Right Wing Granny

News behind the news. This picture is me (white spot) standing on the bridge connecting European and North American tectonic plates. It is located in the Reykjanes area of Iceland. By-the-way, this is a color picture.

Right Wing Granny

Monthly Archives: May 2024

Those Who Refuse To Learn The Lessons Of History…

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I believe that yesterday was a very sad day for America. The conviction of President Trump is a blight on our country and our justice system. In the 17th century, the French statesman Cardinal Richelieu famously said, “Show me six lines written by the most honest man in the world, and I will find enough therein to hang him.”  That sounds accurate concerning the ongoing attacks on President Trump. I am not saying that he is a perfect man–he may have slept with Stormy Daniels, but I don’t know a lot of men who are facing jail time for sleeping with someone. It is interesting to me that the Democrats loved him and invited him to all of their major events before he became a Republican and ran for President.

Simon Ateba is the owner and sole employee of the website Today News Africa, for which he was a White House correspondent. He is frequently excluded from events by the Biden administration because of his honest reporting and probing questions.

He posted the following on Twitter:

In ancient Rome, a group of men loyal to the Republic feared that Julius Caesar was going to make his dictatorship permanent and establish a monarchy. In 44 BC, they decided to assassinate him, thereby restoring the Republic.

In the ensuing chaos and power vacuum, Caesar’s great nephew Octavius quickly rose to the top, assumed power, and permanently ended the Republic by establishing a de facto monarchy. After Caesar’s death, it came out that he had never intended to create a monarchical system. The conspirators brought about precisely what they had tried to stop.

In 19th-century India, under British colonial rule, authorities decided there were too many venomous cobras in the streets of Delhi, making life uncomfortable for the British residents and their families. To solve this, they offered a reward for every dead cobra residents would bring in. Soon, enterprising locals began to breed cobras in order to make a living from the bounty. The government caught on to this and canceled the program. The breeders, resentful of the rulers and angered by their actions, decided to release their cobras back on the streets, thereby tripling the population from before the government program.

Other notorious examples would include the 18th Amendment establishing prohibitions in the United States in 1920, which was designed to stop the spread of alcoholism but only ended up increasing alcohol consumption by a substantial amount.

Another example is the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese in 1941, designed to decimate the US Naval force in one blow and bring America to its knees. Instead, it shook the American public out of its deep isolationism, ensuring the total mobilization of the country’s superior manpower and resources to not only defeat the Japanese but also to obliterate its military for good. The very success of the attack guaranteed the opposite of the intended result, Robert Greene writes in his spectacular book, “The Laws of Human Nature.”

Be careful what you wish for.

 

Economic Growth Has Significantly Slowed

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On Thursday, The Daily Signal posted an article about the revised downward economic growth in the first quarter of 2024. America is not doing well economically.

The article reports:

The U.S. economy grew less than previously thought in the first quarter of 2024 amid a slowdown in consumer spending, the Bureau of Economic Analysis announced Thursday.

Gross domestic product was revised down in the first quarter from 1.6% to 1.3% year-over-year in a sign that the economy is not as strong as initial estimates indicated, according to a release from the BEA. Economists originally expected growth in the first quarter to be around 2.2%, more in line with the above trend growth seen in the third and fourth quarters of 2023, which were 4.9% and 3.4%, respectively.

The revision was due to new information that shows that consumer spending, private inventory investment, and federal government spending were lower than initial estimates, while state and local government spending, nonresidential and residential fixed investment, and exports were slightly greater than original tallies, according to the BEA.

Current-dollar GDP was also revised down to 4.3% from 4.8%, and real gross domestic income totaled just 1.5% in an initial estimate from the BEA.

Consumer spending is down because consumers are being forced to spend more on necessities and less on extras.

The article concludes:

In an attempt to bring inflation back down to around 2%, the Fed has placed its federal funds rate in a range of 5.25% and 5.50%, a 23-year high, which has put pressure on consumers and businesses to slow spending. The hike in the federal funds rate has increased the cost of credit across the board, making it more expensive to take out debt, such as through credit cards.

The cumulative amount of debt held by Americans totaled $17.69 trillion in the first quarter, with $1.12 trillion of that being on credit cards. The share of people who were behind 90 days or more on their credit card payments in the quarter jumped to 10.7%, outdoing the pandemic high of 10% in the first quarter of 2021.

Job growth has also slowed as of late, with the U.S. adding just 175,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in April, far lower than the 242,000 that were expected, while the unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 3.9%. In April, there were fewer gains in government jobs than in previous months, contributing largely to the slowdown, with March adding 303,000 new jobs.

This problem was government-caused and can be government-solved. Cut taxes and cut spending–that is the solution if Congress ever has the integrity to do it.

