Midterm Wildcard: The Black Vote May Be In Play

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In all of the hyper focus on Russia, Mueller, Manafort, Cohen, Stormy, Omarosa and the general gusher of hysterical nonsense from the Democrat-Media Complex, there is a quiet little revolution brewing: The first real cracks in the Democratic Party stranglehold on the black vote are coming into view.

We see signs of this with Kanye West, Kim Kardashian and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, with the rocketing rise of Candace Owens and the black involvement in the #WalkAway movement. We also see it, importantly, in the black church, such as a recent White House faith meeting on prison reform hosted by Trump, where Pastor Darrell Scott called him the “most pro-black president I’ve seen in my lifetime.”

But it is coalescing now in some very tangible ways around actual statistics and actions on the ground that are getting hard for Democrats to ignore, and crack the door open for Republicans and Democrats.

Polls are showing positive movement among minorities in President Trump’s approval ratings, even while he is daily being labeled a racist. While Trump won only 8 percent of the black vote in November 2016, the national NAACP’s own polls now show Trump’s approval rating among blacks at 21 percent — nearly three times higher than his election numbers. That doesn’t necessarily mean he would get 21 percent of the black vote, but it does show substantial movement.

Further, Rasmussen polls now have Trump’s approval ratings among blacks at 36 percent. Rasmussen pulls from a broader and less politicized base of respondents and typically is above the poll averages. But what is important is again the movement. One year ago at this time, Trump’s approvals in this same poll were 19 percent.

And we are even seeing breaks in the NAACP itself at the grassroots level. The Manatee County NAACP in Florida is interviewing all local candidates and has supported one Republican over a Democrat and is planning to support more going forward in the general election.

Rodney Jones, President of the Manatee NAACP, said he is a lifelong Democrat, but that he’s fed up with Democrats taking his vote for granted.

“We don’t see Democrats until election time and that’s the truth,” Jones said on an ABC panel Tuesday night. “I live in the neighborhood. I’ve lived there my entire time and we don’t see Democrats until election time because they come for one purpose and one purpose only, to get votes. After the elections, we don’t see any of them.”

This is not a new sentiment. Frustration with being taken for granted has been growing for some time among black voters. Popular black ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith said in 2015 that all blacks should vote Republican for one election to send a signal. “I definitely believe that the black vote has been taken for granted.”

Smith said Democrats had successfully painted Republicans as opposed to the interests of black Americans and “we’ve bought it hook line and sinker…vast majorities of black Americans look at the Republican Party as the enemy.” It’s time to make politicians earn the vote of black Americans, he said.

That is what Jones is doing in Florida. He is not running to Republicans, but he is leading his organization to look at issues and choose candidates accordingly. And his group is totally onboard with that. This is a concept that has interesting ramifications because Jones considers himself somewhat conservative on a lot of issues — family, faith, personal responsibility — and he thinks American blacks overall are more so than the hitherto party-line voting suggests.

“We’re not letting Republican or Democrat come into our community and set an agenda for us,” Jones said. “I’m kind of anti-Democratic and Republican…The Democratic Party comes out of the deep south, actually out of the Klan and white supremacy.”

To be clear, Jones is not advocating becoming Republican and he is not at all a fan of Trump, considering him a low-character racist.

But this is part of the point. If American blacks begin thinking independently in a political sense — exactly what Kanye is advocating — they may never be majority Republicans, but they will stop being monolithically Democratic. Issue by issue favors Republicans on many topics.

Pew Research has noted that blacks and Hispanics who identify as Democrats are far less likely to consider themselves liberal than white Democrats. This reflects what Jones and his NAACP chapter are saying.

Making this more problematic for Democrats and opportunistic for Republicans is that the Democratic Party is definitely moving further left, even sprinting left. It’s not clear at all that 90 percent of blacks will be onboard with the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez socialism or the intersectional , 72 genders politics of the party elites. In the same way that Democrats are slowing losing the vast center of the country — geographically and politically — they are risking doing the same with the black vote.

American blacks shifting more to issues than to party loyalty would throw Democratic national politics, and probably local politics, into a tailspin. This would not happen overnight. The Democratic death grip has been generational. But a few points per election would be a tectonic shift. It may already under way, as the black vote for the Democratic presidential nominee peaked in 2008, declined in 2012 and plummeted in 2016.

The door is ajar for Republicans, and maybe President Trump.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in The Revolutionary Act.

University System Plans ‘Full Criminal Investigation’ After Confederate Statue Toppled

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The University of North Carolina System is taking action after protesters toppled the statue of a Confederate soldier at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Monday night.

“Campus leadership is in collaboration with campus police, who are pulling together a timeline of the events, reviewing video evidence, and conducting interviews that will inform a full criminal investigation,” UNC System Board Chairman Harry Smith and UNC System President Margaret Spellings said in a statement Tuesday, adding:

The safety and security of our students, faculty, and staff are paramount. And the actions last evening were unacceptable, dangerous, and incomprehensible. We are a nation of laws—and mob rule and the intentional destruction of public property will not be tolerated.

“Around 9:20 p.m. Monday night, a group from among an estimated crowd of 250 protesters brought down the Confederate Monument on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,” UNC Chapel Hill said in an official statement in an email to The Daily Signal.

The statue of the Confederate soldier is known as Silent Sam.

One person has been arrested for “concealing one’s face during a public rally and resisting arrest,” according to Jeni Cook, a spokesperson for the Office of University Communications.

