From my friends at Power Line Blog:
Monthly Archives: April 2022
Where The Money Went
On Friday, Breitbart reported that blue states used some of the coronavirus relief money to implement CRT in their schools.
The article reports:
Democrats passed the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act in March 2021, which President Biden signed into law shortly after. Republicans did not support the measure, but it passed in both chambers, as Democrats hold a majority. It included billions supposedly allocated to “safely” reopen schools.
In August, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said New York’s plan to use the funds to “support K-12 schools and students” laid “the groundwork for the ways in which an unprecedented infusion of federal resources will be used to address the urgent needs of America’s children and Build Back Better.” However, using the funds for CRT went far beyond just blue New York.
According to reports, “the law provided over $122 billion for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER), which helped multiple states implement ‘implicit bias’ and ‘anti-racism’ training, among other programs, according to research from One Nation shared with and verified by Fox News Digital.”
The Department of Education took its role a step further, offering “strategies” for using the funds to “address the impact of lost instructional time.” The department repeatedly emphasized “cultural responsiveness” and “equitable practices,” pointing to the Chicago Public School’s Curriculum Equity Initiative as a prime example. That included a “performance-based assessment system as part of the district-wide approach to culturally responsive and equitable teaching and learning.”
The money given to provide coronavirus relief should have been spent on sanitizing the schools to allow the children to return to school in a reasonable amount of time. The only reason for keeping the children out of school was that the teachers’ union feared the teachers would get sick. Measures should have been taken to provide for the safety of both teachers and students. The funds were not intended to implement new curricula. This is simply another example of Washington misusing taxpayer money. l
Are We Pretending That There Is No Corruption Within The Ukrainian Government?
What is happening in Ukraine is horrendous There is no excuse for killing civilians in the cities as Russia takes control of them. However, America does not have an endless supply of money it can spend to keep another government solvent. We are barely solvent ourselves.
On Friday, The Conservative Treehouse reported the following:
This is getting seriously out of hand. On top of the $14 billion already appropriated for Ukraine assistance, Joe Biden is now asking for a supplemental budget allocation of an additional $33 billion for Ukraine. Good grief, that’s almost $50 billion in aid, plus the billions in distributed weapons.
Biden is asking for U.S. taxpayers to fund the budget, salaries and pension obligations of the Ukraine government. Biden made his request in a letter [SEE HERE] to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi:
[…] “I am writing to provide you with my request for fiscal year (FY) 2022 emergency supplemental funding for critical security and economic assistance to Ukraine.
I appreciate the Congress’ continued bipartisan support for Ukraine, NATO, and other partner countries affected by Russia’s War in Ukraine. My Administration is committed to providing the Ukrainian people the assistance they need. Our assistance to date has made a difference on the battlefield, helping Ukraine win the battle for Kyiv.
This $33.0 billion request for additional funding and authority builds on the Congress’ supplemental appropriation of $13.6 billion on March 15, 2022, and seeks to address immediate and near-term security and economic needs. Additional security assistance will put urgently needed equipment into the hands of Ukraine’s military and police, including ammunition, armored vehicles, small arms, demining assistance, and unmanned aircraft systems.
Economic assistance will provide Direct Budget Support to provide rapid, flexible funds to assist the Government of Ukraine.” (read more)
Is any of that money going to help Burisma? Just asking. Americans are struggling with inflation and the possibility of higher taxes and the Biden administration wants us to fund Ukraine’s government. That doesn’t really work for me.
Have You Read “Johnny The Walrus”?
On Thursday, John Hinderaker posted an article at Power Line Blog about a book by Matt Walsh titled, “Johnny the Walrus.”
The article reports:
Matt Walsh has written a book for children called Johnny the Walrus. It satirizes the current transgender craze, which has resulted in an epidemic of irreversible child abuse:
Johnny is a little boy with a big imagination. One day he pretends to be a big scary dinosaur, the next day he’s a knight in shining armor or a playful puppy. But when the internet people find out Johnny likes to make-believe, he’s forced to make a decision between the little boy he is and the things he pretends to be — and he’s not allowed to change his mind.
To the horror of the libs who work at Amazon, Walsh’s book is selling like hotcakes on that platform. Someone leaked a zoom call on which Amazon employees wring their hands over what to do about Johnny the Walrus. I should note that the statements about the book made by the anonymous caller are entirely false. In typical liberal fashion, she just made them up. The people on the call would know they were false if they took the trouble to read Johnny the Walrus, a kids’ board book, which probably would have taken two minutes or less. But of course they didn’t bother. Ideology is everything.
The article includes screenshots of Amazon therapy session for trauma from Matt Walsh’s books. Evidently the thought of anyone writing an allegorical story about the damage that is being done to our children is upsetting to those who support doing the damage. Please follow the link above to read the entire article and view the screenshots.The book is not currently available on Amazon.
We Need To Protect The Veterans Administration
On Thursday, The Epoch Times reported the following:
GOP lawmakers attempted to block the Biden administration from diverting Veterans Affairs (VA) resources to address the border crisis.
A coalition of Republican senators introduced legislation (pdf) on April 26 to prioritize the needs of the nation’s veterans over illegal immigrants. The new bill would secure the VA funds from providing “emergency assistance at the southern border of the United States resulting from the repeal of certain public health orders, and for other purposes.”
It comes as the administration is preparing an interagency response to an expected surge at the southern border as it plans to end a Trump-era immigration policy, known as Title 42, in late May.
Since being invoked in March 2020, the public health order has quickly expelled a majority of asylum seekers at the border, in a bid to minimize non-essential travel and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 at U.S. borders. Its termination was announced on April 1 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas confirmed that his department is planning to reallocate resources, doctors, and nurses from the VA system.
The article concludes:
Last week, Boozman (Senator John Boozman (R-Ark.), lead Republican appropriator for VA funding and a senior member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee) sent a joint letter to President Joe Biden, demanding not to divert VA health-care personnel away from helping American veterans and prioritize illegal immigrants, calling it a misuse of the Fourth Mission—the primary medical backup to the Department of Defense during times of national emergencies.
The Fourth Mission isn’t “a tool to clean up the mess from a foreseeable and avoidable crisis, especially while the VA is already experiencing record-high turnover rates and issues of workforce resiliency amongst its health care employees,” senators warned.
The VA is also experiencing a 15-year high turnover rate with its nursing staff and increased vacancies for a wide variety of health care professionals, Boozman notes.
This makes my blood boil. We owe everything to our veterans and nothing to illegal aliens. In 2019, there were 6,261 Veteran suicide deaths. How many of those deaths could have been prevented by better care through the Veterans Administration? The thankless attitude of the Biden administration toward our military is a disgrace.
