Daily News Roundup

Estimated Reading Time: 23 minutes

NOTABLE QUOTES

Victor Davis Hanson contributor to American Greatness: We are beginning to wake up from a nightmare to a country we no longer recognize, and from a coup we never knew.

JSB Morse contributor to American Thinker: What’s worse is that the very people tasked with protecting us from constitutional violations are the ones committing the crimes. We have no representation in our representative government. There is no justice in the justice system. This is not the country I grew up in and it certainly isn’t the country the Founding Fathers envisioned. It’s time we come to grips with the fact that the American experiment has failed.

Steve McCann contributor to American Thinker: The United States now confronts the two most lethal threats in its 250-year history: an inevitable economic and financial collapse and Communist China, which due to its size, ideology, implacable nationalism, economy, and renewed sense of manifest destiny motivated by retribution for Western-imposed subservience in the 19th and early 20th centuries, is the greatest external threat to the United States in its history.

Bruce Thornton contributor to Frontpage Magazine: Again, there’s no question that what has happened to Trump hasn’t been fair, and in some cases has been patently illegal. But democratic politics since the ancient Athenians has never been fair, for it is often based on subjective perceptions rather than objective achievements. No matter how many Trump policies have benefitted voters, many have been forgotten in the perception, fair or not, that he is a self-absorbed loser.

Edward Ring contributor to American Greatness: The rhetoric of victim and oppressor and the agenda of forced equity must be rejected on every front. Equal opportunity rewards excellence. Equal outcomes require tyranny and are indifferent to excellence. From school board meetings to corporate conference rooms to cocktail parties and everywhere else, the equity agenda must be openly and forcefully refuted.

J.B. Shurk contributor to American Thinker: As the world becomes more dangerous and uncertain, there are two kinds of human responses that often surface. There are those who are so understandably distraught by quickly unfolding events seemingly beyond their control that they throw up their hands in exasperation, fearing that all is lost. Then there are those who, having recently awakened to the daunting issues surrounding us or having been stewing in their juices for years waiting for others to notice what’s going on, now find a fire in their bellies as an energetic determination takes hold. I encourage you to find your way toward the second camp.

J.B. Shurk contributor to American Thinker: With Redbelt, Mamet articulates not just a warrior code, but also a philosophy for living: no matter how daunting the circumstances, there is always a path forward. There is always an action that will redefine the nature of the fight. There is always an available choice in how a battle proceeds. There is always a way to secure victory in the face of what seems like certain defeat. Do not let yourself get distracted with nonsense. Never abandon your common sense. Accept the circumstances around you as they are and not as you would wish them to be. Everywhere you go, spread light because your enemies find power in darkness. These are all sage rules both for living a good life and for finding secure footing when things don’t go according to plan.

Sundance contributor to The Last Refuge: Kevin McCarthy is demanding the House Republicans give him his “precious,” an affectionate term for the speaker gavel that is in sight, but just out of reach. Meanwhile, the conservative caucus is not flinching. “It may not happen on the day we want it, but it’s going to happen,” McCarthy said late Tuesday night.

V.P. Mike Pence: Urging Every Republican in @HouseGOP to support my friend, Kevin McCarthy as the next Speaker of the House. @GOPLeader’s Leadership & Vision led to The New Republican Majority & I know Speaker McCarthy will lead the House to begin a Great American Comeback!

Tucker Carlson Fox television host: “You have reservations about Kevin McCarthy? You don’t want to ruled by a man who wears a Ukrainian flag lapel pin and who lives with Frank Luntz? No problem. We get it.”

Craig Bannister reporter for CNS News: Only about one in five voters believe that most members of Congress care what their constituents think, and six of ten don’t expect the new Congress to do much about the nation’s most pressing problems, a new Rasmussen survey reveals.

Andrea Widburg contributor to American Thinker: Dave Chappelle earned transgender wrath for pointing out that the transgender movement is the enemy of all, whether heterosexual or homosexual. Their wrath notwithstanding, he’s right. The goal is to end all biological sex and all sexual preferences in favor of a world in which the most sexually confused get to set the rules.

Dr. Paula Johnson in a 2013 Ted Talk: Every cell in the human body has a sex, which means that men and women are different right down to the cellular level.”

