A Revolution in the Minds of the People

posted by J.B. Shurk at American Thinker

"What do We mean by the Revolution?  The War?  That was no part of the Revolution.  It was only an Effect and Consequence of it.  The Revolution was in the Minds of the People, and this was effected, from 1760 to 1775, in the course of fifteen Years before a drop of blood was drawn at Lexington."

Those are the words of John Adams from a letter written to Thomas Jefferson in 1815, nearly forty years after the colonies declared their independence.  Having had more than enough time to grapple with the world-shifting events the two revolutionaries helped set in motion and looking back from the vantage point of success in their endeavors, Adams understood that American victory did not belong to the historical giants of their time, but rather emerged from the thoughts and dreams of the common people.  

His conclusion is no less true today than it was back then.  Before you can transform any system, you must first liberate the minds trapped within that system.  If that sounds like an impossible task, it is not.  In 1760, the American colonies were not united, and the American colonials were loyal to a far-off king.  Fifteen years later, their revolutionary fervor turned the world upside-down.  Today, Americans are not united, and the American government appears loyal to the World Economic Forum's king.  Consider where we'll be fifteen years from now.  Things appear to happen awfully fast for those in power when they insist on burying their heads in quicksand.  

I make no bones about it: I have a guttural revulsion to one-world-government types who seek to rule the world by turning domestic populations against themselves.  "Divide and conquer" is the only strategy they know, and oppression disguised as altruism is the only outcome they bring.  They speak obsessively about racism not because they seek racial peace, but rather because the exploitation of such petty, ancient hatreds distracts people from the real problems those with power continue to create.  They preach about "climate change" not because they fear that our planet is coming to an end, but because scaring humanity into handing governments complete control over the use of energy hands governments complete control over humanity as well.  They hyperventilate over COVID variants today not because they seek to save lives, but because they seek to monitor and manipulate every movement of every life from here on out.

Just this week, the World Health Organization is putting the finishing touches on a set of amendments to its International Health Regulations that seek to further weaken American sovereignty and empower bureaucrats in faraway, foreign offices to bully ordinary Americans in the name of "health."  The Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit dedicated to religious freedom, has done an excellent job going through the forty-six pages of proposed amendments to highlight a few of the most obscene:

– In Article 1, the WHO is transformed from an advisory body to a governing body whose "standing recommendations" may be legally binding.

– In Article 3, the agency seeks to remove any formal limitations upon its power formerly requiring it to maintain "respect for the dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons," and instead replaces this language with a Marxist commitment to "principles of equity, inclusivity, [and] coherence."

– In Article 13A, the WHO's director general is empowered to redistribute wealth from advanced nations to poorer nations.

– In Article 18, the WHO is empowered to mandate treatments, proof of vaccination, contact tracing, and quarantines.

– Throughout the forty-six pages of proposals, the WHO creates the institutional structure for digital vaccine passports.

– In Article 45, the WHO is empowered to disclose personal health data.

– In Annex 1, the WHO is empowered to censor what it determines to be misinformation or disinformation.

At the end of the day, who watches WHO(m)?  Certainly not the American people!  Three years of COVID-1984 insanity put on steroids and made permanent, so that the World Economic Forum's global cabal can have a new, powerful toy.  What an absolute totalitarian nightmare!  Relax, the kind, international health authorities tell the world's peasants.  We come in peace.  We need only for you to hand over your dignity, human rights, and freedoms and submit to our system of Marxist socialism, forced medical experimentation, lockdowns, digital tracking, and censorship — and in exchange, we will save your lives!  Scratch that, you have no choice; our directives are now legally binding!  Ha-ha, suckers!  Science!

Tyranny always comes in the form of false benevolence in which those who profess to be doing the most good are actually orchestrating deep and costly harm.  It should be no surprise that totalitarianism today arrives under the guise of medical authority.  When spiritual faith and moral virtue are eliminated from society, scientific "objectivity" becomes the perfect vehicle for spreading tyranny because its priests insist that a higher power of unbiased professionalism guides their actions. 

