Iain's blog: January 2023

Monday, January 30, 2023

Brett Kavanaugh Expresses His Opinion Of His Supreme Court Colleagues

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh gave his thoughts on the incoming freshman, saying that he is “optimistic” about the future of the Supreme Court.

Kavanaugh said that the nine Supreme Court Justices share “great relations both personally and professionally” despite disagreements and the perception that it is divided.

“We only get tough cases, and we disagree on some of those. I think that’s more nuanced than it is sometimes portrayed,” Kavanaugh said, adding that even after every argument and conference, the group eats lunch together becoming friends.

One of the most notable cases, which drew nationwide criticism, was the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June of last year.

“You can’t talk about work at lunch. So, you talk about the things that you would talk about with your friends. You talk about your kids, you talk about movies, you talk about books, you talk about war stories … again and again,” Kavanaugh told a group of law students while speaking at the Notre Dame Law school.

The conservative justice went on to praise his liberal colleague, Ketanji Jackson Brown, saying that she is “off to a great start” and is “thoroughly prepared.”

Kavanaugh also praised the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and retired Justice Stephen Breyer for welcoming him to the court after facing allegations of sexual misconduct and assault, which Republicans argued was a “sham.”

He went on to call the unusually long delay in the release of the court’s first opinion of the term due to a “coincidence” concerning “which mix of cases” was argued in October and November.
The court only released its first opinion this week, breaking tradition.

According to court watchers, they believe the reason the court waited to issue an opinion this term was because it was anticipating the release of the investigative report. That report was produced on January 19, with the justices announcing that the Marshal of the court had been unable to identify the person responsible for the leak.

However, Kavanaugh said that there was no connection between the report and the lag in opinions.

The leak of the report caused protests all around the country, with many vandalizing churches and pro-life centers.

Omar, Swalwell and Schiff Blame Their Committee Removal On Trying to Hold Trump ‘Accountable’

In the wake of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif) promise to remove Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Eric Swalwell (D-Calif), and Adam Schiff (D-Calif) from their committees are blaming the Republican’s actions on their attempting to hold former President Trump accountable.

During an interview with MSNBC, Omar said McCarthy’s effort at removing her from her committee is an effort to try and “appease Trump.”

The liberal squad member claimed that the three of them have been singled out by Trump, and in return, McCarthy is seeking revenge for trying to impeach the former president.

“When I was running for the Minnesota House seat, and Trump was running for president, he came to Minnesota and talked about how Somali refugees should not enter our state…. Marjorie Taylor Greene, after I got sworn in, was in Congress talking about Muslim invasion,” Omar said, adding “when you think about Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, these are two people who have led the impeachment efforts against Trump, who he also singled out. If you think about how these people have been vengeful, this sort of revenge and picking the three of us makes sense.”

The Democrat went on to allege that McCarthy was doing nothing but exchanging “dollars in removing duly elected members from the committee that they have a history in.”

At the same time, Schiff and Swalwell have also expressed opinions, claiming that McCarthy removed them from the House Intelligence Committee to get back at them for investigating Trump, calling it “petty, political payback.”

Speaking with MSNBC’s Joy Reid, Swalwell said that McCarthy is coming after them for not “backing down” against Trump, saying “we were fearless in our resolve to hold Donald Trump accountable.”

Schiff also responded, posting a video to the Chinese-owned app TikTok, claiming that “Kevin McCarthy removed me from the House Intelligence Committee, all for doing my job, for holding Trump accountable and standing up to the extreme MAGA Republicans.”

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

5 places World War III could start in 2023

Ukraine soldier Russian tank — A Ukrainian soldier checks a wrecked Russian tank outside a village east of Kharkiv in April 2022.

In February 2022, Russia attacked Ukraine, starting the largest clash in Europe since World War II.
The war has caused global ripples, raising the stakes of disputes that have smoldered for decades.
These five simmering disputes pose the greatest risk of erupting into "World War III" in 2023.

A 19FortyFive tradition – we look at where World War III could start as we prepare for 2023.

In 2022, the world came closer to Great Power War than at any point since the end of the Cold War.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an attack that almost immediately resulted in a combination of sanctions and direct military support for Kyiv.

By early spring, the United States and its allies were pursuing policies that would result in the death of Russian soldiers, the destruction of Russian military equipment, and the long-term degradation of the Russian economy. The war has had a ripple effect on the world stage, dramatically increasing the stakes of disputes that have quietly smoldered for decades.

These five areas pose the greatest risk for the eruption of what we might be tempted to call "World War III."

Ukraine

Concern that Russia might use nuclear weapons to restore its flagging fortunes in Ukraine seems to have declined since summer, as the war has settled into a destructive stalemate.

However, escalation remains a concern. Russia's inability to make progress may threaten the stability of the Putin government, inclining Moscow to contemplate dangerous escalation. Concerns over the ability of Ukraine to continue the war in the long-term might force Kyiv to take risky steps of its own to break the stalemate.

An expansion of the war to NATO remains unlikely but possible; the Russian use of nuclear weapons remains unthinkable but not at all impossible.

The Biden administration and its allies in Europe have taken extraordinary care with the risks of escalation, but Washington does not hold all of the cards and either Kyiv or Moscow might become willing to accept the risk of a wider conflict, a conflict that could develop into World War III.

Taiwan

Worry about the immediacy of war between Taiwan and China has waned a bit in the past months, in large part because of China's catastrophic covid experience.

However, there is little doubt that cross-strait tensions remain significant. The willingness of the Biden administration to take risky rhetorical positions on the defense of Taiwan indicates that Washington has real concern over the prospects of a Chinese attack. At the same time, these statements (and unwise stunts such as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taipei) run the risk of triggering Chinese escalation.

Fortunately, there is good reason to believe that we will have some warning of war; as was the case along the Ukrainian border, Chinese preparation for conflict would be glaringly visible to everyone concerned. Almost any imaginable conflict, however, would end up including the United States and very likely Japan, and would thus constitute a great power war.

Greece-Turkey

Greek tank Greece independence day — A Greek tank in a military parade for Greece's Independence Day on March 25, 2018.

Lost in all of the discussion of the revitalization of NATO in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been a simmering crisis on the alliance's southern flank.

Over the past year tensions between Greece and Turkey have increased substantially, driven in large part by Turkey's assertive foreign policy turn and by the domestic vulnerability of the Erdogan regime. Disputes between Athens and Ankara over energy exploration in the Aegean have driven the current tension, although the territorial disagreement underlying the argument have existed for decades.