45

Hallerman: Big decisions loom for Fulton County investigation of Trump

Fulton County prosecutors have suggested the special grand jury probing whether former President Donald Trump or his allies unlawfully meddled in Georgia’s 2020 elections is coming to a close. That, however, may only mark the end of the beginning of Fulton’s turn in the national spotlight. Should District Attorney Fani Willis subsequently decide to press charges against the former commander in chief or anyone in his orbit, the metro Atlanta county would be at the center of a media circus in 2023 and beyond. No former president has ever been charged with a crime. Here’s what’s happened so far and what could be coming in the weeks and months ahead…

Thornton: What Lies Ahead for Trump and We the People?

From the beginning of his administration, Trump had started fulfilling his campaign promises to fix the problems that troubled his constituency, such as a porous border, free-loading allies, China’s economic predation, and feckless globalist shibboleths like the “rules-based international order” that under the globalist Barack Obama gave us the Munich-class appeasement of Iran with the nuclear deal, and the economically poisonous Paris climate accord, putting the interests of the globalist Davoisie over our own national interests and security. […] Then Covid happened. Reckless mitigation protocols like shutting down schools and the economy created the kind of crisis wannabe tyrants never let go to waste. More specifically, the lockdowns provided a rationale for multiplying mail-in ballots, which are so prone to corruption that only one-third of nations holding regular elections allow them. […] At any rate, Trump was indeed the victim of egregious political malfeasance and corruption that made election fraud more believable in the case of the “by any means necessary” progressive Dems: . . . […] As the Wall Street Journal reported recently, polls are starting to notice: “By 2-1, GOP and GOP-leaning voters now say they want Trump’s policies but a different standard-bearer to carry them. While 31% want the former president to run, 61% prefer some other Republican nominee who would continue the policies Trump has pursued.” Worse, Trump’s gaffes and legal problems have made him look like a sore loser, and that’s politically toxic.

THE FIGHT FOR U.S. HOUSE SPEAKERSHIP

Citizen Free Press: List of 20 republicans who are voting against McCarthy…

Watch the 8:43 minute video: https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/list-of-20-republicans-who-are-voting-against-mccarthy/

Treene: McCarthy sweetens his offer to House GOP rebels

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy offered fresh concessions on Wednesday evening in an attempt to keep his speakership bid alive, multiple GOP sources told Axios. […] McCarthy’s proposal, according to sources familiar with the plan . . .

Sundance: Matt Gaetz Outlines the Issues Underpinning Opposition to Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker

Gaetz refuses to accept the criticism from former House republicans who created the crisis of confidence within the American electorate. When challenged about the specific criticism, Gaetz does a good job putting context to the failed republican efforts over the past 15 years. The video is a good encapsulation of the current status.

Watch the 7:56 minute interview: https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/01/05/matt-gaetz-outlines-the-issues-underpinning-opposition-to-kevin-mccarthy-as-house-speaker/

Anderson: Prominent Conservatives Sign Letter Supporting Anti-McCarthy Republicans

“Months ago, these members made clear that this established way of doing things was no longer acceptable,” the Conservative Action Project letter said. “Rather than engage them in a good faith negotiation, Rep. Kevin McCarthy has instead maligned both the requests and the messengers. He has publicly and through proxies leveled attacks against members of his own party, including threatening to deny committee assignments for those who continue to oppose him.” Some of the signees included Edwin Meese III, former attorney general for Ronald Reagan, Ginni Thomas, president of Liberty Consulting and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Jim DeMint, chairman of the Conservative Partnership Institute and former U.S. senator. […] “For years, conservatives across the nation have asked for leaders in Washington who would fight for them against the establishment, and we now have 20 courageous House conservatives who have answered the call,” DeMint stated. “It’s time for the Republican leadership to start working with conservatives instead of trying to silence them.”

Jones: Tucker Carlson Rips ‘Snarling Face’ Dan Crenshaw After Congressman Calls McCarthy Holdouts ‘Terrorists’

Tucker Carlson called Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) the “snarling face of the donor class” after the congressman referred to House Republicans who oppose Kevin McCarthy’s bid for speaker as “terrorists.” Crenshaw is firmly in McCarthy’s corner as 20 Republicans continue to deny him the speakership. Tuesday, Crenshaw referred to those opposing McCarthy as “narcissists” and “enemies.” Wednesday, he called them “terrorists” while speaking with Guy Benson. “We cannot let the terrorists win,” he said. […] “You may like Kevin McCarthy, or not,” he said. “Both are allowed. But no matter how you feel, you have to acknowledge, if you’re being honest, that people who don’t like Kevin McCarthy have a reason for that. They have real concerns, real issues.” Carlson then unloaded on Crenshaw, who he said did not address those concerns . . .

