The Power Of The States

On Monday, Daniel Horowitz posted an article at The Conservative Review about the power of State Sovereignty. Our current administration (and many administrations before them) have chosen to ignore the Tenth Amendment.

The Tenth Amendment states:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article–it contains some interesting information about what is currently happening in Canada that we can learn from.

The article notes:

Last week, I posted a comprehensive analysis of the scope of power Republicans hold in state government and how they are likely to dramatically expand it. Between trifecta control and supermajorities in legislatures, they could conceivably hold the power to pass legislation unchallenged by Democrats in at least 30 states. As such, when national Republican leaders lament the limits of their power to check the Biden administration in Washington for lack of full control of government, we must remind them it doesn’t absolve the party of its duty to enforce the Constitution in the states Republicans control.

What does that look like? Governors and legislators need to announce that when the federal government seeks to violate the Constitution, statutes, the rights of the people, or the social compact itself by openly engaging in destruction of our food, energy, and natural resources, those policies will be blocked in the states.

Practically, what does that mean?

The first bill all GOP-controlled legislatures should pass when most of them convene in January is a law allowing them via concurrent resolution to declare a federal policy, regulation, or statute unconstitutional. That would automatically, pursuant to this law, have the effect of criminalizing the enforcement of that policy within the state’s boundaries by any state or local official or state-funded NGO. It would also call upon the state law enforcement agencies to work directly with the governor to, with all practicable means, block any attempts of federal officials to enforce those edicts.

On specific issues, this means:

    • All federal policies regarding transgenderism cannot be enforced.
    • All federal policies concerning medical mandates, surveillance, or public health policies deemed harmful or unconstitutional are prohibited.
    • All federal policies locking up state fuel, food, or natural resources are suspended.
    • All FBI raids on residents of the state that are prima facie political persecutions when no allegation of violence is brought are illegal and will be thwarted by all means possible.
    • All cooperation with federal law enforcement on surveillance, information sharing, or apprehension of political opponents is suspended.

Please read the rest of the article– it may hold the solution to the current lawlessness in Washington.

Biden’s Destruction of America

Author: R. Alan Harrop,Ph.D

In March 2021, I wrote an article reporting on some of the actions Biden was initiating that would be harmful to America. Let’s update his actions as of November 2022 and see how things stand after almost two years of his administration. I write this on Halloween night, but it is scarier than ghosts and goblins.

The Border: We no longer have a Southern border. Well over 5 million illegals have been welcomed across the border in less than two years. Illegal drugs are coming in unchecked, including fentanyl which has killed close to 100,000 Americans in the last year. Estimates are that illegals will cost each tax payer $2,600/year.

Inflation: The prices of consumer goods are rising dramatically; especially on essential items. Inflation under President Trump was about 2 %. Now at a forty year high of 8.6% and much higher for food.

Energy: On Election Day 2020, the price of a gallon of gas was $ 1.87, it now averages $3.49 and much higher in some areas. We have gone from energy abundance/independence to energy shortages. Recent report shows that there is only sufficient diesel oil for 25 days to meet our usual consumption. Home heating oil, commonly used in the northern states, has gone from $1.45 to $5.72 per gallon. The cost of electricity has gone up 16% in the last year and is expected to go higher. Energy is costing the average family $6,200 more per year. Biden’s depleting our strategic oil reserves and selling this oil to China is treasonous.

Personal Wealth: The stock market is down about 30 % and inflation reduces the value of bank accounts by about 10% per year. People on fixed income are especially hard hit. We are getting poorer.

Cost of Housing: Mortgage rates have gone from less than 3% to 7%. A $300,000 house will cost $878 more per month, $10,536 more per year and a whopping $316,000 more over the life of a 30 year loan. Rents are going up similarly.

Unconstitutional Spending: You will be paying off the loans of college students estimated to cost over $300 billion dollars over the next ten years and will continue going higher; even though you may have paid your own way through college or not gone to college at all. Presidents have no authority to do this.

Second Amendment: The Biden administration is requiring all credit card companies to report all sales of firearms and ammunition to the Federal government thereby tracking your purchases.

IRS/FBI: These agencies are now enforcement arms of the Biden administration. Hiring 87,000 armed IRS agents is aimed directly at the middle class and small business owners.

Crime: Has been increasing dramatically, especially in urban areas, as a direct result of defunding the police and liberal prisoner release policies.

International Relations: War in Ukraine, North Korea firing missiles, conflicts with Saudi Arabia, China emboldened and threatening Taiwan, are all examples of deteriorating relations with other countries.

No doubt there are other destructive actions by Biden and the radical Democrats. No rational person can look at where America is now and say we are better off after the last two years. YOU MUST GET OUT AND VOTE, if you love this country.

I Really Don’t Expect To See This In The Media

On Saturday, PJ Media reported that the man who attacked Paul Pelosi had no discernible political agenda. He was not some off-the-wall conservative–he wasn’t even an off-the-wall democrat. I am still trying to figure out how he got into a gated neighborhood, past an alarm system, and possibly past guard dogs. There are some very odd aspects to this story.

The article reports:

I regret to inform the meme makers, the narrative builders, and all those involved in the herculean effort to make Paul Pelosi’s attack suspect into a stand-in for the right-wing boogeyman, the after-party has been canceled.

The pathetic human known as David DePape was, until recently, a public backer of Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ causes. At least, that’s what we can surmise by surveying his “home” in Berkeley. DePape had a “Black Lives Matter” sign in the window and an LGBTQ rainbow flag, emblazoned with a marijuana symbol, hanging from a tree outside his house.

