Even with the sound turned down you can tell the moment she tells a lie. Watch her eyes go wide for the lie, chin goes up, smile doesn't match rest of face.
That's the Democrat #Liarface.
You see it with Hillary, Schiff, Pelosi, etc.
Learn to spot it. https://t.co/874y8vQTys
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) February 10, 2024
Category: Corruption
A Simple Moment of Weakness
Reconnecting with History—Special Installment
“The President’s job—and if someone sufficiently vain and stupid enough is picked he won’t realize this—is not to wield power, but to draw attention away from it.” —Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
My phone buzzed early in the evening. A message from one of my paid subscribers telling me about an impending press conference by one of my least favorite subspecies of humanity: a politician. She requested that I watch the conference and give my take on the potential historical significance of the event and/or share some history that might inform her understanding of the event.
This is not my idea of a “good time.” I would literally rather explain the evolution of torture techniques during the Spanish Inquisition—that, at least, would have a flavor of the lurid to leaven the horror on display.
Nevertheless, I allowed myself to be convinced. I need to keep my paid supporters happy (and yes, if you’re a paid supporter, I will pay attention to your requests for topics—I may not always fulfill them the next day, but they will go into the hopper. I’m an honest intellectual whore: I know how to sing for my supper). Besides, the event in question turned out to be a lot more important than I was hoping it would be. So here we go.
During his years as Vice President, Joe Biden appropriated a bunch of classified documents, some of which wound up in file boxes in his garage. On the face of it, this seems an even more egregious a violation of the official documents handling laws than did former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s email server (a matter on which the DOJ declined prosecution) and former President Donald Trump’s stockpiling of maybe-declassified-then-reclassified-but-maybe-not documents in his part-time residence at Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida (for which he is currently being prosecuted).
The special prosecutor’s report on the Biden matter dropped today. You can read it here. You can read a Twitter thread digesting it here (warning: partisan account).
Tucked among the pages were an implied justification for declining to prosecute (the administration cooperated with the investigation, and without obstruction charges in the mix the rest becomes harder to prosecute) and a startling explicit justification: President Biden, the most powerful man on the planet, is incompetent to stand trial.
Biden held a press conference in response:
It did not go well.
You can watch it for yourself here:
Even as Biden declared himself competent and his memory sound, he forgot the name of the church from which his son’s memorial rosary was procured, he mixed up the President of Egypt with the President of Mexico, he inadvertently (if subtly) changed American foreign policy with regards to the current war between Israel and Hamas, he seemed unsure for a fleeting moment whether his dead son was, in fact, dead [3m11s], and he claimed responsibility for the crimes of which the special prosecutor had just declined prosecution (even while denying they took place and dissembling about their nature).
In my lifetime so far, I have seen seven Presidents. If I were to evaluate them by competence (Note: This is NOT a comment on the policies or politics of any of these men), I’d characterize them thusly:
Two of them were pretty-okay (Reagan and Bush 1), one was not politically astute (Carter), and then there was the parade of the most incompetent, self-involved, and corrupt dip shits ever to occupy the Oval Office, each one worse than the last (Clinton, Bush 2, Obama, and Trump—the first two of these were, at least, capable of holding productive conversations with other people in government, despite their inability to be consistently interested in the actual prosecution of their own avowed policy agendas).
Even if he hadn’t done so before, Biden revealed in this press conference that he is, hands down, the least-fit occupant of the Oval Office in the history of the Republic (which, in light of his four immediate predecessors, is a hell of an accomplishment).
In a “normal” world—which is to say, the artificial world my generation was taught about in our high school history classes, which is far from normal—Joe Biden would be removed from office tomorrow, on 25th Amendment grounds, by his own party. The party itself would not lose power, as they still control congress and would still control the White House, and they would head into the November Election from a position of moral strength: “We care so much about the country that we will remove this good man who isn’t up to the job anymore.”
Failing that, he would be impeached by his own party.
And, failing that, he would be locked out of a brokered Democratic Convention and not allowed to run for a second term.
But that “normal world” is long gone.
NRA Board Elections: Support the Four for Reform Candidates
Four candidates dedicated to reforming the troubled NRA will be on the ballot for election to the NRA Board of Directors this year. Judge Phil Journey, Rocky Marshall, Dennis Fusaro, and me, Jeff Knox, all qualified for the ballot by petition of the members.
We are encouraging people to vote for only these four and no one else. This is called “Bullet Voting” and gives your votes more weight, increasing the odds of us winning seats.
Ballots are supposed to be in the March issue of NRA magazines for those members eligible to vote.
Winning a Board seat without the support of the current regime at the NRA is historically close to impossible.
Since only NRA Life Members, and those Annual Members who have been members for at least 5 consecutive years, without interruption, are eligible to vote, and since those eligible voters are only known to the NRA itself, and that information is not available to us, we have no choice but to use a shotgun approach in our attempts to get our message out. If we had access to the voter list, we’d reach out directly to those voters. If we had tens of thousands of dollars in our campaign coffers, we’d have placed ads in the various NRA magazines. But we don’t have access to the list, and we don’t have unlimited resources, so the best we can do is try to reach as many potential voters as we can through broad channels like AmmoLand News, email blasts, and asking others to help spread the word.
