Category Archives: Federalist

Inflation jumped 7.5 percent last month compared to last January in a new almost 40-year high. This increase in the consumer price index marks the fastest year-over-year rise since 1982.

Despite promises from President Joe Biden and economic experts that inflation would be short-lived, it is steadily increasing (much like border apprehension numbers). In November, inflation reached the highest it had been for that month in 40 years. Similar to January, December 2021 inflation surged 7 percent to the highest year-over-year level since 1982.

These new inflation highs are problematic not only for Americans who have suffered economic instability and rising prices due to government-forced interruptions for nearly two years now but also for an already unpopular Biden and vulnerable Democrats.

As the 2022 midterms approach, Americans are seeking change. Arecent CBS pollfound that at least 40 percent of Americans said they were nervous about the future of the country. Approximatelytwo-thirdsof American voters believe the country is on the wrong track.

Even 48 percent of independent voters, whom Biden and Democrats desperately need to maintain a majority in the House and Senate, indicated they would prefer a Republican-controlled Congress over a Democrat one, with only 39 percent saying they would prefer Democrats in control.

Americans think and vote in part with their pocketbooks. Still struggling with rising gas prices, bare shelves, and an ongoing supply-chain crisis, voters agree that economic conditions rank high on their list of concerns.

Instead of offering sympathy and action for these voters worries, the Biden administration has repeatedly dismissed inflation as a key problem. This hasnt sat well with a majority of Americans, who are unhappy with how Biden is using his time in the White House.

Democrats have a razor-thin majority in both the House and the Senate. Because of this, their margin for error is small. If Biden and his allies continue to dismiss voters concerns about inflation despite the consumer price index continuing to skyrocket, they can and should expect voters outraged about their increasing bills to vote against them in November.

Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and co-producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire and Fox News. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @jordangdavidson.

View post:

New Inflation Highs Could Deal Democrats A Fatal Blow In The Midterms - The Federalist

Europes aggressive leap towards green energy is proving to be a grave mistake.

As Europe braces for war on its eastern borders, the continents shift from cheap, reliable energy in the form of coal and nuclear to wind and solar has left millions, already struggling with a low-wind winter, dependent on Russian natural gas to meet baseload power needs.

After decades of transition, Europe now gets more than 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia, making the continent far more susceptible to interruptions ordered by President Vladimir Putin as he prepares a takeover of Ukraine. And its not just gas. Russia is the dominant supplier of Europes oil and solid fuels, providing 27 and 47 percent respectively, according to the EU.

European dependence on Russian energy supplies was entirely self-inflicted. More than half a dozen European countries banned fracking over the last decade, and the Kremlin has kept reserves low after the continent knee-capped its own domestic production.

Germany is most dependent on Russian gas to compensate for when the sun doesnt shine and the wind doesnt blow. The nation continues to phase out coal and nuclear despite importing more than 70 percent of its energy supplies. The last German nuclear plants are scheduled to shut down by the end of the year, and its remaining coal plants abandoned by 2038.

Theyve reduced the options or the bandwidth that European countries have available to them, said Katie Tubb, a senior policy analyst for energy and environmental issues at the conservative Heritage Foundation, on Europe facing potential cutoffs. I dont think there is a rapid solution here in part because the EU has been going down this road currently for decades now.

Decommissioned power plants do not come back online with the simple flip of a switch. Without coal or nuclear, natural gas is needed to fill the void left by unreliable wind and solar when they dont produce. The continents fracking bans, however, have diminished its capacity to generate its own supply, leaving Europe vulnerable to Russian pressure and aggression.

Putin has weaponized Russian energy supplies before, even recently, raising European anxiety hell do it again even more aggressively. Last year, Putins refusal to ramp up European gas supplies as an energy crisis induced by a low-wind season gripped the continent was seen as an effort to strongarm officials into approving the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline into Germany. The finished pipeline would allow Russia to circumvent extensive Ukrainian networks in the event of invasion, which now appears close on the horizon.

Tubb told The Federalist a moderating factor in Putins decision to trim shipments is the extent to which the Kremlin relies on energy sales for income, which heightens the importance of Russia having an alternative route from what could become war-torn territory. But, Tubb cautioned, its consistent to expect Russia sees its energy sector as an extension of its government and is therefore a political tool as much as it is a market participant.

Russian dominance over European energy has already driven a fissure into western alliances, transforming Germany into an unreliable partner. Germanys dependence was enhanced by President Joe Bidens approval of the Nord Stream 2 last summer while the White House shut down power projects on American soil.

If not outright weaponized, Putins supplies have certainly bought influence, with German diplomats seeking exemptions from western sanctions so Berlin may keep its gas flow from Russia intact, according to the Wall Street Journal. Germany has also refused defensive weapons shipments to Kyiv as thousands of Russian troops descend on Ukraines border.

