We close the year with Abraham Lincoln.
He could be speaking about the 2 million illegal aliens permitted – nae encouraged – to cross our southern border in 2021, about the 680,000 illegal criminals who “got away,” about the 100k fentanyl (poisoned pill) drug deaths directly resulting from Biden’s open border policies. Oh yes, he could be speaking about all of that today.
“While, on the other hand, good men, men who love tranquility, who desire to abide by the laws, and enjoy their benefits, who would gladly spill their blood in the defence of their country; seeing their property destroyed; their families insulted, and their lives endangered; their persons injured; and seeing nothing in prospect that forebodes a change for the better; become tired of, and disgusted with, a Government that offers them no protection; and are not much averse to a change in which they imagine they have nothing to lose. Thus, then, by the operation of this mobocratic spirit, which all must admit, is now abroad in the land, the strongest bulwark of any Government, and particularly of those constituted like ours, may effectually be broken down and destroyed — I mean the attachment of the People.”
Senator Joe Manchin says NO to the Build Back Better Bill.
“I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I can’t get there. This is a no on this legislation.” Manchin said on Fox News on Sunday, December 19, 2021 – effectively killing the bill in its present form.
Note how one man – speaking decisively in so few words – may have just saved the nation. Here are a few comments I’d like to share:
– “This man had shown more fortitude in the face of adversity than any other politician in DC.” – Echo Star
– “I don’t care which side of the aisle, when somebody has the testicular fortitude to stand up against his party and on behalf of the average people, he should be thanked. Maybe then it would happen more often. This is the one thing I dislike about conservatism; even when someone on the other side does something right, a horde of detractors come out with, Yeah, that’s good but he’s still a Democrat/liberal/socialist, etc. Maybe that is why so few do turn.” – Viola
Test the Vaccine on Politicians
“The vaccine should be tested on politicians first. If they survive, the vaccine is safe. If they don’t, then the country is safe.” – Monika Wisniewska, Polish Author
Punishing the Poor & Robbing the Middle Class – Nov. 28, 2021…
“Inflation rewards the owners of land, buildings, businesses. It punishes the poor whose incomes are shrunk by rising prices. Leftists should therefore resist inflationary spending plans, but their priority is to administer payments from the public purse to bribe their voters.” – Edward N Luttwak
Fl. Governor Ron Desantis – Quote of the Week (& Year), Nov. 21, 2021
“A recession is when your neighbor loses his job; a depression is when you lose yours; a recovery is when Dr. Fauci loses his.”
Non-Profits Paid to Destroy Our Republic Through Illegal Immigration * – Nov. 21, 2021
Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX) detailed a recent trip to visit the locations of secret migrant housing in closed down hotels and documents obtained from a whistleblower. “This whistleblower reached out to us from San Diego, and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, and so I planned a trip; I went last week to San Diego to the southern border, and what I found were non-profits that were running secretive, closed down hotels, the Four Points Sheraton Seaworld, a Windom, a Ramada Inn, those are just three of the ones that I visited, but these non-government organizations, these non-profits were housing migrants for several days,” Gooden explained.
“I managed to get in the gates. I demanded entry once and was refused. I talked a guard into letting me in on another occasion, and when I was in there, I saw buses pulling up, probably about 100 migrants over an hour, got off of these buses. They were processed, they were welcomed by people with open arms that were there in the facility, tested for COVID, and then they were given packets, and this packet is what I received from the whistleblower a few weeks ago.
“And these packets detail how to go to the airport, how to get past TSA without any indication, how to enroll your children in schools and assimilate in whatever community you desire to go in, and it’s encouraging illegal immigration. And furthermore, we went to the airport and talked with some of the TSA people who said, ‘Yeah, we get these migrants here. They have these very convincing letters, and in some cases, they are being let on to planes before anyone else,’” he continued. “And in one case, a security officer on the plane said, ‘You know, I’m an armed agent, I’m supposed to identify myself to the pilot before takeoff. I’m sometimes getting on these flights, and immigrants with no identification are on the plane before the agent boards.’” – as told to Fox & Friends and reported on Breitbart.com – https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2021/11/15/gop-rep-gooden-non-profits-running-secretive-operation-to-move-migrants-into-u-s-encouraging-illegal-immigration/
* We typically provide much shorter “political quotes” of the week. But Gooden’s first-hand account of an intentional effort to destroy our nation is so compelling that we’re including it all.