An article on the University of North Carolina’s grad school website describes the statue this way:

Erected in 1913, in remembrance of ‘the sons of the University who died for their beloved Southland 1861-1865,’ the Confederate monument known as Silent Sam stands on McCorkle place, the University’s upper quad, facing Franklin Street. The monument was given to the University by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1909. More than 1000 University men fought in the Civil War. At least 40 percent of the students enlisted, a record not equaled by any other institution, North or South. Sam is silent because he carries no ammunition and cannot fire his gun.

“Last night’s actions were dangerous, and we are very fortunate that no one was injured,” the university’s statement continued. “We are investigating the vandalism and assessing the full extent of the damage.”

The statue toppling is meant to be “smashing white supremacy” at UNC, according to Maya Little, who is charged with vandalism for an April protest and also faces an Honor Court hearing. Little’s remarks were reported by the Associated Press.

COLUMN BY

Portrait of Rachel del Guidice

Rachel del Guidice

Rachel del Guidice is a reporter for The Daily Signal. She is a graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville, Forge Leadership Network, and The Heritage Foundation’s Young Leaders Program. Send an email to Rachel. Twitter: @LRacheldG.

The Daily Signal depends on the support of readers like you. Donate now.

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is of Police surrounding the toppled remains of a Confederate statue on Aug. 20, 2018, at UNC-Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Demonstrators surrounded and obscured the statue with large banners before toppling it. (Photo: Travis Long/TNS/Newscom)

VIDEO: Dana Loesch’s Take on ESPN’s Refusal to Air the Anthem

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“ESPN’s becoming another cable news network at this point… It’s the Anthem. How is the Anthem offensive to anybody?” —Dana Loesch

Elizabeth Warren’s ‘New Deal’ Is Closer to National Socialism than Democratic Socialism

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In an episode of the HBO comedy series Crashing, libertarian Penn Jillette offered this provocative opinion:

The most important revolution in human history, more important than agriculture, more important than writing, is the scientific revolution. The scientific revolution came down to these three words: I don’t know.

Jillette added, “No institution, no church, no king, no power structure had ever said in history, I don’t know.”

The Greek historian Thucydides put it this way: “Ignorance is bold, knowledge reserved.”

It’s hard to find a politician willing to say, “I don’t know.” Senator Elizabeth Warren is no exception. Her ignorance is bold. Recently she proposed The Accountable Capitalism Act. Under her proposed law, Warren and others in government will pretend to know much about that which they know nothing—running every large business in America.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Senator Warren urges Americans to insist “on a new deal.” Under her Accountable Capitalism Act,

Corporations with more than $1 billion in annual revenue would be required to get a federal corporate charter. The new charter requires corporate directors to consider the interests of all major corporate stakeholders—not only shareholders—in company decisions. Shareholders could sue if they believed directors weren’t fulfilling those obligations.

Warren’s language is vague. Kevin Williamson, writing in the National Review, explains what the Accountable Capitalism Act would mean in practice:

The federal government would then dictate to these businesses the composition of their boards, the details of internal corporate governance, compensation practices, personnel policies, and much more.

In short, Williamson concludes that Senator Warren is proposing “the wholesale expropriation of private enterprise in the United States, and nothing less.”

Today, Warren’s proposal has no chance of passing. In a few years, under a democratic socialist president—I almost wrote national socialist president—Warren’s dystopia could become a reality.

Warren believes firms have an “obsession with maximizing shareholder returns.” Warren mistakenly believes that firms fail to consider other stakeholders. Does the United States Post Office or FedEx deliver a better user experience for you? The only firms who don’t consider other stakeholders are monopolies isolated from the forces of competition. To effectively compete, firms routinely consider the interests of customers, employees, suppliers, investors, and others, including the communities in which they locate.

The libertarian founder of Whole Foods, John Mackey has a name for considering all stakeholders, Conscious Capitalism. Mackey writes in his book Conscious Capitalism,

We believe that business is good because it creates value, it is ethical because it is based on voluntary exchange, it is noble because it can elevate our existence, and it is heroic because it lifts people out of poverty and creates prosperity. Free-enterprise capitalism is the most powerful system for social cooperation and human progress ever conceived. It is one of the most compelling ideas we humans have ever had. But we can aspire to something even greater.

The something greater is “higher purposes that serve, align, and integrate the interests of all their major stakeholders.”

In Mackey’s universe, this is all voluntary. For example, Whole Foods has been phasing out the sales of products containing GMOs. This is in response to demand from Whole Foods’ customers. As part of their strategy to maximize profits and attract customers, Whole Foods issues press releases explaining how they listen to customers and farmers and take actions that are good for the environment. Customers are free to buy GMO products from other stores if they prefer.

Warren doesn’t have in mind the voluntary actions of companies which must meet the test of serving consumers. Warner wants corporate decisions to be made by armchair quarterbacks who lack essential tacit knowledge and the knowledge of “particular circumstances of time and place,” as Hayek calls it. Without such knowledge, it is impossible to make decisions that effectively allocate resources to best serve consumers.

Being accountable to all stakeholders is a vague mandate. Williamson warns the intention of the Accountable Capitalism Act is to compel corporations to be “accountable to politicians, who desire to put the assets and productivity of private businesses under political discipline for their own selfish ends.” He adds:

It is remarkable that people who are most keenly attuned to the self-interest of CEOs and shareholders and the ways in which that self-interest influences their decisions apparently believe that members of the House, senators, presidents, regulators, Cabinet secretaries, and agency chiefs somehow are liberated from self-interest when they take office through some kind of miracle of transcendence.

