Tag Archives: NewsMax

I Am Not Optimistic

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I really don’t expect a deal with Iran. I think that if they can they will delay until the midterm elections hoping President Trump will not have the support of Congress to continue the war. I also believe that President Trump is not naive about who he is dealing with.

On May 24, NewsMax reported:

The United States is close to reaching a deal with Iran that would end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and see Iran give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, regional officials told The Associated Press on Sunday. They said details and timelines would be worked out later.

“If I make a deal with Iran, it will be a good and proper one, not like the one made by Obama, which gave Iran massive amounts of CASH, and a clear and open path to a Nuclear Weapon,” President Donald Trump wrote in his latest post on Truth Social Sunday afternoon.

“Our deal is the exact opposite, but nobody has seen it, or knows what it is. It isn’t even fully negotiated yet. So don’t listen to the losers, who are critical about something they know nothing about. Unlike those before me who should have solved this problem many years ago, I don’t make bad deals!”

The article notes:

“The negotiations are proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner, and I have informed my representatives not to rush into a deal in that time is on our side,” Trump said on social media Sunday. He said the U.S. relationship with Iran is becoming “much more professional and productive.”

The strait’s (Strait of Hormuz) reopening would begin to ease a worldwide energy crisis sparked by the surprise U.S. and Israeli bombardment of Iran on Feb. 28, which led Tehran to effectively close the crucial waterway. Prices have spiked for oil, gas and several downstream products, jolting the world economy. Experts say it would take several weeks or even months for shipping and prices to recover to prewar levels.

The U.S. has blockaded Iranian ports for over a month, and Trump on Sunday said the blockade “will remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed.”

I really don’t trust the current government of Iran (whoever that might be) to make and keep a reasonable deal with America.

Completing The Picture On Energy Independence

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On Tuesday, NewsMax reported:

President Donald Trump announced plans Tuesday for what he described as the first new oil refinery built in the United States in five decades, a project expected to be constructed in Brownsville, Texas.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the project represents a major investment tied to his administration’s wide-ranging energy policy.

“America is returning to REAL ENERGY DOMINANCE!” Trump wrote. “Today I am proud to announce that America First Refining is opening the FIRST new U.S. Oil Refinery in 50 YEARS in Brownsville, Texas.”

Trump described the project as a historic investment tied to international energy partnerships.

“THIS IS A HISTORIC $300 BILLION DOLLAR DEAL — THE BIGGEST IN U.S. HISTORY, A MASSIVE WIN for American Workers, Energy, and the GREAT People of South Texas!” he said.

Trump also thanked international partners involved in the project.

“Thank you to our partners in India, and their largest privately held Energy Company, Reliance, for this tremendous Investment,” he wrote.

Trump said the investment reflects policy changes tied to his administration’s economic agenda.

This is long overdue. As the article stated, it has been 50 years since America built an oil refinery. Like it or not, the world and its economy are based on fossil fuel. The only thing that green energy accomplished was to strengthen the Chinese economy. The current green energy technology is not advanced enough right now to replace fossil fuels.

The article concludes:

The project aligns with Trump’s executive order outlining his administration’s policy to expand domestic energy production and reduce regulatory barriers.

In the order, Trump said the United States possesses abundant natural resources capable of supporting economic growth but argued that federal regulations have limited energy development.

The order states that expanding domestic energy production would help lower energy costs, strengthen national security, and increase job creation.

It also directs federal policy toward encouraging energy exploration and production on federal lands and waters while positioning the United States as a leading global energy producer and processor of critical minerals.

This is another decision that helps all Americans economically.

This Should Have Been Done Ages Ago

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On Monday, Newsmax posted an article about a bill being introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives to ban stock trading by members of Congress.

The article reports:

House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., on Monday will introduce a bill banning lawmakers from buying individual stocks.

A post from the House Administration Committee on X confirmed the rollout of the “Stop Insider Trading Act,” saying “it’s time we banned lawmakers from trading stocks,” as Republicans move to answer a long-simmering public concern: that members of Congress can use privileged information to pad their portfolios.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Steil drafted the legislation with the backing of House GOP leadership and support spanning party factions, including Reps. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., as original co-sponsors.

The last time the House tried to do this, they called it the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act. Now that Nancy Pelosi is not running for re-election (she was one of the most successful stock traders the market has ever seen), they may be able to pass this.

The article concludes:

The Washington Times reported last month that House Republicans planned to vote early in 2026 on a congressional stock-trading ban after reaching a compromise under which the ban would apply only to lawmakers, not the president or vice president.

“I think we’re going to deliver a really strong product in 2026,” Roy told the outlet.

Roy declined to discuss specifics but said the legislation will include “a lot of elements” of his Restore Trust in Congress Act, which is co-sponsored by Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., and 118 others.

The push comes as bipartisan frustrations over congressional trading persist.

Lawmakers in both parties have explored stricter bans in recent years, driven by voter anger over conflicts of interest and weak enforcement.

It is way past time to pass this bill.

One Unexpected Positive Consequence Of The Shutdown

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On Friday, The Hill posted an article about what may be the only positive result of the shutdown–some of the corruption in our government may actually be dealt with!

The article reports:

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Thursday said the Trump administration is planning to have all Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) beneficiaries reapply for the program due to alleged fraud. 

The secretary said after receiving data on SNAP recipients from 29 red states that “186,000 deceased men and women and children in this country are receiving a check.”

…Every state has a periodic recertification process that requires SNAP or food stamp recipients to update their whereabouts and earnings, according to the Department of Agriculture (USDA). Most municipalities require updated data every six to 12 months. 

