Speaking Out Of Turn

On Thursday, Red State posted an article about some recent comments by New York Senator Chuck Schumer.

The article reports:

As RedState reported on Thursday, Sen. Chuck Schumer decided to engage in a bit of foreign election interference by going to the Senate floor and proclaiming that Israel must hold new elections. 

That comes as the American ally gears up to finish Hamas off in Gaza once and for all. In the face of that, Democrats have faced significant pushback from their radical, pro-terrorist base. 

As Jennifer Van Laar shared in her initial report, Schumer’s behavior is insanely inappropriate and telling. 

Schumer’s speech is stunning for a few reasons. First, we usually keep our attempts at regime change a little less public. Second, it reveals Schumer’s evil focus on keeping Netanyahu from quickly and decisively winning this war and obliterating the rapists and child murderers of Hamas. Third, it shows that despite all evidence that a two-state solution will never work, Schumer is still invested in using the United States government to make that happen…

…As I was listening to Schumer’s public statements, knowing that so much more about our government’s interference in foreign elections goes unsaid, the thought hit me once again: If he’s this blatant about his desire to ensure regime change in a sovereign nation, what won’t he and his allies do in this country to ensure that the person they want elected president wins?

The article concludes:

So if Israelis are largely united, with the vast majority opposing a “two-state solution,” what’s this really about? As mentioned above, this is about American domestic politics. Schumer is such a coward that he’s willing to bend the knee to literal terrorist supporters in his party for what he sees as short-term political gain. It’s not going to work, though. Israel isn’t going to heed his call, and the pro-Hamas wing of the Democratic Party will continue to lose its mind. 

It is unfortunate that we have members of a major political party that support a terrorist organization that has engaged in the activities that Hamas engaged in on October 7th and still holds hostages.

Funding Countries That House Terrorists

On March 5th, The Washington Free Beacon posted an article about one consequence of the Biden administration’s pause on liquefied natural gas production in America.

The article reports:

President Joe Biden’s pause on liquefied natural gas production is already turning into a major financial windfall for Qatar, even as the Gulf regime undercuts the United States and its allies by funding terrorists and sheltering fugitive Hamas leaders.

Qatar, which is the third largest LNG exporter after the United States and Australia, announced last week that it is expanding its natural gas production by 85 percent. The news came weeks after the Biden administration announced that it would freeze new domestic LNG export permits, a policy that many political observers viewed as a concession to climate activists ahead of the presidential election.

Brenda Shaffer, a senior adviser for energy at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Qatar’s liquefied natural gas expansion was likely spurred by Biden’s policy announcement, adding that Doha will “benefit financially” from the pause.

“Nature doesn’t allow a vacuum. The United States is the biggest producer of natural gas in the world. To say that it’s going to put a pause or freeze for a few years, obviously [other countries] are going to pick up that market,” she said.

Energy experts told the Washington Free Beacon that Biden’s LNG announcement is already pushing buyers away from the U.S. market and toward adversarial competitors.

Limiting natural gas production in America does not limit the use of natural gas worldwide–other countries pick up the slack. Natural gas is a very clean fuel and does very little damage to the environment. The Biden administration’s energy policies have consistently negatively impacted Americans and benefitted America’s enemies. We need to go back to helping Americans and the American economy by becoming energy independent again.

The Recent History Of The Porous Border

On Sunday, Rich Lowry posted an article at The New York Post about the decisions made early in the Biden administration that created the border crisis we have now. You might be able to convince some people that the crisis was simply the unintended consequence of bad decisions (not done deliberately), but the fact remains that those bad decisions were made.

The article recalls the decisions made almost immediately after President Biden took office:

The Feb. 2 order emphasized an effort to “enhance lawful pathways for migration to this country” and revoked a slew of Trump rules, executive orders, proclamations and memoranda.

The sense of it was that there’s nothing we can or should do on our own to control illegal immigration; rather, we had to fix deep-seated social, economic and political problems in Central America instead.

It called for getting more refugees into the United States, using parole to let more migrants join family members here, enhancing access to visa programs and reviewing whether the United States is doing enough for migrants fleeing domestic or gang violence, among other things. 

And it put on the chopping block numerous Trump policies that had helped establish order at the border, from Trump’s expansion of expedited removal, to his termination of a parole program for Central American minors, to his memorandum urging the relevant departments to work toward ending “catch and release.”

Most important, it targeted two of the pillars of Trump’s success at the border: the Migrant Protection Protocols, better known as Remain in Mexico, and the safe-third-country agreements with the Northern Triangle countries that allowed us to divert asylum seekers to Central American countries other than their own to make asylum claims. 

 

The Role Of The President

On Wednesday, Jazz Shaw Hot Air posted an article with the following headline?

Is Biden Out of the Loop on Israel-Hamas Negotiations?

The article then goes on to explain why Jazz Shaw is asking this question:

You’ve probably seen the breathless headlines emerging this week featuring Joe Biden suggesting that a ceasefire deal in Gaza was “close” to being finalized and that at least some hostages and prisoners could be exchanged. Most of us would likely be glad to see hostages coming home, so that’s good news, right? And Biden assured us that he’d gotten that information from National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, so the claim must have been pretty solid. There’s only one problem with the story and the assumptions that followed, though. As the Free Beacon quickly pointed out, some reporters had been following up with their sources in Israel and around the Middle East where the major players are involved. None of them seemed to have any idea what Biden was talking about. 

Anyone who has paid attention for the past eighteen plus years understands why a cease fire and a two-state solution are both bad ideas. What assurance has HAMAS given that the hostages are still alive and what has HAMAS done to indicate it is willing to release them? A cease fire would only give Hamas a chance to regroup and rearm, and a two-state solution would create another terror base for Islamist extremists. It has become very obvious since October 7th and Israel’s response that almost all of the ‘humanitarian aid’ sent to Gaza since 2005 has been used to build tunnels and acquire weapons. Why would we give the residents of Gaza a chance to do that again? Many have already stated that they want to repeat the actions of October 7th. Why would we encourage or allow that? Until hate is not taught in Gaza schools and UNRWA camps (see kindergarten graduation picture here), a two-state solution will never result in peace.

