"We have to stop making excuses." //

The program, which the Caller wrote required “producing and maintaining assessments of fair housing practices,” essentially “saddled HUD’s payroll with an estimated 64 additional employees, whose salaries cost American taxpayers up to $15 million a year.”

Sec. Carson told the publication, in part:

“In nearly every case, it is a fact that local governments are more adequately equipped to deal with their community’s unique needs than any unelected bureaucrat in Washington. //

The Daily Caller added that Sec. Carson hasn’t been shy about bulldozing his way through the mounds of unresolved Fair Housing cases left by the previous administration:

Carson has also cleared a significant backlog of Fair Housing complaints rolled over from the previous administration. Data provided to Daily Caller indicate that under Carson’s leadership, HUD has investigated and resolved 22,933 Fair Housing cases since January 2017. //

I certainly don’t have a problem with us helping people who are poor, people who find themselves in difficult circumstances. I don’t know if it needs to be based on race.

It needs to be based on circumstances.”

The New York Times in 2017 falsely reported that the Trump campaign had 'repeated' contacts with Russian intelligence officials during the 2016 campaign, and instead of being held accountable for publishing lies, the story's authors received Pulitzer prizes. //

The FBI official who ran the investigation into whether the Donald Trump campaign colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 presidential election privately admitted in newly released notes that a major New York Times article was riddled with lies, falsehoods, and “misleading and inaccurate” information. The February 2017 story was penned by three reporters who would win Pulitzers for their reporting on Trump’s supposed collusion with Russia.

The FBI’s public posture and leaks at the time supported the now-discredited conspiracy theory that led to the formation of a special counsel probe to investigate the Trump campaign and undermine his administration.

“We have not seen evidence of any individuals affiliated with the Trump team in contact with [Russian Intelligence Officials]. . . . We are unaware of ANY Trump advisors engaging in conversations with Russian intelligence officials,” former FBI counterespionage official Peter Strzok wrote of the Feb. 14, 2017 New York Times story “Trump Campaign Aides Had Repeated Contacts With Russian Intelligence.” That story, which was based on the unsubstantiated claims of four anonymous intelligence officials, was echoed by a similarly sourced CNN story published a day later and headlined “Trump aides were in constant touch with senior Russian officials during campaign.”

Strzok’s notes are the latest factual debunking of these stories, which were previously shown to be false with the release of Robert Mueller’s special counsel report finding no evidence whatsoever in support of the Hillary Clinton campaign assertion that Trump affiliates colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election. A report from the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General on just one aspect of the investigation into Russia collusion — FBI spying on Trump campaign affiliates — also debunked these news reports. //

The New York Times declined to retract or correct the article three years ago, even after Comey testified it was false, on the grounds that the anonymous sources who fed the false information remained pleased with the initial story.

The damage this false story caused the Trump administration can not be overstated. It’s a story worth recounting here.

“The leaks are real, the news is fake,” President Donald Trump said on February 16, 2017, when ABC News’ Jonathan Karl asked him at a press conference to respond to The New York Times’ explosive report. As other reporters asked more questions related to the New York Times story, he went on to deride the media for writing negative and false stories based on anonymous sources.

The response was roundly mocked by a media class that asserted it was unimaginable that intelligence officials might be leaking anything but the most accurate information. CNN’s Jake Tapper, echoing other Democrat activists, called the press conference “unhinged.” //

Trump was right that the leaks were real but the news was false. Trump campaign aides did not have repeated contacts with Russian intelligence, contrary to what Michael S. Schmidt, Mark Mazzetti, and Matt Apuzzo breathlessly reported. Flynn was not a secret Russian agent. Neither was former Sen. Jeff Sessions. //

Comey did offer to brief congressmen and senators that the New York Times report was completely false. When those members said publicly that the New York Times report was false, that too was characterized as something nefarious.

Today, the Ninth Circuit applied the coup de grace. They tossed out the verdict altogether AND remanded the matter with instructions that the case be dismissed.

What had Avenatti done wrong??? In a STUNNING BIT OF POTENTIAL MALPRACTICE, Avenatti had taken a class-action case to trial with a Class Representative Plaintiff who had not been damaged — Bahamas Surgical Center had never purchased any the KCC manufactured gowns at issue.

Bahamas has no claim against Halyard [distributor of KCC gowns] because it purchased no gowns from it, and any injuries it has are not traceable to Halyard’s conduct. Without a claim of its own, Bahamas cannot “‘seek relief on behalf of [itself] or any other member of the class.’” //

there was no reason for Avenatti to not have moved to amend the complaint to add new Class Representatives when this issue came up.

The claims against KCC may have been sound and based in substantial facts. But this procedural error by Avenatti has all the class members now in a position of having to start over again.

SpaceX managed to snag both halves of a Falcon 9 rocket's falling payload fairing shortly after the successful launch of a South Korean military satellite from Florida yesterday (July 20).

