https://youtu.be/2yq2XRv1TsY
And:
Is anyone clean any more?
The Firm That Conducted 'Audit' of Georgia Voting Machines Has A Long History With Dominion
The firm hired by Georgia's secretary of state to conduct an "audit" of Dominion Voting Systems technology used during the 2020 elections is the same one that previously certified the Dominion systems and also approved a last-minute system-wide software change just weeks before the election.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger failed to disclose that the company, Pro V&V, had a preexisting relationship with Dominion that dated back years, in his Nov. 17 statement announcing the results of the audit.
Raffensperger also failed to disclose that Dominion had used technical conclusions from Pro V&V in a pre-election Georgia lawsuit that questioned the reliability of Dominion's systems during a last-minute software fix before the Nov. 3 election. The testing from Pro V&V had been characterized as "superficial" and "cursory testing" by an expert cited in court documents.
the epoch times.
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If either of the Democrat's running for the Senate in Georgia get elected it will help more easily the passage of radical legislation which will be regrettable. These two are outside the mainstream of where the vast majority of Americans are philosophically. I encourage conservatives not to allow apathy to win and particularly in Georgia.
In the recent election, one of the finest District Attorneys was defeated by a woman of color who has not a clue how to run the department now her's. The best mayor Tybee ever had was defeated because he too was defeated by a less competent opponent of color. A doctor who had been coroner for a while was defeated by an undertaker of color. Color over competence and experience remains my viewpoint and until I see events that refute my view I am sticking with it.
It is truly sad/disturbing, the future direction of our republic rests on the election of two unqualified and radical candidates rather than two mainstream thinking ones.
Call me a racist.
Is this who Georgia wants? https://www.frontpagemag.com/
And
https://thefederalist.com/
And:
https://freebeacon.com/2020-
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Article about the award to the author of the book our daughter edited:
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A Jewish Museum is being built in Tel Aviv. https://youtu.be/HzaAsSN4wi
And:
The Saudis should fish or cut bait.
The Time Is Now for Saudi Arabia To Normalize Relations With Israel
RICHARD GOLDBERG
SENIOR ADVISOR, FOUNDATION FOR DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES
Here's a news flash for Saudi Arabia: Presumptive President-elect Joe Biden is looking to fundamentally restructure the U.S.-Saudi relationship. The only way for Riyadh to stop what's coming might be to normalize relations with Israel right now.
Biden's nominee for secretary of state, Tony Blinken, reportedly held regular calls with far-left foreign policy activists during the presidential campaign and expressed an openness to cutting off arms sales to Saudi Arabia. In an interview shortly before the election, Blinken announced that a Biden administration would "undertake a strategic review of our bilateral relationship with Saudi Arabia to make sure that it is truly advancing our interests and is consistent with our values." Translation for Riyadh: Buckle up for a rough ride.
Absent a seismic shift—like a normalization agreement with Israel—the Saudis should prepare for the worst. Congress has the votes to send a bill to the president's desk to halt U.S. arms sales to the kingdom. Such a bill passed the Senate just last year, when Republicans held a wider margin than they will in 2021—and before the kingdom angered a number of oil state Republicans by crashing the price of oil and pummeling the U.S. energy industry. This time around, when that same bill reaches the Oval Office, there will be nobody to veto it.
The incoming State Department brass will also likely reopen an investigation into the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to determine whether U.S. human rights sanctions should be imposed on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or "MbS," as he is known. To preserve the bilateral relationship, the Trump administration shielded MbS from direct sanctions retribution in 2019—a decision likely to be reversed in a Biden administration.
Against the backdrop of a complete reset in U.S.-Saudi relations, President-elect Joe Biden is also making it clear that he will press for a full re-entry into the Iran nuclear deal without any preconditions. He could very well turn back the clock four years and flood the Islamic Republic with billions of dollars in sanctions relief, which would enable Tehran to recapitalize both its Revolutionary Guard and its sprawling terror operations throughout the Middle East. Biden could renew American support for the enrichment of uranium on Iranian soil and acquiesce to the expiration of international restrictions on transferring advanced arms to the mullahs.
