Monthly Archives: September 2022

The Southern Border And The Drug Problem

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On September 7, Judicial Watch posted an article about the amount of fentanyl currently coming into America through our porous southern border.

The article reports:

American federal agents have seized more than 10,500 pounds of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl along the Mexican border this fiscal year with one U.S. border region seeing an astounding 323% increase in the last three years. The most recent Customs and Border Protection (CBP) figures also show that more than 148,000 pounds of methamphetamine, 54,000 pounds of cocaine, and 1,500 pounds of heroin have also been seized this fiscal year which ends in September. At this rate fentanyl is set to surpass last year’s seizures of 11,203 pounds, a stark reminder that illegal immigration is hardly the only threat along the southwest border.

CBP’s Air and Marine Operations (AMO) already shattered last year’s fentanyl record, snatching 1,108 pounds compared to 786 in all of 2021. The CBP division has about 1,800 federal agents, 240 aircraft and 300 marine vessels. The maritime and aviation law enforcement branch has also confiscated more than 151,000 pounds of cocaine, 51,000 pounds of marijuana 7,300 pounds of methamphetamines and 373 pounds of heroin this year. The record loads of fentanyl smuggled into the U.S. by Mexican drug cartels are especially worrisome because the synthetic opioid is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 more potent than morphine, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the federal agency of around 10,000 charged with enforcing the nation’s controlled substances laws and regulations. “Fentanyl is the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said recently. “From large cities to rural America, no community is safe from the presence of fentanyl.”

The agency also warns that Mexican drug cartels are driving up addiction among kids and young adults with “rainbow fentanyl,” pills and powder that come in bright colors and shapes similar to candy and blocks that resemble sidewalk chalk. Just a few weeks ago, federal agents in the Nogales, Arizona port of entry seized more than 15,000 colored fentanyl pills “with the appearance of candy.” CBP Nogales Director Michael Humphries said the candy appearance is a trend that targets youth. Most of the nation’s 107,622 drug overdoses in 2021 involved synthetic opioids like fentanyl, according to the Centers of Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC). The DEA says the majority of fentanyl in the U.S. is supplied by Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

The article notes that San Diego is the epicenter of fentanyl trafficking in America.

The article concludes:

The U.S. government has long documented that Mexican drug cartels are the greatest criminal threat to the country. Federal authorities classify them as Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCO) and not even a global pandemic could slow them down. Cartels found a way to adjust to restrictions imposed by COVID-19 to flood the country with illicit drugs. Huge loads still reached communities around the nation as deaths and seizures rose sharply and Mexican TCO’s increased drug availability, according to the DEA’s National Drug Threat Assessment (NDTA). Nine Mexican TCOs have the greatest drug trafficking impact on the U.S., according to the DEA. Among them are the Sinaloa and Juárez cartels, Los Zetas, La Familia Michoacána, Los Rojos and Guerreros Unidos. The TCOs maintain drug distribution cells in cities across the U.S. that report to leaders in Mexico and dominate the nation’s drug market. In a Homeland Threat Assessment the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) explains that Mexican cartels pose the greatest threat to the U.S. because of their ability to control territory and co-opt parts of government, particularly at a state and local level. “They represent an acute and devastating threat to public health and safety in the Homeland and a significant threat to U.S. national security interests,” the DHS writes in the document.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. An open border is a continuing threat to everyone. An open border especially puts our young people at risk.

The Numbers On Inflation

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On Tuesday, Hot Air posted an article about the consumer price index report that was released.

The article reports:

So much for the second iteration of “inflation’s over!” Today’s consumer price index report shows year-on-year inflation still roaring at 8.3%, thanks in part to soaring food costs, which offset a plateau on gasoline prices.

However, even without food and energy, inflation picked up steam last month, as core CPI rose back above six percent year-on-year, and 0.6% month-on-month:

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.1 percent in August on a seasonally adjusted basis after being unchanged in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 8.3 percent before seasonal adjustment.

Increases in the shelter, food, and medical care indexes were the largest of many contributors to the broad-based monthly all items increase. These increases were mostly offset by a 10.6-percent decline in the gasoline index. The food index continued to rise, increasing 0.8 percent over the month as the food at home index rose 0.7 percent. The energy index fell 5.0 percent over the month as the gasoline index declined, but the electricity and natural gas indexes increased.

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.6 percent in August, a larger increase than in July. The indexes for shelter, medical care, household furnishings and operations, new vehicles, motor vehicle insurance, and education were among those that increased over the month. There were some indexes that declined in August, including those for airline fares, communication, and used cars and trucks.

The article concludes:

Even before this report, we knew that real disposable personal income (real DPI) had fallen for five quarters in a row. That too is a compounding measure. The plight of the American worker has gotten worse every single month of Biden’s presidency — and there’s no spinning that.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. It includes charts and further information on the impact of inflation on every American.

I Think We Can File This In The ‘Fiction’ Section

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On Monday, Issues & Insights posted an article about some recent comments by former President Obama. The former President claimed that Americans are better off because Joe Biden is President. Actually, I don’t think that is true.

The article reports:

When he wasn’t admiring his White House portrait, Barack Obama managed to say a nice thing about President Joe Biden. He must have been joking, though, because what he said defies reality.

