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One Phone Company Pushed Back
There is a lot of information coming out lately about the government operation Arctic Frost. I am not sure any of the actions involved in this operation were in line with the U.S. Constitution, but there is one area that violated the Constitution that is very troubling.
On Wednesday, John Hinderaker posted the following at Power Line Blog:
Arctic Frost was the FBI investigation that tried to associate Donald Trump and many other Republicans with the January 6, 2021, Capitol protest. It was the basis for one of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s indictments of Trump. That indictment was dismissed. Senator Chuck Grassley has been on this case for a long time; whistleblowers approached him long ago to explain the corruption of the FBI and Joe Biden’s Department of Justice.
Arctic Frost can best be seen as a continuation of the Russia Collusion Hoax and the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, which sought to prevent Trump from being elected, and then to cripple his administration after he won the 2016 election. Also the Dirty 51 scandal, which sought, successfully, to swing the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
Arctic Frost included service of 197 subpoenas in which Special Counsel Jack Smith sought incriminating information about hundreds of Republicans, including ten Republican senators and one House member. There was no basis for suspecting any of these individuals of criminal actions, and in fact, no criminality was found. Smith subpoenaed telephone records of those Republicans from various telecom vendors, and rogue Democrat Judge James Boasberg entered a gag order, directing the phone companies not to disclose the subpoenas to their customers–United States Senators–for one year. There is precedent for such orders in organized crime investigations.
The article quotes Fox News:
Verizon justified complying with the subpoenas, saying they were “facially valid” and contained only phone numbers, not names. Verizon said that with the “benefit of hindsight” and recent discussions with the Senate Sergeant at Arms, which handles congressional phone services, it has modified its policies so that it puts up more of a challenge to law enforcement requests pertaining to Congress members.
…AT&T, meanwhile, did not comply with the subpoenas.
“When AT&T raised questions with Special Counsel Smith’s office concerning the legal basis for seeking records of members of Congress, the Special Counsel did not pursue the subpoena further, and no records were produced,” David Chorzempa, general counsel for AT&T, wrote.
The article at Power Line Blog notes:
Taken together, these Democratic Party scandals, from the Russian Collusion Hoax to Crossfire Hurricane to the Dirty 51 to Arctic Frost–and likely others that have not yet come to light–represent by far the worst political corruption in American history. There has never been anything like it.
The Republican voters have been patient, but when will the Republicans hold someone accountable?
Why Americans Don’t Trust The Mainstream Media
On Wednesday, The American Thinker posted a list of questions the mainstream media never asks Democrats.
Here are the some of questions:
What do you think of Arctic Frost where the Biden administration’s Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, illegally appointed Get Trump special counsel Jack Smith and Judge James Boasberg secretly issued subpoenas to target over 400 Republicans and groups, including Senators, to see what they said about the 2020 election and protest?
…Isn’t it legal to protest an election and have private conversations about it?
Isn’t it weaponization of the Justice Department when they use it in this fashion to target political opponents?
What would the reporting have been if Democrats had been targeted in this fashion after they protested the 2000, 2004, and 2106 elections? I am sure there would have been absolute outrage and wall-to-wall reporting.
Didn’t Trump ask on Jan. 6 that the protesters march peacefully and patriotically to the Capitol?
Why have those words been buried in most reports?
How is that fomenting violence and an insurrection?
Do you believe that people and families who make over $200,000 should have their health care paid for by taxpayers?
Isn’t that many of the people you are fighting for when you hold the country hostage and keep the government closed?
Why should the rest of us support people and families who make more than almost all of us?
Didn’t Democrats vote that these subsidies would be temporary and end on Dec. 31, 2025 when they passed them and said that COVID was the reason?
Why are they going back on their promise?
Why do Democrats continue to claim that Obamacare has made health care more affordable when prices have skyrocketed since the bill passed in 2010?
Should mentally and physically able people be required to work or volunteer to get government benefits? If not, why not? After all, Democrats voted for that in the 1990s when Bill Clinton was president.
Isn’t it better for people to start moving up the economic ladder instead of being relegated to poverty for their entire lives by being dependent on the government?
Isn’t capitalism the best method to reduce poverty instead of socialism?
It is a shame that young people have been taught that socialism is a good system.
Didn’t poverty hit record lows during Trump’s term with lower taxes, fewer regulations, low energy prices, and low inflation?
Why do Democrats continue to lie that Trump’s tax rate cuts only helped the rich and cost the government trillions when the facts show the opposite is true?
Please follow the link to the article for the rest of the questions. I would love to hear the answers!
Policies Have Consequences
On Wednesday, The Independent Journal Review posted an article about the impact of President Trump’s energy policies.
The article reports:
The U.S. became the first country to export over 10 million metric tonnes of LNG in one month in October, Reuters reported on Monday, citing preliminary data from the financial firm LSEG. The DOE posted on X on Wednesday that “there are big opportunities ahead for U.S. natural gas” and has consistently championed LNG in a sharp departure from former President Joe Biden’s crackdown on the resource.
“The fact that America’s oil and gas industry was able to pass this stunning milestone is impressive considering all the roadblocks to progress which were thrown up by the Biden administration,” David Blackmon, an energy and policy writer who spent 40 years in the oil and gas business, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “It is a testament to both the resilience and innovative mindset of the industry and to the phenomenal wealth of America’s natural gas resource.”
