CALIFORNIA: Prenatal Marijuana Use By Pregnant Women Up 25% During COVID

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Kaiser Permanente Northern California researchers studied 100,005 pregnancy records of 95,412 women before and during the COVID pandemic. They found that prenatal marijuana use increased 25 percent (from 6.75 percent to 8.14 percent) during the pandemic.

Rates of Prenatal Cannabis Use Among Pregnant Women Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Kelly C. Young-Wolff, PhD, MPH1; G. Thomas Ray, MBA1; Stacey E. Alexeeff, PhD1; et al

JAMA. Published online September 27, 2021. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.16328

Cannabis use among pregnant women is common and has increased in recent years in the US, from an estimated 3.4% in 2002 to 7.0% in 2017.1 Pregnant women report using cannabis to relieve stress and anxiety,2 and prenatal cannabis use may have risen during the COVID-19 pandemic as pregnant women faced general and pregnancy-specific COVID-related stressors (eg, social isolation, financial and psychosocial distress, increased burden of childcare, changes in prenatal care, and concerns about heightened risks of COVID-19).3,4

Considered an essential business in California, cannabis retailers remained open during the pandemic with record sales in 2020.5 We used data from Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC), a large integrated health care delivery system with universal screening for prenatal cannabis use to test the hypothesis that rates of prenatal cannabis use increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

[ … ]

Results

Of 100 005 pregnancies (95 412 women), 26% were Asian or Pacific Islander; 7%, Black; 28%, Hispanic; 34%, non-Hispanic White; and 5%, other, unknown, or multiracial. The patients were a mean age of 31 years (median, 31 years). There were negligible differences in age or race and ethnicity in the 2 periods. During the pandemic, patients completed toxicology testing slightly earlier in their pregnancies (before pandemic mean, 8.51 weeks’ gestation; during pandemic mean, 8.04 weeks’ gestation).

Before the pandemic, the standardized rate of prenatal cannabis use was 6.75% of pregnancies (95% CI, 6.55%-6.95%); that rate increased to 8.14% of pregnancies (95% CI, 7.85%-8.43%) during the pandemic (Figure). In the ITS analysis, we found that prenatal cannabis use increased by 25% (95% CI, 12%-40%; Table) during the pandemic over prenatal cannabis use during the 15 months before the pandemic. The ITS analysis confirmed that these rates before and during the pandemic were stable, with no statistically significant month-to-month trends (Table).

READ THE FULL JAMA STUDY.

©National Families in Action’s The Marijuana Report. All rights reserved.

Unions Quiet As NYC Poised To Fire 7,800 Unvaxxed Teachers

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Unions representing the approximately 7,800 teachers who will lose their jobs have been largely silent about mass firings due to New York City’s vaccine mandate.

New York City teachers must get vaccinated by Friday in order to keep working, The New York Times (NYT) reported. While several New York City unions have criticized the rushed implementation of the mandate and expressed concern over the looming issue of understaffed schools, unions have been largely silent on the issue of firing unvaccinated teachers.

The Council of School Supervisors and Administrators in New York City criticized the city for going forward with the mandate before addressing the impending staffing shortage, calling it “dangerous and irresponsible” to allow schools to operate so understaffed.

The president of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) similarly called for the city to delay the mandate’s implementation, stating that schools “are not ready for the implementation of the vaccine mandate.”

When asked how the union would support unvaccinated workers, a spokesperson for UFT directed the Daily Caller to its vaccine mandate and exemptions page, which explains that teachers without a vaccine or a valid exemption may choose between termination and unpaid leave.

“Permanent medical exemptions … will only be considered where the individual has a documented allergic reaction such that the member cannot receive any of the three authorized COVID-19 vaccines,” the page states.

The American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association, and AFL-CIO did not respond to the Daily Caller’s requests for comment.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city has thousands of substitute teachers on standby, the Wall Street Journal reported. Only about one-third of its chapter leaders believe their schools can open without disruption, according to UFT.

The New York City Mayor’s Office announced Monday that 90% of the city’s approximately 78,000 teachers were vaccinated. Teachers who have not received their first shot by midnight Friday will be removed from payroll Monday morning, according to NYT.

COLUMN BY

Laurel Duggan

Education Reporter.

RELATED ARTICLES:

De Blasio’s Vaccine Passports Will Hit Minority, Poor Communities The Hardest

How Mask Mandates Caused Democrats To Embrace A Longtime Conservative Policy

EDITORS NOTE: This The Daily Caller Column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

FLORIDA: DeSantis Prohibits Florida Agencies From Assisting Biden Admin In Transporting Migrants

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Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order Tuesday barring state agencies from providing assistance to President Joe Biden’s administration in transporting illegal migrants.

Executive Order 21-223 makes it unlawful for Florida’s executive agencies to “provide support or resources to, or in any way assist, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, or any other federal department or agency” in their attempt to move illegal migrants apprehended at the Southern Border across the nation.

“This executive order makes it clear that Florida resources will not be used to prop up the failed open border agenda enacted by this administration,” DeSantis said. He also noted that nearly 250,000 illegal migrants have been released in the U.S. in less than a year of Biden’s presidency, according to a press release.

Additionally, the governor announced a lawsuit against the Biden administration over its “catch and release” policy.

He also appointed former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida Larry Keefe as the state’s Public Safety Czar on Monday. Keefe is responsible for protecting Floridian taxpayers from “reckless immigration policies,” according to the press release.

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a similar executive order in late July, which outlawed non-government entities from providing transportation to migrants.

The Biden administration sued Texas over Abbott’s order and a federal judge issued a temporary halt on the governor’s ban in early August.

COLUMN BY

Shakhzod Yuldoshboev

Contributor.

RELATED VIDEO: Psaki’s Pathetic Explanations About Illegals and Covid.

RELATED ARTICLE: Migrants Revolt Against Bus Driver, Try To Escape Border Patrol In Texas

EDITORS NOTE: This The Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

The Democrats elected a joke and now the world is laughing. But the joke is now on them.

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“I started a joke, Which started the whole world crying, But I didn’t see, That the joke was on me, oh no.” Lyrics from The Bee Gees song “I Started a Joke“

Everyone is now laughing at the Biden administration. Biden and his handlers (he has handlers because he is incompetent) are the laughing stock of the whole world.

What is even sadder is that his policies and political positions are now harming working class Americans. Consumer confidence has now reached a 22 year low. It has not been this low since the DotCom implosion under Bill Clinton.

From Biden’s broken national security policies, to his disaster in Afghanistan, to the ongoing border crisis (the border patrol estimated that illegal aliens will top a million for the month of September), to a dangerous immigration policy, to the Democrat controlled Congress’ bills that raise taxes, increase spending and turn one group against another have many Americans of all races crying.

Biden is now openly anti-American in everything that he, and his administration, does. Americans are today paying over $1.00 more per gallon of gasoline at the pump. Oil prices reached $80 per barrel, double the price under Trump prior to the virus from China. And Biden is just getting started on implementing draconian energy policies to “save the planet” from climate change. Go figure!

Biden’s Mandates

Today the Biden administration’s operative word is “mandate.”

Mandates are not leadership. Mandates are unconstitutional. Mandates are not the law.

Congress passes laws, not Biden.

It seems that political satire is becoming political reality under Biden. But who’s laughing now?

Are those who voted for Biden, legally and illegally, happy now with what is going on?

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll, sponsored by The ANTIFA by Jack Posobiec, for Tuesday shows that 41% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Biden’s job performance. Fifty-eight percent (58%) disapprove. The latest figures include 21% who Strongly Approve of the job Biden is doing and 49% who Strongly Disapprove.

This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -28. (see trends)

Demented Democrats

It appears that Joe is putting the DEM in DEMENTIA.

Each and every day the Democrats push legislation that is doing more and more harm to the working class and building a rift between those who work for a living and those who vote for a living.

“Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.” — Jack Handey

We the people have walked a mile and Biden is bent on leaving all of us shoeless. Biden’s motto is obey or pay.

I wish I could laugh at what Biden and the Democrats are doing but like the Bee Gees sang, “Oh, if I’d only seen, oh yeah, That the joke was on me, oh no, That the joke was on me.”

Is the joke on them or is it on the U.S.? Well we have 3 more years of Joking Joe Biden.

Biden is just another in a long line of tax and spend big government socialists. From FDR to Carter to Clinton to Obama. Socialists one and all. They’re all birds of a feather who flock together to tax the rich and every single working American to death.

Gird your loins. Pray! Our only hope is to retake one or both houses of Congress.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Editor Daily Rundown: Biden Demands Complete Obedience Over COVID Vaccination

Every American Should Be Horrified by What Democrats Hid in Their Spending Bill

RELATED TWEET:

VIDEO: I Started a Joke

Lyrics

I started a joke
Which started the whole world crying
But I didn’t see
That the joke was on me, oh no

I started to cry
Which started the whole world laughing
Oh, if I’d only seen
That the joke was on me

I looked at the skies
Running my hands over my eyes
And I fell out of bed
Hurting my head from things that I’d said

‘Til I finally died
Which started the whole world living
Oh, if I’d only seen
That the joke was on me

I looked at the skies
Running my hands over my eyes
And I fell out of bed
Hurting my head from things that I’d said

‘Til I finally died
Which started the whole world living
Oh, if I’d only seen, oh yeah
That the joke was on me, oh no
That the joke was on me
Oh, no, no, no

©Dr. Rich Swier. All rights reserved.

The Idiocy Of Leftist Beliefs!

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“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled” – Plutarch

Today I give you Chris Wrights thoughts on the stupidity of leftist beliefs. When it is written like this I cannot help but shake my head and try work out how Americans came to this place in our history. How do we get where this even begins to make sense? I have to be honest I worked with a Deputy Sheriff once who was as left as they come. He was spiritually and morally bereft of any common sense and was a sworn socialist. We had at times pretty spirited arguments which at times could be acrimonious but somehow we were able to work civilly together when needed and somehow I knew he would have my back.

When I read what I am publishing here, I just remember him. His sheer hatred of President Trump, anything conservative and the GOP was at times irrationally displayed in his verbiage and language which could make a sailor blush!! ( Not me though! ) I believe he probably would see nothing wrong with what is written below.

