9 Things You Need to Know About the $1.4 Trillion Fiscal Year 2021 Omnibus and $900 Billion COVID-19 Package

From The Daily Signal.com (Dec. 21):

Here are nine things you need to know about Monday’s omnibus package, which was passed by the House and Senate.

1. It Was Developed Behind Closed Doors in the 11th Hour

While signing the fiscal year 2018 omnibus spending bill, President Donald Trump warned Congress: “I will never sign another bill like this again. I’m not going to do it again. Nobody read it. It’s only hours old. Some people don’t even know what is in—$1.3 trillion—it’s the second largest ever.”

………..

2. The Nondefense Spending Levels Are Inflated and Gimmicked

In total, this package provides a total of $1.4 trillion in discretionary appropriations. The 12-bill appropriations omnibus uses spending levels set by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019.

While this does not come as a surprise, that does not mean the spending level is appropriate. Instead, it demonstrates a refusal by members of Congress to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars.

The 2019 spending deal significantly increased defense and nondefense spending by a total of $153 billion above the fiscal year 2021 caps originally set by the Budget Control Act of 2011.

Worse, legislators are using accounting gimmicks to further inflate the amount of nondefense spending. The most important of these has to do with Changes in Mandatory Programs, or CHIMPs. This gimmick allows fake “savings” in mandatory programs, such as moving a payment from one year to the next, to offset more discretionary spending within the caps.

……………..

3. The COVID-19 Relief Package Has Too Much Waste, Little Meaningful Response

Rather than allowing the vitally important discussion of COVID-19 response to take place as its own legislation, congressional leaders have chosen to prioritize convenience and political leverage over proper deliberation by attaching it to the “must-pass” omnibus package.

The $900 billion COVID-19 relief section of the omnibus is badly flawed. The Heritage Foundation recently released a new report detailing many of these problems. Among them:

• A lack of focus on COVID-19 rapid self-tests. Congress should demand urgent action from the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services, starting by directing them to clear away all regulatory barriers to rapid self-tests so that individual Americans and their families can regularly and quickly get the information they need about their COVID-19 status.
• Counterproductive unemployment benefit boosts. Extended and increased unemployment benefits are not warranted nationwide given that the unemployment rate is 6% or lower in half of states, and higher benefits lead to more unemployment. Further, expanding federal unemployment benefits makes it easier for state and local governments to impose crushing restrictions that are not grounded in science, hurting businesses, schools, and communities.
• More business loans that have proven ineffective. While the impulse to preserve jobs is understandable, the Paycheck Protection Program cost over $100,000 per job saved based on several studies. Worse, the program was not properly targeted, creating inequalities between businesses. These loans also make it easier for state and local governments to justify overly restrictive lockdowns.
• Unnecessary handouts to school districts. Spending per student on K-12 education has exploded over the last several decades in real terms, and private schools have largely reopened without the level of expense that this package envisions.
• Politically motivated industry bailouts. Heavily unionized industries still wield disproportionate political influence, and the COVID-19 package would give sweetheart deals to unionized industries such as airlines, transit agencies, and the Postal Service. Airlines are not the only industry hurt by the pandemic and should not receive special treatment. Transit agencies have bloated payroll costs and are already heavily subsidized. The Postal Service needs to bring costs in line with revenues, which Congress can enable through reform legislation.

In addition, the COVID-19 relief section now includes untargeted and unnecessary $600 stimulus checks. The checks will be sent without regard to unique COVID-19 impacts, including to the more than 93% of workers who are fortunate enough to still be employed. [read more]

The rest of the bullet points:

1. It Gives Sweetheart-Deal Tax Extenders to Special Interests
2. It Enables the Government to Interfere in the Energy Market
3. It Rightfully Ends Surprise Medical Billing—but Creates a New Class of Rate-Setting Bureaucrats
4. It Wisely Winds Down the Federal Reserve’s Emergency Authority
5. It Will Increase Defense Stability
6. It Defends Key Pro-Life Policies That the Left Have in Its Crosshairs

Other articles on the bill:

• Why Six Senate Republicans Voted against the COVID Relief Bill
• Spending in Latest COVID Bill Based on Feelings, Not Facts
• 8 Things You Must Know About Deeply Flawed COVID-19 Package
• 6 Things to Know About Democrats’ COVID-19 Package
  
• Biden stimulus bill: tax relief for wealthy, subsidies for high-tax states, critics say
• Senate blocked from adding $15 minimum wage provision to COVID aid package
  
• Some families could get more than $14,000 in new Covid relief. It’s looking more and more like universal basic income
  
• What to Cut? Plenty
  
• Biden’s COVID relief bill is chock full of anti-white reverse racism 

What Will Happen to Gun Rights Under the Biden Presidency?

From American Thinker.com (Dec. 15):

Any time a liberal candidate is elected to become President of the United States, gun rights and regulations take center stage. Historically, gun sales have surged in the two months between a Democratic presidential nomination and inauguration. And that’s precisely what we’re seeing right now.

………………..

What Biden Has Said He’ll Do

There’s always going to be a lot of speculation on what a Biden administration could do, but for now, let’s focus on what Biden has said he will do. Here are a few takeaways that come directly from his official gun control proposal:

Ban on Assault Weapons and High-Capacity Magazines

“Ban the manufacture and sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Federal law prevents hunters from hunting migratory game birds with more than three shells in their shotgun. That means our federal law does more to protect ducks than children. It’s wrong. Joe Biden will enact legislation to once again ban assault weapons.”

Mandatory Gun and Magazine Registration

“Regulate possession of existing assault weapons under the National Firearms Act. Currently, the National Firearms Act requires individuals possessing machine-guns, silencers, and short-barreled rifles to undergo a background check and register those weapons with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Due to these requirements, such weapons are rarely used in crimes. As president, Biden will pursue legislation to regulate possession of existing assault weapons under the National Firearms Act.”

Mandatory Gun Confiscation

“Buy back the assault weapons and high-capacity magazines already in our communities. Biden will also institute a program to buy back weapons of war currently on our streets. This will give individuals who now possess assault weapons or high-capacity magazines two options: sell the weapons to the government, or register them under the National Firearms Act.”