The United States, on the other hand, cant meet German energy needs since American export terminals for liquified natural gas (LNG) are already operating above capacity. While new terminals are expected to come online this spring, Germany has no LNG terminal of its own.

The idea of a clean-energy future is not a fantasy. What is a fantasy is that such a future is achievable in the absence of nuclear power and fossil fuels, which drive innovation and adaptability to reach the aspirations for a cleaner planet. Cheap, reliable energy provides the foundation for development and new technology to emerge that enables adaptation.

Gas, coal, and nuclear are needed to offer instantaneous energy when unreliable renewables, which also pollute, fail to meet the job. Europes energy needs have complicated negotiations with Russia as Putin appears ready to deploy troops into Ukraine in the face of a divided opposition.

Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com.

See more here:

How Green Energy Fantasies Have Put The World At The Brink Of War - The Federalist

Now that were in an election year where Democrats see their political fortunes slipping away in real time, they and their co-conspirators in the media have decided we should all take a quick break from The Science.

Democrats in New Jersey, New York, California, Oregon, Delaware, Connecticut, Illinois, and Rhode Island in recent days have said to heck with the CDC and are beginning to loosen up their beloved restrictions and mask mandates.

Less than a month ago, the U.S. was averaging more than 800,000 new Covid infections each day, the highest number seen during the entire pandemic, and quadruple the rate of infections that occurred during its peak under President Trump. But because case numbers are finally falling, New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney on Wednesday credited Democrats plan to fight COVID, which he said is working. Therefore, he said, Its time to give people their lives back.

Democrats taketh away and Democrats giveth back.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, also of New York, said that the falling case counts arent happening by accident but because under President Bidens leadership, a public health infrastructure was put into place to ensure that we can do everything possible to crush the virus, and that is what has been happening.

Dr. Leana Wen, CNNs omnipresent Covid nag, declared with glee this week that the science has changed! and that the rules for mask-wearing should shift from government mandate to individual responsibility.

A favorite of mine is the case of Michelle Goldberg, the New York Times columnist who takes every moment as an opportunity to remind her readers how privileged her life is. In the span of four days late last month Goldberg went from scolding people who are done with the pandemic not everyone has the luxury of being insouciant about infection, she said to begging elected leaders to relax school mask mandates as soon as possible, to give students some reprieve.

The timing is very convenient, particularly when you consider that were not in remarkably better shape in terms of infections, deaths, or hospitalizations today than we were less than three months ago, when Saint Anthony Fauci said the U.S. would need to average well below 10,000 new infections per day in order for us to even think about a degree of normality. Not normalcy, but a degree of it.

If we in fact needed to be significantly lower than 10,000 (a number based on nothing), Democrats have effectively told The Science to STFU. The latest data show that were averaging just under 230,000 new cases each day. And The New York Times reports, Since late January, the country has been averaging more than 2,500 newly reported deaths each day, the most since last winter.

A year ago, Biden said at the White House that the worst thing we could do now is let our guard down with regard to the virus that has spread more and caused more death under him than his predecessor. This is not a time to relax, he said. We must keep washing our hands, stay socially distanced, and for Gods sake for Gods sake, wear a mask.

That was Feb. 25, 2021, when we were averaging under 70,000 new infections per day. If that was not a time to relax, what time is it now that were more than tripling that number?

Democrats didnt lead us to some scientific breakthrough. The experts havent discovered a new way of doing math. The only numbers that have changed are the year and Bidens approval rating, which sits with independent voters at a shocking 32 percent. (Among all voters, its 39 percent, according to a recent Monmouth University poll.)

Democrats running into a disastrous midterm election is apparently what it means to be done with the pandemic. Dont buy it. Theyre relaxing the noose in hopes that after November, they can tighten it all over again.

Follow this link:

Dems Are Conveniently 'Done' With Covid Just In Time For 2022 Midterms - The Federalist

On February 4, a car plowed through a group of demonstrators against Covid restrictions in Winnipeg, Canada. The driver fled the scene, leaving four adult males injured.

Videos taken by surveillance cameras and bystanders show the moment of impact. The white Jeep Patriot speeds up past the trail of cars and aims directly at a group of protesters. One of the victims can clearly be seen being driven over, as the Jeeps operator indiscriminately steers into others.

Thankfully, no one was killed in the incident. Winnipeg police apprehended the suspect, a 42-year-old man from Headingley, this past Sunday. He faces 11 counts of assault with a vehicle with failure to stop at the scene of the crime.

Although the police were able to quickly detain the suspect, why isnt there major media coverage of this? Wheres the legacy media calling out violence aimed towards peaceful protesters? Corporate media would be talking of nothing else if this happened at a Black Lives Matter protest.

