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November 2022

GOP must insist on a return to pre-2020 election system in competitive states or die By Jared Peterson

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/11/gop_must_insist_on_a_return_to_pre2020_election_system_in_competitive_states_or_die.html

It’s entirely possible that the Republicans will not win the House. If they do, it will be by a razor thin margin under circumstances that should have produced a blowout.

The main reason for this second in a row reversal of all historic electoral precedent is plain to anyone who wants to look and be honest:

Florida has an electoral law that most closely recreates the US election DAY mechanics of all time prior to 2020: No mass mailing of unrequested absentee ballots to all registered voters – only those registered voters requesting an absent ballot no later than 10 days before the election get one; and their ballot is counted only if received by a specific date.  In Florida there was strict enforcement of date deadlines, and larger percentages of voters than elsewhere voted at the polls.

Ergo: in Florida there was fast counting and quick results; and much less time for shenanigans.

And a Republican blowout.

In Florida there was no collecting/harvesting of ballots. And – even more important – no voting by that substantial segment of the Democrat party base that’s too disorganized and generally out of it to either remember to go to the polls or to request an absentee ballot.

The mass mailing of millions of absentee ballots, coupled with lengthy return periods and allowed methods of return (e.g., unsupervised drop boxes) has, in a multitude of ways, expanded the Dem vote.

It may save them both the House and Senate this time.

Education Department funding Middle East Studies Centers pushing ‘anti-West ideologies’: new report DOE is doling out $2.9M to university-affiliated programs that have morphed from centers of scholarship in area studies into hotbeds of leftist propaganda and activism, according to National Association of Scholars.By Mary Lou Lang

https://justthenews.com/accountability/waste-fraud-and-abuse/seducation-department-funding-middle-east-studies-hubs-pushing
Also Read:https://www.nas.org/reports/hijacked/full-report

This week’s Golden Horseshoe is awarded to the Department of Education (DOE) for giving $2.9 million to 11 university-affiliated Middle East Studies Centers (MESCs) that are promoting left-wing causes and narratives, according to OpenTheBooks.com’s report on a recent investigation.

The public spending watchdog group reported on an investigation by the National Association of Scholars (NAS) concluding that the 11 Middle East Studies Centers, which receive federal funds, have “veered from their purpose, now pushing overtly anti-West ideologies focusing on social issues such as Islamophobia and immigration at the university level, and even pushing critical race theory to K–12 educators.” 

The 11 hosting universities identified by NAS are: Columbia University, George Washington University, Georgetown University, Indiana University, New York University, University of Arizona, UCLA, University of Chicago, University of Illinois, University of Michigan, and a UNC/Duke University partnership.

While there are 50 MESCs in universities nationwide, the 11 targeted for scrutiny by NAS are designated as National Resource Centers, which receive federal funds. The 11 centers each receive $260,000 in Title VI funding annually from the DOE, amounting to $2.9 million.

The MESCs were originally founded to study Middle Eastern politics, culture, and language, NAS recounted in a press release. “But our analyses and case studies demonstrate that Middle East centers have since shifted their focus to promoting left-wing ideologies,” asserts the conservative nonprofit.

The NAS report, “Hijacked: The Capture of America’s Middle East Studies Centers,” provides case studies in how the centers have shifted focus to become hotbeds of anti-Western activism. 

A Minnesota Gender Clinic Touts Treating Three-Year-Olds By Lincoln Brown

https://pjmedia.com/culture/lincolnbrown/2022/11/07/a-minnesota-gender-clinic-touts-treating-three-year-olds-n1643797

“I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.” – Isaac Newton

I have on several occasions wondered on these pages just how far out the Left will get before it passes the point of no return and into a Twilight Zone of its own making. A place where nothing makes sense, no rules apply, and even the laws of nature itself are subject to the whims of people. A place where the departure from reality is so drastic and complete that there is little if any hope of a return.

While we may not be getting to that point as a nation or on a global level, at least not yet, there are pockets where a parallel universe has collided with ours and exchanged shards of reality. At least I hope that is the case because if it is not, humanity has taken another step toward becoming irredeemable.