On a personal side note I have always been amazed at the number of libtard deputy sheriffs I worked with. I am unable to fathom how you can take an oath to defend and protect the constitution of the United States of America while working politically with those whose sole aim is the destruction of the above mentioned United States of America and its constitution! They are the ones who will obey unconstitutional orders and unlawful orders. They are the ones who will come for your guns. They are the ones who will not be on the right side of history.

Anyway. Enjoy the blog today and as always feel free to share! Thanks Chris!

PS:– I also put a few pictures of the typical leftist fools here, here and here.

Hi all,

I believe the longer minority students sit in their seats, the whiter they get.

I believe the more men give birth, the more manly they become.

I believe there’s a racist behind every bush and we need an inquisition to root them all out.  People should be hauled before Congress and asked, “Are you now or have you ever been a racist?”

I believe heterosexuality is a tragedy, a real tragedy, and somebody should have told my parents that.

I believe 8-year-olds should be able to choose their gender and get drugs from rich psychiatrists without their parents knowing.  If parents object, I believe judges should terminate their parental rights.  Who needs parents and families anyway?  What a stupid old idea.  Everybody knows it takes a village to raise a child and change their gender.

I believe we only have 12 years left before the planet turns into a cinder and we all burn up from climate change.  Oh wait, two years are gone already, so we only have 10 years left.  Better start using those old gift cards now.  Time is running out.

I believe we should all have as small a carbon footprint as we possibly can, except when we’re rioting and looting and burning cities to the ground.  Then the bigger the footprint, the better.

I believe healthcare is a basic human right unless, of course, you’re not vaccinated for COVID, then you shouldn’t get any healthcare at all, even if you’re bleeding out right in front of me.  That’s what I believe.

I believe we shouldn’t have borders because we shouldn’t have countries or nation-states in the first place.  I say we save the whole planet and let everybody in, all 7 billion of them.  We’re all global citizens now.  How do I know?  Because my local school board told me so.  None of them are parents, but they’re experts – they know what’s best for everybody, especially children, that’s what I believe.

I believe there are no facts and there is no truth.  Even if that last statement can’t possibly be true if there is no truth.  … I’m getting confused.  No matter.  I believe if somebody jumps off a 30-storey building and goes splat on the sidewalk below, they didn’t really go splat, it was just a matter of perception.  That may sound like post-modern gibberish to some, but it’s still rock-n-roll to me.

I believe there is no bias in the media, even if they themselves have told me four dozen times they are biased.   I believe everything should be evidence-based, except when I don’t like the evidence, or I need to lie to make my point.  Especially when I need to lie to make my point.  That happens a lot.  But that’s OK, because we’re good people and you’re not.

I believe Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Western Civ has got to go!  We need to stop dating our years from the birth of Christ.  You think it’s the year 2021?  No way!  It’s 104 USSR, 104 years since the birth of the first communist state.  Let’s get our priorities straight here, OK?  While we’re on this subject, why are we still using Monday through Sunday for the days of the week?  Those names were invented by dead white Europeans because of their stupid religion.  I believe all religion is stupid, especially yours.  We should toss those names out because all old ideas are stupid.  We need living, breathing ideas.  We need to make 57-day weeks, and give the days new names to honor each one of the 57 genders.  I believe corporations will give me millions of dollars to promote this idea and, given what they’re funding lately, who’s to say I’m wrong?

I believe everything you say is wrong.  And because you’re wrong, you have no right to say it.  So shut up and listen to me.  I’m not finished!

I believe I belong to a small group of people who have secret knowledge that will bring about heaven on earth.  Only we know how to do this because we’re special.  Everyone else is deplorable.  It’s our secret and we’re not gonna tell you, because you wouldn’t understand it.  We know how you should live your life better than you do.  We know how to spend your money better than you do.  It’s not your money anyway, it’s ours, because YOU DIDN’T BUILD THAT, we did.  If you can’t see that, you’re stupid, and we’ll just force you to do what we say.  You hear me?  We’ll FORCE you.  So, get used to it, you stupid ninnies, because we’re taking over soon, whether you like it or not.  We’re taking over absolutely everything.  We’re creating a paradise for you, right in your front yard, and we will use any means to get there, even if we have to steal elections to do it.  It’s for your own good, after all.  Why can’t you see that?  It’s as plain as the nose on your face.

Hmm… I hear sirens in the distance.  Wait, somebody’s knocking on my door.  They’re wearing white coats.  See you next time.  What am I saying?  Time?  What is this ‘time’?  I’m getting confused again.  Up is down and down is up.  Do you think they’ll give me a padded cell this time?

Visit The Daily Skirmish

©Fred Brownbill. All rights reserved.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki Refuses to Acknowledge Economic Reality Because She Thinks It’s Mean

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Whether Psaki and Biden think that corporate tax hikes should lead to lower wages or high prices is utterly immaterial. They do. 

Ayn Rand famously quipped, “You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s latest viral flub seems perfectly calibrated to confirm the late author’s wise words.

At a Monday press conference, Psaki was confronted by journalists citing data showing that House Democrats’ proposed tax increases would violate President Biden’s pledge not to raise taxes on anyone earning less than $400,000.

In particular, multiple studies have shown that the proposed increase in the corporate tax rate from 21 to 26.5 percent would lead to lower wages for workers and higher consumer prices. (A de facto tax increase for those earning less than $400,000 if not technically a direct one.) The press secretary responded to the journalist’s query by downplaying the potential pass-along costs and simply declaring them immoral.

“There are some… who argue that in the past, companies have passed on these costs to consumers,” Psaki said. “We feel that that’s unfair and absurd and the American people will not stand for that.”

That’s nice. But the laws of economics are unmoved by Psaki’s personal condemnation, and Americans who will bear the real brunt of the tax hike proposals certainly care more about what the practical impact will be than the White House’s moral musings.

Whether Psaki and Biden think that corporate tax hikes should lead to lower wages or high prices is utterly immaterial. They do.

Both a near-consensus of empirical research and basic economic theory confirm this reality. Indeed, a study by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation found that a previous Biden proposal to raise the corporate tax rate to 28 percent—so, slightly higher than the 26.5 percent proposed now—would have shrunk the size of the economy, lowered wages, and eliminated 159,000 jobs. We can safely assume that similar dysfunction would accompany the latest proposal.

Of course, the destructive fallout of their proposed tax hikes is a politically inconvenient reality for the Biden administration. But that’s no excuse for denying or downplaying it. Jen Psaki’s empty moralizing and hand-waving cannot change the laws of economics. Nor will the press secretary’s words comfort workers who bear the brunt of bad policymaking.

WATCH: Reacting to PAINFULLY Dumb Gun Control TikToks

COLUMN BY

Brad Polumbo

Brad Polumbo (@Brad_Polumbo) is a libertarian-conservative journalist and Policy Correspondent at the Foundation for Economic Education.

EDITORS NOTE: This FEE column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. Like this story? Click here to sign up for the FEE Daily and get free-market news and analysis like this from Policy Correspondent Brad Polumbo in your inbox every weekday.

NY Times Issues Correction After Smearing Horse Border Patrol

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The New York Times corrected an article from last week which asserted that horseback Border Patrol agents used their reins to “strike at running migrants. The Times‘ correction states the original version of the article “overstated what is known about the behavior of some Border Patrol agents on horseback.”

“Overstated” is an understatement, or at least a euphemism for “slandered,” since all available evidence absolves the Border Patrol of any of the heinous accusations leveled at them by race-mongering media leftists and grandstanding Democrat leaders.

The Times White House Correspondent Michael D. Shear wrote an article on September 24 in which he reported, falsely, that Border Patrol agents on horseback chased and struck at running migrants with the reins of their horses. Shear also noted that President Biden vowed that Border Patrol agents who mistreated Haitian migrants crossing the Rio Grande would face “consequences.”

Since that article, even the photographer who shot many of the images now at the center of the controversy declared that he “didn’t ever see them [the agents] whip anybody,” and that his photos have “really been misconstrued.”

The Times‘ correction reads: “An earlier version of this article overstated what is known about the behavior of some Border Patrol agents on horseback. While the agents waved their reins while pushing migrants back into the Rio Grande, The Times has not seen conclusive evidence that migrants were struck with the reins.”

Shame on Shears, the propaganda outlet The New York Times, and President Biden for smearing the agents trying to contain the border chaos the leftists have intentionally created.

New York Times (NYT)

92 Known Connections

NYT’s Economic Manifesto

During the first weekend of July 2020, The Times devoted its entire “Sunday Review” section to an economic manifesto titled “The Economy We Need,” calling for: (a) banks to apologize for “structural racism”; (b) the enactment of an Amendment enshrining “voter equality”; (c) wealthy Americans to “give up your privilege.” The manifesto focused on redressing economic inequality — not economic growth or job creation — as America’s main economic challenge. Toward that end, the lead editorial called for the Federal Reserve to target black unemployment only, instead of overall unemployment, and for banks to pay reparations. It also demanded that: (a) banks “apologize for their culpability for and complicity in structural racism” and “commit to serving black people as they do whites”; (b) consumer debt should be cancelled; (c) banking fees be eliminated for black customers; and (d) black homebuyers and businesses be awarded interest-free mortgages and loans.

To learn more about the New York Times, click here.

EDITORS NOTE: This Discover the Networks column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

BLM Leader Rips Race-Baiting de Blasio, Calls Vaccine Mandate ‘Racist’

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My latest in PJ Media is a VIP article. I am happy to be able to offer you a 5% discount on becoming a VIP member at PJ Media. Just enter the code SPENCER when you sign up here.

Could the Left’s authoritarian vaccine overreach herald the breakdown of its coalition? Chivona Newsome, who cofounded Black Lives Matter (BLM) Greater NY, gave an indication of this Sunday when she castigated New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for his citywide vaccine rules, which she said were “racist.” Kevin Downey Jr. asked Thursday: “Will Black People Save the Nation From Vax Passport Mandates?” If Newsome has her way, the answer will be yes.

As Kevin noted, BLM held a protest Wednesday at Carmine’s, where three black women recently attacked an Asian hostess who asked to see proof of their vaccination status. At that protest, Newsome said: “Seventy-two percent of black people in this city from ages 18 to 44 are unvaccinated. So what is going to stop the Gestapo, I mean the NYPD, from rounding up black people, from snatching them off the train, off the bus?”

