The worst of the pandemic is behind us. Let’s rejoice. Some parts of the world, we’re told, are slowly returning to normal.

Although we can debate the meaning of the word ‘normal,’ for the sake of this piece, let’s define it as the time before COVID-19 brought the world to a screeching halt.

Rather worryingly, though, millions of people simply don’t want to give up the idea of mandatory masking and compulsory vaccinations. In fact, it seems many want us to wear masks forever. The question, though, is why? Why would anyone want to live in such an environment, especially if there’s absolutely no need to live this way?

In the United Kingdom, according to the most recent Ipsos MORI poll, a “strong majority” (64 percent) of people would like to see face masks “continue to be compulsory in shops and on public transport” until COVID-19 “is under control worldwide.” Meanwhile, 40 percent are in favor of face masks “being worn in shops and on public transport permanently, regardless of the virus itself.”

More than one-third (35 percent) of respondents are in favor of permanent 10-day quarantines. Almost half (46 percent) of those polled are in support of vaccine passports “becoming a permanent necessity.” A worrying 34 percent support mandatory social distancing measures for life. A staggering 56 percent support the use of contact tracing apps until the virus is under control worldwide, while 36 percent are in favor of permanent contact tracing. A quarter of those polled are in favor of closing nightclubs, pubs, and casinos for good. One in five support a mandatory curfew of 10 p.m.—again, for life.

It’s important to note that Ipsos MORI “interviewed a representative sample of 1,025 British adults aged 16 to 75.” Such subsets tend to accurately reflect the characteristics of a larger group—in this case, the British people.

The findings are both alarming and perplexing. Why are so many British people prepared to live in such a way? More importantly, why do they want others to live in such a manner?

The “until the virus is under control worldwide” point is an interesting one, not to mention a deceptive one. The virus might never go away, meaning there’s a high chance that it will never be “under control,” whatever “under control” actually means. The pursuit of ‘zero COVID,’ as we have seen in Australia and New Zealand, is a fool’s game, not to mention a dangerous one.

Across the pond, in the United States, plenty of alarmists can also be found. Earlier this year, in a piece for New York magazine, Eve Peyser interviewed a number of “forever maskers.” These people, as you can probably tell, believe not just in the efficacy of masking-up, but in the necessity of masking-up for life. To live without a mask, they argue, is to flirt with death. Throughout the article, the neuroticism is palpable. According to the author, a “common thread among these forever maskers” is “genuine worry” about infecting other people.

Although those interviewed appear to have full faith in their convictions, a number of studies have questioned the efficacy of both surgical and cloth masks. When it comes to preventing the spread of harmful viruses, including COVID-19, they appear to be of little use. In April of last year, the World Health Organization released a statement that discouraged healthy people from wearing masks. Unsupported “by current evidence,” wearing masks “carries uncertainties and critical risks,” the statement reads.

In the New York magazine piece, Lina Perl, a licensed clinical psychologist, warned that the pandemic has resulted in a sort of widespread “anxiety disorder.” Although wearing masks is no longer a medical necessity, this “safety behavior” has become an integral part of many Americans’ lives. This is very dangerous. In Perl’s own words, one “can get disconnected from the actual danger” very quickly. She’s right.

Like masochism, where people derive joy from painful or tedious activities, we are witnessing a new type of “–ism.” I call it “maskochism.” Today, millions of people around the world derive a sort of perverse pleasure from wearing masks, even if there’s absolutely no need to wear them, and even if they do more harm than good.

In the UK and the United States, people’s desire to mask up indefinitely, I contend, is symptomatic of a deeper pathology. We are very much products of our culture. The cultural milieu in which we find ourselves dictates our mindset. As I have discussed before, a culture of fear now dominates. Because of this, many are afraid to embrace freedom. In the words of the author Heather Marsh, “we are in a prison of our own minds holding our own chains around us. We create our oligarchs and fight for their right to oppress us.”

A submissive culture is a dangerous one.

According to a very recent Axios-Ipsos survey, 10 percent of Americans believe our lives will never return to normal. Now, imagine for a second that this 10 percent is representative of the American population at large. That’s a lot of people. A sizable number of these people probably occupy positions of importance and influence, including teaching and politics. Perhaps they are involved in policy decisions. They probably have kids. Are these kids being raised in an environment where irrational fears reign supreme? How will this affect their development?

Rather disturbingly, far too many people refuse to accept the fact that things are improving. Progressophobia is very real; it’s also very dangerous.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/does-a-dystopian-future-of-mandatory-vaccinations-and-masks-await-us-all_4061553.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—A Colorado daycare owner convicted of keeping 26 children hidden in the basement of her business two years ago has been sentenced to six years in prison after parents said some of the children suffered trauma including sleeping problems and anxiety.

A judge issued the sentence to Carla Faith on Thursday following her conviction by a jury in August of more than two dozen misdemeanor child abuse charges and other crimes.

Faith was only licensed to care for up to six children at her Colorado Springs private daycare and only two of them were allowed to be under the age of 2.

But police who went to her Mountain Play Place daycare in November 2019 after receiving reports there were more children than allowed found 25 children in the basement, including 12 children under age 2, prosecutors said.

There were two adult employees supervising them in the basement and one of them, Valerie Fresquez, accepted a plea deal and testified at Faith’s trial, KRDO-TV reported. The 26th child who had been in the basement was picked up by a parent while police were at the daycare, authorities said.

Many of the children had soiled or wet diapers and were sweaty and thirsty, according to an arrest affidavit.

When police arrived, Faith repeatedly told an officer that no children were there and that the home did not have a basement, but the officer heard children’s music and a child’s cry from the basement, the affidavit said.

Another officer discovered a false wall and moved it to reveal the basement staircase, the affidavit said.

At Faith’s sentencing on Thursday, parents of the children and relatives filled the courtroom, telling the judge that their children have suffered trauma since being at the daycare, citing sleep and anxiety issues, KOAA-TV reported.

Parent Kim Marshall said that both of her children still receive counseling.

“We sleep with the lights on in our house,” she said. “My kids are anxious. They are fearful of the world.”

Faith’s lawyer, Josh Tolini, said she had difficulty saying “no” to parents who wanted to place their children at her daycare and that the situation snowballed.

She made some “incredibly poor decisions about how to do this,” Tolini said.

Faith was convicted of 26 counts of misdemeanor child abuse, attempting to influence a public servant, and obstructing a peace officer.

KRDO-TV reported that charges against Fresquez will be dropped if she meets some unspecified steps.

Daycare employee Christina Swauger was convicted of the same charges as Faith and is awaiting sentencing.

An arrest warrant has been issued for another former daycare employee who failed to appear in court, said Howard Black, a spokesperson for the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Colorado.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/day-care-owner-gets-6-years-for-hiding-26-children-in-basement_4064709.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Republicans on the House Committee on Natural Resources held a forum Oct. 22 to discuss how President Biden’s exit from Afghanistan left massive, untapped reserves of rare-earth metals, lithium, and other vital minerals in Taliban hands, potentially opening them up to exploitation by China.

Speakers said the Biden administration has simultaneously worked to hinder key mining projects in the United States, such as Minnesota’s Twin Metals copper-nickel project and Arizona’s Resolution copper mine, which would allow the United States to produce many of those minerals at home, thereby avoiding dependence on the Taliban or the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

“It’s almost like it’s intentional, to stop U.S. production of these critical minerals and elements,” said Ranking Member Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.).

Westerman’s remarks were later echoed by Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.), who said that some of the environmentalist groups fighting mining “we think are getting money from Russia, China, and other countries that are foes of ours.”

Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.), whose district would include the proposed Twin Metals mine, spoke at length about the economic and security costs of relying on key minerals from abroad.

“For fifteen years, scientists from the USGS [U.S. Geological Survey], at a taxpayer cost of right around $81 million, found [in Afghanistan] massive amounts of lithium, gold, platinum, iron, coal, uranium, and more,” said Stauber.

“We know what happens next. The Taliban’s neighbor to the east, China, will swoop in and shortly thereafter control all of these mineral resources. There is no doubt at our current pace, the United States will have to purchase those minerals from China for our electric cars, our windmills, our iPhones, and our solar panels,” Stauber continued.

“Northern Minnesota has these minerals. We could look to union miners to supply them from my district. We have 95 [percent] of America’s nickel, 88 [percent] of America’s cobalt, and over one-third of America’s copper. It should be easy.”

Discussing the possibility of the imminent Chinese mineral exploitation in Afghanistan, Joe Felter of the Hoover Institute said it was plausible, though not certain.

“It depends. The challenges and calculated risks of mining rare earths and other minerals are significant in Afghanistan, and they could outweigh the opportunities in the near- and medium-term. One notable exception, I think, is China’s interest in getting increased access to lithium,” said Felter, who served in the Pentagon under Trump.

Felter recommended that the United States reduce its reliance on Chinese or Chinese-dominated supply chains.

Pressed by Stauber on where else the United States could source minerals, Felter responded that “almost any other country than China would be a better alternative” before noting that Australia was a U.S. ally with significant mining capacity.

Mary Hutzler, a distinguished fellow at the Institute for Energy Research, described the scale of the United States’ dependence on Chinese mineral resources for its renewable energy infrastructure, which dwarfs our past reliance on foreign oil before the United States achieved energy independence under President Trump.

“Our reliance on China is about 80 [percent] for these minerals right now, where the high for us in 2001 on oil from the Middle East was 23 [percent],” she said. “We’re going to be four times as dependent on China as we were on the Middle East.”

According to Hutzler, China’s competitive advantage in mineral processing and refinement stems in part from its reliance on cheap coal energy, which it is expected to expand.

Hutzler also stated that environmental permitting has stymied many recent mining projects in the United States, with the second proposed lithium mine in the United States, Nevada’s Thacker Pass, currently delayed by lawsuits.

In response to questioning from Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), Hutzler said that Europe’s present reliance on Chinese magnesium for automobile manufacturing offers a cautionary tale.

“With China’s crunch recently, they have closed 35 of their 50 magnesium plants. As a result, they are not exporting magnesium to Europe. Europe has only stockpiles to go through November. As a result, what’s going to happen is their automobile industry will become a standstill industry. That could happen to us because of our dependence on China,” said Hutzler.

Tiffany was among those who focused on the human rights abuses accepted by those who rely on minerals mined or processed in China.

He has introduced legislation aimed at preventing goods made with forced Uyghur labor from entering the U.S. market.

“We [Americans] are freedom-loving people. We do not accept that the Uyghurs should be enslaved,” he said.

Rep. Yvette Herrell (R-N.M.) asked Felter whether Chinese-mined or -processed minerals could be expected to rely on child labor, as in the mining operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“We shouldn’t expect anything different from China than their track record suggests—and it’s a pretty poor track record,” said Felter.

“When you’ve got these foreign-owned businesses run by the state that don’t have the same labor requirements we do, don’t have the same health and safety and environmental requirements, really, the only way I see you stop that is to penalize those imports coming into our country,” said Westerman.

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) closed the forum by urging members to support his proposed legislation, the Stopping Terrorist Mineral Trade Act, which would prevent the importation of minerals, or mineral-derived products, originating in Afghanistan.

“I know that my colleagues at this forum wish this important topic was something we could approach on a bipartisan basis, grounded in factual discussions focused on solutions. Unfortunately, our Democratic colleagues see all American mining as unnecessary, and are hellbent on seeing that it doesn’t happen,” said Gosar.

“For some reason, they never can see the right mine or the right place in America for mining,” he added.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/biden-abandoned-critical-mineral-reserves-in-afghanistan-while-thwarting-mining-at-home-gop-forum_4063931.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) of Texas arrested 21 suspects for sex offender-related offenses during an operation earlier this year, Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Wednesday.

Between August and September of 2021, the Houston Fugitive Apprehension Unit (FAU) participated in operation “Lucky Charm” which focused on the arrest of suspects who have failed to register as sex offenders and who had sex offender registration violation warrants originating from the Houston metro area.

“This operation, funded by the US Marshals Office, allowed Houston FAU investigators to work tirelessly to target sex offenders,” the OAG said.

The 21 suspects arrested were named as William Nicks, Luis Ovall, Jimmie Culton, Richard Trahan, George Wynn, Felipe Ramon Corona, Kenneth Doyle Elms, Daniel Castillo, David Garcia, Ronald Peeples, Charles Wayne Sherrill, Garry Dwayne Davis, and Jonathan Kurt Young; all of whom are from Harris country.

Stephen Jay Cooke from Matagorda county, Edgar Lee Walker from Angelina county, Randall Jay Perry from Hidalgo county, Jason Mathew Bulgier from Brazoria county, Larry Elton Clark from Galveston county, Garland Dwain Cavit from Dallas county and Richard Filcher and James Dean Martin from Montgomery county were also among those arrested.

Last week one of the top 10 wanted sex offenders in Texas was arrested in Canyon, the Texas Department of Public Safety announced.

Cory Lee Reed, 30, was located and arrested by members of the U.S. Marshals North Texas Fugitive Task Force, including DPS Special Agents, at his home address on Oct. 14. Dalhart PD assisted in the fugitive investigation.

In 2010, Reed was convicted of two counts of sexual assault of a child following incidents involving a 14-year-old girl. He was sentenced to 10 years probation. In 2011, Reed was convicted of failure to comply with a sex offender’s duty to register and received five years probation. But in 2012, his probation was revoked for Sexual Assault of a Child (X2) and Failure to Comply with Sex Offender’s Duty to Register, and he received two 8-year sentences and a one-year sentence to be served concurrently. Reed was released on parole in March 2019.

Reed is one of two of Texas’ Most Wanted now in custody following their arrests. On Oct. 13, one day prior to his apprehension, Alberto Mendoza, 21, of Dallas, was arrested by Dallas Police officers at a home on the south side, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.

Mendoza was added to the Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitives List on Sept. 7 and had been wanted by authorities since December 2020 for engaging in organized criminal activity and a parole violation.

In 2016, he was convicted on four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced to eight years in a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prison. Mendoza was released on parole in November 2018.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had also issued a Parole Violation warrant for his arrest on Dec. 23, 2020.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/texas-operation-lucky-charm-results-in-21-sex-offender-related-arrests-attorney-general_4064639.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

When the January 6th defendants sought to move their trial from the highly politicized D.C. circuit, prosecutors insisted that the Defendants would get a fair trial, and actually cited my trial as an example.

The government pointed out that the judge ruled in my case that even though it was likely that a majority – if not all – the Jurors in D.C. would be anti-Trump, there was no reason to believe that the Jurors knew that I was a longtime associate of Trump and therefore, I was given a fair trial.

This would assume that the jurors had not seen anything of the avalanche of pretrial publicity, and were living under a rock. It also ignored the clear political nature of the charges against me.

The truth is, I was subjected to a Soviet-style show trial in which my first, fourth, and fifth amendments were violated. The notion that my trial was fair is ludicrous on its face. The sham of a trial featured bias from Judge Amy Berman Jackson, federal prosecutors, and flagrant misconduct from both the Jury and Jury forewoman.

These were among the reasons President Donald J. Trump ultimately issued my unconditional Presidential Pardon. 

Prosecutors were allowed to pick the judge most favorable to their case by insisting that my case was related to their indictment of 17 alleged Russian Intelligence Officers who they claimed gave stolen data to Wiki-leaks at the DNC.

In fact, the Prosecutors in my case promised the Judge that they would produce evidence against me at trial that was collected with search warrants from the Russian hacker’s case.  They produced no such thing at trial – defrauding the court and violating my Due Process rights. 

My constitutional rights were also violated by the Judge in a series of pre-trial rulings. The fact that the first 5 pages of my indictment clearly state that the Russians hacked the DNC and gave the stolen data to Wikileaks. However, the FBI was forced by my lawyers to admit, before the trial even began, that they never inspected the DNC computer servers.

Amazingly, the Judge refused to allow me to use expert testimony or forensic evidence to prove that the DNC was not hacked, or that it was far more likely any stolen data was downloaded to a portable drive and taken out the back door. 

The Judge also ruled that I could not raise misconduct by the Special Counsel’s Office, the FBI, The Department of Justice, or any individual member of Congress.  Why would the government make such a motion unless there was misconduct?

We already knew there was during Lt. Gen Flynn’s prosecution, which was conducted by the same office. This ruling was unconstitutional because the Supreme Court decision of Kyles v. Whitley held that the integrity of the investigation is always legitimate grounds for defense.

There is also the makeup of the Jury itself.  It is statistically impossible to select a jury in which every Juror was a Democrat and numerous Jurors had served as political appointees in the Clinton or Obama Administrations. 

The Jurors in my case included individuals who had direct relationships with the FBI or in some cases, the Special Counsel’s Office. The Judge refused to dismiss any juror for political bias.

Most shocking was the conduct of the Jury forewoman. The Jury forewoman attacked me by name regarding the very case in which she was selected as a juror on Facebook and Twitter in 2019.  The Jury Forewoman kept these accounts private during jury selection and the trial and only deleted them after the verdict in my case.

The Judge insisted that this did not constitute any evidence of bias and refused a request by my Attorney to subpoena the deleted material despite the fact that we had screenshots proving the Jury forewoman’s offenses.  In any other courtroom, outside the District of Columbia, the jury forewoman would have been prosecuted. 

The Judge also imposed an unconstitutional gag on me insisting that any public comment or defense of myself had the potential to influence the pool of jurors.  The judge offered no empirical evidence that my then dissipated social media presence would affect the jury pool and had no problem with the Washington Post and CNN, two dominant media voices in the District of Columbia, attacking me on a mere daily basis in the run-up to the trial. 

When I appealed this unconstitutional gag, which the Judge left in place after my conviction and prior to my sentencing, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals sat on my motion for months while I sustained damage and ultimately ruled that I had to first ask Judge Jackson to remove the gag – an obvious waste of time.  It didn’t matter, the Appeals court ran out the clock and my trial were imminent. 

Overseeing the case against me for the Office of Special Counsel was Jeannie Rhee, who represented Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation in the email case and who gave the maximum contribution to Hillary’s campaigns in 2008 and 2016 as well as Obama in 2008.

The reason Jeannie got this assignment is that she was a partner at Robert Mueller’s law firm, which had represented Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation in the “Illegal Server/missing Email” case. Judge Jackson, in her tongue lashing of about me at sentencing, said my case was” really about the search for Hillary Clinton’s missing emails.” If so, then both Rhee and Mueller had a conflict of interest and should never have been allowed to investigate the President or myself.

Despite the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Prisons regulations on COVID-19, which held that individuals convicted of nonviolent crimes over the age of 65 be sent to serve their sentence in home confinement, Judge Jackson sentenced me to a 4-year prison term in a rural Georgia prison where the government insisted there were no known COVID-19 cases. 

In fact, the head of the Prison Guard Union stated that the government was hiding over 219 positive cases in that facility, and none of the CDC guidelines regarding masks or isolation were being followed in the correctional facility. Only days after the date I was to report to this hellhole, the US Bureau of Prisons website showed over 200 cases at the facility. At 68 years old, and with a lifetime history of asthma, mine was a death sentence.  

Most outrageous about my trial was the deliberate suppression of exculpatory evidence by both the Prosecutors and the Judge.  On Nov. 3, 2020, by Court Order, the DOJ in a rare midnight press release, published the last remaining, and long-hidden, sections of the Special Counsel’s final report which sought to obfuscate the fact that Mueller could find no “factual evidence of Russian Collusion, Wikileaks collaboration or involvement of the alleged heist of John Podesta’s embarrassing emails.”

It also concluded that even if such evidence had been discovered, which it was not, such activities would not have been illegal.  Had this been turned over to my defense attorneys as required by Giglio v. United States, 405 U. S. 150, decision, it would have undermined the government’s contorted and fabricated case against me.  How does one lie to Congress about events that one is not involved in and knows nothing about? 

Prosecutors ignored over 30 pages of exculpatory evidence of text messages by government witness Randy Credico, which indisputably proved that Credico was in fact, the source who told me that the Wikileaks material would be released in October.

They also disregarded the first-hand testimony of at least 3 Grand Jury witnesses who told the Grand Jury that Credico had confided in them directly that he was my source. Mueller’s thugs ignored a written threat by Credico to “put a hole in the head” of another witness who went to the Grand Jury if he contradicted Credico. Yet they charged me with one count of Witness Tampering for ‘threatening to steal Credico’s dog” – a charge even Credico said he never took seriously.

Steve Bannon, who was Mueller’s surprise lead witness, said under oath that he had discussed Wikileaks disclosures with me in virtually every phone conversation we had in 2016, directly contradicting his sworn testimony before the House Intelligence Committee.

After reviewing both transcripts Professor Jonathan Turley of George Washington University Law School told the New York Post, “There does appear a glaring and irreconcilable conflict in what Bannon stated in testimony before Congress and the court. What is striking is that this was not a peripheral point but one of the main areas of inquiry. He has two diametrically opposite sworn statements in a high-profile controversy with dozens of attorneys in attendance.”

Turley told The Post Prosecutors surely knew of these discrepancies and therefore they suborned perjury on the stand by Sloppy Steve. Bannon also said I was the Trump campaign’s “access point” with Wikileaks. This came as news to me because I had no role in the Trump campaign, and my one on-line attempt to email the Wikileaks flack on Twitter DMs resulted in a brush-off. Prosecutors also had an obligation to tell my defense attorneys that Bannon was under criminal investigation at the time of my trial as the text of his subsequent indictment showed.  They failed to do so.  

Prosecutors then proposed a 7-9 year prison sentence for me, in which they repeatedly “enhanced” the length of my sentence based on crimes I had been neither charged with nor convicted of.  Mueller prosecutor, Aaron Zelinsky, testified before the House Judiciary Committee that he was subjected to political pressure by Senior Officials at the Justice Department to “go easy on Stone” in sentencing.  

According to the Washington Post, the three top career non-political Prosecutors at the Justice Department have all testified under oath to the  DOJ Inspector General, denying that any such pressure was exerted on the Prosecutors in my case.  In view of the fact that I was prosecuted for allegedly “lying to congress,” one wonders when Mr. Zelinsky will be prosecuted. 

The conduct of the Prosecutors, Judge, and Jury in all of the Mueller-related cases demonstrates precisely that no supporter of Donald Trump and no Republican can get a fair trial in the District of Columbia. The January 6th defendants are no exception.

• MTG: Biden Administration Is Trying To ‘Disappear’ Jan. 6 Defendants

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Another “creepy Joe” moment was caught on camera.

The latest incident happened at Brookland Middle School.

While Jill Biden was speaking, Joe Biden appeared to be wandering around,

He then suddenly started following a young black male student.

Then Biden put his hands on the boy’s shoulder’s.

It almost appeared as though Biden was massaging the minor.

Some people online said it looked like “groping.”

Then Biden suddenly wandered off.

Was this another creepy Joe moment?

Watch the video below and decide for yourself!

Creepily follows the kid, gropes him, then wanders off. pic.twitter.com/yMdwjXgO7N

— Red Walrus (@_RedWalrus_) September 12, 2021

Here are close-ups of the middle school student.

Many observers say that the young man looks uncomfortable as Joe Biden begins touching him.

This isn’t the first time that Biden has been caught touching minors.

You may have seen the recent story of young kids “tricking” Biden.

You see, there was an incident where several kids were wearing pro-Trump clothes and had their pictures taken with Biden.

Biden didn’t realize they were Trump supporters who were making fun of him.

Well…

One of the girls is clearly underage, and Biden is seen putting his hand around her waist and grabbing her tightly in the photo.

See below:

And of course, if there’s the famous incident of an 8 year old with Biden.

You can watch the full video on YouTube:

So…

That raises the question:

Was Biden simply being friendly with this young man?

Or was it another Creepy Joe incident?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!

You have to admit, the fervor in which Californians bonded together to get rid of Newsom and the 10,000 ways he was ripping off the state seemed more than promising. Well….promising in a world where elections can’t be manipulated by the people in charge of counting them.

Unless a small meteor wiped out a town in California yesterday that I didn’t know about, I’d really like to know how 351,709 votes got deleted from the recall column on live TV? And perhaps more importantly, how many other times did that happen yesterday that people didn’t catch on camera or that I haven’t seen before writing this article?

If you remember, there were at least 9 separate times on election night 2020 that numbers were deleted or switched on live TV. The counters they use on the news are live streamed from the election department, so if anyone’s messing with it at the software level it should show….depending on when it updates and when they’re displaying it.

Suspect election officials dismissed it away as a “glitch” in 2020, but this glitch only ever benefitted Biden and took votes away from Trump. That’s not a glitch, that’s fraud. There’s also the incident in Antrim county where the machine switched enough votes to effect the outcome for which they explained away as “human error” even though that “error” had to be someone going in the machines or software and illegally messing with it in the first place.

Between this, the mess they made with mail-in ballots, and all the people that were turned away because the system somehow had them down as “already voted” yesterday, it couldn’t be more clear that our entire election system is corrupt and has failed the People. The real question is….what can Americans do when the people in charge of preventing, investigating, and prosecuting election fraud are the same people committing it?

Source: thedcpatriot.com

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday a sweeping new policy prohibiting the use of chokeholds by federal law enforcement agents.  The new policy nearly bans the use of chokeholds, except in rare circumstances and limits the circumstances on so-called “No-Knock” entries or warrants.​

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said ,”The new policies were intended to improve law enforcement safety and accountability. Build trust and confidence between law enforcement and the public we serve is central to our mission at the Justice Department.”

The use of chokeholds and ‘no knock warrants, when law enforcement enters a premises unannounced, have featured in several recent cases in the United States involving the deaths of Black men and women at the hands of police. Officers actually now only use chokeholds and carotid restraints when deadly force is authorized.

Eric Garner, a Black man, died in New York in 2014 after being put in a prohibited chokehold by police seeking to arrest him for illegally selling cigarettes.

Another African-American, George Floyd, died in May 2020 when a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck for nearly 10 minutes, a case which sparked protests against racial injustice and police brutality across the United States.

And a Black woman, Breonna Taylor, was killed by police in Louisville, Kentucky, in march 2020 in a botched raid on her apartment.

Directly following Chauvin’s conviction, Garland announced a DOJ investigation into policing practices of the Minnesota police department. He said the investigation includes examining discriminatory policing forces used by local authorities.

“The limitations implemented today on the use of ‘chokeholds and carotid restraints’ and ‘No-Knock’ warrants, combined with our recent expansion of body-worn cameras to DOJ’s federal agents, are among the important steps the department is taking to improve law enforcement safety and accountability,” Garland said.

TRENDING: Pre-Covid Article Predicts Globalists Will Kill Off 90% of People with a Virus/Vaccine Combo

Garland added in a statement, “No-Knock entries will only be allowed in situations where an agent has reasonable grounds to believe that knocking and announcing the agent’s presence would create an imminent threat of physical violence to the agent and/or person.”

The Constitutional Conservative Argument For State-Level Bans On Businesses’ Vaccine Mandates

Limited government does not mean no government.Posted by Fuzzy Slippers Friday, October 22, 2021 at 09:00am 22 Comments

Back in 2001, Obama infamously noted that the United States Constitution is a “charter of negative liberties” that details “what the states can’t do to you, what the federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say what the federal government or state government must do on your behalf.”

On this point, he is essentially right.  The Constitution is designed to limit the degree to which the federal (and to a lesser degree, state) government can meddle in our lives.  The Bill of Rights is a key example of this, detailing what the government cannot do—what it is not at liberty to do—to the American people.

This is right and just.  The government should not be meddling in our God-given rights to freedom of speech and assembly, to keep and bear arms, to freely exercise our religion, and etc.

Obama was also correct in noting that the Constitution does not state what the government “must do on your behalf” beyond that detailed in the Constitution concerning the role and purview of each branch of government.   He, of course, sees this as a flaw, but it’s a feature.

Indeed, it is arguably the single factor that makes our Constitution the best ever written in terms of establishing the government of a free people.  By limiting the role of government, our Founders established that we, the people, are intended to have historically unprecedented freedom to make our decisions and to be able to live our lives free of endless and ever-growing government interference.

So what is the role of the states in all of this?  What if the federal government tramples the rights of a free people by requiring a WuFlu vaccination that some people have determined they neither want nor need?  Where is the recourse when the federal government itself steps beyond its Constitutional scope to force a private business to do its bidding?

It is through this lens that I consider the decision of Republican governors and legislatures to ban mask and/or vaccination mandates by companies in their states.  Joe “I am the Democratic Party” Biden announced a WuFlu vaccine mandate on businesses with 100 or more employees.  While this mandate has thus far not actually manifested (though the rule is expected to drop . . . at some point), the mandate on private businesses is an overreach.  It falls into the category of Obama’s “what the government must do on your behalf” and, as such, is anathema to Constitutional conservatives.

The federal government, under the false premise of protecting public health, is forcing companies to force Americans to choose between their jobs and their God-given right to self-determination.  At this point, these companies are not acting as private entities but as government agents acting not as they wish but as extensions of the federal government.

The federal government cannot mandate that every American get vaccinated, so this is the next best thing: an end-run around the Constitution.

Large parts of the RW commentariat are mentally incapable of grasping that when the Federal government orders private companies to act in certain ways, without there being a law passed or so much as a single regulation promulgated, this isn’t “voluntary private corporate action”. https://t.co/M3ARKb4Iyz

— Daddy Warpig (@DaddyWarpig) October 14, 2021

The Houston Chronicle editorial board published a sophomoric and moronic piece claiming that governors banning federal mandates are themselves guilty of mandates.  In this twisted view, Texas governor Greg Abbott’s move to protect the American people from livelihood-destroying government overreach is itself government overreach (archive link).

The governor’s order conflicts with a soon-to-be-enacted federal regulation that will require businesses with 100 or more employees to ensure they’re either vaccinated or tested weekly. Butting up against President Joe Biden is precisely the point.

“In yet another instance of federal overreach, the Biden administration is now bullying many private entities into imposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates,” Abbott wrote in the order.

Abbott’s anti-mandate mandate also conflicts with the classic conservative tradition in this state and elsewhere of the primacy of local control. Since Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton have ruled the Capitol roost, such rank hypocrisy is par for the course. Still, it’s one thing when the governor ignores local control over the use of plastic bags, cutting down trees or restricting fracking within the city limits; it’s another when thousands of lives are at stake in a global pandemic.

Well, no, there is no conflict “with the classic conservative tradition in this state and elsewhere of the primacy of local control.” Not only is the Constitution silent on the issue of “local control” of a person’s God-given rights, but the Constitution gives all authority not specifically assigned to the federal government to the states and to the people.

Abbott, as the duly-elected governor of Texas, is the exact Constitutionally-appointed person intended to step in to protect the rights of his state’s citizens. If the people choose to be vaccinated, that’s their choice. A federal government ultimatum—get this series of shots with untold numbers of “boosters” for the foreseeable future or lose your job—is the exact time that a governor not only can but must step in to stop the tyranny.

Furthermore, even companies and businesses that are imposing these vaccine mandates on their own, not under threat of the full force and power of the federal government, are depriving Americans of their liberty to make their own decisions and should therefore be constrained from doing so by the state government.

Doing so is in the very spirit of the Constitution, as a “charter of negative liberties.”  No, the federal government should not be able to coerce or force you to take a vaccine you may not need upon threat of unemployment, and no, a private business should not be able to coerce or force you to do so, either. The very idea is anti-Constitutional conservative.

Constitutional conservatives—unlike, say, libertarians—are very much pro-government, as long as it’s the republic established in our Constitution.  We recognize that there are some things that the government must do to protect the nation and her people.

That is why, as an example, Constitutional conservatives are perfectly fine with government bans on private companies engaging in the coerced or forced hysterectomies of its female employees. That is why we support minimal regulations such as those that ensure abortion mills are not literally selling baby parts for profit.  Limited government, in other words, does not mean no government.

The state government should absolutely intervene to protect the liberty of we, the people.  If a tobacco company mandated that all employees become addicted to cigarette smoking, this would be unacceptable and a good place for government intervention.  If any company mandated abortions for all female employees or that all employees submit to plastic surgery or foot-binding, we would be, justly, outraged and demand legislative action to stop it.

Companies cannot just do whatever they like, and they certainly should not be free to coerce or force their employees to take one of or a mix of the WuFlu vaccine buffet items.  Not only are the various vaccines available problematic and concerning for most age groups without high risk factors, but scientific research and findings are being deliberately ignored and/or suppressed (regarding acquired immunity, for example).

Further, and this seems to get missed rather frequently, these Republican governors or not banning the vaccine; indeed, they are urging everyone to get it.  They are merely saying that a vaccine mandate is one step too far, that threatening a person’s career and livelihood over “getting the jab” is unacceptable.

These governors are taking a stand and saying, no, the federal government cannot do this to you, nor can it compel private business to do it to you; indeed, businesses cannot ‘independently’ do this to you, they cannot strip away your rights to self-determination, they cannot bully you or coerce you to accept the injection of something you do not want (and probably don’t need) into your body in order to remain employed and able to support your family.

This Biden (and so far only pending) vaccine mandate on private businesses is a federal government one-size-fits-all “solution” to a coronavirus (reminder: the common cold is caused by a coronavirus) that is demonstrably not a one-size-affects-all virus.

As such, banning harmful and unnecessary business mandates is not only correct, but it is the responsibility and duty of elected public servants whose job it is to protect and defend our Constitution and our individual liberty.

https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/10/the-constitutional-conservative-argument-for-state-level-bans-on-businesses-vaccine-mandates/

For God has not given us a Spirit of Fear, but of power and love and a sound mind. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord.

2 Timothy 1:7-8

In America we thankfully have the First Amendment which protects our speech and permits us to have intense theological and spiritual discussions about our faith regardless of who it might offend.

Discussions about Jews, Judaism, and Jesus Christ are obviously central themes in any robust theological and Biblical debate going back 2,000 years. Jews likewise, going back to the beginning, have not hesitated to discuss what they see as Christian errors. The point is: neither Christians nor Jews are beyond criticism, discussion, or even mockery. 

Unfortunately in our culture of crybabies discussing any of these topics on the internet will result in many people getting extremely mad online and thrown into a hissyfit of screeching.

Part of defending free speech online means actually using it, and using it often means that someone somewhere will be offended especially when it comes to matters of faith.

I’ve said this many times, but it’s always worth repeating: I personally harbor no hatred for any group of people, Jews or other non-Christians included. In fact it is my hope and prayer that Jews and all people of this world accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. It is also my hope and prayer that those who do harbor true hatred for any group of people also accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

While we are commanded to hate evil, becoming consumed with the hatred of evil is not only unproductive; it inevitably becomes toxic to your soul and state of mind. I believe it is much more productive to build communities, infrastructure, and a society grounded in Christian values that does everything it can to protect our families and way of life from evil.

I hope to start conversations that while controversial, can help lead people to Jesus Christ by the Grace of God. How often is ANYONE in the media or in our culture ever talking about Jesus Christ? The answer is never. The Enemy wants it that way. So if we need to stir the pot a little to get people talking about Jesus Christ and God’s Word, that’s what we are are going to do.

If people want to call me a bigot, or a racist, or an antisemite, or whatever other shame words in order to shut me up they can have fun shouting to the wind. The trick of calling people silly names in order to shame them into submission and silence isn’t working anymore, and it certainly isn’t going to work on me.

We are pushing beyond this arbitrary line in the sand set by those in power who seek to silence us and pin us against one another. I’m going to talk about the Bible. I’m going to talk about my faith in Jesus Christ. I’m not going to be ashamed or apologize for any of it.

They don’t hate me. They hate Christ. If you speak Biblical Truth just a little too boldly they seethe into a fit of rage and surface their hatred of Him just long enough for those paying attention to start to take notice. More and more people are beginning to notice.

The Enemy closed down our churches, censored us from the internet, stole our election, put our kids in muzzle masks, and is firing us for refusing their experimental shot, but Christians are still afraid of being called a silly name for speaking God’s Truth on the internet.

When the Enemy calls you a shame word and you don’t flinch but instead double down you’ll be amazed at how quickly they slither away with their tail between their legs.

Never apologize.
Never flinch.
Always double down.

I’m not going to stop fighting to empower all of you and give you the ability to speak the truth boldly because an activist group cries on Twitter. I’m not going to stop working to build a parallel Christian society because people who hate me might call me a silly name.

All men are fallen. We all fall short of the Glory of God. Jesus Christ is our Savior. We are saved by Grace through Faith in Him. There are no exceptions. No one gets a free pass. If you reject the Son you reject the Father.

None of these statements above are remotely controversial. Indeed they have been standard Christian orthodoxy for thousands of years.
Will these statements offend people? Absolutely.

Does that mean as Christians that we should silently drift through the world, keep our mouths shut, and hope we don’t offend anyone by discussing matters of our faith? Of course not.

We need to stand boldly in the Truth of God’s Word and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. Now more than ever. People are hurting. People are vulnerable. They are scared. The need a Savior, and there is only one.

Friends I’m praying for you tonight. Jesus loves you. He died for your sins. He saved me He can save you too. Believe in Him, follow and read God’s Word, and the Holy Spirit will radically transform your life.

I’ve seen it done over and over and over again and it never gets old.
I experience the Grace of God’s love and mercy daily. I see God working in the lives of Christian individuals, families, businesses, and communities everyday here on Gab and I know that is only a small fraction of the work He is doing right now.

Keep the faith.

Jesus is King, it’s time to start living like it!

Andrew Torba
CEO, Gab.com
Only Jesus Saves
October 20th, 2021

The Biden Administration has been caught red handed flying illegal immigrants across the country in the dead of night, and should this behavior continue over the next three and half years, it will fundamentally alter the course of this country, as well as what it believes and of course, how it votes. Plus, Meghan McCain is speaking out about the ‘toxic’ behavior she received on the set of the view, but was she a part of the problem? Also, Trump has a new social media platform coming out, but will it be ‘the truth’ – or just another conservative echo chamber that lies to the fanbase?

https://www.gingrich360.com/2021/10/22/rob-smith-is-problematic-episode-86-bidens-illegal-immigration-flight-plan-exposed/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Saturday%20-%20October%2023%20General&utm_content=Saturday%20-%20October%2023%20General+CID_93434269c2cbe88cbb69ee3e6ddd0391&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_term=Click%20Here

The National School Boards Association (NSBA) has apologized to its members on Friday for a letter that was previously sent to the Biden administration in which the school board group compared parents accused of trying to intimidate educators to domestic terrorists.

In a memo issued to NSBA members, the board said that “on behalf of NSBA, we regret and apologize for the letter,” which was sent on Sept. 29, urging President Joe Biden to take action to stop what it described as “threats and acts of violence” against school boards, teachers, and others involved in the public education sphere.

“There was no justification for some of the language included in the letter,” the NSBA wrote. “We should have had a better process in place to allow for consultation on a communication of this significance. We apologize also for the strain and stress this situation has caused you and your organizations.”

It added that the NSBA deeply values “not only the work of local school boards that make important contributions within our communities, but also the voices of parents, who should and must continue to be heard when it comes to decisions about their children’s education, health, and safety.”

???????????? https://t.co/rJpvV086mo

— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) October 23, 2021

The memo comes as school board organizations in at least 20 states distanced themselves from the NSBA, citing disagreement over the way it has characterized concerned parents. Some have quit or moved to leave the NSBA.

The NSBA’s initial controversial Sept. 29 letter (pdf) claimed that some clashes between school board members and parents over issues such as masking policies, the critical race theory, among others, should be equivalent to parents engaging in “a form of domestic terrorism.”

“As these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased, the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes,” the organization wrote.

Emails (pdf) obtained by Parents Defending Education last week disclosed that the NSBA was in touch with the White House and others in the administration before the release of the letter.

“In talks over the last several weeks with White House staff, they requested additional information on some of the specific threats,” Chip Slaven, the NSBA’s interim executive director and CEO, wrote in an email to NSBA board members just hours after the letter was released to the public.

Most of the incidents the board included related to parents vigorously pushing back on controversial teachings or material and not incidents where any laws appeared to be broken.

Several incidents did ultimately lead to arrests at school board meetings, including a father in Loudoun County, Virginia, who was upset his daughter had been raped and school officials allegedly acted to cover it up.

Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memorandum several days after the NSBA’s letter, ordering federal officials to crack down on parents accused of threatening violence or trying to intimidate educators.

Garland, testifying to Congress in Washington, said he learned about the letter by reading about it in the news and had not been told by the White House to issue the memo. He said he was certain the White House communicated its concerns about the letter to his department and that that would be “perfectly appropriate.”

On Oct. 21, Garland denied claims that the U.S. Justice Department would label parents as domestic terrorists, and parents who take issue with school board policies will not be investigated.

“The Justice Department supports and defends the First Amendment right of parents to complain as vociferously as they wish about the education of their children, about the curriculum taught in the schools,” Garland said, the New York Post reported. “That is not what the memorandum is about at all, nor does it use the words ‘domestic terrorism’ or ‘Patriot Act.’”

Jim Green, the executive director of Oregon’s School Boards Association, said in a statement on social media the board appreciates NSBA’s apology over the controversial letter that was issued to the Biden administration.

“We appreciate NSBA’s apology over some of the languages in the organization’s appeal for protecting the safety of school board members,” Green wrote. “That doesn’t mean the underlying issue—keeping volunteer school board members safe from threats and violence—isn’t important. It is.”

“But NSBA recognized that the wording it used alienated many parents, our vital partners in public schools. It’s my hope with this apology that the national organization can learn from the experience and move on.”

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.

From NTD News

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/nsba-apologizes-to-members-over-letter-comparing-parents-to-domestic-terrorists_4064824.html?utm_source=News&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-10-23-3&mktids=e434c7c98af422b7709077803a056f47&est=UBx0BOk31ULGzGC6ZH3bBwFUKqu4QOdqN%2FrhUbUx2APdGJQyD7qfGuYQNyCBp1X1PA%3D%3D

In the United States, a sharp rise in the number of children identifying as transgender has alarmed some parents. As these numbers rapidly grow, three mothers share the warning signs of transgender indoctrination.

The Child Transgender Numbers Explosion

A study conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics released in May 2020 showed nearly 10 percent of high school students in just one school district identified as gender-diverse. That 10 percent figure is far higher than past estimates, such as a 2017 government survey of U.S. high school students, in which only 1.8 percent said they identified as transgender. While some studies suggest the higher rate of suicide and attempted suicide among transgender children is related to non-affirmation, other research shows that the higher rate of suicide and attempted suicide among adolescents with gender dysphoria is more related to their know history of other psychiatric diagnoses and self-reported emotional and behavioral problems. While the study called The Trevor Project—widely cited by those who push the affirmation-only approach to avoid self-harm—does show that a significant number of transgender youth admit the heavy use of drugs and alcohol, the study did not explore or provide any statistics regarding the preexistence of other psychiatric diagnoses or self-reported emotional and behavioral problems among the participants.

