A federal court has reimposed an Obama-era freeze on coal leasing from federal lands that former President Donald Trump axed in a bid to unlock domestic energy production, though the judge left the door open to resuming the coal leases if a more extensive environmental review is done.

In a ruling on Aug. 12 (pdf), U.S. District Judge Brian Morris faulted the Trump-era review of the coal leasing program for limiting the environmental impact review to “just” three issues: greenhouse gas emissions, socioeconomic impacts, and water quality.

“The Court determines that such a limited analysis fails to consider ‘all direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts’ of re-starting the federal coal-leasing program,” Morris wrote in the ruling.

The judge said the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) tried to curtail the potential environmental impacts of coal leases in its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review, calling the bureau’s decision “arbitrary and capricious.”

Morris also objected to BLM evaluating only four approved leases under the program, calling it “insufficient.”

In the ruling, the judge said that the coal leasing program would be put on hold “until the completion of sufficient NEPA review analyzing revocation of the moratorium.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to BLM for comment, with no response received by publication.

Interior Department spokesperson Melissa Schwartz told The Associated Press that officials are reviewing the ruling.

‘End to the War on Coal’

In January 2016, in a decision known as the Jewell Order, the Department of the Interior put a temporary freeze on leasing federal land for the purpose of mining coal, in part over concerns about climate change.

“Given serious concerns raised about the federal coal program, we’re taking the prudent step to hit pause on approving significant new leases so that decisions about those leases can benefit from the recommendations that come out of the review,” said then-Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, an appointee of former President Barack Obama.

Trump, who championed domestic fossil fuel production as a bulwark against energy dependency on foreign countries, reversed the freeze in a sweeping executive order in March 2017 that also undid other Obama-era climate policies.

Announcing that “my administration is putting an end to the war on coal,” Trump said at the time that, “with today’s executive action, I am taking historic steps to lift the restrictions on American energy, to reverse government intrusion, and to cancel job-killing regulations.”

Under Joe Biden, a review of coal leasing impacts on climate change and taxpayers was launched in April 2021, but the Trump-era decision to pull the plug on the Jewell Order was not reversed—until now.

‘Significant Victory’ Versus ‘Deeply Troubling’

National Mining Association President Rich Nolan said in a statement that the industry group would appeal the ruling, citing the imperative of energy supplies that are cheap and secure.

“This is a deeply disappointing decision with energy-driven inflation, energy affordability, and energy security top concerns for Americans,” Nolan said.

“Denying access to affordable, secure energy during an energy affordability crisis is deeply troubling,” he continued, adding that “Americans need the energy affordability and energy security buttressed by coal production on federal lands.”

In 2017 and 2018, the most recent years of available data, the U.S. government sold leases for 134 million tons of coal on public land in six states, according to Interior Department figures.

Environmental groups hailed the court’s decision and called on the Biden administration to go further and terminate existing coal leases.

“This is a significant victory for our climate and the communities across the country who are impacted by our continued reliance on this dirty and dangerous fuel, but we cannot stop here,” Jenny Harbine, managing attorney for Earthjustice’s Northern Rockies office, said in a statement.

“While this ruling reinstates the moratorium on new coal leasing on public lands, the Biden administration must go further by urgently phasing out the existing coal leases that are destroying our planet,” she added.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

Still looking for hand-outs despite the fact that African people have been immigrating here for over a hundred years. White workers in factories, mines, etc. could be considered slaves as well. Get over yourself and start working on improving yourselves instead of trying to further weaken what is (by far) the most free nation on the planet [US Patriot]

The ACLU and Human Rights Watch want the United Nations to demand that Joe Biden “take immediate, tangible measures,” including reparations, to “dismantle structural racism” in the United States.

The groups are recommending that the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which will meet later this month, order the United States to “provide effective remedies, including reparations for racial discrimination, including ongoing structural discrimination that flows from the legacies of slavery.”

The ACLU, which ostensibly advocates for Americans’ civil liberties regardless of politics, has a long history of defending left-wing policies. The group in April said it would use “the full force of the law” to allow children to undergo transgender hormone treatment. The ACLU is also a top advocate for the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, the Washington Free Beacon has reported. Human Rights Watch also routinely criticizes the Jewish state, with Ben and Jerry’s basing its anti-Israel boycott on advice from a high-ranking Human Rights Watch employee. Ben and Jerry’s parent company overruled the anti-Semitic boycott following widespread criticism.

While the groups note that Joe Biden has criticized “systemic racism,” they say the president has not gone far enough.

“The Biden administration has shown it can name the problem, but the time has come to take bolder action to radically transform these abusive systems and fully implement U.S. human rights obligations,” ACLU human rights director Jamil Dakwar said in a statement.

One such “bolder action,” the groups say, is creating “a commission to study the need for reparations and develop specific remedies for the enslavement of people in the United States and its myriad legacies.” The ACLU and Human Rights Watch want the government to work against anything that has “a racist effect or impact,” such as “mass incarceration” and concentration of wealth.

Barrington Martin II, a national director of the patriotic group Our America, called the groups’ actions “preposterous” and “oxymoronic.”

“There is not one law on the books or any institution within the United States that seeks to oppress or subjugate any individual or group on the basis of race,” Martin told the Free Beacon. “People from all across the world have come to the United States for decades because of the freedom and equal opportunity America offers for all.”

SOURCE: The Washington Free Beacon

Amid Senate run, Val Demings whitewashes past support for Minneapolis’s far-left city council

Florida Democratic Senate hopeful Val Demings wants voters to know she would never support abolishing the police. Two years ago, she praised a group of radical activists working to do just that as “thoughtful.”

In a June 2020 interview with CBS, Demings voiced support for Minneapolis City Council members who pledged to “abolish the Minneapolis Police system as we know it” following the police killing of George Floyd. Demings had no doubt the council members and their activist allies would “come out with a plan” for a new policing system that would “keep Minneapolis safe but also bring the community and the police together in a much needed and long overdue way.”

But days after Demings’s interview, the council voted unanimously to eliminate the Minneapolis Police Department without establishing any kind of replacement. In December, the council voted to pull $8 million in police funding as part of its pledge to “transform our system of public safety.” All the while, the far-left groups that demanded those changes made it clear they would not be satisfied until lawmakers abolished “jails, prisons, detention centers, [and] immigration enforcement.”

Now, as Demings fights to unseat Senator Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), the Democrat is running away from her praise for the council. The position earned her praise amid the riots that followed Floyd’s death, when two-thirds of Americans supported the Black Lives Matter movement. Since then, support has plummeted to 31 percent, prompting Demings to use her status as a former cop to argue that she’d never “call abolishing the police ‘thoughtful.'”

Still, many Florida law enforcement officials aren’t buying Demings’s turnaround. 55 state sheriffs have endorsed Rubio, and some say Demings “turned her back on law enforcement” in the wake of Floyd’s death. Demings did not return a request for comment.

On June 7, 2020, days after violent riots subsided in Minneapolis, the anti-police groups Reclaim the Block and the Black Visions Collective hosted a rally in Minneapolis’s Powderhorn Park. During the event, nine Minneapolis City Council members, including then-president Lisa Bender, stood behind a giant “DEFUND POLICE” sign on stage, and announced their “commitment” to “end policing as we know it.”

The next day, Demings defended the council to CBS, expressing confidence in the group’s ability to reimagine public safety in a “safe” and “thoughtful” way. During a CNN appearance that morning, Bender shared her hope for a “future without police.” Pressed on the prospect of having no cops to call during a break-in should Minneapolis actualize that future, Bender said the concern “comes from a place of privilege,” as “calling the police may mean more harm is done.”

Bender’s rhetoric closely resembles language in the Black Visions Collective’s “Minneapolis Without Policing” resource guide, which instructs crime victims to resist “the urge to dial 911,” as the police’s presence “will put people at risk of being jailed, abused, or killed.” The similarity is likely no coincidence—in August 2020, two months after the interview, Bender acknowledged her “long relationship” with the anti-cop group, which began its work to defund and disband police in 2017.

While the Black Visions Collective long had the ear of Bender and other council members, its radical vision for Minneapolis didn’t catch fire until after Floyd’s death. That event prompted the collective’s members to seize on growing anti-police rhetoric, harassing city mayor Jacob Frey (D.) and his liberal counterparts on the council to answer the call to defund police. Days before the nine city council members publicly caved to the collective’s demands in Powderhorn Park, the group planted gravestones with Floyd’s name outside council members’ homes.

It’s unclear if Demings was familiar with the Black Visions Collective when she praised the “community leaders” working with the council to reimagine law enforcement. But the group undoubtedly led the charge to abolish police in Minneapolis, giving politicians like Bender a guide to “eliminating imprisonment, policing, and surveillance” and building “a police-free future.”

“As [prison industrial complex] abolitionists, we organize to dismantle and defund these systems,” the guide reads. “This looks like organizing to abolish police and all law enforcement, including ICE and the military; to stop jail/prison construction and close existing facilities; and to end racist, predictive policing practices that use zip codes to target Black and Brown neighborhoods. It also looks like not calling the police on people, ever.”

Bender and the rest of the City Council advanced many of these policies after the June rally. On June 26, the council unanimously approved a proposal that would have done away with the Minneapolis Police Department in favor of a “department of community safety and violence prevention.” The proposal gave the council overwhelming control over the new department. It also removed the city’s mandatory officer requirement, which meant the council did not have to hire a single cop.

Unfortunately for the Black Visions Collective, the community safety department never came to be. Minneapolis voters had a chance to approve the proposal through a November 2021 ballot measure, which came as the city experienced a surge in violent crime, including the highest number of homicides in two decades. Voters rejected the measure by a double-digit margin.

Following the vote, Bender retreated into privacy. After declining to run for reelection in November 2020, the former president announced she was “logging off for a while” and locked her Twitter account.

But for Demings, distancing herself from the summer of 2020 has proven more difficult. Rubio’s campaign has flooded airwaves with ads saying the Democrat “refused to condemn radicals.” In response, Demings released her own ad, which called the idea of defunding police “just crazy.”

That rhetoric is a far cry from Demings’s earlier comments. She claims her “very thoughtful” comments were directed toward the City Council, not their movement to dismantle police. For former Minneapolis-area police captain David Zimmer, that defense is not a convincing one, as the council in 2020 was well known as “an activist council that had it out for its own police department and was looking for ways to take more control.”

“They were pretty clear with what their intent was,” said Zimmer, now a criminal justice policy fellow at the Center of the American Experiment. “They wanted to do away with the police department. And when the Floyd case came about, they felt like they had the power to do it.”

SOURCE: The Washington Free Beacon

My blood is boiling.

The Deep State Cabal inside the DOJ and FBI went out of their way to hinder the investigation of Hunter Biden’s laptop just weeks before the 2020 Presidential election. By blocking the disastrous news, it kept America in the dark and aided Biden’s so-called victory.

When America was being distracted with COVID, mandates, lockdowns, and BLM riots, our freedom was being taken away without most people noticing because our government was conspiring against us.

How can we trust our so-called “top law-enforcement” agency to do their job when they actively hid Hunter’s investigation in a RESTRICTED SUBFOLDER on their network?

Now Biden’s handpicked Attorney General has no problem turning a blind eye to the actions of the Biden family. This isn’t just refusing to investigate Hunter’s laptop, this is ACTIVELY HIDING EVIDENCE so no one else would investigate.

That’s why you and I must continue to stand up to them.

If you want to see Hunter investigated and the Big Guy impeached, then I need your URGENT Contribution of $25, $50, or $100 today!

We need to let these Deep State hooligans know that we’re going to do the job they were supposed to do. I’m opening up a congressional investigation into the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop and exposing the criminality of Hunter and the Big Guy. I told you my blood is boiling, right?

If the DOJ didn’t cover up Hunter’s crimes and the intelligence officials didn’t peddle the lie that Hunter’s Laptop was “Russian Disinformation,” Donald Trump might still be President.

The 18-month-long nightmare we all have been living under Biden’s illegitimate reign would not have happened.

No hyper-inflation. No borrowing trillions of dollars to pay for Marxist social programs. No baby formula shortages or selling of oil reserves to Hunter’s friends in China.

That’s what the DOJ took away from us when they covered for the Biden family’s criminal enterprise.

If you’re as upset as I am, then chip in $50, $100, or $250 today to help me investigate and expose the truth behind Hunter’s and the Big Guy’s criminal enterprise… and those who helped cover it up!

Here’s the problem. The Swamp knows I’m a woman of my word. They know that I will not rest until Congress finally investigates Hunter and impeaches Joe Biden.

That’s why they have been working overtime to make sure I’m not in Congress after November. From filing lawsuits to kick me off the ballot to donating millions to my Democrat opponent, I’m having everything AND the kitchen sink thrown at me.

Do you really think Nancy Pelosi has ignored the behavior from AOC and the Jihad Squad by mistake?

Do you think the Democrats accidentally forgot to sanction their own member who gave the middle finger on National TV to GOP Members of Congress at the Congressional Baseball game the other day?

Somehow no one is being held accountable for their actions… except me. Because in Washington, some people do as they’re told while I’m fighting to do what Americans expect from their duly elected Representatives—SERVE THE PEOPLE!

That’s why I URGENTLY need your help to fight back and win this November with your $100, $500, or $1,000 donation today. Otherwise, Hunter and Brandon are going to keep enriching themselves off the backs of the U.S. government and no one will stop them.

But if I win in November, all bets are off.

That’s why we can’t let Hunter and Brandon get away with it simply because I wasn’t there to lead the charge in Congress. Help me win so I can investigate Hunter and impeach Joe Biden! Please donate today.

Thank you. God Bless America.
Marjorie Taylor Greene
Congresswoman (R-GA)

Democrats continue to say that “democracy is in danger” if voters don’t give liberals the majority in November, but violence by the left has defined the summer politically so far, conservative observers have told The Epoch Times.

As Democrats continue to use the Jan. 6 Committee hearings over the summer to make a special case that somehow conservatives pose a danger to the country, the violence from the left has been ongoing, one victim told The Epoch Times.

The issues affronting progressives are numerous, including the reversal of Roe v. Wade, non-action on a climate change scheme, and the lack of momentum of progressive policies under Joe Biden, which stand out as sources of anger and mounting frustration for leftist activists.

In June, a pro-life pregnancy center in Buffalo, New York, was burned out, allegedly by the radical leftwing, pro-abortion, militant group Jane’s Revenge, said the health pregnancy center called CompassCare, which helps women keep their babies rather than abort them.

“We actually saw the type of [violent] Jane’s Revenge activity happening around our Buffalo location that they were fomenting with their followers” prior to the firebombing of the clinic Rev. James Harden, CEO of CompassCare, told The Epoch Times.

“So we reported it to local law enforcement as well as the FBI two weeks in advance of the firebombing,” added Harden, who said Molotov cocktails were used to set the blaze to the CompassCare clinic.

Harden blames local and national progressive politicians for the violence, calling measures that the state of New York have taken under Democratic Gov. Kathleen Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James to investigate crisis pregnancy centers like CompassCare as “essentially joining Jane’s Revenge in attacking pro-life pregnancy centers.”

Jane’s Revenge

The Jane’s group said that they were also responsible for attacks on pro-family clinics in Dearborn, Michigan, Asheville, North Carolina, and more than a dozen other sites around the country in response to the Supreme Court’s repeal of Roe v. Wade.

“You have seen us in Madison WI, Ft. Collins CO, Reisertown MA, Olympia WA, Des Moines IA, Lynwood WA, Washington DC, Ashville NC, Buffalo NY, Hollywood FL, Vancouver WA, Frederick MA, Denton TX, Gresham OR, Eugene OR, Portland OR, among others, and we work in countless locations invisibly,” said the group in a manifesto published on Abolition Media, an anarchist website.

So far, no arrests have been made in connection with any of the acts claimed by Jane’s Revenge manifesto, although the Catholic News Agency has reported that some youths have been arrested in acts of vandalism not associated with Jane’s Revenge.

Jason Rantz, a conservative talk show host in Seattle, told The Epoch Times that several churches and pro-life crisis pregnancy centers have been attacked in Washington state as well, with no arrests other than one that doesn’t seem to be connected to the abortion issue.

Like CompassCare’s Harden, Rantz makes no bones about pointing the finger for the violence at some progressive politicians, but not all.

“We had a story that I broke several weeks ago where a Democrat state Senator up for reelection … she produced a video that was celebrating the vandalism” against a pro-life billboard in Gorst, Washington.

The video was subsequently posted on Instagram.

“They don’t really hide their intent to promote this kind of violent response when they don’t get their way politically,” said Rantz.

2020 Redux?

Seattle was the scene of some of the worst violence during the Black Lives Matter protest and riots of the summer of 2020, with sections of the downtown area made unhabitable and unpoliceable for over a month.

While stopping short of calling the 2020 riots a dress rehearsal for today’s more targeted and politically-motivated violence, Rantz does think the violence in 2020 and today are connected in that Democrats think they are best served by allowing the violence to continue.

“I also think that as with the case in 2020, that a lot of the Democrats thought that they would benefit politically from the violence so they don’t want to get too involved” in calling for more rational means of political opposition.

Targeted Assassination Attempt

The Buffalo center of CompassCare was burned out just days after a California man was arrested near the house of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in an alleged aborted effort to kill the conservative jurist.

Nicholas John Roske was arrested with a black tactical chest rig, and a tactical knife, along with a Glock 17, clips, ammunitions, and zip ties, according to the probable cause statement filed with the court.

The FBI said that Roske traveled cross-country in what they are now saying was an attempt to kill as many as three Supreme Court Justices.

Roske, 26, said that he was upset over the Supreme Court decision that reversed Roe v. Wade which returned the question of abortion back to individual states.

Roske also expressed concern that upcoming decisions by the nation’s highest court would tend to favor conservative views on the Constitution, said an FBI warrant obtained by Fox News.

‘Democracy in Danger’

According to talk show host Rantz, Democrats have become obsessed with the idea that merely having differing views on political issues of the day from those of Democrats somehow threatens the fabric of democracy.

That message was conveyed by Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.), whose re-election campaign sent a handwritten postcard to at least one constituent warning that “Democracy is at stake this election day. Republicans are the problem.”

The postcard, obtained by The Epoch Times, appeared to have no identification, such as a signature, but just referred to the need to re-elect Wexton or democracy will be in danger. The flip side of the postcard was marked as having been sent by “Jennifer Wexton for Congress.”

Wexton is being opposed by GOP nominee and Vietnamese refugee, Hung Cao.

Cao, a retired special forces operator who left the Navy as a captain—one rank below the flag rank of admiral—took umbrage at the apparent suggestion by Wexton’s campaign that he would endanger democracy.

“Jennifer Wexton should immediately apologize for her campaign’s claims,” said a Cao campaign spokesman in a statement to The Epoch Times.

“Hung Cao has fought for our country honorably for 25 years. He’s put his life on the line for his fellow Americans to protect our constitution. Wexton ought to be ashamed of her campaign slandering an immigrant to this country who wore our uniform in combat,” added the campaign.

Congress Targeted

The Capitol Police stepped up security for this year’s Congressional Charity baseball game, citing threats by leftist climate activists who have threatened to disrupt the game if climate bills aren’t passed by Congress, or at least are on the verge of passing.

“The real violence being committed at this baseball game is by Congress, by Manchin, by his Republican allies and by everybody in Congress who’s failing to take action on climate change, therefore consigning millions of people to die and millions more livelihoods to be destroyed,” said Dan Sherrell, an organizer for the protest at the baseball game.

The threats came years after the game was targeted by a left-wing gunman in 2017, who opened fire on a practice field for the Congressional baseball game, critically wounding then-House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and three others before being killed by Capitol Police.

The 66-year-old former construction worker and Bernie Sanders supporter, James T. Hodgkinson, attempted to kill Scalise and others because he “hated Republicans,” according to a report by the Los Angeles Times.

Accepting Political Violence?

A pre-print of a study published in July, which has yet to be peer-reviewed, found that “[s]ubstantial minorities of the [US] population endorse violence, including lethal violence, to obtain political objectives,” with nearly 8 million people in the United States at least “somewhat willing” to kill others to advance their political goals.

Published at MedRxiv, the paper concentrated on concepts like QAnon, Donald Trump, stolen elections, and Western European traditions as justifications by conservatives who find political violence acceptable.

Yet the paper also found that the largest minority of people who feel political violence is justified are those who find race-based violence justifiable.

“More than a third of respondents (36.2%) reported that violence was at least sometimes justified ‘to prevent discrimination based on race or ethnicity,’” with nearly 10 million Americans saying that violence was always justified to prevent racial discrimination.

With the contemporary expansion of the meaning of words like “discrimination,” to encompass concepts such as “microaggressions,” it’s much easier to see how violence is becoming more commonplace in a future that appears bleak, observers say, even as progressive seek to further expand definitions to widen their dispute on conservatives.

“When you have Joe Biden, two weeks ago, asking Merrick Garland to investigate crisis pregnancy centers for fraud, it’s an all-out war on these pregnancy centers,” said Harden, who points out that they provide their services for free so fraud would be impossible—unless you redefine the meaning of the word fraud.

Harden was referring to a provision in a July 8 executive order “to protect people seeking reproductive health services from fraudulent schemes or deceptive practices.” Biden has appointed Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta to head up the Department of Justice’s task force on abortion. Gupta has been accused in the past of calling crisis pregnancy centers like the one Harden runs “fake clinics,” raising worries that the DOJ will try to shut down pro-life clinics under an expanded definition of fraud.

“It’s like a dystopian novel,” said Harden.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the White House and Hochul, James, and Wextons’ offices for comment.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

A picture’s worth a thousand…[US Patriot]

Starbucks announced Monday it is closing 16 stores across the country, citing crime and safety concerns at the locations, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The company is shuttering locations in Seattle, Los Angeles, Portland, Ore., Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.  Each city is governed by Democratic mayors and is undergoing a spike in crime. In a message to employees, Starbucks executives said the company has been getting “a lot” of incident reports of criminal activity, including drug use in stores. “We cannot serve as partners if we don’t first feel safe at work,” they said.

Starbucks, which has lost roughly a third of its value over the past year, also announced it will give managers more leeway with store policy to deter criminals. Managers will be able to close bathrooms to deter drug use and limit customer seating. Starbucks said it will also offer baristas additional training in deescalating conflicts.  

Starbucks’s move comes two years after the company downplayed violence amid rioting following the murder of George Floyd. In May 2020, Starbucks released a public statement praising racial justice activists and quoting Martin Luther King Jr.’s remark that “a riot is the language of the unheard.” Kevin Johnson, the company’s CEO, stressed the importance of the “courageous conversations” going on at the time.

Starbucks has worked to quash unionization efforts across the country, and two of the Seattle locations the company is closing are unionized. A Starbucks union leader when interviewed by the Journal said the company should have involved employees in the decision to close the stores.

SOURCE: The Washington Free Beacon

As the Biden administration moves on from hectoring gas station owners to cut prices and returns to begging the Saudi government to pump more oil, there’s a case in Alaska that shows how hard it can be to develop new oil fields on federally-owned land.

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As The Wall Street Journal reports, ConocoPhillips has been trying to develop a new project on federal land in the Alaskan Arctic called “Willow.” The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wants to shrink the project’s size, but still allow it to proceed.

A big reason BLM is making the project smaller: a court ruling that said the government “failed to properly assess the project’s impact on climate change and its potential harm to polar bears.”

There are more such legal challenges either underway, or in the making:

A coalition of environmental groups…sued the Biden administration in an effort to stop more than 3,500 permit applications from energy companies to drill for oil and gas on federal lands.

The groups argued the administration hasn’t considered the damage that climate-changing carbon dioxide emissions from drilling does to endangered species, and that permit approvals in Wyoming and New Mexico violated federal laws including the Endangered Species Act.

The groups said burning fossil fuels from drilling is heating the planet and damaging imperiled species like Hawaiian songbirds, desert fish, ice seals and polar bears. The administration’s approved permits, they said, will release up to 600 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

The lawsuit is the latest attempt by environmentalists to pressure the administration to halt new drilling permits. Earlier in his term, Biden sought to commit to his campaign promise to suspend new drilling on federal lands, but was thwarted after legal challenges from GOP-led states and the oil industry.  

While the outcome of such legal challenges is unclear, one thing is certain: they will delay any production on federal lands for years, if not decades.

All the more reason to look on with wonder at the U.S. shale revolution, which made the U.S. a net exporter of fossil fuels in a few short years. A big reason for that success? “Shale gas development in the United States has taken place primarily on private land.”

READ NEXT: Cross-Dressing Biden Energy Official Once Defended Website Pimping Young Boys for Sex >>

SOURCE: American Liberty News

The Florida Democratic Party’s annual leadership conference is sponsored by Big Pharma giant and COVID-19 vaccine pusher Pfizer, The National Pulse can reveal.

Taking place July 15th through 17th, the event and gala count Pfizer as one of its lead corporate sponsors in addition to Democratic campaign and lobby groups. ActBlue – the prominent payment processor for Democrats and Black Lives Matter – is also a sponsor, in addition to the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).

The “Leadership Blue” event, hosted in Tampa, convenes Democratic candidates for office and Florida Democratic Party (FDP) officials from across the state for training seminars and meetings.

Pfizer’s sponsorship appears to pose yet another conflict of interest given the company’s role as a COVID-19 vaccine maker which still enjoys government protection against legal challenges over their MRNA therapies.

Furthermore, despite obscuring results from its pharmaceutical trials and studies suggesting natural immunity confers better protection than COVID-19 vaccination, the company has continued to receive approval on its vaccines and boosters from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Meanwhile, Floridian Democrats have criticized state Governor Ron DeSantis for failing to implement COVID-19 vaccine mandates for businesses and schools – a policy that directly affects Pfizer’s profits. The pharmaceutical giant has spent a record-breaking amount on lobbyists throughout COVID-19, strategically tapping former government employees with ties to Joe Biden, to push for authorization of its vaccine.

In 2019, the company spent $11,000,000 on lobbying efforts before increasing the total to $13,150,000 – the highest total since 2010.

In 2019, the company retained 77 lobbyists before the total grew to a team of 102 lobbyists in 2020. So far in 2021, Pfizer has declared 92 lobbyists.

Pfizer has employed a similar tactic outside the political sphere, as individuals tied to the company hold influential roles within media, technology, and the World Economic Forum (WEF). Earlier this year, Democrats en masse voted against a move that would prohibit the monitoring and persecution of American citizens who refused the vaccine.

In October 2021, a Pfizer scientist was caught on hidden camera admitting to profiteering off COVID-19.

Pfizer’s sponsorship also follows the event moving from its original location of Disney World to the Tampa JW Marriott due to pressure from LGBTQ activists over Disney’s initial refusal to condemn Governor DeSantis’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

Law enforcement aware large crowds would be travelling to Capitol from the Ellipse, documents show

The man whose posting on social media warned authorities that agent provocateurs from Antifa and Black Lives Matter would be at the U.S. Capitol dressed as Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, is a self-described government informant tied to former deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein.

Rosenstein warned about a “soft coup” against then-President Donald Trump in fall 2020.

On Jan. 4, 2021, an account under the name @JohnHereToHelp posted on Twitter that Antifa and BLM agitators were being bussed from Baltimore to Washington to cause trouble at the Capitol on the day of Trump’s speech at the Ellipse.

“Pantifa/BLM, Balt./DC branches, are already bussing people in to disturb Jan. 6,” the post read. “Orders [were] given to dress like ‘MAGA,’ blend in [and] cause trouble, especially around cameras. At night, arson has been ordered. All to be blamed on Trump supporters attending. Please be careful.”

The post caught the attention of an assistant commander in the Intelligence and Counterterrorism Branch of the United States Park Police, who forwarded it to officials at the U.S. Capitol Police, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and other agencies.

The now-suspended Twitter account belonged to Ryan Dark White, also known as Jon McGreevey.

McGreevey has described himself in court papers and interviews as a former Department of Justice informant who supplied information on corruption in the federal government, law enforcement, and the Trump administration.

He once used the name Ryan White as a cover but now identifies as McGreevey. He is running for federal office in Maryland.

JohnHereToHelp’s original post was shared more than 6,000 times before it hit the radar of the Park Police.

At the time, McGreevey had more than 120,000 followers on Twitter, according to an archived version of his page stored at the Wayback Machine.

Twitter later suspended his account.

“There are multiple replies to this comment that says BLM/Antifa will wear MAGA hats backwards, wear camo, and attempt to blend in with MAGA crowd,” the Park Police official wrote to his colleagues on January 5, 2021.

The Wayback Machine archive of White’s post shows nearly 600 replies, but the replies are not visible from links on the website.

Infiltrator Warning

The emails, part of a trove of documents obtained in 2021 through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by Judicial Watch, show that federal law enforcement knew that infiltrators could be among the crowds at the Capitol.

They also back up anecdotal reports of BLM and Antifa activists from Oregon, Maryland, and other states causing disruption and committing vandalism on Jan. 6.

Trump supporters tangled with alleged Antifa provocateurs in several spots on Jan. 6, including the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol.

Victoria White of Rochester, Minnesota, scuffled with a man attempting to break an arched window adjacent to the Capitol’s tunnel entrance.

As the tightly-packed crowd chanted “[expletive] Antifa,” White wrestled for control of the red wooden club wielded by the man, who wore a green helmet with Trump stickers.

“I’m like, ‘We don’t do that. We don’t do that. Trump supporters, we don’t do that,’” White told The Epoch Times in an interview for an upcoming documentary, “The Real Story of January 6,” on Epoch TV.

“And then there’s other people [who said] ‘No, we’re all on the same team.’ I’m like, ‘No. No, we’re not.’

“Who brings something like that to a Trump rally, let alone to break out the Capitol windows?” White said. “That’s not us. That’s not what patriot Americans do. We don’t do that stuff.”

After another man got control of the club and began smashing the window, White helped pull him down before she was pulled away by other bystanders.

Members of the crowd vented anger at the vandals. “We are not Antifa!” one protester shouted. A man with a green stocking cap pulled over his MAGA hat pulled what appeared to be a stereo speaker from a backpack, spurring more howls of protest from the crowd.

At the same window, the crowd shouted at a man dressed all in black. “No, no, Antifa!” a woman yelled from the crowd. “Antifa’s breaking the windows! Antifa’s breaking the windows!”

While conducting a live stream on January 6, independent journalist Tayler Hansen recognized a protester in a gas mask from her appearance at riots in Portland, Oregon.

“I recognize you from Portland,” Hansen told the woman as she quickly turned away from the camera.

“So you’ve got Antifa here, too. You have Antifa and Trump supporters within the same vicinity here for the same thing. This is absolutely [expletive] crazy.”

The documents obtained by Judicial Watch include other disclosures that run counter to the prevailing Jan. 6 narrative that a mob incited by Trump rampaged to the Capitol to storm the building and upend the counting of Electoral College votes.

A “Daily Operational Snapshot” circulated by U.S. Park Police on Jan. 5 noted multiple events planned for the area around the Capitol.

“Large crowds expected to gather at and travel between the Ellipse and the U.S. Capitol,” the document said.

Other scheduled events included a Freedom Rally, Jericho March, the March for Trump, and the “Wild Protest.”

A MAGA Rally Map Guide said of the Wild Protest: “We the people must take to the U.S. Capitol lawn and steps and tell Congress #DoNot Certify on #Jan6!” U.S. Park Police circulated a copy of the map to other agencies.

The WildProtest.com website said, “The Congress cannot certify this fraudulent Electoral College. Our presence in Washington D.C. will let Members of Congress know that we stand with Rep. Mo Brooks and his colleagues in the House of Representatives who will bravely object to the certification of the Electoral College.”

The activist group ShutDownDC circulated a statement asking people to call hotels and demand they cancel reservations of “people coming to town to undermine democracy on Jan. 6.”

Whistleblower Role?

McGreevey posted on social media and his own website that he was a longtime informant for the Department of Justice.

He said he worked under Rosenstein, who became a central figure in the Trump Russiagate scandal.

According to McGreevey, Rosenstein ran what was nicknamed the “Dirty Tricks Squad” out of the Baltimore office of the U.S. Attorney.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington did not respond to a request from The Epoch Times for comment on McGreevey’s warning about Antifa or his allegations about Rosenstein and the Department of Justice.

McGreevey accused the federal government of conducting illegal surveillance on journalists, federal judges, political rivals, and other Americans, planting evidence in criminal cases, and other criminal acts.

In August 2020, he warned of a “covert coup” to be carried out by Democrats via the forthcoming presidential election.

McGreevey also made other explosive allegations in 2021 court papers, accusing Vice President Mike Pence, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, and others of sexual impropriety.

McGreevey said the DOJ had scrubbed online and offline records of his academic achievements and military service.

He is one of 10 Republicans on the ballot in the primary for the U.S. Senate in Maryland. The primary will be July 19.

SOURCE: The Epoch Times

‘Defund the police’ advocate Cori Bush says her vehicle has been shot at three times since 2014

The controversial congresswoman, a proud member of “The Squad,” has shelled out tens of thousands of dollars on private security while continuing to advocate for “defunding the police.” Bush’s critics, she said, need to “suck it up.”

In any event, she is clearly not doing enough to protect the security of her vehicle, according to an analysis by Twitter user @JusticeDemWatch. Based on news reports and Bush’s posts on social media, her car has been attacked on at least five occasions since 2014, when she claimed a bullet was fired through the trunk of her car during a protest in Ferguson, Mo.

In June 2019, the congresswoman posted a series of bizarre tweets in response to what she described as a suspicious encounter with a black vehicle.

“The black car with tinted windows sent to crash into me the other day was yet again, an unsuccessful attempt to stop me,” wrote Bush, who was a candidate for Congress at the time. “So tell ya boss & ya buddies I only get more fired up each time.”

The congresswoman had a message for the “cowards” who tried to get her: “I’M NOT AFRAID OF YOU & I’M NOT GOING TO STOP!” Bush proceeded to announce that she was not suicidal and asked her followers to demand an investigation should anything happen to her.

“If I choke, fall down stairs, die in my sleep, car accident, ‘accidental’ shooting, suicide etc. INVESTIGATE,” she said. “I don’t need sympathy, I need people to know this stuff is real and it has never stopped. Not a conspiracy theory.”

Bush’s car was allegedly shot a second time in June 2020. “My car took the bullets. I am safe,” she wrote in a Twitter post that included photos of a white Hyundai SUV with a flat tire and a damaged door handle.

“A bullet went through my door handle on one side of the car, another went through my tire on the other side,” she wrote. “I’m committed to taking us from ‘surviving St. Louis’ to ‘living it.'”

Two months later, Bush’s SUV was allegedly broken into and ransacked. The only item missing was the bullhorn she often used at anti-police protests. The Washington Post reported Bush’s account of the incident, describing it as “the kind of not-so-subtle message of intimidation that the activist turned congresswoman-elect has gotten used to over six years of being a leading Black Lives Matter organizer.”

Bush’s car was shot again in January 2022 in St. Louis. Her spokesman told CNN the congresswoman was not in the car at the time and there was no evidence that she was targeted. “Any act of gun violence shakes your soul,” Bush wrote in a Twitter post thanking supporters for their concern. “That’s why our movement is working to invest in our communities, eradicate the root causes of gun violence, and keep everyone safe.”

It is not clear how defunding the police would accomplish any of her stated goals.

SOURCE: The Washington Free Beacon

The book exposes Soros’s connection to US media infrastructure and politics

From his responses, it’s clear that George Soros is a sociopath. [US Patriot]

Matt Palumbo, author of “The Man Behind the Curtain: Inside the Secret Network of George Soros,” details billionaire George Soros’s connection to American politics, and illustrates how Soros controls not only what is written about him, but also influences how the American public perceives news events.

Soros created a financial concept called reflexivity, which Palumbo said is “brilliant,” because it can cause what Soros wants in the finance sector to happen.

“But expectations set reality and Soros realized, ‘Well, that’s true of media as well.’ If you tell people what to expect, they’re going to reinterpret reality,” and that can be used to affect how people interpret news events, Palumbo said during a recent interview for EpochTV’s “Facts Matter” program.

How Soros Spent $18B to Control the Media, Defund the Police, and Elect Liberal Prosecutors

“For whatever reason, if people think something’s going to happen, it actually will happen,” and Soros applied this to media companies’ coverage to make people believe something that did not actually happen, happened, said Palumbo.

Soros-backed media agencies use this concept to create false narratives and make people believe in something that did not actually occur. The reason Soros is able to have this level of influence is that he gives tens of millions of dollars to the U.S. media infrastructure.

There are many Soros-linked mainstream media organizations including, “ABC, CBS, CNN, Washington Post, New York Times, I mean, it is a very long list. Type Soros’s name and just look at how they cover him, and if it’s ever anything negative, it’s ‘anti-Semites say: negative claim,’” said Palumbo, adding that their coverage always seems to favor Democrats and Soros.

A watchdog group called the Media Research Center (MRC) has documented Soros’s ties to media infrastructure. “Soros has spent more than $52 million funding media properties, including the infrastructure of news—journalism schools, investigative journalism, and even industry organizations,” according to an MRC report.

Many left-wing groups, including media companies, get funding via Soros’s Open Society Foundation. That group is known to fund progressive initiatives like Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police, as well as political candidates and district attorney campaigns, said Palumbo.

Soros’s foundation claims to promote democracy and individualism, but in reality, it supports a more radical agenda, said Palumbo.

“There is what they say things are and what they really are,” Palumbo said about the Open Society Foundation

Alexander Soros, George Soros’s son, heads the Open Society Foundation, which in 2017 was given $18 billion by George Soros to fund progressive causes. They have chapters all over the world, including an office in New York.

Palumbo cites Soros’s disguising himself as a Christian during his early years in Hungary before the rise of Hitler, when Jews were being purged, to explain the possible reason for Soros’s support of leftist ideology.

Before the rise of Hitler, Soros was taken in by a Christian man, who swore to authorities that Soros was his godson. Soros worked with the man to confiscate Jews’ property.

In a 1998 interview with “60 Minutes,” host Steve Croft asked Soros if he felt any guilt about confiscating property from Hungarian Jews, to which he replied that he did not.

“I was 14 years old, and I would say that that’s when my character was made. … That one should think ahead, one should understand and anticipate events, and when one is threatened, it was a tremendous threat of evil, I mean, it was a very personal experience of evil,” Soros said.

When questioned further about whether it was difficult knowing fellow Hungarians were being sent to death camps after he helped take away their property, Soros said it was not difficult in any way.

“Not at all, not at all. Maybe as a child, you don’t see the connection. But it created no, no problem at all,” said Soros. “I was only a spectator. The property was being taken away. So, I had no role in taking away that property. So I had no sense of guilt.”

In his research, Palumbo also found that many people who once worked for Soros’s Open Society Foundation later went on to work for media outlets.

In addition, Soros has funded campaigns for many Democratic politicians and progressive district attorneys, backing those who will get the results Soros wants.

“If you elect a DA, they have total autonomy on all those things, so it’s just hey, I want the law changed, I back a guy who wants to change it exactly the way I do, he goes in and changes it overnight,” said Palumbo

“But when you’re in a DA’s race, and there’s a couple of hundred grand spent with each person normally and then you drop 1 or 2 million,  you actually can buy an election that way. And it’s happened time and time again. There in fact are cases where the challenger just drops out, because they know there’s no point,” said Palumbo.

The reason a broader swath of the public does not know who Soros really is is that he controls these organizations with money.

“It’s sort of an implied contract, where, ‘I’ve gotten money from this guy before, am I really going to badmouth them in my report?’ And a lot of people just choose not to,” Palumbo said.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/author-matt-palumbo-lays-out-how-george-soros-has-significant-control-over-media-narratives_4551166.html?utm_source=Goodevening&utm_campaign=gv-2022-06-30&utm_medium=email&est=TBnJ7BmSvfyKvbWgBgyNMLrsof2g5yUZs3YZDWt1ZQqZceu%2Fcn12swngxrq2N92FSQ%3D%3D

As more students fail to meet academic standards in Seattle, public education officials in the city are proposing that diversity, equity, and inclusion programs receive more funding than core academic subjects.

Seattle Public Schools would spend more than $5 million on so-called DEI initiatives, including a “racial equity analysis tool” and an after-school program for black male students who are “referred to as kings,” according to a district budget proposal for the 2022-23 school year. The budget allots a little more than $4.5 million for core academic subjects, such as math, science, and literacy. More than half-a-million dollars would be cut from the science budget as well. The school district lists “racial equity,” “engaging students of color,” and ensuring disciplinary policies are not used “as a substitute for culturally responsive behavioral and social emotional supports,” among its guiding principles for the budget.

The decision to prioritize DEI programs comes as students’ proficiency in reading and math has fallen 6 percentage points and 16 percentage points, respectively, since 2019. Test scores from last year found nearly 56 percent of Seattle students are not competent in science and about 57 percent are not competent in math. Just 30 percent of black students and 18 percent of Native American students are meeting grade-level standards. Public school officials in the region have blamed the COVID-19 pandemic for learning losses.

The Seattle school district’s budget recommends around $1.3 million for scholarships and programs in “Native Education,” about $1.5 million for “African American Male Achievement,” and nearly $1.3 million for the “Department of Racial Equity Advancement.” Another $600,000 would be set aside for “Ethnic Studies and Black Studies,” a district representative told the Washington Free Beacon, as well as $650,000 for a Latino academic support and cultural studies program. In addition, each of the district’s three budgetary goals has to do with improving educational outcomes just for black students.

Under the proposed budget, however, math and literacy courses receive around $1.6 million each, and science courses get $1.3 million—around $850,00 less than the district’s DEI programs.

When asked why the “Native Education” would receive more funding than science classes, a spokesman told the Free Beacon budget allocation is “a complex process that involves community input, stakeholders, students, etc.” The total Seattle school district’s budget is around $1.14 billion.

Parents across the nation in recent months have agitated against the rise of race-based educational movements like critical race theory and “antiracist” instruction in public schools. Some have gone as far as to sue school districts, alleging the movement’s are fomenting a new form of racial discrimination. The issue became particularly salient during last year’s Virginia gubernatorial election, with Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin pledging to ban critical race theory being taught in public schools.

School districts as far away as Madison, Wis., are pursuing similar budgetary initiatives to Seattle, allocating tens of thousands of dollars a year for a Native American land-acknowledgment plan, among other measures.

Seattle Public Schools’ budget, as recommended by the school board, was introduced in June and will be voted on in July.

https://freebeacon.com/campus/seattle-public-schools-plan-to-spend-more-on-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-than-core-academic-subjects/

REVIEW: ‘An Abolitionist’s Handbook’ by Patrisse Cullors

Patrisse Cullors does not care what you think about her slush fund, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. “Even an anti-capitalist organization will still have to deal with money—sometimes quite a bit of it,” the self-described Marxist writes in An Abolitionist’s Handbook: 12 Steps to Changing Yourself and the World. “Be as transparent as possible—but make no apologies for salaries and other expenses.”

Unfortunately, this is the extent of the BLM cofounder’s financial advice in her new book, a how-to guide for aspiring abolitionists. If you’re looking for tips on how to raise tens of millions of dollars in charitable donations and funnel $970,000 to an LLC owned by the father of your child and $840,000 to your brother’s security firm, you will have to look elsewhere. Ditto for readers eager to learn how they can leverage their activist careers to accumulate $3.2 million in real estate, including a $1.4 million Malibu compound and an Atlanta-area “custom ranch” fitted with a private airplane hangar.

Instead, much of Cullors’s advice could readily fit in a self-help book on the discount rack at a Barnes & Noble: “Say Yes to Imagination,” “Allow Yourself to Feel,” “Forgive Actively, Not Passively.” While the injunctions might seem anodyne, Cullors believes these practices will help activists usher in a future without prisons, police, and courts. “Mind, body, and soul should be calibrated before you take over the world,” as Cullors puts it. In a way, the book is reminiscent of Jordan Peterson’s bestseller 12 Rules for Life, except it’s for people who want the country to burn.

While Cullors’s charitable self-dealing has made her a controversial figure, her abolitionist movement is still a big tent. Worried about pollution? Ecologist magazine says the U.S. military is one of the world’s largest polluters. Concerned about so-called animal rights? Uncle Sam subsidizes the meat and dairy industries. Think Spotify is making too much money off the hard work of garbage indie rock bands? U.S. courts protect the predatory behavior of record labels and streaming services, so you should be an abolitionist, too.

Ultimately, for Cullors, the United States is a “white supremacist capitalist patriarchy” and incapable of reform, so abolitionists must resist its hold on every aspect of society, including your morning coffee. “Start your day by making your own free-trade pour-over in a handmade coffee pot?” Cullors asks her readers. “It’s still connected to white supremacy.”

Before you accuse Cullors of speaking in abstractions, though, she makes clear that her hatred of America is grounded in facts. We lead the world in arms exports. We have the largest prison population. We fight wars. We enslaved people. That’s all on top of the United States’ “active genocide of the indigenous people of Turtle Island” (the BLM term for North America). To put it simply, we’ve had “400 years of sadism.”

Speaking of sadism, did I mention Cullors’s prose? In a section about the power of incisive writing, she points to James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni’s “hot knife of words continually slicing through the butter of ideas like racism, white supremacy, and social justice.” There’s a line about how if you’re careful with the “fire” of conflict, “the heat can nourish you.” “Center” is her favorite verb, so on every other page someone or something is centering something else.

There’s also the typical therapeutic and social justice language that a reader with a trained eye can navigate, but I invite anyone to figure out what this means:

Our practice toward grounded responsiveness offers a model for both our personal and our movement relationships. We can choose to center our values over our reactive vitriol. We can choose to be in community and model a new approach toward naming requests.

Readability aside, the book’s biggest weakness is the dissimilarity between Patrisse Cullors the wise abolitionist educator and Patrisse Cullors the hack political activist.

The author who calls on readers to fight the U.S. government is the same person who hosted a party at BLM’s $6 million L.A. compound, which the organization secretly purchased with an influx of cash after George Floyd’s death, to celebrate Joe Biden’s election victory in 2020. The writer who advises activists to “respond” rather than “react” called New York magazine’s coverage of her organization’s profligate spending “right-wing disinformation” and said black media outlets that picked up the reporting were not “actually black.” And the author who says abolitionists should “practice accountability” failed to file her organization’s federally mandated 990 tax documents and called charity transparency laws “triggering” and “unsafe.”

In other words, she’s no Nancy Brophy, the 71-year-old author of How to Murder Your Husband,who was convicted last month of murdering her husband. But maybe that’s an unfair standard—most writers can’t live up to all their guidance. And on the issue of accountability, at least, maybe Cullors practices it in less publicized ways:

There are multiple times in my life where I have been accountable for the harmful conditions that were created in a dynamic. The moments when I have been accountable are the moments when I feel more present for connection. It is a truly amazing moment when you hold yourself accountable and find the peace on the other side.

Here’s to hoping Cullors continues to hold herself accountable for the harmful conditions that were created in a dynamic, feels more present for connection, and finds peace on the other side.

https://freebeacon.com/culture/how-to-fight-racism-on-turtle-island/

One of the two protesters arrested outside the Kenosha County Courthouse where the Kyle Rittenhouse jurors deliberated on Wednesday is a self-proclaimed co-chairperson of a Black Lives Matter chapter in Lake County, Illinois, according to her Facebook profile.