Who indeed? In the statement she issued on Sunday, Newsome doubled down and hit de Blasio for his hypocrisy: “Although Mayor Bill De Blasio ran on progressives values, nothing in his tenure will attest to his campaign promises. The September 13th vaccine mandate is racist and specifically targets Black New Yorkers. The vaccination passports are modern day Freedom Papers, which limit the free will of Black people.”

There is more. Read the rest here.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

VIDEO: Johnson & Johnson’s COVID Vaccine EXPOSED

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Project Veritas released the third video of its COVID vaccine investigative series today exposing two Johnson & Johnson officials who argue children do not need to take the COVID vaccine in part because of the potential long-term side effects.

Here are some of the highlights from today’s video:

  • Brandon Schadt, Johnson & Johnson Regional Business Lead: “It’s a kid, you just don’t do that, you know? Not something that’s so unknown in terms of repercussions down the road, you know?”
  • Schadt: “Kids shouldn’t get a f*cking [COVID] vaccine.”
  • Schadt: “It’s a kid, it’s a f*cking kid, you know? They shouldn’t have to get a f*cking [COVID] vaccine, you know?”
  • Schadt: “J&J is like stepping in the best smelling pile of sh*t you could step in.”
  • Justin Durrant, Johnson & Johnson Scientist: “Don’t get the Johnson & Johnson [COVID vaccine], I didn’t tell you though.”
  • Durrant: “It wouldn’t make that much of a difference” if children are unvaccinated for COVID.
  • Durrant: “Inconvenience [the unvaccinated] to the point where it’s like, ‘I might as well just f*cking do it [and take the COVID vaccine],’ you know what I’m saying?”
  • Durrant: “It’s almost like — you’re almost like a second-grade citizen if you’re not vaccinated…you can’t do anything that a normal citizen can do.”
  • Durrant: “If you can’t work, I feel like that’s punishment enough… Only way people really act and comply is if it affects their pockets, like if you’re working for a big company and you’re going to lose your job, best believe you’ll be the first one in line [to take the COVID vaccine]…That’s what we’re doing.” 

Watch the video:

More footage exposing Big Pharma will be released by Project Veritas imminently.

Make sure you’re subscribed to the following pages to keep up with the #CovidVaxExposed series:

Project Veritas on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/veritasvisuals

James O’Keefe on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamesokeefeiii/

Project Veritas on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/project_veritas/

James O’Keefe on Telegram: https://t.me/JamesOKeefeIII

Project Veritas on Telegram: https://t.me/project_veritas

*CLICK HERE TO TWEET OUT THE VIDEO*

STAY TUNED!

EDITORS NOTE: This Project Veritas video is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

MIKE PENCE: A History of Treachery and Betrayal

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“Trickery and treachery are the practices of fools that have not the wits enough to be honest.” – Benjamin Franklin

“Sometimes the people you’d take a bullet for are the ones behind the trigger.” – Taylor Swift

“There is no act of treachery or meanness of which a political party is not capable; for in politics there is no honor.” – Benjamin Disraeli

It’s time to take a break from the totalitarian control of citizens via the plandemic and forced jabs.  On December 19, 2020, Mike Pence allegedly received the Moderna COVID-19 jab live on TV.  I have trouble believing any federal politician has actually received the jab because none of them have had adverse effects or died.  But on April 14th, Mike Pence underwent surgery for a pacemaker since his heartbeat had slowed.  In 2016, he had informed candidate Donald Trump that he had a heart diagnosis of an asymptomatic left bundle branch block.  One wonders if Pence actually received the inoculation or if the necessity of a pacemaker was coincidental.

Stalinists v. Trotskyites

Here’s the latest from the comrade in our White House…Joe Biden hates patriotic America so much that he fired Lee Greenwood from the National Council of the Arts.  Greenwood wrote God Bless the USA in 1984 and was appointed to the council by George W. Bush.

Why do I hear no outrage from the Republican Party?  Most folks have figured out that the neo-con Trotskyite republicans aren’t much better than the democrats.  Like Stalin and Lenin, Trotsky was a communist, but he wanted the “slow” acceptance of communism and only murdered three million whereas Stalin and Lenin used iron fists and boots to stomp on any rebellion.  Stalin’s death toll was over 20 million and Lenin claimed the lives of tens of millions of people all over Europe.

The comrades in the Democrat Party are Stalinists, those in the Republican Party are Trotskyites…little difference except for a handful of brave men and women who cling to the truth of our God given rights and the US Constitution.

Back in February of this year, I wrote three successive articles on former VP Mike Pence.  The first article exposed his lifelong congressional friends.  The second article was about his upbringing, his voting record from the time he entered politics, the people he chose for the Trump administration, and his failure of every job President Trump tasked him with, including the hellish nightmare of the Covid Task Force with Fauci and friends.  The third and final article in the series was about the people who funded Pence throughout his political career, big name people who still support him.

Koch Organizations

The Koch brothers have been long time friends and financial supporters of Michael Pence. Accordingly, VP Pence stacked his own office with former Koch brothers’ employees.  Even Kellyanne Conway was affiliated with the Kochs, and she and Pence have been good friends for years and even have family members who have intermarried.  In June of 2017, 16 of 23 senior white house officials had ties to the Koch brothers, including Reince Priebus, Jeff Sessions, Mick Mulvaney, Rob Porter and Don McGahn.  Even Treasury Secretary Mnuchin helped the Kochs out with a change in tax laws.  The Trump administration was packed full of Koch operatives, brought in by their water boy, Mike Pence. Here is a shocking list of the Trump transition team Koch beneficiaries.

The Koch organizations, including Americans for Prosperity, are anathema to Constitutional conservatism.  They prefer open borders with cheap labor, amnesty for illegals, across the board abortion, Agenda 21 sustainability and environmentalism and the financing of American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) who has promoted an Article V Constitutional Convention for decades.

Dick and Betsy DeVos

Financial support from Dick and Betsy DeVos commenced when Pence first entered politics.  Betsy DeVos is known for her support for school choice, school voucher programs, and charter schools.

Betsy and Dick DeVos were impressed by Pence’s support for their pet project of charter schools.  One wonders if Pence and DeVos back American tax-funded charters by Islamic Imam Fethullah Gulen, Rudolph Steiner’s Anthroposophical Waldorf Schools and Communist Chinese charter schools.  Chinese investors are putting millions into Florida Chinese charters.

Pence’s devoted financier, Betsy DeVos was nominated for Education Secretary after Michelle Rhee was dropped. DeVos donated to Bush’s unsuccessful presidential campaign and was lauded by Jeb Bush as she previously sat on the board of his Foundation of Excellence in Education which promoted common core. The two share an education reform policy that supports the transfer of public dollars to privately run schools, such as for-profit charter schools and voucher programs that use taxpayer funds to pay for private schools.

Columnist Diane Kepus researched Betsy DeVos and knew she would be a disaster; her two articles on DeVos are well worth your time, Link and Link, and her fears were well founded.

Mike Pence played an important role in the confirmation of DeVos for Education Secretary. Amid protests from Democratic critics and teachers’ unions that DeVos, a billionaire charter school supporter with no public-school experience, was unqualified for the position, the Senate deadlocked in a 50-50 tie. Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined their Democratic colleagues in voting against DeVos. Normally we wouldn’t laud their votes, but this time they were right.  On February 7, 2017, Vice President Pence cast the historic tie-breaking vote to confirm her, the first-time a vice president has been called on to break a tie in a cabinet nomination.

DeVos announced her resignation on January 8th, 2021 in the wake of the assault on the U.S. Capitol. She said in her resignation letter to President Trump there is “no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me.”

On September 25th at a Republican Leadership conference in Mackinac Island, DeVos implicitly criticized the GOP’s ongoing capture by former President Donald Trump insinuating that Trump supporters were like a cult, when it’s Betsy and her ilk who are the real cultists.

Heritage Foundation

Mike Pence joined The Heritage Foundation as a distinguished visiting fellow in February 2021 after serving four years as President Trump’s VP.  They are old friends.  Three decades ago, it was The Heritage Foundation’s influence that inspired Pence to help create a think tank in his home state of Indiana. After coming to Washington as a congressman and later as vice president, Pence frequently collaborated with Heritage.

In 1991, Pence became president of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation (IPRF), which is part of the State Policy Network in Indiana. Link  They are satellite affiliates of the Heritage Foundation whose goals and interests are similar to the Koch’s.  The IPRF was a small group back when Pence was their president, but in the years since, it has amassed an enormous budget thanks in great part to the largess of the Koch network of donors and others.

Pence now advises Heritage experts on public policy issues and ensures Heritage remains the leading conservative voice on solutions to America’s biggest challenges. Pence also writes a monthly column for The Daily Signal, Heritage’s multimedia news outlet.

Heritage is well-known controlled opposition.  They are funded by long time pro-aborts and Council on Foreign Relations members.  Heritage fellow Richard Allen (CFR member) wrote NAFTA, and Stuart M. Butler wrote a Heritage monograph mandating all households obtain adequate health insurance.

In early August of 2021, Pence spoke at Young America’s Foundation, an “associate” member of the State Policy Network, and was immediately booed when he told them to get the COVID jab, despite telling the audience that he and his wife Karen and their children had all had the inoculations.

Pence and the Leadership Institute

A few months ago, I received a 12-page letter from Mike Pence extolling the virtues of Morton Blackwell’s Leadership Institute and pressing me for a large donation.  I saved the 12-pages, and last week I received another letter from David Horowitz asking me to pledge funds to the same organization.  Mr. Horowitz is now promoting an Article V Constitutional Convention.

Morton Blackwell is a long-time member of the rightwing Council for National Policy (CNP), and back in the late 90s he was urging a chaplain friend of mine to join the CNP.  One Sunday, Blackwell took my friend to his Episcopal Church in DC, and the female preacher asked for prayer for her husband as he was an abortion doctor and was doing a particularly difficult abortion that morning.  The chaplain was horrified, got up and left, and refused to join the council.

