Monthly Archives: September 2026

The Day Before

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This is an updated version of an article I posted on September 10, 2008:

Today is September 10, 2026. Twenty-five years ago, it was the day before. We were all going about our business, enjoying a beautiful fall, and making plans for the future. I wonder, if we could have seen into the future, is there anything we would have done differently that day.

There was one man who was living in a different world than the rest of us–even on September 10. His name was Rick Rescorla. He was the vice president for security at Morgan Stanley, a brokerage house with 2,700 employees in the World Trade Center in the south tower on floors forty-four through seventy-four and 1,000 employees in Building Five across the plaza. Because of the foresight of this man, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter lost very few employees in the bombing of the World Trade Center.

Rick felt strongly that the terrorists who had attempted the first World Trade Center bombing would try again. He asked his company executives to move from the towers, but the company’s lease went until 2006. Rick held evacuation drills on a regular basis in spite of the grumbling of his fellow employees. Every few months all 2,700 employees would march down the stairs and out of the building in an evacuation drill. On September 11, 2001, by the time the second airplane hit the second tower, most of the company’s employees were already out of the building. There were three employees missing, and Rick and two other people went back into the building to find them.   All six were killed when the building collapsed.¹

I tell this story today for two reasons. First, Rick Rescorla is a hero whose foresight saved many lives. Second, Rick Rescorla understood that there were terrorists who wanted to destroy America even before there was a “war on terror”. We need to think back to September 10, 2001, and remember what our innocence was like and the price we paid for it. Thank God for a man who chose not to be innocent.

Rick Rescorla was a British citizen who also fought bravely in the Battle of Ia Drang, one of the early battles of the Vietnam war.

We need to pray for more men like Rick Rescorla.

  1. Much of the information in this article is from the book BREAKDOWN by Bill Gertz (subtitled “How America’s Intelligence Failures Led to September 11”).

The Unjustice Department

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The Justice Department during the Biden administration was a disgrace. It had been politicized under President Obama, but with the help of holdovers from the Obama administration, President Biden took the politicization to a whole new level. Some recent facts about the case against General Flynn are genuinely disturbing.

On September 10th, Just the News posted an article about the case against General Flynn.

The article reports:

Retired General Michael Flynn, whose life was turned upside down by the Russia collusion investigation, told Just the News he would never have accepted his 2018 plea deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller had he known the full FBI evidence in his case.

“Had I seen that evidence that you have broken, no way in the world,” Flynn told the Just the News, No Noise television show on Wednesday night hours after President Donald Trump’s administration declassified the fully unredacted versions of the FBI’s 2017 handwritten and typed notes of his interview with agents during which prosecutors alleged the former three-star general lied about his contacts with a Russian diplomat.

Those documents showed there were conflicts and discrepancies between what the agents wrote in their handwritten notes and what they put in their typed interview about his recollections the day he spoke with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. 

Flynn said Wednesday he believed the discrepancies were enough to undercut the charge that he lied to the agents.

The case against General Flynn is a prime example of political lawfare. It really would not have mattered if he had been found guilty or not guilty–the legal expenses and the damage to his reputation were used to serve as a warning to anyone who supported President Trump and was willing to work in the Trump administration. General Flynn was forced to sell his home to pay his legal expenses.

Congress and the Supreme Court shut down the idea of President Trump using the money he won in his lawsuit against the IRS to start a fund for the victims of political lawfare. That is unfortunate because the Flynn case would have been a very appropriate place to use that fund.

Those responsible for hiding evidence from the General need to go to jail.

Inflation Is An Issue, But Overall The Economy Is Doing Well

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Saying that the economy is doing well despite the inflation is somewhat like someone asking, “How was the play, Mrs. Lincoln.” I understand that, but hopefully the inflation is a temporary condition that will be dealt with shortly. The main driver of the current inflation is the cost of oil (and the lack of American refineries). America First Refining (AFR) is building a new refinery at the Port of Brownsville, Texas. It is expected to start operating sometime between 2030 to 2032. The builders are hoping to expedite the building so that it finishes ahead of schedule. That will be part of a long-term solution. The short term part of the solution will be to finish the war in Iran. I believe that will happen in the next few months.

However, the economy is showing signs of strength.

On September 5th, MSN posted an article about the August jobs report.

The article reports:

The U.S. economy added a surprising 162,000 jobs in August, the Labor Department estimated Sept. 4, even as economists said a “low-hire, low-fire” dynamic made it difficult for unemployed Americans to find work.

The 162,000 estimate for August far surpassed forecasters’ expectations and marked a rebound after U.S. employers added a now-revised 21,000 jobs in July. The department previously estimated U.S. employers shed 23,000 jobs in July. Payroll gains for June were also revised higher, reflecting a stronger summer job market than previously thought. 

I love how pessimistic the economists can be when a Republican President is in the White House.

The article notes:

The unemployment rate stayed put at 4.1% in August after falling in June and July when hundreds of thousands of Americans stopped looking for work. The labor force participation rate ticked up to 61.6% in August after falling to 61.4% the month before. 

The article concludes with good news for American workers:

Average hourly earnings for employees on private, nonfarm payrolls rose by 10 cents to $37.75 in August, the department said. They increased 3.1% over the year. The department’s next inflation report due out Sept. 11 will reveal whether paychecks kept up with inflation in August. They did not in July.