When the "golden rule" is replaced with the cold, diagnostic rule of "just following the science," great evils are perpetrated against humanity — in the name of humanity — at the behest of self-declared learned men.  Eugenics, genocide, and forced sterilization all had the resolute backing of "science" at one time, and those who insist on forgetting those atrocities while elevating transgender mutilation, abortion on demand, "climate change" population control, and forced experimental COVID injections in their stead only place themselves in a special category of "useful idiot" for future historians to dissect.

While the United Nations and World Health Organization work the science angle to strip Americans of their rights and liberties, Pretend President Biden has joined hands with his communist comrades in arms from Canada and Mexico to release a joint "Declaration of North America," in which Biden, Trudeau, and López-Obrador make clear that American sovereignty and self-determination will be replaced with a Marxist, bureaucratic super-state.  Echoing the WHO's newly created mission objectives, North America's Commie Declaration asserts that government obsessions with diversity, inclusion, equity, climate change, mass migration, and health will forever take precedence over individual liberty, limited government, constitutional safeguards, or the Bill of Rights.  Welcome to the "ruling class's" progressive vision for Americans' future, in which a tyranny of self-proclaimed expertise will be used to smother Americans' freedoms for their "own good."  It goes without saying that the DNA should be put on DNR ASAP.

Does this make you mad?  Does this get under your skin and put a grimace on your face?  Good.  Cold, righteous anger is what changes the world — not the Machiavellian machinations of the World Economic Forum's national security surveillance State.  The globalists have bought into their new deterministic religion that quantifies human beings as nothing more than algorithms that can be manipulated at will to do the bidding of the self-identified "ruling elites."  They see themselves as "gods" and the rest of us as "ones" and "zeroes" who have no free will of our own.  As with all destroyers of humanity who falsely identify as its saviors, they are blinded by ignorance and consumed by hate.  While they seek more and more control over humanity, they are waking up more and more humans who refuse to be controlled.  They are reminding the world that the real battle before us is between "progressivism's" obsession with death and the human race's natural inclination to be free.

When George Washington crossed the Delaware River in a surprise attack against Hessian forces on Christmas Day, after all, he didn't first ask permission from a Deep State or make sure the health bureaucracy said, "okay."  No Dr. Fauci, WHO, or DNA could have gotten in the general's way.  What the globalists don't understand is that in America and throughout the West, the Delaware River lies just ahead.  And once a revolution in the minds of the people begins, they'll waste no time getting to the other shore.

X22, Christian Patriot News, and more- Jan 15

 

To any sterotypical radical on here who is convinced that every Christian conservative wants every gay person in this country to be forced to leave whatever hippie they're banging and be forced to marry of their opposite gender or be sent to jail, you couldn't be more wrong if you tried. (seriously, where do you even get these stupid ideas from, the MSM?)

Lots of Christian conservatives don't actually hate gays, they just don't like seeing their lifestyle so politicized and publicized. Why? Because now it is nothing more then a brainwashing method to get dummies to think that being with someone of your own gender is actually better then marrying a man and having a real family! You can't even get pregnant with someone of your own gender, what good is that?

Plus, the so called 'gay community' wants nothing more then to shove their lifestyle in children's faces. (I'm sure you've all seen the stories of drag queens going naked in public and having children dance with them while wearing drag).

Look up how actual gays really acted 50 or 60 years ago. They never wanted their lifestyle to be so public or exploited, they just wanted to be left alone and treated like normal people. And they definitely never wanted to shove their alternative lifestyle down everyone's throats. Now, that lifestyle is completely exploited, and all of it is for political and brainwashing means. And the worst part: The lefty politicians who claim to want to protect all gays? They would throw them all under a bus the 1st chance they got if it was political gain.

So there. Christian conservatives have no desire to see these alternatives be forced to marry of their opposite gender or be thrown in jail, we just don't like seeing their lifestyle being exploited for political and very obvious brainwashing gains. Why? Because we don't like seeing good people being used by evil folk who would throw these people under the bus the 1st chance they got if it was for political gain.

