Controlling The Evidence In A Trial

On March 4th, The Washington Examiner reported the following:

A federal judge denied a request from a Jan. 6 defendant to access additional Capitol surveillance tapes recently made available by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in an effort to delay her trial and gather more evidence.

U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg denied the request from Jan. 6 defendant Sara Carpenter on Friday, ruling her legal team failed to explain how the supplemental footage of her actions inside the Capitol building would be necessary in her case. Carpenter faces a number of charges for her participation in the Capitol riot, including disorderly conduct and obstruction of an official proceeding.

…Boasberg’s decision is the latest in the saga surrounding the Capitol riot tapes, particularly after McCarthy granted a trove of surveillance footage to Fox News host Tucker Carlson last month. News of the decision prompted an outcry among congressional Democrats, with several calling the move dangerous to national security.

McCarthy has repeatedly defended his decision to release footage to Carlson, noting the exchange fulfills a pledge he made during his bid for House speaker. He also argued the release was important to ensure a transparent investigation into the Capitol riot.

McCarthy also indicated he’d make the tapes more widely available once Carlson’s crew is done sifting through them, and several Jan. 6 defendants said they plan to access the materials.

The article concludes:

Prosecutors are required to provide defendants with any exculpatory evidence they may use in their trials, posing a significant challenge for cases related to the Jan. 6 riot that includes thousands of hours of footage obtained by surveillance cameras, police bodycams, journalists, and the rioters themselves.

Carpenter’s attorneys argued the new tapes made available by McCarthy would help provide additional context in their case, but Boasberg ultimately ruled any missing footage would be “minimal.”

I hope the attorneys for Sara Carpenter demand a mistrial. It seems to me that all possible evidence needs to be seen. If the evidence was on the side of the prosecution, would the judge admit it?

Will There Ever Be An Apology?

I really like Rand Paul. He is not afraid to say what he believes is truth regardless of the pushback. He was one of the more rational voices during the Covid pandemic and was ridiculed for the things he said (things that later turned out to be true). Will the Democrats and tech companies who maligned him ever apologize? Probably not.

The Washington Examiner posted an article on March 1st about Rand Paul and the information he provided on Covid during the pandemic.

The article reports:

The U.S. Energy Department and the FBI now agree that a lab leak is probably to blame for the spread of the COVID-19 virus, according to reports. The disclosure was made in “low confidence” earlier this week after the department received new intelligence on the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Energy Department oversees 17 national labs and research centers and was investigating the pandemic’s origins. Meanwhile, the Energy Department’s admission was just the latest in a recent string of evidence vindicating Paul. A new study released this month revealed that immunity from a natural COVID infection was “at least as high, if not higher” than receiving the vaccine. Paul said this last year but was dismissed by many on the Left as spreading misinformation.

The article concludes:

Paul was heavily criticized by those on the Left for saying the same thing the Energy Department just now concluded. He was censored by Big Tech and vilified by Democratic politicians who claimed Paul’s now-vindicated assertions were detrimental to the country. But it was Big Tech and the Democrats who were harming the country, not the Kentucky Republican.

“Trust the science” evolved into “trust the tyrants,” and the Left sought total compliance to its authoritarianism during the pandemic. Anyone objecting, such as Paul, was vilified as an ignorant conspiracy theorist and, in some cases, accomplice to murder. What happened to Paul should serve as a warning of left-wing, Democratic totalitarianism and why they can never be trusted to regulate speech or information. Liberals, Democrats, the Left, and Big Tech all owe Rand Paul an apology. Will they ever do so?

Will the political left ever be held accountable for their lies?

 

Can The Economy Prosper When Taxes Are High?

On Monday, The Washington Examiner posted an article with the following headline:

Debunking the myth that the US once prospered despite extremely high taxes

The article explains how the tax system in the 1960’s was very different from the tax system today:

Left-wing politicians who demand higher taxes on the rich argue that the U.S. had previously prospered when tax rates were very high, proving that high taxes do not harm the economy. And it is true: In the 1950s and early 1960s, the top federal personal income tax rate in the U.S. was a horrendous 91%, after which it was lowered to 70%. Under former President Ronald Reagan, it was then successively reduced to 28% by 1988 (before being raised several times and then lowered again under former President Donald Trump).

However, as Phil Gramm, Robert Ekelund, and John Early show in their book The Myth of American Inequality, “The top income tax in 1962 was 91 percent. After deductions and credits, only 447 tax filers out of 71 million paid any taxes at the top rate. The top 1 percent of income earners on average paid 16.1 percent of their income in federal and payroll taxes while the top 10 percent paid 14.4 percent and the bottom 50 percent paid 7.0 percent.”

Even when the top tax rate was lowered to 70%, not much changed. Only 3,626 out of 75 million taxpayers actually paid taxes up to 70%. Interestingly, the actual percentage paid by the top 1% of earners in the U.S. was only 16.1% in 1962, when the top marginal rate was 91%. However, in 1988, when the top rate was only 28%, the percentage paid by the top 1% of earners had risen to 21.5%! As the top tax rate fell by two-thirds, the percentage of their income that the top 1% of tax filers paid in federal income and payroll taxes rose by a third.

The article concludes:

This growth was a direct consequence of Reagan’s deregulation and tax reform policies in conjunction with falling oil prices. The growth rate in the 1980s was higher than in the 1950s and 1970s, though substantially below the growth rate of 5% following John F. Kennedy’s 1964 tax rate cuts of 30%.

This growth, along with the elimination of numerous deductions and exemptions, led to a sharp increase in tax revenues. Exactly what Reagan had predicted now came to pass: At a press conference in October 1981, Regan quoted the 14th-century Muslim philosopher Ibn Khaldūn’s foreshadowing of the Laffer Curve theory, as this effect is called in economic jargon: “In the beginning of the dynasty, great tax revenues were gained from small assessments. At the end of the dynasty, small tax revenues were gained from large assessments.” Reagan added: “And we’re trying to get down to the small assessments and the great revenues.”

So the myth that the U.S. experienced strong economic growth when the top marginal tax rate was high is false. In fact, the top marginal tax rate was only nominally high because there were so many exemptions, loopholes, and deductions.

Higher taxes slow economic growth. The Laffer Curve is real.

