Category Archives: Ron Paul

Less than two hours before we spoke on the phone last week, Jeremy Kauffman tweeted that if voters elected him as New Hampshires next U.S. senator, his goal would be for America to never launch another drone strike in the Middle East. It was a sentiment shared by many self-identified libertarians, who have long opposed U.S. military incursions abroad. But then came the next line of Kauffmans post: Failing that, my fallback goal is to have Liz Cheney strapped to the next bomb.

A 37-year-old computer scientist, blockchain CEO and dark-horse Senate candidate from Manchester, N.H., Kauffman considers himself a dissident, one whos living under a government regime of soft totalitarianism. But he also likes to keep things light: I play a little bit, at times, this character of a bombastic, over-the-top libertarian. But thats what social media is. This is the game that we're playing.

But the primary focus of our call was not Kauffmans controversial tweets, or his long-shot campaign to oust Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., from Congress this November, or even his red-pilledcampaign site. It was his ongoing fight against the Securities and Exchange Commission, which sued Kauffmans blockchain startup LBRY in March 2021, nearly three years after the agency began investigating the company for securities violations. The case is being closely watched by crypto executives and investors, as well as by regulators in Washington, D.C., as a potential watershed moment in the industrys history. When a judgment is issued sometime in the coming weeks, it could mark a significant step forward for cryptoor a dramatic leap backward, depending on where you stand.

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The SEC v. LBRY: How a New Hampshire Court Battle Could Rewrite the Rules of Crypto - The Information

Gov. Ron DeSantis has been campaigning for brave warriors like anti-Drag Queen crusader Kari Lake, the next governor of the great state of Arizona, and Ohios J.D. Vance, who grew up so poor his family couldnt afford to give him a REAL name but later made millions the old-fashioned way: getting Peter Thiel to be his sugar daddy.

The governor has also Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate and mega-MAGA Camo Jesus-guy Doug Mastriano, a proud veteran of Jan. 6, a man who stepped up with the patriots hollering Hang Mike Pence! and valiantly recruited an alternative slate of electors for President Trump in 2020.

Just because Biden got 80,000 more votes doesnt mean he won the state.

Now that hes back, the governor needs to set up an Office of Educational Crimes to investigate and prosecute any egghead caught violating the Stop Woke Act. Floridians would feel so much safer if we had armed education officers to root out harmful campus experiences. We cant rely solely on football and fraternity parties to protect innocent 19-year-olds from thinking.

So give it up, wokester profs: Ron DeSantis will no longer tolerate your anti-American spin on our history, your critical race theorizing, your LGBTQ weirdo agenda, and your communist indoctrination of our kids in Floridas great state universities.

Youre busted.

We already have a model our crack Elections Police unit and anybody wondering if we really need sworn officers to enforce intellectual hygiene, well, people said the 2020 elections in Florida were the safest, fairest, and best-managed in the nation.

But we now know that at least 20 TWENTY! very bad people probably committed voter fraud.

OK, some libs are going, Yeah, 20 out of more than 11 million voters. But according to Gov. DeSantis, theres bound to be a lot more, like, probably up to 30 or 40!

So it is with college. You think there are merely a handful of professors making students read porny novels like Moby Dick, teaching them that the Fathers of Our Country also fathered children on their slaves, and that the War of Northern Aggression was not fought over states rights?

Wake up, people! There are entire university departments pushing evolution and climate change as fact!

The governor is doing his best to protect our youth from dangerous ideas that might cause them to think dangerous thoughts about Americas glorious past. The wise white men of history would be the first to tell you some of their best friends had dusky complexions: there was Sacagawea, that lady who gave Lewis and Clark a tour of the West so good the U.S. soon decided to take all that land from the Indians its not like they were developing it or anything.

And Martin Luther King Jr., who told us in his great speeches that it was OK to ignore race in favor of whatever was in your character, especially if it was kind of white.

Aided and abetted by anti-American outfits such as the ACLU, a gaggle of academic malcontents are suing on the grounds that the Stop Woke Act will prevent them from teaching minor topics in history such as the Atlantic slave trade, Native American genocide and those so-called marchers in Selma, Ala., who refused to comply with law enforcement.

And some socialist-inflected judge recently struck downthe diversity training part of the law, but never fear: a real judge, one appointed by our president-in-exile Donald J. Trump, will soon put a stop to this lib overreach.