Shaquita Cornelius, 34, was charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and marijuana possession as one of two people taken into custody outside of the courthouse.

Her Facebook profile includes an introduction with the words, “MY BLACK BEAUTIFUL, CO-CHAIRMAN OF BLACK LIVES MATTER of LAKE COUNTY IL, OWNER OF SHAYTEEZ & THINGZ.”

Two protesters were arrested outside of the courthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Wednesday after one of the two perpetrators allegedly bodyslammed a reporter.

On Thursday morning, jurors began their third day of deliberations on homicide and other charges against Rittenhouse in the shootings that ended the lives of two men and wounded a third during rioting in Kenosha on Aug. 25, 2020.

Hidden on Page 1,647 of Biden’s Huge Spending Bill Is a Plan Allowing Illegals to Get Billions of Dollars

On Wednesday, a demonstration outside the courthouse turned violent.

WARNING: The following video contains vulgar language that some viewers will find offensive.

The second individual arrested was a male suspect identified as 20-year-old Anthony Chacon. He wore a T-shirt with the words “F*** Kyle” and was taken into custody after attacking a reporter, according to Fox News.

The Kenosha Sheriff’s Department said Chacon was arrested on charges of battery, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Fox News reported he also is “facing charges related to bail jumping, meaning he has a prior criminal record.”

Media Release – Rittenhouse Trial pic.twitter.com/c67ObYwYn1

— Kenosha Co Sheriff (@Kenosha_Sheriff) November 17, 2021

The sheriff’s department has worked to prepare for what some expect could become a violent response to the Rittenhouse trial verdict.

“At this time, we have no reason to facilitate road closures, enact curfews or ask our communities to modify their daily routines,” the department said in a statement on Tuesday.

Jury Reaches Verdict in Murder Trial of Kyle Rittenhouse

Media Release – Rittenhouse Trial pic.twitter.com/4guqPXQetA

— Kenosha Co Sheriff (@Kenosha_Sheriff) November 16, 2021

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers of Wisconsin announced on Friday that hundreds of National Guard troops would be active near Kenosha this week as the city, state and country await a verdict in the Rittenhouse case.

Should all violent protesters be arrested?

“Approximately 500 Wisconsin Army National Guard troops are reporting for State Active Duty as authorized by Gov. Tony Evers to support local partners in ensuring public safety in conjunction with hundreds of officers from volunteering law enforcement agencies,” the governor’s office said in a news release.

Evers said in a statement that he is hopeful the situation in the city remains peaceful, and he asked for the public’s assistance with that.

“We continue to be in close contact with our partners at the local level to ensure the state provides support and resources to help keep the Kenosha community and greater area safe,” he said.

“The Kenosha community has been strong, resilient, and has come together through incredibly difficult times these past two years, and that healing is still ongoing,” the governor added.

“I urge folks who are otherwise not from the area to please respect the community by reconsidering any plans to travel there and encourage those who might choose to assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights to do so safely and peacefully.”

Conversation

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CBS on Thursday deleted a social media post that alleged Kyle Rittenhouse “murdered two men” in Kenosha, Wisconsin last year.

Rittenhouse, 18, is on trial for fatally shooting two men and wounding another.

One of the men had his hand over Rittenhouse’s rifle barrel, according to a pathologist’s testimony. Another smacked Rittenhouse with a skateboard and was reaching for his gun, according to video footage and testimony during the trial. The third was pointing his gun at Rittenhouse when he was shot.

“Kyle Rittenhouse testified in his murder trial yesterday, breaking down in tears as he told the jury he murdered two men at a Black Lives Matter protest last year in self-defense,” a post on Twitter from CBS Mornings stated.

The post drew quick backlash, with some lawyers asserting it could be grounds for a libel case.

“Hard to believe that’s a real tweet. Straight up libel from CBS. I look forward to Rittenhouse’s numerous lawsuits, some of which will be successful,” lawyer Mike Cernovich wrote on the social media website.

“Oh, well, then. No need for trials, CBS News has delivered its verdict!” added Dan McLaughlin, a writer at National Review.

A CBS spokesperson, asked for comment, told The Epoch Times in an email that “the tweet was revised.”

The spokesperson declined to answer who cleared the post and why it was deleted.

The original post was taken down and a new one was put up that used the same language, except it replaced “murdered” with “killed.”

The situation unfolded after David Hancock, a spokesman for Rittenhouse, appeared on Fox News and called the media coverage of the shootings “absolutely irresponsible and purely abhorrent.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/cbs-deletes-post-saying-kyle-rittenhouse-murdered-two-men_4099871.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

A New York City Black Lives Matter group threatened NYC Mayor-elect Eric Adams with “riots” and “bloodshed” if Adams restores the New York City Police Department’s anti-crime units.

The police anti-crime units were disbanded last year in reaction to Black Lives Matter protests and riots and calls to “defund” police departments. Adams, a Democrat, won election after campaigning on a tough-on-crime agenda and pledging to restore the NYPD’s anti-crime units.

Adams met with leaders of New York City’s Black Lives Matter movement at Brooklyn Borough Hall. After the meeting, Hawk Newsome, co-founder of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York, and his sister Chivona Newsome, also a co-founder of the group, threatened civil unrest and violence if Adams kept to his campaign pledge.

“If he thinks that they’re going to go back to the old ways of policing, then we are going to take to the streets again. There will be riots, there will be fire and there will be bloodshed because we believe in defending our people,” Newsome told the New York Daily News after the meeting.

“So there is no way that he is going to let some Gestapo come in here and harm our people,” he continued. “We pray for peace but … prepare for the worst.”

His sister added: “We will shut the city down. We will shut down City Hall, and we will give him hell and make it a nightmare.”

During the meeting, Adams “erupted” at Newsome after the BLM leader swore to hold Adams responsible for any future misconduct by the NYPD, according to the Daily News.

“You’re on the ground: Stop the violence in my community. I’m holding you accountable,” Adams said.

“Don’t hold me accountable,” he continued. “Being the mayor, being the borough president, being the state senator — I put my body on the line for my community, so I’m not here for folks to come and say, ‘Eric, we’re gonna hold you accountable.’”

“No, it’s us. We need to do this together,” Adams said.

Last year, Newsome suggested that his group would use violence and chaos to push its policy goals while claiming “self-defense.”

“If this country doesn’t give us what we want then we will burn down the system and replace it,” he said in a June 2020 interview with Fox News. “All right. And I could be speaking figuratively, I could be speaking literally. It’s a matter of interpretation. Like let’s be very real and observe the history of the 1960s. When black people were rioting we have their highest growth and wealth and property ownership.”

The NYPD eliminated its anti-crime unit earlier that same month, reassigning roughly 600 officers from the units into other posts at the NYPD. At the time, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea defended the decision as a chance to “move forward and change how we police in this city.”

“This is 21st-century policing: intelligence, data, ShotSpotter, video, DNA, and building prosecutable cases,” Shea said. “It continues to be building these cases—cases on a small number of people that unfortunately still terrorize a part of this city. I would consider this in the realm of closing on one of the last chapters on stop, question and frisk.”

https://www.dailywire.com/news/nyc-blm-leader-threatens-riots-bloodshed-if-mayor-elect-follows-through-on-promise-to-police?itm_source=parsely-api&utm_source=cnemail&utm_medium=email

Fake news isn’t just a meme; it could be the undoing of our legal system.

If that sounds far-fetched, consider the warning of Kenosha County, Wisconsin, Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder, who is presiding over the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse.

The 18-year-old is charged with homicide and reckless endangerment for shooting three men, two of them fatally, during the Kenosha riots in August 2020. Rittenhouse says he fired in self-defense as the men attacked him.

Schroeder has been under fire from the establishment media simply for doing what he can to provide the fair trial Rittenhouse is entitled to under the U.S. Constitution, though the media have twisted proceedings into what the judge called “the most divisive trial in the country.”

The judge began by barring the prosecution from using the term “victim” to describe the men Rittenhouse shot and allowing the defense to correctly identify them as “rioters” and “looters” so as not to prejudice the jury.Trending:NJ Senate Pres Won’t Concede to Conservative Truck Driver Who Beat Him: ‘12,000 Ballots Recently Found’

That decision, coupled with a recent ruling to allow video evidence of the men’s involvement in those illegal activities prior to being shot by Rittenhouse, led to an uproar in the courtroom Wednesday — and Schroeder halted proceedings to respond with a sober warning.

“Anything that undermines public confidence in what happens here is very important,” he said to the defense and prosecution but away from the jury, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“It’s important for this town. It’s important for this country to have people have confidence in the result of this trial,” the judge added.

“Whatever it is — and I don’t care what it is — but people have to be confident,” Schroeder said.Do you think Kyle Rittenhouse is getting a fair trial?Yes No
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The judge then shifted into criticism of the establishment media for its role in continually undermining the justice system in the eyes of the public.

“There are people in the media, on reputable sites, that are saying things that are totally bizarre,” Schroeder said.

Shilling for the radical left, CNN had mischaracterized the judge’s first decision as “incomprehensible” despite its sound legal reasoning for not painting the men shot — who may have been the aggressors — as victims.

The network’s disgraced legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin also referred to that ruling as a “really unnecessary and unfortunate beginning to this really important case.”

But even before the opening gavel fell on his trial, the die was cast for Rittenhouse in the newsrooms of the leftist outlets.Related:Never-Before-Seen Kyle Rittenhouse Video Shows the Moment the Mob Almost Got Him, Then He Shoots

The media had immediately painted him as a bloodthirsty white supremacist in a sea of peaceful protestors — even though the men he shot were all white and participated in the rioting that night.

As with many of these high-profile cases where the media are heavily invested in a guilty verdict, the facts on the ground or even in the courtroom seemed to be irrelevant to the liberal outlets.

Rather than present events from a position of disinterested neutrality, they pick the winners and losers in these cases before the bodies are even cold.

They disseminate their version of the facts as the indisputable truth and then record the public’s outrage when the justice system rules as it should rather than kowtowing to public opinion — and maybe that’s the whole point.

“The case against Rittenhouse is so incredibly weak, his innocence so glaringly obvious, that it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that they did all of this in order to intentionally provoke more riots once he’s inevitably exonerated,” conservative commentator Matt Walsh pointed out Thursday.

The case against Rittenhouse is so incredibly weak, his innocence so glaringly obvious, that it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that they did all of this in order to intentionally provoke more riots once he’s inevitably exonerated

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) November 4, 2021

Justice doesn’t seem to be the order of the day based on how the media have treated Rittenhouse and then Schroeder, so the explanation has to be something more.

Riots are good for ratings, and the constant divisiveness they usher in presents an us-against-them mentality that keeps people tuned into the outlets they believe are on their side.

Whether it’s ratings or simple bias that creates this environment, it has the same damaging effect — the public won’t trust the justice system if it’s repeatedly set up to be on the wrong side of a verdict.

The major takeaway from the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot and killed two rioters during an altercation in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year, has been that regardless of what one might think about a minor showing up at a riot to help guard private property with his AR-15, the teen appears to have been well within his rights to fire the weapon when he did.

Attorneys began their arguments in the high-profile case this week, which had already begun favorably for Rittenhouse when Judge Bruce Schroeder determined that the men Rittenhouse shot could not be referred to as “victims,” but rather “looters,” “rioters” and “arsonists.”

Now, the prosecution appears to have told a flat-out lie about Rittenhouse’s actions on the evening that only seem to further underscore how far-flung the charges he’s facing really are.

Eighteen-year-old Rittenhouse, who was 17 when he shot Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber and Gaige Grosskreutz on the night of Aug. 25, 2020, is facing charges of reckless homicide and attempted reckless homicide, recklessly endangering safety, as well as the lesser crimes of possessing a weapon as a minor and failure to comply with curfew.

He has pled not guilty on all charges according to NPR, and his defense is arguing that the shooting was in self-defense.

Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Is Worse Than We Thought: Look How He’s Punishing Unvaxxed Employees

Rosenbaum and Huber were killed and Grosskreutz was wounded in a series of events that was well-documented by photo and video evidence widely shared on social media amid the fiery-but-mostly-peaceful riots which followed the police shooting of Kenosha resident Jacob Blake.

Rittenhouse supporters have long maintained that he was being attacked by rioters when the shooting transpired.

The three men who were shot seem to have been engaged in mostly peaceful arson and looting of that fateful evening; Rittenhouse, for his part, had driven from his home in Illinois to help protect a local car dealership from the kind of senseless violence that can only be defended with the full girth of the ideological mainstream media characterizing it as necessary for social justice to back you up.

Meanwhile, although newly released footage of the events that transpired seems to completely settle the case that Rittenhouse was being chased before he ultimately fired on the three men, the state just argued that he was the pursuer and cruelly chased down his non-victims.

Do you believe Rittenhouse is innocent?

NPR reported that on Tuesday, prosecutors tried to frame Rittenhouse as the aggressor as he had “initiated” contact with Rosenbaum.

Fully admitting that Rosenbaum had acted “agitated,” and was “getting in people’s faces,” Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger argued that Rittenhouse had been the first to initiate contact and had “pursued” him.

“Their interaction in the lot was captured only by infrared camera recorded from a law enforcement plane flying overhead, so there is no detailed video or audio evidence of the encounter,” NPR noted.

“But afterward, the infrared footage shows, Rosenbaum begins to run toward Rittenhouse, who then shot him in his lower body, Binger said. Rosenbaum fell, then Rittenhouse shot again, striking him in the back,” the outlet explained.

“The shot that killed Mr. Rosenbaum was a shot to the back. This occurred after the defendant chased down Mr. Rosenbaum and confronted him while wielding that AR-15,” Binger declared.

Never-Before-Seen Kyle Rittenhouse Video Shows the Moment the Mob Almost Got Him, Then He Shoots

This is the opposite of what appears to have been happening when Rittenhouse confronted Rosenbaum, who can be heard shouting profanities just seconds before the shooting and seen rushing at the armed teenager in footage obtained by reporter Jack Posobiec.

WARNING: The following video contains vulgar language and graphic content.

BREAKING: Human Events Daily has obtained never-before-seen FBI footage of the Kyle Rittenhouse Shootinghttps://t.co/QFAfI7mmJp pic.twitter.com/J8vOOoD3rg

— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) November 2, 2021

Posobiec claimed that the FBI “refused to allow this video to be broadcast publicly and covered up the testimony of the pilot who flew the plane.”

Whatever the case may be, the prosecution certainly seems to be either totally ignorant of its existence somehow — or perhaps twisting the truth beyond recognition to the jury.

Is their case falling apart?

It’s sure starting to look like that.

A Texas House committee is investigating school library books in the wake of a new law that bans the teaching of critical race theory (CRT) in public schools.

State Rep. Matt Krause, a Republican who chairs the House Committee on General Investigating, wrote on Oct. 25 to the Texas Education Agency and a group of unnamed superintendents, notifying them of the inquiry.

In the letter (pdf), Krause said a number of school districts across the state have recently removed books from libraries and classrooms after receiving objections from students, parents, and taxpayers. The letter cites five incidents as examples, which mostly involved concerned parents who complained that certain books are sexually explicit or teach CRT.

“In accordance with the Committee’s jurisdiction and my authority as Chairman, I am initiating an inquiry into Texas school district content,” he said.

Attached to the letter is a 16-page list (pdf) containing more than 840 books, published between 2021 and as early as 1969. It includes titles that are popular among social and racial justice activists, such as “Stamped from the Beginning: the Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America” and “How to Be An Anti-Racist” by Ibram X. Kendi, “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander, and books about the Black Lives Matter movement.

Also on the list are books focused on transgender, gender identity, homosexuality, adolescent sexuality, pregnancy and abortion, including those discussing the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe v. Wade. It also includes “V for Vendetta” by Alan Moore, likely because of the graphic novel’s portrayal of homosexual characters.

Specifically, Krause asked school districts to report on how many copies of each listed book they possess, and how much money was spent on those books.

Krause further asked that school districts identify any other books that cover topics including “human sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases, or HIV or AIDS, sexually explicit images, graphic presentations of sexual behavior that is in violation of the law,” or contain material that might violate the anti-CRT law by conveying that students are inherently racist or sexist or should feel guilt because of their sex or race.

The school districts will have until Nov. 12 to respond to those questions, according to the letter.

The initiative faced almost immediate opposition from Texas’s teachers’ unions. In an Oct. 26 statement, Texas State Teachers Association President Ovidia Molina said Krause’s letter “smacks of a witch hunt.”

“This is an obvious attack on diversity and an attempt to score political points at the expense of our children’s education,” Molina said.

Molina was joined by Zeph Capo the president of Texas American Federation of Teachers, who called the move “akin to the Red Scare” and a waste of taxpayer’s dollars.

It is unclear what Krause is planning to do once the school districts provide him with the information. The Epoch Times has reach out to his office for comment and will update this article accordingly.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/texas-house-republican-investigates-school-library-books-about-race-sex_4072228.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

A restaurant owner in Portland, Oregon, wrote a letter to city leaders saying she loves her city but it is no longer safe for business as liberal policies continue to allow crime to surge.

“Over the last year and a half, the occurrence of close contact psychotic outbursts from houseless people, aggressive behavior, abuse and damage to our property is a daily norm,” Kristen Murray, owner of the Maurice cafe in downtown Portland, wrote in her letter, according to Fox News.

“It threatens myself, my staff, my customers, my business, your citizens and the mass of unwell people need so much support as well. Our lives are all valuable,” she added.

Murray talked about the situation Thursday morning on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”

When asked why she wrote the letter, she expressed her love for her city.

Report: Judge Judy Ditches Longtime Bailiff Because of Cost Concerns – But She Makes $47 Million Per Year

“I love Portland, and I believe in Portland being able to come out of this. It’s just gotten so wildly unbalanced right now and it’s not safe, unfortunately,” Murray said.

Her letter has led to an upcoming meeting with city officials and other business leaders to address Portland’s crime problem.

“The city is at a breaking point and it has been, but things have really exploded over the last couple of months, weeks, and I really don’t want to close up shop,” she added.

“The city has to make some dramatic changes,” Murray said.

Some have blamed the city’s rising crime on its attitude toward policing. In June, the city went after a police officer for his actions during one of the many leftist riots in Portland in 2020, leading the city’s team of anti-riot cops to resign and disband.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that Portland Police Bureau Officer Corey Budworth was indicted on a charge of fourth-degree assault relating to an Aug. 18, 2020, incident in which he struck a rioter with a baton.

Leftist Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt charged Budworth.

Today, Multnomah County @DAMikeSchmidt announced that a grand jury indicted Portland Police Officer Corey Budworth with one count of Assault in the Fourth Degree for alleged criminal conduct that occurred during a protest in August of 2020. https://t.co/iUoe4uqUzf pic.twitter.com/owYOdkAYZq

— Multnomah County DA’s Office (@MultCoDA) June 15, 2021

Lt. Col. Scheller Pleads Guilty to All Charges of Contempt and Disrespect of Superior Officers, Failure to Obey Orders

“In this case, we allege that no legal justification existed for Officer Budworth’s deployment of force, and that the deployment of force was legally excessive under the circumstances,” Schmidt said in a statement.

“My office will continue to do everything we can to ensure justice is done without error or delay and that we make sure our work and practices are rooted in fairness and equity,” he said.

Schmidt pursued Budworth, who was working as a member of the police bureau’s all-volunteer Rapid Response Team during last summer’s incident.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reported the officer with the baton in the following Twitter video is Budworth:

WARNING: The following video contains vulgar language that some viewers may find offensive.

Cop 37 shoves woman hitting her from behind in the head with baton, then hits her again in the face with baton while she is sitting on the ground pic.twitter.com/t4phwbWpsK

— John #FreePalestine (@Johnnthelefty) August 19, 2020

Budworth was found to have done nothing wrong by his superiors, given the circumstances. But he was hit with a criminal charge, to which he pleaded not guilty on July 12.

REVIEW: ‘No Way to Treat a Child: How the Foster Care System, Family Courts, and Racial Activists Are Wrecking Young Lives’

When I was 10, my mother, a fifth grade teacher, taught a girl close to my age who would arrive at school an hour early every day with matted hair and unbrushed teeth. Her caretakers, elderly grandparents, neglected the girl’s hygiene. My mother did not. She kept a hairbrush, hair ties, a toothbrush, and toothpaste in a desk drawer, just for her.

I’m not privy to every instance when my mother contacted child-protective services for her students. But there were many, and most times, the authorities did nothing. Meanwhile, abused children who continued to come to school sat at their desks with unkempt hair at best, or a rainbow of purple, blue, and green bruises, red scrapes, and pink scars at worst.

Her story reflects the failures of a child-welfare system designed to put the needs of adults over children, as Naomi Schaefer Riley claims in her book, No Way to Treat a Child: How the Foster Care System, Family Courts, and Racial Activists Are Wrecking Young Lives. The stories Riley, a children’s issues expert at the American Enterprise Institute, recounts in the book are not unlike those my mother has shared over the years at our dining room table.

More than 600,000 kids were victims of abuse or neglect in 2019. Roughly 2,000 kids die each year from abuse-related fatalities. And while the official number of children classified as victims has dropped in recent years, Riley provides evidence that the result is more likely a story of shifting semantics and reclassifications rather than a decline in abuse.

Throughout the book, Riley mentions common threads in abuse cases, such as drugs and alcohol or the presence of an unrelated adult such as a mother’s boyfriend. She also dispels the common notion that while abused children often come from impoverished homes, poverty is not necessarily a cause or prerequisite for abuse and neglect cases.

Egregious cases of maltreatment that hit the mainstream media continually remind the public of the need to reform the child-welfare system, Riley says. Take the case of eight-year-old Gabriel Fernandez, who was tortured and killed by his mother and her boyfriend. Prior to the boy’s death, concerned bystanders reported the case to social workers several times.

It would seem obvious that children’s needs should be the first and foremost concern of the child-welfare system, which includes child protective services, foster care and adoption law, and family courts. This is rarely the case, Riley argues. Rather, the child-welfare system often caters to drug-addicted or deadbeat adults and prioritizes racial and social justice objectives over the best interests of millions of victimized children.

Left-wing activists have successfully made race one of the top factors in determining whether a child should stay or be removed from a home.

Advocates for racial equity are quick to admonish the foster care system with charges of injustice and systemic racism. This notion is based on statistics that show black and Native American children make up a disproportionate percentage of those in foster care. Black activists—like the popular “antiracism” advocate Ibram X. Kendi—have decried transracial adoption (white parents of black youths), likening it to neo-colonialism or neo-slavery. Further, Riley says, the perpetrators of abuse in minority families are themselves viewed as victims of lingering oppression and racism in society.

In addition, social workers and judges, fearful of being viewed as biased, are disincentivized from separating minority families. As a result, minority kids are left in vulnerable positions.

“Children who have substantiated reports of child abuse and neglect are left in dangerous environments because the system is reluctant to be seen as breaking up black (or Hispanic or Native American) families,” Riley writes.

Instead of working to fix the system or decrease threats to children across all communities, Riley says, racial justice activists ignore varying rates of abuse and seek only to equate outcomes between various demographic groups.

Judges also use kids as prizes for inept adults. Threatening to take custody of a child could be the incentive a mother or father needs to get clean—indeed, Riley provides one positive example in the book. The author notes, however, that this treatment of children is remarkably “utilitarian.”

“Just as parents see the removal of children as the stick, now they want to see reunification as the carrot,” Riley writes. “The children in this scenario merely serve as tools to get parents to clean up their acts.”

Reunification of the family is the preferred solution in the child-welfare system for cases of childhood abuse and neglect. This is based in part, Riley says, on unsubstantiated claims that removing a child from their home inflicts some of the greatest amounts of trauma a child could ever experience. Many believe that, with proper resources and training, adults can learn to parent properly. Hence the haste to allow for parental visitation and the opposition and lack of enforcement on termination of parental rights.

Studies show, however, that a significant number of children who are returned to abusive parents will again face maltreatment or return to foster care. Studies from several states that Riley cites found the majority of children who died at the hands of their abusive parents were already known to the foster care system—sacrificed to the idea of family reunification.

“[B]ut more disturbing is that children who have been removed from their parents’ homes because of abuse or neglect are then brought back to visit or stay with those parents,” Riley says. “And they are subject to physical or sexual abuse all over again.”

Riley’s book might have benefited from a brief discussion of the collapse of institutions—namely marriage. While mentioned numerous times in the book, mainly in the form of stories about mothers and their revolving doors of abusive boyfriends, such as in the Fernandez case, Riley does not speculate on or articulate the role that the collapse of marriage might factor into the equation.

The author notes, however, that such forays into broad societal issues mean nothing to children once they are killed, tortured, abused, and neglected. Rightly, the book’s main priority is: What can the child-welfare system do now to protect children from becoming the next victim?

She offers some solutions. Group homes, where children are sent to live with trained caretakers and other foster care kids, place less pressure on children than shuffling from one unsuccessful foster arrangement to another. Bolstering the ability of middle-class Americans to take on foster care would create more opportunities for children to find loving homes as would supporting, rather than demonizing, religious foster care organizations.

Child protective services investigators need assistance as well. Often, these officials are called into dangerous situations and lack the necessary training to address a plethora of issues they could confront each day. Left-wing racial justice activists call to defund the police in order to shift funding to social services. These services, however, could benefit from police-like training and, more broadly, taking a “first-responder approach” rather than that of a social worker, Riley says.

To that point, why aren’t child-protective services deployed like police officers to homes when teachers or other mandatory reporters make allegations of abuse on behalf of a child? Lack of resources plays a role. But why don’t they then involve the police? Where are the arrests? Contacting child-protective services to address abuse cases should not result in violent and drug-addicted parents being able to evade the law. This point merits further discussion.

Introducing data analytics to the child-welfare system may also provide a way for social workers to make more clear decisions about best courses of action for children. Collecting data points and plugging them into algorithms, instead of relying on social workers’ subjective evaluations of each case, could help reduce the number of false flags and help focus resources on children who need the most help. Similarly, sharing data across law enforcement, medical services, and the child-welfare system could help adults with past records of abuse from slipping through the system.

In short, the child-welfare system must be reoriented, as Riley rightly states, to put the needs of children first. Until then, the mistreatment will continue. And teachers like my mother can only pick up so much of the slack.

No Way to Treat a Child: How the Foster Care System, Family Courts, and Racial Activists Are Wrecking Young Lives
by Naomi Schaefer Riley
Bombardier Books, 304 pp., $28

https://freebeacon.com/policy/how-to-break-the-cycle-of-abuse/

Kelley Paul, the wife of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), said she’s “exhausted and angry” that mobs harassing the couple last year were not charged, but parents at school board meetings are being targeted as domestic terrorists.

“A mob held us hostage for ten minutes, spitting on and threatening to kill us. No charges! Fake anthrax and death threats sent to our home. No charges! Now just learned the person who called Rand’s Senate office threatening to shoot us will not be charged,” Kelley Paul wrote on Twitter Tuesday. “I’m exhausted and angry.”

Last August, after attending a White House event when former President Donald Trump officially accepted the Republican presidential nomination, the couple and other attendees were accosted by a group of people, some of them were holding Black Lives Matter signs. Video shows that protesters shouted toward the couple, and one protester abruptly pushed a police officer and his bike backward, sending the officer into Paul’s shoulder.

Kelley Paul also noted that in May, a woman called Paul’s office threatening to “shoot you all” and she wasn’t charged either.

“Yet if you dare express indignation at a school board meeting about CRT [critical race theory] or forced masks, the Biden DOJ and FBI say you’re a criminal,” Kelley Paul added.

On Monday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that he directed the FBI and U.S. attorneys to target any threats of violence, intimidation, and harassment made by parents toward school board members, teachers, and others.

Garland’s move drew instant backlash from parent groups and Republicans. His announcement was criticized as a double standard targeting conservative parents, who have ramped up pressure on school boards over the teaching of critical race theory and the imposition of mask or vaccine mandates.

“When Kelley learned today that a person who threatened to shoot us would not be prosecuted, she felt that it was another example of how violence is excused for the left and a mom who raises her voice at a school board meeting is to be treated as a domestic terrorist by the Biden administration,” Paul said in a statement to Fox News.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for District of Columbia didn’t immediately respond to a request from The Epoch Times for comment.

A record from the prosecutor’s office shows a Florida man, Brennen Sermon, was charged for punching a police officer last year when the officer was protecting the Pauls and others walking from the Whiter House to a hotel. But he was released on his personal recognizance, the record shows.

“The punk who assaulted the policeman defending my wife and I in DC went free but the Biden Admin. labels concerned parents as ‘domestic terrorists?’” Paul wrote on Twitter Wednesday.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco defended the new directive during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday.

“I want to be very clear in the memorandum that’s publicly available, the Attorney General issued, talks about the importance of bringing federal, state, local law enforcement together to make sure that there is awareness of how to report threats that may occur, and to ensure that there’s an open line of communication to address threats, to address violence, and to address law enforcement issues in that context, which is the job of the Justice Department, nothing more,” Monaco said.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/kelley-paul-mob-holding-us-hostage-not-charged-parents-at-school-board-meetings-criminal_4034877.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

The FBI’s latest annual report on hate crimes seemed to deliver more grim news about race relations in America, announcing a nearly 40% rise in anti-black hate crimes in 2020. Major news outlets trumpeted the headline-grabbing statistic, noting that it coincided with a rise in “white nationalism” and came amid a surge in anti-black “hostility” caused by summer 2020 protests. Attorney General Merrick Garland quickly promised “a comprehensive response” by the Department of Justice.

But a closer look at the data reveals a more complicated picture. Some of the biggest increases in anti-black hate crimes occurred in Democratic Party strongholds yet, perhaps surprisingly, almost no increases were reported in major cities riven by the racially tinged protests and riots after George Floyd’s murder. It’s no surprise, then, that experts caution against using these numbers to claim an epidemic of anti-black crime–both because of the FBI data’s limitations, as well as the small absolute and relative size of the reported increase.

The recent FBI dataset tallies reported hate crimes, not the number proven in court. It’s unknown whether the “true” number of hate crimes committed in 2020 is higher or lower than the FBI’s reported total. On one hand, not all crimes are reported to police, which could lead to undercounting. On the other, it’s likely that some portion of reported hate crimes would not withstand legal scrutiny, meaning the FBI’s figures might be inflated. The high evidentiary threshold required to prove a hate crime in court is illustrated by the fact that Derek Chauvin–the white cop cast as a racist convicted of murdering George Floyd last year–was not charged with a hate crime.

Whether the FBI’s data over or understates the true number of hate crimes, the total number of reported anti-black hate crimes is relatively small. In 2020, the FBI recorded a total of 7,759 hate incidents—which the FBI defines as “one or more offenses committed by the same offender, or group of offenders acting in concert, at the same time and place”—in a country of 330 million people. Assailants with anti-black biases allegedly initiated 2,755 such incidents, targeting some 3,769 victims. This was the highest number of anti-black incidents recorded by the FBI since 2008, but at that time there were 13,690 law enforcement agencies submitting hate crime data, versus the 15,136 agencies reporting such data last year, reflecting the imprecise nature of hate crime statistics.

What was the nature of these reported crimes? Most of the anti-black offenses recorded by the FBI in 2020 were acts of intimidation and vandalism; roughly 1,200 (approximately 30%) involved violence. One bias-motivated crime is too many, of course, but the number of reported black hate-crime victims pales in comparison to the reported black victims of other crimes.

For example, there were over 189,000 reported black victims of aggravated assault in 2020—more than 50 times the number of victims in all anti-black incidents combined. Black homicide victims dwarfed the total number of victims of all anti-black incidents in 2020. According to the FBI’s Expanded Homicide Data, there were more than 9,900 black homicide victims recorded by the FBI in 2020. Of the more than 3,700 black victims in single offender/single victim homicide cases, over 85 percent of the offenders were black. Among all anti-black offenses reported nationally in 2020, the FBI recorded a total of five murders and nonnegligent manslaughters—less than 1/10^th of 1% of the total homicides committed against African Americans.

While the absolute increase is relatively small, there’s no doubt that reported anti-black hate incidents rose significantly in 2020. A majority of states (37) reported year-over-year increases to the FBI. However, only 14 of these states—including Ohio, which submitted its figures after the FBI released its report—saw increases of more than 20 cases.

Further, state data available on the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer site reveals that just six states—California, Ohio, Texas, Oregon, Indiana, and Colorado—were responsible for more than half of the national increase between 2019 and 2020.

Charles Lehman, a fellow at Manhattan Institute and an expert on policing and public safety, told RealClearInvestigations that one reason the number of reported anti-black hate crimes varies significantly across states is that state and local police departments differ in how they classify criminal incidents. In other words, some states are more willing than others to label certain criminal incidents as hate crimes. State laws, too, vary with respect to hate crimes, which can affect the types of incidents that are ultimately reported as such. Lehman pointed to the disparity between Alabama and Arizona as an illustrative example, noting that Alabama has more than twice as many black residents as Arizona but recorded only seven anti-black hate incidents in 2020 compared with Arizona’s 124.

City-level data complicates the story further. Several solidly blue cities that figured prominently in the summer’s protests—Minneapolis, Portland, New York, Kenosha, Seattle, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, and Chicago—did not record meaningful increases in anti-black hate crimes between 2019 and 2020. Minneapolis recorded nine anti-black hate incidents in 2020 after failing to report in 2019. Portland and New York City each had two additional reported anti-black hate incidents between 2019 and 2020; Seattle’s total fell from 84 in 2019 to 52 in 2020. Chicago had five total reported incidents in 2020, down from seven in 2019. Kenosha and Atlanta recorded zero incidents in both 2019 and 2020.

Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, cautioned that municipal hate crime data can be imperfect.

“The problem is, when you get to a place like Kenosha, or some other places, they have no levels of reporting. During these kinds of protests, when 911 systems are overwhelmed, you may not get all those [hate crime] reports in. In addition, there are issues with regard to trust [with] those police departments,” Levin told RealClearInvestigations.

Sample size is also a significant issue with hate crime data. The relatively small number of anti-black hate crimes reported annually makes it difficult to distinguish genuine trends in the data from random noise.

The issue is underscored by the FBI’s findings regarding hate crimes perpetrated against other groups. Asian Americans, for example, suffered a 70% increase in reported hate crimes during 2020 – to a total of 274. This was trumpeted as a “surge” in anti-Asian hate incidents, but the absolute numbers are so small relative to the population that it’s unclear whether the increase is due to a bona fide spike in “hate” against Asian Americans or randomness.

Some researchers argue that traditional hate crime statistics are unreliable more generally. Jacob Kaplan, the chief data scientist in research on policing reform and accountability at Princeton University, explained in his book on the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting initiative (UCR) that hate crimes are the most difficult category of crime to track at the national level because of reporting irregularities and the relative infrequency of hate crimes.

“[The hate crimes dataset] is also the most under-reported UCR dataset with most agencies not reporting any hate crimes to the FBI. This leads to huge gaps in the data with some states having zero agencies report crime, agencies reporting some bias motivations but not others, [and] agencies reporting some years but not others,” he said. “While these problems exist for all of the UCR datasets, it is most severe in this data. This problem is exacerbated by hate crimes being rare even in agencies that report them—with such rare events, even minor changes in which agencies report or which types of offenses they include can have large effects.”

Lehman echoed Kaplan’s concerns about underreporting, noting that the “number of jurisdictions that actually report [hate crimes] at all is small and varies wildly, and people’s willingness to report also varies significantly.”

Levin argued that the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization Survey proves that a significant number of hate incidents go unreported each year. He also claimed that southern states such as Mississippi and Alabama have historically underreported the number of hate crimes, which has had the effect of depressing the national numbers.

“We were having more hate crimes in Eugene, Oregon, than in multiple Southern states combined for a while,” he said.

The reporting disparities across states and localities make it difficult to draw meaningful conclusions about reported hate crime data. The nebulous nature of “hate”—most crimes involve some element of malice, after all—adds to the challenge. Despite these limitations, Lehman argued that the reported surge in anti-black hate crimes warrants federal attention.

“I think it warrants serious attention,” he said. “In absolute terms, non-hate crimes are a much bigger deal, and I’d prefer limited resources go there. But we should always take it seriously when there’s a spike in heinous offenses, and I think hate crimes qualify.”

This article was written by John Hirschauer for RealClearInvestigations.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/second-thoughts-about-that-fbi-report-of-a-40-spike-in-anti-black-hate-crime_4025223.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

In March, WGCL-TV in Atlanta reported on a series of incidents in the suburb of Douglasville in which families were receiving letters from “a local racist who is hoping to spread fear.”

“I received one two days ago, and I was alarmed at what I read,” one father told the station.

“The letter is using the N-word, talking about the KKK, hanging people, killing kids, killing whole families, and setting houses on fire,” he said, adding that he had given the letter to police, who had hoped to find forensic evidence on the note.

Other residents had told the station they’d received similar notes starting in December; on one street alone, at least seven black families reportedly had been targeted.

Video of ‘Furious’-Looking Pelosi at Congressional Baseball Game Blows Up Online

In arguably the least shocking update this story could have received, police say the incidents are a hoax — that the perpetrator is a 30-year-old black woman named Terresha Lucas who identified as a 6-foot white man with a red beard and as a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

WGCL reported Thursday that Lucas, a Douglasville resident, was arrested and charged this week with making terroristic threats to residents on Manning Drive in the Georgia city from Dec. 21, 2020, to Sept. 6 of this year.

Douglasville police said in a Facebook post that they “received the break they needed on Labor Day, Sept. 6, when evidence was found linking the notes to the house of Terresha Lucas. Detectives said they were able to gather enough evidence to obtain a search warrant.”

For 11 months, black families in an Atlanta suburb were terrorized w/letters from someone saying they’re a white KKK member who will burn the houses & kill them. Following an extensive investigation, police charged Terresha Lucas, a black woman. #HateHoax https://t.co/eCpOLefnoJ

— Andy Ngô 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) October 1, 2021

“During the search, detectives found other evidence which ties the suspect to the incidents,” the statement continued.

Police said the notes all had similar handwriting, tone and verbiage, leading them to the conclusion they were all written by one person.

The notes said they were from a 6-foot white man with a long, red beard. In initial reportage on the notes, no one seemed particularly concerned about the fact that hate criminals don’t usually identify themselves if they’re leaving anonymous letters in neighbors’ mailboxes.

More Protection Demanded for Fauci, Others; Critics of Scientists Could Face Hate Crime Charges Under One Idea

What would have been surprising in an incident as brazen and blatant as this is if the suspect arrested hadn’t been a minority.

Take a high-profile case of racist graffiti at Emory University in Atlanta. In August, the Emory Autism Center was hit with a burglar who left behind racial slurs and a swastika.

“These acts of racism and antisemitism are painful for all of us at the EAC and in the Emory community. They will not be tolerated and every effort will be made to bring the perpetrators to justice. Our priority remains the wellbeing and safety of our faculty, staff, learners, patients and their families, and upholding our values and Emory’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion,” the university said in a statement.

“As we heal in the days and weeks ahead, it is important that we continue to support and provide strength to one another. Our goal will remain to provide an environment and a learning community focused on each other and maintaining an inclusive society where everyone’s identity is valued and celebrated.”

On Sept. 22, the university announced the arrest of Roy Lee Gordon Jr. on a charge of second-degree burglary. That statement was much drier, save for a pro forma statement about how racism and anti-Semitism remain “painful for the entire Emory community.”

Unmentioned were Gordon’s race or prior employment history. According to WGCL, he’s black and a former part-time employee of the Emory Autism Center.

In the St. Louis metro area, Parkway Central High School in Chesterfield, Missouri, was the site of a student walkout after racist graffiti was discovered in bathrooms last week.

“The walkout at Parkway Central was organized on social media on Wednesday evening, students said, by those fed up with similar incidents. Students stood outside the administrative building on campus on Wednesday, chanting ‘no justice, no peace’ and passing around a megaphone to share their experiences with prejudice at school,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on Sept. 24.

“Students at the rally circled around Principal Tim McCarthy and yelled questions and complaints through a megaphone, some cursing at him, asking how school policies would change to discourage racist behavior.”

The reason for the invective apparently was a supposed pattern of racist incidents at the school: “We just absorb it, most of us,” senior Ronald Griffin told the Post-Dispatch. “There’s a ton of people that act friendly, but then you hear about things people have said … off to the side.”

“It’s messed up, and it’s not funny,” said senior Joe Siervo. “We want to see a change … but this happens every year.”

This past Wednesday, the Post-Dispatch reported a black student had admitted to writing the graffiti. A participant in the walkout called it “embarrassing” but said it didn’t diminish their message.

However, as the newspaper noted, this was the second time in recent years that the school has seen a hate-crime hoax; in 2017, a non-white student eventually admitted to writing “White Lives Matter” in a bathroom.

And these, it’s worth noting, are just the arrests made in September. Given that, the only real shock here would have been if Douglasville, Georgia, police had found a 6-foot-tall Klansman with a red beard.

SHREVEPORT, La.—A Louisiana coroner’s office has released the name of a baby found dead in a lake after his mother allegedly threw him and his older brother into the water.

The child was identified as 10-month-old Joshua Black, the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office said in a news release Wednesday night. Police had previously given his age as 8 months old.

An official cause of death was pending based on autopsy results, coroner’s office spokesman John Andrew Prime said in an email.

The baby’s mother, Ureka Black, is accused of throwing Joshua and his 5-year-old brother into Cross Lake in Shreveport last Friday.

Her sisters, Felicia and Pycolyia Black, told KSLA-TV that they’ve long been concerned about Black’s mental health, but she rejected any suggestion of treatment.

“Every time we tried to get her help, she refused,” Felicia Black said. “She just felt like nothing was wrong with her.”

Ureka Black was arrested on charges of second-degree murder, which has a mandatory life sentence, and attempted second-degree murder, which carries at least 10 and up to 50 years.

She is represented by the Caddo Parish Public Defenders Office. Her attorney was in court when The Associated Press called for comment Thursday.

A yard crew working near a bridge alerted authorities to the baby’s body, and the Cross Lake Marine Patrol found the older child floating on his back, KTBS-TV reported. Rescuers thought at first that he was dead, but tapped him and he opened his eyes, the station reported.

Black’s sisters told KSLA that the family had tried weeks earlier to get custody of Black’s children.

“We just knew something wasn’t all the way right with her, but I didn’t want to hurt her in that way of taking her kids. We feeling guilty that we should’ve,” Felicia Black said.

Calls to Child Protective Services were fruitless because Ureka Black acted normal, they said. The sisters said they hadn’t known that she had a baby.

“For my mom, the first time she will ever see that grandchild is in a casket,” Felicia Black said.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/louisiana-coroner-releases-name-of-baby-found-dead-after-mother-allegedly-threw-him-into-lake_4025628.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

September 29, 2021

Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin should rally Virginia parents over Terry McAuliffe’s statement that teachers’ unions – not parents — have the final say on children’s education. 

I think Terry McAuliffe made a huge error in last night’s debate when he asserted that parents really should have no influence on what is taught to their children. This race can break wide open if Glenn Youngkin can focus, in a disciplined way, on rallying every parent and grandparent in the state who believes that parents should  have a role in their children’s education. Employing this tactic will drive home the point that the teachers’ unions own McAuliffe. For the Democrats, it is about control and power, not freedom and personal choice. 

I will reflect more on this and welcome your thoughts in our Inner Circle town hall event on Thursday, Sept. 30. If you haven’t already joined, please consider a subscription to my Inner Circle members program today. 

-Newt

Disgraced R&B artist faces life in prison for federal sex crimes

Rep. Danny Davis (D., Ill.) said on Tuesday that disgraced R&B artist R. Kelly, who faces 10 years to life in prison for federal sex crimes, deserves a “second chance” after serving his prison sentence.

“I think he’ll be welcomed back into Chicago as a person who can be redeemed,” Davis told TMZ. “I’m a big believer in what is called second chances.” Kelly was convicted on nine counts of federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges for recruiting women and underage girls for sex.

A Democratic primary challenger to Davis, Kina Collins, accused Davis of “undermining the broader fight for justice” by advocating for Kelly. She called the Illinois Democrat’s words “thoughtless, distasteful, and incredibly disappointing for a man charged with representing thousands of black women and girls in our district.”

Davis later clarified his comments to the Hill and said “Kelly has been accused of criminal acts, gone through a court of law, been convicted, and must serve whatever time the court decides.”

Davis has faced criticism for praising controversial figures before. In 2018, a pro-Israel group reconsidered its endorsement of Davis after the congressman said anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan was an “outstanding human being.”

The congressman also urged Kelly to “find peace with his Maker and peace with himself” in prison and to “reconcile with the universe for the acts that he may have committed.”

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/illinois-dem-r-kelly-deserves-a-second-chance-after-prison/

Prince William County limits public comment amid debate over COVID, woke curricula

Parents are criticizing Virginia’s Prince William County School Board over a rule limiting public comment, a move community members say is an attempt to stifle debate around hot-button issues.

The school board approved changes to its “Citizen Participation” rule during a tumultuous Sept. 15 meeting. The updated rule limits time for public comment to one hour and prohibits attendees from bringing posters or signs into meetings without prior approval from the board.

The rule comes as Prince William County parents and teachers debate COVID-19 policies and “woke” curricula. The changes demonstrate the board’s apathy toward concerned parents and taxpayers, several attendees and concerned community members told the Washington Free Beacon.

“They don’t want to hear from the citizens. They don’t care what we have to say,” Carol Fox, a former Prince William County Public Schools teacher who attended the Sept. 15 meeting, said. “They’re going to run the school how they want to run it, and they don’t care.”

Prince William County is one of several Virginia counties where school board meetings grew contentious throughout the pandemic. Parents in some districts have organized to oust school board members who promote critical race theory or refuse to reopen schools. Fairfax County Public Schools officials cut off one mother from speaking after she began reading graphic material from a novel offered to high school students.

The Prince William County School Board was set to vote on a swath of measures during the Sept. 15 meeting, including changes to guidelines for public comment. While the board was in private session, parents on either side of the critical race theory debate began loudly taunting each other, one attendee told the Free Beacon. Security ended the meeting after local Democratic leader Tonya James began shouting “fuck you” at attendees.

William Deutsch, a former school board member who attended the meeting, said a select few attendees were allowed back into the meeting space for the board to vote on its agenda.

The newly passed rule only allows for one hour of public comment at school board meetings. Half of that time is dedicated to agenda items, leaving only 30 minutes for parents to discuss other issues. During that 30-minute period, only 10 attendees are permitted to speak for three minutes each.

The school board implemented the rule “in order to conduct its business in a timely and orderly fashion,” the final draft of the updated measure states. Those who are not able to speak at meetings due to the time limitation are encouraged to submit their concerns via video message or email.

Deutsch told the Free Beacon he thinks the rule change could give board members the opportunity to tee up a slate of friendly speakers and exclude dissenting voices.

Several attendees at the Sept. 15 meeting said they had gone to debate the district’s coronavirus mitigation strategies and its embrace of critical race theory. Though the school board denies using critical race theory in its curriculum, the district has adopted the Virginia Department of Education’s equity plan. The state’s “Road Map to Equity” cites controversial “antiracist” scholar Ibram X. Kendi and the educational arm of the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center.

Prince William County Public Schools’ equity statement commits district employees to “examine and interrupt beliefs, implicit and explicit biases, policies and/or practices that perpetuate systemic racism and discrimination.”

