Have nothing to do with the [evil] things that people do, things that belong to the darkness. Instead, bring them out to the light... [For] when all things are brought out into the light, then their true nature is clearly revealed...

-Ephesians 5:11-13

More Than 4,000 North American Pastors Decried Canada’s Latest Attack on Their Free Speech Last Sunday

Friday, 21 January 2022 15:28
0 Comments

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Friday, January 21, 2022:  

More than 4,000 pastors in Canada and the United States used their pulpits last Sunday to decry Bill C-4, the Canadian government’s edict declaring “conversion therapy” illegal, with five years in jail for those caught promoting it in any way.

In the bill’s preamble (the bill was rushed through the Canadian Parliament in December with almost no debate before being adopted unanimously), it declared that the traditional view of a person’s sexuality — heterosexuality and the existence of just two sexes, male and female — is a “myth”:

[It’s a] myth that heterosexuality, cisgender [antonym to transgender] identity, and gender expression that conforms to the sex assigned to a person at birth are to be preferred over other sexual orientations.

In other words, Bill C-4 — by government decree — officially declares that God’s word on the matter is a myth, and anyone, not just pastors, who advocates the Biblical view is subject to arrest and jail time.

The language in the bill is so broad that even informal private conversations among citizens over the practice, even if not in the context of promoting it, could indict those citizens for violating the new law.

From the bill:

[Conversion therapy is any kind of counseling designed to] repress or reduce non-heterosexual [i.e., same-sex] attraction or sexual behavior, repress a person’s non-cisgender [i.e., normal] identity, [or] repress or reduce a person’s gender expression that does not confirm to the sex assigned to the person at birth.

Marty Moore, an attorney for the Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, told Fox News: “This piece of legislation is by far the most direct attack we’ve seen on freedom of expression and freedom of conscience and religion.”

It extends far beyond sermons that may be preached in churches, said Moore:

The teaching and the propagation of those faiths, if it comes into contact with an LGBTQ person, regardless of whether that LGBTQ person is seeking that counseling or not, the propagation and teaching and dissemination of those faiths run the risk of being classified as conversion therapy.

John MacArthur, senior pastor of Grace Community Church located in Los Angeles, supports Liberty Coalition Canada, which called for pastors to protest Bill C-4 nationwide. He said those who dissent from the new law will be those who hold the Bible’s declarations to be superior to those of the Canadian Parliament:

Ultimately, the dissenters — the ones who will not cave in — are going to be those who are faithful to the Bible.

 

That’s what’s already leading to laws made against doing what we [as pastors and believers] are commanded to do in Scripture, which is to confront that sin.

 

And that’s just going to escalate.

 

The fact that [Canada has] identified [such dissent] as a criminal conduct … takes it to a completely different level, because Canadian pastors have been put in jail for just having church services [during the COVID pandemic].

Pastors speaking out against Bill C-4 relied heavily on Scripture references that directly confront the bill’s claims. Tom Ascol, senior pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida, preached from 1 Corinthians 6:9-11:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

 

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Bill C-4’s declaration that the normal Biblical understanding of human sexuality is a “myth” was challenged by Ascol:

There are only two sexes. They are male and female image-bearers of God. God is the One who made Adam, and He made Adam a man. God is the one who made Eve, and He made Eve a woman. And God is the One who made you, and He made you what you are, and what you are is either male or female.

For those whom the culture has deceived, there is hope, added Ascol:

Friend, if you have been deceived — if you have been duped — into thinking you can have Jesus and your sin, hear the words of Jesus. Turn from your sin, and fall before Him today.

Put another way, the only real “conversion therapy” is that offered by the Maker of the universe Himself through the blood of His only Son.

James White, a pastor at Apologia Church in Chandler, Arizona, said it’s going to take courage to stand against the state:

A governmental bureaucrat who comes along and says “That’s what you have to believe” is putting themselves directly against the authority of Christ… and they need to be told that.

 

If, at some point in the future, you, because of your boldness and your committedness to Christ, are brought before a magistrate … then your duty is to look that individual in the eye and say: “Sir, with all due respect to your position, you do not have the authority to contradict the very Word of God that He has preserved for His people down through the ages.”

 

“That Word tells me what is right and wrong. That Word tells me that God created us in His image — male and female. Jesus confirmed that… and if you dare stand against Him, you will stand before Him someday, and you will have no one to intercede for you.”

Pastor James Coates, the first Canadian clergyman to be imprisoned for violating Canada’s COVID edicts by keeping his church open, said Bill C-4 is another attack on the very foundations of the culture:

I believe our government is capitalizing on a politically expedient [event] in an effort to further dismantle Western civilization as we know it. To do this, it must outlaw its very foundation, which is rooted in a Judeo-Christian worldview.

 

Bill C-4 is another brick laid in this effort and is evidence that our government is under the judgment of God.

Those who stand against the state can expect to suffer, added Coates:

As governments seek totalitarian authority over every aspect of society, it’s inevitable that they will persecute any and all who refuse to declare allegiance to the state. As such, unless the tide of totalitarianism is stemmed, Christians can expect persecution to increase.

