Monthly Archives: March 2021

Thoughts from Victor David Hansen

We do not know when we hit peak wokeness—only that no constitutional republic can long exist in a climate of McCarthyite fear and anti-racism racism. I wrote about this crux for next week’s American Greatness (“Anti-Racism Racism”in a long essay that will appear on Monday. It refutes the idea that a white supremacist ideology stifles all the aspirations of the non-white, and explains why the current racialization of dialogue and weaponization of 0debate have a bad history.

One of the most disturbing developments is the recalibration of the military. 

None of us can remember the Pentagon ever going after an individual journalist in the fashion of the recent attack on Tucker Carlson, both in its press secretary’s remarks and on the DOD website, especially in lumping him in with the Chinese communist military. Ferreting out supposed white insurrectionists in the ranks, appointing diversity overseers in critical branches of the military (especially Special Forces contingents), and lowering physical standards for combat units will not end well. It is redolent of the Soviet commissar system and will require a great deal of misinformation and disinformation to sustain its continuance. 
The military, or rather its beltway brass, seems oblivious that it is insidiously eroding its traditional conservative foundations of support. And soon it will be at the mercy of a mercurial Left. The latter, only for the moment, fawns on the chain-of-command, which by fiat can implement progressive social awareness agendas. But the Left is never satiated. Radical progressives have greater designs on the military, envisioning it as a sort of People’s Army that will serve  as the tip of the cultural revolution’s spear. 
All of us are also equally worried about the increasing revolving door habit of top generals and DOD officials retiring onto the boards of large corporate defense contractors, and often revolving back into civilian service at the DOD. Is there any serious refutation that these lifelong public servants are being hired largely for their familiarity with and influence upon the bidding process within the Pentagon? This is no charge of impropriety, but rather of a Caesar’ wife dilemma, in which our retired brass, given their influence within the serving military and in accordance with the Uniform Code of Military Justice, must be above suspicion. Again, the politicalization of the active and retired high-ranking military is opening an entire can of worms, about which the Pentagon for now is absolutely clueless.

Thanks Sheriff Judd

“OK folks, here we go again. The Florida Legislature is in session right now, and we have a couple of legislators who think it’s a good idea to release felons from prison early. That’s right, they want to dump thousands of inmates back onto the streets early, into your neighborhoods, making a mockery of our criminal justice system, and eviscerating our truth-in-sentencing law we have on the books right now.

Today, convicted felons in state prison have to serve at least 85% of their sentence. This allows inmates to receive up to 15% off their sentence for “good behavior.” That’s fair. I like 100%, but 85% is fair.

This irresponsible Senate Bill 472 would allow prisoners to earn up to 20 days per month of gain time! Didya hear me? 20 days out of 30! Inmates will be able to get gain time if they behave—which is what they are supposed to do anyway.

Most importantly, the bill would lower the amount most felons would have to serve in state prison to only 65%. This is just crazy.

The simple, unavoidable fact is that if prisoners are released early in Florida, those felons will commit crime at a predictable rate. Based on a rigorous and comprehensive report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics that looked at recidivism of state prisoners released from 30 states over 5 years, we can expect that 68%–that’s more than two out of three—of those prisoners will be re-arrested for a new crime within three years. And this doesn’t count the actual amount of crime they commit—only the crime for which they are caught.

If felons are released early, we will suffer more crime and there will be more victims than if we had simply kept them in prison. Releasing inmates early is irresponsible—innocent people will get hurt.

This legislation will make us less safe. Please, ask your local house member and senator to oppose Florida Senate Bill 472.

Thank you for your support of common sense laws that help to keep our neighborhoods safe.”

