Monthly Archives: February 2023

Color Me Skeptical

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Today, NewsMax posted an article about some recent comments by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin.

The article reports:

China on Monday said more than 10 U.S. high-altitude balloons have flown in its airspace during the past year without its permission, following Washington’s accusation that Beijing operates a fleet of surveillance balloons around the world.

The Chinese allegation comes after the U.S. shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that had crossed from Alaska to South Carolina, sparking a new crisis in bilateral relations that have spiraled to their lowest level in decades.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin gave no details about the alleged U.S. balloons, how they had been dealt with or whether they had government or military links.

I suspect I could use that statement to fertilize my garden! How long would a U.S. high altitude balloon last over the skies of China? Do you really think that we would not have heard about incidences of spying on China via balloon before this?

The article concludes:

The Chinese balloon shot down by the U.S. was equipped to detect and collect intelligence signals as part of a huge, military-linked aerial surveillance program that targeted more than 40 countries, the Biden administration declared Thursday, citing imagery from American U-2 spy planes.

Part of the reason for the repeated shootdowns is a “heightened alert” following the alleged Chinese spy balloon, Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of NORAD and the U.S. Northern Command, said in a briefing with reporters.

The United States has since placed economic restrictions on six Chinese entities it said are linked to Beijing’s aerospace programs as part of its response to the incident. The U.S. House of Representatives also voted unanimously to condemn China for a “brazen violation” of U.S. sovereignty and efforts to “deceive the international community through false claims about its intelligence collection campaigns.”

Wang, the Chinese spokesperson, repeated China’s dismissal of such claims, saying, “the frequent firing of advanced missiles by the U.S. to shoot down the objects is an overreaction of overexertion.”

At this point in history, is there a government on earth that is actually telling the truth about anything?

Losing Freedom

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By R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D.

Most of us remember that America was founded to provide personal freedom and liberty as opposed to authoritarian rule by the British monarchy. When Ben Franklin was asked what form of government the Constitutional Convention had given the American people, he stated: “ A representative republic, if you can keep it”. Well it has been 236 years since the founding of our country; let’s see how we are doing keeping our freedoms.

Authoritarianism is commonly defined as “ the enforcement or advocacy of strict obedience, in thought and action, at the expense of personal freedom”. The question is to what degree have the authoritarian actions of the socialist Democrats impaired our freedoms. Here are some examples. The unprecedented imposition of mandates by the federal, state and local governments in the past two years has reduced our personal freedoms. Mandating unproven vaccines, wearing useless masks, closing down schools, forcing businesses to close and preventing people from attending church, are obvious acts of an authoritarian government. The war against fossil fuels , mandating electric vehicles ( as in California after 2035), and the recent proposal to eliminate gas stoves/ furnaces not only prevent people from making their own free choices but have made us all poorer by raising the prices of essential commodities. We were never given a choice about any of these actions. Government knows best!

What is particularly alarming is how easily most Americans (especially the young) went along with these actions that took away the freedom of individual choice. Providing information is a legitimate role of government; issuing mandates is not. Some people did stand up and protest, but the majority just went along. Our Founding Fathers would have been disappointed in our acceptance of these authoritarian actions. There is a saying , death by a thousand cuts, meaning of course that small actions can lead to severe results.

If we do not stand up and fight seemingly small attacks on our freedom, we will soon find that all of our personal freedoms have been eliminated. We will have failed to keep our republic as Ben Franklin warned and will have no one else to blame but ourselves. Complacency versus fighting for freedom. Your choice.

Our Children As Guinea Pigs

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On Friday, The Gateway Pundit reported that the COVID-19 vaccine was formally added to the routine immunization schedule for both children and adolescents by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday.

There are a lot of problems with this. First of all, generally speaking, children are not at risk for serious cases of Covid-19. Secondly, the current mutations of Covid-19 bear more of a resemblance to the common cold than they do to the serious disease that arrived here two years ago. Third, this vaccine has not been around long enough for us to know the long-term effects of the vaccine. Even the short term effects can be serious. If you search for ‘sudden deaths from Covid vaccine’ on the ‘tusksearch.com’ search engine, you can find numerous articles about the phenomenon. If you search on ‘duckduckgo’, you may find a few. The fact remains that there are more questions than answers regarding the vaccine.

The article reports:

Back in October 2022,  the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which provides advice and guidance to the Director of the CDC regarding the use of vaccines for the control of vaccine-preventable diseases, voted to recommend COVID-19 to be included in the 2023 childhood immunization schedule in 15 unanimous votes.

ACIP recommended the use of COVID-19 vaccines for everyone as young as 6 months and older. The COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines may be administered on the same day.

Once CDC approves it, our Department of Health can exercise its rule-making authority to add it to the healthcare and school schedule at any time. And now it’s official.

The recommendation to include the experimental COVID vaccine was approved by the CDC together with doctors, nurses, and pharmacists on Thursday as they are bringing the COVID emergency declaration to an end.

