PODCAST: The Smoke and Mirrors of the Democrats

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TRANSCRIPT W/LINKS

The Democrats are desperate. Regardless of what the Main Stream Media says, they are losing ground to the Republicans going into the 2018 midterm elections. We have discussed how the MEDIA twists the facts in their favor and the steps taken by the Democrats to change VOTING regulations, both of which hit below-the-belt. This desperation hints at the power struggle going on within the party itself with the progressive’s trying to retain control. If they lose in November, they’ll likely lose in 2020 and forfeit control of the party.

The latest sign of distress is represented by the Democrat’s recent calls for “Draining the Swamp,” a slogan coined by President Trump. Since they have no policies of substance to sell to the American public, other than to reverse the actions of the president, they are setting down a smoke screen to confuse and mislead voters, a little slight of hand if you will.

The truth is, the Democrats have already been branded as an integral part of the swamp by the president, so it is unlikely anyone will buy into their argument other than their own constituents. This is just the point; instead of offering viable proposals to help the economy, protect our borders, and secure the safety of the country, they are doing nothing more than “smoke and mirrors.” Even their new theme of “A Better Deal for Our Democracy,” stems from an earlier time (Teddy Roosevelt invented the “Square Deal” and Franklin Roosevelt introduced the “New Deal”). However, the “Better Deal” lacks substance, leaving the Democrats without a legitimate platform to run on. This is why they will lose.

Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter represented his platform, a lot of which he delivered on, but not everything, such as a proposal for Congressional term limits. Nonetheless, his “contract” was much more substantive than the “Better Deal” of the Democrats. This is what the American voters are looking for, but will not get from the Democrats. Instead, they will get smoke and mirrors. Their mantra may be appealing to their own party, but certainly not to Republicans. More importantly, they are offering Independents no compelling reason to vote for their party.

So, why the smoke screen? What are they trying to hide? Frankly, it’s the economy which is now booming under Republican control. President Trump’s approach to lowering taxes and reducing regulations is putting more money in the pockets of Americans and reducing unemployment. It is this approach which runs contrary to the Democrats who want higher taxes and bigger government. This explains why they will never admit the economy has improved and why Rep. Nancy Pelosi demeans it as just “crumbs.” The Trump approach promotes capitalism, and the Democrats want to promote socialism. It’s a shame young people do not comprehend the differences between the two, which the Democrats are counting on going into November.

One last thing; time and again, the party talks about America as a Democracy, something which it most certainly is not, and I get tired of hearing this. It is a “Republic” meaning we elect representatives to vote and act on our behalf. In a true Democracy, the public would vote on everything. We do not, which is what we elect representatives to do for us. The Democrats’ excessive use of the word makes me wonder if anyone in the party truly understands how our government works. I guess this explains why they do not understand or appreciate such things as the Electoral College.

Until such time as the Democrats get serious and quit trying to deceive American voters, they will continue to lose. Yes, they should be worried. Their ship is sinking and instead of fixing the hole or manning the life boats, they are content re-arranging the deck chairs.

Keep the Faith!

VIDEO: Republicans like Elizabeth Heng may be part of California’s millennial ‘red wave’

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The Boston Globes’ James Pindell in a December 8, 2016 article titled “Calif. was the exception to 2016’s red wave. Now it might be Trump’s bulwark too” wrote:

In last month’s election, Republicans even surprised themselves with how well they did across the country.

Except in California.

Donald Trump won the popular vote when you add up 49 states.

Except when you include California.

Hispanics and white liberals simply didn’t turn out to vote at the levels they needed to give Hillary Clinton a victory in the presidential election.

Except in California.

Indeed, Democrats are at a low point nationally.

Except in California, where they control the governorship, both Senate seats, and super-majorities in the Legislature.

Read more.

One of the Congressional seats up for grabs is District 16, currently held by Representative Jim Costa (D-Fresno). Costa is being challenged by Elizabeth Heng a business woman who has never held public office and has no military experience. Sound familiar?

PRNewswire reports

Elizabeth Heng is launching a district-wide television campaign highlighting her congressional campaign with a vision to restore our communities and bring new leadership to Washington, D.C.

“Great things can come from great adversity” is a central theme for 33-year-old Elizabeth Heng, who is passionate about giving back to her community.

The daughter of refugees who lived through the killing fields of the Cambodian Khmer Rouge, Elizabeth was raised in Fresno where her family instilled a strong work ethic. Growing up, she worked at the local Asian grocery store her parents still run.

Elizabeth attended public school in Fresno and was class Valedictorian of Sunnyside High School. Elected student body president at Stanford University, she earned her bachelor’s degree in Political Science and went on to graduate from the Yale University School of Management with an MBA.

After graduating, Elizabeth helped her family build a successful cellular phone business. Today, the company employs more than 800 people throughout the state.

Elizabeth worked for the bi-partisan U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee and learned firsthand how to fix what’s broken in Washington, D.C. A next-generation leader, Elizabeth is a committed problem solver with a new vision to create opportunities for the district.

Learn more about Elizabeth Heng by clicking here.

Here is Elizabeth Heng’s powerful campaign ad:

Why Democrats Aren’t Running Against “Evil” Tax Cuts

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Back in December and January, Democrats and their fellow-travelers in the media were ebullient over the idea of running against the “tax cuts for the wealthiest 1 percent” tax reform package Congress had passed on a straight party-line vote, and President Trump subsequently signed into law.

It’s worth a quick and entertaining look back at the now commonplace hysterical response from the American Left (Democrat/Media/Culture/Education establishment), this time at basic tax cuts.

House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, a constant well-spring of poppycock, called the legislation “the end of the world” and “the worst bill in the history of the United States Congress.” (Ahem…Fugitive Slave Act?) She predicted the tax cut would create “a permanent plutocracy in our country that does violence to the vision of our Founders.” California Gov. Jerry Brown called tax cuts “evil in the extreme.”

The Washington Post felt compelled to run a column predicting the Great Depression II, including unemployment at 25 percent. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said the bill’s health provisions would kill 10,000 people annually. And economic historian Bruce Bartlett said that tax cuts are “akin to rape.”

Veteran Atlantic political reporter Ron Brownstein argued that “President Trump and congressional Republicans have just taken the same leap of faith that Democrats did when they passed the Affordable Care Act.” The Huffington Post anxiously ran a story headlined “ObamaCare Plagued Democrats In 2010. The GOP Just Voted For A Bill Even Less Popular.”

And what’s a media nonsense roundup without Paul Krugman, who wrote a column, “Republicans’ Tax Lies Show the Rot Spreads Wide and Runs Deep.”

Well, something was running wide and deep.

But now that the big blue wave midterms are approaching, Democrats actually are not running against the end of the world, against 25 percent unemployment, against rot, against evil. You’d think those would be winning issues with the American people. Perhaps the end-of-the-world bombast was just empty drivel like so much that has been upchucked into the media since November 2016.

Remember how Republicans ran loud and hard (and for some, lied) about repealing Obamacare as soon as they had the chance. It was proving unpopular and hitting Americans negatively. We are seeing an almost complete absence of that now in both Democratic primaries, and where the general elections are set, in regards to the tax reform package that was the end of the world.

