Monthly Archives: November 2021

Follow The Science?

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The Conservative Review is reporting the following today:

Many of the most vaccinated states in the U.S. are currently experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, while the least vaccinated states are seeing their number of cases and hospitalizations trending downward.

The puzzling revelation comes at a time when the Biden administration is urging all Americans over the age of 50 to receive booster shots of the vaccine.

The seven most vaccinated states in the country — Vermont, Rhode Island, Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey — have been hit hard over the past two weeks, according to New York Times tracking data.

In five of the seven states, both cases and hospitalizations are up by double digits. The only two outliers are Vermont and Maine. And in those states, while cases are down over the last 14 days ending on Nov. 29., hospitalizations are up 24% and 19%, respectively.

So why in the world is the Biden administration encouraging people to get vaccinated?

The article concludes:

According to the Times data, each of the seven states with the lowest vaccination rates — West Virginia, Idaho, Wyoming, Alabama, Mississippi, North Dakota, and Louisiana — are reporting significant declines in the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations over the last 14 days.

Of course, there are outliers to the apparent inverse relationship. In Washington state, where residents are 65% vaccinated, both cases and hospitalizations are down by double digits. Conversely, in both Missouri and Indiana, where just 51% of the population is vaccinated, both cases and hospitalizations are up by double digits.

It could be that the virus is plaguing certain regions of the U.S., such as the Northeast and the Midwest, to a greater degree than the Southeast without regard to the level of vaccination in those areas.

Though if that were true, it would indicate that the vaccine is relatively ineffective at stopping the spread of the virus and bringing down the number of hospitalizations, both of which have been touted as reasons to get the vaccine by public health experts.

The issue of vaccination could face another hurdle in the coming months amid the potential rise of the Omicron variant, which some fear may be resistant to current vaccines.

If we were following the science (the available data), I doubt the government would be encouraging people to get vaccinated until we figure out whether or not the vaccine actually does what it is supposed to do.

The Price We Are Paying At The Gas Pump

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The year 2020 was a good year for American drivers. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the price of a gallon of gasoline at the pump was $2.64 in January 2020, dropped to $1.94 in April, and ended the year at $2.29. The website lists the current cost of a gallon of gasoline at $3.50. That’s a $12 increase in cost every time I put 10 gallons of gasoline in my car. If you are commuting to work, that adds up fast. So how does the Biden administration feel about this significant increase in the cost of gasoline? The Epoch Times posted an article today that answers that question.

The article reports:

When he announced last week that he would release more oil from the American Strategic Petroleum Reserve, President Joe Biden told the American people he is doing everything possible to bring down gas prices at the pump.

That’s a lie. This administration and the climate change crazies have declared war on American energy.

They want high oil and gas prices. The Biden master plan is for American oil and gas production and consumption to go to zero over the next 15 to 20 years. How do you achieve that goal? By making oil and gas so expensive and so unavailable that Americans are forced to use alternatives.

In other words, the fact that gasoline is roughly $1.25 more expensive per gallon today under Biden than it was a year ago under former President Donald Trump didn’t happen by accident. This was not a result of a natural disaster, such as a hurricane, that could knock out our oil facilities. This was by design.

The left believes that they can change the temperature of the planet by forcing American energy companies to produce less oil and to force Americans to use less of it. How do you get people to buy less of something? You raise its price. This is basic high-school introductory economics.

The article concludes:

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said it well in August that Texas “can easily produce that oil” if Biden “will just stay out of the way.”

He won’t.

The Biden administration strategy is to force-feed the American economy expensive, unreliable, and made-in-China wind and solar energy. His $3 trillion Build Back Better bill would dole out more than $500 billion of taxpayer dollars to the wind, solar, and electric vehicle industry to break the back of oil and gas production. If this energy source is so efficient, why does it need a half trillion dollars of your and my money?

Meanwhile, nearly every Biden policy has been deliberately aimed at killing U.S. oil and gas production—from killing the Keystone XL pipeline to trying to shut down other existing natural gas pipelines in the Midwest (Home heating costs are going way up this winter.) to shutting down much of Alaska oil production to new Environmental Protection Agency rules making it very difficult and expensive to drill here in America. He is also preventing the mining of American coal, which is still one of the dominant sources of electric power around the world. He also wants to raise taxes on the oil and gas industry.

Now, let’s be honest. Do any of these policies suggest that Biden and his liberal friends in the green-energy movement want to keep oil and gas prices low? If you answer yes to that, you probably believe that Al Gore invented the internet.

Elections have consequences.

Promises Made, Promises Broken

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Remember when President Biden and other politicians promised that there would never be vaccine mandates or vaccine  passports? At this point that’s just a memory. WGBH, Boston’s public broadcasting station, reported yesterday that Massachusetts Governor Baker, who claims to be a Republican, expects a state-sanctioned COVID-19 vaccination passport program to be implemented in Massachusetts and several other states soon. Is anyone surprised?

The article reports:

During an appearance on GBH News’ Boston Public Radio, Baker said a scannable quick response code, commonly known as a QR code, would show a person’s vaccination status and be made available for others to scan and verify.

“It’s a universal standard and we’ve been working with a bunch of other states, there’s probably 15 or 20 of them, to try to create a single QR code that can be used for all sorts of things where people may choose to require a vaccine,” Baker said of the passport program.

Baker showed hosts Margery Eagan and Jim Braude his code while in the GBH’s studios in Brighton.

“It’s my proof that I’ve been vaccinated,” he said.

Last week, new Boston Mayor Michelle Wu hinted that the city may implement a vaccine mandate for indoor recreation areas.

Baker defended the availability of COVID booster shots in the state, saying Massachusetts is providing around 55,000 total vaccination shots per day, including boosters, and has administered around 1 million booster shots. Baker compared that figure to the 80,000 doses the state was outputting last spring at the height of the vaccination push with the help of mass vaccination centers.