The University of Florida brass has the right idea. President Kent Fuchs put out a cute video warning his faculty that theyd better not offend the governor or Legislature or their trustees or anybodys mama and daddy by even mentioning that evil Marxist critical race theory or the university could lose $106 million.

Students dont need instruction on race and gender. They already know what race they are and if they dont know what gender they are, their parents should send them to a good Christian re-education camp to get that thing straightened out.

Floridas already taken an important step, letting students film their profs if one of them endorses some divisive concept or says something that hurts young peoples feelings, and turn that deviant in!

But we need a leader who can spearhead the effort to cleanse our colleges of noisome notions. The obvious choice to run the Educational Crimes Unit is Pete Antonacci, new head of the Elections Crimes bureau. Hes so good at repression he can do both!

Antonaccis already kicking butt, taking names, and cuffing ex-cons who should have known that just because some county official sent them a voter card or some government office worker helped them register or they thought that since theyd paid their debt to society it was OK for them to participate in democracy like they were actual citizens, these losers were actually committing fraud and should go back to prison where they belong.

He has all the chops. Sure, he worked for some Democrats back in the day, but hes more than atoned for it by joining the Federalist Society and helping Gov. Rick Scott fire a supposedly above politics FDLE chief who failed to get with the Republican program.

More importantly for an education crimes czar, he has a proven track record of taking no crap from know-it-all academics. As executive director of the South Florida Water Management District, he kicked the National Academies of Science out of his Everglades restoration plans, what with their scare stories about rising sea levels and their stupid scientific data and their stupid scientific recommendations. He told them, Tend to your knitting.

These experts think that just because theyve studied hydrology or environmental chemistry or whatever for 20 years they know more about it than regular folks.

Thats elitism.

It would be awesome to see crack education cops kick down the door to some feminist theory class where our precious children are being force-fed intersectionality. Or charge some English professor with causing distress to affluent young white men by assigning them to read novels by Toni Morrison or William Faulkner which insinuate a link between, say, the Fugitive Slave Act, segregation laws, Plessy v. Ferguson, and what these wokesters like to call systemic racism.

Itll be great to see the radicals at FSU, USF, UCF, UF and the rest of the states leftist learning factories get their comeuppance. Some of them still publicly proclaim their intention to teach books Moms for (White Peoples) Liberty (from Knowledge) wants banned, garbage like The Grapes of Wrath (socialist), Slaughterhouse Five (inflammatory religious commentary), and Antiracist Baby (does not give equal time to racist babies).

Obviously, we have to get rid of the corrupt system of tenure. It allows these so-called scholars to have so-called academic freedom. Gov. DeSantis has begun the process of taking tenure down, which will help the education cops punish thought crimes in our ivy-covered halls.

They could start with this history professor at UF, Paul Ortiz. He says hes going to keep teaching about slavery and Native American genocide and womens reproductive freedom (its a fact that even mentioning such things encourages our girls to become sluts) no matter what the governor wants.

Ortiz claims that otherwise Florida will end up a society where following Ralph Waldo Emersons famous dictum to go upright and vital and speak the rude truth in all ways is punished by the state.

You see the problem here: Outright defiance. Insubordination. Disrespect. Such a rebellious attitude needs to be wiped out lest we lose our freedoms.

And who is this Ralph Waldo Emerson? Somebody needs to check if hes legally registered to vote in Florida.

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Who will rescue our tender youth from deviant professors and their noisome notions? - Florida Phoenix

The Affordable Care Act, No Child Left Behind, and the USA PATRIOT Act received new competition for the title of Most Inappropriately Named Bill when Senate Democrats unveiled the Inflation Reduction Act. This bill will not only increase inflation, it will also increase government spending and taxes.

Inflation is the act of money creation by the Federal Reserve. High prices are one adverse effect of inflation, along with bubbles and the bursting of bubbles. One reason the Federal Reserve increases the money supply is to keep interest rates low, thus enabling the federal government to run large deficits without incurring unmanageable interest payments.

The so-called Inflation Reduction Act increases government spending. For example, the bill authorizes spending hundreds of billions of dollars on energy and fighting climate change. Much of this is subsidies for renewable energy in other words green corporate welfare. Government programs subsidizing certain industries take resources out of the hands of investors and entrepreneurs, who allocate resources in accordance with the wants and needs of consumers, and give the resources to the government, where resources are allocated according to the agendas of politicians and bureaucrats. When government takes resources out of the market, it also disrupts the price system through which entrepreneurs, investors, workers, and consumers discover the true value of goods and services. Thus, green energy programs will lead to increased cronyism and waste.

