“It is such a trip now to hear the term ‘990,’” Cullors said, referring to the IRS form requiring charities to reveal their financial activities. “I’m, like, ugh. It’s, like, triggering… I actually did not know what 990s were before all of this happened.”
“This doesn’t seem safe for us, this 990 structure — this nonprofit system structure,” she continued. “This is, like, deeply unsafe. This is being literally weaponized against us, against the people we work with.”
Cullors claims she’s “been approached by countless activists who are worried that they too will soon field requests from reporters demanding copies of their 990 forms.”
“People’s morale in an organization is so important,” Cullors continued to whine. “But if their organization and the people in it are being attacked and scrutinized at everything they do, that leads to deep burnout. [T]hat leads to deep, like, resistance and trauma.”
“Well, when you create a charity designed to improve the lives of black people, collect $90 million, and then spend nearly $6 million on a mansion, I can see why accountability and disclosure would bring about a little trauma,” Breitbart’s Nolte concluded.
In 2016, Cullors purchased a three-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom home in Inglewood, California for $510,000.
In 2018, she paid $590,000, in cash, for a four-bedroom, 1,725 square-foot home in South Los Angeles,.
In January 2020, she paid $415,000 for a three-bedroom, two-bath “custom ranch” on 3.2 rural acres in Conyers, Georgia. The house included a private airplane hangar with a studio apartment above it; an indoor swimming pool; the use of a 2,500-foot community runway capable of accommodating small airplanes; and a large “RV shop” where a mobile home or small aircraft could undergo maintenance or repair.
In April 2021, it was reported that Cullors had purchased her fourth home, a secluded mini-compound in Los Angeles’ semi-remote Topanga Canyon for more than $1.4 million.
It was also reported in April that Cullors had recently looked at property in an ultra-exclusive resort in the Bahamas, where luxury beachfront apartments and townhouses were priced in the range of $5 million to $20 million.
In June 2021, it was reported that Cullors had spent $35,000 to have contractors install wooden fencing around the entire perimeter of her Topanga Canyon home. They also installed an electronic gate at the driveway portion of the property.
A federal judge struck down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) mask mandate for public transportation Monday.
District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle of Florida’s middle district ruled that the mask mandate exceeds the CDC’s statutory authority under the Administrative Procedure Act, according to court documents. The lawsuit challenging the mandate was initially brought in July 2021 by the Health Freedom Defense Fund.
*MASK MANDATE FOR PLANES, TRAINS OVERTURNED BY FLORIDA JUDGE
Mizelle, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, ruled that the CDC’s order “violates the procedures required for agency rulemaking under the APA” and remanded the mandate order back to the CDC.
The Biden administration has continued to extend the temporary mask mandate order throughout the pandemic, most recently announcing last week that the order would be extended at least 15 more days into May. With all 50 states and most localities having dropped their indoor mask mandates earlier this year, the federal mandate forcing Americans to mask on planes, trains and other public transit is one of the last remaining COVID-19 restrictions still in place.
Earlier this year, 21 states sued the Biden administration in an attempt to end the mandate. Biden’s CDC has come under further scrutiny for continuing to apply the public transportation mask mandate, citing the threat of the BA.2 Omicron subvariant of the coronavirus, while ending Title 42 and relaxing immigration enforcement, citing the reduced impact of the pandemic at this time.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-04-18 21:51:212022-04-18 21:51:21Federal Mask Mandate For Public Transportation Overturned By District Judge
The left cannot permit the free exchange of ideas because their failed ideas cannot stand up to scrutiny and challenge.
Freedom of speech is the foundation of a free society. Without it, a tyrant can wreak havoc unopposed, while his opponents are silenced.
Putting up with being offended is essential in a pluralistic society in which people differ on basic truths. If a group will not bear being offended without resorting to violence, that group will rule unopposed while everyone else lives in fear, while other groups curtail their activities to appease the violent group. This results in the violent group being able to tyrannize the others.
If speech that offends a group is outlawed, that group has absolute power, and a free society is destroyed. A group that cannot be criticized cannot be opposed. It can work its will no matter what it is, and no one will be able to say anything to stop it.
Inoffensive speech needs no protection. The First Amendment was developed precisely in order to protect speech that was offensive to some, in order to prevent those who had power from claiming they were offended by speech opposing them and silencing the powerless.
A free society is by its nature one in which people put up with others being uncivil and offensive. The alternative is a quiet authoritarian society in which only one opinion is allowed and the others are silenced, and ultimately sent to the camps.
And just like that Elon Musk proved the system is rigged.
If Elon Musk does nothing else, he already won. All this freaking out, crying, screaming on social media and scrambling to out buy stock, just because someone who believes in free speech has a stake in the company, is deeply telling. And it all happened out in the open.
Twitter’s board of directors on Thursday unanimously adopted a plan Friday to stop Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s plan to take private the social media company
Under the plan, which is also referred to as a “poison pill”, shareholders’ rights will become exercisable if an entity, person or group acquires beneficial ownership of 15% or more of Twitter’s outstanding common stock in a transaction not approved by the board,” according to Fox News.
The board says the plan “is intended to enable all shareholders to realize the full value of their investment in Twitter” and will “reduce the likelihood that any entity, person or group gains control of Twitter through open market accumulation without paying all shareholders an appropriate control premium or without providing the Board sufficient time to make informed judgments and take actions that are in the best interests of shareholders,” the news outlet also reports.
Quick note: We cannot do this without your support. Fact. Our work is made possible by you and only you. We receive no grants, government handouts, or major funding.
Tech giants are shutting us down. You know this. Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Adsense, Pinterest permanently banned us. Facebook, Google search et al have shadow-banned, suspended and deleted us from your news feeds. They are disappearing us. But we are here.
Subscribe to Geller Report newsletter here — it’s free and it’s critical NOW when informed decision making and opinion is essential to America’s survival. Share our posts on your social channels and with your email contacts. Fight the great fight.
As President Joe Biden pushes to even infringe your Second Amendment rights, we wanted to remind you that he isn’t doing so alone. Many corporations have decided that your right to bear arms comes second to their political advocacy – advocacy which violates your human and constitutional rights to self-defense.
One of the worst offenders is Levi’s (1.00), the clothing company which has donated over a million dollars to strip your ability to defend yourself and your family from intruders, criminals, and tyrants. As we highlighted in 2018:
Levi Strauss is a clothing company with an agenda. It has a “1.00” ranking in all five of 2ndVote’s categories where it takes corporate action and just a month ago launched a million-dollar anti-gun campaign.
You may remember that Levi’s desire to control your life isn’t limited to guns. The company recently forced out a senior executive who didn’t hold to their restrictive policies on masks and vaccines. It is the height of irony that Levi’s views self-defense against a man-made virus more important than self-defense against criminals and corrupt government – even though masks and vaccines are of limited value, at best, when it comes to stopping the spread of COVID-19.
Levi’s offenses are myriad. The company donates to Planned Parenthood and Human Rights Campaign, and wants you to put climate alarmism ahead of real issues like having a job and defending your family. It’s no wonder we rank them at a paltry “1.00” out of 5.00. Truth be told, our algorithms score them well below a one, but we trim it there to keep things in perspective.
