https://thefederalist.com/2022/06/08/democrats-wanted-to-intimidate-justices-now-its-getting-dangerous/

SCOTUS

Democrats Wanted To Intimidate Justices. Now It’s Getting Dangerous

BY: DAVID HARSANYI JUNE 08, 2022 4 MIN READ

An attack not only on separation of powers, but also basic norms of civility.

''-"I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”-''

Those were the words of the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, one of the most powerful elected officials in the nation, in March of 2020. After spending years cynically delegitimizing the high court, Schumer had moved to openly threatening life-time appointed judges, by name, because he feared they would knock down the concocted constitutional right to an abortion.

Initially, Schumer refused to walk back those remarks. His spokesman ludicrously claimed the statement was “a reference to the political price Republicans will pay for putting them on the court.” Of course, the senator hadn’t singled out the Republican Party, or any Republican. He called out the two newest justices by name. “You” and “you.”

Yet, it is almost surely the case that the coverage of a California man carrying a weapon and burglary equipment near Brett Kavanaugh’s home, reportedly there to murder the Supreme Court justice over the leaked opinion in Dobbs, will not be tied to the rhetoric of Democrats like Schumer. CNN political reporters will not walk from one Democratic senator to the next, asking them if their rhetoric is responsible for inciting a man to show up at the Supreme Court justice’s home with a tactical knife, a Glock, ammunition, pepper spray, and zip ties. We will not have a national conversation about the specter of leftist violence.

1/x

>>16416212

When in 2017, James Hodgkinson walked onto a baseball field in Alexandria, Va., and opened fire, with the intention of massacring Republican leadership, few outlets even mentioned that he was a big fan of socialist Bernie Sanders, a man who tells minions that the nation is on the precipice of fascism. No one in the media blamed Sanders for the actions of a madman. The standards of culpability for political violence differ from situation to situation.

When cosplay Nazis rioted in Charlottesville, Va., every Republican was asked to take ownership of a movement that had nothing to do with their beliefs. When leftist unrest across the nation causes billions in damage and destroys thousands of lives, one could barely get anyone in the media to admit it was even happening. When a goofy

(largely FBI-hatched) kidnapping plot on Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was stopped, it was a major story, framed as a microcosm of MAGA terrorism. Today there is a slew of attacks on pro-life centers across the country, and it barely gets any notice.

And normally I wouldn’t blame Democrats for the actions of extremists, either. The problem is that not only does the left continues to push the boundaries with Schumer-like threats, but they are engaged in the relentless, daily smearing of their political opponents as seditious, vote-stealing, child-murdering, fascists, and insurgents. If this were true, violence would be justified. But it’s a sinister lie.

Moreover, though most people abhor violence, there is a concerted effort to intimidate justices. When Peter Doocy asked White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki if activists posting maps to homes and doxxing Supreme Court justices was the “kind of thing this president wants?” she responded: “Look, I think the president’s view is that there’s a lot of passion, a lot of fear, a lot of sadness from many, many people across this country about what they saw in that leaked document.” Kavanaugh’s would-be murderer told the FBI he got the idea to kill the Supreme Court justice after finding his address posted on the internet.

And let’s not forget that the White House encouraged people to go to the justices’ homes to protest. This is an attack not only on the separation of powers but also on basic norms of civility. The same people who are clamoring to limit free expression, can’t even ask their people to observe basic decency. Biden, not long ago, argued that harassing Kyrsten Sinema in the bathroom to pressure her to support Build Back Better was “part of the process.” The people who promised to bring back norms are engaged in abnormal behavior.

As of this writing, House Democrats have still refused to vote for the Supreme Court Police Parity Act, passed a month ago by the Senate, which would offer enhanced protection for all justices. It is not unreasonable to assume that those House Democrats want justices to feel intimidated. That was almost surely the goal behind the Dobbs leak and the reason Schumer stood on the steps of the Supreme Court and threatened two justices by name. Unless grownups take over, things are going to get out of hand.