While it seems unlikely that a NATO ally would openly attack another NATO ally, past conflicts have brought the two countries up to the brink of war (and sometimes slightly beyond) notwithstanding their alliance commitments.

Any fight between Turkey and Greece would immediately involve NATO, and would almost certainly result in some degree of opportunistic intervention by Russia.

Korean Peninsula

North Korea underwater missile launch — A North Korean missile is launched in October 2022.

Over the past several months tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang have grown steadily, with North Korean provocations (often themselves driven by the Kim regime's idiosyncratic and cryptic assessments of the international environment) incurring aggressive rhetorical responses from the South.

The dynamic between the two states seems driven by impatience; an impatience in the North that the world still refuses to take it seriously despite its magnificent nuclear weapons, and an impatience in the South that a nation of great significance remains burdened by its inept and retrograde sibling.

These tensions aren't new, but historically they have been constrained by the Cold War and by the post-Cold War liberal international order. The first is gone and the second is fraying, to the extent that Pyongyang may feel like it has a moment and Seoul may struggle to find the patience to tolerate the antics of its neighbor.

If war does break out it could rapidly become more destructive than the Russia-Ukraine War, with conventional and nuclear weapons exacting a horrific toll on both sides.

China-India

Sporadic fighting between China and India continues on the Roof of the World.

Although the real stakes of control over small slivers of territory in nearly uninhabitable mountain terrain remain elusive, neither China nor India have backed away from the conflict. While fighting has thus far remained quite limited, the desire to defend national prestige can rapidly become poisonous for even the wisest and most sensible leaders.

Whether Modi and Xi fit such a description is a question for another day, but the governments that they lead have not managed to find a way to resolve the conflict.

At some point either the Indians or the Chinese might be tempted to solve the problem through escalation, a step that could work as intended, or that could open the door to a much larger and more destructive conflict.

Pray World War III never happens

Lyman Ukraine — Destroyed apartments in Lyman after the Ukrainian city was recaptured from Russia forces in November 2022.

It remains unlikely that any of these disputes will develop into a global conflict, although the Ukraine War already has some aspects of great power war.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has, if nothing else, demonstrated that major wars can still happen despite the best efforts of the international community. Maintaining peace requires careful statesmanship; managing escalation during war requires extraordinary skill.

It’s On: McCarthy Formally Blocks Schiff, Swalwell From Intelligence Committee

his article has been updated to include reactions from Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Eric Swalwell (D-CA), and Ilhan Omar (D-MN).

On Tuesday night, just as he has promised for months he would do, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) formally blocked Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA) from the House Intelligence Committee. Despite McCarthy repeatedly warning he would take such action, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) on Monday nominated the embattled Democratic members to the committee, as they had requested.

McCarthy tweeted out the letter he sent to Jeffries. While his letter did acknowledge “I appreciate the loyalty you have to your Democratic colleagues, and I acknowledge your efforts to have two Members of Congress reinstated to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence,” McCarthy nevertheless reminds Jeffries that allowing Schiff and Swalwell to serve on the committee is something he cannot do.

“But I cannot put partisan loyalty ahead of national security, and I cannot simply recognize years of serve as the sole criteria for membership on this essential committee. Integrity matters more,” the letter continued with original emphasis.

As Punchbowl News mentioned in its Monday morning newsletter sharing Jeffries’ letter about the committees, Schiff is one of the longest-serving members during its 45-year history. He has served as the committee’s chairman and was looking to be its ranking member.

Towards the closing of his letter, McCarthy also warns of his assessment “that the misuse of this panel during the 116th and 117th Congresses severely undermined the primary national security and oversight missions–ultimately leaving our nation less safe.” McCarthy closes by mentioning his commitment to “returning the Intelligence Committee to one of genuine honesty and credibility that regains theorist of the American people.”
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<img draggable="false" role="img" class="emoji" alt="🚨" src="https://s0.wp.com/wp-content/mu-plugins/wpcom-smileys/twemoji/2/svg/1f6a8.svg">SPEAKER MCCARTHY TO MINORITY LEADER HAKEEM JEFFRIES:

“I am hereby rejecting the appointments of Representative Adam Schiff and Representative Eric Swalwell to serve on the Intelligence Committee.” pic.twitter.com/eqeGOIY4Q6
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 25, 2023

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McCarthy has not only warned for some time that he would not allow Schiff and Swalwell to serve on the committee, but has given cause. The speaker has listed concerns with an FBI briefing when it comes to Swalwell serving on such a committee, due to his ties to Chinese spy Fang Fang, and how Schiff lied to and misled the American people on the Ukrainian whistleblow and the “Russia collusion” hoax.

“What did Adam Schiff do as the chairman of the Intel Committee,” McCarthy laid out for reporters before going off with a whole list of offenses. “What Adam Schiff did, use his power as the chairman, and lie to the American public–even the Inspector General said it–when [former Rep.] Devin Nunes put out a memo, he said it was false, when we had a laptop he used it before an election to bring politics and say that it was false and say that it was the Russians, when he knew different, when he knew the Intel.”

As he listed out these offenses, McCarthy made clear that Schiff abused his power as chairman, having had information that the rest of the American people did not. “He used his position as chairman, knowing he has information the rest of America does not, and lied to the American public.”

McCarthy also referenced, as he has multiple times in the past, the Ukrainian whistleblower. “When a whistleblower came forward, he said he did not know the individual, even though his staff had met with them and set it up.”

“So no, he does not have a right to sit on that [committee].” Seeking to distinguish himself from Democrats, who when they controlled the 117th Congress, removed Reps. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) from all of their committee assignments, McCarthy offered “so yes, he can serve on a committee, but he will not serve on Intel, ’cause it goes to the national security of America, and I will always put them first, all right?”
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Speaker McCarthy goes OFF on Adam Schiff in front of reporters:

“No! He does NOT have a right to sit on that [Intelligence Committee]!”

<img draggable="false" role="img" class="emoji" alt="🔥" src="https://s0.wp.com/wp-content/mu-plugins/wpcom-smileys/twemoji/2/svg/1f525.svg"><img draggable="false" role="img" class="emoji" alt="🔥" src="https://s0.wp.com/wp-content/mu-plugins/wpcom-smileys/twemoji/2/svg/1f525.svg"><img draggable="false" role="img" class="emoji" alt="🔥" src="https://s0.wp.com/wp-content/mu-plugins/wpcom-smileys/twemoji/2/svg/1f525.svg"> pic.twitter.com/sczuh6yjJx
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 25, 2023

McCarthy has also mentioned a commitment to ensuring Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) does not serve on the the House Foreign Affairs Committee, due to her antisemitism, which her Democratic colleagues have largely downplayed.

