National Black Pro-Life Union President Endorses Trump

Day GardnerBy Day Gardner, President of the National Black Pro-Life Union:

I have been involved in the pro-life movement for more than 15 years. This is the very first time I have ever felt moved to endorse a presidential candidate.

I, like all of America have been watching with amazement this spectacle unfold.

I was amazed and for a while baffled at the way in which the GOP and establishment conservatives started bashing and trashing Donald J. Trump, a man who has been leading in the polls from the very beginning and has millions and millions of staunch supporters.

Why would they do that?  The answer came back to me that it was fear of the unknown and of the untried.

The GOP elite and establishment conservatives also fear that with President Trump they won’t be able to cast their lines into ponds of their choosing—they also fear that they can’t reel that line in whenever they want to.  The thing is, with TRUMP, they don’t even have a pole!  We the people are the pole and the line is attached from him directly to us.  What a concept.

We all know that America is in deep trouble — but we have come to an impasse.

We are expected to sit back and do the same old thing, the same old way, by voting for the same old establishment politicians.  They smile in our faces while patting each other on the back for successfully tricking us one more time – one more political season.

Make no mistake I believe without Trump, Hillary Clinton will win.

WITHOUT President Trump, we will be stuck with the status quo.

Read more.

Trump Says Hold Women Who Have Abortions Accountable — Why he is right!

Steven Ertelt of LifeNews.com wrote an article titled, “The Inept Thing Donald Trump Said About Women Who Have Abortions is Making Pro-Lifers Cringe.” Ertelt wrote:

While pro-life advocates yearn for the day when unborn children are protected under law and abortions are banned, the pro-life movement has historically opposed punishing women who have abortions — instead focusing on holding abortion practitioners criminally accountable for the unborn children they kill in abortions.

But who makes the decision to get pregnant and then decides to abort the unborn baby? Answer: The woman!

The pro-life movement is being politically correct, but does that stop women from getting pregnant and then seeking an abortion? Are they failing to discern an overall pattern from a mass of detail; to see the big picture, or the broader, more general situation. Are pro-lifers, like Ertelt, failing to see the forest for the trees?

This is, forgive the metaphor, a classic chicken and the egg causality dilemma. If you want to protect the egg, you must insure the chicken doesn’t lay the egg until it understands the moral and social importance of the egg.

The only thing that stops a women from getting pregnant are the words: NO, I WON’T!

Alexis de Tocqueville, in his seminal critique of the newly formed United States titled “Democracy in America“, wrote:

“[N]ow that I am drawing to the close of this work, in which I have spoken of so many important things done by the Americans, to what the singular prosperity and growing strength of that people ought mainly to be attributed, I should reply: To the superiority of their women.”

It is therefore incumbent that we, as a society and culture, do everything possible to help women become “superior.” For as de Tocqueville noted over 200 years ago the “singular prosperity and growing strength” of America is due to the “superiority” of our women.

It is a superior woman’s choice to get pregnant.

With the exception of rape, a heinous crime against women which the United Nations has yet to call a hate crime, it is up to women to make the decision on becoming a mother. It is the woman who is the giver of life. It is the woman who carries the burden and joy of pregnancy. It is the woman who raises her child or children to become good adults and follow her example.

Women who make the right choices should be emulated and rewarded. Those who make bad choices should neither be subsidized nor imitated.

A superior woman is a strong woman, a moral woman and a prosperous woman. A weak woman does not make the right decision when it comes to life choices, the most important being to bear a child. It is the weak woman who is historically poor, dependent on government and who ultimately decides to murder her mistake.

For decades the pro-choice movement has made a women’s right to murder her unborn baby their mantra. They demand that government stay out of their wombs but want government to pay for their abortions. An oxymoron, which gives government approval to literally enter their wombs.

If the pro-choicers are correct, then who must make the final pregnancy decision? Answer: The one with a womb.

Defunding Planned Parenthood and closing abortion clinics does not solve the fundamental issue of women having babies and then deciding to kill them. What must change is how women view their role as a woman. Quite simply its how women look at having sex and one of the outcomes of doing so, getting pregnant.

Efforts to provide education, public funding for contraception devices, government counseling services and pro-life protests have all failed to address the most important part of the equation – the Woman!

Perhaps it is now time to break this politically correct mantra of not holding the woman, and men, responsible. “It takes two to tango!” Men have an equal, if not greater, responsibility should their wife, girlfriend or significant other become pregnant.

I believe Donald Trump has it right. This issue is not about placing blame, rather it is all about personal responsibility.

What must be ultimately restored is nothing less than the “superiority of the American woman”.

RELATED ARTICLE: How Liberal Policies Destroyed Black Families

RELATED VIDEO: Full Donald Trump Town Hall With Chris Matthews:

Small business desperately seeking candidate to grow the economy, cut taxes/healthcare costs

NEW YORK, NY /PRNewswire/ — A new survey released today by OnDeck® (NYSE: ONDK), the leader in online lending for small business, found that as the presidential primary progresses, small business owners are losing faith in candidates on both sides of the aisle. The survey is the second from OnDeck examining the attitudes of small business owners tied to the 2016 presidential election and reveals that 34 percent do not have confidence in any of the current candidates, up from 25 percent in a survey taken last fall.

With declining faith in the current crop of presidential candidates, small business owners surveyed expressed nostalgia for a past U.S. president they deemed a friend to small business: Ronald Reagan. The 40th President was overwhelmingly selected by more than four in ten small business owners (42 percent) as the best president for small business, trailed by Bill Clinton (17 percent) and President Barack Obama (14 percent). For more top findings, see OnDeck’s Small Business and the Election infographic:

SMBElectionIIv2c032316

Navigating an Uncertain Political Climate

According to the OnDeck survey, small business owners are looking to candidates this election season to address three critical issues: economic growth (67 percent), tax policy (46 percent) and healthcare costs (35 percent).  In order to help small businesses in the near term, some respondents would like to see the federal government cut taxes (36 percent), reduce healthcare costs (19 percent), invest in infrastructure improvement (13 percent), and cease increases in the minimum wage (13 percent).

“Small business owners are keenly interested in this year’s presidential election as they grapple with some big issues tied to economic growth and health care costs,” said James Hobson, Chief Operating Officer at OnDeck. “Given their active participation in past presidential elections, candidates would be wise to engage this vast voting constituency of 28 million small business owners.”

Small Business Owners Get Out the Vote 

The OnDeck survey indicates that as a population, small business owners are actively engaged in the electoral process. In fact, nine in 10 business owners say they voted in the last presidential election. Nearly all small business owner respondents (95 percent) are registered voters, three in 10 made a donation to a Democrat or Republican candidate in the last election and a quarter have already made a political donation during this primary election season.

