The sad truth is, the average American works four months a year just to cover tax bills. How did we get here?
The Internal Revenue Service released new federal income tax brackets last week. Though marginal tax rates did not change, under federal law the brackets are adjusted for inflation, and they shake out like this.
Marginal rate
Individual income
Married couples filing jointly
10%
$11,000 or less
$22,000 or less
12%
$11,000 to $44,725
$22,001 to $89,450
22%
$44,726 to $95,375
$89,451 to $190,750
24%
$95,376 to $182,100
$190,751 to $364,200
32%
$182,101 to $231,250
$364,201 to $462,500
35%
$231,251 to $578,125
$462,501 to $693,750
37%
$578,126 or more
$693,751 or more
The adjustments are designed to avoid “bracket creep”—a merciful measure that came out of the Reagan administration—and some media celebrated that many Americans may see a slightly lower tax bill as a result.
“The new brackets for 2023 mean paychecks for many Americans could see a boost, which will help consumers who are being hit hard by inflation and aren’t seeing raises that keep pace with price increases,” Herb Scribner reported in Axios.
While it’s nice to see Axios recognize that a lower tax bill is actually a good thing, the elephant in the room went unnoticed. The tax rates are eye-popping. Why are working families shelling out so much of their money— a fifth of their income, a quarter of their income, a third of their income or more—to the government? The sad truth is, the average American works four months a year just to cover their tax bills.
This invites a few important questions. Who authorized the pillaging of our paychecks and what exactly are we getting in return? And why do we pay taxes in the first place?
‘The Great and Chief End’
Most Americans probably don’t ask themselves these questions. The truth is, most of us pay taxes not because we want to, but because we’ll go to prison if we don’t. (And because our wages are garnished, which is another story.) Some will say they pay taxes because it’s their civic duty, but a funny thing happens when you ask these same people to pay more than they have to. They don’t.
Others will argue taxes are necessary to fund all the programs and departments of the federal government, and they’ll have a point. The Pentagon’s budget is $767 billion alone. The Department of Treasury is not far behind with a $704 billion budget, and the Department of Transportation’s is $128 billion. The Department of Agriculture has a $208 billion budget. It goes on and on. Indeed, the list is so long that few Amerians could name all the federal departments and agencies, and even fewer could explain what these agencies actually do.
This invites an important question: what is the purpose of government?
Again, it’s probably a question few people ask, and answers will vary because it’s a subjective question. The question is easy to answer, however, if we look back to John Locke (1632-1704). In the eyes of Locke, whose ideas influenced the founding fathers and underpin the American system, the role of government is clear: it exists to protect life, liberty, and private property.
“…every Man has a Property in his own Person. This no Body has any Right to but himself. The Labour of his Body, and the Work of his Hands, we may say, are properly his,” wrote Locke in his Second Treatise on Civil Government. “The great and chief end therefore, of Mens uniting into Commonwealths, and putting themselves under Government, is the Preservation of their Property.”
Locke argued the purpose of government is to secure the individual rights of people and nothing else. Its purpose is not to redistribute wealth, provide services to the people, or educate children. Government should be limited to its sole purpose, which is why the framers of the Constitution enumerated specific powers to the federal government spelling out exactly what it was permitted to do and stating in the Bill of Rights everything the federal government could not do to citizens.
The Law Itself Becomes Guilty
When one looks at what the Constitution authorizes the federal government to do and compares it to the alphabet soup of federal agencies, it’s clear that both the Constitution and the principle of limited government have been largely abandoned.
In the absence of these restraining mechanisms, the size, scope, and expense of government have exploded. The federal government is now $31.2 trillion in debt. The institution created to protect our rights has become the greatest violator of our rights, an irony that would not have surprised the French economist Frédéric Bastiat.
“Instead of checking crime, the law itself [becomes] guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish!” Bastiat wrote in The Law.
All of this explains why those marginal tax rates are so high. It stems directly from the size of government.
Instead of being excited that the inflation eating away their wealth might have a small silver lining—a slightly lower tax bill than last year—Americans should be asking why they’re paying so much in the first place. It might help them rediscover the lost principle of limited government.
This article was adapted from an issue of the FEE Daily email newsletter. Click here to sign up and get free-market news and analysis like this in your inbox every weekday.
Jonathan Miltimore is the Managing Editor of FEE.org. His writing/reporting has been the subject of articles in TIME magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Forbes, Fox News, and the Star Tribune. Bylines: Newsweek, The Washington Times, MSN.com, The Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, The Federalist, the Epoch Times.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-10-24 18:52:082022-10-24 18:52:082023 Federal Tax Brackets Are Out. See Which Bracket You Fall in—and Why Tax Rates Are so High
It’s been widely reported border agents have apprehended a record 2.3 million illegal aliens at the southern border in the last 12 months. What has not received nearly as much attention is the fact that 20 known or suspected terrorists were arrested at the southern border last month, bringing the total for the fiscal year to 98. This is four times the number for the last five years COMBINED. Houston, we have a problem. In addition, over 25,000 special interest aliens with possible ties to terrorism were encountered at the border this fiscal year, more than half of them from the Islamic Republic of Turkey. What’s up with that?
Recent stories in the news also confirm the familiar litany of other problems with Joe Biden’s open border policies, starting with fentanyl pouring into the United States. Enough fentanyl to kill 36 million Americans was confiscated around the country from May to September. Some 12,000 fentanyl pills were seized at the Los Angeles airport last week. Not only do the Democrats not care, they blocked a bill last month that would have upgraded the penalties for selling fentanyl. Another reason not to vote Democrat in the election.
Meanwhile, dead bodies are piling up at the border, literally. Texas sheriffs are having to use mobile makeshift morgues to handle the record number of illegal aliens dropping dead at the border. The situation is so bad in one Texas town, the funeral homes and local mortuaries are no longer taking in dead bodies. They’re simply being buried in the local cemetery without being identified. I guess that’s what Biden immigration officials mean by prioritizing ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’. If you come here illegally and die, we’ll still include you in our cemeteries.
Just as cynical is the administration’s handling of unaccompanied alien children. A record 130,000 entered the government shelter system this fiscal year. But an Inspector General report last month blasted the administration for improper care and for releasing children to sponsors who have not been properly screened for child sex offenses. Democrats must not care if children are released to unsafe sponsors and are put at risk for sex trafficking, because no Democrat has spoken out against it.
Another consequence of Joe Biden’s border policies is the empowerment of the cartels. Migrant smuggling is now a $20 billion enterprise. Twenty billion will buy a lot of weaponry and bureaucrats.
The Biden administration isn’t defending any of this. Instead, they’re trying to hide it from the American public. But why hide it? If you’re proud of your policies, you should want to tell the world. Tell the world how you pressured the mayor of El Paso not to declare a state of emergency over the border crisis because it would make you look bad. Tell the world how you are sending military personnel to the border to cook, sweep floors, and fill out paperwork. Like the ad says, be all you can be.
And tell the world how you continue to change policies to promote more illegal immigration. I’ve already documented dozens of policy changes in previous commentaries. Here are the latest: It is now policy to open gates locked by the Texas National Guard so more illegal aliens can enter. It is policy to tell border states that put up their own barriers to illegal entry they are guilty of “trespass against the United States” and pressure states to remove them. And it is now policy to spend tens of millions of dollars on legal services to help illegal aliens avoid deportation and stay in the U.S. permanently.
The border has become an issue in the elections. People don’t trust the Democrats on border issues and wish Republicans were in charge. The nation has immigration laws, but Democrat Joe Biden and his open borders cronies have thrown them in the trash. Joe Biden is running a criminal enterprise, as far as I’m concerned, and he and his border officials really should be impeached for failing to faithfully execute the nation’s immigration laws as they have sworn to do. Shame on Kevin McCarthy for taking impeachment of Biden off the table. Now McCarthy can’t even use the threat of impeachment as a bargaining chip to get something else. What a dummy. Like they say, Republicans never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-10-24 18:52:072022-10-24 18:52:07Impeachable Offenses at the Border
And their response proves them right. As if we needed more proof. They have destroyed the country.
Media assume the last few vestiges of the American constitutional republic are the top dangers to our freedom. But the American people know differently
American corporate media are somewhere between a “major” and “a minor threat to democracy.” Far from a crotchety, back-bencher sentiment, this is now the opinion of a majority of the American people, according to no less than corporate media icon The New York Times.
In a poll conducted by the Siena College Research Institute and the Times from Oct. 9-12, 74 percent of the “likely voters” polled believe “democracy is currently under threat,” and 83 percent believe the corporate media themselves are the threat.
