by the Supreme Court then clears way for continued construction of the wall.

–  The long-awaited report by Robert Mueller’s independent counsel investigation, into charges that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians to rig the election against Hillary Clinton, states that “while there is no evidence that the Trump campaign ever colluded with the Russians during or after the 2016 election, the independent counsel finds that the president used bad manners in his public statements, and in various forms of social media, and should be shamed for doing so.” At an overall cost of $ 27.5 million, your taxpayers’ money at work.

– In the first open-enrollment period since the Tax Cut and Jobs act of 2017 was passed (which eliminated the individual mandate to purchase health insurance), Bronze plans cost an average of $20,000. per individual, $40,000. per couple, and $65,000. per family. With dwindling enrollees as the result of such rate hikes, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) say, in a joint statement, “You see?… We told you so… President Trump’s insistence that the individual mandate be removed has once again made healthcare unaffordable to middle class citizens, forcing many of them to seek out alternative forms of insurance not covered under the Affordable Care Act.” In response to Pelosi and Schumer, President Trump tweets, “Chuck and Nancy…ya’ think? …beautiful health care reform in 2019.”

– On the eve of the mid-term elections of 2018, national polls predict that Republicans “have no road” to retain control of either the House or the Senate. On election night, the president tweets, “Fake polls in 2016…more fake polls in 2018…failing fake news…America is winning, again.” In a surprise result, Republicans actually increase their majority in both houses of congress, and talking heads across the mainstream media say that Trump has now spread his Russian collusion into the House and Senate races, and is now trying to take over the country.

With that, a happy and blessed New Year to all !

-Drew Nickell, 29 December 2017

© 2017 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.
author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”
now available at Amazon

Signed and personalized editions now available at my website:
http://www.drewnickell.com
Follow my postings on the RSS feed: http://www.drewnickell.com/?feed=rss2

2017- The Year in Review

2017- What a year it was!

As if 2016 wasn’t eventful enough, in truly stunning and storied ways, 2017 proved to be a year of great consequence in the long view of a history in the making. As we recall…

• January brought us the inauguration of a new president, in the midst of violent leftist protests and a juvenile boycott of the ceremony itself, by many Democrats in the House of Representatives. Though predictably panned by his many critics, President Trump delivered a terse and declarative address, signaling a change in focus on domestic matters and a new set of priorities with regards to the United States on the world stage.

• February witnessed the beginning of a coordinated effort to stop the new Trump presidency in its tracks. FBI Director James Comey met with President Trump and assured him that he was not under investigation in any way, although Comey refused to acknowledge this publicly, leading the public to believe that Trump was under investigation. Lawyers, exploiting the leftist bent of the ninth circuit court, entered injunctions against the Trump administration, bringing a temporary halt to the president’s executive order, banning travel from specific countries. Trump delivered his first state of the union speech which was widely acclaimed for its vision, substance and delivery. In it, he outlined a bold and ambitious legislative agenda he intended to pursue in the coming first year of his administration.

• March saw the clumsy and ill-prepared rollout of the Republican American Health Care Act which proved to be a half-baked attempt to repeal and replace ObamaCare. In reality it would have neither repealed nor replaced the Affordable Care Act, which would lead to the eventual failure of enough Republicans, and even tepid support from the president, to back the bill. March also saw the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to fill the seat of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

• In April, President Trump was entertaining Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mara Lago estate when, during dessert, he informed the Chinese premier that U.S. Naval forces had just launched 58 cruise missiles on Syria’s Shayrat air base, in retaliation for a sarin gas attack on Syrian civilians ordered by Bashir al-Assad. It proved to be a stroke of brilliance letting the Chinese leader know that Trump was serious about North Korea to an extent no U.S. president had ever been, before. In the coming months, further testing of nuclear weapons and intermediate- and long-range missiles by the North Koreans caused the world to rethink how it should deal with that country’s rogue regime, prompting unanimous votes in the United Nations security council to further censure and place economic restrictions on North Korea.