The article concludes:

More than 41 million Americans rely on the benefits to buy groceries, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

However, Rollins told Newsmax that 120 Americans have been arrested for committing SNAP fraud and on Thursday told CNN the program was “corrupt.”

“These are the things that we’re uncovering that, for years, no one has really ever dug into because the feds didn’t have the system in place to do it. But we do now,” the secretary told Newsmax.

“The president has made this a priority,” she added. “We will fix this program.”

Imagine how many taxpayer dollars could be saved if we stopped all of the cheating in government programs.

Why Americans Are Misinformed

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On a recent weekend getaway, I was in my hotel room watching the national news as reported by the mainstream media.There were two stories reported during the time I was watching. Both stories contained information that is easily proven to be false. The following is only one example of fake news.

The first story was about President Trump bringing in the National Guard to help fight crime in Washington, D.C. The mainstream media I was watching accused President Trump of ‘federal overreach.’ ‘Federal overreach’ seemed to be the word of the day in most of the mainstream media I checked out.

According to the Associated Press:

Section 740 of the Home Rule Act allows for the president to take over Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department for 48 hours, with possible extensions to 30 days, during times of emergencies. No president has done so before, said Monica Hopkins, executive director of the ACLU of Washington.

The other mainstream media charge is that President Trump is calling up the National Guard now when he failed to call them up to protect the Capitol on January 6th.

NewsMax reports:

Former Capitol Hill Police Chief Steven Sund on Monday blasted former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., over what he called her dishonesty about blocking approval of the deployment of the National Guard to quell the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.

In a post on X, Sund took umbrage with her missive about President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Washington with her claim that he “delayed deploying” the Guard on Jan. 6.

Sund pushed back regarding Pelosi’s statements.

“Ma’am, it is long past time to be honest with the American people. On January 3, I requested National Guard assistance, but your Sergeant at Arms denied it. Under federal law (2 U.S.C. §1970), I was prohibited from calling them in without specific approval. That same day, Carol Corbin at the Pentagon offered National Guard support, but I was forced to decline because I lacked the legal authority. On January 6, while the Capitol was under attack and despite my repeated calls, your Sergeant at Arms again denied my urgent requests for over 70 agonizing minutes, ‘running it up the chain’ for your approval,” Sund said in his post.

That is just one example of the mainstream media omitting important information or twisting the information that they have in order to mislead the public.

The Big Beautiful Bill Advances Slowly

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On May 19th, NewsMax posted an article about the passage through the House Budget Committee last night on its way to the House Rules Committee. All of the members of Congress need to remember that if this bill is not passed, almost all Americans will see a major income tax increase next year.

The article reports:

House Speaker Mike Johnson took a “historical” active role in seeing that legislation passed the chamber’s Budget Committee, Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Mich., told Newsmax on Monday.

Johnson, Bergman, and other members of the committee worked late Sunday night to advance the chamber’s massive tax cut and border security package.

“I think as a as a historical note, I believe that the attendance of the speaker of the House at pre-meeting, last-minute, backroom negotiations was a first for a current speaker of the House to be attending a budget committee markup,” Bergman said on “Wake Up America.” “So that’s one historical data point.”

Bergman credited Johnson and committee Chair Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, with agreeing to “some compromises.”

“This is all about moving a logical, if not perfect … remember, we’re trying to create a more perfect union here, not a perfect union with our with our form of government … but to move that big bill forward, to get it into rules, make the necessary changes and … to get it voted on the House floor sooner rather than later to meet those timelines that we’ve agreed to get President [Donald] Trump’s agenda, especially one of the first fiscal base parts of that agenda in play here by around the 4th of July,” Bergman said.

The article concludes:

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said he voted “present” for the bill to advance “out of respect for the Republican Conference and the President,” conceding that it needs improvements. In a statement on X, he also objected to the bill’s provisions around green energy tax credits and Medicaid.

“Tonight, after a great deal of work and engagement over the weekend, the Budget Committee advanced a reconciliation bill that lays the foundation for much needed tax relief, border security, and important spending reductions and reforms,” he wrote. “Importantly the bill now will move Medicaid work requirements forward and reduces the availability of future subsidies under the green new scam.”

“But, the bill does not yet meet the moment – leaving almost half of the green new scam subsidies continuing. More, it fails to end the Medicaid money laundering scam and perverse funding structure that provides seven times more federal dollars for each dollar of state spending for the able-bodied relative to the vulnerable,” he added. “This all ultimately increases the likelihood of continuing deficits and non-Obamacare-expansion states like Texas expanding in the future. We can and must do better before we pass the final product.”

I met Representative Bergman when he was a Marine Corps General stationed in New Orleans. I am thrilled that he is a Congressman. He represents the integrity, ability, and intelligence that our Founding Fathers hoped would be found in our elected officials.

When You Put People In Leadership Who Don’t Belong There

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The Democratic National Committee is in the process of removing David Hogg as its Vice-Chairman. He was elected on February 1, 2025. He has simply not worked out well in that position.

His past actions should have been a clue for the Democrats.

In April 2024, NewsMax reported:

The PAC started by gun activist David Hogg, whose stated mission is “electing young progressives,” instead burned through $1.4 million — representing nearly half the money raised — on travel, political consultants, and legal fees in 2023.

In fact, the Leaders We Deserve PAC spent less than $235,000 toward its mission of electing Gen Z candidates to office, according to a Breitbart report that scrutinized the organization’s FEC filings.

Hogg and his partner, Kevin Lata, raised more than $3 million in the first year of the PAC’s existence from a wide array of donors with a goal of electing more “youthful, audacious, and charismatic trailblazers.”