(and also, there's a VERY interesting debate on this in yesterday's comment thread which was started today by 1 of the 'strong and brave' loonies on here: https://wwwp-lives.blogspot.com/2023/01/x22-on-fringe-and-more-jan-14.html )

Now, on to tonight's news:

A Call from Alexander Hamilton

posted by J.B. Shurk at American Thinker

In light of the dismaying set of events that has put our country at great risk, it is intriguing to read the words of Alexander Hamilton to George Clinton dated February 13, 1778.  Written from Valley Forge immediately after his arrival at headquarters, Hamilton expressed his deep concern about the “degeneracy of representation in the great council of America.”

Hamilton notes that each day Americans “see and feel, that there is not so much wisdom in a certain body, as there ought to be, and as the success of our affairs absolutely demands.”

Many members of it are no doubt men in every respect, fit for the trust, but this cannot be said of it as a body. Folly, caprice, a want of foresight, comprehension and dignity, characterise the general tenor of their actions.

Of relevant concern to 21^st century Americans is Hamilton’s assertion that

Their conduct with respect to the army especially is feeble, indecisive and improvident -- insomuch, that we are reduced to a more terrible situation than you can conceive.

Furthermore, “[this] has produced such carelessness and indifference to the service, as is subversive of every officer-like quality.”

Consider how the current American military brass is betraying the United States by “embracing leftist racism and anti-Americanism.  Their radicalism is pushing conservatives out of the armed forces while undermining unit cohesion and troop morale.”  Critical Race Theory (CRT) has infiltrated the military and dividing members of the armed forces into opposing camps of ‘oppressors’ and ‘oppressed’ [.]” 

Defense Secretary­­­­­­­­ Lloyd Austin is an advocate of anti-American views and has required CRT and the 1619 Project as part of the military training programs.

Moreover, Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has worked to “divide and weaken the military by bringing the Black Lives Matter curriculum of anti-white and anti-American hate into its ranks.”

In 2020, Admiral Michael Gilday, Chief of Naval Operations vowed to eliminate “systemic racism.” 

Although Marxism is the animating feature of the above, Alexander Hamilton’s words highlight that “they have disgusted the army by repeated instances of the most whimsical favouritism in their promotions; and by an absurd prodigality of rank to foreigners and to the meanest staff of the army. They have not been able to summon resolution enough to withstand the impudent importunity and vain boasting of foreign pretenders [.]”

Fast forward to 2023 and we find ourselves being manipulated by Will Hansjorg Wyss, a Swiss billionaire. Daniel Greenfield points out that “Hansjorg Wyss is not an American citizen, yet he appears to be living in America under an investor visa and using his fortune to ‘drastically influence American politics with the complicity of the IRS, the FEC and the rest of the government.’”

How infuriating that the Mexican President is grateful to Joe Biden for not enforcing American immigration law!

Hamilton notes that because of the “injudicious changes and arrangements… they have exposed the army frequently to temporary want, and to the danger of a dissolution... such that desertions have been immense, and strong features of mutiny begin to show themselves.”

It is indeed to be wondered at, that the soldiery have manifested so unparalleled a degree of patience, as they have. If effectual measures are not speedily adopted, I know not how we shall keep the army together or make another campaign.”

Consider that currently amid a recruitment crisis, the Defense Department is poised to axe troops for refusing COVID injections despite the daily news that “[m]any health experts question the benefit of the shots for healthy young people because they are statistically not at risk of death or serious complications from COVID, while there are serious risks associated with the injections.”

Of equal concern, is the Army’s “discarding its mandate for potential recruits to have a high school diploma or GED certificate to enlist in the service, and relaxing its tattoo rules.”

One can no longer dismiss the deep incursions of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) into our elections, educational systems, and our decision making processes.  Listen to what Hamilton writes as he notes how foreign intrusions were harming the country

It is become almost proverbial in the mouths of the French officers and other foreigners, that they have nothing more to do, to obtain whatever they please, than to assume a high tone and assert their own merit with confidence and perseverance.

Hamilton also asserts that “[i]f you look into their conduct in the civil line, you will equally discover a deficiency of energy dignity and extensiveness of views.”

How can there be “extensiveness of views” when presently censorship is alive and well in our country?