When asked to select the presidential contender who they think has the best interests of small business in mind, Donald Trump (37 percent), Bernie Sanders (28 percent), and Hillary Clinton (16 percent) topped the list.

Survey Methodology

This survey of 531 small business owners was conducted online via Facebook between February 29 and March 14, 2016.

About OnDeck

OnDeck (NYSE: ONDK) is the leader in online small business lending. Since 2007, the company has powered Main Street’s growth through advanced lending technology and a constant dedication to customer service. OnDeck’s proprietary credit scoring system – the OnDeck Score® – leverages advanced analytics, enabling OnDeck to make real-time lending decisions and deliver capital to small businesses in as little as 24 hours. OnDeck offers business owners a complete financing solution, including the online lending industry’s widest range of term loans and lines of credit. To date, the company has deployed over $4 billion to more than 45,000 customers in 700 different industries across the United States, Canada and Australia. OnDeck has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and operates the educational small business financing website www.businessloans.com. For more information, please visit www.ondeck.com.

Florida Becomes the 12th State To De-fund Planned Parenthood

TALLAHASSEE, FL – Gov. Rick Scott signed HB 1411 into law, which significantly cuts taxpayer funding to all abortion clinics in the state of Florida, including Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in America. Florida is now the 12th state to defund Planned Parenthood from accessing state taxpayer dollars after Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin.

All of these states have restricted Planned Parenthood from receiving state taxpayer funds since the historic work of David Daleiden who exposed Planned Parenthood this past summer with an extensive undercover sting operation showing the organization negotiating the sale of babies’ body parts, and engaging in other fraud, waste and illegal activity.

The funds currently being sent to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers in Florida for legitimate woman’s health care, will now be available to hundreds of low-cost federally qualified community health clinics in the state that can provide a more comprehensive and geographically accessible range of women’s health services.

Florida Family Policy Council (FFPC) has been conducting a sustained campaign since October 2015 urging Governor Scott to use his appropriate executive authority to terminate all state contracts with the abortion giant Planned Parenthood. In spite of receiving tens of thousands of communications from Florida voters, the governor has refused to do so, until now providing a variety of excuses, mainly claiming that he could not take action due to federal law.  The FFPC publicly refuted his arguments and excuses, insisting the Governor had the legal authority and moral duty to terminate contracts with Planned Parenthood, just as other governors around the country had done.

Since the time the legislature passed the bill HB 1411, Planned Parenthood has run a major ad campaign trying to block the bill’s final approval.  Part of this effort involved deliberate misrepresentations that the bill required “dentists” to provide women’s health care.  Articles making this false argument appeared nationally on MSNBC and even in the British Newspaper the Guardian.  FFPC set the record straight with a letter sent to Governor Scott regarding the facts of the hundreds of other health care providers that can perform the women’s health services instead of abortion providers.

FFPC President John Stemberger issued the following statement regarding the Governor’s signature of HB 1411:

“This is a historic victory and we are thrilled to have been an active part of this effort.  We are so grateful to the Republican leadership in the Florida House and Florida Senate for making this happen.  They collectively did what the Governor failed to do, namely, provided leadership on this critical issue and made it happen.  We are nonetheless pleased that Governor Scott did follow the Florida Legislature’s lead in this matter and signed this important bill into law.  The real heroes in this victory are Senator Kelli Stargel (R) and Representative Colleen Burton (R) both of Lakeland.  These women are to be commended for their courage and conviction, leading on this issue which voters have been concerned about for decades.  Finally, we applaud Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) for their legal expertise and research without which this victory may not have taken place.”

Specifically, the newly signed law:

  • Prohibits Florida governmental institutions and managed care providers from entering into new Medicaid contracts with Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers that provide elective abortions.
  • Cuts Title X family planning service contracts with Planned Parenthood in Broward and Collier Counties.

The bill also has a number of provisions to help ensure the safety of women seeking abortions including, increased inspections of abortion clinics; mandated reporting of abortion statistics to the CDC; improved abortion clinic regulations bringing them into conformity with other ambulatory surgical centers; and prohibited actions regarding fetal remains. The law will go into effect July 1, 2016.

kinsey flow chart

VIDEO: They’re mainstreaming pedophilia!

Alfred Kinsey’s ongoing sexual anarchy campaign has no end in sight.

Matt Barber, associate dean of the Liberty University School of Law, and I attended the “B4U-ACT” pedophile conference Aug. 17. To eliminate the “stigma” against pedophiles, this growing sexual anarchist lobby wants the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to redefine pedophilia as a normal sexual orientation of “Minor-Attracted Persons.”

Adhering to the Kinsey principle of lulling “straights” into a false sense of security, pedophile dress was largely conservative – short hair, jackets, some ties and few noticeable male ear piercings.

Matt Barber and I sat in the back of the meeting room among roughly 50 activists and their “mental health” attending female enablers. “Pedophilia, Minor-Attracted Persons, and the DSM: Issues and Controversies,” keynoted “Fred Berlin, M.D., Ph.D., as founder, National Institute for the Study, Prevention and Treatment of Sexual Trauma; Johns Hopkins Sexual Disorders Clinic.”

However, the sex clinic was initially founded by John Money, Ph.D., to give judges “leeway” to keep child molesters out of jail. Money (deceased), a pedophile advocate, also called for an end to all age-of-consent laws. Dr. Berlin was his disciple.

In 1973, our “post Kinsey era,” a small APA committee of psychiatrists, quite terrified by homosexist public harassment, agreed to rely on Kinsey’s fraudulent human sexuality “data” to redefine homosexuality as normal, removing it from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of mental disorders.

The APA decision was hyped in college textbooks, law journal articles, judicial rulings, and by 1974 pitched as high-school sex education. Soon the homosexist lobby would sail into primary schools and kindergartens by agitating recurring AIDS “prevention,” “bullying” and “hate” panics.

To redefine homosexuality as a normal “orientation,” nature not nurture, researchers were told to ignore all data of early sex abuse or other trauma. This hoax was followed by the 1999 U.S. Department of Justice data that found 64 percent of forcible sodomy victims to be boys under age 12.

For after claiming 10 percent to 37 percent of men were sometime homosexual, Kinsey also said children are sexual from birth and so deserve to have sex with adults or youths (taught as a 1974 Planned Parenthood sex ed doctrine).

The APA path to pedophile norms follows the success of the homosexual anarchy campaign. Arguably, the pedophile media lobby directed the passionate boy-boy kisses on the TV series “Glee,” to enable fellow “Minor-Attracted Persons” to increasingly be seen as a boy’s sex “friend.”

B4U-ACT claims to “help mental health professionals learn more about attraction to minors and to consider the effects of stereotyping, stigma, and fear.” While the group claimed they want to teach pedophiles “how to live life fully and stay within the law,” no one suggested how to stop their child lust or molestation.

