Monthly Archives: April 2023

About That Uni-Party Concept…

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On Thursday, Breitbart posted the following headline:

Bush, Obama, Clinton Team Up with American Express to Fly Migrants into American Communities

The article reports:

A non-governmental organization (NGO) founded by former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama and backed by a litany of multinational corporations is teaming up with American Express to fly migrants into the United States.

The NGO, called Welcome.US, was initially launched to work with President Joe Biden’s administration in resettling some 85,000 Afghans across the U.S. in 2021 and 2022, as Breitbart News reported extensively at the time.

For its Afghan operation, the NGO helped fly close to 20,000 Afghans to American communities funded by millions raised from donations and supported by corporate backers like Walmart, Airbnb, the New York Times, the Business Roundtable, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Starbucks, the Washington Post, Goldman Sachs, Goodwill Industries, Microsoft, and Chobani.

The NGO also has ties to billionaire George Soros, as members of his Open Society Foundation sit on the group’s “National Welcome Council.”

The article concludes:

The NGO’s flights for migrants are meant to complement a program created by President Joe Biden’s administration this year where 360,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, and Nicaragua will be admitted to the United States annually via an expansive parole pipeline which has already helped release about a million migrants into American communities from 2021 to 2022.

During a Senate committee hearing this week, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) estimated that the Biden administration has welcomed close to five million border crossers and illegal aliens to the United States since taking office in early 2021. This figure includes those released into the U.S. interior, known got-aways, and unknown got-aways.

I will admit, when he was elected, I thought George W. Bush was one of the ‘good guys.’ Needless to say, I was wrong. He is part of the globalist group that wants to erase our borders and our national sovereignty. The combination of Bush, Clinton, and Obama has done serious damage to our nation, and they themselves will never pay a price for the damage they have done. Unfortunately, it will be we average Americans who will suffer the consequences of their actions. We definitely need to clean out the swamp that is Washington in the 2024 election.

The Pause In The Mandate

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On Friday The Conservative Review posted an article about mandatory Covid vaccine shots.

The article reports:

Some of you might have jumped with elation on Tuesday after hearing the news that the FDA had de-authorized the original series of COVID shots. What the agency is really doing, however, is reloading so it can enshrine the shots into the permanent immunization schedule and mix them with an ever-growing list of respiratory viral vaccines they are rolling out over the coming months. Now is the time for Congress to step on the gas pedal in opposing these shots, not tabling the issue as if it’s over.

The FDA and CDC had a problem. There was no way to continue marketing the shots any longer as an imminent and urgent need for an ongoing pandemic. After all, even the president has said the pandemic is over. Were they to continue packaging the shots as a continual series for protection against the pandemic, they’d be left with fewer than 1% of the public getting them. So rather than simply canceling them, as Switzerland and other countries are doing, the FDA pulled a bait-and-switch. Officials de-authorized the original series of shots to signal the pandemic is over. But now they have established a system that will allow them to enshrine the newer bivalent shot or some future version, perhaps mixed with flu and RSV, as an annual single shot.

Why is this so significant? With the public already groomed into thinking they need an annual flu shot, officials now hope to treat COVID like the flu shot.

The article notes:

Indeed, the FDA’s announcement was designed to signal to Republicans that they can tell their base the issue is over, when in fact it’s just beginning. For example, given that Congress and the president have terminated the public health emergency, why did HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra announce last week an extension of the PREP Act liability waivers for all COVID-related products all the way through the end of 2024? Why is there such a need to continue suspending the Seventh Amendment’s guarantee of a jury trial by absolving Pfizer and Moderna of all liability?

Clearly, they are not done. Which is why Republicans must use reauthorization bills to rectify the dozen or so atrocities committed against the people using pandemic authority.

There are still a lot of questions about the vaccine and about boosters. I personally know someone who developed Bell’s Palsy after a booster. Her doctor advised her not to get any more boosters. I suspect she is not the only one who reacted to the shot that way. If nothing else, the continuing liability waivers are a concern–if the vaccine is totally safe, why do we need the waivers?

It Is Really About The Environment?

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On Wednesday, The Daily Caller posted an article about the Biden administration’s push toward electric vehicles.

The article reports:

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers continue to grow faster than their European and U.S. competitors in 2023, even as the Biden administration pushes rules that could eventually end the sale of gas-powered vehicles, according to Semafor.

Chinese electric vehicle titan BYD has introduced its vehicles in Germany this year, while Chinese automakers outperformed foreign competitors in their domestic market, Semafor reported. While China continues to dominate both the supply chain for and sales of EVs, President Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) introduced its strictest ever proposed set of vehicle emissions rules on April 12, which the agency forecasts would lead to over two-thirds of all vehicles sold after 2032 being all-electric.

The new regulations would severely limit the sale of gas-powered vehicles, which critics allege is the administration’s first step toward a California-like ban on new gas-powered passenger cars, something that EPA Director Michael Regan denied in a statement. Myron Ebell, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment, told the Daily Caller News Foundation at the time that the Biden administration is “trying to bend every federal rule they can find to force people into buying EVs.”Similarly, the Biden EPA previously approved a set of California regulations that experts say would effectively result in a nationwide ban on new diesel-powered truck sales by 2035, since automakers would be unlikely to sell different models in both California and nationwide markets. The California regulations would essentially act as a “backdoor … for California that sets standards for the U.S.,” Dan Kish, senior fellow at the Institute for Energy Research, told the DCNF at the time.