Baker said booster vaccines are available, but may not be in the most convenient locations for everyone.

“Now, they may not be in the place somebody wants to go to get one. And it may be a week or 10 days out or two weeks out before they can get one. But given the fact that we have far more demand now that we had a couple of weeks ago, we’re going to see if we can increase our capacity to do more,” Baker said.

This is not the freedom our Founding Fathers fought for.

Don’t Expect To Learn All Of The Gory Details

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The Ghislaine Maxwell trial begins today. According to a Daily Caller article posted today, The presiding judge will be U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2011. Judge Nathan has already agreed with Ghislaine Maxwell’s request to keep certain details in the criminal case against her secret — finding that information would be too “sensational and impure” to reveal to the public.

The New York Post is reporting today:

Ghislaine Maxwell, the accused longtime madam of pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, is going on trial Monday — beginning the final act of criminal proceedings against the disgraced socialite that could be the last chance at justice for the duo’s alleged victims.

The first order of business was to finalize jury selection — picking the 12 jurors and six alternates who will hear the sensational case — with opening statements expected to follow later in the day.

The start of Maxwell’s highly awaited trial drew a mass of media to the Lower Manhattan courthouse. Alleged Epstein victim Sarah Ransome, attorney Lisa Bloom and Maxwell’s sister Isabel were also spotted arriving.

Maxwell, who has been in custody since her arrest last year, was hauled into court in a white sweater.

If convicted on all counts, Maxwell faces a maximum sentence of 70 years in prison — effectively a life sentence for the 59-year-old, who has been jailed in a Brooklyn lockup since her arrest.

Maxwell faces six counts for allegedly recruiting, grooming and abusing four minor girls with Epstein at multiple locations in the US and the UK from 1994 through 2004. 

Her crimes included engaging in “group sexual encounters” with Epstein and an underage girl — identified in court documents as “Minor Victim-1” — from 1994 to 1997, prosecutors charge in the indictment against her.

Obviously under normal circumstances there would be the potential for some very recognizable people to be named in this trial. I think the Judge’s ruling will probably prevent that. The fact that Ghislaine Maxwell is still alive could be considered an indication that the people who might have been implicated by a Jeffrey Epstein trial are somehow now protected. The trial might also be an indication that the Clinton family is no longer powerful enough to prevent any embarrassment that might come from the trial. There are a number of high-level government and corporate executives whose names appear on the flight logs of the plane to Epstein’s island. It will be interesting to see how much press those flight logs get. They have been public for a while, but not posted in mainstream sources. Let’s see if that changes.

Controlling The Vocabulary To Control The Narrative

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Yesterday The Daily Wire posted an article that illustrates how words can be misused to create a false narrative.

The article reports:

NBC’s Chuck Todd pressed Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves (R) to accept vaccine mandates as “pro-life” actions, while simultaneously suggesting that access to abortion should be protected as an individual liberty.

Reeves made an appearance Sunday on “Meet the Press,” joining Todd for a discussion on the emergence of a new coronavirus variant and Mississippi’s vaccination rate as well as the 15-week abortion ban that will face the scrutiny of the Supreme Court in the coming weeks.

Governor Reeves pointed out that there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that prevents states from limited abortion.

The article also includes some of the Governor’s comments on vaccine mandates:

Todd then attempted to use Reeves’ own comments about his opposition to vaccine mandates to argue that a vaccine mandate was actually a “pro-life” position.

“This is a power grab by the federal government. We’ve seen this time and time again by the Biden administration, and now we’re seeing their strong desire to trying to make decisions on behalf of individual Americans. We believe in freedom and individual liberty,” Reeves said of the vaccine mandates.

“‘Freedom and individual liberty,’” Todd repeated. “Why should the state of Mississippi tell a woman what they should do with their body? Why shouldn’t they have that individual freedom on their body, particularly in the first 20 weeks?”

“Well, this is a prime example, and the far left loves to scream, ‘My body, my choice.’ What I would submit to you, choice, is they absolutely ignore the fact that in getting an abortion there is an actual killing of an innocent unborn child that is in that womb,” Reeves replied. “Here is what we know about babies that are 15 weeks. We know that they have a heartbeat. We know that those babies at 15 weeks actually can open and close their hands. We know that they have developing lungs, and we know that those babies at 15 weeks can feel pain, and so when you talk – the difference between vaccine mandates and abortions is vaccines allow you to protect yourself. Abortions actually go in and kill other American babies. Let’s just put this in perspective –”

‘My body, my choice’ totally falls apart when you realize that an abortion involves another body with an entirely different DNA. We can expect more of this sort of twisting words in the near future when the Mississippi case comes before the Supreme Court.

Much Ado About Nothing?

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Big media is panicked over the new variant of Covid coming out of Africa. There seems to be some question as to whether or not they should be. Yesterday The Western Journal posted an article about the Omicron variant of the virus. I will mention at this point that someone on Facebook this morning pointed out that omicron is an anagram for moronic.

The article reports:

As panic circles the globe over a new coronavirus variant first reported in South Africa, the doctor who first noticed the variant is asking for a dose of calm.

Dr. Angelique Coetzee said that the unusual infections she was seeing in her private practice in Pretoria earlier this month presented “unusual but mild” symptoms, according to the Telegraph.

Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association, said it was “premature” to say the virus was going to mushroom into a global health crisis, according to the Guardian. On Friday, the World Health Association dubbed the Omicron variant a variant of concern. President Joe Biden then slapped travel restrictions on multiple African countries.

The article notes the unusual symptoms:

Coetzee said she would like more people to get vaccinated.

“Unfortunately, it’s not only the responsibility of the government; it’s the responsibility of the public as well … You can only ask people so many times to go and get vaccinated, and if you don’t listen, then there’s consequences, and then you have to take the consequences,” she said.

