Why The Census Matters

The  Census matters. It impacts our elections by determining the number of electors a state gets in the Electoral College. If non-citizens are included in the census, certain states will get more Electoral College votes (and more representatives in the House of Representatives) than they are actually entitled to.

On Friday, The Daily Wire posted an article explaining how the census impacted the 2024 presidential election.

The article reports:

There is no doubt that President-elect Donald Trump has won a sweeping victory, becoming only the second U.S. president to be elected to a second, non-consecutive term in one of the most remarkable political comeback stories in American history. But his victory in the Electoral College would’ve been even bigger if two factors hadn’t cheated him out of the additional votes he should have received. 

Why do I say this? Because of the jarring errors the Census Bureau admitted it made in its population numbers for multiple states, and its unfair inclusion of aliens in the population used for congressional apportionment. That inclusion dilutes the votes of U.S. citizens, distorting representation in the U.S. House of Representatives and in the Electoral College.

The article notes:

First, the costly errors. In 2022, the Census Bureau issued a report in which it announced that a post-census survey revealed that its count was wrong in 14 states. It undercounted the populations of Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas, while overcounting the populations of Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Utah. The errors ranged from a low of 1.49% to a high of 6.79%. 

I realize that this is just an incredible coincidence, but only one of the under-counted states, Illinois, voted for Vice-President Kamala Harris, and only two of the over-counted states, Ohio and Utah, voted for President Trump.

The article notes:

The final result with these corrections? As this article was being written, Trump had 295 Electoral College votes to Harris’s 226, with Arizona and Nevada still outstanding. But adjusting for the errors and inclusion of aliens means that Trump actually should have won 304 votes and Harris should only have 220 (not including Arizona’s 11 votes and Nevada’s 6 votes). In a close election, even those numbers could make a difference. 

This fundamental injustice ought to be fixed. There is no excuse for what happened at the Census Bureau. It needs a major review of its personnel, procedures and policies, to determine the cause of its mistakes. It did not make this large a substantive error in the 2010 Census, in which the Bureau’s post-census survey disclosed a mere 0.01 percent overcount. 

We need to require a more accurate census. Also, the census needs to include only American citizens. Our government should not be representing people who are not citizens.

When Our Justice Department Is Unjust

On Monday, The Daily Wire posted an article reporting information about the Fani Willis case obtained by the House Judiciary Committee.

The article reports:

Nathan Wade, the Georgia lawyer tapped to prosecute former President Donald Trump by his onetime lover, Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis, had extensive communications with the Biden-Harris White House, new records show.

Wade billed the Fulton County office for hours of meetings with the White House, the congressional January 6 committee, and other D.C. officials, according to records obtained by the House Judiciary Committee and released Monday.

The committee released a transcript of an interview with Wade, which was compelled by subpoena, in which he said that Willis was preparing to prosecute Trump even before she took office, and that she put Wade on a “search committee” to find a prosecutor, which ultimately chose him for the job.

On May 23, 2022, Wade billed the Fulton office for eight hours of travel and “Conf with White House Counsel.” Wade said he could not remember who from the White House was involved, or even where the meeting took place.

On November 18, 2022, he billed eight hours for “Interview with DC/White House,” but under oath claimed he didn’t remember the meeting and couldn’t even say whether it was online or in-person.

…Wade’s congressional testimony raises questions about whether Willis gave him a special prosecutor job knowing he lacked the relevant experience, in order to benefit him as a lover. Wade acknowledged to Congress that he had no relevant experience to be a special prosecutor, and that he took classes to learn how after taking the job.

U.S. Marshalls attempting to serve Wade with a subpoena could not locate him for days. Wade claimed he had turned his phone off because he was preparing for a trial, and also because he was on pain medication from hurting his ankle playing basketball.

What we have witnessed in the past three-plus years, is the weaponization of the American Justice Department against the political foes of the person in power. Unfortunately, if Kamala Harris is elected, this trend will continue. There are a lot of people in the Biden administration who have totally ignored their oath to uphold the Constitution. All of them need to be held accountable if President Trump is elected. That will not be going after political enemies–it will simply be requiring the Democrats to adhere to the rules of the game.

The Truth About Censorship

On Monday, The Daily Wire posted an article about some recent statements by Mark Zuckerberg regarding censorship under the Biden-Harris administration.

The article reports:

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a letter on Monday that the Biden-Harris administration repeatedly pressured his company — which includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and more —  to censor content that is protected free speech.

Zuckerberg made the admission in a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) this week in which he said that his goal moving forward was to “be neutral and not play a role one way or another” for either any political party or ideology. He said he doesn’t even want the appearance of playing a role and will not be making political contributions.

“In 2021, senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn’t agree,” he said in the letter. “Ultimately, it was our decision whether or not to take content down, and we own our decisions, including COVID-19-related changes we made to our enforcement in the wake of this pressure.”

The censorship during Covid probably resulted in people unnecessarily dying from the disease. We now know that there are some serious risks associated with the vaccine–that was kept quiet. We now that ivermectin used correctly can be an effective weapon against the disease–that information was suppressed. We now know that Hunter’s laptop was real–that information was censored. How much information about the current Democrat party candidates for President and Vice-President is being censored?

The article notes:

He (Zuckerberg) said that the company made a mistake by temporarily demoting a New York Post story during the 2020 election about Hunter Biden’s laptop after officials falsely suggested that it was part of a “Russian disinformation operation.”

“It’s since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story,” he said. “We’ve changed our policies and processes to make sure this doesn’t happen again – for instance, we no longer temporarily demote things in the U.S while waiting for fact-checkers.”