Author Michael Schellenberger describes the scene outside DePape’s residence and took a dive into his social media to — not surprisingly — come up with a far different portrait of Pelosi’s attacker than the already-set narrative being pushed by the mainstream media.

…I am going to repeat this again because it continuously fails to get through on the left and the right: Mentally ill people do not have “political agendas.” They have “visions.” They have “delusions.” They see things. They hear things. There is no left. There is no right. There are only the voices in their heads, and to believe otherwise is to prove that you should join them in the asylum.

These pathetic human beings can be dangerous, and most should not be left unsupervised. But the notion that they are warriors for Antifa, QAnon, or MAGA is bats**t crazy.

The article concludes:

Indeed, as Schellenberger so eloquently points out, the “drug problem” has become a “mental health problem” and has naturally progressed to become a “homeless problem.” There’s no separating any of it, and it starts in the statehouses and mayor’s offices run by radical left politicians.

That, we can blame on politics. Bad politics, suicidal politics. And trying to distract from the real political problems created by radical Democratic politicians by blaming Republicans for the pathetic ramblings of a psychiatric, incoherent homeless addict only highlights the Democrats’ disgrace.

Whatever was going on in that house–it was not political.

Never Believe The Title Of A Bill In Congress

Regardless of where you stand on religion and Christianity, it might be well to heed the words of one of our Founding Fathers:

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

John Adams

The religious people of John Adams’ time based their beliefs on the Christian Bible. The Biblical view of marriage is that it is between a man and a woman. Our Founding Fathers would not have considered any alternative to that view as they wrote the documents founding our country. Today’s Congress is not necessarily made up of moral or religious people, and they are creating laws that go against the beliefs of our Founding Fathers. Although the new laws coming out of Congress may line up with a small percentage of Americans, they are not laws that will unite the country or encourage morality. One such law, seriously misnamed, is the Respect for Marriage Act. The Respect for Marriage Act pretty much does everything except respect traditional marriage.

This is the summary of the Respect for Marriage Act at Congress.gov:

Passed House (07/19/2022)

Respect for Marriage Act

This bill provides statutory authority for same-sex and interracial marriages.

Specifically, the bill repeals and replaces provisions that define, for purposes of federal law, marriage as between a man and a woman and spouse as a person of the opposite sex with provisions that recognize any marriage that is valid under state law. (The Supreme Court held that the current provisions were unconstitutional in United States v. Windsor in 2013.)

The bill also repeals and replaces provisions that do not require states to recognize same-sex marriages from other states with provisions that prohibit the denial of full faith and credit or any right or claim relating to out-of-state marriages on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin. (The Supreme Court held that state laws barring same-sex marriages were unconstitutional in Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015; the Court held that state laws barring interracial marriages were unconstitutional in Loving v. Virginia in 1967.) The bill allows the Department of Justice to bring a civil action and establishes a private right of action for violations.

Bringing in interracial marriages is simply a red herring. By doing this, the sponsor of the bill (Jerry Nadler, a Democrat from New York) hoped to introduce a racial element that would distract from exactly what is going on here.

We are on the slippery slope. A recent court case in New York State essentially codified polygamy (article here). You may not accept a Biblical standard of morality, but before you decide to abandon it, look at the practical consequences of discounting it. The rules of the Bible (The Ten Commandments) are the basis for the laws of America. They provide a plan for an orderly society. It is when we abandon those rules that we have chaos and division.

The next step on the current slippery slope will be the transgender movement that is currently impacting our children. Parents’ rights will be limited in their fight to stop life-altering drugs or surgery on their children. That is already happening in some states.

Please let your Senators know that you oppose this bill–it has already passed the house.

Hiding The Truth To Protect The Guilty

On Friday, The Epoch Times posted an article about a court case involving Seth Rich’s computer. As you remember, Seth Rich was killed in Washington, D.C., on July 10, 2016. If his death was the result of a robbery attempt, the robbers were not successful–he still had his watch, he still has his money—he still has his credit cards, and still had his phone. There are a lot of unanswered questions.

The article reports:

The FBI is asking a U.S. court to reverse its order that it produce information from Seth Rich’s laptop computer.

If the court does not, the bureau wants 66 years to produce the information.

Rich was a Democratic National Committee staffer when he was killed on a street in Washington in mid-2016. No person has ever been arrested in connection to the murder.

U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant, an Obama appointee, ruled in September that the bureau must hand over information from the computer to Brian Huddleston, a Texas man who filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the info.

The FBI’s assertion that the privacy interest Rich’s family members hold outweighed the public interest was rejected by Mazzant, who noted the bureau cited no relevant case law supporting the argument.

But the ruling was erroneous, U.S. lawyers said in a new filing.

The bureau shouldn’t have to produce the information because of FOIA exemptions for information that are compiled for law enforcement purposes and “could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source,” the lawyers said in a motion for reconsideration. Another exemption, which enables agencies to withhold information that would disclose law enforcement techniques also applies, they said.

If this were a run-of-the-mill murder, why would the FBI want to keep the contents of the laptop hidden for 66 years?

The article concludes:

“If the court overrules the FBI’s motion, the FBI wants to produce records at a rate of 500 pages per month. At that rate, it will take almost 67 years just to produce the documents, never mind the images and other files,” Ty Clevenger, a lawyer representing Huddleston, told The Epoch Times in an email.

“After dealing with the FBI for five years, I now assume that the FBI is lying to me unless and until it proves otherwise. The FBI is desperately trying to hide records about Seth Rich, and that begs the question of why.”

