Remember that Russian bounties story with which the media absolutely flayed President Donald Trump?

The fake story claimed that, per U.S. intelligence agencies, supposedly, Russia had offered bounties for killing American forces in Afghanistan. Democrats went crazy, using the story to suggest that somehow Trump, who they painted as a Putin puppet, was not doing anything about this and endangering American troops.

Now that just got officially walked back by U.S. intel.

But on Thursday, the Biden administration announced that U.S. intelligence only had “low to moderate” confidence in the story after all. Translated from the jargon of spyworld, that means the intelligence agencies have found the story is, at best, unproven—and possibly untrue.

Americans privately fear these rules, while publicly appearing to accept them.

They still could be transitory and invite a reaction. Or they are already near-permanent and institutionalized.

The answer determines whether a constitutional republic continues as once envisioned, or warps into something never imagined by those who created it.

Refr
33 minutes ago
Let's see if I can articulate this properly.

"White Man's Burden" has been used for proto -Progressives and Progressive descendants since mid/late 1800s. I'm sure there are enough here that are acquainted with it, but for those who aren't the basic gist was that White People had a responsibility to care for the "lesser" races. I am 100% certain that there are and were those in the movement that went for this with complete pure and benevolent reasons (road to hell and all).

But it never was meant for good intentions. The intention was always to establish, or maybe enshrine would be a better word, a ruling elite (mostly WASPs). You can see it in the policies in the early 20th century ranging from the creation of the current education paradigm, the creation of the Administrative state, and to eugenics. The last bit being the one I wish to focus on.

If was not just meant to 'contain' the blacks, but also those inferior whites. The massive backlash after the world discovered what the natural final state of the philosophy as implemented by the Nazis, and to an extent the Japanese, blunted that effort. Add to that, the relative quick adoption of Americanism by immigrants at the time complicated the plans of the elites. So what to do? Lower the standards, and don't encourage assimilation and adoption of the prevailing culture.

Trash the value of citizenship, allow those from corrupt backwards countries to vote and you will have these people handed power legitimately. Call it white replacement, citizen replacement it really doesn't matter except which era you are talking about. Because back in the day Europe had the only 'tradition' that gave rise to Americanism and it wasn't extended to many minorities because of the attitudes of the time. Now, those issues were settled and now it is clearly citizen replacement.

I just can't wait to see organizations like BLM react when they realize they have been relegated to the back of the bus (which is already happening) for the newcomers by the Democrats. Just desserts imho.

According to the emails obtained by Fox News, Beatrice then requested Zill de Granados and Gordon interview Moskowitz, who she said was available that day and Friday to do an interview either in a studio or by Skype.

The "60 Minutes" producer replied that they had requested an on-the-record interview with Moskowitz "repeatedly" since February and claimed that he had not responded to messages since mid-March.

DeSantis' office stressed that it was "important" for CBS News to interview Moskowitz and Palm Beach County Mayor David Kerner, who Zill de Granados said was not responsive to inquiries.

"Thank you for your input. Unfortunately, the deadline has passed," Zill de Granados told Beatrice on Thursday afternoon. "As you may know, the Covid pandemic makes our interview protocol much more complicated and time-consuming due to new distancing and testing requirements for correspondents and camera crews." //

However, that standard appeared not to apply to Florida State Rep. Omari Hardy, a DeSantis critic who "60 Minutes" correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi interviewed remotely.

"Luckily, we have already spoken to Director Moskowitz several times," Zill de Granados continued. "We appreciate his perspective on the roll out in Florida. We have included the information he provided on background as it pertains to this story". Zill de Granados also noted that Moskowitz had been asked to do on-camera interviews on Feb. 28 and March 12.

When asked by Fox News if he thought "60 Minutes" "appreciated his perspective" on the vaccine rollout, Moskowitz replied, "Did you see the perspective that the person in charge of the Covid response told them how Publix was selected in their agency and that the contribution story was garbage?

"They ran with pay to play, when I told them it was done by my agency and why and how. Did you see that perspective?" Moskowitz added.