America once had a representation, that would do honor to any age or nation. The present falling off is very alarming and dangerous. What is the cause and how is it to be remedied are questions that the welfare of these states requires should be well attended to.

You should not beggar the councils of the United States to enrich the administration of the several members.

Think Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden who have enriched themselves beyond belief while doing irreparable harm to the American people.

Realize to yourself the consequences of having a Congress despised at home and abroad. How can the common force be exerted, if the power of collecting it be put in weak, foolish and unsteady hands?

Contemplate the fact that “only 7% of Americans have a ‘great deal’ or ‘quite a lot’ of confidence in Congress.”

How can we hope for success in our European negotiations, if the nations of Europe have no confidence in the wisdom and vigor, of the great Continental Government? This is the object on which their eyes are fixed, hence it is America will d[e]rive its importance or insignificance, in their estimation.

In fact, Europeans’ attitudes towards the United States have undergone a massive change. Majorities in key member states now think the U.S. political system is broken, and that Europe cannot just rely on the U.S. to defend it.  These are welcome words to our enemies.

Ultimately, Hamilton concludes that “it is necessary [that] there should be a change.

America will shake to its center, if there is not.

I have discovered such convincing traits of the monster, that I cannot doubt its reality. 

Observe the present-day monsters are those American politicians and others who befriend the CCP, Iran, and other foes of the country.  So many individuals in the Congress are far too cozy with the enemies of the United States. Any more honey pots, Eric Swalwell?  Trevor Loudon has extensively researched these connections.

All the true and sensible friends to their country... ought to be upon the watch, to counterplot the secret machinations of [the] enemies.

Hamilton fought for the Constitution and wrote more than half of the Federalist papers.  He declared that

The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records.  They are written... by the hand of the Divinity itself, and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.

Civil liberty cannot possibly have any existence, when the society for whom the laws are made have no share in making them.

Consider the draconian restrictions of Biden or the repressive edicts by Gavin Newsom or the disgraceful American Gulag resulting from January 6^th.

As we hold our breath, it is with the most ardent hope that the House of Representatives of the 118^th Congress will work assiduously to halt the corruption and lawlessness that has plagued our great country for far too long.

Alexander Hamilton’s words should serve as a tocsin and a beacon.

Eric Swalwell

Obsessing over Racism

posted by Robert Weissberg at American Thinker

It is said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and this certainly seems to apply to America’s current race relations. Ill-advised accusations of White racism are ubiquitous, as if expunging this alleged toxicity will bring a racial Utopia. In fact, such allegation will only make bad situations worse. To invoke another cliché, with friends like this, who needs enemies?

Consider, for example, how Williams College recently ended its policy of requiring all graduates to pass a swim test, or if they failed the test, take a swimming course. The reason for the cancellation: being able to swim was deemed racist and thus ill-suited to the college’s commitment to racial diversity. Specifically, D. Clinton Williams, director of the college’s Pathways for Inclusive Excellence condemned such tests as a vestige of American’s horrific racism since those unable to swim. and thereby required to take swimming instruction, were disproportionately Black. 

This equity may turn deadly. According to CDC data, Blacks are 1.5 times more likely to drown than Whites. This is particularly true for youngsters. For children aged 5 to 9, the drowning ratio is 2.6; for children aged 10-14, it is 3.6 times higher. Most shockingly, among those aged 10-14, the ratio in public swimming pools is 7.6 times higher for Blacks. Hardly surprisingly, the CDC advises that swimming lessons can help prevent death by drowning.

A second example comes from the prestigious Scientific American and addresses the high levels of obesity among Black women. The facts are simple: four out of five Black women are either overweight or obese and this condition is associated with  cardiovascular, inflammatory, and metabolic risk factors and true regardless of diets , whether they smoke or exercise.

