Interview: Rand Paul Slams Big Tech’s Crackdown on COVID ‘Misinformation’—And Offers His Solution

‘The impulse to censor people’s speech is actually illiberal.’


Big Tech censorship has ratcheted up over the last week: big time. In the name of combating COVID-19 “misinformation,” Twitter banned the accounts of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Dr. Robert Malone. Meanwhile, Facebook banned the advertising account for a children’s book series promoting ‘Heroes of Liberty’ like free-market economist Thomas Sowell.  (Facebook has reversed the decision under massive backlash. You can buy the books for your kids here).

I spoke with Senator Rand Paul, a libertarian-leaning Kentucky Republican, about why this alarming uptick in Big Tech censorship is so concerning—and why the free market, not Big Government, is the best response.

“I think they have the right as private property owners to ban me, censor me, do whatever they want,” the senator said. “But I don’t agree with it ideologically; I don’t like the idea of associating with small-minded people who are so close-minded that they want to censor what I have to say.”

Paul explained why the idea of banning “misinformation” is actually antithetical to the scientific method properly understood.

“We only arrive at the truth through disputation, by hearing [more] voices,” he said. “It’s easy enough to say something is ‘misinformation.’ But really, a lot of things are debatable.”

“I’m a scientist, a physician… I’ve been to scientific conventions through the years,” the senator continued. “What happens when someone presents a paper, many times it’s a free-for-all. People go after them, say they were wrong on their methodology, your conclusions don’t match this, your study didn’t have this control… these kinds of critiques go on. They’re very spirited in the scientific world. Most scientists would be appalled to think that you would be allowed to publish things without a contrary opinion.”

Paul pointed to several instances where social media companies censored COVID ‘misinformation’ at the time, that is now either proven true or at least considered a legitimate possibility.

For example, the senator himself had a YouTube video taken down where he questioned the efficacy of cloth masks. Months later, the establishment narrative has now changed, with everyone from former Biden advisors to CNN medical analysts to former FDA head and current Pfizer board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb now acknowledging that cloth masks are basically useless, and N95 masks offer the actual protection.

Paul also pointed out that for a long time, Facebook had a policy of censoring content that suggested the COVID-19 virus could have originated in a lab in Wuhan, China, what’s known as the “lab leak theory.” Yet this notion, initially an outlier theory, is now accepted in the mainstream as a very real possibility—and Facebook had to make an embarrassing reversal.

“It is incumbent on us to have these debates,” Paul said. “You get to the truth of things by hearing both sides, hearing all sides. Not when one side is shut out. We have to have full-throated debate to get to the truth.”

Yet the senator is absolutely not on board with those Republican senators and conservative commentators whose understandable frustration with Big Tech bias has led them to embrace Big Government policies.

“Everybody on the Right is complaining about Big Tech, but nobody’s doing anything about it,” Paul said. “They just complain, complain, complain. Their next response is ‘oh, the government should break up Big Tech or regulate it’… I don’t want to [do any of that].”

“The only thing worse than private censorship would be government censorship,” he continued. “At least with private censorship, you can choose to go somewhere else. I don’t like YouTube’s policies, so I’m leaving! If the government’s in charge, where do I go? So I’ve been opposed to things like the Fairness Doctrine from the 1970s, but I’ve also been opposed to different movements by different Republican and Democrat senators to set up some sort of regulatory speech apparatus.”

The senator was quick to acknowledge the nuances here, noting that what Big Tech companies should have the legal right to do is an entirely separate question from the morality of their actions.

“When the CEO of Twitter said the First Amendment doesn’t apply to them, he’s right,” Paul offered. “But that doesn’t make him a laudable person or someone I want to associate with. These are people who are narrow-minded and not ‘liberal’ in any way. The impulse to censor people’s speech is actually illiberal.”

“They’re coming to this Platonic idea that, basically, it’s too dangerous to let the rabble know things, we need to protect them from certain ideas that might be unsettling,” he continued. “But that’s not a step forward; I think that’s a couple-thousand-year-old step backwards.”

The senator argued that the best response to Big Tech bias is still market competition, not expansions of government power.

“The way you get more speech is by going to competitors and trying to drive up more competition in the marketplace,” Paul said. “By leaving YouTube and going to Rumble and my website, LibertyTree.com, I hope to elevate other platforms and not give free content to people who look down their nose at people like me.”

“Ultimately, the question is what’s going to be more popular?” he continued. “Do you want to go on a social media platform where people are censored, or would you rather go on where it’s a more free-spirited discussion? I think there is enough of a marketplace for people who want to choose a place where there’s more free-flowing conversation.”

To join Senator Paul’s exodus from YouTube, subscribe to his channel on Rumble or check out LibertyTree.com. To listen to the full audio of this interview, subscribe to the Based Politics podcast feed on Apple PodcastsSpotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. The full conversation will be released later this week.

COLUMN BY

Brad Polumbo

Brad Polumbo (@Brad_Polumbo) is a libertarian-conservative journalist and Policy Correspondent at the Foundation for Economic Education.

EDITORS NOTE: This FEE column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Virginia Leads the Way Up from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

Energy ideology is one thing.  Energy reality, another.

Just ask the motorists who spent a night stranded on I-95 in Virginia this week when winter dropped some epic snow if they’d rather have spent the night in an electric car.

Virginia foolishly joined eleven other states in a “Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative” which dramatically raised energy prices and covered pristine natural landscapes with inefficient wind turbines and solar panels.  All without making any meaningful impact on the temperature of the Earth.  The RGGI is a perfect poster child for “all pain no gain” policy making.

Gabriella Hoffman reports at CFACT.org in a piece that originally appeared in The Virginia Pilot:

“‘RGGI describes itself as a regional market for carbon, but it is really a carbon tax that is fully passed on to ratepayers. It’s a bad deal for Virginians. It’s a bad deal for Virginia businesses,’ Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin said. ‘I promised to lower the cost of living in Virginia, and this is just the beginning.’”

