Day: March 9, 2021

Texas Launches OPERATION LONE STAR to SECURE BORDER and FINISH THE WALL!!!

★★★ YOUR PATRIOT PATH TO FREEDOM! ★★★

Texas Has Officially Launched OPERATION LONE STAR to SECURE their Southern BORDER and FINISH President Trump’s WALL! In this video, we’re going to look at the latest deployment of the Texas national guard to halt illegal immigration and drug smuggling at the border, how a new Texas bill will make it illegal for Big Tech to ban users for their conservative political views, and how Texas is leading the way in the rise of sanctuary states that are protecting their citizens from the blundering Biden administration; you are NOT going to want to miss this!

ThePatriotNurse: Universal Background Checks: How China is Playing This Game

Posted 07 March 2021: ThePatriotNurse: Federal Firearms Background Checks is just a Tyrannical overreach. 2nd Amendment, Thomas Sowell "Intellectuals and Society" ISBN-13 : 978-0465025220 Centralized Government continue to grow to cleanse their free opponents such as what happened in Hitler's Germany or in China under Mao. First they take away your guns. Hong Kong dissidents. Mao "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun". BLM or Antifa uses methods of Mao's Jackbooted thug Power. Communist Antifa Local Riots leads up to Universal Background Check that disarm the local people. Invest in yourself so that you can have Options. You need Skills.

Biden’s handlers hire Qatari agent as senior adviser

During her address at the 2019 Animus Summit, Erin Pelton discusses how defying the rules unlocked her potential and shaped her life and career. A career US foreign service officer until 2014, Erin served in senior roles in the Obama Administration as communications director, spokesperson and assistant press secretary in various agencies. Erin founded Puerto Rico Live to bring the world to PR through on-stage talks with some of the most influential names in politics, media, business, culture and the arts. Erin also founded Pinpoint Strategies, a public affairs firm offering strategic counsel for crisis communications and media relations.

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2021/03/bidens-handlers-hire-qatari-agent-as-senior-adviser;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

How long can America survive all these post-American administrations? In addition to what is below, Qatar is a Muslim Brotherhood hub. Most major Muslim organizations in the U.S. are linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, which has the stated goal (according to a captured internal document) in America of “eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within, and sabotaging its miserable house.” And those organizations own Biden as well.

“Biden Hires Qatari Agent as Senior Adviser,” by Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon, March 6, 2021:

President Joe Biden hired a new senior adviser on Friday who formerly lobbied on behalf of Qatar, the oil-rich Arab nation that has close ties to Iran and is a central hub for terrorism financing.

The White House announced on Friday evening that Erin Pelton is set to join the administration as a special assistant to Biden and a senior adviser on domestic policy issues. Pelton, a onetime foreign service officer and flak during the Obama administration, later advocated on behalf of foreign governments, including Qatar, according to public filings with the Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which mandates that Americans who are lobbying for foreign governments disclose their work.

Pelton’s work for Qatar is likely to raise questions about the revolving door between the Biden White House and lobbying firms that represent a host of foreign governments. Pelton is just the latest Biden administration official to have questionable ties to adversarial regimes. Biden’s Asia policy czar, Kurt Campbell, for instance, helped found a group that critics say is “heavily influenced by the CCP.” The administration’s potential pick to lead NASA, former senator Bill Nelson, invested in a Chinese telecom company that is blacklisted by the Pentagon.

Pelton lobbied on behalf of the Qatari embassy in 2018, when she was working for Mercury Public Affairs, a top lobbying shop in Washington, D.C., according to the Justice Department filings.

Qatar has spent billions of dollars lobbying American politicians and influencers. The country funds prominent think tanks, such as the Brookings Institution, and was alleged last year to have funded hack attacks on some 1,500 individuals, including political operatives based in Washington, D.C. A 2020 lawsuit alleged that Qatar financed terror attacks that killed Americans.

Despite its coordination with the United States on anti-terrorism operations, Qatar continues to maintain relations with Iran and is suspected of funding Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terror group operating in Lebanon. Qatar’s terror financing has gone largely unaddressed due to Doha’s hosting of the Al Udeid military base, which houses U.S. Central Command’s regional headquarters….

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SEE ALSO:

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/biden-hires-qatari-agent-as-senior-adviser/

20 State AGs Threaten Legal Action if H.R. 1 passes~ELECTIONS WOULD BE NATIONALIZED AMONG OTHER NULLIFICATIONS OF EXISTING LAWS

20 State AGs Threaten Legal Action if H.R. 1 passes

BY BOB ADELMANN

SEE: https://thenewamerican.com/20-state-ags-threaten-legal-action-if-h-r-1-passes/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita drafted a letter decrying the attempted congressional overreach into state election laws represented by H.R. 1, the so-called For the People Act of 2021. After obtaining the signatures of 19 other states’ attorney generals last Wednesday, he sent the letter to Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, and Chuck Schumer, the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate.