It’s not just by observation we are seeing this step away from tax cut repeal. Democratic leadership is admitting it. Washington Post political reporter David Weigel asked Democratic leaders about it at their recent strategy retreat, and tweeted their response:

“Asked Dems at retreat presser if they’ll run in 2018 on repealing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Answer: Not really. (They’ll “restore balance.”) Weigel tweeted the full text of his questions and their answers. By balance, they presumably and without elucidation, mean balancing the budget, which they did such a bangup job of doing when they were in control.

Why the big flip for Democrats? It’s more than the dawning realization that the slogan, “Vote for me and I’ll raise your taxes!” is probably not going to resonate with voters.

⇒ First, there are the actual facts involved with the tax reform package. The politically liberal Tax Policy Center ran the numbers and figured the tax cuts would benefit 80 percent of American families, while raising taxes for just 5 percent. Those tax hikes would fall disproportionately on the wealthiest 1 percent. The average family would save $1,610.

More facts. The Congressional Budget Office has sharply increased its forecast for GDP growth in 2018 from 2 percent to robust 3.3 percent as a direct result of the tax cuts. The CBO predicts GDP growth next year at 2.4%, up from the expected 1.5% before the tax cuts. Further, the CBO says that this level of growth in the economy could eliminate most of the so-called tax-cut deficit that Democrats are suddenly so concerned about. Unfortunately but to no one’s shock, the media largely ignored that report.

⇒ Second, the tax cut package still remains popular. The “Republican” or “GOP” tax cuts, not so much. Recent polls showing a decline in support for the GOP tax cuts have elated Democrats and the media. But they’re quite misleading. The tax cuts themselves, broken down by almost every element within the bill, are overwhelmingly popular.

Investors Business Daily broke those down here. Americans’ support is absurdly high for most elements of the tax cuts. But most polls label the tax cuts as Republican or GOP, and when that happens, the support drops significantly.

A couple of things are at work here. One is the ongoing demonization of Republicans in the media. This has been a long-running train. The other is the conflation of budget deficit with the tax cuts. This of course has two elements, one of which is continued runaway spending, which congressional Republicans caved on like they always do. (Remember, they are caving to Democrats who actively pursue the runaway spending.) Saying that the taxes alone caused the projected $1.5 trillion deficit — over 10 years, because that is the only way to make it look bad — ignores half of the equation but clearly can influence news consumers.

⇒ Third, an April Gallup Poll found that Americans think the tax code is more fair today than it was before the GOP tax cuts took effect. Last year, 51 percent of Americans said middle income families pay too much income taxes. That is now down to 42%. And amazingly, given the media coverage, 26 percent say upper-income families pay their fair share, up slightly from 24 percent last year. And the big corporate fat cat giveaway? Well, 24 percent now say that corporations pay their fair share, up sharply from 19% a year ago when corporate tax rates were much higher.

It’s hard to run on a lie when the truth keeps showing up in bi-weekly dollars in the wallet, when you can see how strong the economy around you is. High GDP growth is tangible, just like anemic GDP growth was under Obama.

Americans realize that the tax reform package was a net positive for their pocketbooks, for the economy, for jobs and for the deficit — the absolute opposite of how they rightly viewed Obamacare. That Democrats aren’t clawing to run against it means they still have a modicum of political sense left.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared on The Revolutionary Act. Please subscribe to our Revolutionary YouTube.

New Video: The Clarity Tool

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Here’s a new video of a recent 10xTalk I gave on communication, titled “The Clarity Tool: How to Think About, Clarify, and Solve Your Biggest Problems.” In the speech, delivered at an event by Genius Network, I introduce the audience to a tool I developed to dramatically increase people’s ability to communicate clearly and effectively. You can download the Clarity Tool at the 10xTalk website.

Here’s their summary of the speech’s highlights:

  • Alex talks about the four aspects of a proper knowledge system that facilitates human flourishing
  • The #1 key to effectively communicating with other people and becoming more influential
  • Extreme Clarity: A 3-step process for persuasively getting your ideas across and increasing your credibility
  • How understanding and presenting opposing arguments can make your arguments stronger
  • Alex walks you through a fascinating step-by-step thinking tool that can transform your business and life

I hope you’ll check out the Clarity Tool and let me know what you think.

A climate lawsuit meets a climate thinker

There was a really interesting development in Oakland and San Francisco’s climate lawsuit against Chevron and several other fossil fuel companies. According to Bloomberg, Judge William Alsup has said that the parties to the lawsuit have to “prepare 10-page legal analyses on whether a century of American dependence on fossil fuels was worth the global warming it caused. . . .

“‘We needed oil and fossil fuels to get from 1859 to the present,’ said Alsup, 72, who hosted a five-hour climate-change tutorial in March. ‘Yes, that’s causing global warming. But against that negative, we need to weigh-in the larger benefits that have flowed from the use of fossil fuels. It’s been a huge, huge benefit.’”

As I regularly point out, the only way to make good decisions about our energy choices is to look at the full context: at the pros and the cons of our different options. Today’s near universal narrative that fossil fuels are ruining the planet depends on being biased and only looking at the alleged negative impacts of fossil fuels while ignoring the enormous positives.

Judge Alsup should be congratulated for demanding a clear, unbiased account in this case. Hopefully courts in other climate lawsuits will follow his lead.

Job opportunities at a new energy group

Our friends at Life:Powered, an energy project of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, are hiring!

Check out these openings for a policy analyst and a project coordinator.

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“Alex’s engaging and thought-provoking talk, presented eloquently with a sprinkling of humor, was a firm favorite among many of our delegates. Alex has a talent for employing formal logic in such a way as to create a climate of mutual understanding regardless of your position on fossil fuels, which is a powerful tool for diminishing bias and hearsay. He is an outstanding addition to any energy-related agenda.” –Michelle Edge, Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Energy Disruptors

ALSO: Whenever you’re ready, here are 4 ways I can help you increase your energy influence.

1. Change a mind by sharing my Google talk. Do you have someone you know who needs to learn pro-human thinking about energy issues? A great place to start is by sharing my talk at Google, which is designed to persuade even those immersed in the biased, sloppy, and anti-human energy thinking in our culture. Click the button below and I’ll send you the link to the talk.

Access Google Talk

2. Empower a friend by inviting them to this newsletter. If you know someone who wants to increase their clarity and influence on energy issues, click the button below to invite them to this newsletter.

Invite to Newsletter

3. Bring me to speak at your next event. If you have an upcoming board meeting, employee town hall, or association meeting, I have some new and updated speeches about the moral case for fossil fuels, winning hearts and minds, and communications strategy in the new political climate. If you’d like to consider me for your event, click the button below and I’ll send you the info.

Send Speaking Engagement Details

4. Recommend me for a high-level speaking event (and get an I Love Fossil Fuels t-shirt). One way to influence a high-level audience is to have me speak to them. If you are connected to any high-level events at companies, associations, and conferences, your recommendation could make a huge difference. A simple way to do this is to send an email to your event contact, CC’ing me, with: 1. That you’ve seen me speak. 2. Why you liked it. 3. Why I might be a good fit for their event. For every introduction you make I’ll send you an “I Love Fossil Fuels” t-shirt or a signed copy of The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels.

EDITORS NOTE: Copyright © 2018 Center for Industrial Progress. All rights reserved. Do not copy, cite, or distribute without permission of the author.

A Lessen of Liberty in North Korea

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The worst part of the State Department’s new report on international religious freedom isn’t the stories it tells, but the ones it doesn’t.

