Monthly Archives: March 2024
When The Courts Limit The Bureaucracy, Life Is Good!
On Friday, The Epoch Times reported that a Texas judge has struck down a regulation that was issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in 2023.
The article reports:
The rule was issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in 2023 as part of President Biden’s efforts to slash carbon emissions in half by 2030.
Specifically, it required state transportation departments and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to both measure their transportation-related emissions on the U.S. highway system and set their own emission reduction targets.
Additionally, the measure required state DOTs and MPOs to report biennially on their progress in meeting the declining targets. FHWA would also assess the state’s progress toward achieving those targets, according to the rule.
Texas sued the DOT in December, arguing the agency lacked legal authority from Congress to enact the rule, and that it violates the Administrative Procedure Act.
In his ruling, Judge James Hendrix of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas agreed, stating that the Biden administration lacked authority under law to impose the greenhouse gas emissions performance measure.
“When a regulation attempts to override statutory text, the regulation loses every time, regulations can’t punch holes in the rules Congress has laid down,” the judge wrote, citing a previous case, Djie v. Garland.
The article concludes:
In finalizing the rule in December last year, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the performance measure would provide states with a “clear and consistent framework to track carbon pollution and the flexibility to set their own climate targets.” Officials also said transportation is the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
A spokesperson for the highway administration, which is part of the Transportation Department, told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement: “ The Department of Transportation (DOT) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) remain committed to supporting the Biden-Harris Administration’s climate goals of cutting carbon pollution in half by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.”
“We are reviewing the Texas court’s decision and determining next steps,” the spokesperson added.
When are we going to go back to the time that the people who were elected to make the laws made the laws. We are being governed by a bunch of unelected bureaucrats, and that is not what our Founding Fathers designed. It’s time for Congress to read the Constitution and take their responsibilities seriously.
The Stealing Begins
There are a lot of ways to steal an election–you can do it electronically, you can do it with mail-in ballots, you can do it with basic voter fraud, or you can be subtle and do it by going in to places that you know will vote the way you want them to and paying people to register those voters and get them to the polls. Right now, that is the preferred method.
On Saturday, The Federalist reported:
With a little over seven months until Election Day, “Bidenbucks” are ramping up where Team Biden’s sweeping taxpayer-funded get-out-the-vote order is most needed. Meanwhile, a federal judge has stopped a Bidenbucks complaint described as “the MOST important election integrity lawsuit in the country.”
The Michigan Department of State recently announced a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Small Business Administration “to promote civic engagement and voter registration in Michigan.” The agreement, according to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman is a “first-of-its-kind collaboration” for the federal agency. It is expected to run through Jan. 1, 2036. That is, if legal challenges can’t stop the apparently unconstitutional “understanding.”
“Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy. Like voting, they play a direct role in improving people’s lives,” the swing state’s leftist secretary of state, who fancies herself as a defender of democracy, said in a press release. “I’m proud we are working with the Small Business Administration for this first-in-the-nation effort connecting Michigan’s small business community with the tools and information they need to play an even greater active role in our democracy.”
First of all, we are a representative republic–not a democracy.
The article concludes:
“…Plaintiffs have alleged only an institutional injury resulting from ‘a general loss of legislative power,’” the judge wrote in her decision. “A vague, generalized allegation that elections, generally, will be undermined, is not the type of case or controversy that this court may rule on under Article III.”
But there’s nothing vague or generalized about the effects of Biden’s voter registration executive order that serves as a federal government-funded GOTV campaign for Democrats.
As the lawsuit notes, the executive fiat requires all federal agencies to “identify and partner with specified partisan third party organizations,” “distribute voter registration and vote-by-mail ballot application forms,” “assist applicants in completing voter registration and vote-by-mail ballot application forms,” and “solicit third-party organizations.” It also “directs state officials to provide voter registration services on agency premises.”
All of it is being done without congressional approval or appropriation. Meanwhile, the Biden administration refuses to release records on the initiative, raising the question: What does Team Biden have to hide?
There will be more of this activity as November approaches.
From my friends at Townhall:
Cooking The Books
The Biden administration claims that the economy is really doing well. Some of us who buy gasoline or shop at grocery stores might not agree with that statement. The other claim has been that there is a booming job market. Our city is have layoffs in some of our local companies, is yours? There seems to be something fishy here. On March 29th, Zero Hedge posted an article explaining what was fishy. This is one of those articles when I post what I don’t totally understand, so please be patient. I have very little to add–the article says it all.
