Right Wing Granny

News behind the news. This picture is me (white spot) standing on the bridge connecting European and North American tectonic plates. It is located in the Reykjanes area of Iceland. By-the-way, this is a color picture.

Right Wing Granny

Monthly Archives: July 2021

A Scary Statement

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Yesterday One America News posted an article about a recent statement made by Charles Munger, Vice Chairman of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway.

The article reports:

Charles Munger, Vice Chairman of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, has suggested the U.S. needs to act more like the Chinese Communist Party when it comes to banking. In an interview on Wednesday, the 97-year-old billionaire claimed American free enterprise led to mass suffering from the 2008 crash.

When asked about the mysterious disappearance of Alibaba CEO Jack Ma as an issue with Chinese economics, Munger doubled down on his pro CCP rhetoric.

“Well yes, but Jack Ma’s one of the swingers. So they just cut his, they said to hell with you,” he expressed. “He basically gave a speech when he said to one party state, you guys are a bunch of jerks, don’t know what you’re doing and I know what I’m doing and I’m going to do it better.”

…Munger went on to criticize the U.S. free-market economy by saying too many people have the ability to “go to this gross excess,” which he argued the Chinese Communist Party takes beneficial preventative measures against.

Mr. Munger needs to be reminded that it is not the government’s job to prevent “gross excess.” It should also be noted that it is very unlikely that Mr. Munger would be allowed to amass a billion dollars under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party or that he would be able to achieve success based on the merits of his own efforts rather than simply finding political favor. The man has obviously forgotten that the very freedom he is condemning is what allowed him to become the success that he became. Would Mr. Munger like to live under the policies of the  Chinese Communist Party as an ordinary citizen?

The Biden Administration’s Policies Could Be Very Expensive For Taxpayers

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Townhall is reporting today that a Canadian company is suing the Biden administration over the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The article reports:

Weeks after TC Energy officially terminated the Keystone XL pipeline because President Biden revoked a key permit, the company announced it is seeking billion in damages from the U.S. government.

On Friday, the company behind the project filed a Notice of Intent with the State Department, Office of the Legal Adviser, “to initiate a legacy North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) claim under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement to recover economic damages resulting from the revocation of the Keystone XL Project’s Presidential Permit.”

TC Energy is seeking over $15 billion due to the U.S. government’s “breach of its NAFTA obligations.”

In pulling the order, Biden said that “leaving the Keystone XL pipeline permit in place would not be consistent with my Administration’s economic and climate imperatives.”

The article concludes:

“Since his first day in office, President Biden has made it his mission to undo all the progress of the previous administration, with complete disregard for the Constitutional limits on his power,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “His decision to revoke the pipeline permit is not only unlawful but will also devastate the livelihoods of thousands of workers, their families, and their communities.”

There are also 21 states suing the Biden administration for the cancellation. Unfortunately, if these lawsuits are successful, American taxpayers will be paying the bill.

The Economic Cost Of Giving Up Energy Independence

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One of the accomplishments of the Trump administration was bringing America to a place of energy independence. The policies that led to energy independence were immediately reversed (via executive order) by the Biden administration. Americans have seen the results of that reversal in the form of higher gasoline prices at the pump and an increase in the cost of heating and cooling our homes.

Yesterday CNBC reported that U.S. oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude futures traded as high as $76.98, a price not seen since November 2014.

The article notes:

Oil jumped to its highest level in six years after talks between OPEC and its oil-producing allies were postponed indefinitely, with the group failing to reach an agreement on production policy for August and beyond.

On Tuesday, U.S. oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude futures traded as high as $76.98, a price not seen since November 2014. But by 11 a.m. on Wall Street those gains were erased, and the contract for August delivery dipped $1.60, or 2.1%, to trade at $73.56 per barrel. Brent crude hit its highest level since late 2018 before also reversing gains, and last traded 3.1% lower at $74.77 per barrel.