She said that the patients she treated came from very different backgrounds and had intense fatigue. None had a loss of test or smell. A 6-year-old child she treated had a high pulse rate.

“Their symptoms were so different and so mild from those I had treated before,” she said, according to the Telegraph.

Coetzee said that after she treated a family of four who tested positive for the virus and had complete exhaustion, she alerted South Africa’s vaccine advisory committee.

As someone who has recovered from the original coronavirus, I can state that exhaustion was part of the the original virus. It took my husband and I almost two months to get our energy back. Exhaustion is not fun, but if that is the major sympton of the virus, we should be okay. Everyday living in today’s world is exhausting!

When America Has A Weak President…

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NewsMax is reporting today that Taiwan’s air force scrambled again on Sunday to warn away 27 Chinese aircraft that entered its air defense zone.

The article reports:

Chinese-claimed Taiwan has complained for a year or more of repeated missions by China’s air force near the democratically governed island, often in the southwestern part of its air defense identification zone, or ADIZ, close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands.

Over a four-day period beginning on Oct. 1, when China marked its national day, Taiwan said that nearly 150 PLA military aircraft entered its ADIZ, not territorial air space but a broader area Taiwan monitors and patrols that acts to give it more time to respond to any threats.

The latest Chinese mission included 18 fighters jets plus five nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, as well as, unusually, a Y-20 aerial refueling aircraft, the Taiwan ministry said.

The article concludes:

Those aircraft were accompanied by the refueling aircraft, suggesting China refueled the shorter-ranged fighters inflight, a skill that the country’s air force is still working to hone to enable it to project power further from China’s shores.

Taiwan sent combat aircraft to warn away the Chinese aircraft, while missile systems were deployed to monitor them, the ministry said.

There was no immediate comment from China, which has in the past said such moves were drills aimed at protecting the country’s sovereignty.

I don’t know if China plans to attack Taiwan during the Biden administration. I do know that the Biden family has substantial financial ties to China that might make it very difficult for President Biden to mount a strong objection to a Chinese attempt to take over Taiwan.

As I have said repeatedly, the world is a much safer place when America has a strong President. Unfortunately that is not currently the case.

When Actions And Words Do Not Match Up

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Gasoline prices in America have risen significantly in the past eleven months. America is not longer energy independent. Partially because of the increased cost of gasoline, Americans are paying more for everything right now. President Biden has said that he is concerned. But what is he going to do about it?

The American Thinker posted an article today titled, “Joe Isuzu Biden: Concern-trolling high energy prices to voters — and working on the sly to raise them higher.”

The article reports:

Joe Biden has repeatedly claimed that high energy prices, including soaring prices at the pump, are some kind of priority for him. He’s made loud noises for the cameras about a couple of piddly measures of his to cut energy costs for consumers, which would at best be temporary and at worst, useless. But out on the sly, he’s stepping up his war on Big Oil, something he doesn’t want you to know about, which will raise energy prices. He’s still Creepy Joe.

The White House has stated in a press release that President Biden is doing everything he can to lower the cost of fuel for Americans. President Biden’s actions paint a different picture.

The article includes the following:

…from Axios:

Oil and gas companies should pay more to drill on federal lands and waters, the Department of the Interior argued in a report released Friday, saying that the current rates were “outdated.”

Driving the news: The Department of Interior report said that the federal government’s oil and gas leasing and permitting program “fails to provide a fair return to taxpayers, even before factoring in the resulting climate-related costs that must be borne by taxpayers.

Note “the resulting climate-related costs that must be borne by taxpayers.” Climate change is not proven science. Why should the taxpayers be forced to pick up the tab for a theory?

The article continues:

Axios yaks a lot about the federal rate being lower than some private rates, but forgets that much of federal land for lease is utterly undeveloped, with zero roads, zero electricity, zero satellite transmission, zero internet, zero water, the works. The other thing is that many of these unexplored federal lands are pretty speculative. A rate would be high and would find a buyer were an oil company to be fairly sure it would get a good return on its investment, meaning, it knew the oil was there and waiting. With many federal lands, that’s pretty speculative, which would explain low rates.

The report cited was released on the Friday after Thanksgiving, a classic ‘Friday night news dump’ as they say, done with hopes that voters would not notice. An analyst cited by Axios noticed, however:

    • “This approach could still significantly curtail future federal oil and gas production activity while remaining consistent with existing laws,” a note from research firm ClearView Energy Partners said.

The article concludes:

Biden is saying one thing, and doing another. Anyone with a brain can see that taxing energy companies at higher rates is going to have fewer companies taking chances. Anyone with a lick of common sense can surmise that shutting down pipelines is going to mean less energy and higher prices at the pump. Joe is hoping you don’t see that as he throws out his shiny strategic reserve bauble to distract you. Anyone with any degree of mental sharpness can see that Joe Isuzu is a three-card monte operator telling voters the sky is green and hoping they’ll be easy marks for it, believing him against the evidence of their own eyes. He seems to think we’re stupid.

Please follow the link to the article for further details. The difference between what the Biden administration is doing and what the Biden administration says it is doing is the reason people hate politicians.

Ignoring The Truth At Your Own Peril

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American schools are not the only schools in the world that are forgetting that their job is to teach children. Teaching children means telling them the truth about their history and the world we live in at the present time. On Friday The U.K. Daily Mail reported that the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has cancelled an event with ISIS survivor Nadia Murad. Ms. Murad was taken from her home and sold into sexual slavery at just 14 years old. She was scheduled to discuss her book, The Last Girl: My Story Of Captivity, in February 2020.

The article reports:

Murad was scheduled to sit down with students from the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) – the largest school Board in Canada with nearly 600 schools – to discuss her book The Last Girl: My Story Of Captivity in February 2022. 

