In an attempt to maintain complete transparency, all research and statistical fact-checking for each article can be found below

Covid-19; You Might Want to Cancel Those Vacation Plans Next Summer ...

Published November 14, 2020 In April 2020, Pew Research did a poll showing that if a vaccine were available, 72% of those polled would take it.: https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2020/09/17/u-s-public-now-divided-over-whether-to-get-covid-19-vaccine/ Gallup did the same poll at the end of September /beginning of October 2020, the number dropped to 50%: https://news.gallup.com/poll/321839/readiness-covid-vaccine-falls-past-month.aspx​ Herd immunity ... Sweden tried that route with its people, getting catastrophic results: https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200813/swedens-no-lockdown-policy-didnt-achieve-herd-immunity​ In the case of the Pfizer vaccine, it's showing initial data of being 90% effective: https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/pfizers-covid-19-vaccine-90-percent-effective-initial-data-68138​ Oxfam ... reported 13% of the world's population has purchased 51% of the promised doses for leading vaccine candidates: https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/small-group-rich-nations-have-bought-more-half-future-supply-leading-covid-19

The GOP's Parler Tricks

Published November 16, 2020 Alexandria Splonskowski, "I was just sick of being censored for just posting different opinions nothing hurtful, nothing harmful, just having a different viewpoint than the far left." https://www.kfyrtv.com/2020/11/11/social-media-app-parler-tops-charts-sparks-controversy According to estimates from Sensor Tower ... from November 3rd to November 9th, 2020, Parler was downloaded more than two million times in the United States. https://www.cnet.com/news/parler-downloads-soar-as-conservatives-flock-to-the-twitter-clone-after-biden-win/

The Republican Legislation Which Could Legalizie Murder During A Riot

Published November 21, 2020 McCloskey's came out with husband Mark brandishing an AR-15 rifle, while wife Patricia had her finger on the trigger of a semi-automatic handgun. ... “I really thought it was storming the Bastille — that we would be dead, and the house would be burned, and there was nothing we could do about it. It was a huge and frightening crowd.” https://www.vox.com/2020-presidential-election/2020/8/24/21398970/mark-patricia-mccloskey-republican-convention-guns-black-lives-matter Because of the outpouring of love by the conservative base for Mr. and Mrs. McCloskey's actions, they were asked to speak at the 2020 Republican National Convention. https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-53891184 ROADWAY OBSTRUCTION AMENDMENT: https://le.utah.gov/Interim/2020/pdf/00004501.pdf

The Supreme Court Rulings Untethering Police From The Law

Published November 25, 2020 Heien v. North Carolina https://www.npr.org/2014/12/15/370995815/supreme-court-rules-traffic-stop-ok-despite-misunderstanding-of-law According to Henry A. Wallace Police Crime Database, along with the Washington Post's police shooting database, between the years of 2005 and 2014 there were around 1,000 people fatally shot every year by police officers. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database/ The first happened on June 27th, 2005 in the case of Castle Rock v. Gonzales. barneslawllp.com/blog/police-not-required-protect Justice Antonin Scalia wrote, "Our cases recognize that a benefit is not a protected entitlement if government officials may grant or deny it in their discretion." https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/545/748/

Section 230 And The Real Constitution Crisis: The Freedom of Speech

Published November 29, 2020 47 U.S.C. § 230, a Provision of the Communication Decency Act https://www.eff.org/issues/cda230 Two months later during a Senate Hearing, Professor Eugene Volokh of UCLA School of Law and Feinstein got into a back-and-forth about free speech. https://reason.com/2017/06/19/in-major-free-speech-victory-scotus-rule/ Senator Patrick Leahy Quote 11/29/18 (D Senator VT): The First Amendment was the most important part of our Constitution because it promised the freedom of speech. https://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/112918defendingpressfreedom Freedom of speech executive order https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-colleges/trump-vows-executive-order-requiring-free-speech-at-colleges-idUSKCN1QJ0JD Mitch McConnell calling the SJW's: “the grievance-industrial complex,” https://nypost.com/2020/07/22/mitch-mcconnell-quotes-salman-rushdie-in-cancel-culture-speech/ EARN IT ACT https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/116/s3398 Section 230 is one that would do so by stripping it of all its protections. These protections would only be given back if internet companies follow a list of "best practices" set up by a government commission of 15 people. eff.org/deeplinks/2020/03/graham-blumenthal-bill-new-path-doj-finally-break-encryption

Qanon: The Most Dangerous American Conspiracy Theory

Published December 1, 2020 A study published on April 7, 2011 in the Current Biology journal https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(11)00289-2 The most famous incident that involved the pedophile ring was "Pizzagate." https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/12/5/13842258/pizzagate-comet-ping-pong-fake-news For those of you unfamiliar with Qanon, it is a conservative conspiracy group/theory that top Democrats like Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and George Soros are the leaders of a worldwide pedophile ring. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/how-three-conspiracy-theorists-took-q-sparked-qanon-n900531 Agency Advance Democracy, a nonpartisan nonprofit that tracks misinformation, found that 1 in 7 tweets about “#Dominion” https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/11/16/5-facts-about-the-qanon-conspiracy-theories/ "The Storm." https://www.nytimes.com/article/what-is-qanon.html Qanon falls silent after election https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/qanon-donald-trump-2020-us-election-b1721362.html the FBI has classified Qanon as a domestic terrorist group. hsdl.org/c/conspiracy-theory-trends-qanon/

Covid-19; Update, Apparently It Does Impact The Children

Published December 9, 2020 In the Granite School District in Utah, nearly 14,000 in-person and online students received one or more F grades or incompletes in the first quarter — more than twice the number from the first quarter in 2019. Another 1,200 students received all Fs or incompletes — a whopping five times greater than last year. https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2020/11/08/thousands-utah-students/ Covid-19 vaccine: First person receives Pfizer jab in UK: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55227325 Oregon's McNary High School located in Salem-Keizer Public School district, 38% of grades in late October were failing, compared with 8% in normal times. Also, hundreds of students initially had not just Fs, but grade scores of 0.0%, indicating they simply were not participating in school at all. https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/schools-confront-off-rails-numbers-failing-grades-74571072 In Charleston, South Carolina, administrators and teachers are raising the possibility of adjusting grading the way they did in spring, where instructors were told to give 50s instead of 0s to make it less punitive for disengaged students. https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/nation-world/schools-confront-failing-grades/507-738f4fec-7dc6-4ada-a26c-582ef4724c8c Prior to COVID-19, 37 million people in the U.S. struggle with hunger. Feeding America estimates that as a result of the pandemic, that number may rise to 54 million people, including 18 million children in 2020. https://www.feedingamerica.org/sites/default/files/2020-09/FA_Supply_Demand_One-pager_FINAL.pdf Hospitals face catastrophic financial challenges in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The AHA estimates a total four-month financial impact of $202.6 billion in losses for America’s hospitals and health systems, or an average of $50.7 billion per month. https://www.aha.org/guidesreports/2020-05-05-hospitals-and-health-systems-face-unprecedented-financial-pressures-due#:~:text=Hospitals%20face%20catastrophic%20financial%20challenges,of%20%2450.7%20billion%20per%20month. After ranking countries based on their levels of education and health, the study found that the US ranked 27th in the world on these metrics as of 2016, behind a host of top-ranking Nordic countries, including Finland, Iceland, Denmark, and the Netherlands. https://www.businessinsider.com/us-ranks-27th-for-healthcare-and-education-2018-9 Retention may bestow advantages in the short-term, but longer term detrimental effects on social acceptance may lead to the documented longer term negative effects of retention. Alexander, Entwisle, and Dauber (2003) found that early-retained children in Baltimore schools, relative to matched promoted children, were more likely to drop out of school in adolescence, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2864494/ About 13 million US workers have more than one job. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/06/about-thirteen-million-united-states-workers-have-more-than-one-job.html

The New Year's Resolution That Democrats Need To Make — And Complete — In 2021

Published December 21, 2020 AOC calls Amazon jobs a 'scam' because more than 4,000 of its employees are on food stamps. In 2019, she called into question why Amazon paid zero in federal income taxes on more than $11 billion in profit. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/aoc-calls-amazon-jobs-a-scam-because-more-than-4000-of-its-employees-are-on-food-stamps/ar-BB1c3Zry?li=BBnb7Kz Walmart and McDonald’s are among the top employers of beneficiaries of federal aid programs like Medicaid and food stamps, according to a study by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office. https://www.gao.gov/assets/720/710203.pdf Other notable companies with a large number of employees on federal aid include Amazon, Kroger, Dollar General, and other food service and retail giants. About 70% of the 21 million federal aid beneficiaries worked full time, the report found. Walmart recently reported net income of $5.14 billion for its most recent quarter, while McDonald’s reported net income of $1.76 billion for the same period. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/19/walmart-and-mcdonalds-among-top-employers-of-medicaid-and-food-stamp-beneficiaries.html In a 2013 study by Americans for Tax Fairness, it was found that Walmart's low-wage workers cost U.S. taxpayers an estimated $6.2 billion in public assistance including food stamps, Medicaid and subsidized housing, according to a report published to coincide with Tax Day, April 15. https://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/04/15/report-walmart-workers-cost-taxpayers-6-2-billion-in-public-assistance/?sh=5f8f13fb720b Though the full-year net income fell 5.7% in 2013, they still generated a net income profit of $16 billion. https://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2014/02/20/wal-mart-lowers-outlook-as-profit-falls-and-same-store-sales-decline-could-a-family-dollar-acquisition-turn-things-around/?sh=3f210b1b1cdc It shows there are 41.2 million working people, or nearly 30 percent of the workforce, receiving public assistance such as food stamps, housing subsidies and cash assistance to make ends meet. https://www.ibtimes.com/welfare-america-most-low-wage-full-time-workers-use-food-stamps-housing-assistance-2300713

Washington D.C. To Host First-Ever Purge: Beginning January 6th, 2021

Published January 4, 2021 Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., was the first senator to announce plans to object to the electoral vote count. He received swift criticism from senior Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2021/01/03/senate-republican-schism-electoral-vote-certification/4112162001/ Ted Cruz of Texas, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and nine other Republican US senators or senators-elect said on Saturday they will reject presidential electors from states where Donald Trump has contested his defeat by Joe Biden, “unless and until [an] emergency 10-day audit” of such results is completed. Utah Senator Mitt Romney described it as “nonsense”, the idea that a congressional audit would restore trust in the election, saying the American people trusted federal judges more than Congress. Though I disagree with the assessment of citizens trusting federal judges, he is correct that an audit itself would restore complete faith in the process (given that almost half of the country doesn't believe the process anyway if the results don't pan out). https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/02/ted-cruz-republican-senators-reject-election-result-biden-trump McConnel: "the politics of fear have no place in our society," https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/wheres-my-money-mitch-mcconnell-home-vandalized-after-dollar2000-stimulus-check-vote-blocked/ar-BB1cq6VQ?li=BBnb7Kz Rep. Gohmert Calls for Street Violence as Another Legal Loss Sends MAGA World Spiraling U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Kernodle, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, dismissed a hail-mary lawsuit filed by Gohmert and 11 Arizona Republicans that attempted to give Vice President Mike Pence the ability to overturn the results of the November presidential election won by Joe Biden.Gohmert then seemed to encourage violence as a means to this end. “But bottom line is, the court is saying, ‘We’re not going to touch this. You have no remedy’—basically, in effect, the ruling would be that you gotta go the streets and be as violent as Antifa and BLM.” https://news.yahoo.com/rep-gohmert-calls-street-violence-183409939.html These Are The Republicans Who Have Acknowledged Biden’s Victory https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/12/10/these-are-the-republicans-who-have-acknowledged-bidens-victory/?sh=70eb9357417b

The Aftermath of Democracy's Funeral; How Did We Get Here?