• May began with President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey, after which the terminated director illegally released to the New York Times, via a friendly Columbia University professor, transcripts of notes he had taken during three different meetings with the president. This release brought about the appointment of Comey’s mentor, Robert Mueller, to lead an independent council investigation into charges that the Trump campaign colluded with Russians to deny Hillary Clinton the election. Meanwhile, President Trump met with twenty-four leaders of Muslim nations in Saudi Arabia, imploring them to rid their countries of Islamic terrorists, before addressing the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem. Following a first-ever visit to the West Bank by a sitting U.S. president, where he met with Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas, the president delivered a powerful speech in Warsaw, Poland and was on hand to dedicate the new NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. In his address to NATO member nations, the president took them to task for not honoring financial commitments to provide for their own defense. In a meeting of the G-7 nations in Sicily, the president stressed the importance of ridding the world of Islamic terrorism to promote economic prosperity.

• In June, the president formally withdrew from the Paris climate accord, citing the enormous financial burden the agreement unfairly placed on the United States. Increasing violence on the part of the radical left saw violent demonstrations around the country, culminating in an assassination attempt on Republican legislators practicing for an annual baseball game on a field in Alexandria, Virginia. Seriously wounded in the attack was House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA). For their own part, Democrat senators took turns slandering the character of their former colleague, Jeff Sessions (R-AL), during his confirmation hearings as the newly-appointed Attorney General.

• In July, twenty-five Democrats in the House of Representatives launched impeachment proceedings against President Trump, not for high crimes and misdemeanors as the U.S. Constitution stipulates, but rather for what they see as Trump’s unfitness for office. It marked the first time an impeachment attempt was essentially launched out of sheer, personal disdain for a sitting president. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) put the final nail into the Republican health care bill, ceremoniously thrusting a thumbs-down gesture in his crucial vote on the legislation.

• August saw violent unrest in Venezuela, as the result of the failure of yet another socialist regime to effectively govern and manage an economy. Protests for and against the removal of confederate statues heated up, most notably in Charlottesville, VA where one protester was killed when run over by another, who drove his car into a crowd of opposing protesters. Despite President Trump’s repeated condemnation of white racism in his response to the incident, the president was assailed because he noted that both sides of the debate were at fault in the escalating rhetoric and resulting violence taking place in Charlottesville. Mother Nature ended the month with her own violence, as Hurricane Harvey ravaged the southeastern coast of Texas. By declaring besieged east-Texas a federal disaster area, before the fact, President Trump had key resources already in place to effectively manage emergency response teams in providing assistance in the wake of the storm.

• September saw the president’s address to the general assembly of the United Nations for the first time in his presidency. While acknowledging the sovereign right of member nations to pursue their own respective national interests, the president also made it known that the United States would place the interests of its own citizens at the forefront of its foreign policy, going forward. In a brilliant stroke of political genius, the president sent DACA back to congress and thus avoided the anticipated and predictable outrage, had he summarily rescinded Obama’s executive order, regarding same. In doing so, he put the burden of immigration reform back on congress, where it rightfully should have been all along.

• October began with carnage on an unprecedented scale with the death of 58 and the wounding of 546 concert-goers in Las Vegas- all at the hands of a single gunman perched high in his nest situated on the thirty-second floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, across the street. While the NFL continued to see dwindling attendance numbers and television ratings, in the wake of player protests during the national anthem, revelations of sexual improprieties of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein began an avalanche of similar allegations that would eventually ensnare Alabama Judge Roy Moore running for that state’s senate seat, Senator Al Franken (D-MN) and Representative John Conyers (D-MI), among others. Revelations that the Obama administration was actively involved with the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, to sabotage the Trump campaign with a fake dossier, which was paid for by both the Clinton campaign and the FBI and which, in turn, was used to gain FISA warrants against Trump campaign operatives. Further revelations of corruption on the part of the Clintons caused a relook into the 2010 sale of uranium assets to Uranium One, partially owned by the Russians, in exchange for donations to the Clinton Foundation.