The article notes:
“By expediting LNG terminal expansion and signing off on export agreements, the Trump administration is rapidly powering the world while simultaneously keeping his commitment for U.S. energy dominance,” Sterling Burnett, director of the Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy at The Heartland Institute, told the DCNF. “The world wants U.S. gas, and under Trump they are getting it, in the process showing the world what a market economy can do when unfettered by unnecessary, duplicative, regulations that stifle growth.” “The only thing that has held the U.S. economy and our energy independence and dominance back over the decades is Democratic administration’s pushing inane, futile, climate policies, restricting fossil fuel use,” Burnett continued. “New LNG export data shows those days are over and what America can accomplish for itself and the world, when a President puts America first.”
Energy independence and energy exporting will help put America back on the road to fiscal sanity without overtaxing Americans. This is good news!
From my friends at Townhall:
Success Happens When The Department Of Justice Goes After Real Criminals–Not Political Enemies
On Sunday, Breitbart posted an article about the arrest of two Alabama residents selling guns to the Mexican cartels.
The article reports:
Federal authorities charged two Alabama residents with trafficking hundreds of firearms after uncovering what officials are calling the largest weapons seizure at the Southwest border—more than 500 guns allegedly bound for a Mexican drug cartel, hidden in false-walled trailers intercepted at the Juarez-Lincoln Port of Entry in Laredo, Texas. Authorities allege the pair intended to smuggle the weapons into Mexico on behalf of a Mexican drug cartel.
Emilio Ramirez Cortes, 48, a Mexican citizen who legally resides in the United States, and his son, Edgar Emilio Ramirez Diaz, are accused of attempting to smuggle weapons to Mexico on October 23. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested the pair after discovering the guns, magazines, and ammunition hidden within the walls of a trailer the duo was pulling as they attempted to make a border crossing into Mexico.
According to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, the pair made their initial appearances in Laredo federal court. They will remain in custody pending a detention hearing.
Both are charged with smuggling firearms, ammunition, magazines, and other firearm accessories, as well as trafficking weapons.
Attorney General Pam Bondi commented on the arrest, saying, “Disrupting the illegal flow of weapons into Mexico is a key part of our whole-of-government approach to dismantling the cartels. This significant seizure represents our commitment to protecting Americans from brutal cartel violence.”
The article concludes:
The criminal complaint alleges authorities found false walls in both trailers. An inspection of the trailers resulted in the discovery of more than 300 rifles and pistols, as well as various caliber ammunition and magazines. In a Friday social media post on X, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem indicated the total amount of firearms discovered was more than 500, calling the find “the largest weapons seizure at the Southwest land border.”
According to court records, the men were smuggling the weapons and related items in exchange for payment and had done so on multiple occasions.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives agents, along with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Scott Bowling is prosecuting the case.
According to the Department of Justice, this case is part of Operation Take Back America. This nationwide initiative marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
Securing the border means keeping track of what comes into America and what is moved out of America.
An Interesting Perspective
On the surface, things did not go well for the Republicans on Tuesday. But there might be some light at the end of this tunnel. Some of the results are exactly what should have been expected. As of 2024, approximately 350,000 Virginia residents work in civilian federal jobs, why would they vote for a party that is cutting many of those jobs. Streamlining the government and making it more efficient are not popular ideas in northern Virginia.
On Wednesday, November 5th, PJ Media noted:
The Dems’ flying monkeys in the mainstream media will have a field day with this, loudly proclaiming a huge repudiation of President Trump. There’s no basis in reality for that. I am not at all surprised that things went poorly for Republicans in four states that voted for Kamala Harris last year. Voting Democrat wasn’t very popular last year, and it hasn’t gotten any cooler this year. My stomach isn’t going to be twisted into knots because people who voted to send the country down the leftist toilet last year are continuing to do so.
One of the things that I have been saying in the last year is that the Dems’ extremist behavior since the presidential election last year isn’t doing anything to win back the voters they have been losing. They have essentially been playing to a captive audience, one that enjoys being captive. So the audience was a lot louder on Tuesday night, it was still the same audience, nobody new showed up.
Two of the races will make it nigh on impossible for the Dems to come up with a sales pitch to win back those who felt that the party had become uncomfortably extreme. Now the aforementioned commie jihadist will be front and center for the Democrats as the mayor of the biggest city in the country. Virginia Dems giving Jay Jones a pass for openly fantasizing about murdering Republicans isn’t going to make the case to flyover country Dems and independents that the party is making a return to normalcy. The only thing that they could have done worse in that regard is elect a drag queen serial killer to one of the offices up for grabs last night.
The Democrats have made a habit recently of showing that they have no basic principles when it comes to supporting candidates.
Elections Have Consequences
I have always enjoyed visiting New York City. I went to school there. My husband worked in a recording studio there when I met him. One of my daughters went to school there and lived there for a few years afterward. I loved visiting her–we walked everywhere and shopped till we dropped. I suspect that a lot of the things I loved about the city are about to change.
The New York Times has the full transcript of Mayor Mamdani’s speech. It includes:
Together, New York, we’re going to freeze the… [rent!] Together, New York, we’re going to make buses fast and… [free!] Together, New York, we’re going to deliver universal… [child care!]
If he can get these changes through the city council, these actions will have consequences. One of the consequences of his election is already occurring.
On November 3rd, The New York Post reported:
As Wall Street faces the prospect of left-wing firebrand Zohran Mamdani becoming the city’s next mayor, a fast-growing business hub down south is beckoning.
Dallas — whose grab bag of major business moguls has included Ross Perot, Mark Cuban and Jerry Jones — has more recently become a major draw for big financial firms that were born and raised in the Big Apple.
Goldman Sachs is building an 800,000-square-foot, $500 million campus in Dallas. It’s set to open in 2028 and consolidate over 5,000 employees. Last year, the mega bank hired Robert Kaplan, the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, as its vice chairman.
