Daily Archives: March 8, 2022

SANDPOINT, Idaho Linda Navarre moved to Sandpoint, Idaho, from Cleveland in 1978, when the town consisted of people in the timber industry and hippies and they all got along.

Now she barely recognizes the small resort community near the Canadian border that is quickly growing as people disenchanted with big city life move there. Many are conservatives fed up with liberal politics in blue states.

The division gets wider and wider, Navarre said, adding many of the new arrivals are changing the civility of the community. My concern is there are so many people who are not nice.

Sandpoint is a four-season resort town built along the shores of scenic Lake Pend Oreille. It had 7,300 residents in the 2010 Census, but grew 21% in the decade to about 8,900 in the 2020 Census. In addition to the natural beauty, people come here because its a red state, said longtime resident Gail Cameron, 67.

To capitalize on that trend, a growing number of real estate companies are advertising themselves to people on the right, saying they can take them out of liberal bastions like Seattle and San Francisco and find them homes in places like rural Idaho.

Sandpoint-based Flee The City is a consortium of four businesses which specialize in selling property to conservatives in northern Idaho and western Montana. The company calls itself a real estate firm for the vigilant.

Flee the City has partnered with a company that provides sustainable homes design with integrated ballistic and defensive capabilities.

Todd Savage, whose Black Rifle Real Estate firm is part of Flee The City, said in a brief email exchange that his business is booming, thanks to insane left wing politics.

One of the bigger players among right-leaning real estate companies is Conservative Move, based in a suburb of Dallas. Founder and chief executive Paul Chabot said blue states have only themselves to blame for driving out conservatives.

People are tired of out-of-control crime and forced masking, Chabot said.

Idaho has been the fastest growing state in the nation for five years running, growing 2.9% in 2021, mostly from in-migration.

But the influx of people to places like Idaho has made it harder for some long-time residents. People struggle to find housing in Sandpoint, with many houses sold the same day they are listed, after bidding wars, Cameron said.

Many of those homes are converted into vacation rentals, which tightens the market for people who live in the area, Cameron said.

Carolyn Knaack, associate director of the Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper conservation group, has lived in town for a year.

She said the confluence of the coronavirus pandemic and politics has created a divisiveness among folks.

Ive been applauded and belittled for wearing a mask, she said. I have friends who refused to get vaxxed.

Savage was asked if it was desirable for people to segregate themselves by political ideology.

I dont agree with the term segregate, he wrote. Folks simply vote with their feet relating to issues such as crime, taxes, homeschooling, gun laws, mask and vaccine mandates, Orwellian laws and out of control tyranny in the sanctuary states.

Not everyone is a fan of what Savage and conservative realtors are doing in Sandpoint and elsewhere.

Mayor Shelby Rognstad, a Democrat, worries real estate firms that serve only conservatives pushes Idaho more and more into a playground for extremism.

It doesnt bode well for our sense of community here, said Rognstad, who is mounting a campaign for governor. Its a challenge to civility.

Barbara Russell, who lives in nearby Bonners Ferry, Idaho, expressed similar concerns.

Bonners Ferry feels like its been overrun with white nationalists, said Russell, who owns a dance studio in the town of 2,600 residents.

What they are doing is preparing for war, Russell said of new arrivals, who often carry guns when in town.

New people are moving in and they go to City Council meetings and tell people who grew up here to go back to California, Russell said. They are selling fear is what they are doing.

The National Association of Realtors does not keep records of if any of its members market themselves by political ideology, spokesman Quintin Simmons said. And not all real estate agents are members of the Realtors. So its tough to determine if the trend of targeting conservative customers is widespread.

The Western States Center, a human rights group based in Portland, Oregon, is keeping an eye on right-leaning real estate firms, said member Kate Bitz.

Its just the latest of several waves of politically motivated relocation to the inland Northwest, Bitz said.

Indeed, in past decades a variety of extremist groups, most prominently the Aryan Nations, sought to create a white homeland in northern Idaho because of the regions small number of minorities.

People in the United States relocate all the time, Bitz said. What concerns us is when white nationalists and anti-democracy actors relocate to the region with the aim of organizing, recruiting and seizing control of local institutions.

