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Marxism versus Libertarianism: Two Types of Internationalism

There are two main philosophical and ideological schools of thought that include the problem of internationalism in their principles. The first is liberal internationalism, which developed within the framework of classical liberalism. The second is orthodox Marxism and its various derivatives that entertain the idea of proletarian internationalism. The concept of internationalism has different origins, meanings, and practical implementations in the two schools of thought.

Because the term “liberal” in a politico-philosophical sense was highjacked by the Left and changed its meaning in people’s perception, it is better to use the term “libertarian internationalism” for the purpose of this discussion.

As a component of political doctrine, libertarian internationalism is based on the concept of laissez-faire, which implies, among other things, free trade and free movement of capital. The main goal of libertarian internationalism is to ensure economic and individual freedom on a global scale that would lead to the prosperity of individual, family, community, and country, and ensure a peaceful world order. From an economic and philosophical point of view, libertarian internationalism is a logical continuation and generalization of the concept of division and cooperation of labor. Division and cooperation of labor are the result of the societal development process that obeys the objective economic laws.

Division of labor results from an interplay between the evolutional forces of natural selection and market forces, and has influenced the development of human society from prehistoric times to this day. It is clear that specialized labor achieves better productivity and quality of the end product or service. Specialization was a manifestation of natural selection based on specific individual skills. At the same time, specialization suggests that an individual voluntarily gives up the production of a commodity that he is less qualified to manufacture but whose consumption is still essential to him. He relies on acquiring these lacking goods and services in the market. Basically, he trusts that some others will supply him needed things that he does not produce anymore. That someone is supposed to know better than everybody else how to produce his specialty commodity or service and, in turn, relies on others to produce something else for him, and so on. In other words, a high degree of division of labor brought members of society together as one, relying on each other. However, it is not collectivism but a voluntary cooperation of individuals who respect each other’s property rights. Division of labor creates atomic, independent producers and consumers, and cooperation brings them together in production and in a marketplace. In other words, division of labor induces cooperation.

The whole of humanity has found this mode of operation more advanced and gradually intensified the division of labor and reciprocal and beneficial trade. It is not done by someone’s order; it simply reflects behavioral changes that humans experience under an influence of selective pressure and the unrestrained laws of the market economy. The domestic mode of production gradually drifts from “production for use” to “production for exchange.” The scale of exchange has steadily increased, crossing the boundaries of the individual household over time and eventually reaching a global level. The entrepreneurial class has taken on many risks to enter manufacturing, service delivery, and trade to meet consumer demand. Under developed capitalism, national borders are crossed not only by goods and services but also by capital.

Libertarian internationalism is constructive and peaceful in nature and is possible due to the entrepreneurial qualities of individuals and a universal consensus on respecting property rights. Thus, libertarian internationalism is essentially entrepreneurial internationalism. Conversely, the idea of globalization, in which the world political bureaucracy interferes with the economic issues of sovereign enterprises or entire countries, is alien to entrepreneurial internationalism. Libertarian internationalism is the ideal that the world community should strive for, but unfortunately, the continuing interference of politics in the economy and worldwide collectivist trends are alienating humanity from a natural and more just order.

Proletarian internationalism arose in the minds of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels as they developed their materialist conception of history. Marxism is a deterministic catastrophe theory applied to the evolution of human society. Using the Hegelian method of dialectics, the founders of Marxism divided capitalist society into two dichotomous classes: the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. The unsolvable conflict between the two antagonistic classes, caused, according to Marx, by the unfair appropriation of surplus value by the capitalists, had to reach a boiling point, the result of which would be a social cataclysm. Marx appointed the proletariat as the driving force, agents of the socialist revolution, designed to sweep away the liberal democratic state and establish the dictatorship of the proletariat as a transitional stage on the path to building a classless society.

Marx considered his theory to be the pinnacle of scientific research in economics and sociology, in which he uncovered the objective laws of the development of society. The objective laws of the development of society, as well as the laws of nature, have to be universal and operate independently of someone else’s will. They cannot be disabled, canceled, or changed; they are a given that affects everything and everyone.

But it was precisely with objectivity that Marx had problems. First of all, the division of society into only two classes and the appointment of the proletariat as an agent of the revolution are unwarranted. Moreover, the workers themselves have not yet realized that they are the proletariat or the role that the founder of Marxism has assigned to them. Marx understood this perfectly and proposed theoretical and practical measures for the emancipation of the proletariat, awakening their class consciousness, and preparing for the political struggle against the bourgeoisie. However, in order to meet the criterion of objectivity, the class consciousness of the proletariat would have to develop naturally and spontaneously, without the influence of anyone’s will. Artificial and purposeful incitement to revolutionary sentiments and instigation to overthrow the existing system do not meet the criterion of objectivity and instead completely falsify it. Indeed, a scientific theory of the development of society is not needed to prepare for a coup.