The Social/Mental Vulnerabilities 

While each of the three families in this story come from different backgrounds and live in different states, each of their newly self-identified transgender children have some things very much in common. They are all in the same age group, they are all socially awkward, and all have been diagnosed with some form of social or psychological disorder.

Vera Lindner of Los Angeles, California, told The Epoch Times “the trans bomb was dropped,” into her world a year ago when her daughter was 14 years old. Her daughter, now 15, had been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome and Attention Deficit Disorder. She suffers from depression, anxiety, insulin resistance, and obesity. Her daughter was also diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

Dee, of Clover, South Carolina has a 17-year-old daughter who was indoctrinated at the age of 15. Her daughter has been diagnosed with pre-adoption trauma.

A concerned mom in Augusta, Georgia, who is a single parent, spoke to The Epoch Times under the condition of anonymity using the pseudonym Mary. She said her son made his transgender announcement in November 2020. While not formally diagnosed with any specific disorder, she “had him tested when he was younger for being on the [autism] spectrum and he fell in the gray zone.”

“They could not say yes or no,” Mary added. “He has always been a bit socially awkward and quirky.”

How it Began

Another commonality is the way each child was drawn down the transgender path. It all began with online connections who introduced them to the transgender world through various social media groups.

The trans-transformation of Vera’s daughter started when she began identifying as a lesbian and started watching a lot of YouTube videos like “What do lesbians look like?” and “Who is the ‘most lesbian’ from among this line-up?” Then came the “unrequited love for a butch-lesbian girl who was the first one to self-identify as a ‘trans-boy.’”

“This individual was the ring-leader, very aggressive,” Vera explained. “Also, very tech-savvy.” The “trans-boy” set up multiple Discord groups for the group her daughter had been introduced to, with channels such as “vent,” “general,” “art,” “LGBT” and specifically, “NSFW” where they were posting male nudes and pornography for each other to watch.

According to the Urban Dictionary, “NSFW” is “internet slang” for “Not Safe For Work” or “Not Safe For Wife” and is “used for a fandom of some sort when people want to discuss and share the sexual and porno side of the fandom.”

“At the same time,” Vera added, “they all got into TikTok and Instagram and started watching trans-related content—vile, stupid narcissistic young adults posting rotten material on these platforms.”

The subject matter of these posts centered around such things as, “you are trans if you…,” “you have been playing a role of a girl all along but you are not a girl,” and posed questions like “do you feel like a girl?”

For Dee’s daughter, everything started when “a friend who had decided she was trans a year before took her down the proverbial hole and taught her what to wear” and exposed her to lesbian pornography.

Through the social media platforms Instagram, Tumblr, Reddit, Pinterest, YouTube, and TikTok, her daughter watched videos  about “trans-men” and “how to get testosterone.”

As with Vera’s and Dee’s daughters, Mary’s son spent hours on social media sites consuming hard-core, graphic pornography sent to him by his new, online trans peer group that evades parental controls by classifying the content “cartoons.”

The Drastic Transformation

By the time Vera’s daughter was in eighth grade she “was so hyper-fixated on LGBT that she was incapable of speaking about anything else besides LGBT” and she “cycled through orientations of lesbian, pan, queer, until finally she dropped the trans bomb shortly after turning 14.” Soon after, she “cut her hair, started wearing boys’ clothes, bought men’s underwear” and “demanded a binder.” She also wanted to get a “supplement from Amazon for increasing testosterone,” which she refused to purchase for her, and to see a “gender doctor,” which she refused to take her to.

Where Dee’s daughter had once been a “happy, seemingly well-adjusted and mature,” child who “excelled academically, she quickly became “disobedient, contentious, contemptuous and untruthful.”

Where she once appeared as a normal teen-aged girl, she now “presents as a boy wearing dark colors, hoodies, and occasionally wears a binder” and she has “Cut off her beautiful hair and tries to pass with a man bun.”

Mary said she was shocked at her son’s trans declaration as there was “no prior behavior that would indicate any of this.”

As with Vera’s daughter, Mary’s son became “obsessed with talking about trans issues.” She said “all talks revolved around it,” and “he demanded puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy.”

Mary said the transformation of her son started after he “found friends who were also declaring non-binary and transgender status and they began providing him with “their old girl clothes.” He quickly went from “cautiously” wearing a skirt to “full-on cross-dressing” and he “became noticeably irritable and rude,” a characteristic she said was “extremely out of character” for her son. During one manic episode, she said her son began screaming at her to look at him to recognize that he is “a girl now.”

“It was very disturbing and frightening,” she said.

The Fight to Reclaim Their Children

Because her daughter was “going through a mental breakdown upon dropping the trans bomb,” Vera and her husband decided not to take away her electronic devices. To mitigate the destructive influence of social media, they did purge her accounts of all transgendered contacts. They also stopped sending their daughter to her therapist, who had started “casually talking about testosterone and encouraging transition.”

Her daughter’s PCOS is being managed with meds and she has a daily regimen of light exercise. She has started tenth grade in a charter school and is making new friends. Still, the therapy that has had the most positive impact on her daughter has been volunteering on family farms.

“She adores animals,” Vera said, “so we adopted two kittens in addition to the dog we brought with us. Being around animals and kind people has helped her rebuild her self-esteem. We also go for walks daily. Her depression is much better, definitely in remission. So is the eating disorder. Here, she is connecting with real humans and hearing their real-life stories.”

For Dee—because “there’s too much being shared at high school at lunch and during breaks”—parental monitoring of her social media accounts, a summer job, increased volunteer work to get her off social media, and new social circles has had only marginal improvements on her daughter’s behavior. But she isn’t giving up.

Fearful and overwhelmed by the sudden changes in her son, the decision was made by Mary to send her son to stay with his father. During those next three weeks, she began to dig into his online history and many changes have been made. Since her son’s return from his father’s home, she has taken away his electronic devices and has three layers of parental control on his phone. She uses Circle and Bark apps to monitor the phone’s screen-time and frequently checks with her internet provider for controls they provide. Despite her efforts, she said her son still manages to find “a lot of gender-bending in obscure corners of the internet.”

“His attitude is slightly better,” she said. “I have taken him to a new therapist that is not affirming. I am not sure how much that has helped so far though. The previous therapist was terrible and made things go from bad to violent with the blind affirmation model.

Their Greatest Fears

Vera fears that her daughter will be taken by Child Protective Services because she is “not affirming,” She also fears that her daughter will be influenced by her friends to take hormones or worse, to have irrevocable surgeries. “She has made tremendous progress in healing her mental illnesses and I don’t want her to slip back,” Vera said.

Dee also fears that her daughter will “medicalize and embark on a course of surgery that will cause irreparable damage to her body.”

“And I fear she will latch onto her ‘glitter’ family and become estranged from us,” she confessed.

Mary in Georgia also fears that her son “will begin medicalization when he turns 18” and that “he will ruin his body and his life in search for happiness that is promised to him” but “will only result in his ruination mentally and physically.”

“He will become a forever patient of the pharmaceutical and medical industry and dwindle his dating pool down to nothing and he will be alone,” she grieved.

Who’s to Blame?

Although a self-described “lifelong” liberal Democrat, Vera blames former President Barack Obama “who got bought with the millionaire transvestites’ money” and the liberals “who parrot trans slogans” and “allowed this ideology to infiltrate so deeply the American society and families.”

She blames the “friends who dragged” her daughter into the trans world, and the school lockdowns that left home-bound, isolated children “hanging on their phones all day long to be immersed into this cult.”

“And I blame myself,” she confessed, “for not doing deep reading on this whole trans-thing years ago. I immersed myself only after she dropped on us the trans-bomb, unexpectedly.”

Dee also blames “the friend who dragged” her daughter into this, “and social media, which uses algorithms to shove the trans-agenda into her online world.” She also blames her daughter’s three therapists, “all of whom affirmed her and treated her like a special unicorn.”

Primarily, Mary blames the tech industry.

“They know the danger this technology poses to our mental health and the influence it has especially on young vulnerable people,” she said. “I blame them for not having stronger walls against pornography when kids can easily click an ‘over 18’ button.”

She also blames the pharmaceutical and medical industry who “blindly affirm this and push drugs and surgeries on kids” and therapists who use suicide statistics to pressure them into affirming their child’s irrational decisions yet give no thought to the idea that the child may deeply regret those choices and “take their life after the transition.”

New Paths Require Wise Feet

“To all despondent parents who just got blindsided by this,” two mothers offer some advice.

Vera: “Read as much literature as possible, both affirmative and also trans-critical. Be familiar with the propaganda and lies so you can rebuff them. Nothing substitutes for knowledge and information.”

Mary: “Cut off electronics/online activity, be vigilant about parental controls and monitoring. Be cautious and not confrontational and keep communication lines open and encourage critical thinking.  Give them as much love as possible but also be firm as the parent. Get them outdoors and back in nature and into the world like through volunteering, extracurricular activities, if they’re old enough getting a job.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/parents-warn-of-their-children-being-subjected-to-transgender-indoctrination_4055029.html?utm_source=News&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-10-23-3&mktids=e434c7c98af422b7709077803a056f47&est=dqfEsyY6Ou52zv1D2KXyHsDCd42jJ9ZMBz%2BGy%2FSy3hYY%2FYGSswoNrXhs1Pk4lGBd%2Fg%3D%3D

In a comment The Washington Post mocked as “almost like counting a refueling stop as a visit to a country,” President Joe Biden told a CNN town hall Thursday night that he had been to America’s southern border.

During the event, Biden was asked, “Given that it’s nearly been a year into your campaign, why haven’t you been to the southern border of our country?”

After host Anderson Cooper nudged Biden into giving an answer, Biden offered one that sent the fact-checkers into overdrive, according to CNN.

“I’ve been there before, and I haven’t — I mean, I know it well. I guess I should go down.  But the — but the whole point of it is: I haven’t had a whole hell of lot of time to get down,” Biden said, according to a White House transcript of his comments.

WATCH: Joe Biden says he hasn’t had “time” to visit the southern border, says “I guess I should go down” pic.twitter.com/mqxgWGgrfb

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 22, 2021

“I’ve been spending time going around looking at the $900 billion worth of damage done by — by hurricanes and floods and — and weather, and traveling around the world,” he said.

“But I plan on — now, my wife, Jill, has been down.  She’s been on both sides of the river.  She’s seen the circumstances there.  She’s looked into those places,” he said.

When the Post fact-checked the claim, it noted that in 2008, Biden released a long list of people he had met with in various places, “But despite that long history, we cannot find evidence that Biden at one point made a visit to the southern border.”

Do you think Joe Biden has no idea if he was ever at the border?

“But after digging some more, we discovered that Biden briefly drove past the border while on a campaign swing in 2008,” the Post reported, describing an October 2008 trip from El Paso, Texas, through New Mexico.

“The drive took Biden along a route that for a few minutes hugs the border of the United States and Mexico,” the Post reported, eventually deciding not to rate the claim false.

Biden says he hasn’t had time to go to the border.

He’s had time to go to Delaware almost every weekend.

He had time to go for a maskless dinner last week.

Can someone tell him there are kids at the border so he will go?

— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) October 22, 2021

White House press secretary Jen Psaki tried to go with that story and build upon it.

Washington Post Slaps Biden with 4 Pinocchios for His Lie About the Second Amendment

“He did drive through the border when he was on the campaign trail in 2008. And he is certainly familiar with the fact — and it stuck with him — with the fact that in El Paso, the border goes right through the center of town,” Psaki said during her media briefing, according to CNN.

Psaki denigrated a visit by Biden to the border as a “photo op.”

“There is a focus right now on a photo op. The President does not believe a photo op is the same as solutions,” she said.

Joe Biden said he’s too busy to visit the border.

But he wasn’t too busy to take a beach vacation in the middle of his chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal.

— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) October 22, 2021

CNN’s fact-checking of Biden’s town hall performance noted that Jill Biden’s border visit was in December 2019 as part of the campaign for the White House.

CNN further noted that although Biden cited foreign travel as a reason not to visit the border, he has made only one trip abroad.

Sometimes, keeping sane while following politics involves wildly unwarranted optimism.

You’ve got to be a bit like the condemned criminals at the end of “Monty Python’s Life of Brian,” singing “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” as they’re being executed.

Take Attorney General Merrick Garland, a man far more concerned with attacking our Second Amendment rights, law enforcement officers and parents protesting woke school boards trying to implement critical race theory-based curricula than he is with America’s skyrocketing violent crime rate or crisis at the border.

Sure, he’s a disaster — and a dangerous one at that.

But at least he’s not on the Supreme Court.

Imagine if a man who treats parents as if they were a domestic terror threat had a lifetime appointment to the high court, as former President Barack Obama thought he should. Remember how he was supposed to be a “moderate” pick, a compromise so that the Republicans in control of the Senate would confirm him? Yeah, not so much.

That’s how I kept calm Thursday when Garland appeared before the House Judiciary Committee and the Democratic committee chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, in his opening statement, began by praising Garland and his Department of Justice — at least in comparison to what he inherited.

“You have assumed this enormous responsibility at a crossroads in our nation’s history,” Nadler said in his opening statement, according to a transcript.

“For four years, the democratic institutions you have sworn to protect — first, as a judge, and now, as attorney general — were deeply undermined by the former president and his political enablers.  During that time, the Trump administration leveraged the department to protect the president and his friends, and to punish his enemies, both real and imagined.”

Garland, to judge by Nadler’s opening remarks, was some kind of admixture of Cincinnatus, Louis Brandeis and Eliot Ness, a man given the unenviable task of cleaning house after Trump and his poker buddies conspired to blow American democracy sky high.

Now, to hear the chairman tell it, there’s a Proud Boy or an Oath Keeper lurking behind every corner thanks to the former president — maybe even at your local school board meeting! — and it’ll take this gentle apolitical giant named Merrick Garland to clean things up.

This preposterous framing of the current political moment was impressive even by the standards of Nadler, one of the District of Columbia’s great horse-manure artists. Unfortunately for him, the next speaker was GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, a man of considerable caffeination who wasn’t about to let a fiction like that go unchallenged.

“The chairman just said the Trump DOJ was political and went after their opponents. Are you kidding me?’ Jordan began. “Three weeks ago, the National School Board Association writes President Biden asking him to involve the FBI in local school board matters. Five days later, the attorney general of the United States does just that, does exactly what a political organization asks to be done.”

Jordan was referring to an Oct. 4 memo from the Department of Justice in which Garland asserted “there has been a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff who participate in the vital work of running our nation’s schools.”

“The Department takes these incidents seriously and is committed to using its authority and resources to discourage these threats, identify them when they occur, and prosecute them when appropriate,” the memorandum continued, adding the FBI would “open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment, and response.”

“Republicans on this committee have sent the attorney general 13 letters in the last six months,” Jordan said. “Eight of the letters, we’ve got nothing — they just gave us the finger.” Other letters took weeks for a response, he said.

And yet, the congressman noted, it took the NSBA “five days” to get exactly what they wanted — between the letter to Biden to Garland’s memorandum, which included a promise of “open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting.”

“A snitch line on parents started five days after a left-wing political organization asked for it,” Jordan said. “If that’s not political, I don’t know what is.

Is Merrick Garland weaponizing the FBI?

“Where’s the dedicated lines of communication with local leaders regarding our southern border — something that frankly is a federal matter? Where’s the dedicated lines of communication on violent crime in our cities?

“Nope, can’t do that, the Biden Justice Department is going to go after parents who object to some racist, hate-America curriculum.”

BREAKING: Ohio Rep. @Jim_Jordan let loose on Attorney General Merrick Garland at Thursday’s hearing: “Folks all around the country, they tell me, for the first time they are afraid of their government” pic.twitter.com/9aWjNCnohU

— Newsmax (@newsmax) October 21, 2021

According to the Daily Mail, Garland said he was focused merely on “violence or threats of violence,” not on treating activist parents as domestic terrorists.

“I want to be as clear as I can be: This is not about what happens inside school board meetings. This is only about threats of violence,” the attorney general said.

Threats of violence, however, are already matters under law enforcement purview. The FBI doesn’t need a memorandum from the attorney general to focus on them, nor does it need dedicated lines of communication.

When this attention happens to align felicitously with opposition to a top-line liberal agenda item — the radical remaking of American education, no matter what parents might think of it — it’s not difficult to deduce where the focus is coming from.

As for the effect the NSBA’s letter had, Garland said he first learned about it by watching the news, Fox News reported. However, he conceded that “was brought to our attention” and that the White House had discussed it with the DOJ.

If this were about threats of violence, that’s what police or, in certain cases, federal law enforcement officers are for.

Garland’s memo wasn’t about that, however.

It was a notice that the FBI was being mobilized against parents who continue to protest school boards that have lurched to the left and demand zero accountability. If the bureau didn’t do it at the behest of a left-wing educators organization, the timing sure seems fortuitous.

And, despite Jerrold Nadler’s best efforts to portray Garland as being as neutral as white paint in a living room, he’s a political operative who’s weaponized the DOJ at the behest of the Biden administration and the Democrats.

But at least Garland isn’t on the Supreme Court.

Sing along with me, folks: “When you’re chewing on life’s gristle / Don’t grumble, give a whistle / And this’ll help things turn out for the best / And always look on the bright side of life …”

Those who control our institutions and both parties, the commanding heights of the economy, politics, and culture, comprise an elite with shared values, beliefs, attitudes, and power. They dominate universities, media, education, big business, big sport, and Hollywood.

Some scholars such as Charles Murray and political commentators such as Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson have come to use the term “ruling class” or “new ruling class” of this pan-institutional and bipartisan elite. They define class as a matter of power and attitudes, differences in access to government and education, habits, and tastes. In contrast, Marxists saw the central divide as one between owners of capital and those who worked for them—capitalists and wage-workers or, in previous class societies, between slaves and slave-owners, or feudal lords and serfs.

America’s Ruling Class

The political philosopher, former senior intelligence official, and critic of the main schools of foreign policy Angelo Codevilla died in a traffic accident on Sept. 21, 2021. In addition to his books, articles, and speeches on statecraft and the foreign policy establishment, Codevilla provided an influential conservative analysis of the central class divide in the United States. He published a brilliant and prescient essay (and later book) in 2010 that laid out his view of America’s ruling class.

Codevilla emphasizes the power and attitude of the new ruling class—its conviction of its own moral and intellectual superiority and its utter contempt for the rest of society.

The ruling class, so understood, is not defined by its ownership of capital or wealth. “What really distinguishes these privileged people demographically is that whether in government directly or as officers in companies, their careers and fortunes depend on government,” he wrote. They vote Democrat and “draw their money and orientation from the same sources as the millions of teachers, consultants, and government employees in the middle ranks who aspire” to be members of the ruling class and identify with what they take to be the grievances of the oppressed.

Party and Class

Democrats are the party of the ruling class, Codevilla argues, and the Republicans are their junior partner. Writing in 2010, he sees the mass of voters as unrepresented and voiceless. Most Democrat voters see their party as representing them well, but that’s true of only a minority of Republican voters. There’s no party that represents and defends the views and values of the majority—patriotic, putting the United States first in global economic and political matters, avoiding unnecessary and unwinnable wars, with a foreign policy that strengthens our friends and weakens our adversaries rather than the reverse, and that’s consistently supportive of family, faith, and tradition.

As Codevilla put it in 2010: “In short, the ruling class has a party, the Democrats. But some two-thirds of Americans—a few Democratic voters, most Republican voters, and all independents—lack a vehicle in electoral politics.”

This divide and party difference persist in 2021, as reflected in the growing distrust of legacy media and other institutions. Only 6 percent of Republicans, and 16 percent of all Americans trust TV news, according to a July Gallup poll. About one in five trusts newspapers. Relentless and gratuitous hostility towards President Donald Trump contrasted with sycophantic coverage or suppression of negative news about his successor in the White House (as in the Hunter Biden laptop scandal) no doubt account for much of this suspicion by Republicans and independents. Except for high bipartisan trust in the military and small businesses, the parties differ markedly on other institutions. Republicans have much more trust in the church and police.

The election of Trump in 2016 suggested the possibility of weakening the Establishment Republicans and turning the party into one that puts the country’s national interests first (as other countries do) and is socially conservative.

Moving the party and country in a direction that reflected the views and values of most Americans ran, as expected, into fierce and unrelenting hostility within the administrative state, the media, the rest of the ruling class, and not least, from Establishment Republicans.

There are formidable obstacles to sustaining a third party in the American system, so conservative Republicans focus today on maintaining the support of working people, not least that of black and Latino families. Part of the task is to hold off attempts of the globalist and socially liberal old guard to regain control of the party. If those attempts fail, some former party leaders and Never Trumpers aim to sabotage the Republican Party’s electoral efforts, supporting the Democrats or a third party in order to teach ordinary people a lesson.

Attitude

The ruling class, Codevilla argues, “grew and set itself apart from the rest of us by connection with ever bigger government, and above all by a certain attitude.”

As he says, “Whether formally in government, out of it, or halfway, America’s ruling class speaks the language and has the tastes, habits, and tools of bureaucrats. It rules uneasily over the majority of Americans not oriented to government.”

In terms of education, cultural tastes, and disdain for ordinary people (the working class who, in Obama’s memorable phrase, “cling to guns or religion”), the “educated” class is less diverse than ever. It aims to improve society, not by empowering ordinary people, but by managing them in their own best interests. This typically requires ever more centralized control of the state, with new or expanded programs and regulations.

The recent threat by Attorney General Merrick Garland to use the FBI against concerned parents who challenge school boards is just one of several examples of recent abuse of federal power in ways not envisaged by the original legislation and that seem to contravene the Constitution.

The Potter and the Clay

In short, the attitude of the ruling class to those outside it is essentially that of potter to clay. But the potter in this case disdains and despises the clay even as it seeks to shape and control it to conform to its own desires.

This attitude, seeking to limit democracy and to enhance instead the rule of experts and professionals, was common to the Progressives in the last century. As Woodrow Wilson, president of Princeton and then of the United States, put it, “I have often said that the use of a university is to make young gentlemen as unlike their fathers as possible.”

The current administration’s method illustrates this attitude. By using regulations and massive programs of increased debt and spending, the ruling class reserves to itself control over the economy and increasingly over more and more areas of everyday life.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/the-american-ruling-class_4062632.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mb-2021-10-23&mktids=e583a94a1d6b08faf26ad49157baae5e&est=eUVmoyAyDKPCrUJPGCBQ9yxogd%2FQThPA%2F2y8Rxaknca6PEoIPYnqp0OcbCYtHoUd2g%3D%3D

The final decision, after years of debate, was made Oct. 8 to remove from the New York City Council chambers the statue of the man we all know to have been a dreaded slaveholder—to the tune of 600 over his lifetime—Thomas Jefferson.

Despite that, writing at Bari Weiss’ substack, political science professor Samuel Goldman, with whom I concur, is less than happy

“The removal is disgraceful. Unlike monuments to Confederate leaders that display them in full military glory, Jefferson is depicted as a writer. Holding a quill pen in one hand and the Declaration of Independence in the other, he is clearly being honored for composing an immortal argument for liberty and equality.”

Ah, life, isn’t it complicated? Just ask Sally Hemings. But you can’t, obviously. Who knows—perhaps Jefferson went to his grave wishing he could have married Sally, his slave with whom he apparently had children. Sally may well have felt the same way. Nothing is simple.

Like it or not we are all creatures of our times. Thomas Jefferson was clearly a hypocrite, often tortured by his own hypocrisy, but he was also a genius whose writings offered great hope for humanity, all of humanity, despite NY City Council’s Black, Latino and Asian caucuses calling, as Goldman reminds us, the Declaration he authored “the disgusting and racist basis on which America was founded.”

Having been a professional writer all my life and having had the good fortune to know many fine authors, playwrights, and essayists, some “of color” even, I know not one who has written anything nearly as powerful and evocative as “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Those words bring tears to my eyes, now more than ever, given the current state of our presidential rhetoric which runs to “Build back… y’know… the thing.”

What Jefferson’s critics are unable to do, likely don’t want to do, is practice what is known in psychoanalysis as “containment” and is defined in Webster’s as “the act, process, or means of keeping something within limits.”

Someone with a relatively healthy mind is able to put historical revelations in a context. Nothing appalls the “woke” more than that. They are always accusing the rest us of “contextualizing.” But that is what adults do. We look at the past, evaluate it, try to take the best from it and avoid the worst, and move on.

That is the way to observe George Santayana’s dictum “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” The left don’t aim to remember the past. They aim to obliterate it.

And thus they are condemned to repeat it. As they are now—in the United States of America—to everybody else’s dismay and horror.

Who will be the next to go? Benjamin Franklin—America’s own DaVinci. No doubt he’s in their crosshairs. (What about that poor little mouse from “Ben and Me” so many of us grew up with?)

Fortunately, in the case of the Jefferson statue, it will not be destroyed, but removed to another location. (Wise move because these things often are walked back when people come to their senses.) And it’s not the original anyway, but a copy. The original is in the Capitol Rotunda, waiting for The Squad to complain about its presence and/or existence, if they haven’t already.

I learned something I had not known about that original from Goldman’s article. It was “commissioned by the French sculptor David d’Angers in 1833 by Uriah P. Levy, a Jewish naval officer who suffered from antisemitism in his military career.” That included six courts-martial, some apparently stemming from duels fought over religious slurs.

Levy was devoted to Jefferson’s memory, particularly because of the third president’s strong belief in religious freedom. But Levy—who had commanded a vessel to suppress the slave trade—had some blemishes of his own. After Jefferson’s death, he purchased more than a dozen slaves to work on the restoration of Monticello.

Which, ironically, leads us to the present when the crusade against Jefferson at the City Council has been led by pro-despot (Mugabe and Qaddafi), pro-Hamas, ally of the New Black Panther Party Assemblyman Charles Barron, who has claimed “real” Semites are black and accused Israel of—you guessed it—“genocide.”

How to explain, then, that the Arab population of Israel has grown considerably faster than the Jewish? Problem, no? You’d think after Auschwitz the Jews would know how to do genocide. Slow learners, I guess.

But no matter. Such things don’t concern folks like Barron. (He also called Jefferson a “pedophile” who “raped children.”)

Give me Thomas Jefferson, warts and all, over the Charles Barrons of the world any time.

As for where the Jews fit in all this, I will have more to say when reporting from the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual conference in Las Vegas Nov 5. It’s safe to say their kinsman Merrick Garland will not be popular with this group. He sure isn’t with me.

So, to paraphrase Sun Tzu, keep your Jefferson statues close and your Franklin statues closer. (And maybe keep a few Madisons in the closet.)

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/the-war-on-jefferson-is-franklin-next_4064223.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mb-2021-10-23&mktids=e583a94a1d6b08faf26ad49157baae5e&est=wONZCsviMnwth7tHGriYq823jqLYkh2W5mOMGoe%2FC0RpUaMuO1eXJ036bUJ%2FlE5TUA%3D%3D

Border Patrol agents apprehended a total of 1,666,167 illegal immigrants along the southwest border in fiscal 2021—breaking all records since 1925 after the agency was formed (when 22,199 illegal aliens were arrested).

An additional 294,352 were stopped after trying to enter at a port of entry without legal papers, bringing the total to almost 2 million (1,956,519) for fiscal 2021, according to new Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics.

The CBP doesn’t officially release the number of “gotaways”—illegal aliens who are detected by Border Patrol, but evade capture. However, former CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan told a congressional Republican roundtable on Oct. 20 that the gotaway number hit at least 400,000 illegal aliens this year.

The Biden administration has faced growing criticism for the crisis at the southern border, which started to ramp up a year ago in tandem with election rhetoric.

However, the number of illegal crossings shot up once Biden took office and promptly dismantled many of President Donald Trump’s border security measures.

In January, Biden paused deportations, stopped border wall construction, halted the Remain in Mexico program, repurposed Immigration and Customs Enforcement priorities, and reversed the ban on travel from terror-prone countries.

In December 2020, Trump’s last full month in office, Border Patrol agents arrested almost 74,000 illegal immigrants on the southern border. By July, that had almost tripled to 213,500.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is expelling most single adults under the Title 42 health directive policy issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in March 2020 that calls for immediate expulsion of all illegal immigrants and non-essential travelers.

However, under Biden, the DHS stopped applying Title 42 to any unaccompanied children, most family units, and some adults.

The administration has been faced with record levels of unaccompanied minors and family units entering illegally—most of whom are subsequently released into the United States.

The number of unaccompanied children apprehended by Border Patrol in fiscal 2021 (146,925) exceeded last year’s total by four times. At one point in April, more than 20,000 unaccompanied minors were being held in Health and Human Services custody.

The White House confirmed on Oct. 20 that it has been flying unaccompanied children from the southern border to New York in the middle of the night.

“It is our legal responsibility to safely care for unaccompanied children until they can be swiftly unified with a parent or a vetted sponsor,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said. “And that’s something we take seriously. We have a moral obligation to come to do that and deliver on that.”

She confirmed that unaccompanied children are also being transported to other parts of the country.

Haitian Crisis

September presented a new challenge for DHS when 15,000 mostly Haitian illegal immigrants formed a primitive encampment under an international bridge in Del Rio, Texas.

The administration subsequently released at least 12,400 of them into the interior, with the expectation that they will check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or turn up at their immigration court hearing.

Tens of thousands more Haitians and other migrants are currently heading toward the U.S. border, according to reports.

During the Haitian crisis, Border Patrol was forced to close nearby highway checkpoints, and state and local law enforcement surged to the bridge to provide security.

In general, drug seizures at the border and highway checkpoints have been consistently lower in fiscal 2021 than in the past three years, with September hitting a low point.

Other issues are facing the Border Patrol agency, with morale hitting an all-time low and agents facing a Nov. 22 deadline to get vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine or get fired.

Administration Response

The Biden administration has been consistent in its response to questions about its handling of the border, saying it’s focusing on the “root causes” of illegal immigration and that it is seeking a “fair, orderly, and humane” immigration system.

Administration officials have avoided calling the border issue a crisis, but DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was caught on leaked audio telling border agents that the situation is “unsustainable.”

“A couple of days ago I was down in Mexico, and I said look, you know, if, if our borders are the first line of defense, we’re going to lose and this is unsustainable,” Mayorkas said on Aug. 5, according to audio a Border Patrol source leaked to Fox News.

“We can’t continue like this, our people in the field can’t continue and our system isn’t built for it.”

On Oct. 21, Biden was asked by Anderson Cooper during a CNN town hall if he plans to visit the southern border.

“I guess I should go down. But the—but the whole point of it is: I haven’t had a whole hell of lot of time to get down,” Biden said.

Vice President Kamala Harris visited El Paso, Texas, in June, but was criticized for avoiding the two busiest sectors in the nation, also in Texas.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/border-patrol-arrests-shatter-all-records-at-southern-border_4064208.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mb-2021-10-23&mktids=e583a94a1d6b08faf26ad49157baae5e&est=ieHUxtMLT%2FTh4kEIFdplApT7iW9fBS4hAENbqZ8BYrnqEBlWUFHXx1QVeolC0KX33w%3D%3D

DUMFRIES, Va.—As Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe rallied with Vice President Kamala Harris to tout “Democratic leadership” on the economy, businesses outside of the Northern Virginia venue struggled to deal with “unprecedented” labor and supply chain issues.

At his Thursday evening rally in Dumfries, McAuliffe spoke of “new high-paying jobs” and “reduced unemployment” in the state, adding, “That’s what you get with good Democratic leadership.” Throughout the surrounding area, however, businesses bore the impact of the Biden administration’s ongoing supply chain crisis and crippling labor shortage.

In a nearby Waffle House—a late-night Southern restaurant chain known for remaining open during extreme events—both a sign at the door and an updated menu apologized for reduced seating capacity and limited service hours, citing “unprecedented staffing and supply chain challenges.” 

A sign outside the town’s local Aldi, meanwhile, informed customers that due to “shipping delays,” some advertised items may not be in stock. “We’re hiring” and “help wanted” signs also lined restaurants and stores throughout Dumfries—according to one local service industry worker, eateries in the area are “real short-staffed,” leading to inconsistent hours.

The Biden administration’s economic stumbles complicate McAuliffe’s bid for a second term as governor. According to a Thursday CNBC poll, just 40 percent approve of President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy, while 54 percent disapprove. In addition, 46 percent say the economy will get worse in the next year, the “most in the 13-year history of the poll.” While McAuliffe has Acknowledged Biden is “unpopular” in Virginia and could cause “headwinds” for his campaign, the president is set to return to the state for a McAuliffe rally one week before the election. McAuliffe’s bet on Biden and Harris to put him over the edge may backfire—45 percent of Virginia voters cite “jobs and the economy” as a top issue in the election, a Tuesday Monmouth University Poll shows. That number is up from 39 percent in September. 

Virginia’s economy has struggled to bounce back from the coronavirus pandemic. In September, the state ranked 41st in the country in job recovery, having recovered just 66 percent of its lost jobs, Labor Department data show.

“I’ve been to restaurants where they have a notice sign on the door saying, ‘We are closed at this time due to shortage of staff,'” a Northern Virginia voter told the Washington Free Beacon. “I have friends who work at the grocery store who are saying that they’re unable to fill the shelves—this is in Virginia—because they’re not getting products in.”

Neither the White House nor the McAuliffe campaign returned requests for comment.

Harris avoided addressing the economy during her Thursday night speech, which largely centered on abortion rights—she said “the right that every woman in America has to make decisions about her own body” is “what matters” in the race. According to the latest Monmouth poll, however, just 10 percent of Virginia voters identify abortion as their number-one issue, compared to 27 percent who cite the economy.

Harris also conceded that McAuliffe is embroiled in a “tight” race against Republican opponent Glenn Youngkin. Two October Polls show the Democrat is in a statistical tie with Youngkin. Biden won the state by double digits in 2020.

Not long after attendees filtered out of the rally, Biden took to the stage roughly 75 miles away in Baltimore to participate in a CNN town hall. The president acknowledged that some economic deficiencies will linger into 2022, an admission that is unlikely to ease Democrats’ concerns as they look to avoid a high-profile loss in Virginia.

“I don’t see anything that’s going to significantly reduce gas prices right now,” Biden told Anderson Cooper. “My guess is you’ll start to see gas prices come down as we get … into next year in 2022.”

McAuliffe and Youngkin will face off at the polls on Nov. 2.

Matthew Foldi contributed to this report.

https://freebeacon.com/elections/mcauliffe-touts-dem-leadership-on-economy-as-supply-chain-crisis-hits-northern-virginia/

Investigation found Nicole Brener-Schmitz embezzled $11,000 in union funds

A top Democratic congressional candidate in Illinois with ties to President Joe Biden tapped a corrupt former union official to help boost her campaign.

Nikki Budzinski, a former White House official who left the Biden administration to challenge Rep. Rodney Davis (R., Ill.) in a district targeted by Democrats, this week held a campaign event cohosted by Nicole Brener-Schmitz, a disgraced former Teamsters Union political director who resigned after an investigation found she embezzled union funds.

“So proud to cohost this event for @nikkibudzinski, future congresswoman from Illinois and a true fighter for America’s working families,” Brener-Schmitz captioned an Instagram photo with Budzinski.

Budzinski, who worked in Illinois politics before joining the Biden administration, is poised to be one of the Democratic Party’s most important candidates this cycle as the party fights an uphill battle to maintain narrow control of the House of Representatives. The party in 2020 declared Davis one of its top Republican targets, but failed to unseat him. Illinois Democrats, however, are hoping their newly drawn district lines could move the needle enough to give Budzinski a fighting chance, which would boost the odds that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) keeps her gavel in 2023.

Brener-Schmitz in 2016 was dropped from the Teamsters after an investigation found she falsified more than $11,000 worth of Uber ride receipts for reimbursements. The 2016 investigation involving Brener-Schmitz was carried out by an independent investigator required by court order to monitor potential corruption within the Teamsters. The investigator, in a letter to Teamsters president James Hoffa, son of Jimmy Hoffa, recommended that charges be brought against Brener-Schmitz, along with Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall, the second-ranking official in the union.

In 2019, Brener-Schmitz was dropped as national political director of abortion-rights group NARAL, another Democratic ally, for an undisclosed “HR issue.” She then went to work for former California congresswoman Katie Hill (D.), who resigned from Congress for inappropriate sexual relationships with her staffers.

Budzinski has a history of working behind the scenes with union players to influence campaigns. As labor outreach director for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, Budzinski coordinated with national labor leaders to pressure local unions not to endorse Bernie Sanders, according to campaign emails revealed by Wikileaks. Her labor connections helped her land prompt endorsements from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois, and Communications Workers of America.

One of Brener-Schmitz’s clients, according to her LinkedIn, is the Communications Workers of America—the largest media union in the country. The union, which did not respond to a request for comment, endorsed Budzinski days prior to the campaign event hosted by Brener-Schmitz.

Brener-Schmitz told the Washington Free Beacon she cohosted the event with 24 others and in her own capacity.  The Budzinski campaign did not respond to a request for comment on its relationship with Brener-Schmitz.

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/top-democratic-recruit-campaigns-with-disgraced-former-teamster/

The Department of Homeland Security will spend nearly a half-million dollars for a Delaware construction company to build a fence around President Joe Biden’s beach house.

The New York Post reported Friday that the department awarded Turnstone Holdings LLC a $456,548 contract to purchase and install security fencing at the president’s Rehoboth home. The Secret Service will be the subagency for the contract.

Construction of Biden’s security fence comes as the president faces a record-high surge of illegal immigrants at the southern border. Border Patrol agents this year detained more than 1.7 million migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border, the highest total ever recorded, according to the Washington Post.

One of Biden’s first actions in office was halting construction of former president Donald Trump’s border wall. Homeland Security this month canceled remaining contracts for building the wall.

Biden, who has not been to the border since he was elected president, said Thursday that “I haven’t had a whole hell of a lot of time to get down.” Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden in March appointed border czar, visited the border in June after bipartisan pushback.

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/dhs-spends-half-million-on-biden-beach-house-fence/

Law excusing school officials from reporting crimes becomes political liability ahead of elections

A law passed by Virginia Democrats last year that exempts public school officials from reporting certain sexual crimes to the police has become a political liability ahead of November’s statewide elections.

In the wake of two high-profile sexual assault cases in Loudoun County Public Schools, one concerning an alleged rape in a high school bathroom, Republican candidates are hammering Democratic incumbents, including Gov. Ralph Northam, for passing and signing House Bill 257. The law excuses school officials from reporting instances of sexual battery and other violent offenses that do not meet the threshold of a felony to the police.

Republican Nick Clemente is running to unseat Democratic state delegate Wendy Gooditis, who cast the tie-breaking vote on House Bill 257. Clemente called Gooditis’s vote “reckless” and said he hoped voters will hold Democrats responsible for fostering an unsafe school environment.

“While the attacks that occurred in Loudoun County Public Schools were felonies that still required reporting, Gooditis’s reckless vote sent a message to victims that their being groped, molested, or abused isn’t as important as it was a couple years ago and tells potential predators that consequences have diminished,” Clemente told the Washington Free Beacon. “They are trying to deny, deflect, and hide from this dangerous bill, but voters are intelligent and will hold them accountable.”

Education-related issues, from pandemic school closures to progressive racial and gender ideology in the classroom, became a top priority for candidates this election cycle. The rape and assault cases in Loudoun County further ignited Republican candidates just weeks before the November elections, where they hope to take back control of the Virginia General Assembly and governorship.

Mike Mullin, the bill’s sponsor, and six of his Democratic colleagues who cosponsored the bill did not respond to requests for comment regarding the law and the cases in Loudoun County schools.

Jordan Gray, a Republican who’s running against Mullin, called on the delegate to resign in a statement on Oct. 20.

“As a teacher, I’m shocked and horrified by the news coming from the Loudoun County school system. This form of abuse must not go unchecked, which is why I am calling on Delegate Mullin’s resignation for his sponsorship of H.B. 257,” Gray said. “He must answer for his failures and resign immediately.”

Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin called for an investigation into the Loudoun County school board. At a rally on Tuesday, Youngkin also blamed Virginia’s Democratic attorney general Mark Herring for failing to launch his own investigation into the district.

House Bill 257 was thrown back into the spotlight after the Daily Wire broke the story on the Loudoun County assaults on Oct. 11. The Daily Wire initially reported that officials at Stone Bridge High School, where the first victim was allegedly raped, called police not to investigate the allegations but to handle the alleged victim’s father, who made a scene at the school.

Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office records reported by Jesse Singal, however, revealed that the police were initially dispatched to investigate the assault. Those reports align with district superintendent Scott Ziegler’s email to school board members on the day of the assault, which noted that the school called for additional officers after the victim’s father “caused a disruption by using threatening and profane language.”

The father was arrested during a school board meeting in June after speaking out against the district’s transgender bathroom policies. Those policies were approved in August.

The boy accused of rape was arrested in July, according to NBC 4 Washington, but was released while investigators processed a DNA rape kit. He was transferred to Broad Run High School, where he allegedly sexually assaulted another student in a classroom. In a statement to the Free Beacon, Loudoun County school officials said they would not comment further on the case.

https://freebeacon.com/elections/virginia-dems-lax-school-crime-bill-under-fire-amid-rape-scandal/

A new report details how on-cycling elections can push back on local radicalism

Across the country, well-funded progressives are snapping up local public prosecutor jobs and using them to exercise dramatic power over the criminal justice system. A recent report offers a way to hold some of these little-attended candidates accountable: turn up the turnout in their races by aligning them with national elections.

“Progressive prosecutors” like Philadelphia’s Larry Krasner and San Francisco’s Chesa Boudin have swept to power thanks in part to generous funding, particularly from liberal billionaire George Soros. But they’ve also benefited from running in little-scrutinized local elections, which are relatively cheap and suffer from dramatically low turnout because they do not happen at the same time as national elections.

Take Krasner’s recent victory over primary challenger Carlos Vega, who positioned himself as the moderate alternative to a crusading D.A. who has curtailed cash bail, diverted gun offenders, declined to seek the death penalty, and aggressively targeted alleged police misconduct. Krasner’s win was portrayed as a successful referendum for the “criminal justice reform” movement and Krasner’s reforms specifically.

But while Krasner beat Vega by nearly 30 percentage points, he hardly won a mandate. Krasner collected some 84,000 votes, a little more than 10 percent of the 808,000 Democrats registered in Philadelphia County as of the May primary. The general, in November, is unlikely to be much more of a referendum: The last time Krasner faced off against a Republican, 2017, he won by 50 points, but with only about 14.6 percent of registered voters backing him.

The key insight of the progressive prosecutor movement is that prosecutorial discretion gives local D.A.s enormous power over who does or does not go to jail, letting progressives sidestep the legislative process to implement decarceral policies. Yet these tremendously powerful offices are, in many jurisdictions, elected by a tiny minority of voters, meaning that the radical reforms they support may not have the backing of an (apathetic) electorate.