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Realtors to conservatives living in liberal areas: Try Idaho - TownLift

As an optimist, I believe the world is generally improving, though it is not always easy to see how. The past two years certainly have shaken that optimism. Liberalism appears to be on the retreat: governments worldwide have adopted distinctly anti-liberal attitudes and policies to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. The words protests and terrorism have become synonymous in the halls of Congress and the Canadian Parliament, with the Canadian government even going so far as to seize assets of nonviolent protestors.

The values and ideals for which many have fought and died are being killed off in committees or decried as outdated ideas. Liberalism is decried as bourgeois by the Left. The Right sees liberalism as too weak to combat formidable adversaries like Russia and China. We liberals are on the defensive, thats for sure.

There have been bright spots, however. Shortly after declaring a state of emergency, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was forced to retreat from his position and ended the State. The US Supreme Court has repeatedly struck down various overreaching measures by the Biden administration. The current anti-liberal elites (and by elites I mean those who fancy themselves opinion-makers, such as politicians, celebrities, and intelligentsia regardless of political affiliation) see these items as, at best, temporary setbacks; they are the death throes of an obsolete ideology and nothing more.

The anti-liberal elites believe they have all the power. History and Science are on their side. They and they alone are the arbiters of Right and Wrong. Their positions as politicians, professors, priests, and performers grant them the insight needed to direct society. Liberalism was all well and good in the 18th and 19th centuries. Still, Science has advanced to such a level that liberalism is no longer needed. Liberalism will soon be ground beneath the wheel of time. It is destiny, after all.

The idea of destiny helps people believe there is an order to life. And there is order. But it is not the directed order of a cabal of Big Thinkers nor the machinations of supernatural beings. Instead, it is the emergent order of billions and billions of people. People working together. People responding to challenges. People acting on values and virtues. This emergent order often differs from the elites plans, requiring them to rely more and more on punishment to get their way.

Punishment, however, is not an effective way to operate a society. In the 1977 science fiction classic Star Wars: A New Hope, the heroine, and leader of a band of rebels, Princess Leia, is captured and brought before the evil Governor Tarkin aboard his planet-destroying battle station. After Tarkin brags about its destructive power, Leia quips: The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers. Her predictions are borne out: after unleashing the Death Stars destructive power, the Rebels ranks swell, and the evil Empire is ultimately overthrown.

Some liberals believe we are at a Tarkinian moment right now. The elites have overplayed their hands. They act as though they have the power, but their actions indicate they fear they are losing it. People will go along with restrictions for only so long, especially when those restrictions severely reduce their ability to live a good life. As the Powers That Be continue to tighten their grip, more folks will resist.

I, however, do not believe we are at a Tarkinian moment quite yet. We are approaching it, yes, but what we are seeing is something temporarily prior but much more important: a Leia moment. In the same Star Wars story (but different movie), the Rebel Alliance is a loosely connected band of dissenters. Theres little real leadership. Despite a resolve, no one knows how to fight the Empire, which has massive resources at its command.

When it is discovered that the Empire is building the Death Star, all hope is lost, and talks begin among the nominal Rebel leadership of surrender. But a group of Rebel spies infiltrate an Imperial base and steal the plans for the Death Star to discover and exploit a weakness. The spies transmit the plans to Leia, whose face illuminates with happiness at their success. When her officer asks her what the transmission they received is, she responds with just one word: Hope.

Without hope, no movement can succeed. Through much of the past two years, liberals had little reason to hope. But now, we do. More and more folks are willing to listen to us again. Anti-liberalism remains a threat, but it is beginning to retreat worldwide.

To be sure, while we have hope, we do not have victory yet. Before the final victory was achieved, the Rebel Alliance would have to fight for five more long and bloody years, suffering significant setbacks. So, too, do we liberals continue to face threats.

We must remain optimists. Liberalism has faced such existential crises before. Many of those who believed that History is theirs to control, who believed their cause was inevitable, now lie in the ash heap of history. We mustnt rest on our laurels, but we can take hope in the fact that liberalism is a hardy weed, not a delicate flower.

