Daily News Roundup

Estimated Reading Time: 32 minutes

NOTABLE QUOTES

Mark Wauck Substack: . . . while Trump’s core MAGA agenda is decidedly not outside the historic bipartisan mainstream, it is well outside the present regime’s core interests. Our rulers’ wealth and power rise with open borders, trade giveaways, and endless war. Trump, at least in principle, and often in practice, threatens all three.

J. B. Shurk contributor to American Thinker: Everywhere Americans once turned for guidance — their government, the news media, academia, disinterested experts — is now covered in the same “woke” slime and “politically correct” lies. Those lies are building up all around us, choking more and more Americans who see through them. The false promises of “hope” have been replaced with raw anger. The boiling pot meant to contain Americans’ passions is popping and splattering. And America’s ruling class forcefully pushes down the lid, openly hostile to the truth that it alone is responsible for everything that finally explodes.

Sundance contributor to The Last Refuge: Saving the Republic was always going to be a trilogy. In 2016 we caught the club off guard, “Club Wars” began. In 2020 the collective “Empire Strikes Back.” Now we enter 2024, all of the enemies are defined, and the “Revenge of the MAGA” begins.

Joseph Pearce contributor to The Imaginative Conservative: The Nazi Empire fell. The Soviet Empire fell. And now a new globalist empire is in the ascendant. It will also have its day, its pride preceding its own fall, but who knows how much damage will be done before it comes crashing down?

James Howard Kunstler: As to the parsing out of all those bogus charges against Mr. Trump, consider that we now live in a culture of no truth, only battling portfolios of narrative spin, at least according to the Marxian wokesters who have seized the machinery of law, so, there, with a snap of your fingers goes jurisprudence — as in: I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, blah blah…. The joke is on you. There is no truth, anymore, so stop insisting that there is anything like it to determine, except whatever outcome the Party of Chaos seeks.

Evita Duffy-Alfonso contributor to The Federalist regarding C40 Cities in the U.S.: Ultimately, the climate coalition’s goals are inherently anti-human. People generally need meat and the protein it provides to flourish. Banning meat and dairy, restricting calories, genetically altering the human body, and impoverishing the masses will hurt the planet and people. More likely than not, it will do more than hurt people — it will kill many of them.

Brandon Poulter contributor to Daily Caller: Democratic members of Congress known as the “Squad” spent roughly $1.2 million in campaign funds on private security despite advocating to defund the police, according to a New York Post review of campaign finance reports.

John Green contributor to American Thinker: If he chooses to groom children, compete in women’s sports, shower with young girls, or twerk for the kiddies at the library, he is violating the rights of others, and his fantasy has become anti-social and offensive. Further, if he insists that I conduct myself as if I believed his fantasy, he’s violating my right of free expression. That’s also a bridge too far. If “he” can express himself as a “she,” I can express myself as incredulous.

BIDEN CRIME FAMILY

Greenfield: Hunter Biden’s Broken Car Cost Taxpayers $139 Million

When Hunter Biden was driving 172 miles an hour while smoking crack on the way to meet prostitutes in Las Vegas, the son of a future president was driving a Porsche 911. Devon Archer, Hunter’s closest partner, told the House Oversight Committee that the car had been paid for by an oligarch from Kazakhstan. “I believe it was a Fisker first and then a Porsche.” Kenes Rakishev, the banker for Kazakhstan’s dictator and a close associate of Ramzan Kadyrov, Putin’s ruthless Chechen warlord, had allegedly bought Hunter the sports car after a meeting with Joe and Hunter at Cafe Milano: an exclusive D.C. eatery that the Washington Post had described as “Washington’s ultimate place to see and be seen.” The Fisker Karma was more than just another sports car. The electric luxury vehicle was a social statement that had been backed by a $529 million loan to the Europeans behind it. […] A few months after a Kazakh oligarch allegedly bought Hunter a Fisker Karma, it was already breaking down. Meanwhile Joe Biden was meeting with a different set of foreign executives. Joe Biden invited two executives from Wanxiang, a Chinese automotive company that would gobble up Fisker, to the White House. A few days later one of the executives promised to help get Hunter’s Fisker Karma fixed.

Cleveland: Regime Media Launder Dirty Details Of Hunter Biden’s Plea Deal And His Dad’s Filthy DOJ

The recently imploded sweetheart plea deal for Hunter Biden was even more sugar-infused than previously known, weekend stories by Politico and The New York Times revealed. But rather than condemn the Department of Justice for interjecting itself in the case against the president’s son to pressure Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss to end the investigation, the lengthy articles by Politico and the Times attempted to spin that fact and many more as evidence that Hunter Biden was being unfairly targeted. The narrative, however, just won’t fly. Instead, it exposes more troubling details and provides further proof the House of Representatives needs to open impeachment inquiries against President Joe Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney Weiss (and possibly the D.C. and California U.S. attorneys), and FBI Director Christopher Wray. […] While Hunter Biden’s spin failed to launch, the inside story nonetheless proved explosive. It provided further proof that both Weiss and Garland misled Congress when they claimed Weiss was totally in charge of the Hunter Biden investigation. Furthermore, Garland claimed the investigation was insulated from political interference because Weiss was a Trump holdover. As the weekend reporting revealed, Hunter Biden’s attorney continuously contacted high-level DOJ political appointees, including Garland, seeking someone to rein in Weiss. And Associate Deputy Attorney General Weinsheimer finally answered his call and arranged the meeting with Weiss that led to what would have been a done deal if not for the federal judge questioning the parties on the irregularities in the agreement. But Clark did more than solicit the intervention of Biden’s DOJ. According to Politico, Clark threatened Weiss with a promise to put President Joe Biden on the stand in any trial of Hunter Biden and thereby cause a “constitutional crisis.”

