But instead of changing course, Democrats doubled down by embracing a more ardent progressivism and demanding that everyone follow. Primary challenges by progressives rose dramatically. My experience was emblematic. Working-class voters were my base because I focused on bread-and-butter issues critical to struggling families, and I was not supportive of progressive social issues. After surviving in 2018, I lost in 2020 to a progressive challenger bankrolled by millions from national groups. At the same time, candidates for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020 were stumbling over each other, trying to get further to the left on a variety of issues. Decriminalizing illegal border crossings, funding sex-change operations for prisoners and detained illegal immigrants, and defunding the police became party dogma, further alienating the working class.

Thanks to bumbling by President Trump and congressional Republicans, however, Democrats won the House in 2018 and captured the White House and both chambers of Congress in 2020. Progressives felt vindicated and were emboldened to continue their agenda with a self-righteous swagger. President Biden, whose victory was made possible by a reputation he had built over five decades as a moderate deal-maker, foolishly embraced progressives to prepare to run for reelection in 2024. Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, who won in a state that gave Clinton and Biden less than 30% of the vote, was hounded out of the party by progressives who should have been thankful for every vote he gave them.

In 2024, Republicans handed a massive in-kind gift to their opponents when they nominated the man most responsible for the Democratic Party’s election victories the past six years. Democrats were also given a unique opportunity to install a nominee who did not have to pander to progressives to win primaries. Perhaps the party had no other choice but Vice President Kamala Harris, who had taken some very progressive positions when running for the nomination in 2019. But with five long years having passed, she could have tried to make a clean and hard break from these. Instead, she chose to walk away from some of these positions softly, never seizing the opportunity to claim that a new working-class friendly perspective led her to change. Harris sealed her fate when she delivered a too-clever-by-half professorial response – “I’ll follow the law” – when asked whether she still supported taxpayer-funded sex-change operations for prisoners and detained illegal aliens. Donald Trump went on to become just the second Republican in 36 years to win the popular vote, thanks in part to significant support from non-white working-class voters, particularly Hispanics.

As Democrats try to figure out what to do next, it is folly to believe that all the party needs is “clarity of message,” as former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA) recently claimed. And while it is good to propose new policies directed at helping those left behind economically, as Rep. Ro Khanna (CA) did, it won’t solve the political problem. But buried in that post-election piece by Khanna was one sentence that gets much closer to what Democrats must do: “For our economic message to be heard, we must show common sense on issues of crime and the safety of families and not shame or cancel those who may have honest disagreements with us on a particular social issue.” Rep. Seth Moulton (MA) expressed a similar sentiment when he said, “We lost, in part, because we shame and belittle too many opinions held by too many voters, and that needs to stop.” […]

— Read More: www.zerohedge.com

It’s called Governors Safeguarding Democracy, formed to counter the incoming Trump Administration and Republican Congress. “What we’re doing is pushing back against increasing threats of autocracy and fortifying the institutions of democracy that our country and our states depend upon,” Pritzker said of the effort. “I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: No attempts to restrict the freedoms and opportunities of Illinoisans will be tolerated.”

No governor in memory in any state has thumbed his nose at democratic norms and constitutional rights more consistently and flagrantly than has Pritzker. Examples of how Pritzker earned his reputation as a “hard-left culture warrior who is happy to silence political opponents,” as the Wall Street Journal put it, are too numerous to fully list here, but consider a few:

• Through 43 consecutive, monthly emergency orders, he suspended ordinary government function and ruled by executive fiat, trampling on a list of constitutional rights, justified through censorship and suppression of opposing scientific views. Similarly, he issued 38 consecutive emergency orders enforcing his personal decisions about assistance and protection for illegal immigrants.
• He says he wants there to be a legal cause of action against anybody who says something false, which would be a flagrant violation of established First Amendment law.
• He has signed off on multiple policies and bills that violate constitutional rights to free speech, such as Illinois’ new law banning discussion of political or religious matters at company meetings, now being challenged in federal court. Another example is a Pritzker-signed law attempting to muzzle pro-lifers that was ridiculed by a federal court as “stupid” as well as unconstitutional, prompting Attorney General Kwame Raoul to give up trying to defend the law.
• He stood aside while his party’s operatives filed lawsuits to keep Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. off the ballot for the presidential election.
• He meddled in a Republican primary by contributing $24 million that was used, successfully, to achieve the nomination of who Pritzker thought would be a weak opponent, Darren Bailey, in his race for governor.
• Even the Democratically slanted Illinois courts couldn’t accept a law Pritzker signed earlier this year attempting to knock only Republican candidates off the ballot through a retroactive change in slating procedures. The Illinois Supreme Court in August upheld a lower court ruling that the law flatly violated the constitutional right to vote.
• Most importantly, nearly every major element of the policy agenda successfully implemented by Pritzker and his supermajority of allies in the General Assembly has no popular support. Thanks to the most gerrymandered election maps in the nation (which Pritzker signed off on in violation of campaign promises), Pritzker’s millions spent on elections and general mastery of the election process, we have an overwhelmingly undemocratic result. […]

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Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon, author of the 2014 ballot initiative most Republicans and many Democrats blame for the retail theft crime wave, previously survived two recalls over the past two years even when voters in San Francisco, one of the most liberal cities in the country, ousted his ally Chesa Boudin in 2022.

But on Tuesday, former federal prosecutor and Republican-turned-independent Nathan Hochman soundly defeated Gascon 61.4% to 38%. Voters also appear poised to reject a ballot measure Newsom backed, increasing the minimum wage to $18 an hour. Another Democrat-backed measure aimed at bolstering apartment rent control failed Tuesday.

Despite California’s tectonic shift to the right and the nation’s defeat of fellow San Francisco liberal Kamala Harris on Tuesday, it’s business as usual for Gov. Newsom and his hand-picked state Attorney General Rob Bonta. On Thursday, the pair anointed themselves the leaders of the Donald Trump resistance and protectors of California’s progressive values that the rest of the nation had just roundly rejected.

Newsom appointed Bonta in 2021 when President Biden tapped Xavier Becerra, California’s former attorney general, as his Health and Human Services secretary. Newsom and Bonta have since forged a legal-legislative tag-team fighting for liberal causes and silencing their political opponents. The governor has used his bully pulpit to call special legislative sessions and push liberal measures in the Democratic super-majority controlled Assembly and state Senate while Bonta files lawsuits and civil rights investigations against their political adversaries.  […]

— Read More: www.zerohedge.com

Surveys by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) show that fewer than 20% of colleges nationwide require an American history or government course for graduation. Unsurprisingly, this deficit has made its way into the training of teachers too. Future K-12 teachers are unlikely to learn the basic facts about our founding principles and our long history of working toward that more perfect Union our founders envisioned.

In 2016, the Arizona legislature created the School for Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University. This school has become a valuable training ground for ASU students seeking a thorough understanding of our nation’s governing institutions and the responsibilities of citizenship in a free society while being exposed to a diversity of viewpoints.

The ASU model has since been replicated at 13 universities in several other states.

Founded a year ago, the School of Civic Life and Leadership at the University of North Carolina (UNC)-Chapel Hill, which ACTA helped create, has already gained national attention. It was deservedly featured in articles in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere. And for good reason. […]

— Read More: www.zerohedge.com

From the beginning, Biden, Harris, and other key officials in their administration were determined to end President Donald Trump’s effective border security policies – regardless of the consequences. They also refused to enforce long-standing immigration laws that administrations of both parties have enforced.

According to a new report by my committee, the incoming Biden-Harris team was warned by current and former Department of Homeland Security law enforcement during the presidential transition of what would happen if they embarked on this path – and yet, they chose to do so anyway.

This dereliction of duty has led to disastrous outcomes in the realm of public safety. Under Biden and Harris’ leadership, our borders are wide open and ripe for exploitation, and interior enforcement has fallen off a cliff. The numbers bear this out.