We are living with the results of an election that was probably stolen in more then one way. Let’s not let that happen again.

A New Level Of Election Interference

The mainstream media is not a friend of Americans who love our Representative Republic. Currently the First Amendment is under attack in order to interfere with the November election. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has chosen to be part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

On Wednesday, The Daily Wire reported:

President Joe Biden and his administration have “made a mockery of the First Amendment,” according to George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, and the Supreme Court’s Wednesday decision in Murthy v. Missouri failed to put a stop to it.

Turley made an appearance on Wednesday on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom,” where he broke down the ruling and the case for anchor Dana Perino.

“You call yourself a free speech absolutist,” Perino began, asking Turley, “What does this mean?”

“Well, it’s very frustrating for the free speech community because standing is often used to block meritorious claims,” Turley replied. “This is one of the most fundamental issues that we are facing.”

“I wrote about this issue, this case, in my recent book,” Turley continued. “You have one of the largest censorship systems in our history — if not the largest — it’s been called Orwellian by lower court judges. And what the court is saying is that ‘we won’t hear you on this issue because you’re not the right litigant.’”

The article concludes:

Two Republican state officials and five conservative social media users brought the challenge in Murthy v. Missouri, claiming that the White House’s pressure campaigns on social media companies to remove what the Biden administration deems “misinformation” amounted to censorship by proxy.

The Daily Wire is suing the Biden administration in a separate social media censorship case, alleging that the U.S. State Department is engaging with and promoting censorship technology designed to bankrupt domestic media outlets with disfavored political opinions. Last month, a federal judge rejected the State Department’s attempt to get the censorship lawsuit dismissed. The Daily Wire is joined by The Federalist and the state of Texas as plaintiffs in the case.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

On Thursday, The Daily Wire posted an article about the amount of taxpayer money that goes to federal employees that actually work for the unions that represent federal employees rather than the government but are paid by the federal government.

The article reports:

The federal government pays more than $100 million a year to employees who aren’t doing their actual government jobs, but rather working for unions representing government employees against management — with taxpayers essentially funding both sides of the bargaining table. 

For decades, the government has tracked and reported those figures, but the Biden administration has removed the reports.

Under the policy known as “official time,” hundreds of nominal government employees haven’t done anything but full-time union work in years, yet remain on the federal payroll. Not only is the policy expensive to taxpayers, but it also props up the power of unions by subsidizing their activities, giving them resources even if employees don’t support them enough to pay dues. Those unions fight against the firing of employees accused of misconduct, and advocate for policies that sometimes pit the interests of employees over the interests of taxpayers, such as resisting a return to in-person work.

The Office of Personnel Management has historically kept track of and published how the program is being used, including during the Obama administration. But the data has not been updated since 2019 — when the government shelled out for 2.6 million hours, or nearly 300 years’ worth, of employee time that was actually spent on union business.

The Biden administration has even been secretive about its secrecy. In December, The Daily Wire asked OPM why the page listing the reports was missing, along with all historical reports except 2019, which can only be located via the search function. A spokesperson said, “Previous reports on official time are not currently available because OPM is reorganizing our website to improve navigation and customer experience.”

The article concludes:

In 2014, the Washington Examiner found more than 500 employees who did no or almost no work for their actual government jobs, despite drawing a full-time salary from taxpayers, because of official time. That includes 271 employees on full-time union release with the Department of Veterans Affairs, and 201 from the IRS.

Then-Sen. Tom Coburn said “I just don’t think the federal taxpayers ought to be paying for that… That’s what union dues are for. What’s irksome to me is that we are paying someone to be a pharmacist or a nurse, but they’re not doing that. They’re doing union work.”

Washington is due for a really good cleaning out!

Israel Lives In A Really Bad Neighborhood

On October 7th, Israel was attacked by Hamas. As a result of that attack, Israel has attempted to eliminate Hamas because it is an organization that foments terrorism against Israel. Israel seems to be doing a pretty good job despite opposition from people who are either unaware of the history and goals of Hamas or choose to ignore them. Unfortunately Hamas is not Israel’s only bad neighbor.

On Monday, The Daily Wire reported the following:

The Israel Defense Forces destroyed what it said were two large weapon depots belonging to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization inside Lebanon.

The strikes reportedly occurred near the coastal city of Sidon, which is roughly thirty miles north of the Israel-Lebanon border.

“IDF fighter jets struck two Hezbollah weapons storage facilities adjacent to the city of Sidon in Lebanon,” the IDF said in a statement. “The strike was carried out in response to the launch of a UAV toward the Lower Galilee in northern Israel.”

“An examination of the incident suggests that the UAV was most likely launched from Lebanon by the Hezbollah terrorist organization earlier today,” the statement continued. “The incident is under review. Furthermore, over the last few hours, IDF fighter jets struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in the areas of Meiss El Jabal and al-Adisa in Lebanon.”

I sincerely believe that we should celebrate the elimination of terrorists regardless of what country they choose to abide in. The article includes video of the IDF blowing up the storage facilities.

The article concludes:

Hezbollah is considered to be the most powerful and well armed terrorist group in the world thanks to receiving roughly $1 billion a year from Iran.

The group has 20,000 to 25,000 full-time fighters with tens of thousands more in reserves, according to the IDF.

How much of that $1 billion comes from American taxpayers?

Did Anyone Notice This At The Time?

On Saturday, The Daily Wire posted the following headline:

CCP Billionaire Secretly Bought 200,000 Acres Of U.S. Farmland

Why are we selling large tracts of farmland to people who want us destroyed?

