P&D Geopolitical Edition

By Rich Kozlovich

As is well known Hamas launched a surprise attack against an unarmed defenseless civilian population performing vile acts on men, women, and children, even baking a baby alive in an oven and filming it to the great pleasure of Gazans.  They initially attacked wearing some form of uniform, but as soon as they became the targets they dumped those uniforms as they had no desire to have a standup fight with armed and trained military personnel.  Killing defenseless men, women and children is so much easier.   

Now it's a war of attrition, and some are questioning who will survive, Hamas or Israel?  Get real, Hamas is doomed in Gaza, and even the Gazans are marching against them.  Not in favor of Israel mind you, just in favor of their own self interests, they would still dance in the streets if more coffins with dead Israeli hostages were paraded through the streets.   There are no innocents in Gaza, and in spite of Hamas claims 70% of casualties have been women and children, that's another lie, it turns out "72% of casualties are male, a demographic that aligns with Hamas combatants."

 In Turkey President Erdogan arrested his political opponent in the upcoming election and Erdogan's regime has taking on all the ear marks of the Iranian model of government, and an awful lot of people are really unhappy about that, triggering massive demonstrations involving hundreds of thousands of people, as the author goes on to say:

The arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, the leading political rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on corruption charges — after being accused of both corruption and terrorism — marks yet another sign that Turkey is becoming the next Iran: A state where elections are tightly controlled, rigged in advance and reduced to a democratic façade without free and fair campaign conditions.

Turkey’s Islamist ruler has not yet established an official Turkish equivalent of Iran’s Guardian Council — a 12-member body that vets all candidates in elections and disqualifies those who pose a perceived threat to the mullah regime. However, the arrest of İmamoğlu, following the earlier imprisonment of popular Kurdish political leader Selahattin Demirtaş, who has been in jail since 2016, confirms that a de facto Guardian Council is taking shape in Turkey.

Turkey is becoming a state where elections are tightly controlled, rigged in advance, and reduced to a democratic façade without free and fair campaign conditions.

Notice the pattern playing out here worldwide.  Erdogan weaponized the justice system, wants to rewrite their constitution eliminating their legislative structure to install him as the absolute ruler, a "theocratic dictator".

While there may be some validity to charges of corruption against İmamoglu, corruption is so wide spread in Turkey's political sphere that would be expected, but it's only allowed for those who support Erdogan.

Will these demonstrations alter Turkey's political structure?  We'll see, as every tool of oppression is being used against anyone who stands against Erdogan.  But I think it needs to be understood none of this is really about Democracy as we know it.  It's about changing who's in charge for their own benefit.  Corruption in government isn't an anomaly throughout the Middle East and Africa, it's the rule, and it a rule the group in power wants to exploit to the limits, and even beyond.

Anything said by Erdogan that may sound reasonable and conciliatory, is simply not to be taken seriously.  Remember, Iran is the model for what Erdogan is doing, and just like Khomeini who talked about bringing democracy to Iran and had no desire to become Iran's ruler, it was a deliberate lie.  A lie that was reported by a gullible media, after all they really liked the idea the pro-American government of the Shah of Iran was deposed.

In Turkey Erdogan has manipulated the tax system to punish anyone who disagrees or challenges him and fines any newspaper massively for reporting the facts about his polices, aims, and goals.   The media that remains spews out adoring accolades of Erdogan's greatness, and the tens of millions of children who've gone through their education system have been properly indoctrinated to be pro Erdogan supporters, all of which makes these massive demonstrations even more amazing.

Support for terrorist groups is part of Erdogan's foreign policy, and it's time the west recognized that, but Turkey is a member of NATO and that can't be ignored.  Their support of violent terrorist jihadi groups has to be addressed by declaring Turkey a supporter of terrorists, and such a designation should be the touchstone for all negotiations and dealings with Turkey. 

January 6 Was Not an Insurrection: The Truth is Coming Out: Part II

By Robin Itzler 

Editor's Note:  This is one of the commentaries selected from Robin's weekly newsletter Patriot Neighbors. Any cartoons appearing will have been added by me.  If you wish to get the full edition, E-mail her at PatriotNeighbors@yahoo.com to get on her list, it's free. RK

 s

BLM “Mostly Peaceful” RIOTS vs Jan. 6

In August 2020, sarcastically called the “summer of love,” America was on fire from Black Lives Matter and Antifa riots. CNN’s national correspondent Omar Jimenez stood in front of a building that was engulfed in flames and reported on the “mostly peaceful” looting and rioting. As if that wasn’t enough, CNN’s ridiculously insane caption read: “Fiery But Mostly Peaceful Protests After Police Shooting.”

Leftists (including those in Congress) idiotically compared January 6 to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor. Let’s compare BLM 2020 riots to January 6.

Black Lives Matter “Mostly Peaceful” 500+ Riots in 2020:    

· Lasted 7 months.
· 20+ murders.
· Thousands of small businesses destroyed across multiple states.
· 150+ Federal buildings damaged across multiple states.
· $2+ BILLION in damages throughout the country.
· More than 2,000 law enforcement officers assaulted.
· Most protestors immediately bailed out—many with help from Democrat politicians such as Vice President Kamala Harris.
· Media and leftist politicians encouraged the ongoing violence (many times by their silence).
· Downplayed or ignored by the leftist mainstream media.
· Reports of nearly 2,400 lootings, 600+ arsons and almost 100 cars destroyed.
· Reports show that protestors came to BLM events with Molotov cocktails, bricks, frozen water bottles, canned food, fireworks and lasers.
· Many politicians and law enforcement leaders spinelessly “took a knee” to George Floyd during these protests.

January 6, 2021:

· Protest lasted a few hours.
· NO murders by protestors. (Note: Capitol Police Officer Brian Sidekick died of a stroke on January 7.)
· Several January 6 protestors were murdered including Benjamin Philip, Rosanne Boyland, Kevin Greeson and Ashli Babbitt
· 140 officers were assaulted.
· Protestors who were arrested were frequently kept in solitary confinement (with reports of humiliation tactics and other awful treatment).
· Protestors were repeatedly condemned by leftist and RINO politicians.
· January 6 actions were repeatedly exaggerated by the leftist mainstream media.

Most of the info came from a presentation by pardoned J6er Jeffrey Brown.

Republicans Move Against Federal Judges Blocking Trump’s Agenda

Through legislative and other means, the president’s allies are preparing to deal with judicial overreach.

By Graham J Noble | Apr 2, 2025 @ Liberty Nation News, Tags: Articles, Opinion, Politics

Congressional Republicans, perhaps many of them concerned about their modest majorities in the House and Senate if they don’t deliver on the Trump agenda before the midterm elections, are ready to take on the judges. Restraining orders and other types of injunctions, tying the hands of President Donald Trump’s administration, have been coming in thick and fast from federal judges across the country. Frustrated GOPers are now exploring various options for putting a stop to what increasingly appears to be a politically motivated sabotage operation being conducted through select courts and with the aid of complicit judges.

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Since Trump began his second term, almost every action at the executive branch level has been met with an injunction of one form or another. At least a dozen such legal rulings have stymied the president’s plans. Several of the federal judges issuing these injunctions have been revealed to be Democratic Party donors, many with associations or family connections to various progressive special interests. The idea, then, that their decisions are based purely on law and have nothing to do with politics  – according to some GOP lawmakers – is hard to swallow.