Yet apart from Fox News, local Canadian news outlets, and some British publications, there isnt much talk of this violence at all. CNN published an article about the growing Freedom Convoy, offering only a brief summary about the Friday evening hit-and-run.

It seems as if once again large news corporations want to sweep the incident under the rug, much like they did with the Waukesha Christmas parade hit-and-run hate crime that killed seven and injured more. Notice that legacy media isnt talking about that anymore?

Commentators on the left never waste an opportunity to bring up the Charlottesville, Virginia car attack, a horrible assault that killed one and injured 35 others. It seems as if whenever freedom-loving patriots congregate, leftist media eagerly reminds the world of the dangers of supposed emerging fascism and alt-right conspiracy theorists, while dodging the true issues at hand. Here, those issues are the right to bodily autonomy and the Covid-19 responses gross abuses of governmental authority.

It is not convenient for the media to address the Winnipeg violence with the respect and depth it deserves. It doesnt serve their agenda. Why shed light on a serious crime against peaceful Freedom Convoy supporters when you can just cry wolf and falsely equate them with Nazis and white supremacists?

Government elites fall directly into the latter camp: decrying the movement whenever and however they can. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the movement a small fringe minority that spreads hateful rhetoric and doesnt speak for Canadians, yet the movement is growing every day with supporters from all parts of Canada, with Americans now joining in.

In fact, the Convoy inspired sister movements around the world, such as in Helsinki, where truckers are protesting rising gas prices and vaccine mandates. So much for being a fringe minority.

If Trudeau is such a champion of peace and civility, why didnt he condemn the actions of the 42-year-old driver who appears to have aimed to seriously harm and even kill peaceful protesters that Friday? Perhaps he was too busy fleeing to an undisclosed location to make any remarks. Trudeau still has yet to address the demands of the Freedom Convoy and has remained in hiding since the demonstrators moved on Ottawa from Vancouver at the end of January.

Even if the public peacefully protests and makes its concerns known through justified means like boycotts and public demonstrations, corporate elites and government officials turn a blind eye. Why? Because the growing popularity of the Freedom Convoy throws a wrench in the leftist narrative that it is a movement of white supremacists looking to harm innocent Canadians by refusing to take a vaccine that has been shown to not curb the spread or transmission of Covid-19. So what is this game theyre playing at?

It seems the consensus on social media is that those in the convoy are self-interested rebels with no consideration of the greater good. Although they had many chances to address the Friday evening attack, media outlets chose instead to cherry pick information, focusing on anecdotes, such as isolated instances of vandalism or racial slurs, in order to paint the truckers and their supporters in a deplorable light.

Interestingly enough, the truckers have repeatedly voiced their dedication to protesting peacefully, and have consistently distanced themselves from fringe individuals who carry swastika signs and try to deface property. The media is clearly conflating the actions of select individuals with that of the group, something a 4th grader could point out for its gross oversimplification.

If those who oppose these truckers and their deeply held belief in self-autonomy insist that all the demonstrators are violent due to unsubstantiated reports of a few instances, should the same case not be made of them? Four people almost lost their lives to a crazed driver who appears to have deliberately chosen to ram his car into peaceful demonstrators. Arent all pro-mandate supporters the same, then?

Of course not, and it would be insane to entertain that notion. Yet the legacy media and opponents of self-responsibility and autonomy have no shame in using that smear tactic whenever it suits them.

This is why the truth needs to be let out. If leftist media stays silent, it is our responsibility to ensure that what is happening here is amplified for the world to see and hear. Do not let the elites memory hole this attack; do not let them sweep it under the rug like they have done for so many others. If the tables were turned, they would never let you forget it. So why should you?

Connor Vasile holds a BA in political science from New York University. He is also applying to law school.

Here is the original post:

Why Aren't Media Covering The Car That Smashed The Freedom Convoy? - The Federalist

For nearly two years, bureaucrats have ignored the data on kids and Covid-19 to force children to wear masks. Its clear that the decisions made for children during the pandemic were not rational and have hurt not only their development but also their mental health. Parents are rightfully furious.

Unmask the Kids America is a group dedicated to advocating for children whose interests were neglected during the pandemic. Not only is the parent-run organization pushing for schools to truly follow the science on masking, but the group is also empowering parents to stand up to the mask bullies who are hindering their childrens development.

I think our kids have been used as political pawns, Jen Harrison, a mother of three and founding member of Unmask the Kids, told The Federalist. I have a 7-year-old, a 5-year-old, and a 2-year-old. My 5-year-old and 2-year-old dont know anything different. They think this is normal. They have never been to a school without their faces covered.