Fox News’ Chad Pergram tweeted out reactions from Swalwell, per his colleague Tyler Olson.
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2) Swalwell: It's too bad because that committee has always been a bipartisan committee, and he's taking one of the most precious pieces of glassware in the congressional cabinet and smashing it in. The damage is going to be irreparable.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 25, 2023

4) Swalwell: Boehner was around when this investigation happened, and he kept me on the committee and he reappointed me..So the fact that McCarthy would now try and heat up the leftovers for something that happened nearly a decade ago just shows that is pure political vengeance
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 25, 2023

Pergram later tweeted out more reactions, which came off exactly as you would expect from the three members, who threw out all sorts of charges.
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2) Schiff/Swalwell/Omar on McCarthy: He struck a corrupt bargain in his desperate, and nearly failed, attempt to win the Speakership, a bargain that required political vengeance against the three of us.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 25, 2023

3) Schiff/Swalwell/Omar: But despite these efforts, McCarthy won’t be successful. We will continue to speak out against extremism and doggedly defend our democracy.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 25, 2023

In the case of Omar’s assignment though, the House will need to vote on barring her from serving on the committee. Pergram also tweeted out that it is “Unclear if McCarthy would have the votes” to do so.
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Since the Intelligence Cmte is a "select" cmte, McCarthy can reject mbrs from serving on that panel. However, the full House may need to vote to prospectively block Dem MN Rep Omar from serving on the Foreign Affairs Cmte. Unclear if McCarthy would have the votes for that
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 25, 2023

McCarthy appears to have at least a few defections there. As highlighted by The Hill’s Mychael Schnell, Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) released a statement earlier on Tuesday indicating she opposes denying Democratic members their committee assignments. “Two wrongs do not make a right,” she began her statement by saying, also later making clear Speaker McCarthy needs to stop “bread and circuses” in Congress and start governing for a change.”
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Rep. Spartz issued a statement on proposed committee removals of Democrats without proper due process urging @SpeakerMcCarthy to stop “bread and circuses” in Congress and start governing for a change.

Two wrongs do not make a right. https://t.co/a6sZhW6V52
— Rep. Victoria Spartz (@RepSpartz) January 24, 2023

Reps. Don Bacon (R-NE) and David Valadao appear undecided, according to CNN, with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) joining Rep. Spartz in her opposition.
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David Valadao tells me he’s still undecided on a resolution to boot Omar from the committee. Spartz & Mace already signaled they’re a no.

Republicans can only afford to lose four votes. https://t.co/NJFtCrzDE3
— Melanie Zanona (@MZanona) January 25, 2023

Who’s More Irrational — The Religious or the Irreligious?

There are very few things conservatives, liberals and leftists agree on. But if they are irreligious, they all agree that religious Americans are more irrational than irreligious Americans.

It is a secular axiom that secularism and secular people are rooted in reason, whereas religion and the religious are rooted in irrationality.

This is what almost every college professor believes and what almost every student in America is taught. Among the intelligentsia, it is an unquestioned fact. It helps explain why, after their first or second year at college, many children return to their religious homes alienated from, and frequently contemptuous of, the religion of their parents — and often of the parents themselves.

At the time in their lives when most people are the most easily indoctrinated — approximately ages 18 to 22 — young Americans hear only one message: If you want to be a rational person, you must abandon religion and embrace secularism. Most young Americans are never exposed to a countervailing view at any time in their college life. (That’s why you should expose your college-aged child, grandchild, niece or nephew to this column.)

Yet, this alleged axiom is not only completely false, it’s backwards. The truth is that today the secular have a virtual monopoly on irrational beliefs.

One proof is that colleges have become the most irrational institutions in the country. Not coincidentally, they are also the most secular institutions in our society. In fact, the former is a result of the latter.

One could provide examples in every area of life. Here are but a few.

Only secular people believe “men give birth.”

Only secular people believe that males — providing, of course, that they say they are females — should be allowed to compete in women’s sports.

Only secular people believe that a young girl who says she is a boy or a young boy who says he is a girl should be given puberty-blocking hormones.

Only secular people believe that girls who say they are boys should have their healthy breasts surgically cut off.

Only secular people believe it is good to have men in drag dance (often provocatively) in front of 5-year-olds.

Only secular people agree with Disney dropping use of the words “boys and girls” at Disneyland and Disneyworld.

Only secular people believe that “to be colorblind is to be racist.” That is what is taught at nearly all secular (and religious-in-name-only) colleges in America today.

Only secular people believe fewer police, fewer prosecutions and lower prison sentences (or no prison time at all) lead to less crime.

Far more secular Americans than religious Americans believed that the Cleveland Indians and Washington Redskins needed to change their names because “Indians” and “Redskins” were racist — despite the fact that most Native Americans didn’t even think so.

Who was more likely to support keeping children out of schools for two years; forcibly masking 2-year olds on airplanes; and firing unvaccinated police officers, airplane pilots and members of the military — secular or religious Americans?

How many Western supporters of Josef Stalin — the tyrant who murdered about 30 million people — were irreligious, and how many were religious?

Stanford University, a thoroughly secular institution, just released an “Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative.” It informs all Stanford faculty and students of “harmful” words they should avoid and the words that should replace them.

Some examples:

Stanford asks its students and faculty not to call themselves “American.” Rather, they should call themselves a “U.S. citizen.” Why? Because citizens of other countries in North America and South America might be offended.

Is that rational?

Stanford asks its faculty and students not to use the term “blind study.” Why? Because it “unintentionally perpetuates that disability is somehow abnormal or negative, furthering an ableist culture.” Instead, Stanford faculty and students should say, “masked study.”

Two questions: Is Stanford’s claim that being blind is not a disability rational or irrational? And what percentage of those who make this claim are secular?

The list of irrational (and immoral) things secular people believe — and religious people do not believe — is very long. As a quote attributed to G.K. Chesterton puts it: “When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing; they believe in anything.”

Yet, many people believe that the religious, not the secular, are the irrational people in our time. That, ironically, is just another irrational belief held by the secular. And, of course, it is self-serving — just as is the belief that more people have been killed by religious people (meaning, essentially, Christians) than by secular people. Yet, that, too, is irrational — and false. In the last century alone, 100 million people were murdered by secular — and anti-religious — regimes.

Yes, religious people have some irrational, or at least non-rational, beliefs.

But two points need to be made in this regard:

One is that the religious beliefs that most people call “irrational” are not irrational; they are unprovable. For example, the beliefs that there is a transcendent Creator and that this Creator is the source of our rights are not irrational; they are unprovable. Atheism — the belief that everything came from nothing — is considerably more irrational than theism.

