Before going through some of the insufferable debates and positions amid the current political dynamic, something needs to be said, and we need to say it with the intent of stopping this insufferable pretending, breaking the cycle of battered conservatism and speaking bold truth.

The current chattering class of the professionally Republican have joined with the chattering class of the professional leftists and begun decrying the efforts of the 20 House Republicans as being ‘nihilistic’ in their efforts to reform the House rules and present pragmatic political defenses to the surge of destruction around us.

“Nihilism” is essentially a political belief advocating for destruction of current political systems without discernible constructive goals.

This is the opposition argument toward what they perceive as the goal and objective of the 20 House Republicans who fought for a new rules package and against the appointment of Kevin McCarthy until such changes were implemented.

As the argument is made against the House 20 group, they were/are nihilistic against modern political norms with the end result being their desired destruction of our constitutional republic.  That’s the position of the professionally Republican.  Now let me add some context to this ridiculous and insufferable gaslighting, because that’s exactly what this narrative is.

The same people claiming the House Republicans are nihilistic in their goals, are the same UniParty members in politics and media who have put us $32 trillion into debt.  They’re the same UniParty that has created a crisis at the border, millions of illegal aliens, massive omnibus spending leading to rampant inflation, ridiculous energy policy wrapped around the false premise of climate change and yet provide $100 billion to a foreign country, Ukraine.  In essence, a great UniParty effort that is destroying the very fabric of our nation.

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As previously noted, the 118th Congress is expected to authorize a “Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.”   The subcommittee will fall under the jurisdiction of the House Judiciary Committee led by Chairman Jim Jordan.   Additionally, Thomas Massie (R-KY) is being reported as a representative under consideration for the chairmanship the House subcommittee.

In order to avoid another complete waste of time; and considering the background of the current political dynamic which will surround this subcommittee; and considering my accurate predictions for all other special committees and House investigations; and considering that I have ZERO optimism that this committee will generate anything any different than the prior investigative sub and select-committees that preceded it (Fast and Furious, IRS Targeting, Benghazi, etc.); and with full understanding of the complexity of the daunting challenge such an undertaking would require; I have been asked to outline an actual roadmap for success in this noble endeavor.

So, I will….  Even if I believe it is futile.

Let me also say up front that many readers will not like this approach, and most professionally Republican along with media in/around Washington DC will absolutely hate the ideas as they are presented.

Assuming Jim Jordan and Thomas Massie have some grasp of the scale and scope of the opposition they are about to face; and assuming they have a fully prepared staff to support them – willing to take on the most consequential investigation in our lifetimes; then we begin by first defining who will oppose any effort to investigate the “weaponization of government“.   Which is to say everyone!

The entire apparatus of the DC political system will do everything in their power, individually and with collective assistance, to ensure this committee fails.  The stakes are basically for all the marbles.  DC politics is a system of compartmentalized silos. A collection of weaponized institutions that view their common enemy as the American people not within them.

Specifically, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), and every Republican member therein, including SSCI Vice-Chairman Marco Rubio, will make it their priority mission to block any investigation that touches on how the intelligence apparatus of the United States government is weaponized against the people.   The SSCI facilitated the creation of the National Security State, and any effort to investigate the outcome will make the House investigators mortal enemies to the Senate.

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While everyone was focused on the House Speaker battle this week, a few interesting stories were overwhelmed and deserve to be revisited.

Matt Taibbi released Twitter File drop #12 (IC Infiltration) and Twitter File Drop #13 (FBI Specifics) using information from his access to the internal documents of the social media platform.   Additionally, columnist Lee Smith wrote an excellent and extensive outline showing the arc of the FBI involvement in social media, as specifically centered around former FBI Legal Counsel James Baker.

[Lee Smith Article Here]

In the Taibbi release (Twitter File #12) he outlines how Senate Select Committee Vice-Chair Mark Warner was instrumental in framing a media narrative that boxed in Twitter, forcing them to allow the intelligence apparatus through the front door.

Within the Russiagate and intelligence state storyline, the one person who has not been given enough scrutiny is Senate Mark Warner.  In fact, Warner was elevated to his position inside the SSCI in January of 2017 specifically as an outcome of the 2016 election.  Senator Warner replaced Senator Dianne Feinstein with the specific mission to coverup the committee involvement in 2016 election operations.

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California Representative Kevin McCarthy finally succeeded on the 15th ballot during the overnight hours of Friday to Saturday. Mr McCarthy ultimately prevailed with 216 votes after six conservatives switched their votes to present. This lowered the threshold for a majority vote and essentially reversed their prior opposition. Their change followed 14 other holdout Republicans who flipped their votes to McCarthy during the 12th ballot and Andy Harris (R-Md.), switching to McCarthy on the 13th.

After Speaker Kevin McCarthy was sworn into office, he delivered a speech to the entire House.

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Republican Representative Mike Rogers (House Armed Services Committee Chair) was furious when Kevin McCarthy came up one vote short in his effort to become Speaker of the House on ballot #14.

