Is This Bill Constitutional?

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The inaccurately named Respect for Marriage Act is currently making its way through the Senate. However, there are some questions about whether or not the bill is Constitutional. On Sunday, Just the News posted an article listing some of those concerns.

The article reports:

The bill, HR 8404, was introduced in the House by U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-NY, on July 18 and passed by a vote of 267-157 the next day. The U.S. Senate took it up on Nov. 14.

It would provide “statutory authority for same-sex and interracial marriages” and repeal several provisions of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The 1996 law received bipartisan support including from then U.S. Sen. Joe Biden and U.S. Rep. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and from Democratic President Bill Clinton, who signed it.

When a constitutional amendment was proposed to ban same-sex marriage in 2006, Sen. Biden told Meet the Press’ Tim Russert, “I can’t believe the American people can’t see through this. We already have a law, the Defense of Marriage Act … where I voted and others … that marriage is between a man and a woman and states must respect that. … Why do we need a constitutional amendment? Marriage is between a man and a woman.”

Sixteen years later, President Biden now supports replacing DOMA provisions, which “define, for purposes of federal law, marriage as between a man and a woman and spouse as a person of the opposite sex,” with ROMA provisions “that recognize any marriage that is valid under state law,” according to the bill summary.

The article notes:

After their vote, Biden said, “Love is love, and Americans should have the right to marry the person they love,” adding their vote made “the United States one step closer to protecting that right in law.”

Schumer also said he had “zero doubt” the bill “will soon be law of the land.”

But multiple groups disagree, arguing it’s unconstitutional for the same reasons the Supreme Court struck down DOMA. Because the court already ruled Congress doesn’t have the constitutional authority to define marriage under Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution, and because ROMA is nearly identical to DOMA, they argue it will also likely be struck down.

In a letter to Congress, the nonprofit religious freedom organization Liberty Counsel argues the court ruled in Windsor, “DOMA, because of its reach and extent, departs from this history and tradition of reliance on state law to define marriage.” It also ruled, “[b]y history and tradition the definition and regulation of marriage . . . has been treated as being within the authority and realm of the separate States.”

It is entirely possible that the way to solve this dilemma is to totally remove government from the institution of marriage. Leave marriage with the church–churches should have the right to marry or not to marry anyone they want to. A couple can find a church to do their wedding without having to worry about the government getting involved. A church certificate would be enough to prove the wedding, and the government would not need to be involved. In the case of a divorce, the church certificate would prove the marriage. Let the churches go on record for what they support and what they don’t support.

The Story Behind The Story

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On Friday, The New York Post reported that United Furniture Industries had fired all of its 2,700 employees while they were sleeping, telling them in texts and emails not to come to work the next day, according to reports. So what happened?

The RADlaw Newsletter explains:

Last Monday United Furniture Industries (UFI) fired their entire manufacturing workforce with no severance in preparation for what can only be a complete liquidation of the company’s manufacturing assets.

In 2019, when we had a President who did not hate our country, UFI announced that they were increasing their manufacturing staff by about 20%. The crushing regulations and inflation caused by the Harris-Biden Administration, however, have caused them to stop all manufacturing in the USA.

They plan to still sell furniture but it will be made in China, delivered directly from the Chinese manufacturers.

Elections have consequences.

The article at The New York Post continues:

The mass firing on Tuesday by United Furniture Industries, which makes budget-friendly sofas and recliners for Simmons Upholstery, left thousands of employees including truck drivers and factory workers in North Carolina, Mississippi and California unemployed just two days before Thanksgiving.

“At the instruction of the board of directors … we regret to inform you that due to unforeseen business circumstances, the company has been forced to make the difficult decision to terminate the employment of all its employees, effective immediately, on Nov. 21,” the company said in messages to employees.

“With the exception of over-the-road drivers that are out on delivery. Your layoff from the company is expected to be permanent and all benefits will be terminated immediately without provision of COBRA.”

The privately held, Okolona, Miss.-based company could not be reached for comment.

I can thoroughly relate to the employees of this company. In the early 1990’s I worked for a small satellite office of a paper company in Massachusetts. I went home one Thursday night with no concerns and came in Friday morning to find out that the company did not like the over regulation of Massachusetts and was closing the office and going back to Pennsylvania. There was no severance pay. I really don’t think that is the way to do business, but unfortunately it is not unusual.

Politicizing Justice

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Last week (updated today) The Epoch Times posted an article about the appointment of a Special Prosecutor to investigate President Trump. I wonder if all the Americans who have decided that President Trump is the ultimate evil have actually looked at what is happening and what it means to the future of America. A sitting President has allowed a Special Prosecutor to be named to investigate a political opponent who may run for President. If you are happy with this, would you have been happy if this had happened after the Hillary Clinton email scandal where she erased much of what was probably evidence against her? This is the kind of thing that goes on in banana republics. I only hope America has not become one.

The article reports:

While the Republicans kicked off the 2024 presidential race with the announcement that former President Donald Trump was again running for president, in perhaps the ultimate sign of our ignominious times, the Democrats, in effect, kicked off their half of the contest three days later by appointing a special counsel to escalate their political prosecution of him.

This is where “our democracy” stands today: with its purported defenders engaging in the singularly anti-democratic act of siccing a hyper-politicized law enforcement apparatus on a candidate for the highest elected office, on dubious grounds, thereby subverting the political process by which we decide who represents us.