Barber asked what “age of consent” the group proposed and what role pornography plays as a causative factor in child sex abuse. No one would answer the first question, and all denied any harm from pornography.

Arguably, due to our presence, Dr. Berlin (who sat next to me during the entire event) admitted that occasionally pornography could trigger sexual acting out. He also expressed a personal belief that pre-pubescent children (that is, under about age 10) cannot consent, and that perhaps even teenagers might be sexually vulnerable.

All speakers focused on pedophiles as healthy, normal and unfairly victimized by stigma and mean words. Following repeated assertions that pedophiles never force children, are gentle and loving, one researcher did cite a child “victim” who was raped and sodomized.

One speaker laughingly compared doing an obscene act “on” a child to doing the same obscene act on a shoe. No one protested, and some chuckled. One young female suggested pedophiles might be helped by engaging in “sex play” using naked pictures of pseudo children, allied with some sadism, bridal gowns, etc. This Ph.D. social worker candidate proudly noted her objection to any “repression.”

For their attendance, the pedophile political activists could earn 6.0 units of continuing education credits by the “Maryland Board of Social Work Examiners.” These 12 board members credentialed this pedophile academic farce, giving higher education credits to allow felons and near-felons to advance their child sexual abuse agenda by using bogus and fraudulent research. I would encourage people to complain to the board at this link.

Pedo-CEUs-small.jpg

Committed to quietly monitoring this meeting, I offered a few unwelcome closing remarks. I noted the arrogance of this group’s conclusion that Americans’ fear for child safety is due to a puritanical “sex panic.” Since the Department of Justice found 58,200 children kidnapped by non-family members in 1999, such fear seems well-placed.

Before leaving the issue of stigma and hate speech, note a few excerpts from BOYCHAT April 15 by some of these “social worker” credentialed pedophiles:

“Judith Reisman” is “with the worst of them … dehumanizing hate speech … extreme christian [sic], right wing … alarmist … creating gross distrotions [sic] … no genuine integrity … a harlot. … Judith did, in fact, make [Kinsey’s sexual stimulation of infants and toddlers] sound like horrendously violent, child sexual assault … [she is a] horrible, wretched scumbag … pathetic, sorry excuse for a human being. … The world will become a less wretched place, the second Judith Reisman drops dead [from natural causes, of course, though I’d not complain if she got accidentally ran over by a semi]. … With Love, Stevie-D.”

Love? What was that about stigma and hate speech?

kinsey flow chart

RELATED ARTICLES: 

Illegal Immigrant Arrested for Raping, Impregnating 12-Year-Old in TX

Charges for Man Disguised as Woman in Bathroom Filming

EASY MEAT: The Muslims are ‘raping our daughters’

Pedophiles in American Public Schools and Universities

Pedophile Jared Fogle and the Untold Story of his Visit to Sarasota, FL

Boys Beware: Classic Film warns against Homosexuals, Pedophiles and Pederasts

EXPOSED: The U.S. and British “Sex Industrial Complex”

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in World Net Daily.

Socialism Is Harder than You Think by Scott Sumner

Suppose you wanted to switch to socialism — what would be the ideal place to do so? You’d want a country with extremely high quality civil servants.

That would be France.

You’d want a country where socialism is not a dirty word, and capitalism is.

That would be France.

You’d want a country with the Socialist party in power, a party that was committed to enact the ideas of Thomas Piketty.

That would be France.

So how did things work out in France, when they tried to adopt a Bernie Sanders/Thomas Piketty approach to taxes?

IN THE eyes of many foreigners, two numbers encapsulate French economic policy over the past decade or so: 75 and 35. The first refers to the top income-tax rate of 75%, promised by François Hollande to seduce the left when he was the Socialist presidential candidate in 2012. The second is the 35-hour maximum working week, devised by a Socialist government in 2000 and later retained by the centre-right.

Each has been a totem of French social preferences. Yet, to the consternation of some of his voters, Mr Hollande applied the 75% tax rate for only two years, and then binned it. Now he has drawn up plans that could, in effect, demolish the 35-hour week, too.

Mr Hollande’s government is reviewing a draft labour law that would remove a series of constraints French firms face, both when trying to adapt working time to shifting business cycles and when deciding whether to hire staff. In particular, it devolves to firms the right to negotiate longer hours and overtime rates with their own trade unions, rather than having to follow rules dictated by national industry-wide deals.

The 35-hour cap would remain in force, but it would become more of a trigger for overtime pay than a rigid constraint on hours worked. These could reach 46 hours a week, for a maximum of 16 weeks. Firms would also have greater freedom to shorten working hours and reduce pay, which can currently be done only in times of “serious economic difficulty”. Emmanuel Macron, the economy minister, has called such measures the “de facto” end of the 35-hour week.

At the same time, the law would lower existing high barriers to laying off workers. These discourage firms from creating permanent jobs, and leave huge numbers of “outsiders”, particularly young people, temping.

For one thing, it would cap awards for unfair dismissal, which are made by labour tribunals. Laid-off French workers bring such cases frequently; they can take years and cost anything from €2,500 to €310,000 ($2,700 to $337,000) by one estimate.

Unfortunately, while France is moving away from these polices, the US is like to move some distance in their direction. Of course there are differences. Our minimum wage is still lower than in France, and our top income tax rate is closer to 50% in states like California and New York. But all the momentum is with the socialists, who are especially numerous among the younger voters.

Socialist ideas are superficially appealing. Paul Krugman (who favors very high income tax rates on the rich) often says that reality has a liberal bias. Actually, reality has a neoliberal bias, and if you don’t take incentive effects into account, you may end up disappointed.

Back in the US, Sander’s single payer approach also has problems:

A costing of Mr Sanders’s plans by Kenneth Thorpe of Emory University, using more conservative assumptions, found that the plan was underfunded by nearly $1.1 trillion (or 6% of GDP) per year. If Mr Thorpe is right, higher taxes will be required to make the sums add up. In 2014 Mr Sanders’ own state, Vermont, abandoned a plan for a single-payer system on the basis that the required tax rises would be too great.

Vermont is one of the most liberal states in the union. Now think about the fact that they gave up on the idea, despite it having been previously approved and signed into law. Then think about the concept of rolling out a multi-trillion dollar plan at the federal level, soon after the only experiment at the state level failed to get off the ground.

Is that evidence-based liberalism, or wishful thinking?

This post first appeared at Econlog.

Scott SumnerScott Sumner

Scott B. Sumner is the director of the Program on Monetary Policy at the Mercatus Center and a professor at Bentley University. He blogs at the Money Illusion and Econlog.