Gabriella further reports that:

“Virginia’s continued participation in RGGI will result in residents paying more for their electricity bills. According to recent State Corporation Commission filings, participation in the RGGI program will raise energy costs to $4.37 a month, or $52.44 per year, if enacted on Sept. 1. When paired with the new — and costly — Virginia Clean Economy Act, the net-zero law slated to raise energy bills $800 a year by 2030, this spells disaster for Virginians currently paying more to heat and power their homes.”

CFACT’s close friend Collister (Terry) Johnson is a tireless Virginia energy advocate.  Terry and his friends and allies did a brilliant job beating back plans to wreck Virginia’s energy infrastructure with the facts.  Well done!

Virginia under Governor-elect Youngkin is waking up to energy reality… fast.  Other states are heading for the RGGI exit as well.

Energy reality beats energy ideology every time.

EDITORS NOTE: This CFACT column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

WATCH RENEWAL 2022: Live Streaming on January 8th with CAHN, LINDELL, CARSON + Others

This Saturday, January 8th, 2022 there will be an event held in Plant City, Florida.

RENEWAL 2022 brings together a great number of believers and great Christian leaders to pray and proclaim for peace and Godliness to return to our country, and the world’s nations.

Watch this 3 minute inspiring introduction:

Viewing from home will also be possible. Please give heart to this important moment – America is at stake – and give prayer abundantly.

Visit this website for details and to register:  RENEWAL 2022

January 6th, 2021 Was No Insurrection

As the first anniversary of the Peaceful meeting and rally of President Trump patriots in DC and the march to the Capitol arrives, a known bed of evil and treasonous swamp dwellers from both parties also arrives and we will be watching and listening to the lies spouting out of Democrats and leftist so called Republicans like Liz Cheney mouths as they desperately attempt to affect the 2022 mid term elections where they know they will receive a massive shellacking in and try to make president Trump into the bad guy. We will hear calls for him to be prosecuted and to never be allowed to hold public office again. We will hear from the corrupt AG and Usurper Joe Biden about the slant they keep putting on the unconstitutional actions like no bail and mental and physical torture they have taken against the demonstrators, terrorist or insurrectionists as they love to call them. Political theater. A dog and pony show. About extremist right wing militias and domestic terrorist. Blaming Oathkeepers and Proud boys and III%ers. Propaganda is what it is. Tell the story enough and stupid sheep like people will believe it. However a majority do not nor will they believe the blatant lies.

This so called insurrection and assault on the Capitol building was not that. It was not a riot. It was not organized, especially by the Trump camp. It was not organized by any right wing militia or organization although the MSM and these liars are always looking to blame OATHKEEPERS III%ers and The Proud Boys among others. I know members of the latter and have been a member of the former two since their inception. None planned an insurrection.

Was there a small group of nutters there from both sides, left and right, looking for trouble? Possibly.

Was it a red flag event? Very likely. Were alphabet agencies involved in that red flag event. Guaranteed.

The leftists understand they have no proof to back up their lies. No policemen were killed by protesters. Understand this America. The Capitol Police Force is a leftist politically run and controlled force that has ZERO credibility. They lie. It was in fact one of their officers who murdered an unarmed, white, military vet female, Ashli Babbitt, by shooting her for no reason. That cop instead of going to prison is a hero to the left. Protocols relating to deadly uses of force were not followed. They hid the name of the officer before he was cleared in a BS internal investigation. Here is his treasonous name:- Lt. Michael Byrd, a black officer and coward who should have faced charges as serious as other white officers around the country have faced in other shootings, usually of black males. Those charges should have included First Degree Murder. He premeditatedly pulled his service weapon ( one he had left behind previously in a toilet ) aimed and shot at Ashli, a small lady who was offering no threat of any physical nature to that coward. He pulled the trigger and murdered her. He got a free pass and is, as I said previously, considered a hero among the leftists and extremists in the administration.

Since the protest the corrupt FBI among other corrupt federal and local authorities have been committed to a witch hunt of everyone there that say. They have spent millions and millions of tax payer money to hound, locate, arrest, charge and intimidate those falsely arrested. They have been unconstitutionally held in terrible circumstances, treated abysmally and cruelly by black prison guards, not allowed a bond, not allowed contact as held in solitary confinement, not allowed other constitutional rights like murderers and thieves and rapists are like visits, religious services etc. Armed SWAT teams have gone in at early hours to arrest them, bashing down doors and arresting young, old, disabled and others just to let their neighbors think these people are armed domestic terrorists. Their lives have been ruined. Their jobs removed, their companies closed. They are mentally tortured until some just take a plea deal to end the torture and injustice. Others have agreed to give evidence that they have been forced and coerced into unconstitutionally and therefore illegally.

When compared to the actions taken against actual riots, arson, battery, assaults, murders, larcenies and looters of real domestic terrorist groups like BLM, ANTIFA, Defund the Police, communist and anarchist and other extremist leftist groups that took place in mostly democrat controlled cities, we see a level of hypocrisy not seen before. There you could kill police officers, destroy cities and buildings, ransack stores and homes, attack innocent people with gay abandon knowing you would not be arrested or charged.

We are going to see an almost constant barrage of news showing members of the house reminiscing about what they call an insurrection, about how scared they were, about how they texted their partners to say they may die that day. How they have suffered from PTSD. This extreme propaganda, which will be run 24/7, will show doctored videos and sound clips made to show the accuracy of their view on that infamous day. The lies will try to feed into the narrative that this was an organized riot and insurrection organized by Trump. Nothing could be further from the truth. The only real violence and deplorable actions taken that were by the treasonous Capitol Police Force who actually got away with murder that day. DO NOT FEED INTO THAT CRAP. That is all it is. Propaganda made for who they consider the uneducated proletariat sheep. The January 6th rally and subsequent march to the Capitol was just that. There were no militias on the ground firing people up. OATHKEEPERS, III%ers and Proud Boys etc were not organizing anything there that day. Let’s be honest. The people there were angry that it appeared with some GOP help that the Democrats had actually got away with stealing an election. History will eventually prove this.