The attack on Christianity isn’t limited or restricted to Canada. As Pastor John MacArthur said, “If we all stand strong in this conviction together, the governmental forces of evil will be put on notice that divine love and sovereign grace compel us to be faithful to proclaim radical transformation [i.e., the ultimate ‘conversion therapy’] at any cost.”

Keep Reading…

Biden’s Legacy “Voting Rights” Legislation Defeated in Senate, Filibuster Preserved

Thursday, 20 January 2022 20:54
0 Comments

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, January 20, 2022:

The Constitution and its design to limit the federal government scored a resounding victory late Wednesday night when Joe Biden’s key legislative push — his “voting rights” bills, i.e., the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act — failed to pass the Senate.

The final vote was 49-51 after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — the legislation’s chief champion — changed his vote to “no” at the last minute in order to allow him to bring it to the floor for another vote sometime in the future.

Following the vote, whose demise was assured by the opposition of two Democrats, Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Schumer then moved on to an even bigger challenge: changing Senate rules so that the bills could pass by majority vote instead of the two-thirds vote required under the Senate’s “filibuster” rule.

As noted by the Senate itself:

Whether praised as the protector of political minorities from the tyranny of the majority, or attacked as a tool of partisan obstruction, the right of unlimited debate in the Senate, including the filibuster, has been a key component of the Senate’s unique role in the American political system.

Schumer viewed the rule as a roadblock to his favorite legislation:

A few hours ago, this chamber, with the eyes of the nation upon it and with the evidence of voter suppression laid bare before it… took a vote to move to final passage on the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. It received 50 votes, and [without the filibuster] … we would have had a majority.

Under the Senate’s own rule that legislation would have required two-thirds of the Senate to pass it, or 60 votes. If the Senate can’t pass the legislation the regular way, said Schumer, “then the Senate rules must be reformed.”

So, he brought to the floor action to temporarily suspend the filibuster rule, and it too failed, 48-52, with the same two Democrat senators voting against it. Vice President Harris was waiting in the wings to break any deadlock, but she left early when it was clear Schumer’s move was destined to fail.

Biden, of course, was “disappointed”: “I am profoundly disappointed that the United States Senate has failed to stand up for our democracy.”

But as Biden well knows, the Founders never intended for the country to be a “democracy,” but a constitutional republic. It took a Democrat to remind the Senate of the fact. Said Manchin, “Let this change happen in this way and the Senate will be a body without rules.”

Republican Senator John Thune of South Dakota agreed:

What you’re talking about doing today is turning the United States Senate into a majoritarian body. The essence of the Senate is a check and balance on the passions of the other body [the House of Representatives].

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Americans can now breathe easier, tweeting, “The Senate will be saved tonight. America can breathe a sigh of relief. This radicalism [has] been stopped. It is a good day for America.”

McConnell added, “The legislative filibuster is a central Senate tradition. It is the indispensable feature of our institution. It makes the Senate serve its founding purpose: forging compromise, cooling passions, and ensuring that new laws earn broad support from a cross-section of our country.”

With the opposition of two Democrat senators, both of whom supported the legislation but not the way Schumer wanted to pass it, the attempt to federalize elections and turn America into California was thwarted.

Another victory for the Constitution went unheralded. Biden said, “I’ve had five Republican senators talk to me … who have told me that they agree with whatever I’m talking about, [saying] ‘But Joe, if I do it, I’m going to be defeated in a primary.’”

It was a near thing. Without opposition from Manchin and Sinema, the American republic would have suffered a mortal blow. As Amazon noted in its touting of Senator Ted Cruz’s book on the federal judiciary, One Vote Away:

In One Vote Away, you will discover how often the high court decisions that affect your life have been decided by just one vote. One vote preserves your right to speak freely, to bear arms, and to exercise your faith. One vote will determine whether your children enjoy their full inheritance as American citizens.

The same goes for the “near thing” that almost happened last night in the Senate. The war against the American Republic continues, with the latest battle in the Senate won only by the slimmest of margins.

Keep Reading…

Boston Appears Likely to Lose in “Christian Flag” Controversy

Thursday, 20 January 2022 09:20
0 Comments

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, January 20, 2022:  

Following 90 minutes of oral arguments in Shurtleff v. City of Boston on Tuesday, it appeared that the City of Boston lost.

For years Boston has turned one of three flagpoles in front of City Hall into a public forum, allowing flags from many nations and assorted groups to be flown from it. In fact, over the past 12 years the city has granted every one of the 284 requests it has received.

Until 2017. Harold Shurtleff, co-founder of Camp Constitution and former field coordinator for the John Birch Society, asked the city for permission to fly the Christian flag for one hour on September 17 to honor Constitution Day and Citizenship Day. The flag raising was to be accompanied by presentations by local preachers on Boston’s Christian history. The city denied his request.

Shurtleff, with the assistance of Liberty Counsel, a non-profit law firm, filed suit. Lower courts ruled against Shurtleff, claiming that the city had the right to deny permission because the word “Christian” implied endorsement by the city.