At a minimum, no doubt to an approving President Joe Biden, his law-enforcement arm is now engaged in what amounts to election interference against arguably the president’s top challenger—ironically probing in part Trump’s alleged interference with the transfer of power in 2020, when Trump could make the case that the deep state did the same to him from the inception of Russiagate in 2016 onward.

Worse, with Attorney General Merrick Garland’s appointment of Jack Smith as special counsel, the prospect of the former president being charged and convicted of something, anything, is more real than at any time during the perpetual campaign to purge Trump from the body politic.

Our ruling class really does wish to “lock him up,” or at least hold that threat over the former president’s head for maximum political gain.

The article concludes:

The legal persecution of Trump—an insurance policy of sorts should the political persecution of him and his supporters fail—is beyond chilling.

Those who loathe Trump, his policy, and his people, have proven they are willing to eviscerate the U.S. system in the name of defending it from traitors, authoritarians, and insurrectionists.

Their projection is reaching its apex.

Should it persist, we will be an unrecognizable country.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. I personally think President Trump needs to be re-elected to illustrate that the Washington elite and media mob do not control the voters. Unfortunately, I fear that they do.

It Could Happen Here

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Yes, it could happen here. The December issue of America’s 1st Freedom includes an article by Gabby Franco, a former resident and Olympian from Venezuela. Ms. Franco chose to leave her family and country and come to America in 2004. In the article she explains what happened to change Venezuela from the richest country in South America to one of the poorest.

The article notes:

Venezuela is surrounded by paradisiacal turquoise waters in the north and an enigmatic rainforest in the south. There are no seasonal natural disasters—no hurricanes, tornados, blizzards or wildfires—such as there are in various areas of the United States. But an idea that the government should be given so much power that it could take away every right of the individual citizen—even their right to self-defense—did lead to the country’s ruination.

As a former citizen of Venezuela who became a U.S. citizen, I am now hearing many of the same things I heard in Venezuela from certain anti-Second Amendment politicians. I was an Olympic shooting competitor representing Venezuela and am now a lawful gun owner here in America. I don’t want to see this right being threatened again.

…Venezuela was once a place where people could find jobs, prosper, dream about their future and, with hard work, succeed, despite social and political issues. My parents were born in a rural town where there were not even flushing toilets until the late 1950s. My mom became a high-school teacher, and my dad was a machinist who dreamed of owning a machine shop. They married in the late 1970s and lived on my mom’s salary for several years as my dad built his business. They showed my siblings and me that dreams are possible with hard work and dedication.

During that time, law-abiding Venezuelans could own firearms and apply for a concealed-carry license. My father was an avid hunter who filled up the freezer with venison, duck, rabbit and any other animals he deemed tasty. Children could go to the gun range with their parents to practice the shooting sports.

…Hugo Chávez took power in 1999 and ruled the country via executive orders from the beginning. The terrible implications of his actions were palpable, as he aimed to take farmland away from its owners. Chávez did not waste time in pushing his socialist agenda, influenced by Fidel Castro, seeding hatred and envy amongst Venezuelans. I remember one time a person on a motorcycle stopped next to my dad’s SUV and spat on it. It was a symbolic gesture showing his hatred toward us for having a good vehicle. What this man did not know is that my parents were born poor but rose through their will and dedication.

Hugo Chávez’s actions did not go by unnoticed. A Cuban friend, whom I’ll call Jose, warned many of us at the gun range about Venezuela’s future under Hugo Chávez. These warnings were, as Gabriel Garciá Márquez wrote, a “chronicle of a death foretold.” It was indeed a hard pill to swallow for many, who often replied with something like: “That would never happen here. Venezuela is the richest country in the region. Venezuela is not an island like Cuba.”

Ms. Franco notes the danger to America:

I know it is hard to imagine that any of this could happen in America, but it is. The same divisive rhetoric I heard in Venezuela and then from Obama is used even more today. Venezuela’s current situation is the result of giving more power to the government, eliciting corruption, mismanagement and excessive spending; moreover, it was not an immediate change. Socialists took Venezuelans on a one-way journey to misery one step at a time. Unfortunately, I see America heading in that direction if we continue with the current socialist agenda that favors a powerful government, gun control, more regulations and a politicized justice system. Thus, it is imperative that Americans rally to preserve our Constitution and our nation by voting out anyone who wishes to undermine our constitutional rights.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. It is chilling to hear her story and realize that the same thing could happen here.

 

This Is Not A Happy Thought

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On Thursday, Breitbart posted the following headline:

WEF’s Klaus Schwab Says China Will Be a ‘Role Model’ in the ‘Systemic Transformation’ of the World

China, the country that imprisons Uighurs, uses slave labor, puts anyone who disagrees with the government in jail, uses an ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) scale to control its population, etc., is the country Schwab thinks we should emulate.

The article quotes Klaus Schwab:

“I respect China’s achievements, which are tremendous over the last over 40 years, I think it’s a role model for many countries,” the Davos chief said, adding that while he believes countries should be able to choose the system they prefer to live under, the “Chinese model is certainly a very attractive model for quite a number of countries.”

“I look very much forward to having a strong Chinese voice in Davos to explain even better to the world what it means to see the party Congress which laid down the principles of the policy [and] what it really means for global collaboration and for global development,” Schwab added.

