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

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…

Rep. Jim Jordan Is Second House Member to Refuse January 6 Committee’s Request to Testify

Tuesday, 11 January 2022 06:10
0 Comments

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Monday, January 10, 2022:  

Ohio’s Republican Representative Jim Jordan responded on Sunday to the January 6 “Select” committee’s request to testify before the committee. His response reminded one of American General Anthony McAuliffe’s answer to the German demand that he surrender Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. Responded McAuliffe: “Nuts!”

Responded Jordan:

The American people are tired of Democrats’ nonstop investigations and partisan witch hunts.

 

Your letter of December 22, 2021, unfortunately continues this Democrat obsession. It amounts to an unprecedented and inappropriate demand….

 

This request is far outside the bounds of any legitimate inquiry, violates core Constitutional principles, and would serve to further erode legislative norms.

The first House member, Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), to receive such an “invitation” back in December responded similarly:

I stand with immense respect for our Constitution, the Rule of Law, and the Americans I represent who know that this entity is illegitimate. [It is] not duly constituted under the rules of the U.S. House of Representatives.

 

I decline this entity’s request and will continue to fight the failures of the radical Left who desperately seek distraction from their abject failures of crushing inflation, a humiliating surrender in Afghanistan, and the horrendous crisis they created at our border.

In its desperate search for evidence of any kind to prove that former President Donald Trump somehow engineered the so-called “insurrection” at the Capitol building on January 6, 2021, the committee has turned itself into a witch hunt. It has subpoenaed hundreds of individuals whom the committee suspects might be able to provide it with a smoking gun.

So far, they have come up with nothing. When the committee subpoenaed General Michael Flynn, former Trump advisor Stephen Bannon, and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, each acerbically declined.

The committee is illegitimate. Consider these facts:

• The committee refuses to subpoena any Democrat who might have had a hand in allowing the event to get out of hand, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Administration Committee Chair Zoe Lofgren.

• Pelosi refused to seat two Republicans on the committee who she said were biased in favor of Trump: Representatives Jim Jorden and Jim Banks (R-Ind.). Pelosi said their “statements and actions” would have impacted negatively “the integrity of the investigation.”

• A member of the committee, Representative Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), doctored a conversation between former White House Chief of Staff Meadows and Jorden to make it appear they were colluding in the incident. The breach of ethics was so outrageous that the committee was forced to apologize.

Most tellingly, the committee refuses to admit the reality of the January 6 incident, which fades into insignificance when compared to the riots committed by Black Lives Matter last year which they should be investigating:

Consider:

• There were more than 500 riots across the country inspired and instigated by members of BLM, lasting seven months, resulting in more than 20 murders and the destruction of hundreds of small businesses.

• More than 150 federal buildings were damaged or destroyed, resulting in more than $1 billion in damage. More than 2,000 law enforcement officers were assaulted while protestors were bailed out by left-wing District Attorneys (many with financial ties to George Soros).

• The riots were encouraged by the mainstream media, which in their reporting minimized the damage to both lives and property wrought by the riots.

On the other hand:

The January 6 incident lasted a couple of hours, resulting in one murder — that of an unarmed protestor by a Capitol police officer, no businesses were destroyed, one federal building suffered damage estimated at about $1.5 million, 140 officers were assaulted, and hundreds of protesters were arrested with many still being held in solitary confinement awaiting trial.

The witch hunt will continue as part of the Democrats’ partisan agenda to sully former President Trump and his supporters. It will likely continue right up until November when Republicans are expected to clean the House of many of the radicals making up the committee.

Keep Reading…

Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene Raise Questions About January 6 “Insurrection”

Friday, 07 January 2022 11:57
0 Comments

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Friday, January 7, 2022:  

At a press conference held on Thursday, the anniversary of the January 6 “Capitol breach” by protestors, House members Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) raised serious questions about that breach.

Gaetz explained the reason for the press conference:

Congresswoman Greene and I are not here to celebrate January 6. We are not here to obsess about it, but we are here to expose the truth, to ask key questions….

 

It’s very important for the Republican voice to be heard today, because it’s the Republican voice, and the Trump supporter, that has been smeared constantly over this past year.

 

We are here to expose the truth, to ask key questions about what happened on January 6, who animated the violence, the extent to which the federal government may have been involved.

 

We know this: January 6 last year wasn’t an insurrection. No one has been charged with insurrection. No one has been charged with treason.

 

But it may very well have been a “fed-surrection.”

The pair presented evidence that there were numerous individuals involved — some on video that have surfaced on YouTube — who were not indicted, and others who were initially on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list and then inexplicably removed.

