Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Saturday announced Operation Lone Star, which he said would integrate the state’s own resources to try to contain damage from the new migrant surge that’s struck the Biden administration.
Mr. Abbott said the operation is aimed at the smuggling cartels, which control the routes for getting drugs and people across the border.
The Republican governor squarely blamed President Biden’s moves to undo former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies for inviting the surge.
“The crisis at our southern border continues to escalate because of Biden Administration policies that refuse to secure the border and invite illegal immigration,” he said in a statement.
He said the situation has become “a humanitarian crisis.”
The Biden administration has declined to label the situation a “crisis,” instead calling it a “challenge” that the administration insists it is meeting.
Illegal immigrants are being caught by Border Patrol agents then quickly released directly into Texas communities, without any coronavirus testing.
Some communities are doing COVID testing themselves, although they said it’s nearly useless because of the conditions and the incubation period. Besides, officials say, even if migrants do test positive there’s little they can do to stop the migrants from getting on buses and trains anyway.
One local official involved in testing said the migrants usually leave within a day of being released by the Border Patrol, regardless of their test results.
The prospect of inflation in the United States has moved quickly from a fringe idea to become the consensus among the financial literati. With a proposed $1.9 trillion stimulus package following unspent previous rounds, the Federal Reserve is forcing excess liquidity into markets where it has no place to go other than fueling financial asset bubbles.
As I wrote recently, there are multiple warning signs in financial, energy, food, and other commodity markets that the inexorable process has begun. Inflation is now running much hotter than anyone would have expected. As pent-up demand is unleashed with the reopening of our economies, inflationary pressures will only accelerate. The debate is now focused on when and how severely, rather than if, inflation will emerge, and whether it will be transitory or long-lasting.
What is being passed over in the discussion is a simple but terrible truth: a prolonged inflation will destroy the already weakened middle class and worsen the widening wealth gap in America. By pushing this additional stimulus package, which once again has very little going into the hands of those who need it most, the Biden administration may be walking into a policy trap that will favor the elites at the expense of ordinary Americans. Not that we should be surprised at this, but it’s frightening nonetheless. The middle class will bear the brunt of inflation through rising food, energy, and other prices. Then, later, when government tries to tamp down on rising inflation through higher taxes, the middle class will see its income squeezed even more. Inflation will further increase the income and wealth inequality between those who rely on their labor (i.e., the middle class) and those who, at least for the time being, benefit from the financial market’s inflation-fueled euphoria.
A prolonged inflation will destroy the already weakened middle class and worsen the widening wealth gap in America.
The last time we saw income and wealth inequality in the United States as bad as it is today was the 1930s. This led to substantial social and labor unrest, some of it violent. The Second World War had a leveling effect, and the economic resurgence that followed gave rise to the power and cultural predominance of the middle class in America. But the U.S. is now growing substantially less equal. Indeed, inequality has been rising for the last 45 years. During this time, wealth has been shifting towards capital and away from labor, and national income has become more concentrated at the top with the rise of an elite managerial class. An analysis published in September 2020 by the RAND Corporation showed that the top 1 percent of income earners took home 22 percent of taxable national income in 2018, compared with 9 percent in 1975. Over the same time frame, the bottom 90 percent of income earners saw their share of national income fall from 67 percent to 50 percent. There are no signs that this trend will reverse itself anytime soon. Inflation will only make it worse.
The top 1 percent of income and wealth will be the biggest winners in an inflationary environment. Rentiers (those living on income from property or investments), traders (of goods), speculators (in financial assets), and others who are already wealthy will quickly learn how to navigate in and profit from inflation. Globalist jet-setters can shift between currencies. The 2 percent of accounts that hold 98 percent of Bitcoin can use cryptocurrencies as a hedge against inflation and manipulate prices along the way. Fixed-rate debtors (e.g., homeowners with fixed-rate mortgages) will have some protection, as housing stock values tend to rise with inflation.