The 20 state AGs declared:

The Act betrays several Constitutional deficiencies and alarming mandates that, if passed, would federalize state elections….

Under … the Constitution … States have principal – and with presidential elections, exclusive – responsibility to safeguard the manner of holding elections. The Act would invert that constitutional structure … and erode faith in our elections and systems of governance.

They also provided a cram course in the U.S. Constitution for the leading Democrats:

The Electors Clause [of the United States Constitution] “convey[s] the broadest power of determination” and “leaves it to the [state] legislature exclusively to define the method” of the appointment of electors….

[That means that] Congress may not force states to permit presidential voting by mail or curbside voting, for example.

Those Democrat leaders’ intentions are clear, said the AGs:

By mandating mail-in voting, requiring states to accept late ballots, overriding state voter identification (“ID”) laws, and mandating that states conduct redistricting through unelected commissions…. Congress is not acting as a check but is instead overreaching by seizing the role of principal election regulator.

The AGs summed up the Act’s deficiencies: dismantling state voter ID laws, mandating automatic voter registration and Election Day registration, requiring states to undertake congressional redistricting through the use of so-called “independent” commissions and requiring political speakers to disclose their donor lists.

That last requirement, according to the AGs, “reflects an objective to name, shame, and blacklist those with differing or minority views. In other words, the goal is to censor those with whom the authors of the bill disagree.”

Said the AGs: “It is difficult to imagine a legislative proposal more threatening to election integrity and voter confidence.” Accordingly, “Should the Act become law, we will seek legal remedies to protect the Constitution, the sovereignty of all states, our elections, and the rights of our citizens.”

In a separate statement to Fox News Indian AG Rokita called H.R. 1 a “monstrosity”:

This monstrosity of a bill betrays the Constitution, dangerously federalizes state elections, and undermines the integrity of the ballot box.

As a former election officer, and now an Attorney General, I know [enactment of this bill] would be a disaster for election integrity and confidence in the processes what have been developed over time to instill confidence in the idea of “one person, one vote.”

Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) went even further: H.R. 1, he wrote, “is packed full of mandates to guarantee Democrats control future elections – all under the guise of ‘election reform’”, adding:

This bill undermines protections for free speech, destroys the nonpartisan Federal Election Commission, and nationalizes elections, paying no mind to the Constitution or the 10th Amendment….

It would silence all discussion about election fraud, voting irregularities, and the countless issues that left half of the country so dissatisfied with the execution and results of the 2020 election.

Former Vice President Mike Pence told The Daily Signal that the massive 800-page bill “would increase the opportunities for election fraud, trample the First Amendment, further erode confidence in our elections, and forever dilute the votes of legally qualified eligible voters.”

He added:

HR 1 mandates the most questionable and abuse-prone election rules nationwide, while banning commonsense measures to detect, deter, and prosecute election fraud.

The bill would force states to adopt universal mail-in ballots, early voting, same-day voter registration, online voter registration, and automatic voter registration for any individual listed in state and federal government databases, such as the Department of Motor Vehicles and welfare offices, ensuring duplicate registrations and that millions of illegal immigrants are quickly registered to vote.

States would be required to count every mail-in vote that arrives up to 10 days after Election Day. States must also allow ballot harvesting—where paid political operatives collect absentee ballots from places such as nursing homes—exposing our most vulnerable voters to coercion and increasing the risk that their ballots will be tampered with.

At the same time, state and local election officials would be stripped of their ability to maintain the accuracy of voter rolls, barred from verifying voter eligibility, and voter ID would be banned from coast to coast.

Congressional districts would be redrawn by unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats. Illegal immigrants and law-abiding American citizens would receive equal representation in Congress. Felons would be able to vote the moment they set foot out of prison.

Pence charged:

Every single proposed change in HR 1 serves one goal, and one goal only: to give leftists a permanent, unfair, and unconstitutional advantage in our political system.

A companion bill has been introduced in the Senate. If it passes, and Biden signs it into law, the AGs signing the letter will file suit, leading the issue ultimately to be resolved by the Supreme Court.