The other point is that human beings are programmed to believe in the non-rational. Love is often non-rational — love of our children, romantic love, love of music and art, love of a pet; our willingness to engage in self-sacrifice for another is often non-rational — from the sacrifices children make for parents and parents for children to the sacrifices made by non-Jewish rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust.

What good religion does is provide its adherents with a moral, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually deep way to express the non-rational. Therefore, they can remain rational everywhere outside of religion. The secular, having no religion within which to innocuously express the non-rational, often end up doing so elsewhere in life.

So only the religious believe “In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth,” but they do not believe men give birth. Meanwhile the irreligious don’t believe “In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth,” but only they believe men give birth.

Oh, So Mike Pence Had Classified Documents Too

As more and more classified documents are discovered in President Biden’s Wilmington home, it turns out more than just Biden and former President Trump took sensitive materials from their respective vice presidential and presidential offices.

On Tuesday, CNN broke the news that former Vice President Mike Pence also had some classified documents, a fact he informed Congress of on Tuesday, found at his home in Indiana on January 16. Pence had “about a dozen” classified documents from his time as VP, and subsequently turned them over to the FBI.
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New via CNN: A lawyer for former Vice President Mike Pence discovered about a dozen documents marked as classified at Pence’s Indiana home last week, and he has turned those classified records over to the FBI.
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) January 24, 2023

As CNN explained in its report based on “sources” —
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The classified documents were discovered at Pence’s new home in Carmel, Indiana, by a lawyer for Pence in the wake of the revelations about classified material discovered in President Joe Biden’s private office and residence, the sources said.

In a twist, Pence had said in previous interviews that he did not have any classified documents in his possession from his four years as VP to Trump.

CNN’s report continued:
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Pence asked his lawyer to conduct the search of his home out of an abundance of caution, and the attorney began going through four boxes stored at Pence’s house last week, finding a small number of documents with classified markings, the sources said.

Pence’s lawyer immediately alerted the National Archives, the sources said. In turn, the Archives informed the Justice Department.

A lawyer for Pence told CNN that the FBI requested to pick up the documents with classified markings that evening, and Pence agreed. Agents from the FBI’s field office in Indianapolis picked up the documents from Pence’s home, the lawyer said.

On Monday, Pence’s legal team drove the boxes back to Washington, DC, and handed them over to the Archives to review the rest of the material for compliance with the Presidential Records Act.

In a letter to the National Archives obtained by CNN, Pence’s representative to the Archives Greg Jacob wrote that a “small number of documents bearing classified markings” were inadvertently boxed and transported to the vice president’s home.

As Pence’s representative to the Archives Greg Jacob explained to CNN, “Vice President Pence was unaware of the existence of sensitive or classified documents at his personal residence. Vice President Pence understands the high importance of protecting sensitive and classified information and stands ready and willing to cooperate fully with the National Archives and any appropriate inquiry,” Jacob added.

It’s worth noting that Pence, unlike Biden, made the discovery public almost immediately, whereas Biden withheld the information from the American people from early November before the 2022 midterms until the story finally broke via a leak to mainstream outlets.

In a post on Truth Social Tuesday afternoon, President Trump defended his VP. “Mike Pence is an innocent man,” Trump said. “He never did anything knowingly dishonest in his life. Leave him alone!!!”

What Putin Has Said About Russia Taking Back Alaska

Russian officials have recently made statements threatening to reclaim Alaska, which the U.S. bought from Russia in 1867, but it’s possible President Vladimir Putin isn’t interested.

In 2014, during his annual Q&A with Russian citizens, Putin was asked about taking back the territory. Questioner Faina Ivanovna told him it’s something Russians “would be very happy to see happen.”

“Why do you need Alaska?” Putin responded, according to The Washington Post. “By the way, Alaska was sold sometime in the 19th century. Louisiana was sold to the United States by the French at about the same time. Thousands of square kilometers were sold for $7.2 million, although in gold.” He called the purchase “inexpensive” and said people should “not get worked up about” Alaska. Russian state-TV host Kirill Kleymenov told Putin the state is jokingly referred to as “Ice Crimea.”

Years later, two Russian officials are once again floating the idea of returning Alaska to Russia. Vyacheslav Volodin, an ally of Putin and chairman of the State Duma, said Russia could reclaim the territory in response to heavy sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its NATO and European Union allies in response to the Ukrainian invasion.
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“When they [U.S. lawmakers] attempt to appropriate our assets abroad, they should be aware that we also have something to claim back,” Volodin said during a Wednesday meeting with Russian officials, according to the Associated Press.
Vladimir Putin Comments on Alaska
Russian officials have recently made statements threatening to reclaim Alaska, but in 2014 President Vladimir Putin dismissed the idea. Above, Putin speaks during his talks with Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the Kremlin on June 30. Getty Images

Volodin previously suggested that Moscow could seize the Russian assets of “hostile” countries in retaliation for a U.S. proposal to sell off seized Russian oligarchs’ assets to rebuild Ukraine, according to The Moscow Times.

Noting that a deputy speaker had proposed holding a referendum among Alaskans on joining Russia, Volodin told the Duma on Wednesday, “We don’t interfere in their domestic affairs,” holding back laughter following applause, the Times reported.
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Russia Cracks Down on War Critics As Official Jailed for 7 Years
Multiple Russian Soldiers Detained for Refusing to Fight in Putin's War
Ukraine Destroys 35 Russian Tanks in a Single Day, Kyiv Forces Say

On Thursday, Volodin also took parting shots at departing U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who stepped down this week after a wave of scandals but was viewed as a strong ally of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“The clown is going,” Volodin said, according to U.S. News & World Report. “He is one of the main ideologues of the war against Russia until the last Ukrainian. European leaders should think about where such a policy leads.”

Billboards reading “Alaska Is Ours!” were spotted Thursday, reported NGS24, a news agency in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. They are not believed to have been erected by Russian authorities but instead by “some patriot,” a restaurateur in the city said.

Russians may have first reached Alaska in the 1600s, with regular commercial fur-trapping expeditions between the territory and Siberia beginning in the 1740s.

In his only public comment on Russian threats against his state, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy linked to an MSN article about Volodin and wrote a pithy tweet on Thursday. “To the Russian politicians who believe they can take back Alaska: Good luck,” he said.

Saturday, January 21, 2023

Why One Piece is losing popularity

I've been keeping an eye on the manga sales now for a fair few years and been making a general note of it. The sales pretty much exploded with the Whitebeard War arc, the popularity of the Strong World movie and then the Time Skip but it's been declining almost continually for a while now.