Fighting To Preserve The Deep State

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Unionizing government employees was never a good idea. There are too many instances of unions making unfair wage or procedural demands that interfere with the working of the government. One of those areas is in the hiring and firing of employees. In private industry, the goal is to make a profit, and it is fairly easy to justify the firing of an employee if he is not helping to meet that goal. The government is not about either saving money or making a profit, and that complicates things.

On Monday, The Daily Signal posted an article explaining how federal employee unions are resisting parts of President Trump’s agenda.

The article reports:

Who ultimately decides how the executive branch works? Is it the president, elected by the American people, or career federal employees and the unions that represent them?

The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing federal employees, sued the White House’s Office of Personnel Management last month, aiming to block new rules governing how federal employees are evaluated, disciplined, and removed.

The lawsuit represents only the latest in a long series of legal challenges the union has brought against President Donald Trump’s administration since January 2025. According to a July roundup AFGE posted on its website, the union had filed 18 lawsuits against the administration before the latest case.

These lawsuits have targeted a wide range of administration initiatives, including government-wide reorganizations, workforce reductions, collective bargaining restrictions, employee classification reforms, and changes to federal personnel rules.

AFGE has been far from alone in these cases. Democracy Forward, a left-leaning legal advocacy organization that has represented plaintiffs in numerous lawsuits challenging Trump policies, has represented AFGE or other plaintiffs in these cases. Such challenges have involved broad coalitions, including advocacy groups and local governments, alongside labor unions.

Critics argue that these cases amount to more than traditional labor litigation, representing a form of institutional resistance from federal employees and their allies against an elected administration’s effort to reshape the executive branch.

The union was not elected to run the country–the President was. That should end the discussion.

The Consequences Of Bad Economic Policies

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On Tuesday, Zero Hedge posted an article about the number of high-paying taxpayers who have left Britain since 2025 when the non-dom regime was scrapped in April 2025 and inheritance tax was extended to worldwide assets.

The article reports:

This shift is already visible on the Sunday Times lists: six of the 2026 Tax List’s top 100 (including Revolut’s Nik Storonsky) had left in the previous year, the compiler noted that one in nine names on that list were no longer UK-resident, and the companion Rich List dropped dozens of foreign billionaires while recording a sharp rise in British nationals now based in Dubai, Switzerland and Monaco.

But, the latest news is likely the most disturbing to the increasingly socialist government as the UK’s 3rd largest taxpayer – hedge fund founder Chris Rokos – is set to leave.

When you raise taxes to the point where they are confiscatory, people take measures to avoid them. We have seen that in America with the population movement from blue to red states where the taxes and cost of living are lower.

The article notes:

Rokos will also open an office in Athens as part of the move, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the details are private.

Italy operates a similar 15-year system, but after recent increases, it has set the flat tax at €300,000 on foreign-sourced income.

Greece has also sought to lure fund managers and private equity executives, adopting new tax rules this summer designed to prevent double taxation.

If the highest taxpayers keep leaving – as Rokos’s reported move to Greece underlines – Labour’s bet that abolishing non-doms and tightening inheritance tax would raise more money starts to look fragile, because a thin slice of people already supplies a large share of income-tax receipts.

The government then faces an awkward choice: accept a smaller tax base and tighter budgets, or raise rates on the mobile and immobile alike and risk accelerating the outflow it is trying to tax.

This is the Laffer Curve at work. If you are not familiar with the Laffer Curve, this article at investopedia is a good place to learn about it.

The Impact Of The Trump Tariffs

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On Tuesday, Amuse on X posted an article about the impact of President Trump’s tariffs.

The article reports:

Less Than Two Years of Trump Tariffs and Tax Cuts Generated $11.2 Trillion in US Investment 

Biden’s Scoreboard Was $1 Trillion in 4 Years. Trump’s Is $11.2 Trillion in just 20 Months.

This month, in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, Hyundai and POSCO broke ground on a $5.8 billion electric-arc mill built to pour 2.7 million tons of automotive sheet metal a year. It is the first purpose-built automotive mill of its kind in the country, and it anchors Hyundai’s $26 billion American program. Officials put the local effect at 1,300 direct jobs and roughly 4,000 indirect ones, with the first coil targeted for 2029. The steel is meant for vehicle bodies assembled in Alabama and Georgia, coil that would otherwise have been stamped from imported steel. Contractors are already on the site in Ascension Parish.

…Liberation Day tariffs put a charge on access to the American consumer and turned the world’s richest market from a free good into a scarce one. The July 2025 tax law then changed the plant’s return. 100% expensing of equipment and qualified production property lets a firm deduct the full cost of a factory in the year it builds it. Power finished the argument for the projects that swallow electricity. American energy abundance made the American data center and the American fab among the few sites that can feed an AI load at scale. European industrial power is still expensive, and several Asian grids cannot promise the same firm load on a construction calendar, which is why data centers and leading-edge semiconductor fabs keep landing here. Reciprocal trade frameworks did the last piece of work. Tariff relief became a multi-year investment vehicle from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Europe’s industrial champions. Lutnick stated the bargain plainly. If you make it here, you don’t pay tariffs, but if you don’t, be prepared to pay to enter the greatest market in the world. Kevin Hassett, the president’s economic adviser, added the tax half. Tariffs are pushing people to onshore activity, and expensing is making them want to invest like crazy.