The Leadership Institute is also an “associate” member of the State Policy Network.  Their past students include:

  • Mitch McConnell (who in 2020 had a Freedom Index score of 20, which means he voted against President Trump and the US Constitution 80% of the time. Don’t forget that he and his wife Elaine Chao are very connected to a Chinese shipping company through Chao’s father and sisters.
  • David McIntosh – head of pro-amnesty Club for Growthwho spent $2 million to defeat Donald Trump in Iowa in 2016.  McIntosh was also a co-founder of the Federalist Society.  Kellyanne Conway and her husband are members and they urged Trump to use the Federalist Society for a list of possible supreme court justices.  (Mike Pence urged Trump to also use the Heritage Foundation for possible justices.)
  • Grover Norquist – head of Americans for Tax Reform and board member of the National Rifle Association is also married to a Palestinian Islamist and has allegedly become one himself. Norquist has a strange alliance with radical Islam and introduced the Muslim Brotherhood to the George W. Bush White House. Frank Gaffney has fully exposed Norquist.
  • Ralph Reed – originally the head of Christian Coalition for Pat Robertson and mailed out voter guides where many true constitutional conservatives were lied about or ignored and neo-con RINOs and Trotskyites were promoted. Reed was also involved with Jack Abramoff who went to prison for the Native American Lobbying scandal.  According to Abramoff’s book, Capitol Punishment, Reed made at least $5 million and should have gone to prison with Jack.  Abramoff also promotes his friend Grover Norquist in his final chapters.
  • Mark Souder – Congressman from Ft. Wayne, Indiana who promised to serve only six terms, but ran for a seventh and resigned when he was exposed for having an affair with a married part-time staffer.

Mike Pence’s good friend, Nikki Haley also endorses and promotes the Leadership Institute.  Many people believe Nikki would make a fine President or Vice President, because she did what her boss, President Trump, asked her to do at the UN.  One of Trump’s business friends in South Carolina called him in early 2017 and asked him to give Haley a position in his administration.  He told Trump that their Lt. Governor was far more conservative and South Carolina needed to be rid of Haley.  After January 6th, 2021, Nikki Haley excoriated her former boss by saying, “We shouldn’t have followed him.”

The old saying, “Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than open it and have it known,” describes Haley to a T.

Advancing American Freedom

Mike Pence joined the advisory board of Advancing American Freedom with several former Trump hands, including his close friend, Kellyanne Conway, Larry Kudlow and David Bernhardt.

The advisory board includes a number of heretical doctrine “Christians” who are confirmed dominionists, several neo-con Trotskyites, and even members of the Council on Foreign Relations.  My friend, JW Bryan has thoroughly exposed the CFR in his articles as a globalist enemy organization within America.  Pence’s old Indiana buddy, David McIntosh is also on the board as are several people who are promoting an Article V Constitutional Convention.

John Guandolo Exposes Pence

In this video starting at 5:10, John Guandolo exposes VP Mike Pence and his actions during his four years as Donald Trump’s VP.

He states that when Pence was Governor of Indiana and John’s organization, Understanding the Threat, was doing work in Indiana, “Pence had no desire to hear or deal with the truth about jihadi threats in Indiana.  The Islamic site of North America’s headquarters is there in Plainfield, Indiana, and Indiana is one of the three states where the Muslim Brotherhood settled in the United States in the early 60s, and he did nothing. Even though we were working with state legislators, who got it, we couldn’t get him to budge, but that’s a different story.”

John states, “On January 5th, there was a massive meeting in the Trump Hotel in Washington DC with every major player, ten US Senators, their staffs, all the key players in the entire voter fraud game.  The president’s staff and the VP had people there and people who I know directly. I have looked at their briefs and looked at the information and been briefed about what was apprised there regarding the evidence of the fraud and it’s undeniable.  It’s factually rock solid.  Mr. Pence agreed that he would go with what the decision was.  He was going to do a number of things, but essentially, for the sake of this discussion, he pushed it back to the states.  There were some other things he agreed to do, investigative stuff, and before the clock struck midnight on the 5th, he recanted and told the president, I’m not going to do it.  We know that somebody met with Mr. Pence and we still haven’t identified who it was who got him to turn, but I think Mike Pence is a turd and I think he’s a traitor.”

“He was the guy in the Trump administration who was leading the Republican establishment turncoats and there’s more evidence than just what I’m saying right now.  Just that one point should be enough to make people realize that guy is not batting for the American people in any way, shape or form.”

The interviewing host is absolutely right when she said that Donald Trump supporters have been labeled domestic terrorists.  “The Revolutionary Movement against the Constitutional Republic all said that the people at the capitol on January 6th were involved in a coup and were insurrectionists, when in fact they were the people the Dems supported for the previous year…the Antifa and BLM communist agitators on the streets of America. They openly supported them and everything that supports that ideology.”

“Mr. Trump’s greatest failure was to rely on the RNC to fill his administration and they filled it, not with Phil Haney, not with Stephen Coughlin, not with Rich Higgins (fired by McMaster), not with people who actually knew the threat.  They intentionally blocked those people.  John Gallagher, one of the two people vetting national security positions, was the CEO of the Institute for Global Engagement, a Muslim Brotherhood political think tank front in Washington DC.  He was the guy the RNC put in there to screen national security positions.  That’s why you got only bad guys in the administration.”

Pence in 2024

Pence and his wife Karen have always wanted the presidency, but what he doesn’t understand is the fact that he followed the advice of his good friends from Congress, Paul Ryan and Jeff Flake, rather than standing with the man who gave him the chance to one day lead the country.  Pence is our 21st Century Benedict Arnold…he stabbed the president in the back and the Republic in the heart.

He’s working on an $18 million war chest.  His group, Advancing American Freedom, is shaping up as a vehicle for testing the waters and building the infrastructure needed for a White House bid.  The group is staffed by some of Pence’s top allies and ex-aides, including former Koch employee and Pence chief of staff Marc Short, political adviser Marty Obst and former senior Trump White House staffer Paul Teller.

Pence is touring states and lecturing on election integrity after previously refusing to address it.  Unlike James Comey who is a guest lecturer at Howard University, the same university exposed in Manning Johnson’s book, Color, Communism and Common Sense, as being loaded with communists, Pence is lecturing on something he knows nothing about.  Not surprisingly, Federal Judge Emmett Sullivan who was in charge of General Michael Flynn’s case and would not dismiss it, received his undergraduate degree and JD from that very university.

Pence has become persona non grata amongst Trump supporters; someone needs to tell him his political career is over and lock both him and his frumpy control-freak wife in a closet.  I’d go further, but this is for public fare.  When Pence allowed the certification of Biden as the winner under very shady circumstances and then elbow bumped with Pelosi, we saw it all.

Pence admits that he is proud Biden was certified on January 6th, but there are over eighty million Americans who know the truth.

Conclusion

Few people know that America’s Front-Line Doctors headed by Dr. Simone Gold who is also an attorney, went to VP Pence in July of 2020 and told him that if President Trump made Hydroxychloroquine and over-the-counter drug as it is in so many other countries, that lives would be saved as well as the President’s second term.

She told Pence, “Once it’s Over-the-Counter, there’s nothing Congress can do, there’s nothing the doctors and pharmacists can do to stop it…They were going to hold this coronavirus thing over him [Trump], so if the death rates went down to zero, it would have been beautiful.”

She said she met obstruction at every turn.

Mike Pence truly is a modern-day Judas.

©Kelleigh Nelson. All rights reserved.

SHARIA AMERICA: California Schools Prepare for Influx of Afghan Students, Offer ‘Culturally Appropriate’ Halal Meals, Muslim Prayer Rooms

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Don’t dare ask where the Jewish or Christians prayer rooms are, islamophobes!

It is widely known that Muslims are the only immigrant group who come to the West with a ready made model of society they believe to be superior to Western law and they work furiously, by all means, to impose it. Under Islam, shariah (Islamic) law supersedes Western law. Anywhere Western law and Shariah law conflict, it is always Western law that must give way. What those of us working in defense of freedom did not expect, was the craven capitulation and cowardice by Western left elites to Islamic supremacy.

I don’t worry about the fanaticism of the enemy, I worry about the treachery on our side.

And the Democrats are only to happy to have America submit.

California Schools Prepare for Influx of Afghan Refugee Students, Offer ‘Culturally Appropriate’ Meals, Set Aside Rooms For Prayer During Muslim Holidays

By: Cristina Laila, The Gateway Pundit, September 25, 2021 at 8:41pm

Even halal food and provided prayer rooms.

Elk Grove Unified School District is preparing halal food and providing prayer rooms during Muslim holidays.

Joe Biden purposely turned Afghanistan over to the Taliban and packed evacuation planes with tens of thousands of unvetted Afghans and flew them to the US.

The Afghans are being dispersed all over the country and California agreed to take in at least 5,000 refugees.

The majority of Afghans being brought to California will live in Fremont and Sacramento.

The San Juan Unified School District where more than half the population is Afghan, hired a team (with the help of state grants) to help with the influx of refugees.

EdSource reported:

Elk Grove Unified School District began offering culturally appropriate meals and setting aside rooms in many of its middle and high schools for prayer during Muslim holidays in preparation for the additional Afghan students it expects in the next month. San Juan Unified is offering Saturday school for English learners, and Fremont Unified is planning to hire more translators.

Sacramento school officials have been meeting weekly with representatives from resettlement agencies to prepare for the students. Resettlement agencies partner with the federal government to ensure refugees have food, clothing and housing, as well as medical and mental health services, among other things, for 90 days after their arrival in a city. After that, school districts often take on the role of liaison between the family and social service organizations, offering translators and guidance.

California school districts with Afghan student populations are offering wraparound services for refugee families, including dedicated staff to enroll students in school, language classes for parents and students, and translators to help explain schoolwork or make medical appointments. Districts also refer families to community resources that provide food, housing and medical care, among other services.

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Antisemitic ‘Biden’ Administration Distances America From Iraqi Leaders Who Call for Peace with Israel

Why Is Germany Giving $117 Million — Or Any Aid At All — to the Palestinians?

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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VIDEO: Massachusetts State Troopers Resign En Masse Over Mask/Vax Mandates

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The Democrats are deliberately destroying the country. And they’re not even pretending anymore. Things don’t just happen, they are made to happen. Labor shortages, food shortages, gas shortages and dictatorial mandates – it’s the bloody Soviet Union.