The bill also extends the temporary increase in Obamacare subsidies passed as part of covid relief. This will further increase health care prices. Increasing prices is a strange way to eliminate price inflation. The only way to decrease health care costs without diminishing health care quality is by putting patients back in charge of the health care dollar.

The bills authors claim the legislation fights inflation by reducing the deficit via tax increases on the rich and a new 15 percent minimum corporate tax. Tax increases wont reduce the deficit if, as is going to be the case, Congress continues increasing spending. Increasing taxes on the rich and corporations also reduces investments, slowing the economy and thus increasing demand for government programs. This leads to increasing government spending and debt. While there is never a good time to raise taxes, the absolute worst time for tax increases is when, as is the case today, the economy is both suffering from price inflation and, despite the gaslighting coming from the Biden administration and its apologists, is in a recession.

The bill also spends 80 billion dollars on the IRS. Supposedly this will help collect more revenue from rich tax cheats. While supporters of increasing the IRSs ability to harass taxpayers claim their target is the rich, these new powers will actually be used against middle-class taxpayers and small businesses that cannot afford legions of tax accountants and attorneys and thus are likely to simply pay the agency whatever it demands.

Increasing spending and taxes will increase the pressure on the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates low, thus increasing inflation. If Congress was serious about ending inflation, it would cut spending starting with overseas militarism and corporate welfare. A Congress that took inflation seriously would also take the first step toward restoring a free-market monetary system by passing Audit the Fed and legalizing competition in currency.

More here:
Inflation Reduction Act: Another DC Lie - Ron Paul

American former news anchor (born 1944)

Ron Magers (born August 27, 1944) is a former American news anchor. Magers worked for WLS-TV, the ABC owned-and-operated station in Chicago, Illinois, where he co-anchored the top-rated 5:00p.m. and 10:00p.m. broadcasts with Cheryl Burton and Kathy Brock, respectively. Magers is the brother of Paul Magers, a former television anchor and reporter for KCBS-TV, the CBS owned-and-operated station in Los Angeles.

Born in San Bernardino, California, Magers grew up in Cordova, Alaska and Ellensburg, Washington. Magers gained early broadcasting experience as a high school student in Toppenish, Washington, when he began to host radio shows as a part-time job. He began his professional career in television in 1965, when he joined KEZI-TV in Eugene, Oregon as a reporter and news contributor. He later produced and anchored the 11 p.m. newscast at KGW-TV in Portland, Ore. (196768). From 1968-74, Magers worked as a reporter and anchor at KPIX-TV in San Francisco, Calif. He also hosted a Group W 30 minute weekly the nationally[1] syndicated program in 1971 titled, "Ron Magers Electric Impressions".[2][3][4][5][6]

After moving to Minnesota, Magers was hired as the principal anchor for KSTP-TV, the ABC (formerly NBC) affiliate in Minneapolis Saint Paul from 1974 to 1981.[7] He was later joined by co-anchor Cyndy Brucato. This popular anchor team led the top-rated Twin Cities newscasts at that time.[citation needed]

From 1981 to 1997, Magers co-anchored the 5, 6, and 10 p.m. newscasts of WMAQ-TV. Magers and then co-anchor Carol Marin made national headlines in early May 1997 when they left Channel 5. The decision to leave was in protest of the station's hiring of Jerry Springer as commentator for the 10:00p.m. newscasts.[8] WMAQ management allowed both anchors an early release from their contracts.[9] Both thought that the addition of Springer would have given the broadcast an unnecessary tabloid feel. Springer only made two commentaries before he too left his position as contributor.

Magers joined WLS in 1998 as a 5:00p.m. anchor alongside Diann Burns. He became co-anchor of the 10:00p.m. newscasts in 2002, after the retirement of long-time anchor John Drury. Magers has appeared in a feature segment and was a commentator on The Roe Conn Show on WLS (AM) since 1997, with a gap of several months in 2009/10 because of the bankruptcy of WLS's parent company.[10] He was rehired following the station's sale.[11] On May 25, 2016 Magers retired from ABC with a final late evening newscast with tributes from staff and colleagues. ABC7 anchor Alan Krashesky succeeded Magers at 5:00p.m. alongside Cheryl Burton and alongside Kathy Brock at 6:00 and 10:00p.m.[12][13]

Magers has won numerous awards including six Chicago Emmy Awards, a Peter Lisagor Award and a National Press Club citation. In addition, he has won an Associated Press award, an Illinois Broadcasters Association award, the Ohio State Award, and an Ethics Award from the Society of Professional Journalists.

