Re-elect Nick Begich

Posted on by Fritz Pettyjohn

Alaska has always been dependent on the federal government, so we like our Congressional delegation to build up seniority, and power. It’s in our own self-interest. We had Representative Don Young for 49 years as a result.

His enemies had to indict and convict Ted Stevens to end his forty run as one of our Senators. It’s true that his replacement, Mark Begich, only served one term, but he was a Democrat in a Republican state.

Democrat Representative Mary Peltola’s win two years ago was a carefully engineered fluke, enabled by the vanity of former Gov. Sarah Palin, who split the Republican vote. Our new Congressman, Nick Begich, will have the great advantage of incumbency as long as he wants it.

Which brings us to Lisa Murkowski. Any advantage her seniority might give her is canceled by her behavior toward Republican Presidents. She hates Trump, it’s mutual, and her representation of the state for the next four years is a liability, not an asset. She’ll be ripe for the picking in 2028. It’s not as though she has a record of accomplishment to run on. Far from it.

Gov. Dunleavy leaves office in two years, and his plans are unknown. He may take a job in Washington, or he may head up an effort to build a gas line from the North Slope. Or he may go fishing. In my humble opinion, if he ran against Murkowski he’d beat her.

Which brings us back to Nick Begich. He should be able to stay in the House as long as wants. Running against Murkowski would be taking on an unnecessary risk. On the other hand, I’m sure Nick will never forget, or forgive, Murkowski’s last-minute endorsement of Peltola.

If Dunleavy chooses not to do it, Nick Begich would be doing not only the State of Alaska, but the entire country, a favor by retiring Lisa Murkowski.

In the meantime, congrats to Nick and his campaign team for running an outstanding campaign.

Cuba Libre! Go, Marco, Go!

Posted on by Fritz Pettyjohn

When Rubio was a kid, growing up in Vegas, his grandfather, a refugee from Castro, told him all about communism and Cuba. It turned young Marco into a flag waving American patriot, which he remains.

My doctor is a liberal, and a Cuban immigrant. He has family, including his mother, is still back on the island. He says he wishes the US would just invade Cuba and get rid of the communists.

There are a lot of Venezuelan refugees in Florida, and they’re like Rubio and all the Cuban Americans. They hate the leftist regime in their native country and want to see it overthrown.

I hope Marco is given a free hand in Latin America. As our Secretary of State, he can work for regime change in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

We eventually want regime change in China and Russia as well, but those are tougher nuts to crack. So let’s start with Cuba. I hear it’s a beautiful island, and a natural tour destination for Americans.

Maybe Marco’s got the right stuff to pull it off. It will be fun to watch.

Four more years

Posted on by Fritz Pettyjohn

I’m running out of time. Babbie looked it up on the internet and says I have 8.8 years left. I think I’ll live till I’m 90. Time will tell.

So, my reaction to the election was relief. Having Harris as President would have been extremely depressing four years, and I thank God I don’t have endure it.

I believe DeSantis could have beaten her more soundly than Trump did. For every Trump lover there’s a Trump hater. You didn’t have to like him to vote for him, and that’s what a lot of people did. Including me. But a lot of people, some my friends, could never stomach voting for Trump, and refused to do it.

Just like in 2016 the media nominated Trump. Back then, they had the Hollywood Access tape, demonstrating that he was a sexist pig. They could have released that tape before the Republican Convention and torpedoed his nomination. Instead, they saved it for the general. It leaked early, and Trump had a few weeks to recover, and won in spite of it.

This year the Democrats used lawfare to make him a martyr. People were so pissed off at this that they switched from DeSantis to Trump. At the beginning of this year Democrats were in desperate shape. All the signs pointed to a landslide loss, so they decided to gamble on another Trump nomination.

Oops! In their defense, they were desperate.

The people who hated Trump before the election still do. They always will.

Trump knows this, but he doesn’t care. He’s just going to kick ass and take names. He doesn’t have to worry about his approval rating.

This country will remain divided for four years. Then, we can all hope, we’ll get a President everybody can get behind. Then we’ll get an honest to God landslide. A new political coalition will form. It will include Trump haters.

The next four years will reveal who will lead this next phase of American renewal. Unlike the Democrats, we have a deep bench.

Gaetz

Posted on by Fritz Pettyjohn

Lisa Murkowski is itching to vote against firebrand Matt Gaetz as Attorney General.  She may not get the chance.  If the new Senate leadership recesses the Senate for three days, Gaetz can take office as a recess appointment, circumventing the confirmation process.  It remains to be seen if Senate Majority Leader Thune will play ball.

The Gaetz appointment is a giant middle finger to those in the Justice Department who have harassed Trump since before he took office in 2017.  It started with the Russia hoax, and it’s been going on, nonstop, for eight years.  The final straw came when the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago, including searching Melania’s bedroom, purportedly looking for evidence of a crime.    

Trump will not allow this invasion of his wife’s privacy will not go unavenged.  Heads will roll down the entire change of command which was responsible for this travesty.  If these people are smart, they’re already packing their bags.

If Thune refuses to allow a recess appointment , it’s highly unlikely Gaetz can be confirmed.  If that’s the case Trump’s replacement appointment, regardless of who it is, will look reasonable by comparison.  

Gaetz also serves to distract attention from other controversial appointments, such as Hegseth for Department of Defense.  

The Department of Justice is infused with arrogance.  These people think their loyalty is to their ideas about the law, not to the democratically elected President who appoints them.  As the execrable James Comey put it in the title of his book, they have “A Higher Loyalty”.

But the courts decide the law, not the Department of Justice.  They are the President’s lawyers and are obliged to advocate for him.  President Trump, with his appointment of Gaetz, is putting these people in their place.

It’s pleasant to think that this is just the beginning of four years of fearless leadership.

The Elon and Vivek Show

Posted on by Fritz Pettyjohn


Elon and Vivek are about to enter a strange new world, the one where federal spending takes place.  It’s the congressional appropriations process.  The members of Congress who control this process, the “cardinals”, are among the most powerful people in Washington.  Their favor is sought by every special interest group in the country, and they’re prolific fundraisers.

Musk and Ramaswamy want to reduce the spending that these Congressmen control.  That would reduce their power and infuriate their donors.  Republicans and Democrats alike don’t relish that prospect.

The President can veto a budget, and “shut the government down”.  Over the last 40 years, beginning with Newt Gingrich, this has become a familiar Washington ritual.  

But it’s the political equivalent of a sledgehammer.  It doesn’t really work.

What the president ought to have, as the Governors of 44 states have, is the line-item veto.  Only with such a power can an executive hope to truly restrain legislative spending.   It works.

A constitutional amendment giving the President a line-item veto can only be proposed by the states, using Article V.  Congress, needless to say, would never propose such an amendment, restricting its spending ability.

Under Article V, 34 states can call for an amendment convention, which can be restricted to a limited subject matter by the terms of the call.  Once the 34-state threshold has passed Congress is instructed by Article V to call the Convention.  

In 1979 the 34th state passed a resolution calling for an Amendment Convention.  Congress ignored the states, and has continued to defy their constitutional authority.

The states need to enforce their Article V power by suing Congress and obtaining from the United States Supreme Court a declaratory judgment, ordering the Congress to call the convention.

Once the delegates to the Convention meet, they will try to draft an amendment which can be ratified by 38 states.  It must have bipartisan support.  The only fiscal restraint that will have Democrat as swell as Republican support is the line-item veto.

We’re fast approaching a fiscal cliff.  The Attorneys General need to act, soon.