Is Britain a more free country than the United States? In what ways is it more free?

 

Citizens in the US are freer from a technical/legalistic perspective, which is also easier to define, but Britain is freer where it counts most - freedom of thought/freedom of expression. Brits are mentally freer, which is most fundamental freedom and therefore Britain is generally a freer country.

Freedom can be defined in different ways. The two basic conceptions of political freedom are freedom from government intrusion in citizens’ lives and the more Marxist conception, which sees freedom in terms of economic human rights, without which humans cannot reach their potential. In other words, people cannot develop their full potential unless their basic needs are met - shelter and food. In this view, government has an obligation to provide basic needs to its citizens, regardless of whether those citizens work.

In our media-driven age, the right to freedom of thought and expression is especially important..

The US has more freedom according to the first definition - freedom from government intrusion. Because of the United States’ political history - a country founded by people who sought freedom from government oppression - this type of freedom is fundamental to US identity. Americans have greater rights to privacy, as a matter of law. Police cannot search citizens arbitrarily. We discovered during the Snowden affair that, as a matter of law, British government has significantly greater powers to electronically monitor citizens. In the US, government is not allowed to casually listen in on, or even collect information about communication among US citizens. Authorities need special permission to do so. Americans also have a constitutional right to bear arms, which is a political freedom in the sense that this right was created in order prevent government oppression. The US also gives its citizens greater rights to obtain information from the government, through the Freedom of Information Act. US government is, technically speaking, more transparent. But that’s just on paper.

Brits are freer where it counts most; freedom of thought and freedom of expression. In purely legal terms, both countries protect freedom of thought/expression, as do all Western democracies. You are allowed to think what you want, and to communicate what you want so long as you do not 1) compromise national security and 2) endanger other people’s lives. The famous legal opinion from the Warren Supreme Court explained that an individual’s right to free speech is limited if that speech endangers other people - you can’t shout “Fire!” in a crowded theater/theatre (for my UK friends) because that would endanger people’s lives.

The most serious violation of the right to free speech is when the government prevents media from reporting political speech. Censorship of political speech is, after all, what separates the US from North Korea/China etc… “Prior restraint” is the legal term for this violation, when the government actually prevents media from publishing a story. The high point of US post-war democracy came in June of 1971, when the Nixon administration filed an injunction, prior restraint, against The New York Times and Washington Post to prevent the papers from publishing a story, already written, about The Pentagon Papers, which was a study by the Rand Corporation that Daniel Elsberg had somehow illegally obtained, much as Ed Snowden stole documents. The study revealed that the US government was lying about the progress of the Vietnam War. The Nixon administration argued that the story would threaten national security.

Because the court injunction was curtailing political speech, the case was treated with the utmost urgency by the Supreme Court. I say it was the high water mark of US democracy because the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of free speech. In one of the court’s most famous opinions on free speech, the Court ruled that the public’s right to be informed was stronger than the argument for national security. In order to curtail political speech, the government must demonstrate a CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER the Court said. This standard applies to this day. Only if a story presented a direct and immediate threat to national security, meaning that lives would be threatened… or something along those lines, could the government block free speech.

In the nearly 50 years ago since the Pentagon Papers case, the United States has turned into an authoritarian Big Brother type of country, and most US citizens are totally brainwashed, and are totally unaware of this fact. For all intents and purposes, the United States is no longer a democracy, and that is not an exaggeration. Although the UK is less free than it once was, it is still a democracy - as is evidenced by the Brexit vote. UK citizens actually got the chance to make a substantive decision about the future of their country. Further, its citizens are much better informed, and its media is much freer. The recently published Chilicot report, a brutally honest assessment of the UK’s involvement in the Iraq war, proved that the UK was still capable of honest self-evaluation. The report blasted the Blair government, stating that he blindly followed the Bush administration into a disastrous war that had no plan other than to invade and destroy a country. Such a report could never be produced in the US.

How and when did things go so terribly wrong in the US? It began with deregulation of media during the 1980s. Whereas media used to be owned by thousands of companies, today five companies own all the newspapers and electronic media in the US. A new media catchphrase during the late 1980s and 1990s was “synergy” - which meant maximizing profits. Serious media companies, who are supposed to be the “watchdogs” of US democracy, began making deep cuts in reporting staff. Media consciously moved away from its previously “confrontational” approach towards government, meaning that it no longer challenged government and assumed that government does not lie. Increasingly, mainstream media turned into mouthpieces of the State Department.

The death knell of US democracy was September 11, 2001 - a day when mainstream media became complicit in the Bush administration’s evil plan. I am not arguing that media were “in on it,” although some clearly were. CNN, for example, reported the collapse of WTC 7 20 or so minutes before it actually happened (as did the BBC). The Bush admin put out a few talking heads who announced, hours after the attack, who was responsible and all dissent was squashed. On the afternoon of 9/11, a few lone journalists in what was once an honorable profession made their last protests - the late Peter Jennings, and a few others (very few), noted the similarity between the building collapses and a controlled demolition. Jennings was the only journalist to ask, live on air, why there was so little rubble. Where did the buildings go? One of his reporters on the scene explained that the buildings had “evaporated”. There would be no more questions. To this day.

In the coming years, it got worse. The New York Times, once the nation’s most venerable and respected newspaper, became the play thing of the Bush administration. The paper shamelessly repeated lies about weapons of mass destruction, without ever questioning the flagrant lies. The paper would eventually apologize, but too little too late.

Behind the scenes, intelligence agents with a conscience were leaving their careers because they were horrified over what was happening; agencies were providing “evidence” (cherry picking info) that supported a politicized and biased view of reality in support of a foreign policy agenda. Behind the scenes, the NSA was creating the architecture of a totalitarian government that would spy on everyone all the time, a move made possible by provisions in the Patriot Act, which were being renewed every three months. Agents with a conscience tried to warn the public. They were silenced.

