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Brennan: Intel Agencies To Probe The ‘Bigots’ Behind US ‘Insurgency’ – The Federalist

Posted: January 27, 2021 at 5:24 pm

Obama-era CIA Director John Brennan said federal intelligence agencies top priority, under the leadership of President Joe Biden, is seeking to root out people in pro-Trump insurgency groups filled with white supremacists.

I know, looking forward, that the members of the Biden team who have been nominated or have been appointed are now moving in laser-like fashion, to try to uncover as much as they can about what looks very similar to insurgency movements that weve seen overseas, where they germinate in different parts of the country and they gain strength, and it brings together an unholy alliance frequently of religious extremists so authoritarians, fascists, bigots, racists, nativists, and even libertarians, Brennan said on MSNBC.

The decision to target these groups, Brennan admitted, stemmed from the recent riot at the Capitol and the administrations belief that then-President Donald Trump incited an insurrection among his supporters that could continue to be a threat to our democracy and our republic.

Unfortunately, I think there has been this momentum that has been generated as a result of unfortunately the demagogue of rhetoric of people that just departed government, but also those who continue in the halls of Congress, Brennan continued. And so I really do think that the law enforcement, Homeland Security Intelligence, and even the defense officials are doing everything possible to root out what seems to be a very, very serious and insidious threat to our democracy and our republic.

Despite repeatedly insisting that Obamas intelligence agencies conducted no spying on Donald Trumps campaign, a claim contradicted by inspector general reports, a two-year special counsel probe, congressional inquiries, and continued investigation, Brennan has repeatedly lied about the role Christopher Steeles dossier played in the FBI and CIAs review of disproven collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. He is also well-known for other public lies on TV and to Congress while under oath.

Jordan Davidson is a staff writer at The Federalist. She graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism.

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Brennan: Intel Agencies To Probe The 'Bigots' Behind US 'Insurgency' - The Federalist

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Sedition Cases Against Capitol Rioters ‘Will Bear Fruit Very Soon,’ Says FBI – Reason

Posted: at 5:23 pm

Sedition charges in the works for Capitol rioters. On Tuesday, the Department of Justice announced that it will bring sedition charges against people who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6. The punishment for seditious conspiracy is up to 20 years in prison.

So far, the Capitol riot has spawned more than 150 federal cases and more than 50 cases in D.C. court, FBI Assistant Director in Charge Steven D'Antuono said yesterday, adding that the FBI has opened more than 400 subject case files. (Back on January 15, only 42 people faced federal charges.)

As for seditious conspiracy cases: "Yes, we're working on those cases, and I think those results will bear fruit very soon," D'Antuono said.

Calls for sedition charges haven't stopped with people who stormed the Capitol, with some raising the possibility of sedition charges against politicians who spread election fraud conspiracy theories or encouraged people to come to D.C. to protest.

Under federal law, the crime of seditious conspiracy is defined as two or more people conspiring "to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof."

While this might technically apply to some folks involved in the events of January 6, "sedition charges are almost always a terrible idea," cautions Reason's J.D. Tuccille.

"Sedition prosecutions in the U.S. have a particularly shameful history," asBloomberg's Noah Feldman pointed out last fall in a piece titled "Sedition laws are the last resort of weak governments."

Not only is their historical use full of horror stories, but their very nature makes them ripe for abuse at any time, as a catchall threat against anyone who challenges government policy or criticizes government actions. They can also be used to escalate criminal acts at any protest around the country into a federal case, as former Attorney General William Barr endorsed last year.

Many of the people who stormed the Capitol deserve some charges, and seditious conspiracy might seem as good as any at a glance. But reviving the use of sedition charges like this could backfire against free speech and protests more broadly.

Law professor and blogger Eugene Volokh explains a little bit more about sedition and seditious conspiracy charges:

This is just a special case of the broader proposition that conspiring to commit a crime can itself be a crime. You can be punished under state law for conspiring to commit murder or theft or what have you. You can be punished under federal law for conspiring to commit bank robbery, or to defraud the federal government. Likewise, you can be punished under the "seditious conspiracy" statute for conspiring to illegally oppose the enforcement of the law.

The current federal statute on sedition is, at the very least, much less severe than its historical counterpart:

[Seditious conspiracy] is quite a different statute from the Sedition Act of 1798 (or from the common-law crime of seditious libel), which punished (among other things) false and malicious speech intended to defame the federal government. And to the extent that the seditious conspiracy law punishes agreements to commit crime, which may be expressed by speech, such conspiracy is viewed as constitutionally unprotected, because it is speech integral to the criminal conduct that is being planned. For more on this, seeU.S. v. Rahman(2d Cir. 1999).

Republicans declare impeachment trial itself unconstitutional. The majority of GOP senators designating the latest Trump impeachment trial unconstitutional wasn't enough to stop it from moving forward. But its ultimate prospects aren't good. "Lawmakers narrowly killed a Republican effort to dismiss the impeachment charge as unconstitutional," says The New York Times. But the 5545 vote "strongly suggested that the Senate would not be able to convict the former president." All Democrats plus at least 17 Republican senators need to vote to convict Trump in order for it to happen.

Indiana lawmakers are trying to make it harder for Libertarians to get on ballots. A new measure (House Bill 1134) from state Rep. Ethan Manning (RDenver) "would require Libertarians to collect signatures of registered voters to run for governor or U.S. Senate. Under current law, Libertarians nominate those offices in a primary convention and are not required to gather signatures required of Republicans and Democrats as part of the primary ballot process," notes TheJournal Gazette.