What causes life-threatening obesity? According to the two authors (one White, one Black), “...the main problem dogging Black women builds on these historically racist ideas and ignores how interrelated social factors impact Black women’s health. It also perpetuates a misinformed and damaging message about weight and health. Indeed, social determinants have been shown to be more consequential to health than BMI or health behaviors.”  If true, what’s the cure? Tellingly, it’s all about how Black women are viewed and perceive themselves, not actual behavior -- "But many studies show that the stigma associated with body weight, rather than the body weight itself, is responsible for some adverse health consequences blamed on obesity, including increased mortality risk.” In other words, if fat Black women are treated as normal and therefor enjoyed higher self-esteem, they will not suffer serious illness -- pure mind over matter.

Meanwhile Marta Schaffer is a California English teacher who tells her students that proper grammar is part of White supremacy (she also uses Tik Tok to spread the message). According to Ms. Schaffer, children should be taught that what they speak is correct English, no matter how grammatically wrong or garbled. To learn “proper English,” according to Ms. Schaffer means obeying the powerful Whites who are imposing White supremacy.

Her particular focus is instructing Black students in  African American Vernacular English. Her advice is just to speak in the language of friends and family and ignore the rules of standard usage. Nor does it matter that such speech may be unintelligible to outsiders, uncertain in its meaning, and laced with profanity and slang. Indeed, according to this English teacher, transition words like “however” and “therefore” just reflect misogyny, White supremacy, and colonialization. Also forget about proper citations in writing essays.

Tellingly, she is unconcerned that not learning standard English guarantees a life of poverty if not confused thinking and being unable to communicate even simple ideas. What college would admit these babblers? Could such a person decipher a newspaper or write a straightforward letter? America would return to a past era when local dialects made it difficult for residents of one village to communicate with those just over the mountain. Yet one more hair-brained scheme to harm those she intends to help.  

These examples are hardly unique. There are those who insist that exercise just reflects White supremacy as does math. Should Blacks avoid gyms and refuse to study math? What about the alleged racism of science and classical music? Ditto for racism as the culprit for the design of our highways or the higher COVID mortality rate among Blacks. Did you know that even ignoring skin color is a form of racism? Did you also know that football has just been declared racist despite Blacks dominating the NFL while earning millions?  Even the current often ill-advised mania for cryptocurrency has racist overtones. No doubt, this racism everywhere catalogue will only expand.

Particularly notable is the lack any evidence, let alone scientific proof, for these accusations. No FDA-like agency exists to certify that, for example, eliminating words with racist overtones from the English language would help anyone. Are obese Black women disease free if they live where they are accepted as normal? In fact, nobody dare broaches the idea that allegations of racism must be proven. Mere assertion constitutes proof and, as we saw, this holds even in journals like Scientific American that proport to promote science. This is quackery whose purpose seems to excuse Blacks of bad behavior while avoiding learning how to swim, lose weight, or master English grammar.

What can possibly explain this torrent of terrible advice? Clearly the answer is not the desire to help Blacks, given the obvious crackpot nature of guidance. The most likely explanation is that a high demand exists for exposing ubiquitous White racism to explain Black tribulations versus holding Blacks accountable to their behavior. Now, an underemployed Dean of Diversity dealing with struggling Black students will “discover” once overlooked, nearly invisible forms of toxic racism and thus justify his salary.  Ambitious professors seeking publication in a prestige journal will “discover” new incarnations of White racism just as physicists search for new subatomic particles.  

As pressure mounts for novelty, so ever more bizarre forms of this toxic element must be found -- yesterday it was all-White school textbook pictures so today it must be having to listen to Mozart. Raving and ranting against White racism serves as a cheap ticket to notoriety. America suffers an obsession with racism, not racism.

This rush towards nonsense has huge costs. The parade of wild, unfounded accusations makes serious discussions of complex issues impossible. The very idea of cost/benefit calculations is taboo. Imagine trying to address high rates of drowning among Black children. Suggestions about mandatory swimming lessons will likely be met with shrill cries of racism, and yet more racism. Some “genius” will explain that swimming lessons are a plot to drown Black children. Racial quackery crowds out serious effort to solve difficult problems needing solutions.

