Comment by Jim Campbell
When an American president says it’s sinful to defend children against gender mutilation, we’ve arrived at a very dark place.
Biden and the Democrats have twisted the cultural narrative so much that the president recently declared
that resisting the “transgender” mutilation of children is “close to
sinful.” He also said in reference to the grossly misnamed Respect for Marriage Act
that we need to “pass legislation like we passed with same-sex
marriage.” He threatened, “You mess with that, you’re breaking the law
and you’re going to be held accountable.”
That’s a chilling threat from the president of the United States, a supposed “good” Catholic,“ and it’s directed at the millions of Americans who are standing up to defend our children from these horrific practices. But it’s especially rich coming from Joe Biden, who claims to have changed his mind about same-sex marriage after seeing two men kissing way back in the 1950s. Biden says that was an epiphany in his life. "I’ll never forget it,” he said. “I turned and looked at my dad. He said: ‘Joey, it’s simple. They love each other.’”
Joey, it’s simple. You’re a liar.
Listen and smile.[Source]
Back in 1973, more than a decade after he learned that those fictitious men simply loved each other, Biden opposed homosexuals working in the federal government. In 1993, he voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman. He also supported Bill Clinton’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in the U.S. military.
As for children, political analyst Robert Spencer wonders whether Biden will ever be held to account for the human cost of his misplaced compassion. “Almost certainly not,” he writes. “He’s more likely to get a Nobel Prize than to face the repudiation and shame that should be coming to him for endorsing this inhuman social contagion.”
Although Biden and others may have thought they were being compassionate and empathetic by opening the doors to celebrating and codifying same-sex marriage, it was entirely predictable that they wouldn’t stop there and that our children would be the groomers’ next target.
Sadly, too many on the side of morality and decency are silent.
But Florida Governor Ron DeSantis isn’t holding back. In response to Biden’s comments about the sinfulness of protecting children, DeSantis said: “It is not ‘sinful’ to prohibit the mutilation of minors. It is not acceptable for the federal government to mandate that procedures like sex change operations be allowed for kids.”
At least there’s one person in power who’s not afraid to stand up for children.
Fortunately, while the establishment uniparty on Capitol Hill is too fearful to stop this horrific attack on the most vulnerable among us, states around the country are taking bold steps. More recently, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem signed the Help Not Harm bill, making hers the sixth state to restrict or outright ban so-called gender-affirming surgery and even puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors. It’s particularly welcome there given Noem’s previous inconsistency.
What’s problematic for the anti-science Left is the disregard for solid research. As the Manhattan Institute reports: “On the issue of medical treatment for youth gender dysphoria in particular, American medical organizations have demonstrated a preference for ideologically driven conclusions over cautious review of the available research.”
In reality, this movement to mutilate our kids is really a social and cultural one. There’s very little debate, and those who do speak up are condemned in the most aggressive and hateful ways. Think of the attacks on author J.K. Rowling for merely expressing her views on sex and gender.
And we can’t forget about James Shupe, the first “nonbinary” American.
“It wasn’t until I came out against the sterilization and mutilation of gender-confused children and transgender military service members in 2017 that LGBT organizations stopped helping me,” Shupe writes. “Most of the media retreated with them. Overnight, I went from being a liberal media darling to a conservative pariah.”
The laws now being considered in some states may be a case of too little, too late. Unless we seriously address what one writer calls “the queering of the American frontier,” the country may be irreversibly lost.
In the end, a nation that considers itself both civilized and virtuous and yet won’t defend its children is neither civilized nor virtuous.
THE END
are normally available only individually and upon specific request. POGO and ACDC have partnered with OpenSecrets to make the documents freely available on the internet.
The project represents an unprecedented injection of transparency at the highest levels of government, the three organizations said. Executive branch financial disclosures are collected by the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) and ethics officials at each government agency, but no comprehensive public database for accessing and analyzing records currently exists. This joint project will enable researchers to more efficiently identify the conflicts of interests at play in the US executive branch.