The city’s attorney, Doug Hallward-Driemeier, said that “the city, for its own speech, does not want to get into the issue of religion.… It didn’t want to fly a flag that was offered as ‘the Christian flag’ because that wasn’t the message that the city itself wanted to communicate.”

Attorneys for Shurtleff, on the other hand, said that Boston treated the flagpole as a public forum, allowing flags from communist China and communist Cuba, a “gay pride” flag, a “transgender” flag, and even the Turkish flag, which depicts the Islamic star and crescent, to be flown from the flagpole.

Liberal Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan agreed with Liberty First president Mat Staver, saying that banning a religious group from conveying its message in a “transient” (i.e., public) setting open to a variety of speakers and groups violates the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech.

Hallward-Driemeier admitted that, if the court does in fact rule that the flagpole represents a public forum, then the city has no defense.

Kagan quizzed Staver, asking, “Does the city have to say yes to a Swastika?” He responded affirmatively: “If the city allows a Black Lives Matter flag, then it will probably have to allow a Proud Boys flag. That’s just what the First Amendment requires.”

When Hallward-Driemeier claimed that the city’s “goal is to foster diversity of communities” and “commemorate events or occasions,” Justice Clarence Thomas jumped on it, saying that if Christians are not part of that “diversity” that Boston claims to support, “that’s limited diversity.” Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked rhetorically, “Isn’t celebrating Constitution Day considered an event?”

Even the ACLU came down on Shurtleff’s side. Said David Cole, ACLU’s national director, “When the government opens its public property for private speakers, it has to treat everybody equally. This case is really about private citizens’ access to government property to express themselves. And that access is critical to our ability to speak to each other, to express our views.”

Liberty Counsel’s Staver said afterwards:

This case is so much more significant than a flag.

 

Boston cheated when it opened its flagpole to all applicants and then excluded Christian viewpoints. The city then claimed that the flagpole never [was] a public forum despite its history and express policy.

 

The city’s censorship is clearly unconstitutional, and government cannot censor religious viewpoints.

That is how the Supreme Court is likely to rule when it announces its decision in June.

Keep Reading…

Gallup Reports Seismic Shift to Republicans

Wednesday, 19 January 2022 06:28
0 Comments

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Tuesday, January 18, 2022:  

Establishment pollster Gallup reported on Monday “a dramatic shift” from the Democrat Party to Republicans in 2021. There was a nine-percentage point Democrat advantage at the start of the year, with 49 percent of those polled identifying themselves as either Democrats or leaning Democratic, while just 40 percent claimed they were either Republicans or leaning Republican.

By the end of the year, only 42 percent now identify as Democrat or leaning Democratic, with 47 percent claiming to be Republican or leaning Republican.

That’s at astonishing shift in political affiliation that caught Gallup by surprise:

In early 2021, Democratic strength reached levels not seen in nearly a decade. By the third quarter, those Democratic gains evaporated as Biden’s job approval declined.

 

The political winds continued to become more favorable to Republicans in the fourth quarter, giving the GOP an advantage over Democrats larger than any they had achieved in more than 25 years.

This is no ordinary low-count, short-term poll, either. Gallup tallied the results of all of its polls since last January, recording the results from more than 12,000 respondents. The margin of error is a minuscule one percent. This is no “outlier” poll.

In the first quarter of 2021, Democrats enjoyed the largest lead over Republicans since the fourth quarter of 2012, nearly 10 years ago. The last time Republicans had anything like a five-point lead was back in 1995, propelling the GOP to take control of the House of Representatives for the first time since the 1950s.

Gallup ties the plunge to the cratering of Biden in numerous polls, the most recent from Quinnipiac University. That poll reported that barely a third of respondents approved of Biden’s job performance. Said Gallup, “Shifting party preferences in 2021 are likely tied to changes in popularity of … the president during the year.”

In January, Biden was riding high, but his popularity didn’t last long. It started its long slide thanks to his and his party’s feckless policies that have severely damaged the Republic and reversed so many of former President Donald Trump’s successes. That list is long and consistent:

The disastrous Afghanistan pullout;

The flooding of illegals over the country’s southern border;

Inflation touching every part of the economy, with many prices soaring more 100 percent or more;

Empty store shelves reflecting supply-chain disruptions;

Gas prices jumping thanks to Biden’s anti-oil exploration orders;

Violent crime increasing by 50 percent or more in major cities thanks to the release of criminals by progressive DAs and moves to defund the police; and

Masking and vaccine mandates that are just now slowly being repealed by the courts.

All of this portends a disaster at the polls for Democrats in November.

However, Republicans need to avoid complacency as the Democrat Party destroys itself. They must not squander the opportunity being handed to them by the Democrats. They should remember that Americans are not being drawn to Republicans because of their policies but are being pushed to Republicans by the insane policies of the Democrats.