The intimidation of law abiding citizens must stop. Only we, the people, can do this. Our main method would be a fair election process which we know is almost non existent thanks to the corruption of the democrat party and the extremists that have over taken it. They stole the 2020 election. They will try influencing or stealing the upcoming 2022 mid term elections. We cannot allow it. We need to be ever vigilant during the entire mid term process.

If we fail then there are only a few other options I can see as plausible. One would be a complete breakup of the Constitutional Republic and the other would be a civil war. Left against Right. Patriots against America haters. Constitutionalists against communists. Constitutionalists against anarchism’s, socialists, Marxist’s and the entire gamut that makes up the left.

I pray the last possibility is just that. A possibility.

However, when the tide is turned, however that occurs, justice must be seen to be done. Corrupt and treasonous politicians, corporate leaders, MSM leaders and reporters, military leaders and law enforcement officials who have all betrayed their Oaths need to be seen receiving their just punishments. Prison time, forfeiture of assets and pensions and yes, in some cases, the death penalty.

Some call me a radical. I am not. I have witnessed first hand the results of where we are heading as a nation. Trust me here – you do not want to be there.

It is time to actually drain the swamp in its entirety. Remove all elements. Whatever the cost in money, lives and/or time. The alternative does not bear thinking about.

PS:- From President Trump.

“In light of the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6thUnselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media, I am canceling the January 6th Press Conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, and instead will discuss many of those important topics at my rally on Saturday, January 15th, in Arizona,” Trump wrote.

Trump also accused leadership of denying requests for the D.C. National Guard and military to be at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. As President of the United States, Trump was the Commander in Chief of the United States Military; the D.C. National Guard is also the only National Guard unit that reports only to the President.

©Fred Brownbill. All rights reserved.


National Security Archive Timeline Pieces Together Events of January 6, 2021

Highlights Ongoing, Unresolved Discrepancies Between Official Testimony,
Media Reporting, and Pentagon’s Sparse Timeline

Of Insurrections and Threats to Democracy

As long as the Democrats are all hopped up about Law & Order today, let’s see if they’ll do something about the gargantuan criminal monster they created.  I’m talking about the Soros DAs, the prosecutors who won’t prosecute.  They are a threat to democracy.

Manhattan’s new DA Alvin Bragg has taken it upon himself to ignore the state legislature and change the laws so that many crimes no longer carry jail sentences.  He’s doing this in the name of “fairness and safety”.  That’s pretty cheeky, don’t you think?  He is also imposing ‘incarceration impact statements’, meaning prosecutors can’t recommend prison terms if it will make it harder for defendants to get a job or they will suffer racially disparate outcomes in the future.  He also changed the law where it allows sentences of life without parole.  He unilaterally limited punishment in those cases to a maximum of 20 years.

Bragg claims all this will make the city safer because criminals will find it easier to reintegrate into society.  Maybe that will actually happen in a handful of cases where the criminal wouldn’t eventually straighten out anyway, but what about the rest of the cases where criminals have no intention of reforming?  They will receive kid glove treatment under Bragg’s policies and thus be incentivized to commit more crimes.  What’s the net?

Police unions did not hold back in their criticism.  “In Bragg’s Manhattan, you can resist arrest, deal drugs, obstruct arrests, and even carry a gun and get away with it,” one said.  Another said this is all very demoralizing for the police.  “Police officers don’t want to be sent out to enforce laws that the district attorneys won’t prosecute and there are already too many people who believe that they can commit crimes, resist arrest, interfere with police officers, and face zero consequences.”

In Seattle, where crime is spiking, police are allowed to go to the scene where a stolen vehicle is reported, surround the vehicle, and draw their guns.  That’s it.  They’re not allowed to pursue the vehicle if the car thief drives away, as just happened in a case this week.  But don’t worry, under the logic of the Soros DAs, the poor oppressed car thief should be allowed to keep the car because it’s a crime of poverty.  The car thief needs the car, and the rich owner of the car has insurance and can replace the car.  In other words, the car thief wins because the car thief is a class hero and everybody else loses because they are class enemies, just like in communist countries.  I defy you to tell me what democracy can survive if those are the rules of the game.

The Soros DA in San Francisco has been in office two years.  He has made it easier for violent and non-violent offenders to get released, but, to hear him tell it, recent smash-and-grab robberies are not his fault.  It’s society’s fault because society doesn’t prevent these crimes before they happen.   Let me see if I’ve got this right.  Prosecutors shouldn’t have to prosecute, because there shouldn’t be any crime in the first place.  It is society that is bad, not criminals who are bad.  So I guess that means the criminals should be prosecuting US for giving THEM a hard time when it is US who are bad.  I feel so much better now that I understand just how bad I’ve been all this time, including the two times robbers have stuck a gun in my face and gotten away with it.

By the way, the San Francisco DA faces a recall election next June.  I hope San Francisco voters come to their senses and kick this guy out.   It’s not impossible.  In November, voters in Seattle rejected a candidate for City Attorney who wanted to abolish the police and prisons entirely.

However, a recall effort against the Soros DA in Los Angeles failed last year.  One consequence is that a murderer who received a 50 year sentence is free after just six years.  The Soros DA did not even have the decency to tell the victim’s family the early release was in the works.  It’s not the first time he sought a reduced sentence for a murderer.  So, apparently, murderers are class heroes in this guy’s book and everybody else just has to suck it up.

If you’re worried about insurrection today, you should worry about the Soros DAs who are overthrowing the criminal justice system in cities around the country.  If you don’t want to see the death of democracy, then you need to mobilize against the Soros DAs who ignore state legislatures, turn criminals into class heroes who always win no matter what, and you the voters into chumps who should just keep paying big salaries to prosecutors who won’t prosecute because some billionaire wants to turn your cities into cesspools.

Visit The Daily Skirmish

©Christopher Wright.

VIDEO: 2.1 Million Dead, 100 Million Maimed From COVID-Vax

Governments around the world – lead by the U.S. government – are lying about Covid, the vaxxes, and the horrendous and deadly side-effects from the jabs. In this Republic, all told, the government response to Covid is the greatest medical, greatest political, and greatest human rights conspiracy and attack in history – nothing else comes close.