So all these sales are the total sales after the fifth week the volume was on sale.

Vol 52 - 1.59 million
Vol 55 - 1.69 million
Vol 60 - 2.59 million
Vol 65 - 2.89 million
Vol 70 - 2.71 million
Vol 75 - 2.56 million
Vol 80 - 2.70 million
Vol 85 - 2.40 million
Vol 90 - 1.95 million
Vol 95 - 1.72 million
Vol 96 - 1.63 million

As it stands, Vol 96 is actually the lowest selling volume since Vol 52 which was 12 years ago. Digital sales need to be taken into account and they are very slowly increasing over time but apparently still make up a small fraction of the overall sales.

Even though it's gone down over time, there was a uptick during the final battle with Luffy and Doflamingo but then as soon as that arc ended there was a very sudden drop. It then slowly declined again until there was another drop with this Wano arc but now instead of declining slowly it's actually dropping quite quickly.

Each volume has sold 100,000 copies less after the same amount of time now since Vol 92. So maybe people aren't liking the current arc at all.

One Piece's Most Unexpected Dark Turns

One Piece is celebrated for its vibrance and humor, which makes the moments it gets dark all the more shocking. From physical to psychological abuse, these dark elements are not subtle and make a huge impact. With the manga around two-thirds completed and the latest arcs only increasing the darkness, it's only a question of how much more ominous One Piece can be. Here are the darkest parts of One Piece's story so far.

Kuma's Painful Cyborg Transformation

For unknown reasons, Bartholomew Kuma decides to offer himself as a human guinea pig for war experiments that slowly strip him of his core being, one modification at a time. It can be assumed he found the exchange worth sacrificing his humanity and free will, but the end results are cruel nonetheless.

Kuma becomes a mindless toy slave-for-rent for the Celestial dragons -- accumulating heedless damage and abuse. While he does not feel any pain because he is figuratively dead, it is a mockery to those who still care about him.

Labor Camps & Slave Labor at Tequila Wolf

Tequila Wolf is a layered monument symbolizing centuries of the World Government’s greed and corruption. Entire generations of enslaved people wasted their lives and dreams laboring on a Sisyphean task in the brutal conditions of a forced labor camp. Escape was futile for the longest time, and even after liberation, a chance at a happy life will be a constant struggle for the formerly enslaved.

Cipher Pol: Human Trafficking, Child Assassins & Rob Lucci

The World Government is an insidious institution, and from Mother Caramel, viewers know that they traffick orphan children to become Marine soldiers or Cipher Pol assassins. It's unknown if Lucci joined CP9 this way, but he and other CP9 agents received rigorous and inhumane physical training since childhood.

Their minds are molded to abandon mercy or morals. This is exemplified in one of Lucci’s childhood missions. When a pirate crew kidnaps 500 soldiers as hostages, Lucci slaughters everyone — pirates and hostages alike — because he believes being captured is a sign of weakness.

Nami's Enslavement to Arlong

The revelation of Nami’s backstory marks the point One Piece shows how it can handle tears and heartache. Arlong holds her village hostage and kills her adoptive mother Bell-mère in front of her eyes when she's eight. Nami agrees to join Arlong's crew in a deal equivalent to slavery to raise enough money to buy back her village.

When the money she raised is confiscated by a corrupt Marine and the villagers rise against Arlong, Nami tries to stop them in vain. Alone and desperate, she repeatedly stabs her arm until Luffy stops her, and she pleads for his help.

The Tragic Night in Dressrosa

Doflamingo’s parasite abilities control King Riku and various soldiers like stringed puppets to attack and kill innocent civilians. What’s worse is that each controlled individual is lucid, wrecking psychological torture as they lay witness to their bodies betraying them and betraying the people they swore to protect. On the same night of Doflamingo’s takeover, Kyros is struck with tragedies, one after another.

Not only does Sugar turn him into a toy soldier, but she also imparts true death on him as anyone acquainted with him forgets his existence. The true severity of this is demonstrated when he witnesses his wife’s death. As a toy, he is unable to feel her warmth, cry or grieve properly as the love of his life failed to recognize him and died in his arms.

Brook’s 50 Years of Isolation

Although Brook’s Devil Fruit has resurrection abilities, they doomed him to a life worse than death. Before being stranded at sea, Brook lost half his crew and captain due to an incurable disease and the other half when enemies attacked with poison-coated weapons. Sending off his crew the only way he can, Brook plays Binks' Sake as his comrades die one-by-one until he succumbs to the poison and dies as well.

When he revives, he returns to the ship as a skeleton and lays his crew’s remains to rest underdeck. Brook then lives in solitude for 50 years with memories of his crewmates as his only comfort or to haunt his dreams.

Gory Deaths in the Summit War Arc

This arc shifted the tone of One Piece with the deaths of Ace and Whitebeard. Whitebeard’s death has to be one of the series most gory deaths, dying standing with 267 sword-inflicted wounds, 152 gunshots, 46 cannon explosions and half his face and internal organs blazed by Akainu. If that wasn't enough tragedy, Ace sacrifices himself to protect Luffy as Akainu burns a hole in Ace’s chest.

Even with the Marines' goals accomplished, they continued to pursue a fight that needlessly sacrificed more soldiers and senseless bloodshed until Shanks put an end to it.

The Crucifixion of Nekomamushi and Inuarashi

To extrapolate information about Raizo, Jack of the Beast Pirates unleashes Caesar’s poison gas to massacre the vulnerable Mink tribe in Zou while their leaders — Nekomamushi, Inuarashi and other strong warriors — are crucified. In a hellish experience for the Zou tribe, screams of death echo throughout the country. Despite the torture, lost limbs and lost comrades, Nekomamushi and Inuarashi selflessly never reveal any information.

Wano: A Dystopian Society Masked with Flowers

The currently-ongoing Wano Arc is the darkest One Piece has ever been. With Orochi’s tyrannical rule, average citizens are either poisoned slowly by pollution or starved to death, leading to desperate measures such as mothers willing to kill their infants. In addition to these dark elements, One Piece once again shocks viewers with some grisly executions and revelations.

Cornered into starvation and destitution, the villagers of Ebisu had little choice but to consume defective SMILE fruits that robbed their ability to express any emotion other than laughter and smiles. The twisted irony is most poignant when they are compelled to laugh at Yasuie’s death in a public execution when a firing squad shoots him an inhumane number of times.