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Ron Magers - Wikipedia

Starting in early August, former Texas Congressman Ron Paul will be live-streaming exclusively on Rumble.

Paul has been a constant target of censorship from the Masters of the Universe at Big Tech.

In some of his recent videos, Paul has talked about potential collusion between Big Tech and the government to carry out censorship against dissident voices online.

Daniel McAdams, Executive Director at Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, made this announcement on an episode of Liberty Report that was published on July 20, 2022.

This has been a long time coming. Weve talked a lot about censorship, weve talked a lot about the difficulties of having this show, McAdams stated.

weve done a couple thousand episodes of the Ron Paul Liberty report. But over the last couple of years, we have struggled a lot with censorship, with the idea that you could be kicked off at any point, the RPI Executive Director continued.

McAdams explained that he and his co-hosts decision to move to Rumble was largely motivated by free speech reasons.

Well be live streaming on Rumble because Rumble is dedicated to free speech, Paul stated. Were grateful to the people from Rumble for recognizing the effort that we put into the show and for offering us a platform to go live here is the Ron Paul Liberty report on Rumble.

Cindy Harper of Reclaim the Net noted that Last year, YouTube completely deleted the Liberty Report channel run by Dr. Paul, without warning, strikes, or explanation.

Very shocked that @YouTube has completely removed the Channel of my Ron Paul Institute: no warning, no strikes, no evidence, Paul stated on Twitter. Only explanation was severe or repeated violations of our community guidelines. Channel is rarely used. The appeal was automatically rejected. Help?

Pauls initial appeal to get his page restored was rejected. However, YouTube eventually reversed course.

Harper noted that the Big Tech harassment directed against the former congressman did not stop there:

This was not the first or last time Dr. Paul was censored by Big Tech. In January of last year, he was suspended from his Facebook page. Facebook admitted the suspension was a mistake and reinstated the page.

The Ron Paul Liberty Report begins streaming exclusively on Rumble on August 2.

The former Congressman has remained active on social media ever since he retired from politics in 2013. Pauls message against monopoly central banking, interventionism abroad, the surveillance state, and the bio security state has remained strong. The RPLR has allowed him and his partner, Daniel McAdams, to expose the Deep States dirtiest machinations.

Its a positive development to see competing social media outlets like Rumble provide an alternative to mainstream platforms. Nevertheless, social medias regulatory framework needs to be overhauled to conform with the realities of 21st century discourse.

Right-wing populists must make it a point to pass an Internet of Bill Rights to protect free speech online from corporate and state censorship. Free speech online is an existential matter for the populist Right and it cannot allow the managerial state and its allies in the private sector to muzzle it shut.

Support Big League Politics by making a donation today. You can also donate via PayPal, Venmo or donate crypto. Your support helps us take on the powerful and report the truth that the mainstream media wants to silence.

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Ron Paul Will Exclusively Stream on Rumble After Being Censored on ...

Bisnow/Jon Banister

Former EagleBank CEO Ron Paul at a 2016 Bisnow event

Bethesda-based EagleBank was fined $9.5M by the Federal Reserve Boardafter an investigation found it violated banking regulations by givingreal estateloans to its founder and former CEO, Ron Paul, the central bank announced Tuesday.

In a concurrent release, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissionannounced it has charged both EagleBank and Paul with making false and misleading statements with regards to the loans, omittingthem from the bank's listed of related party transactions in its annual report.

Pauland EagleBank settled the charges with both agencies, and Paulhas agreed to bepermanently barred from the banking industry, restricted for two years from holding any board or officer positions with SEC-registered companies andordered to pay $521K in fines. He didn't accept or deny the charges as part of the settlement.

The investigations were kicked off in 2017 when short seller Aurelius Value released a reportaccusing EagleBank of an insider loan scheme.

Adequate disclosures of related party transactions are essential to enable investors to evaluate an issuers corporate governance,Sanjay Wadhwa, thedeputy director of the SECs Enforcement Division, said in a statement. Here, faced with a short sellers report alleging undisclosed related party loans by the bank, both Eagle and Paul failed to respond truthfully and accurately.