In this edition of the Ledger Report, Graham Ledger uncovers the staggering, real number of lethal and crippling adverse events from the injections.

EDITORS NOTE: This Ledger Report video is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. Please subscribe free to The Ledger Report by clicking here: www.GrahamLedger.com

Heritage Foundation: Schumer Using Jan. 6 Anniversary to Seize ‘Permanent Power’

In a joint statement Wednesday from the Heritage Foundation, President Kevin Roberts and Heritage Action Executive Director Jessica Anderson said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is using the anniversary of the January 6 Capitol breach to seize “permanent” political power.

Anderson and Roberts wrote, “In 2021, state lawmakers ushered in smart and transparent election integrity reforms, making it easy to vote and hard to cheat. This work should be commended, as voter integrity and trust in our elections are the bedrock of our American democracy. Instead, the liberal elite spent all of 2021 creating a false narrative of voter disenfranchisement and suppression as Democrat leaders and the media tried to convince Americans reforms such as voter ID were racist…

“However, the American people did not buy into their lies, and Democrat leaders in Washington have now pivoted to the anniversary of January 6. Senator Schumer and his cronies are now using the events of last January as a means to accomplish their never-ending goal of permanent power,” the Heritage leaders added. “Disguised as a ‘voting rights’ bill, Schumer’s anti-voter agenda is nothing more than an attempt to take power away from the American people and forever undermine the integrity of our elections.”

“This proposed legislation will give Washington bureaucrats power over our election systems and throw out measures like voter ID in every state — a common-sense measure that is continually supported by over 80% of the American people,” Anderson and Roberts concluded. “Americans want voter integrity, and they know the Left’s partisan narrative has nothing to do with democracy and everything to do with rigging the rules to keep Democrats in power to pass their agenda without our support.”


Charles Schumer

36 Known Connections

In a January 3, 2022 interview with MSNBC’s Joy Reid, Schumer said:

“What happened on January 6 is a direct continuation of the big lie, which Donald Trump perpetrated created January 6 and a continuation of what is happening around the country. Non-partisan election officials, just plain people doing their job to count votes, are being threatened in state after state with violence. A few of them have had to have police protection. So the idea that January 6 is totally a one-off is wrong. It’s being perpetrated by this attempt to take away voting rights of so many people, people of color, young people, people living in urban areas, handicapped people, elderly people. We have to fight against this. The new Republican Party under the leadership of Donald Trump is viciously against voting rights and trying to take those away. So if we can’t get Republicans, if we can’t get Republicans to join us, we’re exploring a variety of different rules changes. We are working and trying to get all 50 Democrats, including Senators Manchin and [Kyrsten] Sinema to go along because if we don’t change rules, the Republicans will block this and our democracy could be at risk and wither in real ways.”

To learn more about Chuck Schumer, click here.

EDITORS NOTE: This Discover the Networks column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Ben Franklin’s Advice for a Better Year

Many of us still write up New Years’ Resolutions. Lose those extra ten pounds, read the Bible more, remember people’s names better. A friend told me, “I used to have a problem with remembering names until I took the Dale Carmichael course.”

One American who has been a font of timeless and timely advice was founding father extraordinaire Ben Franklin. He said, “Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.”

Franklin was a busy man, who served in both the Continental Congress that produced the Declaration of Independence and the Constitutional Convention that produced our nation’s governing document. He also founded one of the nation’s earliest anti-slavery societies.

Franklin wrote a classic book called, Poor Richard’s Almanack (1732), which is a series of pithy statements. Consider some of his thoughts in terms of trying to develop better habits for the New Year.

On laziness versus productivity, you can see the old New England Puritan influence here. He said,

  • “There are lazy minds as well as lazy bodies.”
  • “Little Strokes, Fell great Oaks.”
  • “Fear to do ill, and you need fear naught else. O Lazy bones!”
  • “You may delay, but time will not.”
  • “Lost time is never found again.”
  • “All things are easy to industry, all things difficult to sloth.”

Here’s a rather famous one: “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that’s the stuff life is made of.”

He also noted, “The honest man takes pains, and then enjoys pleasures; the knave takes pleasure, and then suffers pains,” and “One today is worth two tomorrows.”

Surely, applying some of these principles in our daily lives would lead to greater productivity. As Paul said in Ephesians, we should “redeem the time for the days are evil.”

Ben Franklin also had good advice against greed. He said:

  • “Avarice and happiness never saw each other; how then should they become acquainted?”
  • “Who is rich? He that rejoices in his Portion.”
  • “Content[ment] makes poor men rich; Discontent makes rich Men poor.”
  • “He does not possess wealth, it possesses him.”

There’s an underlying truth in these. You could have riches untold, but if you’re ungrateful, it’s worse than being impoverished.

Franklin went on to say:

  • “If man could have half his wishes, he would double his troubles.”
  • “Wish a miser long life, and you wish him no good.”
  • “He that pursues two hares at once, does not catch one and lets the other go.”
  • “When will the miser’s chest be full enough?”
  • “If your riches are yours, why don’t you take them with you to the other world?”
  • “What is more valuable than gold? Diamonds. Than diamonds? Virtue.”
  • “He that’s content hath enough. He that complains hath too much.”

Much of this reminds me of Jesus’ warning to “beware of covetousness,” one of the many Biblical prohibitions against greed and envy.

Ben Franklin was not an orthodox Christian. But nor was he an atheist. He played a pivotal role as a publisher to help spread the message of George Whitefield’s evangelistic crusade up and down the Atlantic coast. This was pivotal to the Great Awakening, which was pivotal to our independence.

Furthermore, Franklin remonstrated with Thomas Paine for writing his anti-Christian screed, Age of Reason. And, during the Constitutional Convention, when the delegates got bogged down and couldn’t agree on specifics, Franklin rose up and gave an important speech, suggesting that the new nation look to God for His help and to pray about this matter. It is reported that acting on his suggestion broke the impasse.