Moreover, as objective laws must be universal, the same societal developments must occur in other countries. Marxism argued that the socialist revolution must have a universal character, that is, take place on a global scale, or at least in the most industrialized countries. Marx and Engels well understood that entrepreneurs were genuinely international, as capital does not have borders and the economies of different countries are interconnected. At the same time, labor was mostly local, lacking international organizations and representations. Therefore, Marxism invented proletarian internationalism in order to accommodate Marx and Engels’s teaching to these socioeconomic realities and attempt to mobilize the world proletariat for the world socialist revolution. In The Communist Manifesto, the founders of Marxism simply postulated that the proletariat has no boundaries and called on the proletariat of all countries to unite. Marx substantiated this postulate by the fact that the capitalists themselves created the preconditions for the proletarian brotherhood that would ultimately erase the “national one-sidedness” of consciousness within the masses of the proletariat. This conclusion seems farfetched and looks more like wishful thinking.

The Marxist suggestion that proletarians possess exceptional moral qualities which oppose nationalism and bigotry and exhibit an unconditional love for all people is empirically unwarranted, and there is no historical evidence to support it. It was, instead, a necessary condition in order for the Marxist theory to be logically consistent; that is, the world socialist revolution against the world bourgeoisie could not take place without a united front of proletarians. Marxism consolidated and expanded internationalism as an integral feature of the workers’ and socialist movements, placing itself in opposition to the contrived nationalism of capitalist society. It was an act of intellectual dishonesty that is still difficult to eradicate.

Thus, internationalism in the interpretation of libertarian philosophy and Marxist doctrine are completely different concepts. Proletarian internationalism is a political myth postulated by the founders of Marxism and used as a propaganda tool then and now. It is characterized by extreme aggressiveness, since it was invented as a weapon for the political fight against world capital. Libertarian internationalism, in contrast, is peaceful and constructive. It follows naturally from the logical and consistent development of human society in terms of the division and cooperation of labor and is based on respect for private property rights.

Ex-witch shares how she left the occult for Christ, why Halloween is ‘Satan’s playground’

Outspoken Christian and ex-witch Jenny Weaver said before she accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior, she spent nine years of her life practicing witchcraft, abusing drugs and obeying the whispering voices she believes were demons “tormenting” her with the command: “Go cut yourself, cut yourself, cut yourself.” 

In an interview with The Christian Post on Friday, Weaver, 39, explained why she firmly believes that Halloween is “Satan’s playground.” Weaver describes the secular holiday as such because it’s a day when witches and warlocks devote more time to practicing witchcraft to access the demonic realm, she added. 

As someone who lived as a witch for nearly a decade, Weaver said she knows that, during Halloween, witches and warlocks believe that the veil that separates the demonic realm from the earthly realm is thinner than usual, making the ability for those practicing witchcraft to have access to more of the demonic realm. 

Weaver said Halloween originated from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which was recorded in ninth century books. At the festivals, which would take place at dusk on Oct. 31, Weaver said the Celts would light bonfires, wear costumes and spend the evening summoning spirits of the dead.

The Celts who practiced this would call on the spirits of the dead to come to them and roam throughout the Earth, according to Weaver. The costumes, she said, were worn by the Celts because they believed disguises would keep the “evil” spirits from recognizing them. 

“Halloween is not just about candy and fun costumes, and you can’t separate the origins of Halloween from Halloween,” Weaver told CP. “You can’t separate a holiday that was created for witchcraft … in the same way that you can’t take a Ouija board and say you will use it to speak to the Lord. People need to make a conscious decision to serve the Lord, because you can’t serve demons and God.” 

For Weaver, her past curiosity about the demonic realm began during her early teenage years. Although she was raised in a Christian household, she said her parents and other family members were abusive toward her.

Even though Weaver had a few friends at school, she said a group of female students often bullied her because she had started to develop vitiligo — a condition that causes areas of one’s skin to lose pigmentation.

As a result, Weaver felt as though she was an outcast at home and at school, leading to severe depression and struggles with self-worth. 

When she was 13, she visited a friend’s house where she became captivated and intrigued by the 1996 movie “The Craft,” which is about four high school witches who get revenge on their bullies. 

Following her exposure to the movie, Weaver said she started to read and study about how she, too, could become a witch. 

In a 2019 interview with televangelist Sid Roth, the host of “It’s Supernatural,” Weaver detailed why she began looking into how to become a witch. 