The article concludes:

China produced roughly 60% of rare earth minerals worldwide, and 60% of the world’s graphite supply, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). In terms of refining, China processes 60% of all cobalt and lithium worldwide, in addition to 30% of global nickel and copper processing.

Domestically, Chinese firms gained significant ground against their foreign competitors in 2022, as Chinese consumers purchased more than 4 million all-electric vehicles in 2022, with BYD unseating German automaker Volkswagen as the nation’s top seller of EVs, according to The Wall Street Journal.

So why is the Biden administration pushing electric cars when the result of Americans buying electric cars would be to strengthen the Chinese economy and weaken the American economy? China not only has the manufacturing capability, it has the natural resources to make electric cars. Even it this is not a conscious effort to undermine the American economy, that will be the result of the administration’s push for all Americans to buy electric vehicles.

Where Is The Money Going?

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On Wednesday, American Greatness posted an article about the aid America has been sending to Afghanistan since the American withdrawal.

The article reports:

Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko slammed the U.S. Department of State and USAID during a House Oversight and Reform hearing on Wednesday, accusing the agencies of allowing U.S. taxpayer dollars to be diverted to the Taliban and stonewalling his inquiries into the situation.

According to Sopko, the United States has provided more than $8 billion in assistance to the Afghan people since the U.S. withdrawal, but due to “a lack of aggressive oversight controls,” unknown quantities of U.S. dollars could be ending up in the hands of the Taliban.

The GOP-controlled House Oversight Committee heard from four Inspectors General Wednesday morning during its first hearing on “the Biden Administration’s Disastrous Withdrawal from Afghanistan.”

“While I agree and we all agree Afghanistan faces dire humanitarian and economic situation, it is critical that our assistance not be diverted by the Taliban,” Sopko declared in his opening statement.

The article notes:

The Department of State, USAID, the UN and other agencies have refused to give him “basic information that we or any other oversight body would need to ensure safe stewardship of tax dollars,” Sopko testified.

“More troubling, State and USAID have instructed their employees not to talk to SIGAR, and in one recent instance, State told one of its contractors not to participate in a SIGAR audit,” he added. “I note in passing that DOD’s refusal to respond to SIGAR’s inquiries in 2022 caused months of delay in responding to this committee’s requests.”

Thank God the Republicans took over the House of Representatives. Do you think Congress would be even questioning this if the Democrats were still in control? America cannot afford to be the piggy-bank of the world. Most of the money we are sending to other countries is money we have borrowed from China. At some point our borrowing will end. Does anyone believe that any of the countries we have financed are going to pay us back? It’s bad enough that we are borrowing money to send to Afghanistan, but it is even worse that our government cannot tell us that the money we are sending is not supporting the Taliban.

The Food Police Are Coming

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On Tuesday, Breitbart posted the following headline, “Nolte: NYC to Track Household Food Consumption to Fight Climate Change.”

The article reports:

“The Adams administration has announced a plan to begin tracking the carbon footprint created by household food consumption,” reports the Gothamist. This will aid the fascist mayor’s goal to “reduce their food-based emissions by 33%” by 2030.

Please note that the 33 percent goal is specifically related to “food”— the food the people of New York choose to consume.

Further note that if you live in New York City, Mayor Eric Adams will track your food consumption.

I should add that Climate Change is a hoax.

Who would have thought New York City would elect a mayor that made Big Gulp Bloomberg look like a raging libertarian?

The sad thing is that you know the slaves of New York will be A-OK with the government monitoring and manipulating what foods they eat and then shaming them over anything that tastes good:

Mayor Eric Adams announced the plan on Monday along with the Mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice as part of the city’s ongoing pledge to reduce the impact of climate change. At the same event, the Mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice published a new chart in the city’s annual greenhouse gas inventory that publicly tracks the carbon footprint created by household food consumption — primarily generated by meat and dairy products.

…

For Adams, who was once diagnosed with diabetes, the recognition that food choices affect climate change dovetails with his push for New Yorkers to eat more plant-based meals. During his tenure, the city’s public hospital system has made plant-centric foods its default offering for patients. Public schools last year added a second day of vegan offerings — although initial reviews were not great.

I am glad that Mayor Adams has his diabetes under control, but that does not give him the right to tell me what I can or cannot eat.

The article notes:

All of this over a hoax.

If Climate Change were real (it’s not), we would not be talking about reducing New York’s greenhouse emissions because the *** “experts” *** told us New York would be underwater eight years ago.

So, as you read above, New York school kids are already forced to eat two vegan meals a day—which is a perfect example of how you lose your rights if you’re dependent on the government.

Families not dependent on the government don’t have to eat two yucky, disgusting, unsatisfying vegan meals a day. Instead, if they wish, they can pack their kids a lunch with a big slab of healthy red meat stuffed between two Twinkies.

If Americans do not wake up soon to the dangers of government overreach at all levels, we will not recognize our country in three years.

It’s Hard To Define Something That Has No Definition

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On Tuesday, Townhall posted an article about a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing where Steve Dettelbach, the man President Biden chose to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), was questioned on the definition of assault weapon.

The article reports:

Steve Dettelbach, the man President Biden chose to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), followed in the footsteps of other Biden administration officials who have been stumped by seemingly straightforward questions from lawmakers, questions that deal with subjects within what is supposed to be their purview.