Franklin also had some good advice on choosing humility over pride:

  • “People who are wrapped in themselves make small packages.”
  • “The first degree of folly, is to conceit one’s self wise; the second to profess it; the third to despise counsel.”
  • “Despair ruins some, presumption many.”
  • “He that falls in love with himself, will have no rivals.”
  • “The proud hate pride—in others.”

I love what Franklin said about marriage—slightly paraphrased: Before you get married, keep your eyes wide open. After you get married, keep them half closed. And he also warned, “He that lies down with dogs shall rise up with fleas.”

Furthermore, he encouraged writers, when he noted—again, slightly paraphrased: If you would not be forgotten, when you’re long dead and rotten, then write something worth the reading or do something worth the writing.

Finally, he had some good suggestions that apply to weight control—a perpetual goal for those of us who make New Years’ Resolutions: “Eat to live; live not to eat.”

Even if we applied just one of these principles from Dr. Franklin in 2022, it would tend to make us more “healthy, wealthy, and wise” in the new year.

©Jerry Newcombe. All rights reserved.

Here’s Why San Francisco is Experiencing a Shoplifting Surge That’s Putting Some Stores Out of Business

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s going on here.


“I’m new to San Francisco,” New York Times journalist Thomas Fuller told a grocery store clerk shortly after moving to the city. “Is it optional to pay for things here?”

It sounds like an absurd thing to ask, but Fuller explains in a new article that he was genuinely forced to wonder what was going on after he witnessed people walk into Walgreens and Safeway, grab stuff, and walk out. He says that the problem has only gotten worse in recent years—and is now literally forcing businesses to close their doors.

“Representatives from Walgreens said that thefts at its stores in San Francisco were four times the chain’s national average, and that it had closed 17 stores, largely because the scale of thefts had made business untenable,” Fuller reports. Meanwhile, CVS told him that San Francisco had become “one of the epicenters of organized retail crime” and that the chain has scaled back its security guards’ shoplifting enforcement because it’s become so dangerous.

You might understandably be wondering: What the heck is going on?

In 2014, a ballot referendum passed that downgraded the theft of property less than $950 in value from a felony charge to a misdemeanor. In the years since, enforcement of shoplifting charges has waned significantly.

“It has become part of the landscape,” local politician Ahsha Safaí remarked of the shoplifting. “People say, ‘Oh, well, that just happens. [Thieves] are obviously choosing locales based on what the consequences are. there are no consequences for their actions, then you invite the behavior. Over and over.”

It’s not just based on anecdotes and it’s not just happening in San Francisco.

One study found that in Santa Monica, California, crimes unaffected by the ballot referendum fell by 9 percent but those that were downgraded increased 15 percent. Another analysis found that statewide, larceny thefts increased 9 percent after the 2014 change.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s going on here. Many different factors impact crime rates, but when the government fails to protect property rights and enforce the law, theft becomes more common and innocent business owners are victimized. The resulting economic uncertainty discourages growth and, in extreme cases like San Francisco, literally leads stores to close.

Protecting property and enforcing the rule of law is one of the core, legitimate functions of government. That the Golden State has chosen to focus its government’s robust spending and involvement in social life elsewhere speaks to a grave misalignment in priorities.

COLUMN BY

Brad Polumbo

Brad Polumbo (@Brad_Polumbo) is a libertarian-conservative journalist and Policy Correspondent at the Foundation for Economic Education.

EDITORS NOTE: This FEE column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. Like this story? Click here to sign up for the FEE Daily and get free-market news and analysis like this from Policy Correspondent Brad Polumbo in your inbox every weekday.

The Rise of the Bio-Medical Security State

“It is impossible to found a civilisation on fear and hatred and cruelty. It would never endure.” ― George Orwell


In February 1920, Hitler presented a 25-point Program (the Nazi Party Platform) at a Nazi Party meeting. In the 25-point program, Nazi Party members publicly declared their intention to segregate Jews from “Aryan” society and to abrogate Jews’ political, legal and civil rights.

Fast forward to January 2022 and we now see a Democrat Party Platform, enforced by federal bureaucrats, Democrat members of Congress and party leaders, to segregate the “unvaccinated” from “American” society and to abrogate the political, legal and civil rights of the unvaxxed.

But they are not alone, as this is a global effort called “The Great Reset.”

The World Economic Forum’s website titled The Great Reset states:

There is an urgent need for global stakeholders to cooperate in simultaneously managing the direct consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. To improve the state of the world, the World Economic Forum is starting The Great Reset initiative. [Emphasis added]

The World Economic Forum is:

The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. [Emphasis added]

To understand what the Great Reset is and how it has now become inextricably tied to the Covid pandemic watch this September 24th, 2020 livestream video:

In a January 6th, 2021 American Institute for Economic Research column titled “What’s Up with the Great Reset?Stacey Rudin reported:

Proponents of “The Great Reset” argue that the pandemic proves our former society “doesn’t work,” so we need a tech-focused, “sustainable” future to reduce emissions and thereby “save the planet.” The Great Reset is a rebranded, tightened-up version of the UN’s decades-old “Sustainable Development” agenda (“Agenda 21”). The same policies and ideas are contained in “The Green New Deal,” which was defeated in 2019 in the US Congress. [Emphasis added]

There are books you can read about The Great Reset and detailed websites describing it. Time Magazine even did a cover story on The Great Reset. It’s the title of World Economic Forum head Klaus Schwab’s book on the lockdowns and the future. It was published July 9, 2020, and now has nearly 900 reviews on Amazon.

The Bio-Medical Security State [BMSS]

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a press conference on the draconian mandates handed down by the Biden administration referred to “the Bio-Medical Security State.” Governor DeSantis called out Biden and his administration  for failing to “shut down the virus,” importing it from across the border, and trying to mask young kids. Governor DeSantis called what is happening “insane.”

We do not believe that what Biden is doing is insane. Rather it is intentional.