The article cites the CDC claim that adding the vaccine to the list of recommended vaccines does not necessarily make it mandated.

The article notes:

The CDC claimed that adding the COVID vaccine to the list of immunization schedules does not mean it will be mandatory for school entry.

The agency stated that school-entry vaccination requirements are determined by state or local jurisdictions.

“Moving Covid-19 to the recommended immunization schedule does not impact what vaccines are required for school entrance, if any,” said Nirav Shah, M.D., director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, during the 2022 ACIP meeting. “Local control matters. And we honor that the decision around school entrance for vaccines rests where it did before, which is with the state level, the county level, and at the municipal level if it exists at all.”

Please follow the link to read the entire article. Our children are not guinea pigs and should not be treated as such.

Who Is Behind The Cancellation Of Conservative Thought

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On Thursday, The Washington Examiner posted an article about the censorship of conservative ideas.

The article reports:

Well-funded “disinformation” tracking groups are part of a stealth operation blacklisting and trying to defund conservative media, likely costing the news companies large sums in advertising dollars, a Washington Examiner investigation found.

Major ad companies are increasingly seeking guidance from purportedly “nonpartisan” groups claiming to be detecting and fighting online “disinformation.” These same “disinformation” monitors are compiling secret website blacklists and feeding them to ad companies, with the aim of defunding and shutting down disfavored speech, according to sources familiar with the situation, public memos, and emails obtained by the Washington Examiner.

…The Global Disinformation Index, a British group with two affiliated U.S. nonprofit groups sharing similar board members, is one entity shaping the ad world behind the scenes. GDI’s CEO is Clare Melford, former senior vice president for MTV Networks, and its executive director is Daniel Rogers, a tech advisory board member for Human Rights First, a left-leaning nonprofit group that says disinformation fuels “violent extremism and public health crises.”

The article explains the financial aspect of this censorship:

“It’s devastating,” Mike Benz, the State Department’s ex-deputy assistant for internal communications and information policy, told the Washington Examiner. “The implementation of ad revenue crushing sentinels like Newsguard, Global Disinformation Index, and the like has completely crippled the potential of alternative news sources to compete on an even economic playing field with approved media outlets like CNN and the New York Times.”

GDI’s mission is to “remove the financial incentive” to create “disinformation,” and its “core output” is a secretive “dynamic exclusion list” that rates news outlets based on their alleged disinformation “risk” factor, according to its website. There are at least 2,000 websites on this exclusion list, which has “had a significant impact on the advertising revenue that has gone to those sites,” Melford said on a March 2022 podcast episode hosted by the Safety Tech Innovation Network, a British government-backed group.

Along with similar organizations, GDI has been raking in cash as funding pours into disinformation tracking. Its charity in San Antonio, Texas, posted $345,000 in revenue in 2020, while its affiliated private foundation saw its roughly $19,600 revenue jump in 2019 to over $569,000 in 2020, according to tax records.

This article at The Washington Examiner is the first in a series of article to be posted about the censorship of conservative views. Please follow the link above to read the entire article and look for more to come.

Looking Behind The Numbers

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On Wednesday, Breitbart posted an article about some of the recent employment numbers.

The article reports:

President Joe Biden’s administration is growing the United States labor market by adding millions of foreign workers for employers to hire, leaving jobless Americans on the sidelines.

Data published in the New York Times shows that the Biden administration is aiding employers by adding millions of foreign workers to the labor force — ensuring wages stay stagnant — even as native-born Americans struggle to get back into jobs since the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.

“The foreign-born workforce grew much more quickly than the U.S.-born workforce, Labor Department figures show,” the Times reports:

“When the unemployment rate goes down, you would normally expect wage inflation to go up, but that’s not what’s happening,” said Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management. “So there must be something else moving in the labor force, and there is a very likely explanation here that immigrants are coming in and taking jobs.” [Emphasis added]

But despite the resurgence in the foreign-born labor force — about four-fifths of it are people legally allowed to work in the United States, by one calculation — there are bottlenecks. [Emphasis added]

The article includes the following charts:

The article notes:

By focusing on adding foreign workers to the labor market, the Biden administration is ignoring efforts to get native-born Americans back into the workforce. The administration’s foreign competition addition to the labor force adds tremendous weight for the nation’s working and lower-middle class looking to find high-paying jobs with decent benefits packages.

The is the place where the uni-party is revealed. The Democrats want future voters; the country club Republican (the Chamber of Commerce party) want cheap labor for their corporate allies. No one is looking out for the middle class right now. The influx of foreign workers, both legal and illegal, creates downward pressure on wages. Corporations are out to make a profit, and many of those corporations have forgotten their scruples. Meanwhile, the Biden administration is destroying the middle class. Remember, a strong middle class is necessary for the survival and growth of our republic.

