Monthly Archives: March 2021

The End Of Honest Elections

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HR 1 is titled “For the People Act of 2021.” It is anything but ‘for the people.’ The bill passed the House of Representatives on March 3rd with a 220 to 210 vote. All the Republicans voted against the bill and one Democrat, Representative Bennie G. Thompson of Mississippi, voted against it. The bill was received in the Senate on March 11th.

So what does this bill do?

The Heritage Foundation has a good summary. Here are some of the highlights:

Under H.R. 1 / S. 1 (the Corrupt Politicians Act), massive amounts of elections-related power would be transferred from the states to the federal government. The bill interferes with the ability of states and their citizens to determine qualifications for voters, to ensure the accuracy of voter registration rolls, to secure the integrity of elections, to participate in the political process, and to determine the district boundary lines for electing their representatives.

This massive centralization of power into the hands of incumbent lawmakers is D.C. politicians’ way of trying to make sure the game is rigged in their favor. But politicians already in Washington should not be choosing who goes to Washington—voters should!

Here is the list of objectionable items:

Publicly funds political campaigns— H.R. 1 / S. 1 will use public funds to create a six-to-one match on political contributions up to $200. This would force the American people to spend millions of dollars to fund the campaigns of political candidates. (source: starting on page 604, line 1)

Candidate campaign salaries would be publicly funded— Candidates that take a salary out of their campaigns would now be able to be paid with public funds provided by the previously mention six-to-one match program. (source: starting on page 604, line 1)

Requires political non-profits to disclose donors — This provision is not about transparency, but giving militant Leftists the names and addresses of conservative donors. Leftist activists have repeatedly shown their willingness to dox conservatives, threaten their families, and pressure employers into firing them. H.R. 1 / S. 1 would further empower this dangerous cancel culture. (source: starting on page 515, line 3)

Sabotages state voter ID laws — When arriving at the polls, voters will not be required to show ID and can simply sign a statement in which they claim to be who they say they are. This undermines many states’ voter ID laws, which were enacted to combat impersonation fraud, voter registration fraud, duplicate voting, and voting by ineligible individuals, such as illegal aliens. (source: starting on page 43, line 21)

Mandates same-day registration — States will be required to immediately register a person to vote upon request, even on the day of an election. With no buffer-period to verify personal information, this provision enables voter fraud. (source: starting on page 78, line 6)

Automatically registers ineligible voters — States will be required to automatically add to voter registration rolls every person—regardless of voter eligibility—who partakes in certain government programs, such as receiving welfare or obtaining a driver’s license. Other provisions of H.R. 1 / S. 1 then restrict the ability of states to verify eligible voters and remove ineligible voters from voter registration rolls. This provision will automatically enroll ineligible voters such as illegal aliens. (source: starting on page 47, line 15)

Unconstitutionally requires states to restore the ability of felons to vote — Upon release from prison, every felon would immediately be restored the ability to vote. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution allows states to restrict voting rights to those who have participated in “rebellion, or other crime.” States have the constitutional authority to decide when or if to restore that right, as long as they do so in a manner that is not racially discriminatory. H.R. 1 / S. 1 would attempt to unconstitutionally overrule the 14th Amendment with a statute. (source: starting on page 142, line 21)

Violates the First Amendment — H.R. 1 / S. 1 deters political free speech by inserting a provision that makes it a criminal offense to provide “materially false” information that will “impede or prevent” someone from registering or voting. This provision is so vague that it would likely interfere with free speech and other legitimate activities. (source: starting on
page 122, line 13)

Requires ballots be counted outside of the voter’s precinct — This removes the integrity of the local government to verify voter rolls and oversee elections and gives the power to count votes entirely to the federal government. (source: starting on page 166, line 2)

Creates unaccountable redistricting committees — Currently, congressional district lines are drawn by state governments that are accountable to their constituents. Allowing unelected officials to determine congressional districts is a nakedly political ploy to draw more Democratic districts. (source: starting on page 286, line 12)

Alters Federal Election Commission into a partisan organization — Currently, the FEC has six members (three from each party), preserving its bipartisan nature. H.R. 1 / S. 1 would reduce the number to five, giving one party a majority and the opportunity to weaponize the FEC for their party’s benefit. (Source: starting on page 644, line 6)

Basically the bill enshrines all of the questionable practices that enable election fraud. That is not good news for election integrity.

Keeping America Safe

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Yesterday The Attleboro Sun Chronicle posted an article about a recent Massachusetts court case involving the detaining of illegal aliens who had committed crimes.

The article reports:

A federal appeals court has handed Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson a victory in his effort to keep criminal immigration detainees behind bars.

The First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston last week denied a release petition filed by immigration activists on behalf of five inmates.

The inmates are U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees being held at the Bristol County House of Corrections in Dartmouth.

The article reports some of the history of the case:

Last year, U.S. District Court Judge William Young granted release to about 50 ICE detainees held at the Dartmouth facility and denied bail to 19 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Young also ordered that no new detainees be transferred to the ICE center, which is part of the jail complex in Dartmouth.

The order came almost a week after an uprising by detainees at the facility.

Prisoner and immigration activists have criticized Hodgson’s agreement with the federal government to keep ICE detainees at his facility.

Five individuals who were denied release due to serious criminal histories appealed to the First Circuit through the Harvard Law School Immigration Clinic.

“Each of the petitioners here, as the district court knew, had committed serious, violent crimes, many of which were felonies,” Judge Sandra L. Lynch wrote in the decision.