The middle class will, on the other hand, be the biggest loser in a sustained inflation. Government workers, administrators, entry-level and middle-management employees, and other salaried workers will see their purchasing power steadily erode. Food and energy commodities will begin to consume the majority of disposable income. The moderately wealthy — doctors, lawyers, engineers, anyone from the professional class, which relies on cash income — will fare no better. Variable-rate borrowers (i.e., credit card debtors and those with floating-rate mortgages) will see rates skyrocket. Most of the middle class do not have opportunity to reset income annually, let alone monthly, weekly, or daily, as is required in severe inflations. While teachers and other union workers may be able to reset periodically through labor actions and unrest, these moves will still lag behind the cost of living. Those worst off will be elderly retirees and others relying on bonds and fixed incomes. For those unable to rejoin the workforce, an entire life’s savings may dwindle to be worth less than the cost of a trip to Starbucks.
The middle class exists because it has been successful in transforming hard work into investments (mostly housing), savings, and other stores of value. It then passes those benefits on to subsequent generations through better education and inheritance. One writer explains it this way: “The traditional ladder of social mobility from working class to middle class has to do with capitalizing work: time and savings are invested in higher education.… [W]hat separates the working class from the middle class is the ability to transform labor into capital while the labor of the working class only funds consumption.”
Inflation will eviscerate the stored value that the middle class holds in cash, savings, retirement accounts, bonds, etc., while greatly reducing the purchasing power of income from wages and salaries. In a prolonged inflation, the middle class will, like the working class, be forced to use all of its income to fund consumption, primarily consisting of shelter, food, and energy. Because, at least for most, income will not be able to rise as quickly as food, energy, and other costs, the middle class will begin a divestment process in which it disgorges stores of value. Financial investments along with hard assets such as jewelry, metals, and coins, and even furniture and vehicles, will be monetized to maintain consumption of basic goods and to pay ever-increasing taxes.
Not only is this process unjust, it is also dangerous. Even a cursory reading of history demonstrates that whenever there are economic dislocations of this magnitude, social and political unrest inevitably follows. It’s time for our leadership, both government and corporate, to recognize the potential dangers here and take actionable steps including investing in the real economy. While there is no silver bullet, the priority should be on job creation and reopening our schools and local economies through initiatives for small and medium-sized businesses. Throwing more stimulus money at pork-barrel projects will not only not solve our problems but will have severe unintended consequences over the long run.
Piles of shredded ballots were located today in a dumpster in Maricopa County Arizona. This find occurs only days before the Senate’s audit of the county’s 2020 election results is due to start.
For months the Board of Supervisors in Maricopa County have blocked and delayed any independent audit performed by the Arizona Senate of the County’s results in the 2020 Presidential election. As we’ve reported previously, after being subpoenaed by the Arizona Senate and then suing the Senate to prevent a Senate audit of their 2020 election results, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (MCBOS) agreed to have an audit if they could pick the auditors. The two firms they picked they claimed were the only two who were certified by the governmental body the US Election Assistance Commission (EAC). However, we found that these firms were not certified at the time they were selected by the MCBOS.
The MCBOS went ahead and hired the firms they wanted to perform their audit but the audits were never structured to find any suspected fraud in the county. The validity of the 2 million ballots in the county was never even considered in the programs reportedly used by these audit firms.
This is probably why these audits were set up the way they were (so no fraud would be identified). The auditors came to Phoenix and performed their work and some patriots found out that they could be observed on cameras in the facility where they were doing the work. These patriots watched and even sent a couple of individuals down to the center to check things out late one night.
This is when the Arizona Senate said enough and passed a bill that would grant the Arizona legislature the authority to subpoena election records like ballots and tabulating equipment and ignore any laws to the contrary.
The Senate is now in the process of selecting an auditor(s) to perform their audit. As the day for their audit approaches the heat must have been too much for those guarding the ballots in Maricopa County.
Per our source on the ground in the County, yesterday an individual went by the Maricopa County Tabulation and election center and found doors wide open with seeming uninhibited access to the facility.
Today some other interested individuals in the county stopped by the same facility and found huge piles of ballots in the dumpster outside the facility.
