‘Skipping Meals, Conserving Water’: Bidenflation Wreaks Havoc on Personal Spending, Poll Shows
Inflation under President Joe Biden is causing more than 80 percent of consumers to cut back on personal spending, according to a Provident Bank poll released Tuesday.
More than 70 percent of American adults have made "some changes to personal travel habits," while more than 10 percent have eliminated "non-essential purchases," the poll found.
"While some consumers have cut back on some non-essential spending, like dining out and unnecessary travel, others reported much more drastic changes such as skipping meals, conserving water, and eliminating meat from their diets," according to Provident Bank. "People are feeling an immense amount of financial pressure right now."
Inflation is at a 40-year high, causing two-thirds of Americans to dip into their savings to pay for daily needs. Some economists, including former Obama administration officials, have attributed the rise in the cost of goods and services to the Biden administration's $2 trillion American Rescue Plan. Biden has called for a federal gas tax holiday to relieve financial pressure on Americans, even though members of his own party, including former president Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), have expressed doubts that the tax suspension would benefit consumers. Obama in 2008 called tax holidays "a gimmick," the Washington Free Beacon reported.
More than half of Americans surveyed said they spend between $101 and $500 per month on groceries, and 32 percent said they are spending hundreds of dollars more on gas. Survey respondents said baby products, meat, utilities, alcohol, household goods, and milk are particularly draining their bank accounts.
Americans spent less than expected in the first quarter of this year, according to Commerce Department data. Overall gross domestic product had a 1.6 percent annualized decline.
Multiple experts have said that the United States is heading for a recession.
iden administration tells Americans to suck it up on that $5 gas
It's astonishing how out of touch the Joe Biden administration is with voters. We're talking about tin ears, brains and bodies.
A reporter asked a White House official about those soaring energy prices at the pump -- the number one issue occupying likely voters' attention, according to a recent Rasmussen poll -- and got this:
How inspiring. Seems that releasing the Strategic Petroleum Reserves did nothing to bring down high energy prices, and blaming Putin didn't resonate with the public. So now it's the New World Order as the hill we die on. Can you say 'pathetic'?
It seemed to be part of a sync'd talking points memo that Joe and his pathetic minions all read from:
Thanks for volunteering us, Joe...
Some let us know what the Big Idea is with these no-end-in-sight soaring prices at the pump:
And the bottom line here is that it's not happening -- there's no end in sight for soaring fuel prices, and there's certainly no greenie economy arising as a result of it -- for this reason right here:
Fossil fuel energy production is not only the driver of greenie energy, it itself is not exempt from inflationary pressures, given that producing fuel requires dollars, and the dollar is where the inflation is coming from. Inflation is "always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon," to quote Milton Friedman, who's the master of the matter. Biden would have you think that inflation derives from oil prices, and Vlad Putin somehow controls those prices based on our refusal to buy his oil (the Chicoms get it now) and Putin has driven oil prices higher just to be mean to us.
It's garbage. Fact is, higher energy prices can be alleviated to some extent by permitting the production of more oil and natural gas as well as buying from Canada, instead of relying on expensive imports from overseas petrotyrants, or by releasing the Strategic Petroleum Reserves, which is the Biden plan for the higher energy prices he's brought us. His call to Americans to endure higher energy prices Because Putin is nothing short of outrageous. What's more, even if he does manage to unhorse Putin, prices at the pump would not go lower. Biden, after all, wants the higher oil prices -- to convert the economy to greenie energy. He can't let go of this bad idea. He can reverse himself on a lot of policies but this one seems set in stone, and made worse by his failure to understand basic economics.
Issues & Insights has an excellent piece on the extent to which Biden has constrained U.S. energy production, leading to his administration's callous response to the number one issue concerning voters:
And, no, it’s no exaggeration to call this a crisis. With consumer prices rising at a four-decade-high of 8.6% in the most recent year-over-year comparison, Americans are watching their standard of living fall fast.
A just-released national survey has found that 83% of U.S. households are cutting their personal spending and travel due to soaring inflation. These cutbacks are being driven almost entirely by energy costs, which have spiked nearly 35% in the past year.