In Harrisons home stateof Illinois, where Unmask the Kids began, masks are still required in indoor public spaces for anyone over the age of 2, including in schools. The risk of young children getting extremely ill or dying from Covid is exceptionally low, and even the World Health Organization says young kids shouldnt be forced to cover their faces. But that hasnt stopped Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker from using his emergency powers to repeatedly extend tyrannical restrictions that cause harm on vulnerable populations, and children are suffering the most.

I see the detriment of not being able to see faces. This age group develops through social interactions and they learn to read by watching somebodys mouth. Their speech is delayed. Their ability to interact with people when they see them without a mask, when they see a classmate without the mask is really challenging to watch, Harrison said. I think the parents of the young kids can see such immediate ramifications to this. Enough is enough.

Unmask the Kids started as a local movement in a North Shore Chicago suburb that gave parents a chance to voice their concerns with repressive Covid-19 regulations. Now the grassroots organization has caught the attention of thousands of parents from different states and political backgrounds who want to take back freedom of choice when it comes to masks.

The group uses an Instagram account, which has already amassed nearly 6,000 followers, to communicate the urgency behind unmasking kids. Moderators regularly post links to articles and resources detailing why theres no science behind forcing children to wear face coverings. Moderators also post pictures of peaceful parent protests against masks, especially in schools, with hopes that it will inspire others who have been too nervous to speak up thus far.

Theres just been a lot of fighting and big protests happening at all these schools with this dynamic happening, Harrison explained. My 7-year-old son was kicked out of school today for not wearing a mask. At another Catholic school, two fifth-graders were locked in a room and they had to text their parents from their school iPad to come get them because they were locked in a room for not wearing a mask. There are instances of high schools filling their auditoriums with students that are refusing to wear their masks and quarantining them in rooms. Its really just imploded.

Already, Unmask the Kids has faced opposition from Big Tech and others who dont believe in parents rights to advocate for their childrens freedom. LinkTree, a tool used by organizations to collect resources and present them under one link, canceled the groups account due to inappropriate use of this service. This tools removal was detrimental to group members such as Harrison, who is raising children, working, and trying to share resources with other concerned parents via the Unmask the Kids Instagram.

We just basically run an Instagram account that spreads awareness, spreads medical journals, spreads mainstream, mostly, news articles just to raise awareness for unmasking the kids, Harrison said. Its literally just some parents trying to, you know, spread awareness on social media and empower the community.

A judge in Illinois ruled on Friday that Pritzkers statewide mask mandate for students is null and void. The governor and his administration scrambled to appeal the misguided ruling, but Harrison said the decision was a big victory for a lot of people.

They sent their kids for the first day without a mask to school in two years [on Monday], but the next steps are just to keep it this way and to protect our children and to protect parents rights, to have choice, Harrison said. If somebody is comfortable wearing a mask, we support that. One thing that we said is wewill fight for your ability to keep your mask on as much as well fight for our ability to not wear our masks.

The continued fight for parental rights is much bigger than Illinois. In Virginia, the state Supreme Court rejected a challenge to Gov. Glenn Youngkins ban on mask mandates just a few days after an Arlington judge, whose spouse is a teacher in the Virginia education system, temporarily prevented enforcement of the order. While multiple Virginia school districts have ignored the governors orders and have repeatedly suspended maskless students, parents continue to fight for the right to unmask their children.

The tide is shifting across the nation. Just look at New Jersey and Connecticut, who just lifted their school mandates. Not only are parents across the country tired of being ignored, but the students have started walking out of classrooms and wearing defiant masks on their own accord. At the street level, people are fighting to change the masking narrative and politicians and courts are finally beginning to listen, Virginia mom Stephanie Lundquist-Arora told The Federalist.

For the past couple of years, we have repeatedly heard messages that if we dont wear a mask, were unkind, stupid, or, now in Loudoun County, racist, she continued. Those words were powerful and effective at controlling our behavior. What were seeing now is a societal self-reflection: Why are we doing this?

Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and co-producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire and Fox News. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @jordangdavidson.

More here:

Mask Bullies Have Tormented Kids For Two Years But Parents Are Done - The Federalist

Former Vice President Mike Pence is getting roundly lauded for his bravery in standing up to his ex-boss Donald Trump. At a Federalist Society event on Friday night, Pence expressly said Trump was wrong in asserting that as vice president, Pence had the power to overturn the 2020 election.

The former VPs courage is being wildly overstated. It consisted of little more than restating a position he has already taken, and one he necessarily has to endorse if he is to have any running room to get to the presidency, an office to which he plainly aspires.

Instead of being lauded, Pence should be called out for his failure to oppose Trump on far more important grounds.

Heres Pences grand declaration of independence: President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election. Trump, for his part, had (falsely) said the opposite in a statement a few days earlier.

So yes, Pence used the words Trump and wrong in the same sentence which may sound like an act of breathless courage in these strange times, but only in the context of Pences sycophantic loyalty over the last six years.