• November witnessed continued carnage as a lone gunman entered a small church in Sutherland Springs, TX and killed twenty-six of its parishioners. The illegal immigrant who, in July of 2015, had killed Kate Steinle in San Francisco, was essentially acquitted of her murder due to the fact that jurors were not informed of the killer’s repeated illegal re-entries into the United States, as well as violent felonies of which he had been previously convicted. The verdict was celebrated by political opponents to the president and those who advocate open borders.

• December brought revelations that the Obama Administration had intentionally quashed investigations into domestic drug-trafficking and money-laundering by Hezbollah terrorists, all in an effort to ensure its ill-conceived and ill-considered nuclear deal with Iran. Further findings of conflicted interests, on the part of Mueller’s investigative team, continued to diminish confidence as to the legitimacy of the investigation. This prompted many in the media to erroneously report that Donald Trump intends to fire Mueller, despite repeated denials by the president, himself. For his own part, President Trump made history by formally announcing his intention to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and relocate the Tel Aviv-based U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. As promised during his campaign, and subsequently during his first year in office, President Trump delivered on this promise to have enacted, and then sign, the Tax Reform and Jobs Act by Christmas, 2017. In addition to the largest-ever reduction in federal income taxes, the new law also allows drilling in the Alaskan ANWR region and eliminates ObamaCare’s individual mandate to purchase health insurance, essentially gutting the Affordable Care Act’s most-reviled requirement, which had punished people who could least afford it.

What a year 2017 has truly been!

-Drew Nickell, 27 December 2017

© 2017 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.
author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”
now available at Amazon

Signed and personalized editions now available at my website:
http://www.drewnickell.com
Follow my postings on the RSS feed: http://www.drewnickell.com/?feed=rss2

A Christmas Message to Cherished Friends

With heartfelt gratitude to all of my Facebook friends, and particularly those who have suffered my musings and have been so supportive of same (at times even reposting to your own pages), as well as all the subscribers to my website which is located at (http://www.drewnickell.com), I wish to extend my best wishes for a very Merry Christmas. To those of you who were kind enough to purchase my book (ref. below), I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. If you have a moment, please write a short review of it on amazon. Doing so would help me sell more copies, thanks.

This week, I’ll be posting a month-by-month recap of the events of 2017, so please be on the lookout for that, and let me know what you think.

With deepest appreciation, a Merry Christmas to you. and yours,

-Drew Nickell, Christmas 2017

© 2017 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.
author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”
now available at Amazon

Signed and personalized editions now available at my website:
http://www.drewnickell.com
Follow my postings on the RSS feed: http://www.drewnickell.com/?feed=rss2

The Real Person of the Year- President Trump’s Detractors

One might think that, after 2016- an entire year of making horses’ asses of themselves, his legions of detractors would have known better than to further abase themselves by continuing to predict the worst when it comes to Donald Trump.

Remember that all of the so-called (and self-styled) “experts” once predicted that:

– Donald Trump’s candidacy was a joke

– Donald Trump would never win the Republican Nomination

– Donald Trump would be destroyed by Hillary Clinton in the debates

– Donald Trump’s candidacy won’t survive his comments on women

– Donald Trump had no path to victory against Hillary Clinton in the election

– Donald Trump’s election would result in an immediate stock market crash

– Donald Trump’s collusion with the Russians will result in impeachment

– Donald Trump will never successfully appoint a Supreme Court Justice

– There is no way Donald Trump could possibly exit the Paris Climate Accord

– Donald Trump cannot partially ban immigration from specific countries

– Donald Trump cannot possibly defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria

– Donald Trump wouldn’t dare to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital

– Donald Trump cannot remove ObamaCare’s individual mandate

– Donald Trump won’t be able to sign a tax overhaul/reduction bill by Christmas

There are many, many more predictions, all proven to be wrong, made by the “experts” who still cannot manage to come to grips with the very fact of Trump’s presidency. Worse, his consistent string of successes as President has caused his many detractors to become apoplectic, practically to the point of derangement.

