Tag Archives: Congress

You Can Release Your Hold On Your Gas Stove–At Least Temporarily

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On Tuesday, Just the News reported that the House of Representatives has passed the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act. The act will at least temporarily keep the government away from our gas stoves.

The article reports:

The bill, which was introduced by Arizona Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko, “modifies the process by which the Department of Energy (DOE) amends, revokes, or implements energy conservation standards for certain consumer products (other than automobiles), such as household appliances,” according to an official summary of the legislation.

The legislation was introduced after the Biden Administration’s Energy Department proposed a rule that would have led to a ban on the sale of about half of the gas stoves currently on the market.

“My constituents in the north and northwest valley of Maricopa County, Arizona, do not want this government interference in their homes and lives,” Lesko told reporters on Tuesday, per Fox News. “I know that millions of Americans around the country feel the same way.”

The Department of Energy has no business making laws–that is supposed to be done by Congress. If a Congressman (or woman) finds it too burdensome to create laws, they should resign.

The article concludes:

No government bureaucrat should ever scheme to take away Americans’ appliances in the name of a radical environmental agenda,” Lesko added.

The House previously passed Lesko’s “Save Our Gas Stoves Act ” last year, which attempted to block the DOE from implementing a proposed efficiency standard for gas cooking products, but it never received a vote in the Democrat-led Senate. 

We could probably end 90 percent of the regulations passed by unelected bureaucrats and still live happily ever after.

Sometimes Congress’ Priorities Are Amazing

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On Monday, Zero Hedge reported the following:

While Congress failed to pass a border security bill over the weekend amid a flurry of billions in international aid to Ukraine and Israel, they did set aside $3.5 billion for “Migration and Refugee Assistance” for the State Department to “address humanitarian needs of vulnerable populations and communities.”

While written in an absurdly broad brushstroke that’s going to be open to interpretation, X user ‘Oilfield Rando‘ suggests that the funds will be used “to pay the NGOs coordinating the illegal invasion at our southern border, and providing all the freebies once they’re in.”

The article includes the following screenshot from Twitter:

It really is time for a new Congress.

One Surprising Congressman

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On Saturday, BizPacReview posted an article including some recent comments by Senator John Fetterman. Technically the Senator is a Democrat, but he keeps making common sense comments that I think might get him removed from the party.

The article reports:

Ahead of a “somber” Passover, Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) called on the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas to “surrender” and send the hostages home.

“With a somber Passover approaching,” Fetterman wrote on X, “I remain committed to speaking about this travesty and acknowledge there can’t be true lasting peace until the hostages are home.”

“We must never forget Hamas owns this entire catastrophe and can end this,” he reminded social media. “Send them all home and surrender.”

Once the butt of conservative jokes, the outspoken Democrat has, in recent months, broken with his party with several surprising, common-sense statements.

As many within his party advocate in favor of the Iranian-backed terrorists, Fetterman has offered his unwavering support to Israel.

Fetterman addressed followers in front of a wall of posters showing Israelis whom Hamas has kidnapped. He has wallpapered his front office with them and vowed, “They will stay up until every single person is safely returned home.”

The article concludes:

On January 14, 2024, Biden issued a statement marking 100 days of captivity for the hostages.

“Today, we mark a devastating and tragic milestone—100 days of captivity for the more than 100 innocent people, including as many as 6 Americans, who are still held being hostage by Hamas in Gaza,” the president said. “For 100 days, they have existed in fear for their lives, not knowing what tomorrow will bring. For 100 days, their families have lived in agony, praying for the safe return of their loved ones.

“And for each of those 100 days, the hostages and their families have been at the forefront of my mind as my national security team and I have worked non-stop to try to secure their freedom.”

As BizPac Review reported on Thursday, “Over 100 hostages have either been freed, released by Hamas, or discovered to be dead in captivity since then, but the status of the remaining roughly 130 hostages — of which 50 are already believed to be dead — is virtually unknown to U.S. and Israeli intelligence, officials told NBC.”

“Not at all,” a former senior Israeli official told NBC when asked if there was a stable estimate as to how many hostages are alive. “No one reliable has this information. It’s all speculation.”

Why are there calls for a cease-fire in Israel but not in Ukraine?

Isn’t Congress Supposed To Be The One Making Laws?

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On April 21, American Greatness posted an article about some new regulations the Biden administration is planning for Title IV.

The article reports:

On April 19, 2024, the Biden administration finalized regulations it proposed in July 2022. Likely to avoid backlash at the polls this November, the administration recently indicated it is postponing finalizing the proposed sports-related Title IX regulations it published in April 2023. In each case, the regulations do something that not only the Executive Branch does not have authority to do but also what Congress has specifically declined to do.

They declare that “sex” in Title IX actually means sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

The Executive Branch has no authority to make such a radical change in the meaning of a statute. But this is no ordinary Executive Branch. This is the one whose chief executive recently boasted that although the Supreme Court ruled that he does not have the authority to forgive student loans, he is doing it anyway,[ii][ii]1 requiring truckers and plumbers to absorb the cost of strangers’ ineffectual college degrees. And although the President is required to administer and enforce the laws Congress has passed, this President has steadfastly refused to enforce our nation’s immigration laws.

