Category Archives: Politics

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Friday, August 5, 2022:  

There’s a new sheriff in town, and dealers selling drugs aren’t going to rehab; they’re going to jail. So announced San Francisco’s newly appointed District Attorney Brooke Jenkins who replaced disgraced and recalled former San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin.

Appointed by Mayor London Breed, Jenkins had quit her job as a prosecutor under Boudin to organize the recall campaign that successfully ousted him in June.

Immediately after being appointed to her old boss’s position, Jenkins said:

I think we have to start addressing repeat and violent offenders.… That needs to be our main priority….

 

We [will be] addressing those who continually commit crimes in San Francisco, [who] continue to victimize people in a violent way….

 

[Under Boudin] we’ve created an environment where [offenders] think there are no consequences to their actions.

After reviewing the cases pending under Boudin, Jenkins said:

Since 2020, nearly 1,500 people have died of drug overdose in part because dealers have been allowed to operate with impunity…. We must immediately change course, so we can save lives and hold people accountable for the havoc they are wreaking in our communities like the Tenderloin and South of Market.

 

Going forward defendants holding lethal doses of fentanyl will face felony charges.

Under Boudin, drug dealers, if they were charged at all, were allowed to go to rehab — San Francisco’s Community Justice Court — instead of facing jail terms.

In one egregious case, a drug dealer had six open cases against him, but Boudin offered him a plea bargain of a single misdemeanor to settle all of them. And in all of 2021 there was not a single drug conviction under Boudin, thanks to his loose, nearly nonexistent, enforcement policies.

That has changed under Jenkins. Her office has raised the pain level for drug dealers considerably, adding “charging enhancements” along with pre-trial imprisonment in extreme cases.

Jenkins also announced that, following her review of the cases Boudin left behind, she will recharge more than 30 of them with felonies — i.e., jail time if convicted — instead of misdemeanors for their crimes.

Under Boudin’s far-left “safe harbor for criminals” administration, the results were predictably catastrophic: Property crimes soared, along with open drug use. Car and home break-ins jumped. Homicides rose. Pan handling increased. Homelessness and the related squalid conditions he inherited got worse.

As EMC Research noted, burglaries spiked by 49 percent during his 18-month administration, and an astonishing 84 percent of charged perpetrators were back on the streets within two days!

With a new DA in town, San Francisco residents are going to feel safer, drug and other crimes will decline, and something like normal will return to the City by the Bay.

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Monday, August 1, 2022:  

Three scholars from the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School sought answers to why protesters participated in the Capitol breach on January 6, 2021. If they were looking for proof that there was an organized insurrection — defined as “the act or an instance of open revolt against civil authority … specifically, the armed resistance of a number of persons to the power of the state” — they were greatly disappointed.

The best they could come up with was that most protesters were there to support their president, Donald Trump, and his claims of election fraud. Insurrection was a distant third on the list, at less than eight percent.

According to the authors:

We [quantified] the most frequently cited reasons for participating in the breach of the Capitol Building.…

 

We coded the contents of 469 charging and sentencing documents representing 417 defendants….

 

We find that the largest fraction of defendants were motivated to come to Washington DC on January 6 by either their desire to support President Trump, their concerns about the integrity of the 2020 election, or some combination of both.

They expected to find a very large percentage bent on insurrection. After all, on January 13, just one week after the breach, the Democrat-controlled House (with the compliance of 10 Republicans) voted to impeach the president for “incitement of insurrection.”

And that’s what the January 6 Committee claimed occurred:

In the first of a series of hearings beginning in June 2022, Committee Vice Chair Elizabeth Cheney laid out a case suggesting that Trump had knowingly subverted the election results, in part by strategically spreading various accusations of voter fraud and unfounded conspiracy theories about the election that he knew to be false — a campaign that has since been dubbed “The Big Lie.”

 

Cheney said, “President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack.”

 

But did the members of the mob see it that way? Did they see themselves as Trump’s personal volunteer army, or as dedicated (albeit frustrated) countrymen, trying to defend democracy?

 

Relatedly, did they even believe Trump’s claims, or were they simply protesting the outcome of the election, rather than the process by which it was decided?

