“The basis for a criminal investigation was already considerable before the sudden emergence of an apparent false statement on a firearms form.”
“Charles C. W. Cooke had a post this week that said everything that ought to be said about why it would be fitting to prosecute Hunter Biden’s apparent making of a false statement on the required firearms application form. I want to add a few points about prosecutorial discretion, the potential of an additional gun crime, and our two-tiered justice system.
The Politico story Charlie cites stresses that prosecutions arising out of false statements on Form 4473 are rare. As Charlie rightly observes, that in itself is a problem (a point Kevin D. Williamson also made a few days ago). Still, it is worth widening the lens beyond the narrow false-statements provision in the gun laws because the government actually prosecutes false statements all the time.
There is a general false-statements statute (Section 1001 of the penal code) which can be applied any time someone makes a false statement, including a material omission, to some branch, department, or agency of the federal government. Then there are false statements charges that apply to particular subject-matter areas, such as firearms or taxes. Hence, we have Section 922(a)(6), which, as Charlie explained, applies to false statements made in connection with the acquisition or attempted acquisition of a firearm.
The fact that these narrowly tailored false-statements statutes are invoked more rarely should not be taken to mean that false-statements prosecutions are infrequent. They are not. And a good many false statements that result in indictments involve situations markedly less serious than lying to conceal a disqualification from firearms possession — especially under circumstances where, due to the lie, the disqualified person succeeded in obtaining a gun (and then was lax in safeguarding it).
In the Mueller investigation, for instance, Michael Flynn was prosecuted for misdescribing a conversation, indicative of no misconduct, of which the FBI had a recording and therefore no need to question him. George Papadopoulos and Alex van der Zwaan were prosecuted for false statements about the dates of meetings, and in neither situation was an investigation impeded — much less were the prevaricators, thereby, able to acquire dangerous weapons.
Moreover, it would be misleading for Biden apologists to claim that the rarity of prosecution means the Justice Department regards false statements on the firearms form to be a trifling matter. To be sure, there should be more prosecutions. But when there are prosecutions, the Justice Department trumpets them. Check out, for example this 2018 press release, entitled, “Convicted Felon Indicted for Making False Statements on a Federal Background Check while Attempting to Purchase a Firearm.” In that case, the government charged both the general false-statements offense and the more specific false-statements offense related to firearms. The statement issued by the U.S. attorney for Western Tennessee, who brought the case, is worth quoting:
Prosecutions of violent crimes must be paired with proactive prevention efforts to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and other prohibited persons. A valuable tool in this prevention effort is the ATF Background Check Form 4473, which must be completed before a federally licensed firearms dealer sells or transfers a firearm. Criminals and other prohibited persons who attempt to thwart the background check process by lying on the required forms threaten to undermine this important crime prevention tool, and such conduct cannot be tolerated. . . . Let this serve as a warning: This office will vigorously prosecute any prohibited persons who attempt to illegally obtain a firearm in these “lie-and-try” cases.
Big talk . . . but will the Justice Department back it up when the matter involves a Democrat with unparalleled connections and no shortage of press sympathy? A Democrat who did not merely “lie-and-try” but, it appears, lied and . . . got the gun.”
“Hunter Biden was the subject of a strange missing firearm case in 2018 after Hallie Biden, the wife of his late brother and subsequently Hunter’s girlfriend, tossed it into a trash can behind a grocery store near a high school, according to a strange new report from Politico. It appears Hunter, the son of President Joe Biden, might have lied on the federal forms he filled out to purchase the gun a few months prior, forms The Federalist has now obtained.
Hunter answered “no” to a question on the Firearms Transaction Record asking whether he was an “unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance.” See question 11.e on the form below:”
—-
“Hunter’s history of drug use is well-known, and he’s scheduled to release a tell-all memoir about it in April. His lifestyle contributed to his divorce from his wife Kathleen in 2017. Hunter “created financial concerns for the family by spending extravagantly on his own interests (including drugs, alcohol, prostitutes, strip clubs, and gifts for women with whom he has sexual relations), while leaving the family with no funds to pay legitimate bills,” his ex-wife said in the divorce filing.
The now-president’s scandal-ridden son was in numerous drug and alcohol rehab programs, including in 2003, 2010, and 2014, soon after being discharged from the military for using cocaine. According to the New Yorker, he also went on a cocaine binge in 2016. His infamous laptop he dropped off for repairs in 2019, a story which tech giants and the media aggressively tried to cover up during the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, included graphic photos and video of Hunter allegedly smoking crack cocaine while engaged in a sex act.
It’s unclear whether Hunter was using drugs around the time of his firearm purchase or what timeframe the question “are you a user of” illicit substances implies. Hunter was, however, suspected of smoking crack cocaine in a Washington, D.C., strip club in late 2018. He purchased the firearm the same year on Oct. 12.