The article reports:
The first red flags emerged in the summer of 2022: that’s when the Biden Labor Department started well and truly rigging the labor market data.
Regular readers may recall that it was back in July of 2022, when we first warned that something had “snapped” in the labor market: that’s when a striking discrepancy emerged between the number of US Payrolls (as measured by the BLS’ Establishment Survey, a far more crude and imprecise, yet much more market-moving data series), and the number of actual Employed Workers (as measured by the BLS’ far more accurate Household Survey) . As we showed then, after the two series had tracked each other tick for tick for years, a wide gap opened in March 2022 which quickly grew to 1.5 million jobs in just 3 months…
The article includes the following chart:
The article further explains:
And while some of this discrepancy could be explained with the record surge in multiple jobholders, which increased by 1 million since March 2022 to an all time high of 8.6 million at the end of 2023 (as a reminder, the Establishment Survey counts 1 worker have 2 or 3 (or more) multiple jobs as, well, 2 or 3 (or more) separate jobs, even if it is just one worker trying to make ends meet under the roaring inflation of Bidenomics), most of the gap remained unexplained.
There was more: it was around the summer of 2022 that the Biden labor department – in its zeal to show job growth no matter the cost, or quality of jobs – also started fooling around with the composition of the labor market, with most of the monthly gains going to part-time workers, even as full-time workers stagnated or declined. The culmination, as we reported earlier this month, is that in February 2024, the US had 132.9 million full-time jobs and 27.9 million part-time jobs. Which is great… until you look back one year and find that in February 2023 the US had 133.2 million full-time jobs, or more than it does one year later! And yes, all the job growth since then has been in part-time jobs, which have increased by 921K since February 2023 (from 27.020 million to 27.941 million).
The article concludes:
Putting it all together, we now know – as the Philly Fed reported first – that the labor market is far weaker than conventionally believed. In fact, no less than 800,000 payrolls are “missing” when one uses the far more accurate Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data rather than the BLS’ woefully inaccurate and politically mandated payrolls “data”, and if one looks back the the monthly gains across most of 2023, one gets not 230K jobs added on average every month but rather 130K.
Of course, none of that paints Bidenomics in a flattering picture, because while one can at least pretend that issuing $1 trillion in debt every 100 days to add 3 million jos per year is somewhat acceptable, learning that that ridiculous amount buys 800,000 jobs less is hardly the endorsement that the White House needs.
Which is also why nobody in the mainstream media – which is now nothing more than the PR smokescreen for the Biden puppetmasters, the government and the deep state – will ever mention this report.
As such, we urge all readers to read Philly Fed analysis (link here) and to analyze the excel data (link here) at their own leisure, because in a fascist state, the media no longer works for the people.
Think of these numbers when you vote in November.
Remember What Actually Is
It’s very easy in the heat of a moment to forget the history of a conflict (ask any husband or wife who has had an argument with their spouse). Somehow in the fog of the war in Gaza, a lot of basic history and truth has been forgotten. On Thursday, Victor Davis Hanson posted an article at American Greatness about the war in Gaza. He reminds us of the roots and events of that war that the media seems to be overlooking.
The article reports:
“Occupied Gaza.” Prior to October 7, there were roughly two million Arab citizens of Israel but no Jewish citizens in Gaza. Gazans in 2006 voted in Hamas to rule them. It summarily executed its Palestinian Authority rivals. Hamas cancelled all future scheduled elections. It established a dictatorship and diverted billions of dollars in international aid to build a vast underground labyrinth of military installations.
So Gaza has been occupied by Hamas, not Israel, for two decades.
The Jews were not allowed to buy property in Gaza. Any Arab that sold land to a Jew was executed. That is the example of an apartheid state.
The article also notes:
“Collateral Damage.” Hamas began the war by deliberately targeting civilians. It massacred them on October 7 when it invaded Israel during a time of peace and holidays. It sent more than 7,000 rockets into Israeli cities for the sole purpose of killing noncombatants. It has no vocabulary for the collateral damage of Israeli civilians, since it believes any Jewish death under any circumstances is cause for celebration.
Hamas places its terrorist centers beneath and inside hospitals, schools, and mosques. Why? Israel is assumed to have more reservations about collaterally hitting Gaza civilians than Hamas does exposing them as human shields.
“Disproportionate.” We are told Israel wrongly uses disproportionate force to retaliate in Gaza. But it does so because no nation can win a war without disproportionate violence that hurts the enemy more than it is hurt by the enemy.