Murad’s graphic exposé detailed how she escaped the Islamic State, where she was ripped from her home and sold into sexual slavery aged just 14 years old, according to The Telegraph. 

…But before the event could happen the superintendent of the Board Helen Fisher said that her students would not participate.

She has since issued an apology but refused to allow her students to attend. 

Fisher expressed that she believed the book would ‘promote Islamophobia’ and cited how offensive the book was to her Muslim students as her reason for cancelling the event.

The decision enraged TDSB parent Tanya Lee, who wrote an email to the superintendent about the decision.

Lee also founded the book club – called A Room Of Your Own Book Club – which allows teen girls aged 13 to 18 from secondary schools around the country to hear from female authors, and was hosting the event set to feature Murad. 

‘This is what the Islamic State means. It is a terrorist organization. It has nothing to do with ordinary Muslims. The Toronto school board should be aware of the difference,’ she wrote, as reported by The Telegraph.

The article concludes:

However, this isn’t the first time Fisher banned a book from a book club event.

Back in October, A Room Of Your Own Book Club featured author and lawyer Marie Henein, who defended Canadian radio host Jian Ghomeshi while he was being faced with sexual assault charges.

Although Ghomeshi was acquitted on all charges in 2016, the TDSB sill refused to let its students attend the event.

In response, dozens of users took to Twitter to express their fiery discontent towards TDSB’s decision.

One user referred to when Holocaust survivors spoke to TDSB schools and sarcastically said: ‘I guess all the Holocaust survivors who have spoken at schools were promoting hatred of Germans – any response to your idiotic position on Nadia Murad???’

Meanwhile, another user said the school’s choice to cancel Murad’s event is ‘sad (because) she is being de-platformed’. 

Yet another response said the decision is the ‘opposite’ of cancel culture, ‘where incompetent professionals face no consequences for bungling their jobs, because their errors are seen as being committed in the (nominal) service of social justice’. 

I’m not sure I would want thirteen or fourteen-year olds reading Ms. Murad’s book–I think I would want to let the parents decide that, but ignoring the culture of Islamic jihad is something all western nations do at their own peril.

This Really Isn’t A Surprise

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On Wednesday The Washington Free Beacon posted an article about a recent poll in Maryland.

The article reports:

According to internal polling obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, 88 percent of black voters support Maryland governor Larry Hogan’s (R.) effort to “re-fund the police,” an initiative state Democrats denounced as “divisive” and “misguided.”

The poll, which was provided by an outside group aligned with Hogan, shows that 64 percent of likely black voters in the state “strongly support” the governor’s proposal to “provide greatly increased funding to state and local police agencies,” while 24 percent “somewhat support” the policy. Hogan’s initiative enjoys similar support across racial lines—89 and 74 percent of white and Hispanic voters support it, respectively.

Those numbers contradict state Democrats’ criticism of the plan. After Hogan announced his proposal to invest an additional $150 million into local and state police, state house speaker Adrienne Jones (D.) accused the Republican of working to “politicize” public safety.

…In addition to his plan to increase police funding, Hogan said Tuesday he will introduce two emergency bills to combat violent crime in Baltimore. The move comes one week after the city experienced its 300th homicide for the seventh year in a row—victims include a 69-year-old woman who was stabbed to death inside a church, a 5-year-old girl, and a 13-year-old girl.

“People are being shot nearly every single day in Baltimore City, and we all have an obligation to do something about it right now,” Hogan said in a statement. “With all of the actions we have announced today, I want those families and all of the victims of this violence to know that we will not stop pursuing those criminals who are terrorizing our community.”

The article concludes:

During his Tuesday press conference, Hogan also announced a review of state funds provided to Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby, one of many progressive prosecutors across the country with ties to liberal billionaire George Soros. Homicides have skyrocketed since Mosby took office in 2015, and she will now have to provide data on cases her office chose not to prosecute in order to see its funding returned.

“As I have repeatedly said, we also need a prosecutor who will actually prosecute violent criminals,” Hogan said Tuesday. Mosby’s office responded by pointing the Free Beacon to a statement that called the Republican’s press conference “a political stunt with no basis whatsoever.”

We won’t have law and order in America until those who break our laws pay a price for what they did. Governor Hogan seems to be moving in a direction that will restore some semblance of order to Baltimore.

What Should Your Priorities Be As A Parent?

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Yesterday PJ Media posted an article about a recent statement by President Biden.

The article notes:

Democrats have long wanted the government to parent or co-parent your children, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that President Joe Biden said the quiet part out loud Monday night.

The article has a screenshot of the President’s Tweet:

Nearly 2 million women in our country have been locked out of the workforce because they have to care for a child or an elderly relative at home. My Build Back Better Act will make caregiving accessible and affordable and help them get back to work.

“Locked out of the Workforce”? What? No one is locked out of the workforce.

The article reports:

But it’s untrue to claim this loss is only due to women leaving work to care for a family member. There are myriad reasons why the pandemic and government-induced shutdowns could have diminished the female workforce.

Many moved away from overpriced Democrat-run cities the last 20 months amid the constant anti-science alarmism about being near people. When one relocates, as I have six times since 2005, you often give up your job, and it obviously takes time to land a new one.

Maybe you moved to a cheaper place, and therefore don’t need a second income, especially if you sold your more expensive house. Maybe your husband now runs a small business out of the house, and so you support that business in a technically unpaid role. Biden clearly has never pondered such.

The article concludes:

Nearly one-third of mothers said in 2019 that their preference is “not working for pay at all.” As the Biden administration considers these selfless people a problem, one of their answers also is to subsidize day care centers. But most parents dislike this, with about two-thirds of parents wanting to provide their own child care — either through one parent staying home or both parents working flexible hours.