 

Protecting The Right To Free Speech

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Lawsuits seem to be the only way to protect Americans’ right to free speech–assuming you have a judge who has read the Constitution. An article posted at Townhall on Saturday provides one example of this tactic.

The article reports:

The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum is about to get a lesson in constitutional rights, which could cost them. A mainstay of DC tourist season decided to kick some high school students out. No, they weren’t committing any acts of vandalism or other activities associated with hooliganism. It was an article of clothing that triggered the museum’s staff, reportedly eliciting mockery until they were finally asked to leave the premises. Staff claimed the location was a “neutral zone.” Their offense: they wore pro-life beanies inside the facility.

We live in a sad time when it is considered unacceptable to want to save babies. The suit is being handled by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ).

The article quotes a Fox News story describing the incident:

The group belonged to Our Lady of the Rosary School based out of Greenville, South Carolina, and had traveled to Washington, D.C., for the annual national March for Life. The students were all wearing matching blue beanies with the words “Rosary PRO-LIFE.” 

[…] 

The lawsuit details an encounter between the personnel and students, some of whom are minors. As they were making their way toward an exhibit, two employees allegedly said, “The f—king pro-life. What a bunch of s—t.” 

A Smithsonian security guard then approached the group, according to the lawsuit, insisting that they take their hats off or leave. 

“One of the security guards approached them, gleefully rubbing his hands together, stating they had made his day,” the ACLJ wrote in an online statement. 

When the group asked why other visitors in the museum were able to wear their hats and pride masks without issue, they were told that their hats were “political statements,” and that they were “not promoting equality,” according to the suit.

What is happening to free speech?

How To Respond To An Obnoxious Question From The Press

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On Thursday, Clash Daily posted an article illustrating how to handle a ‘gotcha’ question from the mainstream media. President Trump was an expert at that, but his fellow Republicans have generally not mastered the skill. Well, maybe that is changing.

The article reports:

Trump was the fearless take-a-beating-and-keep-on-coming politician that loved nothing better than a public brawl with his media opponent of the day. It was almost like exposure therapy. Republican politicians saw that, even when they throw everything they’ve got at you, you can live through it.

Here is McCarthy (Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House) demonstrating we’ve finally got an elected leader who has learned that lesson.

A reporter tries to get him on the record about the red-on-red comments in which Romney sought out Santos on the night of the SOTU so that he could do what he does best: deliver a self-righteous and petty snipe at someone on his side of the aisle.

The article includes the following Twitter post with video included:

Maybe I was wrong about McCarthy when I was not entirely happy that he was elected Speaker. I hope so.

Why Track?

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On Thursday, The Conservative Review posted an article about the federal government’s plan to track your Covid vaccination status across a spectrum of health care and governmental databases.

The article reports:

Recently, the National File uncovered audio from a September 2021 CMS meeting in which medical officer David Berglund expressed an interest in the feds using new ICD-10 codes to track those who are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated. “We have had interest in coding people who are not immunized for COVID-19,” said Berglund in his presentation. Well, it turns out that in April 2022, CMS implemented the following codes in the subcategory of “underimmunization status”:

    • Z28.310 Unvaccinated for COVID-19
    • Z28.311 Partially vaccinated for COVID-19
    • Z28.39 Other under-immunization status

But the most jarring point is the note placed at the bottom of these new codes on page 1915 of the new ICD catalogue. “Note: These codes should not be used for individuals who are not eligible for the COVID-19 vaccines, as determined by the healthcare provider.”

The article also observes:

But what this note reveals is that they are only using the codes for those who refused to get the shots, not for those who were somehow ineligible. But why? If they believe that someone remaining unvaccinated is tantamount to having a vulnerable condition, then the important fact is just that they are not vaccinated, not why they are unvaccinated.

What this clearly demonstrates is that they want to track those who refused to get the shots. What do you think they will do with that information? It’s quite evident that they want the ability to identify the critical thinkers in this country and retaliate against them by engaging in medical apartheid. We need not imagine that. We already have the warning of the nightmare from the past two years of denying travel rights, entry into stores, and even organ transplants based on this personal decision.

What is also peculiar is that they rushed to get codes for the mythical disease of “unvaccinated,” but despite 1.5 million VAERS reports of COVID jab injuries, there is still no special ICD for COVID-19 vaccine injury. As Dr. Jessica Rose points out, there are now injuries associated with 14,000 of the 24,289 Preferred Term (PT) MedDRA codes reported to VAERS, yet they still refuse to code one generically for the shot itself.

The problem with politicians (or in this case government medical people) is that they are constantly seeking more control. If we do not put a stop to vaccine tyranny, it will continue. This is one issue the Republicans need to deal with quickly before it advances any further.

Fighting The Rights Of Parents

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On Wednesday, Townhall reported the following:

Every single Democrat in the Virginia House of Representatives voted against a bill this week that would make it illegal for teachers in the state to conceal a student’s transgender “gender identity” from their parents.

