Sunday Smiles

Sunday Smiles 1

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I went back and forth about doing a Sunday Smiles on Easter–memes are often, by their nature, snarky and often a bit crude. Is it appropriate to dump a bunch of snarkiness onto the internet on Christianity’s holiest day?

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Probably not, but I am going to do it anyway because I know a bunch of you will want to see them, and those who would prefer to wait until Tomorrow have no obligation to come here, and if they choose to do so, it’s not my fault. 

That’s my story, and I am sticking to it. 

Since my wife is out of town, I am making our Easter dinner tomorrow. She is making one for her father in Michigan, and I’m glad she and he can spend the holiday together. It should be low-key, which is good. She and I are 60, and he is 90, so low-key seems right. For that matter, our late Easter dinner will be low-key as well. 

Speaking of low-key, since it’s Easter, I won’t be giving you my usual rant about how liberals suck. Let’s just stipulate that they do. 

So with that, let’s get to the good stuff. 

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BEST OF THE BABYLON BEE

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BEST OF THE REST:

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AND FINALLY…

Posted in Republican News

Christ Indeed From Death Is Risen: A Happy and Blessed Easter to All Our Readers!

Christ Indeed From Death Is Risen: A Happy and Blessed Easter to All Our Readers! 62

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Christ Indeed From Death Is Risen: A Happy and Blessed Easter to All Our Readers! 63

May all of our readers have a happy and blessed Easter celebration today! We would also like to wish our Jewish readers a belated blessed Passover, which took place a week ago.

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Tonight’s Gospel reading from the Easter Vigil is Luke 24:1–12, when the women come across the empty tomb and are the first to be told its implications:

At daybreak on the first day of the week the women who had come from Galilee with Jesus took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were puzzling over this, behold, two men in dazzling garments appeared to them. They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. They said to them, “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day.” And they remembered his words.

Then they returned from the tomb and announced all these things to the eleven and to all the others. The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; the others who accompanied them also told this to the apostles, but their story seemed like nonsense and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb, bent down, and saw the burial cloths alone; then he went home amazed at what had happened.

Later today, we also hear the same scene from John 20:1-9, where John joins Peter at the tomb. The testimony is somewhat different, but the message is the same:

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On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.

Finally, we go back to Luke again (24:13-35) for the story of the road to Emmaus:

That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. He asked them, “What are you discussing as you walk along?” They stopped, looking downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?” And he replied to them, “What sort of things?”

They said to him, “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see.”

And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the Scriptures. As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight.

Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!” Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread.

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Why do we seek the living among the dead? This is the question that plagues us every day, even as we prepare to celebrate the resurrection of Christ and our opportunity for redemption for sin. 

In our readings last night and today, the men and women who rush to the tomb to find Jesus have a good reason to do so. They had not yet realized the full purpose of Jesus’ true mission. They had not yet received the Holy Spirit, so they did not connect the dots and wrap their minds around the possibility that death would not be final for His mission. Only later, after Jesus returns to instruct them and then at Pentecost, would the disciples understand the significance of everything that had transpired — and the redemption for which Jesus paid in full, according to the blood covenant the Lord made with Abraham. 

We, however, know all of this now, thanks to the testimony of the Apostles and the later written Gospels. We have lived and breathed our entire lives knowing that our Lord spent His own blood to rescue us from the tomb. His death and resurrection bought our liberation from sin.

So why do we constantly go back to the tomb of sin? I certainly find myself rushing back to it, impulsively at times and deliberately at others. And it’s not just sin that sends us to the tomb either, but despair. We are given the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus shortly after the resurrection, who march on in despair over the loss of Jesus. Sometimes Lent feels much like that gloomy march, and at other times our entire life can feel the same. 

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When we flee to the tomb, the darkness can overwhelm us.

But that is where the joy and hope of Easter rescue us. Just as with the pair walking to Emmaus, Jesus meets us where we are, in our despair and sin, to provide a light to us that we may see through the darkness. The Holy Spirit kindles hope in our hearts that we can exit the tomb, as Jesus did and as Lazarus did, by putting our trust and faith in the Father who loves us so much that He continually finds ways to call us home. Even when we keep rushing back to the tomb, the Trinity calls to us to put aside our fear, our sorrow, our despair, and to place our trust in the risen Lord. 

We stumble and fall on that road often, like toddlers unsure of our steps. We get lost on the path and fall into dark places. But the Lord is that Good Shepherd, finding us in our despair and helping us to walk toward the light even when we keep turning back to the tomb. He loves us and calls to us with this message of true hope:

Jesus Christ is Risen — He is Risen Indeed!

The front-page image is “The Women at Christ’s Empty Tomb,” c. 1640, credited to the workshop of Peter Paul Rubens. In a private collection. Via Wikimedia Commons.

“Sunday Reflection” is a regular feature, looking at the specific readings used in today’s Mass in Catholic parishes around the world. The reflection represents only my own point of view, intended to help prepare myself for the Lord’s day and perhaps spark a meaningful discussion. Previous Sunday Reflections from the main page can be found here.  

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Posted in Republican News

FSU Shooter’s Family Life Was a Mess

FSU Shooter's Family Life Was a Mess 64

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FSU Shooter's Family Life Was a Mess 65

Two people were killed an six more were injured during the mass shooting that took place Thursday at Florida State University. As I described here, the shooter was stopped in the act and sent to the hospital by police. It sounds like he’s going to survive. He was later identified as Phoenix Ikner, a 20-year-old student at FSU. His mother was also identified as a local sheriff’s deputy. Ikner used one of her handguns in the attack.

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However, today we’ve got a lot more information about Ikner and his history and what it shows is a lot of family problems, including more than a decade of court battles between his parents, his mother fleeing the country with him and Ikner changing his name. Plus there’s also a mention of his right-wing politics which we’ll get to in a moment.