– Grady Judd, Sheriff

 

FYI – data mining…

From C-Net, here are the ten apps that share the most data with third-party companies. In order to target ads to specific individuals, companies need your data, and these apps are more than happy to provide it:

Instagram 

Facebook 

LinkedIn 

Uber Eats 

Trainline 

YouTube 

YouTube Music 

Deliveroo 

Duolingo 

eBay 

“[Instagram] shares a staggering 79% of your data with other companies,” explains pCloud, referring to Instagram checking 11 of the 14 labels. “Including everything from purchasing information, personal data, and browsing history. No wonder there’s so much promoted content on your feed. With over 1 billion monthly active users it’s worrying that Instagram is a hub for sharing such a high amount of its unknowing users’ data.”

LSU from Mike Bianchi’s view

LSU should face SEC penalty

 

By  Mike Bianchi
 

Just once in college athletics wouldn’t you like to see fellow conference members become publicly outraged and embarrassed at despicable, disgusting transgressions that happen in their own league?

For instance, wouldn’t it do your heart good if the 13 other schools in the Southeastern Conference all got together and voted passionately and unanimously to suspend LSU from the league at least temporarily for being morally bankrupt?

It’s absolutely shameful that what transpired at LSU just came to light eight years — eight freaking years! — after the Tigers successfully and intentionally buried the disturbing allegations of inappropriate sexual misconduct, sexual advances and sexual harassment of female students by former football coach Les Miles.

And isn’t it pathetic that it was Kansas that actually had to clean up LSU’s mess a few days ago by firing Miles and the athletics director (Jeff Long) who hired him? LSU, like so many cutthroat, win-at-all-cost institutions of higher earning, was willing to ignore the creepy, repugnant allegations against Miles just to protect the brand and keep its national championship-winning football coach out of trouble and recruiting five-star talent.

Sadly, the only reason the Miles allegations came to light is because USA Today reporters aggressively began to investigate the systematic failures of how LSU handled, er, mishandled cases of physical and sexual violence against women on its campus. Because of USA Today’s investigative reporting, LSU was pretty much forced to hire the outside law firm of Husch Blackwell in November to conduct an investigation, which detailed “serious institutional failure” on how LSU handled allegations of rape and dating violence.

Husch Blackwell also found that the reason LSU intentionally hired another independent law firm eight years ago to investigate sexual harassment charges against Miles is so the report wouldn’t be made public.

That’s right, LSU intentionally swept the abhorrent behavior of Miles under the rug. The school even went against the recommendation of its own athletics director at the time, Joe Alleva, who strongly urged the school to part ways with Miles after the coach was accused of contacting female students via Facebook and text, meeting them off campus alone and kissing at least one of them.

In the recent Husch Blackwell Report, LSU staffers accused Miles of suggesting that female student employees who helped chaperone top high school prospects during their official recruiting visits “needed to have a certain look.” That look, according to the employees, included the women being “blondes with big boobs.” If the female students didn’t fit a certain physical profile, Miles suggested that perhaps they should be fired.

One of the most disturbing parts of the Husch Blackwell Report focused on longtime athletic department employee Sharon Lewis, who told investigators of an incident in 2013 she described as her “worst nightmare.”

It seems a female student came to Lewis, according to the report, “very upset about something that happened when she was alone with Coach Miles.”

The student then asked Lewis to help her in confronting Miles with the allegations. Another athletic department employee sat in on the meeting with Lewis, Miles and the female student and said the student was “completely traumatized” by the alleged incident, saying, “This child had a dead stare … she just kept saying, over and over, ‘You know what you did to me.’ ”

Alleva, the AD, penned a letter to then-school president F. King Alexander back in 2013 in which he wrote of Miles, “I believe he is guilty of insubordination, inappropriate behavior, putting the university, athletic department and football program at great risk. I think we have cause (to terminate him). I specifically told him not to text, call or be alone with any student workers and he obviously didn’t listen. I know there are many possible outcomes and much risk either way, but I believe it is in the best interest in the long run to make a break. … One more time I want us to think about which scenario is worse for LSU: Explaining why we let him go or explaining why we let him stay.”

Now, eight years later, LSU is having to explain why they let Les Miles stay.