This is not the first state where we found shredded ballots after the election. This also occurred in Georgia, another state where Biden won by a very slim margin.
What a mess. The corrupt FBI won’t investigate obvious crimes. The corrupt media won’t report them. The communist-leaning Democrats cover them up.
This past week while the nation was distracted by Joe Biden’s dementia-ridden incompetence and Andrew Cuomo’s predatory misogyny, The Satanic Temple of Texas filed suit to defend its religious right to engage in child sacrifice as a spiritual ritual.
The Dallas Observer reports as follows.
“[On Feb. 23, 2021] The Satanic Temple [of Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston] filed a lawsuit against the State of Texas alleging certain state-mandated abortion regulations violate the religious liberty of its members … [and] violate the temple’s religious teachings. The Satanic Temple … wants its followers to be exempt from such regulations. The temple has members across the country, including in Texas.”
“It’s legal to get an abortion in Texas,” clarifies the Observer, “but the procedure is banned after 20 weeks unless a life-threatening medical condition is involved or the fetus has a severe abnormality. If a person is eligible, the state requires them to get a sonogram and receive paperwork about medical risks, adoption alternatives, and developmental stages of the fetus … The state then requires a woman to wait 24 hours after receiving the sonogram and paperwork before she can go through with the abortion …”
The Observer continues, “But the temple’s members consider abortion a ritualistic practice according to co-founder and spokesperson Lucien Greaves … [who maintains the] state regulations disrupt this ritual.”
“We have a distinct kind of procedure for this,” said Mr. Greaves, “and in no part of this do we include getting sonograms or any other medically unnecessary acts as are required in Texas. Therefore, the imposition of those things, we feel, is a violation of our religious liberty.”
Mr. Greaves goes further: “The ritual goes like this: Before the abortion takes place … a member of The Satanic Temple will look at her reflection, be reminded of her personhood and responsibility to herself, take deep breaths, focus on her intent and make herself comfortable. When ready, she will say the third and fifth tenet of the temple aloud.”
The Satanic third tenet reads, “One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone,” and the fifth reads, “Beliefs should conform to one’s best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one’s beliefs.”
“[After the abortion],” says Mr. Greaves, “the woman would return to her reflection and cite her personal affirmation: ‘By my body, my blood. By my will, it is done.’”
The Observer offers this context for the Satanic suit: “In the Texas suit, an anonymous pregnant temple member has claimed that state regulations interfere with her religious ceremony and raise constitutional suspicions. The member lives 100 miles away from the nearest abortion clinic, the suit claims. It asks the state to reconsider four abortion regulations through the lens of religious liberty … The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas Houston Division against the Texas Department of State Health Services and John Hellerstedt, the commissioner of the agency.”
Referring to the suit in question, Mr. Greaves concluded, “At this point, it’s still unclear how the lawsuit will play out. We feel that we have such a clearly strong case when we’re looking at legal precedent, and we’re looking at how robust religious liberty laws are now. I’m particularly interested to see how your [expletive] Attorney General Ken Paxton replies … He’s often releasing press releases about the state of religious liberty in other states and what he feels should be done. He likes to use the language of religious liberty, where it seems to me quite obvious he means religious privilege for a specific viewpoint.”
So, there you have it. Abortion as a religious ritual. Calling those who disagree with you vulgar names. An infantile focus on one’s own body at the expense of everyone else’s. Denying the science of biology, genetics, DNA, and even sonograms, under the banner of science. Killing your own child while chanting “by my body, my blood, by my will, it is done.” Infanticide as merely another religious viewpoint. All of these positions as well as the third and fifth tenets of The Satanic Temple. Sounds stunningly similar to the Democratic Party platform, doesn’t it?
Ted Cruz once said, “If you find yourself litigating against nuns, you’re probably doing something wrong.” One might add, “If you find yourself aligning with Satanists, you might be wrong too.”
• Everett Piper (dreverettpiper.com, @dreverettpiper), a columnist for The Washington Times, is a former university president and radio host. He is the author of “Not a Daycare: The Devastating Consequences of Abandoning Truth” (Regnery).