The article concludes:

Oil’s blistering rally this year — WTI has gained 57% during 2021 — meant that ahead of last week’s meeting many Wall Street analysts expected the group to boost production in an effort to curb the spike in prices.

“With no increase in production, the forthcoming growth in demand should see global energy markets tighten up at an even faster pace than anticipated,” analysts at TD Securities wrote in a note to clients.

“This impasse will lead to a temporary and significantly larger-than-anticipated deficit, which should fuel even higher prices for the time being. The summer breakout in oil prices is set to gather steam at a fast clip,” the firm added.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we were not dependent on the whims of OPEC.

 

At Least There Was A Backlash

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NewsMax reported yesterday that there was some backlash after Representative Cori Bush tweeted the following on Sunday:

“[W]hen they say that the 4th of July is about American freedom, remember this: the freedom they’re referring to is for white people. This land is stolen land and Black people still aren’t free.”

First of all, nearly every country in the world could be accused on living on ‘stolen land.’ Are the people living in England the original settlers? Are the people who make up the countries in Europe the original settlers of those countries? As history has progressed, different people groups have taken over different countries. America is not an exception to the march of history. I would also like to ask what freedoms are currently denied to Black people.

Here are a few of the responses to her tweet included in the article:

Podcast host Darrell B. Harrison, the Dean of Social Media at Grace to You, slammed Bush Bush as “an angry black woman—a very angry black woman” whose anger “is eating her alive from the inside out.

“I pity her because the ‘freedom’ she seeks is not the freedom she needs,” he said. “As such, freedom will continue to evade her as long as she carries that anger within her heart.”

Fox News contributor and civil rights attorney Leo Terrell responded to Bush by telling his followers on Twitter, “[D]o not respond to this idiot: She just wants attention: She hates herself!!!”

Former GOP congressional candidate Kimberly Klacik tweeted: “I could say something rude, but I think it’s best to make sure we have someone running against her & ensure that individual has our full support along with access to every resource necessary to take her seat in 2022.”

Former Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson responded:“[A]pparently history continues to escape black Democrats who have probably never heard of Crispus Attucks. But then, these are the same people that continue to be, and vote for, Democrats who marginalize, compartmentalize, and victimize minorities in this country then complain.”

A person much wiser than I once said that holding hate in your heart is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die–it not only poisons your perspective, it is harmful to  your body.

The Fourth Branch Of Government

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Today The Conservative Treehouse posted an article in a series on their blog titled, “The Fourth Branch of Government, The Intelligence Branch.”  Yesterday they previewed the series. Today’s article is very complex, and I strongly suggest that you follow the link above to read the complete article. The article explains a lot of the inequities that have arisen in our justice system in recent years.

The article reports:

Factually, the modern intelligence apparatus uses checks and balances in their favor.  The checks create silos of proprietary information that works around oversight issues. That’s part of the problem.

Ironically the Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created in the aftermath of 9/11/01 expressly to eliminate the silos of information which they felt led to a domestic terrorist attack that could have been prevented.  The ODNI was created specifically upon the recommendation of the 9/11 commission.

The intent was to create a central hub of intelligence information, inside the executive branch, where the CIA, NSA, DoD, DoS, and DIA could deposit their unique intelligence products and a repository would be created so that domestic intelligence operations, like the DOJ and FBI could access them when needed to analyze threats to the U.S.   This, they hoped, would ensure the obvious flags missed in the 9/11 attacks would not be missed again.

The DNI office created a problem for those who operate in the shadows of proprietary information.  You’ll see how it was critical to install a person uniquely skilled in being an idiot, James Clapper, into that willfully blind role while intelligence operatives worked around the office to assemble the Intelligence Branch of government.

♦ The last federal budget that flowed through the traditional budgetary process was signed into law in September of 2007 for fiscal year 2008 by George W Bush.  Every budget since then has been a fragmented process of continuing resolutions and individual spending bills.

Why does this matter?  Because many people think defunding the IC is a solution; it ain’t… not yet.  Worse yet, the corrupt divisions deep inside the U.S. intelligence system can now fund themselves from multinational private sector partnerships (banks, corporations and foreign entities).

