themarketswork

a common sense approach to a liberal world

The Injustices of Obama’s Department of Justice

by

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is comprised of 60 Agencies. The organizational view is presented here. There are 93 U.S District Attorneys and 94 Districts (Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands share a District Attorney). The DOJ employs approximately 115,000 individuals with about 35,000 of these contained within the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). In 2015, the DOJ had an operating budget of $31 billion.

And the DOJ is a swamp.

Under Obama, the DOJ was fundamentally pushed to the left by Attorney General Eric Holder and then by his successor, Loretta Lynch. Sally Yates rounded out the Obama appointed DOJ leadership with her famously short stint before being fired by President Trump.

J. Christian Adams—who served in the Department of Justice under President George W. Bush – points to the DOJ’s notoriously left-leaning  Civil Rights Division, saying that “it touches more parts of American’s lives than any federal agency and impacts issues like police, voting, schools, transgender, hiring practices, education. It’s not just voting rights, it’s everything.”Continue Reading

The Left’s Russian Hypocrisy

by

The current uproar over Russian influence in the election process has reached a crescendo with the furor over Jeff Sessions’ testimony. Which is odd, given the Left’s silence on so many similar – and larger – issues.

Attorney General Jeff Session has been accused by Democrats of lying under oath and perjury. Here is the pertinent portion of the transcript containing the question posed by Franken and the answer by Sessions.Continue Reading

Clinton Global Initiative’s Closing Confirmation

by

The Clinton Global Initiative announced that it would be closing its doors for good on April 15th, 2017. The Clinton Global Initiative is the largest of the Clinton Foundation’s programs. According to the Clinton Foundation website:

“The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) convenes leaders to drive action through its unique model. Rather than directly implementing projects, CGI facilitates actions by helping members connect, collaborate and make effective and measurable Commitments to Action. The CGI model drives action among its members in the following four ways: Inspiration..Networking…Knowledge Building…Collaboration.”

I’m not sure exactly what those words mean – and finding concrete descriptions of CGI’s actual activities is not that easy – but one thing about CGI is clear. The Clinton Global Initiative was the primary doorway connecting the Clintons to corporate and foreign donors interested in gaining political access to Washington. Continue Reading

Reversal of Fortune

by

It’s hard to know where to start.

How to put things in perspective? So very much has changed in such a short space of time. Even when it was so very long in coming.

The financial markets have responded to Trump’s election with a thunderous roar of approval. The equity markets have been on fire  – the Dow Jones is up 5% for the week and closed at a new high. Bonds got rocked with the yield rising to 2.12% on the 10-year Treasury in anticipation of future economic growth and inflation (bear in mind the Fed’s target rate for inflation is 2% – some inflation is healthy). Investors are cheering the prospects of actual economic growth – along with an end to the perpetual Federal Reserve quantitative easing – that comes with tax cuts, a fiscal stimulus plan and…regulatory rollback. There is the very real possibility that we will get a repeal of the truly awful Dodd-Frank Act.Continue Reading

President Trump (and The Power of the Uncool)

by

The uncultured billionaire won the support of the uncultured voter. And became the President of the United States as a result.

Or as Greg Gutfeld said, “The uncool kids just told the cool kids to suck it”.

Think about it this way. This country has millions of folks who get up every day, go to their jobs, coach their kids’ little league teams, have dinner around the living room table – and then sit down in front of the television and find out they are mocked for the very values that guide their daily life.

Since when did it become the norm to look down on folks who work hard, raise their kids and love their family and country? My guess is the nineties…Continue Reading

Donald’s Uncertainty Trumps an Amoral Leadership

by

A great leader is one who surrounds himself with great people.

A leader is rarely an expert himself. He relies on specialists below him for policy-specific knowledge and recommendations. A leader looks at the combined whole – the larger view. A leader makes the final decisions. Most importantly, a leader provides guidance to those serving beneath him. A leader sets the moral tone.

There seem to be two generalized views of our presidential candidates.Continue Reading

Divided We Stand

by

What do we, as a nation, become on Wednesday?

Do we stand together, united as one, under our newly elected president or do we remain apart – distanced by our ideological beliefs?

There are many who are concerned over the rift exposed throughout our nation during this election cycle. At the polarization that has occurred. At the emotions evoked and stirred.

I am not one of those.  I am unconcerned over the rift – although I am concerned over the reasons for the rift. And I reject calls to simply fall behind any elected leader.Continue Reading

Quietly Enthusiastic

by

Are you an enthusiastic voter?

No?

Maybe it’s worth thinking a bit more on that simple question.

The common refrain is “I’m not enthusiastic about either candidate”, but is that really true?

Or is it actually a reflexive defense mechanism?Continue Reading

No News is Bad News

by

Try a quick exercise. Go visit CNN. Scroll through the front page – the one that’s advertised as Breaking News and Latest News. Look at the main stories, check out all the stories pinned on the sidebars. See if you find anything – and I mean anything – that looks remotely negative regarding Hillary Clinton.

Now click on the Politics tab. That’s probably where they keep the real stories right? Hmmm. I see a story on why North Carolina is so important. I see a story about three Australians who crossed an ocean to knock on doors for Clinton. But I see nothing – and I mean nothing – regarding Hillary’s email issues, the Clinton Foundation or the FBI investigation of either issue.Continue Reading