While speaking with Author Mike McCormick, and National Pulse Editor-in-Chief Raheem Kassam on The War Room, host of the show Steve Bannon said it is time to get ready for the transition from President Joe Biden to Kamala Harris.
Bannon pointed to Biden’s current well-being, saying that his “eyes are now dead,” also noting that Harris has had a relatively large role compared to previous vice presidents.
“Kamala Harris is printed up in playbooks, always there for these meetings,” Bannon said as he explained how Harris is involved with a large number of meetings. “Pence was never that. That’s not the role of the vice president.”
Steve Bannon isn’t the only one who is sounding the alarm about Biden’s health.
During a recent interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, conservative podcast host and former Secret Service member Dan Bongino dropped a bomb when discussed conversations he has had with Secret Service members working closer with President Joe Biden.
Bongino explained that Biden’s health is worse than we thought as he “is in real significant trouble.”
“It was something I was getting from my sources,” Bongino said. “Sean, it gives me absolutely no joy in saying this. And I mean that. He is in real significant trouble, Joe Biden. And listen to me. everyone around him. Everyone knows it. Everyone knows it. This is the scandal that they’re not telling you – how bad his condition really is… I’m telling you from what I’m hearing from people in my network, everyone knows how bad it is. Everyone. It’s not a mystery, it is the worst kept secret in the White House.”
“That would be a cover-up,” Hannity said.
WATCH:
The comments from Bongino come after House Democrats are requesting to limit Biden’s sole access to the nuclear codes.
In a letter written by Democratic California Rep. Jimmy Panetta, the representative requested that the nuclear codes be shared with members of Biden’s administration.
According to adverse incident reports collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 966 individuals have died after having received an mRNA vaccine for COVID-19.
Between Dec. 14 and Feb. 19, 19,769 reports were made to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) following immunizations with either the Moderna or Pfizer BioNTech mRNA vaccines (the only two vaccines given during the time period assessed). At this time, VAERS data is not available after Feb. 19.
The 966 deaths represent 5 percent of the total number of adverse events reports. Of those who died, 86, (8.9 percent) died on the same day they got the shot. An additional 129, (13.4 percent) died within one day. An additional 97 died within 2 days, and 61 within 3 days.
A total of 514 (53.2 percent) died within a week. 173 died within 7-13 days. 106 within 14-20 days.
85 percent of deaths occurred in individuals over 60; below 60 there were five deaths among those aged 20-29; 8 aged 30-39; 20 aged 40-49; and 57 aged 50-59.
For detailed information drawn from the VAERS reports, see charts provided at the link at the end of this article.
Information drawn from VAERS reports on mRNA vaccinations for COVID-19. (source: CDC)
Comparison With Influenza Vaccines
Neither of the mRNA vaccines are FDA approved, rather, they have Emergency Use Approval (EUA). They represent a departure from traditional vaccines in that they do not use any part of the suspected pathogen to stimulate the immune system, but rather, nucleoside messenger RNA.
Dr. Christian Perrone, head of Infectious Disease at Hopital de Garches in France, stated in a complaint filed in Europe:
“The first vaccines they are offering us are not vaccines. They are gene therapy products. They…inject nucleic acids that will cause our own cells to produce elements of the virus.”
The death rate following COVID mRNA vaccination is much higher than that following influenza vaccination.
The CDC’s data allows only a ballpark estimation of the rate of deaths following flu vaccination.
In the 2019-2020 influenza season the CDC reports that 51.8 percent of the U.S. population received a vaccine, which is approximately 170 million people.
VAERS reports that in the calendar year 2019 (not the 2019-2020 influenza season) there were 45 deaths following vaccination. To provide context, in 2018 VAERS reports 46 deaths, and in 2017 it reports 20 deaths.
The 45 deaths in 2019 are occurring at a rate of 0.0000265 percent, when calculated using the number of vaccines given in the 2019-2020 influenza season.
As of Feb. 19, 41,977,401 COVID vaccinations had been given with 966 deaths reported following vaccination, which is approximately a rate of .0023 percent.
