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The prize for the most wasteful post-9/11 initiative arguably should go to FirstNet—a whole new agency set up to provide a telecommunications system exclusively for firefighters, police, and other first responders. They would communicate on bandwidth worth billions of dollars in the commercial market but now reserved by the Federal Communications Commission for FirstNet.

FirstNet is in such disarray that 15 years after the problem it is supposed to solve was identified, it is years from completion—and it may never get completed at all. According to the GAO, estimates of its cost range from $12 billion to $47 billion, even as advances in digital technology seem to have eliminated the need to spend any of it.

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TOTAL — $24,485,383,599

That would be a good start.

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Thank God for those strict gun control laws in Chicago, or the place would look like Texas.

One-Third Of Increase In US Homicide Rate Because Of Chicago Neighborhoods

Being governed by Democrats will do that for you.

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Republican Sen. Rand Paul claimed Saturday that the U.S. has spent around $300,000 to fund a clown school in Argentina.

“They spent $324,015 to pay for a clown school in Argentina,” Paul, from Kentucky, tweeted as part of his annual “Airing of Grievances” to highlight what he considers wasteful government spending.

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Liz Harrington at the Washington Free Beacon finds interesting line items in the budgets at the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Even under a Trump appointee, the NEH is still funding liberal researchers.

Eric Mandelbaum, a philosophy professor at the City University of New York, will receive a $50,000 grant for “Propaganda and Belief in the Modern World,”  a book-length study on the “psychology of belief formation.”

Mandelbaum coauthored a paper in 2015 entitled, “Believing Without Reason, or: Why Liberals Shouldn’t Watch Fox News.” In his beginning section, “Believing Badly,” Mandelbaum expressed shock that about half of Americans believe in ghosts, and believing in God is another example that “people believe very odd things.”

Actually, that’s good advice. Their heads might explode. As Scott Adams says, ‘Context is the enemy of idiots everywhere.’

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The official says the US is telling the world: ‘Unless you vote with us, we’re not going to give you money’

I’m good with that.

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While the crowning achievement of the year was clearly the confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, it is worth celebrating the fact that the Senate confirmed 12 Circuit Court judges this year —  the largest number of  appellate judges confirmed during the first year of any president in history (beating out John Kennedy and Richard Nixon by one).

…

Moreover, while Trump has now set the record for circuit court confirmations during a president’s first year in office, with only 19 total judges confirmed during his first year, he lags far behind other presidents  — including George W. Bush (28), Bill Clinton (28, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg), Ronald Reagan (41, including Sandra Day O’Connor), Jimmy Carter (31), and Richard Nixon (25)  —  in terms of the total number of judges confirmed.

But of course you have to remember that Trump has accomplished ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in his first year in office.

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Thank God for those strict gun control laws in Chicago, or the place would look like Texas.

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And the hits just keep on comin’.

Trump’s administration is making every previous administration looks like a bunch of slackers.

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Actions have consequences.

You mess with the bull, you get the horns every time.

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Yesterday was not a proud day for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). The agency spent close to $800 million of federal funds on a so-called high-speed rail project between Seattle and Portland–only “so-called” because top speeds would be just 79 mph, which is conventional rail. Much of the money was spent upgrading existing tracks to give passenger trains a shorter (but less scenic) route through and around Tacoma.

As you probably know, the very first train to use this route derailed on an overpass over Interstate 5, blocking half the freeway and killing at least three, and probably more, passengers. It so happens that Mayor Don Anderson of Lakewood, Washington–about 10 miles north of the crash–warned WSDOT on December 5 that it was not taking safety seriously enough. “This project was never needed and endangers our citizens,” he declared.

The fascination with which ‘urban planners’ hold collectivist forms of transportation has always puzzled me.

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Holdout Republican Sen. Bob Corker finally announced he would support the Republican tax bill in an upcoming vote — after the proposal was tweaked in a way that could personally enrich him.

Corker claims he has not read the mammoth bill being sped through the legislature and has no idea how the language, which was not in previous Senate versions of the bill, got into the plan.

Gee, however did that get in there?

The provision reduces taxes on income from real-estate LLCs, according to International Business Times, which broke the story.

Corker, a South Carolina real-estate mogul, made $7 million off such income last year, while President Trump raked in between $41 million and $68 million, according to the outlet.

Democrats have been doing this for years (yeah, I’m looking at you, Senator Reid), so it’s no surprise that Republicans are lining up for their turn at the trough.