In the dystopian version of the United States, there are two kinds of people - a small group of “crazies” who are labelled “conspiracy theorists” and who try to warn people that the country has turned into a totalitarian government where political freedom is an illusion. They warn citizens that media is an illusion, that 911 was fake, that Sandy Hook was fake - and that these claims are so easy to prove… all you need to do is look at the vast mountains of evidence that point in that direction… they warn that ISIS was created by the US in order to destabilize Syria, and the region, and that you can’t believe much of the news anymore because much of it is manipulation and propaganda. You can look up in the sky and see geo-engineering planes with your own eyes… you can read about such programs… and it is really scary because there is a continuity at work, from Bush to Obama… and now the baton will be passed to Clinton… and that the people in power are totally insane because they want to impose a global system in which everyone will be dependent on a system of finance/credit - these people don’t give a shit, they rule by deceit, and the only reason you still feel that you have political freedom is because you haven’t challenged these key claims and demanded change.

This new totalitarianism is expressed as soft power through a corporate monoculture - in order to advance professionally in the monoculture, one must accept the assumptions about reality and not question the insanity. Failure to go along with the herd will result in economic marginalization. That’s how they keep everyone in line. Through institutional culture and labels. The idea that our political reality is manipulated and controlled through propaganda seems so crazy that most people can’t go there - but the evidence is real and overwhelming. All you have to do is look. The evidence is logical and scientific. And the reason that most people are not waking up out of their stupor is

1) there is no psychological incentive to see what’s really going on… you take the time to investigate the evidence and at the end, you will discover an uncomfortable truth

2) The mainstream belief system is based on a few widely held and often repeated assumptions: that people can’t keep secrets, and that if any of this were true, someone would have gone to the media and told them the whole story, and the media would have investigated these claims and told us the truth because journalists are courageous and motivated by a desire to tell the truth… and the government can’t even safely deliver a letter… how in the world can it pull off some of these events? And it’s impossible that everyone is in on this… it doesn’t make any sense.

Scratch deeper and you see that these are silly assumptions. Edward Snowden was a whistle blower, but he had a unique level of access, was able to copy a million documents to prove what he was saying, and he had to sacrifice his entire life and leave forever in order to tell us that society had become Big Brother. before Snowden, hundreds of thousands of people had kept quiet, and three previous guys had tried to warn the country, but they didn’t have documents… As for media? They are not fearless warriors, but superficial maggots driven by a desire to advance professionally. Stop believing in fairy tales.

2) evaluating the evidence requires an independent and confident personality… most people prefer to believe what everyone else believes because people don’t want to be different

3) it would be psychologically and emotionally painful to see reality

Rep. Waltz Blasts Biden on China, 'Social Justice Doesn’t Just Apply to You'

Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL) called on Tuesday for the Biden administration to “walk the walk” on human rights and boycott the upcoming 2022 Beijing Olympics games.

The  Games, set to commence next February, have become a target of mounting criticism from both the left and the right over concerns of ongoing human rights’ violations within the People’s Republic of China. Earlier this week, Rep. Waltz proposed a resolution in the House to boycott the Games if the Internal Olympic Committee (IOC) refuses to relocate them. 

In an interview with Hugh Hewitt, Rep. Waltz defended his position, arguing that the “Chinese Communist Party has unleashed the Coronavirus on the world, it covered it up, arrested journalists, arrested doctors, obfuscated an investigation by the WHO, and now is actively committing genocide, forced rape, forced sterilization, slave labor in concentration camps literally as we speak,” concluding with the question, “how do we then have the American flag flying in Beijing?”

Rep. Waltz stressed that the ideal solution would be for the IOC to relocate the upcoming Games, but with the event less than a year away, he was clear that a boycott would be a necessary step if the international committee chose to disregard the public outcry. 

The recent criticisms of China stem from both their handling of the global pandemic and their human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims. 

In late 2019, China’s Wuhan Province became the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic and the People’s Republic has since been accused of mismanaging the initial outbreak and misleading the world in an effort to save face publicly and downplay their own culpability. 

At the same time, the communist regime has forced over a million Uighur Muslims into concentration camps that the country originally denied, but ultimately acknowledged as “re-education centers.” Reports of systematic violence within the camps include torture, rape and forced sterilization.

In an open letter to governments around the world, a coalition of 180 human rights groups requested a boycott of the 2022 Beijing games to “ensure they are not used to embolden the Chinese government's appalling rights abuses and crackdowns on dissent.”

For their part, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee has pushed back against calls to boycott, opposing the idea “because they (boycotts) have been shown to negatively impact athletes while not effectively addressing global issues.”

According to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, the administration is “not currently talking about changing our posture or our plans as it relates to the Beijing Olympic.”

 

Biden's 'Commonsense' Gun Controls Make Little Sense

 

This week, President Joe Biden marked the third anniversary of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, by urging Congress to "enact commonsense gun law reforms." The implication was that the gun controls Biden favors would prevent crimes like the Parkland massacre.

There is little reason to think that's true. The bills Biden is eager to sign would instead arbitrarily limit Second Amendment rights and threaten the viability of the industry that makes it possible to exercise them.

Biden wants to prohibit the production and sale of "assault weapons" and require that current owners either surrender their firearms to the government or follow the same tax and registration requirements that apply to machine guns. Yet, he concedes that the 1994 federal "assault weapon" ban, which expired in 2004, had no impact on the lethality of legal firearms.

The problem, according to Biden, was that manufacturers could comply with the law by "making minor modifications to their products -- modifications that leave them just as deadly." But there is no way around that problem because laws like these are based on "military-style" features, such as folding stocks, threaded barrels and bayonet mounts, which have nothing to do with a weapon's destructive power.

Even if the government could eliminate all guns with those features, would-be mass shooters would have plenty of equally lethal alternatives. Several of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history were carried out with weapons that would not be covered by Biden's ban.

Biden also would ban "high-capacity magazines," which politicians generally define as magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. Americans own millions of those; they are standard for many of the most popular handguns and rifles.

