TISSUE ALERT: Seriously … watch the whole thing. With a tissue.

TRUMP JUDGE IN: Blowing raspberries at Jeff Flake — Vice President Mike Pence broke a tie to allow the Senate to confirm Jonathan Kobes to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. Kobes is the 30th appeals court judicial confirmation since Donald Trump started his presidency.

• https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/420848-pence-casts-tie-breaking-vote-for-trump-appeals-court-judge

CHRISTIANS WIN: Obama-era HHS mandate violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act — Bush-appointed Judge Philip Brimmer of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado found in favor of six Christian organizations that objected to being forced to include contraception coverage in their employees’ health plans.

• https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/healthcare/christian-groups-win-obamacare-birth-control-battle

CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS!: Trump should be impeached! Trump should be indicted! —

KARMA: Stormy is a piece of work — First she extorted $130,000 in hush money out of Donald Trump, then she violated the NDA she’d voluntarily signed to get her hands on the dough. Then, she sued Trump for defamation because he said something meany pants about her character. But hey, what goes around, comes around. The court threw the defamation suit out, because … you know … the First Amendment. And now Ms. Slut Face has been ordered to pay The Donald $293,052.33 to cover his costs in dealing with the frivolous suit. Lemme see … 293,000 – 130,000 = methinks she should’ve kept her mouth shut.

• https://nypost.com/2018/02/13/trumps-lawyer-admits-paying-130k-to-stormy-daniels/
• https://legalinsurrection.com/2018/12/stormy-daniels-ordered-to-pay-trump-293052-33-in-attorneys-fees-costs-and-sanctions/
• https://www.scribd.com/document/395485396/Stormy-Daniels-v-Trump-Order-Awarding-Trump-Attorney-Fees

Who knew TROMBONES could be so fun?! Today’s Bits & Bytes got long, so I though y’all could use a funny break in the middle.

ASTONISHINGLY STUPID: Wait, I’m not talking about AOC! — Nate Silver (founder and editor-in-chief of FiveThirtyEight and a Special Correspondent for ABC New) tweeted this gem: “There are lots of reasons Ocasio-Cortez drives certain Republicans crazy, foremost among them her race and gender. But it’s also that she’s quintessentially a New Yorker and DC political culture is formal and prudish when NYC mostly isn’t those things.”

Uhhhhhhhhh no. We can’t stop talking about her because she’s an ignoramus that the Democrats and their lapdog media treat like the Second Coming. We’re not afraid of her. And we certainly don’t give a toot about her race or gender. As for the New Yorker thing … uhhhhhh, project much, anti-Trumpers?

My favorite tweet responses from Twitchy:

• If this is what you’ve got, then you’re as simple as she is.
• *ALL* of this is wrong. Like — all of it. They just think she’s a lightweight commie socialist and find it hilarious/shocking that anybody takes her seriously. They’re not laughing strategically; they’re actually just laughing.
• It could also be her ideology, her ignorance wrapped in arrogance, the garbage she advocates, or any number of other things that your comb-over can’t comprehend.
• To be fair, certain Democrats hate Trump because he’s quintessentially a New Yorker and DC political culture is formal and prudish when NYC mostly isn’t those things.

https://twitchy.com/dougp-3137/2018/12/11/cillizza-level-stuff-nate-silvers-take-on-why-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-drives-certain-republicans-crazy-goes-down-in-flames/

FACEBOOK: A far cry from Zuckerberg’s preferred image — The British parliamentary committee leading an inquiry into Facebook released a trove of documents it seized last month as evidence in a lawsuit brought against the company. Internal communications from high-ranking employees at the company, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg, point to a company whose priorities are more about self-preservation, revenue generation, and fear of being exposed for dubious privacy practices than the benevolent, touchy-feely, global-community image Facebook has pushed over the years. E.g., emails discuss ways to secretly harvest user data from phones and to snuff out a start up competitor.