The alleged incident occurred just blocks from the White House at Archibald’s Gentleman’s Club, where Hunter spent thousands of dollars on multiple visits. One security worker at the club said Hunter was a regular who would hole up in a VIP room, but the club’s managing partner James Ritter said one night in late 2018 included a “suspicion of drug use.””
“The philosopher Michel Foucault, a beacon of today’s “woke” ideology, has become the latest prominent French figure to face a retrospective reckoning for sexually abusing children.
A fellow intellectual, Guy Sorman, has unleashed a storm among Parisian “intellos” with his claim that Foucault, who died in 1984 aged 57, was a paedophile rapist who had sex with Arab children while living in Tunisia in the late 1960s.”
“When The Powerful Say Truth Is A Lie And Lies Are The Truth, No One Will Stand Up For America But You
In an age when Americans have grown used to casually shrugging away their freedoms at the whim of TV pundits, this kind of propaganda is seriously dangerous.”
“Open The New York Times’ politics page Thursday morning and the top headline reads, “Democrats Begin Push For Biggest Expansion In Voting Since 1960s.” It’s a story about the most important election power-grab in modern legislative history, with a slim, partisan majority of senators seeking to wrest control of elections away from state governments to ensure Democrat control for decades to come.
For starters, H.R. 1 will ban voter ID requirements, mandate early voting windows, allow outside activist groups to deliver votes for counting, do away with notarized absentee ballots, force states to accept absentees for 10 days after an election is over, narrow the Federal Election Commission by one member to allow for partisan control, mandate counting illegal aliens in voting districts, allow the IRS to investigate non-profits’ political ideas, and make it nearly impossible to sue over the new rules.
In short, it’s a story about Democrats aiming to seize massive power over how elections are run. Of course, you wouldn’t get any of that information from The New York Times headline or copy. In fact, funny enough, the second story on The New York Times’ politics page Thursday morning was the one headlined, “Republicans Aim To Seize More Power Over How Elections Are Run.”
That one’s a story about Republicans working to pull control of the elections back from judges and officials’ extra-legislative “emergency rules” and rulings. The moves, the story reports with a straight face, are “threatening the fairness that is the bedrock of American democracy.”
Reasonable people can disagree on if they think the Democrats or Republicans are right or wrong in their different initiatives, but the stark difference between these two top news headlines is glaring — and not too long ago would have been deeply embarrassing to any serious news editor.
Meanwhile, over at Axios, the news sites’ two co-founders wrote an article about President Joe Biden’s plan to “re-engineer America quickly.” At a closed-door White House meeting, they report, “the historians” agreed with the presidents’ thinking that, “It is time to go even bigger and faster than anyone expected. If that means chucking the filibuster and bipartisanship, so be it.”
There’s virtually zero skepticism in their reporting. Instead, in the condescending little “Why It Matters” breakdown, readers are treated to how bold and historic this massive left-wing power-grab will be. “[Biden] won’t rub [Republicans’] noses in it,” they write, predicting instead that he is on his way to becoming a modern President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
The intensity with which these outlets simply spewed Democratic propaganda Thursday morning was shameless. While this is no longer unusual, in an age when Americans from coast to coast have grown used to casually shrugging away their freedoms at the whim of a television doctor and his political allies, this kind of propaganda is seriously dangerous.
For the past year here in Washington, D.C., as well as in cities and states across the country, we’ve been told not to gather with our friends, neighbors, and family, not to worship God with our parishes, and not to visit our sick or elderly loved ones. We’ve even been told not to admire outdoor beauty, with the National Park Service’s Tuesday announcement that they will be choking off the number of people permitted to admire the cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin this spring.
And every single day we are subjected to more base lies disguised as lofty truths. Breathing freely without two masks is selfish. Staying indoors is good for your neighbors. Our differences are what make us a community. We are all in this together.
Powerful black people are oppressed and poor white people are privileged.
Qanon is marching on Washington and the Ku Klux Klan is right behind every door.
Men are women, women are men, and pregnant women make great professional soldiers.
Power-grabs are voting rights. Election integrity threatens “the bedrock of American democracy.”
Joe Biden is an historic visionary.
“War is peace.”
“Democracy dies in darkness.”
Except that last one is true. The problem, of course, is while corporate media were excited to scream it from the rooftops during President Donald Trump’s four years in office, at a time the most powerful people in the country are insisting the truth is a lie and their lies are the truth, many of our best-known reporters are not merely absent, they’re complicit.”
“Vaccine protection is stronger for those previously infected by coronavirus, study finds
Those previously infected by coronavirus are more protected by Pfizer vaccine
Antibody levels against South African and Brazilian variants are 15 times higher
The study took blood samples from 237 vaccinated NHS workers aged 22 to 71”
“Vaccines may work better in people who have already had Covid – and could more effectively protect against the South African and Brazilian variants.