While President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump, Democrats, Republicans, the Supreme Court, mail-in-ballots, electronic voting machines, and even the Electoral College all polled terribly, the media outperformed them all, with 59 percent of likely voters calling them a “major threat to democracy,” and another 24 percent calling them a mere “minor threat.”
This was a surprise to Times’ chief political analyst, who admitted in his write-up that he’d been focused on the same “threats to democracy” his colleagues had been focused on: Republicans, as well as “undemocratic elements of American elected government like the Electoral College, gerrymandering and the Senate.”
To put it more bluntly (a difficult task), he’d assumed we all thought the last few vestiges of the American constitutional republic (the Electoral College and the Senate), plus gerrymandering and free political opposition were the top dangers to our freedom.
The American people, it seems, knew differently. Hallelujah! It’s never good to learn you have a deadly illness, but if there’s any shot of treating it in time, well — it’s best to know you have it. This is the case in our current situation: Trust in American institutions is at all-time lows, and deservedly so — broadly speaking, our institutions deserve less trust than at any time before.
Washington Post senior political reporter Aaron Blake reported on the findings later Monday morning. The problem, he wrote, is Democrats had failed “to make 2022 about the threat to democracy” posed by Republicans.
While a lot of Democrats, he lamented, believe Trump is a threat, they had failed to make that translate to the half of the country who support him. He was surprised to learn Americans outside of D.C., New York, and San Francisco think Democrats are a greater danger to democracy than Republicans, and even more surprised to learn independents agreed.
The answer, he claimed unironically, is for Democrats to double down on their messaging of calling their political opponents dangerous terrorists and fascists. Unsurprisingly, his analysis failed to note the corporate media he is a part of scored lower than anything else — self-awareness is rarely the “political analysts’” strength.
Later that very day, MSNBC host and former Bush White House staffer Nicolle Wallace claimed the Jan. 6 riot was the “deadliest attack on the U.S. Capitol in our, you know, in history,” bypassing both the British burning of the building and the deadly planned Flight 93 attack on the Capitol during the administration she’d later work for.
Disgraced former FBI Agent Peter Strzok agreed, saying American security forces should be “on the same sort of war footing” toward Republicans as they were toward al-Qaida.
“I mean, 9/11 was a tragedy … we still mourn to this day,” he said, “but when you look at something that is an attack on democracy — something that could actually bring about a fundamental change to American governance as we understand it — 9/11 is nothing compared to Jan. 6.”
The morning after the poll was released, former New York Times reporter Anand Giridharadas went on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” — a cable show that lectures Americans on morality and values every weekday morning, co-hosted by two people who left their spouses and children for each other, along with Mike Barnicle, who was fired from the Boston Globe for making up tear-jerkers about overcoming racism through children dying of cancer. That day, Giridharadas used his platform to claim America is in “a dead heat between democracy and fascism,” and said he’d spoken to a “cult deprogrammer” to help him understand Republicans’ “authoritarian menace.” The hosts nodded dumbly. MSNBC producers posted the clip to their website.
The next morning, Georgia candidate for governor Stacey Abrams went on the show. When Barnicle pointed out that voters care less about abortion than “livability, daily, hourly issues that they’re confronted with,” asking her what she can do to fight rising costs as governor, she said the answer was aborting more children.
“But let’s be clear,” she began. “Having children is why you’re worried about your price for gas, it’s why you’re concerned about how much food costs. For women, this is not a reductive issue.”
“Republicans,” Newsweek’s Anna Skinner claimed in a “fact-check” following the interview, “are targeting Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams for connecting abortion to inflation during an MSNBC interview.” She dubbed the widespread disgust “Misleading,” and claimed Abrams never really said what she said.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-10-24 18:52:062022-10-24 18:52:06Americans Identify Media As Democracy’s Biggest Threat
Stanford tells doctors to give false information in order to overcome vaccine hesitancy
I found a Stanford course used to train doctors worldwide on how to overcome vaccine hesitancy. Basically, they tell doctors to give false information. They truly believe the false narrative.
I viewed a number of the lessons to save you the pain and agony.
Some takeaways:
They don’t expect to turn people around to support the vaccine in a single session. They admit it can take many sessions.
They clearly think that people who don’t take the vaccine are simply misinformed and need to be set on the right track.
They recommend giving people false information (like saying the risk of myocarditis is higher for the virus than the vaccine) in order to deal with their objections. Of course, they don’t admit in the course that their advice is false.
At no time should the doctor try to learn anything from the patient (like that the doctor is wrong). It’s all about getting the patient to conform to the narrative, not to discover truth. None of the interventions are designed to examine the data or find the truth or allow the patient to change the doctor’s mind. You are never supposed to do anything like look at the data!
I really think they should do their therapy session on me as one of their case studies. If they can show people how they set me on the “correct path,” that would be astonishing. It would be so entertaining to watch them try to do that. People would pay money to see that. I can’t figure out where I can volunteer to do that.
One of the references is to a paper on why people resisted making the HPV vaccine mandatory. I can tell you why people resisted the HPV vaccine… that vaccine is the second most dangerous vaccine in VAERS, that’s why. Only the COVID vaccines are more dangerous. It has 3 times the number of adverse events that all other vaccines combined at the time it was introduced. That’s why.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-10-24 18:52:052022-10-24 18:52:05STANFORD Tells Doctors To Give False Information In Order to Overcome Vaccine Resistance
The Army’s 101st Airborne Division, which boasts the “Screaming Eagles” moniker, has been deployed to Europe for the first time since World War II
What in God’s name are our boys and girls doing risking their lives over there? For the Biden crime family’s money laundering racket? This is madness. Biden can’t just declare war like some megalomaniacal dictator. This must go to Congress first.
US military forces ‘fully prepared’ to cross into Ukraine
By Daniel Chaitin, Washington Examiner, October 22, 2022 09:19 PM
U.S. military forces are “fully prepared” to cross into Ukraine at a moment’s notice to fight a war against Russia.
The Army’s 101st Airborne Division, which boasts the “Screaming Eagles” moniker, has been deployed to Europe for the first time since World War II, practicing with live tank and artillery rounds not far from the Black Sea, across which Russia has taken territory from Ukraine, including Crimea, at a forward operating site on NATO’s eastern flank, according to CBS News.
Brig. Gen. John Lubas, the division’s deputy commander, stressed this is “not a training deployment” but rather a “combat deployment” from which his forces “need to be ready to fight tonight, depending on how the situation escalates across the border.”
Col. Edwin Matthaidess, commander of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, told the news outlet these troops are the closest U.S. unit to the fighting in Ukraine, still raging more than seven months into Russia’s full-scale invasion began. “It keeps us on our toes,” he said.
The roughly 4,700 soldiers from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, are about three miles away from Romania’s border with Ukraine, conducting joint ground and air assault exercises with Romanian forces meant to simulate battles that Ukrainian forces are waging against Russian invaders.
“It’s not just about defending NATO territory,” Charlie D’Agata, senior foreign correspondent for CBS News, said in one report from an air base in Romania. “If the fight escalates, and NATO partners are under threat, they’re fully prepared to cross over into Ukrainian territory if ordered to do so.”
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-10-24 18:52:042022-10-24 18:52:04Biden’s WWIII: U.S. Military Forces ‘Fully Prepared’ to Cross into Ukraine
Americans are grappling with sky-high inflation and high energy prices and yet the Biden administration and the Democrats in Congress continue to spend money we don’t have, driving inflation higher and making us all poorer.
Should the Republicans take over the Congress this November they have a tough, but straightforward task ahead of them. They need to improve our economy, our energy security and that of the whole world by limiting spending and promoting energy abundance.
The new Congress can help rein in inflation by reducing federal spending. The first order of business should be to pass a federal budget on time and within our means. Congress has failed to do that for a number of years, including when Republicans were in charge of the House and Senate because of the political expediency of appropriating federal dollars for partisan priorities.
Instead of tinkering with budget line items, it would be far better to pass a budget that reduces spending by ten percent across the board.
Congress should rescind these laws and recover and repurpose the hundreds of dollars these bills have authorized but the Biden administration has not been able to spend.
While working to restore its role as a co-equal branch of the federal government, Congress needs to expand our energy abundance and improve our energy security. Europe’s energy starvation shows us what happens when countries put climate concerns ahead of energy security. Prices in the European Union are sky high, businesses are closing and consumers are suffering.
Unlike Europe, the United States is the world’s energy superpower. We are the world’s largest producer of oil, the largest producer of natural gas and we have the largest coal reserves.