• http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/12/internal-emails-show-facebooks-focus-on-self-preservation.html

ABORTION: Democrats and their lapdogs in the media talk like we’re all in favor of legal abortion, but the fact is that a majority of Americans favor strict limitations on abortion and are largely clueless about just how unrestricted our abortion laws really are.

YALE UNIVERSITY: Skip the whole “a woman and her doctor” thing — Students at Yale University’s Silliman College will soon be able to obtain condoms, lubricant, and Plan B morning-after pills via a so-called “wellness to-go” vending machine that will be installed in the campus’s Good Life Center before winter break.

• https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/yale-college-introducing-contraception-vending-machine-featuring-condoms-ab

GENESIS: Science again — A group of archeologists and other scientists say they have discovered strong evidence that the region of the “Middle Ghor,” where the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are believed to have existed, were in fact destroyed by a meteor that exploded in the sky above, raining down superheated matter and raising temperatures to thousands of degrees, a theory that matches the account of the cities’ destruction contained in the Old Testament Book of Genesis.

• https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/archeologists-sodom-and-gomorrah-literally-destroyed-by-fire-and-brimstone

CHINA OPPRESSES CHRISTIANS: Google offers to help — On Sunday night, Chinese authorities launched coordinated raids against Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan. About 100 Christians from the Protestant church, which is not sponsored by the Chinese government, were taken into custody. As the raid took place, church members’ personal social media accounts and cell phone group discussions were blocked around 9 p.m., and the church’s telephone line was cut. Google has agreed to work with the Chinese government to create a censored search platform, sparking protests from within the company. This raid sends a chilling warning as to exactly what the Chinese government would do with the help Google has offered.

• https://pjmedia.com/trending/china-arrested-100-christians-after-blocking-their-phones-and-social-media/

CHINA CAVES TO TRUMP: China moved to reduce tariffs on US cars from 40% to 15% in the latest sign of their willingness to negotiate a trade deal with President Trump.

• https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/12/boom-china-moves-to-lower-tariffs-on-us-cars-from-40-to-15/

LITTLE CARACAS ON THE PRAIRIE: Fracking in North Dakota and Socialism is Venezuela has combined to shrink the oil output of the nation with arguably the world’s largest crude reserves behind the state with the Guinness World Record for the most snow angels. In September, North Dakota produced nearly 1.3 million barrels while Venezuela only managed 1.17 million barrels.

• https://hotair.com/archives/2018/12/11/venezuela-now-produces-less-oil-north-dakota/

JOBS: In October 2018, there were 1 million more jobs than unemployed workers in the most recent government count of job openings. And no, Obama, you did NOT build that.

• https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/10/job-openings-back-over-7-million-and-near-a-record-high.html

NEW YORK LAWMAKERS: Why do these people get to vote on their own pay? — New York’s governor and state lawmakers are set to become the highest paid in the nation under a new plan that would boost their salaries by 64%, from the current $79,500 to $130,000. Yeah, that’ll really help stem the tide of jobs OUT of New York State.

• https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/politics/albany/2018/12/06/new-york-lawmakers-governor-pay-raise/2229890002/

RACISM IS COOL: If you’re the one benefiting — South African lawmakers passed a proposal to change the country’s constitution to make land grabs legal. Then they voted to take land from white farmers without compensating them for it. This same plan turned South Africa’s neighbor Zimbabwe from a state of plenty to a starving state.

• https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/12/your-time-is-up-white-people-south-african-government-sets-date-for-white-farmers-to-give-up-land-without-compensation/

BEFORE THE MEETING: President Trump tweet stormed about the wall — “Despite the large Caravans that WERE forming and heading to our Country, people have not been able to get through our newly built Walls, makeshift Walls & Fences, or Border Patrol Officers & Military. They are now staying in Mexico or going back to their original countries……. Ice, Border Patrol and our Military have done a FANTASTIC job of securing our Southern Border. A Great Wall would be, however, a far easier & less expensive solution. We have already built large new sections & fully renovated others, making them like new. The Democrats,….. however, for strictly political reasons and because they have been pulled so far left, do NOT want Border Security. They want Open Borders for anyone to come in. This brings large scale crime and disease. Our Southern Border is now Secure and will remain that way……. I look forward to my meeting with Chuck Schumer & Nancy Pelosi. In 2006, Democrats voted for a Wall, and they were right to do so. Today, they no longer want Border Security. They will fight it at all cost, and Nancy must get votes for Speaker. But the Wall will get built… People do not yet realize how much of the Wall, including really effective renovation, has already been built. If the Democrats do not give us the votes to secure our Country, the Military will build the remaining sections of the Wall. They know how important it is!”