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“I had a tier one operator, meaning a top of the top special operations guy on detail from the National Security Council … come up to me in maybe week five of the administration and say, ‘Sir, you have no idea, no idea how the morale amongst our forces have skyrocketed because we are no longer micromanaged…and we are allowed to do our job, and it is clear the president trusts us,” he said.

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Apparently the Magic Negro has some skeletons still in the closet.

This from the Politico, a fairly reliable member of the DemLegHump Media.

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I think this is what Franken was counting on by announcing his upcoming resignation but not actually, you know, doing it. Historically Democrat politicians have circled the wagons whenever any of their number have been caught with a hand in the cookie jar, and Franken knows this as well as anybody.

The real question is How Low Can They Go, upon which depends whether Franken will weasel out of it.

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Wealthy New York City elites are preparing to flee the state because the Republican tax bill is going to make them face the full brunt of Mayor Bill de Blasio and Democratic state leadership’s tax rates.

They may lose a certain percentage, but there are enough rich people who want to live in New York City no matter what that I doubt it will make a noticeable difference.

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The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) reversed a former President Barack Obama-era policy Thursday, that held employers responsible for violations committed by their subcontractors.

Another nail in the coffin of Obama’s statist legacy.

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But you have to remember that Trump has accomplished ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in his first year in office.

One of my beefs with the Bushes is that they didn’t do enough with judges.

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Ever notice that Democrats think that they run things, even when they don’t?

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Florida state Rep. Wengay Newton (D–St. Petersburg) is so tough on auto theft that he wants to punish the crime’s victims as well.

Newton has introduced a bill that would make it a criminal offense to have your car stolen if you leave it unlocked with the keys inside. His legislation would make this a second-degree misdemeanor; violators would face fines of up to $500 and jail time of up to 60 days.

Democrats — they never cease to amaze.

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Told ya so. The pressure is off, and I’m sure he’s scrambling for some excuse not to go through with it.

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If you think you pay too much for your cell phone each month, you shouldn’t necessarily blame your provider. Instead, first look closely at your bill, then your public officials.

The average American family paying for four cell phones and service costing $100 per month will also pay about $221 each year in wireless taxes, fees, and surcharges, according to a recent study by the Tax Foundation. This means Americans as a whole will pay $17.1 billion in taxes and fees across all levels of government for wireless service in 2017. These taxes and fees make up 18.5% of the average American’s wireless bill, so a significant chunk of your bill each month goes not to your provider, but to Big Brother.

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Police in Atlanta are the latest blunt instrument around the country used to crack down on people sharing food with those in need.

Though the Fulton County permit requirement Atlanta police claim to be enforcing has been on the books for many years, it appears Atlanta’s mayor only decided recently to enforce it, just in time for Thanksgiving. Violators face potential fines.

This crackdown is part of a larger, awful, and national trend.

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Hey, spending taxpayer money is what they’re there for.

Yet Another Corrupt Black Democrat. Not really news, but a useful reminder.

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There are blue pustules even in red states, and Austin is one of the worst.

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With unanimous consent, the swift passage of the Taylor Force Act brings the United States one step closer to stripping American funding from the Palestinian Authority until it ends its “pay to slay” policy, which distributes $300 million to terrorists and their families annually. The legislation now heads to the Senate for a floor vote.

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So all those promises that past Presidents broke, Trump is keeping.

What a reprehensible thing to do. Who made this guy President, anyway?

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Surprising only to the coastal Crust. For a ‘man with no principles’, Trump is doing a remarkable job of rolling back the administrative state.

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I visited the Patagonia web site looking for some Christmas presents yesterday and learned that “the president stole my land.” How horrible! So I looked into it and discovered that President Trump took federal land that was managed by a particular set of federal agencies under a particular set of restrictions and changed it into federal land managed by the very same federal agencies under a slightly different set of restrictions. Not to jump on Patagonia, whose clothing I’ve always enjoyed, but where’s the theft in that?

I don’t know that there is a special name for the phobia that is ‘fear that something somewhere is not being regulated by the government’, but there ought to be.

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A judge in Indiana has stopped a city’s nasty plot to make people sell their homes to a redeveloper or else face thousands of dollars of rapidly accumulating fines.

In Charlestown, Indiana, a community north of Louisville with a population of less than 8,000, the mayor and other city leaders have been trying to transfer ownership of private plots of land in the low-income neighborhood of Pleasant Ridge to a developer. This developer would then raze all the properties and build an entirely new neighborhood.

Charlestown did not take advantage of Kelo v. City of New London, the Supreme Court decision that allows the government to transfer property to a private developer via eminent domain. That would have required the city to pay the property’s current owners.