The economic disaster Biden has created is ultimately a result of surging federal spending during the pandemic, foolish Fed policies that poured monetary gasoline onto a raging inflation fire, and the ongoing effort by Biden and the Democrats to punish the very companies that provide our energy, threatening them with smothering regulations, painful taxes and even public shaming.
Things have reached a fever pitch of late, with Democrats’ extremist anti-free-market green wing suggesting, as gasoline prices roar past $5 a gallon and cities across the nation face blackouts, we would all be better off if we just nationalized our oil and gas industry.
For the record, no we wouldn’t.
Bingo, bingo, bingo, and bingo. The editorial completely grasps the nature of the Biden disaster on energy and why none of his proposed solutions -- or coordinated spin -- are working.
What we have here is an administration so wedded to its greenie agenda it no longe recognizes even its own quest for political self-preservation. Biden's minions cite grand plans for a New World Order and a greenie energy regimen as most important, while poor old stupid Joe can only chirp 'Putin.'
Voters are going to punish these clowns hard for this extended energy price surge, because it's a textbook failure worse than anything even Jimmy Carter could come up with.
Now they are promising more. They just can't stop themselves.
Image: Twitter screen shot.
World more worried, stressed than ever before?
According to a new Gallup poll, the world in general is more worried, stressed, and consequently unhappy than ever before. This is despite the fact that, at least until very recently, life expectancies have risen to their highest ever levels globally, and many hundreds of millions — perhaps billions — of people have escaped poverty. I can't confidently speak for people in far-ranging parts of the globe to which I have never traveled, but that clearly seems to be the case in the United States.
Call it "Malaise 2.0," but it's worse than that of which former President Jimmy Carter spoke. There are more anger, more sadness, more hurt, and less hope. How did we get here? There are many reasons, most of which are related.
According to Gallup's latest annual survey of adults in 122 countries and areas, the second year of the pandemic was even tougher on people than the first, pushing Gallup's Negative Experience Index to yet another new high of 33 in 2021. Professed levels of stress, worry, and sadness all ticked upward in 2021 and set new records. Worse yet, this rise in negative experiences came in tandem with a decline in positive experiences, leaving experts and policymakers scrambling to understand why the world is on this course.
I would submit that experts and policymakers are in large part responsible for the pain. That is undoubtedly true in America, where just a few short years ago, we experienced historically low unemployment, historically high stock market values, low inflation, and high rates of consumer confidence...and we were energy independent.
Then came the plandemic. And Dr. Fauci, lockdowns, social distancing, economic devastation, mask and vaccine mandates...and a staggering number of "excess deaths."
And mail-in voting.
And then came the Biden administration — and with it, policies guaranteed to eviscerate our energy independence and therefore our economy. And our freedom of speech. And our Second Amendment rights. And our military. And the difference between males and females. And the ties that have historically bound us together as a people and a nation. And our confidence.
But it is not just COVID-1984 and the Biden administration that are to blame. "Progressives'" incessant, decades-long assault on all things Americans have traditionally held dear has had a devastating effect on the country, its institutions, and its citizens. They have fomented grievances, decried competence and discipline as "ableism," defended crime, and championed sloth. They have largely stripped the nation of its founding values, its history, its borders, its belief in a manifest destiny, and its manhood. And they have defined depravity down.
John Adams said, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People." The rest of the founders believed this, too. And now we have a significant proportion of our population that thinks the wholesale killing of babies in the womb is moral and that those who disagree are monsters. And that even those who simply want the people in the various states to have the right to determine whether unfettered abortion should be legal where they live must be targeted for harassment. We have men in women's bathrooms, locker rooms, and prisons. And on their sports teams. In fact, many prominent people can no longer say what a woman is. Afraid to be mocked, canceled, fired, or assaulted, many of us will no longer state obvious truths.
It is little wonder Americans are worrying more, are sadder and more stressed.
There is less gratitude and more entitlement, less connection to the Earth and more connection to antisocial media, less living in reality and more living in "virtual reality." Less God and more government.
We should be worried. The question is, what are we going to do about it?
Image via Pixabay.