Since Fiscal Year 2021, the Border Patrol has recorded more than 55,000 arrests of illegal aliens with criminal histories, compared to just around 22,000 from FY2017-2020. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens has said that “[h]ardened criminals often hide in smuggled migrant groups.” According to one Border Patrol deputy chief patrol agent, “any crime that can be committed, we do encounter people who have committed them.” Authored by Mark Green via RealClearPolitics ,

Upon being inaugurated, one of the responsibilities Joe Biden and Kamala Harris assumed was to keep the American homeland secure and safeguard our sovereign borders. Nearly four years later, looking at the catastrophic, unprecedented border crisis that has unfolded on their watch, can anyone say with a straight face they have fulfilled that obligation? The answer, unequivocally, is no – and Americans are the ones paying the price. From the beginning, Biden, Harris, and other key officials in their administration were determined to end President Donald Trump’s effective border security policies – regardless of the consequences. They also refused to enforce long-standing immigration laws that administrations of both parties have enforced.

According to a new report by my committee, the incoming Biden-Harris team was warned by current and former Department of Homeland Security law enforcement during the presidential transition of what would […]

— Read More: www.zerohedge.com

In response, the New York Times bent over backwards (and forwards) to downplay their preferred candidate’s cut-n-pastery – first casting it as ‘conservative activist seizes on passages‘ from Harris’ book, then totally lying about Rufo’s reporting – which Rufo quickly debunked.

As part of their propaganda, the Times wheeled out plagiarism expert Jonathan Bailey, who said “his initial reaction to Mr. Rufo’s claims was that the errors were not serious, given the size of the document.”

Except, the Times concealed the extent of the claims from Bailey – who writes in his Plagiarism Today blog: “At the time, I was unaware of a full dossier with additional allegations, which led some to accuse the New York Times of withholding that information from me. However, the article clearly stated that it was my “initial reaction” to those allegations, not a complete analysis.

ABC does fake fact-checks to help Kamala. CBS stealth-edits an interview to help Kamala. New York Times withholds evidence to help Kamala. This is endemic—and only visible now because we have X. […]

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While unverified – and should therefore be taken with a grain of salt for now, the whistleblower also claims there are three topics that were off-limits.

• President Biden’s health
• Kamala’s tenure as Attorney General and District Attorney
• “her brother-in-law, Tony West, who faces allegations of embezzling billions of dollars in taxpayer funds and who may be involved in her administration if elections.”

To that end, Edward R. Szall via Died Suddenly News has done a deep dive on #3 – which he believes to be the deepest scandal of the 2024 election cycle. […]

— Read More: www.zerohedge.com

The suspects are all from Philadelphia, according to the Philly Voice, who reported that they “face multiple counts of conspiracy, criminal mischief, burglary and possession of stolen goods”.

The four people are connected to millions of dollars worth of thefts over the last three years and the arrests come at the end of a two month operation called “Operation Beef Bandit” (we swear we are not making this up).

The thefts were taking place at service areas on the NJ Turnpike and included stealing meat, alcohol and seafood.

The Voice report says that early Friday, state troopers spotted two suspicious vehicles at the Molly Pitcher Service Area and four suspects tried to steal meat from a parked tractor trailer. […]

— Read More: www.zerohedge.com

FT spoke with insiders who said US and Japanese officials are nearing a ‘breakthrough’ in talks to coordinate new export controls against China’s chip industry. The curbs would target non-US companies, forcing them to obtain licenses to sell products directly to Chinese companies that directly or indirectly connect to the nation’s chip industry.

The new trade restrictions would close loopholes in existing rules and add additional restrictions at a time when Huawei and other Chinese firms have managed to circumnavigate Western chip trade restrictions in recent years.

One of Washington’s primary objectives is to make it much more challenging for Chinese firms to acquire critical chipmaking tools, such as those from ASML in the Netherlands and Tokyo Electron in Japan. […]

— Read More: www.zerohedge.com

This means Russia’s armed forces will include 1.5 million active servicemen going into winter. It is also a clear signal that Russia doesn’t plan on reducing the intensity of the fight in the Donbass anytime soon. This will bring the overall number of military personnel within Russia’s army, including all reserve forces, to over 2,300,000.

Putin had previously sign-off on two prior expansion waves: an increase of 137,000 in August 2022 and another expanse of 170,000 in December 2023.

In the fall of 2022, when Ukraine’s much-hyped counteroffensive was in full swing, Putin had called up some 300,000 reservists to join the fight.

With this latest troop increase, Putin could also be signaling NATO that Russia will not back down, at a moment the US and UK are mulling approving Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles to attack inside Russian territory. […]

— Read More: www.zerohedge.com