While We Were Watching Ukraine
Yesterday The Washington Free Beacon posted an article about the Biden administration’s negotiations with Iran over a nuclear arms treaty.
The article reports:
Republican lawmakers in Congress are fed up with the Biden administration’s secret diplomacy with Iran and refusal to inform the American public about what concessions will be granted to the world’s foremost sponsor of terrorism as part of a new nuclear deal.
With negotiations stuck in their final stage amid Iran’s demands that all U.S. sanctions be lifted on its chief terrorist outfit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Republican foreign policy leaders are pressing top Biden administration officials to publicly brief Congress on the state of diplomatic talks.
“With uncertainty surrounding the status of the negotiation, the American people have a right to know what their diplomats agreed to in Vienna, what alternatives your administration is considering, and how you intend to address the wider range of threats from Iran—including its increasingly dangerous missile and drone programs and taking American hostages,” a group of Republican lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services Committees wrote in a letter sent on Wednesday to the White House and obtained exclusively by the Washington Free Beacon.
The secrecy surrounding the talks—and Iran’s demands for billions of dollars in sanctions relief that will likely fund its regional terrorism enterprise—are unacceptable and hint that the Biden administration is poised to enter a deal that is weaker than the original 2015 accord, according to Republican representatives Claudia Tenney (N.Y.), María Elvira Salazar (Fla.), Greg Steube (Fla.), Ronny Jackson (Texas), and Don Bacon (Neb.).
During more than a year of negotiations, the Biden administration has refused to brief Congress in an open setting. Biden administration officials, including U.S.-Iran envoy Robert Malley, have only consented to classified briefings, unlike the Obama administration, which discussed the talks openly with lawmakers and the public. Classified briefings on the deal—which came after lawmakers from both parties chastised the administration for cutting Congress out of the negotiations—are no longer tolerable, Tenney and her colleagues say.
Keep in mind that theoretically all treaties have to be approved by the Senate. President Obama avoided this by signing ‘accords’ which were not approved by Congress. I would hope that President Biden would not be permitted to sign an Iran Nuclear ‘Accord” to avoid the Senate approval process. Aside from not being transparent, the Biden administration seems to function more like a dictatorship than a functioning republic.
Questions About The Laptop
One of the problems with the age of electronics is that there is a digital record of everything you say or do. If that digital record has questionable information on it and falls into the wrong hands, your life could become complicated.
On Wednesday, The New York Post posted an article detailing the avenues that the Republicans in Congress want to investigate regarding Hunter Biden’s laptop.
The article reports:
The minority members of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform are laying the groundwork for a probe that would get underway if the GOP gains subpoena power by wresting control from Democrats in the November elections, as many political experts expect.
Topping the list are the first son’s controversial overseas business dealings — some of which involved the state-controlled Bank of China and other companies tied to the Chinese government — and their potential impact on national security, a spokesperson said.
These are the items:
These are legitimate questions that need to be answered.
The article concludes:
Meanwhile, in a Wednesday letter, the House committee’s ranking member, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), and 14 colleagues asked former Rosemont Seneca Partners president Eric Schwerin to hand over records of all his all communications involving President Biden and Hunter Biden since 2009 — when Joe Biden became vice president — and a list of Schwerin’s positions in Biden family companies.
The move came after The Post exclusively revealed this past weekend that Schwerin visited the White House at least 19 times between 2009 and 2015 — and even sat down with then-Vice President Biden in the West Wing.
Subsequent reporting uncovered at least eight more Schwerin visits, including two meetings with Steve Ricchetti, who at the time was Joe Biden’s chief of staff and is now his White House counselor.
The House Republicans’ letter signals that if Schwerin doesn’t comply voluntarily, he could get slapped with a subpoena next year.
“We expect Eric Schwerin to provide us with answers to our questions,” a GOP committee aide told The Post.
“If Americans entrust Republicans with the majority in 2023, we will use tools at our disposal to ensure we get to the truth about whether Joe Biden has financially benefited and helped facilitate Hunter Biden’s business dealings.”
The letter cites a June 10, 2010, email that Schwerin sent Hunter Biden regarding Joe Biden’s Delaware state tax refund check, which Schwerin said he was “depositing…in his account and writing a check in that amount back to you since he owes it to you.”
“This email shows an intertwined financial relationship between President Biden and his son, the latter of whom has profited from America’s losses to foreign adversaries,” Comer and the other Republicans wrote.
” If President Biden and Hunter are sharing funds or if President Biden is in debt to his son — the American people deserve to know it especially in light of the millions of dollars Hunter’s businesses have received from countries adversarial to U.S. interests.”
Neither Schwerin nor the White House responded to requests for comment.
If the Republicans become the majority after the November election, there will be a serious investigation into the finances of the Biden family. You can expect the Democrats to do anything and everything to prevent that from happening.
Please remember Journalist Matt Stiller’s report on Hillary Clinton’s reaction on election night 2016:
Journalist Matt Stiller shared in a recent report that during the 2016 presidential election Hillary Clinton was unhinged, and that various NBC insiders can substantiate his account.
According to Still, during last year’s presidential campaign at the Commander-In-Chief Forum on September 7, 2016, moderator Matt Lauer went “off script” and asked Hillary about her using an illegal, private email-server when she was secretary of state.
According to Bill Still’s source — an unnamed “NBC associate producer of the forum” — Hillary was so enraged that, after the forum, she went into a ballistic melt-down, screaming at her staff, including a racist rant at Donna Brazile, calling Brazile a “buffalo” and “janitor”. Brazile recently turned against Hillary — now we know why.
…She screamed she’d get that f**king Lauer fired for this. Referring to Donald Trump, Clinton said, ‘If that f**king b***ard wins, we all hang from nooses! Lauer’s finished, and if I lose, it’s all on your heads for screwing this up.’
You don’t normally hang from a noose when you lose an election. What was she referring to?
The Ministry Of Truth Has Arrived
On Wednesday, The Gateway Pundit reported that President Biden has created the “Disinformation Governance Board.”
The article reports:
Following Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter last week, which was a triumphant victory in the ongoing war over free speech, the Biden Regime announced the creation of a “Disinformation Governance Board” that will be tasked with silencing anything deemed to be misinformation that’s related to homeland security. And, yes. It’s just as dystopian and creepy as it sounds.
The new board will operate under the authority of the Department of Homeland security with a special focus on Russia and “irregular migration,” according to the Post Millennial.
What’s “irregular migration”? Is that another name for illegal aliens? Remember, he who controls the vocabulary controls the debate.
The article continues:
As we have seen over the past 6-plus years now, the term ‘Russian misinformation’ is frequently used as a wide catch-all that includes most of what goes against the liberal establishment, so the fact that they are specifically targeting this kind of “misinformation” is that much more concerning.