The article reports:

Back in October, the Department of Agriculture estimated that Chinese entities owned around 400,000 acres of U.S. farmland, which translates to more than $2 billion dollars. Though it’s a fraction of foreign-owned farmland, the number has alarmed lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, since it’s been dramatically increasing over the past decade as China becomes more and more adversarial toward the U.S.

At the time, it was acknowledged that the 400,000 acre estimate was likely far lower than the real number. For one thing, there’s been an antiquated paper-based reporting system for foreign owned-land, and if someone owns less than 10 acres, it doesn’t have to be reported, nor does someone leasing land.

“Right now, we don’t know the full extent of the risk at hand,” Democrat Sen. Tammy Baldwin (WI) said. “Outdated reporting systems and a lack of auditing at both the state and federal level leave us with incomplete information and many questions.” 

Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik (NY) told the Post on Saturday that the Biden administration has “dropped the ball” when it comes to foreign adversaries goggling up American farmland.

“Communist China is purchasing US agricultural land to subvert our sovereignty, undermine our agriculture industry, encroach on our military installations, and upend America’s rural communities,” she said.

The article also notes:

It’s been estimated that some 31,000 Chinese nations were stopped by law enforcement at our border, a CNN report highlighted. According to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol data, the U.S. would typically only see around 1,500 Chinese nationals in a given year over the previous decade.

Is anyone in charge of national security paying attention?

Sometimes Congress Actually Does Something When It Directly Impacts Them!

On Tuesday, The Daily Wire posted an article about the Department of Justice’s spying on members of Congress.

The article reports:

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) announced on Tuesday that he subpoenaed Attorney General Merrick Garland for information on alleged efforts to surveil members of Congress and congressional staff — including during the Russiagate controversy that rocked former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and administration.

In a cover letter to Garland, which noted potential legislative reforms could follow, Jordan said his panel “must resort to compulsory process” because of the “inadequate response to date” by the Department of Justice (DOJ) following his request for details about the apparent use of subpoenas to obtain private communications of Legislative Branch employees.

The DOJ previously informed the committee that the legal process it used related to an investigation into the “unauthorized disclosure of classified information in a national media publication,” the letter said. Jordan cited news reporting that indicated the inquiry pertained to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) surveillance of one-time Trump campaign associate Carter Page, reliant on an effort to get FISA warrants that the DOJ inspector general heavily criticized and the DOJ itself later conceded had relied on “insufficient predication” to last as long as it did.

The article concludes:

The Executive Branch appears to have used its “immense law-enforcement authority to gather and search the private communications of multiple Legislative Branch employees who were conducting Constitutional oversight of the Department’s investigative actions — actions that were later found to be unlawful,” Jordan wrote.

“Because the Department has not complied in full with our requests, we cannot independently determine whether the Department sought to alleviate the heightened separation-of-powers sensitivities involved or whether the Department first sought the information through other means before resorting to legal process,” Jordan added. “The Committee also has concerns that aspects of the Department’s investigation may have been a pretext to justify piercing the Legislative Branch’s deliberative process and improperly access data from Members and staff involved in conducting oversight of the Department.”

After watching the Department of Justice in recent years, I have concluded that the upper management of the Department has very little respect for the rule of law. They need to be replaced.

A Second Chance?

The elections last week did not go well for Republicans. There were a lot of reasons for this, some real and some made up by non-Republicans. One state that had disappointing results was Virginia–the Democrats retained control of the Senate and retook the House of Delegates. Well, that may not be the end of the story.

On Saturday, Townhall reported:

We have reports that some funny business with a Virginia Democratic state senator might give control of the upper chamber to the Republicans. The Daily Wire’s Luke Rosiak wrote that there might be serious questions regarding the validity of Sen. Ghazala Hashmi’s residency. You must live in the district you’re representing, and multiple sources say Hashmi’s paperwork is inaccurate. Hashmi represented Senate District 10 but opted to run for the 15th district this cycle post-redistricting. The reason is apparent: this is a slam-dunk blue district encompassing parts of Richmond and Chesterfield County

On Saturday, The Daily Wire reported:

…Hashmi filed candidacy paperwork saying she lived in an apartment on Boulder Lake Drive in North Chesterfield in Senate District 15.

But four neighbors filed a complaint saying she actually lives outside the district on Bosham Lane in Midlothian, and they provided a spreadsheet saying they had driven by the house 62 times during the month of October to document her residency. The notes include her car being there late at night and early in the morning, and her leaving the house shortly after 8 a.m. It also includes photographic evidence.

Putting Hashmi in a particular bind, if she did live in the Chesterfield apartment, then she may have committed a felony by concealing her ownership of the Midlothian home on sworn election forms.

The Certificate of Candidacy Qualification, which she signed March 14, 2023, says, “I now reside at the address shown below in the district in which I seek office,” under which she listed the North Chesterfield apartment.

The form also asks, “Do you or a member of your immediately family, separately or together, hold an interest valued at more than $5,000 in real property? DO NOT INCLUDE your principal residence.” She checked “no,” and did not list the Midlothian home. Real estate records show that she and her husband have owned that — worth nearly $600,000 — since 1999.

Stay tuned.

 

There Seems To Be Some Confusion Here

On Thursday, The Daily Wire reported the following:

UPDATE: Israel Refutes White House Claim About ‘Humanitarian Pauses’

The article reports:

On Thursday morning, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that starting today Israel will implement daily, four-hour humanitarian pauses in its attack on the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza. However, following the widely reported claim that Israel had agreed to four-hour humanitarian pauses beginning today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office dismissed the White House’s statement.