Florida: Synthetic pot ‘Spice’ is an ‘epidemic’ creating ‘zombies’

drug abuse in floridaKathryn Blackhurst in a column titled,  “Looked Like One of Our Zombie Movies’: ‘Unprecedented’ Spice Overdose Epidemic Strikes Florida” writes:

Florida investigators are saying that they recently have come across an “unprecedented” epidemic of synthetic marijuana overdose calls that resemble scenes from “The Walking Dead” zombie apocalypse TV show.

Investigators in Clearwater, Florida, have been responding to a myriad of calls featuring people slumped over in such stupefied states that they could barely talk or move, especially during routine patrols through Crest Lake Park, according to WTVT-TV. The investigators are attributing the epidemic to overdosing on a bad batch of synthetic marijuana, more commonly known as “spice.”

Read more.

The Spice Addiction Support website found that “the side effects you experience depend on which of the many different synthetic cannabinoids you put into your body, how much you used and how you ingested it. Reports indicate the pleasant side effects of Spice are similar to marijuana, but more intense. These include elevated mood, relaxation and altered perception. However, many users of synthetic cannabinoids, poison control centers and emergency rooms report far less pleasant and sometimes dangerous side effects are common.”

spice pot productsThe side effects of Spice include:

  • psychotic episodes
  • paranoia, increased anxiety and hallucinations – typically much more severe than after smoking marijuana.
  • increased heart rate
  • agitation
  • vomiting
  • seizures
  • uncontrollable body movements
  • lack of emotional attachment
  • sweating and loss of control

We have written about those wanting to legalize marijuana in Florida for recreational use. It appears that Florida needs to look at those pot related products like Spice that are turning residents into “zombies.”

With the legalization of medical marijuana and its derivative, Florida may face a zombie apocalypse in the near future. Perhaps its time to take a second look?

Learn more about Spice, synthetic marijuana and related issues at TheMarijuanaReport.org.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Why Synthetic Marijuana Is More Toxic To The Brain Than Pot – Forbes

‘Spice’ Or Synthetic Marijuana Linked To Psychosis, Brain, and Kidney Damage

Florida Passes Bill Cutting State Funding to Planned Parenthood

Bill to be sent to Governor Rick Scott for signature or veto.

TALLAHASSEE, FL – On March 9th the Florida Legislature passed HB 1411: Termination of Pregnancies by Sen. Kelli Stargel (R-Lakeland) in the Senate and Rep. Colleen Burton (R-Lakeland) in the House of Representatives. The bill cuts state taxpayer funding to abortion clinics, including Planned Parenthood, all across Florida.

Under the terms of the bill, funds that would have gone to Planned Parenthood, will now be available to hundreds of deserving low-cost community health clinics and women’s health centers in Florida that provide a comprehensive range of women’s health services.

Since October 2015, the Florida Family Policy Council (FFPC) has led a sustained statewide campaign urging Governor Rick Scott to defund Planned Parenthood. This legislation comes on the heels of that six month campaign. The bill does precisely what FFPC was urging Governor Scott to do, namely:

Prohibit Florida from entering into Medicaid contracts with Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers that provide elective abortions
Cut Title X family planning service contracts with Planned Parenthood in Broward and Collier Counties
In addition to defunding Planned Parenthood, the bill also increases and improves inspections at abortion clinics, brings the abortion clinic regulations into conformity with other ambulatory surgical centers and enhances the protections governing fetal remains.

“Republicans in the Florida Legislature are to be commended for showing leadership and for doing the right thing by passing this historic piece of legislation which restricts state funds to this corrupt and fraudulent organization, that is also the largest abortion provider in America.” said John Stemberger, President and General Counsel of the Florida Family Policy Council.” On behalf of thousands of Floridians who object to their taxes going to fund Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics in the state, we now continue to urge Governor Rick Scott to sign this good bill into law thereby defunding Planned Parenthood along with every other abortion provider in the state. We know that tens of thousands of voters who elected him have already contacted him and urged him to take this action.”

If signed into law by Governor Scott, Florida would join a growing number of states that have also cut state funding to Planned Parenthood including, Texas, Utah, Kansas, New Hampshire, Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana.

VIDEO: The Pill Kills — Contraception is Destroying the Faith

TRANSCRIPT: 

The birth control pill, since being approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, has become the weapon of choice against conception. Among American women who use contraceptives, 28 percent use the Pill — the single most popular form. And when you drill down into the numbers, American Catholic women — they use the Pill at just about the same rate as their non-Catholic counterparts.

The Pill has become a part of the American and Western world landscape, all in an effort to simply have sexual license and consequence-free sex. And thanks to Obamacare, the pill now has an enshrined place in law. Employers must provide the Pill for their employees through company health insurance plans or face fines and penalties.

The only exceptions to this are religious employers, but exactly who qualifies for that limited definition of “religious” is what the U.S. Supreme Court will be hearing arguments on and deciding in a short while.

What is known is that the Pill comes with all kinds of hidden dangers and side-effects, and no one really wants to talk about them.


WATCH NOW

We know its death-dealing spiritually. We know that its death-dealing biologically for the unborn — not just preventing conception, but also causing the newly conceived to actually be killed. Estimations are that the 60 million deaths in the United States caused by surgical abortion since 1973 pale in comparison to the deaths brought about by the birth control pill.

Moreover, women themselves are in lethal danger, however limited that may be. The question which logically arises is: Is a life of sexual license really worth your life? Unfortunately, we know that for many “liberated” women, the answer is yes, it is.

But what is perhaps most shocking in all this is the silence of the bishops on this matter of the birth control pill. For a gang of men who are constantly going on about the need to avert the dangers of fake, manmade climate change to simply fall silent on the very real deaths of tens of millions of small humans owing to the birth control pill has no explanation.

They will not support Church teaching on contraception, certainly not enough to voice their support for it and declare the evils – spiritual and physical — of the birth control pill is contributing to that evil. What is most frightening for the souls of the bishops who have made a career of keeping silent in the face of evil is the peril their own souls are in.

Their job is to teach, and through that teaching sanctify their sheep so that their souls can be saved. Short of doing their job, they are on the path to eternal damnation. But a bishop’s being damned — what a horrible thought — is nothing new. We have Judas as the first example; but we even have St. John Chrysostom warning that bishops not doing their job is their eternal undoing.

Why do the bishops not do what they are supposed to do? Where is their fear of God? Their silence imperils the souls of tens of millions — and it absolutely falls to them to witness to the truths of the Church.

Contraception, the birth control pill — that little pill — who but the diabolical could imagine that that would be the undoing of so many bishops and the cause of their damnation?

The deadliness of the Pill is the subject of this week’s “Mic’d Up” that you can view by clicking the link. The birth control pill is the reason hundreds of parishes have and continue to be closed. It’s the reason vocations have dried up. The Pill has all but killed the Faith in the West, exactly as its inventors had hoped and planned. The Pill has brought nothing but death, and the guardians of life have refused to attack it — and their silence will bring them death in their turn.