But the Democrat Division of Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz was having none of this, pointing out, yet again how he told 60 Minutes the Publix story was untrue, but they didn’t care. //

'60 Minutes' Doubles Down on Its Outrageous Attack on Ron DeSantis, They Get Busted Again by Dems
By Nick Arama | Apr 07, 2021 1:00 AM ET

AP Photo/Chris O'Meara
As we previously reported, CBS News’ “60 Minutes” deceptively edited a video clip of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis responding to an accusation of a pay for play deal with Publix over the vaccine rollout. DeSantis explained why that was nonsense, but the show then ran a clip eliminating almost his entire explanation as well as running other false insinuations.

Publix and even Democrats called out the ’60 Minutes’ fake narrative.

Ron DeSantis completely shredded them on Tucker Carlson’s show and in another statement yesterday.

DeSantis made it clear that they weren’t going to get away with it, “I’m punching back.”

At this point, ’60 Minutes’ should have just apologized and slunk away. But it seems that they have no morals, so they’re doubling down.

Apparently it’s everyone else in this story including the Democrats who are wrong, according to 60 Minutes.

But the Democrat Division of Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz was having none of this, pointing out, yet again how he told 60 Minutes the Publix story was untrue, but they didn’t care.

Moskowitz had previously explained that they reached out to all the pharmacies but that Publix was the only one who could execute on the mission at that point. He also explained that Publix was not recommended by the Governor’s office.

Moskowitz reiterated that that CBS failed to include that it was a decision made by his office, according to Fox.

When asked by Fox News if he thought “60 Minutes” “appreciated his perspective” on the vaccine rollout, Moskowitz replied, “Did you see the perspective that the person in charge of the Covid response told them how Publix was selected in their agency and that the contribution story was garbage?

“They ran with pay to play, when I told them it was done by my agency and why and how. Did you see that perspective?” Moskowitz added.

Democratic Palm Beach Mayor David Kerner had also flamed the 60 Minutes piece calling it intentionally false.

The trickle is starting but we need to create a roaring river, a current of good sense. It is time to put diplomacy on pause. It has its place, and for those of us still engaged in public debate and discussion, we should never completely abandon it. Persuasion is a vital part of winning any culture war. There is value in walking softly, but sometimes persuasion can only be made palatable to the other side by carrying a big stick.

So draw your line. Decide where it is. It won’t be the same for all of us. //

Your line will be different from my line and that’s ok. The battle has many fronts. But it’s important to understand this:

The quiet season is over. We are in a noisy season. Grab a bullhorn and start screaming. //

JohnTruman • 4 hours ago

Churchill had it right. True then. True now.

"If you will not fight for right when you can win easily without bloodshed. . .you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."

60 Minutes
@60Minutes
Campaign finance reports obtained by 60 Minutes show that weeks before Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced a partnership with Publix grocery stores to distribute the vaccine in its pharmacies, Publix donated $100,000 to his PAC. https://cbsn.ws/3rYmnHj //

The Partyman
@PartymanRandy
·
Apr 4, 2021
I don’t understand what the scandal is supposed to be. Publix wasn’t the only store distributing vaccines. No one is alleging that they pocketed the money or even that they did a bad job. The program was very successful.

It’s 100% trying to manufacture a scandal by implication. //

The Partyman
@PartymanRandy
It should also be pointed out that @60minutes got caught deceptively editing the exchange between DeSantis and their reporter.

They cut out a big part of his answer where he explained the process and made the reporter look like an idiot. //

Jared MASKowitz 😷
@JaredEMoskowitz
@60Minutes I said this before and I’ll say it again. @Publix was recommended by @FLSERT and @HealthyFla as the other pharmacies were not ready to start. Period! Full Stop! No one from the Governors office suggested Publix. It’s just absolute malarkey. https://twitter.com/jaredemoskowit //

Charles C. W. Cooke
@charlescwcooke
This is Jared Moskowitz, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. He’s a Democrat, served as one in the state legislature until 2019, and campaigned for Gore and Obama. He’s not falling for this absolute garbage, and neither should you.

Today is Easter, the holiest day on the Christian calendar, how we remember that Jesus died for our sins and then rose again to eternal life.