In total, EagleBank has agreed topay $22.9M as a result of the violations $9.5M to the FRB and $13.4M to the SEC. It didn't admit or deny wrongdoing in the SEC of Federal Reserve settlements.

We are pleased that the SEC and FRB have approved the settlements and we can now put these legacy matters behind us and continue our focus on running one of the most profitable community banks in the Washington, DC region,EagleBank CEOSusan Rielsaid in a statement.

TheFRB determined that EagleBank didn't havesufficient internalcontrols whenit provided loans to two family trusts and a real estate development company owned by Paul. Paul was also the president of Ronald D. Paul Cos., a development firm with a number of apartment and office projects around the D.C. area,a handful of which were financed with loans from EagleBank.

In its order of assessment, signed by EagleBank Chief Legal OfficerPaul Saltzman, the Fed found that the bank extend $99M in credit to Pauls firms between 2015 and 2018 without approval from a majority of the banks directors, violating Regulation O of federal banking law.

"EagleBank suffered from internal control deficiencies, including deficiencies related to the supervision of lending staff, which permitted the Banks then-CEO to engage in conflicts of interest,"arelease from the Federal Reserve Board stated.

EagleBank's stock was $66.15 the day the Aurelius Value report was released, and dropped 24%by the time markets closed.

While the bank's stock has recovered, reaching a three-year high of $63.84 in January, it has never surpassed its pre-report valuation. It has continued to run as a profitable enterprise; its net income was $25.2M in the second quarter, a total that includes the SEC fine.

After theshort seller report, EagleBank General Counsel Laurence Bensignor vigorously denied the Aurelius claims, calling it a multipronged attack with a purpose of making money on the drop in stockin an interview withBisnow.

An analyst said at the time it kept its "buy" rating on the bank's stock because conversations with the bank's executives assured him that the allegations that the bank was improperly lending to Paul's companies were false.

"Eagle and Paul falsely stated in press releases, news articles, and meetings with investors that the trust loans were not related party loans and that Eagle was in compliance with all related party loan requirements," the SEC's release said.

Bensignor retired and was barredlast year from working in the banking industry after the Federal Reserve Board found he had participated in insider lending while in his position at EagleBank. Paul stepped down from the bank he founded in March 2019, citing health reasons, only for the bank to admit it was facing ongoing government investigations later that year.

Former Chief Operating Officer Riel stepped in as CEO following Paul's departure, and remains in the position today. On the financial institution's earnings call on July 21, she acknowledged the SEC fine and said Eagle Bancorp had also been in advanced discussions with the FRB.

"We are pleased to have reached an agreement in principle with the SEC," Riel said on the call. "While this negatively impacted our earnings this past quarter, it represents a major step for us moving past a legal issue."

The SEC andFRB said in their releases that EagleBank fully cooperated with the investigations.

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Former EagleBank CEO Ron Paul Banned From Banking, Fined Over Improper Real Estate Loans - Bisnow

Dr. Anthony Fauci to step down, announces next chapter of his career

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, has announced he will step down from public service in December of 2022.

Scott L. Hall and Damien Henderson, USA TODAY

Republicans including Reps. Andy Biggs and Debbie Lesko teased congressionalinvestigations ofDr. Anthony Fauci Mondayif the GOP retakes the House in November.

Fauci, the top White House medical adviser, announced he is leaving the federal government after more than 50 years fighting disease outbreaks and other public health threatsat the National Institutes of Health. He spent muchhis careerin the background, advising seven presidents on public health issues ranging from HIV/AIDS in the 1980s to a smattering of global disease outbreaks after the turn of the century. His work as the public face of the scientific community's response to COVID-19 catapulted made Fauci a household name.

But he frequently clashed with former President Donald Trump and allies by disputing incorrect claims made by Trump on the pandemic and by calling for longer and strengthened lockdowns throughout the 2020 election and became reviled by the political right.

House Republicans will hold Dr. Fauci accountable for authorizing gain-of-function research in Communist China and encouraging authoritarian COVID mandates that destroyed millions of Americans lives, Lesko, R-Ariz., said Monday in a Twitter message.

Gain-of-function research is the focal point of atheory that COVID-19 originated in a virology lab in Wuhan, China, the first global epicenter of the pandemic. Republican Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky.,and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., have accused Fauci of indirectly funding the Wuhan research that they say could have led to the first COVID-19outbreak.