When Pence did his job in the wee hours of Jan. 7, 2020, certifying the electoral college vote, his actions rebuffed Trumps pressure campaign to violate the Constitution, which clearly limits a vice presidents role in a presidential election to opening the electors envelopes.

Pence said as much later, and just as expressly as he did on Friday. For example, in an interview on the Christian Broadcasting Network in December, he said, From the founding of this nation forward, its been well-established that the only role that Congress has is to open and count the electoral votes that are submitted by states across the country, no more, no less than that.

It is true that at the Federalist Society, Pence added some bromides to his position. He called the very idea of a vice president overturning an election un-American (something he also said earlier on the Christian Broadcasting Network) and he called Jan. 6 a dark day but all of it was well within the safe harbor of what is an uncontroversial constitutional analysis.

Indeed, while Pence gets patted on the back for his boldness and independence, the fact is that even the person who authored the thought experiment, aka gonzo notion, that the vice president could undo presidential election results lawyer (and former Chapman University professor) John Eastman apparently never bought it.

Eastman, who recently invoked the 5th Amendment nearly 150 times before the Jan. 6 committee, told the National Review that he was asked by someone he doesnt remember who to write up the theory. Despite what the memo says, Eastman claims he orally advised Trump and Pence that the idea wouldnt fly.

Anybody who thinks that thats a viable strategy is crazy, Eastman explained to the National Review.

Thats the reality of the legal idea that Pence so valiantly denounced.

Pences Federalist Society speech was clearly meant to bolster his attempt to become the leader of the GOP. Just hours earlier, the Republican National Committee had adopted a resolution characterizing the actions of those who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 as legitimate political discourse. That will go down as among the most shameful moments in the history of American politics. The party has thoroughly lost its way, and it is now sinking ever more deeply into a trough out of which it cannot climb without acknowledging the truth.

Pence, no less than the leaders of the RNC, well understands that Trumps claims of having been cheated out of the election are a crock. He is uniquely positioned to call out Trumps lie and his partys shame, and begin to fight for the future honor of the GOP.

A true act of emperor-has-no-clothes bravery would have looked like this: Pence stepping up to outright denounce the fantasy that the 2020 election was stolen, stating in no uncertain terms that it was free and fair, and that Joe Biden is the rightful U.S. president. That would have demonstrated real leadership.

Instead, Pences tepid repetition of an uncontroversial constitutional analysis did nothing more than allow the toxic Trump version of events, the big lie, to continue to flourish at the highest reaches of the Republican Party.

Mike Pences speech on Friday was far from a profile in courage. Call it rather a profile in political pragmatism. And a huge missed opportunity to do something truly brave for his country and party.

@HarryLitman

Read the rest here:

Column: Mike Pence is no hero for stating the obvious - Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON, DC Last Wednesday night, a woman was attacked while she drove with her 11-month-old child, just three blocks from Union Station and five from the Supreme Court.

The criminal held her at knifepoint as he forced his way into her car, brushing past the bright Baby On Board sticker. Video surveillance recorded her desperate screams and pleas for mercy echoing through the streets, while a passing pedestrian barely flinched. The perpetrator is still at large.

Two weeks earlier, just across the river, a gang of gunmen stole the car from a candidate for city council as he filled his tank. The highspeed operation, launched in broad daylight from an SUV, looks more like Baghdad than the United States. No arrests were made.

At 10 in the morning a month prior, at a small park across the street from the city polices First District Substation, a father walking with his two young children was attacked by a vagrant throwing bricks. Bleeding from his head, he begged his attacker to let his infant baby and toddler be, but the man threw a second brick, fracturing the face of his eleven-month baby girl in her stroller, and leaving her with 12 stitches across her face.

A neighbor running out after he heard the screams found the father covered in blood, cradling his screaming baby.

One week before, just two blocks away in busy Eastern Market, a man smashed a brick over a young mothers head while she walked with her child. Both of her front teeth were knocked out. The man escaped.

The nights between these awful attacks are filled with stolen cars, break-ins, car-jackings, assaults, robberies, and homicides.

You would never guess, however, that ours is a city in crisis this past year literally suffering the largest percentage drop in population in the United States, while homicides increased by 15 percent from how the D.C. City Council is spending its time and money.

Indeed, the 2022 budget cut the police department by 7.8 percent. Fighting back, the mayor requested a supplemental $11 million to hire 170 officers to work toward replacing the 400 four hundred who quit or retired since 2020s Black Lives Matter riots, but even this was thwarted by the council; particularly arch-anti-police Member Charles Allen.

In a compromise led by Allen, the council approved only $5 million of the emergency request enough to hire a mere 60 recruits sending the remaining $6 million of the emergency request to community violence interrupters, an activist wet dream with little data to support its efficiency.