According to The Post Millennial, Angela Kade Goepferd, the director of the Gender Health Program at Minnesota Children’s Hospital, holds firm to the conviction that some children as young as age three are capable of determining that they are transgender.

Global Emissions Set Record as Attendees at Climate Summit Party On By Rick Moran

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2022/11/12/global-emissions-set-record-as-attendees-at-climate-summit-party-on-n1645303

The climate hysterics chose the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh to hold their annual Conference of Parties meeting. They could have picked a city that didn’t have raw sewage flowing in the streets or that featured decent food and clean water.

I guess they’re giving us a preview of a world without fossil fuels.

As you might expect, even in a repressive Muslim country, there are pretty much non-stop parties with a record 600 registered fossil fuel lobbyists. I doubt that many attendees could give a damn what the Koran says about strong spirits when representatives from oil, gas, and coal companies are pouring.

USA Today:

The world is increasingly in agreement that climate change is real, dangerous and happening now – but that hasn’t yet translated into a global decrease in greenhouse gas emissions.

Total fossil carbon dioxide emissions are expected to grow about 1% in 2022, a November report by Global Carbon Project published in the journal Earth System Science Data found. It’s being released in Egypt at the COP27 global climate change meeting.

The report projects a record amount of carbon dioxide will be released into the atmosphere this year: 36.6 billion tons from burning coal, oil and natural gas.

At the rate we’re burning carbon, the world is on track to blow by the maximum amount of CO2 the world can burn to keep temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, which is 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, very soon.

Saving America: Why Blaming President Trump Has Little to Do With the Path to Victory in 2024 By Gwendolyn Sims

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/gwendolynsims/2022/11/13/saving-america-why-blaming-president-trump-has-little-to-do-with-the-path-to-victory-in-2024-n1645360

Like many voters on Tuesday evening, I watched with a fluctuating mixture of guarded optimism, anticipated resignation, and angry ambivalence as the voting data rolled crawled in. Nearly five days later, we still don’t know the final outcomes of key races. After the disaster that was the 2020 election, how on earth did we end up here in 2022?

Some political pundits were quick to enthusiastically point at President Trump and his meddling in races as the reason for such lackluster GOP results on Nov. 8. While it’s hard to know for certain, Trump’s insertion of himself into races that were fairly in hand did tend to complicate matters by shifting the focus from the race to Trump himself. Truthfully, a lot of us Republican voters are tired of always having to spend our time and money defending Trump instead of showcasing the candidates and GOP policies. Let’s just say that Trump’s tact doesn’t seem to help our candidates in the long run.

And of course, Trump’s already still up to his old tricks, attacking fellow Republicans like Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis. Trump’s also teasing a yuge announcement at Mar-a-Lago on Nov. 15 despite the GOP’s current need to focus on the runoff race in Georgia. Will the former president delay his announcement and stop sucking the air out of every race? That remains to be unclear at this time.

TRANSPARENCY TRACKER— THE RIP-OFF OF THE WEEK

https://mailchi.mp/f856b91e056a/35b-from-us-taxpayers-funded-world-health-organization-59331?e=0c8ccf8e98

Each week, our investigations are showcased in local markets across the country by the local ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates of the Sinclair Broadcast Group.

We are reaching the American people in their living rooms to connect on the issues most important to them — right in their own neighborhoods.

Check out a few of our recent investigations:

• AUSTIN, TEXAS: It’s lucrative to be in leadership in Austin! The city pays public officials much more than state and federal leaders.
https://www.openthebooks.com/cbs-austin-city-of-austin-pays-much-more-than-positions-of-leadership-at-state–federal-levels/

• LAS VEGAS, NEVADA: Meet the Las Vegas $100,000 Club — 1 in every 2 city workers made 6-figures or more last year!
https://www.openthebooks.com/nbc3-news-meet-the-las-vegas-100000-club–2037-city-employees-with-100000-in-compensation-costing-taxpayers-314-million/

• BALTIMORE, MARYLAND: It’s pension heaven for the city council — voting themselves lifetime pension benefits after just eight years of service. We crunched the numbers: invest just $30,000 over eight years and receive $450,000+ in lifetime payout starting at age 50!
https://www.openthebooks.com/fox-45-baltimore-city-council-wants-the-golden-parachute-public-pension/

• NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE: 550,000 unused sick and vacation days were accrued by Nashville public school employees into their paid-time-off bank accounts!
https://www.openthebooks.com/fox17-nearly-550000-unused-sick-and-vacation-days-banked-by-metro-nashville-public-school-employees/

• SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS: Why Illinois Is In Trouble — 133,000 Public Employees And Retirees Made $100,000+ Last Year!
https://www.openthebooks.com/abc20-over-130000-state-workers-making-over-100000-in-annual-salary-or-pension/

This year, our auditors will file 50,000 Freedom of Information Act requests to capture nearly every dime taxed and spent at every level of government across America.

That’s never been done before!

Why are we fighting so hard? Because transparency changes everything.

Remember, It’s Your Money!

How Election Integrity Has Been Destroyed In Arizona (And Elsewhere) Patrick Wood

https://www.technocracy.news/how-election-integrity-has-been-destroyed-in-arizona-and-elsewhere/

Because I live in Arizona, I have wondered and scratched my head as to why a fundamentally “red” state ends up with “blue” politicians. Such was the case during the 2020 election when Donald Trump was overwhelmingly popular and yet lost the state. Such is the case right now with the Governor’s race between Kari Lake and Katie Hobbs. Now I know the answer.

Republicans seek voters, Democrats seek ballots.

This is so simple and obvious that it has escaped everyone’s attention, including mine. According to the article below, “when ballots are more important than votes – the election will always favor the former.”

Republican candidate Kari Lake has stumped throughout Arizona and won the hearts of our citizens. Her Democrat opponent, Katie Hobbs, has hidden herself from public exposure, refusing to even be seen with Lake on a stage or anywhere else. As a candidate, in fact, Hobbs could rightly be described as reclusive.

Here is the heart of matter: Lake is seeking voters while Hobbs is seeking ballots. The same could be said for the Senate race between Republican Blake Masters and Democrat Mark Kelly. Further, this is true across all major races in Arizona. Republicans seek voters while Democrats seek ballots.

What happened in Arizona? On election day, ballots were collected as many people voted in person. Mailed in and dropped off ballots were also collected. Next, the whole collection of ballots were brought to a central location (in each county). In Maricopa County, Sheriff’s deputies barricaded the counting facility and posted armed sentinels on the roof. The counting process was going to take a long time, they said. Days later, they are still not finished.

A Cold Winter for Europe: Blame Strategic Blindness by Burak Bekdil

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19065/europe-energy-strategic-blindness

In 2008, the “flawless democrat” Putin invaded Georgia. The West was shocked. Putin critics… were shocked that the West was shocked. In 2014, Putin invaded the Crimean Peninsula, sovereign Ukrainian territory. The West remained shocked. In February 2022, Putin invaded Ukraine and annexed parts of the sovereign state. Was the West still shocked? It should not have been.

Apparently the “flawless democrat” Putin is hoping to weaponize winter and force Europe to surrender, but giving in to the Kremlin would be disastrous.

The EastMed pipeline project was designed to improve Europe’s energy security by diversifying its routes and sources and providing direct interconnection to the production fields while reducing dependence on Russian gas supplies…. U.S. President Joe Biden stepped in with a historic strategic miscalculation that came with a strategic cost: appeasing NATO’s pro-Putin, part-time ally Turkey and jeopardizing Europe’s energy security.

Only a few weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Biden surprised the EastMed partners by abruptly withdrawing U.S. support for the pipeline, thereby effectively killing the project, preventing a diversified energy supply to Europe, and further assuring Putin’s energy blackmail against Europe.

The White House said the $6.7 billion project was antithetical to its “climate goals.” Biden presumably hopes no one will actually still be using fossil fuels by 2025, the date for the planned completion of the EastMed pipeline. The Biden administration also cited a supposed lack of economic and commercial viability, even though a 2019 study financed by the EU confirmed that “the EastMed Project is technically feasible, economically viable and commercially competitive.”

If the Europeans freeze this winter or must pay sky-high bills, they should drink a toast to the likes of Schroeder and Biden.