2/2

https://thenationalpulse.com/2022/06/08/bidens-white-house-radicalized-would-be-kavanaugh-killer-as-pelosi-holds-up-new-security-funds/

Biden’s White House Radicalized the Would-Be Kavanaugh Killer as Pelosi Held Up Supreme Court Security Funds.

thenationalpulse.com/2022/06/08/bidens-white-house-radicalized-would-be-kavanaugh-killer-as-pelosi-holds-up-new-security-funds

Staff WriterJune 8, 2022

''Joe Biden’s White House intentionally fanned the flames of the violent, irate political left after the recent Democrat leak of a Supreme Court opinion, as well as the latest Uvalde school shooting. The result has been an attempt on the life of a Supreme Court Justice.''

In amongst the political fracas, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is said to be holding up a Senate bill that would grant more security for Supreme Court justices. The U.S. Senate fast-tracked the new security plans after Democrat extremists leaked an expected Roe v. Wade opinion from the court in May, but Pelosi has thus far refused to bring the legislation up for a vote in the House, stalling more security for Supreme Court justices.

Would-be assassin Nicholas John Roske is believed to have been radicalized by far-left reactions to the abortion issue, as well as the shooting in Uvalde. The aspiring gunman is said to have had a Glock 17 handgun, a knife, pepper spray, zip ties, a nail punch, a crowbar, and a hammer, and said he found Kavanaugh’s address on the internet.

And while President Biden himself has failed to condemn the attempted attack, a White House spokesman tepidly said that “any violence, threats of violence, or attempts to intimidate justices have no place in our society.”

But the left’s rhetoric in the run-up to the latest incident is indicative of the political climate they seek to create around their “core” issues of abortion and gun control in the run-up to the mid-term elections.

GOP operatives point out a timeline of events that show no remorse or attempt to cool the heated rhetoric around the time Roske was being radicalized by their behavior:

May 5: Press Secretary Jen Psaki refused to condemn activists posting the justices’ home addresses online.

May 6: Psaki refused to say if Biden “has a view” on activists harassing justices at their homes.

May 6: Nancy Pelosi called on protesters to actively pressure justices to influence their decisions.

May 8: Pelosi said “the focus” is to influence and change the Supreme Court’s forthcoming decision on Roe v. Wade.

May 9: Psaki refused to condemn protests at justices’ homes even though it is against the law.

Psaki also refused to condemn the doxing of justices’ personal information even as threats of violence grew.

May 10: Psaki downplayed the harassment, claiming protests “have been peaceful to date and we certainly continue to encourage that outside of judges’ homes.”

May 11: Chuck Schumer answered “yes” when asked if he was “comfortable with protests…outside the homes of Supreme Court justices.”

“It’s past time for Biden and Democrats to condemn this violence,” said a GOP spokesman in an e-mail Wednesday.

The incident follows a number of high-profile Democrat extremists attacking political figures, including the Washington, D.C. attack on reporter Jack Posobiec, as well as the Bernie Sanders-supporting gunman who attempted to assassinate Republican legislators en masse at a baseball practice in 2017.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/08/mortgage-demand-falls-to-the-lowest-level-in-22-years.html

Mortgage demand falls to the lowest level in 22 years amid rising rates and slowing home sales

cnbc.com/2022/06/08/mortgage-demand-falls-to-the-lowest-level-in-22-years.html

June 8, 2022

Key Points

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($647,200 or less) increased to 5.40% from 5.33%.

Applications for a mortgage to purchase a home fell 7% for the week and were 21% lower than the same week one year ago.

Refinance demand dropped 6% for the week and was down 75% year over year.

Mortgage demand falls to lowest level in 22 years

Mortgage rates are back on the upswing, after a brief decline in May, and the housing market is still suffering from a lack of listings. As a result, mortgage demand continues to drop.

Total mortgage application volume fell 6.5% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. Demand hit the lowest level in 22 years.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($647,200 or less) increased to 5.40% from 5.33%, with points rising to 0.60 from 0.51 (including the origination fee) for loans with a 20% down payment.