While McCarthy tried to convince Florida Representative Matt Gaetz to change his vote, Mike Rogers came into the picture to fight and had to be physically restrained.  The event was captured on C-SPAN camera.   Video at 01:20 Prompted:

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The House is scheduled to begin the effort for the installation of California Representative Kevin McCarthy at 10:00pm ET.   It is unknown whether the 14th ballot effort will succeed or exactly how many representatives are still in DC for the activity.   The livestream is below:

UPDATE:

• Round 14 fails for McCarthy by one vote.  232 votes cast. McCarthy got 216 – one vote short of majority.
• Representative Mike Rogers (AL) tried to fight Matt Gaetz and had to be restrained. (LINK)
• GOP tried to adjourn.  Voice vote failed and failed counting of yeas and nays.  House cannot adjourn.
• Republicans now go for round #15

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The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) released the December jobs report today [DATA HERE] showing 223,000 jobs gained in December ’22.

Most of the job growth was in the “leisure and hospitality” sector (+67,000), healthcare (+55,000), construction (+28,000) and social assistance (+20,000).  Additionally, average hourly earnings rose by 0.3%, with a year-over-year measure of wage growth at 4.6%.

At this point in the history of our economic pretending game, we are well aware the employment numbers are heavily manipulated in order to support the government policymaking that is destroying the same workforce they claim to represent.   It’s all a ruse, just look around your community and you will see what I am talking about.

The financial pundits, Wall Street, government policy makers and various individuals and economic gaslighters are concerned that worker wage growth could drive inflation.  This is one of the most aggravating aspects to reviewing the majority of economic punditry. [Example:]

This knuckleheaded narrative engineer from the New York Times/Atlantic even has the audacity to say, “let prices continue to fall to target,” as if there is a single item at any price that is dropping.  His spin is a good example of gaslighting just from the use of the statement “price inflation is falling back towards where we want it.”

Price inflation is not price.  ‘Price inflation’ is the rate of increase.  There’s a BIG DIFFERENCE between “inflation falling back” and prices dropping. Inflation falling back is merely a lessening of the rate of price increase.  The price does not drop, and never will.

This reality is why it is infuriating to see government policymakers and pundits decry wage growth as a bad thing that might cause inflation.

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Our dear friend Sharon always reminds us, “Those whose motives are based on deception, will always find an audience willing to be deceived.”  That, my friends, is the current status of the Republican party watchers and one of the primary reasons this little corner of the internet, The Last Refuge, was formed.

We accept things as they are, not as we would wish them to be and never as we would pretend them to be.   Pretending is an endless quest akin to convincing. Those who operate in the world of political pretense expend an exhaustive amount of energy in constant vigilance against those who speak plain truths.

The House of Representatives has adjourned until 10pm tonight, when another vote will be taken, as outlined by the design of the Kevin McCarthy supporters.

Why adjourn?  Why return at 10:00pm on a Friday evening?  Simply, because the McCarthy team is counting on several House members (mostly Democrats) not being in attendance for the quorum, facilitating a lower threshold of the vote to achieve a majority.

435/434 members present = 218 votes needed
433/432 members present = 217 votes needed
431/430 members present = 216 votes needed
429/428 members present = 215 votes needed
etc.

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The twelfth ballot round ended up with Kevin McCarthy receiving 214 votes of support, fourteen more than previous ballot rounds.  McCarthy needs 218 votes to succeed (if all members are present).

The following group of 14 Republicans changed their vote to support Kevin McCarthy on the 12th ballot:

Rep. Dan Bishop (N.C.), Rep.-elect Josh Brecheen (Okla.), Rep. Michael Cloud (Texas), Rep. Andrew Clyde (Ga.), Rep. Byron Donalds (Fla.), Rep. Paul Gosar (Ariz.),Rep.-elect Anna Paulina Luna (FL), Rep. Mary Miller (Ill.), Rep. Ralph Norman (S.C.), Rep.-elect Andy Ogles (Tenn.), Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), Rep.-elect Keith Self (Texas), and Rep. Victoria Spartz (IN) all voted to support Kevin McCarthy.

The Holdouts are:

Rep. Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Rep.-elect Eli Crane (Ariz.), Rep. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Rep. Bob Good (Va.), Rep. Andy Harris (Md.) and Rep. Matt Rosendale (Mont.)

aka “The Magnificent Seven”

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Day #4 of the House effort to elect a new speaker will continue today with no one asking why only 20 members want to change the rules.  The rules are problematic for 20+ members who have refused to vote through eleven ballots for McCarthy, which begs the question.  Why do 200 republicans accept giving McCarthy all the power to determine legislative business?

The House returns to session for what is expected to be McCarthy’s 12th attempt to win the gavel. According to Politico, “the GOP leader and his leadership team convened a conference call Friday morning to update members on the status of negotiations, hours after he appeared to gather some momentum late Thursday by hashing out specific concessions to hardline members of the GOP conference — offers that his allies were hopeful would move votes in his direction.

But enormous uncertainty lingered Friday morning, as members of the freedom Caucus had yet to commit their support to McCarthy and a handful of other holdouts continued to signal their opposition to him. Absences on the GOP side of the aisle could scramble things further, with McCarthy backer Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) predicting at least three during Friday’s likely balloting.  WATCH:

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