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has suggested Rich leaked Democratic National Committee (DNC) files to WikiLeaks, but special counsel Robert Mueller said the real source was Russian hackers. Still, Mueller’s finding conflicts with statements from CrowdStrike, the firm hired to investigate how the DNC files were released.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. There are a lot of very strange things about this case and the way it was investigated.

And The Media Lies Just Continue

Earlier this week, someone broke into the campaign headquarters of Katie Hobbs, the Arizona Democratic gubernatorial candidate. The media (and Ms. Hobbs) immediately framed the break-in as politically motivated. Somehow, when that was proven to be false, the candidate stopped talking about the break-in.

PJ Media reported the following on Thursday:

Democrat Katie Hobbs, Arizona secretary of state and gubernatorial candidate, was quick to amplify claims that “dangerous misinformation” from her Republican opponent Kari Lake was connected to a break-in at her office this week. Police have now reportedly arrested a suspect and confirmed the break-in had no political motivation, so Hobbs did what any self-respecting Democrat political candidate would do — she refused to discuss the new development or her former accusations.

“AFTER accusing my team of coordinating a Watergate-style break-in of her office, Katie Hobbs has now flip-flopped and DOES NOT want to talk about the crime,” Kari Lake tweeted Thursday. “This comes AFTER arrest was made and NO political motivation confirmed.”

On Oct. 26, Hobbs tweeted a statement from her campaign manager Nicole DeMont. “Earlier this week, a break-in occurred at our campaign headquarters,” DeMont said. “We continue to cooperate with law enforcement as they investigate, and we are thankful to the men and women of the Phoenix Police Department for their work to keep us safe.” DeMont might need to up her wokeness — she’s excluding dozens of genders by talking only about the “men and women” of the police department. Do better, DeMont.

“Secretary Hobbs and her staff have faced hundreds of death threats and threats of violence over the course of this campaign,” DeMont’s statement continued. “Let’s be clear: for nearly two years Kari Lake and her allies have been spreading dangerous misinformation and inciting threats against anyone they see fit. The threats against Arizonans attempting to exercise their constitutional rights and their attacks on elected officials are the direct result of a concerted campaign of lies and intimidation.” All nice and vague, of course.

On Thursday, The Western Journal reported:

The Arizona Democratic Party was even more explicit in blaming Republicans for the alleged burglary, taking aim at “fringe Republicans” for the act.

…However, an arrest in the case appears to debunk any notion of a Republican operative targeting Hobbs. Police have apprehended 36-year-old Daniel Mota Dos Reis in the case, a man who identifies as a “Democrat” on his Facebook page.

The Democrats have complained for years that the Republicans are creating division in America. Has it occurred to them that false accusations that are not quickly retracted when proven wrong might be a source of division?

Lying Or Simply Not Knowing?

On Thursday, The U.K. Daily Mail posted an article about a recent speech by President Biden.

The article reports:

President Joe Biden touted U.S. manufacturing gains Thursday on a trip to Syracuse – where he claimed gas prices were down compared to when he took office, when in fact they are higher.

‘We’re down $1.25 Since the peak this summer, and they’ve been falling for the last three weeks as well as well, and adding up real savings for families today.,’ Biden said. 

‘The most common price of gas in America is $3.39 down from over $5 When I took office,’ he continued.

The average cost of a gallon of gas on the AAA site was $3.76 Thursday. When he took office, it was averaging $2.39 – or about half what he said it was then – according to the Energy Information Institute.

President Biden has a very shaky relationship with the truth. Remember how the political left was always accusing President Trump of lying? Somehow that hasn’t happened to President Biden, even when he is lying.

Yahoo News recently fact-checked another of President Biden’s statements:

Joe Biden: “wages have gone up higher, faster than inflation”

PolitiFact’s ruling: Mostly false

Here’s why: President Joe Biden defended his record on the U.S. economy while attending the international climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland.

Biden entered the United Nations’ COP 26 summit facing supply chain challenges and high levels of inflation back home. At a press conference, he said the U.S. is still in a better place than a year ago, when the coronavirus pandemic limited family gatherings and hampered the economy.

“This Thanksgiving, we’re all in a very different circumstance,” Biden said on Nov. 2. “Things are a hell of a lot better, and the wages have gone up higher, faster than inflation.”

On inflation and wages, Biden has a point for the most recent two months — August and September 2021. However, inflation outpaced wages by so much earlier in his presidency that these two months haven’t changed the overall picture much. All told, Americans are worse off on the comparison of inflation and wages than they were roughly a year ago. (The White House did not respond to an inquiry for this article.)

At least someone is noticing the lies.

I’m A Little Concerned About This

On Wednesday, NewsMax posted an article about the coming diesel crisis in America.

The article reports:

Diesel fuel inventories in the East Coast are at their lowest level ever heading into the winter, prompting some areas in the Northeast to ration fuel.

According to one estimate, the U.S. has only 25 days of diesel fuel — the lowest since 2008.

One supplier, calling “conditions rapidly devolving,” is requiring customers to give 72 hours’ notice to secure fuel and freight, Bloomberg reports.

“At times, carriers are having to visit multiple terminals to find supply, which delays deliveries and strains local trucking capacity,” said the supplier, Mansfield Energy, in a note to clients.

In areas of the country where diesel fuel is tightest, prices are 30-80 cents higher than the market average, according to Mansfield.

The article notes:

The shortage, which is also spreading to Europe, is due to underinvestment in refining capacity and refinery closures, according to Goldman Sachs.