Sadly, little can be done to stop the flood of nonsense. The mass media apparently craves these wild-eyed rants and ignores the consequences of poisoning public debate. Nor are there any barriers to participating in this “racism is responsible” dog and pony show. The Scientific American article was not written by medical experts, and one could argue that tolerating this hogwash suggests that anything written about Blacks that blames Whites will be judged by the lowest possible standard.  With barriers to entry so low, and the lure of easy notoriety so tempting, it is no wonder that America seems totally awash in White racism.

Can Republicans Still Win National Elections?

After a disastrous 2022 midterm performance, the Republican Party may be poised for a period of prolonged opposition at the national level.

Michael O'Shea reporting for The Federalist 

The 2022 midterm elections were a catastrophe for Republicans, and a historic one at that.

Every meaningful trend favored GOP candidates: uneasy economic conditions, an unpopular president who seems better suited to a bingo hall, a volatile foreign-policy environment, and a midterm voter pool that has consistently favored Republicans. Democratic candidates won many competitive Senate races, and the nearly inevitable Republican takeover of the House barely materialized. Some candidates, like Kari Lake in Arizona, snatched defeat from the jaws of certain victory. And President Trump vented his frustration at pro-lifers who fueled his 2016 victory. It might be time to ask: Can Republicans still win at the national level?

History shows that American politics is reliably cyclical. So, too, is this kind of catastrophizing. After the 2004 election, some pundits spoke of the end of the Democratic Party; four years later, that same party emphatically won the White House and Congress, including a filibuster-proof Senate supermajority that allowed passage of Obamacare.

Furthermore, both parties are reliably incompetent at governing and, really, anything besides fundraising and generating anger. Once one achieves an edge, as Democrats currently enjoy now, the hourglass starts pouring. Think about it this way: It’s only a matter of time until the party of drag queen story hour becomes embroiled in a major scandal or otherwise wrecks its credibility.  

Yet, these observations rely on historical experience and ignore statistical realities that are increasingly unfavorable for conservatives. For all the left’s heartburn over the Electoral College, it’s a system that isn’t all that friendly to Republicans these days. If we consider Donald Trump a generational anomaly, the Republicans haven’t won under this system since George W. Bush did it in 2004, a time when states such as Colorado, Nevada, and Virginia still fell comfortably into the Republican column. Bush even won New Mexico, a state the Republicans don’t contest anymore.

Let’s use Trump’s 2016 victory map as a starting point. A nearly perfect set of circumstances delivered Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, states that hadn’t voted Republican in decades. The idea that this is easily replicable is an optimistic one. Then, are Arizona and Georgia’s Democratic turns just temporary blips? There is disappointingly little evidence for this theory. Pickups of states like Nevada or New Hampshire wouldn’t be shocking and could offset losses in other places, but they aren’t worth many electoral votes. And there is also the Republican Party’s need to maintain control of states like North Carolina and Texas; the massive migration of people from left-wing states to job-rich locales in the American South is no secret, nor are the Democrats’ ambitions in these places.

Thus, a Republican presidential victory relies on some combination of high performance in the Rust Belt and key holds in the Sun Belt. A candidate like Gov. Ron DeSantis, who seems lab-engineered to be president of the United States, running against an uninspiring Biden-Harris ticket amid poor economic conditions, might run this gamut. The smart money might even be on that outcome. But what about when these critical circumstances aren’t aligned in favor of Republicans? Can they hope to win even 50 percent of the time?

Even in the event of a comfortable DeSantis victory, he is probably looking at a ceiling of something like 315 electoral votes (Trump won 304 in 2016). By comparison, the Democrats start off with almost 200 from just the West Coast, Illinois, New York, and New England, places that would vote Democratic even if the candidate killed someone on camera.

Thus, in the coming years, we could see a departure from the seesaw that has characterized American politics for more than half a century. Democrats might be positioned to win well over half the time. For a glimpse of how this would work, one need only look at how Canada’s Conservative Party, contending with large-scale immigration and population consolidation in major metro areas, has lost three consecutive national elections and seems uncertain about how to achieve a different outcome.

This can play out in one of three ways. Most favorable for Republicans would be the wholesale realignment of voters, specifically the long-awaited migration of Latino voters to the GOP. This sort of process is inevitable in politics — Trump signs outside Pittsburgh union offices, for example, would have been unthinkable not so long ago, but it is slow and unpredictable, and neither politicians nor voters are known for patience.