It’s time to ditch Levi’s in favor of better options for your 2ndVote money. Consider shopping at Everlane (3.00), Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Inc. (3.06), Lululemon Athletica (3.16), and Cabela’s (3.26) — all companies which focus on impressing you, the customer, not a few loud liberal talking heads.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-04-18 21:51:192022-04-18 21:51:19A Gun Rights Reminder: Levi’s Doesn’t Support You
The AFL-CIO appears to recognize that the Jones Act is part of the US supply chain problem.
As reported by Politico earlier this week, the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trade Department has authored a new statement on US maritime policy that features predictable enthusiasm for protectionist policies such as the Jones Act and cargo preference laws. More interesting, however, is the statement’s inclusion of language calling for a fleet of feeder vessels to transport cargo through the country’s coastal waters:
Creating a fleet of U.S.-built, U.S.-flag and crewed feeder vessels to carry a portion of America’s trade along our coasts to be offloaded in underutilized ports for transportation by truck and rail to their ultimate inland destination will not only strengthen the maritime industry and create jobs aboard ship and in our ports but will help mitigate against future shipping supply chain disruptions.
This passage is significant for at least two reasons. First, it acknowledges that the United States currently lacks such vessels connecting smaller ports to larger ports as part of a hub and spoke system. Second, it states that such a transportation option would help relieve supply chain disruptions by alleviating demands on overburdened truck and rail networks.
Thus, US policies that stand in the way of developing a network of coastal shipping—also known as short sea shipping or marine highways—contribute to the supply chain crisis.
As I’ve written before, one of those policies is the Jones Act. Simply put, requiring the use of vessels that are far most costly to build and operate than foreign ships is a significant disincentive to utilizing this method of transporting goods. The capital costs alone of acquiring such vessels—which must be constructed by US shipyards much less efficient than their foreign counterparts—were perceived by ocean carriers as the single largest obstacle to the implementation of short sea shipping in the United States according to a 2006 study.
As my colleague Scott Lincicome pointed out last September, this lack of coastal shipping has “worsened the current shipping situation by (1) putting additional pressure on inland transit (i.e., trucks and trains are used instead of ships that could travel between US ports); and (2) causing companies to avoid the Jones Act by “port hopping” up and down US coasts using larger, foreign‐flagged ships that take longer to offload and are prohibited from picking up additional cargo while they’re in port.”
Fortunately, the AFL-CIO may be catching on. Noting the lackluster state of US shipbuilding, the head of the organization’s Metal Trades Department stated in a December interview that foreign‐built ships may have to be purchased to help jumpstart marine highways. For that to happen, however, Congress would have to pass legislation waiving the Jones Act’s US-built requirement.
This legislative change wouldn’t solve all of the Jones Act’s problems but would mark an excellent first step in reducing the law’s burdens. Allowing an influx of new, less expensive ships would generate jobs for US mariners, business for smaller US ports, and even potential repair and maintenance work for US shipyards while reducing American highway and rail congestion and transportation costs.
Such change would be good for the environment too: reduced traffic means fewer emissions while ships are a more carbon‐friendly means of transporting goods than trucks or rail. Once realized, such benefits could spark an appetite for further liberalization and a paring back of maritime protectionism.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-04-18 09:51:502022-04-18 09:51:50Labor Unions [Quietly] Admit the Jones Act Is Contributing to America’s Supply Chain Problems
Food shortages and skyrocketing food prices now appear inevitable. The global food price index hit its highest recorded level in March 2022, rising 12.6% in a single month. On average, food prices were one-third higher than in March 2021. In the U.S., food prices rose 9% in 2021, and are predicted to rise another 4.5% to 5% in the next 12 months
Inflation was already ramping up well before Russia went into Ukraine, thanks to the uncontrolled printing of fiat currencies that occurred in response to the COVID pandemic. Governments’ COVID responses have also wreaked havoc with global supply chains, causing disruptions that continue to this day
Ukraine has ceased exports of wheat, oats, millet, buckwheat and cattle, and Russia has banned exports of fertilizer
Together, Russia and Belarus provide nearly 40% of the global exports of potash, a key fertilizer ingredient. Russia also exports 48% of the global ammonium nitrate, and combined with Ukraine, they export 28% of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium fertilizers. Experts are now predicting fertilizer prices may double as a result of Russia’s ban on fertilizer exports
The long-term answer lies in regenerative biodynamic farming, which does not use any chemical inputs
In the featured video, “Breaking Points” cohosts Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti discuss one of the greatest threats currently facing the people of the world, namely food shortages and skyrocketing food prices.
According to a recent NPR report,1 the global food price index hit its highest recorded level in March 2022, rising 12.6% in a single month.2 On average, food prices were one-third higher than in March 2021. In the U.S., food prices rose 9% in 2021, and are predicted to rise another 4.5% to 5% in the next 12 months.3
But while the Ukraine conflict is cited as the primary cause, it’s not the sole reason. Price inflation was already ramping up well before Russia went into Ukraine, thanks to the uncontrolled printing of fiat currencies that occurred in response to the COVID pandemic. Governments’ COVID response have also wreaked havoc with global supply chains, causing disruptions that continue to this day.
The climate has also been uncooperative, causing poor harvests around the world. China, for example, has reported it expects the lowest harvest yields in history this year, thanks to serious flooding of its farmland in the fall of 2021.4
Compounding Crises Threaten Global Food Productivity
That said, the Russia-Ukraine conflict is certainly making a bad problem worse. Ukraine is known as “the bread basket” of Europe, responsible for producing and exporting 12% of all food calories traded on the international market. Russia is also a major exporter of food, and together with Ukraine, the two countries account for nearly 30% of global wheat exports, nearly 20% of the world’s corn and more than 80% of the sunflower oil.5
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s projections, wheat exports from Russia and Ukraine will be reduced by more than 7 million metric tons in 2022. At the same time, the Ukrainian government has decided to ban all export of wheat, oats, millet, buckwheat and cattle, to ensure food safety for its own people, while Russia has banned exports of fertilizer.6
As reported by Wired, the current food crisis in Ukraine is made up of several components, and the effects will have a worldwide rippling effect, thanks to our dependency on global trade:7
“Goods that have already been harvested — last autumn’s corn, for instance — can’t be transported out of the country; ports and shipping routes are closed down, and international trading companies have ceased operations for safety. (Plus, while those crops sit in bins, destruction of the country’s power gridtakes out the temperature controls and ventilation that keep them from spoiling.)
This year’s wheat, which will be ready in July, can’t be harvested if there’s no fuel for combines and no labor to run them. Farmers are struggling over whether to plant for next season — if they can even obtain seeds and fertilizer, for which supplies look uncertain [ … ]
Analysts worry that the countries that buy the most wheat from Ukraine — predominantly in Africa and the Middle East — will have the hardest time paying as prices rise.”
Scott Irwin, an agricultural economist and professor in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois told Wired magazine:8
“This crisis is beyond the normal ability to shuffle supplies around. We’ve exploded that system, and the cost is going to be extreme economic pain.”
Serious Fertilizer Shortage Looms
Together, Russia and Belarus provide nearly 40% of the global exports of potash, a key fertilizer ingredient. Russia also exports 48% of the global ammonium nitrate, and combined with Ukraine, they export 28% of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium fertilizers.9
Experts are now predicting fertilizer prices may double as a result of Russia’s ban on fertilizer exports. For some farmers, that will be a death knell that causes them to go out of business. The rest will be forced to charge more for their commodities, resulting in skyrocketing food prices.