“Joe, it is now America’s good fortune to have you as president,” Obama said. “The country is better off than when you took office. We should all be deeply grateful for that.”

Our “good fortune”? Let’s review just how much “better off” we all are thanks to Biden and his fellow Democrats.

Here are the highlights. Please follow the link to the article to read the details:

COVID deaths

Inflation

Real earnings

Financial stress

Economic optimism

Unity

Stock market

Crime

Direction of the country

The article concludes:

Finally, there’s the fact that a majority of Americans now favor impeaching Biden. A new Rasmussen survey finds that 52% of likely voters want him impeached. Even among Democrats, almost a third (32%) want him impeached.

Ask yourself, are you “deeply grateful” for how things have turned out under Biden? If not, what are you going to do about it?

It might be a really good idea to keep these items in mind when you vote in November.

Florida Is Fighting Human Trafficking

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On Sunday, The Conservative Review posted an article about recent arrests in Florida for human trafficking.

The article reports:

There were 160 people arrested during an undercover sting targeting human trafficking. A Disney employee, corrections officer, a former deputy police chief, and teachers were among those arrested.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office led several law enforcement agencies in an undercover investigation called “Operation Fall Haul 2.” The seven-day sting operation focused on cracking down on human trafficking crimes.

During the press conference about Operation Fall Haul, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd joked, “Where would we be with an undercover operation and no Disney employees? Oh yes, we always have Disney employees.”

Disney bellhop Guillermo Perez, 57, was arrested after trying to have sex with an undercover detective for $80, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

Samy Claude, 26, who was often contracted by Disney as a photographer, was also arrested. He reportedly attempted to have sex with an undercover cop and offered her a bag of sour Skittles.

Keith Nieves, 24, was arrested for two counts of soliciting a prostitute. Nieves is a correctional officer at the Lake County Correctional Institution.

Jason DiPrima, 49, allegedly gave an undercover detective $180 and a multi-pack of White Claw Hard Seltzer. At the time of his arrest, DiPrima was the Deputy Chief of Administration for the Cartersville Police Department in Georgia. DiPrima has since resigned from his position.

The article concludes:

Law enforcement seized cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, MDMA (Ecstasy), and marijuana during the undercover sting.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said seven people were arrested and suspected of being in the country illegally.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said it had encountered two human trafficking victims during the operation, along with five other possible victims.

WFLA reported, “One of the victims deputies encountered was a woman who was 10 weeks pregnant and was given drugs and fentanyl in hopes to abort her unborn child, who she did not want.”

For the human trafficking victims, the operation had the following social service organizations to assist: One More Child, Heartland for Children, My Name My Voice, and the Children’s Home Society of Florida.

“From the moment they come into the operation, we want to immediately hand them off to our social service friends and our counselors so they can begin working with these victims of human trafficking,” Judd noted.

Thank God they arrested the people they arrested and are helping the victims, but this is the tip of the iceberg. We need every state to do the kind of detective work that ends this practice.

When You Declare Yourself A Sanctuary City, But…

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On Monday, The Western Journal posted an article about how Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot deals with immigrants after declaring Chicago a sanctuary city.

The article reports:

The word “hypocrisy” is being bandied about in reference to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot after she shunted illegal immigrants to a suburban after initially saying they were welcome in her city.

This summer, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott decided that Democrat-run cities that support illegal immigration by calling themselves sanctuary cities should share in the flood of illegal immigrants crowing the border. As such, Chicago, New York City and Washington, D.C., have seen busloads of illegal immigrants arrive.

When the first busload of illegal immigrants arrived, Lightfoot called the moment an important episode in Chicago’s history.

“This is such an important moment for Chicago as our city has been a sanctuary for thousands of newcomers. We are welcoming them and we will not turn our backs on those who need our help the most,” Lightfoot said in a statement, according to WMAQ-TV.

“We understand that many are fleeing violent, traumatic, or otherwise unstable environments,” the statement said. “We will respond with essential services while these individuals navigate the next steps of their journey and our community partners have been working diligently to provide a safety net.”

Lightfoot bashed Abbott for not working with her.

However, that was not the end of the story:

But lo and behold, 64 of 175 illegal immigrants sent to Chicago were soon sent to a Hampton Inn in the suburb of Burr Ridge with no notice to local officials.

“I am concerned neither the village administrator nor I were told about this,” Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso said, according to WGN-TV. “We want to know: Why Burr Ridge?”

“Neither village elected officials nor staff were consulted or contacted about this decision and we are now gathering information to keep our community updated,” he said to WMAQ.

Grasso also said it was hypocritical for Lightfoot to criticize Abbott for sending illegal immigrants up north and then ship them out to his community, according to Fox News.

If Chicago wants to be a sanctuary city, and the voters keep electing a mayor who wants it to be, there is no problem. However, if Chicago claims to be a sanctuary city and then sends those seeking sanctuary to the suburbs without the knowledge or consent of the people and their leaders living there, is Chicago really a sanctuary city? How is what Lori Lightfoot doing any different than what Governor Abbott is doing (other than the fact that Governor Abbott does not claim that Texas is a sanctuary state)?

The Start Of What?

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On September 9, Red State posted an article about homes raided and subpoenas issued to dozens of supporters of President Trump. On September 10, Red State posted an article with some of the names who were subpoenaed.