His birth name was Christian Gunnar Eriksen. His birth mother Anne-Mari Eriksen is originally from Norway and is not a deputy in Florida . The day her son was identified as the shooter, she wrote an angry post on Facebook.

‘Horrible when your alienating son’s dad is as mentally unstable as he is, along with his LCSO cop wife, that they can’t respond when you write to ask if everything is alright with my son, who studies ar [sic] FSU,’ she wrote in a now-deleted post.

‘That whole familly [sic] is nuts. He should write a book on how to parent badly, but he can’t communicate.’ 

Then, she added: ‘Feel sorry for everyone at FSU and their kids.’

She and the shooter’s father had long ago separated and their custody battle went on for more than a decade, from the time he was a young child until he turned 18-years-old.

By the time the suspect, Phoenix Ikner, was 6 years old, court records showed that he had to repeat kindergarten. His parents fought bitterly over every aspect of his care while accusing each other of manipulation and abuse. Judges were forced to intervene again and again as the parents traded allegations of domestic violence and stalking. The legal battle consumed nearly his entire childhood and ended only when he became an adult and most of the family court matters became moot.

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The fighting culminated in 2015 when Christian Eriksen was 10-years-old. His mother said she was taking him to south Florida for a vacation but in fact she fled the country to Norway.

His biological mother, Anne-Mari Eriksen, took him in March 2015 to Norway, in violation of the custody agreement with his father, per a probable cause affidavit reviewed by PEOPLE. 

During their time in Norway, Phoenix’s father told police, Anne-Mari repeatedly skirted his questions about when the child would be back in the United States. 

While away in Norway, Phoenix, who at the time was named Christian Gunnar Eriksen, missed his school tests, doctor’s appointments and medications he was taking for a diagnosed growth hormone disorder and ADHD, per the affidavit.

A judge in Norway eventually ordered his return to the US and when they returned his mother was charged and given 200 days in jail plus 2 years probation. A few years later he changed his name, taking his father’s name instead of his mother’s.

Court records listed the suspect’s name as Christian Gunnar Eriksen until 2019, when he was 15 and his father petitioned the court on his behalf to change his name to Phoenix Ikner.

Christian spoke to a judge and said the change was in part motivated by the 2015 incident with his mother. At the time the judge said he seemed well-spoken and intelligent.

But he made a different impression later on with a political discussion group he joined at a community college he attended before transferring to FSU.

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Reid Seybold, 22, a senior at Florida State, said the suspect joined a political discourse club that Mr. Seybold ran at Tallahassee State. The suspect’s time in the club was short-lived.

“He repeatedly espoused white supremacist, alt-right views to the point where people were uncomfortable, and we had to ask him to leave,” Mr. Seybold said, adding that the discussions often became “Phoenix against just about everyone else,” with the suspect escalating arguments and seeming to thrive on the opposition.

“He said Rosa Parks was in the wrong,” said Lucas Luzietti, 20, who was in a national government class with the suspect at Tallahassee State in the spring of 2023. “He strongly implied that Black people were ruining his neighborhood. He also said Joe Biden was an illegitimate president.”

So there you have it. He seems to have been looking to shock people with his political opinions and he succeeded. We’ll have to wait and see if he says anything about his specific motivation for this attack. Was the motive political or is he just a troubled kid with a mess of a family life?

 His maternal grandmother, is out today blaming this on Eriksen/Ikner growing up with his father and his stepmother, the one who is a sheriff’s deputy.

The grandmother of alleged Florida State University gunman Phoenix Ikner reportedly accused his parents of influencing the campus shooting that left two dead and several others injured — ripping the couple as “rotten bastard people.”

Susan Eriksen blamed her grandson’s father and stepmother, Sheriff’s Deputy Jessica Ikner, for turning the “sweetest kid” into an alleged ruthless killer, who claimed the lives of two and wounded five others when he used his stepmom’s former service pistol to open fire on the Tallahassee campus Thursday afternoon.

“They taught him how to hunt, they’re bigoted people, they hated a lot of people,” the 79-year-old grandma told the DailyMail.com at her condo in the Florida capital Friday.

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This appears to be a situations where there are two sides to the story but both sides are so angry that neither one is a reliable narrator.

Posted in Republican News

End US Taxpayer Support for the Higher Education Gravy Train

End US Taxpayer Support for the Higher Education Gravy Train 66

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End US Taxpayer Support for the Higher Education Gravy Train 67

        One of the most important insights of public policy is the understanding that most laws are predicated upon a (stated or unstated) quid pro quo.

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        Take, for example, the roiling monthslong debate about President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda. Prior to the media uproar over the much-ballyhooed MS-13-tied “Maryland man,” the since-deported Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia, there was a similar hullabaloo surrounding the arrest and initiation of removal proceedings against Mahmoud Khalil, the green card-holding Hamas sympathizer at Columbia University. Critics said that Khalil never committed an actual black-letter crime — and perhaps he didn’t. But he evinced clear support for at least one State Department-recognized foreign terrorist organization and contributed to a hostile campus environment for Columbia’s besieged Jewish students. In acting as a subversive fool, Khalil abused the terms of his noncitizen legal permanent residence and forfeited his right to be here.

        We might view it this way: Khalil violated his implicit “quid” (comport oneself as a generally decent human being), and accordingly he lost his corresponding “quo” (his remaining here at the behest and beneficence of the sovereign, We the People). Many similar examples abound throughout our legal fabric. Consider also Section 230, the oft-discussed 1990s-era technology law: In exchange for helping to “offer a forum for a true diversity of political discourse,” as the statute’s preambulatory section stipulates, a given social media platform will not be treated as a “publisher” for purposes of defamation law. But Big Tech has repeatedly violated the “quid” (by engaging in politically driven censorship), and now a change to the statutory “quo” is appropriate.

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        It is only through this prism that we can understand the ongoing, and rapidly escalating, standoff between Trump’s administration and Harvard University — and Trump’s ambitious agenda to rein in the fiscal and cultural excesses of elite American higher education, more generally.