Under Virginia House Bill 2432, also known as “Sage’s Law,” teachers would be required to inform parents if a student requests to move forward with “social transitions” at school, such as going by preferred pronouns and a chosen name. The legislation would also require the school to obtain at least one parent’s permission before implementing anything concerning the child’s “gender incongruence” at school, including counseling, Fox News reported. In addition, the bill clarifies that “child abuse” does not include “misgendering.” The bill passed on Tuesday with one Republican and all 47 Democrats voting against it.

As I have previously stated–gender dysphoria is a mental disease. It should be treated–not encouraged. Parents need to know if their child is suffering from a mental disease. The school has no right to keep that information from them.

The bill now moves on to the Virginia Senate.

About That Speech

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On Thursday, The Federalist weighed in on President Biden’s State of the Union Speech.

Here are a few comments from the article:

Like Nero bragging about rebuilding Circus Maximus after burning it down, Joe Biden took to the podium tonight to take credit for solving a slew of problems he helped create.

At the top of his State of the Union address, the president boasted that he had “created more jobs in two years than any president created in four years.” No president — not Joe Biden nor Donald Trump — creates jobs. But Biden’s contention was exceptionally misleading, considering he inherited an economy that had been unplugged by an artificial, state-induced shutdown. If the government compels businesses to shutter, it doesn’t “create” jobs when allowing them to open.

Presidents don’t create jobs, but their policies create an atmosphere that either encourages or discourages economic growth. President Biden’s economic policies have not encouraged economic growth.

The article also notes:

Three years ago, the unemployment rate was at 3.5 percent. Today, Biden reminded us that it was at a historic low of 3.4 percent. More than 30 million people lost their jobs to Covid lockdowns. Biden claims to have “created” 12 million jobs during the past two years. The one big difference is that the labor participation rate still hasn’t recovered to pre-Covid numbers. It’s great that people are working again. But millions fewer are in the market for jobs.

The article concludes:

Biden went into his well-worn platitudes and myths about how the rich don’t pay taxes — “[n]o billionaire should be paying a lower tax rate than a school teacher or a firefighter!” — and proposed higher rates on the wealthy and corporations. He also promised to micromanage the economy with a slew of new regulations that would interfere in voluntary contracts struck between employees and employers and consumers and businesses.

Biden implored Congress to pass the PRO Act, a bill that would empower the government to impose unions on businesses and workers who want no part of them. Biden hawked an entire menu of crude economic populism — including price controls and protectionist trade policies that would undermine growth, competition, job creation, and innovation while driving up the cost of virtually every construction project in the country.

There were numerous lies, half-truths, and deceptions. There was a slew of antiquated economic ideas and sloganeering. But, surely, the president’s biggest lie of the night was to claim, “I’m a capitalist.”

We have a President who needs to take an Economics Course. He does not understand (or chooses to ignore) basic economic facts.

Targeting The People Who Can Least Afford It

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On February 8, Hot Air posted an article about the Biden administration’s plan to crack down on unreported tips.

The article reports:

Remember when we were told that the army of new IRS agents Biden wants to hire was only going to go after billionaires? Good times. If that’s the case, somebody should check to see if Bill Gates and Elon Musk have taken some side gigs slinging hash at a diner somewhere. (Of course, in Musk’s case it may come to that if he can’t get 10 million more people to sign up for Twitter Blue.) As it turns out, the Tax Man is launching a new program to crack down on tips received by wait staff in the food and beverage industry. That’s right. The IRS thinks that waiters and waitresses are pocketing too much money in gratuities, and Uncle Sam plans on getting his piece of the action. (Fox News).

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) proposed a revenue procedure this week cracking down on service industry’s reporting of tips.

The so-called Service Industry Tip Compliance Agreement (SITCA) program would be a voluntary tip reporting system in which the IRS and service industry companies cooperate, according to the announcement Monday. As part of the proposal, the IRS will give the public until early May to provide feedback on the program before implementing it.

“Those 87,000 new IRS agents that you were promised would only target the rich…” Mike Palicz, the federal affairs manager at Americans for Tax Reform, tweeted. “They’re coming after waitresses’ tips now.”

The article concludes:

The whole concept of an “income tax” is based on the compensation a person is paid by their employer. The wait staff’s tips shouldn’t be taxed at all because the patrons are not their employers and are under no obligation to tip them. It’s really more of a gift given in appreciation for good service.

But that probably won’t stop the IRS from doing this. And it’s policies like these that have made me develop a habit of always tipping in cash when we dine out, even if we pay for the meal with a debit card. I tend to be a bit of an exorbitant tipper (at least according to my wife) but regular customers who tip well generally wind up getting much better service in my experience. And I enjoy the looks on the faces of hard-working servers when they find some twenty-dollar bills that they can just stick in their pockets waiting for them. As far as I’m concerned, owners of bars and restaurants should tell the IRS to keep its nose out of their employees’ tips.