Our government of, by, and for the people has bit by bit become a government of forced mandates to which we do not consent. Mandatory school, business, and church closures during 2020, along with required COVID-19 shots, were but the most visible recent manifestation of this trend.

The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, commonly known as the DREAM Act, was first introduced in Congress in 2001 and reintroduced numerous times thereafter. Each time, members of Congress, mindful of the opposition of their constituents, refused to pass it. Nonetheless, in 2012, without even relying on his phone and his pen as he had threatened, but merely with a memorandum from the head of his Department of Homeland Security, President Obama implemented DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans), a similar program for their parents, in effect implementing provisions of the law—the DREAM Act—which Congress repeatedly refused to pass.

Where is Congress? Hasn’t anyone in Congress figured out that this is not the government of our Founding Fathers? The checks and balances our Constitution put there are there for a reason. Congress needs to stand up and take back the power our Founding Fathers gave it.

Don’t Believe The Fact-Checkers On This One

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On Wednesday, Townhall posted an article about a new feature that will be on American cars beginning in 2026.

The article reports:

Soon the government might shut down your car.

President Joe Biden’s new infrastructure gives bureaucrats that power.

You probably didn’t hear about that because when media covered it, few mentioned the requirement that by 2026, every American car must “monitor” the driver, determine if he is impaired and, if so, “limit vehicle operation.”

Rep. Thomas Massie objected, complaining that the law makes government “judge, jury and executioner on such a fundamental right!”

Congress approved the law anyway.

A USA Today “fact check” told readers, don’t worry, “There’s no kill switch in Biden’s bill.”

“They didn’t read it, because it’s there!” says automotive engineer and former vintage race car driver Lauren Fix in my new video. The clause is buried under Section 24220 of the law.

USA Today’s “fact” check didn’t lie, exactly. It acknowledged that the law requires “new cars to have technology that identifies if a driver is impaired and prevents operation.” Apparently, they just didn’t like the term “kill switch.”

But it is a kill switch.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving wants that.

I say to Fix, “It would save lives.”

“Are you willing to give up every bit of control of your life?” she asks. “Once you give that up, you have no more freedom. This computer decides you can’t drive your vehicle. Great. Unless someone’s having a heart attack and trying to get to the hospital.”

There are also new proposals to further control American’s driving:

California lawmakers want new cars to have a speed governor that prevents you from going more than 10 miles per hour over the speed limit.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. It contains information on the information our cars collect on us. Remember when we thought OnStar and things like it were a great thing? They generally are, but like most electronics, they are easily misused.

Is This Just Careless Or Mean-Spirited?

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On Saturday, One America News reported that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has again been denied Secret Service protection by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

The article reports:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has threatened to take legal action against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after being denied secret service protection for the fifth time.

Department Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas concluded that Kennedy does not require Secret Service protection, in a letter to the Kennedy campaign dated March 28th. This decision was made after conferring with an advisory committee that included the Senate Sergeant at Arms and prominent members of Congress.

Kennedy’s lawyer, Aaron Siri, responded to Mayorkas’ series of denials in a letter on March 29th, which was posted to X, labeling them “capricious, an abuse of discretion, and clearly politically motivated.”

…In the letter, Mayorkas and the DHS are accused of “ignoring the real risks” to Kennedy, citing an instance at a campaign event that involved a guest carrying two loaded handguns.

The Secret Service has extended protection to presidential and vice-presidential candidates since the 1968 assassination of Kennedy’s father and then-Democratic presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy.

Kennedy Jr. is also the nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy, who was killed in office earlier that decade.

According to the Secret Service website, requirements for protection include declaring oneself in public, being the target of “general or specific threats” and, in the case of independent and third-party candidates, polling at 20% or higher in the Real Clear Politics national average for a minimum of 30 days.

Kennedy’s national average for Real Clear Polling as of Thursday was approximately 11%.

The family history alone should be reason enough for Secretary Mayorkas to provide Secret Service protection. This is simply one more in a list of things that make the Biden administration look vindictive and petty.

Moving Quickly In The Wrong Direction

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On Monday, Breitbart posted an article about the renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Somehow the House of Representatives managed to make the law even worse than it was.

The article reports:

Despite the outrage at the passage of the legislation, 110 Republicans also voted for an amendment proposed by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) and committee Ranking Member Jim Himes (D-CT) that would seek dramatically expand the ability for the government to surveil Americans’ communications.

The measure updates the definition of electronic service provider to also include “any other service provider who has access to equipment that is being or may be used to transmit or store wire or electronic communications.”

The amendment would significantly expand the number of businesses and their employees who could be compelled to spy on their customers and provide warrantless access to their communications systems in accordance to this controversial FISA provision.

This provision has been referred to by privacy advocates as a “trojan horse” for “PATRIOT Act 2.0.”

Steve Bradbury, a distinguished fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department under George W. Bush, told Breitbart News during a press conference on Monday that the Turner-Himes is so vast in scope that experts may not truly understand how many companies, staffers, and other entities may be forced to surveil Americans.

The article concludes:

Those on the left have also cried foul at the Turner-Himes proposal, referring it to as the “Everybody Is a Spy” amendment.