Misplaced Blame From The Mainstream Media

The Democrats have reached the point where if President Biden trips going up the stairs on Air Force One, it’s President Trump’s fault. He obviously made the steps too high. We are seeing this dynamic at work in the aftermath of the train disaster in Ohio. Not only has the Biden administration been slow to respond, some Democrats and media are blaming President Trump for the crash. The fact that up until January, the Democrats for two years controlled Congress and the Presidency does not seem to play into their thought process. Anyway, The Washington Examiner posted an article on Saturday that provides clarification on what is being said.

The article reports:

Facts are stubborn things. So, the best way for Democrats to push a good partisan narrative is to ignore them entirely.

That’s what many on the Left are doing right now in the aftermath of a disastrous train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. They’re attempting to pin the blame for the ensuing chemical disaster on former President Donald Trump and “deregulation” more broadly, arguing that the Trump administration repealed an Obama-era safety rule that could’ve prevented this tragic accident.

…Progressive voices ranging from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and the White House to the popular “Pod Save America” hosts and huge liberal social media pages such as Occupy Democrats have made this accusation or insinuation.

…There’s just one problem: It’s complete nonsense. We can debate the pros and cons of that regulation, but it has nothing to do with the current controversy. As a simple matter of fact, it would not have applied to the train that derailed in East Palestine.

You don’t have to take my word for it; take it from the New York Times, hardly a pro-Trump or anti-regulation source.

This is the major quote from the article:

“Since the Feb. 3 derailment in Ohio, some lawmakers and activists have pointed to a 2015 safety regulation adopted by the Obama administration as an example of the changes that they say are needed to make railroads safer. … But after lobbying by the railroad industry, the Trump administration repealed the rule in 2018,” the New York Times reports . Yet it goes on to admit that: “Had the rule remained in effect, it would not have applied to the Norfolk Southern train that derailed in East Palestine.”

The New York Times’s source for this is Jennifer Homendy, a Democrat and head of the National Transportation Safety Board.

Please follow the link above to read the rest of the article. It is quite possible that some regulations need to be looked at in an effort to prevent another ecological disaster like the one that occurred in Ohio, but no regulations impacting the train involved have been changed.

Is Anyone Surprised?

Stacey Abrams has turned losing an election into a profitable venture. When she is not writing steamy romance novels, she is generally creating havoc in the State of Georgia.

On Thursday, The Washington Examiner reported:

Experts are calling for an investigation into a Stacey Abrams-founded charity over a large financial discrepancy.

The New Georgia Project, a minority-focused democracy advocacy group founded in 2013, was run by Nse Ufot, hand-picked by Abrams, until she was fired in October. The group filed its 2021 Form 990 financial disclosure three months later, when the form was two months overdue, an investigation by the Washington Free Beacon found. The group reported a $533,846 consulting payment and $67,500 grant to an obscure charity called the Black Male Initiative, run by Ufot’s brother. However, the group claims it never received any such payment.

The group provided its Internal Revenue Service filings to the outlet, which show $0 in consulting fees and just $255,000 from all sources.

The article concludes:

“New Georgia Project’s recent tax returns leave so many questions, it’s difficult to know where to even begin trying to understand these important documents,” Caitlin Sutherland, the executive director of the charity watchdog Americans for Public Trust, told the outlet. “Filing a fraudulent return with the IRS carries hefty penalties, and any evidence of financial malfeasance should be taken seriously.”

The New Georgia Project has played a leading role in Abrams’s attempts to turn Georgia blue by mobilizing minority voters.

“New Georgia Project is a nonpartisan effort to register, civically engage, and build power with the New Georgia Majority — the large and growing population of Black, brown, young, and other historically marginalized voters in the Peach State,” its website reads.

The New Georgia Project has a noble cause. Voter registration is important. I might emphasize that working to register all voters is a good idea. I wonder if they are registering voters in both Republican and Democrat areas.

A wise man once said, ” Be careful what charities you give your money to.” I suspect in the case of the New Georgia Project that is good advice.

When The Chickens Come Home To Roost

When the chickens come home to roost, deny, deny, deny. That is how James Clapper is handling the charges that the letter signed by 51 retired intelligence community leaders influenced the election.

On Thursday, The Washington Examiner reported the following:

In case anyone is wondering who was responsible for the idea that the Hunter Biden laptop story was part of a Russian disinformation campaign, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper assures us it was not the 51 retired intelligence community leaders who penned the letter which said it was. Instead, it was the media who mischaracterized their words.

Clapper’s signature topped the list of prominent former government officials willing to stake their reputations on the infamous letter that was written to sow doubt about a story that, if it had not been suppressed, could arguably have changed the result of the 2020 presidential election.

One of the major problems with that statement is that in August on 2017, James Clapper was hired by CNN as a national security analyst. He was the media he is accusing of mischaracterizing his words.

The article notes:

Specifically, Clapper, who is best known for lying to Congress in 2013 about the National Security Agency’s collection of Americans’ telephone records and for his role in perpetuating the Russian collusion hoax, blamed Politico for “deliberately distorting” their letter in an October 2020 piece titled , “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say.”

“There was message distortion. All we were doing was raising a yellow flag that this could be Russian disinformation,” Clapper told Washington Post “fact checker” Glenn Kessler. “Politico deliberately distorted what we said. It was clear in paragraph five.”

Paragraph five is indeed a disclaimer. It states : “We want to emphasize that we do not know if the emails, provided to the New York Post by President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement — just that our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case.”

But if Clapper felt the letter had been deliberately distorted, he certainly had ample opportunity to clear things up. After leaving office at the end of the Obama administration, Clapper became a political analyst for CNN, giving him a major media platform from which to do so. Yet he remained silent — even as leftist pundits and congressional Democrats spread the lie that the Hunter Biden laptop story had been planted by Russia.

It’s amazing how many things go on in Washington that no one is responsible for. It’s like there are invisible people in that city that are there simply to create havoc!

Sunlight Is The Best Disinfectant

On Monday, Hot Air reported that at least temporarily Microsoft has ‘suspended’ the use of the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) as a result of The Washington Examiner’s exposing their blacklists.

The article reports:

It’s a win. It might only prove temporary, but it’s still a win for now.

Last week, the Washington Examiner’s Gabe Kaminsky exposed secret blacklists of conservative sites created by the “Global Disinformation Index.” Those blacklists included Hot Air, Townhall, RedState, and Twitchy, and lots of other conservative sites under the ambiguous guise of “disinformation.” No one from GDI or its sponsors ever bothered to contact us to discuss their “assessment,” nor did their reports ever cite any specific data for any of the sites blacklisted, despite a lengthy yet completely data-free discussion of their “methodology.”