We are also the largest producer of geothermal energy, the second largest solar energy producer, the second largest in wind production, and the second largest producer of energy from biomass and waste.
We have vast energy resources, but the Biden administration has worked to throttle natural gas, oil and coal production as much as possible.
Over the past 10 years, the vast majority of new oil on the market came from the United States — not from Saudi Arabia, or Russia, or OPEC. According to BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy, from 2011 through 2021, global oil production increased by 5.8 million barrels a day, but the U.S. alone increased production by 9.6 million barrels a day.
Oil production fell in some countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Norway, United Kingdom, Nigeria, but the United States more than made up the difference.
We have vast energy resources, but only if American companies can access them. To improve our energy abundance and grow our economy, Congress must require the Biden administration to issue leases for natural gas, oil and coal production on federal lands and waters.
The Biden administration is not just throttling back natural gas, oil, and coal, but also minerals and mining. The Biden administration has not allowed any new mines, despite wishing to have mineral-intensive technologies such as electric vehicles, stationary batteries, as well as wind and solar power.
Congress needs to make it possible to start new mines in the United States.
Broadly, the next Congress also needs to reform the permitting processes for energy projects. There is a wide consensus from the left and right that we need real permitting reform. The rules of the road need to be clear with definite timelines. Congress needs to mandate real streamlining and firm deadlines. The Manchin permitting reform effort fell way short of what is needed because it did not amend the laws which slow down permitting.
Congress should also vote up or down on every new major regulation from the Environmental Protection Agency. Congress should also repeal the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). This year is the last year Congress mandated biofuel volumes in the RFS, so it makes sense to sunset the law instead of allowing EPA to set mandates going forward.
Unelected bureaucrats shouldn’t be choosing which fuels and which cars Americans can have. The American people should decide for themselves.
Another thing the new Congress should do is immediately prevent future presidents from tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to solve a political problem, in this case high gas prices.
In short, the new Congress must focus on economic growth and energy abundance. They must rein in inflation by limiting federal spending and work to improve our energy security and tap our abundant energy reserves.
It’s a simple recipe, but if they fail in either direction we will end up with high energy prices and businesses that are closing like what is happening right now in Europe.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
EDITORS NOTE: This 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.
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Abortion is not a top priority for female voters and most women support abortion limits that would have been considered unconstitutional under the Roe v. Wade precedent, a new poll found, dashing Democrats’ hopes of an electoral advantage over abortion.
Inflation was about four times as likely to be listed as the most important issue for female respondents compared to abortion, with only 54% saying abortion was very important in determining their vote compared to 74% for inflation, according to the RMC Research/America First Policy Institute poll shared exclusively with the Daily Caller News Foundation. The polling cuts against a common Democratic talking point: that overturning Roe would be an electoral boon for Democrats as pro-abortion voters, and women in particular, flocked to the polls in November.
Democratic super PACs and campaigns have poured three times as much money into messaging on abortion than they did in 2018 midterms and have pushed the message that female voters in particular will rebel against new abortion restrictions by voting Democrat in droves, but polling doesn’t support those assumptions.
Inflation, crime and gun violence, health care, economic issues and education were the most likely issues to be considered “very important” among women for influencing their vote, the poll found. Abortion ranked behind all of these, but was more important to women than immigration, climate change, the war in Ukraine and the Jan. 6 hearings.
Women can and will decide the midterms.#Roevember is coming.
In addition to not viewing abortion as a top priority, most women support abortion restrictions that are opposed by most Democratic leaders and would have ben struck down under Roe, which generally did not allow abortion restrictions within the first six months of pregnancy. Most women (60%) supported a 15-week limit on abortions, and 45% would choose a candidate who said abortion should be allowed only when the life of the mother is at risk compared to 34% who believed it should be allowed at any time up to birth.
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Hard working Americans continue to suffer from historically high levels of inflation caused by the Biden administration’s out-of-control spending and opposition to domestic energy production. Soon after the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for September, which confirmed inflation is accelerating and isn’t going away anytime soon, President Joe Biden claimed “If Republicans win, inflation’s going to get worse.”
Such a reckless claim demonstrates the president’s fundamental misunderstanding of the problem his policies have caused … or how to solve it.
Overall inflation was up another 0.4% in September, or 8.2% year-over-year. Even the less volatile measure of “core” inflation increased by 0.6% in September for a 12-month increase of 6.6%. This is the highest increase in core inflation in 40 years and shows that inflation is broad-based and continues to spread throughout the economy.
Americans are well-aware that food prices have increased dramatically. Food prices rose 0.8% in September alone and have increased 11.2% in the last 12 months. This is the highest year-over-year increase in the United States since 1979. Cereals and bakery items are up 16.2%, dairy items are up 15.9% and fruits and vegetables are up 10.4%.
American workers also suffered another month of declining purchasing power last month. These decreases have become all too customary under the Biden administration’s policies, and in just the past year, purchasing power fell by 3.3%. Since the beginning of the Biden administration, the average worker has paid a $2,500 inflation tax. Lower-income Americans and senior citizens on fixed incomes are particularly vulnerable to rapid price increases.
Ongoing inflation has led the Federal Reserve to engage in some of the most aggressive monetary policy most Americans have ever seen. That’s bad news for Americans whose investments are being destroyed and whose dreams of owning a home or starting a business are being delayed. The Wall Street Journal reports that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages now average more than 7.1% compared to just 3% a year ago.
For a homebuyer borrowing $250,000, the monthly interest and principal payment has increased from approximately $1,050 per month to a staggering $1,680 per month.
The only thing keeping the headline inflation rate from hitting another 40-year high is that energy prices declined slightly in September. That appears to be changing quickly, and not in a good way.
The energy prices in September’s inflation report were recorded before the OPEC+ announcement that the cartel will cut production by two million barrels per day starting in November. A market correction also looms around the corner when the administration’s releases of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve will come to an end. Because it refuses to expand domestic production, the Biden administration will be left with few real options to lower prices at the pump.
The announced reduction of 2 million barrels per day, combined with the long overdue termination of releases from the strategic reserve is already assessed to send oil prices skyrocketing. Goldman Sachs recently forecasted that oil prices will likely reach $110 per barrel.
The 4.9% decline in gasoline prices in September is but a temporary reprieve, and it is highly probable that a national average of $5.00 per gallon will once again crush Americans’ wallets.
Oil and gasoline are only one piece of a more eerie picture. The coming winter should be of significant concern. Natural gas prices are driven by global factors, and with the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, Europe is facing a potential economic catastrophe driven by extreme energy volatility. This would further raise prices for heating American households.
The Biden administration’s embrace of big government socialism has wrought the worst economy in 40 years. Rather than trusting the American people’s ingenuity, the administration’s centralization of authority and special interest cronyism have devastated our Nation’s citizens. Government debt is now more than $31 trillion, and forecasters estimate deficits of more than $1 trillion per year in the future.
Dependency, debt, and demagoguery are not the foundation of a strong economy. Only by returning to an America First economic approach led by renewed energy independence can the American people once again realize the shared prosperity we enjoyed a few short years ago.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Sam Buchan is a former Director for International Economic Policy on the National Economic Council and is currently the Director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the America First Policy Institute.
Michael Faulkender is a former Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the Department of the Treasury and is currently a Senior Fellow at the America First Policy Institute.
Republicans are focusing on issues that matter to voters:
✔️Lowering prices on everything from gas to groceries ✔️Keeping our communities safe ✔️Securing the southern border ✔️Stopping the flow of fentanyl into the country ✔️Investing in our children’s education
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Biden’s handlers cannot necessarily be believed, but as there has been close cooperation between Russia and Iran for years, there is nothing inherently implausible about this. If it is true, there must be some quid pro quo, with Russia in some way aiding the Islamic Republic in putting down the freedom uprising inside Iran.
Iranian military personnel are on the ground in occupied Ukrainian territories providing aid to the Russian military in their ongoing invasion, the White House confirmed on Thursday night.
“We can confirm that Russian military personnel based in Crimea have been piloting Iranian UAVs and using them to conduct kinetic strikes across Ukraine in strikes against Kyiv, and in recent days we assess that Iranian personnel — Iranian military personnel — were on the ground in Crimea and assisted Russia in these operations,” said US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price….
“In spite of all this we’ve seen Russia and Iran continue to lie…continue to claim that they are not providing this material,” said Price on Thursday night.
The denials continued last weekend when Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdullahian told his Portuguese counterpart that Iran did not sell drones or any weapons to either party to the conflict.
