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De Omnibus Dubitandum - Lux Veritas

Monday, July 7, 2025

My Firsthand Knowledge about Anchor Babies

By Susan Daniels Jul 05, 2025 @ Susan's Newsletter 

There are two subjects on which I am extremely well versed: Barack Obama’s phony Connecticut Social Security number and anchor babies. I was schooled in both while working as a licensed private investigator, which I have done for more than thirty years.

One of my long-time clients is a company in Taiwan. For four years, I collected, with written permission, the medical records of more than eighty Chinese women who arrived in California to give birth.

Most of these women hired companies in China for $30,000, which arranged for help in getting tourist visas, arranging for living accommodations, and a hospital stay. They were also provided rides to doctors’ appointments. The companies advised them how to dress to disguise their pregnancy because women are not allowed to fly after a certain time, usually seven months.

The advantage for women to give birth in the U.S., whose babies were immediately considered citizens, included all the benefits Americans had, like access to social security and a path for the entire family to emigrate when the child turned eighteen.

A lengthy story in the NBC News explained how it worked.

Once I became fluent in reading doctors’ handwriting, it became easy. All the doctors with whom I came in contact were Chinese, but they, and their staff, were fluent in English and pleasant to work with. I also had to deal with about eight different hospitals in the Los Angeles area.

(I still laugh when I recall one of the doctors had written at the bottom of a page: “So far so good.”)

From the medical records I learned that few women had more than two weekly doctor visits before they gave birth. One woman gave birth the day after her first visit. The doctors charged between $2,500 to $3,500 and were paid in cash.

The doctors’ receptionists would complain to me about the anchor baby scam. They were working hard, while the women came in on tourist visas, gave birth, left a month later, but left with a baby who was entitled to everything they were working for. They resented how the women could afford to shop on Rodeo Drive.

A two-day hospital bill averaged $50,000. The women would sign a poverty pledge and the hospital would charge the women $5,000. The State of California coughed up the rest. I suspect no resident was aware of that. The women then filed with their insurance company to be reimbursed for their payment to the doctor and hospital.

The Chinese tradition was that women were to remain in bed for thirty days after birth, and, as part of the arrangement with the provider company, meals were delivered to them.

At no time were these women under the “jurisdiction” of the United States. They lied on their visas about the reason for coming here, and it violates the requirements of the 14th Amendment because they came as tourists.

My client, employed by various Chinese insurance companies, said the companies were angry because the policies required reimbursement to the women when there were doctors and hospitals in China that the women could have used.

That facet of my work for them came to an abrupt halt. A woman, who misjudged her due date, gave birth on the plane. The flight was diverted to Alaska. The woman was sent home on the next flight, the newborn was kept there, and she received a bill for $33,000 for the costs to the airline. I am unsure, but I suspect she had to pay if she wanted her baby.

The insurance companies rewrote their policies, and the scam was finished, as was my work. But I did learn some things that would interest a sociologist. I saw the passports of all the women. With few exceptions, they were all very attractive. Most were 5’3” and at almost nine months pregnant, weighed about 127 lbs. The only exceptions were a woman who was 5’7” and another who tipped the scale at 208 pounds.

If I recall correctly, there were three sets of twins, one baby born with six fingers on one hand, one stillborn, and a woman whose first child was stillborn but gave birth to a healthy boy. Births were almost equally divided by gender.

Dr. John Eastman in “Birthright Citizenship,” puts up a good argument against anchor babies when he was commenting on Trump v CASA, Inc.:

“In her dissenting opinion, Justice Sotomayor laughably contends that “the Order may even wrench newborns from the arms of parents lawfully in the United States, for it purports to strip citizenship from the children of parents legally present on a temporary basis.” “Those newborns,” she adds, “could face deportation, even as their parents remain lawfully in the country.” Had she bothered to look, she would have realized that the children of lawful, temporary visitors to this country, such as those on student or work visas, hold a “derivative nonimmigrant status” based on the parent’s nonimmigrant status.

And “Such evidence includes statements by the leading congressional sponsors of the 14th Amendment that the language “subject to the jurisdiction” means “a full and complete jurisdiction” and “not being subject to some foreign power.” In other words, it is not enough that a person is subject to the kind of partial jurisdiction that requires compliance with the laws; he must also be free from the jurisdiction of any other nation.

“In addition, there were the actions of the secretary (sic) of State in the decades following adoption of the 14th Amendment, denying citizenship to children born on U.S. soil to parents who were merely temporarily visiting the United States and therefore owed allegiance to a foreign power.”

DEI Justice Sotomayor, not known for her intellect, cherry-picked what was included in her dissenting opinion. It brings up an interesting question. Since both Sotomayor and DEI Elena Kagan are barren, whose children are they concerned about, since they have none of their own? Could it possibly be future Democrat voters?

The only time I was irritated by the work was because of the useless FBI. There was a story in the newspaper about their raid on some of the apartments where these women were staying. I called the Los Angeles office and told the agent who answered that I could provide the names of doctors treating these women. He told me to go to their website and put it there. I told him I could give him the information right then. He was not interested. They apparently just wanted the photo op but not more work.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61Tg652gkjL._SL1500_.jpg

Susan Daniels is a private investigator and the author of The Rubbish Hauler’s Wife versus Barack Obama: A True Story which is available on Amazon.com.

Politics like we have never seen.  Recommend Susan’s Newsletter to your friends. Also, there's a video here I can't reproduce.  Go to the original to view it.