According to Deutsch, now is not the time for the school board to stifle public comment.

“We’re at a time when there is increasing polarization and division within our school system and it’s up to our leaders to lead by example and listen to the public,” Deutsch told the Free Beacon. “Sadly, the school board has made it clear that they are not willing to listen to the public and shut down viewpoints they disagree with.”

https://freebeacon.com/campus/virginia-parents-say-school-board-gag-rule-stifles-criticism/

NBA players reject COVID-19 vaccine mandate

Woke millionaire Kyrie Irving and other NBA players are stupid conspiracy theorists who literally want all of your family members to die. Rolling Stone reports there is significant opposition among NBA players to the league’s proposal to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine, considered by many to be a “non-starter.”

Irving, whose Instagram feed is filled with homages to Malcolm X and the Black Panther Party, has urged Americans to “do your own research”—not as it relates to the COVID-19 vaccine, but rather as to whether the Earth is round or flat. His views on the vaccine, however, can be extrapolated with a high degree of confidence.

For example, Irving has started liking Instagram posts from conspiracy theorists claiming that “secret societies” are using the vaccines to fulfill “a plan of Satan” by implanting black people with microchips connected to a master computer. Similar conspiracies have reportedly spread throughout the NBA.

Irving is a vice president on the executive committee of the NBA players’ union, which held its annual meeting last month to discuss vaccine mandates and other issues ahead of the upcoming season. According to the NBA’s most recent health and safety guidelines, the anti-vaccine players were successful in forcing the league to accept nearly all of their demands.

The league and the players’ union are still negotiating a number of contentious issues, such as “prohibitions on accessing indoor bars, clubs, and lounges.” NBA superstar LeBron James, who has repeatedly refused to discuss his vaccination status, violated the league’s health and safety protocols (but was not punished) earlier this year by attending an indoor tequila party with Drake and other celebs.

Weeks prior to the party, James’s former teammate Dennis Schröder told a German media outlet that “LeBron and I” were the only players for the Los Angeles Lakers yet to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. James has insisted that believing in science (or not) is “a private thing,” despite vowing to use his platform to speak out on “everything that’s going on around this country and around the world,” except for China.

Irving has also refused to comment on his vaccination status, but all evidence suggests he is not. His aunt, Tyki Irving, told Rolling Stone: “There are so many other players outside of him who are opting out, I would like to think they would make a way.”

The NBA may have caved to its anti-vaxx players, but some state and local governments have sought to impose their own vaccine requirements. New York City, where Irving plays for the Brooklyn Nets, will require athletes to show proof of at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose in order to play indoors.

On Monday, the Nets hosted a media day at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Irving, who would have had to present proof of vaccination to attend, wasn’t there. In a virtual interview, he once again refused to discuss his vaccination status. “I like to keep that stuff private,” Irving said. “I’m not able to present there today, but that doesn’t mean that I’m putting any limits on the future of me being able to join the team.”

It remains unknown why Irving, who took a two-week leave of absence to protest the riot at the U.S. Capitol, wants his fellow Americans to die as a result of his reckless behavior. For whatever reason, sanctimonious white liberals were significantly less vocal, if not completely silent, in response to the Rolling Stone report.

Shut Up and Get Vaxxed: These Woke Millionaires Are Literally Killing People (freebeacon.com)

Controversial left-wing activist the Rev. Al Sharpton has joined a chorus of people from across the political spectrum who are decrying President Joe Biden over broken campaign promises and chaotic policy.

Facing multiple crises both foreign and domestic, Biden is entrenched against conservative and independent Americans who perhaps hoped his calls for unity following the 2020 election would bring the country together.

Instead of pursuing unity, Biden has catered to the far left of his party as the country has faced destabilization at home and abroad. Aside from the border crisis, the country left Afghanistan last month with the stinging feeling of defeat.

In addition to those crises, prices for basic commodities are up for Americans of all stripes.

Biden is also facing hurdles with Democrats in Congress over the price of a $3.5 trillion spending proposal and he spent part of Friday threatening his country’s own border patrol agents:

“Those people will pay… there will be consequences” said President Joe Biden on Friday of mounted Border Patrol agents photographed confronting Haitian migrants. pic.twitter.com/cLMliFfJi9

— Newsmax (@newsmax) September 24, 2021

If Biden was under the impression he still had the blind support of every loyal Democratic black voter, Sharpton on Thursday let it be known publicly that they, too, intend to hold the president to account.

Sharpton actually accused Biden of double-crossing minority voters who supported him last November in large numbers.

“[Biden] said on election night: Black America, you had my back, I’ll have yours,” Sharpton told The Washington Post on Thursday . “Well, we’re being stabbed in the back, Mr. President. We need you to stop the stabbing — from Haiti to Harlem.”

“He said on election night: Black America, you had my back, I’ll have yours,” Al Sharpton said in a Thursday phone interview. “Well, we’re being stabbed in the back, Mr. President. We need you to stop the stabbing — from Haiti to Harlem.”https://t.co/7e26CJ1JRY @washingtonpost

— Reverend Al Sharpton (@TheRevAl) September 24, 2021

Sharpton, who visited the epicenter of a humanitarian crisis in Del Rio, Texas, on Thursday to call for an end to deportations of Haitian migrants, told the Post Biden could rectify his betrayal of black America by offering those Haitians residency.

The Post reported Sharpton said Biden faces a “defining moment,” and still has the opportunity to “rise to the occasion.”

Trump Team Says AZ Audit Report Shows Over 50K Votes ‘Illegally’ Cast

That, Sharpton said, or the president could turn the knife and let down “those that helped you get there.”

Sharpton actually took to social media Thursday to unleash on the Biden administration to his 666,000 Twitter followers in a message directed at the Department of Homeland Security.

“The treatment of Haitians in Texas is unacceptable and a moral outrage,” Sharpton wrote. “DHS must meet immediately. This must be stopped!!!”

The treatment of Haitians in Texas is unacceptable and a moral outrage. DHS must meet immediately. This must be stopped!!!

— Reverend Al Sharpton (@TheRevAl) September 21, 2021

The controversial political figure spoke briefly in Del Rio on Thursday, but his remarks — at least at one point — were drowned out by hecklers.

Sharpton and those hecklers do share some overlapping anger.

Biden, during the 2020 campaign, was accused of taking black votes for granted, and at times appeared as though he thought he was entitled to them.

Sharpton appears to have something in common with a majority of the country right now, according to polling: He has a bone to pick with the White House.

Al Sharpton: Black America Is ‘Being Stabbed in the Back’ by Joe Biden (westernjournal.com)

The United States has been subverted by people who believe in the failed ideologies of communism, socialism, and Marxism. America’s experiment in self-governance—with State power constrained by well-crafted limits of our constitution—is under direct threat from people who want to “deconstruct” our nation and replace it with a collectivist system of governance.

Many of the 1960s-era adherents to collectivist ideas have infiltrated our government, churches, and a multitude of other institutions, meaning these destructive philosophies have penetrated deep within our country and will be difficult to root out. Many of these radicals are also embedded within the education system, indoctrinating American children.

These people are America’s enemies. But, trying to counter subversive efforts without a full understanding of your enemy is a fool’s errand. I recently interviewed The Epoch Times’ Joshua Philipp, award-winning investigative journalist and an expert on communism, socialism, and Marxism, to determine how America might reorient itself toward mounting an effective defense against the proliferation of these destructive ideas.

One of the least effective ways to discuss communism, socialism, and Marxism is arguing against the economic outcomes and human suffering that inevitably follows adoption of these systems.

“Your average socialist doesn’t care that it doesn’t work economically. Your average socialist doesn’t care that it’s going to uproot the family system and destroy family order,” Philipp said. “They believe that their end goals are so righteous, that killing a few people along the way is worth it for the sake of accomplishing what they hope to create.”

Frequently cited in arguments against collectivist systems are the hundreds of millions of people killed by leaders such as Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler, Vladimir Lenin, Kim Il Sung, and Mao Zedong. But, “real socialists and communists don’t even bat an eye to it,” Philipp said.

While he believes the numbers of people murdered by communists should be part of this conversation, he also thinks that in order to persuade people against these philosophies, opponents of collectivism must address the roots of these ideas.

Religion and Natural Order

Karl Marx stood in strong opposition to religion. Though he had been a Christian in his youth, the timeless question that turned him away (and that he used to recruit people into a socialist mindset and the communal communist order) was essentially: If God is righteous, and if everything is created by God, then why does evil exist?

“If God created all things, and evil exists, then he must have created evil. That was the theory,” Philipp said. “And then they believe, well, if he created evil, then he must not be totally good. And therefore, he must not be the true, perfect image.”

For millennia, this has been a part of theological and philosophical debates, with religious scholars arguing that evil is not God’s creation, but the absence of God. Evil exists because man has free will, so people can choose to do good or evil. But, according to Philipp, what communists and utopians have sought to do is essentially try to eliminate evil from the world, as they see it.

Certain questions naturally follow: How do you prevent people from doing bad things? How do you prevent greed? How do you prevent people from doing things you don’t want them to do?

“You have to destroy the natural order. And, so they looked to create systems that could dictate to a very specific degree all elements of free will, that was one side of it,” he said. “That was always the downfall of utopians.”

Communists believe in the destruction of all previous institutions, including religious institutions. They believe in rebelling against God, whom they see as imperfect. Therefore, communism cannot coexist with the church. Communist ideology suggests that in order to perfect society, “you need to remove God from human morality, you need to remove God from human art, you need to remove God from architecture, and from our family structures, and from the way we shape our lives,” Philipp mentioned.

Dialectical Materialism

One of the pre-existing ideas that was brought into Marxism was that of the “negation of the negation,” which basically means that through the destruction of an existing institution, a more highly evolved system will emerge. For example, the chicken is born through the negation of the egg, the plant is born through the negation of the seed, a higher institution can be born through the negation of an existing institution. This would mean that by destroying institutions, a higher state of human evolution can be induced.

So, they must challenge the church, challenge tradition, challenge belief, create antithesis—the opposite of what is. “Marxism did the same thing under what they call ‘dialectical materialism,’” Philipp said, which is where you intentionally create inversion. You identify important cultural systems of that society and create the antithesis of that.

“So, you promote divorce, you promote feminism, you need to find ways to break up the family,” he said. “You need to look at the ways of doing it, and then develop social movements to argue against whatever the existing institution is.”

“If you want to destroy religion, you need to promote atheism,” he said. “Want to destroy the family, you need to promote feminism, promote divorce, promote the taking away of children by the government.”

The Way Forward

We don’t need to look too closely to see the ways in which communists, socialists, and Marxists have infiltrated the United States and other countries. Communists infiltrated American churches in the early 20th century. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has penetrated American schools. They have seized influence in U.S. companies and within our government.

Notably, their presence is visible in the authoritarian policies born from the pandemic response: the capricious, autocratic mandates; the brutal repression of people marching in the streets demanding the government’s boot off of their necks and a return to normalcy; actions by members of groups such as the United Nations and World Economic Forum who decry a return to normalcy, while pushing a global centralization of power.

For freedom-loving individuals, once you understand the goals of communists, socialists, and Marxists, you cannot cede any ground to them. There’s absolutely no capitulating, no negotiating, no meeting halfway.

“Every time they make a moral argument, and you say, ‘Okay, I want to be reasonable here, I’ll concede half the ground to you,’ society loses half its morals, society loses half its beliefs,” Philipp said. “Every time they do this, and they continue doing it, they force people to acknowledge it. And every time they do this, every time people give ground, they give up half their values.”

All supporters of individual liberty, freedom, and human rights must unite to confront the destructive forces attempting to take over. Americans must use all non-violent means available to deliver an immense repudiation of authoritarian systems of governance.

The battle isn’t unwinnable. There are only a few thousand politicians, bureaucrats, and corporate executives. There are more than 333 million American citizens. Who really holds the power in this country?

If government schools enforce Draconian mandates or teach lessons that indoctrinate your kids with communism, socialism, or Marxism, send your kids to private school or homeschool. If businesses enforce unconstitutional mandates, you stop spending your money there—put them out of business. If airlines enforce authoritarian policies or mandates, then stop flying with them. If your place of employment is caving to authoritarianism, you team up with like-minded employees and say no.

“You do not give an inch, you don’t sacrifice even a single morsel of your system of values, you don’t give in even a drop, you don’t play their games, you don’t talk within the boundaries of their arguments,” Philipp said. “You don’t even engage with them, in terms of giving any ground on anything. If they want to call you names for it, so be it. If they want to attack you, so be it. You do not sacrifice an inch.”

Uprooting Communism, Socialism, and Marxism in America (theepochtimes.com)

You have probably heard about Critical Race Theory. It’s not just Political Correctness on steroids. It is the hateful, elitist scam that fuels the woke Left’s anti-American cancel culture. You’ve seen the stories:

❌ CRT says white children start becoming racists at three months old!

❌ Coca-Cola employees were forced to take a class telling them to “try to be less white”!

❌ At one federal agency, all white, male employees were forced to write letters apologizing to women and people of color.

❌ In San Diego, the school board declared that it was racist to expect minority students to hand in homework on time. When these stories pop up, the first thought is, “That’s insane.” But Critical Race Theory is not crazy – it’s just racism.
 
It’s bigotry. Prejudice. Hate. And it’s on the march.

CRT racism has taken over American college campuses, elite corporations, and the mainstream media. But it won’t stop there. It’s coming for our local schools, our small businesses, our rights, our jobs, and our speech.

The good news is, deep down, Critical Race Theorists, like all bullies, are cowards. If Americans stand up to CRT racism, the New Racists will back down.
 
But we know Establishment Republicans won’t take up this fight. They are too afraid of the media and too beholden to corporate donors.
    
That’s why Senate Conservatives Fund only supports principled conservatives who fight. 

Just talking about Critical Race Theory was not enough for Donald Trump – who banned CRT from federal training programs and launched the 1776 Commission to promote patriotic education in American schools. And talk is not good enough for us.
 
As you know, SCF is the only organization in American politics exclusively committed to recruiting, vetting, and electing principled, conservative fighters to the U.S. Senate. We don’t care about a candidate’s Party – we care about their guts.
 
Today I want to tell you about three conservative Senate candidates we have endorsed to replace finger-to-the-wind RINOs.

✅ In Alabama, Congressman Mo Brooks has our support and the support of conservatives around the country – from grassroots activists all the way to Donald Trump. Brooks is leading the fight against the New Racism in the House Representatives, with legislation to bar CRT from federally funded programs and schools.

✅ In North Carolina, we have endorsed Congressman Ted Budd, a member of the House Freedom Caucus committed to the color-blind, equal opportunity America we all know and love. Budd has not only been working in the House to strip CRT from the federal budget. He’s been helping North Carolina legislators to do the same in his home state.

✅ In Ohio, former Secretary of State and combat veteran Josh Mandel is the strongest, toughest conservative in a crowded Republican primary to replace moderate Republican Senator Rob Portman. Mandel is a rock-solid social, economic, MAGA conservative who has made Critical Race Theory – which he calls “a cancer” – a centerpiece of his campaign. He’s not backing down from the outrage mobs or the Big Tech censorship machine.

By contributing today, you will push these three candidates one step closer to winning those races and winning back our country from the woke mob.

Brooks, Budd, and Mandel are exactly the kind of leaders we need to stand up to the racist bullies of CRT. They won’t shy from the truth, or the bigoted beltway insiders who try to hide it.

SCF supports them because they, like us and like you, stand against the racism, hatred, and lies of the Woke Left. We have their back because they have ours.

Now we need your help. I’m asking you to contribute $25 or more today. Will you please help us fight against the New Racists?

The Left is all in, and the established elites won’t give up their power willingly. To win in 2022, conservative Senate candidates have to fight both of them – but with SCF and your help, they will succeed.

Thank you for being part of our team and for doing so much to help fight for America’s future.

Sincerely,

Mary Vought

Executive Director

These are the kinds of numbers that could add up to trouble for President Joe Biden’s Democrats.

A Morning Consult poll released Wednesday shows the president’s approval rating has dropped among the party’s most loyal voting bloc.

And, as usual, Biden has only himself to blame.

The poll found Biden’s disapproval rating among black voters had risen to 24 percent since his Sept. 9 announcement that any business with more than 100 workers would have to require employees to receive a COVID-19 vaccine or impose weekly COVID-19 tests.

For Biden’s slavish supporters in the establishment media, it was a way to telegraph strength in the face of the continuing pandemic — and signal very clearly to Americans still resisting the vaccine that his “patience is wearing thin.”

Trump’s Surgeon General Says He Tried to Refinance His Mortgage, But Biden Admin Pulled a Dirty Move to Stop It from Happening

It turns out his support among black voters is wearing thin, too.

According to Morning Consult, “the president’s net approval rating — the share who approve of his job performance minus the share who disapprove — has fallen 12 percentage points among Black voters, driven by a 17-point drop among unvaccinated Black voters.”

Polling was conducted from Sept. 6 to Sept. 8, before the vaccine mandate, and from Sept. 18 to Sept. 20 among more than 1,000 black voters. The margin of error was 3 points among those who reported being vaccinated and 4 percent among those who reported not being vaccinated.

Of course, Biden has healthy support among traditionally Democratic black voters. He still has a 71 percent approval rating among them, according to Morning Consult.

But the poll has to be worrisome for Biden’s party looking ahead to 2022. As Morning Consult put it, the results provide “a stark warning sign for Democrats ahead of next year’s midterms.”

“While Black voters, who helped push Biden over the top against President Donald Trump in key states last year, are unlikely to abandon the Democratic Party en masse to back Republicans on the ballot next year, low turnout from the group could have dire consequences for Democrats in Congress, who already face an early enthusiasm gap,” Morning Consult noted.

Black Americans have the lowest vaccination rate of any American ethnic group, according to Morning Consult.

Fifty-three percent of blacks have gotten the shots, compared to 66 percent of whites and 61 percent of Hispanics. A group Morning Consult characterized as “other,” presumably mostly Asians, leads with a reported vaccination rate of 72 percent.

(Other sources, such as Bloomberg, show different vaccination numbers by race, but the overall trend holds: The black population is trailing.)

Watch: This 83-Second Video Is Absolutely Devastating for Joe Biden’s Presidency

A variety of reasons have been offered for the lower vaccination rate among blacks — from the longstanding distrust of the medical establishment (see the Tuskegee experiments) to the questionable claim by rapper Nicki Minaj that the vaccine made her cousin’s friend impotent.

Obviously, some explanations have more validity than others, but there’s no denying Biden’s heavy-handed approach to vaccine skepticism is hurting his chances with an electorate he and his party rely on.

It’s no secret that Biden’s floundering presidential campaign was revived in the Democratic primary in South Carolina, where an endorsement from Rep. James Clyburn, a leader of the country’s black political establishment, powered Biden to a blowout victory in February 2020 and essentially won him the party’s nomination.

If Biden and, by extension, his party are losing support among black voters, it could wreak havoc on Democratic campaigns in the 2022 midterms.

Democrats have a majority in the House by a handful of votes; that could easily change if swing districts go red next year.

With the Senate tied and Democrats controlling it by virtue of Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote, it would only take a net loss of one seat for Democrats to forfeit the chamber — and doom the progressive agenda (if West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin hasn’t done that already).

The plight of Democrats has certainly not been helped by an incident in New York City this week, where three black women were arrested following a melee at a restaurant that started after members of the women’s party could not show proof of vaccination.

The fracas led to a Black Lives Matter group demonstrating against vaccine mandates.

"Cancel Carmen" Chant as BLM marches through and confronts UWS restaurant Carmines accusing them of lying about what happened in a viral video

WATCH: New Carmine's fight footage shows moments leading up to altercation at UWS restaurant

Read more:

Originally tweeted by PIX11 News (@PIX11News) on September 21, 2021.

FULL VIDEO FROM THE PROTEST

Originally tweeted by Scootercaster (@ScooterCasterNY) on September 20, 2021.

In short, for Biden and the de facto totalitarians who make up his party’s leadership and radical left wing, a serious hemorrhaging of black voters means serious trouble.

Biden spent his presidential campaign alienating conservative Americans, and he’s spent recent months alienating our allies abroad.

His disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan infuriated the U.K. government, and his ham-handed handling of a submarine deal with Australia led France — France! — to recall its ambassador from Washington for the first time in the two countries’ long shared history.

Of course, a year is an eternity in politics.

But Biden and his gang have done nothing over the past nine months to indicate they’ve learned anything, or care to learn anything, from the administration’s dismal record of failure — from the southern border to Afghanistan to the stalled economy.

If Biden continues to alienate his party’s most dependable voting bloc, election night next November could be a nightmare for Democrats.

In American higher education today, the equivalent of the holy trinity consists of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The impact of this pseudo-religion is difficult to overstate. For example, new faculty are often required to sign a loyalty oath pledging their fealty to “diversity,” while administrative positions with “equity” and “diversity” in their titles proliferate. In practice, this results in an unnatural obsession with race and gender, which affects admissions decisions and, to some measure, every degree program. As with any religion, indoctrination is a crucial part of the process. So-called general education requirements are one vehicle for such indoctrination. This issue of indoctrination is particularly perverse, as indoctrination is, in some sense, the polar opposite of education.

Can anything be done to rectify the situation? Being a natural-born optimist, I believe there are a couple of relatively simple, common-sense changes that would have a profoundly positive impact on American higher education. Quoting Hoyt Axton, “If I were the king of the world, tell you what I’d do.”

First, I would require that universities be held financially responsible when their former students default on education-related debt. I believe that such a requirement would, overnight, transform higher education in multiple positive ways. For example, grievance-studies majors would likely vanish from the curriculum, and easy majors in the soft and pseudo sciences would be disfavored. The humanities would not disappear, but they would serve even more of a supporting role than at present. Universities would have a vested interest in promoting fields that are in demand, which include most of the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) subjects. Of course, a student could still major in any subject, but if their preferred major is unlikely to provide a positive return on investment, loans would be hard to come by, and as a result, the student would have to foot a significantly higher percentage of the cost.

I believe that this change would benefit students who today are too often lured into easy, worthless majors. And, does anyone doubt that society as a whole would benefit from a renewed and sustained emphasis on STEM subjects?

As a second step towards saving academia from itself, I would require that universities set clear, objective, education-based admission requirements. For example, a highly selective university might empirically determine that an applicant who is in, say, the top five percent of his or her graduating class, or has a composite SAT at the 95th percentile (or higher) almost certainly has the necessary academic foundation to succeed. On the other hand, a less selective university might have analogous, but lower, thresholds. Regardless of how such objective criteria are set, there are sure to be far more applicants who meet any rational baseline requirements than spaces available. I would allow universities to admit any students under full scholarships based on any criteria. But for everyone else, a lottery system would be used to randomly select students from the pool of well-qualified applicants. This would ensure that all applicants who meet a well-defined academic standard for success would have an equal chance of admission. Issues such as the choice of major could be determined after admission.

Such an approach to admissions would ensure true equity among qualified applicants. It would also serve to provide equal opportunity to the children of the taxpayers who fund higher education, instead of artificially favoring one group over another, as is the case today. And, by putting the focus squarely on academic preparedness, the message to high school students would be unambiguous—if you want to succeed academically, prepare yourself academically. Furthermore, it would be well-nigh impossible for universities to game the system, as they would surely be wont to do.

Under such an admissions scheme, to make changes to the racial or gender makeup of the university, the diversicrats would be forced to focus on the lower rungs of the educational ladder, which is precisely where such efforts properly belong. In the process of doing so, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to ignore the gross failings of the U.S. public education system, especially as it pertains to disadvantaged students. Perhaps we would then see diversity advocates begin to advocate for proven reforms, such as charter schools (I warned you, I’m an optimist). Most important of all, this admissions scheme would get universities out of the corrosive business of racial and gender gerrymandering that corrupt the admissions process today.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/how-to-save-american-higher-education-from-itself_4012261.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Based on the allegation that a “woke mob” within his faculty discriminated against him, a North Carolina State University (NCSU) professor filed a civil suit (pdf) on Sept. 14 in federal court against the college’s board of trustees.

Stephen Porter, the plaintiff, is a professor at NCSU in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he has alleged that the college’s 13-member board of trustees infringed upon Porter’s freedom of expression, violating both his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights by retaliating against his free speech.

Porter was hired as a tenured professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development (ELPHD) in 2011.

The defendants are listed individually in the lawsuit as Dean Mary Ann Danowitz, Chancellor Randolph Woodson, and Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs John K. Lee.

Joy Gaston Gayles, the senior advisor for Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; and Penny Pasque, a professor in the Department of Educational Studies, are also named as defendants.

In response to Porter’s questioning of social issues, the lawsuit alleges that the defendants “have intentionally and systematically excluded him from departmental programs and activities that are necessary for him to fulfill his job requirements, effectively hollowing his job out from the inside.”

According to the lawsuit, the defendants deliberately have intended “to set the stage for his eventual termination.”

“While the structures of the plaintiff’s academic department—and thus, the details of the adverse employment actions taken against him—is complex, what is happening is quite simple: Defendants are gradually forcing plaintiff into what is effectively a ‘rubber room’ in retaliation for his criticisms of the so-called ‘social-justice’ ideology that now prevails both in his department and in academia more broadly,” the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit states that Porter had been outspoken in questioning what he called harmful agendas that Porter said further “a highly dogmatic view of ‘diversity,’ ‘equity,’ and ‘inclusion.’”

Porter began to be known as a “bully,” according to the lawsuit, in 2017.

An Account of Exclusions

Porter alleged that Danowitz “was instrumental” in removing him from his “departmental program area in retaliation for his protected speech” before assigning him a fifth course to teach as a punishment.

Gayles excluded him from doctoral events and activities “critical to the fulfillment of his job duties” before developing the Higher Education Opportunity, Equity, and Justice program, from which Porter said he was not included, a move that was intended to later edge him out of the ELPHD program altogether.

Lee “systematically excluded” Porter from meetings and activates related to higher education programs and the advising of students, Porter said, which prevented him from getting new advisees.

Pasque removed Porter from his “departmental program area” and assigned the previously mentioned punitive fifth course.

The ‘Woke Joke’ Blog

 Much of the contention between Porter and his co-workers centered around opinions expressed in Porter’s blog, Porter said.

“I’m a political conservative who has no problem taking a stand and expressing my opinion, which is why I have, for years now, been targeted by the woke mob at NC State,” Porter wrote in his blog on why he filed the lawsuit, adding that he will begin blogging about the details leading up to the lawsuit, which go back several years.

The Epoch Times reached out to NC State University for a response to Porter’s lawsuit, but it did not immediately respond.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/north-carolina-state-professor-alleges-woke-mob-at-university-discriminated-against-him-files-lawsuit_4008200.html?utm_medium=epochtimes&utm_source=telegram

Despite the passage of laws in some states banning Critical Race Theory (CRT) from being taught in schools, some educators are teaching other educators how to “back-door it” into the classrooms.

A teacher in Iowa posted a video teaching other educators how to circumvent the ban on teaching Critical Race Theory in her state.

In Florida, a Duval County teacher was removed from her position because she refused to remove a banner in support of Black Lives Matter from outside the door to her classroom.

The Zinn Education Project has collected the names of nearly 7,500 educators who vow to keep pushing CRT into classrooms despite the passage of laws banning CRT in a growing number of states.

While the head of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Randi Weingarten, denied that critical race theory was even taught in elementary schools or high schools, she vowed to fight back against “culture warriors” who are “bullying teachers.”

Not only did the National Education Association adopt a resolution to prioritize their effort to implement CRT in “K-12 and higher education,” it vowed to use all resources at their disposal—including friendly media—to go after those who are “attacking educators doing anti-racist work.”

In June 2020, the Florida Board of Education unanimously passed a rule banning CRT from being taught in the schools.

But on Sept. 20, Florida Atlantic University sponsored a webinar where Dr. Gholnecsar (Gholdy) Muhammad—an associate professor of language and literacy at Georgia State University—taught educators in Miami Dade, Broward, Martin, and Palm Beach County how to creatively slip the divisive subject matter through the back door of any classroom, regardless of subject matter.

This was not the first time Muhammad made a conscious effort to promote CRT in the classroom. During a 2020 interview, Muhammad discussed her plans for revising the entire education system in five steps.

First, Muhammad believes educators “need to get a team together to write new learning standards that are embedded in identity, skill development, intellectualism, joy, and criticality.”

Second, Muhammad said they need “new standards for folks who are writing curriculum,” suggesting  they “will no longer write a curriculum that’s absent of identity and cultural-responsiveness.”

Third, “we need to change the way we think about standardized testing,” she added. “Skills-only does not measure success for a child’s life.”

Fourth, Muhammad wants schools to “stop hiring folks who don’t have a justice-centered mindset.”

“If they don’t have this justice-centered mindset, stop hiring them as Secretary of Education, stop hiring them as school board members, as superintendents, as principals, as teachers, as staff. Period,” Muhammad said.

“The fifth part of the plan is teacher education,” Muhammad concluded, suggesting “diversity” cannot be “learned in one class” but rather it needs to be “threaded throughout the entire program.”

“This calls for hiring conscious professors who know how to research and teach within the realms of critical race theory and other theories like it,” she said.

The Epoch Times reached out to Muhammad for comment.

Difficulties in Defining CRT

“This is very similar to what has happened here in Loudoun,” Patti Hidalgo Menders—president of Loudoun County Republican Women’s Club in Virginia—told The Epoch Times. “They’re implementing CRT under the guise of equity and diversity.”

Menders explained how the new principal at Parkview High School—Dr. Jason Jefferson—immediately removed the heads of all departments and “fired the bookkeeper because she wouldn’t take the equity training.”

“Then he gave a speech about how he wanted to ‘dismantle and disrupt the American public education system,’” Menders said. “So they’re making it very clear what their progressive ideas are.”

“Dr. Jefferson asked Park View’s department chairs to re-apply for their positions,” Wayde B. Byard, public information officer for Loudoun County Public Schools told The Epoch Times. “This is a common practice used when administrations change so that the principal can interview the department chairs and get to know them. At Park View, all the department chairs reapplied and all were reappointed.”

Byard also said “there was no bookkeeper at Park View when Dr. Jefferson assumed his position on May 25. Thus, he fired no one.”

“Dr. Jefferson related to me that he did not make the following statement: ‘dismantle and disrupt the American public education system,’” Byard stated further. “I would hope that anyone who would make such an accusation would be willing to stand behind it. Attributing such a quote anonymously would be cowardly.”

Menders also shared how the Loudoun County school board “spent hundreds of thousands of dollars hiring equity consultants.”

“One group is called The Equity Collaborative,” Menders explained, “and while the superintendent of Loudoun Public Schools claims they are not teaching CRT in schools, it talks about CRT training right on their website.”

“The LCPS Ad Hoc Committee on Equity created an Equity Resolution that was adopted by the Loudoun County School Board on September 24, 2019,” the website explains.

“As a part of the on-going equity work in the school division, on June 8, 2021, the newly appointed superintendent, Dr. Scott Ziegler, recommended that the Equity Resolution be reaffirmed by the current School Board. By consensus, the board recommended that this resolution [pdf] should be publicly available.

“In recent days, media reports and social media posts have sought to distort the equity work by Loudoun County Public Schools,” LCPS Superintendent Dr. Scott Ziegler states on the LCPS website. “Misconceptions and misinformation persist. I want to take a moment to clarify LCPS’ efforts to ensure every student, employee and member of the community is treated in an equitable, respectful manner.”

“In explaining LCPS’ equity priorities, it might be helpful to state what they are not,” Ziegler explains. “They are not an effort to indoctrinate students and staff into a particular philosophy or theory. What they are is an effort to provide a welcoming, inclusive, affirming environment for all students.”

However, the Equity Collaborative website clearly states that their “goal is to help organizations develop their own capacity to create educational equity and social justice by addressing bias and oppression.”

“That means creating an environment that is capable of holding staff members in a place where they are uncomfortable enough to change, but not so uncomfortable as to disengage or revolt,” the Equity Collaborative explains.

The Epoch Times reached out to LCPS for clarification regarding what some, like Menders, see as a contradiction in claims.

“Loudoun County Public Schools has said—repeatedly—and I will repeat now,” Byard told The Epoch Times regarding this separate matter. “Critical Race Theory is not part of our curriculum.”

“They’re very good wordsmiths,” Menders said. “They’re re-branding CRT and calling it ‘equity, diversity, and inclusion.’”

Autry Pruitt, CEO of New Journey PAC, agrees.

CRT By Any Other Name

“All they do is take the various aspects of CRT propaganda and change the language, change the name,” Pruitt told The Epoch Times, explaining how textbooks used to mention “Critical Race Theory, or Race Theory” by name.

“Now when you open those same textbooks, you’ll read things such as ‘diversity and inclusion or equity theory,’ which is the same baseline as CRT,” he explained. “That’s one way they back-door it.”

Asked how people can oppose “critical race theory and other theories like it” being taught in schools, Pruitt said parents can provide the first line of defense themselves.

School Boards

“The best avenue is to take over the school boards to monitor and fire teachers who are determined to push CRT,” he said bluntly. “They also have to be represented in the education department at the state level. It’s not enough to take over the school board and have a blue governor. Even if you have a red governor, like in Florida. You’ll still get resistance in the education department.”

“What needs to happen is almost like the spoil system,” Pruitt went further, “where parents take over school boards and conservative governors are elected, and then the governor basically wipes out the entire state-level education bureaucracy and puts in new people. That’s the only real way to solve it.”

Publishers

While Pruitt anticipates the pushback from parents at school board meetings will continue to increase, as will the number of parents who send their kids to different schools or resort to a home school program, pro-CRT publishers are going to keep “pushing the agenda they want” through the textbooks they provide to their supporters throughout the school system.

“Under a different name with new adjectives and nouns, CRT is concealed, shrouded, veiled, or disguised in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) ELA curriculum,” Pruitt noted. “With the use of subliminal messages, teachers are guided to teach Social Emotional Learning (SEL), equity, diversity, inclusion, etc. Feelings are more important than facts.”

As The Epoch Times reported on June 8, HMH declared on its own website a “commitment” to Black Lives Matter (BLM) and “social justice.”

“We believe the education system needs to change,” the website states, “and we will continue to use our platform to make that change.”

Members of the Collier County School Board (CCSB) were made aware of this during a June 7 meeting by CCSB Vice-Chair Jen Mitchell, who said she learned of the “commitment” through an email she received from a concerned citizen. Mitchell further revealed that one of BLM’s greatest advocates in the education field—Dr. Tyrone Howard—had been given a platform to promote the principles of CRT and BLM through the HMH blog site.

“It will be a wait-out, like everything else with the left,” Pruitt explained. “In other words, they don’t have to win. The left has a hold of the publishing world, and they are teaching it in higher education. So it doesn’t matter what the textbooks say in K-12.”

Textbooks

Pruitt strongly suggests parents “actually open and read the textbooks and highlight passages and send it out to people to show other parents what their children are being taught.” According to Pruitt, “most parents don’t understand the language of diversity and inclusion.” He posited that, when people were first waking up to CRT, it was because it was easy to find if one only bothered to look. They used words like “white people” and “oppression,” which most people found to be “troublesome and problematic.”

“But when you use language like diversity and inclusion,” Pruitt suggested, “it doesn’t come off as rough.”

“The people haven’t changed. The committees haven’t changed. The publishers haven’t changed,” Pruitt said. “It’s the language they’re changing.”

“By the time these children graduate, they will not be able to read but they will be great activists who hate their families, God, and America,” Pruitt predicted. “What a horrible thing to do to a child.”

Pruitt said “we all breathed a sigh of relief” when the Florida Board of Education banned the teaching of CRT in Florida, “embracing a traditional American education.”

“Wonderful we thought, Florida students will be getting a great education. The entire nation said we must use Florida as an example,” he recalled. “How wrong we were. We must remember that Communists NEVER stop.”

It is the opinion of Pruitt that the curriculum department of the Florida Department of Education is either “incompetent and never reviewed the texts and curricula that they approved” or they’re “undermining Governor DeSantis and Commissioner Corcoran.”

“In either case,” he admonished. “they should be fired.”

Despite Bans on CRT, Educators Are Teaching Other Educators How to ‘Back-Door It’ Into the Classroom (theepochtimes.com)

MSNBC host Joy Reid said Monday that people care about the murder of 22-year-old Gabby Petito because they’re afflicted with so-called “missing white woman syndrome.”

Daily Wire host Candace Owens shot back Tuesday via Twitter, questioning why there’s a media spectacle around the fatal police killings of black males while white people killed by the police get nearly no airtime in the media.

“Yesterday I learned about missing white person syndrome,” Owens tweeted, referring to Reid’s comment. “Can someone let me know what syndrome it is that causes us to ignore every white person that is killed by a police officer, but demands that we burn cities across the world to the ground for thugs like George Floyd?”

Yesterday I learned about missing white person syndrome.
Can someone let me know what syndrome it is that causes us to ignore every white person that is killed by a police officer, but demands that we burn cities across the world to the ground for thugs like George Floyd?

— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) September 22, 2021

Owens was swiftly called a “Race Traitor.”

“When will you learn about the Race Traitor syndrome you suffer from where you go out of your way to get attention by being overly critical about your own race because nobody would care about you otherwise?” posted Andreas Hale.

When will you learn about the Race Traitor syndrome you suffer from where you go out of your way to get attention by being overly critical about your own race because nobody would care about you otherwise? https://t.co/LJlGEIdVw6

— Andreas Hale (@AndreasHale) September 22, 2021

“White people discussing white people who have committed crimes against other white people is ‘missing white person syndrome,’” Owens replied to Hale. “But black people discussing black people who have committed many crimes against other black people (see: George Floyd) are race traitors.”

“So basically, it’s very important that black people shut up and say nothing when crimes are committed against black victims, but also very important that we get angry and ask why white victims get so much attention when crimes are committed against them,” the “Candace” host added.

So basically, it’s very important that black people shut up and say nothing when crimes are committed against black victims, but also very important that we get angry and ask why white victims get so much attention when crimes are committed against them.

— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) September 22, 2021

As highlighted by The Daily Wire, Reid made her jarring comments about “missing white woman syndrome” on Monday:

“If you’ve been watching the news for the past few days or on Twitter or Tik Tok, you’re probably familiar with the name Gabby Petito,” she began. “The 22-year-old aspiring social media influencer who was reported missing after her fiancé returned from their van life excursion without her.”

“Now, it goes without saying that no family should ever have to endure that kind of pain, and the Petito family certainly deserve answers and justice. But the way this story has captivated the nation has many wondering, why not the same media attention when people of color go missing?” Reid asked. “Well, the answer actually has a name, ‘missing white woman syndrome,’ the term coined by the late and great Gwen Ifill, to describe the media and public fascination with missing white women like Laci Peterson or Natalee Holloway, while ignoring cases involving missing people of color.”

The FBI Denver, the National Park Service, and law enforcement announced Sunday during a news conference in Grand Teton National Park that remains found in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park were believed to be consistent with Petito, ABC7 reported.

The body was confirmed to be Petito’s on Tuesday, and the cause of death was determined to be homicide, pending final autopsy results.

Joy Reid On Why People Care About Gabby Petito: They’re Suffering From ‘Missing White Woman Syndrome’

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.

Joy Reid Goes Off On ‘Missing White Woman Syndrome.’ Candace Owens Has A Question. | The Daily Wire

https://players.brightcove.net/4137224153001/6aIMRO3kiI_default/index.html?videoId=6264472112001

Two Florida sheriff’s deputies were ambushed during a traffic stop after a man armed with an AR-15 style rifle stormed out of a vehicle and opened fire on them, terrifying new dashcam video shows.

Brevard County Sheriff’s Deputies Brian Potters and Tyler Thoman were targeted by gunman Paris Wilder, 38, during the stop in West Melbourne on Aug. 30.

The gunman ended up being shot dead as deputies returned fire, while deputy Potters suffered gunshot wounds to his leg and buttocks.

Footage released by the sheriff’s office on Friday showed the deputies speaking to two men outside the stopped car just moments before the ambush unfolded. It wasn’t immediately clear why deputies stopped the men.

Deputy Potters could be seen joking with Wilder as he sat in the backseat after the deputy spotted a two-year-old child and dog sitting next to him.

Their exchange took a turn after the deputy asked Wilder to step out of the vehicle.

Wilder burst out of the car with the rifle and immediately opened fire on the two deputies, the footage showed.

Deputy Potters was shot as he tried to take cover behind his vehicle.

Wilder then chased the two deputies even as they fired at him. He then repeatedly struck Deputy Potters in the head with his gun.

The sheriff’s office said Deputy Thoman fired the fatal shots at Wilder as the gunman was attacking Deputy Potters.

Wilder was described by the sheriff’s office as a career criminal with 40 prior arrests.

“For those out there who might be foolish enough to ask why we shot him so many times, that answer is simple — because evil can never be dead enough,” Sheriff Wayne Ivey said.

“This individual had absolutely no regard for human life and was focused on only one thing — killing our deputies to avoid arrest as he knew he was facing several minimum mandatory prison sentences in his pending cases.” 

The sheriff said Potters is expected to make a full recovery.

The two other men who were at the traffic stop initially fled when the gunfire erupted but returned to the scene shortly after and are now assisting with the investigation.

Florida deputies ambushed by man with AR-15 style rifle during traffic stop (nypost.com)

https://www.khou.com/embeds/video/285-8ce2656c-cf58-4532-84fe-dcf0e8ced130/iframe

HOUSTON—A Houston police officer was killed and another was wounded Monday morning during a shooting that also killed a 31-year-old man whom the officers were attempting to arrest on drug charges, authorities said.

The veteran officers were each shot multiple times while attempting to serve an arrest warrant at an apartment complex on the city’s northeast side, Mayor Sylvester Turner said during a news conference.

“This has been a tragic day today,” Turner said. “It is another reminder that police work is inherently dangerous.”

Senior Officer William Jeffrey, who joined the Houston Police Department in 1990, was pronounced dead at a hospital following the shooting, authorities said. He was 54. Sgt. Charles Vance, who joined the department in 1998, was in stable condition, according to police Chief Troy Finner. Vance is 49.

The officers arrived at the apartment around 7:30 a.m., knocked on the door and spoke with a woman who answered it, Finner said. He said the man then came out and began shooting at the officers.

“You’ve got a suspect with a female girlfriend with small kids in that apartment complex and he still fired upon our officers,” Finner said. He said police returned fire and that the man died on the scene.

Authorities didn’t identify the man the officers were attempting to arrest. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the shooting.

Houston Officer Killed, Another Wounded While Serving Warrant (theepochtimes.com)

Many in the political and media establishment have cast the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol as one of the darkest episodes in American history, comparing an episode in which one person was slain (a protester shot by police) to 9/11, Pearl Harbor, the Civil War, and the British sacking of the capital city in 1814. Seizing on the gravity of a mob trying to interfere with the process of recording Electoral College votes after a presidential election, Democrats impeached Donald Trump over the Jan. 6 breach and put him on trial in the Senate. Democrats have also spearheaded a congressional investigation—one focused on the former president—that will likely stretch into next election season.

Republicans, Trump supporters, and others see a double standard at play in Democrats’ emphasis on Jan. 6. They note that many Democrats cheered nationwide protests and some even put up bail after the May 2020 murder of George Floyd, a black man, by a white police officer—prolonged unrest that generated far more death and destruction. They argue that groups associated with the summer’s violence, such as Black Lives Matter and Antifa, themselves aim to subvert democracy, and acted accordingly in targeting cops, public offices, and private businesses.

The electorate itself is divided, but doesn’t necessarily view this issue as an either/or choice. Polling shows that a large majority of Americans support the idea of examining the causes of both the 2020 summer riots in America’s cities and the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

It is clear, then, that many Americans see two sides to this story. In keeping with its mission to fill gaps in press coverage, RealClearInvestigations is launching a running compendium of data, with hyperlinked sourcing, comparing the damage done on Jan. 6, and the subsequent treatment of those accused of perpetrating it, with two other recent events: the summer 2020 riots and—in some ways a closer analogy—the all-but-forgotten riot in Washington on Inauguration Day 2017, as protesters challenged Donald Trump’s election and legitimacy much as Jan. 6 rioters challenged Joe Biden’s.

RealClearInvestigations has found that:

• The summer 2020 riots resulted in some 15 times more injured police officers, 30 times as many arrests, and estimated damages in dollar terms up to 1,300 times more costly than those of the Capitol riot. George Floyd rioters were found to have used more sophisticated and dangerous tactics than did the Capitol rioters, and in some cases weapons of greater lethality.
• Authorities have pursued the largely Trump-supporting Capitol rioters with substantially more vigor than suspected wrongdoers in the earlier two cases. Many accused Capitol rioters, unlike accused participants in the other riots, have been held in pretrial detention for months—with one defendant serving more time than the maximum sentence for the charge to which he pleaded guilty. Some allegedly endured solitary confinement and other mistreatment.
• With authorities applying lenient prosecutorial standards in many major cities torn by the summer riots, the vast majority of charges last year were dismissed, as were charges in the Inauguration 2017 unrest. Charges have to date been dropped in only a single Capitol riot case.

You can access the database here.

This article was written by the editors of RealClearInvestigations. 

Introducing RealClearInvestigations’ Jan. 6-BLM Riots Dataset (theepochtimes.com)

MENOMONIE, Wis.—A suspect in the shooting deaths of four Minnesotans who were found in an abandoned SUV in Wisconsin surrendered to authorities in Arizona on Friday.

Dunn County Sheriff Kevin Bygd said in a statement that Antoine Darnique Suggs, 38, turned himself into police in Gilbert, Arizona, a Phoenix suburb. He said Suggs had been living in the Phoenix area recently before traveling to Minnesota in the last couple of weeks.

Bygd said investigators don’t know how Suggs traveled back to Arizona. He said they have not interviewed Suggs, so they had no new information to release on a potential motive. The sheriff said Suggs will be held in the Maricopa County Jail in Phoenix while awaiting extradition to Wisconsin.

Authorities said Thursday that Suggs was spotted meeting with one of the victims at a Minnesota bar the night before their bodies were found.

The other suspect, Darren Lee McWright, 56, from St. Paul, Minnesota, was being held in the Ramsey County Jail in St. Paul.

A complaint filed Thursday against McWright, who’s charged in Dunn County with four counts of hiding a corpse, said witnesses told police they saw Suggs late Saturday evening in the White Squirrel Bar in St. Paul with one of the victims, Nitosha Lee Flug-Presley, 30, of Stillwater, Minnesota.

A farmer discovered the bodies of Flug-Presley and three St. Paul residents with connections to her on Sunday in his Dunn County cornfield, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) to the east. All four had suffered gunshot wounds, authorities said.

McWright is the biological father of Suggs’ brother, according to the complaint.

Suspect in Deaths of 4 Found in SUV Surrenders in Arizona (theepochtimes.com)

Hypocrisy! The radicals in Congress, from Maxine Waters to the Squad, are calling to ‘Defund the Police,’ but they spend large sums of campaign cash on private security and Capitol Hill police protection wherever they go in America.

They rely on all of this security while pushing legislation in Congress that would take cops off the streets in our communities, and they still want to increase their own Capitol Hill police force with YOUR taxpayer dollars.