The first article includes a screen shop of one of the subpoenas. The subpoena includes the following:

Why is the Justice Department asking that the subpoena be kept secret?

The September 10 article notes:

William Russell wasn’t home when the two FBI agents came to his house Wednesday morning, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Russell served in the Trump White House as a special assistant to the president and the deputy director of advance before moving down to Florida to work as an aide to Trump after he left the White House.

Russell has also been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury investigating Jan. 6, sources familiar with the matter said. The subpoena requests documents and communications related to the so-called fake slates of electors pushed in various states in support of Trump, the sources said.

The NY Times is claiming they’re aware of a dozen people including Brian Jack, former White House political director under Trump, and a big name, Stephen Miller, Trump’s top speechwriter, and a senior policy adviser, who received subpoenas. Jack is currently both an adviser to Trump as well as to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

The subpoenas were issued to a wide range of people who either worked in the White House or on the Trump campaign, including senior officials like the campaign’s chief financial officer; personal aides to Mr. Trump; and the former chief of staff to Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter who also served as one of his senior advisers. [….]

Among the recipients of subpoenas from a grand jury sitting in Washington are relatively junior aides from the White House and Mr. Trump’s 2020 campaign. While the subpoenas asked for information concerning the Save America PAC, they also sought communications with several pro-Trump lawyers — like Kenneth Chesebro — who helped devise the electors plan.

Numerous subpoenas focused solely on the fake elector plan were sent to Republican state lawmakers and state Republican officials allied with Mr. Trump starting this spring.

We previously reported of subpoenas being dropped on Republican Pennsylvania state lawmakers and seizing the phone of a member of Congress, Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA).

The NY Times notes that Miller was not known to have had a planning role in the electors plan or the fund-raising efforts. So it’s not clear why they are dropping a subpoena on him. Nor is it clear what their legal justification is in regard to the electors plan.

This looks an awful lot like the politicization of the Justice Department. I hope it is not. If it is, I hope the mid-term elections will put enough brave people in Congress who will put a stop to this.

 

Promises Made, Promises Broken

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On Friday, The Hill posted an article about more than 70 House of Representatives Democrats reneging on the promise they made to Senator Joe Manchin in order to persuade him to vote for the Inflation Reduction Act.

The article reports:

More than 70 House Democrats are signing on to a letter pressing Democratic leaders to not include a side deal with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on reforming the permit process for energy projects in a bill funding the government.

The permitting reform language was offered to Manchin to win his vote on the massive climate, tax and health care bill known as the Inflation Reduction Act that was signed into law by President Biden last month.

Manchin provided the critical support to get that bill through the evenly divided Senate after winning concessions from Democratic leaders.

But in the new letter, the Democratic lawmakers are asking Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) not to include the permitting reforms championed by Manchin into a stopgap funding measure that Congress is expected to take up this month.

Without a stopgap funding measure, the government will shut down on Oct. 1.

“The inclusion of these provisions in a continuing resolution, or any other must-pass legislation, would silence the voices of frontline and environmental justice communities by insulating them from scrutiny,” they lawmakers wrote. 

“We urge you to ensure that these provisions are kept out of a continuing resolution or any other must-pass legislation this year,” they added in the letter that was spearheaded by Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.).

The opposition from Democrats is a significant problem. If the group follows through on the letter, Democrats might not have the votes to pass a government funding bill if it includes the language backed by Manchin. 

Budget by continuing resolution is garbage. Between 1975, when the current budget process took effect, and 1998 Congress never failed to pass a budget. Since then, Congress has failed to pass a budget in 7 of the last 15 fiscal years. It’s time to go back to each governmental department having a budget passed individually. The reason that is not currently happening is that in Washington, money is power. The more money you control, the more powerful you are considered to be. Continuing resolutions take away accountability and have pretty much eliminated budget cuts. The threat of a government shutdown if a continuing resolution is not passed can be used to justify almost anything, and it will be this month.

We Remember

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Above is a picture of the Teardrop Memorial, Russia’s gift to the United States in memory of 911. The monument To the Struggle Against World Terrorism was dedicated on September 11, 2006, by President Clinton. It is located in Bayonne, New Jersey, at a place where the twin towers were visible. For more information on the memorial see 911Monument.com.

The website tells the story of how the monument came to be:

The artist, Zurab Tsereteli, was in his home in Moscow on the morning of September 11th. The television was on as he was getting ready for work and Zurab, like the rest of the world, was glued to coverage of the attacks on the Twin Towers. He watched the towers collapse on TV and was moved to tears.

That day, he went to work at the Academy of Art driving on a route that takes him past the American Embassy. People were gathered outside the embassy gates to pay sympathies, to be together, and to mourn. He saw a mass of crying people and decided to use the image of a tear in a memorial.

He set to work that day on a proper and appropriate form through which to express his feelings over the attack. He went through many various sketches and ‘forms’ (all of which are chronicled in the yellow book) until finally deciding on the current monument’s form.

Zurab traveled to NY shortly after the September 11th and went to ground zero. The ruins were still steaming. He decided that he wanted to create a memorial to the victims; but that wouldn’t want to build on top of the bones of the dead on the ground zero site. He began to look for an appropriate and fitting site on which to erect the memorial.