Kirby said the Israeli government stated they will suspend military operations during the four hours and they will announce three hours before the pause begins when it will start, CBS News reported, adding, “President Biden told reporters Thursday morning that he has asked Netanyahu for a pause even longer than three days for the release of hostages.” Israel has reportedly already been “implementing these pauses since Sunday, opening a daily four-hour humanitarian corridor on Salah a-Din road for Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza to its south,” The Times of Israel reported.

Following the announcement from the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement saying, “The fighting continues and there will be no ceasefire without the release of our hostages. Israel is allowing safe transit corridors from the north of the Gaza Strip to the south, as 50,000 Gazans did just yesterday. We once again call on the civilian population in Gaza to evacuate to the south.”

Israel has been under a tremendous amount of pressure both from the United States and the European Union to declare a ‘pause’ in the fighting in Gaza. Why in the world should Israel declare a ‘pause’ when Gaza has made no effort to release the hostages they are holding or to inform the world of the condition of the hostages?

The article concludes:

On Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met with the 252nd Sinai Division, which is operating in the northern Gaza Strip and was clear about Israel’s objectives.

“We must remember that in Beit Hanoun (city on the northeast edge of the Gaza Strip) is the battalion from which the terrorists came to murder and kidnap in Kibbutz Erez, Netiv Ha’Asara, and Sderot,” Gallant said, “This battle has meaning beyond the symbolic aspect. We need to ensure that all terrorist infrastructure in Beit Hanoun is destroyed. We will not stop, we will continue with all our might until we eradicate the Hamas organization – we will strike the entire chain of command, military depots, communications channels, tunnels, bunkers, and headquarters, everything.”

Referring to the horrific October 7 massacre executed by Hamas on the Israeli civilian population, he continued, “The answer to these brutal and barbaric acts is to wipe out Hamas. From here we will move on. If we don’t wipe out Hamas in Gaza, we will have ten more of these [massacres] from other places.”

The Israel government is the one who gets to determine how to handle the terrorists on its border. I can’t imagine any other country putting up with the terror attacks that Israel has put up with since it became a nation. Any other nation would have obliterated the Arabs who support terrorism by now.

A Temporary Victory For Free Speech

On Saturday, The Daily Wire reported that the gag order placed on President Trump regarding the federal 2020 election case has been paused.

The article reports:

A gag order against former President Donald Trump related to his federal 2020 election case has been paused by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals after Trump filed an emergency request on Thursday saying the order violated his First Amendment rights. 

The court issued an administrative stay, saying that the decision was made to give the judges more time to hear Trump’s arguments. The court said that the ruling “should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits.”

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, had imposed the gag order on Trump Sunday night after Trump criticized former chief of staff Mark Meadows. Chutkan is overseeing special counsel Jack Smith’s federal election case against Trump, who has denied any allegations of wrongdoing.

Imposing a gag order on a leading candidate for public office sets a scary precedent, and I hope it gets entirely removed. There really should be no question as to whether this gag order is unconstitutional, but our legal system has been turned on its head in order to ‘get Trump.’

Israel Aid?

On Thursday, The Daily Wire posted two articles relating to American aid to Israel.

The first article reported:

Twelve House Democrats joined with Republicans on Thursday to pass a White House-opposed plan offset $14.3 billion in aid for Israel by slashing the same amount of funds meant for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The GOP measure to provide emergency aid to Israel as it fights Hamas passed by a 226-196 vote, sending the legislation to the Democrat-led Senate where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has already vowed not to bring it up for consideration.

Instead, Schumer announced earlier in the day, the Senate would “work on our own bipartisan emergency aid package that includes funding for aid to Israel, Ukraine, humanitarian aid including for Gaza, and competition with the Chinese Government.”

But the passage of the GOP House plan has already proven to be bipartisan with a dozen Democrats voting in favor of it: Reps. Angie Craig (D-MN), Don Davis (D-NC), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Jared Golden (D-ME), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Darren Soto (D-FL), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Juan Vargas (D-CA), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), and Frederica Wilson (D-FL).

The second article reported on Senator Schumer’s reaction to the bill:

The Democrat-controlled Senate will refuse to consider the House GOP plan to send aid to Israel in its fight against Hamas, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced on Thursday, setting up a standoff with the Republican-led lower chamber.

Opting for a different path, Schumer said the Senate will move forward by working on legislation that combines Israel assistance with other national security matters — a strategy rejected by House conservatives, but favored by the Biden administration.

“Let me be clear: The Senate will not take up the House GOP’s deeply flawed proposal,” Schumer said in a post to X. “Instead we will work on our own bipartisan emergency aid package that includes funding for aid to Israel, Ukraine, humanitarian aid including for Gaza, and competition with the Chinese Government.”

The Democrats are allergic to spending cuts. Because of that, it is questionable whether any American aid will reach Israel. However, I suspect the Democrats will find a way to send more money to Ukraine. Maybe it’s not really about the spending cuts.

Is The Department of Homeland Security Secure?

On Wednesday, The Daily Wire reported that the Biden administration’s U.S. immigration enforcement agency has hired Nejwa Ali, a former spokeswoman for the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), as an “Asylum Officer,” where she is tasked with “applying immigration laws and regulations to asylum applications.” Wow. I wonder who she will be willing to let into America.

The article reports:

…Now the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officer is repeatedly posting pictures of Hamas terrorists parachuting in with guns and writing, “F*** Israel and any Jew who supports Israel,” a Daily Wire investigation found.