Those previously infected with coronavirus produced almost seven times the amount of antibodies after a single Pfizer jab compared to people who have not had the virus.
Their antibody levels against the South African and Brazilian variants were also 15 times higher, a study shows. And they had seven times more T-cells – the vital immune cells which react to the virus.
Infected people had a level of protection after just one jab which others had to wait for their second jab to achieve, the study found. “
“Texas COVID numbers decrease 17 days after mask, other restrictions lifted”
“Just over two weeks after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott lifted coronavirus mandates allowing businesses to operate at 100 percent capacity and made masks optional, the red state is still reporting decreases in cases and hospitalizations.
The governor championed his state’s success in a Friday night tweet saying, “Today Texas recorded the lowest 7-day COVID positivity rate since that data began being calculated: 5.43%.”
“We also recorded the largest daily number of vaccines administered to Texans: 342,849. More Texans getting vaccines will keep down the positivity rate,” he said, though adding that receiving the vaccine was “always voluntary.”
Appalling footage of the carjacking near Nationals Park in Washington D.C. on Tuesday that resulted in the death of Pakistani immigrant & Uber Eats driver Mohammad Anwar. The teenage girls who police say used a Taser to steal the car face murder charges.https://t.co/mOPnrLBf0t
And then the media jumps into garbage mode to defend the criminals.
"How can I take this unspeakably awful murder committed by teen girls and caught on video make it about how Republicans are bad?" Maybe take a break from that sick/boring/neverending/stupid game for just one story. If you're able.
Thank god the National Guard and the police, disempowered from actually enforcing the law, were on scene to do absolutely nothing but take a statement from the two murderers and then inform the man’s family of his passing.
“As the Biden administration lies about the border crisis and tries to bully Republican lawmakers into deleting their photos of Biden’s over-crowded illegal immigrant cages, the media works overtime to try to obfuscate the crisis.
It’s not working, though, according to a recent ABC News/Ipsos poll that shows the majority of Americans see the border crisis as a crisis and disapproves of Biden’s handling of it.
Biden has banned news media from the cramped “pods” (new word for “cages”) where the Wuhan coronavirus runs rampant amid inhumane conditions, and the media is happy to accept that. We hear no cries of suppression of the press or fascism now that their guy is in the White House, and we will not.
Indeed, rather than demanding access to the detention facilities that are overflowing with children, the media is opting to avoid the topic unless it’s a vomit-inducing cheerleading piece about what a nice guy Biden is and how hard he’s working to help and how he just needs more money to throw at the problem.
So serious are media outlets about propping up Sleepy Joe “Kids in Cages” Biden that the AP has instructed staffers not to use the term “crisis” in discussing the border crisis. I kid you not.
Fox News reports:
The Associated Press agrees with President Biden’s White House that the situation along the U.S. southern border is not a “crisis,” and it instructed staffers not to use the dreaded c-word when reporting thousands of unaccompanied children have attempted to enter the country.
Journalist Julio Ricardo Varela tweeted a series of images from an internal memo the AP distributed warning staffers not to call the situation a crisis. The Associated Press confirmed its authenticity in a statement.
“That is indeed is a memo from AP Vice President and Editor-at-Large for Standards John Daniszewski,” an AP spokesperson said to Fox News.
. . . . One of the memo’s “tips” revolved around the word “crisis,” which the newsgathering service warned reporters not to use.
“The current events in the news – a sharp increase in the arrival of unaccompanied minors – is a problem for border officials, a political challenge for Biden and a dire situation for many migrants who make the journey, but it does not fit the classic dictionary definition of a crisis,” the memo said.
“Therefore, we should avoid, or at least, be highly cautious, about referring to the present situation as a crisis on our own, although we may quote others using that language,” the memo continued. “If using the word ‘crisis,’ we need to ask of what and to whom.”
. . . . Associated Press style and guidelines are used by news organizations across the globe and often set the tone of the way news is characterized.
Here are the related tweets:”
In the interest of informing the public and being fully transparent as a way to inform other editors, this is the internal memo I received from the @AP (4 tweets to follow).
Subject: From the Standards Center: A note about the current increase in border entrances
“This latest edict from the AP is likely a response to polling that shows that despite the best efforts of the media arm of the Biden White House, Americans stubbornly refuse to believe their lies.”
“A Border Patrol section chief reported that in recent days, more than 861 criminals have been encountered at the border, including 92 sex offenders and 63 gang members.
“Within the copious amounts of groups being encountered in” the Rio Grande Valley sector in Texas, “a Salvadoran man with a prior conviction for murder was discovered” along with 862 criminal aliens, Chief Patrol Agent Brian Hastings wrote on Twitter Saturday.
Hastings wrote that recently, agents encountered five large groups of illegal immigrant families, unaccompanied minors, and some adults—totalling 539.