A couple of years ago, while he was president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops, Cdl. Timothy Dolan was being interviewed by NBC and made the astonishing claim that, at the time, he had been a priest for 37 years and had almost never preached on the evil of contraception.

In a separate interview around the same time, again as leader of the U.S. bishops and speaking for them and himself, he said they had all grown “gun shy” about teaching on the issue of contraception and sexual immorality. Talk about condemned out of your own mouth.

Contraception is contracepting the Faith — and the only men on earth who can speak about it are instead content to speak of immigration and carbon emissions. They need to open their eyes or close them forever. Souls are being led astray — and not by the culture but by the very men

Heroin Is A Border Problem

Since the anti-gun crowd is so concerned about stopping deaths shouldn’t they be up in arms over the fact that heroin overdoses are responsible for more loss of life than homicides in New York City?

If attention were directed to this killer, one might have to actually look at what has led to the drug becoming rampant across the country, and more importantly, how its flow through our porous borders displays the inadequacy of the DHS leadership in Customs and Border Control.

The use of heroin, a drug that is produced in Columbia, Mexico, Afghanistan, and Burma, is said to be up 400%. This fact suggests a direct correlation to the health of our borders. If the borders were secure, we simply wouldn’t be seeing this astronomical increase in illegal drugs or illegal aliens for that matter.

There are tens of thousands of honorable Americans working to secure our borders and keep us safe, but what cannot be overstated is the failure of this administration and politicians from both sides who continue to ignore the critical issue of security not only along the southern border, but along our coastlines, through our ports, and each of our fifty states, in view of air travel.

I don’t think  the issue is that we can’t secure the border. We just don’t have the leaders possessing the backbone to make it happen.

One of the consequences of our faulty border is the skyrocketing use and availability of heroin. Who would have thought school nurses in middle schools and high schools would be stocking naloxone, a reversal drug to opiate overdose, in their first-aid kits? What brought us into this situation?

In a nutshell, around 1997 a company called Purdue Pharma brought OxyContin to the attention of physicians nationwide and recommended the use of them by giving away goodies like trips and cool stuff to take home to the family.

Pretty soon the docs were writing prescriptions left and right for Oxycontin, and by 2002 they were handing out 10 times more than they were in 1997. Simply put,  there was an abundance of happy pills for the taking if you were so inclined. And, the addictiveness of the drug had been far down-played in exchange for profit.

In a lawsuit concerning the misleading of the public regarding the risk of addiction, Perdue plead guilty and paid the DOJ $634.5 million dollars. But according to an Atlantic.com article,

“One of the consequences of the marketing blitz was a fundamental change in the way pain was perceived, both by doctors and by patients. Pain was no longer understood as something that had to be endured—it could be easily and quickly treated with pills.”

Such is the instant gratification culture of today. There is little to no perseverance being taught or displayed today when it comes to physical pain. So our young people, for example, immediately look to alleviate any unwelcome feeling, when in reality it is generally a short lived nuisance as our bodies are wonderfully created to heal themselves, if given the chance.

In regards to the Oxycontin, the doctors, lawyers and pharmacies wised up to the overwriting of these types of opioids, and they slowed the scripts. Thus, the pills became more rare on the street which pushed their value up. The lack of prescription drugs produced a need, and that need was filled by heroin. Some say a single Percocet, a combination of acetaminophen and oxycodone, sells for $20-$40 a pill, whereas heroin is about the price of a pack of cigarettes.

So, many addicts and others, to include young teenage kids, turned to heroin which is the cheaper high and abundantly available in big cities and even rural areas. West Virginia has double the rate of  the national average of heroin overdoses. Obama was in West Virginia last Wednesday to talk about drug overdoses, especially of prescription type and heroin. His advice was:

“governments at all levels need to better coordinate with each other and with private and faith-based groups for earlier treatment, more hospital beds, counseling and getting past the stigma.”

What he didn’t talk about was his environmental policies that have crippled West Virginia’s economy, which in turn feeds into those searching to escape the depression, frustration, and boredom that lack of work produces. These are the types of people who look to drugs for the answer. I don’t think this state ever received a helping of Obama’s hope and change.

The president also failed to mention how those at the federal level could do a heck of a lot more to stop the influx of heroin at our borders. He takes no responsibility of the multibillion dollar heroin business that finances the cartels, gangs and terrorism. After all, over the years he has basically supplied the cartels with guns, allowed MS13 gangs to come across our borders and won’t even name our enemy when it comes to terrorism on our soil.

It appears, once again, he is working hard at destroying the American people by not providing for the fundamental Constitutional protection from enemies both foreign and domestic. Any entity pushing heroin into this country should be considered our enemy, but the gates are open wide to this substance.

Seeing that the supply and demand of heroin is up, but the price is low makes me think there is a glut on the market and the need on the street may be for more peddlers of the trade.

I wonder if all these low level drug dealers who are being released from prisons might just have jobs waiting for them as they exit their confinement? Leave it to Obama to figure out how to ease unemployment and overcrowded prisons.

Social Security and Medicare Questions for Presidential Candidates

WASHINGTON, D.C. /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — As voters consider their choices in state primary elections and in the run-up to the general election, the American Academy of Actuaries is urging them to “make issues count” by evaluating the substance of presidential and congressional candidates’ positions, aided by the Academy’s new series of Election Guides.

“Decisions made by the next president and Congress will shape the long-term financial health of Medicare and Social Security. With millions of Americans relying on these programs, now is the time to start asking the hard questions of candidates—before the nominations are secured, and then all the way through Election Day,” said Academy President Tom Wildsmith. “The Academy election guides provide voters with a nonpartisan roadmap to critical issues, and with questions to effectively press candidates for the substance and details of their positions.”

The Academy’s Election Guides provide general background and a close examination of selected major public policy issues, and provide sample questions to ask candidates, such as:

Social Security

  • Should benefits be lowered or raised, and how would the change affect Social Security’s solvency?
  • Should Social Security’s limit on taxable earnings be raised?
  • What are the advantages of raising Social Security’s retirement age?

Medicare

  • How should Medicare’s long-term financial challenges be addressed?
  • Will you change the benefit structure of the traditional Medicare program and/or allow coverage of additional services to meet the needs of an aging population?
  • If you advocate a premium support approach for Medicare, how would the benefit package be defined?

The initial 2016 election guides released by the Academy focus on the financial condition and other policy considerations related to Medicare and Social Security. The Academy will add future guides focusing on other policy areas throughout the election year, including long-term care and other health care issues, retirement policy, and climate change.

For more information, visit http://election2016.actuary.org.