To subject progressive prosecutors to real public accountability, then, they need to face a larger share of the electorate. There’s a simple way to do that, Boston College’s Michael Hartney shows in a new Manhattan Institute paper. Elections like Krasner’s are held “off-cycle,” i.e., out of sync with national elections every other November; moving them on-cycle would dramatically increase turnout.

Low turnout plagues local elections, Hartney notes: In school board races, for example, only about 10 to 15 percent of the electorate shows up. This is thanks in large part to local elections being held off-cycle, and Hartney estimates that on-cycling can increase turnout by as much as 25 percentage points.

The dismally low turnout for Krasner’s various elections is typical in the 40 states that either permit or require local elections to be held off-cycle. It’s helped other progressive prosecutors, like Boudin, who was elected by just 86,000 of the roughly 500,000 San Franciscans eligible to vote for him. Public defender Tiffany Caban narrowly lost the race for Queens district attorney to the more-moderate Melinda Katz, with each racking up roughly 34,000 votes—barely a fraction of the 766,000 active Democrats eligible to vote in the off-cycle primary.

Off-cycle elections do not depress turnout equally, but tend to afford disproportionate power to those more able to engage in and invested in the political process. For example, research indicates that the school boards governing majority-non-white school districts in four states are mostly elected by majority-white voters. And Hartney’s research finds that candidates backed by teachers’ unions are more likely to win school board elections in off-cycle years than in on-cycle years, both because the unions can exercise more influence over a smaller electorate, and because highly motivated teachers account for a larger share of the electorate.

As political scientist Richard Hanania has argued, one of the key facts of contemporary politics is that the most politically engaged are disproportionately likely to lean left. Progressives are significantly more likely to donate to campaigns, sign petitions, and go to protests. If an activity selects on political engagement, then the people who engage in that activity will be disproportionately progressive. This suggests that not only are local elections low turnout, but also those who do show up likely lean to the left of the community average.

Candidates like Boudin and Krasner succeed in part thanks to the support of liberal donors and activists, particularly the hundreds of thousands of dollars they receive from Soros. In a low-turnout election, those dollars go much further, because turning out the progressive base is all you really need to do to win.

There are lots of nonpartisan reasons to support on-cycle elections: They reduce redundancy and therefore cost, improve turnout and therefore representation, and curb the power of special interests. But for conservatives, who are sometimes wary of “electoral reform,” on-cycling may nonetheless prove a way to check prosecutors like Krasner or Boudin and subject them to fuller public scrutiny. In ideologically charged races in particular, progressives may be playing an outsized role, and on-cycling could help dilute their influence.

Charles Fain Lehman is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor to City Journal.

https://freebeacon.com/politics/how-to-hold-soros-prosecutors-accountable/

RENO, Nev.—A Salvadoran immigrant told a judge Thursday he killed four people in northern Nevada, beginning a two-stage legal process that the judge and prosecutors said will avoid two death penalty trials and put the 22-year-old man in state prison for the rest of his life.

Wilber Ernesto Martinez Guzman pleaded guilty, after intense questioning by Washoe County District Court Judge Connie Steinheimer in Reno, to two counts of first-degree murder in the January 2019 deaths of Gerald and Sharon David in their Reno home.

Steinheimer acknowledged the plea took the death penalty off the table and told Martinez Guzman he will have to enter formal guilty pleas in Douglas County to the killings of two women in Gardnerville during his two-week string of crimes.

Martinez Guzman told police he committed the series of break-ins, thefts and shootings because he needed money to buy methamphetamine.

Steinheimer said that if Martinez Guzman fails to plead guilty in Douglas County, prosecutors there and Washoe County can void his plea deal and again seek the death penalty.

Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks and and Douglas County District Attorney Mark Jackson planned to meet with reporters following the two-hour court hearing.

Hicks said in a statement before proceedings began that they expected Martinez Guzman will receive “maximum sentences” that would run consecutively.

Hicks and Jackson initially planned one death-penalty trial for Martinez Guzman, but the Nevada Supreme Court ruled Sept. 30 that the defendant would have to be tried separately in the two county jurisdictions.

Authorities said Martinez Guzman stole a .22-caliber handgun from the Davids’ southwest Reno home on Jan. 4, 2019; shot and killed Constance Koontz, 56, and Sophia Renken, 74, in separate attacks in their Gardnerville homes several days later; and returned to the Davids’ house to rob and kill them Jan 15.

Gerald David, 81, and his 80-year-old wife were prominent in the Reno Rodeo Association and had employed Martinez Guzman as a landscaper the summer before.

Martinez Guzman was arrested in Carson City during a manhunt that had investigators track an Apple watch stolen from Koontz to Martinez Guzman’s mother.

Martinez Guzman has been held without bail at the Washoe County Detention Facility in Reno.

Washoe County sheriff’s Detective Stefanie Brady told a grand jury several weeks after Martinez Guzman’s arrest that he initially denied wrongdoing but later acknowledged through a Spanish interpreter he had “done something that’s unforgiveable.”

“He said he needed the money for the meth,” Brady testified.

The case drew attention at the time from then-President Donald Trump, who said it showed the need to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

By Scott Sonner

https://www.theepochtimes.com/salvadoran-man-admits-guilt-in-4-nevada-killings_4062033.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

The attorneys general of Texas and Missouri teamed up to sue the Biden administration on Thursday, seeking to resume construction of the wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed a lawsuit (pdf) against President Joe Biden and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in the U.S. district court in Victoria, challenging the administration for refusing to spend money appropriated to continue construction of the border wall amid a worsening “border crisis.”

They argue that the president’s refusal to use the more than $1.3 billion appropriated for “construction of barrier system along the southwest border” is a violation of the separation of powers and the Take Care clause of the Constitution.

“[It] is arbitrary and capricious, and fails to spend appropriations mandated by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 and 2021,” the attorneys general, both Republicans, said in a news release.

“Time and again, the Biden administration has refused to take concrete action to quell the worsening border crisis, inviting the cartels and human drug smugglers to take advantage of our porous border,” Schmitt said in a statement. “Without a border wall, illegal immigrants, coyotes, and bad actors can simply march across our southern border and into the interior. The border wall needs to be built, the funds have been appropriated to continue to build the wall, and yet the Biden Administration outright refuses to do so.”

Schmitt noted that the same amount of funds was also appropriated by the FY2021 DHS Appropriations Act.

“The Biden Administration’s flat refusal to use funds that have already been set aside by Congress to build the border wall is not only illegal and unconstitutional. It’s also wrong, and it leaves states like Texas and Missouri footing the bill,” Paxton said in a statement.

He added, ”I will not sit idly by while this Administration wreaks more havoc on our state.”

The Epoch Times has contacted the White House and DHS for comment.

Since taking office in January, Biden has signed dozens of executive orders rescinding President Donald Trump’s policies, including border wall construction and the “remain in Mexico” protocols.

In issuing an order suspending border wall construction—a project that has been long championed by Trump—Biden described it as wasteful and ineffective, although DHS has spent funds on repairing some areas along already-built wall sections.

The Biden administration in recent weeks has faced mounting criticism for its handling of border security and a surge in illegal immigration along the southern border.

Late last month, thousands of illegal aliens of Haitian origin created a makeshift encampment underneath a bridge in Del Rio, Texas. Later, Mayorkas said that about 12,000 of the Haitians were released into the interior United States with pending court dates.

The crisis triggered calls from Republicans and even some Democrats to restart the construction of the border wall, which was a major campaign promise of Trump’s during his 2016 presidential campaign.

Biden’s pick to lead Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Chris Magnus, acknowledged during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday that the influx of illegal immigration at the southern border is an urgent matter.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/texas-missouri-ags-sue-biden-admin-to-resume-border-wall-construction_4062501.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio did not allow House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler’s claim to go unchallenged that the Justice Department became a lawless, political agency due to former President Donald Trump, asking, “Are you kidding me?”

“For four years, the democratic institutions that you have sworn to protect, first as a judge, now as attorney general, were deeply undermined by the former president and his political enablers,” Nadler told Attorney General Merrick Garland prior to the top federal law enforcement officer’s testimony before the Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

“During that time, the Trump administration leveraged the department to protect the president and his friends and to punish his enemies, both real and imagined,” the New York Democrat said.

Nadler accused Trump of summoning the nation’s law enforcement officers following November’s election and demanding “they use the full power of the federal government to install him for another term.”

The Democrat told Garland his task is “unenviable … because you must build back everything [the Department of Justice] lost under the last administration. Its self-confidence, its reputation in the eyes of the American people and an institutional respect for our Constitution and the rule of law.”

Former NYPD Chief Calls Big Brian Laundrie Development ‘Very Strange,’ Suggests ‘Something Is Amiss’

Jordan, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, responded to Nadler’s opening statement by saying, “The chairman just said the Trump DOJ was political and went after their opponents. Are you kidding me?”

First, the congressman argued that Garland is overseeing a politically driven DOJ, pointing to a memorandum the attorney general put out earlier this month regarding “threats” against school officials from parents who are concerned about what their children are being taught.

“Three weeks ago the National School Board Administration writes President Biden asking him to involve the FBI in local school board matters,” Jordan said. “Five days later, the attorney general of the United States does just that. Does exactly what a political organization asked to be done.”

Do you think the DOJ is political under Biden?

Jordan contrasted that rapid movement by the attorney general with the slow response to 13 letters he and his congressional colleagues have sent to the DOJ, for which they sometimes wait weeks or months.

“Eight of the letters, we’ve got nothing,” the congressman said. “They just gave us the finger and said, ‘We’re not going to get back to you.’”

But what Jordan called a “snitch line” to report unruly parents was set up “five days after a left-wing political organization asked for it.”

“Think about this, the same FBI that Mr. Garland is directing to open dedicated lines of communication for reporting on parents just a few years ago spied on four American citizens associated with President Trump’s campaign,” the representative said.

Americans have had enough. pic.twitter.com/SFlYQFiFOR

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) October 21, 2021

Top House Republicans Demand Nadler Take This Action on Biden Border Crisis ‘Immediately’

“The Clinton campaign hired Perkins Coie, who hired Fusion GPS, who hired Christophe Steele who put a bunch of garbage together, gave it to the FBI. They used that as the basis to open up an investigation into a presidential campaign,” Jordan continued.

He further noted that a federal grand jury last month indicted Michael A. Sussmann, an attorney who worked at Perkins Coie, for allegedly passing false information to then-FBI general counsel Jim Baker alleging covert communications between the Trump campaign and Russians.

Jordan also pointed out, “A few weeks ago, the [inspector general] at the Department of Justice released a report that found that the FBI made over 200 errors, omissions and lies in just 29 randomly selected FISA applications.”

Last month, USA Today reported that the IG “faulted the FBI for ‘widespread’ errors in its applications for surveillance authority, concluding that the bureau failed to provide supporting documentation for sensitive wiretap requests.”

“Building on a 2019 examination of the FBI’s surveillance of a former Trump aide [Carter Page], Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that the bureau did not include adequate support for 183 surveillance applications between 2015 and 2020 following a review of more than 7,000 such requests,” it said.

Multiple FBI and DOJ officials prominently discussed in text messages of those serving in the FBI’s Russia probe of the Trump campaign have been forced out or left the agencies, Politico reported.

Those include former FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump fired; former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe; Comey’s chief of staff, James Rybicki; Baker; FBI agent Peter Strzok; FBI lawyer Lisa Page; and Bruce Ohr, who was associate deputy attorney general.

Bringing his remarks back to the present, Jordan contended that citizens’ constitutional rights have been under assault by the government and that “Americans are afraid.”

“They tell me for the first time, they fear their government,” he said. “And frankly I think it’s obvious why. Every single liberty we enjoy under the First Amendment has been assaulted over the last year.”

However, Jordan argued Garland’s memo was a turning point.

“I don’t think the good people of this great country are going to cower and hide. I think your memo, Mr. Attorney General, was the last straw,” he said. “I think it was the catalyst for a great awakening that is just getting started.”

Jordan concluded, “Americans are pushing back because Americans value freedom.”

Former Education Secretary Bill Bennett spoke out against the Department of Justice’s probe of parents, calling President Joe Biden a “toy totalitarian” and arguing American freedom “is at stake.”

Bennett made the comments during an interview on Friday with Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” following Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Thursday hearing where he was questioned about his letter concerning parents at school board meetings.

Garland sent a memorandum to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in early October with advice on dealing with parents at school board meetings. His memo followed a letter from the National School Boards Association that requested the Biden administration consider those who take part in certain disruptive acts as “domestic terrorists.”

“This shows that this school board is part of this establishment which parents are protesting,” Bennett said.

“I’m not surprised, but I’m very disappointed that the Justice Department would take its direction from the very liberal now National School Board Association.”

Former NYPD Chief Calls Big Brian Laundrie Development ‘Very Strange,’ Suggests ‘Something Is Amiss’

https://video.foxnews.com/v/video-embed.html?video_id=6278328869001&loc=westernjournal.com&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.westernjournal.com%2Fformer-education-secretary-calls-biden-toy-totalitarian-admits-american-freedom-stake%2F&_xcf=

Bennett also addressed Biden’s role in COVID-19 vaccine mandates and the teaching of critical race theory.

“Joe Biden became such a toy totalitarian, but we’ve got some real issues out here about American freedom. That’s what is at stake I think in Virginia, and will be I think next fall [in the midterms] as well. You’re seeing this all across the country,” Bennett said.

The former education secretary also expressed concern regarding the level of pushback that will take place as a result of the Biden administration’s totalitarian approach.

Should Attorney General Merrick Garland resign?

“People are saying ‘Hell no, we won’t go, we’re not gonna get vaccinated, we’re not going to put up with critical race theory, you’re not gonna ask my kid what gender do you want to be today. No, no ma’am. No sir,’” he said.

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter last week to Garland to demand an explanation concerning his memorandum to the FBI.

The letter was led by Lousiana Rep. Mike Johnson and joined by 18 additional GOP House members on the committee.

“This letter is to express our serious concerns about your recent decision to involve federal law enforcement entities in local school board debates and to stifle First Amendment-protected political speech. Your actions are not just inappropriate, but also appear to have been improperly influenced by politics and by your family’s interest in the matter,” the representatives wrote.

“As members of the House Committee on the Judiciary, we have a responsibility to conduct oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and we trust that you will fully cooperate with our inquiry.”

Rep. Stefanik Blasts Biden for Mocking Opposition to Vaccine Mandates, Says It’s ‘Un-American’

Part of the letter’s request included a call for Garland to submit himself to an ethics investigation.

The House members concluded with the “request you promptly consult with the designated agency ethics official to determine if your actions in this matter have resulted in an ethics violation for a breach of impartiality.”

“Judiciary Republicans trust that Mr. Garland will submit to our requested ethics inquiry, publicly release its results, and take whatever actions are necessary to protect the integrity of the office of Attorney General, including either recusing himself from this issue and/or rescinding the October 4th memorandum,” Johnson told the Daily Caller.

As terrifying crime waves grip Democrat-run cities nationwide, President Joe Biden tacitly encouraged more lawlessness by saying unvaccinated police officers should be fired.

Biden made the alarming remarks Thursday during a CNN town hall in Baltimore hosted by liberal commentator Anderson Cooper.

“Should police officers, emergency responders, be mandated to get vaccines? And if not, should they be — stay at home, or let go?” Cooper asked.

Biden replied, “Yes and yes.”

WATCH: Joe Biden says “yes” police officers and emergency responders should be FIRED if they don’t comply with coercive vaccine mandates. pic.twitter.com/DQRUFRnHZe

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 22, 2021

Former NYPD Chief Calls Big Brian Laundrie Development ‘Very Strange,’ Suggests ‘Something Is Amiss’

This is a stark reversal from last year, when presidential candidate Biden opposed vaccine mandates.

As recently as December 2020 — a month after being installed in the White House — the 78-year-old career politician insisted that he would not impose such mandates.

“No, I don’t think [vaccines] should be mandatory. I wouldn’t demand it be mandatory…”
Biden on December 4, 2020

He lied. pic.twitter.com/seEgMcqgsO

— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) September 10, 2021

Almost a year into his presidential tenure, Biden has fully embraced vaccine mandates, which he claims are working despite an explosion of COVID-19 infections under his watch and mounting opposition from many Americans.

“By the way, I waited until July to talk about mandating, because I tried everything else possible,” the president told Cooper, according to a CNN transcript.

Last month, he signed an executive order requiring all federal employees to get the coronavirus vaccine.

In a comical irony, members of Congress and employees of the federal court system are exempt from Biden’s vaccine mandate.

Members of Congress, their staff, and federal court system employees are exempt from the Biden administration’s new vaccine mandates.

https://t.co/xjnCcEr3a7

— Kambree (@KamVTV) September 11, 2021

Biden Suggests Medical Freedom Is Horrible and Unvaccinated Americans Are Murderers

Across the United States, there is a growing movement of airline workers, military personnel, police officers, teachers and other Americans protesting vaccine mandates as unconstitutional and oppressive.

In Chicago, Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot is engaged in a standoff with the nation’s second-largest police force over her vaccine mandate.Do you agree with Biden that police officers and first responders who refuse the vaccine should be fired?Yes No
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A report last week said as much as half of the Chicago police force — or roughly 6,500 officers — could be placed on unpaid leave for refusing Lightfoot’s order.

The potential layoffs could ignite more crime surges across the city, which is already engulfed by rampant lawlessness that has been exacerbated by the left’s defund the police frenzy.

The stalemate is continuing into a second week as neither side is budging.

John Catanzara, the president of the Chicago chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, has underscored that he is vaccinated and is not anti-vaccine.

He and his fellow union members merely oppose the one-size-fits-all mandate and the invasive requirement that they disclose their vaccination status, which they say is a personal, confidential medical decision.

Despite the left-wing media narrative that people who oppose vaccine mandates are white Republicans, in reality, numerous Americans of all races and political persuasions oppose the Big Government overreach implicit in the mandates.

Chicago Alderman Anthony Beale, a Democrat, warned that firing unvaccinated cops would ignite a public safety nightmare.

“When you look at it, it’s a recipe for disaster,” Beale told WGN-TV. “And that’s what we’re seeing right now. It is why crime is escalating in the city of Chicago.”

Former Democratic mayoral candidate Paul Vallas, who previously served as city budget director and as the CEO of Chicago Public Schools, said Lightfoot is opportunistically weaponizing the vaccine mandate to wield unprecedented power.

Vallas said the mayor didn’t care about public safety or the welfare of law enforcement before, as evidenced by her past actions.

“From start @ChicagoMayor threw CPD to COVID wolves,” he tweeted Tuesday. “Not enough masks, exp. hand sanitizer, no social dist during riots/looting by packing CPD in buses/vans.

“No quarantine still for CPD when in contact with an infected person they must still work. She’s never been about CPD safety.”

From start @ChicagoMayor threw CPD to COVID wolves. Not enough masks, exp. hand sanitizer, no social dist during riots/looting by packing CPD in buses/vans. No quarantine still for CPD when in contact with an infected person they must still work. She’s never been about CPD safety pic.twitter.com/xhepYq3svw

— Paul Vallas (@Paulvallas) October 19, 2021

The Chicago chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police said Lightfoot is sacrificing public safety on the altar of unscientific vaccine mandates.

“@chicagosmayor seems to think that her game of brinksmanship is an acceptable risk to the citizens… Clearly, her position has nothing to do with the public’s safety or health policy and everything to do with ‘winning’ the political game against the union.” #LightfootDuty https://t.co/u2OPpS60Z9

— National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) (@GLFOP) October 21, 2021

If Biden gets his way and thousands of police officers who refuse the vaccine are fired, the crime infesting Chicago and other cities nationwide surely will get even worse than it is now. This is dystopian America under Democratic rule.

Mark Zuckerberg’s unprecedented intervention in 2020’s election was not legal, argues former Attorney General Phil Kline.

ecent reporting on the influence of private funding of public elections by Mark Zuckerberg is long overdue and greatly appreciated by those of us who have been sounding the alarm about this for over a year. There’s more to the story, however, and the American people need to know the full truth.

The New York Post‘s front-page package of articles and op-eds did an admirable job of covering the scandal, bringing much-needed attention to an issue that many Americans knew little about, even though it was arguably the decisive factor in the 2020 presidential election.

The Amistad Project filed the first litigation seeking to block private funding of elections in September 2020, based on investigations that began months earlier. We have continued and expanded our investigate-and-litigate strategy ever since, with a particular focus on the swing states that ultimately decided the outcome of the election.

What we have uncovered through litigation, discovery, open records requests, and witness interviews is deeply disturbing. In addition to over $400 million from Zuckerberg, The Amistad Project has identified hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of additional contributions in the form of talent, information, and monies from leftist individuals and nonprofits. All told, the real total easily exceeds $1 billion.

As numerous reports have correctly pointed out, there were not explicit laws on the books forbidding the infusion of private monies into public election offices, primarily because such a scheme had never been attempted or anticipated prior to 2020. There are, however, longstanding laws that apply to the broader contours of the left’s election meddling operation, because efforts to interfere with free and fair elections to produce a desired outcome are as old as democracy itself.

For instance, if it can be proven that leftist organizations gave money to public officials with the intent of achieving a partisan electoral advantage, then those contributions are a direct violation of campaign finance law.

In addition, conspiracy to deprive “any person or any class of persons of the equal protection of the laws” is a violation of longstanding civil rights laws. Zuckerberg-funded grants from the Center for Tech and Civic Life heavily favored Democrat-leaning cities and counties, resulting in massive discrepancies in per-capita election funding between the urban core of major battleground states and the rest of those states. The conditions imposed as part of those grants further disadvantaged voters in less urban areas, for example by making it easier for urban voters to have flawed ballots “cured” by officials paid with Zuckerberg money. Moreover, as reported by Mollie Hemingway, these private interests actively worked to eviscerate state election integrity laws allowing for massive breaches in the chain of custody of the ballots in the urban core.

Voters in Zuckerberg-funded jurisdictions also benefited disproportionately from access to conveniences such as absentee ballot drop boxes – in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, one drop box was placed every four square miles and for every 4,000 voters; in the 59 counties carried by Trump in 2016, there was one drop box for every 1,100 square miles and every 72,000 voters.

And this disparate impact was the result of a conspiracy.

The plan was outlined months in advance by David Plouffe, Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign manager who later served as a senior political advisor to the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative. In his book,A Citizen’s Guide to Beating Donald Trump, Plouffe predicted that the 2020 general election would come down to a “block by block street fight” to turn out the vote in the urban core, especially cities such as Detroit, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia. Not long after that book came out, Plouffe’s previous employer, the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, began pouring staggering amounts of money – $350 million – into CTCL, which proceeded to use it to turn out left-leaning voters in cities such as Detroit, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia.

Prior to 2020, CTCL’s annual revenues never exceeded $1.2 million. But it had all the right connections – leaders such as Tiana Epps-Johnson and Whitney May, who are veterans of the George Soros-funded New Organizing Institute. And CTCL represents just one of scores of leftist nonprofits interfering with the 2020 election.

The Amistad Project is still fighting to hold Mark Zuckerberg, CTCL, and the other key players in this conspiracy accountable. In the coming days, for instance, we will be issuing demands as part of our civil litigation, and will continue consulting those with subpoena power, to demand the production of communications Zuckerberg and other substantial players and billionaires had with leftist nonprofits pertaining to the 2020 election.

Leftist election officials in the urban core of the swing states kicked America out of the counting room and invited billionaires in during the 2020 election. Elections must be transparent to be fair, and America deserves to see the records reflecting how these private interests funded by left-leaning billionaires managed the election.

When those communications are public, it will be clear that the left did far more than just corrupt our elections – they were actively working to turn government offices, which must act objectively, into campaign turn-out-the-vote centers for the Biden campaign.

Rep. Susie Lee was previously spotted partying maskless at 9/11 costume party honoring a different billionaire

Rep. Susie Lee (D., Nev.) keeps violating her state’s indoor mask mandate. Photographic evidence obtained by the Washington Free Beacon shows the congresswoman partying without a mask for the second time in as many months, putting countless lives at risk with her irresponsible behavior.

Lee was spotted dancing at the Power of Love Gala in Las Vegas on Oct. 16. She wasn’t wearing a mask, even though Gov. Steve Sisolak (D., Nev.) imposed a state mandate that requires the use of masks in “indoor public settings,” regardless of vaccination status. Sisolak’s office did not return a request for comment on the reckless violation.

The ritzy gala, sponsored by Moët Hennessy, was thrown in honor of K.T. Lim, a Chinese-Malaysian billionaire. Lim’s company developed Resorts World Las Vegas, which hosted the celebrity-packed affair, where guests dined on “gourmet cuisine from celebrity chefs Wolfgang Puck and Bobby Flay,” and could bid on “luxury auction items” such as dinner with Jon Bon Jovi, a chess match with opera singer Andrea Bocelli, and a Lamborghini. Other VIP attendees included Demi Lovato, Jordin Sparks, and A.J. McLean of the Backstreet Boys.

The event organizers insisted they would “be following all state MASK MANDATES,” which allow individuals to remove their masks indoors while actively eating or drinking, but not dancing. Lee’s refusal to respect science by wearing a mask indoors is odd, considering she is wearing one in every photo she has posted on her official Twitter account, even in situations where it’s not required. On Monday, for example, Lee wore a mask outside while hosting a visit from Vice President Kamala Harris. Nevada does not mandate the wearing of masks outdoors.

It’s not the first time Lee has been caught behaving recklessly at a swanky gala honoring a billionaire. The congresswoman attended a costume party on Sept. 11 to celebrate Elaine Wynn. The ex-wife of casino magnate Steve Wynn has donated more than $13,000 to Lee since 2015. Lee was photographed posing maskless with Sen. Jacky Rosen (D., Nev.) at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, an “urban chic” venue that “requires all guests and employees, both fully vaccinated or not, to wear masks while indoors on property.”

Lee did not return a request for comment about her irresponsible partying. She is far from the only elected Democrat to openly disregard the health and safety requirements she claims to support. The Free Beacon will continue to hold them accountable for their actions.

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/susie-lee-chinese-mask-scandal/

Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans were left jobless, struggling to pay off their bills.

The last thing those Americans needed was soaring gas prices.

Nevertheless, that’s exactly what they got thanks to Democrats’ sweeping regulations on the fossil fuel industry.

In one California town, those prices have skyrocketed to over $7.00 per gallon this week, according to KABC-TV.

Gorda, California, is the name of the unfortunate small town whose only gas station now offers regular unleaded for $7.59 and premium for nearly $8.50.

Former NYPD Chief Calls Big Brian Laundrie Development ‘Very Strange,’ Suggests ‘Something Is Amiss’

Gorda has always been known for having some of the highest gas prices in the country due to its remote location, but recent weeks have taken those costs to unprecedented heights.

While most gas prices across the country are far lower than Gorda’s, Biden’s war against the gas and oil industry seems to only be making the situation worse.

According to the Energy Information Administration, the national average price of regular gasoline reached a stunning $3.22 per gallon as of Monday.

Despite this massive problem, Biden continues to create uncertainty within the gas and oil industry by pushing various climate change policies.

Are rising gas prices burning a hole in your pocket?

This is far from the only cost everyday Americans have faced under Biden’s administration.

Supply chain issues have dominated headlines in recent weeks as Biden continues to redirect blame to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also, as government spending continues to barrel out of control, inflation is setting in across the country. As a result, the buying power of each American’s savings continues to deteriorate.

And now, gas prices are soaring as well.

In fact, the situation with gas has gotten so out of hand that Biden is asking Middle Eastern and Russian energy producers to boost their oil output.

Vicious Alec Baldwin Tweet Mocking Cop for ‘Wrongful’ Shooting Resurfaces After Baldwin Kills Woman on Set

FULL STATEMENT: The White House urges OPEC+ to pump more oil (above and beyond the current 400,000 b/d monthly hikes the cartel is already implementing) | #OOTT pic.twitter.com/qnWA1l7Pnt

— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) August 11, 2021

All of these costs are hidden taxes that the Biden administration has imposed upon the American people.

Biden can drone on about only taxing the rich all he wants, but the results of his actions speak for themselves.

Superman colorist Gabe Eltaeb announced he plans to quit DC Comics after the comic book publisher announced a series of progressive changes to the superhero.

Last week, DC Comics announced two major changes to Superman in its series “Superman: Son of Kat-El.” First, Superman would come out as bi-sexual and start a gay relationship with Jay Nakamura. Second, Superman’s motto, “Truth, Justice, and the American Way,” will be replaced by “Truth, Justice, and a Better Tomorrow.”

Eltaeb railed against the changes to the superhero during an October 13 YouTube livestream hosted by Cyberfrog creator Ethan Van Sciver. Eltaeb said that after the latest change to Superman — DC Comics cutting “the American Way” from the hero’s motto — the colorist decided he would be quitting the comic book publisher at the end of his contract.

“I’m finishing out my contract with DC. I’m tired of this s***, I’m tired of them ruining these characters; they don’t have a right to do this,” Eltaeb said, according to Bounding Into Comics.

“At Comic-Con in 2009, I was pushing Jerry Robinson’s wheelchair around,” Eltaeb said, referring to the prominent Batman illustrator and artists’ rights activist. “That’s the man who invented the Joker. I would work the DC booth back then. I remember bending down to his face and telling him, thank you for creating these characters, so people like me can waltz in and get a job. It’s not about gay or anything else.”

“What really pissed me off was saying truth, justice, and a better world. F*** that it was Truth, Justice, and the American way,” Eltaeb continued.

“My Grandpa almost died in World War II; we don’t have a right to destroy s*** that people died for to give us,” he added. “It’s a bunch of f***ing nonsense.”

Eltaeb then blasted progressives and leftists. “They call us bigots and racist and s***, I would ask them, find me in the f***ing mainstream, not on the fringes, one f***ing book, one f***ing t-shirt, one movie that says that leftism is bad, and conservatism is good, find it for me, they f***ing won’t they’re not letting people have a voice, they’re the f***ing bigots,” he said.

He concluded apologizing for his explosion on the live stream, saying “that’s been bottled up for five years.”

Former “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” actor Dean Cain also bashed the changes to the iconic superhero last week. As The Daily Wire reported:

“It’s hard for me to keep track of all the different Supermen and the different worlds and adventures that he has in the comics,” Cain said, noting that “Son of Kal-El” is only one series of dozens featuring Superman, his offspring, and his partners. “They said it’s a bold new direction. I say they’re bandwagoning.”

“I don’t think it’s bold or brave or some crazy new direction. If they had done this 20 years ago, perhaps that would be bold or brave. But brave would be having him fight for the rights of gay people in Iran where they’ll throw you off a building for the offense of being gay,” Cain added.

The new Superman, Jon Kent, has had a short run as the Man of Steel so far, but his comics have seen him focused largely on battling a new generation of villains, like “hacktivists” and those who would subvert efforts to combat climate change.

“Why don’t they have him fight the injustices that created the refugees whose deportation he’s protesting? That would be brave, I’d read that. Or fighting for the rights of women to attend school and have the ability to work and live and boys not to be raped by men under the new warm and fuzzy Taliban,” Cain said.

“There’s real evil in this world today, real corruption and government overreach,” he added. “It’d be great to tackle those issues, shine a light on those issues. I’d like to see the character doing that.”

The Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/superman-colorist-quitting-over-dc-comics-woke-makeover-of-hero-its-a-bunch-of-fing-nonsense?itm_source=parsely-api&utm_source=cnemail&utm_medium=email

The North Carolina House of Representatives gave final approval to a bill that proposes to restore checks and balances on Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive powers during an extended emergency.

The Emergency Powers Accountability Act (EPAA), or House Bill 264, would require Cooper to get “concurrence of the Council of State” before “exercising certain authorities.”

The Council of State consists of bipartisan senior executive offices such as the Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Agriculture Commissioner, and the Secretary of State.

The bill would create a definition for the concurrence of the Council of State under the EPAA, which would clarify how Cooper proceeds in seeking concurrence before acting.

According to Republican House Speaker Tim Moore, North Carolina has remained in a perpetual state of emergency for 589 days “with no end in sight.”

Cooper declared a state of emergency in response to the pandemic in March 2020, a decision that heralded a year of lockdowns throughout the state and country.

“During the pandemic, our governor ignored his statutory duty to seek the concurrence of the bipartisan Council of State before declaring a state of emergency,” Moore said in a press release. “The need for checks and balances is arguably most crucial during a statewide emergency. No one individual should have the ability to exercise unilateral power during such an emergency.”

Republican Rep. Keith Kidwell, one of the bill’s sponsors, said the bill will address the “endless duration of power” that Cooper “has been granted” during a “self-declared and boundless state of emergency.”

Republican House Majority Leader John Bell, another sponsor of the bill, criticized what he said was a lack of oversight that allowed Cooper to declare and extend the state of emergency without input from the Council or the General Assembly.

“No one person, regardless of party, should have the unilateral authority to shut down the state for an indefinite amount of time,” Bell said. “This legislation is not about politics or what the governor has or has not done. It is about clarifying the law to restore checks and balances.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/north-carolina-house-bill-proposes-to-rein-in-gov-roy-coopers-emergency-executive-powers_4062259.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that a curriculum that incorporates critical race theory’s (CRT) ideas should not be taught to schoolchildren, because it sends the wrong message to young children—that one race is less than the other.

“But if I could take a moment to talk about the whole issue of critical race theory and what is and is not being taught,” Rice said during an interview on “The View” Wednesday. “One of the worries that I have about the way that we’re talking about race is that it either seems so big that somehow white people now have to feel guilty for everything that happened in the past—I don’t think that’s very productive—or black people have to feel disempowered by race.”

One of “The View” hosts, Sunny Hostin, countered Rice’s comment by saying that those who oppose CRT don’t want real history being taught in schools.

“People want to hide history … that is exactly what we are seeing is this rollback of history. Parents don’t want children to hear about the real history,” said Hostin.

Opponents of CRT say they want all of the history of the United States taught including the history of slavery and segregation, but they do not want the divisive concepts like systemic racism, white supremacy, and sexually explicit education being taught to their children.

Those who are opposed to CRT also say the teaching materials being used in schools are rooted in the Marxist theory of class struggle, but with a particular focus on race. Proponents of CRT see racism in every aspect of the American public and private life and seek to dismantle American institutions—such as the Constitution and legal system—which they claim to be inherently and irredeemably racist.

While schools have for years been quietly infusing CRT into their curriculums, it wasn’t until last year, when lockdowns were enacted in response to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic, that parents were able to see what their children were being taught. Since then, parents have been increasingly stepping forward to oppose CRT due to its racially divisive and anti-American concepts.

In the last year, parents across the nation have been voicing their opposition to this type of curriculum during school board meetings. Rice also stressed that parents should have a say in what is taught to their children.

“Parents ought to be involved in their children’s education. Their children are in school seven hours, that’s a very formative period. … they’re actually homeschooling them in increasing numbers, and I think that’s a signal,” said Rice.

Professor Rice said that she lived through the injustices of the segregated South but her parents taught her that she could overcome her circumstances and that she was not a victim.

“I couldn’t go to a movie theater or to a restaurant with my parents. I went to segregated schools, but we moved to Denver. My parents never thought I was going to grow up in a world without prejudice, but they also told me, ‘that’s somebody else’s problem, not yours.’ You’re going to overcome it, and you are going to be anything you want to be, and that’s the message that I think we ought to be sending the kids,” said Rice.

She said the way race is being taught in schools disempowers black children and vilifies white children.

Asra Nomani of Virginia, the VP of strategy and investigation with Parents Defending Education gave examples of how CRT vilifies white students. She cited a book called “Not My Idea” during a recent interview with NTD TV’s “The Nation Speaks.”

“This is a book that has been read to children in elementary schools from Philadelphia to Texas. And one of the really critical ideas here is this one, that whiteness is a bad idea, and the picture then is of the devil, and what has happened then is that white people have signed a contract with the devil that ends up with stolen land, stolen riches, and special favors.” Nomani said.

Rice said she is opposed to teaching children that white students are bad, as Nomani pointed out.

“I would like black kids to be completely empowered to know that they are beautiful in their blackness, but in order to do that, I don’t have to make white kids feel bad for being white. So somehow, this is a conversation that has gone in the wrong direction,” said Rice. “It goes back to how we teach the history. We teach the good and we teach the bad of history. But what we don’t do is make seven- and ten-year-olds feel that they are somehow bad people because of the color of their skin. We’ve been through that and we don’t need to do that again.”

Rice was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and grew up while the South was racially segregated. She was the first female black secretary of state and the first woman to serve as National Security Advisor

https://www.theepochtimes.com/condoleezza-rice-denounces-critical-race-theory-curriculums-being-taught-in-schools_4061703.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Federal officials “have lost complete control” of the southwest border under President Joe Biden and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, three former high-ranking immigration enforcement officials told a panel of Republican senators on Oct. 20.

“We have lost complete control of the border. I’ve talked to several Border Patrol chiefs who tell me they have lost operational control of the border under this president,” former Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Thomas Homan told three Republican senators during a roundtable discussion of the situation on the U.S.–Mexican border.

“They’ve also lost respect for the commander-in-chief and the [DHS] secretary,” Homan told Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Rob Portman of Ohio, and Rick Scott of Florida.

Johnson said in his opening statement that he convened the roundtable discussion after Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who is chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, declined to convene a hearing on the border crisis.

A committee spokesman for Peters didn’t immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment on Johnson’s claim. Johnson had preceded Peters as committee chairman prior to Democrats’ gaining control of the chamber in the 2020 election.

Homan’s intense criticism of Biden and Mayorkas was affirmed by Mark Morgan, who was chief of the U.S. Border Patrol during the Obama administration, and Rodney Scott, who served in the same role under both Biden and his predecessor, President Donald Trump.

Morgan told the senators that “what happens at the southwest border does not stay at the southwest border.”

“Every town, city, and state in this country is a border town, city, and state. If you have a drug overdose from fentanyl, take it to the bank that the fentanyl came from the southwest border,” he said.

“Almost every day I get up, as an American, angry. Why? Because I know because I’ve been there, this administration is way beyond not being transparent. They are lying to the American people.”

With “400,000 ‘gotaways’ this fiscal year, 1.9 million total enforcement encounters, an all-time record high, so if the secretary were sitting in front of me right now, I would say ‘Mr. Secretary, stop lying to the American people,’” Morgan said.

Morgan was referring to Mayorkas’s comment to a House committee in September that “the border is secure. We’re executing our plan,” and that the border today “is no less secure than it was” under Trump. “Gotaways” are illegal immigrants who come into the United States and are not apprehended by U.S. law enforcement officials.

A White House press office representative didn’t immediately respond to request for a response to Morgan’s comment.

Scott said he agreed to appear before the panel because he wanted “to bring attention to the irresponsible and reckless policies that are being implemented by the current administration on the border despite being advised otherwise by professional border security personnel that have been involved in this for decades.”

The immigration aspect of the issues involved in border security is only one area of a broader scope of issues that involve national security, he said.

“It’s just like your home; it’s exactly like your home. If we don’t know and can’t control who and what is in our home, we have no security. If we don’t know who and what are in our country, then we have no homeland security,” Scott said.

“When I left as [Border Patrol] chief, there were 15o nationalities mixed in. It’s not just the Haitians you hear people talking about, or just the South Americans, it’s 150 different nations, many of which are directly involved in or ignoring terrorism threats.”

The Biden transition team was briefed “by border security professionals … that if they rescinded the commonsense policies that were put in place recently, if they stopped building the border wall, we all predicted that there would be a mass migration,” Scott said.

The roundtable also heard testimony from two mothers, one of whom lost a daughter to fentanyl and the other who lost a son in a traffic accident caused by an illegal alien driving without a license.

Virginia Krieger of Cleveland, Ohio, president of the Fentanyl Awareness Coalition, told the senators that her 27-year-old daughter, Tiffany, died in 2015 as a result of ingesting what she thought was a Percocet capsule but, in fact, was a highly toxic dose of fentanyl.

“Tiffany didn’t seek to use fentanyl. Tiffany didn’t really have any issues at all before that day,” Krieger said. “And now, we have an entirely new population of young people dying, being affected by the fentanyl crisis that we have never before seen in this country. And they are the non-addicted victims.”

Krieger said young people “are getting counterfeit pills, either given to them by a friend or being purchased from an online platform like Snapchat that make these pills available to anyone with a smartphone, including children as young as 12.”

Mexican drug cartels smuggle billions of dollars worth of illegal drugs, including fentanyl, into the United States every year, with 95 percent of it coming across the southwest border, Morgan said.

Similarly, Sabine Durden-Coulter of Riverside, California, said her son, Dominic, was on his way to work as a 911 communications officer when he was killed in 2012.

“He was killed by an illegal alien, repeat offender, a felon with armed robbery convictions, no driver’s license, and two DUIs he received that he received probation for,” Durden-Coulter told the panel.

“The man made a deal with the judge and was charged with vehicle manslaughter without gross negligence and received nine months, with five years probation. And he served 35 days.

“If the immigration laws that were on the books would have been upheld the first time they had him, the second time, the third time, I wouldn’t be here and my son would still be enjoying his beautiful life and thousands of other families like mine wouldn’t know this grief and pain.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us-has-lost-operational-control-of-southwest-border-senate-gop-panel-told_4061287.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Police officials at Arizona State University have recommended to prosecutors that they charge four people over the harassment of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) at the school earlier this month.

Activists, including some with a group called Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA), confronted Sinema in Tuscon on Oct. 3. They harassed her and illegally recorded her in a bathroom.

After an investigation, the Arizona State University Police Department submitted charges of disorderly conduct and disruption of an educational institution to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, a spokesman confirmed to The Epoch Times via email.

Both charges are misdemeanors that typically can land a wrongdoer up to six months in jail.

State law makes recording in a bathroom without another person’s consent a felony. A violator can land up to 2.5 years in prison.

The spokesman declined to say why there was no recommendation to charge anybody under the law.

Footage of Sinema in the bathroom was circulated widely by LUCHA and other groups, who are trying to pressure Sinema into backing President Joe Biden’s massive $3.5 trillion budget package. The moderate senator is negotiating for a lower budget, as is fellow moderate Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), upsetting some on the left.

Sinema denounced the harassment a day after it happened, calling it “unacceptable for activist organizations to instruct their members to jeopardize themselves by engaging in unlawful activities such as gaining entry to closed university buildings, disrupting learning environments, and filming students in a restroom.”

Sinema teaches at the university.

Sinema’s office did not return a request for comment, nor did LUCHA.

A spokesman for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said the office received the submission from the university police on Oct. 12.

