9/11 victims' families outraged over media claims Capitol riot was worse 'to score points politically'

From Fox News.com (July 17):

When retired New York Deputy Fire Chief Jim Riches speaks about it, the anger and sadness in his voice is unmistakable.

It's been nearly 20 years since his son Jimmy was among the 343 New York firefighters to die at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The 9/11 terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 people, launched wars, and changed the world.

But since the January 6 Capitol riot, when a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the building to disrupt certification of Joe Biden's election victory, some commentators and reporters have claimed it's not just on par with the 9/11 attacks, but actually even worse.

Riches and other family members of victims told Fox News they're disgusted when they hear of the two events even being compared, let alone suggesting the riot, while stunning and disgraceful, was the darker day.

"It's a shame," he said. "Are they kidding me? 3,000 people died, plus we have more people dying from the air that was down there … They're comparing it to score points politically. The families are really [angry]. When I talk to them, when they compare it to that, they find that outrageous."

It's become a trend in some liberal circles since the riot to liken it to 9/11, citing that it was a direct attack on the democratic process. The widely condemned assault came on the heels of weeks of unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud by Trump and his supporters. Rioters smashed windows, beat law enforcement officers, and were heard voicing threats at Vice President Mike Pence, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other politicians. [read more]

It is sick to compare a peaceful protest to the 9/11 attack. I think the protestors were set up to make President Trump look bad. The crowd was walking away when tear gas from the Capitol police (it’s interesting that the police didn’t have the word ‘police’ on their uniforms to identify themselves as the police) threw out tear gas canisters. Then a Capitol police officer was waving the protestors toward the Capitol. When some of the protestors were causing acts of vandalism, the Capitol police did nothing to stop them. I am not totally sold those vandals were Trump supporters—they could be plants. A Trump supporter wouldn’t use the flag to break a window. That’s disrespectful. Yea, some of the protestors stole some stuff—they should be arrested—but the others were just trespassing. Why weren’t they arrested while they were in the Capitol at the time? It doesn’t make sense. One other thing: Not all the video from that day is shown. Why? What happened to transparency?

Other articles on the protest:

• Byron York's Daily Memo: Democrats, double standards, and the Capitol riot committee
• Ashli Babbitt family lawyer says officer killed her in 'ambush' without warning
• They Have Officially Cleared The Man Who MURDERED ASHLI BABBITT!
• Officer who shot Ashli Babbitt during Capitol riot breaks silence: 'I saved countless lives'
• They Just REVEALED The Mistake Babbitt’s Killer Just Made That Could End Him!
• The FBI Admits to Having Informants at January 6th Protest
  
• Report: Postal Service Surveillance Program Probed Jan. 6 Social Media
  

Determined high school student raised $12,000 for homeless veterans and opened a home that will save lives

From The Blaze.com (July 15):

A Colorado-based nonprofit was able to open its first group home for homeless veterans on Sunday, thanks to the efforts of a high school student from the other side of the country who raised tens of thousands of dollars for the cause by running a marathon.

Michael Ferrara doesn't back down from a challenge.

So last year when the 17-year-old high school student from New Jersey found out about a 22 push-ups for 22 days challenge on social media to raise awareness for veteran suicides, he was in. The challenge was issued by Houses for Warriors, a Colorado-based nonprofit that seeks to improve the quality of life for homeless and injured veterans through housing and housing resources.

As Ferrara and his father Raymond, 50, learned more about Houses for Warriors and its cause, doing push-ups on social media didn't seem like doing enough. The Ferrara family has a strong military background. Both of Ferrara's grandfathers served, one in the Navy and the other in the Army, and his uncle Anthony Ferrara is a Marine veteran.

Ferrara aspires to follow in his family's tradition by studying mechanical engineering at the U.S. Air Force Academy, or another military school. He cares deeply about veterans issues and serves as the president of Hunterdon Central Regional High School's Student Soldier Support Club, volunteering his time to run supply drives to support troops overseas, and also to visit with homeless veterans.

"Our veterans and active military are real live heroes, each and everyone of them. After realizing that the people who fought for our country are living on the streets, I looked for even more ways to help," Ferrara told TheBlaze.

"I thought it was absolutely terrible that there are people that served our country and our home on the streets, unable to enjoy the freedoms that they fought for." [read more]

Good for him!

Compounds and Strategies to Get Brain Cells

From The Epoch Times.com (March 8):

Fortunately, even as the disease [alzheimer] grows in prevalence, researchers are also learning more about factors that put us at risk, and habits we can cultivate to keep our brain healthy.

One recent example comes out of a collaboration between researchers1 from the University of Queensland and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases. They discovered that a phytochemical in apple peels can stimulate the growth of new neurons (neurogenesis).

This phytochemical is called quercetin. While the researchers found this compound did not help the brain grow neurons when used at high concentrations, it was pro-neurogenic at low concentrations, which means it led to the creation of new neurons, specifically in the hippocampus region of the brain.

The brain has a hippocampus within each of the temporal lobes (which are just above the ears). The hippocampus is part of the limbic system.2 This is a part of the brain where behavioral and emotional responses are generated. These responses are central to survival and include reproduction, caring for babies, feeding, and the fight-or-flight response. Other parts of the limbic system include the thalamus, hypothalamus, basal ganglia, and amygdala.

…………..

Your behavior is affected by this constant accumulation of knowledge and damage to the thalamus can produce maladaptive behaviors because of its broad effects on emotion and cognition.

The hippocampus is also the area that takes the initial damage when the plaques and tangled fibers of Alzheimer’s start to destroy brain function.

……………

Quercetin Stimulates Proneurogenic Activity

The new study looked at how quercetin, a plant flavonol found in the apple peel, spurred neuron growth. Flavonols are a type of flavonoid, a compound with many functions in plants, including being an essential pigment for bright colors in fruit and vegetables.

Flavonoids are also powerful antioxidants, which help the immune system work better by neutralizing free radicals.

The study was published in Stem Cell Reports 6,  and was built on past studies that have demonstrated the benefits of phytochemicals found in plant foods.

The researchers noted that plant compounds were vital for maintaining cognitive function by growing new neurons (neurogenesis). That’s what makes the new findings encouraging. This ability of the brain to reshape and grow itself is critical to our cognitive agility. The fact that a compound in apple peel—and another in its flesh—can help the brain do that is a testament to the benefits we receive from natural food.

……………..