Next, the Republican Party could endure a prolonged period of opposition, like the Labour Party in the United Kingdom or the Social Democratic Party in Germany during Merkel’s tenure. These parties have been large and influential enough to influence policy, but politics is about winning, and opposition parties by definition do not. It is also unlikely that American politicians of either party would have the discipline to prioritize principles over power.

That leads to the third possibility, in which the Republican Party moves leftward and abandons policy positions that it cynically deems troublesome. We witnessed an element of this recently when 39 Republican congressmen and 12 Republican senators accepted the “resistance is futile” ultimatum of influential societal institutions and supported the ironically named “Respect for Marriage Act.”

You can bet the Republican establishment is not willing to wave goodbye to its precious suburban, white-collar voters who sport pronouns in their LinkedIn profiles and want abortion on demand for a rainy day. Overtures to these voters would consign the more conservative elements of the Republican coalition to supporting a third party that can’t win or a lesser-of-two-evils party that doesn’t reflect their values. This is the worst of the three outcomes; conservatives should take it seriously and fight it uncompromisingly.

Joe Rogan Compares George Soros to a Batman Villain — 'He Funds Corrosion'

Alex Parker reporting for RedState 

Podcast host Joe Rogan has an idea about billionaire George Soros, and it’s straight out of the movies.

On Wednesday’s edition of The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), the comedian welcomed former CIA operative Mike Baker. Amid the interview, a famed name came up.

“I had a conversation…about him with (Republican Texas Gov.) Greg Abbott, where he was explaining to me what George Soros does.”

Joe isn’t a fan of George’s reported approach to crime:

“[I]t’s [flipping] terrifying that he donates money to a very progressive, very leftist — whether it’s a DA or whatever — politician and then funds someone who’s even further Left than them to go against them. And (he) just keeps moving it along. So he’s playing, like, a global game. And he enjoys doing it.”

Much has certainly been made of Soros’s backing. In 2021, the New York Post noted his major moves:

For the last several years, billionaire philanthropist George Soros has been quietly financing a revolution in criminal justice reform, doling out tens of millions of dollars to progressive candidates in district attorney races throughout the country amid movements to abolish bail and defund the police.

Working with an activist attorney, Soros, 91, mainly funnels cash through a complicated web of federal and state political action committees as well as non-profits from coast to coast, public records show.

His investments in personnel have included Los Angeles DA George Cascón. Last June, RedState’s Jennifer Oliver O’Connell offered searing words regarding radically-soft-on-crime Gascón and “illegitimate (media) outlets that gave him rise”:

What a disservice to the citizens of Los Angeles County and the victims of crimes who have been disenfranchised and re-victimized thanks to Gascón’s policies. These victims are overwhelmingly women, and overwhelmingly people of color. This is usually the favorite victim groups of progressives nationwide, yet these are the groups that are being ignored and dismissed because of Gascón’s wet dream of criminal justice reimagined.

Back to JRE, erstwhile CIA man Mike pointed to America’s most potent power seats:

“You know, we sometimes think, ‘A senator — that’s the pinnacle of success.’ Well, it’s not, really. It’s the DAs, and it’s the state-level politicians. That’s where real change occurs and where things can happen.”

Soros, Mike said, “likes being the puppet master. He likes pulling strings, he likes having that influence and that impact.”

Joe called to horror:

“That’s what’s scary. It seems like he funds corrosion. It’s like he wants these cities to fall apart.”

George is quite the Joker:

“He wants crime to flourish. It’s almost like he’s an evil person in a Batman movie.”

Though Joe is frequently accused of being right-wing, he definitely is not. And it isn’t often anyone not firmly on the Right is heard casting George Soros in a negative light — or any light at all. Are more people in the middle becoming aware of the man? They are now — as Joe continues to defy categorization and expose his listeners to ideas they may not hear in their respective bubbles. Money talks, and George Soros has a lot of it. But when Joe Rogan talks, 11 million people listen.