BIDEN’S DEMOCRAT PARTY MARXIST PLAYBOOK: PERSECUTE YOUR OPPOSITION, PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

Turley: The Disqualification of Donald Trump and Other Legal Urban Legends

Constitutional urban legends often have an even more immediate appeal and tend to arise out of the desperation of divided times. One of the most popular today is that former President Donald Trump can be barred from office, even if he is not convicted in any of the four indictments he faces, under a long-dormant clause of the 14th Amendment. This 14th Amendment theory is something that good liberals will read to their children at night. It goes something like this: Donald Trump can never be president again, because the 14th Amendment bars those who previously took federal oaths from assuming office if they engaged in insurrection or rebellion. With that, and a kiss on the forehead, a progressive’s child can sleep peacefully through the night. But don’t look under the bed. For as scary as it might sound to some, Trump can indeed take office if he is elected…even if he is convicted. Indeed, he can serve as president even in the unlikely scenario that he is sentenced to jail. Democrats have long pushed this theory about the 14th Amendment as a way of disqualifying not only Trump but also dozens of Republican members of Congress. For some, it is the ultimate Hail Mary pass if four indictments, roughly 100 criminal charges and more than a dozen opposing candidates fail to get the job done.

Wauck: The Coming Coup: Updating Michael Anton

Back in September, 2020, Michael Anton wrote one of his prescient articles. It’s one of those articles that, three years later, it’s worth going back for a reread: The Coming Coup? Democrats are laying the groundwork for revolution right in front of our eyes. Anton saw the Deep State and Ruling Class coming together and openly planning a coup—Trump must be removed, come what may. Here’s the nub of it, but read the article for the details as he saw them at the time: The first rule of conspiracy is, you do not talk about the conspiracy. The second rule of conspiracy is, you do not talk about the conspiracy. So why are the Democrats—publicly—talking about the conspiracy? Because they know that, for it to succeed, it must not look like a conspiracy. They need to plant the idea in the public mind, now, that their unlawful and illegitimate removal of President Trump from office will somehow be his fault. Never mind the pesky detail that the president would refuse to leave only if he were convinced he legitimately won. Remember: Biden should not concede under any circumstances. . . . Remember that phrase from the Dem war game: “street fight.” In other words, a repeat of this summer, only much, much bigger. Crank the propaganda to ear-drum shattering decibels and fill the streets of every major city with “protesters.” Shut down the country and allow only one message to be heard: “Trump must go.” I.e., what’s come to be known as a “color revolution,” the exact same playbook the American deep state runs in other countries whose leadership they don’t like and is currently running in Belarus. Oust a leader—even an elected one—through agitation and call it “democracy.”

Read more at Meaning In History Substack.

Graham: Presenting Trump’s Democrat Prosecutors as Nonpartisans

What’s specific is NBC’s “Today” show putting the words “Criminal Enterprise” right next to Trump’s face in the show’s introduction. “Criminal enterprise! The former president and top aides charged over election interference in Georgia,” touted co-host Hoda Kotb. NBC wouldn’t provide any context about the prosecutor’s political motivations. Reporter Blayne Alexander only quoted Trump calling the charges a “witch hunt.” This has happened over and over again. New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg isn’t described in media accounts as an elected Democrat who ran on getting Trump. New York state Attorney General Letitia James, who sued Trump over business fraud, isn’t described as an elected Democrat who ran on getting Trump. They don’t talk about Jack Smith’s wife, Katy Chevigny, the filmmaker who produced a Netflix gushfest for Michelle Obama. In this case, Fani Willis ran for district attorney in 2020, and almost immediately began an investigation of Trump. All these Democrat politicians are drawing adulation from Democrats — at the same time as reporters present them as nonpartisans. There’s not just an elected Democrat prosecutor in Willis, but a grand jury selected in Fulton County, which voted Joe Biden over Trump by a margin of 73% to 26%. This is similar to jury pools in Washington, D.C. (Biden won 92% to 5%), or Alvin Bragg’s territory of New York County (Biden drew roughly 603,000 to Trump’s 85,000). In every case, the jury is going to be chock-full of Biden-voting Democrats. NBC’s Savannah Guthrie vaguely mentioned Fulton being a “blue county.”

GLOBALISM (GREAT RESET/NEW WORLD ORDER) & TRANS HUMANISM (AI HUMANS 2.0) ARE INEXTRICABLY LINKED

(A path toward the New World order?) Durden: Is This The Real Reason “Eris” Cases Are Spiking?

Eris – the most recent “Covid variant” – is supposedly causing spikes in cases all over the world. The story goes that England, Ireland and US are all being hit hard, it’s reached Australia too. In yet another blow to the “BRICS will save us” crowd, India and China are playing along. “Scientists” are even clamoring for the return of masks. We’ve already been over everything you need to know about “Eris” here. Long story short, “Covid” is just another made up name for the flu, and the “variants” are coats of paint they slap on the narrative to try and keep it looking fresh. In that same article I theorised Eris’ existence was a need to keep Covid alive, and that is part of it…but I also missed something obvious: The next round of Covid “vaccines” hits the shelves next month. For those who have lost count, I think we’re up to six or seven shots now. This “updated vaccine” is nothing to do with Eris, of course, as much as the language in the headlines implies it’s been “adapted” for the latest variant, it hasn’t. It was in the works before Eris was even said to exist. […] After all, what you were being injected with wasn’t the point, the point was that you got injected because they told you to.

Citizen Free Press Tweet: Klaus Schwab on the (coming) 4th industrial revolution.

Watch the 1:27 minute video: https://twitter.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1692604672257696087

Revolver.news: Confirmed: Digital currency will be used to “control” the masses…

If ever there was a battle worth fighting, it’s the one over digital currency. Digital currency has become the most powerful tool on the planet, and here’s why: it offers a neat and tidy way for a few powerful tyrants to control the masses with just the flip of a switch. Say something controversial about a trans person on social media? Your social credit score could plummet, leading your bank to drop you, and suddenly you can’t buy groceries or pay bills. Think that’s far-fetched? Think again.