Embedded in the groups were about 93 unaccompanied children, Hastings said, adding that so far in 2021, more than 18,000 such children have been encountered by agents.”
“Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky went off script at a briefing Monday and made an emotional plea to Americans not to let up on public health measures amid fears of a fourth wave.”
“I’m going to reflect on the recurring feeling I have of impending doom,” Walensky said, appearing to hold back tears. “We do not have the luxury of inaction. For the health of our country, we must work together now to prevent a fourth surge.””
Franklin Graham unfazed after evangelical base blasts him for encouraging vaccines
Graham’s March 24 Facebook post uncovered a deep divide among evangelicals, many of whom are suspicious of COVID-19 vaccines. His organization, Samaritan’s Purse, is managing vaccine clinics in Boone, North Carolina.
… when it comes to medicine, count Graham an advocate.
Part of it is his own family history.
His mother’s father, Dr. L. Nelson Bell, was a medical missionary to China.
“When the polio vaccine came out, he was asked to take charge of vaccinating the children in our small area of North Carolina,” Graham recounted of his grandfather. “They put a blue vaccine in a sugar cube. You put it in your mouth and that was it.”
Graham is now following in his footsteps.
In Boone, North Carolina, Samaritan’s Purse has partnered with the Watauga County Health Department, a local pharmacy and a local church to vaccinate 3,500 people. …
… “I’ve seen first hand what COVID will do and believe me, you do not want it,” Graham said. “It’s not the cold. It has a dark, ugly side to it.”
Graham said he will stop short of requiring all Samaritan’s Purse employees to get the vaccine. But he’s also clear that if his employees must travel, they may not be able to perform their jobs if they are not vaccinated, because some airlines won’t allow them to fly.
Graham said he’ll continue to advocate for vaccines and has been vaccinated himself — as has his family.
“Look how many people’s lives (vaccines) have saved? Millions of lives,” he said. “We’ve had smallpox, measles. The list goes on. I would encourage everyone to pray about it and consider it.”
_______________________
Although there was some mention of a repeal or freeze on the waiting period in Boulder, most of the media I consume mentioned the misogyny connecting the Georgia and Boulder shootings. As I age, the more I see the connection between mass shootings and violence in general to toxic masculity/misogyny. This correlates with the general knowledge that in honor based culture (as opposed to rule of law) violence is higher.
Over the last year, its been interesting to see the cherry picking of covid stats to benefit whatever political side you cheer for. The Texas stats cited above could be countered by the low testing in Texas. You will find less covid if you test less and texas is near the bottom in testing per capita.
French intelectuals in the 60s and 70s and sexually deviant behaviour correlated no matter what politcal or philosophical view they had. Its not an excusde for Foucault but it was incredibly common in that era. Beyond that I fail to see the connection between Foucault’s sexual behaviour and the “woke” crowd. The origin of “woke” is soley American. Foucautl had a historical and structural approach to power, sex, gender, morals etc — made him a supreme relativist but not much of a woke liberal.
On the agenda for Georgia state legislators this week:
Parental Obscenity Appeal Act” SB 226 is designed to empower parents to appeal for the removal of obscene materials from GA public schools. This bill brings to light the obscene materials in our school libraries through physical books and the Galileo/Ebsco databases.
These materials glorify sexual assault, rape culture and violence against girls, children and women. Ebsco markets these materials to K-12 schools and consistently rank on the National Center on Sexual Exploitation’s “Dirty Dozen List”.
Also, check out the Protect Student Health website for more info
Georgia is definitely Blue in such matters. So sad this even has to be addressed.
Wandering Views 
The media continues to provide cover for the Biden Crime Family.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/03/the-case-for-prosecuting-hunter-biden/
“The basis for a criminal investigation was already considerable before the sudden emergence of an apparent false statement on a firearms form.”
“Charles C. W. Cooke had a post this week that said everything that ought to be said about why it would be fitting to prosecute Hunter Biden’s apparent making of a false statement on the required firearms application form. I want to add a few points about prosecutorial discretion, the potential of an additional gun crime, and our two-tiered justice system.
The Politico story Charlie cites stresses that prosecutions arising out of false statements on Form 4473 are rare. As Charlie rightly observes, that in itself is a problem (a point Kevin D. Williamson also made a few days ago). Still, it is worth widening the lens beyond the narrow false-statements provision in the gun laws because the government actually prosecutes false statements all the time.
There is a general false-statements statute (Section 1001 of the penal code) which can be applied any time someone makes a false statement, including a material omission, to some branch, department, or agency of the federal government. Then there are false statements charges that apply to particular subject-matter areas, such as firearms or taxes. Hence, we have Section 922(a)(6), which, as Charlie explained, applies to false statements made in connection with the acquisition or attempted acquisition of a firearm.