“I was looking for control in situations, in a life where I felt like I had no control at all,” Weaver told Roth in the interview posted on YouTube. “And to me, it looked like these four witches who went to high school were making these bullies pay for picking on them [and] they were getting people to like them and getting all the things that they wanted. So I looked at that, and I said, ‘I want that too.’”

Weaver said her past journey into the occult started “innocently.” She’d burn sage and use healing crystals in an attempt to find happiness within herself and to access power from the demonic spiritual realm. 

However, before she knew it, the trajectory of her life took a “spooky” and “haunted” turn as she began to delve into witch spells and other occult practices. 

Shortly after, Weaver moved into a new home where she lived with a female roommate who was a practicing witch and descended from a long line of witches. 

Due to their heavy involvement in occult practices, the two women began to experience hauntings in their home. 

On one occasion, Weaver said she and her roommate were in separate rooms when suddenly, they both began to feel an evil presence in the house. They each walked out of their bedroom and entered the hallway where they asked each other what was going on. 

“The hallway light turned off and we both fell to the floor and glass went flying everywhere,” Weaver told CP. “On other occasions, me and my roommate would continuously hear scratching and tapping on the walls when we would lay down to sleep and we witnessed things moving on their own.”

Weaver and her roommate felt that there was evil on their property. In an effort to alleviate what they were experiencing, they planted a garden of marigolds which Weaver said is a flower that is believed to ward off evil from homes. 

“We were OK for one day and then the next day, when we went to look at the marigolds, we saw that all of them had dried up and were dead,” Weaver recounted. 

As a result of practicing witchcraft, Weaver also began experimenting with drugs and she became addicted to meth and heroin. 

“Witchcraft is related to drug or substance abuse because people who are into witchcraft often take substances so they can be more open to the spiritual realm, and that often leads to abusing drugs and alcohol,” Weaver added. 

“Your guard goes down and you’re able to be more open to the spiritual realm when you’re under the influence of alcohol or drugs. And in these cases, drugs and alcohol often become idolatry, and are viewed as gods and goddesses,” Weaver continued.

At this time, she also began battling a self-harming addiction. She would often cut herself on a daily basis because she said demons that she believes were summoned through her witchcraft practices would tell her to do so.

In her interview with Roth, she said at one point when she counted the cuts on her wrist, there were 56 on one arm, making her arm look as though it had “gone through a shredder.”

Because of the “haunted house” experiences, Weaver also began to fear that one day demons would kill her in her sleep. As a result, she stopped practicing witchcraft. 

Weaver said she continued to abuse drugs, cut herself daily, and eventually became homeless while pregnant and committed crimes which led to her being incarcerated.  

“I was tired of running and being hungry and going from place to place, from car to car and from hotel to hotel, not showering,” She told CP. “I would get clean at a church somewhere, and then I was back at it, it was a back-and-forth time, and I was starting to become tired of running.”

One evening, Weaver said she went to a hotel room and felt as though she had hit rock bottom. She then cried out to God, asking him to help her. 

A few days later, she had been using drugs in the hotel when she suddenly heard a loud knock at the door. It was the police. She was arrested. On the way to jail, Weaver said she was surprised because a female police officer began to minister to her about Jesus Christ.  

“I didn’t even know who this lady was, and she just said, ‘you have a purpose. God’s got a good plan for your life,’” Weaver recounted in her interview with Roth. “I don’t remember her name or anything. But God used her to minister to me and I never went back from that point on.”

After that encounter with the officer, Weaver said she never went back to the drugs and she turned her life over to Jesus Christ.  

Now in her late 30s, Weaver openly shares her testimony of finding Christ after she stopped engaging in occult practices and how Jesus delivered her from cutting and drug addictions. She shares these accounts on her Facebook page and website, Jenny Weaver Worships. 

In an Oct. 15 Facebook live video, Weaver shared the “dark truth” about Halloween and how it relates to the demonic realm. In the video, she shared the Bible verse Ephesians 5:11, which commands Christians, “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose them.”

“I have come to expose darkness. I have not come to compromise. I came to expose the devil,” Weaver proclaimed at the beginning of her video.

“On Oct. 31, witches everywhere will be on high alert, all awake, all practicing the craft, casting spells,” Weaver told her Facebook audience. “When you look beyond God, and go to another source, you open yourself up to the demonic realm. When we Christians participate in something like Halloween, it doesn’t matter your intentions, it doesn’t matter if you think it is easy, breezy, no big deal, the fact of the matter remains that it’s a holiday that has always been about celebrating the dead and the demonic realm.” 

For those who have already engaged in practicing Halloween or witchcraft, Weaver said “there is always hope and forgiveness found in Jesus.”

“No matter how we were raised, what we are used to in our culture, what society has deemed normal in culture, we are made new in Christ and given a new life and culture in Him,” she said. “We need to let those old traditions go and ask for God to lead us. Lean carefully on the side of the Lord, and not on the side of culture.”