 

 

 

Its Defenders Need To Understand That "Capitalism" Is Not An "Ism"

July 3, 2025 By Francis Menton,  @ Manhattan Contrarian

Writing in the Wall Street Journal on June 30 (July 1 in the print edition), editorialist Matthew Hennessey advocates that “Capitalism Needs Champions.” Reacting to the victory of avowed socialist Zohran Mamdani in New York City’s mayoral primary, Hennessey says that the electoral result indicates that the defenders of capitalism are doing a poor job, and need to step up their game:

Let Zohran Mamdani’s victory in last week’s Democratic mayoral primary in New York serve as your periodic reminder that capitalism is in dire need of able defenders. Socialism has more cheerleaders than it deserves, considering its record of consistent failure. Markets need champions too. This is always true, especially now. . . . [T]he problem isn’t capitalism. The problem is complacency.

I don’t disagree. But there’s another problem for defenders of what its enemies call “capitalism.” The problem is that capitalism is not an “ism.”

Think about it. In every instance other than the word “capitalism,” the suffix “ism” is used to designate something as a system of beliefs. The implication of the “ism” suffix is that there are adherents who have adopted these beliefs, and who think that these beliefs are the correct and moral ones that should be adopted by everybody. Such, they think, is the way to a better world. Thus religions are clearly all “isms”: Catholicism, Protestantism, Mohammedism, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, even Paganism. 

In the political realm, most any organized system of beliefs with advocates on its behalf gets the “ism” suffix: not just socialism and communism, but fascism, anarchism, liberalism, conservatism, environmentalism, and plenty more. Even sets of policy prescriptions associated with a particular politician can become an “ism”: think Reaganism, Obamaism, or Trumpism.

But “capitalism”? It’s just a fundamentally different thing. Capitalism is not a belief system. Nobody “believes” in capitalism per se. The word “capitalism” is better understood as a descriptive term for the natural order that arises in the presence of private property and free exchange. The natural order is full of warts and flaws, as are all human institutions. The combination of private property and free exchange could perhaps make a good case for being designated an “ism,” but it turns out that we don’t have that concept in a single word.

The system of private property and free exchange has demonstrated its ability to provide for every human want and need in remarkable abundance: necessities like food, clothing and shelter in incredible quantities and variety; refined art, music, entertainment and other culture; services to provide for every human comfort; and at the same time also every kind of dubious product and service, from drugs to the sex trade to loan sharking to cryptocurrencies to guns, and on and on. Even murder for hire! Some people achieve wild success and wealth, while others struggle to survive no matter how much abundance is created.

It’s all a jumbled mess. Who wants to advocate for this? Certainly not an idealistic young person looking for purpose in life by helping to create a perfect world.

There are no such warts and flaws in the fantasy world of socialism. In socialism we have a true belief system that offers an imaginary path to a world of perfect justice and fairness if only we will follow its creed. And the path is claimed to be an easy one — basically, just have the government take greater control of the economy and allocate all the wealth in a fair manner. Unfortunately, socialism has been proven time and again not to work. In short order, it will bring about economic decline, followed ultimately by near universal poverty and deprivation (with the exception of a few privileged persons who get to run the socialist state machinery).

So yes, we do need champions for “capitalism,” or at least for the system of private property and free exchange. But we also need to recognize what we are advocating for. We cannot claim to have a set of beliefs and prescriptions that, if followed, are the key to achieving a perfect world, or a completely fair world. Our system will always be full of warts and flaws. But it does offer the opportunity for everyone to have the freedom and the dignity to make their own decisions in life, to seek their own success in life, without need for the consent and meddling of government busybodies.

Maybe there is a large group of the “idealistic” to whom capitalism will never appeal. If that group is large enough, then the lesson of the economic failure of socialism will need to be re-learned in bitter experience in every generation from now to the end of time. But we can certainly keep pointing out that the world of perfection offered by socialism is an illusion, and that the actual world that will emerge from socialist prescriptions is far worse than the one we get from private property and free exchange. I’m actually optimistic that there can continue to be a critical mass of voters to keep the advance of socialism at bay, but it’s a much closer horse race than I ever would have thought.

OBBBA’s Small Step to Federalism

Late last year, when there was (unwarranted) optimism that DOGE could deliver big savings for taxpayers, I recommended that Elon Musk and his team promote fiscal federalism.

 

My argument was that it is wasteful and foolish to have Uncle Sam grab about $1.3 trillion from taxpayers at the state and local level and then (using a leaky bucket) send that money back to politicians at the state and local level.

Instead, just let the state and local politicians (and their voters) decide whether to collect and spend money on the various programs funded by federal grants.

The good news is that Trump’s Big Beautiful Budget. takes a modest step in that direction.

Here are some excerpts from a story in the New York Times by David Chen and Pooja Salhotra.

 

…state governments are bracing for impact as Washington shifts much of the burden for health care, food assistance and other programs onto them. …they will be expected to…decide how much they can do to keep their citizens insured and fed once they start losing federal assistance. … 

Mr. Trump’s law includes nearly $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid by 2034, scaling back the program that pays for the health care of roughly 78 million adults and children. It also sharply curtails federal spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which provides monthly food assistance payments to about 42 million people. … 

For the 40 states that expanded Medicaid to lower-income workers under the Affordable Care Act, the fate of that extra coverage has loomed particularly large. …Among the states that could lose more than 7.5 percent of their total federal Medicaid funding are Arizona, New Hampshire, Nevada, Iowa, Vermont, Michigan and Oregon… In California, state officials said the law would most likely cause 3.4 million people to lose health insurance and at least 735,000 people to lose food benefits.

I have three incidental comments and one big response to the NYT story.

The three small comments are:

  1. There are not “$1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid.” Instead, the legislation merely takes the long-overdue step of slowing the growth of Medicaid funding.
  2. The Medicaid expansions from the so-called Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) basically bribed states to expand the program.
  3. The OBBBA curtails the ability of state governments to use odious budget gimmicks to fleece federal taxpayers for more Medicaid funding.

My main response to the story deals with the part about states having to “decide how much they can do to keep their citizens insured and fed.”

Exactly. That’s what should be happening. We have a massive and unaffordable federal government that is squandering well above $1 trillion per year on programs that should be entirely the responsibility of state or local governments.