WATCH: 2.1 Million Dead, 100 Million Maimed From COVID-Vax.

Ayn Rand warned:

The uncontested absurdities of today are the accepted slogans of tomorrow. They come to be accepted by degrees, by dint of constant pressure on one side and constant retreat on the other – until one day when they are suddenly declared to be the country’s official ideology.

The end game of World Economic Forum much like the German Communist Party’s Platform during the Weimar Republic is:

  1. The abolition of private property.
  2. The establishment of land reform programs, so that the government can take over the land and distribute it for the common good.
  3. Government ownership of all industrial productive forces, so that they can be run for the benefit of the people rather than the capitalists.
  4. A foreign policy that regards the Soviet Union as an ally against capitalism.

German Communist Party policy was, “We are committed to the overthrow of the presently existing, oppressive Republic and all of its economic and social institutions.”

Today The Great Resent wants to centralize all power into a global cabal run by those who demand, “a tech-focused, ‘sustainable’ future to reduce emissions and thereby ‘save the planet’.”

Saving the planet ignores the God given rights of every man and woman on God’s green earth.

Saving the planet means overthrowing the presently existing Constitutional Republican government of these United States of America.

George Orwell, in his dystopian novel 1984 wrote, “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever.”

Today if you want a picture of 2022 and beyond future think of a Bio-Medical Security State boot stamping on your face–for ever.

©Dr. Rich Swier. All rights reserved.

RELATED VIDEO: More Children Die From the COVID Shot Than From COVID

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THE GREAT AWAKENING: The Anti-Vaxxed Passports Revolution

RELATED PODCAST: FINALLY SOME TRUTH: “We can’t vaccinate the planet every four to six months”, says Oxford Professor who helped make the vaccine!

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STEEP LOSSES: Democrat-run states of NJ, NY & CT saw more wealthy residents flee in 2021, annual moving survey shows

Droves of residents fled Democrat-run states with surging crime and COVID-19 restrictions last year — with New York, New Jersey and Connecticut among the five that suffered the steepest losses, a sobering new survey shows. Let’s hope these escapees don’t destroy the states they move to by importing their poisonous Democrat policies.

Democrat-run states of NJ, NY & CT saw more wealthy residents flee in 2021, annual moving survey shows

Droves of residents fled Democrat-run states with surging crime and COVID-19 restrictions last year — with New York, New Jersey and Connecticut among the five that suffered the steepest losses, a sobering new survey shows.

By Carl Campanile, New York Post, January 3, 2022:

New Jersey led the nation with 70 percent of the people involved in moves fleeing the Garden State, compared to just 30 percent who migrated in, according to United Van Lines’ 45th Annual National Movers Study.

Illinois — home to crime- and shooting-ridden Chicago — came in second with 67 percent of the moves recorded were of residents leaving the state, while just 27 percent were in-bound.

New York ranked third, with 63 percent of movers headed for the exits and 37 percent settling in.

Nearly 30 percent those who fled the Empire State said “family” was a primary factor in their decisions, with about 12 percent citing “cost.”

The survey also showed that the exodus largely involved the wealthy, with those making $150,000 or more comprising 45.3 percent of the total.

It’s unclear when those moves took place, but in April the state adopted a record $212 billion budget that targeted big earners with new taxes that rise as high as 10.9 percent.

Meanwhile, six of the top 10 metro areas suffering from the worst exodus were in the New York-New Jersey region.

Nearly 80 percent of the moves in Long Island’s Nassau-Suffolk counties were exiters — the highest outbound rate of any region in the country.

About 75 percent fled Binghamton and 73 percent exited Poughkeepsie/Dutchess County. Three New Jersey areas — Bergen-Passaic, Newark and Middllesex-Somerset-Hunterdon also had among the worst outbound rates.

Neighboring Connecticut didn’t fare much better — 60 percent of the moves recorded were outbound and 40 percent inbound.
Medical workers load patient into an ambulance
“The study also revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic continued to accelerate many decisions to move, indicating that Americans were on the move to lower-density areas ” United Van Lines said in a release.
Getty Images

For the entire Northeast, 60 percent of the moves were outbound.

The results from 2021 mirrored United Van Lines’ 2020 findings, when the COVID-19 pandemic first ravaged the NY-NJ metro region and later the entire country.

“The study also revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic continued to accelerate many decisions to move, indicating that Americans were on the move to lower-density areas and to be closer to their families throughout last year,” United Van Lines said in a release.

And sunny California is no longer the Golden State — with more people leaving than “California Dreamin’.”

California — long a driver of population growth — was fifth-worst for movers heading for the exits, with 59 percent fleeing the state while only 41 percent of newcomers moved in.

All five states with the highest outbound rates have a few things in common: they are run by Democrats, are high-taxed and suffer from spikes in crime.
Crime in New Jersey
States with highest moving rates have a few things in common: They are run by Democrats, are high-taxed and suffer from spikes in crime.
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Less populous Vermont, represented by democratic socialist Senator and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, broke the mold. It had the highest in-bound migration in the U.S., with 74 percent of the moves reported were of those coming into the state.

The other top in-bound states were South Dakota (69 percent), South Carolina (63 percent), West Virginia (63 percent) and Florida (62 percent).

In addition to the state-by-state data, United Van Lines also conducts an accompanying survey to examine the motivations and influences for Americans’ interstate moves.

This analysis found that about one-third of Americans who moved did so in order to be closer to family – a new trend coming out of the pandemic as priorities and lifestyle choices shifted.

Read the rest ……

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

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GETTR gains half a million new signups after Joe Rogan joins

This is great news. However, President Trump must also support the alternative social media sites, and not just his own after it is finally launched. For alternative social media to succeed, President Trump needs to bring his 100 million plus social media followers to these sites. That way they will be robust, engaging, interesting, and sustainable. This will happen. The tide will turn.

GETTR gains half a million new signups after Joe Rogan joins

By RSBN, January 4, 2022

Free speech social media platform GETTR reached over half a million signups in the two days after podcast legend Joe Rogan announced he opened an account. Rogan joined the platform, billed as a Twitter alternative, in response to Twitter’s ban on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Rogan’s recent guest, Dr. Robert Malone.