How Low Will They Go?
“You cannot take any people, of any color, and exempt them from the requirements of civilization — including work, behavioral standards, personal responsibility, and all the other basic things that the clever intelligentsia disdain — without ruinous consequences to them and to society at large.” – Thomas Sowell
“If you want to see the poor remain poor, generation after generation, just keep the standards low in their schools and make excuses for their academic shortcomings and personal misbehavior. But please don’t congratulate yourself on your compassion.” – Thomas Sowell
“Angel Families with Advocates for Victims of Illegal Alien Crime (AVIAC) — including Don Rosenberg whose son Drew Rosenberg was killed by an illegal alien in 2010 and Maureen Maloney whose son Matthew Denice was killed in 2011 by an illegal alien — detail in an open letter how Biden plans to reward border crossers while American victims of open borders are ignored.
“Just when you thought Biden had reached the pinnacle of absurdity in welcoming illegal aliens into the country and refusing to deport those who once here violated our laws comes a plan to create millionaires out of over 5,000 illegal alien families,” wrote Rosenberg and Maloney.” – Breitbart.com
Plus a comment from “Ed from Texas”: “I had 2 friends killed by a drunk illegal alien 2x previously deported for drunk driving. They were the best parents ever and left behind 3 kids. This guy destroyed their lives and the Government has not done crap for them. As a matter of fact when the middle child got into middle school, a DACA child beat him and busted his eye socket.”
Alexander Hamilton on Biden’s Illegal, Immoral, Egregious, Disastrous Immigration Policies…
“To admit foreigners indiscriminately to the rights of citizens, the moment they put foot in our country would be nothing less, than to admit the Grecian Horse into the Citadel of our Liberty and Sovereignty.” – Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804) – Oct. 31, 2021
CNN claims that Covid vaccines (which can’t even prevent Covid) can prevent death from ALL causes. You have to read it to believe it.
“People who got Covid-19 vaccines were not only less likely to die from the virus, but they were less likely to die from any cause over the following months, researchers have reported,” CNN tweeted on October 22, 2021.
Here are just a few responses:
“Need any more evidence that this is a cult? CNN is now claiming the COVID vaccine reduces all causes [of] mortality.”
“BREAKING NEWS … COVID vaccines now make you invincible,” one commenter tweeted.
“Ahhhhh eternal life..finally! CNN openly declared the vaccine will make you immortal.”
“So, the new cure for cancer, diabetes, hearth condition? wowwwwww!!!! … Got cancer? Get the COVID vaccine!!!”
“This is one of the dumbest headlines and articles I’ve read through this whole pandemic.”
“Holy cow… that vaccine will keep you alive forever…. It will stop you from dying in a car crash, from being shot, your immune to being stabbed to death,”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Intentional Sabotage Via Vaccine Mandates…
“Is the sabotage of air travel, high-quality healthcare, first-responder capability and other core services an intentional step designed to further weaken Americans’ resilience and expand authoritarian controls?” Read the entire piece here: https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/covid-vaccine-mandates-aviation-healthcare-critical-services/ Oct. 15
“Civility is Gone” – Senator Joe Manchin on “Stupid”.