Biodynamic Solutions
Are there any solutions to this pressing dilemma? I would argue that there are, but it’ll require rapid response and adaptation from farmers everywhere. As explained in “Kiss the Ground,” a documentary about biodynamic farming, a beautiful harmony exists within nature, and we can benefit by tapping into that natural system with biodynamic practices rather than working against it.
As noted in the film, a preview of which is included above, “Biodynamic farming is simply farming in service of life.” While it requires a leap of faith to make the transition, the results speak for themselves. Biodiversity improves rapidly on farms that make the transition, and the quality of the food (and the quality of life of the farmer) is greatly augmented.
Biodynamic agriculture builds upon the foundation of organic farming. That means zero pesticides and synthetic fertilizers are used. But biodynamic then goes a step further. The goal is to make the land better than it was before. It doesn’t just stop the destruction of soil, but actually regenerates it.
The farm as a whole is basically viewed as one organism, where each part of the farm supports the rest. Livestock have their role, as do microorganisms and beneficial insects. Rather than working against you, they’re now working for you to improve the fertility of the soil and the quality of the food grown in it.
Biodynamic farming is really about being a part of nature and working with it rather than trying to conquer nature through unnatural and ultimately destructive means.
Biodynamic farming can also, over time, help stabilize the climate. Not only do biodynamic farmers not pollute the air, water or soil in the first place, but the plants also pull carbon from the air, depositing it back into the soil where it does the most good, and requires far less watering. Regenerative practices also prevent the loss of topsoil and increase rainfall.
For example, regenerative ranchers in Northern Mexico, in the Chihuahuan Desert, who have added 1 million acres of rotational grazing, report getting 15% to 20% more rainfall than their neighbors who haven’t regenerated their land.
Support Biodynamic Farming
Many of the food products we sell under the Mercola brand are produced by Demeter certified biodynamic farmers in eight countries. Demeter is the oldest ecological certification in the world. Most recently, we’ve initiated the first-ever standards for Demeter Certified Biodynamic supplements as well.10
We also fund the Billion Agave Project, initiated by Regeneration International on a regenerative farm in Mexico run by the Organic Consumers Association. It’s a fantastic solution that solves several problems at once.
This project is a game-changing ecosystem-regeneration and reforestation strategy that uses a combination of agave plants and mesquite (a nitrogen-fixing companion tree), to salvage and regenerate degraded semi-arid lands that aren’t suitable for other crops.
Forty percent of the world is arid or semi-arid and in danger of becoming desert where nothing will grow. But we can reverse this process using native plants and permaculture techniques such as this one.
By taking a limb from a healthy mesquite tree, adding some natural hormones and wrapping the branch with a bag filled with compost, you will, after three to four months, have a small tree ready for planting as new roots grow into the compost-filled bag. At that point, you can either plant it into a container or directly into the soil.
This process is known as “air layering.” A 1-year-old mesquite tree grown in this way will be as big as a 7-year-old mesquite tree grown from seed, significantly speeding up the reforestation effort. The roots of the mesquite tree can burrow hundreds of feet down in search of water, and they in turn provide nutrition for other plants, as they exchange liquid carbon from the tree for the nutrients from the soil.
In this way, the mesquite supports the growth of the agave without need for chemical fertilizers, and the agave can then be used to produce a fermented nutrition-rich biomass that supports grazing livestock that otherwise might not have enough to eat.
A Way to Support Grazing Cattle on Semi-Arid Lands
Agave is best known for producing tequila, but a local farmer in Mexico discovered he could use the massive leaves, which are typically discarded as junk, to produce a nutrient-rich livestock feed. Cows, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens and even sheepdogs enjoy it.
The feed is produced by finely chopping up the leaves, each of which can weigh 40 to 80 pounds, and then fermenting them in a closed container. To this fermented mash, you can then add mesquite pods at a ratio of 80% to 90% agave leaf and 10% to 20% mesquite pods. This mix is superior to alfalfa in terms of nutrition, but costs only a third or a quarter of the price.
A big part of the cost-savings is from the reduced water consumption. Alfalfa needs about 26 times more water than agave and mesquite. Most of the animals on the farm eat the natural vegetation and get the agave mash as a supplement.
However, by adding garbanzo beans — another low-water crop — you could produce a feed that the animals could live on exclusively. Considering some areas are now considering culling their livestock herds due to a shortage in cattle feed,11 this could be a novel solution in some instances.
New Market Opportunities
Changing the farming subsidies to prioritize regenerative farming would go a long way to changing the status quo, but private investing is another route to success that is now coming to the fore.
There’s a new type of asset being developed on the stock exchange called Natural Asset Stocks, or Natural Asset Corporations. The government of Costa Rica, for example, is putting all government-owned forests and farmlands into a Natural Asset Corporation.
This is a type of stock different from anything we’ve seen so far. Basically, these stocks will allow fund managers, private investors and corporations to invest in natural assets. The part you end up owning is the ecosystem services of that land.
So, for example, you could own the environmental services resulting from the Billion Agave Project, which include carbon sequestration amounts and water savings. Over time, as the whole system matures and the soils are regenerated, your asset rises in value.
This new asset system will allow Wall Street to divert financial assets into ecosystem assets that benefit the planet in a multitude of ways, and still get a return on their money.
The Organic Consumers Association has also developed a system of verification to go along with this new asset system. Using modern technology, it will be able to accurately measure things like the number and size of plants and the health of the soil.
Had heed been taken sooner, we wouldn’t be in such a precarious position right now. But hindsight is 20/20, and I believe many farmers will now be forced to make the tough choice to make the conversion to biodynamic if they want to survive in the long term.
They’re also using a blockchain accounting system to verify the calculations and make it very difficult to cheat. So, anyone who invests in a natural asset will be able to verify, several years down the road, at a very low cost, whether the asset has improved or degenerated.
Regenerative Farming Could Save the World
A number of people have pushed regenerative farming for decades, warning that the current chemical-dependent monoculture is unsustainable in the long run, and subject to geopolitical disruptions. We’re seeing the reality of those warnings right now.
Had heed been taken sooner, we wouldn’t be in such a precarious position right now. But hindsight is 20/20, and I believe many farmers will now be forced to make the tough choice to make the conversion to biodynamic if they want to survive in the long term.
Their transition is not going to bring immediate help to the global population, as it takes a number of years to turn depleted soils into soils that can support food production without chemical inputs. But we have to start thinking in the longer term if any of us are to survive.
As a nonfarmer, you can support this effort by buying food from regenerative and biodynamic farmers. Regenerative International, incorporated in 2014, has built a global network of regenerative farmers and ranchers, with some 400 affiliates in 60 countries.
You can find a map of these regenerative farms on RegenerationInternational.org. Of course, you can also implement regenerative strategies in your own garden, even if it’s a small one. The future does look bleak at the moment, with food shortages and skyrocketing prices appearing inevitable, but doing nothing is not the answer. We must all start thinking ahead and make wiser choices.