[read more]

More articles on gun rights:

• The Right to Own a Gun Isn't Just for Americans
• HR-127 – The Gunpocalypse
• Expert Warns Biden Has Launched ‘Four-Prong Attack Against’ Second Amendment, Advises How To Respond
• Senator Marco Rubio Introduces Bill To Suspend Gun Rights of Anyone Who Has Been "Investigated" For Domestic Terrorism
• SAPA Legislation Moving In Wyoming As State Seeks To Nullify All Federal Gun Control With New Legislation — Following In Missouri’s Footsteps
• 200 Businesses Whose Leaders Are Backing Gun Control Initiatives
• New Bill Would Protect Veterans from Gun Confiscation

Iran’s Rouhani Has No Doubt Joe Biden Will ‘Bow’ to Tehran, Lift Sanctions

From Breitbart.com (Dec. 17):

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Thursday he has “no doubt” a Joe Biden administration will rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by Barack Obama and remove sanctions on Iran’s economy while embracing appeasement across the Middle East.

His assertion followed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who also backed the swift resumption of Iran’s commitments under the deal if it would finish U.S. sanctions, as Breitbart News reported.

“I have no doubt that the heroic national resistance of Iran is going to compel the future U.S. government to bow … and the sanctions will be broken,” Rouhani said Thursday.

The Washington Post reports the remarks were made at the inauguration of several infrastructure projects, where he spoke via videoconference.

On Wednesday, Khamenei had said in a televised address if U.S. sanctions “can be lifted in a correct, wise, Iranian-Islamic [and] dignified manner, this should be done.”

“We should not hesitate for even an hour,” he said, echoing a phrase Rouhani often uses, thus restating the confidence in Tehran that Joe Biden in the White House would mean a resumption of a compliant U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. [read more]

World Economic Forum: Digital Davos 2021 to Reveal ‘Great Reset Initiative’

From Breitbart.com (Dec. 21):

In a preview to the digital “Davos Dialogues”, the WEF asserts, “The time to rebuild trust and to make crucial choices is fast approaching as the need to reset priorities and the urgency to reform systems grow stronger around the world.”

The need for “global leaders to come together to design a common recovery path and shape the Great Reset” in the post-cornavirus world has never been stronger, it adds.

It then continues to set out the exact plan of WEF action to reshape the modern world in a pattern of its own design. The WEF says:

An entire week of global programming will be dedicated to helping leaders choose innovative and bold solutions to stem the pandemic and drive a robust recovery over the next year.

The Davos Agenda will also mark the launch of the World Economic Forum’s Great Reset Initiative and begin the preparation of the Special Annual Meeting in the spring. Each day will focus on one of the five domains of the Great Reset Initiative.

As Breitbart News reported, there has been much discussion as to the exact form the much-discussed Great Reset Initiative will take.

Last month in a WEF panel discussion, former Secretary of State John Kerry laid out one possible element.

He said President-elect Joe Biden is ready to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement — which threatens to eliminate more than a million American jobs — and be a driver of the ”Great Reset” whereby unelected global bureaucrats are looking to alter the world’s economy by abolishing money, private property, and democracy for the sake of a “New World Order,” according to James Delingpole. [read more]

Is this the start of the New World Order?

Other articles on the Great Reset:

• What is ‘the Great Reset’ and why does it scare some conservatives?
• What Is the Great Reset? Part I: Reduced Expectations and Bio-techno-feudalism
• The Great Reset, Part II: Corporate Socialism
• The Great Reset, Part III: Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics
• The Great Reset, Part V: Woke Ideology
  
• Government's Money Monopoly and the "Great Reset"
• How Biden will COMPLETE Obama's radical transformation of America [video]
• The 'trust implosion' Glenn Beck warned of is happening now — here's what he warns is coming next

The Four Stages of a 172 Year Cycle

From World Cycles Institute.com (April 17):

Stage One

The first stage after a crisis and financial collapse begins slowly. After a period of spiraling deflation, prices stabilize and then very gradually begin to rise to a plateau that continues for some time. Food and fuel tend to increase ahead of anything else. The initial rise in inflation is a result of population increases, which leads to a higher demand for goods and services. Living standards begin to rise. Couples marry earlier and have more children. Civil wars stop and social confidence and optimism return.

This leads to a “golden age” in every 172 cycle:

• 12th century — Renaissance
• 15th century — Italian Renaissance
• early 18th century — The Enlightenment
• late 19th century — Victorian era

Stage Two

Inflation continues, with prices beginning to accelerate above the previous plateau. Government wealth increases, sparking political hubris, which leads to empire-building and wars of expansion. Examples:

• 13th century — rivalry between emperors and popes (gov’t vs. the church)
• 15th century — state-building
• 18th century — dynastic and imperial struggles
• 20th century — world wars

Prices become volatile, rising and falling, a signal in underlying instability. This results in political disorder, social disruption, and a general mood of cultural anxiety

Stage Three

In the third stage, the general population comes to see inflation as the norm. People began to make choices that only exacerbates the situation and causes inflation to increase. Governments increase the money supply, only to add to inflation (like a snowball slowly rolling down a mountainside).

Stage Four

Prices continue higher and gradually became unstable with increased volatility. Commodities fluctuate wildly and prices begin to fall. The money supply is expanded and then reduced with financial markets becoming unstable. Governments increase spending and go heavily into debt. The strongest nation-states are the ones to eventually suffer the most due to fiscal constraints:

• 16th century —Spain
• 18th century — France
• 20th century — United States

Real wages begin to stagnate. The rich grow richer; the poor grow poorer. The middle class are hit hard and the standard of living drops. Crime and violence rise, as does the use of drugs and alcohol, and the family unit begins to fail. [read more]

According to the chart above earth is heading for another mini ice age. It started around 2007. Instead of decreasing CO₂ maybe we should increase it and think about ways of adapting to the coming ice age.

Google “Machine Learning Fairness” Whistleblower Goes Public, says: “burden lifted off of my soul”

From Project Veritas.com (Aug. 14, 2019):

(San Francisco) A Google insider who anonymously leaked internal documents to Project Veritas made the decision to go public in an on-the-record video interview. The insider, Zachary Vorhies, decided to go public after receiving a letter from Google, and after he says Google allegedly called the police to perform a “wellness check” on him.

Along with the interview, Vorhies asked Project Veritas to publish more of the internal Google documents he had previously leaked. Said Vorhies:

“I gave the documents to Project Veritas, I had been collecting the documents for over a year. And the reason why I collected these documents was because I saw something dark and nefarious going on with the company and I realized that there were going to not only tamper with the elections, but use that tampering with the elections to essentially overthrow the United States.”