• https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/12/trump-says-military-will-build-border-wall-if-democrats-refuse-funding/

There’s a lot of talk on the web today about the meeting between Trump/Pence and Schumer/Pelosi. Schumer and Pelosi talking about how awful the idea of a government shut down is makes my blood pressure shoot up. Remember Obama? Remember how he fenced off open air memorials and Michelle let her famous garden rot?

PREVIOUS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWNS: Non-essential government services have been suspended for more than a single day only twice in our history. Both times, it was because a Democrat president refused to sign the spending bill that the Republican-controlled Congress had passed. Clinton’s lasted 27 days in 1995-96; Obama’s lasted 16 days in 2013.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_shutdowns_in_the_United_States

BORDER SECURITY: Rep Tom Reed on CNN — “Americans want Congress to get the job done and keep our country safe. It is time for Democrats and Republicans to come together to find common ground in order to secure our border.” The anchor keeps harping on the increase in the deficit, as if the border wall is the ONLY thing that is driving spending. How about how much we’re spending on an ever-increasing number of illegals who think they have some right to free health care, free education, free housing, and free food? She also totally ignores Tom’s points about the necessity for border security (which a majority of Americans want) and about how wrong it is for Democrats to politicize that issue.

DEMOCRATS: Why exactly are Democrats SO obsessed with genitalia? — Nancy Pelosi reportedly told colleagues that Trump’s border wall is “like a manhood thing for him. As if manhood could ever be associated with him.” I mean, Hillary says she didn’t get elected because people fear vaginas of power and now Nancy Pelosi says Trump only wants the border wall because his weenie is inadequate? Oh, and she also likened the Oval Office meeting to getting peed on by a skunk. Freud would have a field day.

Allegedly, she was “trying to be the mom.” Well, that sounds about right, so long as we remember that her definition of “a mom” is someone who has the absolute right to dismember her unborn children at any gestational age, for any reason, and at taxpayers’ expense.

• https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2018/12/11/nancy-pelosi-trump-wants-a-wall-because-of-his-manhood-or-something-n2537340
• https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/11/pelosi-trump-pee-skunk-meeting-joke/

ADVENT MEDITATION: In Latin, nativitas means birth, while navitas means energy.

JESUS’ BAPTISM: Clearing out landmines — Churches at the site along the banks of the Jordan river where Jesus is believed to have been baptized could reopen within a year, following progress on a project to clear thousands of landmines and other ordinance from the location.

• https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/site-of-baptism-of-the-lord-nears-reopening-as-landmines-cleared-81379

ABORTION: Don’t expect compassion from people who murder innocent babies for a living — On Nov 9, 2018, an abortion clinic put a bleeding patient out on to the street, because … well, it was closing time and they’d already gotten their money. They couldn’t even be bothered to call 911 for her. Fortunately, she was able to do it for herself. An ambulance came and took her to a hospital for treatment.

• https://www.lifenews.com/2018/12/10/abortion-clinic-kicks-woman-out-at-closing-time-while-shes-hemorrhaging-from-her-abortion/

SCOTUS: Not as big a deal as some are making out — Legal beagles say the high court’s decision to not hear the Planned Parenthood funding case may not be the harbinger about future abortion cases that some are making it out to be. The issue wasn’t abortion, but whether Medicaid recipients had the right to choose providers for annual health screens, contraceptive coverage and cancer screening. Benjamin Clapper, executive director of Louisiana Right to Life, sees hope for the future, noting that Louisiana 2016 Act 304 is still in place. The act prevents tax dollars from going to any “entity or organization that performs abortions, or that contracts with an entity or organization that performs abortions, in this state.”