Ghlionn: AI poses significant threat to online security with ability to capture passwords and keystrokes

ore than two-thirds of Americans are worried about the negative effects of artificial intelligence (AI), while 61 percent believe it could “threaten civilization,” according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll. […] A recent study carried out by three cyber experts based in the UK demonstrates that AI poses a direct threat to our online security. “With recent developments in deep learning,” begins the paper, “the ubiquity of microphones and the rise in online services via personal devices, acoustic side channel attacks present a greater threat to keyboards than ever.” […] The researchers found that by exploiting certain ‘leaks,’ AI-driven attacks stole passwords with up to a 95 percent accuracy. Specifically, as the cyber experts note, when “trained on keystrokes recorded by a nearby phone, the classifier achieved an accuracy of 95%, the highest accuracy seen without the use of a language model.” “When trained on keystrokes recorded using the video-conferencing software Zoom, an accuracy of 93% was achieved, a new best for the medium,” they added. Over Skype, the model had a 91.7 percent accuracy. In other words, AI succeeded by listening in on what users typed on their keyboards.

TYRANNY IN THE NAME OF CLIMATE DOOM MYTH: GLOBALIST POLITICIANS & BIG BUSINESS ACCUMULATE MORE POWER & CONTROL

(A path toward the New World Order?) Smith: If Biden declares climate emergency, experts worry how wide the scope of his powers would be

Last week, President Joe Biden said during an interview that his administration “already” declared a national emergency over climate change, before starting to clarify that he practically—not actually—had. CNN called the statement “incorrect” but there is widespread speculation he will declare one soon. Citing anonymous White House sources, The Washington Post reported in July that Biden is considering whether to declare a national climate emergency in the coming weeks. The deadly Maui wildfires have been the latest tragedy raised by climate activists as a justification for emergency powers to be authorized in America and across the globe. “We saw him say, he’d done it… [or] virtually did it,” Dr. H. Sterling Burnett, senior fellow at the Heartland Institute with a focus on climate issues, told Just the News. “Well, virtually isn’t doing it, but that doesn’t mean he won’t do it in the future because he is talking about it.” […] The U.S. Oil and Gas Association’s Tim Steward warned about the scope of such a declaration, telling Just The News that “If you grant the president’s emergency powers to declare a climate emergency, it’s just like COVID.” Steward added that “such a declaration would give the president “vast and unchecked authority to shut down everything from communications to infrastructure.”

Duffy-Alfonso: These 14 American Cities Have A ‘Target’ Of Banning Meat, Dairy, And Private Vehicles By 2030

If C40 Cities’ climate aims are carried out, people will die. Fourteen major American cities are part of a globalist climate organization known as the “C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group,” which has an “ambitious target” by the year 2030 of “0 kg [of] meat consumption,” “0 kg [of] dairy consumption,” “3 new clothing items per person per year,” “0 private vehicles” owned, and “1 short-haul return flight (less than 1500 km) every 3 years per person.” C40’s dystopian goals can be found in its “The Future of Urban Consumption in a 1.5°C World” report, which was published in 2019 and reportedly reemphasized in 2023. The organization is headed and largely funded by Democrat billionaire Michael Bloomberg. Nearly 100 cities across the world make up the organization, and its American members include Austin, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Seattle. Media coverage of C40 Cities’ goals has been relatively sparse. […] Climate activists are also advocating for “climate lockdowns,” in the same way there were Covid lockdowns. Ideas floated for a climate lockdown have ranged from shuttering people in their homes and restricting air travel to providing a Universal Basic Income and introducing a maximum income level.

Sundance: Hawaii Governor Josh Green Says More than 1,000 Still Missing in Maui – Many Are Children

Everything about the Maui fire is sketchy. It was sketchy when it happened. It is sketchy in the aftermath, and it remains sketchy in the recovery stage. The FBI, EPA and FEMA have essentially locked down the island, and there are reports of people being evicted who did not perish and did not lose their homes. I’m not sure if the issues are related to systemically gross incompetence, nefarious constructs, a blue state with poor systems and weak leaders, or a combination of all the above. However, what is abundantly clear is that the people of Maui are victims of more than just a massive wildfire. Hawaii Gov. Josh Green appears on “Face the Nation” to tell Margareet Brennan that the failure of the now-resigned Maui Emergency Management Agency Administrator was “utterly unsatisfactory, to the world.” “Of course, as a person, as a father, as a doctor, I wish all the sirens went off,” Green said. The governor also stated there are more than 1,000 people still missing and many of them are children. He blames global warming.

Schemmel: ‘Reality Check’: Ford CEO Struggles to Charge EV During Road Trip

Ford CEO Jim Farley said he faced a “reality check” while attempting to charge his electric truck during a road trip across the American West, an admission that comes as President Joe Biden spends billions to spur electric vehicle adoption. Farley embarked on the trip in Ford’s new electric F-150 Lightning last week in an attempt to “see the EV transition in action.” He started in Silicon Valley, made a stop in Los Angeles, and then ended in Las Vegas. Farley documented much of the trip on social media, including his late-night charging sessions and the “challenging” nature of obtaining enough power to travel long distances.

[…] Earlier this year, the Biden administration unveiled a new rule to limit tailpipe emissions, which is aimed at ensuring two-thirds of new vehicles are electric by 2032. That benchmark far exceeded Biden’s 2021 executive order pushing for half of all vehicles sold by 2030 to be zero-emission. Still, getting drivers to hop on board with the EV transition has been difficult. Last year, just 6 percent of vehicles sold were electric.

Morabito: I Rented A Tesla For A Week And Am Totally Sold On Gas-Powered Cars

While planning a week-long trip to the Seattle area recently, I wondered aloud to my husband if we should rent a Tesla. Neither of us had ever driven an electric vehicle before. The price difference between the long-range Tesla Model 3 and a standard mid-size gas-fueled vehicle was pretty negligible.

We agreed it would be an interesting learning experience despite our objections to the eco-agenda to phase out gas-powered vehicles. We also don’t believe EVs are particularly environmentally friendly since they need batteries that require the strip-mining of rare earth minerals such as lithium and cobalt. The World Economic Forum knows this very well and is likely looking for heavy limits on EV mobility after eliminating gas-powered vehicles. But more people like us are also finding some very practical reasons to object to Teslas. There’s a glut of them on the market now despite subsidies and price reductions. After test-driving one for an entire week (instead of just 30 minutes,) we learned we will never buy a Tesla or any EV as long as we have the option of gas-powered vehicles or even hybrids. Read on for seven big reasons why. (Yes, “mileage may vary.”) 1. Battery Drainage Is Stress-Inducing In the Tesla, stress is a given. The battery drains faster than you might think. Our Model 3 had an advertised range of about 300 miles, but that’s if you charge it to 100 percent (which no one does) and run it to 0 percent (which no one does). So the practical range is about 150-200 miles. We felt compelled to recharge after going just 150 miles versus refueling after about 450 miles in our Honda Accord. The battery even drained 10 percent just sitting in the driveway for about a day. Granted, we covered some distances in Washington state during our travels. But that confirms EVs are a poor choice for road trips unless you enjoy the risk of being stranded.