…Several House Republicans demanded hearings on GDI in the immediate future. It will fit nicely into the GOP’s efforts to expose the political weaponization of government. It also comes at the same time that the Twitter Files and a lawsuit against Facebook have exposed government efforts to quash and silence dissent and debate on social media platforms. This takes that effort several steps further — attempting to strangle conservative voices even outside of the Big Tech platforms.

The article notes:

Once again, this is why we fight. We knew that we could not rely on Big Tech to provide us easy access to advertisers, but we didn’t know they’d adopt blacklists to cut us off entirely. Our members are what keep us going, and we appreciate them for standing up to the GDIs and the other McCarthyists.

The squeaky wheel gets the oil. The only way to change things is to speak out.

Who Is Behind The Cancellation Of Conservative Thought

On Thursday, The Washington Examiner posted an article about the censorship of conservative ideas.

The article reports:

Well-funded “disinformation” tracking groups are part of a stealth operation blacklisting and trying to defund conservative media, likely costing the news companies large sums in advertising dollars, a Washington Examiner investigation found.

Major ad companies are increasingly seeking guidance from purportedly “nonpartisan” groups claiming to be detecting and fighting online “disinformation.” These same “disinformation” monitors are compiling secret website blacklists and feeding them to ad companies, with the aim of defunding and shutting down disfavored speech, according to sources familiar with the situation, public memos, and emails obtained by the Washington Examiner.

…The Global Disinformation Index, a British group with two affiliated U.S. nonprofit groups sharing similar board members, is one entity shaping the ad world behind the scenes. GDI’s CEO is Clare Melford, former senior vice president for MTV Networks, and its executive director is Daniel Rogers, a tech advisory board member for Human Rights First, a left-leaning nonprofit group that says disinformation fuels “violent extremism and public health crises.”

The article explains the financial aspect of this censorship:

“It’s devastating,” Mike Benz, the State Department’s ex-deputy assistant for internal communications and information policy, told the Washington Examiner. “The implementation of ad revenue crushing sentinels like Newsguard, Global Disinformation Index, and the like has completely crippled the potential of alternative news sources to compete on an even economic playing field with approved media outlets like CNN and the New York Times.”

GDI’s mission is to “remove the financial incentive” to create “disinformation,” and its “core output” is a secretive “dynamic exclusion list” that rates news outlets based on their alleged disinformation “risk” factor, according to its website. There are at least 2,000 websites on this exclusion list, which has “had a significant impact on the advertising revenue that has gone to those sites,” Melford said on a March 2022 podcast episode hosted by the Safety Tech Innovation Network, a British government-backed group.

Along with similar organizations, GDI has been raking in cash as funding pours into disinformation tracking. Its charity in San Antonio, Texas, posted $345,000 in revenue in 2020, while its affiliated private foundation saw its roughly $19,600 revenue jump in 2019 to over $569,000 in 2020, according to tax records.

This article at The Washington Examiner is the first in a series of article to be posted about the censorship of conservative views. Please follow the link above to read the entire article and look for more to come.

Common Sense Requests

Technically America won’t run out of money until June. That leaves a little bit of time to negotiate the debt ceiling. The Republican Study Committee has a few suggestions as to what is needed in order for Republicans to agree to raise the debt ceiling. As much as I hate to see the debt ceiling raised again, I like their suggestions.

The Washington Examiner posted an article listing their demands:

Here is the list:

The seven demands are quoted below:

    1. Reverse recent increases in overall discretionary spending and institute statutory limitations on annual discretionary spending levels.
    2. Enact a package of inflation-busting reforms to increase domestic energy capacity and reduce associated regulatory and permitting barriers.
    3. Fight inflation and the onset of a Democrat-induced recession by ending the national COVID-19 emergency, increasing workforce participation, advancing targeted, paid-for, pro-growth tax policies, and countering overregulation with common-sense guardrails like the REINS Act.
    4. Ensure an increase in the debt ceiling is accompanied by commensurate spending reductions, including through recissions of the Democrats’ recent excessive spending.
    5. Eliminate wasteful spending on duplicative programs, examine ways to fight waste, fraud and abuse, and transition non-entitlement mandatory programs to the discretionary side of the budget.
    6. Establish a long-term fiscal control focused on reducing spending to restrain the growth of our federal debt as a percentage of the nation’s economy.
    7. Codify procedures to ensure the federal government honors certain critical obligations, such as federal debt payments, national security and veterans, Social Security, and Medicare.

We need to get back to fiscal sanity. This would be one way to do it.

How Obamacare Works

Today, The Washington Examiner posted an article about Obamacare. Yes, it is still with us thanks to the duplicity of the Republican Congress.

This is the current status of Obamacare:

Americans have until Jan. 15 to secure healthcare coverage through the Obamacare exchanges. This year’s open enrollment period has resulted in more people signing up than ever before.

More than 11.5 million people have enrolled in the exchanges as of Dec. 15, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. That’s an 18% increase from the same time last year. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra boasted that the “unprecedented results” were the result of “unprecedented investments” in the program. Those “investments” include billions of dollars worth of new subsidies that have lowered what people have to pay out of pocket for coverage. But those subsidies simply mask the underlying cost of coverage, which has been rising for years. Ultimately, future taxpayers will foot the bill.

As part of the American Rescue Plan Act, which was signed into law in March 2021, Democrats made Obamacare subsidies more generous and extended them to enrollees making more than 400% of the federal poverty level — about $111,000 for a family of four — for the first time. Those expanded subsidies were scheduled to sunset at the end of 2022, but the Inflation Reduction Act extended them until Dec. 31, 2025. Last year alone, these more generous subsidies cost taxpayers $30 billion — about 50% more than the Congressional Budget Office originally estimated.

The article concludes:

In other words, the “unprecedented” number of signups during this open enrollment period isn’t a function of the affordability or quality of Obamacare plans. It’s a function of Democrats paying just about anyone to sign up.

Obamacare was the Democrats’ step toward socialized medicine. Socialized medicine results in poor care and long waits. Many Americans understand that and would not support a transition to socialized medicine, thus, Obamacare. We need enough people in Congress who care about the American people and their medical care to get rid of this abomination. That will probably take at least one more election.

