“All Speech Is Not Equal”: Biden Taps Anti-Free Speech Figure For Transition Lead On Media Agency.

For those of us who have been critical of the growing anti-free speech movement in the Democratic Party, the Biden transition team just took an ominous turn.  The New York Post reports that Biden tapped Richard Stengel to take the “team lead” position on the US Agency for Global Media, including Voice of America, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. As I previously addressed in a column, Stengel has been one of the most controversial figures calling for censorship and speech controls. For a president-elect who just called for everyone to “hear each other,” he picked a top aide who wants to silence many.  Since it would be difficult to select a more anti-free speech figure to address government media policy, one has to assume that Biden will continue the onslaught against this core freedom as president.  This is not the first Biden aide to indicate a crackdown on free speech in the new Administration and Biden himself has called for greater censorship on the Internet.

Last year, Stengel wrote a chilling Washington Post op-ed that denounced free speech as a threat to social and political harmony.  Like a number of liberal and Democratic figures, Stengel struggled to convince readers that what they need is less freedom:  “All speech is not equal. And where truth cannot drive out lies, we must add new guardrails. I’m all for protecting ‘thought that we hate,’ but not speech that incites hate.” Continue reading “”

Science As God: Tech Hearing And COVID Show Us Exactly Where Censorship Is Headed

In all the back and forth of Tuesday’s Big Tech hearing, Democratic Sen. Chris Coons’ exchange with Twitter’s Jack Dorsey stood out most starkly, offering a window into the next step of the left’s long-championed Big Tech censorship of scientific dissent from liberal orthodoxy.

“You do, Mr. Dorsey, have policies against deep fakes or manipulated media, against Covid-19 misinformation, against things that violate civic integrity,” the Delaware senator began, “but you don’t have a standalone climate change misinformation policy. Why not?”

“Our policies are living documents,” Dorsey replied. “They will evolve, we will add to them, but we thought it important we focus our energies and prioritize the work as much as we could.” And then:

Well, Mr. Dorsey… I cannot think of a greater harm than climate change, which is transforming literally our planet and causing harm to our entire world. I think we’re experiencing significant harm as we speak. I recognize the pandemic and misinformation about Covid-19 manipulated media also cause harm but I’d urge you to reconsider that because helping to disseminate climate denialism in my view further facilitates and accelerates one of the greatest existential threats to our world.

This has been ongoing for years in corporate media. In 2019, Chuck Todd pompously announced his show would no longer “give time to climate deniers.” Two years before that, when The New York Times’ Bret Stephens used his debut column to call out “The Climate of Complete Certainty” that seeks to shut down completely reasonable dissent, the paper faced vicious backlash for “providing a platform to a climate denier.” For more than a decade before this, more of the same — often trickling up, from activists to the reporters who sympathize to the powers that can truly silence voices.

Four years ago, reporters demanded then-President Barack censor fake news, pushing Press Secretary Josh Earnest into the awkward position of having to remind apparent journalists of the First Amendment four times. The targets that day were the Bat Boy-like farces they blamed for Her 2016 loss, but it was already obvious the definition of “fake news” would rapidly expand. Once President Donald Trump assumed office, corporate media and allied politicians bypassed the White House and turned to Silicon Valley, which fell in line quickly enough. Continue reading “”

“Defund the police” and the damage done.

“DEFUND THE POLICE” AND THE DAMAGE DONE: Remember the debate over the meaning of the phrase “defund the police”? Repeated over and over on the progressive left, it seemed pretty clear — it meant that cities should no longer fund, and thus effectively abolish, their police forces. But some Democrats worried that embracing such a radical proposal might hurt them politically, so they suggested that it actually meant re-directing some, but not all, funds from police to things like mental health treatment and affordable housing. Nothing too radical.