In some of the darkest corners of the world, a lot of people aren’t even captured in the statistics. They just vanish — victims of a brutal war that’s been waging for centuries on faith.The West has seen flashes of the cruelty in places like North Korea, where the simple act of bowing your head could be all the evidence the government needs to ship you to prison camp. There, refugees warn, you’ll be beaten — sometimes to death — or die from something as simple as diarrhea because there’s no access to medicine. It’s a country where Christians trust no one. Kim Jong Un’s spies are everywhere, trained to “uncover religious people.” Even a secret prayer meeting could be a trap, organized by state officials to catch believers. Some Chinese pastors are even recruited and paid to turn in North Korean believers.

The ones who are caught talk about the torture, the brainwashing, and executions. “The government continued to deal harshly with those who engaged in almost any religious practices,” the State Department report read. “An estimated 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners, some imprisoned for religious reasons, were believed to be held in the political prison camp system in remote areas under horrific conditions.” Children grow up never knowing their parents were believers, a fact that’s hidden from thousands of young people for their own protection.

Christians like Han-me flee to China, only to be captured and sent back with a virtual death sentence. “Some defectors [on the train] had been arrested before,” she says. “They told me: ‘When you’re interrogated, there are two questions you should never answer ‘yes’ to. The first one is: Have you been in touch with Christians? The second one is: Have you read in the Bible?’ It turned out to be true. In prison, the interrogators tied me to a chair and beat me with chains and a wooden stick wrapped up in a newspaper. They pressed me to confess I had been in contact with Christians. I told them I hadn’t met any Christians while in China. It was a lie, but I wanted to survive. It was all I could think of.”

Higher profile Christians are the targets of assassination. After one Christian, who was heavily involved in an underground railroad for refugees, was murdered, South Korean intelligence officials stepped up their surveillance of people crossing the border. They called one local man and warned him not to meet up with a North Korean acquaintance. “This man will attempt to murder him, they say. Not much later at a train platform, South Korean police arrest the North Korean agent carrying needles and poison.”

Over the last seven years, the crackdown has only gotten worse. When Kim Jong Un succeeded his father in 2011, the already-brutal regime became the stuff of real-life horror. More house raids, more spies, more killings. “Every Christian in my country has the spirit of martyrdom in him,” said the friend of one detainee. “If you lose that spirit for one second, you cannot carry the burden of being a follower of Jesus.”

Unfortunately, this is the grim backdrop U.S. officials face in their high-stakes negotiations with North Korea.”Religious freedom is in the American bloodstream,” Secretary Mike Pompeo told reporters yesterday during the flurry of behind-the-scenes work to salvage talks with Kim Jong Un. “The release of the report is critical to our mission to defend religious liberty, and brings to light the state of religious freedom all over the world.”

From more allied countries like Saudi Arabia to known enemies in Iran and Nigeria, the report outlines the tall — but not impossible — task of Pompeo and U.S. Ambassador at Large for Religious Freedom Sam Brownback. In hot spots like Myanmar, the attacks seem to be growing right along with worldwide outrage. Extremists are burning, raping, and killing their way through the Rohingya Muslim population with a ferocity world leaders are desperately trying to stop. In a dramatic turn from the Obama years, Trump’s State Department was quick to label the campaign “ethnic cleansing.”

“It’s extraordinarily significant when the United States formally designates something as ethnic cleansing,” said an advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. “Ethnic cleansing is a crime against humanity.” Almost a quarter million Rohingya have already fled to Bangladesh, the report points out, where the situation is just as dire. Mudslides continue to wipe away makeshift shelters, stripping families of whatever peace of mind they had leaving the turmoil at home.

Fortunately for the Rohingya — and every persecuted faith group — they have an ally in this White House. “Our goal is to protect the freedom of conscience for all people. That means protecting a Muslim, Buddhist, Falun Gong practitioner or Christian in China and their ability to pray and live out their life,” Ambassador Brownback said. His partner in the effort, Secretary Pompeo, told reporters what most Americans already know: “Religious freedom is, indeed, a universal human right that I will fight for.” The world has made important strides, he went on, “but we still have a lot of work to do.” Thanks to this report, they know exactly where to start.

Tony Perkins’ Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers.

RELATED ARTICLE: We’ll See You… in September!

Marijuana Industry Harming Babies? Not on Our Watch!

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Two weeks ago, The Marijuana Report published a story (3rd article) about a new study showing that 70 percent of 400 Colorado dispensaries recommended marijuana to pregnant women for morning sickness. Scientific studies show the drug can harm the unborn when mothers use it.

Today, the Marijuana Accountability Project (MAC) and Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) are hanging baby bibs on dispensary doors, State House offices and the Colorado Department of Revenue, which regulates the industry. The bibs display the slogan: “Don’t hurt our future – CO kids.”

“Going against all available science, the marijuana industry is now recommending pot for pregnant women, actively putting their profits ahead of the healthy development of future Coloradans,” says Justin Luke Riley, MAC’s founder.

“This is a new low,” adds Dr. Kevin Sabet, founder and president of SAM. “We demand that the Colorado state government take immediate action and stop the pot industry from continuing with this. Pot and pregnancy don’t mix.”

See the MAC/SAM news release here.

Acute Poisonings from a Synthetic Cannabinoid Sold as Cannabidiol — Utah, 2017–2018

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that a federal/state investigation identified 52 suspected cases in Utah of adverse reactions people experienced after consuming CBD products that turned out to contain a synthetic cannabinoid, 4-CCB, but no CBD. Most of the people vaped the liquid, and 60 percent went to emergency departments with such adverse effects as altered mental status, nausea or vomiting, and seizures or shaking.

Many of the products were labeled Yolo CBD oil, pictured above. They displayed no manufacturer’s name or list of ingredients.

Cannabidiol is a non-psychoactive component of marijuana that scientists are studying for potential medical use. It is illegal under federal law and in Utah, although it can be bought online and in local shops.

Rapid discovery of the problem and state and federal warnings to the public contained the outbreak.

The CDC report warns, “This investigation highlights the hazards of consuming unregulated products labeled as CBD. States could consider regulating products labeled as CBD and establishing surveillance systems for illness associated with products labeled as CBD to minimize the risk for recurrences of this emerging public health threat.”

Executive Editor’s note: Amazon lists 13 pages of CBD oil products. Typing “CBD oil images” into Google brings up hundreds more. There is no guarantee any are safe. States that have legalized marijuana for medical use sometimes test products and find their labels are not always accurate.

Read the CDC report here.

Inside a Raid on a Cuban Drug Den in Colorado

This week NBC’s Today Show aired a video that shows everything is not all right with marijuana legalization in Colorado, as its officials would have you believe.

Advocates promised voters in 2012 that legalization would wipe out the marijuana black market. But the law allows people to grow their own at home, and pot cartels are taking that literally. Many are renting homes in upscale communities, gutting them, and growing huge marijuana crops inside. And that’s not legal, even in Colorado.

This shocking video shows how out of control the black market has become in the state by taking up residence in people’s homes and neighborhoods.

Click on picture or here to view the video.

Study Links Marijuana to Increased Death Risk among Young Heart Attack Sufferers

About 10 percent of people age 50 or younger who suffer a certain kind of heart attack (a Type 1 myocardial infarction or MI) use marijuana, cocaine, or both.

Researchers studied 2,097 patients in that age range from two Boston medical centers. They identified marijuana use in 6 percent of patients, cocaine use in 4.7 percent, and 1.7 percent used both.