The Root Causes Of The Current Inflation

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On Wednesday, Breitbart posted an article about the cause of the level of inflation Americans are currently dealing with.

The article quotes Neel Kashkari, who runs the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

The article reports:

Surging immigration is keeping inflation and interest rates high, Fed honcho Neel Kashkari said in an interview with the Telegraph.

Kashkari, who runs the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, said he’s not ready to consider cutting rates until he sees “several months of real progress on inflation.” The flood of immigrants, he argued, is hindering that progress.

U.S. borrowing costs are likely to stay put for “an extended period of time,” Kashkari warned.

He’s particularly freaked out by the booming demand for housing, which just won’t cool off despite sky-high rates.

Kashkari’s immigration bombshell runs directly contrary to the claims by the Biden administration and its allies that surging immigration is keeping down inflation by depressing wages.

Kashkari said that “dramatic increase in immigration” is boosting housing demand. More people working from home and years of underbuilding aren’t helping either. It’s a perfect storm that’s keeping the housing market red-hot.

The article concludes:

He (Kashkari) also noted that services inflation had been “much stickier” in the past few months, making it even tougher to justify rate cuts.

“In the second half of last year, we saw very rapid disinflationary progress, and that was comforting for all of us because the economy was strong and inflation was falling quickly. I expected and hoped that that was going to continue in the first quarter of this year [but] inflation has more or less moved sideways,” Kashkari said.

Like other Fed officials, Kashkari said he needs solid proof that inflation is heading back to 2 percent before he’s comfortable with rate cuts.

“I want to see evidence that inflation is headed well back down towards the 2 percent target. I’m not saying that we have to get all the way back down to 2 percent before we start cutting, but I need to be convinced that that’s where we’re headed before I would be comfortable normalizing interest rates,” he said.

Rate cuts could result in people feeling better about the economy (a good thing in an election year), but they could also create even more inflation.

 

This Is What Taking A Stand Looks Like

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On Wednesday, The New York Post posted an article about a speech given by Senator John Fetterman at Yeshiva University in New York City.

The article reports:

Sen. John Fetterman told Yeshiva University graduates Wednesday that he was “profoundly disappointed” in Harvard University’s inability to address antisemitism on campus before removing the ceremonial crimson academic hood representing his alma mater.

The Pennsylvania Democrat expressed his disapproval of the Ivy League school during his commencement address at the private Orthodox Jewish university, which bestowed on him its “Hero of Israel” award, the institution’s highest honor. 

“I have been profoundly disappointed [in] Harvard’s inability to stand up for the Jewish community after Oct. 7,” Fetterman, 54, told the new grads at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens. 

Senator Fetterman has openly condemned the attacks of October 7th and supported Israel in its efforts to defend itself.

The article concludes:

Fetterman received his undergraduate degree in 1991 from Albright College in Pennsylvania and obtained an MBA from the University of Connecticut in 1993.

The senator graduated from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in 1999 with a master of public policy degree. He has previously said he doesn’t “recognize” the school as the same place he once attended. 

“As an alum of Harvard — look, I graduated 25 years ago, and of course, it was always a little pinko,” he told Semafor in January. “But now, I don’t recognize it.”

Last month, Fetterman endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. and current US Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) to take over the presidency of Harvard, which is currently being held on an interim basis by Alan Garver, the university’s former provost.

Senator Fetterman has a rather questionable sense of decorum–if you look at the pictures in the article, you notice that he is probably wearing his signature gym shorts under his robe. However, I must say that some of his statements as a Senator have impressed me. He is not afraid to speak his mind when he disagrees with his fellow Democrats. He was elected in 2022 and will be in office until 2028.I wonder if the Pennsylvania Democrats will run a candidate against him if he decides to run for another term.

We Have Met The Enemy And He Is Us!

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If you are old enough to remember the Pogo comic strip, you remember that quote.

On Tuesday, Front Page Magazine reported the following:

Islamic pro-terror groups reacted to the Hamas terror attacks of Oct 7 not only with riots and public pressure campaigns aimed at politicians, but also by privately meeting with top federal and state law enforcement officials to demand that they lock up Jewish political opponents.

The David Horowitz Freedom Center’s investigative arm exclusively reported last month that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an Islamist group whose leader had celebrated Oct 7, had been meeting with attorney generals around the country trying to convince them to arrest journalists and activists who had been investigating and exposing Hamas supporters.

Based on our past history with CAIR, the Freedom Center could be one of their targets.

Now, the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), has been caught meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland and senior Department of Justice (DOJ) officials, including FBI Director Christopher Wray and Associate Attorney General Lisa Monaco, to also discuss targeting Jews.

The meeting, originally reported by Militant Islam Monitor, represents another part of what appears to be a larger effort by Islamist groups to weaponize prosecutors against their critics.