The second half of the study was an in vivo (within the living) study using an animal model. After their data analysis, the researchers ultimately found that apples contained compounds in the peel and the flesh that helped promote neurogenesis. Quercetin from the peel and another active compound from the apple flesh, 3,5-Dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHBA), demonstrated the ability to increase precursor cell proliferation and neurogenesis. [read more]

The article said that exercising, avoiding processed foods, sleeping well, and drinking less alcohol helps in stimulating brain cell growth. Taking the antioxidant Astaxanthin that is in salmon, trout, lobster, and other seafood helps too.

‘Traumatized’ Kamala Harris Staffers ‘Terrified’ She Will Become President: Report

From Daily Wire.com (July 15):

Kamala Harris’ former staffers are still “traumatized” by their employment in the Senator-turned-Vice President’s California office and are “terrified” that she could be next in line to become president, reports the Washington Free Beacon, based on revelations made in a Business Insider report.

“It’s a nightmare scenario for some former Harris staffers who watched nervously as their former boss ascended the national political stage,” Business Insider reported based on interviews with a “dozen” of the vice president’s former staffers.

“Many of them remain loyal Democrats and fans of Biden, but they didn’t want to see a boss with whom they’d had a bad experience become the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer,” Business Insider noted. “Biden, at 78, was already the oldest person to assume the US presidency. He’ll be a few weeks shy of his 82nd birthday on Election Day 2024, and there’s already speculation six months into his term over whether he’ll run for reelection.”

The Washington Free Beacon added that the staffers “spoke on condition of anonymity to protect professional relationships, adding that Harris’ job trajectory means it’s well within reason she could become the most powerful person on the planet,” and they do not want to be targets of wrath. [read more]

Yea, Commie Harris becoming president makes me uneasy too.

Why A Free People Cannot Exist Without Free Speech

The Federalist.com (Apr. 21):

Free speech is perhaps the most important liberty Americans enjoy. People exercise it every day without even thinking about it, and for good reason it is mentioned in the very first amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But free speech is more than just the words in the Bill of Rights. Before there was a law, there was the idea of free speech. The law limits the government to protect the right, but does not define the right.

More than simply a legal issue, free speech is a part of American culture—an important distinction. If free speech meant only the words in the Constitution, if all it guaranteed were that the government could not jail us for our words, it would be a dead letter. Governments across the world guarantee rights in their laws yet violate them daily.

Indeed, free speech was not invented in 1791. The law only codifies what the Founders and their contemporaries already believed: that a free people must be allowed to openly express themselves, and that the cure for bad ideas is good ideas, not censorship.

The First Amendment is essential, but the American people believe in the principle of free speech. That includes more than just being free of government punishment. It includes the idea that no power — be it government, corporation, or mob — should be able to suppress the free exchange of ideas.

We often speak of the “marketplace of ideas,” and just as with markets for goods, the concept came first, and laws to protect it followed. Now, the concept is under threat. Should it fail, and should deplatforming, monopoly pressures, and “heckler’s vetoes” become accepted practices, then no matter what the law says, free speech as a concept will die.

The English Roots of Free Speech

Many of the freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights echo those proclaimed a century earlier in England’s 1689 Bill of Rights. Free speech is mentioned there, but only for members of Parliament, whom the Crown sometimes arrested for things they said on the floor of the House of Commons.

This is replicated in the American Constitution’s Speech and Debate clause in Article I. The broader guarantee of free speech found in the First Amendment protects a different right, one possessed by all Americans, which developed independently of the rights of legislators.

It follows that free speech did not develop as rigorously in Europe as it did in America because, while it holds positive benefits for people everywhere, only in a democratic republic is it truly necessary. As Britain grew more democratic after the Glorious Revolution, its political thinkers began to see the value of free speech in helping the people to decide how they would be ruled.

Newspapers, once subject to strict licensing requirements, became free to publish articles in opposition to the government of the day. The theory of free speech, advanced most prominently by John Milton 50 years earlier, began to find widespread acceptance. [read more]

Congress considers credit-reporting overhaul, including putting government in charge of scores

From USA Today.com (July 2):

Amid all of this week's news, one potentially game-changing piece of legislation seemed to slip under the radar: the idea of dramatically overhauling the U.S. credit reporting industry.

"Good credit is a gateway to wealth," said House Committee on Financial Services chair Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said Tuesday. "Yet, for far too long, our credit reporting system has kept people of color and low-income persons from access to capital to start a small business; access to mortgage loans to become homeowners; and access to credit to meet financial emergencies."

Waters added that the House passed two bills out of the committee before the pandemic – the Comprehensive CREDIT Act and the Protecting Your Credit Score Act of 2021– which "provide long overdue reforms to our credit reporting system."

Both bills are now back under consideration.

During Tuesday's hearing, Waters and her committee heard from consumer-protection advocates like Chi Chi Wu of the National Consumer Law Center, who proposed replacing the privately-run three-credit bureau system with a public credit registry. It would operate under the umbrella of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which guards consumers against unfair or abusive practices.

"While public agencies are not perfect, at least they would not have profit-making as their top priority," Wu told the House Committee on Financial Services during her testimony. "They would be responsive to public pressure and government oversight. They could also be charged with developing credit scoring models to reduce the yawning racial and economic inequality in this country."

Wu added, "The fact that these are private, profit-seeking companies explains why the credit bureaus are constantly expanding their products into uses, such as employment, insurance, and tenant screening, that ultimately harm Americans and contribute to the massive inequality in our nation."

Waters noted that creating a credit reporting agency that is consumer-oriented "would be a major upgrade over today’s broken, biased credit reporting system."

In addition to the single credit bureau idea, Wu also proposed several other policies, that, if implemented, could improve the financial lives of Americans struggling to improve their credit scores and financial lives:

• Prohibiting the use of credit score information for purposes unrelated to credit decisions. This means most employers could no longer use credit reports in their candidate screening process.
• Reduce the amount of time negative information remains on your credit report. Information like missed payments and collections would fall after 4 years instead of 7. Bankruptcies would continue to stay on for 7 years.
• Limit the reporting of medical debt. They would prohibit the reporting of medical debt for medically necessary services and delay the reporting of unpaid medical bills for one year to give you time to resolve issues with hospitals and insurance carriers.
• Protect economic victims of COVID-19. The lawmakers hope to put a moratorium on the reporting of negative information incurred during the pandemic and other disasters.