“We have asked for additional information from the investigating agency and the case is considered under review by our office. There is no timeframe at this time as to when a formal charging decision might be made,” he said.

LUCHA has continued protesting against Sinema. It posted photographs on Facebook on Wednesday showing activists outside one of her offices.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/police-recommend-charges-against-four-over-harassment-of-sen-sinema_4061557.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Parents opposed to critical race theory-based indoctrination in public schools should be treated as adversaries, teachers in Washington State have been told by their labor union.

Critical race theory (CRT) holds, among other things, that white people are inherently racist and calls for engaging in racial discrimination in the name of combating it. Leftists claim CRT promotes racial equality by highlighting the harm they claim white people have done to society.

An Oct. 19 report by the Olympia, Washington-based Freedom Foundation states the largest union in the Evergreen State, the Washington Education Association (WEA), representing 100,000 teachers and support staff in Washington’s K-12 system, is “one of the biggest forces for transforming taxpayer-funded government schools into indoctrination and recruitment centers for leftist activism.”

WEA is affiliated with the National Education Association (NEA), the largest U.S. teachers’ union with a membership of 3 million. The Freedom Foundation previously documented how NEA, which claims structural racism is part and parcel of the American experience, and favors radical causes such as defunding the police and reparations for descendants of slaves, strongly supports CRT “as a way to advance a far-left political agenda under the guise of fighting racism.”

The new report, by Maxford Nelsen, the Freedom Foundation’s director of labor policy, finds that WEA is just as steeped in the neo-Marxist CRT ideology as the NEA is.

The WEA “just completely bought into and is advocating for this toxic ideology of critical race theory in our public schools,” Nelsen told The Epoch Times in an interview.

CRT itself, “in its purest form, is absolutely antithetical to American ideals,” he said.

Critical race theory teaches that “we are all defined by our racial identity, and that that dominates all other aspects of our lives,” Nelsen said. “And so based on your racial identity, you are either an oppressor or you are being oppressed.”

Unions like WEA and NEA are “essentially seeking to turn back the clock and return us to the dark days, where people are, are defined by race. And it’s all in the service of advancing their Marxist worldview and progressive agenda.”

To beat back CRT, the public, families, and taxpayers “need to realize that one of the main driving forces for this toxic ideology is the teachers’ unions. And their ability to push back against parent advocacy stems from the level of control that too many states have granted them over the public education system. That is absolutely an issue that needs to be addressed and reformed.”

Moreover, teachers’ unions play a “fundamental role” in the “intransigence of school boards. They’re the puppet masters behind the scenes,” Nelsen said.

Much of the time “there is no daylight between school boards and unions, because the board has often been captured, and is dominated by either former union officials or current union officials, or at the very least people who have been elected with union backing, and are not willing to cross the union’s interests, because they’re on the same page ideologically.”

Nelsen’s report states that in August, WEA published a guidebook for members titled, “Teaching Truth: Tips for Teachers in a Tumultuous Time.” WEA makes it clear in the booklet that teachers know what is best for students and that concerned parents should be viewed as ideological opponents to be resisted and not taken seriously.

One of the more notable instances cited in the report of a Washington State teacher being dismissive of parents came in January when Scott Wilson, former president of the Pasco Association of Educators, spurred parent outrage when he criticized a school district’s plan to begin re-opening schools.

Wilson said opening schools was “supporting white privilege” and that parents supporting in-person schooling out of concern for their socially isolated children was “ignorant and another expression of white privilege.”

“Recent broad-ranging attacks on how we teach and what we teach has created confusion about how we can safely continue teaching accurate and updated curricula,” the union document continues advising WEA members.

At the same time, teachers are reassured that they are “protected” and “cannot be disciplined” for teaching officially “prescribed curricula,” which they have “broad leeway” to carry out, “whether that’s by choosing which books to read or by selecting which units on which to spend more or less time.” The only limit the union acknowledges is that “educators should not teach curricula that are explicitly prohibited by their administration.”

If a school district has banned the teaching of CRT, WEA members are advised to engage in spin, stressing that critical race theory is only “taught in universities and law schools,” while K-12 educators merely “teach age-appropriate lessons that help our students understand and communicate across differences and portray a holistic and accurate picture of our nation’s history.”

David Randall, research director for the National Association of Scholars, said the WEA has it all wrong.

The union “misunderstands the point at issue,” he told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.

“What must be barred, above all, is the application of Critical Race Theory in the classroom–which is immoral and prohibited racist behavior. Parents have the right to prevent politicized teaching–and even more to prevent politicized (racist) behavior. Teachers, of course, should treat parents as their friends and their employers, and defer to their principled judgment in all matters of public concern.”

Meanwhile, Nelsen suggested in the interview that banning instruction in CRT, an ideology that is hard to describe with legal precision, is easier said than done.

Several states are considering legislation that attempts to ban CRT in public schools, but it’s “fundamentally difficult, though, to try and craft a legislative response … that would truly ensure that the teaching of these concepts as truths does not take place.”

“Just saying the words, ‘we banned critical race theory in the school district or the state,’ I don’t think are sufficient to prevent the concepts and the curriculum from making its way into classrooms,” he said.

Besides, the WEA doesn’t care what parents think, Nelsen said in the interview.

The union “adopted an adversarial posture towards parents and families,” he said, and “apparently has taken upon itself to twist the public education system into an indoctrination process to inculcate in these students the types of values that WEA thinks are important—families be damned.”

The Freedom Foundation report states WEA advises members they “do not singlehandedly need to justify or defend the curricula” and “do not have to reply” to parental emails “asking questions about what exactly we are teaching regarding equity, anti-racism, LGBTQ inclusion, sexual health education, and more.”

WEA won’t even admit that parents have sincere concerns about what their children are being taught, dismissing them as tools of “corporate interests” who seek to “undermine public education” by “inciting paranoia among families.”

If a teacher feels “threatened by activists,” the WEA suggests the teacher should report the parents to school administration “and to the police,” according to Nelsen’s report.

The Epoch Times reached out for comment to Julie Popper, WEA’s media relations director, but she had not responded as of press time.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/teachers-union-tells-members-to-treat-complaining-parents-as-enemies-report_4059419.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Border Patrol agents in Texas arrested three criminal illegal aliens on Oct. 20, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP). All three are gang members.

One man, from El Salvador, is an MS-13 gang member with pending charges for homicide, fraud, and trespassing in New York. He was encountered about 60 miles north of the U.S.–Mexico border.

Another Salvadoran man was found in the brush, ostensibly trying to skirt the Border Patrol highway checkpoint in Falfurrias, about 80 miles north of the border. He’s an MS-13 gang member with a criminal arrest for homicide in El Salvador.

Closer to the border, on the same day, an 18th Street gang member from El Salvador was arrested after being discovered among a group of 61 illegal aliens near Hidalgo. The man had been removed from the United States last month.

Border Patrol personnel have arrested 325 illegal alien gang members in fiscal year 2021 through August, according to CBP statistics. Border Patrol is the law enforcement arm of CBP within the Department of Homeland Security.

Border agents have encountered more than 12,000 illegal alien criminals and those with outstanding warrants in the same time period, according to CBP. A further 4,474 illegal alien criminals were encountered at U.S. ports of entry.

CBP commissioner nominee and former Tucson, Arizona, Police Chief Chris Magnus refused to say the border was in a crisis during a nomination hearing in front of the Senate on Oct. 19, despite preliminary numbers showing 1.7 million apprehensions at the border—breaking all previous records.

In response to a question about the record volume of drugs entering the United States, Magnus said: “Of course, if there was a ready-to-go plan to address all the problems that you’ve just described, my guess is that not only CBP, but you all as a body would have seen to it that it was implemented.”

He said a key part of his strategy as commissioner would be to build relationships and collaborate with policymakers.

Former CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan said at a congressional Republican roundtable on border security on Oct. 20 that Border Patrol had detected but not caught at least 400,000 illegal aliens this year.

“If you open up your borders to one threat or one crisis, you’re opening your borders up to the vast, complex set of threats,” Morgan said.

“If you expand illegal immigration, you’re pulling essential resources off the line, opening those borders up to criminal aliens, to gang members, increased human smuggling, human trafficking, and drugs pouring into this country.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/border-patrol-arrests-ms-13-gang-member-wanted-for-homicide-in-new-york_4061414.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

A North Carolina parent seeks to prohibit “medical tribalism” in schools after his child reported school officials differentiating between the vaccinated and unvaccinated students.

Chad Slotta spoke of two reported incidents to The Epoch Times: one in which his child recorded a Wake County school principal advising students over the intercom to get vaccinated, and the other in which a teacher had asked for a show of hands of who has had the COVID-19 vaccine and who hasn’t.

Slotta read the principal’s quote from what was recorded at a Wake County School Board meeting on Sept. 7: “I spent the last three or four days on the phone all day talking with students and parents who were forced into quarantine.  If you are not vaccinated, I encourage you to seek out a vaccine if you are able to get one.”

In the meeting, Slotta asked the board to issue directives to all school officials that medical recommendations, including those regarding taking specific medications, remain between the parent and the child.

“If I have to sign a waiver that says my child is allowed to take an Ibuprofen, certainly I should have the say on if my child gets the vaccine,” Slotta said.

He also asked that the board issue a directive precluding teachers from inquiring about a student’s vaccination status, or any other private medical information.

“I advocate for a student’s right to privacy and secondly a parent’s exclusive and inviolable right to make all medical decisions and recommendations for their children without the influence or interference of a school official,” Slotta told the board.  “Children rightly listen to and obey the authority figures in their lives. This administrator overstepped their authority in an unwise and an unethical manner.”

Transgressed Lines

A line of demarcation has been transgressed, Slotta said.

“It really concerned me,” he said. “I was very clear. I said I wasn’t there to argue for or against the wisdom of any vaccine, mask, or any other medical decision related to the current pandemic.  I was specifically addressing a parent’s right to make those medical recommendations and decisions for their children.”

There could be numerous reasons why parents aren’t allowing their kids to get the vaccine, he said.

Vested Interest

One of the Wake County school system’s sources on COVID-19 policy is the ABC Science Collaborative (pdf), coordinated by Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH), a government agency that also has what NIH Director Francis Collins said in 2020 was a “particular stake in the intellectual property” of the Moderna vaccine.

The NIH is currently under criticism for its funding of gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where the first outbreak of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus occurred.

“You’ve got the NIH with a financial interest in the Moderna vaccine funding the ABC Science Collaborative, which is coming into school districts promoting vaccine mandates,” Slotta said.  “That doesn’t mean that their advice is necessarily bad. What it does mean to me is that this information should be shared with parents.  It should be pointed out that the school districts are listening to organizations who happen to be funded by people who have a vested interest in the vaccines.”

When this information is not disclosed, “it sadly creates doubt,” Slotta said.

“I think that’s something that we are seeing in our culture,” he said. “There is a mishandling with the rollout of this information that may be unnecessarily creating doubt where it might not need to be.”

Slotta emphasized that he and his family are not anti-vaccine, however, he said the money trails running through the COVID-19 vaccine narrative “are concerning.”

‘Creating Tension’

“Now you have a school administrator telling students to go get vaccinated, and that may very well put a child against their mom or dad at home in terms of creating tension,” Slotta said.

Just by having a show of hands, the “blatant violation of students’ right to privacy” can lead to dividing students into groups, pitting them against not just their parents, but against one another, Slotta said.

“We must never divide students into groups of any kind,” Slotta said.  “We must never allow medical tribalism or any other form of tribalism to be taught or to take hold in our schools.”

While tribalism is festering in many areas of the country, Slotta said, it’s not the way to raise children.

“We are teaching the future leadership of this country, and we will certainly reap from the seeds that we are sowing, so I hope, as it relates to tribalism on a number of levels, that we make wise decisions here,” Slotta said.

Wake County School District Response

When reached for comment, the communications director for the Wake County School system said the school district doesn’t ask for the COVID-19 vaccination status of its students and has no plans to do so.

In accordance with North Carolina law, however, the school district is required to collect other vaccination information, such as measles, mumps, and rubella.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/north-carolina-parent-seeks-to-halt-medical-tribalism-in-schools_4061305.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

One thing that’s been clear since Hillary’s Perkins Coie attorney Michael Sussmann was indicted by Special Counsel John Durham on a charge of lying to the FBI is that he has been a pivotal character in the Russia hoax.

From Durham’s “speaking indictment” it’s easy to see that this man surely must be the mother lode of information about the whole scheme and virtually everyone involved, whether in the “Justice” Department and FBI, the media, the DNC, the Hillary campaign (same thing) or, with partner-in-slime Marc Elias, the fabricators of the “dossier.”

Yes, “fabricators.” George Stephanopoulos’s transparent and laughable attempts to redeem Christopher Steele via TV interview fell flat, as there’s still no verification of that stupid, mistake-riddled dossier.

Anyway, Aaron Maté at Real Clear Investigations has a great piece on Sussmann and then-legal partner Marc Elias (who again made a name for himself in 2020 by dismantling election security measures in battleground states nationwide).

Maté outlines how these two Democratic operatives were central to the Russia hoax. “The emerging picture,” he says, “shows Sussmann and his Perkins Coie colleague Marc Elias, the chief counsel for Clinton’s 2016 campaign, proceeding on parallel, coordinated tracks to solicit and spread disinformation tying Donald Trump to the Kremlin.”

NIH Confirms It Funded Wuhan Gain-of-Function Research, Now Fauci Could Spend 5 Years in Jail

Sussmann was indicted for allegedly concealing the fact that he was working on behalf of Hillary’s campaign when he went to the FBI in September 2016 with a fake story about computer servers at Trump Tower “pinging” with those at Alfa Bank, a financial institution allegedly linked to Vladimir Putin, suggesting “collusion.”

Fortunately, Alfa Bank has filed lawsuits over the fabrication, and court documents apparently provided Durham’s investigators with a lot of pertinent details.

What we like about Maté’s piece is its look at the activities of Hillary’s “dynamic duo,” Sussman and Elias, as they fulfilled their mission to get the “Russia” narrative going.

It’s also got some interesting details on Sussmann and CrowdStrike, the tech company that ended up with the DNC servers after the DNC said in 2016 that its emails had been hacked. It was Sussmann who immediately hired CrowdStrike. And it was CrowdStrike who quickly made the claim — still unproven — that Russia had hacked the DNC servers to obtain the emails that were made public by WikiLeaks.

Do you think we will ever get to the bottom of the Russia narrative?

In moves that “smell” coordinated, just days before Sussmann hired CrowdStrike and pressed the company to implicate the Kremlin, Elias retained opposition research company Fusion GPS to, as Maté puts it, “dig up dirt on Trump and the Kremlin.” CrowdStrike alleged the Russia “hack,” and Christopher Steele produced his first “dossier” report within six days of each other. Maté’s report is the first we’ve seen of this part of the timeline.

In later congressional testimony, Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson called the overlap of the two lawyers’ activities an “extraordinary coincidence.”

But together, these two Democratic Party lawyers played a central role in defining the fake Trump-Russia narrative. In Maté’s words, their “odd relationship” with the FBI gave them “unprecedented influence over a high-stakes national security scandal that upended U.S. politics and ensnared their political opponents.”

We’ve all heard plenty about Marc Elias, Fusion GPS and the “dossier,” so for now let’s focus on the emerging story of Sussmann’s involvement with CrowdStrike.

When another Perkins Coie colleague, Graham Wilson, told Sussmann in April 2016 that a DNC server had been breached, Sussmann immediately called CrowdStrike. (He later testified to the House Intel Committee that CrowdStrike had been hired on his “recommendation.”) And here’s something dodgy: CrowdStrike’s contract to examine the DNC servers was not with the DNC but with Sussmann and Perkins Coie.

What Is Trump to Us?

The contract states: “CrowdStrike shall cooperate with Firm in protecting the Parties’ communications and work product from disclosure under the attorney-client privilege, work product doctrine or other applicable privileges or protections.”

Pretty slick, huh? But Elias with Perkins Coie and Fusion GPS had the same arrangement, to protect their communications too. And apparently, both attorneys hid the fact that it was the DNC and Hillary’s campaign who were footing the bill for the Russia hoax. Everybody in this whole scheme was set up to have privileged communications!

Still, though I’m not a lawyer, I seem to recall that such privilege is not applicable if it’s a cover for breaking the law.

Apparently, it was Sussmann who controlled what the FBI was allowed to see. It was reported by The New York Times that within a day, CrowdStrike “confirmed that the intrusion had originated in Russia,” according to Sussmann.

In June 2016, Sussmann and DNC executives met with the FBI and encouraged the bureau to go public with the “Russia” story and even say specifically that it was espionage. Sussmann pushed hard for this but offered the FBI no evidence in the form of forensic images or an unredacted report from CrowdStrike.

So the FBI wasn’t ready to proclaim this, but that didn’t stop the DNC from going public on its own. Sussmann and CrowdStrike CEO Shawn Henry were named as sources for a story that ran in The Washington Post.

Much later, after his testimony before the House Intel Committee was finally declassified in May 2020, we learned that Shawn Henry had no actual indication that the DNC servers had even been hacked, let alone by Russia. “There’s circumstantial evidence,” he said, “but no evidence that they were actually exfiltrated.”

U.S. intel officials were using weasel words such as “likely” and “appears to” in their own documents — including Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report — to cover up the lack of proof.

One big question is why the FBI would rely on CrowdStrike’s word on the “hacking” of the DNC servers. The FBI has said the DNC denied it access to the servers, while the DNC said the equivalent of, “Well, they never asked.”

When Sussmann and Shawn Henry testified before the House Intel Committee in December 2017, they said the FBI did not try to conduct an independent investigation. Sussmann testified that he said he offered access to “everything CrowdStrike was developing,” but to his knowledge, they never sought access. It’s hard to know what is true, especially since Sussmann has been indicted for allegedly lying. Another tip-off: He’s a lawyer for the DNC.

But former FBI Director James Comey testified that the FBI had made “multiple requests at different levels” to access the servers and had been denied. Gosh, it’s hard to know what to believe when known liars are contradicting each other.

James Trainor, who was then assistant director for the FBI’s cyber division, told the Senate Intel Committee that Sussmann had “scrubbed” the CrowdStrike report before it was given to the FBI, resulting in a “stripped-down version” that was “not optimal.” So the FBI was left with no investigation of its own, only CrowdStrike’s report that Sussmann had finessed and redacted. CrowdStrike’s original, unredacted report remains unreleased to this day.

So no one has seen evidence of a Russia “hack.” But someone got the DNC emails to WikiLeaks. Julian Assange still won’t say, but he has said it wasn’t Russia or any state. There’s no indication — so far — that Durham is looking into that. CrowdStrike told Real Clear Investigations that the special counsel hasn’t been in touch.

But maybe he’ll find out from Michael Sussmann.

Something wicked this way comes.

For al-Qaida, the war with the West is far from over. The Biden administration has invited the terrorist organization to America and they’re all too happy to take up the offer. Al-Qaida is picking up where they left off, and according to a new report, they could be headed to a neighborhood near you.

Panama Foreign Affairs Minister Erika Mouynes reportedly told Texas GOP Rep. Tony Gonzalez that over 100,000 migrants had crossed through her country on the way to the United States. That’s not the worst of it. Mouynes also told Gonzalez that Panama had apprehended 52 people associated with al-Qaida.

“I asked her one specific question: ‘Have you caught anybody on the terrorist watch list?’” Gonzalez related in an interview on the Real America podcast with Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. “She goes, ‘Funny you ask that, Tony, because in Panama we do biometrics and we have apprehended 52 people that are associated with al-Qaida.’”

NIH Confirms It Funded Wuhan Gain-of-Function Research, Now Fauci Could Spend 5 Years in Jail

People have speculated about al-Qaida’s eagerness to exploit Biden’s border policy, but Mouynes is the first government official to go on the record saying this is happening in real-time.

Panama uses biometrics to identify possible threats. When asked if she had reported this real threat to the Biden administration, Mouynes reportedly told Gonzalez, “There’s no one home. I’m here talking to you because the administration is absent.”

In January and March, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents arrested two Yemeni men on a terror watch list as they crossed the border illegally, according to Reuters.

Are Biden’s policies inviting terrorists into the U.S.?

It doesn’t take a lot of terrorists to commit a horrendous amount of murder and mayhem. The tragedy of 9/11 was committed by 19 al-Qaida militants who hijacked four airplanes and killed 2,996 people.

An immigration expert noted that “the reason Haitian migrants discard their Chilean and Brazilian ID cards over here on the Mex side is to obscure from asylum reviewers that they were already safely and prosperously situated for years and years before coming for the American upgrade,” according to The Post Millennial.

If this is true of prosperous migrants, what lengths might terrorists go to carry out jihad against their sworn and lifelong enemy?

In July alone, 213,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. It is estimated that another 1,000 illegal immigrants evaded capture every day, according to The Epoch Times.

By the same formula, over 500 migrants passing through Panama probably went undetected. How many of these were potential al-Qaida operatives, let alone other radicals who seek the ruin of the West?

Nevertheless, that some terrorists are entering the U.S. undetected and with malicious intent is highly probable. In all likelihood, considering the influx of illegal immigrants at the porous southern border, it is more than 19.

Militia Group Deploys to Texas County to Fight Biden’s Border Crisis

Former President Donald Trump has long warned Americans of the dangers of open-border policies, which serve to make the land of the free particularly susceptible to terrorism.

“We have them all the time; we have terrorists from the Middle East coming through our country through the southern border. That was before [the construction of the border wall] … Removing any of these measures would hamstring our workers, endanger our country, and cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars a year,” Trump said in a January speech.

Why is the Biden admiration bent on an open border? Do they, too, seek the demise of the West as they dream of a global utopia?

It is difficult to say. Whatever the case, the Biden administration’s blatant disregard for border security cannot be attributed solely to incompetence, though there is a lot of that going around.

It becomes clearer and clearer each day: Where the border cannot hold, things fall apart. In a fallen world, utopia cannot be created by human means.

Where globalists lead, all hell is sure to follow.

Some Americans wanted Biden to pull our troops out of Afghanistan.

Others hoped some Afghan refugees, particularly those who aided U.S. forces, would be allowed into the country.

No one, however, asked for the federal government to place alleged rapists in their communities.

Nevertheless, that appears to be exactly what President Joe Biden and his administration did.

According to Montana Talks, on Sunday night, an Afghan refugee — 19-year-old Zabihullah Mohmand — was accused of raping a young female in Missoula, Montana.

NIH Confirms It Funded Wuhan Gain-of-Function Research, Now Fauci Could Spend 5 Years in Jail

Apparently, the alleged victim had just met Mohmand at a local Missoula bar, known as The Badlander. She then agreed to accompany Mohmand back to his hotel room.

When they arrived at the room, the victim claims she “told Mohmand that she did not want anything to happen.”

It was then that the Montana female says she was raped.

Mohmand has since been charged with one felony count of sexual intercourse without consent, according to Montana Standard.

Do you believe the Afghan refugees have been properly vetted?

A more recent report from the Montana outlet — published on Thursday — revealed an even more disturbing aspect of the story: Mohmand was placed in the state by the U.S. State Department.

Montana’s Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte believes this tragedy may be the result of a lack of proper vetting.

“While I welcome our fully-vetted Afghan allies to Montana, this situation and others across the country raise serious concerns about whether the Biden administration is meeting its obligations to fully vet Afghans prior to resettlement,” Gianforte said in a statement, the Standard reported.

“I’m calling on President Biden to immediately halt resettlements to Montana until federal agencies provide me with adequate assurance that Afghans coming to Montana are fully-vetted in accordance with federal law.”

Additional reports indicate that the vast majority of Afghan citizens pulled out during Biden’s withdrawal debacle weren’t given proper vetting.

Blame Biden: Taliban to Give Land, Money to Jihadists Who Kill US Soldiers

On Sept. 3, Bloomberg reported that “a small percentage of the Afghan citizens who got out are the ones the U.S. pledged to place at the top of its priority list: the thousands who had worked for the U.S. and its allies as well as employees of nongovernmental groups and media organizations.”

“Instead, initial findings suggest that while some who escaped were locally employed staff, many got out because they were part of the initial crush of people who made it to Kabul’s airport as the city fell to the Taliban or secured passage through airport gates thanks to luck or help from people in the U.S. or elsewhere.”

Biden’s hasty withdrawal effort left allies behind in Afghanistan, allies who helped our forces fight back against the Taliban. Many American citizens were also abandoned and forced to fend for themselves.

All while the Biden administration was settling at least one potential rapist within American borders.

Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton introduced a bill on Thursday that would prevent schools from aiding and concealing a student’s “gender transition” from parents.

The bill, called the Empower Parents to Protect Their Kids Act, seeks to stop federally funded K-12 schools from facilitating a student’s “gender transition” without parental knowledge.

“Schools should never be allowed to impose radical, harmful ideologies on children — especially without parents’ knowledge and consent,” Cotton said in a news release announcing the legislation.

“My bill will protect students and ensure that parents are in control of their children’s education. Schools must remain institutions of education, not indoctrination camps where minors are manipulated and brainwashed,” he added.

Schools shouldn’t impose radical, harmful ideologies on children—especially without parents’ knowledge and consent. My bill will protect students and ensure that parents are in control of their children’s education.https://t.co/xfhbrTTiEz

— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) October 21, 2021

NIH Confirms It Funded Wuhan Gain-of-Function Research, Now Fauci Could Spend 5 Years in Jail

“Without parental knowledge or consent, schools are facilitating ‘social gender transitions’ by changing the names and pronouns of children in school, or even allowing children to change which sex-segregated facilities they use, such as dormitories for overnight field trips,” the bill reads.

The legislation would require schools to receive parental consent before affirming a student’s “gender transition.”Should schools be allowed to conceal a student’s “gender transition” from parents?

In addition, schools could not “facilitate, encourage, or coerce students to withhold information from their parents regarding the student’s gender transition or the student’s purported gender identity, where the student’s purported gender identity is incongruous with biological sex.”

The bill would also make it illegal for schools to “pressure or coerce the parents of students, or students themselves, to proceed with any treatment or intervention to affirm the student’s purported gender identity.”

In New Jersey, state policy regarding students’ “gender identity” excludes parental consent.

“A school district shall accept a student’s asserted gender identity; parental consent is not required,” the state’s guidance on transgender students reads.

“Further, a student need not meet any threshold diagnosis or treatment requirements to have his or her gender identity recognized and respected by the district, school or school personnel.

“Nor is a legal or court-ordered name change required. There is no affirmative duty for any school district personnel to notify a student’s parent or guardian of the student’s gender identity or expression.”

Christian Employers Sue Biden Administration Over Rule that Would Force Them to Pay for Sex Changes

A similar policy was enacted in Madison, Wisconsin, before being changed following a lawsuit.

“It should go without saying that school district staff should be honest with parents, especially when it comes to critical matters concerning their children, but we are pleased that the court has issued an order now requiring it,” Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Roger Brooks said in a statement last year.

“As this case moves forward, we will continue to argue for our clients’ legitimate concern over the Madison Metropolitan School District’s policy of deceiving parents and excluding them from profound decisions involving the wellbeing of their own children.”

By nearly any metric, President Joe Biden has disappointed the American people during his short time in office. Even many of the people who voted for him last November are coming to regret their decision.

Natalya Murakhver is one of those very people, and she went on Fox News on Thursday to discuss her concerns about Biden’s leadership.

“When I consider what [Biden] has done to America’s children, or rather not done, it is heartbreaking,” Murakhver said.

“I think we’re about 274 days into his presidency, and we are still masking, restricting and just curtailing every single freedom our school children have. He promised us schools open and children restored within 100 days, and we are way past that deadline.”

Biden voter Natalya: “What [Joe Biden] has done to America’s children, or rather not done, is heartbreaking. We are still masking, restricting, and just curtailing every single freedom our school children have.” pic.twitter.com/y3G0JAwhjQ

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 21, 2021

NIH Confirms It Funded Wuhan Gain-of-Function Research, Now Fauci Could Spend 5 Years in Jail

According to The Associated Press, Biden said on Dec. 8, 2020, that he would reopen “the majority of our schools” within the first 100 days of his presidency. He also said he would require Americans to wear masks for 100 days, implying that after that time period, the masks could come off.

While most schools in the country are reopened, many are still operating under ridiculously stringent restrictions, including requiring children to wear masks well past Biden’s initial deadline.

As of Sept. 29, 16 states and Washington, D.C., still had mask mandates for their schools, Education Week reported. Of the remaining 34 states, only nine have banned school districts from enforcing universal mask mandates.

Has Biden abandoned American children?

According to Bloomberg, Biden’s COVID-19 response team held a news briefing Wednesday to announce plans for the vaccination of millions of American children aged 5 to 11. Given the numerous questions regarding the safety of the quickly developed vaccines, many of which have been dismissed by the medical elites in Washington rather than answered, this is an incredibly disturbing plan.

Even if children do get the vaccine like the health elites are pushing, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky said they should still be forced to wear masks in schools, Fox News reported.

“So, right now we are going to continue to recommend masks in all schools for all people in those schools and we will look forward to scaling out pediatric vaccination during this period of time,” Walensky said.

It is hard to express just how anti-science these recommendations are. First of all, recommending vaccines for children — the portion of our population least at risk of becoming severely ill or dying from COVID-19 — is at best questionable and at worst reckless.

According to The New York Times, only 63,000 children were hospitalized between August 2020 and Oct. 6, 2021, and just 520 had died.

Over 100 GOP Reps: Biden’s $3.5 Trillion Bill Is a Death Blow to America’s Supply Chain

Of course, the Times only reported those numbers after a previous version of the article inflated them by over 800,000, but that is beside the point.

Given that Statista reported only 5.2 million cases in Americans age 17 and under since the start of the pandemic, hospitalization and death rates for children are very low.

In addition, while adverse effects from the vaccine for children are relatively rare, they certainly do exist. Those two things combined are a pretty strong argument against vaccines requirements for children, especially until more research has been completed.

In its quest to maintain control over Americans, the Biden administration has abandoned its promises, especially as they pertain to American children. Murakhver is completely justified in her frustration, and many Americans are joining her by the day.

Apparently, President Joe Biden’s so-called brilliant Build Back Better plan involves taking millions of cars off of American roads.

The president said as much on Wednesday as he addressed reporters regarding the hotly contested infrastructure bill and Build Back Better agenda.

According to Biden, the plan will spend “sixty-six billion dollars” funding passenger and freight trains.

This, Biden argues, will curb the climate crisis by taking cars off the road.

Biden: “We will take, literally, millions of automobiles off the road. Off the road.” pic.twitter.com/W3yttKAgBu

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 20, 2021

NIH Confirms It Funded Wuhan Gain-of-Function Research, Now Fauci Could Spend 5 Years in Jail

Apparently, with this plan, the Biden administration is actually taking cues from the Chinese Communist Party.

“You realize the Chinese are now building another high-speed rail line that will go up to 300 miles per hour? You say, ‘What difference does that make, Biden?’” Biden said according to a White House transcript of his remarks.

Does Biden actually care about stopping climate change?

“If you can get in a train and go from here to Washington much faster than you can go in an automobile, you take a train. You take the train.”

“We will take literally millions of automobiles off the road — off the road — saving tens of millions of barrels of oil, dealing with cleaning up the air.”

It seems odd that, in its plan to curb climate change, the Biden administration is taking cues from the world’s largest producer of carbon emissions.

Although, it makes sense considering the age-old maxim: When it comes to Communist regimes, the trains always run on time.

So, Biden thinks, why not follow in their footsteps?

Sure, the plan might see some success in urban areas, but for most Americans, travel by train is neither a feasible option nor a desirable one.

Over 100 GOP Reps: Biden’s $3.5 Trillion Bill Is a Death Blow to America’s Supply Chain

Americans want their freedom.

Biden, on the other hand, wants the exact opposite.

Despite what the left may tell you, the Build Back Better agenda is not about preventing climate change.

It’s about taking away Americans’ personal autonomy by asserting government control.

Biden doesn’t want you to own your own car.

He’d rather make you dependent on government-run transportation services.

That way, you can’t get anywhere without the government’s say so.

Read further for an entire collection of lies captured. Wow! [US Patriot]

While President Joe Biden’s gaffes are always concerning to watch, they usually just resemble an elderly man losing his bearings as Father Time continues to take his toll.

Lately, though, Biden has traded those gaffes for blatant lying on national television.

On Wednesday, Biden repeated a debunked story about an Amtrack employee named Angelo Negri, with whom he claimed to have had a conversation.

“Ang came up to me one day when I was … when they just had announced that I had flown 1 million … some ‘x’ number of miles on Air Force aircraft,” Biden said.

“And Ang comes up, and I’m getting in the car and he goes, ‘Joey baby … you know how many miles you did Amtrak?’ And I said, ‘No, Ang, I don’t have any idea pal.’

NIH Confirms It Funded Wuhan Gain-of-Function Research, Now Fauci Could Spend 5 Years in Jail

“He said, ‘Let me tell you, we were at the retirement dinner … we added it up. You averaged … 121 days a year … you’ve traveled over 2 million miles, Joe. I don’t wanna hear any more about the Air Force.’”

WATCH: Joe Biden tells a debunked story about an Amtrak worker for the FOURTH time as president.

Biden says the conversation took place “7 years into” his vice presidency, which would be 2015.

The Amtrak worker retired in 1993 and passed away in 2014. pic.twitter.com/OlSjMzCLIw

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 20, 2021

Biden said Negri told him this statistic “seven years into” his vice presidency, which would have been around 2015. According to Negri’s obituary, he retired from Amtrak in 1993 and died in 2014.

The first time Biden told this bizarre, factually incorrect story was in May. At that time, Biden claimed Negri told him he had traveled 1,515,000 miles on Amtrak, and he said the conversation happened in fourth of fifth year of his vice presidency.

Biden retold the story in June, but it was hardly even understandable that time as Biden stumbled through it.

At this point, it seems important to mention that Biden’s mother, who he claims to have been visiting in either 2014, 2015 or 2017 depending on the iteration, died in 2010. This casts even further doubt on the validity of Biden’s anecdote.

Biden told the story for a third time during a September meeting with United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson. This was the first time he changed the number of miles he supposedly traveled on Amtrak from 1.5 million to 2 million.

Over 100 GOP Reps: Biden’s $3.5 Trillion Bill Is a Death Blow to America’s Supply Chain

Joe Biden tells this DEBUNKED story about Amtrak for the THIRD time.https://t.co/fWE3awH4Yh pic.twitter.com/5TC3ObZY7o

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 21, 2021

And it all culminated on Wednesday with Biden’s fourth iteration of the story.

Do you think Biden is purposely lying to the American people?

There are really only two probable explanations for Biden’s repeated insistence on telling this debunked story. First, it could be that Biden is experiencing a cognitive decline causing him confusion, but the Democratic establishment has ensured us that is not the case.

The only other explanation for Biden telling a factually incorrect story is that he is lying to the American people. If that is the case, it would not even be the first time this week Biden has done so.

During the 2021 State and National Teachers of the Year event at the White House on Monday, Biden said he had been “involved in the civil rights movement.”

Joe Biden baselessly claims he was involved in civil rights movement. pic.twitter.com/9xdJ1GJyXk

— The First (@TheFirstonTV) October 18, 2021

According to a tweet from The Intercept, Biden made similar claims as far back as 1987. He later redacted the claims and said he was “not an activist” during the movement, only to start making them again recently.

In 1987, Joe Biden claimed he marched in the civil rights movement. A few months later, Biden disavowed the claim. Decades later, during the Obama era, and more recently on the campaign trail, he started making the same claims again. https://t.co/NAlMJ6ZTq7 pic.twitter.com/tpmE6VXmG6

— The Intercept (@theintercept) February 14, 2020

Biden’s embarrassing faux pas are bad enough, but his blatant lying adds a whole new level of concern for the country.

The former acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spoke out Thursday against President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead U.S. Customs and Border Protection, calling him the “perfect choice” for open borders advocates.

Tom Homan, who led ICE during part of the Trump administration, shared his remarks during an interview on “Fox & Friends,” following a Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing for Chris Magnus, Biden’s pick for CBP commissioner.

“I was a little disappointed in the hearing. I thought he should have gotten hammered more. If it were the Trump nominee, they would have been all over them,” Homan said.

Homan also revealed that Magnus, currently chief of police in Tucson, Arizona, has not cooperated with ICE officers and agents in the past.

“He is pro-sanctuary cities, refused to work with ICE when he was the chief in Tucson when I was the director, he refused to work with a lot of special agents and officers and even though his officers wanted to and they tried to behind the scenes, he ordered them not to assist immigration authorities,” Homan added.

NIH Confirms It Funded Wuhan Gain-of-Function Research, Now Fauci Could Spend 5 Years in Jail

Homan noted Magnus remains an avid critic of former President Donald Trump who has called the former president’s policies “inhumane.”

“He went against Donald Trump from day one, said his policies were inhumane, and bottom line, he fails to recognize that Donald Trump created the most secure border in my lifetime,” Homan said.

He sarcastically noted that Magnus is ideal for the Biden administration if it intends to push for open borders.

Is a nominee who supports open borders automatically unfit to lead the CBP?

“He is the perfect choice for this administration if this administration wants open borders. He’s the worst choice for the men and women of CBP who simply want to do their job and secure the border,” Homan said.

The Magnus nomination process comes as CBP data obtained by The Washington Post showed that 1.7 million people were detained along the border during the federal 2021 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. Arrests by Border Patrol agents hit their highest level ever recorded, according to the report.

The data set includes the final months of the Trump administration.

Since President Joe Biden took office, 1.3 million illegal immigrants have been detained, the report said.

On Tuesday, Magnus responded the spike in immigration numbers represented a “significant challenge” and “the numbers are very high.” He repeatedly avoided characterizing the surge at the border as a “crisis” despite persistent questioning, Fox News reported.

Biden White House Officially IDs New Culprit to Pin His Biggest Failure on

In response to the illegal immigration crisis and the Biden administration’s lack of action, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has drafted what he called the “Stop the SURGE Act,” legislation that would open up new ports of entry in Democratic strongholds, so those areas could share in what Texas border towns are experiencing.

The locations are in Delaware, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and California.

“For the past ten months, President Biden and his administration have willingly surrendered the United States’ southern border to dangerous criminal cartels, with no thought given to the South Texas border communities like McAllen and Del Rio, which are running low on resources from dealing with this massive influx of illegal immigrants,” Cruz said in a statement released Tuesday.

“That’s why today I am introducing this crucial legislation to alleviate the massive overload at the southern border by establishing new ports of entry in Democrat-led communities such as North Hero, Vermont, where Bernie Sanders spends his summers, and Martha’s Vineyard, where Democrat elites host their cocktail parties.

“If Washington Democrats had to endure even a fraction of the suffering South Texas families, farmers, ranchers, and small businesses have had to face, our nation’s immigration laws would be enforced, the wall would be built, and the Remain in Mexico policy would be re-implemented. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stop ignoring the plight of South Texas communities and act swiftly to end this horrific humanitarian crisis.”

A House Judiciary Committee hearing with Attorney General Merrick Garland got testy when the top Republican and Democrat got into a heated exchange.

It happened on Thursday when Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan started when he objected to the Biden Administration’s plan to have the IRS monitor the bank accounts of Americans, and then he told committee chair, New York Rep. Jerry Nadler that he had a video to present.

But Democrat Pennsylvania Rep. Madeleine Dean objected to the video because Republicans did not follow the “48 hour rule” which would have them submit the video for approval 48 hours in advance of showing it.

When Rep. Jordan attempted to appeal the objection Nadler shut him down saying “That’s out of order. This is not debatable.”

“What’s out of order is there is no rule that requires a 48-hour notice, that’s what out of order,” Jordan hit back.

“There is such a rule,” the New York Democrat asserted.

The two argued back and forth when another member, likely a Republican, said “Mr. Chairman, what are you afraid of?”

“It’s a video about parents at school board meetings,” Jordan said, growing mor agitated. “Moms and dads speaking at school board meetings. And you guys aren’t going to let us play it?”

“Mr. Chairman, obviously you’re not going to let us play it and obviously you’re going to censor us, which is sort of the conduct of the left today it seems and Democrats today it seems,” Jordan responded.

WATCH: Fight breaks out between Rep. Jerry Nadler and Rep. Jim Jordan during a House Judiciary hearing when Nadler sustains an objection to a video Jordan wanted to be played to AG Merrick Garland. pic.twitter.com/j06MPlJduV

— The Hill (@thehill) October 21, 2021

But the video was shared on Twitter by the House Judiciary GOP.

This is the video of parents at school board meetings that @RepJerryNadler refused to let us play at today’s Judiciary Committee hearing.

Why does the Left feel so threatened by brave American parents? pic.twitter.com/GvJlkWoJa2

— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) October 21, 2021

“Judiciary Democrats are censoring @Jim_Jordan from showing a video of American moms and dads. Classic Democrats. Afraid of the American people and truth,” Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert said on Twitter.

Judiciary Democrats are censoring @Jim_Jordan from showing a video of American moms and dads.

Classic Democrats. Afraid of the American people and truth.

— Rep. Lauren Boebert (@RepBoebert) October 21, 2021

The video was designed as a response to the attorney general’s Orwellian directive to the FBI and United States attorneys to investigate parents at school board meetings who object to their children wearing masks in schools and who oppose Critical Race Theory being taught as possible “domestic terrorists.”

“Citing an increase in harassment, intimidation and threats of violence against school board members, teachers and workers in our nation’s public schools, today Attorney General Merrick B. Garland directed the FBI and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices to meet in the next 30 days with federal, state, Tribal, territorial and local law enforcement leaders to discuss strategies for addressing this disturbing trend. These sessions will open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment and response by law enforcement,” the press release said.

“Threats against public servants are not only illegal, they run counter to our nation’s core values,” Garland said. “Those who dedicate their time and energy to ensuring that our children receive a proper education in a safe environment deserve to be able to do their work without fear for their safety.”

“According to the Attorney General’s memorandum, the Justice Department will launch a series of additional efforts in the coming days designed to address the rise in criminal conduct directed toward school personnel. Those efforts are expected to include the creation of a task force, consisting of representatives from the department’s Criminal Division, National Security Division, Civil Rights Division, the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, the FBI, the Community Relations Service and the Office of Justice Programs, to determine how federal enforcement tools can be used to prosecute these crimes, and ways to assist state, Tribal, territorial and local law enforcement where threats of violence may not constitute federal crimes,” the directive said.

“The Justice Department will also create specialized training and guidance for local school boards and school administrators. This training will help school board members and other potential victims understand the type of behavior that constitutes threats, how to report threatening conduct to the appropriate law enforcement agencies, and how to capture and preserve evidence of threatening conduct to aid in the investigation and prosecution of these crimes,” it said.