Backlash to Federal Judges Growing

An effort to impeach US District Court Judge James Boasberg is reportedly gaining momentum on Capitol Hill, even as Republican leaders hesitate. Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order to prevent the administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport illegal aliens. The likelihood of Boasberg or any of the other “activist” federal judges being convicted and removed from office in a Senate impeachment trial is more than unlikely. Such a course of action, then, might be seen as almost petty and would amount to little more than a slap on the wrist.

A couple of legislative moves aimed at curtailing the judges’ ability to, essentially, dictate executive branch policy are underway in both chambers of Congress. In the Senate, Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is pushing a bill titled the Judicial Relief Clarification Act of 2025, which would allow injunctions to be immediately appealed.

Grassley expressed one of the main concerns with the deluge of legal obstacles. “For a number of years, but particularly in the last few months, we’ve increasingly seen sweeping orders from individual district judges that dictate national policy,” the senator asserted in a statement. He elaborated:

“Judges are not policymakers, and allowing them to assume this role is very dangerous. The Judicial Relief Clarification Act clarifies the scope of judicial power and resolves illegitimate judicial infringement upon the executive branch. It’s a commonsense bill that’s needed to provide long-term constitutional clarity and curb district courts’ growing tendency to overstep by issuing sweeping, nationwide orders.”

Indeed, as Just the News reported, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan – appointed by President Barack Obama – was herself concerned by this judicial (or perhaps extrajudicial) trend. Speaking at Northwestern University Law School in 2022, Kagan said, “It just can’t be right that one district judge can stop a nationwide policy in its tracks and leave it stopped for the years it takes to go through the normal process.”

Your News – How You Like It!

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) has a more ambitious idea. It is generally understood that federal judges are appointed to lifetime terms, but Biggs notes that the Constitution does not grant lifetime tenure. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution states, “The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour,” and so there appears to be no barrier in the founding document to ousting a judge for “failing to maintain the standard of good behavior required of judges.” That quote is from the resolution the congressman has filed to remove Boasberg from office.

The bigger picture is a disregard for the democratic process. It is, to say the least, ironic that the people who constantly claim Trump is a threat to democracy are now using politically friendly judges to override the will of the people. American voters knew very well what Trump had planned for the country. They elected him and, according to the polls, remain supportive of the very actions these federal judges are blocking. It’s almost as if Democrats and progressive activist groups pursuing legal action to obstruct the Trump agenda have decided that election outcomes can and should be negated if their preferred policies are not being enacted

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Dig Deeper Into the Themes Discussed in this Article!
Liberty Vault: The Constitution of the United States

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Read More From Graham J Noble Chief Political Correspondent & Satirist

Don’t Cry for Elmo, He’s Filthy Rich

By Daniel Greenfield @ Sultan Knish Blog

• “Elon Musk and Marjorie Taylor Greene are trying to defund Sesame Street and dismantle PBS and NPR,” Rep. Robert Garcia claimed during hearings on the two radical leftist organizations.
• “The Trump administration’s abrupt federal grant cuts have made their way to ‘Sesame Street’—and they risk pulling the rug out from under children,” Fortune Magazine claimed.
• “Sesame Street’s Future Is in Jeopardy”, Newsweek moaned.
• “Why Does Big Bird Look So Sad?” the New York Times asked. According to the paper, the Trump administration’s cuts to USAID “stripped Sesame Workshop of some valuable grants”.

The USAID grants in question were $20 million to make an Iraqi version of Sesame Street. The Sesame Workshop previously got over $4 million to make a Bangladeshi Sesame Street and $18 million from the Pentagon and GSA to make a Sesame Street for military families.

Even assuming that there was some justifiable reason to spend $20 million making a Sesame Street for an oil-rich country which just passed a law legalizing adult men marrying members of the Sesame Street viewing audience, it has nothing to do with funding the American series.

And $20 million might be a big number somewhere, but it’s a drop in the Sesame bucket.

Every time members of Congress discuss cuts to PBS, Democrats hide behind Big Bird and Elmo, even sending the giant yellow creature to Congress in the nineties, but only 4% of Sesame Workshop’s revenues come from the federal government. If it all went away, even Count Von Count would hardly notice. 4% of Sesame Workshop’s budget wouldn’t even cover the salaries for its C-suite which were in excess of $6 million in the last reported year.

Sesame CEO Stephen Youngwood makes over $1 million a year, President Sherrie Rollins Westin earns $864,748 a year and together with the rest of the top executives account for enough money to bring Sesame Street to at least three different Islamic terrorist states.

Sesame Workshop took in $187 million in 2023 and $271 million the year before that. The non-profit has assets of $607 million. Over the last decade, those assets more than doubled.

A non-profit with over half-a-billion is not about to disappear if we stop funding Jihad Street in Iraq. The real question is why were taxpayers ever subsidizing one of the wealthiest non-profit production companies associated with PBS which can print money by selling merchandise?

20% of Sesame Workshop’s revenues come from licensing. 50% from distribution fees and royalties. Millions of dollars continue pouring in from toy and music licensing.

Sesame Street already gets sizable amounts of money from liberal foundations and billionaires like Michael Bloomberg, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, the MacArthur Foundation, and even CEO Stephen Youngwood chipped in under $49,000 of his million dollar salary and Sherrie Westin under $100,000 of her nearly seven figure salary to the Sesame Workshop.

And they can probably afford to chip in some more if Sesame Workshop is really in trouble.

The real nightmare on Sesame Street came not from the end of its nonprofit work or PBS productions, but the end of HBO MAX’s lucrative deal to screen and showcase its episodes. The HBO deal made it clear that Sesame Street was not primarily a public television property. But as Discovery, HBO’s parent company, began cutting costs, the Sesame Street deal was a casualty. It wasn’t Republican budget cuts that hurt Sesame Street, but cutbacks by the Hollywood studio most closely associated with funding BLM and other radical leftist movements.

Another crisis was caused by the Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), one of those baffling conglomerate unions of bureaucrats that includes everything from Canadians to minor league umpires to leatherworkers, trying to unionize Sesame Street employees.

These much more serious blows to Big Bird came from lefties, including unions, not Trump, but you won’t see Democrats talking about how unions are trying to kneecap Elmo.

The USAID grant to make Sesame Street in Iraq does point to one source of the organization’s financial problems, which is that it spends too much of its budget on international programming while getting little in the way of its revenues for licensing everything from toys to puppets in international markets. Sesame Workshop brags about all the work it’s been doing in Ukraine, Lebanon and India. And that’s work that American taxpayers and audiences subsidize.

Sesame Street needs to decide whether it wants to make puppet shows for American kids or for the children of the world. Big Bird and Elmo remain lucrative in America, but there’s no reason for American taxpayers to be subsidizing Sesame Street’s outreach to Syrian migrants or teaching children in India about gender equality.

Democrats used to pretend that budget cuts to PBS threaten Sesame Street, now they admit that they’re no longer using Big Bird as an avian or puppet shield for PBS but for USAID. Elmo isn’t just being used to defend subsidies for American public television, but for Iraqi public television, and even families with faded Grovers in the house will draw the line there.