Indeed, my complaint with Trump’s budget bill is that it only takes a small step in the right direction.

The entire Medicaid program should be turned into a block grant that is gradually phased out. The same is true for food stamps and many other programs.

If states like California want to waste money on various programs, it should not be the responsibility of taxpayers in other states to pick up the tab.

Saturday, July 5, 2025

P&D and The Week That Was

 Truth is the Sublime Convergence of History and Reality

De Omnibus Dubitandum, (Everything is to be questioned!)

This Link will take you to My Commentaries.
 
By Rich Kozlovich 

Well, the Big Beautiful Bill passed, and I've expressed my concerns and what I think the budget should be all about.  I didn't go far enough.  There's a lot of clabber from both sides, and believe it or not, both sides have valid arguments, both sides are lying, but the Democrats are so over the top with their usual emotional pontifications they win the Horsepucky of the Year Award, hands down.  

On Friday I posted this piece, Budgets, the National Debt, and We're Running Out of Time, and since I knew there was going to be a lot of commentaries about this budget I decided to add links to that article I deemed worth your time, from both sides.   But one regarding Medicare was particularly profound in my view because it highlights three important issues this bill on how to fix Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid before they collapse.  

It seems clear if Social Security isn't privatized it will take a huge tax increase to save it, Medicare will no longer be mostly free.  It also seems to me Medicare recipients who paid into the system, will soon have to start paying monthly premiums.  As for Medicaid, that's an anchor that's going to drag the nation down with politicians on both sides of the aisle virtue signally with self-righteous hand wringing and chest pounding.   At one point the Republican controlled Senate, with a 56/44 vote, actually refused to kick illegal aliens off Medicaid.  Three Republicans crossed over.  Are you shocked to know Susan Collins was one of them. 

  • BELLY-UP—Medicare and Social Security Going Broke Ahead of Schedule Final Word: Blind pundits only see rising taxes or cutting.  It’s not ‘time travel’; the clock is just running faster, but the frightening news is, America is fighting against the clock and losing. The long-feared insolvency of Medicare and Social Security just got a little closer....
  • The 'Go-Broke Date' for Social Security Is Moved Up - Social Security and Medicare are heading toward financial trouble sooner than expected, according to new federal projections. The Treasury Department's latest reports show that Social Security's combined trust funds are now forecast to not contain enough money to pay full benefits in 2034—one year earlier than last year's estimate, Politico reports. Medicare's hospital insurance fund is set to be depleted in 2033, moving up its funding cliff by three years........

As more and more classified information is being found by Trump appointees, and it's shocking how much these agencies hid, and are still trying to hide.  People like "former FBI Director James Comey, CIA Director John Brennan, and DNI James Clapper worked together to purposely corrupt the Trump-Russia investigation in 2016 before Trump entered office."

The FBI  blocked an investigation into the 2020 "Chinese mail-in voting scam to protect Chris Wray who likely lied to Congress".  The DOJ is pursuing that and before all of this is over, and if there's any justice in the world, Wray, Comey, Brennan, and Clapper should all be heading to prison. After all, "no one is above the law."    (More here) But it gets better.  Those who corruptly went after Donald Trump filing false criminal charges against him are going to be exposed, as Senator Grassley is promising to name names.   

The Trump administration is purging the EPA which is long....long... overdue,  a full scale audit "of the SBA 8(a) program found over $550 million in contracts were linked to bribery and fraud schemes." 

Let me tell you about Wilson Tindi, DEI and due process.  Tindi is an illegal alien from Kenya.  A convicted felon, and registered sex offender who the state of Minnesota knowingly hired as an auditor rising to the "highest rank available in the state career civil service".  

Did you ever wonder why the left is so hot due process for illegals?  Because it's forever.  This article outlines how this has been going on with this guy since 2005, his criminal activity and the "due process" procedures, all of which he lost, and he's still here.  That's what the left's due process is all about, straining the system to make in impossible to deport illegal aliens.  If a man with his criminal record can't be deported, it's impossible to deport anyone easily.  I might also add so much of this would be impossible if not for the corrupt federal judges who are part of this story.  

University of Pennsylvania has been forced to apologize for robbing female athletes of winning titles promoting and allowing a man who calls himself Lia Thomas to compete against women, and have now stripped Thomas of his improperly earned titles.  In my opinion, this may have also deprived these women of financial opportunities, so not only the university, but university officials and Thomas need to be sued personally.  

Let's talk about Russia for a minute. Here's a map of Ukraine that Russia has now conquered, after over three and a half years, .... that's it, and Putin tells Trump Russia will never stop trying to conquer Ukraine.  

  

His economy is crashing, their agricultural harvests are shrinking, and due to sanctions only 16 nations are buying Russian grain.  Since the price of oil is dropping, and for reasons I don't understand the value of the ruble is strong, so Russia's gas revenues fell dramatically.  Russia's small business community is facing declines in sales, with the expected loss of revenue making it difficult to get loans, resulting in cuts to expansion and hiring.  The decline in small businesses is a bigger part of the story than is appreciated.

You can tell when a tree is starting to die because it no longer produces leaves on the upper branches, and each year the number of bare branches increases. It feels like the leaves have fallen off the upper branches of the country. Unknown

Putin's lost hundreds of thousands of young Russian men and is incapable of fielding his army without tens of thousands of North Korean "volunteers". He can't manufacture the military hardware he needs, and now Iran may not be able to supply him the drones he's been using.  Another high ranking officer has been killed, and I have to say I've never read where so many high ranking officers have been killed in a war as this one.

As for the blatantly stupid argument about Putin attacked Ukraine because he was afraid of NATO, and not blatant aggression, then perhaps they can explain to me why "Russia continues to illegally occupy about 20% of Georgian territory?"

