Please insert a big fat TOLDYASO right here.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is lashing out at opponents to his Puerto Rico bailout bill demanding they stop calling it a “bailout”.  Instead Ryan demands his opposition use the gaslighting term “restructuring”.
Hogwash.

A bailout by any other name is still a bailout.  A taxpayer funded restructuring of debt is still a bailout.  Puerto Rico brought this upon themselves.  Let them go insolvent and be forced to sell off their assets (ie. land, etc.) to pay back the bondholders.
Ryan’s position contends that if the U.S. government does nothing, then eventually the U.S. government will be forced to purchase all the debt and bail out Puerto Rico (ie. Wall Street bondholders/investors) entirely.  More hogwash.
What’s really being done here is Speaker Ryan setting up precedent.  Ryan is establishing the very first federal intervention into unsustainable state debt bailout.   Effectively if this happens the entire system of U.S. republicanism collapses.  (more…)

Somewhat quietly, though not without some water-cooler discussion, the Republican Party Leadership is warning membership to stay away from the upcoming Cleveland Ohio convention.
The media is describing the issue as centering around those elected politicians who may want to avoid the potential for divisive controversy.  However, if you look at the actual landscape, and then look at the political ideology of those who are openly saying they are staying away, what you’ll notice is the RINO caucus, the ‘Decepticons’, are the most cautious.

If you spend some time digging through the professional GOPe messaging, what you’ll note is the party leadership seems fully aware something very dangerous might just come to fruition.  Not dangerous in a violent way per se’, but rather dangerous in a very political and contentious way; there’s very good reason for this. (more…)

Have Tar, Bring Feathers…

DETAILS HERE

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(Via Washington Examiner) Following a drop in students applying for housing, the University of Missouri will not be placing students in two dorms for the fall 2016 semester.
Mizzou will be closing the Respect and Excellence halls (ironic names, given the circumstances) in order to utilize dorm space “in the most efficient manner” to keep costs down.
In March, the university announced that it saw a sharp drop in admissions for the coming school year, and will have 1,500 fewer students. This will lead to a $32 million budget shortfall for the school, prompting the need to close the dorms in order to save money.
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A “conflict of interest” (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial interests, personal or other interests, one or more of which could possibly influence the motivation of the individual or organization.

A person or entity avoids a conflict of interest by:

• a.) not engaging in activity that might be conflicted by a duality of interest, or
• b.) disclosing the potential conflict – allowing associated parties to be aware and decide independently if the conflict is influencing behavior.

In essence, when presented with a potential conflict of interest, be truthful and provide full disclosure.
If unsure, err on the side of full transparency, and do so as soon as the conflict presents – don’t wait.
This becomes the generally accepted best ethical practice to avoid potential issues that may arise as a consequence of conflicted interest; especially financial conflicts.
♦ Recently, the financial payments by political entities upon media personalities has created quite a stir.  When CTH revealed (from FEC filings) financial payments by Political Action Committees to media pundit Erick Erickson (and others), the response was to besmirch CTH for revealing the payments. (more…)

Michigander Charlie LeDuff has produced an amazingly good boots-on-the-ground video which shows how insufferably connected the chattering class of Vichy Republicans have become.
LeDuff showcases the disconnect by highlighting a series of articles in National Review, and then actually going to the locales belittled by the NRO staff and talking to the ordinary, hard-working middle class people who live within them.
Driving to New York – LeDuff actually interviews the people that NRO is figuratively writing about, the resulting contrast speaks volumes:
“Shocked by their support of Donald Trump, some elitist conservative thinkers are calling places like Garbutt, NY pockets of misery, welfare fraud and dope addiction. They say let these towns die. Turns out Garbutt is not like that at all”.
LeDuff masterfully tells a real life short story and simultaneously contrasts the pontificating arrogance of the Charles Cooke, Kevin Williamson, Rich Lowry and Johan Goldberg types at National Review.  The resulting work is brilliant:

First, let’s be brutally honest –  This latest manipulation by Ryan is nothing but pure Machiavellian political maneuvering by the professional republican party in an effort to keep the unwashed masses from recognizing intentional usurpation.
This is professional political ‘gaslighting‘ folks, and it is beyond infuriating:

Filthy, lying CRAPWEASEL…
Remember: (more…)

Sometimes when you find yourself in a disconcerting and unfamiliar place, it can be beneficial to stop, look back and understand just how we ended up in this terrain.  The professional DC consultant class are benefiting from the current climate of chaos, and they certainly don’t want anyone to review the consequential and intentional steps it took to get here.
When the Tea Party rose up in opposition to President Obama’s indulgent spending programs in 2009 many were under the mistaken assumption the opposing party, the republicans, were against the progressive agenda based on principle.

However, there were a few voices on our side saying be wary of the UniParty nature of DC, the republican party is not our friend.  Money always fuels their motives; so long as there are millions available to the ‘loyal opposition’, the republican political intentions should not be regarded as altruistic.
At the time those concerns were dispatched by a louder voices demanding strategic unity and instructions to work within the DC-based GOPe system.  However, ultimately what benefit lies within unity if the end result is just a destructive?   The awakened electorate was just as much a risk to the republican side of the UniParty as it was the Democrat side.
It was from this basic framework of acceptance the Conservative Tree House was born. A “last refuge” where common sense approaches still mattered.
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An interesting article within the Washington Post outlines some of the challenges with unbound delegates and delegates available for purchase…
(Washington Post) West Virginia looks perfect for Donald Trump: a struggling working-class state filled with the types of voters who have backed him elsewhere and could deliver one of his biggest victories.
But a sweep there might not matter. That’s because as many as 34 delegates — the entire contingent — may be free to back whomever they want at the Republican National Convention.

Much the same is true in Pennsylvania, home to a hotly contested April 26 primary, where there are 54 uncommitted delegates. Other states and territories, from Colorado to Wyoming to Guam, will also send squads of unbound representatives.
These are the swing voters of the GOP nominating contest, nearly 200 activists and elected leaders beholden to nothing except their personal judgment and empowered to make or break candidacies. (more…)

Having spent the larger amount of two years digging through innocuous reports, FOIA documents, and media reports (mostly foreign), the Gowdy announcement today is more than a little bit disingenuous.
We’ve previously predicted, long before the select committee was announced, that the Benghazi investigation would amount to all hat and no cattle.
The reasoning is very simple:
Both sides of the UniParty were charged with intelligence oversight of the joint CIA/State Department operations in Libya (2011) and Syria (2012) through the Congressional Intelligence Gang-of-Eight.
At the time the “Intelligence Gang-of-Eight” was:

♦ Speaker – John Boehner, ♦ Minority Leader – Nancy Pelosi; ♦ House Permanent Select Committee on Intel Chairman – Mike Rogers, and his ♦ Democrat counterpart Charles Ruppersberger; ♦ Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and ♦ Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid; along with ♦ Senate Intel Chair Diane Feinstein and her ♦ Republican counterpart, Saxby Chambliss.

Together with Hillary Clinton and President Obama the “Gang-of-Eight” was duplicitous in everything that took place.  Therefore there is no independent motive for the Gowdy committee to find any responsibility – the entire investigation is for public appearances only.
Further evidence therein can be found in this latest press release.  Note the specific wording and the specific emphasis we provide:  (more…)