Specifically, there were three individuals initially placed on that list: “#GingerGun, #HarleyJacketBatonMan, and Ray Epps. The Washington Examiner provided the details:

#GingerGun was captured on camera with a crowd of rioters under a Capitol scaffolding on Jan. 6 while he attempted to conceal what appeared to be a beige handgun on his left hip.

 

Later during the riot, #GingerGun was filmed with a white bandanna over his face and an earpiece on his left ear.

The second, #HarleyJacketBatonMan, wrote the Examiner,

was filmed partaking in a brawl between rioters and Capitol police on Jan. 6, 2021. At one point, the man beat police officers with a baton, after which he was pictured bleeding above his left eyebrow.

 

The FBI added a headshot of #HarleyJacketBatonMan bleeding from above his left eyebrow and another picture of him swinging a baton at police officers to its most wanted list in early February as suspect 164. The FBI said the man was wanted for assaulting a federal law enforcement officer during the riot.

The third man, Ray Epps,

was filmed in the hours leading up to the riot urging Trump supporters to enter the Capitol to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory.

 

Epps has not been arrested or charged for his actions. His unexplained removal from the FBI’s most wanted list on July 1 has fueled speculation from a member of the House Judiciary Committee that Epps may have agitated people to storm the Capitol at the behest of the FBI.

For readers who have not seen the incriminating YouTube video, it is here. For readers who want only the essence, Epps can be clearly heard yelling to the crowd of spectators: “OK, folks, spread the word. As soon as the president is done speaking, we go to the Capitol, where our problems are.”

Chants of “Fed, Fed, Fed!” can also be heard as bystanders saw Epps as a federal official trying to inflame the crowd and instigate the riot.

Epps, as the Examiner noted, “went to work corralling people toward the Capitol. He was also part of the first group of rioters to break through a police barrier on Capitol grounds.”

What’s peculiar is that the FBI originally put Ray Epps’ face on its Capitol Violence “Most Wanted List” on January 8, 2021, just two days after the breach. It offered a cash reward for information leading to his arrest.

But although Internet “sleuths” had almost immediately identified him as living in Arizona, he was not arrested or charged, and no reward was paid. Instead, on July 1, his face was suddenly deleted from the FBI’s list with no explanation.

As Revolver News noted:

Out of all of the thousands of January 6’s protesters, and the thousands of hours of publicly available footage from that fateful day, Ray Epps has turned out to be perhaps the only person nailed dead to rights confessing on camera to plotting a pre-planned attack on the Capitol.

 

On both January 5 and January 6, Epps announced multiple times, at multiple locations, his upcoming plot to breach the US Capitol.

 

He then spent hours attempting to recruit hundreds of others to join him. On top of it all, Epps was seen leading key people and managing key aspects of the initial breach of the Capitol grounds himself.

As Gaetz noted in his joint press conference with Greene,

We’re worried there are a lot of folks who don’t understand the severity of what happened. Particularly, if it was so severe that it was animated and encouraged by assets of the federal government.

 

That would be a far greater scandal than anything the Democrats have talked about.

Gaetz suggested the answer: Once Republicans take the House in November, keep the faux January 6 investigating committee but put Representative Greene in charge:

I wouldn’t disband it. I would take it over. I would throw off the tyrants who are on that committee now. I would make Marjorie Taylor Greene the Chair … and then we would get the truth in front of the American people.

If by some miracle the committee were to be headed by Greene after the November elections put Republicans back in control of the House in January of 2023, then we might finally get answers to many of these key questions.

Keep Reading…

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp Pushes Legislators to Pass Constitutional-carry Bill

Thursday, 06 January 2022 16:02
0 Comments

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, January 6, 2022:  

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp announced his support for constitutional-carry legislation on Wednesday. The announcement was made at Adventure Outdoors, which touts itself as the “World’s Largest Gun Store” in Smyrna, outside Atlanta. Kemp was joined by other Republicans supporting the move.

Constitutional carry refers to the carrying of a handgun, either openly or concealed, without requiring its owner first to obtain government permission, through a license or a permit, to do so.

Said Kemp,

In the face of rising violent crime across the country, law-abiding citizens should have their constitutional rights protected, not undermined.

 

And while this position has recently become popular for [22 other states] as we enter the campaign season, my position has remained the same: I believe the United States Constitution grants the citizens of our state the right to carry a firearm without state government approval.

According to Georgia’s constitution, “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, but the General Assembly shall have the power to prescribe the manner in which arms may be borne.”