The VAERS System
VAERS was put in place in 1990, to capture unforeseen reactions from vaccines.
VAERS is criticized both for the fact that anybody can submit a report, and for the fact that it catches only a fraction of the adverse incidents.
The VAERS website describes the system in this way:
“Established in 1990, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) is a national early warning system to detect possible safety problems in U.S.-licensed vaccines. VAERS is co-managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). VAERS accepts and analyzes reports of adverse events (possible side effects) after a person has received a vaccination. Anyone can report an adverse event to VAERS. Healthcare professionals are required to report certain adverse events and vaccine manufacturers are required to report all adverse events that come to their attention.
“VAERS is a passive reporting system, meaning it relies on individuals to send in reports of their experiences to CDC and FDA. VAERS is not designed to determine if a vaccine caused a health problem, but is especially useful for detecting unusual or unexpected patterns of adverse event reporting that might indicate a possible safety problem with a vaccine. This way, VAERS can provide CDC and FDA with valuable information that additional work and evaluation is necessary to further assess a possible safety concern.”
Without a medical diagnosis or autopsy, the report of an adverse incident following a vaccination is not proof that the vaccination caused any particular symptoms.
In a reply to The Epoch Times, about the VAERS death report, Steven Danehy, Director of Global Media Relations for Pfizer, wrote:
“To date, millions of people have been vaccinated with our vaccine. Serious adverse events, including deaths that are unrelated to the vaccine, are unfortunately likely to occur at a similar rate as they would in the general population.”
Moderna has not responded to requests for comment.
The VAERS database is dense with information and can be difficult for some users to follow. The Epoch Times has extracted its data as clearly as possible in charts provided in the link below.
At the link below are charts containing: on the tab “All Deaths Readable” descriptions of what happened to the patients—effects they experienced as reported by health care workers and/or relatives, or other witnesses; VAERS ID numbers (used to look up a complete file on the VAERS database); vaccination type; manufacturer; vaccination name; date received; age, gender and state of each recipient; as well as medical history; and other medications patients were taking.
According to data released on Friday, the Department of Homeland Security is hosting nearly 4,000 unaccompanied migrant children. Reports showed more than 3,300 unaccompanied children and young adults were being held at the U.S.-Mexico border and more than 70 percent of them are expected to be released into the U.S.
Meanwhile, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials predicted a 20-year surge in illegal immigrants under the Biden administration. They expect 2021’s numbers to be 290 percent higher than those of 2020.
Illegal southern border crossings continue to surge under Joe Biden in the wake of his pledge to reverse many of the policies put in place by the Trump administration. According to an advanced copy of a Customs and Border Protection report obtained by Reuters, the Biden administration has apprehended roughly 100,000 illegal migrants who tried to cross the U.S.-Mexico border during the month of February.
Miami, UNITED STATES: An agent from the US Customs and Border Protection section of the US Homeland Security Department watches trailer trucks waiting to leave the Port of Miami at a check point serviced by a Mobile Radiation Portal Monitor (MRPM) 06 December 2006. The check-point is one many measures implemented by local and federal authorities throughout various ports in the US in an effort to maintain vigilance against possible terrorist threats to the US. AFP PHOTO/Roberto SCHMIDT (Photo credit should read ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
The preliminary figures showed that February had the highest monthly total of illegal migrants detained, which is a record that hasn’t been broken since a major border surge occurred back in February of 2006. The Department of Health and Human Services said as of Friday, the growing number of unaccompanied children puts pressure on the department-run shelters and that more space is needed.
In order to combat the growing number of migrants, the Biden administration has reportedly considered housing migrant children at Fort Lee, an army base in Virginia. Meanwhile, House Democrats have tried to push two amnesty bills, which would provide millions of illegal immigrants pathways to citizenship.
On Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell condemned the Democrats’ amnesty agenda and warned the legislation poses a threat to American lives.
“We’re not just talking about the fine details of border policy,” McConnell said. “The big backdrop behind this whole discussion is the sweeping left-wing amnesty plan that the Biden administration unveiled before they were even sworn in. They want to fast-track 11 million illegal immigrants into temporary legal status, give them green cards and then full citizenship.”