In Tony Judt's book Post war, a History of Europe since 1945, Part Two, Chapter IX he goes into great detail about the Hungarian revolution and Czech resistance and the Soviet use of force to make sure they all stayed under Soviet control.  Nothing's changed except the names.  It's not about depth of defense, it's about conquest and power, it really is that simple, it's always been that simple, and it will always be that simple when dealing with Russia.  And everyone needs to get that.

Trump needs to understand even his negotiating skills, which are impressive, aren't going to make a difference.  We're already seeing his remarkable negotiations between Congo and Rwanda starting to come apart with disputes over interpretation, economics, and the continued violence by "proxy" groups.  I'm not expecting to see this agreement to hold.  For the sake of all these people who've suffered mighty for 30 years, I hope I'm wrong.  

Europe is a mess, and I've a lot of stored articles dealing with that, so more will be coming soon.  My conclusion is, and has been for a long time, Europe as we know is is doomed.  They did it to themselves, and it's going to get a lot worse.

And finally, Elon Musk is still at it, looking for attention.  First of all, the only third party to be successful in America is the Republican party, and an attempt to be a Ross Perot spoiler for political clout by backstabbing former allies isn't going to play well.  Nothing is in his favor.  His character, his actions, or his goals.  While Ross Perot could be criticized, his goals were deemed honorable.  Not so with Musk.   This "new party" is going nowhere, and any clout he will have will be in his ability to contribute heavily to politicians of his choice, and that may even end up to be a nothing burger. 

I've been busy this week with 12 commentaries of my own and 19 by others, and the six permanent links.  Have a great weekend, and best wishes to all those of honest heart and good will. 

Let's start out with this Quote of the Day.

My Commentaries

  1. Budgets, the National Debt, and We're Running Out of Time
  2. The Left is Bereft of Heft
  3. The XYZ Factors of Organizations
  4. Now, Back to the House
  5. Who Raises A Banner That Says: I Stand For Consensus!
  6. Is Aphorism Another Name For Humor and Snarkiness?
  7. Elon is Just Being Elon. So, Who Cares?
  8. Trump, the Federal Judiciary, and The Government of the United States
  9. Slinging Sammy Baugh
  10. International Asteroid Day
  11. Is Zohran Mamdani Really the Anointed One? Part II
  12. Let Me Get This Straight

 



Friday, July 4, 2025

Democrats Gone Wild

July 4, 2025 By Robin M. Itzler @ American Thinker 

Democrats suffering from severe cases of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) are now displaying another symptom: staging ill-conceived confrontations to get street cred with their antifa progressive base. Some recent headlines:

  • North Carolina state Rep. Julie von Haefen attended a “No Kings” protest and was photographed holding what appeared to be an effigy of the decapitated heads of Trump and his senior policy advisor, Stephen Miller.
  • U.S. Representative LaMonica McIver was charged in a three-count indictment for forcibly impeding and interfering with federal officers—all seen on video.
  • New York City Mayoral candidate Brad Lander got the publicity he desired by trying to help illegal alien criminals by allegedly assaulting a federal law enforcement officer.
  • Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested as he and other elected Democrats allegedly tried to break into the Delaney Hall detention facility.
  • California Senator Alex Padilla started shouting when Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was giving a speech in Los Angeles. Because he was not wearing credentials showing that he is a sitting U.S. senator, law enforcement physically removed the threatening Padilla. Almost on cue, Governor Gavin “Hair Gel” Newsom made a statement about what happened. Then, as predictable as the sun rising in the east, Padilla gave tearful interviews on MSNBC and other leftist “news” organizations. Of course, he cried on the senate floor...oh, the inhumanity!

Democrat juvenile behavior began in earnest during President Trump’s March 4 speech to a joint session of Congress. New York City Democrat Council Member Robert Holden, who represents District 30 in Queens, expressed it best as he opened his March 6 op-ed with:

As a lifelong Democrat, I never imagined I would watch my own party embarrass itself so thoroughly—and so publicly—as it did during Tuesday’s joint session of Congress.

Was there a memo to Democrats telling them to start accosting people? In “Can the Left Ever Stop Its Craziness,” Victor Davis Hanson says the left won’t stop its two-year-old tantrums, especially when they’re directed at President Trump, because they don’t understand how else to act.

Democrats behaving in ways that never before would have been acceptable for American politicians isn’t just happening in major cities. I live in a small Orange County, California, city of nearly 50,000 residents, and I recently had a 1:1 confrontation with our mayor. Before you roll your eyes at “California,” there are many pockets of conservative-leaning areas throughout this state of nearly 40 million residents. Yet, as more conservatives vote with their feet, red California cities are turning purple and eventually blue.

No one was arrested during our run-in, but in my opinion, it was just another example of an elected Democrat official displaying a lack of respect and acting more like a two-year-old child than a mature adult.

As to my incident, until recently, few people knew or cared what political party our city council members belonged to as long as Cypress was well managed—and it had been for decades under majority Republican leadership. Past city councils had Democrats, Republicans, and/or Independents, and Cypress thrived with an outstanding business corridor and a well-maintained middle-class community. However, some residents believe things started to change for the worse several years ago when a disruptive Democrat was elected to the city council.

Seeing what was happening in our city and having free speech in America, a diverse group of residents came together and founded Keep Cypress United to support candidates, propositions, and issues that we believe will keep Cypress united as a welcoming community to live or work. The group is self-funded and does not seek or accept outside donations.

On May 22, a fellow Keep Cypress United (KCU) member and I were standing outside a local supermarket distributing a flyer that questioned statements and actions taken by the newly appointed Cypress mayor. Hizzoner currently holds this mostly ceremonial position because, for the first time ever, the council comprises a Democrat majority. Despite living in our community for only three years, he leapfrogged into the positions over the heads of colleagues with decades of residency.