Compared to nonusers, ratios for all-cause mortality were 2.09 for marijuana and 1.91 for cocaine; for cardiovascular death, ratios were 2.13 for marijuana and 2.32 for cocaine.

The researchers stress not enough is known yet to confirm causal effects, but say their study indicates a pressing need for more research to determine the potential relationship between drug use and poor cardiovascular outcomes.

Read Cardiovascular Business article here.

Read the Journal of the American College of Cardiology abstract here.

When Marijuana Is Used before Cigarettes or Alcohol: Demographic Predictors and Associations with Heavy Use, Cannabis Use Disorder, and Other Drug-related Outcomes

Gateway drugs for youth are alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana. This study finds that adolescents who use marijuana first are more likely to be male, older, and Black, American Indian/Alaskan Native, multiracial, or Hispanic rather than White or Asian.

Researchers analyzed data on 275,559 people aged 12 to 21 from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health between 2004 and 2014. Over that time, those using marijuana first (compared to alcohol or tobacco first) increased from 4.8 percent to 8.8 percent.

Those who began with marijuana were also more likely to become heavy users and to develop a cannabis use disorder.

The researchers say their study suggests that drug prevention strategies may need to target groups differently based on their risk of initiating alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana use first.

Read Prevention Science study here. See chart explanation on page 5.

Marijuana: Big Tobacco 2.0

This excellent article explains the parallels between the tobacco and marijuana industries.

“Savvy corporations such as Philip Morris, Lucky Strike, R.J. Reynolds, and the rest pitched their products with campaigns that made use of what were then revolutionary fields of advertising, public relations, and social psychology, portraying an inherently worthless, corrosive product as something that empowered, bettered, and liberated its consumers,” the author writes. And the marijuana industry is executing the same playbook, he continues.

“As was the case with smoking tobacco, smoking marijuana is said to prove you’re sociable, hip, and modern.

“As with tobacco, marijuana is portrayed not only as largely harmless, but as objectively good for you, with a credible function as self-medication for all sorts of ailments.

“As with tobacco, marijuana is presented as a signifier of individual liberty and self-empowerment.

“As with critics of tobacco, critics of marijuana are cast as petty tyrants trampling on freedom while peddling hysterical junk science.

“And as with the tobacco industry, a cash-flush marijuana industry is eager to use its wealth to slant scientific study and political debate, lest its flattering claims begin to sire organized suspicion.”

Read full National Review article here.

My Cousin was Executed by the Nazis in 1942 for telling a ‘politically incorrect’ joke — fast forward to Rosanne Barr

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In November, 2017 I wrote a column titled “The Origins of the ‘Cult of Political Correctness’ [a.k.a. Cultural Marxism].” I felt a need to expose what happens when someone is deemed to be “politically incorrect.” The most recent example is Rosanne Barr who tweeted a joke about former Obama senior advisor and confidant Valerie Jarrett typing “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.”

What Rosanne got wrong is Valerie Jarrett’s Communist background. According to Discover the Networks:

Valerie Jarrett was born as Valerie Bowman on November 14, 1956, to American parents in Shiraz, Iran.

[ … ]

Jarrett’s Father

Valerie Jarrett’s father—an American-born physician named James Bowman (1923-2011)—worked as a pathologist and geneticist at a children’s hospital in Shiraz as part of a U.S. aid program to assist developing countries. He resided in Chicago from approximately 1947-53, precisely when Frank Marshall Davis, the Communist journalist who would later serve as a mentor to a young Barack Obama, launched his Communist Party-line newspaper, the Chicago Star. Bowman and Davis undoubtedly knew one another during these years. Bowman subsequently moved to Iran, where Valerie Jarrett was born, after his discharge from the Army Medical Corps in 1955.

As evidenced by his lengthy FBI file, Bowman was a Communist who often collaborated with other Chicago-based members of the Party.

[ … ]

Jarrett’s Mother

Valerie Jarrett’s mother is the early-childhood-education author Barbara Taylor Bowman (born 1928), who in 1966 co-founded a Chicago-based graduate school in child development known as the Erikson Institute, named after the psychoanalyst Erik Erikson. (In 1950 Erikson became a hero to the left by choosing to resign from his professorship at the University of California rather than sign an anti-communist loyalty oath as the school required.) Indicative of the Erikson Institute’s radical political orientation is the fact that its board of trustees has included, in addition to Mrs. Bowman, such figures as Tom Ayers (father of the former Weather Underground terrorist and lifelong Marxist Bill Ayers) and Bernardine Dohrn (longtime wife of Bill Ayers). Bill Ayers, for his part, called Mrs. Bowman “a neighbor and friend” in his 1997 book A Kind and Just Parent, noting that his neighbors also included Louis Farrakhan and “writer Barack Obama.”

Read more…

Here are members of ABC’s The View mocking Christianity and Joy Behar calling saying people who believe Jesus talks to them are “mentally ill.”

Rosanne’s ABC television show was promptly cancelled. And Joy Behar and those on the view are still on the air.

Political incorrectness killed Rosanne’s show, but Behar is safe and sound.

Marian Pilatowicz

The same is not true for my cousin Marian Pilatowicz. According to my families records Marian was a factory worker in occupied Poland during WWII. Marian told a joke to some of his fellow workers about the Germans who controlled his country. Marian was reported to the Gestapo, arrested and executed in the notorious Auschwitz-Berkinau concentration camp on November 3rd, 1942. Marion was a 23-year old.

Origin of Political Correctness

Have you ever wondered where the idea of political correctness originated?

The Washington Times in a November, 2015 op-ed titled “A little history of ‘politically correct’: The Soviets invented it and the university tolerates it” notes this about the cult of political correctness:

It’s a wicked attitude intended to stifle the conscience and suppress belief and conviction.

The term “politically correct” was coined in the late 1920s by the Soviets and their ideological allies around the world to describe why the views of certain of the party faithful needed correction to the party line.

If my cousin were alive today he would agree that America, like the Nazis, has picked up on the power of stifling free speech by making certain speech punishable.

Political Correctness is cultural Marxism.

In a column titled “The Origins of Political Correctness” Mr. Bill Lind notes:

If we look at it analytically, if we look at it historically, we quickly find out exactly what it is. Political Correctness is cultural Marxism. It is Marxism translated from economic into cultural terms. It is an effort that goes back not to the 1960s and the hippies and the peace movement, but back to World War I. If we compare the basic tenets of Political Correctness with classical Marxism the parallels are very obvious.

First of all, both are totalitarian ideologies. The totalitarian nature of Political Correctness is revealed nowhere more clearly than on college campuses, many of which at this point are small ivy covered North Koreas, where the student or faculty member who dares to cross any of the lines set up by the gender feminist or the homosexual-rights activists, or the local black or Hispanic group, or any of the other sainted “victims” groups that PC revolves around, quickly find themselves in judicial trouble. Within the small legal system of the college, they face formal charges – some star-chamber proceeding – and punishment. That is a little look into the future that Political Correctness intends for the nation as a whole. [Emphasis added]

In “Orwell’s Doublespeak: The Language of the Left” Linda Goudsmit wrote:

George Orwell introduced the language of doublespeak in his dystopian novel “1984″ published in 1949. Doublespeak is the language of opposites. Up is down and down is up.