The U.S. incinerated German and Japanese cities with disproportionate force to end a war both Axis powers started. The American military in Iraq nearly leveled Fallujah and Mosul by disproportional force to root out Islamic gunmen hiding among innocents. Hamas has objections to disproportionate violence—but only when it is achieved by Israel and not Hamas.
“Two-state solution.” Prior to October 7, there was a de facto three-state solution, given that Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza were all separate states ruled by their own governments, two of which were illegitimate without scheduled elections.
It was not Israel, but the people of Gaza and the West Bank who institutionalized the “from river to the sea” agenda of destroying its neighbor.
Israel would have been content to live next to an autonomous Arab Gaza and West Bank that did not seek to destroy Israel in their multigenerational efforts to form their own “one-state solution.”
Please follow the link above the read the entire article. It is a reminder of how the truth has been propagandized as the war has continued.
When You Know You Have Made An Impact
Republican candidate for superintendent of the state’s schools, Michele Morrow is running for superintendent of the state’s schools in North Carolina. Michele Morrow is a ‘mama bear’ who wants to step up to the plate and protect the children of North Carolina from the indoctrination and socially unacceptable material that is currently in our schools. I have met Michele on numerous occasions and am confident that she would do an awesome job as superintendent of the state’s schools. She must have impressed a lot of people because the mainstream national media is working very hard to destroy her.
On Wednesday, Breitbart posted an article about some of the recent attacks on Candidate Morrow.
The article reports:
On Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Last Word,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) stated that the Republican candidate for superintendent of the state’s schools, Michele Morrow, is part of an “extreme” group of Republican candidates running statewide in the State of North Carolina and one example of Morrow’s extremism is the fact that she homeschools all of her children.
Cooper said that the Republicans are “going for power, and they’re not paying attention to the real issues that are facing the people of North Carolina and the people across this country. So, we’re going to work very hard. I think the road to the presidency runs through North Carolina.
There is a concerted effort to turn North Carolina purple this year. Obviously, I hope it fails miserably. I also expect to see Governor Cooper’s name on the 2028 Democrat primary ballot for President.
From my friends at Townhall:
The difference is that in one case the restriction was put on by the manufacturer and in the other case the restriction is gradually being put on by the government.
This Is A Good Idea
On Wednesday, Breitbart reported that the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of signature verification for mail-in voting in the state of Pennsylvania. Mail-in voting has been found to be one of the major sources of voter fraud in America. This is a step toward election integrity.
The article reports:
In a 2-1 ruling by three Democrat-appointed judges, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a previous ruling from a federal district court that struck down the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling that required a “dated signature requirement” for mail-in voting. Per the RNC:
In November 2022, the RNC, NRCC, and PAGOP secured a victory on this issue in front of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. A federal district court then struck down the dated signature requirement in November 2023. We appealed, and now the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed with the RNC’s argument.
This was a 2-1 ruling handed down by 3 Democrat-appointed judges. This ruling will have far-reaching effects regarding left-wing attempts to weaponize the Materiality Provision of the Civil Rights Act across the country and represents a victory for mail ballot safeguards in a crucial swing state.
The article concludes:
Pennsylvania, RNC Chairman Michael Whatley hailed the decision as a “crucial victory for election integrity.”
“This is a crucial victory for election integrity and voter confidence in the Keystone State and nationwide. Pennsylvanians deserve to feel confident in the security of their mail ballots, and this 3rd Circuit ruling roundly rejects unlawful left-wing attempts to count undated or incorrectly dated mail ballots. Republicans will continue to fight and win for election integrity in courts across the country ahead of the 2024 election,” he said in a statement.
The case is PA State Conference of NAACP Branches vs. Secretary Commonwealth of PA, No. 23-3166 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
This is a positive step toward election integrity.
Laws For Thee But Not For Me
On Wednesday, The New York Post reported that Jon Stewart, after stating that “that Donald Trump’s civil real-estate case overvaluing his properties was “not victimless,”” was found to have done similar things.
When The New York Post did some investigating, this is what they found:
But it didn’t take long for internet sleuths to look into Stewart’s own property history, which shows his New York City penthouse sold for 829% more than its assessed value, records confirmed by The Post reveal.
In 2014, Stewart sold his 6,280-square-foot Tribeca duplex to financier Parag Pande for $17.5 million.
The property’s asking price at that time is not available in listing records.
But according to 2013-2014 assessor records obtained by The Post, the property had the estimated market-value at only $1.882 million.