You may recognize them as “the Squad,” but Law Enforcement Loyalty PAC sees them for what they truly are: two-faced charlatans who publicly attack law enforcement and beg private firms to keep them safe. Many employees at private security firms are former and retired law enforcement and military, so the irony is not lost on us…

Law Enforcement Loyalty PAC is fighting back against the Squad’s hypocrisy and history of hatred for police by supporting principled candidates who will Back the Blue in Congress and oppose drastic measures to strip law enforcement of critical resources.

Roll up your sleeves with us as we prepare to make critical endorsements ahead of the 2022 Midterm Elections. Chip in $25, $50, $100, or more toward our effort to send our team to Congress to combat the Squad.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Cori Bush have spent more than $100,000 on private security this year alone. They believe they should have police protection while you and your neighbors fend for yourselves.

That’s why they’re ramping up their attacks on law enforcement officers:
Ocasio-Cortez backed a rowdy anti-police protest in New York City, where activists shouted “punch a cop!” as they held signs reading “hit ‘em!” and “don’t let these pigs touch us!”
AOC even endorsed the most radical ‘Defund’ candidate for NYC Mayor.
Ilhan Omar took “Defund the Police” to the extreme, backing a ballot initiative to abolish the Minneapolis Police Department in its entirety and replace it with social workers with clipboards. She called Minneapolis police “incompetent” and “brutal” after months of rioting and protests.
Cori Bush is a professional BLM activist who told America to “suck it up” when she was first criticized over her private security expenses, and
Ayanna Pressley is using a D.C.-based political action committee to endorse anti-police candidates all the way down the ballot in states across the country…

They won’t stop until they’ve unleashed their activist mob on your community and left you defenseless and at their mercy. Defunding the police is only the beginning.

STAND WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT – DONATE TODAY

Americans overwhelmingly oppose the Squad’s radical agenda, and we’re stepping up to support principled candidates before the ‘Defund’ Democrats get their wish!

Law Enforcement Loyalty PAC is comprised of former law enforcement and military servicemen, and we’re uniquely positioned to take on the Squad before they force “Defund the Police” and other radical policies through Congress.

Your support is critical as we call out the Squad’s hypocrisy and fight to put an end to the dangerous “defund” agenda emanating from Washington.

Law enforcement officers have your back every day in our communities – now we’re asking you to have ours. Chip in what you can.

For your safety,

Tony Palmer, SGT (Ret), Virginia Beach Police Dept
Chairman of the Advisory Board
Law Enforcement Loyalty PAC

STAND WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT – DONATE TODAY

The ‘criminal first’ policies of the radical left are getting innocent Americans killed in the streets. For example, a Kamala Harris/BLM-backed slush fund bailed domestic abuser George Howard out of jail in August, and he allegedly shot and killed a man in cold blood on the highway just a few weeks later!

Howard is just one of the thousands of criminals that have been released back onto our streets by progressive politicians and activists who are fighting to defund the police in Washington and across the country.

This is part of the left’s all-out assault on our criminal justice system – from defunding the police in Congress to BLM organizations across the country bailing criminals out of jail to Soros-funded prosecutors refusing the put bad guys behind bars.

I patrolled some of the toughest neighborhoods in Dallas for 22 years as a cop, and I’m ready to fight back against the far-left and their reckless policies in Congress

As a Proud, Black American and Law Enforcement Veteran, I’m taking my pro-American, pro-law enforcement message to Washington to counter the efforts of Kamala Harris and BLM. Please chip in $25, $50, $100, $250, $1,000, or more and help me succeed TODAY!

During last Summer’s riots across America supported by Antifa, BLM, and leftist politicians, Kamala Harris drove thousands of left-wing activists to contribute to the “Minnesota Freedom Fund,” which used more than $35 million raised from BLM and ‘Defund the Police’ activists to pay thousands of dollars to release George Howard from jail last month, and dozens of others just like him.

Their crime-spree slush fund freed registered sex offenders, murderers, and child rapists. And for two months, MFF helped free six men accused of domestic violence. The list goes on and on…

I’m running for Congress to restore law in order in Washington and around the nation. Please join me with your donation of $50, $100, or even $1,000 TODAY before Kamala Harris puts more criminals in your neighborhood.

The “activism” side of BLM and ‘Defund the Police goes hand-in-hand with the disastrous policies that Harris, Joe Biden, BLM, and the Progressive Democrats in Congress are pushing. Squad-member Cori Bush went on a hypocritical tirade on national television calling for defunding the police while funneling thousands of dollars in campaign cash to hire private security. As a veteran law enforcement officer, I’m taking a stand, and I want you by my side!

Will you help me fight, stand by our law enforcement officers and keep our communities safe by stopping the Kamala Harris “criminal first” agenda? Please invest what you can today – be it $1,000, $250, $100, $50, or even $25.

You and I must stop the anti-cop, criminal first agenda and put the safety and security of American taxpayers first. So roll up your sleeves and join me today.

Back the Blue,

Tre Pennie

Cop for Congress

STAND WITH TRE

How to protect yourself and your kids from the harmful effects of technology

Every generation worries about the upcoming youth, but does the age of smartphones and digital addiction pose a more serious threat than ever before? In an episode of NTD’s “The Nation Speaks,” host Cindy Drukier interviews teacher and author Jeremy Adams, as well as psychologist Hilarie Cash, to answer this question.

It has only been 14 years since we’ve had computers in our pockets that are available every moment of our lives. In his book “Hallowed Out: A Warning about America’s Next Generation,” Jeremy Adams, a civics teacher of 24 years, brings awareness to what he is seeing in the classroom and how he believes the younger generation is negatively affected by technology.

Adams says when you work in the classroom, you get to know kids and you notice if there are troubling trends. He believes the most disturbing thing about kids today is the value system they are embracing. The way they look at their country, the way they spend their time, and the values they hold are not helping them live purposeful and meaningful lives. In fact, they are hindering them.

Being a civics teacher, Adams says he worries about the American experiment.

“America is not like other countries. We can’t have a single lost generation that doesn’t understand what it means to be an American and what those values are and how you perpetuate the American experiment,” he says.

He is worried about the values that have emerged in young people over the past 10 years. These include the extent to which young Americans live their lives completely untethered to adult values, influences, or role models.

Adams says that although it doesn’t matter to him whether the youth are religious or not, he is bothered that young people don’t seem to know anything about religion.

Other troubling trends are that the younger generation is extremely unpatriotic, they don’t have the desire for relationships, marriage, or family, and they are radically individualistic.

He says that when you think about the things that make life enchanting and grand, you think of friendships, love, learning, and going out and seeing and doing things. Yet today’s youth are lonely and isolated.

Adams stresses how unhappy this generation is, citing rising suicide rates.

“It is shocking,” he says.

He was worried about these things prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but now these problems have been amplified and accelerated.

Kids today don’t go out and socialize, they don’t have meals with their parents, and they often spend 9 to 10 hours a day on their phone.

Adams says kids post-COVID-19 are zombies in the classroom and don’t know how to engage in academic and social environments.

Adams believes the reason for much of this falls on the adult generation. He says that we have given young people freedom but haven’t stepped forward and given them the values, knowledge, or insight needed to use that freedom well. If adults give youth the freedom to do whatever they want, we have to also teach them that freedom allows them to commit to what is important and meaningful. When we fail to do that, we are left with a generation that sees freedom as tantamount to indulgence or licentiousness, and doesn’t connect it to important things.

Being a parent, spouse, teacher, or person of faith, is hard. It may be the hardest thing a person does, but it will also likely be the most meaningful. Youth today often aren’t able to make the connection between struggle and purpose.

Acknowledging that high expectations usually come from adults, Adams points out that the parent generation, in our zeal to be compassionate and empathetic, have actually let our youth down. Being kind is a good thing, but it should help students feel secure so they can achieve good things.

Now in schools, teachers are also friends, counselors, and often act as parents to their students.

Teachers today need to understand that compassion and empathy should serve youth in a way that prepares them to show up, study, work hard, and have success. Adams says many teachers think they’re being compassionate by giving students a diploma without making them learn anything.

Any form of success requires diligence, knowledge, and skill. Robbing young people of what they need to stand tall in the world and achieve what they want in their lives is not kind.

Thankfully, Adams does believe there is still time to turn the situation around. He says we all want to do better. Young people know they are addicted to their phones and need to live life more. The adults know better and know they need to do things like insist on family time, church, and community. He says parents and teachers need to start “adulting” again, which means putting ourselves in the physical, intellectual, and moral spaces of young people. Awareness is the key to breaking the phone addiction, because once we are aware, we can intervene.

Teacher Warns of Troubled Next Generation; Tackling Digital Addiction | The Nation Speaks [Full Episode]Play Video

Watch the full episode here.

To learn more about how bad the digital addiction in our youth is and what can be done about it, Drukier interviews psychologist Hilarie Cash, co-founder of reSTART: Internet Addiction Recovery Program.

Cash, who has been seeing addicted patients for over 25 years, says the addiction problem has been growing steadily as technology has entered everyone’s lives. The software is designed to be addictive, and kids are now exposed to technology from early ages, which affects their development.

Cash says there are tell-tale signs if there is an addiction problem. One of the disorders is called “Gaming Disorder,” which often happens to people who become addicted to video games. It can be recognized when gaming begins to take over a person’s life: they no longer have control over how much they use it, they lose interest in other things, and they continue with their behavior despite negative consequences.

Cash says that grades going down, not getting enough sleep or exercise, not having many friends or offline activities, or fighting with family about technology-use rules, are all indicators that there is a problem.

Cash says technology affects brain development in young children. Today, many parents are handing devices to their babies, which has never been the case in past generations. This impacts social development substantially, because a person doesn’t develop good social skills unless they are actually interacting socially with other people.

Cash also explains the attachment issues that result from being exposed to too much technology. A child needs to be attached to their caregivers, but if the caregivers are on their devices too much, or putting the kids on devices to keep them distracted, this affects the attachment a child develops with their caregiver, which in turn affects mental health later on down the road.

She says that from ages 13 to 20, many have intimacy disorders, not having the skills and confidence to initiate, develop, and maintain emotionally intimate relationships.

Sexuality is also impacted because there is a blending of activities online, with many users looking at pornography, gambling, gaming, and social media all at the same time.

On top of this, there are physical problems, such as sleep deprivation, inadequate exercise, and poor diet.

In regards to social development, there is a lack of skill in communication, as well as attention problems.

Technology gives us immediate gratification, which negatively affects academic work by not having the ability to stay focused, persevere to get projects done, and look forward to getting a good grade.

So what can we do? Cash says there are apps that help at least monitor phone use, and these can be helpful if a person is actually motivated to make changes.

She recommends that parents don’t give smartphones to their children before high school. The software parents can put on phones to monitor kids is easy for smart kids to get around. She says to make sure kids don’t have smartphones until they have developed a well-rounded life and can sustain that once they get a smartphone.

Cash also says it is wise to have boundaries around phone and screen time, such as checking your phone at certain times and otherwise leaving it off, and making sure times at home are intentional and not surrounded by screen time and devices. Make sure kids are getting time outdoors, exercising, doing their chores, having down time, and in-person social time.

Cash says the key is to focus on giving your kids the proper rules and guidance so they can live a well-rounded life.

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CHICAGO—A Chicago woman has been charged with obtaining dozens of young homicide victims’ death certificates and using them to defraud the government out of thousands of dollars in tax refunds and coronavirus stimulus payments.

Katrina Pierce faces federal charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to a criminal complaint made public Thursday. A judge ordered Pierce, who was sent to prison for a similar scheme nine years ago, to remain locked up pending trial. Her next hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

According to prosecutors, Pierce obtained the death certificates for dozens of young homicide victims and used them to collect thousands of dollars in payments, the Chicago Tribune reported.

An investigation into Pierce began in late 2019 when a Cook County Vital Records Bureau employee noticed that on the same day, Pierce requested death certificates for four people who had different last names, claiming to be a sister of all of them.

A check of the bureau’s database revealed that she had requested 37 death certificates that year and succeeded in getting 26 of them, prosecutors allege. Among the ones she got was that of 7-year-old Amari Brown, who was fatally shot in 2015. According to the criminal complaint, Pierce was able to collect a $4,400 federal tax refund claiming to be the boy’s aunt.

Prosecutors also allege that Pierce filed a tax return for a St. Louis man declaring an income of $1 despite the fact that the man had been shot to death more than a year earlier. That netted her about $4,400 in coronavirus stimulus payments from the Internal Revenue Service.

According to the complaint, the IRS received a tax return for “Rajona Pierce.” That was an alias that Pierce had used in the criminal case that ended with her convicted of stealing more than $200,000 in federal tax and state child care benefits and being sentenced to 11 years in federal prison in 2012.

According to the complaint, in that return, Rajona Pierce reported $1 in income for a beauty salon that didn’t exist at an address that turned out to be a long-demolished public housing project on the city’s South Side.

Investigators also found that Rajona Pierce received a total of $3,200 in stimulus payments, according to the complaint and they suspect that Pierce “used multiple banks and accounts in an effort to hide or to launder the proceeds of her various schemes”,” according to the complaint.

The complaint does not include an exact amount of money that Pierce allegedly made off with, but it makes clear that the total was in the tens of thousands of dollars. For example, it points out that Pierce deposited nearly $84,000 into a bank account during the last six months of 2020 even though she declared that she earned less than half of that amount on her income tax return for that entire year. This, the complaint contends, “suggests that Pierce may have an illicit source or sources of income that she wishes to conceal.”

Chicago Woman Charged With Fraud in Death Certificate Scheme (theepochtimes.com)

With advisers like Joint Chiefs of Staff head Gen. Mark Milley, former President Donald Trump hardly needed enemies — at least, if Bob Woodward and Robert Costa are to be believed.

Woodward and Costa’s new book “Peril,” about the events surrounding the 2020 election and unprecedented instability encompassing it, isn’t even out yet and the allegations contained therein have led to calls for Milley’s resignation.

In one excerpt from the book, Milley is alleged to have talked to the Chinese twice to assure them the United States wouldn’t launch an attack — and if they did, he would give Beijing a heads-up. Milley also reportedly told senior officers that if there was any move toward a nuclear launch, while a president could give the order, he needed to be consulted.

That whole series of episodes, if true, skirts with treason when you consider he would be warning an enemy of an attack. Perhaps more crucially, it undermined the bedrock principle of civilian leadership of the military, one of the principles that separates us from an authoritarian state.

When it came to domestic threats, however, Woodward and Costa say Milley was considerably less concerned — so much less that he called the George Floyd riots “penny packet protests.”

According to an excerpt from the book obtained by Fox News, Milley pooh-poohed White House fears that the riots were insurrectionary and “burning America down” during the summer months last year.

“Mr. President, they are not burning it down,” Milley reportedly said. “They used spray paint, Mr. President, that’s not an insurrection.”

According to the book, the conversation took place near the end of May. The date isn’t given, but the protests had spread well beyond Minneapolis by May 27, according to a timeline of events from The New York Times. That’s just two days after Floyd’s death.

A May 30 timeline from Fox News mentions protests or riots in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix and St. Louis, among many others.

“More than a dozen cities instituted curfews and thousands were arrested, while thousands of National Guard members were deployed in at least 15 states,” Fox News noted.

“When Milley spoke to Trump, however, he reportedly cited data at that time that said there had only been two cities with major protests, while elsewhere it was 20-300 protesters.”

According to Woodward and Costa, Milley then pointed to a portrait of former President Abraham Lincoln and said the protests and riots couldn’t be compared to the attack on Fort Sumter which started the Civil War in 1861.

“We’re a country of 330 million people. You’ve got these penny packet protests,” Milley said, adding that it couldn’t be compared to the riots which engulfed the country in 1968, according to the book.

Milley also reportedly blamed systematic racism for the protests and said anger had “pent up in communities that have been experiencing what they perceive to be police brutality.”

Milley was, if nothing else, a bad prognosticator.

The George Floyd riots would go on to cost America up to $2 billion in insurance claims, according to estimates obtained by Axios in September of last year. That would likely make them the most costly riots of all time, surpassing the Los Angeles riot of 1992; that cost $775 million in insurance claims at the time, which would be $1.42 billion in 2020 dollars.

The three most costly riots of 1968, meanwhile, barely topped $300 million in damage when adjusted for 2020 dollars.

More importantly, the George Floyd riots would rend our national fabric more than any domestic event in recent memory. It would enable the worst elements in the Black Lives Matter and antifa movements.

The protests — and the so-called anti-racist movement they supercharged — also became an avenue for expressing explicitly anti-American sentiments. How many times, for example, did we witness scenes like this?

Protesters cheer as they burn American flags at the guillotine outside the police bureau #PortlandProtest #Portland pic.twitter.com/R9I6dobNiv

— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) August 23, 2020

Those weren’t the riots that Milley was worried about, though. According to the book, he was more concerned with the Capitol incursion, which the book alleges he perceived as being “indeed a coup attempt and nothing less than ‘treason.’”

The book goes on to say Milley was afraid Trump wanted a “Reichstag moment” — referring to the Reichstag fire, a relatively minor incident in 1933 which Adolf Hitler used as an excuse to consolidate power in Nazi Germany — and that the attack was “so unimagined and savage, could be a dress rehearsal for something larger” for Trump supporters.

It’s not that Milley was the only man expressing these overheated sentiments about the Capitol incursion — but if these reports are true, at some point during the past year, Milley became one of America’s wokest generals, if not the wokest. There’s a clear throughline from his remarks about the George Floyd riots to his testimony before Congress defending his inclusion of critical race theory in military education, and it’s one that doesn’t bode well for the future.

Everything in the report comes with a huge asterisk, of course, given Bob Woodward’s history of problematic investigative journalism. If true, however, it’s more evidence Milley needs to resign posthaste.

Calling the George Floyd riots nothing more than graffiti artists and “penny packet protests” doesn’t rise to the level of treason, but it’s more evidence that this isn’t the man who should be one of the president’s top military advisers.

What Gen. Milley Secretly Revealed to Trump About George Floyd Riots: Report (westernjournal.com)

San Fransisco Mayor London Breed was seen dancing and singing maskless at a nightclub, apparently violating the city’s public health restrictions.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported the mayor was at the Black Cat jazz club in the Tenderloin, where she enjoyed a late night performance, along with other equally maskless guests.

“The fact that we have not been able to enjoy live music in this way since the beginning of this pandemic made it even that much more special and extraordinary,” she told The Chronicle after the performance.

One of the photos published by The Chronicle shows a smiling Breed celebrating with with Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, who was also not wearing a mask.

According to San Francisco’s public health department, every resident, including people who are fully vaccinated, “must wear a well-fitted mask in indoor public settings at all times,” except when they are actively eating or drinking. It also states that “indoor settings, whether public or private, are higher risk for COVID-19 transmission, especially when you are with people you do not live with.”

In a video published by The Chronicle, Breed can be seen standing and dancing along behind a table full of drinks, but she was not actively drinking or eating, or holding food or a drink.

A statement from the mayor’s office acknowledged that it can be hard to follow public health orders.

“The mayor was excited to be out and had an incredible night at the Black Cat, and wants to support small businesses,” the statement reads. “She was with friends at her table, not wearing a mask while eating and drinking and enjoying herself. She knows health orders are hard and asks everyone to do their best to follow them.”

Breed is not the first California Democrat who has been caught violating COVID-19 restrictions. At the height of the pandemic in November of last year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom was broadly criticized for attending a party at the famed French Laundry restaurant in Napa without wearing a mask and with visitors from multiple households, after he discouraged state residents from having holiday gatherings.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi faced similar criticism in September 2020 during the height of the pandemic, after a security camera footage was posted online, which showed her visiting a San Francisco hair salon, which at that time was closed under the city’s lockdown order. The congresswoman, who advocated for a nationwide mask mandate, didn’t wear a mask during the salon visit.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed Caught Breaking City’s Indoor Mask Rule (theepochtimes.com)

A government watchdog group is calling on New York’s public pension fund to divest from Unilever, the parent company of Ben & Jerry’s, in response to the ice cream company’s decision to boycott Israel.

The National Legal and Policy Center asked New York state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli in a Thursday letter to “effect the immediate divestiture” of the state pension fund’s $73 million holdings in Unilever, arguing that the company has not taken sufficient steps to oppose anti-Semitism and the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement.

The letter comes after Arizona and New Jersey announced they would pull investments from Unilever, and as Florida and Illinois have said they are looking at taking similar action. DiNapoli said in July that Ben & Jerry’s boycott decision would make New York reconsider its investments with Unilever in the future.

“Unilever’s position that it is opposed to anti-Semitism is belied by the actions and associations of Anuradha Mittal, the chair of Ben & Jerry’s Board of Directors,” wrote NLPC chairman Peter Flaherty in the Sept. 16 letter. “Mittal is the architect of the ice cream company’s policy of ending sales in Israeli ‘occupied territories.’ Reportedly, Mittal also proposed a boycott of all of Israel. Her Twitter account has many anti-Israel tweets and contain specific endorsements of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement.”

Flaherty also noted that Mittal is a trustee of Ben & Jerry’s nonprofit arm, which issued $170,000 in grants to an unrelated nonprofit that Mittal also controls called the Oakland Institute. The arrangement could violate IRS rules against self-dealing, according to the NLPC, which filed a complaint with the IRS about the financial activities last month.

Mittal’s Oakland Institute has published defenses of Hezbollah and Hamas, the Washington Free Beacon reported in July.

In one article published by the Oakland Institute, former Green Party Senate candidate Todd Chretien argued that progressives should support Hezbollah during the Israel-Lebanon war in 2006.

“You do not have to agree with all of Hezbollah’s ideas to support their resistance to Israel,” Chretien wrote. “Condemning ‘both sides’ in the Middle East is just like condemning ‘both sides’ in the American Civil War. During the Civil War, with all its complications, one side fought for slavery and the other fought for emancipation. Today in the Middle East, one side fights to rob and pillage, the other seeks self-determination and dignity.”

The institute also directed a Ben & Jerry’s foundation grant to an organization called the Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, which the European Union barred from receiving public funding last year for refusing to sign an anti-terror clause.

“If Unilever were truly opposed to anti-Semitism, it would have already severed its relationship with Mittal,” wrote Flaherty. “Moreover, Unilever’s anti-Israel bias is underscored by the fact that it has announced no intention to end ice cream sales in China, where it is a leading foreign brand.”

The New York comptroller’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Government Watchdog Calls on New York Pension Fund to Divest From Ben and Jerry’s Parent Company (freebeacon.com)

The Heritage Foundation on Thursday alleged that it has been temporarily blocked from advertising and promoting on Amazon a new book about the Marxist ideological root of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) organization.

In a news release, the Washington, D.C.-based think tank said it was informed by Amazon that its advertisement for the book “BLM: The Making of a New Marxist Revolution” failed to comply with the online retailer’s policy because it contained “content that is not allowed.”

“Content that revolves around controversial or highly debated social topics is not permitted,” said Amazon in a message to Heritage. “Please remove this content from your ad.”

Heritage said in an update that it has won the appeal of the decision, and was notified that it was the result of “human error.”

“Whether this was the result of an algorithm or human action, the outcome is censorship,” Heritage concluded.

The book, which tops Amazon’s “Black & African American History” category at the time of this article’s publication, is written by Mike Gonzalez, a veteran journalist and senior fellow at Heritage. Gonzalez condemned Amazon for allegedly trying to limit the reach of the book, but also noted that this very attempt reveals how important his work is.

“I wrote this book because most of the press refused to cover the important questions about the people and organizations behind Black Lives Matter,” Gonzalez said. “The American people deserve answers to those questions, especially after the 630 or more riots that left our cities burning, businesses destroyed and billions in damage, and Americans dead.”

Gonzalez also questioned whether Amazon would treat books written by Nikole Hannah-Jones or Ibram X. Kendi the same way under the same standard about controversial content. Hannah-Jones is the leading author of The New York Times’ highly controversial “1619 Project,” an essay collection that portrays the United States as an inherently racist nation founded to protect slavery. Kendi, a professor at Boston University, advocates for active discrimination against racial groups that are deemed “privileged” as a remedy for historical racism.

“I have to wonder if Nikole Hannah-Jones’s and Ibram X. Kendi’s books face similar constraints,” he said.

BLM’s official website originally described its founder Alicia Garza as a “trained Marxist” and said the organization did advocate for the dissolution of the traditional family structure, as did Karl Marx, notoriously, in the Communist Manifesto. Those messages, however, have since been removed from the site.

“We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages’ that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable,” it stated.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Amazon Temporarily Blocked Advertisement for Book That Links BLM to Marxism (theepochtimes.com)

TheNebulator, [14.09.21 21:17] on Telegram

Not only is General Mark Milley “woke,” he also apparently (https://on.rt.com/bgoh) conspired with the CIA, NSA, Nancy Pelosi and even China (!) to undermine President Donald Trump. This is according to a new book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa – who, it needs to be noted, are sworn members of the anti-Trump #resistance – excerpts of which were leaked to the Media-Democrat Complex today.

Milley denies having done anything improper, mind you. But his actions, as detailed by Woodward and Costa, are pretty damning. While most Republicans are following the white rabbit of Milley calling his counterpart in China to say he’s give them advance warning of any US attack (not that any was in the cards, but consider the implications), far worse to my mind is the whole thing about telling the NSA and CIA to spy on Trump for signs of anything “crazy or illegal” (as defined by Pelosi, apparently). If this isn’t treason, then what is?

Ah, but Orange Man is Bad, which means anything goes. Milley is the Who, Trump is the Whom, and thus the “logic” of moral relativism is satisfied. The aforementioned MDC was marching in lockstep defending his reported actions all day.

Mind you, I think the Woodward/Costa book is spin – they’re reporting what happened, but imputing evil motivations to anything Trump did or may have thought of doing, while ascribing the purest noble motives to anyone working against him. Think of it as a sequel to that Time article about the “fortifiers” of 2020: they want to tell everyone what they did, because in their Narrative, they’re heroes, not villains.

Milley’s actions appear to corroborate my analysis from June 2020, when I found it odd that Biden was so confident the military would be on his side, right after Milley uncharacteristically offered a groveling apology to the woke scolds for doing his job. Today’s revelations also reinforced what I wrote back in January, when I argued that the Resistance and the MDC, in their obsession with ousting Trump, had thoroughly discredited what Darren Beattie would later label the Globalist American Empire (both links are in the piece linked above, don’t want to clutter this post).

You’d think I would be happy about that, but… that might also mean I was right about other things, other patterns I’ve observed and extrapolated from. About things that I think might be coming. Trouble is, they’re not pretty.

TheNebulator, [15.09.21 22:35]
[In reply to TheNebulator]
Update on Milley: it’s worse than I thought. I had somehow missed that he made two phone calls to China, one on January 8 (amid conspiring with Pelosi) but the other four days prior to the election, suggesting even more strongly that he was part of the “fortification” already. Moreover, he apparently “suggested” PACOM cancel some exercises to reassure China, and they did so. This is according to the Washington Post, mind you.

The Pentagon’s response today was to double down and say Milley did nothing wrong, while the White House praised his commitment to Our Democracy. As I said, it doesn’t matter what is done, only Who is doing it to Whom. I actually went on News Views Hughes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoXB_dsN0-w&list=PLagVUKF7CUTTtjJqFw6JvO14pG6Z1RBmv&index=1&t=94s) today to discuss the whole situation. But it’s bad, folks, really bad.

TheNebulator, [15.09.21 22:43]
You get two posts tonight, though, because I simply have to comment on the sheer irony of Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty, far better known as Nicki Minaj, becoming the unlikely hero in the fight for common sense against the Branch Covidian cult (as Eric D. July so memorably calls it).

Everything about that story is just perfect: from the original tall tale of “her cousin’s friend in Trinidad” getting his wedding called off because his testicles swelled up ( the symptom is more commonly associated with some STDs, but that was obvious from the get-go) — to her point that people should make the decision for themselves instead of getting bullied into it, to the shrieking response of everyone from her fandom to pundits to Big Tech and the government of Trinidad…

Is there a better way to expose the sheer absurdity of the System, than a rapper with millions of social media followers not giving a damn? When facts and arguments don’t help, because people offering them get censored or smeared, it’s down to the jesters — and entertainers are the biggest jesters of all, aren’t they?

Years from now, when the Davos set has failed in their attempt at a neo-feudal Great Reset, we’ll look back and try to figure out the exact moment the tide turned. It’s entirely possible this will be it.

TheNebulator, [16.09.21 23:07]
So, special counsel John Durham finally indicts someone in his probe of the Trump-Russia probe… and it’s not a nobody, but a partner in the DNC law firm that was behind the Steele Dossier. Michael Sussmann was indicted for lying to the FBI, by telling them he wasn’t representing anyone — while in fact representing a tech executive coordinating with the DNC and Hillary Clinton’s campaign to spread the lie about Alfa Bank being a “secret conduit” for candidate Trump to Russia.

Normally this would be a very big deal, except the DOJ already leaked it to the New York Times earlier today, which pre-shaped the narrative to minimize Sussmann’s culpability… (to be continued)

TheNebulator, [16.09.21 23:26]
(continued) What’s the big deal, you might say. Only in that for five years the weaponized FBI, DOJ and the intelligence community went after Trump for alleged “Russian collusion,” bankrupted his aides and allies with legal fees, jailed some for unrelated charges in hopes they’d agree to implicate him, and deterred decent people from taking jobs in his administration while letting neocons and various double agents infiltrate instead. Yet despite the proven, documented wrongdoing of the highest echelons of the FBI and DOJ, CIA and NSA, only one person involved was ever charged — and given a slap on the wrist.

Kevin Clinesmith, who literally falsified evidence to enable the FBI to spy on Trump via Carter Page (by altering a document that said Page was a CIA source to say he wasn’t) got… 12 months’ probation, some community service, and just got his DC bar license back. The regime protects its own, you see.

Earlier this week, we found out that JCS chairman General Mark Milley was back-channeling with China and conspiring with Democrats , CIA and NSA against Trump. But the entire media-political complex came to his defense, calling him a hero. Meanwhile, retired General Michael Flynn was illegally unmasked, charged with lying to the FBI on absolutely zero basis, and dragged through the courts for something like three years — even had his family threatened — before he was eventually pardoned, because the activist federal judge in DC refused to accept the DOJ dropping the case.

That judge, Emmett Sullivan, just ruled this evening that illegal immigrants can’t be sent back to Mexico under a rule intended to protect public health. Get that? Vaccine and muzzle mandates for you, but not for people just walking across. A Fox News crew in Del Rio, Texas has used a drone to film thousands of people (mainly from Haiti) crossing over from Mexico. The regime’s response? Judge Sullivan’s ruling — and a FAA ban on all drone activity. On grounds of “security,” you see.

Even so, some intelligent but apparently still clueless people are harping on the hypocrisy of the What, not realizing that the republic in which it mattered no longer exists. It has been replaced by Our Democracy, in which the only thing that matters is Who/Whom. Do you understand yet?

TheNebulator – Telegram

What’s Happening:

Joe Biden is barely hanging on by a thread. Most Americans are turning on him after one failure followed by another. With each passing day, he loses ground with his own supporters.

And it’s possible they won’t like him much after this news breaks.

Biden is only surviving because he’s shifted from being a moderate to a “woke” leftist. That is a culture built around “social justice” and punishing people for the sins of the past. To cast everything in terms of race and focusing on our history of slavery.

What will the left say, when they learn Biden’s family owned slaves?

From The Hill:

A genealogist who has conducted a sweeping look into President Biden’s lineage says records show some of the Scranton, Pa., native’s ancestors on his father’s side owned enslaved people…

According to Bannerman, the 1800 census showed that Biden’s great-great-great-grandfather, Jesse Robinett, owned two enslaved people in Allegany County, and another great-great-great-grandfather, Thomas Randle, enslaved a 14-year-old boy in Baltimore County.

Ouch. I wonder how many leftists will turn on Joe Biden, after finding out his family owned people?

We’ve seen celebrities, politicians, and other figures taken down by cancel culture for much less. People’s entire lives have been ruined by a tweet some claimed was racist.

But two men have written an article claiming that Joe Biden’s family was part of the worst element of our nation’s history. Will the cancel culture mobs stay silent over this?

Let’s face the facts. Many Americans owned slaves. It was a part of our history. If you look back on many families, you might find the same. Was it Biden’s fault? Of course, not. He might be old, but he wasn’t alive back then.

Rational, reasonable people won’t blame Joe for something that happened a long time ago. But the left is not made up of reasonable people. They thrive off of destroying lives over political correctness and fear.

Make no mistake, the liberal establishment will either ignore this or try to protect old Joe. But the rabid leftists in the party might not. I can already hear AOC screaming about this on her Twitch feed.

It might get very ugly for Joe Biden.

Key Takeaways:

• Two writers are claiming Joe Biden’s family owned slaves.
• Census data suggests at least two of Biden’s ancestors owned people.

Source: Politico

Biden’s Ancestral Closet Swings Wide Open – Genealogist Claims Joe’s Forefathers Were Slaveholders (thepatriotjournal.com)

LOS ANGELES—With their original recall campaign falling short, organizers of an effort to oust Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced on Sept. 16 that they have formed a new political committee and will start again from scratch.

According to a statement from organizers, the original recall effort was hampered by COVID-19 pandemic health mandates, along with a “premature start.” Therefore, the effort will be restarted under a new campaign committee known as “Recall District Attorney George Gascón.”

“The reset will allow Recall District Attorney George Gascón to gather necessary financial resources prior to starting the 160-day period for signature collection, rather than play catch-up,” according to organizers.

“The committee will be filing an updated petition with the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters shortly.”

Despite the failure of the original effort, organizers said they remain committed to recalling Gascón, who has come under fire from critics for a progressive agenda that has included directives against seeking the death penalty and dropping sentence-enhancing allegations in criminal cases.

Gascón has repeatedly defended his policies, saying his stances were well known during his campaign and his election signified public support of his agenda.

In their statement, recall organizers said, “Make no mistake, this is not a white flag—it is a double-down on our efforts.”

A campaign spokesman told the Los Angeles Times that the original recall drive had collected about 200,000 signatures. The group needed about 580,000 signatures by Oct. 26 to force a recall election.

Gascón Recall Effort Being Restarted (theepochtimes.com)

Heritage Foundation scholar is latest conservative censored by Amazon

Amazon blocked an ad for a book critical of the Black Lives Matter movement, the latest example of the retail giant censoring conservative voices.

The online retailer prevented the Heritage Foundation from purchasing ads to promote Mike Gonzalez’s BLM: The Making of a New Marxist Revolution. Amazon told Heritage that the ad “contains book/s or content that is not allowed,” specifically “content that revolves around controversial or highly debated social topics is not permitted.” Amazon later reversed its decision and posted the ad, telling the Washington Free Beacon that its “policies were not enforced correctly in this case” and that the employees responsible would receive “additional training.”

Amazon refused to explain the nature of the error. But in recent months, the company has used its policies to suppress conservative books. A book on the transgender movement was pulled from the platform in February without explanation. After senators pushed Amazon to explain its decision, the retailer announced it was changing its policies to ban any books that treat gender dysphoria as a mental illness. Amazon funded an effort to place hundreds of copies of critical race theorist Ibram X. Kendi’s book Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You in Virginia public schools.

BLM criticizes the titular movement for its Marxist roots. One of the three Black Lives Matter founders said in 2015 that she and another cofounder “are trained organizers; we are trained Marxists.” Gonzalez, a former journalist and Heritage senior fellow, said his book addresses important questions “after the 630 or more riots that left our cities burning, businesses destroyed and billions in damage, and Americans dead.”

Gonzalez said Amazon is “trying to limit how many Americans read this book” and asked whether books by left-leaning authors on Black Lives Matter and race faced the same restrictions. Heritage Foundation president Kay Coles James released a statement calling examples of “big tech censorship … inescapable and irrefutable.” “Conservative voices are deemed ‘unacceptable’ and are silenced,” she said.

Advertising makes up a substantial portion of Amazon’s revenue. Amazon, Google, and Facebook together took up almost two thirds of the digital advertising market in 2020. A growing contingent of lawmakers worry that advertising consolidation on a few online platforms could harm market competition.

Amazon has faced pressure from liberal politicians to exercise more control over which speech is allowed on the platform. Last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) called on Amazon to ban books containing “misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.”

Amazon Blocks Ad for Book Critical of Black Lives Matter (freebeacon.com)

The scientific method used to govern much of popular American thinking.

In empirical fashion, scientists advised us to examine evidence and data, and then by induction come to rational hypotheses. The enemies of “science” were politics, superstition, bias, and deduction.

Yet we are now returning to our version of medieval alchemy and astrology in rejecting a millennium of the scientific method.

Take the superstitions that now surround COVID-19.

We now know from data that a prior case of COVID-19 offers immunity as robust as vaccination. Why, then, are Joe Biden’s proposed vaccination mandates ignoring that scientific fact? Dr. Anthony Fauci, when asked, seemed at a loss for words.

Is this yet another of the scientific community’s Platonic “noble lies,” as when Fauci assured the public last year that there was no need for masks? He later claimed he had lied so that medical professionals would not run out of needed supplies.

Fauci also threw out mythical percentages needed for herd immunity, apparently in an attempt to convince the public that it will never be safe until every American is protected from COVID-19 by vaccination only.

And why was it that hard for the scientific community to postulate a likely origin of COVID-19. Some of the very scientists engaged in gain-of-function research oversaw an investigation with Chinese authorities. They confirmed the predetermined conclusion that the virus likely had little to do with gain-of-function engineering. And they saw little proof it was birthed in a Wuhan virology lab. Yet scientific opinion, emerging evidence, and basic logic have suggested the opposite.

How can the government hector citizens that they have a moral duty—and soon a legal obligation—to be vaccinated when it does not mandate vaccinations for unvetted refugees flying in from Afghanistan?

How can the government medical community remain largely silent when an anticipated 2 million foreign nationals will cross into the United States in the current fiscal year—almost none of whom are vaccinated or tested for COVID-19?

Why do the media and government blame particular races for the delta variant outbreak on grounds that they were insufficiently vaccinated? Why wouldn’t officials simply urge the Latino and black communities to be vaccinated as quickly as possible? Data shows that both groups have lower vaccination rates than white and Asian populations.

Are woke political agendas discrediting science and losing public health?

We saw just that in June 2020, when more than 1,200 “health care professionals” signed a petition demanding exemptions from lockdowns and quarantines for Black Lives Matter protesters marching en masse. And they concocted medical excuses such as “vital to the national public health” to insist that violating quarantines was less unhealthy than not pouring into the streets.

Why did presidential candidate Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, warn the American people on the eve of vaccination rollouts that an inoculation under the Trump administration could be unsafe, thereby undermining confidence in vaccines?

Why was the medical community largely silent about such dangerous sabotaging of new vaccines, but months later became vociferous in warning the public that any doubts about the safety of these Operation Warp Speed vaccinations were scientifically misplaced? Was there a medical breakthrough on Jan. 20, 2020, to alter their consensus?

From rewarding wokeness in medical school admissions to the peer reviewing of scientific papers, the anti-scientific mania has polluted scientific endeavors.

“Critical race theory” would preposterously tell us that we need racism to fight racism.

“Critical legal theory” ludicrously claims that laws have no rational basis but simply reflect power inequities.

“Modern monetary theory” defies millennia of evidence and basic logic in stating that governments can simply print money without worrying about balancing expenditures with revenues or inflating the currency to ruination.

Corporations are now asked to substitute a new woke agenda theory—“Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG)”—in lieu of market realities, rules of investment, and economic data.

Science is dying; superstition disguised as morality is returning. And we’ll all soon become poorer, angrier, and more divided.

The Death of Science (theepochtimes.com)

President Joe Biden has a well-documented history of racially tinged incidents, but a new book suggests that his struggles with race relations started even earlier than many realized.

According to Fox News, Politico reporter Ben Schreckinger is set to release his new book, “The Bidens: Inside the First Family’s Fifty-Year Rise to Power,” next week. Fox News obtained a chapter of the book before its release, and it reportedly has some pretty damming details about Biden’s past.

The book says that when Biden moved into his parents’ Faulkland, Delaware, home during his first years in the Senate, the house had a covenant banning “any Negro or person of Negro extraction” from owning or living in it.

In 1986, Biden spoke out against the restrictions. He claimed his parents had disavowed the covenant and that the deed his father signed did not include the restrictions.

However, Biden’s Senate tenure began in 1973. This means it took him 13 years to speak out against a racist covenant directly connected to a home he occupied.

If Biden is truly the advocate for minorities he claims to be, why would he not speak out against the covenant as soon as he moved into the house? That would seem to be an issue worthy of addressing immediately, not one to ignore for 13 years.

One possible explanation is Biden did not address the covenant because it was not politically convenient for him. After all, history shows Biden has used race as a political weapon multiple times.

In 2006, Biden attempted to win support for his 2008 presidential campaign by praising his home state of Delaware as a “slave state,” the Washington Free Beacon reported.

Clearly, Biden has no issue invoking racism if he believes it could earn him votes. The fact that his initial reaction to the challenge of winning Southern voters was to tout the history of slavery in his home state makes his feelings pretty clear.

During his political career, Biden has associated himself with notorious racists. According to Fox, he delivered a eulogy for Democratic West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, a former KKK member.

If we fast-forward to Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, you might remember he said black people who wouldn’t vote for him weren’t truly black.

“I tell you what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black,” he told podcast host Charlamagne tha God in May 2020.

Since taking office, Biden has promoted critical race theory, which essentially argues that white people are inherently racist and black people should blame them for nearly every struggle they face. Despite claims that it is meant to fight racism, the theory is racist in and of itself.

So what do all of these otherwise-unrelated incidents have in common? They prove Biden is far more concerned about himself than he is about helping minorities.

If Biden wants to appeal to southern voters, he will talk about his childhood in a “slave state.” If he wants to appease the radical left wing of his base, he will push CRT and talk about how racist white men are.

And if he wants to live in a nice house his parents gifted him, he will conveniently ignore the restrictive covenant banning black people from living there.

For Biden, it is never really about fighting for the oppressed or ending actual racism. It’s just about what benefits him at a particular time and place.

Biden Lived in House That Came with Covenant That It Couldn’t Be Owned or Occupied by a Black Person: Book (westernjournal.com)

A professor at Pennsylvania State University is facing multiple misdemeanor charges after he allegedly attacked a student who protested against the advocacy of COVID-19 vaccination mandates.

The incident occurred on Aug. 27, when faculty, students, and community members rallied at the center of Penn State campus and called on the university administrators to immediately issue a vaccine mandate. Student newspaper Daily Collegian reported that the event attracted counterprotesters who held up signs toward the back of the rally attendees.

A video posted to Twitter by Centre County Report appears to show a male, later identified as 36-year-old Walter Oliver Baker, trying to take a sign by force from one of the counterprotesters before eventually pulling him to the ground.

The counterprotester was later identified as Avi Rachlin, the leader of Penn State Resistance, a student group focusing on opposing mask and vaccine mandates on campus. Rachlin was seen escorted away by campus police with blood on his face, likely as the result of the incident.

The campus police record suggests that Baker was charged with simple assault, a second-degree misdemeanor; disorderly conduct, a third-degree misdemeanor; and harassment, a summary offense under Pennsylvania law. The most serious of those charges is the second-degree misdemeanor, with penalties of up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine upon conviction.

Penn State lists Baker as an assistant professor of English and African American Studies who “specializes in Critical Race Theory.” According to his faculty biography, Baker’s areas of research include “critical ethnic studies, nineteenth-century American literature and culture, critiques of racial capitalism and settler colonialism, and histories of African, Native, Chicanx, and working-class liberation movements.”

A Penn State official confirmed to Daily Collegian that Baker was placed on administrative leave as the investigation proceeds.

Meanwhile, in a previous interview with Daily Collegian, Rachlin said he is not against vaccines as a whole, but rather skeptical about the COVID-19 vaccines, given that they lack long-term data on their safety and efficacy.

“When we take this more locally, the majority of people on this campus are vaccinated,” the junior student told Daily Collegian. “It is a small percentage, but there are thousands of others including myself who have opted not to [get vaccinated] as well.”

Penn State is one of the few remaining Big Ten Conference schools that have yet to put in place any form of COVID-19 vaccine requirement. In an open letter to the campus community, Penn State President Eric Barron made it clear that the public university is not going to jeopardize its funding to issue a vaccine mandate.

“Regulations across the country clearly reflect state-level political realities,” Barron wrote in the Aug. 12 letter. “State funding of our University requires a two-thirds vote of the Pennsylvania legislature, meaning that our funding relies on strong bipartisan support.”

Penn State didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Penn State Assistant Professor Charged With Assaulting Anti-Vaccine Mandate Student (theepochtimes.com)

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a bill on Friday that would have increased penalties for those who engage in riots that result in damage or injury.

“People who commit crimes during riots and at other times should be prosecuted and our laws provide for that, but this legislation is unnecessary and is intended to intimidate and deter people from exercising their constitutional rights to peacefully protest,” Cooper, a Democrat, said in a press release.

A person would have faced felony charges and jail time if he or she caused damage to property, or assaulted a citizen or emergency personnel, during a protest or state of emergency.

Republican House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican and one of the bill’s sponsors, called it a “common-sense bill” written to protect “small businesses and individuals in the event that a protest became violent and focused solely on the perpetrators of violence rather than peaceful protesters.”

“Every suggested change to improve the bill from the other side of the aisle was incorporated,” Moore said. “Unfortunately for this governor, pandering to the far left is more important than rule of law.”

In a statement released after the bill passed in the Senate in August, Moore said he had witnessed “the violence and destruction caused by rioters right here in downtown Raleigh” in 2020.

“What this bill does is enforce harsher penalties for the perpetrators of violence and looting, while preserving every North Carolinian’s right to protest peacefully,” Moore said. “Our rights to free speech and assembly are precious and must be preserved, but never at the expense of harm to others. House Bill 805 simply ensures the safety of our citizens while upholding their rights to free speech and assembly.”

Felony charges would have been handed down if damages exceeding $1,500, serious bodily harm, or death, had resulted from the actions of the rioter.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) called the bill “harmful,” adding that it “would dissuade many people from engaging in peaceful and constitutionally protected acts of protests.”

The bill was retaliation, the ACLU alleged, against the “uprising for racial justice” that happened in 2020 when an outbreak of violence started in May at the time of the killing of George Floyd, a black man who had been arrested.

The May 25 arrest was filmed, and in the video, Floyd, 46, said he couldn’t breathe as Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was witnessed kneeling on Floyd’s neck as he pleaded for air.

Floyd was pronounced dead an hour after the incident.

According to a September 2020 report (pdf) from the Raleigh Police Department, May 30 through June 7 became a week of peaceful protest that devolved into acts of violence and destroyed property.

In July 2020, the Triangle Business Journal reported that statewide insurance claims were over $10 million.

Anti-Riot Bill Vetoed in North Carolina (theepochtimes.com)

The 911 emergency call system in Portland, Oregon, is “broken,” officials say, and callers who need help are often waiting more than two minutes for assistance, even though emergency calls are supposed to be answered in around 15 seconds.

“People calling 911 to report a Sept. 4 shootout at a Pearl District restaurant and other emergencies in the following half-hour waited an average of more than 7.5 minutes before a dispatcher answered,” the Oregonian reported. “The lengthy hold time is far above the national standard of 15 to 20 seconds for 911 calls and the latest example of serious problems plaguing the city’s emergency dispatch system.”