The article at Hot Air concludes:

I have seen some conservative commentators previously asking why the United States isn’t assuming its traditional role as a peacemaker and shepherding these negotiations through to the finish line. But does anyone really want Joe Biden at that table at this point? The two sides are at an impasse and have been for a while now. Israel isn’t going to accept a deal that hurts their interests, fails to release all of the hostages, or prevents them from eliminating Hamas. Hamas won’t give up what they see as the last bit of insurance they have against complete obliteration. 

Negotiating this situation would have been a serious challenge for Henry Kissinger on his best day. And Joe Biden couldn’t have matched Kissinger’s skills on his best day, which has long since faded in the rearview mirror. But the fact that he keeps coming out and saying things like this, leaving the media scrambling to either verify it or explain what went wrong is a problem. The world is a powderkeg at the moment and the person potentially in control of the fuse no longer has the cognitive abilities to be trusted with a pack of matches.

Peter Schweizer Has A New Book Out

Peter Schweizer is one of the few investigative reporters left. He has a new book out, Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans. The book is carefully researched and footnoted.  It’s available on Amazon and other places. On Tuesday, Breitbart posted an article about the book.

The article reports:

The Biden family bagged $5 million from the business partner of the “White Wolf,” a Chinese criminal gang leader who helped create the fentanyl pipeline now decimating the United States, Peter Schweizer detailed in his new book, Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans.

While Joe Biden was vice president, the Bidens developed a business partnership with a Chinese tycoon named Ye Jianming, the chairman of CEFC China Energy Co., which had strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Throughout Ye’s relationship with the Bidens, he “showered” some members of the Biden family with money, Schweizer reported. Hunter Biden received a three-carat diamond worth $80,000; and in July 2017, Ye’s company gave the Bidens a $5 million, interest-free, forgivable loan.

Schweizer previously detailed the $5 million in his book Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win, as reported by Kristina Wong:

Furthermore, by July 2017, CEFC began making interest-free, forgivable loans to the Biden family. CEFC executive Zhao Running wrote that $5 million was intended as money lent to “the BD family,” not just Hunter Biden.

“This $5 million loan to the BD [Biden] family is interest free,” Zhao wrote.

Schweizer notes that “interest-free loans provide tremendous leverage because the lender can demand its money back if it is displeased by any action.”

Hunter spoke to Ye on a “regular basis” and Ye helped Hunter “on a number of his personal issues” including unspecified “sensitive things,” Hunter explained in emails. Joe Biden also attended a meeting with Hunter, additional business partners, and Ye, Hunter’s business partner Rob Walker told U.S. House of Representative investigators in 2023. “I don’t remember the exact time, but I remember being in Washington, DC, and the former vice president stopped by. We were having lunch,” Walker testified.

But Ye also enjoyed a partnership with the former leader of a Chinese triad called the United Bamboo Gang (UBG), Schweizer detailed in Blood Money.  Ye’s partner’s name was Zhang Anle or, as he is commonly known, the “White Wolf.”

This is a very interesting book.

Why Should They Listen To The Voters?

On Saturday, John Hinderaker posted an article at Power Line Blog about one possible outcome of the 2024 election. It is becoming very obvious that as the powers that be work harder and harder to make sure that President Trump does not get a second term, more and more voters are deciding to support him–just to have their voices heard. This is going to make for a very interesting year.

The article reports:

In 2001, 2005 and 2017, some Democrat House members objected to the certification of electoral votes for the winning Republican presidential candidate. Those objections, while “denialist,” were only symbolic. But Democrat leaders in the House are now suggesting that if they control that body following November’s election–as they well might–they may refuse to allow a victorious Donald Trump to take office.

Notice that the objects to the electoral votes were not allowed in 2020–they were pre-empted by the events outside the Capitol and a parliamentary procedure was used to block them when the House reconvened.

The article concludes:

The Democrats have become so insane on the subject of Donald Trump that it is hard to know which of their mutterings to take seriously. But if Trump wins the election and a Democrat-controlled House refuses to certify his election on the ground that he is an “insurrectionist” under the 14th Amendment, we will be past the point of a constitutional crisis. If that happens, the only realistic path forward will be disunion, possibly accompanied by civil war, but preferably not.

This is one reason why the Supreme Court should put the 14th Amendment theory out of its misery, once and for all. It is obvious that the drafters of that amendment meant the just-concluded Civil War, in which 600,000 Americans lost their lives, when they referred to “insurrection or rebellion” against the United States. In contrast, the January 6 protest was not one of the 50 most destructive riots of the last few years, and the only person killed was Ashli Babbitt. Not a single participant in the protest was arrested in possession of a firearm. Some insurrection!

In the interest of preserving the Republic, the Supreme Court should rule definitively that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment does not apply to Donald Trump.

Stay tuned.

Does The New York Legal System Recognize The Eighth Amendment?

The Eighth Amendment states:

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

On February 27th, The American Thinker posted an article explaining how that amendment applies to the New York judgement against President Trump.

The article reports:

On February 16, 2024, a judge in New York State imposed fines totaling just over $360 million on former president Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization, and several related Trump companies and trusts in the civil case brought by the New York attorney general.  President Trump’s sons Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump were fined just over $4 million each.  The court imposed additional sanctions, including injunctions against former president Trump; Donald Trump, Jr.; and Eric Trump from serving as officers or directors in New York corporations for specified numbers of years, among other sanctions.

The media reporting on the court’s decision has been massive since the decision was rendered.  However, little or no reporting focused on the constitutionality of the fines under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution.  President Trump and his co-defendants all have substantial 8th Amendment “excessive fine” challenges to raise.  In fact, a review of the facts and applicable law reveal that this decision is simply more election interference.