On November 5th, The University of Texas at Arlington reported:
A new financial powerhouse could soon emerge in the heart of Texas. The Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE), based in Dallas, has received approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to operate as a national exchange—positioning it to compete with the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. Backed by more than $160 million from major investment firms like BlackRock and Citadel Securities, TXSE plans to begin listing stocks by late 2026.
To explain what this means for businesses, investors and the Texas economy, The University of Texas at Arlington’s Sriram Villupuram, associate professor of finance, shares his insight. Villupuram, whose research focuses on corporate finance and capital markets, discusses how TXSE could reshape the financial landscape and the challenges it may face.
What exactly is the Texas Stock Exchange, and how does it differ from the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq?
Villupuram: The Texas Stock Exchange is a national securities exchange like the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq, and will compete with those exchanges. Both the NYSE and the Nasdaq have stringent listing requirements for prospective companies to list on their exchanges. In contrast, the Texas Stock Exchange is expected to facilitate the listing of relatively smaller companies.
Please follow the links to read the above two articles. I think the New York City residents who voted for Mamdani are in for a rude awakening.
One Way To Cut The Costs Of The SNAP Program
As I have previously stated numerous time, the federal budget is getting out of hand. We need to find ways to cut the spending. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins has a suggestion.
On Sunday, The Daily Caller reported:
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said Sunday on “Fox & Friends Weekend” thousands of illegal migrants have been taken off the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and that there will be drastic reform to ensure those who are truly vulnerable receive benefits.
Concerns about maintaining SNAP benefits began in October 2025 as the government shutdown stretched out. Notably, a handful of Democrats sued the Trump administration to use a contingency fund to continue the food aid. Highlighting how the argument over the benefits shed light on who is receiving SNAP, Rollins was asked to discuss reports of illegal immigrants being eligible for SNAP.
“There’s been a lot of miscommunication out there on the program, but this is one of the first things we did when I walked in. Day One of USDA, February 13th, is we sent letters to every governor in America being very clear that no illegal aliens can use SNAP. Zero, zero, zero,” Rollins said. “We asked every state for the first time in history — and this was in February — to send us their data and let us, with DOGE [Department of Government Efficiency] and a war room, actually start going through this data to better understand how this explosion of SNAP benefits happened under Joe Biden. We increased almost 40% on this program in just a couple of years under the Biden administration.”
Illegal immigration was one of the reasons for the increased enrollment in the SNAP Program, but another cause was the inflation caused by the Biden administration’s energy and economic policies.
The article concludes:
According to a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) memo obtained in September 2025 by the Daily Caller News Foundation, federal officials were directed to scrutinize and weed out migrant applicants deemed more likely to become dependent on government services and programs.
While data on illegal migrants and SNAP usage is limited, USDA data from 2022 shows the program provided benefits to 1.465 million noncitizens, with an additional 2.2 million children living with noncitizens also receiving SNAP benefits, according to the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC). Data pulled by EPIC shows California led the nation in this regard, providing 273,000 food stamps to noncitizens in fiscal year 2022, followed by Florida with 238,000, and New York with 218,000.
The Shutdown Is Hurting Americans
To me, one of the most annoying things about the current government shutdown is that Congress is getting paid while Americans go without. Admittedly, there are some serious scammers on various government programs, but there are also people who genuinely need help to pay their bills, have a place to live, and eat. North Carolina has a part of its budget process that I truly admire–if a new budget is not passed, the old budget remains. The state government is never at risk for a shutdown.
On Sunday, Breitbart reported:
As temperatures begin to drop around the U.S., Democrat lawmakers’ refusal to fund the government may impact the ability of some Americans to heat their homes.
Jacqueline Chapman, a retired school aide who relies on a $630 monthly Social Security check to get by, presents the real-world example of someone impacted by the shutdown on pace to be the longest in U.S. history.
Chapman told Boston’s WCBB5 that she was already dealing with the loss of her food stamp, or SNAP, benefits when she learned the assistance she receives for heating her Philadelphia apartment may also be at risk.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits that aid some 42 million Americans have also been delayed, although a federal judge in Rhode Island on Friday ordered the Trump administration to at least partially fund the program with money held in reserve.
“I feel like I’m living in scary time,” the 74-year-old senior told the news outlet. “It’s not easy to rest when you know you have things to do with limited accounts, limited funds. There isn’t too much you can do.”
Let’s clean up the fraud in the American ‘safety net’ and make sure help goes to the people who need it.
Moving Ahead Toward Energy Independence
On Sunday, Zero Hedge posted an article about the Trump administration’s actions to help America use more of her energy resources.
The article reports:
The DOE said in a statement that it had issued a notice of funding opportunity for “practical, high-impact projects” aimed at modernization and refurbishment – including projects designed to enhance efficiency, extend operational lifespan, and improve the performance of coal and natural gas facilities.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced that the initiative is designed to keep US coal plants running and ensure access to affordable energy (as data center energy demands are shoving working class families in the financial hurt locker).
“For years, the Biden and Obama administrations relentlessly targeted America’s coal industry and workers, resulting in the closure of reliable power plants and higher electricity costs,” Wright said in a statement.
“Thankfully, President [Donald] Trump has ended the war on American coal and is restoring common sense energy policies that put Americans first.”
As the Epoch Times notes further, the initiative follows the DOE’s announcement in September that it would invest $625 million in funding to expand and reinvigorate the U.S. coal industry in an effort to increase energy output.
The Trump administration is seeking to reverse the decline of coal use in the country. In April, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to “identify coal resources on federal lands, lift barriers to coal mining, and prioritize coal leasing on those lands.”