“Based on their criminal histories, it was reasonable to deny bail to these petitioners because they each posed dangers to the community and/or were flight risks,” Lynch said.

I don’t claim to be a legal scholar, but it seems to me that if they were American citizens who committed violent crimes they probably would not be let out on bail. Why are we giving rights to people who are not citizens that American citizens do not have?

The Unintended Consequences Of An Open Border

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Yesterday The U.K. Daily Mail posted an article about what is happening at America’s southern border.

The article reports:

Ruthless Mexican cartels are exploiting Joe Biden‘s relaxed immigration stance to turn people trafficking into a billion-dollar racket ‘worth more than dope’, a DailyMail.com investigation can reveal.

The president tore up hardline Trump policies after taking office but denies sparking a crisis along the southern border where authorities are struggling to deal with a surge in migrant families and unaccompanied kids crossing illegally.

A slew of experts and well-placed law enforcement sources have told DailyMail.com, however, that notorious drug gangs including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas are seizing upon the reforms to ratchet up human trafficking operations.

As one source told us: ‘The cartels have realized that under Biden there is serious money to be made from people trafficking without any of the distribution issues you face with narcotics. People are the new dope.’

The article also notes:

Last week Republican lawmakers shared a shocking video that Jones (Jaeson Jones, a retired captain from the Texas Department of Public Safety) obtained of masked cartel smugglers ferrying a line of immigrants across the Rio Grande.

‘Remember that every Mexican citizen that you see crossing the river is worth 2,500 bucks. If they’re Venezuelan, Guatemalan or Honduran they paid $3,000.

‘If they’re Chinese they paid $5,000. If they’re Middle Eastern or Russian they paid $9,000. If you’re a higher value commodity they make sure you get over at a quieter spot.’

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the number of migrant apprehensions reached 78,323 in January 2021 – double the amount from January 2020.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article and view the pictures included. This is a man-made tragedy caused by the Biden administration’s refusal to admit any Trump administration policy was worthwhile. There are rumors currently circulating that the Trump administration policy of making refugees seeking asylum wait in their home countries will be reinstated. If that does not happen soon, Congress needs to act. This is an unnecessary humanitarian crisis. It needs to end quickly.

The Woke Crowd Is Targeting Monopoly

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MRCTV reported yesterday that the woke police have gone after the Monopoly game.

The article quotes a Fox Business article:

Hasbro will change all 16 of Monopoly’s “community chest” cards to remove outdated concepts. The company said the classic versions of the cards, which included prompts referencing beauty contests and holiday funds, were “long overdue for a refresh.”

New community chest cards will focus on topics that emphasize “community.” Hasbro asked the public to vote on potential replacements, with rewards for in-game actions such as rescuing a puppy or shopping local among the options. Other cards would penalize players for forgetting to recycle or blasting music too late at night.

The only good thing I can say about this is that it will make the game more relatable for younger generations who did not grow up playing the game. However, how many of the younger generation still play board games instead of video games?

 

Back To A Failed International Policy

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On March 17th, The Times of Israel reported the following:

The Biden administration will reportedly push for a two-state solution based on the pre-1967 lines, with mutually agreed upon land swaps, reinstating US policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to more traditionally held positions than those of former president Donald Trump.

A memo titled “The US Palestinian Reset and the Path Forward,” which was revealed Wednesday to the Abu Dhabi-based The National, also showed that the Biden administration is planning on announcing a $15 million aid package in coronavirus-related humanitarian assistance for the Palestinians as early as this month.

Is anyone going to be checking on the Palestinians to see how that money is spent? Will the Biden administration enforce the Taylor Force Act?

The article reports:

Amr (Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr) recommends in the memo that the White House back a two-state framework “based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed land swaps and agreements on security and refugees.”

While behind closed doors, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has participated in peace negotiations based on the 1967 lines, publicly the formula is not very popular in Israel, particularly among the right wing, which is expected to further expand in the Knesset after next week’s election.

The memo discusses “rolling back certain steps by the prior administration that bring into question our commitment or pose real barriers to a two-state solution, such as country of origin labeling.”

The memo was referring to a last-minute policy change announced by Trump’s secretary of state Mike Pompeo, which requires all US exports from the settlements to be labeled as having been “made in Israel.”

The 1967 lines were an armistice agreement–they were never meant to be permanent boundaries. History has shown that the 1967 lines were not conducive to peace because they rendered Israel indefensible. If those lines are reinstated, the more radical Arabs in the Middle East will immediately go to war against Israel. This is not a recipe for peace.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

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Yesterday Breitbart reported that the Biden administration’s pause on the construction of the wall at America’s southern border is costing taxpayers about six million dollars per day. That does not include the cost of dealing with the refugees that are overrunning the border.

The article reports:

According to the source, the expenditures are required for materials orders placed before the pause and expenses for the cost of equipment sitting idle. When the issuance of a stop work order causes a contractor to idle equipment, they are entitled to be compensated for rental expenses or costs of ownership.

Shortly after taking office, President Biden signed an executive order temporarily halting any further progress on the border wall so individual contracts could be evaluated. With the exception of “make-safe” activities at the worksites, construction projects immediately came to a standstill, Breitbart Texas reported. The end of the 60-day pause does not, however, signal an automatic restart of construction.

Early in the pause, a spokesperson for the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) informed Breitbart Texas that contractors would be informed of a final decision sometime after the 60-day pause concludes. The time was to be used for evaluating each contract to reach a decision to terminate-for-cause or continue.