The article concludes:

Alexander Hamilton wrote in 1791 that a country’s independence and security are materially connected to the prosperity of its manufactures. The Marshall Plan spent about $13 billion in then-dollars, roughly $170 billion today, rebuilding allied industry so that allies could buy American goods. What is underway now runs that sequence the other way. Allied treasuries and allied champions are rebuilding American industrial capacity as the price of admission to the American customer. For four decades America gave its market away and watched the factories follow the giveaway. This term reversed the bargain. If you want the customer, you build the plant here, and in the strategic sectors the taxpayer keeps a warrant. Today, that claim is $11.2 trillion in announced commitments, a steel mill rising in a Louisiana parish, and a stock certificate in the public’s name.

Lying For Campaign Purposes

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I suppose candidates’ lying isn’t either new or unusual (unfortunately), but some lies can mislead with serious consequences. The Covid pandemic taught us to do our own research on medical issues. I have heard many people say that they regretted taking the Covid vaccine. I haven’t heard one person say that they regretted not getting the Covid vaccine. There are currently questions as to which vaccines are absolutely necessary and which are not. Until those questions can be answered, politicians should not be using vaccines to make political points.

On Monday, The American Thinker posted an article about the discussion surrounding measles cases in America.

The article reports:

On August 25th, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro held a press conference to address the measles outbreak unfolding in his state.  He started by saying:

“Just this morning, the Pennsylvania Department of Health announced the first two measles-associated deaths in Pennsylvania in 35 years. Both individuals were from Lancaster County, and both were unvaccinated.”

During the press conference, Governor Shapiro didn’t share any details about the identities of those who died or about the deaths themselves, instead choosing to focus on the issue of vaccination. He claimed the measles outbreak isn’t unique to Pennsylvania, that declining vaccination rates are a national issue, and that current leadership at HHS is to blame for the problem.

Now, after much confusion and back-and-forth between PA authorities and the HHS, we are learning the details behind the two “measles-associated” deaths. Both victims were infants born in the Amish community of Lancaster County, PA.

    • First Infant: Passed away shortly after birth from a lacerated spleen. Although the infant tested positive for measles contracted from the mother, the virus was not the cause of death.
    • Second Infant: Suffered from a severe genetic disorder that compromised her immune system, making her exceptionally vulnerable to fatal complications from measles or other infections.

The article notes a few things about the MMR vaccine:

The MMR vaccination rate in the U.S. stands at 92% — slightly lower than five years ago, but still high enough to maintain herd immunity nationwide. By contrast, the vaccination rate within the Amish community is reported to be around 25%. Consequently, Governor Shapiro’s claim that measles is “a national problem” is flat-out false. The current measles outbreak is localized to the Amish community in Lancaster County, PA. Using a national platform to claim the entire country is equally affected is a clear politicization of public health.

Generally speaking, the Amish community children are healthier than the average American child. That probably has a lot to do with eating food fresh off of the farm and living in an atmosphere that is very close to nature compared to the world other children live in.

It’s sad that the Governor saw fit to use the tragedy of two families to make an invalid political point.

The Lack Of Helpfulness Of Congress

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On Monday, The Federalist posted an article about the problems of beef production in America.

The article reports:

President Donald Trump met with ranchers in the Oval Office on Friday, signing two executive orders to incentivize the domestic production of beef: Supporting America’s Ranchers and Promoting Fair Competition In Livestock Markets And Expanding Market Access for American Meat Producers.

President Donald Trump met with ranchers in the Oval Office on Friday, signing two executive orders to incentivize the domestic production of beef: Supporting America’s Ranchers and Promoting Fair Competition In Livestock Markets And Expanding Market Access for American Meat Producers.

These are relatively non-controversial executive orders; it would be easy for Congress to put them into law. Congress instead has become a speed bump in the way of getting anything done.

The article notes:

So in substance, the president has ordered the executive branch to send him a bunch of reports: on wolves and cattle predation, on country of origin labeling, on independent meat processing and simpler interstate market access for meat products.

On social media, the White House explicitly framed the orders as an opening move, writing that Trump had “launched a whole-of-government effort to protect & fully support America’s ranchers.” Rollins echoed that theme: “MORE TO COME SO SOON,” she wrote.

Evidently, wolves are a problem for cattle ranchers:

Wolf predation has become a serious problem for cattlemen in the West, especially following the reintroduction of the gray wolf. Cows are becoming wolf food. In California, researchers at UC Davis concluded that “72% of wolf scat samples tested during the 2022 and 2023 summer seasons contained cattle DNA.”

Populations have rebounded significantly since the gray wolf was listed as an endangered species in most of the country in 1978, preventing ranchers from killing them in response to predation. The Arizona rancher Casey Murph has described “the feeling of having to ride away to the sound of a pack of Mexican Grey wolves tearing your border collie herding dog to pieces,” one of many examples of ranchers arguing that the threat of wolf attacks isn’t well understood outside of cattle country.

Part of the problem is the monopoly of beef processing plants. It’s time to end that monopoly and let the free market take over. Please follow the link to the article for further details.

I Don’t Care Who’s Name Is On The Building–Just Fix It!

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On Sunday, Townhall posted an article citing an incident where President Trump has been proven right again.

The article reports:

President Donald Trump was once again proven right on the crumbling Kennedy Center after it was found that a portion of the ceiling collapsed due to serious neglect.

…The Trump administration’s efforts to renovate and revamp the Kennedy Center have been stifled by activist judges and Democrat-backed lawsuits. Earlier this year, courts blocked an effort to attach Trump’s name to the building as a means of generating further revenue for the proposed renovation. Now, the Trump administration is battling in court to determine whether or not they are able to develop a new plaza for the venue.