The rationale for the 10-round limit is that the need to switch magazines can create a "critical pause" during which a mass shooter might be overpowered or his victims might escape. But as a federal judge noted when he ruled against California's ban on "large-capacity magazines" in 2019, that restriction also can create a "lethal pause" for a crime victim "trying to defend her home and family" -- a far more common situation.

Also on Biden's agenda: repealing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, a 2005 federal law that generally protects gun manufacturers and distributors from liability for criminal uses of their products. As Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., noted in 2016, exposing businesses to potentially ruinous judgments when a legally purchased firearm is used to commit a crime is a prescription for "ending gun manufacturing in America," meaning "your position is there should not be any guns in America, period."

Biden also supports background checks for nearly all gun transfers, which in practice would mean requiring the involvement of federally licensed dealers in private sales. That requirement would impose new burdens and costs on law-abiding gun owners without having any impact on run-of-the-mill criminals, who are no more likely to follow Biden's rule than they are to obey all the other laws they routinely violate.

As for mass shooters, they typically do not have criminal or psychiatric records that would disqualify them from buying guns, meaning they would pass the background checks Biden wants to expand. The Parkland shooter, for example, bought his rifle legally, which makes the invocation of his crime as a justification for expanded background checks rather puzzling.

To the extent that Biden's policy would actually prevent people from buying guns, it would hurt many people who are legally barred from owning firearms even though they have never demonstrated violent tendencies. Prohibited owners include cannabis consumers, even in states where marijuana is legal; anyone with a felony record, no matter the nature of the offense or how long ago it happened; and anyone who has ever undergone involuntary psychiatric treatment, regardless of whether he was deemed a danger to others.

Biden's "commonsense" gun control prescriptions are "common" in the sense that politicians often push them. Whether they make "sense" is another matter.

Given How Flawed Human Nature Is, America Has Been a Remarkable Moral Achievement

Given how flawed human nature is, America has been a remarkable moral achievement.

This is the truism that separates the wise man from the fool.

This is the truism that separates the left from the anti-left.

Those who acknowledge how flawed human nature is compare America to reality. Those who do not, compare America to some utopian image: a country free of inequality, prejudices, intolerance, sexual misbehavior, greed, etc. This divide helps explain why those who hold a biblical worldview -- usually religious Jews and Christians -- are more likely to appreciate America than those who do not. It is fundamental to Judaism and Christianity that "the will of man's heart is evil from his youth" (Genesis 8:21).

I offer a partial list of bad traits inherent to human nature. When perusing it, one can only marvel at how good a country America became.

No. 1: A yearning for power over others.

This yearning is what has animated nearly every political leader in history. There are people who do not have a personal craving for power and seek positions of power solely because of a calling. But these people are rare.

The American Founders understood this. They created a unique political system to minimize power and to maximize checks on power. That is the reason for the division of power among three coequal branches of government and the reason states were given so much power. Thus, America was established to be a republic, not a pure democracy. In addition, the Founders did not trust the majority with great power, which is the reason for two nondemocratic institutions: the Electoral College and the Senate. And that is why the left, which is rooted in a desire for power -- and therefore a desire for evermore powerful government -- loathes the Electoral College and the Senate.

No. 2: A yearning for fame and recognition.

This, along with the yearning for power, is what drives and has driven nearly all politicians in world history, but it is hardly isolated to politicians. For example, it is largely what animates Hollywood actors. That is one reason no other profession gives itself as many awards as does Hollywood. Increasingly, however, being a star is also what animates journalists and, to the extent possible, academics and other intellectuals.

No. 3: A yearning to feel and be considered important and morally superior.

This is nearly universal. People -- historically men, but increasingly women -- ache to believe they are important. There is nothing inherently wrong with this yearning. However, it can lead people to engage in irresponsible, even evil, behavior -- solely because it makes them feel important. This explains why the left fights largely nonexistent evils such as "systemic racism," "white supremacy," "white privilege" and "capitalism." Fighting evil, even make-believe evils, makes one feel important and morally superior to those who do not fight these evils.

No. 4: The sex drive.

Consider how many men have lost everything -- their money, reputation, livelihood, even their family -- in order to gratify their sex drive. The reason there has been so much irresponsible and sometimes evil sexual behavior is not because of "sexism" or "patriarchy," but because of this drive. The wonder is not how much sexual impropriety exists in America; the wonder is how little there is compared to the past, compared to virtually every society in history and compared to many societies today.

This has largely been the result of the influence of Judeo-Christian ethics. Prior to the baby boomer generation, most American men were raised to believe that manhood was defined by marriage and by taking care of a family. With the left's assault on Judeo-Christian religions, more and more young men feel free to revert to their animallike sexual nature, which is not monogamous and not naturally inclined to getting married and making a family.

No. 5. Greed.

The desire for more money and material possessions is built into the human condition. There is nothing wrong with wanting to make more money and have a nicer home. In fact, it is usually a good thing; it is what animates people to work hard and invent things. Greed, however, is the word we use to describe a yearning for material wealth so great that it overpowers moral considerations -- which it has throughout history. It is the reason for corruption, an evil that constitutes the single greatest reason countries do not develop. Like every other country, America has always had its share of greedy individuals, but there has generally been far less corruption in America than elsewhere -- a major reason for America's unique prosperity.

This, too, is rapidly changing. Like the other negative impulses of human nature, greed was held at least somewhat in check by religion. Every Bible-based religion taught its followers self-control. With the demise of religion, the only thing left to control people is the state. But when the state becomes a substitute for religion in attempting to control human nature, one ends up with a police state, which may well happen here.

No. 6: Ingratitude.

Gratitude is not built into human nature. That's why good parents tell their children thousands of times, "Say 'thank you.'" Gratitude needs to be cultivated. And throughout American history, it was. The great majority of Americans and new immigrants to America were profoundly grateful to be American. Of course, many Blacks had legitimate reasons not to be grateful to be American. But, over time, that has changed. However, the left has told every group other than white males that they should have no gratitude for being American. One could say that most college and graduate school degrees today are degrees in ingratitude. The left knows it can only win elections when the majority of Americans are ungrateful.