The Biden administration has not indicated which direction they will take regarding the end of the pause. Little information concerning the immigration crisis on the border has come from the leadership team within DHS and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Senior officials within DHS reported being instructed not to speak to national media on the issues facing DHS at the border.  Information from other agencies within the new administration is equally elusive. USACE did not respond to a request for information concerning the end of the pause and the border wall contracts currently being evaluated.

The right thing to do would be to finish the wall. Under any circumstances, a secure border is an integral part of national security.  In a time of a national pandemic, a secure border is a public health issue. A country cannot remain a country without a secure border. I realize there are problems with our immigration laws, but let’s secure the border before we worry about the less urgent issues.

Will The Tenth Amendment Stand?

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The American Spectator posted an article today about the recently passed coronavirus relief bill.

The article reports:

Well, that didn’t take long. The first major bill passed by the new Democratic congressional majority and signed into law by our new president on March 11 had already provoked a constitutional challenge by March 17. The attorney general of Ohio filed suit against the Biden administration last Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, alleging that the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) unconstitutionally and coercively limits the right of states to manage their internal fiscal policies: “This suit challenges an unconstitutional provision in the American Rescue Plan Act — a provision that allows the federal government to commandeer state taxing authority.”

If the use of “commandeer” in this context seems vaguely familiar, it’s probably a vestigial memory of the Obama administration’s failed attempt to exert equally questionable control over state budgets using the mandatory Medicaid provision of Obamacare. Fortunately, in NFIB v. Sebelius, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that such coercion is unconstitutional. Ohio’s ARPA challenge involves a provision whereby $195.3 billion in fiscal recovery aid will be distributed among the states and the District of Columbia. Beyond its effect on the federal budget deficit, this doesn’t seem particularly pernicious. The real problem arises from the restrictions the provision imposes on the power of the states to reduce taxes:

A State or territory shall not use the funds provided under this section or transferred pursuant to section 603(c)(4) to either directly or indirectly offset a reduction in the net tax revenue of such State or territory resulting from a change in law, regulation or administrative interpretation during the covered period that reduces any tax (by providing for a reduction in a rate, a rebate, a deduction, a credit or otherwise) or delays the imposition of any tax or tax increase.

This constitutionally dubious language was inserted into the legislation by the Democrats at the last minute, the New York Times reports, for the express purpose of interfering with the ability of the states to make changes in their tax codes. It is a deliberate and insolent attack by the federal government on state sovereignty and the doctrine of federalism. As Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost puts it in his Motion for Preliminary Injunction, “The Tax Mandate thus gives the States a choice: they can have either the badly needed federal funds or their sovereign authority to set state tax policy. But they cannot have both. In our current economic crisis, that is no choice at all. It is a metaphorical ‘gun to the head.’ ”

The coronavirus relief bill actually punishes fiscally responsible states and rewards fiscally irresponsible states, so it is no surprise that the law would actually limit the ability of states to improve their economies by lowering taxes. In the world envisioned by the current Democrat party, we would all pay more taxes and government would have more control over our lives. Never in the history of America have Americans been given government guidelines as to their activities in their own backyards on Independence Day. I fear that this is only the beginning of the power grab by those currently in control of Washington.

You Can Fool Some Of The People Some Of The Time…

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Hot Air reported yesterday that recent polls show that H.R. 1 is losing support among Americans.

The article reports:

Both House and Senate Democrats seemed to enjoy talking about how “popular” the COVID relief bill was every time a camera was pointed at them. (“Free money” seems to have that effect on people.) If they are so concerned about popularity polls when it comes to legislation, I wonder what they’re going to be saying about HR1, the “For the People Act.” Earlier this week we looked at one brutal poll showing that large majorities of people are opposed to some of the central provisions of the bill, including restrictions on voter ID laws and the continued expansion of mail-in ballots. Close on the heels of that survey, we now have a second poll from Scott Rasmussen and FreedomWorks on the same subject and the news for the Democrats isn’t getting any better. It seems that the more people learn about HR1, the less they like it. And this isn’t indicative of any partisan divide. Even Democratic voters are giving these proposals a major thumbs down. (Washington Examiner)

…In a new FreedomWorks/Scott Rasmussen survey provided exclusively to Secrets, 85% of registered voters said it is common sense to require photo identification to get a ballot. A previous survey from the unaffiliated Rasmussen Reports found 75% back photo ID.

But even more, 72% told FreedomWorks that photo ID laws boost their confidence in elections, and 52% believe it would reduce fraud.

The article concludes:

The widespread use of mail-in ballots and how they are handled also has large portions of the populace feeling uneasy. HR1 would require states to accept mail-in ballots up to ten days after the election. But 73% of the people surveyed said they believe that ballots should arrive by election day. As far as the HR1 requirement to mail out a ballot to every voter, 63% panned that idea, saying ballots should only be mailed to those who request them.

After all of the chaos surrounding the 2020 election and the mountains of mail-in ballots that election officials in most states were clearly not ready to deal with, is anyone surprised? Nobody wants to go through that again, but the Democrats are working overtime to make that a permanent fixture of American elections. In states that don’t put in any serious effort to clean up their voter rolls, those mass mailings led to any number of problems. That’s probably why a majority of respondents (57%) said they would “strongly favor” a law requiring states’ voter rolls to be regularly cleaned up.