The fact that these narrowly tailored false-statements statutes are invoked more rarely should not be taken to mean that false-statements prosecutions are infrequent. They are not. And a good many false statements that result in indictments involve situations markedly less serious than lying to conceal a disqualification from firearms possession — especially under circumstances where, due to the lie, the disqualified person succeeded in obtaining a gun (and then was lax in safeguarding it).
In the Mueller investigation, for instance, Michael Flynn was prosecuted for misdescribing a conversation, indicative of no misconduct, of which the FBI had a recording and therefore no need to question him. George Papadopoulos and Alex van der Zwaan were prosecuted for false statements about the dates of meetings, and in neither situation was an investigation impeded — much less were the prevaricators, thereby, able to acquire dangerous weapons.
Moreover, it would be misleading for Biden apologists to claim that the rarity of prosecution means the Justice Department regards false statements on the firearms form to be a trifling matter. To be sure, there should be more prosecutions. But when there are prosecutions, the Justice Department trumpets them. Check out, for example this 2018 press release, entitled, “Convicted Felon Indicted for Making False Statements on a Federal Background Check while Attempting to Purchase a Firearm.” In that case, the government charged both the general false-statements offense and the more specific false-statements offense related to firearms. The statement issued by the U.S. attorney for Western Tennessee, who brought the case, is worth quoting:
Prosecutions of violent crimes must be paired with proactive prevention efforts to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and other prohibited persons. A valuable tool in this prevention effort is the ATF Background Check Form 4473, which must be completed before a federally licensed firearms dealer sells or transfers a firearm. Criminals and other prohibited persons who attempt to thwart the background check process by lying on the required forms threaten to undermine this important crime prevention tool, and such conduct cannot be tolerated. . . . Let this serve as a warning: This office will vigorously prosecute any prohibited persons who attempt to illegally obtain a firearm in these “lie-and-try” cases.
Big talk . . . but will the Justice Department back it up when the matter involves a Democrat with unparalleled connections and no shortage of press sympathy? A Democrat who did not merely “lie-and-try” but, it appears, lied and . . . got the gun.”
——-
And lie he did.
https://thefederalist.com/2021/03/26/read-the-gun-background-check-form-where-hunter-biden-claimed-he-wasnt-using-drugs/
“Hunter Biden was the subject of a strange missing firearm case in 2018 after Hallie Biden, the wife of his late brother and subsequently Hunter’s girlfriend, tossed it into a trash can behind a grocery store near a high school, according to a strange new report from Politico. It appears Hunter, the son of President Joe Biden, might have lied on the federal forms he filled out to purchase the gun a few months prior, forms The Federalist has now obtained.
Hunter answered “no” to a question on the Firearms Transaction Record asking whether he was an “unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance.” See question 11.e on the form below:”
—-
“Hunter’s history of drug use is well-known, and he’s scheduled to release a tell-all memoir about it in April. His lifestyle contributed to his divorce from his wife Kathleen in 2017. Hunter “created financial concerns for the family by spending extravagantly on his own interests (including drugs, alcohol, prostitutes, strip clubs, and gifts for women with whom he has sexual relations), while leaving the family with no funds to pay legitimate bills,” his ex-wife said in the divorce filing.
The now-president’s scandal-ridden son was in numerous drug and alcohol rehab programs, including in 2003, 2010, and 2014, soon after being discharged from the military for using cocaine. According to the New Yorker, he also went on a cocaine binge in 2016. His infamous laptop he dropped off for repairs in 2019, a story which tech giants and the media aggressively tried to cover up during the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, included graphic photos and video of Hunter allegedly smoking crack cocaine while engaged in a sex act.
It’s unclear whether Hunter was using drugs around the time of his firearm purchase or what timeframe the question “are you a user of” illicit substances implies. Hunter was, however, suspected of smoking crack cocaine in a Washington, D.C., strip club in late 2018. He purchased the firearm the same year on Oct. 12.
The alleged incident occurred just blocks from the White House at Archibald’s Gentleman’s Club, where Hunter spent thousands of dollars on multiple visits. One security worker at the club said Hunter was a regular who would hole up in a VIP room, but the club’s managing partner James Ritter said one night in late 2018 included a “suspicion of drug use.””
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I wonder how many of the “Woke” crowd realize they’re following the teachings of a pedophile?
Ignorance seems to be everywhere in this crowd, so I’m hoping not many. The “Woke” need to wake up.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/french-philosopher-michel-foucault-abused-boys-in-tunisia-6t5sj7jvw
“The philosopher Michel Foucault, a beacon of today’s “woke” ideology, has become the latest prominent French figure to face a retrospective reckoning for sexually abusing children.
A fellow intellectual, Guy Sorman, has unleashed a storm among Parisian “intellos” with his claim that Foucault, who died in 1984 aged 57, was a paedophile rapist who had sex with Arab children while living in Tunisia in the late 1960s.”