Given human nature, America has been an extraordinary accomplishment. However, given the left's largely successful elimination of Judeo-Christian and middle-class values -- and the consequent unleashing of human nature -- that accomplishment may not survive

 

Biden Creating a COVID Nightmare By Allowing Hordes of Illegals To Enter the Country

 

Our own Julio Rosas has been at the border since Joe Biden decided to reverse course on Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda. Needless to say, things are about to change for the worse down there. Mr. Biden has been on an executive order kick. Should we call him King Joseph of Delaware? I don’t know, but Rosas noted that there is a looming immigration crisis that’s about to hit this administration as hordes of illegal aliens continue to march toward our southern border. He’s setting the ground for the floodgates to open for illegal aliens, but also drafting new COVID restrictions for American citizens. It’s backward.

As Biden has made tackling COVID his main issue supposedly, he’s bound to cause a spike in cases along these border areas that do not have the resources to provide adequate care to anyone. This seems like a situation that can be avoided by merely enforcing our immigration laws and agreements, especially the Migrant Protection Protocols. This is known as the “Remain in Mexico” program, which prevents migrants from entering the country until their asylum declarations are assessed. 

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and other Senate Republicans sent a letter to President Biden that he’s setting himself up to detonate a massive COVID bomb regarding infections and possible deaths if he doesn’t reconsider his direction on immigration policy. 

“As we write this letter, main streets across America are shuttered, millions of parents can’t go to work, and children are kept from school. In a nation where everything seems closed, our border is now open. In violation of the law and common sense, your administration is allowing large numbers of unvetted and likely unvaccinated illegal aliens to enter our nation,” reads the letter.

The GOP Senators add, “This is the beginning of what could rapidly turn into a public health and humanitarian disaster. If illegal immigration continues to surge as a result of your policies, our detention facilities will be overwhelmed, and pandemic precautions would be difficult or impossible to maintain. Not only would this greatly endanger the American public, but the migrants themselves would face increased potential for viral spread.”

Finally, they use Biden’s own words about COVID, noting the 465,000 Americans who have died and how we’re about to enter a dark winter regarding this fight. It’s going to get worse before it gets better, remember that? I also remember a detailed and science-oriented plan to fight this virus that is wholly different from Donald Trump’s agenda. It’s not really. In fact, Biden, who pledged to wipe out the virus if elected, now says we can’t do anything for most of this year. The one thing we do have is a vaccine, thanks to President Donald J. Trump. Regarding the death toll and the doom and gloom projections Biden articulated, the letter ends with GOP Senators issuing one last warning about the recklessness of this administration’s immigration orders 

“We can’t afford for you to create a crisis at the border or cause an increase in COVID-19 cases due to increased illegal immigration. We urge you to quickly reassess and rescind your administration’s reckless immigration actions and focus instead on protecting the American people. Open our economy and our schools, not our border.”

We’ll see what happens. There’s only so much he can do before he taps out for his afternoon nap.

Feburary update

 

The 90s were safe and reasonable I watched Disney channel, nickelodeon, cartoon network, In Heat of the Night, Matlock, Power Rangers, Murder She Wrote, Unsolved Mysteries. Then I got sick with disorganized Schizophrenia in 1999. In 2000s. I assumed Doctors knew I was Lutheran in the ELCA where post-modernism public spheres and life world by Jurgen Habermas existed in 1990s causing social issues. I told a doctor in 2012. Then the TV had Glenn Beck in 2006 with marxism theories. Saul Alinksy. It turned my world for the worst. I yeld at the TV at first. When Glenn Beck went away, then Sean Hannity, Mark Levin (his American Marxism book), Rush Limbaugh were talking about the Frankurt School since 2008. It did me in. I didn’t want that. I grew up with social studies in elementary school being pretty fair to the Republican party. I played the flute in band and was involved in cross country and track and field getting a team jacket Lettering in it. Becoming the most improved athlete. I was thin in 1998-1999.

In the 1990s people weren’t losing self control and becoming murderers like the rise today. There weren’t as many riots. The work places were borderline toxic, but I could always ignore the toxicnesss. Now the managers and customers are pretty toxic. I only last 17 months at one job.I sometimes lose my jobs to military employees like at Pulatech and Laptop Chips. I tried having a good relationship with the manager. The DVR vendor Rise of New Richmond was supposed to resolve communication issues with the manager. I was going want the manager told me to do every day. Laptop Chips was a Best Buy warehouse and they wanted to keep Best Buy contracts. They would go out of business without Best Buy contracts.

There wasn’t a Lenin statue in Seattle Washington in the 1990s. I was going to move to the Woodbury or Eagan, but due to Castle Doctrine of Wisconsin, I didn’t want to be in that kind of crime without guns with iffy jobs with high turnover and living in high rent apartments. I didn’t want to work with contract jobs (recruiters call for these over phone) and move all over country with high rent worrying about monthly rent eviction.

I like watching movies and playing games on my time off. I hope my future life is safe and sustainable. I was depressed, social anxiety, cerebral palsy and disorganized schizophrenia. But I’m not insane. I watch Youtube channels a lot and share them. Channels like Nintendo, Playstation, Jeremiah Babe, Epic Economist (the youtube channel Eric hillstead appeared on who I met at Laptop Chips), I Allegedly, Bull Boom Bear Bust, Money GPS, with their Economic warnings news. I watch nearly ever day. Stuff about quantitative easing, constant money printing, the national debt and inflation that will turn USA into Zimbabwe or Greece.