Nejwa Ali worked in 2016 and 2017 as a public affairs officer for the Palestinian Delegation to the U.S., which according to its own website, served as the “PLO office in D.C.” That office was expelled from the country by the Trump administration, but Ali landed on her feet, according to a screenshot of her LinkedIn profile, securing a job at DHS as an “Asylum Officer,” where she was tasked with “applying immigration laws and regulations to asylum applications.”

The article also notes:

But a day after The Daily Wire asked the agency about Ali, she told The Daily Wire in a phone call that she still works for DHS, and was decidedly unchastened.

Asked if she disclosed her employment with the PLO to DHS, she said “That’s none of your f***ing business. Mind your business before I call the police. If I were you I’d respectfully hang up the phone right now.”

Asked if her views on Israel impacted her ability to work as an American government official, she said, “That does not affect the ability to do my job at all. You can mind your own business.”

The article concludes:

During the Obama administration, on social media she lobbied for it to “BOYCOTT ISRAEL” and “End AID 2 ISRAEL,” and during the 2016 election, she complained that “Republicans OBSESS over Israel” and called for “decolonization.”

“F*** APARTHEID Israel and any Israeli that supports that bulls***. F*** you, may allah forgive you,” she wrote, alongside pictures of violent leftist Americans Assata Shakur and Malcolm X. In 2017, she posted a picture of herself grinning in front of a statute of Che Guevara, the murderous Communist militant.

The United States is facing pressure from the political Left to welcome Palestinian refugees into the country amid Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It is officers like Ali who would be tasked with advising the government whether or not it would be safe to grant entry to an applicant.

Ali’s position on Israel goes squarely against the policy of the United States. President Joe Biden has said that his administration stands firmly with Israel, and has pledged to support it in its war against terrorists.

Hang on to your hats, I have a feeling that life in America is going to get ugly in the near future.

UPDATE:  Nejwa Ali has been placed on leave by the State Department. If her background had not been disclosed, would she still be working there?

 

 

When The Government Has Lost Its Mind

On Friday, The Daily Wire posted the following headline:

DOJ Warns Financial Institutions That They Can’t Reject Illegal Immigrants’ Credit Applications

I have a few problems with this. When I take out a loan, I have to provide my Social Security Number. Do illegals have Social Security Numbers? I have to provide a driver’s license and proof of car insurance. Do illegal immigrants have those documents?

The article reports:

The Department of Justice (DOJ) put financial institutions on notice for rejecting illegal immigrants’ credit applications.

The DOJ issued the warning in a joint statement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Thursday. The DOJ and CFPB said in a press release that illegal immigrants had filed complaints about credit application rejections.

“The Justice Department and CFPB are issuing this statement because consumers have reported being rejected for credit cards as well as for auto, student, personal and equipment loans because of their immigration status, even when they have strong credit histories and ties to the United States and are otherwise qualified to receive the loans,” stated the agencies.

The two agencies claimed that the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) protections for national origin and race extended to alienage, though they admitted that no such explicit provisions spelled out their interpretation. The agencies conceded that creditors could rely on immigration status to determine repayment ability, but then cautioned against “unnecessary or overbroad reliance” on immigration status.

What’s to stop an illegal from taking out the loan, not bothering to pay it, and disappearing either back to their original country or simply within America? If you are here illegally, you might not have the documents that would allow the government to find you if you chose not to be found. Citizens can be traced by their tax returns, employers, etc.

The article concludes:

Under the ECOA, the DOJ may sue those alleged to have engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination concerning race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in addition to national origin.

According to the DOJ’s latest annual fair lending report from 2021, there were five referrals involving claims of race or national origin discrimination. The 2022 report has yet to be issued.

CFPB’s latest fair lending report, from 2022, did mention prioritizing the financial needs of immigrants. CFPB issued four referrals involving discrimination on the basis of race and national origin in mortgage lending to the DOJ last year.

 

When do we begin to prioritize the financial needs of American citizens?

Ignoring The Root Of The Problem

On Saturday, The Daily Wire posted an article about Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s announcement of a partnership with a far-left non-profit to advance his proposal of a government-owned grocery store, which he argues is needed for the sake of “racial justice.”

The article reports:

Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a press release this month that the city-owned grocery store — which would be the largest of its kind in the U.S. — is needed to address the exit of corporate grocery stores and promote “food equity.”

“[F]ood access and security link directly to environmental and racial justice,” Johnson’s office said in a press release, adding that “37% of Black residents and 29% of Latine/x residents are food insecure, compared to 19% of residents overall.”

The mayor’s office argued that “historic disinvestment has led to inequitable access to food retail across Chicago,” and noted that “existing inequities have been exacerbated as at least six grocery stores closed on the South and West sides over the past two years.”

Indeed, as Chicago continues to reel with violent crime and large-scale theft, corporate grocery stores like Walmart and Amazon-owned Whole Foods have recently packed up and left Chicago.

There  is so much here that is totally backwards. Does anyone trust the city of Chicago to run a grocery store without major corruption? Has anyone noticed that the lack of grocery stores in some areas could be changed by enforcing laws that would prevent crime in those areas? How about leaving criminals in jail so that the citizens of Chicago are safe?

For example, Chicago has some of the toughest gun laws in America. However, in 2022, Chicago topped 600 homicides and 2,600 shootings in 2022, according to new Chicago Police Department data (source here). I suspect if Chicago dealt with the crime problem the lack-of-grocery-stores problem might solve itself.

The article concludes:

“We are not spending any taxpayer dollars, right?” she told CBS Chicago. “What we’re also going to be able to access is the funding that exists at the national level and the state level.”

Moreover, the mayor’s office has already acknowledged that this project, if completed, will also use economic grant money, which, too, comes from taxpayers.