He concluded by saying that he has taken “great satisfaction” in seeing the European Union become more “unified” in its thinking following the Chinese virus and the war in Ukraine and that this could lead to deeper ties between Brussels and Beijing.

“I’m very pleased that we speak not only about Chinese-U.S. relations but also again about European-Chinese relations, and I feel despite all the question marks and to a certain extent cautious approach which we see in Europe, I think that very close ties can be established again between China and Europe because there’s such an interwoven economy.”

The article concludes:

China also seems to be in broad agreement with the World Economic Forum on using the issue of climate change to usher in radical changes.

For example, at this year’s WEF summit in Davos, the president of the Alibaba Group Chinese tech giant, J. Michael Evans said the firm, which like all other companies in Communist China is closely linked to the state, will be seeking to implement an “individual carbon footprint tracker” to monitor the behaviour of individuals in terms of their supposed environmental impact.

“We are developing through technology the ability for consumers to measure their own carbon footprint… where are they travelling, how are they travelling, what are they eating, what are they consuming on the platform,” Evans said.

It’s time for Americans to wake up. We need to elect people who will stand firm to protect our freedom. It is obvious that many of the world leaders are moving away from freedom to embrace tyranny. We need not to be part of that.

The American Economy Under The Biden Administration

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On Wednesday, The Washington Free Beacon reported the following:

U.S. business activity contracted for a fifth straight month in November, with a measure of new orders dropping to its lowest level in 2-1/2 years as higher interest rates slowed demand.

S&P Global said on Wednesday its flash U.S. Composite PMI Output Index, which tracks the manufacturing and services sectors, fell to 46.3 this month from a final reading of 48.2 in October. A reading below 50 indicates contraction in the private sector. Activity is slumping under the weight of the Federal Reserve’s most aggressive interest rate-hiking cycle since the 1980s aimed at curbing inflation by dampening economic demand.

The flash composite new orders index dropped to 46.4, the lowest level since May 2020, from a final reading of 49.2 in October. Outside the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, this was the worst reading since 2009.

The article concludes:

Average input prices increased at the softest rate in two years, but factories still faced challenges finding skilled labor. This suggests the slowdown in inflation will be gradual as wages remain sticky.

The survey’s flash services sector PMI decreased to 46.1 from 47.8 in October. Services businesses also reported weak demand and a moderation in input prices.

I am not an economist, and I do not totally understand what these numbers mean. Generally speaking, inflation is a problem and the rising interest rates that are supposed to combat it are a problem. It is my understanding that the solution to the inflation problem could be found in bringing back domestic energy production and limiting government spending. The new House of Representatives that will be sworn in in January does have the power to cut government spending; however, it is doubtful that they have the power to overrule the Biden administration’s restrictions on domestic energy production. All of us need to be concerned for the people in the colder regions of America this winter. Heating costs will be very high, and many people are going to suffer because of brownouts and energy costs. All of this is the result of the Biden administration’s energy policies. The war in Ukraine is a contributing factor, but not the main cause. Energy prices began to rise in January 2021 and have continued to rise since (with a few pauses). Energy is an international commodity and is subject to supply and demand. The way to bring energy costs down in America is to get back to producing our own energy. That is also the way to curb inflation.

The Golden Turkey Awards

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From 1975 through 1987, Wisconsin Sen. William Proxmire sent out monthly press releases announcing his Golden Fleece Awards, given to the most outrageous spending projects in Congress. The Senator passed away in 2005, but the concept is still with us in the form of the Golden Turkey Award given by  American Experiment.

On Thursday, Power Line Blog posted an article about the latest winner of the Golden Turkey Award.

The article reports:

This year we had some remarkable nominees: our state government paid children to play outdoors; it spent tens of thousands of dollars promoting folk remedies for covid like burning sage and eating sauerkraut; and it paid random citizens stipends of $6,000–e.g. a stripper who was paid to continue stripping.

But if you have been following the Feeding Our Future scandal, it can come as no surprise that the Minnesota Department of Education was voted this year’s Golden Turkey. I presented the award to the Department of Education at their headquarters on a cold, windy afternoon.

…One more thing: we presented the award at 3:30 in the afternoon. It says on the front of the building that it is open until 4:30 every weekday afternoon, but when we were there, the place was deserted. The Department of Education building was dark, and there was not a single car in the vast parking lot, other than ours. Is no one working at the Department of Education? Frankly, that might be an improvement. But at the very least, it suggests another area where the State of Minnesota could save money: the Department of Education’s budget.

This is the video:

It’s time taxpayers at all levels of government held their elected officials accountable for reckless spending.

When Green Energy Isn’t Working

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On Thursday, The Epoch Times reported that President Biden had quietly approved plans to build a new crude oil terminal in the Gulf of Mexico off Texas. Obviously, this is not in agreement with the green energy agenda of the Biden administration.

The article reports:

The Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration approved the application (pdf) for Enterprise’s Sea Port Oil Terminal, one of four proposed offshore oil export terminals, on Monday.

According to the application, the port will be located offshore of Freeport, Texas. It will have 4.8 million barrels of storage capacity and add 2 million barrels per day to the U.S. oil export capacity.