On May 22nd, top Department of Justice officials and the FBI Director met with Arab American Institute boss James Zogby and MPAC founder Salam al-Marayati. Both men had been accused of supporting terrorism , including Hamas, in accusations going back decades.

The article concludes:

CAIR’s efforts to influence state attorney generals and MPAC’s attempt to manipulate the United States Attorney General and the FBI to target political and religious opponents, especially Jews, is in line with Islamist supremacist groups who, in their own home countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, routinely lock up opponents and repress non-Muslims. But that should have no place in America. The Biden administration has opened the doors of the federal government to the worst possible extremists in the hopes of winning another term in office.

Had Al-Marayati not filmed his video, we might never have known what the Biden administration was doing. Instead, a private meeting has gone public and the investigative arm of the David Horowitz Freedom Center will continue monitoring the secret alliance between Islamists and government officials, exposing their events and holding them accountable.

Even as the Biden administration promises that it is fighting antisemitism, it’s holding covert meetings with antisemites who demand that the FBI go after the Jews.

If you are not familiar with the Holy Land Foundation Trial, I suggest that you investigate it. One of the exhibits includes the Muslim Brotherhood’s plan to convert America to Sharia Law through our legal system. One of the unindicted conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation Trial was CAIR. You can find some information on the trial and its outcome here and here.

Our Constitution will protect us only if we protect it.

 

Setting An Ugly Precedent

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As we await the verdict on the New York City trial of President Trump, there are a few things that we need to keep in mind. One thing is the impact this trial will have on future politics and future elections.

On Tuesday, Just the News posted an article about the possible impact of this trial.

The article reports:

Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz said Tuesday that a conviction in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial would weaponize the justice system.

Frankly, I think it has already been weaponized.

The article continues:

Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz said Tuesday that a conviction in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial would weaponize the justice system. 

“If there’s a conviction here, it will change the justice system forevermore,” Dershowitz said on the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show. “It will weaponize the system. It will mean that both sides will try to use the legal system as a way of winning elections.”

Trump is accused of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment involving porn star Stormy Daniels. 

…”If there’s an acquittal, maybe at least we can say the jury system works,” Dershowitz said. “But if there’s a conviction or even a hung jury, it will show that the prosecution benefits from bringing a case, which is no crime at all.”

Dershowitz, who was in the New York courtroom, went on to criticize Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the Trump case.

“I don’t know the reason but it’s obvious that he is not unbiased in this case,” he said. “He wants a conviction.

It is distressing that Loren Merchan, the Judge’s daughter, has been raising money for Democrats using the case as a fund-raising tool. I am not sure that America has ever seen this level of corruption in a presidential election.

Communism: War On The West

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Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D harropcrew1@gmail.com

There was a time in America, particularly from 1945 to 1975, where this article would not have needed to be written. However, recent events have shown that many Americans, particularly the young college-educated, seem to be oblivious to the threat of communism/Marxism. Western civilization is under attack and will fall if we do not stand up to this threat.

No communist/Marxist government has ever brought peace and prosperity to its people; in spite of the utopian promises to their people of how good things will be. Death and destruction is the result. Think I am exaggerating? Not so. A recent article by researcher David Kopel reports that from 1900 to 1987, seventeen communist regimes murdered over 168 million people either in their own country or other countries that they controlled. This does not include deaths by war. The highest totals were China 88 million, the Soviet Union 62 million and North Korea 1.7 million. All of the other 17 communist countries killed at least 100,000 of their own people. No communist government can stay in power without tyranny and use of force against all opposition. The COVID19 pandemic showed how far governments will go in taking away people’s freedom, even in this country. Forced closing of businesses, schools, churches; mandating wearing masks; and forced vaccination have never before occurred in this country. Look at the mass arrests and persecution of the demonstrators at the Capitol on January 6th. This is a government overreaction directed towards their political opposition. What happened to the rioters after George Floyd’s death? Nothing. And Joe Biden has the unmitigated gall to say that Donald Trump is a threat to Democracy. Pot calling the kettle black.

Another way communism/Marxism destroys societies is by dividing the people against one another. Joe Biden, ran on a pledge to unite the country. The result has been the opposite. He calls Trump supporters terrorists and white nationalists, while at the same time making a commencement speech at an all black male college, stating that they may love America but that America does not love them. They must also work ten times as hard as whites to achieve the same success. Racial division at its worst.

Third but not least, all communist regimes fail economically because they use central planning where the party elite determine what is produced, the wages of workers, and keep profits for the government. America was founded on the principle of free enterprise where individuals create and produce products, market them to the consumer, and keep the profits. Unprofitable products fall by the wayside. Free enterprise has led to extensive new products, manufacturing techniques, lower prices, and the highest standard of living in the world. The key is competition. Now along comes the Biden regime, restricting and controlling energy production, mandating unwanted products (e.g. EVs), and stifling creativity. Central control of our economy will never work.