“We believe that arming either side will prolong the war, and we do not think that war is the right way,” Abdullahian said according to Maariv.
Price said that “indisputable proof” had emerged of Irain’s [sic] involvement in the Russia-Ukraine War and had been presented to the UN Security Council on Wednesday.
Images of Iranian-Russian drones have emerged in recent days on social and mainstream media platforms. CNN was shown a largely intact reconnaissance drone by the Ukrainian military, which claimed that there had been efforts to cover up its Iranian origin….
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This is a bit surprising, as previously Islam has always trumped other “progressive” causes. Feminists went mute about Islamic misogyny, race activists said nothing about the persistence of slavery in some Muslim countries, etc. But now the Leftist-Islamic alliance is being seriously strained, at least in Dearborn. Note the pain of one Leftist at the ingratitude of the Muslims: “we fought the right to allow you to come here & now you dare go against us.”
Samira Khan says: “It’s only a matter of time before American Muslims are branded terrorists again and hunted down by the government, but it will be done by the left this time around, not the right.” Islamic groups in the U.S. were always hysterical about any and all counterterror measures, far beyond any proportionality, leading to suspicions that they just didn’t want any counterterror activity at all. But Samira Khan is correct that the Left is ruthless and authoritarian, and will hunt down its enemies. It’s very clear that’s what the groundwork is being prepared for now, with Biden’s handlers’ attempt to portray half the electorate as dangerous criminals who are a threat to the very survival of the republic.
Leftists are using the ‘we fought the right to allow you to come here & now you dare go against us’ BS against Muslims taking issue w/ sexually explicit schoolbooks & baselessly claim they are being duped by the Christian right as though they are incapable of independent thought. pic.twitter.com/r0CwjIOaUo
The issue is about sexually explicit books in school libraries, not LGBT rights, but leftists are disingenuously framing the debate around LGBT rights to make it seem as if Muslims and Christians pose some sort of existential threat to the LGBT community.
It’s only a matter of time before American Muslims are branded terrorists again and hunted down by the government, but it will be done by the left this time around, not the right.
The Whole Foods founder offered a clear message on capitalism at LibertyCON in Miami, where five hundred delegates from 50 countries recently gathered.
On October 14, LibertyCON kicked off with an interview between Students for Liberty CEO Wolf von Laer and John Mackey, founder of Whole Foods Market.
Mackey studied philosophy and religion for several semesters while working part-time at a vegetarian consumer cooperative. In 1978, he and his girlfriend founded a vegetarian supermarket, SaferWay, which evolved into Whole Foods Market two years later through a merger. He recounted how, after starting the company, he initially lived on $200 a month, and since he had no place to live, he and his girlfriend slept in the store. Since there was no shower, they had to wash in the sink. But he has fond memories of those days: He was in love, starting the business was a great adventure, and he didn’t actually need money privately. Later, he became very wealthy, taking the company public on the NASDAQ technology exchange and, in 2017, it was acquired by Amazon for $13.7 billion.
Today, Whole Foods operates more than 500 stores in the US, Canada, and the UK.
Capitalist, Vegan, & Animal Rights Activist
Whole Foods was the first grocery chain to commit to animal welfare. Mackey was influenced by animal rights activist Lauren Ornelas, who criticized Whole Foods’ animal welfare standards at a shareholder meeting in 2003. Mackey gave Ornelas his email address, and they corresponded on the issue of how the company treated ducks in particular. Mackey became concerned with the problems associated with factory farming and decided to switch to a mostly vegetarian diet that included only eggs from his own chickens. Since 2006, he has been living on an exclusively plant-based diet. He is an advocate of more humane animal treatment, a vegetarian, and an enthusiastic fan of capitalism—which I like, because I am all of those things myself.
To say Mackey is a proponent of free markets is an understatement.
“Capitalism is the greatest thing that mankind has ever done,” Mackey declared at the event.
The number of people living in extreme poverty, he reminds us, has dropped from about 90 percent to less than 10 percent since the capitalist era began 200 years ago.
Mackey’s support of capitalism inspired him to write a book on the subject titled Conscious Capitalism, but it has not been without consequences. He triggered a flurry of negative reaction when he wrote an article against Obamacare that was published by the Wall Street Journal in August 2009. He did not only offer criticism, he also made ten suggestions on how to reform America’s ailing healthcare system. But his solution was not more government – as with Obama – but more market, which prompted left-wing groups to organize boycotts of his businesses.
Wolf von Laer pays tribute to the modest, soft-spoken entrepreneur for his courage in taking political positions. But Mackey himself says he would no longer write such a political article after his experience in 2009, because the response to it was so damaging to his business. That’s how it is today, and not only in the United States: Political statements from business people are only tolerated if they are critical of capitalism or “woke.” Otherwise, there is the threat of negative reaction and boycotts, as was the case against Whole Foods.
“Cancel Culture” is the name given to this anti-culture, which is nothing less than an all-out attack on freedom of expression.
Drug Legalization
Libertarians are caught between two stools. By European standards, they combine both right-wing and left-wing policy positions. On the one hand, they are enthusiastic supporters of capitalism and stridently oppose socialism, the welfare state, and wealth redistribution. On the other hand, they passionately support LGBTQ rights and drug legalization. The drug issue marks a dividing line between conservatives and libertarians, according to a panel discussion on “It’s Time to End the Drug War.”
One participant used to oppose drug legalization and now supports it for all drugs, She said the turning point for her was realizing that what she personally liked or disliked had nothing to do with what should be legal and what should be illegal. The panelists taking part in this discussion at Students for Liberty agreed that the state has lost the war against drugs, and that legalizing drugs would lead to fewer drug deaths, less crime, and more freedom and personal responsibility.
Venezuela: It Could Happen Here?
The convention moved to another topic. Why are more and more countries in Latin America sliding into socialism? Daniel DiMartino is a Venezuelan who fled the socialist country – along with a quarter of the population. He has now lived in the United States for six years and speaks of an “epidemic of envy” in Latin America. But he also criticizes conservative governments who, when in power, have not seized the opportunity to introduce the kind of radical free-market reforms that truly change people’s lives. He cites Maurico Macri in Argentina as an example.
Martha Bueno, whose parents fled Cuba and who now lives in Miami, warns young American supporters of socialism not to be overconfident that what happened in Venezuela could not happen in their country. As she explains, Venezuela was a democracy and had one of the highest standards of living in the world. And, she reminds us, Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world. She is convinced that no one ever would have believed that the socialists could run the country into the abyss, robbing it of its freedom and prosperity, in such a short space of time. But that is exactly what happened. And, she warns, it can happen here too, in the United States.
It was worth coming to Miami, to this event with so many interesting discussions. Wolf von Laer, the CEO of Students for Liberty, has succeeded in building the organization into the world’s largest network for libertarian students. The annual convention, to which fewer students can come than one would wish, partly because of the costs involved, is not actually the most important thing Students for Liberty does: that would be the thousands of events the organization holds with students around the world every year.
Dr. Rainer Zitelmann is a historian and sociologist. He is also a world-renowned author, successful businessman, and real estate investor. Zitelmann has written more than 20 books. His books are successful all around the world, especially in China, India, and South Korea. His most recent books are The Rich in Public Opinion which was published in May 2020, and The Power of Capitalism which was published in 2019.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-10-23 16:53:522022-10-23 16:53:52John Mackey: ‘Capitalism Is the Greatest Thing Mankind Has Ever Done’
1. British doctor on the Made-in-Boston chimeric virus which killed 80% of the Chimeric mice. (I think Alex Berenson may be totally full of it on this one. This newest gain-of-function work may really be dangerous.)
Given that the news is basically nothing but leader material for what you are to think about what you are to experience, I wonder a couple of things about this story. Assuming it is true, and our stalwart British doctor explains it is, when did they really make it? And when did they release it, and who funded it? Because if they told us this much, what they didn’t tell us has to be that its already in the public and widely spread. And although the doctor explains that the vaxx cannot provide any protection from it, and even more bravely he explains that natural immunity will be better than the vaxx but still not very good, its still probably meant to frighten people into massive vaxx uptake this fall and winter. Halloween come early.
2. Dr. Theresa Tam does her part to scare the crap out of everyone to prepare us for the usual BS. Masks, vaccines, no socializing. The new WEF normal. Lots of lying about the effectiveness of the mRNA gene therapies and most comically, claiming what MANY doctors and scientists say are vaxx damage symptoms are actually from Covid.
3. Let’s compare and contrast a communist Canada and its propaganda with what the elected leader of a democratic province of Canada (at the moment) of a free minded people say about Covid and covid measures imposed by authoritarian governments.