Each year, the NRA sends out around 2.5 million ballots to Voting Members, but only about 5% of those are ever returned, meaning that almost 2 million ballots are left on the shelf, taken to local libraries, relegated to the magazine rack next to the toilet, and eventually thrown away. Finding and activating those un-voted ballots this year could be the key to getting the reform candidates elected, so we need your help and the help of gun media nationwide.
No one knows what will happen with the trial now going on in New York. It’s almost certain that the NRA will lose, and LaPierre and former Treasurer Woody Phillips will be ordered to pay some restitution, but there’s just no telling what the judge will decide regarding the NRA itself.
- He could order them to clean up their act and go forth to sin no more – which would leave the same people in charge who allowed this mess in the first place.
- Or he could go so far as to dissolve the current board, throw out the current election, and order a new election, taking additional months.
- He could also appoint a Special Master or overseer to take charge of reorganizing the NRA.
He has a lot of leeway and options, and we can only guess at what he might do, so we’re trying to position ourselves in the best position to participate in the resurrection of the Association, whatever the judge decides.
There’s also a good chance that the NRA will appeal any decision that goes against them, resulting in more delays and more NRA member money being poured into the pockets of lawyers. For the time being, our focus must be on getting our four reform candidates elected.
Sen. Chris Murphy: the people we care about most
A gaffe is commonly defined as when a politician inadvertently tells the truth and/or reveals his true intentions. During this election season, we’re seeing a bumper crop of gaffes, and not all by Joe Biden. Sen. Chris Murphy, among the most rabid Democrat/socialist/communist (D/s/c) congress critters, dropped a classic:
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said Wednesday that the Democratic Party’s push for a path to citizenship in border legislation has failed the people they “care about most” in this country, “undocumented Americans.”
MSNBC host Chris Hayes asked Murphy about the border security bill and said, rather than pushing for a path to citizenship in border legislation negotiations like the party has in the past, Democrats were using Ukraine funding.
“Well, I mean, Chris, that’s been a failed play for 20 years. So you are right that that has been the Democratic strategy for 30 years, maybe, and it has failed to deliver for the people we care about most, the undocumented Americans that are in this country,” Murphy said.
Oooops. Murphy said the quiet part out loud.
“This is also not 2013 any longer, when we ran that play last. Back then, there were a couple hundred people showing up every day applying for asylum. Today, on some days, there are 8,000. And the reality is that the bulk of this country does not think that’s right or sustainable and wants us to change the reality at the border,” the Democratic senator added.
Ah! That’s why the failed border bill allowed in a minimum of two million a year: Murphy and the other D/s/cs are honoring the will of the electorate! That would be the electorate they’re trying to import, not actual Americans.
Murphy said there was a temptation among Democrats to run the “same play” they always run, but added they had a responsibility to adjust to what the country wants, because the play has not worked.
Which “play?” Ignore the law and illegally allow millions upon millions into the country, or pass a bill that ignores the law and illegally allows millions upon millions into the country, but pretends they’re not doing that and blames Republicans?
“Now this bill still had in it some very important things for migrant rights, including a right to representation and earlier work permits, and the biggest expansion of visas in 30 years. It’s not a pathway to citizenship, but it is something substantial for people that actually care about migrants,” he continued.
Of course. “The people we care about most, the undocumented Americans that are in this country,” have rights, which trump the rights of American citizens because they’re “migrant rights.” I think that’s the Ninety Third Amendment…or something.
Hayes asked Murphy if he was “proud” of the bill they put forward and wondered if he believed this would improve things at the southern border.
I think you are watching the issue of migration take down left and center-left governments all around the world right now. I think we’re at the point where if we didn’t bring some sense of order to the border, if we didn’t make a big down payment on reform to the asylum system, we were gonna have a really hard time holding on to a consensus in this country that we should keep legal immigration pathways alive,” Murphy responded during his media appearance.
Wait a minute. Didn’t Murphy just say: “the reality is that the bulk of this country does not think that’s right [illegal immigration] or sustainable and wants us to change the reality at the border?” And now we have to maintain “a consensus in this country that we should keep legal immigration pathways alive?!” I’m sure that’s Republican’s fault too.
“And so, I am of the belief that this is a moment where you had to show some big bipartisan momentum and progress on the border, or you would never, ever have the ability to try to rescue the undocumented Americans that desperately need to help,” he added.
“Undocumented Americans.” “Migrant rights.” Americans don’t want illegal immigration, but they’re worried about losing their consensus to keep illegal immigration alive. We must “rescue the undocumented Americans that desperately need to help.”
Well, at least Murphy is consistent about one thing: the people about which he, and the D/s/c Party, most cares are illegal immigrants, including terrorists, people with communicable Third World diseases, members of the Chinese military, few of which intend to assimilate, and many of which wish us deadly harm. And aren’t “undocumented Americans” everybody in the world not an actual American? I wonder if Murphy is purposely saying that?
What’s truly disconcerting is how many Black and Hispanic Americans are going to vote for whoever the D/s/c candidate is in November. Count among them millions of illegals, and the dead, who virtually exclusively vote D/s/c. Maybe that’s why Murphy cares so much for those folks.