The Biden administration, with bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate, will likely open a diplomatic assault on Riyadh to end its military involvement in Yemen, where it is fighting the Iranian-backed Houthis. The end of Saudi operations there would effectively cede the Saudi-Yemeni border to Iranian proxies. The pace of Iranian-sponsored, Yemen-based missile and drone attacks against Saudi Arabia could grow—and there may even be an effort to normalize U.S. ties with the Houthis as a political organization, rather than designate them as an Iranian-backed terror proxy.
But what if Saudi King Salman gave MbS the green light to take a leap—to do something dramatic that could prompt the incoming Biden administration to reframe its strategic perception of Saudi Arabia? That "something" is normalization with Israel.
It's already happened for the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Last year, Congress was pressing to cut off arms sales to the UAE. In the wake of the Abraham Accords, Congress is now debating the merits of selling Abu Dhabi the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. A trilateral U.S.-Israel-UAE intergovernmental investment fund has been established, while venture capitalists in Israel and America are racing to find deals in the UAE. Talk about a pendulum swing.
This is not a new phenomenon. Middle East peace is a big deal. It's something the world has waited more than 70 years to see. When an Arab nation takes a risk in the name of peace, Washington responds with support. U.S. support for Egypt and Jordan remains a foundational foreign policy bedrock, owing to those countries' long-standing peace treaties with Israel. The same will be true for the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and others that follow suit.
There's no reason Saudi Arabia can't have this future, too. It is a future where U.S. arms sales to the kingdom continue and members of Congress view the U.S.-Saudi strategic relationship as an integral underpinning for regional normalization, given Riyadh's leadership role in the Middle East. It is a future with a trilateral Saudi-Israeli-American investment fund that dwarfs the size of its Emirati parallel. It is a future where Israeli and American start-up accelerators descend on Neom —the planned Saudi smart city on the Red Sea—and bring together Israeli technology, American investors and Saudi capital to resurrect MbS's Vision 2030 plan for economic innovation.
Bipartisan concerns about human rights and counter-extremism will never disappear—nor should they. But the U.S.-Saudi strategic and economic relationship would be secured for a generation—much to the chagrin of Iran, Qatar and Turkey.
Secret meetings between MbS and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu are intriguing, but they will not be enough to stave off the Biden administration's intended reset in U.S.-Saudi relations. It's time for Saudi Arabia to take control of its future. That starts by normalizing relations with Israel.
Richard Goldberg is a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He served on Capitol Hill, on the U.S. National Security Council, as the governor of Illinois's chief of staff and as a Navy Reserve Intelligence Officer.
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Should Biden become president, I believe he will eventually be thrown under the bus by those who hated Trump and voted for Biden. Why do I say/believe this? Because far too many who voted for him were voting against Trump. Far too many who voted for him really never got to know him since he hid from the voters, and they were emotional, not reasoning. Furthermore, the (m)ass media folks protected him and focused all their bias against Trump so it was easy to be persuaded. Biden was whom they wanted to see elected and they left no stone unturned.
Most important of all, after 48 years in D.C, and having accomplished basically nothing of importance, no one really can define who Biden is other than he has a history of being a bumbler and making mostly wrong decisions on important matters.
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I wrote the above before I caught some of Tucker Carlson's opening comments Friday evening followed by his discussion with Victor Davis Hanson. Carlson stated, Biden will now preside over a party he grew up in but no longer exists. Those who run the party today are interested in power, have an agenda that correlates little with America though they profess it does because it is all identity based politics.
Carlson suggests Democrats are engaged in a zero sum gain as they seek to divide up the spoils and that, eventually, will prove to be a losing game..
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Like him or not, you knew where Trump was coming from and his many accomplishments tracked his commitments.
MUST SEE: Trump Calls Into AZ Hearing With A SCORCHING Message For RINO Gov. Doug Ducey
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Meanwhile:
Some Liberals Are Saying Joe Biden Lied…They’re Already Regretting Their Mistake…
The same Liberals who were twirling and singing like drug-infused hippies only a few short weeks ago are already raising their radical eyebrows at the guy they just elected to run the country. Their preconceived fantasies are becoming a different type of reality than expected. Papa Joe is already letting them down and there are certain to be more and even greater disappointments to follow.
