Category Archives: Ron Paul

Parents across the country are fighting to stop government schools from indoctrinating their children with Critical Race Theory. Critical Race Theory is a form of Marxism that focuses on the oppression of racial minorities. Central to Critical Race Theory is the belief that free markets are a tool of racial oppression that must be abolished and replaced with socialism.

This is dangerous nonsense. History shows that governments, not free markets, are and always have been the instruments of racial oppression. For example, legislators passed Jim Crow laws because private businesses refused to voluntarily segregate their customers.

Numerous scholars have documented how the welfare state and the war on drugs, as well as minimum wage laws, occupational licensing laws, and other anti-liberty laws, disproportionately harm minorities. Some of these laws were passed with the explicit goal of protecting white workers from competition with minorities.

Public outrage over teaching children that the only way to overcome racism is to sacrifice liberty helped build efforts to pass laws banning the teaching of Critical Race Theory. Some of these efforts are accompanied by advancing mandates that schools promote a positive or patriotic view of America. This can replace one form of indoctrination with another.

A patriotic curriculum could teach children that the change from a constitutional republic to a welfare-warfare state was a victory for liberty. It could also teach that the American government is morally justified in, and capable of, managing the economy at home and spreading democracy abroad. It could teach children lies like capitalism caused the Great Depression.

Instead of arguing over what form of statism government schools should indoctrinate children in, liberty activists should work to replace government control of education with parental control.

The key to this is to restore parental control of education dollars though education tax credits and tax-free education savings accounts. This can enable parents to afford to ed-exit from government schools by sending their children to private schools. It can also help parents afford the costs associated with homeschooling. Increased charitable deductions can help fund private education for low-income families. Tax credits can be implementing without increasing the deficit by tying them to legislation closing the Department of Education.

Homeschooling is an increasingly attractive option for many parents. Parents interested in providing their children with a quality education should consider my homeschooling curriculum. The Ron Paul Curriculum provides students with a well-rounded education that includes rigorous programs in history, mathematics, and the physical and natural sciences. The curriculum also provides instruction in personal finance. Students can develop superior communication skills via intensive writing and public speaking courses. Another feature of my curriculum is that it provides students the opportunity to create and run their own businesses.

The government and history sections of the curriculum emphasize Austrian economics, libertarian political theory, and the history of liberty. However, unlike government schools, my curriculum never puts ideological indoctrination ahead of education.

Interactive forums ensure students are engaged in their education and that they have the opportunity to interact with their peers outside of a formal setting.

I encourage all parents looking at alternatives to government schools alternatives that provide children with a well-rounded education that introduces them to the history and ideas of liberty without sacrificing education for indoctrination to go to RonPaulCurriculum.com for more information about my homeschooling program.

This article was published by RonPaul Institute.

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Ron Paul: 'Ed-Exit' To Protect Your Kids From Critical Race Theory OpEd - Eurasia Review

Director Richard Linklater kicked off the thirtieth-anniversary screening of his debut, Slacker, by welcoming members of the films cast and crew to join him on the Paramount Theatre stage on July 13. There were a lot of them37 in all, taking turns recounting how theyd become part of Austin and indie film history, way back in the summer of 1989, when production began. But their circle extended into the sold-out crowd, too. It encompassed the many friends there who hadnt actually made it into Slacker, but had lived the lifestyle that the film nowpreserves as a kind of historical curio. And in many ways, that group included everyone else who moved to the city in the films wake, drawn by its dream of gloriously squandered youth.

Just as he did at Slackers tenth anniversary in 2001, Linklater likened the occasion to a high school reunion where you actually want to see everybody. (The recycled line still got a laugh.) And as with any reunion, nostalgia soon mingled with talk of the dead. Not just among the cast, although a post-film In Memoriam confirmed several more had passed since even the last anniversary. As is so often the case, celebrating Slacker also offered the occasion to mourn Austin itself. You make a film, it exists, and youve gotta deal with it the rest of your life, as Linklater told the Paramount audience. Thats true of Austin, too. Austin made Slacker, and its had to cope with it ever sincewatching as the zeitgeist swell it created overtook the city, then spending three decades grieving what was lost, forever looking back.

Most of the casts stories revolved around long-gone institutionsprimarily the coffee shops Les Amis and Captain Quackenbushs Intergalactic Dessert Company and Espresso Caf on the Drag, where Slackers overeducated, underemployed characters hold forth on Dostoyevsky and the subtext of Scooby-Doo over endless coffee and cigarettes. Theyre also where Linklater and his filmmaking partner Lee Daniel found much of the films on-screen talent, drawn from the actual baristas and waitstaff. The Paramount crowd gave mournful awwws at these stories, as it did whenever one of these landmarks appeared onscreen. We grieved loudly for things we didnt even realize we missed until we saw them againlike the original, ugly facade of the Castilian dorm, or the old blue faithful that was Roys Taxi. If youve lived in Austin for more than a decade or so, youve become conditioned to this wistful feeling, forever playing the game of that used to be... on newly disorienting streets.

Of course, even more than cheap rents or greasy diners, people just miss being young. Slackers cast captured an entire generation of Austin scenesters in their prime, when they had all the time in the world to waste on being happy. One by one, the cast talked about finding their kindred spirits Xeroxing show flyers at Kinkos, or bonding over late-night breakfasts at Magnolia Cafe, or attending marathon Andrei Tarkovsky retrospectives. These are the kinds of things that only happen in your twenties, when you have no real reason to get up early, and you can stay up talking about books and movies and music forever. Its only natural to get a little melancholy about that.

But theres a more philosophical bent to this lamenting, tooone that has to do with Austins lost spirit, or soul. Its something Austin has been doing since before Slacker was even born. Austinites carry a default attitude of You just missed itas in, all the really cool stuff already happened. As Linklater pointed out in his post-show Q&A, thats something he and his friends heard back in the eighties from all the hippie cowboys whod seen the citys true heyday in the sixties and seventies. Linklater pointed to the Slacker scene where local noise rockers Ed Hall played their song Sedrick to a near-empty Continental Club. Its lyrics, Linklater said, perfectly sum up the Austin point of view: Things were so much better before you were here /...So much better in the past / I had myself a real gas.

Slacker comments wryly on this sentiment, revealing it as myopic and defeatist. But almost immediately after its release, the film became an emblem of it, too. To many, Slacker captures a time and place when Austin really was betteror, at least, way less of a hassle. The films very existence provides evidence of the kind of looser, freer city Austin used to be, when Linklater and his crew could just take over the streets and sidewalks of West Campus, sans permits, without worry of being bothered. The only location fee theyd ever paid, Linklater said, was the twenty bucks he grudgingly offered to a guy whose property abutted the spot where theyd hurled a typewriter off the East MLK bridge. The police got involved exactly once, pulling over a car fitted with loudspeakers seen near Slackers endthe one driven by a guy ranting about bloody carnage through quiet residential streets. The crew told the cops they were making a movie, Linklater said, and they just let them go.

If you live in Austin, its impossible to hear those stories and not mourn the city a little. Maybe you even feel a little culpable for your own hand in ruining it. Speaking personally, Ive felt low-grade guilty about it since I arrived here in 1997. I was another Gen-X clich who contributed to the citys transformation into a frayed nerve center for everyone with vague ambitions toward making artor at least, not doing any real work. Id encountered Slacker during my first year of college, a time I spent slouching around my local coffee shop in Arlington before briefly bouncing up to Boston. The film offered a vision of that intellectual bohemian lifestyle Id been dimly pursuing: I also wanted to be in a band, or make movies, or maybe join some kind of anarchist art collective. Mostly, I wanted to sit around with my friends, smoking and overthinking eighties cartoons and peeling the labels off of Budweisers while we waited for something to happen. I could do all that in Austin, without paying big-city rent and never living more than a three-hour slink back to my hometown? It was a revelation.