Perhaps the most disturbing figure to come out of this poll is the one showing that 43% of the people surveyed had never even heard of HR1. The Democrats are trying to ram this through and the media is totally failing to educate voters on the specifics inside the bill. And if they manage to pass it, it will require the GOP to move mountains to undo the damage if and when they come back into power.

H.R.1 is not a stop toward election integrity and needs to fail miserably when voted on in the Senate. The “For the People Act of 2021” could be better described as the federalize election fraud act of 2021.

The Harm Caused By Good Intentions

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John Hinderaker posted an article at Power Line Blog today about the harm done by environmentalists.

The article reports:

The damage done by contemporary environmentalism is a big topic. For now I want to note two important instances that are on my mind because they are fronts on which my organization, Center of the American Experiment, is battling self-interested or misguided environmentalists.

Environmentalists cause great damage by blocking needed development, including exploitation of mineral resources. This is grossly hypocritical, since the principal goal of today’s environmental movement is to replace fossil fuels by electrifying everything, while getting the bulk of our electricity from wind and solar power. Apart from being impossible, the amount of mining that would need to be done to supply the necessary electrical hardware and batteries would dwarf anything in human history. At the same time, however, environmentalists refuse to allow mining of the needed materials–copper, nickel, cobalt and others–here in the United States. In effect, they insist on massive environmental degradation, only not in their back yards.

…At GreenEnergyFails.com, you can watch videos that explain the Texas blackouts, and the site includes a lengthy and utterly definitive explanation of why those blackouts were, contrary to the desperate assertions of the environmental lobby, caused by Texas’s excessive reliance on unreliable wind and solar energy.

Like other organs of the Left, the environmental lobby is backed by an extraordinary amount of money. This is understandable, as enormous profits are being made on the “green” energy chimera by utilities and by wind and solar companies (many foreign-owned) that feed at the government trough.

Perhaps more significant is that the environmental movement, in its early stage, actually did some good. As Steve Hayward documented over a period of years, it contributed to a remarkable improvement in air and water quality across the U.S. That cleanup was a great achievement for which the environmental movement can take partial credit. Unfortunately, the good will that was created decades ago continues to boost environmentalism, even though in its current manifestations the movement is actually hurting not only public safety and our peoples’ livelihoods, but also our environment.

The search for the perpetual motion machine was alive and well during the Middle Ages. It looks like it is back with us again.

When Common Sense Takes A Vacation

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Let’s say you start a business selling bows. The cost of making a bow is 15 cents. You sell the bows for 50 cents. The 35 cent difference pays your expenses not directly involved in the manufacturing of the bows–the light bill, the manufacturing facility, the taxes, etc. and those expenses directly involved in the manufacturing process–salaries, materials, administration, etc.  You are a small business, and there isn’t a lot left over for your profit. Then the government comes along and increases your taxes by more than one-third (the tax that is only for people making more than $400,000 will probably apply to certain small businesses) by increasing the tax on corporations. The easiest way to maintain your profit margin is to raise the cost of your product or move your manufacturing overseas. Neither is helpful to the American economy.

On Friday, Breitbart reported the following:

During an interview aired on Thursday’s “MSNBC Live,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki reacted to concerns that corporations will raise prices if taxes on corporations are increased by stating that President Joe Biden believes people “know that corporations do not need to raise the cost of goods in order to pay more taxes and pay more of their fair share.”

Host Hallie Jackson asked, “Of course, he could only do so much if corporations end up raising prices on things if they end up having a tax hike as well, right?”

People who talk about the ‘fair share’ owed by corporations do not understand basic economics. A corporation will not pay higher taxes–it will simply pass the increased cost on to the consumer. As for their ‘fair share,’ corporations pay payroll taxes, real estate taxes, etc. They provide jobs for people. Basically they keep the economy running. Unfortunately they make good scapegoats for people who do not understand economics. That description pretty much includes all of the current people in the Biden administration.

Actions Have Consequences

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The Blaze reported the following today:

The Biden administration is searching for answers on how to handle the current border crisis, which has seen the highest number of illegal immigrants at the U.S. southern border in the last 20 years, according to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and a senior official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. President Joe Biden nullified many of former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, but Mexican officials say that the previous administration’s tough stance on illegal immigration helped curb migrants from Central and South America from making the journey north.

Our southern border is in crisis. We are being overwhelmed with unaccompanied children, many of whom will be sold to sex traffickers and other unsavory characters. We simply do not have the facilities to shelter all of the people trying to get into the country. We are not able to test all of the people coming in, and we are releasing some who test positive for the coronavirus into the country. This is a recipe for disaster, and it was totally avoidable.

The article notes:

On his first day in the White House, President Biden stopped all construction on the border wall.

Biden created a task force to reunite children who were separated from their parents during the Trump administration.

Biden signed an executive action that “will direct the State Department, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security to review guidelines and policies implemented under Trump to determine whether they are in line with the government’s desire to promote ‘integration and inclusion,'” according to NBC News.

The Biden administration reinstituted the Central American minors program, an Obama-era immigration policy that allowed parents who are lawfully present in the U.S. to request refugee status for their children who are living in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The Trump administration ended the program in 2017.

The Biden administration announced last month that it would phase out Trump’s “remain in Mexico” policy.