On Tuesday, Director Dettelbach was asked by Rep. Jake Ellzey (R-TX) to give a brief, 15-second definition of the term “assault weapon,” the thing President Biden and Democrats have demanded must be banned within the United States in order to reduce the frequency of crimes committed by individuals with guns. Dettelbach, however, came up completely empty during his testimony in the House Appropriations Committee’s hearing focused on the ATF’s FY2024 budget.

This is how the political appointee danced around the question:

“I’ll go shorter than that because I, honestly, if Congress wishes to take that up, I think Congress would have to do the work, but we would be there to provide technical assistance,” Dettelbach told Ellzey. Huh? So, the man in charge of ATF doesn’t even have a guess when it comes to defining a firearm type that is mentioned and demonized almost daily by the White House?

“I, unlike you, am not a firearms expert, to the same extent as you maybe, but we have people at ATF who can talk about velocity of firearms, what damage different kinds of firearms cause, so that whatever determination you chose to make would be an informed one,” Dettelbach added, confirming that President Biden had put forward another entirely unqualified person to lead a powerful wing of federal bureaucracy.

Actually, I could have saved him the embarrassment–to the Democrats and the people who want to end the right enshrined in the Second Amendment–an assault weapon is any gun that is scary looking. My definition is as valid as his definition.

Is This Appropriate?

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The Democrats cheered John Fetterman’s return to the Senate after his two-month absence. Senator Fetterman checked into the hospital for depression. He is now returning to work. I appreciate his returning to work–he is supposed to represent the people of Pennsylvania, and he can’t do that unless he shows up. However, I truly question his judgement in showing up to the Senate in a hoodie and shorts. I am not the fashion police, but that just seems disrespectful to me.

This is the picture:

I guess I am old-fashioned, but I think this is totally inappropriate dress for the Senate.

On Tuesday, Yahoo News posted an article about Senator Fetterman’s return. Skip the article, and read the comments. I am not the only one offended by the lack of respect for the Senate shown by the way the Senator is dressed.

Equity Rather Than Equality

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The end result of socialism is that everyone lives in poverty except the ruling class. When you continually take money from people who earn it and give it to people who didn’t, those who are working lose their incentive to work. Look up the history of the Pilgrims to see how the communist society called for in their Charter worked. The pilgrims nearly starved because people always seemed to find excuses for not working when there was no reward for working hard. When the free enterprise system was put into place, the colony prospered. Now we are seeing socialism creep into the mortgage lending business.

On April 16th, The New York Post reported the following:

A little-noticed revamp of federal rules on mortgage fees will offer discounted rates for home buyers with riskier credit backgrounds — and force higher-credit homebuyers to foot the bill, The Post has learned.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will enact changes to fees known as loan-level price adjustments (LLPAs) on May 1 that will affect mortgages originating at private banks nationwide, from Wells Fargo to JPMorgan Chase, effectively tweaking interest rates paid by the vast majority of homebuyers.

The result, according to industry pros: pricier monthly mortgage payments for most homebuyers — an ugly surprise for those who worked for years to build their credit, only to face higher costs than they expected as part of a housing affordability push by the US Federal Housing Finance Agency.

“It’s going to be a challenge trying to explain to somebody that says, ‘I worked my whole life for high credit and I’ve put a lot of money down and you’re telling me that’s a negative now?’ That’s a hard conversation to have,” one worried Arizona-based mortgage loan originator told The Post.

“It’s unprecedented,” added David Stevens, who served as Federal Housing Administration commissioner during the Obama administration. “My email is full from mortgage companies and CEOs [telling] me how unbelievably shocked they are by this move.” 

Essentially, people who have been fiscally responsible will be penalized, and people who have not been fiscally responsible will pay less. This will not incentivize responsible spending habits and may bring us back to the crisis of 2008 when the sub-prime mortgage market collapsed. Hasn’t the government learned from its past mistakes?

Making Millions While Being A “Public Servant”

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On Tuesday, Jonathan Turley posted an article on his website about the investigation into the Biden family business dealings.

The article reports:

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer  has revealed that there are not three but nine members of the Biden family that may have benefitted from suspected influence peddling efforts. For those of us who have long criticized the corrupt practices of the Biden family, the identity of these other family members is intriguing after the Committee secured new bank and financial records. Democratic members again insisted that there is no need to investigate such influence peddling.

The new information on the Biden family is due largely to the takeover of the House by the GOP. Previously, Democrats blocked efforts to investigate influence peddling by the Biden family for years.

After assuming control of the Committee. Comer sought suspicious activity reports sent by banks to the Treasury Department alerting of potential criminal activity in transactions involving President Biden’s family.

He stated on Monday that “We’ve identified six additional members of Joe Biden’s family who may have benefited from the Biden family’s businesses that we are investigating, bringing the total number of those involved or benefiting to nine.” Those are six names are in addition to three Biden family members and two associates previously linked to payment from China in 2017 .  Three million was wired Biden family associate Rob Walker in March 2017, who then allegedly divided and distributed the funds later.

There remains an “Unknown Biden” who received four payments in 2017 totaling $70,000.

The article concludes:

In discussing these deals, Joe Biden is referenced with code names such as “Celtic” or “the big guy.” In one, “the big guy” is discussed as possibly receiving a 10% cut on a deal with a Chinese energy firm. There are also references to Hunter paying off the bills of his father from shared accounts. From his board memberships to venture deals to legal fees to his art deals, Hunter Biden is a tour de force of alleged corrupt practices used in Washington.