The globalization of food production has led us to the brink of disaster. The answer is to return to locally grown foods. Similarly, our reliance on chemical-dependent monocultures has just been proven to be a weak link that needs to be replaced by regenerative methods that don’t need chemicals to thrive. We have the answers to the problem. We just need to implement them, as rapidly as possible.
The story coming out of a late-term abortion clinic in Washington, D.C. shows you everything that’s wrong with abortion and the people who promote it.
Here is a picture of Baby Boy 1, one of five babies killed at the clinic recently whose remains were reportedly obtained by a pro-life advocate who has since been arrested.
This boy was a nearly full term baby, viable outside the womb. The photo shows that “that he remained largely intact, raising questions about how his life ended. He also has what appears to be a fully formed face, fingers, toes, and all the primary features normally visible in a newborn.”
Abortion supporters want legal cover to be able to kill babies like this up to birth. If you support this, I will tell you right to your face you are a monster.
But the abortion-industrial complex has circled the wagons. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser refuses to investigate, even though the five babies might have been killed in illegal partial birth abortions, killed after birth, or left to die after being born alive.
Gone are the days when abortion rights supporters would tell you they wanted abortions to be ‘safe, legal, and rare.’ Now we get hysterical attempts to push the envelope precisely at the moment public support for abortion is dwindling and the Supreme Court is poised to pull back on abortion rights. The demands are getting more shrill and outrageous. Now, abortionistas claim the right to an ‘effective abortion’, meaning, they want to kill the baby if it’s born alive. An abortionist at that D.C. clinic admitted some years ago, that he “probably wouldn’t” help a baby who survived an abortion even though “legally we would be obligated to help.” So much for the law. One of his staff said at the time a baby born alive after a botched abortion should just be flushed down the toilet. So much for humanity.
A Democrat-controlled committee in the California Assembly recently reported out a bill critics say would allow infanticide, letting babies die up to 6 weeks after birth. As originally written, the bill would have allowed the murder of newborns for any reason. The language was revised, but it still allows the killing of infants and discourages law enforcement from investigating the circumstances.
California isn’t the only place pushing the envelope. Democrat-controlled Colorado and New Jersey now have laws allowing abortion up to birth. The Democrats who control the U.S. Senate wanted to federalize a right to abortion up to birth and shred all state pro-life laws in the process. The bill failed, but by only one vote.
Take a look at the picture of Baby Boy 1 again. Look long and hard. If you support his killing, or the Democrats’ insane drive for abortion up to birth and beyond, I don’t mind telling you to your face you are a monster. The only question is, what kind of monster are you?
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-04-18 09:51:482022-04-18 09:51:48INFANTICIDE USA: Nearly Full Term Baby Boy’s Body Found in Abortion Clinic in Washington, D.C.
The Florida Department of Education announced on Friday that after a recent review, 41% of proposed K-12 mathematics books intended for use during the 2022-2023 public school year did not meet state academic standards due to their apparent inclusion of Critical Race Theory principles and other controversial approaches to education.
“Reasons for rejecting textbooks included references to Critical Race Theory (CRT), inclusions of Common Core, and the unsolicited addition of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in mathematics,” Florida’s Department of Education said in a statement.
“The highest number of books rejected were for grade levels K-5, where an alarming 71 percent were not appropriately aligned with Florida standards or included prohibited topics and unsolicited strategies,” Florida’s D.O.E. added.
“It seems that some publishers attempted to slap a coat of paint on an old house built on the foundation of Common Core, and indoctrinating concepts like race essentialism, especially, bizarrely, for elementary school students,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) said in a statement.
In January 2020, The Daily Wire reported that “DeSantis announced new academic standards for the state, shoving out the Common Core standards that had been implemented in the state in 2010, just one year after he started pushing for jettisoning those standards.”
The new standards were titled, “Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking,” or “B.E.S.T.” According to the press release sent out Friday, Florida’s government had been straightforward in the instructions given to textbook publishers during the 2021 submittal process for the 2022-2023 school year, the first year “B.E.S.T” would be put into place:
In fact, FDOE proactively informed publishers inJune 2021 that textbooks must align to the B.E.S.T. Standards, state laws regarding required instruction, and that they should not incorporate unsolicited strategies such as SEL in their instructional materials.
“We’re going to ensure that Florida has the highest-quality instructional materials aligned to our nationally-recognized standards,” Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran said in a statement.
“When it comes to education, other states continue to follow Florida’s lead as we continue to reinforce parents’ rights by focusing on providing their children with a world-class education without the fear of indoctrination or exposure to dangerous and divisive concepts in our classrooms,” Corcoran added.
DeSantis has long been an opponent of Critical Race Theory in classes. In June 2021, the governor called it “poison,” while adding that Florida was “happy to have banned it.”
While SEL has been around for decades, in recent years, many believe it has transformed into a vehicle for pushing many of the same principles of Critical Race Theory, such as the concept of equity, privilege, and systemic racism.
According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social Emotional Learning, equity goes hand-in-hand with SEL:
While SEL alone will not solve longstanding and deep-seated inequities in the education system, it can help schools promote understanding, examine biases, reflect on and address the impact of racism, build cross-cultural relationships, and cultivate adult and student practices that close opportunity gaps and create a more inclusive school community. In doing so, schools can promote high-quality educational opportunities and outcomes for all students, irrespective of race, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, and other difference
Quick note: We cannot do this without your support. Fact. Our work is made possible by you and only you. We receive no grants, government handouts, or major funding.
Tech giants are shutting us down. You know this. Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Adsense, Pinterest permanently banned us. Facebook, Google search et al have shadow-banned, suspended and deleted us from your news feeds. They are disappearing us. But we are here.
Subscribe to Geller Report newsletter here — it’s free and it’s critical NOW when informed decision making and opinion is essential to America’s survival. Share our posts on your social channels and with your email contacts. Fight the great fight.
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https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-04-18 08:52:182022-04-18 08:52:18Florida Rejects 41% Of Math Books Containing ‘Critical Race Theory’ and Other Indoctrinating Propaganda
As we here at the Geller Report have reported for the past two years. One only has to look at countries that did not lockdown, ie Sweden, who fared better.
Still Democrats, in their relentless pursuit of American destruction, continue to threaten us with them.
According to a new study by Johns Hopkins University, the pandemic “lockdowns have had little to no public health effects,” and have “imposed enormous economic and social costs where they have been adopted.”
“While this meta-analysis concludes that lockdowns have had little to no public health effects, they have imposed enormous economic and social costs where they have been adopted,” the authors of the study reported.
They added, “In consequence, lockdown policies are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.”
Wow, you mean the “conspiracy theorists” were right?? No wonder social media giants, the media, and the government worked so hard to keep them quiet.
The authors are Jonas Herby, special advisor at Center for Political Studies in Copenhagen, Denmark; Lars Jonung, professor emeritus in economics at Lund University, Sweden; and Steve H. Hanke, a Professor of Applied Economics and Founder & Co-Director of The Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise.
The study, the authors said, was “designed to determine whether there is empirical evidence to support the belief that ‘lockdowns’ reduce COVID-19 mortality.” The authors defined lockdowns “as the imposition of at least one compulsory, non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI).”NPIs, they explained, “are any government mandate that directly restrict peoples’ possibilities, such as policies that limit internal movement, close schools and businesses, and ban international travel.”