Why Self-Defense Is The Only Type Of Violence The Left Won’t Endorse
After years of anti-cop rhetoric, violence is out of control in America’s cities. Smash and grabs, sidewalk attacks and old ladies being mugged in broad daylight — all just factored into the cost of living a metropolitan lifestyle. But these are not simply passive inevitabilities that somehow come to pass. They are active policy choices of a revolutionary left, firmly in control of every major city, that sees violence as a tool toward its political aims. In fact, there is only one type of violence the left will not condone — and the key to understanding it lies in these political aims.
The radical left may talk often of high-minded goals, but their ultimate goal is to eradicate hierarchy — the central push of the “equity” agenda. All must be made equal in order for all to be equally free. For classical liberals, this meant equal treatment under the law, unaffected by circumstances of birth. Yet for the radical outgrowth, this now means leveling all aspects of genuine human diversity. However, they do not truly seek egalitarian reforms, but merely to rejigger any form of traditional hierarchy (much of which had already been dismantled by their liberal forebears) and instead place themselves at the top. So the attack on hierarchy really becomes a spiteful, resentful attack on any form of tradition. This is the true nature of the radical left.
Traditional morality posits that the criminal is the “oppressor” of the “victim,” whom he victimizes with his crime. This has been the basis of virtually every legal system throughout human history. Yet radical left morality flips this notion on its head. The new “victim” becomes the criminal himself, victimized by the injustices of a hierarchical society that drives him to desperation: the thief stealing to feed his family or violence as the “language of the unheard.” The person on the receiving end becomes merely a casualty in the putsch to upend traditional morality, while the priests of the new morality consolidate their right to rule.
Kentucky transgender daycare worker "Maria Childers" will NOT be going to prison despite pleading guilty to sexually abusing a baby while changing its diaper.
He hired a trans activist lawyer, who argued that he would not have access to estrogen, and the court agreed.
The… pic.twitter.com/jjksake11k
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) February 7, 2024
Why Burn Books When You Can Bury Them? The White House Pressured Amazon to Target Dissenting Books
The House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government on Monday revealed yet another facet of the Biden Administration’s sprawling censorship system that targeted dissenting books. It appears that, as with social media companies, it succeeded in getting the company not to promote disfavored books.
Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan revealed on X that the White House was directly involved in the censorship campaign. That includes a 2021 email from one Biden official asking to discuss “the high levels of propaganda and misinformation and disinformation of [sic] Amazon?”
Amazon in turn appears to ask only how high the Biden White House wants it to jump on censorship: “[i]s the [Biden] Admin asking us to remove books, or are they more concerned about search results/order (or both)?”
After the meeting, Amazon confirmed in an email that it was actively doing what the government demanded in suppressing sales by not promoting disfavored books: “As a reminder, we did enable Do Not Promote for anti-vax books whose primary purpose is to persuade readers vaccines are unsafe or ineffective on 3/9, and will review additional handling options for these books with you.”
This effort notably parallels demands from Democratic leaders who have called for enlightened algorithms to frame what citizens access on the internet. In 2021, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) objected that people were not listening to the informed views of herself and leading experts. Instead, they were reading views of skeptics by searching Amazon and finding books by “prominent spreaders of misinformation.”
BLUF
In other words, look at how consistently inconsistent AI already is in its biases, without the intervention of powerful government actors. Imagine just how much more biased it can get — and how difficult it would be for us to recognize it — if we hand the keys over to the government.
A Tale of Two Congressional Hearings (and several AI poems)
We showed up to warn about threats to free speech from AI. Half the room couldn’t care less.
Earlier today, I served as a witness at the House Judiciary Committee’s Special Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which discussed (among other things) whether it’s a good idea for the government to regulate artificial intelligence and LLMs. For my part, I was determined to warn everyone not only about the threat AI poses to free speech, but also the threats regulatory capture and a government oligopoly on AI pose to the creation of knowledge itself.
I was joined on the panel by investigative journalist Lee Fang, reporter Katelynn Richardson, and former U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic Norman Eisen. Richardson testified about her reporting on government funding the development of tools to combat “misinformation” through a National Science Foundation grant program. As FIRE’s Director of Public Advocacy Aaron Terr noted, such technology could be misused in anti-speech ways.
“The government doesn’t violate the First Amendment simply by funding research, but it’s troubling when tax dollars are used to develop censorship technology,” said Terr. “If the government ultimately used this technology to regulate allegedly false online speech, or coerced digital platforms to use it for that purpose, that would violate the First Amendment. Given government officials’ persistent pressure on social media platforms to regulate misinformation, that’s not a far-fetched scenario.”
Lee Fang testified about his reporting on government involvement in social media moderation decisions, most recently how a New York Times reporter’s tweet was suppressed by Twitter (now X) following notification from a Homeland Security agency. Fang’s investigative journalism on the documents X released after Elon Musk’s purchase of the platform has highlighted the risk of “jawboning,” or the use of government platforms to effectuate censorship through informal pressure.
Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed that it seemed like we were having (at least) two different hearings at once. Although there were several tangents, the discussion on the Republican side was mostly about the topic at hand. On the Democratic side, unfortunately, it was overwhelmingly about how Trump has promised to use the government to target his enemies if he wins a second term. It’s not a trivial concern, but the hearing was an opportunity to discuss the serious threats posed by the use of AI censorship tools in the hands of a president of either party, so I wish there had been more interest in the question at hand on the Democratic side of the committee.