Public health: Anthony Faucito step down in December

No evidence has emerged to support such a theory and the NIHconsistently has denied any ties to organizational funding and gain-of-function research in Wuhan.In July, top scientists published research that foundthe lab leak theory iswithout scientifically validated evidence.Itis much likelier, they contend, that the virus "evolved in nature."

Still, Republicans are promising congressional investigations on the topic if they retakecontrol of the House.

Faucis resignation will not prevent a full-throated investigation into the origins of the pandemic, Paul said Monday in a statement to Fox News Digital. He will be asked to testify under oath regarding any discussions he participated in concerning the lab leak.

On Twitter, Biggs, R-Ariz., took itfurther.

Dr. Fauci is conveniently resigning from his position in December before House Republicans have an opportunity to hold him accountable for destroying our country over these past three years, Biggs tweeted. This guy is a coward.

It isn't clear what Biggs meant by implying that Fauci had destroyed the country. Biggs and his officedid not immediately respond to attempts by The Arizona Republic to seek comment.

In a subsequent tweet, Biggs attributed the unemployment, school closures and increasing rates ofchild abuse and domestic violence registered during the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic directly to the virus mitigation protocols promoted byFauci and NIH.

And he tied Fauci's retirement to Rep. Liz Cheney's defeat last week in the Wyoming Republican primary election. Cheney, who has openly criticized Trump's actions in the lead-up to the Jan.6 U.S. Capitol riot and was one of 10House Republicans who voted for his impeachment in early 2021,found herself in the political crosshairs of a party that has reshapeditself around Trump.

Make no mistake, Biggs tweeted. My colleagues and I will hold Dr. Fauci accountable whether or not he remains in public office.

Fauci has brushed off suggestions that he is leaving office now to avoid any House investigations.

"I want to use what I have learned as NIAID Director to continue to advance science and public health and to inspire and mentor the next generation of scientific leaders as they help prepare the world to face future infectious disease threats," he said Monday in an NIH statement.

President Joe Bidenworked closely with Fauci during President Barack Obama's administration when the two were coordinating the country's responses to Ebola and theZika virus. Obama, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, Sen.Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., joined Biden in thanking Fauci.

"As he leaves his position in the U.S. Government, I know the American people and the entire world will continue to benefit from Dr. Faucis expertise in whatever he does next," Biden said Monday in a written statement."Whether youve met him personally or not, he has touched all Americans lives with his work.

Gregory Svirnovskiy isa Pulliam Fellow at The Arizona Republic. You can follow him on Twitter @gsvirnovskiy or reach him by email at gregory.svirnovskiy@gannett.com.

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Debbie Lesko, Andy Biggs tease investigation into Anthony Fauci - The Arizona Republic

Dana Bash, CNNs chief political correspondent and co-anchor of State of the Union. Photo by YouTube/Screenshot

By Jacob KornbluhAugust 21, 2022

When Dana Bash was in her early 20s, her grandfather, Frank Weinman, took her on a family trip through his childhood towns in Vienna, Hungary and Slovakia along with a Nazi ghetto in Czechoslovakia to give them an up-close perspective of the horrors of the Holocaust and the lessons to be learned. Three decades later, now a prominent anchor and the chief political correspondent at CNN, Bash is taking a lead role in amplifying those teachings amid a dramatic rise in antisemitic violence across the U.S.

In the CNN documentary Rising Hate: Antisemitism in America, set to air Sunday evening and available on demand beginning Monday, Bash visits various Jewish communities still reeling from recent attacks, including Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, and the Chabad of Poway synagogue in California. She also spoke with Ruth Steinfeld, who survived a Nazi concentration camp after being taken to safety by a French organization hiding Jewish children, who said she sees the same kind of hate bubbling up in recent years.

In an interview, Bash said she was honored when asked to do the project for the network, but was also sad that it was even necessary. The producer of the CNN documentary, Melissa Dunst Lipman, pitched the idea following the increased attacks and the hostage standoff in Colleyville. The numbers just made it, unfortunately, very newsworthy, Bash said.

In the opening part of the documentary, Paul Abbate, the deputy director of the FBI, confirms that the threat level against the Jewish community in the U.S. is at historic levels, higher than it is toward people of other religions. The Anti-Defamation League tallied in 2021 the highest number of antisemitic incidents since it started tabulating antisemitism in 1979.

I honestly didnt realize how much hate was zeroing in on Jews, Bash said.