The president also directed federal agencies to “rescind any agency policies that seek to transition the Nation away from coal production or otherwise establish preferences against coal as a generation resource,” according to a White House fact sheet.
Following the order, the DOE unveiled initiatives to boost domestic coal production, including facilitating new investments in coal-powered electricity generation, commercializing coal ash conversion technologies, and designating steelmaking coal as a critical material and mineral.
America has a lot of coal resources. The technology is available to use them in a way that is not harmful to the environment. In recent years, America was shutting down its coal-fired electric plants while China was building them at an accelerated rate. It’s time for that to change. Our national security depends on energy independence.
The Michigan Terrorism Plot
On Monday, The Gateway Pundit reported that the two men suspected of planning a Halloween terrorists attack in Michigan. The two suspects are Mohmed Ali, of Dearborn, Michigan, and Majed Mahmoud.
The article reports:
Mohmed Ali, of Dearborn, Michigan, and Majed Mahmoud are accused of plotting to launch a terror-inspired mass shooting codenamed “pumpkin,” according to court documents. They’ve been charged with receiving, transferring and attempting to receive and transfer firearms knowing and having reasonable cause to believe that they would be used to commit terrorism.
Ali practiced shooting at a local gun range multiple times, including with Mahmoud, a juvenile suspect referred to as “Person 1” and under the alias “Athari” — and once with an unnamed “Co-conspirator 4,” according to the complaint.
The charges come after a lawyer for one of the suspects, who was arrested Friday, claimed to The Associated Press that there was no plot and that he did not expect charges to be filed.
The article concludes:
Per a leak to MSNBC: “Senior Justice Department and FBI officials expressed frustration Friday that FBI Director Kash Patel publicly disclosed an investigation into what he called a “potential” Halloween weekend terrorist plot near Detroit — before investigators had a chance to flesh out key details, including whether the attack actually was imminent, two people familiar with the matter told MSNBC.”
The leakers claimed Kash Patel ‘acted hastily’ without Main Justice’s approval.
“Justice officials registered concern that Patel appeared to have acted hastily on the probe without Main Justice’s approval, with the apparent goal of seeking some credit for the FBI, but in a way that could interfere with the investigation, according to the sources. MSNBC has not named them as they fear retaliation,” MSNBC reported.
I tend to look cautiously on any news reported by MSNBC. Remember, there are numerous people in the Justice Department and FBI with deep connections to the deep state who do not love Director Kash Patel.
Is Anyone Surprised By This?
If the polls are correct, Zohran Mamdani will be elected Mayor of New York City tomorrow. I am hoping that the polls are not correct. I would love to see Curtis Sliwa win that election, but that is not possible. It is remotely possible that New Yorkers will come to their senses in time to elect former Governor Cuomo. He’s not a great choice, but he is a better choice than Zohran Mamdani.
On November 3, Townhall reported:
Last week, Canary Mission reported that Zohran Mamdani’s candidacy is a trial balloon for a radical socialist takeover of America. They’re right, and we spelled out how several Democratic Party Senate candidates are following in Mamdani’s radical footsteps.
However, there’s more to Mamdani’s campaign, and Canary Mission has revealed the connection between the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and how they’re bankrolling Mamdani’s campaign.
…”The story is not just, you know, that it’s random that Zohran ascended to this place,” Sarsour (Linda Sarsour) continued. “It is our Muslim-American communities, and I’ll also say that’s Muslim money. The PACs that have supported Zohran, or a particular PAC that has supported Zohran is probably over 80% of Muslim American donors in this country. High net donors, grassroots donors. And I want to make the point that the Unity and Justice Fund PAC, which is the CAIR super PAC…was the largest institutional donor to the pro-Zohran PAC in New York.”
The article concludes:
Mamdani’s radical socialist and Islamic ties should be an alarm bell for all New Yorkers as well as all Americans. They are not hiding their Leftist agenda or their goal to topple America and remake it in a socialist-Muslim image. Other Democrats are hopping on this radical bandwagon, and they must be stopped.
Just to refresh your memory, CAIR was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation Trial in 2007. Included in the government exhibits of that trial is “An Explanatory Memorandum: From the Archives of the Muslim Brotherhood in America.” This document is the blueprint for the peaceful takeover (through lawfare and elections) of the United States of America by the Muslim Brotherhood. Please follow the link and take a close look at it. If America does not wake up soon, we will no longer be the last remaining bastion of western civilization.
Where The Money Is Going
According to the National Debt Clock, the current national debt is about $38 trillion dollars (that’s a lot of zeroes). In addition to cutting spending, it might also be a good idea to see how we got here.
On Sunday, The Daily Signal reported the following:
Oregon state Rep. Dwayne Yunker began asking questions when he discovered the state was using tax dollars to bring developmentally disabled clients to a strip club this past summer.
Yunker—a Republican lawmaker in a very blue state with a Democrat super majority in the legislature—has exposed this and other controversial Medicaid spending in the state that has little or nothing to do with medical or health issues.
On Monday, he will be in Washington meeting with members of Congress and Trump administration officials about looking into how his state—and likely others—are spending Medicaid dollars. Medicaid is a joint federal-state program intended to cover health care coverage for the poor or disabled.
The Oregon Department of Human Services informed the lawmaker in mid-August that denying the strip club outing could jeopardize federal Medicaid funding, Yunker told The Daily Signal.
Specifically, the state agency referred to a federal law that requires state Medicaid programs to help disabled people integrate into the community.
“The adult day care [program] has taken developmentally disabled clients to strip clubs and bars,” Yunker said. “They say they are integrating them with the community. But we are not talking about taking them to a park or the museum.”
Yunker supports the Trump administration’s reforms to Medicaid in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that include work requirements to receive benefits.