Bottom line: Joe Biden believes he is granting parents what they want by “liberating” them from child care; though in reality, they are simply giving parents what the Biden administration thinks is best.

And with a regime this indecisive and deferential, it doesn’t add up.

Don’t let the government raise your children. They won’t do a good job.

I Hope Your Thanksgiving Guests Didn’t Take This Advice Seriously

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Yesterday Trending Politics posted an article with the following title, “‘The Atlantic’ Gives Advice To “Deprogram” Pro-Trump Relatives On Thanksgiving; Suggests Reporting Them To FBI.” Nothing like feeling the love if you are a conservative in a family gathering of liberals.

The article reports:

Towards the end of the article, she even throws out the idea of reporting their relatives to the FBI. Some may think it’s a joke, but it’s something that is actually happening across the United States.

“This is your chance to deprogram them. Facebook knows its algorithm radicalizes users. This is your chance to tell your aunt that maybe the news she gets from it isn’t all that reliable. And that maybe the MAGA news network is not giving her unbiased news,” she writes.

Jong-Fast rejected the idea that Thanksgiving should be a time of peace and harmony. Instead, she thinks her readers should turn the day into an opportunity to tell their “creepy uncle” to get the vaccine.

What if your creepy uncle has already had the virus and has the antibodies?

The article concludes:

She concludes with a dogwhistle suggestion to report their family members to the authorities for their political beliefs.

“Maybe it won’t work. Maybe you’ll leave Thanksgiving dinner as divided as you were when you sat down at the table five hours and 4,000 calories ago. Or maybe you’ll plant the seed, sow just a little doubt about whatever Tucker Carlson is saying now. Maybe you’ll even change a heart or a mind. Maybe you’ll bring the temperature down just a tiny bit. Or maybe you’ll need to report a relative to the FBI,” she added.

Can’t you just feel the love of the holiday season?

Remember When The Democrat Party Represented ‘The Little People’?

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The days of the Democrat party representing the working American are long gone. A recent item in the Build Back Better Bill illustrates where the Democrat party’s priorities truly lie. The Epoch Times posted an article today about the tax cut for the rich included in the bill.

The article reports:

President Joe Biden repeatedly said he would raise taxes only on the rich to pay for his Build Back Better plan, but now he’s backing a tax break for millionaires and billionaires, contradicting his past promises.

While the White House calls it a “compromise” to move the president’s agenda forward, this is a big deal, according to critics, as Biden and Democrats will likely face a messaging problem heading into 2022 elections.

House Democrats on Nov. 19 passed Biden’s nearly $2 trillion social and climate spending plan. The bill, called the Build Back Better Act, contains a wide variety of tax provisions, including an increased federal deduction for state and local taxes, or SALT.

The plan allows taxpayers to deduct up to $80,000 of state and local taxes against their federal income taxes, a sharp increase from the current $10,000 cap. This means many among the rich would pay lower federal income taxes than they currently pay.

President Donald Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act limited individual’s deduction for SALT payments to $10,000 a year. This cap on deductions, the studies showed, has increased the tax bill for residents of high-tax states, especially those who earn more than $500,000.

Blue states with higher individual income and property tax rates, such as New York, New Jersey, and California, objected to the cap imposed under 2017 tax overhaul, saying that it’s unfair to their residents. Since the passage of tax reform, they’ve tried various tax maneuvers to avoid this limitation.

Critics on both sides of the aisle, however, have said for years that eliminating or raising the SALT deduction cap would be a handout to the rich.

Under the House plan, roughly a third of the tax benefits would go to the richest 1 percent and three-quarters would go to the richest 5 percent, according to an analysis by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

Another analysis by the right-leaning Tax Foundation found that “the top 1 percent of earners would experience a 0.8 percent increase in after-tax income in 2022 due to a more generous SALT deduction.”

Pay attention, Democrats–you  have been hoodwinked by your own party. The Trump tax cuts actually helped those in the middle class. The Biden tax cuts are tax cuts for the rich. It’s a pretty safe bet that no one in the middle class in paying $80,000 in state and local taxes, although California may be looking for a way to make that happen.

Getting Rewarded For Your Political Support

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Traditionally the unions have supported the Democrat party. Periodically they are rewarded for their support. Yesterday Red State posted an article that illustrates how that system works.

The article reports:

In yet another example that powerful teachers unions and labor unions enjoy joint custody of Joe Biden and the Democrat Party, the ridiculously named socialist monstrosity “Build Back Better” Act contains a provision that provides a tax credit of up to $12,500 to purchasers of electric vehicles — other than Teslas.

Why not Teslas? Three words: United Autoworkers Union.

That’s right, America, as reported by CBS News, only electric vehicles made in unionized U.S. factories qualify for the full $12,500. However, if Tesla it must be, your tax credit would be capped at $7,500.

The article lists the criteria for the tax credit (note that it is a tax credit–not a refund–the government doesn’t want you to keep too much of your own money):

  • A credit of up to $7,500 for an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle, defined as a car with a battery capacity of at least 40 kilowatt-hours and a gas tank, if any, under 2.5 gallons.
  • An additional $500 credit for a car with a battery pack made in the U.S.
  • An additional $4,500 credit for cars assembled at a unionized U.S. plant. (Currently, only plants owned by GM, Ford, and Stellantis qualify [formerly, Fiat-Chrysler].)

The information above comes from CBS News.

The article continues:

In addition, to qualify for tax credits under Biden’s BBB (Build Back Broke), electric vehicles must fall under a price limit. Vans, sports utility vehicles, and pickup trucks need to be under $80,000 to be eligible for the credit; for all other cars, the price limit is $55,000.

The article concludes:

The worst part about the Democrat Party in situations like this — blatant pandering to labor unions — is the complete disingenuousness of the whole thing. We know — and they know we know — that “climate change,” “green energy,” and fossil fuels have less to do with this provision, along with taxpayer relief and “good-paying jobs,” and more to do with delivering to the UAW exactly what it expects.