Decision-makers accountable to politicians are a recipe for disaster. Venezuela sits on the worlds’ largest proven oil reserves, yet their socialist decision-makers are so incompetent in running a business that Venezuela has to import oil.

North Korea already has a term for instructions being offered by those who know nothing about enterprise. When Kim Jong-un visits a barely-functioning enterprise and offers inanities prescribing improvements, his instructions are called “field guidance.”

Like his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, and father, Kim Jong-il, Kim tours the county dispensing his bottomless “wisdom” providing instructions for everything from producing more buses to increasing farm yields.

With his “benevolence” and “wisdom” Kim presumably claims to take into account the interests of all stakeholders. In North Korea, there are no messy market dynamics to get in his way.

The North Korean Worker’s Party newspaper has an English-language version. The front page is dedicated to reports of all the places that Kim Jong-un has recently dispensed his field guidance. Recently, he was at a fish farm and Kim “knew” just what the farm needed:

Stressing the need for the farm to become an engine leading the fish farming field of the country and a pioneer, educator and pedigree farm for the dissemination of ultra-modern fish farming technology, he set forth the tasks and ways for it.

He gave valuable teachings concerning the management and operation of the farm and the fish farming field, including the issue of keeping researchers to meet the goal of shortening the catfish production cycle and lowering the feed unit to the worldwide level.

Perhaps you have seen photos of government acolytes engrossed in taking notes as Kim dispenses his “guidance.” Does Warren have in mind the government acolytes she’d like to see running America’s corporations?

North Koreans, having little experience or understanding of a market economy, believe their leader is a living God whose wisdom provides the guidance the economy needs to run. Although citizens barely survive at a level of meager subsistence, North Koreans believe their country is thriving due to their leaders’ greatness.

In her book The Girl with Seven Names, North Korean defector Hyeonseo Lee describes her indoctrination as a child as she came to believe in the divinity of the North Korean despot:

The story of the nativity of…the Dear Leader Kim Jong-il, brought me out in goose bumps. His birth was foretold by miraculous signs in the heavens—a double rainbow over Mount Paektu, swallows singing songs of praise with human voices, and the appearance of a bright new star in the sky. We listened to this and a shudder of awe passed through our small bodies. My scalp tingled. This was pure magic.

Another defector, Yeonmi Park, in her book In Order to Live describes how she came to believe Kim Jong Il was sacrificing himself on her behalf as he delivered field guidance:

In school, we sang a song about Kim Jong Il and how he worked so hard to give our laborers on-the-spot instruction as he traveled around the country, sleeping in his car and eating only small meals of rice balls. “Please, please, Dear Leader, take a good rest for us!” we sang through our tears. “We are all crying for you.”

If you tell me America is a ways away from such a destructive mindset, instilled by generations of propaganda and brutality, I would agree. Yet, economic illiteracy is widespread. Those illiterate of economics “teach” each other through school systems and social media. Among journalists are many hostile to economic freedom. Dissenting views are no longer tolerated. For example, Prager University’s mainstream conservative site was recently censored by Facebook and YouTube.

The vast majority of the population believes the government should “strengthen the economy” and many fear the future. The combination is a combustible mixture. Imagine a major bear market and the resulting spike in fear. Then, it is not so hard to imagine a future president, with a mindset like that of Senator Warren, barnstorming the country dispensing field guidance. Is not President Trump managing trade via “bold ignorance” paving the way for more politicians like Senator Warren?

COLUMN BY

Barry Brownstein

Barry Brownstein

Barry Brownstein is professor emeritus of economics and leadership at the University of Baltimore. He is the author of The Inner-Work of Leadership. To receive Barry’s essays subscribe at Mindset Shifts.

U.S. Creates Landlord Task Force to Strong Arm Property Owners into Renting to the Poor

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Citing a shortage of affordable housing in “higher opportunity neighborhoods,” the Trump administration is strong arming private landlords nationwide into renting to low-income tenants that get government vouchers. This week the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) launched a special Landlord Taskforce to coerce more property owners to accept the taxpayer-funded subsidies (Housing Choice Voucher—HCV) issued to millions of poor people around the country.

HUD Secretary Ben Carson created the special task force after studies conducted by leftist entities found that most landlords don’t accept the government vouchers, especially in nicer neighborhoods.

One of the studies was conducted by the Urban Institute, which is funded by George Soros’ Open Society Foundations (OSF) along with a roster of other leftist supporters. It measured the prevalence and extent of voucher-related discrimination against racial and ethnic minorities and differences between low and high-poverty neighborhoods.

“Voucher holders who want to find housing in an opportunity area—perhaps close to high-quality schools, jobs, and transportation— face even more rejection,” the study reads. “We learned that even if landlords said they accepted vouchers, they may treat voucher holders differently during apartment showings—standing them up at higher rates than control testers.”

Researchers also determined that landlords were more likely to deny government voucher recipients in low poverty areas compared with high poverty areas. The Urban Institute suggests that the government create legal protections for voucher holders and recruit landlords to participate in the program, particularly in low poverty neighborhoods.

The other study, conducted by the Poverty and Inequality Research Lab at John Hopkins University, examined the role landlords play in shaping the residential experience of low and moderate income renters. It focused on Baltimore, Maryland, Dallas, Texas and Cleveland, Ohio and found that recipients of government housing vouchers encounter tremendous discrimination in the private sector because landlords associate significant stigma with the program.