Biden took the liberty of hoisting up California air official, Mary Nichols, to lead his Environmental Protection Agency, and let’s just say it isn’t going over well – at all. There is widespread criticism over Nichols blatantly and willfully ignoring the concerns of the minority and lower-income people who are suffering the most from the effects of toxic air pollution.
Nichols will be stepping down from her current position as chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board. While serving in the role she claims to have set into action some of the most aggressive climate policies ever known to humankind.
She was fiercely opposed to the Trump administration’s rollback of environmental protections, and she fought harder than Mike Tyson to allow California to be able to set their own environmental standards, outside of the federal government’s reach.
One might think that environmental groups and activists would be enamored to have such a strong anti-pollutant voice on their side. But this is not the case. They say Nichols has ignored them altogether, choosing to forge ahead without their valuable input.
Because of this, Nichols has allowed fossil fuel facilities in some of the worst-hit areas in the state to continue blowing toxic fumes straight into the lungs of the poor and wretched masses living in the area.
Because President-elect Joe Biden’s committed to tackling the pollution problem in minority and lower-income areas of the country, the activists are screaming in unison that Nichols isn’t qualified for the job she’s being offered.
“Her inability to work well with environmental justice groups and leaders in California indicates that she is not the right person to oversee and implement climate and environmental programs for the country,” reads a recently drafted letter, soon to be on its way to the Biden transition team.
The California Environmental Justice Alliance and Friends of the Earth constructed the letter, but they are still in the process of collecting signatures. They aren’t worried about not getting enough people to sign the petition as they expect a minimum of 50 groups and individual activists to endorse the effort.
Further attacking Nichol’s lack of character and uncouth demeanor, the letter states how she would often use a condescending tone when blowing-off suggestions made by local environmental activists.
“We want to see an EPA that values the partnership of environmental justice communities. So, pick the best candidate who can do that, who can start from [the] jump to have good relationships with environmental justice communities,” said Mari Rose Taruc, one of the signers of the letter, and a California based environmental organizer. Taruc previously served on the Environmental Justice Advisory Committee prior to charting her own path.
Taruc followed up by saying, “Because if you start with somebody who doesn’t have good relationships already or doesn’t have an open stance to working with the most impacted communities, it’s just going to be an uphill battle from there.”
Just this past summer Nichols received abrasive criticism from two black lawmakers when she tweeted, “I can’t breathe’ speaks to police violence, but it also applies to the struggle for clean air. Environmental racism is just one form of racism. It’s all toxic.”
Here is one of the many responses she received. This one from Democrat California Rep. Jim Cooper, an African-American man. “How dare you use a dying man’s plea for help as a way to discuss your agenda. Have you no shame? How dare you talk about Enviro racism when historically your policies favor your coastal elitist friends. While leaving communities of color out and left to foot the bill.”All is not peaceful in liberal land, and there’s a lesson to be learned here. A liberal, is a liberal, is a liberal, and it matters not which party has control of the White House. Their lot in life is to bitch, moan, and complain, and they’re not about to let a silly little thing like Joe Biden stop them. We almost feel sorry for the guy. Then again. Not…
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I recently gave a succinct view of how I see the market's potential shift, why value might ascend, which sectors might be favored and below is another market view:
IS THERE ROTATION FROM
GROWTH TO VALUE? AND IS IT
MEANINGFUL? AND CAN YOU
TIME IT WELL ENOUGH TO
MATTER
BY BRENDAN WAGNER, Portfolio Manager
November was a big month for the equity markets, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average having its best month since 1987, up nearly 12%.