Every time Democrats thought they had limited the political damage done by a literal interpretation of “defund the police,” some progressive voice would mess it all up. For example, in June, the New York Times published an op-ed headlined, “Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police.” Continue reading “”

First Attempted Bump Stock Prosecution Withdrawn

In Houston just yesterday, a federal prosecutor appears to have gotten cold feet. Right before the trial began, in the face of an ATF expert prepared to testify that bump stocks do not a machine gun make, the prosecutor withdrew the bump stock possession charge, proceeding only with charges facing less resistance. From the Houston Chronicle:

Senior U.S. District Judge Gray H. Miller convicted Ajay Dhingra, 44, on three remaining counts that he lied when he purchased a handgun, rifle and ammunition, and illegally possessed a weapon as a person who had been committed for mental illness.

Experts had conflicting views on the [bump stock] matter, said defense attorney Tom Berg. But Rick Vasquez, a retired ATF agent and firearms expert, would have told the court the bump stock did not meet the statutory definition of a machine gun. The prosecution dismissed [the] case, he said, because the government couldn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt the bump stock was a machine gun.

Perhaps that’s because a bump stock is not a machine gun? Just a hunch.

I can’t help but snicker at the irony.

Since Trump announced he was going to run for President, we have been subjected to the beating drum of he being a Nazi and the worse parts of Buchenwald were soon to be visiting our neighborhood. How the gays and Latinos were going to be thrown in concentration camps or sent across the border to die and other fascist delicacies.

Fast forward 4 years and a pandemic and it is the Democrats in positions of power turning cities into medical gulags and concentration camps ordering people to stay inside they home/barracks or otherwise violate laws created by then and not elected legislators. And in some cases, they have roaming gestapo agents trying to peek inside private property to make sure you are not violating the dictums of the Reichsmarschall.

And what should irk people more is at first we were told that we needed to “shelter in place” till a vaccine was created and we could be free again. But now that vaccines appears close by, they are already starting to rile against it because it was created under the Trump presidency and it would be a legacy they can’t undo. They want to be the saviors. They want you to know they saved you from Trump even if they created the disaster.

They want you dead or under subjugation.

Worse is coming.

 

Stop Blaming Guns For Suicides

Nearly two-thirds of all firearm fatalities each year are the result of someone taking their own life. Anti-gunners routinely leave that part out when they’d slinging numbers around because people don’t view suicides the same way they do homicides or accidents. After all, someone commits suicide by making a conscious decision to take their own life. It’s on them and no one else.

And since two-thirds of those firearm-related fatalities are suicides, it’s no wonder that anti-gunners try to obscure the truth.

Unfortunately for them, it becomes easy to debunk their claims by simply pointing this fact out. That’s why there’s now a push not just to acknowledge this, but to blame guns for those suicides.

According to national health statistics, 24,432 Americans used guns to kill themselves in 2018, up from 19,392 in 2010.

People who kill themselves in this way are usually those with ready access to firearms: gun owners and their family members. Gun owners are not more suicidal than people who don’t own guns, but attempts with guns are more likely to be fatal.

Now, nearly a year after the coronavirus pandemic began, unleashing a tide of economic dislocation and despair, experts are bracing for a rise in suicides. Gun sales have risen steadily since March, and as shutdowns aimed at containing the virus have disrupted lives and led to social isolation, studies have shown an increase in anxiety and suicidal ideation.

“So many people are struggling right now,” said Jennifer Stuber, an associate professor of social work who helped found the University of Washington’s Forefront Suicide Prevention center. “The indicators are that a perfect storm is about to hit.”

She noted that people who purchase guns to protect themselves from civil unrest and a possible rise in crime “may actually be incurring more potential risk in terms of harm that can come to their family.”

OK, let’s break down the facts.

First, that 24,432 suicides with a firearm? That accounts for just a tad over half of all suicides in the country. It sounds to me like people are finding plenty of other ways to kill themselves without firearms.

Oh, but that’s an increase since 2010, right? Sure. But overall suicides are also up during that same period.