Manning's bill would still allow Libertarians to nominate governor and U.S. Senate candidates via convention but would then also require the nominee to meet the signature requirement, which is 500 registered voters for each of the state's nine congressional districts."

"Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, said a cynical person would see it as a bill to punish Libertarians because they did well in the last gubernatorial election, and some believe they siphon votes from Republicans.

Rep. Cherrish Pryor, D-Indianapolis, said the bill adds more requirements on Libertarians without giving them any new powers or advantages."

Apple and Google sued over Telegram posts. "Here's an interesting lawsuit, brought to you by some familiar names," writes Tim Cushing at Techdirt. "And by 'interesting,' I mean 'exceedingly stupid.'"

Apparently, former U.S. ambassador and Coalition for A Safer Web head Marc Ginsberg is suing Apple over content posted to encrypted messaging app Telegram, which is not affiliated with Apple except insofar as the Telegram app is available through the Apple app store. Ginsberg argues that some Telegram posts and chats are bad, so Apple shouldn't even make Telegram available. More from Cushing:

Ginsberg claims the Telegram app violates Apple's developer guidelines and California's hate speech law and should be removed from the app store. Because Apple hasn't removed the app, it has been downloaded and used by people who engage in anti-Semitic speech. (Ginsberg is Jewish.) Because Telegram refuses to remove this content, it somehow leaks into Ginsberg's life through the app storeeven if Ginsberg has never downloaded the app or engaged with its users.

Ginsberg is also suing Google over making Telegram available through the Google Play store.

Those who want to get rid of Section 230 say this would stop social networks and websites from unfairly censoring their users' political comments. In reality, it would give them an incentive to censor far more aggressively. To protect themselves from being sued over content, they would remove anything remotely controversial. Users would be spied on constantly.

Ironically, this would help Facebook, Twitter, Google and other social-media giants while hurting smaller companies and new startups.

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The politics of an Auschwitz survivors son – The Boston Globe

Posted: at 5:23 pm

The Allies entered Auschwitz 76 years ago this week, far too late for the 1.1 million men, women, children, and babies, nearly all of them Jews, who had been murdered there in the previous five years. Among the dead were my fathers parents, sisters, and brothers, who had died in the Auschwitz gas chambers the previous spring. The camps liberation came too late for my father as well. Ten days earlier, he had been sent on a forced march to the west, ending up at the Ebensee concentration camp in Austria. Not until May 1945 did the US Armys 80th Infantry Division reach Ebensee. By then, my father, who was 19, was nearly dead. The Americans arrived just in time to save his life.

In 2005, the UN General Assembly designated Jan. 27, the day Auschwitz was liberated, as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The occasion will be marked by many memorial and educational events, online this year because of the pandemic. Doubtless there will be words of tribute to the dwindling band of survivors like my father, who is now 95.

Yet for much of his life, my father didnt think of himself as a Holocaust survivor. The term itself only came into use in the late 1970s, and in any case he, like most survivors, spent the decades after the war engaged in the business of living: finding work, joining communities, getting married, raising a family. Not until he was nearly in his 50s would my father have considered Holocaust survivor to be an identity, let alone one with a unique moral and historical resonance.

But it was different for their children. We grew up with it.

Unlike my father, whom I never knew to dwell on what had happened to him during the Holocaust, I barely remember a time when awareness of his experience didnt haunt me. From early childhood, I knew that my fathers family had been murdered by Jew-haters. I vividly recall myself as a little boy, paging again and again through a book with photographs from the Nazi era, gripped by the understanding that they were connected to my family history. When I was in second or third grade, I would write Hitler on the sole of my shoe, so that I could obliterate the name as I walked.

I have been conscious of my identity as the child of a Holocaust survivor virtually all my life. That identity has affected me in multiple ways, above all, perhaps, when it comes to my political and civic values.

My most deeply rooted ideological conviction is a deep distrust of coercive government. Since my teens I have been a libertarian-leaning conservative, an outlook molded by my knowledge that the horrors of the Holocaust were engineered by government by a totalitarian regime empowered to act with impunity and supported by a vast, intrusive bureaucracy. That some government is necessary I accept, but too much government, in my view, will always be a graver threat than too little. Power tends to corrupt, Lord Acton famously observed. The Holocaust is the ultimate demonstration of how murderous the corruption of a too-powerful state can become.

A related conviction is my intense antipathy to glorifying politicians. I realize that public support is vital in a democratic republic, yet there is an intoxicating derangement in crowds that gives me the creeps. The surging, enthusiastic adoration that political figures as different as Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, and Sarah Palin inspired in their followers filled me not with admiration, but with something closer to alarm. More sinister by far, to my mind, was the cult of personality that formed around Donald Trump. In no way do I liken American democracy today to what occurred in Germany in the 1930s. All the same, I have never been able to see images of mass rallies, even rallies for causes I admire, without a sense of foreboding.

Equally menacing is an obsession with race and racial distinctions. Hitlers Germany deemed Aryans the highest race and Jews the lowest. In their fanaticism on the subject, the Nazis demonized Jews, denied them legal rights, deprived them of their livelihoods, drove them from their homes, and finally destroyed them by the millions. As the son of a Holocaust survivor, I consider all racial categories fundamentally illegitimate. I abhor the labeling and sorting of Americans by race. Classifications and distinctions based on race or color, argued the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in a 1947 brief, have no moral or legal validity in our society. That has always been my position. It makes me heartsick that 50 years after the civil rights movement, Americas leading institutions have become more race-obsessed than ever.

Im sure that some of the stands I take in public-policy debates have been influenced by my experience growing up with a father who survived the death camps and being raised in a community that was home to other survivors. I fervently opposed the Bush administrations reliance on torture to extract information from Al Qaeda detainees, for example. I have always condemned the scapegoating of immigrants, whether it came from the left or from the right. I have no patience with foreign-policy realists who downplay human rights in dealing with other governments.