…However, according to Breitbart, disbursements went out to just four candidates, including one, Rep. Maxwell Frost, for whom Lata was campaign manager.

Further, Hogg and Lata disbursed nearly $125,000 to a transgender Democrat in Alabama whose opponent in October 2023 won the special election with 65% of the vote, Breitbart reported.

Meanwhile, Hogg paid himself $40,000 while Lata’s take was $50,000 for a few months’ work in 2023; the PAC launched late summer, according to the report.

Actually, he should fit in very well with some of the Democrat party leaders.

On May 13, Townhall reported:

We obviously have no dog in this fight, though some have noted the Soviet-style treatment David Hogg is getting at the Democratic National Committee. This party is a total mess, and the vote to put his ouster as vice chair on the fast track only added another chapter to the ongoing ‘Dems in disarray’ soap opera.

The credentials committee paved the way to remove Hogg, though they claim it’s not about politics. It is—it seems this was done to appease the Native American woman who lost to Hogg (via Semafor):

The DNC’s credentials committee will meet virtually on May 12 to consider the challenge from Kalyn Free, a Native American attorney and party activist who lost a vice chair spot to Hogg at the party’s Feb. 1 meeting.

In her complaint, shared with Semafor by a Democratic source, Free argued that she lost a “fatally flawed election that violated the DNC Charter and discriminated against three women of color candidates,” and asks for “two new vice chair elections.” In February, after several rounds of voting, the race came down to five candidates – Kenyatta, Hogg, Free, and two other women. Kenyatta and Hogg claimed the open spots.

Now you know the rest of the story. I am sure it has nothing to do with David Hogg threatening to primary any Democrat Congressman who did not agree with his attempts to ‘reform’ the party.

This Has Not Been Widely Reported

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On March 7th, NewsMax posted an article about the February Jobs Report. The media is ignoring the shift from foreign-born workers to American workers. That is good news.

The article reports:

President Trump praised the February jobs report for indicating that American-born workers gained 284,000 more jobs, while jobs held by foreign-born workers contracted by 87,000, Brietbart reports.

“Big gains for native-born Americans,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Friday. “For the first time in 15 months, the job gains for native-born Americans, people born in America, exceeded job gains for migrant and foreign-born workers.”

The article reminds us:

During the Biden administration, when inflation rose a cumulative 21.3%, Americans lost earning power in the labor in the labor and housing markets, as well as workplace productivity and training.

White-collar jobs and factory jobs were outsourced, while local communities became unstable due to progressive policies such as Defund the Police and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, says Steve Camarota, a researcher at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Further, as expanding blocs of migrants-turned-ethnic-voters demanded benefits, native-born Americans lost political power, Camaraota says.

There is room for more improvement for native-born Americans in the labor market, as current data shows that the share of Americans with jobs remains at historic lows.

For instance, Camarota notes, the labor force participation of U.S.-born men without a bachelor’s degree between the ages of 18 and 64 is 75.6%, down from 80.6% in 2006 and nearly 90% in the 1960s, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Unfortunately, the Workforce Participation Rate has continued to drop slightly since September of last year, but hopefully that can be turned around quickly.

When The Courts Are Out Of Control

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On Friday, Newsmax reported that Walmart is considering leaving Delaware as the state of its incorporation.

The article reports:

Walmart is among the latest and biggest companies considering leaving Delaware as its location of incorporation.

A small group of corporate attorneys last month told Delaware legislators that blue-chip companies including Walmart were considering moving their corporate legal residences out of the state, Semafor reported.

The news is said to have Delaware’s political and business leaders reeling.

The small state of Delaware with just over 1 million people derives more than one-third of its state budget from corporate legal fees, not to mention the far greater impact corporation business has on the economy.

There is a reason for this exodus:

Billionaire Elon Musk began the corporate stampede when he moved multiple companies out of Delaware, including Tesla, SpaceX and Neuralink.

The move came after Delaware Chancellor Judge Kathaleen McCormick, a Democrat, ordered Musk to give up a compensation package valued at $55.8 billion, though it was twice approved by shareholders.

The ruling followed McCormick’s January 2024 decision that called the Musk pay package excessive and rescinded it.

The move surprised investors and cast uncertainty of the state’s long-held position as a neutral corporate arbiter.

Despite painting Musk’s compensation as greedy, McCormick did award the trial lawyers who sued Musk a staggering $345 million for their legal filings.

At issue for Musk, Fortune 500 CEOs and entrepreneurs across the U.S. is that the Delaware Court of Chancery has become a haven for shareholder lawsuits and left-wing judicial activism.

Musk was not happy with McCormick’s ruling and took to X, writing, “Shareholders should control company votes, not judges.”

Another Musk repost stated: “Things to do in Delaware: 1) Leave.”

Musk has also urged other companies to quit Delaware as well.

“Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware,” Musk wrote on X.

The courts should not be able to override the wishes of the stockholders in a privately held company. Actions have consequences.

This Has Been Deleted From The Internet

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This was previously posted at Govtrack.us:

Also appearing on Twitter:

There are also some serious questions about money laundering in her fundraising.

On Wednesday, The Conservative Treehouse reported the following:

Newsmax Carl Higbie has done a deep dive on FEC reports using the “number of donations” as the datapoint to track.  What he discovered about donations to Act Blue might surprise the people assigned to the contributions. {Direct Rumble Link} 

“This is verifiable data. Whoever is choreographing this volume is doing it in such small donations because they thought those wouldn’t get flagged by watchdogs and FEC officials. The way this is brought to our attention was not by the dollar amount, but rather by the number of donations per person. That’s where they messed up. But my question is, if these people whose names are on the FEC report are not making these donations, who is? Where’s the money coming from?”