An official with Portland’s Bureau of Emergency Communications called the situation “horrible” and “broken,” and said the agency’s own statistics show “an average hold time of a minute. But it also shows a dramatic increase of 911 calls on hold for two minutes or longer starting in late spring and summer.”

“Another striking jump of calls on hold for more than five minutes occurred in May and July, according to bureau figures released to the newsroom,” the Oregonian reported. “Compared to March, when only eight 911 calls took more than five minutes to answer, that number increased to 221 in May and more than doubled to 574 in July.”

Portland, meanwhile, is struggling with an increase in crime. Homicides are still low compared to most major cities, but they are spiking.

“Homicides in Portland increased from 28 in 2019 to 54 in 2020,” Portland’s KGW report. “Among cities similar in size to Portland, Seattle saw an increase from 34 to 53 homicides, in Minneapolis, a spike from 48 to 82, and Milwaukee saw homicides increase from 97 to 190 from 2019 to 2020.”

As of May, per the Seattle Times, ’37 people had died in Portland homicides this year, a more-than-sevenfold increase compared with the first five months of last year, and a stark contrast to Seattle, a larger city, where 11 homicides had been recorded as of late May. So far this year, the victims have disproportionately been people of color.”

At the same time, Portland is struggling to keep police officers. Just weeks ago, dozens of Portland police officers resigned en masse from the city’s rapid response team, “citing a lack of support from city leaders. The move to disband the unit came one day after Portland Officer Cody Budworth was indicted and accused of striking a protester in the head last summer with a baton. It marked the first time a city police officer faced prosecution over striking or firing at someone during a protest,” per Yahoo News.

The city’s emergency communications department is also struggling to keep staff, with a dozen retirements or resignations over the past several months.

“We’re at a tipping point now. It’s become unmanageable,” one city official said. “The system is broken.”

Portland officials have proposed having 311, the city’s information line, handle calls that do not necessarily require an emergency response, but 311 answers calls only between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays.

‘Broken’: Portland Residents Facing ‘Dramatic Increase’ In Wait Times For 911 Calls Following Efforts To Defund Police | The Daily Wire

A group of six employees with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) filed a lawsuit in federal court against the city on Sept. 11, claiming that the city’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy violates their rights.

The lawsuit challenges both the city’s mandate and LAPD’s alleged failure to provide a process to submit requests for medical or religious exemptions. The plaintiffs include LAPD employees who have contracted COVID-19 and recovered who believe they should be exempt from the mandate.

“Subjecting City employees to a new condition of employment—which neither they nor Plaintiffs contemplated when they were hired—forces them to choose between their livelihood, in a time of acute nationwide economic hardship, and preservation of their fundamental constitutional privacy rights to control self-disclosure of sensitive personal information,” reads the suit.

“The order further seeks to embarrass, humiliate, shame and deprive the liberty of persons who decline to state their vaccine status by requiring Plaintiff to treat them as unvaccinated and impose testing, masking, and other punitive measures such as denial of promotions, transfer, appointments, etc.”

In addition, it states that the city “ignores peer-reviewed studies comparing naturally acquired and vaccine acquired immunity that show overwhelmingly that the former provides equivalent or greater protection against severe infection than immunity generated by mRNA vaccines.”

The LAPD employees are represented by attorneys Daniel Watkins of Watkins & Letofsky and Kevin Snider of the Pacific Justice Institute. The lawsuit names the city, Mayor Eric Garcetti, LAPD Chief Michel Moore, and City Administrative Officer Matthew Szabo as defendants.

The lawsuit argues that the LAPD is also violating the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which require reasonable medical or religious accommodation. It asks the court to declare the vaccine mandate unlawful and block the city from enforcing it.

Watkins told The Epoch Times that the attorneys also plan to file a class action lawsuit regarding the exemption issue, which could potentially affect thousands of employees.

An LAPD officer who requested to remain anonymous told The Epoch Times that the size of the group affected by the lawsuit could grow to as many as 3,000 or more employees of all ranks and classifications, including civilian workers.

“Our particular group has had 1,300 people sign up to get assistance in filing exemptions and retain legal counsel in the event of denial,” the officer said.

The City Mandate

The Los Angeles City Council approved the mandatory COVID-19 vaccination ordinance (pdf) on Aug. 18, requiring all current and future city employees be fully vaccinated (including boosters as deemed required by the CDC, FDA, or Los Angeles County of Department of Public Health), or request an approved medical or religious exemption, and report their vaccination status no later than Oct. 19.

The ordinance states that as of Oct. 20, COVID-19 vaccination requirement will be a condition of city employment unless approved for an exemption.

“Requests for exemption from the COVID-19 vaccination must be submitted no later than September 7, 2021,” states the ordinance.

According to the State Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), an employer may require employees to receive an FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine, as long as the employer complies with all state and federal laws (pdf).

The FEHA protects employees from discrimination, retaliation and harassment in employment. The FEHA anti-discrimination provisions apply to all employers with five or more full-time or part-time employees.

Under the law, in mandating vaccinations, the city must provide reasonable accommodation based on disability or a sincerely held religious belief or practice, cannot discriminate against or harass employees or job applicants based on their disability or religion, and cannot retaliate against anyone for engaging in a protected activity such as requesting a reasonable accommodation.

Exemption Request Confusion

The city ordinance does not designate a specific form, application, or process to be used by employees to request religious or medical exemptions, leaving some confused about the exact requirements.

As of Sept. 7, LAPD employees had only received a link sent via mass email to submit an “exemption interest form” allowing them to note their interest in applying for accommodation, according to Watkins.

He said many employees began submitting their requests for exemption using the department’s default employee report Form 15.7, generally used to report issues not addressed by other specific departmental forms, since the employees were concerned they would miss the deadline.

Adding to the confusion, some personnel have received exemption denials on the basis that Form 15.7 was the incorrect form, according to the LAPD officer who requested to remain anonymous.

The exact number of intent forms that were submitted by the Sept. 7 deadline is unknown because they were submitted via a link to the city, not one established by the LAPD.

Watkins said that while some exemption requests have been accepted by different city precincts, more than half have been refused by division chiefs, and still others are being held due to the lack of an implementation plan. He hopes that the request for injunctive relief will compel the city and LAPD to implement a process consistent with the law.

“The law calls for an individual review of the requests, and yet now you have at least 1,300 requests,” the attorney said. “And that requires a significant process, man hours, and putting into place a system for individual review and criteria for evaluation, and they’re [LAPD] just not doing it.”

Another officer, who also requested to remain anonymous, received an email after submitting an accommodation request via Form 15.7. It stated:

Per this official DOC notice, the Department has advised not to submit any other forms to request exemptions. Hence, we are not accepting 15.7s for exemption requests. Officers need to be directed to complete the process as stated on the DOC Notice. I have already contacted OSS and we are not accepting a 15.7.

We WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE for an officer saying he/she turned in a 15.7 requesting the exemption and we lost it or didn’t process it.

Officers in another area of the city claimed that some requests were collected by the department and destroyed.

Awaiting City Guidelines

According to Lt. Raul Jovel of the LAPD Media Relations Division, the department has not yet received direction as to how the ordinance should be implemented. Therefore, he couldn’t comment on handling requests for medical or religious exemptions.

“The process and procedures have not been developed yet. There’s talk that the city is still coordinating or working with the labor unions, the League and different employer organizations to try to figure out how this is going to work,” Jovel told The Epoch Times. “Once that’s written, we’ll know exactly the process but also the other half of that coin is trying to figure out, if people don’t do this [get vaccinated], what are the consequences.”

According to Jovel, Chief Michel Moore has stated that he will not comment on what he can or cannot do regarding the implementation of the ordinance at this time until he acquires more input from city leaders.

Jovel said that the intent forms that were sent out before Sept. 7 went directly to the city and the LAPD did not have access to how many of its personnel submitted their intent to request exemption.

“At all departments across the city, employees were asked if they intend to file an exemption, either religious or medical, to log in to a login portal with the information, and that went to the city. I’m not sure what they intend to do with that data,” Jovel said.

‘Push to Mandate Vaccines’

The city’s move towards mandatory vaccinations has been in play for several months. On July 27, Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Council President Nury Martinez announced that they would “push for mandatory COVID-19 vaccines for City employees, beginning with a requirement that workers either submit proof of vaccination or a weekly negative test.”

The vaccine requirement, the memo stated, “is part of a broader push to mandate vaccines for all employees once the federal Food and Drug Administration gives full approval. It comes as the highly contagious Delta variant continues to drive an alarming surge in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths among the unvaccinated in Los Angeles County and across the country.”

“Angelenos have stayed inside for over a year to protect themselves and others. I think it’s safe to say that we’re getting tired of putting our lives on hold to protect people who don’t want to protect themselves and get vaccinated,” Martinez said in the statement.

Martinez said that as the largest employer in the City of Los Angeles, they are doing their part and must set an example in asking Angelenos to get vaccinated.

The LAPD’s Chief Police Psychologist, Dr. Edrick H. Dorian, also sent out an emotional email on Aug. 30 encouraging employees to get vaccinated, stating that it would alleviate guilt and shame, as well as the worry of family members already taxed by the dangers and uncertainty of them working for the LAPD.

The letter told employees that if they are not vaccinated, they can still change their minds, “if only because you want to protect others’ safety or because you do not want to jeopardize your livelihood.”

Dorian’s emailed letter, obtained by The Epoch Times, reads:

Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late… It’s rare that I, the Department’s Chief of Police Psychologist and commanding officer of Behavioral Science Services (BSS), have the opportunity to communicate with all of you directly. As your police psychologists, dietician, and addiction prevention unit, most of our work at BSS occurs behind closed doors, out of plain sight, under the strictest of confidentiality. For the past 53 years, our primary purpose has been to help preserve or enhance the good in your life. We are here because we value and support you and the mission of law enforcement.

In that vein, I write today to acknowledge the stress and turmoil you have all experienced over the past 18 months. If a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic was not enough, you have experienced one of the most challenging periods in policing history. We have seen you, listened to you, and learned from you-it has been brutal at times, both for you and for your family members. Frankly, it has been incredibly heartbreaking for us to witness some of the hardships you and your loved ones have endured.

Today, some of our most prominent conversations in the Department center around the impending mandates for vaccination, which have understandably caused some concerns about personal rights and adverse health consequences. There is likely little you have not already heard a thousand times on the subject, whether it be medical facts, an array of theories about ulterior motives, or stories about terrible or miraculous outcomes. Yet, I implore you to put all of that aside for a moment and consider the following.

We at BSS have witnessed an extraordinary amount of personal suffering, fear and guilt over the past many months. These stories are often not publicly shared, as they involve feelings of embarrassment and shame, coupled with fears of judgement and ridicule about the consequences of coronavirus-related choices and behaviors. Two of the greatest points of pride for officers are in exercising good judgement and being among the few in society who are trained in, and committed to, protecting safety. When we know that vaccines are effective, immediately available, and a form of invisible body armor against serious illness or death, it is tough to look back with regret.

If you have not been vaccinated by now, it is because you have your reasons. You have thought about it a lot. It is OK to change your mind, if only because you want to protect others’ safety or because you do not want to jeopardize your livelihood. Getting vaccinated now is an easy way to remove one major area of worry for your family, given all the dangers and uncertainty they know you regularly face.

If you have concerns about the vaccine, we can help point you to resources for the accurate information you need. If you feel your rights are being violated, remember that those rights are intact, but that public safety officers commit to many requirements of the job from day one. Take a moment to consult a trusted friend, colleague, or police psychologist on whether this is “the hill” on which you want to take a stand—whether that is best for you and your family. If you think you will be judged for getting the vaccine, the unvaccinated who become ill when vaccines were widely available will tell you that the alternative is often much worse. You have a choice. And because you do, don’t wait until it’s too late…please vaccinate. Thousands—the majority—of your fellow LAPD family members already have.

Navigating Exemption Laws

According to the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), leaders of police departments in the U.S. may require employees to be vaccinated without violating federal law but are required to consider religious and medical accommodation requests.

The organization emphasized that employees have the right to refuse to be vaccinated if they have a valid medical or religious objection.

Police departments have also required employees to receive other vaccines, such as tetanus, hepatitis, measles, mumps, rubella, and flu vaccines, as well as meet certain health and fitness medical requirements.

Those seeking a medical exemption or accommodation must establish a qualifying disability that prevents them from taking a vaccine, while those seeking a religious exemption or accommodation must establish that the vaccine or immunization would violate a sincerely held religious belief, practice or observance. In addition, an employee that has deep moral or ethical values in conflict with vaccinations can also qualify for a religious exemption and accommodation.

Employers must also allow discussion on whether an individual’s objections can be accommodated. This might include increasing the level of personal protective equipment, moving an employee’s workstation, temporary reassignment, working remotely, or minimizing interactions with other employees or the public.

Depending on the size of a department, the accommodations may be impossible or place an undue burden on the employer, making the request unreasonable. If no reasonable accommodation can be found, employees may be placed on unpaid leave or terminated.

Potential Impacts on Policing

According to the LAPD officer who spoke to The Epoch Times on agreement of anonymity, the impact of employees leaving due to the vaccine mandate would be catastrophic in terms of the LAPD’s ability to protect the public.

“It takes at least five years for an officer to become proficient at their job,” the officer said. “Less than that and they are placed with more senior officers to assist them in navigating the complexities of liability and a procedurally intense environment, not to mention, just being able to remain alive at the same time.”

He said that monthly police academy classes usually consist of 40 to 60 candidates who are selected from a pool of those applying.

“We usually hire one out of 300 to 1,000 candidates. This means in the best of times we will need 12,000 applicants for 40 new officers.”

And, while most of the candidates graduate, some will not pass probation.

“Taking that into consideration, we also have to factor in retirements each month, which usually ranges from 20 to 50 personnel. The Department is already down 700 employees from the 10,000 we were at a few years ago prior to the pandemic, defunding, etc.,” said the officer.

“It could take up to two years to fill that gap alone. If we were to lose an additional 3,000 employees or more, it would take at least five years to replace those losses, and that would be without allowing a single retirement during that time.”

The officer explained that the department has 1,800 to 2,200 officers total assigned to respond to citizen calls, but on any given night the department has fewer than 800 employees working in the field. Most areas also have about 15 to 25 percent of employees who are unavailable at any given time due to training, vacation or duty-related injuries.

Additional attrition, he said, would result in a “complete disaster.”

“With violent crime climbing to levels not seen in decades and looking at both the World Cup 2026 and the 2028 Olympics potentially coming to the City of Los Angeles in the next seven years, the impact of these possible losses—the time it would take to replace them and allow them to mature and become effective—will result in truly dangerous conditions for the community, and a tremendous loss in revenue for the city.”

Lynn Hackman

Lynn is a reporter for the Southern California edition of The Epoch Times, based in Orange County. She has enjoyed a 25-year career as a senior-level strategic public relations and contingency planning executive. An editor, blogger, and columnist, Lynn also has experience as a television and radio show producer and host. For six years, she was co-host of Sunday Brunch with Tom and Lynn on KOCI 101.5 FM. She is also active in the Newport Beach community, serving as chair emeritus of the Newport Beach City Arts Commission, among various positions with other local organizations.

LAPD Employees File Federal Lawsuit Against City Over Vaccine Mandate (theepochtimes.com)

CHICAGO—One person has died and five others including a teenage girl have been injured in a shooting on Chicago’s South Side, police said.

A group of people was walking toward their vehicles in the city’s West Pullman neighborhood around 9:40 p.m. Saturday when someone inside another vehicle “fired multiple rounds, striking the victims,” according to police.

A 42-year-old woman who was shot in the arm and armpit was taken to a hospital where she later died. Authorities have not identified her.

A 32-year-old man who was shot in the face was listed in critical condition. The other victims, ranging in age from 15 to 28, were listed in fair condition at area hospitals.

No one had been arrested in the shooting, police said Sunday as the investigation continued.

No further details were released.

Police: 1 Killed, 5 Others Wounded in Chicago Shooting (theepochtimes.com)

The estate of a man who was shot dead in Portland, Oregon last year is suing the city over its approach to public safety.

Portland Mayor and Police Commissioner Ted Wheeler, Multnomah District Attorney Mike Schmidt, and other city officials “created a vacuum where peacekeeping efforts and criminal accountability should be; in its place, an environment of vigilantism emerged that ultimately led to the death of Aaron Danielson,” states the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Portland, and obtained by The Epoch Times.

Danielson was killed in Portland on Aug. 29, 2020. Michael Reinoehl, a self-described member of the far-left, anarcho-communist Antifa network, later admitted to shooting Danielson, who was wearing a hat with the logo for Patriot Prayer, a right-wing group, and has been described as a Patriot Prayer supporter.

The two groups clashed in Portland before the shooting, with little intervention by police officers.

The Portland Police Bureau, overseen by Wheeler, chose to let rioters attack a federal courthouse in the city during the spring of 2020, triggering a deployment of federal officers to protect the building and leading to nightly clashes that drew nationwide attention.

Rioters, including members of Antifa, later turned their attention on other facilities, such as police precincts and the headquarters of the Portland police union. While some arrests were made, many of those arrested saw their charges dropped or their cases not pursued by prosecutors, under an unusual policy implemented by Schmidt’s office shortly after he became the district attorney.

The new suit says the approach used by police and prosecutors also included delegating the authority to engage in crowd control and crime prevention to individuals who provided security services for Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and right-wing groups like Patriot Prayer.

The defendants knew that a large-scale demonstration was planned the night Danielson was killed and was aware that members of Antifa and others planned to confront demonstrators but chose to deploy a minimal police presence while also ordering officers to “stay out of sight” and allow the demonstrators and protesters to “express their emotions,” the suit also alleges, quoting Wheeler.

Danielson was deprived of his constitutional rights to assemble peacefully and to have equal protection under the law, his estate’s lawyer said.

“This case is about accountability. We are seeking justice for the preventable death of a young man, gunned down in a city with a dangerous and deadly hands-off approach to public safety,” Christopher Cauble, the lawyer, told The Epoch Times in an email.

“Time and time again, city leadership and law enforcement has failed to find an effective response to clashing groups of protesters. For well over a year, they have known when and where these rallies would occur and the likelihood of escalating violence. Yet no strategy of protective intervention has been utilized to this day. This reckless dereliction of duty cost Aaron Danielson his life. We seek justice for the Danielson family and for a community that deserves far better safety and responsibility from those sworn to protect and serve,” he added.

The suit is seeking $13 million in damages.

Wheeler’s spokesman and Schmidt’s office did not return requests for comment.

Reinoehl was shot dead by law enforcement officers carrying out a warrant days after the Danielson killing. William Barr, the attorney general at the time, said what unfolded was “a significant accomplishment in the ongoing effort to restore law and order to Portland and other cities.”

Another shooting took place in a daylight clash in Portland on Sept. 4 after Chuck Lovell, Portland’s police chief, announced that officers would not intervene in physical clashes.

Wheeler, a Democrat, initially defended the strategy despite the firefight, but on Wednesday, during a City Council hearing, said the tactics needed to be rethought.

“It is clear, based on the public outcry, on the media outcry, on the national front, that that strategy was not the right strategy. I think we can all acknowledge that. I take full responsibility for it,” he said.

“I think we all acknowledge we want to do better. So for me, it’s about proper training, it’s about clear directives, it’s about making sure the community feels safe to express their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and assembly, but also to hold anybody—and I mean anybody, regardless of their politics—hold anybody accountable who thinks violence or criminal destruction is the right answer.”

Estate of Man Killed by Antifa Member in Portland Sues City Over ‘Hands-Off Approach to Public Safety’ (theepochtimes.com)

California once was run by conservatives and mostly centrist Democrats.

True paleo-liberal governors like Pat Brown greatly expanded the welfare state. But they also believed in pushing integration and building freeways, dams, aqueducts, and power plants, while preventing forest fires, directing the mentally ill into state hospitals, and ensuring that the state enhanced the housing, timber, oil and gas, nuclear and agricultural industries.

So, why would anyone deliberately destroy that heritage?

Why allow California to have the highest aggregate basket of income, sales, property, and capital gains taxes in the nation, the highest gas and power prices in the continental United States, and nearly the worst schools and infrastructure? California also has the country’s largest populations of homeless, welfare recipients, and undocumented immigrants.

Remember that the left wing of the Democratic Party became hyper-wealthy through globalization and the tech revolution. Coastal universities such as Caltech, Stanford, UC Berkeley, USC, and UCLA became global nexuses of millions who flocked to California to learn business, engineering, science, math, and the professions.

University endowments were no longer measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars but in the billions.

Hollywood and professional sports now had a lucrative worldwide audience of billions.

The market capitalization of Silicon Valley was to be measured in the trillions of dollars, as the world bought iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks to do Google searches, tweet, and use Facebook. The result was the greatest concentration of wealth in such a small space in the history of civilization.

Within 40 years, California had created a new plutocracy of Eloi, whose wealth exempted them from all worries about the mundane problems of the distant and despised Morlock others.

The wealthier the long thin line from San Diego to Berkeley grew, the more the overseers felt they were nearing Utopia, at least in their own lives.

The new Democratic Party liked to redistribute money for the poor and so obeyed the orders from the rich. But they ignored old-fashioned infrastructure that once had allowed the middle class to drive quickly and safely, ensured them water during droughts, curbed their forest fires, and allowed their children to leave school competitively educated.

Reaction, not prevention, was the new mantra. Govs. Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom failed to thin out forests, build water storage, and allow affordable housing.

When those problems exploded, they reacted by citing climate change or some other bogeyman as the culprit rather than government dereliction. They preferred utopian high-speed rail solutions to pragmatic problem solving. And they ensured that none of their crackpot ideas ever affected themselves.

Why worry about affordable housing and electricity for the masses when all the right people had the means to live in the right ZIP codes without much worry about turning on the air conditioning or heat, since there were rarely any scorching days or frigid nights in coastal paradise?

Why worry about immigration when labor became even cheaper?

Why worry that California public schools had sunk near the bottom of state ranks, when there were more prestigious prep schools than ever on the coast?

And why worry about producing lumber for houses, irrigated crops for food, or oil for gasoline, when the right Californians would always have the money to import their hardwood floors, arugula, and fuel from grubby others far away who would make or grow what was needed?

Yet ideas eventually have consequences. Soon, even the left-wing paradise on the coast would be infected by the anarchy the rich had created for less important people elsewhere.

The homeless did not just camp on the streets of Fresno, but in Venice Beach and on Market Street in San Francisco.

Fires began to smoke out not just the brush of the inland foothills, but near-saintly Lake Tahoe, home to the right skiers and the chosen shore owners.

Thieves even smashed the windows of Bay Area BMWs and Volvos.

The current California recall election is a choice between Gavin Newsom, who embodies the woke, old-boy privilege of the Bay Area, and an alternative direction. Newsom is the epitome of the virtue-signaling elite who patronize the poor and drive out the despised middle class.

Gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder did not give us the current California. Indeed, he spent most of his life warning us where Jerry Brown, Gavin Newsom, and the rarified society of the coastal corridor was taking the state.

A careening California is heading for a colossal train wreck. Voters will have to pick between the incompetent engineer snoring at the wheel or the private passenger who rushes into cab to get the engine back on track.

Recall Election Could Reverse the California Ideology (theepochtimes.com)

Critical race theory (CRT) aims to indoctrinate students and turn them into “Red Guards,” akin to those during the Cultural Revolution in China, warned Xi Van Fleet, a Chinese-American living in northern Virginia’s Loudoun County, at a “Rally to Save Our Schools” event on Sept. 8.

She called CRT “communist race tactics” with the goal of “indoctrinating our kids, dividing Americans, and controlling Americans.”

She added that she would talk to Chinese-language media to tell Chinese-Americans not to stay silent.

“If you still want to enjoy the prosperity and the freedom of this country, now it’s your turn—join the fight,” she said.

She said that upon taking over China in 1949, the first thing the CCP did was to indoctrinate teachers with Marxist ideology so they could teach it to students. Red Guards were the “full display” of what indoctrinated children could do, she said.

The Red Guards were communist youth led by then-CCP leader Mao Zedong to persecute those identified as the CCP’s “class enemies” during the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976. They beat up their teachers in public and tore down temples and statues.

“They became Mao’s bulldogs,” said Van Fleet, adding that she saw a similar phenomenon in America during the “so-called summer of unrest,” referring to the riots during Black Lives Matter protests.

CRT adherents believe America is systemically racist, that racial oppression exists in every institution, and that an individual is either an oppressor or oppressed based on the color of their skin.

Monica Gill, a Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) teacher who teaches Advanced Placement government, said that the LCPS was indoctrinating teachers with CRT tenets to trickle down the effect onto students. Though LCPS is not explicitly telling teachers to teach CRT to students, it is “imposing this very distorted lens of race on kids,” Gill said.

“Our kids are in this cultural battle with us … And we have been asleep at the wheel, just thinking that everything in public schools is okay with the majority of teachers—they are teaching our kids the right things—and that’s not the case,” Gill added.

LCPS Public Information Officer Wayde Byard stated in an email to The Epoch Times, “As LCPS has stated, repeatedly, Critical Race Theory is not part of its student curriculum.” He didn’t comment on Gill’s assertion of the LCPS indoctrinating teachers and students.

Political Action

Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin also attended the event. He accused his opponent, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, of introducing CRT in Virginia’s schools during his administration in 2015 and that McAuliffe called concerns of CRT a “right-wing conspiracy.” The Epoch Times contacted McAuliffe’s campaign for comments and didn’t receive them by press time.

On June 30, in front of the LCPS school administration building in Ashburn, Virginia, Youngkin promised to ban CRT if elected on day one of his administration. “He will end the use of divisive critical race theory in professional development and as an approach to education,” a Youngkin campaign spokesperson wrote in an email to The Epoch Times on Sept. 9.

“I will preside over the largest education budget in the history of Virginia … to reestablish expectations of excellence in the school systems across Virginia that used to be known nationally for the best place to send your kids,” said Youngkin.

McAuliffe’s campaign announced that Youngkin’s tax cut plan would result in Virginia’s schools losing funds, based on a new study by Virginia Excels, an education advocacy organization.

“Between the available surplus, remaining one-time federal funds, and expected future revenue growth, Glenn’s plan can provide significant tax relief to address the cost of living while making a significant investment in education,” a Youngkin campaign spokesperson told The Epoch Times.

Polls have shown a close race for the next Virginia governor. A new one by WPA Intelligence conducted for the Youngkin campaign shows him leading McAuliffe for the first time at 48 percent versus 46 percent. The poll, released on Sept. 8, surveyed 734 likely Virginia voters between Aug. 30 and Sept. 2. Its margin of error is 3.6 percent.

Early voting in Virginia starts next week.

Critical Race Theory Aims to Turn Students Into ‘Red Guards,’ Chinese American Warns (theepochtimes.com)

A couple of weeks before the completion of the catastrophe of the American presence in Afghanistan—or, if you believe President Joe Biden, the “extraordinary success” of the American evacuation—a Russo-British comedian named Konstantin Kisin published a brilliantly funny thread on Twitter headed: “You’re struggling to understand why some people are vaccine hesitant. Let me help you.”

The “let me help you” megathread, as he called it, consisted of example after example of so-called “expert” opinions that have turned out to be completely wrong—beginning with the British vote for Brexit and the American vote for President Donald Trump in 2016, both of which elections the top experts at the time confidently assured us would go the other way.

Actually, Kisin’s spiel could be considered as a belated gloss on one of the most famous quotations to come out of the Brexit referendum, that of the Brexiteer and veteran government minister Michael Gove who said: “I think the people of this country have had enough of experts.”

I think that Trump was striking the same responsive chord with Americans when he disparaged what he called “political correctness”—still ravaging the county after four years of his administration—which was also the product of that breed of experts who call themselves “intellectuals.”

If people were fed up with experts in 2016, think how much more reason they have to be so five years later! Kisin does, and he goes ruthlessly through the whole catalog of errors from Russian collusion to “systemic racism” and “white supremacy” to “toxic masculinity” and the abolition of sex in favor of the nebulous idea of “gender.”

And of course we mustn’t leave out the conflicting and often mendacious pronunciamentos of “the Science” on the coronavirus, which have culminated in the distrust, not so much of the vaccines themselves, but of “the experts’” attempts to demonize those who remain skeptical about them.

And all this was before the collapse of the Afghan government and army under the onslaught of the Taliban gave us what may be the best reason ever for thinking that we, too, have had enough of experts in this country.

“Afghanistan: the graveyard of experts,” wrote Tim Black at Spiked Online.

“US ‘experts’ who created Afghanistan mess should be fired for malpractice,” wrote Rebekah Koffler for The New York Post—though of course they won’t be. They never are. They’re the experts.

A writer on Substack named Richard Hanania compared the galaxy of American Ph.D.’s (including the now-deposed president of Afghanistan himself, Ashraf Ghani, who has a Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia) who got us into Afghanistan with the madrassa-educated Taliban and wrote that, “It’s as if Wernher von Braun had been given all the resources in the world to run a space program and had been beaten to the moon by an African witch doctor.”

Unsurprisingly, there were a great many negative comments appended to Kisin’s bonfire of the experts, most of them to the effect that, just because some people have been wrong about some things it doesn’t mean that other people are going to be wrong about other things—especially when those things include vaccines which, as there are sound scientific reasons for believing, can be life-saving.

Nor should we neglect to consider that the lives saved are not only of those who receive the vaccines but also those of the immunosuppressed and other vulnerable people who come in contact with them.

They have a point. But so has Kisin. The latter is certainly right in thinking that the experts, particularly those who write for the partisan media, have taken too little care of their own credibility in the past, instead expecting to be trusted and believed as right, just because of who they are. When they then turn out to be wrong, they have no one but themselves to blame if people don’t believe them the next time.

Some people are always going to be wrong about almost everything, but the case is altered when the people who are wrong have set themselves up in the profession of being right. These are the people we call “experts” solely because they have the recognized credentials of experts—advanced degrees from top universities or awards for their expertise from other experts—whether or not they have any real-world experience or expertise.

Their authority is what the anthropologists call “positional”—like that of the parent who answers a child’s question of why? by replying: “Because I said so!” or “Because I’m your mother.”

The experts treat us all like those children—and then they wonder why they are resented and distrusted.

They are the people who identify themselves with their beliefs to the extent that they can never admit it—and so never learn from their mistakes—when those beliefs turn out to be wrong.

That’s how you get to Biden’s calling an obvious disaster of the first water an “extraordinary success”—with no more than an occasional raised eyebrow from the compliant media.

Much publicity in the last week or so was given to a Reuters report of a conversation between Biden and Ghani in the dying days of the latter’s government, as the Taliban were closing in. What he had to worry about, said the American president to the Afghan one, was the “perception” that he was losing the war, not the fact that he actually was losing it.

All he had to do to get American help, said Biden, was change this perception, “whether it is true or not.”

I think a lot of the criticism of this extraordinary conversation was misdirected. The problem wasn’t that Biden told Ghani to lie. Lying to the enemy has a long and honorable tradition in the history of warfare.

No, the problem was that he was foolish enough to think he could lie in that situation: that he (or Ghani) could get away with spinning the enemy as he himself was used to spinning the American media—as, of course, he would go on to do again with the claim of an “extraordinary success.”

A man whose self-assurance and self-absorption is such that he believes reality can make no claim against him that he can’t pay off with the experts’ counterfeit currency of interpretive ingenuity and rhetorical sleight-of-hand is a man who can only lead his country and himself into more disasters.

Bonfire of the Experts (theepochtimes.com)

A report highlighting Chinese government-backed influence campaigns on social media platforms found that the effort sought to mobilize protests against “racial injustice,” CNN has finally admitted.

The network’s summary of the recently released Mandiant Threat Intelligence and Google report notes how bot accounts linked to a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) disinformation network attempted to incite Asian Americans to protest against racism and those claiming COVID-19 originated in China.

“US officials believe the operation is linked to the Chinese government,” the article adds.

As the CNN article admits:

In April for example, experts saw thousands of fake accounts calling on Asian Americans to protest racial injustice in the US and “disinformation about the virus’ origins.” While experts found no evidence these posts were successful in mobilizing protesters, the report says “it does provide early warning that the actors behind the activity may be starting to explore, in however limited a fashion, more direct means of influencing the domestic affairs of the US.”

The report identifies how the bot network attempted to catalyze a protest on April 24th in New York City:

In April 2021, thousands of posts in languages including English, Japanese, and Korean, images, and videos were posted across multiple platforms by accounts we assess to be part of this broader activity set that called on Asian Americans to protest racial injustices in the U.S. The accounts specifically called on Asian Americans to protest on April 24 in New York City and “fight back” against the purported “rumors” caused by Dr. Li-Meng Yan, Guo Wengui, and Steve Bannon, and in some instances provided an address that they claimed Guo lived at.

Posts shared by the fake accounts included messages such as “the racism is the virus.”

MUST READ:

High School Teacher With Antifa Flag in Classroom Praises Chinese Communist Party.

“This direct call for physical mobilization is a significant development compared to prior activity, potentially indicative of an emerging intent to motivate real-world activity outside of China’s territories,” the report says.’

“While experts at Mandiant and Google say they have not seen these specific pro-Chinese accounts wade into election specific content to date, they did warn that the actors responsible could be gearing up for a more expansive disinformation push,” CNN adds. Platforms such as TikTok, however, have been used to sabotage Trump rallies during the 2020 election cycle.

The National Pulse first reported on the existence of a Beijing-backed, online bot army in early 2020, which, at the time, was used to criticize former President Donald Trump and his COVID-19 response.

More recently, over 20 advocacy groups comprising the “Stop AAPI Hate” coalition sent a letter demanding the Biden White House terminate the Department of Justice’s Trump-era “China Initiative” – which identifies and prosecutes Chinese Communist Party espionage operations – and publicly discredit the COVID-19 “lab leak” theory.

No evidence of a quid pro quo over the CCP’s attempts to bolster these campaigns digitally and the campaigns’ attempts to shift U.S. government policy on China has yet emerged.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder on Wednesday vowed to “save California” shortly after he was forced to prematurely end a walk-through of his planned campaign stop at Venice Beach, when over 10 hecklers harassed him, throwing projectiles.

Elder, who is vying to replace California Gov. Gavin Newsom if he is recalled this month, was touring Venice Beach’s homeless encampments with campaign team members when he was harassed.

Footage of the incident uploaded to social media shows two hecklers repeatedly shouting racial slurs at Elder. A lady in a pink gorilla mask, riding a bike, appeared on video throwing an egg that appeared to narrowly miss Elder’s head.

One of Elder’s security staff attempted to separate the woman from the crowd, to keep her from continuing to throw projectiles.

In videos surfacing on Twitter, the woman slapped the security staff in the face. Another protester hit the same security staff member seconds later.

A white SUV drove up to the crowd, which was walking down Hampton Drive towards Sunset Avenue.

Elder’s team escorted him to his vehicle and drove away.

“Today I kicked off the Recall Express bus tour. Before we even left Los Angeles, my security detail was physically assaulted, shot with a pellet gun, and hit with projectiles. The intolerant left will not stop us. We will recall Gavin Newsom. We will save California,” Elder said in a statement on Twitter late Wednesday, responding to the attacks.

Elder, 69, is an Epoch Times contributor and host of “Larry Elder with Epoch Times” on EpochTV.

The conservative talk radio host first announced in July that he will run in California’s recall election of Democratic Gov. Newsom, which has been set for Sept. 14.

He said in a statement on his campaign website that he’s running for governor “because the decline of California isn’t the fault of its people,” adding: “Our government is what’s ruining the Golden State.”

On his website, Elder calls for “returning to the bedrock Constitutional principles of limited government and maximum personal responsibility.”

Other top Republican candidates include businessman John Cox, former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, and state Rep. Kevin Kiley. Nine Democrats are running, including financial analyst Kevin Paffrath and actor Patrick Kilpatrick.

The recall election of Newsom, a first-term Democrat, follows mounting criticism from within his party and across the aisle over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and other issues.

He faced intense backlash after he was seen dining at the French Laundry restaurant with lobbyists after telling Californians to stay home. Newsom apologized for his actions.

The last time a governor was recalled in the state was Gray Davis in 2003. Residents voted “Yes” on recalling Davis by 55.4 percent and selected one of 135 candidates on the ballot to replace him.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, California is one of 19 states where recalls are permitted.

Last month, President Joe Biden publicly backed Newsom, saying in a statement that he the Democratic governor “is leading California through unprecedented crises—he’s a key partner in fighting the pandemic and helping build our economy back better.”

“To keep him on the job, registered voters should vote no on the recall election by 9/14 and keep California moving forward,” Biden added.

The California Republican Party has declined to endorse a candidate, however, several recent polls show that Elder is in the lead.

Jack Bradley contributed to this report.

Larry Elder Responds to Venice Beach Walk-Through Assault, Vows to ‘Save California’ (theepochtimes.com)

A Hennepin County judge tossed proposal ballot language asking voters if they want to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a department of public safety.

The current language of the city council’s explanatory note accompanying the ballot proposal “is insufficient to identify the amendment clearly, it does not assist the voter in easily and accurately identifying what is being voted on, and it is vague and ambiguous to the point of misleading voters, all of which make it unjust,” Hennepin County Judge Jamie Anderson wrote.

Bruce Dachis, Sondra Samuels, and former City Council Member Don Samuels sued, alleging the explanatory note didn’t provide voters with enough context to make an informed decision.

The proposal would ask voters if they want to approve a plan to replace the police department with a new public safety department focused on a “comprehensive public safety approach” that would include police officers “if necessary to fulfill the department’s responsibilities.”

Anderson wrote that the parties disagreed on three issues of the current ballot language as to whether: 1. The Minneapolis Police Department will cease to exist as of Dec. 2, 2021; 2. The position of police chief would be eliminated; or 3. A funding mechanism exists for the proposed Department of Public Safety.

“These three issues are additional ambiguities in the Current Ballot Language,” the judge wrote. “All of these ambiguities risk creating a ‘chaotic situation’ in Minneapolis.”

Anderson explained:

“For example, does ‘striking’ the Police Department mean renaming it (as the Petitioners suggest it could be interpreted) or taking it apart, as one would ‘strike a set’ after a play is done? The end of the Current Ballot Language says ‘ … to fulfill its responsibilities for public safety.’ To whose responsibilities does that refer? The Police Department? The new Department of Public Safety?”

Anderson did not set a new deadline for approving ballot language.

Attorneys for Yes 4 Minneapolis, which supports replacing the police department, had argued the language provided enough information.

The City Council called an emergency meeting Tuesday and passed revised language for an explanatory note.

City Attorney Jim Rowader said the ballot language could still be rejected by Hennepin County if it finds the new note is “substantially similar” to the language rejected by Anderson.

Judge Tosses Minneapolis Policing Ballot Language (theepochtimes.com)

CHICAGO—The number of young Chicago patrol officers taking leave of absence to work outside jobs has doubled year over year since 2019, and eight out of ten quit within a year after the leave took effect, according to records obtained by The Epoch Times through a Freedom of Information Act request.

In 2019, 23 Chicago patrol officers took leave of absence for outside employment. In 2020, the number doubled to 49. In the first half of 2021, 47 officers did so, on track to double the number again.

The records obtained by The Epoch Times show data from January 2019 through June 2021.

During this period, 30 percent of patrol officers on leave for outside employment were in their 20s, and 60 percent in their 30s. Eight out of ten quit (or in rare cases, retired) within a year after their leave took effect.

In a previous interview with The Epoch Times, Chicago’s police union president John Catanzaro said more and more young officers were taking a leave of absence to work outside jobs because of the terrible working hours, lack of respect for police, and legislation that punish officers for doing their jobs.

The total numbers of Chicago police officers that quit or retired have been on the rise since 2019, and the Chicago Police Department (CPD) has been struggling to hire enough new officers to keep up with the exodus, according to records obtained by The Epoch Times.

In 2019, 592 Chicago patrol officers either quit or retired, and CPD hired 459 new officers.

In 2020, 646 officers quit or retired, and CPD only hired 157 new officers. CPD halted academy training for a couple of months due to COVID-19 restrictions.

From January 2021 through July 2021, 604 patrol officers have retired, according to Susie Park, the Chicago city budget director, at the Aug. 30 Committee on Budget and Government Operations meeting. Park estimates a total of 725 patrol officers will retire by the end of the year.

CPD has four active training classes and plans to add a new training class every month in October, November, and December 2021, according to Park. Each training class lasts six months, after which the cadets will go on a three-month probation before they become a full-fledged police officer, according to Park.

Chicago patrol officers, numbered around 9,000, are the backbone of the police department. CPD has about 400 patrol officer vacancies, according to Park.

Number of Chicago Police Working Outside Jobs on Leave of Absence Doubled (theepochtimes.com)

Are you a racist?

All white people are, says “White Fragility” author Robin DiAngelo.

Race explains everything, says bestselling “How to Be an Antiracist” author Ibram X. Kendi. “Every policy is either racist or anti-racist.”

Kendi’s and DiAngelo’s books are now recommended reading at schools, corporations and in the military. Both authors command high speaking fees.

Isn’t that good? It’s important to educate people about racism.

But John McWhorter, author of “Woke Racism,” says, “The way we’re being encouraged to think, hurts Black people.”

In my new video, he gives this example: “There is a disproportionate number of suspensions of Black boys in schools for violence. (Kendi says) that must be racist … a stereotype of Black men as violent. But … the data makes it very clear that Black boys do commit more violent acts in schools. If you don’t suspend those boys, the violence is being perpetrated (mostly) against other Black kids.”

Kendi’s positions “leave Black kids in the lurch,” says McWhorter.

Kendi and DiAngelo call most every disparity between races “systemic racism.”

White people live longer than Black people? Racism.

Income inequality? Racism.

White and Asian students get higher test scores? Systemic racism.

In the past, says McWhorter, civil rights leaders asked, “How can we make it so that Black kids are better at the test?” Now they want to “eliminate the tests” because they “make Black people unhappy.”

This just makes the problem worse, he says, because it encourages people to think of themselves as victims. If you believe you are a helpless victim of racism, why study?

The idea that it is “unreasonable to expect Black kids to use analytical thinking in a rigorous way. … This is a new way of thinking. It’s a religious way of thinking.”

Blaming racism for low test scores ignores “aspects of Black culture that don’t stress getting good at those tests — the way that South Asian immigrant culture clearly does.”

Nigerian and Caribbean culture, too. People from those places are often just as dark or darker than Black Americans. They “come here and deal with the same racism that everybody else does. Yet they make the best of the worst. That means: so could Black Americans.”

The media label Kendi and DiAngelo “leading scholars,” but their arguments are rarely tested in the marketplace of ideas. Both refuse to debate opponents. McWhorter calls their work far from scholarly — “more like a toxic religion, a cult.”

In fact, he adds, “Kendi is dim.”

I argue that, even if Kendi is “dim,” he’s winning hearts and minds. Companies now donate millions to his Center for Antiracist Research. His book sales and success with students show that his arguments convince people.

McWhorter disagrees. “As we come out of the pandemic and we’re less bored, less anxious, I suspect that a lot of the extremes that we saw are going to start retreating because there’s going to be pushback.”

The idea of anti-racism is “charismatic,” he adds. “It makes it seem like you’ve got one answer to a bunch of things that look disparate and difficult. But all disparities between white people and Black people are not due to something unfair that was driven by whites.”

I’m puzzled that DiAngelo’s and Kendi’s message is so popular today, when life for racial minorities seems to be better than ever before. With some exceptions, there’s less racism, more intermarriage, more opportunities for minorities, etc.

“Why now?” I ask.

There’s an advantage to being identified as a victim, says McWhorter. “An emotional balm to be treated as this victimized person. The problem is that it’s anti-Black.”

Anti-white too.

If the “systemic racism” cult wins, says McWhorter, “we all lose.”

Toxic Victimhood :: Right & Free (rightandfree.com)

Christina Bohannan backed radical group working to ‘melt ICE,’ achieve ‘world without police’

Swing-district Democratic congressional candidate Christina Bohannan donated money to pay bail for illegal immigrants through a group that works to achieve a “world without police.”

Bohannan in July 2019 said she was “glad to contribute” to Prairielands Freedom Fund through a Facebook fundraiser. Just one month before Bohannan’s donation, the group—which also advocates the elimination of prisons—promoted a campaign to “rally for the abolition of Immigration Customs Enforcement” and “melt ICE.”

Two years later, Bohannan is setting aside her radical past in an attempt to recast herself as a moderate, bipartisan alternative to Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R., Iowa). The Democrat says she “is running for Congress because she believes we need less bickering in Washington, and more working together.” Prior to her campaign announcement, however, the state legislator scrubbed all policy positions from her 2020 campaign site, including sections that condemned Iowa’s popular voter ID law and endorsed taxpayer-funded sex change surgeries.

In addition to Prairielands Freedom Fund’s campaign to abolish ICE—which it describes as “xenophobic” and “racist”—the group “reject[s] the assumption that imprisonment is necessary,” works to “abolish the imprisonment of our fellow human beings,” and hopes to achieve a “world without police.”

Neither Bohannan nor Prairielands Freedom Fund returned requests for comment.

The group has only grown more radical since Bohannan lent her support. In March, it urged supporters to lobby the University of Iowa not only to defund the college’s police department but also to “eliminate police.”

“Detention and imprisonment do not keep us safe. In fact, they actively make people and communities less safe … by directly harming individuals and families who then struggle to regain stability,” the group’s website states. “Our bond fund is not a solution to these problems. The only way to eliminate the harm caused by detention and imprisonment is to abolish them entirely.”

Prairielands Freedom Fund used contributions from donors to pay out “roughly $184,000 in bond for protesters jailed throughout the state” in the wake of George Floyd’s death, according to its website. In July 2020, the group called for the release of local Iowa man Tremayne Lamar Clemons, who allegedly provided the illegal guns used in a fatal shooting months earlier.

“It is egregious that Treymane has been in custody for so long based on flimsy allegations which stem from a law that is deeply racist and arbitrarily enforced,” the group wrote in a statement. Nearly one year after his arrest, a federal judge sentenced Clemons to 30 months in prison for being an unlawful drug user in possession of firearms. 

Bohannan’s anti-police activism continued after the Democrat’s election to the Iowa House of Representatives in 2020. In an April Little Village op-ed, she condemned a GOP bill that would increase punishments for those who are convicted of rioting, arguing the legislation would “make us both less free and less safe.”

Bohannan in 2020 ran to the left of eight-year Democratic incumbent Vicki Lensing in Iowa’s deep-blue 85th district, calling for a “more progressive and less defensive attitude in the Iowa House.” She went on to defeat Lensing by 32 points in the primary race and did not face a Republican challenger in the general election.

Bohannan is now running to unseat Miller-Meeks in Iowa’s competitive Second Congressional District. The Republican defeated her Democratic challenger, former state senator Rita Hart, by just six votes in November. Before Miller-Meeks’s election, Democrat Dave Loebsack held the district for 14 years.

Swing-District Iowa Dem Donated To Bail Out Illegal Immigrants (freebeacon.com)

An estimated 27,000 mail-in ballots in Georgia were returned as undeliverable by the post office during the 2020 election, according to a research brief by a good-government group. The number is more than double the margin of victory—12,000 votes—by which President Joe Biden won the state.