One of the recipients of our flyer must have been Hizzoner’s supporter. Within 20 minutes after we started our flyer campaign, Hizzoner rushed over to the supermarket and wanted to know what I was doing. (At the time, he probably didn’t realize another KCU member was at the other entrance.) My perception was that he was very angry, as he challenged me about questioning his position and votes on multiple issues.

Think about it—the mayor hastily drove to the neighborhood supermarket wanting to know why a resident was questioning his comments or actions! I was shocked, but shouldn’t have been considering what Democrats in California and around the country are doing with regularity: public tantrums and public histrionics for their own benefit and aligned causes.

Then, after taking a photo of the handout, Hizzoner abruptly left. Then about 20 minutes later, he came back! This time, he wanted to meet with me. A few days later, I emailed him about the  possibility of a meeting with me and another KCU member.

Bear in mind, I am an almost 70-year-old female (yes, biological female) and legally deaf without the assistance of hearing aids. It is reasonable that I would want to be accompanied to a meeting with Hizzoner, who is a thirty-something male who made me feel very uncomfortable. Before he would discuss dates at a local coffee house, Hizzoner insisted on knowing why I would not meet with him 1:1.

I told him that I felt that politicians should not wrangle with constituents who are exercising their right to free speech in a local supermarket. I added,

Every elected official (from the president to a small city mayor) whose policies are criticized will claim that false statements (aka misinformation) are being made. It’s POLITICS!

I ended the email by saying that my level of discomfort with our interaction was such that “I will ask someone to attend with me as I do not feel comfortable meeting with you 1:1.”

After several emails as to the date, time, and location, Hizzoner stated that if I planned to bring someone with me, then he would have no choice but to bring someone with him, despite the meeting occurring at a public coffee shop. Oh, for goodness’ sake, the guy is an elected official, and he’s afraid to meet with two constituents who have issues with some of his statements and votes? Fuhgeddaboudit!

I sent an official grievance about Hizzoner’s rude actions to the Cypress city administrator. His response was that I should go to the police. Was that a small city version of New York Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul dismissing charges against Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander?

If Hizzoner could drive over to the supermarket twice because some constituents do not agree with his positions/votes, perhaps Hizzoner might soon give a long speech on the city council floor about me and Keep Cypress United just as New Jersey Senator Cory Booker did on the senate floor ridiculously railing against President Trump and the Republican Party. (If you missed Booker’s stunt, don’t worry, his book is coming out soon!)

Conservative CNN commentator Scott Jennings said:

What they’re doing is clearly creating stunts. These are political stunts. I mean, this is designed to us. It’s sort of like porn for their base. There’s a lot of capital right now in the Democratic Party for getting arrested.

From rural towns to small cities to major metropolises, it appears the latest Democrat Party strategy is to verbally and/or physically confront those with different views. Perhaps because my confrontation with Hizzoner wasn’t caught on video, it didn’t culminate as most of those interactions do; that is, with the politician immediately thereafter having a public tantrum, and crying that he or she is being treated unfairly after the childish and unprofessional displays in response to constructive criticism and legitimate questions by constituents and residents.

Quote of the Day

It was Thomas Edison who brought us electricity, not the Sierra Club. It was the Wright brothers who got us off the ground, not the Federal Aviation Administration. It was Henry Ford who ended the isolation of millions of Americans by making the automobile affordable, not Ralph Nader. Those who have helped the poor the most have not been those who have gone around loudly expressing ‘compassion’ for the poor, but those who found ways to make industry more productive and distribution more efficient, so that the poor of today can afford things that the affluent of yesterday could only dream about.”― Thomas Sowell

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Guards

By Robin Itzler 

Editor's Note:  This is one of the commentaries selected from Robin's weekly newsletter Patriot Neighbors.  Any cartoons 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.

We all know about the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Although “soldier” is singular, the main monument (the sarcophagus) is one tomb that has three crypts containing the remains of unidentified soldiers from World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. Some of us have visited and watched the soldier (male or female) walking back and forth with perfect precision.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has been continuously guarded since 1937. The Tomb Guards have been there during all kinds of weather but there are contingencies in case the weather could put the soldier at risk. Here are some interesting facts about the Tomb Guards:

* The guard walking across the tomb takes 21 exact steps, alluding to the 21-gun salute, which is the highest honor given any military or foreign dignitary.
* After the guard’s about face, he waits 21 seconds (for the same reason) before walking back.
* If you look closely, you will notice his white gloves are moistened. This is to prevent him or her from losing grip on the rifle.
* The rifle is carried on the shoulder away from the tomb.
* The shoes are specially designed with very thick soles to keep the heat and cold from their feet. They also have metal heel plates that extend to the top of the shoe to make the loud click sound as they come to the 21st step and prepare to halt.
* To apply for guard duty, the person must be between 5’10” and 6’2” tall with a waist size that cannot exceed 30 inches.
* Guards walk for 30 minutes. There is a guard change every 30 minutes, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is always protected.
* Of the 24-month commitment, the guard cannot talk to anyone nor watch television during the first six months of duty. They must spend the time studying the 175 notable people who are laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery.
* A guard spends five hours a day preparing his uniform for guard duty. They dress in front of a full-length mirror. There are no wrinkles, folds or lint on the uniform.

While guarding the Tomb is a two-year commitment where they live in barracks under the Tomb, they also commit to never drink alcohol or swear in public on or off duty for the rest of their lives. This is so they never disgrace the uniform or the Tomb in any way.

Guards serve for two years and then receive a wreath pin that they can wear on their lapel. If they are found to have disgraced the Tomb guard uniform (drinking, swearing or other unacceptable behavior), they must return the wreath pin.

Read Do You Really Value Your Independence? Well, Do You? by W.H. Lamb.

Boston Muslim Illegal Alien Councilwoman Replaces July 4th Before Going to Prison

By Daniel Greenfield @ Sultan Knish Blog

On July 4th, Boston will rid its city council of another foreign enemy occupier. It took a while.