At some point, I wish the government would realize that what people earn is theirs and the government actually has no right to any of it. If the spending habits of our government were a bit more sane, some of us might not mind paying the ridiculous taxes that we pay. Right now–in
America–taxpayers pay more money to the government than the Midievil surfs did to the lords of the manor. That is not acceptable.

Wisdom of George Washington

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Written by R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D

The socialist Democrats constantly criticize the Founding Fathers as white racists and having created a flawed country that they want to “fundamentally change”. I recently took the opportunity to re-read President George Washington’s farewell address he prepared at the end of his second term. I strongly recommend that you do the same since it is very enlightening and relevant to our times. Search for it on the internet.

Essentially, he warned Americans about four issues that would be destructive of America. Let’s see if we are following his sage advice. The first issue was the absolute critical need for religion and morality to maintain the personal freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution. The out-of-control crime in our cities, rampant drug use, sexualization of children, and adults not willing to work all reflect a collapse of religion and morality in America. The second issue was avoiding foreign entanglements and wars. He stated that America should focus on maintaining positive relations with all countries to the greatest extent possible and strenuously avoid taking sides in conflicts that do not directly impact America. He would not approve our involvement in the war between Ukraine and Russia and would oppose America assuming the role of defending all so-called or actual democracies throughout the world. We cannot afford or manage the risk that this entails. The third issue was government debt. Washington believed that no generation has the right to live beyond its means and pass on the debt to the following generations. He recognized that debt may occur during times of crisis such as war. But these debts must be paid off promptly and balanced budgets must be the rule. Washington would be dismayed at our current $32 trillion dollar debt which is approximately $ 100,000 for each man, woman and child in this country. This can never be paid off and will result in the further de-valuation of the dollar which will further harm the standard of living of all Americans as is
happening now with soaring inflation. Washington’s final warning was about the negative impact of political parties. He believed that citizens should be Americans first and not allow party affiliation to divide us. He
also believed that American children should be fully educated about the principles on which our country was based so that they will respect and act in a patriotic manner to support our country in the future. The socialist Democrat party is constantly introducing topics in our public schools that do the opposite. Our country will not survive as a Republic if this continues. Families and communities are increasingly split over polar opposite positions on everything from racial equity, the man-made climate change hoax, the war on fossil fuels, open borders and the essential positive impact of a free market economy on improving standard of
living.

As can be seen, instead of heeding Washington’s words of wisdom, we have chosen the direct opposite which we have done at our own peril. This must be reversed.

 

A Few Notes On The State Of The Union Speech

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The Punching Bag Post posted an article late last night detailing twenty-seven lies President Biden told during the State of the Union speech.

Here are only a few of them:

“Greatest speaker in the history of the house, Nancy Pelosi.”

“Created 12 million new jobs in two years.”

“Created 800,000 manufacturing jobs”

“Inflation is a global problem, blame Putin.”

“Inflation is coming down.”

“Gasoline price down $1.50.”

‘Chip factory salaries average $130,000 per year some of them requiring no college degree.”

“Reduce the deficit by $114 Billion by catching tax cheats”

Follow the link to see the entire list. I think the lie that bothered me the most was, “Let’s stop Fentanyl from coming across the border.”  Securing the border would solve that problem, yet that is one thing the President is not interested in doing.

The Conservative Review posted an article this morning titled, “9 Most Ridiculous Claims Biden Made During State of the Union Address.” Their list is generally different from the list above. It includes that claim that Paul Pelosi was attacked because of election deniers. Anyone who actually reads the news knows that is not true.

Scott Johnson at Power Line Blog posted an article today about the speech that included the following:

I thought the flight of the Chinese spy balloon across the United States was a national embarrassment, but it was nothing compared to President Biden’s State of the Union performance last night. I thought he hit the high point with his congratulation of Kevin McCarthy for ascending to the Speakership in the first few seconds of his speech. The speed of the descent varied, but it was downhill all the way from there. That means it was a long, long way downhill.

The Washington Post has a useful set of corrections on subjects other than those I mention below (the link is to the accessible version published by Jewish World Review). David Harsanyi adds a stylish touch in his Federalist column “Don’t Fall For Joe Biden’s Economic Fairy Tale.”

Biden wants to “finish the job” he has started. The phrase appears in the text of his speech 12 times. I think that has an ominous ring. Finishing the job will finish us off.

I wonder if even the President believed what he was saying.

Inconvenient Facts

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President Biden will make his State of the Union speech tonight. He will tell us that his economic plan is working–he is not responsible for inflation, high gas prices, or the lack of security at the southern border. If you believe what he says, I have a bridge I would like to sell you in Brooklyn.

On Tuesday, The Daily Wire posted some actual numbers related to the Biden economy.

The article reports:

Let’s start with inflation, which a few months ago hit a 40-year high. In December 2020, the last full month in office for President Donald Trump, the rate of inflation was 1.4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The average for the entire year of 2020 was 1.2%, data show.