Refinance demand, which is most sensitive to weekly rate moves, fell another 6% for the week and was 75% lower than the same week one year ago. The vast majority of mortgage holders now have rates considerably lower than the current one, and even those who would like to pull cash out of their homes are choosing second mortgages, rather than refinancing their first liens.

Real estate agents Rosa Arrigo, center, and Elisa Rosen, right, work an open house in West Hempstead, New York.

“While rates were still lower than they were four weeks ago, they remained high enough to still suppress refinance activity. Only government refinances saw a slight increase last week,” said Joel Kan, an MBA economist.

Applications for a mortgage to purchase a home fell 7% for the week and were 21% lower than the same week one year ago.

“The purchase market has suffered from persistently low housing inventory and the jump in mortgage rates over the past two months. These worsening affordability challenges have been particularly hard on prospective first-time buyers,” Kan said.

Mortgage rates moved even higher to start this week, according to a separate survey by Mortgage News Daily. Rates have been in a narrow range for several weeks after moving decidedly higher in the previous months.

“There’s some chance that the upper boundaries of that range end up being a ceiling for rates, but that will depend on inflation and other incoming economic data,” wrote Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily. “With a key inflation report set to release on Friday morning, the potential for volatility remains high.”

https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/armed-gunman-arrested-outside-brett-kavanaughs-house/

Update — Kavanaugh Assassin charged with attempted murder…

citizenfreepress.com/breaking/armed-gunman-arrested-outside-brett-kavanaughs-house

June 8, 2022

Posted by Kane on June 8, 2022 5:06 pm

https://youtu.be/r0WnlB6lkLY

Kavanaugh assassin is Democrat Nicholas John Roske

A California man was charged with attempted murder of a Supreme Court justice after he was arrested early Wednesday morning near the Maryland home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. According to an affidavit filed by an FBI agent to support a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Maryland on Wednesday afternoon, 26-year-old Nicholas John Roske told detectives in Montgomery County, Maryland, that he had purchased a gun and burglary tools with the plan to break into Kavanaugh’s house to kill Kavanaugh and then himself.

Roske was scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate judge in Maryland, on Wednesday afternoon.

Roske arrived at Kavanaugh’s house in the Washington, D.C., suburbs shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday morning in a taxi, FBI Special Agent Ian Montijo wrote in his affidavit.

After walking down the street, Roske called 9-1-1 and told the operator that he was having suicidal thoughts and had come from California to kill Kavanaugh.

Officers from the Montgomery County Police Department arrived and arrested Roske.

In his bags, they found – among other things

– a Glock 17 pistol with two magazines and ammunition,

a knife,

pepper spray,

zip ties,

duct tape,

a crowbar, and

a screwdriver.

Speaking to detectives at a local police station, Roske said that he had been upset by the leak and by the recent mass shooting at a school in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 students and two teachers were killed. Roske told detectives that he believed Kavanaugh would vote to ease gun-control restrictions. Roske “began thinking about how to give his life a purpose and decided that he would kill” Kavanaugh, whose address he had found on the Internet, Montijo wrote.

https://twitter.com/judymorris3/status/1534663129065562114

10 Republicans voted with the Dems on this gun control bill.

6:26 PM · Jun 8, 2022·Twitter Web App

>>16416428

BREAKING: 10 Republicans just voted with Democrats to increase the minimum age for buying semi-automatic weapons to 21.

Fitzpatrick-PA

Gonzalez-OH

Jacobs-NY

Katko-NY

Kinzinger-IL

Malliotakis-NY

Salazar-FL

Smith-NJ

Turner-OH

Upton-MI

https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1534661557438894080

12 teams haven’t won a Super Bowl: Could that change Sunday?

ktla.com/news/12-teams-havent-won-a-super-bowl-could-that-change-sunday

February 14, 2022

(NEXSTAR) – The Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals are taking to the field Sunday for Super Bowl LVI. While there have been 56 Super Bowls, there are still a dozen teams that haven’t brought home their own Lombardi Trophy – including the Bengals.

That’s right, history could be made Sunday in L.A. if the Bengals win. And if you’re really particular, the Rams haven’t technically won a Super Bowl as the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams franchise won Super Bowl XXXIV in 1999 while the team played in St. Louis.