Further, while firearms may be the most effective means for someone to take their own life, it’s not the only effective means to do so. There are plenty of other ways to claim your own life and be pretty sure you’re going to be successful. While guns might be more effective, we’re talking about a couple of percentage points of different, which is practically statistical noise.

In other words, guns aren’t the problem.

Suicide isn’t a political issue, it’s a mental health one. Just today I read a good friend lamenting a buddy of his from the Marine Corps who claimed his own life. The issue there wasn’t access to firearms, but that so many who serve have ended up broken mentally and emotionally by what they endured.

Please, for the love of all that is holy, stop trying to make this about guns and recognize that tens of thousands of people are still claiming their own lives with things that aren’t firearms and instead focus on solutions that can help everyone.

Texas Anti-Gunners File Many Bills

At least 16 gun control bills have already been filed for the upcoming Texas Legislative Session beginning in January, setting the stage for a contentious battle over the gun rights of private citizens.

One of the bills is HB 196, filed by Irving State Representative Terry Meza.  Her bill would remove a homeowner’s legal right under the Castle Doctrine to use a firearm in the defense of their homestead against an intruder.  Meza believes homeowners are too quick to pull the trigger during a home invasion, and HB 196 would essentially gut that provision from the Castle Doctrine.

“I’m not condoning stealing, it is against the law, “Meza says, “but it’s not an offense that is punishable by death.”

Meza claims she’s already become the target of intense scrutiny online.

“People are already attacking me on Facebook saying I’m against the 2nd Amendment,” she says.

Meza says a homeowner would still be able to defend their life, but using a gun would be illegal, thus placing the homeowner in legal jeopardy.

Critics point to what is often a slow response time from police, and argue that there’s very little time to determine whether a person who has broken into a home is there simply to steal, or to commit acts of violence.

Other gun control bills awaiting the next session include:

  • HB 152 and HB 245 would ban the private sale of firearms at gun shows;
  • HB 238 would eliminate the state’s firearm preemption, allowing local governments such as the Austin City Council to pass local gun bans and regulations as they see fit;
  • HB 201 would ban Campus Carry;
  • HB 127 would ban the open carry of long rifles;
  • HB 236 would overhaul the 30.06 and 30.07 signage requirements to make it much easier for a business to ban a legal and licensed gun owner from entering;
  • HB 118 would eliminate family members from being able to transfer firearms among each other, instead requiring a federal license application to process each transaction “at an undetermined fee”;
  • HB 164 and HB 395 relate to Red Flag laws, allowing the removal of a person’s firearm without due process;
  • HB 185 would legally require homeowners to keep all guns locked inside of a safe at all times;
  • HB 231 raises the legal age required to purchase semi-automatic rifles and shotguns;
  • HB 172 and HB 241 would ban the transfer or possession of certain “commonly owned semi-automatic firearms”;
  • HB 178 and HB 234 would ban the sale or possession of any magazine that holds more than ten rounds.

The vast majority of those gun control bills are not expected to pass muster when state lawmakers reconvene.

“DNA-LEVEL” STATISTICAL PROOF: “Smartmatic” Vote-Counting System Was Manipulated in PA and GA to Overturn Trump’s Victory

The charts below are derived from The New York Times‘ real-time election feeds (e.g., here). They show “DNA-level” evidence of vote fraud that was systematically used to overcome massive Trump leads with “vote flips” to Biden.

The twin charts below depict the shifts in votes starting on election day. The X-axis is the date/time and the Y-axis represents the change in votes (positive values denote shifts for Trump, negative values represent shifts for Biden, in hundreds).

Notice the similarities in PA and GA? How the right sides of the graph show virtually no movement for Trump; and very predictable vote movements to Biden. How predictable?

You have to see the data to really understand the magnitude of the scam.

Below are excerpts of spreadsheets that show what was happening on the right side of each chart. Vote flips in the same-sized bundles (6,000 in PA and 4,800 in GA) were injected into the system to overcome Trump’s lead in both states. You can click either image above to see all of the data.