Donald Trump did not mention Lincoln’s First Inaugural address in his speech commemorating the spirit of American Independence at Mount Rushmore on Friday night. But the president’s speech—perhaps his most forceful and eloquent to date—vibrated with the same energy and existential commitment that fired Lincoln in March 1861.

Lincoln came to office at a time of crisis. His election had precipitated the secession of seven Southern states. His inaugural address was both a plea for conciliation and unity as well as a warning that violence would be stopped with force. “We are not enemies, but friends,” Lincoln said.

Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

Donald Trump issued a kindred invitation to unity in the midst of conflict. The signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia in July 1776 was a world-historical event. It represented, the president rightly said, “the culmination of thousands of years of Western Civilization—and the triumph not only of spirit, but of wisdom, philosophy, and reason.” At the center of the triumph was the animating possession of liberty, made possible by the unanimous affirmation of the principles Thomas Jefferson articulated in the Declaration: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights . . .”

The president’s speech was a passionate celebration of American freedom and American greatness—a greatness, he noted, that was embodied by the sublime majesty of the heads of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt sculpted into the granite pinnacle of Mt. Rushmore. //

the president has promised to cancel cancel culture. Is that a contradiction, a violation of the spirit of tolerance he has promised to uphold? No.

The enemies of civilization routinely use and abuse its freedoms in order to destroy it. Candid men understand this and act to prevent it. As G. K. Chesterton put it, “There is a thought that stops thought. That is the only thought that ought to be stopped.” //

The president accurately diagnosed the extent of the malady and its true goal:

In our schools, our newsrooms—even our corporate boardrooms—there is a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance. If you do not speak its language, perform its rituals, recite its mantras, and follow its commandments, then you will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted and punished. Make no mistake: this left-wing Cultural Revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution. In so doing, they would destroy the very civilization that rescued billions from poverty, disease, violence and hunger, and that lifted humanity to new heights of achievement, discovery, and progress.

Remember this the next time you see a mob come for a statue of Christopher Columbus or George Washington or Teddy Roosevelt, or, indeed, of Robert E. Lee. What they are coming for is our history—who we are.

While the FCC has authorized international data stations experimentally, those were “never conceived to engage in revenue operations indefinitely as an alternative to regular spectrum allocations and transparent, public license assignment procedures.”

In a separate email to Radio World, Kobb noted recent news coverage of shortwave applications for private data communication services such as instant stock trading; examples are here and here. Kobb emphasized that the objectors have no reason to think Parable is associated with those particular projects.

But regardless of audio programs that Parable may transmit, the three told the FCC that licensing a point-to-point message facility this way would be “an impermissible excursion around formalizing an international private data service or updating existing rules to accommodate it.” So they say the commission FCC should require Parable to certify that “no nonpublic, non-broadcast, nondisclosed, encrypted, confidential or clandestine data messages shall be sent over the proposed station.”

They added that the FCC needs to update its “hoary Part 73F rules, some dating from the 1930s and now without any articulable public interest basis.” These include “excessive” minimum required power level and a prohibition on domestic service. “Rule changes might embrace data communications under an expanded scope of service.” //

Parable’s facility would operate on the 5.9–15.8 MHz international shortwave bands with 15 kW power. Two 10 kW Amplifier Systems transmitters (main and standby) would feed 550 feet of 5-inch Comscope pressurized coax to a “super high gain” TCI log-periodic antenna system. The latter would consist of three towers, including two at 184 feet, with antenna power gain of 18.0 dBi, which the application notes is “a multiplier of 63.1.”

The Democrats aren't shy about what they want to do to you. Don't let them succeed. //

The Democrats are showing you what’s in store for the United States, and maybe even the west, if they’re given the chance to take control. Your rights will be challenged and trampled on, false narratives and blatant lies will thrive, taxes will skyrocket, your children will be indoctrinated, and there’s a strong chance that even defending yourself from any wrongdoing against you will be punished.

I wish I could tell you that this was just hyperbole from a fed-up right-leaning commentator but it’s not. The Democrats are very open about its intent. It’s become so bold in its positions that it has no qualms about telling you what its aims and goals are. They’re not shy about it, they’re proud.

They’re proud of the fact that they want to enact their brand of tyranny on you because they believe that they truly are in the right. They believe that they can make you better if you’re just forced to do what they think you should and act the way they demand. They feel that without their guidance, you are a racist, bigoted, destructive, and hateful human being.

This can’t be allowed to succeed. This can’t be allowed to continue.

There is no question who represents evil and who represents good now. It’s never been more apparent than it is now.

When Sen. Bob Dole accepted the Republican nomination for president in 1996, his speech hit on the themes of “honor, decency and straight talk.” He proudly mentioned the great Republican Abraham Lincoln and explicitly denounced racism.