The story goes back to early 2000’s when German’s then Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder decided to develop strategic relations between Berlin and Moscow. He went so far as to offer partnership to Russia in EADS, a multinational European defense and aerospace powerhouse. In November 2004, Schroeder called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “flawless democrat.” Unsurprisingly, in 2004, Schroeder hailed Turkey’s Islamist autocrat, then prime minister (now president) Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a “great reformer.”

In Egypt, Climate Catastrophism as Usual Michael Kile

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2022/11/climate-business-as-usual-in-egypt/

Another year, another United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP) on how to persuade the bogeyman of our age, climate change (CC), to cease misbehaving. Time – and money – is running out yet again.

With more than 30,000 delegates attending this “watershed moment” – yes, over 30,000 — COP27 will be full of sound and fury, dire warnings, purveyors of dodgy carbon credits (including the UN’s own carbon offset platform), utopian fantasists and the usual crowd of jeremiahs, politicians and bureaucrats preaching “climate chaos”. Many will have form too, having spent years hyping the issue at every opportunity.

The event is being held in Sharm El Sheikh, a resort city located at the southern tip of Egypt’s South Sinai Protectorate. There has not been as much excitement there since the 1967 Six-Day War. The discovery of the Great Green Pyramid of Gaia a decade ago in the Ruba’ el-Khali (Empty Abode) also drew world attention to the region.

As the days turn into weeks, around midnight on the final day “transformative climate solutions”  could emerge from COP27’s so-called “innovation hubs”. If so, they will include demands for more climate finance. Yet many developed countries are themselves moving closer to recession (or worse) after joining the UN’s Race to Zero. Aptly named, given its ultimate destination is surely the Valley of the Jackals or the Tomb of Anubis.

That said, the Race to Zero is promising to deliver virtually everything on a green activist’s wish list: “A healthy, resilient, zero carbon recovery that prevents future threats, creates decent jobs, and unlocks inclusive, sustainable growth.” Led by “high-level champions” Mahmoud Mohieldin and Nigel Topping, it strives to “mobilize actors outside of national governments to join the Climate Ambition Alliance.”

First Lawsuit Filed in the U.S. to Stop Medical Professionals from Transing the Kids By Stacey Lennox

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/stacey-lennox/2022/11/11/first-lawsuit-filed-in-the-u-s-to-stop-medical-professionals-from-transing-the-kids-n1644944

The Center for American Liberty (CAL), founded by attorney Harmeet Dhillon, announced the first U.S. lawsuit against medical personnel for providing medical and surgical gender transition services. Providers who prescribed puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones and performed a double mastectomy on Chloe Cole when she was still a minor are named. Now, Cole is 18 years old and an outspoken detransitioner. She appears at rallies to end the medical and surgical gender transition of children.

On Thursday evening, Dhillon and Cole appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight to announce the lawsuit. Cole explained how medical professionals treated her gender dysphoria and counseled her parents. Carlson explained how gender clinics that provide medical and surgical transition to children are starting to close. Vanderbilt University Medical Center suspended operations at its pediatric gender clinic after investigative journalism from Matt Walsh at The Daily Wire. In the U.K., the Tavistock gender clinic was closed after a lawsuit. Since the judgment, additional parents have filed lawsuits against the clinic. “Litigation stops mutilation,” Carlson emphasized.

Then, Carlson asked Cole why she was suing. She said, “It is a medical malpractice case. I want to hold the adults that put me in harm’s way accountable because, I mean, what happened to me is horrible. But also, it didn’t only happen to me. That’s the worst part.” As outspoken as Cole has been as a detransitioner, she knows the harassment and criticism she will face. You only need to look at her Twitter timeline or the comments on videos of her speaking to see the trans activists’ vitriol. Children are brave, strong, and celebrated when they come out as transgender. They get harassed, demeaned, and censored when they speak out about their regret or their journey back to living as their biological sex.

Chloe continued, “It’s happening to children all over the U.S., all over the West, and it’s spreading all over the world. I want to be able to create a precedent for other people who have been in my situation to find justice for themselves.” Cole told Carlson she started her transition at the age of 13. Carlson asked Cole if she believed the doctors when they told her she could become a boy. She said she did and that her parents believed them also.