After the vote this week to approve a temporary debt ceiling increase – 11 Republicans voted for it – Sen. Schumer gave a derogatory floor speech against Republicans, including those who supported the bill. The confrontation turned into a shouting match. Sen. Manchin reportedly sided with Republicans, telling Schumer that his speech was “fucking stupid.” Manchin told the press, “I’m sure Chuck’s frustrated but that was not a way to take it out. We just disagree. I’d done it differently. Civility is gone.” Oct. 8
We’re Under Attack – Potential for Full Scale Invasion. Republican Leaders Talk/Tweet But Do Nothing to Stop It…
“Joe Biden undid Remain in Mexico, stopped the construction of the border wall and every policy we had in place to combat the crisis at the southern border. He created this crisis at the southern border.” – Mike Pompeo, Sept. 27
“Immediately, the Biden administration released about 85 percent of the Haitians, some 13,000 in all. Most likely, one way or another, they are all now here for good. This leniency, of course, sends an obvious signal to others who might wish to come here (the population of Haiti, for instance, is about 11.2 million)…In fact, on September 30, we learned that the Panamanian government has been monitoring the movement of another 87,000 or so Haitians—and getting no help or guidance from the Biden
administration. And then, on October 1, we learned that the number might be up to 125,000. So what number will be the next
report reveal?” – James Pinkerton, Breitbart.com, Oct. 3, 2021 https://bit.ly/2ZUWY8Y
LIES & Deception
“Then came the catalytic issue. Yes, we’re talking about “whips,” or, as they are more commonly known, “horse reins.” A few out-of-context and sensationalized photos showing CBP horsemen with their reins flying as they were trying to deal with Haitian were enough to send the Democratic base (including, of course, the Main Stream Media) into a foamy lather. Indeed, so great was the foaming that it didn’t matter that the photographer himself said that the “whips” interpretation was simply wrong. As John Daniel Davidson, writing in The Federalist, said of the incident, “Narrative triumphed over reality,” thereby triggering “a moral panic in Washington. And that trashing was too much, even for Jake Tapper at CNN. On September 26, Tapper questioned Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on whether a fair investigation into CBP is even possible, given that the president has so noisily prejudged the situation.” – James Pinkerton, Breitbart.com, Oct. 3, 2021 https://bit.ly/2ZUWY8Y
Attacking Border Patrol Agents on Horses Who Were NOT Whipping Illegal Migrants. – September 26, 2021
“I’m ready to go to war with Joe Biden over how he’s vilified the Border Patrol. You’ve got Al Green, Al Sharpton and Black Lives Matter coming down to Del Rio and protesting. I want to remind this administration, over 50% of Border Patrol agents are Hispanic, and it’s clear that Joe Biden has abandoned Hispanics, especially on the border, and you’re seeing that now as he attacks Border Patrol.” – Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) in an interview on Fox News. Photographer Paul Ratje, who took the photos, told Fox & Breitbart: “I didn’t see them whip anybody.” A Breitbart comment by mjwooten: “If the DC police had used horses on January 6th, democrats would be giving them a medal.”
Not Enough Lipstick for Pigs & Submarines – September 19, 2021.
“There is not enough lipstick in the world to put on this pig to make it look any different.” – Senator Jim Risch (R-ID) on Secretary of State Blinken’s testimony before Congress on the Afghanistan debacle.
“There has been lying, duplicity, a major breach of trust and contempt. This will not do. Things are not going well between us, they’re not going well at all.” – French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on President Biden’s secret nuclear submarine pact with Australia & the UK, undermining France’s submarine deal with Australia that had been in the works since 2016.
Gates of Hades – September 12, 2021
“The American Dream has turned into a nightmare under President Biden and the radical Democrats. They have declared war against capitalism, thumbed their noses at the Constitution, and empowered our enemies abroad. Rest assured, we will fight them to the gates of hell to protect the liberty and livelihood of every South Carolinian.” – Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster
“I was concerned about his [Biden’s] language that the unvaccinated pose a public health threat to the vaccinated. That’s not really true, and it flies in the face of the message that vaccines are effective and they save lives.” – Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Professor Dr. Marty Makary
Hostage Crisis – September 5, 2021
“There is now an American hostage crisis in Afghanistan because @JoeBiden decided it was more important to honor a commitment to the Taliban to leave by 31 August rather than evacuate American citizens. Just an unbelievable betrayal of our people.” — Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellUSA) September 5, 2021. Leading the famed “Outlaw Platoon” in Afghanistan 2006-20007, Shawn Parnell was awarded two Bronze Stars, one for Valor and the Purple Heart. Outlaw Platoon remains one of the most decorated Army units since 9-11.
“Mr. Biden is not a Gold Star father and should stop playing one on TV.” – William McGurn, who served as a speechwriter under President George W. Bush.
Accountability – August 29, 2021
“People are upset because their senior leaders let them down, and none of them are raising their hands and accepting accountability or saying, ‘We messed this up.’ If an O-5 battalion commander has the simplest live-fire EO complaint — boom, fired. Potentially all those people did die in vain if…higher military ranks are not holding up their end of the bargain. I have been fighting for 17 years. I am willing to throw it all away to say, I demand accountability. I have been fighting for 17 years. I am willing to throw it all away to say, I demand accountability.” – Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller of the United States Marine Corps. He was fired immediately after going public with his views.