Many Democrats and legal experts have objected that influence peddling is not a crime. However, it is corrupt and squarely within the oversight authority of Congress. Indeed, if it is not a matter for criminal charges, such congressional action may be the only way to force accountability for corrupt efforts to sell influence and access.

It is quite possible that President Biden and his family may never be held accountable for their influence peddling. The only value in pointing out their wrongdoing is in letting voters decide how much corruption they are willing to put up with.

Who Has The Right To Compete In Women’s Sports?

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On Tuesday, Hot Air reported that H.R. 734 is currently making its way through the U.S. House of Representatives.

This is how Congress.gov (you have to type in the bill number as the specific page expires) summarizes the bill:

Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023

This bill generally prohibits school athletic programs from allowing individuals whose biological sex at birth was male to participate in programs that are for women or girls.

Specifically, the bill provides that it is a violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 for federally funded education programs or activities to operate, sponsor, or facilitate athletic programs or activities that allow individuals of the male sex to participate in programs or activities that are designated for women or girls. (Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education programs or activities, including in public elementary and secondary schools and in colleges and universities.) Under the bill, sex is based on an individual’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.

The bill does not prohibit male individuals from training or practicing with programs or activities for women or girls as long as such training or practice does not deprive any female of corresponding opportunities or benefits.

This sounds like common sense to me. However, not everyone agrees with the concepts stated in the bill.

Hot Air reports:

A new bill (H.R. 734) titled the Protection of Women and Girls Sports Act is currently making its way through the House with a vote anticipated later this week. The measure would prevent biological males from competing in women’s and girls’ sports in schools. The bill has even attracted some bipartisan support in the Senate, meaning that is should have a realistic chance of making it out of the legislature. But yesterday, the White House issued a statement saying that Joe Biden will veto the bill if it reaches his desk. This statement is the clearest sign yet that the President has fully bought into the ongoing transgender craze. But one aspect of the legislation could provide a watershed moment if a challenge to it reaches the courts.

…One interesting twist in this debate comes with the bill’s references to Title IX. For a long time now, starting with Barack Obama, Democrats have been fighting to expand the definition of the protections offered in Title IX to include transgender definitions. H.R. 734 seeks to turn the tables and invoke Title IX to apply directly to actual women as it was originally intended.

The second and more important facet of the legislation is found in its definition of the word “sex.” It clearly defines sex as being “based on an individual’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” This is precisely the sort of legal barricade that we need to drive home and put before the Supreme Court. The unscientific nonsense driving the entire transgender debate can’t be allowed to impose insanity on our legislative process and the laws of the land.

The fact that this bill is drawing at least some bipartisan support could be a signal of things to come.

What would happen if I decided to identify as a six-year old and signed up for t-ball? I might score a lot of home runs. Generally speaking, the physical structure of a man has more muscle mass than that of a woman. Men have no place competing in women’s sports. It’s not a fair competition.

Destroying the Middle Class

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Author:  R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D

A primary objective of Marxism has always been the destruction of the free enterprise system (i.e. capitalism).  Marxism is based on making people dependent on the government, not on themselves. Therefore, the government controls people’s lives. A  middle class did not exist until the advent of the free enterprise system. There were only royalty, aristocrats, clergy and peasants. America has been the country of the middle class. Sure, we have very wealthy people and very poor people but in between we have people who can earn a good living and actually advance their economic condition through hard work and saving. It is called the “American Dream” and has existed since the founding of this country. The Marxist Democrats (sadly, helped by some, perhaps well meaning, but naive Republicans) have declared war on the middle class in America. Let me mention a few ways: 

Income Tax: Prior to 1913 there was no ongoing federal income tax in this country.  Federal funds were raised by tariffs, excise duties, etc. Progressive income tax, where the higher your income the higher the tax rate, penalizes people that are trying to get ahead. Right now, at least 40% of the people in the country pay no federal income tax.  This is due to social programs and socialist ideas about income redistribution. People who pay no tax have no skin in the game and only want more and more free stuff. 

Wealth Redistribution: Most, if not all, government programs steal from the middle class and give to the supposed underclass. Who establishes the rules for who gets free stuff that is actually paid for by others? Well of course the government. Food stamps, income and rent assistance, free school lunches, and Medicaid are all examples of programs that require hard working middle class people to pay for things for other people. This is straight out of the Marxist playbook. The result is that fewer people want to work since they will lose their free stuff and/or are not motivated to advance themselves.    

Crime: In many, if not all, of our Democrat run cities, people just go into stores and take what they want. No fear of arrest. Who are the victims? The middle class store owners and the paying customers when prices must be raised to offset the losses. 

Open Borders: Immigrants used to come to this country legally for an opportunity to advance themselves economically through hard work. They wanted to live the  American Dream. My grandparents did exactly that. Now, most of the illegal immigrants flood across our open borders to get free stuff. 

Climate Hoax: The Marxist Democrats are hell bent on raising the cost of energy and transportation (e.g. mandating electric cars). This will destroy the middle class. No more single homes. Use public transportation or electric bicycles! Solar and wind generators would not exist if the government were not forcing the middle class to pay for the subsidies. We are being forced to subsidize our own demise. 

No country can long survive what is currently being done to America. We will not survive as a country unless this is stopped. The strength of America has always been the middle class. he Marxist Democrats must be defeated and moreover, Republican enablers must either be convinced to stop these destructive policies or be voted out of office. NO WINDMILLS ON THE NORTH CAROLINA COAST!!! 