Zurab spoke with friends and colleagues who were in NY during the attacks. He heard stories about how boats and ferries were used to shuttle survivors away from the Twin Towers. He also learned about the New Jersey residents who worked in the towers. Zurab decided to look for a site in New Jersey, where the monument could be on the waterfront and settled on a never before seen area of the peninsula at Bayonne. Here, the World Trade Center was the backdrop to the waterfront, and so, the backdrop of life. The site had been a military instillation, and the town had decided to convert the land into public park-space.

Never forget.

Twenty-One Years Later

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This article was originally posted on September 10, 2016. Has anything changed?

This is the fifteenth anniversary of the day before 9/11. It is the anniversary of a day when Americans were going about their business—getting children ready to start school, beginning to put away summer clothes and get out fall clothes, and doing fall housekeeping. It was not in any way a noteworthy day. However, there were Americans who understood the threat hanging over us. Unfortunately, those Americans did not have the ability to wake up either our government or the American people.

John O’Neill was one of the people who understood the threat. In 1995 John O’Neill was appointed chief of the FBI’s counterterrorism section. When he arrived at FBI headquarters initially, he stayed there for three days. O’Neill was not very diplomatic, but he got things done. He also had the ability to tie loose ends together to see what was coming. Early on in his career, O’Neill became very interested in the activities of Osama Bin Laden to the point where his colleagues began to question his judgement [The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright Page 237 (paperback)]. He retired from the FBI early in 2001 to become chief of security at the World Trade Center. I have heard stories of the evacuation drills he led at the World Trade Center that probably saved many people’s lives on 9/11. John O’Neill understood that the terrorists would try to destroy the World Trade Center again. He was right. Unfortunately, due to personalities in the FBI, he was no longer in a position to connect the dots and possibly avoid the attack on the Trade Center.

So where are we today? What have we learned and what have we done about it? One of the best sources on the failure of the Obama Administration to deal with terrorism is the book Catastrophic Failure by Stephen Coughlin. In that book, Mr. Coughlin details the Obama Administrations inability to understand the root of the threat; and therefore, its inability to counter the threat. I strongly suggest you read the book, but I will try to summarize the main points here.

In October 2011, elements of the American Muslim Brotherhood wrote the White House demanding an embargo or discontinuation of information and materials relating to Islamic-based terrorism. The letter was addressed to John Brennan, who at the time was Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.  Days later John Brennan agreed to create a task force to address the problem by removing personnel and products that the Muslim Brotherhood deemed “biased, false, and highly offensive.” This move in effect allowed the Muslim Brotherhood to control the information given to the people charged with stopping the terrorism initiated by groups affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. At this point, the 9/11 reports and other actual historic documents were altered to make them compliant with the new paradigm. (I thought only the Russians rewrote history.)

Just a note—Stephen Coughlin is no longer briefing the Pentagon and our law enforcement communities. His briefings were not in compliance with the standards the Muslim Brotherhood placed on such briefings and were no longer permitted. That fact along should give all of us pause.

There are some real questions as to whom President Obama listens to on matters of terrorism. Those same questions apply to Hillary Clinton. Would you have put someone with family ties to Hitler in an advisory role to Franklin Roosevelt during World War II? I realize you can’t choose your family, but would the FBI hire a secretary whose father was a Mafia Don to work in their domestic crime bureau?

There is substantial evidence that the upper levels of our government have been compromised by the Muslim Brotherhood. One of the most reliable sources for this information is The Center for Security Policy. There are many resources available on their website.

So as we look back on this time fifteen years ago, we need to realize that we are still in danger and that the danger we face is getting more serious. The attacks in Europe (reported and unreported) should awaken us to the dangers of allowing refugees into America without proper vetting and the dangers of allowing immigrants who have no intention of assimilating into American culture to set up enclaves within our country.

Unless we want to experience a terror attack far worse than 9/11, Americans need to inform themselves about the enemy we are facing. It is obvious that the government is not going to inform us or take care of us.

It’s Not Easy Being Red…

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On Thursday, Real Clear Politics posted an article illustrating the difference in American justice as it applies to those who support Democrat causes and those who support Republican causes. For those of us who remember some of the events of 2015 and 2016, the difference is alread obvious.

The article reports:

You get favorable treatment by the U.S. Department of Justice — especially when it comes to the handling, or mishandling, of classified information. You get to evade prosecution and early morning raids by dozens of armed FBI agents at your home, like what happened to former President Donald Trump last month. And then, years later if you’re Hillary Clinton, you get to rewrite history, spread misinformation to your millions of Twitter followers and not get censored or banned by Big Tech, which holds conservatives to a totally different standard than the left on its biased platforms.

On Tuesday, former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton unleashed a tweet storm about her infamous emails that were under FBI investigation while she ran for president against Trump. “I can’t believe we’re still talking about this, but my emails … As Trump’s problems continue to mount, the right is trying to make this about me again. There’s even a ‘Clinton Standard.’ The fact is that I had zero emails that were classified. Comey admitted he was wrong after he claimed I had classified emails. Trump’s own State Department, under two different Secretaries, found I had no classified emails. That’s right: ZERO. By contrast, Trump has hundreds of documents clearly marked classified, and the investigation just started. I’m more tired of talking about this than anyone, but here we are. If you’re interested in the facts, you can read more here.” She tweeted a link to an opinion piece by a liberal columnist parroting her fact-free claims.