Above and beyond politics, however, my lifelong awareness of the Holocaust has made it impossible for me not to know that human goodness is fragile. It doesnt come naturally but must be honed and practiced, etched into our nature one good deed at a time. Civility and civilization are only veneers, stretched like a bandage over an ugly wound. More easily than we like to think, that bandage can be pulled off, exposing the putrescence beneath. It was pulled off in Europe in the middle of the 20th century, and the consequences were diabolical for the world, for the Jews, for my father and his family. Those consequences are never far from my mind. They shape my thinking to this day.

Jeff Jacoby can be reached at jeff.jacoby@globe.com. Elements of this column were adapted from Arguable, his weekly e-mail newsletter. To subscribe to Arguable, visit bitly.com/Arguable.

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Death, taxes and the inevitable chaos – Daily Maverick

Posted: at 5:05 pm

(Photo: Unsplash / SCN)

Because I could not stop for Death He kindly stopped for me The Carriage held but just Ourselves And Immortality. Because I could not stop for Death, Emily Dickinson

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Le Roy

What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short.From now on those whohave wives should live as if they do not;those who mourn, as if they did not;those whoare happy, as if they were not;those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep;those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them.For this world in its presentform is passing away. I Corinthians 7: 29-31

Here at around the first anniversary of the first known cases of Covid 19 in America, we are now quite suddenly living with the possibility of the imminence of death for anyone, almost at random, anywhere in a way nobody would have predicted for the 21st century.

We have largely assumed technological and medical progress was inevitable. Major age-old scourges like polio and smallpox had been eradicated globally years ago, for example; and the means to banish many other endemic, chronic, and communicable diseases exist, just as long as governments can cooperate and allocate the funds to make it happen. Similarly, the means to end most famines and sustained food shortages exist; just as long as the planets governments figure out the mechanisms to do so.

In short, there has been an expectation that economics, governments, science and medicine can achieve mastery over most disasters (except for unanticipated natural ones) that have plagued humans since, well, forever. Mass death of humans now largely seems the product of deliberate human action through wars, civil insurrection, ethnic slaughter and genocide, and forced food shortages along with human-made ecological and climate disasters.

This is new. Less than 200 years ago, it was common for people in the Victorian age to round up their families for a picnic and take them to a local cemetery so family members could commune with those lost to disease and injuries while still young, or with older family members who died from diseases now often easily addressed by medical professionals. Those same cemeteries would have gravesites for all those children who had died young. (Even now, every Japanese temple has a small garden with memorials erected in memory of deceased children, whether from disease, premature unsustainable birth, or termination of pregnancy. These memorial gardens become among the most poignant places one can visit at a religious facility.) Death and disease were seen as inevitable and unforgiving everywhere.

Within our own families, if we are of a certain age, it is likely we would have heard of children, born a couple of generations ago, who never had the chance to make it to adulthood, dying from a childhood disease or from cholera, typhoid, the flu, the Spanish flu, or some other common respiratory infection, absent antibiotics and other therapeutic agents. (In some of my own familys formal photographs from the early 20th century, one can see one of my late fathers older brothers who had never had the chance to reach adulthood, after falling victim to one of these diseases, as did their father.)

In our own time, the nearest we were coming to the idea of the great plague, at least until last year, was HIV/Aids. This disease seemingly came from out of nowhere and attacked unrelated groups of victims: gay men, commercial airline cabin personnel and Haitians. As it began to enter the broader societies of North America, Europe, Britain, and elsewhere, and especially as successful treatment regimens initially remained distant, its victims often were treated as shunned outcasts.

In South Africa, even successful drug treatments were rejected by many including the governments leaders generating an unnecessary death toll that numbered hundreds of thousands. Many of us came to know individuals friends and family members both who had become its victims. But in the minds of too many, it remained a disease whose infections arose out of human behavioural choices, or just plain ignorance. It took researchers years before the diseases etiology was understood, let alone until effective treatments were developed, although prevention still remains a behavioural issue for some.

But what HIV/Aids did not do was to give entire societies a pervasive fear that it was uncontrollable, with an array of symptoms that often could not be understood, and that it was a disease that could strike anyone, anywhere, any time. Unlike HIV/Aids, this newest plague, Covid 19, burst on to the world almost all at once, after its reported outbreak in Wuhan, China. Within months, infection rates and fatalities were growing quickly, turning nations like Italy into hotspots.

Within a year, globally, there have now been tens of millions of cases, more than two million fatalities, and, in the US, now more than 400,000 deaths, as it grows without let-up, as in many nations, casualties and infections continue to increase. (US Covid casualties have now reached close to the number of American deaths from World War 2; and that total is about ten times South Africas total. The latters population, of course, is about one-sixth Americas.)

This rapid rise in infections and deaths, and the institution of increasing public health counter-measures (and their inevitable baleful impacts on economic circumstances) has inevitably struck fear into the hearts and minds of billions of people around the world, and created real economic hardship for many millions.

Those fears, inevitably, have fed a deep need by many to believe in magical or quack cures, especially when these have been punted by irresponsible and ignorant government leaders and their lackeys and hangers-on. Alternatively, yet others have chosen to disbelieve in the very existence of the disease, or to insist it is some kind of conspiratorial plot by doctors, drug companies, foundation executives, and other evil people in order to make money from the fears, or to engage in actions designed to control people and steal their freedoms.