That is just a preview. The article explains how the surveillance state has been used for political purposes since the Obama administration. It illustrates how the foundation was laid for the political prosecutions we are currently seeing. We are not in a good place, and I am not sure we will be able to get out of the bad place where we currently reside.

Frankly, I Don’t Know What To Think Of This

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The Gateway Pundit posted an article today that included the following video:

The video shows police firing flash bombs at peaceful protestors on January 6th. As you know, the powers that be in Washington have been very reluctant to release any of the video captured by security cameras or cell phones on that day. The videos posted at The Gateway Pundit might explain that reluctance.

The article reports:

As we reported earlier — On Jan. 6 Capitol Police started firing flash grenades and rubber bullets at peaceful protesters with US and MAGA flags.

From the video you can see the protesters are NOT on the Capitol steps and were behind barriers.
There were children, veterans and seniors in the crowd.

…Flash bang grenades in close range can cause hearing loss, eye damage, and other injuries.

This is your government Declaring War on its people!

Please follow the link to the article for more videos from that day. Unfortunately, as long as the Democrats are in charge of the House of Representatives, there will never be an honest investigation of what actually occurred on January 6th. We were the police and their riot control weapons all of last summer when several of our major cities burned? Where is that investigation?

This Is Not A Surprise

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The Epoch Times reported yesterday that the Biden administration is moving to make it easier for the millions of illegal immigrants currently living in America to become citizens.

The article reports:

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced Friday that the Biden administration is launching an inter-agency effort to make millions of immigrants living in the United States citizens.

President Joe Biden asked federal agencies to work on “welcoming strategies that promote integration, inclusion, and citizenship,” through an executive order. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Friday the agency’s plan to “breaking down barriers to U.S. citizenship” and promote naturalization for immigrants who are eligible.

The federal campaign will actively recruit eligible immigrants and eliminate many naturalization rules that the Trump administration put in place so more people can apply.

“New citizens, strengthened with the power and responsibilities that American citizenship brings, make our Nation better. This strategy will ensure that aspiring citizens are able to pursue naturalization through a clear and coordinated process,” said Homeland Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas in a release with a goal of “promoting naturalization to all who are eligible.”

Immigration helped build America. In the 1700 and 1800’s immigrants from foreign countries came to America seeking freedom. They were often discriminated against, but held on to their dreams. The Chinese built our railroads–they were not treated well. The Irish settled Boston and New York, many as indentured servants, they were not treated well. The Italians came as craftsmen–brick layers, workers in construction, etc. They were not treated well. But all came to contribute. How many stories have you heard about someone arriving at Ellis Island with $5 in their pocket and starting a business?

Our early immigrants came to a country with no safety net. They understood that they would have to work hard to build that country. There were no government handouts, no healthcare for people who could not afford it, no food stamps. They had to pass a medical exam to be admitted to the country. It was understood that they were here to work.

Contrast that with what we are seeing now. People who may have Covid-19 are sneaking into the country. Children are being sent here without parents. Gang members and career criminals are entering the country illegally. The flow of drugs at our southern border has reached record numbers. This is not the immigration our Founding Fathers envisioned. This is an invasion of people who are looking for freedom (which is admirable and understandable), but they are also looking for a free lunch. We can’t afford to give them a free lunch. We have American veterans living on the streets; we already have hungry children in America. It is time to take care of the people who are already here. We can’t help low income Americans by importing workers who will work for less money. We can’t provide medical care to low income Americans when our hospitals are overcrowded with people who are not here legally. It is time to close the border.

I realize that the Democrats are betting that these new citizens will be Democrat voters, but in the process of acquiring new voters, they are destroying the country.