The article concludes:

He (former FBI Director James B. Comey) added, “None of these e-mails should have been on any kind of unclassified system, but their presence is especially concerning because all of these e-mails were housed on unclassified personal servers not even supported by full-time security staff, like those found at Departments and Agencies of the U.S. Government — or even with a commercial service like Gmail.” 

So Clinton not only housed secret unauthorized email servers in her home — jeopardizing U.S. national security, as foreign enemies likely hacked her rogue servers according to the FBI — Team Hillary also deleted at least 30,000 emails under federal subpoena and destroyed devices with hammers without penalty. Yet on Wednesday this week while appearing on the TV show “The View,” Clinton haughtily told the hosts “no one is above the law” while discussing the documents seized from Trump’s Florida estate.  

Again, it’s good to be a Democrat. You get to trash political opponents in the public square and support prosecution of your enemies for similar acts you got away with. 

Talk about a corrupt “justice” system!

I don’t know if we will ever get back to blind justice. A lot depends on how Americans vote in November and how honest the mid-term election is.

Being Investigated For Protecting Children

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On Thursday, Just the News posted an article about a Justice Department subpoena requesting over five years of information from the Eagle Forum of Alabama about its legislative activities.

The article reports:

The Eagle Forum of Alabama, a conservative nonprofit, has worked since 2017 on the “Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act,” which went into effect as law in May 2022.

The legislation made it a felony for physicians to perform sex-change surgeries, to administer or prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to minors.

The law also prohibits school personnel from withholding information from parents about their child’s sexual identity.

The group, which filed a motion Wednesday to quash the subpoena, said the Justice Department’s request “is broad, intrusive, and meant to harass.”

The article concludes:

Eagle Forum President Kristen Ullman said the subpoena has much larger implications.

“If the DOJ can weaponize a subpoena, any American can be unduly burdened and prevented from engaging in our democratic republic form of government. Freedom of speech and freedom of association will be squelched,” she said. “If the Department of Justice doesn’t like your viewpoint it may target you next.”

Would the Department of Justice be investigating the group if they were working in support of abortion? That is the question that needs to be answered.

Victims, But No Perpetrators?

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On Thursday, The American Thinker posted an article about the strange case of Ghislaine Maxwell. Ms. Maxwell was originally sentenced to 20 years in the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut. The Institution in Danbury is known for bad food and small cells. Then, almost magically, she was transferred to a low-security federal correctional institution in Florida that includes various “recreation, leisure and social programs” designed to “help develop an individual wellness concept.”

The article notes:

Specifically, her case has set before us the question of whether we, as a people, are willingly turning a blind eye to our government’s complicity in protecting the anonymity of the powerful and elite among us whom our government knows to have participated in the sex trafficking of children. Or, will we take a stand and demand that our government reveal the identities of the criminal pedophiles that Epstein and Maxwell “serviced” for nearly 25 years and compel them to hold these criminals accountable for their crimes?

How we choose to answer that question will likely define our nation’s moral trajectory for many years to come.

To those who may doubt this characterization of our government’s corruption, perhaps it will help for them to pause and consider the implications of the following facts:

In typical criminal cases involving more than one perpetrator, one primary reason that a prosecutor would offer a plea deal to a defendant is to extract — i.e. legally extort — information from that defendant about others who may have been involved in the crimes at issue — e.g. like the pedophiles who raped the young girls she and Epstein provided.

In Maxwell’s case, however, the prosecutors evidently decided this would not be necessary. In fact, they did just the opposite. Attempting to appear tough and unrelenting to the public, the prosecutors informed Ms. Maxwell — and thus, the public — that she would be offered no plea deals whatsoever.

The article has two theories on the reason Maxwell was not offered a plea deal. The first is that they did not want to risk exposing the client list to the public. The article notes that the trial was conducted in a way that prevented any client was identified in court. The second reason (I think more likely) is that the government already had all of the client information from things they seized at Epstein’s island and Manhattan mansion.

The article concludes:

Under the present circumstances of her life, the only thing that could make such a deal any sweeter for Maxwell, is if our government also secretly agreed with her to a prearranged sentence reduction at a future time provided that, even after her release, she must take her secrets to the grave to avoid the risk of triggering the ever- available “suicide” option lurking in the background.

Given the totality of this reality, one can readily understand Maxwell’s silence.

What can’t be understood, nor tolerated, however, is our acquiescence to our government’s unlawful complicity in that silence.

The question is, of course, do we as a nation have the moral fortitude to take the actions necessary to expose and bring to justice the ghouls our government is presently allowing to roam among us and who are, in fact, a threat to our children?

Or will we, as a nation take the easier path and buy into the fiction corrupt officials within our government are currently attempting to sell:

That Maxwell really is the only person in history to be convicted for trafficking children for sex …to apparently nobody.

I guess the lesson here is that if you are going to commit a horrendous crime, make sure you have evidence on those in power who committed it with you.

What Rights?

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On Wednesday, BizPacReview posted an article about Cowboys for Trump co-founder Couy Griffin. A New Mexico judge has barred Couy Griffin from holding public office for life following his conviction for trespassing on Jan. 6 at the US Capitol. Note that he was convicted of trespassing.