The Biden administration’s war on fossil fuels has discouraged the investments needed to grow the industry enough to keep up with the demand. Banks are not going to lend to an industry that the government is trying to shut down–they are smarter than that. Until we get either enough sensible people in Congress to promote sensible energy policies or elect a new President in 2024, we will have fuel shortages of various kinds and the American people will pay a price for electing our current leaders. The thing to remember here is that it is the ‘little guy’ (who prospered under President Trump) who is suffering. Congress does not personally pay for their gasoline (the taxpayers do), and most Congressmen have somehow earned enough to pay for heating their Washington residences and their homes. The war on fossil fuels is simply more of the Biden administration’s war on the middle class.

Do You Believe What You Saw Or What You Heard

There are numerous videos showing snippets of John Fetterman’s debate performance on Tuesday night. I am not posting them here because I think they are sad. You can find a lot of them on YouTube. The clips of the debate I have seen show a man struggling to compose coherent sentences; he did not sound like a man who would be successful as a Senator.

On Thursday, Fox News reported the following:

Democrats are privately “panicking” over Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman’s debate performance Tuesday night and expressing regret over his decision to debate Republican opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz, according to NBC.

The Democrat’s lingering health problems due to a stroke he suffered in May resulted in a debate performance that some said was “painful to watch.” Some Democrats felt Fetterman hadn’t been transparent about the degree of his speaking difficulties and criticized his campaign for agreeing to the one and only debate.

“[F]ellow Democrats are second-guessing his decision to appear on stage five months after a stroke — and some question whether he should have remained on the ballot at all,” the NBC article began. 

The article concludes:

Terry Madonna, a longtime Pennsylvania pollster, didn’t mince words when describing the debate.

Describing the backlash, Madonna said, “[T]he fact of the matter is his performance was obviously very questionable and it’s just dominated the news.”

He added that he’s never seen a debate performance “this bad,” the NBC article read.

Fetterman’s debate drew strong reaction on the left. Some pointed the finger at his campaign, while others claimed his critics were “ableist.”

It’s not ableist to question whether a candidate can do the job he is running for. If you owned a company, after seeing the debate, who position would you hire John Fetterman for?

Getting Things Done In Florida

I am not totally sold on Governor DeSantis of Florida. I think he has done a good job for the state, but I question some of his endorsements and some of the people supporting him. He has serious ties to people I do not trust.

On Wednesday, Just the News reported the following:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ new election crimes unit has recommended state police open a full criminal investigation into a Democrat whistleblower’s detailed complaint of a long-running, widespread ballot harvesting operation in the African-American communities in politically important central Florida.

Former Orange County Commissioner candidate Cynthia Harris filed a sworn affidavit in late August with the Secretary of State’s office alleging that illegal operations to collect third-party ballots have been going on for years in the Orlando area where voting activists are paid $10 for each ballot they collect.

She described an intricate system funded by liberal leaning organizations that dispatch ballot brokers into black communities to pressure voters to turn over their ballots. The $10 fee per ballot is divvied up among the parties who help complete the harvesting.

The collection and delivery of ballots by third parties is illegal in Florida.

The newly created Office of Election Crimes and Security did a preliminary inquiry on Harris’ allegations and concluded there was sufficient evidence to warrant a full criminal probe by the state police, the Florida State Department told Just the News on Wednesday.

Ballot harvesting has been a problem in numerous states. It is a serious threat to our representative republic.

In October 2021, Rice University posted an article titled, “The Carter-Baker Commission: 16 Years Later.”

The article lists the steps to election integrity suggested by the Commission:

In response to these concerns, former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III, agreed to co-chair a bipartisan commission, housed at Washington D.C.’s American University, to examine these and other outstanding election reform issues. The final report, titled “Building Confidence in U.S. Elections,” stressed the important role of elections in the nation’s democracy and made a series of recommendations, including:

    • A national system to connect state and local voter registration lists
       
    • Voter identification based on a universally available REAL ID card
       
    • Policies to improve voter access for all communities, as well as innovations like vote centers and voter information lookup sites
       
    • Stronger efforts to combat fraud, especially in absentee voting
       
    • Auditable paper backups for all voting technology

Maybe we need to follow the suggestions of the Commission.

 

Making Statistics Say Whatever You Want Them To

On Wednesday, The Washington Examiner posted an article listing the three most unsafe states in the country. The states listed were Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas. I wondered how New York, California, and Illinois didn’t make the list, but then I saw the criteria.

The article reports:

The results of the study were formed by taking 53 key safety indicators that were grouped into five categories, then comparing how all 50 states fared in each of these indicators. The data examined included the percentage of people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 , assaults per capita, and the unemployment rate, all of which fell under five categories: personal and residential safety, financial safety, road safety, workplace safety, and emergency preparedness, according to WalletHub.

Just for my own entertainment, I decided to look up some crime statistics for Chicago.

A website called vanlifewanderer reported the following:

Statistically speaking, Chicago is an slightly unsafe place to visit. In 2020, Chicago reported 26,583 violent crimes and had a violent crime rate of 967.93 per 100,000 people. Chicago’s violent crime rate is more than twice the national average and is on par with cities like Philadelphia, Houston and Cincinnati.

The same website reported the following about New Orleans:

In 2021, New Orelans reported 201 homicides, 712 rapes, 1,106 robberies and 3,196 aggravated assaults.New Orleans had the 14th highest violent crime rate in the country in 2020.New Orleans’s violent crime rate is 2.1x greater than the state average.New Orlean’s has a similar crime rate to Albuquerque, Baltimore and Kansas City.