In the 1990s I had Boy Scouts of America. I was in a troop that went to Tomahawk Scout Camp with rifles and merit badges, Boundary Waters by Ely, MN and Anderson Scout Camp or The Jumberlee at Minnesota State Fair grounds.. I have photographs of it. I met children, but I didn’t get their phone numbers except for Robert Haggerty and Randy Peterson. I played old 8-bit and 16-bit videogames with cousin David Hartmon from 1989 to 2003 before he went into the Navy. I kept meeting Randy in 2000s, 2010s and last called him in 2020. I have David Hartmon, Randy Peterson phone number since 2003, but he don’t reply my SMS messages as much as they used to. David replies, but doesn’t answer the phone They have families since 2008 and 2010. I met Laptop Chips employees (2017-2019), and made 4 friends that I got phone numbers and talk to regularly (Dusty Anderson, Nick, Matt, and Mick). All of them 10 years younger.

Even though I have 3200 Facebook friends, I usually use Facebook messager. I don’t reply in the open. I like looking on Facebook to see what photographs of family and fiends are about. They don’t answer their phones or calls in Facebook Messenger. I tried Companies like Taylor Corporation advertise on Youtube that Tiktok was valuable for recognition. That’s kind of why I have a Tiktok, instagram, Pinterest, Flickr, and other social networks. To get recognition I don’t have in the real world. It’s a lot safer. I was at Fun.com, and I had trouble succeeding the steps programmed with the bar code scanner. The bar code scanner had a supply chain program on Windows 2003 on it. The manager asked if I was on LSD on my 3^rd day there so I left quickly. I was in returns, but he fried during training saying I wasn’t a good fit. The warehouse was chaotic. I was using a cart-scooter in the isles and the bar code scanner didn’t function properly. I had to line up halloween costumes in 9 totes on the cart scooter. They invited me in October 2021 for shipping, but I’m not going back to Fun.com

The GOP Needs a Miracle to Win Elections in 2022 and 2024. Here It Is.

 

Until now, I had no idea how dumb the GOP really was. Man, is our party dumb. The people who run the GOP are so dumb they couldn’t spell “win” if I were to spot them the W and the I.

First, the presidential election was clearly rigged and stolen, and they just let it happen. Now the leaders of the GOP won’t even admit it happened. They’re afraid, like whiny little snowflakes, of offending liberal activists, Democratic voters, assorted socialists, government bureaucrats, RINOs (Republicans in Name Only), woke corporate CEOs, the mainstream media and the masters of social media — you know, all the people who conspired to steal the election.

Don’t believe me? Ask Time magazine. Time just released a fascinating in-depth story of how Democrats, liberal activist groups, media, social media and, shockingly, corporate America all partnered in one big conspiracy to prevent Donald Trump’s reelection. Time admitted it was a “conspiracy.” It admitted it was an “alliance between left-wing activists and business titans.”

The detailed Time story reads like a confession of a stolen election. It admitted the game plan: This conspiracy was based on taking advantage of COVID-19, mail-in voting, last-minute changes in voting laws, gobs of corporate money backing the effort, and collusion by media and social media to silence any dissent.

To quote Martin Luther King Jr., “I have a dream.” I have a game plan that at least gives us a fighting chance to neutralize the Democratic advantage, compete and win elections.

First, money: Money is the mother’s milk of politics. Democrats have all the money in the world. President Joe Biden raised record sums. Where did it come from? A ton came from the biggest corporations in America. How will the GOP compete with that moving forward?

The answer is to tell corporate America to go to hell. Former President Trump should remake the GOP as the party “of the people, by the people, for the people.” It’s time to announce the GOP will no longer accept any corporate money. From now on, the GOP will be funded “by the American people” only. Ask every Trump voter to contribute $10 per month.

Seventy-four million Trump voters would be thrilled to fund a party that looks out for the little guy. Some may give $100 per month, some $1,000. But everyone has $10 per month to spare.

Let’s assume only 50 million Trump voters agree. That’s $500 million per month. That’s $6 billion per year without a penny from corporations. That’s $24 billion over the next four years — the most money ever raised by any politician or political party. That’s enough to win a lot of elections.

Next, we have to admit we can never win again without voter identification. That’s why we lost the presidency in 2020. Every major country in the world has voter ID, except us. Even Mexico has Voter ID — with photo and thumbprint.

Mail-in ballots didn’t lose the election. Voter ID did. With strict voter ID, you can’t cheat by mail or in person. Dead people can’t vote. Illegal aliens can’t vote. It’s all pretty simple — to ensure fair elections and election integrity, we must demand proof of who is voting and ensure everyone only votes once.

With Biden and Democrats in charge, we can’t get it on the federal level. And we’re never going to get it in deep-blue states such as New York and California. But we just have to get strict voter ID laws in place in six states that determined the 2020 election: Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada. Five of those six states have Republican-majority legislatures.

With this plan, even with all the damage Biden and the Democrats are doing to this country, we have a fighting chance at retaking America in 2022 and 2024.

AOC Is Not the Victim. She’s the Perp.

 

History has a new greatest monster – move over Hitler, meet Marjorie Taylor Greene. I don’t know much about her, nor do I really care to. I haven’t read any stories on her alleged craziness because who cares? She’s a congresswoman in the minority party who doesn’t represent me, that narrows her down to half the House. If she posted something stupid or offensive in the past, who cares? I’m more concerned with the morons holding power who are currently working to undermine the country and individual liberty. All those people have a (D) after their name.

One of the most vocal, if least effective and dumbest, leading that charge is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 

Her latest scam is another twist on her default position: claiming victim status. Any criticism she faces is met with a “You’re only saying that because I’m a woman” or a “You’re attacking me because I’m Hispanic.” When really desperate, she combines the two. 

This week she broke out a new one: she’s a victim of sexual assault. 

I don’t know if she really is or not, it’s irrelevant to the point of how she operates. 

AOC told the “story” of how she survived “the insurrection” on January 6th. In it, she dramatically claimed she feared for her life as idiotic rioters stormed the Capitol. In her dramatic reenactment she made it seem like she barely escaped with her life, as marauding hordes of pitchfork wielding lunatics perused her and her staff.