The Kennedy Center’s board is proposing a $250 million renovation that would likewise add Trump’s name to the facade to secure the financial future of the iconic capital landmark in the latest effort to beautify Washington, D.C. during Trump’s second term.

Are the liberals so blinded by their hatred for President Trump that they don’t want to see an national treasure restored? Adding President Trump’s name to the building will not destroy it, and as mentioned, could help with raising the funds needed to do the work required. The ceiling fell down because repairs were needed. Judges and courts blocked those repairs. Now we have a bigger mess to clean up. Thank God there were no people in the building when this happened.

Europe Is Waking Up

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On Sunday, Breitbart posted an article about the Alternative for Germany party that seemingly has won a victory in the Saxony-Anhalt state elections. The party, which is anti-mass migration, has gained ground in recent German elections.

The article reports:

According to exit poll forecasts from Infratest Dimap for public broadcaster ARD, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has won an overwhelming victory at a projected 44.5 per cent of the vote, Die Welt reported. 

In order to take the reins of power, the party has to form a coalition with other parties to create a majority.

The article notes:

Due to the supposedly conservative CDU’s long standing cordon-sanitaire firewall policy against working with the AfD, it is unlikely that the establishment party would enter into a coalition with populist upstarts.

The lead candidate for the AfD in the elections, Ulrich Siegmund, praised his party’s victory as “historic” and extended an offer to work with the CDU, saying: “As a democrat, I will always extend my hand to all forces that will help us achieve a political turnaround.”

However, should the CDU refuse, as they are likely to do, the party could seek to form a minority government with the left-wing Social Democrats — as they have done at the national level — with the far-left Greens, and the tacit support of the radical Die Linke socialists.

The current leader of the state, CDU Minister-President Sven Schulze congratulated the AfD on their victory, but did not comment on the prospect of a potential coalition.

“I think it’s clear that we would all have wished for a better result in every respect,” Schulze said. “We as the CDU will also have to deal with this result.”

“Some say this would be a black day for Saxony-Anhalt. I say: This is democracy,” he added.

UPDATE: As the mail-in ballots are counted, the AfD lead is shrinking. Hopefully they will eventually have enough votes to form a coalition with another party. Stay tuned.

Do Americans Have First Amendment Rights?

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The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Since Congress is not allow to restrict the free exercise of religion, I would assume that Courts are also bound by that rule. Unfortunately, a Judge in Maine did not get the message.

On September 2nd, The New York Post posted an article about a mother in Maine who has been told by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court that she is not allowed to take her daughter to church.

The article reports:

Emily Bickford appeared in Maine’s highest court on Tuesday to challenge a December 2024 custody order prohibiting her from bringing her daughter to her evangelical church, WMTW reported.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled a Portland District Court judge was correct to give the then-11-year-old’s father, Matthew Bradeen, the power to decide whether his daughter could attend the Calvary Chapel in Westbrook, ME, the Maine Monitor reported.

Bradeen argued the church was a “dangerous and harmful environment” that had caused his daughter to suffer from anxiety and panic attacks after hearing the pastor’s teaching about the rapture, a belief that good Christians will ascend to heaven at the end of the world, leaving nonbelievers behind.

The article notes:

The court rejected Bickford’s claims that the 2024 order was hostile to her religion by referring to it as a “cult” in its published opinion.

“The court found that the child was harmed by Bickford’s decisions to expose the child to messages that characterized Bradeen as an ‘enemy’ who seeks to ‘persecute’ the child and her faith, and by Bickford’s unwillingness to prevent the child from receiving those messages or to take any other steps to reduce the risk of alienating her from Bradeen,” read the opinion.

“The court’s finding reflected simply that it is harmful for a child to hear negative and frightening messages about one parent from the other parent or the other parent’s authority figures,” the opinion concluded.

Liberty Counsel said it will now ask the US Supreme Court to take up the case following the decision by Maine’s highest court.

“A Christian mom in Maine has been prohibited from taking her 13-year-old daughter to church or even read the Bible to her for nearly two years — not even for an Easter or Christmas service or a Bible study,” Liberty Counsel said in a statement on X.

“We are fighting for Emily’s right to raise her daughter in accordance with her Christian beliefs and will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take this case and OVERRULE this decision,” the group’s statement continued.

There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that allows courts to decide the validity of a religious belief. I hope Ms. Bickford wins this case at the Supreme Court.

Private Property Rights?

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In 2010, I posted an article about the relationship between private property rights and the wealth of a country. One of the things that has made America prosperous is the private property rights that Americans enjoy. Unfortunately, those rights are under attack, both by people in Congress and people wanting to be in Congress.

On Sunday, The Gateway Pundit posted an article about some recent statements by Maine U.S. Senate nominee Troy Jackson.

The article reports:

Far-left Maine U.S. Senate nominee Troy Jackson just told a crowd of mobile-home park residents that the government should be able to take private property when he doesn’t like who owns it.

At a Labor Day weekend campaign stop Saturday at Blueberry Ridge Mobile Village in Wells, Jackson said the state should step in and take over parks owned by out-of-state companies and private equity firms.

“I feel strongly that, if needed, the state should be able to come in, to take these places over,” Jackson told residents gathered in a backyard, according to the Portland Press Herald.

He added that the state should hold the sites until residents can take them over “so you don’t see these private equity (firms) coming in and making a killing on these parks.”

