Opinion
By Jeff Childers
07-24-24
Good morning, C&C, it’s Wednesday! Today’s terrific C&C roundup of essential news includes: Director Cheatle quits under pressure becoming the Secret Service’s second-best female director in history; state police provide crucial link explaining how Crooks might have known the roof would be unguarded; democrats equivocate about their anti-democratic, soviet-style color revolution; an unexpected group objects to the party’s dictatorial selection of a nominee; lawfare begins over Vice Presidential nomination selection; surprising new tone of diplomacy emerges from Kiev after Trump call; teeny tiny private schools pressure public education and Florida leads the way.
🗞💬 WORLD NEWS AND COMMENTARY 💬🗞
🔥🔥 In a stunning setback for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the Wall Street Journal ran a truly tragic story yesterday headlined, “Secret Service Director Resigns Amid Anger Over Trump Shooting.” The Secret Service’s second-best woman director in history resigned the day after her harrowing Congressional testimony, during which members of Congress harangued her till her hair started falling out in clumps, but she still stubbornly insisted she would not quit.
The next day, she changed her mind, which after all has been a woman’s prerogative ever since Eve took a second look at that apple tree. But let’s look closer. I smell a rat. Since Director Cheatle was so determined to hang on she endured the full Nancy Mace treatment, it seems obvious Cheatle was forced out.
Her crime was not failing to protect President Trump, don’t be silly. Her crime was bungling the Congressional hearing and making everybody look bad.
Don’t be judgy. It isn’t easy to sit in Congress for hours being publicly castigated and keep giving circuitous, mind-numbing non-answers that go nowhere but still end the line of questions. For instance, compare what you’ve seen of Cheatle’s testimony with the masterful performance by human cockroach Anthony Fauci, who could write the book on answering questions without answering anything.
If I had to guess, I’d guess it was one particular remarkable line of questioning that signed Director Cheatle’s professional death warrant:
CLIP: Director Cheatle flat refuses to tell Congress about the shell casings (2:16)
In the clip, Representative Lisa McClain (R-Mi.) pressed former Director Cheatle about the number of shell casings found next to the shooter’s body. This is important because the audio recorded seven to eight shots fired, but in two groups: five wild shots and two to three very accurate shots, one of which clipped President Trump’s ear, right next to his brain, and important part of the body that many people desire to retain intact. (But not all. See, e.g., President Cabbage.)
There is a rumor whistleblower told Congress that only five shell casings were found by the shooter. If true, that fact would prove there had been a second, better-trained shooter at the Butler rally, which would change the entire trajectory of the conversation, if you’ll allow me that minor pun.
Former Director Cheatle made a critical rookie mistake while she was not-answering the shells question. See if you can spot it:
MCCLAIN: “Did the FBI share with you how many shell casings were on the roof?”
CHEATLE: “Yes.”
MCCLAIN: “How many were there?”
CHEATLE: “I would refer you to the FBI blah blah blah.”
MCCLAIN: “You know the answer to the question, you just refuse to answer the question from the member of Congress who subpoenaed you to be here … what are you hiding, my friend?”
At the very instant Cheatle admitted she did know the number of shell casings —one of the most important facts going— former Director Cheatle burned her toast, sealing her fate in blackened, inedible crumbs.
In other words, Cheatle, who was supposed to be pretending her Agency was falling over itself with helpfulness, accidentally exposed the coverup, which was an unforgivable crime. It became immediately obvious to the shadow Administration it needed a more skilled, Fauci-like leader of the Secret Service who knows better how to make it look like the agency is cooperating, without actually cooperating.
🔥 Not only that, but former Director Cheatle performed badly compared to state police officials, who testified yesterday. The Wall Street Journal ran its story headlined, “Police Commander Provides More Details on Trump Rally Shooting.”
The Pennsylvania police officials provided much more detail than did former Director Cheatle. Colonel Christopher Paris of the Pennsylvania State Police told Congress that not only wasn’t the shooter’s roof covered, but he admitted that the tallest structure near the rally was the water tower — and that the Secret Service did not protect the tower, either:
To its credit, the Times reported —pay attention— that the Secret Service delegated coverage of the shooter’s roof to Butler police. The Secret Service approved Butler’s security plan, which specifically disclosed its officers would be in the building and would not be on the roof:
Therefore, members of Biden’s Administration knew ahead of time that the shooter’s roof would be unguarded. That fact is remarkably similar to the fact that enigmatic shooter Thomas Crooks also, apparently, knew the roof would be unguarded since he hauled along a heavy, unwieldy ladder with which to climb onto that very same roof. Ladders, after all, aren’t the sort of gear you haul around in your pants pocket ‘just in case.’