“In theory, the HCV program has the potential to help families move to lower poverty neighborhoods and to access higher quality schools, but it has fallen short of this ideal in part because of a lack of landlords in low-poverty neighborhoods who will accept voucher tenants,” the study reads. Researchers claim that, unlike dozens of studies that examine economic, cultural and institutional mechanisms that trap poor families in low-quality housing and high-poverty neighborhoods, they focused on the role of landlords. The Poverty and Inequality Lab researchers suggest the government expand the pool of voucher landlords.

Trump’s HUD secretary is following the orders of these leftist groups. “These studies tell us that we have a lot of work to do to engage more landlords, so our Housing Choice Voucher Program can offer real choice to the families we serve,” Carson said in an agency statement announcing the new task force.

“We will be traveling the country to hear directly from landlords about how we can make this critical program more user friendly.” To push more private landlords to take the vouchers, HUD will conduct listening forums around the country to figure out ways to expand the program, specifically in “higher opportunity neighborhoods where landlord participation is lowest.”

The landlord engagement campaign will kick of on September 20 in Washington, D.C. before heading to Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Oregon, Philadelphia and Salt Lake City. “After completing these landlord forums, the Landlord Task Force will provide policy recommendations to the Secretary on programmatic changes to increase landlord participation in the HCV Program,” according to the agency press release.

Even after the Trump administration took over, HUD has continued funding many of Barack Obama’s wasteful, socialist programs. Among them is a multi-million-dollar experiment that aims to transform slums into desirable middle-class neighborhoods. Earlier this year, the initiative, known as Choice Neighborhoods, got a $5 million infusion from the Trump administration.

Before that Trump’s HUD gave dozens of leftist groups that purport to fight housing discrimination $37 million. The biggest chunk—$999,962—went to NFHA, which had just attacked the president for terminating an Obama program (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals—DACA) that protects hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants living in the U.S.

Federal Judge’s Decision In Favor Of Pro-Life Sidewalk Counselors Appealed by the New York Attorney General

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Less than a month ago, we announced that Federal District Court Judge Carol Bagley Amon ruled that our clients, Angela Braxton and Jasmine Lalande as well as eleven other pro-life sidewalk counselors sued by the New York Attorney General’s Office (OAG), did not violate any laws and did not harass or intimidate women seeking abortions at the Choices abortion facility in Jamaica Queens, New York.

Monday, (8/20/18), the New York Attorney General’s Office filed a notice with the court that it was appealing Judge Amon’s ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The OAG appeal is not surprising, considering the fanfare accompanying the initial announcement of this lawsuit last summer, and the massive resources expended in the year-long investigation.

Judge Amon’s ruling was a devastating blow to the Attorney General’s Office. Last summer, in a highly publicized press conference held in front of the Choices abortion facility, then-New York Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman (who later resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct), announced his federal lawsuit against the thirteen sidewalk counselors claiming they obstructed, harassed and intimidated women who were seeking abortions at the Choices facility. He petitioned the federal court to create a sixteen-foot buffer zone around abortion premises and levy fines, attorney fees and compensatory damages against the Defendants.

After an extensive hearing held between February 12 and March 6, 2018, and oral arguments heard on May 22, 2018, Judge Amon rendered her written 103-page opinion which stated that there was not a single video introduced into evidence which substantiated the OAG’s allegations against the sidewalk counselors, which sought to ban them from further sidewalk counseling. Additionally, Judge Amon found the witnesses called to testify on behalf of the abortion clinic produced by the OAG were not credible.

Despite Eric Schneiderman’s departure, the pro-abortion forces continue their zealous anti-life campaign. When he first announced his lawsuit against the pro-life sidewalk counselors, he made the astonishing remark that this is “not a nation where you can choose your point of view.”

Even though there’s a new Attorney General in New York, the pro-abortion agenda remains. Pro-abortionists will not rest until this nation becomes a place where your only point of view is pro-abortion. TMLC, as always, will remain steadfast in its defense of the pro-life cause.

Target Still Hasn’t Learned Its Lesson

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As the nation prepares for the back-to-school season, Target still hasn’t learned its lesson.

Earlier this summer, a voyeur was caught taking pictures of two sisters in a Detroit-area Target changing room. This frightening incident is not the first to happen at Target because of its dangerous and misguided restroom and fitting room policy—and it won’t be the last.

What was Target thinking when it proudly announced to the world in April 2016 that it allows men to use women’s restrooms and changing areas in its stores? Certainly not that voyeurs and predators are looking for places where they can victimize women and children, otherwise, the retailer would have never made such a perilous business decision.

Just days after that announcement, the American Family Association initiated #BoycottTarget, a movement that has brought together American families who have said “enough is enough.” More than 1.5 million people have signed the boycott pledge, vowing not to shop at Target until the company reverses its politically correct but potentially dangerous policy. These families—and AFA’s boycott—have had a significant effect on both Target’s foot traffic and sales.

As millions are doing their back-to-school shopping, AFA continues to remind families that shopping at Target just isn’t worth the risk. Even though Target continues to be unapologetic, the #BoycottTarget efforts are having impact. But beyond the financial implications for the company, this is an important cultural issue, and Target chose to make itself the example by issuing a proactive statement on its not only controversial but alienating policy.

AFA has made it clear since the boycott began that our worries do not stem from fear of the transgender community, but rather from the very real threat that predators and voyeurs, or anyone with evil intentions, would take advantage of the Target bathroom policy to harm women and children. And they have.

Besides the incident near Detroit this summer, there are other frightening examples of predators taking advantage of Target’s policy. You can find some of those examples on our #BoycottTarget webpage at www.afa.net/Target.