The thing you choose not to do fractions off and becomes its own reality, you know, and just goes on forever, Linklater himself says in Slackers opening scene. His character (credited only as Should Have Stayed at Bus Station) is monologuing to a taxi driver about an imaginary book hes just read inside a particularly vivid dream. But really, hes talking about Austin. Slacker presents the city as a universe willed into existence by those who chose not to do anything. Its a liminal way station floating between the places where youre supposed to be, which means you can just do whatever you want. Throughout the film, characters express an overarching philosophy of refusal, valorizing idleness as the only truly noble way of life. Whos ever written the great work about the immense effort required not to create? asks one of its many coffee-shop sages, a line that lampshades the entire movie. In this passivity, I shall find freedom.

This inertia is sometimes framed as a political rebellion. Photos of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels peer over characters shoulders as they waste perfectly good afternoons asleep on the couch. In one of the films most memorable scenes, the late Waxahachie-born actor Charles Gunning plays an irascible hitchhiker who rages against the capitalist machine to a student documentary crew. I may live badly, but at least I dont have to work to do it! Gunning sneers, jabbing a finger into the camera thats aimed at every employee in the world: Every single commodity you produce is a piece of your own death!

Later, Denise Montgomery plays a gregarious woman who offers passersby oblique strategies cards, one of which reads, Withdrawing in disgust is not the same as apathy. This is reinforced during the swirling Super 8 montage that closes Slacker, when the camera pauses fleetingly on what may be the films Rosetta stone: a copy of Paul Goodmans subversive 1960 classic Growing Up Absurd. In it, Goodman argues that young Americans are increasingly disaffected and delinquent because society offers them nothing but meaningless, soul-draining jobs. The only way to be liberated from this cycle of exploitation and abuse, Slacker argues, is to simply opt out.

Theres a more cynical, fatalistic aspect to Slacker, too, one underscored by the films preoccupation with death and violence. Linklaters character steps out of his cab and immediately encounters an old woman (played by local punk rocker Jean Caffeine) lying in the street, having just been run over by a car. He and the other witnesses who approach her seem absurdly unconcerned. One guy starts flirting with a jogger over her body; another walks off with the groceries shes dropped. Throughout the film, death is reduced to an abstract or an entertaining anecdotea mass shooter on the freeway, a fatal stabbing inside a bar. These stories are met with silent nods of acceptance, or nothing at all. Slackers characters live in a world they know to be chaotic and cruel, where they could die at any moment. This risk is everywhere, so none of it feels particularly real or urgent. The persistent threat of mortality only deepens the characters resolve to ignore it.

Thirty years later, all those dark themes seemed to hit differently for those at the Paramount screeningeven the director. During the Q&A, Linklater explained that hed been ruminating at the time on the idea of secondary sources, on how everything we know or experience is always filtered through someone elses perception. Linklater also acknowledged the natural tendency to romanticize the extremes of violence and morbidity in your youth, when nothing much else is happening. I wouldnt have made it that way if I were a dad who cared about the future, he said.

In particular, Linklater added that he might not have kept one of the films most controversy-baiting moments, where the Old Anarchist, played by University of Texas philosophy professor Louis Mackey, fantasizes about pulling a Guy Fawkes at the Texas Capitol, then turns around and praises mass shooter Charles Whitman, of all people. Gazing toward the UT Tower where Whitman killed fourteen people and wounded dozens of others, Mackey proclaims the massacre as this towns finest houra line that provoked shocked laughter from the Paramount audience, commingled with groans. Mackeys bit about blowing up the Texas Legislature, meanwhile, garnered whoops and cheers. Both of these moments embody the kind of punkish, scorched-earth anger that most people tend to grow out ofas Linklater clearly didbut that still hangs around the margins of Slacker.

This is partly what made Slacker such a touchstone for Generation X. Id argue also that its why Slacker feels so distinctly Texan. There is a tendency to exclude Slacker from the canon of Texas films, likely because it feels so specific to Austin, a city often marginalized from Real Texas. But Slacker is part of a Texas cinematic lineageone that includes other uniquely Texas stories like The Last Picture Show and the movies of Eagle Pennellabout the restless people who mark time and make do here. Slacker draws on Texass turbulent history (it even pauses for a lengthy monologue from a JFK assassination buff) to underscore just how volatile and thin the veneer of civilization can seem down here. It prods at our innate suspicion of outsiders and authority, as captured in its characters paranoid rants about NASA plotting its globalist machinations just up the road in Houston. (Theres even a laugh-provoking cameo from a Ron Paul for President billboard.) Texans, perhaps more than anything else, are united by their dislike of others telling them what to do. And Id posit that youll find no Texas film that better expresses our mistrust of, and general apathy toward, the rest of the world.

This Texanness wasnt always so apparent to me as a kid, when I couldnt wait to escape to some artsy enclave on one of those pre-approved coastal cities. But seeing Slacker forever changed my perspective on my home state. There are plenty of restless dreamers and fringe thinkers here, all driven by the kind of optimism and stubbornness only Texas can produce. In his introduction to Linklaters Slacker companion book, author James L. Haley points out that Texas itself was settled by those who might be called slackers. The discontented, the rebellious, the in trouble, and the troubled came to Texas, Haley writes, and everyone from poets to politicians gravitated to Austin as a mecca for minding your own business. Or as Mackey puts it in the film, This town has always had its fair share of crazies. I wouldnt want to live anywhere else.

By the time I arrived in 97, the Austin of Slacker was rapidly fading, felled by an influx of the very hipsters it had inspired. I got here just in time to see Les Amis turned into a Starbucks and the general milieu of Slacker turned into a sitcom by MTVs Austin Stories. Over the years Ive watched that already-diminished Austin become increasingly paved over. The days of noble unemployment are long gone. The threat of violence that the film once toyed with as secondary, some exciting diversion in a vacuum, now seems far more real. And the philosophy of refusal and carefree rambling that Slacker propagated now seems so alien to a city that manages to turn everything into work. The slacker has been replaced by the hustler. Nobody here can afford to withdraw in disgust, unless youre ready to move out to Manor.

On a more optimistic note, however, that indolent creative class Slacker celebrates didnt have nearly as many avenues for finding personally meaningful work. Slackers characters might have railed against capitalism in theory, but a lot of them were still out to earn a buck. Maybe today, instead of hawking Madonnas pap smears, theyre doing graphic design for some boutique marketing agency, or trying to monetize their TikToks. Granted, they arent spending all day in a coffee shop, unless its hunched over a MacBook. Its doubtful theyre subsisting on beans and rice, unless its some $14 version with duck fat.

But beneath these bourgeois trappings, there is some tiny ember of the stubborn individualism thats always defined the city (and our state) burning within those who find themselves drawn here. Before the screening, the Austin Film Societys Holly Herrick read aloud an email from Louis Black, cofounder of the Austin Chronicle and South by Southwest (and Slackers Paranoid Paper Reader). Slacker, Black argued, is not some frozen time capsule. Its a blueprint for the future, showing us the timeless possibility of people who dedicate themselves to art and the pursuit of happiness above all else. We clapped, believingdefiantly, optimistically, without any real reason tothat this had to be true. Austin, like Texas, is a state of mind, one were perpetually chasing. We just missed it. But well keep trying.

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Thirty Years After Slacker, the Film Is an Austin Time CapsuleAnd a Hopeful Tribute to Its Spirit - Texas Monthly

WASHINGTON Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) joined Senate Republicans in a letter to President Biden urging him to abandon his effort to impose a capital gains tax increase on family-owned businesses, farms, and ranches. The proposal to repeal this section of the tax code could lead to job losses, liquidation or outright closure of multigenerational operations which support Americas robust agriculture industry.

The Senators wrote, Under current law, passing down a family business to the next generation does not impose a capital gains tax burden on the business or its new owners. Rather, the decedents tax basis in the business is stepped-up to fair market value, preventing a large capital gains tax bill on the growth in the businesss value.

These changes are a significant tax increase that would hit family-owned businesses, farms, and ranches hard, particularly in rural communities. These businesses consist largely of illiquid assets that will in many cases need to be sold or leveraged in order to pay the new tax burden. Making these changes could force business operators to sell property, lay off employees, or close their doors just to cover these new tax obligations. The complexity and administrative difficulty of tracking basis over multiple generations and of valuing assets that are not up for sale will lead to colossal implementation problems and could also lead to huge tax bills that do not accurately reflect any gains that might have accumulated over time.