Following Rogan’s announcement to his 7.8 million Twitter followers, more than 171,000 GETTR accounts were opened on Sunday. The number doubled the following day, with more than 341,000 individuals joining the platform. GETTR reached the highest amount of new accounts Tuesday morning as over 545,000 people rushed to join the free speech platform, according to a press release.

“This is the great disruption in the social media landscape,” GETTR Chief Executive Officer Jason Miller said in a press release. “People have been looking for a new outlet for free expression, and GETTR is the destination. When Joe Rogan says that the establishment social media giants might get ‘even dumber,’ people listen and join the migration.”

Simultaneously, Twitter permanently banned Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Sunday for Covid-19 “misinformation.”

“When Maxine Waters can go to the streets and threaten violence on Twitter, Kamala and Ilhan can bail out rioters on Twitter, and Chief spokesman for terrorist IRGC can tweet mourning Soleimani but I get suspended for tweeting VAERS statistics, Twitter is an enemy to America and can’t handle the truth,” the congresswoman wrote on GETTR following the ban.

“That’s fine,” she continued, “I’ll show America we don’t need them and it’s time to defeat our enemies.”

RELATED ARTICLE: Following Ban, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls On Fellow Republicans To Leave Twitter

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

Quick note: Tech giants are shutting us down. You know this. Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Adsense, Pinterest permanently banned us. Facebook, Google search et al have shadow-banned, suspended and deleted us from your news feeds. They are disappearing us. But we are here. We will not waver. We will not tire. We will not falter, and we will not fail. Freedom will prevail.

Subscribe to Geller Report newsletter here — it’s free and it’s critical NOW when informed decision making and opinion is essential to America’s survival. Share our posts on your social channels and with your email contacts. Fight the great fight.

Follow me on Gettr. I am there, click here. It’s open and free.

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DESANTIS CALLS OUT BIDEN: For failing to ‘shut down the virus’, importing it from across the border & trying to mask young kids.

If our election laws are not overhauled, Governor DeSantis will route President Biden in 2024. And DeSantis would wreck Biden in the debates. It would not be pretty. It would be the political version of Tyson vs Spinks.

DESANTIS DESTROYS BIDEN: ‘His Solution is to Force Kindergarteners to Wear Masks’

By the First, January 4, 2022

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has had enough of the Biden Administration singling out Floridians over their handling of the coronavirus pandemic. DeSantis unloaded on the President and his administration during a press conference today —excerpts below.

“Joe Biden has taken to himself to single out Florida over COVID. This is a guy who ran for President saying he was going to “shut down the virus.” And what has he done? He’s imported more virus from around the world by having a wide-open southern border. You have hundreds of thousands of people pouring across every month.”

“And it’s not just from Mexico – in fact it’s rarely from Mexico. You have over one hundred different countries where people are pouring through – not only are they letting them through, they’re then farming them out all across our communities across this country…putting them on planes…putting them on buses. You think they are worried about COVID for that? Of course not. So he’s facilitating. Who knows what new variants are out there but I can tell you whatever variants are around the world, they’re coming across that southern border.”

“And what is his big solution? His solution…he wants to have the government force kindergarteners to wear masks in school. He doesn’t believe the parents should have a say in that. He thinks that should be a decision for the government. Well I can tell ya in Florida, parents are going to be the ones in charge of that decision.”

Watch the full clip.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Quick note: Tech giants are shutting us down. You know this. Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Adsense, Pinterest permanently banned us. Facebook, Google search et al have shadow-banned, suspended and deleted us from your news feeds. They are disappearing us. But we are here. We will not waver. We will not tire. We will not falter, and we will not fail. Freedom will prevail.

Subscribe to Geller Report newsletter here — it’s free and it’s critical NOW when informed decision making and opinion is essential to America’s survival. Share our posts on your social channels and with your email contacts. Fight the great fight.

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STRIKE! Chicago Teachers Unions Votes Not To Return To Schools, Abandons Children

At the last minute, leaving parents and the district in a bind. Teachers insist they will only teach remotely, putting students last (Chalkboard Review). From another story: Mayor Lori Lightfoot said teachers who do not come into work tomorrow will be put on no pay status (Twitter).

I have one word for parents – HOMESCHOOL. Government schools have destroyed our children.

BREAKING: Chicago Teachers Union Begins Strike Over in-Person Learning

By: Chalkboard Review, January 4, 2022:

As many schools across the country resume in-person learning after the holiday break, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) finds itself in turmoil.

On Tuesday, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) voted to refuse anything but a return to remote learning. CTU vice president Stacey Davis Gates told CNN that they will not return to work unless the city meets union demands for more testing, on-site vaccination clinics, and ventilation. Thus far, both Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPS CEO Pedro Martinez have remained committed to in-person learning.

Martinez has said previously that if the union goes on strike, classes will be canceled, but families will still be able to make use of CPS buildings.

“I will have to cancel classes tomorrow,” Martinez lamented. “It doesn’t mean that the schools will be closed. The schools will be open, but I will have to cancel classes tomorrow because I can’t… I have to be responsible in knowing who’s going to be showing up to the buildings. And then, we will have a plan specifically for parents that will come out tomorrow in a very timely fashion about what the path forward is.”

This is not the first time CTU has stalled the resumption of in-person learning. In December 2020, the union published a laundry list of demands that the city had to meet before the union would agree to return to in-person work. These included strict testing protocols, enforceable mask mandates, cleaning, health screening, ventilation, equitable vaccine distribution, and automatic closures if the citywide test positivity rate exceeded 3%. At the time, Chicago’s test positivity rate exceeded 13%.

Experts around the world have expressed deep concern about the lingering effects of past school closures as well as the possible effects of any future closures. Even the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has warned that the negative effects of school closures include (but are not limited to) interrupted learning, an increase in dropout rates, and the cessation of essential programs that keep poor kids healthy.