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Lies. liars, and propaganda. Today’s media, summed up.
https://thefederalist.com/2021/03/26/when-the-powerful-say-truth-is-a-lie-and-lies-are-the-truth-no-one-will-stand-up-for-america-but-you/
“When The Powerful Say Truth Is A Lie And Lies Are The Truth, No One Will Stand Up For America But You
In an age when Americans have grown used to casually shrugging away their freedoms at the whim of TV pundits, this kind of propaganda is seriously dangerous.”
“Open The New York Times’ politics page Thursday morning and the top headline reads, “Democrats Begin Push For Biggest Expansion In Voting Since 1960s.” It’s a story about the most important election power-grab in modern legislative history, with a slim, partisan majority of senators seeking to wrest control of elections away from state governments to ensure Democrat control for decades to come.
For starters, H.R. 1 will ban voter ID requirements, mandate early voting windows, allow outside activist groups to deliver votes for counting, do away with notarized absentee ballots, force states to accept absentees for 10 days after an election is over, narrow the Federal Election Commission by one member to allow for partisan control, mandate counting illegal aliens in voting districts, allow the IRS to investigate non-profits’ political ideas, and make it nearly impossible to sue over the new rules.
In short, it’s a story about Democrats aiming to seize massive power over how elections are run. Of course, you wouldn’t get any of that information from The New York Times headline or copy. In fact, funny enough, the second story on The New York Times’ politics page Thursday morning was the one headlined, “Republicans Aim To Seize More Power Over How Elections Are Run.”
That one’s a story about Republicans working to pull control of the elections back from judges and officials’ extra-legislative “emergency rules” and rulings. The moves, the story reports with a straight face, are “threatening the fairness that is the bedrock of American democracy.”
Reasonable people can disagree on if they think the Democrats or Republicans are right or wrong in their different initiatives, but the stark difference between these two top news headlines is glaring — and not too long ago would have been deeply embarrassing to any serious news editor.
Meanwhile, over at Axios, the news sites’ two co-founders wrote an article about President Joe Biden’s plan to “re-engineer America quickly.” At a closed-door White House meeting, they report, “the historians” agreed with the presidents’ thinking that, “It is time to go even bigger and faster than anyone expected. If that means chucking the filibuster and bipartisanship, so be it.”
There’s virtually zero skepticism in their reporting. Instead, in the condescending little “Why It Matters” breakdown, readers are treated to how bold and historic this massive left-wing power-grab will be. “[Biden] won’t rub [Republicans’] noses in it,” they write, predicting instead that he is on his way to becoming a modern President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
The intensity with which these outlets simply spewed Democratic propaganda Thursday morning was shameless. While this is no longer unusual, in an age when Americans from coast to coast have grown used to casually shrugging away their freedoms at the whim of a television doctor and his political allies, this kind of propaganda is seriously dangerous.
For the past year here in Washington, D.C., as well as in cities and states across the country, we’ve been told not to gather with our friends, neighbors, and family, not to worship God with our parishes, and not to visit our sick or elderly loved ones. We’ve even been told not to admire outdoor beauty, with the National Park Service’s Tuesday announcement that they will be choking off the number of people permitted to admire the cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin this spring.
And every single day we are subjected to more base lies disguised as lofty truths. Breathing freely without two masks is selfish. Staying indoors is good for your neighbors. Our differences are what make us a community. We are all in this together.
Powerful black people are oppressed and poor white people are privileged.
Qanon is marching on Washington and the Ku Klux Klan is right behind every door.
Men are women, women are men, and pregnant women make great professional soldiers.
Power-grabs are voting rights. Election integrity threatens “the bedrock of American democracy.”
Joe Biden is an historic visionary.
“War is peace.”
“Democracy dies in darkness.”
Except that last one is true. The problem, of course, is while corporate media were excited to scream it from the rooftops during President Donald Trump’s four years in office, at a time the most powerful people in the country are insisting the truth is a lie and their lies are the truth, many of our best-known reporters are not merely absent, they’re complicit.”
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Good news, at least for me. 🙂
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9408577/Vaccine-protection-stronger-previously-infected-coronavirus-study-finds.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490
“Vaccine protection is stronger for those previously infected by coronavirus, study finds
Those previously infected by coronavirus are more protected by Pfizer vaccine
Antibody levels against South African and Brazilian variants are 15 times higher
The study took blood samples from 237 vaccinated NHS workers aged 22 to 71”
“Vaccines may work better in people who have already had Covid – and could more effectively protect against the South African and Brazilian variants.
Those previously infected with coronavirus produced almost seven times the amount of antibodies after a single Pfizer jab compared to people who have not had the virus.
Their antibody levels against the South African and Brazilian variants were also 15 times higher, a study shows. And they had seven times more T-cells – the vital immune cells which react to the virus.