…The actual assessor valuation was even lower, at $847,174.
Records also show that Stewart paid significantly lower property taxes, which were calculated based on that assessor valuation price — precisely what he called Trump out for doing in his Monday monologue.
Pande, who purchased the penthouse from Stewart, then resold the property at a nearly 26% loss, according to the Real Deal — at just over $13 million — in 2021.
Clean up your own backyard!
The article concludes:
Trump had valued the property, known as Seven Springs, at $261 million.
The difference between Stewart and Trump’s cases is that a judge ruled that Trump sometimes exaggerated to lenders about how big his properties were, including the square footage of his Trump Tower apartment.
Last month, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to pay $355 million — and temporarily banned him from doing business in the state — relying heavily on the assessed valuations of the properties to determine the ruling.
The $454 million bond to appeal the ruling marks the highest bond ever recorded in United States history against a single individual.
I guess the laws only apply to some people.
Waiting For The Constitutional Challenge
On Wednesday, The Federalist posted an article about the new red flag law the Biden administration recently announced. The article notes that this law is unconstitutional. We all want to limit gun violence, but we need to find a way to do it without infringing on peoples’ constitutional rights.
The article reports:
On Saturday, Vice President Kamala Harris touted the administration’s new National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center, which will “support the effective implementation of state red flag laws” and “keep guns out of the hands of people who pose a threat to themselves or others.” But there is a problem: Congress never authorized the U.S. Department of Justice to create this resource center. The administration confuses “grants … to implement state … mental health courts, drug courts, veterans’ courts, and extreme risk protection order programs” with creating an entirely new center for one of these areas.
This isn’t the first time the Biden administration has gone beyond what the law allows and done more harm than good.
The Department of Justice press release claims that Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs, also known as red flag laws) will “reduce firearm homicides and suicides.” Surveys show likely voters support laws that “allow guns to be temporarily confiscated by a judge from people considered by a judge to be a danger to themselves or others” by at least 2-1 margins.
If we truly want to curb gun violence, let’s work toward building stronger families with two parents who live together and raise their children together. Let’s make a decision to value life in all its stages–neither killing the unborn or advising euthanasia for the elderly or infirm. The guns are not the problem–mental illness and the devaluing of life are the problem.
Essential Citizenship
Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D
History has clearly shown that in order for a country to survive, especially a republic, it must retain its essential cultural integrity. The Founding Fathers recognized this fact when they emphasized the importance of educating each generation about the values expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson referred to this as patriotic knowledge, beliefs and duties as citizens.
A question we are faced with now, is how well are doing developing and ensuring that we have patriotic citizens who appreciate America’s uniqueness. It is obvious to me that love and respect for America has been declining, primarily due to the influence of the Left on our public education system. Instead of learning about the freedoms and opportunities that we have in America, they are taught that America is a flawed country and needs to be “fundamentally transformed” as Barack Obama stated. Indoctrination through Critical Race Theory (CRT), Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), the 1619 Project, and transgender instruction is not producing freedom loving patriotic citizens. No wonder so many parents are choosing to take their children out of the public school system. Obviously, no country is without flaws. America went through a period where slavery was tolerated, as it was in many other countries. Ridding our country of slavery was not easy, but was accomplished by dedicated patriots who realized that the Declaration of Independence emphasized the rights of all people regardless of race and were willing to fight for that principle. The Left, instead of accepting equal opportunity regardless of race, now wants to use a system of racial quotas through the DEI agenda. This will only divide our country; something we cannot allow.
No clear thinking person wants race or gender as a determining factor in the selection of people for positions in our society. When you go to a surgeon, you want to be assured that that person has the requisite skills to perform successful surgery; similarly, with other professions and positions of responsibility. Knowing that race or gender is being used in the selection process, creates doubt that should not exist in the minds of the public. We deserve better than that. Our children should be taught that success depends on their motivation and hard work and that the American Dream still exists in American for all those willing to work to achieve it. Not as the Left would have it that the government is there to take care of you.
Look at the message that the Biden regime is sending to the rest of the world with its open border policies: break our immigration laws, lie about needing asylum and we will give you free food, shelter, cell phones and healthcare all paid for by the hard working citizens of America. These illegal invaders do not have the values to make good citizens as the Democrat run sanctuary cities are finding out. These illegals need to be deported before it is too late. This election will determine the fate of our country. No question. A blind man could see what is coming. You must get out an vote!
A Very Predictable Reaction To The New Law
On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that California fast food restaurants are beginning to lay off workers in anticipation of the new minimum wage that will take place April 1.