“Beginning on February 19, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will begin phase one of a program to restore safe and orderly processing at the southwest border,” the Department of Homeland Security said. “DHS will begin processing people who had been forced to ‘remain in Mexico’ under the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). Approximately 25,000 individuals in MPP continue to have active cases.” The Trump administration made an agreement with the Mexican government that allowed U.S. border officials to send back more than 70,000 migrants to Mexico under the Migrant Protection Protocols.

Biden’s proposed “groundbreaking” immigration reform plan is expected to provide a pathway to citizenship to the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants residing in the United States.

Unless the Biden administration realizes the mess it has created and begins to change its policy, the situation at the border is only going to get worse. There is currently an order preventing reporters from doing ‘ride alongs’ with the border patrol and a gag order on the border patrol speaking to reporters. Because of the lack of transparency, many Americans are not aware of how miserable the conditions at our southern border are. We need transparency, and we need a change of policy.

When The Media Lies To Create A Narrative

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When you run out of things to blame former President Trump for, you can always say that anything wrong in America is due to white supremacy. That seems to be the current trend. After all, it does distract from the failures of the Biden administration in border security, international diplomacy, energy independence, etc. Well, numbers don’t lie, and here are some.

Yesterday Summit News posted an article about the recent claim that white supremacy is responsible for an increase in violence against Asians in America.

The article reports:

Since the killing of six Asian women who worked in massage parlors in Atlanta, the media has amplified the false narrative that “white supremacy” is to blame.

They hyped this explanation despite the fact that the attack had nothing whatsoever to do with race and despite two white women also being killed during the shooting.

Despite admitting the attack had no racial motive, CNN still blamed it on “white nationalism and domestic extremism” in an article titled ‘White supremacy and hate are haunting Asian Americans’.

However, official crime stats show that white people are significantly underrepresented in terms of the violent crime threat they pose to Asians.

FBI crime statistics debunk the media’s narrative that white people represent the biggest violent crime threat to Asians, with figures showing whites significantly underrepresented in crime stats compared to their per capita population.

…As the Washington Examiner highlights, citing FBI statistics, whereas whites comprise 62% of the population, they committed 24% of crimes against Asians in 2018.

In comparison, blacks, who comprise 13% of the population, committed 27.5% of all violent crimes against Asian Americans in 2018.

The numbers tell the story.

A Governor Involved in Trivial Pursuit

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California has problems. Governor Newsom is being recalled for various reasons (probably a good thing, only the last time California recalled a governor, they wound up with Arnold Schwarzenegger). But Governor Newsom is currently doing some things that might help businesses in the state that have been negatively impacted by his shutdowns.

Gregg Jarrett is reporting the following today:

California theme parks will reopen April 1, but with one caveat: shouting and screaming must be limited. How fun! California Attractions and Parks Association (CAPA) executive director Erin Guerrero said in a statement, “California’s amusement parks are excited to responsibly reopen under the recently released state guidance…these guidelines do not require parks to prohibit screaming.” However, that seems to be exactly what will happen.

The theme parks must abide by Governor Gavin Newsom’s updated Blueprint for a Safer Economy. Although Governor Newsom does not himself follow his own guidelines, he will demand the citizens of California to.

The anti-fun police are at it again. Let’s look at this a minute. The at-risk population for the coronavirus is the over-60 crowd or those with certain health issues. How likely are they to be on roller coasters? Can’t the state protect those at risk and let the people who are not at risk enjoy themselves?

The article notes:

In the Blueprint for a Safer Economy, California businesses must limit shouting and raised voices because, well, they are “known” to cause an increased spread of COVID-19. So, while Guerrero used empty words, “the California Attractions and Parks Association Responsible Reopening Plan addresses the need to limit shouting, screaming and hollering on roller coasters, thrill rides and other theme park attractions” reports The OC Register.

CAPA represents Disneyland, Universal Studios, Knott’s Berry Farm, Six Flags Magic Mountain, SeaWorld San Diego, Legoland California, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and California’s Great America. Don’t expect to have too much fun there as “CAPA proposes the theme parks can ‘mitigate the effects of shouting’ through the use of mandatory face coverings and modified seat loading patterns on amusement park rides.”

Good grief!

Testing The First Amendment

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On Wednesday The Informed American posted an article about Mike Lindell’s fight to preserve his First Amendment rights.

The article reports:

Do you want to know what exactly the First Amendment protects? When you get right down to the granular level? Unpopular speech.

It protects the drunk in the bar when he talks crap about everyone that walks in. It protects that guy at the football game who is rooting for the other team. It protects when you have a conservative that is trying to tell you the truth about how the election was rigged and stolen, and the liberals among us want to silence them.

Now, we all know one of the quickest ways to get someone to shut up is to sue them, especially if you think they have nobody backing their play…except this one does…

This is fantastic! Mike Lindell is getting advice from one of America’s greatest legal minds, so he can do battle with the evil empire known as Dominion. The same Dominion that robbed you and I of true democracy.

Alan Dershowitz is reportedly coming to the aid of Mike Lindell, giving him advice for the upcoming lawsuit. I am EXTREMELY excited about this, because Dershowitz is a legal juggernaut.

Armed with Dersh, I am pretty sure Mike Lindell will win his defamation suit, and he might just be able to turn the tide against Dominion.

To clarify, Alan Dershowitz has stated that he is playing a limited, advisory role in the lawsuit. He has stated that he is simply offering advice on the First Amendment issues involved in the lawsuit. I think Alan Dershowitz’s advice in any capacity would be invaluable.