[read more]

Gov’t taking over the credit system? I am sure that won’t be weaponized or abused. 😟

Conservative National Radio Host Wayne Allyn Root Announces Support for Black Reparations

Commentary From Wayne Allyn Root on Townhall.com (July 11):

Yes, it's true. I'm that Wayne Allyn Root. I'm the nationally syndicated conservative radio talk show host. And former conservative television host on Newsmax TV. And bestselling conservative author of 14 books -- including "Trump Rules," "The Ultimate Obama Survival Guide," "Angry White Male" and "The Murder of the Middle Class."

I'm the last guy you'd ever imagine coming out in support of reparations for black Americans. But it's true. I'm going to be the first high-profile conservative to support reparations.

Black Americans deserve reparations. Let's be honest. Look at their cities in ruins. Black inner cities in America look like Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the atomic bombs hit.

Have you been to any of them lately? Of course not. What sane person would take a chance by driving through the Brownsville neighborhood in Brooklyn, or Crown Heights, or Bedford Stuyvesant, or Harlem or the infamous South Bronx? Or how about Chicago's black South Side? How about virtually all-black inner cities in Detroit; Baltimore; East St Louis; Newark, New Jersey; Oakland, California; Liberty City in Miami; Cleveland; New Orleans, Memphis, Tennessee; Atlanta and more. The list goes on and on.

These places are synonymous with murder, violent gangs and violent crime. Black cities and neighborhoods are a war zone. A black-on-black genocide. An American tragedy. Not to mention the drug needles, poop, pee, condoms and garbage that litter their mean and hopeless streets.

Black lives do matter. So, yes, they do deserve reparations.

But who is to blame? It's sure not white Americans. Most of us have had nothing to do with the decline of black America. The vast majority of white Americans have never done a bad thing to a black person in our lives. We don't run their cities. We don't go near their cities. We literally have nothing to do with black America.

…………..

So, yes blacks are owed reparations. But who's to blame? There's only one common denominator: DEMOCRATS.

The Democratic Party and Democratic politicians are to blame.

It's the Democratic Party and Democratic politicians who should pay the trillions of dollars. It's the policies of the Democratic Party that have led to poverty; misery; violent crime through the roof; retail theft on a level never imagined; homelessness; hopelessness; rampant drug dealing and addiction; no fathers in black homes; burned-out buildings; abandoned stores; lack of supermarkets; and streets filled with poop, pee, garbage, condoms and drug needles.

A Republican on the streets of a black inner-city neighborhood is just a rumor. Outside of white cops, no whites go anywhere near those neighborhoods, let alone run them. They are run 100% by Democrats. [read more]

He’s absolutely correct.

Another article on reparations: My Ancestors Were Slaves. Here’s What I Think of Reparations.

‘Time To Stop This Farce’: Rand Paul To Introduce Bill Lifting Federal Airplane Mask Mandate

From Daily Wire.com (July 8):

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is planning to introduce legislation to revoke a federal mask mandate for travelers on airplanes.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has continued to mandate that all travelers wear masks on airplanes with limited exceptions as many state governments have rolled back COVID-19 restrictions. The current TSA mandate is in place until at least September 13.

“When the Senate returns to session, I will be introducing an immediate repeal of the mask mandate on planes. Enough! Time to stop this farce and let people travel in peace!” Paul tweeted on Thursday.

Paul has needled public health experts and the Biden administration for months over health restrictions put in place over COVID-19. Paul has argued against requiring masks for anyone who is vaccinated or who has already contracted and recovered from COVID-19.

In March, Paul grilled National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci over his use of masks despite being vaccinated. At the time, Fauci had been acting in accordance with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC later retracted their guidance and said that vaccinated people do not need to wear face masks. [read more]

Good for him! Masks (other than possibly the N95 mask) don’t stop viruses just like a chain-link fence won’t stop a gnat. Viruses are microscopic. If you watch the ads for masks they don’t even say they stop viruses. Just that they are comfortable like a hat or some piece of clothing.

Other mask articles:

• When It Comes To Masks, Physics Will Always Trump Politics
• Unmasking Masks
• Your mask may be giving you COVID eyes
• Get ready for your worst common cold ever, thanks to lockdowns and months of masking
• The Top Reason I Hate Masks Is They Force Me To Live By Lies
• Emails Show Biden’s CDC Caved To Teachers Union Pressure To Mask Students

Hidden on Page 9 of Biden's 'Conservation Plan' Is a Land Grab, Governors Warn

From The Western Journal.com (July 7):

“This land is your land, this land is the federal government’s land, from California to the New York island,” the Woody Guthrie tune goes.

Wait, what?

You read that right. The Biden administration’s conservation plan is raising serious concerns that the federal government really just wants to control more land nationwide.

The plan vaguely outlines a goal to “conserve” 30 percent of land in the United States by 2030 to combat the “climate crisis.”

President Joe Biden issued an executive order in January entitled “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.”

The Epoch Times reported that on page nine of the order, federal agencies are directed to submit a report on “strategies that will encourage broad participation in the goal of conserving 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030.

“The report shall propose guidelines for determining whether lands and waters qualify for conservation, and it also shall establish mechanisms to measure progress toward the 30 percent goal.”

Naturally, the nebulous language is raising red flags for many governors, especially in the West.

“What we’ve asked from the administration is for more information, because their math doesn’t work,” Republican Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts said in June, according to The Times. “Either they’re going to fail to get to 30 percent, or they’re not telling us something else about how they’re going to get to 30 percent.” [read more]

A Place of Honor in Every Black Home

Commentary From Charles Turot on American Thinker.com (Apr. 17):

Ida B. Wells, born into slavery in 1862 and orphaned at 16, rose to fame as a journalist by shining light on things we didn't want to see — in particular, the horror of lynching.  Five thousand Americans were lynched over 90 years, three quarters of them black.  The numbers don't account for the notoriety of the practice; rather, the demonic zeal of its practitioners does.  Even reading about it will turn your stomach.  Do not look at the photos they displayed with pride of charred bodies.  Lynch mobs spread terror among non-white people and those who would defend the rule of law.

Ida B. Wells proposed a solution.  "A Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every black home," she wrote, "... for that protection which the law refuses to give."  "The only times an Afro-American who was assaulted got away," Ida noted, "[were] when he had a gun and used it in self-defense."