Mind you this is happening across Europe:

Massachusetts State Troopers resign en masse…

By Kane, Citizen Free Press, September 27, 2021:

Troopers are not happy with Charlie Baker

The State Police Association of Massachusetts said dozens of troopers have submitted their resignation papers as a result of the Vaccine mandate. The state is requiring all executive department employees to show proof of vaccination by October 17.

The State Police union released a statement following the judge’s decision:

Throughout Covid, we have been on the front lines protecting the citizens of Massachusetts and beyond. Simply put, all we are asking for are the same basic accommodations that countless other departments have provided to their first responders, and to treat a Covid related illness as a line of duty injury.

The State Police are already critically short staffed and acknowledged this by the unprecedented moves which took troopers from specialty units that investigate homicides, terrorism, computer crimes, arsons, gangs, narcotics, and human trafficking, and returned them to uniformed patrol.

Full story with photos at DailyMail…

Here’s the full event:

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

German Journalist: Police Classify Anti-Semitic Attacks Committed by Muslims as ‘Right-Wing’

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Then politicians bemoan a rise in “right-wing extremism.” It’s quite an impressive house of cards they’ve built.

German newspaper complains that crime statistics on anti-Semitic attacks are manipulated to hide Muslim perpetrators

Medforth, September 25, 2021:

German politics misses the point when it comes to anti-Semitism. Journalist Lennart Pfahler is convinced of this. As he writes in the early edition of the newspaper “Welt am Sonntag” ( September 26), Muslim anti-Semitism is still taboo in Germany.

Whoever names it must fear being called a “right-winger” or a “fig leaf” if they are Muslim themselves. This is a “criminal failure of discourse”: “Apart from the police crime statistics, which have been blatantly misleading for years and which automatically classify alleged anti-Semitic crimes as ‘right-wing’ motivated if they cannot be attributed to anything else, there is little to support the convenient thesis of the marginal phenomenon.

In a survey by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 41 per cent of Jews in Germany said they felt most threatened by Islamic anti-Semitism.

Conservative politicians and Jewish associations regularly pointed out the problem. Too often, the response from “left-liberal columnists and Muslim activists” was appeasing. The debate about the broadcaster Nemi El-Hassan shows how much the fight against anti-Semitism has degenerated into a political question of opinion.

Background: German public broadcaster WDR wanted to hire the journalist as a presenter. After protests – among other things because of El-Hassan’s participation in an anti-Israel Al-Quds demonstration – WDR suspended its decision. Prominent voices now wanted to stall the reappraisal of the case, Pfahler writes. Especially for those Muslims who tried to address the issue in their own community, this defensive attitude was a slap in the face….

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New York Times Caught Spreading Fake News…AGAIN

Nigeria: Chief Imam for prisoners was Boko Haram jihadi, aided jailbreak with assault rifle

Democratic Republic of the Congo: Muslims murder eleven people in jihad massacre at shopping mall

Pakistan: Muslim murders his two sisters in the name of honor; they were angry at their in-laws

Iran denies IAEA access to site where cameras were damaged, after previously agreeing

India: Muslim cleric plots to murder Hindu who converted to Islam for marriage and later returned to Hinduism

EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

New Wine Company is an Unabashed Cheerleader for America [+Video]

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It’s becoming a popular fad for companies to focus on America’s so-called faults, not our freedoms.

Bank of America (1.00): “All Americans need to see racism as a national issue.”

American Express (1.00): “George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and Christian Cooper are just the latest victims… that indicate we still have a very long way to go as a nation to ensure that the human rights of all people are respected equally.”

Amazon (1.62): “The inequitable and brutal treatment of Black people in our country must stop.”

It doesn’t stop with corporations, either. This pervasive anti-American sentiment is also being passed on to our children. Several weeks ago, a California teacher removed an American flag from her classroom “because it made [her] uncomfortable.” She told her students to pledge allegiance to the LGBT Pride flag, instead.

Clearly, the cultural war on America is in full swing. Thankfully, some courageous organizations are fighting back, branding themselves as unabashed cheerleaders for our nation’s values. We the People Wine (3.68) is one of these companies, offering an alternative to wine-drinkers who proudly stand for our founding principles like freedom and equality.

We the People Wine is intentional about combating the anti-American orthodoxy pushed by many cultural and corporate icons. When he appeared on Fox & Friends last month, founder Ryan Coyne said, “We wanted to build a brand about American exceptionalism. Free people, free markets, free speech – all the values we think are under attack by world culture.”

Every We the People Wine bottle proudly features an American flag, and a portion of proceeds goes toward pro-American causes. Their recent advertisement, which went viral, features a near-prophetic President Ronald Reagan reminding us that freedom in America must be fought for.

That’s exactly what We the People Wine is doing. With their entrance into the market, wine-drinkers who love America now don’t have to buy from wine companies such as Barefoot (2.67) or Constellation Brands (2.67), which 2ndVote shows lean left. Instead, use your wallet to support your American values. To order a bottle (or two!) from We the People Wine today, click here and remember to thank them for what they are doing!

Use your voice to call out Barefoot and Constellation Brands to let them know why you will not continue shopping with them. Click the company names so that you can contact them directly through the 2ndVote page!

EDITORS NOTE: This 2ndVote column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

VIDEO: Virginia Mother of Six Raises Hell About School Library Keeping Gay Pedophilia Books for Kids

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Parents must know what their children are being taught in our public schools.

100PERCENTFEDUP.com published the following video and commentary By Leisa Audette:

Virginia mom Stacy Langton spoke at a recent Fairfax County Public School Board Meeting as a very concerned parent. She spoke about her concern for the content of books found in the school library.

The video clip below shows Stacy Langton who told the school board that she was able to check out the two books at the Fairfax High School library she had seen other parents protest:

“Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison and “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe

Langton told the school  board: Both of these books include pedophilia. Sex between men and boys … One book describes a fourth-grade boy performing oral sex on an adult male. The other book has detailed illustrations of a man having sex with a boy.”

©100PERCENTFEDUP.com. All rights reserved.

RELATED VIDEO: VA mom goes viral for confronting school board over explicit books.

Has the time come to regulate social media?

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The brilliant Nicholas Carr has proposed a Digital Communications Act.

Nicholas Carr is a writer whose book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, published in 2010, gained considerable attention by pointing out how new technologies have affected our basic thought processes, and not always in a good way.

In the fall 2021 issue of The New Atlantis journal, he proposes a legislative initiative he calls the Digital Communications Act that would, if adopted, go far toward alleviating some of the worst harms that social media currently cause. But to understand the thrust of his proposals, a little historical background is in order.

Electronic media basically do two different kinds of things: personal communication and broadcasting. Until the internet came along, these two different activities were done by more or less completely different kinds of technology. The telegraph and telephone are classic examples of the first kind: personal communication, one person to another. As regulations evolved in the 20th Century to deal with issues of privacy arising from the fact that telegraph and telephone operators could eavesdrop on personal communications through their systems, legislatures and courts came up with what is called a “common-carrier” doctrine.

Borrowed from the transportation field, the concept of a common carrier is that some industries do things that are so vital to the public good that they need to be regulated in order to enforce goods such as fairness and privacy.

The first quasi-independent federal agency of any magnitude, the Interstate Commerce Commission, was established to enforce common-carrier rules on railroads, which had previously engaged in discriminatory and predatory pricing to exploit farmers who had no other way to sell their crops in wider markets than local ones.

When Western Union and the Bell System came along, the federal government applied common-carrier rules to them. The tariffs, as they were called, could get quite complicated, but the overarching principle was simple: treat all communications as private and treat all (or most) customers the same.

Broadcasting, on the other hand, had to be treated differently once people figured out that one person in a studio could potentially talk to millions of others nationwide. The Federal Radio Commission of 1927, predecessor to the current Federal Communications Commission (FCC), came up with a phrase that described how broadcasters must treat the privilege, granted by an FCC license, of addressing thousands or millions at once: “the public interest, convenience, or necessity,” sometimes abbreviated PICON.

Over the decades, PICON has dictated how broadcasters must behave in order to retain their broadcasting privileges. As the nature of the public changes continually, PICON standards change as well. From the 1940s through the 1980s, the FCC imposed what was called the “fairness doctrine,” which required broadcasters to give equal time to opposing sides in a political contest, for example. After the FCC abandoned the doctrine in 1987, religious and partisan political broadcasting flourished, but the net benefit to the public is debatable, to say the least.

When the internet came along, it put all these nice separate types of communication in a super-speed blender and mixed them all together. From the same computer, I can email one friend, or if I’m a super-influencer, I can send the same image of my latest clothing style to ten million people. But the two categories—personal communication and broadcasting—still apply, and it’s not that hard to separate them by either intent or by statistical means.

As Carr puts it, “An Instagrammer [or an engineering ethics blogger] with a hundred followers can be assumed to be engaged in conversation; an Instagrammer with a hundred thousand followers is a broadcaster.” Carr says—and I agree with him—that the psychological or humanistic categories of personal communication and broadcasting are still useful and should be used to discriminate between two types of regulation that his proposed Digital Communications Act would apply to social media and internet service providers.

For personal communications, ranging from emails, to Facebook posts to a few friends, to search-engine inquiries, the Act would require companies to respect one’s privacy. No more searching for snow shovels online and getting buried in emails and pop-ups for snow shovels, dirt shovels, and snow cones. No more talking about driving to a fast-food outlet and having your phone overhear your conversation and throw ads at you for that chain, or a rival one. We’ve almost gotten used to it, but I know people who have gotten used to living with cancer. That doesn’t mean it’s a good thing to have cancer.

For broadcasting, which means anything anybody does that reaches more than a certain threshold number of people, something like the old PICON doctrine needs to be imposed. Carr is perhaps intentionally vague on what a 2021-era version of the fairness doctrine would look like. Much of the really harmful stuff that runs around the internet is spontaneous, as “going viral” is not something one particular person can infallibly bring about. But the process itself is easily monitored and encouraged by the social media companies, as things like that are their bread and butter. And it wouldn’t be hard to set up rules or software to regulate the process—technically, I mean.

Politically, it’s another can of worms altogether. In what could qualify as the understatement of the year, Carr says his proposed Act “would be complicated and controversial. It would be resisted by many powerful private interests.”