        For decades, American institutions of higher education have benefited from extraordinary taxpayer largesse. Federal government grants and other forms of direct taxpayer subsidizations of universities are legion. The federal government itself also has a near-monopoly on the market for economically ruinous student loans — the very loans that are themselves disproportionately responsible for abetting the modern four-year college’s misbegotten status as a necessary rite of passage to achieve the American dream. Capital gains of major university endowments are also taxed at the miniscule rate of 1.4% — a fraction of the taxation rate to which the endowments would be subject were they operating as any other type of business or investment fund.

        This favorable governmental treatment of higher education is the backend “quo.” But policymakers predicated that “quo,” long ago, on the corresponding “quid”: American universities, in educating young Americans and instilling in them a love of their families, congregations, nation and God Almighty, conduce to the common good and therefore deserve direct public support.

        The basic problem with this argument, in the year 2025, is that — quite simply — it is indescribably and laughably out of touch with reality.

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        American higher education, viewed as a whole, no longer conduces to the common good. Indeed, it has not done so for a very long time now. William F. Buckley Jr., the founder of National Review, published “God and Man at Yale,” a prominent cri de coeur against the liberal educational establishment, seven and a half decades ago. The rise of the Frankfurt School and rampant cultural Marxist indoctrination soon followed. The problem of institutions of higher education churning out not godly patriots, but decadent ingrates, has been with us for a very long time. But for too long, the higher education “quo” of extra-generous taxpayer treatment stayed constant despite the demonstrable collapse of the one-time “quid.”

        Trump, in seeking to condition federal taxpayer grants to elite universities like Columbia and Harvard on the universities’ bare-minimum compliance with the nation’s civil rights laws, is taking the smallest step possible to recalibrate the discombobulated quid quo pro that has defined the taxpayer-university relationship for decades. American universities retain full First Amendment rights to speak, instruct and promulgate however they would like — but they cannot do so on the taxpayer dime when they engage in flagrant racial, ethnic or religious discrimination against applicants and students in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. There is also always the “Hillsdale College option” — like Michigan-based Hillsdale, any Ivy League or Ivy League-equivalent school can simply opt out of federal funding. Perhaps they should!

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        Many notable Democrats, such as former President Barack Obama, have lined up to defend Harvard — the Trump administration’s most recent and outsize funding target. Truly, it is remarkable. The one-time party of the working class — “lunch bucket Joe,” as former President Joe Biden was once known — has transmogrified into the leading partisan proponent of a status quo in which working-class men and women nationwide subsidize not necessarily the local technical training school but the distant Ivy League ivory tower. Democrats may not win back the Rust Belt any time soon, but they can at least bank on the Harvard and Yale faculty lounges. And maybe they’re OK with that. I know I am.

        To find out more about Josh Hammer and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Posted in Republican News

David Hogg Trashes Democracy As a Political System

David Hogg Trashes Democracy As a Political System 68

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David Hogg Trashes Democracy As a Political System 69

Well, at least the mask is off. You have to hand it to David Hogg on this one, he doesn’t mince words. 

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To be clear, Hogg isn’t calling for an autocracy per se. He just wants to abandon democratic principles when they don’t give leftists what they want. No doubt he would be perfectly happy to live with a “democratic” mode of government as long as it produces the results he and his cohort want. 

Sort of like the Cuban or Venezuelan system of government, in which elections take place with predetermined outcomes. 

What is striking about Hogg’s admission is not that he clearly believes it–it’s pretty clear that the Democrats have embraced a technocratic model of running their party and our government in a manner that ensures as much as possible that appears to be based on democratic legitimacy, but that ensures the outcomes they desire. 

Look at the 2016, 2020, and 2024 methods of choosing the Democratic Party candidate. In none of these primary/candidate selection processes did actual ordinary voters or party members have an opportunity to actually choose their candidate. The process was rigged for Hillary in 2016, for Biden in 2020, and in 2024, there wasn’t even an attempt to make it look like voters or Party members had a choice. 

Molly Ball wrote in Time Magazine about The Secret History of the “Shadow Campaign” to save the 2020 election. In it, the architects of the rigging of the election proudly described how they used hundreds of millions of dollars to stack the deck to ensure Trump lost. The Zuckerbucks, the judicial rulings that changed election laws without legislative approval, flooding the country with mail-in ballots, and unsaid, but also true, the psy-ops and riots that upended America. 

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Still, it is remarkable for the Vice Chair of the Democratic Party to come out and admit that democracy sucks. No pretending, no hedging. He takes the stance that all the activists and intellectuals on the left have been pushing: America is a country filled with horrible people who oppress and terrorize the good guys, so power should be taken from the voters until they behave better. 

No doubt, there will be lots of hand-waving defenses either of Hogg or of the Party by declaring Hogg to be just one guy. But that is absurd. What he is saying is not only consistent with how the Democrats have run things, but also their defense of the bureaucracy as a “check” on the power of elected officials. 

Not to mention that the Democrats chose this guy to be their primary spokesman in public–when was the last time you saw Ken Martin get out in front and really make a case for the Democrats? He is their operations guy; Hogg is their frontman. I bet most of you couldn’t even have named Martin as the head of the DNC. I guarantee that his name ID is tiny, especially compared to Hogg’s. 

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So there it is. It’s not a surprise. The admission won’t move the needle much. But the admission is one more brick in the wall that divides the Democratic Party and the electorate. 

Posted in Republican News

Trump Derangement Syndrome: See Only Evil, Hear Only Evil, Speak Only Evil

Trump Derangement Syndrome: See Only Evil, Hear Only Evil, Speak Only Evil 70

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Trump Derangement Syndrome: See Only Evil, Hear Only Evil, Speak Only Evil 71

        Disdain for President Donald Trump translates into a refusal to accept reality if doing it gives Trump a political victory. Examples include, but are certainly not limited to, the continuing assertion that Trump, about Charlottesville, said some variation of, “There were good and bad white nationalists and neo-Nazis on both sides”; the denial of the Hunter Biden laptop; that Trump “mocked” a disabled reporter; that Trump said to “drink bleach” to fight COVID; and that the Trump tax cuts “only benefit the rich.”