State Senator Jeff Mullis plans to introduce just such legislation next week, and other legislators are preparing similar bills. Both chambers of the General Assembly, along with the governor’s office, the secretary of state, and the state’s attorney general are in Republican hands. So, if Mullis’ bill, or one like it, is passed by the General Assembly, Kemp will sign it into law.

However, Kemp’s commitment to protecting the right of Georgians to carry according to the Second Amendment has wavered in the past. The Associated Press noted that Kemp failed to mention the issue in his 2019, 2020, or 2021 State of the State speeches “when governors urge their top priorities on lawmakers.”

Kemp is arguably more interested in retaining his position as governor. He is up for reelection this November, and he has some serious competition, including former Senator David Perdue, whom Donald Trump has endorsed instead of Kemp.

Kemp got sideways with the former president over the November 2020 presidential election results. Trump believed there was significant fraud in the election process in the state, giving Biden a razor-thin victory with just a one-quarter of one percent margin — less than 12,000 votes out of nearly five million that were cast — over Trump.

When the former president called Kemp for help, whom he had previously endorsed for the governorship, his plea was ignored.

Trump recalled that conversation with Kemp:

You know you have a big election integrity problem in Georgia. I hope you can help us out and call a special election and let’s get to the bottom of it for the good of the country, for the good of the state of Georgia.

Kemp instead ratified the election results, and Trump retaliated. In a telephone interview with Fox News days after the controversial election, Trump said,

Everything [in Georgia] has to be approved by the legislature, and they had judges making deals, and they had electoral officials making deals, like this character in Georgia [Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger] who’s a disaster.

 

And the governor’s done nothing. I’m ashamed that I endorsed him. But I look at what’s going on, it’s so terrible.

Now Trump has endorsed Perdue in his race against Kemp for the governorship and his endorsement has, according to a recent poll, pushed Perdue into a dead heat with Kemp.

In another poll taken among Georgians, Trump’s favorable/unfavorable image is 84 percent-10 percent, Perdue’s is 79 percent-nine percent, while Kemp’s is just 68 percent-22 percent. In that same poll, 78 percent of Republican voters in the state believe that “significant fraud occurred in the 2020 election” and just 31 percent “believe Kemp did enough to prevent voter fraud in the election.”

While Kemp’s move to free Georgians from state demands that gun owners first obtain government permission to exercise their Second Amendment-guaranteed rights is applauded, his motives for doing so, even before the General Assembly has passed anything for him to sign, must be questioned.

Keep Reading…

Manchin’s “No” on Build Back Better Means “Maybe”

Wednesday, 05 January 2022 13:09
0 Comments

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Wednesday, January 5, 2022:

West Virginia’s Democrat Senator Joe Manchin again declared that, as far as he is concerned, Joe Biden’s legacy legislation — his Build Back Better monstrosity — is dead. On Tuesday he told reporters “There is no negotiation going on at this time.”

In Washington-ese, “at this time” means the door remains open. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said just before Christmas that he intended to bring the bill to the floor for a vote when Congress reopens despite Manchin’s clear statement of opposition to it.

On Fox News the week before Christmas, Manchin appeared with host Bret Baier. After declaring that he “couldn’t get there” in support of the pork-laden green new deal, Baier asked: “You’re done? This is a no?”

Manchin replied: “This is a no on this legislation.”

Manchin is happy to go along with most of the socialist program costing nearly $2 trillion, including making reparation payments to illegals, expanding the IRS by some 80,000 agents, reducing work requirements for welfare benefits, funding green “investments” to hasten the move to “emission-free” vehicles, and expanding ObamaCare. He could live with the “Green New Deal” projects that would ultimately put many West Virginians working in the fossil-fuel industry out of work.

He just doesn’t like the idea that some families would continue to receive a $300 per month per child welfare benefit without proof of taxable income. Said Manchin, “I’ve been basically very clear on that: I think there should be a work requirement.” And a W-2 tax form would be required for that childcare benefit (which expired in December) to be revived.

Manchin is alone. He is in the driver’s seat. With the Senate evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, and every Republican opposed to the gargantuan spending bill, Manchin’s “yea” on Biden’s legacy bill is critical.

Biden’s press secretary said the president’s not giving up, despite Manchin’s firm “no” in December and his claim of “no negotiations” now. She said, “The president absolutely wants to get Build Back Better done.”

Axios reported on Monday that Manchin might be enticed back if the odious childcare credit benefit is removed. Isaac Boltansky, a political analyst with the BTIG brokerage firm, wrote:

From our seat, Senator Manchin’s December 19 rejection of the BBB is likely to expedite Democrats’ journey through the five stages of grief: from outright denial to acceptance of a smaller package.