The word doublespeak derives from two Orwellian words “doublethink” and “newspeak.” Doublethink is when a person accepts two mutually contradictory thoughts as correct without being aware or troubled by the glaring contradiction between them. Doublethink statements like “war is peace” “freedom is slavery” “ignorance is strength” are made without discomfort. Newspeak is a method of controlling thought through language – it is the language of fake news. Doublespeak combines doublethink and newspeak in language that deliberately obscures, distorts, disguises, or reverses the meaning of words to manipulate public opinion in a mass social engineering effort.

Goudsmit presents a glossary of leftist doublespeak.

The Principles of Politically Correctness.

A detailed explanation of Newspeak, today’s political correctness, is found in this paragraph from an Appendix to Orwell’s novel “1984”, under the title, The Principles of Newspeak:

The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc (English Socialist Party) but to make all other modes of thought impossible. It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heretical thought — that is, a thought diverging from the principles of Ingsoc — should be literally unthinkable, at least so far as thought is dependent on words.

Its vocabulary was so constructed as to give exact and often very subtle expression to every meaning that a Party member could properly wish to express, while excluding all other meanings and also the possibility of arriving at them by indirect methods. This was done partly by the invention of new words, but chiefly by eliminating undesirable words and by stripping such words as remained of unorthodox meanings, and so far as possible of all secondary meanings whatever.

To give a single example. The word free still existed in Newspeak, but it could only be used in such statements as ‘This dog is free from lice’ or ‘This field is free from weeds’. It could not be used in its old sense of ‘politically free’ or ‘intellectually free’ since political and intellectual freedom no longer existed even as concepts, and were therefore of necessity nameless. Quite apart from the suppression of definitely heretical words, reduction of vocabulary was regarded as an end in itself, and no word that could be dispensed with was allowed to survive.

Newspeak was designed not to extend but to diminish the range of thought, and this purpose was indirectly assisted by cutting the choice of words down to a minimum.

Read more.

“Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas.” – Joseph Stalin

“To learn who rules over you, simple find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” – Voltaire

“It’s getting funnier because everybody’s categories are disintegrating, and the cult of political correctness dictates that we never point out that other people don’t make sense.” – Terence McKenna, American philosopher.

Speak freely, do not fear. The Truth Shall Set You Free!

RELATED ARTICLES: To Vietnam, Freedom of Expression Is a ‘National Security Offense’

VIDEO: Multiple Former MSNBC Hosts Fundamentally Transform Into Democrat Party Political Operatives

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President Donald J. Trump has been critical of the main stream media. He has called much of their journalism “fake news.” He and others have pointed out a bias in the media toward the ideals of the Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee.

QUESTION: What happens when award winning hosts of MSNBC leave their jobs?

ANSWER: They start organizations that begin recruiting “House candidates with working-class backgrounds” for the Democratic Party.

Krystal Marie Ball

Krystal Marie Ball was a co-host on the MSNBC’s afternoon news/talk show “The Cycle” from June 2012 to July 2015. Ball was named co-host of The Hill’s Morning Show in February 2018. Hill is also the founder of People’s House Project (PHP) with the mission of “ensuring the Democrats are elected in Appalachia, the Heartland, and in areas Democrats usually do not win.” PHP is a hybrid PAC dedicated to electing working- and middle-class candidates to the House of Representatives.

Watch Ball’s February 2018 interview with Egberto Willies:

Melissa Harris-Perry

Former MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry, who was a colleague of Ball’s, has also jointed People’s House Project. Harris-Perry left MSNBC under a cloud. The Washington Post in a column titled “The ugliness of Melissa Harris-Perry’s departure from MSNBC” By Erik Wemple noted:

In the case of former host Melissa Harris-Perry’s departure from MSNBC, however, an anomaly is afoot. MSNBC recently announced its “parting” of ways with the host after she announced her intention not to sit in the anchor chair last weekend over concerns that the network had effectively taken away her editorial control. Her concerns took root in an extensive email that left little room for conciliation, saying at one point that “I am not a token, mammy, or little brown bobble head.” Just yesterday afternoon, the two sides clashed in settlement negotiations over a non-disparagement clause. Having failed to come to an agreement, Harris-Perry felt fully empowered to speak about her experiences at MSNBC today with the Erik Wemple Blog. And MSNBC rebutted her claims on the record.

Melissa Harris-Perry serves as editor-at-large of Elle.com and a contributing editor at The Nation.

What’s interesting is that given the #MeToo movement Krystal Ball was involved in a sexy photo scandal while at MSNBC. Watch this 2010 report by The Young Turks:

It appears MSNBC is a recruiting ground for journalists who fundamentally transform into political activists.

Iran backed Hamas has fired more rockets into Israel in the last 24-hours than during the past 3-years

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As of 8:00 PM, May 29, 2018 over 114  mortars and rockets have been launched by Hamas and Jihad both Iranian proxies into civilian areas in Israel. A kindergarten was targeted but fortunately the children had not yet arrived in school when it hit the play area.

The Western media wasn’t reluctant to blame Israel while protecting their border, but their silence is loud and clear with this massive attack against Israeli citizens.

CUFI Talking Points: More rockets fired into Israel over the past 24 hours than during past 3 years

As of right now, at least 70 mortars have been fired into Israel from Gaza in the last 24 hours and the situation continues to grow more serious.

The current mortar attack is the largest assault on Israeli civilians since the 2014 Gaza war.

Early this morning, as Israelis were just waking up and taking their children to school, they found themselves under attack by an initial barrage of more than 30 mortars fired into southern Israel from Gaza. Families had 15-30 seconds to get under cover after hearing the piercing Red Alert sirens warn of an incoming projectile.

Several homes and vehicles were hit by mortars as mothers tried to pull their screaming, confused babies into the closest safe room and shield the children with their bodies.

Minutes before crowds of Jewish children were scheduled to arrive, an Israeli kindergarten near the Gaza border was hit with pieces of shrapnel large enough to tear chunks of concrete out of the school’s walls and entrance doorway.

For some of the youngest Israeli children under four years old, the last 24 hours of constant Red Alert sirens and explosions nearby were the most traumatizing day of their lives. They are too young to remember the last time Israelis were besieged by such massive sustained rocket fire from Gaza, during the summer of 2014. For their parents, today brought back a familiar sense of terror as they spent the entire day within steps of the closest bomb shelter or huddled inside while the firestorm continued late into the night.

The Iranian-backed terrorist groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad issued a joint statement claiming “credit” for the attack on Israel, and continued to escalate by launching more sophisticated and dangerous rockets into Israel throughout the night.

During the last eight weeks of Hamas-led violent riots along the border with Gaza, Hamas has openly bragged on Arabic television that they would “tear down their fence just like we will tear out their [the Israeli’s] hearts from their chests.” The worldwide media ignored Israel’s evidence that the riots were largely carried out for the purpose of terrorism, but today’s assault on Israeli families and children in their homes and schools proves that Hamas is determined to murder innocent Israelis.

While the American media obsesses over a controversial sitcom as the biggest news of the day, millions of Israelis are sleeping in bomb shelters and praying the Red Alert sirens stay silent. Today was a somber reminder that Iran’s proxies are growing bolder and more aggressive in their provocations. As the ruling power in Gaza, Hamas is solely responsible for maintaining the peace by controlling its radical factions. If they cannot or will not prevent attacks on Israeli civilians, the IDF has every right to take whatever action necessary to protect the families trying to live peacefully in southern Israel.