Regardless, dire predictions of every single aspect of Trump’s presidency have continued to the point of ridiculousness. In the midst of all of this naysaying- by Democrats, NeverTrump Republicans, academia, mainstream media and self-absorbed and self-anointed celebrities- President Trump has nevertheless achieved the most successful first year of any presidency in memory.

The secret to Trump’s success in his first year as president is the same secret he deployed in winning the Republican nomination and the presidential election in 2016.

He out-worked his opposition.

While Hillary Clinton pursued a campaign schedule that was on-again, off-again, Donald Trump participated in four to five campaign events each day, seven days a week for months in pursuit of victory, despite all of the negativity aimed his way.

Similarly, while all of his political and media opponents have fixated themselves on a Russian fantasy, the President has eliminated nearly two thirds of federal regulations in eleven months, rescinded most all of Barack Obama’s executive orders, successfully appointed a record number of circuit court judges and completely re-asserted American pre-eminence on the world stage.

So, it is altogether fitting and proper that we should celebrate the real and true Person of the Year- all of those Trump naysayers who have made complete and total horses’ asses of themselves by telling us just how bad a president Trump has been. Let’s all wish them continued success in under-estimating the President in everything they say and do, while President Donald Trump continues to…

…“Make America Great Again”

Merry Christmas, everyone (the president promised we could once again say this, too).

-Drew Nickell, 21 December 2017

© 2017 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.
author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”
now available at Amazon

Signed and personalized editions now available at my website:
http://www.drewnickell.com
Follow my postings on the RSS feed: http://www.drewnickell.com/?feed=rss2

The Fright Night Before Christmas, a Parody (with apologies to Clement C. Moore)

‘twas the night before Christmas, when through the White House, not a Clinton was stirring, not even that louse. Their stockings were hung by their foundation with care, in hopes more Russian rubles soon would be there.

The Clintons were nestled all snug in their beds, while schemes of collusion danced in their heads. Hillary in her pantsuit, and Bill with some babe, had just gone to bed for a long winter’s daze.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, Bill sprang from his bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window Bill flew like a flash, tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon, on the breasts of some brand new intern, gave the luster of midday to his women below, when, what to his wandering eyes should appear, but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer, with an orange-haired old driver so lively and plump, Bill knew in an instant it was Donald Trump!

More rapid than tweets his comments they came, and he whistled and shouted and called them by name:

“Now, Mueller, Now Strzok! and all of their homies! On, Huma! On Loretta!, On, McCabe and On, Comey! With an awesome eruption, with news of corruption, now, dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”

As Democrat accusations with no backing fly, when they meet with an obstacle, they just simply lie, so up to the housetop the coursers they flew, with the sleigh full of charges, and Donald Trump, too.

And then, in a twinkling, Bill heard on the roof the prancing and pawing of each little hoof. As he returned to his bed, and was turning around, down the chimney “the Donald” came with a bound.

He donned Brioni suits, with his own branded ties, and his clothes were all tailored to his exact size; a bunch of indictments he flung on his back, and he looked like a lawyer just opening his pack. His eyes, how they twinkled! His dimples, how merry! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry. His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, and the grin on his face beamed as white as the snow.

This Trump of a man who just won an election, and yet the fake news went out with hateful rejection. The FBI and Democrats, all with delusion, to bring forth a tale of Russian collusion. He was Donald Trump, who had quite the nerve, to take on old Hillary, who soon will be served.

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head soon gave Bubba to know he had so much to dread. He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, and filed the court dockets, then winked at the jerk. Laying his finger aside of his nose, and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, and away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, as he drove out of sight…

“Merry Christmas to all, Merry Christmas, Good Night!”