In June of 2019, Project Veritas published internal Google documents revealing “algorithmic unfairness.” Vorhies told Project Veritas these were documents that were widely available to full-time Google employees:

“These documents were available to every single employee within the company that was full-time. And so as a fulltime employee at the company, I just searched for some keywords and these documents started to pop up. And so once I started finding one document and started finding keywords for other documents and I would enter that in and continue this cycle until I had a treasure trove and archive of documents that clearly spelled out the system, what they’re attempting to do in very clear language.” 

[read more]

A politically correct AI? Yea, that makes sense. 🙄

Another article on machine learning fairness: An Introduction to Fairness in Machine Learning

Ex-bin Laden henchman freed from NJ prison after judge deems him too fat for jail

From NY Post.com (Dec. 11):

A former Osama bin Laden henchman convicted in two deadly 1998 bombings is free and living in the UK this week after being released early — thanks to a Manhattan federal judge who agreed the terrorist was way too obese to survive the coronavirus behind bars.

Adel Abdel Bary, 60, had spent 21 years in a New Jersey prison for his role in the 1998 al Qaeda bombings of two US embassies in Africa that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.

“Defendant’s obesity and somewhat advanced age make COVID-19 significantly more risky to him than to the average person,” US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan wrote in granting the release.

Bary had been set to be freed on Oct. 28, but his attorneys asked that he be let out sooner, citing their ­client’s age, girth and asthma. [read more]

Stupid.

China Communist Party Members Work In Consulates

From Breaking News Alerts.com (Dec. 14):

Leaked official data showed that China Communist party members work in consulates and offices in Western countries for more than ten years. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) reportedly utilized a recruitment agency to fill staff openings in British, Australian, and U.S. consulates in Shanghai. The leak uncovered a register of almost 2 million members of the CCP residing and working all throughout the world, with some holding senior, sensitive, or advisory positions in major firms. The data leak includes names, party positions, date of birth, identification number, ethnicity, and even contact information.

Sky News Australia’s Sharri Markson reported that some of the CCP members have worked in at least 10 consulates in Shanghai. Some of them have worked for up to sixteen years. This does not automatically mean the employees are outright spies. But, intelligence officials flagged the revelation as a breach of protocol and a national security risk.

Major Companies

Among the major companies listed as employing CCP members are major corporations. These include members who worked for vehicle manufacturers Airbus, Boeing, Rolls Royce, and Volkswagen. They also include 123 members working in big pharma corporations Pfizer and AstraZeneca. 600 members also worked for financial firms Standard Chartered ANZ and HSBC. Markson reported that the leak also revealed details on 79,000 communist party branches, many of them inside companies.

The CCP members in these branches are “answerable directly to the Communist Party” and President Xi himself. “It is also going to embarrass some global companies who appear to have no plan in place to protect their intellectual property from theft, from economic espionage,” Markson said. [read more]

Any Chinese citizen is told by the CCP that they are a spy if they are living in a foreign country. They are also told to report any info they find about the country they are living in or going to school in to their embassy. Whether or not citizens does this or not is up to them but I am guessing that there is real pressure (it’s your patriotic duty) put on them to do this.

Police respond to ‘break-in,’ find music video shoot instead

From San Diego Union Tribune.com (Dec. 8):

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. —

Police in South Florida descended on what they thought was an armed break-in at a men’s clothing store Tuesday morning after people were spotted storming in with rifles — but officers arrived to find a music video filming, all with the store owners’ knowledge.

The guns were not real and the men holding them were actors in a video, said Amanda Conwell, a spokeswoman for the Pembroke Pines Police Department.

The music video was being filmed inside the men’s clothing and accessories store with a film crew while the larger shopping center was closed, The Miami Herald reported, citing a store manager. The manager said the filming was supposed to take less than an hour.

But a witness saw the events unfolding, and not knowing it was staged, called police, authorities said. The scene being filmed depicted two men with guns entering the store and demanding workers to put money in the bag, according to the news outlet.

Pembroke Pines officials said the city had not given a permit for the filming, and the shopping center’s management team said in a statement that it was also not aware of the video. [read more]

The men’s clothing store should have let the police know or the local news know what was going on so the police wouldn’t waste a trip to the clothing store. 

Rush Limbaugh dead at 70, but his legacy is immense

From Washington Examiner.com (Feb. 17):

Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh has died, his wife announced Wednesday morning.

He was 70.

“I know that I am most certainly not the Limbaugh that you tuned in to listen to today,” Kathryn Adams Limbaugh told her late husband's audience. “I, like you, very much wish Rush was behind this golden microphone right now, welcoming you to another exceptional three hours of broadcasting.

“It is with profound sadness I must share with you directly that our beloved Rush, my wonderful husband, passed away this morning due to complications from lung cancer,” she added. “Rush will forever be the greatest of all time. Rush was an extraordinary man, a gentle giant, brilliant, quick-witted, genuinely kind, extremely generous, passionate, courageous, and the hardest-working person I know.”

Thus concludes the life of the most influential voice in conservative politics since the late 1980s.

This is not an exaggeration.

Before Limbaugh, right-leaning audiences had few options insofar as explicitly conservative political commentary was concerned. They had a handful of magazines. They had a handful of columnists. That was about it. The rest was controlled mostly by the big three networks and other Democratic-sympathetic media, entities that generally invest very little time and effort in understanding or speaking to the values of conservative audiences. [read more]

I remember Rush Limbaugh talking to a young Left-wing caller on his radio show. The caller said of all the conservatives he listened to on the radio, Rush was the only one who understood the Left. Rush always said he never needed a Left-wing co-host on his show because he could represent both sides. This understanding scared the Left. They like to live in the shadows. They don’t like to be exposed for who they really are. That’s why they attack Rush and any other conservatives that threatens their ideology.

Rush had a guy on his show who had a girl friend that gave him an ultimatum: Stop listening to the Rush Limbaugh Show or I’ll leave you. They guy told the girlfriend adios! I thought to myself good for him. If the girlfriend (probably a Leftist) is that insecure in her life then later on they probably would have deep problems in their relationship. Ultimatums are a last resort to persuasion if the person is making a really bad decision about his/her life—like using drugs, etc. Definitely should not be used for personal tastes.

RIP Maharushi. You are one of a kind. You will be missed by all the dittoheads. Gone but not forgotten. Condolences to his family and friends.