OE BIDEN’S TRICKLE UP ECONOMICS
Retirement Rescheduled: Bidenflation Prevents Americans From Living Out Their Golden Years
https://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2022/06/joe-bidens-assault-on-middle-america.html
BIDENOMICS - The Massive Transfer of Wealth to the Rich and Wall Street and Then Illegals Get Our Jobs to Keep Wages Depressed.
https://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2022/06/the-fool-in-white-house-biden-economy.html
Old Joe Biden has been a liar his entire public life, from his plagiarism in law school and on the presidential campaign trail to his lies about the accident that killed his first wife and the innumerable lies he has told while pretending to be president. It is no exaggeration to say that Joe Biden is one of the most untrustworthy men on the planet. On Friday he reinforced that reputation with a major speech on the May jobs report, in which he had the breathtaking audacity to say that the smoking ruin of an economy over which he is presiding, and which his far-Left policies created, is actually doing great. Maybe if we tilt our heads and squint, we’ll be able to see it.
VIDEOS: REALITY OF AMERICA
15 Examples That Show How Completely And Utterly Insane Our
Society Has Become
Richard Wolff: This Is the Worst Economic Period in My Lifetime
Economic Confidence Crashes: 85% of Americans Say Economy is Getting Worse
The American public views the Biden economy as in worse shape than any time since February 2009, when the economy was in a deep recession, still staggering from the implosion of the housing bubble, and shocked by the financial crisis that had recently toppled major banks, government-sponsored mortgage companies, Wall Street firms, and insurance companies, a Gallup poll indicates.
Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index, which is a summary of Americans’ ratings of current economic conditions and outlook for the economy, plunged 13 points over the past month to minus 58. The index has a theoretical range from +100 if all respondents describe the economy in positive terms and think it’s improving to -100 if all describe it in negative terms and think it’s worsening.
The June score is the lowest measured since minus 64 in February 2009. The all0time low was negative 72 in October 2008.
A shocking 85 percent in June say the economy is getting worse, up from 77 percent in May and only two points below of the record high hit in June 2008.
The percentage of Americans calling current conditions “poor” has risen eight percentage points in June to 54 percent, the first time a majority of Americans has seen conditions as poor since 2009. An additional 34 percent say current conditions are “only fair,” bringing the total negative assessment to 88 percent. Just 11 percent say conditions are good and less than one percent say conditions are excellent.
Mexico Gives Travel Permits to 3000 Caravan Migrants Headed to U.S.
Mexico’s government issued approximately 3,000 travel permits to members of a migrant caravan that arrived over the weekend in Chiapas. Rather than trying to stop the group, authorities issued permits and allowed them to continue north in a fragmented manner.
The caravan arrived at Mexico’s southern border on Friday and members of Mexico’s National Immigration Institute (INM) began issuing a series of travel permits that give migrants 30 days to travel freely through the country, a prepared statement from INM revealed.
Over the weekend, INM agents issued approximately 3,000 permits in their office in Huixtla, Chiapas. According to INM, the move was done to disrupt the caravan so individual migrants could move freely through Mexico.
The caravan has since disbanded but the migrants with travel permits will continue to make their way north. The U.S. government is seeing record-setting numbers of migrants reaching its southwest border. Cartel-connected human smugglers are actively promoting a notion that U.S. immigration courts are capable of handling swells of new migrant claims.
The move by Mexico’s INM is a direct contrast to prior approaches dating back to the Trump era, where authorities would meet caravans with riot shields and batons. Last year, human rights activists accused INM agents of using excessive force against migrants.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
Luisana Moreno is a contributing writer for Breitbart Texas.
VIDEOS:
Brace For A Sweeping Housing Bubble Burst As Rent And Home Prices Face Dramatic Crash
Prepare for the EVICTION WAVE about to hit US Housing Market (13 MILLION NOW IN DEFAULT)
Why New York’s Billionaires’ Row Is Half Empty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wehsz38P74g&t=1439s
15 Signs That America Is In Much Worse Trouble Than We All Thought
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bafVveN1qlc
Today, we brought you some numbers that may be hard to digest. Even though most of us know by now that America is in trouble, many people out there don't have any idea of how deep in trouble we really are. Offense rates are shooting up tremendously right now. As the cost of basic necessities escalates, more people are stealing to feed themselves today than in any other period in the past decade. Gas theft rates are skyrocketing, as prices rise above the $5-dollar-mark. Since January, the number of carjackings has gone up by over 300% in some cities. Officers say that it's not just a few gallons being siphoned from vehicles. Now, thieves are pumping thousands of dollars' worth of fuel from gas stations and selling it for a profit. CNN reported that, in Orlando, Florida, authorities are looking for two people who they say stole more than 1,000 gallons of fuel from a gas station. In Las Vegas, Nevada, highly modified vehicles are being used to steal tens of thousands of gallons from local gas stations. And in Greenville, South Carolina, several arrests for gas thefts have been made since January. Last week, in North Carolina last week, almost 400 gallons of gas were stolen by thieves who were able to bypass the payment system. The list goes on and on, and given that gas prices are expected to continue to rise, we’re going to see many more similar cases happening until the end of the year.