Anthony Fauci lied to the U.S. Congress, and EcoHealth veered wildly out of their lane. Who’s going to be held accountable?

he National Institutes of Health admitted that EcoHealth Alliance – a research partner of the Wuhan Institute of Virology funded by Anthony Fauci – carried out gain-of-function research and failed to report the findings “as was required by the terms of the grant.”

The admission comes in a letter from Principal Deputy Director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Lawrence Tabak, in response to Congressman James Comer’s inquiries about a controversial, multi-million-dollar grant from Fauci’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to Peter Daszak’s EcoHealth Alliance.

The coronavirus-focused grant ultimately led to U.S. taxpayer dollars funding EcoHealth Alliance’s “longtime collaboration” with the Chinese Communist Party-run lab, believed by many to be the source of COVID-19.

Tabak explains how the “limited experiment described in the final progress report provided by EcoHealth Alliance was testing if spike proteins from naturally occurring bat coronaviruses circulating in China were capable of binding to the human ACE2 receptor in a mouse model. ”

“In this limited experiment, laboratory mice infected with the SHC014 WIV 1 bat coronavirus became sicker than those infected with the WIV1 bat coronavirus. As sometimes occurs in science, this was an unexpected result of the research, as opposed to something that the researchers set out to do,” he added.

As Dr. Richard Ebright, Board of Governors Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rutgers University, explains:

NIH corrects untruthful assertions by NIH Director Collins and NIAID Director Fauci that NIH had not funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan.

Following the enhancement of the WIV1 bat coronavirus, EcoHealth “failed to report this finding right away, as was required by the terms of the grant.”

Lancet COVID Origins Investigator Wins $1 Million Chinese Prize For Claiming Virus Developed Naturally

“EcoHealth is being notified that they have five days from today to submit to NIH any and all unpublished data from the experiments and work conducted under this award,” Tabak adds.

Read:

Attorney General Merrick Garland told the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday that he had not sought, and would not seek, ethics review from the Department of Justice over his son-in-law’s alleged ties to the promotion of Critical Race Theory (CRT)

The issue arose because of a report that Garland’s son-in-law, Alexander “Xan” Tanner, had promoted tenets of CRT through his educational data firm, while Garland was cracking down on parents objecting to CRT at recent school board meetings.

As Breitbart News noted earlier this month, citing Becker News:

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s son-in-law is a co-founder of an educational data mining company that promotes the tenets of Critical Race Theory (CRT), a report at Becker News observed Wednesday.

The report noting Garland’s family ties to CRT comes in the wake of the attorney general’s memorandum directing the FBI to mobilize against parents who oppose CRT and mask mandates in K-12 schools and speak out about their concerns.

Panorama produces data mining surveys for schools, including “equity and inclusion surveys” and conducts “professional development” training in the areas of equity and inclusion for teachers and administrators.

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) questioned Garland about whether he had sought ethics review from counsel within the Department of Jusice. Garland indicated that he had not, and would not, because it was not required. Later, under questioning from Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Garland reiterated that he had acted within Department of Justice rules.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/10/21/watch-merrick-garland-did-not-will-not-seek-ethics-review-over-alleged-family-ties-to-critical-race-theory/

Leftist politicians are blind to the ways their policies destroy lives — or, they simply don’t care.

Democrats have a pathological need to let every lawbreaker off the hook, routinely advocating ideas like abolishing police, emptying prisons and opening borders to all comers.

These are sold as compassionate and humane alternatives to the problems of society, but the alleged brutal rape of a woman on a Philadelphia train last week reveals that the philosophy of the left instead brings misery and suffering.

The victim was riding a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority commuter train near Upper Darby Township around 10 p.m. on Oct. 13 when a man, later identified as Fiston Ngoy, 35, tore off her clothes and forced himself on her right there in the train car.

Bystanders allegedly did nothing to stop the attack, a haunting fact considering that doing anything — calling the police or intervening on her behalf — could have stopped it.

NIH Confirms It Funded Wuhan Gain-of-Function Research, Now Fauci Could Spend 5 Years in Jail

However, the groundwork for more crimes just like that one to occur was laid years ago by leftists in government.

Ngoy had been in the country on an expired student visa since 2015. The Congo national had previously pleaded guilty to sexual assault in Washington, D.C., in 2017 and would have been deported if not for the Board of Immigration Appeals declaring in 2019 that Ngoy’s offense was not a “serious crime.”

Despite the expired visa and the crime, Ngoy was permitted to stay in the country as long as he reported to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and remained under the agency’s supervision.

Not that it would have mattered much to Philadelphia authorities anyway — back in 2018, a federal judge cemented the City of Brotherly Love’s “sanctuary city” status, Philadelphia magazine reported at the time.

Do you think Democrats are responsible when criminals they let off the hook reoffend?

In 2017, the Trump administration had attempted to withhold roughly $1.5 million in grant funding for law enforcement by imposing new rules that required recipients to cooperate with ICE.

The city sued then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions and won the right to receive the money despite releasing suspects that also had ICE detainers — and Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney and Chief of Staff Jane Slusser couldn’t help but dance and high-five each other.

Make no mistake: The ruling didn’t directly affect Ngoy, as there was no ICE detainer out for him and he had been explicitly allowed to stay in the country. But it is disturbing how Democrats have set the stage for a radically higher number of illegal aliens to commit those same crimes by pushing pro-sanctuary city policies. But not only have they set the stage; they’ve celebrated sanctuary city victories.

This video captures Democrats dancing after a ruling guaranteeing federal funding despite their flaunting anti-sanctuary city laws. That means Democrats have celebrated policies that will allow this kind of brutal violence, allegedly at the hand of illegal aliens, to continue.

“Philadelphia mayor dances as city declared a sanctuary city,” conservative activist Mike Cernovich tweeted with the clip that was first shared on June 6, 2018, the day a federal judge ruled in the city’s favor.

Militia Group Deploys to Texas County to Fight Biden’s Border Crisis

“Recent news revealed that the violent rape on a train in Philadelphia was committed by an illegal immigrant who had previously committed violent crimes, and wasn’t deported.”

Philadelphia mayor dances as city declared a sanctuary city.

Recent news revealed that the violent rape on a train in Philadelphia was committed by an illegal immigrant who had previously committed violent crimes, and wasn’t deported.

pic.twitter.com/TUyUgSNpt0 https://t.co/syejml89RC

— Cernovich (@Cernovich) October 20, 2021

A man like Ngoy should never have been in the country to commit this horrific crime, but cities like Philadelphia do all they can to prevent ICE from apprehending illegal aliens.

These Democrat-run havens roll out the red carpet for them to stay without fear of deportation, and that so often has horrific and predictable results as criminal illegal aliens go on to re-offend — but the problem goes beyond even that.

America’s cities are experiencing a crime surge thanks to other terrible leftist policies that have gutted police forces, ranging from defunding police to vaccine mandates to the relentless anti-police rhetoric that destroys morale.

Even when there are enough officers to make the arrests, Democrats are eager to release prisoners using whatever excuse is handy at the time, creating a revolving door that is demoralizing to the brave men and women risking their lives to make these arrests.

Democrats like Kenney create protections that embolden lawbreakers and leave citizens vulnerable to the whims of society’s bottom feeders — all while pretending it’s the compassionate thing to do.

Regardless of what the left claims, arresting and jailing criminals is not racist, nor is deporting illegal immigrants xenophobic; maintaining law and order is the bedrock of civilization, and our nation will not survive without it.

It’s shameful enough to witness Democrats dismantle that foundation brick by brick, but it’s appalling to watch a modern-day Nero like Kenney literally dance while he does it.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued last-minute changes to its school-reopening guidance after two prominent teachers unions asked the agency to do so, according to newly obtained emails by watchdog group Americans for Public Trust.

The emails, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the watchdog and published online show a string of communications between the CDC, the National Education Association (NEA), and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the nation’s second-largest teachers union and one of the top donors to the Democratic Party.

Multiple emails show that both of the teachers unions also received a copy of the guidance, pertaining to the reopening of K–12 schools, shortly before the CDC released it to the general public.

“These documents are further evidence that instead of following the science, the White House and the CDC allowed politics to influence policy,” Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for Public Trust, told Fox News.

One such email from AFT’s senior director of health issues, Kelly Trautner, to the CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on Feb. 11, shows AFT suggesting alterations be made to the CDC’s guidance just one day before it was publicly posted.

“Thank you for your continued openness to our suggestions and input. We would like to share some thoughts regarding the paragraph below which was apparently leaked from the imminent guidance on reopening schools.”

The paragraph reads: “At any level of community transmission, all schools can provide in-person instruction (either full or hybrid), through strict adherence to mitigation strategies. Recommended learning modes vary to minimize risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in school by emphasizing layered mitigation, including school policies requiring universal and correct mask use. The recommended learning modes (in-person, hybrid) depend on the level of community transmission and strict adherence to mitigation.”

Within the email, Trautner says that “it would be great,” if the CDC insert the line: “In the event high-community transmission results from a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, a new update of these guidelines may be necessary.”

Trautner goes on to cite concerns over the “likely” implications the language will have in schools where it is difficult to adhere to strict mitigation strategies due to them being located in “high density, crumbling infrastructure areas, and particularly when community transmission is high.”

“We don’t believe that any current research has demonstrated that all schools in those areas can safely reopen,” Trautner wrote.

One day later, on Feb. 12, CDC Chief of Staff Sherri Berger flagged Trautner’s suggestion for “possible follow-ups.”

Walensky forwarded the email on to the CDC’s Director of Preparedness and Emerging Infections, Henry Walke, who replied, “Yes, will work with team.”

On Feb. 12, Walke emailed Walensky with updated language for the guidance, writing, “see below, new is second paragraph.”

“Super, thank you for doing that,” Walensky replied, adding, “I’m so grateful for your help.”

The emails also show CDC officials coordinating an early release of the final guidance with both teachers unions.

An email dated Feb. 11 from the CDC’s acting associate director for communications, Christopher Jones, has the subject headline, “AFT/NEA closing the loop.”

“Greta and team will reach out to NEA/AFT this evening to set up a technical discussion tomorrow with both groups to talk through the CDC operational strategy,” Jones wrote.

“Targeting 1130am so they have time to digest prior to the 2 pm release. Feel free to make that offer when you talk to them this evening and say CDC will be reaching out later tonight to set it up,” he continued.

Walensky responded: “Perfect. Will do. Will try to reach them before I board. Thank you!”

The following day, on Feb. 12, Jones wrote that the Department of Health and Human Services “said they are comfortable if we want to send something out at 145 we can. I am going to send the strategy and FS [fact sheet] to the unions at 145. If you all want to send the FS to partners at that time, that is fine. Amy, lets send FS to press at 145.”

Jones messaged Becky Pringle, NEA’s president, and Randi Weingarten, AFT’s president, thanking them for their “continued partnership and input,” along with a PDF version of the strategy posting that day with a fact sheet embargoed until 2 p.m.

“I know not much lead time but wanted to send your way as soon as was able,” Jones wrote.

AFT President Randi Weingarten has defended her organization communicating with the CDC regarding its school opening guidelines earlier this year.

“The CDC in February and March basically asked all sorts of different organizations to sit down with them and give them comments about what they thought was important,” Weingarten said in an interview with C-SPAN’s Washington Journal.”They talked to parent organizations, they talked to the two [teachers] unions.”

“This is normal rule-making,” she said.

The Epoch Times has contacted the CDC and the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers for comment.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/cdc-issued-last-minute-changes-to-school-reopening-guidance-after-being-asked-by-teachers-unions-emails-show_4060612.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan says the Democrats committee investigating the incident at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 is a “complete assault on Americans’ liberty.”

Jordan, who has called for an investigation into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over her role that day, went off when discussing the committee approving a criminal contempt report to hold Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress.

“There’s been subpoenas issued to 11 individuals, 11 American citizens who asked the government permission on an application to hold the Trump rally,” Jordan said.

“The government granted it and now the January 6 committee petitions them to ask them questions about exercising their First Amendment right to assemble,” he added.

“And why would they subpoena me? I didn’t do anything wrong — I talked to the president,” Mr. Jordan told the Washington Post. “I talk to the president all the time. I just think that’s — you know where I’m at on this commission — this is all about going after President Trump. That seems obvious.”

“And they told these companies that, by the way, don’t let the person we’re telling you to preserve information for, don’t let them know as the law requires, don’t let them know that we’ve asked you to do this,” he said.

“This is scary where they want to go and what they’re doing to Americans’ constitutional rights. And finally, I would ask the fundamental question, how would you expect witnesses to participate when you wouldn’t let Republicans participate in the committee? How can you do that? We know what this is about, it’s plain and simple, this is about they’ve got nothing else to talk about.”

Back in July, Jordan called for an investigation into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

While briefly speaking to CNN reporter Manu Raju, Jordan was asked about the Democrat-led January 6 Commission that will investigate the events at the U.S. Capitol.

Jordan wasted little time saying the investigation was nothing more than a witch hunt aimed at going after Donald Trump.

He also said the Commission should investigate Pelosi and what she knows about what happened on Jan. 6.

Below is a transcript of the exchange:

RAJU: “Mr. Jordan, what do you hope to accomplish on the Republican side of this investigation?”

JORDAN: “You know what this is about. This is about going after President Trump, you know. I mean, the Democrats, they don’t want to talk about anything else so they got to talk about this. They don’t want to talk about the crime that’s going on in every major urban area. They don’t want to talk about the crisis at the border. They don’t want to talk about the price — the fact that the price of everything has gone up, the price of eggs has went up, the price of milk has went up, the price of lumber has went up, the price of airline tickets is up, the price of used cars — everything has gone up. They don’t want to talk about all that so they’ve got to talk about how we’re going to go after President Trump for a third time.”

WATCH

https://www.air.tv/watch?v=oNfPngwpS4yEsOyiJGHsFg&share=true

New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik also called for “radical authoritarian” Pelosi to be fired after the latest stunt from Democrats.

Pelosi rejected the appointments of Republican Reps. Jim Jordan and Jim Banks to the January 6 Commission.

Soon after Pelosi rejected Jordan and Banks, Stefanik tore into Pelosi.

“Nancy Pelosi is a radical authoritarian Speaker. The Pelosi partisan January 6 commission was never about investigating the facts, it was only ever about Pelosi’s radical politics and the Left’s endless obsession with crushing any discussion or debate. What is Nancy Pelosi so afraid of?” Stefanik said.

“She is afraid of the American people finding out the truth that her failed leadership and the gross mismanagement of the U.S. Capitol led to the tragic events that day. It is time to Fire Pelosi once and for all. I have no doubt that after the next November, Nancy Pelosi will never, ever hold the Speaker’s gavel again. She will make history as the most despised Speaker of the House who will be fired not once, but twice. And it can’t come soon enough,” she added.

Several former members of Women of Chapman (WOC) left the fundraising organization that supports Chapman University due to differences in opinion over school policy and the retirement of John Eastman, the school’s dean of law, who left the school after speaking at the Jan. 6 “Save America” rally in Washington.

Orange County resident Anne Manassero, past president and board member of WOC for more than 18 years, told The Epoch Times that things began to unravel for her and others when she tried to find out the details surrounding Eastman’s retirement.

Because members of the WOC board act as community ambassadors for the university, answering questions and recruiting new members to the group, Manassero said she felt it was an appropriate move given the circumstances.

“Steering committee members were being asked about what had happened with John Eastman, and all we knew about his ‘retirement’ was coming from conflicting media coverage,” Manassero said. “We were just looking for information … It wasn’t meant to be anything political or divisive.”

Manassero said that a letter to the Los Angeles Times signed by dozens of Chapman faculty and board of trustees members seemed to be the driving factor in Eastman’s departure, but she felt there had to be more than one side to the story.

In that letter, Eastman’s critics wrote, “Last month, 159 Chapman University faculty members signed a statement of outrage that law professor John Eastman was using his university credentials in a spurious lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court. At the time, we did not call for his ouster.

“But his actions Wednesday that helped incite a riot against the U.S. government put matters into a different realm. They should disqualify him from the privilege of teaching law to Chapman students and strip him of the honor of an endowed chair.”

After the letter was published, Manassero said she still believed Dr. Eastman had plenty of support at the school.

“We were finding it difficult to understand how a group of vocal protestors coming out against Dr. Eastman would result in his leaving, because we also knew that he had a lot of support, perhaps less vocal, but nevertheless, not everyone thought he had done anything so severe that he would agree to leave Chapman after such a long and distinguished career,” Manassero said.

Eastman Retires

On Jan. 13, President Struppa sent a statement to the Chapman University community about Eastman’s resignation.

“After discussions over the course of the last week, Dr. John Eastman and Chapman University have reached an agreement pursuant to which he will retire from Chapman, effective immediately. Dr. Eastman’s departure closes this challenging chapter for Chapman and provides the most immediate and certain path forward for both the Chapman community and Dr. Eastman. Chapman and Dr. Eastman have agreed not to engage in legal actions of any kind, including any claim of defamation that may currently exist, as both parties move forward.

“The university is not able to comment further on the specifics of confidential personnel matters and will make no further statements on this matter.”

After his departure, Eastman posted a statement about his decision to retire in The American Mind, a publication of The Claremont Institute, where Eastman directs its Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence.

“It is with mixed feeling that I announce my retirement from Chapman University today. Apart from prominent visitorships at the University of San Diego and the University of Colorado Boulder, my entire academic career has been as a professor and Dean at the Chapman University Fowler School of Law.”

Pointing to his “strong working relationship” with President Struppa, Eastman fired back at his accusers, stating, “But I cannot extend such praise to some of my ‘colleagues’ on the campus or to the few members of the Board of Trustees who have published false, defamatory statements about me without even the courtesy of contacting me beforehand to discuss.”

“I am grateful that not a single one of my colleagues at the Law School signed such a defamatory letter,” Eastman said.

“To my knowledge, not one of the faculty signers has a law degree, and the three members of the Board of Trustees who are lawyers (and hyper-partisan Democrats) are clearly not well-versed in the constitutional questions at issue—either the Article II role of legislatures, or the definition of the ‘incitement’ exception to the First Amendment’s freedom of speech. Nevertheless, these 169 have created such a hostile environment for me that I no longer wish to be a member of the Chapman faculty, and am therefore retiring from my position, effective immediately.”

Leaving Women of Chapman

“For those of us who chose to leave the [WOC] organization, we felt like the situation was badly handled, that a small group of highly vocal people were heard, but that there was no other public discussion about Eastman’s side of the story, which if you read his statement, is incredibly compelling and undermines the protestors’ claims, which ultimately led to his departure,” Manassero said.

“That didn’t feel right, and we decided we just couldn’t support a university that would treat a distinguished, tenured professor in that manner simply because his politics were different than those of his critics,” Manassero continued.

“That’s when we began to realize that the university is turning towards taking this whole ‘woke’ posture, and we decided that that that is not acceptable for those of us who have spent a significant amount of time, energy and money in supporting Chapman all these years. We’re concerned about the direction of the school.”

“Chapman University has meant a lot to us, to me personally,” Manassero added. “This whole thing makes me very sad.”

50 Years of Fundraising

Founded in 1971 with 35 initial members, Women of Chapman has grown to more than 200 members. The organization has hosted numerous educational and philanthropic events, including its signature annual fundraiser “Christmas at The Ritz.” It has also given more than $8.8 million to the university through funding student scholarships, as well as various capital campaigns and programs across campus.

Currently, the group has committed to over $2 million in pledges to support the Keck Center of Science and Engineering and the Harry and Diane Rinker Health Science Campus in Irvine. WOC has also contributed to Chapman’s CU Safely Back Fund and underwritten a portion of the Provost’s Arts and Lecture Series, as well as Dodge College’s Women of Chapman Distinguished Artist Series.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/members-leave-chapman-fundraising-group-due-to-universitys-woke-posture_4057102.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

A group of parents from Michigan and Virginia has sued Attorney General Merrick Garland, alleging his recent order on investigating threats against educators misuses his office’s powers.

Garland, a Biden nominee, on Oct. 4 in a memorandum directed the FBI and U.S. attorneys to draw up plans to target parents who threaten violence or attempt to intimidate educators.

The order came after the National School Boards Association (NSBA) asked the Biden administration to respond due to what it described as acts of “domestic terrorism” against school boards, referring to protests during school board meetings over contentious teachings.

The new suit (pdf) says Garland is effectively wielding federal law enforcement resources “to silence parents and other private citizens who publicly object to and oppose the divisive, harmful, immoral, and racist policies of the ‘progressive’ left that are being implemented by school boards and school officials in public school districts throughout the United States.”

The parents are based in Saline, Michigan, and Loudoun County, Virginia, two areas that have seen heightened backlash in recent months. In Virginia, for instance, many parents opposed a rule that teachers must use a person’s preferred pronouns or face discipline.

“You’ve got the attorney general who’s weaponizing his power, his office to suppress the speech of concerned citizens—parents who are speaking out at public school boards about some of these inane policies like promotion of critical race theory ideology, which teaches the kids to be racist,” Robert Muise, an attorney with the American Freedom Law Center, which is representing the parents, told The Epoch Times.

The Department of Justice has not responded to requests for comment regarding the lawsuit or criticism of the order, which has led to over a dozen state school boards removing themselves or mulling withdrawal from the NSBA.

Lisa Monaco, the department’s second-in-command, defended the policy before Congress earlier this month, asserting it was aimed at making sure law enforcement from the local to federal level was aware of how to report threats and in communication on how to address threats and violence.

“While spirited debate about policy matters is protected under our Constitution, that protection does not extend to threats of violence or efforts to intimidate individuals based on their views,” Garland wrote in his order.

The plaintiff parents, though, say the policy amounts to “a direct threat and warning to parents and private citizens across the United States, including Plaintiffs, that the Department of Justice and its FBI will be investigating you and monitoring what you say at these school board meetings so be careful about what you say and how you say it, thereby chilling such expression.”

That violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, they argue.

The suit also noted that there are accusations of a conflict of interest because Garland’s son-in-law, Alexander Tanner, is the co-founder and president of Panorama Education, which sells materials and conducts surveys for school districts across the country, including some that appear to have elements of critical race theory.

“He’s got a stake in this, a personal stake in this, through his family members,” Muise said.

Panorama Education declined to comment beyond pointing The Epoch Times to its website, where it disputes allegations it’s linked to critical race theory.

The suit was filed in federal court in Washington. It asks the court to permanently enjoin Garland’s order.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/michigan-and-virginia-parents-sue-ag-garland-over-order-to-investigate-violent-threats-against-teachers-school-boards_4059416.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Progressive zealots have been waging a war of intimidation and harassment against Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) because of her resistance to the proposed Biden/Sanders/Pelosi $3.5 trillion spending bill.

In addition to the infamous incident of Sinema being filmed going into a public restroom stall and being harangued while taking care of nature’s business, she has been accosted on board airliners, hectored in airports, abandoned by women’s organizations, vilified by seemingly every progressive politician in the country, and openly scorned by fellow Democratic senators.

Acting on the sinister threat, “We are going to make her life unpleasant or uncomfortable,” a group called Our Revolution (clearly infected with the Jacobin spirit of the French Revolution) has deployed groups to besiege the senator’s district offices in Arizona. Other left-wing activists groups have targeted her, too.

It’s difficult to overstate the significance of the persecution to which Sinema is being subjected. On an individual level, the way she’s being treated is barbaric, indecent, outrageous, disgusting, ugly, and at times criminal (i.e., implied threats are a form of assault). On a national level, if the left succeeds in imposing a progressive/socialist tyranny in America, the brutal treatment of this one woman may one day be recognized as a milestone on that grim path.

I have great sympathy for Sinema. It’s difficult for the rest of us to imagine what it feels like to be subjected to the seething hatred that’s being vented toward her. If there’s justice in this world (real justice, not the phony “social justice” that her persecutors extol), she deserves some sort of recompense for what she has endured. Whether she ultimately caves in to the bullying (and I, for one, would be unwilling to condemn her if she did), we need to see the attacks against her for what they are: not just cruel attacks against one elected official, but an attack against our constitutional order and the American way of life.

The hooligans who are hounding Sinema are disrespecting both her right of conscience and the interests of the people of Arizona who elected her to represent them. Federal finances are already acutely stressed. Due to COVID-19, the annual deficit has averaged over $3 trillion during the last two years. After such an unprecedented flood of red ink, a prudent approach would be to delay any plans for additional spending—to let the dust settle, tally whatever appropriated COVID-related funds might not have been spent, see how large deficits are post-COVID, and then, in a year or two, see if new spending initiatives are affordable.

Sinema believes (quite rightly in my opinion) that the Democratic leadership’s massive spending proposals are too much too soon after the recent spending splurge. She apparently also believes that the people she represents in Congress regard the Democrats’ spending proposals as too large at this time. Such concerns don’t matter to Sinema’s persecutors. They don’t care a whit about representative government or our system of federalism. Like Hitler’s brown shirts, they seek to crush all opposition to the agenda of the party elite.

Pluralism? Forget about it. Diversity of opinion? Intolerable. Compromise? Unthinkable. What the fanatics want is absolute conformity in the Democratic Party. They don’t want independent thinkers remaining loyal to their widely different constituencies. Instead, they want every Democratic member of Congress to be an unthinking automaton, robotically rubber-stamping whatever proposal the leadership concocts. We’ve seen this picture before. Recall the televised images of the Soviet Duma, the Cuban National Assembly, the “People’s Congress” of communist China—with every blank-faced individual obediently voting the party line. That’s what the brown shirts want the U.S. Congress to be like.

Sinema is a member of the most endangered species in Washington—a Democrat with enough common sense and independent thinking to recognize the recklessness of her party leadership’s unaffordable and unnecessary gargantuan spending proposal. Now ask yourself this: What happens if the Democratic leadership succeeds in purging moderates and imposing the robotic, submissive uniformity they so intensely crave? Their obvious goal is to achieve political hegemony over all of us. Then consider this: If they’re willing to treat one of their own party members as viciously as they’re treating Sinema, do you really think they would show more restraint in their treatment of conservatives, traditionalists, Republicans, and libertarians? Good luck with that!

The Democratic leadership in Washington has proposed dozens of plans affecting this or that area of our economy and society, but there’s one overarching goal: the centralization of power. The centralization of power is the very essence of tyranny and the very antithesis of our country’s rights-based, power-limiting Constitution. Progressives are making it increasingly clear that they’ll tolerate no opposition, squash all dissent, and ferociously impose their will. The self-love, self-righteousness, and self-importance of progressives is mirrored in their contempt and openly avowed hatred of those who disagree with their socialist vision. We already have abundant evidence of the tyrannical tactics of arrogant, undemocratic progressives, and the trend seems to be accelerating ominously.

Progressives are trying to divide our country into two classes—the increasingly aggressive, oppressive, and elitist rulers, and the rest of us, the ruled. Keep your eye on what happens to Sen. Sinema, folks. That and worse is what the increasingly totalitarian progressive left has in mind for all of us.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/brown-shirts-harassing-sen-sinema-a-preview-of-progressive-tyranny_4060069.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Republicans on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Wednesday released a list of seven items they said were hidden in President Joe Biden’s spending agenda — items they called part of a “socialist wish-list.”

Democrats in the House and Senate have thus far failed to come together to pass Biden’s $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill. They are also at an impasse over what was originally a $3.5 trillion, 10-year budget to expand the welfare state called the Build Back Better Act.

If House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer and the president get their way, the country will immediately add at least $5 trillion in new debt. In addition to taking on that debt, ordinary Americans would see massive increase in government intrusion into their lives that would bad for both individuals and the country’s small businesses.

Ranking Democrats want to pass both bills together. But it appears as though centrist Democrat holdouts such as Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona are standing in their way.

While it has been widely reported in recent weeks the Democratic holdouts aren’t thrilled about the price tag of Biden’s agenda, on Wednesday, House Republicans attacked the proposed spending spree in a news release.

The 7 Blood-Boiling Items Hidden Inside Biden’s $3.5 Trillion Socialist Wish List

They accused Biden and Democrats of sneaking in seven particular items they said would help corrupt people and institutions, harm the country’s middle class and abandon rural America in favor of radical climate activists.

The seven items cited by the committee Republicans are:

1. “Handouts” for the wealthy, and bailouts for failing establishment media organizations.

“Democrats are hoping to provide wealthy families and corrupt organizations tax breaks and unnecessary handouts. If President Biden has his way, families earning $800,000 can receive $118,000 in credits and elite, well-funded private universities will get a tax break,” the release stated.

“In addition, liberal news organizations with up to 750 employees are set to be bailed out. Their liberal bias has resulted in fewer Americans reading their work and President Biden hopes to provide them a tax cut to offset their losses.”

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has called the provision a “grotesque waste of taxpayer money.

2. A cloaked “Green New Deal” that would put small businesses under.

“The Build Back Better Act is the Green New Deal in disguise. The Green New Deal is a socialist dream which will only saddle hard-working taxpayers with debt and displace millions of Americans from their jobs,” the release stated said.

“Tucked away in President Biden’s $5 trillion dollar spending spree is a Green New Deal ‘youth patrol’ and taxpayers will fund them to the tune of $3.5 billion dollars. This will only establish a slush fund for jobless climate activists.”

The release stated the lengthy bill will appropriate more than $34 billion in subsidies to “green” special interest groups.

3. Weaponizing the IRS.

“President Biden is hoping to double the number of IRS agents. Why? To target American families and businesses,” the committee Republicans stated. “Democrats are looking to funnel $80 billion to the IRS, which is six times the size of the IRS’ annual budget.”

Republicans called a plan to view ordinary banking transactions a “surveillance program” which would infringe on the privacy of “working class Americans.”

The release cites an element of the plan that would require banks to report transactions to the IRS that involve accounts that see more than $600 in transactions annually. The Biden administration backed away from that provision this week, raising the number to $10,000 in annual transactions, excluding already-taxed payroll deposits, ABC News reported.

4. Targeting American energy independence through taxes.

“Democrats continue their march to destroy clean, reliable, and affordable domestic energy production,” the release stated.

“They intend to raise taxes on natural gas, raising energy costs on all Americans. In fact, their plans will divert taxpayer dollars into solely renewable technologies and completely ignore reliable fuel sources like nuclear energy and natural gas.”

5. Dishonestly hiding a provision to offer amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants.

“Hidden in their $5 trillion dollar plan is blanket amnesty to more than 8 million illegal immigrants. By granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, Democrats are signaling to the world and human smugglers that our laws can be violated with little consequence,” the release stated.

“Amnesty will only encourage more families and children to come illegally and will provide an economic boon to human smuggling rings.”

As Fox News noted Wednesday, yhe Senate parliamentarian has twice shot down Democratic efforts to include amnesty provisions in the $3.5 trillion spending package that could be passed through the process known as “reconciliation,” which can bypass any Senate filibuster by Republicans.

But according to Fox, New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez on Wednesday said Democrats are working on what he called a “Plan C” that would legalize the status of 8 million to 11 million illegal immigrants in the country.

6. Biden’s agenda would create a “slush fund” to be used for “socialist pet projects.”

“Democrats are looking to create socialist slush funds. $20 billion dollars will go towards the National Climate Bank to send kickbacks to radical environmentalists,” the GOP release stated.

“In addition, taxpayers will be sending $200 million in payouts to Speaker Pelosi’s district and $25 million for butterfly, freshwater mussels, and desert fish populations.”

7. Biden’s agenda would completely abandon rural Americans.

“Biden’s $5 trillion socialist wish-list fails to allocate any funds for critical programs like the commodity safety net, crop insurance, broadband, or disaster assistance. Neglecting to prioritize these funds negatively impacts rural communities and ultimately leaves them behind,” the released argued.

“House Democrats are pushing an agenda that does anything but address the numerous crises facing the American people.”

Obama Ethics Chief Turns on Own Party, Rips Biden Admin Over Hunter Biden Cash-Grab, Unanswered Questions

The committee Republicans vowed to continue to illuminate items in Biden’s agenda, which is too large to be read in a single sitting. The Build Back Better Act alone is 2,465 pages long.

Do you think Democrats will eventually pass Biden’s agenda?

But House Republicans aren’t alone in opposing the proposed spending. Manchin, Sinema or both have the ability to stop either proposal dead in its tracks with the upper chamber split 50/50 between the two parties. Thus far, two Democrats have prevented this “socialist wish-list” from coming to fruition.

All Americans should hope they can keep Biden’s agenda on hold. The 2022 midterms, and the chance to put Congress in Republican hands again, get closer every day.

The right has long been accusing now-President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden of engaging in criminal corruption and influence peddling, and these accusations have certainly not ceased since the former entered office as the nation’s 46th president.

So, it’s not particularly remarkable to see right-leaning outlets slam the notorious father and son now that Hunter Biden has entered the art world and is selling his amateur work for tens of thousands of dollars and we’re expected to believe that these price tags genuinely reflect the talent of the artist.

What is noteworthy, however, is that the former ethics chief to President Barack Obama is rebuking the White House in no uncertain terms for the appearance of wild impropriety — and for behaving as though the public has no right to know more.

Last week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki grew rather huffy when confronted by a New York Post reporter about the identity of prospective buyers of Hunter Biden’s artwork — which is, according to art critics, nothing short of entirely mediocre at best.

Biden launched his art career earlier this year about five minutes after supposedly kicking his longstanding crack cocaine addiction, with which he was still struggling while his father was running for president last year.

The 7 Blood-Boiling Items Hidden Inside Biden’s $3.5 Trillion Socialist Wish List

The White House previously insisted that everything was kosher because, don’t worry, neither Hunter Biden nor any other member of the American public will actually know the identity of the buyers and the gallery owner will absolutely make sure it’s all on the up and up.

Psaki doubled down on this position when confronted by the Post last week following reports that Hunter Biden’s work garnered a total of $375,000 in sales at a Los Angeles art gallery earlier this month — with the paintings being sold at $75,000 a pop.

“It still is the purview of the gallerist. We still do not know and will not know who purchases any paintings. And the president remains proud of his son,” the press secretary stated.

When pushed, she interrupted the reporter, asking in her usual strained and sassy manner, “Did you have another question on something else? Otherwise, we’re going to move on to some other topics, there’s a lot going on in the world.”

Do you think Hunter’s art career is suspicious?

I’m sorry, does the press secretary get to dictate what the members of the free media ought to ask her about during her briefings?

Absolutely not, as bluntly stated by Obama-era director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, Walter Shaub, in response.

“These are legitimate questions,” the former official wrote on Twitter at the beginning of a lengthy thread rebuking Psaki. “It’s disappointing to hear @jrpsaki send a message that the WH thinks the public has no right to ask about ethics. After the last 4 years, these questions have never been more important. I know this isn’t a popular opinion, but this stuff matters.”

“There is no ethics program in the world that can be built around the head of state’s staff working with a dealer to keep the public in the dark about the identities of individuals who pay vast sums to the leader’s family member for subjectively priced items of no intrinsic value,” he continued.

“If this were Trump, Xi or Putin, you’d have no doubt whatsoever that this creates a vehicle for funneling cash to the first family in exchange for access or favors. Nor would you doubt that the appearance of monetizing the presidency was outrageous,” he continued, referencing Presidents Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia.

CNN Disgraced After Someone Counted How Often Network Mentioned Hunter Biden vs. Dog the Bounty Hunter

These are legitimate questions. It’s disappointing to hear @jrpsaki send a message that the WH thinks the public has no right to ask about ethics. After the last 4 years, these questions have never been more important. I know this isn’t a popular opinion, but this stuff matters. https://t.co/fnGmbkLQZU

— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) October 13, 2021

If this were Trump, Xi or Putin, you’d have no doubt whatsoever that this creates a vehicle for funneling cash to the first family in exchange for access or favors. Nor would you doubt that the appearance of monetizing the presidency was outrageous.

— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) October 13, 2021

“It doesn’t matter that Trump was worse,” Shaub, who often criticized former President Donald Trump, continued. “What matters is that this sets a low bar for ethics. It embraces the mentality that ‘if it’s legal, it’s fine to do.’ It creates doubt that the difference in administrations is one of nature instead of merely degree.”

“It’s all the worse because Biden ran as the antidote to Trump,” he said. “So the message is that this is not just better than Trump, which is far too low a standard, but that this is the opposite of Trump, which is even worse.”

It doesn’t matter that Trump was worse. What matters is that this sets a low bar for ethics. It embraces the mentality that “if it’s legal, it’s fine to do.” It creates doubt that the difference in administrations is one of nature instead of merely degree.

— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) October 13, 2021

It’s all the worse because Biden ran as the antidote to Trump. So the message is that this is not just better than Trump, which is far too low a standard, but that this is the opposite of Trump, which is even worse.

— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) October 13, 2021

And that’s exactly right. To vehement Trump critics like Shaub who dare to be consistent, nothing could be more sickeningly hypocritical on the part of the Biden administration than to brush off ethics concerns as though they’re unimportant to the American people.

Shaub had a similarly scathing take in July on the White House’s “absolutely appalling” decision to trust a Manhattan gallery owner to ensure the office of the presidency was safely guarded against any ethical concerns surrounding the first son’s art career.

“So instead of disclosing who is paying outrageous sums for Hunter Biden’s artwork so that we could monitor whether the purchasers are gaining access to government, the WH tried to make sure we will never know who they are. That’s very disappointing,” Shaub tweeted at the time.

“The idea’s that even Hunter won’t know, but the WH has outsourced government ethics to a private art dealer,” he continued. “We’re supposed to trust a merchant in an industry that’s fertile ground for money laundering, as well as unknown buyers who could tell Hunter or WH officials? No thanks.”

This had come in response to a report from The Washington Post detailing the incredibly shady arrangement.

“White House officials have helped craft an agreement under which purchases of Hunter Biden’s artwork — which could be listed at prices as high as $500,000 — will be kept confidential from even the artist himself, in an attempt to avoid ethical issues that could arise as a presidential family member tries to sell a product with a highly subjective value,” the newspaper reported.

“Under an arrangement negotiated in recent months, a New York gallery owner is planning to set prices for the art and will withhold all records, including potential bidders and final buyers. The owner, Georges Bergès, has also agreed to reject any offer that he deems suspicious or that comes in over the asking price, according to people familiar with the agreement,” it explained.

It was remarkable at the time that a former Obama administration official was so pointed in his criticism of the outrageously terrible arrangement, as it is today that he’s calling out Psaki for behaving as though it’s absurd for a reporter to press her on it now that Hunter’s artwork has brought in so much cold, hard cash from an art show.

This isn’t even as bad as it gets — the George Bergès Gallery in Manhattan, you know, the Manhattan gallery which the White House has trusted with ensuring Hunter’s art dealings stay legit — received a suspiciously massive federal loan for COVID-19 disaster relief that was approved in July, the same month in which the Post reported the gallery had reached an arrangement with the White House to keep the first son’s art buyers confidential.

Now, this could certainly be a big coincidence but boy, it sure doesn’t look good all things considered.

We don’t need Obama’s former ethics chief to tell us that all of this stinks to high heavens, but it certainly is remarkable that a member of that ethically dubious administration is speaking out in such distinct terms speaks volumes.

And he’s absolutely correct, too. It’s already insane on its face that the White House is so shamelessly insisting that keeping Hunter Biden’s art buyers confidential, as opposed to public and well-documented so there’s no question of ethical concerns, is a believable safeguard against influence peddling.

Especially when you consider that Hunter and dad have been accused of high-priced influence peddling for years.

Yet for Psaki to actually mock a reporter for pressing her on the dubious arrangement is outrageous and incredibly insulting to the American people as a whole.

When Trump was in office, we were routinely reminded that a free press was the ultimate safeguard against corruption in the upper echelons of our federal government and, for all their self-aggrandizing and terrible, wildly biased reporting on his presidency, they certainly weren’t wrong on this count.

Ours is a government of the people and by the people and it is beyond disgusting for the White House press secretary to tell a reporter that there are other things she should be asked about.

She should be asked about whatever the American people see fit to ask her about, especially when ethics concerns are so massive that they’re being called out by a member of the president’s own party and former administration.

If President Joe Biden isn’t going to do his job, there are plenty of hardworking Americans out there willing to do it for him.

Perhaps the most neglected of Biden’s many presidential responsibilities has been his duty to protect the country’s southern border.

The problem has deteriorated exponentially, with detention facilities filled to the brim and large caravans of migrants continuing to cross over.

Sam Hall, the founder and president of a militia group called Patriots for America, has decided to take it upon himself to right Biden’s border wrongs.

According to a Tuesday report from The Epoch Times, Hall will be dispatching his militia of roughly 100 men to Kinney County, Texas, in order to “operate as a deterrent in areas of high traffic.”

The 7 Blood-Boiling Items Hidden Inside Biden’s $3.5 Trillion Socialist Wish List

Kinney County shares a mere 16 miles of the border with Mexico, but — given its location between Del Rio and Eagle Pass — it serves as a prime destination for migrants to cross over illegally.

The Times reports that over the past several months, ranchers in the county have been faced with “a relentless stream of illegal aliens traversing their property, cutting fences, breaking into their homes, and threatening them.”

“What we’ve seen is an invasion of this county,” Hall said, according to The Times. “What we’ve seen is residents that are scared to death right now, and they don’t feel like they have support from the state.”

Is Biden to blame for the crisis at the southern border?

As the militia sets up in Kinney County, reports indicate as many as 85,000 migrants — reportedly made up of mostly Haitians — are on their way to the border.

“As a militia, we can’t detain or arrest people. We can disrupt and frustrate until the county or DPS can get there,” Hall said.

Hall further stressed that his men aren’t there to hurt anyone, but rather to simply “keep people safe.”

“We’re not leaving as a militia until we know that this county is safe,” Hall said.

Hall isn’t the only American that has taken it upon himself to help curb Biden’s border crisis.

On Monday, Sheriff Brad Coe — also of Kinney County — announced he would be putting together a small team to help tackle the problem.

Texas Sheriff Will Deputize Local Citizens to Fight Border Crisis, Plans to Build Fence Around County

“As far as taking it into our own hands, the border patrol … we didn’t have much a choice,” Sheriff Coe said, according to The Gateway Pundit.

“The border patrol was completely overwhelmed at the time, thousands of people coming, just turning themselves in, that wanted to get caught, created this problem.”

Americans aren’t going to stand by any longer — as Biden neglects his presidential duties.

Instead, they’re going to do what any good American should do. Rather than rely on big government, they’re going to find a solution themselves.

America’s woke culture belongs in the Stupid Bowl, according to Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers, never afraid to share his thoughts, drew even more attention than usual after an interaction with Chicago Bears fans on Sunday. He had just run for a touchdown that helped seal the Packers’ 24-14 win over the Bears when he told fans “I still own you,” according to Fox News.

The criticism he received for the remark was still fresh when he appeared Tuesday on “The Pat McAfee Show.”