Yes, the Tigers would end up firing Miles a few years later; not because of his repulsive behavior but because he went five seasons without winning the SEC West. Miles ended up at Kansas, where he was fired last week when the allegations against him at LSU became public.

Long, the AD who hired Miles at KU, was also fired.

The board of trustees at Oregon State, where Alexander is now the school president, will meet Wednesday to discuss whether he should be suspended or even fired.

But at LSU, nobody’s been fired for what happened within the football program eight years ago

Meanwhile, LSU basketball coach Will Wade is getting ready to lead his team into this week’s NCAA Tournament despite his program being under NCAA investigation and Wade being caught on tape admitting to cheating and bribing players to sign with the Tigers.

LSU isn’t just morally bankrupt.

The program is ethically destitute.

The university and the SEC should be ashamed.

 

Farewell Becky and her Staff. Well Done – thanks

With their coaching staff appearing in their final home match, the Gator soccer made sure their final Dizney Stadium appearance was positive with a 3-1 win Thursday over Georgia Southern.

Dizney Stadium Farewell
Tonight was the last time the Florida coaching staff – Head Coach Becky Burleigh and Associate Head Coaches Vic Campbell and Alan Kirkup – were on a Gator home sideline. Burleigh announced in January she would retire at the end of 2020-21 campaign. She and Campbell have been with Florida for all of its 26-season history, and Kirkup joined the staff for the 2006 campaign. Tonight’s win gives the program a home record of 230-44-16 (0.821).

Past players were among the Dizney Stadium crowd to cheer the Gators and their coaches in their 2020-21 home finale. Also among the crowd were those who worked with Burleigh at the University Athletic Association, including Jeremy Foley and Steve Spurrier. The three coaches were honored pre-match, and Burleigh spoke to the fans following the win. She was touched by the flowers placed where her parents cheered the Gators for many years before they passed away before the 2017 season.

SEC Players of the Week

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – After picking up the series sweep over No. 25 Missouri last weekend, two Gators earned SEC Player of the Week honors, as the league announced Monday.

Junior Marlie Monserez earned both overall SEC Player of the Week honors, as well as Setter of the Week accolades, while classmate Lauren Dooley was named SEC Defensive Player of the Week for the third-straight time. That streak ties Rhamat Alhassan for the most consecutive weeks as Defensive POW and those two have been the only Gators to achieve the feat in the history of the award.

Monserez was tabbed as Setter of the Week for the third time this season, while picking up her first career Player of the Week honor. The Windermere, Fla. native led the Gators to a .470 clip between the two matches against the ranked Tigers and dished out 11.88 assists per set.

In the first match against Missouri, Monserez recorded 56 assists and a career-high 20 digs in the five-setter, while leading Florida to a .426 clip in the match. The junior also recorded three blocks and two kills in the victory and registered her seventh double-double of the season.

In Saturday’s match, Monserez notched 39 assists to go along with nine digs and three kills in the sweep.  

Dooley earned her third-consecutive Defensive Player of the Week honors after averaging 1.50 blocks per set.

The current SEC blocks per set leader notched a total of six blocks – one solo, five assists – against the Tigers on Friday night, while also recording three kills.

The Plano, Texas native also notched six blocks in the three-set victory on Saturday, paired with five kills on a .571 clip.

The Gators are back in action this weekend as the team welcomes No. 3 Kentucky for a two-match series beginning on March 19.

Caveat Emptor……

Key Things You Need to Know About HR 1, the For the People Act of 2021

 

March 6, 2021 Updated: March 6, 2021
 
On Wednesday, Democrats in the House passed H.R. 1, the For the People Act of 2021, which was introduced by Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.). 
 
The election reform package, if passed by the Senate, would transfer authority over how elections are administered from states to the federal government, subject private citizens to intimidation and harassment for their private and political beliefs, and make permanent many voting rules that opponents say lead to voter fraud.
 