Published January 7, 2021 Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said ... https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/live-blog/electoral-college-certification-updates-n1252864/ncrd1253068#blogHeader ... reality it was Donald Trump Jr. that had the loudest ... https://thehill.com/homenews/532886-donald-trump-jr-gathering-of-trump-supporters-in-dc-should-send-a-message-to-gop Eric Trump solidifed this conflict with a tweet ... https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/06/politics/eric-trump-republicans-2022/index.html

The Importance of President Joe Biden's First Transgression

Published January 17, 2021 "I see no way this gets 10 Republican Senate votes in its current form," Brian Riedl, a budget expert at the conservative-leaning Manhattan Institute in touch with GOP offices, said in an interview. https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-stimulus-plan-uphill-battle-through-congress-republicans-economic-aid-2021-1 In fact, this latest inaccuracy portrayed by Biden has even been used to stoke the fires of the "Ocasio-Cortez v. Biden (Traditional Democrats)" war. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-stimulus-plan-aoc-problem “We will finish the job of getting $2,000 in cash relief to people who need it the most,” Biden said, adding that the “$600 already appropriated is simply not enough.” https://www.marketwatch.com/story/two-ways-joe-bidens-proposed-stimulus-checks-are-different-from-the-first-two-rounds-11610735997

Immigration and the Last Echos of MAGA

Published January 22, 2021 Often we have heard the argument that it was Antifa which was bussed in and stormed the US capitol. https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-antifa-police-dc/fact-check-d-c-police-did-not-act-as-private-security-for-antifa-on-jan-6-claims-feature-old-video-idUSKBN29B2V7 Attorney General Bill Barr called Antifa the "new form of urban guerrilla warfare.” https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/bill-barr-antifa-is-new-form-of-urban-guerrilla-warfare With quotes from people like Jenna Ryan ... https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-capitol-siege-riots-32a212d3ac899905be744632d236862c You are nervous. ... https://www.heritage.org/immigration/commentary/does-the-us-owe-amnesty-future-illegal-immigrants An Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) is a tax processing number issued by the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS issues ITINs to individuals who are required to have a U.S. taxpayer identification number but who do not have, and are not eligible to obtain, a Social Security number (SSN) from the Social Security Administration (SSA). https://www.irs.gov/individuals/individual-taxpayer-identification-number The $900 billion relief package approved in December ... According to the National Immigration Forum, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/two-ways-joe-bidens-proposed-stimulus-checks-are-different-from-the-first-two-rounds-11610735997 ... provided a pathway to citizenship for 11 million people living in the country illegally. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/18/us/biden-executive-orders-first-days.html Biden to propose 8-year citizenship path for immigrants https://apnews.com/article/biden-8-year-citizenship-path-immigrants-4f2dffdb7a688e1e126a62a8acd59730

Wall Street Vs. The Middle-Class; How We Learned to Count Cards In The World's Largest Casino

Published January 29, 2021 Melvin Capital is a hedge fund (worth US$12.5 billion until recently) took a "short position" on Gamestop. https://theconversation.com/gamestop-how-redditors-played-hedge-funds-for-billions-and-what-might-come-next-154076 Friedman said the Nasdaq's role as a "self-regulatory organization" is to make sure activity in the market is "legitimate" and to root out manipulation in the market. https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/nasdaq-monitors-social-media-halts-unusual-trading-friedman-market-manipulation-2021-1-1030011156 There isn't enough space in this article to list everyone who lives in the world of wealth or power and has been incarcerated for various felonies tied to these activities. https://www.govtrack.us/misconduct It has already been determined that there will be hearings by the Democratic leaders of the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/28/gamestop-cruz-ocasio-cortez-blast-robinhood-over-trade-freeze.html Because of the upheaval that this has caused, even Adena Friedman, CEO of NASDAQ, has spoken ... https://news.yahoo.com/nasdaq-head-calls-regulators-manage-182306902.html Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2020/03/25/billionaire-bill-ackman-100-fold-return-on-coronavirus-hedge-2-billion/?sh=1f994d326fcc Per Dictionary.com, manipulate means: to adapt or change (accounts, figures, etc.) to suit one's purpose or advantage. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/manipulate

Minimum Wage and Income Inequality

Published February 4, 2021 “None of us on either side want to live in a scorched-earth Senate,” McConnell said. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/26/mcconnell-scorched-earth-fillibuster/ For the third time in six years, the majority party in the Senate detonated the so-called nuclear option in April 2019 ... https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/03/us/politics/senate-republicans-nuclear-option.html You see that when the minimum wage had been increased to go along with inflation (which was done in ... https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/history/chart Yet since the late 1960s, lawmakers have let the value of the minimum wage erode. https://www.epi.org/publication/raising-the-federal-minimum-wage-to-15-by-2024-would-lift-pay-for-nearly-40-million-workers/ Early in 2020, Pew Research released two studies that exemplify the wage inequality in America. https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/ The wealth gap between America’s richest and poorer families more than doubled from 1989 to 2016. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/02/07/6-facts-about-economic-inequality-in-the-u-s/ The average full-time minimum worker needs to work at least 97 hours to afford a two-bedroom rental or 79 hours per week to afford a one-bedroom rental, according to the report. https://www.businessinsider.com/full-time-minimum-wage-workers-cant-afford-rent-anywhere-us-2020-7#:~:text=The%20average%20full%2Dtime%20minimum,rental%2C%20according%20to%20the%20report.

The Covid-19 Vaccine Rollout Catastrophe From A Frontline Worker's Perspective

Published February 8, 2021 The Covid-19 vaccine has been approved under the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the FDA https://www.fda.gov/emergency-preparedness-and-response/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/covid-19-vaccines This is a new type of vaccine, one that doesn't include any live or dead virus, one that modifies your RNA so your immune system can fight off the virus. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines/mrna.html

The Defect and Other Lies By Omission

Published February 10, 2021 I have included in the bibliography a link which has the history of the US deficit, https://www.thebalance.com/us-deficit-by-year-3306306 “This is a cowardly budget. I'm going to tell you why because he didn't -- and I think there's a set-up going on here.” https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/hannity-obamas-cowardly-budget-will-bankrupt-the-country

Is The U.S. Constitution Worth The Paper It's Written On?

Published February 16, 2021 “It will be of little avail …
https://ammo.com/articles/founding-fathers-quotes#:~:text=%E2%80%9CAny%20government%20is%20free%20to,a%20party%20to%20the%20laws.%E2%80%9D&text=%E2%80%9COur%20new%20Constitution%20is%20now,certain%20except%20death%20and%20taxes.%E2%80%9D
“The Constitution, on this hypothesis, is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the Judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please.”
https://www.constitutionfacts.com/?section=funZone&page=famousquotes.cfm “The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.”
http://www.whatwouldthefoundersthink.com/the-founders-on-a-living-constitution Also, in a 2000 Office of Legal Counsel memo,
https://www.lawfareblog.com/indicting-president-not-foreclosed-complex-history

Rush Limbaugh Was Right About ONE Thing; Also, Dems Need To Pull Their Heads Out Too ...

Published February 21, 2021 "Can somebody point to me the conservative on the ballot?" Limbaugh asked on his radio show, according to a transcript posted to his official website.
https://www.businessinsider.com/rush-limbaugh-donald-trump-not-conservative-2016-9 "What I would say to Senator McConnell: I know Trump can be a handful, but he is the most dominant figure in the Republican Party," the South Carolina Republican continued. "We don't have a snowball's chance in hell of taking back the majority without Donald Trump. If you don't get that, you're just not looking." There is no question former President Trump bears moral responsibility," McConnell wrote Monday in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal of the riot. "His supporters stormed the Capitol because of the unhinged falsehoods he shouted into the world's largest megaphone. His behavior during and after the chaos was also unconscionable, from attacking Vice President Mike Pence during the riot to praising the criminals after it ended."
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/16/politics/trump-mcconnell/index.html "Former President Trump's actions that preceded the riot were a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty," added McConnell. "Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day."
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/13/politics/mitch-mcconnell-acquit-trump/index.html Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez insisted …
"We, the Democratic Party, gave up a lot of leverage," Ocasio-Cortez said of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act passed in March.
https://www.businessinsider.com/we-need-new-leadership-aoc-criticizes-pelosi-and-schumer-2020-12 "Why does AOC complain that you have not been grooming younger people for leadership?"
https://www.businessinsider.com/pelosi-rejects-aoc-concerns-about-democratic-party-leadership-video-2021-1
With the recent $1.9 Trillion proposal released by Biden,
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/14/politics/biden-economic-rescue-package-coronavirus-stimulus/index.html

Utah GOP Thinking For Themselves; Breaking From LDS Church And Party

Published February 24, 2021 “Part of our doctrine is the principle of moral agency — people make choices for themselves,” said Jack Gerard, an LDS general authority Seventy. https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2018/09/12/recreational-use/ Utah has unfortunately ranked in the top 10 in the nation for overdose deaths over the past 10 years. https://www.ksl.com/article/50049960/covid-19-complications-likely-increasing-the-severity-of-utahs-opioid-crisis#:~:text=As%20with%20COVID%2D19%2C%20the,falls%2C%20and%20motor%20vehicle%20crashes. “It is a time for Utahns to celebrate,” Christine Stenquist, a medical cannabis patient and founder of the advocacy group TRUCE Utah, said. “I think it’s fantastic that we’ve crossed this hurdle.” https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2018/11/07/medical-marijuana-leaps/ The replacement legislation crafted by lawmakers and both sides in the Prop 2 debate overhauls pretty much everything. https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2018/12/03/utah-house-passes-medical/ “Although Senator Romney and I usually vote together — and with a majority of Senate Republicans, we voted differently,” said the statement from Lee issued through his 2022 reelection campaign. “It shows neither one of us blindly defers to anyone.” https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2021/02/19/sen-mike-lee-is-defending/ “I’m not in a place yet where I’m comfortable with the bill as it stands right now,” Cox said Thursday at his monthly news conference with PBS Utah. “Those discussions are ongoing. We still have a lot of work to do.” https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2021/2/19/utah-gov-meeting-transgender-kids-changes-your-heart

Why Are The Wealthy Profiting From Human Suffering?