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The following was posted at The Conservative Treehouse today:

Happy Fourth of July

| Menagerie | 134 Comments

Treepers, as you can see below, I copied this from Spoogels comments several years ago, and saved it for this post, so thank you Spoogels, and Happy Independence Day to all of us. Stay strong, resolute, and proud. Spoogels says: May 27, 2019 at 9:25am

EDITOR’S NOTE: When this column first appeared in JWR two decades ago, on May 28, 1999, it was read on radio stations across the nation and went on to become what would, years later, come to be termed “viral”. We wish that the author, a long-time friend of JWR’s publisher, were still writing today. PLEASE SHARE via social media. “An American credo, By Don Feder”:

ON THE DAY when we memorialize those who gave their lives so America would endure, we should ask what it means a citizen of this republic. Here are the thoughts of one American, a credo for the coming millennia.

I am an American. I was conceived at Plymouth, born in Lexington and Concord, and reached maturity at Philadelphia.

I went through the fires of Shiloh, Gualdacanal, the Chosin Resovoir, Khe Sanh and a thousand other battlefields, and emerged rededicated to the ideals on which America was founded.

I am an American. Ever ready to defend my liberty and independence, to make any sacrifice and bear any burden – still, I seek no quarrel.

I march to the sound of the guns out of necessity alone. I fight not for glory or territory, or to make others bend to my will, but to vindicate my rights and preserve my freedom.

I am an American. I’m proud of my past. Words like Valley Forge, Gettysburg Address and Pearl Harbor — names like Washington, Jackson, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt — make my blood stir.

Glancing behind me, I see generations of men and women who labored and struggled, lived and died to let me stand where I am today — who cleared the land, planted the crops, built the factories, raised the cities and made the discoveries that created a civilization which all the silent, suffering ranks of slaves, serfs and subjects who came before them could never imagine.

I am an American. While recognizing the errors that were made in nation-building (has a nation ever been built exclusively on light?), I proclaim America’s past glorious indeed, a boon to humanity, and consider myself among the blessed of the earth to share this nation’s destiny.

I am an American. Liberty is my birthright. To speak my mind, choose my leaders and legislators, defend my home and family, and worship the Creator in my fashion — these are not privileges, but G od-given rights. Governments can respect or deny them; they cannot change them.

I am an American. I have no rulers. Those who make, interpret and enforce our laws are servants. When they no longer recognize that verity, their authority loses legitimacy.

I am an American. My rights are a sacred trust to be exercised in the cause of justice and virtue. They are not the playthings of a spoiled child or mechanisms of self-indulgence.

I am an American. English is my language. Our ancestors arrived on these shores speaking everything from Chinese to Yiddish. It was English that united us, that allowed us to overcome age-old antagonisms.

From the Mayflower Compact to the latest piece of legislation introduced in Congress, our history and heritage are written in the tongue of the Magna Carta and the King James Bible.

I am an American. I have no distinctive race, religion or ethnicity. I am black, white, yellow, brown and red — Catholic, Protestant, Jew and Hindu. I came here from the hamlets of Old England, the bogs of Ireland, Napoli’s sunny shore, the Pale of Settlement and the villages of Vietnam. American isn’t a color or creed, but a state of mind.

I am an American. I welcome immigrants who are here to work and build, who identify with our past and ideals, who were spiritual Americans before they landed. Broken English is fine, as long as faith remains unbroken. An American speaks with the heart as much as the lips.

I am an American. My ism is Americanism. I reject all dogmas and ideologies. Collectivism, racism, militarism and imperialism have no place here. The rot that’s eaten away at the soul of so many nations and cultures must be fiercely resisted.

I am an American. I recognize only one loyalty higher than allegiance to our flag — faith in G od. I acknowledge that America and G od, the physical and the spiritual, are inseparable. America was founded by people of faith and grew to greatness by His grace. I pray that we will always be the instruments of His will.

I am an American. I weep over the fact that American history is no longer taught in our schools. In its place is a worldly, cynical skepticism inculcated by authors and educators at war with our basic values.

I am an American. I cringe at the collection of connivers, cowards, clowns and quacks that passes for our political leadership. I wonder that so many of my compatriots have no idea what America means and show no gratitude for the blessings that are theirs.