Consumer Confidence Falls as Bidenflation Kills Economic Hope
Worries about inflation and a potential recession dragged down consumer confidence to the lowest level in 16 months, the Conference Board’s widely followed survey showed Tuesday.
The Conference Board’s index of consumer confidence fell to 98.7 in June, below the 101.0 reading expected by economists. The prior month’s reading was revised down to 103.2 from the initial estimate of 106.4, indicating that consumers were already feeling less optimistic about the economy than thought.
The barometer of consumer expectations—based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions—plunged in June, falling to 66.4 from 73.7. It is now at its lowest level since 2013.
The gauge of the present situation—based on consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions—slipped to 147.1 from 147.4 last month.
“Consumer confidence fell for a second consecutive month in June,” said Lynn Franco, Senior Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board. “While the Present Situation Index was relatively unchanged, the Expectations Index continued its recent downward trajectory—falling to its lowest point in nearly a decade. Consumers’ grimmer outlook was driven by increasing concerns about inflation, in particular rising gas and food prices. Expectations have now fallen well below a reading of 80, suggesting weaker growth in the second half of 2022 as well as growing risk of recession by yearend.”
High prices are forcing people to reassess vacation plans even while purchasing intentions for big ticket items remained steady, according to the survey.
“Purchasing intentions for cars, homes, and major appliances held relatively steady—but intentions have cooled since the start of the year and this trend is likely to continue as the Fed aggressively raises interest rates to tame inflation. Meanwhile, vacation plans softened further as rising prices took their toll. Looking ahead over the next six months, consumer spending and economic growth are likely to continue facing strong headwinds from further inflation and rate hikes,” Franco said.
Other surveys, including the University of Michigan’s survey of consumer sentiment, have found that consumers consider now a terrible time to make big purchases. Fear of prices going even higher, however, may be encouraging some households to make purchases in advance.
What Hillary and her ilk are really worried about is the end of the Democrat Party. If the truth about the Clintons (or the Bidens) ever became public knowledge, their political careers would be over forever.
The Biden White House caters to the rich just as Obama's did
BlackRock has $10 trillion under management and holds great power with Biden's White House. It is a big pusher of the green agenda. The green agenda is destroying America with rampant inflation, especially the poor, the middle class, and small businesses, but BlackRock has done great.
BlackRock avers:
We believe that the transition to a net zero world is the shared responsibility of every citizen, corporation, and government. Learn about the steps we're taking to mitigate the risks of climate change and help the world transition to net zero.
From the Heartland Institute:
The White House's Secret Meetings With BlackRock Are a Major Threat to Freedom
BlackRock controls more assets than any other investment management firm on Wall Street, with about $10 trillion now under management. (Yes, that's "trillion" with a "t.")
BlackRock has used much of this wealth to seize control of sizeable minority stakes in numerous publicly traded companies, making BlackRock and its CEO, Larry Fink, the most powerful forces in corporate America. When BlackRock and Fink speak, Wall Street listens.
There is emerging evidence, however, that BlackRock's influence is not limited to the corporate and financial spheres. After years of building political alliances and making a laundry list of strategic hires, BlackRock has managed to amass huge amounts of political clout within the Biden administration and U.S. Federal Reserve, allowing them to develop unprecedented strategic partnerships and, according to our new research, gain access to officials in the White House.