Published February 27, 2021 When setting up the infrastructure, former Governor of Texas George W. Bush …
“Deregulation was something akin …”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/21/us/texas-electricity-ercot-blackouts.html First off, the Enron Scandal.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Enron-scandal The Wall Street Journal did an excellent job giving the numbers, context, and impact of Covid-19 on the market.
Wading into the market during swoons big and small has been profitable over the past 10 years.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-did-stock-markets-rebound-from-covid-in-record-time-here-are-five-reasons-11600182704
The latest available government data, via the Federal Reserve from 2016, shows a relatively small share of American families (14%) are directly invested in individual stocks but a majority (52%) have some market investment mostly from owning retirement accounts such as 401(k)s.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/teresaghilarducci/2020/08/31/most-americans-dont-have-a-real-stake-in-the-stock-market/ The stock market hit a new high, over 30,000 in November 2020. At that time, the national unemployment rate was 6.7.
https://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/national-employment-monthly-update.aspx In the month of November 2019 it ended at 28,054.41
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/29/dow-futures-black-friday-thanksgiving-holiday.html

President Joe Biden Has Added Another Hypocrisy To The List

Published March 1, 2021 California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna. "There is absolutely no justification for a president to authorize a military strike that is not in self-defense against an imminent threat without congressional authorization."
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/27/politics/syria-airstrike-biden-letter-to-congressional-leadership/index.html “The United States took this action pursuant to the United States’ inherent right of self-defense as reflected in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter,” Biden wrote in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President pro tempore of the Senate Patrick Leahy.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/27/biden-tells-congress-syria-strikes-are-consistent-with-us-right-to-self-defense.html As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee …
Biden acknowledged, “We voted to give him the authority to wage that war. We should step back and be supportive.”
https://www.factcheck.org/2019/09/bidens-record-on-iraq-war/

Democrats Voted To Increase Income Inequality Over The Next 4 Years

Published March 9, 2021 The experiment gave 125 people living in neighborhoods at or below Stockton's median household income, $500 per month for two years with no strings attached, measuring participants' job prospects, financial stability and overall well-being.
https://www.npr.org/2021/03/04/973653719/california-program-giving-500-no-strings-attached-stipends-pays-off-study-finds A study of the period from February 2019 to February 2020 that was recently released determined that full-time employment rose among those who received the guaranteed income and that their financial, physical and emotional health improved.
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6039d612b17d055cac14070f/t/603ef1194c474b329f33c329/1614737690661/SEED_Preliminary+Analysis-SEEDs+First+Year_Final+Report_Individual+Pages+-2.pdf “‘Today … we must cultivate the science of human relationships — the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together and work together in the same world at peace,’” Biden said. “To live together and work together. That’s how I see America. That’s how I see the presidency, and that’s how I see the future.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/10/27/joe-biden-quotes-fdr-goal-heal-pandemic-political-divisions/5989076002/ “The president’s preference is not to get rid of the filibuster,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said,
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/08/biden-filibuster-reform-474503 So looking at those Democrats who voted against the measure and why you begin to see a trend.
A Congressional Budget Office analysis last month projected that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would increase the cumulative budget deficit by $53 billion over a decade.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/541860-the-eight-democrats-who-voted-no-on-15-minimum-wage "It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one."
https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/quotes/article/it-is-better-to-offer-no-excuse-than-a-bad-one/ In fact, it nearly doubled from 40 cents to 75 cents during the change from 1945-1950.
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/history/chart

Marjorie Taylor Greene And The Crumbling Republican Infrastructure

Published March 12, 2021
Democrat from Rhode Island David Cicilline told reporters he plans to propose a rule to bar members not serving on committees from proposing motions to adjourn, emphasizing that he was “dead serious.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhansen/2021/03/10/marjorie-taylor-greene-delays-19-trillion-stimulus-bills-final-passage-in-house/ "I think this is an end result of what the House has become, what the posture of the House has become," said Rep. Rodney Davis, a Republican from Illinois. "I think what you're seeing with a lot of the shenanigans on the floor is because so many members have so much time on their hands to be able to go to the floor, and worry about what's happening with suspension bills rather than moving along, trying to look at legislating into the future." GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, a high-profile member of the House Freedom Caucus, told CNN he had nothing to do with the effort to force the roll call votes but he had no problem with Greene exerting her rights as a member of Congress.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/08/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-delays-votes/index.html In February of 2021, Greene was stripped of all her committee assignments with 11 Republicans joining the vote to oust her.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55940542 I know that my actions, my vote may have political consequences. And I understand that. I absolutely understand that. But I can't be afraid of that.
https://www.npr.org/2021/02/18/968921857/gops-murkowski-who-voted-against-trump-will-likely-survive-challenge

Throwing Reparations At A Systemic Problem Isn't Going To Fix It, President Biden

Published March 15, 2021 The Agriculture Department expects farmers in 2021 to earn $11.8 billion more from selling crops than they did last year. Livestock receipts are also projected to climb, by $8.6 billion.
the government responded by pouring historic amounts of taxpayer dollars into the sector. Last year, a record $46 billion were paid in direct farm subsidies, accounting for almost 40 percent of the industry’s earnings last year.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/18/biden-farm-problem-bailout-money-469941 A month into his presidency, Joe Biden has indicated he’s in no hurry to undo the punitive trade measure his predecessor placed on China. Biden has announced no policy changes so far, and none of the 32 executive orders he has signed involve China or trade.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/biden-may-leave-trumps-china-tariffs-in-place-201328100.html The nation’s shrinking pool of minority farmers is due to receive $5 billion of assistance in the Covid-19 relief bill, reflecting the Democrats’ focus on the lingering impact of racism and their battle to take control of the Senate.
A century ago, there were almost 1 million Black farmers in America, representing 14% of U.S. farmers. By 2017, the last agricultural census, the number had dwindled to about 45,500--1.3% of the total number of producers. Black-operated farms accounted for only 4.7 million acres of farmland, 0.5% of the total.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-09/biden-bill-s-aid-to-minority-farmers-spotlights-post-trump-pivot a National Foundation for American Policy analysis concluded The Trump administration gave more taxpayer dollars to farmers harmed by the administration’s trade policies than the federal government spends each year building ships for the Navy or maintaining America’s nuclear arsenal. The spending on farmers was also higher than the annual budgets of several government agencies.
Total American agricultural exports to China were $24 billion in 2014 and fell to $9.1 billion in 2019, according to the American Farm Bureau.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2020/01/21/trump-tariff-aid-to-farmers-cost-more-than-us-nuclear-forces/ American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said of the Trump tariffs in 2019, “China’s announcement that it will not buy any agricultural products from the United States is a body blow to thousands of farmers and ranchers who are already struggling to get by.
“In the last 18 months alone, farm and ranch families have dealt with plunging commodity prices, awful weather and tariffs higher than we have seen in decades.
https://www.fb.org/newsroom/china-trade-standstill-more-bad-news-for-farmers almost all of President Donald Trump’s $28 billion bailout for those affected by the China trade war went to White farmers.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/03/08/reparations-black-farmers-stimulus/ Also, earlier in the year on an interview with Axios on HBO, President Joe Biden‘s senior advisor, Cedric Richmond, confirmed that the White House plans “to start acting now” on reparations for African-American citizens.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKppKR5EFeQ

Blue Lives Will Matter More If Blue Lives Stop Sexually Assaulting People

Published March 23, 2021 According to research from Bowling Green State University (BGSU) police officers in the US were charged with forcible rape 405 times between 2005 and 2013. That’s an average of 45 a year. Forcible fondling was more common, with 636 instances. According to the 2016 federally funded paper Police Integrity Lost: A Study of Law Enforcement Officers Arrested, it says "Police sexual misconduct and cases of police sexual violence are often referred to as hidden offenses, and studies on police sexual misconduct are usually based on small samples or derived from officer surveys that are threatened by a reluctance to reveal these cases." https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/19/us/police-sexual-assaults-maryland-scope/index.html Per a recent RAINN ((Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) study, only 230 out of every 1,000 sexual assaults are reported to police. That means about 3 out of 4 go unreported. When taking these numbers into account, one can only imagine when the dynamic of the perpetrator having that much power behind them. https://www.rainn.org/statistics/criminal-justice-system A former Jackson officer—choosing to remain nameless— said she left the department before her two-year employment commitment was fulfilled because of sexual harassment she endured from colleagues and her direct supervisor. https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/cops_courts/records-allege-misogynistic-culture-at-jpd/article_cd4359bd-885e-5da9-8be4-3396f54f8092.html In a stunning report by the Casper Star Tribune in 2018, these differences were shown in glaring light. https://trib.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/wyoming-law-protects-sex-assault-suspects-more-than-those-accused-of-any-other-crime/article_7163209a-89bc-5ffc-8c41-56aaef7e4721.html About 48% of Americans said they have a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in police, down from 53% the previous year and an all-time high of 64% in 2004. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/08/12/americans-confidence-police-falls-new-low-gallup-poll-shows/3352910001/

US Court Systems May Legally Classify GOP Base As "Mindless Individuals"

Published March 25, 2021 Using the examples laid by the Southern Strategy in the era of Nixon, most of which are still carried out today, it has been ingrained in the conservative movement to mold, adapt, assimilate to an area they can exploit. https://www.southerncultures.org/article/southern-strategy-from-nixon-to-trump One of the key factors in this ability to perpetuate deception resides in the fact that humans aren't very accurate at it. A 2016 paper by the American Psychology Association states, "research has consistently shown that people's ability to detect lies is no more accurate than chance, or flipping a coin. This finding holds across all types of people — students, psychologists, judges, job interviewers and law enforcement personnel." https://www.apa.org/monitor/2016/03/deception#:~:text=Research%20has%20consistently%20shown%20that,Social%20Psychology%20Review%2C%202006). Sydney Powell Court Filing "No reasonable person would conclude that the statements were truly statements of fact,” Powell's attorneys said in a court filing defending her against a billion-dollar defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20520809-sidney-powell-court-filing

Another Mass Shooting; Why American Arrogance Ensures Failure

Published March 29, 2021
The"Charleston loophole,"
This legislation would give authorities 10 business days for federal background checks to be completed before a gun sale can be licensed.
"These bills are a transparent attempt by gun control advocates in Congress to restrict the rights of law-abiding Americans under the guise of addressing the violent criminal culture in America," Jason Ouimet, head of the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action, said in a written statement.
https://www.npr.org/2021/03/11/976000003/house-passes-bills-to-strengthen-gun-laws-including-expanding-background-checks The second is the Sabika Sheikh Firearm Licensing and Registration Act of 2021, H.R. 127.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/127 According to a report by the Department of Justice called "National Instant Criminal Background Check System Section," in 2018, 4,240 background checks were denied nationwide after the three-day investigation period elapsed.
https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/2018-nics-operations-report.pdf/view Per the American Journal of Public Health findings, Reports suggest that up to 60% of perpetrators of mass shootings in the United States since 1970 displayed symptoms including acute paranoia, delusions, and depression before committing their crimes.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4318286/#!po=4.21687 The Salt Lake City Police Department is hoping to recruit a licensed social worker to help them in crisis intervention situations in the field.
https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/slcpd-looking-to-hire-social-worker-for-crisis-intervention The first being The Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021, H.R. 8
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/8

If The LGBTQ+ Community Wants To Be Taken Seriously, Stop Using The Same Attacks As The GOP

Published April 1, 2021 “Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women access to
the mainstream of society."
https://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur52.htm YouTuber D'Angelo Wallace uploaded a video at the end of March called "'Super-Straight' TikTok exists and it's as bad as you think …
“‘I’m super straight, I don’t like trans-women.’”
"That was iconic, she wins." He continued, "Legitimately, that was the best one of this entire compilation."
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-ttGQ_EDR8 British Attorney Rosa Freedman published an article in 2020 about the backlash she has received for her support of women's rights--yes, this includes people from America.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-the-comparison-between-trans-rights-and-the-holocaust-is-so-offensive
Per Amnesty International "According to Holocaust Memorial Day … https://www.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/lgbti-network/remembering-holocaust-murder-lgbti-people-not-yet-history

The Climate, The Unions, The Future: Do Gen Z and Alpha Stand A Chance?

