Thursday, February 15, 2024

A Catholic Culture Article worth reading and passing along...... READ TO THE END!!!

 

Media malpractice

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Feb 15, 2024

     

Have you been reading the stories in the mainstream media (MM) about the mass protests by European farmers? Have you been seeing footage of the huge caravans—the hundreds of tractors lined up in demonstrations, in one capital city after another?

You haven’t? Neither have I. The truth is that mainstream media coverage of the farmers’ protests has been hard to find.

And that’s hard to understand, at first glance, because this is a very important story. (It is a photogenic story, too. Those caravans of agricultural equipment make for very dramatic television images; network producers should be anxious to show them.) The protests, and the popular resentments they embody, threaten to bring down governments in several different European countries. The issues raised by the farmers’ demonstrations are absolutely central to the most important political and moral discussion of our time.

European political leaders are determined to cut carbon emissions, and to that end have approved draconian new policies. Farmers warn that the stiff regulations will put them out of business—and if farmers go out of business, everyone goes hungry. So which is the greater threat: climate change or food shortages?

This is a vitally important question. But if you had been following the news in the mainstream media over the past few weeks, you could be forgiven for thinking that it was more important to know whether Taylor Swift would arrive on time for the Super Bowl.

The farmers’ arguments are fairly straightforward. If it becomes prohibitively expensive to raise crops, crops will not be raised. If crops are not raised, people will go hungry. So the aggressively “green” new government policies entail serious human costs.

The arguments for those new policies, on the other hand, are complex, resting on a series of unproven hypotheses: that human action is largely responsible for climate change; that a radical cutback in carbon emissions will curb the symptoms of climate change; that strict regulations will not lead to food shortages. The “green” policies are proposed on the basis of computer models and projections. The arguments against them can be reduced to a simple moral imperative: Feed the hungry.

Why, then, are the mainstream media reluctant to tell the story and to encourage the public debate? Could it be because the most influential forces in the world of journalism are fully committed to the drive to reduce climate change, and so the farmers’ arguments are inconvenient to their purposes? Yet the deliberate suppression of an uncongenial story would be a form of media malpractice.

Unfortunately such malpractice has become increasingly common in recent years—and not only for the mainstream media. We now know that the giant corporations of the social media, acting on the wishes of the White House, suppressed any reports skeptical of the Covid crisis or the efficacy of vaccines. In fact we are still waiting for any sign of media curiosity about the sudden spike in all-causes deaths—and particularly the rise of unexplained deaths of previously healthy young people—that has occurred since the epidemic receded.

Until recently (last week, actually) mainstream outlets paid no attention to the stumbles and hesitations and mental lapses that suggested a decline in President Biden’s mental fitness. Even now many reports view the matter as a purely partisan issue, and lean heavily toward the White House insistence that Biden is as sharp as ever. A recent CNN analysis of the Biden re-election campaign framed the story in sympathetic—yet revealing—terms:

Top aides have set the strategy that the president need not play the Washington news cycle game of constant appearances that risk embarrassing flubs…

The mention of a “Washington news-cycle game” might look like a self-deprecating reference to the voracious appetite of the media—including CNN. But the notion that a presidential candidate would “risk embarrassing flubs” whenever he faced a video camera is surely a novelty. Political candidates ordinarily crave media exposure. And a candidate who wants to inspire confidence in his ability to handle world crises should not lack the confidence necessary to handle impromptu questions from reporters. But that CNN analysis is implicitly setting the stage for a campaign strategy that shelters Biden from potentially damaging public appearances.

Because more and more frequently, that’s what the mainstream media do: Protect their preferred candidates and causes from inconvenient stories.  

Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.

Wednesday, June 7, 2023

The Invisible convention is approved by it's sleeping community twice

 Where is the sanity?  Politics have surely run a ground when it comes to logics.  I had stepped away from politics a few years ago only to come back to an even bigger disaster.  Here's my story:

The GOP county convention 2022

    The executive board hired the same lawyer guy that has been convention chair for 20+ years to conduct the convention.  I asked if my group of election integrity could have a table for literature.  I was told no, there was no room, the college and high school groups have the tables.  I asked if I could pass out election information standing as the people registered.  They said, OK.

When I got to the convention there were 2 large tables one with the college stuff spread out and a few students standing with it, there was an empty table next to it with one kid standing there.  First sign that the county party wasn't on board for fair elections.  

A week prior to the convention I submitted a resolution calling for a forensic audit of the 2020 county election.  It was rejected. So, I knew what I had to do.

During the convention, the many committees took their votes for approval.  The convention chair asked for all  approve the agenda.  I looked around for a copy of the agenda...I was told there weren't any.  All in the room approved the invisible agenda.  Again, when asked to approve the minutes from last year's convention, all approved the invisible minutes.  Yet, again, when asked to approve the Plan of Organization, all approved an invisible plan of organization.  When the resolutions committee stood up for their turn, I stood up and asked for a suspension of the rules in order to submit my resolution.   It didn't pass because the convention chair wouldn't let the people know what the resolution was about, so it didn't get added to the invisible agenda.  