Defense Secretary Austin and General Mark Milley’s Should Resign – August 22, 2021.
“As someone who served in the armed forces for fourteen years, watching our military leaders express more concern about the ‘existential threats’ of white rage and climate change than the combat mission they were responsible for feels nothing but tragic. Competent military leadership could have withdrawn our forces in an orderly fashion, creating benchmarks and priorities that would have prevented the current situation. Neither the President nor the Pentagon did any of that.
“Allowing weapons, helicopters, ammunition, and classified documents to fall into the hands of the Taliban is inexcusable. Not being able to defend our own embassy is a disgrace. Leaving the Afghans who fought beside us to fend for themselves is incomprehensible. It pains me to see a mistake of this magnitude, but I could not in good conscious witness this level of failure without demanding accountability. Both Sec Def Austin and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Milley should acknowledge their failure and resign.” — Rep. Chris Stewart (@RepChrisStewart) August 16, 2021
Afghanistan Withdrawal: We Won’t be Humiliated, But We Were. – August 15, 2021.
Asked at a July 8, 2021 news conference whether there was any comparison between his withdrawal from Afghanistan and the United States’ humiliating retreat from Vietnam a half century ago, President Biden was unequivocal: “None whatsoever. Zero…They’re not remotely comparable in terms of capability…The U.S.-supported Afghan security forces are 300,000 people strong and…as well-equipped as any army in the world.” (The president of Afghanistan flees and Afghanistan “falls” on August 15, 2021. Five thousand US troops are sent in to rescue American diplomats.)
When the Executive Branch Breaks the Law – August 8, 2021
“Right now what they’re talking about—a blanket (vaccine) mandate for all of DOD—is not in accordance with the law…If you just excuse the executive branch breaking the law, then what’s next?… It’s time for Congress to stand up to the executive branch’s abuse and violation of the law. ”
– Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), Army combat veteran and a physician
Covid Collusion Would be the Greatest Scandal in Scientific History – August 1, 2021
“The Bidenites know that if the collusion charge against Fauci and others in and around the U.S government could ever be proved, it would be perhaps the greatest scandal in scientific history—and the resulting explosion would blow back on the 46th president. So for all these reasons, the Biden people don’t wish to poke at Big Panda on the origins of Covid, just as the communist government in Beijing is determined not to allow a real investigation.” – James P. Pinkerton, Breitbart.com, July 31, 2021.
New York Times Slams Green Jobs – What?! – July 25, 2021
“On its current trajectory, the green economy is shaping up to look less like the industrial workplace that lifted workers into the middle class in the 20th century than something more akin to an Amazon warehouse or a fleet of Uber drivers: grueling work schedules, few unions, middling wages and limited benefits.” – NYT – July 16, 2021
Pass the Bill & Then You Can Review It. – July 18, 2021.
“Americans want to see infrastructure like roads, bridges, [and] waterways. They don’t want to see all the extraneous things Democrats are trying to throw at us. We have not seen a bill. I have not seen the text of a bill and yet Chuck Schumer says we’re going to vote on it next week. I don’t know how we do that when we don’t know what’s in the package.” – Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA)
Wokeness Undermines Democratic Party – July 12, 2021
“Wokeness is a problem and everyone knows it. It’s hard to talk to anybody today — and I talk to lots of people in the Democratic Party — who doesn’t say this. But they don’t want to say it out loud,” – Democratic strategist James Carville. Asked why his party won’t admit the wokeness problem, Carville said: “Because they’ll get clobbered or canceled.”
“Despite endless hopeful invocations of ‘but polls show that people like our positions,’ the truth is that the Democratic Party has been pulled far enough left that even lots of non-crazy people find us just plain scary — something that Fox News takes vigorous advantage of. From an electoral point of view, the story here is consistent: Democrats have stoked the culture wars by getting more extreme on social issues and Republicans have used this to successfully cleave away a segment of both the non-college white vote and, more recently, the non-college nonwhite vote.” – Kevin Drum, a former staffer for Washington Monthly magazine
Covid-19 Treatment Suppression – July 4, 2020
“What we have discovered is that the suppression of early treatment was tightly linked to the development of a vaccine, and the entire program — and in a sense, bioterrorism phase one — was rolled out, [and] was really about keeping the population in fear, and in isolation preparing them to accept the vaccine, which appears to be phase two of a bioterrorism operation.” – Dr. Peter McCullough, Vice Chief of Internal Medicine at Baylor University, editor of Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine, senior editor of the American Journal of Cardiology, editor of the textbook Cardiorenal Medicine, and president of the Cardiorenal Society. Read the entire interview here.