Translated for today, Wells's proposal will sound radical to some.  The Civil War began with muzzle-loading muskets but ended with breech-loading rifles firing modern cartridges.  The Winchester lever-action debuted in 1873.  The “gun that won the West" was a repeating rifle that stored as many as a dozen cartridges in a tubular magazine fitted under the barrel.  Someone armed with a Winchester could fire as fast as he could work the cocking lever and pull the trigger.  Fans of old westerns like The Rifleman recognize the gun.  It allowed an individual a new level of self-defense against multiple attackers.  Atticus Finch used it to face down the mob in To Kill a Mockingbird.  No one improved on it until 1905, when the self-loading, or semi-automatic, rifle made the lever unnecessary — its more advanced action loads a fresh cartridge from a magazine each time the trigger is pulled.

When Wells was writing, the Winchester, battle rifle of the U.S. military, was state-of-the-art.  Wells wanted one in the hands of every black family.  Its modern civilian counterpart is the AR-15.

Wells was a Republican.  The lynch mobs were Democrats; the KKK, the paramilitary arm of the Democratic Party.  A friend once asked me whether a black female journalist like Wells would be Republican today.  If she wanted civilians to have access to that sort of firepower, she sure as hell would be.  That's heresy now among Democrats. [read more]

WTH? FBI Seizes Fully Assembled US Capitol Lego Set From Home of January 6 Protester

From The Gateway Pundit.com (July 7):

The FBI, our “premiere law enforcement agency” seized a fully assembled US Capitol Lego set from the home of a January 6 protester.

According to court records, federal prosecutors alleged 27-year-old Robert Morss directed other protesters during “one of the most intense and prolonged clashes” with Capitol Police officers on the Lower West Terrace on January 6.

Morss, a former Army Ranger, was indicted last month on 9 counts and has been in jail since his arrest pending trial.

Prosecutors argued Morss is flight risk and a threat to the community.

When feds raided Morss’ Pittsburgh home, they found his military fatigues, a military utility bag, 3 firearms and a Lego set of the US Capitol (gasp). [read more]

The insurgent probably has White House Lego set too knowing him.

Other Jan. 6 protestors articles:

• January 6 inmates endure ‘human rights violations on a daily basis,’ bail motion alleges
• Attorney: Jan. 6 Prisoners Brutally Beaten, Stripped, Hogtied, Humiliated by Guards – One Prisoner Blinded in One Eye – Worse Abuse Than Gitmo (VIDEO)
• What The Jan 6 Patriots Do Every Night In Jail Is Absolutely Amazing!
• January 6th Prisoners Dress Up Like Cubans So GOP Will Finally Notice Them
• So Much Evidence that January 6, 2021 was a Calculated Set-Up
• EXCLUSIVE Jan 6 Political Prisoners Who Refuse COVID Vax Are Denied Razors, Haircuts, Religion Ahead Court Appearances: ‘They’re Trying Make Them Look Like Terrorists’
• Florida Man Gets 8-Month Sentence in Jan. 6 Capitol Attack
• 'QAnon shaman' reaches plea deal in Jan. 6 riot case
• Jan. 6 Political Prisoner Chris Worrell Calls into Greg Kelly’s Show from Jail – Guards Have Not Given Him Access to His Cancer Drugs for 166 Days! (VIDEO)
• The Jan. 6th Show Trials Threaten All of Us
• House Jan. 6 riot committee to seek electronic records from lawmakers
• GAO Bombshell: DHS blew it on Jan. 6, can’t adapt to security threats
• FBI Finds ‘Scant Evidence’ That January 6 Riot Was ‘Result Of Organized Plot To Overturn’ Election: Reuters
• The FBI Just ADMITTED IT LIED About The Jan 6 Attack!
• CONFIRMED: Feds Were Embedded In 1/6 Crowd Alongside Militia Members

EXCLUSIVE: 'It's a disease from mommy and me.' Joe Biden's shocking admission of addiction is disclosed in texts to son Hunter - as it's revealed FIVE members of the Biden family have been to rehab for drug or alcohol abuse

From Daily Mail.co.uk (July 7):

Five members of Joe Biden's close family have been to rehab for drug or alcohol abuse, DailyMail.com can reveal.

The president's brother Frank, children Hunter and Ashley, his niece Caroline and his late son's widow who also became Hunter's lover, Hallie, have all suffered from addiction issues and had spells in treatment centers – some at the orders of a judge.

In text messages to Hunter, Joe even referred to his son's addiction as a 'disease from mommy and me.'

The revelations shed a new personal light on the president's previous war on drugs, criticizing George Bush Sr's 1980s War on Drugs for being 'not tough enough' and writing punitive laws with harsher sentences for drug crimes when he was head of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Joe Biden himself is reportedly a teetotaler, after seeing the effects of alcoholism on his favorite uncle who he lived with as a child, according to an October 2020 New York Times profile.

The president has previously accused the truck driver involved in the 1972 accident that killed his first wife and daughter, of being drunk at the time, despite the fact that the driver was not charged with a DUI and police found no evidence of drunk driving. [read more]

A Chinese ‘Spy Recruitment’ Scholar Is Now Running Joe Biden’s NSA Personnel Department.

From The National Pulse.com (July 6):

The stunning revelation – that Joe Biden’s intelligence apparatus relies on the recruitment from a recent collaborator with the Chinese Communist Party – comes just weeks after the G7 summit where Western nations pledged tougher measures against an increasingly aggressive Beijing.

Zimmerman’s influence over the National Security Agency (NSA) also follows explosive allegations from Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Carlson recently claimed the agency has covertly accessed his emails and texts. The NSA did not outright deny the allegations.

Shanghai Academy.

While working at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation, Zimmerman doubled as a fellow at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS). SASS has been flagged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for its close ties to the Chinese Communist Party’s top spy agency: the Ministry of State Security.

SASS – which the FBI explicitly labels a “front group for Chinese intelligence collection and overseas spy recruitment” – was a key player in a 2019 criminal case involving a retired Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative selling classified U.S. defense documents to the Chinese Communist Party.

The American operative, Kevin Mallory, was contacted by SASS officials via LinkedIn to begin the relationship that culminated in a 20-year prison sentence for Mallory.

As a result, the FBI has described the Chinese Communist Party as dependent upon SASS employees to serve “spotters and assessors” of potential Western spies. Ministry of State Security officers – described by the FBI as keen on “influencing the foreign policy of other countries” – have also “used SASS affiliation as cover identities.” [read more]

Why Larry Elder Will Win the California Recall Election ... But He Will Lose a Rigged Election

Commentary from Wayne Allyn Root on Town Hall.com (Sept. 12):

Altogether, I may be on the record publicly more than any political oddsmaker, analyst or host in America. I've made literally thousands of predictions. I'm batting at least .990. I've gotten maybe a half-dozen predictions wrong out of thousands.

