A F Branco cartoon via Townhall:
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Tuesday, May 16, 2023
George Washington's Mother
For Mother’s Day, Paul Kengor at American Spectator reviewed
a biography of George Washington’s mother, and below is an extract from
it:
Mary Ball Washington, America’s First Mother [Harper, 2019]
Craig Shirley’s biography is a character
study
of the strong woman who raised our first president
“My
great age, and the disease which is fast approaching my vitals, warn me that I
shall not be long in this world. I trust in God that I may be somewhat prepared
for a better.”
So said a weak Mary
Ball Washington, mother of America’s first president, George Washington, to
her son in March 1789 as she lay dying from cancer at roughly age 80 (her exact
age unknown). Her son had come to bid America’s first mother a final goodbye.
He told her about this significant new office that he was assuming for his
country — to which all 69
electors had unanimously chosen him on Jan. 7. The only president ever
selected unanimously.
“But before I can assume the
functions of my office,” he told the frail old woman, “I have come to bid you
an affectionate farewell.”
The 57-year-old Washington
continued, “So soon as the weight of public business, which must necessarily
attend the outset of a new government, can be disposed of, I shall hasten to
Virginia, and—” Here, the mother interrupted the son: “—and you will see me no
more.” . . .
Mr Kengor closes his review:
And as Shirley shows, the
relationship between the two was “laden with difficulty” for both of them. It
was a struggle for anyone to have much affection for Mary. Shirley describes
Mary Ball Washington as “self-centered and acquisitive,” “tutoring and
fashioning” her son but also “driving and admonishing” him. She was not a warm
lady and, frankly, was hard to feel warm about. She was not easy to like. She
was a cold woman, austere, and herself quite a character — an odd one. And
Craig Shirley’s book provides far more than a history of her and her son. He
provides a character study that fascinates.
But whatever her personal
shortcomings, this woman raised a president, our nation’s first. He was our
first president and Mary Ball Washington was our first mother — one who needs
to be remembered, and perhaps particularly so for America’s annual celebration
of Mothers’ Day. Get this book and read and learn and remember.
Read the entire review here.
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Monday, May 15, 2023
BRICS 101
Daisy Luther at Discern Report provides a good overview of the BRICS alliance. Here’s her opener:
BRICS
Is Expanding:
Here’s Why That’s Very Concerning for the US
You may have heard the term “BRICS”
when reading about world affairs and wondered what it was all about. As we watch
the American dollar and economy lose power on the world stage, this alliance
could quickly move to take its place, especially as other countries that used
to be allied with us move over this bloc.
As a matter of opinion, I think
that on the global stage, BRICS is a union we should watch, as there are
several large economic powers involved that aren’t exactly friends of the
United States of America. Should this group continue to grow, it’s possible
that it could dramatically affect us with regard to world trade. And that’s at
the very least.
What is BRICS?
BRICS is an economic alliance that
has been around since about 2001. Jim O’Neill from Goldman Sachs coined the
acronym BRIC to represent the original countries: Brazil, Russia, India, and
China. By 2010, South Africa had been added, bringing us to the current
acronym.
. . .
For many years, the United States
has been a primary global economic power, but as our star shines a little less
brightly due to our economic difficulties, poor governmental management, and less
than stellar relationships with several other countries, BRICS seems poised to
step into the position our nation once held.
. . .
But…the union seems intent on
expanding, and other nations are in the midst of an application process.
Multiple countries have asked to become a part of the bloc.
The nations that have formally
applied for acceptance into the cooperative are:
- Algeria
- Argentina
- Bahrain
- Egypt
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Saudi Arabia
- United Arab Emirates
. . .
Read the rest here.
Sunday, May 14, 2023
Open borders and the Cloward-Piven strategy
Tyler Durden at Zero
Hedge reported:
Tens of thousands of migrants
rushed across the US-Mexico border this week as the pandemic-related asylum
restrictions were lifted at midnight Thursday.