But this disease is not yet giving way. We are all being struck repeated body blows as loved ones, friends, widely admired public figures and entertainers, and even total strangers continue to die because of it. The pain is even worse because these losses are reported widely in the media and then their stories and circumstances are further distributed via social media. The victims receive medical help, or they dont in time, but the result often seems the same as it becomes a deeply painful outcome each time.

Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin is often attributed with the very realpolitik notion, A single death is a tragedy, but the death of millions is a statistic. But the truth is that none of these Covid deaths has become a statistic because each and every one has family and friend connections to others. And most often they have been unable even to say their final goodbyes, given the isolation and quarantines imposed.

In such circumstances, the responses on the part of many people in our time may begin to have an uncomfortable resemblance to the way populations have often reacted to the plagues that have afflicted people throughout history. In response to such fears during an epidemic, and egged on by their leaders, mobs would carry out pogroms against local Jewish populations or other minorities or they engaged in desperate efforts such as days of frenetic communal dancing to hold off the spread of the disease.

If this disease is not stopped in its tracks or rolled back, it does not need an actual fortune teller to predict one of two possible outcomes: either a major upwelling of religious fervour in the face of an unstoppable disease; or, alternatively, anti-social, nihilistic behaviour on the part of many in the face of what appears to be long-prophesied end times. Or perhaps even both simultaneously.

In that second alternative, we could look for stochastic outbreaks of unrest, populism or even terror in the face of the demonstrated inability of governments to halt the disease and right their national economies. (Not sure about this? Consider what just happened in Americas capital city by a dangerous mob on 6 January.)

Stochastic populism: the wave of the future?

Some governments can, and probably will, fall if they are unable to cope with the challenges of such circumstances.

Is it now time to at least consider the kernel of prophecy contained in University of California, Los Angeles geography professor Jared Diamonds Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive, when he reflected upon societal failures historically.

Diamond wrote, In fact, one of the main lessons to be learned from the collapses of the Maya, Anasazi, Easter Islanders, and those other past societies is that a societys steep decline may begin only a decade or two after the society reaches its peak numbers, wealth, and power The reason is simple: maximum population, wealth, resource consumption, and waste production mean maximum environmental impact, approaching the limit where impact outstrips resources.

To this, frighteningly, we must add the political and economic instabilities that arise from the failure to cope with pandemics. DM

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Bigger Than Baseball: The Legacy of Hank Aaron – The Emory Wheel

Posted: at 5:05 pm

On Emorys Atlanta campus, stories above the cigar-smoking statue of Robert W. Woodruff, lies a legend. Well, pieces of one.

In 2014, three Emory baseball players curated the He Had a Hammer: The Legacy of Hank Aaron in Baseball and American Culture exhibit at Emorys Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library. The exhibit contains a diverse set of materials with which one can trace MLB star and former Atlanta Braves right fielder Hank Aarons journey to baseball immortality and discover his character as a true moral exemplar.

However, no amount of scouting reports, photographs, memorabilia, letters, correspondences and hate mail could ever accurately capture the life and legacy of Hammerin Hank, one of the greatest players to ever grace a baseball diamond. No matter how unfamiliar one was with Aaron, the weight of his death on Jan. 22 carries a heavy shadow across the entire nation.

The All-Timer

It would be a vast understatement, perhaps even a grave misdoing, to say that Aaron was just a great player. Aaron played for the Braves (who were formerly the Milwaukee Braves before moving to Atlanta in 1966) from 1954-74 and the Milwaukee Brewers from 1975-76. By the time he retired in 1976, he had amassed a .305 batting average, 3,771 hits, 2,297 runs batted in and, most famously, 755 home runs over his indescribable 23-year MLB career. By significant margins, his All-Star appearances, runs batted in and total bases are all MLB records and further immortalize him as one of the best players of all time, if not the best.

The 25-time All-Star was unstoppable for so long that by his retirement, he was the last player on an MLB roster who had also played in the now-canon Negro Leagues, where he played for three months in 1952.

His 755 career home runs stood as an all-time record for 33 years before Barry Bonds broke it in 2007 as a member of the San Francisco Giants. Significant hype followed Bond as he approached the all-time record, yet Aaron was not met with such hospitality during his own chase.

In the months, weeks and days preceding Aarons record-breaking 715th home run on April 8, 1974, in the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, he received countless testimonials of humanitys worst attitudes, dozens of which are currently displayed in his exhibit in the Rose Library.

Hate mail and consistent threats of death and kidnapping against him, his wife and his children poured in with increasing intensity from racist onlookers who felt threatened that a Black man had come for Babe Ruths record. Some threats were so serious they prompted FBI investigations.

The countless letters and on-field taunts which Aaron received were effective, but not in the way in which their senders had intended. Did they harm the Braves great? Absolutely he confessed in 1992 that his pursuit of No. 715 should have been the greatest experience of my life, but it was the worst experience of my life.

He was never fully deterred, however, and persisted through the bigotry with a certain grace and humility that defined his person, which we now fondly remember and extensively revere.

The Pioneer

Aaron will likely always be most known for his athletic prowess, and justifiably so. However, one would be remiss to remember Hammerin Hank as only a ballplayer and not one of the most inspirational and influential figures in Atlanta history.

In an era of the civil rights movement that featured so many charismatic and outspoken leaders, Aaron provided consistent yet subtle support for the struggle, opting to be a silent leader who inspired others with his superb actions on and off the field rather than with eloquent prose behind a podium.