But today, of all days, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), the newly elected senator from Georgia and an ordained minister for many years, tweeted out something that shocked a lot of people.

The meaning of Easter is more transcendent than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whether you are Christian or not, through a commitment to helping others we are able to save ourselves.”

Now of course nothing is more transcendent on Easter or in Christianity than the resurrection. Christians believe it is only because Jesus died and rose to save us from our sins that we are in fact saved. Pretty much the whole point of Easter. //

Some tried to argue that Warnock was talking about doing good works. But the problem with the comment wasn’t about the importance of good works, but failure to seemingly understand the fundamental necessity of the dying and rising of Jesus for the salvation, that one does not “save” oneself.

“This is what the heresy of liberation theology does—reduces the significance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to self-salvific moralism and thereby making ourselves God,” radio host Darrell B. Harrison, who works at John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church in Los Angeles, said. We can see that’s exactly where some of the defenders of Warnock were going in their arguments.

Apparently, at some point Warnock realized that the tweet was earning a backlash and deleted it

“Today I issued an executive order prohibiting the use of so-called COVID-19 vaccine passports, Gov. DeSantis announced in a tweet linking to his executive order, which he says serves as a stop-gap measure while Florida’s legislature crafts legislation to codify the elements of his order.

The order prohibits Florida’s government from issuing “standardized documentation” certifying, and from publishing, a person’s vaccine status: //

Likewise, businesses are prohibited from denying access and service to patrons who do not provide proof they’ve been vaccinated: //

But it goes past the practical aspects of all this. Privacy issues are a big concern. Why should a business be able to demand protected, private medical information in order to sell you a product, especially when there a myriad of reasons why you might be “safe” but still not have the vaccine? That’s not allowed on any other front, and it should not be allowed here. ///

It is problematic to be requiring a vaccine that is still regarded as "experimental" and has only been given an "emergency use authorization", not full FDA approval. The initial study that was the foundation for the EUA still has 18-20 months yet before it is completed.

On top of that, requiring individuals to provide private health details to private citizens or businesses against their will is a violation of HIPAA law and regulations.

Chris Cuomo and Leana Wen appeared together to bat around an absolutely insane idea, and it shows just how far the left in this country are willing to go to exact their will. In this case, Wen says that vaccinations should be tied to “freedoms,” denying them to those who haven’t yet gotten the shot.

I think they call this saying the quiet part out loud.

“We have a very narrow window to tie reopening policy to vaccination status because otherwise if everything is reopened, then what is the carrot going to be...Biden admin needs to come out a lot bolder & say if you’re vaccinated... here’s all these freedoms that you have..” //

There’s a lot of irony in a “my body, my choice” proponent saying this. Remember, Wen is the former head of Planned Parenthood. Her entire schtick is that people should have such bodily autonomy that they can kill their own child if they want.

H.R. 1 is a Democratic Party wishlist to eliminate election security. Among other things it does, which The Federalist has reported on here, here, and here, the For The People Act would turn election day into election season. It would also require blanketing the country with hundreds of millions of mail-in ballots, extending the confusion of 2020 to every future federal election.

Mayer’s backing of President Joe Biden’s press conference claim the GOP opposing the bill is “sick” and “un-American” is only fitting, since both Biden and The New Yorker writer oversimplify the measure and do not mostly address GOP concerns. This includes a two-week delay in ballots being opened, zero voter ID at polls, enabling 16- and 17-year-olds to register to vote, a mandate against election audit recounts, and much much more. //

There is a thing called right and wrong in society, and eliminating privacy for law-abiding citizens to expose them to harassment by pressure groups is surely wrong. As The Heritage Foundation cites, H.R. 1 would mandate exorbitant rates for “candidates, citizens, civic groups, unions, corporations, and nonprofit organizations” and “its onerous disclosure requirements for nonprofit organizations would subject their members and donors to intimidation and harassment.”

The writer also trivializes the fact that the left-leaning American Civil Liberties Union has voiced disapproval over the donor disclosure provision in H.R. 1. The ACLU acknowledged in a January letter to House Democrats the measure “could harm political advocacy and expose non-profit donors to harassment and threats of violence should their support for organizations be subject to forced disclosure.” //

The major crux of Mayer’s argument is groups ought to have to disclose donors in the name of transparency. But a necessary follow-up to this claim is why? Do Democrats seek to uncover who is funding right-leaning organizations and people just in the holy name of “transparency,” or is another motivation fueling this effort?