 

It will take weeks to craft a viable package that satisfies Senator Manchin without losing [support from] progressives, but we continue to believe that a $1 trillion package is probable.

Far-left progressive Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, isn’t letting go, either:

It’s unfortunate that [Manchin] … announced on national television that he was essentially killing the bill because there was a little bit that he hadn’t agreed to, but let’s go back to the table. Let’s get this done. It is too important for us.

The clock is ticking. The midterm elections are closing in on Democrats, who have little to brag about during Biden’s first year in office. With Biden’s poll numbers dropping out of sight, Democrats’ razor-thin control of the House and Senate is in jeopardy.

And, at bottom, Manchin is a politician. He isn’t up for reelection until 2024. He has supported the Biden agenda, according to FiveThirtyEight, more than 97 percent of the time. His voting record, according to The New American’s Freedom Index, is a dismal 28 out of 100, which reflects how little he cares for his oath of office to support and defend the Constitution.

For Democrats familiar with how Washington works, Manchin’s “no” means “maybe.” Given enough time and pressure, they’re hopeful his “maybe” will become a “yes.”

Keep Reading…

Texas District Court Grants Injunction Against Navy’s COVID-19 Mandate

Tuesday, 04 January 2022 13:44
0 Comments

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Tuesday, January 4, 2021:  

Judge Reed O’Connor, a George W. Bush appointee to the Northern District Court of Texas (Fort Worth), came down hard on the Navy on Monday. The Navy — and by implication all the U.S. military — has used the COVID-19 pandemic as cover for demanding that no service member may use his religion to exempt himself from taking the vaccine:

The COVID-19 pandemic provides the government no license to abrogate those freedoms.

 

There is no COVID-19 exception to the First Amendment.

He said that the Navy has set up a complex application process that virtually guarantees that any request for religious reasons is automatically denied:

The Navy provides a religious accommodation process, but by all accounts, it is theater.

 

The Navy has not granted a religious exemption to any vaccine in recent memory.

 

It merely rubber stamps each denial.

Not only has the Navy created a policy denying any and every religious exemption request, it also has set up a deliberate and intentional system of sanctions against those who even think about making one:

Plaintiffs are already suffering injury while waiting for the Navy to adjudicate their requests. In some cases, Plaintiffs have suffered injury because they seek religious accommodation.

 

Plaintiffs testify that they have been barred from official and unofficial travel, including for training and treatment for traumatic brain injuries; denied access to non-work activities, like family day; assigned unpleasant schedules and low-level work like cleaning; relieved of leadership duties and denied opportunities for advancement; kicked out of their platoons; and threatened with immediate separation.

He granted a temporary injunction against the Navy continuing its blanket denial of requests for religious reasons, and prohibited the service from sanctioning those who are filing those requests.

The history of the Navy discriminating against service members with strongly held religious beliefs goes back years before the pandemic. But it wasn’t until the Biden administration appointed Lloyd Austin as secretary of defense that it was applied unilaterally and completely.

Austin’s reign began on January 22, 2021, and in August he proclaimed “a vaccine mandate directing all DoD servicemembers to be vaccinated against COVID-19,” wrote O’Connor. The Navy set November 28 as the drop-dead date for all servicemembers to submit to the vaccine or face the “full range” — O’Connor’s words — of disciplinary action.

He quoted the Navy’s interpretation of Austin’s mandate:

[Special Operational] personnel refusing to receive recommended vaccines … based solely on personal or religious beliefs are disqualified.

“Disqualified” means, O’Connor noted, “becoming permanently nondeployable.”

Mike Berry, general counsel for First Liberty Institute which is assisting the 35 Navy Special Warfare servicemembers, including 26 Navy SEALS, in their complaint, celebrated O’Connor’s ruling:

Forcing a service member to choose between their faith and serving their country is abhorrent to the Constitution and America’s values.

 

Punishing SEALs for simply asking for a religious accommodation is purely vindictive and punitive. We’re pleased that the court has acted to protect our brave warriors before more damage is done to our national security.

There are other lawsuits pending, but O’Connor’s ruling is the first one shutting down the Navy’s enforcement of Austin’s mandate. Although there are 35 plaintiffs in the present lawsuit, there are more than 35,000 military service members who have refused the vaccine, many of them facing sanctions for doing so.

As Christians they believe 1) that this world is not their home; and 2) in this world they will face trials, tribulations, and suffering. As Jesus Christ Himself said: “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).

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