Instead, the city targeted Pleasant Ridge with ruthless code enforcement. Property owners were cited and fined hundreds of dollars for every individual violation. Unlike the usual practice in code enforcement, the owners were not given any grace period to correct the problems before the fines were levied: They were levied immediately and compounded dailyuntil the problems were fixed. And even when the violations were fixed, the owners had to pay the fines. The only relief offered to them came if they agreed to sell their properties to the developer.

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Further adventures of Ballou High School.

A school district removed a principal Monday after the majority of its graduating students missed over six weeks of school and still graduated.

Antwan Wilson, chancellor of D.C.’s public schools, removed Yetunde Reeves as principal of Ballou Senior High School, reported The Washington Post. Wilson made the decision less than a week following an endorsement of Reeves.

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Good advice with or without the tax bill.

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Ann Corcoran found a document last year that outlined the plans for further immigration inroads. Begun by the State Department, these would have been implemented had Hillary won.

Not quite a conspiracy, but certainly Democrat government policy.

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Five years ago, in its first report on the subject, IJ ranked Virginia eighth worst. Relatively speaking, the commonwealth is moving backward, not forward.

Of the 102 occupations IJ studied, Virginia licenses 68. That’s up from 46 a few years ago. And the state not only has erected more hurdles, it has raised their height as well.

Since IJ’s last report, average licensing fees have climbed from $153 to $291, and the amount of time an applicant must put in before earning a license has risen from 462 days to 620.

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Another win for Trump. I might have to vote for this guy again.

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The Obama administration corrupted everything it touched, including the FBI. A scandal is brewing, and the FBI, predictably, is responding with the Obama playbook: it is stonewalling.

My, what a surprise. Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.

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Considering the sort of ‘research’ Federal ‘grant dollars’ are used for these days, I suggest that the taxpayers actually got better value for their money on this one.

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Racism straight up. But nobody cares. Certainly nobody in the proglodyte media cares.

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Hey, it was government money, so it’s free, right?

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In June of last year, with much national media fanfare, the City of Philadelphia passed a dishonestly named “soda tax.”

The levy of 1.5 cents per ounce, which taxes not only sugar-sweetened beverages but also drinks containing “any form of artificial sugar substitute, including stevia, aspartame, sucralose, neotame, acesulfame potassium (Ace-K), saccharin, and advantame” after it took effect on January 1, was supposed to raise over $90 million.

Actual collections are falling far short, and appear to be in decline. The national press is uninterested in reporting this result.

…

As so often happens when there’s a pot of money and politicians nearby, the funds have been raided for other things. As a result, as of now, “nearly 20 percent of the money raised would go to other city programs and employee benefits.” In August, a column at the Philadelphia Inquirer claimed, based on Tax Foundation research, that “only 49 percent of the funding (this year) actually is slated for pre-K,” the primary justification for the tax.

…

Meanwhile, the completely predictable negative economic effects are piling up. Beverage sales were projected to decline by 30 percent. In the early months, it was more like “30 percent to 50 percent,” and even the city’s original rosy projections estimated slight collection declines in future years. Many Philly residents who are going outside of the city to buy their pop are also buying their groceries while doing so. Within just two months of the tax’s implementation, Pepsi and Canada Dry laid off employees, while a major grocer said “he has had to cut 6,000 employee hours,” i.e., the equivalent of 150 full-time employees,  and suspected that “he will lose about 300 people.”

Funny how that works.

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When Ballou High School, once one of Washington D.C.’s worst performing public schools, announced that all of its 2017 senior class graduated with college acceptance letters, the praise was effusive.

Both NPR and the Washington Post ran stories on the miracle school, praising its miraculous feat of boosting its graduation rate from 57 to 100 percent in a single school year.

Thanks to a joint investigation by NPR and local public broadcaster WAMU we know the miracle was cheating. According to the WAMU story Wednesday, many of the students Ballou graduated had missed so many classes they should have been ineligible for their diplomas.

D.C. Public School policy states students who miss more than 30 days of a course automatically fail that course. Records compiled by WAMU showed 141 graduating seniors had at least 30 days of unexcused absences and 86 had at least 60 unexcused absences. Roughly 20 percent of the graduating class was absent 90 or more times, or more absent than in attendance.

Well, they intended to go to school, but they just couldn’t get into it, man.

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And got just as much done as if they’d actually been there, without the waste of time.

Sounds like a win.

Walter Williams lays it out.

Last spring, graduation exercises were held at one Baltimore high school, 90 percent of whose students received the lowest possible math score. Just one student came even close to being proficient. Parents and family members applauded the conferring of diplomas. Some of the students won achievement awards and college scholarships.