According to an investigation of White House visitors logs, Thomas E. Donilon — chairman of the BlackRock Investment Institute (BII), BlackRock's personal think tank dedicated to assessing geopolitical investment risk — met with Biden administration officials at least eight times from March 2021 to November 2021, and perhaps on other occasions as well. White House logs show a "Thomas N. Donilon" visited with Biden administration officials at least twice, and a review of that name suggests it is likely the same person as Thomas E. Donilon.
Donilon has been an important figure in U.S. foreign policy for many years. Most recently, he served under President Barack Obama as his national security advisor. He also worked for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and was reportedly on Biden's short list of nominees to become the next CIA director.
Obama gave Google great access to the white House and in return Obama gave Google, Netflix, Facebook, Twitter and other big users of the internet a great kickback with net neutrality.
YouTube screengrab.
Eric Schmidt: Obama's Chief Corporate Ally
Google's chairman has acted as Obama's chief corporate supporter. He has also received unrivaled access to top policymakers
Eric Schmidt: Obama's chief corporate supporter
Eric Schmidt has enjoyed virtual open-door access to the White House during the Obama administration, records show, meeting with the US president and top White House officials on at least 18 separate occasions from 2009 to 2015, not counting large meetings and social events like state dinners.
The meetings include four with President Obama, one of which appears to have been a private meeting in the Oval Office.
Schmidt played an important role in President Obama's two election victories, and his visits to the White House coincided with the government's decision-making on a wide range of issues central to Google's business interests. Those included an antitrust investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, the US government's rapprochement with Cuba and potential legislation governing piracy and copyright, which posed grave threats to Google's core advertising business.
At the same time, Schmidt has been appointed to numerous White House advisory positions, giving him privileged insight into the administration's policies in technology, science and military defense, as well as unusual access to top policymakers.
After Biden and Michelle got out of the White House, they got a huge kickback from Netflix despite having no product or experience. I wonder why Netflix is having financial trouble today!
Barack and Michelle Obama Sign Netflix Production Deal
Most of the media have never given a damn about the Clinton, Obama, or Biden corruption, which is massive.
There is more evidence every day of the connections of Joe with Hunter's kickbacks from China, Russia, and Ukraine, yet the media are virtually silent. It is no wonder that there are so much corruption and such deep economic problems throughout the country when the media have been complicit in infecting the public with the pandemic of the Biden administration.
We learn new information every day about the sewer of despicable and corrupt behavior of Joe and Hunter, and it's as if almost all of the media have buried their heads in the sand, so the public doesn't see it. Can anyone imagine the interest if Trump had wired thousands of dollars to Don Jr. or Eric so they could support their Russian hooker habit?
They don't even care about the massive payments to NIH scientists from industries they supposedly monitor. They still treat Fauci as an infallible expert, no matter how wrong he intentionally or unintentionally has been.
Nope. The media are beating the dead horse about the armed insurrection where there were no arms.
We have learned massive new information about Trump today. He wanted to go to the Capitol and the Secret Service prevented him from going. That appears to be it.
Five Reasons to Impeach Joe Biden
American has a two-tiered justice system. If you are liberal and vote Democratic, you can get away with anything. Hillary Clinton is proof of that. If you are conservative, Republican, and a Trump supporter, you can’t even get away with scratching your own behind. But for argument’s sake, let’s suppose we have a single standard for justice. In that case, here are five unassailable reasons that justify impeaching President Biden. This is not meant to be a complete list, but it will do for starters.
1. Biden’s corrupt activities constitute treason.
Evidence exists that during Joe Biden’s tenure as vice president, access to his office was sold by Biden’s son Hunter to China, Russia, Ukraine, and others willing to cough up huge sums of money. American foreign policy was impacted by those transactions. Biden himself bragged openly that he stopped Ukraine from investigating Hunter in return for a billion dollars in U.S. aid.
Where is the evidence of Biden’s corruption? First there is the New York Post article that broke the story. Then there is Peter Schweizer’s well-researched book, Secret Empires, that traces the Biden Crime Family’s complicity with the corrupt Ukrainian energy company Burisma. Next, we have the incriminating emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop. Let’s not forget the video where Biden brags about extorting favors from Ukraine. And finally, there is the testimony of former Biden business partner, Tony Bobulinski.
Bobulinski’s testimony refuted Joe Biden’s denial that he was aware of Hunter’s slimy business ventures. Joe knew about his son’s dealings, participated in them, profited from them, and lied to the American people about it.