I am an American. My ranks grow thin; the night closes in. Whether I will be the last of my kind or the vanguard of their resurgence, only time will tell.

SOURCE

Posted in Celebrations, Christian Values, Patriotism, Uncategorized, USA
God bless America. Stand strong if you believe in the things our Founding Fathers fought for.

Doing Something To Keep America America

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Yesterday The New York Sun posted an editorial about the efforts of law professor Philip Hamburger of Columbia University to rein in the runaway administrative state. Professor Hamburger has formed the group the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), a non-profit, non-partisan organization that states its cause as fighting to “protect constitutional freedoms from violations by the Administrative State.”The article notes that the NCLA has filed amicus briefs in six cases before the Supreme Court this term and helped win all six of them.

The editorial lists the cases:

In Americans For Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta, NCLA says, the Alliance filed three separate amicus briefs at various stages against a California law that would have forced not-for-profits to disclose their key donors. The Supreme Court stopped California colder than a mackerel, vindicating not only NCLA’s points but also the NAACP, which six decades ago won at the Supreme Court an early donor protection case against Alabama.

In U.S. v. Arthrex, NCLA helped win a decision suggesting that something like 200 Administrative Patent Judges were improperly appointed and subjecting them to more supervision by the executive branch. In Carr v. Saul, NCLA helped six persons win the right to have their appeals for disabilities benefits heard by a properly benched federal judge rather than an administrative law judge.

In Collins v. Yellen, NCLA helped restore the President’s power to fire — meaning make accountable — the head of the Federal Housing Financial Agency. In AMG Capital Management v. FTC it helped hold the Federal Trade Commission to due process. In Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, Justice Alito cited Mr. Hamburger’s work eight times in his concurrence in protecting the religious free exercise rights of a Catholic foster care agency.

The editorial concludes:

“Most Americans do not realize,” the New Civil Liberties Alliance notes on its Web site, “that Congress today enacts fewer than one hundred statutes per year, handing over the task of legislating to federal administrative agencies.” It reckons that the Administrative State “now creates, enforces and adjudicates hundreds of thousands of regulations governing daily activities in our lives.” It’s nice to see that the long march back to the Constitution has begun.

It’s nice to know that someone in the legal profession is fighting hard for America.

 

Policies Have Consequences

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Hot Air is reporting today that Target is cutting back its store hours in San Francisco in an effort to limit shoplifting.

The article reports:

Normal store hours are 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. They’re cutting back to 6 p.m. because, the company claims, “for more than a month, we’ve been experiencing a significant and alarming rise in theft and security incidents at our San Francisco stores.”

Only a month? Walgreens has closed 17 stores in San Francisco since 2016 because it didn’t pay to keep them open with so many locals taking the five-finger discount. Target’s new policy raises the ominous possibility that the problem is getting worse, which would make sense. With the pandemic all but over in the highly vaccinated Bay Area, more thieves may be out and about lately.

Read this post for background on San Francisco’s problem with shockingly brazen shoplifting. A state law that passed several years ago made it a misdemeanor to steal less than $950 worth of goods, a wrist-slap that’s encouraged repeat offenders. Go figure that three California cities (San Fran, L.A., and Sacramento) are among the top 10 in the United States for organized retail crime. Not all of the theft is organized, of course — sometimes it’s random homeless people or addicts acting alone — but a surprising amount is being driven by rings selling the stolen merchandise on the black market.

The article notes that the shoplifting problem in San Francisco has gotten so bad that the 7-Eleven on Drumm St. in the Financial District does business only through a metal door.

The article also notes:

SFPD’s Central Station reported auto burglaries skyrocketed 753% in May compared to the same time last year during lockdowns and they’re still up 75% compared to the same period in 2019…

“They don’t even care. They tell us what the hell are you going to do,” said [a] tourism operator who did not wish his business to be identified.

One family who did not wish to be identified showed KPIX 5 pictures they took as they witnessed thieves in action just before pulling into a parking lot on Embarcadero and Bay Street.