In its 94-page decision (pdf), the Maritime Administration said that it had approved the application because the construction and operation of the port is “in the national interest and consistent with other policy goals and objectives.”

“The construction and operation of the Port is in the national interest because the Project will benefit employment, economic growth, and U.S. energy infrastructure resilience and security,” the administration wrote. “The Port will provide a reliable source of crude oil to U.S. allies in the event of market disruption and have a minimal impact on the availability and cost of crude oil in the U.S. domestic market.”

The article notes the usual protests:

Protests broke out shortly after on the Gulf Coast, The Texas Tribune reported, with climate activists condemning the move, and pointing to the fact that President Joe Biden has prioritized issues such as climate change and clean energy incentives during his time in office. Biden has vowed to cut carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2030.

This may actually be a quiet acknowledgement that green enrgy policies, although they may be viable in the future, are not there yet. Unless the administration wants an open revolt from Americans who can’t pay their fuel bills or afford to drive anywhere, it has to make some concessions.

The Case For School Vouchers

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by R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D

In a recent article, I included school vouchers as one of five issues that the N. C. General Assembly should address in their next session. The purpose of this article is to provide more information about how important school vouchers have become over the past few years.

Most parents and citizens assume that the public school system, which is very well funded, is focused on teaching essential academic skills and is being successful. The reality of these assumptions could not be further from the truth. The academic achievement (ranking) of American public schools has continued to diminish so that now Americas’ school students rank 38th in math scores and 24th in science according to a Business Insider report in 2018. Since the school lockdowns the situation is most certainly worse. The national average expenditure per student in 2021-22 was $15,047 per student with North Carolina spending $11,651. The question becomes are we getting a good return on our expenditure? Assuredly not.

Another issue with public schools is the wide disparity between schools in the same district. Here in Craven County, the highest ranking Elementary School in math proficiency is 67% while the lowest is 10%. Why the wide disparity? Similar disparities exist for reading proficiency. Which school a child attends is crucial. According to recent data, home schooled children typically score 15 to 30 percent higher on standard achievement tests. The difference is even higher for Black children who achieve 23 to 40 percent higher than those in public schools.

Beyond academics however, is the increasing concern parents have about the Woke ideology prevalent in public schools. Critical Race Theory, demeaning America, transgender instruction and encouragement, and inappropriate sex education are increasing concerns of parents. Even though a school may deny specific classes on these topics, most teachers subscribe to these beliefs and consequently infuse their beliefs on their students through their daily interaction.

The bottom line is whether the parents or the government has the right to select the type of education that a child receives. If you believe the government has that right, then like most Leftists, you will support the public school system. If however, you believe that parents have that right then school vouchers are the only way to fairly allow parents to exercise that right. The state of Arizona recently passed legislation that allows parents the authority to direct the per student tax money to public, private, charter or homeschools. This should serve as a model for North Carolina. No reason not to. The question becomes whether the General Assembly has the will to take a stand on this critical issue.

Freedom,to be meaningful, must be exercised in all arenas of society. What can be more important than ensuring that the children of this country receive the best education possible?

What The News Fails To Report

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On Thursday, Newsbusters posted an article about the latest reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop. On Monday morning, CBS News announced that they had independently verified the authenticity of Hunter Biden’s laptop. CBS News is claiming that the laptop is Hunter Biden’s and the information on it is valid. ABC and NBC however have no followed suit.

The article reports:

On Monday morning, CBS News became the first of the Big Three networks to announce that their “independent forensic review” found Hunter Biden’s laptop is full of authentic contents. They didn’t dwell on how CBS mocked this laptop as Fake News before Biden was elected in 2020. Then CBS did not air a story on Monday evening, or on Tuesday, or on Wednesday. It looks like a one-and-done. 

ABC and NBC were not spurred to report its own version of the CBS story. NBC was more determined to do multiple stories last weekend on the White House wedding of Hunter’s daughter Naomi Biden, with Kristen Welker stories on Friday’s Nightly News and Saturday’s Today.

The significance of the laptop is not that Hunter Biden was engaging in a lot of activities that are illegal–drugs, sex, etc., but exactly what is the financial relationship between Hunter and his father? Has the Biden administration been influenced by Hunter Biden’s business dealings? Please follow the link above to read the entire article to read the timeline on the discovery of the laptop and the events that have followed. It still may be that the major network news programs will ignore the latest information on Hunter Biden’s laptop and cover more important things like the local quilt maker’s club.

 

The Respect For Marriage Act Doesn’t Respect Marriage

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On Tuesday, The Conservative Review posted an article about The Respect for Marriage Act that is now making its way through Congress. The Respect for Marriage Act is nothing more than the Biden administration (and Congress’) attempt to silence people who support and believe in traditional marriage.

The article explains the consequences of passing this law:

What will happen is this: Christians, Jews, Muslims, and anyone else who dares maintain that marriage is a lifelong conjugal union between one man and one woman — the definition of marriage for thousands of years until the U.S. Supreme Court descended from Mount Sinai with Obergefell v. Hodges inscribed on stone tablets — will be branded a bigot and driven from the public square and marketplace.

Anyone who owns a small business related to the wedding industry — photographers, bakers, website designers, venue owners, caterers, florists — will be sued into oblivion if they refuse services to same-sex couples. Religious colleges and universities will lose their tax-exempt status. Religious institutions of every kind, if they hold to their teachings and traditions about marriage, will face an onslaught from the Department of Justice and the federal bureaucracy. 