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        Former President Joe Biden, who called climate change an “existential threat to the planet,” engaged in what Trump called a “war on gas.” Yet, Democrats like Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Mass.) point to the record production levels to deride Trump’s “war on gas” accusation as merely “rhetorical.” Even Biden called his Inflation Reduction Act mislabeled and admitted it “has less to do with inflation.” He said: “Through my investments, (it’s) the most significant climate change law ever. … It’s called the (Inflation Reduction Act). We should have named it what it was.”

        The American Energy Alliance wrote “100 Ways Biden and the Democrats Have Made it Harder to Produce Oil & Gas.” It compiled a list of “explicitly anti-energy actions taken by the administration since Biden took office.” As to the record level of oil production under Biden, the AEA says this occurred despite and not because of Biden’s hostile oil and gas energy policies.

        This brings us to eggs. On April 9, “The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg said, “(Trump) did promise to lower the price of groceries, I have not seen an egg fall one cent since this man got in.” Not one cent?

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        The following morning, The New York Times published an article titled “Egg Prices Continued to Rise in March”:

        “For weeks, President Trump has repeatedly boasted that his administration had managed to bring egg prices down. But new data on Thursday showed that egg prices at the grocery store continued to climb in March.

        “Egg prices rose 5.9 percent over the month, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They climbed at a slower rate, though, after rising 10.4 percent in February and 15.2 percent in January.”

        But NBC News on April 8, the day before Goldberg’s claim, wrote “Egg Prices Decline Nationwide in March After Months of Increases: The Average Price for a Dozen is Still More than $6.”:

        “After nearly six months of increases, the price of eggs declined in March. … The average nationwide price of a dozen eggs decreased about a quarter in March, according to data from consumer research firm NIQ.

        “NIQ’s data is collected from real checkout prices paid nationwide at grocery stores, drugstores, mass merchandisers, selected dollar stores, selected warehouse clubs and military commissaries.”

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        This means NBC, like Goldberg, referred to the retail price of eggs. “The price of eggs declined in March”? Prices “decreased about a quarter”?

        Two days later, on April 10, PBS wrote an article headlined “Egg Prices Increase to Record High Despite Trump Promises and Curbing Bird Flu Outbreak”:

        “U.S. egg prices increased again last month to reach a new record-high of $6.23 per dozen despite President Donald Trump’s predictions, a drop in wholesale prices and no egg farms having bird flu outbreaks.

        “The increase reported Thursday in the Consumer Price Index means consumers and businesses that rely on eggs might not get much immediate relief. Demand for eggs is typically elevated until after Easter, which falls on April 20.”

        On April 2, CNN wrote: “The price of wholesale eggs fell again last week to $3.00 a dozen, the US Department of Agriculture reported in their weekly egg market report. That’s a 9% decline from the week before. … But despite the bright spots, it can take weeks for wholesale prices to translate to most grocery store shells, according to the USDA.”

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        When it comes to this pathological unwillingness to give Trump even “one cent” of credit, it’s see only evil, hear only evil and speak only evil.

        Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an “Elderado,” visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on X @larryelder. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

Posted in Republican News

Washington’s Latest Tax Assault on Economic Success

Washington's Latest Tax Assault on Economic Success 72

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Washington's Latest Tax Assault on Economic Success 73

        What is it about politicians in Washington that they just can’t stand progress or the thought of anyone getting rich?

        That’s the attitude of many Democrats in Congress as they try to cripple the private equity and venture capital industries with higher tax rates. These financers are some of the most dynamic risk-takers on the economic playing field. They are disrupting the old stodgy banking and Wall Street financing networks.

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        The PE and VC track records in funding small businesses and turning them into the future gazelles is almost a uniquely American success story.

        But now, thanks to the industry’s winning track record in saving companies and jobs and making people rich, Washington thinks they are doing TOO well and wants to raise the tax rate on the industry by nearly 50%.

        They want to slay the goose that’s been laying golden eggs for decades.

        How golden? Last year alone, PE firms invested $350 billion of risk capital in companies ranging from everyday manufacturing to construction to cutting-edge artificial intelligence.

        These investment firms don’t just provide the flow of dollars; they provide the critical management expertise that enables the firms to thrive. Academic research has shown that when companies take private equity investments, they are more innovative and rise in value.

        They employ 13.3 million people in the United States while generating $1.1 trillion in wages and contributing $2 trillion to the nation’s gross domestic product. They also contribute $223 billion in federal tax revenue.

        For investors, such as pension funds and foundations, returns have been generally higher from PE and VC funds than from investing in publicly traded stocks.

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        How are these deal-makers villains? You’d have to ask Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

        When PE and VC firms invest in companies and add value to their operations, they take a portion of the gains. This “carried interest” arrangement aligns the incentives of the new investors with the old. When these firms succeed in creating significant new shareholder value, they are well compensated.

        No one in the industry has a problem with this. But some Democrats in Congress want to charge the investors personal income tax rates of up to 39.6% instead of the 24% capital gains tax.

        A new study by Charles Swenson, a professor at the University of Southern California, shows that implementing the tax changes being pushed by Democrats would trigger nearly 700,000 job losses in the private funds industry over a 10-year period, as well as “a long-run net annual loss of up to $9.93 billion in Federal tax revenues.”

        That’s right. The proposal could LOSE revenue for the Treasury.

        Some in Congress complain that these investors are really raiders overly focused on get-rich-quick schemes, including selling off the assets and closing businesses. That happens sometimes with fraudsters, but it’s the exception, not the rule.