The highlighted cells show where the vote counts — stunningly obvious in retrospect — were manipulated to benefit Biden.

 

Note the vote flips, represented by the highlighted cells, that occurred in both PA and GA. In PA, late vote flips in bundles of around 6,000 were clear anomalies to slowly overcome Trump’s lead. In GA, the bundles were in 4,800 vote swaps.

Again, these are just excerpts. You can see the workbooks for yourself here: just click for Pennsylvania and Georgia.

Scroll down until you start hitting the highlighted cells.

Sorry, Democrats: this is what we call DNA-level statistical proof of fraud.

And there’s a lot more where this came from. These are just the excerpts.

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

Second Georgia County Finds Uncounted Ballots.

ATLANTA — A second Georgia county has uncovered a trove of votes not previously included in election results, but the additional votes won’t change the overall outcome of the presidential race, the secretary of state’s office said Tuesday.

A memory card that hadn’t been uploaded in Fayette County, just south of Atlanta, was discovered during a hand tally of the votes in the presidential race that stems from part of a legally mandated audit to ensure the new election machines counted the votes accurately, said Gabriel Sterling, a top official in the secretary of state’s office.

The memory card’s 2,755 votes are not enough to flip the lead in the state from Democrat Joe Biden to Republican President Donald Trump. The breakdown of the uncounted ballots was 1,577 for Trump, 1,128 for Biden, 43 for Libertarian Jo Jorgensen and seven write-ins, Sterling said.

When the politicians begin acting like the bug is a real problem, I may begin to start taking them seriously, but as long as we see this ‘Rules for Thee but Not For ME!’ noop.

As America locks down, 20 lawmakers from 3 states really just flew to Maui to mingle with a bunch of lobbyists at a posh resort for 4 days.

Yesterday, while 40 California counties moved back into the purple tier (meaning businesses, schools, and churches must be closed or limited), and lockdowns intensified across the nation, 20 supreme, all-powerful lawmakers from 3 states (including lockdown-happy California and Washington) headed to Maui—along with around 100 other people comprised of prominent lobbyists and their families—for a four-day conference at a swanked-out resort.

What’s not suspicious at all is that the organizer refuses to release the names of the attendees chopping it up at the posh Fairmont Kea Lani.

Of course, the timing of this conference is interesting, as most of California is currently shut down due to the pandemic, but perhaps the attendants will be traveling to peacefully protest … in that case, this entire ordeal is perfectly acceptable and if you disagree you’re racist.

Here, have a little taste of the good life while you’re locked in your home and told not to travel or gather with family for Thanksgiving:

 

Yep, that’s the resort they’re staying at! ??

More details if you haven’t yet chucked your device across the room:

California lawmakers head to Maui with lobbyists despite pandemic, travel warnings

Roughly 100 people from four states converged at the Fairmont Kea Lani for a four-day legislative conference organized by the Independent Voter Project, said the group’s chair and executive director, Dan Howle.

New York Sheriffs: No, We Won’t Be Enforcing Cuomo’s Thanksgiving Restrictions

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo threw caution to the wind this week and issued yet another mandate in the name of the pandemic. This time he said that he was limiting the number of people who could gather in private residences for Thanksgiving to a maximum of ten people. I’m fairly certain that, by this point, everyone knew that “pandemic fatigue” had been setting in and there was a limit as to how much of this government intrusion people were going to tolerate. Well, it appears that the horse has finally bucked, as the saying goes. A number of Sheriffs, primarily from upstate and Long Island, have now announced that they have no intention of attempting to enforce this rule. (NY Post)

SEE ALSO: The first rule of the real-life Fight Club is…

In a scathing Facebook post on Saturday, Fulton County Sheriff Richard Giardino questioned the legality of Gov. Cuomo’s newly instituted 10-person cap on parties and other gatherings in private residences.