On the field, he was the epitome of a trailblazer. His collection of career stats are perhaps second to none, and his pioneership as a Black man in a white league in the Deep South should be mentioned in any conversation that features Jackie Robinson. Some six years after Robinson broke the baseball color barrier in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Aaron was the first to integrate the South Atlantic League in the minor leagues. When the Braves relocated to Atlanta from Milwaukee, he was baseballs first Black superstar in the South. In the face of constant racism and bigotry, Aaron never once paused in momentary defeat. He faced the ugly truth of humanity head on, using the sweet stroke of his right-handed swing to break racial barriers and pave a path for future Black superstars to make their own mark on Americas pastime.

His contributions to baseball did not end with his final at-bat either. Shortly after his retirement, Aaron became vice president and director of player development for the Braves and thus one of the games first Black executives with an upper-level management position. His name also graces an award given annually to the best offensive performer in the American and National Leagues.

His mark on baseball, as a player and executive, cannot be overstated. The magnitude of his impact on the game is perhaps rivaled only by his philanthropy and commitment to the city of Atlanta.

After the Braves relocated, Aaron bought a home in the southwestern part of the city where he supported, created and donated to numerous charities, scholarships and programs meant to uplift and empower Black people, especially students, exemplified by his $3 million donation to the Morehouse School of Medicine in 2016. Aaron stayed in the same home until his death.

His affection for his community characterized his commencement speech, which he gave shortly after he received an honorary doctor of laws degree, to graduating members of the Emory Law School Class of 1995.

Whenever a single human being is humiliated, the human image is cheapened, Aaron said in his speech. Whenever a person suffers for whatever the reason and no one is there to offer a hand, a smile, a present, a gift, a memory, a smile again. What happens, something is wrong with society at large.

The Legend

So, who was Hank Aaron? When future generations ask us to describe one of Americas very best people, how should we? How can we, as mere onlookers, capture his remarkable life in a series of carefully yet vainly constructed clauses that will never be able to adequately describe all that he was?

Bluntly, we cannot adequately answer any of these questions. He was a man who faced the worlds most wretched hive of scum and villainy with the same grace, humility and persistence with which he faced 98-mile-per-hour heaters from the batters box.

Aaron is and forever will be a legend, the making of myths. His stats tell the story of one of the games best-ever players, and his character, partially contained in the collections housed in the Rose Library, reveals the story of a civil rights icon, Atlantan, community leader and extraordinary man.

The location of Aarons exhibit, which towers dozens of feet over the general Emory community, is fitting for such a towering figure.

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What are conservatives to do in this new Democrat government era? – The Light and Champion

Posted: January 25, 2021 at 4:58 am

With the new administration and a Democrat run government, it was only a matter of time before corporations started to curry favor with the new legislative majority.

With pending anti-trust legislation in the works by House Democrats, Big Tech made a few strategic moves earlier this month to show that they are friendly to the current ruling class. Facebook and Twitter have censored or banned Trump, Ron Paul, #WalkAway Campaign, and many more .

It is easy to see these moves as an attack on the political values of conservatives. But that would lose sight of the fact that these are corporations who are judged by market cap and net income.

These companies have no doubt a dominating liberal culture within their workforce, but when that culture clashes with profits, profits invariably win. The current crackdown on conservatives by Big Tech is not happening because they hate conservative values or conservative people, it is because they understand that Democrats have the power.

So what can we, as conservatives, do?

The general line of prescription is to stop shopping at a business you don't like.

Hit them where it hurts, in the pocket book. This is an excellent strategy to fight against a clothing brand, or a restaurant.

But this is unrealistic when referring to a near monopolistic business such as Facebook or Twitter. Most of us use Facebook to connect family and friends across the country. It has also become a central method of how we absorb information, news and otherwise, from the outside world.

For better or for worse, even for those that don't like technology, social media has become as central to many American's lives as television or radio. So if you are unwilling to leave social media, what is your avenue of recourse?

Hit them in the pocketbook, without leaving. Specific targeted advertising is Faceboook's golden goose. Facebook uses information you input in the site (ie. your birthday, hometown, page likes, content likes) and combines it with information it gathers from your activities across the internet.

Using this profile, it shows you ads that it believes would suit you. This process has been very beneficial for small/big businesses, magazines, and non-profits while making Facebook billions in the process.

This is also how you can, in-part, de-monetize, them without leaving the site.

Delete as much personal information about you on your facebook page as possible. Then start using a browser that blocks Facebook from tracking you across the internet.

There are many,duckduckgo.comis a good one for mobile. Lastly, stop clicking anything that is an ad on your Facebook feed. If it is something you are interested in, search for it in a new browser page.

All these steps lessen the effectiveness of the information Big Tech gathers on you, and therefore the effectiveness of the targeted ads they show you.

You won't be putting Facebook out of business anytime soon, but you can rest assured that you have done everything in your power to stop putting money in their bank account, short of quitting. "

NOTE: Aditya Atholi is a resident of Center who writes a conservative column. He may be reached at: adityaatholi1@gmail.com

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What are conservatives to do in this new Democrat government era? - The Light and Champion

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Rand Paul Makes Voter Fraud Claims on ABC "This Week"; Battles Stephanopoulos in Heated Debate – The Jewish Voice

Posted: at 4:58 am

Jared Evan

Senator Rand Paul(R-Ky), son of extremely popular retired Congressman Ron Paul, over the last several years was not always a solid ally of President Trump but is someone who has always spoken his honest opinion regardless of which side of the aisle his views aligned with.

He has always been controversial, and strangely enough, even though he sympathized with several anti-police activists points of contention and introduced a bill named after Breonna Taylor, designed to end no-knock warrant arrests, found himself harassed and almost beaten brutally on the streets of D.C after the GOP National convention over the summer, by BLM terrorists.

