RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.city-journal.org/a-formula-for-tyranny-and-more-racism

Editor’s note: the following is adapted from Glenn C. Loury’s testimony to the Senate Banking Committee on March 4, 2021.

Thank you for this opportunity. In speaking about black American disadvantage and its implications for American democracy, I draw on many years of study as economic theorist and public intellectual.

My testimony rests on two observations—about the dynamics of human development and the foundations of racial identity. I will conclude by expressing reservations about government pursuing a program to equalize group outcomes—rather than a program to provide equality of opportunity for all.

First, two statements of principle:

(a) Persistent black disadvantage is an American tragedy—a national, not merely communal, disgrace.

(b) Wherever inequality is a problem, we should address it forthrightly. But we should do so on behalf of a program of human decency, not of racial equity.

For many, these principles will seem to be in conflict. In actual fact, they complement one another.

Now, my two observations:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ratcliffe-biden-so-concerned-with-proving-trump-wrong-hell-prove-him-right

Biden is potentially forsaking national security to undermine his predecessor, ex-DNI says.

Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said Thursday that President Biden appears to be so focused on trying to prove President Trump wrong on several accounts, including Mideast foreign policy,  that it may backfire on him.

Ratcliffe told host Trey Gowdy on “Fox News Primetime” that foreign policy is one specific area where Biden and his administration have essentially taken the exact opposite tact as Trump did during his presidency.

“The Biden administration seems so intent on proving Trump wrong they are going to prove him right at the sake of national security, literally snatch defeat from the jaws of victory,” he said.

“We are enjoying peace in the Middle East because Iran is poorer, weaker and less influential than they’ve been in decades and nobody can argue otherwise with a straight face, and that’s because we pulled out of the JCPOA (Iran nuclear deal) and implemented sanctions that have put Iranian regime on the verge of real trouble and preventing them from engaging in the kind of mayhem across the Middle East that has allowed the peace agreements, the peace accords to move forward.”

https://newsblaze.com/usnews/national/american-constitutional-battleground-for-freedom_176030/

Tony Roman, the proprietor of ‘Basilico’s Pasta e Vino‘ restaurant, located in Orange County, Southern California, is a remarkable patriot. And Tony knows what gives him the inalienable rights to be a genuine patriot. It is called FREEDOM and LIBERTY.

When I first interviewed Tony in December 2020, the United States was already months into the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and government’s draconian orders and overreach, while Tony and his staff were standing firm against these unconstitutional actions using his business as what he calls a “Constitutional Battleground” to wage his battle against them.

In his attempt to unite all patriot restaurants and businesses to fight against lockdown tyranny and sacrifice for American freedom, also to encourage other business owners to pledge their businesses as Constitutional Battlegrounds, Tony launched a website called Make Restaurants Great Again.

Constitutional Battleground: Make Restaurants Great Again – Photo credit Tony Roman

The world has now supposedly been “gifted” with several COVID-19 vaccines, produced to “protect” humanity from the novel illness that is at war with mankind, while life is now, as big media likes to say, “cautiously returning to the normalcy people have been accustomed to.” All is fine and dandy, but what is missing is an update on the state of Tony’s ‘Constitutional Battleground.’

I contacted Tony and he updated me in the following interview:

NG: My first question to Tony: “What type of [real] support have you received from customers?”

Tony: “Customers drive from as far away as Utah, Arizona, and Washington State and from San Francisco, Las Vegas, San Diego, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, etc. So many who live in places where they feel most oppressed like Los Angeles, come in droves to express their support. Parents come with their young children, telling me they want their sons and daughters to see what America is supposed to look like. Show them the norm instead of the locked down society they see everywhere else.”

Our supporters share my message of defiance in defense of liberty with anyone who will listen. People from around the world call and write to express their support. I tell anyone that walks into our restaurant that it makes it clear they are there to support our fight, that they are now part of it. And when they hear me say that, they believe it and they feel it.”

https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2021/03/12/gov_cuomo_solicited_millions_in_campaign_cash_from_state_vendors_766563.html

Soliciting state contractors for campaign cash opens up Gov. Andrew Cuomo to ethical questions.

Our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com found 347 state vendors that gave $6.2 million in political donations to Cuomo over a six-year period (2014-2019). Meanwhile, these companies reaped $7 billion in state payments.

We reached out to Governor Cuomo and Rich Azzopardi, a senior advisor, answered for the administration, “No contribution of any size plays a role in any official action and any official who can be swayed by a single dollar has no business being in government.”

In New York, however, this political patronage is perfectly legal (at least for now).

Cuomo solicited campaign cash from big accounting firms, law firms, banks, cable companies, developers, telco’s, and even LLCs.

Here’s just one example:

The big four accounting firms, Deloitte; Ernst & Young (EY); KPMG; and PriceWaterhouseCooper (PwC) collectively gave Gov. Cuomo $360,000 in campaign donations from 2014-2019. The firms reaped $258.8 million in state payments.