Infected people had a level of protection after just one jab which others had to wait for their second jab to achieve, the study found. “
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For those keeping score….
Neanderthals – 1
Senile Old Biden – 0
———-
https://www.foxnews.com/us/texas-covid-numbers-decrease-17-days-after-mask-other-restrictions-lifted
“Texas COVID numbers decrease 17 days after mask, other restrictions lifted”
“Just over two weeks after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott lifted coronavirus mandates allowing businesses to operate at 100 percent capacity and made masks optional, the red state is still reporting decreases in cases and hospitalizations.
The governor championed his state’s success in a Friday night tweet saying, “Today Texas recorded the lowest 7-day COVID positivity rate since that data began being calculated: 5.43%.”
“We also recorded the largest daily number of vaccines administered to Texans: 342,849. More Texans getting vaccines will keep down the positivity rate,” he said, though adding that receiving the vaccine was “always voluntary.”
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CONTENT WARNING FOR VIOLENCE!
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And then the media jumps into garbage mode to defend the criminals.
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CONTENT WARNING!!!!!
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CNN wins for most garbage take….
https://twitter.com/HaugenTX/status/1375916935465086980
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Disgusting.
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I’m sure the AP stylebook will soon note the propaganda changes for reporters.
“The AP steps up to help flailing Biden admin, tells staffers not to use the word “crisis” when writing about the border crisis
ABC News/IPSOS Poll: Majority view border crisis a ‘crisis’”
https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/03/the-ap-steps-up-to-help-flailing-biden-admin-tells-staffers-not-to-use-the-word-crisis-when-writing-about-the-border-crisis/
“As the Biden administration lies about the border crisis and tries to bully Republican lawmakers into deleting their photos of Biden’s over-crowded illegal immigrant cages, the media works overtime to try to obfuscate the crisis.
It’s not working, though, according to a recent ABC News/Ipsos poll that shows the majority of Americans see the border crisis as a crisis and disapproves of Biden’s handling of it.
Biden has banned news media from the cramped “pods” (new word for “cages”) where the Wuhan coronavirus runs rampant amid inhumane conditions, and the media is happy to accept that. We hear no cries of suppression of the press or fascism now that their guy is in the White House, and we will not.
Indeed, rather than demanding access to the detention facilities that are overflowing with children, the media is opting to avoid the topic unless it’s a vomit-inducing cheerleading piece about what a nice guy Biden is and how hard he’s working to help and how he just needs more money to throw at the problem.
So serious are media outlets about propping up Sleepy Joe “Kids in Cages” Biden that the AP has instructed staffers not to use the term “crisis” in discussing the border crisis. I kid you not.
Fox News reports:
The Associated Press agrees with President Biden’s White House that the situation along the U.S. southern border is not a “crisis,” and it instructed staffers not to use the dreaded c-word when reporting thousands of unaccompanied children have attempted to enter the country.
Journalist Julio Ricardo Varela tweeted a series of images from an internal memo the AP distributed warning staffers not to call the situation a crisis. The Associated Press confirmed its authenticity in a statement.
“That is indeed is a memo from AP Vice President and Editor-at-Large for Standards John Daniszewski,” an AP spokesperson said to Fox News.
. . . . One of the memo’s “tips” revolved around the word “crisis,” which the newsgathering service warned reporters not to use.
“The current events in the news – a sharp increase in the arrival of unaccompanied minors – is a problem for border officials, a political challenge for Biden and a dire situation for many migrants who make the journey, but it does not fit the classic dictionary definition of a crisis,” the memo said.
“Therefore, we should avoid, or at least, be highly cautious, about referring to the present situation as a crisis on our own, although we may quote others using that language,” the memo continued. “If using the word ‘crisis,’ we need to ask of what and to whom.”
. . . . Associated Press style and guidelines are used by news organizations across the globe and often set the tone of the way news is characterized.
Here are the related tweets:”
“This latest edict from the AP is likely a response to polling that shows that despite the best efforts of the media arm of the Biden White House, Americans stubbornly refuse to believe their lies.”
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Branco nails it.
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The video that goes with the Sen. Cruz border story:
https://rumble.com/vf4oj1-video-of-ted-cruz-being-blocked-from-recording-bidens-kids-in-cages-breaks-.html
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https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/861-criminals-caught-crossing-texas-border-area-including-92-sex-offenders-official_3752532.html
“A Border Patrol section chief reported that in recent days, more than 861 criminals have been encountered at the border, including 92 sex offenders and 63 gang members.
“Within the copious amounts of groups being encountered in” the Rio Grande Valley sector in Texas, “a Salvadoran man with a prior conviction for murder was discovered” along with 862 criminal aliens, Chief Patrol Agent Brian Hastings wrote on Twitter Saturday.
Hastings wrote that recently, agents encountered five large groups of illegal immigrant families, unaccompanied minors, and some adults—totalling 539.