The article concludes:
The part of the funding paying for illegal immigrants comes from state Medicaid dollars, not federal Medicaid dollars. The state also notes online that Medicaid dollars can go for temporary rental assistance as well as nutrition assistance.
In August, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat, denounced Republicans’ federal Medicaid reforms, saying they will make Americans and Oregonians “sicker, hungrier, and less prosperous.”
“I am going to work with Oregon lawmakers and community partners to do all that we can to stand up for Oregonians and get through this needless, callous hardship,” Kotek said.
In his letter to Oz, Yunker wrote, “The real hardship is what my constituents endure under Oregon’s broken Medicaid program.”
“We’ve barely scratched the surface of the broken Medicaid system,” he said.
Using taxpayer dollars to take people to strip clubs is not helping anyone (except the strip club owners).
This Doesn’t Make Sense
It would seem to me that allowing only citizens to vote in American elections would be an obvious thing. Our government was established to represent the interests of Americans. I don’t believe there is a county in the world that allows non-citizens to vote.
On Friday, Breitbart reported:
A federal judge blocked President Donald Trump’s efforts to protect election integrity by requiring proof of United States citizenship on voter registration forms, finding that Trump “lacks the authority to direct such changes.”
In a decision by U.S. District Judge Collen Kollar-Kotelly on Friday, Kollar-Kotelly “sided with Democratic and civil rights groups that sued the Trump administration” after the President issued an executive order in March entitled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” according to the Associated Press.
Kollar-Kotelly, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, claimed in her decision that “the proof-of-citizenship directive is an unconstitutional violation of the separation of powers,” and argued that “on matters related to setting qualifications for voting and regulating federal election procedures,” the U.S. Constitution doesn’t give a “direct role to the President in either domain,” according to the outlet.
“Because our Constitution assigns responsibility for election regulation to the States and to Congress, this Court holds that the President lacks the authority to direct such changes,” Kollar-Kotelly said.
The article concludes:
The order continues to note that “within 30 days of the date” of the executive order, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) “shall take appropriate action to require, in its national mail voter registration form issued under 52 U.S.C. 20508” proof of U.S. Citizenship.
Kollar-Kotelly’s decision comes after she “agreed to partially grant a preliminary injunction sought by three different groups of plaintiffs” in April, according to CBS News.
In her block in April, Kollar-Kotelly prevented the Trump administration from moving forward with enacting “two provisions of the executive order,” according to the outlet.
Why would someone want non-citizens to vote in an election if not to cheat?
Where The Money Actually Went
On Thursday, Legal Insurrection posted an article about the tax dollars that were earmarked to solve the homelessness crisis.
The article quotes Fox News:
A new study just exposed the corruption behind America’s homelessness crisis
For years, Americans have been told that “compassion” for the homeless meant writing ever-larger checks – more money, more programs and far less accountability.
Now, at last, we have some answers for why homelessness has exploded even amid a tripling of public spending.
A groundbreaking investigation, “Infiltrated” – backed by more than 50 pages of documentation from the Capital Research Center in cooperation with Discovery Institute – pulls back the curtain on a vast system of corruption. It reveals how billions in taxpayer funds intended to lift people out of homelessness have instead bankrolled radical activism and anti-American political agendas, betraying both the taxpayers who fund it and the homeless they were meant to help.
…The report offers some very specific examples:
Major philanthropic giants – Ford, Robert Wood Johnson and Gates Foundations – poured billions into Housing First and “equity” initiatives to promote ideology under the guise of helping the homeless.
Meanwhile, coalitions like Funders Together to End Homelessness funneled vast sums toward upstream political causes – including the promotion of reparations and anti-policing movements… all under the moral camouflage of addressing homelessness.
The article at Legal Insurrection concludes:
Ending homelessness is going to require more common sense and tough love. The left’s supposedly compassionate approach will only encourage more of it. We need treatment centers for addicts and the mentally ill. The few who are truly just down on their luck should be given opportunities for work and housing.
Above all, public camping, such as on sidewalks, must be outlawed and the laws must be enforced. There is no other way to end this.
Finally, we need a national audit of all funds being spent on ending this problem. The left should not be allowed to use these funds to benefit politically.
The more we learn about some foundations and NGO’s, the more I wonder if any of these organizations are actually doing what they are supposed to be doing.
An Interesting Glitch In The Move Toward Self-Driving Cars
On Friday, The Boston Globe (no link–behind the paywall) posted an article about the use of robotaxi service Waymo in the city of Boston.
The article points out a very interesting problem with driverless cars in New England winters:
With Boston debating whether to allow driverless cars on city roads, experts say a more fundamental challenge may prevent robotaxis from hitting the streets: snowy winters.
Since robotaxi service Waymo spent two months mapping Boston streets earlier this year, the city council has been considering a potential ban on commercial autonomous vehicles lasting until the city studies their possible adverse impacts and adopts permitting restrictions.
This week,a sometimes testy four-hour hearing at Boston City Hall laid bare many doubts and concerns about the mass deployment of driverless cars in the city.
Rideshare drivers said they feared sudden and devastating job loss should autonomous taxis flood the city. Skeptics questioned whether the robotaxis are clever enough to navigate Boston’s compact and confounding streets. Others fretted that self-driving cars could worsen safety on roads already plagued with aggressive and lawless human drivers.
But perhaps one ofthe biggest, if less politically charged, hurdles mentioned was the weather: can driverless cars handle Boston’s snowy winters?
The article notes:
The car’s on-board computer ingests information about the speed and position of nearby pedestrians, cyclists, vehicles, and other items in the road, dictating the car’s movement accordingly.