AAALOGOAbout the American Academy of Actuaries

The American Academy of Actuaries is an 18,500+ member professional association whose mission is to serve the public and the U.S. actuarial profession. The Academy assists public policymakers on all levels by providing leadership, objective expertise, and actuarial advice on risk and financial security issues. The Academy also sets qualification, practice, and professionalism standards for actuaries in the United States.

Networks Topple Scientific Dogma by Max Borders

Science is undergoing a wrenching evolutionary change.

In fact, most of what we consider to be carried out in the name of science is dubious at best, flat wrong at worst. It appears we’re putting too much faith in science — particularly the kind of science that relies on reproducibility.

In a University of Virginia meta-study, half of 100 psychology study results could not be reproduced.

Experts making social science prognostications turned out to be mostly wrong, according to political science writer Philip Tetlock’s decades-long review of expert forecasts.

But there is perhaps no more egregious example of bad expert advice than in the area of health and nutrition. As I wrote last year for Voice & Exit:

For most of our lives, we’ve been taught some variation on the food pyramid. The advice? Eat mostly breads and cereals, then fruits and vegetables, and very little fat and protein. Do so and you’ll be thinner and healthier. Animal fat and butter were considered unhealthy. Certain carbohydrate-rich foods were good for you as long as they were whole grain. Most of us anchored our understanding about food to that idea.

“Measures used to lower the plasma lipids in patients with hyperlipidemia will lead to reductions in new events of coronary heart disease,” said the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1971. (“How Networks Bring Down Experts (The Paleo Example),” March 12, 2015)

The so-called “lipid theory” had the support of the US surgeon general. Doctors everywhere fell in line behind the advice. Saturated fats like butter and bacon became public enemy number one. People flocked to the supermarket to buy up “heart healthy” margarines. And yet, Americans were getting fatter.

But early in the 21st century something interesting happened: people began to go against the grain (no pun) and they started talking about their small experiments eating saturated fat. By 2010, the lipid hypothesis — not to mention the USDA food pyramid — was dead. Forty years of nutrition orthodoxy had been upended. Now the experts are joining the chorus from the rear.

The Problem Goes Deeper

But the problem doesn’t just affect the soft sciences, according to science writer Ron Bailey:

The Stanford statistician John Ioannidis sounded the alarm about our science crisis 10 years ago. “Most published research findings are false,” Ioannidis boldly declared in a seminal 2005 PLOS Medicine article. What’s worse, he found that in most fields of research, including biomedicine, genetics, and epidemiology, the research community has been terrible at weeding out the shoddy work largely due to perfunctory peer review and a paucity of attempts at experimental replication.

Richard Horton of the Lancet writes, “The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue.” And according Julia Belluz and Steven Hoffman, writing in Vox,

Another review found that researchers at Amgen were unable to reproduce 89 percent of landmark cancer research findings for potential drug targets. (The problem even inspired a satirical publication called the Journal of Irreproducible Results.)

Contrast the progress of science in these areas with that of applied sciences such as computer science and engineering, where more market feedback mechanisms are in place. It’s the difference between Moore’s Law and Murphy’s Law.

So what’s happening?

Science’s Evolution

Three major catalysts are responsible for the current upheaval in the sciences. First, a few intrepid experts have started looking around to see whether studies in their respective fields are holding up. Second, competition among scientists to grab headlines is becoming more intense. Third, informal networks of checkers — “amateurs” — have started questioning expert opinion and talking to each other. And the real action is in this third catalyst, creating as it does a kind of evolutionary fitness landscape for scientific claims.

In other words, for the first time, the cost of checking science is going down as the price of being wrong is going up.

Now, let’s be clear. Experts don’t like having their expertise checked and rechecked, because their dogmas get called into question. When dogmas are challenged, fame, funding, and cushy jobs are at stake. Most will fight tooth and nail to stay on the gravy train, which can translate into coming under the sway of certain biases. It could mean they’re more likely to cherry-pick their data, exaggerate their results, or ignore counterexamples. Far more rarely, it can mean they’re motivated to engage in outright fraud.

Method and Madness

Not all of the fault for scientific error lies with scientists, per se. Some of it lies with methodologies and assumptions most of us have taken for granted for years. Social and research scientists have far too much faith in data aggregation, a process that can drop the important circumstances of time and place. Many researchers make inappropriate inferences and predictions based on a narrow band of observed data points that are plucked from wider phenomena in a complex system. And, of course, scientists are notoriously good at getting statistics to paint a picture that looks like their pet theories.

Some sciences even have their own holy scriptures, like psychology’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. These guidelines, when married with government funding, lobbyist influence, or insurance payouts, can protect incomes but corrupt practice.

But perhaps the most significant methodological problem with science is over-reliance on the peer-review process. Peer review can perpetuate groupthink, the cartelization of knowledge, and the compounding of biases.

The Problem with Expert Opinion

The problem with expert opinion is that it is often cloistered and restrictive. When science starts to seem like a walled system built around a small group of elites (many of whom are only sharing ideas with each other) — hubris can take hold. No amount of training or smarts can keep up with an expansive network of people who have a bigger stake in finding the truth than in shoring up the walls of a guild or cartel.

It’s true that to some degree, we have to rely on experts and scientists. It’s a perfectly natural part of specialization and division of labor that some people will know more about some things than you, and that you are likely to need their help at some point. (I try to stay away from accounting, and I am probably not very good at brain surgery, either.) But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t question authority, even when the authority knows more about their field than we do.

The Power of Networks

But when you get an army of networked people — sometimes amateurs — thinking, talking, tinkering, and toying with ideas — you can hasten a proverbial paradigm shift. And this is exactly what we are seeing.

It’s becoming harder for experts to count on the vagaries and denseness of their disciplines to keep their power. But it’s in cross-disciplinary pollination of the network that so many different good ideas can sprout and be tested.

The best thing that can happen to science is that it opens itself up to everyone, even people who are not credentialed experts. Then, let the checkers start to talk to each other. Leaders, influencers, and force-multipliers will emerge. You might think of them as communications hubs or bigger nodes in a network. Some will be cranks and hacks. But the best will emerge, and the cranks will be worked out of the system in time.

The network might include a million amateurs willing to give a pair of eyes or a different perspective. Most in this army of experimenters get results and share their experiences with others in the network. What follows is a wisdom-of-crowds phenomenon. Millions of people not only share results, but challenge the orthodoxy.

How Networks Contribute to the Republic of Science

In his legendary 1962 essay, “The Republic of Science,” scientist and philosopher Michael Polanyi wrote the following passage. It beautifully illustrates the problems of science and of society, and it explains how they will be solved in the peer-to-peer age:

Imagine that we are given the pieces of a very large jigsaw puzzle, and suppose that for some reason it is important that our giant puzzle be put together in the shortest possible time. We would naturally try to speed this up by engaging a number of helpers; the question is in what manner these could be best employed.