Doubt it? One look at the Democrat coddling of teachers’ unions should eliminate any doubt.

I guess the unions are simply getting what they have paid for.

The Real Story Of Thanksgiving

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On Wednesday, CBN News posted an article about the real story of Thanksgiving. Please follow the link to read the entire story. Meanwhile, here are a few highlights:

As for verifiable facts, one for sure is that these religious reformers started building their first American settlement in the harsh winter of 1620-1621, even as half their number died around them.

But just a few months later these faithful Christians who believed in thanking God for everything were already planning the first American Thanksgiving.

“This was in 1621 after the first season here in Plymouth where they lost half their population and only had 51 of 102 people left at the end of that season,” Pilgrim role-player Leo Martin told CBN News.

…”The very first feast that we had in these parts, our governor sent four men on fowling and in just some small hours, the four men were able to take enough wildfowl to feed our company for a week,” he said. “For we required a special manner of rejoicing, the Lord having sustained us for a year and having brought in such a goodly harvest.”

‘They Are a Toothsome Bird‘

In Plymouth’s annual Thanksgiving parade, the occasional float will go by showing large, plump turkeys, the kind today’s Americans imagine Pilgrims feasted on. But in truth, their turkeys were wild, lean and mean.

“They were very skinny and they could run up to 25 miles an hour,” Martin said. “So to catch one was a challenge.”

…At the Plimoth Plantation where that first Pilgrim settlement is faithfully recreated, top researcher Richard Pickering dresses up to act out the part of Edward Winslow, one of only two Pilgrims to leave a written record of that first Thanksgiving.

…’Winslow’ said, “I find the turkeys here of New England, they are a bit different than those that live upon the dunghills back home in England. But they are a toothsome bird.”

Another sure fact: these grateful Englishmen didn’t dine alone because they knew they wouldn’t have made it without the Indians, or Sachems, as Winslow called them.

The Native Americans showed them what could grow in this radically different soil that was unkind to English seeds.

…”They felt that Massasoit, the chief of the Wampanoag Indians, was so instrumental in their survival that they should invite Massasoit and his immediate family to that celebration, and they did,” Martin explained.

But Massasoit misunderstood a bit.

“While we were feasting and making of sport and exercising our arms, amongst us come the great Sachem Massasoit and about 90 of his men,” Winslow said.

Martin pointed out that could have wiped out all the Pilgrims’ supplies, but the chief and his braves brought plenty of food with them.

“Venison, turkey, fish, vegetables — and together they had enough food for a three-day celebration where they honored one another and became better friends,” Martin said.

The article concludes:

Finally, the cook would have seasoned this stuffing with herbs brought all the way from England, like thyme, hyssop, and parsley.

“We believe that the things they are growing in their kitchen gardens in the 17th century are primarily things brought over from England. They’re trying to bring home with them,” Messier (Norah Messier is Plimoth Plantation’s expert on the food of that era.) explained. “They’re trying to make New England feel like old England.”

That likely is why a man like Winslow would have preferred something better than those skinny, exotic New England turkeys.

Winslow said with a twinkle in his eye, “In truth, my greatest delight is a goose for I do love its great fatness.”

Common Sense Prevails

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The United Auto Workers Union posted the following statement on their website yesterday:

Detroit – At a meeting Monday evening, the COVID-19 Joint Task Force, comprised of the UAW, Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, has aligned on a policy of voluntary and confidential disclosure of vaccination status for UAW members. Each company will provide additional communication to employees on how, where and when to report their vaccination status.

In addition to encouraging members to disclose their vaccination status, the Task Force continues to urge all members, coworkers, and their families to get vaccinated and get booster vaccinations against COVID-19, while understanding that there are personal reasons that may prevent some members from being vaccinated, such as health issues or religious beliefs.

After reviewing the status of CDC and OSHA guidelines, the Task Force also decided it is in the best interest of worker safety to continue masks in all worksites at this time.

While it is understood that masks can be uncomfortable, the spread of the Delta variant and recent data outlining the continued high rate of transmission in some geographic areas continue to be a serious health threat.

One of the best ways to fight this virus is by getting as many people as possible vaccinated. The more UAW members, coworkers and their families are vaccinated and have boosters, the quicker this deadly pandemic can be vanquished.

The Task Force will continue to closely monitor the COVID health status, and all legal and procedural changes to CDC and OSHA guidelines in order to ensure that everything possible is being done to keep families, members and employees safe.

In an article posted yesterday, The Conservative Treehouse notes:

A big win for medical privacy and the principles of freedom.  Ford, General Motors and Stellantis have agreed the United Auto Workers union members will not be forced to take the mandatory vaccine as a condition of employment.  [UAW Announcement] Additionally, the vaccine status of the workers will remain private with a policy of private and voluntary disclosure.

This is a step toward freedom for American workers.

Letting Even Non-citizens Vote

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Just the News is reporting today that New York City lawmakers are set to vote on a measure that would amend the city’s charter and allow green card holders and those with work authorizations visas to vote in citywide elections.

The article reports:

Mayor-elect Eric Adams, a Democrat, supported the idea and campaigned on it during his election earlier this year.

“We cannot be a beacon to the world and continue to attract the global talent, energy and entrepreneurship that has allowed our city to thrive for centuries if we do not give immigrants a vote in how this city is run and what are priorities are for the future,” he said while on the campaign trail.

However, Mayor Bill de Blasio, also a Democrat, feels differently.

“I don’t believe it is legal. Our law department is very clear on this,” he said during an interview on “The Brian Lehrer Show.” Adding that the second issue with the proposal is that it undermines efforts to get immigrants to become citizens.