The article concludes:

Applying these factors to the New York court’s decision reveals that the fines are clearly excessive.  There are no victims in the Trump case.  No one was harmed.  Each and every financial institution involved was fully repaid and made money on its loans.  Further, a review of case law in New York demonstrates that there simply are no cases ordering a defendant to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in disgorgement without any victim being deprived of anything.  Finally, just how “reprehensible” is it to obtain loans and credit facilities and then pay the lenders back, in full, on time, in compliance with the agreement?  The answer is, not very.

Once again, a court in New York issued yet another political decision masquerading as justice.  The fines imposed by this New York court on former President Trump and his sons and businesses are grossly and unconstitutionally excessive.  While President Trump and his co-defendants undoubtedly have many defenses to the claims to raise on appeal, chief among them should be a constitutional challenge to these grossly excessive fines.

The U.S. Constitution is an amazing document. It is impartial when followed. My hope is that it will be followed in this case.

Destructive Carbon Emission Mandates

Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D

The Marxist Left is out to destroy our country. Period. Anyone who does not recognize this is either blind or part of the problem. Karl Marx in his book, The Communist Manifesto, stresses the importance of finding an issue that allows the government to control the people. Well, the Democrat Marxists have found that issue: the manmade CO2 climate change hoax. Regrettably, we have some Republican legislators who have been going along with this non-scientific, unproven belief that threatens to destroy our country and our standard of living.

Recent declarations by respected climate scientists are increasingly showing that there is no evidence that CO2 emissions have any impact on climate conditions. In fact, they have argued that increasing CO2 levels enhance plant growth essential to man’s survival. The climate has changed dramatically over millions of years as a result of natural causes such as solar flares, earth orbit, tilt of the earth, ocean currents, and other changes having nothing to do with man’s actions. Climate change, whatever the causes, is not an existential threat to mankind. What is a threat are the extreme actions being taken to combat a non-existing problem. No modern civilization can exist without adequate, inexpensive energy from fossil fuels. We are committing social suicide by going along with the elimination of fossil fuels.

Let’s look at some things occurring in North Carolina that are heading us down the road to economic catastrophe. First, in 2021 the General Assembly passed and Governor Cooper signed HB 951 which established the requirement to cut carbon emissions from electric power plants 70% by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. This will require massive expenditures on solar and wind farms and the construction of massive battery centers to store electricity, since wind and solar are intermittent sources. Who makes the solar panels, the wind mills, and the battery components? You guessed it; our global enemy China. It is estimated that the average consumer’s electric bill will quadruple and there will be massive electricity shortages. Germany, which tried to rely on solar and wind, had to reactivate their coal fired plants to handle the demand for electricity this winter. The cost of electricity in Germany is three times higher than in the United States. Meanwhile, we have the technology to have the cleanest coal fired plants in the world and have a 200 year supply of coal; which we are now sending to China.

Second, the Cooper regime is proceeding with the construction of offshore wind farms. One off Kitty Hawk and the other of the southern coast near Bald Head Island. Again, these will be built by foreign countries and use Chinese components. Just think how vulnerable these wind mills will be to attack in the event of war.

I hope I have made my case that these actions are a real threat to the citizens of North Carolina; and all for no legitimate reason. Manmade Climate Change is a Marxist hoax! We need to pressure the General Assembly to (1) repeal HB 951 establishing CO2 emission mandates; (2) block the construction of wind farms off the coast; (3) remove all state tax incentives for solar and wind energy projects. Before you cast your vote this year, find our where each candidate stands on this issue. It is a looming crisis that must be stopped.

Dealing With China II

Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D

Question: Is China an ally, adversary, or enemy? The answer to this question should define how we interact with them. Clearly, China is not an ally. An adversary is one who acts in ways opposed to another’s interests. An enemy, is one who is seeking to injure, harm or overthrow another country. Let’s look at some facts.

China has stated that their intention is to replace our position in the world by weakening us and is committed to expanding their military and replacing the dollar as world currency with their yuan in order to do so. They are also enabling the smuggling of deadly fentanyl into our country which kills 100,000 of our youth each year. They steal our technology, ignore our patents and copyrights, and use deceptive trade practices. They recently sent a spy balloon over our country which the inept Biden regime failed to shoot down or take retaliatory action. They produced a deadly virus that killed millions throughout the world including thousands in the United States. They are sending thousands of their citizens over our border illegally. Currently there are over 350.000 Chinese students attending our universities, many of which have been caught spying for China. Also, China is apparently giving millions of dollars to the family of president Biden to control his decision making.

How do you think China would respond if we were doing these things to them? It is no wonder that they see us as weak, in decline, and ready for take over. The question, now that we recognize China as an enemy, is what action to we take to protect ourselves? First, elect a non-compromised president who has the courage to face the threat that China presents. Second, eliminate our dependency on China for essential manufacturing products and importantly, essential pharmaceuticals. Third, expel all Chinese in our universities. Fourth, impose draconian tariffs on all Chinese products until their enabling of fentanyl smuggling over our border is stopped. Fifth, prohibit the sale of any land or food processing companies.in our country to China.

These actions may seem extreme to some. However, history is replete with countries who were destroyed by not recognizing external threats. It is time to recognize reality and take appropriate action before it is too late.

Transformation of the United Nations

Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D

When President Ronald Reagan was asked why he left the Democrat Party, he replied, “I didn’t leave the Democrat Party; the Democrat Party left me!” Meaning of course, that the principles and policies of the Democrat Party had changed to the extent that they were no longer consistent with his views of America. We are now facing the same situation with the United Nations (UN).

The original charter of the United Nations, when it was created after World War II, was focused on ending wars, promoting world peace, and human rights. The UN has morphed into a platform for global government and the elimination of individual national sovereignty. The evidence for this is substantial, as reflected in the revised mission statement in the UN’s Agenda 30, which includes the following, “We, the UN, are determined to manage consumption and production, and urgent action on climate change. Achieve full and productive employment for all. Adopt fiscal, wage, and social protection, and progressively achieve greater equality. Facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of all people (i.e. open borders). Require universal vaccine documentation for all international travel.” This is nothing less than a totalitarian statement of socialism, make no mistake about it.