The article reports:

State District Court Judge Francis Mathew issued the ruling on Tuesday asserting that Griffin had engaged in insurrection and violated the 14th Amendment, according to the Daily Mail. The determination prohibits Griffin from holding or seeking local or federal office and is the first ruling of its kind. The constitutionality of such a ruling will almost certainly be challenged.

“This decision marks the first time since 1869 that a court has disqualified a public official under Section 3, and the first time that any court has ruled the events of January 6, 2021, an insurrection,” Citizens for Ethics noted concerning the ruling.

The elected county commissioner was convicted in federal court of a misdemeanor for entering Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, without going inside the building. He engaged in no violence that day but just because he was there, he was sentenced to 14 days and given credit for time served.

The judge’s ruling under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment removes Griffin from his position as a commissioner in Otero County in southern New Mexico. He is also barred from serving as a presidential elector.

Griffin was convicted of a misdemeanor. Note that his participation in the protest on January 6th was also an excuse for removing him from his position as a commissioner in addition to preventing him from running for office again. There is no way that is reasonable. This is a shot across the bow for anyone who takes a stand against any policy or person in the Biden administration. Protesters who are conservatives will no longer have the civil rights accorded to them in the U.S. Constitution. The January 6th prisoners are proof of that. This is also part of the move to block President Trump from running for office or holding office if he is elected.

Coming Here To Give Or To Take?

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America was built by immigrants. Immigrants who came here to work and to build a country and a new life. A lot of the beautiful buildings in our cities were built by foreign craftsmen skilled in brick laying and various other trades. These immigrants came here to work. The early English settlers were often second sons coming to make their way in the new world (according to British inheritance laws, the first son inherited everything). Unfortunately, today’s immigrants are not all coming here to work. Some of them are coming to take advantage of America’s safety net. At some point that net is going to break, but the Biden administration does not seem overly concerned about that.

On Thursday, The Washington Times reported the following:

Homeland Security on Thursday announced it has adopted a new lenient policy on immigrants’ use of welfare, tossing a Trump-era policy that would have been far stricter.

Under the new system, known as the “public charge” rule, immigrants will only be penalized for potential welfare use if the government believes they will eventually become “primarily dependent” on government payments.

By contrast, living in government housing, using Medicaid for health coverage or accepting food stamps wouldn’t count against an immigrant.

Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the new rule will deliver “fair and humane treatment of legal immigrants.”

“Consistent with America’s bedrock values, we will not penalize individuals for choosing to access the health benefits and other supplemental government services available to them,” he said.

The concept of the public charge rule is that immigrants should be able to pay their own way and not be a burden on Americans. A public charge policy has been in place dating back to the late 1800s.

I am willing to let illegal immigrants access any government benefit they choose AFTER we find homes and whatever treatment is needed for America’s homeless population. I am willing to let illegal immigrants access any government benefit they choose AFTER we have provided all necessary medical and other assistance to America’s veterans. I am willing to let illegal immigrants access any government benefit they choose AFTER we balance the budget and pay off the national debt.

The combination of open borders and a generous social welfare program is a recipe for bankruptcy. Remember that as you evaluate the policies of the Biden administration.

Equal Justice For All

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For years, most Americans have been content to let the government run the country. We have not paid close attention to what that government is doing, and we have not paid close enough attention to political races and candidates. We have assumed that the people in power to some degree had our best interests at heart. We have assumed that our justice system truly embraced the idea of equal justice for all. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case, and many Americans are waking up to a country with a justice system they no longer recognize.

On Wednesday, Issues & Insights reported the results of The Golden/TIPP Poll (TIPP is also Issues & Insights’ polling partner) which asked the question, “Generally speaking, do you agree or disagree with the statement: “There is a two-tiered system of justice in America depending on your political affiliation and ideology?”

The article reports:

The results of the poll, which had a margin of error of +/-2.8 percentage points, were lopsided: 63% agreed either “strongly” (28%) or “somewhat” (35%) that America is moving toward a two-tiered system of justice. Just 17% said they either disagreed “somewhat” (11%) or “strongly” (6%). (Numbers may not add up perfectly due to rounding of the data).

This is a chart showing their results:

The article includes the following chart:

The article notes:

One need only look to President Joe Biden’s widely criticized “Soul of the Nation” speech last week, in which he suggested that the millions of people who voted for President Donald Trump in 2020 “represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.“

His harsh remarks, many commentators on both the left and right agreed, were out of bounds, and certain to further widen the growing cultural, social and political differences that have led to some bitter disputes and even violence.

The discrepant treatment of Jan. 6 rioters and the BLM and Antifa rioters is another factor.

Jan. 6 invaders of the Capitol building have been held for over a year and in some cases allegedly seriously mistreated. Some of the estimated 903 people charged with crimes received harsh sentences for their behavior.

Not so BLM and Antifa, who were lauded by the left, including some elected officials, for trashing dozens of cities around the country during the long summer of 2020.

Those riots caused over $2 billion in damage across the nation and led to an estimated 30 deaths or more, yet few were held to account for the violence.

The difference in treatment within the media, both news and opinion outlets and social media, is even more glaring.