Published April 4, 2021

They attempted to form a “Beef Trust”—a collaborative group made up of the five largest meatpacking companies—with its base of packinghouses in Chicago’s Packingtown area.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Meat-Inspection-Act

The Jungle brought about changes in the meat industry. With Amazon and the details about conditions upon which you have to poop in a bag begs the question how much? They are stopping unions and forcing unrealistic expectations. How much more do we need to incur before we realize we are re-living the 20th century all over again. Pandemic, stock market crash, woman vote (LGBTQ).
https://www.newsweek.com/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-posts-letter-amazon-admitting-it-keeps-finding-urine-bottles-after-1579159

When Democrat Senator Warren from Massachusetts criticized the corporate giant because of the controversy above, the corporate Twitter account responded to Warren's criticism by saying, "One of the most powerful politicians in the United States just said she's going to break up an American company so that they can't criticize her anymore." https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/amazon-s-anti-union-pr-efforts-amid-alabama-vote-are-ncna1262687

A 2019 report by Nature Ecology & Evolution found that up to one million plant and animals species face extinction, many within decades.

https://www.businessinsider.com/signs-of-6th-mass-extinction-2019-3

How Drugs, Fraud, And GOP Fundraisers Are Connected

Published April 6, 2021

President Trump's full campaign effort raised $495 million between Oct. 15 and Nov. 23, according to new FEC filings, a total that includes the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and other affiliated committees.
Much of the money being raised to help fund election challenges, like donations being solicited through requests to challenge the election outcome, isn't being funneled to a specific group.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/blog/meet-press-blog-latest-news-analysis-data-driving-political-discussion-n988541/ncrd1250011#blogHeader

It wasn't readily available and difficult to find. In doing this, the Trump campaign has found themselves in hot water. "Bandits!” said Victor Amelino, a 78-year-old Californian, who made a $990 online donation to Mr. Trump in early September via WinRed. It recurred seven more times — adding up to almost $8,000. “I’m retired. I can’t afford to pay all that damn money.”
In the final two and a half months of 2020, the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and their shared accounts issued more than 530,000 refunds worth $64.3 million to online donors. To put how magnanimous these amounts are, there is one statistic I'd like to share. Mr. Trump, the R.N.C. and their shared accounts refunded far more money to online donors in the last election cycle than every federal Democratic candidate and committee in the country combined.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/03/us/politics/trump-donations.html

After an eight-day trial in May 2016, a jury found the companies had committed more than 117 million knowing violations of the Telemarketing Sales Rule. This included 99 million calls to phone numbers on the do not call registry, and more than 4 million additional calls in which they made misleading statements to induce DVD sales. Also, in 2018 the US Department of Justice imposed a $45.4 million fine but suspended all but $487,735 based on the companies' inability to pay the entire amount. The years spent in court pretty much decimated the business financially, but the ruling was definitely the final nail in the coffin.
https://www.ksl.com/article/46288307/feature-films-for-families-slapped-with-hefty-fine-for-telemarketing-calls

Can The DNC Take Us Back T0 The '60s American Economy?

Published April 13, 2021

Tyler Goodspeed, former acting chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under former President Trump. "With this so-called skinny proposal, we’re seeing a proposed increase in non-defense discretionary spending of 16%, it’s highest level as a share of the economy since 1965."
https://news.yahoo.com/bidens-budget-proposal-is-the-most-reckless-fiscal-policy-in-the-last-half-century-fmr-cea-chairman-121301060.html

Fiscal Year 2022 Discretionary Budget Request (Biden Budget): https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/FY2022-Discretionary-Request.pdf

Infastructure Act:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-resolution/1102/text

The first part of Biden's plan is expected to focus on physical infrastructure…
A Monmouth University poll released in January …
The tax portion of his proposal is called the "Made in America Tax Plan" …
https://www.newsweek.com/bidens-2-trillion-infrastructure-plan-popular-public-convincing-gop-still-longshot-1579978?_gl=1*ke3f59*_ga*UzV3WE1NSzBUd2FrRWxlNjctdkhjZE9uZG5odzd5Wnl4enl6YWxxNDNWdmtRbWVScG91b2xBZWhyRUp5QXFHVQ..

His greatest response was during his inauguration speech in January of 1937. “I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished. But it is not in despair that I paint you that picture. I paint it for you in hope—because the nation, seeing and understanding the injustice in it, proposes to paint it out. We are determined to make every American citizen the subject of his country’s interest and concern; and we will never regard any faithful law-abiding group within our borders as superfluous. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5105/

How Derek Chauvin's Trial Illustrates The Judicial As Being The Most Powerful Branch Of Government

Published April 23, 2021

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill, who has examined over 100 use-of-force cases there. "This was something unique. The world saw what happened. To have video, witnesses, forensic evidence and multiple police officers testify against one of their own is unique and demonstrates how high the bar has to be in order to actually have that kind of accountability,” he said.
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_6080f250e4b0e7cb020a4d28

Another recent example of how the issues in many areas are systemic comes from Virginia. Army Second Lieutenant Caron Nazario was pulled over and pepper sprayed by Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker. A lot of the news coverage goes over the event from start to finish, I'm going deeper because there is a direct corolation between what DA Gill said and this event specifically. Though Nazario is suing the city, and Officer Gutierrez was fired, neither policeman did anything illegal per the Supreme Court Of The United States. I went through it more in-depth during the article "Supreme Court Rulings Untethering Police From The Law," in the case of (case), the Supreme Court ruled that as long as an officer admits they did not know the law, as in not knowing that a temporary plate was valid, and admit in court they don't know it, then anything stemming from their misunderstanding is admissible as evidence. So if they had found anything while they had Nazario detained, it would have been admitted. This is just another example of SCOTUS power. I cannot imagine the founding fathers being happy in the fact that those who are charged with law enforcement not being required to know the law.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56696345

"Thank you, George Floyd, for sacrificing your life for justice," she said. "For being there to call out to your mom, how heartbreaking was that," Pelosi said during the news conference. "And because of you ... your name will always be synonymous with justice."
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/20/politics/nancy-pelosi-george-floyd-reaction/index.html

legal statute in Virginia which claims that rape can only apply to couples living apart or in cases where the victim suffers serious physical injury.

https://www.encyclopedia.com/law/law-magazines/john-wayne-and-lorena-bobbitt-trials-1993-1994#:~:text=Releasing%20Lorena%20Bobbitt%20after%20psychiatric,to%20leave%20Virginia%20without%20permission.

Heien v. North Carolina

https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/casebrief/p/casebrief-heien-v-north-carolina

Founding father Thomas Jefferson knew this could happen, and essentially predicted the future in a letter penned in 1823. “At the establishment of our constitutions, the judiciary bodies …”

https://www.foundingfatherquotes.com/articles/28

How Long Will The DNC Continue To Insult The Intelligence Of Their Base?

Published April 27, 2021 "Thank you, George Floyd, for sacrificing your life for justice," Pelosi said at an event with the Congressional Black Caucus shortly after the verdict. "For being there to call out to your mom, how heartbreaking was that," Pelosi said during the news conference. "And because of you ... your name will always be synonymous with justice." https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/21/politics/george-floyd-nancy-pelosi-derek-chauvin/index.html “The Biden administration and President Biden have definitely exceeded expectations that progressives had,” said Ms Ocasio-Cortez during a virtual town hall meeting. “I think the infrastructure bill is too small,” she said. “I have real concerns that the actual dollars and cents, and programmatic allocations of the bill, don’t meet the ambition of that vision, of what’s being sold.” https://news.yahoo.com/aoc-says-biden-exceeded-expectations-232950917.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEn1RJVf4jM3cjW-1KWOB9tnVG0SQNY_mRMur8nN5tzoKFFDPO8KTY4r10Z8hGPk3pHE1-P04h_H06fmT3d3PDPOMfzNGqYtH1EZXy0Gs4fg81qsGrWNWU2zjHVkOLgTrwBQ27Vo_BGeyP1eCcc_ZTJx5z-9OIORGjcvJW48jaA2

Working Class Americans Subsizing Taxes For The Wealthy, Carrying The Weight For All

Published June 15, 2021

Shortly after the leak, Treasury spokeswoman Lily Adams made a clear statement that the Biden administration has decided to turn the attention of its legal hounds towards someone they are trying to shade as the ultimate villain. "The unauthorized disclosure of confidential government information is illegal. The matter is being referred to the Office of the Inspector General, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, all of whom have independent authority to investigate."

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/08/investing/irs-propublica-leak-investigation/index.html

Some of the findings from the IRS tax data recovered showed that in 2007, Jeff Bezos, then a multibillionaire and now the world’s richest man, did not pay a penny in federal income taxes. He achieved the feat again in 2011. In 2018, Tesla founder Elon Musk, the second-richest person in the world, also paid no federal income taxes.