The council also made sure to award themselves, increasing the budget for public election financing a program that makes it so every dollar a resident donates to them earns them another $5 from the taxpayer.

The system is allegedly designed to give everyone a chance (and curtail corporate-influenced corruption), but in practice it protects incumbents with higher name recognition multiplying their larger hauls by five times, effectively burying lesser-known challengers.

Mayor Muriel Bowser had opposed the campaign finance overhaul in 2018, but after signing the bill she claimed shed been convinced by the outpouring of voter support for her taking tax dollars to strengthen our democracy.

I have heard them, she wrote, and I have been moved by their passion. Her campaigns received $2 million from the program so far this year.

People are stoked, one D.C. Democratic consultant on a city council campaign bragged to Axios. People really feel empowered.

Still, the councils largesse doesnt extend to public safety: In the same period of time they quadrupled their public campaign contributions, theyve cut $100 million from the police and overseen a simultaneous 36 percent increase in homicides.

Residents want safety, not politics, the council wrote in a press release explaining the decision to cut the polices budget yet again.

Not all was lost, though: They managed to find $1,385,000 for the Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs, an office that supports things like multicultural development, including a Dominican Republic culture party called Fiesta DC.

They also approved $6,386,000 for the Office of Latino Affairs, which operates along the same lines.

The top result of a Google News search for this offices most recent community impact is an article titled, Theyre Targeting Latinos: DC leaders asked to help after robberies of contractors. The article tells the story of a rash of armed robberies targeting Hispanic immigrant construction workers. One criminal, arrested last month, was suspected of at least 19 other attacks.

It happens, one victim said, on a weekly basis.

Read the original post:

Murder Capital: Charles Allen And Selling DC Out To Crime And Activists - The Federalist

It was both sad and uncomfortable to watch as Kanye West and Kim Kardashian West hashed out their messy divorce and parenting disagreements publicly over Instagram on Friday. But as damaging as the public feud is for their children and family, Kanye is right to protest his 8-year-old daughters use of TikTok.

I NEED TO KNOW WHAT I SHOULD DO ABOUT MY DAUGHTER BEING PUT ON TIK TOK AGAINST MY WILL ? the rapper wrote on Instagram Friday morning.

Kim, who is typically extremely private, stoic, and rarely makes public comments about her divorce, responded with a statement on her Instagram.

Kanyes constant need for attacking me in interviews and on social media is actually more hurtful than any TikTok North might create, she wrote via her Notes app. As the parent who is the main provider and caregiver for our children, I am doing my best to protect our daughter while also allowing her to express her creativity in the medium that she wishes with adult supervision because it brings her happiness.

Kanye responded with two more posts (now deleted), one alleging that Kim tried to keep Kanye from his children and forced him to take a drug test, and another of a screenshot of TikToks terms of service about not allowing users under the age of 13.

Putting aside the fact that Instagram is perhaps the worst possible way to mediate marriage and parenting disputes, Kanye is not wrong to take drastic measures when it comes to protecting his children from social media, especially apps such as TikTok.

The obvious and well-documented negative consequences of letting children and teenagers use TikTok are too great in number to fully account for here. Federalist Culture Editor Emily Jashinsky happened to write about the broader consequences of TikTok on our children, and thus the future of our nation, just hours before Kanyes first post went up. She wrote:

If you browsethisBuzzFeed roundup of the top trends on TikTok in 2021, youll find explicit dances, songs, and gender-bending alongside adorable dogs and easy recipes. In 2020, Seventeenincludedthe WAP dance on its roundup of the apps most popular trends, meaning millions of American kids were watching and making video after video of a song about wet ass p-ssy.

From the exposure to age-inappropriate content to the well-established findings of how screens affect childrens cognitive development and mental and physical health,Kanyes reasons for not wanting his daughter on TikTok really need no explanation or justification. The real issue here is Kims suggestion that healthy parenting means letting children do whatever brings them happiness.

Half the battle of parenting is implementing rules that interfere with a childs happiness, but we do it anyway because we know whats best for them. We limit sugar, strap them into car seats, and enforce bedtimes, even despite their often loud protests. Why would we not do the same with technology?

In Naomi Schaefer Rileys book, Be the Parent, Please: Stop Banning Seesaws and Start Banning Snapchat, she addresses our cultural and moral failure to help parents actually be parental. Riley sternly calls out parental ignorance, explaining that by ignoring common sense and choosing to hand our kids screens anyway, we are choosing not to parent.

Riley calls for drastically limiting childrens screen time, and intensively surveilling online behavior. Many kids will be fine even without these restrictions, and some kids will fall into trouble even with them. But as parents, its time for us to stop playing the odds, she writes.