Lawmaker offers new solution for surge of illegals: Send them to wealthy Democrat enclaves

“Let’s ship them to those areas that can afford to find out what it’s like with these illegals,” Rep. Ralph Norman says.

A South Carolina congressman has introduced legislation to open a dozen new ports of entry in America, seeking to shift the burden of President Joe Biden’s border crisis from Texas to wealthy enclaves favored by Democrats like Martha’s Vineyard, New York’s trendy suburbs and Silicon Valley.

Rep. Ralph Norman, a Republican, said he introduced the Stop the Surge Act last week as a companion to similar Senate legislation sought by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). It would require all future illegal aliens captured at the border to be shipped to the wealthy, liberal enclaves.

“All these prosperous areas that you see, you know, million dollar houses, let’s send them there,” Norman told John Solomon Reports podcast. “And let’s let them exercise what they claim to be compassion on illegals.

“Look at the strain it’s going to put on the police departments, the first responders, hospitals, schools, and we’re going to highlight this. … So let’s ship them to those areas that can afford to find out what it’s like with these illegals and deal with them.”

Norman’s legislation would establish 12 new ports for processing of illegal immigrants, including:

  • Palo Alto, Calif., the epicenter of Silicon Valley, where iconic companies like Google, Facebook and PayPal once incubated.
  • Greenwich, Conn., and Scarsdale, N.Y., in the shadows of New York City, two of America’s wealthiest suburbs.
  • Rehoboth Beach, Del., where Biden’s family has a vacation home.
  • Cambridge, Mass., a ritzy Boston suburb favored by high-tech and biotech executives.
  • Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., the famous summer vacation bastion for liberals, including former President Barack Obama.
  • Nantucket, Mass.
  • Block Island, R.I.
  • North Hero, Vt., home to socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, a former Democratic presidential candidate.

Norman’s legislation would require any Homeland Security law enforcement official who encounters an illegal alien in the Southwest to transfer them to the new ports for processing and release.

“Any official of the Department of Homeland Security, upon encountering any alien who has illegally entered the United States in a covered Border Patrol sector, shall immediately relocate such alien to any of the new ports of entry,” the bill states.

In a wide-ranging interview, Norman also assailed the Biden administration’s agenda, saying it was imperative for House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to get all Republicans to oppose the Democrats’ massive reconciliation bill.

“It’s up to us to make sure we don’t accomplish an agenda that’s going to bankrupt the country,” he said, adding that it would be very hard for the GOP to reverse policies in the future even if it won control of Congress in 2022 and the White House in 2024.

“We can talk all we want about midterms, but it is now or never as far as spending, because some of these things are going to be embedded in the government,” he said. “And it’s gonna be hard to unwind them, like the immigration. I mean, the 1.9 million illegals anticipated being in the country, as of December, how do you get them out? I mean, what are you going to do? Try to find them and bring them back?”

Norman said the president has assembled a record in just nine months — with the border crisis, COVID, the bungled Afghan exit and spending — that is alienating large majorities of Americans, including many who supported him in the 2020 election.

“I can’t think of anything the man has done that’s not harming this country in a big way,” he said. “The good news is I think people are waking up to it. And I think people are going to get active, because it’s up to us to ring the bell as far as the downside.”

Ibram Kendi inadvertently ‘blows up entire life’s work’ in now-deleted tweet, then claims criticism is ‘violent’

Boston University professor Ibram X. Kendi, a prominent advocate of anti-racism, deleted a tweet on Friday after his critics pointed out that it may have inadvertently refuted his ideology.

What are the details?

On Friday, Kendi shared a news article of a recent survey that discovered more one-third of white students lied or misrepresented their race on college applications.

Four-fifths of white students who admitted to lying or misrepresenting their race said they did so to improve their chances of being accepted. Half of those students who admitted to lying explained they did so to improve their chances of being awarded financial aid earmarked for minority students.

“More than a third of White students lied about their race on college applications, and about half of these applicants lied about being Native American. More than three-fourths of these students who lied about their race were accepted,” Kendi wrote on Twitter.

Kendi later deleted his tweet.

What was the reaction?

Kendi’s deletion incited an avalanche of mockery. In sharing the news article, Kendi’s critics said he was undermining what he believes about white privilege and systemic racism in America.

As the Post Millennial wrote, “[I]f white privilege is so prevalent and persuasive, why would white kids feel the need to disguise their whiteness in order to gain admittance to college and aid to help them attend? Could it be that these white students felt that as opposed to giving them an edge, their whiteness was a hindrance to admittance?”