2. Few Charging Station Locations and Length of Time There . . . […] 3. Personal Safety at Charging Locations Can Feel Dicey . . .

THE CORRUPT & DANGEROUS U.S. INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES & THE ADMINISTRATIVE STATE APPARATUS

Spivak: Smiling Faces Lie

In 1971, The Temptations reminded us that smiling faces tell lies (Undisputed Truth’s version came out later that year, and the O’Jays’ “Back Stabbers” the following year). “Smiling Faces” attributes the lies and “evil that lurks within” to jealousy, misery and envy. That just might be Attorney General Merrick Garland’s motivation for appointing David Weiss to be the so-called special counsel. For an erstwhile appeals court judge, not becoming a Supreme Court justice must really sting. Weiss’ appointment is a scam and a fraud on the American people. He is the opposite of what a special prosecutor is supposed to be. […] One unintended consequence of Weiss’ appointment is that it has raised the profile of the investigation. For the first time, the mainstream media is paying attention, and views are changing. According to an ABC-Ipsos poll taken after the appointment, only 11 percent of Americans are “very confident” the DOJ is handling Hunter’s investigation in a fair and nonpartisan manner, with 21 percent “somewhat confident.” The fastest growing category in the poll is “not confident at all.” The Temptations warned us that the task is to figure out which of the smiles is a mask that hides lies and evil intent. Garland’s inscrutable mask has been cracking for a while now. His appointment of David Weiss has ripped it off, leaving the evil for all to see.

Hoft: REPORT: Trump White House Official Confirms Knowledge of Muskegon, Michigan Voter Fraud Report in 2020 – CLAIMS THERE WAS AN ARREST and that BILL BARR Allegedly Killed the Investigation

On Thursday, former Trump administration General Counsel Personnel Police Operations Andrew Kloster joined Steve Bannon on The War Room to discuss the Muskegon, Michigan 2020 voter fraud scandal. Andrew Kloster said he notified Bill Barr’s DOJ – and Barr and his cronies smacked him down and killed the investigation.

REPUBLICAN U.S. HOUSE MAJORITY

Ballasy: Blinken omitted key docs related to Afghan withdrawal in response to House Foreign Affairs chair

The State Department provided about 300 documents to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday but it didn’t appear to include the eight that McCaul requested in un-redacted form in his August 9 letter to Blinken, according to a committee source. The deadline to provide those was Tuesday.

The requested documents included several memos from Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security Todd Brown that McCaul said are identified in the Afghanistan After-Action Review (AAR). “The AAR files are necessary to inform the Committee’s consideration of potential legislation aimed at helping prevent the catastrophic mistakes of the withdrawal from happening again.” said McCaul in a statement on August 10. “The Department’s anemic subpoena response suggests that it is either deliberately obstructing the Committee’s oversight, or that its document retention, location, and production procedures are astoundingly deficient. Neither is acceptable,” McCaul wrote in the August 9 letter.

2024 ELECTION

(Another weapon in the Democrat Party arsenal) Fleetwood: Democrats Want Their Private Security Looking Over GOP Poll Watchers’ Shoulders

Democrat group is launching a multi-million-dollar initiative to provide election offices with private security ahead of the 2024 elections and police so-called “disinformation,” according to a new report. On Tuesday, The New York Times revealed the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State (DASS) is gearing up to launch Value the Vote, a new nonprofit organization purportedly designed to pay “for private security for election officials of both parties, register[ing] new voters,” and fighting what the group claims to be “disinformation.” The $10 million initiative is reportedly aiming its “initial[]” focus at five key battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. The venture has already raised $2.5 million, according to DASS Executive Director Travis Brimm. As indicated by The Times, the founding of Value the Vote is based on the debunked lie that there is a growing, widespread problem of Republicans threatening election workers across the country. Of course, the lack of evidence to support such an assertion hasn’t stopped legacy media from regurgitating their Democrat allies’ phony narratives in order to paint Republican voters as extremists and dissuade conservatives from partaking in legitimate forms of electoral oversight. […] According to Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, the group’s issuance of private grants to election offices could very well be unlawful. “Most states make it illegal for anyone to be stationed in a polling place except for election officials and designated poll watchers, and that ban would include ‘private’ security guards,” von Spakovsky told The Federalist. […] In addition to financing private security for election offices, Value the Vote is also purportedly planning to confront so-called “election misinformation” through the use of . . .

Mittlestadt: Election integrity app allows users to find suspected irregularities, report them to officials

An election integrity app called VotifyNow allows users to report election irregularities, and it can make those reports available to individuals or organizations, including county officials, journalists, and candidates. VotifyNow began in 2019, after complaints of election fraud became prevalent in the 2016 presidential and 2018 midterm elections, the founder of VotifyNow, Johnny Vieira, told Just the News on Wednesday. He noted that, at the time, candidates on the left were discussing election fraud, whereas now, conservatives are more concerned about it. “We absolutely encourage anyone to file reports,” Vieira said.

[…] App users can report issues and include a photo or video, which are automatically geo-tagged and timestamped, Vieira said. The reports are purportedly vetted for authenticity and after an incident has been reported multiple times, the area in which it occurred is given a color-coded dot on a map, ranging from white, which means benign, to red, meaning the most nefarious. […] The app was used by voters in the 2022 midterm elections, with Arizona making up at least 30% of more than “8000 VOTER SUPPRESSION incidents from across the country,” according to VotifyNow’s account on X, the platform previously called Twitter. VotifyNow reports were given to the legal team of 2022 GOP Arizona gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake, who used it in her election challenge lawsuit, Vieira said.