So, here's my prediction for the California governor's recall election ...

Gov. Gavin Newsom will be recalled, and Larry Elder will be the next governor of California. Except it won't matter. Because after all the massive Democrat vote fraud is factored in, Gavin Newsom will survive the recall and Larry Elder will lose.

I think Larry's great. I've been a fan of Larry Elder for decades. I started my national radio career as a guest host for Larry. I think Larry Elder is just what the doctor ordered for the tragic mess California is in.

Larry would win -- if the legitimate votes were counted honestly. But they aren't. As communist dictator Joseph Stalin once said, "Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything."

California is a failed socialist hellhole. Crooked Democrats count the votes in California (and any other Democrat-controlled state).

Larry Elder is about to find out what it's like to be former President Donald J. Trump. He's about to find out what it's like to have an election stolen by brazen socialist/communist criminals who will stop at nothing to destroy America. He's about to experience a rigged and stolen election. Just like Trump.

How do I know? Let me count the ways.

First, millions of people who have immigrated illegally are voting in California. When they get their drivers licenses at the Department of Motor Vehicles, they are automatically registered to vote.

……………

Second, California has sent out tens of millions of mail-in ballots. Just like the presidential election in 2020, there is no way to know who's who. There is no voter ID. There is no chain of custody. There is no signature verification. There is nothing but millions of fake ballots, signed with fake names.

……………

Third, California allows anyone to print out ballots on their home computer. That's pure insanity.

Fourth, California has ballot harvesting. Anyone can collect thousands of fake ballots, fill them out and hand them in. Democrats have perfected this art.

Lastly, the actual ballots were designed with a flaw. You must fold the ballot to mail it. Computers that scan the votes often auto-cancel the name checked on the fold. Guess whose name is on the fold out of 46 candidates? Larry Elder. What a coincidence. What a shocker! [read more]

I want Larry Elder to win too, but I think Mr. Root might be right in his prediction. He’s made good points. Cheating is Plan B for the Left. Plan A is demonizing and smearing your opponent (or as the Left calls their opponents—the enemy), and lying about what they really stand for. But the voters (sheep as the Left likes to call you) are waking up and starting to revolt. The Left can’t have that. It’s a threat to their power. So, Plan B is invoked. Actually, the Left never really liked elections anyway. It’s so inefficient for them to get into power.

Good luck to Larry Elder. He’s going to need it.

How the NSA allegedly bullied phone companies to spy on US citizens as far back as 2001

From Sharyl Attkisson.com (July 6):

March 13, 2016 — As soon as you set a passcode on your Apple iPhone, it sets off a feverish encryption process.

If a hacker tries to get data off the memory chips, it just looks like a scrambled mess.

But the same feature that's protecting your security, is keeping the FBI locked out of any secrets held in a terrorist's iPhone after he killed 14 people in California last December.

A federal judge has ordered Apple to create software to unlock the iPhone.

Apple is fighting the order.

Full Measure has an extraordinary story that predates the Apple conundrum. In fact, it predates what most understand to be the beginning of widespread surveillance of U.S. citizens after 9/11.

In October of 1997, Joe Nacchio was CEO of Qwest Communications, a major phone company out West.

One of his vice presidents told him he had an unexpected visitor.

Joe Nacchio: He came in and he said, 'Joe, we have a general downstairs who wants to meet you.' Which I thought was pretty surprising, because you know generals don't just drop by. It was a three-star.

Sharyl: Who was the general?

Nacchio: Well, his name is classified believe it or not. Who it was, I'm not, I'm still not allowed to disclose.

The general was from a U.S. intelligence agency interested in paying Qwest to use its cutting-edge global fiber optics network for classified programs.

But to learn more, Nacchio first needed a top-secret security clearance.

Nacchio: I had my clearance by January of 1998. We received that contract shortly thereafter and that led to us working with multiple intelligence agencies.

Nacchio's job as CEO of Qwest became steeped in a secretive world of classified meetings and clandestine government contracts. He's still barred from saying exactly what the projects involved.

Nacchio: So you could either put equipment in, you could either monitor, there's a whole bunch of things you can do.

Sharyl: As head of a telecom company, you were meeting with top spy agency people?

Nacchio: Yes. I'm allowed to say that I worked with four clandestine security agencies and senior government officials. [read more]

Abuse of power.

Our New Religion Is Staying Safe

Form The Daily Signal.com (July 2):

As many observers have noted, staying safe has become a religion. “Safetyism,” as it is sometimes called, like all religions, places what it values—in this case, being safe—above other values.

Safetyism explains the willingness of Americans to give up their most cherished values—including liberty—in the name of safety for the last year and a half.

Millions of Americans not only gave up their right to go to work, earn a living, attend church or synagogue, and visit friends and relatives, but they even gave up their right to visit dying relatives and friends.

One can assume that nearly every person recorded as having died of COVID-19 died without having a single loved one at their bedside from the moment they entered a hospital until their death.

The acceptance of such cruelty—irrational and unscientific cruelty, one might add—can only be explained by the failure of generations of schools and parents to teach liberty, while successfully teaching the worship of safety.

If your father had to die alone, it was worth it for the sake of safety; if your mother had to be in what amounted to solitary confinement in a nursing home for more than a year, that, too, was worth it for the sake of safety. And, of course, if political leaders and leaders in science and medicine have to lie for the sake of safety, so be it; truth, too, is less important than safety.

None of this is new. Twenty-five years ago, I wrote and broadcast about the willingness of Americans to watch individual rights crushed in the war against smoking, and especially in accepting the absurdity of the allegedly lethal dangers of secondhand smoke.

No one denies that intense exposure to secondhand smoke can exacerbate preexisting illnesses such as asthma. But the anti-smoking zealots’ claim that 50,000 Americans die each year from exposure to secondhand smoke is nonsense. [read more]

Along the same lines… Fascism goes public with promise to keep you safe

The Global Minimum Corporate Tax Exposes the G7's Hypocrisy

From Mises.org (July 7):

Austrian school economists have long demonstrated that monopolies only tend to form as a result of government intervention, and “natural monopolies” have virtually never actually existed. Nonetheless, we are continually told by political and academic “experts” that unregulated economies inevitably give rise to monopolies, business trusts, and cartels, all of which they assure us have disastrous consequences for ordinary people. Therefore, we are told, governments are justified in taking forceful action to prevent monopolies from developing or to break them apart.