Sesame Workshop needs to choose between Sesame Street and Iftah Ya Simsim, Sim Sim Hamara and the other Sesame Streets for the Muslim world. The Pakistani Sesame Street previously had its funds cut off in 2012 over allegations of fraud and Sharaa Simsim, the version that airs in the Muslim terrorist-occupied territories in Israel, after its leaders rejected a joint production with Israel, had its funding cut over its problematic content.

Daoud Kuttab, the executive producer of Sharaa Simsim, the ‘Palestinian’ Sesame Street, wrote that the “Hamas’ operation against Israel on Oct. 7 was carried out on the basis of the internationally sanctioned right of people to resist” and that Hamas leaders did nothing wrong.

His ‘Palestinian’ Sesame Street, was funded by USAID,

Kuttab, who often pops up representing the ‘Christian’ point of view, also claimed that the Hamas attacks were a response to “Jewish supremacy” for offending Muslim religious sensibilities by praying at a Jewish holy site claimed by Islamic conquerors as a mosque.

But when funds for Jihad Street were previously pulled, Brookings published an op-ed claiming that, “Congress Makes Elmo Cry by Defunding Palestinian “Sesame Street”. And Kuttab recently resurfaced in the New Republic with an op-ed titled, “I Worked on the “Arab Sesame Street.” It Was Not a Waste of Money” in which the terror apologist claimed that American taxpayer funding for it encouraged “peace and tolerance among children of the Middle East”.

If ‘Palestinian Elmo’ didn’t want to cry, he shouldn’t have joined Hamas. And if the Sesame Workshop wants to justify its $6 million C-suite salaries, it should stop working on international shows and go back to its original mission of entertaining and teaching American children.

Merchandising and licensing makes Sesame Street financially viable and quite profitable in the United States and some western nations. The real problem is that Sesame Street became a vehicle for foreign aid and government grants in the third world.

And that is what’s threatening Big Bird and making Elmo sad.

Sesame Workshop is in trouble because it puts American kids last. Sesame Street should go back to being a street in the U.S.A. and not in Pakistan, Bangladesh or Hamastan.

Daniel Greenfield is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This article previously appeared at the Center's Front Page Magazine. Click here to subscribe to my articles. And click here to support my work with a donation.  Thank you for reading.

 

Observations From the Back Row

By Rich Kozlovich  

Well, the Wisconsin Supreme Court election has been resolved, the far left radical, Susan Crawford has won, which was characterized with verbiage the outcome would "affect the entire destiny of humanity," because it would impact the outcome of the midterms.  Well, three things.  First, I think that's hyperbole.  Second, Wisconsin has an issue with voter fraud, so the outcome shouldn't be that much of a shocker.  Third, Wisconsin isn't going to carry the the nation or the world anywhere.  

It's clear neither Russia, Ukraine, or the rest of Europe want a peace deal, and there's even been talk if it looks as if Russia starts running over Ukraine, they'll explode their nuclear plants making Ukraine uninhabitable.  Now that's really insane.  

We already know about the corrupt efforts in the US to put Trump in jail to prevent him from running for a second term, and the corrupt judicial coup d’etat’ Democrats are employing to destroy Trump's presidency, and this is clearly a pattern of behavior for leftists/tyrants worldwide.  Lawfare, corruption of the rule of law, and worse against political opponents.  In Russia Putin's rival, Alexei Navalny, was arrested and died in prison, and no one doubts he was murdered.  In Brazil they've arrested Jair Bolsonaro for allegedly plotting a coup and asks, where's my crime? 

Romania arrested Câlin Georgescu, which halted elections because it looked as if he was going to win.  In Turkey the demonstrations are huge, numbering hundreds of thousands, and some are claiming over a million, because Erdogan arrested his opponent, Ekrem Imamoglu, on trumped up charges, and now in France's Le Pen has been found guilty of embezzlement and the court is forbidding her from running in the election.  But this is France, and Le Pen is surging in the polls and she's adamant she will not let the election be ‘stolen’ by judges.

One outrage after another: Europe is lost - From banning Marine Le Pen from the French presidency to negating Romania's election, Europe is a mess.

 Vance Vindicated: Warnings About EU Proven Prophetic After Le Pen Ban - Vice President JD Vance was correct in warning of attacks on democracy and liberty in Europe, supporters claimed, as populist National Rally leader Marine Le Pen was banned from running in the French presidential election..

Democracy Denied - Democracy is imperiled across what used to be known as the Free World. In France, Marine Le Pen, who likely would have won that country’s next presidential election, has been prosecuted and found guilty of embezzlement, and barred from running for office for five years–until after the 2027 presidential election, in other words............In Brazil, former President Jair Bolsonaro is charged with attempting a coup, after some of his supporters “stormed” government buildings following his 2022 re-election defeat. Bolsonaro was out of the country when the alleged “storming” occurred. ............In Germany, the entire political system has been distorted to achieve a single goal: keeping the Alternative For Germany...............

From the beginning of the covid scare I stated it was scare mongering for political purposes, and it wasn't long before we knew these shots were not vaccines, but genetic manipulating chemical compounds that were going to impact humanity negatively for many years to come.  I had said this was our thalidomide era, only much, much worse, and every week more information comes forth to prove that to be true.

The nitwit brigade is ever with us as  Yvette Clarke  Chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus claims Trump and Musk are nuts getting rid of all these amazing people in these agencies since these bureaucrats are efficiency experts!  Remarkable! Well, why were they caught destroying evidence of funding to the Taliban?   Why was the FBI trying to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop scandal?

1. Department of Education Investigates California for Allowing Schools to Hide Students’ ‘Gender Identity’ from Parents
2. DOGE Updates Leaderboard Showcasing Savings of $130 Billion
3. DOGE Leader Speaks Out About Waste, Fraud, and Abuse Musk: Law Says Money Can’t Be Wasted, Has to Be ‘Spent Correctly ‘One Outrageous Thing After Another’
4. DOGE: Department of Labor Cancels $577 Million in ‘America Last’ Grants Includes Funding for ‘Gender Equity in the Mexican Workplace’
5. State Department Officially Notifies Congress That USAID Has Been Dissolved
6. DOL Cancels $577M in Useless Grants…

None of that seems to indicate competence at any level, or perhaps they were just dogging it?  Personally I go for both, incompetence and sloth.  

The real insurrection wasn't January 6th, it's the judicial misconduct that's destroying the rule of law.

“Currently, district court judges have assumed the mantle of Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, Secretary of Homeland Security and Commander-in-Chief. Each day, they change the foreign policy, economic, staffing and national security policies of the Administration. Each day, the  nation arises to see what the craziest unelected local federal judge has decided the policies of the government of the United States shall be. It is madness. It is lunacy. It is pure lawlessness. It is the gravest assault on democracy. It must end and will end.” —Stephen Miller, U.S. Homeland Security Advisor

Personally, I get a kick out of this.  ICE Walks Into a Boston Courtroom, Arrests an Illegal Alien During His Trial and Hauls Him Away.  Apparently the judge was outraged and found them in contempt, but I doubt if they care, this was a message that needed to be sent.  You can't hide!  We will find you, and we will arrest you!  The secondary message is the courts may make pronouncements, but it's the executive that carries out enforcement.  At some point the judiciary needs to start asking themselves some pertinent questions.