On the morning of November 9th Pfizer announced impressive Covid19 vaccine news, particularly in regards to efficacy and speed of rollout. Markets moved significantly that day, and it was the “back to normal” companies whose shares jumped the most while in some cases growth shares actually fell. For instance, Amazon, a lockdown beneficiary, fell 5% on the day while Manhattan Real Estate giant Vornado jumped 27%. Huge moves for a single day, and November was only beginning. The following Monday, Moderna released arguably better vaccine news, as their vaccine does not require refrigeration at the extremely low temperatures necessitated by Pfizer’s drug – thus easier to store and administer using in-place infrastructure at most general practitioner offices.
The “vaccine” news brought with it a big rotation. As can be seen below, the stocks that had been lockdown beneficiaries gave back a bit of their 2020 outperformance while the “back to normal” companies who have suffered so much, rebounded sharply. Note though that even after these big moves, the losers are still far behind the winners. Before chasing the rebounding cruise lines, real estate companies and airlines, one must inspect what permanent capital actions they have taken in order to survive the era of virus restrictions. Some have raised large amounts of debt, others have sold equity, and some a mix of both. Most action like these either reduce the current shareholders’ participation in a rebound, or at the least (with big debt issuance) make the situation a bit more of a “levered” upside scenario. “Public LBO” would not be the worst description.
The question for now is, where next? Value managers have waited a good long time for their moment in the sun -is it here now or is it another fake out? Keep in mind what has to happen for “value” to beat “growth.” Banks, materials, and energy needs to beat technology shares (including Amazon and Alphabet, though they’re technically consumer discretionary and communications respectively). Most comparisons of value versus growth compare the Russell 1000 Growth and Value indexes. The problem is – and I have no idea why they do this -many of the same companies appear in both the growth and value indexes, including Johnson & Johnson, Home Depot and Texas Instruments to name just a few. For a pure look at the two styles, here’s the SP500 Pure Value vs Pure Growth. There is no overlap here, and the differences in the two styles is enormous.
Could there be a significant and long-lasting shift toward value and away from growth? It’s possible, but it would likely be due to a reversal in investor sentiment, rather than fundamentals and relative earnings-driven outperformance by banks, energy and materials firms. Higher interest rates would likely be needed, and that’s not out of the question. Remember, the lion’s share of cash flows for high-growth companies lie farther out into the future than do the cash flows of value and cyclical companies. Put another way, a larger share of the value of a bank is derived from cash flows coming within the next decade, than it is for Netflix or Tesla. All future cash flows are discounted back to today in order to calculate the firm’s value. So a meaningful increase in interest rates reduces the current value of all future cash flows more for growth companies than value companies. As can be seen below, value outperformance tracks closely with the 10year treasury yield. That yield rises for a number of reasons, but among the most important are that the market is less fearful and there is an expectation of enormous fiscal spending.
One last reason value could re-emerge earlier than expected. The stock market likes to make fools of people and their predictions.
The information provided is for illustration purposes only. It is not, and should not be regarded as “investment advice” or as a “recommendation” regarding a course of action to be taken. These analyses have been produced using data provided by third parties and/or public sources. While the information is believed to be reliable, its accuracy cannot be guaranteed.
Any securities identified were selected for illustrative purposes only. Specific securities identified and described may or may not be held in portfolios managed by the Adviser and do not represent all of the securities purchased, sold, or recommended for advisory clients. The reader should not assume that investments in the securities identified and discussed were or will be profitable
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Democrats always come together when it is crucial and particularly when they have a chance to roll Republicans.
In my humble opinion, the two Republican candidates seeking to return to their Senate seats have run terrible and demeaning campaigns as have their opponents. The latest ad by Purdue is a good one and takes the higher road and it is about time. Campaign such as these four have conducted serve no useful or informative purpose.
Kim's op ed discusses whether Republicans will break, some voting for higher spending based on the impact of Covid 19 and allowing themselves to be rolled by Democrats or will they stick with McConnell and reveal some fiscal discipline akin to what voters would like to see.
The Georgia election offers a window:
a) Will Republicans retain The Senate and thus, be able to act as a harness on Biden who will be under pressure to pass legislation sought by radicals in his party
And
b)In order to accomplish this objective what is the face these two Senators need to show voters. Their opponents are outside the main stream of the Chattahoochee and a lot riding on their success will also be determined how Trump campaigns when he comes to Georgia.
