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January 2017

President Trump has signed executive orders moving the approval process for the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines forward. This does not ensure approval and construction, but it restarts the processes stopped under the Obama administration under heavy pressure from environmental and left-wing activist groups. Stopping these pipelines was the most cherished of liberal causes, intertwined with climate change and identity politics causes. The Dakota pipeline protests became the white liberal "Burning Man," with virtue signaling reaching new heights. Anti-Israel protesters also tried to hijack the protests.

The UK Supreme Court has decided that parliament must decide if the government can start the Brexit process. The ruling also stated that the "Scottish Parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies did not need a say." Prime Minister Theresa may cannot begin talks with European Union (EU) leaders until parliament votes. May would like to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the part that allows a country to leave the EU, by the end of March.

Trump supporter Scott Kotesky was on a flight from Baltimore to Seattle this weekend when the woman sitting next to him began bothering him when she determined that he supports the president. The incident caught the attention of the airline crew which quickly took action and ultimately removed the woman from the plane. The entire exchange was caught on video which has since gone viral. The Washington Free Beacon has details on the confrontation:
Woman Removed From Plane After Berating Trump Supporter “She has called me names and insulted me just for sitting down in this seat saying that I came here to celebrate today,” Kotesky told a flight attendant, referring to Trump’s inauguration.

GOP Senators Bill Cassidy (LA) and Susan Collins (ME) unveiled one possible replacement for Obamacare called the Patient Freedom Act. This plan would leave the majority of the power to the states, letting each one decide "whether the want to keep ObamaCare." Fox News reported:
“We recognize that our bill is not perfect,” said Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who introduced the 2017 Patient Freedom Act with Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician and fellow Republican. “We need comprehensive legislation,” Collins continued. “It’s still a work in progress. ... But if we don’t start putting specific legislation on the table that can be debated, refined, amended and enacted, then we will fail the American people.”

From the man who brought us "fake but accurate" . . . Dan Rather is possibly the living person least entitled to pontificate about the importance of truth in journalism and politics. So naturally, Chris Matthews invited him on this evening's Hardball to do just that. Hat tip Colleen B. In criticizing Kellyanne Conway's use of the term "alternative facts" to explain White House spokesman Sean Spicer's comments while addressing the press this past Saturday, Rather said: "facts, and the truth . . . are at the very foundation of our democracy."

I was not in my hometown of Ithaca (NY) for the Women's March. Ithaca, in case you didn't know, is like Berkeley, California, only smaller. Here are the directions I used to give to my house, from November 2008:
To live in Ithaca is to live in a city alive with anti-Bush, anti-war protest.  I often joke that the directions to my house in Ithaca read as follows: Take a right at the fifth Obama sign, a left at the third “Impeach Bush” placard, bear right at the “Support Our Troops, End the War” poster, and we are the house just after the “There’s a Village in Texas Missing its Idiot” banner.
The Women's March attracted quite the crowd, estimated at 8-10 thousand people.

I worked in National Security at Breitbart, which made me very grateful to live in America. Every day I covered stories describing actual oppression of females. I bet you anything those females would love to have the cost of their birth control as their only worry. Those marches made me ashamed of my sex since governments in other countries actually treat its female citizens like second class citizens. I will concentrate on three countries: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and India.

The immigration battle is heating up in Texas. Just last Friday, "the newly elected sheriff, who campaigned on the issue, announced Friday that her department would reduce its cooperation with federal immigration authorities when they request an inmate be flagged for possible deportation. Her office said it would still continue to hold people charged with very serious crimes, such as capital murder." Monday, calling her directive "dangerous" and "shortsighted", Governor Greg Abbott sent a letter to Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez threatening to cut state funding if she persisted in her refusal to enforce federal immigration laws. Travis county is one of the state's few liberal vestiges and home of state capitol, Austin.

Saturday's Women's March left behind some not so stunning images. From signs dumped all over the D.C. metro area (taxpayer dollars are required to clean those up), children forced to carry politically charged placards and even the desecration of the Daughters of the American Revolution Founders Memorial. Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a non-profit, non-political organization whose membership consists of women who are descendants of soldiers and participants in the American Revolution.

President Donald Trump began his first full day with a bang by signing three executive orders that withdraws America from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), defunds International Planned Parenthood, and freeze hiring of federal workers. TPP became a hot topic on the campaign trail with Trump vocally against it. Former President Barack Obama worked on the agreement for almost two years with the aim of "eliminating most tariffs and other trade barriers among the U.S., Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Vietnam and half a dozen other countries around the Pacific."

At the White House, President Donald Trump announced meetings with Canadian Ptime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to discuss the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). He said:
"We're going to start some negotiations having to do with NAFTA," Trump said. "Anybody ever hear of NAFTA?" he said. "I ran a campaign somewhat based on NAFTA. But we're going to start renegotiating on NAFTA, on immigration, on security at the border."