DEMOCRAT PARTY MARXIST PLAYBOOK: CANCEL THE FIRST AMENDMENT

(A First Amendment & parental rights issue) O’Neil: Parents Could Face Jail Time for Sending 2 Emails School Staff Don’t Like: Critics Sound Alarm on California Bill

The bill, now making its way to the floor of the lower chamber, the California State Assembly, would expand the definition of “school employee” to cover any employee or official of a school district, charter school, and county or state education board or office. The bill also would outlaw, as a misdemeanor, actions that cause “substantial disorder” at a school board meeting. The law proposed in the Golden State doesn’t define “substantial disorder,” and its definition of “harassment” leaves broad room for interpretation. Under the proposal, Californians who violate the provision face a fine of . . . […] “It’s clear they’re trying to chill parents from speaking out,” Sarah Parshall Perry, a senior legal fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, . . . […] “If you send two emails that cause a school board official to mentally suffer, technically you fall under this definition,” Manley said. The bill “could be interpreted in a way that chills people’s ability to communicate with elected officials,” he said.

(A First Amendment & parental rights win) O’Neil: VINDICATED: School Board Fails to Sweep Dad’s Rights Under ‘Legal Rug’ After It Had Him Removed From Meeting

U.S. district court judge in Texas upheld a father’s claims that school board members and police violated his constitutional rights when they forcibly removed him and prevented him from attending school board meetings in 2021. Police removed him after he spoke at a school board meeting, raising concerns about the school superintendent facing allegations that the superintendent assaulted and threatened a former girlfriend. “I was arrested and jailed for exposing the misdeeds of trustees and administrators,” Jeremy Story said in a statement provided exclusively to The Daily Signal. Story is a father of seven whose children attend or attended public schools in the Round Rock Independent School District in Texas. “The school district’s attempts to dismiss our claims and sweep them under the ‘legal rug’ have failed,” he added. “What is at stake is the basic right to free speech without fear of government retaliation.” […] “The federal government has tried to paint parents as the problem,” he said. “They have even gone so far as to attempt to prosecute them as domestic terrorists. This case will show that the real problem is how public school boards are overstepping their bounds and violating parents’ rights.”

FAUCI LIED. PEOPLE DIED.

Bhattacharya & Kulldorff: NIH Is Due For An Overhaul After Covid Exposed Lies, Power Abuses, And Conflicts Of Interest

With the recent appointment of a new NIH director to replace Francis Collins and a new National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director to replace Anthony Fauci, the time is now to reflect and for Congress to enact structural reforms. But what needs fixing? The most crucial priority is to remove fundamental conflicts of interest brought to light by abuses of these positions by Collins and Fauci. Scientific Research vs. Public Health Strategy: During a pandemic emergency, there is a need for urgent scientific research and an open and robust debate on the most appropriate science-based public health policy. The former is the responsibility of the NIH, while the latter is the responsibility of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health departments. If those responsible for public health policy also hold the purse strings of research funding, most scientists will not dare to criticize the hand that feeds them, no matter how misguided the pandemic strategy. Former NIH leaders Fauci and Collins were architects and proponents of the lockdown-focused strategy, which ultimately failed to protect Americans from the harms of the virus and imposed enormous collateral public health damage from increased chronic diseases, deteriorated mental health, and lost education. Fauci and Collins abused their positions to destroy the reputations of credible scientists who opposed lockdowns for public health reasons. There is an implicit conflict of interest in the power possessed by NIH leaders. […] NIH Patent Royalty Payments

Regulations permit NIH researchers to receive royalty payments for their taxpayer-funded research, including millions of dollars for the NIH-funded Moderna vaccine. Simultaneously, the NIH issues evidence summaries that doctors use to inform patient treatments. This conflict of interest may lead the NIH to favor patented drugs over cheap, off-patent drugs that could benefit many people for a fraction of the cost. This conflict of interest may have affected the NIH’s pandemic decision-making. […] Fundamental Reforms . . .

BIDEN/HARRIS/OBAMA’S AMERICA LAST REGIME: THE FUNDAMENTAL TRANSFORMATION OF FOREIGN POLICY

Wauck: A Russian Perspective On The State Of The War

I’m not in a position to vouch for how representative the views expressed actually are, but the overall viewpoint is conceptually well thought out. You will note two things. First of all, there is a consistent focus on political developments within the US. Russia, from this perspective, is keeping a close eye on US politics because Russia prefers a global and negotiated settlement to a settlement reached exclusively on the battlefield. Second, a characteristically Russian preoccupation with the role of Poland. Here, the interviewee keeps that preoccupation within what I consider reasonable bounds. Like me, he regards Poland as a pawn, not a power player in its own right. Let me interject here a tweet that could be a preview of escalations to come—fit it into this perspective: . . .

Read more at Meaning In History Substack.

BIDEN/HARRIS/OBAMA’S AMERICA LAST REGIME: THE FUNDAMENTAL TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICA

VDH: Actually, Joe, All Your ‘Objectives’ Were Failures

Name me a single objective we’ve ever set out to accomplish that we’ve failed on. Name me one, in all of our history. Not one!” -President Joe Biden, August 16, 2023 Joe Biden in one of his now accustomed angry “get off my grass” moods dared the press to find just one of his policies/objectives that has not worked. Silence followed. Perhaps it was polite to say nothing, given even the media knows almost every enacted Biden policy has failed. Here is a summation of what he should instead apologize for. . . . […] His frailty redefined American presidential campaigning as basement seclusion and outsourcing propaganda to the media. And his disabilities only intensified during his presidency. Biden begins his day late and quits early. He has recalibrated the presidency as a 5-hour, 3-day a week job. . . . Little in his biography can be fully believed. He lies about everything from his train rides to the death of his son to his relationship with Biden-family foreign collaborators, to vaccinations to the economy. Anytime Biden mentions places visited, miles flown, or rails ridden, he is likely lying.