The article reports:
A California state law is set to raise fast-food workers’ wages in April to $20 an hour. Some restaurants there are already laying off staff and reducing hours for workers as they try to cut costs.
California restaurants, particularly pizza joints, have outlined plans to cut hundreds of jobs in the months leading up to the April 1 wage mandate, according to state records. Other operators said they have halted hiring or are scaling back workers’ hours.
Michael Ojeda, a Pizza Hut driver for eight years in Ontario, Calif., received notice in December that his last day would be in February, according to a letter from his former employer. Pizza Hut franchisee Southern California Pizza offered $400 in severance if he stayed through February, but Ojeda, who said he made hundreds of dollars a week in wages and tips as a delivery driver, went on unemployment instead.
“Pizza Hut was my career for nearly a decade and with little to no notice it was taken away,” said Ojeda, 29, who previously supported his mother and partner on his Pizza Hut delivery wages.
Southern California Pizza didn’t respond to requests for comment. Pizza Hut said it was aware of some of its California franchisees changing their delivery services.
The article concludes:
Alexander Johnson, a second-generation owner of 10 California Auntie Anne’s and Cinnabon restaurants, said the higher wages would lift his labor costs by around $470,000 annually. He has reduced his staff by about 10, and his 73-year-old parents have returned to working in the business to help shave costs.
Johnson said he turned down a recent offer to add a location in a waterfront tourist area in San Francisco because of the projected operating costs.
“It pains me to think about shutting down stores or laying people off,” said Johnson, who moved to Nevada this year to open Scooter’s Coffee locations in the state. “I love California, and I’m very sad about what’s going on.”
This new law will also have a negative impact on people entering the workforce for the first time. Unemployment will increase under the new law, and it will be more difficult to find an entry-level job. Companies are not in the habit of training inexperienced workers at the rate of $20 an hour. I wonder how long this law will stay in place.
From my friends at Townhall:
Where Do I Go To Become An Illegal Alien
Are Americans becoming second-class citizens in their own country? On Monday, Howie Carr, a Boston talk show host, posted a list of all of the freebies currently being given to illegal aliens in Massachusetts. The list is extensive, but I will post some of the highlights.
Some highlights:
GENERAL WELFARE COSTS FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS:
Free hotel rooms at $150+ a day.
Three meals a day at $64 per person per diem.
Free on-site medical & dental services (including condoms).
Special diet for Ramadan.
Free same-day dry cleaning w/free pick up & delivery.
Free housekeeping twice a week.
Free cell phones, chargers/charging ports.
Free tablets, IPads.
Free clothing, new & used.
Everyone got new free winter coat, gloves and shoes.
Free toiletries (tooth paste, deodorant, special “ethnic” shampoos, skin cream, aspirin, tooth brushes, feminine products).
“FOR THE CHILDREN”:
Free diapers, wipes, diaper pails, cribs, bassinets, playpens, baby bottles, baby formulas, free car seats, free new mother bags, playrooms for young illegals w/free toys & books which must be replaced often because of destruction.
SUNDRY FREE STUFF & SERVICES:
Free tax preparation at $350 per family. Even though next to none work, all will get big returns via “child tax credit.”
Free work-permit attorney.
Free asylum attorney.
Free MassHealth (Medicaid) coverage.
Free vaccination clinics.
Free WIC (Women, infants, children) cards, $400-800 a month on top of 3 free meals a day.
Free DTA (Dept. of Transitional Assistance) welfare checks… “family” of 4 pockets $2880 a month.
Free Uber/Lyft to schools, grocery stores, doctors’ appts., hospital, job interviews, entertainment.
Free public transportation, but nobody takes a bus when they can get a free Uber.
Free transportation to church, via either Uber or church provided.
Holiday parties.
Movie nights in hotel.
IF THE ILLEGALS EVER DECIDE TO LEAVE ON MOVING DAY THEY GET:
$30,000 in “rental assistance” over 2 years from state’s HomeBase program.
Free UHaul & boxes.
Free luggage on moving day.
Free new beds for all “family” that moved into new flophouse. Delivered free of charge.
Free furniture up to 10 items (couch, tables, end tables, rugs, etc.).
A free move-in package (plates, towels, cutlery, etc.) Up to $900. Delivered free.
Illegals get free tax preparation so that they can get child tax credit refunds from the government when they are here illegally in addition to an instant home starter kit. This is insane. What do our veterans and their families get?