Demand Progress Policy Director Sean Vitka said in a written statement on Monday:

These moves from the Intelligence Committee add up to a brazen and deliberate attempt to sneak through one of the most terrifying expansions in the history of government surveillance. This is not speculative: the amendment clearly allows the government to secretly conscript uninvolved Americans and American businesses to spy on each other. These KGB-style powers pose an existential threat to our civil liberties. The Senate must block this provision.

If the Senate fails to remove this amendment from the bill, it will be handing the president, and whoever the next president is, a knife to ram through the back of democracy. [Emphasis added]

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), after the House passed RISAA, said in no uncertain terms:

The House bill represents one of the most dramatic and terrifying expansions of government surveillance authority in history. It allows the government to force any American who installs, maintains, or repairs anything that transmits or stores communications to spy on the government’s behalf. That means anyone with access to a server, a wire, a cable box, a wifi router, or a phone. It would be secret: the Americans receiving the government directives would be bound to silence, and there would be no court oversight. [Emphasis added]

He added, “I will do everything in my power to stop this bill.”

Congress took a bad bill and made it worse.

This Is A Reminder

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This is another reminder that Section 702 needs to be unauthorized instead of approved by April 19.

On Monday, Just the News posted the following:

Conservative lawmakers are calling for an end to warrantless surveillance of Americans ahead of a House floor vote on Wednesday to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

The bill, titled the “Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act,” would extend section 702 of FISA, which “authorizes the targeted collection of foreign intelligence information from non-U.S. persons located abroad,” according to the FBI.

Conservative Republicans and some Democrats such as Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, have teamed up to push for a warrant requirement as a condition for reauthorizing FISA. However, the legislation up for a vote on Wednesday does not include a warrant requirement in its current form. 

“No matter how hard the deep state cries, Congress must NOT reauthorize FISA 702 without requiring a warrant to search U.S. citizens,” wrote Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, on X.

“The SAFE Act contains a warrant requirement, the Lee-Leahy reforms, language ensuring that our Fourth Amendment rights can’t be bought and sold, and a handful of other protections necessary to protect Americans’ privacy,” he also wrote.

The article concludes:

The Brennan Center for Justice and other organizations wrote a letter on April 5 urging lawmakers to vote in favor of amendments to the bill up for a vote that will require a warrant.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, a proponent of the legislation up for a vote on Wednesday, predicted the bill will pass.

“I think it will,” Turner said Sunday on CNN. “I think that those who mischaracterize this are small compared to those who understand that this goes to the heart of our ability to get intelligence. It allows us to be able to keep Americans safe. This is not a warrantless surveillance of Americans.”

Biggs argued that the bill Turner supports is “very modest, very incremental” and does not contain significant reforms to Section 702.

“Quite frankly, it’s going to be who’s watching the henhouse. It’s going to be the FBI still watching the henhouse,” he said. 

It has become obvious that the people in charge cannot be trusted with warrantless surveillance. Let’s not give them the right to do warrantless surveillance.

I Know Things Are Getting Strange When I Agree With The ACLU

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The following statement is posted at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) website:

Under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the U.S. government engages in mass, warrantless surveillance of Americans’ and foreigners’ phone calls, text messages, emails, and other electronic communications. Information collected under the law without a warrant can be used to prosecute and imprison people, even for crimes that have nothing to do with national security. Given our nation’s history of abusing its surveillance authorities, and the secrecy surrounding the program, we should be concerned that Section 702 is and will be used to disproportionately target disfavored groups, whether minority communities, political activists, or even journalists.

Section 702 is set to expire at the end of 2023. We call on Congress to significantly reform the law, or allow it to sunset.

The phone number of the Congressional switchboard is (202) 224-3121.

Congress Needs To Say “No”

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Congress has until April 19th to reauthorize  Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This is the law that allows warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens. It was passed after 9/11 in the hope that it would make America more secure from terrorist attacks. Instead it has been used as a political weapon to move America toward Banana Republic status.

On Monday, The Conservative Review posted an article about Section 702.

The article notes:

The FBI is attempting to rehabilitate the public image of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act as Congress has until April 19 to reauthorize it. The bureau recently posted a video to X that features FBI Director Christopher Wray attempting to put a gloss on Section 702 as part of this monthslong campaign.

The bureau’s timely propaganda did not escape the attention of critics on X, where the post received a community note that read, “The FBI violated American citizens’ 4A rights 278,000 times with illegal, unauthorized FISA 702 searches.”

Among the critics was Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who wrote, “FBI just got called out in a community note on X. Congress — take note. FISA 702 has been used for warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of times. Yet FBI demands 702 be reauthorized by April 19 WITHOUT a warrant requirement for searches of U.S. citizens.”

“Many in Congress will want to reauthorize FISA 702 — which is set to expire April 19th — either without modification or (more likely) with fake reforms that fail to impose a warrant requirement for searches directed at Americans,” added the senator.

The article notes:

In his March 11 testimony, Wray stated, “The FISA Court itself most recently found 98% compliance and commented on the reforms working. The most recent Justice Department report found the reforms working, 99% compliance. And so, I think legislation that ensures those reforms stay in place but also preserves the agility and the utility of the tools, what we need to be able to protect the American people.”

The FBI’s March 25 social post containing an excerpt from Wray’s testimony was not well-received.

Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) wrote, “The FBI was correctly called out in a community note for lying about its unconstitutional, warrantless surveillance of Americans. Congress must eliminate FISA abuse and protect the American people’s privacy.”

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) tweeted, “The FBI has been corrected in community notes and rightfully so.”

FBI whistlelower Steve Friend reiterated that the FBI “violated constitutional rights and abused FISA Section 702 over 278,000 times in a single year.”

The article concludes:

“While only foreigners overseas may be targeted, the program sweeps in massive amounts of Americans’ communications, which may be searched without a warrant. Even after implementing compliance measures, the FBI still conducted more than 200,000 warrantless searches of Americans’ communications in just one year — more than 500 warrantless searches per day,” said Durbin.

Durbin figured this legislation would make reauthorizing Section 702 palatable.

Section 702 needs to go away. We have seen that there is too much temptation for those in power to misuse the law to target their political opponents.

The Stealing Begins

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There are a lot of ways to steal an election–you can do it electronically, you can do it with mail-in ballots, you can do it with basic voter fraud, or you can be subtle and do it by going in to places that you know will vote the way you want them to and paying people to register those voters and get them to the polls. Right now, that is the preferred method.

On Saturday, The Federalist reported:

With a little over seven months until Election Day, “Bidenbucks” are ramping up where Team Biden’s sweeping taxpayer-funded get-out-the-vote order is most needed. Meanwhile, a federal judge has stopped a Bidenbucks complaint described as “the MOST important election integrity lawsuit in the country.”

The Michigan Department of State recently announced a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Small Business Administration “to promote civic engagement and voter registration in Michigan.” The agreement, according to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman is a “first-of-its-kind collaboration” for the federal agency. It is expected to run through Jan. 1, 2036. That is, if legal challenges can’t stop the apparently unconstitutional “understanding.” 

“Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy. Like voting, they play a direct role in improving people’s lives,” the swing state’s leftist secretary of state, who fancies herself as a defender of democracy, said in a press release. “I’m proud we are working with the Small Business Administration for this first-in-the-nation effort connecting Michigan’s small business community with the tools and information they need to play an even greater active role in our democracy.” 

First of all, we are a representative republic–not a democracy.

The article concludes:

“…Plaintiffs have alleged only an institutional injury resulting from ‘a general loss of legislative power,’” the judge wrote in her decision. “A vague, generalized allegation that elections, generally, will be undermined, is not the type of case or controversy that this court may rule on under Article III.” 

But there’s nothing vague or generalized about the effects of Biden’s voter registration executive order that serves as a federal government-funded GOTV campaign for Democrats. 

As the lawsuit notes, the executive fiat requires all federal agencies to “identify and partner with specified partisan third party organizations,” “distribute voter registration and vote-by-mail ballot application forms,” “assist applicants in completing voter registration and vote-by-mail ballot application forms,” and “solicit third-party organizations.” It also “directs state officials to provide voter registration services on agency premises.” 

All of it is being done without congressional approval or appropriation. Meanwhile, the Biden administration refuses to release records on the initiative, raising the question: What does Team Biden have to hide? 

There will be more of this activity as November approaches.

 

Waiting For The Constitutional Challenge

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On Wednesday, The Federalist posted an article about the new red flag law the Biden administration recently announced. The article notes that this law is unconstitutional. We all want to limit gun violence, but we need to find a way to do it without infringing on peoples’ constitutional rights.

The article reports:

On Saturday, Vice President Kamala Harris touted the administration’s new National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center, which will “support the effective implementation of state red flag laws” and “keep guns out of the hands of people who pose a threat to themselves or others.” But there is a problem: Congress never authorized the U.S. Department of Justice to create this resource center. The administration confuses “grants … to implement state … mental health courts, drug courts, veterans’ courts, and extreme risk protection order programs” with creating an entirely new center for one of these areas.

This isn’t the first time the Biden administration has gone beyond what the law allows and done more harm than good.

The Department of Justice press release claims that Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs, also known as red flag laws) will “reduce firearm homicides and suicides.” Surveys show likely voters support laws that “allow guns to be temporarily confiscated by a judge from people considered by a judge to be a danger to themselves or others” by at least 2-1 margins.

If we truly want to curb gun violence, let’s work toward building stronger families with two parents who live together and raise their children together. Let’s make a decision to value life in all its stages–neither killing the unborn or advising euthanasia for the elderly or infirm. The guns are not the problem–mental illness and the devaluing of life are the problem.

Following The Science?

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On Friday, Just the News posted an article about some recent comments by Representative. Cori Bush, D-Mo, about the causes of recent problems with the American electric grid.

The article reports:

A House Oversight and Accountability subcommittee hearing Tuesday examined threats to the security and reliability of the U.S. electricity grid, which can lead to more blackouts.

While reliability assessments regularly find that increased reliance on wind and solar, increased demand from electrification, an underbuilt electrical delivery network, and rapid retirements of on-demand generators are creating an increased risk of blackouts, Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., ranking member of the subcommittee, instead blamed other sources of the problem, namely, white supremacy. She also threw in “climate change” for good measure.

The article notes:

Fallon (Pat Fallon, R-Texas, chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy and Regulatory Affairs) also talked about threats from cyberattacks by “foreign adversaries” meant to cripple the grid. “It’s critically important for Congress to engage in serious discussions to identify the risks to this reliability and safeguard our grid against threats,” Fallon said.