What is needed is a Mayor and City Council that will make shoplifting and theft unprofitable again. We know this will rapidly change the city because we saw it happen when Rudy Giuliani took over as Mayor of New York City. The turnaround was rapid and obvious. San Francisco needs a Mayor and City Council who understand broken windows theory.

Facebook As A Propaganda Outlet

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Yesterday The Conservative Treehouse posted an screenshot of a recent warning that has been posted by the people who control Facebook.

This is the warning:

The article notes:

It is easy to see where this ideological control mechanism is going.  Big Tech doesn’t want comrade citizens exposed to thoughts and opinions that might run counter to the approved worldview of the totalitarian state.   It’s actually quite remarkable to see this so publicly pushed, and see them so open about it.

Obviously a visit to the wrong website (your internet travel obviously being tracked by the command and control authorities) will likely trigger the warning.  Visit The Conservative Tree House and receive a warning upon exit “you have been exposed to harmful extremist content”.

I think back to that scene in 2001 A Space Odyssey when Dave Bowman is trying to stop the computer system HAL-9000 (artificial intelligence) from controlling his behavior, control his spacecraft, and ultimately killing him: “Dave, I’m afraid I can’t let you do that”…

The article concludes:

On the positive side of this, the effort is resoundingly going to backfire amid a larger segment of the younger population, they are already using subversive accounts like Fleebook, Flinsta and Fleet to avoid detection amid their online activity.   The rebel alliance will only become more slippery and more focused on the need to approach everything with the insurgency mindset.

Regardless of how much Big Tech, Big Intel and Big Government synergize in their efforts to control human behavior, the Rebel Alliance ultimately wins every long-term contest.   History proves this to be true.  The need for freedom is still an inherent and underlying human condition amid the majority.

As Mike Vanderboegh said so eloquently: “We will not go gently into that bloody collectivist good night. Indeed, we will make with our defiance such a sound as ALL history from that day forward will be forced to note, even if they despise us in the writing of it.  And when we are gone, the scattered, free survivors hiding in the ruins of our once-great republic will sing of our deeds in forbidden songs, tending the flickering flame of individual liberty until it bursts forth again, as it must, generations later.”

Stay strong, rebels.

The Democrats Are Still Going After Single-Family Housing

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Just the News reported yesterday that the budget bill the Democrats in the House of Representatives are currently drafting may include the Democrat’s plan to “eliminate exclusionary zoning” for single-family homes in America’s cities. This is the bill that the Democrats plan on passing in the Senate by using the reconciliation process, meaning that the Republicans have no way to stop it.

The article reports:

A portion of President Biden’s $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan offers grants to cities that “take concrete steps” to end “exclusionary zoning” for single-family homes.

Under a section titled “Eliminate exclusionary zoning and harmful land use policies,” Biden’s jobs plan argues that “for decades, exclusionary zoning laws — like minimum lot sizes, mandatory parking requirements, and prohibitions on multifamily housing — have inflated housing and construction costs and locked families out of areas with more opportunities.”

According to the White House fact sheet on the plan, which has not been formally drafted into legislation yet, Biden is “calling on Congress to enact an innovative, new competitive grant program that awards flexible and attractive funding to jurisdictions that take concrete steps to eliminate such needless barriers to producing affordable housing.”

The article notes:

The $1.2 trillion infrastructure agreement that a bipartisan group of senators reached with the White House does not mention exclusionary zoning. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that Democrats would seek to pass the parts of Biden’s jobs plan and $1.8 trillion American Families Plan that are left out of the bipartisan framework on infrastructure.

Michigan Democrat Sen. Debbie Stabenow, chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, said the Democrat-led Congress should enact Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda instead of only focusing on the bipartisan agreement on physical infrastructure spending.

“It’s not just a slogan, we want to come out of this stronger than ever, and the bipartisan effort on infrastructure is one piece of that,” said Stabenow, a member of the Senate Budget Committee. “But we need to do the rest of what needs to be done in the jobs plan and the family plan to really meet the needs of our economy and our families.”