The Continuing Lawfare
The Epoch Times reported yesterday that the lawfare against President Trump slowed slightly yesterday when the New York state Supreme Court’s First Judicial Department Appellate Division granted a stay of enforcement on the $464 million judgment on former President Donald Trump.
The article reports:
The New York state Supreme Court’s First Judicial Department Appellate Division has granted a stay of enforcement on the $464 million judgment on former President Donald Trump with conditions, allowing The Trump Organization to avert having assets imminently seized by the New York attorney general.
The order came after defense attorneys argued that a $464 million bond was impossible after having contracted four brokers to negotiate with more than 30 companies. Sureties don’t issue bonds that large for private individuals, and even if The Trump Organization were a public conglomerate they could issue such a bond to, it would require some $570 million in cash to cover additional premiums.
The court’s conditions for lowering the bond include President Trump posting $175 million within 10 days and the other orders on the judgment going into effect.
The judgment permanently bars former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg and former Comptroller Jeffrey McConney from serving in financial control of any New York business entity; permanently bars President Trump, Mr. Weisselberg, and Mr. McConney from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation for three years; bars President Trump from applying for loans from New York financial institutions for three years; and bars Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump from serving as an officer or director in New York for two years.
There was no stay requested for the continuance of an independent monitor overseeing financial matters in The Trump Organization or the installation of a compliance officer.
Just for the record, there is no Constitutional justification for a government entity placing a monitor or a compliance officer in a private business. This is an affront to the concept of free enterprise that built America. I would like to see every major business leave New York State until they rescind whatever ‘law’ they are using to justify their actions against President Trump.
Betraying An Ally
Yesterday Breitbart posted an article about the impact of the Biden administration’s decision not to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Thank God the United Nations never called for a ceasefire during World War II. Why hasn’t the United Nations called for a ceasefire in Ukraine?
The article reports:
Hamas is reportedly refusing to accept Israel’s terms for a hostage deal and digging in on its demands after the Biden administration refused to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution on Monday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The resolution did not require that Israeli hostages be released as a condition of a ceasefire — a requirement that the U.S. had made in previous proposals. Instead, the resolution simply mentioned the release of the remaining hostages.
Hamas saw that as a victory — as did nations like South Africa, which is currently pursuing a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, claiming that Israel is committing “genocide” in its war against Hamas.
Hamas praised the Security Council, and said that it was prepared to discuss the exchange of Israeli hostages (which it described as “prisoners”) for Palestinian terror convicts — but only after a ceasefire.
The Times of Israel reported: “Hamas says it has informed mediators that the terror group will stick to its original position on reaching a comprehensive ceasefire, which includes the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, a return of displaced Palestinians and a “real” exchange of prisoners.”
The article concludes:
A draft U.S. resolution, which was vetoed by Russia and China last Friday, made a ceasefire dependent on the release of the Israeli hostages — indeed, that was one of the reasons cited by opponents of the U.S. draft for voting against it.
The White House claimed Monday that its position had not changed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disagreed, canceling a meeting between his senior aides and President Joe Biden’s aides to discuss their differences.
Kirby said that the Biden administration was “perplexed” by Netanyahu’s decision, and claimed Netanyahu was overreacting to the resolution by “choosing to create a perception of daylight here when they don’t need to do that.”
The Biden administration’s decision to abstain from the resolution recalls a similar decision by the Obama White House in its last weeks in 2016, when the U.S. abstained from U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334, which declared the Israeli presence across the 1949 armistice lines — including in the Old City of Jerusalem — illegal. The backlash against that decision led President Donald Trump to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Are we really sure that the hostages are still alive?
What A Difference A President Makes
The following was posted on Twitter on Sunday by 60 Minutes:
One of the comments made was, “Did we lose a war?”
When Senators Turn Out Much Better Than Expected
On Sunday, Steve Hayward posted an article at Power Line Blog about some recent comments by Senator John Fetterman. I am amazed by the common sense of a man who when he was elected seemed seriously limited in his mental capacities. The article includes the following Tweet, which was in response to Secretary of State Antony Blinken warning Israel that it may find itself diplomatically “isolated” in the world if it attacks Rafah:
We need to remember that Israel did not start this war. We also need to remember that Israel has not been training its kindergarten children for war since 1948. Israel is not the problem. Arabs have more freedom in Israel than in any other part of the Middle East–they are included in Israel’s governing bodies, they are able to buy land, and they are treated as full citizens. In the Arab nations, Israelis are not shown that respect. It’s time to demand equal rights for Jews in the Middle East and to end the terrorist groups that planned October 7th.