The article at The Washington Examiner reported:

“There may be countless threats and hazards for folks to consider when considering areas to where they might remain or relocate,” said Rebecca Rouse, a professor at Tulane University in Louisiana. “Hazards include weather, climate, air quality, natural disasters, technological failures, accidental events, and more.”

The safest states included in the survey were Vermont, Maine , New Hampshire, Utah, and Hawaii . Vermont and Maine were in the top three states for personal and residential safety, while Maine ranked as the best state for emergency preparedness, the study found.

Based on the number of cases of people fully-vaccinated against Covid who have contacted the disease, I don’t think the rate of vaccination should be considered in calculations involving the safety of a state. The recent spike in subway crime in New York City and the amount of gun violence during an average weekend in Chicago would be much more concerning to me than whether or not the person standing next to me was vaccinated.

 

 

Decisions That Should Be Made On Merit–Not Race

On Wednesday, The Washington Free Beacon posted an article about a lawsuit filed against Pfizer about its fellowship program for minorities.

The article reports:

Pfizer Inc said its fellowship program for minorities serves the public interest, as the drugmaker defends against a lawsuit by a group of medical professionals that claims the program illegally excludes whites and Asian Americans.

In a Tuesday night filing, Pfizer urged a Manhattan federal judge to reject Do No Harm’s request for an injunction against filling the 2023 class for its Breakthrough Fellowship Program, which enrolls Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans.

Pfizer said the two-year-old program helps address historical discrimination in the workplace, and difficulties in recruiting, retaining and promoting minorities.

It aims to enroll 100 fellows by 2025, as part of a nine-year commitment to boost minority representation.

“There exists a strong public policy in favor of voluntary affirmative action plans,” Pfizer said. “At a minimum, the public interest favors preserving the status quo.”

I am totally in favor of taking action to boost minority representation. Why not begin with tutoring programs for children who show promise so that they can academically qualify for these programs? Letting a child into a program they may not nave the foundation to succeed in only creates more problems. Let’s create an education system that meets the needs of all students so that they compete on a level playing field for scholarships and college admissions. Let’s work in the minority communities to make educational achievement something to be desired that will be rewarded instead of something that doesn’t fit in with the culture. The answer is not financial aid based on race–the answer is in helping children of all races meet the criteria for success in whatever educational goals they choose.

Two Mislabeled Caucuses

On Wednesday, Townhall reported that Mayra Flores (R-TX) was prevented from joining the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC). Also, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) was prevented from joining the Congressional Black Caucus last year. According to their ethnicity, both of these Congressmen should have been members of their respective caucuses.

The article reports:

According to those familiar with the situation, Flores requested to join CHC in early October and was rejected shortly thereafter. Flores is not only first Mexican-born woman to serve in Congress, but she also represents a district along the U.S.-Mexico border that is overwhelmingly Latino. CHC used to have Republicans members but they went on to create the Congressional Hispanic Conference as their own version of the CHC in the 2000s.

The CHC’s website websites states the Caucus “addresses national and international issues and crafts policies that impact the Hispanic community. The function of the Caucus is to serve as a forum for the Hispanic Members of Congress to coalesce around a collective legislative agenda.”

The website does not state in its “About” section that only Democrats can join the organization.

“As the first Mexican-born Congresswoman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, I thought joining the Congressional Hispanic Caucus would be a constructive way to build bridges and work in a bipartisan manner on behalf of our constituents. I was wrong. This denial once again proves a bias towards conservative Latinas that don’t fit their narrative or ideology,” Flores told Townhall.

Why bother to have a Congressional Hispanic Caucus or a Congressional Black Caucus if you are not willing to have everyone from those communities who have been elected to Congress participate?

Cherry Picking The Facts

I belong to a few liberal groups on Facebook–it helps me understand some of the thinking that is going on among liberal Americans. Sometimes I am amazed by what I read. Today was one of those times.

The following comment appeared:

Proof positive that leftist policies and socio-cultural norms (both legislatively and socially)are not only ideal, but a proven success.
That’s right republicans, states you run are economic failures , that’s a proven fact.
Toss that bible and take a lesson from the left coast. We moving on up to 4.

The comment was in reference to an article that appeared in Bloomberg with the following headline:

California Poised to Overtake Germany as World’s No. 4 Economy

Contrary to popular belief, the Golden State has proven resilient, outperforming its US and global peers.   

Note–the article at Bloomberg is an opinion piece–not a news article!

The article notes:

Gavin Newsom is as familiar as anyone with the media narrative of earthquakes, persistent wildfires, droughts, homelessness and companies fleeing California to Texas for a tax- and regulation-free lifestyle. This is nothing new. California’s governor recalls a 1994 Time Magazine cover story citing “a string of disasters rocks the state to the core, forcing Californians to ponder their fate and the fading luster of its golden dream.”

And yet, “the California dream is still alive and well,” the state’s 40th governor said in a Zoom interview a month before his probable reelection.

Attention–gaslighting alert!

Please follow the link if you choose to read the rest of the article. Meanwhile, here are a few facts.

The California Department of Justice reports:

Facts for 2021:

Crime Rates per 100,000 Population
*
The violent crime rate increased 6.7
percent in 2021 (from 437.0 in 2020 to
466.2 in 2021) (Table 2).

*
The property crime rate increased 3.0
percent in 2021 (from 2,114.4 in 2020 to
2,178.4 in 2021) (Table 2).