  • “‘White kids are lying about being black so they can get into college’ doesn’t make the point Kendi thinks it does,” Noam Blum pointed out.
  • “Kendi deleted this tweet after a bunch of people pointed out it undermines his whole worldview that the US is an incredibly racist country where the system is rigged exclusively for White people,” one person said.
  • “Kendi admits it’s not actually a privilege to be White in America?” James Lindsay reacted.
  • “Race activist Ibram Kendi tweeted out a report claiming high numbers of white students falsely identify as people of color to reap benefits. He deleted the tweet after realizing it didn’t advance his argument that whites are privileged in every way,” Andy Ngo said.
  • “Collapsing your entire worldview into a giant sinkhole,” Chad Felix Greene pointed out.
  • “[That feeling when] you accidentally blow up your entire life’s work in a tweet and have to delete,” Alex Griswold mocked.

How did Kendi respond?

Kendi accused one critic of lying about what he had said. That critic, Jack Posobiec, then responded that he “broke” Kendi.

In response, Kendi said that Posobiec’s “broke” remark “has a long history within racist structures.” Kendi then claimed criticism from white people is “violent.”

“Jack couldn’t deny his lies so this is how he responded. And his ‘broke’ reference has a long history within racist structures. White enslavers boasted of *breaking* Black people (when they did not *break* Black people),” Kendi said. “The resistance never stopped then and it won’t stop today.”

“A White man is attacking a Black person with lies (which are violent). The Black person resists. The White man keeps attacking until he declares he ‘broke’ the Black person,” Kendi responded to one person on Twitter. “That’s the context. Seek a book about slavery.”

COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates for Children ‘Concerning,’ Says Epidemiologist

Mandating COVID-19 vaccines for children may not be a good idea at this time because of side effects linked to the shots, an epidemiologist says.

California on Oct. 1 announced that all students in the state will need a jab once the vaccines are approved by the Food and Drug Administration for their age group. Currently, the Pfizer vaccine, the only one to receive approval, is approved for anybody 16 or older.

Around the same time, multiple school boards in California, including the Sacramento City Unified School District, went further and required jabs for all students aged 12 and up.

“I’m concerned about that,” said Dr. Tracy Høeg, an epidemiologist and public health expert whose son goes to school in the district.

Høeg led a study that examined reports submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System and found boys between 12 and 15 with no serious health conditions were up to six times more likely to land in a hospital after getting a second Pfizer’s shot than after getting COVID-19.

That’s because heart inflammation, or myocarditis or pericarditis, occurs at a higher-than-expected rate post-vaccination in youth, especially young males.

“I’m afraid that parents who have questions about the safety—maybe they are concerned, they have a son who might who might be at risk for myocarditis—will then really not have a say in whether or not the child gets a second dose,” Høeg said.

“This is particularly an issue for children who have already been infected, because from what we know, they likely have very strong immunity already to COVID-19. And so I’m concerned about the nuance and the discussion being lost, and people feeling like they’re coerced into vaccinating their child in order for them to have a normal life and stay in school,” she added.

Høeg was speaking on NTD’s “Wide Angle.”

California officials said the mandates would help curb an expected surge in COVID-19 cases in the winter and beyond, and portrayed it as a simple matter of adding another vaccine to the list of shots children already must get to attend school.

The Sacramento district, for instance, quoted (pdf) the California Department of Public Health, which says on its website: “Vaccination may stop the spread of coronavirus variants. They can also shrink the pool of people vulnerable to COVID-19. By getting children 12 and up vaccinated, families can be safer as we get back to doing the things we love.”

Coronavirus is another name for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19.

The Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer’s shot for 5- to 11-year-olds on Friday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to recommend the jab to all kids in that group after its advisory panel meets on the matter this week.

Høeg said that the COVID-19 vaccines do work in preventing severe disease and hospitalization and the authorization is good news in terms of giving access to high-risk children, but cautioned against mandating the shots in children because long-term safety data is not yet available.

“We’ve had had requirements for vaccines before, obviously, where children are required to get them for school. But this is a little different, because it’s a very new vaccine. So we’re still learning about the safety, especially in that 5- to 11-year-old age group,” she said, noting that Pfizer’s study was too small to detect any potential risks of myocarditis associated with vaccination.

American Airlines Cancels 1000s of Flights As Vaccine Mandate Fight Continues

  • Comes as employees announce vaccine mandate protest outside American Airlines Headquarters in Dallas on Nov. 11.
  • Airline blames mass flight cancellations on “high winds” despite fact other airlines were able to conduct business.

American Airlines has cancelled over 1,500 flights during the Halloween weekend, citing “high winds” and staffing shortages.

The airline cancelled 634 flights on Sunday — on top of 543 on Saturday and almost 740 on Friday, laying the blame on windy weather.