The new report from the Indianapolis-based Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) raises questions about the efficacy of voting-by-mail policies that were hurriedly adopted across the nation in the early days of the pandemic last year, purportedly to arrest the spread of the CCP virus that causes the disease COVID-19.

PILF describes itself as “the nation’s only public interest law firm dedicated wholly to election integrity,” existing “to assist states and others to aid the cause of election integrity and fight against lawlessness in American elections.”

“Now you see why Georgia lawmakers passed mail ballot integrity laws,” PILF President J. Christian Adams said in a statement, referring to the Election Integrity Act of 2021, which Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law March 25 over vocal opposition by Democrats.

The Biden administration is challenging the Georgia electoral reforms, including the state’s new voter identification requirements, in the courts. If the administration is successful, “the problems experienced in 2020 can only get worse if the current volume of absentee ballots holds in future contests,” the brief stated.

“You can’t ‘vote from home’ with confidence when you learn how many mail ballots failed. The fact that the Biden Justice Department is committed to interrupting Georgia’s integrity law demonstrates the level to which Washington bureaucrats will sink to preserve system weaknesses.”

In official 2020 results for Georgia, Biden received 2,473,633 votes, besting Trump’s 2,461,854 votes by a margin of 11,779, according to Ballotpedia. The figures provided a dramatic contrast with the official 2016 results for the state in which Trump garnered 2,089,104 votes, compared to Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 1,877,963, for a margin of victory of 211,141.

In the 2020 election, 1.7 million ballots were mailed to voters and 27,287 mail-in ballots were returned as undeliverable, which is more than double Biden’s margin of victory. At the same time, 4,804 ballot returned by voters were rejected by election officials, and 217,677 ballots were classified as “unknown,” meaning election officials don’t know what happened to them.

In the 2016 election, 236,925 ballots were mailed to voters and 1,622 of those ballots were returned as undeliverable. At the same time, 13,677 ballots returned by voters were rejected by election officials, and 21,976 were placed in the “unknown” category.

When the U.S. Election Assistance Commission gathers election data, it asks local officials how many ballots were not returned as voted, were returned as undeliverable, or were otherwise “unable to be tracked,” according to the PILF brief.

The U.S. Postal Service Inspector General previously reported that only 13 percent of mail ballots in the 2018 general election took advantage of the official tracking system.

“This means [there is] a wide variety of things that can happen to a ballot in the ‘unknown’ column,” the brief stated.

“A ballot can be misdelivered. It can be thrown out with your unpaid bills. It can be left on the floor of apartment mail rooms (like seen in Nevada in 2020). Election officials simply do not know what happened.

“Unknown ballots are one of the greatest weaknesses in the American electoral system. The unknown ballots that fail to reach their intended destinations are naturally susceptible to mischief if voter identification safeguards are not present.”

In the chaotic November 2020 general election, almost 15 million mail-in ballots went unaccounted for nationwide according to PILF, as The Epoch Times reported last month.

“These figures detail how the 2020 push to mail voting needs to be a one-year experiment,” Adams told The Epoch Times last month.

Bills pending in Congress such as the proposed “For The People Act,” “risk inflating these numbers even further, pushing our election system toward error, disenfranchisement, and ultimately widespread doubt about election outcomes,” Adams said.

“Some of the counties with the least experience in administering mail voting rejected the most ballots nationwide. If continued, 2020-style chaos will become the norm.”

Undeliverable Mail-in Ballots in Georgia Were Double the Official Margin of Victory, Report Says (theepochtimes.com)

Two GOP representatives are calling on Congress to pass legislation that would require schools that receive federal funding to make the curriculum they use to teach students available to parents and the public.

Education and Labor Committee Ranking Member Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) and Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.) introduced the Curriculum Review of Teachings Transparency Act (pdf). The bill stipulates that federal funding can be denied if K-12 schools do not comply with the rule.

Making the K-12 curriculum openly available to parents is an effort by Foxx and Fitzgerald to counter what they call controversial and factually inaccurate ideas being taught in schools under the name of critical race theory (CRT).

“Decisions about what to teach students in school are being made by bureaucrats and teachers unions, often without the input from parents. As a result, parents across the country are flocking to their local school board to demand transparency and to oppose dangerous ideologies, like critical race theory,” said Fitzgerald said in a press statement.

CRT is 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, during lockdowns 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.

There has been fierce debate over whether CRT or similar initiatives—including The New York Times’ “1619 Project” or diversity, equity, and inclusion training—should be taught to schoolchildren. Parents across the United States have held protests against school boards that have increasingly started to promote CRT or CRT-aligned viewpoints in class.

Meanwhile, some media outlets have claimed that CRT is only taught in higher education settings, such as in colleges and universities, and isn’t being widely adopted by teachers. However, critics of CRT have said there are plenty of examples of young children in school being taught to believe that white people are inherently racist—a key CRT tenet—and that “systemic racism” permeates every U.S. institution.

Foxx wrote in a recent op-ed that education’s goal was originally to produce virtuous citizens who would make the country stronger, adding, “The future of our country depends upon a high-quality education system dedicated to equipping the next generation with the knowledge needed for an active civic life. Critical race theory is incompatible with this mission.”

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.

US Reps. Introduce Bill to Mandate Public Access to Schools’ Curriculum (theepochtimes.com)

New York City Police Department (NYPD) arrest activity has declined since 2019 and it doesn’t appear to be simply the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, the majority of serious crime types have increased, according to NYPD data.

NYPD arrests have been steadily dropping since 2014 and, for some time, crime was declining in tandem. The numbers particularly cratered with the onset of the pandemic last year, reaching a low of less than 7,500 in July 2020. Arrests have since rebounded, but not to the prior level. Instead, they seem to keep following the previous downward trend. Less than 75,000 have been arrested in the first half of this year, compared to more than 110,000 in the first half of 2019, the data shows.

Meanwhile, four out of the seven categories of serious crime tracked by the NYPD saw increases compared to 2019. Shootings in particular went through the roof.

In 2020, more than 1,850 were shot, fatally and non-fatally—more than double the year before. So far this year, more than 1,300 have been shot by Sept. 5, a slight increase from 2020.

Murders slightly declined this year versus the last, but are still nearly 40 percent above 2019.

In other serious crime categories, rape is up from 2020, but down from 2019; robbery is slightly down; felony assaults are the highest in 20 years, nearing 15,000 so far this year; burglaries are down from 2020, but up from 2019; grand theft is up from 2020, but down close to 20 percent since 2019; and carjackings are the highest since 2010.

There has been a lively debate on what’s the main factor behind the crime hike. There seems to be a whole host of factors in play.

The shooting wave started in May last year coinciding with protests and rioting in the city after the killing of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis.

Some officers previously told The Epoch Times officers may be reluctant to go out of their way to make arrests due to new policies that make arrests riskier and less consequential.

The city implemented new laws that banned judges from requiring cash bail for most nonviolent and some lower-level violent crimes, resulting in more criminals returning to the street after an arrest. Some officers called the policy demoralizing.

Last year, the state outlawed officers from placing a knee on a suspect’s back or chest as a restraint technique during an arrest. Police officers and experts have criticized the law for criminalizing martial arts techniques used to safely subdue resisting subjects.

During the initial pandemic lockdown, courts ground to a halt before resuming operations in remote mode, facing a backlog of cases. All staff and judges only returned to work in person in May. That means criminals out on bail have rarely faced conviction and imprisonment.

In addition, prosecutors have been twice as likely to drop charges against suspects last year than the year before, the New York Post reported.

NYPD Arrests Down From 2019, Majority of Serious Crimes Up (theepochtimes.com)

All “anti-racism” and “social justice” writings and campaigns are predicated on the claim that certain races and sexes are being treated unfairly. The only evidence presented to support this assertion is statistical disparities between different census categories of races and sexes.

But statistical disparities don’t prove unfair treatment; they only prove unequal outcomes. Race advocates and feminists claim that statistical disparities reflect racist and sexist discrimination. This is a factual question, and so we must consider the evidence.

But before we address the relevant evidence, it’s important to note the revolutionary change in raising census race and sex categories to the utmost importance. Western Enlightenment culture, particularly in the English-speaking world, has always placed the individual as of prime importance. In this view, collectivities such as governments, churches, and business are meant to serve individuals and their interests, rather than individuals being measured by their service to collectivities. But at least collectivities do have some existence, while the census categories of race and sex to which we are asked to bow are empty labels. This is why racism and sexism are so obnoxious: they honor labels rather than actual human beings.

Is it Discrimination?

Race and sex activists claim that statistical disparities reflect racist and sexist discrimination. With no further proof of actual discrimination, activists claim that any membership or benefit that doesn’t see 13.4 percent representation of black Americans, 18.5 percent of Hispanics, and 50 percent of female Americans—their percentages of the general population—must have resulted from racial and sexist discrimination. For example, the fact that blacks make up 5 percent and Hispanics make up 5.8 percent of medical doctors means that blacks and Hispanics are statistically underrepresented, and that this result is the consequence of racist discrimination against blacks and Hispanics.

Similarly, females make up 15 percent of the American engineering workforce, and are thus statistically underrepresented. For race and feminist activists, these statistical underrepresentations are in and of themselves proof of discrimination. But do feminists then grant that the demographic dominance of females among students and graduates generally, with females making up close to 60 percent, is proof that the underrepresentation of males is the result of sexist, anti-male discrimination? As most students in the social sciences, humanities, education, and social work are females, apparently they prefer these fields to others, including engineering and some other STEM fields. In the most gender-egalitarian societies, such as Sweden, females make up the lowest percentages of STEM students in the world, presumably because they feel free to follow their preferences. Discrimination doesn’t come into it.

If statistical underrepresentation is the result of discrimination, so too must overrepresentation be a result of discrimination. Let us consider a few cases. National Football League players are 70 percent black (compared to their 13.4 percent of the general population), while 74.2 percent of National Basketball Association players are black, 16.9 white, 2.2 Latino, and 0.4 Asian. Are these statistical levels of participation the result of racial discrimination? Are the NFL and NBA actively discriminating against white, Latino, and Asian players? Rather, it appears that teams are competing for the best players so that they can succeed in their fields of competition. The selection is based on athletic merit, rather than race. No racial discrimination is evident.

Asian Americans, with 5.9 percent of the population, provide 17.1 percent of the medical doctors. This is a major statistical disparity. Does it result from racial discrimination against whites, blacks, and Hispanics? Who exactly is discriminating in favor of Asian Americans, people who themselves have long suffered discrimination? Is there any evidence of discrimination in favor of Asian Americans?

If racial discrimination does not explain the dominance of black athletes in professional sport, or the high level of Asian Americans in the medical field, what does explain these successes? We are warned by Ibram X. Kendi that “racial-group behavior is a figment of the racist’s imagination.” Yet, if we consult evidence rather than racialist ideology, it’s beyond dispute that family structure, community culture, and crime level do differ markedly among members of different racial categories.

What Might Be the Reasons for Different Outcomes?

We know that two-parent families, in comparison with one-parent families, are associated with children’s higher educational achievement and with a lower level of criminal activity and incarceration. Members of different census race categories differ in their family structure: the percentage of single-parent families among African Americans, in 2019, was 64 percent; among American Indians, 52 percent; among Hispanics, 42 percent; among whites, 24 percent; and among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, 15 percent.

Educational achievement correlates with family structure. In all standardized tests, Asian Americans achieve the highest scores, then, well behind, are whites, and well behind are Hispanics, and finally blacks. This reflects not only family structure, but also family and community culture. Asian American families have a high level of discipline and respect for parental authority, and their families and communities are notoriously committed to education.

Crime follows a similar pattern: According to 2019 FBI homicide data, “When the race of the offender was known, 55.9 percent were Black or African American, 41.1 percent were White, and 3.0 percent were of other races.” Among murder victims in 2019 for whom race was known, “54.7 percent were Black or African American, 42.3 percent were White, and 3.1 percent were of other races.”

This means the per-capita offending rate for African-Americans was around six times higher than that of whites. As a result, African Americans are highly overrepresented in prisons by demography, although not overrepresented in terms of criminal activity.

The pattern of economic success, as measured by income, is much the same. Median household income of Asian Americans was, in 2018, $87,243, of whites $67,937, Hispanics, $51,404, and blacks, $41,511. Race, however, does not seem to be a determinant, as Nigerian immigrants to the United States have an average income of $52,000, while 35 percent of Nigerian immigrant households earn $90,000.

All of these statistical disparities that indicate difficulties in the African American community have resulted after 50 years of legalized discrimination on behalf of African Americans. “Affirmative action” has made black Americans a preferred category of applicants, and has granted special conditions and benefits for black Americans. Now “diversity, equity, and inclusion” intensifies pro-black discrimination, and, incidentally, anti-white and anti-Asian discrimination. But the disparities remain, because even 50 years of racial discrimination in favor of black Americans has not addressed the social pathologies of their community.

Now, Ibram X. Kendi has warned us that “One either believes problems are rooted in groups of people, as a racist, or locates the roots of problems in power and policies, as an antiracist.” Thus, referring to different characteristics of family structure, community culture, and criminality in different race categories is, according to Kendi, racist. Kendi is advocating for black Americans, and rejects the evidence that blacks bear some responsibility for their levels of achievement and for social pathologies such as crime. The problem, according to Kendi, is “power and policies,” and in taking this stand, he’s robbing black Americans of their agency as human beings, of their capability to achieve and to seek their own ends. This is not “anti-racism,” it’s undermining the constituency Kendi claims to champion by no expectations of performance.

Kendi’s solution to “racism” and alleged discrimination is to increase the preferences and benefits for blacks, in perpetuity: “The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.” Kendi aims to disaggregate rewards from performance, so that his favored racial category gets the rewards irrespective of performance. This is not anti-racism; it’s reverse racism, as well as the negation of achievement and merit, and the advancement of mediocrity in all of our fields of knowledge and service.

A man who was charged with attempted murder after allegedly firing shots at Minneapolis officers amid George Floyd protests last year was acquitted of all counts.

Jaleel Stallings, 29, of St. Paul, Minnesota, argued via lawyers that he acted in self-defense and fired three shots after being struck by rubber bullets, believing that he was being attacked by civilians, not police.

Lawyers for the man said Stallings surrendered after realizing he was firing at police. No officers were injured, according to court documents.

Stallings was facing two counts of second-degree attempted murder, assault, and other charges.

Video footage and court documents said that the officers approached Stallings in an unmarked white van, and testimony from one of the officers said they did not identify themselves as police and didn’t warn Stallings if he didn’t comply, according to KARE.

The documents said that Stallings “believed white supremacists (or, perhaps, other non-law enforcement individuals) were firing upon him.”

A news release at the time released by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office that Stallings “quickly ran away while officers began searching for him” after the incident.

In court, the officers testified that they believed Stallings was a rioter and felt the use of force was necessary because they believed him to be armed.

But a judge found that two officers violated Stallings’ Fourth Amendment rights during the arrest and that their actions were unreasonable.

“Officer Stetson and Sergeant Bittell allowed their anger and/or fear to overtake their faculties and they beat Mr. Stallings for nearly 30 seconds before attempting to place him in handcuffs,“ Judge William Koch wrote. “The video evidence does not support their testimony Mr. Stallings was resisting arrest in any way, instead he surrendered to their authority.”

Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo issued a statement saying there is an active investigation into the matter.

“I’m aware of the recent decision by the honorable Judge Koch who as a part of his decision noted context is important, and that the officers had just been through four days of rioting, looting, arson and the burning of the Third Precinct. Peaceful protest sometimes quickly escalated to violence,” said Arradondo. “We respect the judicial process as well as the internal investigatory process which is currently active. It is for that reason I will not be commenting further at this time.”

During last year’s riots in Minneapolis, tens of millions of dollars in damage was reportedly wrought by rioters, arsons, and looters. More than 1,500 businesses were damaged or destroyed in the riots that were sparked by the death of Floyd.

Man Who Fired Shots at Minneapolis Officers During George Floyd Riots Is Acquitted (theepochtimes.com)

Patriots are mobilizing all over the country to defeat Joe Biden and reverse his failed policies. As America’s Sheriff, I’m supporting Create Change Now’s nationwide effort to stop the oncoming socialism train in its tracks by educating, motivating, and mobilizing American conservative patriots. There’s too much at stake in 2022 and beyond for us to leave anything to chance. The professional progressive left spends millions of dollars organizing, training, and mobilizing their socialist foot soldiers, and we must beat them at their own game. I’m proud to support Create Change Now as I travel the country firing up American patriots. So join me by making your immediate, direct investment of $25, $50, $100, or even $1,000 toward their work today! The integrity of our elections is in question. Radical leftist politicians are loosening reasonable voter protections, and unaccountable, unelected bureaucrats are changing the rules of elections while voters are casting ballots. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have blown open the gates at our Southern Border as waves of unvetted illegal aliens stream into our country. And Joe Biden’s failed withdrawal from Afghanistan further destabilizes the Middle East and sends a poor message to our allies while emboldening our enemies. A little more than a week before the 20th Anniversary of the horrific terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. All while far-left politicians are demoralizing and defunding law enforcement in Congress and State Capitols across the nation. Failed progressive “leadership” is an absolute nightmare! Create Change Now is slamming the brakes on the far-left’s radical agenda by empowering and equipping patriots like you and me with the tools to fight and win. The radical left has an army of Saul Alinsky-inspired professional activists who mobilize voters in their communities. All too often, that organizational capacity gives them an edge over patriots like you and me. While we don’t have an army of paid, professional agitators to get out the votes of the Silent Majority, we do have an influential organization called Create Change Now that’s working overtime to stem the tide of progressivism on our shores. To save the greatest nation in the history of mankind from the clutches of radical progressives, we must organize millions of patriots and stop the left at the ballot box. I support Create Change Now’s mission, and I hope you’ll join me with your generous investment of $25, $50, $100, or even $1,000. Anything you can give would be a shot in the arm for Create Change Now’s mission to train, organize, and mobilize millions of patriots and stop socialism in its tracks. You and I have a lot of work to do between now and November 2022, and it starts with supporting my friends at Create Change Now. Join me by supporting Create Change Now before Joe Biden and the radical left drives our country off the cliff! Thank you. In Liberty, Sheriff David Clarke, Jr. American Patriot FIGHT THE RADICAL LEFT

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T

he Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a guide last week for “Inclusive Communication,” cautioning against using words like prisoner, smoker, illegal immigrant, disabled or homeless, which the agency says could imply blame or stigma.

The guide’s opening line says, “We must confront the systems and policies that have resulted in the generational injustice that has given rise to health inequities.” The CDC is now about fighting injustice, not disease.

The agency says instead of gender-specific pronouns like him or her, use “they,” even when referring to one person. And talk about “parents” or “expectant parents” instead of mothers or fathers.

After making the hundreds of language changes the CDC recommends, who has time to defeat COVID-19?

The CDC’s got mission confusion. With parts of the U.S. considering more COVID lockdowns, Americans don’t need language lessons on political correctness. They need scientific information on how to reduce the risk of being infected by this virus indoors. That’s key to reopening workplaces and returning to normal.

Numerous new technologies are said to destroy airborne viruses, including ionization, dry hydrogen peroxide, far UV light and others. But school administrators and office building managers don’t have a clue which ones actually work. They’re flying blind.

The CDC’s thousands of scientists could provide guidance. Not that they should endorse specific brands, but they can assess competing technologies. The CDC flatly refuses. Instead, it cautions against using them because they lack “an established body of peer-reviewed evidence.”

What planet is the CDC on? Peer-reviewed evidence can take years. Here’s the process: An academic journal sends a submitted article to scientists around the world for review and suggested changes. Once that input is received and the article is approved, the wait goes on because many of these journals only publish four times a year.

Glacial slowness doesn’t work in a pandemic. That’s why former President Donald Trump designed Operation Warp Speed for vaccines. The CDC’s timetable isn’t warp speed. It’s warped. The CDC’s tacit premise that yesterday’s technology is good enough will doom us to failure.

Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told the Washington Post last week that the CDC has the wrong mentality to respond to a crisis. “Their mind set is we should polish it, vet it, peer-review it.”

The result is the CDC offering 50-year-old information: Open windows, space desks apart and use HEPA filters where possible. HEPA filters were devised for gas masks during World War II, and commercialized for buildings in the 1950s.

Tried and true methods are not necessarily wrong. But the public deserves the latest science, too.

Eighteen months into the pandemic, giant employers like Apple and Amazon again are delaying reopening workplaces. They need help. Only 33% of U.S. office workers are back, according to Kastle Systems. New York City is far worse off, with only 22% back. That kills retail stores, coffee shops and restaurants that serve workers.

If it were possible to get back to normal without technological breakthroughs, it would have happened already. Eric Adams, the city’s likely next mayor, needs scientific information on how to reduce aerosolized COVID-19 virus in transportation hubs, public buildings, offices and schools.

Citing the importance of speed in a pandemic, Gottlieb has been urging the FDA to establish a fast-track way of determining what works and what doesn’t. The CDC should be doing the same using its own scientists.

As for schools, the medical journal Lancet’s COVID task force has chastised the CDC for focusing on masking and social distancing instead of air quality.

A CDC study of 169 Georgia K-5 schools found COVID cases were reduced more by improving air quality than any other intervention. Mandating masks for students produced no statistically significant improvement.

A Kaiser Health News headline in June read: “More than 100 Missouri Schools Have Bought ‘Often Unproven’ Air Cleaning Technology.” The words “often unproven” come from CDC guidance. If school districts are rushing in desperation to buy equipment without enough information, blame the CDC, not the school administrators.

A spokesperson for the company that sold ionization equipment to Missouri schools explained that peer-reviewed research on its equipment doesn’t exist yet. That is why CDC scientists should get to work assessing new technologies themselves instead of writing speech manuals.

If the CDC wants to be politically correct, it can call its new air quality guidance “Indoor Environmentalism.” That almost sounds green.

CDC’s Mission Confusion :: Right & Free (rightandfree.com)

Fifty-eight people have been shot in Chicago so far on Labor Day weekend, including seven children.

Five were killed. Among the victims was a 4-year-old child.

The shooting numbers, from police reports, are from Friday evening to early Monday.

The young boy was struck twice in the head by shots that were fired from outdoors and went through the window of the residence he was in the 6500 block of South Ellis Avenue, according to the Chicago Police Department.

After the shooting, which happened just before 9 p.m., the boy was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.

He was later pronounced dead.

No one was in custody for the murder.

Two people were taken into custody for two other shootings, with a person of interest also apprehended in another.

Chicago officers have a persistent problem capturing people who shoot or kill others, an issue they’ve said stems from community members being unwilling to come forward to provide information about the crimes. Officials say most of the shootings are perpetrated by repeat offenders.

The shootings continued into the early hours of Saturday, including shots coming from an unknown location and striking five people who were part of a large group in the 1400 block of South Tripp Avenue. All five survived and were rushed to area hospitals.

In another shooting, around 9 p.m. on Saturday, a male physically attacked and then opened fire on a bus driver.

The suspect was arrested shortly after the incident occurred. The driver, a man, was transported to Northwestern Hospital in serious condition.

On Sunday, a number of shootings took place, during which two people were hit with bullets at a bus stop in the 3400 block of West Chicago Avenue.

Four shootings were reported through 6:30 a.m. on Labor Day.

Overall, between Friday evening and Monday morning, there were 45 shootings and 58 victims.

58 Shot, Including 7 Children, in Chicago on Labor Day Weekend (theepochtimes.com)

Or what I call, “The True White Supremacists” [US Patriot]

For years now, the left has demonized President Donald Trump as a right-wing authoritarian who’s dragging America down into a dark pit of tyranny and oppression. Democrats and the media continue to push this narrative, even with him out of office. Yet, Trump champions free-market enterprise and individual liberty—in other words, freedom, the opposite of authoritarianism. In reality, the true authoritarian threat to America comes from the left.

The great irony is that so many on the left used their argument that Trump is an authoritarian to justify acting as authoritarians themselves. For starters, look at the mainstream media.

For years, the media was biased, slanting its coverage in favor of Democrats and left-wing positions. But at least journalists were doing their basic jobs of reporting the news. Today, however, they’re openly partisan liberals with press credentials.

The political rise of Trump caused members of the media to see themselves as the guardians of democracy, protecting us all from the predations of Trump the dictator. Because Trump was so terrible and the stakes were so high, journalists believed their job was to advocate a cause, not to report the news.

As a result, the media has published a torrent of misleading if not outright false stories about Republicans and conservatives, deceiving the public in order to paint the right as evil. This is a classic authoritarian tactic: pushing misinformation to undermine and demonize one’s political opponents.

Of course, the media isn’t alone. Corporations are now reflecting the whims of the woke mob, adopting causes such as Black Lives Matter and the left’s push to federalize elections. Corporate executives are imposing a far-left ideology not because they believe in critical race theory or universal mail-in voting, but because they’re cowardly and succumbing to the pressure and bullying from the mob. Here is another example of leftists overtaking a key institution.

This leftist onslaught is compounded by Big Tech, which is clearly waging a war to silence conservatives and snuff out dissent. Indeed, the oligarchs running the likes of Google, Twitter, and Facebook claim they’re merely targeting misinformation, but this has consistently manifested as a political witch hunt against one side. “Misinformation” is a catch-all phrase that allows the titans of tech to censor anything they don’t like in a way that doesn’t look like blatant suppression. Of course, much of this began in 2016 with Donald Trump’s tweeting.

To make matters worse, Democrats are effectively pressuring social media companies to ramp up the censoring of this right-wing material, saying they’ll remove Big Tech’s liability protections if Silicon Valley doesn’t take down “misinformation.” This is authoritarianism in the most classic sense: the government using its power to violate individual rights.

The list of left-wing authoritarianism threatening American freedom is long and unending, from COVID-19 lockdowns run amok to the growing imposition of cradle-to-grave socialist government. I discuss it all with Ben Shapiro on this week’s episode of my podcast, “Newt’s World.” Shapiro, the editor in chief of the Daily Wire and host of “The Ben Shapiro Show,” just wrote an important book on this topic titled, “The Authoritarian Moment: How the Left Weaponized America’s Institutions Against Dissent.”

As Shapiro explains, the left, led by the woke mob, specializes in bullying to get what it wants. One recent example is Major League Baseball moving its annual All-Star Game from Georgia to Colorado because of the former’s voting law, which sparked leftist outrage and calls to boycott the state. Yet, these same leftists have the audacity to cry victim and claim they’re the victims of right-wing bulling.

To the left, everything is both personal and political. There’s no compromise, no middle ground. That’s why Parler gets banned and teachers get fired for opposing critical race theory. Leftists want submission and conformity, not debate. They want diversity of appearance but not diversity of thought. In short, the left seeks raw power to impose a radical, divisive vision on the country.

There are certainly authoritarians on the right, but they live in obscurity, on the fringe, without any institutional control. But the authoritarians on the left control our society’s most powerful institutions—and they’re ascendant in the Democratic Party. They are the authoritarians truly threatening America.

From Gingrich360.com.

The Real Authoritarians Threatening America (theepochtimes.com)

In his eloquent and prophetic January 1989 farewell address to the nation (pdf), President Ronald Reagan gave us a somber warning, saying, “If we forget what we did, we won’t know who we are. I’m warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in the erosion of the American spirit.”

Thirty-two years later, those words have become sadly true. With the continued erosion of the teaching of history and civics in our nation’s schools and universities, Americans have become increasingly ignorant of our nation’s founding principles. Entire generations now have no understanding of how our government works, what powers it rightly has, or how it can justly use those powers. They are also woefully ignorant of the sacrifices made to preserve our history and freedoms.

And, if history is taught, it is a version that attacks and distorts our American memory, focusing only on America’s failings instead of its triumphs. Our children have been told to mistrust the motives of our nation’s Founding Fathers, seeing them as villains instead of heroes. Instead of gratitude for their courage and sacrifice, they now have disdain for them.

The result is the American crisis in which we presently find ourselves. We are a nation that lacks gratitude, for our history, our culture, and for each other. A huge number of our fellow Americans not only despise the foundational values of our culture, they even despise the idea of extending basic civility toward others, regardless of their views; thus, the poisonous well that is American discourse in 2021.

As Reagan warned us, our nation is in great peril because we have forgotten what we have done, and we have no idea of who we are.

Nevertheless, those who have presented distorted and historically inaccurate depictions of our nation’s history, such as the “1619 Project” and its manifestations, are only escalating their efforts to divide America, rather than unite our nation around shared principles and purpose. Yes, America is not perfect, and we have engaged in some egregious things—particularly the sins of racism and slavery—but we can still recognize our imperfections while celebrating the legacy bequeathed to us by those who founded our nation.

As Benjamin Myers, the former poet laureate of the State of Oklahoma and a professor at Oklahoma Baptist University wrote, “There is a battle in the Western world over the continuation of Western civilization, a battle between those who would remember because they understand that memory sustains civilization and those who would forget for the very same reason. One side offers continuity based on a rich cultural inheritance. The other side offers capitulation into darkness and barbarism.”

But there’s hope that we can still turn away from the dark view of our past that is presently being promoted and taught, and back toward the light that illuminates the entire truth about America—the good and the bad—and does so in a balanced and truthful manner.

The genesis of this new effort started with the release of the “1776 Project” last year by the Trump administration. Now, Hillsdale College, which spearheaded this effort, is releasing the 1776 Curriculum, a package of American history and civics materials for K-12 students.

Katherine O’Toole, Hillsdale’s assistant provost for K-12 education says, “Our curriculum was created by teachers and professors—not activists, not journalists, not bureaucrats. It comes from years of studying America, its history, and its founding principles, not some slap-dash journalistic scheme to achieve a partisan political end through students. It is a truly American education.”

This is what our children should be being taught. This history, if properly taught, will likely result in a country that is grateful for our freedom, for the sacrifices made to preserve that freedom, and for our fellow citizens—treating all with dignity and respect.

Hillsdale President Larry Arnn perhaps put it best when he said last year, “To present the young people with a full and honest account of our nation’s history is to invest them with the spirit of freedom. … Depriving the young of the spirit of freedom will deprive us all of our country. It could deprive us, finally, of our humanity itself. This cannot be allowed to continue. It must be stopped.”

I could not agree more. Let’s restore our appreciation for our freedom, humanity, and our nation by once again teaching future generations the true history of America. The 1776 Curriculum is a critical first step in such a restoration.

Teaching True American History (theepochtimes.com)

Three San Diego parents have teamed up with a watchdog group to sue the State of California over its ethnic studies program for allegedly violating their constitutional right to freedom of religion.

The Californians for Equal Rights Foundation (CFER) and parents Eric Gonzales, Steve Houbeck, and Jose Velazquez filed a lawsuit on Sept. 3 against the state government and its agencies the State Board of Education and the State Department of Education. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond was also named in the suit.

CFER and the co-plaintiff parents allege that prayers to Aztec and Ashe gods in the state-approved Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC) violate the California Constitution’s free exercise of religion and no government aid clauses.

In a statement, Velazquez suggested that the ESMC favors Aztec and Ashe gods over other religions and beliefs.

“While we recognize the values of teaching history, cultures and world religions in our schools, we firmly oppose biased instruction materials and methods that favor any particular belief, religion or religious faction,” Velazquez said.

“As a Latino American, I want our diverse cultures and history to be celebrated without elevating any religious activity. The religious prayers in ESMC are by no means representative of our proud Hispanic heritage,” he said.

“Both the U.S. and California Supreme Courts have made absolutely clear that prayer in public schools is prohibited,” the lawsuit states (pdf).

Neither California Attorney General Rob Bonta, his office, nor Thurmond responded to inquiries on Friday.

‘A Race-Based Lens’

CFER President Frank Xu criticized the ethnic studies program in a media release.

“The ESMC’s unequivocal promotion of five Aztec gods and the Yoruba religion through repetitive chanting and affirmation of their symbolic principles constitutes an unlawful government preference toward a particular religious practice,” Xu said.

“This public endorsement of the Aztec and Yoruba religions fundamentally erodes equal education rights and irresponsibly glorifies anthropomorphic, male deities whose religious rituals involved gruesome human sacrifice and human dismemberment.”

Critical Race Theory

Xu said these alleged violations are “only the tip of the iceberg” of what’s wrong with the ESMC program which claims is a “trojan horse” being used to usher critical race theory (CRT) into California classrooms.

CFER states that the ESMC is deeply rooted in CRT and critical pedagogy “with a race-based lens and an oppressor-victim dichotomy.”

The organization claims the Aztec Prayer, titled “In Lak Ech Affirmation,” and the Ashe Prayer component “are two glaring examples of ESMC’s unconstitutional and CRT-based nature” and that “the prayers demonstrate ESMC’s politicized championing of critical consciousness, social justice, transformative resistance, liberation and anti-colonial movements in the teaching of ethnic studies.”

The California State Board of Education approved the final ESMC in March, and California lawmakers have proposed legislation Assembly Bill 101 (AB 101) to make the ESMC mandatory for all students as a requirement for high school graduation.

Over the summer months parents have packed many school board meetings across the country to protest CRT, which is based on neo-Marxist principles. Karl Marx focused on class struggles between the “bourgeois” and the “proletariat,” while CRT hinges on the struggle between white “oppressors” and “oppressed” other races.

According to the Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, CRT originally developed from critical legal studies, which formed in the 1970s. As described in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, critical theories are largely rooted in ideas inspired by Marxism, with stated objectives such as explaining “what is wrong with current social reality” and providing “achievable practical goals for social transformation.”

Freedom of Religion

CFER and the other plaintiffs are represented by a group of San Diego lawyers affiliated with the Thomas More Society, a national public interest law firm dedicated to safeguarding freedom of speech, traditional family values and parental rights.

“Our clients have both a religious and civic objection to the Aztec prayer, and they do not want their children chanting it, being asked or pressured to do so, or risking ostracism if they refuse,” attorney Paul Jonna stated in the CFER media release.

“Under both the California and United States Constitutions, they have the right to expect all branches of the state government, including the State Board of Education and the Department of Education, to respect this choice. Furthermore, all Californians have the right to expect that tax-supported public schools will not aid or promote this religion,” Jonna said.

The lawsuit also points out the State Board of Education appointed R. Tolteka Cuauhtin, one of the authors of “Rethinking Ethnic Studies,” to chair the committee formed to develop an ethnic studies model curriculum.

“Cuauhtin demonstrates an animus towards Christianity and Catholicism” and claims in his book that Christians committed “theocide” or killed the gods of indigenous tribes, the lawsuit alleges.

“On information and belief, Mr. Cuauhtin’s response to this alleged ‘theocide’ is to include in the ethnic studies curriculum various prayers that are based on indigenous religious principles,” the lawsuit states.

Rituals performed by the Aztecs in relation to their gods were “gruesome and horrific, involving human sacrifice, cutting out human hearts, flaying the sacrificed victims and wearing the skin, sacrificing war prisoners, and other inhuman acts and ceremony,” the lawsuit states.

“Any form of prayer and glorification of these beings in whose name horrible atrocities were performed is repulsive to the plaintiffs and to any reasonably informed observer.”

The Aztec Prayer is intended to involve all students in the classroom, “forcing students to either participate in the prayer or elect not to participate and face the social implications of declining to participate, which represents a violation of such students’ rights to the free exercise of religion under the California constitution,” according to the lawsuit.

“Printing and disseminating the prayer also constitutes an improper government aid of religion in violation of the California constitution,” it states.

The lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego.

San Diego Parents Sue State Over Aztec, Ashe Prayers in Curriculum (theepochtimes.com)

A teacher who resigned her position at Rancho San Juan High School in Salinas, California, and moved to Florida this year after she said she was threatened and bullied on social media for opposing critical race theory (CRT) claims the school board has refused to read her public comments at meetings.

Kali Fontanilla told The Epoch Times that the Salinas Union High School District (SUHSD) hasn’t read her letter aloud during public comments since she submitted it to the board on July 13.

The letter, obtained by The Epoch Times, criticizes school board president Phillip Tabera, who attacked opponents of CRT on social media after a raucous June 22 board meeting at which he was called a racist.

“As a reaction to the many parents that spoke up and my own voice as a black teacher in the district, your board President, Phillip Tabera, stated publicly on Facebook the day after the meeting on June 23rd that the ‘anti people of color came out last night,’” Fontanilla wrote.

“I am disgusted and insulted that he would say such derogatory words about those that were brave enough to speak up about this indoctrination happening in the classroom,” she wrote. “Some of those that spoke up were people of color, including myself. To be told that we are ‘anti people of color’ because we are against the district forcing all of our students to receive lessons that are racist and divisive is disgraceful.”

Neither Tabera nor SUHSD Supt. Dan Burns have responded to inquiries about Fontanilla’s letter.

Meanwhile, information obtained through the Public Records Act indicates SUHSD dismissed “the actions and public comments” of parents opposed to CRT and ethnic studies at its June 22 board meeting as “part of a national, coordinated action inspired by right-wing, conservative media and political institutions.” The memo included links to “Politico” and the “Republican Study Committee.”

SUHSD then listed “Our Values,” with links to its resolutions on Black Lives Matter, civic literacy and engagement, DACA legislation, among others.

California lawmakers have proposed Assembly Bill 101 (AB 101) would make the state’s Ethnic Studies Modified Curriculum (ESMC) a graduation requirement for all high schools students. SUHSD already implemented its own ethnic studies program for all ninth-grade students ahead of the proposed state legislation.

Fontanilla said Tabera “should be removed from his position immediately for discrimination and racism.”

She also blasted Burns for denying that the ethnic studies curriculum is based on CRT.

“I’ve also seen the way the district superintendent has denied that critical race theory is being taught in our schools to the press. This is a complete lie! He is not being transparent to the public and the parents who have kids in our schools,” Fontanilla wrote.

“Some of the words and concepts included in lessons taught to students are: critical whiteness studies, hegemony, white privilege, white fragility, white silence, white denial, the 4 I’s of oppression, internalized racism, anti-capitalism, counter-genocide, anti-heterosexism, anti-patriarchy, people of color power, decolonization,” she wrote in the letter.

“To deny that critical race theory is inserted into these lessons is completely dishonest!” she wrote.

Fontanilla said ethnic studies is not a history lesson or study of different cultures, but rather “pure divisive and racist brainwashing.”

“I never taught my students that they were victims or oppressed. I never told my white students that they are privileged and oppressors. I told all my students that they were strong, resilient, intelligent, and can do anything if they put their minds to it, despite their circumstances,” she wrote.

Students are a “captive audience” who should not be forced to study CRT in order to graduate, especially without their parents’ knowledge or consent, she said.

Burns said at the school board’s Aug. 10 meeting that SUHSD would no longer hear public comments about CRT or ethnic studies, after controversy erupted over those two issues at meetings this summer.

He announced that “without desiring to change the current course pathway of ethnic studies as a requirement” the school board “will not take public comments on these two topics in the future until there’s a future debate about this again. We’ve heard concerns from both sides. We appreciate the support of both sides in the debate and in the future, we’ll announce if we’re going to have this conversation further.”

But, at the school board’s Aug. 24 meeting, dozens of students and parents spoke in favor of CRT and ethnic studies after Salinas High School students were accused of posting crude photos of a black baby doll online on an Instagram account.

CRT opponent Kelly Schenkoske told The Epoch Times that looking back on the Aug. 10 meeting, Burns’s statement banning public comments on CRT and ethnic studies seems “incredibly strange” considering times limits were not enforced on those who spoke in favor of CRT and ethnic studies two weeks later.

She suggested SUHSD might be violating the Brown Act, which requires meetings to include a general comment period where the public is allowed to comment on anything of interest that is under the jurisdiction of a local government body.

California School District Blocks Public Comments on CRT at Board Meetings (theepochtimes.com)

A reconfigured global elite are shaping up around a new kind of vision for transforming our world. They’ve called their neo-socialist and multilateral vision the Green New Deal.

Joe Biden’s White House team are core players in this vision, as they seek to reinvent Roosevelt’s original 1930s New Deal into a contemporary twenty-first century Democratic Party platform.

But there are also other important players pushing this neo-socialist dream.

One has been the European Union’s large and well-organised green lobby. Another has been Klaus Schwab (economist and founder of the World Economic Forum), who has used Davos to push his vision of a “Great Reset” of the global economy.

Those getting on board with the Green New Deal are the usual advocates of state interventionism, big government, and multilateral globalism. But surprisingly this new elite is a mix of left-liberals, socialists, Greens, bureaucrats, and university researchers/experts. More surprising is that sections of the business elite are also climbing on board what they believe will be a gravy train.

It appears business is motivated by two factors. First, they are afraid of activist pressure. Second, their marketing departments are telling them there are great public relations kudos to be had in signing up to the now fashionable narratives of saving victims, saving the planet, and distancing themselves from left-leaning stereotypes of greedy uncaring capitalists.

So now we have woke businesses greenwashing their brands plus learning to make profits out of the Green New Deal’s neo-socialist strategy to tear up our old infrastructure and replace them with new ones at great expense to the taxpayer. Who knew socialism could be profitable.

But one of the most fascinating features of this trend is how enthralled legacy media journalists are with the green narratives underpinning this emergent global elite.

Journalists who would normally ask questions about self-interest, crooked narratives, and obvious propaganda now meekly buy into the trendy narratives. Indeed journalists are now being told that applying the journalistic principle of balance is a bad thing when reporting on issues like climate change.

Instead, journalists are being taught that it is fine to advocate for green climate change messages. We even have global media like the BBC instructing their journalists not to be balanced on climate change.

In a climate when green activism is now normalised in media newsrooms, it is hardly surprising that we see journalists treating green experts as media darlings, and as a result, those same green experts are no longer challenged by probing journalistic questions.

Instead, what emerges is a de facto partnership between the media, climate change scientists, and activists wherein journalists start to construct pro-green (propaganda-like) stories.

One way of explaining this partnership is to see it as part of the phenomenon of an emergent global elite for whom left-wing “progressivism” has become a kind of secularised religion, built around saving the many kinds of victims we apparently have today.

These victims can be those conventionally beloved by socialists—the poor. They can also be the new victims beloved by identity politics—LGBTQI, Indigenous or ethnic minorities. Or victims beloved by feminists—women persecuted by the patriarchy. Or the victims can now even be non-human—whales, polar bears, coral reefs, nature, or the planet.

What binds all these victims is that they need to be saved by a self-selecting elite of people who have married elements of the narratives of left-liberalism and neo-Marxism.

This elite first emerged in the United States and then spread to the rest of the western world. And now, like a virus, it is also spreading to places like the European Union (EU).

It is an elite who have proven highly susceptible to catching the green virus. Significantly, enormous progress has been made in capturing western universities, the global media, the education system, and the many bureaucracies across the Anglo world and EU.

The result has been the growth of an alliance between left-liberal, progressive politicians; academics; journalists; and bureaucrats.

Once the universities were captured by this progressive-left, universities were used to teach a new “way of seeing” and a “new way of speaking about” the world.

Thus, universities become the source of what is termed ‘woke’ and green narratives; while the media and internet are used to disseminate their tales. In addition, as universities produced more of these progressive and Green “experts,” journalists rely on them to justify their own work—creating an ongoing cycle.

Importantly, since universities teach journalism, public relations and marketing the communication industries are filled with those taught the woke discourses beloved by the globalised elite.

Not surprisingly, the resultant spread of progressivism within the communications industry means progressives are also becoming well placed—and more skilled—at spreading their own ideologies, while shutting down opposing views.

Indeed the Left are so successful that much of the world in the Biden era is starting to feel a bit like a mixture of the hard authoritarianism of George Orwell’s 1984 and the soft authoritarianism of Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World.”

The proliferation of both discourse around the Green New Deal, and the expanding power of a medical autocracy calling the shots over COVID-19, are two indicators of the way the global elite are becoming successful at promoting only their views while undercutting all others.

The universities have also given birth to “experts” who believe that secular science can fix everything thereby removing the need for religion or traditional knowledge.

At a deeper level, German existential philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche saw this rot beginning when Western thinkers “killed God” in the 19th century, and from that wrong turn has evolved the secularist, social engineers of today.

But at a more institutional level, I think American conservative philosopher Paul Gottfried was correct that the problem lies in today’s overly interventionist governments imposing social therapy measures upon their citizens.

His argument was that this began during the post-second World War era in the United States—specifically with Paul Lazarsfeld’s Bureau of Applied Social Research at Columbia University in the 1940s to 1950—and in the growth of the 1960s U.S. government-led social engineering policies (for example, affirmative action new migration laws).

And today, we see the modern manifestation of such a long-running trend in state-run welfare systems, the Green New Deal, and the COVID-19 medical autocracy.

Significantly, Lazarsfeld’s behavioural science was built on the neo-Marxist Frankfurt School’s idea of an “Authoritarian Personality”—a personality type that is submissive and obedient to authority—as well as the notion that experts should learn to manage and control the population better (using psychology, behavioural sciences, public opinion research, public relations, and spin-doctoring). This, in turn, can help stop the re-emergence of “bad ideas” like nationalism or traditionalism.

Lazarsfeld founded an American tradition of academic thinking about how the media could be used to promote “good” (progressive) ideas and shut down “bad” ideas.

Lazarsfeld’s centre employed many Frankfurt School members and so opened the door to the merging of left-liberal and neo-Marxist ideas, which has further contributed to the growth of the progressive elite.

With Biden in office, this elite now has a great base to work from to disseminate their preferred ideological narratives including the virtues of big government, green activism, and multilateral interventionism to save its so-called “victims.”

And because the 2000 anti-Trump crusade helped cement the alliance between left-leaning politicians, activists, mainstream liberal media journalists, U.S.-owned tech giants; and the university sector, we can now expect to see a period of intensified dissemination of “progressive” narratives plus simultaneous attempts at discourse closure aimed at closing-down and disrupting narratives that the Left loves to hate.

Global Elite Latches Onto Neo-Socialist Vision: The Green New Deal (theepochtimes.com)

A great number of people were shocked by the result of the 2020 presidential election, but Curtis Bowers (former Republican member of the House of Representatives) might not have been. Although he never described himself as a prophet, he indeed foresaw in 2015, or earlier, that 2016 would be the last time in his lifetime to see a conservative president elected. In other words, he worried that the political environment in the United States would continue to deteriorate or radicalize unless a miracle were to happen.

Bowers and his interviewees in the documentary “AGENDA 2: Masters of Deceit“ talked about possible electoral manipulation and fraud, but that was not the main factor that led him to make such a judgment about the future of America’s political arena. The basis for his conclusion was simply demographic trends.

According to Bowers’ study, in 1980, about 40 percent of the U.S. population held conservative political views, 50 percent were undecided, and only 10 percent were liberal. The trend was that both the conservative and undecided populations were shrinking. In 2012, the conservative dropped to 30 percent, while the liberal grew to 30 percent, making the two evenly matched. By 2036, the conservative and undecided are projected to fall further to 10 percent and 20 percent respectively, while the liberal might grow to 70 percent accordingly.

For conservatives, if Bowers’ analysis and predictions are accurate, it will indicate the United States is becoming a socialist or communist country. Could there be anything more frightening than that?

Bowers himself was not willing to accept this too. However, he was aware that American conservatives must force themselves to rationally recognize this dire situation and act vigorously to salvage it, rather than simply pinning their hopes for a turnaround on the next election.

What has caused this trend in the proportion of political leanings? The direct answer from Bowers is the left is capturing 85 percent of young Americans each year. They achieved this not because they had magic powers. Rather, they had a long-standing agenda, a communist agenda, to undermine, infiltrate and control the family, the church, the state, the media, the schools, and many more institutions that influence the worldview of the youth.