2. Biden’s violation of U.S. immigration law constitutes treason.
Biden has abused his office by violating the laws he has sworn to defend. He has undermined national security by opening the southern border to millions of unvetted, low-skilled, uneducated, third-world economic migrants, many of whom are known terrorists, criminals, and people infected with COVID.
The open border policy “is an inside attack on our democracy,” said former Trump policy adviser Stephen Miller. “The president is working systematically to allow people to invade our country against our laws to consume public benefits, to take American jobs, and to threaten public safety.”
Adding insult to injury, Biden is shipping hordes of illegals to secret destinations without informing the American public. The Pentagon has confirmed that it is using Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas to fly illegal immigrants to undisclosed parts of the country. We don’t know where they are going or what happens to them when they get there.
If millions of aliens are allowed to enter the U.S. illegally, and sanctuary cities and states can openly disregard federal statutes, we no longer have a country. The economic and social costs of Biden’s policy will tear the country apart.
Article III of the U.S. Constitution states: “Treason against the United States shall consist... in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.” By supporting sanctuary jurisdictions and refusing to pay for the wall, Biden is giving aid and comfort to aliens who show contempt for our laws and sovereignty and who, by definition, are enemies of the United States.
3. Biden is waging war on the energy sector to deliberately destroy the American economy.
Under Trump, the U.S. became energy independent. Biden reversed Trump’s sensible energy policies, causing the worst inflation in 40 years, runaway gas, food, and heating prices, and looming recession. As far back as the 2020 election, Biden has boasted about his intention to destroy our reliance on fossil fuels.
“Harvesting of fuel was cut back drastically,” said Bill O’Reilly, “and that caused the price of gas at the pump to rise, and that lit inflation, as all other goods went up in price as well because they are trucked to the stores and businesses. That is all on President Biden.” Now millions of Americans can’t afford to put food on the table.
Biden’s decisions are informed by his surrender to the extreme left wing of the Democratic Party. Their plan is to destroy the American economy in order to bring about a Marxist, socialist tyranny controlled by the unaccountable bureaucrats of the Deep State. We cannot tolerate a president who seeks the transformation of America into another Venezuela.
4. Biden is directing the enforcement branches of the federal government against his political enemies.
Biden believes that “domestic political extremism” is “the most urgent terrorism threat” facing the U.S. “The Biden administration declared that the ‘most lethal elements’ of today’s domestic terror threat are political conservatives,” said Tucker Carlson. Biden has compared Americans who disagree with him -- at least half the country -- to racists and terrorists.
Consequently, Biden is empowering the DoJ and FBI to go after Republicans. “The FBI is now an organization solely focused on destroying the domestic enemies of the Democratic Party,” said talk show host Jesse Kelly.
Biden is also enlisting the media in his war against political opponents. “What Joe Biden is telling media companies to do today is to censor their content so it doesn’t contradict his decrees,” said Tucker Carlson. “[Biden is calling for] censorship of political opinions. What you’re seeing here is far more dangerous than the domestic terror threat they’ve been bloviating about. It contravenes the First Amendment.”
5. Biden is violating the equal protection clause.
Biden is presiding over an inquisition against white Americans. He has expressed his support for Critical Race Theory, which argues that the U.S. is inherently racist, that minorities are oppressed by whites and especially white men, and that white people achieve their economic and political objectives at the expense of people of color. CRT is in direct opposition to the aims of the Civil Rights movement and Martin Luther King’s emphasis on judging people based on the quality of their character rather than the color of their skin.
Blaming white supremacy has become the new national sport. Under the guise of ending oppression, Biden and the Democratic Party want to remake whites into the new underclass. Giving special treatment to any one group is in violation of the equal protection clause. It is also the worst kind of racism. Blaming current social problems on alleged white oppression heightens racial tensions and keeps the country divided. Division seems to be Biden’s objective. For that reason alone, he should be impeached.
Ed Brodow is a conservative political commentator and author of nine books including his new #1 Amazon Best Seller, AMERICA ON ITS KNEES: The Cost of Replacing Trump with Biden. His website is www.edbrodowpolitics.com.