The authors explained that “public health experts and politicians” have “embraced compulsory lockdowns” to address the coronavirus pandemic, and their study was to answer the question of other or not that has done more harm than good.
“To answer our question, we focused on studies that examine the actual impact of lockdowns on COVID-19 mortality rates based on registered cross-sectional mortality data and a counterfactual difference in-difference approach,” the authors said.
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Remember the VA waiting list scandals under Obama. They’re back under his veep. Or more accurately they never really left.
Biden decided to appoint Denis McDonough, an Obama aide, to head Veteran Affairs and things are going well.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough acknowledged that he is “frustrated” with inconsistency in how medical appointment wait time data is calculated and recorded within the department’s health care systems, and promised changes on the issue later this year.
During testimony before the House Appropriations Committee this week, McDonough said he is concerned about delivering accurate information on appointment timeliness to veterans as they seek to resume care that was deferred or canceled in recent years.
Yes, the waiting list scandal was never actually fixed. Or much of anything else.
Mike Tonkyn had to go to Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center three times to get his blood drawn.
Charlie Bourg’s cancer diagnosis was delayed several months, and now he needs surgery.
Heather Hill saw several of her patients suffer withdrawals after going weeks without medications to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
Others went months without insulin, accidentally got a double-dose of remdesivir to treat COVID-19 or went through withdrawals after going without anti-seizure medication.
More than a year after the Department of Veterans Affairs began testing a new electronic health record system at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center, veterans who rely on the Spokane hospital and the health care workers who count on the software to do their jobs say flaws in the system continue to threaten patients’ safety, even as VA last week announced plans to roll it out in Walla Walla and other cities early next year.
The Justice Department wants to help non-English speakers report crimes, and Defense Department is reviewing algorithmic bias in its Artificial Intelligence technology as part of the Biden administration’s broad effort to tackle inequality. Driving the news: More than 90 federal agencies released their Equity Action Plans on Thursday that were ordered by President Biden during his first days in office.
We could have affordable gas or 90 equity plans.
The Department of Veterans Affairs said it will work to improve the social and economic determinants of health for LGBTQI+ veterans.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-04-18 08:52:162022-04-18 08:52:16While Vets Die Waiting, VA Will Focus on LGBT Rights
We have written about Disney’s mission to groom underaged children to become sexual partners for pedophiles and pederasts. To understand Disney’s agenda watch this video of Disney’s Gay Diversity and Inclusion Manager Vivian Ware:
SCOOP: Disney diversity and inclusion manager Vivian Ware says the company has eliminated all mentions of “ladies,” “gentlemen,” “boys,” and “girls” in its theme parks in order to create “that magical moment” for children who do not identify with traditional gender roles. pic.twitter.com/OWsGTUoeCA
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) March 29, 2022
We sat down with Vivian Ware, Diversity & Inclusion Manager, who reflected on her journey helping launch one of Disney’s first-ever BERGs (Business Employee Resource Groups) more than 22 years ago, our PRIDE BERG.
[ … ]
In 1998, when Vivian was asked if she would be interested in joining a team of fellow cast members organizing a Diversity Resource Group that was supportive of the LGBTQ+ community. Vivian became instrumental in founding the group, soon to be known as PRIDE (People Respecting Individual Diversities in Everyone).
[ … ]
She [Vivian Ware] recalls that at the time, she was still early in her own coming out journey. “Being able to connect with others and create a bond with people who were like me, created affirmation for me that I was not alone and that it was okay for me to be who I was.”
The launch of the PRIDE BERG coincided with the launch of our HOLA BERG, which advocates for the Hispanic and Latinx community, and PULSE BERG, which supports the Black, African-American, and Caribbean communities. Vivian fondly recalls the teams involved in all three launches coming together to serve as allies to one another as they geared up to launch the BERGs: “The launch of these first-ever BERGs at the same time showed the strength of community. When we all come together, our voices are more powerful than when we work separately.”
Read more.
Trafalgar Group’s National Issues Survey on Disney
The Trafalgar Group’s new National Issues Survey on Disney, which was sponsored by the Convention of States Action, found that more than 69 percent of respondents said they were likely to support “family-friendly alternatives” to Disney.
However, when your break down the numbers you find a shocking numbeDr.r of those who embrace Disney’s LGBT movement to groom children.
Here are the numbers of those embracing the grooming of children by Disney:
Democrats – 41%
Republicans – 14.7%
No Party Affiliation – 27.5%
NOTE: The Trafalgar Group’s new National Issues Survey on Disney poll was conducted between April 4-8th of 1,079 likely general election voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.99 percent.
The Bottom Line
The Disney Corporation has been queering kids since 1999. This movement to queer children is designed to create a new generation that embraces fully the LGBTQ agenda. And they are succeeding.
Recently Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the “Parental Rights in Education” (Anti-Grooming) bill into law on April 11th, 2022, prohibiting classroom discussion or instruction on sexual orientation and identity in kindergarten to third grade or in older grades in “a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate.”
When the bill was passed by the Florida legislature Disney’s CEO came out against the bill as did multiple senior staff members. Disney want to groom children to be used and abused sexually.
It is astounding that so many still want this to continue by supporting Disney. As the saying goes, “What you allow is what will continue.” It appears there are many who want this kid grooming to continue.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-04-18 08:52:152022-04-18 08:52:15SHOCKING POLL: 41% of Democrats Embrace Disney’s LGBT Agenda to Sexually Groom Children
Don’t be surprised if the states topping this new list start losing people to states that don’t take as much of their money.
ax season is in full swing, and many Americans are likely grimacing as they crunch the numbers and prepare to open up their wallets. But some more so than others, as the relative tax burden in the US varies vastly across different states. And now, a new analysis reveals which states will have the highest (and lowest) taxes in 2022.
The right-leaning, nonpartisan Tax Foundation just ran the numbers to rank the states based on their average combined state and local tax burden. This does not include the many federal taxes all Americans must pay regardless of state residency.
This ranking does not look solely at the absolute amount received in taxes by state and local governments. It also attempts to account for the true burden of taxes, given that sometimes the real cost of a state tax can be imposed on residents of other states. (For example, people who live in New Jersey but work in New York City also pay many New York taxes).
The Takeaway: Tax Competition
These differences in taxation levels are more than just a pleasant surprise for taxpayers in some states (and an ugly reality for taxpayers in others). With combined state and local tax burdens varying between nearly 16 percent in New York and just 4.6 percent in Alaska, there’s a big enough difference between the states to encourage tax competition.
What is tax competition?
It’s when “jurisdictional competition leads to better tax policy,” economist Dan Mitchell explains. “Simply stated, politicians are less greedy when they have to worry that the geese with the golden eggs can fly away.”
Americans can (and do) relocate when their local and state governments excessively raise taxes. This means states must always be on the watch against losing residents to lower-tax neighbors, a positive incentive structure that helps keep the growth of government in check and protect our wallets from greedy politicians.
So, don’t be surprised if the states topping this new list of high tax burdens start losing people to states that don’t take as much of their money.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-04-18 08:52:142022-04-18 08:52:14These 5 States Will Have Highest Tax Burdens in 2022, New Analysis Reveals
By continuing along with this standardized type of schooling, we are putting millions at a disadvantage.