In 2019, future Councilwoman Tania Fernandes Anderson, a former illegal alien, became an American citizen. In 2021, she was elected to Boston’s city council. In 2022, she began complaining that there were too many white officials in Boston. “The Majority of Boston is BROWN & BLACK”, the Muslim immigrant married to a murderer complained.

In 2024, the first ex-illegal alien Muslim elected official in Massachusetts was arrested and indicted in a kickback scheme. That did not stop her from continuing to serve on the city council.

By April 2025, Anderson still hadn’t resigned despite planning to plead guilty to several of the charges that would entail serving a year in prison, leaving open the possibility that the Boston City Council would soon have the first Muslim illegal alien imprisoned city councilwoman.

Boston City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune, the first Haitian councilwoman, initially proposed waiting until November 2025 to see what developed and then promised “to continue working in partnership, as well, with the mayor’s office to make sure that Roxbury residents, and the residents of all of District 7, have their representation during this challenging time.”

Finally in early June, Anderson agreed to resign… and went on serving. On June 25, a month before she faces sentencing, the criminal councilwoman finally attended her last session, sponsored resolutions, and promised to continue “fighting, not from this chamber but from the community” by going back “to the base, to the roots, where real power lives” until the day comes when “we live in a society that doesn’t just say Black Lives Matter, that proves it.”

While Boston’s surviving residents will lose Anderson’s services (and those of the family members she employed), she has left a permanent mark on the revolutionary city.

Based on the final resolution proposed by Anderson, July will not be the month when Boston remembers the American Revolution, it will be a month “to recognize and to celebrate the independence of Cabo Verde and to declare July as Cabo Verdean Heritage Month.”

Forget America. July in Boston will be the month to remember the political independence of the West African island an illegal alien criminal who hates America and stole from it came from.

The resolution was part of a goodbye party thrown for Anderson by her leftist colleagues during her final session before she breaks through the final glass ceiling, leaving the home of the unconvicted criminals of the council for that of the less successful criminals of the penal system.

The former illegal alien urged her fellow council members to “celebrate all we’ve built together” and the radical leftist wing of the council lavishly praised their corrupt colleague as an example..

Councilwoman Liz Breadon (D), the first lesbian immigrant to serve on the city council, worryingly hailed the “example in many ways that Tania Fernandes Anderson has made to us.”

The “example” in question was hiring her son and sister to serve on her staff, then getting hit with a $5,000 ethics fine for hiring them, then trying to pay the ethics fine by hiring another family member, lying about their familial relationship to the ethics commission, then giving her a large bonus (at taxpayer expense) and getting a $7,000 kickback from her in the bathroom.

“You are an ally in the fight for equity, and you are Boston’s Harriet Tubman,” Councilman Brian Worrell (D), the first second generation Jamaican immigrant, claimed. “Thank you for your service.”

History does not dwell on the time that Harriet Tubman got a kickback in the bathroom. That’s usually something Boston city council members do. It’s unknown if like Tania Fernandes Anderson, Harriet racked up 70 audit letters. Or if she ever equaled Anderson’s feat of hiring her son as her treasurer or allegations that her expenses were one giant slush fund.

Councilwoman Julia Meija (D), who tends to wear revolutionary berets and is the first Dominican immigrant councilwoman, hailed Anderson’s “courage”. Meija is presumably referring to the time the Muslim ex-illegal alien called the Hamas atrocities of Oct 7 a “military operation”. Mejia had also worked to block a resolution condemning the mass murder of Jews by Islamic terrorists.

Councilwoman Sharon Durkan (D), the first blonde campaign consultant elected to the council, who had also opposed the resolution condemning the murder of Jews, sympathetically told her corrupt colleague, “this time has not been easy.” The only ones it’s been harder on is Hamas.

True to form, Anderson blamed her downfall on a conspiracy by the “system” to get her for being too outspoken. “The system is set up to accommodate politeness, not truth. It tolerates performance, not integrity, and anyone who dares to step outside of that theater risks being ostracized or worse.” Also anyone who dares to accept toilet kickbacks.

How the ‘system’ compelled Anderson to hire family members is still unknown.

“I’d be so grateful to share this closing chapter with you,” she told her colleagues.

Many Bostonians only wish that she could fully share the chapter with many of their ‘representatives’.

But as Anderson heads off into the sunset for Cabo Verdean Heritage Month, she, like so many of her ‘first’ colleagues, remains a shining example of how diversity has strengthened Boston and turned it from a boring old American city full of Irish immigrants into the third world.

A statue of her can’t be far off in the making.

On the romantic side though, if Anderson does go to prison, she may be reunited with her husband Tanzerius Anderson who is already in prison for armed robbery and murder.

Tania Anderson hadn’t managed to get her husband out. Maybe now she’ll join him.

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 donationThank you for reading.

 

Budgets, the National Debt, and We're Running Out of Time

By Rich Kozlovich

Well, the Big Beautiful Bill passed, and it did happen before the 4th of July as the President wanted.   Remarkable.  I expected a lot more hoohah from the Democrats than Hakim Jeffries Magic Minute speech that lasted for eight hours and 44 minutes saying nothing, even his party members were falling asleep.  

But for many reasons I think this bill stinks, but to put a bit of perfume on this manure pile I have to view this as a step by step transformational journey to bring in much needed changes, positive changes, and there were a lot of them, including codifying a great many things Trump brought into being via Executive Orders.  Now those EO's can no longer be challenged by the radical judges of the federal judiciary, at least not legitimately.  The next budget bill needs to attack spending massively. Time is running out, so I hope that’s the intent.   

What would I want in a budget, actually in every budget?