-Drew Nickell, 16 December 2017

© 2017 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.
author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”
now available at Amazon

Signed and personalized editions now available at my website:
http://www.drewnickell.com
Follow my postings on the RSS feed: http://www.drewnickell.com/?feed=rss2

Drew Nickell will be back on the Radio today, Thursday, December 14th at 1:00 PM EST

I will be back on the radio once again, Thursday, December 14th, and filling in for Nora Wahl Firestone on her show at WKQA-AM, Freedom 1110 AM in Hampton Roads, VA. I will be discussing the problems with Fake News, Jerusalem, Mueller’s Investigation, Sanctuary Cities, Congressional Dysfunction, and other current events here in the nation and around the globe. Here is a link to that live broadcast

http://lightningstream.surfernetwork.com/Media/player/view/WKQA-AM_gsl.asp?StreamingServerName=nick11&OnDemandServerName=nick10&targetWidth=1000&targetHeight=800&call=WKQA-AM&od=0

Also, look for this as a live podcast on Facebook if you would like to join, there.

-Drew Nickell, 14 December 2017

P.S. Click on the following link for a replay of this broadcast.:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10208479892074846&id=1833556526

Fake News- the Real, Hidden Danger in Biased Reporting

There is nothing new about biased reporting. In a free society, where freedom of the press is guaranteed by law, it is practically and systematically impossible to avoid slant in the coverage of news. Even the most objective reporting, as quaint as that may sound in this day and age, is inevitably going to be flavored by the viewpoint of its writer. In the case of broadcast news, this is doubly true, as the on-air personalities- in both inflection and expression- are going to slant the delivery of news beyond the slanted scripts already prepared to be read from the teleprompters. As long as humans write and read aloud news coverage, there will always be an innate bias, whether the story is sports, business, current events or, especially, politics.

Let’s face it. Freedom of the press, in all its varied forms, has one drawback- the total lack of either filter or fidelity. This is because, in the final analysis, the freedom of press carries with it the inability to condone or censor, as the dictates of empirical truth would otherwise warrant.

The most egregious form of bias in political reporting has been the regrettable standard for many years, going back to the beginnings of our republic. In the last four or five generations, political reporting has always, always favored the Democrats. If you don’t believe this, take a look at the last twenty-two presidential elections going all the way back to Franklin Roosevelt’s first run in 1932, and name the Republican nominee who ever benefitted from election coverage.

(crickets chirping)

Nothing new.

As overtly and negatively biased as was the coverage of Richard Nixon’s five runs for national office (1952, 1956, 1960, 1968 and 1972) and Ronald Reagan’s four runs for national office (1968, 1976, 1980 and 1984), nothing can compare to the outright hostility that was so obvious in the coverage of Donald Trump’s lone presidential run. While Nixon’s and Reagan’s presidencies received equally-negative and biased coverage during their respective terms, nothing comes close to the jaundiced coverage that Donald Trump has received in the first eleven months of his own presidency.

The same could be said in reverse when it came to the overtly and positively biased coverage which enormously benefitted FDR, John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton and, especially, Barack Obama. In the eyes of the national press, neither of these four could do anything wrong by comparison to the aforementioned Republicans. The only reason that Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson didn’t receive the same glowing coverage is that they came into the Oval Office as the result of the death of their respective predecessors.

Political bias in presidential coverage is, and always has been, a double-edged sword that can, at once, protect the favored and slay the unfavored. For instance, every week we hear unsubstantiated claims of how Donald Trump treats women. Where was such news coverage about John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton, when it came to substantiated and multiple instances of their own very real improprieties toward women? While the media has outright protected Hillary Clinton in their refusal to cover the very real felonies that she has committed over many years, they continue to focus on the fantasy of alleged collusion between Russia and Trump- a story that they damn well know is as fictional as Star Wars. Worse, as has been recently documented during the past few months, the media is not beyond fabricating false stories out of thin air, and to a degree never imaginable in the days of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley.

When Trump is re-elected in 2020 (and there is nothing of substance to suggest that there is any reason he shouldn’t be re-elected), it will doubtlessly be at the end of a campaign which will witness an altogether new low in campaign coverage. His second term will no doubt be trashed by the national media to an even greater degree that what has been the case, to date. That much is certain.