News of the board was first announced by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas while speaking at a House Appropriations DHS Subcommittee hearing on Wednesday:
“Our Undersecretary for Policy, Rob Silvers is co-chair with our Principal Deputy General Counsel, Jennifer Gaskell, in leading a just recently constituted misinformation disinformation governance board. So we’re bringing — the goal is to bring the resources of the department together to address this threat.”
In 1984 they called in “The Ministry of Truth.” Is this even legal?
The Deep State Tries To Put Guardrails On Twitter
On Wednesday, The Conservative Treehouse posted an article about how the political left and the fourth branch of government are attempting to put guardrails on Twitter now that Twitter is threatening them with free speech.
The article reports:
I think we are now seeing the outlines of how the Fourth Branch of Government are planning to keep control over information, specifically public discussion on Big Tech platforms, even as Elon Musk moves to open the valves of information from the social media platform Twitter.
Previously the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced a new Dept of Homeland Security priority to combat disinformation {LINK} on technology platforms including social media.
Many eyebrows were raised as the announcement appeared to be an open admission that the U.S. government was going to control information by applying labels, that would align with allies in social media, who need a legal justification for censorship and content removal.
This CISA announcement was quickly followed by various government officials and agencies saying it was critical to combat Russian disinformation, as the events in Ukraine unfolded. In essence, Ukraine was the justification for search engines like Google, DuckDuckGo, and social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to begin targeting information and content that did not align with the official U.S. government narrative.
Previously those same methods were deployed by the U.S. government, specifically the CDC and FDA, toward COVID-19 and the vaccination program. All of this background aligns with the previous visibility of a public-private partnership between the bureaucracy of government, the U.S. intelligence agencies and U.S. social media. That partnership now forms the very cornerstone of the DHS/CISA effort to control what information exists in the public space. It is highly important that people understand what is happening.
In July of 2021 the first admission of the official agenda behind the public-private partnership was made public {Reuters Article}.
What we are seeing now is an extension of the government control mechanisms, combined with a severe reaction by all stakeholders to the latest development in the Twitter takeover.
For two years the control mechanisms around information have been cemented by govt and Big Tech. Even the deployment of the linguistics around disinformation, misinformation and malinformation is all part of that collective effort. The collaboration between the government and Big Tech is not a matter for debate, it is all easily referenced by their own admissions. The current issue is how they are deploying the information controls.
The Daily Wire reported on Tuesday:
The European Union issued a warning to Elon Musk on Tuesday, telling him that he must comply with EU regulations on policing online content, or face severe penalties.
In an interview with the Financial Times Tuesday, EU Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton said that he was giving Musk a “reality check,” adding that Twitter must cooperate with the EU’s rules on content moderation, including the pending Digital Services Act. The prospective legislation would force large tech platforms to take more action to disclose and remove illegal content, including “hate speech,” as noted by The Guardian.
There are people in America and around the world that are afraid of free speech. We are going to have to be alert to make sure that those people are not successful in determining what Americans and people around the world are allowed to hear.
America Needs To Be Energy Independent And To Export Energy
Breitbart is reporting today that Russia has halted all gas exports to Poland and Bulgaria after, they say, a deadline passed for the nations to pay for gas in Russian roubles rather than western currency.
The article reports:
Sources with the Polish government and the Polish Oil and Gas Industry (PGNiG) claimed that Russia has halted all gas supplies to the country Tuesday night, with the stoppage of transmission confirmed Wednesday morning amid a war of words between Moscow and European capitals.
The article concludes:
Criticising Russia for the move, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Russia was attempting to blackmail the bloc. She said: “unilaterally stopping delivery of gas to customers in Europe is yet another attempt by Russia to use gas as an instrument of blackmail.
“This is unjustified and unacceptable. And it shows once again the unreliability of Russia as a gas supplier.”
The EU chief said the bloc was “prepared for this scenario” and has “put in place contingency plans” while looking for alternative sources of gas.
The Polish government also commented on Tuesday, asserting that it had enough fuel in storage to meet its energy needs. Poland’s gas network has said Russia’s move is a breach of contract and is considering legal action against Gazprom, reports Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita.
The report further noted that this is not the first time Russia has cut Poland off from gas supplies as a punishment, claiming seven suspensions lasting from a few days to six months over the past 18 years. A notable period of such cuts was during the last Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014.
Earlier this month, some European politicians suggested that the EU halt all Russian gas imports, following accusations that Russian troops in Ukraine had committed war crimes by massacring civilians in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha.
Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė of Lithuania backed an EU embargo and announced her country would be halting all Russian gas imports.
Germany, the largest importer of Russian gas in Europe, has been the most hesitant to back any halting of gas supplies, with some suggesting the German economy could face a major recession if supplies were cut off.
There are a few things at work here. This may be a per-emptive move. If western countries place sanctions on Russia’s use of the international monetary systems, trading gas in roubles would be a way to work around those sanctions. Trading gas in roubles is also a way to break the stranglehold of fossil fuels being traded only in American dollars. This is blackmail by Russia, but it also a very significant political move. This also illustrates the need for America to be energy independent and have the ability to ship gas to the countries impacted by the Russians’ cutting off the gas supply to two European countries.
Traditional Values At Exxon
Exxon has seen the writing on the wall for ‘woke’ corporations. The slogan “go woke, go broke” has come true for more than one business.
Time posted an article on Friday about a recent decision by Exxon.
The article reports:
Exxon Mobil Corp. plans to prohibit the LGBTQ-rights flag from being flown outside its offices during Pride month in June, prompting backlash from Houston-based employees.
Exxon updated company guidance on what flags can be displayed outside its offices, banning “external position flags” such as PRIDE and Black Lives Matter, according to the policy seen by Bloomberg News. In response, members of Exxon’s PRIDE Houston Chapter are refusing to represent the company at the city’s June 25 Pride celebration, according to an employee group email also seen by Bloomberg.
As long as all flags of one type are banned, this is a wise decision. Any flag put up that supports a political organization or position is going to anger someone. It’s better to simply put up the American flag and the flag of the state or country you are operating in.
The article notes:
“The updated flag protocol is intended to clarify the use of the ExxonMobil branded company flag and not intended to diminish our commitment to diversity and support for employee resource groups,” Tracey Gunnlaugsson, vice president of human resources, said in a statement. “We’re committed to keeping an open, honest, and inclusive workplace for all of our employees, and we’re saddened that any employee would think otherwise.”
While the commonly recognized rainbow flag is prohibited, Exxon supports displaying banners and flags with logos of so-called employee resource groups, especially during signature months, Gunnlaugsson said. “The flags are directly related to our business and company support of our ERGs, including PRIDE for LBGTQ+ employees.”