The UN has been capitalizing on the COVID19 outbreak and the manmade climate hoax to expand its worldwide control. With organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization (WTO), the UN is attempting to infringe and limit the rights and freedoms existing in individual nations. Just recently, the UN announced an effort to control freedom of speech worldwide (under the guise of misinformation) and stated that the United States should repeal its constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech since it is too broad in scope.

Clearly, the UN has moved towards world governance and a socialist agenda controlled by a group of bureaucrats. I do not want our freedoms controlled by some world government, and I assume neither do you as a freedom loving American. We must elect candidates who recognize the threat of global governance and are willing to fight against it. Leaving the UN would be a good place to start and would send a clear message that we stand for America first and will not surrender our independence.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

On Monday, The New York Post posted the following headline:

Don’t believe the lies: The UN is paying illegals using US taxpayer cash

Why are we still supporting the UN? Can’t we kick them out of New York City and use the building for kitchy condos?

The article reports:

In 2021, early on in America’s historic border crisis, I wrote that the United Nations was abetting the problem by handing out debit cards and cash vouchers to aspiring illegal border crossers on their way north.

One outraged group of 21 border security-minded lawmakers pitched a bill that would require the United States, the UN’s largest donor, to turn off the taxpayer money spigot.

H.R. 6155 never caught fire, though, in no small part because “fact checks” from outlets such as the AFP claimed that the UN was doing no such thing.

Those fact checkers lied.

The UN’s just released the 2024 “Inter-Agency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela” (R4V for short), a planning and budget document for handing out $1.6 billion in 17 Latin America countries.

It confirms the UN, with the helping hands of 248 named non-governmental organizations, is indeed giving debit cards to illegal migrants — funded, in large part, by US taxpayers.

Despite the R4V plan title naming Venezuelans as recipients of this aid operation, the document’s fine print (footnote on page 14 and paragraph on page 43, for instance) says the largesse goes to “all nationalities” and “multiple other nationalities.”

We are sending foreign aid to these countries which is being misused and stolen by the tyrants who govern them, and then we are giving money to the people who flee those tyrants. Until the citizens of those countries are willing to stay in those countries and fight for freedom, nothing is going to change. America is the country it is because our Founding Fathers fought for it. Admittedly we are not currently going in the direction that they planned, but their system of government has generally held. It’s time to cut off the funding that is not going directly to the people in need. American money does not need to uphold tyrants or encourage people to break the law, either directly or through the UN.

This Is Disappointing

When a President of the United States begins his term, he takes the following oath:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Theoretically the idea that he would defend the Constitution should follow him for life. I live in a community with a lot of military retirees. They will tell you that the oath they took when they joined the military has no expiration date. One would think that the Presidential Oath also has no expiration date. Which brings me to today’s news.

On Monday, American Greatness reported the following:

Three of the five former Presidents of the United States have started a new non-governmental organization (NGO) with the explicit purpose of chartering flights to import illegal aliens into the United States.

As reported by Just The News, the NGO Miles4Migrants, founded by former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, is teaming up with two other organizations, American Express Global Business Travel and Welcome.US, to expand upon a previous effort that focused solely on Afghan refugees following the disastrous withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan in 2021.

Welcome.US was originally launched for the purpose of bringing in at least 85,000 Afghan refugees, and also has ties to the far-left billionaire George Soros and his Open Society Foundation. The new coalition between Welcome.US, Miles4Migrants, and American Express Global Business Travel will seek to raise money to import illegals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Ukraine.

It is very sad that these men, once elected by the American people, have formed a group to undermine the security and stability of the nation they once led. The supporting of illegal immigration is bad enough, but teaming up with George Soros is really beyond the pale. I have always been reluctant to believe in the new world order and the fact that many of our leading politicians support giving up American sovereignty, but stories like this make it hard to deny.

Peaceful Protest?

On Sunday, Hot Air posted an article about the pro-Hamas protests outside the White House on Saturday. The protests were not peaceful.

The article reports:

The thousands of people screaming about peace and ceasefires outside of the White House yesterday certainly weren’t acting as if peace was important. In fact, as Fox News reported, many of them were becoming overtly violent. The speeches and chants gave way to attempts to break down the security fencing that had been erected to keep them out. They also began hurling things at the Metropolitan Police as well as the United States Park Police. The tone of the chants coming from the rioters shifted a bit also. Instead of only decrying Israel and demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, they were demanding that the United States stop striking back against the Houthi militants in Yemen. The potentially violent situation was bad enough that some White House staffers and journalists were temporarily “relocated” to keep them safe. The situation was completely out of control.

I have some questions for the protesters. Does the ceasefire include returning the innocent hostages that have been held for more than three month? Will reparations be paid by Hamas to the families of the innocent civilians Hamas killed or the families of the hostages? Why isn’t Hamas being tried in the World Court for the purposeful killing of civilians and the use of civilians as human shields?

The article notes:

As Bob Hoge pointed out at RedState, there were more than the normal Palestinian flags on display. People were hoisting ISIS flags as well. Yes, that would be the same ISIS terrorists that are so famous for their peaceful, humanitarian efforts around the world. Making things all the more bizarre, the person the protesters were attempting to influence (Joe Biden) wasn’t even there. He was already at Camp David. Also, Andy Ngo was on the scene as usual, filming the action and later posting it to Twitter.

Some of the protesters were protesting the attack on the Houthis, another terrorist group.

Please follow the link to read the entire article–I wonder if the people protesting truly understand what they are supporting.

What An Open Border Means To America

On Sunday,  American Greatness posted an article about the consequences of America’s open southern border.