If you agree with the facts in this article, you might want to pass it along, especially to younger people. We all need to be aware of where we are heading before we vote in November. The future of the country is at stake!

Didn’t Anyone Think This Through?

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On Tuesday, The American Thinker posted an article about the demand for copper that the switch to electric vehicles would create.

The article reports:

A team of University of Michigan researchers recently discovered that the amount of copper needed to keep up with the manufactured demand created by the globalist E.V. agenda is “essentially impossible” to generate. On May 16th, Engineering and Technology published an article by Tanya Weaver which covered the results of the new study:

Copper cannot be mined quickly enough to keep up with current policies requiring the transition to electric vehicles (EVs), according to a University of Michigan study.

…

The study found that renewable energy’s copper needs would outstrip what copper mines can produce at the current rate. Between 2018 and 2050, the world will need to mine 115% more copper than has been mined in all of human history up until 2018 just to meet current copper needs without considering the green energy transition.

To meet the copper needs of electrifying the global vehicle fleet, as many as six new large copper mines must be brought online annually over the next several decades. About 40% of the production from new mines will be required for EV-related grid upgrades.

So what exactly do these numbers look like, in context? Well here’s this, also from Weaver:

[A]n EV requires three to five times more copper than petrol or diesel cars, not to mention the copper required for upgrades to the electricity grid.

‘A normal Honda Accord needs about 40 pounds of copper. The same battery electric Honda Accord needs almost 200 pounds of copper,’ said Adam Simon, professor of earth and environmental studies at the University of Michigan.

‘We show in the paper that the amount of copper needed is essentially impossible for mining companies to produce.’

Wow. Wind mill blades that don’t biodegrade filling up our landfills, solar panels made with toxic chemicals, and now not enough copper to be green. Can we please just go back to fossil fuel. It works and can be used in a way to minimize pollution.

Curiouser And Curiouser

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Curiouser and Curiouser is a phrase from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I am using it here to refer to an article I posted on Sunday about a shooting in North Carolina. A Chechen man was shot by a  Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg) Special Forces officer under strange circumstances.

On Monday, Red State posted more information about the shooting.

The article includes a quote from The Moore Country Sheriff’s Office:

Daraev (Ramzan Daraev) was reported to have been working as a subcontractor for Utilities One, a company based in New Jersey, at the time of his death. Investigators are still working to verify his official employment status. At the time of the incident, Daraev was not in possession of any utility equipment, utility clothing, or identification. The incident has been reported to the U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

I am not sure OSHA should have been the agency contacted.

Red State reports:

First, most utilities send some kind of notice to residents that there will be workers/subcontractors out in the field who might access their property. This is an especially good idea in rural North Carolina, and an even better idea in an area so close to Fort Bragg/Liberty, where so many Special Forces soldiers live. Apparently there was no such notification in this case.

Second, generally utilities workers, even if subcontractors, wear some kind of identifying gear and/or reflective vests. Daraev was found 250 yards (more than the length of two football fields) from the roadway and along a power line, according to the MCSD. The Sandhills area of North Carolina (where Carthage is located) is extremely wooded and it’s strange that Daraev wasn’t at least be wearing a reflective vest, since that’s hunting country. It’s also interesting that MCSD doesn’t say what Daraev was wearing when he was shot. Was he wearing camouflage?

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. There are a lot of unanswered questions in this story.

 

What An Interesting Coincidence

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On Monday, Just the News posted an article about the upcoming trial of Hunter Biden for lying on his paperwork to buy a gun. Hallie Biden is scheduled to be a witness in that trial.

The article reports:

President Joe Biden visited the home of his daughter-in-law Hallie Biden Sunday night, just weeks before she is set to testify against first son Hunter Biden in his federal trial for alleged gun crimes. 

Hallie is the widow of Beau Biden and ex-girlfriend of Hunter. The visit by the president Sunday evening was at Hallie’s home in Delaware, according to Axios reporter Alex Thompson and The New York Post. 

The White House did not give an explanation for the president’s visit, which took place at around 8 p.m., also according to The Post.

Hunter Biden is facing two trials this year on gun and tax evasion charges.

One wonders when the last time he visited his daughter-in-law was.

The article concludes:

Prosecutors are alleging that Hunter lied about his use of drugs when he applied to purchase a gun and that the gun was later illegally disposed of. Hallie Biden reportedly got rid of it in 2018.

This might be a trial to watch closely.

Exactly Who Pays Our Taxes?

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On Monday, The Washington Examiner posted an article about the progressive tax code in America. Just for the record, we are already overtaxing the wealthy.

The article reports:

The ultra-wealthy are paying the highest average share of taxes, according to a new analysis from a nonpartisan congressional committee.