More Money in Stimulus Bill for Pension Bailouts ‘Than All the Money Combined’ for Vaccines, Congressman Says

BY STACEY LENNOX

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/stacey-lennox/2021/03/08/more-money-in-stimulus-bill-for-pension-bailouts-than-all-the-money-combined-for-vaccines-congressman-says-n1430731;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

Unions are getting a free pass after mismanaging their multi-employer pensions for decades. In a provision not well-publicized before the stimulus bill narrowly passed by the Senate with only Democrat support, $86 billion dollars will be directed to at least185 multi-employer union pension plans that are close to collapse. According to the New York Times:

Both the House and Senate stimulus measures would give the weakest plans enough money to pay hundreds of thousands of retirees — a number that will grow in the future — their full pensions for the next 30 years. The provision does not require the plans to pay back the bailout, freeze accruals or to end the practices that led to their current distress, which means their troubles could recur. Nor does it explain what will happen when the taxpayer money runs out 30 years from now.

The pension crisis is not new and fixing it has long been a Democrat priority. Congress passed legislation in 2014 to allow insolvent pensions to pare benefits within limits to prevent bailouts by the taxpayer. However, President Obama’s Treasury Department blocked the Central States Pension Fund’s plan to use the law in 2016. The media framed this denial as an attempt to force a straight bailout, and here we are.

At the time, the responsibility to cover the fund’s projected insolvency would have fallen to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), which had its own insolvency issues. The Central States fund was paying $3.46 in benefits for every dollar it took in due to an aging former workforce and employer withdrawals:

Legislators thought they fixed this problem late in 2014 when they attached bipartisan legislation to the so-called “cromnibus” spending bill. The pensions amendment allowed trustees for financially troubled multiemployer pension plans to cut vested benefits, provided they could demonstrate to Treasury that doing so would prevent the plan from going bust. The idea was that the cuts would prevent a far worse fate — a Central States bailout by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, which would pay only pennies on the dollar (and which had solvency problems of its own). According to a recent PBGC report, “it is more likely than not that PBGC’s multiemployer fund will be exhausted by 2025.”

Joshua Gotbaum, former director of the PBGC, called the Treasury Department’s decision an “act of political cowardice” that will result in “more and deeper benefit cuts” to Central States beneficiaries.

The PBGC board of directors consists of the secretaries of Labor, Commerce, and Treasury, with the secretary of Labor as chair. It is not supposed to be funded by taxpayers and covers payments to failed employer pensions. From their website:

In fiscal year 2020, PBGC paid for monthly retirement benefits, up to a guaranteed maximum, for more than 984,000 retirees in more than 5,000 single-employer plans that cannot pay promised benefits. Including those who have not yet retired and participants in multiemployer plans receiving financial assistance, PBGC is responsible for the current and future pensions of more than 1.5 million people.

The PBGC handles multi-employer and single-employer plans through separate programs. The current legislation will provide $86 billion from general funds to be kept separate from the funds it uses for general operations. Perhaps the most disturbing facet of this is that there are no conditions placed on the pensions that will fix the underlying problem.

The legislation requires the troubled plans to keep their grant money in investment-grade bonds, and bars them from commingling it with their other resources. But beyond that, the bill would not change the funds’ investment strategies, which are widely seen as a cause of their trouble.

A proposal for structural reforms failed:

On Friday, Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, introduced his own legislative proposal for the failing pension plans, which he said would bring structural reforms to make them solvent over the long term. He called the measure put forth by Democrats “a blank check” and tried to have it sent back to the Senate Finance Committee for retooling.

“Not only is their plan totally unrelated to the pandemic, but it also does nothing to address the root cause of the problem,” Mr. Grassley said in a statement. His motion failed in a vote of 49 to 50.

To illustrate how large this segment of the funds provided for is, Senator Bill Haggerty (R-Tenn.) said: “Just to show you how bad this bill is, there’s more money in this to bail out union pension funds than all the money combined for vaccine distribution and testing,”

Democrats are trying to say the pandemic made the pension shortfalls worse, but that would seem to be an overstatement because stock market performance has not suffered dramatically during that time. The 10-year inflation-adjusted return for 2020 was 11.96%. The S&P 500 increased 16% in 2020 alone.

This bailout appears to be just another giveback long in the making. According to Time magazine, the coordinated plan to influence to 2020 election originated in the national office of the AFL-CIO. Multi-employer unions, such as the Teamsters and United Autoworkers, are powerful constituencies for the union leadership. One huge Teamster plan that expected to go broke in 2025 just got rescued. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka now has a material win to offset the devastation that has already started and will likely continue in the energy industry.

Taxpayer funding of pensions was unheard of up to this point. Even those who have saved appropriately in defined contribution plans like 401(k)s will also fund their fellow citizens’ pensions through their tax dollars. This taxpayer bailout may be the first time, but given that the bill requires almost no reforms, it increases the likelihood it will not be the last.