In another horrid execution, Oden's executed after being boiled alive for one hour before a gunshot to the head ends his life. With more deaths and betrayals, the Wano Arc continues to throw viewers in for a shocking loop.

The Destruction and Genocide of Felavance, Ohara & the Grey Terminal

The greatest atrocities present in the anime is genocide organized by or for the World Government. They destroyed Ohara to censor the truth about Poneglyphs. They allowed the citizens of Flevance to poison themselves as long as they gained profit from its budding amber lead industry. And the Gao Kingdom set fire to its Gray Terminal, a warren of junk and the homeless, to impress a World Noble.

No matter how innocent or harmless, the government has no qualm exterminating any inconvenience to their objectives, a truth all too relatable in real life.

About One Piece Sales...

Looking Rate at which one piece is selling, I think it won't be in top 5 this year and it seems like the popularity of the series is dropping. With these number of sales it won't pass superman and become the best selling coming. Since, popularity is dropping Oda will be in a hurry to finish the series. I always thought one piece popularity in japan will shield the series becoming like bleach. But, I am not so sure any more. Even, demon slayer is selling more that one piece which has already finished. So, going by sales performance in last few years of one piece, I don't think they will be a bump in sales. I think will truly end before 2024. Due to, the amount of length, there will be a less can of rise in popularity. In conclusion, One piece will not be as popular as bleach, naruto, dragon ball, MHA, and alot of show which are popular in rest of the world. Let's be prepared for a fast paced story after wano county arc.

Republicans Introduce ‘UNBORN’ Act to ‘Undo the Negligent Biden Orders Right Now’

On the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, nearly 90 House Republicans introduced legislation to put an end to the Democrat’s radical pro-abortion agenda.

Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) and 88 other House Republicans came forth with a bill that would block and defund President Joe Biden’s pro-abortion executive orders as thousands of pro-life people march for the sanctity of life.

“At every turn, the Biden Administration has advanced the evils of abortion — subverting the will of the American people, circumventing the Constitution, and undermining the integrity of our nation’s highest court,” Clyde said in a statement to Breitbart News, adding “Congress must take action to protect the precious unborn and prevent taxpayer dollars from funding the Left’s abhorrent abortion agenda.”

The UNBORN Act, which stands for “Undo the Negligent Biden Orders Right Now,” will work to shut down Biden’s order that put unborn babies’ lives at risk.

Since taking office, Biden has implemented several executive orders, directing the Department of Justice and Health and Human Services to fight Republicans who attempt to restrict women’s access to abortion services including medication that induces a miscarriage and the travel across state lines to receive the procedure.

Pro-life groups such as Heritage Action and Catholic Vote have voiced their support for Clyde’s legislation.

The legislation was introduced as people from all across the country walked to protect unborn babies’ rights and fight against the Left’s normalization of abortion.

However, this year marchers will walk to Congress rather than the Supreme Court to demand pro-life legislation.

As people gather to oppose abortion, Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Florida’s capitol, Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R-Fla) turf, to rally abortion supporters and explain the need for Congress to codify the protections of Roe v. Wade into law.

Woke Law Requires Prosecutors to Drop 69% of Criminal Cases In NYC

New York City is amongst some of the top crime-ridden places in the U.S., thanks to soft-on-crime policies and Democrat-run leaders.

A new law is forcing prosecutors to release suspects, putting them back on the street sans consequences, only making the city’s crime problem heighten.

According to a new study obtained by the New York Post, 69 percent of criminal cases were dropped due to justice “reforms.”

In 2019, the year new “discovery” rules were adopted by state lawmakers, 44 percent of cases were dismissed, rising to 69 percent by mid-October 2021, according to the Manhattan Institute.

For misdemeanor cases, the rate increased from 49 percent to 82 percent during the same period.

This as New York City crime rates shot up to record levels in just the last two years.

“In New York City, adult felony arrests fell by 14 percent between 2019 and 2021, while NYC shootings rose by 102 percent and murders rose by over 51 percent,” the study noted.

The study blamed the impending “clerical burden” prosecutors face who have to “assemble and redact limitless…documents and videos” for defense lawyers as part of the process known as “discovery.”

With the state’s “speedy trial” laws, assistant district attorneys “run out of time to try cases or file motions to extend defendants’ detention.”

The law is also related to bail reform policies, which allow criminals to walk free.

Additionally, the study found that 40 percent of ADA’s have quit since the discovery law took effect, crippling the justice system.

However, New York’s progressive Governor, Kathy Hochul (D-NY) claims that data does not support the idea that bail reform is the root problem.

One Twitter user expressed their opinion saying that “NYC needs another Giuliani to clean house.”

Monday, January 16, 2023

Andrew McCabe Calls on Biden's DOJ to Obstruct GOP's Classified Documents Probe

On Friday afternoon, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) announced an investigation into Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, some of which were labeled top secret. Andrew McCabe, the disgraced former FBI deputy director and current CNN senior law enforcement analyst, promptly urged the Biden Justice Department to obstruct that investigation.

“Chairman Jim Jordan announced this House Judiciary Committee investigation into the DOJ actions related to the President’s handling of the classified documents today,” explained CNN anchor Anderson Cooper on Friday night. “How much does that impact the DOJ ongoing investigation?”

“I certainly would advise them — if they were willing to listen to my advice — I would advise them to take a very hard line against that,” McCabe said. “There is a clear precedent here of not sharing information from an ongoing criminal investigation with Congress. And I think the DOJ is in a very strong position to resist on those grounds.”

“Who knows what comes of that resistance?” McCabe continued. “Maybe DOJ leadership starts getting subpoenaed. And ultimately, that fight will end up in the courts. And that could drag things out. That’s going to be an additional distraction to DOJ. But it shouldn’t disrupt the actual conduct of the investigation. So, that’s a — it’ll be a separate but related set of stressors the DOJ has to deal with.”

For our VIPs: Yes, Merrick Garland Has Politicized the Department of Justice

Of course, there’s no reason to believe the Biden administration wasn’t going to obstruct this investigation anyway, since they’ve already been obstructing investigations. But, boy, what chutzpah for McCabe to suggest that the administration’s investigation of Biden should supersede the GOP’s.

Obama and his administration fought and obstructed every investigation into its scandals, and the Biden administration will do the same. They’ve been using Obama’s playbook from the start, and they will make the Obama administration’s constant attempts to block the inquests look like child’s play.

The Biden DOJ can’t be trusted to conduct a fair investigation of Joe Biden. But the Obama administration pulled that stunt too — several times — and always vindicated itself. McCabe knows the Biden administration won’t hold Biden or anyone else accountable, which is why he wants the administration to block the GOP’s investigation — because he knows Jim Jordan will.