But after Biden killed the Keystone XL pipeline, froze student debt collection, rejoined the Paris climate accords, made a pathway for illegals to gain citizenship, and halted construction on the border wall — all actions he took on Day 1 — inflation started to climb.

In his first six months in office, inflation went from 1.4% to 5.4%. It was worse in 2022, rising to 9.1% by June. But Biden is a highly skilled liar: Inflation has fallen for six straight months — all the way down to 6.5%. The average for 2022 was 8%, soaring from 1.2% in 2020.

Now, some people argue that the president shouldn’t take credit for a good economy and certainly doesn’t deserve the blame for a bad one. But in Biden’s case, he definitely deserves the blame.

“Economists say Biden’s pandemic relief policies including the American Rescue Plan exacerbated matters, by giving Americans too much money to spend when goods and services supplies were too low, which drove prices higher,” PolitiFact wrote on Monday.

The article mentions gasoline prices:

Then there are gas prices. When Biden took office, a gallon of regular averaged $2.38. Today it’s $3.46, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).

That’s nearly 50% higher (46% to be exact) than it was when Biden took office. And remember, by February 2022, the eve of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the price had already risen above $3.50 — which negates Biden’s endless claims of “Putin’s price hike” at the pumps.

The article mentions food prices:

Let’s just talk about the State of the Union since the last time Biden delivered the State of the Union address. “In 2022, food prices increased by 9.9 percent,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports. “Food-at-home prices increased by 11.4 percent, while food-away-from-home prices increased by 7.7 percent.”

There’s more. Egg prices increased 11.1% in December, pushing the price since December 2021 59.9% higher. And we haven’t hit the ceiling yet, not even close. “Egg prices are predicted to increase 27.3 percent in 2023,” the USDA reported.

Please follow the link to read the entire article. The article goes into wages and also reports on America’s mood. The speech will make a lot of claims, but those of us who live under the Biden economy probably won’t believe those claims.

Good News From The North Carolina Legislature

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On February 2nd, The John Locke Foundation posted an article about Senate Bill 49 introduced in the North Carolina Senate this week by Senators Amy Galey, Michael Lee, and Lisa Barnes.

The article reports:

Locke’s “2023 State of North Carolina Legislative Agenda” put forward policy recommendations on education, encouraging the General Assembly to codify the rights of parents and guardians to direct their children’s education and well-being. Additionally, our recommendations were to craft legislation ensuring transparency regarding curriculum and school operations, providing parents and guardians peace of mind that their children receive a quality education.

S.B. 49 achieves the policy goals put forward in Locke’s legislative agenda.

The N.C. Senate’s Education/Higher Education Committee passed the bill on February 1, 2023, where Locke’s Government Affairs Team provided testimony in support of the bill.

…S.B. 49 is scheduled to appear in the N.C. Senate’s Health Care Committee on Thursday, February 2, 2023, and will likely be on the Senate Floor for votes the following week.

This bill is important. I never thought that the rights of parents would have to be codified into law, but that’s where we are. Another thing to note here is the numerous opportunities for ordinary citizens to get involved in the legislative process.

All of us do not have the time to make the trip to the State Office Buildings in Raleigh. All of us are not comfortable calling our Representatives and Senators. All of us do not feel comfortable writing letters or emails to our Representatives and Senators. That’s fine. All of us can find an organization that represents most of our viewpoints and support that organization either by donations or by passing on the information they disseminate.

If you live in coastal North Carolina, there are a number of grassroots organizations working to protect your interests in Craven, Carteret, and Palmlico Counties. Some are tea-party type groups, some are faith-based groups. Find your space. On February 5th, I posted an announcement of the next Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association meeting. If you want to see our government move toward the government the Founding Fathers envisioned, please join us at that meeting.

Heading To The Supreme Court

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On Sunday, John Hinderaker at Power Line posted an article about the Biden administration’s plan to forgive $400 billion in outstanding student debt. The plan is being challenged and will make its way to the Supreme Court at the end of February.

The article notes:

On Friday, a group of amici filed a brief urging the Court to invalidate Biden’s order. It is probably the most impressive group of amici I have ever seen, including top constitutional scholars like Michael McConnell and political figures including William Barr, Mitch Daniels, Mick Mulvaney, and others. These amici are represented by Sidley and Austin, a major law firm.

The brief is included in the article.

The article concludes:

In recent years, as the brief documents, presidents of both parties have used strained interpretations of broadly-worded statutes to justify unconstitutional usurpations of power, sometimes spending money that Congress had specifically refused to appropriate. Biden’s debt forgiveness continues this trend under particularly absurd pretenses, and on an unprecedented scale. As the brief argues, if the Biden administration can get away with this, there is really no check on executive power, going forward.