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax


A good example of using a loophole came in 2008 when Gene Simmons of the rock band KISS bought a professional Australian football (soccer) team ... for 24 hours.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XZlqehsXf5c

"My guess is the IRS, somebody at the IRS leaked this in order to affect the tax debate and remind people that there are some very wealthy Americans," he said. "There are some very wealthy Americans. But it's important to remember we don't tax wealth." He added: "Our tax returns are, by law, confidential because of just this kind of shenanigans. These people ought to, whoever did this, ought to be hunted down and thrown into jail."

https://www.businessinsider.com/mcconnell-propublica-tax-leak-billionaires-republican-outrage-2021-6

Conservative Kentucky representative James Comer came out to help lead this charge of knowing misdirection. "Everyone knows there are billionaires that take advantage of the tax code. When Donald Trump was running for president, he talked about that," Comer stated. bureaucrats for far too long."

https://americanindependent.com/gop-congressman-james-comer-tax-loopholes-for-the-rich/

In a “Vice: Profiles” episode featuring Matthew Lesko, he spoke about his time while working with various businesses and his experiences with them in the realm of finances and government grants.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utiIdR-XVJg

How The GOP Is Legitimately Trying To Dismantle The First Amendment State By State

Published April 28, 2021

Utah Roadway Obstruction Amendment:

https://le.utah.gov/Interim/2020/pdf/00004501.pdf

Oklahoma HB 1822:

https://openstates.org/ok/bills/2021/HB1822/

Anyone who “accosts, insults, taunts, or challenges a law enforcement officer with offensive or derisive words, or by gestures or other physical contact, that would have a direct tendency to provoke a violent response.” Offenders would have faced up to 90 days in jail and fines, and the proposal also would have increased penalties for rioting.

https://apnews.com/article/breonna-taylor-legislation-kentucky-crime-louisville-7b29e3cb57fb09be57707fd2c2d29cb8

Texas SB 912:

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=87R&Bill=SB912

US Protest Law Tracker.
https://www.icnl.org/usprotestlawtracker/

These included imposing term limits on members of Congress, abolishing the federal income tax and placed severe limits on the federal government’s ability to levy taxes, implement new regulations or spend money.

https://conventionofstates.com/cos-simulation

“a constitutional convention would be a Brexit-scale crisis for the US.”

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-super-constitutional-convention-balanced-budget-amendment-20160706-snap-story.html

The Bastardization Of The Second Amendment

Published May 4, 2021

District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/07-290.ZO.html

McDonald v. City of Chicago

https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=10450488700560329027&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr

Sullivan Act

https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/141708

Klenosky v. New York City Police Department

https://casetext.com/case/matter-of-klenosky-v-ny-city-police-dept#p793

New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Corlett

https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/new-york-state-rifle-pistol-association-inc-v-corlett/

“Outside the home, firearm rights have always been more limited, because public safety interests often outweigh individual interests in self defense.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-handgun-idUSBRE8AQ13C20121127

Voting Restrictions Impacting White People, And Not For The Reasons You Think

Published May 7, 2021

In 2018 he did an interview with Axios on HBO where he made it clear he wanted to derail the constitutional provisions which allow for birthright citizenship. "It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. Guess what? You don't. You can definitely do it with an Act of Congress. But now they're saying I can do it just with an executive order." He continued, We're the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States ... with all of those benefits. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. And it has to end."

https://www.axios.com/trump-birthright-citizenship-executive-order-0cf4285a-16c6-48f2-a933-bd71fd72ea82.html

Coming in from Pennsylvania, May 2021 is Bruce Bartman. He was sentenced to 5 years probation for illegally voting twice in 2020 for Trump.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/03/politics/pennsylvania-probation-illegal-ballot-trump-2020/index.html

Rush Limbaugh- “The problem with [racial] profiling is that it works.”
https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2021/05/04/rush-to-the-democrats-stop-the-war-on-police/

There is a complete laundry list debunking all of the GOP and Trump talking points regarding real versus perceived voter fraud done by the BBC, and I recommend checking it out in our bibliography.

https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-55016029

Dr. James Dobson, Christian Author and Founder of Focus on the Family even went so far as to specify that it is a very personal covenant to make. "In a world that might say one vote doesn’t matter…it does matter becaue each person is of infinite worth and value to God."
https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/20-christian-quotes-about-voting-and-politics/

Dr. Richard Land for the Southern Evangelical Seminary and Bible College he wrote,
"Christians have a sacred duty to vote, and when we vote, to vote our convictions, our beliefs and our values."
https://ses.edu/voting-the-christians-duty/

For Accountability Among Officers; Abolish The Police Bill of Rights

Published May 12, 2021

“On-Duty Shootings: Police Officers Charged with Murder or Manslaughter, 2005-2019,” which showed some really concerning numbers. “Since the beginning of 2005 (through June 24, 2019), there have been 104 nonfederal sworn law enforcement officers with the general powers of arrest (e.g., police officers, deputy sheriffs, state troopers, etc.) who have been arrested for murder or manslaughter resulting from an on-duty shooting where the officer shot and killed someone at incidents throughout the United States. Of those 104 officers, to date only 35 have been convicted of a crime resulting from the on-duty shooting (15 by guilty plea, 20 by jury trial, and none convicted by a bench trial).” The report continued, “In the cases where an officer has been convicted, it is often for a lesser offense. Only 4 officers have been convicted of murder (there were four officers whose murder convictions were overturned, but the officers were later convicted of federal crimes arising out of the same incident).”

https://www.bgsu.edu/content/dam/BGSU/health-and-human-services/document/Criminal-Justice-Program/policeintegritylostresearch/-9-On-Duty-Shootings-Police-Officers-Charged-with-Murder-or-Manslaughter.pdf


By 1977 a Howard County police chief abandoned his call for public disciplinary hearings, citing the new law. A court ruled that an officer who was fired after using excessive force had to be reinstated and given back pay. Also in 1977, a human relations commission in Prince George’s County was told it could not investigate police brutality allegations — a decision the county’s only Black council member at the time called a “slap in the face.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/08/29/police-bill-of-rights-officers-discipline-maryland/

In June 2020, over strong objections from police unions, New York state repealed a law that had kept police disciplinary records secret since 1976. Known as 50-a, it shielded police records from being released, thereby adding an additional layer of protection from accountability.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-cuomo-police-reform-disciplinary-records-20200612-5zryohkuwjew7ksjowhtswmsk4-story.html

According to the New York Post, more than 5,300 officers have either retired or left the force, a 75% increase from 2019 when 3,053 officers departed.

https://nypost.com/2021/04/24/are-nypd-officers-rushing-to-retire-amid-citys-anti-cop-climate/

This is not just an isolated incident. In Kansas City, MO president of the FOP Brad Lemon said in May of 2021, “We’re going to lose about 100 to 110 officers this year which is a huge increase over any other year we’ve ever had.”

https://www.kctv5.com/news/record-numbers-of-officers-leaving-the-kansas-city-police-department/article_915bbadc-af8e-11eb-a699-176e993b13f6.html

Also, in the outskirts of Denver in Aurora, Colorado the number of officers who left the Aurora Police Department increased 61% from 2019 to 2020, according to data gathered by human resources. A former Aurora police officer who recently quit spoke with local news affiliate Denver7 on conditions on anonymity said of the Aurora Police Department, “There is not support for us." She also blames the high turnover rate on faulty policies that fail to protect officers.

https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/aurora-police-faced-a-61-spike-in-officers-leaving-the-force-in-2020-compared-to-2019

Republican Maryland Larry Hogan—who was a fervent supporter of the Bill Of Rights—made the most accurate statement of the day when his veto got the override treatment by the state legislature. ““They will result in great damage to police recruitment and retention, posing significant risks to public safety throughout our state.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/10/maryland-repeals-police-bill-of-rights-overriding-hogan-veto-480731

LGBTQ+ Vs. NYPD: Stonewall Has Never Really Ended

Published May 21, 2021

Per another 2020 report by the National Registry of Exonerations, police officers committed misconduct in nearly 37% of exoneration cases since 1989.
https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Documents/Government_Misconduct_and_Convicting_the_Innocent.pdf

Police disciplinary records are currently confidential in 21 states.
https://innocenceproject.org/police-misconduct-wrongful-convictions-what-you-should-know/

"NYC Pride seeks to create safer spaces for the LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities at a time when violence against marginalized groups, specifically BIPOC and trans communities, has continued to escalate," Heritage of Pride, the nonprofit that plans NYC Pride events, said in a statement on Saturday. "The sense of safety that law enforcement is meant to provide can instead be threatening, and at times dangerous, to those in our community who are most often targeted with excessive force and/or without reason. NYC Pride is unwilling to contribute in any way to creating an atmosphere of fear or harm for members of the community."

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/16/us/pride-parade-nypd-ban-trnd/index.html

In a study done by the Williams Institute at UCLA in September, 2019, one of the key findings personified the sentiment from the Heritage of Pride’s statement was fortified. “The United States has had a significant history …”

https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/lgbt-discrim-law-enforcement/

Liz Cheney: Bless Your Heart, You No Longer Have The Party You Thought You Did

Published May 24, 2021

"Republicans are being counseled to move the party to the left, but in my experience, those who advocate more liberal policies for the GOP are wrongheaded or Democrats, or both."
https://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/16/liz-cheney-launches-run-for-senate/comment-page-9/

He said the Republican Party "can't grow" without former President Donald Trump amid a bitter internal row about the GOP's long-term political direction. "Can we move forward without President Trump? The answer is no," said South Carolina Sen. Graham in an interview with Fox News in early May, 2021
https://www.businessinsider.com/lindsey-graham-says-republicans-cant-grow-without-trump-2021-5

We learned with the Wikileaks dump in 2016 that the party leadership was doing everything in their power to mute Bernie Sanders because they wanted Clinton to win.

https://wikileaks.org/dnc-emails/

“It’s very important, especially for us as Republicans, to make clear that we aren’t the party of white supremacy.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/liz-cheney-republican-party-white-supremacy-b1806493.html

Why America Must Stop Indoctrinating Children; Psychological Victimization

Published June 4, 2021

Illinois became the first state to make it illegal for police to influence children. This means that right now, if police want to lie to children to illicit a response they're fishing for is OK. Share Sharon and Bradley.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/illinois-house-votes-ban-police-lying-young-suspects-77996256

According to the non-profit Innocence Project … both New York and Oregon have introduced similar bills.

https://innocenceproject.org/historic-deception-bill-passes-illinois-legislature-banning-police-from-lying-to-youth-during-interrogations/

A 2017 article published by New York University Law Review explained that children are two to three times more likely than adults to falsely confess to a crime.

https://www.nyulawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/NYULawReview-92-5-Spierer.pdf

For Illinois specifically, the Illinois Innocence Project found that about one-third of wrongful convictions based on false confessions have involved minors.

https://innocenceproject.org/historic-deception-bill-passes-illinois-legislature-banning-police-from-lying-to-youth-during-interrogations/

A Middle-Class Revolution: How Service Industry Workers Have Become The New Silent Majority

Published June 8, 2021

There have been two major reasons why these numbers are low and people aren't returning to their old jobs. The first is the fact the pandemic forced life changes that now require a lot more flexibility. According to the seventh annual Bright Horizons Modern Family Index, many employees aren't interested in returning to the same work environment they left behind a year ago. Nearly 6 in 10 parents who began working from home at the start of the pandemic want to keep doing so, according to the report. Nearly half want to work remotely if an emergency arises, while 41% want the option of working remotely whenever they want.
https://www.brighthorizons.com/~/media/Corporate/MFI-2021/2021-MFI-Report-FINAL