After the January 6th storming of the capitol it is practically taboo to mention the term voter fraud or question the election of Joe Biden. Even discussing these topics, will find one banned from Twitter, suspended from Facebook, and removed from YouTube.

Senator Paul was not afraid to speak of that which is now taboo. Appearing on ABCs This Week, he unleashed on George Stephanopoulos, several powerful points regarding the November election.

Highlights:

The debate over whether or not there was fraud should occur. We never had any presentation in court where we ever looked at the evidence. There were several states in which the law was changed by the Secretary of State and not the state legislature. To me those are clearly unconstitutional and I think theres still a chance those do finally work their way up to the Supreme Court.

In my state, where we had a Democrat Secretary of State, she refused, even under federal order, to purge the rolls of illegal voters. We got a Republican SoS and he purged the rolls. In Wisconsin, tens of thousands of absentee votes had only the name on them and no address. Historically, those were thrown out. This time they werent.

You immediately say everythings a lie instead of saying theres two sides to everything. Historically what would happen is if I said I thought there was fraud, youd interview someone else who said there wasnt. But now you insert yourself in the middle and say that the absolute fact is that everything Im saying is a lie.

Youre saying theres no fraud and its all been investigated and thats just not true. I plan on spending the next two years going around, state to state, fixing these problems. There has been no thorough examination of all states to see what problems we had and see if we could fix them.

Theres two sides to every story. Interview someone on the other side, but dont insert yourself into the story to say were all liars. Youre forgetting who you are as a journalist if you think theres only one side. A journalist would hear both sides and there are two sides to this story.

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Anti-vaccine activists peddle theories that Covid-19 shots are deadly, undermining vaccination – CNN

Posted: at 4:58 am

"This is exactly what anti-vaccine groups do," said Dr. Peter Hotez, an infectious diseases specialist and author of "Preventing the Next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy in a Time of Anti-Science."

Now, the same groups are blaming patients' coincidental medical problems on covid shots, even when it's clear that age or underlying health conditions are to blame, Hotez said. "They will sensationalize anything that happens after someone gets a vaccine and attribute it to the vaccine," Hotez said.

For example, in a group of 10 million people, nearly 800 people ages 55 to 64 typically die of heart attacks or coronary disease in one week, Osterholm said. Public health officials "are not ready" for the onslaught of news and social media stories to come, he cautioned.

Public health officials need to do a better job communicating the risks real and imagined from vaccines, said Osterholm, who served on President Joe Biden's transition coronavirus advisory board.

"You get one chance to make a first impression," Osterholm said. "Even if we come back later and say, "No, [the deaths] had nothing to do with vaccination, it was coronary artery disease,' the damage has already been done."

"Coincidence is turning out to be quite lethal to COVID vaccine recipients," Kennedy wrote. Kennedy described the deaths as suspicious, accusing medical officials of following an "all-too-familiar vaccine propaganda playbook" and "strategic chicanery."

"We're going to see these events happen, and we have to follow up on every one of these cases," Osterholm said. "I don't want people to think that we're sweeping them under the rug."

A rare condition

"It shouldn't give anyone pause about whether the vaccine is safe or not," said Dr. James Zehnder, a hematologist and director of clinical pathology at Stanford Medicine.

Michael's bleeding disorder could have been developing silently for some time, said Dr. Adam Cuker, director of the Penn Blood Disorders Center at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. It could be a coincidence that Michael started showing symptoms shortly after vaccination, he said. About 30 Americans are diagnosed with immune thrombocytopenia every day.

The timing of Michael's illness suggests it had another cause, doctors said. According to his wife's Facebook post, his bleeding problems began three days after his first covid shot. It takes the body 10 to 14 days after vaccination to generate antibodies, which would be needed to cause immune thrombocytopenia, said Dr. Cindy Neunert, a pediatric hematologist at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City.

In most cases, the cause of thrombocytopenia is never known, said Dr. Deepak Bhatt, executive director of interventional cardiovascular programs at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Many patients with immune thrombocytopenia are now wondering if they should be vaccinated against covid, Cuker said. Cuker said he urges nervous patients to be vaccinated, noting that any problems could be managed by closely monitoring their platelet levels and adjusting medication if needed.

Even in patients with underlying bleeding conditions, "it's still safer to get vaccinated than to get covid," Zehnder said.

"If you give a vaccine to a large enough number of people, there are going to be rare adverse events but there are also going to be coincidental events unrelated to the vaccine," Cuker said. "If an anti-vaccine group uses a single case, where no link has been proven, to discourage people from vaccination, that's terrible."

Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information Center, said her site provides balanced information from reputable news sources, including CNN, CBS and the Miami Herald, as well as Pfizer and the CDC.

In an interview with KHN, Kennedy said he questions why government officials have been so quick to dismiss connections between vaccinations and deaths. "How in the world do they know if it's a vaccine injury or not?" he asked.

"We don't discourage anybody from getting vaccinated," Kennedy said. "All we're doing is conveying the data, which is what the government should be doing. ... We print the truth, which is what the medical agencies ought to do."

Alternative facts?

"They have come out against every public health measure to control the pandemic," Carpiano said. "They have said public health is public enemy No. 1."

Recently, anti-vaccine activists have been so eager to discredit immunizations that they have blamed covid for the deaths of people who are very much alive.

Anti-vaccine activists are adept at manipulating video, Smith said.

"They are notorious for using videos and images purportedly showing the adverse effects of vaccines, such as autism in children and seizures in other vaccine recipients," Smith said. "The more emotive and graphic the videos and images irrespective of whether it's actually linked at all to vaccines or not the better."

Anti-vaccine groups often build fables around "a tiny, tiny grain of truth," Smith said. "This is why misinformation, specifically vaccine misinformation, can be so convincing. ... But this information is almost always taken completely out of context, creating claims that are either misleading or outright false."