The Joint Committee on Taxation found that the top 1% of earners pay an average tax rate of around 30% in combined income, employment, and excise taxes, double or more than the share of taxes that the bottom 80% of the country pays. Additionally, the top 5% of earners in the United States make up a whopping 46% of the country’s tax base.

According to the Economics Help page:

The Laffer Curve states that if tax rates are increased above a certain level, then tax revenues can actually fall because higher tax rates discourage people from working.

This is a picture of the Laffer Curve:

The Reagan tax cuts increased federal revenue. Unfortunately, the Democrats who controlled the House of Representatives offset those increases with increased spending. The Trump tax cuts also increased federal revenue, but again the House of Representatives increased their spending. At some point we need to realize that we don’t need more taxes, we need less spending.

The Biden administration is currently pushing for a tax on unrealized capital gains. The talking point is that it would only impact a very small number of taxpayers. Just for the record, this was the argument used to justify the establishment of a federal income tax in 1913.

The Obvious Contrast

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President Trump gave a speech in the Bronx on Thursday.

Here are a few notes about that speech (from The Federalist):

“I was thrilled to be back in the city I grew up in, the city I spent my life in, the city I HELPED BUILD, and the city WE ALL LOVE — THANK YOU!” Trump said on Truth Social. Trump grew up in Queens but officially moved to Florida in 2019. His effusive praise for New York shows a remarkably positive attitude from the former president, given that the city and state are currently part of a Democrat campaign plot to bankrupt and imprison him.

…“It doesn’t matter whether you’re black or brown or white or whatever the hell color you are — it doesn’t matter. We are all Americans, and we are going to pull together as Americans!” Trump said.

The Federalist also reported:

The contrast with President Joe Biden couldn’t be starker. In three decidedly non-raucous speeches within the last week or so, Biden leaned into racial grievance politics. At a speech at the National Museum of African American History and Culture last Friday, Biden claimed America was beset by “forces trying to deny freedom of opportunity for all Americans.” He claimed there was an “insidious” resistance and an “extreme movement” led by his political opponent to hurt black people. In another disaster of a speech to the NAACP, the White House later had to make 10 corrections to it.

The same day as the NAACP speech, Biden gave the commencement address at Morehouse College, a historically black men’s school in Georgia. In a self-centered speech riddled with some of his familiar falsehoods about his life and family, Biden painted a picture of a racist and evil country.

He said the country was under the “poison of white supremacy” and falsely claimed Americans were trying to put forth a national book ban to harm black people.

It’s “natural to wonder if democracy” actually works, he said. “What is democracy if black men are being killed in the street? What is democracy if a trail of broken promises still leave black — black communities behind? What is democracy if you have to be 10 times better than anyone else to get a fair shot?”

We are not a perfect country. However, I would rather be led by someone who wants to see equal opportunity rather than equal outcome and who doesn’t sow division by claiming we are still playing by 1950’s rules.

A Very Odd Story Out Of North Carolina

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This story is just now making the news.

According to WRAL News posted May 23:

A Fort Liberty soldier shot and killed a utility worker he believed was trespassing outside his home in Moore County, authorities say.

According to the Moore County Sheriff’s Office, around 8:15 p.m. on May 3, deputies were called to a home on Dowd Road in Carthage.

For those who may not know, Fort Liberty was formerly Fort Bragg. There are a few very weird details about this story.

Red Voice Media reports on May 25:

According to reports, two individuals identified as Chechen men were discovered near the soldier’s residence. The family alleges that one of the suspects, 35-year-old Ramzan Daraev from Chicago, was taking unauthorized photographs of their children. As the family confronted the intruders in a wooded area of the property near a power line, a violent altercation ensued, resulting in Daraev being shot multiple times at close range. Another man, identified as Dzhankutov Adsalan, was found in a vehicle at a distance from the incident and was subsequently questioned and released. The investigation is being led by the Moore County Sheriff’s Office.

Fox News reported on May 23:

Sheriff Ronnie Fields said Daraev was working as a subcontractor for Utilities One, a company based in New Jersey, at the time of his death. Investigators are still working to verify his official employment and immigration status.

At the time of the incident, Daraev was not in possession of any utility equipment, utility clothing, or identification. The incident has been reported to the U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Sources tell Fox News that “power company employment is often a cover for status/action” that U.S. intelligence agents use for surveillance of foreign targets overseas.

Another Fox News report stated that the network had unsuccessfully tried to reach the ‘power company’ through telephone calls and emails but had gotten no response.

 

 

Does Anyone On The Political Left Go Grocery Shopping Or Buy Gasoline?

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On Thursday, BizPacReview posted an article about the mainstream media’s spin on America’s current economy. If it were not sad, it would be funny.

The article reports:

MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle is telling Americans not to believe their lying eyes, that President Biden’s economy is fantastic and they are better off economically than they mistakenly believe.