In the “Communist Manifesto,” Karl Marx called on his followers to destroy all traditional political systems, economic models, religious beliefs, moral values, family structures, and so on. And these did prevail in the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China, North Korea, and some other countries.

At the end of the Cold War, many Americans once believed they had defeated or even eliminated communism. Bowers was one of them. But the first-hand experience in 1992 changed his view. He attended a communist strategy meeting at the campus of the University of California, Berkley. He was shocked to learn that the communists were still or had always been seriously planning to change America to be more in line with their views. What surprised him more was the rapidity with which the Communists were achieving their goals. This led him to drop his prior work and devote himself to researching and exposing the Communist destruction in the United States.

In his first award-winning documentary “AGENDA: Grinding America Down,” Bowers uses a wealth of facts and data to demonstrate that communism is not dead or gone, but has deliberately, yet unwittingly, orchestrated and driven changes in American values over the past decades.

The most convincing witnesses were the communists themselves. In 1958, W. Cleon Skousen listed 45 goals of the communists to infiltrate and convert the United States, in his book “The Naked Communist.” These 45 goals cover everything from influencing specific policies to corrupting American culture. Examples include capturing one or both of America’s political parties; controlling key positions in radio, TV, and pictures; presenting homosexuality, degeneracy, and promiscuity as normal and healthy; replacing revealed religion with social religion; discrediting the American founding fathers; encouraging easy divorce, and more. Please watch the documentary for details.

The sequel documentary “AGENDA 2: Masters of Deceit” explains the reasons why communism has not died out. In defiance of moral principles, the communists and those who were duped masterfully kept changing their names, coining new terms, and winning the cognitive war repeatedly like a duck to water. For example, in Fabian socialism, a denomination of communism, deception is their motto. Another branch, the Frankfurt School, boasted they could convince students that snow is black through distorted interpretations and truth subjectivism in education.

Bowers notes that no matter how catchy the slogans of the communists and the left are, they aim to establish big government and foster dependence on it. Julia Irish, a family therapist, gave “AGENDA 2: Masters of Deceit” five stars and commented, “Our children are being lost. We are well into creating a third generation of state dependents.” But Julia believes all people want self-esteem, so she doesn’t think young people will spontaneously and willingly rely on and support big government, instead, they have been simply indoctrinated to think that way. “The result is depression, anxiety, drug dependence, domestic abuse and poverty.”

Bowers’ remark that 2016 would be the last time in his life to see a conservative president elected may leave many in despair. It was like a lady in the audience crying sadly after a screening of the documentary “AGENDA.” The reason was that a male audience member affirmed Bowers’ research, declaring, “I am a professor at this college, I am a communist, and we will win because we are taking all of your children.”

Tanya Wright, an author for the Natural Homeschool, has a different feeling. “I don’t think this is a fear-mongering documentary,” Wright writes, “it was a desperate call to arms to those who have ears to hear.” I agree.

If Bowers were that pessimistic, he wouldn’t have his entire family committed to going around and presenting these documentaries. He clarified his genuine thought by quoting Sun Tzu, “If you know yourself, you will have a 50 percent chance to win the battle. If you know your enemy, you will have a 50 percent chance to win. But, if you know yourself AND your enemy, you will have a 100 percent chance to win.” Bowers hopes Americans rediscover their identity and values, understand the dangers they are in and who their enemies are, and then act quickly to defend themselves and finally win.

The change in the demographic ratio of conservatives, undecideds, and liberals in the United States is ongoing. In the documentary “AGENDA 2,” Star Parker suggests, “The only way you are going to reverse the trend is to begin to interject a biblical worldview back into the hearts and minds of our youth.” I agree, while it is easier said than done. People who believe in God must also consider the cunning and temptations of satan to walk their path steadily. In this regard, “The Specter of Communism” series from The Epoch Times illustrate it best. So my suggestion is to watch both Agenda documentaries and “The Specter of Communism” series as a collection.

The Terrifying Prophecy of Bowers and the Only Way to Stop It (theepochtimes.com)

• Gabriel Gipe, AP Government Teacher, Inderkum High School: “I have 180 days to turn them [students] into revolutionaries…Scare the f*ck out of them.”
• Gipe: “I’m probably as far left as you can go.”
• Gipe: “I post a calendar every week…I’ve had students show up for protests, community events, tabling, food distribution, all sorts of things…When they go, they take pictures, write up a reflection — that’s their extra credit.”
• Gipe: “So, they [students] take an ideology quiz and I put [the results] on the [classroom] wall. Every year, they get further and further left…I’m like, ‘These ideologies are considered extreme, right? Extreme times breed extreme ideologies.’ Right? There is a reason why Generation Z, these kids, are becoming further and further left.”
• Gipe: “I have an Antifa flag on my [classroom] wall and a student complained about that — he said it made him feel uncomfortable. Well, this [Antifa flag] is meant to make fascists feel uncomfortable, so if you feel uncomfortable, I don’t really know what to tell you. Maybe you shouldn’t be aligning with the values that this [Antifa flag] is antithetical to.”
• Gipe: “Like, why aren’t people just taking up arms? Like why can’t we, you know — take up arms against the state? We have historical examples of that happening, and them getting crushed and being martyrs for a cause and it’s like — okay well, it’s slow going because it takes a massive amount of organization.”
• Gipe: “I think that for [left-wing] movements in the United States, we need to be able to attack both [cultural and economic] fronts. Right? We need to create parallel structures of power because we cannot rely on the state…Consistently focusing on education and a change of cultural propaganda. We have to hit both fronts. We have to convince people that this is what we actually need.”
• Gipe: “There are three other teachers in my department that I did my credential program with — and they’re rad. They’re great people. They’re definitely on the same page.”
• Gipe: “Sacramento, as a city itself, is incredibly diverse. But we’re surrounded by a bunch of right-wing rednecks.”

[SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Aug. 31, 2021] Project Veritas released shocking new video today of California AP Government teacher, Gabriel Gipe, boasting about politically indoctrinating his students at Inderkum High School. 

Gipe said that his intention is to radicalize students into supporting Marxist ideas by using the public school system as an avenue to incentivize them to participate in fringe extracurricular events.

“I have 180 days to turn them [students] into revolutionaries…Scare the f*ck out of them,” Gipe said.

“I post a calendar every week…I’ve had students show up for protests, community events, tabling, food distribution, all sorts of things…When they go, they take pictures, write up a reflection — that’s their extra credit,” he said.

Gipe said he keeps track of his students’ political inclinations. He is also perplexed when a student expresses discomfort with the decorations in his public-school classroom.

“So, they take an ideology quiz and I put [the results] on the [classroom] wall. Every year, they get further and further left…I’m like, ‘These ideologies are considered extreme, right? Extreme times breed extreme ideologies.’ Right? There is a reason why Generation Z, these kids, are becoming further and further left,” he said.

“I have an Antifa flag on my [classroom] wall and a student complained about that — he said it made him feel uncomfortable. Well, this [Antifa flag] is meant to make fascists feel uncomfortable, so if you feel uncomfortable, I don’t really know what to tell you. Maybe you shouldn’t be aligning with the values that this [Antifa flag] is antithetical to.”

The public-school teacher went on to suggest that a viable solution for society’s problems is a violent overthrow of the U.S. Government.

“Like, why aren’t people just taking up arms? Like why can’t we, you know — take up arms against the state? We have historical examples of that happening, and them getting crushed and being martyrs for a cause and it’s like — okay well, it’s slow going because it takes a massive amount of organization,” Gipe said.

When asked about his views on the Chinese Communist Party, Gipe explained how lessons from China’s disastrous Cultural Revolution could be applied in the United States.

“You need a two-pronged system, which is exactly what Huey Newton and Fred Hampton [Black Panther Party] understood. You need propaganda of the deed — your economics — and cultural propaganda as well. You need to retrain the way people think. So, the Cultural Revolution in the 60s was fixing the problem that came about after the economic one,” he said.

“What can we do now to root out this culture that keeps perpetuating hyper-individualism, hyper-competitiveness, capitalist exploitation and consolidation of wealth…I do think that it’s important to understand that as an extension of an economic revolution, they [Chinese Communist Party] were changing the base, and then they went to change the superstructure. You cannot change one without the other. You can’t have cultural shifts without the economic shift, and vice versa,” he said.

“I think that for [left-wing] movements in the United States, we need to be able to attack both [cultural and economic] fronts. Right? We need to create parallel structures of power because we cannot rely on the state…Consistently focusing on education and a change of cultural propaganda. We have to hit both fronts. We have to convince people that this is what we actually need.”

Gipe admitted that he is not the only one in Inderkum High School’s faculty to hold these fringe beliefs.

“There are three other teachers in my department that I did my credential program with — and they’re rad. They’re great people. They’re definitely on the same page.”

Project Veritas encourages students and parents to contact VeritasTips@protonmail.com if they have evidence of political indoctrination and propaganda taking place in a classroom setting. 

BREAKING: Pro-Antifa High School Teacher in California Admits Communist Indoctrination of Students … ‘I Have 180 Days to Turn Them into Revolutionaries’ … Other Teachers ‘on the Same Page’ … ‘There is a Reason Why These Kids are Becoming Further Left’ | Project Veritas

Baitulmaal gives financial support to families of Palestinian terrorists

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) on Wednesday shared a tweet that advertised a fundraiser for an organization with ties to Hamas and the Taliban.

Tlaib, who has a long history of anti-Semitic rhetoric, retweeted a post from critical race theorist Khaled Beydoun that urged donations to Baitulmaal, a Texas-based nonprofit. Experts say Baitulmaal helps fundraise for Hamas and distributes aid to the “families of martyrs of the Palestinian people.” And the group’s leader, Mazen Mokhtar, has been accused of working with the Taliban and other terrorist groups.

The retweet isn’t the first time Tlaib expressed support for terrorists. Days after she became a congresswoman, the controversial Democrat hosted Abbas Hamideh, a pro-Hezbollah activist who has repeatedly compared Israelis to Nazis. She shared a post last year that included an anti-Semitic phrase frequently used by Palestinian terrorist groups that seek to destroy Israel. She subsequently unshared the post.

Baitulmaal works closely with Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, according to a 2020 analysis by the Middle East Forum. The group, which received $10,000 in emergency coronavirus funding last year, frequently partners with Unlimited Friends Association for Social Development, a Palestinian group that describes itself as a “a social, developmental, educational NGO.”

The Unlimited Friends Association works with Baitulmaal to hand out cash to the families of Palestinian terrorists, according to the Middle East Forum. These donations complement the Palestinian Authority’s formal “Pay to Slay” program, which has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to Palestinian terrorists. The Palestinian government this year paid $42,000 to the family of a Palestinian terrorist who stabbed two Israelis to death and wounded two more, including a two-year-old child.

The association, which lists Baitulmaal on its website’s partners and donors page, is openly hostile towards Israel. The group’s Facebook page contains references to “the filth of the most dirty Jews” and “Nazi Zionist jails.” The association also partners with Islamic Relief, a group with which the State Department cut ties this year because of “anti-Semitism exhibited repeatedly” by its leaders.

In 2004, federal agents in Connecticut investigated Mokhtar for running a website that “solicited funds for the Taliban and Chechen mujahideen.” Mokhtar was not convicted. Three years later, he was arrested on a multi-count indictment for filing false tax returns. The lead prosecutor was former New Jersey governor Chris Christie (R.).

Baitulmaal also partners with West Bank-based Hamas organizations. The organization hosted a 2008 fundraiser for the Yazour Medical Clinic in Nablus, an offshoot of Hamas. One Palestinian newspaper reports that Baitulmaal and the Hamas offshoot have been working together “for years.”

Anti-Semitic activist Linda Sarsour last year hosted a fundraiser for Baitulmaal that raised tens of thousands of dollars.

Tlaib and Baitulmaal did not respond to requests for comment.

Rashida Tlaib Promoted a Fundraiser for Group Tied to Hamas, Taliban (freebeacon.com)

The radical left is doing everything they can to destroy Black America:

• Scream “Black Lives Matter” while you burn down Black-owned businesses.
• Defund the police and make Black neighborhoods less safe.
• Use Critical Race Theory to convince Black kids that they will never succeed without a government handout.
• Increase the handouts, but nobody asks why?

Liberals want to keep Black America dependent on the government – it is the only way they will keep supporting liberal policies.

Help us fight back and save Black America from another century of lies!

CRT is the lynchpin in their plans to keep Black America down for generations. Their fight for CRT hurts the Black boys, and their push for gender equality hurts Black girls. Our fight against this poisonous doctrine cannot be more critical for the future of Black children in America.

“Woke” liberalism is destroying my community, and I have a plan to turn it around.

You can hear more about it here – when I was on Fox & Friends the other morning.

My name is Marc Little, and I am Executive Director of CURE America Action. I am a pastor, a patriot, an attorney, and a Black man. I am also Executive Director of CURE America Action, and I’m counting on you to help me counter the radical left’s attacks on Black America by making your generous contribution of $25, $50, $100, or even $1,000, right away!

The radical left targets Black people like me who push back on their lies. When proud black conservatives fight back, the radical left tries to put us in our place.

Congressman Byron Donalds, a Black Republican and proud conservative, was blocked from joining the Congressional Black Caucus for his conservative views. Senator Tim Scott was called “Oreo” by a Democrat politician and “Uncle Tim” by legions of liberals on social media just a few weeks ago.

They are terrified that someone might tell Black America that they don’t need anyone’s permission to succeed – they have the same opportunity as anyone else. That the mission statement of CURE America Action, and it is precisely what your donation will be funding. We are the antithesis of critical race theory, and we need your help.

Don’t let the radical left enslave Black Americans on their liberal plantation. Help us take our message of prosperity and opportunity to Americans of every race and creed. Chip in $1,000, $100, $50, or $25 and give us the ammunition to teach America the truth!

Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord.
– Proverbs 12:22

If the left succeeds with their push to teach Critical Race Theory to our children, they will be lost to big government liberalism – liberalism that categorizes people by race – forever. The future of our nation depends on our ability to stop this propaganda from demonizing our children with lies and hate.

You and I must work quickly. Please let me hear from you today.

God Bless America,

Marc Little
Executive Director
CURE America Action

When I was young and inexperienced, with no money and no career, I nonetheless made a firm assumption about people who’d made it, who’d risen to the top of their fields. They were daring individuals, I thought, outspoken and candid, willing to go against the crowd. These were people with a skeptical eye on the conventional wisdom, ever ready to challenge and dispute whenever they sensed a stale assertion of it.

When I worked for Dana Gioia at the National Endowment for the Arts, he told me once that when he was in advertising his team would meet at the end of the year to review themselves, and they spent five times as many minutes discussing what they did wrong as they spent on what they did right. That was the kind of toughness I imagined happened in every elite circle.

Look at the leaders of institutions, today, however, and you witness a pageant of conformity and timidity, guardedness ever present, the most powerful people in politics, education, entertainment, media, and business speaking in well-rehearsed terms, mouthing standard pieties with an air of solemnity that is one millimeter thick. Political correctness has turned them into cliche machines.

Did you notice the apology written recently by Mike Richards, the man who was to replace the late Alex Trebek as host of “Jeopardy!”? Richards is a big deal in the game show world, the executive producer of “Jeopardy!” and of “Wheel of Fortune,” winner of three Emmy Awards, too. But after he was selected as “Jeopardy!”‘s new host, some comments that he’d made on his 2013–14 podcast surfaced and set him up for what is now a familiar ritual: the high-profile cancellation. The ritual meant the loss of his post, and also a confession/contrition/plea on the accused’s part that is painful to read—not because of the sentiments themselves, however, but because of their dispiritingly banal expression.

Richards might have said, “Yeah, I made some dumb remarks just trying to get a laugh—I don’t regard them as cause for termination eight years later, though—let’s ease up, okay.”

No, instead we got the nauseatingly customary script:

“It is humbling to confront a terribly embarrassing moment of misjudgment, thoughtlessness, and insensitivity from nearly a decade ago,” he said.

It sounded like every other public apology we’ve heard in recent years, with studied humility and sober drama of self-confrontation. The words follow with all the formulaic layout of an algebraic equation. We have the expected family invocation as well, and role model talk: “My responsibilities today as a father, husband, and public personality who speaks to many people through my role on television means I have substantial and serious obligations as a role model, and I intend to live up to them.”

I don’t blame Richards for this, though. It’s the environment he’s in, a tiresome and phony place that the rest of America recognizes instantly for its mendacity. These declarations sound so sincere, but we know how calculating they are. To the material loss suffered by the penitent one, we have the pain of self-emasculation added in the most predictable language. Can’t any of these people think for themselves? Richards’ public career is over, at least for the near future and maybe the far. What does he have to lose? Why go official and betray his own heart (which is precisely what a man who adopts the idiom of his executioners is doing), even when you know it won’t save you?

Again, these are not people beaten down by life, their egos crushed by poverty and disappointment.  They have all the trappings of self-determination—money, education, worldliness, competitiveness, achievement—and yet the working-class guy and gal show a heckuva lot more independent spirit than Mr. Success ever does.

I think that this conformist atmosphere among the elite has played a significant role in the rise of populist anger in America. The contempt that the elite feel for the non-elite in our country is on display every day in the opinion pages and the liberal cable news shows. Just the recently, while driving through the South and listening to NPR, I heard the host introduce interviewee Robin D’Angelo with the question, “Why is it so hard for white people to talk about racism?” The willingness to cast an entire racial group as deficient in some way used to be called “stereotyping,” and enlightened folk universally rejected it. Here, however, it was offered as an enlightening observation. The condescension was thick and gleeful. The host wasn’t aware of how smug she sounded, but ordinary Americans have seen and heard such sentiments over and over, and they discern the contempt more acutely than elites realize.

How irritating it is, then, for these judgmental elites to appear so weak and obedient and cookie-cut at times that call for bold presentation. They’re avid about their superiority, but feeble in their individuality. They profess to be the best and the brightest, but they sink into stupid politically correct truisms when the pressure’s on. Liberalism claims to honor the individual voice, the lone dissenter, but never does a prominent 21st-century liberal wish to fall out of step with his fellows. The guns of cancellation are always primed, and he knows it.

A country whose leadership class is fearful and wary is in trouble. Insecurity makes for bad decisions, and for bad symbolism, too. A leader who stands up and apologizes for the “systemic” sins of the institution he leads doesn’t come off as properly sensitive and constructively progressive. He’s just weak. The celebrity who gets down on his knees and apologizes for some “phobic” remark made years earlier on the internet isn’t rightly repentant and newly enlightened. He’s just humiliating himself. Ordinary Americans draw a pat conclusion: These figureheads make a lot of money and they’re awfully full of themselves and down on us, but when you get down to it, they’re not so great, not at all.

This is the end of a great American tradition of rebelliousness. Ben Franklin ran away from Boston and struck out on his own as a mere teenager. Emerson praised self-reliance as the essence of genius. Thoreau headed to the woods because he couldn’t stand the copycat mentality of fellow citizens. Huck at the end aims to light out for the territory, knowing he’ll never fit in with civilized society. Those figures are the opposite of today’s Americans aspiring to the realms of the elite. Ambitious ones sense at an early age that climbing the ladder means fitting in and filtering impulses. The pipeline has sensors attuned to pick up the maverick spirit and mark it as suspect. Our leaders are tame souls whose wills are triggered mainly by the appearance of a rogue in their midst.

Therein lies the aversion to Donald Trump. It wasn’t Trump’s politics or policies that disturbed the elite. It was, instead, his headstrong personality and outspoken words. The content of his thought and speech they might have opposed in the normal political ways, but the character of the man couldn’t be handled that way. His performances could be received by them only as an admonishment. He spoke his mind, they didn’t, and that made them feel bad about themselves—as it should. Let us hope that more untamed figures surface and do the same thing.

Our Tame Leaders (theepochtimes.com)

Children hold up signs during a rally against critical race theory being taught in schools at the Loudoun County Government center in Leesburg, Va., on June 12, 2021

Race shaming and allusions to surgical castration in children’s literature—as well as accusations of xenophobia against political figures—are among the themes found in Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s “Indoctrination in North Carolina Public Education” report.

Robinson previously told The Epoch Times that he created the Fairness and Accountability in the Classroom for Teachers and Students task force (F.A.C.T.S.) to gather evidence of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in the K-12 North Carolina school system.

CRT is a Marxist philosophy that suggests society is a class struggle between oppressors and the oppressed, labelling white people as the oppressors and all other races as the oppressed.

The task force, according to the report, consists of volunteer education professionals with experience in various roles in education, such as teachers, administrators, university professors, education policy experts, and elected members of the state Senate and House.

Through an online portal, parents, teachers, and students could anonymously submit evidence from curriculums by email.

The report was released on Aug. 24 and was gathered from over 500 submissions.

What has surfaced are themes of CRT, bias, sexualization, and race shaming of children, Robinson said in a press release posted on Facebook (pdf).

In one parent’s submission, a child, in learning the word “xenophobia,” was instructed to use former President Donald Trump as an example.

“The teacher had definitions on one side and sentences on the other and the sentence that described xenophobia was ‘President Trump has xenophobia,’” the parent said. “Another example was a definition of Republican was that Republicans don’t care for people’s issues and Democrats are people who care for people.”

The example provided in the image was a prompt for the student to define “xenophobia.”

The prompt said: “It can be said that Donald Trump has xenophobia, because of his fear of people from other countries than the United States.”

Allusions to Surgical Castration

Another submission involved a book titled “George,” by Alex Gino, which is a children’s novel about a transgendered, fourth-grade girl.

According to the report, the book is used in North Carolina classrooms to illustrate the story of a biological boy in the fourth grade who wants to be a girl.

“The book talks about cutting off male genitalia and hormone therapy,” the report stated. “The submitter who shared this information said the book was included in their child’s elementary school. This book is recommended for third to seventh-grade students.”

An excerpt from the book as follows was provided in the report: “’So, like, do you want to’—he made a gesture with two fingers like a pair of scissors—‘go all the way?’ George squeezed her legs together. ‘Maybe someday,’ she said.’”

Faculty Microaggression

A submission from a teacher alleged “microaggression” training class requirements for faculty and staff.

The teacher, who remained anonymous, said she’s been teaching high school for 14 years.

“Faculty and staff are required to attend professional development related to ‘equity’ and ‘microaggression’ as it relates to race, gender, and other areas,” the teacher said. “They define microaggression as ‘The everyday slights, indignities, put-downs and insults that people of color, women, LGBT populations of those who are marginalized experiences in their day-to-day interactions with people.’”

White staff members are told that they are unaware of their racism, the teacher reported, in these personal development sessions.

“We are given examples of microaggression such as a statement: ‘I believe everyone can succeed in today’s society if they work hard and the most qualified people should get the job,’” the teacher said, adding that this statement, according to the tenet of microaggression, translates as: “White people believe people of color are lazy and don’t work hard.”

‘We Didn’t Hide in the Dark’

 The Senate Education Committee passed House Bill 324 on Tuesday after a heated exchange between state Sen. Jay Chaudhuri and Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson regarding the task force’s mission.

According to the bill, its purpose is to ensure “the equality and rights of all persons” by requiring that “students, teachers, administrators, and other school employees recognize the quality and rights” of people by prohibiting the promotion of “certain concepts that are contrary to that intent.”

Chaudhuri, a Democrat, said that, during the first week of school, students should be honored instead of debating what he called a “Fox News-driven issue that’s more about fearmongering that’s turned into a fishing expedition of our public-school teachers.”

The task force, Chaudhuri added, operated without abiding by open-meeting laws.

“We didn’t hide in the dark,” Robinson, a Republican, said.  “We didn’t ask to do it.”

Parents, teachers, and students within the North Carolina school system demanded it, Robinson said.

“And to sit here and call it a ‘Fox News-driven issue’ when I have stood with teachers who have cried because they feel like their jobs, livelihoods, and professions have been threatened, for you to call it that is an insult—an absolute insult,” Robinson said.  “And you know where my office is, and you know that this task force is going on. When did you contact me? Please don’t turn this into some partisan issue.”

North Carolina Task Force Reports Themes of Critical Race Theory in K-12 Schools (theepochtimes.com)

Agents also raided homes of Democratic city council members

FBI agents on Wednesday raided Detroit’s city hall and the homes of city council members Janeé Ayers (D.) and Scott Benson (D.) as part of a corruption investigation.

The FBI agents executed warrants to search the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, which serves as Detroit’s city hall, and Ayers’s and Benson’s houses. While the investigation’s exact focus has not yet been released to the public, investigators have already brought corruption charges against Councilman André Spivey (D.).

“The citizens of Detroit have a right to a city government that’s free of corruption,” special agent Timothy Waters told reporters on the day of the raids.

Ayers is running for a second term and Benson for a third term in November. Ayers’s name came up in a federal bribery investigation three years ago, though she faced no charges.

While Detroit has a long history of political corruption, the probe is the largest federal investigation into the city’s politicians in eight years, according to the Detroit News. In 2013, then-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (D.) was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison on racketeering charges. His sentence was commuted this year by former president Donald Trump.

FBI Raids Detroit City Hall in Corruption Probe (freebeacon.com)

Business headquarters are leaving the state at an accelerating rate. That’s according to a new report (pdf) for the Hoover Institution by Joseph Vranich and Lee E. Ohanian, “Why Company Headquarters Are Leaving California in Unprecedented Numbers.” Ohanian is a Hoover research fellow and professor of economics at UCLA.

Vranich has been one of my sources for 20 years. His Spectrum Location Solutions used to be in Irvine. Now it’s in McKinney, Tex., near Dallas. Just like so many ex-California firms and people.

The new report’s shocking news: For the first six months of 2021, company headquarters exiting California has doubled from the same period in 2018. And in the first half of this year, 74 headquarters skedaddled, more than all last year.

The reasons: “High tax rates, punitive regulations, high labor costs, high utility and energy costs, and declining quality of life for many Californians which reflects the cost of living and housing affordability.”

However, the authors caution the 2020 numbers were affected by COVID-19, which slowed planning and scouting for new locations.

From 2018 to 2021, here are the main destinations for company HQs:

Texas 114;

Tennessee 25;

Arizona 17;

Nevada 15;

Colorado 14;

Florida 13;

North Carolina 8;

Georgia 5;

Idaho 4;

Kentucky 4;

Virginia 4;

Indiana 4;

Alabama 3;

Missouri 3;

Minnesota 3;

Oregon 3.

The study notes of this and other data: “Additional companies have relocated their headquarters to other states, but the only states listed above are those where such events are public knowledge. The states listed have likely experienced more wins.”

Anecdotal evidence also supports the data. I know many people who have left, mainly for Texas and Tennessee. Almost everybody I know talks about getting out, although it’s still difficult to depart the balmy weather, family, friends, and local connections.

No Awareness

I asked Vranich if there’s any awareness of this exodus among Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state’s other top political leaders. “No,” he replied. He said the state isn’t even thinking about cutting taxes, despite what Newsom claims is a $78 billion budget surplus (but which the Legislative Analyst pegged at a still hefty $38 billion).

And he pointed to this July 2021 statement by Ohio Lt. Gov. John Husted: “Fifteen years ago we began reforming our tax plan—we eliminated the corporate franchise tax … eliminated the death tax—we went from a high-tax state to a lower-tax state. We absolutely do see it as a time to compete. Capital will ultimately go where it can be the most appreciated.”

The Hoover report itself noted: “Ohio is gaining popularity as the place where more companies call home. Five states lowered corporate income tax rates for 2021—Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa and Mississippi.”

And: “Gov. Newsom’s strategy is not to reduce taxes but to increase incentives offered to companies, thus increasing taxpayer burdens…. Since the start of the Newsom Administration in January 2019, GO-Biz awarded 147 businesses a total of $593,844,974 in California Competes Tax Credits.”

I asked Vranich if there were any good signs. He said, “An honest politician would admit that the only bright spots include growing tax revenue from Silicon Valley’s billionaires and also from film-making that is being preserved thanks to the state’s generous economic incentives.”

Dismal Rankings

The study cited Chief Executive magazine’s ranking of state business climates, which pegged California the worst of the 50 states and Texas the best—in each case, for the 17th year in a row.

On the Tax Foundation’s 2021 State Business Tax Climate Index, California did better—49th place, after New Jersey. Their analysis: “California’s poor position is unlikely to improve considering that its businesses routinely face threats of increases in income taxes, property taxes, and sales taxes along with higher county and municipal taxes and fees.”

They key to what’s left of California’s once tolerable tax climate is Proposition 13, the property tax limitation passed by voters in 1978.

Vranich and Ohanian warn: “Pro-tax coalitions launch continual efforts to eliminate or weaken Proposition 13’s protections—coalitions comprised of legislators, deep-pocketed special interests, and interests such as government contractors and state and local government-employee unions. Such entities have spent millions of dollars to overturn Proposition 13. Thus far they have not been successful, but they certainly will try again.”

Losses By County

The largest California counties also suffered the largest losses of business HQs:

Los Angeles 54;

San Francisco 47;

Orange 29;

Santa Clara 28;

Alameda 20;

San Diego 17;

San Mateo 13;

Sacramento 8;

Contra Costa 6;

San Bernardino 6;

Riverside 5.

However, San Francisco’s population is 873,965 (2020 U.S. Census) compared to Los Angeles’s 3.9 million. That’s 4.5 times higher. So the per capita San Francisco HQ loss is about four times that of Los Angeles.

By contrast, Orange County’s population of 3.2 million (2020 U.S. Census) is just behind L.A.’s 3.9 million. But OC suffered only about half L.A.’s headquarters losses.

OC’s business and tax climate is well known as more welcoming than Los Angeles. For example, the City of Los Angeles’ sales tax rate is 9.5 percent. By contrast, most OC cities’ rates are 7.75 percent.

The study especially scorches California’s addiction to litigation. They charge, “Lawmakers in Sacramento continually enact laws designed to expand civil liability on business and property owners … California’s statutes and regulations are so unreasonable that companies have reported in confidence that their legal costs in California are disproportionate to the number of employees they have in the state.”

No wonder the American Tort Reform Foundation brands California a “legal hellhole.”

Workers Compensation Costs

California reformed workers compensation laws in 2003 under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. It worked for a while. But a friend of mine in the industry said since then the reforms have been undercut by laws, court rulings and new legal maneuvers devised by plaintiff attorneys.

The Hoover study listed the average workers compensation costs, per $100 in 2020:

Worst:

New Jersey $2.52;

New York $2.23;

Vermont $2.21;

California $2.16;

Hawaii $2.08.

Best:

North Dakota $0.67;

Arkansas $0.72;

West Virginia $0.79;

Utah $0.85;

Texas $0.98.

Shocking Energy Costs

Business energy costs also are excessive. All that “green energy” doesn’t come cheap. Here are the electricity prices paid in March 2021, cents per kilowatt-hour:

Worst:

Hawaii $30.76;

Alaska $18.89;

California $17.20;

Connecticut $16.98;

Massachusetts $16.81.

Best:

Oklahoma $6.36;

Nevada $7.15;

Idaho $7.76;

Virginia $7.77;

Utah $8.01.

It’s going to get worse for California: “Customers in all parts of California are likely to see energy cost increases by virtually every utility. PG&E Corp. submitted a proposal to regulators for a rate increase totaling $3.6 billion starting in 2023 to help make its system more reliable and safer by sparking fewer fires.

“Southern California Edison in April 2020 increased its rates by approximately 7 percent overall. In 2021, SCE requested an additional residential rate increase of 14 percent, while commercial rates are estimated to rise between 9 and 11 percent.”

Major Firms Leaving

The report identified large and medium firms whose relocation can be found in news accounts. But many small firms just up and leave with no notice.

At the end the report lists all the corporate HQs that have left from January 1, 2018 to June 30, 2021. Some of those include:

Charles Schwab, from San Francisco to Westlake, Tex.;

DailyWire (Ben Shapiro’s website), from Los Angeles to Nashville, Tenn.;

Dole Food Co., from Los Angeles to Charlotte, N.C.;

Hewlett Packard Enterprise, from Santa Clara to Houston, Tex.;

Joe Rogan Experience, from Los Angeles to Austin, Tex.;

Kaiser Aluminum, from Lake Forest to Franklin, Tenn.;

Lockheed Martin FBM, from Sunnyvale to Titusville, Fla.;

Musk Foundation (Elon’s nonprofit), from Menlo Park to Austin, Tex.;

Mitsubishi Motors, from Cypress to Franklin, Tenn.;

National Hot Rod Association, from Glendora to Indianapolis, Ind.;

Nestle USA, from Glendale to Arlington, Va.;

Conclusion

In sum, it’s a dismal report. The state budget currently is buoyed by the bounty from Silicon Valley, whose revenues just keep growing and growing.

But for just about any other firm in California, the times are tough and getting tougher. And when the going gets too tough, even the tough get out.

California Businesses Exiting Faster than Ever (theepochtimes.com)

VA Dem nixes pledge to ‘eliminate racial disparities’ in education as VA parents blast ‘equity initiatives’

Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe quietly removed race-focused language from his campaign website’s education page as voters pushed back on “equity initiatives” in public schools.

McAuliffe has made “equity” a chief theme in his campaign for a second term in the governor’s mansion, tying racism to issues such as education, the economy, and criminal justice. In mid-August, however, McAuliffe removed his pledge to “eliminate racial disparities” from the top of his campaign’s K-12 education page, screenshots reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show. The Democrat also nixed the term “equitable” from the top of four issue pages on his campaign site.

The move came just weeks after a Trafalgar Group poll showed McAuliffe with a narrow lead over Republican Glenn Youngkin. It also came as Democrats in Virginia and across the country expressed concern over “equity initiatives” in public schools. In Loudoun County, for example, parent groups have collected thousands of signatures to recall school board members who have endorsed critical race theory.

The changes to McAuliffe’s campaign site suggest the Democrat is attempting to play both sides of the issue. McAuliffe in June called critical race theory “another right-wing conspiracy” that is “totally made up by Donald Trump and Glenn Youngkin.” At the same time, the Democrat collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from teachers’ unions that have defended teaching critical race theory in public schools.

McAuliffe did not return a request for comment.

The Democrat has not changed his full K-12 education plan, which is aimed at “ensuring that every child has access to an equitable, world-class education.” But removing race-focused language such as “equitable” from prominent positions on his campaign site could reflect an attempt to distance himself from critical race theory while remaining in his union allies’ good graces. 

McAuliffe has received nearly $1 million from the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s two largest teachers’ unions. One week before the NEA contributed $400,000 to McAuliffe’s campaign, union president Becky Pringle said her members “are not going to be afraid” to teach critical race theory in schools, because they “know that to not teach it, we are not telling the truth.”

Youngkin, meanwhile, has placed his opposition to critical race theory at the center of his campaign. The Republican in May pledged to “make sure our kids learn real math, not a political ideology.” 

McAuliffe and Youngkin are set to square off in November. McAuliffe leads the Republican by four points, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average. President Joe Biden won the state by 10 points in November

As Public Pushback Mounts, McAuliffe Buries ‘Equity’ Agenda (freebeacon.com)

• A supposed DNA match between Rep. Ilhan Omar and her second husband Ahmed Elmi allegedly proves that the two are siblings 
• It has long been rumored that Omar and Elmi are siblings, but because of a lack of paperwork in war-torn Somalia, positive proof has never been uncovered 
• The match says that Omar’s DNA was taken from a cigarette butt, while Elmi’s DNA purportedly came from a drinking straw
• Although Omar is not known to be a smoker, a grainy photo appears to show her smoking outside of her Washington, DC home   
• Republican strategist Anton Lazzaro posted the results hours before he was arrested and charged with trafficking underage girls for sex 
• Omar’s spokesperson is already discrediting the report due to Lazzaro’s involvement 
• A shadowy Republican group is behind the surreptitious sleuthing and claims this finally proves the two are siblings

Persistent claims that leftist congresswoman Ilhan Omar married her own brother to get around US immigration laws may be legitimized by what appears to be a conclusive DNA test.

The results of the test assert that there is a 99.999998% chance that Omar and her second husband Ahmed Elmi are siblings.

The report, drawn up by Endeavor DNA Laboratories does not name either Omar or Elmi, instead referring to them as ‘Sibling 1’ and ‘Sibling 2.’ DailyMail.com understands that Omar is Sibling 1.

It says that Sibling 1’s sample was garnered from a cigarette butt and Sibling 2’s from a drinking straw.

Omar has never before been known publicly to be a smoker, although her third husband Tim Mynett is. However, a grainy picture of her with a cigarette in her mouth, said to have been taken outside her home in Washington, D.C. appears as part of the evidence gathered in an intensive investigation by a shadowy conservative group.

Endeavour Laboratories did not name either Omar or Elmi on the results, identifying them merely as ‘Sibling 1’ and ‘Sibling 2.’ DailyMail.com understands Sibling 1 is Omar

The test was posted online by Anton Lazzaro, a Republican strategist in Minneapolis on Wednesday. Around 12 hours later Lazzaro was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges.

He is now in custody awaiting a hearing on Monday.

Lazarro’s lawyer Zachary Newland could not immediately be reached as he was on a flight. However he confirmed by email that the website was put up by his client.

Omar’s spokesman Jeremy Slevin threw shade on the report. ‘This is a fraudulent website created by a man charged this week with child sex trafficking and lying to federal investigators to cover it up,’ he said in a statement.

The supposed DNA match between the two was posted on Republican strategist Anton Lazzaro’s (pictured) Facebook page and Twitter feed just before he was arrested and charged with trafficking underage girls for sex

Endeavor, which is based in El Paso, Texas did not return a call for comment. The company charges $189 for a siblingship test.  

DailyMail.com understands that a shadowy Republican group was planning to release details of a DNA report in the next day or two. It is not known what relationship Lazarro, 30, has to that group.

Its work could have been undermined by Lazarro as it gives Minnesota congresswoman Omar, 38, an opportunity to try to discredit the information as coming from a tainted source.

Lazzaro’s website says that the group garnered a DNA sample from Elmi’s straw in Leicester, England as part of a two-year investigation. He has recently been living in both Kenya and on the east African island of Zanzibar.

The test result appears to show that some of the DNA matches are exact while others are close. The group behind the surreptitious sleuthing claims this proves the two are siblings.

Claims that Omar and Elmi, 36, are siblings have been rampant for years. The allegation is that they married so Elmi, a British citizen could go to school in the United States. He followed Omar to North Dakota State University.

Lazzaros’ website says: ‘Rep. Omar was a U.S. Citizen for a decade and her brother/ex-husband Mr. Elmi was a UK Citizen.

‘This is purely a crime of convenience, by an individual with extremely poor ethics now representing hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans in Congress. There was absolutely no threat to these individuals causing them to commit multiple felonies while living in the two wealthiest countries in the world seeking reduced tuition at a public University.

Omar, who was first elected to Congress in 2018, has never fully addressed the question of whether she is related to Elmi. While serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives she did issue a press release in which she called the allegations ‘absurd and offensive.’

In her memoir, This Is What America Looks Like, published last year, she claims she hardly knew him when they married, saying: ‘I had a Britney Spears-style meltdown, I not only eloped with a man — whom I spent so little time with that I wouldn’t even make him a footnote in my story if it weren’t for the fact that this event turned into the main headline later on — but I shaved my head.

‘Yes, like the beleaguered pop star, who shaved her head in 2007, I took clippers to my own head. Too many headaches, too little sleep — I had to flee myself, my relationships, my hair.

‘The difference between Britney and me is that I wore a hijab, so nobody knew what I had done — except my children who were very surprised. ”Mommy looks like me,” Adnan (her young son) declared. And he was right, I did look like a little boy.’

She didn’t even name Elmi in her memoirs.

Although Ilhan Omar is not known to be a smoker publicly, Elmi has been seen smoking along with her current husband Tim Mynett.

Omar was married to Ahmed Hirsi — who she later remarried. They have since divorced and in March 2020 she married Mynett, her chief fundraiser

But others have long claimed that she married him so he could go to school in the United States. She had come to America as a refugee fleeing war in her native Somalia, but he had taken up British nationality.

He followed her to North Dakota State University, after their marriage in 2009. A Christian minister performed the ceremony despite the fact that both are Muslim.

Somali blogger Abdihakim Osman Nur told DailyMail.com in February last year that he had known Omar growing up and suddenly her brother arrived in Minneapolis.

At the time Omar was married to Ahmed Hirsi — who she later remarried. They have since divorced and in March 2020 she married Mynett, her chief fundraiser.

‘No one knew there had been a wedding until the media turned up the marriage certificate years later,’ Nur said, about the Elmi-Omar marriage.

‘People began noticing that Ilhan and Southside were often with a very effeminate young guy,’ Osman said, referring to Hirsi by his nickname.

‘He was very feminine in the way he dressed — he would wear light lipstick and pink clothes and very, very, short shorts in the summer. People started whispering about him, added Nur, who spoke in Somali through an interpreter.

‘Southside and Ilhan both told me it was Ilhan’s brother and he had been living in London but he was mixing with what were seen as bad influences that the family did not like,’ added Nur.

‘So they sent him to Minneapolis as ”rehab”.’

Nur said that Omar kept her marriage to Elmi quiet, with no one from the Somali community invited to the wedding that was held at a county office in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

He explained: ‘When Southside and Ilhan got married, a lot of people were invited. It was a big Islamic wedding uniting two large clans in the Minneapolis community.

‘I would say there were 100-150 people there.’

But he said: ‘When she married Elmi, no one even knew about it.’

Nur said he believed Elmi and Omar sought out someone outside the Somali community to conduct the ceremony because an imam would have known they were related and would have refused to marry them.+10

Elmi and Omar married on February 12, 2009 at a Hennepin County office in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, southwest of Minneapolis, their license shows. The marriage was conducted by a Christian minister+10

In the late 2000s Elmi (pictured) appeared in Minneapolis, said Somali blogger Abdihakim Osman. ‘People began noticing that Ilhan and [Hirsi] were often with a very effeminate young guy. He was very feminine in the way he dressed — he would wear light lipstick and pink clothes and very short shorts in the summer. People started whispering about him. [Hirsi] and Ilhan told me it was Ilhan’s brother’

The marriage was conducted by Christian minister Wilecia Harris. When DailyMail.com approached her in 2019 she would not discuss the ceremony or why a Muslim couple would have asked her to marry them.

In a Facebook message, Harris’s husband Marcus told DailyMail.com: ‘My wife doesn’t want to be involved or interviewed about Congresswoman Omar.’

‘It’s not going to happen, not now and not never.’

Lazzaro’s arrest could complicate the latest attempts to prove the congresswoman may have broken federal immigration laws.

According to a press release from the Department of Justice in Minnesota, Lazzaro ‘conspired with others to recruit and solicit six minor victims to engage in commercial sex acts.’

‘The indictment charges Lazzaro with one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors, five counts of sex trafficking of minors, one count of attempted sex trafficking of a minor, and three counts of obstruction.’

He is being held in federal custody until a hearing on Monday.

Lazzaro, who has appeared on Fox News and other conservative media outlets has posted pictures of himself posing with former president Donald Trump, former vice-president Mike Pence and other leading Republicans.

According to the Daily Beast, which broke the story of his arrest, the FBI had raided Lazzaro’s luxury apartment in the Hotel Ivy Residences in downtown Minneapolis in December last year.

‘The indictment accuses Lazzaro of having ‘recruited’ at least five underage victims for paid sex between May and December last year, and trying to entice a sixth. It also says he ‘knowingly and intentionally interfered’ with the investigation as it closed in on him,’ the Daily Beast reported.

The outlet said law enforcement served the condo building’s management company with a search warrant seeking Lazzaro’s bank records and video surveillance footage a week before the raid.

At the time, Lazzaro told the Daily Beast: someone had ‘made a false allegation against me,’ and he said the matter was ‘almost resolved.’

Claims DNA match proves Ilhan Omar married her brother | Daily Mail Online

On Saturday 18 RINOs joined Democrats to pass the Democrat Party’s infrastructure bill. Democrats never allowed a similar bill to reach President Trump’s desk last year.

The RINOs gave Joe Biden a rare win at a time when the illegitimate president is sinking in the polls and continues to struggle with his diminishing faculties.

Mitch McConnell led the charge of the RINOs.
Here are the 18 GOP members who voted for this monstrosity on Saturday:

** Mitch McConnell
** Roy Blunt of Missouri,
**Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia,
**Bill Cassidy of Louisiana,
**Susan Collins of Maine,
**John Cornyn of Texas,
**Kevin Cramer of North Dakota,
**Mike Crapo of Idaho,
**Chuck Grassley of Iowa,
**John Hoeven of North Dakota,
**Deb Fischer of Nebraska,
**Lisa Murkowski of Alaska,
**Rob Portman of Ohio,
**Jim Risch of Idaho,
**Mitt Romney of Utah,
**Thom Tillis of North Carolina,
**Todd Young of Indiana
**Mike Rounds of South Dakota.

On Sunday morning Senator Kevin Cramer joined Maria Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures to discuss his vote for the Socialist infrastructure plan. Big mistake. Maria Bartiromo chewed him up and spit him out — as he deserved.

TRENDING: MUST SEE: Mike Lindell on War Room Lays Out Day-by-Day Schedule on What to Expect at Much Anticipated Cyber Symposium This Week (VIDEO)

Bartiromo pointed out in the $1.2 trillion “infrastructure” monstrosity there is not a single dime for a border wall during the worst border crisis in US history. Cramer had no response. Instead he started spouting off about the globalists at the Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable who support the Uniparty spending plan.

Cramer was outmatched and looked ridiculous.
Maria destroyed him.

On Monday the War Room panel pointed out that there is not a dime in the trillion dollar plan supported by RINOs for border security.
And yet 18 Republicans voted for it.
It is clear these dirty RINOs DO NOT support their constituents.

Below are the 17 REPUBLICAN Senators and links to EMAIL THEM, keep your messages short, but let’s flood their email boxes with messages like “VOTE NO on Trillion Dollar Infrastructure bill”, “NO to Socialism”, “NO to GREEN NEW DEAL”.

Via Midnight Rider:

Contact Sen Blunt
https://www.blunt.senate.gov/contact/contact-roy
Senator Burr
https://www.burr.senate.gov/contact/email
Senator Cassidy
https://www.cassidy.senate.gov/contact
Sen Capito
https://www.capito.senate.gov/contact/share-your-opinion
Senator Collins
https://www.collins.senate.gov/CONTACT
Senator Cramer
https://www.cramer.senate.gov/contact/contact-kevin
Senator Crapo
https://www.crapo.senate.gov/contact/email-me
Senator Graham
https://www.lgraham.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-senator-graham
Senator Grassley
https://www.grassley.senate.gov/contact
Senator Hoeven
https://www.hoeven.senate.gov/contact/email-the-senator
Senator McConnell
https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=contact
Senator Murkowski
https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/contact/email
Senator Portman
https://www.portman.senate.gov/meet/contact
Senator Risch
https://www.risch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email
Senator Romney
https://www.romney.senate.gov/contact
Senator Tillis
https://www.tillis.senate.gov/email-me
Senator Young
https://www.young.senate.gov/contact

Read More

THEY HATE YOU: Mitch McConnell and 17 RINO Senators Vote for Infrastructure Bill that Included ZERO DOLLARS for Border Security During Greatest Border Crisis in History – Orwellian Post

The city’s enforcement against shoplifters has dwindled, and these are the results.