Los Angeles Descends Into Insanity

Oh, what a blessing it is to be retired from the Los Angeles Police Department.

I am proud of the career I had with the LAPD, which spanned more than 30 years, beginning in the early 1980s. It was an era when, though there were many times we asked ourselves, “Who are these morons we’re working for?” was not yet marked by the genuine insanity that afflicts so many currently serving in city government and the upper ranks of the department.

“Insanity, Dunphy?” you ask. “Isn’t that a bit harsh?”

Not at all. Consider all of the following: As discussed in my previous column, the LAPD has been blistered with criticism over its recent encounters with three men, two of whom were shot to death after threatening officers with weapons. The third, after causing a multi-car traffic collision, was running around in a busy intersection and raving incoherently. He was tased and subdued, but for reasons yet to be disclosed, he died several hours later at a hospital. A blood test revealed he had been using cocaine and marijuana.

As is its wont, the Los Angeles Times has led the condemnation of the officers involved in these incidents and of the LAPD in general, beginning with an editorial on Jan. 13. The same day, the Times ran what purports to be a news story that ran under the headline, “LAPD’s repeated tasing of teacher who died appears excessive, experts say.”

In reading any news story, most especially those in the Los Angeles Times, one must be cautious in evaluating the qualifications of those presented as experts. As any litigator knows, one can find an “expert” to testify to almost anything. The first expert cited in the Times story is Ed Obayashi, who according to his website is a deputy sheriff and policy advisor for the Plumas County Sheriff’s Office in California. Plumas County has a population of about 18,000, most of them living in a handful of small towns in and around the Plumas National Forest. Whatever expertise Obayshi may have in using force against drug-addled suspects, its unlikely he gained it through personal experience.

The Times’s next so-called expert is Walter Katz, who makes his living in police oversight but has no experience as an officer. (Katz takes exception to having his expertise questioned; he blocked me on Twitter when I posed a simple question about something he had posted.) Another is Timothy T. Williams, who, despite having served a long career with the LAPD, would seem to have little practical experience in use-of-force issues. Williams’s C.V. indicates he spent most of his career as a detective, with at most four years of street patrol experience as a police officer and none as a field supervisor. And the street experience he did have came before the LAPD began using Tasers. I doubt Williams has ever witnessed a Taser deployment, let alone used one himself.

Also presented in the Times as an expert is Carl Douglas, a civil rights attorney who owes what we may assume to be a handsome living to suing police departments. It should come as no surprise that he found fault with the officers’ actions.

Though lacking in actual experience on use-of-force questions, at least these four men have been involved in police oversight or litigation. Lacking any shred of expertise on police issues are newly elected L.A. city council members Eunisses Hernandez and Katy Yaroslavsky, the latter of whom tweeted Sunday, “Bending the arc of the moral universe towards justice means fighting for a world in which Keenan Anderson is not tased to death by the very officers sworn to protect his life.” Despite the tweet being factually incorrect and morally obtuse, it was retweeted by Hernandez, a self-described “prison abolitionist” who was endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America.

LAPD chief Michel Moore can claim abundant police experience, having served with the LAPD for more than 40 years. What he lacks, sadly, is the courage to speak out on behalf of his officers when ignorant politicians and ideologically blinkered newspaper writers distort the facts of a police use of force. Moore is lobbying to be appointed to a second five-year term as chief, and he has recently demonstrated an even greater degree of pliability in yielding to the reigning leftism at City Hall. Following the three recent deaths, Moore took the unusual step of holding a press conference to express his “concerns” about the involved officers’ actions. One suspects what most concerns Moore at the moment is his continuing employment at a yearly base pay of $377,508.

To that end, after receiving a single complaint, last week Moore banned the display of Thin Blue Line flags in any public area of police facilities, saying that the flags have been “hijacked” by extremist groups to “symbolize their undemocratic, racist, and bigoted views.”

One must wonder how the man can walk upright with a spine so manifestly weak.

With all of this in mind, coupled with the all-out assault on America’s police officers since the death of George Floyd in 2020, it should surprise no one that the LAPD is having trouble replenishing its ranks. The department is about 500 officers short of its authorized strength, and in its desperation to boost staffing it is trying to lure back recently retired officers.

I can predict with confidence the effort will fall short of its aims. Morale in the LAPD has never been lower, and most officers within sight of retirement are counting the days as a prisoner would to his release date. Having once escaped the disaster the department has become, who in his right mind would return to it?

Los Angeles may be run by lunatics, but is any retired cop crazy enough to want to work for them again?

The New House Homeland Security Committee Chair Already Has the Left Enraged

Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) has been tapped as the new chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security, and even though the new Congress has barely gotten started, he already has the censorious Left up in arms. Newsweek reported last Monday that Trump nominated Green to be Secretary of the Army, but “he ended up withdrawing his nomination from consideration for the role in 2017 after coming under fire for past comments about members of the LGBTQ community, particularly transgender people.” It seems that Green said: “If you poll the psychiatrists, they’re going to tell you transgender is a disease.” Horror of horrors! Everyone can see that men who think they’re women and vice versa are as sane and well-adjusted as the day is long. And now it has come to light that Green has violated Leftist pieties in another way as well: he has a history of making “anti-Muslim comments.”

The HuffPo sounded the alarm on this Thursday, doing its level best to portray Green as a racist, redneck yahoo. HuffPo claimed that Green, whom it identified as “a physician, Iraq War veteran and former GOP state senator,” that is, just the sort of person Leftists abhor, once said “that Iraqis smelled like ‘curry mixed with sweat.’” Sabina Mohyuddin of the American Muslim Advisory Council fumed: “If you hold stereotypes about communities, how can you effectively move on issues that are really nuanced and require a greater understanding of the issues?”

However, Rachel Del Guidice, Green’s communications director, shot back that “some media outlets cut and spliced” what Green said, and added: “Rep. Green has not, and will not ever, force his religion on anyone. He believes that every American has a right to defend their country. Having served three tours of duty overseas during the War on Terror, Rep. Green acted as a steadfast protector of everyone in this nation. Vilifying people of faith because they don’t agree with progressive policies is against America’s founding principles — the very principles he fought to protect.”

The HuffPo, however, wasn’t done. It claimed also that Green “once said he didn’t want students in Tennessee to learn about Islam.” This came up at a Tea Party meeting in 2016, “when an audience member read a passage from a textbook that correctly stated that Muslims believe in all the prophets in the Old and New Testament,” and Green replied, “When you start teaching the pillars of Islam … we will not tolerate that in this state.” According to the HuffPo, Green went on to say that “if students did have to learn about Islam…they should only learn ‘the history of the Ottoman Empire’ and ‘the assault of Islam out into the Levant and North Africa and into Constantinople.’”