In reality, she was several football fields away in her office, nowhere near the violence, and was “terrified” most by a police officer advising members of Congress to leave the area as a precaution. She reserved most of her animosity for the officer, who she claimed looked at her with hatred. 

This would be a problem for most people – complaining about someone there to help – but AOC put herself beyond criticism with the sexual assault aside. If she really were a victim in her life, and maybe she was, she should name her attacker. People don’t dabble in certain anti-social behaviors, they’re either pedophiles or they’re not; they’re either abusers or they’re not. You either have that in you or you do not. Her attacker, if real, is free to victimize others, and presumably has been for years. She should name him, if only to set an example and protect others.

Of course, that’s not the biggest problem with her story.

If you were in the Bronx on 9/11 and you’d slept till noon, the 9/11 terrorist attacks happened without your knowledge or participation, but you were technically in New York during it. If you lost no one you knew, but told people of your frantic scramble for information after you’d woken up while omitting that’d you’d lost no one, your location, and when you got out of bed, you wouldn’t technically be lying…but if you regaled your friends with stories of your trauma over being in New York City on 9/11, you would be a liar. 

AOC is lying, either by omission, exaggeration, or both. Her story, in the true context, does not hold up. That hasn’t stopped the usual suspects from rallying to her defense. CNN, Snopes, the New York Times, and the rest of the usual suspects immediately declared her truthful. They must protect their queen. “While Ms. Ocasio-Cortez was not in the main, domed Capitol building when the rioters breached it, she never said she was,” the Times wrote. No, she didn’t, she just implied the hell out of the idea that they were hunting her down in her office building. 

Snopes chimed in with, “AOC was targeted with another round of bad-faith smears after giving an emotional, firsthand account of her experiences during the Capitol riot.”

The poor dear. After years of lying about any Republican who ever dared disagree with her, accusing Ted Cruz of trying to get her killed, singing racism and misogyny all the way, she finds herself on the business end “of bad-faith smears.” Those “smears” involve accurately quoting her and a simple lesson in geography. Those monsters. 

As is often the case, the person screaming the loudest about how they’ve been wronged is the guilty party. AOC isn’t a victim, she’s the perp.

Trump Impeachment Is Unconstitutional and Reeks of Political Revenge

 

It’s no secret that from the day after the 2016 election, Democrats had their sights set on impeaching President Trump, even objecting on January 6, 2017 to the electoral votes starting with the State of Alabama, which President Trump won by 28 points, alleging “Russia Collusion.” When the Russian collusion conspiracy was proven to be make believe, they moved on to impeaching him over allegations made by an “anonymous whistleblower” who we later found out worked with Joe Biden when he was vice president. We may never know all the facts about those allegations because House Democrats denied President Trump his Sixth Amendment right to cross examine the witness against him.

Just like the Russian collusion narrative, it was all political theater, engineered before an election, and designed to railroad President Trump and energize the Democratic Party’s base of support at a time when the economy was thriving and our country was at peace. In the Senate there was little appetite for the show trial and the articles of impeachment were rightly dismissed. Trump Impeachment 2.0 is unconstitutional and should also be dismissed by the U.S. Senate.

Now that President Trump’s term has ended and he is a private citizen, the impeachment articles are irrelevant, and the case is moot. The U.S. Constitution limits impeachment jurisdiction to the current president, vice president and sitting federal civil office holders. Additionally, the Constitution prescribes a punishment that shall not go beyond removal from office with the possibility of being disqualified from holding office in the future. Since President Trump no longer holds office, the penalty if convicted is meaningless. It’s politics at its worst and will only serve to further divide our nation.

Furthermore, it is disingenuous to tie President Trump’s January 6th remarks with the violence that took place at the U.S. Capitol. President Trump addressed the crowd by the White House grounds about two miles away from the Capitol, exercising his right under the First Amendment, and he asked attendees to protest peacefully. He did not use any language during his address that could be construed as incitement. He also rightly denounced the violence and instructed federal authorities to bring those responsible for breaking the law to justice.

There is good reason to believe that a group of individuals, unaffiliated with the rally, assembled, broke the law, and disobeyed police orders by breeching the doors of the U.S. Capitol even before President Trump made his remarks. We also now know that bombs were placed outside the Republican and Democratic Committee Headquarters in the early morning hours indicating violence was planned possibly weeks in advance.

House Democrats were so eager to get another shot at impeaching President Trump that they bypassed the regular process and denied President Trump, members of Congress and the American people the prerequisite fact-finding through committee hearings and official investigations into the events of January 6th. We still do not have a full accounting of what took place, and what organizations and individuals were involved in the violent acts that day, though I have requested this information from law enforcement authorities. We need a bipartisan commission to investigate those events. 

Truth be told, President Trump’s real offense is that he beat Hillary Clinton four years ago in an upset election that liberal Democrats and the Washington establishment have never gotten over. This impeachment reeks of political revenge and is a waste of valuable time Congress could be dedicating to uniting the country and getting Americans safely back to work. Antics like this are an abuse of power, but sadly are in line with other abuses of power in the opening month of the new Congress: removing a member of Congress for statements made before she became a member of Congress and changing House rules to prohibit Republicans from offering an amendment at the end of House debate on legislation (a right that the minority party has had for more than 100 years).

These highly partisan actions make many Americans cynical about politics and distrustful of Washington and the motives of our leaders. At a time when Congress should be thinking about ways to unify the nation and improve the public’s trust, it has hit rock bottom and started digging deeper.

Democratic Party

 

Mea culpa.  There is structural and systemic racism in the United States.  The inconvenient truth is that it is perpetrated, propagated, and perpetuated by the Left. Birthed in the cesspool of radical Left university departments, demagogic terms like white privilege, whiteness, or white fragility are part of a poisonous and dangerous ideology that is meant to divide rather than unite.  Critical race theory and racial equality can be summed up in a single statement: if you are white, you are racist and if you are a person of color, you are oppressed.