The public education system we currently know has been around for more than 150 years. However, the basic schooling model remains the same. Roughly 20 to 30 kids of the same age are stuffed into a classroom and taught by one teacher.
Even though the curricula have developed, the essence has stayed the same. Children are still taught in a standardized and industrialized way. As with anything that comes from centralized control, it is highly inefficient, bureaucratic, and wasteful.
Yes, the overall educational system has changed in many regards. However, the way we are taught has not. A teacher at the front and the children seated is the optimal way to learn for some students, but others struggle in this environment.
Children learn best in different ways. Some children are best suited to learn through visual stimulation. Others may learn best through hands-on education. The reality is that the current educational system doesn’t really accommodate any learning style, nor does it aim for anything other than high test scores.
Let Children Be Children and Enhance Their Minds
Children rarely are allowed to be children. Play is stifled. Students are crammed into a classroom and taught in a standardized way. Creativity is restricted. They aren’t allowed to harness their inquisitive minds. Questioning things is part of the analytic mind and a key to societal development, but this takes a backseat to examinations.
The very nature of tests relies on memorization, repetition, and regurgitation: Tests infrequently harness the analytical mind. They train students to know the answers. However, they don’t train them on how to find the answers.
Faculty aspire to develop students’ thinking skills, but research shows that in practice, we tend to aim at facts and concepts in the disciplines, at the lowest cognitive levels, rather than the development of intellect or values.
Critical thinking is key to creating free and individual minds. It is also increasingly important in today’s age, where the line between information and facts is so fine. In fact, 95 percent of statistics are made up. A critical mind will question where this actually came from. Where did this statistic come from? Is it actually reliable?
The issue we have today is that students are taught to test. Whether the information makes sense or not is irrelevant as long as it is correct. This comes at a cost. Schools teach students what to think as opposed to how to think. There are important critical skills that aren’t taught. Do students truly question whatever they read or accept any claim blindly? Or, perhaps, do they accept it as long as it confirms their biases? The current system is failing because it is offering the wrong type of education. We must develop individual minds, not mindless zombies.
Learning Styles
Each child is unique in their own right. Each has a different personality and preferred way of learning. Under the current system, each child is bundled under one standardized umbrella. When considering the different types of learners, it is easy to see why some get left behind.
The four learning styles include: visual learners, auditory learners, reading/writing learners, and kinesthetic learners. However, the idea of learning styles is not definitive. That is to say that you are not exclusively one type of learner or another.
Research from Pashler et al. disputes the evidence of specific learning styles.
Rather, these learning styles are preferences rather than “hard-coded.” This is to say that these preferred learning styles can change over time. When a specific learning style is preferred, it is easier for students to take in that information. For example, some students may prefer visual stimulation to emphasize a point, so graphs and charts may be useful. If this engages the students, they take more in. This inevitably affects educational outcomes.
Kinaesthetic learners are probably the biggest anomaly in the classroom. For students who learn best by being active, the classroom is the last place to be. It is no wonder why there are always a few individuals who are consistently disengaged. These individuals are often sporty and have high levels of energy. The traditional football captain who struggles to maintain his place on course may spring to mind. By continuing along with this standardized type of schooling, we are putting millions at a disadvantage.
Educational Stagnation
Whether you buy into learning styles or not, it is evident that the current classroom system is outdated. Literacy rates have stagnated since 1971, while there has been no progress in math since 1990. So what are the causes of this stagnation?
The New York Times would have you believe the issue is underfunding. Throwing more money at something is a classic proposal used by modern-day liberals.
This problem cannot be solved with money alone, however. Kansas City, Missouri, provides us with a perfect example. It currently spends roughly 63 percent of its entire budget on schooling. Benefiting from the best-funded school facilities in the country, student performance has failed to improve. Furthermore, the US spends more on education than any other OECD country besides Norway.
At the same time, it is receiving little value for the money. Outcomes are average, but mathematic results are particularly poor. Countries such as Vietnam, Hungary, and Slovakia score higher.
Testing Is Outdated
So why is testing such a bad thing? It teaches children how to absorb information. Children “learn for a test.” However, once the test is taken, is the information truly absorbed? How long does it stay present in the mind? Research by neurobiologists Blake Richards and Paul Frankland suggests it isn’t very long.
According to the neurobiologists, the brain quickly disregards information that is no longer required. Forgetting is an evolutionary strategy to promote the survival of the species. Richards and Frankland state:
From this perspective, forgetting is not necessarily a failure of memory. Rather, it may represent an investment in a more optimal mnemonic strategy.
It is true that repetition can help with memory retention. However, if that specific memory is not recalled, it is eventually forgotten. Further research from Bacon and Stewart studied individual students for up to two years following course completion. They concluded that most of the knowledge gained during the course was lost within two years.
It is clear that the current system is generally based upon memory—who can memorize the most information to prepare for the test. Is this really arming kids with the tools they need for adulthood?
Potential Solutions
One potential solution for education would be to start “formal” schooling at age seven. Research from the University of Cambridge concludes that there are benefits of later starts to formal education. This evidence relates to the contribution of playful experiences to children’s development as learners and the consequences of starting formal learning at the age of four to five years of age.
There also needs to be a reduction in the level of testing. We have developed a system whereby teachers have a strong incentive to “teach to test.” It’s about memorizing as much information as possible rather than learning how to think.
Furthermore, the testing culture is putting a strain on both teachers’ and students’ mental health. Test results are the be-all and end-all. It is for that reason that many teachers are already leaving the profession. Reforming this testing culture would not only reduce teacher and student stress but also relieve teacher turnover rates.
Thirdly, school vouchers are a viable option. There are already a number of states that have experimented with this. Mostly, there has been large success across the board. The benefits of school choice are widely documented. The vast majority of existing studies find positive effects. Not only are test scores improved, but graduation rates and civic engagement are also enhanced.
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Government-driven litter can quickly become pollution.
The mask mandate for all airplanes and public transit in the US was set to expire on April 18. But on Wednesday the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention extended it for 15 days, citing an uptick in cases, especially of the “BA.2 omicron subvariant.”
“In order to assess the potential impact the rise of cases has on severe disease, including hospitalizations and deaths, and health care system capacity, the CDC order will remain in place at this time,” the agency announced in a statement.
The government wants another 15 days to assess the spread. Sounds familiar.
The expiration of the order would have been a milestone in the protracted winding down of the government-driven mask culture that has reigned supreme throughout the world since early in the pandemic. The reign of the mask has had mixed results at best, most of which were unintended adverse consequences.
Of Masks and Muck
The most visible of these consequences has been mask litter, which sharply increased during the pandemic, according to a research study published December 2021 in the journal Nature Sustainability.
“The proportion of masks in litter increased by >80-fold as a result of COVID-19 legislation, from <0.01% to >0.8%,” the study found.
We’ve all seen it: the baby blue masks on the sidewalk and in the gutter, sometimes soaked with rainwater and caked with muck. It’s a disgusting eyesore: “visual pollution” is the technical term.
And it’s not only mask litter. The study also discussed gloves and wipes. And Singapore is dealing with another visual pollutant resulting from COVID mandates: sticker litter.
In August 2021, The Straits Timesreported that, to comply with government rules prohibiting unvaccinated people from dining in, food courts were checking vaccination status at the entrance and marking the vaxxed with little stickers.