In a Business Insider article from April, 2021 interviews with various franchise owners showed the same problem across the board. "We are struggling to get people," one McDonald's franchisee told Insider. John Motta, a Dunkin' franchisee who serves as chairman of the Coalition of Franchisee Association added, "It's just craziness out there. People are closing early, people are not opening lobbies. This is the COVID of 2021. "This is the pandemic of 2021 — lack of people to work." https://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-subway-struggle-to-find-workers-forcing-changes-2021-4

As recently as first-quarter of 2021, Pew Research released a study showing that about six-in-ten U.S. adults (62%) say they favor raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, including 40% who strongly back the idea.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/04/22/most-americans-support-a-15-federal-minimum-wage/

EpiPen & Narcan: Less Death = More Profit, Contrary To What You've Been Told

Published June 13, 2021

Per Food Allergy Research and Education, each year in the US, 200,000 people require emergency medical care for allergic reactions to food.

https://www.foodallergy.org/resources/facts-and-statistics

Forbes magazine did a complete breakdown of the value of the EpiPen in 2016. The way it was broken down was pretty succinct. The methodology was explained as such.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/frankdavid/2016/08/29/epipen/?sh=52f6d2c94f30

Overall they broke down the medians and found that generic Naloxone can cost between $20 and $40 per dose, while Narcan can cost around $130 to $140 for a kit that includes two doses.

https://time.com/5229870/naloxone-surgeon-general-cost-where-buy/

Consumer Reports did a study in 2017 about the price increase and insurance company response. They found that at the time, if you had commercial insurance, a $25 coupon could lower your copay to zero, depending on your insurance coverage.

https://www.consumerreports.org/drug-prices/epipen-alternative-that-costs-just-10-dollars/

The 2020 Election; This Nightmare Will Never Be Over (A Tale of Division During the Digital Age)

Published November 12, 2020 Fraud—and by this, I mean actual election fraud, not fraud as currently used by the Republican administration as a tool to stoke fear: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/11/voter-fraud-used-to-be-rampant-now-an-anomaly/ Mr. Trump had said the U.S.-China trade tariffs were great for the country ... we know they nearly bankrupted the farming industry: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2020/01/21/trump-tariff-aid-to-farmers-cost-more-than-us-nuclear-forces/?sh=3c083e046c50 Or when Nancy Pelosi illustrates why she is the pinnacle of "Karen Technology: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/it-was-setup-pelosi-snips-salon-publicized-her-rule-violating-n1239139

Kamala Harris: Hillary Clinton Version 2.0

Published November 19, 2020 The first was her reticence towards the support and implementation of state-wide body camera laws for police officers in 2015. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/how-kamala-harris-record-on-police-body-cameras-fits-into-the-2020-debate-on-criminal-justice The second was when she had worked with the Legislative Black Caucus of California in 2015 on helping to make changes when it came to police shootings. https://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-pol-ca-harris-police-shootings-20160118-story.html In 2016 it was made abundantly clear through an email information dump on Wikileaks https://wikileaks.org/dnc-emails/ Old Guard vs New Guard https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/11/nancy-pelosi-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-feud-1407292

40 Years of Democrat Hypocrisies

Published December 4, 2020 Consistently over time it has shown that those who are college educated, and those who view college positively with a 2 to 1 ratio, tend to be Democrats. https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/essay/the-growing-partisan-divide-in-views-of-higher-education/ Pelosi quote:"That’s my responsibility: to protect the Constitution of the United States." https://time.com/5762021/nancy-pelosi-trump-impeachment-gamble/ Pelosi quote: “Today the Republican majority is not judging the president with fairness but impeaching him with a vengeance. In the investigation of the president, fundamental principles which Americans hold dear ..." https://www.sungazette.com/opinion/other-commentaries/2020/02/impeachment-trial-remember-when-pelosi-nadler-insisted-on-bipartisanship/ Pelosi's spokesperson Drew Hammill said in a statement. "This business offered for the Speaker to come in on Monday and told her they were allowed by the city to have one customer at a time in the business." "I trusted that," Pelosi added. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/09/03/what-we-know-nancy-pelosis-hair-salon-trip-amid-coronavirus/5708541002/ Biden reveled in the politics of the 1994 law, bragging after it passed ... https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/6/20/18677998/joe-biden-1994-crime-bill-law-mass-incarceration Biden quote: "It was a big mistake that was made." https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2019/01/21/biden-says-he-regrets-1990-s-crime-bill-calls-big-mistake-mlk-day-event/2639190002/ Filthy 15 - https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/pmrcs-filthy-15-where-are-they-now-60601/

The Stimulus Part Two: More Giveaways

Published December 29, 2020 Tucked into Congress’s massive stimulus bill: Tens of billions in special-interest tax giveaways https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/12/22/congress-tax-breaks-stimulus/ The Second Stimulus Legislation https://rules.house.gov/sites/democrats.rules.house.gov/files/BILLS-116HR133SA-RCP-116-68.pdf The PPP is implemented by ... https://www.severson.com/the-cares-act-litigation-thus-far-and-a-prediction-of-litigation-to-come/ One lawsuit contends that the guidance of CARES Act funds ... https://www.wlvt.org/blogs/cares-act/states-join-in-lawsuit-against-cares-act-education-spending/ Conservative Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York. https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/12/21/exasperated-over-last/ Restaurant chains P.F. Chang’s China Bistro and Chop’t received aid of between $5 million and $10 million. Numerous organizations ... https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/06/coronavirus-stimulus-list-of-ppp-small-business-loan-recipients-released.html An end to most forms of surprise medical billing is in the legislation. The most significant climate-change legislation in at least a decade (and arguably ever)--which is a surprise given how little the republicans want any funding to go towards that. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/12/what-is-in-covid-stimulus-omnibus-climate-pell-grants-medical-billing.html In April, another lawsuit came about ... https://www.maldef.org/2020/08/maldef-statement-on-federal-court-ruling-in-discrimination-lawsuit-on-cares-act/ According to the IRS (ITIN): https://www.irs.gov/individuals/individual-taxpayer-identification-number

Pardon Me, Mr. President?

Published January 1, 2021 On November 26, a Venezuelan court convicted and sentenced six executives of Houston-based oil refining company Citgo ... https://www.ropesgray.com/en/newsroom/alerts/2020/12/The-Controversial-Conviction-of-the-Citgo-6-a-New-Wave-of-Anti-Corruption-Enforcement-in-Venezuela CITGO employees Tomeu Vadell, Gustavo Cardenas, Jorge Toledo, Alirio Jose Zambrano, Jose Luis Zambrano and Jose Angel Pereira ... https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/26/politics/citgo-6-found-guilty-venezuela/index.html US Slaps Sanctions On Venezuelans For Jailing Ex-Citgo Executives. https://www.barrons.com/news/us-slaps-sanctions-on-venezuelans-for-jailing-ex-citgo-executives-01609342803?tesla=y This thought seems to gain tranction in a 2018 New Yorker article ... https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/what-james-comey-and-donald-trump-have-in-common State Supreme Court Justice Saliann Scarpulla of Manhattan ruled in 2019 that Trump pay $2 million ... https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/11/08/trump-foundation-saga-troubled-charity-ends-2-million-judgment/2532798001/ 1973 issued an internal memo stating that the position of a sitting president cannot be indicted. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-indictment-explainer/can-a-sitting-u-s-president-face-criminal-charges-idUSKCN1QF1D3

All of History's "Winners" Have Failed Us

Published January 9, 2021 Anti-suffragists everywhere were concerned with societal disruptions. Corrine McConnaughy, who teaches political science at George Washington University said ... https://www.npr.org/sections/npr-history-dept/2015/10/22/450221328/american-women-who-were-anti-suffragettes Trump beat Clinton with white women in 2016 by a final tally of 47%-45%. Not a huge margin, but given all of the scandals the president had been in concerning women, it was surprising to see him win that demographic. https://time.com/5422644/trump-white-women-2016/ I think the most accurate assesment of how this happened was from Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/20/14061660/women-march-washington-vote-trump Names like Mobil Oil Corp, Amoco Corporation, Chevron Corporation, etc. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Standard-Oil The US Congress eventually put a stop to Rockefeller’s monopoly. https://inspirationfeed.com/john-d-rockefeller-quotes/ On January 25th 1936, during a political event at the Mayflower Hotel ... https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-socialism-20190213-story.html "I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." https://www.nps.gov/frde/learn/photosmultimedia/quotations.htm#:~:text=%22I%20pledge%20you%2C%20I%20pledge,Deal%20for%20the%20American%20People.%22&text=%22In%20these%20days%20of%20difficulty,love%20toward%20our%20fellow%20man.%22 "It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country." http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/odnirast.html

Never Before In American History ...

Published January 12th The suicide of 51-year-old Capitol Police officer Howard Liebengood https://people.com/crime/capitol-police-officer-who-worked-during-last-weeks-d-c-insurrection-dies-by-suicide/ Earlier in October of this year, the Northern Utah Black Lives Matter group ... https://kutv.com/news/local/blm-group-proud-boys-stand-together-at-salt-lake-city-press-conference The FBI has recently sent out a warning to all states ... https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/11/politics/fbi-bulletin-armed-protests-state-us-capitol/index.html Not only was there assistance from those on-duty, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-police-investigation/off-duty-police-firefighters-under-investigation-in-connection-with-u-s-capitol-riot-idUSKBN29F0KH

The Separation Of Church And State Does Not Exist In America

Published December 6, 2020 According to a study done by Christianity Today in 2020, for United States Protestant pastors ... https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/october/pastors-endorse-political-candidates-personal-pulpit-lifewa.html 2020 study done by Lifeway Research ... https://lifewayresearch.com/2020/10/27/more-pastors-endorsing-candidates-apart-from-church-role/ Trump catered to them by signing an executive order relaxing the IRS ban ... https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/trump_expected_to_sign_order_relaxing_irs_ban_on_political_activity_by_tax But until you use some of that Netflix money ... https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/satanic-temple-chilling-adventures-of-sabrina-lawsuit-netflix-1203034905/ They also found through the National Election Pool exit poll, Bush received 78% of the vote among white evangelicals, up 10% from 2000. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2004/12/06/religion-and-the-presidential-vote/

The War On Drugs (Or: How To Perpetuate A Failure)