"A record-setting 83,000
migrants crossed our border illegally this week — equivalent to a full capacity
Dallas Cowboys football stadium," said Fox News' Bill Melugin. . . .
Wayne Allyn Root graduated from Columbia University in
1983. He’s posted an excellent piece at his website on why
the Biden administration pushes its open border policies: those policies are
speeding up the deliberate destruction of America, by updating the Cloward-Piven strategy:
This open border disaster is not a
“Johnny-come-lately” story.
It is a plan that was created many
decades ago by leftist radicals’ intent on destroying America.
. . .
These Columbia University radicals
(and traitors) had a plan named Cloward-Piven. It was named after two Columbia
University professors – the husband-and-wife team of Richard Cloward and
Frances Fox Piven.
The plan was simple – get as many
people as possible on welfare, food stamps, and a hundred other government
welfare programs. Get so many on the government dole, that the economy is
overwhelmed, destroyed and collapses under the weight of the exploding national
debt.
. . .
At this point, Americans would be
in so much pain and so frightened, they would beg government to save them. And
that is how they would “fundamentally change America forever.” Remember those
words? They came out of the mouth of Barack Obama. He learned those words and
this plan at Columbia.
. . .
Except Cloward-Piven has been updated. It’s now 100% about the border. If you can’t get everyone in America on welfare to explode the debt, overwhelm the economy and collapse the country, open the border and invite the whole world in.
And that’s what’s happening.
Click here for the full article.
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Saturday, May 13, 2023
Donald J Trump rally tonight UPDATE: Postponed
Donald J Trump holds a rally later today (8pm Eastern, 7 pm
Central) in Des Moines, Iowa. To watch the
livestream on Right Side Broadcasting Network or Rumble, click here. Tune in early for coverage of guest speakers.
UPDATE: Tornado watch in Iowa this evening, so the MAGA rally has been postponed.
Friday, May 12, 2023
Restrict Act ~ Another muzzle on free speech
Emmy Griffin at Patriot
Post explains the “Restrict Act”, presently gaining support in the Senate:
RESTRICT stands for Restricting the
Emergence of Security Threats That Risk Information and Communications
Technology, and of the several bills presented to the Senate on the issue of
social media abuses, this one has the most popular support.
. . .
However, one thing to take into
consideration is that when crafting legislation that restricts or bans TikTok,
other social media companies need to be part of the calculous as well.
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, SnapChat, and others all data-mine their users.
It’s a good rule of thumb that if a product is free, the actual product is you,
the user. In this case, data-mining and microphone-tapping are used to provide
users with targeted ads. It is an invasion of privacy, albeit one that mostly
feels innocuous — for now.
The RESTRICT Act would delegate
regulation to a bureaucrat in the executive branch. The secretary of commerce
would be given carte blanche to make several decisions that are troubling, to
say the least. According to
Senator Rand Paul: “The bill’s application is far from limited to Tiktok or
other internet-based companies. The third section of the bill would enable the
Secretary of Commerce to investigate any business that is in any way subject to
the jurisdiction of a foreign adversary to determine if its transactions ‘pose
an undue or unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States.’
Though the bill already designates China, Russia, Venezuela, Iran, and Cuba as
foreign adversaries, the RESTRICT Act also empowers the Secretary of Commerce
to unilaterally add any other country to this official enemies list.”
The current secretary of commerce,
Gina M. Raimondo, has already stated that banning TikTok would be a politically
deleterious move for the Democrats. In an interview, she said, “The politician
in me thinks you’re gonna literally lose every voter under 35, forever.”
. . .
The RESTRICT Act takes away
freedoms from the American people. It is just another thinly veiled attack
against the First Amendment. The powers granted to the secretary of commerce
give her the authority to remove, investigate, or outright censor companies
that aren’t toeing the Democrat Party line. In fact, if any company resists her
edicts, those responsible could go to jail for 20 years.
Do we really want that sort of
power in the hands of an unelected bureaucrat?
That sane answer is no. . . .
Read the rest here.
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