Read more.

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is of Palestinian members of the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, displaying Qassam home-made rockets during an anti-Israel military parade on August 21, 2016 in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

State Department Reviews Religious Freedom around the World

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The State Department’s 2017 International Religious Freedom Report was released today. Issued under the direction of Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, with guidance from other senior officials in the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), the report serves as a guide to the work yet to be done on this issue in many places around the world.

The places which one might expect to be covered in detail (North Korea, Iran, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, etc.) featured discussions of the major persecution taking place within their borders. Yet countries less well-known as religious persecution hot spots were featured too. For example, the report notes that in Burkina Faso, several individuals were killed and others threatened “if they did not start teaching the Quran in schools instead of the regular curricula,” and the discussion of the Comoros observes the strict enforcement and preference for Sunni Islam in law.

Muslim/Christian interreligious conflict continues to simmer at a lower level in a number of sub-Saharan countries, in some worse than others. Discomfort and conflict persists within these communities when one is seen as having the upper hand in government or society. While the concerns in these countries are often relatively less serious, it is important to address them before they flare up into larger, more destabilizing situations. And regardless, all religious freedom violations, however small, deserve to be addressed as a matter of principle.

Human rights and humanitarian concerns drive much of the State Department’s reporting on international religious freedom which we see reflected in the 2017 report. Very often, in each country’s section of the report, there is a note stating that the U.S. embassy or its officials in that country hosted meetings or met with religious or government leaders to raise religious freedom concerns. While this attention is good and helpful, there is much more to the story of religious freedom. Not least in this story is the emerging proof of religious freedom’s benefit to security and economic prosperity — proof which is not being raised by our diplomats and foreign policy professionals, whether in Foggy Bottom or around the world.

As long as religious freedom is seen merely as a humanitarian issue, governments and leaders who see nothing in it for themselves will be reluctant to address it, and we will be resigned to continue the worldwide backsliding on religious freedom that has occurred in recent years. But when the United States seriously and systematically begins to show others around the world that religious freedom is in their interest — their security and economic interests — we can begin to make headway.

Raising religious freedom as a human right is the right thing to do. But we have only achieved so much with this approach. If we increasingly explain the many benefits of religious freedom to those who otherwise wouldn’t care about it, they may begin to see a real shift towards protecting it. Whatever else, doing what we can to protect religious freedom for the maximum number of people around the world is always the right thing to do.

Tony Perkins’ Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers.

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Will Adam Putnam make Florida a Sanctuary State? Look at his record!

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Think. If Adam Putnam is elected Governor of Florida will he crack down on illegal aliens or make Florida a Sanctuary State?

Look at his record.

Adam Putnam co-sponsored H.R.371 IN 2007. Same for H.R.884 in 2005, same for H.R.3142 and H.R. 2899 in 2003.
Cosponsors of H.R.371 – 110th Congress (2007-2008): Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits, and Security Act of 2007

https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/house-bill/884
Summary of H.R.884 – 109th Congress (2005-2006): Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits, and Security Act of 2005

https://www.congress.gov/bill/108th-congress/house-bill/2899?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22putnam%22%5D%7D
Summary of H.R.2899 – 108th Congress (2003-2004): Border Security and Immigration Improvement Act

https://www.congress.gov/bill/108th-congress/house-bill/3142/cosponsors
Cosponsors of H.R.3142 – 108th Congress (2003-2004): Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits, and Security Act of 2003

RELATED ARTICLE: Ex-congressman got millions in land deal

Nazism and Communism Are Two Sides of the Collectivist Coin

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Big government is coercive government, regardless of what label is applied.

by Daniel J. Mitchell

In 2016, I toured the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Cambodia, which memorializes the victims of communist butchery in that nation.

Earlier today, I was lucky enough to get a tour through the House of Terror, a museum in Budapest that commemorates the horrors that Hungary endured during both Nazi occupation and Soviet occupation.

House of Terror

Some of the exhibits are uplifting, such as the photo from the 1956 uprising that shows a toppled statue of Stalin.

Other parts are downright depressing.

Or, in the case of these torture instruments, certain exhibits are utterly horrifying (you can use your imagination to figure out what the communists did with the glass tubes).

If you go to Hungary, the House of Terror should be on your list of things to do.

I was particularly gratified to learn that it’s the most-visited museum in Budapest. Not simply because it’s filled with interesting material, but because it helps people understand that all forms of statism are wrong.

The House of Terror has exhibits on the brutality of Nazi rule and the brutality of Marxist rule.

Which is a good excuse for me to share excerpts from a couple of columns on the common thread between fascism and socialism.

All Forms of Statism Are Wrong

In a column last November for the Foundation for Economic Education, Brittany Hunter shared some of Friedrich Hayek’s analysis of the philosophical link between national socialism and international socialism.

F.A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom, …in chapter twelve, …Hayek highlights the very important connection between the socialist and Nazi intellectuals by profiling a handful of prominent German Marxist supporters… Hayek points out that contrary to what many think, Nazism did not simply appear out of thin air and infect the minds of docile German people. There were academic roots that, while grown in the soil of socialist thought, grew into a philosophy that praised German superiority, ultimate war, and the degradation of the individual.

…Beginning his list of influential thinkers prior to WWII, Hayek begins with the dedicated Marxist who later embraced nationalism and dictatorship, Werner Sombart (1863-1941). …He seethed with criticism for the English people, who, in his mind, had lost their warlike instincts. …His other main criticism of English culture was the emphasis placed on the individual. For Sombart, individual happiness was hampering societies from being truly great. …Professor Johann Plenge (1874-1963) was another leading intellectual authority on Marxist thought during this time. He also saw war with England as a necessary struggle between two opposite principles: emphasis on the individual and organization and socialism. …Interestingly enough, many…socialist philosophers eventually abandoned Marxism in favor of National Socialism… while Prussian militarism was seen to be the enemy of socialism, Spengler helped bridge that gap. Both schools of thought require an abandonment of the individual identity. …This hatred and fear of the individual is the worldview espoused by these thinkers and it continues on with those who claim to be socialists today. Unless the concept of individualism is completely eradicated, the glorified state cannot come into existence.”

Earlier this year, Byron Chiado echoed this analysis of Hayek’s Road to Serfdom in another FEE column, pointing out that all forms of socialism reject classical liberalism.

The bulk of the book makes the argument that central planning and interventionism inevitably lead to authoritarianism… Towards the end of the book, he deals with the undeniable authoritarians of his time and casts the national-socialist movement as one built on disgust with liberalism. …Sombart, like many Germans in the early 20th century, was compelled by a case for war between the British and Germany on the grounds that the British…pursuit of individual happiness, which he saw as a disease contracted from a society built on commercialism. Laissez-faire was an unnatural anarchic order giving rise to parasites and dishonest merchants… another Marxist, Sociologist Johann Plenge…moved into the shamelessly totalitarian realm that attracted so many Marxist leaders… Hayek gives…a warning to England; that the “conservative socialism” en vogue at the time was a German export, which for reasons he details throughout the book, will inevitably become totalitarian. …This was not a sensationalist attempt to prove his point. Hayek was rather calmly pointing out an example of the type of government one could expect in a society that has discarded liberalism for planning.”

Amen. Big government is coercive government, regardless of what label is applied.

Which is why libertarianism (what Hayek would have called liberalism, meaning classical liberalism) is the proper philosophy of government. Assuming, of course, one values individual rights and civil society.