The Kamala Harris campaign is a scam perpetrated on the American people. Her past is being whitewashed, and she will be given almost unlimited dark money. If Americans are stupid enough to fall for this scam, they deserve what they will get–open borders, lawfare against political opponents, the end of the 2nd Amendment, the end of free speech, and government control of almost every aspect of our lives. Make sure you are paying attention and looking beneath the surface.

Shaken

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When I was checking one of my news sites to get ideas for articles, I saw the alert about the shooting at the Trump rally. I turned on the news (a combination of NewsMax and One America News) and watched the commentary. What I saw was eerily reminiscent of my memories of the weekend after John F. Kennedy was shot. I was in high school at the time, mostly unaware of politics. I loved Jackie Kennedy’s style and generally thought John Kennedy was a good image for America. I really didn’t know anything about his policies (I am not sure he was in office long enough to leave a large footprint.). The assassination of John Kennedy was a shock to America—we didn’t believe things like that happened here. Last night’s sniper shot at President Trump was a shock to me–it shouldn’t have been, based on the rhetoric, but it was.

I am not going to review the rhetoric–it doesn’t deserve to be repeated, but it is time for everyone to settle down. President Trump is not Hitler. President Trump is not a threat to democracy (we are not a democracy–we are a representative republic). President Trump will not put his political enemies in jail (in some circles that is already happening and is treated as acceptable). President Trump will not become a dictator who will ignore the checks and balances put in place by Congress and the Supreme Court (student loans?).

If President Trump is elected, there will be riots–there were riots when he took office in 2017. There were comments made about burning down the White House. There was illegal surveillance of the Trump campaign and the Presidency. Because President Trump was trying to play nice with his opposition, no one was held accountable for their law breaking (threats on a President are illegal, the surveillance was illegal, rioting and destroying property are illegal). If President Trump is elected again, I think he has to hold people accountable for what they say and what they do. Protesting is legal–rioting is not. Free speech is protected–threats against a President are not. Using the Justice Department as a political weapon is not acceptable. All of the people who break the law need to be held accountable. Not in a partisan way, but in accordance with the concept of equal justice for everyone.

The Basic Goals Have Been Met

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On May 14th, Newsmax posted an article about the true purpose of the trial of President Trump that is currently taking place in New York City.

The article notes the three purposes:

“The purpose of this trial is three-fold,” Dershowitz, professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, said on “National Report.” “No. 1, to convict him down and dirty before the election, although it will get reversed after the election. No. 2, to have a gag order on him, and No. 3, to keep them locked up in the courtroom, so he can’t campaign, and those goals may very well be accomplished.

“This is election interference at its most obvious, and every American, no matter whether you’re for Trump or against them … I voted for [President Joe] Biden … whatever your political affiliation is … I’m a Democrat … you should be equally concerned about how this legal system is being weaponized and abused for partisan purposes.”

It is becoming obvious that if President Biden remains as the Democrat candidate in 2024, he is going to have a problem being re-elected. His approval ratings are very low, and any public event he holds has an attendance problem–no one wants to come. There is definitely an enthusiasm gap. It’s going to take an awful lot of computer manipulations and mail-in ballots to steal the upcoming election, and the only way the Democrats can win it is to steal it. I don’t think the American people would believe a President Biden victory.

There is also the question of the precedents being set. Do we really want to live in a country where a political party freely uses the justice system to go after its opponents? This is an awkward question because if the Republicans take Congress and the White House, there are going to have to be some people held accountable for the weaponization of the justice system. I hope that there are some Republicans who care enough about equal justice to hold people accountable. Based on the lack of outrage over the unconstitutional treatment of the January 6th political prisoners, I am not sure Republicans are any more concerned about our Constitution than Democrats.

In Search of the Holy Grail

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In popular culture, the term “the holy grail” is often used to describe the ultimate object of desire. You might consider the idea of a non-addictive pain-killer that could be used after surgery or to quell arthritis pain as one ‘holy grail’ of medicine. The drug companies have been more than willing to take part in this particular quest—oxycontin was one example of a failed quest for the holy grail of medicine. Now marijuana is being touted as the new solution to chronic pain and a number of other medical conditions. However, some doctors and researchers are not yet convinced.

The May Issue of the AARP Bulletin includes an article on medical marijuana. The article notes that medical marijuana is legal in 38 states. The market for marijuana gummies has exploded. The article cites one example of an 89-year-old woman in Maryland who started a cannabis club at Leisure World, her retirement community. She sells edibles and gummies. In the article she notes that gummies can be dangerous in older adults.

The article notes that last year the percentage of people purchasing chewable marijuana surpassed the percentage of people buying smokable marijuana. Since smoking tobacco has become socially unacceptable, it makes sense that marijuana gummies would become more popular than smoking marijuana.

The article mentions that marijuana can help with chronic pain and sleep and anxiety problems. However, the article also notes that marijuana does not seem to help with short-term pain.

There is also the danger of the delayed effect of eating gummies—it takes two or three hours to feel the full effect, so it is easy to take too many. In 2023 a study found that emergency room visits for marijuana-related problems increased 1,808 percent among people 65 and over in California from 2005 to 2019. It has also been discovered that mental problems and heart problems were more common among those who used marijuana edibles than those who smoked or vaped marijuana.

The article in the AARP Bulletin concludes, “…at Leisure World Cannabis 101 Club, Carminetta Verner is very cautious about spreading the gummy gospel. She recommends that new users keep a detailed journal of what they take, as well as the results, to see whether a gummy, or anything else, helps or has side effects. “Each person’s metabolism is different, and you have to learn how your body reacts,” she says. “The cannabis mantra is ‘start low and go slow.’””