David Szakonyi, co-founder of Anti-Corruption Data Collective said: “Whereas journalists have already done great work finding potential conflicts of interest in individual officials’ disclosures, there is a lot more that these data can reveal. Having these records available in bulk will allow the media, civil society, academia and other investigators to build a much clearer picture of the financial interests of political appointees at the very top of our government.”
Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, Senior Government Affairs Manager at the Project on Government Oversight, said: “Transparency when it comes to financial disclosures for White House political appointees has been woefully poor. The public should be able to easily access these disclosures in order to be confident that executive branch officials are operating without conflicts of interest, and the government has failed to make that possible. This database will make it much easier to hold the White House accountable.”
Sheila Krumholz, Executive Director of OpenSecrets, said: “This unparalleled database of financial disclosures, waivers, and ethics documents will make crucial information about political appointees publicly accessible — empowering journalists, civil society and other investigators to identify potential conflicts of interest at the highest levels of government. We are delighted to partner with POGO and ACDC to bring these critical records to light.”
The data set includes financial disclosures submitted by political appointees when they enter government, annual and transaction reports during their time in office, and termination reports upon their exit from their government positions. Forms contain information on equities held, sold and purchased, liabilities, outside income, and other assets belonging to the appointee and their spouse. The collection also includes ethics waivers granted to political appointees, allowing them to continue overseeing companies and sectors in which they may have a personal financial interest. The documents date from 2015 through 2022. OGE deletes the forms from its own database after six years.
Notes to editors
The records are expected to be available at the OpenSecrets website www.opensecrets.org in July 2023. For more information, please contact: team@acdatacollective.org
The types of financial disclosure and ethics data included in the database have been used in reporting including the Wall Street Journal’s Capital Assets series in 2022. To discuss potential applications of the data in investigations and other reporting, please contact ACDC.
Anti-Corruption Data Collective brings together leading investigative journalists, programmers, data scientists, academics and policy experts to expose and undermine corruption.
Project on Government Oversight investigates and
exposes waste, corruption, abuse of power, and when the government
fails to serve the public or silences those who report wrongdoing,
champions reforms to achieve a more effective, ethical, and accountable
federal government that safeguards constitutional principles.
OpenSecrets is the nation’s premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy. Its mission is to track the flow of money in American politics and provide the data and analysis to strengthen democracy.
THE END
US debt ceiling deal: what’s in and out of Biden and McCarthy’s agreement
Speaker Kevin McCarthy says the House will vote Wednesday on the deal he struck with the president – here are the details of the 99-page bill
Details of the deal between Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy take the form of a 99-page bill that would suspend the nation’s debt limit into 2025 in order to avoid an unprecedented federal default, which the White House said on Monday would be “catastrophic for the American people”, while limiting government spending.
The Democratic president and Republican House speaker are trying to win over lawmakers to the plan in time to avert a default that would shake the global economy. But Congress will be scrutinizing and debating the legislation fiercely this week.
McCarthy said the House will vote on the legislation Wednesday, giving the Senate time to consider it before 5 June, the date when the treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, said the US could default on its debt obligations if lawmakers did not act in time.
With the details of the deal now clear, here’s what’s in and out:
Two-year debt limit suspension, spending limits: Biden wants more!!!
The agreement would keep non-defense spending roughly flat in the 2024 fiscal year and increase it by 1% the following year, as well as suspend the debt limit until January 2025 – past the next presidential election.
For the next fiscal year, the bill matches Biden’s proposed defense budget of $886bn and allots $704bn for non-defense spending. It also requires Congress to approve 12 annual spending bills or face a snapback to spending limits from the previous year, which would mean a 1% cut.
Overall, the White House estimates that the plan would reduce government spending by at least $1tn, but official calculations have not yet been released.
Care for military veterans
The agreement would fully fund medical care for veterans at the levels included in Biden’s proposed 2024 budget blueprint, including a fund dedicated to veterans who have been exposed to toxic substances or environmental hazards. Biden sought $20.3bn for the toxic exposure fund in his budget.