Given that two-thirds of Americans agree that cancel culture is a threat to freedom, and similar numbers fear saying what they truly think, it’s pretty obvious that a supermajority of Americans agree privacy is needed to secure people’s freedoms to support whatever candidates they believe in.

This is clearly declaring that the distribution of food or water cannot be made with the intent of delivering influence and/or an attempt to sway voters. The law does have language stating that water stations can certainly be provided on-site from poll officers. This shows Biden’s assessment was in truth inaccurate, but here is the first sign of trouble from the Truth Detectors; neither one bothered to fact-check the President’s statement.

Becket Adams wrote a piece that illustrates a part of what I’m talking about. He noted how so many newsrooms claimed to have “verified” the fake Trump quotes while they ran to repeat them.

The natural question is how you can verify something that is objectively false. The obvious answer is that you can’t. That means that NBC News, ABC News, CNN, and others who hid behind fake verification claims so they could repeat this false report did so knowing that they had no proof for what they were actually putting out there. They simply made it up, or they all got duped by the same source.

On that note, let me say this. If the Post and all these other outlets aren’t going to reveal who the lying source was, then I have no choice but to assume their “source” simply doesn’t exist and that they all made it up as a partisan political attack. There is no ethical reason to protect a source that provides false information. In fact, it’s unethical to print a false story and then refuse to even reveal how you came into the possession of that false story. I say that to mean when media flacks try to claim that the Post was lied to but that they didn’t lie by repeating it, you owe them zero benefits of the doubt. If they were lied to, then they should tell us who lied. If they won’t, then it’s logical to conclude that source doesn’t actually exist. //

Regardless, ask yourself this. How many times has this been done in the past? Yes, the Post got caught this time just like CNN got caught when they printed false claims about James Comey’s then-future. The Atlantic’s “suckers and losers” story also comes to mind. But for every time these outlets get caught, you have to assume they’ve gotten away with it hundreds of times. After all, how exactly can you disprove an anonymous source who doesn’t actually provide evidence of anything? You typically can’t. This latest case was an exception because audio happened to exist to directly contradict the account.

tsar becket adams
@BecketAdams
you all are missing the real story re: WaPo's correction of its Trump/Ga. investigations chief "scoop."

the real scandal is that a bunch of newsrooms claimed at the time they “confirmed” the details of the "scoop" with their own anon sourcing.
Audio shows the media got the Trump-Georgia story all wrong
washingtonexaminer.com //

That’s incredibly significant, and not just from a media malfeasance perspective (but that’s, of course, part of it). Here’s why: it was reported in January that Georgia State officials didn’t think a recording of the call existed, which is presumably why WaPo took bad quotes from a source they wouldn’t name but who was familiar with the conversation. They wanted the story and didn’t have the recording, so they reported what they were told. Not particularly impressive journalism.

That was readily apparent after the Wall Street Journal got their hands on the recording and published it last week, proving that the anonymous source essentially made up quotes and attributed them to the former president. And where was this recording discovered? In the trash folder on a device belonging to the lead investigator in the Secretary of State’s office, the very person Trump called.

What gives Congress the right to think they can control me or you? What makes Congress think that they need to “protect” me or you?

Finally, why does government assume that they are even capable of controlling or protecting anyone?

If this pandemic has proven anything, it’s that government intervention and overreach creates more train wrecks and problems than it ever solves. Government’s draconian interference through deceptive legislation and lawsuits serve to blow up the very foundations that make us productive, safe, and free, leaving human shrapnel in the wake.

Most often, businesses are forced to cut jobs, which is why the Congressional Budget Office reports that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour nationwide would result in 1.4 million lost jobs in a few short years.

The policy would harm younger, less-educated, and otherwise marginalized workers the most—some of the same populations that have been hardest hit by the pandemic.

Wage mandates would also result in exploding costs for essential goods as employers pass new labor costs on through higher prices.