In another plot twist, Colonel Paris testified that investigators found eight shell casings around Mr. Crooks’s body on the warehouse’s roof. It was unclear from the article how Col. Paris found that out, whether he’d heard it somewhere, just assumed it, or was only guessing. The Times mentioned the fact in passing without further detail or even saying which ‘investigators’ found the casings.
🔥 As previously noted, former Director Cheatle was the Agency’s second-best female director. Back in March, 2013, President Obama shattered the Secret Service’s bulletproof-glass-ceiling when he appointed the agency’s very first female director Julia Pierson.
Pierson was busy yesterday writing thank-you notes to former Director Cheatle, since until recently, Pierson was the worst Secret Server director in history. Former Director Pierson resigned in disgrace a little over a year in office in October 2014, following a series of inexplicable security breaches and operational failures during her tenure.
Most notably, Omar J. Gonzales managed to jump the White House fence and enter one of the most highly-protected buildings in the world with a knife.
Pierson resigned shortly after enduring her own savage session in Congress. But now, thanks to former Director Cheatle, former Director Pierson surged ahead in the rankings, becoming the best female director in Secret Service history.
The ladies are having a rocky start running the previously well-respected agency tasked with protecting the President of the United States.
🔥🔥 Throughout yesterday, Democrats, corporate media, and, most importantly, thousands of Democrat delegates solidified their tight narrative control by getting squarely behind presumptive nominee Kamala Harris. The intra-party color revolution succeeded, and is now complete. The deep state’s candidate has been installed, as easily as plugging a new gas station USB cable, right before finding out it doesn’t work.
But what color color revolution? It’s not a color revolution without an actual color. Orange, red, blue, color revolutions always have a hue. I think, given the makeup of the modern Democrat party, it would be unacceptably un-diverse to pick a single color. Therefore, I herewith designate this historic event as the Great Democrat Rainbow Revolution of 2024.
🔥 As part of the mop-up operation, the New York Times ran a story yesterday headlined, “Trump Tries to Flip the Script on Democracy After Biden’s Withdrawal.” The sub-headline explained, “Donald J. Trump and his allies said President Biden’s primary voters were disenfranchised.”
The counter-narrative deployed in the Times’ article, and by hundreds of far-left operatives on social media yesterday, is that nobody has been disenfranchised because Kamala must still ‘win’ the nomination at next month’s gala Democrat National Convention in Chicago.
This is clearly not, they argue, disenfranchisement — even though 14 million democrat primary voters pulled the lever for “Joe Biden,” not Kamala Cackle.
See, it all depends on what you mean by voted. Here’s how Politico described the new narrative:
But Republicans are gleefully noting that the Democrat party is selecting a nominee after forcing out the nominee that voters chose. So, who’s right?
To rebut the Democrats’ silly argument, let’s begin by understanding what the Democrats are doing: equivocating. Equivocation involves using a term in multiple senses or meanings within the same argument. It’s a famous type of logical fallacy, where the meaning of a key term slyly shifts around between the premises and the conclusion.
Here’s a good example of fallacious equivocation:
Premise 1: All stars are in the sky.
Premise 2: Some famous actors are stars.
Conclusion: Therefore, some famous actors are in the sky.
Fallacious equivocation is the Democrats’ favorite trick. Yes, it IS a vaccine, because we just changed the definition of ‘vaccine.’ So there.
Now they are doing it again.
In this case, Democrat primary voters did not pull the lever for a delegate. They pulled the lever for a candidate, and that candidate was President Cabbage. His name was literally printed right on the primary ballot. They did not vote for Vice President Cackle.
Republicans rightly point out that “voting” means a democratic process where citizens indicate their preference for a particular candidate. In Florida, this often means selecting multiple candidates, folding the ballots into intersting shapes, and scribbling illegible notes on the back side. But I digress.
To conceal their anti-democratic rainbow color revolution, the Party of Saving Democracy is now desperately equivocating, claiming that “voting” actually means ‘delegating someone to choose for you.’
After all, Democrats could hold another primary, but they aren’t about to let voters choose the candidate, are they? Not when a small handful of captive delegates are around to fall right into line.
Don’t let Democrats get away with changing definitions! They can select a candidate if they want. After all, it’s in the fine print, but this current process is not voting.