OpEd: Government Should Fight Second Amendment Redlining as Aggressively as Fair Housing Redlining

posted by Dennis Santiago at RedState 

The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of this site.

The Second Amendment remains under attack, and it’s time for Congress to demand that “Fair Access to Banking Services” rules be re-prioritized by the banking industry.

Earlier on Saturday, my colleague Kira Davis reported that Wells Fargo cancelled the accounts of Del Ray, Florida-based Wex Gunworks. Reportedly, Well Fargo deemed the dealership, which supplies a full range of firearm services to Floridians, too risky for a banking relationship with the company. Of note to students of 2A politics, in the case of Wex Gunworks, is that it is a federally licensed NFA Class III dealer in machine guns and silencers, which are legal for Floridians to own. But gun control activists have been pushing ESG departments to act against companies, regardless of state law or business legality. Reportedly, Wells Fargo went further, and severed the personal accounts of owner Brandon Wexler as well.

According to a report in The Reload by journalist Stephen Gutowski,

Wexler, who has been cited in stories by the New York Times, Washington Free Beacon, CNN, ABC, and many more publications, said nothing had changed with his business. He said he believed the move by Wells Fargo was motivated entirely by animus against the gun industry.

“It feels like it’s a direct attack against gun dealers,” he said. “This all just happened recently, and we have been in business for many years. I’ve never ever seen anything like this.”

Except this isn’t the first time Well Fargo has been in the news doing this.

Back in July 2020, I penned an article on RedState titled “Wells Fargo Risks Reputation Over Private “Chokepoint” Policy Against Gun Industry,” noting that the bank was under scrutiny that it might be changing its stance on accounts with the firearms industry to follow the policies of what is known in policy circles as a privatized version of the discredited government initiative known as Operation Chokepoint.

This was when banks turned to adopting discriminatory Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) policies that effectively redline certain impolitic industries, which includes the firearms industry, under the nebulous definition of “too risky to do business with.” My article at that time noted that in 2020, it was already official bank regulatory policy that financial institutions had been instructed to cease this type of business/industry redlining practice since 2015. But some banks chose to carry on with the practice, while being careful not to document the political reasons for cutting ties with a booming firearms industry. This article reported that a US Senate committee had expressed concern and was making inquiries to bank regulators as to why this practice was being allowed to continue.

By December 2020, I reported in my RedState article, “As Gun Industry Continues to Be Shunned by Banks, Regulators Move to Enforce Fair Access,” that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency was responding to the call for fair access to banking services by the hampered industries and was in the process of issuing a new rule that would ban such practices.  That rule was passed in January 2021 and was then put on hold, following the transition from the Trump to the Biden presidency.

This continuing hold on enforcing fair access enabled this latest incident to happen to Mr. Wexler’s company. I recently updated my coverage of this saga on December 25, 2022, in an article in America’s 1st Freedom, “The Financial War on Our Freedom,” which describes how some banks have continued to weaponize their ESG to attack politically incorrect companies. Mr. Wexler’s company became a victim of this ideology war around the same time the article was published, proving the concern remains a present danger and deserves attention by Congress and regulators in 2023.

It’s redlining when banks attack otherwise healthy businesses in economically robust industries and cause them to be less viable in the marketplace. Using the excuse that internal risk calculations by the bank as the basis for non-participation in a credit, lending, or account services relationship is the same excuse that some banks have used in the past to avoid establishing accounts or making loans to minority or impoverished communities.

When a bank does the latter, forces are set into motion where a government enforcement agency begins to compile evidence of a pattern of discrimination, eventually leading to enforcement actions and payments of fines or settlements, often amounting in the millions of dollars, as part of reparation of harm done.

Congress should demand the same type of aggressive enforcement for fair access principles in business credit and lending that the massive federal apparatus is doing for housing and community development. Impolitic or not, every healthy business is a vital part of keeping the US economy afloat, particularly during an inflationary and recessionary phase. Washington should be asking why the “Fair Access to Banking Services” rules that would punish banks for weaponizing their ESG departments against their customers are in a state of in limbo in the Code of Federal Regulations.