As an aside, not that it has anything to do with results, but for fun I looked up the method of counting the votes in Alberta, who got a fairly rational, Western thinking more or less libertarian leader, and it appears to still use human scrutineers to determine who voted for what, as opposed to a closed-source computer that consistently seems to select far left authoritarian candidates. No relation though, between the vote counting and the results I’m sure. Rather, I’m sure there is no way to verify the results of closed-source Dominion voting machines.)
A federal judge has ordered Dr. Anthony Fauci and a slew of other high-ranking Biden officials to be deposed over the government’s alleged collusion with social media companies to ‘censor free speech.’
On Friday, the court granted the request brought by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, both republicans.
Both accused the Biden administration of having ‘worked hand-in-hand’ with social media giants to ‘censor’ news stories that reflect negatively on the White House and called it an ‘egregious attack on our First Amendment,’ a report said.
(We all must watch this closely. The results of this may show exactly how corrupt the judicial and executive branches might be)
5. Let me be as clear as I can about this. “Diagolon” is a joke. A meme. It was one Canadian veteran who came up with the idea for a new country where freedom minded classical Canadians from the West would form a new polity with Florida and other US Constitutionally minded people from the US. The resulting new polity on a map would have diagonal borders on both sides and as a joke, they called this new fictional place, “Diagolon.” It is as much a threat as is Lilliput. And as far as I know, (barring some other activity or charge about which I have no knowledge), the man they jailed for coming up with the meme is no more a threat than is Johnathan Swift. The groups he interacted with, also invented another nation called “Circulon”. It was to contain all the lefties who wanted to force everyone to take experimental and dangerous gene-therapies and force masks on people and forbid the sick from getting effective and safe therapeutics. I myself am looking at a map and connecting smaller communities hoping to make a new country without having to move anyone anywhere. I plan to call it, “Checkertopia”.
It’s was the Council for Govt of Canada that brought it up🙄🤦🏻♀️of course it was🤡 pic.twitter.com/zb2gRwfBEt
Thank you all for reading these pages and considering these ideas against the onslaught of enemy propaganda intended to obliterate all your concepts of reality as you have held them for your life so far.
In the video we posted yesterday of Dr. Chris Shoemaker, he gave some astonishing statistics in his speech. One of which, was that sperm counts dropped in men who had the mRNA gene-therapy shots, (allegedly for Covid19 although they seem to do nothing whatsoever to prevent it or lower the outcomes from having it), by a whopping 50% and for 6 months. So is it any surprise that the government wants us to take these shots every six months even though any protection you get from the shots lasts maybe 3 weeks?
This goes a long way towards the thesis of this site, that all policies from Covid measures, the forced vaxx, deifying homosexuality, making having children and marriage itself to be not worth the effort, and many many more policies and cultural shifts are really about one thing. Stopping people from having children. Watch his video again if you have already for more stunning statistics.
EDITORS NOTE: This Vlad Tepes Blog column posted by Eeyore is republished with permission. All rights reserved.
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President Donald J. Trump has become a political force not seen in America since the founding fathers. His vision, passion for the American dream and love of country are exceptional and unparalleled.
A Trump endorsement is worth its weight in gold at the polls.
Ballotpedia reported Trump made 473 total endorsements and 240 primary 2022 election endorsements for offices ranging from governor, to the U.S. congress. Of the 2022 primary Trump endorsed candidates 92% won their races. Click here to view the Ballotpedia 2022 Trump list of wins and losses.
There is a sea change happening across America as the people are seeing their cost of living skyrocket while Biden and his administration tax them and wastefully spend money on Biden’s and the Democrat Party’s political causes like: federally funding abortions, the New Green Deal climate agenda, the LGBTQIE+ programs in public schools, colleges, universities and within the federal government. The people are seeing billions go to fund Ukraine and nothing spent to cut taxes or the mounting budget deficit.
In an October 22nd, 2022 Daily Caller article titled An Inflation Nation — The New Norm Sam Buchan, a former Director for International Economic Policy on the National Economic Council and Michael Faulkender a former Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the Department of the Treasury wrote,
Hard working Americans continue to suffer from historically high levels of inflation caused by the Biden administration’s out-of-control spending and opposition to domestic energy production. Soon after the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for September, which confirmed inflation is accelerating and isn’t going away anytime soon, President Joe Biden claimed “If Republicans win, inflation’s going to get worse.”
Such a reckless claim demonstrates the president’s fundamental misunderstanding of the problem his policies have caused … or how to solve it.
Overall inflation was up another 0.4% in September, or 8.2% year-over-year. Even the less volatile measure of “core” inflation increased by 0.6% in September for a 12-month increase of 6.6%. This is the highest increase in core inflation in 40 years and shows that inflation is broad-based and continues to spread throughout the economy.
Americans are well-aware that food prices have increased dramatically. Food prices rose 0.8% in September alone and have increased 11.2% in the last 12 months. This is the highest year-over-year increase in the United States since 1979. Cereals and bakery items are up 16.2%, dairy items are up 15.9% and fruits and vegetables are up 10.4%.
American workers also suffered another month of declining purchasing power last month. These decreases have become all too customary under the Biden administration’s policies, and in just the past year, purchasing power fell by 3.3%. Since the beginning of the Biden administration, the average worker has paid a $2,500 inflation tax. Lower-income Americans and senior citizens on fixed incomes are particularly vulnerable to rapid price increases.
Ongoing inflation has led the Federal Reserve to engage in some of the most aggressive monetary policy most Americans have ever seen. That’s bad news for Americans whose investments are being destroyed and whose dreams of owning a home or starting a business are being delayed. The Wall Street Journal reports that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages now average more than 7.1% compared to just 3% a year ago.
For a homebuyer borrowing $250,000, the monthly interest and principal payment has increased from approximately $1,050 per month to a staggering $1,680 per month.
The only thing keeping the headline inflation rate from hitting another 40-year high is that energy prices declined slightly in September. That appears to be changing quickly, and not in a good way.
While Biden and Kamala fiddle our southern border is burning. In 2022 there will be more illegal aliens, drug and human traffickers, cartel members and terrorists invade America in our nation’s history. The number is well over 2.5 million illegals and growing.
But it gets worse. Watch this short video titled What Happened to the Border Fence? See for yourself how Biden has abandoned tens of millions of dollars of border wall materials, bought and paid for by American taxpayers under President Donald J. Trump.
Like Afghanistan, Biden and Democrats have abandoned the only thing that can save our sovereignty, the border wall.
Can you say incompetence, waste, fraud and abuse of our taxpayer dollars?
The Totally Insane Environmentalist Movement
Biden’s mantra is go green or else. Biden and Buttigieg want all fossil fuel vehicles scraped and replace by all electric vehicles. Watch this to understand why this is at the very best a fool’s errand.
Biden and the Democrat Party’s energy policies are designed to first make America energy dependent then make Americans energy impoverished.
America is floundering in an epidemic of anxiety, depression and drug use.
One in six Americans takes some kind of psychiatric drug, mostly antidepressants, a medical study concluded, and some of them (Prozac and Paxil) are linked to acts of violence. A third of high school students cannot shake feelings of sadness or hopelessness, another report found, and nearly 2 0% of teens have contemplated suicide.
Still more frightening, both studies are based on data collected before the COVID pandemic sent college, teenage and younger children into lockdowns, social isolation, minimal physical activity, hours spent playing video games and reading censored and self-selected online media — and rampant depression and “chronic incapacitating mental illness.” Nor is the problem confined to America.
Researchers and psychologists are constantly finding new reasons to explain the growing inability to cope. Their newest “explanation” is — climate change!
“Climate grief” is “real,” they insist, and it’s spreading rapidly among young people. “The future is frightening,” 77% of 10,000 young people aged 16-25 from the USA and other countries told analysts who investigate “climate anxiety.” Large numbers of children are having climate nightmares.
“The climate mental health crisis” already affects people who have “lost everything in worsening climate infernos,” laments a NASA scientist and climate activist fear-monger who’s convinced we face “the end of life on Earth as we know it.”
“I don’t want to be alive anymore. The animals are all going to die, and I don’t want to be here when all the animals are dead,” a four-year-old child wailed.
Parents fantasize about killing their children, over fears of the “climate-ravaged future” they face. Parents and children alike consider suicide. Indeed, there’s a clear link between increased global temperatures and suicide rates, a Stanford economist asserts.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-10-23 16:53:502022-10-23 16:53:50Trump Force One — Flying The Friendly Skies of America
New York not only leads the country in crime, taxes and people fleeing the state, it leads in voter fraud since the time of Boss tweed.