1. What happens when the executive branch simply starts saying "no" to their pronouncements?  The Pravda media can no longer help them as no one cares what they have to say.
2. What happens when the Congress starts passing laws to restrict their jurisdiction, which the Constitution gives them the right to do?  
3. What happens when the public has so little respect for the judiciary they refuse to adhere their pronouncements?  That's the question that should scare everyone. 
   

Is western civilization on the verge of upheaval and pushback over the insanity the left has imposed on the world?  Lars Møller thinks so saying:

American politics, not to mention European, has long been characterized by leaders who dared not stand up for Western civilization in an unequivocal way. At last, however, Americans may declare to the rest of the world where anti-Western forces are constantly on the lookout for signs of weakness: “You shall know us by our resolve.”

One of the things these demonstrations in Turkey are generating is a serious concern for economic stabilization and Turkey’s foreign relations.  In South East Asia China's sabre rattling conduct is causing kick back from it's neighbors, and that will have a long term negative impact on China in a lot arenas.  As for their military build up and antics around Taiwan.... it just doesn't matter, that's all show and no go.  They they know it, and so to does Taiwan, and they're making sure China keeps understanding it's all for show by adding their first bunch of 66 F-16 fighters to their air force.  Unlike Ukraine, they get it. 

 

Trump's tariffs initially cause a lot of chest thumping haranguing, but everyday the geopolitical sites tell how after their virtue signally, they quietly come to terms, and that will be the story that's going to play out from now on. 

 

Finally, Sen. Cory Booker talked on the Senate floor for over 24 hours because.... he's an idiot.  It was called a hyperbolic, theatrical rant against Trump, but it wasn't a filibusterer, it was a stunt. To do what? Show off?

 

 The end result?  Trump is still President, the Congress is still controlled by the Republicans and no one cared what he had to say.   How do I know?   Can anyone show me one quote the Pravda media feels is so compelling it's repeating it?  The "Democrats are still stuck in the muck, with a toxic brand", and their approval ratings are continuing to drop.  Imagine that!

 

Front-Door Cronyism and Back-Door Cronyism

March 26, 2025 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty

Three years ago, I shared two charts, one from the Wall Street Journal and one from the Economist, showing how rich people became rich in various nations.

 

The main purpose of that column was to show – as depicted in the WSJ‘s chart -that cronyism was the main way that Russian billionaires amassed wealth, unlike in the United States.

And that led me to write that, “Russia’s ‘oligarchs’ are not like the self-made billionaires that we’re fortunate to have in the United States.”

Interestingly, the two charts showed that China’s billionaires did not rely on political connections.

But that didn’t seem right, So I wrote in a postscript that, “my gut instinct is that cronyism is a much bigger problem in China’s economy that we see in the data from the WSJ and the Economist.”

Well, my instincts may have been correct according a new article for Foreign Policy by James Palmer.

He starts by describing how attitudes toward wealth sort of changed after the horrors of Maoism.

…every billionaire’s fortune is built upon a thin foundation: the goodwill of the CCP. At every turn, the ultra-rich, especially since Xi took power, are reminded that their wealth exists at the sufferance of the party—and that it could all be taken away. …Even after the abandonment of Maoism, the CCP has never been entirely comfortable with the wealthy. In the 1980s, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping stated that it was fine for “a few” households and regions to “get rich first,” but he said it about peasants, not billionaires, and added that the rich had an obligation to lift up the poor. …Culturally, though, China embraced wealth from the 1980s on with the eagerness of a starving man falling on a banquet. …After two generations of deprivation and revolutionary austerity, the coming of money, and all the possibilities of money, seemed miraculous.

But Palmer explains that it is well nigh impossible to get rich in China without government favoritism in the beginning…or government exploitation later on (what could be called front-door cronyism or back-door cronyism).

In 2002, the CCP reversed its previous policy of shutting out entrepreneurs, who were previously seen as politically suspect. This didn’t lead to businesspeople flocking to the party but instead saw party members flowing into business, where their existing connections proved a serious advantage. Even as private initiative was celebrated, it depended on government backing. …The loans they needed…often came in turn from government-run banks, in a cycle of mutual profit. Officials welcomed GDP growth for their careers and bribes for themselves. …Yet unlike the legal firewalls and political pull enjoyed by U.S. billionaires, none of this success came with security. The newly wealthy were caught in a bind; their wealth let them buy off local officials, and eventually eclipse them, but as their fame grew, they attracted the attention of higher-ranking officials who demanded their own share of the pie. …It was impossible to rise cleanly: Even if your original business was honest, protecting it required not just bribery but participation in networks of mutual vice. …the authorities also regularly harvested them. Which billionaires fell was a matter of arrogance and chance… a ranking of the ultra-wealthy put together by British analyst Rupert Hoogewerf since 1999, became known as the “fattened pig list,” with the joke being that so many of its most prominent members were then picked for slaughter by the party.

Given some of his comments about billionaires in general, I think it’s safe to assume that the author is not a libertarian or conservative.

But he seems to recognize that America’s more laissez-faire approach is better than China’s government-centric approach.

In an era of unchecked billionaire power in the West, it might be tempting to think China has found a better way. But the tools of party power used against the ultra-wealthy are employed more frequently and more cruelly against the poor and powerless… And one class of the ultra-wealthy remains genuinely untouchable: the family members of party leaders. …the wealth of the party, like the power of the party, remains unquestioned.

I’ll close by once again stating that it is great that China engaged in partial economic reform starting more than 40 years ago. Severe poverty is no longer a problem and the nation’s economy is much bigger, which are impressive achievements.

But I’m worried about back-sliding toward more government (a global problem!). I very much hope that China engages in another wave of pro-market reform and can eventually join the club of rich, market-friendly countries.

P.S. Sadly (and unsurprisingly), the OECD and IMF are urging China to adopt bad policy.

January 6 Was Not an Insurrection: The Truth is Coming Out: Part I

Pat Micone challenges the word “insurrection”

By Robin Itzler 

Editor's Note:  This is one of the commentaries selected from Robin's weekly newsletter Patriot Neighbors. Any cartoons appearing will have been added by me.  If you wish to get the full edition, E-mail her at PatriotNeighbors@yahoo.com to get on her list, it's free. RK

 

With 1,500+ pardoned J6ers telling their story to America First Patriots, more of the truth is coming out about what REALLY happened on January 6, 2021. Leftists, along with their MSM partners, have repeatedly called January 6 an insurrection. But as pardoned J6ers explain and 40,000 HOURS of video show, innocent Americans were attacked and murdered at the U.S. Capitol.

What YOU can do as a keyboard activist.  Anytime your newspaper, whether it’s a free local freebie or one you subscribe to, uses the word “insurrection” regarding January 6, call them out! That’s just what Republican Club of Laguna Woods Village President Pat Micone did.