Exxon has made significant strides to improve diversity and extend employee benefits over the last decade, but some workers perceive the row over the rainbow flag as a major setback for LGBTQ employees and their allies. The oil giant was slower than many corporations to provide equal coverage, but added gay marriage benefits in 2014, restored protective-employment language in 2015 and added transgender coverage in 2016.
When it is all said and done, I really don’t care what someone does in their private life as long as it does not directly affect me. There is no reason to celebrate or discriminate against a group of people because of their sexual preference. There really is no reason to air that in public–it belongs in private conversations. A lot of the problems the LGBTQ movement has encountered are the result of their insistence on special recognition and special privileges. There is no ‘straight pride’ flag. Are straight people allowed to have pride?
How Disney Corporation Built In Florida
The Daily Wire recently posted an article titled, “‘Shell Companies And Shady Lawyers’: Why Did Disney Get To Govern Itself In Florida?”
The article reports:
Why does a giant entertainment conglomerate get to self-govern on its very own slice of land in the Sunshine State — and who is left better off as that privilege appears to be coming to a close?
…If you have ever visited Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, you have been to the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Sitting in central Florida to the southwest of Orlando, the area was feverishly pursued by Walt Disney himself as the home of his company’s second theme park.
Frustrated by the businesses that crowded Disneyland in California, Walt Disney set up multiple shell companies — with names like Latin-American Development and Management Corp., Tomahawk Properties, and M.T. Lott Co. — to grab tens of thousands of acres in Florida. According to journalist and author David Koenig, who has spent years covering the rise of Disney, the strategy was meant to mask Disney’s intentions in the region and thereby keep real estate as inexpensive as possible.
“There were dozens of landholders, and as soon as someone heard that Disney bought lot one, they knew the price on lots two through 50 would go through the roof,” Koenig explained to the Los Angeles Times. “It had to appear as if it were just a coincidence that there were 10 different companies buying land in the same area.”
Disney took other measures to hide the fact that it was the “mystery” land buyer acquiring uninhabited swampland at a breakneck pace. A blog post from Disney acknowledges that legal counsel Bob Foster — working under the pseudonym “Bob Price” — took steps to obfuscate Disney’s intentions from citizens of Florida.
The article explains the Reedy Creek Improvement Act:
For several decades, Disney has been a powerful political influence in Florida. According to data from Open Secrets, the company gave $350,000 to $610,000 to seven firms lobbying in Florida during the 2020 election year, followed by $460,000 to $719,974 to eight firms in 2021.
Still, Disney’s greatest lobbying victory came in the years after it acquired the large tracts of land in central Florida.
Gov. Claude Kirk (R-FL) signed the Reedy Creek Improvement Act in 1967 — the year after Walt Disney passed away — in response to the company’s lobby. The legislation allowed the state legislature to establish the Reedy Creek Improvement District, allowing Disney to act with the same authority as a county government for its 39-square-mile property. The district encompasses the cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, as well as 175 lane miles of roadway, 67 miles of waterway, various power and water plants, hundreds of restaurants and retail properties, and more than 40,000 hotel rooms.
Most importantly, Reedy Creek has permission to levy taxes, issue bonds, and write its own construction and wastewater management laws — avoiding the regulatory headaches with which other companies throughout the state must wrestle.
The article concludes:
No matter how the magic stars align, University of Central Florida historian James Clark concluded that there is only one “clear winner” from the situation.
“If taxpayers get stuck with the bonds, then the counties will be the big losers from this bill, and Disney loses a lot by losing the control they get from having Reedy Creek,” Clark said. “The only clear winner if this bill passes is Ron DeSantis.”
“Whatever you do,” Walt Disney once said, “do it well.” It seems that DeSantis has taken that advice to heart.
When lobbyists get their way, the result does not always favor the voters and taxpayers. The Reedy Creek Improvement Act was not a good thing–no business should be able to set up their own fiefdom making their own laws in the middle of a state.
Local Races Heat Up
I received this in my email from a Craven County voter. It is valid information for Craven County voters:
ET Mitchell is NOT a Conservative —
Craven County Commissioner ET Mitchell claims she is a conservative, but her definition of conservative surely is not what most people would imagine as demonstrated by the positions she has taken in her current term as commissioner.
•SHE IS NOT PRO-LIFE. In fact, when a resolution came before the Craven County Board of Commissioners in June of 2019 expressing legislative support for the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (HB 602/SB 359), she voted AGAINST the resolution, siding with Democrat Commissioners McCabe and Sampson. At the time, she indicated that she did not think abortion policy was a county issue! Life knows no jurisdictional boundaries. Additionally, she stated publicly that “she is against the state interfering with personal medical decisions and thinks this opens a very slippery slope by setting a precedence.” That position is very curious given her other positions on mandatory experimental shots for active duty military personnel described below.
•SHE SUPPORTS MANDATORY EXPERIMENTAL COVID-19 SHOTS FOR ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY PERSONNEL, DENYING THEM RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. ET served as a Naval officer and reportedly took all of her required vaccines at the time. She thinks all active duty military personnel should do the same. However, in the past, active duty military were permitted to request religious exemptions which were routinely allowed. No such exemptions are being allowed with these unapproved vaccines. Our active duty military personnel take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. They put their lives on the line daily in carrying out that oath. Yet, ET believes those same patriots are not entitled to exercise their own religious freedom under the First Amendment. When Commissioner Jones brought a strong anti-mandate resolution before the Board in February, ET pushed to water that resolution down — she did not want local, state or federal governmental entities revisiting existing mandates like the one in place for our military. She clearly supports the Biden-Cooper mandates.
•SHE OPPOSES SCHOOL CHOICE. When this issue was raised recently at the Craven County Republican Men’s Club meeting in March, ET stated she opposed school choice, because our school system would lose too much funding. Obviously, there are few ways to force change in our school systems, and school choice is one of those ways. Parents who pay taxes should be able to take their educational dollars and use them elsewhere. We know that school systems do respond to decreased funding.
•SHE CLAIMS SHE “VOTED TO KEEP CRT OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS.” Yes, she supported a non-binding resolution endorsing this concept. However, westill have CRT in our schools under a different name — it is called Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and is part of the state curriculum. If she wants to actually keep CRT out of schools, she needs to withhold funding from the Craven County Board of Education until they comply with the spirit of the resolution she supported.
If the ET Mitchell campaign would like to respond to these statements, I will gladly print their response.
A New Future For Twitter
On Monday, NewsMax reported that Twitter is planning on accepting Elon Musk’s final offer for $43 billion to buy the company.
The article reports:
Twitter may announce the $54.20-per-share deal later Monday, once its board has met to recommend the transaction to Twitter shareholders, the sources said, adding it was still possible the deal could collapse at the last minute.