“With additional weather throughout the system, our staffing begins to run tight as crew members end up out of their regular flight sequences,” the airline told CNN, referring to about 2,000 flight attendants set to return from leave on Monday.

But cancellations can likely also be contributed to employees resisting the COVID-19 vaccine mandate issued by the airline on Oct. 2.

In fact, an employee-backed protest of American Airline’s vaccine mandate was announced on Sunday, which is scheduled to take place outside the airline’s Dallas headquarters on Nov. 11, Veteran’s Day.

The U.S. Freedom Flyers, an organization comprised of transportation employees, is leading the protest.

“We call the shots, not them. Veterans, motorcycle clubs, first responders, EVERYONE welcome! We believe in medical freedom. Coercion ≠ Consent,” the group stated.

This comes just days after hundreds of Southwest Airlines employees protested the vaccine mandate outside the company’s headquarters in Dallas following reports the airline was blaming thousands of flight cancellations on “disruptive weather.”

American’s CEO Doug Parker said last week that most employees got the injection and that a small minority “almost certainly” will present a religious or medical exemption by the Nov. 24 deadline “and those who aren’t we’ll continue to work with.”

States Face Christmas Tree Shortages Due To Biden’s Crumbling Economy

Both live and artificial Christmas trees are expected to be more expensive and harder to find due to Biden’s economy

Local media outlets across at least four states are warning residents that the crippled supply chain and lackluster economy may result in a shortage of Christmas trees in time for the “dark winter” Joe Biden predicted.

California, Wyoming, and Iowa are all facing potential shortages of live Christmas trees with little time before the season begins.

In California, a Sacramento TV station attempted to couch the bad news by assuring readers that Thanksgiving would be unaffected. However, the CBS affiliate ultimately admitted that Christmas trees have been “impacted by supply chain delays, droughts, fires” and other calamities amid increased demand.

In Iowa, KIWA Radio reported that “finding the perfect Christmas tree could be a challenge this year with a developing tree shortage” and interviewed the former president of the Iowa Christmas Tree Association who warned that tree farms across the state will face shortages this Christmas.

Wyoming news website Cowboy State Daily described the tree shortage as a national concern, but insisted that the state’s shortage is primarily due to a cold snap early this year.

Meanwhile, Just The News warns that the shortage may not be limited to live trees, and artificial trees may face shortages due to the ongoing shipping crisis in California. “Artificial trees,” the outlet warned, “may also be in short supply as the Christmas season looms due to shipping delays at various ports around the country.”

This seems to already be the case in Wisconsin, where NBC 26 warns its viewers that “Supply chain issues and inflated shipping costs are causing a shortage of artificial trees at local stores.” Apparently, Wisconsinites will also have a smaller selection of artificial trees to choose from due to the supply chain crisis.

While Americans are expected to be able to locate the accouterments of a traditional Thanksgiving this year, the cost is expected to be far from normal.

In fact, one former Trump administration expert says Americans should expect this Thanksgiving to be the most expensive in the nation’s history, due to a combination of factors including inflation and rising fuel prices.

Biden’s job rating sinks to 42%: NBC News poll

(NBC) Just nine months into his presidency, 71 percent of Americans say the country is headed in the wrong direction, the poll shows.

A majority of Americans now disapprove of President Joe Biden’s job performance, while half give him low marks for competence and uniting the country, according to results from the latest national NBC News poll.

What’s more, the survey finds that 7 in 10 adults, including almost half of Democrats, believe the nation is headed in the wrong direction, as well as nearly 60 percent who view Biden’s stewardship of the economy negatively just nine months into his presidency.

One year before next year’s midterm elections and less than a week before Virginia’s closely watched race for governor, Biden’s lower standing has also taken a toll on his party: Democrats trail Republicans on which party better handles the economy, inflation and immigration, while they’ve lost ground on issues like education and the coronavirus.

“Democrats face a country whose opinion of President Biden has turned sharply to the negative since April,” said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates, who conducted the survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies.

“The promise of the Biden presidency — knowledge, competence and stability in tough times — have all been called into question,” Horwitt continued.

“What people voted for was stability and calm,” added fellow Democratic pollster Peter Hart. “And what they got was instability and chaos.”

In the poll, 42 percent of adults say they approve of Biden’s overall job as president — a decline of 7 points since August, with much of the attrition coming from key parts of the Democratic base.

That’s compared to 54 percent who say they disapprove of the president’s job, which is up 6 points since August.

Using Gallup’s historical data, Biden’s approval rating in this poll (42 percent) is lower than any other modern first-year president’s at a similar point in time, with the key exception of Donald Trump (whose approval averaged 37 percent in fall 2017).