This method spread throughout the island nation. But now Singapore is dealing with an unintended consequence of its vaccine rules, as The Wall Street Journalreported Wednesday:
“Outside, scores of discarded badges ended up stuck to railings, walls, signs, traffic-light posts—practically any surface within arm’s reach, even plants. Some of the rules were eased recently, but the unwanted pandemic souvenirs remain.
Beyond the visual blight, the stickers leave behind a gummy, hard-to-clean residue.”
As the Journal hinted, it is ironic that Singapore is dealing with gummy gunk in public spaces resulting from a draconian order, given that decades ago it famously issued another draconian order banning chewing gum… to prevent gummy gunk in public spaces.
Not Just an Eyesore
Some may dismiss litter as a mere annoyance. But its visual pollution injects ugliness and chaos into our lives, mars the beauty and order humans naturally strive to create, and degrades our quality of life.
And litter can escalate into pollution that more directly impacts health. This is especially true for litter that accumulates on a massive scale due to sweeping government policies that impact human behavior en masse.
As the Nature Sustainability study warned:
“Littered items can be transported by weather conditions into drains and sewerage systems, creating potential blockages where they entangle with other solids (for example, leaf litter).”
Like I said, mask litter can be disgusting. And our natural disgust response is often a warning sign for unhygienic threats to our health. So it is no surprise that the study warned that litter can become “vectors for other pathogens and pollutants.”
The study lists several other negative environmental impacts, rounding out the list with microplastics:
“Chemical, physical and biological weathering will break the littered items down from macro-plastics (>5 mm) into micro-plastics (<0.5 mm) and nano-plastics (<100 nm) that have the potential to enter the lower food chain and have toxicological effects including the leaching of metals.”
Every soiled mask on the sidewalk should be a reminder that all government dictates have unintended consequences. Like debris, the adverse impacts of the COVID regime have accumulated, adding up to a mind-bogglingly immense total cost for society: in material security and prosperity, health (both physical and mental), and quality of life. It is long past time to clean up.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-04-17 19:51:252022-04-17 19:51:25How Mask Mandates Make a Mess of Things—Literally
Not only is the Biden administration a global embarrassment, but it is also destroying America from within. The American Southwest border has seen a whopping 6000-8000 illegals a day enter, and it is now projected that the number will “quickly double” since the announcement of the end of the CDC Emergency Title 42 expulsion authority.
Since anyone is free to slip through America’s borders — including criminals, dealers and jihadists — it is no surprise that five sexual predators were arrested in the West Texas border sector in a week, or that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized 123 pounds of drugs at El Paso area ports of entry over the past weekend.
While Biden builds a voter base comprising of illegals, America continues to crumble.
“EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: 250 Migrants Appear in One Hour in West Texas Town,” by Randy Clark, Breitbart, April 12, 2022:
EAGLE PASS, Texas — Border Patrol agents scrambled to respond to several large migrant groups early Tuesday. The migrants made landfall just south of the city in a steady flow to surrender. One subgroup of more than 100 were mostly Cubans.
Border Patrol agents took the group of mostly adult males into custody and began the task of gathering basic biographical information and inventories of personal property. Several Border Patrol trucks brought more migrants to a roadway from the riverbank. There were some female migrants carrying infants and young children.
According to a Customs and Border Protection source, the flow of migrants just south of the city has been steadily increasing since the announcement of the end of the CDC Emergency Title 42 expulsion authority. The CDC announced on April 1 that the emergency order will expire on May 23. As word of the program’s sunset spreads, the source says the increase in migrant crossings is likely to grow.
The source says daily apprehension totals are between 6,000 to 8,000 migrants per day across the entire southwest border – a figure which could quickly double. Even at the current pace, Border Patrol facilities are experiencing overcrowding….
EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.
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Homoerotic singer to entertain teens on Easter Monday in the Vatican.
VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) – The Italian bishops have invited Italy’s leading soft porn singer and rapper to perform at St. Peter’s Square on Easter Monday before an audience of 60,000 teenagers.
Blanco (right) and Mahmood posed naked on Vanity Fair’s cover
Riccardo Fabbriconi, known professionally as Blanco, won acclaim from LGBTQ+ fans after a homoeroticperformance at Italy’s Sanremo 2022 Festival where he does a double act with singer Alessandro Mahmood, who is rumored to be gay.
“Blanco and Mahmood have become true icons for homosexuals,” Italian media QDS.it reported, commenting on the duo’s “intense and enchanting song ‘Brividi,’” (translated as “shivers” or “chills”). The song uses the “f-word” and celebrates a homoerotic relationship.
The invitation to Blanco is at the behest of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), which has organized the national youth pilgrimage being led by Fr. Michele Falabretti, head of the bishops’ National Service for Youth Ministry.
Around 60 bishops are expected to attend the event, bringing young people from their dioceses to the Vatican. The bishops’ media Avvenire said Blanco’s performance will prepare the teens for a prayer meeting and sermon from Pope Francis later the same evening.
‘Not Suitable’ Messaging
Bishop Antonio Suetta of the diocese of Ventimiglia-San Remo told Italian newspaper La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana he was scandalized by the invitation since “the message conveyed by Blanco is not suitable for a Catholic context.”
Blanco and Mahmood have become true icons for homosexuals. GabTweet
“If entertainment is intended to prepare children for the meeting with the Holy Father and for prayer, I would find it more appropriate to invite artists in the field of Christian music, and there is an avalanche of them,” Suetta said.
Blanco’s public photos “reflect an approach to the body, to human relationships and to the vision of life that clashes with the Christian vision,” the bishop explained. “I also saw a photo of him practically in his underwear, squeezing his genitals with his hand.”
Blanco and Mahmood appeared stark naked on the cover of the Italian edition of Vanity Fair, only covering their genitals with their hands. (Church Militant has pixelated the offensive parts in the image, shown above.)
Suetta, one of the lone Italian bishops to stand against the spirit of the age, elaborated:
I understand that the world has fallen into vulgarity, but we, as a Church, must we endorse the vulgarity? We have an enormous artistic heritage with multiple expressions; the Church has always used these means to elevate the spirit, illuminating the fashions and different styles of the times. But can we call this kind of performance “art”?
I’ve long been under the impression that these slips come from a misunderstood concept of dialogue. I give dialogue a positive value. Clearly, I do not consider it an absolute, because the meaning of our human relationships cannot be limited to dialogue. It should not be confused with compromise; dialogue is an instrument of our intelligence to get to know each other and walk together to the truth.
I also saw a photo of him practically in his underwear, squeezing his genitals with his hand. GabTweet
In the first week of April, the rapper made headlines when he picked up a bra and wore it around his tattooed chest. The bra was thrown at him by a young female fan in the front row at a concert in Padua.
“For some, the gesture of wearing women’s underwear was a signal to define themselves as ‘fluid.’ For others, Blanco once again showed his eclectic exuberance,” Italian daily Il Giornalecommented.
Latest Perversion of ‘Art’
The Vatican and the Italian bishops have scandalized the faithful in recent years with a number of displays masquerading as art.