 

 

 

This Really Shouldn’t Surprise Anyone

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On Monday, PJ Media posted an interesting article about the fifty-one national security officials who wrote a letter suggesting that the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop reported by The New York Post were Russian disinformation, and that there was no proof the laptop belonged to Hunter Biden. This turned out to be a rather ridiculous claim after Hunter Biden’s attorneys sued the computer repair shop owner for invasion of privacy after it released the information. Why would he do that if the information was bogus? But it gets even better.

The article reports:

For the past couple of years, we’ve been led to believe that the letter from 51 national security officials was some sort of spontaneous, grassroots effort by the intelligence community to warn us about the potential foreign influence behind Hunter Biden’s laptop.

The laptop has since been confirmed to be legitimate, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence confirmed that there was no foreign disinformation campaign involved. But new information from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and congressional investigators, with the help of two Obama-era CIA officials, has revealed a new twist in the story. The investigation has uncovered evidence linking the letter dismissing the Hunter Biden laptop as Russian disinformation during the 2020 election to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.

…Jordan revealed to Just the News that a report on government weaponization is set to be released later this month, detailing the individuals involved in the letter and the evidence linking them to the Biden campaign. Jordan suggested that the letter may have been a significant interference in the presidential election and was motivated by political considerations. Jordan declined to provide more details as further witness interviews are being conducted this week.

“It was all done with politics, and it looks like there was some real connections with the Biden campaign,” Jordan said during an interview late last week on the John Solomon Reports podcast.

The article concludes:

I’m sure the question on everyone’s mind is: who in the Biden campaign was involved in this scheme? While Jordan has confirmed that evidence linking the letter dismissing the Hunter Biden laptop to the Biden campaign has been uncovered, he says specific ties to the Biden campaign will be disclosed in the interim report.

The corruption in our federal government never ceases to amaze me.

 

Why More Gun Laws Are Not The Answer

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ConstitutionUS.com notes that the Declaration of Independence states the following:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

One of those unalienable rights is the right to self-defense. Our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution are based on the Law of Nature and of Nature’s God. That law includes the right of self-defense.  Currently, we are seeing a move by many in Congress to change the Second Amendment and to infringe on the rights of Americans to bear arms. There have been a number of incidents recently where someone who should not have had a gun murdered innocent people. That is unacceptable, but the problem is not the gun, and the solution lies in the area of mental health–not in the area of disarming legal gun-owners.

In its magazine  (America’s 1st Freedom) and on its website, The National Rifle Association (NRA) has a page of testimonies where a good guy with a gun prevented a bad guy with a gun from harming innocent people. These incidents are often (purposely) overlooked in the media and need to be acknowledged.

Volume 24, No. 4 of that magazine includes several examples:

In Des Moines, Iowa, on January 5, a man and woman repeatedly walked in front of the doors of a tower apartment building. The apartment manager, who had her young son at her side, finally opened the door to ask if there was a problem, whereupon the two strangers allegedly grabbed the child. The woman claimed she was the child’s real mother and tried to run away with him. A struggle ensued until the manager drew her firearm and said “let go of my kid.” The man and woman walked off and were trailed by security personnel until police officers could arrive. Police told reporters, “It certainly looks like the big turning point here, the pivotal piece to keeping her child safe was the fact that she was lawfully armed with a handgun.” The man and woman were charged with felony child stealing.

…At around 5 a.m. on January 18, a man came into a gas station in Avondale, Arizona, with his face covered, mumbled something about “rob” and “money,” and then pointed a gun at the clerk and at a customer. However, when the suspect became distracted by another customer, the clerk reportedly drew his own firearm and shot the assailant. The would-be robber was taken to a hospital in critical condition, and neither the clerk nor any customers were hurt in the incident. While mainstream-media accounts often quoted an employment attorney advising clerks against arming themselves, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has found that about two-thirds of workplace homicides involved robbers. “I’m not happy I had to shoot him,” the clerk told reporters, “But I’m not stressing. The moment he pulled the gun on me, he set the situation and I just followed it. He made the situation what it was.” Police indicated the clerk would not be charged.

How long does it take for the police to arrive? In both of these cases, would it have been too late? I don’t want America to become the wild, wild west, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that good guys with guns save lives.  We need more good guys with guns and less bad guys with guns. That will not be accomplished by laws that restrict gun ownership–bad guys don’t pay attention to laws. These two stories are only a fraction of the recorded incidents where lives were saved because someone legally carried a gun and spent enough time at the gun range to shoot accurately. Let’s encourage that behavior–not legislate against it.

Protecting our Freedom

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On Thursday, The North State Journal posted an article about a bill introduced in the North Carolina House of Representatives that would prevent credit card companies from tracking gun and ammunition purchases.

The article reports:

A bill filed in the North Carolina House seeks to block credit card companies from attaching flags or codes to firearm and ammunition purchases. 

House Bill 564, Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act, was filed earlier this month by Reps. Reece Pyrtle (R-Rockingham), Edward Goodwin (R-Chowan) and Charles Miller (R-Brunswick). Joining the primary sponsors of the bill is House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain).  

If enacted, the bill would amend current statutes by adding a new article to prohibit financial institutions from using a firearm code in connection with payment card transactions involving a firearms retailer in the state and from knowingly maintaining a record of persons in the state who own firearms. 

“No financial institution shall knowingly maintain a record of individuals residing in this State who own firearms,” according to the bill.  

The measure would also allow the state’s attorney general to assess civil penalties of up to $10,000 for each violation after notice is given and a hearing is held. There are also civil actions individuals can take with the same penalty limit for each violation plus attorneys fees and court costs. The civil actions would have a three-year statute of limitations. 