He said many of these risks are caused by the federal government, including the attempts to get rid of all fossil fuels, which he said are needed for providing consistent power generations. He also pointed to regulations that are increasing demands on the grid, including more electrification of appliances and heat, as well as electric vehicle mandates.

Bush, in her opening statement, argued that the problems of electricity reliability were unrelated to wind and solar. Fossil fuels, Bush said, were the problem, and they were especially harming non-white people.

“Decades of pollution and overuse and over reliance on fossil fuels have disproportionately harmed black and brown communities in St. Louis, and throughout the world,” Bush said.

If we truly want to know what the problem is with our electric grid, we only have to look to Germany and Spain–both countries attempted to build an energy infrastructure based solely on green energy, and both countries discovered that was not possible. The sun does not shine all of the time, and the wind does not blow all of the time. Reliable back-up sources of energy are needed. It is time to take an honest look at natural gas and nuclear energy as the path forward to lowering pollution. It is also time to acknowledge that although America needs to make an effort in the direction of cleaner energy, until China and India stop building coal plants, our efforts are insignificant.

Shades Of The Patriot Act

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On Thursday, The Conservative Treehouse posted an article about HR7521, the proverbial “TikToK Ban Law.” The article notes that the justification Congress is giving for supporting this law is very similar to the justification for passing the Patriot Act. We see how that has turned out.

The article reports:

First, the context that should matter (it doesn’t because the USIC are in charge here) is that every element that preceded the passage of the Patriot Act is being duplicated in the passage of the TikTok ban.  Which is to say, everyone is deferring to this ridiculous need to support USA National Security.

We The People have been burned by this approach before, yet so many refuse to see the similarity.

Second, the essential shield for those who support the bill [READ HR7521] comes down to the term “Foreign Adversary”, which is defined in the bill as Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.  As they make the case, TikTok ban advocates cite the content or platform of the issue must originate from, and/or be controlled by, a foreign adversary…. so quit worrying.

However, the legislative language cites Foreign Adversary Controlled Application (FACA), which applies to content providers, apps, websites, social media and hosting platforms.  This is where things get sketchy, because “under the direction of” is language that is included in the legislation, and the determinations of “at the direction of” are made by the Attorney General.

If the content, platform, website, or social media app generates content that is considered a national security threat, and providing information therein that is deemed to be under the control of a “foreign adversary,” it is the content within, not necessarily the platform ownership itself, that transfers compliance inquiry to the U.S government (DOJ Attorney General) for definitions.

If, for example, a U.S. company (think Twitter or CTH) is deemed to be providing information that is controlled by Russia, or actors who participate in the platform content on behalf of Russia (expand your FARA thinking here), then the U.S. or non-Foreign Adversary designation, may result in review subject to the terms of service as created and defined by the DOJ. In this example, the “Foreign Adversary” designation is simply a nose under the tent.

The DOJ, through this act, essentially becomes the overarching determination of terms of service (TOS) that can supersede the TOS of the platform or website.  Want to fight the definition or determination… prepare to spend big money fighting a battle exclusively in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, as that’s the only place you can appeal the determination of the govt.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Remember When Patriots Ran Congress?

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On Tuesday, The Federalist posted an article about a recent vote taken in the Senate.

The article reports:

None of Democrats’ witnesses in a congressional hearing Tuesday could say resolutely that they believe only citizens should be able to vote in a federal election.

During a Senate Judiciary Hearing on the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee asked the witnesses to provide a basic “yes” or “no” answer to a series of questions about non-citizens voting.

“Do you believe that only citizens of the United States should be able to vote in federal elections?” Lee asked each of the witnesses.

“We don’t have a position about non-citizens voting in federal elections, we believe that’s what the current laws are, and so we’re certainly fighting for everyone who is eligible under current law to vote,” Executive Director of The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Damon T. Hewitt said.

“That’s a decision of the state law but I want to emphasize –” President of Southwest Voter Registration Education Project Lydia Camarillo said.

“It’s a decision of state law as to who should vote in federal elections?” Lee interjected.

“States decide who gets to vote in various elections, and in federal elections I believe that we should be encouraging people to naturalize and then vote,” Camarillo said.

“Okay but you’re saying that the federal government should have no say in who votes in a federal election?” Lee pressed.

“I don’t have a position on that,” Camarillo responded.

The article concludes:

The John Lewis Voting Rights Act seeks to federalize all elections by stripping states and local jurisdictions from making changes to their elections without approval from federal bureaucrats. If the legislation is passed, the U.S. Justice Department could essentially take over an election if its left-wing allies claim minority voters are being harmed by something as simple as requiring an ID or proving citizenship to vote.

A federal judge recently ruled Arizona’s law requiring individuals to prove U.S. citizenship in order to vote in a statewide election is not discriminatory and could proceed after leftists lodged a series of suits.

“Arizona’s interests in preventing non-citizens from voting and promoting public confidence in Arizona’s elections outweighs the limited burden voters might encounter when required to provide” proof of citizenship, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton ruled.

The potential for mischief under the John Lewis Voting Rights Act is endless. Just for the record, there is no reason for non-citizens to vote in American elections–they have no skin in the game. If things go bad in America, they can simply go home.