Critics have said this grocery store proposal is akin to “Soviet-style central planning.” Detractors have also highlighted the city’s penchant for corruption and the city’s half-a-billion dollar deficit to question how the store could be efficient. There are also still questions about how prices would be set, how this would be superior to private grocery stores, and how it would affect private enterprise.

We all need to remember that grant money comes from taxpayers. There really is no free lunch!

Exactly Where Do We Go After Roe v. Wade?

The overturning of Roe v. Wade was a constitutional victory as well as a moral one. The federal government has no business getting involved in abortion. Of course the federal government is involved in a lot of things it shouldn’t be involved in (according to the Tenth Amendment), so I guess it was not unusual that it would be involved in abortion. It is a difficult issue, and pro-life Republicans need to proceed carefully when speaking about it. I believe that the ‘pro-life’ position is the correct one, but again, we need to be careful when we speak. A Constitutional amendment outlawing abortion would be as unconstitutional as Roe v. Wade. This is truly a matter that should be left to the states.

On Monday, The Daily Wire posted an article about a recent interview of President Trump by NBC’s Kristen Welker.

The article reports:

“The radical people on this are really the Democrats that say after five months, six months, seven months, eight months, nine months, and even after birth, you’re allowed to terminate the baby,” Trump told Welker during the interview.

“Mr. President, Democrats aren’t saying that,” Welker responded.

Moments later Trump said, “I said with Hillary Clinton when we had the debate, I made a statement, ‘rip the baby out of the womb’ in the ninth month. You’re allowed to do that, and you shouldn’t be allowed to do that.”

“Again, no one is arguing for that. That’s not a part of anyone’s platform, Mr. President,” Welker said.

Besides the untold number of abortion activists who advocate for abortion on demand up to birth, a slew of states currently allow abortion at any point in the pregnancy.

Alaska, Colorado, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, D.C. all allow abortion with no gestational limits.

While high-profile Democrats often hedge on whether they support any gestational limits on abortion, some have come right out and admitted they support abortion up to the moment of birth.

Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) was direct about his stance during a Fox News segment in June.

“Is there a cutoff for you before [the due date]?” host Shannon Bream asked Cardin.

“No, to me, it’s a reproductive, it’s a health care decision. It’s up to women to make that decision,” Cardin responded.

If President Trump had not had the information at hand about abortion, the viewers would have been left with the impression that he was not telling the truth. Truth is only one on many ways to fight the abortion lobby.

Killing The Alaskan Economy

On Thursday, The Daily Wire posted an article about some new Biden administration policies that will destroy the economy of Alaska.

The article reports:

The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it would be canceling oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Preserve and move to ban drilling in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve. 

The announcement from the Department of the Interior means that seven leases for drilling given during the Trump administration will be rescinded and that 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve will be off limits for drilling if the proposed rule is approved. The leases were held by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) and encompassed 365,775 acres. 

“Alaska is home to many of America’s most breathtaking natural wonders and culturally significant areas. As the climate crisis warms the Arctic more than twice as fast as the rest of the world, we have a responsibility to protect this treasured region for all ages,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. 

The announcement was opposed by top Alaskan officials, including Governor Mike Dunleavy and Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. 

“Today the Biden Administration announced that it is cancelling legally-issued oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge section designated for oil and gas development. The leases AIDEA holds in ANWR were properly acquired in a sale mandated by Congress,” Dunleavy posted on X. “It’s clear that President Biden needs a refresher on the Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine. Federal agencies don’t get to rewrite laws, and that is exactly what the Department of the Interior is trying to do here.”

The article concludes:

Despite the fact that Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline expansion and aggressively pushed green energy, climate activists are still angry at Biden after he allowed the Willow oil project in Alaska’s North Slope to go forward, which could end up yielding 180,000 gallons of oil per day. The decision to end the leases and block drilling comes as gas prices across the country remain high. 

Hopefully the government of Alaska will bring a lawsuit that will go to the Supreme Court. This is government overreach.

Something To Watch

We all remember the horrendous nuclear deal the Obama administration attempted to broker with Iran. It looks like the Biden administration is attempting the same thing.

On Tuesday, The Daily Wire reported the following:

A group of 26 Republican senators raised concerns about the Biden administration bypassing congressional authority to agree to a nuclear deal with Iran. 

In a letter — signed by the majority of Senate Republicans last week and addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen — the lawmakers voiced concerns with the Biden administration’s recent prisoner swap that sent $6 billion to the Iranian regime in a “secret negotiation.” 

When are we going to send $6 billion to Hawaii?

The article notes:

“When the Obama administration released $400 million in liquidated assets to Iran in 2016, we warned that this dangerous precedent would put a price on American lives. Seven years later, the current administration is providing a ransom payment worth at least fifteen times that amount to the world’s largest state sponsor of terror, in yet another violation of the United States’ long-standing ‘no concessions’ policy,” the senators wrote.

“The release of such a significant sum to the Iranian regime runs entirely counter to that claim and will only serve to encourage additional hostage taking for financial or political gain,” the letter continued.

The letter comes after House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) said earlier this month that the Biden administration’s prisoner swap with Iran involved a renewed Iran nuclear deal. The New York Times also reported that the agreement could increase the chances of Biden pursuing his goal of coming to the table with Iran over nuclear weapons. Last summer, Biden attempted to renew the Obama administration’s nuclear deal but ultimately failed. In 2018, former President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement he routinely criticized as “horrible” and “one-sided.” 

America is rapidly going bankrupt. Sending billions of dollars to countries that hate us is not a wise expenditure.

Ruby Ridge Redux?