Polanyi says you could progress through multiple parallel-but-individual processes. But the way to cooperate more effectively

is to let them work on putting the puzzle together in sight of the others so that every time a piece of it is fitted in by one helper, all the others will immediately watch out for the next step that becomes possible in consequence. Under this system, each helper will act on his own initiative, by responding to the latest achievements of the others, and the completion of their joint task will be greatly accelerated. We have here in a nutshell the way in which a series of independent initiatives are organized to a joint achievement by mutually adjusting themselves at every successive stage to the situation created by all the others who are acting likewise.

Just imagine if Polanyi had lived to see the Internet.

This is the Republic of Science. This is how smart people with different interests and skill sets can help put together life’s great puzzles.

In the Republic of Science, there is certainly room for experts. But they are hubs among nodes. And in this network, leadership is earned not by sitting atop an institutional hierarchy with the plumage of a postdoc, but by contributing, experimenting, communicating, and learning with the rest of a larger hive mind. This is science in the peer-to-peer age.

Max BordersMax Borders

Max Borders is Director of Idea Accounts and Creative Development for Emergent Order. He was previously the editor of the Freeman and director of content for FEE. He is also co-founder of the event experience Voice & Exit.

U.S. Doctors Propose Female Genital ‘Alteration’ vs. ‘Mutilation’ as a ‘Compromise’

‘I am beyond horrified by [these] so called “ethicists” …There is NO compromise against the immorality and barbarism of FGM.’ — Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser.

Writing in the British Journal of Medial Ethics, two U.S.-based doctors have proposed that as a “compromise solution,” it would be better to adopt a “more nuanced position” on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) — one “that acknowledges a wide spectrum of procedures that alter female genitalia.”

The doctors think that the worldwide drive in recent years to completely eradicate the brutal practice, without allowing “minor” modifications is “culturally insensitive and supremacist and discriminatory towards women.”

They argue that criminalizing FGM in Western countries has pushed the practice underground in the U.K. and the U.S. and given rise to “vacation cutting,” a phenomena where girls are taken to their native countries during summer vacations for the harmful and traumatic procedure.

Doctors Kavita Shah Arora, director of quality, obstetrics and gynecology at the MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland and Dr. Allan Jacobs, professor of reproductive medicine at Stony Brook University, believe that minor alterations of the female genitalia do not “reach the threshold of a human rights violation” and should not be considered child abuse.

Although the doctors say that a “wide spectrum” of procedures that alter the female genitalia would be acceptable, they fail to delineate exactly what these alterations would entail, save for two specifically mentioned: a small cut to the external genitalia or the removal of the hood that covers the clitoris.

The faultiness of their arguments is many-fold. But first, let us own up to the facts.

FGM is a brutal, barbarian practice in which involves partial or complete removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.

FGM ranges from the removal of the clitoral hood, the partial or total removal of the clitoris, the removal of part or all of the exterior female genitalia including the labia minora and labia majora to the stitching or narrowing of the vaginal opening, leaving a small opening for urine and menstrual blood.

The procedure, in its worst cases, can also involve burning the tissue, scraping of tissue surrounding the vaginal orifice, cutting inside of the vagina itself or introduction of corrosive substances into the vagina for the purpose of tightening.

Horrific and permanent side effects are associated with FGM.

Every year, it is estimated that 3 million girls undergo FGM, with over 200 million women in over 30 countries estimated to have endured the procedure.

The doctor’s claim that mutilating babies, girls and young women is “culturally insensitive” and “discriminatory towards women” is outrageous, when considering that the “minor” alterations proposed are both traumatic and life-changing.

A simple medical search of the purpose of the clitoral hood – which the doctors blithely propose removing – shows that this part of the body not only has tremendous immunological importance to a woman’s body but also greatly contributes to a woman’s sexual pleasure, without which, sexual relations may be painful.

As for a “simple” nick, “it’s a lie for anyone who thinks that a nick will reduce the harm,” says Mariama Diallo, a counselor and  African community specialist at Sanctuary for Families, a New York–based gender violence nonprofit organizations. “The effect on the survivor is the same. The psychological effect is exactly the same.”

The doctor’s argument that the West’s criminalization of FGM has pushed it underground in Western countries is not a defensible claim. Worldwide efforts to completely eradicate FGM – by educating communities in Africa and the Middle East (where the great prevalence occurs) have made tremendous strides.

Changing attitudes in these Third World countries has a tremendous influence on their natives who have immigrated to the West. The combination of changed attitudes and criminalization can be a powerful deterrent to an immigrant family’s decision not to have their daughter cut.

Voicing the criticism of anti-FGM campaigners who have said that this proposal would undermine the international push to completely eradicate the practice, Diallo asks, “How can we end FGM by a nick?”

Writing on his Facebook page, Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser says more bluntly, “Both as a bioethicist of 20 years and as a lifetime anti-Islamist Muslim dedicated to reform I am beyond horrified by the position of these so called “ethicists” based in the US (Cleveland and NYC). There is NO compromise against the immorality and barbarism of FGM. To give some utilitarian explanation or excuse gives the Islamist supremacists and theocrats a pass and sets the clock back hundreds of years upon the movement for women’s rights in Muslim communities.”

Meira Svirsky is the editor of ClarionProject.org

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God–Damn It, or Praise Him? A Tribute to Science and Einstein By a Scientist

Science has been in the news because of the discovery of gravitational waves that Einstein, a century ago, said existed. Are we brilliant–or maybe retarded because of our unwillingness to admit something else Einstein said—that God is not a magician, but a scientist?

Since science put men on the moon, some scientists think they can escape the realities that seem inherent to the universe and ignore the Source of everything we see and so much we can’t see. How many of the following questions can my fellow scientists answer without God because we are too intellectual to believe a book of myths? This begs a hundred questions, and maybe a thousand–we start with the hundred elements on a chemistry chart–where did they come from?

It earth exploded off the sun, how did earth develop its spin so we have 24-hour days? How did earth come to orbit at just the right distance from the sun so we don’t cook (like summer) or freeze like winter? How did it get oxygen that we need so desperately every second? And in just the right proportion with nitrogen? What about carbon? Wouldn’t carbon and nitrogen have burned up on the sun so our atmosphere would be carbon dioxide or nitrous oxide (toxic) if the sun had oxygen, and if not, how did it get on our planet?

And how did hydrogen get here—so prevalent in the human body, but essential to water—we say H (2) O. Was there water on the sun? How did it get here?