Restoration of the Republic is going to take more than politicians taking advantage of the change in the political winds. It will take constitutional statesmen and women who take their oaths of office seriously and begin the long and arduous struggle to repair the damage being done to the Republic and restore the Constitution to its rightful place as the nation’s founding, and foundational, ruling document.

Keep Reading…

Coach Gets Second Chance to Defend His Right to Pray in Public After Football Games

Tuesday, 18 January 2022 14:23
0 Comments

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Tuesday, January 18, 2022:  

For six years, former Bremerton, Washington, high School football coach Joe Kennedy has waited for justice. The Supreme Court initially refused to hear his appeal in 2019 when lower courts ruled in favor of the school district’s firing of him for violating its rules on religious expression. On Friday, the Supreme Court announced it will finally hear arguments in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, with its decision expected by June.

For eight years, Kennedy prayed with his players, both in the locker room before games and immediately afterwards on the 50-yard line. His messages resonated to the point where a majority of the team was praying with him, including players and coaches of the opposing teams.

Things gained momentum and Kennedy eventually started giving motivational speeches after games, invoking Biblical messages.

In 2015, however, an opposing coach decided enough was enough, and, encouraged by the liberal group Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AUSCS), the school district was pressured to order Kennedy to stop the practice. When he refused to stop, he was fired.

With the assistance of First Liberty Institute (FJI), Kennedy filed suit, and over the intervening years lower courts have consistently ruled against him. Kennedy almost gave it up. In an op-ed published by Fox News last year he wrote:

There are days when I want to give up and move on with my life. There are days when I don’t think I can keep fighting this fight.

 

But that’s when I remember the hundreds of times I told my players not to quit, no matter the challenge.

The issue is much larger than whether he can pray in public or not. At issue is the First Amendment’s guarantee that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” By incorporation the 14th Amendment now applies that First Amendment to the states. And AUSCS attorneys have made a nice living litigating the apparent conflict ever since.

If Kennedy is an employee of Bremerton High School, then he doesn’t have First Amendment rights. His utterances are “government speech,” which isn’t protected by the First Amendment. If the Supreme Court upholds the lower courts’ rulings, then freedom of speech for every government employee is threatened.

Wrote Kennedy:

I also think of the thousands of other public school coaches and teachers whose unalienable right to freely exercise their faith in public is at risk if the [lower] courts’ decisions against me are allowed to stand.

As First Liberty attorney and CEO Kelly Shackelford said, “No teacher or coach should lose their job for simply expressing their faith while in public. By taking this important case, the Supreme Court can protect the right of every American to engage in private religious expression, including praying in public, without fear of punishment.”

It’s important to note that the Supreme Court’s initial denial of Kennedy’s appeal occurred while the high court was dominated by liberals. After Trump’s successful appointment of “originalists” who have pledged to follow the Founders’ original intentions in crafting the Constitution and its Bill of Rights, Kennedy’s appeal was granted.

It’s also important to note that Kennedy had the courage in the face of six years of disappointment and court rulings against him to stay in the fight. As Kennedy said in an interview with Fox News:

The First Amendment really means a lot to me. It is really terrible today in America that somebody can be fired just for expressing their faith.

 

So I am just fighting so that no one else ever has to go through this and doesn’t have to choose between their job and their faith.

That’s the type of grit it will take if the Republic is to be saved from tyranny and oppression by those currently controlling the levers of power.

Keep Reading…

Biden to Celebrate First Year in Oval Office With Lowest Poll Numbers Ever

Monday, 17 January 2022 14:37
0 Comments

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Monday, January 17, 2022:  

The latest polling by Quinnipiac University published last Thursday revealed that among the 1,500 likely voters interviewed, just 35 percent approve of Joe Biden’s job performance, while 54 percent disapprove. This generated a response from the White House — Biden’s deputy chief of staff Jen O’Malley Dillon said the poll “is very likely an outlier … [that] is drastically different from other recent polls.”

A closer look at those “recent polls” reveals that Dillon’s response is more wishful thinking than reality. Writers at the Biden-friendly news site Axios had a hard time painting the poll results as anything less than a continuation of the rolling political disenchantment engulfing the Biden administration. In its article titled “Biden’s epic failures,” Axios noted: “By almost every measure [Biden has] bombed big time on the things that matter most.… [He] has never been less popular nationally.”

Averaging the latest seven polls tracked by RealClearPolitics reveals that less than 42 percent of those polled approve of Biden’s performance, while more than 52 percent disapprove. Rasmussen Reports joins Quinnipiac as another “outlier” (from the White House perspective): 60 percent disapprove, with just 38 percent approving Biden’s performance.

Axios lamented that Biden has no one to blame but himself (and his minders):

The Supreme Court yesterday blocked Biden’s vaccine-or-test mandate for large employers.

 

The Afghanistan pullout played out about as poorly as it could have.

 

Russia is messing with him: Biden’s warnings haven’t deterred Vladimir Putin from continuing to build toward a Ukraine invasion.

 

Inflation is soaring: It’s the worst in 39 years.

 

Empty grocery shelves get network-news coverage. It’s partly the weather, partly COVID, partly the supply chain — but makes a handy visual shorthand for national pessimism.