Who Is Protecting American Cities?
On Sunday, Townhall posted an article about an Amendment to H.R. 2882 proposed by Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) that would have stopped the Biden Administration from chartering more than 32,000 illegal immigrants from their countries to various American communities.
The article reports:
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) called out Democrats on Friday night after they opposed legislation that would protect American tax dollars from being spent on flights for hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens to be flown to cities across the country.
“Make no mistake here. President Biden has secretly been flying hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens in foreign countries into blue-city airports,” Hagerty said from the Senate floor. “Just last year alone, in 2023, it was reported that some 320,000 illegal aliens have been flown in using this method.”
…Hagerty also warned about the implications of illegal aliens living in American communities would have on Congressional seats and electoral college votes.
“Illegal aliens are counted when determining Americans’ representation in government, and the worth of their votes. The more illegal aliens and non-citizens in your state or district, the greater your voting power in Congress and presidential elections,” Hagerty said in a statement. “This means that in a state like California—or a city like New York—millions of illegal aliens result in several more Congressional seats and Electoral College votes for that jurisdiction.”
He claimed that this explains why every single Democrat who voted on his amendment opposed it, adding that the left is “weaponizing the census.”
Hagerty accused Democrats of being desperate to preserve their political power and making it easier for blue states to “backfill their declining populations” by delivering illegal immigrants to their towns.
There is no guarantee how the illegal aliens will vote (without a doubt, they will be voting within five years); however, they will currently impact the census and the Electoral College. Somehow I don’t think this is what the Founding Fathers had in mind.
The Value Of Drug-Sniffing Dogs
On Saturday, The Hill posted an article about a drug seizure at the Otay Mesa, California, cargo facility this month.
The article reports:
Mexican cartels for decades have devised creative ways to smuggle narcotics and other contraband across the southern U.S., including using produce, law enforcement officials say. This month, in one week, thousands of pounds of meth were seized hidden in shipments of peppers, tomatillos and carrots.
At the Otay Mesa, California, cargo facility this month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized large quantities of methamphetamine hidden under packages of the vegetables.
In one instance, CBP officers stopped a 27-year-old male with a valid border crossing card driving a commercial tractor-trailer with a shipment manifested for peppers and tomatillos. At first glance, the shipment appeared to contain only peppers and tomatillos. But after a K-9 unit screened it, officers examined the trailer and found a box containing a crystal-like substance. Additional officers were radioed to provide assistance and began extracting package after package hidden under the produce. They found 3,594 packages that were tested and identified as methamphetamine. The stash totaled 3,671.58 pounds.
The same week, CBP officers at the same facility uncovered another massive load of meth being smuggled in using carrots.
They stopped a 44-year-old man, also a valid border crossing card holder, driving a commercial tractor trailer hauling a shipment manifested as carrots. Officers unloaded the cases of carrots and found suspicious packages hidden underneath, which were tested and identified as methamphetamine. Overall, they seized 574 packages weighing approximately 2,900 pounds.
In both instances, the meth and commercial tractor-trailers were seized; the drivers were turned over to Homeland Security Investigations.
I do believe that part of the problem with drug smuggling is that unfortunately America is a prime market for those drugs. I don’t have a solution to that problem other than to discourage drug use among the youth and imprison drug users until they are willing to go through treatment. Because treatment doesn’t work unless the drug user is willing to cooperate, that would not be an ideal solution.
The article concludes:
As CBP officers continue to seize large quantities of drugs, California Border Patrol chiefs have warned of increased security threats between ports of entry where checkpoints have been closed due to current administration policies. When deposed by the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security during its impeachment investigation of DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, they expressed alarm about not knowing how many people or drugs are being smuggled across the border.
Despite being stretched thin, California CBP and Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 500,000 illegal border crossers in fiscal 2023, The Center Square reported.
Record high illegal entries continued along the southwest border in the first quarter of fiscal 2024, with California seeing higher entries as Texas’ resistance grew, The Center Square reported.
It’s time to seal the border until we can get illegal immigration and drug smuggling under control.
When Making Peace Isn’t Possible
On March 18th, The Washington Free Beacon posted an article about the futility of trying to make peace with radical Islamists.
The article reports:
A California synagogue axed its leadership and is struggling to retain members after leasing its facility to a Muslim group that brought in an anti-Israel speaker who compared Israel to Nazi Germany.