• https://www.lifenews.com/2018/12/10/supreme-court-may-have-declined-planned-parenthood-funding-case-for-non-abortion-reasons/

TRUMP: Pro-life and Pro-science — The Trump administration is investing up to $20 million for the next two years to determine effective alternatives to using tissue from aborted babies for research.

• https://www.dailysignal.com/2018/12/10/breaking-trump-administration-seeks-pro-life-pro-science-alternatives-to-fetal-tissue-research/

PROJECT VERITAS: Big Win! — A federal judge ruled Monday that Americans have a right to secretly record their public officials, including police, when they are engaged in their government duties.

• https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/dec/10/project-veritas-case-judge-patti-b-staris-rules-am/

https://www.facebook.com/youngamericasfoundation/videos/326556837942228/

DINESH D’SOUZA: If Nazism and Communism were both Socialist ideologies, why did they go to war with each other?

ICE RAIDS: Bad guys rounded up in NJ — A five-day federal immigration sweep in New Jersey rounded up 105 illegals, including several wanted by Interpol for alleged crimes in their home countries. It also targeted people who authorities say re-entered the U.S. after being deported and several alleged gang members.

• https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-news-new-jersey-ice-raid-immigrants-20181208-story.html

BABY IT’S NOT COLD OUTSIDE: Billionaire Bloomberg helped finance this INANE project. And he’s photographed with it. In London. Doesn’t he live in NYC? Doesn’t it take a pot load of fossil fuel to cross the Atlantic? Oh wait, he’s a LIBERAL who “fights climate change”, so it’s okay, right? As of June 2018, his net worth was estimated at $51.7 billion, making him the 8th-richest person in the United States and the 11th richest person in the world. So I’m guessing he has a private jet that is undoubtedly wind powered. Or maybe it’s hydro-powered with melting ice .

• https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2018/12/11/mike-bloomberg-literally-flew-in-ice-from-greenland-for-an-art-project-about-global-warming-caused-by-excess-carbon-emissions/

CALIFORNIA DREAMING: More like California Exodus –– As the number of illegals and homeless in California rise, the businesses that provide the jobs and tax monies to provide them with services are fleeing the state.

• https://legalinsurrection.com/2018/12/new-california-rules-mandate-solar-panels-on-new-homes/

https://youtu.be/ZwmUH5AGydQ

PRAGER U: Who Are the Most Powerful People in America? — The genius of America is that it was set up as a representative government, but increasingly, Americans are ruled over by leaders who are unelected, and very powerful. Columbia Law Professor Philip Hamburger unmasks the people who are really ruling our lives.

KUDOS: To Legal Insurrection — Newsguard is a company formed by Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz to rate websites to provide advertisers and readers who add the Newsguard browser add-on with an assessment of website journalistic credibility.

I’ve posted a few articles the last few days because I’ve had days off work. Don’t know when I’ll be back.

Illegal Immigration Last Month Hit Highest Level in Over a Decade

This photo accompanies this article. Finding women in this sea of humanity is like playing “Where’s Waldo?”

In November 2018, there were close to 52,000 border crossings on the southern border, alone, marking the highest level of illegal immigration in the month of November since 2006.

The continuing rise of illegal immigration at the southern border indicates that Fiscal Year 2019 will see the biggest boom of illegal immigration in more than a decade, according to Princeton Researcher Steven Kopits.

In total, Kopits projects that there will be more than 600,000 border crossings next year — a level of illegal immigration that the country has not seen since Fiscal Year 2008, when total southwest border apprehensions exceeded 705,000.

At the same time of the rising illegal immigration totals, the U.S. is continuing to admit more than a million legal immigrants every year to take American jobs. The mass immigration scheme is a boon to real estate developers, who thrive on the booming populations in major cities, and employers who benefit from a flooded labor market with stagnant U.S. wages and displaced American workers.

The country’s mass immigration policy also has massive rewards for Democrats, who are set to import between seven to eight million new foreign-born voters solely from the process known as “chain migration,” and overall, an additional 15 million new foreign-born voters.