Under Biden’s DHS, all dissenters are now ‘domestic extremists’
--“Too much public discourse today is sullied by ad hominem rhetoric, that is, attempts to discredit an argument not by proving that it is unsound but by attacking the character or motives of the argument’s proponents.”—Justice Samuel Alito, Ramos v. Louisiana, 140 S. Ct. 1390, 1426 (2020)
The problem with fundamentally transforming a great, freedom-loving nation into something else is that not everyone is in favor of the idea. Building support for your position with a better argument than your detractors can be a slow, frustrating process.
The faster, more Machiavellian route is to declare your critics to be enemies of the state, deserving of both marginalization from decent society and denial of their basic rights as citizens.
In its goal to make America more amenable to a ubiquitous, Big Brother-like federal government and its corresponding illiberal policies, the current occupants of White House and its tentacle agencies have borrowed the tactics of some of history’s most oppressive despots. The result will be a chilling effect on free speech and the airing of legitimate grievances against our government.
In its recent National Terrorism Advisory System bulletin, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned that “some domestic violent extremists have expressed grievances related to their perception that the U.S. government is unwilling or unable to secure the U.S.-Mexico border and have called for violence to stem the flow of undocumented migrants to the United States.
“We assess,” the bulletin continued, “that there is increased risk of domestic violent extremists using changes in border security-related policies and/or enforcement mechanisms to justify violence against individuals, such as minorities and law enforcement officials involved in the enforcement of border security.”
To the untrained ear, this may sound like a government giving justifiable warning to the public about emerging threats.
In reality, it is the work of overzealous, hyper-partisan ruling class politicians seeking to eliminate reasonable dissent against their agenda. In a time when we routinely hear about “threats to our democracy,” this behavior by our leaders is the real thing.
For all the warnings from our federal government about domestic violent extremists, we have seen scant evidence of them, particularly as it relates to border policies. Who are these violent extremists? If the threat is as real as we are told, the government should have volumes of evidence. Yet all we get is rhetoric backed up with little else.
A peek behind the Great and Powerful Oz’s curtain will reveal the true purpose of this warning. The Biden administration knows that its policies at the border have created a colossal humanitarian crisis that has angered many Americans. This has put Biden and his allies on their heels and in extreme danger of losing political power in the near future.
By linking opponents of the current border policies to “domestic violent extremists,” the White House can now weaponize its federal security agencies to target those critics for harassment and persecution. The tactic has already been used on other occasions, such as when Attorney General Merrick Garland directed the U.S. Attorney’s Office to investigate alleged threats made by parents at school board officials. The purpose was not to catch any domestic extremists, but to intimidate parents into submission.
It is not hard to see how this DHS memo will result in purposeful mission creep and a further erosion of free speech. Much like the Southern Poverty Law Center does with its incredibly reckless and violence-inspiring “hate map,” the government can simply declare any individual or group critical of the administration’s border policies to be guilty of extremism, and henceforth targeted for destruction. This is a serious threat to the First Amendment rights of all Americans.
It is also a perfect scenario for the vaunted legal groups that have traditionally defended our rights against oppressive government policies to enter the fray. Alas, the American Civil Liberties Union and similar groups appear to be uninterested in this threat to Americans’ rights. They have been co-opted by partisan politics and apparently joined forces with the very government from which they were formed to protect us against.
While it is busy generating agitprop about how our nation is awash in violent domestic extremists, our government appears to have little concern about actual terror threats who are crossing our borders with regularity.
Among many such incidents, Border Patrol agents apprehended 11 Iranian nationals found illegally entering the U.S. from Mexico in February of last year. Panama reportedly stopped 52 people en route to the United States who are on terrorist watch lists and associated with al-Qaeda.
While these threats were neutralized, we know nothing of the thousands of foreign nationals who successfully entered the U.S. illegally, commonly known as “gotaways.” Why isn’t our government focused like a laser on this very real threat to our nation, instead of targeting U.S. citizens who dare criticize government policy?
Make no mistake, there are threats to the safety and security of our nation. This White House and its appendages need to focus on legitimate threats to the republic, not those that merely threaten their own tenuous grip on power.
Dale L. Wilcox is executive director and general counsel for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a public interest law firm working to defend the rights and interests of the American people from the negative effects of mass migration.
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