Under a $15 minimum wage, child care costs would rise by thousands of dollars—21% on average, and by more than 30% in 10 states.

Food prices would also increase, including an estimated 38% increase in fast-food prices.

Another unintended consequence is increased automation. Some companies, such as Amazon, have achieved a $15 minimum wage by automating jobs that produce less than $36,000 per year in value (the cost to employers, with taxes, of a $15-per-hour job).

Replacing more workers with self-ordering kiosks, automated customer service systems, and robots won’t produce more good-paying jobs for low-wage workers. //

Job losses of 1.4 million is only a starting point for the Democrats’ proposed tax on workers.

That’s because lawmakers can’t create good jobs or higher incomes simply by mandating them into existence. Opportunities and income growth come from workers achieving the education and experience necessary to help them produce more value.

Cutting off the bottom rungs on the career ladder through a $15 national hourly minimum wage and threatening employers with new taxes on entry-level and low-skilled jobs will do far more harm than good for workers and the American economy.

There are ways, however, that lawmakers can help workers achieve higher incomes without taking away others’ jobs and incomes or taxing employers who provide jobs.

Congress should reduce regulatory burdens on businesses, eliminate unnecessary licensing restrictions for employees, expand nontraditional education options, and keep taxes low on employers and employees alike.

In truth, the left and its Democrat Party are the most ideologically rigid entities in the western world. It meets disagreement with force, not open-mindedness or debate. It has a habit of “othering” people and you or a group you belong to may go from the toast of the town to being an “other” very quickly. Your acceptability only goes as far as your usefulness.

This is made all the more dangerous by the fact that the left is the establishment now. //

The right is the counter-culture on both a countrywide and global level. We are the real “Resistance.” We’re the rebels, surrounded by a force whose primary goal is domination and subjugation. It is now as it was at our founding, and our Constitution is the barrier between us and the people who would see their way be the way for everyone and to punish those who refuse to go along with their rules.

This should excite the right. Rebellion is in our blood and the idea that we’re actually the new idea on the block is a message that should resonate with everyone, especially the young who are drawn to dynamic ideas and revolutionary thinking.

It’s clear the left’s thinking is old hat, flawed, and boring. The ideas that it wants to institute don’t work and the people generating enthusiasm about it seem plastic and fake.

The right should run with this idea and make sure we focus our speeches, talking points, and more around it.

We’re the revolution, not them.

As bitter partisans and Democrat Party sycophants, the White House press corps is a joke – and has been for years. The legacy media commentators and contributors on network news are perhaps even worse. We have watched over four years of attacks and slander on a political outsider president. We have watched them cover the lies and perfidy of the political class and Deep State while throwing ridiculous, misleading, and misinformed questions at President Trump at every turn. Interviews with Democrats are filled with inanities and softball questions; no difficult questions are ever asked of these people – whether Democrats, RINOs, or members of the Deep State. Can’t ask anything that might embarrass them, don’t ya know?

This is the vacant, hollow, bereft-of-content scandal the left and the media are attempting to cook up on Florida’s governor. If you are someone in the media looking at the elderly receiving vaccine access as some sort of problem then you are engaging in the two things the very same media have been demonizing; those politicizing the pandemic, and those ignoring the science and the advice of healthcare professionals.

This faux scandal proves that both of those realities are in play right now.

The weakness and stupidity of America’s right has allowed false narratives to cement in the minds of the public. It’s killing our freedoms. It’s killing our jobs. It’s killing our families. //

The narrative, as I define it, is simply an assumption or set of assumptions widely accepted by the general public as facts. As we know, facts cannot be changed. That is why they are facts.

This is also why it is so critical to ensure the general public gets an accurate narrative. Otherwise, if the base set of publicly believed facts is wrong, every step after that will also be incorrect. It’s like getting swallowed up by an avalanche and digging ferociously in the wrong direction. //

We no longer have the option of riding the initial news cycle and accepting it at face value. Our failure to hold the line and speak hard truths has made the left’s job of cementing a lie in the minds of the people infinitely easier. From now on, when the next major event arises, let us resolve to set the narrative ourselves instead of being consumed by it.