As a condition precedent to the merits, the case also raises a standing issue. I have not studied that issue, and have no idea whether it has merit under current law. I would only say that if a president acts unconstitutionally to deprive the taxpayers of $400 billion in revenue, there had better be someone who has standing to challenge his illegal action.

Let’s pray that the Supreme Court understands the checks and balances our Founding Fathers put in place.

The Fight For Freedom Continues

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On Monday, Just the News posted an article about the continuing fight against vaccine mandates by several marines [in spite of the fact that the DOD rescinded the mandate in compliance with the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act)].

The article reports:

Several members of the U.S. Marines are still fighting the U.S. Department of Defense in a lawsuit they filed over its August 2021 COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The DOD asked the court to dismiss the case after Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was forced to drop the mandate by Congress. President Joe Biden, who strongly opposed repealing the mandate, agreed to repealing it when he signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law in December.

Liberty Counsel, the Orlando-based religious freedom legal advocacy organization representing Navy and Marine Corps service members, filed a motion with the court on Wednesday asking the court to continue the case. It pointed to statements made in the Defense secretary’s latest guidance that indicate he would enact another COVID-vaccine mandate in the future and to the administration’s argument that the district court has no jurisdiction over military matters, a claim the presiding judge refutes.

The article concludes:

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Repealing the COVID shot mandate for military members does not moot this case. Joe Biden and the Department of Defense continue to argue courts have no jurisdiction over the military, an argument that the courts have soundly rejected. The history of this case clearly demonstrates the open violation of the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. This lawlessness must end. Our military members who love God and America have been horribly abused and they must be honored again.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., filed companion bills that would require the DOD to reinstate any service member separated solely for COVID-19 vaccine status who wants to return to service, to credit all service members with the time of involuntary separation for retirement pay calculations, restore their rank if they were demoted, and compensate them for any pay and benefits lost due to demotions.

The bills also would prohibit the Defense secretary from issuing any replacement COVID-19 vaccine mandates without Congressional approval, require “general” discharges to be changed to “honorable” and require any records with adverse actions based solely on COVID-19 vaccine status to be expunged.

The vaccine has not been around long enough for us to evaluate its long-term effects. Why are we demanding that young people who are not at risk from Covid take an unproven vaccine?

Is The Only A Coincidence?

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On Sunday, The Gateway Pundit posted a list of military bases in the path of the Chinese balloon as it traveled across America.

Here is the list:

Malstrom Air Force Base – Montana – home of 341st Military Wing
** Ellsworth Air Force Base – South Dakota – home of 28th bomb wing
** Joe Foss Field ANG – South Dakota – home of 114th fighter wing
** Sioux City ANG – Iowa – national gard base
** Offutt Air Force Base -Nebraska – headquarters US strategic command
** Camp Ashland – Nebraska –
** Lincoln ANG – Nebraska
** Whiteman Air Force Base – Missouri – home of B52 bombers
** Fort Leonard Wood – Missouri – Army training installation
** St. Louis Army Human Resources – St. Louis, MO
** Scott Air Force Base – Illinois – home of the Air Mobility Command
** Fort Campbell – Tennessee – home fo Screaming eagles, the 101st Airborne
** Nashville ANG – Tennessee
** Smyrna ANG – Tennessee
** Houston Barracks – Tennessee
** McGhee Tyson ANG – Tennessee
** Pope Air Force Base – North Carolina – Air mobility command
** Fort Bragg – North Carolina – one of the largest military installations in the world
** MCAS New River – North Carolina
** Camp Lejeune – North Carolina – military training facility
** US Coast Guard Station Fort Macon

Based on where it was shot down, I am not sure how close the balloon got to the Coast Guard Station at Fort Macon or New River or Camp Lejeune. However, we have no idea what the range of the balloon’s information gathering electronics was. How close to a military installation did the balloon have to come to collect whatever information it was seeking?

The aspect of this that truly bothers me is the fact that what we saw with the Chinese balloon could easily be a dry run of an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) attack. One EMP in the middle of the country would instantly transport us back to the 1800’s. Transporting food would be a problem. Electricity would be non-existent for an extended period of time. Just for the record, we have the technology to protect our electric grid from an EMP attack, but somehow Congress has never found the impetus to do it. The balloon trip across America is not something that should be taken lightly.

A Logical Question About The Balloon

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Robert DuChemin, a Florida lawyer, noted the following in an article at Substack:

So, if three Chinese balloons came over the United States during the Trump Administration how come there is not a single picture of any one of them? I live in Florida, where one of the alleged incursions supposedly occurred. I have a feeling we have many more people looking at the sky than they do in Montana and we are not all too old to see the sky. Yet no pictures.

How could they have been “undetected” when the DOD just showed us that our satellites can track a balloon from the moment it leaves a Chinese launch site?

The answer is simple. The White House, just like it has done during every other day of this administration, decided it was better to lie to the American people than to tell us the truth. The truth is that our current administration has no earthly idea what is going on outside of Joe’s fake White House studio across the street.