The May 2024 issue of Newsmax Magazine also included an article about marijuana. The article cited a Danish study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association: Psychiatry (JAMA) last year.

The article in Newsmax states that between 1995 and 2010 the percentage of Danish schizophrenia diagnoses associated with marijuana usage had nearly quadrupled, and the combination of greater usage with stronger pot is bringing down the age of first onset of mental illness. Someone who might have gotten into their late 20’s without a psychotic episode could now be faced with their first break with reality while still in their teens. The article at Newsmax concludes by stating that marijuana can make treating mental illness more difficult and can throw a person’s life off course before it has a chance to get on course. It also mentions that the marijuana of today is stronger and more addictive than the marijuana than the marijuana of the 1960’s. Neither article referenced above is willing to describe marijuana as a harmless drug.

 

As The Israeli War Continues

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As the war in Gaza continues, we need to remember what started the war and what was celebrated in Gaza when the war began. On Friday, The American Thinker posted an article that provides some perspective.

The article reports:

Among the heart-breaking scenes from the Middle-East are video reports showing civilian casualties of the current war.  In the West, we cringe at those images, especially the ones showing small children — dead, grievously wounded, or orphaned.

In Gaza, there seems to be little reciprocity of sympathy.  Newsmax reports that more than seventy percent of Gazans approve of the October 7 attack on Israel, in which more than 1,200 Israelis were killed, many by unspeakable torture.  More than eighty percent deny that the atrocities were committed, even after watching the videos sadistically, and boastfully, recorded by the terrorists themselves.  This reminds us of the self-contradiction that might be stated as “We did not commit the crimes, and we are glad that we did.”

This is a case of not cognitive dissonance, but rather moral depravity.  It is lethal hypocrisy.  In seeking to justify acts of evil, the evildoers soon discover that neither have they justification for them, nor do they need it.

Antisemites declare that every Jew should be killed.  The rest of us do not have that same genocidal fervor toward Palestinians.  While antisemites insist that there are no innocent Jews, sane people recognize that some Palestinians are indeed innocent of terrorism.  I recall a news item from years ago in which a Palestinian immigrant to the U.S. explained his reason for leaving his homeland: the people there are crazy, he said, and worse, they demand that all Palestinians join with them in their insanity.  We do not want that for our children.  We want them to live.

It should also be noted that the money given to create a self-sustaining economy in Gaza was instead spent on tunnels and weapons. Somehow the focus in Gaza has always been on killing Jews–even the kindergarten classes are involved (article here). As long as Arab children in Gaza are taught that martyrdom and killing Jews are a goal, there is no point in even considering a two-state solution. Gaza must be tightly controlled until that point (if it ever comes) when generational hatred is no longer the dominant way of thinking.

About That Fourteenth Amendment Thing…

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I am not a lawyer, nor do I claim to be one. However, I am concerned about the lawfare being conducted against President Trump.

In the January 2024 issue of Newsmax Magazine, Hans von Spakovsky wrote a commentary about the use of the 14th Amendment to keep President Trump off of the primary ballot in several states.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states:

Section 3.

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Note that Congress may remove such disability.

The article in Newsmax notes:

In 1872, Congress passed an Amnesty Act providing that the “political disabilities” imposed by Section 3 “are hereby removed from all persons whomsoever” except for members of Congress who had served just before and during the Civil War, as well as a limited number of other officials.

In 1898, Congress passed a second Amnesty Act getting rid of these remaining exceptions, providing that the “disability imposed by section 3…heretofore incurred is hereby removed.”

That sounds to me like using the 14th Amendment to keep President Trump off of the ballot does not agree with the laws Congress has passed since the 14th Amendment.

Also, doesn’t there have to be a trial and a conviction?

It should also be noted that the removal of President Trump from the ballot represents taking away the right of the American people to vote for whoever they choose. This sounds like something that happens in dictatorships. The only reason to remove someone from the ballot is if they do not have enough support to run for election. Obviously that is not the problem with President Trump.

 

The Future If President Trump Is Elected In 2024

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If you are a government worker, you should probably work very hard to make sure President Trump does not become President again. The changes he is planning to make will be good for the country, but not necessarily appreciated by government employees.

On Tuesday, Newsmax posted an article about what is being planned if President Trump is elected. President Trump is a much greater threat to the deep state than he was in 2016–he has a much better idea of who the goods guys are and who the bad guys are. That is one of many reasons there will be a desperate attempt to stop him from being elected.

The article reports:

Project 2025, a well-funded effort that is essentially a transition team orchestrated by the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, has already begun recruiting and screening potential candidates who would be in place for the next Republican administration.

More specifically, a second Donald Trump administration.

The goal, according to a report by Axios, is to have 54,000 like-minded Trump loyalists ready to be hired and placed across every level of the federal government in January 2025.

The article notes:

In order to install 54,000 federal workers hand-picked by this effort, Trump has said he would reinstate Schedule F, a personnel policy to erase employment protections for tens of thousands of federal workers through reclassification, which makes them easier to fire.

And with the army in place, Trump in the early days of his second administration can revamp the Justice Department, FBI and intelligence community, swiftly move on deporting illegals “by the millions per year,” and eradicate woke ideology from the military, according to Axios.

“And the goal is that we are just like a snowball rolling downhill. It keeps building momentum and whoever the nominee is, whoever the next president is, we’re going to be ready on Day One,” Chretien said.

Sweeping reform is what is needed. The question is whether or not we can have an honest election to allow that reform to happen.