The authors charted the results of their study:

MOTIVATIONS OF JANUARY 6TH DEFENDANTS

 

Support Trump 20.62%

 

2020 Election Rigged 20.62%

 

Revolution / Civil War / Secession 7.91%

 

Pursuit of “Historical” Significance 7.43%

 

Peaceful Protest 6.95%

 

General Interest in Violence 6.24%

 

Protect the country or “Take back the country” 5.76%

 

Distrust of Government 5.76%

 

Marxism, Socialism, Communism 5.76%

 

QAnon 4.08%

 

Resisting Tyranny 2.88%

 

Religiosity 2.40%

 

Coronavirus 2.16%

 

Exercise 1st Amendment Rights / Make Voice Heard 1.20%

 

Curiosity 0.48%

In other words, far from planning to be part of an insurrection, an uprising, an open revolt, or an armed resistance to authority, less than eight percent — 7.91 percent, to be exact — were motivated by “revolution/civil war/secession.”

The authors were disappointed and surprised by their results:

Far and away, we find that the two most commonly cited reasons for breaching the US Capitol were a desire to support Trump on January 6 in DC and concerns about election integrity.

They were, to be clear, motivated to support the Republic, not to destroy it!

Wrote the authors:

The documents show that Trump and his allies convinced an unquantifiable number of Americans that representative democracy in the United States was not only in decline, but in imminent, existential danger.

 

This belief translated into a widespread fear of democratic and societal breakdown, which, in turn, motivated hundreds of Americans to travel to DC from far corners of the country in what they were convinced was the nation’s most desperate hour.

But the narrative from the prostitute press remains unchanged. On Friday CNN published its “minute-by-minute horrors of the January 6 insurrection, and then-President Donald Trump’s role in fomenting the violence.”

That, it turns out (as confirmed by the Harvard study), is the real Big Lie.

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Monday, July 25, 2022:  

In Baltimore, arguably one of the most violent and corrupt cities in the country thanks to its overwhelmingly Democratic Party rule, voters had enough of the city’s state attorney. In her bid for another term, Marilyn Mosby placed third in the party’s primary election last week.

Even the strong likelihood that mail-in ballots were fraudulently submitted to support her campaign, they weren’t enough. She finished third behind two other lesser-known candidates. Thanks to those bail-in ballots, and the state’s rule that they can be counted up to two days after the day of the election, the final results weren’t released until Friday night.

Mosby made a major mistake: She ran on her record. She celebrated reducing the prison population significantly (using Covid as an excuse); she rejoiced at “holding police officers” accountable for their alleged misdeeds; and she was pleased to have exonerated many criminals after she reviewed their convictions through her progressive lens.

Her record speaks for itself. During the eight years before she took office in 2014, there had been an average of 229 homicides per year in Baltimore. During her five-year reign, that average jumped to 331 — nearly a 50-percent increase.

Right behind were increases in rapes, aggravated assaults, and robberies, jumping 13 percent, 12 percent, and 42 percent, respectively.

Mosby gained national attention when she overcharged six police officers involved in the arrest of street thug Freddie Gray in 2015. He was arrested for illegally carrying a flip-out knife (he had a record of at least 18 prior arrests, including drug and assault charges).

It took all six officers to subdue Gray and force him into a police van for transport to police headquarters. As National Review Online explained:

At a certain point, he [Gray] evidently attempted to stand, despite being bound and unable to see outside the van to judge traffic conditions.

 

As the van moved, he appears to have careened violently into its interior, suffering an injury [to his spinal cord] similar to that experienced by [someone diving into] shallow water.

Gray died a week later.

Mosby saw her opportunity to sully the reputation of the six officers and indicted them all on charges ranging from involuntary manslaughter to second-degree murder, to “depraved heart” murder in the case of the van driver.

So eager was she in charging the officers that she charged two of them using wrong names, birth dates, and addresses.

She stoked the riots that followed, declaring: “To the people of Baltimore and demonstrators across America, I heard your call for ‘No Justice, No Peace.’”

The civil unrest continued for days, resulting in at least 20 police officers being injured, 250 demonstrators arrested, and more than 300 businesses damaged and/or looted.

The charges were later determined to be bogus, and were dropped. But the damage had been done, and Mosby’s star among progressives was on the rise.