Musk, the world’s richest person according to Forbes, is negotiating to buy Twitter in a personal capacity and Tesla is not involved in the deal.
The article concludes:
The deal, if it happens, would come just four days after Musk unveiled a financing package to back the acquisition.
This led Twitter’s board to take his offer more seriously and many shareholders to ask the company not to let the opportunity for a deal slip away, Reuters reported on Sunday. Before Musk revealed the financing package, Twitter’s board was expected to reject the bid, sources had said.
The sale would represent an admission by Twitter that Agrawal is not making enough traction in making the company more profitable, despite being on track to meet ambitious financial goals the company set for 2023. Twitter’s shares were trading higher than Musk’s offer price as recently as November.
Musk unveiled his intention to buy Twitter on April 14 and take it private via a financing package comprised of equity and debt. Wall Street’s biggest lenders, except those advising Twitter, have all committed to provide debt financing.
Musk’s negotiating tactics — making one offer and sticking with it — resembles how another billionaire, Warren Buffett, negotiates acquisitions. Musk did not provide any financing details when he first disclosed his offer for Twitter, making the market skeptical about its prospects.
This could be very interesting. It would be nice to bring free speech back to Twitter. I am on Truth Social as rwg@Right Wing Granny. Truth Social is unfiltered and I wouldn’t use it as a reliable source, but it is a place where people can express their ideas and opinions freely. It would be nice if Twitter also became a place where free speech is welcomed.
UPDATE: The purchase is complete. The reaction of the political left is totally entertaining!
Preparing?
Let’s not count our chickens before they hatch, but November is looking good for Republicans in Congress. Despite various statements from Democrats that they are not worried, actions speak louder than words.
On Sunday, Hot Air reported the following:
A wave election is on the horizon and the only question is just how strong of a wave it will be. Will it be a traditional kind of victory for Republicans as the minority party typically picks up seats in midterm elections? Or will it be a red tsunami brought about because of deep disapproval of the Biden administration? Either outcome will result in Republicans taking back control of the House and very well may flip the Senate, too. The White House is girding its loins in preparation of the consequences GOP victories will bring.
A top concern for the White House is the new investigations that will be opened up. Republican leadership has already announced that when Republicans are back in charge, Biden and his administration will be under fresh oversight scrutiny not seen to date. And, look for lots of questions being asked about the shady dealings of Biden, Inc. Democrats try to sweep ethical and legal questions about the dealings of Biden’s problem man-child, Hunter, by saying he’s a private citizen, not an elected official. That’s true but that excuse is slowly falling by the wayside as it becomes clear that Joe Biden is in the middle of his son’s sketchy financial deals, especially with foreign governments. That is important now, given Joe is president and dealing with foreign leaders.
So, what’s a nervous White House to do? This White House is bringing back an experienced presidential advisor and message masseuse. Anita Dunn is returning to help Sleepy Joe manage the upcoming electoral disaster that awaits Democrats. Dunn is the ultimate Washington insider. She is currently a senior adviser at the consulting firm SKDK – the ‘D’ is for Dunn. She agreed to work with Biden as he entered the White House as an advisor and then returned to SKDK. She’s an alum of the Obama-Biden administration.
I really hate the idea that every time Congress changes hands we get a new round of investigations. That is so reminiscent of a banana republic. However, there are some needed investigations that have not taken place under the Democrat Congress that need to take place. Among other things, why is it that Congressmen are still trading stocks and have a better profit average than Standard & Poor? (article here) What about the information on Hunter Biden’s laptop? What about evidence of cheating in the 2020 election? There’s a lot to look into.
The article concludes:
Dunn is returning on a full-time basis. There will also be a change in the White House Counsel’s office.
Changes are also expected inside the White House Counsel’s Office. Ian Sams, who currently works at the Department of Health and Human Services, is going to join in a communications position. He previously served as a spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign, where he developed a reputation for being outspoken and at times for having a combative style, traits that could be useful while facing aggressive inquiries from Republicans.
“If Republicans take one or more Houses of Congress, this is going to be a full-time job that has the potential to suck a lot of the oxygen out of the room,” the person said. “There is a recognition from both the White House counsel’s office and also the communication’s office that oversight is going to be a major focus of Republican efforts which is going to in turn create a lot of media attention around these issues.”
So, the Biden administration is putting a couple of Democrat pitbulls in key positions for communication and the Counsel’s office. Sounds like the White House is pretty nervous about what may be exposed in oversight investigations. A great exodus is already underway from personnel in Kamala’s office. Look for more of that coming out of the White House, too, when Republicans come back into power in Congress.
Be prepared for an abundance of media spin if the Republicans take Congress.
Misusing Funds? Again?
On April 20th, Fox News reported that much of the money Congress appropriated to meet the Covid-19 crisis was actually spent on other things:
The article reports:
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is accepting new applications for grants funded by President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package passed in 2021, but last year’s awards funded some projects that had virtually little to do with addressing the impact of the pandemic.
The EPA’s Environmental Justice Small Grants Program recently announced it is using $1.6 million of American Rescue Plan funds to award grants to “federally recognized tribal governments to establish or modify public participation programs where fair treatment and meaningful participation priorities have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Approximately 16 to 20 grants of up to $100,000 will be awarded for each project, the EPA announced March 21.
Last year under the same program, 99 organizations nationwide were selected to receive awards totaling approximately $7.4 million in grant funding, which included $5.25 million allocated from the American Rescue Plan and $2.15 million from what the EPA describes as its “baseline [Environmental Justice] appropriation.” Those grants were for up to $75,000 for each project that addressed “health outcome disparities from pollution and the COVID–19 pandemic,” the EPA said at the time.
A review of the 2021 awards, however, shows that the program funded grants for some projects that had virtually little to do with addressing COVID-19 or the effects of the pandemic.
Basically, business friends of the Biden’s got lots of money and average Americans got inflation.
The article lists some of the ways the funds were used:
Clean Air Carolina, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, received a grant for a project to install a public Level 2 EV charging station and to create an educational video as a way for “community members to get involved to mitigate air pollution.”
Roanoke Economic Development Inc, based in Rich Square, North Carolina, received a grant to “address air pollution and climate change through the development of a regional electric vehicle charger installation plan to promote EV use and accessibility by minority and low-income populations.”
An EPA spokesperson said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital that the American Rescue Plan funds provided for the program “allows communities to implement solutions that can improve conditions related to COVID-19 such as air quality issues.”
“These projects all went through a rigorous scoring and approval process to ensure project activities and goals align with our statutory authorities and the language and intent of ARP,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the 2022 call for grant applications from federally recognized tribes “is utilizing the EJ Small Grants Program to efficiently facilitate distribution of funds to federally recognized tribal governments in line with the ARP statutory requirements, but does not affect any past or upcoming funding opportunities for the program.”