Sundance: Rep Matt Gaetz Asks Congress Why Kevin McCarthy Has Moved into House Speakers Office, Because He’s Not Speaker

I’d like to report a squatter.

War Room: Every House GOP Member Is Threatened To Support Uniparty Or Have Millions Of Funding Withdrawn

Watch h the 6:45 minute interview: https://rumble.com/v23vdc8-every-house-gop-member-is-threatened-to-support-uniparty-or-have-millions-o.html

War Room: Mike Davis: McCarthy Has No Guiding Principle Except The Ambitions Of Kevin McCarthy

Watch the 7:28 minute interview: https://rumble.com/v23virs-mike-davis-mccarthy-has-no-guiding-principle-except-the-ambitions-of-kevin-.html

War Room: Davis: McCarthy Has Directly Supported The Marxist Left Taking Over Every Institution In America

Watch the 2:55 minute interview: https://rumble.com/v23vhwe-davis-mccarthy-has-directly-supported-the-marxist-left-taking-over-every-in.html

BURIED IN THE OMNIBUS (NEW GREEN DEAL) BILL

Freiburger: More details emerge on how GOP establishment-backed $1.7 trillion omnibus may fund abortion industry

The $1.7 trillion, 4,115-page omnibus package that was signed into law late last month with the help of establishment Republicans over the objections of conservatives contains several causes of concern for the pro-life cause that went largely overlooked at the time, analysis reveals. As previously covered by LifeSiteNews, the omnibus contains $286 million for the Title X family planning program, which in turn will fund abortion giant Planned Parenthood thanks to President Joe Biden having rescinded the Trump-era rule excluding the abortion industry from the funds. But further review of the legislation’s text reveals additional causes for concern. Chief among those is the so-called Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which in the past has been proposed as a standalone bill. Ostensibly meant to require businesses to “make reasonable accommodations to the known limitations related to the pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions of a qualified employee,” the PWFA could be interpreted as imposing abortion mandates, pro-life analysts have warned.

Husebro: Joe Biden Touts Mitch McConnell’s Loyalty During Infrastructure Celebration

“I asked permission if I could say something nice about him,” Biden prefaced. “Mitch, it wasn’t easy to get this done,” he said about the bill’s passage. “It wouldn’t have happened without your hand.” “We don’t agree on everything, in fact, we disagree on a lot of things, but here’s what matters: He’s a man of his word. When he gives you his word, you can take it to the bank,” Biden continued. “It wouldn’t have happened without your hand,” Biden continued to gush. “It just wouldn’t have gotten done and I have to thank you for that.” “He’s willing to find common ground to get things done for the country. So thank you, Mitch,” Biden said. Biden also joked he offered to campaign for his longtime Senate colleague. “I said I’d campaign for him or against him, whichever would help him the most,” Biden said: . . . […] McConnell accepted Biden’s thanks and stated that working with Democrats solved many of the challenges facing the nation.

JANUARY 6

Allen & McMurray: BOMBSHELL: Attorney Representing Ray Epps Was FBI Agent For 9 Years

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie (KY) has repeatedly been stonewalled by the January 6 Witch Hunt Committee when asking questions about Epp’s identity or his role in the so-called January 6 “insurrection.” Watch far-left Jan. 6 Witch Hunt Committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin defend Ray Epps after Rep. Thomas Massie asks about Ray Epps. […] Tucker Carlson asked why the Trump-hating RINO Rep. Adam Kinsinger (IL) continues to defend and even “praise” Ray Epps. Watch: . . . But with the release of the J6 Committee transcript, the question of Ray Epps’ true identity and his role in the January 6 fed-surrection is more pertinent than ever.

Solomon: Ex-Capitol Police boss says politics hampered Jan. 6 security under Pelosi: ‘Recipe for disaster’

The Capitol Police chief who handled the Jan. 6 riot says political bureaucracy under Speaker Nancy Pelosi put optics over safety and hampered his department from crafting an appropriate security plan to protect the home of Congress that fateful day. Steven Sund, who resigned as the head of the $600 million a year Capitol Police Department after the tragedy, told the “Just the News, No Noise” television show on Wednesday that significant lapses occurred inside his department, inside the political leadership of Congress and across federal law enforcement and security agencies in the days before the Capitol riot.