Other memories and thoughts of and about Rush Limbaugh:

• Kathryn Adams Limbaugh on Our Beloved Rush
• Glenn Beck: Rush Limbaugh should be remembered as 'the Johnny Carson of radio'
• Glenn: How Rush Limbaugh was responsible for my radio career [video]
• Sean Hannity remembers Rush Limbaugh: 'He was a great patriot'
• A Rush of Emotion, the Loss of a Friend
• Mark Levin Remembers Rush Limbaugh: ‘We’ve Lost Thomas Paine — A Voice Like No Other’
• ‘It Was Real’: Friend And Former Employee Reveals Rush Limbaugh’s Journey To Faith
• Rush Limbaugh gave his life to Jesus Christ a few years ago & it gave him tremendous hope as he faced his toughest fight
  
• Statement from Dr. Arnn on the Passing of Rush Limbaugh
• The Left Hated Rush Limbaugh Because He Had Their Number
• The Indispensable Man: Rush Limbaugh, 1951-2021
• Rush Limbaugh - and the Importance of Being Hated
• Thank You, Rush Limbaugh
• The Rush Limbaugh I Knew
• What Critics Don’t Understand About Limbaugh and His Fans
  
• My Friend, Rush
  
• Rush Limbaugh: Tribute to a Great American
• Andrew Breitbart: How Rush Limbaugh Inspired Me
• Thanks for everything, Rush: Michael Reagan
• Rush Limbaugh’s Rare Voice Extolled Individual Liberty and Limited Government
• Rush Limbaugh: A Tribute to a Master of Words
• Rush Limbaugh’s Legacy: Stories and Perspective From a Friend
• Country Music Star Reveals Secret He and Rush Limbaugh Held for Years
• Hated by libs, adored by millions, Limbaugh leaves behind legacy
• Rush Limbaugh and the End of the 1990s Right
  
• We Have Lost an American Genius
  
• Florida governor says flags will be flown at half-staff for Rush Limbaugh
  

The thoughts of Rush Limbaugh:

• Why Liberals Fear Me
• Do Conservatives Need to Get Beyond Reagan?
• My interview with Rush Limbaugh
  
• The 20 Greatest Quotes From Rush Limbaugh

Slaveowners Lying

When [slaveowners] visit the north, and return home, they tell their slaves of the runaways they have seen, and describe them to be in the most deplorable condition. A slaveholder once told me [Harriet] that he had seen a runaway friend of mine in New York, and that she besought him to take her back to her master, for she was literally dying of starvation; that many days she had only one cold potato to eat, and at other times could get nothing at all. He said he refused to take her, because he knew her master would not thank him for bringing such a miserable wretch to his house. He ended by saying to me, "This is the punishment she brought on herself for running away from a kind master."

Source: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) by Harriet Jacobs.

Physics and Free Will

From Break Point.org:

When Christians use the term “free will,” it’s often in discussions about divine sovereignty and predestination. Whether we choose God or God chooses us has been at the center of theological debate for centuries. On the other hand, when the term “free will” is used by evolutionary biologists, the debate is over whether choice itself is real, whether it is an illusion produced by our brains.

Materialists have long insisted, because they kind of have to, that human actions and decisions are determined, not free. In other words, we think we make real choices as humans, but we don’t. Our choices are really the inevitable outcomes of a whole chain of material causes that go back, like falling dominoes, to the Big Bang.

This idea is called “determinism.” If true, a scientist with perfect knowledge of all of the conditions from the beginning of the universe could, like a cosmic weatherman, predict everything that would ever happen.

Evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne, who runs a popular blog called “Why Evolution Is True,” has long held this view. As he puts it, “our choices and behaviors are the result of the laws of physics…” Given our chemistry, the arrangement of atoms in our brains, and outside forces acting on us, we cannot help doing what we do.

Obviously, determinism does quite a number on issues like meaning and moral responsibility, among other things.

Determinism is an unavoidable conclusion if you start with the assumption that the world is only a place of natural causes and processes. However, if you start with the evidence, it’s another matter altogether.

For example, neurosurgeon Michael Egnor points out at “Mind Matters” that quantum physics suggests we do not live in a deterministic universe. As early as the mid-60’s, physicists had devised experiments that strongly pointed to the fact that nature does not determine every event beforehand. Quantum events, such as those that put a certain spin on an electron, are not the result of “hidden variables” at the subatomic level. In fact, we don’t know what determines them! [read more]

New Report Assesses Illnesses Among U.S. Government Personnel and Their Families at Overseas Embassies

From National Academies.org (Dec. 5):

WASHINGTON — Government personnel and their families at the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba, in late 2016, and later at the U.S. consulate in Guangzhou, China, began suffering from a range of unusual — and in some cases suddenly occurring — symptoms such as a perceived loud noise, ear pain, intense head pressure or vibration, dizziness, visual problems, and cognitive difficulties, and many still continue to experience these or other health problems.  As part of its effort to ascertain potential causes of the illnesses, inform government employees more effectively about health risks at posts abroad, and determine best medical practices for screening, prevention, and treatment for both short- and long-term health problems, the U.S. Department of State asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to provide advice.  After undergoing a security review, the National Academies’ report is now available.

In examining plausible causes of these illnesses, the committee that conducted the study and wrote the report considered the possibilities of directed, pulsed radio frequency energy, chemical exposures, infectious diseases such as Zika, and psychological issues.  An Assessment of Illness in U.S. Government Employees and Their Families at Overseas Embassies says that among the mechanisms the committee considered, directed, pulsed radio frequency energy appears to be the most plausible mechanism in explaining these cases, especially in individuals with the distinct early symptoms.  Persistent postural-perceptual dizziness (PPPD) — a functional (not psychiatric) vestibular disorder that may be triggered by vestibular, neurologic, or other medical and psychological conditions — is a secondary reinforcing mechanism, as well as the possible additive effects of psychological conditions. 

The committee could not rule out other possible mechanisms and found it is likely that a multiplicity of factors explains some cases and the differences between others.  In particular, it could not be certain that the individuals with only the chronic set of signs and symptoms suffered from the same causes and mechanisms as those who reported the initial, sudden onset set of signs and symptoms.  The committee noted that it faced several challenges in its assessment, related to the extreme variability in the clinical cases as well as lack of access to specific health or personal information on the affected individuals. [read more]

Congressman Introduces Bill Requiring Voters To Be Alive To Cast Ballots

From Daily Wire.com (Dec. 6):

Talk about controversial.

Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX) last week proposed a new bill — the “You Must Be Alive to Vote Act” (let’s call it YMBAVA).