Technicalities aside, here are the 12 teams, in order of their number of appearances, that have yet to win a Super Bowl.

Cleveland Browns

Appearances: 0

Jacksonville Jaguars

Appearances: 0

Detroit Lions

Appearances: 0

Houston Texans

Appearances: 0

Tennessee Titans

Appearances: 1

Last appearance: 2000

Arizona Cardinals

Appearances: 1

Related Content

Last appearance: 2009

Los Angeles Chargers

Appearances: 1

Last appearance: 1995 (The Chargers played in San Diego during this season)

Cincinnati Bengals

Appearances: 2

Last appearance: 1989

Atlanta Falcons

Appearances: 2

Last appearance: 2017

Carolina Panthers

Appearances: 2

Last appearance: 2016

Buffalo Bills

Appearances: 4

Last appearance: 1994

Minnesota Vikings

Appearances: 4

Last appearance: 1977

WTF WTF

''U.S. House of Reps. votes 226-194 to criminalize disassembling, cleaning, and re-assembling your gun without a firearm manufacturer’s license, including 8 Republicans!''

6:41 PM · Jun 8, 2022·Twitter Web App

https://twitter.com/GunOwners/status/1534666918820466691

>>16416625

>U.S. House of Reps. votes 226-194 to criminalize disassembling, cleaning, and re-assembling your gun without a firearm manufacturer’s license, including 8 Republicans!

https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2022/5/31/house-section/article/h5227-2

https://bearingarms.com/camedwards/2022/06/08/house-passes-performative-anti-gun-bills-despite-little-chance-of-senate-approval-n59175

House passes performative anti-gun bills despite little chance of Senate approval

bearingarms.com/camedwards/2022/06/08/house-passes-performative-anti-gun-bills-despite-little-chance-of-senate-approval-n59175

And by “little”, I mean “no chance”… with one exception. Maybe the group of Republican and Democratic senators huddling together to find some sort of “compromise” on gun control legislation ends up including a ban on the sale of modern sporting rifles for adults under the age of 21 (Mitch McConnell, for instance, says he’s open to the idea, though he’s not encouraging Republicans to back it), but bans on commonly-owned “large capacity” magazines, storage mandates, and other provisions of the House Democrats’ anti-gun package aren’t even a part of the Senate negotiations, and based on this evening’s House vote, I’d say any attempt to raise the age limit on gun purchases is going to struggle to find support among ten GOP senators.

Still, that didn’t stop Nancy Pelosi from holding the performative vote on multiple gun control measures Wednesday evening, and she plans on following today’s vote with another tomorrow on a bill that would both incentivize states to adopt “red flag” firearm seizure laws and establish a federal “red flag” law as well. The incentives for state-level red flag laws are also a part of the Senate discussions, but the idea of a federal red flag law appears to have been shelved pretty early on in the talks.

Before Wednesday’s vote, House Democrats held an hours-long hearing featuring the testimony of some of the victims, survivors, and family members of the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas, many of whom demanded changes to federal gun laws and blamed Republican lawmakers, gun makers, and Second Amendment advocates for putting gun rights ahead of children’s lives; a claim that was roundly rejected by conservative lawmakers taking part in the committee hearing.

Republicans in the room offered sympathies to the victims but no indication that they intended to change their views on gun rights. Rep. Andrew S. Clyde (R-Ga.), a gun-store owner, said the tragedies “highlight the need for additional school security” and condemned Democrats for seeking to restrict firearms.

“While every loss of life is a tragedy, no one should weaponize or politicize these abhorrent acts to punish law-abiding citizens,” he said.

Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), a leading gun rights supporter among House Republicans, promoted legislation Wednesday that would put billions of federal dollars into school security programs but not touch gun laws. GOP leaders planned to force a vote on Hudson’s bill Wednesday as an alternative to the Democratic gun bill.

Hudson accused Democrats of “exploiting these tragedies to advance their radical gun-control agenda” and criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other leaders for inviting victims to testify and call for measures that cannot pass Congress.