Despite the dangers, Target has not budged on its policy, other than to state that family restrooms would be installed in stores not already equipped with them. That’s not enough. Women’s restrooms and fitting rooms still have an open door to potential predators, putting mothers, daughters, wives and children at risk.

This boycott will not end until all are safe in Target restrooms and changing areas. With enough pressure, I truly believe America’s families can stop this insanity before more women and children become victims and are scarred with experiences they can never forget.

Here’s the bottom line: Target is still presenting risk and danger to women and children. But since the start of the #BoycottTarget initiative, concerned families and shoppers are making an unprecedented impact on a corporation whose policy is to allow men to use women’s restrooms and dressing rooms.

Target’s actions are unacceptable for families, and this policy continues to put women and children in harm’s way. We must keep the pressure on Target by avoiding stores during back-to-school shopping and educate Target to the fact that its bathroom policy earns a failing grade.

  1. If you haven’t already, sign the #BoycottTarget pledge. Invite your family and friends to sign the pledge too.
  2. Forward this information to friends and family. Invite them to sign the boycott pledge at www.afa.net/target.
  3. Call Target headquarters at 612-304-6073 and personally let them know you are boycotting their stores.

If our mission resonates with you, please consider supporting our work financially with a tax-deductible donation. The easiest way to do that is through online giving. It is easy to use, and most of all, it is secure.

Get Clean: The Importance of Admitting Your Drug-Dependent Child into Rehab

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Drug addiction often starts at teenage years. It’s when peer-pressure, parties, and the young mind’s curiosity to try new things that drive an adolescent into using substances that are addictive.

Science has provided us with a myriad of evidence on how addictive drugs cause people to act differently, which can often be destructive to the person’s self or the people around him or her.  Feelings of hostility, states of depression, and changes in eating habits are only a few of the symptoms of drug addiction.

If your adolescent child shows the signs, it’s crucial that you take actions. Admitting him/her into a drug rehabilitation center for teens can be a huge help. For your knowledge, here’s the importance and everything you need to know about teen rehab.

What Happens in a Teen Rehab Facility?

The activities, as well as forms of treatment, may vary from one drug rehabilitation center to another.  But you as a parent or guardian of the patient can expect regular activities and sessions in a rehab center.

Of course, there are therapy sessions and timely medical examinations every day. The rehab center also provides the basic needs of its residents such as their daily meals and snacks and physical exercises. Academic activities and social sessions with their fellows in recovery are also set up by a teen rehab center so that the patients won’t feel alone in their problem.

The Benefits of Admitting Your Child into a Teen Rehab

There are several benefits that a drug rehab center can provide drug-addicted adolescents and their parents. Here are the things on top of the list.

Fresh Environment. The time that you admit your drug-dependent child into rehab, you also provide him or her a new environment away from the usual pressures that allow him or her to use drugs. In the rehab center, your teen can have a fresh start and find new opportunities that can help him or her to live a drug-free life.

New Learning. Adolescents are more open-minded than adults in learning new ideas. As such, changing for the better is not a far-fetched idea for them. A teen rehab center can assist them to discover new and healthy lifestyles so that they won’t slide back to their drug addiction.

Discipline. Teen rehab centers have a disciplinary regimen that their residents should follow. With the strict schedule, the teens in recovery can instill self-discipline and healthy routines so that they’ll maintain their sobriety even after their stint in rehab.

A Breather for the Family. Aside from the person hooked by drug addiction, it also puts a significant impact on the parents and relatives. Thus, it provides parents and relatives the much-needed timeout if their drug-dependent loved ones enter rehab. It doesn’t mean that you shirk away from responsibilities, but you simply help the person start his or her process of healing.

Family Support. Family therapy is one of the treatment sessions in a teen rehab center. Not only that it helps the patient in his or her stint in rehab, but family therapy also proves helpful when the patient comes home. It also assists parents on how to build a healthy relationship with their loved one who is in recovery.

Takeaway

Drug addiction is indeed a serious problem. It victimizes persons from all age brackets, especially teens. Drug addiction takes a toll on the person’s brain function and behavior, and it leads to relationship breakups, crimes, and even death.

That’s why it’s essential that you provide help to your loved one who is dependent on drugs. You should admit the person into a drug rehab so that proper treatments are provided for his or her recovery. You can check rehab centers such as Aurora Recovery Centre for that purpose.

VIDEO: Illegal Alien Charged with Murder of Mollie Tibbetts

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Fox News reports:

Cristhian Bahena Rivera

An illegal immigrant from Mexico stands accused of killing college student Mollie Tibbetts and dumping her body in an Iowa cornfield — after he allegedly accosted her during a July 18 jog and she threatened to call police.

Cristhian Bathena Rivera, 24, was charged with first-degree murder Tuesday in Tibbetts’ death, officials confirmed.

Authorities said Rivera, who lived in the rural Poweshiek County area, is being held on a federal immigration detainer. He’s believed to have been in the area for four to seven years.

The body of Tibbetts, a 20-year-old University of Iowa student, was found Tuesday in a field covered with corn stalks.

Authorities said Rivera, who lived in the rural Poweshiek County area, is being held on a federal immigration detainer. He’s believed to have been in the area for four to seven years.

The body of Tibbetts, a 20-year-old University of Iowa student, was found Tuesday in a field covered with corn stalks.

Read more.