Nevertheless, the real danger of fake news, as it has come to be known, is directly proportional to the degree to which Americans believe what they hear when watching/reading the news. The fact that the so-called fourth estate- that watchdog of democracy so invested in representative democracy, and so ordained in our constitution- is dead, doesn’t portend well for an informed electorate whose voting suffrage is essential to the maintenance of our freedom and independence. Without an informed electorate- an electorate who is correctly informed on the issues of the day, the people they elect become accountable to no one, especially in the absence of term limits. That the national media has unwittingly revealed its absolute fear and dread that Donald Trump might well keep the vast majority of his campaign promises, scares them to no end- just as it scares the living hell out of Democrats as well as the NeverTrump Republicans who also fear that their days of wine and roses are quickly coming to an end in the wake of Trump’s presidency.

A president who actually keeps his promises? The nerve of that guy. Just who does he think he is, anyway?

-Drew Nickell, 12 December 2017

© 2017 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.
author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”
now available at Amazon

Signed and personalized editions now available at my website:
http://www.drewnickell.com
Follow my postings on the RSS feed: http://www.drewnickell.com/?feed=rss2

Recognizing Jerusalem- A Capital Idea

It should be as obvious as the nose on one’s face- Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.

On Wednesday, December 6th, President Donald J. Trump formally declared the obvious, that Jerusalem is indeed the capital of Israel. He further put into motion the eventual relocation of the United States Embassy from its current location in Tel Aviv, to its more proper setting in the capital of Israel, Jerusalem. To deny that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel is no different than denying that London is the capital of the United Kingdom, that Paris is the capital of France, and that, well, Washington, D.C. is the capital of the United States.

One would never know it, though, given all of the outrage amongst the international community, as well as our own State Department apparatchiks and other politicos who swoon at the thought of this declaration. Never mind the fact that the last three U.S. presidents, Clinton, Bush and yes, Obama, pledged to do the very same thing when they ran for the presidential office in 1992, 2000, and 2008, respectively. Not a peep from the political illuminati back then, but now…

Let’s face it, President Trump has the courage that his immediate forebears lacked, to put into motion the promises of his own campaign, as well as those of his three predecessors. Yet because it is Trump doing this, all hell has broken loose with almost universal condemnation of his recognition, which only goes to show the difference between a statesman who keeps his word, and politicians who routinely lie through their teeth. Clinton, Bush and Obama had absolutely no intention to follow through on this promise- a promise offered for the sole reason of gaining campaign contributions from those who support this recognition, namely Jews and sympathetic gentiles, alike. Once in office, each of these presidents refused to come within miles of following through on their promise to do so.

Interestingly enough, it was the United States which was the first nation to recognize the modern sovereign state of Israel back in 1948, by President Harry S. Truman- a Democrat, to boot. Therefore, it is altogether fitting and proper that the United States should be the first nation to formally acknowledge that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, almost seventy years later, and it’s been a long time coming.

Those opposed to President Trump’s declaration offer up a lot of blather that his doing so will thwart the so-called “peace process” aimed at bringing about a two-state solution to Israel and the Palestinians…some process! While Palestinians routinely launch rockets at and continue to commit terrorist violence against Israelis, and at the same time refuse to negotiate any treaty which includes the survival of Israel as an independent nation, it is Israel which continually offers a good-faith effort in these same negotiations. It is also Israel- alone among middle eastern countries, which guarantees freedom of religion to Muslims, Christians and Jews, alike. Nowhere else in that region of the world, does such freedom of religion exist.

To pretend that the continued refusal to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is the way to achieve peace, is the errand of fools and the basis of a lie.

Jerusalem is, indeed, the capital of Israel today, just as Jerusalem was the capital of Israel three thousand years ago. Finally, we have a president who has the courage and clarity of thought to recognize the obvious.

Shalom and mazel tov!