• https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/12/10/iillegal-immigration-last-month-hit-highest-level-in-over-a-decade/

Victor Davis Hanson, a writer with superb skills, summarizes the Mueller team’s efforts to date.

Criminals and partisans, accusing others of criminality and partisanship

So far, we know that the U.S. government decided to intervene in a political campaign to help one candidate and to smear the other — under the pretext of Russian “collusion.”…

Mueller cannot fulfill the hype of the past 18 months. …

Mueller was tasked to find collusion (itself not a crime) committed during 2015 and 2016, not to prompt more purported crimes by setting perjury traps, and purported obstruction-of-justice liabilities.  …

In sum, a group of Obama-administration officials and appointees in 2016 colluded with Clinton-campaign personnel to ensure that Donald Trump would not be elected in 2016 and, later, to make sure that his transition and early presidency would fail or be aborted.

Read the rest @ https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/12/mueller-probe-fisa-warrants-fbi-informants/

After Kevin Hart was forced out as Oscar host over decade-old jokes that were deemed homophobic, the Oscars committee was scrambling to find a replacement that absolutely no one would find offensive.

The same thing happened to this year’s Heisman Trophy winner over a comment he made about gays when he was 14. you can never appease those who insist on being offended by everything. So, The Babylon Bee has come up with a foolproof solution.

Oscars To Be Hosted By Boom Box Playing Inoffensive, Calming Ambient Noise

The traditional opening monologue, according to sources, will just be a track dubbed “Amazon Rainforest.” Oscars attendees will be soothed by the sounds of rain falling in a lush rainforest as pictures of idyllic locations will be played on a screen. Stagehands will be ready to charge onstage and tackle the boom box, should anyone become upset by its tranquil sounds.

After each part of the ceremony, the boom box will be placed on stage, and an assistant will cue up a cassette tape with a different track to help everyone at the Oscars feel safe, warm, and loved. Of course, the boom box is not sentient and so cannot actually announce the presentation of any awards. The Oscars committee says this is by design, as no one will be offended by not getting an award.

• https://babylonbee.com/news/oscars-to-be-hosted-by-boom-box-playing-inoffensive-calming-ambient-noise

I remember playing what we called the “parking lot game” when I was in college. We’d park near the back of the lot and go into the mall. We’d come out with our keys in hand, watching the cars circle like vultures, waiting for that primo spot near the door. We’d start looking like our car was close and we were trying to spot it, just to see how many cars we could get to follow us, hoping to grab the coveted spot. I think our best tally was four. Things got was too serious when these girls didn’t move fast enough to suit the entitled minorities who fully expected these girls to kiss their ass. The girls all ended up hospitalized. Homies don’t play when it comes to their stuff.

3 teen girls beaten over mall parking spot

“I noticed the car had pulled up behind me,” McFadden said. “I had told my friend to wait because I was not pulling out yet because I wanted to sit and wait. Another car, about three cars out from me, was pulling out, and some people backed into that spot and got out of the car and came walking past my car.”

McFadden said the four people – two men and two women – were mumbling something as they walked past. She said she didn’t think they were talking to them. McFadden said as one of her friends leaned into the car to say something to her, one of the women turned and began yelling at them.

The women also allegedly shouted racial epithets toward the McFadden and her friends.

“I was on the phone with the police at the time and I just started reading the license plate over and over to the dispatcher because I knew they were going to try to leave,” McFadden said. “They got in their car, and they were screaming ‘you dumb white bi***es. You are too comfortable.’ They just kept reiterating that we were white and too comfortable, and we were stupid white girls and all this stuff.”

• https://www.nj.com/gloucester-county/2018/12/3-teen-girls-beaten-over-mall-parking-spot.html

I can predict with 100% confidence absolutely nothing will happen to their assailants if and when they’re ever caught. It doesn’t work that way.

This kid ran for alderman to make a statement. His opponent was one of strongman Mike Madigan’s loyal storm troopers. Madigan is the most powerful man in the state. Insurgents are dealt with quickly and permanently.