Baltimore is by no means unique. It’s a small part of the ongoing education disaster for black students across the nation. Baltimore schools are not underfunded. Of the nation’s 100 largest school systems, Baltimore schools rank third in spending per pupil.

Baltimore’s black students receive diplomas that attest that they can function at a 12th-grade level when in fact they may not be able to do so at a seventh- or eighth-grade level.

This is why so many jobs today require a college degree — that’s the only way an employer is reasonably sure that the applicant has what used to be considered a high-school education.

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King County Superior Court Judge John Ruhl, in a summary judgement, sided with many angry city residents who contended the local income tax violated state law. Ruhl rejected a wide range of arguments cooked up by Seattle to save its legally dubious levy.

…

Seattle’s progressive income tax, passed unanimously by the City Council in June, levied a 2.25 percent rate on individual incomes above $240,000 or $500,000 for joint filers.

The tax proved immediately and wildly unpopular. Three State Supreme Court decisions have called the progressive income tax a violation of Washington’s state constitution. A 1984 state law reinforced those rulings, flatly saying “a county, city, or city-county shall not levy a tax on net income.”

Apparently the Left Coast is still part of America.

Getting around the plain text of the law required some creativity. The council defended its ordinance as a tax on “total income”—as defined on various IRS tax forms. Ruhl decided the IRS’s “total income” figure incorporates various deductions and write-offs, making it in fact a measure of “net income.”

Seattle also tried to argue that their ordinance—whose own text describes itself as “imposing an income tax”—was not an income tax at all, but rather an excise tax. The distinction is that an excise tax is levied “on a taxpayer for voluntarily exercising a certain right or privilege.”

Living and earning a wage, according to Seattle’s legal team, is a privilege that residents choose to exercise, and thus can be taxed.

The proglodyte mind laid bare.

Scott Johnson does the fisking.

Last night CBS Minnesota broadcast excerpts of the interview Al Franken gave to anchor/reporter Esme Murphy at his daughter’s home in Washington, where he rode out the storm over the long Thanksgiving weekend during which he issued laughable and inconsistent statements on his misconduct. CBS Minnesota has posted the broadcast report (video below, about six minutes) and a companion summary here. It has also posted the entire 33-minute interview. If you have been following this story, the whole thing is must viewing; I have posted it at the bottom. My comments below are based on the full interview.

Certainly Al Franken is the sorriest son of a bitch I’ve ever seen sneak into the Senate.

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Current Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai memorably told Reason that “net neutrality” rules were “a solution that won’t work to a problem that doesn’t exist.”

Yet in 2015, despite a blessed lack of throttling of specific traffic streams, blocking of websites, and other feared behavior by internet service providers (ISPs) and mobile carriers, the FCC issued net neutrality rulesthat gave the federal government the right to punish business practices under Title II regulations designed for the old state-enabled Bell telephone monopoly.

Now that Pai, who became chairman earlier this year, has announced an FCC vote to repeal the Obama-era regulations, he is being pilloried by progressives, liberals, Democrats, and web giants ranging from Google to Netflix to Amazon to Facebook, often in the name of protecting an “open internet” that would let little companies and startups flourish like in the good old days before Google, Netflix, Amazon, and Facebook dominated everything. Even the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which back in 2009 called FCC attempts to claim jurisdiction over the internet a “Trojan Horse” for government control, is squarely against the repeal.

The Usual Suspects, of course, consider it the End Of The World and reacted accordingly:

Pai is also being targeted by net neutrality activists, who have posted signs naming his children by his house and reportedly ordered pizzas as a nuisance.

This is the sort of bullying that the proglodyte fringe always indulge themselves in because they always feel justified in standing in the way of Hitler or whatever.

As a general rule, the side of a question that mobilizes ugly people marching in the streets and carrying ugly signs can be presumed to be wrong. This works 90% of the time.

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From lawmaker to lawbreaker in one easy step.

I guess he took ‘Black Friday’ a bit too literally.

On the other hand, I suggest that every black lawmaker under arrest marks an advance toward civilization.

Angelo Codevilla dishes the dirt.

First, the basics. During my eight years on the Senate staff, sex was a currency for renting rungs on ladders to power. Uninvolved and with a hygroscopic shoulder, I listened to accounts of the trade, in which some one-third of senators, male senior staff, and corresponding numbers of females seemed to be involved. I write “trade,” because not once did I hear of anyone forcing his attention. Given what seemed an endless supply of the willing, anyone who might feel compelled to do that would have been a loser otherwise unfit for survival in that demanding environment.

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Look for … the Union label….

Senator Al Groper in his natural habitat.