        The entire structure of the PE investment is to reward long-term success due to the equity feature of the terms. As part of the 2017 Trump tax cut deal, the industry agreed to a three-year holding period of the stock for the managers of these funds to qualify for the lower capital gains treatment on the appreciated value of the companies they invest in and advise.

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        In most stock acquisitions, the holding term is only one year for capital gains tax treatment.

        This provision was a fair compromise and should be made permanent, just as the entire Trump tax reforms of 2017 should. The goal of the Trump 2.0 tax bill should be to encourage more investment by keeping tax rates low and not raising them.

        Stephen Moore is a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation. He is also an economic advisor to the Trump campaign. His new book, coauthored with Arthur Laffer, is “The Trump Economic Miracle.”

Posted in Republican News

250 Years Ago Tonight: One If By Land, Two If By Sea

250 Years Ago Tonight: One If By Land, Two If By Sea 74

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250 Years Ago Tonight: One If By Land, Two If By Sea 75

I’m going to sneak a midnight ride in on my boss on this, of all evenings, because it is a special night.

A legendary one in the annals of our, by European and Mediterranean standards, relatively brief but completely bad ass American history.

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From 1773 to 1775, a Boston silversmith and local community rabble-rouser named Paul Revere had been a courier for the Boston Committee of Public Safety, and from 1774 to 1775, the Boston Committee of Correspondence and the Massachusetts Committee of Safety employed Revere as an express rider. Revere was a member of the Sons of Liberty group and had stood watch on The Dartmouth as chests went over the side when a band of anti-tea Indians struck one night.

It was a most peculiar thing and particularly vexing to the British.

And tensions were high.

High enough that, when British troop activity began to significantly increase during the first week of April 1775, Dr Joseph Warren (the voice of the Continental Congress in New England and who would later be mortally wounded at Bunker Hill) sent Revere to Concord, Massachusetts to warn the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and the militia there to move their stores.

The British General, Sir Thomas Gage, received orders on the 14th of April to disarm the colonials and ordered his subordinate Lt Col Francis to hie thee hence to Concord to do it as quietly and neatly as humanly possible.

“with utmost expedition and secrecy to Concord, where you will seize and destroy… all Military stores…. But you will take care that the soldiers do not pl, who was also American born.under the inhabitants or hurt private property.” 

No one wanted the colonials pissed off. They wanted them unarmed.

Joseph Warren was Boston’s preeminent physician in an age when that counted for a lot, and his door was open to all. One of his most devoted patients was General Gage’s wife, Margaret Kemble Gage.

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To this day, no one knows how much information came from Margaret, but what Dr Warren knew of unfolding events was enough to have him summon Paul Revere and another trusted Sons of Liberty brother named William Dawes in the gloaming of April 18, 1775, and task them with a mission for the ages.

The rest is history. Our history.

THE BRITISH ARE COMING

On the evening of April 18, 1775, Dr. Joseph Warren summoned Paul Revere and gave him the task of riding to Lexington, Massachusetts, with the news that British soldiers stationed in Boston were about to march into the countryside northwest of the town. According to Warren, these troops planned to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock, two leaders of the Sons of Liberty, who were staying at a house in Lexington. It was thought they would then continue on to the town of Concord, to capture or destroy military stores — gunpowder, ammunition, and several cannon — that had been stockpiled there. In fact, the British troops had no orders to arrest anyone — Dr. Warren’s intelligence on this point was faulty — but they were very much on a major mission out of Boston. Revere contacted an unidentified friend (probably Robert Newman, the sexton of Christ Church in Boston’s North End) and instructed him to hold two lit lanterns in the tower of Christ Church (now called the Old North Church) as a signal to fellow Sons of Liberty across the Charles River in case Revere was unable to leave town.

The two lanterns were a predetermined signal stating that the British troops planned to row “by sea” across the Charles River to Cambridge, rather than march “by land” out Boston Neck.

Revere then stopped by his own house to pick up his boots and overcoat, and proceeded the short distance to Boston’s North End waterfront. There two friends rowed him across the river to Charlestown. Slipping past the British warship HMS Somerset in the darkness, Revere landed safely. After informing Colonel Conant and other local Sons of Liberty about recent events in Boston and verifying that they had seen his signals in the North Church tower, Revere borrowed a horse from John Larkin, a Charlestown merchant and a patriot sympathizer. While there, a member of the Committee of Safety named Richard Devens warned Revere that there were a number of British patrols in the area who might try to intercept him. 

At about eleven o’clock Revere set off on horseback. After narrowly avoiding capture just outside of Charlestown, Revere changed his planned route and rode through Medford, where he alarmed Isaac Hall, the captain of the local militia, informing him of the British movements. He then alarmed almost all the houses from Medford, through Menotomy (today’s Arlington) — carefully avoiding the Royall Mansion whose property he rode through (Isaac Royall was a well-known Loyalist) — and arrived in Lexington sometime after midnight.

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William Dawes was headed out on a longer route carrying the same message.

When Revere finally hit the house in Lexington where John Hancock and Sam Adams were staying, the sentry shushed him and told him not to make so much noise.

…“Noise!” cried Revere, “You’ll have noise enough before long. The regulars are coming out!” According to tradition, John Hancock, who was still awake, heard Revere’s voice and said “Come in, Revere! We’re not afraid of you”. He entered the house and delivered his message.

Dawes, Revere, and another rider, Samuel Prescott, all met up in Lexington, ‘refreshed themselves,’ and were headed on to Concord, but were stopped by a British patrol. Revere didn’t manage to get away with the other two, and was held and questioned for some time before being allowed to leave…without a horse.

A footsore Revere said he got back to Lexington in time to see the latter stages of the action on Lexington Green.

It is said by the end of the night, thanks to his ride, there were more than forty riders pounding through the countryside raising the alarm that ‘The regulars are out!‘ And utilized a colonial system developed and tweaked after years of Indian raids to respond to movements of the British Army.