(H/T DG) Ling, Sedacca & Levine: Biden quietly sells off border wall parts to thwart GOP push to use them

Since April, GovPlanet, an online auction house specializing in military surplus, has sold 81 lots of steel “square structural tubes” — intended for use as vertical bollards in the border barrier’s 30-foot-tall panels — hauling in about $2 million. On Tuesday, GovPlanet netted $154,200 for 729 of the 28-foot-tall hollow beams, sold in five separate lots for an average $212 apiece. Thirteen more lots are set to be auctioned on Aug. 23 and Aug. 30. […] But just last month, as part of its annual defense appropriations package, the Democrat-led Senate passed a Republican-sponsored bill aimed at forcing Biden to stem the worsening migrant crisis at the US-Mexico border by extending the wall. […] The Finish It Act will make the feds use those materials on new wall construction — or hand the remaining stock over to states like Texas for use in their own border defense projects. Now, the Biden administration is rushing to get rid of the wall leftovers before the GOP-led House can pass a matching version of the bill and make it law, critics told The Post.

Smith: Energy group drops study on how Inflation Reduction Act has benefited Communist China

year ago today, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, which included a whopping $369 billion for climate and energy spending. On this anniversary, the pro-fossil fuel group Power the Future published a study showing how this money has “enriched” Communist China. The 14-page report, titled “Where Green Meets Red: How the Environmental Agenda is Making America Dependent on China,” details the horrific conditions that EV material miners—which include tens of thousands of children—are routinely subjected to in areas like the Congo, where China owns many mines. […] “The Biden Administration’s push to electrify nearly every facet of everyday life – power plants, cars, the heating and cooling systems in homes and buildings – is dangerously increasing America’s dependence on China and jeopardizing our nation’s security,” the report states, going on to propose five steps to buck Biden’s “Green New Deal.” These include: . . .

Raed more: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/energy/energy-group-drops-study-how-inflation-reduction-act-has-benefited-communist

Kerr: Legal Experts Call For Investigation Into Biden’s Favorite Super PAC Over ‘Serious’ Financial Discrepancies

President Joe Biden’s favorite super PAC has a $12 million gap in its financial disclosures, a Washington Free Beacon investigation found, prompting legal experts to call for immediate investigations into the “troubling” discrepancy. Future Forward, which the Biden White House has endorsed as the “pre-eminent super PAC” supporting the president’s reelection bid, in 2021 claimed it received just $3.4 million in cash from its affiliated dark money group. But that group, nonprofit Future Forward USA Action, reported in its 2021 IRS tax return that it provided $15.3 million to the super PAC that year. The missing $12 million is one of several errors in the group’s finances, errors that experts say are egregious enough to warrant a federal probe.

Kunstler: A Bumpy Ride

Draw back from the scene and understand that the sheer heaping-up of procedural legal bullshit in the various sham court cases against candidate Donald Trump is largely an attempt to confound, mystify, and preoccupy the public while the great scaffold of our national life collapses. The news — both legacy and alt — will be dominated day after day by analyses of every move and counter-move through endless thickets of courtroom minutiae while the US economy crashes and burns, residual wealth is confiscated, and the American social order turns into something like fiery goo. By November of 2024, somebody will be elected president, or no one will be. At this point, it is probably down to an election that more than half the country won’t believe in, or no election at all due to civil chaos so extreme it will make the 1861 weeks of secession look as tame as a middle school fire drill. Beyond the hamstringing and hog-tying of their chief adversary, the Democratic Party lawfare necromancers have set up the game board with surpassing precision so that their opponents will never be able to win another election. Yet, they are so self-satisfied as to apparently think no one noticed. (We’ll be coming for you, eventually, Marc Elias.)

DEMOCRAT PARTY MARXIST PLAYBOOK: CHILDREN ARE THE TARGET OF THE DARKNESS AFFECTING OUR NATION

Tapson: The Gender Revolution Dehumanizing Our Kids

According to a public presentation recently reviewed by Fox News Digital, a self-identified feminist named Diane Ehrensaft has been spreading the word about ongoing developments in what she calls a “gender revolution” led by children. “It’s a wonderful thing to see,” she enthuses. During a 2018 talk at the San Francisco Public Library, Ehrensaft declared that children “know more than we do about this topic of being gender expansive,” so our job as adults is simply to listen and respond with support and encouragement as pre-verbal, poopy-diapered toddlers enlighten us about who they truly are. After all, the doctors who “assign” children their sex at birth were just guessing and could very well have made a harmful mistake. It’s important that we grownups pay attention to the signals from our kids, who can’t tie their own shoes but who Ehrensaft thinks are wise enough to reject the oppressive straitjacket of our outmoded, binary way of thinking. Ehrensaft is not just any San Francisco gender activist. She occupies an influential position as the director of mental health and chief psychologist at the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital gender development center. Specializing in pediatric “gender-affirmative care for transgender and gender-expansive patients,” she is also a professor at the UCSF School of Medicine, and the author of well-regarded (by other gender ideologues) books in the field, such as The Gender Creative Child and Gender Born, Gender Made. Ehrensaft is also notorious for claiming that one of the signs to watch for in your child who may be trying to tell you his or her (their? zir?) true gender identity is: . . .

Clark: The tragedy of Jazz Jennings

The reality-TV star’s story is a terrible indictment of so-called gender-affirming care. In 2003, Jeanette Jennings, a mother from Florida, noticed that her son, who was three years old, kept opening up his onesie. To most parents, this might not have seemed like a big deal, but Jennings became convinced that her son, Jaron, was trying to make his onesie into a dress. So began what would become the rollercoaster career of an icon of the trans lobby and a teenage darling of America’s liberal media. At the age of five, Jaron socially transitioned to become a ‘girl’ and was renamed Jazz Jennings. Aged 14, he started fronting his own hugely successful reality-TV series, I Am Jazz. Now in its eighth season, the series has charted the lives of Jazz, his family and friends as well as the long and complex medical procedures of his gender reassignment, from puberty blockers to eventual castration and the creation of a ‘neovagina’. If we are to believe the trans lobby, for whom Jazz is now a prominent advocate, he is walking proof of the importance of early ‘affirmation’ of transgender identity in children. But like so much of the propaganda churned out by the trans movement, the true story of Jazz is much darker than we have been led to believe. Now 21 years old, Jazz has become a tragic figure. Obese, depressed and often suffering from anxiety attacks, he has struggled to form anything remotely like an intimate relationship. […] Jazz Jennings was sold to us by the LGBTQ+ lobby as a shining example of the success of early gender reassignment for children. In truth, he’s been left sexless, sterilized and physically mutilated. Jazz is not an example to follow. His tragic life is an indictment of the trans movement.