“Frankly, I am not sure it could sustain a Constitutional challenge in Court for several reasons including your house is your castle,” the sheriff wrote in the Saturday post.

“And as a Sheriff with a law degree I couldn’t in good faith attempt to defend it Court, so I won’t,” he said.

Giardino noted his office, with limited resources, has scant legal options to enter private homes other than search warrants, invitations or under an “emergency circumstance.”

Sheriff Giardino went on to snidely comment that “obtaining a Search Warrant to enter your home to see how many Turkey or Tofu eaters are present is not a priority.”……….

Portland Anarchists Attacked A Democratic Party HQ And Suddenly Vandalism Isn’t Cool Anymore

The LA Times published a story today highlighting a growing divide between two strains of activists in Portland. On one hand you have the mostly white Antifa groups who have adopted Black Lives Matter as their own cause and are holding protests/riots nearly every night. On the other hand you have black activists who sometimes hold their own protests and who increasingly believe the anarchists are doing more harm than good.

But the most revealing thing about this story may be the tone and the timing. For most of the summer, Portland anarchists were cool. But suddenly the LA Times wants us to know that maybe these anarchists are just in it for the wanton destruction:

The day after President-elect Joe Biden delivered his victory speech, telling the nation it was time to heal and unite, a clandestine Twitter account — @safePDXprotest — summoned Portland anarchists…

Word spread through the group that the target tonight would be the local headquarters of the Democratic Party.

Somebody started beating a drum as a chant broke out: “F— Joe Biden!”

Then the anarchists marched into the upscale neighborhood, intent on destruction.

News flash from the LA Times: These anarchists are bent on destruction! Yes, and it’s curious that prior to the election President Trump was saying so and I didn’t see a lot of articles agree with him. I guess this is one of those now it can be told situations. Suddenly the anarchists just aren’t cool anymore:

Continue reading “”

Biden Transition Team Has A Problem With Your 1A Rights Too

While we may not know the outcome of the election until after the courts are finished with the cases, Joe Biden is still going forward as if he’s the president-elect.

In fairness, he probably should. If the courts find for President Trump, he’s out a bit of time and energy–something a man his age doesn’t have much of–but if it doesn’t, then he’s out time for transitioning the government that he can never get back. While I hope his time is wasted, it’s not a bad move.

Unfortunately, a member of Biden’s transition team is giving us a good glimpse into how little any of our rights matter to the former vice president.

President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team leader for US-owned media outlets wants to redefine freedom of speech and make “hate speech” a crime.

Richard Stengel is the Biden transition “Team Lead” for the US Agency for Global Media, the US government media empire that includes Voice of America, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Stengel, an Obama administration alumnus, wrote last year in a Washington Post op-ed that US freedom of speech was too unfettered and that changes must be considered.

He wrote: “All speech is not equal. And where truth cannot drive out lies, we must add new guardrails. I’m all for protecting ‘thought that we hate,’ but not speech that incites hate.”

Stengel offered two examples of speech that he has an issue with: Quran burning and circulation of “false narratives” by Russia during the 2016 election.

“Even the most sophisticated Arab diplomats that I dealt with did not understand why the First Amendment allows someone to burn a Koran. Why, they asked me, would you ever want to protect that?” Stengel wrote.

Now, let’s remember that many of those “false narratives” were shared in good faith by people who believed those narratives. Besides, Russia advanced false narratives playing to both sides.

And we live in a country where burning the American flag is considered protected speech, but Stengel wants to punish people for doing the same thing to a particular book?

What about the Christian Bible? Would that fall into the same view in Stengel’s mind? Continue reading “”

BLUF:
That Biden has stated that he wishes that schools would teach more about the Islamic faith is music to those whose ultimate aim is Islamic domination.  Biden is either unaware of the true reality of Islamic ideas of supremacy or on board with them.  As a tool for the totalitarian left, he is the perfect point man.  As Jim Simpson points out in The Red-Green Axis 2.0: An Existential Threat to America and the World, the international Marxists (think BLM) and Islamic alliance continue to grow more potent because of their “inspired mass migration to erase American constitutional liberty.”  In a word: hijrah.