Sundance: House Republicans Remove Nancy Pelosi’s Metal Detectors and Other Optics Intended to Support J6 Extremism Narrative

In the aftermath of the 2020 election House democrats led by Nancy Pelosi directed a national pantomime from Washington DC that extremists were running amok and terrorizing congress. The January 6 Committee was intended to further establish that narrative. Pelosi called up the national guard, put fences and barbed wire around congress then installed metal detectors, all as part of the theater for manufacturing the domestic violent extremist narrative. […] Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert highlights the return of normalcy.

AN AMERICA IN DECLINE

Coyner: How Is The Uniparty Destroying America? Let Me Count The Ways

We are seeing the foundations laid for a revolution. Whether that revolution is peaceful or violent remains to be seen. In virtually every society, over time, a few elites accumulate most of the power. Those elites, in turn, run the nation as their personal fiefdom, where they utilize the machinery of the state to enrich themselves, accumulate more power, and use trifles to appease the exponentially larger population of serfs whom they rule. This reality applies to monarchies, Communist tyrannies, “democracies,” theocracies, and even, as we’re coming to discover, republics. […] Closer to home, the American Republic finds itself on a precipice of collapse after less than 250 years. We’re seeing it unfold right in front of us. There is perhaps no better example of the disconnect between the ruling elites than last month’s utterance from the clown who runs the GOP in the Senate, Mitch McConnell. […] Another example of the elites putting their thumbs in the eyes of average Americans is the $1.7 trillion budget that Congress passed in December. No Congress in modern history has seen an outgoing House majority pass an omnibus appropriations bill in a lame-duck session. […] Donald Trump upset that apple cart and, as such, had to be eliminated. Thankfully they didn’t do to him what was done to JFK, but they removed him from office nonetheless. Trump has said he’s not done. We’ll see.

CHINA: AMERICA’S MORTAL ENEMY

Toplansky: Chinese Communist Party Aggression against America

Joe Biden’s decision to allow a Chinese company “to own 370 acres of land within 12 miles of Grand Forks Air Force Base in Grand Forks, North Dakota” portends dire consequences for America. According to Gordon Chang, China will be able to use a proposed $700 million corn milling plant on the site to spy on military communications and even disrupt them. In Beijing, they must be shaking their heads in disbelief at the inability of the U.S. to protect some of its most sensitive communications. Consequently, . . . […] Moreover, “[t]he Chinese will now have the ability to conduct passive, persistent surveillance of both signals controlling experimental drones that are routinely tested at that USAF facility as well as signals that are routinely beamed to and from sensitive U.S. military satellites[.]” If that were not alarming enough, consider the fact that “[s]hould the U.S. and China end up in a shooting war over, say, Taiwan, Fufeng’s property near the Air Force base could be used to. . . […] So while the American military establishment worries about which pronouns to use, our enemies cannot believe their good fortune.

BIDEN/HARRIS/OBAMA’S AMERICA LAST REGIME: TRANSFORMING FOREIGN POLICY

(Biden’s War) Top Zelensky adviser rejects peace talks with Russia

Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov this week rejected the idea that Kyiv would engage in peace talks with Moscow as the Russian invasion of Ukraine rages on. “There’s no way to have conversations with them; you can’t talk with terrorists,” he told NatSec Daily, adding that Ukraine would not end the war until it had reclaimed all of its territory, including Crimea.” “Everything will be linked once again, including Crimea,” he continued. “Not one meter will be left for the taking of the enemy. If any of our partners suggest that we should leave something behind or give it away, the Ukrainian people for sure will never accept that.”

AP: Russia’s hypersonic missile-armed ship to patrol global seas

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday sent a frigate armed with the country’s latest Zircon hypersonic missile on a trans-ocean cruise in a show of force as tensions with the West escalate over the war in Ukraine. Russia touts that the Zircon missile can evade any Western air defenses by flying at an astounding 7,000 miles per hour (11,265 km/h). Here is a glance at the ship and its weapons.

Fleetwood: Our Ukraine Obsession Is Hanging Taiwan Out To Dry, And The Biden Administration Just Admitted It

It’s no secret the foreign policy of President Joe Biden has been a cataclysmic disaster. But a recent admission by his top diplomat shows anew just how inept his administration is on the world stage. A few days before Christmas, Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a press conference to provide an overview of what the administration considered the “most consequential areas where diplomacy delivered in 2022.” Included on the list were U.S. actions such as rallying the world to support Ukraine, accelerating “strategic convergence” with allies to contain China, mobilizing “broad-based coalitions” to tackle global problems, and using American diplomacy to “advance peace and prevent and mitigate conflict.” The more notable part of Blinken’s remarks, however, came during the question-and-answer portion of the press conference when the secretary was asked about lessons the administration learned from its 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan. In his response, Blinken tacitly admitted that the administration is incapable of handling multiple foreign policy ventures at once. “When it comes . . .