The condescension and gaslighting have kicked into full gear as the presidential election nears. Despite Americans struggling to put food on the table, a roof over their heads, and clothes on their children’s backs, Ruhle is telling them they are basically dimwitted and don’t appreciate how good they have it.

“We need an economic explainer,” Ruhle told the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Austan Goolsbee. “People are confused, they’re exhausted, but they’re also doing quite well.”

“Ruhle, who hosts MSNBC’s ‘The Eleventh Hour,’ had been discussing a recent Federal Reserve report that ‘shows people are still struggling to cover day-to-day expenses, even as inflation has slowed.’ She noted how some major brands are responding by enticing consumers with slashed prices, ‘Target says it is cutting prices on 5,000 essential items, things like milk, butter, pet food. Wendy’s is now offering a $3 breakfast deal. And rivals like McDonald’s are offering new lower-priced value meals,’” Fox Business reported.

The article includes the following screenshot:

This is not the result of corporate greed as President Biden likes to claim–it is the result of companies trying to stay in business after their operating costs skyrocket. Anyone who eats and drives knows that we were much better off four years ago. The problem with inflation is that prices very rarely go back down to where they were.

Shouldn’t Americans Be The Ones Voting In American Elections?

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On Thursday, Fox News reported that the House of Representatives voted to repeal a Washington, D.C. law that allows non-citizens to vote in local elections. The final vote was 262 to 143 to repeal the law. One hundred forty-three Democrats voted to allow non-citizens to vote. Fifty-two of the Democrats voted with the Republicans to limit  voting to American citizens. As our nation gets overrun by illegal aliens, we can expect to see more voting on whether or not elections should be limited to citizens only. Because people who are here illegally are not required to do the studying required to become a citizen (unless they choose to become citizens), many of the non-citizens voting would have no idea of how America works or what it stands for. Since many of the illegal aliens come from countries with non-western cultures, this is a recipe for disaster.

The article reports:

“What we’re doing is, we are talking about passing a law that prohibits citizens of foreign countries from voting in elections in D.C. It prohibits people that are here illegally from voting in elections. It prohibits spies from China from voting in elections. It prohibits people that are here from Russia that have wishes of ill will in the United States from voting in the elections in D.C.,” Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., said during debate for the bill.

GOP lawmakers have also accused Democrats of trying to tip the scales at the ballot box by encouraging illegal immigrants to sign up to vote – something the left has denied.

If the illegal aliens who have entered America during the Biden administration were allowed to vote, they would form a significant voting bloc that American citizens would not be able to overcome.

 

You Might Want To Ask Your Doctor Where He Went To School

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On Thursday, The Washington Free Beacon posted an article about the results of racial preferences in higher education.

The article reports:

Up to half of UCLA medical students now fail basic tests of medical competence. Whistleblowers say affirmative action, illegal in California since 1996, is to blame.

Long considered one of the best medical schools in the world, the University of California, Los Angeles’s David Geffen School of Medicine receives as many as 14,000 applications a year. Of those, it accepted just 173 students in the 2023 admissions cycle, a record-low acceptance rate of 1.3 percent. The median matriculant took difficult science courses in college, earned a 3.8 GPA, and scored in the 88th percentile on the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT).

The article notes:

As the demographics of UCLA have changed, the number of students failing their shelf exams has soared, trends professors at the medical school say are connected.

Between 2020, the year Lucero assumed her post, and 2023, when the first classes she admitted were taking their shelf exams, the failure rate rose dramatically across all subjects, in some cases increasing tenfold relative to the 2020 baseline, per internal data obtained by the Free Beacon.

“UCLA still produces some very good graduates,” one professor said. “But a third to a half of the medical school is incredibly unqualified.”

The collapse in qualifications has been compounded by UCLA’s decision, in 2020, to condense its preclinical curriculum from two years to one in order to add more time for research and community service. That means students arrive at their clinical rotations with just a year of courses under their belt—some of which focus less on science than social justice.

First-year students spend three to four hours every other week in “Structural Racism and Health Equity,” a required class that covers topics like “fatphobia,” has featured anti-Semitic speakers, and is now the subject of an internal review. They spend an additional seven hours a week in “Foundations of Practice,” which includes units on “interpersonal communication skills” and, according to one medical student, basically “tells us how to be a good person.” The two courses eat up time that could be spent on physiology or anatomy, professors say, and leave struggling students with fewer hours to learn the basics.

“This has been a colossal failure,” one professor posted in April on a forum for medical school applicants. “The new curriculum is not working and the students are grossly unprepared for clinical rotations.”

Nearly a fourth of UCLA medical students in the class of 2025 have failed three or more shelf exams, data from the school show, forcing some students to repeat classes and persuading others to postpone a different test, the Step 2 licensing exam, that is typically taken in the third year of medical school and is a prerequisite for most residency programs.