The article concludes:
Daren Bakst, an energy expert at the Heritage Foundation, slammed the Biden administration for using taxpayer money to fund environmental “extremism.”
“COVID-19 relief money shouldn’t be some cover for the Biden administration to use taxpayer dollars to fund its far-left agenda and to indoctrinate people in environmental extremism,” Bakst told Fox News Digital. “But that appears to be happening at the EPA. Taking community tree walks, teaching people how to prevent future marine debris, and similar funded projects have nothing to do with the pandemic.”
“Americans are being crushed by inflation rates not seen in over 40 years, thanks in large part to out-of-control federal spending,” he added. “If the Biden administration is genuinely concerned about low-income communities, it would stop its excessive spending, war on energy, and general regulatory avalanche that is hitting Americans hard — especially low-income communities — through skyrocketing prices.”
Evidently excessive government spending on environmental issues has a positive impact on Covid. Who knew?
How It Was Done
On Saturday, The Gateway Pundit posted an article about a movie by Dinesh D’Souza which will be released on May 2nd. The movie is called 2000 Mules and documents the drop-box ballot-stuffing that took place in the 2020 election.
This is the link to the official trailer:
Official Trailer for 2000 Mules
The article at The Gateway Pundit reports:
2000 Mules is a documentary film created by Dinesh D’Souza. The film exposes the True the Vote’s video evidence of a coordinated, funded, illegal ballot trafficking network across critical swing states during the 2020 election.
…“They thought we’d never find out. They were wrong.”
Dinesh D’Sousa released the second trailer on Saturday night at the Trump Ohio Rally for the upcoming movie “2000 Mules.”
…In late January film producer Dinesh D’Souza released the first trailer for his upcoming movie “2000 Mules.”
True the Vote has been working with Dinesh D’Souza to create this bombshell movie that uses footage and tracking data they obtained of ballot boxes in key states across America used to steal the election in 2020.
In early January The Gateway Pundit reported to our readers that our organization signed a legal agreement to hand over exclusive video from a major battleground state to True the Vote for their ballot trafficking investigation in the 2020 election.
True the Vote used cell phone towers to locate the people who entered the area where the ballot boxes were located and used footage from surveillance cameras to document what happened.
If nothing else, this illustrates the fact that drop boxes are a really bad idea if you want an honest election.
The Investigation (With Coverup) Continues
On Saturday, The Washington Examiner reported that Special counsel John Durham has issued trial subpoenas for members of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Before you get too excited about this, consider the following:
The Conservative Treehouse reported on April 16th:
Thanks to a more detailed filing by John Durham last night {pdf here, h/t Techno}, we can now see the guardrails, rules and general direction the prosecution is taking.
In essence, the underlying Trump-Russia conspiracy theory material from the Clinton campaign, via Rodney Joffe to Michael Sussmann, was fabricated – likely for a dual purpose:
(A) to coverup and make excuses for the stunningly embarrassing, potentially unlawful and politically terrible April 2016 DNC email leaks, which showed the DNC Club internally working to secure the nomination for Hillary Clinton, while trying to destroy her primary opponent, Bernie Sanders.
and
(B) to create the political Russia narrative against Trump, to be deployed later in the general election.
Within the general direction Durham is following, the FBI was duped by a purposeful and manipulative intent from the Clinton campaign. Meanwhile, the CIA [Agency-2] did not buy into the technological evidence saying it was not “technically plausible” and was “user created and not machine/tool generated.”
…The prosecutorial approach by John Durham positions all of the corruption outside the institutions of government, thereby protecting them.
The swamp is deep and in control. The government agencies that were totally out of control will not be held accountable by the Durham investigation.
The Washington Examiner reports:
Hillary for America also tried to intervene Tuesday, saying it was “asserting attorney-client privilege and work protection” related to Perkins and Fusion. The filing included declarations from Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta, Clinton campaign manager Robbie Mook, and Elias.
“The Special Counsel continues to overreach: he seeks to admit evidence that the law squarely forbids, he seeks to prove unduly prejudicial allegations he has not charged, and he seeks to prove conduct that is utterly irrelevant to the one discrete crime he has charged,” Sussmann’s lawyers argued Friday night.
Durham also “seeks to prevent Mr. Sussmann from introducing relevant — indeed essential — exculpatory evidence in the form of testimony from his former client, Rodney Joffe,” Sussmann’s lawyers said Friday.
Durham pushed back Saturday.
“The goal of the joint venture could not have been more clear: it was to gather and disseminate derogatory non-public information regarding the internet activities of a political candidate and his associates,” he wrote.
“And that venture was far from collateral to the charged crime. Indeed, the above-described joint venture was the very project that led Tech Executive-1 to rely upon the defendant’s services; the very project that gave rise to the Russian Bank-1 allegations; the very project that prompted agents of the Clinton Campaign to meet with Tech Executive-1; and the very project that caused the defendant to meet with the FBI General Counsel and lie to him about the clients who were behind all of this work,” Durham said.
Durham has declined to promise that Joffe won’t be indicted at some point in the future, but if Joffe is not granted immunity to testify at trial on Sussmann’s behalf, then the charges should be dismissed, the defense team argued.
On Saturday, The Conservative Treehouse reported:
The current court battle is circling around various lawyers and groups saying they have attorney-client privileges in order to attempt to avoid document production and/or testimony that will put them in legal jeopardy. The Clinton Campaign is claiming communication with Fusion is privileged. Fusion is claiming communication with Perkins Coie is privileged. Perkins Coie is claiming they hired Fusion GPS for legal services, etc. etc. etc.
It takes much more time, but John Durham is working through each of the privilege claims in court, and so far, he has been successful in compelling compliance.
♦ A frequent question: Why didn’t Durham charge Rodney Joffe yet? It’s a good question, and the answer is likely because he’s building that case around something else. Here’s my suspicion.
You will remember, back in 2016, 2017 and 2018, when I said the Clinton team seem to have some kind of “direct portal” into government databases. There was some process clearly evident where the Clinton campaign itself had access to government databases.
We speculated about all kinds of contractors helping her, etc. This is entirely separate from what Fusion GPS and other participants were doing to data-mine information. This is not the people inside government connected to spygate (NSA, Fusion, etc), this is a portal specific to the Clinton campaign itself.
I always called this network the “Clinton Portal“, and the fingerprints from it just kept surfacing as the media described Trump-Russia connections, and then campaign officials would amplify. I’ve said that since mid 2016, and I retained that view throughout. Clinton’s campaign operation was data mining some government database, somehow. The question was who and how?