*
The homicide rate increased 9.1 percent
in 2021 (from 5.5 in 2020 to 6.0 in 2021)
(Table 2).

*
The burglary rate decreased 5.3 percent in
2021 (from 365.4 in 2020 to 346.2 in 2021)
(Table 2).

*
The rape rate increased 8.6 percent in 2021
(from 33.8 in 2020 to 36.7 in 2021) (Table
2).

*
The motor vehicle theft rate increased 8.2
percent in 2021 (from 422.4 in 2020 to
457.1 in 2021) (Table 2).

*
The arson rate decreased 4.4 percent (from
29.6
in 2020 to 28.3 in 2021) (Table 2).

In January 2022, Channel 10 News in San Diego reported:

A story you may have seen claims so many people are leaving California that U-Haul ran out of trucks in our state.

It’s apparently true.

U-Haul put out a news release in which it said California was the state that saw the biggest loss of one-way U-Haul trucks in 2021.

…California’s population has been steadily declining as more people leave the state while the number of people moving here has dropped.

The California Health Care Foundation reported the following in June 22:

The number of people experiencing homelessness served by California’s homelessness response system (Continuums of Care) increased from 188,000 in 2017 to 255,000 in 2020.

The Public Policy Institute of California reports:

The gap between high- and low-income families in California is among the largest in the nation—exceeding all but four other states in 2020. Families at the top of the income distribution earned 11 times more than families at the bottom ($270,000 vs. $25,000 for the 90th and 10th percentiles, respectively).

None of this sounds like a great place to live. Between crime, homelessness, and the income gap, it doesn’t sound like a socialist paradise. California is beautiful and has a wonderful climate–why do you think so many people are leaving?

Destroying The Family

Written by R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D

The political Left (most Democrats), is intentionally destroying many of the traditional values of this country. The foundational bedrock of Western Civilization is the family. Not only does the family provide economic, emotional and social support to people but, importantly, provides training and guidance to children in pro-social values which are essential to successful societies. As the family structure breaks down so will the society. We are seeing this in rising crime rates, lowered moral values, self-centeredness, and lack of a work ethic. Here are some of the Left’s actions that are attacking the family structure

Marriage was once not only sacred but expected of young people especially before engaging in sexual intercourse. The idea of homosexual marriage was totally rejected as was the idea of transgenderism. Not only are these occurring now, but they have been sanctioned and approved as “normal” when of course they are quite the opposite biologically. Reserving sexual intimacy until after marriage not only diminished the chance of illegitimate children but ensured a commitment between the husband and wife. Many men and women now delay marriage until their late thirties, if at all. This limits the number of children during the child bearing years. Why should a man marry when he can get all the goodies without making a commitment to his partner? No wonder the average number of children per marriage has decreased dramatically. In the 1950s the average number of children per marriage was about five, whereas now it is less than two. The result is a society that has to rely on immigrants rather than their own children as a source of labor. This infusion of immigrants dilutes the values and traditions of any society. A society can only absorb a limited number of immigrants if it wants to maintain its integrity.

The percentage of children born out of wedlock has increased dramatically. In 1965, about 24% of black children were born out of wedlock, now, that percentage has increased to 75% This has also happened to white Americans where in 1965, 3.1% of white births were to unmarried women where it is now 29%. Asian Americans currently have the lowest rate at 11%. The data consistently shows that children born out of wedlock are more likely to experience poverty and commit crimes.

The destruction of the family is no accident. Marxist/Leftist teachings encourage the replacement of the traditional family by government agencies and control. Social programs such as aide for dependent children, assistance to single mothers, early child care like the Headstart Program, increasingly result in children not being raised in a traditional family environment. The recent expansion of transgender indoctrination and sex education in the schools shows how the government has taken over the socialization of our children. California has recently passed a law that diminishes the parents role in deciding whether their children receive gender changing drugs and surgery. As Hillary Clinton famously said “It takes a village to raise a child”, not the traditional mother and father. If you stand up and fight against this trend in public schools you risk being labelled as a “domestic terrorist” by the Biden Department of Justice.

How do we resist this? First, recognize that the destruction of the traditional family will result in the loss of traditional values and ultimately the destruction of America, as we have known it. Have courage. Speak out against it. Vote for conservative candidates at all levels especially the school board and the judges. Take your children out of the public schools if you can. Private, charter and especially homeschools allow greater control over the socialization of our children. Leftist government control must be stopped.

Delta Owns An Oil Refinery!?!?

On Monday, Hot Air posted an article about the current energy problems in America (and worldwide).

The article quotes The Washington Post:

The country is down to 25 days of diesel supply with stockpiles at their lowest level for this time of year in records going back to 1993. In the Northeast, where more people burn fuel for home heating than anywhere else in the country, inventories are a third of their typical levels heading into winter. National Economic Council Director Brian Deese called the levels “unacceptably low.” By late October, diesel prices had risen for more than two weeks to 50% above where they were a year ago.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

The Biden administration has leased fewer acres for oil-and-gas drilling offshore and on federal land than any other administration in its early stages dating back to the end of World War II, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis.