The Wrong Incentives

On December 22, The Washington Examiner posted an article about the impact America’s current welfare policies are having on unemployment and on our economy.

The article reports:

A massive labor shortage continues to hamstring the economy, with millions more empty jobs than unemployed job-seekers. All the while, millions of people remain on the sidelines, with the labor force participation rate significantly below the pre-pandemic norm. Why are so many potential workers sitting idle while jobs need to be filled?

Well, the astoundingly bloated nature of America’s welfare state offers one explanation, according to a new study . Conservative economists Stephen Moore, E.J. Antoni, and Casey Mulligan of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity analyzed what a typical four-person family, with two nonworking adults, could receive in welfare benefits, including both unemployment and healthcare subsidies, across the 50 states.

They found that in three states, Washington, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, this typical family can earn the equivalent of more than $100,000 annually without working, thanks to various government programs.

Meanwhile, in 14 states the benefits are equivalent to an $80,000 annual salary or more. In these states, welfare pays better than the typical job of a secondary school teacher or electrician, according to the study. In 24 states, languishing on welfare pays better than the typical salary earned by a firefighter, truck driver, or machinist.

Why would you bother to go to work when you could actually make more money staying home and doing nothing?

The article reaches the only logical conclusion:

“A key policy question these days that has befuddled federal lawmakers is why so many millions of Americans have not returned to the workplace in the post-Covid era,” the study’s authors conclude. “The U.S. is ‘missing’ more than three million workers of working age that could be working and were working prior to Covid but are not today. This study shows that one factor contributing to the dearth of workers is the generous benefits paid to families without workers.”

The takeaway here is clear. If we want our economy to recover fully from the COVID-19 pandemic and get roaring again, we have to reform our social spending programs so that we once again incentivize work, not welfare.

Refusing To Let The Newly-Elected Congress Do Their Job

According to the U.S. Constitution, spending bills initiate in the U.S. House of Representatives. There is a specific budget process (that has been ignored since 2007) that is supposed to be followed. There is also a new Republican majority  in the House of Representatives that will be seated in January. Theoretically, they would be the ones to set the budget for the coming fiscal year. They were elected in the hope that they would put the brakes on the runaway spending of the Biden administration. That’s one of many reasons Republicans won the House. Republicans did not take the Senate. One of the reasons for that may be found in the actions of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Aside from directing funding away from candidates who might not have supported him, his voting record is questionable at best. Right now he is part of a group of Senators working to pass a spending bill that will usurp the power of the incoming House of Representatives.

On Tuesday morning, The Washington Examiner reported the following:

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is threatening to tank the legislation of Senate Republicans who back the omnibus spending bill being considered this week, setting up a showdown with his counterpart, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

Bills from Republican senators, including McConnell himself, will be “dead on arrival” in the House under his speakership, McCarthy warned, throwing his weight behind a letter signed by 13 Republicans in the House vowing to whip against legislation from lawmakers who cast a “yes” vote later this week on the spending bill.

I totally support Representative McCarthy on this move.

The article continues:

McCarthy has publicly pressed McConnell to change course on the omnibus, but a conservative flank in the House wants McCarthy to go further and “declare war” on McConnell-backed bills if he votes for the $1.7 trillion spending bill. McCarthy is currently seeking to court a handful of defections within his conference that threaten to derail his speakership bid, given the narrow 222-seat majority House Republicans will have in January.

The group of 13 congressmen is demanding the Senate “refrain from entertaining any spending bill that extends beyond the first few months” of the new year so that the GOP can negotiate a budget when it has control of the lower chamber.

“We are obliged to inform you that if any omnibus passes in the remaining days of this Congress, we will oppose and whip opposition to any legislative priority of those senators who vote for this bill — including the Republican leader,” the Monday letter sent to GOP senators said.

“Senate Republicans have the 41 votes necessary to stop this and should do so now and show the Americans who elected you that they weren’t wrong in doing so,” the letter continued. “This slated omnibus spending bill is an indefensible assault on the American people. It is an assault on the separation of powers. It is an assault on fiscal responsibility. It is an assault on basic civic decency.”

If this bill is not stopped, then there is no reason to vote for a Republican. They are as tone-deaf to the wishes of the American people as the Democrats.

American Culture In Germany

On Sunday the NFL played a football game in Munich, Germany. The game was between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks. Tom Brady played an outstanding game, and the Buccaneers won, but to me, that was not the highlight of the event.

On Sunday, The Washington Examiner reported:

The NFL hosted its first game in Europe on Sunday to an excited, packed crowd in Munich, Germany.

Allianz Arena, typically the home to the country’s soccer team Bayern Munich, had 69,811 of its 70,000 seats filled for the game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks. At different points throughout the game, the crowd sang along to American classics such as “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes, “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver, and “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond.

What fun!I guess my years in Massachusetts are showing–I have a great deal of respect for Tom Brady; and whenever I hear “Sweet Caroline,” I think of the Boston Red Socks.

The article concludes:

“That was one of the great football experiences I’ve ever had,” Brady told reporters following the game. “It says a lot for 23 years in the league and for a regular-season game. I think the fan turnout was incredible. It felt, like, very electric from the time we took the field.”

There are four other international games scheduled for 2022, with one slated for Mexico and the other three in the United Kingdom. Germany will host three more games across the next four seasons, hosting one more at Bayern Munich and two at Frankfurt Stadium.

Please follow the link to the article to watch the videos of the songs. In a messed-up world, it is wonderful to see people thoroughly enjoying themselves and sharing cultures.

Where The Democrats Went Wrong

The red wave never happened, but that doesn’t change the fact that we are headed in the wrong direction. There was probably fraud in some areas, but unless it can be proved, it will continue. There were not enough Republicans elected to change the direction we are heading. On Monday, The Washington Examiner posted an article detailing some of those problems.

The article reports:

If there were a way to illustrate the beginning, middle, and end of this election cycle in four powerful moments, I’d start with the faces of the men and women working on the construction of the Keystone pipeline, and the owners of the small businesses who supported them, that I witnessed days after President Joe Biden terminated their livelihoods.

These are people who work with their hands in the harshest of weather conditions digging trenches, cleaning feeder pipes, laying concrete, ensuring the proper fittings on the connecting pipes, and loading and unloading heavy materials by hand. That’s not including the faces of the people who run the motels, diners, machine shops, and barber shops and the mechanics who make sure they are fed, housed, cleaned, and able to get home when the job is done.