Rodney Joffe is the explanation that answers that question. Joffe exploiting contractor access to government databases (GA Tech via DARPA), in combination with his access to data from Neustar, gave him a unique position. Joffe was Clinton’s Portal.
My hunch is that Durham is holding back on Joffe because accessing government databases, via a government contract (DARPA) that was not given for that intent, is a bigger set of charges.
Please follow the links above to see exactly what is happening here. It is brilliant sleight of hand.
The Double Standard Among Us
The Daily Wire recently posted an article sharing some of their observations regarding the possible takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk.
The article reports:
When Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter and make it a private company, Twitter’s board of directors responded with a poison pill — and the legacy media responded with a poison pen.
Journalists have contended that Musk’s bid to loosen the social media platform’s speech restrictions represent a threat to the First Amendment, threaten to give billionaires too much control over the media, or even presage the fall of our republic into a totalitarian oligarchy. These unduly emotional responses reveal that the legacy media’s fear is not so much Musk as it is free speech — and losing their ability to create the national narrative.
It really is all about control.
The article notes:
CNN’s Brian Stelter seemed to criticize the capitalist system of private media ownership. “There is also a lot of folks out there saying it’s troubling enough that private companies control these key communication platforms around the world, maybe it’s even worse to have the world’s richest person trying to buy one and take it private,” he said on April 14. In the same vein, and on the same day, Business Insider ran a story titled “Elon Musk’s attempt to buy Twitter represents a chilling new threat: billionaire trolls taking over social media.”
But billionaire ownership of the media is hardly new. And judging by their position on the payroll, it seems not to leave journalists ill at ease. To take but a few examples:
-
- Jeff Bezos, who owns The Washington Post outright, is worth an estimated $171 billion
- The Atlantic is a favorite opinion journal of the elite and often cited on MSNBC. Its majority owner, Lauren Powell Jobs (the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs) is worth an estimated $19.5 billion;
- Bill Gates, who is worth $129 billion, has donated millions to underwrite (read: influence) the coverage of NBCUniversal, CNN, The Financial Times, ProPublica, the Gannett Company, National Public Radio, Al-Jazeera, The Chronicle of Higher Education, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS, Minnesota Public Radio, and Public Radio International. Gates has spent his billions on foreign news outlets including the BBC, the UK Guardian, France’s Le Monde, Spain’s El Pais, and Germany’s Der Spiegel. Reviewing the amount of Gates’ contributions, the socialist Jacobin website wrote, “Billionaire Bill Gates Uses Money to Shape the Media”; and
- George Soros, whose net worth plummeted to a meager $8.6 billion after he transferred $18 billion to his Open Society Foundations in 2017, has donated his largesse to “more than 180 different media-related organizations,” according to a 2011 Media Research Council report by Dan Gainor.
Even CNN founder Ted Turner still has a net worth of $2.3 billion, after being “squeezed out” of his own company many years ago.
If billionaire status does not actually offend the journalistic Left, what does? Perhaps Musk’s political donations to some Republicans, including George W. Bush, Kevin McCarthy, Joni Ernst, Lindsey Graham, and Marco Rubio? Possibly, but many businessmen (including our former president) have donated to politicians of both parties — and self-described centrist Musk is no exception.
It’s okay to be a millionaire who owns a news outlet if you are a liberal. It’s required that if you are a corporation that you pay more in taxes unless you are a liberal (see Disney). The double standard lives among us.
Don’t Mess With Ron DeSantis!
On Friday, Just the News reported that Florida Governor Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill that will strip Walt Disney World of its special tax and administrative status after the company opposed a parental rights bill the state passed in late March. I have very mixed emotions about this. The head of a corporation should be free to express opposition to a law without the state government penalizing the corporation. It is quite possible that it was time for the ‘Disney deal’ to end, but I am uncomfortable with it being in response to a political stand.
The article reports:
The Reedy Creek Improvement District, a special administrative unit under Disney control will cease to exist under the measure, according to CBS News.
After Florida passed a parental rights bill, derided by critics as a “Don’t Say Gay” measure, the company organized opposition to the law and vowed to see it repealed. The company’s stance earned sharp rebuke from Florida Republicans, who quickly moved to revoke the company’s tax privileges.
In late March, DeSantis signed into law the Parental Rights in Education bill which limited discussion of sexual topics in the classroom by grade levels and restricted inappropriate material.
Disney stock fell 2.79% on Friday, according to Google Finance. Company stock has fallen 31.25% in the past 6 months and trades for $118.27 per share as of press time.
I believe that the Parental Rights in Education bill was a good bill and that Governor DeSantis was correct in signing it. I also believe that a lot of what was reported about the bill was inaccurate and designed to create opposition to the bill. However, I am sincerely concerned about the way the Disney situation was handled. Would conservatives be celebrating if the shoe were on the other foot?
Exposing The Truth In The Gender Identity Movement
On Friday, The Western Journal posted an article about ‘Libs of TikTok,’ a Twitter account that exposes the far-left gender identity activists for what they really are: groomers.
The article reports:
Ron Coleman, who was part of the Trump legal team and is a partner at Dhillon Law Group, has had enough. His firm represents “Libs of Tik Tok,” a Twitter account that exposes the far-left gender identity activists for what they really are: groomers.
The creator of LoTT remained anonymous until Taylor Lorenz, the Washington Post’s hypocritical internet culture reporter, wrote an expose in which she doxed the woman behind LoTT, publicly sharing personal information including her home and workplace addresses. Leftists try to suppress the First Amendment because they know full well that when their useful idiots go public, they look very, very bad to us common folk.
LoTT posts video clips of gender identity activists plying their trade on Twitter. The clips have been posted elsewhere on social media by the activists themselves. LoTT gathers clips into a freakshow forum.
LoTT is not a hit operation. It merely highlights what the crazies are saying about themselves. The site does little in the way of editing or commenting on the clips.
The article notes:
Tucker Carlson is no stranger to backlash for his conservatives views, either. He jumped in to defend LoTT by devoting an opening monologue to the subject and airing clips from LGBTQ activists discussing how they educate young schoolchildren about gender fluidity, transgenderism and the Black Lives Matter movement.
One of the “teachers” on the clips claims that when babies are born the doctors look at them and “guess” the baby’s gender.
Another “teacher” claims that three- and four-year-old kids are aware of gender identity and that anybody who disagrees with teaching kindergarteners about it is guilty of “internalized homophobia and transphobia.”
The far left is smart enough to understand that when mainstream Americans watch these clips about innocent children being indoctrinated with nonsense, they get angry.
Whatever happened to teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic?