Forgetting your actual mission can lead to getting lost on the road to success. The first problem we need to look at is to figure out why minority children are not getting the basic educational foundation from kindergarten to high school that they need to be successful in medical school–is it cultural or a failure of our schools? The second thing we need to look at is the fact that the medical school has lost its focus. A medical school needs to train doctors to practice medicine. Social justice and racial equality are fine, but if the doctor doesn’t know how to solve a problem, it really doesn’t matter what race the patient is.

We all need to strive for equality, but let’s not lose standards and practical knowledge in the process.

 

Another Take On The Mar-a-Lago Raid

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On Wednesday, I posted an article about the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) having permission to use deadly force during the raid at Mar-a-Lago. The spin on this by the FBI (and some other sources) is that the order for the raid was a standard order and those orders generally allow for the use of deadly force. That may or may not be the case.

On Thursday, The Gateway Pundit posted an article about the raid and the permission to use deadly force.

The article reports:

In an appalling statement released Tuesday evening, the FBI claimed the authorization of deadly force on former President Trump is just “standard protocol.”

As Cristina Laila reported, the FBI also claimed Joe Biden had nothing to do with the use of deadly force on Trump, his family or Secret Service Agents assigned to his detail.

“The FBI, like other law enforcement agencies, requires the team leader of any search warrant or arrest warrant to complete a standardized form known as an “Operations Plan.” This form, which also must be read by the team leader to all assisting agents, is a reminder of the FBI’s deadly force policy. This is a legal requirement to be included on all Ops Plans and read to agents immediately preceding the enforcement action. The President (Biden) has nothing to do with, and has zero input on, an Ops Plan. This is an internal law enforcement document and a standardized form that FBI lawyers require before engaging in any enforcement operations,” the FBI said.

Of course, this was all a lie.

Dan Bongino was one of the first fire back at the corrupt intelligence agency.

Dan Bongino:  This is absolutely a big deal. Don’t buy the bullshit otherwise. It was not a standard op. The MAL raid was an unprecedented action with significant potential for confusion and blue on blue issues and conflict. It also involved competing equities between federal agencies (FBI & USSS) with equal statutory claims to interrupt the other’s activities. Anyone telling you otherwise is either dumb, or playing dumb. I’ve done more deconfliction with Russians in a foreign op I did for the USSS than the FBI did in their search warrant at MAL. Only a dumbass would pitch the “it’s the standard paperwork” line. Go serve a search warrant at the White House in the cocaine case while filling out your “standard paperwork” and see how that works out for you. Wake up.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. It includes a video of an interview with Julie Kelly, the investigative reporter who has uncovered a lot of strange information surrounding the raid.

 

Is This Necessary?

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On Tuesday, The Washington Post posted an article about Hunter Biden’s upcoming trial for lying on a form he filled out the purchase a gun. Simply put, he stated that he was not using drugs at the time when he actually was. I am not a lawyer, but it seems to me that this is a rather open-and-shut case. Either he was or he wasn’t. I realize that being the President’s son complicates things, but lady justice is supposed to be blind.

The article reports:

Hunter Biden, in a trial scheduled to get underway in two weeks, could face testimony from his ex-wife and his brother’s widow, with whom he became romantically involved, according to new filings from federal prosecutors that illustrate just how messy the seemingly simple court case could turn.

The filings from special counsel David Weiss provide a window into prosecutors’ plans and how they may reopen some of the most painful moments in the Biden family’s past, potentially embarrassing not only Hunter Biden but also a president whose political career has long been defined by a close-knit family that stuck together through difficult times.

In black and white, the court papers detail the depth of family members’ turmoil as they struggled to grapple with the death of President Biden’s oldest son, Beau, in 2015, and the drug and alcohol addiction of his younger son, Hunter. The family divisions were deepened when Hunter began a romance with Beau’s widow, Hallie.

I am sorry all this junk has to be introduced in the trial, but I suppose the prosecution has to make its case. It seems to me that Hunter would be better served by simply pleading guilty and accepting the consequences. I suspect he would be pardoned before he was sent to jail. That’s not exactly fair, but it would probably be less troublesome for the Biden campaign to pardon him than to revisit some of the things he has done.

The article concludes:

The recent court filing includes 75 pages of texts and emails that government prosecutors say they will use during the case.

But Hunter Biden publicly describes himself as a recovering addict and has not been shy about admitting his drug use.

“I’m a liar and a thief and a blamer and a user and I’m delusional and an addict unlike beyond and above all other addicts that you know and I’ve ruined every relationship I’ve ever cherished,” Hunter Biden wrote in a Nov. 3, 2018 message to Hallie Biden, according to the court filing.