Distorting facts to discourage vaccination, Cuker said, is "very irresponsible and damaging to public health."

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Game Preview: Rutgers at Indiana – On The Banks

Posted: at 4:58 am

How To Watch, Listen, News & Notes

Where: Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana

Tip-off: Sunday, January 24 at 12:00 p.m. ET

TV: BTN - Brandon Gaudin and Stephen Bardo

Radio: Live Listen - Rutgers Sports Properties Radio Network - WCTC 1450 AM/WOR 710 AM/XM 381, Jerry Recco & Mark Peterson; WRSU 88.7 FM - Raj Shah and Chris Tsakonas

KenPom Rankings: Rutgers is 46, which is 7 spots worse since the 8 point loss at Penn State on Thursday; Indiana is 23, which is 10 spots worse better since a 12 point win at Iowa on Thursday.

Efficiency Rankings: Rutgers - Offense 109.2 (59th) Defense 93.2 (37th); Indiana - Offense 110.9 (43rd) Defense 91.2 (15th)

KenPom Prediction: Indiana 70 Rutgers 65; Rutgers is given a 33% chance to win.

OTB Guide to KenPom

Vegas Line: Indiana -4.5

Series History: Indiana leads the all-time series 7-3, but Rutgers won the lone meeting last season 59-50 at the RAC on January 15, 2020.

Indiana SB Nation Site: The Crimson Quarry

Indiana - 69 sophomore Trayce Jackson-Davis (20.6 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, 1.5 assists, 54.2% FG); 64 sophomore Armaan Franklin (12.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.5 steals, 43.1% 3-pt FG); 64 senior Aljami Durham (10.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists); 68 redshirt junior Race Thompson (9.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.4 blocks, 54.5% FG); 61 junior Rob Phinisee (8.4 points, 3.1 assists, 2.0 rebounds, 34.6% 3-pt FG); 67 redshirt sophomore Jerome Hunter (5.0 points, 2.9 rebounds, 35.9% 3-pt FG); 64 freshman Trey Galloway (4.9 points, 2.1 assists, 2.1 rebounds); 65 freshman Anthony Leal (2.1 points, 1.4 rebounds, 1.2 assists)

Rutgers - 66 junior Ron Harper Jr. (18.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 41.6% 3-pt FG); 62 senior Jacob Young (15.2 points, 4.2 assists, 2.2 steals, 2.2 rebounds, 37.5% 3-pt FG); 64 junior Montez Mathis (12.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 37.8 % 3-pt FG); 64 Geo Baker (8.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.0 steal); 610 redshirt junior Myles Johnson (8.1 points, 8.6 rebounds, 2.0 blocks, 1.3 steals, 1.1 assists, 61.3% FG); 66 sophomore Paul Mulcahy (6.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 38.1% 3-pt FG); 67 junior Caleb McConnell (4.8 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.0 steal) 611 Cliff Omoruyi (4.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, 62.5% FG)

Indianas Trey Galloway missed the last game due to back soreness. Freshman Jordan Geronimo played in his absence, scoring 7 points on 3 of 3 shooting in 10 minutes of action. No word on Galloways status for Sundays game against Rutgers.

Rutgers has no significant injury issues.

The Hoosiers are coming off its biggest win of the season and perhaps most impressive upset in Big Ten play this season. Trailing no. 4 Iowa by 9 points midway through the second half, Indiana clamped down defensively en route to a stunning 81-69 victory. They had a week off since their previous game, a home loss to rival Purdue by the same score.

IU is averaging 73.1 points per game and is shooting 46.1% from the floor, 33.3% from three-point range and 65.9% from the foul line this season. They are 5th in offensive efficiency in Big Ten play and 9th in defensive efficiency (Rutgers is 8th in offensive efficiency and 10th in defensive efficiency in Big Ten play).

Offensively in conference action, Indiana is 3rd in two-point field goal percentage and 4th in free throw rate (getting to the line). However, they are just 11th in offensive rebounding rate and free throw shooting percentage, as well as 12th in three-point shooting.

Defensively, IU is 3rd in block rate and 4th in turnover rate. Conversely, they are just 11th in free throw rate and 13th in three-point shooting percentage defense.

Trayce-Jackson-Davis is one of the best players in the Big Ten and is a force in the paint on both ends of the floor. Indiana isnt a prolific three-point shooting team and will look to attack the rim, albeit at a slow pace, as they play at the 12th slowest tempo in Big Ten play and 286th nationally.

Indiana held Iowa without a field goal for 11 minutes in the second half on Thursday. The Hoosier have defended the rim well all season and were exceptional against the most efficient offense in college basketball. They want to muck it up in the paint and slow the game down. They were able to do that against the Hawkeyes and will have plenty of confidence they can do the same on Sunday against Rutgers.

This is concerning for RU, as they have struggled finishing near the rim all season. However, they need to attack in this game and not settle for contested jumpers. Take threes when they come within the flow of the offense, not forcing them as a first option.

The Scarlet Knights looked the best they have offensively in quite awhile down the stretch against Penn State. Although the comeback fell short, the clear takeaway was that they got much better looks due to better ball movement. Geo Baker and Paul Mulcahy need to be assertive running the offense on Sunday, as they facilitated the improved play. They need to minimize turnovers against a IU team that is proficient in forcing them, while also moving the basketball more through passing instead of off the bounce. Jacob Young is the best penetrator on the team, but he needs stay under control on drives and look to find open teammates more so in this game.