More Desperation
On Saturday, Townhall reported that an Arizona judge ruled against voting groups seeking to prevent Reps. Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs, both Republicans from Arizona, as well as State Rep. Mark Finchem, a fellow Republican from the state, from appearing on the ballot. This is one of many lawsuits Democrats have initiated to keep key Republicans off the ballot in November. The uniparty in Washington does not like to be challenged.
The article reports:
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Christopher Coury ruled against the voter groups, as Ryan King reported for The Washington Examiner, based on grounds to sue. The groups bringing the suit tried to claim that the Arizona Republican lawmakers had participated in an “insurrection” on January 6, based on their presence at the rally before the rioters headed for the Capitol.
Note that they were present at the rally where the President stated the following, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. today we will see whether republicans stand strong for the integrity of our elections but whether or not they stand strong for our country.” That is hardly a call for an insurrection. The Democrats are working hard to give the impression that what happened on January 6th was an insurrection so they can then use the the 14th Amendment to disqualify anyone from running for election who supports President Trump.
As I reported on February 21st (article here):
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states: “No person shall be a … Representative in Congress … who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same.”
Hopefully we have enough good judges to put an end to this legal foolishness.
Transforming The American Government
On Wednesday, The Daily Wire posted an article the changes the Biden administration has planned for America’s government. According to the article, the changes involve a “total transformation of government” — as described by the Department of Energy — arguably based on principles of Critical Race Theory.
The article reports:
Toward that end, more than 90 federal agencies announced “equity action plans” to supposedly address inequality in American society — but critics say that the plans will create a coercive bureaucracy intent on punishing certain Americans based on racial marxism and other progressive ideas that champion victimhood.
The White House recently noted that on his first day in office, President Joe Biden “signed Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government” which “directed the whole of the federal government to advance an ambitious equity and racial justice agenda” focused on creating “prosperity, dignity, and equality” for underserved communities.
Ryan Girdusky, founder of 1776 Project PAC, a non-profit focused on electing school board members opposed to Critical Race Theory-inspired curriculum, told The Daily Wire that Biden administration’s “plan towards equity is race-based Marxism with a different word.”
“The entire program is set to lower standards, dilute meritocracy, and have the first large-scale government-supported laws that discriminate against people based on their race since before Eisenhower was President,” Girdusky added.
This is the Executive Summary:
EXECUTIVE ORDER 13985 DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE EQUITY ACTION PLAN
Page 1
I. Executive Summary
The Department of Justice’s mission is to “enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law; to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic; to provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime; to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior; and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.” As the Attorney General has explained: “Advancing equal justice under law is a core principle of the Department of Justice. Established during Reconstruction, in the aftermath of the Civil War, the Department’s first mission was to secure the civil rights promised by the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.” Since then, the Department has continued its foundational work of ensuring that no individuals are denied the freedoms and protections guaranteed by the Constitution.
Since January 20, 2021, the Department has taken many steps to advance equity for marginalized and underserved communities.1 The Department has prioritized five action items to further advance that work:
A. leveraging federal funds provided by the Department to (a) encourage grantees to include equity considerations in the provision of federally funded services, (b) enhance data collection to identify and take action to address disparities in access to the Department’s programs or services based on demographic factors, and (c) better ensure that grantees are complying with non-discrimination mandates;
B. improving access to funding opportunities for organizations that are led by, or primarily serve, historically marginalized and underserved populations;
C. reducing language barriers that make it difficult for individuals with limited
English proficiency to access Department programs or activities, communicate public safety concerns, or vindicate their rights;
D. improving the Department’s engagement with stakeholders in underserved communities and disadvantaged groups in order to establish enduring relationships with them and enhancing the public’s awareness of the Department’s expansive mission and resources; and
E. increasing opportunities for small businesses located in Historically Underutilized Business Zones to secure Department contracts.
The Department believes each of these action items will substantially advance equity and civil rights and, further, will promote public safety by increasing trust and communication between the Department and the communities it serves.
Notice that I have underlined ‘enhance data collection.’ That is never a good thing. Also note that funding is going to improve for certain organizations. You can bet that organizations similar to ACORN and Black Lives Matter will be in line for that funding and pro-life groups or conservative groups will not.
This is an executive order–it is not a law. It is a shame that executive orders can be used to create major changes in our government. That fact needs to be discussed and possibly changed.
Waiting To See The Impact Of The Lies
On Friday, Hot Air reported that The New York Times had the tapes to back up their claim that Kevin McCarthy thought Trump should resign and he would take that recommendation to the president and that he hoped Twitter would ban the MAGA types in the caucus like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert who had pushed “rigged election” incitement before the insurrection. When initially faced with the accusation, Kevin McCarthy, in the true spirit of a Washington politician, lied about it.
Meanwhile, The Washington Examiner reported on Friday:
House Republicans appear to be in no rush to consider dumping House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy over his double-speak reaction to the Jan. 6 riots and tapped comments that former President Donald Trump should “resign” over the affair.
According to multiple insiders, Republicans are first looking to see what Trump says (or doesn’t) on the growing scandal and then hope to kick questions about leadership toward a time after the fall elections so it doesn’t distract from the goal of taking back control of the House.
It doesn’t matter if the Republicans take control of the House in November if the uniparty is still in control. The statements by Kevin McCarthy indicate to me that he is a member of the uniparty threatened by the popularity of President Trump.
The Washington Examiner concludes:
Importantly, Trump and McCarthy talked Thursday, and the former president isn’t upset in part because McCarthy never pushed for Trump’s resignation, fought impeachment, and subsequently moved to punish Republicans who did vote to impeach.
“It appears that Trump doesn’t care and that McCarthy changing his tune showed he capitulated to him,” said a longtime GOP insider.
Since Trump left office, McCarthy has stayed loyal to the former president and is considered a close ally and adviser himself as the former president eyes another run for office. Trump is also known to hate the press, and the media are already cheering him on to dump McCarthy’s friendship over the resignation call.
Should Trump give McCarthy a pass, “McCarthy will survive,” said a Republican lobbyist close to House GOP leaders.
Helping McCarthy’s cause is the expectation that the GOP will win control of the House and the party’s goal of keeping the focus on Election Day and not internal politics.
Also working for McCarthy, insiders said, is that those on the leadership team, notably No. 2 Rep. Steve Scalise, are not eager to rock the boat because they may get tossed in the storm.
“Scalise wouldn’t challenge McCarthy unless it was a virtual guarantee he’d get the job,” said one ally. “He’s already set to be the House majority leader in a Republican House and McCarthy’s heir apparent,” said the ally, adding, “Why risk it?”
I suspect that there was a deal made that will not be made public that will keep McCarthy in office at least temporarily. This is something to watch over the next two years. It may eventually have a bearing on the next presidential election.
Rumor has it that the tape was leaked by Liz Cheney. The swamp desperately wants to divide the Republican party.