A few weeks later, he conceded that he was struggling to escape his addiction while in his home state, apparently alluding to his long history, memories good and bad, and numerous connections there.

“What’s the worst place for me to be trying to stay clean?” he wrote. “Delaware.”

One can only hope that he is no longer the person he was in the past.

A Report From Someone Who Was There

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On Tuesday, The New York Post posted an article by Alan Dershowitz about the actions of New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan during the trial of President Trump.

The article reports:

Many experienced lawyers raised their eyebrows when the judge excluded obviously relevant evidence when offered by the defense, while including irrelevant evidence offered by the prosecution.

But when the defense’s only substantive witness, the experienced attorney Robert Costello, raised his eyebrows at one of New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan’s rulings, the court went berserk.

Losing his cool and showing his thin skin, the judge cleared the courtroom of everyone including the media.

For some reason, I was allowed to stay, and I observed one of the most remarkable wrong-headed biases I have ever seen. The judge actually threatened to strike all of Costello’s testimony if he raised his eyebrows again.

That of course would have been unconstitutional because it would have denied the defendant his Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses and to raise a defense.

…Even if what Costello did was wrong, and it was not, it would be utterly improper and unlawful to strike his testimony — testimony that undercut and contradicted the government’s star witness.

The judge’s threat was absolutely outrageous, unethical, unlawful and petty.

Moreover, his affect while issuing that unconstitutional threat revealed his utter contempt for the defense and anyone who testified for the defendant.

The public should have been able to see the judge in action, but because the case is not being televised, the public has to rely on the biased reporting of partisan journalists.

Attorney Dershowitz shared a story in the article about seeing a former student at the trial and chatting with him. Unfortunately the media did not even report that accurately.

The article notes:

But NBC, the Daily Beast and other media decided to make up a story about the event. They claimed that I had a spat with my nemesis, rather than a friendly conversation with a former student.

Their account was made up, yet it was circulated through the media.

To his credit, Eisen (the former student) wrote to the media to correct the account, saying that the person sitting next to him would confirm the media’s false reporting. I doubt we will see a retraction.

This minor incident is simply the tip of a very large and deep iceberg of false reporting about the trial that can only occur because the proceedings are not being televised.

There are television cameras in the courtroom, and they record and transmit every word, but not to the public; only select reporters in the overflow room see what the cameras transmit.

There is absolutely no good reason why a trial of this importance, or any trial, should not be televised live and in real time.

Allowing the public to see their courts in action is the best guarantee of fairness.

This trial is not supposed to be fair. It’s purpose is to convince American voters that President Trump is a felon and that no one should vote for him. The gymnastics they had to to through to bring the case to trial (overlooking the statute of limitations, elevating a misdemeanor to a felony, bringing in a witness that had already been convicted of perjury, etc.) should be an indication that this whole exercise has no substance.

The Campaign Lies Are Accelerating

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There will be a lot of lying during the campaign season this year. There are many in the deep state who understand that if President Trump is re-elected there will probably be serious consequences for their misuse of the justice department and various other bad behaviors. I received this text today on my phone. It is full of lies and misinformation.

Hi David, this is Craig Sicknick. You may not know me, but you probably know my brother, US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died at the hands of MAGA insurrectionists on January 6, 2021. That’s him in this photo.
Ever since Brian’s death, my family and I have been doing everything we can to call attention to the Republican Party’s unwavering endorsement for Donald Trump, a power-hungry narcissist who is in large part responsible for my brother’s death.
So when I learned that Mikie Sherrill would be facing a GOP opponent who embraced Trump’s Big Lie and joined his violent riot at the Capitol, I knew I needed to help. That’s why I’m writing to you today.
Will you donate $25 to help Mikie defeat her MAGA insurrectionist opponent? I know Mikie will fight for integrity and for our democracy, and she needs our support now more than ever. ms4c.us/mikie-craig?t=Bb6g93

Sincerely,
Craig Sicknick
Text STOP to quit

I have no idea who the person David is who was supposed to receive the text. I hope if he ever gets this text he is smart enough to know he is being lied to.

Brian Sicknick was not killed by insurrectionists on Jan 6. He died of a heart attack later according to the coroner’s report. January 6th was a protest that got out of hand–it was not an insurrection. An insurrection would have had guns. I am not aware of any revolution or insurrection that has been carried out successful by unarmed people facing armed people.  If you look up President Trump’s speech on that day, he asked people to go peacefully to the Capitol to show their support. Two of the people killed that day were Ashli Babbitt and Rosanne Boyland, both victims of the police. Under any other circumstances, Michael Byrd, the policeman who shot Ashli Babbitt, would have at least been challenged as to why he fired and why he falsely reported gunshots in the Capitol (other than his). Actually, he has been promoted. This is only only example of the lies we can expect to see in the political campaign season this year. Lying about your brother’s death to raise money is despicable.