The article reports:

The Biden administration has opened the United States’ border, and this has fundamentally threatened America’s national security in ways not felt since the early days of WWII.  The implications of this open border are numerous and multifaceted.  As should be expected, when a state does not enforce its sovereignty at its border, anyone can enter and do so anonymously.  In this population of the many, many millions of people who have illegally crossed the border, there are—with certainty—criminals, agents of foreign powers, which undoubtedly include intelligence agents, potential saboteurs, soldiers, special operators, terrorists, and terrorist sympathizers.  Also entering the U.S. are human traffickers and narcotics of every type, including fentanyl and other even more potent synthetic opioids and other drugs.  In an era of COVID-19, the mass migration of people inevitably includes diseases, parasites, and potentially the next pandemic that will further stress the hospitals and health systems of the country.

America’s enemies must be thanking their lucky stars that Biden has essentially invited and welcomed into the U.S. anyone who can make it.  The Biden administration has given America’s enemies the very tools they need to undermine the U.S. from within.  Throughout history, America has fought its major wars with a secure homefront.  Even with a population of immigrants, it was difficult for our enemies in Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Soviet Union to infiltrate American society for two reasons: first, because America policed its borders and protected its citizens; and second, because of the inherent patriotism that Americans, even from these very same nations, felt towards their new adopted home.  The same cannot be said for today, as we do not know who is in the U.S., nor do we have the same sense of patriotic responsibility as we did a half a century ago.  Now, it is reasonable to believe that some of these unvetted aliens may be here to serve as a fifth column.

I don’t like the conclusions drawn in this article, but I really can’t refute them.

The article concludes:

Biden’s open border policy is an existential national security threat because now tyranny knows that the door is open.  Tyranny, even if it has an American face, will follow a sadly familiar trajectory.  What will happen in the United States is what has occurred on the path to every tyranny: once the tyrant knows that there is no effective opposition, he will keep pushing until he has absolute control.  Today’s open border will segue soon into other issues, compelling the American people to yield.  Permanent one-party control will be the result, which will soon elide into tyrannical rule.  The American Republic will be lost.  What the Biden administration has done is appalling and in hostile opposition to America’s history and American political ideology, culture, values, principles, and traditions.  The new Republican leadership in the House of Representatives and state officials, as in Texas, have to employ every measure they can to stop this lawlessness—everything is at stake.

How many military-aged men have crossed our border in recent years? How many of those men had addresses in their pockets telling them where to report? Are militias being formed right under our noses? Thank God for the Second Amendment. It may be our only hope.

Stepping On The Capitol Grounds Is More Serious Than Spying For The Chinese?

Recently the Justice Department has claimed that they are going to arrest hundreds of more Americans for being on the Capitol grounds on January 6th. I have friends who attended the rally on that day then went back to their hotels that are nervous. They did nothing wrong, so technically they shouldn’t be worried, but the current regime is very good at intimidation. We  have already seen how ridiculous the sentences are for January 6th protesters accused of trespassing.

On Tuesday, Front Page Magazine posted an article that illustrates how perverse our justice system is right now.

The article quotes a Department of Justice Press Release:

A U.S. Navy service member was sentenced today to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay a $5,500 fine for transmitting sensitive U.S. military information to an intelligence officer from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in exchange for bribery payments.

According to court documents, Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, aka Thomas Zhao, of Monterey Park, California, pleaded guilty in October 2023 to one count of conspiring with the intelligence officer and one count of receiving a bribe.

Between August 2021 and at least May 2023, Zhao received at least $14,866 in at least 14 separate bribe payments from the intelligence officer. In exchange for the illicit payments, Zhao secretly collected and transmitted to the intelligence officer sensitive, non-public information regarding U.S. Navy operational security, military trainings and exercises, and critical infrastructure. Zhao entered restricted military and naval installations to collect and record this information.

He used sophisticated encrypted communication methods to transmit the information. He also destroyed evidence and concealed his relationship with the intelligence officer. Zhao’s conduct violated his official duties to protect such information and the oath he swore to protect the United States.

And for that he gets two years. And a fine that’s about a third of the money he got for his treason.

The article concludes:

The damage here in the event of a war could have been and could still be catastrophic. And yet there was a light slap.

Zhao could have been sentenced to up to five years for the conspiracy count and 15 years for the bribery charge, and prosecutors sought 37 months, claiming that the defendant had tried to obstruct their investigation. Zhao’s lawyer sought 12 months. US District Judge R. Gary Klausner took the middle ground and settled on 27 months.

That’s an interesting interpretation of middle ground. Why were prosecutors only asking for three years after all that?

China certainly got its money’s worth here. And more.

Meanwhile, the January 6th prisoners…

Misinformation And A Continuing Narrative

Recently President Biden recently gave a speech where he talked about attending the funerals of police officers killed on January 6th. Just for the record, there were no police officers killed on January 6th. There were two civilians killed–one shot and one beaten and trampled during a police-caused stampede in the Lower West Terrace tunnel.

Capitol Policeman Brian Sicknick died on January 7th, after having been admitted to the hospital for a stroke on January 6th. The medical examiner ruled Sicknick’s cause of death as natural causes–two strokes. There is speculation that the strokes were a reaction to either the chemicals sprayed by the police on that day or the chemicals sprayed by the protestors that day. We will never know.

However, when was the last time that a police officer who died of a stroke was honored by flags flown at half mast and lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda? Those two things, ordered by Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer were done to plant the idea in peoples’ minds that Brian Sicknick had been killed in the line of duty by radical extremists. It was all a lie. I am sure all of the police involved on January 6th were stressed. I am also sure that many of them were angry that the reinforcements that the President (Trump) had asked for were denied. There were also police that called headquarters for reinforcements and did not get a timely response.

The bottom line here is that we have been fed a lot of lies about January 6th. Many of those lies have been debunked as the videos of the day have been released. I am sure many more of the lies will be revealed as more video is released. Meanwhile, there are people in jail for simply walking through the Capitol after the police opened the doors. These defendants have been sitting in jail with no bail awaiting trial for three years. That is in total violation of the U.S. Constitution. Where are the lawmakers who have sworn an oath to uphold and defend the United States Constitution?