“The Republican Party is broad and inclusive. It represents many streams of opinion and many points of view. But if there’s anyone who has mistakenly attached themselves to our party in the belief that we are not open to citizens of every race and religion, then let me remind you — tonight this hall belongs to the party of Lincoln. And the exits, which are clearly marked, are for you to walk out of as I stand this ground without compromise,” Dole said.

The speech was held up in 2016 as an example of how wonderful Republican candidates for president used to be before Donald Trump. So it’s interesting to also look back at how this speech was received by its critics. For example, then-Senior White House Adviser George Stephanopoulos called it “partisan, negative and divisive.”

Fast-forward 24 years to the present. Once again a prominent Republican gives a speech with themes of honor and decency and straight talk. Once again the prominent Republican explicitly and repeatedly denounces racism. The Republican praises Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Frederick Douglass, the Wright Brothers, the Tuskegee Airmen, Harriet Tubman, Clara Barton, Jesse Owens, George Patton, Louie Armstrong, Alan Shepard, Elvis Presley, Muhammad Ali, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Irving Berlin, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Bob Hope.

And once again critics claim that the speech is “dark and divisive.” //

[Martha Raddatz ] opined that Trump had delivered “anything but a message of unity” and a “very grim message for America.” Raddatz further shared her anti-Trump campaign narrative: “This speech was not the only time in the past few weeks the president has seemed eager to turn the attention back to the issues of race in this country, how does he expected to get re-elected with a message like that?”

It may seem quaint to do so in this day and age of fact-free opinion, but let’s look at the actual words of the Trump speech that Raddatz claimed was grim and racist:

We believe in equal opportunity, equal justice, and equal treatment for citizens of every race, background, religion, and creed. Every child, of every color — born and unborn — is made in the holy image of God. (Applause.)

We want free and open debate, not speech codes and cancel culture.

We embrace tolerance, not prejudice. //

As if orders went out from a central director, nearly every major media outlet flat-out lied about Trump’s speech. Whether they were engaged in reflexive “political advisor” mode like the Stephanopoulos of old, whether they had pre-drafted their reports based on dubious theories about what would be in the speech, or whether they simply decided that the best way to counter an effective political message was to simply lie about it, lie about it they did.

Earlier this week over 280 journalists, editors, and other employees at the Journal and their parent company Dow Jones criticized the Journal’s opinion section in a leaked letter to the Journal’s publisher Almar Latour, calling for better labeling of opinion pieces and stronger fact-checking of op-eds, specifically attacking the publication of a recent essay by Vice President Mike Pence on the coronavirus.

“Opinion’s lack of fact-checking and transparency, and its apparent disregard for evidence, undermine our readers’ trust and our ability to gain credibility with sources,” the staff’s letter read, while also demanding more coverage of race and inequality.

The “Note to Readers” said that people were responding to the leaked letter concerned that the Journal will move to change their “principles and content,” but the authors reassured readers the Journal “… won’t respond in kind to the letter signers”.

“… the opinion pages will continue to publish contributors who speak their minds within the tradition of vigorous, reasoned discourse. And these columns will continue to promote the principles of free people and free markets, which are more important than ever in what is a culture of growing progressive conformity and intolerance.” //

“But we are not the New York Times,” the editorial board wrote, taking a jab at their competitor and alluding to recent events at the Times, like the resignation of the editorial page editor after widespread criticism of an op-ed by Republican Sen. Tom Cotton

Surprise: it wasn't actually a briefing. //

ODNI Ratcliffe was busy today. He declassified a now-infamous memo that reveals exactly what happened at an August 2016 FBI “briefing” of the Trump campaign. He gave the document to Congress and now we have it to share.

It was written by Joseph Pientka, a character whose name has popped up over and over throughout this saga. While the memo reveals nothing you likely didn’t already suspect, it does verify that the FBI was not actually trying to brief the Trump campaign. Rather, they were trying to elicit evidence for Crossfire Hurricane, the investigation targeting the Trump campaign at the time. //

The attempts to trap Trump began long before he took office, with this briefing being disguised as an attempt to warn the campaign. In reality, they were prodding for dirt they could use to push their investigation forward. Of note is that nothing of note came from the meeting. Trump did not offer evidence he was a Russian stooge, nor did Michael Flynn. It was another dead end, getting them no closer to proving nefarious Russian collusion than they were before.

That’s really why this is so damning for the FBI. This was yet another dead end they refused to pay attention to. Instead, the FBI and its band of corrupt stooges in leadership pressed forward, desperately searching for anything that could be used to stop Trump’s rise.

If it works, you gotta keep working it

Where can diamonds be found? The answer might surprise you. Arkansas’s Crater of Diamonds State Park is one of the only diamond-producing site in the world where the public can search for diamonds in their original volcanic source. The policy here is "finders, keepers," meaning the diamonds you find are yours to keep.