It should be noted that the tax and spend programs that the Democrats are trying to pass will ultimately hurt American families. As inflation increase, the spending power of every American decreases. As the price of a gallon of gasoline increase, it is essentially a tax increase on every American. The current policies being supported by the Democrat party will negatively impact the American economy and all Americans.

Elections Matter In Economics

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Townhall posted an article today about the economic recovery in America after the coronavirus.

The article reports:

The U.S. economy added 850,000 jobs in June while the unemployment rate rose to 5.9 percent according to the latest data released Friday morning from the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Among the industries with the most notable growth — as more states lift restrictions put in place due to the Wuhan coronavirus — were leisure and hospitality, public and private education, and professional and business services.

The article notes the impact of the increased unemployment benefits:

The stronger-than-expected job growth is due in part to states that have ended expanded or extended federal unemployment benefits that often incentivized citizens to stay out of the workforce. As the Wall Street Journal noted recently, the number of Americans taking unemployment benefits is “falling at a faster rate in Missouri and 21 other states canceling enhanced and extended payments this month, suggesting that ending the aid could push more people to take jobs.”

As June’s employment data demonstrates, ending the extended benefits did push more people to enter the workforce because, for some, it was no longer more financially beneficial to avoid returning to work. 

The article concludes:

These states, unsurprisingly, are almost all led by Republicans. Even Politico noted that, when it comes to the 15 states that have already returned to pre-Wuhan coronavirus economic activity, “12 are led by Republican governors.” On the flip side, “the 10 states reporting the lowest levels of activity since January 2020, seven — including New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois — are run by Democratic governors.”

The data from these states, along with today’s jobs report for June, suggest conservative leadership and policies are a significant predictor of a strong economic recovery.

The Republican National Committee recently heralded the economic growth in GOP-led states based on Labor Department data that found 18 of the top 20 states for jobs recovered since COVID hit have Republican-controlled legislatures, as do 17 of the 20 states with the lowest unemployment. 

The workforce participation rate is unchanged from May–it is holding at 61.6 percent.

Who Is Funding American Magazines?

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The Washington Free Beacon is reporting today that the Chinese government is funding content published in Time magazine.

The article reports:

Time magazine failed to disclose Chinese government funding for content published in its most recent print edition.

The magazine’s June 21-28 double issue included an insert from China Daily, a media outlet controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. Disclosures on the insert label it as an advertisement from China Daily in Beijing and note that additional “information is on file with the DOJ, Washington DC.” Chinese government funding for China Daily is not mentioned. China Daily registers with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, a law aimed at tracking foreign government influence.

Advocacy groups have criticized news outlets for partnering with China Daily out of concerns that the organization is spreading propaganda in the West. Some companies, including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, have ended content-sharing deals with China Daily because it is controlled by the Chinese government. The outlet has paid millions of dollars to publish content in Western magazines’ and newspapers’ print and online editions.

Time began working with China Daily last year. Foreign-agent disclosures filed by China Daily in May show the outlet paid Time $700,000 over the past six months, by far the highest outlay to any American news company. In addition to the print inserts, the magazine publishes sponsored China Daily content on its website, which also does not acknowledge Chinese government funding.

Much of the China Daily content does not appear to be aggressive Chinese propaganda, with many of the articles portraying life in China and Chinese culture in a positive light. But some of the paid China Daily content has drawn criticism from advocacy groups because of its clear political agenda.

The article also noted:

China Daily also sponsored content in the Financial Times, the Los Angeles Times, and Foreign Policy magazine, according to foreign agent disclosures. Two Tibetan advocacy groups criticized Foreign Policy over a series of China Daily articles last month that touted Communist Party policies in Tibet. The International Campaign for Tibet called the articles an “affront” to Tibetans who oppose Communist Party rule.