Rodgers bemoaned “the state of our media” before honing in on “the state of our culture.”

The 7 Blood-Boiling Items Hidden Inside Biden’s $3.5 Trillion Socialist Wish List

The superstar quarterback said wokeness is rooted in discontent and a desire for control.

“There’s a PC woke culture that exists,” Rodgers said, “and there’s a cancel culture at the same time, and it’s based on people’s own feelings of maybe personal [misery] or distaste for their own situations or life or just the enjoyment of holding other people down underneath their thumb.”

Rodgers added that he will not play the culture’s woke game.

“There’s a game within the game, right?” he said.

Do you agree with Rodgers?

“And in this game, there’s a player and there’s a game. And if the player abides by the rules of the game, he’s a part of the game. Now, the rules of the game are that you must acquiesce with the woke mob at all times. You must. However, when you live above the game, the game does not exist, and … that’s where I’m at.”

“I’m not a part of this game that’s being played. … I see it, I hear it, but to me it’s comedy.”

Rodgers said he can rise above what woke culture tries to inflict.

“I don’t look at myself as a victim. I don’t want people to feel bad for me because of the spotlight that I’m in and the platform that I have and the scrutiny that comes with it. I accept all of it, I really do. I don’t have a problem with it.

“I just think that it is — for me, helps me to keep sane when I can recognize and point out that there is this culture that exists, that gets off, I think, on shrinking people, keeping them small, keeping them in a box, quieting them through [cancellation] or demeaning comments.”

Atkinson: The Woke Mob Got ESPN Reporter Canceled, But Who Really Wins in the End?

“I also exist outside of that in a different realm where I do feel confident in the things I say and I do stand behind what I do, and I like to speak the truth, and I’m not a part of this, you know, woke cancel culture that gets off on trying to silence people all the time.”

Outkick founder Clay Travis told Fox that the issue runs deeper than just Rodgers.

“I do think that this woke culture represents the antithesis of everything that sports stands for — the meritocracy, excellence and being able to speak your mind are all to me firmaments of the sports culture,” he said.

Campaign work for congressional candidates is usually arduous, thankless and a difficult way to earn a living.

If you need evidence, consider the staff on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign. Despite the fact the Vermont independent has been one of the most ardent champions of raising the minimum wage, many of his campaign staffers were paid significantly less than what he was promising Americans. It wasn’t until September of 2019 that he finally struck a deal with the union representing his field organizers to pay them at least $15 an hour, CNBC reported.

All of which is to say that if you want to strike it rich, campaign-level, retail politics probably isn’t the start. Then again, when you’re campaigning for mom, and mom happens to be a star of progressive Democratic politics, things can be a lot more lucrative.

According to a report from the U.K. Daily Mail, financial disclosure records from California Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters reveal the far-left fixture paid her daughter over $80,000 in taxpayer money during the last fiscal year.

Between Oct. 23, 2020 and June 17, 2021, Karen Waters was paid $81,650 in campaign funds, according to the Tuesday report. Fox News had previously reported the number was over $74,000.

Unopposed SCOTUS Decision Delivers Devastating News to BLM – Police Will Rejoice

This isn’t a one-off thing, either. Since 2003, Karen Waters has received over $1.1 million for working for her mother’s campaigns — including $250,000 during the 2020 election cycle.

“The daughter of the California Democrat organized slate-mailing operations to bolster her mother’s reelection,” Fox News reported.

“Slate-mailing is an uncommon practice in federal elections, where a consulting firm is hired to create a pamphlet of sorts that contains a list of candidates or policy measures, and advises voters how to cast their ballots.”

In fact, the practice is so uncommon only one federal candidate used it at the federal level in 2020: Maxine Waters.

Should nepotism like this be illegal?

Furthermore, this isn’t the first time Waters’ family has made money off of the representative. In 2004, the Los Angeles Times reported that her family had made more than $1 million through Waters or causes and concerns she supported.

At the time, she told The Washington Post there was nothing amiss with the relationship.

“They do their business and I do mine,” Waters said at the time. “We are not bad people.”

However, keep in mind that what Karen Waters made from sending out slate mailers for her mother is more than twice the real median personal income of an American — $35,977, according to PolicyAdvice.

Foul-smelling though this may be, it’s legal. If family member are “providing bona fide services to the campaign,” payments to them aren’t prohibited unless they’re “in excess of the fair market value of the services provided.”

Slavery Was Horrific, But Maxine Waters Thinks Border Patrol ‘Whipping’ Accusation Is Much Worse

This issue had previously arisen when it turned out that the campaign of Minnesota Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar had funneled almost $3 million to a firm owned by a man who would eventually become her husband.

However, while Omar’s relationship with Tim Mynett’s E Street Group came under scrutiny, it began before the two were sharing conjugal bonds.

However, this to-do is a bit of a different fish, inasmuch as — to state the obvious — Karen Waters has always been Maxine Waters’ daughter, from the congresswoman’s first marriage, which ended in 1972.

Omar also had the good sense to cut ties with her husband’s firm after the 2020 election. Karen Waters remains very gainfully employed by her mother to do a job almost no other federal candidate feels the need to fill.

Working-class Americans are struggling to get by in President Joe Biden’s inflationary economy. Meanwhile, Karen Waters is taking over $80,000 a year of campaign money for an unnecessary job in her mom’s office.

If only Bernie Sanders’ campaign workers had been so lucky.

I get it. Terry McAuliffe is not a particularly happy man right now.

After all, this was supposed to be easy. Because of its odd-year state elections, Virginia’s gubernatorial race is one of the first referendums on how voters feel regarding the last presidential cycle. Furthermore, because of the growth of the Washington, D.C., suburbs and other liberal areas of the state, pundits have increasingly been saying that the Old Dominion has moved solidly into the blue column.

Moreover, McAuliffe is a fixture in Virginia state politics and the Democratic Party. He was Bill Clinton’s fundraising bag-man back during the 1990s, served as the head of the Democratic National Committee and was Virginia’s governor from 2014 to 2018. (The state doesn’t allow governors to serve consecutive terms.)

And yet, it hasn’t been easy. Polls have shown McAuliffe neck-and-neck with Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin; as of Wednesday morning, the RealClearPolitics polling average has Youngkin within 2.2 points of McAuliffe, 49.5 percent for the Democrat and 47.3 percent for the Republican. The Cook Political Report now rates the race as a “toss-up,” a move from “leans Democratic.”

McAuliffe is a pro’s pro, though. You don’t end up with Terry’s resumé if you can’t handle a little pressure.

The 7 Blood-Boiling Items Hidden Inside Biden’s $3.5 Trillion Socialist Wish List

You buckle down and smile a bit more broadly. You kiss a few more babies and shake a few more hands — or whatever the socially distanced version of those two unctuous archetypes of insincere campaigning happen to be.

You hit the trail before the sun rises and don’t stop until the 11 p.m. local news fades into the “Tonight Show.”

Most importantly, you never let ’em see you sweat.

Or you abruptly end a 20-minute TV interview 10 minutes into it, telling the reporter he “should have asked better questions early on.” Whichever works.

Do you believe Terry McAuliffe will win the Virginia gubernatorial election?

According to the Washington Examiner, WJLA-TV gave both McAuliffe and Youngkin 20 minutes to talk about how they would lead Virginia were they elected next month. The sit-downs with reporter Nick Minock happened on Oct. 13 and 14, respectively; the interviews were posted on their website and on YouTube.

So, how’d it go? First off, it’s never good when a local news station has to air this disclaimer:

WOAH… pic.twitter.com/etuaciYVr6

— Henry Rodgers (@henryrodgersdc) October 19, 2021

Now, there’s some question about how planned McAuliffe’s early departure was.

Kamala Harris, Stacey Abrams Threaten the Tax-Exempt Status of 300 Churches

WJLA said on their website that McAuliffe’s campaign only agreed to a 10-minute interview in a text message with Minock. That said, the last two sets of questions were uncomfortable ones for McAuliffe — and they also just so happened to be when his campaign staffer interrupted him.

The first question had to do with crime, during which Minock pointed out Youngkin “said that the murder rate went up 43 percent when you were governor and the rape rate went up every single year when you were governor. What would you do differently in your second term to address violent crime and decrease violent crime in the commonwealth?”

McAuliffe responded that Virginia had “the lowest crime rate of any major state in the United States of America” during his tenure — which doesn’t mean crime didn’t go up, mind you, and which doesn’t point to McAuliffe as the cause of that low crime rate. (Also, what is a minor state, just out of curiosity?)

When asked how much he would invest in public safety, McAuliffe responded, “I don’t want to go through all the numbers we are dealing with.” Translation: No clue.

Minock then transitioned vaccines and vaccine mandates, which started off fine enough but quickly degenerated to McAuliffe firing off rambling denunciations of Youngkin as “an anti-vaxxer” and “a Donald Trump right-wing agenda” supporter who would “ban abortions.”

“Your viewers should be very clear on this,” McAuliffe said.

“He wants to ban abortions here in Virginia. He says election integrity is the number one issue. No, it isn’t. Health care, COVID, education, job creation.”

That’s when one of his staffers interjected and noted that “we are already over time.”

“Alright, we are over. That’s it. That’s it,” McAuliffe said. “Hey I gave you extra time. C’mon, man. You should have asked better questions early on. You should have asked questions your viewers care about.”

Nailed the landing. Beautiful.

I understand one has a lot of demands on one’s time when running for governor, but a 20-minute spot on D.C. local news for a Clintonista that ran the state in the not-so-distant-past shouldn’t be like a tooth extraction.

Not only could he not spare the extra 10 minutes, McAuliffe ended the interview with an unfocused rant about about abortion, Donald Trump and job creation, then told the reporter he should have asked better questions at the beginning. Given the scattershot attack at the end, one gets the notion McAuliffe simply wanted prompts that would have allowed him to transition into that rant much earlier.

And in case you’re wondering, Minock didn’t ask bad or unfair questions, to the extent he had time to ask many at all.

The reporter’s first line of questioning had to do with McAuliffe’s now-infamous remark that “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what to teach” during the final gubernatorial debate, whether he misspoke and what role he would play as governor in mandating what schools teach.

His next line of questioning addressed the various school board controversies in Virginia — in particular in Loudoun County — and whether he agreed with U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s memorandum indicating the Department of Justice would get more involved with these contentious school board hearings.

Then came crime, then came vaccines and then it was time for McAuliffe to skedaddle — but not before firing off that strange and insulting peroration, as if Minock’s performance had been insulting or unprofessional.

No, Terry McAuliffe may not be a happy man right now, particularly when he looks at the polls.

With Hindenburg performances like this, however, he has only himself to blame.

“Recession” is a word that nearly every American is afraid to hear. The word brings flashbacks to 2008, when gas prices skyrocketed as the housing bubble burst, unemployment spiked and wages were depressed.

Unfortunately, Americans are now being warned of round two. The U.S. has already started into a recession that could be even worse than 2008, according to Dartmouth College professor David Blanchflower and University College London professor Alex Bryson.

In a paper published on Oct. 7, they predicted a massive downturn in the economy. Though unemployment has been declining, there have been significant drops in the consumer expectation indices from The Conference Board and the University of Michigan.

The former is down 5.9 points since August, while the latter is down 10.9 points since July. According to Blanchflower and Bryson, a drop of 10 points in one of those indices has helped predict previous recessions, and now seems to be no different.

Many economists are pointing to the fact that the economy is recovering from the damage inflicted by the COVID-19 lockdowns, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that unemployment fell 0.4 percent in September. Falling unemployment numbers, however, are only natural after the pandemic shut down the economy.

Dan Bongino Punishes Sponsor for Bowing to Antifa Mob

Deloitte Insights reported in September that “economic fundamentals remain strong,” “consumers are sitting on piles of savings” and worker productivity is on the rise.

“[C]ontinued government action in the form of the bipartisan infrastructure agreement should support the economy in the short term and foster even greater productivity growth in the long run,” Daniel Bachman wrote for Deloitte.

President Joe Biden has also promoted the narrative that the economy is doing well. In comments on Sept. 3, he declared that we are seeing “economic recovery that is durable and strong,” according to an official White House transcript of his remarks. He seems convinced that “The Biden plan is working. We’re getting results. America is on the move again.”

But Blanchflower and Bryson wrote that the government’s unprecedented meddling in the labor market during the pandemic has allowed employment to recover quickly and thus skewed the numbers that would be normally indicating and predicting an economic downturn.

Are we headed for another total economic collapse?

“As we have shown, ordinarily when recession is coming, we would expect to see an increase in the unemployment rate — our rule of thumb is a 0.3 percentage point upturn in consecutive months — and declining employment. This is not what is happening,” they wrote.

“On the other hand, there are clear downward movements in consumer expectations in the last six months which, according to our rules of thumb regarding 10-point declines, would suggest the economy in the United States is entering recession now (Autumn 2021) — even though employment and wage growth figures suggest otherwise.”

So do not be excited by the fact that unemployment numbers are going down a bit. That is not the only criterion of a healthy economy.

When there has been direct government interference with the labor market, the numbers cannot be considered completely accurate since the interference basically produces unnatural numbers.

It just takes a moment of looking at the broader picture to see that the U.S. economy is not in good health. Even though CNN is reporting on America’s recovery and showing that nearly all states are back to pre-pandemic levels of economic activity, many are overlooking the fact that there are still labor shortages, the supply chains are struggling, and inflation is at a 30-year high.

Watch: Here’s the Proof the Biden Admin Doesn’t Care at All About Americans

2008’s recession was bad, but this could be worse. And unlike 2008, when there were plenty of workers but a shortage of jobs, now the situation is the exact opposite.

“Pent up savings, trillions of dollars in federal stimulus and rapidly rising wages mean that there is plenty of demand. But companies are struggling to recruit workers and source the raw materials needed to meet it,” the U.K. Daily Mail reported Monday.

What is our president going to do about all of this?

So far, Biden has only talked about how great the economy is doing since he became president.

“Over the last three months, we’ve been creating, on average, 750,000 new jobs per month. Our economy is growing at the fastest rate we’ve seen in nearly 40 years,” Biden said last month, according to an official White House transcript of his comments. “Our recovery is unique in the world.  We’re the only developed country in the world whose economy is now bigger than it was before the pandemic.”

And apparently, Biden thinks his “Build Back Better” plan will magically fix everything with its $3.5 trillion price tag. But how is free community college, universal preschool and 12 weeks of paid family leave going to pull us out of a recession? A Wall Street Journal Op-Ed called it “Joe Biden’s Economic Fantasy World.”

Biden’s boasting that the economy is coming back shows he does not seem to understand what the problem really is. And if he can’t see or understand the problem, there is no chance of his fixing it. Instead, Biden is fiddling on his roof while the economy burns around him.

So buckle up for another recession. Don’t be fooled by Biden or by faulty economic understanding into thinking the U.S. is about to enter a golden economic age. There are rough waters ahead.

Chants of “f*** Joe Biden” erupted on Tuesday night at the American League Championship Series postgame outside Fenway Park.

The anti-POTUS chants have been popping up at sporting events and concerts soon after President Joe Biden took office, when inflation started to spike and additional COVID-related restrictions were promised.

Following the Red Sox vs. Astros game, rowdy fans outside the park chanted “f*** Joe Biden,” Mediaite reported, claiming Fox “allowed” the chants to be broadcast, despite “muting” past chants with curse words in them.

“At one point during the broadcast, the at-home audience was able to hear four consecutive profane anti-Biden chants without disruption from the mute button,” the report said.

Mediaite noted that Red Sox fans’ support for Biden has changed course from last year:

While Red Sox fans joined the accrescent “f*ck Joe Biden” chants at sporting events, they depicted much more support for the current president one-year ago. Biden dominated Trump in Beantown, garnering 65 percent of the votes in Massachusetts and 80 percent in Suffolk County, where Boston sits.

As highlighted by The Daily Wire earlier this month, chants of “f*** Joe Biden” rang out following a NASCAR win from driver Brandon Brown. However, the NBC Sports reporter claimed fans were chanting “Let’s go, Brandon!” at the Talladega Superspeedway:

When NBC Sports reporter Kelli Stavast interviewed the driver following the race, she claimed the crowd was saying “let’s go, Brandon,” when they were clearly chanting “f*** Joe Biden” — a common chant repeated at concerts [and] sporting events in recent weeks.

The Wrap reported:

“Oh my God, this is just everything we’ve hoped and dreamed for,” Brown said. “Everything I’ve ever wanted to do is take the trophy home to mom and dad.” But, as he continued thanking his sponsors and loved ones, the chants got louder.

“As you can hear the chants from the crowd — ‘Let’s go Brandon,’” the reporter said, pausing in the middle of her sentence to give the chant time to be fully heard, before asking Brown about his strategy for the race.

It’s unclear if Stavast was running cover for Biden, trying to clear up an uncomfortable situation, or really misheard the NASCAR fans.

Outkick reported in September on the outgrowth of “f*** Joe Biden” chants:

Fans chanting “F–k Joe Biden” at stadiums from Tennessee to Alabama to Oxford, Mississippi is quickly becoming the battle cry for football fans across the country as the citizens of this country continue to show disobedience to the great [Emperor] and his presidency.

The big news this week with the “F–k Joe Biden” chant movement is that it has spread from college football and into the baseball community, where New Yorkers chanted “F–k Joe Biden” during Fox Sports’ weekend coverage of the Subway Series. Fans could be heard sending a message to Biden as ARod and Big Papi dissected the Yankees-Mets game.

NASCAR Driver Trolls ‘F*** Joe Biden’ Chant Debacle

https://www.dailywire.com/news/f-joe-biden-chant-drowns-out-mlb-playoff-postgame-show?itm_source=parsely-api&utm_source=cnemail&utm_medium=email

Despite being a politician all his life, and never having worked in a blue-collar job, President Joe Biden declared, “I’m a union man,” when he announced his presidential campaign at a Teamsters union hall in Pittsburgh in April 2019.

What our president really loves is big government and political power, and there is no more reliable money trough for Democrats than unions.

According to OpenSecrets, which tracks political spending, Biden’s campaign received $27.5 million in contributions from unions, compared with $360,000 from unions that went to former President Donald Trump’s campaign.

So, it is no surprise that the president and his party are now unfurling legislation aimed at protecting unions. It’s called the PRO Act — Protecting the Right to Organize.

The bill passed in the House, but with little prospect of it making it on its own in the evenly split Senate, Senate Democrats have buried it in the budget reconciliation bill that can pass with a simple majority and is not subject to filibuster.

What certain unions want is to take the country in the opposite direction where it needs to go in this new era of global competition and technology-enabled freelancing. But other unions, like those that represent truckers and journalists, are concerned about independent contractors being run out of their jobs.

Among the various major provisions of the PRO Act is effective nationalization of California’s AB5 law that passed in 2019. This law makes hiring independent contractors much more difficult and specifies that contractors must be reclassified by businesses that hire them as employees, unless they meet specific and rigorous standards allowing them to stay independent.

The PRO Act takes direct aim at the powerful new technology-enabled trend referred to as the “gig economy.” These are freelancers and entrepreneurs of many different stripes who are buying into the flexibility of this new high-tech economy.

But entrepreneurship and flexibility are exactly what big-government politicians and certain special interest unions don’t want.

Proposition 22 passage in November 2020 provided protection for app-based transportation and delivery firms, such as Uber, Lyft and DoorDash, from AB5.

But this still leaves many independent contractors subject to the law. This includes many truckers who are independent operators and are impacted by these onerous new requirements.

Truckers are seeking relief through the courts, now principally through the California Trucking Association moving its case to be heard in the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, truckers have gotten a court injunction to hold up their need to submit to AB5 requirments.

Another significant provision of the PRO Act would be the effective elimination of right-to-work laws that exist today in 27 states.

Right-to-work laws enable workers in unionized workplaces that do not wish to join the union and pay dues to opt out. The PRO Act eliminates this option and forces all workers to pay union dues.

Considerable academic research points to positive economic results in right-to-work states in the way of higher employment growth, higher productivity, higher population growth and higher personal income growth compared with states without right-to-work laws.

The Census Bureau reports annually on net population outbound and inbound for every state.

In the most recent report, 9 of the 10 states with the highest population inbound were right-to-work states, and 8 of the 10 states with the highest population outbound were forced-unionization states.

It is no accident that today, the number of American workers in unions is about half what it was 40 years ago.

We are entering into new times. Sweeping change was already taking place before COVID-19 hit us. Now our post-COVID-19 economy is reemerging with new realities.

For our marketplace to get where it needs to go, we must embrace change, embrace the new, embrace entrepreneurship and flexibility. These are all things progressives don’t want. If the PRO Act becomes law, today’s challenges regarding labor and supply shortages will just get worse.

It’s time to embrace the new.

https://rightandfree.com/news/2021/10/19/progressives-versus-independent-contractors?utm_campaign=AmEagles&utm_source=AmEagles-20211021&utm_medium=email

The Mainstream Media has done its absolute best to ignore Project Veritas’ #CovidVaxExposed series in the last month.

However, in the few occasions they did cover those stories, they did so to mislead the public.

The Associated Press [AP] is a great example – they downplayed Pfizer Insider Melissa Strickler’s story revealing internal emails between Pfizer executives that stated: “we have tried really hard not to share” that  “one or more cell lines with an origin that can be traced back to human fetal tissue has been used in laboratory tests associated with the vaccine program…”

The AP did so by using a “straw man” argument to claim that it was FALSE that fetal cells are in Pfizer’s COVID vaccine.

You can watch my response to AP’s “journalism” here:

Here is what the AP published as a result of Veritas’ Pfizer whistleblower video:

Allow me to summarize just how ridiculous this is.

In the same article, AP is stating that there is a “claim” about Pfizer’s COVID vaccine containing fetal cells based upon leaked emails to Project Veritas, but then says the “facts” show that the Veritas video only covered “fetal cell line when testing the efficacy” of the Pfizer COVID vaccine.

They’re fact checking a NON-ISSUE. Or worse, they’re fact checking random social media comments and trying to say Project Veritas is to blame for people’s interpretations of our reporting. Truly…our so-called news media is broken beyond repair.

The article writer, Angelo Fichera, received the following letter from Veritas attorneys as a result of this nonsense:

Isn’t it funny how these reporters think so highly of themselves, but are unable to perform the most basic obligation in journalism? How do they get away with not reaching out to me or Project Veritas for comment before publishing this story?

The only plausible explanation I can think of is that they already had a preset narrative to run with, and they feared that getting comment from us would be detrimental to their narrative.

You may also be asking, why does this matter?

Here is my answer:

An individual on Instagram messaged Fox 10 Phoenix asking them why the Pfizer whistleblower story was not being covered on their station.

Fox 10 Phoenix responded with a link to this “fact check” and told the individual that they were “fooled by the internet.”

THAT WAS AP’S GOAL.

They created a “straw man” argument that enabled other outlets to pile on to their misleading piece and attack Project Veritas.

Here’s the only problem they weren’t ready for: Project Veritas fights back.

We will not let these lies about us become normalized. We will NEVER allow propaganda to defeat the truth.

Stay tuned as our battle against these sorts of attacks from the establishment is just beginning…

In Veritas,

James

The Anti-Defamation League is under fire for participating in a conference that will see the nation’s oldest anti-Semitism watchdog group share the stage with an anti-Israel activist who has defended the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist groups.

ADL head Jonathan Greenblatt appeared in Pittsburgh this week for the inaugural “Eradicate Hate” conference, a summit that brought ADL together with Salam al-Marayati, a member of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, an anti-Israel organization that has advocated for Middle Eastern terrorist groups to be removed from the United States’ terrorism list, according to Jewish News Service. Al-Marayati has also defended Hamas and Hezbollah and accused Israelis of being responsible for the 9/11 terror attacks. The summit, which ran from Oct. 18 to 20, is billed as a response to the 2018 massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue, where an anti-Semitic man killed 11 Jews.

The ADL’s decision to participate in an event alongside al-Marayati is generating pushback from other pro-Israel organizations. It is the latest controversy to hit the ADL under the leadership of Greenblatt, a former Obama administration official, who critics view as undermining the ADL’s mission and turning the historically apolitical group into a partisan outfit.

“We are horrified Salam al-Marayati, a man who claims Jews ‘weaponize anti-Semitism’ and blames 9/11 on Israel, has been chosen as a key speaker for the Tree of Life anti-hate summit in Pittsburgh,” Liora Rez, executive director of StopAntisemitism.org, told the Washington Free Beacon. “The Tree of Life shooter was an anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist like al-Marayati; his involvement in this summit does nothing but spit on the victims’ graves.”

The ADL did not respond to a Free Beacon request for comment.

The Muslim Public Affairs Council has a long history of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic advocacy. It cosponsored a 2000 event at which attendees called for genocide against Jews, according to JNS. The group has also excused terrorist attacks in Israel conducted by organizations like Hamas.

Al-Marayati also has deep ties to the Democratic Party, according to JNS, including relationships with officials in the Clinton, Obama, and Biden administrations.

Yoseph Haddad, CEO of Together — Vouch for Each Other, a multicultural group of Israeli peace activists, said it is “disturbing to see someone like this speaking at a conference against anti-Semitism and about deradicalization, of all things. His previous actions and statements only prove that he himself has radical tendencies.”

“As an Israeli Arab,” Haddad said, “I myself am a target of Hamas terrorism along with two million other Israeli Arabs. To whitewash Hamas terror is to say the lives of Israeli Arabs and Jews don’t matter.”

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/adl-under-fire-for-teaming-up-with-anti-israel-activist-who-defended-terror-groups/

Legal group warned Steam that sale of the game violated U.S. anti-terrorism laws

The online gaming platform Steam has banned a video game in which players perform terrorist attacks on Israeli soldiers following a Washington Free Beacon report that outlined how the title could run afoul of U.S. anti-terrorism laws.

Steam was set to release in December a game called Fursan Al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Players take on the role of a Palestinian militant who wages war “across Palestine” and murders any Israeli standing in his way. The principal character, “Ahmad al-Falastini,” is “a young Palestinian student who was unjustly tortured and jailed by Israeli soldiers for five years, had all his family killed by an Israeli airstrike and now, after getting out from the prison, seeks revenge against those who wronged him, killed his family, and stole his homeland, by joining a new Palestinian resistance movement,” stated the now-deactivated listing for the game that was published on Steam’s website.

The title generated criticism from an Israeli legal-advocacy group, the International Legal Forum, which informed Steam’s parent company Valve that the sale of the game could violate U.S. anti-terrorism laws. Valve did not comment on the removal of the game.

While video-game publishers generally have a wide leeway in the titles they produce, including games that simulate various war fighting situations, Fursan Al-Aqsa was seen as a potential recruitment tool for Palestinian terror groups.

“This game, with its unhinged glorification of violence and incitement to terror, may place Valve in direct violation of United States anti-terror laws and subject to potential civil litigation,” the International Legal Forum told Valve in a letter sent this month. “In allowing the use of your platform for the glorification and incitement of terror, your company may be in breach of a number of U.S. anti-terrorism laws, including, but not limited to, Section 2339 of the United States Code, which prohibits the providing of ‘material support or resources’ in the ‘preparation for, or in carrying out’ a violation of certain offenses, including terrorism.”

Arsen Ostrovsky, the International Legal Forum’s chairman and CEO, praised Steam for its decision to remove the game.

“We applaud Steam for removing this grotesque game from their platform, following our clear communication to their parent company, Valve Corporation, that by allowing their platform to be used to incite, enable and encourage terror and violence, including for the purposes of recruitment and communication, may be in breach of U.S. anti-terror laws,” Ostrovsky said. “There can be zero tolerance for ‘games’ masquerading as vehicles for promoting terror.”

https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/following-free-beacon-report-gaming-platform-removes-game-that-has-users-slaughter-israelis-as-a-palestinian-militant/

Financially privileged WH press secretary shrugged off supply chain crisis that could ruin Christmas for average Americans

White House press secretary Jen Psaki thinks the U.S. supply chain crisis, which could ruin Christmas for millions of hardworking Americans, amounts to little more than “the tragedy of the treadmill that’s delayed.”

Psaki cracked the “joke” on Tuesday in response to a serious question from New York Times reporter Michael Shear, even as experts warn that rising prices and supply shortages are likely to wreak havoc on the upcoming holiday season. Psaki routinely scolds reporters for asking questions that, in her estimation, do not reflect the concerns of the American people.

Most Americans, for example, can’t afford a personal treadmill and probably couldn’t find the space to fit one in their residence. Psaki, however, can easily afford multiple treadmills and has more than enough room for them in her massive house, a Washington Free Beacon analysis has determined.

Public records show that Psaki and her husband, Greg Mecher, purchased the posh Northern Virginia property in 2019 for $1.64 million. The house is currently estimated to be worth almost $2 million, or more than five times the median home price in the United States.

The Free Beacon‘s anti–doxxing policy prevents us from revealing additional details, but we can confirm that Psaki’s house is big enough to fit an entire fleet of expensive treadmills. In terms of square footage and the number of bedrooms, it is several times larger than the median single-family home in America, with a substantial lot size given the density of the area.

For the sake of providing additional context, Psaki’s annual salary of $180,000 is nearly three times the median household income in the United States. In her most recent financial disclosure report, Psaki listed $579,918 in business income from Evergreen Consulting LLC, the public relations firm she founded. She also reported income of at least $5,000 annually from CNN, Lyft, and Demand Justice, a left-wing “dark money” group funded by billionaire George Soros.

The White House did not return a request for comment on how many treadmills Psaki owns.

https://freebeacon.com/politics/jen-psaki-supply-chain-scandal/

Rachel Esplin Odell’s views undermine Biden admin’s attempt to portray itself as tough on China

One of the Biden administration’s newest State Department hires has regularly downplayed the threat posed by China and argued against holding the Communist regime accountable for the coronavirus pandemic, comments that clash with an administration that has promised to play tough with Beijing.

Rachel Esplin Odell was hired in August to serve as a foreign policy analyst at the State Department, according to her LinkedIn profile. Odell believes “the military threat posed by China to U.S. interests is limited in nature” and that efforts to sanction the CCP for its efforts to hide the “coronavirus would harm America and the world.” These comments put her out of step with the Biden administration, which has increased sanctions on China for its interference in Hong Kong, its ongoing human rights abuses, and its efforts to spy on the United States and other countries.

Odell previously served as a fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, an isolationist think tank jointly funded by George Soros and Charles Koch. As a Quincy fellow, Odell routinely argued that China poses no threat and that the United States should surrender its presence in the region to appease the Communist Party.

Odell is one of some 100 progressive foreign policy hands who were pitched to the incoming Biden administration late last year as part of a push by isolationist and far-left advocacy groups to gain influence over the administration’s national security apparatus. That list, first published in full by the Washington Free Beacon, included notorious anti-Israel activists and progressive policy voices. Odell’s hiring signals that team Biden is willing to accommodate the Democratic Party’s far-left flank. Politico described the list in December as the “first comprehensive and coordinated effort by the left to influence the transition to appoint progressives” across the U.S. national security and diplomatic community.

Odell’s rhetoric on China puts her at odds with more moderate Biden administration officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House National Security Council adviser Jake Sullivan, both of whom have stated their support for countering an increasingly aggressive China, both economically and militarily.

Rebeccah Heinrichs, a national security expert and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute think tank, described the Biden administration’s China policy as “bipolar.”

“There are people who get that China is the pacing threat, and then there are people who are still downplaying the Chinese military threat in the Indo-Pacific and recommending we engage on climate and trade,” Heinrichs said. “Those are mutually exclusive. The latter group will facilitate the rise of China at America’s expense. Period. It is concerning when Biden hires and promotes anyone who has been trying to downplay the military dimension of the China challenge over the last few years especially. It’s inexcusable.”

Odell claimed in a March 2020 discussion hosted by Quincy—which has positioned itself as the go-to think tank for the Biden administration—that “China actually has not posed any threat to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea,” where the CCP routinely harasses U.S. and allied forces. The South China Sea has long been a flashpoint in the growing standoff between the CCP and U.S. allies in the region.

China’s foreign policy, which aggressively seeks to counter U.S. influence across the globe, is not extraordinary, Odell said during the same discussion. “My argument is that China abroad—its foreign policy behavior—is basically typical of a rising power. Of course, rising powers always want to revise some aspect of the system, but so does the United States.”

“The reality,” Odell argued in October 2020, “is the military threat posed by China to U.S. interests is limited in nature.”

America should not seek to hold China accountable for the coronavirus pandemic, Odell said in an April 2020 op-ed explaining “why retribution against China for coronavirus would harm America and the world.” In fact, “Chinese epidemiologists and public health officials have learned invaluable lessons from their experience grappling with the outbreak.” Efforts to sanction China for its role in covering up the coronavirus’s existence and lies to the international community actually are meant to “deflect blame from U.S. failures in responding to the pandemic,” Odell said.

In a May 2020 op-ed slamming Sen. Mitt Romney (R., Utah) for warning against U.S. reliance on Chinese medical equipment, Odell argued that Beijing “is not seeking a strategy of ‘domination,’ particularly not at a global level.” This claim is contradicted by China’s massive military buildup, as well as its escalating threats to seize Taiwan and interfere with its neighbors’ regional security.

U.S. military supremacy in the region “is likely a thing of the past,” Odell said in the same opinion piece. “China’s ability to project significant military power beyond its ‘near seas’ remains limited relative to the United States,” she wrote, adding that China cannot accept a U.S. presence in the waters near the country.

Odell also excused China’s theft of U.S. intellectual property and government secrets, saying, “The United States and other developed nations engaged in similar practices when building their own economies.” America should “facilitate China’s rise,” instead of seeking to contain it, she said in March of this year.

“Treating China as an enemy” endangers U.S. national security, Odell argued in an October 2020 Quincy Institute publication that called for “a new U.S. strategy in East Asia.”

“The current U.S. strategy in East Asia endangers U.S. national security interests by inflaming military tension with China that could provoke crises and escalate into war,” Odell and her colleagues wrote. “It wastes resources by diverting them from essential non-military uses at home and abroad. Treating China as an enemy also makes Beijing less willing to compromise in disputes and endangers bilateral cooperation.”

Odell also has argued against U.S. sanctions on China and for the United States to remain neutral in the CCP’s “territorial disputes” with its neighbors.

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/biden-state-dept-hire-downplayed-chinese-military-threat-deflected-blame-for-covid-pandemic/

An underreported result of the trial of police officer Derek Chauvin is upending American ideals of justice

The sanctity of American justice is predicated on the right to a fair trial. Trial by jury was one of the most important American principles at its founding, guaranteed in the body of the Constitution in Article III, Section 2, and in the Sixth Amendment. It was instituted as a protection of individuals against abuses by the government.

Earlier this year, police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of the murder of George Floyd. Chauvin’s attorneys had hired highly experienced and respected retired forensic pathologist Dr. David Fowler as an expert witness. Fowler testified that Floyd died of “a sudden cardiac arrhythmia due to his [underlying] heart disease … during his restraint and subdual by the police” and not because of lack of oxygen. Despite Fowler’s testimony, the jury convicted Chauvin of murder.

Many trials end in decisions that seem wrong, and you may or may not agree with the conviction of Chauvin. But whether we agree with any particular decision or not, the American system of justice requires us to abide by it. Otherwise, the system falls apart.

The whittling away of the American justice system in this instance is not the government’s attempt to change a jury’s verdict; the government got the conviction that it wanted. In a dangerous precedent, the government is now attempting to ensure that future cases are more likely to result in the verdict it wants by making it clear that witnesses with whom it disagrees will be punished, ostracized, and have their careers destroyed.

Fowler, Chauvin’s expert witness, was Maryland’s chief medical examiner from 2002 to 2019. According to his resume on the website of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (pdf), Fowler was trained in forensic pathology at the University of Cape Town. He was an adjunct associate professor at the University of Maryland in the departments of pediatrics and pathology, and on the faculty at the National Study Center for Trauma and Emergency Medical Systems. Fowler is a past president of the National Association of Medical Examiners. He has authored numerous book chapters, scientific journal articles, and formal presentations. He currently serves as the National Association of Medical Examiners representative to the Forensic Science Standards Board.

Shortly after the trial, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh “received a letter from D.C.’s former chief medical examiner Roger Mitchell, and signed by 431 doctors from around the country, saying Fowler’s conclusions were so far outside the bounds of accepted forensic practice that all his previous work could come into question,” according to the Associated Press. Within 24 hours, Frosch, in consultation with Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s chief legal counsel, announced an investigation into Fowler’s prior in-custody death examinations (pdf). In September, Frosch announced the members of the audit design team (pdf). This development is very troubling.

I work as an expert witness in technology cases. I’ve participated in over 240 cases over 25 years. I’ve seen unethical behavior by expert witnesses, a small number of whom can be paid to say almost anything to support their client’s position. I’ve written about this unethical behavior and about the need to set stricter standards for expert testimony and more significant consequences for those who purposely misrepresent facts, use unaccepted processes, change testimony, or participate in other unscrupulous behavior. The key, though, is that I challenge expert results in court after I’ve seen all the evidence, produced my own rigorous analysis, and come to my own conclusions. Many times, another expert will examine the same evidence, produce an analysis, and come to different conclusions. There’s no crime in being wrong. The jury listens to the experts, guided by the lawyers, weighs the evidence, and comes to a decision. Our justice system is far from perfect, but for the system to work and be as fair as possible, we all must abide by the judicial outcomes.

If any of the armchair medical “experts” in the world are allowed to bring down the career of Fowler, then few people will ever have the courage to testify contrary to the government’s case or the public’s desires. There may be no stronger or more serious undermining of the American justice system than this one. For the American justice system to survive, people must be free to testify honestly and without outside pressure.

For the sake of basic American principles of justice, honest expert opinions must be given openly, without coercion, and without the belief that the government could destroy your reputation and career if you testify the “wrong” way. This is one more move by those on the left who are working against American principles and attempting to destroy the very basis of our society. We must all work to stop it, especially in its most subtle forms.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/a-quiet-attack-on-american-principles-is-going-unnoticed_4055981.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

The attack on America’s southern border has reached a level never before seen, according to a new report.

Customs and Border Protection data obtained by The Washington Post shows that 1.7 million people were detained along the border during the federal 2021 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, meaning arrests by Border Patrol agents hit their highest level ever recorded, according to the report.

This data includes the final 3.5 months of the Trump administration.

Since President Joe Biden took office, 1.3 million illegal immigrants were detained, the report said.

According to Border Patrol data, that would mean that in the first 8.5 months of the Biden administration, more illegal immigrants were detained than in the final two full years of the Trump administration.

Biden Admin Wants North Korea to Talk Nuclear Disarmament; North Korea Responds With Ballistic Missile

In the final full year when former President Donald Trump was in office, 405,036 illegal immigrants were arrested.

The Post noted that President Joe Biden had said one of his goals as president was to avoid having “2 million people on our border.”

Although Biden gave Vice President Kamala Harris the job of dealing with root causes of illegal immigration from Central American countries, the data implies that any effort Harris makes would miss the real target.

The 2021 data, according to the Post, shows that of those detained, 608,000 were Mexican nationals.

Will we ever regain control of the southern border?

A catch-all group that included “Haitians, Venezuelans, Ecuadorans, Cubans, Brazilians” and others made up 367,000 of the total arrests.

Then came Honduras, 309,000; Guatemala, 279,000; and El Salvador, 96,000.

The report said that 61 percent of those entering illegally were expelled, which would mean about 650,000 illegal immigrants have entered the country to stay.

On Tuesday, Chris Magnus, the police chief from Tucson, Arizona, who has been nominated to run Customs and Border Protection, said the numbers represented a “significant challenge” and “the numbers are very high.”

In response to the illegal immigration crisis and the Biden administration’s lack of action, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas drafted what he called the “Stop the SURGE Act” that would open up new ports of entry in Democratic strongholds, so those areas could share in what Texas border towns are experiencing. The locations are in Delaware, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and California.

The Man Accused of Raping a Woman on Philadelphia Commuter Train Is an Illegal Immigrant with a Criminal Record: Report

“For the past ten months, President Biden and his administration have willingly surrendered the United States’ southern border to dangerous criminal cartels, with no thought given to the South Texas border communities like McAllen and Del Rio, which are running low on resources from dealing with this massive influx of illegal immigrants. That’s why today I am introducing this crucial legislation to alleviate the massive overload at the southern border by establishing new ports of entry in Democrat-led communities such as North Hero, Vermont, where Bernie Sanders spends his summers, and Martha’s Vineyard, where Democrat elites host their cocktail parties,” Cruz said.

“If Washington Democrats had to endure even a fraction of the suffering South Texas families, farmers, ranchers and small businesses have had to face, our nation’s immigration laws would be enforced, the wall would be built and the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy would be re-implemented,” he continued.

“From my time this year on the ground in Laredo and Del Rio, it is abundantly clear that President Biden has all but abandoned our border patrol agents and processing facilities, and left Texas communities to fend for themselves. President Biden and Democrats need to step up to defend our southern border and support our heroic Customs and Border Protection officials,” he said.

National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd on Wednesday addressed a disturbing report about migrants with terrorist ties, calling it a “worst-case scenario” for the country due to President Joe Biden’s open-border policies.

In a Republican National Committee podcast posted to YouTube on Monday, Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales said he’d met recently with Panama’s foreign minister, Erika Mouynes, and was told that the country had detained 52 migrants linked to the al-Qaida terrorist group.

The Biden administration is not doing its job, Gonzales said.

“She goes, ‘There’s no one home. I’m here talking to you because the administration is just absent,’” Gonzales said, according to The Washington Times.

(The podcast interview can be seen here. The terrorism discussion starts about the 18:55 mark.)

Biden Admin Wants North Korea to Talk Nuclear Disarmament; North Korea Responds With Ballistic Missile

In a “Fox & Friends First” interview Wednesday, Judd explained what that kind of news could mean.

“This is the worst-case scenario because we just don’t know the number of people who are getting away,” Judd said.

“This is the worst-case scenario”:

National Border Patrol President Brandon Judd speaks on the potential for terrorists to enter the U.S. because of President Biden’s open border policies.https://t.co/GACKIdh2Kh

— Fox & Friends First (@FoxFriendsFirst) October 20, 2021

“And when you consider that that many people have already been spotted in another country with ties to terrorism, and then you look at the number of people who are crossing our border with ties to countries like Russia, Romania, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Gambia, Senegal, these countries generally tend to have animosity towards the United States and they’re coming in,” he added.

Are the Biden administration’s policies leaving the country open to a terror attack from the southern border?

The number of illegal immigrants encountered by the Border Patrol this year is already on a record-setting pace, but Judd noted that with the number of those who get through without being caught, neither the government nor anyone else can know for sure who is entering the country.

“Then you look at the number of got-aways and the people that have been able to cross our border illegally… We just don’t know what’s coming across the border and that is scary,” he said.