He also criticized the Biden administration for dismantling President Trump’s strong border policies, stating the border crisis will only continue to grow.
“Republicans just spent four years making major headway on the security and humanitarian crises on our border,” McConnell added. “The American people would be better served if the Biden administration had chosen to build on this progress, instead of rapidly trying to tear it down.”
Democrats are hoping their majority in the House will usher the bills through to a vote, but they are likely to be under heavy scrutiny if they reach the Senate.
Families in Idaho rallied outside the State Capitol on Saturday to protest the nationwide lockdowns still in effect in many parts of the country.
Over a hundred fifty people gathered at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise to rally against Gov. Brad Little’s emergency powers and the lockdowns in general, with some families seen burning masks en masse.
Darr Moon, of the organizers of “burn the mask” says this is a rally not a protest
Darr Moon of Free Idaho told the New York times that the statewide event has been all local. Over thirty sites have organized mask burning rallies across the Gem State.
Tom Munds of the John Birch Society told sources, “The informed electorate has had enough.” He said there was about 200-300 people at the rally in total. You can see in the Twitter video below that this rally was a family event.
This is not the first time that Gem State residents have burned masks to protest the government’s Covid restrictions. Several hundred Idahoans burned their masks in front of Boise City Hall last summer.
The Idaho Legislative session is about halfway completed. Idahoans will continue to monitor their progress and influence on the next election cycle.
The lieutenant governor told sources that she would be attending to burn a mask as this event.
Parents in Idaho headed to the state’s Capitol building with their children Saturday to burn their masks, contesting continued mask mandates and violating local orders.
Idaho Republican Gov. Brad Little never enforced a state-wide mask mandate, but several of the state’s districts enforced county-wide regulations to slow the spread of the deadly virus.
Eastern Idaho Public Health Director Geri Rackow announced earlier this week, that due to the dip in cases and hospitalizations, the state’s seventh district was lifting thier mask mandate.
“I feel that continuing to issue public health orders is no longer justified,” Rackow said during a Thursday board meeting, reported East Idaho News.
Though she added, “I make a plea for personal accountability for everyone to make the choice for yourself to help in slowing the spread of the disease.”
Videos posted to twitter Saturday by an Oregon Public Broadcasting reporter, show parents surrounding an old bin on fire as kids chucked masks into the flames. Photos of Democrat lawmakers were also reportedly burned in the protest deemed “burn the mask.”
While counties around the state have seen mask mandates repealed, cities have continued to enforce the safety precautions – including Boise.
Fox News could not immediately reach the Boise Mayor Lauren McLean’s office for comment on Saturday’s events.
McLean issued a mask order in late February after the Central District Health board voted to roll back mask regulations, prompting Republican lawmakers to introduce legislation that would bar government officials from enforcing mask mandates.
Republican state Rep. Karey Hanks claimed that she had done research “on the physical and emotional and even mental injuries to our bodies, and possibly even our souls,” that mask mandates have allegedly caused.
“When people wear face masks, they tend to not social distance as much, not tend to wash their hands, take other safety precautions because they feel that they’re just taken care of because of the mask,” she said.
Idaho has confirmed over 172,000 cases of coronavirus since the pandemic started, with more than 1,800 deaths.
President Biden has called on everyone to wear a mask for the first 100 days of his presidency, and said that by May the U.S. should have 300 million vaccines – nearly enough to vaccinate the entire country.
But states like Texas and Mississippi have rejected the president’s calls for safety and lifted all coronavirus related restrictions, including mask mandates.
Biden has been frustrated by the decision of Republican officials not to heed advice given by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and take continued precautions, calling the Republican governors “Neanderthals” earlier this week.
It is a miracle that these NYPD officers survived this shootout
One second, two NYPD officers were assisting a domestic violence victim, the next second, a hail of gunfire was sprayed at them as the alleged abusive husband ambushed them. The New York Police Department released graphic bodycam video of the deadly shootout at 12:45 p.m. on Nov. 24 between cops and Rondell Goppy in Queens, New York.