Why You Should Think Before You Vote

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Yesterday The Conservative Treehouse posted an article about Ford Motor Company’s decision to move production of a new electric vehicle from Avon Lake, Ohio, into Mexico.

The article reports:

Ford previously agreed to spend $900 million on a new product line for the Ohio plant; however, according to the UAW the location has shifted.

One way of looking at this change in direction from Ford relates to the cost of producing electric vehicles. First, it is far less expensive in Mexico (labor, environmental regulation, energy costs, etc); secondly, an outlook the new Biden administration will not strongly enforce USMCA compliance measures against U.S. multinational firms.

The UAW supported Joe Biden, but his policies will likely undermine their workers. Unfortunately, this was all too predictable. Partly because Biden-Harris owe Wall Street too much, and the multinationals are once again in control over the U.S. economy.

On Tuesday, Reuters reported:

In a letter made public on Tuesday, UAW Vice President Gerald Kariem said Ford intends to build a next-generation vehicle in Mexico.

“We 100% reject the company’s decision to put corporate greed and more potential profits over American jobs and the future of our members. We expect the company to honor its contractual commitments to this membership and when it fails to do so we will take action,” Kariem wrote in the Friday letter.

“We are intensely exploring our options at this time,” he added.

Electing Joe Biden as President put the swamp back in control. The welfare of the average American does not play a role in the decisions made by swamp creatures. The industries that came back to America because of President Trump’s tax and energy policies will be leaving in the near future.

It’s Time To Bring Back The Tea Party

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The Conservative Treehouse is reporting today that the House Republicans have voted to reinstate earmarks. An earmark is defined as a provision inserted into a discretionary spending appropriations bill that directs funds to a specific recipient while circumventing the merit-based or competitive funds allocation process. In plain English, it is a bribe inserted in a bill to get the vote of a specific member of Congress. Earmarks are one of the things that are responsible for the bloated federal spending that characterizes Washington. Instead of crafting bills that everyone in Congress can support, Congress resorts to earmarks to buy the votes of their members. Eliminating earmarks was one of the goals of the Tea Party.

The article reports:

When earmarks exist, the crap legislation passes because individual votes can be purchased through the earmark process.  Remember: “The Cornhusker Kickback”; “The Louisiana Purchase”; or “Gator-Aide”; those were legislative earmarks to get Obamacare passed in the Senate.

Obamacare was the sh!t sandwich the American people were forced to eat, the earmarks just gave senators some justification for their votes.

Bottom line.. it is the earmark process that makes crap legislation pass.  Confront any politician and they will admit this.

The most brutally honest answer to the question of earmarks is this: If the legislation sucks and will not pass on its own (hence the need for earmarks), then why would adding some expensive ice-cream make the sh!t sandwich better?

Remember, the originating legislation doesn’t come from inside congress.  The K-Street lobbyists are the ones writing the legislation; the earmark process only arms congressional leadership with an enhanced tool to sell the K-Street construct. {Go Deep}

Every Republican Congressman who voted to bring back earmarks needs to be voted out of office as soon as possible.

Pushing Back Against Damaging Decisions

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Sara Carter is reporting today that 21 states have filed a lawsuit to sue the Biden administration over the cancellation of the Keystone XL Pipeline.

The article reports:

21 states, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, submitted a complaint Wednesday to a Texas federal court arguing that the President does not have the authority to cancel the permit.

Revoking the permit is a “regulation of interstate and international commerce” that should be left to Congress, the complaint said.

Some of the states included in the lawsuit have Democratic governors, including Kentucky and Kansas, however, all of the states have republican attorneys general.

The proposed 1,200-mile pipeline would have carried oil from Canada to the U.S.

“This pipeline was set to go through six counties in extreme Eastern Montana… five of those counties are already designated as high-poverty counties,” Montana AG Knudsen told Fox News. “The project was set to become the largest property taxpayer in all of those counties… That’s out the window. Just shy of 4,000 jobs, that’s out the window.”

The article concludes:

Kundsen called Biden’s cancellation of the permit “an empty virtue signal to his wealthy coastal elite donors.”

“The power to regulate foreign and interstate commerce belongs to Congress – not the President. This is another example of Joe Biden overstepping his constitutional role to the detriment of Montanans,” he added.

Opponents of the pipeline argue that the U.S. should not be importing carbon-intensive tar sands oil. Native American tribes have also shown opposition for the pipeline, saying the Trump administration ignored their treaty rights when approving the pipeline.

However, pipeline supporters argue that the project would bring in revenue for the states and thousands of jobs.

A victory in this lawsuit would be a victory for the American economy and a step toward continuing America’s energy independence, which is a national security issue.

 

The Truth Eventually Comes Out

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John Solomon posted an article at Just the News today that details some of the recent court decisions involving questionable practices that were instituted during the 2020 election.

The article reports on activities in a number of battleground states:

The latest ruling came this month in Michigan, where the State Court of Claims concluded that Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s instructions on signature verification for absentee ballots violated state law.

…In neighboring Wisconsin, the state Supreme Court handed down a significant ruling in December when the justices concluded that state and local election officials erred when they gave blanket permission allowing voters to declare themselves homebound and skip voter ID requirements in the 2020 elections.

In a case challenging the practice in Dane County, one of Wisconsin’s large urban centers around the city of Madison, the state’s highest court ruled that only those voters whose “own age, physical illness or infirmity” makes them homebound could declare themselves “indefinitely confined” and avoid complying with a requirement for photo ID.