Some of us are old enough to remember what happened in August 1992 at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. An FBI sniper killed Vicki Weaver while she was holding her baby daughter. If she was holding her daughter, how was she a threat? She was shot because the family refused to surrender to the authorities. The details of the siege and the killing are public information if you are unfamiliar with them. They are easy to find.

On Friday, The Daily Wire reported:

The 75-year-old Utah man who was shot dead by FBI agents on Wednesday morning for making online threats against President Joe Biden and other government officials was a pillar of his local church community and posed no real threat to anyone, a former neighbor and friend told The Daily Wire.

Tim Rich first heard of the incident through a neighborhood Facebook group, where households posted about hearing gunshots, and later that a SWAT team had raided the home of his friend, Craig Robertson. Rich immediately “had an inkling of what the nature” of the raid was — he was Facebook friends with Robertson and saw his political posts, which included one last week in which Robertson said he had to “dust off” his sniper rifle in preparation for Biden’s arrival in Utah for a political fundraiser.

That is a threat, and the man should have been arrested. However, I believe excessive force was used.

The article concludes:

Robertson was largely immobile — standing just about five feet six inches and weighing roughly 300 pounds — the elderly man would hobble around with a cane. He was known to drive to his church, which was only about 200 yards from his home. And law enforcement presumably knew all of these details — as Robertson had been under surveillance for months, and two agents had already interacted with him before the fatal Wednesday morning raid.

Rich believes that “busting in” to the home of a man that they knew had a defensive mindset was reckless.

“It seems like a much lower risk to detain or arrest in the middle of the day as he’s hobbling out of his vehicle or in a parking lot somewhere,” Rich said.

Is this an intimidation tactic? Again, the man should have been arrested, but breaking into his house was using excessive force.

We Have The Evidence, Will We Prosecute The Crime?

As President Trump achieves double digits in the number of indictments on spurious charges, the major media has chosen to ignore the overwhelming evidence presented to Congress regarding influence peddling by the Biden family syndicate. On Friday, Townhall posted an article about a document recently released to Senator Grassley and House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY).

The article reports:

After attempts from the Biden administration to restrict access to the FBI-generated FD-1023 form at the center of allegations that then-Vice President Joe Biden was engaged in a criminal bribery scheme with a foreign national, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released the full document on Thursday afternoon to finally give the American people the full picture created by the unclassified document.

The document authorized for release to Grassley and House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) has few redactions and provides the most information on these allegations against Biden to date. After releasing the FBI document, Grassley asked again: “What did FBI do to investigate serious claims from FBIs own trusted source??”

The article includes a transcription of the text of the FD-1023. Please follow the link to read the transcript.

The article represents proof of not only corruption on the part of the Biden family, but evidence of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation failing to do their job of enforcing the law equally.

The Democrat talking point on all of this information is that it has been debunked. It has not–in fact more and more corroborating evidence is revealed every day.

To add to the mix, on Thursday The Daily Wire reported the following:

A senior FBI official allegedly informed Twitter that the abandoned laptop believed to have belonged to Hunter Biden was real on the same day the New York Post broke news about the device’s contents in a story that Twitter went on to censor, according to newly-released testimony.

Laura Dehmlow, the section chief of the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF), spoke with the House Judiciary Committee and Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government this week, House Judiciary Republicans announced on Thursday.

Our government and our media are not working in the interests of the American people.

When Common Sense Arrives

On Tuesday, The Daily Wire reported that the Louisiana legislature has overridden Governor John Bel Edwards’ veto of the “Stop Harming Our Kids Act” that would prevent doctors from performing transgender procedures like double mastectomies on girls who identify as boys and administering puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children.

The article reports:

“Today was a huge win for the children of Louisiana! I’m proud of my colleagues in the state legislature for standing up to protect the children of our great state. We made it clear today that our children are worth fighting for. This great victory would not have been possible without the prayers and support of parents, grandparents, pastors, and grassroots organizations from around the state who rose up and declared with one voice that ‘No one in Louisiana has the right to harm a child’. God Bless the families of our beautiful state!” Louisiana Republican Rep. Gabe Firment, the sponsor of the legislation, told The Daily Wire in a statement.

The House voted 75-23 to override the veto, with 69 Republicans being joined by six Democrats. In the Senate, lawmakers voted 28-11 to adopt the measure.

The article notes:

Before today’s vote, there have only been two successful vetoes of a gubernatorial veto since 1974, when the state adopted a new constitution, according to the Associated Press.

“This bill was ground zero for the veto session and will show up in every single race this year in Louisiana. The legislature sent a historic message, loud and clear, that in Louisiana, children are off limits. Anyone thinking about running for office here should take note,” Baton Rouge based Republican strategist Lionel Rainey III told The Daily Wire.

Let’s let children be children!

Loose Lips Sink Ships

“Loose Lips Sink Ships” was a popular phrase during World War II. If you are a fan of Tom Clancy novels, he often illustrated how a casual remark by someone could be very helpful to a foreign agent seeking information. In one example, a foreign agent wooing a secretary to a high official wanted to plan a getaway with the secretary of that official during the time her boss was away so that she would have time off. Thus he was able to figure out the travel schedule of her boss and set up an ambush. Anyone who works for the government and deals with sensitive information needs to be careful what they say. Unfortunately, President Biden evidently has not figured that out.

On Sunday, The Daily Wire reported:

President Joe Biden faced backlash on Sunday after he revealed sensitive U.S. military information during an interview that critics said could make America’s adversaries more aggressive.

Biden told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that the reason that he is giving cluster munitions to Ukraine is because the U.S. is running out of 155mm artillery shells.