As you will recall, a proposal to reach a similar outcome by requiring an heir to carry-over the decedents tax basis was tried before in 1976and failed so spectacularly it never came into effect. It was postponed in 1978 and repealed in 1980.

Sen. Cornyn signed the letter with U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ry.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), John Boozman (R-Ark), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio.), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), James Risch (R-Idaho), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).

Full text of the letter is here and below.

July 21, 2021

The Honorable Joseph BidenPresident of the United States1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NWWashington, D.C. 20510

Dear President Biden,

We appreciate your efforts to address Americas infrastructure challenges, but the cost of these investments should not be borne by family-owned businesses, farms, and ranches across the country. We are concerned that your American Families Plan proposes to make drastic changes to the taxation of capital income, including a longstanding tax provision that prevents family-owned businesses, farms, and ranches from being hit with a crippling tax bill when a family member passes away.

Under current law, passing down a family business to the next generation does not impose a capital gains tax burden on the business or its new owners. Rather, the decedents tax basis in the business is stepped-up to fair market value, preventing a large capital gains tax bill on the growth in the businesss value. If the functional benefit of the step-up in basis were eliminated and transfers subject to the estate tax also become subject to income tax, as you have proposed, many businesses would be forced to pay tax on appreciated gains, including simple inflation, from prior generations of family ownersdespite not receiving a penny of actual gain. These taxes would be added to any existing estate tax liability, creating a new backdoor death tax on Americans.

These changes are a significant tax increase that would hit family-owned businesses, farms, and ranches hard, particularly in rural communities. These businesses consist largely of illiquid assets that will in many cases need to be sold or leveraged in order to pay the new tax burden. Making these changes could force business operators to sell property, lay off employees, or close their doors just to cover these new tax obligations. The complexity and administrative difficulty of tracking basis over multiple generations and of valuing assets that are not up for sale will lead to colossal implementation problems and could also lead to huge tax bills that do not accurately reflect any gains that might have accumulated over time. As you will recall, a proposal to reach a similar outcome by requiring an heir to carry-over the decedents tax basis was tried before in 1976and failed so spectacularly it never came into effect. It was postponed in 1978 and repealed in 1980.

Further, the proposed protections simply delay the tax liabilityrather than provide any real tax relieffor those continuing to operate the business, farm, or ranch. In fact, these protections create new lock-in effects that could make any eventual changeover in operation or transfer of the business financially untenable. Imposing a tax increase on hardworking Americans would harm the economic recovery from COVID-19 and endanger American jobs. A recent study by E&Y found that eliminating the benefit of a step-up in basis would cost the U.S. economy 80,000 jobs each year over the next decadeand an additional 100,000 jobs per year in the long run. Additionally, for every $100 in revenue raised by this tax increase, $32 would come directly from the pockets of American workers. A study by the Texas A&M Agricultural and Food Policy Center reached equally unsettling conclusions, determining that 98 percent of the representative farms in its 30-state database would be impacted by a proposal to eliminate the benefit of the step-up in basis, with average additional tax liabilities totaling $726,104 per farm.

We respectfully urge you to reconsider your proposal to repeal this important part of the tax code. Preserving step-up in basis would save American jobs and ensure that small businesses, farms, and ranches across the country can stay in their families for generations to come.

Sincerely,

/s/

Originally posted here:
Cornyn Joins Letter Urging Biden Administration to Abandon the Tax-Hike Proposal on Farmers and Ranchers - Senator John Cornyn

Rating system: (4=Don't miss, 3=Good, 2=Worth a look, 1=Forget it)

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All the Streets Are Silent: The Convergence of Hip Hop and Skateboarding (1987-1997) (NR) (3) [Opens July 23 in theaters and played July 16 on AARPs Movies for Grownups.] Eli Morgan Gesner narrates Jeremy Elkins entertaining, educational, fascinating, 89-minute, 2020 documentary that explores how the popularity of skateboarding and hip-hop music influenced each other in New York City during the 1980s and 1990s and the impact they had on fashion, race, society, and street culture and consists of archival film clips and photographs, candid commentary by and about hip-hop musicians and rappers, including Kool Keith, Jay-Z, Darryl McDaniels (Run-D.M.C.), Dres, Rocket-T, Damany Beasley, Tek, Bustah Rhymes, Method Man, Lil Dap, A$AP Ferg, Harold Hunter, and Funkmaster Flex, and professional skateboarders (such as Mike Hernandez, Mike Carroll, Tony Hawk, Josh Kalis, Keith Hufnagel, Jefferson Pang, Peter Bici, Tyshawn Jones, Beatrice Diamond, Justin Pierce, Vinny Ponte, Danny Supa, Scott Johnston, Ricky Oyola, and Stevie Williams), and candid interview snippets with DJs (such as Kid Capri, Moby, Clark Kent, and Stretch Armstrong), actors Rosario Dawson and Leo Fitzpatrick, radio host Bobbito Garcia, Club Mars promoter Dave Ortiz, former records company creative director Willo Perron, artists Fab 5 Freddy and Clayton Patterson, Club Mars founder and promoter Yuki Watanabe, Mars doorman and cultural critic Carlo McCormick, filmmakers William Strobeck and R. B. Umali, former Supreme skateboard store manager Alex Corporan, Max Fish founder Ulli Rimkis, and Zoo York founders Rodney Smith and Adam Schatz.

The American (R) (3.5) [Violence, sexual content, and nudity.] [Played July 23 as part of AARPS Movies for Grownups and available on various VOD platforms.] After three people (Irina Bjrklund, Lars Hjelm, and Bjrn Granath) are murdered in Sweden in Anton Corbijns intense, riveting, well-written, surprising, 105-minute, 2010 film based on Martin Boothes novel A Very Private Gentleman, a cautious, lonely American (George Clooney) with a target on his back poses as a photographer when he heads to Italy to accept his next assignment from his duplicitous boss (Johan Leysen) and ends up being befriended by a suspicious priest (Paolo Bonacelli) and a comely prostitute (Violante Placido) while meticulously crafting a compact rifle for a Belgian assassin (Thekla Reuten).

Cairo Time (PG) (3) [Mild thematic elements and smoking.] [DVD and VOD only] When an American magazine editor/writer (Patricia Clarkson) finds herself passing time in Cairo while waiting to rendezvous with her workaholic husband (Tom McCamus), who works for the U.N. organizing refugee camps in Gaza, in this languid-paced, compelling film filled with stunning Egyptian landscapes, she finds herself drawn to a retired Muslim cop (Alexander Siddig) who was jilted by his former married lover (Amina Annabi).

Code Blue: Redefining the Practice of Medicine (NR) (4) [Played on July 18 on Eventbrite and available on various VOD platforms.] Marcia Machados compelling, educational, fascinating, thought-provoking, 102-minute, 2019 documentary that discusses Dr. Saray Stancics journey to improve her health after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at age 28 and the benefits of lifestyle medicine, including eating whole foods (natural state) and a plant-based diet, exercising, reducing stress, eliminating smoking, limiting alcohol, and getting plenty of sleep, to help reduce, prevent, and reverse chronic diseases and conditions such as cancer, diabetes, high cholesterol and blood pressure, arthritis, autoimmune disorders, and M.S. and consists of insightful, informative commentary by leading health experts and doctors (such as Ralph Stancic, David Katz, T. Colin Campbell, Dean Ornish, David Sabgir, Caldwell Esstlyn, Baxter Montgomery, Ron Weiss, Robert Ostfeld, Dennis Bourdette, Jennifer Trlik, Paul Catalana, Jovita Oruwari, Giovanni Campanile, Shelley Berger, David Eisenberg, Edward M. Phillips, Neal Barnard, Thomas Pace, Steven Adelman, Irmine Van Dyken, Hana Kahleava, Michael Greger, Pam Popper, Kim Williams, Michelle McMacken, and Ana Negron), registered dietician Susan Levin, nutrition professor Marion Nestle, deputy director Graham Corditz, and medical students Saul Bautista, Uma Raman, and Rich Wolferz who discuss lifestyle medicine benefits, outdated medical curricula, misleading media information, lack of government regulations, and often unhealthy promotions by the pharmaceutical and food industries.