This contest features the two worst free throw shooting teams in the Big Ten. It wont matter though if Rutgers cant improve in getting to the line. The four best ball handlers on the team happen to be the four best free throw shooters as well, but are not doing a good job of drawing contact on drives. Baker, Mulcahy, Jacob Young, and Caleb McConnell need to attack off of ball reversals to get to the line. While getting Ron Harper Jr. going is a must, posting him up, which he did well at times against PSU, will help him get better looks and draw contact as well.

Myles Johnson and Cliff Omoruyi need to be active inside on the glass and in defending Jackson-Davis. Staying out of foul trouble is key and this could be a game that head coach Steve Pikiell plays them both together to create matchup problems for the Hoosiers.

The bottom line is that if Rutgers doesnt defend and rebound at a high level, the odds of winning this game is zero. Indiana is not a strong offensive rebounding team, so Rutgers needs to control the glass and limit second chance scoring opportunities. Its likely theyll miss shots near the rim against Indianas interior defense, so grabbing offensive boards and converting will be hugely important. Defensive pressure is also important, especially on the guards, and Rutgers has been successful at times with fullcourt pressure. However, they cant allow for breakdowns that lead to easy baskets for Indiana. Discipline and focus must be better in this game.

This is a gut check of gut check games for Rutgers. They are mired in a five game losing streak and a loss on Sunday would bury them in a 3-7 hole in Big Ten play. Its fair to think they will be unable to recover from that standing. At the end of the day, Rutgers needs to show urgency, intensity and simply want it more than Indiana. The Hoosiers are riding high and are ripe for a letdown after the biggest win of their season. Their next game is against first place Michigan, so on short rest this could be one they are looking past. Regardless, the key to this game is how much desire Rutgers plays with. They need to play with desperation, because the situation calls for it.

For the fourteenth game of the season, I chose Back Against The Wall by Cage The Elephant. The lyrics are pretty straight forward when applied to the current state of Rutgers basketball.

Im hanging by a thread and Im feeling like Ill fall. Im stuck here in between these shadows of my yesterday. I want to get away, I need to get away.

Youve got my back against the wall. Oh God, I aint got no other place to hide.

Rutgers is coming off its worst loss of the season against Penn State with another disappointing effort on Thursday. This team plays stretches of very good basketball, but they are surrounded by too many stretches of uninspired, lackluster ones. Its inexcusable and makes this losing streak all the more frustrating because this is a veteran, talented team.

The leadership must stand tall and make sure this team plays with energy and urgency in this game. Another loss and Rutgers will be in a potentially unrecoverable spot. The good news is that this group seems to play its best previously with its back against the wall and people doubting them. Theyve brought that on themselves this time though. They are the only ones who can get them out of the mess they created and it needs to start in this game. There is no place to hide and hopefully the short turnaround time leads to them playing with an edge that leads to a much needed victory.

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Game Preview: Rutgers at Indiana - On The Banks

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Embracing Expectations: 4 Thoughts on Rutgers 74-70 Win Over Indiana – On The Banks

Posted: at 4:58 am

Rutgers wins! They came to play from the tip and they reaped the rewards. What a game.

Four Thoughts.

That Was Rutgers Basketball: After lacking the toughness, the defense and the rebounding that has been a staple of the Steve Pikiell era, the Scarlet Knights brought it all back. Shaking up the starting line-up by inserting Paul Mulcahy and Caleb McConnell, it was evident from the start that this wasnt the Rutgers team we saw during the losing streak that lasted nearly all of January. They shared the ball, and didnt isolate much. That added ball movement helped the offense in a myriad of ways and the shots went in. They outrebounded the Hoosiers 32-29 and were a force on the glass. It felt like the old days as Rutgers got back to basics. It wasnt a perfect winthough they made their free throws, they still missed a few key shots down the stretch. And Geo Baker took a very odd technical that Ive never seen called before. But a win is a win is a win. Take it and get on the plane.

Geo Baker, Big Shot Maker: This was the Geo weve been waiting for this season. He made four threes and had the ball in his hands for most of the game. He pushed the pace when he could and slowed it down when needed. Geo made smart decisions, finishing with 19 points, 5 assists and a steal. Rutgers needed their leader to be the guy to get them out of the doldrums and they did. Need to see this Geo the rest of the way to get the season back on track.

Ron Harper Jr. Did the Dirty Work: While he wasnt Ron Fire today, he affected the game in so many ways. He had a double double with 15 points and 12 boards. He was a force on defense and he got in and did the dirty work, pulling down rebounds, getting steals and diving for loose balls. Thats the thing about the players on this teamthey can have a huge night scoring, like Geo did or they can get in and muck it up in other ways. Ron still hit double digits, but he wasnt lights out. He did what was needed to win and helped the team look in sync the whole night.

Myles Johnson Has Long Arms: The offensive rebound Myles pulled down at the end of the game may have been the biggest rebound of the season. And thats what Myles does. The refs still dont know how to blow a whistle on him because he plays without fouling and still ends up in foul trouble. He was 4-4 from the field, to finish with 8 points, 8 boards, 5 blocks and 3 steals. Nearly everyone was clicking today, and Myles was an engine for all the minutes he played. Just a huge game from the redshirt junior.

BONUS FIFTH THOUGHT: Rutgers booster Al Reicheg asked the Court Club Twitter account what they would do for a win. He suggested that the CC account reach out to me and give a football thought for the day. Reicheg and site editor Aaron Breitman are big Green Bay Packers fans and they want to go 2-0 today. Rutgers did their part, so Im wishing Green Bay well todayeven though Im a Giants fan. Good luck, Green Bay. May you streak to the endzone the same way Jacob Young streaks to the hoop.

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