Bash, who is Jewish, said that her recent work fits the sense of history and the sense of a family growing up with grandparents who escaped the Nazis. A week after her mother was born, her grandmother learned that her entire family had been killed by the Nazis. Her grandfather told her stories about how the gypsies helped them get across the mountains to Hungary. Very intuitively, I knew that it was severe antisemitism that upended and changed the trajectory of my family, she said.

Judaism has always been part of my life, Bash said. She said one of her vivid memories growing up was going to services on Friday nights and having Shabbat dinner with her parents, Stuart and Frances Schwartz. She went to the Reform movements Camp Harlam in Kunkletown, Pennsylvania, and was bat mitzvahed at Temple Beth Or in New Jersey. Now a member of Temple Micah, a Reform synagogue in D.C., Bash displays a mezuzah at the doorway of her residence.

In an op-ed published on Friday, Bash shared a conversation she had with her 10-year-old son Jonah last Hanukkah in which he asked her to wear a necklace with the Star of David to proudly display her Judaism.

Bash said the feedback she received after publishing the essay including emails from strangers was highly positive. She got more reaction to it than almost anything shes ever done, she said. I have gotten literally no hate mail. Its all been positive. Two people who emailed her said that after reading the story they have committed to wearing the Star of David necklace they kept in their drawer.

Im speechless at the kind of response that Im getting to this, she said.

Bash said she took away that, while Jews have stayed quiet as a defense mechanism to avoid drawing attention and persecution for thousands of years, the right thing to do is, like my young son knew, innately to wear the Jewish star.

If you are observant and you want to wear a kippah, you wear a kippah, she continued. Keep the mezuzah on your door because its all about education, its all about normalization. And its easier to dispense with tropes and conspiracy theories when youre talking to and talking about real human beings.

As chief political correspondent for CNN, Bash covered the antisemitic tropes that dominated the 2016 election and the reluctance of former President Donald Trump to call them out, including attacks on Jewish journalists.

In the documentary, Brittan Heller, the ADLs first director of technology and society, said she saw the largest spike in antisemitism on social media after journalist Julia Ioffe wrote an extensive profile of Melania Trump. In an appearance on CNN, Trump explicitly declined to condemn his supporters who were viciously attacking Ioffe and her Jewish faith. Heller said antisemites took it as a green light to act.

Bash spoke to the two (unrelated) Greenblatts Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the ADL, who has repeatedly criticized Trump; and Jason Greenblatt, a longtime Trump aide and a senior administration official, who said he doesnt buy into the correlation between Trumps rhetoric and the hate that followed but added that he cant explain Trumps doubling down.

In one instance, Jason Greenblatt said that he felt a special responsibility to go to Trump and seek clarification. It was after Trump refused to disavow David Duke, the former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, in an interview with CNN anchor Jake Tapper. I saw what was happening, I guess as a result of Jakes interview, and I said, Look, heres what is happening, here is what David Duke actually said; do you stand for this? He said, Absolutely not and he dictated a condemnation, Greenblatt told Bash, adding that maybe Trump didnt understand what was being asked of him. Its hard to say.

The ADLs Jonathan Greenblatt called Trump a complicated figure, given that hes the first president in history to have a close family connection to the Jewish people. Yet his refusal to call out white supremacists and the both sides remarks after Charlottesville turned it into an issue. If he convincingly, consistently, clearly called out the extremists and the antisemites, it wouldnt even matter what he said at that moment, he said.

Bash said she hasnt faced online antisemitism in recent years. The only time she experienced it, she said, was in 2012 when she made some comments that were misconstrued as biased against former Rep. Ron Paul, who was running in the Republican presidential primary. The attacks against her by Pauls supporters turned antisemitic. Someone created a fake Twitter account with her face on it, using her maiden name, Schwartz, and the Israeli flag behind her.

Bash noted that the dramatic rise in antisemitism occurred last year after Trump left office. She said the COVID-19 pandemic and the dire economic situation have fostered the age-old conspiracies against Jews.

Bash said that it is incumbent on people to call out politicians who make insensitive remarks that are perceived as prejudiced. You have to call it out as a journalist, as an American, as a human. Youve got to do it.

Rising Hate: Antisemitism in America will air Sunday at 9 p.m. ET and will be available on demand beginning Monday.

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What CNNs Dana Bash learned reporting on the rise in antisemitism - Forward

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If you dont run a small business, you might have already forgotten about the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, as many businesses were struggling to stay afloat during lockdown, the federal government introduced a relief program for businesses with up to 500 employees.