Cowboys and Angels (PG) (1.5) [Thematic elements and a scene of violence.] [DVD and VOD only] After a disillusioned, wannabe-cowboy lawyer (Adam Trese) is dumped by his cheating model girlfriend (Alissa Rice) and then by a mysterious free-spirited blond (Radha Mitchell) and then learns that his crass brother in-law (Hamilton von Watts) is cheating on his pregnant sister (Carmen Llywelyn) with a coworker in this uninspired, romantic, 2000, chick-flick comedy, he quits his job and then falls for a dark-haired woman (Mia Kirshner) who works with children at a dude ranch.

Dim Sum Funeral (R) (2.5) [Brief drug use and sexuality.] [DVD and VOD only] A surprise ending punctuates this quirky, engaging, 2008 film in which estranged siblings, including an unhappy doctor (Russell Wong) cheating on his beautiful wife (Kelly Hu), a lesbian actress (Steph Song) who desires a baby with her flamboyant lover (Ling Bai), a grieving pregnant journalist (Julia Nickson) and her husband (Adrian Hough), and a real estate agent (Franoise Yip), reluctantly return to Seattle after the death of their hard-edged mother ( Lisa Lu) and are informed by their mothers longtime friend (Talia Shire) that she has requested a traditional, 7-day Chinese funeral.

Joe Bell (R) (3) [Language, including offensive slurs, some disturbing material, and teen partying.] [Opens July 23 in theaters.] After his cheerleading, gay, 15-year-old son (Reid Miller) is bullied by his high school peers for being different and tragically commits suicide in 2012 in Reinaldo Marcus Greens powerful, factually based, heartbreaking, bittersweet, well-acted, star-dotted (Gary Sinise, John Murray, Blaine Maye, Ash Santos, Igby Rigney, Morgan Lily, Scout Smith, and Cassie Beck), 90-minute, 2020 biographical film punctuated with a surprise ending, his distraught, grieving, guilt-ridden father Joe Bell (Mark Wahlberg) leaves his wife (Connie Britton) and younger wrestling son (Maxwell Jenkins) at home when he decides to walk from La Grande, Ore., to New York City to honor his son and to lecture on bullying to whomever will listen along the way.

Lottery Ticket (PG-13) (3) [Sexual content, language including a drug reference, some violence, and brief underage drinking.] [DVD and VOD only] When a tennis-shoe-loving teenager (Bow Wow), who lives in the projects with his excitable grandmother (Loretta Devine), wins $370 million by playing numbers from a fortune cookie and then must wait three days over the July 4th weekend to claim his winnings in this entertaining, high-energy, predictable, star-studded (Ice Cube, Keith David, Terry Crews, Mike Epps, and Bill Bellamy) comedy, he finds himself questioning the motives of his best friend (Brandon T. Jackson) and ignoring the advice of a smitten friend (Naturi Naughton) while being chased by a revengeful thug (Gbenga Akinnagbe).

Pig (R) (3.5) [Language and some Violence.] [Opened July 16 in theaters.] Continually dim lighting detracts from Michael Sarnoskis captivating, somber, dark, gritty, well-acted, star-dotted (Adam Arkin, David Knell, Nina Belforte, Gretchen Corbett, Julia Bray, Darius Pierce, and Elijah Ungvary), unpredictable, 92-minute film in which a reclusive, eccentric, well-respected, legendary chef (Nicolas Cage) turned truffle hunter, who lives in a remote dilapidated cabin in a forest in Oregon, seeks the help of a reluctant client (Alex Wolff) to find his beloved, fungi-sniffing pig in Portland after it is stolen by two drug addicts.

Piranha (R) (0) [Sequences of strong bloody horror violence and gore, graphic nudity, sexual content, language, and some drug use.] [DVD and VOD only] A horrific, inane, stupid, gory, 3D, star-dotted (Richard Dreyfuss, Christopher Lloyd, Ving Rhames, and Eli Roth) horror spoof filled with gratuitous nudity, bloody water, dismembered body parts, and poor acting about a seismologist (Adam Scott) and an Arizona sheriff (Elizabeth Shue) who try to save her three children (Steve R. McQueen, Brooklynn Proulx, and Sage Ryan), a cocaine-snorting porn film director (Jerry OConnell), and thousands of drunk, partying, partially clothed college students (Jessica Szohr, et al.) on Spring Break when their lives are threatened by prehistoric, fleshing-devouring piranha that have razor-sharp teeth.

We Are Together (Thina Simunye): The Children of Agape Choir (PG) (3.5) [Some thematic elements.] [DVD and VOD only] A touching, inspirational, 2006 HBO documentary about a group of talented South African orphans, including 12-year-old Slindile Moya and 7-year-old Mbali, who live at the modest Agape Care Centre founded by Grandma Zodwa Mqadi and diligently rehearse as they prepare for a trip to New York City to perform with Alicia Keys and Paul Simon and make a CD to raise money for their orphanage.

Wendy Schadewald is a Burnsville resident.

Rating system: (4=Don't miss, 3=Good, 2=Worth a look, 1=Forget it)

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All the Streets Are Silent: The Convergence of Hip Hop and Skateboarding (1987-1997) (NR) (3) [Opens July 23 in theaters and played July 16 on AARPs Movies for Grownups.] Eli Morgan Gesner narrates Jeremy Elkins entertaining, educational, fascinating, 89-minute, 2020 documentary that explores how the popularity of skateboarding and hip-hop music influenced each other in New York City during the 1980s and 1990s and the impact they had on fashion, race, society, and street culture and consists of archival film clips and photographs, candid commentary by and about hip-hop musicians and rappers, including Kool Keith, Jay-Z, Darryl McDaniels (Run-D.M.C.), Dres, Rocket-T, Damany Beasley, Tek, Bustah Rhymes, Method Man, Lil Dap, A$AP Ferg, Harold Hunter, and Funkmaster Flex, and professional skateboarders (such as Mike Hernandez, Mike Carroll, Tony Hawk, Josh Kalis, Keith Hufnagel, Jefferson Pang, Peter Bici, Tyshawn Jones, Beatrice Diamond, Justin Pierce, Vinny Ponte, Danny Supa, Scott Johnston, Ricky Oyola, and Stevie Williams), and candid interview snippets with DJs (such as Kid Capri, Moby, Clark Kent, and Stretch Armstrong), actors Rosario Dawson and Leo Fitzpatrick, radio host Bobbito Garcia, Club Mars promoter Dave Ortiz, former records company creative director Willo Perron, artists Fab 5 Freddy and Clayton Patterson, Club Mars founder and promoter Yuki Watanabe, Mars doorman and cultural critic Carlo McCormick, filmmakers William Strobeck and R. B. Umali, former Supreme skateboard store manager Alex Corporan, Max Fish founder Ulli Rimkis, and Zoo York founders Rodney Smith and Adam Schatz.

The American (R) (3.5) [Violence, sexual content, and nudity.] [Played July 23 as part of AARPS Movies for Grownups and available on various VOD platforms.] After three people (Irina Bjrklund, Lars Hjelm, and Bjrn Granath) are murdered in Sweden in Anton Corbijns intense, riveting, well-written, surprising, 105-minute, 2010 film based on Martin Boothes novel A Very Private Gentleman, a cautious, lonely American (George Clooney) with a target on his back poses as a photographer when he heads to Italy to accept his next assignment from his duplicitous boss (Johan Leysen) and ends up being befriended by a suspicious priest (Paolo Bonacelli) and a comely prostitute (Violante Placido) while meticulously crafting a compact rifle for a Belgian assassin (Thekla Reuten).