In recent weeks, new revelations have emerged about how the White House and FBI have manipulated social media into silencing critics in the center and on the right.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. It is fascinating.

A Blatant Abuse Of Power

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On Wednesday, The Washington Examiner reported that President Trump learned “through court filings” that federal agents seized tax documents and medical records during the Aug. 8 FBI raid on his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago. There is no way the taking of those records had anything to do with the ‘national security’ problem the FBI was claiming as the justification for the raid. Since there will be an appointment of a Special Master to oversee the FBI’s search of the documents, that search is supposedly on hold. However, I am cynical enough to believe that every document taken has already been photographed to be used in a campaign against the President should he decide to run again.

The article reports:

While Justice Department officials are investigating whether Trump violated the Espionage Act and committed obstruction of justice, according to an unsealed warrant for the August raid, Cannon revealed “medical documents, correspondence related to taxes, and accounting information” were part of the materials seized during the raid last month, according to court filings.

Additionally, a source familiar with the matter said the FBI confiscated 40 years of Trump’s medical records, according to Fox News.

Trump’s response comes amid criticisms from his attorney Chris Kise about so-called Justice Department leaks about the investigation in the media, with the most recent example being a Washington Post report that noted the FBI seized documents that included material containing a description of an unnamed foreign government’s nuclear capabilities.

“Unfortunately, even after the Court noted specifically in its Order that President Trump ‘faces an unquantifiable potential harm by way of improper disclosure of sensitive information to the public’ and asked counsel for the United States directly about leaks, those leaks continue with no respect for the process nor any regard for the real truth,” the attorney told Fox News.

Democratic lawmakers in Congress have long sought Trump’s tax records since at least 2019. Last month, a federal appeals court approved the House Ways and Means Committee’s request to obtain Trump’s tax returns from the IRS. Trump appealed to the full bench of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Aug. 18.

This is a total abuse of power by the Biden administration. Every DOJ and FBI person involved should resign in protest of what was done. Unfortunately, there are too many people employed by those agencies who support the abuse of power exhibited in the raid.

About Those Stock Trades

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Yesterday I reported on the brilliant stock market trading of House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi and her husband (article here). Today there is a report out about a brilliant Senator whose superior intellect allowed him to avoid major losses in the stock market.

The Daily Caller reports:

Sen. Richard Burr’s “well-timed stock sales” prior to the economic downturn in late February 2020 saved him over $87,000, according to an FBI search warrant affidavit unsealed Monday.

The unsealed warrant is in connection to a prior Justice Department (DOJ) investigation into alleged insider trading by the North Carolina Republican during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic — which was closed in January 2021 after the DOJ decided not to pursue charges. The senator profited over $144,000 on his stock sales in February 2020, the affidavit says.

The article concludes:

Burr also called his brother-in-law after he sold the stocks, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged in October 2021, according to ProPublica. His brother-in-law sold up to $280,000 worth of stock that same day, the outlet previously reported.

The SEC was reportedly investigating the incident for possible insider trading and it is unclear if that probe is ongoing.

Burr’s office did not respond to a request for comment nor did the FBI or the SEC.

Oh to trade in the stock market like Congress trades.

President Biden Was Not An Innocent Bystander

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On Monday, The Conservative Treehouse posted an article that included screenshots of documents showing that President Biden was not only aware of the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, he had a hand in the raid.

The article reports:

Page #2 and Page #3 of Judge Aileen Cannon’s ruling cites a quote from the DOJ own legal filing, dated May 10th, that Joe Biden ordered the National Archives and Records Administration to provide access to the FBI to review the Trump records.  Note the quotation marks:

On May 10, 2022, NARA informed Plaintiff that it would proceed with “provid[ing] the FBI access to the records in question, as requested by the incumbent President, beginning as early as Thursday, May 12, 2022.”  [citation]

The Federal Judge hearing the case concerning the appointment of a Special Master to oversee the handling of the documents seized in the Mar-a-Lago raid cited this information in her decision to move forward with the appointment of a Special Master.

This truly is something that belongs in a banana republic.

 

Legalizing Fact-Checkers

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On Tuesday, Breitbart posted an article about the new, revised version of the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act. If passed, this law would end even the pretense of objective news reporting.

The article reports:

A new version of the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) is circulating that is worse than the original. It allows mainstream, legacy and left-wing media to form exclusionary media cartels and then empowers them with extraordinary collective-bargaining power to collude with Big Tech companies. The amendments serve only to spell out in greater specificity how to exclude conservative and anti-establishment media from any alleged benefits.

Specifically, the new JCPA contains a provision that allows “eligible” media companies forming a cartel to “create admission criteria for membership unrelated to the size of an eligible digital journalism provider or the views expressed by its content, including criteria to limit membership to only eligible publishers or only eligible broadcasters.”

That provision is significant especially for its specificity. These mainstream and left-wing media cartels may not exclude based on size or “views expressed by its content.” But that is not how the exclusion happens or will happen.

These self-appointed mainstream and left-wing media cartels ARE allowed to exclude based on the usual, totally subjective, factors they always do, such as: “trustworthiness,” “fake news, “extremism,” “misinformation,” “hate speech,” “conspiracy,” “correction policy,” “expertise,” “authoritativeness,” etc.