The next image in my coverage of these first two years of the Biden administration captured the true beginning of his descent away from the public. It happened while I was driving past the town square in Independence, Missouri, and saw 13 empty chairs sitting in a semicircle at the base of the lowered American flag in front of the Old Jackson County Courthouse, with each chair bearing the name of one of the 13 soldiers lost in Afghanistan during Biden’s bug-out from that country.

It was in the days and weeks after Aug. 26, 2021, when the nation lost those service members during Biden’s botched withdrawal, that the media and the Democratic Party as a whole failed to understand the mark that moment had on the American psyche. It was a shift away from the party in power and the president, whose credibility since then has never stopped slipping away.

…The final image of this election happened last week when someone snapped an iPhone photo of Michael McGuire, who just got off of work at the local coal mine and rushed to Rupp Arena at the University of Kentucky so he could watch an event with his son.

The article concludes:

The Democratic Party and the cultural curators in this country that run our institutions, academia, national media, corporations, Hollywood, and our sports entities have forgotten that these people vote — no matter how much pressure you place on them, no matter how much you look down on them or call them names or believe you know better than them or think they should just deal with high prices or accept dangerous crime in their communities.

They feel much more connected to the values and work ethic of the McGuires in this world than the Hollywood actors sent out in droves to bring the votes home for the Democratic Party.

The Democrats need a much better message to appeal to voters the next time a big election is held — one that is aspirational, nondivisive, and truly inclusive.

That wasn’t their message this year.

Please follow the link to read the entire article. It is extremely insightful.

Sometimes Threats Don’t Mean Much

On Monday, The Washington Examiner reported that some of the threats made against states who have passed pro-life legislation since Roe v. Wade was overturned are not going to be carried out.

The article reports:

Eli Lilly and Company has tacitly backed down on its threat to punish Indiana for its pro-life law, which the pharmaceutical corporation promised to do this summer.

Last week, Lilly announced a $92.5 million investment in Purdue University to create a talent pipeline of college students over the next 10 years. The company’s CEO, David Ricks, said the partnership will “help to keep our state’s best and brightest in Indiana, furthering Lilly’s ability to make life better for millions of people.”

That’s a far cry from Eli Lilly’s blustering talk in August after Gov. Eric Holcomb signed legislation that closed down all abortion facilities and banned 98% of abortions after 10 weeks of pregnancy.

The abortion law “will hinder Lilly’s — and Indiana’s — ability to attract diverse scientific, engineering and business talent from around the world,” the company claimed in August.

…The company’s website further shows it does not plan any time soon to open up other facilities in pro-abortion states. Only 12 of the company’s 277 U.S. jobs are outside of Indiana, which proves Lilly bluffed about expanding elsewhere.

While the Indiana law is pending legal challenges, the company did not wait until those were resolved to announce its new funding at Purdue.

The article concludes:

Companies start, grow, or relocate to conservative states because of low taxes, reasonable regulations, and an overall business-friendly environment.

While they may boast and bluster in the media when all the attention is on them, they are nothing more than paper tigers when it comes to putting their unrelated political stances ahead of their bottom line and duty to shareholders.

Pro-life states do not need to fear corporations taking jobs away over legislation to protect innocent human life, and Eli Lilly proves that.

At some point in the future, unlimited abortion will not be a winning issue. We know from scientific advances that the child killed in an abortion in a child. There may have been some doubt about that when Roe v. Wade was passed–there is no doubt now. We need to understand that a pregnancy is a blessing even in difficult circumstanced, and we need to help women through those difficult circumstances whenever possible.

In December 2021, the Census Bureau reported:

The U.S. population grew at a slower rate in 2021 than in any other year since the founding of the nation, based on historical decennial censuses and annual population estimates.

That  is not a sign of a growing nation.

Making Statistics Say Whatever You Want Them To

On Wednesday, The Washington Examiner posted an article listing the three most unsafe states in the country. The states listed were Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas. I wondered how New York, California, and Illinois didn’t make the list, but then I saw the criteria.

The article reports:

The results of the study were formed by taking 53 key safety indicators that were grouped into five categories, then comparing how all 50 states fared in each of these indicators. The data examined included the percentage of people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 , assaults per capita, and the unemployment rate, all of which fell under five categories: personal and residential safety, financial safety, road safety, workplace safety, and emergency preparedness, according to WalletHub.

Just for my own entertainment, I decided to look up some crime statistics for Chicago.

A website called vanlifewanderer reported the following:

Statistically speaking, Chicago is an slightly unsafe place to visit. In 2020, Chicago reported 26,583 violent crimes and had a violent crime rate of 967.93 per 100,000 people. Chicago’s violent crime rate is more than twice the national average and is on par with cities like Philadelphia, Houston and Cincinnati.

The same website reported the following about New Orleans:

In 2021, New Orelans reported 201 homicides, 712 rapes, 1,106 robberies and 3,196 aggravated assaults.New Orleans had the 14th highest violent crime rate in the country in 2020.New Orleans’s violent crime rate is 2.1x greater than the state average.New Orlean’s has a similar crime rate to Albuquerque, Baltimore and Kansas City.

The article at The Washington Examiner reported:

“There may be countless threats and hazards for folks to consider when considering areas to where they might remain or relocate,” said Rebecca Rouse, a professor at Tulane University in Louisiana. “Hazards include weather, climate, air quality, natural disasters, technological failures, accidental events, and more.”

The safest states included in the survey were Vermont, Maine , New Hampshire, Utah, and Hawaii . Vermont and Maine were in the top three states for personal and residential safety, while Maine ranked as the best state for emergency preparedness, the study found.

Based on the number of cases of people fully-vaccinated against Covid who have contacted the disease, I don’t think the rate of vaccination should be considered in calculations involving the safety of a state. The recent spike in subway crime in New York City and the amount of gun violence during an average weekend in Chicago would be much more concerning to me than whether or not the person standing next to me was vaccinated.

 

 

Decisions That Should Be Made On Merit–Not Race

On Wednesday, The Washington Free Beacon posted an article about a lawsuit filed against Pfizer about its fellowship program for minorities.

The article reports:

Pfizer Inc said its fellowship program for minorities serves the public interest, as the drugmaker defends against a lawsuit by a group of medical professionals that claims the program illegally excludes whites and Asian Americans.