The article includes the following chart:

The article at Hot Air reports:

Where does Delta come into all this, after the commodities and doom and gloom lecture? That’s kind of interesting, too. At the top of the post, where I linked to those three PA refineries being closed in 2012? One of them was the Trainer facility, and it was given an EPA reprieve, of all things. CONOCO-Phillips still wanted to unload it, and Delta Airlines bought it as a hedge against oil prices and jet fuel shortages. They lost their butt owning it for years – as a small refinery fighting the EPA mandates tooth and nail didn’t help – and repeatedly tried to unload it, but, HEY! There’s been a sudden turnaround. Things are looking rosy and they are looking prescient. From April:

Delta will see a benefit of 20 cents per gallon of jet fuel from its refinery, which acts as a hedge against the spike in fuel. In particular, the refinery supplies fuel for Delta’s York operations, but Chief Financial Officer Daniel Janki said Monroe Energy’s output acts as a 40-50 percent fuel hedge across Delta’s network. In the first quarter, the refinery knocked about 7 cents off each gallon of jet fuel Delta consumed.

When Delta first bought the Trainer, Pa., refinery from Conoco Philips — now Philips 66 — in 2012, analyst opinions were mixed. Some argued it was a stroke of genius on the airline’s part, while others said it was too far afield from Delta’s core operations to make sense for an airline with no experience in selling or marketing petroleum products. The years since have been up and down for the refinery but now, with oil prices spiraling up in the wake of the Ukraine war, the refinery is proving its worth.

The refinery generated $1.2 billion in revenue in the first quarter, compared with $48 million in the same quarter in 2019, Delta said in its first-quarter results. About 80 percent of its output is diesel and gasoline, prices of which have surged. “Our Monroe refinery provides a unique benefit, acting as a partial hedge to elevated cracks,” Janki said. “This is especially true with New York Harbor Jet cracks, where our production at Monroe provides 100 percent offset.”

It really is time to rediscover American energy independence!

 

When The Facts And The Statements Just Don’t Agree

On Monday, Issues & Insights posted an article about a recent statement by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. I am amazed when politicians make false statements that can be so easily checked. So in case you missed it, here is the statement and the actual facts.

The article reports:

For more than a year, Democrats have dismissed inflation, pointed the finger of blame at everyone but themselves, or tried to make it sound like we should be grateful because inflation “always happens” when the economy recovers.

Way back in June 2021, President Joe Biden said higher prices “were expected and are expected to be temporary” because, you see, “you can’t flip the global economics light back and not expect this to happen.”

The public never bought into this, but kudos to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for sticking with the Big Lie. In that Oct. 18 interview, Pelosi says that Democrats need to focus on the fact that Biden “brought unemployment [down], cut it in half,” to explain why prices went up.

Pelosi’s been making this claim for a while. Back in February, she said: “The fact that people have jobs always contributes to an increase in inflation, and that’s a good thing.”

Is she right? Does inflation go up when unemployment goes down? Look at the four charts below and see for yourself. These show inflation rates during four sustained and strong drops in the unemployment rate over the past 40 years.

The article includes five charts:

How many voters who automatically vote for Democrats are aware of this information?

Rejecting Covid-19 Vaccinations For Children

On Friday, The Daily Signal posted an article about the states that are refusing to mandate Covid-19 vaccinations for children.

The article reports:

At least 11 states have rejected or are expected to reject a recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that pediatricians give COVID-19 shots to children along with other vaccines.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices unanimously decided Thursday to add COVID-19 shots to the children’s immunization schedule, which some schools and states use to create vaccination requirements. Many states, however, have laws in place that prohibit schools from requiring a COVID-19 vaccination for students.

Some of the states who are not including Covid-19 vaccines in their vaccine requirements for children are Wyoming, Iowa, Oklahoma, Montana, South Carolina, Florida, Arkansas, and Arizona.

On October 14th, a website called NewsTarget posted the following:

Kaiser Permanente (KP), a well-known insurance company and healthcare provider, has commissioned a study to evaluate the effectiveness of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine against the dominant omicron subvariants.

The KP study revealed that those who are triple-vaccinated are more likely to be infected with COVID-19. Shockingly, or maybe not, they were also more likely to suffer severe illness and die from coronavirus.

According to a report by investigative journalist Daniel Horowitz, one chart on page 30 of the KP preprint study found that vaccine efficacy against the omicron subvariants dropped significantly 14 to 30 days after vaccination.

The efficacy continues to fall in the following months until it reaches negative territory after five months. This suggests that the recipients are more likely to get coronavirus than the unvaccinated.

Additionally, the study results indicate that triple-vaccinated individuals are at greater risk of getting COVID-19 after five months than those who only received two vaccine doses. (Related: Study finds 84% increase in incidence of cardiac-related DEATH among men under 40 following mRNA vaccination.)

Horowitz, who has reported on the negative efficacy of the coronavirus vaccine for the past year, added that it’s possible that the vaccines “prime the body to respond with a version of the virus that has long since changed, thereby making the natural immune response misfire.”

The article at NewsTarget also notes:

Meanwhile, British government data found that adults aged 40 to 74 who have received mRNA booster shots are twice as likely to be hospitalized as those who haven’t been boosted.

In June, an analysis of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine trials by British Medical Journal Editor Dr. Peter Doshi and other medical experts revealed that people who received the mRNA vaccines were more likely to be in the hospital than get protection “from a severe adverse event.”

It’s time to recall the Covid vaccine and go back to the drawing board!

 

This Is Not Good News

On Monday, Breitbart reported  that Britain’s former Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) Rishi Sunak will be the new Prime Minister of Britain.

The article reports:

While the Conservative Party’s governing elite will be relieved to finally have their man cemented in power, having had Sunak as their favoured pick upended by ordinary party members last time, this development can hardly be good news for Britain. During his last stint at the top, having been Britain’s Chancellor during the coronavirus era, Sunak already oversaw a huge surge in government spending on Covid projects and a concomitant rise in taxation.