The 791 page-long H.R. 1 legislation package, which was marked up by members of the 116th Congress, was adopted without much debate. 
 
Some provisions, like ensuring that all voting machines used in U.S. elections are also manufactured in the United States or increasing access for voters with disabilities, are supported by both sides, but most other provisions are contentious.
The sweeping election reform package is divided into three major sections; the second section is the main body of the legislation, with three subsections: a) Voting, b) Campaign Finance, and c) Ethics. Section three is the Findings of General Constitutional Authority and section four is the Standards for Judicial Review.
 
These are some of the key changes to election laws in H.R. 1:
  1. Gives the federal government authority to administer elections:  Although the U.S. Constitution gives states the authority to run their elections as they see fit, Democrats have interpreted the Constitution in their favor, stating in H.R. 1, “Congress finds that it has broad authority to regulate the time, place, and manner of congressional elections under the Elections Clause of the Constitution, Article I, section 4.”
  2. Limits a plaintiff’s access to federal courts when challenging H.R. 1: It would mandate that any lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of H.R. 1 could only be filed in the District Court for the District of Columbia and all plaintiffs would be required “to file joint papers or to be represented by a single attorney at oral argument.”
  3. Mandates automatic voter registration (AVR) in all 50 states (19 states currently have AVR): Democrats call this “modernizing” elections, meaning automatically registering any person that has given information to designated government agencies, such as the Department of Motor Vehicles, a public university, or a social service agency would be registered. It mandates same-day and online registration.
  4. Mandates no-fault absentee ballots: This provision would do away with witness signature or notarization requirements for absentee ballots. Additionally, it would force states to accept absentee ballots received up to 10 days after Election Day.
  5. Prevents election officials from removing ineligible voters from registries or confirming the eligibility and qualifications of voters: The bill would make it illegal to verify the address of registered voters, cross-checking voter registration lists to find individuals registered in multiple states, or ever removing registrants no matter how much time has elapsed.
  6. Restores the Voting Rights Act: This provision would require states to obtain approval from the federal government before implementing any voting rules changes. H.R. 1 would add a provision criminalizing “hindering, interfering, or preventing” anyone from registering or voting.
  7. Bans state voter ID laws: It would force states to allow individuals to vote without an ID and instead they could merely sign a statement in which they claim they are who they say they are.
  8. Ensures illegal immigrants can vote: The bill would shield non-citizens from prosecution if they are registered to vote automatically and agencies are not required to keep records of who declined to affirm their citizenship.
  9. Allows same-day voter registration: “Each State shall permit any eligible individual on the day of a Federal election and on any day when voting, including early voting, is permitted for a Federal election—to register to vote in such election at the polling place … [and] to cast a vote in such election.” The section includes a clause that requires same-day voter registration to be implemented in time for the upcoming elections in 2022.
  10. Requires registration for those under 18: “States to carry out a plan to increase the involvement of individuals under 18 years of age in public election activities in the State.”
  11. Prohibits the publication of “misleading information” about elections: The bill makes it a federal crime to “communicate or cause to be communicated information” that is knowingly false, and designed to discourage voting, carrying with it a sentence of up to five years.
  12. Allows felons to vote: It limits federal dollars to prisons of those states who do not register ex-convicts to vote. The provision is called the “Democracy Restoration Act.” The bill says that all felons can vote unless they are “serving a felony sentence in a correctional institution or facility at the time of the election.”
  13. Mandates early voting: “Each State shall allow individuals to vote in an election for Federal office during an early voting period which occurs prior to the date of the election, in the same manner as voting is allowed on such date.”
  14. Legalizes nationwide vote-by-mail, without photo ID:  States are required to provide for an absentee vote-by-mail in elections for Federal offices and “may not require an individual to provide any form of identification as a condition of obtaining an absentee ballot.” A witness signature will not be required.
  15. Promotes ballot harvesting: The bill says states “shall permit a voter to designate any person to return a voted and sealed absentee ballot to the post office, a ballot drop-off location, tribally designated building, or election office so long as the person designated to return the ballot does not receive any form of compensation based on the number of ballots” and ” may not put any limit on how many voted and sealed absentee ballots any designated person can return.”