But snow can blur cameras and muddle the car’s sensors.
The article mentions Waymo’s past experience with winter weather:
Waymo, for its part, said it is up for the challenge and working its way toward a solution.
“For years, we’ve been advancing our system in some of the snowiest conditions across the country — regularly driving in Upstate New York, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and the Sierra,“ the company wrote in a blog post published on Monday. ”We’ve amassed tens of thousands of miles in diverse, snowy conditions. This has allowed the Waymo Driver’s AI to learn from real driving experience and train to navigate a wide range of winter weather.“
Waymo could theoretically begin deploying its fleet in Boston only in warmer months as its software trains to conquer the snow. Even human drivers tend to avoid roads when the worst snowstorms hit.
Driving in Boston is enough of a challenge without adding cars with no drivers (particularly in snow). I am hoping Waymo goes elsewhere.
From my friends at The Patriot Post:
It was easier to lie to people when the internet didn’t save all of your statements.
Misleading The Public About The Shutdown
On Friday, Chris Bray posted an article at Substack about the misleading reporting on the current government shutdown.
The article shows an X post from Senator Amy Klobuchar:
The article explains:
The Galls are among roughly 22 million ACA marketplace enrollees — about 92% of all enrollees — who face the prospect of higher premiums in 2026, according to KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group.
Democrats are pushing Republicans to extend the enhanced subsidies that make enrollees’ health premiums cheaper, as part of a deal to end the federal government shutdown that began Oct. 1. Republicans have said they want to negotiate any extension of ACA subsidies outside of legislation that would reopen the government.
See the premise? Subsidies “make enrollees’ health premiums cheaper.”
The article points out that the subsidies don’t go to the people paying for the health insurance premiums–they go to the insurance companies (who oddly enough make donations to candidates’ campaign funds).
The article explains:
They (subsidies) make enrollees’ health premiums divided, splitting the cost between the person paying for the insurance and the taxpayers who fund the subsidy, but they flatly don’t make the premiums cheaper. It’s like you go to the supermarket and buy filet mignon, and it only costs you a dollar — wow, filet mignon is so affordable now! — but the supermarket bills the federal government for $25 every time you make that purchase, and the government gets the $25 from you as taxes. The thing costs what it costs. Subsidies don’t make it cheaper. They just hide the expense at the point of purchase. Subsidies shift and obscure.
Why should insurance companies work to be more efficient when the government will support them? This is very similar to what happened to college tuition when student loans became the norm.
The article concludes:
The ACA subsidies are only $91 billion a year, though, so it’s practically nothing.
See also this 2023 CBO report, which projects explosive growth in federal healthcare costs over the next decade.
We’re not having a debate about giving money to Bill and Shelly so they can enjoy their early retirement. We’re having a debate about how much money the federal government — meaning you, if you pay taxes — is going to give to private corporations. Congressional Democrats are servicing their corporate clients.
“Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage.”
Where The Money Went
On Friday, The Federalist posted an article about how Medicaid money was spent.
The article reports:
Five states and Washington, D.C., funneled more than $1.35 billion in federal taxpayer Medicaid funding to illegals, according to a preliminary audit of the program completed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehemet Oz posted the results of the preliminary audit on social media showing California, D.C., Illinois, Washington, Colorado, and Oregon spent millions each on illegals, with California spending the bulk, topping over $1.3 billion alone.
That money, according to Oz, was spent “just in the last few months.”
The left constantly claims this does not, or even cannot, happen because it is against federal law to use programs like Medicaid — something meant for Americans — for illegals, but that small sample of states shows that states are defrauding the American people out of their own programs to the tune of billions of dollars.
That claim is even more spurious considering the Democrats are only days away from breaking the all-time longest government shutdown record because they care more about funding health care for illegals than citizens of their own country.
“Some want to deny that illegal immigrants are receiving Medicaid. Others insist it’s illegal for Medicaid to cover illegal immigrants. And others accurately point out that hospitals can provide emergency services to illegal immigrants under the program,” Oz said, noting CMS is intending to have the money returned to them.
The article concludes:
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations seemed to have alleviated some of the pressure from certain emergency rooms notorious for being abused by illegal aliens, as The Federalist reported, but Dr. Jared Ross, an emergency room doctor, said that illegals being kicked off Medicaid from the OBBB could have the unintended consequence of turning them toward emergency rooms instead of going to general practitioners using insurance.
Reforms in the OBBB are necessary to stop American taxpayers and communities from having to deal with the burden illegal aliens put on their health programs and institutions, but another major avenue of reform will be altering EMTALA to limit illegal immigrants’ capacity to abuse the system.
American taxpayers cannot afford to continue to support people who are here illegally.
Why The Seventeenth Amendment Matters
President Woodrow Wilson did a number of things that reformatted the plan for America our Founding Fathers designed. He signed into law a personal income tax, the federal reserve, and the direct election of Senators (the Seventeen Amendment).
The Seventeen Amendment states:
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.
When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.
This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.[2]
Before the Seventeenth Amendment, Senators were chosen by the state legislators and subject to recall if they did not represent the interests of the state. Without the Seventeenth Amendment, Senator Manchin of West Virginia would not have voted for the Inflation Reduction Act. Senator Manchin did not originally vote for the Inflation Reduction Act because he understood that the green energy provisions in the bill would be harmful to the economy of West Virginia. During the negotiations regarding the bill, promises were made that would slightly lessen the impact on West Virginia (the Democrats eventually reneged on those promises). Had the Senator been subject to recall, he would never have voted on the bill.
As I write this, the government shutdown is continuing. Simplified Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will be ending on November 1. Do you really believe that Senators who were subject to recall by their state legislators would continue to vote to keep the government shutdown and would have the support of their state legislators in doing so?