It is not the state’s job to run mobile home parks until the residents can take them over. This may be a place where a truly free market would solve the problem. If the private equity firms are overcharging, all you need is an entrepreneur to open a less expensive park nearby. The private equity firm is not going to make money if everyone moves out. The idea of the government simply taking the land is not constitutional or wise.

The article notes:

Jackson is the progressive logger and former Maine Senate president who supports abolishing ICE, Medicare for All, and ending arms sales to Israel. Party insiders coronated him after Platner’s sexual-assault allegations ended that campaign. Mainers never nominated Jackson in a statewide Senate primary.

TGP also reported that Jackson’s longtime partner is his second cousin and the mother of his two adult sons. His campaign called coverage of the family relationship “shameful and desperate.” It did not deny the facts.

If the people in Maine vote for this man, they deserve what they get. Unfortunately, the rest of us will have to live with his presence in the Senate if he wins.

What Happens When You Clean Up The Voter Rolls

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On Friday, The Gateway Pundit posted an article illustrating what happens when a state cleans up their voter rolls. If states are willing to verify their voters, the mid-term elections could be very different than the current predictions.

The article reports:

The Democrat Party’s once-dominant voter-registration advantage in Nevada has been virtually erased following an enormous statewide voter-roll cleanup, California Globe reported.

Today, are hanging on to a statewide lead of just 672 voters, down from an 87,000-voter lead.

New figures released by Democrat Secretary of State Francisco “Cisco” Aguilar show Nevada’s active voter rolls dropped 50,130 in August alone after routine list maintenance.

Nevada now has 2,062,136 active registered voters:

    • 796,805 are Nonpartisan (38.64%);
    • 569,337 are Democrats (27.61%);
    • 568,665 are Republicans (27.58%);
    • 82,903 are members of the Independent American Party (4.02%);
    • 13,620 are members of the Libertarian Party of Nevada (0.66%); and
    • 30,806 are members of other minor political parties (1.49%).

Of the 426,577 inactive registered voters in Nevada:

    • 196,289 are Nonpartisan (46.01%);
    • 105,481 are Democrats (24.73%);
    • 91,185 are Republicans (21.38%);
    • 19,770 are members of the Independent American Party (4.63%);
    • 4,416 are members of the Libertarian Party of Nevada (1.04%); and
    • 9,436 are members of other minor political parties (2.21%).

Voter fraud is a problem in America. A great deal of that voter fraud involves mail-in ballots. All active registered voters in Nevada automatically receive mail-in ballots unless they opt out. This system has been in place since 2021, ensuring that voters can participate in elections conveniently without needing to request a ballot each time.

The article notes:

For accuracy, voters designated inactive have not been permanently removed and remain eligible to vote. However, they will no longer automatically receive .

Under federal law, inactive registrations may eventually be canceled if the voter fails to respond to an address-confirmation notice and does not vote in two consecutive federal general elections.

We will not survive as a nation without honest elections.

The Need To Protect Free Speech In America

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The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a Muslim organization that was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation Trial (the charge was funding terrorism). The organization is part of the lawfare attack being waged by the Muslim Brotherhood on America and the rights of Americans. A recent example of that occurred in Quincy, Illinois.

On Friday, Front Page Magazine posted an article about a call by CAIR to remove Alderman Mike Adkins of Quincy, Illinois.

The article reports:

“Never forget where we came from. I will remember this for as long as I am alive. I thought I was going to get called back into service but I didn’t. God bless our troops and god bless all the hero’s from that day,” Alderman Mike Adkins of Quincy, Illinois posted in commemoration of the upcoming 25th anniversary of the Islamic terrorist attacks on America.

One of his posted images included a billboard favoring President Trump’s immigration ban noting that “19 Muslim immigrants killed 2977 Americans” on September 11, 2001.

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), which was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a terrorism funding trial, whose leader has endorsed Islamic terrorist attacks, and which was banned as a terrorist group by two states so far, is demanding that Adkins be removed for ‘Islamophobia’.

The article concludes:

Even as the media outlets smear Alderman Mike Adkins over his Facebook posts, other patriotic and humanitarian messages posted by Alderman Adkins included a commemoration of a massacre of Jews during the Holocaust and of WWII hero Audie Murphy.

Should CAIR, a hostile foreign Islamic organization which has been accused of ties to terrorists, have the ability to threaten American elected officials?

Free speech is not a right in Islamic countries. Islamic law defines blasphemy as anything that makes the hearer unhappy or anything that denigrates Islam. In Sharia Law, the crime of blasphemy has nothing to do with whether or not what the person said is true. In an Islamic country, Alderman Mike Adkins would be arrested for blasphemy and be eligible for the death penalty. The fact that CAIR is calling for his removal is a step in that direction. Bringing thousands of people into America who have no intention of assimilating but instead want to import their legal system is a recipe for disaster. Americans need to understand and be ready to defend their constitutional rights.                        

Setting A Really Bad Precedent

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On Saturday, John Hinderaker posted an article at Power Line Blog about the Lindsay Clancy trial in Massachusetts. The article notes that under Massachusetts law, the question was not one of guilt or innocence, but one of whether or not Lindsay Clancy “retained the substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness or criminality of [her] conduct and to conform [her] conduct to the requirements of the law.”

The article notes:

The simple fact that Clancy waited until her husband had left the house to murder her children is strong evidence that she knew it was wrong to kill them, and was able to control her homicidal impulse until it could be carried out successfully.