🔥 But wait! A twist! Not every Democrat is buying the equivocation. In another bizarre, 2024-style turnaround, yesterday Black Lives Matter tweeted its strong objection to Vice President Cackle’s presumptive selection, stressing “we do not live in a dictatorship,” “delegates are not oligarchs,” and that selecting Kamala would make “the modern Democratic Party a party of hypocrites.” I am not making this up, read it for yourself:
Ruh-roh! Somebody forgot to buy off Black Lives Matter! I bet I know where several million dollars of Kamala’s recent fund-raising is about to go.
As BLM cogently explained, voting involves “public participation in the nomination process,” not “just a nomination by party delegates.” You couldn’t ask for a better antidote to all this flim-flammery and equivocation than that single post from Black Lives Matter.
Please pass the popcorn.
🔥🔥 President Trump isn’t equivocating. He’s filing lawsuits. Last night, CNN ran a story headlined, “Trump campaign files FEC complaint trying to block Biden funds transferring to Harris.”
Trump’s campaign general counsel David Warrington filed the complaint yesterday. It alleged, “Kamala Harris is seeking to perpetrate a $91.5 million dollar heist of Joe Biden’s leftover campaign cash — a brazen money grab that would constitute the single largest excessive contribution and biggest violation in the history of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended,”
CNN noted that it’s unlikely the Federal Election Commission will act on the complaint until well after Election Day, given its historically slow pace of resolving enforcement questions. Well, it’s slow whenever claims involve democrats.
But in another plot twist, two days ago FEC Chair Sean Cooksey posted a citation to federal election law suggesting that donations to Biden’s presidential campaign must be returned to donors, not transferred to cackling selectees:
Expect more lawsuits in the wake of the Great Democrat Party Rainbow Revolution of 2024. Maybe many more.
🚀🚀 Yesterday, just days after his phone call with post-nomination Trump, Zelensky’s tone seems to have … changed. At a minor press event somewhere, the martial law administrator said, and I am not making this up either, “We have to end the war as soon as possible … of course, to not lose people’s lives.”
CLIP: Comedian’s new routine (0:08).
My goodness! The empathetic former president is finally connecting with the plight of his citizens. Stop the loss of life!
Note: No media covered this press conference, and I couldn’t find any details. But I thought it was interesting enough to include anyway, since I found confirmation of Ukraine’s sudden and unexpected diplomatic tone in a Tass article headlined, “Top Ukrainian diplomat says Kiev ready for talks with Russia — Chinese MFA.”
It only took one phone call. And Trump’s not even President yet.
🔥 Finally, enjoy some more great news in the conservative counter-revolution. Florida is leading again. Politico ran the story yesterday headlined, “‘Microschools’ could be the next big school choice battle. Florida is on the cutting edge.” The sub-headline explained, “Florida just enacted a little-noticed provision that would make it much easier for these schools — which typically have less than 30 students — to get established.”
A concept developed during the pandemic, which we were calling “pods” or “co-ops,” this homeschooling alternative involves a pack of parents banding together and hiring a full-time teacher to teach a small, multi-age group of kids at places like someone’s house, business, church, or rented movie theater.
Politico called the new Florida law referenced in the article “quiet” because it was just a zoning change. It pre-empts local government zoning regulations, allowing small private schools to use existing spaces at places like movie theaters, homes, and churches without having to get local permits or approvals.
Two years ago, Florida passed laws transferring state public school funds to parents, to use for private school tuition and expenses. The funds can also be used for pods, now widely called “microschools.” Politico reported that participation in these state-funded scholarships boomed to an estimated 217,000 students since Florida opened the new voucher program to all students regardless of income.
In a micro-school scenario, parents hire their pod teachers based on merit, not diversity. Microschool teachers reportedly earn +25% more on average than when they worked at comparable public school positions, with less work, fewer students, better students, no unions, and zero politics.
At least in Florida, public schools are being forced to compete. They may soon have to start hiring better teachers and treating them well.
The Empire has not been idle in the face of this new free-market threat. Local governments across the country have weaponized zoning regulations against homeschoolers to defeat homeschool pods, making it illegal to operate them anywhere. But Florida and Utah have both now deleted that tool, leading the nation in re-establishing the country’s original school format, the one-room schoolhouse.
Florida’s just-passed law would also allow private schools to expand, growing into alternative locations to allow more students, bypassing local regulations.
It would be an understatement to say this one new law could finally trigger the long-awaited revolution in education. Progress, and lots of it.
Have a wonderful Wednesday! C&C shall return tomorrow, with even more essential news, snark, and commentary on current events. See you then.
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© 2022, Jeff Childers, all rights reserved
The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida.