The bill cites merchant codes (MCC) created for firearms retailers by the Switzerland-based International Organization for Standardization in September 2022. 

There is no reason for the government to know which citizens have guns or ammunition and what kind of each they have. This is a definite infringement of our Second Amendment rights, and the bill needs to pass to stop any tracking immediately.

The Continuing Attack On Our Food Supply

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I am not interested in eating bugs instead of beef. I don’t care if they are easier and cheaper to grow and have less impact on the environment, I am not going to eat bugs. The idea that those of us who live in the read world will eat bugs has surfaced numerous times. Somehow I don’t expect to find bugs on the menu in the homes of the ultra rich. On Sunday, Red State posted an article about the food item next on the list of the government entities that are attacking our diet.

The article reports:

First, it was global cooling, then global warming. Now, because they don’t know what they are talking about and none of their predictions come to pass, it’s the more amorphous “climate change” (although the “climate” is always changing). They are never held accountable for being wrong, and they just move on to the next thing to push us to panic over.

It’s always about how things are about to implode — if we don’t commit more of our money to deal with it/give up our freedoms/turn over more control to the government.

Let’s listen to what Joe Biden said during his vacation in Ireland. This was before he told guests at Dublin Castle that he wanted to “lick the world.”

…We’ve seen them demonize fossil fuels. We’ve seen them go after meat — even cow farts with their methane emissions.

But an AFP News Agency tweet about what the climate cult might be targeting next had people sit up and take notice on Sunday. Because if anything underscored how anti-human the cult seems, this would be it. Guess what else is bad? Rice — that thing that most of the world survives on.

The article concludes:

Leaving aside the questionable scientific conclusions here, what are they saying here about the growth of rice? Do they truly think they’re going to eliminate or reduce rice when so much of the world relies on it? Eliminating or reducing rice would decimate people, particularly the poor. We should stop feeding them to “help” the environment? That’s a heck of a message.

Talk about hating people and wanting to throw the world into chaos; eliminating rice might just do it. They don’t want us to use energy, they don’t want us to eat meat, and now they don’t want us to eat rice. Why don’t they just come out and say it — we are the carbon units that they have a problem with and seem to want to eliminate. Is the purpose to protect life on earth or to promote control of those lives? Because it sure looks like the latter.

How about we “ignore” such idiocy? Notice in the video that China and India weren’t signing aboard any such thing because they don’t want to have their people rip them to pieces.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. I really do wonder about the motives of the people trying to alter our food supply and eating habits.

Exactly How Many Balloons Were There?

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On Friday, The New York Post posted an article about some information that was hidden from the American people by our government. Recently some of that information has been leaked. One of the things that evidently was exposed by the leak was the fact that the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down over South Carolina was not the only Chinese balloon to transverse America.

The article reports:

Classified documents allegedly leaked by Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira reveal that US intelligence officials were aware of as many as four other Chinese spy balloons apart from the one that floated across the country earlier this year. 

One of the previously undisclosed balloons flew over a US carrier strike group in the Pacific, according to the Washington Post.

Another Chinese craft, code-named Bulger-21 by US officials, circumnavigated the Earth from December 2021 until May 2022, according to top-secret documents reviewed by the news outlet. 

A third balloon named Accardo-21 is mentioned in the documents and a fourth is referenced to have crashed in the South China Sea, the Washington Post reports, noting that it is unclear if Bulger-21 and Accardo-21 were the same balloons that crashed and flew over the carrier strike group. 

Does anyone else wonder why this information was classified? The information did not involve anything America was doing–the information simply made the Biden administration look ineffective.

Sometimes The Contrast Is Amazing

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On Wednesday, The Federalist noted:

According to the contemporary left, it’s “authoritarian” for local elected officials to curate school library collections but fine for a powerful centralized federal government to issue an edict compelling a major industry to produce a product and then force hundreds of millions of people to buy it.

Lately, the federal government seems to believe that it can control the tiniest details of the lives of Americans. Covid was a glaring example of this–you can’t work in certain places unless you have an untested vaccine, you can’t go to church, but you can go to a casino, children can’t attend school, etc. Well, the federal government got away with all those unconstitutional acts, so it’s going to try more. Hang on to your car–they are coming for it if it’s not electric.

The article reports:

President Biden is set to “transform” and “remake” the entire auto industry — “first with carrots, now with sticks”— notes the Washington Post, as if dictating the output of a major industry is within the governing purview of the executive branch. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing draconian emissions limits for vehicles, ensuring that 67 percent of all new passenger cars and trucks produced within nine years will be electric. This is state coercion. It is undemocratic. We are not governed; we are managed.

In fascist economies, a powerful centralized state — often led by a demagogue who plays on the nationalistic impulses of people — controls both manufacturing and commerce and dictates prices and wages for the “common good.” Any unpatriotic excessive profits are captured by the state. All economic activity must meet state approval. And crony, rent-seeking companies are willing participants. Now, I’m not saying we already live in a fascist economic state. I’m just saying the Democratic Party economic platform sounds like it wishes we were.