In a Tuesday night filing, Pfizer urged a Manhattan federal judge to reject Do No Harm’s request for an injunction against filling the 2023 class for its Breakthrough Fellowship Program, which enrolls Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans.

Pfizer said the two-year-old program helps address historical discrimination in the workplace, and difficulties in recruiting, retaining and promoting minorities.

It aims to enroll 100 fellows by 2025, as part of a nine-year commitment to boost minority representation.

“There exists a strong public policy in favor of voluntary affirmative action plans,” Pfizer said. “At a minimum, the public interest favors preserving the status quo.”

I am totally in favor of taking action to boost minority representation. Why not begin with tutoring programs for children who show promise so that they can academically qualify for these programs? Letting a child into a program they may not nave the foundation to succeed in only creates more problems. Let’s create an education system that meets the needs of all students so that they compete on a level playing field for scholarships and college admissions. Let’s work in the minority communities to make educational achievement something to be desired that will be rewarded instead of something that doesn’t fit in with the culture. The answer is not financial aid based on race–the answer is in helping children of all races meet the criteria for success in whatever educational goals they choose.

Is This The Person We Want In The Senate?

On Friday, The Washington Examiner posted an article about Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. On Tuesday, NBC News aired an interview with Mr. Fetterman, who is currently the Lt. Governor of Pennsylvania. Dasha Burns conducted the interview and mentioned that she felt that Mr. Fetterman had difficulty communicating during the small talk before the interview. Her comments were not well received by others in the liberal media. However, her comments are extremely relevant.

The Washington Examiner reports:

Republicans have put up (and even elected) a bevy of awful federal candidates this year and in the recent past, but none of them are any more unfit for office than Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.

With all due sympathy for a man recovering from a stroke, it must be said: Fetterman was a ludicrous candidate even before his stroke, and now he shouldn’t even be in the race. Just a few weeks after his May 13 stroke, it should have been evident that his health was not adequate for one of the top jobs of public service in the world. Only 100 people, out of some 330 million, are given the burden and privilege of being senators. It’s an office that performs a vital function; it’s not a merit badge and shouldn’t be a rehabilitation center.

The article concludes:

Voters in Pennsylvania and elsewhere need to take their own responsibilities more seriously. Getting public policy right really does take knowledge, understanding, and, usually, experience. Voters who want to blow off steam, follow cultural cues (which can be easy to fake, by the way), and “send messages,” rather than hiring/electing people with relevant skills and knowledge (not to mention cognition), are elevating to high office people who just can’t do their jobs well.

This isn’t a call for rule by a self-selected elite of supposed experts, but it is an insistence that there is a level of competence below which voters shouldn’t accept a candidate. Fetterman has done absolutely nothing, even when healthy, to show the right abilities or wisdom to be a good senator. Now that he has been victimized by bad health, he shouldn’t be anywhere near that office.

Unless Pennsylvania Democrats want to try the same sort of exotic candidate switch that Georgia Republicans should but won’t do, Fetterman will remain on the ballot. The box by his name, though, certainly should not be checked.

I am not in total agreement with the last statement, but I do believe that Mr. Fetterman needs to go home and recover from the stoke he suffered. He does not belong in Congress. But I do wonder–if he is elected and says that he cannot serve, does Governor Wolf, a Democrat, get to appoint his replacement?

About That Slippery Slope…

On Monday, The Washington Examiner posted an article about a recent court case involving New York Civil Court Judge Karen May Bacdayan. It seems that the judge has now codified the right to polygamy.

The article article reports:

The case before the court involved three men: Scott Anderson, Markyus O’Neill, and Robert Romano. Anderson and Romano had been “life partners” for 25 years, had joint bank accounts, and were named as beneficiaries on each other’s retirement accounts. The two men maintained separate apartments, however, “to provide them comfort and space.”

Enter O’Neill, who met Anderson in 2011 and moved into his rent-controlled apartment in 2012. O’Neill and Romano both knew about each other, but according to O’Neill, Romano did not like him. Romano admits that they were not friends.

Anderson apparently carried on amicable relationships with both men until he died, at which point O’Neill tried to renew Anderson’s rent-controlled lease and was denied by the landlord. The landlord then sued to evict O’Neill, who claims he is entitled to renew Anderson’s lease as a “nontraditional family member” under New York law. The landlord claims O’Neill is undeserving of that label, as Anderson was already a life partner with Romano.

Judge Bacdayan sided with O’Neill, writing, “The existence of a triad should not automatically dismiss respondent’s claim to noneviction protections.” That Romano never consented to having O’Neill join his family was unimportant to Judge Bacdayan. “Was the relationship a ‘good’ one?” Judge Bacdayan asks. “It seems equally as unimportant as considering sexual relations to delve into the level of happiness in a relationship. Is one stripped of their rights to ‘marital property’ on the basis of having a ‘bad’ marriage?”

The article concludes:

In his Obergefell v. Hodges dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts warned that recognition of same-sex marriage would inevitably lead to the recognition of plural marriages. Judge Bacdayan notes this warning in her opinion and proves him right.

Luckily, there is a conservative majority on the Supreme Court that would never redefine marriage to add polygamous unions to the list of relationships that the state must recognize.

But the Democrats want to add seats to the Supreme Court, and if they do, you can be sure they will find enough Judge Bacdayans to make their vision of the law a reality.

If  you are comfortable with polygamy becoming an acceptable way of life in America, keep electing Democrats who appoint liberal judges or keep electing liberal judges.

Following The Money

Money does not always determine the outcome of an election (see the presidential election of 2016), but in many cases, large amounts of money can make a difference. Name recognition is important in an election, and being able to purchase ads to answer false charges against an opponent is also important. The mid-term elections are crucial for the Democrats–if enough Republicans win who care about government integrity, the Democrats may not be able to survive the investigations that follow. So the Democrats need lots of money from various sources.

On Tuesday, The Washington Examiner posted the following headline, “Fake charities are spending millions to help Democrats win elections.”

The article reports:

In fact, what the IRS isn’t doing in the nonprofit (or “public charity”) sector will affect the midterm elections far more than any FBI raid ever could.

A big part of the IRS’s job is the oversight of 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations that are awarded tax-exempt status because of the beneficial work they do. There are many different rules that 501(c)(3) nonprofit groups must follow to maintain their favored status, but the most important is that 501(c)(3)s are forbidden to engage in partisan electioneering, or efforts to aid political candidates and affect the results of elections, in any way.