Published December 11, 2020 Police still make over 1 million drug possession arrests each year and 450,000 people are incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses on any given day in the US. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2020.html Every 25 seconds, someone in America is arrested for drug possession. The number of Americans arrested for possession has tripled since 1980, reaching 1.3 million arrests per year in 2015--these numbers are especially surprising given they are six times the number of arrests for drug sales. https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/10/12/every-25-seconds/human-toll-criminalizing-drug-use-united-states As Nixon was quoted as saying, "I want a goddamn strong statement on marijuana … I mean one on marijuana that just tears the ass out of them." https://www.csdp.org/research/nixonpot.txt After legalizing everything, the ensuing years ... https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/05/portugals-radical-drugs-policy-is-working-why-hasnt-the-world-copied-it After decriminalization, the number of people in Portugal receiving drug addiction treatment ... https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/law-and-social-inquiry/article/abs/uses-and-abuses-of-drug-decriminalization-in-portugal/1F68DA5A8F0369F3FBA6B2B04E454BBE The present study examined the impact of Project DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), a widespread drug-prevention program, 10 years after administration. A total of 1,002 individuals who in 6th grade had either received DARE or a standard drug-education curriculum, were reevaluated at age 20. Few differences were found between the 2 groups in terms of actual drug use, drug attitudes, or self-esteem, and in no case did the DARE group have a more successful outcome than the comparison group. - https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1999-03346-017 In 2016 another study was done by the National Institute of Drug Abuse https://www.drugabuse.gov/sites/default/files/df_high_school_and_youth_trends_june2016_final.pdf After legalizing everything, the ensuing years saw dramatic drops in problematic drug use, https://transformdrugs.org/drug-decriminalisation-in-portugal-setting-the-record-straight/

Sexual Harassment And The Age Of Non-Enlightenment

Published December 14, 2020 Cuomo harrasment https://www.vox.com/22174452/andrew-cuomo-lindsey-boylan-sexual-harassment Ron Jeremy: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/more-sex-assault-charges-filed-against-adult-film-actor-ron-n1245202

The Eternal Wellspring Of American Exceptionalism

Published December 17, 2020 Per Pew Research, a studiy in 2015 showed the US was ranked 38th in math and 24th in science. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/15/u-s-students-internationally-math-science/ According to a new study from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington showed that overall, the US ranked 27th in these metrics as of 2016. https://www.businessinsider.com/us-ranks-27th-for-healthcare-and-education-2018-9 In a 2018 study by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation sampled 1,000 Americans and found that only 36% could actually pass the test. Pew research has had similar results with their finding when they have done the same test periodically over the last 15 years. https://woodrow.org/news/national-survey-finds-just-1-in-3-americans-would-pass-citizenship-test/ The history of the world is dictatorship, tyranny, subjugation, whatever you want to call it of populations ..." https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2013/09/12/an_explanation_of_american_exceptionalism_for_vladimir_putin_and_barack_obama/ In 2018 Glenn Beck surmised that our American Exceptionalism was centered around taking care of your fellow man. "America, this is who you are: You just set a record high in charitable giving this past year. America, you eclipse the world in total dollars given from your own hard-earned wallet. And the vast majority of that money — $287 billion — was given, not by corporations or foundations, but by single individuals. People like you and me." https://www.glennbeck.com/glenn-beck/america-this-is-who-you-really-are Though there are no specific statistics for people who don't wear masks simply because they don't want to, a Pew Research poll in September of 2020 does give us a clue. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/10/29/both-republicans-and-democrats-cite-masks-as-a-negative-effect-of-covid-19-but-for-very-different-reasons/ Of course, the CDC has said otherwise to this person's assertions about masks and safety. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p0714-americans-to-wear-masks.html Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel was heard wondering aloud ... When the fund was reopened, for instance, 160 members of Congress, nearly all Republicans and including current Vice President Mike Pence, opposed it. https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/12/politics/jon-stewart-911-bill-first-responders/index.html

The War On Christmas

Published December 25, 2020 Dr Fauci: "I don't want to do that," he said. "I want people to be more careful. I want them to limit traveling to the extent possible." https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/22/health/us-coronavirus-tuesday/index.html Henry Ford is the one who really kicked off the "War on Christmas" in the modern sense. “Last Christmas most people had a hard time finding Christmas cards that indicated in any way that Christmas commemorated Someone's Birth." https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2013/12/war-on-christmas-short-history-101222 Looking into the past, it seemed that by the mid 1980s, much of the kerfufle over the "War On Christmas" had died down. Two landmark Supreme Court Cases earlier in that decade mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/737/lynch-v-donnelly “All over the country, Christmas is taking flak. In Denver this past weekend, no religious floats were permitted in the holiday parade there. In New York City, Mayor Bloomberg unveiled the ‘holiday tree,’ and no Christian Christmas symbols are allowed in the public schools. Federated Department Stores—that’s Macy’s—have done away with the Christmas greeting ‘Merry Christmas.’” https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2013/12/war-on-christmas-short-history-101222 Chicago Tribune poll showed that 68% of respondents affirmed their belief in a War on Christmas. http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1868542,00.html

How So Many People Live In A Fact-Free World (Or: What Exactly Is Being Taught In Our Schools)

When examining what they teach, it is no wonder that Texas has had so many controversies over the textbooks spanning the last decade... He found a score of inaccuracies ... "These textbooks were teaching pretty much the opposite of the truth," Lester said. "Some of the publishers have corrected the passages in question, while others have not" Quinn said. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/17/texas-textbook-inaccuracies/19175311/ In 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, Texas textbook controversy ... https://www.texastribune.org/2015/10/05/controversial-social-studies-textbooks-under-fire-/ https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2016/09/21/historians-urge-texas-education-board-reject-racist-textbook ... published by Bob Jones University Press and A Beka Press--both of which are Christian educational institutions. https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2012/06/21/a-close-look-at-some-evangelical-textbooks/ https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/08/photos-evangelical-curricula-louisiana-tax-dollars/

Suspending Donald Trump's Twitter Account Is Dangerous To The Nation

Published January 19, 2021 Earlier in 2021, Amazon suspended web-hosting service for Parler. https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2021-01-13/amazon-says-parler-danger-to-its-employees John Matze Jr., the CEO of Parler LLC, claimed he's gone into hiding after receiving death threats from Amazon https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-16/parler-ceo-goes-into-hiding-blaming-amazon-flak-death-threats In a report by Forbes magazine, the FBI knew for weeks ... https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2021/01/14/weeks-before-the-siege-the-fbi-was-investigating-parler-users-call-for-proud-boys-violence-on-capitol-hill/?sh=1b8a6b276a0c With reports that former President Donald Trump is planning to issue around 100 pardons ... https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/17/politics/trump-pardons-expected/index.html

The Toxic Misdirection of Online Influencers (Or: How Did We Get Here Part II)

Published January 24, 2021 A 2017 report released at Psychology Today ... https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/culture-shrink/201703/the-psychosocial-risks-social-media-and-the-internet In a 2019 article about the subject of body positivity ... https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/national-international/anti-diet-movement-influencers/152689/ From both of them losing their contracts with multi-billion dollar makeup corporation Morphe, https://www.insider.com/morphe-cuts-ties-jeffree-star-cosmetics-backlash-drama-shane-dawson-2020-7#:~:text=Cosmetics%20company%20Morphe%20announced%20on%20Friday%20that%20it%20would%20%22cease,co%2Dcollaborator%2C%20Shane%20Dawson. ... keep in mind this number is hovering around 4.5 billion views. https://socialblade.com/youtube/user/shane In a 2019 article about the subject of body positivity ... Mallorie Dunn, founder of the body positive fashion line SmartGlamour said, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-truth-about-exercise-addiction/201608/what-does-body-positivity-actually-mean

Manson, Millenials and Mental Health

Published February 7, 2021 In a 2020 article in Psychology Today, author Scott A. Bonn Ph.D. wrote …
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wicked-deeds/202003/our-rising-suicide-rate-is-symptomatic-troubled-society

In a 2017 Pew Research piece …
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/experimentations/201908/what-makes-internet-trolls-tick

Gran Hilary Brenner MD, FAPA wrote in 2019 …
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/experimentations/201908/what-makes-internet-trolls-tick

Marilyn Manson abuse:
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-55889002

Cooper himself said he was hitting a personal low at his career peak.
https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-scandalous-story-of-alice-coopers-billion-dollar-babies

Eugenia Cooney Is Peddling Anorexic Fetishism

Published February 13, 2021 * In 2017, 8.5 million American adults suffered from both a mental health disorder and a substance use disorder, or co-occurring disorders.1 https://americanaddictioncenters.org/rehab-guide/addiction-statistics
Medically, addiction is known to be a “chronic, relapsing disease” according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
https://danapointrehabcampus.com/blog/2019/11/what-percentage-of-addicts-stay-clean/ Bankole Johnson. Professor of neuroscience at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and author of Addiction Medicine, S told Scientific American …
Joseph A. Califano, Jr., former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and founder of the National Center on Addiction and Substance.
https://americanaddictioncenters.org/rehab-guide/success-rates-and-statistics The TRUTH About Pro-Anorexia Forums
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZb0taGNLmU

Hey, Cancel Culture-Stop Shoving Your Morals Down Our Throats

Published February 18, 2021 In the 1950s, as today, the FCC also prohibited …
https://chnm.gmu.edu/exploring/20thcentury/regulatingtelevision/ In Gallup surveys in the 1950s, over 90% of the adult population identified as Christian, with only a small percentage claiming no religious identification at all or identifying with a non-Christian religion.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/187955/percentage-christians-drifting-down-high.aspx

Cancel Culture Part 2: Breathtaking Hypocrisies

Published March 4, 2021 The issue I have with them firing her is in the fact that lead actor Pedro Pascal had put out a controversial tweet in 2018. https://mobile.twitter.com/pedropascal1/status/1009572721548595201?lang=en Per a 2017 study done by Prison Policy Initiative, it states that in 2015, police shot 124 people experiencing a mental health crisis. In 36% of those cases, the officers were called to help the person get medical treatment, and shot them instead. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/research/mental_health/ Hate crimes have surged nearly 20 percent during his administration. https://www.newsweek.com/hate-crimes-under-trump-surged-nearly-20-percent-says-fbi-report-1547870 Licensed Professional Counselor of Mental Health (LPCMH) and Licensed Chemical Dependency Professional (LCDP) in the State of Delaware Dr. Todd Grande made a couple of profound statements in a recent video discussing cancel culture. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TNI1Nas4yfk

Trisha Paytas Is Failing At The Art Of Deception

Published March 7, 2021 During the YouTube release of her Frenemies podcast at the end of February, 2021
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gAYjmSVKWd8

Cancel Culture Part 3: Baby Boomers Invented It, The GOP Is Perfecting It

Published March 17, 2021 Senate Bill 211
https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/21rs/sb211.html Right now they are utilizing CC in an attempt to push an agenda that would allow cops to not only harm someone badly but also give the victim a Class B misdemeanor to boot; Republican state Senator Danny Carroll of Kentucky and his Senate Bill (SB) 211.
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/ky-general-assembly/2021/03/11/kentucky-senate-passes-riot-bill-criminalizing-insulting-police/4655757001/