She instituted progressive policies, announcing in March 2021 that her office would no longer enforce laws pertaining to the following crimes:

Possession of CDS (controlled dangerous substances, i.e., drugs);

 

Attempted distribution of CDS;

 

Paraphernalia possession;

 

Prostitution;

 

Trespassing;

 

Minor traffic offenses;

 

Open container (of an alcoholic beverage in a motor vehicle);

 

Rogue and vagabond (actual or attempted theft of a motor vehicle or its contents); and

 

Urinating/defecating in public.

Mosby owed her election in 2014 to two people: George Soros and Kamala Harris. According to the Heritage Foundation, “When Soros decided back in 2014 to spend millions to fund the election efforts of rogue prosecutors, one of the first people he backed was Marilyn Mosby.”

In November 2020, Mosby described Kamala Harris as her “inspiration,” her “role model,” and “a bold, brilliant, beautiful black woman” who had “inspired” her to run for office. She declared, “There would be no Marilyn Mosby without Kamala Harris.”

What voters focused on most, however, was her lying on two mortgage applications in order to purchase a couple of Florida vacation homes during the pandemic. U.S. Attorney Erek Barron, who brought the charges in January, claimed that

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.

Mosby declared her innocence, and blamed instead that the indictment by Barron was “merely a political ploy by my political adversaries to unseat me.… There [are] ulterior motives for something like this … for an attack like this.”

She wanted to expedite her trial, and the court agreed, setting a date in February. But as it became clear that it was an issue that was going to cost her her reelection, she changed her mind. She asked the court to move the trial date until after the election so that it wouldn’t be so much of a detraction during her reelection campaign. Again, the compliant court agreed.

Now that she has been ousted by unhappy Democrat voters in the primary, Mosby is free to work on staying out of jail. If she is convicted, she could face up to five years in prison for the two counts of perjury and up to 30 years in prison for each of the two counts of making false mortgage applications. Her trial date is set for September 19.

It is highly unlikely that she will ever see the inside of a jail cell. After all, she has friends in high places, and her attorney, Scott Bolden, declares that she is innocent of all charges:

Marilyn Mosby is innocent, has been innocent, and we look forward to defending her in the court of law, and presenting evidence of her innocence to a jury of her peers.

 

We will fight these charges vigorously, and I remain confident that once all the evidence is presented, that she will prevail against these bogus charges — charges that are rooted in personal, political and racial animus five months from her election.

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, July 7, 2022:  

In a speech to union workers in Ohio on Wednesday, the present occupant of the White House, Joe Biden, touted his plan to rescue failing pension plans using taxpayer funds while attacking Republicans for not supporting the plan.

“Not one single solitary Republican voted” for it, explained Biden, because “they’re afraid … because the Trumpers [voters who support President Donald Trump, will] literally take them out.”

Those “Trumpers” earned a special place in Biden’s speech, as he blamed the former president for most if not all of the country’s current woes. “The previous administration lost more jobs in his watch than any administration since Herbert Hoover … all based on failed trickle down economics to benefit the wealthiest Americans.”

He also blamed Republicans for Intel’s decision to put on hold its plans to build a multi-billion-dollar assembly plant near Columbus:

I was able to work out something with Intel. They’re gonna provide for over 7,000 jobs … [but Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell is gonna block the passage of the legislation that will provide for another 100 billion dollars.… This is not right … and that’s why this [midterm] election is going to be so darn important.

The midterm election isn’t going well for the Democrats, and swing state Ohio has been trending red over the last two election cycles. Two Democrats seeking office in November — Tim Ryan, who is running against Republican nominee J.D. Vance for the U.S. Senate, and Nan Whaley, the candidate challenging GOP Governor Mike DeWine — didn’t show for the occasion. Each candidate claimed “unavoidable campaign conflicts.”

No doubt those candidates have been reading the polling tea leaves and decided to distance themselves from any association with Biden. According to the latest data from poll tracker CIVIQS, Biden has just a 20-percent approval rating in Ohio.

In fact, according to CIVIQS, Biden is under water in every state in the union except Hawaii and Vermont. He’s under water in deep blue California, and even in his own state of Delaware, with a 55-percent disapproval rating.

The latest results from CIVIQS reveal just how ugly the numbers are for the current Oval Office resident:

• Voters aged 18-34 give Biden a 22-percent approval rating;
• Voters aged 35-49 give him a 27-percent approval rating;
• Republicans give him a one-percent approval rating;
• Independents give him an 18-percent approval rating;
• White voters give him a 24-percent approval rating; and
• Black voters give him a 56-percent approval rating.