The same thing happened again this year 2023.  No agenda, no minutes...in fact, the convention chair (the same guy as before) asked where the minutes were, and if anyone was taking the minutes for this convention, no plan of organization.  No wait, I think there were a few copies in the registration table, but no one knew what they were.  Not a priority!

The convention went on to the resolutions where this year a 4-page resolution was approved for the agenda concerning the confederate statues. The guy who submitted this resolution is a huge statue hugger but isn't too worried about the elections.  He was on the resolutions committee last year and explained to me why he denied my resolution.  He and the others were worried about the legal fees and money to conduct such an audit.  But this year his 4-page, drawn out resolution that was basically a lecture on confederate history was approved for the invisible agenda.  Those in attendance were upset at the length of the resolution that the convention chair was required to read.  It was denied approval only because of the length of the resolution, but the subject.  

Fascinating how a population of intelligent people can sit and approve things they do not see or know anything about and allow this to happen year after year? 

Anyway, all this to say this situation represents the sleeping population that are allowing those that are in control to run the country, states, counties anyway they want  and get away with it.




Sunday, August 21, 2022

The US Constitution lost in the Politics


How often have any of us sat around the table discussing the US Constitution?   The very document that protects both our private property from each other and meant to keep the government in check.

This answer, unfortunately, is never.  

However, the less we talk about it and the less our government-run "learning" institutions teach it to our youth, the more we realize that it is all part of the plan.

While the government grows stronger, larger, and more powerful over the people, the people know less and less about their government, constitution, and it's amazing history.  Purposely dumbing down the citizenry in order to do what it wants with no resistance has been the plan all along.  As long as people do not know or realize what the government is doing, which is completely against and outside the US Constitution, they will not question the "authority" and resist.

LISTEN TO ME NOW:      THIS IS WHERE WE HAVE BEEN FOR QUITE SOME TIME!!

The Constitution can function alone WITHOUT the government.  Yes, it can.  It is complete with the laws that the citizens must respect and abide by.

Now, as mentioned above, modern education has not been kind to the Constitution and students are becoming more and more unaware of what the Constitution is and far less what it needs to do what it does.  The very history of our founding fathers has been watered down and spun with a bitter slant.  Education and our history need to be resurrected back to the truth ASAP!  The proof of this writer's opinion would be who are in the riots, setting fires, and all kinds of violence in our streets at the beckon call of the political bad actors and the mass media.

As we have seen, the people coming out of our colleges and universities are ignorant of what government is and what it isn't. Many feel that the government should be giving them healthcare, unemployment, jobs, insurance, housing, and free food.

This is JUST not at all correct.  

There are two specific pieces of work that are and always will be timeless and should be heeded:  The holy Bible and the US Constitution.

Both share two basic sentiments, the love of and the disciplinary needs of human nature.  The founding fathers all were raised with the Bible in their everyday life.  Within their school lessons and family life, God's word was intertwined into every thread of their being so that when they put their heads together in designing our country, it only made sense that God's words, wisdom, and love was also inserted into the design.

With this wisdom, they knew that without these two works, there would be no way peace could be established in the country.  Each colonist family needed a way of protection from each other in a way that would bring respect for each other's property.  There also needed to be a way of making sure there were checks and balances from the larger aspect of life, the leadership.  The fathers knew that power, control, and greed is instinctive and without a way to keep it in check, tyranny would quickly be the life in America.

As James Madison so wisely said, "If men were angels, no government would be necessary.  If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary."

May God Bless America




Saturday, August 6, 2022

AMAC Article by Shane Harris.

 With the midterms just over three months away, Democrats are ramping up the pressure on President Joe Biden to implement mass student loan forgiveness in a ploy to energize the party’s base for the midterms. But even as the Department of Education says it’s prepared to cancel all student loans at a moment’s notice, there are growing signs that mass student debt cancellation – in addition to being a dangerously irresponsible fiscal policy – may not be the political winning issue Democrats think it is.

According to reporting from Politico earlier this week, “top Education Department officials have developed detailed plans to carry out student loan forgiveness for millions of Americans as they wait on President Joe Biden to make a final decision” – a decision that some Democratic insiders believe could be coming in a matter of days. After promising on the campaign trail to forgive at least $10,000 in student loan debt per borrower, Biden has thus far opted to only extend the pause on loan payments that began as a pandemic relief measure in March of 2020. This strategy has frustrated many Democrat officials and voters, who had hoped that Biden would make loan forgiveness a priority immediately upon entering office.

One major reason for the delay appears to be internal debate among Democrats, and even some senior officials within the White House, about what Biden’s student loan forgiveness program should look like. While Biden promised $10,000 per borrower when he ran for president two years ago, some far-left congressional Democrats like Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont have called on Biden to cancel all $1.8 trillion of student debt held by the federal government. The administration is also reportedly weighing whether or not to place an income cap on who would be eligible for debt cancellation, with one internal Department of Education memo proposing a threshold of $125,000 for individuals and $250,000 for families.