The article concludes:

“I want to let everybody know that this EPA is committed to protecting the health and well-being of every single person on this planet,” the EPA’s Michael Regan explained when announcing the edicts. No one is safer in an EV than a gas-powered vehicle. The authoritarian’s justification for economic control is almost always “safety.” But the entire “safety” claim is tethered to the perpetually disproven theory that our society can’t safely — and relatively cheaply — adapt to slight changes in climate. If the state can regulate “greenhouse gases” as an existential threat, it has the unfettered power to regulate virtually the entire economy. This is why politicians treat every hurricane, tornado, and flood as an apocalyptic event. But in almost every quantifiable way, the climate is less dangerous to mankind now than it has ever been. And the more they try to scare us, the less people care.

So let the Chinese communists worry about keeping their population “safe.” Let’s keep this one innovative, open, and free.

Elections matter, and the 2024 presidential election REALLY matters.

A Different Perspective From What Is Generally Being Said

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Robert DuChemin is a friend who writes at Substack. He recently posted an article about the young man in Massachusetts who leaked classified documents. I am probably not the only person who feels that there may be more to this story than meets the eye.

These are some off Robert’s observations:

The most revealing thing about the leak is that it proves the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, lied to congress when he testified to the exact opposite of all three of those facts. He knew the truth yet chose to lie to Congress. He would be arrested if he had any connection to Donald J Trump, but since he plays for the evil team, he is allowed to walk free.

This is something that could have been prevented if we just followed common sense . . . and the law. In the USA, the Secretary of Defense must be a civilian.

10 US Code, Section 113, also states, in pertinent part:

“(a) . . .

(2) A person may not be appointed as Secretary of Defense—

(A) within seven years after relief from active duty as a commissioned officer of a regular component of an armed force in a grade below O–7; or

(B) within 10 years after relief from active duty as a commissioned officer of a regular component of an armed force in the grade of O–7 or above.”

Lloyd Austin, therefore, should not have been appointed Secretary of Defense. He left the military to take the job.

How did this happen?

Through corruption. When China Joe became president, his political party controlled both houses of Congress. They passed a resolution (which has the effect of a law) to waive that requirement specifically for Lloyd Austin. The vote was solidly along party lines. In other words, the communist party that controlled our government decided they did not want to abide by this law so they simply changed it, not permanently but on a one-time basis to suit their desire.

The article also notes:

The focus in the news on Teixeira is misplaced. It should be on the fact that our government is so corrupt that agency employees lie to their bosses, our elected representatives, and nothing happens to them. At the same time, people who believe in the freedom of information, telling the truth, and an open government are persecuted and destroyed.

The former head of the FBI, James Comey, admitted leaking confidential information. His crime was a far worse crime against our society because he held a position of trust. He is walking free while a kid whose testicles dropped about a week ago is going to have his life destroyed.

Somebody should be asking how we can claim to live in a country governed by the Rule of Law when we allow this to happen. They also may want to ask how in the world we entrusted a child with such sensitive information.

I have been asking that question ever since the Pentagon entrusted a guy who did not even know what sex he was, Bradley Manning, with confidential information that he leaked to the public after he decided to become Chelsea. His sexual confusion alone should have demonstrated such mental instability that he/she did not deserve a top-secret clearance.

The Obama pardoned Bradley/Chelsea because he/she released information that hurt the good guys. Jack, however, will never get pardoned as long as the same people whose lies he exposed remain in control of our government.

Please follow Robert on Substack. His articles are always informative and insightful. He is a lawyer by trade, and I wouldn’t want to be up against him in a courtroom.

Killing The American Dream

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The American Dream used to be a house in the suburbs with a white picket fence and a little bit of land to take care of. The dream represented stability and security. People are more inclined to take good care of something they have worked hard to own. Unfortunately that dream is under attack.

On Thursday, The American Thinker posted an article about New York State Governor Kathy Hochul’s move to advance a so-called Housing Compact that would eliminate local control and single family zoning.

The article reports:

Hochul’s plan would require that high-rise “affordable” (read: low-income, taxpayer-subsidized) housing be constructed close to each sleepy village train station — mostly a few miles apart — on Metro North and the Long Island Railroad. If the affected communities fail to do so “voluntarily,” the state will have the power to override local zoning. Those who fail to applaud this combined coup by warriors for social justice and real estate interests are, you guessed it, racist.

Suburban homeowners, Democrats as well as Republicans, are beginning to awaken to the deadly threat these proposals pose to their way of life. What is largely overlooked is that this is a repeat of a similar effort in 1972 about which I wrote at the time (“Housing Controversy in Westchester,” Congress Biweekly, November 10, 1972 and December 22, 1972). Believe it or not, the effort to overthrow zoning was then spearheaded by Republicans — with New York’s Westchester County selected to pioneer the program.

On June 20, 1972, the New York State Urban Development Corporation announced that it was overriding local zoning to create a variety of low- and moderate-income housing developments in nine, for the most part rural, Westchester communities. Reminiscent of the emotional reaction to the death of George Floyd, the UDC had been given zoning override power by a hitherto balky state Legislature the day after the murder of Martin Luther King. Republican governor Nelson Rockefeller, in a burst of virtue-signaling, argued that this was the best tribute the Legislature could give the slain civil rights leader. When rationality returned, efforts by the state Legislature to take away the override power were vetoed by Rockefeller.

The article concludes:

Whether Republicans or Democrats, suburban householders are unwilling to see community zoning decisions and local master planning become meaningless exercises and to see the value of their greatest investment potentially plummet at far-off bureaucratic whims. That means their representatives in the state Legislature, however “progressive” their personal views, will fear defeat at the next election if they don’t oppose Governor Hochul’s “death to the suburbs” legislative agenda.