How did the planets come to orbit around the sun at such varying distances—some huge, some small. Why didn’t the smaller ones fly off into space? Why aren’t the larger ones pulled back to the sun by gravity? How did Jupiter or Saturn get 60 some moons orbiting them? Why does our moon (and others) look so nicely rounded? Wouldn’t an explosion give jagged particles? Did the moon explode off earth? Where’s the gaping how where it came from?

How did life begin? It sounds simple, like the elements just got together in some primordial soup until one understands the complexity of a single molecule and far more so for a single living cell like an Ameba. It has a complexity that exceeds New York City. The city has to feed itself and dump the waste which it does poorly into the ocean. It has roads too narrow. Man’s evolution is worse than God’s creation. How could evolution work when we can’t even solve cholesterol problems without drugs that make us sick or kill us?

Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine was right–food should be our medicine, but modern man has DuPont’s slogan, “Better living through chemistry.”

Cell division would be a huge obstacle for evolution. Mitosis is so compex. Did it all happen just in time before the old cell died? How did sexual replication develop. Did the female develop at just the right time for her male counterpart’s evolution? Millions of years but finished the same year?

This is like building a mousetrap—it won’t work until you have all the parts together. The human eye is so wonderful, and it begs appreciation for dozens of processes which had to develop simultaneously or it wouldn’t work, and Darwin’s idea of natural selection and survival of the fittest would have doomed us without sight, or hearing or the ability of blood to clot if wounded—a complex cascade of reactions.

And what about the 2nd law of thermodynamics that says the energy systems of the universe tend to run down unless acted upon by some outsde source, or shouldn’t we say Source—God! If we try to avoid Him, we may be in trouble when we get to the end of life’s brief probationary period like Voltaire. Google “dying words of infidels”–we should avoid the fearful looking for of Judgment with curses as famous atheists have died. Before dying, it would be well to understand God’s love and a better plan for us.

Maybe dying peacefully like Christians martyred by Muslims who don’t have such peace (and who have trouble living with others of similar but different belief) should tell us something?

Shouldn’t “Back to Basics” in education require answers to the above questions before we teach evolution (science without God) because it is so stupidly impossible? This happens to be the opinion of thousands of scientists who also believe the Bible—they have the same Author. Science rightly understood and the Bible rightly understood (damn the bad translations) agree. One of the amazing things about God is His ability to read the future better than we can read the past as the book of Daniel shows.

EDITORS NOTE: Dr. Richard Ruhling has three science degrees and has authored some eBooks with five-star reviews on Amazon. For readers interested in geopolitical events, he recommends The Alpha & Omega Bible Code with its explanations from Daniel, Revelation and the wedding parables.

Former Cocaine Dealer Pulling Strings to Get Marijuana License?

State Democratic Majority Leader J. Kalani English, (a former cocaine dealer), is raising eyebrows at the state Capitol after he helped to pass the law to create medical marijuana dispensaries in Hawaii and then joined in a group that applied for one of the potentially lucrative dispensary licenses.

State employees and lawmakers are prohibited from using their positions to receive any unwarranted advantages, and cannot use confidential information obtained through their positions to benefit themselves….

…some of English’s colleagues are saying privately or publicly that his participation in a firm that applied to become one of Hawaii’s first marijuana retail centers gives the appearance of a conflict to the public.

“I wouldn’t do it,” said Sen. Sam Slom….

“Look, there’s already people that think that we’re self-dealing or we’re crooks or we’re jerks or whatever, so I think to the extent that we can show them that we are fair and we are open and we’re doing our job, I think that’s the most important thing,” said Slom (R, Diamond Head-Kahala-Hawaii Kai).

English is listed in state records as one of four members of Hawaii Medicinal Options LLC, which is one of 59 applicants for eight marijuana dispensary licenses….

Another of English’s colleagues, who asked not to be identified, said the public might believe that English, a key leader of the Senate’s ruling Democratic caucus, will somehow use his clout to influence the selection process….

“It’s the general perception of it, because there’s a general distrust anyway.”

And since bills are being considered this year to refine the dispensary law, the situation appears to be one where “you’re in the game, and now you’re making rules for it,” the lawmaker said.

Lawmakers this year are considering a number of possible changes to the law such as specifying that license holders can cultivate marijuana in greenhouses or shade houses, and English would normally participate in measures like those as the majority leader and a voting member of the Senate.

State Ethics Commission Executive Director Les Kondo said the Hawaii State Code of Ethics exempts lawmakers from the conflicts-of-interest restrictions when it comes to voting or participating in official matters as legislators…

Rep. Marcus Oshiro, who has been a supporter of medical marijuana but a critic of the new dispensaries law, said there are already questions about favoritism or undue influence in the process to decide who will get licenses, and that this doesn’t help.

“It leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths, and I wouldn’t want to touch this with a 10-foot pole,” said Oshiro (D, Wahiawa-Whitmore-Poamoho). “Perception counts for a lot in politics, and from most people’s perspective it doesn’t look good to amend the laws that could benefit you or your friends.”

  • J Kalani English Marijuana: 2016
  • J Kalani English Cocaine: 1996, 2005

read … Lawmaker’s pakalolo ties might provoke suspicion

Marijuana: Secrecy, Unknown Agendas, connected applicants and lobbyists pressuring friends

Shapiro: The state Health Department’s apparently aborted scheme to select Hawaii’s eight medical marijuana licensees in secrecy adds to a sinking feeling that this high-stakes program won’t go well.

Using a legislative exemption, the department dispensed with hearings and public comments in drafting rules for exclusive and potentially lucrative licenses to grow and sell medical pot.

Then the state tried to avoid disclosing who would serve on the panel that will select eight licensees from 59 applicants, reversing course only after the Honolulu Star-Advertiser threatened a lawsuit.

The plan was for secret judges with unknown agendas and vague criteria deciding which of the rich, famous and politically connected applicants get licenses to mint money.

What could go wrong?

The state now says it’ll release names of selectors, but claims they haven’t been chosen yet as signs of disorder abound.

The Ige administration initially defended the secrecy as necessary to avoid tainting the integrity of the process with outside public pressure on the selection committee.

They have it backward: The real worry isn’t outside pressure but inside pressure — connected applicants and lobbyists pressuring friends in the administration or Legislature to influence the process.

Prominent names tied to applications include former Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle, former state Attorney General David Louie, Honolulu rail director Ivan Lui-Kwan, actor Woody Harrelson, producer Shep Gordon, former St. Francis Healthcare CEO Eugene Tiwanak, tech entrepreneur Henk Rogers, Hawaii island farmer Richard Ha, Maui state Sen. J. Kalani English and Anthony Takitani, law partner of Senate Judiciary Chairman Gil Keith-Agaran.

Adding to the secrecy and potential for backdoor influence is that many pot license applicants are limited-liability companies, which aren’t required to publicly identify principals behind the front persons….

read … A-state-that-favors-secrecy