Johnson & Johnson Pays $230 Mill. Settlement re New York Opioid Deaths, but Insists: “We did nothing wrong.” – June 27, 2021
Johnson & Johnson said in a statement that the settlement “is not an admission of liability or wrongdoing by the company.” It added that its actions “relating to the marketing and promotion of important prescription pain medications were appropriate and responsible.” [Unless, of course, you or a loved one died as a direct result of their medications and vile marketing tactics. But J&J’s vaccine is surely protecting us from Covid-19, right?]
The Federal Reserve turns housing market so hot that buyers are paying $1 million over asking price – June 21, 2021
“The Fed’s support is making inequality worse,” said David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Funds. “You end up subsidizing the rich at the expense of the poor.”
“Ultra-low mortgage rates have helped feed a frenzy in housing,” said Danielle DiMartino Booth, a former Fed official, now CEO and chief strategist at Quill Intelligence.
“We Made a Mistake” – Inoculating with a Toxin – June 13, 2021.
“COVID vaccine researchers had previously assumed mRNA COVID vaccines would behave like traditional vaccines. The vaccine’s spike protein — responsible for infection and its most severe symptoms — would remain mostly in the injection site at the shoulder muscle or local lymph nodes.
“But new research obtained by a group of scientists contradicts that theory, a Canadian cancer vaccine researcher said last week.
“We made a big mistake. We didn’t realize it until now,” said Byram Bridle, a viral immunologist and associate professor at University of Guelph, Ontario. “We thought the spike protein was a great target antigen, we never knew the spike protein itself was a toxin and was a pathogenic protein. So by vaccinating people we are inadvertently inoculating them with a toxin.” – ChildrensHealthDefense.org
Senator Joe Manchin (West Virginia) on Partisan Bills – June 6, 2016.
“He told me one time, if you have an issue where you cannot get one vote to go with you from the other party, regardless of who is in the majority, it is probably a bad idea,” recalled Mike Caputo, a Democratic state senator in West Virginia who served as majority whip in the House of Delegates during Manchin’s time as governor.
Senator Elizabeth Warren is Back, Slamming Jamie Diamond for his Overdraft Show – May 30, 2021.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren slammed Jamie Diamond during a Senate hearing for the $1.5 billion in overdraft fees that JPMorgan Chase collected from consumers during the pandemic. “You are the star of the overdraft show. You collect more than 7x in overdraft fees compared to competitors in 2020. Mr Diamond, will you commit right now to refund the one and a half 1 billion dollars you took from consumers during the pandemic?” He answered “No.” – 5/26/2021
The Pentagon on UFOs: We’ve Been Covering Up the Truth for Decades But Will Absolutely Tell You the Truth Likely Never. May 23, 2021.
“The Department of Defense and the military departments take any incursions by unauthorized aircraft into our training ranges or designated airspace very seriously and examine each report. This includes examinations of incursions that are initially reported as UAP when the observer cannot immediately identify what he or she is observing.” – Pentagon Statement, late 2020.
Unraveling of Our Democracy – May 17, 2021
“Every one of us who has sworn the oath must act to prevent the unraveling of our democracy. This is not about policy. This is not about partisanship. This is about our duty as Americans. Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar. I will not sit back and watch in silence while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former President’s crusade to undermine our democracy.”
– Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney
What You See…May 12, 2021
“I suspect 90% of what I’ve heard Joe Biden say in private for years, he says in public, and the other 10%, it’s not like there’s some secret dark side of Biden…People should take him at his word. My experience with him – and we are friends – is that he’s very straightforward. There’s not a lot of Machiavellian behind-the-scenes stuff going on. That might not have been true when he was 40 but he’s now almost 80 and it is true.”