When something happens, the Democrats have three favorite responses. It is either racist, President Trump‘s fault, or something that has been going on since President Trump was in office.

On Friday, the White House had a trifecta. They claimed that inflation, like invading Chinese balloons, has been around since the Trump administration. They claimed that they are still trying to fix a border problem that was Trump’s fault, and they followed the dumbest elected members of their party down the road by claiming that the US congress, which removed four congressmen from committees (including one who withdrew from the committees in lieu of discipline) was racist.

The truth is that neither of the first two things occurred during the Trump administration, the current administration created the border problem (If they were going to fix Trump’s border problem they would start by finishing the wall he started and our US Congress approved.), and three of the four congressmen removed from committees are white men.

It’s amazing what the mainstream media expects you to believe.

Laying The Groundwork To Protect The Uni-Party

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On Sunday, The Conservative Treehouse posted an article about the changes the Democrats have made to their primary election schedule. The Democrats have moved their first presidential primary to South Carolina.

The article reports:

In the last several weeks I have been saying to watch the state of South Carolina for how both Republican and Democrats wings of the UniParty, RNC and DNC respectively, plan to use South Carolina as the mechanism for the 2024 illusion of choice.  What I call the RNC and DNC roadmaps.

Essentially the RNC/DNC constructs are the roadmaps, from the club system – two private corporations, to control the 2024 primary election outcomes.

This is all about controlling the mechanisms of elections and creating the illusion of choice while the invisible hands of the big donors and club officers control the operations.

You might remember how South Carolina was the inflection point for Biden in the 2020 primary.  It was the SC primary when former President Obama (Black Lives Matter) and Congressman James Clyburn (AME Church network), aligned to select Joe Biden as the control mechanism to ensure Bernie Sanders was defeated.

Team Obama was operating with a sense of urgency because momentum was with Sanders and all other candidates including Biden were fractured.

The article notes:

The RNC club roadmap for Ron DeSantis is also looking to South Carolina, New Hampshire and Georgia as control mechanisms to stop President Trump from winning the nomination.   This has been part of a plan in the works for a long time (mid 2021).  The Nikki Haley and Tim Scott operations in South Carolina are part of the strategy; along with Chris Sununu in New Hampshire (despite backpedaling caused by CTH sunlight).   Brian Kemp is being leveraged in Georgia, and within the big picture push overall, the ‘Ready for Ron’ establishment is leveraging the Republican Governor’s Association (RGA) as an institution to have a much bigger role in 2024.  Just keep watching.

There are rumors that the Democrats chose South Carolina because they are planning to run Michelle Obama for President. As frightening as that may be, there is a strong possibility that she could win. Now is the time to get involved at your local level to try to stop the uni-party machine.

Please follow the link to the article for the total picture.

What Are We Teaching Our Children:

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On Saturday, The Daily Caller posted an article about some of the curriculum being used in our schools to celebrate Black History Month.

The article reports:

  • Several of the nation’s schools are preparing to celebrate “Black Lives Matter at School” week which features curriculums on “restorative justice” and “globalism.” 
  • With lesson plans, reading, documentaries and activities, students learn about activism and “structural racism.” 
  • “Any education leader interested in building awareness on the history and struggles of the African American community should seek meaningful policy solutions rather than virtue-signaling,” Wenyuan Wu, executive director of Californians for Equal Rights Foundation, a group that focused on combating racial discrimination, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Teaching children that they are victims does not do anything to encourage learning or to help them deal with the world they see around them. Teaching them that because their ancestors were treated horribly they are entitled to money they did not earn does not help anyone. It divides people along racial lines and prevents the country from unifying to solve problems. Could a unified America actually solve problems? Is a unified America a threat to the deep state?

The article notes:

Milwaukee Public Schools is hosting events in honor of “Black Lives Matter at School” week including “BLM Family Night” where families can participate in “cultural experiences” at the Black Holocaust Museum, according to the school website. Shoreline Public Schools in Washington plans to celebrate the week in order to help students “understand inequities based on race” and to “affirm that the lives of people of color matter,” the school district website showed.

BLM at School raised more than $103,000 for its national week of action as of Friday, according to its website. Several teachers unions have backed the week-long event in the country’s schools including the National Education Association, Chicago Teachers Union and the Virginia Education Association.

The article concludes:

“Giving the BLM brand legitimacy in public schools is handing ideologies, radicals and groomers a license to harm our next generation,” Wu told the DCNF. “Any education leader interested in building awareness on the history and struggles of the African American community should seek meaningful policy solutions rather than virtue-signaling.”

BLM at School, San Diego Unified School District, Howard County Schools, Milwaukee Public Schools and Shoreline Public Schools did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

If I thought the children were actually learning the reading, writing and mathematics skills they need, I might be somewhat less bothered by this. My question to teachers is, “Why are you wasting time of this garbage when your students can’t read or do math?”