In March, the Republican Club of Laguna Woods Village invited Jeffrey Scott Brown, a recently pardoned J6er, to speak. The event was publicized in the community newspaper, which gave Democrats of Laguna Woods Village a reason to protest. (Did they take time out from vandalizing Tesla dealerships?)

The Laguna Woods Village Globe used the word “insurrection” when writing about the March 7 Republican event and Democrat protest. Pat Micone immediately wrote a rebuttal letter to the editor. Here are excerpts that were published in the newspaper’s March 20 issue:

“While Democrats choose to name and claim that the Jan. 6 incident was an insurrection, it has not proven to be so. Think about this: Why else would the J6 Select Committee delete all their files if it is true? The truth is that President Trump and patriotic Americans were asking Vice President Mike Pence to delay certifying the 2020 election results for two weeks until a more thorough audit could be done with reports of irregularities nationwide. Trump’s words to the crowd were “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.” 

We believe that was the intent of the rally that day, not an insurrection. Many club members disagree that 200 Democrat protestors lining the clubhouse walkway entry and taking up parking spaces for elderly residents and often block entry to our venue were respectful and courteous. Republicans do not protest Democratic events and speakers. We let people decide under their First Amendment right.

Bravo to Pat Micone and her membership for standing up to the ongoing lie that January 6 was an “insurrection.” If your newspaper uses the word “insurrection,” write a letter to the editor explaining the truth. Pictured: President Trump speaking to supporters on January 6, 2021.

 Part II will appear tomorrow. 

Obama's Pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Living the Good Life

Any USAID money go to his church?

Susan Daniels Apr 01, 2025 @ Susan's Newsletter

Barack Obama sort of dumped Rev. Wright in 2008 as his campaign was firing up. Interestingly, it was over comments Wright said during church services in 2001. On the first Sunday after the Twin Towers attack, Wright told his flock:

"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye.  We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost.” 

 

Wright was Obama’s pastor for twenty years, presided at his wedding to Michelle and baptized their children.

Wright also preached:

 

“The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three‐strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America.’ No, no, no, God damn America, that’s in the Bible for killing innocent people.”

The wily Obama was smart enough to know that his association with Wright wasn’t going over well with White America. He originally invited Wright to give the invocation at an event on February 10, 2007, at the start of Obama’s campaign. He called Wright the night before and retracted the invitation but still had Wright attend. Obama’s campaign team was skittish about the association. To the relief of all, Wright retired in 2008 from Trinty United Church of Christ. And what a retirement he got.

Wright moved into a 10,340 square-foot $1.6 million house in Tinley Park, IL, which was less than 2% black. Apparently, although a racist, he didn’t mind living among whites. His church paid for it, and he also got a $10 million line of credit.

Wright already owned the property. He bought it in 2004 for $345,000. He sold it to Trinity United for $308,000 in 2006. Those proceeds went into a living trust for him and his wife. So did he sell the property to himself?

While Obama gave the illusion that he had distanced himself from Wright, he only kind of did. Obama said: 

 

“In sum, I reject outright the statements by the Reverend Wright that are at issue.”

In the Huffington Post, Obama said: 

 

“Most importantly, The Reverend Wright preached the gospel of Jesus, a gospel on which I base my life. In other words, he has never been my political advisor; he's been my pastor. And the sermons I heard him preach always related to our obligation to love God and one another, to work on behalf of the poor, and to seek justice at every turn.”

Don’t laugh, Obama actually said that. He left out the part where Jesus was going to try to divide the country racially and return it to the ‘60s.

What interesting about the house is that the church took out the mortgage in 2006 to build the house for Wright and managed to pay it off four years later.

 

Editor's Note:  Two documents appear here I can't properly produce, please follow the link to see them. RK 

 

 Wright is still living there and preaching and teaching part-time, but he had a stroke in 2016 that has him now in a wheelchair.

But he’s not the only one living the fancy life. Senator Raphael Warnock is living rent free in a $1 million home owned by Ebenezer Baptist Church when he is not pretending to represent the residents of Georgia.

Washington Free Beacon: 

“Warnock now lives in the home for free. Property taxes? Well, the church, and thereby Warnock, is exempt from nearly all of them, even from those that subsidize Atlanta-area schools, libraries, parks, bonds, and local government operations, real estate records show.

“It's unclear why Ebenezer Baptist Church bought the luxury home for Warnock, who owned his own home in Atlanta when the church purchased the DeKalb property. (Warnock sold his personal Atlanta home shortly after he moved into the church-owned home, real estate records show.)” A house he would have had to pay property tax on.

“Warnock himself has not publicly disclosed his new housing arrangement. But on March 16, he urged his congregation to donate to a $3.5 million church fundraising campaign known as One Ebenezer devoted to, among other things, "reducing our mortgage debt." During that sermon, Warnock called on the members of the congregation to donate "at least" $139 on top of their 10 percent tithe in honor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church's 139th anniversary.

"So give what you would normally give. Do that first," Warnock said from the pulpit.

"Then maybe you want to give an anniversary [gift] … $139. Everybody who can … give at least that much."

"There are others who say, I can do better. I can give $500. I can give $1,000," Warnock went on. "Somebody might want to give their bonus. Why are y'all laughing? I ain't laughing, I'm serious. You might want to give your bonus. You might want to give a week's salary. All of us are blessed at different levels."

“In addition to his free Atlanta housing, Warnock earned a church salary of $31,800 in 2023 as well as nearly $461,000* in book royalties, his financial disclosure shows. A tithe on that income would have amounted to over $49,000, but it's unclear if Warnock donated anything to Ebenezer Baptist Church in 2023.”

* For those who don’t know, writers make about $5 a book. So did Warnock sell 92,200 books in 2023?  

Susan Daniels has been a licensed private investigator in OH for more than thirty years. She uncovered the phony Connecticut social security number Barack Obama has been using since his mid-20s. She is the author of The Rubbish Hauler’s Wife versus Barack Obama: A True Story, available on Amazon.com.

Editor's Note:  Please go to the original to see the video that appears here. RK

The Fake Left

 By Daniel Greenfield @ Sultan Knish Blog

First it was farmers. Then coal miners and factory workers. And then minorities, first in this country and then abroad, who were the latest candidates for the oppressed of the year.

But beyond searching for victims to represent, the Left was really searching for authenticity.

The Left, for all its protestations about the travails of the working class, is a movement of radical intellectuals, effete upper-class dilettantes and professional activists who are detached from the ‘plight’ of the ‘proletariat’ whose rights they claim to be campaigning for. Its academic theories, from Marxism on down, are not grounded in anything except abstract sophistry marshaled on behalf of the perpetually oppressed who are to benefit from the totalitarian rule of the Left.

The inauthenticity of the Left, its power and privilege, its detachment from what it considers to be ordinary life, leaves it forever searching for authentic victims, whose lives follow the patterns of socialist theories, rather than being the ones who stand apart and make those theories.

The mimicry of working-class attire by leftists had been mocked as far back as Orwell. Radicals who didn’t work loved adopting the costumes and accents of the working class as if they were ideological method actors who could discover the authenticity they lacked by playing a part. (It is no coincidence that acting is a profession rife with leftist politics and that so many of those who play the embodiment of the ordinary man or woman on screen proved to be nothing of the sort. To paraphrase Shakespeare, all the Left’s a stage and its activists mere players.)