Advocacy and political bias are allowed, but elections are strictly off-limits.

Enter fake charities such as the Voter Participation Center, State Voices, and the Voter Registration Project that siphon tens of millions of dollars every year from billionaires and their charitable foundations to use in ways that the IRS strictly forbids. By abusing their knowledge of racial demographic voting trends and enormous microtargeted voter databases, these groups can ensure they only register people likely to vote for Democrats and function as tax-exempt Democratic PACs.

The partisanship of these “civic participation” nonprofit groups has been an open secret for decades.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now is the best and earliest example — and the one most people know. During the 2008 election cycle, ACORN harvested voter registration forms from over 1.3 million people, and the organization crumbled after numerous ACORN activists were investigated and charged with forgery, fraud, and bribery related to voter registration work.

Later, in the 2012 book The Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns, liberal journalist Sasha Isenberg wrote of the Voter Participation Center (which raised $88 million in 2020): “Even though the group was officially nonpartisan, for tax purposes, there was no secret that the goal of all its efforts was to generate new votes for Democrats.”

Remember Lois Lerner, director of the Exempt Organizations Unit of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), who was the central figure in the 2013 IRS targeting controversy. The IRS denied conservative groups tax-exempt status outright or delayed that status until they could no longer take effective part in the 2012 election.  The Democrats have always understood the value of politically-aligned groups. It’s time all of those groups were recognized for what they are so that the public can make informed decisions.

Please follow the link to read the entire article. What has happened to our elections in recent years may result in the end of our representative republic as we know it.

A Blatant Abuse Of Power

On Wednesday, The Washington Examiner reported that President Trump learned “through court filings” that federal agents seized tax documents and medical records during the Aug. 8 FBI raid on his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago. There is no way the taking of those records had anything to do with the ‘national security’ problem the FBI was claiming as the justification for the raid. Since there will be an appointment of a Special Master to oversee the FBI’s search of the documents, that search is supposedly on hold. However, I am cynical enough to believe that every document taken has already been photographed to be used in a campaign against the President should he decide to run again.

The article reports:

While Justice Department officials are investigating whether Trump violated the Espionage Act and committed obstruction of justice, according to an unsealed warrant for the August raid, Cannon revealed “medical documents, correspondence related to taxes, and accounting information” were part of the materials seized during the raid last month, according to court filings.

Additionally, a source familiar with the matter said the FBI confiscated 40 years of Trump’s medical records, according to Fox News.

Trump’s response comes amid criticisms from his attorney Chris Kise about so-called Justice Department leaks about the investigation in the media, with the most recent example being a Washington Post report that noted the FBI seized documents that included material containing a description of an unnamed foreign government’s nuclear capabilities.

“Unfortunately, even after the Court noted specifically in its Order that President Trump ‘faces an unquantifiable potential harm by way of improper disclosure of sensitive information to the public’ and asked counsel for the United States directly about leaks, those leaks continue with no respect for the process nor any regard for the real truth,” the attorney told Fox News.

Democratic lawmakers in Congress have long sought Trump’s tax records since at least 2019. Last month, a federal appeals court approved the House Ways and Means Committee’s request to obtain Trump’s tax returns from the IRS. Trump appealed to the full bench of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Aug. 18.

This is a total abuse of power by the Biden administration. Every DOJ and FBI person involved should resign in protest of what was done. Unfortunately, there are too many people employed by those agencies who support the abuse of power exhibited in the raid.

Trying To Put The Spin In Place Before The Truth Comes Out

On June 30th, The Washington Examiner reported the following:

A federal judge ordered two defendants charged in an alleged Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) kidnapping scheme to face a retrial, setting a tentative start date for Aug. 9.

The two men charged in the purported plot were back in the courtroom Thursday, arguing the charges against them be dismissed, but the judge denied the request and demanded a new trial instead. Nearly three months ago, a jury deadlocked on the charges against them and a mistrial was declared.

If you remember, this was the case that the FBI was accused of entrapping the defendants.

The article notes:

During the trial, lawyers for Fox and Croft argued that they were victims of federal entrapment and that undercover agents had goaded them into pursuing the alleged scheme.

I mention this case to remind us that in recent years, the federal government has not always acted above board in dealing with its citizens–particularly citizens who oppose those in power.

On July 11th, The Gateway Pundit reported:

A whistleblower has leaked a treasure trove of documents and text messages, some marked “Highly Sensitive”, to the Gateway Pundit. These documents contain incredible exculpatory evidence proving the Department of Justice was aware that a group of Indicted Proud Boys were innocent- yet are prosecuting them anyway.

You can find the entire dump of documents below, which includes hundreds of pages of transcripts of audio-recorded interviews with an Assisting United States Attorney, FBI Agents and their “Confidential Human Source”. The Confidential Human Source, or CHS, infiltrated the Kansas City Proud Boy Group for over a year and a half before the January 6th event and kept the FBI goons informed on the group’s activity.

Our source who is familiar with the FBI informant and has identified him as James Ehren Knowles.

According to the source, Knowles had gained the group’s total trust and was included in all group communications.

This is the link to the report.

The article continues:

The informant told his handlers at the FBI that the Kansas City Proud Boy Group he was infiltrating and accompanied to the Capitol on January 6th “were not involved in, nor did they inspire the breaking of the barriers at the Capitol building. CHS describe the scene as the crowd doing it as a “herd mentality,” and that it was not organized. The crowd was shouting “stop the vote,” as they made their way to the Capitol building…

…There were no overt threats of violence made at that time.”

Not only that, but the informant also testifies to the FBI that Proud Boys planned to come to Washington DC to risk their own safety to protect average Trump Supporters from Antifa attacks so MAGA folk could enjoy the day and “get back to their hotels safely”. Meanwhile, the drinking fraternity, along with the ex-military/law enforcement group the “Oath Keepers”, have become the fall guys along with President Trump for the entire phony “Insurrection.”

Please follow the link to the article to read further details. It is unfortunate  that no one in the Justice Department and only a few in Congress have spoken out about the civil rights violations involved in the imprisonment of the January 6th prisoners. They are political prisoners, and their rights are being violated because those in power think they will never be held accountable.

An Organization That Needs To Be Dissolved

On Wednesday, The Washington Examiner posted an article about the National Education Association’s Representative Assembly’s annual meeting in Chicago.

The article reports:

The annual meeting for the nation’s largest teachers union included votes calling for universal mask and vaccine mandates , along with further commitments to advance racial equity in the classroom.