Cairo Time (PG) (3) [Mild thematic elements and smoking.] [DVD and VOD only] When an American magazine editor/writer (Patricia Clarkson) finds herself passing time in Cairo while waiting to rendezvous with her workaholic husband (Tom McCamus), who works for the U.N. organizing refugee camps in Gaza, in this languid-paced, compelling film filled with stunning Egyptian landscapes, she finds herself drawn to a retired Muslim cop (Alexander Siddig) who was jilted by his former married lover (Amina Annabi).

Code Blue: Redefining the Practice of Medicine (NR) (4) [Played on July 18 on Eventbrite and available on various VOD platforms.] Marcia Machados compelling, educational, fascinating, thought-provoking, 102-minute, 2019 documentary that discusses Dr. Saray Stancics journey to improve her health after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at age 28 and the benefits of lifestyle medicine, including eating whole foods (natural state) and a plant-based diet, exercising, reducing stress, eliminating smoking, limiting alcohol, and getting plenty of sleep, to help reduce, prevent, and reverse chronic diseases and conditions such as cancer, diabetes, high cholesterol and blood pressure, arthritis, autoimmune disorders, and M.S. and consists of insightful, informative commentary by leading health experts and doctors (such as Ralph Stancic, David Katz, T. Colin Campbell, Dean Ornish, David Sabgir, Caldwell Esstlyn, Baxter Montgomery, Ron Weiss, Robert Ostfeld, Dennis Bourdette, Jennifer Trlik, Paul Catalana, Jovita Oruwari, Giovanni Campanile, Shelley Berger, David Eisenberg, Edward M. Phillips, Neal Barnard, Thomas Pace, Steven Adelman, Irmine Van Dyken, Hana Kahleava, Michael Greger, Pam Popper, Kim Williams, Michelle McMacken, and Ana Negron), registered dietician Susan Levin, nutrition professor Marion Nestle, deputy director Graham Corditz, and medical students Saul Bautista, Uma Raman, and Rich Wolferz who discuss lifestyle medicine benefits, outdated medical curricula, misleading media information, lack of government regulations, and often unhealthy promotions by the pharmaceutical and food industries.

Cowboys and Angels (PG) (1.5) [Thematic elements and a scene of violence.] [DVD and VOD only] After a disillusioned, wannabe-cowboy lawyer (Adam Trese) is dumped by his cheating model girlfriend (Alissa Rice) and then by a mysterious free-spirited blond (Radha Mitchell) and then learns that his crass brother in-law (Hamilton von Watts) is cheating on his pregnant sister (Carmen Llywelyn) with a coworker in this uninspired, romantic, 2000, chick-flick comedy, he quits his job and then falls for a dark-haired woman (Mia Kirshner) who works with children at a dude ranch.

Dim Sum Funeral (R) (2.5) [Brief drug use and sexuality.] [DVD and VOD only] A surprise ending punctuates this quirky, engaging, 2008 film in which estranged siblings, including an unhappy doctor (Russell Wong) cheating on his beautiful wife (Kelly Hu), a lesbian actress (Steph Song) who desires a baby with her flamboyant lover (Ling Bai), a grieving pregnant journalist (Julia Nickson) and her husband (Adrian Hough), and a real estate agent (Franoise Yip), reluctantly return to Seattle after the death of their hard-edged mother ( Lisa Lu) and are informed by their mothers longtime friend (Talia Shire) that she has requested a traditional, 7-day Chinese funeral.

Joe Bell (R) (3) [Language, including offensive slurs, some disturbing material, and teen partying.] [Opens July 23 in theaters.] After his cheerleading, gay, 15-year-old son (Reid Miller) is bullied by his high school peers for being different and tragically commits suicide in 2012 in Reinaldo Marcus Greens powerful, factually based, heartbreaking, bittersweet, well-acted, star-dotted (Gary Sinise, John Murray, Blaine Maye, Ash Santos, Igby Rigney, Morgan Lily, Scout Smith, and Cassie Beck), 90-minute, 2020 biographical film punctuated with a surprise ending, his distraught, grieving, guilt-ridden father Joe Bell (Mark Wahlberg) leaves his wife (Connie Britton) and younger wrestling son (Maxwell Jenkins) at home when he decides to walk from La Grande, Ore., to New York City to honor his son and to lecture on bullying to whomever will listen along the way.

Lottery Ticket (PG-13) (3) [Sexual content, language including a drug reference, some violence, and brief underage drinking.] [DVD and VOD only] When a tennis-shoe-loving teenager (Bow Wow), who lives in the projects with his excitable grandmother (Loretta Devine), wins $370 million by playing numbers from a fortune cookie and then must wait three days over the July 4th weekend to claim his winnings in this entertaining, high-energy, predictable, star-studded (Ice Cube, Keith David, Terry Crews, Mike Epps, and Bill Bellamy) comedy, he finds himself questioning the motives of his best friend (Brandon T. Jackson) and ignoring the advice of a smitten friend (Naturi Naughton) while being chased by a revengeful thug (Gbenga Akinnagbe).

Pig (R) (3.5) [Language and some Violence.] [Opened July 16 in theaters.] Continually dim lighting detracts from Michael Sarnoskis captivating, somber, dark, gritty, well-acted, star-dotted (Adam Arkin, David Knell, Nina Belforte, Gretchen Corbett, Julia Bray, Darius Pierce, and Elijah Ungvary), unpredictable, 92-minute film in which a reclusive, eccentric, well-respected, legendary chef (Nicolas Cage) turned truffle hunter, who lives in a remote dilapidated cabin in a forest in Oregon, seeks the help of a reluctant client (Alex Wolff) to find his beloved, fungi-sniffing pig in Portland after it is stolen by two drug addicts.

Piranha (R) (0) [Sequences of strong bloody horror violence and gore, graphic nudity, sexual content, language, and some drug use.] [DVD and VOD only] A horrific, inane, stupid, gory, 3D, star-dotted (Richard Dreyfuss, Christopher Lloyd, Ving Rhames, and Eli Roth) horror spoof filled with gratuitous nudity, bloody water, dismembered body parts, and poor acting about a seismologist (Adam Scott) and an Arizona sheriff (Elizabeth Shue) who try to save her three children (Steve R. McQueen, Brooklynn Proulx, and Sage Ryan), a cocaine-snorting porn film director (Jerry OConnell), and thousands of drunk, partying, partially clothed college students (Jessica Szohr, et al.) on Spring Break when their lives are threatened by prehistoric, fleshing-devouring piranha that have razor-sharp teeth.

We Are Together (Thina Simunye): The Children of Agape Choir (PG) (3.5) [Some thematic elements.] [DVD and VOD only] A touching, inspirational, 2006 HBO documentary about a group of talented South African orphans, including 12-year-old Slindile Moya and 7-year-old Mbali, who live at the modest Agape Care Centre founded by Grandma Zodwa Mqadi and diligently rehearse as they prepare for a trip to New York City to perform with Alicia Keys and Paul Simon and make a CD to raise money for their orphanage.

Wendy Schadewald is a Burnsville resident.

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Short Redhead Reel Reviews for the week of July 23 - ECM Publishers

Treasure Coast Newspapers

I have been reading, with interest, articles concerning the burning of sugar cane fields by U.S. Sugar.

I live in a condo that has water front on the St. Lucie River. I have a small 20-foot sailboat that gets covered with soot when crops are being burned and the wind is blowing from the west. In addition, I suffer from shortness of breath and believe the toxic algae blooms and this smoke residue may be the root cause or at least, a contributing factor.

Millions of dollars and many years of studies have identified the problems concerning Lake Okeechobee releases and the health of our estuaries.

The overall consensus is that the sugar Industry is the problem. The fear-mongering that the Herbert Hoover Dike will fail, or that 13,000 workers will loose their livelihoods, is all a smoke screen (pun intended).

Please instruct that industry to terminate the practice of burning their cane, which is one cause of unhealthy air, and take the needed land south of the lake (via eminent domain) to allow the necessary water to flow south to restore the Everglades and the Key Biscayne Estuary. These two environmental issues are in dire need of protection.

Its clear to me and many others that this sugar industry mirrors the tobacco industry, in that it is hazardous to health and yet due to its size and political power, it gets what it wants regardless of the harm it does to the health and well-being of the general populace.