You see? He’s ignorant as well as racist! And so Sumayyah Waheed of Muslim Advocates, which the HuffPo says is a “national civil rights group based in Washington, D.C.,” declared: “Rep. Green’s well-documented history of hate speech against Muslims, LGBTQ people, and immigrants made him unfit to be Secretary of the Army, and that history makes him unfit to chair the House Homeland Security Committee. As chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, Mark Green is a threat to Muslims ― especially to those that live at the intersections of the communities he has gleefully attacked for political gain.”

Related: Lefty Rag Says ‘Islamophobia’ Is Worse Than Ever, So Why Is It So Hard to Find Any?

But the HuffPo, true to form, doesn’t bother to tell you that what Green was actually talking about was his opposition to Islamic proselytizing and indoctrination in public schools, which has been abundantly documented. Green was pushing back against the whitewashed version of Islam that is taught in all too many public school textbooks around the country, but of course the HuffPo doesn’t give you even a hint that there was ever a controversy over the way Islam was taught in public school textbooks.

The only thing that could legitimately be seen as offensive is his alleged statement that Iraqis smelled like “curry mixed with sweat,” although to jump from there to the claim that he is a “threat to Muslims” is beyond ridiculous. It’s certainly impolite, at the very least, to say it, but I’m sure Americans smell like all sorts of strange things to non-Americans, too, and HuffPo is making a big deal out of a pungent quip in order to try to defame and destroy Green.

This is, of course, how the “Islamophobia” industry always operates: quotes without context given the worse possible spin, no explanation or rebuttal allowed, and demonstrably true statements presented as not only false, but offensive. These gutter tactics have worked wonderfully well for the Left in the past, but people are beginning to wake up. Green may not lose his chairmanship over these remarks; if he doesn’t, that may be an indication that the new House leadership really does have some spine.

Karine Jean-Pierre Just Proved the White House Is Anything But Transparent

Last week, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) introduced a bill that was so absurd it had people asking if it was real. As evidenced by its page on congress.gov, and also given the kind of member that Jackson Lee is, it is in fact real.

The bill in question, H.R. 61, also known as the “Leading Against White Supremacy Act of 2023,” seeks to “amend title 18, United States Code, to expand the scope of hate crimes.” It would criminalize the “conspiracy to commit white supremacy,” that is directed against non-white people.

This includes “inspir[ing]” or influencing people to commit such a crime based on having “published material advancing white supremacy, white supremacist ideology, antagonism based on “replacement theory”, or hate speech that vilifies or is otherwise directed against any non-White person or group.” Material published on social media platforms is mentioned as well.


Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee has introduced a House Bill to criminalize “conspiracy to commit white supremacy,” which includes any criticism of non-white people that influences (such as something published or said online) someone who commits a hate crime. https://t.co/QD93bVJmA9 pic.twitter.com/ROwLtvYIha
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) January 15, 2023

While the bill’s text mentions the Department of Justice (DOJ), the DOJ website already has a section on “HATE CRIME PROSECUTIONS.” The role of the DOJ is also relevant and potentially concerning in that the Biden administration has reportedly pressured the FBI to over inflate the amount of domestic terror cases and incidents of white supremacy.

This bill isn’t likely to go anywhere in a House now controlled by the Republican Party, though it still speaks to the priorities of members like Rep. Jackson Lee.

Our friends at Twitchy highlighted some of the best responses to Ian Miles Cheong’s screenshot of the bill, including when it comes to concerns with the First Amendment. Further, other users have wondered what it means when attacks on blacks, such as black conservatives, don’t come from white people as a matter of “white supremacy,” but from other black people.


Who wants to tell her about the First Amendment? https://t.co/FF0QUQsBg6
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) January 16, 2023

Should this kind of bill be prohibited? I think so. It harms political discussion and presentation of results. Not to mention it is unconstitutional and that’s the end of the question.
— Phil Pedrosa (@TheRealPedrosa) January 16, 2023

The First Amendment is really difficult when you're as absolutely stupid as Rep. Lee.
— President Doctor (@LDreeniatnuom) January 15, 2023

Boy have I gotta long list of people who ain’t gonna like that bill if its consequences are applied across-the-board. pic.twitter.com/U6npfUcEdb
— Mark Ashworth (@marklarflash) January 16, 2023

The congresswoman has responded to criticisms about the law by hitting back at a fellow member, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO). In a thread that includes over a dozen tweets, Rep. Jackson Lee sought to try to defend her bill, and brought the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy into the discussion.

While Jackson Lee strongly mocks Boebert’s description of the bill, it’s worth reminding that another person who has pointed to concerns about the First Amendment include Harmeet K. Dhillon, who is an attorney.
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For starters, it took me about 32 seconds of reading the article you cited to understand that none of you know what you are talking about. H.R. 61 simply deals with adding white supremacy to a list of reasons to be convicted of a hate crime.
— Sheila Jackson Lee (@JacksonLeeTX18) January 16, 2023

Your argument *assumes* that only white people can hold white supremacist views and that only certain groups of people can perpetrate violence motivated by white supremacy.
— Sheila Jackson Lee (@JacksonLeeTX18) January 16, 2023

If so, are you going to deny that white supremacy played a role in the Charlottesville attack when Nazi-sympathizers belched “Jews will not replace us?” Who is “us?”
— Sheila Jackson Lee (@JacksonLeeTX18) January 16, 2023

And then, are you going to deny that the Trump-appointed Director of the FBI testified in March 2021 under oath, under penalty of perjury, that white supremacy was the greatest domestic terror threat facing our country in the Senate Judiciary committee hearing, March 2nd, 2021?
— Sheila Jackson Lee (@JacksonLeeTX18) January 16, 2023

Yes, white supremacy should be added to this law. Why? Because as Director Wray testified, it’s a major domestic terrorist threat.
— Sheila Jackson Lee (@JacksonLeeTX18) January 16, 2023

Now let me be clear, I’d be happy to sit down with you to explain the importance of this legislation.
— Sheila Jackson Lee (@JacksonLeeTX18) January 16, 2023

Now let me be clear, I’d be happy to sit down with you to explain the importance of this legislation.
— Sheila Jackson Lee (@JacksonLeeTX18) January 16, 2023

With that being said, I hope we can all now honor Dr. King’s legacy together.
— Sheila Jackson Lee (@JacksonLeeTX18) January 16, 2023

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