RELATED ARTICLE: Donald Trump Jr. slams Elizabeth Warren for Mollie Tibbetts response: ‘You can’t make this crap up’

RELATED VIDEO: The Blood of Mollie Tibbetts.

Democratic Socialism Doesn’t Exist: Like the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot, Democratic Socialism Exists Only in Myth

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With the upset primary victory of self-proclaimed “democratic socialist”Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over long-time Democrat representative Joe Crowley, democratic socialism is receiving another boost of popularity in certain quarters of the country. Given the increasing popularity of socialism among young voters especially, it’s clear a basic truth (one might even call it an “inconvenient truth”) needs to be explained: so-called democratic socialism is a mythological creature. It is the Loch Ness Monster of political economy.

Socialism, as consistently defined by both those who support and oppose it, is predicated on the absence of private property. In fact, Karl Marx was adamant that socialism would bring about the end of “private ownership of the means of production.” This would mean the end of individuals and corporations owning, improving, and exchanging resources, goods, and services. The elimination of private property is a central feature of socialism. (For an excellent explanation of the differences between capitalism and socialism, I highly recommend this book by J. Barkley Rosser, Jr. and Marina Rosser.)

This emphasis on the elimination of private property is important because candidates like Ocasio-Cortez, or Bernie Sanders before her, continuously misrepresent what a socialist system is. By hailing certain Nordic countries as successful examples of democratic socialism, these candidates mislead people about the true nature of both socialism and capitalism. The fact is that the very countries Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez praise have market-capitalist economies.

Not only are they market-capitalist systems, several of them rank higher than the U.S. in economic freedom comparisons. While most of these countries have higher taxes and spend more on social services than does the United States, those are not the measures of whether or not a system is capitalist or socialist. Every single one of these nations’ economies functions through markets which allow individual ownership and voluntary exchange.

Moreover, what is rarely mentioned by those praising the success of these countries’ publicly-provided benefits is that several of them are now struggling to maintain those benefits. As the above-referenced Rossers note in their book, Sweden has had a worker absenteeism rate of nearly twenty-five percent since 1990, its high tax rates are thought to have contributed to a loss in the country’s labor supply of six to ten percent, and it has been moving to privatize many state functions.

Equally important in debunking the democratic socialist myth, is the fact that no truly socialist system has ever been compatible (or even tried to be) with democracy. Friedrich Hayek explained why socialism was ultimately irreconcilable with democratic processes in his famous work The Road to Serfdom. Hayek explained that the very nature of economic planning—an essential feature of socialism—would gradually lead to the abandonment of democratic processes. Wrote Hayek:

Yet agreement that planning is necessary, together with the inability of democratic assemblies to produce a plan, will evoke stronger and stronger demands that the government or some single individual should be given powers to act on their own responsibility. The belief is becoming more and more widespread that, if things are going to get done, the responsible authorities must be freed from the fetters of democratic procedure.

A simple examination of any country which fully embraced the mantle of socialism will demonstrate the validity of Hayek’s assertion. The history of countries such as the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, and North Korea stand as glaring examples. Even in Venezuela, where Hugo Chavez, a dedicated socialist, was democratically elected as president in 1999, he quickly began moving to undermine the very democratic institutions that had put him into power.

As the economic crisis ravaged Venezuela following his death, Chavez’s successor, Nicolas Maduro, increasingly resorted to undemocratic means to maintain power.

The need of socialism to control all aspects of economic activity will necessarily lead those in power to restrict the available choices and decisions of individuals. This course of action will also require them to reduce the political power of those individuals to protect the plans of those in charge.

Again, history demonstrates this truth. No single country that has attempted to incorporate the abolition of private property and institute state ownership of the means of production has done so through democratic institutions and processes. In every case, this transition was not carried out through the peaceful means of debate, persuasion, negotiation, and votes but through the power of the gun. They literally killed millions of people (intentionally and unintentionally) to accomplish their socialist vision.

Socialist revolutions have always advocated the abolition of markets and private property. The fact that this has always been forced on populations through violence rather than democratic procedures, and the fact that the people within these countries became impoverished, should tell us something about this system.

Ultimately, socialism is incompatible with democracy because democracy, like market capitalism, allows power to flow to the individual. Democracy tolerates dissent, individual differences, and a multitude of different priorities. Market capitalism allows those differences to be managed peacefully through voluntary exchange. As Hayek warned, socialism cannot tolerate such differences nor the democratic institutions that promote their peaceful coexistence.

When candidates like Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez refer to countries with market capitalist economies as “socialist,” it creates confusion about what socialism truly is and how it impacts both individuals and societies.

The experiment of socialism has devastated the social, political, and economic institutions that facilitate both economic growth and democracy in every country in which it has been attempted. In its wake, it has left death and misery for the very people for which it was supposedly enacted.

As with the Loch Ness Monster, there are many who have claimed to have seen democratic socialism and its wonderful benefits. However, like sightings of “Nessie,” on examination, the claims of democratic socialism unravel. What Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, and their supporters label as democratic socialism is actually market capitalism with a robust (some argue unsustainable) social safety net.

Regardless, it is time to place sightings of this mythical creature in the same category as those of Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Abominable Snowman. That’s where discussions of democratic socialism belong.

COLUMN BY

James Davenport

James Davenport

James Davenport is an award-winning professor of political science at Rose State College and has also taught economics at the University of Central Oklahoma. You can find him online here.