“Authorities say a 41-year-old woman had walked into the 105th Precinct to report the domestic violence case, and the officers then accompanied her back to the residence to collect her belongings,” KABC-TV reported.
NYPD officers Joseph Murphy and Christopher Wells were attempting to provide solutions to Goppy’s wife, who feared that her husband would harm her. The officers suggested getting a locksmith to change the locks in the home. Officer Murphy proposes leaving the house, and asks the woman, “Where does your sister live?”
All of a sudden, the terrified woman announces, “Oh, he’s coming. That’s him. He’s here.” She shakily shrieks, “Ooh. Ooh!”
Goppy opens the front door, and in the blink of an eye, gunshots ring out towards the police officers. Goppy, reportedly armed with a licensed Glock Model 22 .40 caliber firearm and a Smith & Wesson Model MP Shield 9 mm handgun, fired 11 shots in a few seconds.
Bullets struck Officer Wells in the thigh and Officer Murphy in both of his hands. The officers retaliated in self-defense by firing 24 shots, hitting Goppy several times. Goppy died from his injuries. The woman was not injured in the shooting.
(Content Warning: Graphic video):
If you ever had any question abt how quickly seemingly innocuous situations escalate, watch this. I believe a national conversation on policing is a good thing, but it’s hard to have an honest conversation when much of the public has NO IDEA what goes on every day on the streets. pic.twitter.com/IMrMTTkAtT
Law enforcement officials say it’s a miracle they survived the horrifying shootout.
“This video is chilling and difficult to watch, but it makes one thing clear: Police Officers Wells and Murphy saved lives,” PBA president Patrick Lynch said. “They saved the lives of that domestic violence victim and her children, and they saved each other’s lives – all because they had the training, skill and courage of New York City police officers. For anyone questioning whether we need police officers responding to these types of situations, this video is the answer.”
Wells suffered a fractured femur, and both officers needed surgery. They were discharged within a few days and received a hero’s welcome as they were discharged from the hospital in November.
After being shot in the line of duty protecting a domestic-violence victim, Officers Wells & Murphy leave the hospital today to continue their recoveries at home with loved ones.
Wishing these heroic officers a speedy recovery & a happy Thanksgiving.
“Big Labor May Save New York From AOC’s Socialism: Even public-sector unions favor old-style incumbent Democrats to radical insurgents like her.” That was the headline atop an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal on February 19,referring, of course, to the extreme leftism of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
In the piece, Steven Malanga argues that New York City’s labor unions are opposing AOC because she’s too left-wing for them. And this issue matters most immediately because the nation’s largest and most influential city will elect a new mayor this year. AOC herself is not a candidate, but she will seek to help elect a like-minded comrade.
In addition, New York state, dominated by the city, will hold gubernatorial and senatorial elections next year, and AOC is considered to be a potential primary challenger to Sen. Chuck Schumer.
According to Malanga, the unions know that AOC is aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), an outfit that routinely attacks unions for being insufficiently left-wing; Malanga quotes the DSA’s declared strategy for “militant . . . classwide struggles.” However, most unionized workers are interested in bigger paychecks and greater benefits, not the revolutionary stuff of, say, Cuba or Venezuela.
WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 27: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) leaves the U.S. Capitol after passage of the stimulus bill known as the CARES Act on March 27, 2020 in Washington, DC. The stimulus bill is intended to combat the economic effects caused by the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Indeed, unions blame AOC for blocking Amazon’s expansion into New York City, which would have brought in 25,000 jobs, as well as billions in wages and revenues. As one construction union chief said of her influence, “Politics and pandering have won out over a once-in-a-generation investment in New York City’s economy.”
We might note that when Malanga talks about unions as a bulwark against socialism, he’s not just talking about construction unions, which are traditionally somewhat conservative; he’s also talking public employee unions, including the teachers’ union. Needless to say, nobody thinks of the teachers’ unions as conservative—unless, of course, one is comparing them to AOC and the DSA.