BIDEN/HARRIS/OBAMA’S AMERICA LAST REGIME: TRANSFORMING AMERICA

VDH: The Coup We Never Knew

Did someone or something seize control of the United States? What happened to the U.S. border? Where did it go? Who erased it? Why and how did 5 million people enter our country illegally? Did Congress secretly repeal our immigration laws? Did Joe Biden issue an executive order allowing foreign nationals to walk across the border and reside in the United States as they pleased? Since when did money not have to be paid back? Who insisted that the more dollars the federal government printed, the more prosperity would follow? When did America embrace zero interest? Why do we believe $30 trillion in debt is no big deal? When did clean-burning, cheap, and abundant natural gas become the equivalent to dirty coal? How did prized natural gas that had granted America’s wishes of energy self-sufficiency, reduced pollution, and inexpensive electricity become almost overnight a pariah fuel whose extraction was a war against nature? Which lawmakers, which laws, which votes of the people declared natural gas development and pipelines near criminal?

Christenson: Soros Doubles Funding to Left-Wing Legal Group Working To Upend Supreme Court

Progressive megadonor George Soros has ramped up donations to a group dedicated to packing the Supreme Court, signaling progressives’ determination to reshape the judiciary even after a string of defeats. Demand Justice raked in $4.5 million from Soros’s Open Society Foundations to “support policy advocacy on court reform,” 2021 fiscal year tax filings show. That’s nearly double the $2.5 million Soros gave the group in 2018, when it formed to oppose Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation. Soros’s increased donations could buoy Demand Justice as the group fights to regain ground. The past two years saw the group suffer major setbacks, including the confirmation of two conservative justices and centrist Democrats’ cooling on efforts to end the Senate filibuster and pack the Court.

Anderson: Biden Administration Touts Drained Emergency Oil Reserves as Top 2022 Accomplishment

Biden sold millions of reserve barrels to China, other foreign entities. President Joe Biden’s Energy Department in a Dec. 23 press release included its release of “190 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve” as second on its list of top 2022 accomplishments. The department said the reserve sales protected “global energy security”—a far cry from its reasoning behind the sales in April, when the department said a release of 30 million reserve barrels would aid domestic consumers by addressing “the pain Americans are feeling at the pump.” The rhetorical shift comes after Biden faced bipartisan criticism for selling millions of reserve barrels to foreign entities, including the Chinese government.

Greenfield: Biden to ‘Tax’ Working Immigrants to Fund Services for Illegal Migrants

Democrat support for illegal aliens has often been criticized for prioritizing illegals over legal immigrants. And this proposed move by the Biden administration is just another example of that. […] Let the productive people pay for the non-productive people, who are the ones the Dems really want.

Shaw: Mayorkas says massive migrant numbers ‘straining our system,’ calls for Congress to act

Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, in an interview aired Wednesday, is warning that the enormous migrant numbers being encountered at the southern border are “straining our system” as he again echoed administration calls for Congress to pass a sweeping immigration bill that includes an amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants.

Taer: EXCLUSIVE: ‘Give The Illusion’: Border Patrol Agents, Union President Pour Cold Water On Biden’s Planned Border Visit

Border Patrol agents and the force’s union leader aren’t convinced that President Joe Biden’s expected visit to the southern border will yield anything productive or expose him to the true depth of the crisis, they told the Daily Caller News Foundation Wednesday. Biden revealed Wednesday his intent to go to the border “to see what’s going on” and hopefully observe “peace and security.” The president last visited the border in 2008 when he drove by it, former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in 2021.

Sundance: Inflation is Crushing the Middle Class and Unfortunately More Price Increases are Likely in 2023

It’s almost painful to go to the grocery store today, not just because the prices for everything are so high, but also because seeing the stress amid the working-class shopping is palpable. Unfortunately, while we may have a momentary plateau on current pricing, there’s a strong possibility another wave of higher prices is yet to come.At the core of the issue are energy prices which continue to rise. The immediate cycle of energy price hikes, a direct consequence of political policy, has lessened somewhat and we are now in that slow tick upward as the pressure on oil, gas, heating and electricity prices continues.