The result is disastrous for America and a win for the jihadists.  No wonder they are rooting for Biden.

Jihadists Are Rooting for a Biden Presidency

It should be of grave concern that America’s avowed enemies are cheering on the possibility of a Biden presidency.  Thus, “Iraq’s pro-Tehran factions have welcomed Joe Biden’s election as US president[.]”  That such politicians who have called the U.S. “evil” and shout the phrase “death to America” would be pleased by a possible Biden win speaks volumes.

Vijeta Uniyal explains:

The Iranian regime is equally upbeat in its statements about a possible Biden-Harris administration, hoping to revive the Obama-era appeasement policies.  If the mainstream media and the Biden-Harris camp have their way, the Tehran and pro-Iran terrorist groups may have a good reason to rejoice.  A Democrat-led administration will likely undo President Donald Trump’s legacy on Iran, lifting economic sanctions and ending the campaign of maximum pressure against the world’s biggest sponsor of terrorism and its Islamist proxies across the Middle East.

In addition, the fact that the terrorist organization the Muslim Brotherhood  wishes Mr. Biden well should send clarion bells ringing. Continue reading “”

Numbers crunched by an old friend –4 years ago– suggest this number is on the low side.

DATA: US HAS 434 MILLION GUNS, 20M ARS, 150M MAGS

The trade association for the U.S. firearm industry crunched the numbers and came up with one solid fact: Americans really like guns.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation used data from the ATF, information from the Congressional Research Service, and reports from the U.S. International Trade Commission to get a snapshot of roughly how many guns are in current circulation in the country.

This includes an estimated 434 million firearms in civilian possession, with about half, 214 million, of those entering the market since 1991. Of those, “America’s Rifle,” the AR-15 and similar semi-automatics dubbed Modern Sporting Rifles by the NSSF, account for an estimated 19.8 million, lending concrete numbers to the argument that such guns are in common use. Continue reading “”

SAF Rising as 2A Warrior, Challenging Restrictive Carry Laws

Empowered by its landmark 2010 Supreme Court victory in McDonald v. City of Chicago, which nullified the Windy City’s handgun ban and incorporated the Second Amendment to the states via the 14th Amendment, the Second Amendment Foundation—a scrappy gun rights group based in Washington State—has become a legal powerhouse that is now targeting at least three states for their alleged arbitrary, prohibitive concealed carry laws.

This year alone, according to SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb, SAF has filed “an average of two lawsuits each month.” With its most recent legal action—a federal lawsuit challenging Maryland’s arbitrary “good and substantial reason” requirement to obtain a concealed carry permit—the foundation has launched, usually in cooperation with other groups, 24 lawsuits so far in 2020. And, he acknowledged with a wink, “the year isn’t over.” December could see even more activity, he indicated.

It’s part of a strategy announced by Gottlieb some five years ago with the intention of “Winning Firearms Freedom, One Lawsuit at a Time.” The organization, founded more than 40 years ago, has been constantly active since the June 2010 McDonald ruling, and this year has seen their legal gears shift into overdrive. Continue reading “”

Biden COVID-19 Advisory Board Member: Time to Shut Down Indoor Dining, Gyms, and Home Gatherings

During a Fox Business Network interview, Biden COVID-19 Advisory Board member Dr. Celine Gounder said we need to target “places that we know are big contributors to transmission are indoor restaurants, bars, gyms, and also private social gatherings of friends and family in the home” for closures. On the plus side, she is suggesting this as an alternative to shutting down the whole country. She also said the “draconian lockdowns” the country did earlier were a mistake. Instead, the country should,

“be much more targeted about how we tighten up some of our measures. I think of it like a dimmer switch, whereas before we had an on and off light switch. So, we can dial up and dial down in a much more granular fashion. So, some of the places that we know are big contributors to transmission are indoor restaurants, bars, gyms, and also private social gatherings of friends and family in the home. So, those are really the places we need to target for closures while keeping other services, for example, schools that are — have not been major contributors to transmission, they’re not zero-risk, but they are much lower risk, and they’re an essential service. And so, we’re really prioritizing keeping schools, for example, open.”