BOOK REVIEW: THE UNBROKEN THREAD: DISCOVERING THE WISDOM OF TRADITION IN AN AGE OF CHAOS BY SOHRAB AHMARI

Hill: Freedom, Western Tradition, & “The Unbroken Thread”

In the West, we trust George Orwell implicitly. He is the great prophet of our age. When he holds up the Party mantra “Freedom is Slavery” as an example of naked doublethink, we thus accept the proposition with hardly a second thought. But is it? Sohrab Ahmari’s latest book The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos makes the sustained case that too much freedom—or rather, too much of the wrong sort of freedom—can be a kind of slavery. […] Although each chapter offers its own unique and self-contained meditation, the entire book is a blistering critique of the liberal anti-culture and its shallow offerings. When I asked Mr. Ahmari about this, he told me: “Each of the chapters end up having the same theme, ultimately, which is that things that appear to limit us, bind us, set up barriers before our will, are actually sources of liberation; whereas, things that seem to be liberating us by demolishing those barriers… actually make us less free. True freedom,” he reminded me, “is found in limits.” The idea that freedom resides in the cultivation of virtue finds its source in both Athens and Jerusalem. It is no wonder, then, that the modern West, as it turns its back on classical learning and Judeo-Christian faith, has rendered this view of freedom broadly unpopular, especially among young people.

OTHER NEWS, COMMENTARY, OPINION

Prager: Why Are More Americans Than Ever Committing Suicide?

The New York Post reports: “About 49,500 people took their own lives last year in the U.S., the highest number ever, according to new government data posted Thursday. “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which posted the numbers, has not yet calculated a suicide rate for the year, but available data suggests suicides are more common in the U.S. than at any time since the dawn of World War II… “The largest increases were seen in older adults. “Deaths rose nearly 7% in people ages 45 to 64, and more than 8% in people 65 and older… “Suicides in adults ages 25 to 44 grew by about 1%. “The new data indicates that suicide became the second leading cause of death in that age group in 2022, up from No. 4 in 2021.” So, of course, the question any American should ask is: Why?

Reuters: Trump to skip Republican debate, interview with ex-Fox host Carlson -NYT

Former U.S. President Donald Trump plans to skip the first Republican primary debate next week and instead sit for an online interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the New York Times reported, citing people briefed on the matter. […] In the most recent Reuters/Ipsos poll released this month, Trump held 47% of the Republican vote nationally, with DeSantis dropping six percentage points from July down to just 13%. None of the other candidates due to attend the debate have broken out of single digits. Trump’s rivals for the Republican presidential nomination ahead of the 2024 election will gather at the debate to tout their candidacies, but so far only a few have aggressively criticized Trump despite his mounting legal troubles. Trump has an Aug. 25 deadline to voluntarily surrender in Fulton County, Georgia, after being charged this week in a fourth criminal indictment, . . .

Sundance: This is Donald Trump’s Most Brilliant Inside Move to Benefit the MAGA Movement

If you understand the war inside the machine {GO DEEP} then this move by President Trump will make a lot more sense. Going all the way back to 2016, the #1 value to the RNC from the candidacy of Donald Trump has always been the supporter data, the donor files and data of the people who support Donald Trump. The battle inside the RNC is between the billionaire Wall Street club who controls it, and the MAGA voting base who operate within it. […] The RNC has been covertly hostile, but you will now see them become openly hostile. President Trump knows this, and his next move is brilliant. President Trump has created an “official seal of approval” which must accompany any campaign endorsement, donor request or ancillary aspect implying Trump support. This is directly done to counteract the ability of the RNC to exploit Trump’s affiliation and essentially hostage status. In essence, the RNC cannot exploit the MAGA brand for RNC/MAGA endorsement, and or use the donor data files, without the Trump “seal of approval.” The data becomes worthless, because without the Trump seal any request is ignored. Additionally, without the seal any RNC candidate is ignored. This creates leverage. This is how the insurgency forces the compliance of the GOP. At least that appears to be the goal from Donald Trump.

Revolver.news: Elon’s new “censorship” chief was just unmasked and he’s a double-agent…

We all held high hopes for Twitter when Elon Musk stepped in and purchased the platform. While his intentions seemed good, with his heart was in the right place, he’s quickly discovering that America may not be as free as he thought she was. When it comes down to it, the shots aren’t being called by the Constitution, but by woke companies like Apple, Amazon, and Chase. Sadly, that’s why Twitter isn’t turning into the bastion of free speech we had hoped for, thanks to the crew who’s taking over the helm. And one of the biggest standouts is Aaron Rodericks, a flaming liberal who’s now heading up “censorship.”

War Room: Winters: DeSantis Let Donors Rework Legislation To Allow The CCP To Buy Land Next To Military Bases.

Watch the 5:53 minute interview: https://rumble.com/v38vluv-winters-desantis-let-donors-rework-legislation-to-allow-the-ccp-to-buy-land.html

Lindsay: DAR Patriots Fight To Defend Historic Women’s Society From Men Pretending To Be Ladies

Without its members knowing, the Daughters of the American Revolution opened the door to male membership. Women founded the service organization in 1890, have governed it ever since, and have dedicated themselves to millions of hours of community service annually, but now transgender ideology threatens to fundamentally transform its historic character. In late June, members of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution met at its Memorial Continental Hall headquarters for their annual convention. The NSDAR had sent proposed bylaws amendments to chapter regents in advance of the meetings for review and dissemination to chapter members. There was an emphasis in the distributed material about proposed amendments related to an increase in application fees, but an amendment to update nondiscrimination language was initially barely mentioned. It read, “NSDAR and its chapters may not discriminate against an eligible applicant based on race, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.” […] Many DAR members across the country are working together to try to get the bylaw amendment rescinded. They regularly report feeling betrayed by a national society that was established by and for women and whose motto is “God, Home, and Country.” They take seriously that God is first in the motto. They believe that forcing them to accept that a person can change his or her sex goes against the Bible’s account of God creating male and female in his image. They also maintain that science proves the existence of two sexes, defined by XX chromosomes for females and XY chromosomes for males. They reject transgender ideology, which demands that they see so-called gender as a fluid concept. […] DAR members are lineally descended from patriots of the Revolutionary War, and they are in a new kind of battle for the soul of their society and their country.