The holdout juror was, it seems to me, a voice for civilization in a world that seems willing to dispense with the most fundamental norms. Kudos to him.

What I really want to comment on is the behavior of Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, and the apparent spinelessness of the trial judge, William Sullivan. Reddington repeatedly attacked the holdout juror in open court and on television, both as the jury was deliberating and after the court had declared a mistrial. While deliberations were still going on, Reddington accused the juror of “lying to the court” and refusing to follow the court’s instructions.

The article notes:

I have never seen anything like this. I tried many jury cases, and I can’t imagine how a trial judge before whom I appeared would have come down on me if I had publicly attacked a particular juror, or group of jurors, as the trial was in progress. It is unheard of. And Judge Sullivan let Reddington get away with it, while, at Reddington’s insistence, holding hearings in open court, in front of television cameras, that should have been conducted privately in chambers. Given this behavior, it is hard to see how the court will be able to find jurors willing to serve in a potential retrial.

As I have previously stated, whether she is found guilty of innocent Lindsay Clancy should not be out on the street after murdering her three children. A mental institution for the rest of her life or a jail would be appropriate. This is not a crime that someone should simply walk away from.

Trump Report Card:  Health

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Author:  R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D.   

Obviously, our health is one of our prime considerations and concerns. It has been amazing to observe the wide range of topics that the Trump administration has addressed since Donald Trump has been back in office. No other president in my lifetime has addressed so many diverse topics. Health is a prime example.

First, his administration initiated the DOGE project with the assistance of Elon Musk, which among many things revealed the waste and abuse in government sponsored health programs including Medicaid. Many of these abuses have been occurring for decades without ever being addressed by a President As we have seen in Michigan, California, Illinois, and many other states, the government bureaucrats who are supposed to oversee these programs were not doing their jobs. In some cases, such as with Governor Walz of Minnesota, it is apparent that the people in charge knew of these abuses but failed to address them. The abuses were particularly rampant among the Muslim communities where millions of hardworking taxpayer’s dollars went to schemers who did not provide the services for which they billed the government. Where was the Biden administration during all this fraud? At the very least, asleep at the wheel, and just as likely maintaining and supporting a system that helped keep them in power. This is typical of big government Marxist regimes which rely on taking from the so-called rich and giving to their constituents. It also reflects the belief of many on the Left that people have a right to things they have not earned because they have been taken advantage of by the white privileged class.

Second, President Trump has taken action to reduce the prices on many prescription drugs that Americans rely on to maintain their health. For many years, Americans have been paying drug prices that are far beyond what those same drugs cost in other countries, even though the drugs were created, tested and produced in this country. Instead of ignoring the problem, he has pursued a “Most Favored Nation” drug pricing strategy to ensure that prices in this country are aligned with the lowest prices paid in other developed countries. He also established a TrumpRx platform which provides a mechanism for consumers to purchase high-cost name brand drugs and generic medications at discounted, international parity prices. These steps have resulted in the steepest decline in prescription drug prices since 1963.

Third, in terms of freedom to choose, he is the only President to implement a “right to try” policy that allows the patient to try drugs, especially for terminal illnesses, that may not have completed or passed the stringent requirements for drug approvals. Recently, the Trump administration has given parents greater freedom in deciding which vaccines are administered to their children. This action reduced the number of federally recommended routine vaccines for children from 18 to 11 and separated some previously combined vaccines. This gives parents more freedom to consult with their doctors in deciding what is best for their children. Contrast these actions with the mandated requirements imposed by the Biden administration–not only mandatory unproven vaccines, but requirements to wear face masks, stay 6 feet apart, etc., none of which were YOUR choice. Marxist big government thinking at its worst.

Fourth, a recent action by the Trump administration that potentially impacts your health and wellbeing is their crackdown on non-English speaking, non-citizen truck drivers. There have been multiple injuries and deaths caused by semi-truck drivers who cannot speak or read English and do not understand road signs or verbal directions given by policemen. The Trump administration has closed 110 truck driver schools that have allowed non-English speaking commercial truck drivers to be licensed.

This does not represent all that the Trump administration has done to fulfill President Trump’s campaign pledges to the American people, but it clearly shows his commitment to do so. Why would anyone in their right mind want to reverse these actions by voting for anyone who opposes the president and his policies? Very good question. If you support President Trump’s actions, make sure you get out and vote for people who will support his policies!

What Difference Did It Make?

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In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court released the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. The decision basically stated that the U.S. Constitution does not confer the right to an abortion and that abortion laws should be left up to individual states (essentially reinforcing the Tenth Amendment). That ruling should not have been a surprise—Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had stated when she was on the Court that Roe v. Wade was bad law.

After Roe v. Wade was overturned, there were approximately 609,360 abortions reported in 2022 and an estimated 1,037,000 in 2023, marking an increase of 11% from 2020. So why did the number of abortions increase rather than decrease after the law changed? First of all, there was the increased use of the abortion pill, making abortion something you could do at home. Unfortunately, there are some real concerns about the safety of that pill, but it is being used frequently despite the concerns. Secondly, the people supporting the overturning of Roe v. Wade saw abortion as a legal problem—not a cultural problem.

Laws reflect the culture. If you change the law without changing the culture, the behavior the law is aimed at will not change. The cultural problem behind the large number of abortions in America is sexually immorality and the devaluing of life. Abortion is a symptom of both of these.