I Guess That Didn’t Go As Planned

On Wednesday, Just the News posted the following headline:

Massive offshore wind project that was to be operational in 2023 gets a single turbine running

At some point, I believe that we are going to discover that wind and solar may not be the future of energy–they may be a supplement, but they can never replace fossil fuel to handle the energy needs of a growing world population.

In 2019, I reported the following:

In August 2014 The Daily Caller posted an article about Spain’s attempt to convert to green energy:

According to a new report by the free-market Institute for Energy Research, Spain’s green energy policies have resulted in skyrocketing electricity prices, billions of euros in debt and rising carbon dioxide emissions.

“For years, President Obama has pointed to Europe’s energy policies as an example that the United States should follow,” said IER in a statement on their new study. “However, those policies have been disastrous for countries like Spain, where electricity prices have skyrocketed, unemployment is over 25 percent, and youth unemployment is over 50 percent.”

Spain began heavily subsidizing green energy sources, like wind and solar, in the early 2000s with its“Promotion Plan for Renewable Energies. The country used a combination of generous feed-in tariffs, green energy generation quotas and green power subsidies to boost renewable energy development in the country and lower its carbon dioxide emissions.

…But what seemed like a booming green energy economy on the surface was really becoming a costly way to help drive Spain into economic recession. By 2011, Spain’s electricity prices stood at 29.46 U.S. ¢/kilowatt-hour — two and a half times what electricity cost in the U.S. at the time.

The Just the News article reports:

Vineyard Wind, a massive offshore wind project 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, failed to deliver electricity in 2023 as its developers had pledged to do, but they announced Wednesday that one of the project’s 62 turbines was running.

The project’s developers had for years been selling the project as the first utility-scale offshore wind project in the country, based on the 2023 timeline, according to Statehouse News. In December, New York’s South Fork Wind became the nation’s first.

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid, Inc. announced Wednesday that it had managed to get one of the project’s 62 turbines operational, supplying 5 of its 800 megawatts to the grid.

The Commonwealth Beacon reported Tuesday that the developers had missed its 2023 pledge, which they were promising to meet late last week.

Two days into the new year, the Beacon reported, the developers of the $4 billion project still had not made good on the promise.

Please follow the link above to read the rest of the story. At what point are we going to admit that no matter how much money the government gives solar and wind energy, the disadvantages outweigh the benefits?

Compromise or Not? 

Author:  R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D    

Historically, the “spirit of compromise” has been touted as one of the elements of our Republic that has helped it survive for almost 250 years. The question arises as to whether compromise is always the best strategy. Given the circumstances, compromise may allow the country to move forward with each opposing side believe that they achieved some of their objectives but not all.  Knowing when to compromise and when not to is critical. Let’s look at some examples. 

Compromising makes the most sense, when both sides agree on the ultimate goal but disagree how to get there.  A good example was World War II.  Both the United States and Great Britain agreed that Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan both had to be defeated militarily.  Great Britain wanted the United States to focus almost exclusively on defeating Germany first. The United States, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, wanted to defeat Japan first, since in 1941 Japan appeared to be the most immediate threat to our country.  Churchill and Roosevelt came to a compromise which allowed the majority of focus on the war in Europe and a steady war against Japan, but with less resources. Clearly the compromise worked since both Axis powers were eventually defeated. 

Currently, the struggle between preserving our Republic as we have known it is incompatible with the Left’s desire to make this country Socialist.  Make no mistake about it, many if not all on the left, want exactly that.  Since these two forms of government are incompatible, it must be one or the other.  As they just decided in Brazil, socialism does not and never has worked for the people, and they elected a conservative leader to go back to freedom and capitalism.  Either the people retain the power to run their own lives, or we turn governance over to a few elected leaders and the bureaucrats. The outcome of the elections in 2024 will once and for all determine whether we preserve our Republican form of government or not. 

Let’s take another example:  Climate Change.   Short of an all-out war, this issue has the greatest potential to completely destroy our country. We all want a clean environment, but the goal of the Left is to eliminate all fossil fuels without which no modern civilization can survive.   Look what is happening in Europe–their energy costs have sky rocketed and  they have had to re-open coal fired electrical plants.  The Left’s unverified  belief that climate change is caused by mankind and not natural forces is being used to justify their goal of zero carbon emissions while China, India and other countries are not only building more coal fired plants, but are using coal from our country to do it.  Meanwhile, the United States only contributes 13% of carbon emissions worldwide.  Instead of fighting against this, many of our so-called conservative elected officials compromise and go along with outlandishly expensive subsidies for the wind and solar developers and electric vehicles.   Seventeen Republicans voted for Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which was a cover up for billions of dollars in support of so-called green energy programs.  Compromisers! 

Another area is saving our public schools from the socialist indoctrination being advanced by the Left.  Instead of coming out and stopping Critical Race Theory, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and transgender indoctrination, our Boards of Education have shown a strong tendency to compromise instead of prohibiting these things.   

Compromising with evil should never be allowed to happen.  We need to elect candidates that have clear, strong values and beliefs, and are not afraid to stand up and fight for what is right.  It is the only way to save this country. 

Exactly What Rights Do Our Military Servicemen Have?

On January 1st, The Gateway Pundit posted the following headline:

231 Current and Former U.S. Service Members Demand Military Leaders Be Court-Martialed Over Forced COVID Vaccines: “Service Members Were Significantly Harmed by These Actions”

The article reports:

On January 1, 2024, two hundred thirty-one current and former service members from various branches of the United States Armed Forces came together to sign the “Declaration of Military Accountability.”

This document, spearheaded by Commander Robert A. Green Jr. of the U.S. Navy, marks a significant moment in military history, calling for sweeping reforms and accountability within the Armed Forces.