Here is the full text of the bill. It sounds so reasonable at first, just like “The Committee of Public Safety” actually meant “The Cutting Off Heads Committee” in revolutionary France.https://t.co/DCMTHHEIjM
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2024
Democrat Cori Bush Funnels Another $17,500 in Campaign Cash to Husband, Docs Show
Radical Democrat Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) has funneled another big chunk of campaign cash to her husband, bringing the total to $120,000 so far, new filings have revealed.
Bush paid her husband an additional $17,500 from her committee in recent months.
The payments are for private security for the congresswoman, who leads the “defund the police” movement and campaigns for fewer police officers to protect the public.
The Democrat “Squad” member’s new filings, submitted to the Federal Election Commission late Wednesday night, show that her campaign made seven additional payments for $2,500 each to her husband, Cortney Merritts.
The payments were made between October 1 and December 31.
The new payments maintained the steady flow of checks to her husband over the past two years.
After it emerged that Bush and Merritts secretly married in February 2023, her office admitted they had been together since before she entered office in 2021.
Merritts initially gathered money for security services starting in January 2022.
However, Bush’s committee switched their description to “wage expenses” in April 2023 as they continued to bring headaches to the campaign.
The latest payments have emerged as the Justice Department launched a criminal investigation into Bush earlier this week over the use of campaign funds, as Slay News reported.
Merritts has now collected $120,000 from Bush’s campaign coffers.
Politicians can pay family members from their committees as long as they provide “bona fide” services at fair market value.
He pocketed the money as Bush’s campaign simultaneously spent significantly more with St. Louis-based companies such as PEACE Security for private detail.
She’s spent over $770,000 on private security services, despite demanding fewer police officers to protect the American people.
Meanwhile, Merritts, whose online accounts and posts have indicated he worked at a railroad company for years before starting a moving company, did not have a private security license as of late February 2023.
He also did not appear in a Washington, D.C., database of licensed security specialists.
The ordeal triggered at least two complaints from watchdog groups in the following weeks.
The first complaint, filed to the FEC in March 2023 by the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, is still pending.
The ethics committee has since cleared Bush in a second complaint from the Committee to Defeat the President.
In October, Merrits was confronted by a Fox News reporter as the couple left a D.C. fundraiser for California Democrat candidate Derek Marshall.
During the exchange, Merritts appeared to backtrack about his role on the campaign.
“I have a question for you,” the reporter said.
“What’s your role on the campaign right now?”
“I don’t have a role in the campaign, man,” Merritts responded.
“You don’t have a role at all?” the reporter countered.
“They were reporting you had wages on the campaign for security, and then it was a general wage.
“I was just wondering what you’ve been doing on the campaign?”
“Yeah, I mean you can Google what it is,” Merritts replied.
“You can also Google what happened with the FEC report came back 5-0, that it was all completely above board.”
“So you’re not doing any more work with her campaign?” the reporter asked.
“Am I doing work with the campaign?” Merrits said.
“Obviously, I am. I’m still [inaudible], right?”
“You’re still a part of it?” the report pressed.
“Am I still employed with it? Yes, so obviously, I’m going to work with it,” Merritts said.
“What’s this whole ‘gotcha’ s—? I’m not a politician, man, so ask me a question, man-to-man, and I’ll answer.
“So what’s your question?”
“That was it, about the campaign,” the reporter responded.
“I’m still in the campaign; I still do security with the campaign,” Merritts said before getting into the car with Bush.
“Have a good night, man. Be safe.”
Earlier this week, Bush confirmed the Justice Department is investigating her campaign spending on security services and said her office is “fully cooperating.”
“Since before I was sworn into office, I have endured relentless threats to my physical safety and life,” Bush said in a Tuesday statement.
“As a rank-and-file member of Congress, I am not entitled to personal protection by the House, and instead have used campaign funds as permissible to retain security services.”
“These frivolous complaints have resulted in a number of investigations, some of which are still ongoing,” Bush said.
“The Federal Election Commission and the House Committee on Ethics are currently reviewing the matter, as is the Department of Justice.
“We are fully cooperating in all of these pending investigations.”
Update: After speaking with election integrity expert Garland Favorito, we discovered the courtroom display was much more serious than originally reported. J. Alex Halderman demonstrated in court how Dominion machines were hacked and altered their tabulations.
On Friday, in a Federal Court In Atlanta, Georgia, University of Michigan Professor of Computer Science and Engineering J. Alex Halderman testified in front of Judge Amy Totenberg’s courtroom about the Dominion voting machines used in the Georgia elections since 2020.
As reported earlier, during his testimony, Halderman was able to HACK A DOMINION VOTING MACHINE and change the tabulations in front of U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg and the entire courtroom!
Halderman USED ONLY A PEN TO CHANGE VOTE TOTALS!
His testimony was part of a long-running lawsuit by election integrity activists set as a bench trial.
The plaintiffs seek to remove what they say are insecure voting machines in Georgia in favor of secure paper ballots.
Following The Gateway Pundit’s explosive report on Saturday night, we spoke with Georgia reporter Amber Connor, who has been sitting in the courtroom during the trial for the past two weeks.