…“The Ukrainians are running out of ammunition,” Biden responded. “The ammunition, that they used to call them 155-millimeter weapons. This is a war relating to munitions, and they are running out of that ammunition and we’re low on it. And so what I finally did, I took the recommendation of the Defense Department to, not permanently, but to allow for in this transition period where we have more 155 weapons, these shells for the Ukrainians, to provide them with something that has a very low dud rate. It’s about — I think it’s 150, which is the least likely to be blowing.

Why not work toward peace instead?

When You Are Beholden To People Who Want You Gone

On July 4th, The Daily Wire posted an article about gallium and germanium, two minerals needed for the production of electric vehicles, solar panels, military hardware, and more.

The article reports:

Communist China announced this week new plans to restrict the export of two minerals critical to the production of electric vehicles, solar panels, military hardware, and more.

The minerals — gallium and germanium — and dozens of other related metals will be subject to new export regulations that are aimed at punishing the West for restricting China’s ability to access advanced semiconductors.

China dominates the global market as leading producer for both of the minerals, an advantage that they gained by “suppressing the price,” according to Christopher Ecclestone, principle at the natural resource research firm Hallgarten & Co. When they stop suppressing the price, “it suddenly becomes more viable to extract these metals in the West, then China again has an own-goal,” Ecclestone said.

“For a short while they get a higher price, but then China’s market dominance gets lost – the same thing has happened before in other things like antimony, tungsten and rare earths,” he added.

The article concludes:

Some experts said that the move would have little-to-no impact — in terms of what consumers notice — over the course of the next year because existing stockpiles will fill the gap. They cautioned that if the dispute carries on longer than a year than a ripple effect will be felt.

Others said that the move will “will have an immediate ripple effect on the semiconductor industry, especially with regards to high-performance chips.”

The Biden administration’s relentless push for green energy makes America more dependent on importing the items necessary to support that industry. Many of the ‘green energy’ items require minerals that are mined in conditions that are more harmful to the earth than fossil fuel ever dreamed of being. Before we sell ourselves on ‘green energy,’ there are some things we need to think about–the impact of windmills on ocean life, the lifespan of solar panels and how to dispose of them, the lifespan of windmill blades and how to dispose of them, the impact of windmills on America’s bird population, and most importantly–the national security issues involved. America can be energy independent with the current fossil-fuel-based economy. Let’s not mess it up.

The End Of An Era?

Wikipedia (which I don’t generally recommend as a source) states:

Title IX is the most commonly used name for the federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding from the federal government.

Title IX gave women’s sports the boost it needed. It put women’s high school and college athletics on the map. It allowed many female athletes who couldn’t pay for college to attend on athletic scholarships. Likewise, the Miss America Pageant allowed women a chance to compete for scholarship money based on their talents and appearance. Well, not so fast.

On June 6th, The Daily Wire reported:

A man who was crowned “Miss San Francisco” will compete in the 2023 Miss California Pageant in July.

Monroe Lace, a man who identifies as a woman, won the Miss San Francisco pageant in March, qualifying the “beauty queen” to compete for the Miss California title next month. Lace is the first trans-identifying man to be crowned Miss San Francisco in the competition’s 99-year history.

“Every time I put on the sash, the weight of it reminds me of the weight of my job; of the responsibility I have to make a difference for young children,” Lace told CBS Bay Area.

Lace, 25, visits a different elementary school almost every day. In a video shown by the local CBS affiliate, Lace can be seen reading “Sparkle Boy,” a picture book about a boy who wants to wear women’s clothing, to a 4th-grade class at Tenderloin Community School.

The trans-identifying man told KRON 4 in March that he was “dreaming about this since I was 12 years old” and ran away from home.

Let’s take a look at this. Why is he visiting an elementary school every day and reading the children stories about a boy who dresses in women’s clothing? Also, note that he ran away from home as a 12-year-old. This does not sound like the sort of role model you want for your children. This was a confused child who was obviously not provided the help he needed to deal with gender dysphoria. So why are we rewarding his behavior?

Thank God For Mama Bears

Right now in America I am grateful for parents who are paying attention to what some people in our society are trying to do to their children.

On Wednesday, The Daily Wire posted an article about the backlash that has occurred since Target stores’ Pride Collection which prominently displayed bathing suits for children with Gender Dysphoria.

The article reports:

Target made “emergency” calls last week to managers and senior directors at the store after the company faced backlash for its Pride collection, which included “tuck-friendly” female swimwear and other products, according to a source inside the company. 

The calls were to direct some stores to make their Pride products display less prominent in order to avoid a “Bud Light situation,” a Target insider told Fox News. 

“We were given 36 hours, told to take all of our Pride stuff, the entire section, and move it into a section that’s a third the size. From the front of the store to the back of the store, you can’t have anything on mannequins and no large signage,” the insider reportedly said

“We call our customers ‘guests,’ there is outrage on their part. This year, it is just exponentially more than any other year,” the source added. “I think given the current situation with Bud Light, the company is terrified of a Bud Light situation.”

The article concludes:

In response to the controversy, Target announced that it has also removed some products from its stores, which reportedly include a sweater that read “cure transphobia not trans people” and a “too queer for here” tote bag. 

“Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being while at work,” Target said on Tuesday. ”Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior.”

Gender dysphoria is a disease. It can also be a phase children go through and grow out of. We need to treat it as a disease or a phase–not encourage it. What happens when the children who have been chemically or surgically altered in some way get older and find out that they are not capable of having children because of decisions they were encouraged to make before they were mature enough to make them?