“Gender fluid” Blanco dons a bra at the Padua concert
Donations from Peter’s Pence, the pope’s charitable collection, were used to fund the 2019 Elton John biopic Rocketman, featuring an explicit gay sex scene. Singer Elton John, who “married” his “husband” David Furnish, slammed the Church as “hypocritical” for funding his film but refusing to bless same-sex marriages.
Faithful Catholics blasted the Vatican’s 2018 nativity for featuring a homoerotic figure. The Christmas crib, meant to portray the seven corporal acts of mercy, was made in Montevergine, a town famous for its close links with Italy’s LGBTQ+ community.
In 2017, Abp. Vincenzo Paglia, head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, commissioned homosexual artist Ricardo Cinalli to paint a homoerotic mural in his cathedral in the diocese of Terni-Narni-Amelia.
The mural includes a homoerotic image of Paglia and portrays Jesus lifting to Heaven two nets filled with naked and semi-nude homosexuals, transsexuals, prostitutes and drug dealers tangled together in sexual interactions.
I understand that the world has fallen into vulgarity, but we, as a Church, must we endorse the vulgarity? GabTweet
In April 2008, authorities at Vienna’s St. Stephen’s Cathedral caused outrage when they exhibited an artwork portraying the Last Supper as a homoerotic orgy. The exhibition, “Religion, Flesh and Power,” by controversial sculptor Alfred Hrdlicka, depicted Jesus being fondled and the Apostles groping one another.
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn ordered the removal of the Last Supper exhibit, but other blasphemous pictures — including one showing Christ being fondled while on the Cross — were left on display.
“I don’t think it helps the kids to get to know Jesus Christ better by offering a further opportunity to listen to Blanco,” Suetta lamented. “It is something that embarrasses, creates worry and discomfort. If by scandal we mean something that literally stands in the way, yes, it is.”
The Holy See Press Office did not respond to Church Militant’s request for comment as of press time.
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A reader sent us a link to a UAF Report article titled “ Gov. DeSantis Proposes Plan to Entirely Wipe Out Democrat Seats in Congress.”
Our reader TL wrote, “Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the future President of the United States of America (2024? 2028?), has devised a brilliant scheme to improve Republican numbers in the House of Representatives dramatically. It’s so crazy that it just might work. In fact, I’m almost certain that it will. DeSantis’ strategy is to approve a new congressional layout for his state, which many believe will add [Republican seats].
“The DeSantis administration formally submitted its plan Wednesday to the GOP-controlled Legislature where leaders in that chamber have already signaled they would accept whatever proposal was offered to them,” Politico reported. “Wednesday’s move is a signal of the power DeSantis wields in the now-Republican-dominated state. Redistricting in Florida may help shape the composition of the U.S. House for at least the next decade.”
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-04-16 17:52:192022-04-16 17:52:19FLORIDA: Gov. DeSantis Proposes Plan to Entirely Wipe Out Democrat Seats in Congress
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-04-16 04:51:532022-04-16 04:51:53What Would Jesus Do Today? What Would Rush Say Today?
“If Elon Musk successfully purchases Twitter, it could result in World War 3 and the destruction of our planet.” That’s what some crazy leftist said on Twitter yesterday. World War 3? The destruction of the planet? What’s interesting to me is that these crazy leftists are so far down the rabbit hole, they could believe such things. They are delusional and should seek professional help.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, reality is delivering some stunning rebukes to these crazy leftists and their crazy beliefs.
A public university in Ohio agreed to pay $400,000 to settle a lawsuit by a philosophy professor who refused to use students’ preferred pronouns. It also agreed to cease and desist in its attempts to force him to use preferred pronouns in the future. It’s crazy for the authoritarian Left to compel speech in violation of the First Amendment and, furthermore, to compel all of society to tell lies. Boys are not girls and girls are not boys. To compel everyone to believe and speak otherwise is straight out of Soviet thought control. To think you have the power to compel everyone on earth to labor under your delusions is really crazy.
If you think $400,000 is a lot, just wait until you hear this. An Ohio appeals court panel just upheld a $44 million judgment against Oberlin College in Ohio for libeling a bakery when the College actively backed a student protest against the bakery. The owner’s son chased down a black student for shoplifting. The student later pled guilty, but protesters accused the bakery of racial profiling and discrimination. The Dean of Students circulated a flyer and the student body passed a resolution, both containing defamatory statements about the bakery – ‘racists’, blah, blah, blah. Defamatory statements were postedin the student union, and the school refused to take them down. The flyer with the false information encouraged students to boycott the bakery. The verdict included $33 million in punitive damages. So, to all you smug crazy leftists out there, who trip over your own virtue signaling and let yourselves get carried away despite the facts of the case, just remember you, too, might one day be staring down the barrel of a $33 million punitive damage award. To persist when the facts show you to be dead wrong, that’s really crazy.
And it’s really crazy to think you can force your beliefs on others. A woman in Tennessee just won a $10,000 settlement from her union that tried to force her to pay union dues to support the union’s pro-abortion stance. She had requested a religious exemption, but the union refused. The union also agreed to write a letter of apology to settle the case. It’s really crazy to think you can force everyone in the world to put their money behind your leftist beliefs.
Back to the Big Lie of transgenderism for a moment, a women’s group has filed a formal civil rights complaintagainst the University of Pennsylvania for allowing that biological male Lia Thomas to compete on the women’s swim team. You probably heard about the unfair competition and destruction of women’s sports, but the complaint also alleges the university created a hostile environment for women by allowing Thomas into the same locker room where he proudly displayed his male genitalia to the women’s team. Team members requested the school make Thomas use a different locker room, but the coaches refused. You leftists are really crazy if you think you’re going to get away with this kind of stuff.
You’re also crazy to think you’ll never suffer any consequences from your outrageous behavior. Students at Yale protested an event hosted by a conservative legal society featuring a speaker who had defended the Colorado baker in the gay wedding cake case in the Supreme Court. After the protest, a federal judge took the unprecedented step of sendingan email to all federal judges in the country encouraging them not to hire any Yale law students who took part in the protest. If the students are not committed to free speech, they shouldn’t be getting prestigious clerkships from federal judges.
So, you put that together with multimillion dollar punitive damage awards, conservatives starting competing companieswhen authoritarian leftists mess with their free speech, and Elon Musk mounting a hostile takeover of Twitter for doing the same, and you’ve got cold hard facts on the ground that should give even the most insane committed leftists pause. Careful what you wish for, careful what you do, because we’re not going to sit still for your nonsense. We can’t wait to return the favor and sue you, buy you, or compete you out of existence.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-04-15 15:52:262022-04-15 15:52:26Suing, Buying, and Competing the Delusional Left Out of Existence
The tech visionary and billionaire recently set off a firestorm when he purchased a large chunk of Twitter’s stock, and he’s now coming for the whole thing for the price of $43.4 billion, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Musk wrote the following in part in a message to Twitter board chair Bret Taylor, according to the same report:
However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.
As a result, I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced. My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.
Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.
I can’t begin to tell you how much I hope this happens. It’s not just that I want Elon Musk to take over Twitter. It’s that we need Elon Musk to take over Twitter.
AUTHOR
David Hookstead
Sports and entertainment editor.
EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-04-15 15:52:252022-04-15 15:52:25Elon Musk Offers To Buy Twitter For More Than $40 Billion
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