In addition, studies from around the world — including Japanthe United Kingdom, and a global meta-analysis — have found that not only do school closures not diminish the spread of COVID-19, they may increase it, as COVID-19 spreads more efficiently in households than it does in the workplace.

Nevertheless, the CTU is holding firm. After all, more than 80% of CTU members are unwilling to work in CPS schools in-person at this time. Hopefully, at the end of all this, the consequences will not be foisted upon Chicago’s children.

RELATED TWEET:

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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Subscribe to Geller Report newsletter here — it’s free and it’s critical NOW when informed decision making and opinion is essential to America’s survival. Share our posts on your social channels and with your email contacts. Fight the great fight.

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Big Left-Wing ‘Dark Money’ Groups Fund Schumer’s Secretive Anti-Filibuster Ally

21st century insurrectionist warfare.

Big Left-Wing ‘Dark Money’ Groups Fund Schumer’s Secretive Anti-Filibuster Ally

By Mark Tapscott, The Epoch Times, January 4, 2022:

Fix Our Senate, the obscure outfit leading a coalition of 70 liberal advocacy groups backing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) anti-filibuster drive, is a left-wing “dark-money pop-up,” according to a political nonprofit finance expert.

“Fix Our Senate may present itself as a standalone, grassroots activist group, but it’s actually a front for the Sixteen Thirty Fund, itself part of a $1.7 billion left-wing ‘dark- money pop-up’ empire run by the shadowy consulting firm Arabella Advisors,” said Capital Research Center (CRC) senior investigative researcher Hayden Ludwig.

“We call these fronts ‘pop-ups’ because they’re websites which pop into existence, run attack campaigns, and disappear in an instant and almost never reveal their connection to Arabella or its nonprofits,” Ludwig told The Epoch Times on Jan. 4.

The CRC is a conservative nonpartisan foundation that specializes in tracking trends among the most influential charities, nonprofits, and special-interest groups affecting the public policy process in the nation’s capital.

“We study unions, environmentalist groups, and a wide variety of nonprofit and activist organizations. We also keep an eye on crony capitalists who seek to profit by taking advantage of government regulations and by getting their hands on taxpayers’ money,” CRC says of its purpose on its website.

Schumer promised earlier this week to seek a vote by Jan. 17 on abolishing or reforming the filibuster—the Senate’s “cloture” rule that requires 60 votes to end debate and vote on a proposal—if Senate Republicans block consideration of two election reform packages that are top priorities of the Democrats’ progressive, or far-left, faction.

Republicans argue the reforms—the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act—severely limit or eliminate entirely the use of photo IDs and related ballot security measures, and require that all proposed changes to state election laws have prior Department of Justice (DOJ) approval.

Measures such as strengthening voter identification requirements are highly popular with the public, with recent surveys by RasmussenMonmouthPew, and AP-NORC finding 72 to 80 percent support for requiring photo IDs to vote.

Fix Our Senate describes itself as a “coalition of more than 70 organizations (and counting) representing millions of Americans fighting to eliminate the filibuster and fix the Senate so our elected officials can finally start delivering on their promises.”

While no individuals are identified as officials on Fix Our Senate’s website, Eli Zupnick is identified by The Hill as a “spokesman.” He’s cited as praising Schumer for making “the choice clear: Senate Democrats must now choose between protecting our democracy or stubbornly preserving an outdated and abused Senate rule.”

The Epoch Times received no response to its questions submitted through the “Press Inquiries” contact form on the Fix Our Senate website by press time. Zupnick, who identifies himself with Fix Our Senate on his Twitter profile page, didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.

He’s the former longtime communications director for Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), working for her in various positions from 2009 until 2019. He also was briefly in 2019 the managing principal for Precision Strategies, a Washington and New York City political consulting and marketing firm co-founded by Stephanie Cutter, who identifies herself as the former deputy campaign manager for President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.

Among the 70 organizations participating in the Fix Our Senate coalition are the American Muslim Civil Rights CenterCitizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Equal Justice SocietyFaith in Public LifeFriends of the EarthLeague of Conservation VotersPeoples’ ActionRight to Health Action, and United We Dream. Many of the participating groups are locally focused activists groups such as the Long Beach Alliance for Clean Energy and Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.

Many of the coalition members, whether nationally or locally focused, share one thing in common—significant funding from the Sixteen Thirty/Arabella Fund dark money network, according to Ludwig.

“Because Fix Our Senate and other ‘pop-ups’ aren’t real nonprofits, they don’t file IRS Form 990 disclosures or publicly report their budgets, boards, or lobbying–making it impossible to trace their donors,” Ludwig explained. “Instead, all that money moves through the Sixteen Thirty Fund, itself created and managed by the for-profit company Arabella Advisors as a way for liberal mega-donors to quietly fund many of the Left’s most extreme causes.”

Ludwig said CRC has “traced about $10 million flowing from Arabella’s network funded by anonymous liberal donors to signatories on Fix Our Senate’s anti-filibuster coalition.”

Prospects for the success of the Schumer/Fix Our Senate campaign to abolish or reform the Senate filibuster suffered a major blow on Jan. 4, when Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) told reporters that he worries that “being open to a rules change that would create a nuclear option, it’s very, very difficult. It’s a heavy lift.”

With the Senate split 50-50, the loss of even one Democratic vote on a filibuster reform proposal would be fatal unless 11 Republicans would then be willing to join the effort, which is highly unlikely.

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Quick note: Tech giants are shutting us down. You know this. Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Adsense, Pinterest permanently banned us. Facebook, Google search et al have shadow-banned, suspended and deleted us from your news feeds. They are disappearing us. But we are here. We will not waver. We will not tire. We will not falter, and we will not fail. Freedom will prevail.

Subscribe to Geller Report newsletter here — it’s free and it’s critical NOW when informed decision making and opinion is essential to America’s survival. Share our posts on your social channels and with your email contacts. Fight the great fight.

Follow me on Gettr. I am there, click here. It’s open and free.

Remember, YOU make the work possible. If you can, please contribute to Geller Report.