While we definitely don’t want to go the lockdown route, there are big problems with this type of thinking as well. For example, while there are studies saying different things, there is a lot of evidence that COVID-19 IS NOT spreading in gyms. Will a Biden administration destroy the restaurant industry, gyms, bars and challenge the 1st Amendment protections for churches based on….what exactly? Models that have been proven wrong over and over? Educated guesses that have also been wrong over and over? If you’re looking for definitive scientific evidence for what she’s suggesting here about where the coronavirus is spreading, you aren’t going to find it. You’re going to find a mishmash of different studies and guesses pointing in different directions that we are years away from being able to sort out.

One of the problems with these out-of-touch elites is that they feel very comfortable and confident about making decisions that destroy other people’s lives “for their own good.” They don’t think you “need” to go to church or to the gym or see your family, so it’s out. What they don’t understand is that the best person to make decisions for you is YOU. That doesn’t mean you won’t make mistakes. It doesn’t mean you won’t get it wrong. But, nobody knows you and your life better than you and unlike the elites that think they know best, you have to face the consequences if you blow it. Meanwhile, if they wreck someone’s life with a dumb decision, it’s not their problem. This is why they don’t have any business making decisions like this in the first place.

Rural Georgia County Discovers 2,600 Uncounted Ballots

Joe Biden’s victory margin in Georgia tightened slightly Monday after the state discovered that around 2,600 ballots went uncounted in a rural county.

The unofficial breakdown of the votes that weren’t previously uploaded was 1,643 for Trump, 865 for Biden and 16 for Libertarian Jo Jorgensen, according to Gabriel Sterling, who oversaw the implementation of the new statewide election system for the secretary of state’s office.

While the discovery in Floyd County will bolster President Donald Trump’s tally by about 800 votes, it’s unlikely to change the state’s overall results significantly, said Sterling. Biden’s margin over Trump will fall to about 13,300 votes from 14,100.

Still, the gaffe could worsen an already tense situation in the state, which is conducting a hand recount of the Nov. 3 vote, which the Trump campaign alleges was marred by fraud. As of Monday, Georgia had recounted about 4.3 million of the 5 million ballots cast, Sterling said. It was during this audit process that election workers discovered the uncounted ballots in Floyd County, a Republican-leaning community in northwest Georgia. Continue reading “”

The Chump Effect
Progressive policies penalize those who play by the rules and shower benefits on those who don’t.

Last January, a small but telling exchange took place at an Elizabeth Warren campaign event in Grimes, Iowa. At the time, Warren was attracting support from the Democratic Party’s left flank, with her bulging portfolio of progressive proposals. “Warren Has a Plan for That” read her campaign T-shirts. The biggest buzz surrounded her $1.25 trillion plan to pay off student-loan debt for most Americans.

A man approached Warren with a question. “My daughter is getting out of school. I’ve saved all my money [so that] she doesn’t have any student loans. Am I going to get my money back?”

“Of course not,” Warren replied.

“So you’re going to pay for people who didn’t save any money, and those of us who did the right thing get screwed?”

A video of the exchange went viral. It summed up the frustration many feel over the way progressive policies so often benefit select groups, while subtly undermining others. Saving money to send your children to college used to be considered a hallmark of middle-class responsibility. By subsidizing people who run up large debts, Warren’s policy would penalize those who took that responsibility seriously. “You’re laughing at me,” the man said, when Warren seemed to wave off his concerns. “That’s exactly what you’re doing. We did the right thing and we get screwed.” Continue reading “”