“I think there’s a real set of mixed feelings it generates in me about what’s the right way to approach this issue,” he also said.

The bill stipulates that residents must be living in the city for at least 30 days prior to an election and will apply exclusively to municipal elections, not any state or federal ballot questions.

Anyone willing to make a wager as to how long it will be before the thousands of illegal immigrants streaming into our country will be given some sort of status that allows them to vote in local elections. Even if they can’t vote in federal elections, the true power is in local elections–the local candidates who win their primary elections are the ‘farm team’ for Congress and the Presidency. Laws like this will dramatically change our country from a Constitutional Republic to a place where people who may not understand either our history or how our government is supposed to work are in charge.

Who’s Next

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In the current news cycle, the difference between a conspiracy theory and actual news is about six weeks. Remember when President Trump commented that if ‘the woke people’ kept on tearing down statues they would eventually get to Thomas Jefferson. Well, they did.

Breitbart reported the following yesterday:

“Trump has posited that the statues of Founding Fathers could come down following the removal of Confederate symbols across the country. Historians say he’s wrong,” wrote the far-left liars at NBC News in 2017.

…“Art handlers packed up an 884-pound statue of Jefferson in a wooden crate Monday,” reports the New York Post, “after a mayoral commission voted to banish the likeness of the nation’s third president from City Hall where its resided for nearly two centuries — because he owned slaves.”

The article concludes:

It’s not Thomas Jefferson owning slaves that offends the left. All kinds of people owned slaves in those days, including many of the oh-so-precious and noble “indigenous peoples” of North America we’re supposed to gush over. What offends the left is Thomas Jefferson’s ideas.

He was a man who stood for the very thing that most threatens the fascist left, and that’s individual liberty—the right of each of us to live, speak, act, behave, believe, and worship in whatever way we choose.

That’s what the left despises about Jefferson and the Founding Fathers. That’s why they want him disappeared, removed, blacklisted and forgotten.

Erasing history accomplishes nothing. We can’t change what was culturally acceptable hundreds of years ago. I wonder how Americans in future generations will look at abortion. I wonder if they will realize how many minority babies were murdered versus the number of white babies. We are not in a moral position to criticize slavery. Many of the government programs we have instituted are no less immoral.

The Proper Solution To The Computer Chip Shortage

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The Daily Wire reported yesterday that Samsung s planning to build a $17 billion semiconductor factory in Taylor, Texas.

The article reports:

A statement from the office of Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) says that Samsung chose the Lone Star State due to its business-friendly climate:

The new manufacturing facility will produce advanced logic chips that will power next-generation devices for applications such as mobile, 5G, high-performance computing (HPC), and artificial intelligence (AI).

The project will create over 2,000 high-tech jobs, thousands of indirect jobs, and a minimum of 6,500 construction jobs. Construction will begin in early 2022 with a target of production start in the second half of 2024. The $17 billion in capital investments includes buildings, property improvements, machinery, and equipment.

A Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) grant of $27,000,000 has been extended to Samsung for their job creation. In addition, Samsung has been offered a $20,000 Veteran Created Job Bonus.   

The article concludes:

Indeed, The Wall Street Journal reports that firms across the globe are racing to produce more semiconductors:

Samsung’s doubling down on Texas where it already has a footprint comes amid a year of historic spending for the semiconductor industry, spurred by government incentives seeking to attract local production. A global chip shortage has undercut many industries from smartphones and home appliances to cars.

Samsung, the world’s largest semiconductor maker by revenue, plans to invest more than $205 billion over the next three years, with chip-making a priority. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has earmarked more than $100 billion over the next three years to build new chip factories. Intel Corp. has also unveiled more than $100 billion worth of semiconductor factory investments plans in the U.S. and Europe over the coming decade.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said earlier this year that he has “never seen anything like” the semiconductor shortage.

“Our biggest challenge is supply chain, especially microcontroller chips,” Musk said on social media, comparing his company’s decision to “overorder” various products to the “toilet paper shortage” that occurred at the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States.

Bringing industry back to America will help America economically and will add to our national security. To have outsourced computer chips and pharmaceuticals to countries that are not our allies is foolishness.

Taking A Stand

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This was the scene outside Carolina East Health Medical Center in New Bern, North Carolina, at about 8 o’clock this morning:

The event was a “STAND 4 MEDICAL FREEDOM/OUR HEALTHCARE WORKERS DESERVE BETTER” demonstration. The people protesting were not against the coronavirus vaccine–I am sure many of them were vaccinated. However, all of us were protesting the idea that an employer can force an employee to get a shot that has not yet been fully tested. For those who argue that the shot is fully tested, please consider that the shot has only been in existence for about a year. How do we know what the long-term effects are?

There were about eighty people who attended the demonstration. The cars passing by were waving and giving thumbs up to show their support.

Demanding the shot is an affront to personal freedom. Demanding the shot with the threat of firing when hospitals are short-staffed to begin with is simply unwise.

Another thing to be aware of–America is the only country in the world that does not recognize the natural immunity of those who have recovered from the coronavirus as protective. This defies all previous science. It also defies the statistics coming from some of the most highly-vaccinated countries.

Get the vaccine if you choose, but don’t think it is your right to force others to get the vaccine. The unvaccinated are no more likely to spread the coronavirus than the vaccinated. The only thing the vaccine currently claims to do is to ensure that you will have a milder case if you get the virus, and even that is being questioned by many doctors.

Freedom is the foundation of this country. Let’s not give it away.

 

Finding Answers On The State Level Because The Federal Government Has Failed

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NewsMax reported on Monday that a group of fifteen Republican governors are taking measures to ease the supply chain crisis.