To paraphrase George Orwell’s famous line, if you want a picture of the future under the Respect for Marriage Act, imagine a boot stamping on Jack Phillips’ face — forever. 

The untrammeled exercise of power and the vigorous crushing of dissent is the entire purpose of the proposed law. There can be no other possible justification for it. Michael New, an assistant professor at the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America, recently told The Daily Signal that Catholic colleges and universities in particular might face ruinous lawsuits and loss of federal funding if the bill is signed into law.

The article concludes:

The justification for the bill is just as outlandish and offensive as the argument that it presents no danger to religious Americans. In the wake of the Dobbs decision this summer, we were warned that some future Supreme Court opinion, following Justice Clarence Thomas’s logic, could overturn Obergefell and other substantive due process rulings such as Loving v. Virginia, which struck down state laws banning interracial marriage.

The purpose of this claim, in case it isn’t bone-crushingly obvious, is to lump opponents of gay marriage in with opponents of interracial marriage, to smear them as bigots who aren’t just on the wrong side of history, but who are about to be on the receiving end of a federal government empowered to go after them.

And if you think that can’t really be how proponents of the Respect for Marriage Act think about traditional-minded Americans, go ask Jack Phillips how he’s faring after winning his Supreme Court case in 2018.

This is a bad bill. Any Republican who supports this bill should be subject to a primary challenge during the next election.

Thanksgiving

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Thanksgiving is a day when theoretically Americans sit down with family and friends and give thanks for all of the blessings we have received.

The Encyclopedia Britannica describes the holiday as follows:

Plymouth’s Thanksgiving began with a few colonists going out “fowling,” possibly for turkeys but more probably for the easier prey of geese and ducks, since they “in one day killed as much as…served the company almost a week.” Next, 90 or so Wampanoag made a surprise appearance at the settlement’s gate, doubtlessly unnerving the 50 or so colonists. Nevertheless, over the next few days the two groups socialized without incident. The Wampanoag contributed venison to the feast, which included the fowl and probably fish, eels, shellfish, stews, vegetables, and beer. Since Plymouth had few buildings and manufactured goods, most people ate outside while sitting on the ground or on barrels with plates on their laps. The men fired guns, ran races, and drank liquor, struggling to speak in broken English and Wampanoag. This was a rather disorderly affair, but it sealed a treaty between the two groups that lasted until King Philip’s War (1675–76)…

The Pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts in November. Massachusetts in November is not a hospitable place, and it goes downhill from there until about May. The fact that any of them survived is amazing. They  had a lot to be thankful for.

However, the story of the Pilgrims has been rewritten by some of the media.

On Wednesday, Breitbart reported the following:

MSNBC’s Joy Reid said Wednesday on her show “The ReidOut” that she believed Republicans want to portray Thanksgiving as a “simplistic fairytale” to cover up for America being founded on “violence” and “genocide.”

She continued, “But it is also to unpack the myth of Thanksgiving. It is a holiday riddled with historical inaccuracies. It is built on this myth that the indigenous welcomed their colonizers with open arms and ears of corn. A simplistic fairytale interpretation of a 1621 encounter between indigenous tribes and English settlers that erases the genocide that followed. It’s the truth that Republicans want banned from our textbooks. Because here is the secret they want so desperately to keep, we are a country founded on violence. Our birth was violent. In 1619, a ship with more than 20 enslaved Africans landed in Virginia, ushering in two centuries of American slavery that left millions in chains or dead. When those humans in bondage were finally free, a terrorist organization that was a card-carrying member of polite society, The Ku Klux Klan, picked up where the Civil War ended using violence to maintain white supremacy.”

Reid added, “The Klan is still active, and as Americans, we continue to choose violence. We are a country that chooses violence over and over again. There is no facet of American society that is untouched by it.”

I guess she can be thankful that she lives in a country that gives her the freedom to say that. However, I challenge her to find a better place to live where she could enjoy the success she has had in America.

 

Heart Problems And Covid Vaccines

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On November 20th, The Epoch Times posted an article about the link between the Covid mRNA vaccine and heart problems.

The article reports:

Until the British cardiologist, Dr. Aseem Malhotra, expressed grave concern about the safety of Covid mRNA vaccines, he was one of the most celebrated doctors in Britain. In 2016 he was named in the Sunday Times Debrett’s list as one of the most influential people in science and medicine in the UK in a list that included Professor Stephen Hawking. His total Altmetric score (measure of impact and reach) of his medical journal publications since 2013 is over 10,000 making it one of the highest in the World for a clinical doctor during this period.