Michael Burry, famous for his predictions in/around the U.S. housing market, is noticing the same thing as CTH. “Inflation peaked. But it is not the last peak of this cycle,” he said. “We are likely to see CPI lower, possibly negative in 2H 2023, and the US in recession by any definition. Fed will cut and government will stimulate. And we will have another inflation spike. It’s not hard.”

Binder: Healthcare for Illegal Aliens in DHS Custody Costs Taxpayers $324M a Year as Over 30M Americans Go Uninsured

In ICE’s year-end report, the agency revealed that “providing medical care, including mental healthcare, to all detained” illegal aliens cost taxpayers about $324 million in Fiscal Year 2022. The report notes: . . . […] Meanwhile, more than 30 million Americans still do not have health insurance, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates, including 27.5 million working-age adults. The number of Americans without health insurance does not capture the tens of millions of working and middle class Americans who are insured but who struggle to cover costs and often put off doctor and dentist visits as a result.

BlazeTV Staff: Department of Labor quietly issues INSANE new rule for YOUR retirement savings

Just before the holidays, the U.S. Department of Labor quietly finalized a new rule that completely changed standard benefit plans for the American worker. Since 1974, something called the Employee Retirement Income Security Act has ensured that managers of retirement plans must act “solely in the interest” of employees and beneficiaries. The rule was designed to ensure that your financial interests are the top priority when planning for your retirement — but now that’s all changed. Carol Roth, financial expert and author of “The War on Small Business,” joined Glenn Beck on the radio program to explain this new, “egregious” Department of Labor ruling and how it puts your retirement entirely at risk.

Read more/Watch the 5:47 minute interview: https://www.theblaze.com/shows/the-glenn-beck-program/dept-of-labor-esg-retirement-savings

The Right Scoop: “You know why” – Joe Biden asked about Vatican request that he not attend Pope Benedict XVI’s funeral

The White House explained yesterday that Joe Biden was asked by the Vatican not to attend Pope Benedict XVI’s funeral tomorrow.[…] When pressed on it, Biden claimed it was because he’d be bringing a large entourage and the Vatican doesn’t want that. I’d like to think Joe Biden was asked not to attend because he’s is a terrible pro-baby-murder Catholic.

Ring: The Equity Paradox

f a society strives to achieve “equity” for every citizen merely by providing equal opportunity, it would need to accept unequal outcomes. If a society does not accept unequal outcomes, it would need to provide unequal opportunities. That is a circle that cannot be squared. Societies must choose one or the other. Every major institution in America denies this paradox. Implicit in that denial is the fantasy that designing a society to favor certain groups in order to achieve equality of outcome will not fatally undermine the cohesion and vitality of the overall society. Theoretically, it might have worked several decades ago when “disadvantaged” groups constituted a minute percentage of the American population. Offering special benefits and privileges to a small fraction of the population might have been a manageable burden. But today, the vast majority of Americans belong to a “protected status group.” The magnitude of this shift in just six decades bears enumeration.

THE DEMOCRAT PARTY MARXIST PLAYBOOK: LEFTIST INDOCTRINATION, CHILD MUTILATION, CHILD SACRIFICE, CHILD SEXUALIZATION

Murray: Man in ‘drag’ acts out a self-induced abortion on stage in front of children

Man in ‘drag’ acts out a self-induced abortion on stage in front of children.

Read more/Watch the 35 second clip at American Thinker.

Mangiaracina: James Younger’s father loses appeal to move him away from potential gender ‘transition’ in California

A court denied Jeff Younger’s appeal to order his ex-wife to move his son back to Texas from California, where Younger fears she will be able to circumvent a prior court ruling and chemically castrate the boy. In an 8-1 ruling, the Texas Supreme Court refused to overturn a trial court order that allowed Younger’s ex-wife Anne Georgulas to move 10-year old James Younger, who is not her biological son, to California. Younger fears that in California, despite a Texas court ruling that requires Younger’s consent for James to undergo gender-mutilating surgery or puberty blockers, Georgulas will medically “transition” his son to a “girl,” as she admitted she would multiple times under oath.

BIDEN’S COVID VACCINATION MANDATES

War Room: Dr Ryan Cole – Science Should Question Vaccine Cardiac Injuries

Watch the 4:37 minute interview: https://rumble.com/v23uwiy-dr-ryan-cole-science-should-question-vaccine-cardiac-injuries.html

Raw Egg Nationalist: What Shrinking U.S. Life Expectancy May Be Telling Us About the Pandemic Response.

ife expectancy in the US dropped for the second consecutive year in 2021, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At 76.4 years for a person born in 2021, life expectancy is now the lowest it’s been in a quarter century, since 1996. For American men, life expectancy fell by over eight months; for women, by seven months. The figure fell for every age category in the nation over the age of one. At the turn of the twentieth century, life expectancy in the US was just 47 years. The figure rose to 68 years by mid-century and continued to climb until 2019, the year before the global coronavirus pandemic, when it reached 79 years.