When The Numbers Just Don’t Add Up

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Issues & Insights posted an article Monday about President Biden’s claims in his State of the Union address about the taxes the wealthy pay versus the taxes he thinks the wealthy should pay. The bottom line is ‘simply hang on to your wallet no matter how much you make,’ but the article refutes some of his claims.

The article reports:

First, consider his claim that the tax rate paid by billionaires is 8.2%. That plays well with soak-the-rich leftists. But where did he get this number?

Not from the IRS. It calculates the actual tax rate that various income groups pay, including the ultra-rich. Its data show that the 400 people with the biggest incomes in America were paying an average tax rate of more than 23%. Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation figures that the tax rate on the top 0.4% of families is 26%.

So where does Biden come up with an 8.2% tax rate? He changes the definition of taxable income to include all unrealized gains from investments.

If you have money in the stock market, any gains in the value of those stocks would count as income to Biden, even if you don’t sell the stock. Presumably so would any gains in the value of your home. Or the value of any other assets you possess.

By artificially inflating income, Biden can make their tax burden seem tiny. 

The idea of taxing unrealized gains — in other words, extending the income tax to things that aren’t income — could very well be unconstitutional in addition to being economically reckless.

Just for the record, Americans are already taxed on unrealized gains–every year we pay a real estate tax on what the city or county assesses is the value of our house. We haven’t sold our house. The only actual gain from our house is having a place to live, yet every year we pay taxes on it.

The article concludes:

What about his claim that taxing the wealth — not the income — of billionaires would raise $500 billion?

Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? Except Biden is hoping nobody notices the caveat — that it’s $500 billion over 10 years. In other words, $50 billion a year.

Even that might sound like a lot … until you put it in context.

That $50 billion wouldn’t even cover one month’s worth of interest payments on the national debt, which was $69.2 billion in January.

It wouldn’t even pay half of the increase in the deficit in the first five months of this year compared with last year. (The deficit from October through February was $830 billion, which is up $108 billion from the same months the year before.)

The idea that an extra $50 billion could finance a new childcare entitlement, paid leave, and home care isn’t just ludicrous, it’s insane.

We don’t expect Biden to know or understand what he’s reading on the teleprompter, but shame on anyone else for believing the lies he’s spewing.

Someone needs to explain the Laffer Curve to the Biden administration.

The Unmentioned Impact Of Illegal Immigration

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In February, I posted an article explaining how an Executive Order signed by President Biden in January 2021 allowed non-citizens to be counted in the census. Allowing non-citizens to be counted changes the number of representatives in Congress and the Electoral College in states that have large illegal alien populations. This distorts the representation of American citizens by giving people who are here illegally equal representation in Congress. If they are here illegally, they are not entitled to representation, and when they are given representation, it skews the representation of American citizens.

Some in Congress are attempting to fix this problem.

On March 8, Senator Bill Hagerty posted the following statement:

United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) today released the following statement after the vote on his amendment barring illegal immigrants from being counted on the census:

“Today I forced Chuck Schumer to hold a vote on whether illegal aliens should be counted for determining the number of congressional seats and electoral votes each state gets. Democrats’ unanimous opposition to this commonsense measure confirms that they’re using illegal aliens and sanctuary cities to increase their political power. With this vote, Senate Democrats chose to trample on the rights of each American’s voice. I will continue to fight and press this issue in the Senate.”

Senate Democrats unanimously voted against the measure.

Who’s Idea Was This?

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On Mondays, Newsweek posted the following headline:

US to Sell Off Entire Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve

The article reports:

The sale of the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve is among the provisions intended to raise funds in one of six bills setting out appropriations for some federal departments this year after Congress narrowly avoided another shutdown last week.

Under a bill providing funding for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the fiscal year, a million barrels of the government’s strategic reserve of petroleum would be sold off—the same amount as in the NGSR, which is located in New York Harbor, Boston, Massachusetts and South Portland, Maine.

“Upon the complete of such sale, the Secretary [of Energy] shall carry out the closure of the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve,” the bill states, and “may not establish any new regional petroleum product reserve unless funding of the proposed regional petroleum product reserve is explicitly requested in advance in an annual budget.”

…Congress is expected to pass the package, which is the result of cross-party negotiations, with votes set to take place this week. Negotiations on a further six spending bills continue.

This is reckless. What part of ‘Gasoline Supply Reserve’ does Congress not understand? This is not to be used to fund America, this is supposed to be used in case of emergency. If the government truly wants to reduce the deficit, they need to look at the amount of land the government controls that could easily be sold without endangering national security.

Government Intrusion Into The Election Process

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On Tuesday, The Daily Signal posted an article about the collaboration between the federal government and left-leaning get-out-the-vote organizations.

The article reports:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is working with a left-wing advocacy group to boost voter turnout as part of President Joe Biden’s executive order directing federal agencies to get involved in elections.

The USDA worked directly with Demos, a New York-based group that helped draft Biden’s Executive Order 14019, according to records obtained by The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s news outlet.) 

Biden signed his order on agencies and voter registration in March 2021. On Aug. 9, 2021, Demos’ Adam Lioz emailed USDA officials, many in the office of Secretary Tom Vilsack, under the subject line: “Demos Meeting on Voting Rights EO.”