Unspent money from Covid-19 pandemic
The agreement would rescind about $30bn in unspent coronavirus relief money that Congress approved through previous bills, including federal programs for rental assistance, small business loans and broadband internet for rural areas.
The legislation protects pandemic funding for veterans’ medical care, housing assistance, the Indian Health Service and developing the next generation of Covid-19 vaccines and treatments.
Funding for the Internal Revenue Service [Desantis is talking about abolishing the IRS as an election ploy] [That will never happen] [Source]
Republicans targeted money that the federal tax agency was allotted last year to crack down on tax fraud. The bill bites into some Internal Revenue Service (IRS) funding, rescinding $1.4bn.
Democrats are not alone when they are in power, the Republicans are just about as bad.
Work-for-benefits requirement
The agreement would expand work requirements attached to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Snap, formerly known as food stamps – a longtime Republican priority. But the changes are pared down from a hardline debt ceiling bill previously generated and passed in the House, which are a huge no for progressive Democrats.
Work requirements already exist for most able-bodied adults between the ages of 18 and 49. The bill would phase in higher age limits, bringing the maximum age to 54 by 2025. But the provision expires, bringing the maximum age back down to age 49 five years later, in 2030.
Democrats also won some new expanded benefits for veterans, homeless people and young people ageing out of foster care. The agreement would also make a small boost to the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program, which gives cash aid to families with children, making it harder for states to avoid paying.
Energy projects
The deal puts in place changes in the National Environmental Policy Act for the first time in nearly four decades that would designate “a single lead agency” to develop and schedule environmental reviews, in hopes of streamlining the process for approval for energy projects – both involving fossil fuels and renewable energy.
The bill also gives special treatment to the controversial Mountain Valley pipeline, a West Virginia natural gas pipeline championed by pivotal Democratic senator Joe Manchin, and Republican senator Shelley Moore Capito, by approving all its outstanding permit requests.
Student loans
Republicans have long sought to reel back Biden’s temporary relief on student loans during the coronavirus pandemic. Biden has agreed that the pause in loan repayments will end in late August. Meanwhile, a GOP proposal to rescind the White House’s plan to waive $10,000 to $20,000 in debt for nearly all student borrowers is not in the debt ceiling package. The conservative-dominated US supreme court is due to rule next month on whether Biden has the power to waive the debt.
What’s left out?
House Republicans passed legislation last month that would have created new work requirements for some Medicaid recipients, but the White House successfully blocked that from the deal. Also absent is a GOP proposal to repeal many of the clean energy tax credits Democrats passed in party-line votes last year.
Florida
Governor Ron DeSantis calls on a member of the media at a press
conference at the American Police Hall of Fame & Museum in
Titusville, Fla. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to kick off his long-anticipated presidential announcement on Wednesday evening backed by a super PAC flush with tens of millions of dollars from the Republican’s old state-level PAC.
Never Back Down, a pro-DeSantis super PAC, told the New York Times that more than $80 million of its $200 million budget would be transferred from DeSantis’ old state-level PAC. DeSantis’ federal campaign is legally barred from accessing the funds left over in his state-level PAC, which was not subject to contribution limits under Florida campaign finance law.
“There’s no question that it’s illegal for a federal candidate to transfer money they raised for a state committee to a federal super PAC,” Erin Chlopak, senior director for campaign finance at Campaign Legal Center who worked for nearly a decade as part of the Federal Election Commission’s Office of General Counsel, told OpenSecrets in a written statement.
The Florida governor raised $210.9 million during the 2022 election, more money than any gubernatorial candidate has raised in U.S. history, according to OpenSecrets data. DeSantis’ state-level PAC, Friends of Ron DeSantis, raked in more than $173.2 million of that total, and his campaign brought in $37.7 million. The Wall Street Journal previously reported plans to transfer the state-level PAC’s remaining funds to the pro-DeSantis super PAC, which could then spend the money boosting DeSantis or attacking his opponents.