Let’s be clear. The articles do not have to be aggressive Chinese propaganda–all they have to do is paint an idyllic picture of life in Communist China. As young Americans see the illusion of a utopian society where they get free education and have all of their needs met by the state, they are misled about the lack of freedom that goes along with those ‘benefits.’ The Chinese have engaged in a propaganda war with America for some time now. Chinese money has been flowing into American colleges for years, and recently a few professors have been arrested for spying for China. When you read an article in the mainstream media, you need to know if someone is paying for it.

California Charities Do Not Have To Reveal Their Donors

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CNBC is reporting today that the Supreme Court has ruled 6-3 that California charities do not have to reveal a list of their donors.

The article reports:

The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a California rule requiring nonprofits to disclose the names and addresses of their largest donors, delivering a victory to a pair of conservative groups that had challenged the requirement as unconstitutional.

The 6-3 decision, which divided the nine justices along ideological lines, reversed a 2018 appeals court ruling siding with California’s attorney general.

The rule had forced nonprofits to give the state their so-called Schedule B forms, which include the personal information of all donors nationwide who had contributed more than $5,000 in a given tax year. The state had argued that it needed that information to help it police misconduct by charities.

“We do not doubt that California has an important interest in preventing wrongdoing by charitable organizations,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts in the majority opinion.

But “there is a dramatic mismatch” between “the interest that the Attorney General seeks to promote and the disclosure regime that he has implemented in service of that end,” Roberts wrote.

The conservative chief justice noted that about 60,000 charities renew their registration each year, and that virtually all of them were required to provide a Schedule B form.

“This information includes donors’ names and the total contributions they have made to the charity, as well as their addresses. Given the amount and sensitivity of this information harvested by the State, one would expect Schedule B collection to form an integral part of California’s fraud detection efforts. It does not,” Roberts wrote.

As much as I believe in transparency in donations, the Supreme Court was right to protect the names of the donors. A number of years ago, donors who supported a ballot referendum were harassed because of their donations. Unfortunately, that is not an unusual event. Americans need to be free to give to the charities of their choice without being harassed for their donations.

Infringing On The Second Amendment

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Yesterday I posted an article about a law going through the Pennsylvania legislature that would infringe on the rights of gun owners. Today NewsMax posted an article about a move by the City of San Jose that also infringes on the rights of gun owners.

The article reports:

The city of San Jose, California, will require gun owners to pay a yearly fee and purchase liability insurance.

A new law would make San Jose the first city in the nation to require owners of firearms to have insurance and pay fees to relieve taxpayers of the costs of responding to gun violence, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The city council voted unanimously to draft the law on Tuesday.

The move comes about a month after a gunman killed nine workers at a rail yard in San Jose.

The article continues:

The gunman shot himself as police closed in on him. The shooter and the nine victims were employees of the transit agency situated near the city’s airport.

“Grieving communities don’t have the luxury of forgetting,” Sam Liccardo, mayor of San Jose wrote in a column posted by CNN on June 15. “We live among devastated family members, we hear the echoes of painful eulogies, and we work with traumatized friends.

“I joined several colleagues to propose a comprehensive set of initiatives to reduce gun-related harm in San Jose.

“These proposals include two measures that no other city nor state in the United States has ever tried: mandatory gun insurance to support victims, and mandatory gun fees to compensate taxpayers. As with many other Silicon Valley innovations, we intend to implement and test these ideas, learn from our mistakes, improve, iterate and provide a platform for others to scale them to benefit their own communities.

Instead of punishing the gun owners, why not increase the penalty for a crime involving a gun, and hold the criminals with the guns accountable for their actions?

The article concludes:

“We will require gun owners to pay a modest annual fee to compensate taxpayers for the cost of gun-related violence. Every day, our residents bear the financial burden for police officers who bravely respond to shootings, for ambulances that transport the wounded, and for trauma surgeons to save them.”

It is uncertain just how much the fees will be, but the Chronicle reported that Liccardo said it would probably be “a couple dozen dollars” and would not be charged to those who could not afford it.

Fox News noted that officials said that anyone found to be in noncompliance will have their weapons confiscated.   (emphasis mine)