The article reports:

Fifteen governors from across the nation, including Georgia, Tennessee, Idaho, Florida, Arizona, Missouri, Iowa, Ohio, and North Dakota, among others, said in a letter Monday that they are taking measures to ease the current supply chain crisis, and are calling on President Joe Biden to ease federal regulations to get inventory moving more swiftly.

“As we approach the holiday season, our states are committed to ensuring the free and fast flow of commerce. Americans enjoy a high quality of life, and as government officials, our job is to not only maintain the standard of living for our citizens but to improve it,” Monday’s letter said. “Getting goods to market is a fundamental baseline of our open economy, and under the Biden Administration, the American supply chain is in crisis.”

Called “Operation Open Roads,” the initiative by the governors seeks to make the transportation of goods easier by using their authority to modify weight, size, or load restrictions to allow the cargo to move “more efficiently,” allow truck drivers to spend more hours on the road, giving them more flexibility in delivering loads, and adjusting commercial license barriers to put more drivers on the road, according to the plan.

The article concludes:

They are also calling on Biden to ease “outdated” federal regulations, such as lowering the age requirement for a commercial driver’s license from 21 to 18 “so that well-trained, working adults can work across state borders.”

The group is also asking Biden to suspend the vaccine mandate for private companies with more than 100 employees in the trucking and transportation industries to not “further exacerbate” the driver shortage by adding a barrier to employment.

Missouri’s Republican Gov. Mike Parson, a signatory to the letter, said Monday that the federal government needs to either “get on board” with the initiative, or get “out of the way.”

“Missourians, like many Americans, are deeply concerned about their rising grocery and energy bills, increasing delays for goods and services, and soaring inflation threatening their paychecks,” Parson said in a statement. “The Biden Administration’s continued attempts to tax, spend, and regulate its way out of this crisis have failed. We are committed to doing what we can at the state level to fix this crisis and to get us back on track, but we need the federal government to get on board or get out of the way.”

According to the letter, the United States saw a 638% increase in shipping disruptions during the first half of 2021 for essential products like semiconductor chips, plastics, and cardboard.

Shipping delays from Asian countries rose from 14 hours to 13 days in September, causing stores to receive only 40% of their orders, compared to 90% before the COVID-19 pandemic, the letter said.

Thank goodness for governors who are willing to look for solutions to problems the federal government has failed to solve.

Reversing A Policy That Punished Bad Behavior

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On Sunday The Daily Caller posted an article about another Trump administration policy reversed by the Biden administration.

The article reports:

The Biden administration quietly reversed a Trump-era decision halting conservation grants being used to indirectly fund human rights atrocities in Central Africa.

Eco-guards hired by WCS and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and funded through the Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE), had allegedly committed horrific atrocities including rape, torture and murder stretching back a decade, a March 2019 Buzzfeed News investigation found. In one alleged incident, guards beat and raped four women, including two who were pregnant, and in another incident, three men were hung by their penises from a tree branch by the guards.

The article notes:

“It was my conclusion that the federal agencies simply did not have the means and the practical ability to ensure that the money that they gave wouldn’t go to parties who would commit grave and horrific crimes,” Former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt — who left the department in January after leading it for two years — told the DCNF in an interview.

“And as a result of that, I was not comfortable with this approach,” he continued. “Apparently, the Biden administration is.”

Following the Buzzfeed reports, Bernhardt ordered $12.3 million in CARPE program funds to be frozen in September 2019 and initiated an internal investigation into how wildlife grants were awarded to groups operating in Central Africa. One year later, the Interior Department (DOI) doubled down on its decision to halt funds, saying no further CARPE funding would be awarded to wildlife organizations until proper controls were put in place, according to an internal agency memo.

American tax dollars should not be funding any group that engages in the sort of behavior these groups engaged in, regardless of their cause.

How Come We Haven’t Seen The Files?

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Everyone over the age of 10 remembers where they were on November 22, 1963. We remember the weekend that followed–all the rock ‘n roll stations on the radio played classical music as the nation mourned. It was an event that shook the conscience of America–how could anyone do that? John F. Kennedy was a President most Americans revered. No one believed it was possible that someone would try to kill him. Fifty-eight years later, our government has still not released the files on the assassination. Why?

The Dallas Morning News posted an article on October 25th of this year that stated the following:

In spring 2018, then-President Donald Trump delayed release of Kennedy assassination files for another 3 1/2 years – files the FBI and CIA had pleaded to keep under wraps.

The new deadline is Tuesday. But historians and conspiracy buffs will have to keep waiting, and some aren’t happy, including Kennedy kin.

Late Friday, the White House issued a memorandum declaring the deadline will not be met because of delays related to COVID-19.

“Unfortunately, the pandemic has had a significant impact” on the National Archives and on assorted agencies and departments seeking to keep archivists from releasing some of their files, the memo reads. “Making these decisions is a matter that requires a professional, scholarly, and orderly process; not decisions or releases made in haste.”

Biden promised an “intensive” review over the next year, with some records released between Dec. 15 and the end of the year, and a “comprehensive release in late 2022.”

In 1992, Congress set a 25-year deadline for releasing remaining documents stemming from John F. Kennedy’s murder in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.

…“It’s an outrage. It’s an outrage against American democracy. We’re not supposed to have secret governments within the government,” said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose own father was also assassinated. “How the hell is it 58 years later, and what in the world could justify not releasing these documents?”

His cousin, former Rhode Island congressman Patrick Kennedy, whose father Ted Kennedy served for decades in the Senate, echoed impatience to help the public understand “something that left such a scar in this nation’s soul.”

When the deadline set by Congress in 1992 arrived on Oct. 26, 2017, Trump had been in office for nine months. He gave federal agencies a six-month extension to plead the case for keeping selected records sealed on the basis of national security.

The FBI and CIA in particular had pressed for more time.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. It’s time Americans knew exactly what happened. Keeping these files secret creates a fertile field for conspiracy theories. What is the government hiding?