Veteran Brad Miller wrote on X, “At 4 am EST today (a few min ago), senior military leaders received an email with a letter attached called the Declaration of Military Accountability. I know because I sent the email. I sent it on behalf of myself & 230 other signatories of the letter.”

“The letter is not addressed to the military leaders but rather to the American people. The email was merely to inform these military leaders that there is group of troops & vets pledging to the American public that we will do everything lawfully within our power to stop the willful destruction of our military by its own leadership. Let’s take our country back in 2024 & let’s begin by defending our military from its own leadership. You can find the body of the letter below. Soon we’ll have it on a website where you can find it as well, along with the names of the 231 signatories.

I have very mixed emotions about this. For current members of the military, I believe this could be considered a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). There are very specific rules within the code about criticizing military leaders while you are serving.

Selling A Major American Icon

On Monday, The Daily Caller reported that Japanese Nippon Steel Corporation (NSC) is buying the United States Steel Corporation.

The article reports:

NSC will purchase U.S. Steel for $55.00 per share and assume the company’s debt equating to $14.9 billion, 40% higher than the company’s stock price as of Friday, according to a press release by U.S. Steel. The company was founded in 1901 in Pittsburgh by J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie through the merger of the Federal Steel Company and the Carnegie Steel Company

“NSC has a proven track record of acquiring, operating, and investing in steel mill facilities globally — and we are confident that, like our strategy, this combination is truly Best for All,” David Burritt, CEO of U.S. Steel, said in the press release. “For our U.S. Steel employees, who I continue to be thankful for, the transaction combines like-minded steel companies with an unwavering focus on safety, shared goals, values, and strategies underpinned by rich histories. For customers, U.S. Steel and NSC create a truly global steel company with combined capabilities and innovation capable of meeting our customers’ evolving needs.”

NSC will continue to honor all agreements between U.S. Steel and the United Steelworkers Union, pointing to the company’s history of working with unions. U.S. Steel will maintain its name, brand and current American headquarters, operating under NSC.

The Japanese have a record of managing corporations more efficiently than Americans do. It will be interesting to see exactly how the new owners deal with the unions.

Stay tuned.

Terrorism Impacts All Of Us

This is a map of one of the most popular shipping routes in the Middle East:

Ships come through the Suez Canal, into the Red Sea, and eventually make their way to the Indian Ocean. One of the major shipping lines to use this route is A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S.

On Friday, Townhall reported the following:

“Container shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S instructed its vessels heading for the southern entrance of the Red Sea to pause their voyages after one of its carriers came under attack. The move threatens to undermine the global economic recovery and adds to pressure on the US to improve security along one of the worlds most important trade routes,” Bloomberg reports. “Disruptions in the area can snarl supply chains and world trade. Back in 2021, the grounding of the Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal for almost a week, throwing ships off schedule for months and tightening the available of cargo space. That accident was estimated to have cut capacity by 20% to 30% for several weeks.” 

The move comes after a Maersk ship was attacked by drones over the past 24 hours.

The article concludes:

Since October 7, when Hamas launched a brutal terrorist attack on civilians in Israel, the Houthis have been attacking ships and launching missiles at Israeli and U.S. targets. Many have been intercepted by U.S. military ships currently stationed in the region. 

In 2021, the Biden administration delisted the Houthis as a terrorist organization. 

By order of the President and as a direct result of a nearly 3-year policy of appeasing Iran and its proxies, the United States today utterly failed in a core mission of upholding freedom of navigation. The magnitude of the moment should not be understated. Beijing is watching.

— Richard Goldberg (@rich_goldberg) December 15, 2023

 

The boldness of the Houthis is a direct result of the Biden administration’s desperate attempt to broker a nuclear deal with Iran. They don’t want to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon–they just want to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon while the Democrats are still in power. As soon as they get out of town, they really don’t care.

Please vote this administration out of office in November.

Time To Exit The United Nations?  

Author:  R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D    

The United Nations (UN) was formed in 1945 right after the end of World War II.  Like the League of Nations formed after World War I, it was hoped that the UN would foster global peace among nations.  It is time to assess whether the UN has achieved that objective and whether our participation in it is beneficial to our country.  There have been many wars since the creation of the UN such as the Korean War, Vietnam War, Israeli Six Day War, Iraq War and currently Russia/Ukraine and the Israel/Hamas conflict.  

One might argue that the presence of the UN has prevented a nuclear World War III, but that would be a stretch to say the least. The threat of mutual destruction has been the controlling factor in preventing nuclear war thus far.  Whether that will continue with the spread of nuclear weapons to China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and inevitably Iran remains to be seen. The existence of the UN does not seem to have prevented nuclear proliferation.   

Is membership in the UN beneficial for the United States? The UN started with 51 countries and now has 189. The majority of these countries are not democratic and their values and principles are not consistent with our constitution.  Worse still, the structure of the UN General Assembly gives every country one vote with the weight of the smallest country (Tuvala, population 12,000) carrying the same impact of the United States.  Currently, the United States pays up to 25% of the UN annual budget of about $4 billion which amounts to $1 billion a year.  Money that could be spent on securing our borders, for example.  

Some other areas of concern are the leftist leaning decisions of the UN.  The World Health Organization arm of the UN mishandled the COVID 19 pandemic and failed to hold China in anyway responsible for the creation and spreading of the manmade virus. The UN’s unwavering support of the climate change extremist’s agenda, such as the Paris Accords, and the war against fossil fuels threatens our country and way of life, while allowing China and India to continue to build coal burning power plants.   Another example, is the UN’s failure to condemn the barbaric atrocities of Hamas for almost two months and their history of condemning Israel at the slightest excuse. They have never condemned Iran, the biggest sponsor of terror in the world.  The latest example is UNESCO’s (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) global wide guidelines that would severely restrict free speech in the media and social platforms. The guidelines require the blocking of any speech that they label as “misinformation.”  Sound familiar?  They also boldly stated that the U.S. Constitution needs to be changed to reflect these new guidelines. 