This win is huge.
Lee Zeldin is now leading in the latest NY Governor race polls. They won’t, they can’t let this happen. The Democrat party of treason will be pulling out all the stops.
One only has to look to France — paper ballots only, no mail in voting (and mass fraud), no manipulative voting machines and they get the results in a couple of hours America takes ….. weeks and months. Scam.
Bottom line, the biggest threat to US elections is the Democrat party’s massive voter fraud operation.
As Geller Report reader SR explains, “France has a good system – voters show up in person on election day, the voter roll is checked and if they are on it they are given sets of cards of candidates for each party. In a curtained compartment they put a pre-printed card with just their own candidate’s name on it into a paper envelope, show their photo ID to an official who reads the person’s name aloud and validates that they just have one envelope, then the voter inserts it into a locked transparent box called an “urn”. At the end of election day, both locks on the urns are unlocked and under supervision the envelopes are put into batches of 100, and then the batches are distributed to several on-site teams who count the votes for each candidate with a lot of supervision and unambiguous “chain of custody”. The same thing is done the prior day by French citizens in foreign territories and living abroad, so that despite the time zone being later, their vote too will be counted and included on election day in France, instead of the final results having to wait until the next day due to the time zone.
On the other hand, electronic systems, provided by sketchy corporations some with links to Venezuela, where piles of ballot batches can optionally be fed in multiple times, or unofficial pre-filled ballots can be shipped in and introduced by partisan operatives, are prone to manipulation. Plus the voting software in some of these systems can “count” in an unconventional way that is hard to track and in theory accessed from outside or have their thumb drive controller swapped out. In addition, the mail-in ballots, unmonitored drop boxes, voter rolls padded with deceased and out-of-state relocated people who miraculously “vote”, and of course the lack of voter ID in many states. Even India has had a mandatory national voter ID card (the Electors Photo Identy Card – EPIC) since 1993. The “icing on the cake” is the scam of having nursing home personnel who routinely collect their residents’ ballots and vote for them.”
Allowing New Yorkers to vote by mail due to fear of COVID-19 is unconstitutional, a state judge said Friday in a ruling that Republican and Conservative Party leaders hailed as a victory for fair elections.
The 28-page ruling by Saratoga County Supreme Court Justice Dianne Freestone ordered local boards of election to stop counting the absentee ballots they’ve already received.
Instead, officials have to “preserve” the ballots until after Election Day or the resolution of a pending suit filed by state and local GOP and Conservative Party leaders.
Democratic officials immediately filed a notice saying they would appeal the judge’s decision.In her ruling, Freestone said that the Democrat-controlled Legislature “appears poised to continue the expanded absentee voting provisions of New York State Election Law … in an Orwellian perpetual state of health emergency and cloaked in the veneer of ‘voter enfranchisement.’”
Rejecting arguments made by a lawyer for the state Board of Elections at a hearing earlier this month, Freestone said that “there are uncounted reasons for this Court to second-guess the wisdom of the Legislature.”
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-10-23 16:53:492022-10-23 16:53:49VIDEO: Judge Rules Letting New Yorkers Vote By Mail Due To Fear of COVID Unconstitutional
America is floundering in an epidemic of anxiety, depression and drug use.
One in six Americans takes some kind of psychiatric drug, mostly antidepressants, a medical study concluded, and some of them (Prozac and Paxil) are linked to acts of violence. A third of high school students cannot shake feelings of sadness or hopelessness, another report found, and nearly 2 0% of teens have contemplated suicide.
Still more frightening, both studies are based on data collected before the COVID pandemic sent college, teenage and younger children into lockdowns, social isolation, minimal physical activity, hours spent playing video games and reading censored and self-selected online media — and rampant depression and “chronic incapacitating mental illness.” Nor is the problem confined to America.
Researchers and psychologists are constantly finding new reasons to explain the growing inability to cope. Their newest “explanation” is — climate change!
“Climate grief” is “real,” they insist, and it’s spreading rapidly among young people. “The future is frightening,” 77% of 10,000 young people aged 16-25 from the USA and other countries told analysts who investigate “climate anxiety.” Large numbers of children are having climate nightmares.
“The climate mental health crisis” already affects people who have “lost everything in worsening climate infernos,” laments a NASA scientist and climate activist fear-monger who’s convinced we face “the end of life on Earth as we know it.”
“I don’t want to be alive anymore. The animals are all going to die, and I don’t want to be here when all the animals are dead,” a four-year-old child wailed.
Parents fantasize about killing their children, over fears of the “climate-ravaged future” they face. Parents and children alike consider suicide. Indeed, there’s a clear link between increased global temperatures and suicide rates, a Stanford economist asserts.
Dr. Thomas Doherty has built an entire psychology practice around climate psychoses, the Climate Psychology Alliance provides an online directory of “climate-aware therapists,” and a “peer support network” offers grief therapy modeled on twelve-step drug addiction programs.
There’s only one real solution to this epidemic, “experts” insist: Governments must act immediately to “fix” the climate, and eliminate “the death knell of climate chaos hanging over people’s heads.”
Excuse the bad pun — but this is insane! The hysteria and histrionics have gotten completely out of hand. They have no basis in reality.
We do not have a climate “crisis.” We have a climate fear-mongering and cancel-culture crisis.
The solution to the climate drug and mental health crisis is not to “fix” grotesquely exaggerated climate problems. It is to end the indoctrination and censorship that dominate discussions about climate change, from kindergarten through graduate school, and in almost every realm of science, politics and news.
The supposed climate crisis exists in computer models, headlines and hype about “unprecedented” temperatures, extreme weather, floods and droughts that have scant basis in Real World evidence. Viewpoints, evidence and experts questioning and challenging these claims are banned from classrooms, school curricula, news and social media, and government policy discussions – starting at the top.
The White House “national climate adviser,” for example, works hand-in-glove with Big Tech and news organizations, suppressing facts about climate change reality. Most federal (and many state) government agencies have similar officials and programs. Meta (Facebook), Twitter, YouTube and other Big Tech companies routinely, consistently and happily assist with this deplatforming and censorship.
The so-called Next Generation Science Standards feature climate alarmism as a guiding principle for students K-12, and determine what is being taught in over a third of America’s classrooms.
Meanwhile, as America and Europe are propagandized and prodded to eliminate their fossil fuel use — with enormous costs in jobs, living standards and lives — China, India and 100 other countries are rapidly expanding their oil, gas and coal use, to lift people out of rampant poverty.
Worse, China increasingly dominates raw material and “green tech” supply chains — and gets a free pass on its fossil fuel use, greenhouse gas emissions, environmental destruction, and slave and child labor.
All these realities are studiously and systematically ignored and cancelled.
Fortunately, millions of parents are becoming more involved in their children’s homework and school boards. Fight for Schools and other such efforts are working to bring science, honesty and accountability back to education. They recognize that we desperately need diversity of political and scientific thought.
Without it, the United States and Western Civilization will see their liberties and living standards rolled backward by decades.
The shrill, alarmist cries of climate extremists must be confronted and doused with sound reason. This, for the sake of the children and everyone’s peace of mind.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-10-23 16:53:482022-10-23 16:53:48Climate Extremism Is Making America Mentally Ill. Here’s How
BOCA RATON, Fla./PRNewswire/ — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is on track for re-election, leading Democratic challenger Charlie Crist by 11 percentage points and garnering strong approval ratings, particularly for his response to Hurricane Ian, according to a new statewide poll from Florida Atlantic University.
The Republican incumbent’s overall approval rating was 53 percent, and his hurricane response approval was better at 63 percent. In addition, 66 percent of respondents expect DeSantis to be re-elected.
“The governor’s hurricane response received strong approval among Floridians, who most likely favor him in the upcoming gubernatorial race,” said Monica Escaleras, Ph.D., director of FAU BEPI.
The survey of 719 Floridians also revealed that inflation was the most important issue to voters by a wide margin at 36 percent. Threats to democracy was the next most important issue at 19 percent. Interestingly, only 9 percent of respondents felt abortion access was an important issue.
In the U.S. Senate race, Republican incumbent Marco Rubio leads Democratic challenger Val Demings 48 percent to 42 percent, with 7 percent still undecided. Also, 60 percent of respondents expect Rubio to be re-elected.
“Republicans continue to perform well in Florida,” said Kevin Wagner, Ph.D., a professor of political science at FAU and a research fellow of the initiative. “If these numbers hold, Florida’s status as a battleground state might be in question.”