At the same time, nobody thinks of the Wall Street Journal as a pro-labor union publication. So when the Journal lauds unions as a bulwark against hard-leftism, the relationship is entirely tactical: If and when the threat from AOC goes away, the Journal’s affection for unions will also go away.
Yet almost certainly, AOC is not going away. Indeed, at age 31, she rates now as one of the brightest stars in the Democratic Party, and she could continue to shine for decades to come.
So AOC’s likely long-term presence—and threat—might cause Republicans to think about their traditional, mostly hostile stance toward labor unions. The GOP might need the unions, just as Malanga says, as an additional bulwark against socialism.
o that raises a tantalizing possibility: Perhaps the Republican Party will wish to actively court the labor vote.
The Democrats have a firm grip on the urban left, and they also have been doing well in affluent suburbs. Today, virtually all the suburban House seats around big cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia are represented by Democrats, and the Dems have even gained seats in suburban Atlanta, Houston, and Dallas. In fact, Democrats hold the seats representing the ten wealthiest Congressional districts in America, as well as 41 of the top 50.
Yes, of course, Republicans should look to win back as many of those seats as possible, and yet at the same time, we should realize that the two parties are in the midst of an historic realignment—as Democrats become the party of the rich (and the poor), while Republicans become the party of the middle.
As it happens, just last year, this author wrote a piece for Breitbart News headlined, “‘Essential Workers’ Point the Way to a Republican Workers Party,” and then a few weeks later followed it up with a similarly themed piece, “The Republican Party of Cops, Nurses, and Other Workers—All Together.”
To be sure, the Democrats won’t easily give up their claim to the working class. President Joe Biden has a decades-long connection to labor leadership, and just last week he brought labor chieftains to the White House, declaring, “I want to make it clear I’m a labor guy.”
Yet on the other hand, Biden supported the free-trade deals that are anathema to unions, including the North American Free Trade Agreement, Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
More recently, the Biden administration had been curiously quiet about the attempt of Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama, to unionize; that unionization vote, of course, pits workers against the mighty Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon and owner of the Washington Post. Finally, on February 28, just as the voting was starting, Biden released a video urging the workers to vote but conspicuously not telling them which way to vote, yea or nay on the union. So we can see: Biden seems to need the good will of Bezos and the Post just as much as he needs the workers.
In other words, “Middle Class Joe,” the fella born in blue-collar Scranton, PA, must contend with “Globalist Joe,” who takes his cues from Wall Street, Hollywood, and Big Tech. These neoliberal nodes support not only free trade, but also a slew of social and cultural issues that fall into the category of “woke.”
Yet perhaps the greatest flashpoint is another cause connected to wokeism, namely, environmentalism.
The Greens Defeat the Blue Collars
For a half-century or more, one piercing critique of the green movement is that it has pursued exotic environmental goals at the expense of jobs and economic growth. That is, the mostly affluent greens have been besting the non-affluent blues (blue collars).
Indeed, one can look at the brief track record of the new Biden administration and see already that the greens are winning—perhaps because the 46th president owes more to green donors than to ordinary voters. Thus Biden hired John Kerry, the ultimate environmental elitist, to be his “climate czar,” and on his first day in the Oval Office, he killed the Keystone Pipeline, taking away thousands of blue-collar jobs.
Yet of course, greens want still more, and they even want it to be Greta Thunberg-friendly. As the trendy-left New Republic magazine argued, “Canceling the Keystone XL pipeline was a solid start. But the Biden administration needs to do more than reward the youth climate movement with opening-month executive orders.” [emphasis added]
Yes, that’s what avant-garde greens want now: a specific Biden pander to the “youth climate movement,” which consists, of course, mostly of the children of rich green liberals; the magazine suggested “establishing a youth council to advise the Biden administration on climate and other policy matters.” Ah yes, just what the nation needs: a White House office to host trust-fund kids.
In the meantime, the young adults of blue-collar Middle America are more likely to be looking for jobs or perhaps attending a state college.
Out of this obvious class cleavage, green vs. blue, we can see political peril for Democrats—and opportunity for Republicans.