In this debate, the interventionists frame themselves as opposing the anticompetitive forces of large corporations having too much control over the lives of ordinary people. It is noteworthy, then, that these same interventionists support similar kinds of anticompetitive practices, and the increased control over people’s lives they entail, when they are employed by governments instead.

To that end, the leaders of the G7 nations have recently gathered to propose a global minimum corporate tax that would allow national governments to exert a form of monopoly power of their own over the taxation of business within their borders. A major element of the proposal, if brought to fruition, is the requirement that every nation impose a minimum corporate tax rate of at least 15 percent. The clear purpose of this part of the proposal is to eliminate the so-called race to the bottom in corporate taxes, which is a euphemism for high-tax nations’ hopes of shielding themselves from competition from nations with low tax rates seeking to attract businesses away from them.

For this proposal to have its intended effect, several nations outside of the G7 would need to voluntarily raise their corporate tax rates. Ireland, for example, sets corporate taxes at 12.5 percent, and a substantial part of its tax base is located there specifically because it is a comparative tax haven. Other parts of the proposal therefore appear to be intended to induce low-tax nations like Ireland, who are not likely keen on raising their tax rates and losing the main attraction they have for multinational companies headquartering there, to participate. For example, the proposal would also redirect the payment of corporate taxes to ensure that the world’s largest companies pay some taxes to the nations where they do business, rather than where they are physically located. These provisions appear designed to compensate low-tax nations for the loss in tax base they will surely suffer if they adopt the G7 proposal. [read more]

Other articles on the corporate tax:

• Countries Begin To Reject Biden’s ‘Global Minimum Tax’
• Ireland Stands Its Ground Against 132 Countries Who Gang Up on Its Economy
  
• Biden and Janet Yellen Are Pushing a Global Minimum Tax Rate. The EU Is Very Pleased.

Screw Biden: CIA and US Troops Are Conducting Rescue Operations to Evacuate Stranded Americans

From Townhall.com (Aug. 25):

UPDATE: As Spencer wrote this morning, two bombs exploded near the airport in Kabul. Four US Marines are dead. And we're apparently still going to leave by the time outlined by the Taliban. We're leaving Americans behind. US Troops have been killed. And Biden is still screwing things up.

***Original Post***

To Americans who might be trapped in Afghanistan after August 31, the Biden administration has two words for you: good luck. Oh, you can send an email or something to let the Biden White House know you want to leave post-deadline, but the overall message is clear. You’re on your own. Biden is going to leave Americans behind. They’ve admitted it. Why? Well, because they don’t want to anger…the Taliban. Oh, and they trust them to behave. That’s the policy. We shouldn’t have expected much because Democrats are terrible, but holy hell, guys.

The Taliban has set up checkpoints around the airport in Kabul. You can’t get to it. It’s not easy. Americans are having their passports seized. They’re being beaten by Taliban forces. It’s not safe. On top of this fiasco, al-Qaeda and ISIS are on the hunt as well. Everything that Biden has said about Afghanistan has been refuted by EVERYONE, including liberal media outlets. It’s a disaster—and Joe seems to be more concerned about build back better. That’s all you need to know about how much Joe cares; he doesn’t.

With Joe Biden lost in space and Americans still trapped, US forces, what’s left of them, and the CIA are conducting risky rescue operations to bring our people home (via WSJ):

The Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. military are conducting extraction operations to evacuate Americans using helicopters and ground troops as the window begins to close for rescuing all people at risk in Afghanistan.

The CIA has launched clandestine operations to rescue Americans in and outside of Kabul in recent days, according to U.S. and other officials. The missions are using American military helicopters but under the operation and control of the CIA, a typical arrangement in such operations.

A congressional source knowledgeable about the evacuation effort said U.S. troops had gone into Kabul on joint missions with other allies to designated locations where they have picked up U.S. citizens, green-card holders, and Afghans who hold special visas for helping the U.S. military.

The air and ground operations are considered perilous under the current circumstances in the country as the U.S. has begun to assign priority on evacuating Americans over Afghans who are at risk. Those include the many thousands of Afghan interpreters and others who worked for the U.S. government but remain inside the country and face retribution from the Taliban.

[…]

A CIA spokeswoman declined to comment on agency operations in Afghanistan. The military is subject to different disclosure rules and acknowledges American military operations, but the CIA doesn’t.

Pentagon officials acknowledged Wednesday an operation in which they said the military airlifted “less than 20” Americans overnight into Karzai International Airport, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said at a briefing Wednesday. [read more]

I guess if note-card Joe isn’t going to rescue Americans trapped in Afghanistan somebody has to do it. As for the ISIS-K attack, the Taliban had to know there were in Afghanistan—the Taliban has check points. So, much for Taliban security. Then again it is stupid to let them do security for us. That’s America’s responsibility.

Other articles on the subject:

• [VIDEO] World Leaders Lash Out at Biden Over Afghanistan Debacle, One Ally Holds Joe in “Contempt”
• Glenn Beck claims US State Dept. and Biden's White House are BLOCKING his efforts to rescue Afghan Christians from the Taliban who 'want to set them on fire'
• Joe Biden must resign
• Report: U.S. Special Forces Vets ‘Secretly Rescued’ Hundreds Of Afghan Allies ‘Left For Dead’ Amid Biden Withdrawal
• Up to 100 Afghan Evacuees Are on US Terror Watch List – At Least One Has Ties to ISIS
• Confirmed: At Least One Person On Watchlist HIDING As Refugee!
• US Intercepts Rockets Fired at Kabul Airport
• 24 Students, 3-Year-Old, Families Among Those Stranded In Afghanistan After Final Military Troops Pulled Out
  
• American describes being left behind in Kabul: 'I don't believe in anybody anymore'
  
• Nancy Pelosi Blocked GOP From Reading Names Of Slain U.S. Troops, Reps Say
  
• US military had drone lock on Kabul suicide bomber, didn't take the shot: former official
  

EXCLUSIVE: Joe Biden entertained Hunter's Mexican billionaire business associates in the vice president's office in 2014 and even flew with his son to Mexico City on Air Force 2 so Hunter could attend meetings over a 'flippin gigantic' deal

From Daily Mail.co.uk (June 30):

Joe Biden entertained his son's business associates in the vice president's office, including Mexican billionaires Carlos Slim and Miguel Alemán Velasco.