Axios failed to mention the flood of illegals pouring into the United States over its southern border, or the utter lack of confidence Americans have in Vice President Kamala Harris.

It’s too soon for the White House to respond to a poll done by one of its own, CBS/YouGov. Writers at CBS had as much trouble as those at Axios in trying to put lipstick on this pig:

The story of President Biden’s first year is a simple one: Americans feel worse about the pandemic and [the] economy than they did earlier in his term, and his ratings have suffered for it.…

 

The story of his first year evokes emotions too: although most like Mr. Biden personally, words like “frustrated” and “disappointed” top people’s descriptions of things, along with the feeling that he’s “distracted” and not focusing on what they care about.

The CBS/YouGov poll revealed that “only 26% of Americans think things in the country are going well … [Biden’s] rating for handling the economy today is a mere 38% … his job rating on handling COVID is down to the lowest point in his presidency … and [while just] 25% say he’s making the economy better … half say [he’s] making it worse.”

Loss of support from Independents and young voters is cataclysmic, report the CBS/YouGov pollsters: “Among independents who voted for him [in 2020], approval has decreased by a whopping 31 points.” And among voters under age 30 who voted for Biden in 2020, “his approval rating … has dropped from 70% in February to just 42% now — double the size of the decline among other age groups.”

How is this precipitous decline likely to impact the midterm elections? Sean Trende, a senior elections analyst for RealClearPolitics, developed an election projection model in 2014 with remarkable results. Based on three factors, his model predicted outcomes within a single seat in each of the four elections since then.

Trende says that “the single most determinative factor in midterm outcomes is the president’s job approval [rating].… At 42% [approval rating for Biden, my] model envisions virtually no chance for Democrats to hold the Senate and predicts a loss of four seats as the most likely outcome.”

Regarding the House, other commentators and modelers are suggesting a blowout loss for Democrats, forecasting anywhere from 20 to 60 seats moving from Democrats to Republicans in November.

The latest Quinnipiac poll is not, as the White House wishes, an “outlier,” but a reflection of the increasing disenchantment Americans are suffering with the present resident of the Oval Office. He is the true outlier, and the midterms appear likely to rectify the error, in spades.

Keep Reading…

Baltimore’s Top Prosecutor Indicted on Four Felony Counts for Perjury and Lying

Friday, 14 January 2022 14:30
0 Comments

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Friday, January 14, 2022:

Marilyn Mosby, Maryland state’s attorney for the city of Baltimore, was charged on Thursday by a U.S. District Court for lying and perjuring herself. She won election to the position in 2015 and was just weeks away from filing papers for her reelection when the indictment came down. Once a shining progressive light who promised to bring change to the city’s long history of corruption and self-dealing by politicians, Mosby now faces decades in prison if she’s convicted.

Immediately upon assuming office in 2015, Mosby restructured the state’s attorney’s office along the lines of other progressive prosecutors in New York City, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. Notably, she announced that her office would no longer prosecute individuals for marijuana offenses, vacating nearly 5,000 previous convictions.

Mosby is perhaps best known for her May 1, 2015 decision to pander to leftists and overcharge six Baltimore police officers in the Freddie Gray case. Gray, it will be remembered, was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon while under indictment in five separate assault and theft cases.

He put up such a ruckus in the police van taking him to headquarters that he broke his neck, resulting in his death seven days later.

Mosby saw her chance to make a statement that was both anti-police and pro-violence: She charged the officers with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.

Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz saw through the scam, publicly stating that Mosby was deliberately overcharging the officers to gain notoriety, name recognition, and to satisfy protestors who were ravaging the city.

Ultimately, all six officers were exonerated but only after long, exhausting, and expensive trials. All six are back on the job, and five of them have sued Mosby for malicious prosecution and defamation of character.

In 2020 she saw her chance to do further injustice to Baltimore’s justice system with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic: She announced that her office would no longer prosecute drug possession, prostitution, minor traffic violations and other “low-level” offenses in order, she claimed, to halt the spread of the virus in Baltimore’s prisons.

During the COVID crisis, Mosby found a way to enrich herself and her husband Nick, who by no coincidence happens to be the current president of the City Council: She raided her government-funded retirement plan for enough money to make down payments on not one, but two vacation homes in Kissimmee, Florida.

In the process, she lied about suffering duress thanks to COVID, and then lied again about IRS tax liens filed against her and her husband in order to borrow nearly $900,000 to complete the purchases of the two homes. She also violated the mortgage companies’ rules regarding renting the houses out.

The indictment, filed by U.S. Attorney Erek Barron in the U.S. District Court for Maryland, pulled no punches. In applying for loans from her own 457(b) retirement plan she claimed she was experiencing “adverse financial consequences” stemming from COVID. But Barron said she lied:

Mosby had not experienced adverse financial consequences … [and] in fact, Mosby’s gross salary in 2020 was $247,955.58, and it was never reduced.… Rather than experiencing a reduction in income in 2020, Mosby’s gross salary in 2020 increased over her gross salary in 2019, which was $238,772.04.