That last reading is especially important and indicative of just how much ground Biden and his handlers have lost by imposing their far-left, anti-American agenda onto the country. In the past, the Democratic Party could always count on at least 90 percent of black voters for their support.

Not any longer.

In reviewing the latest poll from CIVIQS (which is based on responses from more than 220,000 registered voters, thus reducing the margin of error significantly), Scott McKay, writing for American Spectator, notes the positive aspect:

If there is any positive to be taken from this, it’s something I wrote about in The Revivalist Manifesto, my new book just recently released by Bombardier Books.

 

One of the key theses of the book is that transformationally awful presidencies tend to wipe out the political party responsible for them for a generation, and begin entirely new political eras after the suffering of the public at the hands of the incompetents is paid back at the ballot box.

 

James Buchanan was such a president. So was Herbert Hoover. And Joe Biden is a larger disaster than either.

 

At the bottom of his vortex is a completely new American story, and perhaps the revival we so badly need.

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Wednesday, July 6, 2022:  

The latest poll from Monmouth University, released on Tuesday, reveals the extent to which the Biden administration’s economic attack on the middle class is succeeding.

When nearly 1,000 Americans were asked this question in late June, “How much have each of the following groups benefited from President Biden’s policies so far — have they benefited a lot, a little, or not at all?” only seven percent said that “middle class families” benefited “a lot,” while 54 percent said they benefited “not at all.”

More than four out of ten respondents told the pollster they are “struggling to remain where [they] are financially,” while only nine percent said their financial situation was “stable.”

A majority — 57 percent — said that the actions of the federal government over the past six months have hurt their families, while just eight percent said they have helped them.

When asked, “Would you say things in the country are going in the right direction, or have they gotten off on the wrong track?” just 10 percent said the country is heading in the right direction, while 88 percent said Biden had put the country “on the wrong track.”

Columnist Liz Peek opined at Fox News that “Americans are furious, despondent, and fed up with … Joe Biden. They agree: the country has gone off the rails and the president seems utterly incapable of fixing what’s wrong.”

Peek is looking at the Biden administration through a sympathetic lens: he’s doing the best he can, but he “seems utterly incapable.” In other words, he really means well, but he’s getting bad advice.

However, the proper lens is the one provided by Marx and Engels in their Communist Manifesto:

The [dictatorship of] the proletariat will use its political supremacy to wrest, by degrees, all capital from [the middle class], to centralize all instruments of production in the hands of the state.

Lenin wrote that “whoever conceives of the transition to Socialism without the suppression of [the middle class], is not a Socialist.… It is essential to suppress the [middle class].”

The reason is simple: the middle class, when thriving, presents a nearly insurmountable obstacle to those working to establish a dictatorship. In her article “The Middle Class Must Not Fail,” Taylor Caldwell said:

The middle class made the dream of liberty a possibility, set limits on the government, fought for its constitutions, removed much of governmental privilege and tyranny, demanded that rulers obey the just laws as closely as the people, and enforced a general civic morality.

The middle class in America is known for its self-reliance, its independence, its belief in God, and its strong family ties. It also provides the bulk of the capital that the private capitalist system needs to operate.

The Biden attack on the middle class is showing up in slowing economic activity as the middle class pulls back from its spending, and that class’s sentiment in June reached the lowest level ever recorded. The economy is now in recession, with two straight quarters of negative economic growth. Jobless claims are rising, and companies who were hiring are now laying off workers. Stocks have had their worst first six months since 1970.

The attack is showing up at the gas pump, too, aided and abetted by Biden’s regime restricting oil and gas production and now imposing new ozone rules that will cut oil production in the Permian Basin.

And the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) just reported its manufacturing index dropped in May, along with a major decline in new orders and a decrease in supplier deliveries.

The middle class is increasingly unhappy about Biden’s attack. The Monmouth University study is hardly an outlier — the Trafalgar Group and Quinnipiac University polling show Biden’s approval rating in the middle 30s, while its disapproval rating is approaching six out of ten of those polled.

Let’s have no more talk of Biden’s “failures.” A different lens — one that proposes that he and his handlers are doing everything they can to slow, ruin, and destroy the middle class — reveals remarkable success.