Wagner noted that both Democratic candidates are doing well with younger voters, but they will need higher turnout to close the gaps in these races.
Other findings showed that respondents favored DeSantis and former U.S. President Donald Trump to U.S. President Joe Biden in a hypothetical 2024 matchup. DeSantis leads Biden 48 percent to 42 percent, while Trump tops Biden 45 percent to 41 percent.
Biden’s approval rating was underwater – 41 percent favored the job he is doing and 50 percent opposed.
The survey was conducted Oct. 12-16. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 3.65 percentage points. The polling results and full cross-tabulations are available by clicking here.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-10-22 17:51:512022-10-22 17:51:51FAU Poll Shows DeSantis Leading Crist Comfortably in Race for Re-election
By: Josh Fiallo, Yahoo, October 21, 2022 at 2:00 PM·3 min read
The congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 riots officially subpoenaed former President Donald Trump on Friday to obtain his testimony under oath and documents about his role in the 2021 attack on the Capitol.
The subpoena ordered Trump to appear for testimony at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 14 at 10 a.m., either in person or through a video conference. It also required him to hand over requested documents to the panel by Nov. 4, including nearly all communication he had on Jan. 6 by text, phone calls and Signal.
The committee had unanimously voted to subpoena Trump last week, spurring one big question: Would the former president with comply with the order?
Trump has indicated he’d only testify if he’s able to do so live in front of the committee, The New York Times reported last week, citing a person familiar with discussions. Even if granted his demand, some surrounding the former president don’t think he should appear in front of the committee at all.
Among the skeptics that Trump will testify is Shan Wu, a former federal prosecutor, who wrote for The Daily Beast last week that the chances of Trump will testify are “dim and distant.”
In the subpoena, the committee laid out 10 separate wrongdoings it alleges Trump is responsible related to the Jan. 6 attack.
That included Trump’s well-documented pressuring of state election officials to overturn results, and his incitement of “further violence” on Jan. 6 when he condemned Vice President Mike Pence in a tweet as he watched the attack on TV.
“You were at the center of the first and only effort by any U.S. President to overturn an election and obstruct the peaceful transition of power, ultimately culminating in a bloody attack on our own Capitol and on the Congress itself,” the subpoena said.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-10-22 16:51:512022-10-22 16:51:51TRUMP SUBPOENAED: Backstabbing Liz Cheney and Jan 6 Clowns’ Latest Unconstitutional Political Farce
Ryan Crownholm’s story perfectly illustrates how occupational licensing laws stifle competition.
Ryan Crownholm is a self-described “serial entrepreneur” and the founder of a California-based business called MySitePlan.com. Founded in 2013, the business creates unofficial “site plans” for various clients using publicly available imagery. Hotels and resorts will sometimes use the plans as maps for their guests. Homeowners and contractors often use the plans in their permit applications when they are preparing to make minor changes to a property, such as building a shed or removing a tree.
Over the years, MySitePlan.com has built a strong reputation for itself, and customers are consistently impressed with the quality of the work and the short turn-around times (often within 24 hours).
“I had the first draft within 8 hours and they made changes to accommodate what the city needed. Good service!” writes one recent reviewer. “Amazing service! So incredibly quick! I will recommend this company to anyone in need of a site plan,” writes another.
Crownholm and his customers are certainly happy the business has been successful, but it seems not everyone feels this way. In December 2021, Crownholm was given a citation from the California Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists. The order demanded that he “cease and desist from violating” the law and pay a fine of $1,000.
What was Crownholm’s crime? According to the Board, Crownholm and his company were illegally practicing land surveying without a license. In the Board’s view, “preparing site plans which depict the location of property lines, fixed works, and the geographical relationship thereto falls within the definition of land surveying,” and thus requires a license.
It’s worth noting that MySitePlan.com never claimed to create official land surveys by licensed surveyors. In fact, a banner at the top of their website plainly states, “This is not a legal survey, nor is it intended to be or replace one.”
Now, it’s tempting to say Crownholm should just get a license and move on, but it’s not that simple. Obtaining a land surveying license is an arduous process. In the state of California it requires six years of higher education and practical experience, passing four exams, and earning references from four existing licensees.
So rather than getting a license or shutting down his business, Crownholm has chosen to take the Board to court. On September 29, Crownholm joined with the Institute for Justice to file a federal lawsuit against the Board, claiming that the regulation violates his First Amendment right to free speech.
“California regulators are strangling entrepreneurs, like me, with red tape even though customers are pleased with the valuable services we provide,” Crownholm said. “Prosecuting my company hurts homeowners, contractors, landscapers, farmers, wedding venues and others who depend on my service.”
“California’s regulations go far beyond what other surveying regulators think is appropriate,” said Institute for Justice Attorney Mike Greenberg. “This is yet another example of an established industry using the government to shut down popular, innovative competition. If read literally, California’s laws could harm services everyday people use such as Uber and Google Maps. It would even criminalize drawing a makeshift map on a napkin to help a lost tourist find the way to their destination.”
A Mysterious Motive
The question on everyone’s mind, of course, is why? Why would this regulatory board go after an entrepreneur when he’s clearly not in the business of official land surveying?
The simplest explanation is that they’re just really eager to enforce the law to the letter. That seems to be the argument they’re going with. But if that’s the case, why don’t they also crack down on the homeowners and contractors who regularly make identical site plan drawings? As the Institute for Justice press release notes, “California’s own building departments teach [unlicensed] homeowners and contractors how to make the exact same drawings Ryan makes.”
So if litigiousness is the goal, why single out MySitePlan.com?
Perhaps they think he’s taking safety shortcuts, but that makes no sense. There’s nothing dangerous about what he’s doing. Maybe they’re concerned he’s a fraud, and that the quality of his product doesn’t match what he promises? It’s possible, but a quick glance at his glowing reviews ought to set the record straight on that. Maybe they think he’s misrepresenting himself, pretending to have a license when he really doesn’t? Again, that makes no sense. He’s very explicit on the website that he doesn’t do official land surveys.
Perhaps they just think it’s unfair that everyone else has to go through an arduous licensing process while he gets to avoid it despite doing very similar work. That would be understandable, but if it was really just about fairness, wouldn’t it make more sense to push for scrapping the burdens on everyone else rather than imposing those burdens on him?
None of these motives make much sense.
There’s another possible motive, however, and that’s the malicious one. Perhaps the regulators were simply looking to protect licensed surveyors from competition. After all, less competition means higher prices and more business for those who have jumped through the hoops. I’m sure many licensed surveyors weren’t particularly happy to see MySitePlan.com taking away potential clients.
Even assuming the absolute best of intentions, one must admit the decreased competition would be at the very least a convenient side-benefit for the established special-interests.
Oh, and did I mention that the the guy who issued the citation—Richard B. Moore, the Board’s Executive Officer—is himself a licensed land surveyor?
Bootleggers and Baptists
This isn’t the first time entrepreneurs have been impeded by these kinds of regulations. Occupational licensing requirements like this are ubiquitous, not just for doctors and engineers, but also for jobs that have little to do with safety like hair braiding.
Every industry has a similar story. Decades ago there was an accident, maybe a series of accidents, or some fraudulent practitioner. As a result, people pressured the government to “do something,” and the government responded by creating a licensing scheme.
The thinking is pretty straightforward. We make it illegal for someone to practice a trade unless they have a government-approved license, and the government only gives licenses to people who can prove they are trustworthy and capable. Ostensibly, the system protects consumers. But that’s just the official narrative.
Whether by design or by accident, licensing laws also have the effect of limiting competition, resulting in higher prices and fewer options for consumers.
I say “by design or by accident” because it isn’t always clear what the intentions were of the people who promoted these schemes. Though it’s nice to think they were all motivated by an altruistic desire to help consumers, it’s more realistic to see this as a classic “Bootlegger and Baptist” alliance—a phrase that was coined by economist Bruce Yandle in a 1983 paper in reference to the Prohibition era.
The “Baptists” are the true believers. They are motivated, in their desire for government regulation, by genuine—though often misguided—concern for consumers. The “Bootleggers” are the special-interest groups who stand to benefit should these laws pass. The strategy of the Bootlegger is simple and surprisingly effective: simply paint yourself as a Baptist and push for the regulations with altruistic arguments, even though your real goal is to hurt your competitors.
“A carefully constructed regulation can accomplish all kinds of anticompetitive goals,” Yandle wrote, “while giving the citizenry the impression that the only goal is to serve the public interest.”