P.S. I also visited the Solidarity Museum in Poland a few years ago. Maybe I could put together a guide-book on the horrors of totalitarianism.

Reprinted from International Liberty.

Daniel J. Mitchell

Daniel J. Mitchell

Daniel J. Mitchell is a Washington-based economist who specializes in fiscal policy, particularly tax reform, international tax competition, and the economic burden of government spending. He also serves on the editorial board of the Cayman Financial Review.

Gun Control for Dummies – It’s Common Sense not Hoggwash!

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Fluffyshotme posted the below video. Fluffy notes:

This video gives a further explanation of the Second Amendment to the Constitution in the context of the why the Bill of Rights was included along with the establishment of the Federal Government. Please share this with your friends so that they can help educate America.

Constitution of United States of America 1789 (rev. 1992)

Amendment III

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

EDITORS NOTE: Please check out Fluffy’s photography at http://www.fluffyshotme.com.

VIDEO: Florida University Harbors Anti-Semites and Terror Supporters

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Canary Mission investigated anti-Semitism and support for terrorism among anti-Israel activists at Florida State University (FSU). 26 students and professionals affiliated with the campus group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) were found to have posted over 150 times on Twitter and Facebook, expressing a wide variety of hatred against Jews and Israel.

A key finding was the large support for terrorism and violence. 59 of the 165 posts (36%) were endorsements or promotion of terror as well as calls for intifada and violence against Jews.

The content of the other posts included:

  • Mocking the Holocaust
  • Comparing Israelis to Nazis
  • Cursing Jews in Arabic
  • Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories
  • Hatred and demonization of Israel

Of particular note was Reem Zaitoon who tweeted multiple times her desire to “f**k up a Zionist.” As well as Yousef Mohamed who repeatedly curses Jews.

FSU SJP as an organization was found to have spread incitement to terror, defended the Knife Intifada and honored terrorists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

FIND OUT ABOUT ALL 26 STUDENTS EXPOSED BY CANARY MISSION

Yousef Mohamed has mocked the Holocaust and spread anti-Semitism and Israel-hatred on social media. Mohamed was an activist with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at FSU.

For more info click here.

Hadeel Eldeek has defended terrorists, spread anti-Jewish conspiracy theories and demonized Israel as an activist with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at FSU from 2015-2017.

For more info click here.

Albert Kishek has expressed support for the “intifada,” glorified Hezbollah and demonized Israel. He was the 2017 secretary and treasurer of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at FSU and FSU SJP co-president in November 2015.

For more info click here

Reem Zaitoon threatened that she would “f**k up a Zionist,” called for “death to the United States” and demonized Israel as an activist for Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

For more info click here.

SEE THE FULL CAMPAIGN HERE

She Voted for Obama Twice. Now Antonia Okafor Explains Why She’s a Conservative Who Advocates Gun Rights.

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This is an edited transcript of a conversation between Antonia Okafor and Katrina Trinko on the May 22 edition of The Daily Signal podcast. Okafor weighed in on her own journey to becoming a conservative, Kanye West, gun rights, and school safety. 

Katrina Trinko: Joining us today is Antonia Okafor, a political commentator and the CEO of EmPOWERed, an organization devoted to the Second Amendment rights of women on college campuses. Antonia, thanks for joining us today.

Antonia Okafor: Thanks for having me, Katrina.

Trinko: First question. You yourself voted for Barack Obama in both 2008 and 2012.

Okafor: Yes.

Trinko: Why did you vote for him and what since then has changed your mind on political matters?

Okafor:  I grew up in a pretty traditional Democratic family. I remember when I was young my mom telling me that, ‘If you could vote right now, you would vote for Bill Clinton.’ I remember that.

I just thought I was a Democrat growing up and then I went to college and realized … I was actually taking public policy courses and realizing … [that the policies] for the Democratic Party, I didn’t actually believe in.

Doing a lot more research and realizing that, you know what, my values that I grew up with that actually, coincidentally, and ironically [the values] my mother taught me—working very hard, education is an equalizer for everyone, that traditional family and the nuclear family is important to success, and having a faith in Jesus Christ is important to success as well—and just those traditional values really made me realize that I was in a party that did not reconcile with my values and I needed to change, particularly with the pro-life issue, but then later on, the pro-gun issue.

The only party that I believe that was really always consistently focused on those issues was the Republican Party.

After 2012, I’m [remembering] … voting for Barack Obama, even though I did have a hard time at that even doing that, but realizing that I will never vote again against my values and I would not vote for the Democratic Party because they weren’t doing what was important in that instance for my values.

Trinko: I think your story is particularly interesting because so many people go to college and actually come out liberal, or come out more liberal. This is sort of a personal question, but I’d just be curious: Why do you think you were open to changing? Why was your experience so different than so many other college students?

Okafor: You know what? I think I was open because kind of like what’s going on right now, [although] I think it’s to a worse degree because everybody’s so anti-Trump. It’s because the media’s so focused on making Republicans look like racists, and sexists, and misogynists, and horrible people.

Then me, I guess, I just have this affinity to be around people, or to seek out information for myself. I remember I was like, OK, if they’re really this bad I want to see for myself. Going out and talking to people who were Republicans and finding out that they weren’t bad people, in fact, they were amazing people and they actually share the same values. I mean, who would’ve thunk it that if you did your actual research, that you would find a lot of what people were saying is false.

That’s what happened to me, and so a lot of questions ensued after that of what else I was just believing without actually doing my research and homework on.

I came to find out that there were a lot of things that I didn’t believe that mainstream media for a long time was telling me that I should. It was them saying that you must be a certain way as a black woman, you must think this certain way or you’re not a black woman that made me actually, ‘You know what, I want to do my research and find out why they’re saying this.’

Come to find out, that’s exactly the opposite.

I think that’s what really spurred me onto being more open to finding out what my actual beliefs were and if I believe what they believe.

Trinko: OK. Well, that’s interesting because that relates to, of course, Kanye West, [who] had a huge backlash when he didn’t even really say he supported Trump, just said maybe not everything conservatives say is the spawn of Satan, essentially. What did you think about the backlash? Are we in a unique moment here? What’s going on?

Okafor: Well, two things. Even with Kanye West, I think actually I’m more saddened about what Chance the Rapper said and the backlash that he got right after that. Actually, he had apologized when he said that not all black people have to vote for Democrats. He apologized after that.

I was like, what are you apologizing for? I mean, statistically that’s true but unfortunately with, I think, African-Americans … the media, mostly the left, has been able to monopolize the conversation and narrative when it comes to that, [making it] … that you’re black and these people are white and therefore, if you’re a black person, you should vote for the Democratic Party.

Only white people are for gun rights, only white people are Republican, are conservatives. They’ve done a great job of doing that for so long but, no, because you’re a black person does not mean that you have to vote for the Democratic Party. If anything, when I found out that 95 percent of African-Americans voted for Barack Obama and then 88 percent of them voted for Hillary Clinton, that’s more than any other demographic group and it’s an overwhelming proportion more as well. I mean, Latinos, they voted 66 percent for Hillary Clinton.

I think, for a long time the left has used this narrative that as a black person particularly … you are supposed to vote a certain way.

I think a lot of people like Kanye, and Chance the Rapper, if they apologize or not, are starting to realize that maybe I don’t vote for Republicans, maybe I’m not a conservative. That’s what Kanye said—he said, I don’t really know if I would label myself as a conservative, but I think a different way.