If there ever was a time when Trump needs to be selfless it is now and if he rises to the occasion he will actually wind up burnishing his own legacy.
McConnell’s Spending Line
Can he hold it? The answer will set the course of Biden’s presidency.
Joe Biden isn’t yet in the White House, but we are about to witness a crucial test of his ability to roll a closely divided Senate. Republicans can hold the line on Covid relief, or a divided GOP can signal that Biden Democrats will hold the whip hand on spending.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell drew the line this week, circulating a straightforward virus-relief bill that checks bipartisan boxes. As Mr. McConnell noted, the bill delivers “right away on all the subjects where everybody agrees”—more funding for small businesses, vaccine distribution and extended unemployment aid, as well as legal certainty for hospitals, schools and religious groups. Better yet, the bill repurposes some $569 billion of unused virus funds—offsetting the entirety of his bill’s cost. Immediate, targeted aid for those Americans still hurting, at no additional expense to the U.S. taxpayer. What’s not to like?
Yet pressure is mounting on the GOP to double or quadruple the dollars. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have climbed aboard a $900 billion bipartisan Senate proposal that would throw money at state and local governments, revive the ill-conceived “enhanced” unemployment benefit, and bail out public transport. And although that bill was negotiated in good faith, it has already been taken hostage. Mrs. Pelosi and Mr. Schumer explained that they’ve adopted it only as their “basis” for further negotiation, and are already promising “improvements”—likely hundreds of billions of them.
The press is weighing in, casting the McConnell bill as Scrooge-like and inadequate. Mrs. Pelosi is again warning that “the economy will fall into double-dip recession without additional federal relief from Congress.” Even some Republicans argue the party can win the two outstanding Georgia Senate seats only by one-upping Democrats on spending.
This fight is rapidly coming to represent something much more significant than a simple dollar figure. Internally, smart Republicans are arguing that this is about the GOP standing for basic principles and good governance, even as it sets the tone for future spending negotiations with a Biden administration.
Want to surrender to Democrats’ Keynesian philosophy that only more government spending can save America? Vote for a bigger bill. Democrats are already rewriting history, claiming the spring’s $2.2 trillion Cares Act is the sole reason any business now opens its doors. Never mind that some of the Cares provisions (especially enhanced unemployment) did more harm than good. Mrs. Pelosi has been warning ever since Cares passed that without an even bigger follow-up, both demand and the economy would fall off a cliff.
Yet the real problem was government itself—state-imposed lockdowns. Americans have recovered fine in their absence, without trillions more in government aid. Unemployment hit 6.9% in October and is falling. The Atlanta Federal Reserve predicts 11.1% annualized economic growth for the fourth quarter, following 33.1% growth in the third. Most voters understand all this and won’t reward Republicans who spend for the sake of good press. Only a month ago, those voters thanked Republicans in the House and Senate for not rolling over to Mrs. Pelosi’s demands.
Want to reward blue states for poor policy decisions or for failing to tighten their belts even in a crisis? Why should Utah taxpayers bail out New Jersey, which increased spending during a pandemic? Why should Kansas rescue Los Angeles County—which just banned outdoor dining, despite zero evidence it spreads Covid? Why should anyone contribute to Illinois’s sinking public-employee pension fund or New York’s atrociously managed transit system?
Mostly, do you want to assure Mr. Biden that Republicans will scatter in any tough future spending fight? The former vice president has barely engaged the debate because he views whatever Congress manages this fall as a mere down-payment on legislation to be enacted during his tenure. A Biden administration intends to milk the virus for all it’s worth, teeing up a range of spending bills under the guise of “building back better.”
If Republicans do manage to hold the Senate, they will have a slender majority of 51 or 52. Only they will stand between Democrats and trillions in spending and higher taxes—for climate, health care, welfare programs, and the like. Mr. McConnell has done an admirable job of keeping has caucus united on judges and other key votes. But the GOP’s weak spot—its point of disarray—has always been spending. And don’t Democrats know it.
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