I don’t know who will eventually be blamed for the prolonged government shutdown. I do know that it is hurting Americans and that those voting to keep the government shut down do not seem to care for the welfare of their voters. Those are the people who should be voted out of office in the midterms.
Pros and Cons of AI
Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D.
All changes have advantages and disadvantages. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no exception. Because the impact of AI is going to affect all of us in some way or another, we should take a look at what is already happening and what is likely to happen. What’s more, the idea of creating an intelligence that rivals and may exceed human capabilities warrants special caution. Let’s start off with what we already know of the pros of AI.
The idea of creating artificial intelligence is not new; the possibility has been around ever since the invention of computers. AI has already been shown to be capable of data processing and linking at speeds and accuracy well beyond the human mind. Like automated machines used in manufacturing, the accuracy and precision of production is greater than humans. Machines do not get tired, do not need lunch breaks, sleep, or overtime pay. Same thing with AI, only more so. For example, students can now access AI to write reports on many topics. AI scans and collects the facts from the internet, and assembles the information in a manner that duplicates what a human can do. AI can also duplicate the human voice making it impossible to distinguish from the actual person. The autopen on steroids.
From a military perspective, AI will be used in advanced weapon systems that will enhance their potency and accuracy. Consider what is happening with the first “ war of the drones” now occurring between Russian and Ukraine. Fewer humans will be placed in harm’s way, as the combat role of humans is replaced by machines. Wars between robot armies are on the horizon. In medicine, not only is accurate diagnosis enhanced because AI will not fail to consider all the possible facts, but AI may produce more successful surgical outcomes because of greater accuracy and precise movements. This has already started with some surgical procedures that us robotic techniques and instrument control.
The development of AI and its application in all aspects of human activity is already occurring and is likely to accelerate. Countries will not be able to neglect AI if they hope to remain competitive and to be able to defend themselves from potential adversaries. Now, let’s examine some of the cons of AI. One immediate impact will be on the need for human workers. For example, high tech companies have been reducing their workforces as AI is developed. Over the past two years, the following layoffs have occurred: Amazon: 30,000; Microsoft: 35,000; Google: 20,000; Meta: 23,000 and UPS: 14,000. Now not all of these layoffs are directly related to AI, but many of them are. Many of the jobs are high tech programming and code writing which AI is being created to do itself. Who needs humans?
Another area of concern is energy consumption. For example, it takes 10 times the amount of electricity to conduct an AI search compared to a regular internet search. A recent report on Barclay.com indicated that the expanded use of AI data centers will increase the demand on the electric grid by 25% per year for the foreseeable future. Obviously, the existing electric grid cannot meet that demand without substantial expansion in generating power. Wind and solar will not help in the slightest. Expansion could be through more nuclear plants. However, the current restrictions and regulations can be prohibitive. There has not been a new nuclear power plant built in North Carolina for over forty years. Some are suggesting the use of smaller nuclear reactors, about one-third of the reactors currently in place. Theoretically, these could be located near to the AI data centers reducing the demand for transmission wires. A troubling trend is being implemented by local power companies like Tidewater. Starting in January, electricity rates per KWH will depend on the time of the day the electricity is used. Not good. This plan reduces your freedom to use electricity when you decide and allows the company to dictate your access. Instead of manipulating demand, they should be increasing their generating capacity. China has been building coal fired plants for years and will be able to meet their demands. We have been handcuffed by the environmental extremists who fear monger about climate change. Through executive order 14241, President Trump has significantly reduced the restrictions on building coal fired plants, especially the additional restrictions placed by the Biden administration. There is no reason why electric companies should not immediately return to building coal fired plants, especially since coal is one of our greatest resources. Until recently, Bill Gates had believed that climate change caused by burning fossil fuels was an existential threat. He has done an about face, and now says that climate change is not a threat! That shows what a hoax the whole climate change scare has been.
Besides these practical problems, the potential impact on humans must be considered. Are we creating something with more brain power than we have? AI is not only capable of learning and thinking faster and more accurately than humans, it has the potential to learn how to control itself. A few months ago, there was a report in the Epoch Times newspaper about an AI system that would not allow itself to be shut down by its human creators! Will these systems take on a will of their own? Who knows, but it could happen. Also, as humans rely more and more on AI for such things as data gathering and analysis, what happens to the skill level of humans who are now performing these functions? Our intelligence is based on using our brains to solve complex problems and think for ourselves. With increased reliance on AI, will we get dumber? How about the impact on our self-esteem? Most people feel good when they accomplish a challenging task. With AI performing these tasks, what are humans good for? Not much I suppose. As we get dumber and less ambitious, AI takes over more and more of human activities. AI becomes the master and we become the slaves. As we become more dependent on AI and lose our skills and abilities, what happens if AI destructs? Power outage? Hacking into the system? Something to think about.
While it is true that AI development is rushing forward, we need to think about what we are creating and the pros and cons of how far we go. AI has the potential to be one of the most powerful and life altering inventions in the history of mankind. Let’s make sure that it will enhance our lives, and not be our undoing as human beings.
Using Their Time Wisely
On Tuesday, Just the News posted an article about how Republicans are using the time they have during the government shutdown.
The article reports:
Republicans have begun to articulate the beginnings of a healthcare reform plan as Democrats keep the government shut down with the nominal aim of addressing rising costs.
The shutdown itself is nearing a record and shows no signs of ending in the near future. Republicans have accused Democrats of seeking to reinstate funding for illegal immigrant healthcare while Democrats have insisted they want to lower costs for all Americans.