  It is time to have a serious debate as to whether we want to turn over the governance of our country to some global authority.  Some of the leftists in this country believe we should.  I do not and hope neither do you. With China increasingly controlling the UN by placing members of their communist party in key positions, we must make an honest evaluation of whether the UN has outlived its usefulness. 

Do You Like Having Electricity 24 Hours A Day?

Years ago, I remember talking to someone from another country who was very impressed that Americans had electricity for 24 hours every day. In her country they thought four or five hours of electricity a day was good. That was a foreign concept for me. I would like it to remain a foreign concept.

On Sunday, The New York Post posted an article about President Biden’s plans for American energy.

The article reports:

The Biden administration made two virtue-signaling proclamations at last week’s COP28 conference in Dubai that it says will help save the planet from climate change.

The policies aren’t likely to change the planet’s temperature by even one-tenth of a degree, but they might just destroy the 21st-century American industrial economy as we know it.

First, Team Biden announced it will stop production of all new coal plants in the United States.

This comes on the heels of President Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency saying this year it would impose new power plant emission regulations that are virtually impossible for coal plants to comply with.

The article also notes comments from the Vice-President:

Vice President Kamala Harris trumpeted the next day new rules to “sharply reduce methane from the oil and natural gas industry.”

The administration calls methane a “super-pollutant” that it wants to eliminate because it’s “many times more potent than carbon dioxide.”

But methane is effectively a hydrocarbon that comes from natural gas.

Eliminating methane is a de facto ban on natural gas power plants.

Here is the most sinister part of this story that no one in the Biden administration is telling you: Eradicating coal and natural gas plants will ravage America’s electric power capacity.

These regulations will cause rolling blackouts and brownouts across the country, much like we’ve already seen in California — America’s forerunner of radical anti-fossil fuel policies.

The lights will go out intermittently, and home heating in the winter and air conditioning in the summer will have to be turned off or rationed.

Without gas and coal plants, hospitals, schools, the internet, construction projects and factories will be routinely shut down when unreliable alternative energy sources like wind and solar power aren’t delivering enough juice.

Upward of 60% of America’s electric power generation will go away — and soon.

Does anyone want to make a wager as to whether or not the mucky-mucks who are making these policies will continue to have electricity 24 hours a day while the rest of us have electricity for maybe eight hours a day?

Things Are Heating Up (Unfortunately)

On Monday, The Blaze reported that The USS Mason, a U.S. destroyer, was fired on from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen after responding to a distress call from a commercial vessel.

The article reports:

The USS Mason – which is an Arleigh-Burke class destroyer that is part of the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group – responded to a distress call from a commercial vessel. The tanker – M/V Central Park – was 35 miles south of Yemen’s coast in the Gulf of Aden, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations.

The M/V Central Park sails under the Liberian flag and is managed by Zodiac Maritime, according to the Associated Press.

Zodiac Maritime said the tanker was carrying phosphoric acid. The crew of 22 sailors hail from Bulgaria, Georgia, India, the Philippines, Russia, Turkey, and Vietnam.

The M/V Central Park was under attack by unknown armed forces. Gunmen successfully boarded the commercial ship.

Once the USS Mason arrived, five gunmen debarked the ship and attempted to escape on a small boat. However, the USS Mason was able to track down the armed pirates and detain them. The crew of the commercial vessel were unharmed.

On Sunday, “two ballistic missiles were fired from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen toward the general location of the USS Mason and M/V Central Park,” the U.S. military’s Central Command said in a statement.

CENTCOM said the ballistic missiles landed in the Gulf of Aden approximately ten nautical miles from the USS Mason and M/V Central Park.

The article notes:

“The Yemeni government has renewed its denunciation of the acts of maritime piracy carried out by the terrorist Houthi militias with the support of the Iranian regime, the most recent of which was the hijacking of the Central Park,” the statement read.

“Maritime domain security is essential to regional stability,” said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla – United States CENTCOM commander. “We will continue to work with allies and partners to ensure the safety and security of international shipping lanes.”

Zodiac Maritime said, “We would like to thank the coalition forces who responded quickly, protecting assets in the area and upholding international maritime law.”

According to Aljazeera in 2019,  around one-sixth of the world’s oil moves through the strait – 17.2 million barrels per day.  Pirate activity anywhere in that area could create a major problem for industrial nations.

The Cover Story Never Made Sense

In September 2022, the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipelines were blown up. The mainstream media claimed that the Russians had blown them up. This never made any sense–it was a source of income for Russia. There was speculation in some media outlets that in fact the United States was responsible (the claim was that the United States was the only country with the technology to blow up the pipeline). Well, it looks as if the truth might have stumbled out.

On Saturday, Fox News reported:

A former senior Ukrainian official was the coordinator of the explosions that ruptured the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipelines, the Washington Post reported, citing Ukrainian officials and European sources, and in conjunction with German periodical Der Spiegel.

Roman Chervinsky, a former commander of one of the Ukrainian special forces units, was the “coordinator of the Nord Stream operation” and managed a six-person team that carried out the devastating multibillion-dollar infrastructure attack in September 2022, according to the report.

The outlet said Chervinsky and the group of six people rented a sailboat under false identities and used deep-sea diving equipment to place explosive charges on the gas pipelines. 

Chervinsky did not act alone and did not plan the operation, but was obeying the orders of high-ranking officers who ultimately answered to Ukraine’s highest-ranking military officer, Valery Zaluzhny, the Post said, citing people familiar with his role.

That makes sense. Blowing up the pipelines was one way to limit Russia’s income from fossil fuel revenue.

The article also notes:

In February, Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, alleged that U.S. Navy divers laid bombs that destroyed the Nord Stream 2 pipeline under a direct order from President Joe Biden. 

The Seymour Hersh article reminds us that even Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists don’t always get the story right. The article makes no comment on who might have encouraged Ukraine to blow up the pipelines, so it is possible that the United States bears part of the responsibility.