In the early days of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Britain, he advocated the injections for the general public. However, in July of 2021, he experienced a terrible personal loss that caused him to reevaluate the shots—namely, the sudden and unexpected death of his 73-year-old father. His father’s death made no sense to him because he knew from his own examination that his father’s general and cardiac health were excellent. As he put it in a recent interview:

His postmortem findings really shocked me. There were two severe blockages in his coronary arteries, which didn’t really make any sense with everything I know, both as a cardiologist—someone who has expertise in this particular area—but also intimately knowing my dad’s lifestyle and his health. Not long after that, data started to emerge that suggested a possible link between the mRNA vaccine and increased risk of heart attacks from a mechanism of increasing inflammation around the coronary arteries. But on top of that, I was contacted by a whistleblower at a very prestigious university in the UK, a cardiologist himself, who explained to me that there was a similar research finding in his department, and that those researchers had decided to essentially cover that up because they were worried about losing funding from the pharmaceutical industry. But it doesn’t stop there. I then started looking at data in the UK to see if there had been any increase in cardiac arrest. My dad suffered a cardiac arrest and sudden cardiac death at home. Had there been any change in the UK since the vaccine rollout? And again those findings were very clear. There’s been an extra 14,000 out of hospital cardiac arrests in 2021 vs 2020.

The more Dr. Malhotra looked into it, the more he felt the same concern about the safety of the mRNA vaccines that Dr. Peter McCullough had felt since the spring of 2021. The alarming incidence of sudden, unexpected deaths during the latter half of 2021 and the first eight months of 2022—especially among the young and fit—strengthened his grave concern and suspicion.

The Covid mRNA vaccine is an experimental vaccine. I believe that it should be taken off the market until it can be proven to be safe. There have been too many athletes and people who were in seemingly good health that have died shortly after receiving the vaccine. It’s time we tested more before giving the shot to anyone.

Concerns About ERIC

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ERIC (Electronic Registration Information Center) is a voter-roll management system used by many states. Unfortunately, ERIC is not politically neutral.

On Monday, The Federalist posted an article saying that Alabama will withdraw from ERIC.

The article reports:

However, member states may not realize ERIC was started by far-left political activist David Becker, who has dedicated his life to attacking conservatives and advancing left-wing policies. Becker also started the Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR), one of two leftist groups that funneled $419 million in grants from Mark Zuckerberg to mostly blue counties of swing states, funding Democratic get-out-the-vote operations from government election offices in 2020. ERIC shares voter roll data – including records of unregistered citizens – with CEIR, which then reportedly creates targeted mailing lists for unregistered but likely Democrat voters and sends them back to the states for voter registration outreach.

Additionally, per government watchdog Verity Vote, ERIC doesn’t actually clean states’ voter rolls, but rather inflates them. Though member states are allegedly required to clean their voter rolls, nothing happens. A March 2022 audit by Michigan’s auditor general found the state’s Bureau of Elections failed to sufficiently clean its voter rolls, though Michigan had joined ERIC in 2019. Likewise, the District of Columbia (another ERIC member) has also been sued for its failure to clean its rolls.

The article concludes:

While Alabama’s outgoing secretary of state, John Merrill, has repeatedly signaled his support for ERIC, Allen campaigned on removing the state from the system. Instead of relying on ERIC to clean Alabama’s voter rolls, Allen plans on using change-of-address information from the United States Postal Service, driver’s license records from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, and death records from the Alabama Department of Public Health to maintain accurate rolls.

Alabama is the second ERIC member state to withdraw from the pact. Louisiana suspended its participation in January over similar concerns.

If we are going to have honest elections, we need clean voting rolls. That’s really not that hard. When I moved from Massachusetts to North Carolina, I got a census letter from the town I lived in asking me to confirm that I still lived there. I suppose I could have lied, but it is a relatively small town, and eventually any lie would be discovered. Anyway, letters like that are how they keep their voter rolls updated. I also think that using information from the Post Office, Division of Motor Vehicles, and other public sources would be helpful in keeping voting records straight.

 

Forgetting The Reasons

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On November 19th, American Greatness posted an article encouraging us to remember why we voted for President Trump in 2016. I did not initially support President Trump–all I knew about him was that he was rich and owned casinos. However, I voted against Hillary in the election. Later, I was totally impressed by the decisions he made. Among other things, the peace deals in the Middle East were thought to be impossible, and he got them done.

The article notes:

Most people do not understand the kind of true sacrifice Trump made when he decided to run for office—even though he surely didn’t have to. The hatred and other persecutions, the sorts that come with such public sacrifices, have the potential of ruining not only one’s own life but that of one’s family. Most people don’t know anything about what that’s like. Nevertheless, Trump chose to make those sacrifices to expose the unabashed corruption at every level of American politics.

Before Trump pulled back the curtain we only saw shadows and projections of what was actually happening there. We got only rare glimpses of what really goes on behind the scenes. We knew things weren’t on the up and up, but little did we know how deep the swamp really was. At that time, the Republican Party was lifeless and without any sense of direction. No one should forget that Trump resuscitated a dying party. He gave it a future. He gave it hope. 

He was the people’s champion among those who felt left behind by the establishment on both sides. He put American politics under a microscope like no other president ever has.

The article concludes:

Without Trump at the helm for the last two years, the RINOs have regained much of the momentum they lost and they, like the Democrats, cannot stand the thought of another four years under Trump. Backing away from Trump now is ill considered. Make some of your own observations about these strange occurrences and remember why you liked Trump in the beginning.

Remember, the same people who were attacking him years ago are the ones still attacking him now, only today they are using a well-liked candidate (who owes a great deal to Trump) against him, causing a divide and duping everyone in the process. Consider who that really benefits. That says a lot to me. 

President Trump is the only Republican wealthy enough to fight the Washington swamp and the only Republican willing to do it. Governor DeSantis has done a great job in Florida, but he will not fight the Washington swamp. He is a party animal–not an individual thinker. Unless you want your children and grandchildren to grow up in a third-world country where energy is rationed, food is scarce, and the average person is on a downhill slope economically, you need to support President Trump.