Leftists search for the missing authenticity by trying to embed themselves into the lives of the authentic ‘working class’. In the 19th century, they rallied for farmers and tried to become them. Wealthy urbane intellectuals engaged in doomed efforts to run farms, growing apples and raising hens in New England with invariably disastrous results that left them bankrupt and in debt, without having learned a single thing from the experience.

Except to denounce ‘mercantilism’ and later capitalism for their failures.

19th century leftist intellectuals, individually or as part of the growing trend of Fourierist communes, lacked the discipline for the backbreaking work and painstaking planning involved in farming. Rather than leading them to question whether they could run entire societies when they could not even manage a farm, they decided that the problem was with farming, not with them.

And that is what the Left always does. Rather than acknowledge that their failures stem from hubris and a lack of discipline, they instead blame them on the general state of society.

By the 20th century, they had turned away from farmers, who had proven that they were not fertile ground for their ideology, to factory workers and miners who were more willing to form unions. The new working-class ideal was no longer Fourier’s massive agriculture communes, but massive industrialization that appeared to be made for socialist central planning. Unlike agriculture which was subject to the vicissitudes of the weather, every element of the industrial process from mining to the finished product appeared controllable and subject to their theories.

The Soviet Union purged farmers and built-up industrialization, as Communist China would do in more recent times, leading to massive famines in both dictatorships. Russia and China reviled farmers as reactionaries and their mismanagement of agriculture collectively killed millions. The USSR became dependent on American agricultural imports and China may dump its junk on Americans on an incredible scale, but still imports agricultural products from America.

In America, the factory workers and miners eventually proved disappointingly conservative. Both the international Marxist movements and American leftists moved on to minorities who were seen as truly authentic revolutionary bases who would not be seduced by capitalism. Third world terrorism, especially in Latin America and the Muslim world, became the new ideal.

Western leftists began admiring and trying to imitate Che and Arafat. Then Hugo Chavez and Hamas. They gave up on the white working class entirely, then on men and everyone else. The vast majority of Americans, like the farmers, the workers and the miners, were no longer seen as ‘authentic’ and lost their ideological central place in the grand schemes of socialism.

The Left’s pursuit of authenticity was a response to its own unreality. The more unreal it became, the more it became obsessed with finding the authenticity in others that it lacked. As a movement trying to escape from itself, it could never achieve its real goal of embodying its shifting fashionable notions of the ‘salt of the earth’ who had the gift of making things work.

The ‘authenticity vampires’ who live on laptops but sound like they are struggling in salt mines always talk about ‘fighting for the people’, not because they love the people, but because they want to become them. They attach themselves to what they deem to be the working class to drain them of that authenticity, and then, like vampires, kill them off and replace them.

The crisis of the radical intellectuals is that they reject what they are, they reject the world as it is and they build their lives around fantasies that have no connection to their real selves or to reality. If they had the love for labor that they claim to, they would recognize their own decadence, but instead they aspire to be a supreme ruling class, the ‘first citizens’ of a class they do not even belong to.

A true society of workers would have no place for the sorts of people who theorize about it. A society of workers would understand why the various theories of those who pretend to speak for the working class are actually unworkable. The Left is not a society of workers, but of theorizers, whose theories never work, but who collude to perpetrate a massive fantasy on the public.

The world’s greatest con job.

Leftists began by fooling themselves and then fooling everyone else. Like all liars, they are desperately hungry for some truths to hang over their vast infrastructure of deceits. That is the authenticity they seek. Some truth to make the lies that they tell to themselves and to us seem plausible. Leftists put on working-class outfits, shabby, ripped and worn clothes, use lower class accents, embrace their music and what they think is their culture to find the truth.

But eventually this fake authenticity wears thin and they have to exchange it for another one. And they tell themselves that time this it will work and radical Pinocchio will become a real boy.

Daniel Greenfield is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This article previously appeared at the Center's Front Page Magazine. Click here to subscribe to my articles. And click here to support my work with a donation.  Thank you for reading.

 

Is Le Pen Mightier Than the Sword?

Lessons on lawfare in the wake of Trump.

By Mark Angelides | Apr 1, 2025 @ Liberty Nation News, Tags: Articles, International, Opinion 

Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s right-wing National Rally (NR) party, was, on Monday, March 31, convicted of embezzlement and barred from running for office for the next five years. While headlines across Europe and the United States were written with barely constrained joy at her political demise, Le Pen’s story is far from over. And if 2024 delivered any lessons at all in the repercussions of prosecuting populist leaders, the French judiciary may have made a huge miscalculation.

Embezzlement?

Along with a $108,000 fine and a suspended prison sentence, Le Pen is now banned from contesting the 2027 presidential election, in which she was highly likely to succeed. President Emmanuel Macron is term-limited and will not be able to seek a third term; after coming second in those two contests, the NR leader had improved her polling and looked set to redefine French politics come election day.

But the five-year ban is more than a little curious.

Consider the facts. Le Pen’s party in the European Parliament received EU funds; prosecutors claim that these funds were stolen, and the verdict declared her crimes a “democratic bypass.” And that is pretty much the limit of US reporting on the matter. But what did she spend the cash on? Here’s where things get a little murkier.

Le Pen represents her party in the European Union parliament and, as such, is entitled to funds for political enterprises. She also represents her party nationally in France as leader. Did she treat herself to lavish gifts, fancy meals, and designer clothing? No. Indeed, the funds to which she was legally entitled to spend were apparently – to some degree – commingled between her EU and national administration party activities. Simply put, she spent money designated for political activity on political activity.

Rules are rules, some might say. However, in 2025, French staple Le Monde reported that fully one-quarter of all members of the European parliament were involved in some type of scandal. While these range from the undoubtedly criminal to the more Kafkaesque foibles inherent in an overly bureaucratic apparatus, a great many are accused of precisely the same act as Le Pen.

So, why single out the leader of the party that could well form the next government? The clue is in the punishments.

See You on Monday, Le Pen

Le Pen’s sentence will undoubtedly be appealed – although French appeals courts are notoriously slow. As such, the verdict declares that her suspended prison term will not commence, nor will she have to pay the fine straight away – both of these will be on hold until all avenues of appeal are exhausted. But the ban on running for office has already started, meaning that even if she successfully appeals, she will almost certainly not be eligible to appear on the ballot in time for the 2027 election.

Your News – How You Like It!

Even more surprising is that this ban applies only to seeking new office. She is currently the leader of the NR party in the EU and sits in its Parliament – she remains welcome to serve out her term in office. How curious.

Here’s an example. Let’s say Mr. X worked for a bank. Over a period of years, he stole money from the bank, was eventually caught, and then went to trial. After being sentenced, the owner of the bank catches up to him and says, “You thief! You stole from us! You deserve the prison sentence and the punishment. By the way, don’t be late for work on Monday.”

With this scenario in place, one wonders just how political the whole operation was.