Online Influencer Sloan Privatized Video Accusing Bob Saget Of Inappropriate Behavior

Published March 20, 2021
Sloan's YouTube video "Inside Bob Saget’s Inappropriate Relationship with the Olsen Twins"
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx53Ycrelu8
A tweet sent after the premiere of My Life: Rape of 2 Cory's got construed that Saget was a culprit. He was never mentioned in the film, but it took on a life of its own. https://roguerocket.com/2020/03/10/bob-saget-feldman-fakenews/

How Eugenia Cooney Is Normalizing Predatory & Grooming Behaviors

Published June 18, 2021

In five decisions – Roper v. Simmons (2005), Graham v. Florida (2010), Miller v. Alabama (2012), Montgomery v. Louisiana (2016), and Jones v. Mississippi (2021)
https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/juvenile-life-without-parole/

One of the followers that had seen Cooney’s first response to the controversy asked, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYDntcVbr40

With recent medical studies by Stanford Medical showing that there is a biological shift happening in mankind where our brain signals in the amygdala are being pumped on steroids because of the internet,

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2020/04/stanford-study-finds-stronger-one-way-fear-signals-in-brains-of-.html

QAnon, James Charles, and Politicians; When No One Takes Accountability

Published April 9, 2021

In one of the final scenes, Ron Watkins spoke about his newfound fame as a key spreader of baseless claims about voter fraud after Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election. Then he said: “It was basically three years of intelligence training, teaching normies how to do intelligence work. It was basically what I was doing anonymously before.“ Realizing his mistake, Watkins quickly added, “...but never as Q.”
QAnon followers believe Q is a government insider with close ties to the Trump administration …
https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7m58a/q-accidentally-outed-himself-but-qanon-followers-dont-care


In his 2021 paper in Psychology Today, Travis Langley Ph.D. defined Whataboutism pretty succinctly. "Whataboutism, a broader term (that would include tu quoque arguments) for distracting from criticism of one person, organization, or idea by diverting attention to someone else's shortcomings without addressing the original issue at all."
https://www.psychologytoday.com/za/blog/beyond-heroes-and-villains/202103/sleeper-effect-whataboutism-and-risk-in-unreliable-sources?amp


According to Republican Senator Ted Cruz on Fox, “This is a humanitarian crisis and it is a direct result of President Obama's lawlessness and unwillingness to enforce the law." If it was so bad at the border. If Trump knew that these programs were so horrible, why did he continue it. Whenever the mouthpieces like Sean Hannity and Glen Beck are asked about "kids in cages," they always remind their listeners that the cages were started during the Obama era.
https://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=news&id=1385

This year sees Charles in a scandal that is of his own making when he admitted to flirting and sexting with men who say they're younger than 18. He even acknowledge them by saying "These conversations should have never happened."
https://www.businessinsider.com/james-charles-apologies-leaked-dms-youtube-teen-screenshots-morphe-brands-2021-4

One of the main reasons why the general populace is OK with all of this is due to us becoming completely emotional as a society, and it’s only getting worse. A 2018 study done by the American Psychology Association shows that Generation Z is experiencing levels of stress and anxiety at a much higher rate than any other generation.

https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2018/stress-gen-z.pdf

Stanford medicine released a report in 2021 showing that the kind of stresses in our current world can completely re-route a child’s biology.

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2020/04/stanford-study-finds-stronger-one-way-fear-signals-in-brains-of-.html

Jake Paul; Google Bam Margera For A Look Into Your Future

Published April 15, 2021

Paradise shared her story in a YouTube video posted April 9, accusing Paul of forcing her to perform oral sex on July 20, 2019. She says she was not a fan, but met Paul through a mutual friend who was hanging out at the Team 10 house. She adds that “as soon as you go in,” your photo is taken and you must sign an NDA, which is why she believed she wasn’t allowed to talk about the alleged assault.

https://www.vulture.com/2021/04/jake-paul-denies-justine-paradise-sexual-assault-allegation.html

TRIGGER WARNING: Jake Paul Sexually Assaulted Me - YouTube
https://youtu.be/Q1iYfSdLORo

Debunking All Of Rush Limbaugh’s 35 “Undeniable Truths” Part 1

Published April 18, 2021 Rush Limbaugh's Original & Updated 35 'Undeniable Truths' (lectlaw.com)

67.7% were self-made, while 23.7% had a combination of inherited and self-created wealth. Only 8.5% of global high-net-worth individuals were categorized as having completely inherited their wealth.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/26/majority-of-the-worlds-richest-people-are-self-made-says-new-report.html

A 2017 article by the Journal of Adolescent Health (JAH) shows that the abstinence only sexual education has backfired immensely.

https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(17)30297-5/fulltext

Debunking All Of Rush Limbaugh’s 35 “Undeniable Truths” Part 2

Published April 20, 2021 Rush Limbaugh's Original & Updated 35 'Undeniable Truths' (lectlaw.com)

In 2012 and 2013, at the urging of Governor Sam Brownback, lawmakers cut the top rate of the state’s income tax by almost 30% and the tax rate on certain business profits to zero. Under ‘supply-side’ economic theory, these deep tax cuts should have acted—as Brownback then predicted—like “a shot of adrenaline into the heart of the Kansas economy,” stimulating strong growth in economic output, job creation, and new business formation. But in reality, Kansas underperformed most neighboring states and the nation on all of those measures after the tax cuts Kansas’ 4.2% private-sector job growth from December 2012 (the month before the tax cuts took effect) to May 2017 (the month before they were repealed) was lower than all of its neighbors except Oklahoma and less than half of the 9.4% job growth in the United States.”

https://www.cbpp.org/research/state-budget-and-tax/kansas-provides-compelling-evidence-of-failure-of-supply-side-tax

"The history of the world is dictatorship, tyranny, subjugation, whatever you want to call it of populations — and then along came the United States of America …”
https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2013/09/12/an_explanation_of_american_exceptionalism_for_vladimir_putin_and_barack_obama/

How Reddit Is Crushing The Voices Of The Politically Independent

Published May 1, 2021

Democrats held control of the House for 40 years between 1952 to 1994

https://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/politics/campaign2004/house.pdf

“licensed radio and television broadcasters to present fair and balanced coverage of controversial issues of interest to their communities, including by granting equal airtime to opposing candidates for public office.”

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Fairness-Doctrine

She was suspended by the U.K Green Party in 2018 after it emerged her father, David Challenor, was appointed as Knight's election agent despite him previously being charged with multiple serious sexual offenses, including taking indecent photographs, false imprisonment, rape and sexual assault of a child in November 2016.

https://www.newsweek.com/reddit-aimee-knight-challenor-fired-hundreds-subreddits-private-protest-1578657

Why Tess Holliday Is Body Positivity's Biggest Liar

Published May 10, 2021

Per the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) published in 2013 by the American Psychiatric Association, there are five criteria that MUST be met in order to diagnose someone with Anorexia Nervosa. There are two that Holliday does not meet. “Restriction of food intake leading to weight loss or a failure to gain weight resulting in a ‘significantly low body weight’ of what would be expected for someone's age, sex, and height.” And, “Fear of becoming fat or gaining weight.”

https://www.verywellmind.com/diagnostic-criteria-for-anorexia-nervosa-1138312

Gen Z: Far Too Opinionated For Knowing So Little

Published May 15, 2021

A 2018 study done by the American Psychology Association shows that Gen Z is experiencing levels of stress and anxiety at a much higher rate than any other generation in history.

https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2018/stress-gen-z.pdf

Stanford medicine released a report in 2021 showing that the kind of stresses found in our current, online world can completely modify a child’s biology.

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2020/04/stanford-study-finds-stronger-one-way-fear-signals-in-brains-of-.html

When a TikTok user, who has since been removed from the app, uploaded a short clip from the 2010 Eminem and Rihanna song, “Love the Way You Lie.” The user called out the line, “If she ever tries to fucking leave again, I'm a tie her to the bed and set this house on fire.” In the text written over the uploaded video, the user wrote, “Yesssss lets cancel him.” Since then, that initial post has gone viral. Posts related to the #canceleminem hashtag currently have approximately 3 million views as of early March, 2021.

https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/music/a35765776/why-eminem-gen-z-cancelled-tone-deaf-lyrics-explained/

A Middle-Class Revolution: How Service Industry Workers Have Become The New Silent Majority

Published June 8, 2021

There have been two major reasons why these numbers are low and people aren't returning to their old jobs. The first is the fact the pandemic forced life changes that now require a lot more flexibility. According to the seventh annual Bright Horizons Modern Family Index, many employees aren't interested in returning to the same work environment they left behind a year ago. Nearly 6 in 10 parents who began working from home at the start of the pandemic want to keep doing so, according to the report. Nearly half want to work remotely if an emergency arises, while 41% want the option of working remotely whenever they want.
https://www.brighthorizons.com/~/media/Corporate/MFI-2021/2021-MFI-Report-FINAL

In a Business Insider article from April, 2021 interviews with various franchise owners showed the same problem across the board. "We are struggling to get people," one McDonald's franchisee told Insider. John Motta, a Dunkin' franchisee who serves as chairman of the Coalition of Franchisee Association added, "It's just craziness out there. People are closing early, people are not opening lobbies. This is the COVID of 2021. "This is the pandemic of 2021 — lack of people to work." https://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-subway-struggle-to-find-workers-forcing-changes-2021-4

As recently as first-quarter of 2021, Pew Research released a study showing that about six-in-ten U.S. adults (62%) say they favor raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, including 40% who strongly back the idea.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/04/22/most-americans-support-a-15-federal-minimum-wage/

Cancel Culture Part 4: The Magical Mystery WAP (Or: How Cardi B IS #MeToo)

Published May 16, 2021

"Whether or not they were poor choices at the time, I did what I had to do to survive," she said in a statement.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-47718477#:~:text=Cardi%20B%20has%20defended%20herself,a%20stripper%20before%20finding%20fame.&text=Nothing%2C%22%20she%20said%20in%20the,before%20drugging%20and%20robbing%20them.

Trisha Paytas-In 1543 It Was Discovered the World Orbits The Sun, Not You; With Peace and Love

Published June 10, 2021

“As of me recording this [video], as soon as I put this up I’m sure a ton of people are going to unsubscribe [saying] ‘we’re going to show her,’ and that’s fine. If I’m cancelled, I’m cancelled. I’ve been cancelled a bunch of times. And to be honest, cancelling me isn’t going to do much because I’m kind of like that cockroach that stays on the internet.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGdE5YpFxlU

Dunning-Krueger effect. In psychology this is “a cognitive bias whereby people with limited knowledge or competence in a given intellectual or social domain greatly overestimate their own knowledge or competence in that domain relative to objective criteria or to the performance of their peers or of people in general.”

https://www.britannica.com/science/Dunning-Kruger-effect