While the Democrats’ gambit does not appear poised to pay off in the form of tangible concessions, it does seem to have pressured the GOP into at least developing the beginnings of a reform plan.
“This is a funding fight, not a healthcare fight,” House Speaker Mike Johnson insisted this month on the “Just the News, No Noise” television show. “But there’s the Obamacare COVID-era subsidies that expire December 31 and there’s a lot of heated debate that we’ve got to have in the House and Senate to figure out what to do about that.”
The article concludes:
“So they are, you know, indicative of the super-sized business model and pushing small businesses […] out of business,” he said. “Getting small business back into the marketplace is both smaller insurance companies and making sure that your hometown physician and your hometown pharmacist are able to service their citizens, is one of the best things to do.”
So far, however, talk of reform appears contingent on an end to the government shutdown. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., for his part, stated this month that he was willing to discuss healthcare reform with Democrats, but would not do so under budget duress.
“I’m not sure how much clearer I can be, but let me give it a try: I am willing to sit down with Democrats to discuss the growing unaffordability and unsustainability of Obamacare,” he posted on X. “It’s a system they created, but I’m happy to hear them out. Heck, I’m even willing to give them a vote. Today. Tomorrow. Next week. You name it. But there’s one condition: End the Schumer Shutdown. I will not negotiate under hostage conditions, nor will I pay a ransom. Period.
Frankly, Obamacare needs to go away, and the government needs to get out of healthcare. Obamacare was designed to fail and lead us to a single-payer healthcare system similar to Britain and Canada. There is a reason many Canadians come to America for their healthcare needs.
There Is A Certain Amount Of Self Interest In This Decision
On Tuesday, The New York Post posted an article about the sudden change of heart by Bill Gates about climate change. You will have to excuse the amount of cynicism I have relating to this change. There are two major factors involved. One factor is the Trump effect on globalism–those moving toward one-world government are not currently getting the traction they were getting during the Biden administration. Argentina and America have shown that cutting government fat and promoting patriotism is a positive thing. The political left’s attempt to label patriotism as nationalism and paint nationalism as a bad thing is beginning to fail. The other factor is that Bill Gates is working to be a leader in the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI). Green energy and AI are not compatible–the amount of energy required by AI is enormous. We will need to develop new sources of energy and increase our use of old sources of energy to support AI. Those are the reasons I believe Bill Gates has changed his tune on global warming and green energy.
The New York Post reports:
Suddenly, Bill Gates is admitting that climate change won’t lead to “humanity’s demise” after all.
Now he tells us, after he long joined other climate alarmists in warning of “disaster,” as the West burned trillions on “decarbonizing” and steered economies toward the stone age.
The “doomsday view” that “cataclysmic climate change will decimate civilization” is “wrong,” the Microsoft co-founder writes; people will “be able to live and thrive in most places on Earth for the foreseeable future.”
It should also be noted that in the past when there were periods of global warming, there was more food to feed people and fewer people died from exposure to cold.
The article notes:
Gates still thinks it’s a “serious” problem, but admits “the doomsday outlook is causing much of the climate community to focus too much on near-term emissions goals” and “diverting resources from the most effective things we should be doing to improve life in a warming world.”
That’s precisely what moderates, like economist Bjorn Lomborg, and most conservatives have said for years.
The chief goal should be “improving lives” — not trying to end all carbon-fuel use, especially when China is still relentlessly building coal plants.
Like Lomborg, Gates now acknowledges that greater “prosperity” can let mankind cope just fine as the planet warms: “The faster people become prosperous and healthy, the more lives we can save.”
The article concludes:
If Gates wants any credit for belatedly seeing the light, he needs to put maximum effort into getting the left’s climate warriors to wake up, too.
You Would Have More Leverage If You Won More Elections
Our system of government is set up on the principle of checks and balances. The Senate chose to add the filibuster to make sure that whichever party was in the minority would have some say in the laws that were being made. However, I really don’t think the purpose of the filibuster was to allow the whichever party was in the minority to shut down the government.
On Tuesday, Red State reported:
Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) just became the second Democrat to say the quiet part out loud as he admitted the Schumer shutdown is “very unpleasant” but the “only moment of leverage” his party has.
You don’t have leverage because the people did not vote for your policies!
The article notes:
“Frankly, this is our only moment of leverage, and although a very unpleasant tool to use, it’s gotten us focused on what we have to do to change direction on health care,” Coons said, referencing the Democrats’ lie about how millions of Americans would be thrown off healthcare in the coming years.
But here’s what Coons doesn’t say. The Democrat forgot to explain that the shutdown is because Republicans won’t give billions to fund healthcare for illegal aliens.
In a post from our sister site Townhall.com, it noted that Coons’ leverage comment is truly disgusting given the fact that “42 million Americans are going to go hungry and lose SNAP benefits this weekend… so Dems can have ‘leverage.'”
Democrat House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (MA-05) was the first one in her party to admit that the suffering of Americans was giving Democrats “leverage,” RedState reported.
If I were not a lady, I would tell them what they could do with their leverage.
The article concludes:
During his appearance on Fox News Tuesday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) reacted to Coons’ comment and said Democrats think they are playing a “political game,” but it’s not.
“They’re looking at this like it’s some sort of political game,” Thune said. “Where there are winners and losers of the political game. Whereas, we look at this as real impacts on real families and people in this country.”
“It becomes more real and the consequences become more real over time,” he added. “I mean, what they just said, they said the quiet part out loud. These people are looking at this as a political game, Martha [McCallum], and it’s not.”
When someone admits the truth, Americans would be wise to listen. They are playing a game with you — you are expendable as long as they get their way.
Voters, please take some of these Democrats out of office during the midterms.