YMBAVA’s intent is simple: “To require States to obtain information from Social Security Administration on deaths for purposes of voter registration list maintenance, and for other purposes.”

The bill comes amid charges by President Trump and others of voter fraud, especially that the ballots of deceased individuals were cast absentee in the 2020 presidential election.

“The right to vote is one of the most vital pillars of our democracy, the foundations of which are election integrity and confidence in our democratic processes,” Babin said in a statement. “The ease with which someone is able to steal the ballot of a deceased person and cast an illegitimate vote should disturb, alarm, and outrage every American citizen, no matter what side of the aisle they sit on. To protect our democratic process and Americans’ faith in our elections, we must ensure that deceased individuals are not allowed to remain on state voter rolls.” [read more]

Sounds good to me, but the Left will never vote for it. They would call the bill voter suppression.

Bill Clinton's former 'right-hand man' claims the president visited Epstein's Island in 2003​

From The Blaze.com (Dec. 2, 2020):

Doug Band, a longtime counselor and friend to former President Bill Clinton, claimed recently that Clinton did in fact visit deceased convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein's infamous private island — an accusation that Clinton has repeatedly denied for decades.

What are the details?

The claim appears in a lengthy Vanity Fair feature story about Band's time working with Clinton, titled, "Confessions of a Clintonworld Exile," written by Gabriel Sherman.

In the article, Band discloses a great deal about Clinton's life and work post-presidency, including details about the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative. But perhaps the most relevant bit of information relates to Clinton's supposed visit to Little St. James, Epstein's private 70-acre island in the Caribbean, where it has long been surmised that the accused sex trafficker and his guests would engage in acts of pedophilia. [read more]

The Three Phases of Science

It appears that each science goes through three phases of development. The first phase is Baconian, with scientists exploring the world to find out what is there. In this phase, amateurs and butterfly collectors are in the ascendant. The second phase is Cartesian, with scientists making precise measurements and building quantitative theories. In this phase, professionals and specialists are in the ascendant. The third phase is a mixture of Baconian and Cartesian, with amateurs and professionals alike empowered by the plethora of new technical tools arising from the second phase. In the third phase, cheap and powerful tools give scientists of all kinds freedom to explore and explain. The most important of the new tools is the personal computer, now universally accessible and giving amateurs the ability to do quantitative science. After the computer, the next-most important tool is the World Wide Web, giving amateurs access to scientific papers and discussions before they are published, allowing amateurs all over the world to communicate and work together. Astronomy, the oldest science, was the first to pass through the first and second phases and emerge into the third.

Source: The Scientist as Rebel (2006) by Freeman Dyson.

The Terrorist Attacks You’ve Never Heard Of

From National Review.com (Dec. 2):

The American health-care system is under siege. Not only by a deadly novel coronavirus, unleashed by the evil and inept Chinese Communist Party, but also by cyberterrorists whose acts of aggression are just as condemnable and deadly as those of a suicide bomber or hijacker.

On October 28, the University of Vermont (UV) Health Center in Burlington was crippled by an attack on its systems. At the time, the nation’s eyes were set — solely and squarely — on the upcoming election. Thankfully, Ellen Barry and Nicole Perlroth at the New York Times have done yeoman’s work reporting on the attack and its aftermath. So now that the election is behind us, we can identify, name, and address this new kind of national-security threat.

“We expect panic,” declared one hacker in the run-up to the attack. To be sure, for staff working the day the attack came, panic set in when workstations were suddenly rendered inoperable, as were the backup computers. So were the pneumatic tubes used for transporting blood samples and test results, and — worst of all — the electronic medical-record system, which was only restored on November 22, nearly a month after the attack.

The attack on the UV Health Center is not the first act of cyber terror on U.S. health-care infrastructure. The Russian group believed to be responsible for the Burlington attack has, per the FBI, made somewhere around $61 million in ransoms over a 21-month period in 2018 and 2019. In early October, eResearchTechnology, a Philadelphia firm that sells software used in clinical trials — including for certain coronavirus vaccines — was locked out of its data by ransomware — a kind of malware that remains in place until the hackers who have sicced it on you are paid. Hospitals in California, Oregon, Montana, Tennessee, and upstate New York have been similarly afflicted by hackers, who have even gone so far as to release patient data — Social Security numbers, dates of birth, ages, hiring dates, and contact details — on the dark web. [read more]

Chinese Sociologist: We’ll Soon Surpass U.S., ‘U.S. Will Not Survive,’ We’ll ‘Drive U.S. To Its Death’

From Daily Wire.com (Nov. 30):

A Chinese sociologist recently delivered marks at a forum reportedly in Shenzhen where he declared that it was only a matter of time before China overtakes the United States and effectively puts an end to it.

The remarks from Dr. Li Yi were reported by MEMRI TV, a research organization that normally tracks Islamic extremism around the world and anti-Semitism.

“Chinese sociologist Dr. Li Yi said in an October 16, 2020 speech delivered at the Shenzhenwan Dialogue Forum in Shenzhen, China that China would overtake the United States in GDP by 2027, and that COVID-19 has been harmful to the U.S. and Europe but beneficial to China and North Korea,” MEMRI reported. “Dr. Yi holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Illinois and according to his Linkedin account, he is a full-time professor at Renmin University in China. Following Dr. Yi’s October 16 speech, Renmin University issued a statement denying his employment at the university.” [read more]

Give Everyone a Barcode? China Trying to Use COVID Fears to Launch Global Tracking System for Humans

From cbn.com (Nov. 24):

China's communist leader Xi Jinping is calling for countries across the world to accept a global COVID-19 tracking system that uses QR codes in an attempt to expedite international travel.

Xi proposed the concept during a virtual G20 leaders' meeting on Saturday, noting that this "global mechanism" uses an electronic barcode that would help determine a traveler's health status, according to China's government-run "news" agency.

"China has proposed a global mechanism on the mutual recognition of health certificates based on nucleic acid test results in the form of internationally accepted QR codes," Xi said. "We hope more countries will join this mechanism."

"We need to further harmonize policies and standards and establish 'fast tracks' to facilitate the orderly flow of personnel," he added.

The system provides users with a color code based on their risk of exposure to the coronavirus and the QR codes, or bar codes can be read on mobile devices.

A green code indicates that someone is safe to travel, while an orange or red code signifies the need to quarantine for up to two weeks.

Xi didn't elaborate on the type of app or QR code system that would be used and who would design it.