When the scam worked, and she received enough to make the down payment on the first home in Florida, she went back to the well again. And again she was caught. Barron noted, Mosby “did willfully and knowingly state material matters which she did not believe to be true … [that she] had not experienced any of the enumerated financial hardships she claimed to have experienced [in order to obtain the disbursements].”

The other two counts involved false claims she made while applying for mortgage loans to complete the purchases of the homes. As Barron noted: “[the applications] required Mosby to disclose her liabilities. Mosby did not disclose that she owed significant amounts of federal taxes.”

She and husband Nick owed the IRS more than $90,000, left over from prior years. In fact the IRS had run out of options with the couple and was forced to file a lien against them. But none of this showed up on the mortgage applications.

Wrote Barron:

Marilyn M. Mosby knowingly made false statements or reports for the purpose of influencing … the action of [the two mortgage companies involved] … certifying that (1) Mosby certified the only liabilities she owed were those disclosed in the application, when in truth and fact, as Mosby knew, she owed significant amounts of federal taxes; (2) that she was not presently delinquent or in default on any Federal debt, when in truth and in fact, as Mosby knew, she was delinquent in paying her federal taxes.

The worst is yet to come for the aspiring progessive: This indictment is the first of several that are expected in the near future. Both Mosby and husband Nick have been under investigation dating back to 2014 for shady business practices. As David Jaros, a University of Baltimore law professor who has been following the investigation, noted:

These are charges that grew … out of an investigation that involved other things. There are subpoenas to find out about donations to charities and things like that. So, [some] are wondering if other indictments are on their way.

But Mosby has friends in high places, which might serve as redemption if the indictments result in convictions. She could spend decades in federal prison for her perjury and lying. But back when she was running for the office, she had a little help. Then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris helped raise funds for her, earning Mosby’s gratitude. Following her victory, she tweeted, “There would be no Marilyn Mosby without Kamala Harris. When I won state’s attorney, Kamala was my inspiration.”

Keep Reading…

Quinnipiac Poll Has Biden’s Approval Rating at Record Low

Thursday, 13 January 2022 12:23
0 Comments

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, January 13, 2022:  

President Joe Biden’s job approval rating dropped another three points, reported Quinnipiac University on Wednesday. In November, Americans gave him a negative 36-53 percent (approval-disapproval) rating. His current rating stands at 33-53 percent.

His polling numbers have continued to drop at Quinnipiac. The last seven polls have shown his approval rating dropping from 49 percent to 46 percent to 42 percent to 38 percent to 37 percent to 36 percent, and now to a record low of 33 percent.

His approval rating among Democrats is dropping as well. In November, 87 percent of them approved of his performance. Since then, his approval rating has dropped by 12 points, to 75 percent.

Everywhere Quinnipiac looked, those polled gave Biden a failing grade. On the economy, 34-57. On his foreign policy, 35-54. On his response to COVID-19, 39-55.

He promised to unite the country. Forty-nine percent of those polled told Quinnipiac that he’s doing more to divide than to unite.

A majority — 54 percent — told Quinnipiac pollsters that they think the U.S. economy is getting worse, with 70 percent saying the present state of the economy is not very good or just plain poor.

This dismal performance by Biden is flowing over into the midterm elections, according to Quinnipiac. Forty-three percent of those they polled want Republicans to regain control of the House of Representatives while 42 percent prefer Democrats to retain control. In the Senate, 45 percent favor Republicans gaining control in November, with just 41 percent want the Senate to remain in Democrat hands.

The damage being wrought by Biden’s collapsing poll numbers extends to how Americans view the Democratic Party as a whole: More than six out of 10 (62 percent) say the Democratic Party is more committed to individual politicians that to the principles of the U.S. Constitution.

Biden, whether he knows it or not, is engaging in self-immolation. His speech yesterday in Georgia lit the fires of discontent not only among his Republican targets but among his supporters as well. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Joe Biden he heard yesterday wasn’t the Joe Biden he knew from his days in the Senate, declaring his speech “profoundly unpresidential.”

McConnell added,

[Biden] called millions of Americans his domestic enemies … [shouting] that if you disagree with him, you’re George Wallace [a segregationist].

 

If you don’t pass the laws he wants, you’re Bull Connor [a white supremacist], and if you oppose giving Democrats untrammeled, one-party control of the country, well, you’re Jefferson Davis [president of the Confederate States].

McConnell said, “Look, I’ve known, liked and personally respected Joe Biden for many years. I did not recognize the man at the podium yesterday.”

In researching for this article, this writer found no mention of Biden’s descent into dementia and possibly Alzheimer’s disease. But WebMD had plenty to say about the end stages of that dreadful and debilitating disease:

Sometimes, people with Alzheimer’s disease lash out for no clear reason. They may get upset or angry easily. They may curse, hurl insults, or scream. They might even throw things or resist caregivers by pushing and hitting. This kind of aggression usually starts when people get to the later stages of the disease.