“Team USDA, with apologies for the delay, I wanted to follow up and thank you all for all your time and a productive conversation,” wrote Lioz, who was Demos’ senior counsel and political director before departing in September 2021. “As we noted, we’ll have our ‘best practices’ slides ready in the next 1-2 weeks and in the meantime, y’all had asked for data on voter registration at the state level, which I’ve pasted below.” 

Just for the record, the Hatch Act of 1939 prohibits civil servants in the Executive Branch of government (except the President and Vice-President) from engaging in some forms of political activity. The goal of the law is to stop the federal government from affecting elections or going about its activities in a partisan manner.

The article concludes:

Biden’s initiative includes the Department of Homeland Security’s registration of voters during naturalization ceremonies, the Department of Education’s promotion of voting at high schools and colleges, and agencies’ work with private, nonprofit organizations to increase voter turnout. 

Many congressional Republicans have joined government watchdog groups in expressing concern about agencies’ engaging in partisan political activity under Biden’s executive order, in violation of laws such as the Hatch Act. 

The records obtained by Heritage’s Oversight Project include the USDA’s directions to employees on how to avoid violating the Hatch Act. 

Neither the Department of Agriculture nor Demos responded to inquiries from The Daily Signal before publication of this report. 

The effort to steal the 2024 election has already begun.

An Executive Order That Will Impact The 2024 Election

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Under American law, non-citizens are not allowed to vote in federal elections. In some areas, non-citizens are allowed to vote in local elections, but that is somewhat limited. Unfortunately, due to an Executive Order signed by President Biden in January 2021, non-citizens and illegal immigrants will have an influence on our presidential and Congressional elections.

On Thursday, Fox News reported the following:

Immigration experts are raising the alarm about how the increasing flow of migrants illegally crossing into the U.S. may significantly impact states’ representation in the House of Representatives and Electoral College.

Shortly after taking office in January 2021, President Biden signed an executive order requiring that the U.S. Census Bureau factor in all residents, including noncitizens, as part of its decennial calculation of the U.S. population. As a result, the apportionment of House seats and, therefore, electoral votes for presidential elections, could be swayed as migrants continue to pour over the southern border.

“Illegal immigration has all kinds of effects and among them is that it distorts the mechanics of democratic government,” Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “Illegal immigrants aren’t even supposed to be here, so their inclusion in the census count for purposes of apportionment really is outrageous.”

“There are a lot of close votes in Congress, more than there used to be. So, it can, in fact, make a difference,” Krikorian said. “It shouldn’t be a question of: Does this give you personally more influence in Washington? The question should be: Is it right? Is it healthy for our democratic process to be distorted this way? The answer is no.”

The next President can overturn this order if he chooses to. Vote carefully.

Congress Actually Listened To The People!

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The text of the border bill crafted by the Senate was released Sunday night. People who read the bill quickly pointed out that the bill did not secure the border and it provided more money for Ukraine than the annual budget of the Marine Corps. The Speaker of the House Mike Johnson declared the bill dead on arrival (as it should have been).

This was Stephen Miller’s Twitter post:

Well, the uproar has had an impact on Congress.

On Monday, Breitbart reported:

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made the shocking decision to recommend Republicans block the advancement of the Senate pro-migration border bill.

That first procedural vote was set for Wednesday. It is unknown if Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will forge ahead, although that is likely.

McConnell cited the overwhelming number of Senate Republicans planning to vote against the measure either on substance or because they wanted more time, according to Punchbowl News.

The longtime Republican leader has spoken in favor of the deal and did not express any personal hesitations about the legislation to his colleagues.

According to Punchbowl, McConnell said the political mood in the country has changed since negotiations began months ago. At that time, McConnell and Democrat leaders agreed to pair foreign aid to Ukraine, of which McConnell is the Senate’s greatest champion, with a border compromise.

If you believe McConnell’s explanation, I have a bridge to sell you. The real reason McConnell changed his mind is that it is February of an election year and McConnell is afraid that the voters might remember his support for this awful bill. The sole purpose of this bill is to legalize as many illegal aliens as possible before November so that they can be Democrat voters. Why McConnell was willing to go along with that, I don’t know.

What Is The Penalty For A U.S. Citizen?

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An American who is arrested for Driving Under the Influence faces jail time, losing his license, and heavy fines. What should the penalty be for a person who is here illegally who is arrested for Driving Under the Influence?

On Thursday, The Conservative Review reported that 150 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives voted against a measure to state that aliens who drive “while intoxicated or impaired” are inadmissible and, if convicted of such an offense, deportable. How in the world would voting against the measure keep Americans safe?

The article reports:

In a bipartisan 274-150 vote, the House of Representatives passed a measure on Thursday that would declare that aliens who drive “while intoxicated or impaired” are inadmissible and, if convicted of such an offense, deportable.

The 150 lawmakers who voted against the measure were all Democrats. But 59 other Democrats joined 215 Republicans in voting to approve the measure.

“Any alien who has been convicted of an offense for driving while intoxicated or impaired, as those terms are defined under the law of the jurisdiction where the conviction occurred (including a conviction for driving while under the influence of or impaired by alcohol or drugs), without regard to whether the conviction is classified as a misdemeanor or felony under Federal, State, tribal, or local law, is deportable,” the measure reads.