Amber confirmed what was reported earlier about Halderman’s demonstration live on how to hack a Dominion voting machine and change the totals using only a pen. In fact Halderman borrowed a pen from the defense attorneys for his demonstration.
The mainstream legacy news media has decided to ignore this historic case taking place in Georgia for some reason. Why is that?
NRA Board Member Slams Leadership in Letter Calling for Immediate Change Amid Corruption Suit
A prominent member of the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) Board of Directors shamed Wayne LaPierre and the group’s current President in a letter sent this week.
Owen “Buz” Mills, owner of the Gunsite Academy in Arizona and longtime NRA board member, wrote to his colleagues on Wednesday decrying the state of the organization and plans to keep people he views as responsible for its decline in place. In the letter obtained by The Reload, he told the Board it needed to change how it governs the group because of the numerous admissions of wrongdoing by its top officials in the New York corruption case that began last week.
“The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is at a watershed moment in its 153rd year,” Mills wrote. “Our leadership has admitted in courts and depositions to misappropriation of donor’s funds and unauthorized use of assets. They have admitted condoning the misuse of donor funds by others employed by the NRA. The leadership has for years abused their position and trust placed in them by our members and benefactors. The Board of Directors (BOD) is solely responsible for this victimization of the members.”
The letter comes as the American institution faces potentially severe legal repercussions over decades of alleged financial maleficence by current and former officials, including Executive Vice President (EVP) Wayne LaPierre. He and others have been accused of diverting tens of millions of dollars in NRA money toward lavish personal expenses and cushy business deals with friends and families. LaPierre and the other named defendants could be forced to pay the NRA back any money they diverted to themselves. However, the NRA could also be forced to operate under a court-appointed overseer if the judge determines it still lacks the internal control necessary to avoid future mismanagement.
To that end, LaPierre’s recently announced resignation and the Board’s plan to replace him could significantly impact the judge’s decision-making. LaPierre’s leading confidants have been placed in positions to maintain control of the organization after he leaves. Former NRA spokesman and longtime LaPierre confidant Andrew Arulanandam was appointed head of General Operations last month, putting him in line to become the interim EVP. Additionally, the group’s bylaws were amended to give Charles Cotton, who chaired the audit committee that approved–even sometimes retroactively–many of LaPierre’s expenses at issue in the case, an extra term as NRA President.
Now, some insiders are raising concerns about where things are headed. A second NRA Board Member, who asked not to be named due to the sensitive nature of the internal fight over the group’s direction, told The Reload there was some concern about how the process for picking LaPierre’s replacement is unfolding. They said it was odd that no action had been taken at the group’s January board meeting in planning for a new EVP.
“Cotton didn’t call back the Executive Session,” the board member said. “He did not put together a committee. He didn’t put together a committee to put together a committee. Nothing.”
The board member also noted a recent change to the bylaws to allow for virtual board meetings. They said Cotton had made a comment during the most recent board meeting alluding to the potential of appointing a
“There’s speculation that there is going to be a virtual meeting to call for Cotton to be the EVP for two years,” they said. “Then Bob Barr would head up a committee to find a long-term replacement. I believe Cotton is going to call for a virtual meeting before the end of the trial. I believe we’re saving SHOT show next week, we get a call.”
Mills has heard similar rumors.
“There appears to be an effort to anoint Cotton EVP,” he told The Reload.
In his letter, Mills slammed the idea. He said Cotton should not be EVP, and the NRA should use a more formal hiring process before deciding on its next leader.
“The selected leadership wants a special election to install the enabler and facilitator of all the previous chicanery,” he wrote. “None other than our duly selected President, he is the man more responsible than any other for permitting our selected leadership to rampantly run roughshod over our membership and benefactors. As the chair of the Audit Committee for many years, Charles Cotton was responsible for holding our employees accountable and ensuring their conduct beyond reproach. Our chair and ‘moral compass’ approved every single act of malfeasance brought to the committee for decades, multiple acts approved retroactively, months and years after the fact.”
He accused Cotton, who he labeled “the facilitator,” of providing LaPierre, who he labeled “the miscreant,” with a special bonus to cover the nearly million dollars that LaPierre was forced to refund to the NRA for private flights and other expenses the organization classified as “excess benefits.”
“When restitution was mandated, a bonus was awarded the miscreants including enough money to pay the restitution,” Mills wrote. “This bonus also included enough for the miscreant to have the cash to pay the taxes on his misappropriation. Talk about rewarding bad behavior!! Again, I emphasize, it was not miscreant’s money, and it was not the facilitator’s money! It was the MONEY OF OUR MEMBERS and the MONEY provided by the BENEVOLENCE OF OUR DONORS.”
“There is something deeply wrong when you continually permit and encourage this serial abuse,” he said.
The NRA disputed some of the accusations included in the Mills letter.
“In many sections of the letter, it is not even clear to whom Mr. Mills is referring,” Billy McLaughlin, an NRA spokesman, told The Reload. “If he’s referring to Mr. LaPierre, the allegation is unfounded. Indeed, his compensation is reported every year in federal tax filings and is a matter of public record. In any event, the NRA strictly complies with its Bylaws and other internal policies and procedures. Any suggestion to the contrary is completely false.”