Regardless, Biden’s decision on student loans will have to come in the next few weeks, as the current pause on loan payments expires August 31. Biden could extend the pause again through Election Day, but doing so would miss what many Democratic strategists believe to be a key opportunity to boost their prospects this November. Specifically, Democrats hope that student loan forgiveness will inspire turnout among voters under 45 – a cohort of Americans that collectively holds more than 54% of all student loan debt and voted for Biden 56%-42% percent in 2020, but has soured on him since.

But even if Biden does cancel some or all student loan debt, there is reason to question how much goodwill it will actually earn Democrats with voters. The vast majority of student loan debt is held by higher-income households, meaning that student loan forgiveness is in effect a government welfare plan aimed squarely at the comparatively wealthy – even as poorer Americans suffer more as a result of inflation. A family struggling to afford gas and groceries on the median U.S. household income of $67,000 would be justified in being enraged at the fact that a household bringing in $250,000 receives tens of thousands of dollars in loan forgiveness from the federal government while they receive nothing. For every hypothetical voter that Democrats gain from Biden canceling their student loans, it is not unreasonable to think they might lose one (or more) voters who are resentful of the policy. (If Republicans aggressively prosecute the case, that is.)

Economists have also raised concerns that mass student debt cancellation would likely exacerbate already sky-high inflation rates and could lead to more economic turmoil as the country enters a recession. Even forgiving just $10,000 per borrower would cost some $230 billion – an alarming prospect for a country already suffering from the effects off too much government spending. As Ed Mills, an analyst with Raymond James investment bank, told CBS News, “If you had to put it [student loan forgiveness] in one bucket or another, it’s more in the bucket of contributing versus not contributing to inflation.”

As many conservatives have pointed out, “debt cancellation” is in itself a misleading term; from a financial standpoint, the debt would not be truly “cancelled,” only transferred. The burden of student loan debt would be assumed by the U.S. government, and by extension American taxpayers – many of whom did not go to college precisely to avoid having to pay back student loans.

Even parts of the liberal mainstream media aren’t on board with the plan. The New York Times Editorial Board slammed student loan forgiveness back in May as “legally dubious, economically unsound, politically fraught and educationally problematic.” A Forbes article called it “bad policy and bad politics.”

Yet as with most other issues, the Biden administration seems beholden to a small cadre of far-left activists and politicians who drown out all other voices. With the litany of other crises weighing down Democrats’ electoral prospects, using student loan forgiveness as a political gimmick was never a particularly promising strategy. But given the economic state of the country and the specifics of the Biden plan, it may just be the final nail in Democrats’ coffin this November.

Shane Harris is a writer and political consultant from Southwest Ohio. You can follow him on Twitter @Shane_Harris_

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Vote To Change Our Country!

 Two bald eagles against snowy mountains

 

North Carolina Happenings  

The weekend of July 23 and 24th proved to be quite educational. On Saturday, July 23rd, I, and a couple of friends travels to Sanford, NC to Lee County GOP office to listen to several grassroot organizations speak about what they have been learning and doing. One of these groups was 2CitizenMoms. These ladies have been working for the past 2.5 years on legislation, health mandates, and the illegal goings on from the Raleigh legislature. The mere fact that HB 103 makes us a class, classifies the citizens of North Carolina into groups that can be easily controlled, quarantined, or segregated in some way should put the fear in God in everyone. That’s not all we learned, but it was my takeaway for sure. We also heard from a lady who writes on her blog, The Liberty Belle. She is a doctorate in political science among other things and a constitutional scholar. She has written a book and many more are on their way. She travels the state speaking to groups and basically anyone who will listen to her about the reasons for government, why we have a constitution. Many representatives she has questioned about the need for a constitution could not give her the correct answer! This and the fact that these same individuals did not seem to care about the why should cause all sorts of alarm bells to go off in the citizens heads! 

We also heard from a few gentlemen working on medical and political activism successfully. Dave Resnick, PhD in areas of Expertise: AIDS, arthritis, cancer, proteases in emphysema and parasites, drug design, clinical diagnostic, and Intercessors for America, an organization across the country holding prayer meetings, etc. for our country, states and communities

 

Next, on Sunday, both friends invited me to attend an event at their church with a couple of national speakers, I agreed. The first gentleman, B. Chad Connelly, is president of an organization called, Faith Wins. His story is pretty amazing, and his mission is equally so. His organization works with the next gentleman who spoke, David Barton. Mr. Barton started an organization called, Wallbuilders. They have quite a success story in building strong Judeo-Christian voter turnouts. Mr. Barton tells us about the founding fathers and their families and even farther back to the colonists who lived and spoke through the holy Bible in their daily lives. President George Washington wrote his letters and documents with the Bible in mind. Our early settlers knew the bible cover to cover, it was in their marrow, their souls! He spoke about our country being truly built from the bible and our divine God. Through the years, we have fallen farther and farther away from our Bible foundation and so the proof of it is the condition of our country now. 


The biggest point I want to make here is that we need to get out and VOTE!! Go out and talk to people, friends, church members, let them know that they are needed, desperately. With the process not changed at all, we also need to insist that those we talk to vote IN PERSON, ON ELECTION DAY!