Hamakom synagogue, a conservative congregation of around 900 families located in an upscale Los Angeles suburb, says it was trying to ease tensions between the Jewish and Muslim communities when it decided to lease its space this month to the Islamic Society of West Valley, a neighboring Muslim faith group that needed space to hold services during the holy month of Ramadan.
Hamakom entered into an agreement with the Islamic Society that allowed it to take over the synagogue’s main campus, pushing Jewish members onto a smaller satellite branch. In anticipation of the lease’s commencement, the synagogue’s leadership covered up pictures of Israeli hostages captured by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, according to photographs reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon, sparking anger among Jewish congregants.
Soon after the Islamic Society began using Hamakom’s facility, it hosted anti-Israel activist Hussam Ayloush, who said last year that Israel did not have a right to defend itself following the Oct. 7 attack and compared Israel to Nazi Germany. The invite led many Jewish members to threaten to resign from the shul, according to internal emails viewed by the Free Beacon, and prompted Hamakom to sever its rental contract with the Islamic Society within days of inking it.
I am sure that there are moderate Muslims in America who behave themselves better than the group that rented the synagogue. However, there is a major thread of anti-Semitism that runs through the Muslim faith. Until the Muslims themselves cut that thread, I would strongly suggest that no religious group lease space to Muslims.
Destroying Democracy To “Save It”
First of all, America is not a democracy–it it a Representative Republic, and the people in Congress are supposed to be there to represent the voters and serve the people. Unfortunately, many in Congress have decided that their power and their will are more important than the will and the people. They know best, and if the people are going to vote ‘wrong’, they have to be overridden. On Saturday, The Gateway Pundit revealed the plan the uni-party has to keep President Trump from being President again.
The article reports:
RINO Representative Mike Gallagher (WI) will exit the House as early as next month.
Gallagher, who is currently serving as the chairman of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, last month announced that he will not seek reelection.
Instead of serving out the rest of his term, Gallagher will retire early leaving the GOP with a one-vote majority!
But it’s worse than that.
Gallagher announced he will leave in mid-April. If Gallagher would have left before April 9th he would have triggered a special election in his district. Because he is leaving after April 9th but still in April, there will be no special election so the seat will remain empty.
This ensures that Republicans will lose another seat in Congress.
This is how the Uniparty works.
They do everything they can to screw their voters.
So what happens next? The plan is for one or two uni-party Republicans to leave before November. At that point the Democrats take control of the House. All investigations of the Biden crime family end. Evidence might mysteriously go missing. President Trump is charged with violating the 14th Amendment and prevented from taking office. At that point we have lost our Republic.
I hope that the above scenario is pure fiction. However, based on what we have seen during the past three years–SWAT raids on people who simply walked through the Capitol on January 6th, prisoners denied bail or hearings for four years (with no one defending their Constitutional rights), and the totally politicization of our justice system–I am not ruling anything out.
This Really Does Not Seem Right
On Monday, The New York Post reported that former President Obama visited No. 10 Downing Street for a meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
President Obama is entitled to visit anyone he wants to, but considering that the current occupant of the White House does not seem to be firing on all cylinders and most of us believe that President Biden is not actually in charge, the visit seems odd.
The article reports:
The 44th president raised eyebrows Monday when he popped by No. 10 Downing Street for a meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Obama, 62, was tight-lipped about the reason for his surprise visit, but the British government said the sitdown had nothing to do with any royal family issues.
“The Prime Minister welcomed Barack Obama to No 10 this afternoon for an informal meeting, as part of the former President’s visit to London with the Obama Foundation,” a Downing Street spokesperson told The Post.
“They discussed a range of issues, including international affairs and AI.”
Obama, who founded his eponymous foundation along with wife Michelle in 2014, was seen entering Sunak’s home office via the back door at around 3 p.m. London time.
The former president remained for roughly one hour before departing alongside US Ambassador to the United Kingdom Jane Hartley, Sky News reported.
Reporters gathered outside No. 10 attempted to coax Obama over to take questions, to which the graying former leader responded, “I’m tempted” before walking back to a waiting motorcade.
Remember that one of the major players in the Russia Hoax used against President Trump was Christopher Steele, a British former intelligence officer with the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1987 until his retirement in 2009, and that foreign intelligence services were used to create the Russia Hoax. As President Trump is currently leading in many of the Presidential polls (yes, I know it is very early), I wonder if another scandal is being planned to interfere with the November election. That is pure speculation, but it is unnerving to me to see former President Obama meeting with mucky-mucks in Britain.