There is currently on the books a law making an illegal deportable if he is guilty of moral turpitude. This law simply clarifies the current law. At any rate, isn’t entering a country illegally breaking the law? Shouldn’t that be subject to deportation?

The U.S. Senate Does Not Want Patriots Or Critical Thinkers!

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Recently a news story broke about Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake being asked to step down from politics for two years. She was pretty much offered anything she wanted. She recorded the conversation, fearing it would be a threat, and has recently released the tape.

On Wednesday, The Hill reported:

The chair of the Arizona Republican Party announced he will resign Wednesday after leaked audio appeared to show him attempting to pay Senate candidate Kari Lake not to run for office in 2024.

Jeff DeWit said that the audio was “selectively edited.” He explained, however, that he chose to resign because he was threatened by members of Lake’s team that more tapes would be released if he did not step down. Lake’s campaign has denied the allegation.

Lake publicly demanded DeWit resign over the audio Tuesday, calling him “corrupt” and “compromised.”

The audio recording was first reported by The Daily Mail.

“There are very powerful people who want to keep you out,” DeWit reportedly told the Senate hopeful in the recording, saying only that these figures were from the “east.”

I do not doubt that the tape is real and unedited. I also suspect that any well-informed American can make an educated guess as to who the person who put Mr. DeWitt up to this. Unfortunately this is where we are. The deep state uni-party in Washington is trying to protect their turf. President Trump is a threat, but a Congress that supports him would make him an even bigger threat to the status quo. Many Americans believe that the status quo needs to be gone.

 

I Guess Everyone Doesn’t Want Transparency

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On Monday, Just the News reported the following:

Forensic investigators hired by a Republican-led committee recovered more than 100 encrypted files that the Democratic-led House Jan. 6 Select Committee deleted days before the GOP took over the House majority, according to a new report released Monday.

House Administration Oversight Subcommittee Chair Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., sent a letter to former Select Committee Chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., demanding he provide answers and passwords for the data, which was deleted against House rules, according to Fox News Digital. 

The Oversight Subcommittee, which is investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and the former select committee, should have received four terabytes of archived data from the select committee after Republicans entered the majority in January 2023, but it obtained less than three terabytes of data.

The subcommittee hired a digital forensics team to determine what information was not handed over, and the team discovered 117 files that were encrypted and deleted on Jan. 1, 2023, two days before Republicans were sworn into the majority, according to the report. 

Loudermilk said in his letter to Thompson that the Mississippi Democrat acknowledged over the summer that the select committee “did not archive all Committee records as required by House Rules” and had “sent specific transcribed interviews and depositions to the White House and Department of Homeland Security but did not archive them with the Clerk of the House.”

One recovered file detailed an individual whose testimony was not archived, but “most of the recovered files are password-protected, preventing us from determining what they contain,” Loudermilk also said. 

It is (remotely) possible that this is totally innocent; however, people generally delete things for a reason. The fact that the deletions took place two days before the Republicans took control of the House really does not inspire confidence in the work of the January 6th Committee.

The article concludes:

“It’s obvious that Pelosi’s Select Committee went to great lengths to prevent Americans from seeing certain documents produced in their investigation,” Loudermilk (House Administration Oversight Subcommittee Chair Barry Loudermilk) told the news network. “It also appears that Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney intended to obstruct our Subcommittee by failing to preserve critical information and videos as required by House rules.”

This is not the first report of missing data from the Jan. 6 select committee. Loudermilk told the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show last year that all videotapes from select committee depositions are missing. 

The Impact Of Changing The Voting Laws

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On Friday, The Federalist posted an article about what happened in Arizona when the voting laws were changed so that let voters who failed to provide proof of U.S. citizenship on their state voter application forms vote in federal elections anyway,

The article reports:

Twenty years ago, Arizona voters approved Proposition 200, also known as the “Arizona Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act.” At its core, the election integrity initiative required proof of U.S. citizenship to vote and photo identification at polling places. Prop 200 has come under constant assault from leftists fighting against the Arizona Constitution’s key qualification to vote in elections: U.S. citizenship. 

The challenge went all the way to U.S. Supreme Court, where in 2013 the justices ruled 7-2 that states could not add documentary proof of citizenship requirements to federal election registration forms. States must “accept and use” the standardized federal voter registration form for national elections under the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). The NVRA form, developed by the federal Election Assistance Commission, does not require proof of citizenship. It only asks that an applicant “aver, under penalty of perjury, that he is a citizen.”

…According to Mussi (Scot Mussi, president of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, a nonprofit committed to advancing a pro-growth, limited government agenda in the Grand Canyon State), the pause in the proof of citizenship provision saw an “explosion of federal only voters” — voters who used the federal honor system instead of showing actual proof of citizenship. 

According to the secretary of state’s office, about 1,700 people in Arizona voted in the 2018 midterm elections with a federal-only ballot. Two years later, in the absence of the documentation safeguard, the number grew to 11,600 individuals, according to AZ Free News. President Joe Biden claimed victory in Arizona by just 10,457 votes, or about 0.3 percent. 

It’s time for all Americans to work together to secure our elections. Voter ID should be required, and paper ballots (to be hand counted). Otherwise, we are on a slippery slope to becoming a Banana Republic.