Why do I think that any news media questioning the election of any Democrat would be excluded based on fake news?

Fortunately some of the Republicans in Congress are speaking out against this bill.

The article notes:

The GOP leadership in the House of Representatives has condemned the bill, with GOP leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) calling it the “antithesis of conservatism,” and Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) warning it will be used to suppress competition.

“They [the media] will use it, in the end, to discriminate against people who don’t fit into their category, who aren’t defined as ‘the press’ — and who’s going to determine that definition?” said Jordan.

In the Senate, the bill has been condemned by a growing number of Republican senators, including Marsha Blackburn, Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton, and Mike Lee.

Republican FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington, and the legal scholar who worked on President Trump’s proposed Section 230 reforms have also warned of the dangers of the legislation.

This is a path America has already started on. Most millennials get their news from social media. Since social media is patrolled by fact-checkers to limit free speech, most millennials have a very warped view of current events (combined with the warped view of America they learned in history class). A free press is necessary in a representative republic (which is actually what America is–we are not a democracy). If that free press is no longer free to oppose those in power, we will very quickly move down the road to fascism–where opposing those in power will have legal consequences [like staying in jail for more than a year before being tried (January 6th defendants) or having your home raided by the FBI and your wife’s closet and your child’s room ransacked]. This is not a good path to be on.

Wishing I Had The Same Stock Advisors As The House Of Representatives

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On Friday, The Washington Free Beacon posted an article about a recent stock trade by Nancy and Paul Pelosi.

The article reports:

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and her multimillionaire husband, Paul Pelosi, saved hundreds of thousands of dollars by selling their shares in Nvidia about one month before the U.S. government placed restrictions on the tech company, causing its stock price to plummet.

In July, the Pelosis sold all 25,000 of their shares in Nvidia. On Aug. 26, the government ordered Nvidia to stop selling microchips in China and Russia without authorization, which could cost the company up to $400 million, CNBC reported on Wednesday. The day after CNBC’s report, Nvidia’s stock price was down nearly 12 percent, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Maybe we should all just keep a record of what stocks Congressmen are trading and simply follow suit.

The article continues:

By selling the shares before the news broke, the speaker and her husband saved around $600,000, according to multiple Twitter accounts that track the Pelosis’ controversial stock trades.

Paul Pelosi has a long history of making “timely” purchases in companies that his wife has worked to subsidize, the Washington Free Beacon has reported. He purchased the Nvidia stock in June as the speaker oversaw a bill that would grant billions of dollars in subsidies that could benefit the company.

Internet stock traders often follow Nancy Pelosi’s purchases and selloffs for investing tips, Business Insider reported, with some suggesting “she’s making the big bucks off of insider information.”

Stock trading is simply one of many ways that a middle-class American can enter Congress and emerge four years as a millionaire.

The Cure?

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On Saturday, The Conservative Review posted an article about a peer-reviewed study on the effectiveness of Ivermectin in treating the Covid virus.

The article reports:

A new peer-reviewed study found that regular use of ivermectin reduced the risk of dying from COVID-19 by 92%.

The large study was conducted by Flávio A. Cadegiani, MD, MSc, PhD. Cadegiani is a board-certified endocrinologist with a master’s degree and doctorate degree in clinical endocrinology.

The peer-reviewed study was published on Wednesday by the online medical journal Cureus. The study was conducted on a strictly controlled population of 88,012 people from the city of Itajaí in Brazil.

Individuals who used ivermectin as prophylaxis or took the medication before being infected by COVID experienced significant reductions in death and hospitalization.

The article concludes:

The study defined regular users as those who used more than 30 tablets of ivermectin over five months. The dosage of ivermectin was determined by body weight, but “most of the population used between two and three tablets daily for two days, every 15 days.”

“Non-use of ivermectin was associated with a 12.5-fold increase in mortality rate and a seven-fold increased risk of dying from COVID-19 compared to the regular use of ivermectin,” the study read. “This dose-response efficacy reinforces the prophylactic effects of ivermectin against COVID-19.”

Cadegiani believes the study showed a “dose-response effect” – which means that increasing levels of ivermectin decreased the risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19.

Cadegiani wrote on Twitter, “An observational study with the size and level of analysis as ours is hardly achieved and infeasible to be conducted as a randomised clinical trial. Conclusions are hard to be refuted. Data is data, regardless of your beliefs.”

It’s interesting to me that those in the study took the Ivermectin before they contracted Covid.

In December 2020, The National Library of Medicine posted a report about the low death rate from Covid in African countries where Ivermectin was being used to control Onchocerciasis.

The article reports:

Results: After controlling for different factors, including the Human Development Index (HDI), APOC (African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control) countries (vs. non-APOC), show 28% lower mortality (0.72; 95% CI: 0.67-0.78) and 8% lower rate of infection (0.92; 95% CI: 0.91-0.93) due to COVID-19.

Conclusions: The incidence in mortality rates and number of cases is significantly lower among the APOC countries compared to non-APOC countries. That a mass public health preventive campaign against COVID-19 may have taken place, inadvertently, in some African countries with massive community ivermectin use is an attractive hypothesis. Additional studies are needed to confirm it.

I strongly suspect that had the pharmaceutical companies not been involved, we might have looked for a cure rather than a vaccine.