We’ll see what he says, but I think it’s good that we’re having a conversation anyway, to say that you as a person are independent and you can think independently and make up your own decisions regardless of your race or your gender.

I think people are sick and tired of people putting them in boxes. I know I was sick and tired of it.

Trinko: Well, one of the criticisms of conservatives over the years has been they don’t really show up to a lot of minority events. Sen. Rand Paul [R-Ky.], when he was running for president, made a big deal of [it]: ‘I’m actually going to go to African-American neighborhoods, I’m going to speak, I’m going to be involved.’ What do you think conservatives should be doing to reach out to African-Americans?

Okafor: You know what? I’m a testament that that worked, because I remember seeing him when I was afraid of—

Trinko: Oh, Paul?

Okafor: Yeah, of seeing that he was going out to Howard [University in Washington, D.C.], he was going out to these HBCUs [historically black colleges and universities] and … still talking about conservative values.

I hadn’t seen that before, I hadn’t seen politicians on our side who had these values that would go out and talk to people, but not also pander to them and change their values because they’re in a different area.

I remember looking at Rand Paul and him being so focused and so true to his beliefs and his principles, and not budging on those. But the fact that he was even there in the first place just went to show that, yeah, these values are for everyone.

It made me realize that I could be conservative—come out of the closet—and champion these values. Also, still be a black person, still advocate for the fact that I’m very pro-criminal justice reform, and prison reform, and I’m so glad that now we’re seeing that with Trump looking into that, and people coming to a consensus.

It’s a lot of things that we can come to an agreement with and come together in but unfortunately, especially the other side I think sees that and sees that if they don’t make it a partisan issue then they could lose people.

They could have people like me five years later going from voting for Obama to voting for President Trump. That’s scary to them.

Trinko: Well, to switch gears a little bit, you’ve mentioned your support for gun rights. There was, unfortunately, another tragic school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas. You’re a Texan yourself. What do you think the response should be? How do you think we should handle all these calls from the left for gun control [being] the answer?

Okafor: Part of it is that, unfortunately, they always get to dictate when we get to talk about the whole issue, after [the shooting]. You know, every time we have a tragedy, to be honest, now it’s like [comedian] Chelsea Handler says something, that’s when it starts the conversation on Twitter, unfortunately.

Trinko: Oh, Twitter.

Okafor: She’s the precursor of when gun control and gun rights conversation [happens]. It’s a sad society, but it’s true. They get to dictate when it’s appropriate to start talking about that, and we respond.

We shouldn’t respond anymore, we should be on the forefront, we should be leading the conversation.

That’s why I started my organization, Empower, because I knew as a gun rights activist, as someone who was part of the organization that brought campus carry to Texas in 2015, we are really … The movement is going to be pushed by young women.

I found that as a young woman that self-defense is important to us, particularly on college campuses. With the … gun control narrative, they don’t want people to see that. They don’t want to say that the strong, empowered woman, the college-educated woman [who] knows other strong, empowered, college-educated women who also happen to be pro-gun.

They want the narrative to be: If you’re a feminist, if you’re pro-female, then you can’t be pro-gun. That’s false. If anything, if you’re pro-female, you should be pro-gun, it’s one of the best equalizers that we have in this great country.

It’s horrific and we do need to do something about it. If anyone, especially my generation … [having] grown up in Columbine [era], grown up with both Virginia Techs and all these shootings on college campuses and high school campuses …

We don’t believe in [gun control] anymore and we want something different. This is our time to put out something different and to say that it’s not about the gun, it’s about the person behind the firearm that we should be focusing on.

Trinko: I certainly share your frustration that feminism always seems to box out conservative women, whether it’s abortion, or gun rights. No matter what, if you’re not right thinking, oh, suddenly you don’t care about women, which drives me insane.

Okafor: That New York Times article.

Trinko: Oh my gosh.

Okafor: They just had saying that the myth of conservative [feminism]—

Trinko: They were saying [conservatives] can’t appropriate feminism …

Okafor: I was like, thank you. First of all, the first feminists are the ones who were pro-life, so if anything, we could say ‘the myth of liberal feminism’ … I’m not going to say that because feminism is not dictated by liberal, or progressive, or being conservative. It’s about equality between the sexes. Absolutely, I believe it’s a big 10 issue when it comes to that.

Empowering women can look like, you can be empowered as a woman and believe that you have a right to defend yourself with a firearm just as much as you can be empowered if you don’t want that. I mean, just as long as you’re not impeding on other people’s rights, I think that’s what it comes down to. That’s really the equality of rights.

Trinko: What is the response to your group then on college campuses? As I mentioned, I don’t think historically or traditionally people tend to think of college women as gun carriers or advocates of gun rights.

Okafor: Yeah, well, it was because of my time as an advocate for campus carry and realizing that’s who the anti-gun side was always focusing on … women on college campuses, and making it seem like they were the ones who should not have guns. They were the ones who should not have any, or be advocates of anybody having firearms at all, and being very frustrated in the fact that, no, that’s exactly the opposite.

I wanted those pro-gun women to have a voice because I knew they were out there, I’d talked to them, I’d spoken to even professors who definitely don’t feel like they have a voice if they’re pro-gun on campuses. They would email me all the time during my time with students for conceal carry saying, ‘I completely support what you’re doing, I just cannot say anything or I would never get tenure.’

Trinko: Oh gosh, that’s so frustrating.

Okafor: Yeah, exactly. I was just like, you know what, they’re out there. People don’t want them to have a voice, but I can give them a voice, I have a platform, let me do so. I think that was my opportunity and so I’ve been grateful the last year that people actually believe the same thing too, I thought it was just me being crazy, but it’s not.

There are a lot of people who are just afraid to say something. The same thing with March for Our Lives and these high school students telling me that they’re afraid to say things too because their peers and their administrators are telling them the opposite, [that] if they believe anything other than being anti-gun, then they’re awful people, and that’s just not true. We need people to stand up for them because they’re afraid to stand up for themselves.

Trinko: And that’s such an important point. I often think, how different would our politics be if everyone was able to speak about what they truly believed?

Okafor: Yeah.

Trinko: I do realize, not everyone gets to work at a conservative outlet where you’re OK with that. There’s a lot of societal pressure, but I’ve definitely experienced the same phenomenon where people will say to you quietly, or behind closed doors, ‘I agree.’ It’s like, OK, well say that out loud.

Okafor: I’ve had people who agree with me after lectures. There’s a few African-American women that came up to me after my Dartmouth lecture just a couple weeks ago. I was like, ‘Can I take a picture with you?’ They’re like, ‘You had really good points.’ [And then] they’re like, ‘Is this going to be on social media?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, you don’t want it.’ [They said], ‘Yeah, let’s not do it.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, OK. Well, I understand.’

It’s sad that they feel like they can’t outwardly agree with me because then they’ll be a traitor to their race and their gender.

Trinko: Well, someday.

Okafor: Yeah, someday.

Trinko: I’m sure you’re inspiring a lot of people … thank you so much for joining us today, Antonia.

Okafor: Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.

COMMENTARY BY

Portrait of Katrina Trinko

Katrina Trinko

Katrina Trinko is managing editor of The Daily Signal and co-host of The Daily Signal podcast. She is also a member of USA Today’s Board of Contributors. Send an email to Katrina. Twitter: .

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