“Although super PACs are permitted to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money, an essential, fundamental legal requirement is that they operate independently. That independence is nonexistent when a super PAC receives tens of millions of dollars from a state committee tied to the very candidate it is supporting,” Chlopak said, alleging the arrangement “would enable the candidate to completely circumvent the rules Congress enacted to prevent corruption and ensure our federal election campaigns are transparent.”
DeSantis formally cut ties with the state-level PAC earlier this month, POLITICO reported, notifying the state that he is “no longer associated with the political committee” and that he is no longer raising money for Friends of Ron DeSantis.
The state-level PAC is now chaired by a close DeSantis ally, Republican state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia. Ingoglia sponsored several of DeSantis’ key priorities during the Florida legislative session, and DeSantis recently signed several Ingoglia-sponsored bills into law, including $12 million in funding for the governor’s controversial crackdown on “unauthorized immigration” and legislation reducing the death penalty threshold from a unanimous jury decision to require just eight out of 12 jurors to vote for the death penalty.
Before the legislative session adjourned on May 5, the Florida legislature passed a bill to carve out an exception to the state’s “resign to run” law for any candidate seeking presidential or vice presidential office. This cleared the path for DeSantis to pursue his presidential ambitions without forcing him to resign from office.
DeSantis demurred on his presidential ambitions for months even as he toured the country — and the globe — raising his profile and courting wealthy donors. Deep-pocketed individuals and an opaque Michigan-based nonprofit, And To The Republic, helped fund his travel, according to the New York Times, which also spoke with several lobbyists who fielded requests for planes from DeSantis’ political aides. By waiting so long to announce his presidential campaign, he’s been able to skirt federal election rules that would restrict the influence of such largess, campaign finance experts told the New York Times.
DeSantis is set to finally announce his 2024 presidential campaign Wednesday in a discussion with Twitter CEO Elon Musk. The Twitter Space discussion will be moderated by tech entrepreneur David Sacks, who contributed $50,000 to the Florida governor’s state-level PAC and more than $20,000 in “in-kind” food and beverage contributions during the 2022 election cycle.
A team of wealthy business leaders representing industries from real estate to finance will gather at the Four Seasons hotel in Miami from Wednesday through Friday to help DeSantis raise money, CNBC reported. Several wealthy donors who contributed millions to his gubernatorial fundraising operation have pledged to support DeSantis’ presidential run, while others who have supported DeSantis in the past have expressed reservations.
Billionaire hotel tycoon and space entrepreneur Robert Bigelow told TIME he plans to throw his fortune behind DeSantis in the 2024 presidential election. Bigelow contributed $10 million to DeSantis’ state-level PAC during the 2022 election cycle, which was not only the single largest contribution to DeSantis’ political operation, but also the largest single political donation in Florida state history. The UFO enthusiast already reportedly contributed $20 million to the pro-DeSantis super PAC, Never Back Down, which won’t be required to disclose its donors until second quarter reports are due to the FEC on July 15.
Ken Griffin, CEO of the Miami-based hedge fund Citadel, contributed nearly $10.8 million to DeSantis’ political operation in recent years. Griffin gave $5.8 million to DeSantis’ state-level PAC when the Floridian was first elected governor during the 2018 election cycle and another $5 million during his 2022 reelection bid.
While Griffin told POLITICO in November that he was ready to back DeSantis and “move on to the next generation,” the Citadel CEO has privately questioned some of DeSantis’ policy moves and public rhetoric. Griffin was reportedly concerned by DeSantis’ remark that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a “territorial dispute” — which the Florida governor later tried to walk back — and a six-week abortion ban DeSantis signed into law in Florida last month.
Richard Uihlein, the billionaire founder of the business and shipping supply company ULINE, is also reportedly holding his cards close. Uihlein contributed $700,000 to DeSantis’ state-level PAC during his 2018 gubernatorial bid and an additional $700,000 to his 2022 reelection race, but a person familiar with Uihlein’s political spending strategy told NBC News in March, “The brakes are pumped” after polling showed DeSantis lagging behind former President Donald Trump.