“The bills on the floor this week would have done nothing to stop any of these tragedies, and they will never become law,” he said. “They’re exploiting the pain of these people, these children, these parents to advance their radical interests, and I say shame on them.”

1/x

>>16416693

After several hours of speeches on the floor of the House (it’s hard to call most of what I heard an actual “debate”), the votes on H.R. 7910 began, with each component receiving a separate vote. The first measure, raising the age to purchase semi-automatic rifles, was approved along a mostly party-line vote of 228-199. The second vote, on establishing a federal trafficking statute and expanding the federal laws prohibiting straw purchases, was approved by a similar 226-197 vote.

On and on it went, with roughly the same margins on all of the votes cast. Thirteen Republicans crossed over and voted in favor of a ban on bump stocks, which was the measure that received the most bipartisan support, but the vote on banning and “buying back” magazines that can hold more than 10-rounds of ammunition received just four votes from GOP members and saw an equal number of Democrats in opposition.

While the House package may have won approval, it’s going to be ignored by the other chamber, at least until we see if the Senate can reach any sort of agreement on their own. If not, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has already indicated he’ll proceed with votes on the full Democratic wish list of gun control legislation.

Well, most of the wish list, anyway. Even Nancy Pelosi doesn’t appear ready to hold a vote on Joe Biden’s proposed ban and “buyback” of the more than 20-million modern sporting rifles that are currently in the hands of legal gun owners. That wasn’t included in the omnibus gun control bill approved by the House Wednesday evening, and it’s not scheduled for as much as a committee hearing in the House at the moment. H.R. 7910, however, could very well be brought to the floor of the Senate, even though it’s an open question as to whether it would get the support of the entire Democratic caucus. Joe Manchin has signaled that he’s once again open to a ban on AR-15s and other semi-automatic rifles, and has given his thumbs up to raising the age to purchase a modern sporting rifle to 21, but given that those are only two parts of the eight-part gun control legislation, if Manchin wants to find something to object to in order to withhold his vote he can.

On the issue of an under-21 gun ban, Rep. Greg Steube, a Florida Republican, pointed out during his floor speech that, according to the Department of Justice, just .3 percent of 18-20-year olds commit a violent crime in any given year, and .013 percent of adults under 21 are charged with a homicide. Those figures include crimes committed with and without a firearm, by the way. As Steube correctly wondered, why would anybody think that restricting the rights of 99.7% of young adults is going to stop the other .3% from committing a crime, or that it would be the most effective or constitutionally sound way to do so?

Like the rest of the gun control debate taking place on Capitol Hill, it’s not about what could be effective, but what might be politically possible. Sadly, after watching the House debate on Wednesday, I’m convinced that the actual effectiveness of any of these proposals is a secondary consideration at best for most of the proponents of these House measures. Instead, most of the speeches that I heard sounded like soundbites for upcoming campaign ads, which is also one of the main reasons why Democrats opted to hold separate votes each new restriction on legal gun owners that they want to put in place.

House Democrats struggled to get ten of their Republican colleagues to go along with their adventures in anti-gun extremism, which makes these measures a non-starter in the Senate, but it’s still an open question about the number of Republicans who might be willing to agree to a package that’s far more limited in size and scope. In fact, I don’t think every GOP senator has made up their mind, and the contacts from constituents over the next few days could very well sway them to one side or the other. Wyoming Sen. Cynthia Loomis, for instance, mentioned on Tuesday that she’s been surprised by the number of calls from Wyoming residents who are “receptive… to address guns in some manner.” Loomis said that she’s still of the opinion that this is more a mental health issue than a gun control issue, but added that she’s “listening to what people from Wyoming are saying.”

If Loomis is listening, I guarantee other senators are too, and I’d encourage you to reach out and let your senators know where you stand, especially once the details of any “compromise” package have been released.