…The ride of the three men triggered a flexible system of “alarm and muster” that had been carefully developed months before, in reaction to the colonists’ impotent response to the Powder Alarm of September 1774. This system was an improved version of an old network of widespread notification and fast deployment of local militia forces in times of emergency. The colonists had periodically used this system all the way back to the early years of Indian wars in the colony, before it fell into disuse in the French and Indian War. For rapid communication from town to town—in addition to other express riders delivering messages—bells, drums, alarm guns, bonfires, and a trumpet were used, notifying the rebels in dozens of eastern Massachusetts villages that they should muster their militias because the regulars in numbers greater than 500 were leaving Boston with possible hostile intentions. This system was so effective that people in towns 25 miles (40 km) from Boston were aware of the army’s movements while it was still unloading boats in Cambridge. Unlike in the Powder Alarm, the alarm raised by the three riders successfully allowed the militia to confront the British troops in Concord, and then harry them all the way back to Boston.

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Americans. We always adapt.

And overcome.

Revere’s ride would allow sufficient militia to gather on the greens of Lexington and Concord that next day for when ‘The Shot Heard ‘Round the World’ burst forth from someone’s gun.

And then it was on for real.

All thanks to ‘one if by land, two if by sea,’ a midnight ride, and the hand of Providence.

Posted in Republican News

Friday’s Final Word

Friday's Final Word 76

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Friday's Final Word 77

Closing the tabs, opening the tomb …

Ed: For those who celebrate, a blessed Good Friday and Easter weekend! Good Friday is a company holiday here, which is why we had a light schedule today, and will post lightly over the weekend as well. A belated blessed Passover to our Jewish friends and readers as well!

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Ondrasik, who is not Jewish, said “one does not have to be Jewish to support Idit, her family, Israel. One merely needs to be human, have a heart, have a soul.”

Idit Ohel, who has described her son as “the boy whose piano is his second home,” told the New York Post on Wednesday that “music has a way of getting to people.”

“Music helps people connect,” she said. “Connect to the situation that Alon is in.”

Ed: Please share this as widely as you can. Let’s remind everyone what’s at stake. John Ondrasik has worked tirelessly to keep the focus where it needs to be.

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Alleged MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia was seen “sipping margaritas” with Sen. Chris Van Hollen on Thursday amid his high-profile deportation battle, according to photos shared by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele.

Bukele shared three pics of Van Hollen (D-Md.) meeting with Abrego Garcia — who was wrongly deported to El Salvador’s notorious megaprison last month — lounging in the country’s “tropical paradise” with what appeared to be salt-rimmed drinking glasses containing an unknown liquid and a cherry.

Ed: One of the pictures Van Hollen took with Abrego Garcia shows tattoos that reportedly are associated with MS-13 affiliation. I’m no expert in organized crime symbology, but if true, it would bolster the case that the Trump administration had a reasonable basis for their deportation order. And either way, this is a strange crusade for a Democrat Senator to launch, especially with a photographer in tow.

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Ed: Democrats will rue those photos in the end.

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A Chinese halt on Boeing, if sustained, risks backfiring on China’s homegrown plane maker Comac before the upstart is globally competitive. …

Now, China’s airlines have been told to withhold new orders for Boeing aircraft and seek approval before taking delivery on plane orders, people familiar with the situation told The Wall Street Journal this week. Nevertheless, Comac’s slow plane production means it is in no position to fill order books quickly, and if anyone benefits from the U.S.-China spat it will likely be Airbus. 

Moreover, by inserting aircraft into the trade war with the U.S., Beijing is inadvertently exposing a vulnerability, highlighting American power over Comac. The company’s leading commercial aircraft model, the C919, is airworthy because of critical technology from U.S. companies including GE Aerospace, Honeywell International and RTX.

Ed: China’s economy and development is much more fragile than ours. China has become a global economic power only by stealing Western innovation. If China loses access to that, it will fall behind rapidly as well as lose access to markets that would drive more organic innovation in a more market-based economy and political system. Update, 4/19: I left off the link to this article; thanks to my pal Becca Lower for letting me know!

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Ed: Is it good to finally get full transparency on 60-year investigations? Absolutely. Do I expect to find any major revelations in these cases that will change the conclusions? Naah. Those would have leaked decades ago. Transparency is being imposed now for transparency’s sake, and that’s a good thing, but don’t expect anything earthshaking otherwise.

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Former New York Times opinion editor James Bennet issued a tearful apology to Sarah Palin on the witness stand Thursday at a libel hearing over a 2017 editorial in the newspaper.

Testifying in federal court during the revived defamation trial, Bennet choked up as he admitted he “blew it” by erroneously linking Palin’s political action committee to the 2011 mass shooting that critically wounded Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) and killed six others.

“I did, and I do apologize to Gov. Palin for this mistake,” Bennet said, visibly emotional as a lawyer handed him a box of tissues.

Ed: Palin wasn’t impressed, asking reporters, “How many years ago was the untruth?” Bennet didn’t even get loyalty from the New York Times after this attack. They cut him loose for having the temerity to allow Tom Cotton to contribute a column about federal response to riots in 2020, apparently sullying the pages that only had included august figures like Vladimir Putin, mullah mouthpiece Javad Zarif, and other monsters of history previously. Speaking of which …

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that the U.S. may “move on” from trying to secure a Russia-Ukraine peace deal if there is no progress in the coming days, after months of efforts have failed to bring an end to the fighting.

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He spoke in Paris after landmark talks among U.S., Ukrainian and European officials produced outlines for steps toward peace and appeared to make some long-awaited progress. A new meeting is expected next week in London, and Rubio suggested that could be decisive in determining whether the Trump administration continues its involvement.

“We are now reaching a point where we need to decide whether this is even possible or not,” Rubio told reporters. “Because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on. It’s not our war. We have other priorities to focus on.”