Where Enemies Fear to Tread

As expected, Le Pen railed against the sentence, even storming out of the court as it was being delivered. Her deputy and likely contender for the election, should Le Pen fail to earn a reprieve, Jordan Bardella, said that Le Pen “is being unjustly condemned” and that French democracy “is being executed.” But her political opponents also had reservations regarding the outcome. Conservative politician Laurent Wauquiez wrote on X (translated):

“The decision to convict Marine Le Pen is both weighty and exceptional. In a democracy, it is unhealthy for an elected official to be barred from running for office. Political debates must be decided at the ballot box, by the French people.”

Monsieur Wauquiez has a point.

There are two aspects to consider in the sentencing of Le Pen. The first is that when Macron came back to power, he begged for help from all comers to defeat NR, resulting in a French parliament that could function only with Le Pen walking the moderate path. The ragtag collection of Greens, Communists, and the like have already resulted in losing four prime ministers in 2024 alone. With Le Pen unleashed, the French government can no longer rely on her to help battle the more radical elements invited in by a desperate president. Votes of “no confidence” are sure to begin mounting now that Le Pen has likely been denied a path to direct power.

For keen political observers, another possibility is on the not-too-distant horizon. Democrats, the American judicial system, and the Fourth Estate were all aligned in their efforts to send Donald Trump to the Big House rather than the White House. In fact, there’s a solid argument to be made that the multiple prosecutions backfired and added fuel to the campaign fire, thrusting him back to the presidency. It is no coincidence that his mugshot became one of several now-iconic images of that 2024 race.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban posted along with the verdict: “Je Suis Marine” (I am Marine). Whether her second-in-command, Bardella, or she herself is on the ballot in 2027, her treatment by the state and the judiciary will be the looming shadow under which all campaigns are measured. The French voters may feel that they too, in at least some small way, are “Marine.”

~

Liberty Nation does not endorse candidates, campaigns, or legislation, and this presentation is no endorsement.

Read More From Mark Angelides Editor-in-Chief div>

The Trojan Horses

By Rich Kozlovich

 

I originally posted this in 2009 in order to make sure there was no mistake about who these Trojan horses are. I linked and quoted information directly from the Activist Cash web site, which as far as I can tell no longer exists, as a result, none of the links work, and truth be told, I'm not sure if all of these organizations still exist, but the information presented here is what I posted from the site at that time.   

 

I've linked what files I have on some of these groups from P&D.  Some of the articles will be repetitious as they cover many of these groups at the same time, so bear with it. 

 

There are other groups not listed here such as 

I am a firm believer in the old axiom that birds of a feather flock together.  I originally published this list in 2009, and a lot has happened since then as a wake up call to the nation over where the funding is coming from for all these activists group, and their "mostly peaceful" riots.  The big difference is until DOGE exposed what's going on we couldn't prove so much of it was coming from government agencies like USAID, deliberately working to destroy the nation.  Now we know.  

 

Natural Resources Defense Council - The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is the utility infielder of nanny groups. Because its name implies a wide-ranging universe of issues, the group can be counted on to inject itself into just about any debate where there’s an environmental argument to be made. Washington PR firm Fenton Communications has made use of the NRDC in a variety of public campaigns, the most famous example of which was the 1989 “Alar-on-apples” food scare.

Following the release of a report called “Intolerable Risk” — which claimed that Alar was “the most potent cancer-causing agent in our food supply” and blamed the chemical for “as many as 5,300” childhood cancer cases — Fenton and NRDC went on a five-month media blitz. The campaign kicked off with a CBS 60 Minutes feature seen by over 50 million Americans. Despite the fact that the claims were completely unfounded, hysteria set in. Apples were pulled off of grocery shelves, schools stopped serving them at lunch, and apple growers nationwide lost over $250 million.

Currently, NRDC is focusing a great deal of its vast resources fighting against genetically improved foods.

The Wall Street Journal printed one of David Fenton’s internal memos, after the Alar-on-apples scandal was publicly debunked. Here’s Fenton in his own words: “We designed [the Alar Campaign] so that revenue would flow back to the Natural Resources Defense Council from the public, and we sold this book about pesticides through a 900 number and the Donahue show. And to date there has been $700,000 in net revenue from it.”

NRDC joined forces again with Fenton Communications in 1998 to promote a food-scare campaign called “Give Swordfish a Break!” which was operated by SeaWeb, an organization created by Fenton specifically for this campaign. Nearly all of the funding for this effort came from pass-through grants solicited by NRDC on behalf of SeaWeb. Two years later the anti-swordfish campaign folded, with both groups claiming victory. The whole promotion was based on the myth that Atlantic swordfish were being over-fished to the point of extinction. But according to the National Marine Fisheries Service, that simply wasn’t true.

 

My NRDC file

 

American Corn Growers Association - At a March 21, 2000, press conference, the organic marketer-funded Center for Food Safety unveiled a petition demanding that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration begin requiring warning labels on all genetically improved foods. Among the co-signers of this document were the American Corn Growers Association and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

With its all-American name, the American Corn Growers Association (ACGA) brings to mind visions of Heartland cornfields and a simple farm life straight out of Grant Wood’s “American Gothic.” But in reality, ACGA represents a farming style more Cuban than American.

Center for Science in the Public Interest - “The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is the undisputed leader among America’s “food police.” CSPI was founded in 1971 by current executive director Michael Jacobson, and two of his co-workers at Ralph Nader’s Center for the Study of Responsive Law. Since then, CSPI’s joyless eating club has issued hundreds of high-profile—and highly questionable—reports condemning soft drinks, fat substitutes, irradiated meat, biotech food crops, French fries, and just about anything that tastes good.”

 

My Center for Science in the Public Interest file.

Earth First!  - In 1997-98, the Trees Foundation, which serves as the fiscal agent for various Earth First! groups, reported to the IRS that it received funding from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Trees noted that the NRDC money was “specifically designated for” three California groups “for their work in the Headwaters Forest protection effort.” One of these groups was the Ecology Center, where Karen Pickett runs the Headwaters campaign. Pickett is also the keeper of the cash for the Earth First! Direct Action Fund.

Another group that NRDC “specifically designated” should get pass-through money from the Trees Foundation was Redwood Justice. Redwood Justice’s main program is paying the legal bills for Earth First! leader Darryl Cherney’s lawsuit against the FBI.
A spin off this group is the super radical Earth Liberation Front (ELF). “Three workers sleeping at a construction site were able to escape after the terrorist Earth Liberation Front (ELF) set fire to an unfinished, 200-unit condominium development late one night in August, 2003. "It could have killed someone," said San Diego fire captain Jeff Carle.”

 

Environmental Media Services - SeaWeb’s wholly unnecessary “Give Swordfish a Break!” campaign, conceived and directed by Fenton Communications, was originally designed as a cooperative campaign with the Natural Resources Defense Council (SeaWeb and NRDC are still Fenton clients). In its typical role as media “front” group, Environmental Media Services heavily promoted the swordfish boycott on behalf of both NRDC and SeaWeb for two years, ending with a hollow declaration of victory in August 2000.