A Trump-aligned super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., has been hammering DeSantis ahead of the Florida governor’s presidential announcement. MAGA Inc. spent $14 million attacking Democratic U.S. Senate candidates and $1 million boosting their Republican challengers in hotly contested races during the 2022 election cycle.
The super PAC has already spent $14 million on TV, radio and digital ads attacking DeSantis. The ads skewer DeSantis for votes he cast to cut Medicare and Social Security and raise sales taxes when he represented Florida’s 6th Congressional District in Congress from 2012 through 2018. MAGA Inc. also mocked DeSantis for reporting by the Daily Beast alleging the Floridian ate a cup of pudding with his fingers on a private plane trip, a story DeSantis denies.
One of Trump’s campaign managers told NBC News that DeSantis should expect “more of the same” as the presidential race heats up.
DeSantis is also feuding with one of the top employers in the state, Disney. The saga started in March 2022, when Disney criticized a bill to bar discussion of gender identity or sexual orientation in Florida schools through the third grade, which has since been raised to 12th grade. DeSantis dubbed the company “Woke Disney,” and Florida legislators have since stripped the entertainment giant of its long-held authority to self-govern the 25,000-acre resort.
Disney sued DeSantis for control of the land last month, claiming “a targeted campaign of government retaliation.” The company recently canceled a $1 billion plan to move 2,000 employees from California to Orlando, calling the Florida governor “anti-business.”
DeSantis said there is “zero” chance he would be “backing down from” the fight with Disney in the days before he kicked off his presidential campaign.
H/T Open Secrets.org
THE END
Further Proof That Those Running for the Highest Office in the Land Will Say Anything to Get Elected
Considering the sheer magnitude of 87,000 new IRS agents and an estimated $204 billion in new revenues from enforcement, is it possible for all those new audits and revenues to involve only taxpayers making over $400,000?
Desantis,
of course, is full of it and his chances of abolishing the IRS and
replacing it with some sort of modified flat tax is pure folly. It has
been tried before and predictably failed.[Source]
In
a nutshell, the greed of the slime bags in power no matter what party
is running the charade continues to allow them to add additional taxes
at the point of purchase.
—Returning to 2010 audit rates for all individuals making over $400,000 would generate only 28%, or $9.9 billion, out of the estimated $35.3 billion in new IRS enforcement revenues in 2031.
—Even increasing recent audit rates 30-fold for taxpayers making over $400,000—including 100% audit rates on taxpayers with incomes over $10 million—still would fall more than 20% short of raising the estimated $35.3 billion in new revenues in 2031.
Note: This assumes a 98% increase in the number of tax filers making over $400,000 between 2019 and 2031, based on annual growth rates between 2014 and 2019. Audit rates from 2010 to 2019 by income group and additional tax per individual tax return audited for 2021 is available here from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office
DeSantis says he would welcome bill to abolish 'corrupt' IRS: 'We need something totally different'
DeSantis has repeatedly taken aim at the Biden administration's efforts to expand the IRS
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would be "welcoming" of a measure from Congress to defund the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) if he's elected president next year.
The comments from DeSantis, who officially announced this week that he would seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, came during a conversation with radio host and Second Amendment advocate Dana Loesch on The Dana Show.
During the interview, DeSantis was asked whether he would sign a measure from Congress to abolish the IRS through funding means, as well as what he would replace the system with.
"Are you for a fair tax, a flat tax, where do you stand on that?" Loesch asked DeSantis.
"So, the answer's yes. I think the IRS is a corrupt organization and I think it's not a friend to the average citizen or taxpayer," DeSantis responded. "We need something totally different."
"I've supported all of the single rate proposals, I think they would be a huge improvement over the current system and I would be welcoming to take this tax system, chunk it out the window and do something that's more favorable to the average folks."
DeSantis, who has repeatedly taken aim at the IRS for its unfair practices and crackdown on the middle class, said last August that an effort from the Biden administration to expand the IRS with 87,000 new agents was an indication of disrespect.
"Of all the things that have come out of Washington that have been outrageous, this has got to be pretty close to the top," DeSantis said at the time. "I think it was basically just the middle finger to the American public, that this is what they think of you."