 

No one knows for sure why it happens. Aggression may be a symptom of Alzheimer’s disease itself. It could also be a reaction when a person feels confused or frustrated.

The WebMD website lists possible triggers for behavior exhibited by Biden on Wednesday:

  • The environment around them, including loud noises, too much activity, or clutter;
  • Confusion from being asked too many questions at once, trying to understand complex instructions, or feeling the stress of caregivers;
  • Being criticized or told they were wrong;
  • Feeling rushed; or
  • Confusion about what was happening.

Readers are free to draw their own conclusions. But whether he knows it or not, Biden, and his falling approval numbers, increasingly bode ill for Democrats, and the Democratic Party itself, in the November midterm elections as well as the presidential election in 2024 if Biden decides to run for reelection.

Keep Reading…

Americans Fleeing High-tax, High-crime, Democrat-run Blue States

Wednesday, 12 January 2022 15:03
0 Comments

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Wednesday, January 12, 2022:  

Editors at Issues & Insights, an unashamedly pro-free market research firm, wrote on Monday that it’s common knowledge that people “leave areas known for authoritarian tyranny, stagnation, stultification, crime, and excessive regulation in order to find the opposite somewhere else: economic freedom, dynamism, social diversity, and good [read: limited] government.”

I & I’s editorial board reviewed the latest data from U-Haul, the Census Bureau, and economist Mark Perry’s work at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and concluded that “the mass exodus of more than a million Americans moving largely from Blue States to Red States expresses [their] dissatisfaction with high taxes, rampant crime, lockdowns, vaccine mandates, excessive state government regulations, a politically stifling ‘woke’ culture, and the lack of economic opportunity and freedom.”

Readers are increasingly familiar with the U-Haul Growth Index, which revealed last week that Texas overtook Florida in the largest net gain of one-way U-Haul trucks for the year 2021. Tennessee ranked third, South Carolina ranked fourth, and Arizona rounded out the top five.

On the other hand, the demand for U-Haul trucks leaving California was so great that many of the franchisees ran out of equipment. That kept the former “Golden State” at the bottom of the U-Haul Growth Index, with Illinois not far behind in 49th position.

U-Haul’s vice president for the Dallas Fort-Worth area, Matt Merrill, reported:

We see a lot of growth coming from the East and West Coast. A lot of people moving here from California [and] New York. We also see a lot of people coming in from the Chicago markets.

 

I think that’s a lot due to the job growth — a lot of opportunity here. The cost of living here is much lower than those areas. Texas is open for business.

While U-Haul measures equipment flow, the Census Bureau counts people flow. Last year Texas, Florida, Arizona, North Carolina, and Georgia enjoyed astonishing numeric growth of nearly 800,000, while New York, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Louisiana shrank by a similar amount.

Statistical economist Mark Perry, however, drilled down into the question of “why?” Why did they leave? What did they find when they got there?

Perry examined which political party controlled the states most- and least-favored. He reviewed the business climate in each state. He looked at individual and corporate income-tax burdens, each state’s fiscal health, energy and housing costs, the economic performance and outlook, and the labor market.

He noted the importance of “right-to-work” laws versus forced-unionism laws and found that “all ten of the top inbound states in 2021 are Right-to-Work states, while eight of the top ten outbound states are forced-unionism states.”

He looked at which political party controlled the states and learned that Republicans control the legislatures in nine of the top 10 “inbound” states and eight of them have Republican governors. But for the “outbound” states, he learned that Democrats control the legislatures in seven out of the top 10 “outbound” states and eight out of 10 of those states had Democrat governors.

Therefore, concluded Perry:

Just based on political party control at the state level, millions of Americans are moving away from blue-controlled states to red states.

He looked at each state’s tax burden and discovered a similar disparity: The average tax burden for the top ten inbound states was 7.7 percent, while the average for outbound states was 9.9 percent.

When looking specifically at income-tax rates, he found that the average top individual income-tax rate in the top 10 inbound states was 3.8 percent, compared to a top tax rate among the top 10 outbound states to be more than double, at 8 percent. He noted that four of the top 10 inbound states — Florida, Texas, Tennessee, and Nevada — have no state income tax at all.

On the other hand, California sports the nation’s highest top marginal tax rate at 13.3 percent, with Hawaii and New Jersey not far behind, at 11 percent and 10.75 percent, respectively.

He looked at Forbes magazine’s rating of the best states for doing business and learned that its average ranking for the top 10 inbound states was eight out of 50, whereas its average ranking for the top 10 outbound states was 33 out of 50.

When considering each state’s economic performance and outlook, Perry saw the same thing: The average ranking among the top 10 inbound states — on a scale of one (best) to 50 (worst) — was a 10, while for the top 10 outbound states, it was a 39.

Perry concluded:

There is empirical evidence that Americans and businesses “vote with their feet” when they relocate from one state to another, and the evidence suggests that Americans are moving from blue states that are more economically stagnant, fiscally unhealthy states with higher tax burdens and unfriendly business climates with higher energy and housing costs and fewer economic and job opportunities, to fiscally sound red states that are more economically vibrant, dynamic and business-friendly, with lower tax and regulatory burdens, lower energy, and housing costs and more economic and job opportunities.