The combination of white guilt plus black victimhood is especially toxic. Our self-anointed “Uniter-in-Chief” Joe Biden has jumped on the race hustler bandwagon under the guise of diversity training with his recent decision to rescind an executive order from former President Trump that would have put restrictions on advancing racial equality by limiting diversity training for federal government employees and its contractors.  In other words, more identity politics.  Unfortunately, this isn’t an anomaly for Democrats.  This isn’t a blip on the Democratic arc of history bending towards justice.  Judging people by the color of their skin rather than the content of their character has a rich history in the Democratic Party.

Democrats have been solely responsible for defending slavery, starting the Civil War, opposing reconstruction, lynching blacks, founding the Ku Klux Klan, Jim Crow laws and segregation, poll taxes and literacy tests.  The Party voted against the 13th amendment (end slavery), 14th amendment (black citizenship), and 15th amendment (black right to vote), filibustered the 1960 Civil Rights Act (elimination of poll taxes), and tried to filibuster the 1964 Civil Rights Act for 60 days, the longest filibuster in Senate history.

The Civil War wasn’t North v. South, as highlighted in the Lincoln-Douglas debates in the northern state of Illinois. It was a Democrat v. Republican battle. The infamous Dred Scott decision (blacks were property) in 1857 was a Supreme Court vote of 7 Democrat justices for, and 2 Republican justices against. By 1900, more than 20 black Republicans had served in Congress. Democrats did not elect a single black congressman until 1935. And every black senator until 1979 was a Republican. When federal troops withdrew from the South after reconstruction ended, Democrats’ white supremacy laws re-emerged with a vengeance enforced by the paramilitary arm of the Democratic Party, the KKK, which was used to suppress blacks from voting Republican.

Democrats are also the party of abortion. Planned Parenthood, founded by eugenics racist Margaret Sanger was created to eliminate the “undesirables” and that continues today where there are more abortions in NYC of black babies than are born.

Democrat Woodrow Wilson re-segregated many federal agencies and screened the racist film Birth of a Nation at the White House. Democrat FDR refused to invite four-time gold medalist Jessie Owen (a staunch Republican) to the White House (only invited white athletes) and interned 120,000 Japanese Americans. Eisenhower re-integrated the military and forced the integration of schools in Little Rock against the wishes of Democrat governor Orval Faubus. The racist Democrat LBJ started the welfare state and said “I’ll have those n#@!rs voting Democrat for the next 200 years,” highlighting the fact that Democrats care about black votes but not blacks. The welfare state has decimated the black family with 77 percent of children growing up fatherless. JFK first mentioned Affirmative Action in 1961 but it was Nixon who passed it in 1971.

Democrat race hustlers Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton foment black victimhood. The party promotes racial identity politics because of the abject failure of its policies which continues to hurt black people and shows its continued contempt for blacks. Opposition to school choice keeps blacks in failing schools. Politically correct policing has left blacks as victims to violent crimes. In 2019, 9 unarmed blacks (the number is 19 for white people) were killed by police while more than 2,000 blacks were murdered by other blacks in 2018 and Democrats have had monopoly control of ALL the cities we hear and see about black plight: Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit…

If Democrats really wanted to help blacks, they would treat abortion as a tragedy, support school choice, work to end the failed welfare state, drop the idea of defunding police, promote advancement based on merit and character not the amount of melanin in your skin, end open borders which flood the market with cheap labor and steal jobs from black Americans, end their support of minimum wage laws which lead to higher black unemployment, and end their social justice mantra which is equality by group not the individual, anathema to America’s founding principles.  I know, wishful thinking.  So, whenever you hear Democrats calling Republicans racists, just know there is a simple psychological term for this:  projection.

It’s Time to Take Down the Capitol Fence

 

Ever since the horrific events of January 6th, the U.S. Capitol complex has been surrounded by barbed wire fencing and cement barricades. Entering the complex feels more like accessing a military installation or a U.S. Embassy overseas.

Now there is talk of making the fencing and fortress-like security indefinite. On January 28th, the Acting Chief of U.S. Capitol Police announced that the fencing that currently surrounds the entire U.S. Capitol complex should be made permanent, “in light of recent events.” This is not only wrong from a security perspective, but it also undermines the symbol of our country’s representative government.

The truth is the “recent events” that led to the increased security are over. The inauguration of President Biden is now behind us without incident and the business of our country is moving forward. We should not allow the tragic events of a single day to permanently alter the people’s access to the seat of our representative government.

I am starting my fifth year as a U.S. congressman. In that time, I have witnessed citizens from around the country meeting with their representatives in the halls of Congress. I have seen school children taking photos on the Capitol steps with the statute of Freedom in the background. I have watched veterans who risked their lives for this country proudly stand at attention in sight of the flag flying over the Capitol. Make no mistake, the Capitol is hallowed ground. We need to keep it that way.

Beyond the intrusion into the lives of visitors to Washington, permanent military-style fencing is a tremendous symbolic stain on our country. The U.S. Capitol is a symbol of freedom both at home and abroad. At the top of the building stands the Statue of Freedom. Much like the Statue of Liberty in New York City, it symbolizes why so many people from around the world come to America. They come to start anew, unshackled by tyranny and oppression, to be free from political and religious persecution, and to live in freedom and peace. The current state of the Capitol Complex fundamentally undermines that message. It is appalling that Communist China allows their citizens more freedom to visit historical sites like Tiananmen Square in their capitol than currently exists for Americans who want to visit our Capitol in Washington, D.C.

I, along with dozens of my colleagues and outside organizations, will be sending a letter to Speaker Pelosi demanding that she put a stop to any plans for keeping the militarized barriers. My House colleagues and I are willing to have an honest debate about providing the Capitol Hill Police with the resources they need to be better prepared without turning the Capitol into a permanent fortress.The opposition to permanent fencing is bipartisan. Washington, D.C.’s Mayor Muriel Bowser tweeted that, “we will not accept extra troops or permanent fencing as a long-term fixture in DC.” The District’s Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton said, “permanent fencing would send the wrong message to the nation and the world.” Virginia Democratic Rep. Jennifer Wexton tweeted, “I believe we can keep Members, press, staff, my constituents, and all those who work here safe without walling off the symbol of our democracy.”