The program provided loans whose full amounts could be forgiven under certain circumstances, which amounted to acting in good faith: using the money to maintain employee payroll and pay other necessary expenses like business rent and utilities.

But as we detailed in 11 Restaurants That Filed for Bankruptcy Amid COVID-19, even millions in PPP loans couldnt keep some businesses afloat.

The program was also an attractive target for fraud, with as much as $80 billion stolen, according to some estimates.

Then there are the PPP loans made to celebrities most people probably wouldnt consider strapped for cash.

A database of loan information from the U.S. Small Business Administration, created by nonprofit publication ProPublica, shows that household names borrowed millions of dollars and many of them have had their loans partially if not fully forgiven.

Heres a look at some celebrities who got free money out of the Paycheck Protection Program, with some receiving multiple loans.

Loan applicant: TB12 Inc., a fitness and nutritional supplement company co-founded by Tom Brady. The champion quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New England Patriots recently accepted a 10-year sportscaster contract worth $375 million, more than the $333 million earned in his NFL career, according to The Bleacher Report.

Loan amount: $960,855

Amount forgiven: $972,280 (includes interest)

What the applicant said they would spend the funds on: Payroll

Loan applicant: Draper James LLC, a womens clothing company founded by Reese Witherspoon. The actress and producer was worth $400 million as of 2021, according to Forbes.

Loan amounts: $975,472 and $719,222

Amounts forgiven: $987,793 and $726,310 (figures include interest)

What the applicant said they would spend the funds on: Payroll and rent

Loan applicants: A company in the publishing industry (Observer Holdings LLC) and two in the hotel industry (Princeton Forrestal LLC and Esplanade Livingston LLC) that are tied to Jared Kushner. The son-in-law of former President Donald Trump and senior adviser during his term is a businessman worth around $800 million as of 2019, according to Business Insider.

Loan amounts:

Amounts forgiven:

What the applicants said they would spend the funds on: Payroll and rent

Loan applicant: EDI Associates, a restaurant business owned in part by Paul Pelosi. The husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a venture capitalist is worth around $120 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.

Loan amounts: $711,708 and $996,392

Amounts forgiven: $720,658 and $1,002,343 (figures include interest)

What the applicant said they would spend the funds on: Payroll

Loan applicant: Good American LLC, a womens clothing company cofounded by Khloe Kardashian. The reality TV star and business owner had an estimated net worth of around $40 million as of 2018, according to Money.

Loan amount: $1,245,405

Amount forgiven: $1,257,306 (includes interest)

What the applicant said they would spend the funds on: Payroll, rent and health care

Loan applicants: Green Day Inc. and Green Day Touring Inc., businesses for Green Day. The rock band got two of its loans fully forgiven and the other two partially forgiven. Each of the current band members Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool is worth between $55 million and $75 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.

Loan amounts:

Amounts forgiven:

What the applicants said they would spend the funds on: Payroll, rent, health care and utilities

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Continued here:
Rich and Famous People Who Had PPP Loans Forgiven - Money Talks News

Dan Skantars letter Trump is a RINO (July 25, TribLIVE) was excellent and filled with nothing but facts. President Trumps enablers, Reps. Jim Jordan, Kevin McCarthy, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz and Ron Paul and Sens. Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and Lindsey Graham and the majority of the Trumplican party are all RINOs.

There are few true and loyal Republicans left. Im sure Abraham Lincoln, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan would be ashamed of todays Republican Party and the actions of Trump and his Trumplican RINOs.

The letter Jan. 6 committee, what a show (July 14, TribLIVE) was a joke. I think the letter-writer is a Trump worshipper, still in denial, who believes Trumps every word, the Big Lie, his incitement of the Capitol riot and his attempt to steal the election. His comparing the Jan. 6 hearings to the TV show Twin Peaks speaks for his mindset.

In my opinion, the riot at the Capitol was written, produced and directed by the worst example of a president ever. The hearings are totally justified. The investigation is not a conspiracy against Trump. May God bless the Jan. 6 committee and right the wrongs of two of the most legitimate impeachments of a president in this countrys history.

Would I consider voting for a Republican as president? Yes, I would. But a true Republican, not a RINO Trumplican. That would be Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger and Sen. Mitt Romney, who put the country over their party and over Trump.

Edward A. Svitek

Brackenridge

See original here:
Letter to the editor: Trump, others not real Republicans - TribLIVE