Paul D. Popson, Stuart

Florida is falling into the clutches of another COVID-19 wave and where is our illustrious governor Ron DeSantis? Why, at the border in Texas. He has sent a 50-member troop of law-enforcement officials to the border in support of Texas Gov. Greg Abbots plea for help protecting the border. DeSantis followed to show his support, or maybe get a photo-op with his idol Donald Trump.

Our state is falling into the ravages of this plague and our leader is off the reservation. Please tell me what he can do there as opposed to as what he can do here?

He cares more for showing his and Trumps minions what they want to see than doing what it will take to finally bring this plague to an end. He has abused his powers by selling T-shirts and political material using anti-Fauci slogans.

When will he finally resign himself to care about the people of his state? Both DeSantis and his wife have been vaccinated and have never fostered the same for his constituents. Trump could have put an end to non-vaxxers, as De Santis could have, but both chose to turn their backs.

If more citizens do not get vaccinated, then only non-vaccinated individuals will get sick, and possibly some will die.

Policis must be left out of this pending disaster.

Joseph De Phillips, Stuart

So a political action committee connected to Gov. Ron DeSantis is now selling Dont Fauci My Florida merchandise. Wow. Considering the governors record on COVID-19 I can only say Please America, dont DeSantis my cemetery any more than he already has.

Stephen Osiecki, Vero Beach

As people continue to walk freely across our southern border and are permitted to enter the United States, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said that Cubans who may try to enter our country by boat will be refused entry and turned back to Cuba.

Why is that?

Lois Acinapura, Palm City

Ben Shapiro didnt mention the Confederate flag in his July 18 column. At least when you kneel, or turn your back on our flag, it is still there. What showed more scorn for the American flag, than replacing it with the Stars and Bars? And continuing to honor it, even carrying it into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Shapiro also didnt mention Israeli planes shooting down the U.S flag on the USS Liberty, on June 8, 1967. Even after the Americans put up their large, ceremonial flag with the gold fringe, in a desperate attempt to be recognized as an ally, the Israeli navy torpedoed the ship.Thirty-four Americans were killed.

How about replacing Ben Shapiros column with an expanded This Day in History?

Helen Frigo, Jensen Beach

With the pandemic, widespread climate catastrophes, and widespread insanity, including our government daily into provoking violent reactions by the Chinese and Russian governments, it's high time we seek the heavens' guiding light and saving grace. It's time that we repent and change our ways.

Steve Gifford, Vero Beach

Visit link:
Letters to the Editor: July 22, 2021 - TCPalm

Allies of Meadows and Paul insist they are not intending to undercut the ex-president by backing Edmonds and Hood and are simply voicing their support for candidates, rather than opposing a Trump-endorsed hopeful.

But the turn of events underscores the conundrum confronting Republicans. With Trump picking favorites in primaries and looking to shape the party ahead of a potential 2024 comeback bid, he is forcing other Republicans to decide whether its worth crossing him by endorsing rival candidates.

Organizations that endorse candidates against the presidents endorsement do so at their own peril and, like the Democrats, will fail, said former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, a prominent Carey supporter and an informal adviser. But it will be remembered.

Representatives for Trump and Paul declined to comment. Debbie Meadows, whose organization has backed conservative female candidates such as Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), said in a statement: Our job at Right Women PAC is to find the most conservative, pro-Trump women, even in fields with multiple pro-Trump candidates and that's what we did here. This is certainly not an 'us versus them.' I totally support President Trump and always have.

Those in the former presidents orbit have been surprised to see Meadows and Paul break for other candidates given their closeness to Trump. Trump lavished praise on Meadows during a June appearance in North Carolina, noting that during the 2016 presidential race she was a supporter of mine even before her husband had been. Trump earlier this year endorsed Pauls 2022 reelection bid, saying his golfing partner has done a fantastic job for our Country, and for the incredible people of Kentucky.

People familiar with Debbie Meadows group say it operates independently of Mark Meadows, who has yet to come out in support of any candidate in the race. They also point out that her endorsement of Edmonds came on June 4, four days before Trump announced his support for Carey.

Meadows Right Women PAC, however, has continued promoting Edmonds since Trump made his move, highlighting its support of her on social media platforms including Instagram and Telegram. Paul, meanwhile, announced his support for Hood in early July, several weeks after Trump came out for Carey.

It isnt the first time Paul has broken with the ex-president: During the 2020 election, he came out in support of Tennessee Republican Senate candidate Manny Sethi over the Trump-backed eventual winner, now-Sen. Bill Hagerty. The Paul-aligned Protect Freedom PAC also waged an unsuccessful effort last year to defeat Texas Rep. Kay Granger, who had Trumps support.

Some Trump aides have been particularly rankled by Meadows, complaining that she is lining up against the former president despite his past receptivity to candidates she has encouraged him to back. She recently helped arrange for him to meet with congressional candidate Heidi St. John of Washington State, even though some prominent Trump supporters have begun to gravitate toward a different Republican running against Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler: Army veteran Joe Kent. (Herrera Beutler is one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.) The St. John meeting drew eyerolls from some in the ex-presidents inner circle.

Meadows was also instrumental in persuading Trump to endorse one of her personal friends, Lynda Bennett, in last years election to fill her husbands vacant North Carolina congressional seat. Bennett suffered a lopsided primary defeat to now-Rep. Madison Cawthorn, infuriating Trump, who until that point had frequently boasted about his perfect record endorsing winning primary candidates in 2020. The former president repeatedly griped at Mark Meadows over the loss, and he has continued to express regret in private for not endorsing Cawthorn, who has emerged as a staunch ally.

To some, Debbie Meadows support for Edmonds is only the latest sticking point.

I am surprised that the wife of Trumps former chief of staff is not supporting the Trump-endorsed candidate, Mike Carey. Loyalty seems like a very important character trait in the Trump orbit, said Brian Darling, a former official at the Heritage Foundation, a prominent conservative organization.

Darling, a former Paul aide, distinguished Pauls endorsement of Hood from Meadows support for Edmonds, noting that the Kentucky senator was narrowly focused on backing like-minded libertarian candidates.

Those close to Meadows, who has been a major force in her husbands political rise, insist that by encouraging Trump to support certain candidates, she isnt doing anything unusual. Trump is lobbied by an array of people of get behind Republican hopefuls, they point out.

Carey remains the strong favorite in the Ohio primary, those tracking the race say. A June poll conducted by Careys campaign found him far out ahead of the other 10 Republicans running. Carey has made Trumps endorsement the centerpiece of his campaign, running ads spotlighting the former president praising him as a wonderful man who hes known for a long time during a recent Ohio rally. Trump called the candidate onstage to speak during the event.

But Meadows and Pauls involvement could be a factor in the final stretch, those involved in the race say. According to media tracking figures, Carey has spent and reserved just $171,000 on the radio and TV airwaves, less than several of his opponents. By comparison, the Paul-aligned organization, Protect Freedom PAC, has reserved $216,000 in advertising time to boost Hood.

The Meadows-run group, Right Women PAC, has yet to invest in ads, though there is speculation that it may. One Republican in the state noted the super PAC recently received a $1 million-plus contribution from Ohio-based donor Brenda Frecka, a substantial gift that could conceivably be used to fund a last-minute, pro-Edmonds barrage. Frecka and her husband, film packaging company founder David Frecka, are among the largest donors to a super PAC aligned with the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which Mark Meadows chaired during his congressional tenure.

Neither Debbie Meadows nor David Frecka would comment when asked whether the contribution would be used to bolster Edmonds. Meadows also would not say what activities she was planning for the final weeks of the contest.

Carey is also confronting an avalanche of spending from former GOP Rep. Steve Stivers, who vacated the seat to take a job overseeing the Ohio Chamber of Commerce. Stivers has so far spent nearly $300,000 in remaining funds from his campaign account to buttress another candidate, state Rep. Jeff LaRe.

The pro-Trump cavalry, however, may be coming to Careys rescue. The Lewandowski-run Make America Great Again Action, the principal pro-Trump super PAC, is considering parachuting in to close the spending gap. It would represent the organizations first investment in an election.