– Historian Jon Meacham on Joe Biden
Americans Don’t Quit – Joe Biden, May 5, 2021
“Life can knock us down.
“But in America, we never stay down.
“In America, we always get up.
“And today, that’s what we’re doing: America is rising anew.
“Choosing hope over fear. Truth over lies. Light over darkness.
“After 100 Days of rescue and renewal, America is ready for takeoff.
“We are working again. Dreaming again. Discovering again. Leading the world again.” – President Joe Biden, April 28, 2021
Ingenuity Helicopter Landing on Mars – April 25, 2021
“Now, 117 years after the Wright brothers succeeded in making the first flight on our planet, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter has succeeded in performing this amazing feat on another world,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.
“While these two iconic moments in aviation history may be separated by time and 173 million miles of space, they now will forever be linked. As an homage to the two innovative bicycle makers from Dayton, this first of many airfields on other worlds will now be known as Wright Brothers Field, in recognition of the ingenuity and innovation that continue to propel exploration.”
Vile Viles? Avoiding Safety Guards for Booster Shots – April 18, 2021.
Dr. Michael Yeadon, Pfizer’s former Vice President and Chief Scientist for Allergy & Respiratory who spent 32 years in the industry leading new medicines research and retired from the pharmaceutical giant with “the most senior research position” in his field, spoke with LifeSiteNews in a telephone interview on April 7, 2021.
He addressed the “demonstrably false” propaganda from governments in response to COVID-19, including the “lie” of dangerous variants, the totalitarian potential for “vaccine passports,” and the strong possibility we are dealing with a “conspiracy” which could lead to something far beyond the carnage experienced in the wars and massacres of the 20th century. Pharmaceutical companies have already begun to develop unneeded “top-up” (“booster”) vaccines for the “variants.” The companies are planning to manufacture billions of vials, in addition to the current experimental COVID-19 “vaccine” campaign.
Regulatory agencies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency, have announced that since these “top-up” vaccines will be so similar to the prior injections which were approved for emergency use authorization, drug companies will not be required to “perform any clinical safety studies.”
Thus, this virtually means that design and implementation of repeated and coerced mRNA vaccines “go from the computer screen of a pharmaceutical company into the arms of hundreds of millions of people, [injecting] some superfluous genetic sequence for which there is absolutely no need or justification.”
“I think the end game is going to be, ‘everyone receives a vaccine’… Everyone on the planet is going to find themselves persuaded, cajoled, not quite mandated, hemmed-in to take a jab. When they do that every single individual on the planet will have a name, or unique digital ID and a health status flag which will be ‘vaccinated,’ or not … and whoever possesses that, sort of single database, operable centrally, applicable everywhere to control, to provide as it were, a privilege, you can either cross this particular threshold or conduct this particular transaction or not depending on [what] the controllers of that one human population database decide. And I think that’s what this is all about because once you’ve got that, we become playthings and the world can be as the controllers of that database want it.”
April 11, 2021 – Using Power Wisely
“January 6 changed me. I never thought in my life that our form of government would be attacked by our own people. Something is wrong. You can’t have this many people split so badly that they want to go to war with one another. I’ve watched people who had power and abused it, people who had power and let it destroy them, and those who had power and used it wisely. I would like to be the third.” – Senator Joe Manchin, West Virginia (note: It was difficult to hear his words. He may or may not have said wisely, but I feel certain it’s what he meant.)
April 4, 2021 – Gluing Carpet to the Souls of their Shoes
By March 2021, “got-away” migrants at the US border surpassed 118,000. Other sources reported that the total exceeded 130,000 by early April. The “got-away” metric is achieved by counting illegal immigrants who ultimately escape Border Patrol apprehension after being observed by aircraft platforms and camera systems. In addition, Border Patrol agents use traditional sign-cutting techniques to identify footprints where cameras do not capture the crossing. “That’s where it gets tricky,” says one agent who did not wish to be identified. “On a small trail, dozens can walk all over each other’s footprints, so you just do your best. Often, they’ll glue carpet to the soles of their shoes.” – Breitbart.com
March 28, 2021 – Three Companies Control Nearly All of our Insulin Supply
“Just 3 companies control nearly all of our insulin supply: Eli Lilly, Sanofi, and Novo Nordisk. Shocker: it turns out they raise prices in tandem—at least 13x in 10 years—while patients are rationing or starving themselves to try to cut costs. I want answers.” – @KatiePorter on Twitter (Representative Katie Porter)
March 21, 2021 – No More Babies
“The end of humankind? It may be coming sooner than we think, thanks to hormone-disrupting chemicals that are decimating fertility at an alarming rate around the globe. A new book called Countdown, by Shanna Swan, an environmental and reproductive epidemiologist at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, finds that sperm counts have dropped almost 60% since 1973. Following the trajectory we are on, Swan’s research suggests sperm counts could reach zero by 2045. Zero. Let that sink in. That would mean no babies. No reproduction. No more humans. Forgive me for asking: why isn’t the UN calling an emergency meeting on this right now? – Erin Brokovich oped on TheGuardian.com.