San Francisco ranks as the fifth-worst city in the US when it comes to retail theft. Now, the problem is getting so bad that businesses like Target and Walgreens are being forced to make drastic changes in response.

“For more than a month, we’ve been experiencing a significant and alarming rise in theft and security incidents at our San Francisco stores,” a Target spokesperson said. “With the safety of our guests, team members and communities as our top priority, we’ve temporarily reduced our operating hours in six San Francisco stores.” 

Target stores normally stay open to 10:00 pm, but many in the San Francisco area will now close their doors at 5:00 pm or 6:00 pm. Meanwhile, Walgreens stores are faring even worse, with some shutting their doors altogether.  

“Representatives from Walgreens said that thefts at its stores in San Francisco were four times the chain’s national average, and that it had closed 17 stores, largely because the scale of thefts had made business untenable,” the New York Times reported. 

This isn’t just a problem at big-box retailers, either. The California Retailers Association has decried the rampant theft, which is hurting Golden State businesses small and large. Theft has gotten so bad in some parts of San Francisco that it is beyond belief. 

“I’m new to San Francisco,” Times journalist Thomas Fuller told a grocery store clerk shortly after moving to the city. “Is it optional to pay for things here?” It sounds like an absurd thing to ask, but Fuller explains that he was genuinely forced to wonder what was going on after he witnessed people walk into Walgreens and Safeway, grab stuff, and walk out.

The dysfunction-driven closures and scale-backs at major retailers will hurt everyday Californians. From the workers whose hours are cut to the customers who can’t get the products they need, this undermining of the market will have many victims beyond just those who are directly robbed. 

The sad affair is another reminder of the timeless truth described by economist Thomas Sowell, who said that property rights “belong legally to individuals, but their real function is social, to benefit vast numbers of people who do not themselves exercise these rights.”

Protecting property rights is a necessary precursor for basic economic activity to function. As I previously explained on FEE.org:

“When property rights are insecure or routinely violated—widespread looting and arson are prime examples—the very foundation of a community’s economy is undermined. Investors understandably balk at the uncertainty and forgo investing there, while entrepreneurs cannot launch new enterprises or even continue current ones without the knowledge that they will be secure in their property. As a result, job opportunities and income streams dry up.” 

This is why millions of our taxpayer dollars are given to police departments and other government agencies tasked with enforcing property and protecting our rights. But in San Francisco, they’ve woefully failed this most basic responsibility. 

A 2014 ballot referendum downgraded theft of goods less than $950 in value to just a misdemeanor, a slap on the wrist, and the city’s enforcement against shoplifters has dwindled in the years since.

That’s why Target and Walgreens are being forced to take drastic actions to protect their stores. But if widespread violation of property rights continues unpunished, they won’t be the last businesses in San Francisco to close their doors in response.

Target and Walgreens Are Making Drastic Changes Amid Skyrocketing Shoplifting in San Francisco – Foundation for Economic Education (fee.org)

• The number of homicides in six major cities across the country has increased compared to last year, disproportionately affecting black people, according to crime data.
• “We are seeing an uptick in violent crime across the country, specifically gun violence,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told The New York Times.
• In Chicago, black people have been the victims of roughly 81 percent of the 317 murders in the first six months of 2021, data shows. They were the victims of about 70 percent of the 295 murders committed in the first six months of 2020.
• “I am proud to lead a City Council that took the first step to responsibly reduce Baltimore’s budget dependence on policing,” former Baltimore City Council President Brandon Scott, who is now the city’s mayor, said after the council voted to strip funding from the city’s police last year, the Baltimore Sun reported.

The number of homicides in six major cities across the country has increased compared to last year, disproportionately affecting black people, according to crime data.

Black people have represented a massive share of murder victims in six major cities through the first six months of 2021 compared to last year, which itself saw a large crime surge, according to data analyzed by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The DCNF analyzed both police department data and homicide reports compiled by local news outlets to determine how black people have been victimized in the wake of the 2020 crime spike.

“We are seeing an uptick in violent crime across the country, specifically gun violence,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told The New York Times earlier this month.

The DCNF collected homicide data from Chicago, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, and Indianapolis, some of the only cities in which such data is readily available. Most major cities have limited statistics tracking 2021 murders and homicide victims.

The percentage of murder victims in Chicago that were black increased from 70 percent in 2020 to 81 percent in 2021 while that figure increased from 60 percent to 90 percent year-over-year in Milwaukee, the data showed. In one of the cities analyzed, the percentage of black victims decreased, but the raw number of black victims still increased.

Democratic leaders of most of the cities examined voted to greatly reduce police funding amid widespread Black Lives Matter protests last year. In the wake of the death of George Floyd, who died after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck in May 2020, thousands of protests and riots took place across the country.

University of Missouri criminologist Richard Rosenfeld blamed the uptick in violence seen nationwide on the lack of trust between police and citizens, according to the NYT.

“When police legitimacy is greatly reduced, you get more crime because people are no longer relying on the criminal justice system for assistance,” Rosenfeld told the NYT. “People are less willing to cooperate with police in investigations, less willing to report crimes or other problems to the police, and more willing to take matters into their own hands.”

While murder statistics in just six cities were analyzed, the number of homicides has spiked roughly 18 percent across the country compared to 2020, according to a random sample of 37 cities, the NYT reported. In 2020, the number of murders increased by 36.7 percent compared to 2019, according to data analytics reporter Jeff Asher.

As Violent Crime SURGES across America, some politicians and some in the media are gaslighting the public into thinking the Police are the Problem…

Homicides:
Atlanta ⬆️ 58%
Portland ⬆️ 533%
Philadelphia ⬆️ 37%

Shootings:
New York City ⬆️ 64%
Los Angeles ⬆️ 51%
Chicago ⬆️ 18% pic.twitter.com/5RbhbKY312

— National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) (@GLFOP) June 22, 2021

Chicago, Illinois

At least 317 total homicides were committed in Chicago between Jan. 1, 2021 and June 22, 2021, according to a Chicago Sun-Times database. In that same period last year, 295 murders were committed.

While black people represented 207 of the murder victims in Chicago through the period last year ending on June 22, 2020, they represented a whopping 257 of the victims this year, according to the Sun-Times database. That means black people have been the victims of roughly 81 percent of murders this year while they were the victims in about 70 percent of 2020 murders.

Meanwhile, Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot proposed an $80 million cut to Chicago Police Department funding in October, according to Injustice Watch.

“While we will slow the rate of growth, with a resulting $80 million in corporate fund savings, on my watch we will never make cuts or policy changes that inhibit the core mission of the police department, which is to serve and protect,” Lightfoot said, according to the Sun-Times.

Illinois became the first state to completely abolish its cash bail system earlier this year, NBC News reported. The legislation laid out a new, stricter decision-making process for judges to determine if a person charged with a crime presents a threat.

“This legislation marks a substantial step toward dismantling the systemic racism that plagues our communities, our state, and our nation and brings us closer to true safety, true fairness, and true justice,” Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker said after signing the bill in February, according to NBC News.

Baltimore, Maryland

In Baltimore, black people represented 69 of the 152, or 45 percent, of total murder victims between Jan. 1, 2021, and June 17, 2021, according to a Baltimore Sun database.

While murder statistics between that same period in 2020 were unavailable, black people were the victims of 130, or 39 percent, of the 335 total homicides committed in Baltimore for all of last year, the database showed.

The majority of murder victims in 2020 and 2021 were listed without racial information in the Baltimore Sun database. Black people represented the vast majority of victims with their race listed.

But the Baltimore City Council agreed to cut $22 million from the city’s police budget in June 2020, according to the Baltimore Sun.

“I am proud to lead a City Council that took the first step to responsibly reduce Baltimore’s budget dependence on policing,” former City Council President Brandon Scott, who is now the city’s mayor, said after the vote, the Baltimore Sun reported. “This is just the beginning, and I intend to continue leading this process to redirect our public dollars and reimagine public safety in Baltimore.”

In March, Baltimore City State Attorney Marilyn Mosby, the city’s top prosecutor, announced she would no longer prosecute prostitution, drug possession, or other minor offenses, NBC affiliate WBAL-TV reported.

After multiple shootings in a popular area of Baltimore earlier this month, 37 businesses threatened to stop paying taxes unless Scott addressed surging crime, according to Fox affiliate WBFF-TV. The business owners argued that allowing minor crime to continue leads to major violent crimes.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The number of total murders increased in Milwaukee from 75 in the period between Jan. 1, 2020, and June 17, 2020, to 87 committed over that same period this year, according to murder reports compiled by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Black people were the victims of 79, or 90 percent, of the total murders this year, the database showed. While isolated victim data wasn’t available for the first six months of 2020, black people represented 74 percent of all murder victims in Milwaukee last year.

The Milwaukee Common Council approved a police budget cut in November that reduced the department by 120 officers, the Journal Sentinel reported.

“Although the proposed budget cut would undoubtedly impact the operations of the Milwaukee Police Department, we remain committed to working and engaging with our community, elected officials, and public safety partners to ensure that all of our neighborhoods are safe, vibrant and livable,” the department said in a statement after Democratic Mayor Tom Barrett proposed the budget, according to the Journal Sentinel.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

In Pittsburgh, black people made up 90 percent of murder victims between January and April, according to county data. In comparison, 60 percent of murder victims during the same time period last year were black.

There were 20 murders between January and April this year and 10 in that same period in 2020, according to Allegheny County. Data beyond April 31, 2021, hasn’t been made available.

The Pittsburgh City Council approved a police department hiring freeze in July 2020, according to WPXI-TV. The council also ordered the department to redirect 10 percent of the budget to social service programs every year.

The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police said the actions would “greatly impact” its ability to increase diversity within its ranks, WPXI reported.

Los Angeles, California

Between Jan. 1, 2020 and June 21, 2020, black people were the victims of 92 of the 272 homicides committed in Los Angeles County, which includes the city and surrounding communities, according to a Los Angeles Times database. In the same period this year, they represented 103 of the 315 total homicides.

The data showed that the share of black murder victims in the county has stayed level at around 33 percent year-over-year. However, the uptick in violence this year has caused at least 11 additional deaths in Los Angeles County’s black community compared to last year.

Hispanic people, who are the largest demographic group in the county, accounted for the majority of murder victims in Los Angeles County in both 2020 and 2021 while black people accounted for the second-highest number of murder victims, according to the database. Hispanic people were the victims of 50 percent of the murder victims between Jan. 1, 2020 and June 21, 2020 and 57 percent of the victims in that same period this year.

The Los Angeles City Council approved a $150 million cut to the city’s police department in July 2020, ABC affiliate KABC-TV reported. Democratic Mayor Eric Garcetti supported the massive budget cuts.

“It will take years to recover from that,” Los Angeles Police union spokesman Dustin DeRollo told the DCNF last summer. “And it will result immediately with less officers patrolling the streets.”

“What that means simply is longer response times to emergency calls,” he continued. “It means less time to do community-based policing like building relationships in neighborhoods. And it also will mean less ability to implement the training that everybody wants our officers to have.”

But, amid the increased violent crime, the Los Angeles County Metro unanimously approved a $36 million budget boost for transit police in March. Garcetti, who serves on the Metro’s board, voted in favor of the budget increase.

Indianapolis, Indiana

Black people represented 58 of the 98 murder victims in Indianapolis between Jan. 1, 2021 and June 1, 2021, according to a homicide database created by the Indianapolis Star. Last year, black people were the victims in 53 of the city’s 70 total murders.

While the percentage of homicide victims who were black decreased from 75 percent to 59 percent in that period, the number of total black homicide victims still increased, the data showed.

Democratic Mayor Joe Hogsett resisted calls for defunding the city’s police department budget last year, the Indianapolis Recorder reported. Instead, he proposed a $7 million police budget increase.

Homicides Have Skyrocketed in These Six Democratic Cities; Black People Are Disproportionately the Victims, Data Shows (theepochtimes.com)

‘Crime Is Skyrocketing In Many Big Cities,’ But Some Jurisdictions Have Cut Police Budgets In Response To ‘Defund The Police’ Demands And Many Others Are Rapidly Losing Police Officers

SENATE REPUBLICAN LEADER MITCH McCONNELL (R-KY): “From coast to coast, American families are facing an explosion of violent crime on their streets and in their neighborhoods. 2020 saw homicides skyrocket nationwide. The sharpest one-year increase in decades. And 2021 is already shaping up to be even worse…. Crime and delinquency have many causes. In some ways, the pandemic likely contributed. But it is impossible to ignore that these terrible trends are coming precisely as so-called ‘progressives’ have decided it’s time to denounce and defund local law enforcement. Seattle cut police funding by 20%. Minneapolis defunded cops by millions of dollars. The District of Columbia’s city council approved $15 million in cuts. These bone-headed decisions are the direct result of an anti-law-enforcement fad that has swept through the political left like a wildfire…. So, look, I’m not sure exactly how the rantings of far-left Twitter about crime and policing became official Democratic Party dogma in so many places across America. What I do know is that ordinary Americans cannot bear much more of this. And that goes double for the most vulnerable neighborhoods.” (Sen. McConnell, Remarks, 5/27/2021)

FLASHBACK: Far-Left Democrats: ‘No More Policing,’ ‘We Need To Disinvest From Police,’ ‘Defunding Police Means Defunding Police’

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): “Defunding police means defunding police.” (“Ocasio-Cortez Dismisses Proposed $1B Cut: ‘Defunding Police Means Defunding Police’,” The Hill, 6/30/2020)

REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MN): “I will never stop saying, ‘Not only do we need to disinvest from police but we need to completely dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department.’” (“‘Defund The Police’ Movement Hits Semantics Roadblock,” The Hill, 6/14/2020)

REP. CORI BUSH (D-MO): “Defunding the police isn’t radical, it’s real.” (Rep. Bush, @CoriBush, Twitter, 1/27/2021)

REP. RASHIDA TLAIB (D-MI): “… Policing in our country is inherently & intentionally racist. … I am done with those who condone government funded murder. No more policing, incarceration, and militarization. It can’t be reformed.” (Rep. Tlaib, @RashidaTlaib, Twitter, 4/12/2021)

REP. AYANNA PRESSLEY (D-MA): “From slave patrols to traffic stops. We can’t reform this.” (Rep. Pressley, @AyannaPressley, Twitter, 4/12/2021)

And Sure Enough, Left-Wing Activists ‘Successfully Pushed For $840 Million In Police Spending Cuts Across The U.S.’

“According to Interrupting Criminalization, an initiative at the Barnard Center for Research on Women that supports defunding the police, organizers successfully pushed for $840 million in police spending cuts across the U.S., and $160 million in shifts to other social programs. Cities cut another $35 million by canceling contracts with police departments to patrol schools, the center said.” (“Cities Reverse Defunding the Police Amid Rising Crime,” The Wall Street Journal, 5/26/2021)

• “Last summer, nearly half of 258 police agencies surveyed by the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington, D.C., think tank, said their budgets had been cut or were likely to be cut. The cuts hit purchases of new police equipment hardest, followed by training, hiring new officers and overtime spending, the survey found.” (“Cities Reverse Defunding the Police Amid Rising Crime,” The Wall Street Journal, 5/26/2021)

In 2020, The United States Had ‘The Largest Single One-Year Increase In Homicides Since The Country Started Keeping Such Records’

“2020 has been a killer year in every way, including murder. The United States has experienced the largest single one-year increase in homicides since the country started keeping such records in the 20th century, according to crime data and criminologists.” (“2020 Saw An Unprecedented Spike In Homicides From Big Cities To Small Towns,” The Washington Post, 12/30/2020)

• “It is a trend mirrored across the country, where crime is skyrocketing in many big cities, putting liberal leaders under pressure to balance the demands of activists against the concerns of some residents about rising violence. In New York, where homicides grew by nearly 45 percent last year, crime is dominating the discussion in the race for mayor…. Even smaller cities haven’t been spared the rise in violence: Louisville last year set a record for homicides, with 173, and this year is on pace to surpass that.” (“A Year After George Floyd: Pressure to Add Police Amid Rising Crime,” The New York Times, 5/23/2021)

“A group of 34 of America’s biggest cities suffered a 30 percent total increase in homicides in 2020, according to a new survey published Monday, with police in four Midwestern cities reporting increases of more than 60 percent over 2019. In Milwaukee, homicides rose from 97 to 189, a 95 percent increase. In Louisville, homicides increased from 90 to 173, a 92 percent increase. Of the 34 cities surveyed by the National Commission on Covid-19 and Criminal Justice, a project of the D.C.-based Council on Criminal Justice, only four — Raleigh, N.C.; Baltimore; St. Petersburg, Fla.; and Virginia Beach — saw declines in 2020.” (“Homicides Rose 30 Percent In 2020, Survey Of 34 U.S. Cities Finds,” The Washington Post, 2/03/2021)

“[In March], the F.B.I. released preliminary statistics showing a major increase in murder last year, with a 25 percent rise in agencies that reported quarterly data. The F.B.I. did not receive data from several cities with known big increases in murder like New York, Chicago and New Orleans, but cities of all sizes reported increases of greater than 20 percent. A 25 percent increase in murder in 2020 would mean the United States surpassed 20,000 murders in a year for the first time since 1995. (The final official numbers for 2020 will not be released until late September.)” (“Murder Rate Remains Elevated as New Crime Reporting System Begins,” The New York Times, 3/16/2021)

Over The First Three Months Of 2021, The Murder Rate In 37 Cities Is Up 18 Percent Compared To The Same Period In 2020

“The big increase in the murder rate in the United States in 2020 has carried over to 2021. A sample of 37 cities with data available for the first three months of this year shows murder up 18 percent relative to the same period last year.” (“Murder Rate Remains Elevated as New Crime Reporting System Begins,” The New York Times, 3/16/2021)

As Murders Surged In 2020, Seattle Cut Its Police Department’s Budget ‘By Nearly 20%’

“Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan signed off on the 2021 budget, after months of debate and public outcry.  It includes a significant cut to the Seattle Police Department (SPD), and puts new money in new hands. … The 2021 budget sliced SPD’s budget by nearly 20% …” (“Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan Signs City’s 2021 Budget With 20% Cut To Police,” King5, 12/01/2020)

“Calling 2020 a year like no other, interim Seattle police Chief Adrian Diaz said Monday his department’s homicide detectives investigated 50 homicides last year, representing a 61% increase over the 31 people killed as a result of homicidal violence in the city in 2019. Citing data that shows homicides across the country were up 36% in 2020 compared to the previous year, Diaz said Seattle’s 50 homicides were the most investigated in the city in 26 years.” (“50 People Died From Homicidal Violence In Seattle In 2020, The Largest Number In A Quarter Century, Police Chief Says,” The Seattle Times, 1/11/2021)

The LAPD Had Its Budget Slashed By $150 Million In 2020 As Murders In Los Angeles Reached The Highest Number ‘In More Than A Decade’

“Now, a year after Mr. Floyd’s death, Los Angeles and other American cities face a surge in violent crime amid pandemic despair and a flood of new guns onto the streets. The surge is prompting cities whose leaders embraced the values of the movement last year to reassess how far they are willing to go to reimagine public safety and divert money away from the police and toward social services…. A year after streets echoed with calls to ‘defund’ law enforcement and city leaders embraced the message by agreeing to take $150 million away from the Los Angeles Police Department, or about 8 percent of the department’s budget, the city last week agreed to increase the police budget to allow the department to hire about 250 officers. The increase essentially restores the cuts that followed the protests. On the streets of South Los Angeles, where residents have historically suffered the most from aggressive policing and gang violence and where much of the current surge in shootings is happening, officers are ramping up patrols and stopping more cars to look for guns. ‘We’ve lost more than a decade of progress,’ Chief Michel Moore of the Los Angeles Police Department said in an interview, referring to the significant drops in crime in the years before the pandemic…. [T]he number of murders in Los Angeles last year — 350 — was the highest in more than a decade …” (“A Year After George Floyd: Pressure to Add Police Amid Rising Crime,” The New York Times, 5/23/2021)

• “If the old crop of activists sought changes by partnering with the police, the defining view of the new movement is a focus on money, and trying to pull as many dollars as possible away from police budgets and toward other programs that address systemic racism.” (“A Year After George Floyd: Pressure to Add Police Amid Rising Crime,” The New York Times, 5/23/2021)

Following A $15 Million Cut To Washington, D.C.’s Police Department Budget, 2020 Ended With The District’s Highest Number Of Homicides In 16 Years

“Homicides in the District rose for the third consecutive year in 2020, reaching nearly 200 for the first time since the previous decade and further stressing a city rattled by the pandemic and social and political unrest. The number of killings stood at 198 Thursday evening, making the past year the deadliest in the city since 2004. More than 920 people were shot in D.C. in 2020, a 64 percent increase from three years ago.” (“Homicides In D.C. Hit 16-Year High; Shootings Also Have Spiked,” The Washington Post, 12/31/2020)

• “In 2020, homicides in D.C. hit a 16-year high. If current trends continue, 2021 could be even deadlier. D.C. Police data reports a 43% increase in homicides from the same time last year, with 2021 totaling 63 as of April 28, compared to 44 on this date in 2020.” (“DC’s Homicide Rate Already Is Outpacing 2020, Which Saw A 16-Year-High,” WUSA, 4/28/2021)

“D.C. lawmakers [in June] advanced measures to cut $15 million from the police department budget, a change that defund-the-police activists dismissed as insufficient and the police chief warned could result in the loss of hundreds of officers. The D.C. Council’s Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety unanimously approved a plan to reduce the $533 million police budget proposed by Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) by cutting vacant positions and rejecting an expansion of the police cadet program. The committee also voted to cut the department’s capital budget and reallocate funds to alternative violence-reduction programs.” (“D.C. Activists And Lawmakers Confront Challenges Of ‘Defund Police’ Movement,” The Washington Post, 6/25/2020)

‘Last Year, The Homicide Rate In Minneapolis Hit Highs Not Seen Since The Mid-1990s’ And Still The City Council Voted To Cut $8 Million From The City’s Police Department

“Last year, the homicide rate in Minneapolis hit highs not seen since the mid-1990s, when killings led the city to be derisively called ‘Murderapolis.’ The bleak trend has continued into this year. According to police data, nearly 200 people have been shot this year — more than double the number in the same period last year and the most recorded in more than a decade. There have been 31 homicides, compared with 15 at this point in 2020.” (“A Year After George Floyd’s Death, Minneapolis Remains Scarred, Divided,” The Washington Post, 5/23/2021)

“Months after their pledge to dismantle the Police Department fell apart, members of the Minneapolis City Council voted [December 10^th] to divert nearly $8 million from the proposed policing budget to other city services … Trimming of those items raised alarm bells among the police chief and some lawmakers, as the department has lost 166 officers this year — some permanently, others because they are on disability, and still others saying they have post-traumatic stress from the massive protests that swept the city over the summer.” (“Minneapolis City Council Votes to Remove $8 Million From Police Budget,” The New York Times, 12/10/2020)

• “Steven Belton, the president of the Twin Cities chapter of the Urban League, called the cuts to the police budget misguided and misinformed. He said council members made it an either-or proposition between funding the police and other services when he believed everything was needed…. [In 2020], the city has logged 5,164 violent crimes, up 25.7 percent from last year, according to data from the Minneapolis Police Department. The cuts to the police budget could embolden criminals to think that policing was going away, Mr. Belton said. ‘It’s the wrong optics to the communities that are most impacted detrimentally by violence and the absence of policing and poor policing,’ he said.” (“Minneapolis City Council Votes to Remove $8 Million From Police Budget,” The New York Times, 12/10/2020)

‘The Number Of Slayings In 2020 Dwarfs Anything Louisville Has Seen’

“In 2020, 173 people in Louisville were victims of criminal homicides, according to metro police — shot, bludgeoned, strangled or stabbed to death. Another 20 people were slain in homicides investigated by other Jefferson County police agencies or in cases that didn’t result in criminal charges. The number of slayings in 2020 dwarfs anything Louisville has seen — obliterating the previous record of 117 criminal homicides in 2016…. Of last year’s homicides, 160 were shootings. Another 585 people were shot and survived — another grim milestone.” (“170-Plus Killings And Few Answers: Louisville Besieged By Record Homicides And Gun Violence,” Louisville Courier Journal, 1/01/2021)

• “Louisville is on pace to have another record year for homicides in the city [in 2021]. Community activist Christopher 2X said — as of the end of April — Louisville has now seen the deadliest four-month stretch of gun violence in the city’s history. ‘In four months and three days, we’re at 59 fatals, 218 nonfatals, and we’ve never been in this space before,’ 2X told WDRB News on Monday. ‘We’ve never reached almost 60 homicides this fast.’ 2X said April was the 15th consecutive month with double-digit homicides…. In the first weekend in May, LMPD responded to at least six separate shootings, two of them ending with fatalities.” (“Several Weekend Shootings Put Louisville On Pace For Another Record Year For Homicides,” WDRB, 5/03/2021)
• “As of [April 25], there had been 84% more non-fatal shootings so far this year, with 201, compared to the 109 instances reported during the same time in 2020, LMPD statistics show. There were 56 murders reported as of Sunday — a 75% increase from the 32 reported by April 25, 2020.” (“Louisville Police Department Staffing ‘In Dire Straits’ Amid High Crime Rates, Recruitment Woes: Union,” Fox News, 4/27/2021)

“In November, Louisville social justice organizer Travis Nagdy met with another local leader, Kenneth Forbes, to discuss turning attention to the city’s seemingly intractable violence. ‘The people dying look just like you,’ Forbes, founder of the group Mothers of Murdered Sons and Daughters United, told the 21-year-old Nagdy. ‘We are just asking for help, for compassion, for people to open up their ears and listen. For people to talk about it.’ Days after their meeting, Nagdy was dead, fatally shot in an apparent carjacking.” (“170-Plus Killings And Few Answers: Louisville Besieged By Record Homicides And Gun Violence,” Louisville Courier Journal, 1/01/2021)

“It’s a complicated problem, said Christopher 2X, founder of the Louisville nonprofit Game Changers, which tracks gun violence and supports victims…. 2X noted, Black men haven’t been the only victims. The majority of homicides each year, he said, take place in areas covered by LMPD’s First, Second and Fourth divisions, downtown and in Louisville’s West End. In 2020, though, 51 homicides were reported in areas patrolled by LMPD’s Third, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth divisions — on the outskirts of the city and in some of Louisville’s more upscale neighborhoods. In 2019, just 22 homicides were reported in areas covered by those five divisions. Just as striking, 2X said, is 34 female homicide victims in 2020, a higher number than in previous years. ‘That’s a number that we’ve got to be concerned about,’ he said.” (“170-Plus Killings And Few Answers: Louisville Besieged By Record Homicides And Gun Violence,” Louisville Courier Journal, 1/01/2021)

In New York City, Shootings Nearly Doubled In 2020 While Murders Rose Around 45%

“Homicides and shootings in New York City rose sharply in 2020, New York Police Department officials said Thursday, as police resources were stretched thin by the Covid-19 pandemic and responses to large-scale protests over the killing of George Floyd. The number of murders in the city rose to 462 last year, up nearly 45% from 319 in 2019, according to the NYPD. The increase accompanied a steep rise in gun violence more intense than any seen in the previous 20 years, according to police statistics. The city recorded 1,531 shootings in 2020, 97% more than the 777 in 2019. Data showed the number of shooting victims in the city more than doubled to 1,868 in 2020 from 923 in 2019. The number of shooting victims exceeds the number of shootings because multiple people may be shot in a single incident.” (“New York City Homicides And Shootings Rose Dramatically In 2020,” The Wall Street Journal, 1/07/2021)

• “The major rise in gun violence in the city began in 2020, after a period in which violent crime dropped to its lowest levels in more than six decades. Now, even as New York City emerges from the pandemic, the spike that began as the virus spread last spring has shown no sign of receding: As of the second weekend in May, the city had recorded 505 shooting victims, the most through that point of any year in the last decade. … Murders in New York are at 146 this year, up from 104 over the same period in 2019 and 115 in 2020. … This year, about 96 percent of shooting victims have been Black or Latino, police data shows, similar to previous years. One percent, or seven victims, have been white.” (“The Spike in Shootings During the Pandemic May Outlast the Virus,” The New York Times, 5/14/2021)

“A shooting in Times Square, a spike in gun violence and a spate of high-profile attacks on subway riders have pushed concerns over crime and public safety to the forefront of the New York City mayor’s race, altering the trajectory of the contest as the June 22 primary approaches. A year after the rise of the ‘defund the police’ movement amid an outcry over racial injustice, the primary will offer one of the first tests of where Democratic voters stand as the country emerges from the pandemic but confronts a rise in gun violence in major cities like New York…. As of May 2, 132 people have been killed compared with 113 this same time last year, a 17 percent increase, according to Police Department statistics. There have been 416 shooting incidents compared with 227 this time last year, an 83 percent increase…. Even before the Times Square shooting, there were mounting signs that public safety was intensifying as a concern in New York: a Spectrum News NY1/Ipsos poll released late last month found that ‘crime or violence’ was a major concern for New York Democrats, second only to the coronavirus.” (“Shootings and Subway Attacks Put Crime at Center of N.Y.C. Mayor’s Race,” The New York Times, 5/11/2021)

New Yorkers: ‘Are We Back In The ‘70s And ‘80s?,’ ‘I Want Someone [For Mayor] Who Can Make Us Feel Safer’

“Jade Lundy, a child-care worker who lives in the Bronx, said she has begun taking more precautions because there seems to be an uptick in crime, which she blamed on economic hardship caused by the pandemic. ‘I don’t take out my phone anymore,’ she said Monday afternoon as she headed for the subway to the Bronx, from Times Square. Ms. Lundy, who recently turned 18, said she plans to vote in the mayoral election and has just begun learning about the candidates. ‘I want someone who can make us feel safer,’ Ms. Lundy said. ‘Especially for the women. We have it harder out here.’” (“Shootings and Subway Attacks Put Crime at Center of N.Y.C. Mayor’s Race,” The New York Times, 5/11/2021)

“A spate of crimes targeting Asian-Americans have also alarmed New Yorkers across the city, some candidates say. ‘That makes them very worried about the city, and particularly for people who have lived here a long time,’ said [Kathryn] Garcia, the former sanitation commissioner. For those New Yorkers, she said, some wonder, ‘Are we back in the ‘70s and ‘80s?’” (“Shootings and Subway Attacks Put Crime at Center of N.Y.C. Mayor’s Race,” The New York Times, 5/11/2021)

“‘Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, people that lived here, including myself, you know, we witnessed some pretty nasty stuff,’ said Representative Adriano Espaillat, a New York Democrat. ‘We don’t want to slip back to that. So I think that that’s going to be a major issue with this year’s mayoral race.’ … Diana Ayala, a councilwoman representing East Harlem and the Bronx … said the response from the mayoral candidates to addressing crime will determine if she endorses anyone else for mayor. ‘Citywide, people are alarmed at the numbers of shootings but quite frankly, those numbers have been pretty consistent in my district for the last three and a half years,’ Ms. Ayala said. ‘Every summer, even as we speak, we are planning for what’s to come.’” (“Shootings and Subway Attacks Put Crime at Center of N.Y.C. Mayor’s Race,” The New York Times, 5/11/2021)

San Francisco Is Suffering From A ‘Shoplifting Epidemic’ That Has Forced Stores To Shutter And Even City Officials Now Admit Is ‘Out Of Control’

“[T]he shoplifting epidemic in San Francisco has only worsened. At a board of supervisors hearing [in early May], representatives from Walgreens said that thefts at its stores in San Francisco were four times the chain’s national average, and that it had closed 17 stores, largely because the scale of thefts had made business untenable. Brendan Dugan, the director of the retail crime division at CVS Health, called San Francisco ‘one of the epicenters of organized retail crime’ and said employees were instructed not to pursue suspected thieves because encounters had become too dangerous. ‘We’ve had incidents where our security officers are assaulted on a pretty regular basis in San Francisco,’ Dugan said. The retail executives and police officers emphasized the role of organized crime in the thefts. And they told the supervisors that Proposition 47, the 2014 ballot measure that reclassified nonviolent thefts as misdemeanors if the stolen goods are worth less than $950, had emboldened thieves. ‘The one trend we are seeing is more violence and escalating — and much more bold,’ said Commander Raj Vaswani, the head of the investigations bureau at the San Francisco Police Department. ‘We see a lot of repeat offenders.’” (“San Francisco’s Shoplifting Surge,” The New York Times, 5/21/2021)

• “The cost of business and shoplifting led Walgreens to shut 17 locations in San Francisco in the past five years — an ‘unpopular and difficult decision,’ Jason Cunningham, regional vice president for pharmacy and retail operations in California and Hawaii, said at the hearing…. Theft in Walgreens’ San Francisco stores is four times the average for stores elsewhere in the country, and the chain spends 35 times more on security guards in the city than elsewhere, Cunningham said. At CVS, 42% of losses in the Bay Area came from 12 stores in San Francisco, which are only 8% of the market share, Brendan Dugan, director of organized retail crime and corporate investigations, said at the hearing…. CVS security guards in San Francisco have been assaulted, especially at the now-closed Seventh and Market streets location, Dugan said. Some businesses instead hire costly off-duty police officers.” (“‘Out Of Control’: Organized Crime Drives S.F. Shoplifting, Closing 17 Walgreens In Five Years,” San Francisco Chronicle, 5/25/2021)
• “A statement from Safeway read at Thursday’s hearing blamed Proposition 47, which lowered penalties for thefts under $950, for ‘dramatic increases’ in shoplifting losses…. Professional shoplifters can work the system by stealing items under the threshold from one store and hitting several retailers in the same day.” (“‘Out Of Control’: Organized Crime Drives S.F. Shoplifting, Closing 17 Walgreens In Five Years,” San Francisco Chronicle, 5/25/2021)

“Retailers attributed a majority of losses to professional thieves instead of opportunistic shoplifters who may be driven by poverty, with one CVS leader calling San Francisco a hub of organized retail crime. Losses have shuttered drugstores providing vital services, even more critical during the pandemic as some stores give out vaccines.” (“‘Out Of Control’: Organized Crime Drives S.F. Shoplifting, Closing 17 Walgreens In Five Years,” San Francisco Chronicle, 5/25/2021)

• “For years, John Susoeff walked from his home two blocks to the Walgreens at Bush and Larkin streets — to pick up prescriptions for himself and for less mobile neighbors, to get a new phone card, and to snag senior discounts the first Tuesday of the month. That changed in March when the Walgreens, ravaged by shoplifting, closed. Susoeff, 77, who sometimes uses a cane, now goes six blocks for medication and other necessities. ‘It’s terrible,’ he said. On his last visit before the store closed, even beef jerky was behind lock and key. A CVS nearby shuttered in 2019, with similar reports of rampant shoplifting. ‘I don’t blame them for closing,’ Susoeff said.” (“‘Out Of Control’: Organized Crime Drives S.F. Shoplifting, Closing 17 Walgreens In Five Years,” San Francisco Chronicle, 5/25/2021)

“‘This has been out of control,’ said Supervisor Ahsha Safaí, who held a hearing [May 13^th] with retailers, police, the district attorney and probation departments. ‘People are scared to go into these stores — seniors, people with disabilities, children. It’s just happening brazenly. We can’t just as a city throw up our hands and say this is OK. We have to come up with solutions.’” (“‘Out Of Control’: Organized Crime Drives S.F. Shoplifting, Closing 17 Walgreens In Five Years,” San Francisco Chronicle, 5/25/2021)

• “On Thursday I called Ahsha Safaí, the member of the board of supervisors who organized the hearing. We talked about the thefts we had witnessed in the city and the sidewalk thieves’ markets where steaks, bicycles and other stolen goods are fenced. Safaí said he had recently stopped to inspect one of these markets at 24th and Mission. ‘Half of Walgreens was on the sidewalk. I’m not kidding,’ Safaí said. ‘I was blown away. I’ve never seen anything like it in this city.’ He talked about what he called a laissez-faire attitude in San Francisco. ‘It has become part of the landscape,’ he said of thefts. ‘People say, “Oh, well, that just happens.”‘ Thieves ‘are obviously choosing locales based on what the consequences are,’ Safaí said. ‘If there are no consequences for their actions, then you invite the behavior. Over and over.’” (“San Francisco’s Shoplifting Surge,” The New York Times, 5/21/2021)

As Violent Crime Surges In Cities, Metro Police Departments Are Hemorrhaging Officers While The Remaining Cops ‘Are Demoralized And Pulling Back On Patrolling High-Crime Areas’

“In some liberal cities like Minneapolis, where gun violence is surging and where the Police Department is depleted after so many officers quit or retired, some elected leaders and older clergy members and civil rights leaders are echoing the sentiments of conservative commentators who claim a link between the violence and the movement to defund police departments, saying officers are demoralized and pulling back on patrolling high-crime areas.” (“A Year After George Floyd: Pressure to Add Police Amid Rising Crime,” The New York Times, 5/23/2021)

• “From the crucible of 1992, former gang members in South Los Angeles worked to make peace, often working alongside a new force of police officers dedicated to ‘community policing,’ in which officers worked in specific neighborhoods to establish close relationships with residents. Leon Gullette, who was drawn to activism after 1992, now works for Community Build, which was co-founded by Maxine Waters, a local congresswoman. Mr. Gullette’s specialty is working to achieve truces between rival gangs. Unlike the younger activists with Black Lives Matter, he says working with the police is essential. ‘We can’t operate without the police, so I wouldn’t say defund the police,’ Mr. Gullette said.” (“A Year After George Floyd: Pressure to Add Police Amid Rising Crime,” The New York Times, 5/23/2021)

SEATTLE: “Seattle Police Department (SPD) officers are leaving the job at a ‘record pace’ — with at least 249 people leaving over the past year alone — as statistics show manpower has been declining in recent years, according to union and city officials. SPD boasted a police force of 1,276 uniformed members at the end of February 2020, but staffing levels dropped by 249 people to 1,027 by the end of February 2021, according to the most recent department statistics available to Fox News. … As of last week, 66 officers had left SPD so far this year, Solan said, confirming previous reports from local news. ” (“Seattle Police Department Losing Officers At ‘Record Pace’ Amid Budget Uncertainty, Lack Of Support: Officials,” Fox News, 5/01/2021)

• “Last June, three months into the pandemic and as the protests exploded in Seattle and around the country, officer-initiated calls plunged to a 10-year low. Mostly for that reason, the department’s overall call load dropped by almost half, to about 16,000, by June, according to a Seattle Times analysis. At the same time, the department’s monthly average response time for all remaining calls more than doubled, climbing from about 20 minutes in May to 41 minutes in June. Response times for the most serious 911 calls — known as Priority 1 and Priority 2 calls — increased 48% and 84% respectively, even though commanders repeatedly ordered the department to operate on ‘priority call status.’ That means dispatchers send officers only to Priority 1 and Priority 2 calls such as homicides, robberies and assaults, skipping other calls, such as break-ins.” (“Seattle 911 Response Times Climbed In Summer 2020. Now, Police And Activists Debate What Comes Next,” The Seattle Times, 5/11/2021)

LOS ANGELES: “Like in many major cities, homicides and other forms of violent crime in Los Angeles have risen sharply in the past year, and the LAPD is facing an unexpected staffing shortage. The LAPD was expected to have roughly 9,750 officers at the end of June 2021 — but an increase in retirements and resignations have left the department with about 9,450 officers, which [Mayor Eric] Garcetti is hoping to expand with this year’s budget.” (“Defund The Police Encounters Resistance As Violent Crime Spikes,” CNN, 5/25/2021)

WASHINGTON, D.C.: “The D.C. police force has already grown smaller, from about 3,850 officers in 2019 to around 3,650 today, because of budget cuts lawmakers imposed last year and an increasing number of resignations and retirements. About 90 percent of the department’s budget is spent on personnel.” (“Commission To Reimagine Police In District Grapples With Effort To Defund,” The Washington Post, 3/21/2021)

MINNEAPOLIS: “Nearly 200 Minneapolis police officers have left the department since Floyd’s death, including dozens who filed PTSD claims after the unrest.” (“Minneapolis To Bring In Outside Help To Deal With Surge In Violence,” Star Tribune, 5/24/2021)

• “Minneapolis police are bringing in outside help as they try to temper violence that killed four people this weekend alone, including a college senior who was out celebrating graduation. Mayor Jacob Frey said the city has asked state and federal agencies for assistance, citing the city’s shortage of officers. ‘Safety in our city has to be a priority,’ Frey said at a news conference Sunday, calling the reinforcements ‘really, really critical.’” (“Minneapolis To Bring In Outside Help To Deal With Surge In Violence,” Star Tribune, 5/24/2021)

LOUISVILLE: “Nearly 190 cops left the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) in 2020 and 43 have stepped away from the Kentucky city’s agency so far in 2021, either choosing to retire or resign altogether, as law enforcement officials struggle to recruit new members to make up for a deficit in manpower, authorities and a union spokesperson told Fox News on Tuesday.” (“Louisville Police Department Staffing ‘In Dire Straits’ Amid High Crime Rates, Recruitment Woes: Union,” Fox News, 4/27/2021)

• “Statistics provided by LMPD on Tuesday show the department has hired 26 new members so far this year, while 43 have left. The 1,069-person department falls 255 people short of its ‘authorized strength’ of 1,324 — the number of personnel it is authorized to employ, statistics show.” (“Louisville Police Department Staffing ‘In Dire Straits’ Amid High Crime Rates, Recruitment Woes: Union,” Fox News, 4/27/2021)

NEW YORK: “More than 5,300 NYPD uniformed officers retired or put in their papers to leave in 2020 — a 75 percent spike from the year before, department data show. The exodus — amid the pandemic, anti-cop hostility, riots and a skyrocketing number of NYC shootings — saw 2,600 officers say goodbye to the job and another 2,746 file for retirement, a combined 5,346. … Through April 21 of this year, 831 cops have retired or filed to leave…” (“Are NYPD Officers Rushing To Retire Amid City’s Anti-Cop Climate?,” New York Post, 4/24/2021)

Research | The Leader Board | THE NEWSROOM | Republican Leader (senate.gov)

The National Police Association lobbying group has said that the House hearing into the Jan. 6 Capitol incident is politically motivated, urging Congress to instead investigate left-wing riots that left numerous officers injured last year.

Association spokeswoman Betsy Brantner Smith said in an interview that Congress should hear testimonials from thousands of officers who were injured during demonstrations, riots, arson, and other violence last year following the death of George Floyd.

During the first hearing for the House select committee on the Jan. 6 breach, four police officers offered testimony saying that individuals who entered the Capitol made specific threats against them.

“People need to see that police officers go through horrible things, and Jan. 6 was a horrible thing for some of those officers,” Smith told Fox News. “But, quite frankly, I find this whole Jan. 6 Commission, frankly, a dog and pony show. It doesn’t tell the whole story.”

Later, Smith questioned why the federal government hasn’t provided more information about the shooting death of Ashli Babbitt, one of several Trump supporters who died during the incident, or raised questions about video footage of Capitol Police officers’ interactions with demonstrators on Jan. 6.

“Myself, like millions of Americans, sat there watching the testimony thinking, ‘Wait, where are the police officers who appeared—appeared—to let some of the protesters in?” she asked. “Where is the police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt? In fact, why aren’t we talking about Ashli Babbitt? I mean there’s so much more here.”

On July 27, one of the testifying officers, Daniel Hodges, who works for the Metropolitan Police Department, recounted being allegedly told, “You will die on your knees.”

Hodges said he was kicked in the chest and struck with something heavy in the head as other officers and he clashed with a crowd near the Capitol.

But Smith suggested that the injuries those officers suffered likely paled in comparison to the numerous officers who were injured during riots last year.

“We have a Las Vegas police officer who is still paralyzed from the Black Lives Matter riots,” she told Fox. “We have thousands of police officers around the country who are retiring because of post-traumatic stress because of the riots.

“The 2020 riots, we can’t just say the whole George Floyd thing was bad and that’s what cops have to deal with, and then watch these four weeping men talk about their experiences, ignoring thousands and thousands of police officers, ignoring their feelings and their experiences and their injuries.”

A recent analysis from The Epoch Times in late June showed that major metropolitan police departments are struggling with hiring new recruits and dealing with an increase in retirements or officers quitting amid anti-police rhetoric and activism. Violent crime such as murders, rapes, and robberies has also spiked in most major cities.

Last month, the Portland Police Bureau’s riot squad quit en masse after one of its officers was indicted on an assault charge. The arrest stemmed from violent demonstrations that roiled the Oregon city last year.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Smith said. “I have some cops who would rather go back to Iraq than continue to work on the street, just because of the massive amounts of blood and bodies and everything they deal with that people don’t see.”

The office of Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), head of the select committee, didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.

National Police Association: Congress Should Investigate 2020 Riots, Not Jan. 6 Capitol Breach (theepochtimes.com)

A Sartell-St. Stephen School District student is speaking out after the school required grade-school children to take an equity survey.

Some students didn’t understand some of the surveys questions, but were told by a teacher they couldn’t repeat the survey questions to their parents, according to a video uploaded by Alphanews.

The survey asked questions that some students didn’t understand. Even after hearing an explanation from their teacher, some still couldn’t comprehend the survey questions.

But a teacher told the students they couldn’t ask their parents for help, according to student Haylee Yasgar.

“My teacher said that I could not skip any questions even when I didn’t understand them. One question asked us what gender we identify with. I was very confused along with a lot of other classmates,” Yasgar said during Monday night’s meeting.

She said students were told they could not “repeat any of the questions to our parents.”

The school district hasn’t yet responded to a request for comment. It’s unclear what value a survey holds if respondents don’t understand the questions.

“Being asked to hide this from my mom made me very uncomfortable, like I was doing something wrong,” she told the school board.

The equity survey is part of a reckoning of how school systems nationwide should teach issues related not only to sexuality but as well as race in a state where George Floyd died in police custody last year.

Now that the city settled a lawsuit for $27 million and former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has been sentenced to 22.5 years in prison for third-degree murder and manslaughter, the question now remains how school systems should explain similar events to children.

Some parents call the curriculum divisive while supporters say it’s teaching history and showing how racist attitudes and activities such as redlining are embedded into daily life.

Despite being more than 40 years old, Critical Race Theory (CRT) has evolved to a flashpoint between political parties over the past year.

CRT holds that “the law and legal institutions in the United States are inherently racist insofar as they function to create and maintain social, economic, and political inequalities between whites and nonwhites, especially African Americans,” according to Britannica.

CRT scholars allege many societal problems are rooted in the country’s white majority using laws and other power to suppress the non-white population, whether consciously or subconsciously.

CRT opponents claim its conclusions rely on anecdotes and storytelling, rather than a comprehensive examination of evidence. They say its supporters focus on disproportionate outcomes from those individual stories, incorrectly drawing conclusions about institutional racism and white privilege and failing to take into account strides that the nation has made toward racial equality.

Critics say CRT employs heavy use of the Marxist “struggle” ideology and tactic that advocates for the destruction of history, traditions, and culture of a society.

Around the United States, there has been a growing movement of parents who have become increasingly dissatisfied with the CRT-derived curriculum being taught in their children’s classrooms.

Minnesota Student Says Teacher Told Her to Hide ‘Equity Survey’ Questions From Parents (theepochtimes.com)