When Our Government Works Against The Interests Of The Voters

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On November, The Washington Examiner posted an article about the partnership between an agency in the Department of Homeland Security and several university centers to identify online content worthy of censorship. Why is our government working with universities to censor free speech? Might that be part of the reason our colleges have become indoctrination centers?

The article reports:

An agency within the Department of Homeland Security partnered with several university centers to identify online content worthy of censorship, according to a new report from the House Judiciary Committee.

The report, a project of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, detailed how the federal government formed a partnership with the Stanford Internet Observatory, the University of Washington Center for an Informed Public, and other groups. Titled the “Election Integrity Partnership,” the consortium aimed to identify election-related content that needed to be censored.

The report said the partnership was established in July 2020 by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a small agency within the Department of Homeland Security. The partnership then worked with social media companies to throttle content that questioned the integrity of the election process.

“The federal government and universities pressured social media companies to censor true information, jokes, and political opinions,” the report said. “This pressure was largely directed in a way that benefited one side of the political aisle: True information posted by Republicans and conservatives was labeled as ‘misinformation’ while false information posted by Democrats and liberals was largely unreported and untouched by the censors.”

The article also notes:

The report named several prominent politicians, people, and conservative news outlets that had been targeted for censorship, including former President Donald Trump, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), the Babylon Bee satire site, and Newsmax.

“Stanford and others, in collaboration with the federal government, established the EIP for the express purpose of violating Americans’ civil liberties: Because no federal agency ‘has a focus on, or authority regarding, election misinformation originating from domestic sources within the United States,’ there is ‘a critical gap for non-governmental entities to fill.’ CISA and Stanford created the EIP to bridge this ‘critical gap’ — an unconstitutional workaround for unconstitutional censorship,” the report said.

The report contained numerous screenshots of emails between government officials and employees of Twitter, Facebook, and the university “misinformation” centers, many of which included direct requests to censor content.

One of the things that was censored was any reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop. Government agencies knew the laptop was real and probably anticipated the information on it being reported before the election. The letter from the retired intelligence agents came out in October 2020, just before the election. Any valid information on the laptop was censored. At some point, American voters are going to realize that they have been manipulated and lied to by their own government. That will be interesting to watch.

When The Evidence Is Overwhelming But You Are Struggling To Get The Information Out

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On July 4th, Newsmax posted an article about the problems the Republicans are having finding a way to inform the public of the weaponization of the government for political purposes and the unequal justice system under the Biden administration.

The article reports:

Republican lawmakers on key House committees have amassed a great deal of evidence about the weaponization of government and on President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, but now are finding themselves having more information than can be fully presented in a way the public can absorb it.

Republican lawmakers on key House committees have amassed a great deal of evidence about the weaponization of government and on President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, but now are finding themselves having more information than can be fully presented in a way the public can absorb it.

The information includes not only the hundreds of pages in special counsel John Durham’s report, but also transcripts of interviews with IRS whistleblowers about their efforts to investigate Hunter Biden being thwarted, and documentation concerning allegations that the president was involved in a pay-to-play bribery scheme and more, reported the Washington Examiner. 

In addition to the items involving the Bidens, there is also information to present including the FBI’s plans to infiltrate Catholic parishes and the Justice Department’s aggressive prosecution of former President Donald Trump, including the felony indictments he faces in connection with the documents investigation by special counsel Jack Smith.

First we need to accept the fact that the information coming from the media is totally controlled by the kingmakers in the Democrat Party. As I have previously stated, in order for a candidate other than Joe Biden to mount a successful presidential campaign, that campaign has to start before October. In the next few months, the media will reveal whether or not Joe Biden will be the candidate by the stories they post. If we begin to see articles linking President Biden to scandals or calling attention to his mental lapses, we can assume that he is on his way out (willingly or otherwise). How they will gracefully avoid Kamala Harris as the candidate will be very interesting to watch. Meanwhile, just keep the popcorn ready.

 

The Commentary Continues

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The results of the five-year investigation of Hunter Biden are stunning. I am sure it is purely coincidental that the results were released about the same time President Trump was indicted. I guess what I don’t understand is how Hunter Biden totally avoids jail time while January 6th prisoners are still in jail for lesser offenses, many in less than wonderful conditions awaiting trials.

On Tuesday, NewsMax posted an article containing some commentary on the Hunter Biden case.

Some highlights of the article:

Francey Hakes, former assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, and Jay Town, former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, told Newsmax on Tuesday that U.S. Attorney David Weiss’ case against first son Hunter Biden should not have taken five years and that the statement about the investigation being “ongoing” is “bogus.”

“The statement that the investigation is ongoing … that certainly caught my attention, but it wouldn’t be normal for a prosecutor, at any level, to allow a plea … and still have an ongoing investigation into that individual,”

…”Unfortunately, the only body probably left investigating anything to do with Hunter Biden, and the influence that he may or may not have been peddling in Washington, D.C., is going to be the United States Congress. To some extent, that’s pretty feckless, because all they can do is refer charges to a Biden Justice Department,” Town said. “So, I tend to believe we’re at the end of the Hunter Biden saga here.”

Hakes said that the charges are not reasonable, given the evidence.

“We have an entire laptop full of evidence of other crimes and a five-year investigation that has now resulted in what? A couple of misdemeanor pleas and pretrial diversion?” she said. “That is not how ‘Joe Man on the Street’ would have been treated.”

The fact that the Justice Department thinks the American people are okay with this is frightening. This is so blatantly political that even someone who does not follow politics can look at it and see a double standard.

This Is Not Good News For America

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Today, NewsMax posted an article about the most recent meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The article reports:

OPEC and its allies met on Sunday to try to agree further cuts in production, sources told Reuters, as the group faces flagging oil prices and a looming supply glut.