Whoever comes out ahead in the Republican primary is expected to win the general election, given that Trump comfortably won the conservative-leaning district in 2020.

While Carey hasnt won the support of Meadows and Paul, he has earned endorsements from other staunch Trump allies, including New York Rep. Elise Stefanik and Citizens United, a group overseen by former Trump campaign adviser David Bossie. He also has the endorsement of a political action committee run by Ryan Zinke, who served as Trumps Interior secretary.

Carey brushed off the support Meadows and Paul were giving to his rivals by highlighting his backing from someone else.

I am proud, he said in a text message, to have President Trumps endorsement.

More:
It will be remembered: Trump allies cross him in special election - POLITICO

WASHINGTON, D.C. Today, Senators Rick Scott, Ron Johnson, Marsha Blackburn, Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Mike Braun, Cynthia Lummis and Bill Hagerty released a joint statement on the Democrats multi-trillion dollar partisan spending package:

Our nation is nearing $30 trillion in debt. There is a day of reckoning if we dont get our fiscal house in order. We appreciate our colleagues efforts to get a bipartisan deal done. But supporting this infrastructure deal enables the Democrats to pass their $3.5 trillion spending package. Joe Biden said it himself: These two issues are welded together.

Everyone agrees America needs to invest in infrastructure. But with our national debt growing out of control and Democrats dedicated to passing a 100% partisan blowout spending package totaling $3.5 trillion, we cannot support any additional deficit spending on Joe Bidens, Nancy Pelosis, Chuck Schumers and Bernie Sanders liberal wish list.

We can pay for needed infrastructure without incurring additional debt by instead repurposing previously appropriated but unspent funds. We urge our colleagues to support an alternative approach and recognize that supporting an infrastructure bill that authorizes new spending also enables the Democrats $3.5 trillion tax-and-spend budget. We must stop mortgaging our childrens and grandchildrens futures.

###

Go here to read the rest:
Sens. Rick Scott, Ron Johnson and Colleagues on Democrats' Partisan Spending Bill: America Needs to Invest in Infrastructure Without Out-of-Control...

Last week, hundreds of Cubans took to the streets to protest.

The images were emotional and grand.

Middle-age mothers marching with their clenched fists in the air...

Defiant grandfathers cheerfully waving Cuban flags with the words anti-communist written on them...

Noncompliant teenagers being shoved into the backs of police cars many of whom may never be seen again...

This is the reality of protesting in a communist country, where such things are met with a kind of government thuggery most of us can never even imagine.

Sadly, the good people of Cuba were beaten down by the brutal hand of the Fidel Castro regime, which preached a myth of equality and prosperity under communism. Make no mistake: Equality and prosperity cannot thrive in the presence of communism.

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Now, Ive been studying Cuba for a while.

My interest in Cuba began in 2014, after former President Barack Obama met with Ral Castro in 2014 in an effort to begin the process of normalizing relations between the two countries.

This was intriguing to me because it represented the first glimpse of a potential end to the U.S. embargo against Cuba an embargo that has now lasted 63 years.

Originally designed to bring Cuba to its knees and break its communist rule, it was and continues to be a massive failure. Communist rule has actually thrived in Cuba since the embargo was initiated in 1958.

Sadly, though, many politicians continue to support the embargo as a way to scare voters into believing that if the embargo were lifted, wed be rewarding a murderous communist regime.

Of course, this is complete nonsense.

If we can do business with China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia, theres no logical reason we cant do business with Cuba.

Congressman Ron Paul opined on this many years ago, saying

We talked to the Soviets. We talk to the Chinese. And we opened up trade, and we're not killing each other now. We fought with the Vietnamese for a long time. We finally gave up, started talking to them, and now we trade with them. I don't know why the Cuban people should be so intimidating. I think we're living in the dark ages when we can't even talk to the Cuban people. I think it's not 1962 anymore. And we don't have to use force and intimidation and overthrow of governments.

I couldnt agree more.

Ending the U.S. embargo against Cuba should actually be something fairly easy for both sides of the aisle to agree upon. Economically, politically, and socially, this really is a no-brainer.

Of course, that doesnt mean itll happen. But if it does, make no mistake: We will be very eager to capitalize on such an opportunity that will not only benefit early investors but the good people of Cuba too.

To a new way of life and a new generation of wealth...

Jeff Siegel

@JeffSiegel on Twitter

Jeff is the founder and managing editor of Green Chip Stocks, a private investment community that capitalizes on opportunities in alternative energy, organic food markets, legal cannabis, and socially responsible investing. He has been a featured guest on Fox, CNBC, and Bloomberg Asia, and is the author of the best-selling book, Investing in Renewable Energy: Making Money on Green Chip Stocks. For more on Jeff, go to his editor's page.

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Original post:
Lifting the U.S. Embargo Against Cuba Will Create Wealth and Prosperity for Both Countries - Energy & Capital

While there weren't any surprises on the Wild's expansion protected list on Sunday, it certainly has a different look than it would have a week ago.

Like it did four years ago before the Vegas Golden Knights entered the NHL, Minnesota chose to go the 7-3-1 route for it's list, protecting seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender ahead of the 2021 Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft on Wednesday.

Teams could have also protected eight skaters of any position and one goalie ... and a few clubs did indeed choose that route.

But 7-3-1 was always the expectation for the Wild, especially after the club cut ties with Ryan Suter and Zach Parise in contract buyouts on Tuesday.

All players with no-movement clauses in their contracts are required to be protected (no-trade clauses are not).

Both Suter and Parise had no-moves in their deals, so when they were bought out, that opened up an additional forward spot and an additional spot for another defenseman to be kept in the mix.

Because Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin each have no-move clauses, each was always going to be protected. But with more flexibility after Tuesday's move, the Wild accomplished one of GM Bill Guerin's primary goals of expansion, which was to keep Matt Dumba.

Dumba, who turns 27 next weekend, is coming off a six-goal, 21-point campaign in 2020-21, but is also a crucial cog for the Minnesota power play. Just two seasons removed from scoring 12 goals in just 32 games before a season-ending injury short-circuited what looked to be a breakout campaign, the Wild hopes Dumba can regain that form next season.

With Brodin, Spurgeon and Dumba protected, Carson Soucy is the most prominent blueliner available for the Kraken. Soucy has been outstanding the last two seasons for Minnesota, scoring a combined eight goals and 31 points in 105 games, but posting a plus-38 during that stretch.

It seems likely that with the current makeup of the Wild's roster, Soucy could be in line for a boost in minutes if the Kraken decide to go a different direction with Minnesota's roster.

Guerin could also offer Seattle GM Ron Francis additional compensation to steer the Kraken away from Soucy, or any other player Guerin is intent on keeping.

One of those guys could be goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen. With the emergence of veteran Cam Talbot in his first season with the Wild, Kahkonen was the goaltender left unprotected.

He could be a valuable asset too, just 24 years old, and coming off a rookie season in which Kahkonen went 16-8-0 with a 2.88 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage, numbers that are a little inflated in large part to two late-season games against the St. Louis Blues.

Without those two games, Kahkonen's goals-against would have been 2.41, a number that was much more indicative of how the former AHL Goaltender of the Year played for a bulk of his first full season in the League. Minnesota likes his future and liked the tandem he and Talbot formed last season, their first together.

The Kraken have a number of quality veteran options available to them in the goaltending category, including Montreal's Carey Price, Dallas' Ben Bishop, Los Angeles' Jonathan Quick, Ottawa's Matt Murray, Pittsburgh's Casey DeSmith, Vancouver's Braden Holtby and Washington's Vitek Vanecek.

Up front, the Wild had just one no-movement clause (Mats Zuccarello), so it was able to protect several of its younger, middle-six forwards.

Last season's leading scorer, Calder Trophy winner Kirill Kaprizov, is ineligible to be selected by Seattle and did not need to be protected.

After Zuccarello, the Wild chose to protect Joel Eriksson Ek, Kevin Fiala, Marcus Foligno, Jordan Greenway, Ryan Hartman and Nico Sturm.