The sexual revolution of the 1960’s and the availability of abortion in the 1970’s changed the demographics of American society. In 1970 the median age for a first marriage in America was 23.2 for men and 20.8 for women. In 2024, the median age for a first marriage in America was 30.2 for men and 28.6 for women. In 1970, the age for first-time mothers was 21.4, in 2023 that number was 27.5. It should be noted that the divorce rate since 1970 has gone down because many people are choosing to live together rather than get married. That is also a reflection of the cultural decline of our society.

The trends of later marriage and fewer children are not good for our society. They are a reflection of the devaluing of motherhood and life that will eventually collapse our society. The answer to the problem of both abortion and the significantly lower birth rate is to go back to the time when America had a Biblically-based culture that valued chastity. Our culture is no longer Biblically based–it is based on the whims of Hollywood and the news media. Until the moral values of the nation change, we can make all the laws we want regarding abortion, but there will be no change in the number of abortions. Let’s start teaching our children the value of sexual morality and the risks they run when they are promiscuous—disease, heartbreak, unplanned pregnancy, etc. Let’s teach our daughters to value their purity and our sons to respect the women around them. Ideally, we could reach a point where laws against abortion are not necessary—it is just understood that the killing of babies is evil.

Bring On The Class Warfare

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On Wednesday, Issues & Insights posted an article about tax-the-rich idea to end the federal deficit.

The article reports:

The theater kids who have taken over the Democratic Party have brought to the forefront the long-held proposition of the left to tax the rich to pay for a utopian future. Even before the DSA surge, the party insisted there is plenty of money out there, all the government had to do was grab it and problems would be solved. It’s nonsense of course. An even more draconian tax structure than the one we have now wouldn’t fund the federal government for even a year.

Washington, now facing a $40 trillion debt, spent more than $7 trillion in fiscal 2025, doling out an average of almost $21,000 per person. Democrats have always argued that if they could just tax the rich hard enough, they could erase all of society’s ills while eliminating deficits and debt. Either they know better and can’t help but lie, which is an organizational foundation of communism, or their math is below grade-school level.

Using IRS data to make its case, the Cato Institute says that if the federal government in 2023 “had confiscated every dollar earned over half a million dollars, it still would have run a budget deficit.”

If that won’t work, then try harder, right? Go after the villains, the billionaires. So what if Washington seized every asset they owned, not just their annual income, but “every home, property, business, investment, car, and yacht, right down to their kids’ teddy bears — and sold it all for full market value?” asks researcher Jessica Riedl.

Wouldn’t that get the job done? Nope.

“That would raise enough revenue to finance the federal government for nine months,” she says. But not nine months every year. Nine months one time only. “Then, with no billionaires left to pillage, it’s gone — as is your 401(k), because most of that wealth would’ve been liquidated out of the stock market.”

It has been stated before–the problem is not the revenue–it’s the spending. These wonderful ideas of confiscating wealth fail to take into consideration that the wealthy have tax attorneys, places offshore to move valuables to, and other ways to avoid wealth confiscation. Also, why are you taking away the incentive to be successful just to fund an inefficient government that is rife with fraud and waste? It would make more sense to eliminate the fraud and waste.

A Preemptive Strike

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On Tuesday, Just the News posted an article about a House of Representatives vote on a  Constitutional Amendment to cap the U.S. Supreme Court at nine justices.

The article reports:

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday announced that the House would vote on a constitutional amendment to cap the number of justices on the Supreme Court at nine.

Speaking to reporters, Johnson criticized the Democratic Socialists of America over their calls to pack the Supreme Court and insisted the chamber would force Democrats to go on the record on the issue.

“So we’re going to put that bill on the floor tomorrow on suspension because it requires a 2/3 vote of both chambers of Congress to amend the Constitution,” he said. “And we will have them put their money where their mouth is.”

If the amendment is passed with a 2/3 vote, it will prevent the Democrats from adding four liberal justices to the Supreme Court, something they have said they will do if they gain control of Congress. They have also stated that they want to give Puerto Rico, Guam, and Washington, D.C., statehood (which would probably give them a permanent majority in Congress).

The Democrats have morphed into a political party that wants to be the only political party in America and hold power forever. This is not healthy for the country. The Democrats were depending on illegal alien voters to put them in power and keep them there, but the deportations and tightening of voter registration laws have made that less likely. Now they are threatening to add states to the union and justices to the Supreme Court.

If you value the America you have known, you will not vote for a Democrat this election. There may be local Democrats who love the country and will do a good job if elected, but on a national level, the Democrat has become something Democrats from the 1960’s or 1970’s would not recognize. The party that once represented the working man now only represents its own quest for more power.

This Should Have Been A Large Majority Vote

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On Tuesday, Legal Insurrection posted an article about a recent vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The article reports:

Two House Democrats rescued a resolution that condemns socialism.

By voting yes, they advanced the resolution. It almost failed when five Republicans voted against it: Andy Harris (MD), Clay Higgins (LA), Ralph Norman (SC), Chip Roy (TX), and Pete Sessions (TX).

From Fox News:

Five Republicans voted against the rule, which was poised to fail until Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., provided two critical votes to get the GOP over the finish line in a narrow 209 to 208 vote.

—

The rebels’ issue was not with the measure itself, nor the bills it would have allowed the House to pass. Their votes were a protest against how their leaders handled a plan to avert a government shutdown just before the midterm elections, a short-term funding bill called a continuing resolution (CR). That measure passed just before the rule vote began.