“It needs to be a point of emphasis for this administration in order to protect the American public, but they just don’t seem to have the will to do what is necessary, to secure our borders, to make it safe for the citizens of this country,” Judd added.

When Judd was asked if he considered the border situation a national security crisis, he didn’t hold back.

Leaked CBP Data Shows Biden’s Border Surge Has Hit Numbers Never Seen Before: Report

“It is, and it always has been, when you look at what we deal with and what we face on a daily basis. Regardless of whether you consider it just people from countries of special interest or countries that want to do us harm, when you look at drugs on top of that as well, this has always been a national security interest,” Judd said.

“It needs to be something that is looked at very, very hard,” he added.

Last week, illegal migrants from at least eight different nations, including Uzbekistan, crossed the southern border at Yuma, Arizona, in a single day as the migration crisis continues to escalate in the area.

Jorge Ventura, a reporter with the Daily Caller, shared a video of a family from India illegally entering the U.S. through a route known as “The Gap.”

My first time encountering migrants from India crossing illegally into Yuma at ‘The Gap’. So far I’ve encountered migrants from 8 different countries today in Yuma pic.twitter.com/IujT57ACTu

— Jorge Ventura Media (@VenturaReport) October 15, 2021

“Group of 80 migrants from Georgia, Venezuela, Brazil, Uzbekistan and El Salvador apprehended by [Border Patrol] in the Yuma sector,” Ventura tweeted.

Group of 80 migrants from Georgia, Venezuela, Brazil, Uzbekistan and El Salvador apprehended by border patrol in the Yuma sector pic.twitter.com/2fsKPqVOJZ

— Jorge Ventura Media (@VenturaReport) October 15, 2021

Ventura also reported that Colombian migrants had illegally crossed the border at Yuma earlier the same week.

One sex crime didn’t result in much more than a slap on the wrist for this illegal immigrant.

And now, Fiston Ngoy, 35, is accused of raping a woman last week on a Philadelphia commuter train — as other passengers did nothing to stop it.

A report from Fox News after an investigation by “Tucker Carlson Tonight” revealed that Ngoy has been in the country illegally since 2015 when the student visa he used to enter the U.S. from the Congo was terminated.

Fox reported that Ngoy had “multiple arrests and two misdemeanor convictions, one for controlled substances and one for sexual abuse.”

Police say the suspect, 35-year-old Fiston Ngoy, is facing rape and several other charges. Investigators say the sexual attack happened while others were standing around on the train and “did nothing.” @MattPetrillo reportshttps://t.co/DnKjTMxNfO

— CBS Philly (@CBSPhilly) October 15, 2021

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In 2017, according to Fox, Ngoy pleaded guilty to sexual assault in Washington, D.C., and was sentenced to six months in prison followed by 90 days probation.

Ngoy was put in immigration detention in January 2018, which meant he would have been deported.

But the system ground on in its inscrutable fashion and in March 2019, the Board of Immigration Appeals decided that a misdemeanor sex offense was not a “serious crime,” Fox reported.

Have the open borders activists made life in America unsafe?

The Board of Immigration Appeals then decided Ngoy could stay in the country as long as he reported to Immigration and Customs Enforcement under an order of supervision.

He is now accused of raping a woman Wednesday night as other passengers either watched the attack or recorded it on their phones.

“He should have been deported. This should never have happened. He should not have been here. And the only reason he was is because he had a lot of people like him have been invited here and allowed to stay by the people who run the country, but who don’t ride the train,” Fox News host Tucker Carlson said in a commentary Tuesday night.

“So why aren’t the people who allowed him to remain here in jail themselves? They certainly should be,” Carlson said.

“So to recap, you can walk into our country at the invitation of our leaders at public expense. You can overstay your visa and in so doing, mock our laws. Then you can get busted for drugs and a sex crime, not deported, allowed to stay. And then you go on — probably inevitably at this point — to rape a woman on a train in full view of a crowd that does nothing to stop it,” he said.

Leaked CBP Data Shows Biden’s Border Surge Has Hit Numbers Never Seen Before: Report

Police said the crime was witnessed by multiple riders who did nothing.

“As many as 10 people actually saw some part of the attack on this rider,” said Thomas Nestel III, Transit Police chief for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, according to the Daily Mail.

Nestel said authorities reviewed video surveillance cameras.

“We were watching to see if somebody put a phone up to their ear indicating they might be calling 911. Instead, what we saw was people holding their phone up as if they were recording or taking pictures,” he said.

The attack was reported by an off-duty SEPTA employee.

Ngoy was charged with rape, sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault without consent, and other crimes, according to The New York Times.

He was being held at the Delaware County Jail on $180,000 bail, the Times reported.

Some residents of San Francisco are so fed up with having their property broken into and items stolen that they have hired a private security firm to patrol their streets at night.

A number of residents in the misgoverned city’s Marina District told KPIX-TV that their beachfront neighborhood has seen a rash of burglaries and car break-ins in recent months. In response, they’re paying a police-commissioned Patrol Special Officer named Alan Byard to check in on them throughout the night.

A woman in the neighborhood identified as Katie Lyons told the outlet that alarms and cameras have failed to deter criminals — many of whom have been seen breaking into cars in broad daylight — and that hiring private security was out of necessity.

“We don’t feel safe in our neighborhood,” Lyons said. “And we have an alarm, we have cameras on our property, but we want the extra security of having someone have eyes on our place.”

KPIX obtained video of some of the brazen, daylight car break-ins and other crimes — which Lyons said have gotten worse recently.

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“Especially at night, I don’t walk with a purse, I’ll drive, or I’ll take an Uber, and it’s beginning to become a daytime problem too,” Lyons said.

Lyons and roughly 150 other clients in the Marina District are using Byard, who told KPIX he’s staying busy.

“It’s a nice area down here, people are afraid of what’s been going on,” Byard told the outlet. “They want a safe place to raise their kids. In the last year, I’ve had 10 of my clients move out of the city.”

Would you live in a city that defunded its police department?

Byard charges each client $65 per month, and he makes his rounds from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Lyons and other desperate residents have hired Byard amid a crime wave in the city that has already chased a number of Walgreens stores out of the city this year. The company announced last week that it is closing five more stores in the city, according to local news site SF Gate.

Walgreens has closed at least 10 stores in the city since 2019, SF Gate reported.

But crime isn’t just occurring at drug stores and along oceanfront property. It’s happening seemingly everywhere in San Francisco. KPIX reported earlier this year that nervous citizens in the city were reported burglaries and other property crimes with an alarming frequency.

Some people who spoke to the CBS affiliate said they had made the decision to leave the city, which did cut some funding for police last year during a rush by urban Democrats to “defund” the police.

In-N-Out Burger Sends Unmistakable Message to San Francisco’s Vaccine Police

KGO-TV reported that, under controversial Mayor London Breed, San Francisco in July 2020 cut funding for the police and sheriff’s departments totaling roughly $120 million. The money pulled from law enforcement was said to be reallocated to minority communities.

“With this budget, we are listening to the community and prioritizing investments in the African American community around housing, mental health and wellness, workforce development, economic justice, education, advocacy and accountability,” Breed said in a statement.

(Breed, it’s worth noting, doesn’t have to pay for her own, private security. According to a July report in Forbes, the city spent $12.4 million on security for Breed between 2015 and 2020. Breed was a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors before taking over the mayor’s job in 2018.)

The city also placed 40 police officers who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 on leave Tuesday, KNTV reported.

The experiment hasn’t helped residents of all colors who are now dealing with rampant crime. Such crime has risen across California, but has hit San Francisco particularly hard.

In 2014, Californians passed Proposition 47, which reclassified some thefts, including violent ones, from felonies to misdemeanors — so long as what was stolen was worth less than $950.

In a column published by the New York Post in June, Heather Meyers, director of the policing and public safety initiative for the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, reported that state’s rate of property crime went from below the national average to above the national avenge. In 2019, San Francisco alone saw its rate of petty crime rate double that of the rest of the state, Meyers wrote.

Meanwhile, the city is so tolerant of drug use that amid the coronavirus pandemic, it was home to a program that provided alcoholics and drugs addicts with booze, drugs and hotel rooms in the name of “harm reduction.”

Put together factors like that and there’s not just a crime wave, it’s a crime tsunami.

It’s safe to say that liberal policies of incentivizing theft and then demonizing police officers haven’t worked out for San Francisco and its law-abiding residents. Sadly, many of them are not only out of pocket for items damaged or stolen by the city’s emboldened criminals. Some of them are also paying out of pocket for their own private security.

A recent poll by Joint Venture Silicon Valley found that 56 percent of San Francisco Bay area residents reported having thoughts about moving.

It’s not hard to see why, when residents are so threatened by crime that they have to hire private security because they can’t depend on their own police.

Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford led an amicus brief signed by 12 senators and 14 House members in support of Joe Kennedy, a high school football coach who was terminated over his post-game prayers at midfield.

Kennedy served as head coach of Bremerton High School’s junior varsity team and assistant coach of the varsity team. At the conclusion of each game, Kennedy privately prayed on bended knee at midfield.

The coach continued his prayers despite a letter from the school to demand Kennedy to stop praying after games in 2015. His contract was not renewed, resulting in his termination.

Kennedy filed a lawsuit against the Bremerton School District that was dismissed by a federal district court. After an appeal, the Ninth Circuit Court ruled against the coach. After the Supreme Court denied the case, it returned to the Ninth Circuit Court that upheld its previous decision.

Lankford’s amicus brief requests the Supreme Court to review and reverse the lower court’s decision.

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“Our government does not have the authority to force you to practice your faith in the space of its choosing. My colleagues and I are standing up for Coach Kennedy’s right to live his faith — this is his inherent right,” Lankford tweeted Tuesday.

Our government does not have the authority to force you to practice your faith in the space of its choosing. My colleagues and I are standing up for Coach Kennedy’s right to live his faith—this is his inherent right. https://t.co/TFYliUxJl2

— Sen. James Lankford (@SenatorLankford) October 19, 2021

“In America, we have more than the freedom of worship; we have the free exercise of religion,” Lankford wrote in a news release.

“Each person can have a faith, change their faith, or have no faith. In this case, the school district wanted to choose the time and place for private prayer for one of its employees. Our government does not have the authority to force anyone to practice your faith in the time and space of its choosing,” he added.

Lankford emphasized the government’s inability to restrict a person’s inherent right to faith.

“Government cannot and should not restrict a person praying over their lunch, wearing a crucifix, having a copy of scripture on their desk or kneeling to pray silently after a football game. The right to live your faith is one of the most basic principles recognized by our Constitution. Coach Kennedy’s right to live his faith is his inherent right,” he wrote.

Missouri Republican Rep. Vicky Hartzler, who is co-leading the brief for the House, commented on the issue, as well.

“America is the land of many freedoms which include religion and speech. These God-given rights are central to our nation’s founding and have guided the United States for centuries,” Hartzler said.

Cop Stops to Send Up an Off-Duty Prayer Outside of Abortion Clinic, City Immediately Takes Action Against Him

“Today, these principles are being challenged and stand at risk of being diminished. We are currently seeing this with Bremerton (WA) School District Coach Joe Kennedy, who exercised his right to practice his faith yet ended up losing his career and livelihood as a result. I urge the Supreme Court to consider his case and right this wrong for the sake of America’s precious freedoms,” she added.

Former Vice President Mike Pence has also joined in support of Kennedy’s case. The Pence Group was among 70 organizations and individuals listed in a separate amicus brief on Monday.

“It is absurd to label an act of obvious personal gratitude and humility governmental speech that is prohibited by the Constitution,” the amicus brief said.

“Indeed, it is commonplace in our Republic for public officials to pray aloud in front of public audiences, which has since the time of the Founding been understood to be a permissible and healthy expression of the personal faith of the speaker, rather than an impermissible endorsement of religion by the government,” it added.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki was not willing to elaborate Tuesday on why Democrats’ $3.5 trillion “Build Back Better” bill would not increase the national debt.

Of course, the price tag is up in the air as Democrats seek a top line that moderate Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema are willing to stomach, but the essence of the legislation has remained the same: starting a bunch of new open-ended entitlement programs.

Some big-ticket items include taxpayer-funded pre-K, rental assistance payments, free community college, paid family and sick leave, expanded health care benefits, enhanced child tax credits and climate change initiatives.

“Does the president still believe that Build Back Better will not add a dime to the national debt?” a reporter asked Psaki during a Tuesday White House briefing.

“Correct. It won’t,” she responded.

Biden Admin Wants North Korea to Talk Nuclear Disarmament; North Korea Responds With Ballistic Missile

“Why should Americans believe that?” the reporter followed up.

“Because it won’t,” Psaki answered before trying to move on to another question.

Reporter: “Does the president still believe that Build Back Better will not add a dime to the national debt?”

Psaki: “Correct. It Won’t.”

Reporter: “Why should Americans believe that?”

Psaki: “Because it won’t.” pic.twitter.com/QB86LDjhPc

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) October 19, 2021

The reporter understandably wasn’t ready to accept Psaki’s glib response without at least one more pass at the topic.

“[President Joe Biden] says he wants to get more taxes in,” he said. “What if the economy goes sour? Lots of things can happen. You’re going to tell … future generations not even born yet that they’re not on the hook for this? Is that right?”

“That’s right, and hopefully you’ll report accurate information yourself,” Psaki said.

Well, here’s some accurate information: Even the $3.5 trillion price tag is far less than the legislation is likely to cost.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Government estimated the true cost of the bill would be between $5 trillion and $5.5 trillion over the next ten years, because some programs are only partially funded by the legislation.

Watch: Here’s the Proof the Biden Admin Doesn’t Care at All About Americans

As the reporter hinted in his exchange with Psaki, one problem in determining whether the bill is paid for is that it counts on new revenue generated by taxing corporations and the “rich” more heavily.

However, hiking the corporate tax rate to the levels Democrats are proposing would make the U.S. one of the highest-taxed countries in the world, which is likely to hurt economic and job growth.

America’s combined average federal and state corporate income tax would be nearly 6 percent higher than China’s 25 percent rate.

Under the House tax plan, the U.S. would have the third-highest corporate rate in the industrialized world, behind only Colombia and Portugal: https://t.co/o7UUMh0P5J pic.twitter.com/JxSG1514zg

— Tax Foundation (@TaxFoundation) September 22, 2021

Psaki has no idea whether the federal debt will increase if the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill is passed into law. Strong evidence suggests it will likely go up by trillions.

There’s some accurate reporting for you, Ms. Psaki.

Dr. Malik Peiris, who previously served on the Lancet medical journal’s COVID-19 origins investigation committee, received China’s “Nobel Prize” for research affirming the Chinese Communist Party’s false narrative that COVID-19 developed naturally.

Peiris, a Sri Lankan virologist working in Hong Kong, was one of 12 scientists leading the now-defunct Lancet probe into the origins of COVID-19. While the task force is no longer listed on the medical journal’s website, as it was forced to disband due to extensive conflicts of interests with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, archived web pages reveal Peiris’s participation in the effort.

Following Peiris’s stint on the task force, the Chinese Communist Party awarded him with the prize in life sciences in the 2021 Future Science Prize – dubbed China’s “Nobel Prize.” China’s top scientific honor is accompanied by a $1 million prize, which is funded by several Chinese Communist Party-linked companies such as Baidu, Hillhouse Capital, and Sequoia Capital China.

State-run media outlet Global Times claimed the award was for his “major discoveries of SARS-CoV-1 as the causative agent of the global SARS outbreak in 2003 with impact on combating COVID-19 and emerging infectious diseases.” Peiris shared the award with co-author Kwok-Yung Yuen.

In an exclusive interview with the Chinese Communist Party-run media outlet, Yuen asserted “this is one of the most important prizes not just in China but also internationally.”

Peiris’s research was praised by award reviewers as playing an integral role in tracing the origins of COVID-19, as reviewer Wang Xiaodong noted “Chinese scientists were able to quickly identify the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to their contributions.” The research bolstered the Chinese Communist Party’s fake narrative that COVID-19 developed naturally as opposed to escaping from a lab.

WHO’s New ‘COVID Origins Investigation’ Includes CCP Advisors & Wuhan Lab Collaborators.

As Global Times explains, Peiris’s research helped “support the bat origin of SARS-CoV-2”:

When asked how their discoveries affect people’s understanding of the cause of COVID-19, Yuen explained that since he and his team discovered in 2005 that the horseshoe bat was the natural animal reservoir for the ancestral SARS-CoV-1, they believe that SARS-CoV-2 “also went from bats to another mammal(s) before jumping into humans.”

Moreover, SARS-CoV-2 replicates very well in both bat and human intestinal organs, which further supports the bat origin of SARS-CoV-2, he said.

The Big Government Socialists who have taken over the Democratic Party love to talk about “free” programs: Free community college, free childcare, free dental and eye care for Medicare, free public housing, free food stamps, the list goes on.

Don’t fall for it.

Sen. Bernie Sanders’ belief in socialism has now infected virtually the entire elected membership of the Democratic Party in Washington. This infection persists despite daily evidence that big government is not efficient or effective.

At the federal level, consider President Joe Biden’s border catastrophe, his disastrous exit from Afghanistan, his record inflation, and now the crippling, policy-imposed supply chain woes.

At the local level, consider the collapsing urban schools, skyrocketing murder rates in Democrat-run cities, and massive theft of unemployment compensation money.

There is an almost religious fanaticism within the left to believe that somehow more big government implementing more socialist policies will create a better future.

The left’s constant refrain of the word “free” is a key example of how misguided Big Government Socialism really is.

None of the things the Big Government Socialists want to do are free. In a bygone, saner political era, they would be described as what they are: taxpayer funded programs.

When you get a “free” school lunch, a taxpayer paid for it. When you get “free” treatment through Medicaid, a taxpayer funded it. When you go to a “free” government-run school, taxpayers funded the cost.

When you discuss the lunacy of Big Government Socialist programs—whether from President Biden, Sen. Chuck Schumer, or Speaker Nancy Pelosi—correct the conversation every time the word “free” is used. Insist on calling it “taxpayer funded.”

To dig a little deeper: Taxpayers fund government programs in three ways—borrowing, taxing cash, and taxing through inflation. All three methods involve taking money out of taxpayers’ pockets and reducing the standard of living for Americans.

Borrowing for public programs is a future tax. Businesses borrow to make investments, which increase revenue and become self-liquidating. They invest in greater production and larger profits, which then pay off the debt without a further claim on the borrowers.

But government borrows, spends money on current goods and services, and has nothing coming back to repay the debt—except your future tax dollars. Sooner or later, you have to lower your standard of living to pay off the government’s debt.

Further, when interest rates rise, the cost of paying interest becomes so large it dominates and soaks up the budget. Because of the compounding effect of interest on the debt, the Founding Fathers—and most generations who followed them—have had a distinct hostility to deficit spending and large government debt build up.

The traditional alternative to borrowing is to raise taxes. It is no accident that Sanders’ $3.5-plus trillion Big Government Socialism bill has a $3 trillion tax increase attached to it.

President Donald Trump helped grow the economy with the largest tax cut in history, and now Biden seems determined to crush the economy with the largest tax increase in history.

Of course, Trump combined an extraordinary program of regulatory modernization with his tax cuts, which further accelerated economic growth, job creation, and increased take-home pay. By contrast, Biden is launching a massive wave of job- and investment-killing regulatory red tape along with his tax increases. So, we are almost guaranteed a much smaller, slower growing economy, fewer jobs, and less take-home pay.

However, the real hit for ordinary Americans may not come in the form of direct taxes. They will feel the indirect taxation of their spending power through rampant, crippling inflation.

A recent Wall Street Journal editorial made precisely this point. As the editorial board wrote, “workers are paying the price. Real average hourly earnings rose 0.2 percent in September but they are down 0.8 percent since a year ago. Real hourly earnings are down 1.9 percent since January when Joe Biden became President. What the progressive government giveth in transfer payments, it taketh in higher prices and real wage declines.”

The Biden promise to only raise taxes on people earning more than $400,000 a year has clearly been broken.

Every person who buys gasoline or heating oil is paying more. Stephen Moore, in his Unleash Prosperity hotline, pointed out that energy costs are up 24.8 percent in the last year. That hits virtually every American no matter their income.

To be clear: If you eat, Biden inflation taxes you. As the Wall Street Journal reported “Beef prices are up 17.6 percent over the last 12 months, and fresh fish and seafood are 10.7 percent higher.”

Of course, if you don’t eat, drive, or use electricity to light, heat, or cool your home, you might avoid the Biden inflation tax.

The next time you hear a Big Government Socialist—or their news media mouthpieces—use the word “free,” break in and say, “don’t you mean taxpayer-funded.” You will find people suddenly become much less supportive of the Big Government Socialist takeover of America.

From Gingrich360.com.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/notice-free-means-taxpayer-funded_4059330.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Vice President Kamala Harris, who appears to be in the witness protection program when it comes to her assigned role of restoring our southern border, has re-surfaced in a video she sent to 300 black churches in Virginia. In it, she calls on congregants to vote for Democratic candidate for governor, Terry McAuliffe. She even reminds them they can vote on Sundays and urges them to do so following their church service, presumably after worshipping an Authority higher than the state.

Did Harris just violate the Hatch Act? The Hatch Act says of employees of the federal government: “an employee may not use his official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election.” I’m sure “getting out the vote” for McAuliffe qualifies.

In the video, Harris touts what she says was McAuliffe’s record during his previous governorship from 2014 to 2018. She claims he brought thousands of jobs to the state. Former President Donald Trump also made this claim. But the Biden administration gives no credit to Trump for anything, though it has quietly restored some of his policies, such as requiring migrants to remain in Mexico while their asylum claims are processed.

Some other takeaways from the Harris video include her failure to mention anything the current Democratic governor, Ralph Northam, has done. It is as if Northam has been erased from memory, like the Soviet Union used to do with leaders who had fallen out of favor and whose photographs were scrubbed from official ceremonies, and ultimately history, to service the Bolshevik propaganda machine.

In the video, Harris says when she attended church in Oakland, California, “it was our sacred responsibility to raise our voice and to lift up the voices of our community.” Translation: vote for Democrats, though their track record is less than admirable when it comes to serving black and brown communities. For Democrats, African Americans never seem to succeed and are always in need of government. Why? To do what? Reduce shootings in the streets of our major cities? Create and keep families together? Give parents an opportunity for their children to escape failing public schools and allow them to choose a school that provides a real education in a safe environment? None of the above. It is in Democrats’ self-interest to keep African Americans loyal and beholden to their party, though so little is given in return.

When a liberal Democrat “talks God” there is no criticism from the advocates of church-state separation because the left, which now dominates that party, knows they aren’t serious. You can call yourself anything you want so long as you ignore the instructions, admonitions, and salvation message of Scripture. That’s why Roman Catholics like President Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi seem to get away with proclaiming themselves “faithful Catholics” yet ignore—even oppose—their church’s teaching on abortion, marriage, and homosexuality. As long as you are for the same policies advocated by secular progressives you can be “religious,” and the left doesn’t care.

Democrats who have told conservative Christians they should not try to impose their beliefs through government obviously have no problem imposing misinterpretations of Scripture and even non-beliefs through government and judicial fiat. Some are even inconsistent in those beliefs, accepting their church’s teaching when it opposes the death penalty for murderers, but rejecting teachings that seek to protect unborn human life.

By sending a video to black Virginia churches, Harris is guilty of the same condescension we have seen for years within her party when it comes to certain demographics. If government is the answer, would it not have succeeded by now with so many programs enacted and so much money spent?

Will Harris be held accountable for violating the Hatch Act? Of course not. Washington always protects its own, unless the person is a Republican, or Donald Trump.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/harris-and-the-hatch-act_4059116.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz introduced a bill on Tuesday that would create new ports of entry in locations like Martha’s Vineyard, where illegal immigrants would be sent to hold President Joe Biden and Democrats accountable for ignoring the “man-made” border crisis.

The bill, called the Stop the SURGE Act, would create 13 new ports nationwide where illegal immigrants encountered in Texas would be transferred to relieve overwhelmed Border Patrol resources.

“I’m introducing crucial legislation to alleviate the massive overload at the southern border by establishing new ports of entry in Democrat-led communities such as Martha’s Vineyard, where Democrat elites host their cocktail parties,” Cruz tweeted with the announcement of the legislation.

I’m introducing crucial legislation to alleviate the massive overload at the southern border by establishing new ports of entry in Democrat-led communities such as Martha’s Vineyard, where Democrat elites host their cocktail parties. #BidenBorderCrisis https://t.co/3cX9i8NPlk

— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) October 19, 2021

Kamala Harris, Stacey Abrams Threaten the Tax-Exempt Status of 300 Churches

In a statement, the senator announced the bill was being introduced “to demand President Biden, his administration, and Congressional Democrats address the unprecedented man-made crisis on the South Texas border and their political decisions that directly created it.”

“For the past ten months, President Biden and his administration have willingly surrendered the United States’ southern border to dangerous criminal cartels, with no thought given to the South Texas border communities like McAllen and Del Rio, which are running low on resources from dealing with this massive influx of illegal immigrants,” Cruz said.

“That’s why today I am introducing this crucial legislation to alleviate the massive overload at the southern border by establishing new ports of entry in Democrat-led communities such as North Hero, Vermont, where Bernie Sanders spends his summers, and Martha’s Vineyard, where Democrat elites host their cocktail parties,” he added.

Cruz’s goal is to end “this horrific humanitarian crisis” along the nation’s southern border.

Should new entry ports be created for immigrants to hold Democrats responsible for the border crisis?

“If Washington Democrats had to endure even a fraction of the suffering South Texas families, farmers, ranchers, and small businesses have had to face, our nation’s immigration laws would be enforced, the wall would be built, and the Remain in Mexico policy would be re-implemented,” Cruz said.

“I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stop ignoring the plight of South Texas communities and act swiftly to end this horrific humanitarian crisis.”

The Texas senator accused Democrats of “completely ignoring” the crisis over the past 10 months.

“My Democrat colleagues have hosted hearing after hearing on amnesty and federalizing elections while completely ignoring the crisis at our southern border. From my time this year on the ground in Laredo and Del Rio, it is abundantly clear that President Biden has all but abandoned our border patrol agents and processing facilities, and left Texas communities to fend for themselves,” Cruz added.

He concluded with strong words of support for the Customs and Border Protection officials who defend our nation’s borders: “President Biden and Democrats need to step up to defend our southern border and support our heroic Customs and Border Protection officials.”

Leaked CBP Data Shows Biden’s Border Surge Has Hit Numbers Never Seen Before: Report

The senator also appeared on Fox News on Tuesday to discuss the new legislation. “Democrats need to face the disaster of their policies and the humanitarian misery they are causing,” he said.

Democrats need to face the disaster of their policies and the humanitarian misery they are causing.

That’s why I’ve introduced a bill to create new ports of entry in places like Greenwich, Martha’s Vineyard, Rehoboth Beach, and Palo Alto. #BidenBorderCrisis pic.twitter.com/VaqYlbqXuT

— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) October 19, 2021

Martha’s Vineyard, one of the proposed ports of entry, was the location of former President Barack Obama’s star-studded 60th birthday party earlier this year.

Another proposed port of entry is Palo Alto, California, located near tech giants Facebook and Google.

Other ports of entry include well-known destinations such as Greenwich, Connecticut, and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Democrats quietly filled their $3.5 trillion “infrastructure” bill with progressive priorities that will cripple average Americans.

In the latest discovery of a hidden agenda item, groups representing oil and gas companies said the bill would create $6 billion in new taxes on their industry.

Western Energy Alliance, the U.S. Oil and Gas Association, the International Association of Drilling Contractors and the Energy Workforce & Technology Council wrote a letter to the House Natural Resources Committee urging it to block the bill, Just the News reported.

The groups argued that the “ill-conceived and punitive fees, royalties, and penalties in an effort to raise just six billion dollars in revenue” would decrease the supply of over 6,000 everyday items. They said the new taxes would disproportionately affect poor, elderly and Native Americans.

Obviously, the taxes would further raise gas prices. According to Wednesday data from AAA, the average price of a gallon of gas in the U.S. has already risen a whopping $1.17 in just one year.

Kamala Harris, Stacey Abrams Threaten the Tax-Exempt Status of 300 Churches

In a 2014 CNN article, economist Stephen Stanley said that every penny of a decrease in the national gas price average equates to about a $1 billion “tax cut” for Americans.

At the time, CNN was attempting to praise the economy under then-President Barack Obama. However, the flip side of that coin means that every penny of an increase in the average gas price equals $1 billion taken out of Americans’ pockets.

By that logic, Americans have lost $117 billion since this time last year — and prices are only going up.

The groups representing the oil and gas industry said crude oil is already averaging $80 a barrel, but the price is expected to rise to at least $100. That will translate to even higher prices at the pump.

If that wasn’t bad enough, tax increases on oil and gas would affect thousands of other products.

“In 2020, of the approximately 6.6 billion barrels of total U.S. petroleum consumption, 44% was finished motor gasoline (including fuel ethanol), 21% was distillate fuel (heating oil and diesel fuel made from crude oil and biomass-based diesel fuel), and 6% was jet fuel,” Just the News reported.

“The remaining 29% came from over 13 other types of petroleum. To put this in perspective, one 42 gallon barrel of oil creates 19.4 gallons of gasoline. The remaining half of the barrel is used to make more than 6,000 products.”

Those products include plastic and synthetic materials used in countless items, including paint, cleaning supplies, medicine, clothes, soap, toys and much more.

The groups said small business owners, who are already struggling from the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, will feel the effects of price increases. They predicted that “rural communities will be decimated,” as will minorities, who will lose “tens of thousands” of jobs.

150 San Fran Families Hire Private Security as Crime Tsunami Overwhelms Local Police

“Tribal budgets will be eviscerated and the Native American allottees who receive royalty payments will lose those payments each month, trapping them in poverty,” they continued.

Democrats know Americans would not support these tax increases, so they have hidden them in a massive spending plan under the guise of “infrastructure.” They did the same thing with measures like monitoring drivers and spying on Americans via the IRS.

While President Joe Biden claims to care about the middle and lower classes, he continually takes actions that will destroy them. What’s worse, though, is that he doesn’t even have the courage to admit it.

Conservative talk show host Dennis Prager announced on Monday during his daily nationally syndicated radio program that he had contracted COVID-19.

A vocal opponent of coronavirus vaccine mandates, especially for young people and those previously infected with the virus, Prager, 73, has refused the vaccine and intentionally sought speaking engagements and events throughout the pandemic whenever and wherever he could.

“I have hugged thousands of strangers … at rallies around the country. I have posed for photos with strangers in the thousands at speeches. And finally I got it from somebody,” he said while broadcasting the show from his home on Monday.

The radio host said he had taken the monoclonal antibody treatment Regeneron, which he said President Joe Biden has made “almost impossible for people to get … because the man is evil.”

From the start of the pandemic, Prager has been a harsh critic of the Democrats’ response to COVID-19 — such as small-business-crushing lockdowns and vaccine and mask mandates — but an enthusiastic promoter of therapeutics to treat the virus.

Kamala Harris, Stacey Abrams Threaten the Tax-Exempt Status of 300 Churches

He began taking hydroxychloroquine prophylactically shortly after then-President Donald Trump mentioned in a March 19, 2020, news conference that the anti-malarial drug could prove to be a promising treatment for COVID-19.

Prager has interviewed prominent proponents for HCQ on his show, particularly Dr. Vladimir Zelenko, who came up with the “Zelenko Protocol,” a concoction of low-dose hydroxychloroquine, zinc and azithromycin that he said resulted in fewer hospitalizations when given in the early stages of mild-to-moderate COVID infection.

And in November 2020, Prager added ivermectin to his personal regimen.

“I believe that what I had decided to do over the course of the last year-and-a-half, I believe, has been justified,” Prager said at his show’s opening on Monday. “I wanted to achieve natural immunity, which is by far the more robust immunity that one could have against COVID or any virus.”

He referenced a recent piece published in The Washington Post in which Dr. Marty Makary, a professor at the John Hopkins School of Medicine, argued the superiority of natural immunity over vaccination.

Makary cited over 15 studies supporting his assertion, including a recent 700,000-person study in Israel that found that those previously infected with COVID-19 were 27 times less likely to contract the virus again than those who were vaccinated.

Prager most likely contracted COVID-19 while at a campaign event in Colorado on Oct. 10 with Republican Colorado gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl, the front-running challenger to Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’ re-election, according to the Denver Gazette.

NEW: Conservative talk radio host @DennisPrager says he tested positive for COVID-19 last week, days after appearing at a Colorado fundraiser for @heidiganahl. Prager said he intentionally contracted COVID-19 by engaging with, hugging, and taking photos with people. #copolitics pic.twitter.com/FAKPMjZVlR

— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) October 18, 2021

Dennis Prager’s Feature Film on Censorship Hit with 100% Unjustified PG-13 Rating

The hourlong “sold-out” campaign event, called “The Future of Colorado,” was held at a Marriott hotel in Colorado Springs with about 100 attendees.

A representative of Ganahl’s campaign told the Gazette, “We have not been made aware of anyone who attended the event outside of Dennis’ inner circle getting the virus. We are reaching out to all those who attended to make sure they are informed.”

On Friday, Colorado had the 14th-highest rate in the nation for COVID infections, the outlet reported, with 71.6 percent of eligible Coloradans fully vaccinated, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health.

While up on stage with Ganahl, Prager ironically said, “I’ve been trying to get COVID for a year-and-a-half.”

“It can hurt you. I know people that it has hurt. But it can also help. It’s somewhat of a crapshoot. But I don’t want you to take nothing,” he said.

“I think I am a living example of how effective taking these therapeutics is. I am not young. I admit I am healthy otherwise, but I am in the category of people who should be most concerned, theoretically,” Prager said. “And I am concerned. That’s why I’ve been taking all these therapeutics.”

Facts are facts: More people have died from COVID-19 under Joe Biden’s presidency than Donald Trump’s.

Biden’s bid for the presidency was focused largely on his promise to effectively fight the spread of the virus. Despite the fact that he had vaccines, therapeutics and mandates at his disposal, he has failed to deliver.

The fact is that 372,000 Americans have died from COVID during Biden’s presidency while 352,000 died during Trump’s. The numbers come from John’s Hopkins University, as reported by host Sean Hannity on Fox News.

Some say they doubt the validity of the numbers. Who can blame them? Everything can be doubted in a world where all is relative and facts are what you make of them. Confusion is the new plague.

It’s also a fact that the virus was just amping up when Trump was in office. It should be noted that Trump’s total was from a 10-month period and Biden surpassed that total in just 8 months.

Kamala Harris, Stacey Abrams Threaten the Tax-Exempt Status of 300 Churches

Trump took on the virus with a fighting spirit and masks. Biden had a toolbox full of options and didn’t manage to make a dent.

Biden has to come to terms with the facts. Instead, Democrats are using the emergence of the delta variant to explain away their numbers. There is truth to this assertion, but only if you add the fact that the Biden administration catalyzed vaccine hesitancy with horrendous messaging.

Officials with the Coronavirus Research Center recently observed that “vaccine hesitancy continues and testing has lagged.”

“So I would say the simple strategies are, first, to listen to what the concerns are and try as best as possible to understand them,” Dr. Bill Moss, the center’s vaccinology lead, said, according to the Washington Times.

“If it’s due to misinformation or disinformation, having the right messenger convey that information to the target audience is really critical, and that’s a person who the community or individual trusts, whether that’s a religious leader or a celebrity or sports figure.”

Biden and company are clearly not the “right messenger.” Too many people simply do not trust the administration.

COVID vaccines, instead of being a reasonable option for American citizens, are now divisive. The unvaccinated beware: Biden’s “patience is wearing thin.” The unvaccinated are being treated as enemies of the state.

Reasonable people have legitimate concerns about taking the vaccine, largely due to Biden’s misinformation about everything from Facebook “killing people” to red-state election laws being the new Jim Crow.

The administration has downplayed the effectiveness of natural immunity. They have also encouraged Big Tech to silence discourse around the vaccine.

First Responders Fired Over COVID Vax Non-Compliance Feed the Homeless

It’s no wonder people are confused. That’s why there is so much vaccine hesitancy: confusion. Many have come to distrust the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention due to White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci’s flip-flopping. Instead of treating reasonable people like deplorable idiots, it might help to treat them as citizens and address their concerns with understanding instead of malice.

Faith alone won’t work when it comes to COVID vaccines. People will need to be convinced through reason before they decide whether or not to take that leap.

The Biden administration chose to run the country’s COVID response much differently than Trump. They now have to own the 372,000 deaths. Mr. President, please stop blaming your mistakes on the citizens of the United States.

PITTSBURGH—Twenty years ago, Paul Carson said he never would have hesitated to speak out at a school board meeting about any issue affecting his children’s education.

But one day, that changed. “I just don’t do it,” Carson told me. A physician who practices medicine in an urban Pittsburgh hospital, Carson said it has nothing to do with his being 20 years older. “It has everything to do with the culture we are navigating.”

Anyone, he said, can take a video of what you say, edit it to his or her advantage, then post it on social media. Or they can just simply claim on social media that you are racist or extremist because you express an opinion outside the sensitivities of the cultural curators who define what is acceptable and what is not in our country.

When Carson used a media platform in discussions about school district issues, as he did last year when the children in the Pittsburgh public schools went for months without in-person education, he said he had to be “profoundly cautious” in expressing his views.

School board meetings have been around forever, and they have always had the potential to become raucous. I remember attending them with my mother as a teenager, then as a mother myself when my children were young. I also had to attend a few as a reporter for the local newspaper I worked for at the time. Emotions often ran high, as they should when children’s welfare is involved. Good parents never lose sight of the fact that the people who educate their children spend more of the day with them in a classroom setting than parents themselves do. Emotions also ran high when new buildings were proposed, which always eventually meant higher taxes.

I have often told young reporters that if they want to see firsthand the most important political process in the U.S. system, they should turn off cable news, get off the iPhone, turn their eyes away from Washington and cover a local school board meeting.

No one should accept threats or physical violence at a school board meeting or anywhere else. But such conduct is fortunately rare. The question today is, can we trust our government to distinguish between the actual threat of violence and the passionate expression of viewpoints by parents?

That question became a reality this week when Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo suggesting a nationwide federal crackdown on parents at school board meetings. And the answer from parents like Carson is, “Absolutely not.”

Garland made his decision under pressure from the National School Boards Association. Its interim director responded by saying Garland’s memo sends a “strong message to individuals with violent intent who are focused on causing chaos, disrupting our public schools, and driving wedges between school boards and the parents, students, and communities they serve.”

Freedom is messy. Our discussions about things that matter to us, such as our children, are chaotic, disruptive and, yes, divisive. They drive wedges—that’s a feature, not a bug.

In the past few months, parents across the country have become frustrated with extremist curriculum choices that their school boards are making. In response, they have done what Americans have done for generations—show up at school board meetings to voice their concerns.

In many cases, their concerns cross traditional political, racial, and socioeconomic lines and are at odds with the Biden administration.

Garland is now using the FBI against parents on the grounds that school board members feel threatened. But what does “threatened” look like? Is it someone yelling at you? Disagreeing with you? Holding an opposing opinion? Who is defining those threats?

This memo wasn’t just designed to target those who would commit violence. It was also clearly designed to stop regular people with real concerns from voicing those concerns because of the fear anything they say will deem them a domestic terrorist, which would destroy their personal, community, and professional lives.

It is downright chilling to think that there are parents out there who are worried that they are going to end up on a government list or under some type of government scrutiny if they decide to go into a school board meeting to give a public comment on an issue.

Eighty years ago, dairy farmer Jim Edgerton stood up at a town hall meeting in his hometown of Arlington, Vermont, to voice his disagreement with the town councilors’ decision to build a new school. Edgerton was the only person at the meeting or in town who objected to the proposed building.

His opposition was mostly unremarkable, but he held his ground, nonetheless. No one would have known about it had not Norman Rockwell, a newcomer in town, been there.

As he watched Edgerton exercise his freedom of speech, the famous illustrator of Americana could not stop thinking about the State of the Union address President Franklin D. Roosevelt had delivered on Jan. 6, 1941, in which he warned that the values and liberties the public took for granted were under attack. Rockwell would go on to illustrate that moment, making Roosevelt’s words relatable by depicting them in use in small-town America.

It is inconceivable that the federal government today wants to squash that freedom through vague rules and intimidation. Garland seems to be making the calculation that the Jim Edgertons of this world will cower under the concern the government is watching them.

In the beginning, maybe they will. But in the long run, the air of intimidation probably won’t last. There comes a point when those feeling the threat go from being on the fringe of society to being the majority.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/school-board-meetings-show-only-that-freedom-is-messy_4058742.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Violence against law enforcement officials increased dramatically in 2020, according to a Monday FBI news release.

Over 60,000 assaults on law enforcement officers while in the line of duty occurred in 2020, an increase of more than 4,000 from just over 56,000 on-the-job assaults in 2019, according to the news release.

Of all the officers assaulted in 2020, more than 18,500 (30.9 percent) sustained injuries.

Just under 44,500 assaults employed “personal weapons,” including “hands, fists, or feet,” and 25.8 percent of officers attacked in this manner suffered injuries.

Nearly 30 percent of on-the-job assaults of law enforcement officers resulted from responses to “disturbance calls such as family quarrels or bar fights,” meanwhile more than 16 percent followed attempted arrests by officers.

One Crucial Official Was Nowhere to Be Seen as Biden Attends Tribute for 491 Fallen Officers

During an interview last week, Director Christopher Wray reflected on the dangers that law enforcement officers face: “Law enforcement officers these days are dealing with a whole range of threats at a time when, in many ways, the job is more dangerous than ever.” pic.twitter.com/U7PTULzGxG

— FBI (@FBI) October 18, 2021

As of Tuesday, 61 law enforcement officers were fatally feloniously wounded in 2021, according to the FBI’s Law Enforcement Data Explorer.

Of those killed this year, 24 were the victims of unprovoked attacks.

Will violent acts against officers continue to increase?

In 2020, 40 officers were killed while performing their duties.

“Lingering animosity toward law enforcement officers, overheated political rhetoric, and a decline in respect for law and order results in increased violence against law enforcement officers,” National Fraternal Order of Police President Patrick Yoes said in a statement shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“Of greatest concern should be violence that specifically targets officers. As of October 13th, 100 law enforcement officers were shot in 81 separate ambush-style attacks in just this year — a 153% increase from this time in 2020.”

“Despite all the adversity, our nation’s law enforcement officers continue to put themselves in harm’s way to protect and serve the communities that we love, but they need our help,” Yoes added.

