Daily Update

In case you missed Chairman Jerry Kassar on Cats Roundtable you can listen to the interview here. 

 The late breaking news on Friday was the release of the long- awaited Mueller Report.  Naturally, the majority of democratic candidates, pundits and anchors demanded that an unredacted report be made public…immediately.  One democratic pundit, Doug Schoen, has good advice if Democrats want to win the White House in 2020: it’s time to stop investigating Trump. They are so blind and angry, they won’t take his advice.  Kimberly Strassel also has very good advice for our nation; Mueller’s investigation is done. Now dig into the real scandal — missteps of Comey, FBI.    We are a nation that has always trusted and believed that the FBI’s reputation was sterling and above board.   That trust was violated for political reasons, the repercussions will be long lasting and may never recover.  The majority of Americans are tired and would like all of the continuing investigations to end; however, this is one that really needs to be pursued; the FBI must take the necessary steps that prevent any further abuse of its powers.  The full Kimberly Strassel column is behind the WSJ paywall, if you have access to the WSJ, read it here.  Gregg Jarrett, who has reported on the “collusion issue” from the very beginning, calls it the dirtiest political trick in modern US history. 

 Zero, zilch, nada: That’s the bottom line on ‘collusion’ 

 Here is Attorney General William P. Barr’s letter to the members and ranking members of the Committees on the Judiciary in the House and Senate. 

 Guy Benson on the Mueller Report.  Thorough and Comprehensive: Trump Critics Must Accept Mueller’s Russia Probe as the Final Verdict on ‘Russiagate’ 

 ‘Collusion’ now exposed as nothing more than Trump haters’ opioid dream

WGRZ has an overview of what the NYS Budget contains.  With one week left, things can change quickly,  so by the time this is posted, the overview could be incomplete or just plain wrong.  WSKG also have an overview of the proposed budget, but it points out that the Governor has the upper hand.  If the Budget is not passed by the March 31 deadline, both Houses only have one choice:  pass it with no amendments or reject it and shut down government.  The state’s highest court gave this ability to the Governor when then Speaker Sheldon Silver sued then Governor George E. Pataki.  This is a powerful incentive for both houses.  However, this year, there is an additional incentive, perhaps even a coercive method to pass the budget:  The Commission on Legislative, Judicial and Executive Compensation requires an on-time budget.  By the way, 3 of the 7 members of the commission are appointed by the Governor, one each by the Senate Majority Leader and the Speaker of the House and 2 by Chief Judge of the NYS Court of Appeals.  The Governor, never one to shy away from using hard-ball tactics to get his way, had the majority of votes on the commission.  Anyone want to call it, what it really is… blackmail.