“NO ON CR. NO ON RULE THAT DOES NOT ALLOW US TO AMEND AND FIX THE CR: The House of Representatives will be voting for a government funding continuing resolution TODAY that FAILS to deliver on common-sense policies for the American people,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, wrote on X.

…Instead of speaking out about socialists taking over their party, the Democrats chose to criticize it. From Fox News:

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., called the bill “nonsense” and argued it did little to better the lives of Americans.

“So you’re concerned about rising gas, or are you concerned about grocery prices? You know, don’t worry. Republicans in Congress are passing another non-binding resolution condemning socialism,” McGovern said.

Tensions erupted at one point as Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., clashed with Committee on House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., over the definition of socialism.

Neguse had attempted to press Steil on whether he would see President Donald Trump trying to take a “20% stake” in Kroger grocery stores as socialism, to which Steil replied he would “want to see the details.”

“Oh, you’d want to see the details,” Neguse yelled as the two men spoke over each other. “You said if the government owns grocery stores, that would be socialist. But if, of course, Donald Trump were to announce an equity stake in a grocery store, well, ‘I’d have to really see the details,’ because we all know the play.”

Any time the Democrats do not want to be held responsible for their actions, they simply bring up the name of President Trump. The Democrat party has a socialist problem. They need to educate their members (and the voters) on the history of socialism.

It’s Been 25 Years

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On September 11, 2001, America changed. It was a moment as illusion-shattering as the assassination of President Kennedy or the attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed by Islamic terrorists. That was one of the first acknowledged Islamic terrorist attacks in America. It was quickly moved off of the front page of the newspaper, and most of us forgot about it.

But there were some people who didn’t forget and understood the significance of that attack and what it meant for the future. One of those people was Rick Rescorla. Rick Rescorla was the head of security for Morgan Stanley. According to AI, Morgan Stanley was located on the 72nd floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Rick Rescorla was not always the most loved person in the company—he routinely required evacuation drills where the entire company had to climb down those 72 floors of stairs. He had the stairwells painted in light colors (one of the problems in the evacuation in the first World Trade Center bombing was dark stairwells). He appointed people to make sure that everyone in their department was accounted for and designated meeting places outside of the building. When the Tower was hit on September 11th, Morgan Stanley’s employees got out. Rick Rescorla went back into the building with two employees to help with the rescue and was killed when the buildings collapsed.

There was another man who understood that another attack on the World Trade Center was coming. His name was John O’Neill. In February 1995, he was appointed chief of the FBI’s counter-terrorism section. He was eventually driven out of the FBI because his focus on Bin-Laden and his focus on the fact that a second attack on the World Trade Center was coming. On August 22, 2001, he resigned from the FBI. On August 23, 2001, he started work as the Security Director for the World Trade Center. He was also killed when the buildings collapsed.

Sometimes we forgot the impact of what happened on September 11. We forget about the parking lots in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts where people never showed up to drive their cars home from work or travel. We forget the school children in New York City who were kept in school until the school made sure that at least one parent was alive. We have heard the stories of missed appointments that resulted in saved lives.

On September 5th at 6 am and September 6th at 11 am and 8 pm, the Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association will broadcast Wake Up Call on WTKF 107.1. The show will be available at cctaxpayers.com after the 6am broadcast. The show will feature the compelling story of someone who worked in the South Tower with Rick Rescorla and was in the building when the airplane hit. She has some very interesting observations about that day. One observation is that when she went to get her hot, buttered roll at the kiosk in front of the World Trade Center, the kiosks were not there that day. My daughter, who lived in the area at the time, tells me that there were no taxicabs on the street that day. That just may be an incredible coincidence, but somehow, I think the Arab community was told to stay home, that something was up.

Please tune in to the show this weekend to hear the story from someone who was there. The show will also be posted at cctaxpayers.com.

Finding The Truth

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We have all heard varying reports on how much oil is actually getting through the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump cites one number and the mainstream media cites a much lower number. So what is going on?

On Tuesday, John Hinderaker at Power Line Blog posted an article that explains the discrepancy.

The article quotes Politico:

Energy Secretary Chris Wright says about 9 million barrels of oil are moving through the Strait of Hormuz every day.

But nonpartisan oil tanker trackers say it’s likely 7 million barrels at best, or more likely, closer to 5 million.

So where is the problem? Did someone flunk third-grade math? Actually, the answer is much simpler.

The article reports:

Only–oops–it turns out that President Trump and Secretary Wright, one of his cabinet’s most impressive members, were right all along, as Kpler (a commodities firm) now confirms:

An average of 8.6 million barrels of oil a day have been flowing through the Strait of Hormuz — more than previously reported, maritime analyst firm Kpler confirmed in a new update that matches estimates from the Trump administration.
***
Kpler and other trackers had initially put the number closer to 5 million, but new data includes “dark transits,” where ships turn off their transponders and secret ship-to-ship transfers, which the group wasn’t previously tracking.

The nature of the transits left Kpler and other analysts to report only a handful of crossings every day, figures that were picked up by media outlets and used to point out the discrepancy between what was being reported and what the Trump administration was claiming.

ExecutiveBranch

The White House has long-maintained that the data firms were missing a chunk of the exports due to the dark transits, with Kpler now confirming the fact as the dark ships start reappearing and painting a clearer picture of the oil flow.

The article concludes:

I haven’t bothered to go back to the dozens of media outlets that called Trump officials liars, based on Kpler’s incorrect count, to see whether they have corrected their stories. But you can probably guess what proportion have made the correction.

And the mainstream media wonders why we don’t trust them!