The NRA’s tax reports show that LaPierre’s total compensation rose by nearly $800,000 between 2017 and 2018, peaking at nearly $2.25 million. It dropped back down to just under $1.9 million in 2019, the year the NRA reported LaPierre had paid them back for nearly $300,000 in excess benefits. His compensation has continued to decline since that time and stood at under $1.2 million in the group’s 2022 tax filing.
Charles Cotton did not respond to a request for comment.
Mills further attacked any effort to make Cotton the EVP without a formal vetting process. He said appointing Cotton using other means would be akin to the NRA’s failed bankruptcy filing, which was undertaken before informing the Board or getting their approval (though, they did retroactively approve the move).
“Is the principal facilitator of the misappropriation of tens of millions of dollars (members and donors’ money) causing the hundreds of millions of dollars of legal fees (again members and donors’ money) really have any business with access to the treasury? Does he have any right to represent any moral, honest person or organization?” he asked in reference to Cotton. “NO!”
Instead, he advocated for a search process that would include a recruiting and interview process involving the entire NRA Board. He said the same should be done to “hire a celebrity ‘FACE’ of the NRA as a spokesperson with no access to funds.”
“This is how a professional Board of Directors of a world class not-for-profit begins to heal itself,” he wrote.
He argued this was the Board’s chance to reform and renew the organization in hopes of convincing the millions of members who’ve abandoned the group since the corruption allegations surfaced to come back. He wrote the EVP pick and the process used to make it is ultimately an “opportunity to recover the trust” and “respect” of “our most benevolent donors,” “our industry,” and the “American people.”
“The main point is the NRA is presented herewith the opportunity to rectify our sins of the past, to redeem ourselves,” he told The Reload. “Don’t mess it up.”
Buz Mills’ Open Letter To The Board
TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
So, now we are all looking towards New York and Justice Cohen’s courtroom. Our attention is diverted here while chicanery continues in Fairfax.
The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is at a watershed moment in its 153rd year. Our leadership has admitted in courts and depositions to misappropriation of donor’s funds and unauthorized use of assets. They have admitted condoning the misuse of donor funds by others employed by the NRA. The leadership has for years abused their position and trust placed in them by our members and benefactors. The Board of Directors (BOD) is solely responsible for this victimization of the members.
Thanks to the New York Attorney General, we are halfway to fixing our organization, bringing the NRA up to par with other non-profit special interest groups.
The judge will hold the victimizers responsible, and they will have to account for their deeds.
Meanwhile, in Fairfax the selected leadership is scheming to continue the abuse suffered over the last few decades instead of following the bylaws for the succession of the Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer (EVP). The selected leadership wants a special election to install the enabler and facilitator of all the previous chicanery. None other than our duly selected President, he is the man more responsible than any other for permitting our selected leadership to rampantly run roughshod over our membership and benefactors.
As the chair of the Audit Committee for many years, Charles Cotton was responsible for holding our employees accountable and ensuring their conduct beyond reproach. Our chair and “moral compass” approved every single act of malfeasance brought to the committee for decades, multiple acts approved retroactively, months and years after the fact.
When restitution was mandated, a bonus was awarded the miscreants including enough money to pay the restitution. This bonus also included enough for the miscreant to have the cash to pay the taxes on his misappropriation. Talk about rewarding bad behavior!!
Again, I emphasize, it was not miscreant’s money, and it was not the facilitator’s money! It was the MONEY OF OUR MEMBERS and the MONEY provided by the BENEVOLENCE OF OUR DONORS. There is something deeply wrong when you continually permit and encourage this serial abuse.
Also do not forget spearheading the deceit and lying to us about filing bankruptcy that the judge called “a fraud.” The BOD was never advised we needed to file for bankruptcy, nor was it ever justified to the board. We read it in the papers.
As we violate the bylaws again – accepting, justifying, and participating in some kind of sham election to make the selected president our EVP.
Is the principal facilitator of the misappropriation of tens of millions of dollars (members and donors’ money) causing the hundreds of millions of dollars of legal fees (again members and donors’ money) really have any business with access to the treasury?
Does he have any right to represent any moral, honest person or organization?
NO!
The normal, conventional way this type of business is conducted:
- Select a search committee of business professionals from the BOD, selected from the floor by the BOD,
- Retain professional employment agencies to recruit, screen and interview potential candidates,
- Committee shall interview candidates,
- BOD meet and greet,
- BOD votes to select a candidate,
- Committee sets forth terms and conditions of employment contract.
Now we have a professional to run the business of a world-class organization, in accordance with applicable laws, customs and traditions. Oversight will be provided by a professional BOD congruent with the by-laws in effect prior to ceding all monetary responsibility to the EVP. (circa 2015)
Next we hire a celebrity “FACE” of the NRA as a spokesperson with no access to funds. Using a similar process as finding an EVP.
This is how a professional Board of Directors of a world class not-for-profit begins to heal itself.
We have an opportunity to carefully choose to correct the path we are on. We have the opportunity to recover all of the membership that has abandoned us over these issues (2 million members +/-). We have the opportunity to recover the trust of our most benevolent donors. We have an opportunity to recover the respect of our industry and of the American people. There is no downside to doing this correctly.
Let’s not squander this opportunity, we must move forward smartly and with all the courage of the champions of freedom.
Director, National Rifle Association of America
January 17, 2024
No “experts” have ever lied for personal advantage in all of history. That’s just Science (TM).