Tragically for hardworking Britons already having their earnings hollowed out by rampant inflation, it looks likely more tax rises will come under Sunak.

But as a Prime Minister now, not just a finance minister, there are other cultural and wider political concerns. Sunak is an acolyte of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and even gained the tacit endorsement of the Chinese Communist Party as a leadership candidate.

It had looked like years of bullish pro-China politics from the Conservative Party were finally waning with the arrival of Prime Minister Liz Truss, but with her brutally quick ouster and the coronation of Sunak it appears the Conservatives may be returning to form on China.

This is not good news for Britain or for the rest of the world.

That Was Then; This Is Now

On Sunday, Issues & Insights posted an article about the current idea that denying the results of an election is a danger to our democracy. First of all, we are a republic–not a democracy. Secondly, the people who do not believe that the 2020 election was honest are not a danger to our republic–questioning elections is not a new thing.

The article includes the following video:

There seems to be a bit of a double standard here.

The article concludes:

While YouTube took no action against any of those individual comments when they were made, it decided to demonetize this video. Because it apparently doesn’t like videos that make Democrats look bad. As Taibbi (Matt Taibbi who writes in Substack), who by the way is no conservative, writes:

The decision to assemble these materials in one place, inviting audiences to consider their meaning, apparently crosses a line. Now we know: you can deny election results on a platform like YouTube as much as you want, you can even promise disruption, but drawing attention to such behavior angers the algorithm. It’s hard to imagine a better demonstration of the double-standard in content moderation.

Limiting free speech is always more dangerous to our republic than questioning an election will ever be.

When The Focus Group Goes Awry

On Sunday, Townhall posted an article about a bipartisan focus group on CBS that didn’t quite go the way the producers of the show expected it would.

The article reports:

A balanced focus group on CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday morning surely didn’t go quite as producers expected when the Democrat and the independent voter both found themselves agreeing with the Republican on key issues, including “woke culture” in schools.

The discussion, moderated by anchor Margaret Brennan, started off pretty tame and predictable, with participants describing the effects of a sputtering economy, inflation, and high gas prices on their own lives. But when the topic turned to raising children in America, even Brennan seemed surprised by the level of agreement.

What are your biggest concerns about raising children in America right now?” Brennan asked John, the self-identified Republican on the panel.
“The whole woke culture affecting our children,” John responded. “All these elementary schools and middle schools having woke culture pushed on them from the LGBT plus community for sexual identity and gender. We should be pushing the actual school studies, math, social studies, science. Not, you know, gender studies or sexual identification.”

Seemingly hoping for a counterpoint, Brennan next turned to Lashawn, the Democrat, and asked her to “weigh in on this.”

“I can also agree with some of his points,” Lawhawn said. “I say sex education, I feel like some things are brought to the children’s attention, they wouldn’t even think about.”
And you have eight kids,” said Brennan. “I imagine you have some pretty specific ideas in your mind when you’re speaking about this?”
The article concludes:

After a brief discussion about crime and border security concerns, Brennan made a point to note how this focus group has been different from others the network has done.

“Often when we do these focus groups we have people from different party affiliations disagreeing with each other, but I’m hearing all of you echo a lot of the same concerns and agreeing with each other,” she said. “None of you are very optimistic about the country right now.”

“No,” Stephanie replied dryly.

Sure, it’s just one focus group. But it also aligns with current polling. With midterm elections quickly approaching, when ordinary people of all political persuasions start agreeing on key conservative issues, it can only mean bad news for Democrats.

Education seems to be one issue where the party affiliation of parents does not matter. All of us want a good education for our children and grandchildren. All of us want our children and grandchildren to grow up to be happy and successful adults. I believe that the next two years will see even more parents fighting back against some of the garbage being taught in our public schools.

 

Past Tapes Expose The Lie

In the age of electronics, it’s not a good idea to lie–somewhere there is a video or a recording of everything you might have said in the past. Some of our politicians have not yet learned this lesson or they think we won’t discover the recording.

On Thursday, Fox News posted an article about a claim made by El Paso Texas Mayor Oscar Leeser that he had not been pressured by the White House to avoid calling the influx of illegal aliens into his city an emergency.

The article reports:

El Paso City Council member Claudia Rodriguez called out the city’s Democratic mayor Wednesday night, saying he has been caught in a lie. 

Earlier on Fox News Wednesday, El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser denied Rodriguez’s allegation that he was pressured by the White House to avoid declaring the migrant influx an emergency in the city, insisting he made the decision himself. 

“Absolutely not,” Leeser told host Dana Perino. “One of the things we need to learn and really make sure we do is that we take the politics out of this.”

Video footage from a September city council meeting, however, appears to show otherwise.

“The chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, Chief Ortiz, he does not support declaring a state of emergency at this point,” Leeser said during the Sept. 27 meeting. “And the White House has asked at this point for us not to do that.”

The article concludes:

Rodriguez previously said on “Fox & Friends” that she had expressed her concern about the number of migrants to Leeser and asked him to reconsider declaring a state of emergency. She said he declined at that time, citing the White House’s request against it.

“I hope that in the future we will definitely put the people of El Paso first and really take the politics out of it,” Rodriguez said.

The White House and their friends in the mainstream media have done a fairly good job of hiding the crisis at our southern border from most Americans. However, through some good reporting by Fox News and the alternative media, people are becoming aware of what is  happening and the dangers involved. The drug cartels now control our southern border. It is a place where drug smuggling and human trafficking abound. We need to secure the border for our safety and the safety of those trying to illegally cross it.