(Bravo) Scott: Arizona superintendent says schools shouldn’t allow transgender students to use girls’ bathrooms

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said he has received many concerns from parents who are outraged by the idea of a “biological boy” being able to use the bathroom or locker rooms designated for girls, according to an Aug. 17 news release. Some schools have cited federal Title IX as a means to allow this. “Under the current Title IX, there is no language that compels schools to permit biological boys to use girls’ bathrooms, locker rooms, or shower areas,” Horne said. “The Biden administration has proposed changes to Title IX that might allow for this, but this proposal has no force of law until it is ruled on by the courts, which has not occurred.” Arizona Democrats responded to Horne and said he released a “hate filled statement.”

(March 2023) Naomi Wolf: Dear Conservatives, I Apologize

There is no way to avoid this moment. The formal letter of apology. From me. To Conservatives and to those who “put America first” everywhere. It’s tempting to sweep this confrontation with my own gullibility under the rug — to “move on” without ever acknowledging that I was duped, and that as a result I made mistakes in judgement, and that these mistakes, multiplied by the tens of thousands and millions on the part of people just like me, hurt millions of other people like you all, in existential ways. But that erasure of personal and public history would be wrong. I owe you a full-throated apology. I believed a farrago of lies. And, as a result of these lies, and my credulity — and the credulity of people similarly situated to me – many conservatives’ reputations are being tarnished, on false bases.

INTERNATIONAL

Tawil: After Destroying Lebanon, Iran-controlled Hezbollah Threatens War with Israel

Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary-General of the Hezbollah terror group, recently threatened to send Israel back “to the Stone Age” if it goes to war with Lebanon — meaning defend itself against an Iranian-Lebanese attack.
While Nasrallah’s threat to destroy Israel is not new, he surely knows a thing or two about sending countries back to the Stone Age. His Iran-backed group, which functions as a state-within-a-state in Lebanon, is responsible for turning the Arab country into a failed state.
Two days after Nasrallah made his latest threat against Israel, Lebanon witnessed widespread blackouts, forcing Beirut Airport to run on electric generators.

(H/T CFP) Kogon: Remembering Three Young Cyclists From a Single Belgian Team Who Were Suddenly Afflicted With Severe Heart Problems Shortly After Receiving the Covid Vaccine

Bronny James’s cardiac arrest has again raised the issue of how rare or frequent cardiac injury is in the aftermath of receiving an mRNA vaccine, especially among young males. Last Tuesday was the two-year anniversary of an incident during a bicycle race in Belgium, which might have already settled the issue had it been more widely known. On August 15th, 2021, Yarno van Herck, a rising star of the Acrog-Tormans cycling team, began having shooting pains in his chest during a junior-division race in the Flemish town of Vorselaar. Van Herck would fight through the pain to somehow make it to the finish line. But after the race, his parents would rush him to the hospital, where he would be diagnosed with myocarditis and admitted to intensive care. Yarno van Herck was 15 years old at the time. Two days earlier, he had received a first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

(8/19/23) The Sorcerer’s Apprentices of the Ruling Classes

A current topic of debate by allegedly serious people in Germany is whether to ban Alternative for Germany (AfD), a nationalist political party which has been surging in opinion polls. Surging to such an extent that it currently out-polls the ruling Social Democrats and is in shouting range of the Christian Democrats.

[…] Midwits defending a ban make arguments like, well, the Nazis came to power by democratic means, so it is necessary to protect democracy against the new Nazis–which they obviously believe the AfD to be. This is historical idiocy. For one thing, the Nazis were declining in popularity when Hitler was invited by German President Paul von Hindenburg to become Chancellor, at the behest of Franz von Papen. Von Papen was a member of the conservative elite, which despaired of defeating the left without the Nazi base. He came up with the brilliant plan of bringing the Nazis into the government on the theory that the conservative elite would dominate Hitler and use him: “We’ve hired him” von Papen told Hindenberg. Yeah, that worked out great! […] The AfD are not my cup of tea, in large part because they are anti-American, although I can understand and sympathize with some of the positions that have made them a political force, namely their anti-EU stance, and their anger over the immigration policies that Merkel and the German political elite forced on the country. But that’s neither here nor there. What’s particularly fascinating about this to me is how it validates something I pointed out before the 2016 election in the United States, namely, the utter inability of the western “elite” to comprehend–or even consider the possibility–that they created the thing that now terrifies them to the point of wanting to ban it. […] In other words, the German establishment is reaping what it has sown, and doesn’t like it one bit.

Revolver.news: Here’s what “volcanic lightning” looks like…

Watch the 11 second video: https://revolver.news/2023/08/heres-what-volcanic-lightning-looks-like/

The Prickly Pear’s TAKE ACTION focus this year is to help achieve a winning 2024 national and state November 5th election with the removal of the Biden/Obama leftist executive branch disaster, win one U.S. Senate seat, maintain and win strong majorities in all Arizona state offices on the ballot and to insure that unrestricted abortion is not constitutionally embedded in our laws and culture.

Please click the TAKE ACTION link to learn to do’s and don’ts for voting in 2024. Our state and national elections are at great risk from the very aggressive and radical leftist Democrat operatives with documented rigging, mail-in voter fraud and illegals voting across the country (yes, with illegals voting across the country) in the last several election cycles.

Read Part 1 and Part 2 of The Prickly Pear essays entitled How NOT to Vote in the November 5, 2024 Election in Arizona to be well informed of the above issues and to vote in a way to ensure the most likely chance your vote will be counted and counted as you intend.

Please click the following link to learn more.

TAKE ACTION