Ed: This is a real ****show now. Trump apparently thought he could get Putin to negotiate by buttering him up, but Putin’s not in this war to make friends and influence people. Trump belatedly shifted to tougher measures, but while still signaling that the US was preparing to bail out on Ukraine. Putin understands power, and nothing else. This all results from the initial moral inversion of blaming Ukraine for Russia’s invasion and buying into Putin’s narratives. That was a fatal error for Trump’s laudable ambitions to end what has become a purposeless meat grinder in the Donbas and elsewhere. 

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“Let me just say to all New Yorkers and to all Americans: The allegations are baseless. The allegations are nothing more than a revenge tour,” James told NY1 political anchor Errol Louis.

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When pressed about the number of units in her Brooklyn home — referring to the federal allegation that the AG illegally listed the home as having four units instead of five — James held her cards close to the vest.

“As you know, as any good attorney, I will not litigate this case in a camera. It is important that we respond to these allegations at the appropriate time and in an appropriate way,” she said.

Ed: If this isn’t the appropriate time and way, why is Leticia Adams talking at all? She wants to testify publicly without cross-examination, essentially. Maybe she should just keep her mouth shut altogether, or else provide a full explanation for these documents and the apparent fraudulent purposes within them. 

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Ed: That seems like an “appropriate time and … way,” no?

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Joseph Seiders, the drummer for indie-rock band the New Pornographers, has been arrested for alleged possession of child pornography.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release on Thursday that Seiders, who had been the band’s drummer for over a decade, was arrested on April 9 after two reports were made of suspicious behavior at a Palm Desert business. According to the Sheriff’s Office, an 11-year-old boy claimed an older male had recorded him in the bathroom at the location on April 7, and two days later they received another report from an employee who alleged he saw a man entering and exiting the bathroom with underage boys.

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Ed: Variety reports further that his band has cut all ties to Seiders. Why? Isn’t that what the band name promoted? Maybe they should consider a name change soon, eh?

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Posted in Republican News

JD Vance Fulfills Promise to Celebrate His Mother’s 10-Year Sobriety at White House

JD Vance Fulfills Promise to Celebrate His Mother's 10-Year Sobriety at White House 78

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JD Vance Fulfills Promise to Celebrate His Mother's 10-Year Sobriety at White House 79

        WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance stood at the head of the table in the Roosevelt Room during one of the most significant moments of his life, joined by his mother, Beverly Aikins. Despite the presence of about 20 family members and friends, including his wife, Usha, and their three children, there was a brief moment when it felt like only JD and his mother existed as their eyes met and locked.

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        “I remember when I gave my RNC convention speech, which was the craziest thing, and I even said during the speech that we would have your 10-year medallion ceremony at the White House,” Vance said, smiling as he motioned around the historic West Wing meeting room named after two former presidents.

        “Well, here we are. And you made it, and we made it. And most importantly, you’re celebrating a very, very big milestone. And I’m just very proud of you,” he said as he teared up, adding, “I’m, I’m gonna try not to cry here.”

        For everyone in attendance who had traveled from Kentucky and Ohio to share this important milestone with Aikins and Vance, the word “here” wasn’t just significant because they were in the White House conference room across from the Oval Office. The word “here” also meant that Aikins had survived the addiction that had left her and her son’s lives in turmoil for decades.

        Sitting to her son’s left as her two grandsons intermittently sat beside her or on her lap, she listened as he recalled her story of recovery, redemption and hope with the watchful eye of Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Rider portrait above him.

        “When I think about everything you’ve accomplished over the last 10 years and the fact that when I was thinking about becoming a father, I didn’t know whether you would live long enough to have a relationship with my kids. And now here they are, almost 8, 5 and 3, and you’re the best grandmother that these kids could ever ask for,” he said as both son and mother’s eyes welled.

        “It is really an amazing thing to watch. It is one of the great blessings of becoming a father, is that I’ve been able to see these kids develop the love and the affection for you and to see it in return. And that’s just an incredible blessing,” Vance said.

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        Aikins told me that just over 10 years ago, she would not have been able to enjoy her relationship with her children, nor would she have been able to do the other passion in her life, nursing, because of the debilitating addictions to alcohol, heroin and pretty much anything else she used to get high that had consumed every aspect of her life.

        Aikins’ mother, Bonnie Vance, “Mamaw” to JD Vance, was profoundly influential in her grandson’s life and helped raise JD with the help of his older sister, Lindsay, when Aikins could not.

        Vance recalled his tumultuous childhood with the ups and downs of Aikins’ addiction in his 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” which came out the year after she became sober. She made her debut on the national stage during the Republican National Convention when her son accepted President Donald Trump’s nomination to be his running mate.

        The world saw the petite Aikins, her thick curly hair framing her face, glowing with pride and emotion as her son recalled the challenges in their lives before he announced she had been sober for almost 10 years — a proclamation that caused those in the crowd to rise to their feet and burst into chants of “JD’s mom!”

        Vance smiled telling the story of the conversation Bev had with someone who happened to be seated beside her just before he started his big speech as the new vice presidential nominee at the RNC in Milwaukee in July.

        “Mom, who was sitting next to President Trump, and sitting next to another guy, sort of a shorter guy, good looking, very well spoken, very kind, and Mom turns to him and says ‘Who are you? You work in politics too?’ And he says, ‘I’m Mike Johnson, I’m the speaker of the House,'” Vance said as the people in the room erupted into laughter.

        “One of the things I love about Mom is that she just treats you the same. Whether you are the president of the United States, whether you’re a beloved family member, whether you’re an addict who is celebrating not 10 years but 10 hours of sobriety, you’re always a friend to Mom. You’re always a family member to Mom.”

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        Vance said one of the great things that recovery does is provide moments like this when you can bring family and friends together and celebrate the relationships you can regain.

        “I meet a lot of people who think that there is no other side for those who suffer from addiction. Unfortunately, we know that for some, that’s true, but for many, there is another side. And you know, sometimes you get another opportunity with your friends and your family. Sometimes, you get an opportunity to be a great grandmother to your grandchildren. And sometimes, you end up celebrating your 10-year medallion ceremony a couple of months late here in the White House,” he said.