Kanyes protests may come off as unhinged or outspoken, but his drastic measures only underscore just how far, rightly, he is willing to go to parent and protect his children.

More:

Of Course Kanye West Is Right Not To Want His 8-Year-Old On TikTok - The Federalist

Image CreditABC

It was so easy to ignore the Whoopi Goldberg controversy (since when did being an ignorant cohost on ABCs The View become newsworthy, let alone a great offense?) but then the Washington Post published the headline, Whoopi Goldbergs Holocaust comments show why we need critical race analysis.

Race hustlers see opportunity everywhere.

Post writer Karen Attiah, who has talked publicly about calling for revenge against white women, wrote in the column Thursday that Goldberg was obviously wrong to assert this week that the Holocaust isnt about race because these are two white groups of people. But, Attiah said, Goldbergs misguided rant shows why there is a need for including critical race-based analysis of how we teach world history. By silencing her, ABC demonstrates how American media continues to show a near-complete inability to responsibly interrogate whiteness and White Christian supremacy.

Goldberg is a high school dropout who once joked about cooking a recipe called Jewish American Princess Fried Chicken. There is absolutely nothing that including critical race-based analysis in how we teach world history would have done for her.

The show host apologized for what she said but was suspended for two weeks by ABC anyway. Attiah said the corporation should have instead provided a space to educate Goldberg and the rest of its audience about the centuries-old history of global white supremacy, and to push back on current efforts to marginalize the voices of the oppressed.

Yes, if theres one thing this country needs, its a space on national TV for the public to get lectured about white supremacy. Its never been done before. A truly innovative concept. In fact, outside of CNN, MSNBC, every columnist at The New York Times and The Washington Post and the 80 Oscar-nominated movies each year about slavery, Americans have no authoritative source on the subject. Its a national embarrassment.

In any event, critical race analysis, otherwise known as critical race theory, and most appropriately, critical race ideology, isnt controversial and upsetting to so many because it would uncover an ugly and uncomfortable past. Its not a curriculum or an alternative version of historical events. Its opposed precisely because its not fact-based at all, but merely a worldview as to how people should feel about race. Namely, that white people should feel a never-ending sense of guilt and need for atonement and that black people should feel ultimately helpless in overcoming obstacles to success.

Critical race ideology is how you end up with leftist attorney generals who effectively legalize crime by declining to prosecute offenses overwhelmingly committed by blacks. The system that created the would-be criminals, so the ideology goes, is a product of white supremacy and therefore invalid. Its how you end up with prominent journalists who claim that rampant homophobia among American black men is the fault of whites.

Adopting that view doesnt change the facts of the Holocaust and it doesnt uncover new information about the world.

Goldberg was, more likely than not, misinformed about the German Nazis pursuit of a master race, which didnt include the Jews, even if they were fair-skinned. Her decision to cling to her initial remarks before her apology (despite the stakes for just admitting she said something stupid being comically low) wouldnt have been remedied by learning more about how terrible white people should feel at present.

Goldberg didnt need new race ideology literature. She needed Mein Kampf.

Sorry, Attiah. Goldbergs lack of basic grade-school knowledge isnt a reason to make white guilt part of public education curricula.

More:

WaPo Writer: Whoopi's Holocaust Controversy Is Kind Of Like White Supremacy - The Federalist

If former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores gets a head coaching job after his widely publicized lawsuit against the National Football League for systemic racism, it will come at the expense of future black head coaches.

In a lawsuit filed February 1 that appeared to be written from the perspective of getting maximum press (even including a Martin Luther King Jr. epigraph on the first page of the filing), Flores accuses the NFL of following systemic patterns, practices and/or policies that are discriminatory towards the Proposed Class of black coaching candidates. His lawsuit was released after the New York Giants passed over Flores for Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll.

The lawsuit contains a number of interesting tidbits and allegations, including that New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick had been informed of Dabolls hiring even before Flores was slated to interview with the Giants and that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered Flores $100,000 per game that Flores threw, so the Dolphins could gain better draft positioning for Tua Tagovailoa in the 2020 NFL draft.

What the lawsuit doesnt contain, however, is actual proof that the NFL is a systemically racist organization and needs to be punished for discriminatory behavior.

Most of Flores allegations dont come close to proving legally actionable systemic discrimination, which must involve finding racist intent or internal statistical patterns of inequity. He points out that the NFL currently employs only one black head coach (and three minority head coaches, counting Ron Rivera and Robert Saleh) in Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers. But judging an organization by one year of results is not actionable.

Flores also attacks race-norming used in the NFLs concussion settlement with players to demonstrate the leagues racist malintent. Race-norming is a controversial medical practice that seeks to reduce the number of false positive findings in medical research by normalizing scores to the average of ones biological race. This is controversial since medical data reveals that the average cognitive score as measured by a battery of tests is lower for a black person than the average score for a white person of similar background.