There are significant political implications for the mass migration away from blue states to red states as well. It “portends major shifts in America’s voting clout,” wrote I&I’s editorial board. “Red States will get redder while Blue States get bluer.” It expanded:

Because of the Red States’ population growth, their relative clout in future elections should be bigger. They’ll have more seats in the House of Representatives and, assuming it’s a trend across most states, it might turn Congress slightly more to the right of the political spectrum.

Keep Reading…

26th House Democrat Announces His Retirement

Tuesday, 11 January 2022 13:43
0 Comments

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Tuesday, January 11, 2022: 

After serving in Colorado’s 7th Congressional District since 2006, Representative Ed Perlmutter (D) announced on Monday that he’s calling it quits: “After much thought and reflection I have decided not to run for reelection.”

He said that he could win reelection again despite redistricting, which took away most of his Democrat advantage, but, said Perlmutter, “There comes a time when you pass the torch to the next generation of leaders.”

He didn’t mention the prospect of a landslide favoring Republicans in the November midterm elections. He didn’t mention that his far-left voting record — a rating of just 15 out of 100 on The New American’s Freedom Index, which measures adherence to the Constitution — causing angst among voters in his district, nor did he mention that it wouldn’t be much fun being in the minority following November’s expected blowout.

His retirement follows that of Representative Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.), who sports a Freedom Index rating of 14, and announced last week she would not be seeking reelection in November.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gave more reasons for Democrats to be leaving the sinking Democrat ship: “The House, under Nancy Pelosi, is not a very happy place.… What is this going to be like if I’m in the minority? It’s just not any fun.”

Courtney Parella, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), agreed with Gingrich: “Ed Perlmutter knows House Democrats won’t be in the majority after the midterm elections. He’s made the smart decision to retire rather than lose reelection.”

Kristi Brown, Colorado’s GOP chairwoman, said that Ed “knew that he was going to lose in 2022, so instead he made the right decision to retire.”

Perlmutter is just the latest to abandon ship. As Congressional Leadership Fund Communications Director Calvin Moore said, “Democrats know they have a simple choice: retire or get fired.” He added:

Democrats’ retirement crisis has become a disaster of epic proportions because they know their failed record will cost them the Majority.

The Washington Post reported that the growing list of Democrats leaving the House could include the speaker herself, Nancy Pelosi: “After almost 19 years as House Democrat leader, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is expected to step down at the close of this Congress.”

That would leave the path open for Republicans to name the Speaker of the House, most likely the present House Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). And he is making abundantly clear that Democrats will be relegated to seats at the back of the bus come 2023.

He made clear exactly whom he would remove:

If Eric Swalwell [who current sits on the House Committees on Intelligence, Homeland Security, and the Judiciary] cannot get a security clearance in the private sector, there is no reason why he should be given one to be on Intel or Homeland Security.

[Come January 2023] he will not be serving there.

McCarthy also targeted Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.): “[She] should not be serving on Foreign Affairs. This is a new level of what the Democrats have done.”

And Adam Schiff, who currently chairs the House Committee on Intelligence, will also be gone come January:

You look at Adam Schiff — he should not be serving on Intel when he has openly, knowingly, used a fake dossier, lied to the American public in the process … and says he wants to continue to do [so].

Alex Shephard, writing for the left-wing New Republic, sees the handwriting on the wall. He wrote, “The Democrats enter a new year more or less exactly where they were before Congress shut down for the holidays: their legislative agenda is completely stalled out, and it’s not clear how the party’s leaders will get it unstuck.”

Threats to dislodge the Democrats’ plan to federalize elections is going nowhere, wrote Shephard:

[Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer] has insisted that, by January 17, Democrats will either pass new voting rights legislation, or reform the filibuster so they can do so.

 

Unfortunately, at this juncture they have the votes to do neither … [Senators] Manchin [D-WV] and Sinema [D-Ariz.] won’t vote for filibuster reform, leaving Democrats … stuck in the mud.

This leaves Democrats seeking reelection in November with little to brag about. Their leader’s job approval rating continues to crater. At last count, nearly six out of 10 likely voters disapprove of his performance.

It gets worse. According to Rasmussen Reports, two out of three likely voters think that, under Biden, the country is headed in the wrong direction.

To add to their woes, Biden’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, once considered to be a plus among voters, has turned against him and his party. Just a few months ago, a majority of voters lauded how he was handling the pandemic. Now, according to the latest AP poll, fewer than four in 10 think so. As AP noted, “Democrats [now] face considerable challenges to maintaining control of Congress as they head into a critical midterm election year.”

That’s likely why Ed Perlmutter and Brenda Lawrence joined the increasing number of Democrats announcing their intentions to retire. It’s no fun to row upstream.

Keep Reading…

Many of the articles on Light from the Right first appeared on either The New American or the McAlvany Intelligence Advisor.
Copyright © 2021 Bob Adelmann