THE CORRUPT & DANGEROUS DEMOCRAT PARTY MEDIA INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

Greenfield: How Green Investors Pay the Media to Promote ‘Climate Change’

The Associated Press revealed last year that it had scored $8 million to promote claims of global warming. The AP impartially described this massive conflict of interest as an illustration of “how philanthropy has swiftly become an important new funding source for journalism”. “This far-reaching initiative will transform how we cover the climate story,” its executive editor claimed. That is no doubt true. And an incredibly damaging admission. The philanthropic quid-pro-quo saw five organizations fund the AP’s dedicated team of “more than two dozen journalists” to cover “climate issues” that the wire service would then plant in papers around the country to terrify Americans into supporting ‘green’ taxes and subsidies.

A REVIEW OF NETFLIX’S SERIES ‘THE RECRUIT’

Meyrat: ‘The Recruit’ Is Fair But Fun In Its Depiction Of Our Intelligence Agencies

In the case of Netflix’s recent series “The Recruit,” it turns out such a story would be quite entertaining and rightly critical of today’s intelligence organizations and their spies. By dispensing with the many tropes that have come to define the spy genre, “The Recruit” offers a refreshing take that returns this world to reality. The show focuses on a young CIA lawyer Owen Hendricks who, in his first days at the CIA, becomes entangled with a Belarusian spy Max Maladze who threatens to leak classified information if the agency doesn’t release her from prison. As he handles this assignment, he is forced to deal with backstabbing colleagues, rivals from other departments, powerful politicians, along with armed thugs working for a wide array of criminal organizations. While the show features more than enough action sequences — mostly Owen finding himself in the wrong place at the wrong time — much of the show’s interest comes in its Machiavellian (and apparently surprisingly realistic) portrayal of intelligence agencies. […] Overall, “The Recruit” succeeds in its main goal of being interesting and fun to watch, but it also succeeds in conveying a deeper, rather disturbing point: Today’s politics is less the clash of competing ideas and more the messy dynamics of large bureaucracy that is more interested in self-preservation than protecting the nation. We can only hope that this kind of world passes into oblivion since it has no good reason to exist, but until then, we can enjoy a great series inspired by it.

OTHER NEWS, COMMENTARY & OPINION

Shapiro: The Death of Eternal Truths and the New Paganism

There is a truth; that truth must be pursued; the only substitute for truth is falsehood. Human beings have sussed out eternal truths over the course of millennia, and to discard those truths in favor of subjectivism is crippling. Those eternal truths are rooted in the belief that God made us in His image; that He granted us roles and responsibilities; and that true freedom lies in making choices within the boundaries of those roles and responsibilities. What happens when we discard those truths? Disaster strikes. First, we lose belief in something Higher; then we lose belief in ourselves. We are seeing the consequences of this two-step process before us in real time.

Wakerell-Cruz: The Elites’ War on Beauty Is a War on God, Eric Metaxas Tells Posobiec

Human Events Daily host Jack Posobiec was joined by Eric Metaxas, where the two discussed the issues being faced by Christians, and specifically, whether there is a war on Christians in the West today. Metaxas asserts that atheism is waging a war on God, with its staunch belief that removing God will make things better. “Everything that God has put in order–the family, men, and women, beauty and goodness–these people are wittingly or unwittingly…at war with these things.

Cruz- Coca-Cola accused of paying NAACP to call soda taxes ‘racist’

TrueMedicine Care co-founder Calley Means published a thread to Twitter on Monday, where he broke down the grip that soda companies have over food regulation. Means claimed that his Twitter Blue access and his account is now under review, suggesting that this was due to Coca-Cola being a major advertiser for Twitter. […] “I say Coke’s policies are evil because I saw inside the room. The first step in playbook was paying the NAACP + other civil rights groups to call opponents racist. Coke gave millions to the NAACP and the Hispanic Federation – both directly and through front groups like the American Beverage Association This picked up in 2011-2013 – when the Farm Bill and soda taxes were under consideration.”

