Tillerson meets his staff and other news

REX TILLERSON, with his hearings, confirmation vote and oath of office behind him, visited with employees in his new office at the State Department Thursday morning.

If you weren’t able to hear his speech, I highly recommend that you click here and take the time to listen to it, especially if you had doubts about the man. In my opinion, he will soon make us all forget John Kerry and Hillary Clinton.

I DON’T MEAN TO BEAT A DEAD HORSE, but have you heard that the Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight” averaged 3.7 million viewers for the first two weeks in the 9 p.m. EST time slot, where he replaced Megyn Kelly and “The Kelly File?” Carlson’s ratings are 37 percent higher in viewers than Kelly’s 2016 average. He did 50 percent better than Kelly in the 25-54 age bracket. More important, Carlson beat all cable news competitors, including MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show.”

TWO “SQUISHY” REPUBLICANS, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Maine’s Susan Collins, it seems, plan to vote against the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary. It’s apparently more important for Murkowski to pay back the teacher’s union (NEA) for helping her win in 2010. But, unless another Republican breaks ranks, she will be confirmed with a tie vote by Vice President Mike Pence. She will also need the vote of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) before he is confirmed for attorney general. Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders couldn’t resist insulting DeVos in hearings, asking, “If you were not a multi-billionaire, do you think that you would be sitting here today?” As if she should for some reason have to apologize for her and her family’s success.

LEFTIST SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN wrote in her book, “The Two-Income Trap,” that “an all voucher or all-school choice system would be a shock to the educational system, but the shake out might be just what the system needs.” Unfortunately, Warren and other Dems are satisfied with our failing education system and fail to understand what Betsy DeVos, a dedicated outsider, can bring to our schools.

ANOTHER OBAMA SHAFT – In earlier posts, I covered the dump of regulations that President Obama dropped on us just before he left office, and the billions of dollars in debt from the student loan program due to an “accounting error.” Now President Trump has learned of a deal Obama concocted with Australia to take in some 1,200 refugees. While Congress, under the Congressional Review Act, plans to rescind a number of Obama regulations enacted in his last months, it will be more difficult for Trump to deal with the refugee matter.

HOMELAND SECURITY CHIEF JOHN KELLY said today that he expects the security wall along the southern border to be completed within two years with the high traffic areas to be addressed first. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are forging ahead to appropriate funds while President Trump continues to say it will eventually be paid for by Mexico.

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