DeSantis – highlighting the notion that Washington is "going after you" – also suggested at the time that the new agents would be more out to target those with small businesses or those who work to make ends meet through ordinary, day-to-day jobs.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during a press conference at Christopher Columbus High School on March 27, 2023, in Miami. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
"They are going to go after independent contractors, they’re going to go after small business people, they’re going to go after someone that may be driving an Uber or a handyman or all these things," DeSantis added at the time. "Why would they do that? Because you’re not going to be able to contend with the audit, so they’re going to crush a lot of people by doing that."
Discussing the same subject that month, DeSantis, who was commenting on the FBI's raid of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate at the time, wrote in a tweet: "The raid of MAL is another escalation in the weaponization of federal agencies against the Regime’s political opponents, while people like Hunter Biden get treated with kid gloves. Now the Regime is getting another 87k IRS agents to wield against its adversaries? Banana Republic."
During a 2013 appearance on Fox News, DeSantis said from a "policy perspective" that he believes the IRS "is really past its point of usefulness."
"I think we need to move to a fair or flat tax and give the government less power," DeSantis, then a member of the House Oversight and Judiciary committee, said at the time.
Ahead of DeSantis' announcement that he will seek the White House, several of his detractors, including a super PAC supporting former President Donald Trump's 2024 endeavors, took aim at the governor over his support for a national sales tax during his time representing the Sunshine State's 6th Congressional District in the House from 2013 to 2018.
"In Congress, Ron DeSantis backed a national sales tax, a 23% tax hike on almost everything you buy … from the gas station to the grocery store," stated an ad from MAGA Inc., the leading super PAC aligned with Trump's candidacy in the 2024 race for the White House.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced this week that he would seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 (AP/Maya Alleruzzo)
While it is true that DeSantis supported a bill that proposed introducing a 23% federal sales tax, key details were omitted from the ad. In accordance with the bill's proposed federal sales tax, all other federal taxes, including the income tax, would have been eliminated if the bill had passed.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Known as the Fair Tax Act, or HR25, a version of the bill has been introduced in Congress multiple times since 1999. DeSantis co-sponsored the bill in 2013, 2015 and 2017.
"In Congress, the governor supported the concept of a Fair Tax, a plan to lower the overall tax burden on an individual by replacing all federal taxes — including income tax — with a lower tax," Bryan Griffin, the DeSantis political team press secretary, said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital last week. "The plan also sought to end the IRS, which, at the time, was being weaponized by the Obama administration."
THE END
Feinstein was reportedly confused that Kamala Harris was presiding over Senate: 'What is she doing here?'
DeSantis: Debt Deal Sticks with ‘Totally Inadequate’ Reset of Budget Trajectory of March 2020, We’re Still ‘Careening Towards Bankruptcy’
On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Fox &
Friends,” 2024 presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R)
stated that after the debt limit deal, “our country will still be
careening towards bankruptcy” like it was before since the deal still
has “a massive amount of spending.” And sticks with the “totally
inadequate” “reset” of the budget trajectory that started in March of
2020.
DeSantis said, “Well, prior to this deal, Kayleigh, our country was careening towards bankruptcy, and after this deal, our country will still be careening towards bankruptcy.
And to say you can do 4 trillion of increases in the next year-and-a-half, that’s a massive amount of spending. I think that we’ve gotten ourselves on a trajectory here, really since March of 2020, with some of the COVID spending, it totally reset the budget, and they’re sticking with that.
And I think that that’s just going to be totally inadequate to get us in a better spot. Look, in Florida, we run big budget surpluses. We have a $1.2 trillion economy.
Listen to the governor [Here.]
But our debt is only 17 billion, second-lowest per capita in the country. But we make tough choices and we make sure that we look forward to the long haul. Obviously, in Washington, D.C., they do these cycles to just get them through the next election and that’s, ultimately, one of the reasons why they continue to fail.”
H/T Breitbart
Ian Hanchett
THE END
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