The group, known as OPEC+, delayed the start of formal talks by at least three and a half hours due to members’ discussions on the sidelines of production baselines, from which cuts and quotas are calculated, sources said.

OPEC’s most influential members and biggest Gulf producers led by Saudi Arabia were trying to persuade under-producing African nations such as Nigeria and Angola to have more realistic output targets, sources said.

“Talks with African producers are proving to be difficult,” one OPEC+ source said. Gulf producer, the United Arab Emirates, was meanwhile seeking a higher baseline to reflect its growing production capacity, sources said.

OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, pumps around 40% of the world’s crude, meaning its policy decisions can have a major impact on oil prices.

Four sources familiar with OPEC+ discussions have told Reuters that additional production cuts were being discussed among options for Sunday’s session.

“We are discussing the full package (of changes to the deal),” one of the four sources said.

Three out of four sources said cuts could amount to 1 million bpd on top of existing cuts of 2 million bpd and voluntary cuts of 1.6 million bpd, announced in a surprise move in April and that took effect in May.

The article concludes:

Western nations have accused OPEC of manipulating oil prices and undermining the global economy through high energy costs. The West has also accused OPEC of siding with Russia despite Western sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

In response, OPEC insiders have said the West’s money-printing over the last decade has driven inflation and forced oil-producing nations to act to maintain the value of their main export.

Asian countries, such as China and India, have bought the greatest share of Russian oil exports and refused to join Western sanctions on Russia.

OPEC has denied media access to its headquarters to reporters from Reuters and other news media.

According to a U.S. News article written in January 2021:

MMT (Modern Monetary Theory) argues that nations with the ability to produce their fiat currency can issue as much money as they need, and as a result, they have no pressures when it comes to financing. In other words, the government cannot run out of money and it essentially has no financial constraints. While the government should have a budget, under this theory, the government doesn’t necessarily have to worry about the deficit because it can fund projects by printing new money from its central bank.

That seems to be the theory that the government is currently operating under. It is a theory that will prove disastrous for America.

When Will Washington Politicians Decide To Honor The Constitution?

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The Biden administration has done an end run around the U.S. Constitution since coming into office. Executive orders have decimated our energy independence, and various agencies have interfered is things as minute as the appliances we cook on. We have long passed the point where our laws are made by legislators–they are now made by regulatory agencies that are unelected and unaccountable. Now the President is discussing ignoring the role of Congress as ‘keepers of the purse’ and threatening to invoke the Fourteenth Amendment to raise the debt ceiling without the consent of Congress.

On Tuesday, NewsMax reported:

President Joe Biden confirmed that he is floating the idea of utilizing the 14th Amendment to work around congressional gridlock on raising the debt ceiling, The Hill reported.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Biden invoked legal scholar Laurence Tribe’s recent editorial in The New York Times, where he backed the theory, which claims the president can unilaterally raise the limit under certain circumstances.

“I have been considering the 14th Amendment, and the man I have enormous respect for, Larry Tribe … thinks that it would be legitimate,” Biden said, citing the article.

The article concludes:

But House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., scoffed at the idea outside the Capitol on Tuesday.

“Really think about this,” McCarthy said. “If you’re the leader … and you’re going to go to the 14th amendment to look at something like that — I would think you’re kind of a failure of working with people across sides of the aisle or working with your own party to get something done.”

The Republican-controlled House has proposed its Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023 to solve the debt crisis. Alternatively, the Democratic-led Senate released an economic report condemning the proposal.

Republicans are seeking to make significant inroads to slash government spending in their proposal — a move that Democrats said should take a backseat to pass a “clean” debt ceiling measure.

The un-Republicans in the House before the 2022 mid-terms worked with the Democrats to pass a spending bill that would effectively tie the hands of the Congress that was elected in 2022. Technically this may have been legal, but it was definitely not the right thing to do. Now the Republicans in the House are trying to undo the damage those un-Republicans did. The American people want spending cuts. If the Republicans don’t deliver them, they don’t deserve to be re-elected next year.

 

Color Me Skeptical

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Today, NewsMax posted an article about some recent comments by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin.

The article reports:

China on Monday said more than 10 U.S. high-altitude balloons have flown in its airspace during the past year without its permission, following Washington’s accusation that Beijing operates a fleet of surveillance balloons around the world.

The Chinese allegation comes after the U.S. shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that had crossed from Alaska to South Carolina, sparking a new crisis in bilateral relations that have spiraled to their lowest level in decades.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin gave no details about the alleged U.S. balloons, how they had been dealt with or whether they had government or military links.

I suspect I could use that statement to fertilize my garden! How long would a U.S. high altitude balloon last over the skies of China? Do you really think that we would not have heard about incidences of spying on China via balloon before this?

The article concludes:

The Chinese balloon shot down by the U.S. was equipped to detect and collect intelligence signals as part of a huge, military-linked aerial surveillance program that targeted more than 40 countries, the Biden administration declared Thursday, citing imagery from American U-2 spy planes.

Part of the reason for the repeated shootdowns is a “heightened alert” following the alleged Chinese spy balloon, Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of NORAD and the U.S. Northern Command, said in a briefing with reporters.

The United States has since placed economic restrictions on six Chinese entities it said are linked to Beijing’s aerospace programs as part of its response to the incident. The U.S. House of Representatives also voted unanimously to condemn China for a “brazen violation” of U.S. sovereignty and efforts to “deceive the international community through false claims about its intelligence collection campaigns.”

Wang, the Chinese spokesperson, repeated China’s dismissal of such claims, saying, “the frequent firing of advanced missiles by the U.S. to shoot down the objects is an overreaction of overexertion.”