…Meanwhile in Virginia, a judge in January approved a consent decree permanently banning the acceptance of ballots without postmarks after Election Day, concluding that instructions from the Virginia Department of Elections to the contrary in 2020 had violated state law. An electoral board member in Frederick County challenged the legality of the state’s instruction and won though the ruling came after the election.

The article concludes:

Several more legal challenges remain in states, as well as two audits/investigations of voting machine logs that are pending in Georgia and Arizona. And while there has been no proof the elections were impacted by widespread fraud, there are still significant disputes over whether rule changes and absentee ballot procedures in key swing states may have been unlawful.

In addition, the Thomas More Society’s Amistad Project on election integrity is pursuing litigation over whether hundreds of millions of dollars donated by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and routed to local election officials in several battleground states may have unlawfully influenced the election, according to the project’s director, Phill Kline.

“We’re expanding our litigation,” Kline told the John Solomon Reports podcast on Wednesday. “I still have suits that are active in Michigan and Georgia on this, and you’ll see us take new action in Wisconsin. And we will renew action in Pennsylvania. And, and our involvement in Arizona will take a little bit of a different tack, but will involve this. The Arizona legislature is going to do an audit and we want this within the scope.”

There is some value in the lawsuits being pursued–hopefully they will put states on notice not to be involved in similar actions in the future. Assuming that we manage to stop HR1 in Congress (a law that will end any common sense regulations on voting), these lawsuits provide a template for filing whatever lawsuits are necessary to preserve election integrity in the next election. The lawsuits just need to be filed well in advance of the election (as soon as election laws are violated).

In Case You Had Any Doubts

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Yesterday Breitbart posted an article about a recent op-ed posted at the Lawfare blog by Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (Ret.). You should remember him from the first impeachment of President Trump. When you read his ideas, remember that this man swore an oath to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution. Well, evidently he never read it or he forgot the First Amendment.

The article reports:

During the impeachment inquiry, Vindman made much of the fact that he and his family had fled the Soviet Union, and that he had “a deep appreciation for American values and ideals and the power of freedom.”

Now, lamenting that he had not responded by suing President Trump over tweets about him, and noting that the First Amendment “gravely” limits what government can do to stop “lies” by the media, Vindman argues that “right-wing media” (alone) should be held accountable through a lawsuit strategy:

The article includes some excerpts from his op-ed:

Recent events have made the need for accountability more pressing than ever. Should anyone be surprised that viewers of right-wing media are radicalized when media personalities themselves promote radical ideas based on lies?

…

But while the rioters are being held accountable through the criminal justice system—and Congress at least had a chance to hold the former president accountable through the impeachment process—how can Americans hold the right-wing media responsible for its role in the attack? The mob that attacked the Capitol was born of hatred fomented by the right-wing media. These insurrectionists were raised for years on a steady diet of disinformation and half-truths, which produced the fertile fields for radicalization.

…

The First Amendment gravely limits the available tools to seek accountability for the right-wing media. Policymakers cannot, after all, tell media organizations what to say. Except in the most extreme situations, which are unlikely ever to arise, prosecutors also cannot accuse them of incitement.

…

Civil consequences, rather than governmental restrictions on First Amendment rights, could be a meaningful way to take what are fundamentally money-making ventures and demand truth from them, instill rigor in their reporting, and uphold accountability. Like a tabloid being sued and paying severe penalties, media companies and right-wing media personalities will claim that what’s at stake is freedom of speech. But defamation is not covered by the First Amendment, so this is, by definition, not true. And the generous standards in defamation law for purposes of protecting the press offer a true safe haven for good-faith actors even when they err. Putting companies in fear of the real costs in civil damages for slander, libel, and false claims that can cumulatively incite violence and that can individually harm actual human beings should have a restraining effect on their behavior.

In case you have forgotten, no one has linked anything in the conservative media to any violence. The right wing media has not been proven to have told any lies while the left-wing media has recently been forced to retract many of its statements. Who can forget the picture of the left-wing anchor standing in front of a city burning and claiming that the protest involved was ‘mostly peaceful?’ The Washington Post recently had to retract an article that was stated as fact in President Trump’s second impeachment trial. Much of what the left-wing media has decried as ‘fake news’ regarding the 2020 election has been subsequently proven to be true.

 

The Impact Of The Year Long Lockdowns

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We recently celebrated the anniversary of the ‘two-weeks-to-flatten-the-curve lockdown’ that began last March. So what has been the impact of that year-long lockdown? There have been a number of articles written about the negative impact on school children, but there were also people who profited from the lockdown.

The American Thinker posted an article today about some of the people who profited from the lockdown.

The article reports:

A year after “15 days to flatten the curve” began our lockdowns, we have enough data to answer the classic question about lockdowns (which still exist a year later in many places, including much of California): cui bono?  (Who benefits?)

The answer is, as an individual, Jeff Bezos.  His stock in Amazon, the single biggest beneficiary of lockdowns, is worth billions of dollars more than before the lockdown.  As a group: educated professionals, able to work from home via Zoom and other internet-based services and able to afford home delivery.

…Small businesses, the bedrock base of the GOP, have been severely damaged and even bankrupted in mass numbers.  Government workers, the base of the Democrats, have not missed any paychecks for the most part.

Unionized teachers in public schools, members of the lower-income tier of educated professionals, still have not gone to work in schools in many places, as their unions scheme to use taxpayer relief dollars to pay them bonuses for trips to Hawaii and other goodies, while supermarket and other retail clerks have labored unceasingly, interacting with adult members of the public who are a far greater health risk than children.