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Democratic Socialism Will Destroy America

A Socialist Nightmare in Venezuela

VIDEO: Montana Governor Steve Bullock Moves Toward Gun Control

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Dana Loesch on Montana Governor Steve Bullock’s move toward gun control:

“It’s a typical, slimy, unprincipled, political move. It’s so swamp. And the worst part: Democrats will let him get away with it, so long as he kisses all the right anti-gun rings.”

RELATED ARTICLE: Judges stymie profs’ efforts to overturn campus carry

VIDEO: Jewish Students Speak About Anti-Semitism at George Washington University

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Whenever Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) or other anti-Israel activists initiate a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign, Jewish students become fearful of the accompanying anti-Semitism. This is exactly what happened in April 2018, at George Washington University (GWU).

The ugly face of BDS at  #GWU: Jewish students voice their fears again and again, student government ignores them and votes for a secret ballot to push BDS through with zero accountability.

Please retweet #BDSisAntiSemitic

RELATED ARTICLE: CAIR in the Classroom: Islamist Group Partnering with Public Schools

Massachusetts’ Taxpayers sue over anti-Semitic, pro-Islam public school lessons

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At last, some push back against what is a nationwide problem.

“Massachusetts Taxpayers Sue Over Anti-Semitic, Pro-Islam School Lessons,” by Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon, August 17, 2018:

A group of Massachusetts-based taxpayers are suing the school committee in the city of Newton, a wealthy, liberal enclave, over what they claim is the leadership’s ongoing promotion of anti-Semitic school materials and the promotion of Islamic religious beliefs, according to an announcement from the organization handling the lawsuit.

Education Without Indoctrination, a local community group driving the lawsuit, “claims multiple violations of the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law stemming from the school committee’s handling of a burgeoning scandal over anti-Semitic lessons and the promotion of Islamic religious beliefs as objective facts in the public school district’s history classes,” according to a press release from the group.

The lawsuit stems from a controversy of Newton Public Schools use of what the group claims are “unvetted educational materials” produced by the Saudi Arabian oil company ARAMCO and the Qatari government, which has long been cited for its funding of terrorism.

“In teaching world history, Newton Public Schools (NPS) use unvetted educational materials funded by the Saudi oil company ARAMCO and the government of Qatar. As a result, Newton public school students are propagandized with materials that slander Israel and the Jewish people, and that falsify history to promote the Islamic religion in public schools,” the press release states.

“Just this past May, Newton North High School invited an anti-Semitic group to screen Palestinian propaganda films to its students,” it continues. “For this, NPS Superintendent David Fleishman earned a rebuke from the New England branch of the Anti-Defamation League and Boston’s Jewish Community Relations Council.”

Concerned parents have been stonewalled in their attempts to gain information from the school leadership about these activities, the group claims….

Colleges Are Turning Red Students Radically Blue

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A good friend of mine recently attended his daughter’s high school graduation and was amazed at the high number of students attending prestigious universities around the nation. That includes his daughter, who is traveling across the continent to attend Stanford University.

The high school is located in a very conservative part of Southwest Florida just littered with churches, Republican Clubs and Trump supporters. Most of the transplants are from Midwest states. In other words, this is very red America, and presumably a high number of those graduating students reflect their parents’ values. Certainly my friend’s daughter does.

At this moment. And that’s the rub.

Our university systems are increasingly focused on turning red students radically blue. This is not a stated goal, of course. It’s simply the reality on the ground — taking generally conservative, pro-America Christian students and indoctrinating them over four years into progressive, anti-America non-Christian students. While there are certainly exceptions, the numbers depressingly bear out the effectiveness of this indoctrination.

According to Campus Renewal, more than 70 percent of teens who confess Christianity when they enter college reject Christianity by the time they leave four years later. Previous studies have placed it between 65 and 80 percent. So roughly three out of every four.

Of course some percentage of young people will leave the faith when they leave home anyway. That has always been the case, as William Wilberforce explained more than 200 years ago. But the percentages are significantly lower in that group. So if you have a youth group with 20 kids that go to college, the odds are only five or six will still be Christians four years later. Those are just the facts, and that should be deeply sobering for parents, pastors and priests.

There are virtually no studies on the shift in political views of people before and after college, perhaps because so many are still so young they have not formed firm enough worldviews yet to create a data set. But considering the dominance of liberal professors and the monolithically progressive environment that young, impressionable students are thrown into for four years, it is only reasonably to expect a similar level of influence and “flipping” among them.

This picture is partially painted just from faculty political affiliations. In an article published by the National Association of Scholars, entitled “Homogeneous: The Political Affiliations of Elite Liberal Arts College Faculty,” Brooklyn College professor Mitchell Langbert shows this in pure, dominating numbers. Langbert examined the political affiliations of doctorate-holding faculty members at 51 of the top 66 liberal arts colleges listed by U.S. News & World Report.

His findings are astonishing. Fully 39 percent of the colleges in his sample have no Republican doctorate faculty on staff. Not one.

Langbert also looked at the total Democrat-to-Republican faculty ratios at the most elite colleges. At Williams College, the Democrat-to-Republican ratio is 132-to-1; Amherst College, 34-to-1; Wellesley College, 136-to-1; Davidson College, 10-to-1; Swarthmore College, 120-to-1. Only two colleges of the top 66 are even close to having an even faculty: the U.S. Military Academy (West Point) with a Democrat-to-Republican ratio of 1.3-to-1, and the U.S. Naval Academy, with a ratio 2.3-to-1.