Now Anthony Fauci’s former boss Francis Collins concedes Covid lab leak was NOT a conspiracy – despite spearheading attacks against scientists who touted theoryFrancis Collins was instrumental in the publication of the natural origins theory
Dr Collins said to have hidden NIH involvement in funding gain of function work
By Cassidy Morrison Senior Health Reporter For Dailymail.Com
Anthony Fauci’s former boss admitted to Congress that the Covid lab leak theory was credible – despite previously calling it a ‘very destructive conspiracy’.
Dr Francis Collins, former head of the National Institutes of Health, testified in a closed-door session with the House coronavirus subcommittee on Friday about his role during America’s pandemic response.
Dr Collins was involved in suppressing the theory that Covid likely escaped from a Chinese biolab, a theory which implicated the sprawling agency he headed up. It was previously revealed that the NIH oversaw grants funding risky ‘gain of function’ research to make viruses more transmissible and/or deadly.
In a significant U-turn, House Republicans who led the hearing revealed that Dr Collins, 73, told them that the lab leak hypothesis was not a conspiracy theory.
His answers were similar to those of Dr Fauci, who sat for a marathon 14 hours of questioning last week when he finally acknowledged that the lab leak theory — that Covid escaped from a Chinese biolab — should not have been so easily dismissed.
Republicans also said that, like Dr Fauci, Dr Collins muddied the definition of gain of function research ‘in an effort to hide the NIH’s involvement in funding the dangerous research in Wuhan.’
I am not sure how they play loosey-goosey with the definition, but my personal head-cannon is that they are claiming that “gain of function” only results from a direct rewriting of genetic code, through, say, the CRISPR genetic editing process. And they are claiming that other methods of changing a viruses DNA, such as repeated “serial passage” through mice, knowing and intending that the DNA will mutate with every single run through a living host, doesn’t count as “gain of function” because it’s “natural” or some shit, even though it’s just another method of achieving the same result — mutating a virus until it becomes different and more infections and more deadly to human beings.
If anyone can confirm that, or dispel that, please let me know.
NRA Claims LaPierre Won’t be on Payroll After Resignation, Has ‘Chronic Lyme Disease’
Wayne LaPierre won’t receive any money from the National Rifle Association (NRA) once he steps down at the end of the month, the group’s lawyers claim in a new filing.
After LaPierre announced his resignation on the eve of the group’s corruption trial, New York Attorney General Letitia James’s (D.) office objected to the NRA using the unexpected move as part of its defense during the corruption trial that began on Monday. In a letter to Judge Joel M. Cohen, she demanded the NRA answer a series of questions about what relationship the group would have with its leader of more than 30 years once he officially left at the end of the month. The NRA’s outside lawyers, Brewer Attorneys and Counselors, responded by arguing LaPierre’s resignation undermined her case and insisted LaPierre would not receive compensation from the group after he leaves.
“After January 31, 2024, payments under the 2021 Employment Agreement will cease. There are no superseding employment or post-employment agreements with Mr. LaPierre,” Noah Peters wrote in a letter to Judge Cohen. “Mr. LaPierre will not undertake any other employment, independent contracting, consulting or other work for the NRA or any affiliate, vendor or contractor[.]”
The NRA’s claims come as it faces down a civil suit from James that could see LaPierre and other leaders barred from working at non-profits in the state as well as repay the group money it is accused of diverting to personal expenses. She is also seeking to have a court-appointed overseer in charge of the NRA. One of the accusations at the core of the case against the NRA is that it kept paying other executives, such as former treasurer Woody Phillips, after they left the group. But LaPierre’s alleged impropriety has been the main focus of the case. So, whether he will keep getting NRA money after he steps down could be an important consideration in the jury’s decision on if further reforms are needed.
To that end, Peters said, “Mr. LaPierre has no arrangements or agreements with the NRA or its affiliates regarding his resignation, severance, licensing, or consulting,” and he “holds no other position with the NRA, nor will he hold a position after his final day.”
Looks Like the Georgia RICO Case Against Trump Just Imploded.
Co-incidental to her zeal for prosecuting front-running presidential candidate Donald Trump, Fulton County, Ga., DA Fani Willis hired herself a special prosecutor with benefits, according to a new court filing.
The motion alleges that Willis hired private attorney Nathan Wade to act as her special prosecutor in her vast, convoluted RICO case against Trump and 18 others who dared pursue legal remedies for what they believed was a compromised 2020 election. She did this despite having more than one attorney within her own office who was perfectly capable of prosecuting the case. And she did it despite Wade being unqualified to handle the biggest case in Fulton County history, as he has never actually prosecuted a felony RICO case before. So why would Willis hire him?
The alleged answer is that the married father of two was tapping the dirty DA. And this opens up a whole can of big, fat ethical and legal worms that are now squirming exuberantly atop Fanis’s prosecution house of cards.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution broke the story Monday:
District Attorney Fani Willis improperly hired an alleged romantic partner to prosecute Donald Trump and financially benefited from their relationship, according to a court motion filed Monday which argued the criminal charges in the case were unconstitutional.