The then-vice president also flew Hunter and his partner Jeff Cooper on Air Force 2 to Mexico City in 2016 where Hunter arranged to meet Alemán's son for meetings over a 'flippin gigantic' business deal.

The revelations, laid bare in photographs and emails on Hunter's abandoned laptop, are the latest in a growing body of evidence calling into question the president’s claim that he never spoke about business with Hunter.

In the light of shocking documents uncovered by DailyMail.com from the laptop, the president now faces serious questions – not just whether he knew about Hunter's controversial business dealings, but also whether he was involved in facilitating them himself while vice president.

The White House continues to fail to respond to any of our questions.

Hunter and Biden family friend Jeff Cooper hatched a plan in 2013 to invest in multiple businesses in Mexico and Latin America, using their relationship with the Mexican billionaire Alemán family whose late patriarch, Miguel Alemán Valdes, served as president of Mexico. [read more]

10 Politically Correct But Factually False Words And Phrases To Stop Using Immediately

From The Federalist.com (April 19):

“The worst thing one can do with words is to surrender them,” George Orwell wrote in his 1946 essay, “Politics and the English Language.” Orwell protested not just sloppy use of language, but intentional misuse of language for political purposes.

“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable,” he said. “Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness.”

Politicians and dishonest media propagandists today use inaccurate language to frame narratives and foster a leftist perspective. Inadvertently, even well-meaning audiences sometimes internalize this language and end up propagating the very ideas and framing they fundamentally reject. Don’t let that be you.

In every debate, it’s vital to start by defining your terms. If conservatives want to counter the radical left’s agenda, we have to begin by using words that accurately reflect what we mean — not words that actively mean the opposite. Here are just 10.

1. ‘Mainstream Media’

The public communication cartel headed by The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, CBS, and MSNBC does not represent mainstream Americans. Earlier this year, Axios (another culprit of heavy-handed political spin) reported that 56 percent of Americans believe “Journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations.”

Big Media has engaged in deception through false and misleading “reporting” on Georgia’s election laws, the trespass and unrest at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, and more. Embracing “Russiagate” and the allegations of the Steele dossier against President Trump was one indicator of crumbling credibility. The cover-up of the Hunter Biden laptop story just before the 2020 presidential election was another.

…………..

2. ‘Gender,’ When You Mean ‘Sex’

Words have gender; people are one sex or another. For Latin and in many of the languages that have grown out of it, gender is a linguistic term indicating which word endings a term should possess. Gender is either feminine, masculine, or neuter. The phrase “la boulangerie,” for example, is French for “the bakery,” and its gender is feminine.

Male and female, on the other hand, refer to sex. Sex is a biological category that reflects a person’s physical characteristics and reproductive systems, and also manifests in certain broad behavioral differences that distinguish men and women.

3. ‘Sex-Reassignment Surgery’

Further, sex is not assigned, at birth or ever. If it is not “assigned,” it cannot be reassigned. Surgical procedures that remove or conceal the outward appearance of a woman or man’s reproductive organs, are most accurately described as genital mutilation or amputation.

4. ‘Democracy,’ When You Mean ‘Republic’

A democracy is direct rule by the supreme will of the people: the highest law is that of the loudest mob. Derived from the Greek “demos” (people) and “kratia” (power), democracy involves no higher law than popular consensus, and subjects the majority will to no checks and balances but itself.

In Book VIII of “The Republic,” Plato lists democracy as the social structure directly followed by tyranny. Democracy, Plato theorized, “comes into being when the poor, winning the victory, put to death some of the other party, drive out others, and grant the rest of the citizens an equal share in both citizenship and offices.” He continued, “that is the constitution of democracy alike whether it is established by force of arms or by terrorism.”

The American system was established as a constitutional republic. The highest law of the land is the U.S. Constitution, to which all public servants are (or should be) accountable. Additional laws are made by elected representatives of the people. Further, the American system is a federal republic, meaning power is divided between federal, state, and local governments, all of whom serve as the guarantors of the people’s sovereignty and rights.

5. ‘Abortion Doctors’ and ‘Abortion Clinics’

Doctors protect life; they don’t willfully take it. The Hippocratic Oath, written by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates and long respected as a noble description of a doctor’s vocation, includes a commitment to “not give to a woman an abortive remedy.” Doctors are also obligated to, as far as it is in their power, “do no harm.” (This phrase is commonly attributed to the Hippocratic Oath, but actually comes from another work of Hippocrates, his book, “Of the Epidemics.”)

Similarly, clinics are medical facilities where people receive help and care. We do not call the room in which a prisoner on death row is executed a “clinic,” and neither should we use the term to describe the place where preborn babies are killed and dismembered. Call abortionists and abortion facilities what they are. [read more]

Good advice! George Orwell called the words and phrases doublespeak.

The other false words and phrases are:

1. ‘Antidiscrimination’
2. ‘Undocumented Immigrant’
3. ‘Equity’ Or ‘Equality,’ When You Mean The Other
4. ‘Cisgender’
5. ‘Pro-Choice’

8 More Politically Correct But Factually False Words And Phrases To Stop Using Immediately

Taliban Had Sex With Dead Bodies After Taking Over Afghanistan, Escaped Woman Alleges

From IB Times.com (Aug. 23):

A woman, who fled Afghanistan after the country was taken over by the Taliban, has revealed the group's fighters had sex with dead bodies. 

The woman, identified only as Muskan, had left Afghanistan after the Taliban overthrew the government and took control of Kabul. She had worked for the police force in Afghanistan, and is currently in India.

Speaking to local media in India, Muskan revealed the horrific condition of the country. The woman claimed the Jihadist group would kidnap women or shoot them dead, and added they were also involved in necrophilia, the practice of having sex with corpses.

“They rape dead bodies too. They don’t care whether the person is dead or alive... Can you imagine this?” Muskan said, according to the North-Eastern Chronicle.

Muskan claimed she herself was under threat while in Afghanistan and had to leave her job and escape the country to survive. She added the women working for the government in the country are highly likely to face a terrible fate if they do not flee, News 18 reported.

Muskan's claims come just days after reports surfaced that members of the Taliban shot and killed a woman after she went out in public without wearing a burqa. This was just hours after the Islamist terrorist group vowed to respect women's rights. [read more]

Really? There weren’t any goats around? So much for the new and improved Taliban I guess. Well, they are improved since they’ve commandeered America’s weapons, equipment and transportation. The weapons, equipment and transportation should have been destroyed or booby-trapped. 