Environmental Working Group - The Natural Resources Defense Council and Environmental Working Group are both clients of leftist PR firm Fenton Communications, based in Washington, DC. David Fenton, who runs this firm, also sits on EWG’s board.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency includes a remarkable number of anti-consumer activists on various advisory committees. When invitations to join the current EPA Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee were issued in August 2001, the Environmental Working Group’s Sean Gray made the list, as did Erik Olson of NRDC, John Vickery of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and Troy Seidle of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

NRDC and EWG have been tag-teaming both EPA panels and the public for several years. In one celebrated episode, both groups’ representatives pulled out of Vice President Gore’s “Tolerance Reassessment Advisory Committee” in 1999, claiming that even Al “Earth in the Balance” Gore wasn’t banning pesticides fast enough for their liking. The two organizations co-released a (later debunked) report in 1996 claiming that 45 million Americans were drinking “contaminated” water. Not surprisingly, EWG pointed the finger of blame at “pesticide runoff.”

 

My Environmental Working Group file. 

Greenpeace - The Natural Resources Defense Council and Greenpeace USA are both clients of leftist Washington PR boutique Fenton Communications. David Fenton’s flacks have perfected the art of the food scare, including NRDC’s Alar-on-apples fundraising scam in 1989, SeaWeb’s ridiculous 1988 swordfish boycott, and the more recent StarLink corn fiasco.

Greenpeace is the largest environmental organization in the world, with an international membership of over 5 million and offices in over 20 countries. Forbes magazine once described it as “a skillfully managed business” with full command of “the tools of direct mail and image manipulation -- and tactics that would bring instant condemnation if practiced by a for-profit corporation.” But Greenpeace has escaped public censure by hiding behind the mask of its “non-profit” status and its U.S. tax exemption.

 

Here is my Greenpeace file. 

Humane Society of the United States - When the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) sued the United States Navy because it believed “human-generated noise -- including active sonars – ha[d] a negative effect on marine mammals,” the Humane Society of the United States was happy to sign on. The two groups have also sued Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) Airport, O’Hare Airport, and others. The Keep Antibiotics Working (KAW) coalition counts both HSUS and NRDC as members. KAW aims to scare the public about the supposed “overuse” of antibiotics on farm animals. They were also both members of the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s Foodspeak coalition. Members hoped to avoid lawsuits for false claims against food companies by overturning food disparagement laws.

Despite the words “humane society” on its letterhead, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is not affiliated with your local animal shelter. Despite the omnipresent dogs and cats in its fundraising materials, it’s not an organization that runs spay/neuter programs or takes in stray, neglected, and abused pets. And despite the common image of animal protection agencies as cash-strapped organizations dedicated to animal welfare, HSUS has become the wealthiest animal rights organization on earth.

Ruckus Society - While the Ruckus Society’s Tzeporah Berman (who coordinates rainforest programs for ForestEthics in Vancouver) oversaw a Canadian anti-logging campaign on the ground, NRDC put economic pressure on companies like Home Depot, Lowe’s, Kinko’s, Nike, 3M, and Starbucks, each of which pledged to avoid buying products derived from British Columbia rainforest timber.

The Ruckus Society was founded in late 1995 by two giants of the radical environmentalist movement: Mike Roselle and Howard “Twilly” Cannon. Roselle was a founder of Earth First! (of 1980s tree-spiking fame), the group which spun off the domestic terrorist Earth Liberation Front in 1992. He also co-founded the radical Rainforest Action Network. Cannon built his extremist credentials as a front-line activist and ship’s captain with Greenpeace’s French and Russian anti-nuclear campaigns.

SeaWeb - SeaWeb began as a “project” of the NRDC, with a start-up grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts. Now that SeaWeb has been spun off and enjoys relative independence, its leaders still collaborate with NRDC program directors on a variety of promotions, including the wholly unnecessary (and thoroughly debunked) “Give Swordfish a Break!” campaign. NRDC’s opinions on which species of menu fish are politically correct enough to eat can be found on SeaWeb’s “Seafood Choices Alliance” web site. Greenpeace USA and SeaWeb are both clients of leftist Washington PR boutique Fenton Communications, the widely-acknowledged kings of the modern food scare.

What can you say about a group of alarmist publicity-seekers whose greatest passion is “saving” fish species that aren’t even endangered? Are they crazy? Power-hungry? Misguided, as the U.S. government has said? Sadly, SeaWeb is just one in a long line of recent entrants into the food-scare industry. And judging from the the company it keeps, SeaWeb is a prime example of the well-networked Nanny Culture. Its pockets are deep, its friends are powerful, its tactics are disingenuous, and it’s not going away any time soon.

Sierra Club -The Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) have allied on numerous occasions to combat modern livestock farms, most notably joining with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Waterkeeper Alliance in 2003 to sue the Environmental Protection Agency for increased restrictions on pork farmers. The Sierra Club also promoted NRDC's notorious Alar on apples" food scare. The two groups have collaborated multiple times to lobby the U.S. government against biotech foods, and are members of the Keep Antibiotics Working campaign, a slick PR project that frightens Americans away from the conventional meat supply with reckless claims about the use of antibiotics in livestock.

Founded in 1892 by John Muir to "make the mountains glad," the Sierra Club is the oldest and arguably the most powerful environmental group in the nation. But its concerns are no longer limited to the happiness of the valleys. Once dedicated to conserving wilderness for future human enjoyment, the Sierra Club has become an anti-growth, anti-technology group that puts its utopian environmentalist vision before the well being of humans.

 

My Sierra Club file. 

Tides Foundation - NRDC predates the Tides Center by several years, so it was never formally a Tides “project.” But it did enjoy similar “startup” assistance from the Tides Foundation during its early years. To date, Tides has used its “pass-through” granting structure to funnel over a quarter of a million dollars to NRDC, without ever acknowledging where the funds originally came from. In one example, the Tides Foundation was the funding vehicle through which NRDC received funds in 1989 to hire Fenton Communications, its PR firm of choice, to promote its much-hyped and thoroughly debunked Alar-on-apples food scare.

The Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC) calls one of its flagship programs the “Safe Food Fight.” And with WORC, the emphasis is always on fighting. After all, over 80% of WORC’s funding comes from big-money foundations, and they’re not paying WORC to be calm and rational.

My Tides Foundation file.

Union of Concerned Scientists - The Union of Concerned Scientists often brags about its cooperation with other environmental groups. Among the organizations with which UCS works closely, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) stands at the top of the list. UCS and NRDC regularly co-host press conferences, co-sign petitions, and co-author reports. Both groups are members of the Keep Antibiotics Working coalition and the Save our Environment Coalition.

Committed to an “open-minded search for truth,” and armed with “unrivaled scientific expertise,” the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) “doesn’t say anything [it] can’t back up with solid evidence.” At least, that’s what its fund-raising letters say. The reality is quite different.

 

 

Western Organization of Resource Councils - Natural Resources Defense Council has collaborated with the Western Organization of Resource Councils in the past, most notably on matters of mining policy. During the years of the Clinton administration, NRDC and WORC co-signed at least three letters to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, urging that stricter standards be used for determining mining rights for coal in Western states. In one case, the two groups joined with Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace to sue the Bureau of Land Management over the terms of its coal mining-rights leasing program.

These groups have promoted every misanthropic philosophical flavor of the day that has come down the pike for the last sixty years and if we are to believe all that is said, and I for one do, they have done it with lies, deception and junk science.   The Democrats and RINO'S, along with Canada and the EU, are now in bed with every radical group in the world and they will have a say in everything we do!