Held this week in Chicago, the National Education Association’s Representative Assembly’s annual meeting for its 6,000 delegates featured speeches by Vice President Kamala Harris and a remote address by President Joe Biden .

The agenda for the union’s assembly contains numerous votes calling for the union to take a range of progressive and liberal positions, including a measure calling for the support of “a national policy of mandatory masking and COVID vaccines in schools.”

You can’t convince me that this organization actually has the best interests of our children at heart.

The article continues:

“More than 67 percent of the U.S. live in areas with medium or high COVID-19 community level, according to CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky,” the measure says. “Mandatory masking, vaccines, and access to virtual education are necessary policy measures to reduce COVID danger.”

Other provisions in the agenda included votes denouncing the Supreme Court’s ruling last month overturning Roe v. Wade while calling for the court to be expanded, the abolition of the Senate filibuster, and the impeachment of the “justices who went against their sworn testimony to not overturn Roe v. Wade.

“The three Trump appointed Supreme Court justices constitute a far right-wing coup inside the nation’s highest judicial body,” the measure says. “The new civil rights movement must defeat these attacks through organizing mass actions to defend women and all Americans from this attack.”

The article also reports:

In a statement to the Washington Examiner, Stoops (Terry Stoops, the director of the Center for Effective Education at the North Carolina-based John Locke Foundation) said it was “unsurprising that the NEA tried to conceal their meeting documents,” noting that “they contain embarrassingly little about overcoming learning loss sustained by children attending schools that adhered to masking and reopening recommendations championed by NEA leaders during the pandemic.”

“NEA leaders claim that they remain focused on the needs of public school children and educators,” Stoops said. “Instead, meeting documents show that the NEA is nothing more than a pathetic assemblage of social justice warriors struggling to be relevant in an era of unprecedented parental empowerment.”

While it is not known which of the many provisions were adopted by the NEA assembly, the union did issue a press release Monday touting its approval of a new policy to “ensure safe, just, and equitable schools” and warning that the presence of law enforcement in schools contributed to excessive policing of students, Ed Week reported .

In a press release, the union said the NEA will “adopt a restorative justice philosophy to create a school climate that rejects the criminalization and policing of students” and “provide training and support for culturally competent instruction.”

“Cultural competency,” when used in educational settings, is a phrase that has at times been linked to critical race theory, an academic theory that posits U.S. institutions and culture are systemically racist and must be dismantled through anti-racism.

Just for the record, anti-racism is simply racism directed against white people. This is not a group that is furthering the education or critical thinking skills of the children of America.

When The Republican Swamp Gets A Newspaper

It is no secret that the Washington Swamp has members of both parties. Both parties have their goals, although sometimes for different reasons. For example, both sides want illegal immigration–the Democrats see future voters and the Swamp Republicans see cheap labor. Swamp creatures in both parties hated President Trump because he was a threat to their happy existence as part of the swamp. However, most of the time the Republican Swamp Creatures were more subtle in undermining President Trump.
An editorial in The Washington Examiner may illustrate the fact that the days of subtlety are over. The editorial, basing its statements on the recent testimony regarding January 6th by Cassidy Hutchinson, a top aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, states that the testimony is proof that President Trump is unfit to be President because of his temperament. Well, there are a few problems with this. Ms. Hutchinson was not actually a witness to the events she described. She heard it through the grape vine? Also Secret Service Agents working for President Trump at the time are willing to swear under oath that her testimony is false. You would think that would give the editorial staff at The Washington Examiner pause, but evidently it did not. Where are the editorials that President Biden is unfit for office because he has no idea what office he holds?

There is also another problem with Ms. Hutchinson’s testimony according to The Gateway Pundit:

Please don’t worry–Ms. Hutchinson won’t get in trouble for lying to Congress–they liked what she said, so it’s okay.

Meanwhile, Breitbart reported the following on Tuesday:

The January 6 Committee’s credibility suffered a serious blow on Tuesday when reports surfaced that the lead Secret Service agent in charge of former President Trump’s security detail that day would contradict testimony delivered from star witness Cassidy Hutchinson.

On Tuesday, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified that former President Trump literally tried to commandeer the presidential suburban during the January 6 riot and became borderline violent when Bobby Engel tried to stop him. Hutchinson said she learned of the story from Tony Ornato, the then-White House deputy chief of staff. Hours later, Peter Alexander of NBC News said that a source close to the Secret Service indicated that agent Bobby Engel will testify “under oath that neither man was assaulted and that Mr. Trump never lunged for the steering wheel.”

The article at Breitbart included the following meme:

Someone is lying, and I don’t think it is the Secret Service.

 

In Case You Are Wondering, It Is Ultimately About The Money

The protests continue against the Supreme Court ruling against abortion, despite the fact that the ruling did nothing more than allow each state to make its own rules regarding abortion. So what is all this noise actually about? First of all, abortion is a million-dollar industry that contributes large amounts of money to politician’s campaign coffers. If abortion is limited, campaign contributions will also be limited. Secondly, it is cheaper for a corporation to pay for an abortion than to pay for maternity leave and the costs associated with motherhood. Also, a mother’s first priority is generally her child–not the corporation. So abortion does make a large contribution to the economy and to the political class. That explains some of the horror at the idea that some states will be limiting abortion. Meanwhile, the government is seriously interested in maintaining the status quo.

On Tuesday, The Washington Examiner reported the following:

The Biden administration is considering setting up abortion providers on federal land in red states, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said Tuesday.

The administration has not decided yet whether it will pursue the plan, which is favored by left-wing legislators Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes (D-NY) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), but Becerra said that “every option is on the table.”

…Becerra’s comments are at odds with those of Vice President Kamala Harris, who said just Monday that the administration was not discussing clinics on federal lands. 

The article concludes:

The proposal, if pursued by the administration, would offer women a safe haven for abortion access in red states, most of which have already curtailed access. The Supreme Court’s decision on Friday to uphold Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban overturned the 49-year-old constitutional guarantee of the right to an abortion, sending the power of regulating access to the procedure back to the states. But abortion is not federally illegal.

“We know that there is misinformation out there about what the Supreme Court did. We want to make sure it’s clear that Americans didn’t lose every right they have. Americans still can assert their rights, and we will do everything we can to protect you,” Becerra said

Just for the record, abortion was never and never should be a right.