It’s time for our nation’s representatives to stop hiding and start healing so we all can move forward. It’s time to remove the barbed wire fencing surrounding the Capitol and send the National Guard troops home to their families, instead of disrespectfully relegating them to parking garages.

Americans face challenges head-on and overcome them. We don’t cower in fear. Our leaders need to lead. It’s the patriotic thing to do.

Honoring the Unsung Black Religious Leaders who Shaped Christian America

 

While we all recognize the names of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King, Jr., from our studies of Black History Month, there are many other African American heroes who were important in the struggle for freedom and equality but whose names aren’t as widely known. These men and women are a vital part of our nation’s religious heritage, as well, and without their contributions, we might not even have had a Martin Luther King, Jr. So, I would like to highlight a few of those here today.

Many black preachers alive today are renowned for their impressive sermon oratory, but this is nothing new in African-American history. One of the earliest American black preachers to be appreciated and respected for his sermon delivery was Rev. Harry Hosier, who was the first to preach to white audiences during the post-Revolutionary War era. He was born a slave in North Carolina and freed in Maryland toward the end of the war, but remained illiterate despite traveling with the famed leader of American Methodism Francis Asbury. This is what made his sermon delivery all the more impressive. One of his most famous sermons, “The Barren Fig Tree,” based on Luke 13:6-9, goes down in history as the first formal sermon delivered by an African American. Always humble, Rev. Hosier credited his faith in God for everything he accomplished.

Two other black pastors were instrumental in the beginning of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) denomination: Absalom Jones and Richard Allen. Rev. Jones was the first African American priest in the Episcopal Church, and Rev. Allen, his lifelong friend, started the first AME church in Philadelphia in 1794, the Mother Bethel AME Church. As of 2020, the denomination now boasts 7,000 congregations and 2.5 million members. Together, they also established the Free African Society, serving black widows and orphans in need, including personally nursing many who were struck by the 1793 outbreak of Yellow Fever. They worked alongside Dr. Benjamin Rush, a fellow Christian who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and friend of both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Rev. Jones twice petitioned Congress and the president in the 1790s opposing slavery, and is still honored every year with a feast day on the official Episcopal Church calendar.

Many recognize the name Sojourner Truth from their history lessons as the author of The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave, published in 1850 and influential in the fight against slavery. But she was also an itinerant Methodist preacher who at six feet tall was always a commanding presence and often the only black woman in the room. After she won her freedom from slavery, she had her name officially changed from Isabella Baumfree to Sojourner Truth as a testimony of God’s call on her life to journey about the countryside sharing the truth about God to all who would listen. Known for her big, booming voice, she could capture the attention of a large, noisy room when she began to sing one of the hymns she wrote, such as this one for which she is known: “It was early in the morning–it was early in the morning, Just at the break of day– When he rose–when he rose–when he rose, And went to heaven on a cloud.”

Another powerful black preacher was Alexander Crummel, a scholar and Episcopal priest, whose education at Cambridge University was funded by abolitionists. After serving as a missionary in Liberia for 20 years, he returned to the U.S. and started the first independent black Episcopal church in Washington, D.C., in 1875. One of his most famous sermons, “Building Men,” based on I Corinthians 3:10, was prophetic in its attack against the spiritual apathy so rampant today: “There are people who would fain convince themselves that it is possible to stand in a place of utter indifference in spiritual matters; devoid of all moral responsibility. Never was there a more deceptive error framed by Satan for human ruin.”

John Jasper’s sermon “De Sun Do Move” is one of many that nets this black Baptist preacher a place in the annals of influential pastors for his command of oratory as well as his scriptural depth. He served the Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia, during the latter half of the 19^th century and is remembered for sermons pointing to the awesomeness of God’s perfect plan: “Fellow-sinners in ranks! Turn your back on Hell, and look toward Heaven! King Jesus cometh! — Fall in ranks! When all his elect shall mount in chariots drawn by winged horses, and be seen going up in the clouds to that blessed abode where all the houses is made of gold and the streets is paved with pearls. Amen.”

Today’s Protestant Pentecostals now number in the hundreds of millions, but had their humble beginnings as a street revival in 1906 Los Angeles, led by an African American preacher named William Seymour. Originally from Louisiana and baptized as a Catholic, he grew up attending a Baptist church before receiving additional education in the Holiness movement. When the established church leaders in Los Angeles discounted his emphasis on the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues, he launched an independent Bible study that grew into the Azusa Street Revival. This movement of God lasted several years, featuring dramatic miracles and Spirit-filled interracial worship, sparking the spread of Pentecostalism in the 20^th century.

Finally, where would Black preaching be without black Gospel music? We have Thomas Dorsey to thank for his influence in this important musical genre. His father was a Baptist minister and his mother an organist, so he was exposed to both faith and song early in life. He moved from Georgia to Chicago at age 17 in pursuit of a burgeoning musical career, which led to his chance to attend the Chicago College of Composition and Arranging. After graduation, he began leading secular jazz bands before choosing to follow God’s plan for his life, using music to share the Gospel. Known as the “Father of Gospel Music,” he started the first independent publishing house for black Gospel music and founded the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses. One of his most well-known compositions, “Precious Lord,” was inspired by the grief of losing his first wife and son in childbirth in 1932, and it was later said to be Martin Luther King Jr.’s favorite song.

These are just a handful of the important black religious figures who have played major roles in shaping our unique Judeo-Christian heritage here in the United States, and to whom we owe a debt of gratitude for their faithfulness and commitment. We know they faced hardships we can’t even imagine, yet they followed God’s leadership no matter the cost. It is because of their sacrifice that we have such a vibrant and diverse church life in our minority communities today. Let us not forget to honor these unsung heroes as we celebrate Black History Month this February.