Setting Up Two Classes Of Citizens

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On Sunday, Hot Air posted an article about Canada’s plan to tax those citizens who were not vaccinated against Covid-19. Public outcry caused the plan to be scrapped, but it is entirely possible that the plan will show up again, despite growing evidence of the ineffectiveness and dangers of the vaccine.

The article quotes the Canadian Medical Association Journal:

Quebec’s recent move to tax people who refuse COVID-19 vaccinations reopened debate about the merits of such penalties.

Premier François Legault said that choosing to remain unvaccinated has consequences for the health care system and not all Quebecers should foot the bill.

Roughly one in 10 adults in Quebec remain unvaccinated, yet they account for an outsized share of COVID-19 hospitalizations and about half of all intensive care patients.

With hospitals postponing surgeries and some 20 000 health workers sick with COVID-19, fining those who refuse vaccinations becomes “a question of fairness,” Legault said.

The article at Hot Air concludes:

But if Canada is really crazy enough to take a fresh look at this policy, what will they say to all of the people who resisted but were eventually forced to take the vaccines in light of more recent news? Keep in mind that many European nations have now stopped offering the vaccines to all but the oldest and the most at-risk. These nations include Denmark, Germany, France, Ireland, Norway, Italy, Spain and Sweden. Others are considering similar policies as the dangerous side effects of the vaccines for some groups become more apparent. (And that news is finally being allowed to reach the public without immediately being censored.)

If you are fired from your job, you might find a new avenue of employment later. If the government takes some of your money, you may be able to make up for the loss in the future. But once you’ve been injected with these experimental vaccines, you can never be “unvaccinated.” And if you or one of your children suddenly develop a potentially fatal case of Myocarditis, your lives aren’t going to simply “go back to normal.” And it’s worth noting that even the American government is now finally admitting that the new mRNA vaccines will not prevent you from being infected or spreading the virus to others. They just reduce the worst effects of the disease for most people. (I finally caught it in September and managed to make it through to the other side, though I still don’t fully have my senses of taste and smell back.)

The virus is here to stay and it will likely keep morphing into new variants as the seasons go by. In that regard, it’s pretty much the same as the flu at this point. Let’s not return to the craziness of 2020 and 2021, shall we? Making mistakes when we are ignorant of all of the facts about something new is excusable. Continuing to do so after more facts are known is not.

I had the virus before it was fashionable (and before the vaccine). When I had my antibodies tested more than a year later, I still had them. I realize that the virus is dangerous for some people, but I still think the best defense is your own antibodies.

 

One Judge Blocks Tyranny

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On November 10th, Cowboy State Daily reported that U.S. District Court Judge Terry A. Doughty struck down a vaccine mandate for federally-employed preschool workers, and a masking requirement for the preschoolers, in 24 states, including Wyoming.

The article reports:

U.S. District Court Judge Terry A. Doughty compared the vaccine and masking mandate to “tyranny.” 

“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few or many … may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny,” wrote Doughty, quoting James Madison in his ruling against the mandate.

Doughty’s order, filed Sept. 21, forbids the U.S. Health and Human Services department from requiring Head Start preschool employees, classroom volunteers and contractors working with children and families to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19. The mandate also required preschoolers ages 2-4 to wear masks in preschools nationwide.

But Doughty’s injunction of the law only applies in 24 states, including Wyoming, which was among the states that sued the U.S. Health and Human Services Department for dispatching the rule.

The article concludes:

The federal bureaus argued, conversely, that they had the right to mandate vaccination and masking because HHS is allowed to “modify” its own programs, because Head Start staffers check on preschoolers’ health throughout the course of their duties, and because the HHS secretary can implement standards he “finds to be appropriate.”

The court rejected the bureaus’ arguments.

Doughty wrote that Congress gave the Department of Health and Human Services the right to tweak its programs, but not to make changes of “vast economic and political significance.”

“There is nothing in (laws defining the bureaus) which would allow Agency Defendants to make medical decisions for employees and volunteers, and/or to require 2, 3, and 4-year-old students to wear masks the majority of the day,” wrote Doughty.

He also noted that since there were no additional funds given for the weekly testing of exempted workers, a required provision under the department’s rule, the states or local workers would have had to cover the costs of that requirement.

This is only a small part of the battle to get freedom back for Americans. Remember, the vaccine is only approved for emergency use, and Congress has begun to fight back against a continuing state of emergency (article here). The scientific evidence shows that neither basic cloth masks or the vaccine works. Vaccine passports will be the next way our government attempt to control Americans and deprive them of the freedoms to which we have become accustomed.

Bad News For America

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On Saturday, The Daily Caller reported that President Biden has agreed to having America pay climate reparations to the rest of the world. Yes, I know that’s not what they are calling it, but that’s what it is.

The article reports:

The Biden administration and nearly 200 world governments agreed on Saturday to a framework that would have richer countries compensate poorer nations for damages allegedly caused by carbon emissions at the United Nations COP27 climate conference, according to Reuters.