Meanwhile, some people have expressed concerns over the use of a system that was designed by China's communist party which is known for using extreme methods to control people through censorship and surveillance. [read more]

Texas sues to block Biden’s deportation freeze

From NY Post.com (Jan. 22):

The state of Texas filed suit Friday seeking to block President Joe Biden’s 100-day freeze on deportations, claiming it violated an agreement the state signed with the Trump administration earlier this month, officials announced.

“I told @DHSgov and @JoeBiden last night to rescind its deportation freeze, which is unconstitutional, illegal, and bad for Texas and the nation,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a tweet Friday. “They didn’t budge. So #Texas is bringing them to court.”

After Biden was sworn in as president on Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security “ordered a halt of nearly all deportations of illegal aliens including those whose removal was ordered following a full and fair hearing and those who are not entitled — and do not claim to be entitled — to further immigration benefits,” the Texas Federal suit alleges. [read more]

The Administrative State

The administrative state is no fourth branch of government. It is a parallel government, operating in the shadows, outside the light of democratic transparency. The best indicator of this stems from the fact that members of the administrative state are not subject to the same system as the rest of us. Charles Murray describes this system well:

If you are prosecuted for violating a regulation issued by the EPA, OSHA, HHS, Department of Energy, or any of the myriad other federal regulatory agencies, you appear before an administrative law judge (ALJ) sitting in an administrative law courtroom. An ALJ is selected by the agency whose cases he will hear, and is subsequently an employee of that agency. The agency gets to choose its preferred candidate from among the three top-rated candidates identified by the office of Personnel Management. An administrative law judge is exempt from performance reviews and other oversight by the regulatory agency, but may be overruled by the head of the agency.

There's no jury. When appearing in an administrative court, you do not get a lawyer unless you pay for it. Most rules of evidence used in normal courts do not apply. The legal burden of proof placed on the lawyer making the case for the regulatory agency is "a preponderance of the evidence," not "clear and convincing evidence," let alone "evidence beyond a reasonable doubt" that you are guilty. If the administrative judge thinks that it's a 51/49 percent call in favor of the regulatory agency that accused you, you're found guilty. If the administrative court judge's decision is adverse, you may, in most cases, appeal that decision to another body within the agency.

In other words, you’re pretty much screwed.

Source: Suicide of the West. How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics Is Destroying American Democracy (2018) by Jonah Goldberg.

Physicists could do the 'impossible': Create and destroy magnetic fields from afar

From Live Science.com (Nov. 24):

Scientists have figured out a way to create and cancel magnetic fields from afar.

The method involves running electric current through a special arrangement of wires to create a magnetic field that looks as if it came from another source. This illusion has real applications: Imagine a cancer drug that could be delivered directly to a tumor deep in the body by capsules made of magnetic nanoparticles. It's not possible to stick a magnet in the tumor to guide the nanoparticles on their journey, but if you could create a magnetic field from outside the body that centered right on that tumor, you could deliver the drug without an invasive procedure.

The strength of a magnetic field decreases with distance from the magnet, and a theorem proven in 1842, Earnshaw's Theorem, says that it's not possible to create a spot of maximum magnetic field strength in empty space.

"If you cannot have a magnetic field maxima in empty space, it means you cannot create the field of a magnetic source remotely, without placing an actual [magnetic] source at the target location," said Rosa Mach-Batlle, a physicist at the Istituto Italiano Di Tecnologia Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies in Italy who led the new research. [read more]

Could also be used as a weapon of some sort.

What American Schools Should Teach About Race, Racism, and Slavery

From The Daily Signal.com (Nov. 17):

Regarding race and much else, America’s students are not taught history. In fact, they are not taught; they are indoctrinated. With anti-Americanism.

The purpose of all teaching about race in American schools is to engender contempt for America. They are, therefore, “taught” the lies of The New York Times’ 1619 Project—that the United States was founded to preserve and protect slavery—and of such works as Robin DiAngelo’s “White Fragility.”

So, then, what should American schools teach about race?

They should, of course, teach students about slavery and racism.

But, if truth and moral clarity are to matter, students must also learn that slavery was universal. They would therefore learn about Muslim-Arab slavery, slavery among Africans, slavery among Native Americans and Native South Americans, and slavery in Asia and India.

They would learn that it was the West, beginning with England and America, that abolished slavery. And they would learn that the abolitionists were overwhelmingly religious Christians, animated by the Bible and Judeo-Christian values.

They would learn that, unlike the slaves under Arab-Muslim rule, most black slaves in America were allowed to have children and form families.

They would read Herbert Gutman’s “The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925,” about which The New York Times wrote when it was published in 1976: “Gutman has performed an immense service in burying the idea that slavery destroyed the black family.” For the record, Gutman was a professor of the left and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

They would learn that the tens of millions of African slaves under Islamic-Arab rule were not allowed to form families (most males were castrated). [read more]

More articles on racism and slavery:

• A Brief History of Nonwhite Slave Owners in America
• No, the American Republic Was Not Founded on Slavery
• The Myths Behind the "Capitalism Is Racist" Claim
• Why Racism Can't Explain Europe's Drive for Conquest and Colonial Power
• The similarities between slavery and abortion

China: Journalist Faces Five Years in Prison for Coronavirus Reporting from Wuhan

From Breitbart.com (Nov. 18):

Chinese authorities indicted a Shanghai-based citizen journalist for allegedly sending “false information” after she reported on the coronavirus outbreak in the city of Wuhan, China, early this year, a prosecution document released on Monday and seen by the Guardian revealed.

According to the indictment sheet, Zhang Zhan, 37, is accused of sending “false information through text, video and other media through the Internet media such as WeChat [Chinese messaging and social media app], Twitter and YouTube.”

“She also accepted interviews from overseas media Free Radio Asia and Epoch Times and maliciously speculated on Wuhan’s Covid-19 [Chinese coronavirus] epidemic,” the document stated.

A former lawyer, Zhang was arrested in May following months of continuous online reporting on Wuhan’s coronavirus outbreak via social media platforms. Her reporting was highly critical of municipal authorities’ handling of the outbreak. Authorities accused Zhang of “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble,” a crime regularly used to jail political dissidents in China. The charge carries a prison sentence of up to five years.

Zhang’s citizen reports included documentation of “the detentions of other independent reporters and harassment of families of victims seeking accountability from the epicenter,” according to the NGO Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD). [read more]

The Chi-Coms define “false information” any info that makes their gov’t look bad.