A college kid running for 13th Ward alderman gets a lesson in the Chicago Way

The history of the little guy being squashed by massive Chicago political clout at election time is just too long to print without weeping.

But the story for today is so amazing that some Chicago election officials have never seen the like.

The Goliath is the 13th Ward Democratic Organization run by House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, aka Boss Madigan, the most powerful politician in the state. Boss Madigan has long hand-picked his aldermen. He likes them loyal and quiet. The current silent alderman of the 13th Ward is Marty Quinn.

Yes, I do know the neighborhood. For decades, my father and uncle ran a family supermarket in the 13th Ward, at 58th and Pulaski. We’d cash paychecks without charging a check-cashing fee. On government paycheck days, the line of city, county and state workers would ring around the store, for hours upon hours, thousands of them.

To get on the ballot, Krupa was required to file 473 valid signatures of ward residents with the Chicago Board of Elections. Krupa filed 1,703 signatures.

But before he filed his signatures with the elections board, an amazing thing happened along the Chicago Way.

An organized crew of political workers — or maybe just civic-minded individuals who care about reform — went door to door with official legal papers. They asked residents to sign an affadavit revoking their signature on Krupa’s petition.

More than 2,700 revocations were turned over to the elections board to cancel the signatures on Krupa’s petitions. Chicago Board of Elections officials had never seen such a massive pile of revocations.

“The board has received a few revocations here and there in very rare electoral board cases over the years,” said election board spokesman Jim Allen.

But more than 2,700? Impossible, no?

The number of revocations far exceeds the number of signatures Krupa collected. That means false affidavits were filed with the elections board.

• http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/kass/ct-met-chicago-13th-ward-alderman-race-kass-20181206-story.html

They go on strike every two years demanding 7% raises, smaller classes, more paid holidays and shorter working hours. Then squeal like pigs when the city has to close 50 schools and lay off thousands of teachers because of budget cuts. The big flap this year was about schools for the millions of illegals infesting Chicago. See, homeowners have to pay for schools through property taxes. Illegals pay nothing and their kids get their education free.

Chicago Teachers Union suspends strike after agreement that includes ‘sanctuary schools’ for immigrants

More than 500 teachers walked out of 15 schools associated with Acero Schools, one of Chicago’s largest charter school networks. The teacher strike, which started on Tuesday and continued into Friday, cancelled classes for more than 7,000 children.

The CTU’s strike demanded for increased salaries for educators, a sanctuary school policy that would protect illegal immigrant children from deportation, and smaller class sizes, according to Chalkbeat

Acero filed complaints with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board and National Labor Relations Board on Friday to stop the strike, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Picketers allegedly offered alcohol to a school security guard in front of minors. Another allegation said a picketer threatened to call immigration officials to a parent who was bringing a child to school.

Teachers will be expected to be in school on Monday.

• https://www.bizpacreview.com/2018/12/10/chicago-teachers-union-suspends-strike-after-agreement-that-includes-sanctuary-schools-for-immigrants-701388

Hillary Clinton Takes Huma as Her Date to $100 Million Indian Wedding Looking Like a Bag Lady

Seems the rumors of Hillary Clinton being a heterosexual are vastly overstated.Personally I doubt she has enough compassion to care about anyone but herself.Maybe she and Huma get together and whine about what losers their husbands are. (That’s Huma in the background.)

Hillary Clinton arrived in Udaipur with her date Huma Abedin over the weekend for Isha Ambani’s pre-wedding party.

Isha Ambani, the daughter of India’s wealthiest man is getting married to Anand Priamal, the son of an Indian billionaire and the week-long wedding reportedly cost $100 million.

The Ambanis, who made their money in oil and gas, are Clinton Foundation donors.
Hillary Clinton wore a blue muumuu to some of the pre-wedding festivities and later changed into a gold dress to watch Beyonce perform

• https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/12/hillary-clinton-takes-huma-as-her-date-to-100-million-indian-wedding-looking-like-a-bag-lady/