The American Dream provided incentive to work hard. By changing the rules on home ownership, Governor Hochel will eliminate that incentive. The idea that the federal government can control local zoning is a violation of the Tenth Amendment. Our Founding Fathers have long since stopped turning over in their graves–they are now spinning.

Creating Global Chaos

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The Biden administration has created global chaos. Remember when voters were told that President Biden would bring stability and ‘normalcy’ to America? How is that working?

On Wednesday, American Greatness posted a list of President Biden’s foreign policy ‘accomplishments’.

Here is a summary of the list:

1) Joe Biden abruptly pulled all U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

2) The Biden Administration allowed a Chinese high-altitude spy balloon to traverse the continental United States, spying on key American military installations.

3) In March 2021, at an Anchorage, Alaska mini-summit, Chinese diplomats unleashed a relentless barrage at their stunned and mostly silent American counterparts.

4) In June 2021, in response to Russian cyber-attacks against the United States, Biden meekly asked Putin to at least make off-limits certain critical American infrastructure

5) When asked what he would do if Russia invaded Ukraine, Biden replied that the reaction would depend on whether the Russians conducted a “minor incursion.”

6) Between 2021 and 2022, Joe Biden serially insulted and bragged that he would not meet Muhammad bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, and one of our oldest and most valuable allies in the Middle East.

7) For much of 2021, the Biden Administration made it known that it was eager and ready to offer concessions to re-enter the dangerous Iran nuclear deal—at a time when Iran has joined China and Russia in a new geostrategic partnership.

8) Almost immediately upon inauguration, the administration moved the United States away from Israel, restored financial aid to radical Palestinians, and both publicly and privately alienated the current Netanyahu government.

9) In serial fashion, Biden stopped all construction on the border wall and opened the border.

10) In the last two years, the Pentagon has embarked on a woke agenda.

Please follow the link to read the details. If this is normal, I don’t like it.

The Trip To Ireland

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The coronation of King Charles III will be held at Westminster Abbey on May 6. President Biden will not be in attendance. American Presidents generally send a delegation to the coronation rather than personally attending, so there is nothing unusual here. The First Lady will likely lead the delegation.

However, some of the press doesn’t see it that way.

On Wednesday, The U.K. Telegraph posted the headline, “Joe Biden has gravely insulted Britain.” The subtitle read, “The US President thinks nothing of lecturing the government on Northern Ireland policy, and has shown contempt for the Special Relationship.”

On Thursday, John Hinderaker at Power Line Blog quoted the Telegraph article:

President Biden’s insulting decision to prioritise Ireland over the UK on his visit to mark the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement should have come as no surprise. It is just as unsurprising as his decision to skip the coronation of King Charles III. Biden, like Barack Obama before him, has shown nothing but contempt for Great Britain and the Special Relationship.

Biden began his presidency in 2021 by removing a bust of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office. …

Biden’s insult towards Churchill and his memory set the tone for his presidency. His approach towards Britain, traditionally America’s closest friend and ally, has been sneering, arrogant and disrespectful. With deep roots in Ireland, Biden’s track record as a US Senator and Washington politician for half a century has been one of unyielding support for the Irish Republican cause. As recently as 2017 he was photographed with Gerry Adams and erstwhile IRA fugitive Rita O’Hare.

Biden’s missteps are not a surprise. Robert Gates, the former defense secretary, once remarked that President Biden has been “wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.”

It wasn’t necessary for President Biden to attend the coronation, but visiting Ireland just weeks before and skipping the coronation is tone-deaf.

Whose Children Are They?

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My heart goes out to parents trying to raise children in today’s culture. Back in the age of dinosaurs when I was a teenager, it was much simpler. There were gay children then, but transgender was not yet on the radar. I will also admit that there was bullying although not to the degree that it seems to happen now. Also, we are more aware of it now because of the media, so there may or may not be an increase. At any rate, when you walked through your front door, the bullying ended–there were no cell phones, chat rooms, etc. Basically for many of us in the 60’s, it was a live and let-live culture. Our parents were in charge and guided us according to their beliefs, and generally speaking, we accepted their guidance. The government was not involved unless there was actual child abuse going on. My, how things have changed.

On Thursday, The Washington Examiner reported the following:

Legislators in California are considering a bill that would allow state officials to separate children from their families without letting the parents know until after the fact.

Government authorities could do this for children who struggle with gender identity problems but whose parents are not being “ affirming ” of their new identification as the opposite sex, or as nonbinary, gender fluid, pansexual, or one of the other made-up genders or sexual orientations.

Not allowing your child to permanently mutilate his or her body is not abuse and should not be subject to government oversight. Parents have the right to discourage their children from taking drastic chemical and surgical measures to change their biological sex. Parents have the right and responsibility to seek psychiatric help for children suffering from gender dysphoria. The state should have no role to play in these situations.

The article concludes:

So then the fair question is, why does he want parents cut out of the picture? Children who are the victims of abuse can already access regular anxiety or depression counseling.

This is clearly about making sure children confused about their gender can be transitioned and affirmed in their delusions without their parents’ knowledge. In fact, it sounds similar to the plans by a Virginia LGBT group called the Pride Liberation Project to help gay youth get a new home with gay couples if their parents are not on board with their same-sex attraction and choices.

Children who are legitimate victims of abuse already have avenues to report their parents and seek real counseling and assistance. This bill severs the important ties between parents and children and aims to impose Wiener’s value system onto all families instead of letting the actual parents make the best moral and legal decisions to help their children.

Keep you hands off of our children!