2/2

https://redstate.com/heartlandinstitute/2022/06/08/as-congress-dithers-social-security-and-medicare-inch-closer-to-insolvency-n576189

''As Congress Dithers, Social Security and Medicare Inch Closer to Insolvency''

For decades, Congress has been well aware that the Social Security and Medicare trust funds are in deep financial trouble. Yet, instead of addressing the matter before it becomes too big to solve, Congress has chosen to kick the can down the road, ignoring the elephant in the room as it fixates on less pressing problems and trivial matters.

On June 3, the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees issued their latest annual report on the financial status of the two giant entitlement programs. Suffice to say, things are not looking good for the future of the programs.

According to the report:

“Social Security and Medicare both face long-term financing shortfalls under currently scheduled benefits and financing. Costs of both programs will grow faster than gross domestic product (GDP) through the mid-2030s primarily due to the rapid aging of the U.S. population. Medicare costs will continue to grow faster than GDP through the late 2070s due to projected increases in the volume and intensity of services provided.”

In other words, the long-term viability of both of these programs is in jeopardy due to the simple fact that their payouts continue to surge as massive numbers of baby boomers retire and increase their utilization of Medicare benefits.

Per the report,

“The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund, which pays retirement and survivors benefits, will be able to pay scheduled benefits on a timely basis until 2034, one year later than reported last year. At that time, the fund’s reserves will become depleted and continuing tax income will be sufficient to pay 77 percent of scheduled benefits.”

Translation: Congress has been derelict in its duty as financial steward of Social Security. Instead of stowing funds for the future when Social Security ran surpluses over the past few decades, Congress “borrowed” that money to spend on a slew of other items.

Over the years, Congress has “borrowed” nearly $3 trillion from Social Security. While this may have been feasible during the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s—when baby boomers paid more into the trust fund than outgoing benefits on an annual basis—this is no longer the case because baby boomers are retiring en masse and collecting benefits while current payments cannot sustain the promised payouts.

Moreover, as the report notes,

“The OASI and DI funds are separate entities under law. The report also presents information that combines the reserves of these two funds in order to illustrate the actuarial status of the Social Security program as a whole. The hypothetical combined OASI and DI funds would be able to pay scheduled benefits on a timely basis until 2035, one year later than reported last year. At that time, the combined funds’ reserves will become depleted and continuing tax income will be sufficient to pay 80 percent of scheduled benefits.”

1/

>>16416728

This means all the Americans who have paid into the Social Security system via the payroll tax (employers and employees each pay 6.2 percent of wages, while the self-employed pay 12.4 percent) will not receive scheduled benefits after 2035. Either benefits will have to be slashed or the payroll tax will need to be increased. Either way, this is bad news for those of us who have been forced to pay into a trust fund that will be insolvent in 13 years.

Unfortunately, things are even worse when it comes to the status of Medicare.

According to the report,

“The Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund, or Medicare Part A, which helps pay for services such as inpatient hospital care, will be able to pay scheduled benefits until 2028, two years later than reported last year. At that time, the fund’s reserves will become depleted and continuing total program income will be sufficient to pay 90 percent of total scheduled benefits.”

In six years, Medicare will not be able to pay its bills. Like Social Security, this means either the Medicare tax (currently 1.45 percent for employers and 1.45 percent for employees, or 2.9 percent for self-employed) will need to be raised or benefits will have to be drastically reduced.

On the bright side, there still is ample time for Congress to address these shortfalls with common sense reforms before it becomes too late. Yes, Congress has kept its head in the sand far too long while these programs have been on an unsustainable path. But, it is not too late.

For starters, Congress should shore up both programs over the short-term so that current payees do not get the short of the end of the stick via reduced payouts after they faithfully paid into the system.

Over the long-term, Congress should allow those who do not wish to participate in Social Security or Medicare the option to enroll in alternative plans, such as a privatized version of Social Security.

For many years, Congress has been aware of the inevitable insolvency of these programs. Yet, for far too long, Congress has chosen to do nothing about it. In fact, Congress has made the problem worse by constantly calling for more benefits while raiding these trust funds to cover its current profligate spending.

No wonder Congress’ approval rating is hovering near an abysmally low 20 percent.

Chris Talgo (ctalgo@heartland.org) is senior editor at The Heartland Institute.

2/2