  1. First, I want the budget balanced.
  2. A massive reduction in the size of government by defunding and thus eliminating entire agencies, and departments.   Does anyone truly believe the nation needs 457 different agencies?  
  3. End income tax.
  4. Reform Social Security leading to a privatized system, which is clearly necessary as the federal government's management of Social Secutiry has been flagrantly incompetent.  
  5. Massive spending cuts across the board.
  6. An 80% or more reduction in foreign aid.  As Senator John Kennedy of LA. once said: “I don't know why we have to give money to countries that hate us. They should be able to hate us for free.”
  7. The federal government unconstitutionally owns about 25% of the land mass of the United States.  Sell it.  
  8. End all grant money to academia, including student loans, which has only increased the cost of higher education while reducing the quality of education. 
  9. Absolutely eliminate any kind funding for illegal aliens, other than the cost of deporting them. 

The national debt is hovering around $37 trillion dollars, that's five trillion more than in 2023.  The Congressional Budget Office projects the national debt to soar to be between over $50 and $52 trillion by 2034, but since the CBO is so bad at these predictions, and if things remain the same, one has to conclude, it'll be worse, and I think much worse. But that doesn't include all the obligations of the federal government, such as government retirement programs, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, all which may be in the 50 trillion dollar range.    

There are those who claim the real number for the nation's debt load, including borrowed money and government obligations, is in the 120 trillion dollar range!  Is that true?  I have no idea, and truthfully, the numbers are so massive, I don't think anyone knows for sure.  Even the Pentagon unendingly fails their audits having no idea where billions of dollars have gone over the years.  And they're not unique in that respect. 

There are agencies that have spent billions and no one tracked those expenditures, worse yet, no one knew there wasn't a tracking system in place.   At least until DOGE went in and audited agencies with AI programs and discovered that's what was happening, which was shocking.  The entire leadership of each of those agencies should have been fired. 

Are the banks sound and safe?  It turns out the FDIC had a shortfall of $70 billion dollars in 2023.  Now...that's a lot of short fall.  Banks are paying a fee to the FDIC which is supposed to be self funding, how did that happen?  No one seems to know.  I've written a lot about the national debt and the looming danger it represents, here are my National Debt Commentaries, and My Fixing Government Commentaries

In February of 2023 I wrote:

 ".......at least 90 times in the 20th century and 74 times from March 1962 to May 2011, including 18 times under Ronald Reagan, eight times under Bill Clinton, seven times under George W. Bush, and five times under Barack Obama. In practice, the debt ceiling has never been reduced, even though the public debt itself may have reduced."
 
Joe Biden raised it once.  Trump raised it three times in his first term and now he's done it again, and during his first term even wanted to eliminate it entirely.  I find that troubling.   I find it shocking so little attention is being paid to the national debt.  I find it mind boggling the vast majority of those in power don't seem to be concerned the interest on the national debt is expected to amount to $952 billion dollars,  the second highest expense of the federal government, and now will be over a trillion dollars a year.   Do we really believe the nation can sustain itself with a national debt of over $50 trillion dollars, and I would assume the interest on that would end up pushing between $1.5 and $2 trillion dollars a year.  
 
That's not sustainable, and we're running out of time.  
 
Here's more, and I will be updating this over the next couple of days, and trust me, there's as much propaganda as there is fact in the articles appearing:
  • Congress Surrenders to Trump - Trump, as did Augustus and other epochal leaders before him, is cobbling together a principate, retaining the outward constitutional forms, but consolidating power into a single individual..........
  • The BBBA’s hidden tax hike on America’s farmers - The devil is in the details, and lawmakers must work to snip this one out of Trump’s funding bill........
  • BBB passes in House: Illegals to pay for their own phony asylum filings - Illegals will think twice about clogging the courts with junk claims......... 
  • Golden Age Secured: House Passes BBB - President Donald Trump’s big, beautiful bill is en route to the White House, the culmination of months of work by the President and his team and the realization of scores of campaign promises......
  •  The Autopen Speaks: Biden Comes Out of Retirement to Bash Trump’s BBB -Former President Joe Biden made a rare reentry into the spotlight Thursday to attack President Donald Trump’s landmark legislative victory, posting on X just hours after the “One Big Beautiful Bill” cleared the House................    
  • Rep. Andy Ogles: Trump Deserves Third Term, Place on Mt. Rushmore After BBB Success -   Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) is celebrating the passage of the “big, beautiful bill,” asserting that President Donald Trump not only deserves a spot on Mount Rushmore but consideration for a third term as well.........
  • Dem Freakout: ‘We’re Going to See People Die’ - Thursday on CNN’s “The Arena,” Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) claimed President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill will cause people to die............( My Take - These are the same people who supported the ban on DDT which has been responsible for the unnecessary deaths of over 100 million people and adverse affects on hundreds of million more from malaria and other mosquito borne diseases. RK
  • Let seniors keep their HSAs — before it’s too late  Today, the Big, Beautiful Bill will become law once President Donald J. Trump puts ink to paper at a big, beautiful signing ceremony in Iowa.  Despite opposition from every Democrat in Congress, the House and Senate enacted critical measures to benefit millions of blue-collar workers and their families.  It’s another promise from the campaign trail that has become a reality............ Medicare’s insolvency is not some far-off problem. It’s right around the corner. Congress can fix this if only the will exists. ........Medicare is already on the brink of a financial crisis.  The Medicare Trustees’ latest report warns that the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund — which pays for Medicare hospital stays — could be depleted in as little as three to five years.  After that, Medicare would only be able to cover about 90% of hospital insurance claims, leaving seniors vulnerable to cuts or higher costs..........

Since Upper-Income Taxpayers Finance the American Welfare State, Leftists Should Be Nice to Rich People, Part II

July 3, 2025 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty

Back in 2016, I sarcastically opined that our leftist friends should be nice to upper-income 

taxpayers.

Why? Because those are the people who pay a hugely disproportionate share of taxes. So if you like big government, you should be very friendly to the people who are making it possible.

Today’s column updates this analysis.