At this point in history, is there a government on earth that is actually telling the truth about anything?

Another Blow To Free Speech

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On Thursday, BizPacReview reported that AT&T has removed NewsMax from  AT&T’s DirecTV, DirecTV Stream, and U-Verse. Roughly a year ago, they removed One America News. It is becoming apparent that if you want to watch news that is less biased than the mainstream, you need a Roku.

The article reports:

At the stroke of midnight on Tuesday, more than 13 million customers of AT&T’s DirecTV, DirecTV Stream, and U-Verse were no longer able to tune into Newsmax, marking the second time in a year that AT&T has canceled a conservative news channel.

…Reports Newsmax:

Despite Newsmax being the 4th highest-rated cable news channel in the nation, a top 20 cable news channel overall, and watched by 25 million Americans on cable alone, according to Nielsen, DirecTV said it was taking the step as a “cost-cutting” measure and would never pay Newsmax a cable license fee.

DirecTV pays cable license fees to all top 75 cable channels and to all 22 liberal news and information channels it carries. Almost all of these channels are paid hefty license fees significantly more than Newsmax was seeking — and despite the fact that most of the channels have much lower ratings than Newsmax.

The article notes:

DirecTV has a different take on the dispute.

In a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, a spokesperson for the service said, “On multiple occasions, we made it clear to Newsmax that we wanted to continue to offer the network, but ultimately Newsmax’s demands for rate increases would have led to significantly higher costs that we would have to pass on to our broad customer base.”

“Anyone, including our customers, can watch the network for free via NewsmaxTV.com, YouTube.com and on multiple streaming platforms like Amazon Fire TV, Roku and Google Play,” the statement continues. “We continually evaluate the most relevant programming to provide our customers and expect to fill this available channel with new content.”

That was the same line they used with One America News. It was a lie then, and it is a lie now. This is censorship, and Americans who want to know what is actually happening in the world are going to have to be a little creative in acquiring valid news sources.

Just a note, a friend of mine who has DirectTV told me that when she called the company to complain about NewsMax being dropped she was told that NewsMax would still be reinstated. Her comment was that she would give them a month. If NewsMax is not back on the network by then, she will find another cable provider.

There Really Were Visitor Records

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On Friday, NewsMax reported that there actually were records on who visited President Biden at his Delaware home.

The article reports:

The Secret Service now acknowledges that it has records on who visited President Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, when classified documents were kept there.

The New York Post reported that Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Thursday that “the Secret Service does generate law enforcement and criminal justice information records for various individuals who may come into contact with Secret Service protected sites.”

Guglielmi on Monday said the Secret Service doesn’t “independently maintain our own visitor logs because it’s a private residence.”

The article notes:

Congressional Republicans asked for the logs after learning that confidential documents were found at Biden’s home.

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the Oversight and Accountability Committee, demanded Sunday that the White House turn over visitor logs, according to The New York Times.

“It is troubling that classified documents have been improperly stored at the home of President Biden for at least six years, raising questions about who may have reviewed or had access to classified information,” Comer wrote.

It stands to reason that anyone coming close to the President would have to be cleared by the Secret Service. It also stands to reason that there would be a record of that clearance in case the person made a repeat visit. There may not be explicit logs, but there will be a list of people who visited the President in Delaware. That list needs to be made public.

An Interesting Perspective

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On January 11th, NewsMax posted an article about the classified documents belonging to then Vice-President Biden found in a Washington Think Tank.

The article reports:

It wasn’t an “accident” that classified documents turned up at President Joe Biden’s former Washington, D.C., think-tank office, as he and his staff had “decades of experience” in handling such items, Fred Fleitz, a former chief of staff at the National Security Council and ex-CIA analyst, told Newsmax on Wednesday.

“I just don’t believe that this was an accident,” Fleitz, now a Newsmax contributor, said on “Wake Up America.” “This was an effort by Biden and his staff to squirrel away classified documents for Biden to use in his memoirs. It also could be business [or] personal purposes.”

…Biden also on Tuesday said his attorneys “did what they should have done” when they immediately called the National Archives to report the discovery.

However, reports have also indicated that the documents included information concerning Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and Iran, and Fleitz said he finds the Ukraine connection particularly worrisome.

“Keep in mind that Hunter Biden made $11 million between 2013 and 2018 in his business to Ukraine and China,” said Fleitz.

Keep in mind that the discovery was made before the mid-term elections. If the attorneys “did what they should have done,” why wasn’t the public informed. If Biden had been a Republican, would the public have known?

The article continues:

Fleitz also on Wednesday said there should be “much more” outrage concerning reports of Chinese funding for the Penn Biden Center.

“I don’t know if you remember 10 years ago, the Brookings Foundation got in a lot of trouble because it took $14 million in foreign donations from Qatar,” said Fleitz. “The Penn Biden center takes $54 million in donations from China, and the media doesn’t care.”

A report last year in The New York Post said the center had opened after accepting $54 million in donations from China, a claim the University of Pennsylvania denied.

“The Penn Biden Center has never solicited or received any gifts from any Chinese or other foreign entity. In fact, the University has never solicited any gifts for the Center,” university spokesman Stephen MacCarthy said at the time.

Meanwhile, Fleitz said he also finds the timing of the news about the documents to have been leaked “on purpose” while Biden is in Mexico for meetings.

“I think it probably was on purpose so the president wouldn’t be available for the press to go after him,” he said. “I think there’s also a relationship with the new Republican Congress. They’re worrying about subpoenas and investigations. Frankly, I’m glad we have a new Republican House so we can look into things like that.”

Who owns Washington?