The bombshell public filing alleged that special prosecutor Nathan Wade, a private attorney, paid for lavish vacations he took with Willis using the Fulton County funds his law firm received. County records show that Wade, who has played a prominent role in the election interference case, has been paid nearly $654,000 in legal fees since January 2022. The DA authorizes his compensation.
While the sexy bits alone are enough to disqualify both Willis and Wade from pursuing the case, the pair are alleged to have made plenty of other missteps in their power-mad pig-pile on the former president. For one thing, there was apparently improper coordination between the DA’s office and Joe Biden’s White House.
Claudine Gay: the great DEI grift exposed.
“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”
I maintain that Claudine Gay, the now-former president of Harvard University, just may have, though, mind you, quite by accident, made the world a much better place. She accomplished this not by resigning as president of Harvard over ineptitude and academic dishonesty, and not in any way, shape, form, manner, or style that she intended, but by being selected, despite austere qualifications, to be the president of one of our most prestigious universities in the first place.
Gay’s inexplicable rise and quite explicable fall illustrate, in a difficult-to-misinterpret fashion, the plain grift that is the DEI industry.
You can explain and attempt to justify DEI in all of the highfalutin terms that you want, but in the end, it comes down to something quite simple: it’s a way for those who eschew achievement, merit, honesty, and perseverance to get ahead on the dubious grounds of identity. It’s a con game designed to pour money into the coffers of those for whom a genuine work ethic is anathema.
It’s plain and simple grift, endorsed by our own government and institutions of higher education. You know, the same people who are supposed to be watching out for such things on our behalf. And worse, there was no need for DEI to ever get started in the first place.
Fair Fight et al v. True the Vote et al | Case No. 2:20-cv-0302-SCJ
HOUSTON, TX, January 2, 2024 – True the Vote (TTV) declares a decisive triumph in their legal battle against Stacy Abrams’ Fair Fight, legal teams led by Marc Elias, and the Biden Department of Justice. A federal court in the Northern District of Georgia today affirmed that citizens have the right to lawfully petition their government in support of election integrity without fear of persecution or prosecution.
In a resounding vindication, TTV successfully defended its actions of December 2020, aiding Georgia citizens in filing elector challenges based on data showing over 364,000 voters appeared to be ineligible to vote due to change in residency.
This victory is a testament to every American’s constitutional right to free speech and the importance of actively participating in the electoral process.
True the Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht affirmed, “Today’s ruling sends a clear message to those who would attempt to control the course of our nation through lawfare and intimidation. American citizens will not be silenced.”
True the Vote lead attorney Jake Evans stated, “After almost three years of litigation and a two-week federal trial with plaintiff calling 12 witnesses, Judge Steven Jones awarded a complete defense verdict for all defendants. This decision is monumental. It vindicates True the Vote in totality and establishes that eligibility challenges under Section 230 are a proper method to ensure voter rolls are accurate. I am grateful to help achieve this great victory.”
Engelbrecht added, “This is an answer to the prayers of faithful patriots across America.”
True the Vote remains steadfast in its mission to support trustworthy elections and looks forward to assisting citizens in future such lawful efforts.
True the Vote Wins Federal Election Lawsuit in Georgia
A federal judge finds after a non-jury trial that election watchdogs making voter registration challenges did not violate the Voting Rights Act.
The conservative vote-monitoring organization True the Vote’s challenges to Georgia voters’ eligibility didn’t amount to voter intimidation in the 2020 election, a federal judge ruled on Jan. 2.
U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones, in a 145-page ruling that was issued a little less than two months after the end of a civil trial, found that the defendants didn’t violate the Voting Rights Act.
BLUF
There is a lot more corruption than I have space for here, but I do sense the worm turning. We’ve had enough time to assess the damage the left has done, and we abhor it. We will rise up.
As we survey the American landscape, we cannot help but notice that just about everything has been corrupted by the left.
The justice system has been corrupted by partisan politics to the point where Republicans and conservatives are persecuted and prosecuted at a level far higher than anyone else. We on the right can reliably depend on being prosecuted for “misgendering,” contributing to conservative causes, being a Christian or a Jew, speaking out against the barbaric transing of children, defending ourselves with a firearm, and not being a Democrat. We can depend upon getting arrested for protesting peacefully as the corrupt “Justice” Department singles us out for jail, bankruptcy, or keeping us off election ballots, while really destructive rioters go free.
Medical research has been corrupted by the deliberate downgrading of meritorious research that just so happens to be at odds with the latest leftist perversion du jour. For example, there are research grants for hamster fights.
Elections have been corrupted. Mail-in ballots, demonstrated to be extremely susceptible to fraudulent inflation of Democrat votes, are ready for the next fraud. Dead people vote; people vote multiple times; non-residents vote in other states; and phony ballots are printed and signed with the same handwriting, then run through counting machines multiple times. Computer problems pop up so as to skew the vote.
Education has been corrupted. Universities do not teach students how to get a job, be prosperous, and succeed. Instead, they teach antisemitism, anti-white racism in the guise of “systemic racism” and “anti-racism,” identity politics, and sexual deviancy. Everything on the left is about cultural identity matters: Are you gay? Are you black? Are you trans? Are you non-binary? Are you a Jew-hater? A Christian? It seems as though the left has an aversion to other people being happy, and so leftists tear everything apart in their insecurities and unwarranted anger and envy. They are despicable people.