The coronavirus lockdown undid a lot of the good things the Trump administration had done for lower-income Americans. Unfortunately the policies of the Biden administration do not favor people in the lower-income brackets. Some of the Biden administration policies that will have a negative impact on working Americans are higher gasoline prices, which impact everyone and result in higher prices across the board; a significant increase in the minimum wage,which will result in job losses and higher prices; and higher taxes on corporations, which will send jobs overseas and increase American unemployment. The major consequence of the Biden administration will be the shrinking of the middle class and a shrinking American economy. Under President Trump, the middle class shrank because people moved into the upper income classes. Under President Bide, the middle class will shrink because people moved into the lower income classes. This is not good for America.

Too Little Too Late

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The Epoch Times reported the following today:

A Michigan judge ruled last week that Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s last October guidance relating to ballot signature verification was not in compliance with the law and thus it’s invalid.

Michigan Republican Party and Allegan County clerk Robert Genetski filed the lawsuit on Nov. 2, 2020, against Benson and Jonathan Brater, director of the Michigan Bureau of Elections.

The plaintiffs claimed that the guidance Benson issued last October violated the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) and should be nullified. They also asked the court to declare that they have the right to request an audit of their choosing, saying the state-wide audit in November did not review whether signatures were properly evaluated.

On Oct. 6, 2020, Benson issued guidance titled “Absent Voter Ballot Processing: Signature Verification and Voter Notification Standards.”

The guidance stated that clerks “must perform their signature verification duties with the presumption that the voter’s application or envelope signature is his or her genuine signature.”

The guidance also said signatures “should be considered questionable” only if they differ “in multiple, significant and obvious respects from the signature on file,” according to the court order (pdf). “Whenever possible,” election officials were to resolve “slight dissimilarities” in favor of finding that the signature was valid.

This is too little too late. The Secretary of State did not have the authority to change the law–that is the job of the legislature. Unfortunately, there were similar events in numerous states leading up to the 2020 election. I don’t believe there is anything we can do to change the results of the 2020 election, regardless of how valid or invalid those results were, but we need to make sure that in the future all of the states follow their own laws.

The Dangers Of An Unsecured Border

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Gregg Jarrett posted an article today about the crisis that is unfolding at our southern border.

The article reports:

U.S. Representatives John Katko (R-NY) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) visited with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials at the southern border, and what they found is beyond a border crisis. It’s not just refugees fleeing to the United States in hopes of a better life that we are facing.

Some migrants arrested at the border in just the last week are “threats to national security who are listed on a federal terrorist watch list.” In an interview with Syracuse.com, Katko said he spoke with border patrol agents Monday during a fact-finding trip with roughly a dozen House Republicans to the border near El Paso, Texas.

Katko learned over 100 migrants have been caught crossing the border illegally on Sunday night alone. “They’re getting very bold now,” Katko said. Syracuse.com reports “U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials reported making 100,441 arrests and detentions in February, up 28% from the previous month and 173% from last year.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy spoke in a news conference Monday alongside Katko to discuss their findings. “When I walked through the facility, there were more Haitians than any other people I saw,” said McCarthy, who also mentioned people on the terror watch list from Iran, Yemen, and Sri Lanka, have been mixed in with those fleeing Central America.

Katko said of the border crisis that not only are they not testing for COVID-19, but about half of border patrol agents have not received the vaccine. Katko also said because Biden stopped the construction of Trump’s border wall, unnecessary gaps have been left and are being exploited by smugglers.

Lawlessness reigns on our southern border. The cartels are getting rich. Human traffickers and drug smugglers are exploiting the open border. People who have tested positive for Covid-19 are given bus tickets and plane tickets to travel throughout the country. This is a recipe for disaster. Our current government is not working to protect the American people, which is its major responsibility.

How The Mistake Was Made

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The Epoch Times reported the following today:

An official in the Georgia secretary of state’s office was the only source for at least one story that falsely claimed former President Donald Trump told an investigator with the office to “find the fraud.”

Jordan Fuchs, deputy secretary of state, relayed details of the conversation to The Washington Post, an official with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger confirmed to The Epoch Times.

Fuchs was not on the call herself. She was told about the conversation by Frances Watson, the investigator.

A recording of the call recently emerged from a records request, showing that the Post and a slew of other outlets had falsely reported Trump uttering several phrases.

The office of Raffensperger, a Republican, says Fuchs did not present details of the conversation as verbatim.

“The Secretary of State’s Office’s first reports of its investigator’s phone conversation with President Trump relied on the investigator’s recollection. Information about the content of the call was never presented as a word-for-word transcript,” a spokesperson with the office told The Epoch Times via email.

That story was not only widely reported, it was used a part of the second impeachment trial of President Trump.

The article reports on the quiet corrections being made:

The Post said that it “misquoted” Trump, “based on information provided by a source.” It also outed Fuchs as its source, after previously describing her as an individual familiar with the call.

The Associated Press in its correction used similar wording in explaining that it “erroneously reported” that Trump pressured Watson to “find the fraud,” and that if she did, she would be a national hero.

CNN offered an editor’s note in stating that its initial version “presented paraphrasing of the President’s comments to the Georgia elections investigator as direct quotes.”

As author Jonathan Swift wrote, “Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it.” Often quoted as “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” The news media’s coverage of President Trump’s conversation with a Georgia investigator illustrates that statement.