News Story of the Day: Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) made news this week for the wrong reasons. He was in the headlines not for becoming the emissary to Iran, which is huge news from an anti-war perspective, but because he “blocked” new spending for the 9/11 first responders fund.
Now both sides overwhelmingly supported the bill, which was essential in an election year, hence Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)’s playacting.
Surely, with the fake news media up in arms, there must be more to the story, correct? Yes.
First, the media are portraying that the fund is out of money, people are not getting the care they need, and new applications are being denied. This is not what is happening. It has money; the bill is about replenishing funds.
Second, Senator Paul has always done this because he wants to offset new spending with spending cuts. Paul has done this with every piece of legislation that is going to cost taxpayers. If the legislation has an amendment to offset another spending item, then he would support it. This is not news nor is it hard.
The Washington Examiner has interesting commentary on this matter:
This particular battle might not seem like the hill to die on, but our national debt is certainly an urgent problem, and at this point, it takes extreme measures to make anyone care. Even under the Trump administration, and with Republicans having controlled Congress until 2018, we’re now approaching $1 trillion deficits during a boom economy. Our national debt is skyrocketing toward dangerous levels.
Still, one criticism of Paul’s stance is that he voted for the GOP’s 2017 tax cut, which is projected by some to add roughly $1.5 trillion to the national debt over a decade. However, it’s a bit misleading to suggest that tax cuts “add” to the debt — they only do so if you continue to spend money you don’t have. Paul supported a “pay as you go” provision, which would have required spending cuts to offset the tax relief. All in all, he has voted to cut spending too many times to count.
A hypocrite Paul is not.
In fact, Paul does this kind of thing — preventing spending bills passing by unanimous consent — all the time, trying to force a vote on similar amendments to offset other spending. He is just being consistent with his latest demand for a vote. Naturally, that makes him persona non gratain a swamp like Washington, D.C.
Chart of the Day: It is becoming increasingly expensive to secure the U.S.-Mexico border. With the Democrats seemingly advocating an open borders stance, then it is more than likely that these costs will skyrocket to try to prevent people pouring in through the southern border. Here is a chart that showcases the numbers:
Illustration of the Day: So, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is back in the news with the whole Socialist Squad thing. Since she is making headlines again, how about a meme? This meme is an excellent representation of all politicians who suddenly believe that they know everything because they hold a position of power. AOC is no different.
Quote of the Day: Think you need to spend tens of thousands of dollars tens of thousands of hours studying human history? Nah. Here is a great summary from Luke Muehlhauser (via AEI Carpe Diem):
“Everything was awful for a very long time, and then the industrial revolution happened.”
Tweet of the Day: The problem with a lot of President Donald Trump’s supporters is that they endorse a policy that is antithetical to fiscal conservatism or freedom or small government as long as it triggers the left. Now, it is easy to trigger leftists these days, but this is just a bump in the road. The main objective is freedom, not triggering a pink-haired feminist, even though it is a lot of fun.
🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/zwjYjTPGBr
— Occupy The Media (@OccupyTheMSM) July 19, 2019
Video of the Day: It has happened! #IceBae has spoken to the world for a lot more than just a couple of minutes. The viral sensation who works as a customers border office in Texas because an Internet star when a photo of her was shared across social media. Hotep Jesus got the exclusive first interview with Kiara Cervantes and here it is, which, admittedly, was a bit awkward:
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