March 14, 2021 – Term Limits
Five-term Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick told the Arizona Republic that she won’t seek reelection, stating that she’s “always been a proponent of term limits” and that “I’m sort of term-limiting myself.” Could this be a new trend, seeding hope for term limits legislation?
According to CNN, “She unsuccessfully challenged Republican Sen. John McCain for his seat in 2016 but gave the late Arizona senator what was viewed as the toughest reelection fight of his career.”
March 7, 2021 – What is the Fed Trying to Hide?
First, here’s the good news. Senate Democrats pass Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus
Biggest provisions as summarized by @JStein_WaPo:
— $1,400 checks per adult & kid
— Unemployment @ $300 thru Sept. 6
— $350 billion for cities, states, tribes
— $3K/yr per kid 6-17, $3,600 kids 0-6
— $170B for schools
— $100B public health
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell also stated this week that “the Fed does not think the economy is at risk of overheating.” BUT, according to former NY Fed President Bill Dudley (our quote of the week), “Wall Street is in for a rude awakening. They [the Fed] want the economy to overheat. And my personal opinion is, I wouldn’t sell them short. I think they are going to be successful.” Inflation is already well above 2%, copper has risen 40% and gasoline 53% in the past six months, and agricultural commodities by 31%. Yet, the Fed continues to claim inflation is non-existent. Stay tuned…
February 28, 2021 – She Wore Chanel & Louis Vuitton to the Riot
“I didn’t know we were storming the Capitol. I should have dressed different,” Bisignano told the Beverly Hills Courier, noting that she had worn Chanel boots as well as a Louis Vuitton sweater to the riot. More than 90% of the people charged in the riots so far are white, 40% are business owners or have white-collar jobs and few are unemployed, according to researchers at the Chicago Project on Security and Threats.
“There’s been this assumption that the most reactionary folks on the frontlines would be what’s often referred to as white working-class, but that’s of course not what we saw,” said political philosopher Vanessa Wills, who studies the intersections of race and class. “The people who showed up are disproportionately small business owners.” – From The Guardian, Feb 25, 2021
February 21, 2021 – Dear Senator: Don’t Do the Right Thing
Washington County Republican Chair Dave Ball condemned Senator Pat Toomey for voting to convict Trump on the charge of inciting the January 6, 2021 riot at the United States Capitol. “We did not send him there to vote his conscience,” Ball told CBS Pittsburgh’s KDKA-TV. “We did not send him there to do the right thing or whatever he said he was doing. We sent him there to represent us, and we feel very strongly that he did not represent us.”
February 14, 2021 – 43 Spineless Republican Senators
“We didn’t need more witnesses, we needed more senators with spines.” – Virgin Islands Delegate Stacey Plaskett, one of the House impeachment managers, reacts to the Senate vote acquitting the former president.
February 7, 2021 – Politics isn’t the Weird Worship of One Dude
“Let’s be clear: The anger in this state party has never been about me violating principle or abandoning conservative policy — I’m one of the most conservative voters in the Senate — the anger’s always been simply about me not bending the knee to one guy … January 6th is going to leave a scar,” Sasse said, referencing the date of the violent insurrection at the US Capitol, where rioters encouraged by Trump sought to overturn the results of the election … For 220 years, one of the most beautiful things about America has been our peaceful transfer of power. But what Americans saw three weeks ago was ugly, shameful mob violence to disrupt a constitutionally mandated meeting of Congress to affirm that peaceful transfer of power.