Yet the medical community frequently endorses the use of biological race to diagnose susceptibility to various diseases (i.e., groups originally descended from Africa have a higher propensity for kidney disease). That is not to say that race-norming doesnt deserve criticism. Kristen Dams-OConnor has a point when she says that race is a terrible proxy for the things that actually matter in medicine, such as obesity, genetic disease, and stress levels.

It is entirely possible, and likely probable, that NFL adopted race-norming on the advice of the lawyers and doctors they employed, not because of racist malintent. Or, more cynically, they insisted on race-norming to lower the number of players who could file for settlement.

But the NFL already agreed to end race-norming in a $1 billion settlement, and there are valid medical reasons they would try to implement race-norming in the first place. Flores is trying to dishonestly stretch a medical issue into a political one, which lowers his credibility to speak on behalf of black NFL players and coaches.

If that wasnt enough, Flores then goes after the disparity in contracts for white head coaches versus black ones by pointing out the particular case of disgraced former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden, who lost his job after revelations of text messages that some consider racist, sexist, and homophobic. Sure, Gruden had banked the largest contract deal in history in 2018 in the form of a 10-year, $100 million contract with the Raiders, but at that point he had a long record of coaching and winning, as well as being a commentator on ESPN.

The NFL has been no stranger to giving black head coaches massive deals, either, even with fewer qualifications. In fact, Todd Bowles, who had never been a head coach except in relief, bagged a four-year, $4 million-per-year head coaching deal with the New York Jets in 2015.

Despite being demoted after several losing seasons, he also recently bagged the largest defensive coordinator contract ever for any coach with a three-year, $9 million contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. All this is probably deserved. But Flores examples of coach pay inequity do not prove systemic racism of any kind.

It is Flores criticism of the NFLs diversity practices that will hurt black head coaches futures the most. In the lawsuit, Flores goes after the NFLs longstanding diversity rule entitled the Rooney Rule, accusing it of being a sham and insisting on a much more radical position of forced hiring of more black coaches and black hiring evaluators.

The Rooney Rule is a highly regarded diversity rule that requires NFL teams to interview at least one (with a recent revision, two) non-white candidates before choosing a candidate for head coach. This rule, which was devised in conjunction with the NFLs diversity group, The Fritz Pollard Alliance, was designed to create more pathways for black head coaches to access the interview process. It was not designed to force NFL owners to hire minority candidates for equity.

In fact, Kevin Sheehan of his eponymous popular football podcast noted as much, saying I do think that one of the intents [of the Rooney Rule] was to create the process where teams were forced to interview minority candidates because they werent interviewing minority candidates on the regular, and that the experience and the exposure that the candidate, that the African-American or minority candidate, would get would be super helpful.

In ripping the rule, Flores selfishly attacks one of the primary ways black coaching candidates can gain access to valuable experience to build up their knowledge of the NFL interview process.

The really disturbing part of the lawsuit is that, without real evidence the NFL is a systemically racist organization, Flores is creating an unhealthy relationship dynamic between the NFL and the NFLs many qualified head coaching candidates, such as Leslie Frazier of the Bills, Eric Bieniemy of Kansas City Chiefs, and Bowles of the Buccaneers. With Flores breaking confidentiality norms and going public about his private interview experiences, teams in the future will become more afraid even to bring in minority head coaching candidates for fear that they might retaliate with racial discrimination lawsuits if they dont get the job, especially with so little real evidence.

After all, Flores just publicly embarrassed Stephen Ross, the owner who employed him for three years, and John Elway, the general manager of the Denver Broncos who considered him for head coach, accusing him of appearing hungover for his interview. If theres one thing you dont do as a head coach, it is publicly embarrass the owner and general manager of an organization.

Maybe Flores has some valid concern regarding his treatment in the NFL hiring process. But blaming it on his race really shows contempt for the many white coaches who have also been hung out to dry for bad behavior in the NFL.

Take Scot McCloughan, a white former general manager of the Washington Redskins. An anonymous source (possibly former team president Bruce Allen) leaked stories about McCloughans alleged drunkenness to tarnish his reputation in an effort to fire him from the organization. That is cold behavior at the top of the NFL, but it wasnt because of McCloughans race. Its because the NFL unfortunately retains people without integrity.

One can think Flores is a quality candidate who deserves a head coaching job without making his lack of such a job about his race. Unfortunately, Flores chose the low road, the litigious road, on this issue by making unfounded allegations of racism. Even if he personally benefits from making them, the rest of the leagues talented black coaching staff will suffer for his choice.

See the original post here:

Brian Flores' Lawsuit Against The NFL Will Damage Black Head Coaches - The Federalist