Yes, only Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, well, you know the list. It would be opposed mainly because it would cut off one of their main revenue streams, which is advertising targeted by means of snooping into your private communications, and that would be barred under the Act. A snowball has an excellent chance inside Mt. Vesuvius compared to this bill, at least under present circumstances.

But times and circumstances change, and maybe some day an outrage may occur that is so universally deplored that the political will of the country will favour such a move. As Carr points out, it was the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 that catalyzed international regulation of the radio waves, because interfering stations made it hard to conduct rescue operations by radio. We have had numerous political disasters that social media have played a part in, but nobody has been killed yet, at least not directly.

Anyway, I think Carr has done us all a great service in basing his argument for a Digital Communications Act on a sound historical footing, and now all we need to do is enact it. Stay tuned, so to speak.

Sources: Nicholas Carr’s article “How to Fix Social Media” appeared on pp. 3-20 of the Fall 2021 issue of The New Atlantis.

This article has been republished from the Engineering Ethics blog.

COLUMN BY

Karl D. Stephan

Karl D. Stephan received the B. S. in Engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1976. Following a year of graduate study at Cornell, he received the Master of Engineering degree in 1977… More by Karl D. Stephan

EDITORS NOTE: This MercatorNet column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

What does it mean to be an American? by Lieutenant Jason Redman, U.S. Navy SEAL (Ret.)

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“When you can’t change the direction of the wind — adjust your sails.” – H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Today’s blog was written by a friend of mine, Lieutenant Jason Redman, U.S. Navy SEAL, retired. His story is truly remarkable. A story of true American bravery. He is a modest man with an incredible family.

He has written several books, his first and my best named “the Trident.” You can purchase it on Amazon and it should be required reading for all Americans. He is a motivational speaker and some of you may remember him speaking at the Tampa Save America Foundation conference. Do yourselves a favor and read every word here. Then share it with friends and family and especially your kids. I have included a lot of links at the bottom for you to research him more. Also a link to where you can donate to the dangerous work he is doing now with Task Force Pineapple. Why does he do it? Simple. Because he is an American.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE AN AMERICAN?

By Lieutenant Jason Redman, U.S. Navy SEAL, retired.

These days I’m asked on an hourly basis about my involvement in Task Force Pineapple, a citizen-liaison network formed by the need to protect the lives of Americans and our most dedicated allies left behind with the chaotic and expedited withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. During a one-week period between the fall of the Afghan government and military and our official final exit, Task Force Pineapple successfully evacuated more than 800 Americans, Afghan veterans, interpreters and various VIPs utilizing a first-of-its-kind virtual underground railroad mechanism dubbed The Pineapple Express. We reasonably believed that these efforts were necessary to prevent the immediate threat of serious bodily injury or death to fellow American citizens and our Afghan allies. A thousand or more stories represent as many people assisted or saved.

The members of Task Force Pineapple managed to do all of this from right here within the U.S., but it required us leveraging our collaborative knowledge of Afghanistan and good relationships built with allies and friends around the world.

Why do I do this? Because I believe it is the right thing to do.

We’re Americans. It’s what we do.

For generations in my lifetime, it meant something to be an American citizen. We cared about such virtues as honor and integrity, and we acted accordingly. We upheld a distinctive sense of pride and a standard of respect for who we are as a nation of people unified in this mindset, and other countries knew not to mess with Americans overseas because we would expend everything in our power — diplomatically, politically and militarily — to protect the lives and freedoms of our people.

I recall a story told over the years by Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North to illustrate the kind of commitment and integrity ingrained in U.S. troops based throughout the world: On April 6, 2003, the U.S. Marine unit with which North was embedded was just outside Baghdad when their rifle company was ambushed. A foreign journalist for an international news agency filmed as a young Navy corpsman, a combat medic to the Marines, twice turned and rushed through the fire, straight into the fight, and returned from the densely chaotic battlefield carrying an injured Marine to safety. As he returned from a third run, carrying a third injured man over his shoulder, the journalist called him out to this effect: Hey, mate, what’d you do that for? Didn’t you notice that wasn’t a Marine? The newsman was right. The wounded warrior wasn’t a U.S. Marine. He was an Iraqi soldier. And as North tells it, the Navy corpsman responded with a rhetorical “Didn’t you notice? He was wounded. That’s what we do. We’re Americans.”

As a Navy SEAL, I recall gearing up for a mission in Iraq to possibly rescue a U.S. Marine and Army soldier who had been captured. Never before had I had such a powerful sense of pride and peace of mind knowing that if I were to die on this mission, I would die perfectly content having done the right thing. To me, that’s the essence of being an American. And the fact that we left American citizens behind in Afghanistan in the hands of a violent and extreme Taliban regime, that we were not extraordinarily aggressive and immediate about getting them out ASAP, is disturbing to me. And I believe it should bother every American — those in government especially — that we left so many behind who trusted in our promise, our values and our commitment.

We’re Americans. And that behavior doesn’t represent us. Americans operate with honor and integrity — It’s what we do. Task Force Pineapple is an expression of that mindset.

“Honoring the Promise”

To call myself an American means something. And there is a responsibility that comes with being an American citizen — and it especially applies for those in American government — to honor our promise to take care of the people who have taken care of us.

These amazing warriors and Afghan allies fought directly alongside us. They willingly put themselves and their families at extreme risk by assisting us as interpreters, intelligence gatherers and in other mission-critical roles as we fought to protect their citizens and ours from those bent on destroying us all.

They all knew they might die for the cause. And many of them did. Some had family members who were murdered as punishment for their efforts.

Today as Afghanistan has fallen and is now back in the control of the Taliban, we must save them. Task Force Pineapple knows who and where these at-risk people are. They trust us. TFP alone is aware of thousands of high-risk SIV holders and their family members in Afghanistan still trying to get out. But the border has been locked down, flights are not available, and our original mission is no longer possible. For now, we are focused on keeping our people safe inside Afghanistan with such essentials as layup sites, shelter, food, clothing and medical necessities.

For example:

Last month, an at-risk Afghan family who had been working with U.S. government and military forces had been directed onto buses with some 250 others outside the gates of Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA). The Taliban fired on the bus, scattering all the families in terror. This allied family found immediate refuge in a small house but at high risk of compromise. They got connected to Task Force Pineapple, who identified a safehouse and a plan for movement to a new, safer location where the two parents and their five children now hide more securely.

Just this week, a woman went into premature labor in Kabul due to the stress of her husband having been kidnapped by the Taliban. Three other women cared for her but could not stop her post-delivery bleeding. The hospital was not an option due to the threat posed by the Taliban and the fact that she would not be accompanied by a man. A Task Force Pineapple shepherd reached out for support, and we were able to sync a call with an American midwife and an Afghan official who translated life-saving medical advice.

Task Force Pineapple is ready, willing and able to act, but we cannot do this alone. This now must be a government-led initiative, and it is time to expedite our efforts to do so. Task Force Pineapple is standing by to assist. We have the ability to help honor America’s promise to bring these people back by facilitating rescue, recovery and resettlement to safe places in the U.S. with plans and funding for their successful futures, reintegration, and repurposing of their unique skill sets relied upon by U.S. military and government organizations for patriotic service.

Honoring our promise: It’s simply the right thing to do. It’s the American thing to do.

American credibility

To accomplish such a tremendous feat requires leveraging our long-standing relationships with allies around the world. And right now, the credibility of America is at stake. I fear long-term damage as a consequence of leaving our allies in a state of extreme danger and not honoring our commitments to their well-being in exchange for their commitments to ours.

Others worldwide are watching us. Allies are watching what we’re doing. How many of them are second-guessing their own commitment to us? How many people would still consider jeopardizing their lives and their loved ones based on U.S. promises they can’t necessarily trust?

I’m concerned about America’s reputation. I worry about our intel-gathering capabilities in years to come. Our strategic influence in the world is predicated upon the relationships we establish and maintain with people around the world who are willing to help us. Those relationships take years — decades — to build, and the trust required must be earned.

So I think it is time we should all ask ourselves what it means to be an American. I see our country so divided these days that I wonder how many of us have a definitive answer. What once was an “indivisible” nation of citizens who cared about doing the “right thing” by others seems to be represented — even hijacked — by a modern-day “What’s in it for me?” mindset. Task Force Pineapple is an unequivocal example of the mindset that insists that our core values and principles can still prevail. There’s nothing in it for any of us who are taking action aside from the personal pride and peace of mind in knowing that we are acting with integrity to honor the promise that America has made by trying to help the people who have helped us.

This message from a rescued family to their Task Force Pineapple shepherd speaks volumes (names have been changed):

“Hey John, it’s Bill. We are moving on the first leg to (unnamed city) in America, and I want you to know. Please come visit us. You saved my family. Anything you need, I’m forever here. We love you.”

Why do I do this? Because I think it’s the right thing to do. We take care of the people who took care of us.

We’re Americans. It’s what we do. And that means something.

It’s not too late to course-correct. We can still do the right thing, the American thing.

You can help

  • Task Force Pineapple appreciates and accepts monetary donations to help fund safety, clothing, transportation, medical and resettlement efforts. Make yours at operationrecovery.org
  • Contact your representatives and tell them it is un-American to leave these people behind and that we must honor our promise to bring them back. Task Force Pineapple welcomes the opportunity to work directly with and in support of DOS.
  • Learn more via recent media coverage, including:

13 News Now, 9/3/2: https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/national/military-news/task-force-pineapple-afghanistan-refugees-veterans/291-af67e9f6-8b98-43f2-89d9-f42458e396c9

ABC News, 8/27/21: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-special-operations-vets-carry-daring-mission-save/story?id=79670236

Newsmax, “Wake Up America” with Alison Maloni, 9/1/21: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrXJxbU7URY

iHeart, “The Brian Mudd Show,” 9/1/21: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/745-brian-mudd-show-28418850/episode/retired-navy-seal-lt-jason-on-86465541/

The Jim Bohannon Show, 8/30/21: https://omny.fm/shows/jim-bohannon/jim-bohannon-08-30-21#description

About Lieutenant Jason Redman, U.S. Navy SEAL (Ret.)