Betz: Florida Gov. DeSantis mandates all state university systems report funds spent on CRT, DEI

“[T]his letter is a request for information from the Department of Education and the State University System regarding the expenditure of state resources on programs and initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion, and critical race theory within our state colleges and universities,” the letter read. […] The memo mandated that each Florida College System and State University System institution provide a “comprehensive list of all staff, programs, and campus activities related to” DEI and CRT.

Boyd: Loudoun County Dad Arrested For ‘Trespassing’ At Local Public School Board Meeting Found Not Guilty

A Loudoun County father, whose arrest at a June 2021 school board meeting was used by the Biden administration to justify a politicized attack on concerned parents, was found not guilty of trespassing on Wednesday. […] Fleming determined that Tigges not only had a First Amendment right to attend the heated meeting but also that the superintendent who shut down the official gathering last summer had no right to declare it an “unlawful assembly.”

Wulfsohn: Adam Kinzinger joins CNN days after leaving Congress, sparking viral mockery: ‘Nobody saw this coming’

CNN announced Wednesday that Kinzinger, who officially left Congress this week after choosing not to seek reelection in the 2022 midterms, has joined the network as a senior political commentator. Kinzinger made his debut as a CNN contributor on “Erin Burnett Outfront.”

Fried: Amazon to cut 18,000 jobs

Amazon notified employees on Wednesday it plans to cut 18,000 jobs amid slowdowns in consumer and corporate spending. Why it matters: That figure is the largest layoff at any tech company in recent months — bigger (by number, not percent) than workforce reductions at Meta, Snap and Twitter. […] The big picture: Amazon is far from the only company cutting jobs. It isn’t even the only one who announced layoffs on Wednesday.

Meads: Fauci Has A Gigantic Wall Filled With Portraits Of Himself In His Home Office

It seems that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the president’s outgoing top medical adviser and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), is a little embarrassed that The New York Times saw his gigantic wall filled with portraits of himself in his home office. The career bureaucrat doesn’t want his critics to see that as more evidence that he is some sort of narcissist.

INTERNATIONAL

Rogoff: The looming financial contagion

The fact that the world did not experience a systemic financial crisis in 2022 is a minor miracle, given the surge in inflation and interest rates, not to mention a massive increase in geopolitical risk. But with public and private debt having risen to record levels during the now-bygone era of ultra-low interest rates, and recession risks high, the global financial system faces a huge stress test. A crisis in an advanced economy – for example, Japan or Italy – would be difficult to contain. True, tighter regulation has reduced risks to the core banking sectors, but that has only led to risks shifting elsewhere in the financial system. Rising interest rates, for example, have put huge pressure on private-equity firms that borrowed heavily to buy up property. Now, with housing and commercial real estate on the cusp of a sharp, sustained drop, some of those firms will most likely go bust.

Raymond Ibrahim Video: The Death of Christianity in Bethlehem

The Israeli news site i24NEWS recently interviewed Raymond Ibrahim, a Shillman Fellow at the Freedom Center, on the shocking findings of his article, “Bethlehem: Christianity Dying Where It Started.”

Watch the 4:26 minute interview: https://www.frontpagemag.com/raymond-ibrahim-video-the-death-of-christianity-in-bethlehem/

Martel: Chinese Protesters Flip Police Car in First Major Anti-Communist Riot of 2023

Outraged citizens in Henan province, China, attacked cops and overturned a police car on Monday after authorities attempted to enforce a ban on New Year’s fireworks, social media videos and local reports revealed. Read more: https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2023/01/04/chinese-protesters-flip-police-car-first-major-anti-communist-riot-2023/

Murphy: Jordan Peterson Threatened With Loss of Credentials Unless He Submits to Reeducation

Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson is claiming that the governing board of his profession in Ontario has threatened to rescind his credentials unless he submits to mandatory social media training. Peterson, who garnered international fame in the late 2010s largely because of lectures that he posted on YouTube and gained a lot of left-wing enemies when he publicly attacked 2016’s bill C-16, which made so-called “misgendering” of a transgendered person a crime, has vowed to make any hearings or other actions taken by the Ontario College of Psychologists (CPO) completely public. He made the revelation in a series of tweets on Tuesday. According to Peterson, he must take mandatory social media training and report his progress to the CPO in order to remain a psychologist in good standing. Peterson believes that the CPO has targeted him for his criticism of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other political figures, and for his support of the Canadian truckers who protested Covid vaccine mandates in Ottawa last winter.

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

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

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

Please click the following link to learn more.

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