Other stories about the Taliban:

• U.S. Pushed Afghan Government To Release 5,000 Taliban Prisoners, Many Of Whom Are Now Terrorizing The Country
• Former Afghan minister claims Taliban killing children in reign of terror
• The Taliban are sitting on $1 trillion worth of minerals the world desperately needs
• Taliban Asks Women To Stay Home Because Their Fighters ‘Have Not Been Yet Trained’ To Respect Them
• ALERT: The Taliban Is Now Blocking Westerners From The Airport!
  
• CENTCOM Commander Reveals U.S. Intelligence-Sharing Operation with Taliban
  
• Biden TURNED DOWN Taliban offer to let America secure all of Kabul after President Ashraf Ghani fled country, report claims
  

9 Things You Should Know About Ranked-Choice Voting

From The Daily Signal.com (Feb. 26):

Proponents of overhauling elections to allow voters to have a backup plan if their candidate doesn’t win went 1-1 at the state level in the 2020 election, but are looking to change how elections work in other states.

More than 30 bills on ranked-choice voting have been proposed in state legislatures across the country, according to Fair Vote, the nonprofit group that is promoting the system nationally.

Ranked-choice voting is a system that allows voters to rank a first, second, and third choice, or more. A voter casting a ranked-choice ballot, for example, might select three candidates in order of preference out of six candidates for a congressional seat.

Proponents say ranked-choice voting is a moderating force and superior because it means voters don’t have to settle for the lesser of two evils. Opponents say the system is problematic because it is confusing to voters and can lead to outcomes where the candidate winning the most votes loses the election.

The effort to promote ranked-choice voting largely has been financed by a liberal donor who is the daughter-in-law of media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Before primary elections by popular vote in the 1900s, political parties generally used a similar winnowing process to choose potential nominees until one candidate achieved majority support, said Rob Richie, CEO of Fair Vote, a leading organization that advocates ranked-choice voting.

In the Progressive Era, beginning in 1890, states began adopting regulations for primaries to nominate candidates, instead of having party bosses do so at conventions or caucuses. By 1917, all but four states had adopted some form of primaries. The first primary at the presidential level was in 1912.

“Candidates will talk to more voters if they know there is a second or third choice on the ballot,” Richie told The Daily Signal. “They will walk past their opponents’ yard sign and still knock on the door and get to know the voter.”

……………….

Here are answers to key questions about ranked-choice voting and where it stands.

1. Who’s Bankrolling These Efforts?

Much of the funding for projects to persuade states and localities to adopt ranked-choice voting has come from outside the states.

Kathryn Murdoch spent $500,000 through the group Unite America to convince Alaska voters to say yes to the initiative on the November ballot. She is a daughter-in-law of Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Corp., Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and many other U.S. and international media properties.

…………..

2. What States and Other Jurisdictions Might Adopt It?

A bipartisan bill in Georgia—a decisive state in the 2020 presidential election—would allow ranked-choice voting for military and overseas ballots, since Georgia already is a runoff state.

A runoff election occurs when no candidate gets a majority of the vote, usually because more than two candidates are in the race. So the top two vote-getters clash in another election.

Another bill in the Georgia Legislature, proposed by Republican lawmakers, would decide presidential general elections by ranked-choice voting.

…………….

3. How Does It Work?

Ranked-choice voting differs somewhat from jurisdiction to  jurisdiction, but typically works like this, whether in a crowded primary election field or a multiparty general election:

• All candidates for a given office appear on the ballot. Voters—instead of choosing only one candidate—rank each candidate from “1” to “2” to “3” and so on.
• If one candidate wins 50% or more of the first-preference votes, the election is over.
• If no one wins the first tally, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated and officials make another tally of votes for the remaining candidates.
• Voters who selected the eliminated candidate as their first choice have their vote counted for their second preference in this next round.
• Counting continues, perhaps with one or more other candidates eliminated, until one candidate eventually emerges with a majority of votes.

In such systems, a voter doesn’t have to rank his choices and may opt to pick just one. However, if a voter doesn’t select and rank multiple candidates, his ballot is more likely to be discarded after the first round of counting.

“Ballot exhaustion” is a term used by election watchers to describe a ballot that is discarded if a voter ranks only candidates who are eliminated from contention.

“It’s a good program for political and ideological activists. The average voters have a hard time remembering the names of the down-ballot candidates,” Paul Craney, spokesman for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, which led the fight against ranked-choice voting in the Bay State, told The Daily Signal. “Simplicity and clarity to voting is better than ranking and algorithms.” [read more]

I think this is going to make voting more complex than it needs to be.

The other things:

1. How Often Does It Change Outcome?
2. What States Use This Method?
3. What Local Jurisdictions Adopted It?
4. Does Ranking Candidates Complicate Voting?
5. How Does It Affect Minority Voters, Candidates?
6. What Other Countries Use It?

Forget inflation; it's now 'shrinkflation'

From WCPO.com (June 29):

We've all heard about inflation this year as the price of homes, cars, steel and even things like chicken wings soar in price.

But another newly-relevant term, "shrinkflation," means that not only are people paying more, but they are often getting less in return.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says year to year:

• Gas prices are up 52%.

• Airline tickets are up 24%.

• Home prices are up 15%.

• Hotel rooms are up 7%.

• Clothing is up 3%.

• Used cars are up a whopping 29%.

Shrinking products to keep costs down

So what are some companies doing?

They are shrinking new versions of their products to keep costs down, known as shrinkflation.

Ed Dworsky, founder of the money-saving site Consumerworld.org, said "consumers are paying more for household staples in ways that don't show up on receipts, such as thinner rolls, lighter bags, smaller cans."

Why?

"Companies are looking to offset rising labor and materials costs without scaring off customers," he said.

Dworsky shows a number of products that have been hit with shrinkflation on his site MousePrint.org.

Otherwise, that pack of paper towels might suddenly cost $2 more. If the company uses the shrinkflation model, then it might just go up by a modest 30 cents, but consumers are getting fewer sheets.

That might leave you saying, "Doesn't that stink?"

So next time you are looking for paper towels, cereal, crackers, or bath products, check the size, as well as the price.

While shrinking products are frustrating, companies say many consumers prefer it to higher prices.

As always, don't waste your money. [source]

Welcome to Jimmy Carter 2.0.

Along the same lines… Toilet Paper Rolls Are Getting Smaller. Blame the Fed.