“I am renewing our calls to enact the ‘Protect and Serve Act,’ which addresses the troubling increases in violence targeting officers and which will better protect the men and women who wear the badge.”

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Content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of the DCNF’s original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

A version of this article appeared on the Daily Caller News Foundation website.

When it comes to science and medicine, transparency is everything.

Scientific discourse requires all parties to be informed, and dissenting opinions, even if they are in the minority, need to be heard.

In medicine, how can people make the right decision for themselves if they aren’t given all of the relevant information?

According to the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, transparency apparently is not important in either of these areas.

In fact, OSHA believes that transparency and telling the truth are a hindrance to the common good.

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While the agency has issued guidance requiring employers to “record and report COVID-19 infections and deaths,” it said it will not require those same employers to “record worker side effects from COVID-19 vaccination” through May 2022.

OSHA’s reasoning? Reporting on vaccine side effects might discourage or disincentivize employers’ efforts to vaccinate their workers.

“OSHA does not want to give any suggestion of discouraging workers from receiving COVID-19 vaccination or to disincentivize employers’ vaccination efforts,” the agency’s website says on a 6,400-word page titled “Protecting Workers: Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace.”

“As a result, OSHA will not enforce 29 CFR part 1904’s recording requirements to require any employers to record worker side effects from COVID-19 vaccination at least through May 2022,” it says.

Should employers be required to report workers’ side effects from the vaccine?

This is disturbing news, but not because the COVID-19 vaccines pose any sort of existential threat.

Evidence shows COVID-19 side effects to be rather minimal, even more so than the effects of the virus itself.

Also, while the number of breakthrough infections is skyrocketing, showing the vaccine’s effectiveness might not be quite what the American people were promised, there’s no denying that the chance of dying from the coronavirus is greatly reduced by taking the vaccine.

With all of that being said, the vaccine does come with some side effects, as rare as they may be.

For individuals at extremely low risk of having an adverse reaction to COVID-19 — those who are young, physically fit and have no pre-existing conditions — it remains unclear as to whether the vaccines side effects are more or less of a threat than COVID-19 itself.

Video Report: First Responders Fired Over COVID Vax Non-Compliance Feed the Homeless

Even if this were not the case, individuals should be given the freedom to decide what or what not to put into their bodies.

And in order to make that decision, each and every one of us needs the full truth about COVID and the COVID vaccines.

It isn’t up to “experts” and the elites to decide which truths the American people are allowed to hear.

Colin Powell, a good man and a great American, has died. He had been suffering for years from multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, as well as Parkinson’s disease, but according to the media (citing his family), the real cause of death was “complications” from—you guessed it—COVID-19, despite the fact that he was “fully vaccinated” and indeed was about to get a booster shot when his compromised immune system finally failed.

There will be accolades aplenty forthcoming for General Powell, a former secretary of state, who ably served both presidents Bush in various military and civilian capacities. But his death, coming as it does in the midst of our long political and biomedical wrangle over the severity of the threat posed by the CCP virus that causes COVID-19, once again focuses attention on the social and economic destruction the panic over the pandemic continues to cause.

Indeed, the general’s death “from” COVID—despite his vaccination status—indicates one thing very plainly: the vaccines don’t work. If they did, if they really prevented anyone from contracting the disease, Powell might still be alive while his doctors battled his other ailments. But they don’t, he didn’t, and it’s high time everyone admitted it.

Don’t wait for the media, those thoroughly corrupt handmaidens of the Democrat Party and, latterly, of the U.S. government, to admit that. Indeed, just hours after Powell’s death, various outlets hastily rushed onto the air and into print with assurances that just because the vaccines don’t work doesn’t mean they don’t work.

USA Today: “Colin Powell’s death the exception among vaccinated, not proof inoculations don’t work.”

CNN: “Why vaccinated people dying from COVID-19 doesn’t mean the vaccines are ineffective.”

WUSA9: “Gen. Colin Powell’s death does not prove COVID vaccines don’t work.”

Media Campaign

Who are you going to believe—the media or your lying eyes and your gift of reason? For nearly 18 months we have been subject to an increasingly manic media campaign, at the behest of political operatives, to convince the world that the still-experimental vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna—which are more akin to gene therapy than conventional vaccines—and the more conventional one from Johnson & Johnson, are the key to stopping COVID.

That they vastly increase the revenues and balance sheets of the pharmaceutical companies as well as aiding and abetting the government’s appropriation of unconstitutional powers has nothing to do with the official enthusiasm for them, of course.

The media’s been parroting the party line practically since the outbreak of COVID, from “two weeks to slow the spread” and “fifteen days to flatten the curve” to “social distancing of six feet,” and “wash your hands ten times a day,” and “wear a mask,” and “don’t overwhelm the hospitals,” and “get your shot,” then “get your second shot,” then “get a booster shot,” and now “it doesn’t matter which shots you get, just keep getting shots until Joe Biden tells you to stop.”

If a vaccine that was touted as nearly 100 percent effective when it was first introduced now needs a series of booster shots ad infinitum for it to have the remotest effect, what does that tell you?

Ask Washington. The government has been pushing the panic button from the jump—another of Donald Trump’s many and manifest personnel misjudgments was giving Dr. Anthony Fauci a national platform and thus elevating the nation’s neurotic obsession with “health” into national policy—demanding unconstitutional lockdowns, quarantines, travel restrictions, mandatory vaccines, vaccine “passports” and other naked displays of power-grabbing, all meant to punish the innocent. And for what?

In the process, Fauci, a career “civil servant” and superannuated bureaucrat who has seized the reins of power and continues to talk out of both sides of his mouth because it’s clear he has no idea what he’s talking about, no longer cares whether what he says makes any sense. He should have been forcibly retired—fired—long ago, but his usefulness to the forces behind Biden’s throne ensures they’ll keep trotting him out no matter how wrong he proves to be.

Gaslighting

The real question is why? Why this hysterical insistence keeping COVID in the headlines, day after day, inflating the threat of a relatively minor respiratory illness with a 98+ percent survival rate into the second coming of the Black Plague? Why the constant moving of the goal posts from deaths to “cases”?

Why the various “road maps” out of COVID lockdowns that were unnecessary in the first place? Why the press-gang enlistment of the media to keep the public in line with increasingly implausible claims about an illness that, left to its own devices, would have vanished into the woodwork long ago?

The unspoken, false premise, which has by now been thoroughly inculcated in our population, is that absent the Dreaded COVID, we would all live forever. And that the unvaccinated, by radiating death spores at their vaccinated neighbors, are tantamount to murderers, even though the “nearly 100 percent effective” vaccines are supposed to prevent exactly that.

After all, via the political-medical machinations of our betters, we have stopped caring about heart disease, strokes, cancer, and even the common cold—hey, even the flu has disappeared! We’ve also stopped caring about Thanksgiving and Christmas, our kids’ childhoods, classroom instruction, civic virtue, national history, verities like sex differences, full employment, the movies, most sports, religious worship and just about everything else that used to make America, America.

In their place we now have armed police clobbering protestors when they’re not actually being fired or defunded, cities burning over the deaths of petty criminals in police custody, statues toppling, and the collapse of public order as crime has been effectively decriminalized in the name of racial “justice.”

Meanwhile, with a populace confined to quarters, unregulated tech giants like Twitter, Google, and Facebook run rampant, stifling speech, hijacking personal information to sell to the highest bidder, de-platforming ideological opponents (even while maintaining possession of their personal information), and pushing disinformation such as the Russian “collusion” farce… and now COVID.

Why are they so desperate? Why are they gaslighting us with tales of implacable viral bogeymen? What is it that they aren’t telling us?

It might be something, it might be nothing. I suspect it’s this: They like it.

Without the phantom menace of COVID, they could never have changed election laws, mandated arbitrary and capricious punishment of their enemies, destroyed the Trump administration, wrecked the economy, harmed our national defense, crippled our police department, suborned our legal system, destroyed childhood, instilled fear and obedience, encouraged neighbors to rat each other out, scapegoated those they despise, eliminated the southern border, and moved the nation steadily away from sovereignty and toward the New World Order of the Great Reset, whose motto is: you’ll own nothing and you’ll like it.

How do you like that? And what are you going to do about it?

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/colin-powells-death-the-latest-sign-of-the-covid-scam_4056577.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mb-2021-10-20&mktids=b903d54d906d6f525130667153f1cea6&est=nAQb%2BX8v%2FdD80wf65c2Lxi1pRr6nqm4NF8PUVFua%2FP9BC5r0BEu%2B%2FofIg5bVmaNa%2Bw%3D%3D

President Joe Biden’s nominee for a top banking post in his administration is refusing to give the U.S. Senate her thesis on Karl Marx, lawmakers say.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, asked Saule Omarova earlier this month for the document and other papers she omitted from a disclosure package that’s standard for nominees to submit to the Senate. Toomey asked for the documents by Oct. 13.

Omarova did not hand over the papers, Amanda Gonzalez Thompson, a spokesperson for the Republicans on the panel, told The Epoch Times in an email.

“Ms. Omarova has time to attack Republicans in an interview with the Financial Times, but she can’t bother to comply with a Banking Committee requirement that nominees— regardless of their political party or ideology—submit copies of their writings,” Thompson said. “We certainly hope she reconsiders so Senators have the information necessary to fulfill their constitutional duty to advise and consent on appointments.”

Omarova in the interview claimed she is being held to a different standard because she was born in Kazakhstan, which was part of the Soviet Union at the time.

“I am an easy target: an immigrant, a woman, a minority,” she told the Financial Times. “I don’t look like your typical comptroller of the currency, I have a different history. I am easy to demonize and vilify.”

Asked if some of the criticism against her was racist, Omarova said yes.

“What a classic response from the extreme Left. When they can’t defend their bad ideas, they resort to accusing critics of being racist misogynists,” Thompson said.

Toomey said on the Senate floor that his opposition to Omarova stems from her ideas and policy proposals, not her background.

Biden nominated Omarova for the position of comptroller of currency in September.

Omarova and the White House haven’t responded to requests for comment.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/biden-nominee-who-praised-soviet-union-refuses-to-give-senate-her-karl-marx-thesis_4054923.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mb-2021-10-20&mktids=b903d54d906d6f525130667153f1cea6&est=SuvBQ4f3kEvTJ5qK46l8bMypuPn9u4wdERlVLLoIB6bh9Cls%2BCyRJ%2FqjkozteUB5DA%3D%3D

Democratic Senate president Bill Ferguson in July said transparency was ‘essential’

The top Democrat in Maryland’s legislature has called for transparency in the redistricting process, but his fellow Democrats have kept their plans for new district lines in the state under wraps.

The Democratic president of Maryland’s state Senate, Bill Ferguson, said during a July radio interview it is “essential” for redistricting commissions to publish draft maps in order to receive feedback from the public during the process. The redistricting commission, appointed by Democrats in the legislature, says it will do no such thing—the first draft proposal for the state’s new district lines won’t be published until before the last of the commission’s 12 public hearings take place.

Karl Aro, the chair of the General Assembly’s Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission, said in October that he will have draft proposals for the state’s eight congressional districts made public by Nov. 15. The last chance for the public to weigh in on the redistricting process will be Nov. 18.

These plans contradict Ferguson’s assurance during the July interview that maps would be put out in September. “We will be putting forward maps when we have the data after September to get feedback from Marylanders,” said Ferguson, who directly appointed Aro to lead the commission. “It’s really essential that people have something to respond to as opposed to just showing up at a commission meeting to hear things.”

States across the country reassess district lines every 10 years after the federal census is completed, allowing the party in power to carve the state in politically advantageous fashion. National Democrats have worked to position themselves as opposed to partisan gerrymandering, but in states such as Illinois and Oregon, Democrat-controlled legislatures are poised to pass new maps designed to disenfranchise Republican voters. In Illinois, where Republicans comprise roughly 40 percent of the electorate, Democrats have designed a map that will likely result in control of at least 14 of the state’s 17 congressional districts.

Historically, Maryland Democrats gerrymander as much as anyone else. Former Democratic governor Martin O’Malley, who presided over the state’s 2010 redistricting process, admitted in 2018 that the map was designed to eliminate a Republican district. “Within legal and constitutional limits, we drew a map that elected an additional Democratic House member to our delegation,” he wrote in a USA Today op-ed, saying he regretted the partisan power play.

Currently, Maryland is viewed as one of the most gerrymandered states in America. Many of its districts, like the Rorschach blot-shaped Third District, slice and dice counties to ensure Democrats win easily.

Republican governor Larry Hogan has formed a bipartisan redistricting commission that has proposed a map that divides Maryland into eight districts based on county lines, but the commission can only put forward a proposal. It’s up to Maryland’s Democratic-controlled legislature to determine which map is accepted.

Maryland Democrats are expected to propose a map that would eliminate Maryland’s only Republican member of Congress, but they face an uphill battle in the court of public opinion. Liberal groups in the state, like Common Cause Maryland, have criticized the commission for hosting meetings during work hours without presenting the proposed maps.

Ferguson did not respond to a request for comment about whether he would support the maps from Hogan’s commission, which did meet his criteria of public meetings. The bipartisan commission has already hosted over 30 public meetings across the state, has posted its maps for public comment, and has had thousands of Marylanders’ feedback incorporated into the process.

Hogan has criticized national Democrats for their hypocrisy when it comes to Maryland. Former Obama administration attorney general Eric Holder, who chairs the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, has advocated for “citizens or nonpartisan commissions to draw electoral lines so neither party benefits.” He has remained silent on Democratic plans to gerrymander Maryland, in spite of calls from Hogan to endorse his bipartisan redistricting plan.

Holder’s NDRC did not respond to a request for comment about whether it will support Hogan’s plan to fairly redistrict Maryland.

https://freebeacon.com/elections/maryland-dems-keep-redistricting-process-hidden-from-public/

Last week, Virginia Democrat Terry McAuliffe called his Republican gubernatorial opponent Glenn Youngkin’s attacks on critical race theory a “racist dog whistle.” On Monday, Youngkin said he would not be “lectured” by a candidate allied with Gov. Ralph Northam (D., Va.), who appeared in a yearbook photo that featured blackface.

“I’m not going to be lectured by a guy on race who … called for Governor Northam’s resignation when he wore blackface, and then turned around and accepted his endorsement and campaigns with him,” Youngkin said.

https://freebeacon.com/politics/beastmode-youngkin-calls-out-mcauliffe-for-alliance-with-northam/

Jennifer Granholm used her official capacity as gov’t official to promote Democratic candidates, according to complaint

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits government officials from leveraging their official duties to impact election results, according to an ethics watchdog complaint.

The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust in a Tuesday letter called on the Department of Energy’s Office of Special Counsel to investigate Granholm, who during an interview carried out in her official capacity advocated for the election of progressive Democrats. The watchdog group said Granholm’s comments were an improper use of her position, according to FACT.

During the interview, which was hosted by beauty magazine Marie Claire and first reported on by the Free Beacon, Granholm was introduced as the secretary of energy and spoke about her responsibilities in the administration. But she quickly transitioned to political discussions about electing more progressive Democrats to office, and acknowledged the chance that she was violating the law.

“I’m subject to something called the Hatch Act, which means I can’t advocate for people to call their Members of Congress,” Granholm told interviewer Emily Tisch Sussman, a Democratic activist and daughter of a major Democratic donor. “If I weren’t subject to the Hatch Act, I’m sure you know I would be, but I am so I can’t do that.”

“Throughout the interview she stated that she was a Democrat, Democrats had a ‘bare majority’ in Congress, urged viewers to contact Members of Congress about policy issues she supported, and to elect more Democrats to Congress,” the group wrote. “In fact she essentially acknowledged that her statements were a violation of the Hatch Act, yet attempted to excuse her remarks with ‘If I wasn’t subject to the Hatch Act, this is what I would say.'”

The allegation comes just a week after White House press secretary Jen Psaki was accused of violating the Hatch Act when she endorsed Virginia Democrat Terry McAuliffe during a press briefing. Shortly after liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed an ethics complaint against Psaki, she admitted to the infraction, saying on Saturday, “I’ll be more careful with my words next time.”

The Department of Energy publicly defended Granholm’s interview with Marie Claire, further establishing that the interview was part of her official duties, FACT said in the letter.

“The Department of Energy affirmed her statements were made in her official capacity, claiming that she shared how Americans ‘can participate in our democracy,'” the group wrote. “Granholm’s statements did more than that—she advocated for precisely how citizens should participate in our democracy and that was by supporting a particular political party and its policies.”

The Department of Energy did not respond to a request for comment.

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/bidens-energy-secretary-violated-hatch-act-watchdog-says/

VP Harris, press sec Psaki face criticism over questionable electioneering actions

As President Joe Biden looks to avoid a high-profile loss in Virginia, the White House has turned to legally dubious tactics aimed at boosting Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe.

Liberal watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) launched a complaint against press secretary Jen Psaki for violating the Hatch Act, which prevents administration officials from engaging in political activity. During a Thursday press briefing, Psaki said the Biden administration will “do everything we can to help former Governor McAuliffe” and “believe[s] in the agenda he’s representing.” Psaki later acknowledged her statement’s impropriety in an interview with CNN.

The Biden administration just hours later released a video that features Vice President Kamala Harris, who urged viewers to vote for her “friend Terry McAuliffe.” While the Hatch Act does not apply to the president and vice president, Harris’s video—filmed for hundreds of churches across Virginia—could run afoul of IRS law, which explicitly prohibits churches and other tax-exempt 501(c)3 organizations from “engaging in any political campaign activity.”

The Biden administration’s questionable campaign tactics come as McAuliffe slips in the polls against Republican opponent Glenn Youngkin—a development that has spooked Biden officials, who worry that a loss in Virginia will spell trouble for Democrats in 2022. While Biden won Virginia by double digits, an October Trafalgar Group poll shows McAuliffe trailing Youngkin by 1 point. McAuliffe has blamed his struggles in part on Biden’s unpopularity in the state.

Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust executive director Kendra Arnold called the IRS law related to Harris’s church video “abundantly clear,” noting “there’s no question that the churches cannot engage in political activity, including the publishing and distributing of statements on behalf of any campaign.” Arnold argued that while Harris was legally allowed to support McAuliffe in the video, she may not be in the clear from a legal perspective.

“I think there’s an ethical question on whether or not our elected officials, for political purposes, can engage with another entity and essentially get them to break the law,” Arnold told the Washington Free Beacon. “I would argue that it is not ethical to engage in activities that break the law, whether you’re breaking it or enticing someone else to break it.”

CREW president Noah Bookbinder, meanwhile, in his Thursday complaint admonished Psaki, writing that the press secretary mixed “official government business with support of a candidate for partisan political office in the weeks before the election” and engaged in “political activity while on duty.” Psaki addressed the controversy during a Friday CNN interview, during which she pledged to “be more careful with my words next time.” Penalties for Hatch Act violations include removal from federal service suspension and a civil penalty.

The White House did not return a request for comment.

In addition to Psaki and Harris, McAuliffe’s liberal allies have employed controversial schemes to hurt Youngkin and promote Democrats. Liberal dark money operative David Brock, for example, has used his “pseudo-news outlet” to send Virginia voters unsolicited mailers that attack Youngkin with debunked claims, including one page that falsely contends Youngkin has a plan to “eliminate the state income tax.” The move sparked concern among ethics experts, as Brock’s “progressive news” outlet is not subject to campaign finance laws that require political groups to disclose where their funding comes from.

Democratic operatives have also targeted Youngkin through a shadowy political action committee that runs ads designed to look like they came from a Republican outfit. That PAC, Accountability Virginia, took at least $250,000 from Virginia utility company Dominion Energy and went on to release social media spots that question Youngkin’s support for the Second Amendment. Dominion CEO Robert Blue asked for the PAC to refund the company’s donation on Monday, saying he “failed to vet” the group’s “intended activities.”

McAuliffe, who took tens of thousands of dollars from Dominion during his 2013 gubernatorial campaign, did not return a request for comment.

Cuts proposed as southern border faces a decades-high surge of illegal immigrants

Senate Democrats are moving to slash the budget for Customs and Border Protection by half a billion dollars in the midst of an immigration crisis, putting more strain on an agency with nearly exhausted resources.

The appropriations bill, released Monday by Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.), allocates just $14.5 billion to CBP for the 2022 fiscal year, down from $15 billion the year before and $80 million less than what President Joe Biden requested in his budget. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would receive $7.9 billion, a cut of $40 million from the previous year and $58 million less than what Biden asked for.

Democrats also proposed reduced funding for family detention centers, while pumping more money toward constructing new migrant processing centers along the U.S.-Mexico border. The measure indicates that Democrats don’t see the surge ending anytime soon. The new processing centers, they say, will reduce migrant time in custody. The bill forbids Homeland Security Investigations, an arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, from enforcing immigration laws. It instead directs the agency to only focus on “the disruption of transnational crime,” such as drug trafficking or money laundering.

The proposed cuts come as the southern border faces a decades-high surge of illegal immigrants attempting to enter the United States. Immigration authorities expect to report nearly two million migrant encounters at the border this fiscal year, the first time the number has exceeded one million since 2006. 

“It’s time for the Department of Homeland Security to make investments in what protects us, not what divides us,” Murphy said in a statement. “The ineffective and inhumane border policies and political vanity projects of the Trump Administration didn’t make our nation safer, and it’s time to turn the page to fund policies that meet the actual threats presented to this nation.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Senate Democrats in a summary of the bill said cuts to detention centers were warranted by “lower overall detention numbers due to the pandemic and related-litigation.” Between January and August, however, the number of illegal aliens detained by ICE increased by 70 percent, according to data provided by the agency.

The Senate Democrats’ proposal represents another blow to an agency already frustrated by the White House’s apparent lack of interest in funding border security and migrant processing measures. A senior DHS official who spoke with the Washington Free Beacon sounded the alarm on the president’s initial budget request to Congress, citing inflation and lack of manpower at CBP as challenges that need to be addressed.

“We were already going to have less money next year under Biden’s plan,” the official said. “This is not a party serious about enforcing immigration law.”

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/dem-budget-bill-would-slash-border-protection-budget-by-half-billion-dollars/

For most of 2021, the border crisis has owned the political spotlight. Not long after Joe Biden took office in January, the numbers of encounters and arrests at the border quickly skyrocketed.

Since then, the situation has evidently worsened. The Del Rio bridge mess represents the most recent failure of policy, but border authorities say the crisis is a daily problem.

But Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has a solution — and it’s bound to annoy Democrat leaders.

Given the seemingly endless flood of migrants simply walking into our country, the question now becomes: where do we send them all?

If we’re not willing to deport or even detain them, and we refuse to enforce existing border and immigration laws, we have to figure out how to house them. And that’s where Cruz’s idea comes in.

He’s proposing a new bill that would send migrants directly into Democrat playgrounds.

He first slammed President Biden’s administration for “willingly surrendering the U.S. southern border to dangerous criminal cartels.” And of course, Cruz’s home state of Texas bears the brunt of the onslaught.

So, the Senator believes Democrats should feel what Texas feels every day.

From Fox News:

Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, introduced a bill to bring processing centers for illegal immigrants to where the ‘Democrat elites host their cocktail parties.’

Fox News exclusively obtained a press release announcing Cruz’s new bill, the Stop the Surge of Unsafe Rio Grande Encampments (SURGE) Act.

The bill not only makes a strong point, it also takes an obvious jab at leftist elites in D.C.

Cruz is saying that so many of them live in wealthy communities, all of which are a long way from the Texas-Mexico border. As a result, they have no idea just how much the migrant surge damages the country.

That’s where this bill comes in. According to Sen. Cruz, it’s designed:

…to alleviate the massive overload at the southern border by establishing new ports of entry in Democrat-led communities such as North Hero, Vermont, where Bernie Sanders spends his summers, and Martha’s Vineyard, where Democrat elites host their cocktail parties.

Cruz cited the “families, ranchers, and small businesses” in South Texas that suffer due to the extreme border failure.

And he believes that if the D.C. Democrats “had to endure even a fraction of the suffering,” maybe they’d realize just how dangerous the situation really is.

Cruz said that if they did experience it, they’d be quick to build the wall and re-implement former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, which border officials said was effective.

The Republican leader also wanted to make it clear that Democrats have talked about amnesty, while “completely ignoring the crisis.”

The SURGE Act would open 13 new immigration processing centers around the nation, and that does include high-end locales like Martha’s Vineyard and Governor’s Island in New York.

On top of that, the undocumented travelers would be “transferred to these new ports for processing,” and the “insulated communities” will have to help deal with the crisis.

As far as Cruz concerned, it’s only fair.

Democrats seem to think there’s nothing wrong with countless unregistered foreigners flooding into the country, and that it’s just “racist” to claim there’s a problem.

Except states like Texas know exactly how big of a problem it is — and Sen. Cruz simply wants rich Democrat elites to experience it for themselves.

Key Takeaways:

• Sen. Ted Cruz has introduced the “SURGE Act,” which would open 13 new processing centers for undocumented travelers.
• This brings those unregistered migrants to several Democrat playgrounds, including Martha’s Vineyard.
• Cruz believes the Democrat elites should help “shoulder the burden” of the crisis, which has caused a lot of strife and suffering in Texas.

Source: Fox News

The first-ever “female” four-star admiral in the public health corps is actually a man.

Yes, you heard that right.

In a statement released Tuesday, the Biden administration lauded the appointment of Rachel Levine to the aforementioned position, saying “Admiral Levine now serves as the highest ranking official in the USPHS Commissioned Corps and its first-ever female four-star admiral.”

The Biden administration announces that Rachel Levine, a biological man, is now the “first-ever female four-star admiral” in the public health corps pic.twitter.com/1JIa5Eh0vZ

— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) October 19, 2021

This is the same group that claims to be the “party of science,” mind you.

The same party that is allowing men like Levine to take over women’s athletics and invade female-only spaces, all in the name of inclusivity.

It’s funny, really: The Democratic party has so many groups to please, so many “oppressed” peoples to rescue, that those groups are starting to come into conflict with one another.

Now, the left is sacrificing its commitment to women’s empowerment and feminism so that it can promote the transgender agenda.

Just think about this: What is so special about a woman, if any man can simply identify as a woman, take her place and be equally celebrated?

At that point, why are women special at all?

Conservatives know the answer to this — women, due to their biological and social differences, are incredibly unique and complement men perfectly, just as men complement them.

Women can create and nurture life, for example. It’s hard to name a male attribute that is equally powerful.

Nevertheless, the left is set on claiming that any biological man — if he feels like it — can be just as much of a woman as anyone else.

Soros Helped Elect Loudoun Prosecutor Who Wanted Jail Time for Dad Whose Daughter Was Allegedly Raped

Even if Levine was a woman, the whole idea that his position should be celebrated as the first female appointment is based on a lie.

The lie is that every occupation, at every level, should be equal parts male and female.

The left wants you to believe that, if equal representation is not achieved, that must be a sign that society is morally corrupt and discriminatory.

In truth, different people make different choices.

When it comes to important government positions such as this, “diversity, equity and inclusion” shouldn’t be the goal.

The best possible candidate should be hired for every role, regardless of their identity.

Nevertheless, Biden has made it clear he doesn’t care about qualifications or competency; he doesn’t care about truth or morality.

Rather, Biden and his cronies simply care about checking off all their diversity boxes.

No wonder his first year in office has been such an utter catastrophe.

Dispatch records from the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office suggest that a school administrator and school resource officer (SRO) did not act urgently to involve police specialists in a reported rape on May 28 at Stone Bridge High School.

At 1:33 pm, the SRO — who works full-time at the school handling routine matters but officially works for the sheriff’s office — radioed that he “was briefed by assistant principal of a student that has made allegations of being possibly raped or touched unwanted by another student a couple of hours ago. Investigating at this time and parents are and have been notified at this time by admin.”

It is unclear whether the assistant principal learned of the rape “a couple of hours ago,” or whether the alleged rape occurred then and the administrator did not learn of it until some later time period.

The SRO then “investigated” for nearly an hour without calling for outside police officers.

At 2:21, 2:28, and 2:30, three calls for police are finally placed — one requesting a supervisor, one requesting “another unit,” and one noted as “upset parent.” Given that these calls came in a nine-minute window well after officials first learned of the rape, it seems likely that the impetus for all three was the “upset parent.

That is, after all, what Principal Tim Flynn told the community in an email at 4:48 pm:

Good evening Stone Bridge families this [sic] is Stone Bridge Principal Tim Flynn. There was an incident in the main office area today that required the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office to dispatch deputies to Stone Bridge. The incident was confined to the main office and the entrance area to the school. There was no threat to the safety of the student body. The incident was witnessed by a small number of students who were meeting with staff adjacent to the main office. Counseling services and the services of our Unified Mental Health Team are available for any student who may need to talk about today’s incident. Students might have noticed Sheriff’s Office personnel on campus and I wanted to let you know that something out of the ordinary happened at school today. The safety of our students and staff is the top priority of Loudoun County Public Schools.

Scott Smith, the parent of the victim, previously told The Daily Wire that he was aghast to find the incident being handled only by people who worked at the school full-time — with the SRO seeming to take direction from the principal — rather than a team of police officers one would expect to find processing a major crime scene. There were no outside police or medics at the scene when he arrived, he said. He became irate.

He said that police responded to deal with complaints about him making a scene in the office, not to the rape allegations. Once on the scene, he said, the team of police eventually became persuaded that what had occurred was a serious incident that required their attention, and escorted his family to the hospital where a rape kit was administered.

Smith said he did not believe a rape kit would have been administered based on the laid-back way administrators and the SRO appeared to be handling it on their own. The county’s prosecutor later said that the case relied on DNA evidence, suggesting that if a rape kit had not been conducted that day, no substantiated rape would have likely been added to Stone Bridge’s books.

Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office dispatch logs

In addition to Principal Flynn’s email which made no mention of a rape, Loudoun’s superintendent, Scott Zeigler, went on to tell the school board at a June 22 board meeting that he had no record of sexual assaults in bathrooms. The school system also reported on required statistics to the state of Virginia that it had zero sexual assault incidents in the school that year.

Zeigler later said he misunderstood the question in the school board meeting, and apologized for an “error” in reporting to the state.

The sheriff’s office previously told The Daily Wire there were no 911 calls from the school, but has now produced “dispatch” logs that include radio calls.

The calls also show that at 7:21 pm, the FBI called and “asked about the incident at Stone Bridge HS,” which was “found through prior calls.” Once the agent was advised that “it was a sexual assault investigation,” the agent said it “would not require their help.”

Smith was arrested at a June 22 school board meeting where he became angry again after Zeigler’s misleading statement. That arrest led to Smith being included in a letter, by the National School Boards Association, that talked about angry attendees at school board meetings, as well as a response by Attorney General Merrick Garland that suggested the FBI could have a hand in dealing with such matters.

The suspect in the alleged rape was transferred to a different school, where he was arrested for an alleged in-classroom sexual assault on another girl October 6.

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https://www.dailywire.com/news/records-suggest-loudoun-sent-team-of-police-to-deal-with-upset-parent-not-alleged-rape-of-student?itm_source=parsely-api&utm_source=cnemail&utm_medium=email

Sheriff Brad Coe of Kinney County, Texas, has taken it upon himself to handle President Joe Biden’s border crisis — a crisis that continues to spiral out of control.

The United States’ southern border has indeed seen an unprecedented surge in traffic, mostly due to illegal aliens attempting to cross over in record numbers.

Coe has decided if Biden’s not going to put together a team to handle the crisis, the sheriff will do it himself.

During an interview with The Gateway Pundit on Monday, Coe announced he would be deputizing 10 local citizens to help rescue his county from the crisis.

To fill out the 10 spots, Coe is looking for “those that have some kind of either police or military experience.”

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Coe further pointed out that the federal government’s failures have left local law enforcement at the border with no choice but to take the matter into their own hands.

“As far as taking it into our own hands, the border patrol … we didn’t have much a choice,” Sheriff Coe told The Gateway Pundit.

“The border patrol was completely overwhelmed at the time, thousands of people coming, just turning themselves in, that wanted to get caught, created this problem.”

The last few months have seen the border crisis continue to deteriorate.

In August, the use of catch-and-release policies used for illegal immigrants under the Biden administration was up 430,000 percent from the previous year.

In August of 2020, the Trump administration caught 47,000 migrants at the southern border and released only 10 of them into the United States immediately.

Conversely, in August of 2021, the Biden administration detained 195,000 migrants and released 43,941 of them into the United States.

The increase from 10 to 43,941 is staggering and fails to account for the many illegal immigrants the Biden administration fails to catch due to its lax border enforcement policies.

Biden’s border crisis has also allowed drugs to filter over into the United States from Mexico.

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According to Sheriff Mark Dannels of Cochise County, Arizona, “This fiscal year we’ve had 10,000 pounds of fentanyl, 180,000 pounds of meth, 86,000 pounds of cocaine, 5,000 pounds of heroin and 311,000 pounds of marijuana” enter the country through the southern border.

With his empty words and inaction, Biden has made it clear his administration will not be stopping this border catastrophe any time soon.

If there is any hope in stopping this crisis, that hope lies with Sheriff Coe and other local officials doing their best to protect their people.

While Americans sleep, the fly-by-night tactics of the Biden administration are delivering illegal immigrants to communities across the country, according to a new report.

Ever since President Joe Biden took office, the southern border has been flooded with illegal immigrants, which the Biden administration allows to remain in the U.S. As the influx of migrants continues to grow and the border crisis worsens, more and more of the Biden administration’s policy has been revealed.

In May, WCRB-TV in Chattanooga, Tennessee, reported on the surreptitious strategy taking place there, in which migrant children who were flown in overnight were later bused to cities in Alabama, Georgia and Florida. In August, neighbors of the airport in Abilene, Texas, reported to KTAB-TV that Biden administration officials were using it as a jumping-off point to fly illegal immigrants to points unknown across the country.

And now, the New York Post has released two of destinations migrants are being transported to — the upscale New York City suburbs of Westchester County and Jacksonville International Airport in Florida.

The Post reported that the Texas-based flights to New York began in August, one of the many months when more than 200,000 illegal immigrants tried to cross into America. Its analysis estimates that more than 2,000 illegal immigrants have landed at Westchester County Airport since Aug. 8.

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Midnight runs: Biden secretly flying underage migrants into NY in dead of night https://t.co/Fk9ZulbVJk pic.twitter.com/Xm6R9y5I82

— New York Post (@nypost) October 19, 2021

Tipped off about the flights, the Post said its reporters saw flights largely composed of children and teenagers, with some young adults, landing in Westchester County. One flight had 100 people aboard, the outlet reported.

Do you think the communities they are placing these migrants in should be notified?

After landing, some were taken to New Jersey and others to Long Island. Others were sent to locations in New York City or Connecticut. Some children went away in cars one by one, the Post said.

The Post also had sources at the Jacksonville airport that saw a group estimated at 10 to 15 people who landed and were taken by bus to the Twin Oaks Academy, a juvenile detention center near Tallahassee, Florida.

A spokeswoman for Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis bristled at the revelation.

“If the Biden Administration is so confident that their open-border policy is good for our country, why the secrecy,” spokeswoman Christina Pushaw said.

She continued, “Why is the Biden Administration refusing to share even the most basic information about illegal alien resettlement in communities throughout our state and the entire country?”

“Washington, DC, sets immigration policies that do not affect them, and states — that lack information about migrant resettlement and do not have the authority to change federal immigration policy — are expected to bear the brunt of Biden’s reckless open-borders agenda,” she said.

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The Post said that a woman who lives near the Westchester airport said one plane arrived “around 3 or 4” on the morning she was interviewed “and it was shaking the house” so much it woke up her eight-month-old son.

“He’s been waking up for the last month around 2, 3, 4 because of the noise,” said the woman, whose name was not used. “I got used to the regular airport noise, but these planes or jets sound different. Lower, more bass. And they’re coming in the middle of the night!”

Former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, a Republican exploring a run for governor of New York, said explanations have been in short supply.

“The Biden administration is systematically spreading the southern border crisis to communities all around the country, often shrouded in secrecy and under the cloak of darkness,” he said.

Astorino went on to explain that he himself saw “at least 50 to 75 migrants” boarding a bus after departing a flight. “No one has explained where they’re going and who they are,” he said.

A Biden administration spokesman claimed the flights were legit.

“It is our legal responsibility to safely care for unaccompanied children until they can be swiftly unified with a parent or a vetted sponsor. Our Office of Refugee Resettlement facilitates travel for the children in its custody to their family or sponsors across the country,” said Jorge Silva, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services.

“In recent weeks, unaccompanied children passed through the Westchester airport en route to their final destination to be unified with their parents or vetted sponsor,” he said.

President Joe Biden’s support in the black community is one of the most inexplicable phenomena of modern politics.

Despite several racial gaffes during the 2020 primaries — like talking about his work with Dixiecrat segregationists on racial busing as evidence of “civility” in Washington or telling a crowd in Iowa that “poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids” — it was black support in the South Carolina primary that saved his campaign after a series of botched debates and poor showings in the first three primaries and caucuses in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada.

While it could be argued that the only other viable Democrat candidate after the first three contests, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, never gelled with black voters (or anyone outside of his white progressive base, for that matter), black support propelled Biden to the nomination. Many pundits felt black turnout for Biden — particularly in Georgia — helped Biden take the presidency.

What fueled the loyalty? Was it the fact Biden is seen as being close to former President Barack Obama, having served as his vice president? Was it the connections he’s made with black leaders during nearly a half-century in Washington politics?

Was it the time he went on the New York City-based radio program “The Breakfast Club” and told listeners that “if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black?”

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Or is it the fact he keeps lying to black America about what he’s done for racial justice?

Case in point: On Monday, Biden addressed the 2021 State and National Teachers of the Year event at the White House. These are the kinds of national TV speeches that should easily pass without incident. As far as the White House and Biden supporters are concerned, the best news that can come out of these affairs is if no news comes out of them. We’re talking about it, however, so guess how that went?

According to a White House transcript, the president began getting himself in trouble when he told the long-winded tale of how he first got elected to the Senate in Delaware even though the seat was considered “to be a lead-pipe cinch” for the Republicans.

If you’re familiar with Biden’s backstory, that part’s actually kind of true. We have an improbable Democratic upset during a 1972 Republican landslide to thank, in part, for the fact we now have a president who, if his handlers weren’t there to direct him to Air Force One, would spend the afternoon wandering around Joint Base Andrews looking for the Braniff International check-in counter.

Is Joe Biden basically dishonest?

The rest of the rambling story would probably be marked on Wikipedia as [citation needed]. It involves attending an off-year state party convention and having a bunch of Democrat bigwigs bust into his room while he was “in a towel with shaving cream on my face,” saying he should run for the seat that was supposed to be a GOP lock.

After leaving the convention, Biden said, he went and saw an old professor at the University of Delaware, a Dr. Ingersoll, who paraphrased Plato to him: “The penalty good people pay for not being involved in politics is being governed by people worse than themselves.”

There are so many jokes one could make about that statement, particularly when we look at who’s governing us from the White House. The important part, however, was the lie Biden was about to tell:

“And he looked at me, and he said, ‘Joe, you should run.’  I said, ‘But I — I feel strongly about all of these issues, but I…’  I had gotten involved in the civil rights movement and the wa- — but I —

“He said, ‘Joe, you should do it,’” Biden continued. “He had enough confidence in me that he gave me confidence in myself. With a kid with no money, coming from a middle-class family, who grew up in grade school stuttering, literally — for me, I’m confident I would have never done it were it not for Dr. Ingersoll.”

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Maybe if Dr. Ingersoll knew Biden was lying about being involved in the civil rights movement, this could have worked out differently.

Joe Biden baselessly claims he was involved in civil rights movement. pic.twitter.com/9xdJ1GJyXk

— The First (@TheFirstonTV) October 18, 2021

Joe Biden was never involved in the civil rights movement in any meaningful sense. He’s admitted as much in his own words, when he wasn’t trying to exaggerate his own importance. He was “concerned,” he said, but was not an “activist.”

By that standard, football fans who watch every Sunday from their couch or a stool at the local bar are more “involved” in the NFL than Biden was in the civil rights movement. (They’re not just “concerned.” They’re screaming.)

And we know this would get a “pants on fire” fact-check rating because he’s been caught lying about his involvement in the civil rights movement before and had to walk it back.

And then he started spouting the same lies again:

In 1987, Joe Biden claimed he marched in the civil rights movement. A few months later, Biden disavowed the claim. Decades later, during the Obama era, and more recently on the campaign trail, he started making the same claims again. https://t.co/NAlMJ6ZTq7 pic.twitter.com/tpmE6VXmG6

— The Intercept (@theintercept) February 14, 2020

The first spurious claims came during his abortive 1988 presidential run, which eventually died after he was caught plagiarizing a speech. However, claims he made about his involvement in marching and protesting for civil rights also came under scrutiny.

As The Intercept pointed out, his rhetoric changed considerably over the course of 1987.

In February: “When I was 17 years old, like many of you, I participated in sit-ins to desegregate the restaurants and movie houses of Wilmington, Delaware.”

In April: “I came out of the civil rights movement … I was one of those guys that sat in and marched and all that stuff.”

In September: “During the 1960s, I was in fact very concerned about the civil rights movement,” Biden said. “I was not an activist. I worked at an all-black swimming pool in the east side of Wilmington, Delaware. I was involved in what they were thinking, what they were feeling. I was involved, but I was not out marching. I was not down in Selma, I was not anywhere else. I was a suburbanite kid who got a dose of exposure to what was happening to black Americans in my own city.”

What’s more, this pattern continued during the Obama years. As The Intercept reported, Biden would frequently spend his time as vice president citing his attempts to desegregate Delaware movie theaters despite inconsistencies in his stories and almost no evidence he was seriously involved.

And this isn’t even counting his biggest race-related whopper — technically not related to the American civil rights movement but still worth noting.

In February of 2020, Biden claimed apartheid-era South African police arrested him as he was trying to visit Nelson Mandela, saying “I had the great honor of being arrested with our U.N. ambassador on the streets of Soweto trying to get to see him on Robbens Island.”

Soweto is a township in Johannesburg, hundreds of miles away from Robben Island, the prison off of Cape Town where Mandela was being held. Biden would later try to explain this away by saying he was “stopped” and could not “move where I wanted to go,” not that he was actually arrested. As for being hundreds of miles away from Mandela, he didn’t explain that part — nor was he asked to.

In short, Biden has lied and continues to lie about what he’s done for civil rights and racial justice. He gets called on it occasionally — but is rarely taken to task in any serious manner for inflating his civil rights resumé.

And yet, in 2020, a man who blatantly and repeatedly lied to the black community about his commitment to their cause got their overwhelming support.

Sure, Bernie Sanders was and is no great shakes. At least he never claimed he got arrested in Toronto trying to bail Martin Luther King Jr. out of a Birmingham, Alabama jail.