  16. Requires states to accept ballots 10 days after Election Day:   The bill requires states to accept any mailed ballots postmarked before, or on, Election Day if they arrive within 10 days of the election. It allows states to expand that deadline.
  17. Prohibits state election officials from campaigning in federal elections: The bill bans “a chief State election administration official to take an active part in political management or in a political campaign with respect to any election for Federal office over which such official has supervisory authority.”
  18. Requires “Campus Vote Coordinators” at higher institutes of learning: The bill would require colleges and universities to hire an official whose responsibility would be to inform students about elections and encourage voter registration. It would incentivize voter registration by giving grants to institutions that have a high registration rate.
  19. Mandates that states make absentee voter boxes available for 45 days within an election. “In each county in the State, each State shall provide in-person, secured, and clearly labeled drop boxes at which individuals may, at any time during the period described in subsection (b), drop off voted absentee ballots in an election for Federal office.” These boxes should be “available to all voters on a non-discriminatory basis” and “during all hours of the day.”
  20. Requires curbside voting: States may not “prohibit any jurisdiction administering an election for Federal office in the State from utilizing curbside voting as a method by which individuals may cast ballots in the election.”
  21. Urges D.C. statehood and representation for territories:  The bill complains that D.C. is not yet a state, adding, “The United States is the only democratic country that denies both voting representation in the national legislature and local self-government to the residents of its Nation’s capital.” The bill also appoints a commission that would advocate for congressional representation and presidential votes.
  22. Requires that “independent” congressional district commissions be set up, taking power away from the state legislature, but evidence shows that “independent” redistricting commissions are in truth run by Democrats for their advantage.
  23. Creates a “National Commission to Protect United States Democratic Institutions.” The commission would study elections and produce a report after 18 months with recommendations for improving elections but would consist of 10 members, only four of whom would be selected by the minority party, giving the majority (Democrat) party control.
  24. Mandates new disclosure for corporations: The bill codifies the Democrats’ DISCLOSE Act, to restrict corporate participation in elections. Democrats say this provision will shed light on dark money. Republicans counter that the legislation’s transparency requirements would violate free speech rights.
  25. Oversight of online political advertising: The provision called the “Stand By Every Ad Act” would stop campaign dollars from covering any form of advertising over the Internet. Opponents say this would increase the cost of campaigning.
  26. Weakens the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United, calling it “erroneous”: “The Supreme Court’s misinterpretation of the Constitution to empower monied interests at the expense of the American people in elections has seriously eroded over 100 years of congressional action to promote fairness and protect elections from the toxic influence of money.” It goes further to suggest “the Constitution should be amended so that Congress and the States may regulate and set limits on the raising and spending of money.”
  27. Allows politicians to use campaign funds for personal use: Under a provision called the “Help America Run Act,” the bill legalizes the use of campaign donations for personal expenses such as child care.
  28. Changes the composition of the FEC: The bill would decrease the number of the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) members from six to five. Four members can be associated with a particular political party, making the fifth member “independent” but who would be nominated by a president associated with a party. Former FEC members have written to Congress, warning about this change and other related provisions.
  29. Changes rules “around conflicts of interest” for the president and vice president: It would require the president or vice president to divest all financial interests that could pose a conflict of interest for them, their families, or anyone with whom they are negotiating or who is seeking employment in their administration.
  30. Changes FEC rules to require presidential candidates to provide their tax returns: The bill states, “Not later than the date that is 15 days after the date on which an individual becomes a covered candidate, the individual shall submit to the Federal Election Commission a copy of the individual’s income tax returns for the 10 most recent taxable years for which a return has been filed with the Internal Revenue Service.”