Jason Redman is a retired U.S. Navy lieutenant, best-selling author and sought-after personal/professional-development speaker and trainer. During his 21-year Navy career (1992 – 2013), Redman spent 11 years as an enlisted SEAL and nearly 10 years as a SEAL officer and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Valor, the Purple Heart, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal, the Joint Service Achievement Medal, five Navy Achievement Medals, and two Combat Action Ribbons. After surviving critical wounding and near death by enemy ambush in Iraq in 2007, he endured nearly 40 subsequent surgeries and returned to duty as a Navy officer before retiring in 2013. Since then, Redman is the author of multiple books, including the New York Times bestselling memoir “The Trident” and Amazon best-sellers “Overcome: Crush Adversity with the Leadership Techniques of America’s Toughest Warriors” and Pointman Planner. He develops leadership programs and speaks, coaches and trains nationwide, imparting motivational and leadership wisdom to help individuals and organizations overcome and conquer adversity and take control of their own personal and professional lives in pursuit of mission, resilience and ultimate life success. Visit: www.jasonredman.com.

©Lieutenant Jason Redman, U.S. Navy SEAL (Ret.). All rights reserved.

New York Governor Denies Legitimacy Of Religious Exemptions To Vaccine

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  • Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul denied Monday that there are “legitimate religious exemptions” to the COVID-19 vaccine. 
  • “There are not legitimate religious exemptions because the leaders of all the organized religions have said there’s no legitimate reason,” the governor said. 
  • Under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, U.S. employers are required to accommodate their employee’s “sincerely held” religious beliefs. 

Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul denied Monday that there are “legitimate religious exemptions” to the COVID-19 vaccine.

“There are not legitimate religious exemptions because the leaders of all the organized religions have said there’s no legitimate reason,” the governor told reporters during a Monday morning briefing, “and we’re going to win that in court in a matter of days.”

The governor was referring to a lawsuit filed by a group of 17 health professionals represented by the Thomas More Society against New York and Hochul. The lawsuit accused the state of violating Title VII and Constitutional rights through its vaccination mandate and by disavowing religious exemptions.

The United States District Court for the Northern District of New York granted a temporary restraining order to the medical workers Sept. 14, barring the New York Department of Health “from interfering in any way with the granting of religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccination going forward.”

“What New York is attempting to do is slam shut an escape hatch from an unconstitutional vaccine mandate,” Thomas More Society Special Counsel attorney Christopher Ferrara said in a Sept. 14 statement. “And they are doing this while knowing that many people have sincere religious objections to vaccines that were tested, developed, or produced with cell lines derived from aborted children.”

Thousands of Americans are seeking religious exemptions to vaccine mandates, citing reports that some of the vaccines were developed using aborted fetal cell lines. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, U.S. employers are required to accommodate their employee’s “sincerely held” religious beliefs — including potential religious objections to a vaccine.

Earlier in September, Hochul told reporters that she was unaware “of a sanctioned religious exemption from any organized religion,” dismissing the idea that healthcare workers could be religiously exempt from the state’s vaccine mandate.

“To the extent that there’s leadership of different religious organizations that have spoken, and they have, I’m not aware of a sanctioned religious exemption from any organized religion,” Hochul said. “In fact, they’re encouraging the opposite. They’re encouraging their members, everybody from the Pope on down, is encouraging people to get vaccinated. So people will say what they choose.” 

Ethics and Public Policy Center senior fellow Roger Severino told the Daily Caller News Foundation at the time that neither the governor of New York nor or any employer has the authority to tell an individual what he or she believes.

If an employer rebutted the religious objection of a Catholic employee by pointing out that the pope urged Catholics to get vaccinated, Severino told the DCNF, that would amount to religious discrimination.

“For employers to say, ‘you are wrong’ about your own beliefs is a) arrogant and b) discriminatory because people are entitled to their own religious beliefs,” Severino said. “Even if they disagree with their own religious leaders.”

“Public institutions should not act like inquisitorial boards, quizzing people’s religious beliefs and trying to find holes because somebody has a different view of things,” said Severino, who is the former director of the Office of Civil Rights at the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  “If separation of church and state means anything, it means that state institutions don’t second guess to try to resolve religious truths.”

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance warns that “whether or not a religious belief is sincerely held by an applicant or employee is rarely at issue in many types of Title VII religious claims.

Neither the commission nor the courts should “be in the business of deciding whether a person holds religious beliefs for the ‘proper’ reasons,” the guidance said, but they may examine whether the individual’s motives or reasons for holding the belief.  

COLUMN BY

MARY MARGARET OLOHAN

Mary Margaret Olohan is the Daily Caller News Foundation’s Social Issues Reporter. Follow Mary Margaret on Twitter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This The Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Biden’s Wrecking Ball for Financial Privacy

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The Biden administration is seeking to compel banks to report to the IRS any bank account with more than $600 in transactions per year. This proposal is a linchpin of Biden’s American Families Plan, and will supposedly help generate almost $500 billion in federal revenue over the next decade. But previous catch-all financial reporting requirements have helped spur national disasters, complete with pervasive federal looting.

Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) denounced the Biden proposal as a “surveillance dragnet,” a “huge violation of privacy,” and “an egregious abuse of Americans’ right to due process by inferring that all U.S. taxpayers are guilty of evading taxes until proven otherwise.” Paul Merski of the Independent Community Bankers of America warns that the Biden proposal would be “be a historic invasion of financial privacy like we’ve never seen before.” Merski also declared, “The IRS is absolutely incapable of handling or processing this massive amount of new data, and they would admit as much — that’s why they’re asking for an additional $80 billion in this budget.”

Actually, federal money cops have long been overwhelmed by too many reports from banks. Prior federal reporting requirements buried bureaucrats in useless reports and became a de facto Terrorist Hijacker Empowerment Act . The 9/11 attacks were preceded by the biggest failure ever by U.S. financial authorities.

The Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 made it a federal crime for banks to keep secrets from the government. This law obliged banks and other financial institutions to submit a currency transaction report (CTR) to the federal government for each cash transaction involving more than $10,000. The feds harvested 17 million CTRs in 2000; federal agencies were flooded with tons of paper that bureaucrats often never bothered to examine. Beginning in 1996, banks were also obliged to file a Suspicious Activity Report on any transaction that “has no business or apparent lawful purpose or is not the sort in which the particular customer would normally be expected to engage.” The feds were soon receiving two hundred thousand suspicious activity reports per year. Greg Nojeim of the American Civil Liberties Union observed, “Congress barred financial institutions from telling their customers that their bank had spied on them by reporting their transactions to the federal government.”

That deluge of reports provided a smokescreen for the 9/11 plotters. A 2002 United Nations report on terrorist financing noted that a “suspicious transaction report” had been filed with the U.S. government over a $69,985 wire transfer that Mohamed Atta, leader of the hijackers, received from the United Arab Emirates. However, the report noted, “this particular transaction was not noticed quickly enough, because the report was just one of a very large number and was not distinguishable from those related to other financial crimes.” Atta was on a terrorist watch list, but the avalanche of other reports the feds received targeting home buyers, boat buyers, and other innocuous transactions provided sufficient cover for the attack to proceed.

Rather than recognize how pointless reporting requirements swamped federal watchdogs, Congress responded to 9/11 by vastly expanding federal financial vacuum cleaners. On October 17, 2001, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) was the only member of the House to oppose the International Money Laundering Abatement and Antiterrorist Financing Act of 2001, which became Title III of the Patriot Act. Paul warned that the bill “has more to do with the ongoing war against financial privacy than with the war against international terrorism” and derided it as “a laundry list of dangerous, unconstitutional power grabs…. These measures will actually distract from the battle against terrorism by encouraging law-enforcement authorities to waste time snooping through the financial records of innocent Americans who simply happen to demonstrate an ‘unusual’ pattern in their financial dealings.”

Paul’s warnings were prescient. The Patriot Act turbocharged reporting requirements, and the feds are now receiving two million “Suspicious Activity Reports” a year. It would be worse than naïve to assume that all the reports that banks send to Washington will sit passively in federal databases.

Financial reporting requirements helped spur one of the most disgraceful federal looting sprees in modern times. The IRS has exploited the technicalities of the Bank Secrecy Act – which requires banks to report any transaction over $10,000 – to preemptively confiscate the bank accounts of innocent Americans. The IRS “enforced” the Bank Secrecy Act by presuming that anyone who deposited slightly less than $10,000 was a criminal. The IRS seized a quarter billion dollars because it disapproved of how businesses and individuals structured their bank deposits and withdrawals. IRS bureaucrats don’t even need to file a criminal charge before snaring citizens’ life savings.

Between 2005 and 2012, the number of IRS seizures for Bank Secrecy Act violations rose more than fivefold, but the vast majority of victims were never criminally prosecuted for structuring offenses. “One-third of those cases involved nothing more than making a series of sub-$10,000 cash transactions,” the Institute for Justice reported. A 2017 Inspector General report found no evidence in 91% of the forfeiture cases that the money came from illegal activities. The IRS chose to seize first, and ask questions later – if at all. IRS investigators simply looked at banking records and then confiscated the accounts of hundreds of people.

Most of the victims were “legal businesses such as jewelry stores, restaurant owners, gas station owners, scrap metal dealers, and others.” The IRS targeted businesses with legal sources of income because “the Department of Justice had encouraged task forces to engage in ‘quick hits,’ where property was more quickly seized… rather than pursuing cases with other criminal activity (such as drug trafficking and money laundering), which are more time-consuming,” the Inspector General reported.

Would the IRS behave as atrociously with a new $600 reporting requirement as it has in the past with the $10,000 reporting requirement in the Bank Secrecy Act? In U.S. Tax Court, IRS determinations of what citizens owe are “presumed correct,” with taxpayers bearing the burden to prove the feds wrong. Corporations with well-fed legal departments routinely defeat the IRS in court but few citizens can afford to fight a federal agency that appears to hold all the cards. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen declared, “Any suggestion that instead this reporting regime will be used to target enforcement efforts on ordinary Americans is wholly misguided.” Then why do the feds want the data on almost anyone with a bank account?