Donald Trump Has Been One Of Our Great Presidents

From Dick Morris.com (Jan. 18):

Despite a level of condemnation by the media that dwarfs anything to which Nixon, Clinton, Hoover or Grant were subjected, Donald Trump ranks as one of our great presidents.

As Richard Nixon once said, “history is written by liberals,” so don’t count on any objectivity. But we, Trump’s supporters, need to keep the memory of his record in mind so we can unpack it for the next election.

Here’s my take on what he did:

He defied almost every vested interest group in the country — and in the world — to achieve his ends. And in 2020, those interests took their revenge.

He began by defying the almost-royal power of the economic establishment — Wall Street, the big banks, hedge funds, multinational corporations. These giants were used to writing tax policy to benefit only themselves, but Trump changed that. He forced Congress to pass a massive tax cut, skillfully crafted to benefit the middle class, the working poor and small businesses, producing millions of jobs.

Then he upended the pro-China foreign policy elites — and corporate America — by holding Beijing accountable for its unfair trade practices through massive and highly effective sanctions.

President Trump virtually eliminated illegal immigration over the southern border, first by using the threat of trade sanctions to induce Mexico to hold refugees on its side of the Rio Grande and then by brilliantly contriving to build a border wall and funding it despite congressional opposition. [read more]

I agree. Other articles and videos on Donald Trump:

• Thank You, Mr. President
• Thank you, Mr. President
• Donald J. Trump: On the Threshold of Greatness
• Heritage President Kay C. James on Trump-Pence Accomplishments
• The Man in the Arena [video]
• The Damnatio Memoriae of Donald Trump
  
• Full transcript: Read President Donald Trump's farewell address on eve of White House departure
• First Lady Melania Trump Farewell Address
• Biden Treats Troops Like Trash, While President Trump Comes to the Rescue!
• Florida Lawmaker Moves to Rename Highway After President Donald J. Trump

Miscellaneous Thoughts Part 45

• The lame-stream-press only speaks truth-to-power when the ones in power are republicans. Otherwise, they look the other way. Nothing to see here.
• The Left wants to become Who they don’t believe in: God.
• Is this what the Left is doing?: Who wants to betray people has first to make the absurd seem reasonable. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. I think that is exactly what they are doing.
• Biden-Harris bumper sticker: Put us in power to find out what our policies are. Could also be the slogan for any Left-wing candidate.
• In this age of identity politics if you claim you are Napoleon not only would the Left believe you they would give an island of your own where you can rule.
• “Anonymous sources” means “the voices instead my head.”
• God only knows the “unknown unknowns.” Mankind never will. We don’t have infinite knowledge. Probably better that way.
• I think GSK is going to make a TheraCovid medication like they do with colds and flus.
• The 2016 & 2020 election differences: The Left thought Hillary was going to win, so they didn’t cheat. The Left thought Trump was going to win, so they cheated.
• A little voter fraud doesn’t matter is like saying having some cancer cells doesn’t matter. So, don’t worry about it! Everything will be okay!

Joe Biden Picks Anti-Science Liberal for Secretary of Education to Indoctrinate Our Kids

From Freedom Headlines.com (Dec. 17):

So the rumor going around is that Joe Biden has chosen someone who is anti-science to be named as the Secretary of Education, Charlotte Clymer.

So why do I say Clymer is anti-science? Well, the reason is painfully obvious; Clymer denies the reality that your gender is determined by your DNA and not your mind.

You see, Charlotte Clymer is actually Charles Clymer and has since changed his name and gender. So, yes, Joe Biden asked Charlotte Clymer, who is a transgender “woman” to head the Department of Education.

Clymer confirmed this rumor via Twitter,

“There’s a viral rumor going around MAGA Twitter that President-elect Biden has asked me to be his Secretary of Education, and I just want to confirm it’s true. His goal was to get someone more qualified than Betsy DeVos for the position, and well, oddly enough, I am.

To be fair, however, there are high school kids more qualified than me for the position. Tough break on the age restriction, kiddos.”

So what exactly are Clymer’s credentials that makes him so much more qualified for this job than DeVos? Here’s what Wikipedia lists as his credentials:

Clymer was raised in central Texas, after moving with her mother from Utah at a young age. She joined the United States Army in 2005, and later enrolled in the United States Military Academy. She served in the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), based at Arlington National Cemetery, until 2012. After leaving the Army, she moved to Washington, D.C. and took a job as a visitor services representative at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. After working there for a year, she enrolled at Georgetown University and finished her bachelor’s degree. [read more]

Another cabinet pick: Grenell Exposes Biden Pick

AI can detect COVID-19 from the sound of your cough

From Live Science.com (Nov. 3):

People with COVID-19 who are asymptomatic can spread the disease without any outward signs that they're sick. But a newly developed AI, with a keen algorithmic ear, might be able to detect asymptomatic cases from the sounds of people's coughs, according to a new study.

A group of researchers at MIT recently developed an artificial intelligence model that can detect asymptomatic COVID-19 cases by listening to subtle differences in coughs between healthy people and infected people. The researchers are now testing their AI in clinical trials and have already started the process of seeking approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for it to be used as a screening tool.

The algorithm is based on previous models the team developed to detect conditions such as pneumonia, asthma and even Alzheimer's disease, a memory-loss condition that can also cause other degradation in the body such as weakened vocal cords and respiratory performance. [read more]

Report: China, Russia Hacking U.S. Vaccine Supply Chain

From OANN.com (Jan. 13):

National Counterintelligence and Security Center Chief William Evanina said several countries are targeting America’s coronavirus vaccine supply chain.

In an interview Tuesday, Evanina said Russia and China are engaging in cyber warfare against the U.S.

He believes the country’s adversaries are trying to get a peak at our systems through intelligence gathering operations.

This comes on the heels of a SolarWinds hack in which U.S. government agencies and private firms were the victims of a massive data breach.

“We’ve had too many wake up calls and I think right now, as we put into context our counterintelligence strategy in America, supply chain management is the second pillar,” Evanina explained. “And I think we have to find the right mechanism, the right modality, where we can have real life public and private partnership that’s beyond what we see now.” [read more]

BREAKING REPORT: First Extremist In Capitol Building Seige Is Identified As BLM/Antifa Activist: “We gotta f***ing rip Trump right outta that office!” [VIDEO]

From 100 Percent Fed Up.com (Jan. 7):

Far-Left Antifa/BLM activist John Sullivan has been identified as one of the people who allegedly was part of the siege of the Capitol building yesterday—you know, one of the “violent Trump supporters” we’ve been hearing so much about in the news.