-Drew Nickell, 7 December 2017

© 2017 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.
author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”
now available at Amazon

Signed and personalized editions now available at my website:
http://www.drewnickell.com
Follow my postings on the RSS feed: http://www.drewnickell.com/?feed=rss2

The Deep State- Why Mueller’s Investigation is a Complete Sham

Once upon a time, there was a general feeling that of all the federal bureaus and agencies which comprise our government, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was the one agency beyond reproach. Sadly, this is no longer the case. The FBI has become so corrupt, so partisan and so very political, that is has become just another dreaded example of the deep state- a deeply entrenched entity of government employees who can no longer serve the people of the United States.

Robert Mueller, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page and Andrew Weismann are but six attorneys who have besmirched the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and have exposed the intrinsic corruption of the investigation into the alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

To date, some ten million dollars of U.S. taxpayer money has been spent on this sham of a bogus investigation into the fantasy that President Donald Trump colluded with the Russian Federation to steal the election away from Hillary Clinton. There never was any collusion between Trump and the Russians, and all of the above-named individuals have known this all along. Nevertheless, they have broken the law, the oaths of office they have taken, and their fiduciary responsibilities as federal attorneys to fabricate a case for Donald Trump’s impeachment. In the process of doing so, they have aided and abetted the Obama administration’s illegal coverup and obstruction of justice with regards to the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s illegal use of a private server while she was Secretary of State.

For reasons known only to himself, President Trump’s own Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, has not sought an investigation into this corruption- that is, as far as we know. Nevertheless, the real collusion, the real corruption of the 2016 Presidential Election is the lone province of Democrats, including the Clinton Foundation, Hillary Clinton’s campaign, the Democratic National Committee and the Obama and Clinton minions who occupy the federal government to a degree that boggles the mind, unbelievable though it may sound.

Why is it that every single member of Robert Mueller’s investigation team, including these six, are heavy donors to the Clinton campaign, including one who worked for the Clinton Foundation and whose job it was to thwart FOIA requests for financial information regarding some $ 145 million dollars in donations to the Clinton Foundation from (you guessed it) the Russian Federation? (These donations facilitated the sale of U.S. uranium assets to a company largely held by Russian interests, and represent very real collusion between former President Bill Clinton, his wife and the Russian Federation.)

The simple answer is that Mueller, Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page and Weismann all serve as minions to their mistress, the former first lady and Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Helping to cloak this corruption are large elements of the mainstream media and even Republican globalists in the Senate and House of Representatives who wish for nothing more than the ouster of President Trump- all because he had the nerve to wrest away the Republican nomination from their precious darling, Jeb Bush. It is entirely interesting that while they had absolutely nothing to say during the entire eight years of the Obama presidency, both George H.W. Bush and his son, George W. Bush, have been vociferous in their criticism and disdain for President Trump, and this subjective disdain for Trump is shared by scores of Republican senators and congressmen currently serving in our legislature.

It is no wonder why President Trump so frequently and pointedly brings this investigation into question, and why it has become apparent that he does not trust his own Department of Justice, which says as much about the swamp he has sought to drain as it does about the resident evil that exists in Washington D.C., today. Only a fool, and a damned one at that, would place his faith in an investigation that is so very tainted, in both its scope and in its substance.

It is said that the evil lurks where we least suspect it, and is only evidenced by the evil works of its practitioners. Sadly, the FBI is no longer beyond reproach, and Americans’ faith in their government has fallen to an all-time low.

Sad, indeed, that we have arrived at such a place in our history. Hasten the day when we are delivered from the evil doings of this deep state.

-Drew Nickell, 6 December 2017

© 2017 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.
author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”
now available at Amazon

Signed and personalized editions now available at my website:
http://www.drewnickell.com
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Sanctuary Cities- Getting Away with Murder

On first glance, the term “sanctuary city” seems so innocuous, so comforting, so humane. After all, the very word “sanctuary” means a protected, immune and safe place, where those who are pursued find solace, protection and, well, safety. For instance, Catholic and other Christian churches have, for centuries, provided sanctuary to those who fear for their lives and liberty. So have synagogues.

In reality, however, sanctuary cities have all-too-often become harmful, restless and inhumane outgrowths of a very dangerous mindset- the mindset of liberal political correctness. This mindset aids and abets the criminal and murderous to remain here, in the United States, along with the many millions of other illegal immigrants, on a perverted premise of tolerance and inclusion. Note the key word “illegal.”