Among a narrower set of registered voters, Biden’s job rating stands at 45 percent who approve, 52 percent who disapprove — a drop from 50 percent who approve, 48 percent who disapprove from two months ago.

The NBC News poll comes after a rough summer and early fall for the first-year president, as he’s faced a new surge of coronavirus cases and deaths, fallout from the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, rising inflation, disappointing jobs numbers and Democratic infighting over Biden’s legislative agenda.

More recently, however, Covid-19 cases and deaths are once again on the decline, and Capitol Hill Democrats have made progress on Biden’s legislative priorities, but still haven’t crossed the finish line.

The poll finds 40 percent of Americans approving the president’s handling of the economy (down 7 points since August), and 51 percent approving of his handling of the coronavirus (down 2 points).

Maybe even more troubling for Biden, just 37 percent of adults give him high marks — on a 5-point scale — for being competent and effective as president, and only 28 percent give him high marks for uniting the country.

By contrast, 50 percent give him low scores for being competent, and 51 percent give him low scores for uniting the country.

Finally, Biden’s favorable/unfavorable rating in the poll (40 percent positive, 48 percent negative) is almost identical to Trump’s in the same survey (38 percent positive, 50 percent negative).

That’s a change from the 2020 general election, when Biden’s favorable/unfavorable rating was significantly higher than Trump’s. 71 percent say nation is on wrong track.

Also in the NBC News poll, 71 percent of Americans say they believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, up 8 points since August.

That includes 93 percent of Republicans, 70 of independents and even 48 percent of Democrats.

“When you see a wrong track of 71 percent, it is a flashing red light,” said McInturff, the GOP pollster. “These folks are telling us that this is not going well.”

Asked about the country’s future, just 41 percent of respondents in the poll say America’s best years are ahead, while 53 percent say its best years are behind.

Despite that pessimism, however, the survey does show signs of optimism about the coronavirus and the economy.

A majority of respondents — 56 percent — believe the worst is past when it comes to the coronavirus, which is up 18 points from August, when the delta variant was beginning to surge across the country.

And 30 percent of Americans say they’re getting ahead when it comes to their financial situation, while 45 percent say they’re staying where they are. That’s compared with 24 percent who say they’re slipping behind or falling backward.

Looking ahead to 2022 midterm elections, which will take place a year from now, 47 percent of registered voters say they prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress, while 45 percent say they want Republicans in charge — essentially unchanged from August.

But the GOP enjoys a significant enthusiasm advantage at this point in the election cycle, with 69 percent of Republicans expressing a high level of interest about the midterms (on a 1-to-10 scale), versus 58 percent of Democrats who hold the same level of interest.

When asked which party better handles particular issues, Republicans hold double-digit advantages on border security (by 27 points), inflation (24 points), crime (22 points), national security (21 points), the economy (18 points) and being effective and getting things done (13 points).

By contrast, Democrats hold double-digit edges on abortion (by 10 points), the coronavirus (12 points) and climate change (24 points), but all of those advantages are smaller than those the party enjoyed during the 2020 election.

Lincoln Project Takes Responsibility For Tiki Torch Hoax At Youngkin Rally

The pro-Democrat group The Lincoln Project took responsibility for a hoax in which political operatives dressed up as white supremacists wielding tiki torches to attend a rally hosted by Republican Virginia gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin.

“Today’s demonstration was our way of reminding Virginians what happened in Charlottesville four years ago, the Republican Party’s embrace of those values, and Glenn Youngkin’s failure to condemn it,” the group said in a statement. The Lincoln Project did not admit to organizing the hoax until pressed by Vice News, which identified one of the participants. The operatives appeared at a Youngkin rally in Charlottesville, and claimed to support the Republican.

During the 2017 Charlottesville ‘Unite the Right’ rally, white supremacists carried tiki torches while wearing white polo shirts. One counter-protester and two police officers died.

Lauren Windsor, a left-wing activist known for recording conservatives with hidden cameras, also admitted to participating in the hoax.

The Youngkin campaign condemned the incident, and Youngkin claimed that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe was responsible for planting the demonstrators.

“I think they work for Terry McAuliffe, and I’m sure he sent them,” he told local NBC 29.

The McAuliffe campaign denied knowledge of the incident.

“This was not us or anyone affiliated with our campaign,” McAuliffe spokesperson Renzo Olivari told Fox News. “There is one candidate in this race who has embraced white nationalists — and his name is Glenn Youngkin.”

Multiple McAuliffe staffers promoted the hoax before the Lincoln Project admitted that the operatives were not actual white supremacists.

“This is who Glenn Youngkin’s supporters are,” campaign spokeswoman Christina Freundlich tweeted.

Communications director Jen Goodman claimed that alleged support for Youngkin from white supremacists was “disgusting and disqualifying” for the Republican.