 

I’m motivated to address this issue because the “champagne socialist” nominee to be Mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, has joined other crazy leftists (see here and here) in asserting that billionaires should not exist.

In a column for National Review, Christian Schneider explains why this is very foolish. Here are some excerpts.

 

Zohran Mamdani…indicated that the wealthy had no place in his America. “I don’t think that we should have billionaires …,” he told Kristen Welker on Meet the Press. …it is that untold wealth to which people aspire that funds virtually the entirety of the federal government. We all know the numbers by now: In 2022, the top 5 percent of income earners paid 61 percent of the income taxes collected, while the bottom 50 percent of wage earners paid 3 percent of the total tax load. … 

As for the tax rates paid by the very wealthy, the U.S. Treasury Department estimates that the top 1 percent of income earners pay a tax rate of 31 percent, while the bottom 10 to 20 percent actually pay a negative tax rate of 4.6 percent. (Their rate dips into negative territory because of the benefits they receive from the tax system.) …wealthy people actually fund the programs that progressives crave… More rich people means more revenue. … 

If Mamdani rides his TikTok-fueled wave into the mayor’s office, the billionaires of New York may take their investments and innovations elsewhere. At that point, the young socialist will finally get schooled in economics.

Let’s examine some more data on tax burdens for upper-income taxpayers. Here’s a chart showing that the top-10 percent pay a hugely disproportionate share of income taxes.

What about the super-rich as opposed to run-of-the-mill upper-income households?

Well, in the last year of the Biden Administration, some economists at the Treasury Department calculated tax burdens on these households (top .0005 percent and above).

Scott Hodge then put this data into an easy-to-understand chart. As you can see, these people pay absurdly high tax rates.

This data should be compelling. Our tax system targets rich people and those upper-income taxpayers finance the lion’s share of a bloated federal government.

Sadly, I don’t think this will be persuasive to our friends on the left because maximizing revenue is not their top goal.

Sensible people, by contrast, want there to be more rich people (assuming, of course, they earn money honestly).

Thursday, July 3, 2025

The Left is Bereft of Heft

By Rich Kozlovich

Burt Prelutsky was a famous Hollywood writer, and in his day he was the writer that wrote one of the most popular M.A.S.H. shows ever. It was the one where a wounded pilot decided he was Jesus Christ. It was a very touching episode and has been recognized as one of the most famous. After he retired he was very active on line, even had his own newsletter, to which I subscribed. His thoughts were unendingly foundational to good thinking and common sense, especially when it came to dealing with leftists. He once said:

However, try as they might, neither side can fully explain the existence of left-wingers. For my part, I can far easier grasp the appeal of turnips and grits than I can the stranglehold that Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, Chavez and Obama, have on leftists. I mean, how is it that anyone can look at the results of communism and socialism and not see them for the nightmares they are and always have been? After all, the evidence is in plain sight.

And given he was involved with the Hollywood crowd he saw first hand their insanity, and the insanity of California voters saying:

Frankly, I don't know what it is about California, but we seem to have a strange urge to elect really obnoxious women to high office. I'm not bragging, you understand, but no other state, including Maine, even comes close. When it comes to sending left-wing dingbats to Washington, we're Number One.

There's no getting around the fact that the last time anyone saw the likes of Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, Maxine Waters, Kamala Harris, and Nancy Pelosi, they were stirring a cauldron when the curtain went up on 'Macbeth'.

The four of them are like jackasses who happen to possess the gift of blab. You don't know if you should condemn them for their stupidity or simply marvel at their ability to form words. 

Then there were his views on Barack Obama:

Some of us imagined that Barack Obama couldn’t possibly have a lousier, more corrupt, circle of friends and advisors in Washington than he had back in Chicago. But is it possible that we simply underestimated the man’s uncanny ability to attract vermin? 

Burt died in 2o21, but his work had a timelessness to it.  When it comes to leftists,  if you changed the names we'd find the only thing that changed was the names.  They've never seen a burden so great they couldn't put it on everyone else's back. 

The left does not tolerate straying from the prescribed ideological position of the party; they are Maoist, Stalinist in every way.  These people are not only intolerant, they are barbaric. They actually believe, and so operate according to their creed, that their political power depends on human misery. - Patricia McCarthy

Made in America: But check the label

By Robin Itzler

Editor's Note:  This is one of the commentaries selected from Robin's weekly newsletter Patriot Neighbors.  Any cartoons 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.

Thanks to the America First movement that includes increased tariffs for products manufactured overseas, patriotism is front and center. This means companies will want to market their products that are made in the USA or have a connection to the United States.

Some American manufacturers are reporting that they are now operating seven days a week to fill orders as customers seek to avoid tariffs. When shopping we will be looking to see where the item was made. There are various terms that use “USA” or “America” but have different meanings. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) “Made in USA Labeling Rule” (Rule 16 CFR Part 323) specifies how the term can be used.

Made in USA – This refers to the location where the product was manufactured – must be somewhere in the United States. The entire product or virtually the entire product must be made in the United States.

Product of USA – Implies that most of the ingredients or components came from America.

Assembled in the USA – For products that don’t meet “Made in USA” standards, the label might read “Made in the USA from domestic and imported parts” or “Built in the USA.” For it to include “USA” in the description, the item must be “substantially transformed” by the manufacturing process.

For descriptions that use “USA,” the question is “what percentage of parts must be made in the United States? Only textiles, wool, fur products and automobiles are required by law to detail the percentage that is actually “made in America.”

President Trump understands that for the United States of America to remain a world leader, it must maintain and increase its manufacturing base. Our nation cannot rely on other nations, especially nations such as Communist China that seek our destruction.

Secretary of Health & Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., knows this also extends to our medications. Kennedy said: 

"All medications sold in America should be MADE in America to ensure Quality and Security."

Read about America’s Early Patriots of Industry. Titans of Industry: Patriots – Who Shaped America by Katherine Daigle.