“You are welcome to censure me again, but let’s be clear about why this is happening: It’s because I still believe — as you used to — that politics isn’t about the weird worship of one dude … The party could purge Trump skeptics, but I’d like to convince you that not only is this ‘civic cancer’ for the nation, it’s also terrible for our party.” – Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE)responding to censure by Republican Party of Nebraska for condemning former president Donald Trump for his attempts to overturn the election results and for his involvement in the US Capitol riot.
January 31, 2021 – Central Booking to Central Player…
“The last time I was here in 2017, Capitol police were escorting me to central booking for leading a non-violent protest of an immoral budget. This time they just had to show me to my office.” – Georgia Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock @SenatorWarnock
January 24, 2021 – We Lied, We Cheated…
Mike Pompeo, speaking at a Texas college, reminiscing about his time as Trump’s CIA director. “We lied, we cheated, we stole,” he chuckles. “It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.” – America in Retreat by Michael Pembroke
versus John Adams to Abigail Adams, 3 July 1776:
“The new Government…will require a Purification from our Vices, and an Augmentation of our Virtues or they will be no Blessings. The People will have unbounded Power. And the People are extremely addicted to Corruption and Venality, as well as the Great. I am not without Apprehensions from this quarter.”
January 17, 2021 – Assaulting the Seat of Democracy
“We were getting chemical irritants sprayed. They had pipes and different metal objects, batons, some of which I think they had taken from law enforcement personnel. They had been striking us with those … And then it was just the sheer number of rioters. The force that was coming from that side. It was difficult to offer any resistance when you’re only about 30 guys going up against 15,000.” – Police officer Hodges Fanone, who was viciously attacked by rioters and subsequently suffered a so-called mild heart attack.
“The cries from right-wing politicians telling us we need to hear the feelings of Trump supporters are wearing thin, as is the idea that the mob at the Capitol was somehow ‘silenced’ or ‘censored’ for too long. In the hour before the deadly insurrection last Wednesday, President Trump told his supporters, ‘Make your voices heard.” Later, after they’d trashed the seat of American democracy, he told them he loved them and that they were “very special.’ So, let us look at some of the ‘very special’ people the President wants all of us to listen to — like the guy dressed up in the badger pelt, horns and face paint. Authorities say he’s a prominent QAnon crackpot and longtime Trump supporter. He was taken into custody on Saturday, charged with violent entry into the Capitol. I’m hard pressed to see what this malign Minotaur has to teach the rest of us.” – Alisyn Camerota, CNN anchor and co-host of CNN’s morning show, “New Day.”
January 10, 2021 – Storming the Capitol & Insurrection
“First, we need to hear directly from Christopher Wray, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. We don’t need background quotes, tweets or written statements; we need Wray, along with our federal law enforcement officials, to stand at a podium on live television and explain how Trump supporters, who had been organizing online for months, were allowed to storm the Capitol. The FBI might not have all the answers now — but we deserve to know exactly what they are planning to do to get them.
“Republican lawmakers have given domestic terrorists the justification to take matters into their own hands … Too many Republican leaders today are more interested in preserving their own power than protecting our democracy. But failing to act now could very well turn yesterday’s events from an ugly and shameful episode into a pivotal turning point that sparks the destruction of our democracy. It is impossible to overestimate what’s at stake if we don’t move quickly and decisively to crush the anti-democratic forces that threaten us all.” – Joe Lockhart was President Clinton’s press secretary from 1998 to 2000 and co-hosts the podcast “Words Matter.” This quote appeared on CNN.
January 3, 2021 – U.S. Elections are Not About Alien Abductions
“This is not about alien abductions. We’re talking about the United States of America and the Constitution. I’m sick of false equivalencies. I’m sick of people saying there is evidence of this [election fraud] somewhere. Or are we going down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories?
“Their reasoning is simple. It’s reelection, fundraising … making sure that we get those small dollar donors. A [Republican] friend I respect told me, “The crazier language we use, the more we raise.” We need to tell our voters: You can’t buy into this. We have to have fact based solutions. There are people saying that Vice President Pence is treasonous. This is absolutely insane.” – Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA) on Republican plans to oppose the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory. (As told to CNN’s Ana Cabrera)