There are more than 200 sanctuary cities in the United States, including most of the largest cities in America. In essence, being a sanctuary city means that the government of such city does not and will not cooperate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) , the U.S. Customs and Border Enforcement (CBE) and its U.S. Border Patrol, in enforcing federal law as it relates to illegal immigration.

Hmmm…

Imagine, if you will, such a stance with regards to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). More importantly, imagine a United States where local law enforcement (and, in some cases, state law enforcement) refuses to cooperate with the FBI, and the effects that would have on criminal investigations as they relate to kidnapping, child abductions and bank robberies, just to name a few. Without such cooperation, it would simply be…

…in a word, unimaginable.

Sanctuary Cities.

San Francisco is one such a city. On the first morning of July, 2015, Kate Steinle, a promising young 32-year old woman, was enjoying a morning stroll along the city’s Pier 14, with her father, Jim Steinle. Out of nowhere, one Garcia Zarate appeared in possession of a stolen federally-owned handgun, shot Miss Steinle three times, tossed the stolen handgun into San Francisco Bay, and fled the scene of this senseless murder. Steinle fell into the arms of her father, gasping in her last breath, “Help, me, Daddy.” Despite her father’s attempts at mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, life slipped away from his wounded daughter, as one of the three bullets had pierced her aorta.

Zarate, who had been deported from the United States five times and had a rap sheet including seven prior felony convictions, had most recently been sentenced to prison for illegal re-entry. Upon sentencing however, a federal court instead recommended Garcia Zarate be placed in a federal medical facility. On March 26, 2015, at the request of the San Francisco Sherriff’s Department, the Federal Bureau of Prisons released Zarate, having just completed his sentence for illegal entry into the country, to San Francisco authorities on an outstanding warrant for felony drug charges- the possession and sale of marijuana. When Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) then issued a detainer on this release, San Francisco- being that sanctuary city- refused to cooperate with the request for detainer, and then summarily released Zarate onto the streets of the city where he murdered Kate Steinle, three months later.

That he was acquitted of the murder on November 30, 2017, was really no surprise, being in the very same state that once acquitted O. J. Simpson for the murder of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, back in 1995. As with the Simpson verdict, the acquittal of Garcia Zarate left the surviving family with no sense that justice, for the murder of their loved one, had been served. Once again, liberal political correctness stole the day, and managed to let an assailant get away with murder. Justice may be blind, as they say, but does it really have to be stupid, too?

Had the city of San Francisco co-operated with ICE, Kate Steinle would still be alive, today… Had the U.S. Border Patrol been operating under the policies of the Trump Administration, back when Barack Obama was President of the United States, Zarate might not have illegally re-entered the United States a sixth time, as he did in September of 2009, and Kate Steinle would still be alive, today… Had there been a wall along the Mexican/U.S. Border, Kate Steinle would still be alive, today…as would thousands of others who have been killed by illegal aliens who reside, often under the protection of sanctuary cities, here in the United States.

Hanging in the United States Senate and awaiting legislative action, is the Illegal Re-entry Act of 2015, also known as “Kate Law,” having (finally) been passed in July of 2017 by the U. S. House of Representatives. The law provides for minimum mandatory sentencing, for those deported illegal aliens who re-enter the United States and commit a felony. It won’t bring back Kate Steinle, or the many others killed by criminal illegal immigrants but, if passed and signed into law, it would prevent other people like Kate Steinle from being denied justice and denied the ultimate right- the right to live their lives in these United States.

Or is an illegal’s “right” to re-enter the United States unfettered, under the protection of so-called sanctuary cities, more precious than an American’s right to live?

God forbid.

-Drew Nickell, 1 December 2017

© 2017 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.
author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”
now available at Amazon

Signed and personalized editions now available at my website:
http://www.drewnickell.com
Follow my postings on the RSS feed: http://www.drewnickell.com/?feed=rss2