        The room was filled with applause, tears and hugs. There were several people there who weren’t members of her immediate family but who were people in recovery who had hit rock bottom just as Aikins had, people she had guided through recovery in her role as a detox nurse.

        Aikins regained her nursing license a couple of years ago and now works at a substance abuse treatment center as a nurse educator. “I teach the patients, and then I’m just there for them. That is my purpose — to help people,” Aikins said.

        Aikins wasn’t alone in her struggle with drug addiction. According to the 2023 United States National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 48.5 million, or 16.7% of Americans aged 12 and older, battled a substance abuse disorder in the past year, including 10.2% who suffered from alcohol abuse specifically.

        Many of those addicted die. In 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that overdoses claimed 101,623 lives. A separate study published by the CDC showed there is hope, finding 3 out of 4 people who experience addiction eventually recover, in large part because of people like Bev, who become forces of nature in helping people.

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        Vance said that what was so great about this moment was that his mother was always the kind of person people could rely on.

        “That’s what addiction took away. But that’s what recovery has given back, is that you are a person that others can rely on. And I know you’re an inspiration to a lot of people in the recovery and addiction community. So, uh, from the bottom of my heart and speaking for the whole family, we love you,” he said.

        Vance then pulled something out of his pocket and slipped it into her hand.

        “This is one of the president’s challenge coins,” he said. “He asked me to give this to you. And I will say that I love you, and I’m so glad that we’re here. I love you.”

        The two embraced, and then Vance composed himself.

        “And now anybody, just like a, a good old ‘hillbilly funeral,’ I’m gonna invite anybody who wants to say anything to come up here and say a few words about your friend, about your sister, about your loved one, about Mom in her 10 years of sobriety,” Vance said.

        And with that, the “hillbilly funeral” commenced, beginning with Aikins’ younger sister Lori Vance telling a hilarious story of caring for her while she was in recovery. Another woman, Michele, said she had been living in her car for over a year, hadn’t seen her young son and couldn’t hold a job when she met Aikins.

        “Your kindness changed my life,” she said, adding, “I just celebrated two years in recovery. Woo.”

        It was a stateroom meant for dignitaries and decision-makers. Only on this day, it was filled with everyday Americans, the sons and daughters of steelworkers, nurses and clerks, people in awe of having the privilege of not just being in the White House but also honoring a grandmother who almost didn’t make it to see her grandchildren, or see her son overcome every disadvantage to become a Marine, a U.S. senator and the vice president.

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        Her niece Rachael Vance’s remarks were the most powerful and hilarious. “Addiction is honestly something that I don’t understand. I don’t take my coffee the same way every day. I don’t stay married to the same people. And the idea of wanting something over and over again is totally foreign. I don’t get it,” she said.

        “But one thing I do understand is courage because it was a core value of my old fraternity. And John Wayne described courage as being scared to death but saddling up,” she said, referencing her service in the Marine Corps.

        “I understand that Bev fell, and fell again and again a couple more times after that. But she mustered up the courage to face her fears and learn from mistakes. She dealt with her pain by saddling up and fighting a good fight. I’m happy for this day, not just for your family or your friends, your kids, the grandkids, but for you because your enduring courage paid off, and it led you to the gift of getting to hear me speak at the White House,” she said as everyone in the room laughed.

        “I’m very proud of you, and I look forward to abusing you for 10 more years,” Rachael deadpanned.

        After repeatedly stealing hugs from her grandchildren, Aikins took her son’s spot at the head of the table and looked around the room to offer her thanks. For those who have never met her, the first thing you note is that she and her son share the same striking blue eyes. The second thing you note is her sense of humor.

        “So, how are you doing?” she asks, and her tone turns serious.

        “When I tell my story or give my lead, as we call it in the recovery community, I tell everybody I think like a drug addict, so I wish that I could put what made me change in pill form, but in all honesty, it was the loss of my family,” she said.

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        “I hit rock bottom when my parents died. My brother and sister weren’t speaking to me. My kids weren’t speaking to me. I knew that I had to do something different. And that, you know, for this drug addict, is what saved, that’s what changed, that’s what saved my life,” she said.

        Aikins looked around the room of people gathered to celebrate her day and smiled. “Today I’m grateful,” she said, and then her voice wavered. “I don’t know why I’m touched. I told JD we didn’t have to do this,” she said of holding the event in the White House.

        “I love my family more than anything,” she said, looking at JD, Usha and the three grandkids, adding, “I pray a lot more, and hopefully, God gives me several more years to watch these guys grow up. I love you all. Thank you so much for being here. Now, let’s celebrate. Yay.”

        Everyone then enjoyed a beautiful chocolate cake with white icing, the presidential seal in the center, and underneath that, “Congratulations, Bev!”

        Vance had one more gift to give his mother and his family before they left: a personal tour of the West Wing of the White House, guided and narrated by the vice president.

        His family was as awestruck as the 40-year-old vice president was two days after he and Trump were sworn in, when he told Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) as he entered the Oval Office, “I’ve never been inside this room. This is incredible.”

        As they walked along the West Colonnade toward the South Lawn for a family photo, Aikins told me she was humbled by the outpouring of love and support from everyone but also just by making it to this moment.

        “It is an important milestone. It kind of brings everything full circle, and I know it was important to JD because he kept talking about doing it, and I kept putting him off,” she said, smiling.

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        “He wanted to make it so special for everybody, and he is such a good boy,” she said.

        As Vance wrangled the family together for a portrait, with both boys saluting for the pose, I asked him what this day meant for him.

        He smiled and said, “It is a good day. It is a very good day.”

        Salena Zito is a CNN political analyst, and a staff reporter and columnist for the Washington Examiner. She reaches the Everyman and Everywoman through shoe-leather journalism, traveling from Main Street to the beltway and all places in between. To find out more about Salena and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

Posted in Republican News