Independent journalist Andy Ngo was first to identify John Earle Sullivan, who was arrested on July 10, 2020, in Provo, Utah. [read more]

I was always suspicious that the people who illegally entered the Capitol weren’t Trump supporters. Something just didn’t feel right. Even Mark Levin commented on this. The Left is known for infiltrating crowds.

More articles on the matter:

• FALSE FLAG CONFIRMED: “Viking” who stormed the Capitol Building previously photographed at BLM rally wearing the same outfit
• QAnon ‘Shaman’ Allegedly Left A Threatening Note On Mike Pence’s Senate Desk, Prosecutors Say
  
• Another Violent Leftist Arrested at US Capitol Protest: Registered Democrat and 34-Year-Old Son of a New York Judge
• Feds Arrest ‘Hardcore Leftist’ Who Planned Attack On Pro-Trump Demonstrators At FL Capitol
• Patriots Do Not Storm Their Nation's Capitol

On Responsibility

How responsibility helps you:

1. It provides the foundation of success. Sociological professor Tony Campolo points out the importance of having a strong sense of responsibility. Of the American system, he writes:
       While I think it lays down the principles that make for the best political system ever devised, the Constitution has one basic flaw. It clearly delineates the Bill of Rights, but it nowhere states a Bill of Responsibilities...Government that ensures people their rights but fails to clearly spell out their responsibility, fails to call them to be the kind people God wants them to be.
2. Responsibility, handled correctly, leads to more responsibility.
3. It maximizes ability and opportunity.
4. Responsibility, over time, builds a solid reputation.

How to be responsible:

1. Start where you are. Each time you make a responsible decision, you become a more responsible person. Successful people take personal responsibility for their actions and their attitudes. Responsibility is always a choice, and only you can make it.
2. Choose your friends wisely.
3. Stop blaming others.
4. Learn responsibility's major lessons.
• Recognize that gaining success means practicing self-discipline.
• What you start, finish.
• Know when others are depending on you.
• Don't expect others to step in for you.
5. Make tough decisions and stand by them.
6. Live beyond yourself. Serve others.

Source: Talent Is Never Enough. Discover the Choices That Will Take You Beyond Your Talent (2007) by John C. Maxwell.

Life Wins: At Least 14 New Pro-Life Women Elected to House

From The Daily Signal.com (Nov. 16):

The pro-life movement in Congress made big gains as more than a dozen new anti-abortion Republican women were elected to the House of Representatives on Nov. 3.

The number of pro-life women in the House in the 117th Congress more than doubled, with other races still to be called.

Many of these women defied the polls and managed to flip seats held by Democratic incumbents. Others replaced Republican predecessors.

“The surge of victorious pro-life women candidates in the U.S. House is a stunning blow to [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi and her pro-abortion agenda,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Arlington, Virginia-based Susan B. Anthony List, said in a statement.

Here are some of the Republican women who were elected to the House, according to Dannenfelser’s group, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing the pro-life cause.

Maria Elvira Salazar (Florida, 27th District)

Maria Elvira Salazar unseated Democratic freshman Rep. Donna Shalala by more than 9,000 votes in the race for Florida’s 27th Congressional District. The 27th District is more than 72% Hispanic and encompasses the neighborhoods of Miami Beach and Little Havana.

Shalala served eight years as secretary of Health and Human Services in the Clinton administration.

The race, a rematch of their 2018 race, was rated likely Democratic in the 2020 Cook Political Report, so Salazar’s win comes as an unexpected surprise for the right-to-life movement.

Salazar had this to say on the issue of abortion: “As a Christian and a mother, I believe in a culture that values and nurtures all life, from birth to natural death. As your congresswoman, I will protect the life of the unborn and also the life and health of the mother.” [read more]

That’s good to know.

BLACK WOMAN APPROACHES COP WITH SHOCKING DEMAND, THEN HE SEES WHAT’S IN HER HANDS…

From 2020 Conservative.com (Nov. 13):

Officer Eden was sitting in his patrol car in the parking lot of a local grocery store in Arkansas when out of the blue an African-American woman appeared out of nowhere and knocked on his window. On the heels of this past weeks events, the officer still rolled down his window to hear what the woman had to say.

The woman, Tiffany Sharell Block had her kids with her and wanted to show the officer some love!

She posted about why she did this and what happened as a result on her Facebook page which you can see in it’s entirety: 

“While at the gym this morning the Lord spoke some powerful words to me and gave me a challenge. Yes black lives matter, yes all lives matter but the Lord said the one thing that trumps it all is love.

Let’s start a ‪#‎lovematters‬ movement. God told me to go and talk with a police officer and extend love. I didn’t want to do this. It required me to get out of my comfort zone. So, I told God that if there was an opportunity that I would but I wasn’t going to go look for it.

Well, I pulled into the grocery store parking lot and guess who was sitting in their vehicle??? So I did what God told me to do and a 30 minute conversation ensued with Officer Eden.

He told me all about his career and some daily challenges. We got to know each other. I told him how my children were now afraid of the police. So, he talked with them and gave them badges. [read more]

Florida's DeSantis moves to allow citizens to shoot looters, rioters targeting businesses

From Fox News.com (Nov. 10):

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has drafted “anti-mob” legislation that would expand the state’s Stand Your Ground law – a move that some worry would allow armed citizens to shoot and potentially kill anyone they suspect of looting.

DeSantis’ newest legislation comes in response to months of protesting that frequently lead to rioting this summer in Florida and across the U.S., following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

The legislation is an attempt to prevent “violent and disorderly assemblies” by permitting violence against anyone involved in the “interruption or impairment” of a business, reportedly described in the draft as being a burglary within 500 feet of “violent or disorderly assembly,” according to reporting by the Miami Herald Tuesday.

“It allows for vigilantes to justify their actions,” a former Miami-Dade County prosecutor, Denise Georges, who has worked with Stand Your Ground cases told the Miami publication. “It also allows for death to be the punishment for a property crime — and that is cruel and unusual punishment. We cannot live in a lawless society where taking a life is done so casually and recklessly.”

The draft legislation also includes measures that would make protesting which disrupts the public by blocking traffic, a third degree felony. The law would also reportedly grant immunity to drivers who unintentionally kill or injure protesters who were blocking traffic.

Additionally the law would allow the state to withhold funds from local governments that cut police budgets. [read more]

Good for him.