Embedded in the groups were about 93 unaccompanied children, Hastings said, adding that so far in 2021, more than 18,000 such children have been encountered by agents.”
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Be afraid…..
CDC director warns of “impending doom” as COVID cases increase while barely containing her tears.
https://www.axios.com/cdc-fourth-wave-db0a4d6e-3942-4719-9743-62912e5557e0.html
“Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky went off script at a briefing Monday and made an emotional plea to Americans not to let up on public health measures amid fears of a fourth wave.”
“I’m going to reflect on the recurring feeling I have of impending doom,” Walensky said, appearing to hold back tears. “We do not have the luxury of inaction. For the health of our country, we must work together now to prevent a fourth surge.””
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My how things have changed…..
“Filibuster Hypocrisy: Biden Supported It, Harris Led It, Dems Used It”
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Franklin Graham and the evangelic debate over vaccines.
https://religionnews.com/2021/03/26/franklin-grahams-evangelical-base-doesnt-like-his-defense-of-vaccines/
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Franklin Graham unfazed after evangelical base blasts him for encouraging vaccines
Graham’s March 24 Facebook post uncovered a deep divide among evangelicals, many of whom are suspicious of COVID-19 vaccines. His organization, Samaritan’s Purse, is managing vaccine clinics in Boone, North Carolina.
… when it comes to medicine, count Graham an advocate.
Part of it is his own family history.
His mother’s father, Dr. L. Nelson Bell, was a medical missionary to China.
“When the polio vaccine came out, he was asked to take charge of vaccinating the children in our small area of North Carolina,” Graham recounted of his grandfather. “They put a blue vaccine in a sugar cube. You put it in your mouth and that was it.”
Graham is now following in his footsteps.
In Boone, North Carolina, Samaritan’s Purse has partnered with the Watauga County Health Department, a local pharmacy and a local church to vaccinate 3,500 people. …
… “I’ve seen first hand what COVID will do and believe me, you do not want it,” Graham said. “It’s not the cold. It has a dark, ugly side to it.”
Graham said he will stop short of requiring all Samaritan’s Purse employees to get the vaccine. But he’s also clear that if his employees must travel, they may not be able to perform their jobs if they are not vaccinated, because some airlines won’t allow them to fly.
Graham said he’ll continue to advocate for vaccines and has been vaccinated himself — as has his family.
“Look how many people’s lives (vaccines) have saved? Millions of lives,” he said. “We’ve had smallpox, measles. The list goes on. I would encourage everyone to pray about it and consider it.”
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2 things Graham said I couldn’t agree more with.
“… “I’ve seen first hand what COVID will do and believe me, you do not want it,” Graham said. “It’s not the cold. It has a dark, ugly side to it.””
and then on the vaccine…
” I would encourage everyone to pray about it and consider it.””
Seems like good advice. Then act as your conscience leads you. This isn’t politics, it’s life and death. Act accordingly.
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Genius! 🙂
They are kidding, right? 😲
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4:54 — I agree about conscience with regard to the vaccines. That also comes into play in the voting booth for each of us as well.
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Here it comes…
Yet they want to resist requiring Voter IDs?
https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/biden-administration-responds-to-reports-on-development-of-vaccine-passports_3753379.html
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4:57 hilarious.
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Although there was some mention of a repeal or freeze on the waiting period in Boulder, most of the media I consume mentioned the misogyny connecting the Georgia and Boulder shootings. As I age, the more I see the connection between mass shootings and violence in general to toxic masculity/misogyny. This correlates with the general knowledge that in honor based culture (as opposed to rule of law) violence is higher.
Over the last year, its been interesting to see the cherry picking of covid stats to benefit whatever political side you cheer for. The Texas stats cited above could be countered by the low testing in Texas. You will find less covid if you test less and texas is near the bottom in testing per capita.
French intelectuals in the 60s and 70s and sexually deviant behaviour correlated no matter what politcal or philosophical view they had. Its not an excusde for Foucault but it was incredibly common in that era. Beyond that I fail to see the connection between Foucault’s sexual behaviour and the “woke” crowd. The origin of “woke” is soley American. Foucautl had a historical and structural approach to power, sex, gender, morals etc — made him a supreme relativist but not much of a woke liberal.
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On the agenda for Georgia state legislators this week:
Parental Obscenity Appeal Act” SB 226 is designed to empower parents to appeal for the removal of obscene materials from GA public schools. This bill brings to light the obscene materials in our school libraries through physical books and the Galileo/Ebsco databases.
These materials glorify sexual assault, rape culture and violence against girls, children and women. Ebsco markets these materials to K-12 schools and consistently rank on the National Center on Sexual Exploitation’s “Dirty Dozen List”.
Also, check out the Protect Student Health website for more info
Georgia is definitely Blue in such matters. So sad this even has to be addressed.
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