Biden’s new reporting requirement could be the Bitcoin Relief Act of 2021. Forty banking and financial associations sent a letter to Congress on September 17 warning that the Biden proposal “would create tremendous liability for all affected parties by requiring the collection of financial information for nearly every American without proper explanation of how the IRS will store, protect, and use this enormous trove of personal financial information.” American Banking Association president Rob Nichols warns that requiring “banks to police and report on the accounts of customers…will undermine trust in the banking system and erode the progress we have made reducing the number of unbanked and underbanked in the country.”

The Internal Revenue Service has perennially been the authoritarian means to paternalistic ends. The Washington Post reported that “the single biggest source of new revenue in the [Biden] plan comes from dramatically expanding the clout of the nation’s tax agency.” Biden relishes condemning tax-dodging billionaires but that $600 reporting requirement is a signal that IRS purgatory could soon be crowded with average Americans.

*****

This article was published on September 22, 2021, and is reproduced with permission from the AIER, American Institute for Economic Research.

Essential Marxist Reading for Liberals and Conservatives

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A review and overview of The Cult of Smart, by Fredrik deBoer, All Points Books, 276 pages.

Fredrik deBoer is the author of The Cult of Smart, a book that unwittingly explains the sharp left turn of the Democrat Party and a growing number of young Americans. It also shows why the widening chasm between the far left and liberals and conservatives will never be bridged.

For those reasons alone, it’s a very important book and should be read by traditional Democrats and Republicans, although a root canal would be less painful. If the book had been published when I was younger, I could’ve learned about Marxist thinking without having to labor through Das Kapital.

At the leading edge of the millennial generation, Mr. deBoer is an avowed Marxist, a professor with a PhD from Purdue, a former high school substitute teacher, a contributor to the New York Times and other mainstream liberal publications, a descendant of “red diaper babies” (his words), and an admirer of Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Karl Marx, and Frederick Engels. Also, like so many ideologues in history, he is the product of an apparent unhappy childhood, stemming from his mother dying when he was a child and his father dying when he was fifteen, after a life of alcoholism and depression.

The author lambastes both liberals and conservatives for believing in meritocracy and in the power of education to significantly reduce inequality. Liberals will no doubt applaud his rebuke of conservative values, and conservatives will applaud his rebuke of liberal values; but they should be aware that he wants to put a ticking time bomb of social revolution under the backsides of both of them.

Mr. deBoer goes so far as to write:

That education is the great economic leveler stands as one of the ubiquitous nostrums in contemporary politics. Barack Obama, the pope of modern American progressivism, repeated the trope endlessly, insisting that the American dream could only be secured through an invigorated education sector.

. . . we should reject the idea of education as an anti-poverty tool for being wrong on its face. Because education is not a weapon against inequality; it is an engine of inequality. Far from making society more equal, our education system deepens inequality, sorting winners from losers and ensuring even greater financial rewards for the former. Nowhere is this dynamic more prevalent than in college.

A major premise of The Cult of Smart is that intelligence is hereditary and inherited to the same degree across all races. Genes help to explain why some people excel in school and in abstract thinking and some people don’t. Of course, such factors as parental influence and socioeconomic class come into play in how someone does in life, but, according to deBoer, inherited intelligence accounts for about half of success, especially in this era of knowledge work, where those with lower IQ are being left behind in increasing numbers.

The author understands the danger of the premise being misunderstood and how it can lead to racism and had led to the eugenics movement of the first half of the twentieth century, a movement that he admits was led by progressives. He makes clear that inherited intelligence, or a lack thereof, does not vary by race.

According to deBoer, it follows from the premise that additional spending on education is mostly a waste of money, because more money cannot overcome a lack of inherited intelligence, and because more money is not needed for gifted students with inherited high intelligence who are going to succeed regardless of spending levels. This goes against the liberal belief in more education spending and the conservative belief that everyone can succeed through hard work, no matter their personal circumstance.

Taken to an extreme, the idea of inherited intelligence can also go against the foundations of Western moral philosophy, namely Judeo-Christian beliefs about right and wrong, sinning and redemption, and crime and punishment. The idea calls into question how much free will and agency humans really have when all of the factors of nature and nurture are considered. This is not a new philosophical question, but it is complicated by new science, especially cherry-picked science.

It’s undeniable that humans don’t reach adulthood with a blank slate. On the nurture side, behavioral choices and learning are strongly influenced by the circumstances of childhood—by parenting, neighborhood mores, environmental factors, and socioeconomic class. On the nature side, as science is revealing but has a long way to go, behavior and learning are influenced by hormones, other bodily chemicals, and the condition of the parts of the brain that control impulses.

Take a kid who has two Nobel Prize-winning parents, who have an innate ability to concentrate and control impulses, and who lives in a house full of books in a neighborhood of college graduates. Certainly, that kid has a wider range of good choices than a kid who has a single parent on drugs, who has an innate difficulty in concentrating and controlling impulses, and who lives in a household with no books but a lot of TV, in a neighborhood of drug dealers and crime.

To that point, some behavior is so self-defeating that it’s hard to imagine that it’s the result of rationality and thoughtful consideration of the consequences.

This commentary isn’t the place to debate such deep questions of moral philosophy, but a debate is needed elsewhere in order to develop a counterargument to Marxists like deBoer, one that is geared to the way that young people obtain and process information.

To continue with the book:

Mr. deBoer is merciless in his criticism of liberals who feign concern for the poor and social justice but engage in selective breeding and do whatever they can to get their kids into the best k-12 schools and into elite universities, so that their ticket is punched for the rest of their life—and, as deBoer’s Marxist thinking goes, at the expense of the less fortunate. He questions whether the education is any better at elite schools and posits that the schools are key members of the “Cult of the Smart,” where credentialing takes precedence over other considerations and leads to self-reinforcing and self-replicating elitism.

Naturally, being an academic, he buys into the progressive zeitgeist about white privilege, about the goodness of wokeness, and about America being racist, sexist, and classist. At the same time, he lambastes his “fellow leftists” (as he calls them) for their phony virtue-signaling. He writes that if they were “simply a new kind of nouveau riche with culturally liberal politics, they would probably be harmless, if somewhat obnoxious. But there’s a far larger problem: simply by living upper-middle-class lives, these woke go-getters perpetuate inequality.”

To those who have attended elite colleges, he says:

Privilege theory, intersectionality, cultural studies—each has value and important insights to impart, but more important for your lived experience is their signaling value. Peppering your speech with abstruse academic vocabulary these fields have developed demonstrates to your social peers that you believe in the right things, that you are politically enlightened, that you are woke. And to be woke has come, in the past decade, to confer considerable professional benefits.

He goes on to cite the inconvenient truth that locales with a high number of such people have the most income inequality.

Continuing the skewering, he says that “it’s essential to bear this thought in mind: many of those who are ostensibly part of a political movement to change our society are the ones who most benefit from the status quo and who hold back others simply through living the lives they do.” Then he administers the coup de grace: “I am persistently pessimistic when it comes to progressive social change.”

He also dislikes the wealthy, as evidenced by this bloodcurdling statement: “Certainly, if I had the power, I’d ensure that the very wealthy didn’t exist.”

As with Marxists of yesteryear, deBoer has antipathy for the upper middle class, or what the Bolsheviks characterized as the petite bourgeoisie. I would add that many of today’s leftists in academe, politics and the media extend that antipathy downward to the middle class, especially the members of the middle class who have “white” values about work and marriage. However, as with deBoer, they’re largely silent about Asians having the same white values and being at the top in income in America, with a median household income of $94,903, versus $74,912 for non-Hispanic whites.

Likewise, deBoer says nothing about the realities of Marxism and one-party authoritarian government in general. Left unmentioned are the purges, gulags, mass starvations, privileges for top party cadres and their families, and, as can be seen in China today, discrimination against minorities, women, and what the party has called “sissy boys.”

Mr. deBoer even buys into the old Marxist trope that a worker paradise could be built upon the existing industrial foundation of capitalism, leading to a second phase of communism in which workers would be self-actualized and not have to toil in jobs they didn’t like. The second phase has never been realized, however. Drudgery, bad management, immovable bureaucracy, and an out-of-touch hierarchy are just as alienating, if not more so, under communism than under capitalism.

To his credit, deBoer is honest about pre-kindergarten and after-school programs being ineffectual in the long run in improving academic results. Yet he supports these programs for reasons of social welfare and because they can be a stepping stone to the kind of society he envisions.

Surprisingly, he has an objection to a universal basic income. To wit: “It has the same problem that liberal social programs almost always do: it does nothing to strengthen the hand of the poor and working-class relative to the rich, to the bosses, and to political leaders.”

Not surprisingly, he supports nationalized medical care and free college. But the latter seems to contradict his belief that college doesn’t benefit those without the intelligence to succeed in college.

He also disdains charter schools, repeats the popular canard that public school teachers are underpaid for their abilities and hard work, and claims that teachers are unfairly blamed for not being able to improve the test results of students who don’t have the intelligence to do well. He says nothing about how Norway dramatically improved its test results by making a degree in education one of the toughest degrees to obtain and raising the pay of those teachers who met the higher standards.

Speaking of standards, deBoer wants to eliminate one-size-fits-all state testing standards and curricula for public schools, a point that I agree with in concept as long as it results in furthering the education of the less gifted students who need a curriculum tailored to their intellectual capacity, and as long as it doesn’t crimp the education of the more gifted students. Easier said than done, however, given the difficulties in determining a student’s IQ and potential, as well as the political challenge of telling parents that their child doesn’t have what it takes to succeed in college.

All of the foregoing is but a prelude to what deBoer really believes and wants. He really believes that equal opportunity will never be achieved, even if all differences in individual circumstances were to be eliminated. As such, what he really wants is for the existing political and economic order to be replaced with the Marxist idea of “from each according to his ability and to each according to his need,” so that equal outcomes are achieved. He doesn’t say how that would be achieved and who would decide, but he no doubt sees ideologues like himself in charge.

Make no mistake: I, too, want to eliminate poverty and think that it’s unacceptable for a rich country like the U.S. to have widespread urban slums and rural poverty; to have high crime, broken families, and drug addiction in those places; and to have large numbers of homeless people living and dying on city streets like animals. This is particularly unacceptable in light of the trillions of dollars we have spent on foreign wars.

On the other hand, the last thing I want is for people of deBoer’s ideology to be in charge. Unfortunately, that’s what a growing number of Americans seem to want, especially younger Americans taught by the likes of deBoer.

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