The McAuliffe campaign has frequently attempted to tie Youngkin to former President Donald Trump, who endorsed the Republican following his primary victory. Youngkin has kept Trump at arms-length throughout his general election campaign, condemning a rally hosted by radio host John Fredericks as “weird and wrong” after attendees pledged allegiance to a flag that flew at the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Trump called into the rally by phone, but Youngkin did not attend.

During an appearance with McAuliffe, President Joe Biden claimed that Youngkin was akin to Jan. 6 rioters. (RELATED: McAuliffe Skips Pair Of North Virginia Campaign Events Without Explanation)

“Extremism can come in many forms. It can come in the rage of a mob driven to assault the Capitol. It can come in a smile and a fleece vest,” Biden said on Oct. 26.

The Lincoln Project was formed by former Republican Party operatives ahead of the 2020 election to support Democrats. Multiple leaders of the group resigned following the revelation that co-founder John Weaver sexually harassed multiple young men.

Watchdog Hits McAuliffe With Campaign Finance Complaint Over Foreign Money

McAuliffe took $350,000 donation from a foreign-owned company linked to an overseas money laundering probe

A government watchdog group hit Terry McAuliffe with a campaign finance complaint on Friday over a $350,000 donation he received from a foreign-owned company linked to an overseas money laundering probe, according to a copy of the filing obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The National Legal and Policy Center is asking the FEC to “promptly investigate” whether the contribution to the Virginia gubernatorial candidate violated federal laws prohibiting campaigns from accepting political donations from foreign nationals.

“Terry McAuliffe has a history of accepting foreign contributions.  The FEC must fully investigate these serious charges that he accepted $350,000 in illegal foreign contributions for his current campaign,” said Washington, D.C. attorney, Paul Kamenar, counsel to NLPC, who drafted and filed the complaint with the FEC.

LycaTel LLC, owned by Sri Lankan-British national Allirajah Subaskaran, gave McAuliffe $350,000 in July, the Free Beacon first reported in early October. The company is a New Jersey subsidiary of Subaskaran’s U.K.-based telecom conglomerate, which boasts a complicated web of offshore businesses and has been the subject of tax-fraud and money-laundering charges in France.

Federal law prohibits campaigns from accepting money from foreign nationals and entities, directly or indirectly, in local, state, and federal elections. While U.S.-based subsidiaries of foreign corporations can contribute, the donation can’t be made under the direction of the company’s foreign leadership—which legal experts said can be a murky legal distinction.

“This is effectively a really easy way to launder foreign money into the U.S. political process and to avoid the FEC prohibition on foreign nationals making contributions in U.S. elections,” Ben Freeman, director of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the Center for International Policy, told the Free Beacon earlier this month.

LycaTel does not appear to have contributed to previous Virginia campaigns or federal races. In July, the company retained D.C.-based lobbyist Robert Thompson to lobby on “Telecom” issues, according to disclosure records. Prior to that, Thompson had registered as a foreign agent representing Subaskaran as part of a “business expansion within the U.S.A.,” according to records filed with the Department of Justice.

Thompson was a lobbyist for the Sri Lankan government from 2013 to 2014, according to disclosure records. Thompson did not respond to a request for comment about his lobbying work.

Subaskaran, through his WWW Holding Company and other entities, owns a globe-spanning web of companies in the technology, media, and gaming sectors, many of them with the word “Lyca” in the names. The Lyca group has clashed with British authorities over allegations of unpaid taxes. French authorities in 2016 raided LycaMobile’s Paris headquarters and arrested “19 people suspected of being involved in a money-laundering system implicating Lycamobile and Lycamobile Services,” according to a statement from French prosecutors.

LycaMobile couriers in 2015 were photographed transporting tote bags of cash—reportedly as much as $1 million per week—to various post offices around the United Kingdom, according to a series of articles by BuzzFeed. LycaMobile denied any wrongdoing related to the deposits and noted that it operates a cash-heavy business.

LycaTel’s operations in the United States have come under scrutiny as well. The Federal Communications Commission in 2011 fined the company $5 million for “deceptively marketing prepaid calling cards” to largely immigrant buyers. The company reportedly claimed the low-cost cards could be used to make “hundreds of minutes of calls” overseas, but buyers were only able to use “a fraction of those minutes for calls, because LycaTel applies a variety of fees and surcharges that quickly deplete the card,” said the FCC.

LycaTel did not respond to emailed questions. When reached by phone earlier this month, LycaTel’s general counsel said the company had no comment on the donation and was “waiting to hear back from management as to what they want to disclose and what they don’t.” McAuliffe’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

McAuliffe and Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin will face off at the polls on Nov. 2.

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