In 2014, Yandle expanded on his theory in a book titled Bootleggers and Baptists that he co-authored with his grandson Adam Smith (not to be confused with the original Adam Smith). In a review of the book, economist Art Carden summarized the theory rather succinctly.
“Public policies…emerge because a moral constituency (the Baptists) and a financial constituency (the bootleggers) come together in support of the same policies,” Carden wrote.
Quoting the book, Carden notes that special interests looking to pass anti-competitive regulations often seek out “a respectable public-spirited group seeking the same result [in order to] wrap a self-interested lobbying effort in a cloak of respectability.”
Carden goes on to identify occupational licensing in particular as a good example of the Bootleggers and Baptists theory playing out in real life.
The Case against Occupational Licensing
While the drawbacks of occupational licensing laws are difficult to deny, some may still have reservations about abolishing them. If we let just anyone practice these professions, wouldn’t there be a proliferation of fraudulent and dangerous practitioners? Isn’t that why these laws were needed in the first place, to protect us from the evidently disastrous results of free markets?
This is a common line of argumentation, but it’s missing some key nuances. First, it’s important to keep in mind that the mental picture many have of the pre-license market is likely distorted. The special-interest groups pushing for these laws have a strong incentive to exaggerate how bad things used to be; it would be naive to simply take them at their word.
Further, it’s important to remember that people were much poorer back when these laws were first introduced, so we shouldn’t be surprised that the general standard of living—including the quality and safety of services available on the market—was far lower than it is today. The fact that “things used to be bad” is much more a reflection of our ancestors’ relative poverty than an indictment of unregulated markets.
For another point, clearly it’s tragic when people get injured or killed because of incompetent workers, but there is always a trade-off between cost and safety. Sometimes people prefer slightly less safe options (such as workers with less training) because those options are cheaper. And if that’s a risk they want to take, we’re only making them worse-off by taking that option away.
The other thing to consider is that businesses that are downright dangerous or fraudulent get weeded out very quickly. As a business owner, if you don’t provide a reasonable level of quality and safety in your products, you’ll be out of business in no time. Since entrepreneurs know this, they have a strong incentive to avoid hiring dangerous and fraudulent workers. Economists call this the discipline of continuous dealings. This, not licensing, is the reason we can trust most of the businesses we patronize.
Besides, there are plenty of ways to ensure product safety and quality that don’t involve licensing laws. Workers can get voluntary certifications and consumers can look at reviews to help them decide who they can trust. Just think about MySitePlan.com and their reviews we saw earlier. Did you really need them to have a license to know they were a trustworthy business?
What Consumers Really Need
Though government licensing may seem like a good way to protect consumers, the reality is that these schemes unnecessarily restrict competition, with fewer options and higher prices being the inevitable result. In other words, they mostly end up hurting the very consumers they were supposed to help.
The best way to help consumers is to give them lots of choices and a rigorously competitive market. And the way to achieve that is not by protecting established special interests from new players. It’s by letting the Ryan Crownholms of the world compete.
This article was adapted from an issue of the FEE Daily email newsletter. Click here to sign up and get free-market news and analysis like this in your inbox every weekday.
Patrick Carroll has a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo and is an Editorial Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-10-22 16:51:502022-10-22 16:51:50California Entrepreneur Who Was Fined $1000 for Drawing Informal Maps without a License Takes Regulatory Board to Court
The Biden administration is “weaponizing” the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act to go after pro-life activists, an attorney who served under George W. Bush and Barack Obama told the Daily Caller.
“The left is out for blood, and Biden’s base is demanding prosecutions and the DOJ is providing them,” said Roger Severino, who served as an attorney at the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights division, the same division that enforces the FACE Act.
The Biden administration has charged at least 16 pro-life activists with a maximum of 11 years in prison for alleged violations of the act, which prohibits obstructing people seeking reproduction services. Pro-life activist Mark Houck allegedly pushed an abortion escort to the ground after a verbal confrontation. FBI agents swarmed Houck’s house and took him away at gunpoint months after the initial charges against him were dropped.
The DOJ charged the other 15 pro-lifers with allegedly obstructing entrances of abortion clinics and they face a maximum of 11 years in prison, when, under the law, first time violators of the FACE Act usually face a maximum of six months.
Houck is being charged with the decade-long version of the FACE Act violation because the abortion escort “scraped his arm,” his attorney Peter Breen told the Daily Caller. “The charges shouldn’t apply at all, but even if they did, he’s being overcharged.”
“It’s outrageous that you would take a six-month misdemeanor … and turn it into a 10-year federal felony,” Breen added.
One of the other pro-lifers facing over a decade in prison, Paul Vaughn, never blocked the door of an abortion clinic, but was standing nearby, Breen claimed.
Video of the FBI’s arrest of Paul Vaughn of Centerville, Tennessee. DOJ charged him with “conspiracy against rights secured by the FACE Act, and committing FACE Act violations” for blocking the entrance to an abortion clinic. Paul tells me the footage was taken by his wife. pic.twitter.com/KSDvLRSrlF
Severino, who served under both former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama from 2008 to 2015, said he’s “never heard of a charge being so excessive” as the 11-year maximum prison sentence and $350,000 fine put forth by the current administration for allegedly obstructing abortion clinic doors.
“This is law enforcement run amok. The FACE Act had always been enforced very rarely, because the pro-life movement is a movement of peace,” Severino said. “All of a sudden, they are inventing cases and doing sham prosecutions in an election year for purely political purposes to go after their political enemies.”
The DOJ did not respond to an inquiry from the Daily Caller asking if they have comment on whether the Biden administration has used the FACE Act more excessively than previous administrations.
The FACE Act also protects houses of worship and pro-life pregnancy centers, both of which have been firebombed across the country after the Dobbs decision. Thirty-three churches and 54 pregnancy centers have been attacked, according to the Catholic News Service. The DOJ has not prosecuted any cases of destruction against pro-life centers, Severino stressed.
The effort to arrest pro-lifers is specifically being pushed before the midterms, Department of Homeland Security official under the Trump administration, Ken Cuccinelli, told the Daily Caller.
“This has nothing to do with public safety. This is political virtue signaling to the radical-left base that has control of this administration,” Cuccinelli said.
“I think it will thoroughly backfire on them. I can’t think of a way they’ll get one more vote because they arrest these people, but I guarantee you, a lot [more] pro-lifers will stay home than might have for the midterm election,” he added.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-10-22 16:51:482022-10-22 16:51:48‘The Left Is Out For Blood’: Biden’s DOJ ‘Weaponizing’ Law To Arrest ‘Political Enemies,’ Former Official Says
BOCA RATON, Fla./PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — Hispanics are increasingly concerned about their personal finances, leading to a decline in optimism in the U.S. economy during the third quarter, according to a new poll from the Florida Atlantic University Business and Economics Polling Initiative (FAU BEPI).
The Hispanic Consumer Sentiment Index dropped to 74.3 from 78.3 in the second quarter and 92 for the first quarter, the survey found.
Only 44 percent of the 454 respondents said they are better off financially than a year ago, down from 56 percent in the second quarter and 65 percent in the first quarter. In addition, a smaller percentage of respondents are more optimistic about their financial futures.
Hispanics also remain troubled over the cost of living, with 81 percent saying costs are going up, compared with 80 percent who said that in the second quarter.
“They are less optimistic about their personal finances because Hispanics spend a greater share of their budgets on items that have seen the most inflation, like used cars, food, gas and housing,” said Monica Escaleras, Ph.D., director of FAU BEPI in the College of Business.
In three other questions used to create the index, respondents were slightly more upbeat compared to the second quarter but not nearly as optimistic as the first quarter.
When asked about business conditions over the next year, 44 percent of respondents said they expect conditions to be good, up from 43 percent in the prior quarter but down from 55 percent in the first quarter.
Compared to the second quarter, a higher percentage of respondents (53 percent) expect good times for the country over the next five years, but that still was down from 61 percent in the first three months of 2022.
Finally, while 40 percent said now is a good time to buy a big-ticket item, 50 percent felt that way in the first quarter. Only 26 percent said it’s a good time to buy a house, but 49 percent felt that way in the first quarter.
In all the questions, Escaleras noted that younger Hispanics generally appeared more optimistic than their older counterparts.
The poll is based on a sampling of Hispanic adults from July 1 to Sept. 30. The margin of error is +/- 4.59 percentage points. The polling results and full cross-tabulations can be viewed here.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-10-22 16:51:472022-10-22 16:51:47FAU Poll: Hispanics Losing Confidence in U.S. Economy