Wealthy nations will create a “loss and damage” fund that will provide money to countries that have suffered from climate-related “disasters” such as droughts or hurricanes, according to a draft proposal seen by Reuters. However, most of the details of the financial framework will be decided and agreed upon in 2023 at the next COP conference that will take place in Dubai.

In March 2016, I reported the following (article here):

…former United Nations climate official Ottmar Edenhofer:

“One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. This has almost nothing to do with the environmental policy anymore, with problems such as deforestation or the ozone hole,” said Edenhofer, who co-chaired the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change working group on Mitigation of Climate Change from 2008 to 2015.

So what is the goal of environmental policy?

“We redistribute de facto the world’s wealth by climate policy,” said Edenhofer.

The Biden administration is part of the move toward worldwide socialism. This latest giveaway of American taxpayer dollars is part of that effort.

The article concludes:

COP27 has been dominated by the debate surrounding a plan to compensate developing nations for climate damages, according to Reuters. The European Union said Thursday that it would support such a framework if China, the world’s chief polluter, would provide funding and if the money raised was exclusively earmarked for developing countries that are destitute to ensure that China did not benefit from the proposal, according to the WSJ.

After agreeing to the climate financing framework, the U.S. also called for the inclusion of a pledge to phase out all fossil fuels which would build on the 2021 agreement to “phase down” coal use, according to Bloomberg.

The White House and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

This is another reason we need to vote the Biden administration out of office in 2024.

Strengthening The Military Industrial Complex

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On Monday, The Daily Update posted an article about the purchase of a used icebreaker.

The article reports:

Russia has 40 icebreakers, and China is bolstering its fleet to fulfill President Xi Jinping’s hopes of becoming a “polar great power.” With only two ships – the heavy Polar Star and the medium Healy, both of which are nearly half a century old and 10 years past their prime – the US is playing catch up. The States are building more ships but need something in the interim, so the Coast Guard is on the verge of acquiring a vessel from private energy company Edison Chouest Offshore for roughly $125 to $150 million:  

• The Coast Guard needs colossal icebreakers because they’re the only way to approach foreign crafts in frozen waters, conduct search-and-rescue operations or launch pollution-control efforts. The Department of Defense also said there are plenty of opportunities for establishing commercial fishing and oil campaigns in the Arctic.
• Last month, the White House released a 10-year strategic plan to strengthen its homeland defense and deter Russian and Chinese activity in the region. Vladimir Putin’s war with Ukraine has also inflamed tensions, making “government-to-government cooperation with Russia in the Arctic virtually impossible,” the report says.

The article notes the following:

From 2011 to 2020, the number of small and large businesses receiving DoD contracts plummeted 43% and 7.3%, respectively. As opposed to having a wide pool to shop from, the US military now begrudgingly relies on a few “Walmarts of war” as University of California Professor Daniel Wirls put it. Don’t expect any blue light specials on Javelin anti-tank missiles. 

The government has created a monopoly of a few companies that are supplying weapons and other goods to the Department of Defense. This is not a good situation. Eisenhower warned us about the military-industrial complex, and the Biden administration is strengthening that same military-industrial complex. Unfortunately, that is the same military-industrial complex that profits from endless wars that never seem to be over or won.

Public Schools In Some Places Need To Be Closed

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The insanity in our public schools is out of control. Today, The Conservative Review reported the following:

A Rhode Island elected school board official involved in promoting a diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda in the district, recently came under fire for claiming that intentionally “misgendering” someone is an “act of violence” that “needs to be dealt with accordingly.”

Jennifer Lima, elected member of the North Kingstown School Committee, shared a social media post from an activist group on November 12 that read, “Purposefully misgendering students is an act of violence. Respond accordingly.”

Lima added to the shared post, “I recognize that some may find the use of the word violence in this post extreme.”

“Any act of violence in our schools which creates an unsafe environment (physically or emotionally by or for any member of the school community) needs to be dealt with accordingly,” Lima continued.

Lima was consequently slammed online by critics who interpreted her post as advocating a violent response to using incorrect pronouns.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Lima explained, “I also believe that purposely misgendering someone is an act of psychological violence when done deliberately and consistently and should be responded to accordingly.”

The article concludes:

Nicole Solas, a senior fellow with the Independent Women’s Forum, disagreed and told Fox News Digital, “If you believe you’re under threat of violence then to ‘respond accordingly’ means you act in self-defense, which is a physical and often violent action taken to protect yourself.”

“Her public call for students to ‘respond accordingly’ to non-existent violence is her own tacit call to violence against those who oppose her radical ideology,” Solas continued. “She creates a hostile, paranoid school environment where violence is now more likely to happen thanks to her hysterical message that danger lurks around every pronoun.”

Lima previously faced a failed recall effort in 2021 launched by the Gaspee Project, a Rhode Island-based nonprofit. The group accused Lima of pushing “antiracist” policies and a “Marxist” agenda.

The Gaspee Project stated that the school board official was “openly seeking to indoctrinate students with divisive race and gender theories as well as anti-police propaganda.”

Lima stated that the organization targeted her for being “vocal about deeper antiracism education.”

North Kingstown is a pretty town on the West side of Narragansett Bay. For many years it was the home of Quonset Point Naval Air Station and the Davisville Seabee base. Because it was a military town, it tended to be conservative despite being in a liberal state. It is sad to see a teacher in this quiet little town trying to indoctrinate her students and incite violence. She should be recalled.