Many on the left and in the media have dismissed such studies by claiming that the GOP has moved far right and so actually it left academia. That doesn’t really pass the smell test, but Sam Abrams, writing at Heterodox Academy, plotted graphs comparing where university faculty stand on the political spectrum and where the American people stand. What he demonstrates is that as liberal as universities were as recently as the 1990s, they are dramatically more so now.

“Professors were more liberal than the country in 1990, but only by about 11 percentage points. By 2013, the gap had tripled; it is now more than 30 points. It seems reasonable to conclude that it is academics who shifted, as there is no equivalent movement among the masses whatsoever.”

This dominance, and the obsequiousness of college administrators, reveals itself in the shift in curriculum.

In 64 of the top 76 universities in the country, students can get a history degree without any American history. Wisconsin is entirely dropping history as a major. So is California. Less than 3 percent of colleges require history or civics to get a degree. This all explains why 75 percent of students support socialism, but can neither define it or give one successful example of it. Ignorance of history is foundational to indoctrination. It’s a form of Orwell’s Memory Hole in “1984.”

This is about as objective as is available right now: Comparing the polling on Christian students, the smothering monolithically Democratic faculty, the leftward lurch compared to the rest of the country and the dramatic shift in curriculum, and the outcome becomes not only obvious, but predictable.

In “What’s So Great About Christianity,” Dinesh D’Souza, makes the broader point about public schools through universities:

“Children spend the majority of their waking hours in school. Parents invest a good portion of their life savings in college education and entrust their offspring to people who are supposed to educate them. Isn’t it wonderful that educators have figured out a way to make parents the instruments of their own undoing? Isn’t it brilliant that they have persuaded Christian moms and dads to finance the destruction of their own beliefs and values? Who said atheists aren’t clever?”

The same holds true about Democrats and political radicalization.

An indicator of the veracity of this truth is that the most liberal of media outlets, such as The New York Times and Vox have been working hard to show that while all these facts may be true, college is not making students more liberal, or professors aren’t doing so, or maybe colleges are just opening students’ eyes — depending on the publication.

In other words, they’re providing cover for the indoctrinators.

The students with the best ability to weather the storm of the politically progressive, theologically anti-Christian college years are those whose parents and churches equip them with strong defenses for their beliefs. Without that they walk into a four-year, sustained assault on everything they believe and the statistics are clear what happens.

There is one silver lining. The small percentage that survive the fires of liberal programming over four years, are some of the most stalwart young conservatives out there and are far more adept at defending their views than their peers on the left who were seldom, if ever, challenged in their worldviews. (See: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.)

Even this small percentage worries the progressive gatekeepers such as the New York Times. And that, at least, is a good thing.

RELATED ARTICLE: Yale honors prof who enraged students by defending free speech

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared on The Revolutionary Act. The featured image is by ISTOCK/IZUSEK.

Shadow Government Psychopaths and the Deep State

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There is a system in place, a clandestine, sophisticated network that controls the world we live in. It creates the narrative that permeates throughout the world and becomes the false reality we have all come to know as our way of life. Our civilization is entering the beginning stages of a major collision, and a much-needed course correction is in order. President Trump and we the people must meet this challenge. Failure is not an option. This Shadow Govt. Psychopaths and the Deep State, are now being exposed and are on the run. The pendulum has shifted. We are winning.

Psychopaths & Sociopaths

The world is run by insane people with insane objectives. These individuals are living in a chronic state of fear and believe that everyone is a threat to them and to their very survival. They are crazy. They seek to dominate. They seek absolute control over every aspect of our lives. They seek to suppress and to destroy. They are warmongers and dictators. Many of the men are dressed in expensive business suits and the women in expensive pant suits. Unlike most of the human race, they carry out their acts with absolutely no conscience whatsoever as they are deranged and detached from the light of God to such an extent that evil permeates through them. You should know by now who these individuals are, and if you don’t you will be able to identify them soon, once you come to learn about False Flag Operations, Problem-Reaction-Solution, and the Hegelian Dialectic. Explore these categories on my blog site for more information.

These psychopaths and sociopaths are hard to detect, as they are intelligent, clever, artful, and often rise to positions of power. Many of these individuals are sexual deviants, pedophiles, and belong to demonic groups as recently released by Wikileaks. They are very manipulative and have seized power and control over every aspect of our lives, our speech, and even our thoughts. They have infiltrated and corrupted our education system, health-care system, religious institutions, the media, and most all forms of entertainment. They have seized control over and poisoned our food supply and all natural resources. Yes, it is this shadow government that controls the world in which live, making Earth and its inhabitants prisoners on a prison planet. Now please don’t shoot me, I am only the messenger. So how do they do this?

The Big Club

They formed, own, and control the “big club” and like the comedian George Carlin said,  “You and me, we ain’t in it.” We are nothing more than pawns on the chessboard of life being used as they so choose. They think of us and describe us as useless eaters. So who is part of the big club? The big club can be described as an intricate, interconnected web of organizations, corporations, religions, and governments mostly made up of unelected leaders, many of whom are inbred.

But once again we are winning. We are at steps six and seven on the scale of discovery and action. Trust the plan. Learn more about Q.

And remember this: “No matter how paranoid or conspiracy-minded you are, what the government is doing is worse than you imagine.” – William Blum (former U.S. State Dept. employee).

EDITORS NOTE: Mr. Chambers was nominated for the 24th Annual Colorado Independent Publishers Association EVVY Awards – LEARN MORE. Readers may follow Mr. Chambers at John Michael Chambers Author, John Michael Chambers Speaker, John Michael Chambers Blog, Facebook Eye on the World, Facebook Author, Facebook Economic Institute.