Eriksson Ek and Sturm are quality young centers the Wild really coveted, while Foligno, Greenway and Hartman are each versatile forwards who can move up and down the lineup.

Fiala is one of the club's best players, so keeping him protected was a no-brainer.

Among Wild forwards left unprotected are centerman Victor Rask, who was drafted by Francis in the second round of the 2011 NHL Draft, when he held the same position with the Carolina Hurricanes, as well as the recently re-signed Nick Bjugstad, who inked a one-year extension with his hometown team on July 5.

The NHL's roster and trade freeze also went into effect on Saturday, putting a halt to any offseason deals Guerin may be working with other clubs, a stoppage that will last until Thursday.

Clubs can still make deals with the Kraken to protect players, but those won't be announced until Wednesday night's draft, which will be televised on ESPN beginning at 7 p.m. CT. The Golden Knights are exempt from the Expansion Draft and will not lose a player.

So, to review, the Wild has protected:

Read the original:
Wild and the Expansion Draft: What you need to know - BlueJackets.com

H-T Report| The Herald-Times

ALL-TIME CITY GOLF CHAMPIONS

MEN

1929: Julius Jude Moser d. Paul Long, 2-up

1930: Wilson Justis d. Phil Talbot, 4 and 3

1931: Phil Talbot d. Charles Harrell, 9 and 7

1932: Phil Talbot d. Charles Harrell, 4 and 3

1933: W.W. Kenny d. Harlos Walls, 1-up

1934: Miles Standish d. Phil Talbot, 3 and 2

1935: Phil Talbot d. Miles Standish, 3 and 2

1936: Phil Talbot d. Wilson Justis, 1-up

1937: Phil Talbot d. Dolan Robertson, 7 and 6

1938: Phil Talbot d. Frank Pennin_gs, 6 and 5

1939: Phil Talbot d. Denton Cook, 6 and 5

1940: Phil Talbot d. Earl Hudlin, 3 and 2

1941: Phil Talbot d. Bob Cook, 4 and 3

1942: Phil Talbot d. Kenny Miller, 3 and 2

1943: Phil Talbot d. Dave Haring, 8 and 6 (longest title run, 9)

1944: Don Hansen d. Robert Miller, 3 and 1

1945: Jim Kerr d. Don Hansen, 3 and 2

1946: E.E. Mullins d. Jim Kerr, 3 and 1 (1st to win mens, junior titles)

1947: Charles Harrell d. Phil Talbot, 4 and 3

1948: E.E. Mullins d. Phil Talbot, 2 and 1

1949: Bob Cook d. Phil Talbot, 6 and 5

1950: E.E. Mullins d. Phil Talbot, 6 and 5

1951: Bob Cook d. E.E. Mullins, 2 and 1

1952: Bob Cook d. Robert Miller, 5 and 3

1953: Bob Cook d. Charles Bruce, 5 and 4

1954: Jim Jackson d. Dale Durnil, 4 and 2

1955: Ron Terrell d. George Poolitsan, 6 and 5

1956: Bobby Burris d. Dwight Burks, 37 holes

1957: Dale Durnil d. Dwight Burks, 2 and 1

1958: Steve Parrish d. George Poolitsan, 6 and 5

1959: Darl Kriete d. Dale Durnil, 7 and 6

1960: Barney Vernon d. Dwight Burks, 1-up

1961: Dwight Burks d. Jim Jackson, 9 and 7

1962: Forrest Jones d. Steve Parrish, 4 and 3

1963: Bob Cook d. Bobby Burris, 3 and 2

1964: Jim Topolgus d. Ron Terrell, 2 and 1

1965: Steve Parrish d. Dave Ralston, 2 and 1

1966: Ron Terrell d. Wayne Fix, 4 and 3

1967: Mel McFall d. Lou Bailey, 7 and 6

1968: Dwight Burks d. Ron Terrell, 2 and 1

1969: Gary Vance d. Paul Gray, 5 and 4

1970: George Fielding d. Ron Terrell, 9 and 8

1971: George Fielding d. Jerry Kahl, 1-up

1972: Dale Durnil d. Bill Nebergall, 2 and 1

1973: Mark Litz d. Jerry Kahl, 1-up

1974: Dave Estes d. Jim Gruden, 5 and 4

1975: Bob Karcher d. Dwight Burks, 3 and 2

1976: Bob Burris Jr. d. Bob Karcher, 6 and 4

1977: Bob Karcher d. Jim Gruden, 1-up

1978: Bob Karcher d. Paul Gray, 6 and 5

1979: Paul Gates d. Bob Karcher, 3 and 2

1980: Jerry Kahl d. Al Hagopian, 3 and 2

1981: Mark Litz d. Jim Harbin, 2 and 1

1982: Mark Litz d. Bob Burris Jr., 37 holes

1983: Ike Martin d. Paul Gates, 37 holes

1984: Bob Burris Jr. d. Steve Stanger, 6 and 4

1985: Steve Hinds d. Ike Martin, 37 holes

1986: Bob Burris Jr. d. Bob Karcher, 4 and 3

1987: Paul Gates d. Bob Burris Jr., 6 and 5

1988: Bob Karcher d. Steve Hinds, 6 and 5

1989: Steve Stanger d. Steve Hinds, 3 and 2

1990: Ike Martin d. Bruce Whitaker, 7 and 6

1991: Troy Gillespie d. Jerry Kahl, 5 and 4

1992: Ben Finley d. Bob Burris Jr., 10 and 9

1993: Ike Martin d. Ben Finley, 2 and 1

1994: Paul Gates d. Bob Hasty, 4 and 3

1995: Ike Martin d. Jeff Hays, 8 and 7

1996: Andy Bowers d. Dick Meacham, 4 and 3

1997: Ike Martin d. Bruce Burris, 7 and 5.

1998: Ike Martin d. Anthony Robertson, 2-up.

1999: Troy Gillespie d. Ike Martin, 4 and 3.

2000: Troy Gillespie d. Dick Meacham, 9 and 7

2001: Troy Gillespie d. Aaron Patton, 5 and 4

2002: Aaron Walters d. Ike Martin, 37 holes

2003: Ike Martin d. Troy Gillespie, 1-up

2004: Ike Martin d. David Killion, 2 and 1

2005: Troy Gillespie d. Anthony Robertson, 8 and 7

2006: Kyle Perry d. Brian Muehlhaus, 6 and 4

2007: Tim Fish d. Sean Toddy, 6 and 5

2008: Chris Williams d. Tim Fish, 5 and 4.

2009: Kyle Perry d. Chris Williams, 10 and 9.

2010: Sean Toddy d. Jeff Hutton, 7 and 5.

2011: Mitch Oard d. Nick Bennett, 6 and 5.

2012: Kyle Perry d. Mitch Oard, 2 and 1.

2013: Mitch Oard d. Chad Osborne, 4 and 3

2014: Mitch Oard d. Jackson Cowden, 5 and 3

2015: Chris Williams d. Brian Muehlhaus, 4 and 3

2016: Jackson Cowden d. Nick Burris, 37 holes

2017: Chris Williams d. Mitch Oard, 3 and 2

2018: Brian Muehlhaus d. Aaron Walters, 3 and 2

2019: Doak Henry Jr. d. Mitch Oard, 1 up

2020: Nick Burris d. Doak Henry Jr, 7 and 6

Most championships: Phil Talbot 11; Ike Martin 8; Bob Cook 5, Troy Gillespie 5; Bob Karcher 4; E.E. Mullins 3, Mark Litz 3, Bob Burris Jr. 3, Paul Gates 3, Kyle Perry 3, Mitch Oard 3, Chris Williams 3; Ron Terrell 2, Dale Durnil 2, George Fielding 2, Steve Parrish 2, Dwight Burks 2.

Consecutive championships: Phil Talbot 9 (1935-43)

WOMEN

No tournament 1936-1937, 1975-1980

1929: Ruth Reed d. Mrs. Lynn Lewis, 5 and 4

See the article here:
All-time City Golf champions - The Herald-Times