Jon Murphy is currently an economics PhD student at George Mason University specializing in Law & Economics and Smithian Political Economy. He has previously worked as an economic consultant in New Hampshire. Mr. Murphys interests include environmental issues, international trade, political economy, and sports economics. He also blogs at http://www.jonmmurphy.com

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A Liberal Moment, But Which One? - Brownstone Institute

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Media outlets are repeating a liberal talking point while reporting on the HB 1557 education reform bill being passed in Florida.

A GOP-backed bill garnered national attention for being derided by progressives as being anti-LGBTQ with accusations that the bill forbids any discussion pertaining to being gay in schools. Left-wing critics have referred to the legislation as the "Don't Say Gay" bill even though such language is absent from the bill itself.

The bill, officially named Parental Rights in Education, states, "Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards."

DESANTIS ACCUSES REPORTER OF PEDDLING FALSE NARRATIVE ON EDUCATION BILL IN HEATED PRESS CONFERENCE CLASH

The legislation additionally requires schools to inform parents "if there is a change in the student's services or monitoring related to the student's mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being and the school's ability to provide a safe and supportive learning environment for the student" and requires parent approval before children from kindergarten through third grade participate in a "well-being questionnaire or health screening" and that parents have the option to opt their children out across all age groups.

Following a 22-17 vote in the Florida Senate, the bill now heads to the governor's desk. Numerous outlets, however, provided a partisan framing to the vote, using the "Don't Say Gay" characterization of the reform effort.

Demonstrators protest inside the Florida State Capitol, Monday, March 7, 2022, in Tallahassee, Fla. Florida House Republicans advanced a bill, dubbed by opponents as the "Don't Say Gay" bill, to forbid discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, rejecting criticism from Democrats who said the proposal demonizes LGBTQ people. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

The Associated Press ran the headline "Dont Say Gay bill passes in Florida, goes to governor" with AP reporter Zeke Miller tweeting, "The Florida legislature has passed the Dont Say Gay bill, which Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign into law."

The three broadcast networks were in sync with the framing of their stories with ABC News running, "'Don't Say Gay' bill passes Florida Senate," CBS News running, "Florida Senate passes controversial 'Don't Say Gay' bill despite protests" and NBC News running "Dont Say Gay bill: Florida Senate passes controversial LGBTQ school measure."

REPORTER MOCKED FOR TWEETING OUT GOV. DESANTIS' ROAST OF HIS QUESTION ABOUT SO-CALLED DON'T SAY GAY' BILL

The Independent went dramatic with its story, "Another stain in the history of Florida: Dont Say Gay passes state legislature, will be signed into law," quoting Democratic Florida Senator Shevrin Jones, an openly gay member of the state Senate. The Guardian was also aggressive with its headline, "Dont say gay bill: Florida senate passes law marginalizing LGBTQ+ people." Time Magazine published "Florida Just Passed The 'Don't Say Gay' Bill. Heres What It Means for Kids."

Screenshot of a Associate Press headline, reading "'Don't Say Gay' bill passes in Florida, goes to governor.'

Two of Florida's largest papers The Miami Herald and The Orlando Sentinel, printed "Student voices are loud, but Florida Republicans are clear. Dont say gay bill passes" and "Florida lawmakers approve Dont Say Gay' bill, DeSantis expected to sign it" respectively.

The Hill ran a story focused on the backlash of the bill, running the headline, "Hundreds of Florida students stage walkout to protest 'Don't Say Gay' bill. The story omitted the specific kindergarten-third grade clause of the legislation, writing the bill is focused on "primary school students."

Other outlets like The Washington Post and Reuters refrained from using "Don't Say Gay" in their headlines but maintained the tone of the slogan with "Florida legislature passes bill to restrict LGBTQ topics in elementary schools" and "Florida lawmakers pass bill limiting LGBTQ discussion in school" respectively.

DESANTIS ASKING STUDENTS TO TAKE OFF MASKS RESULTS IN MEDIA 'MELTDOWNS' DESPITE MASKLESS SOTU ADDRESS

CNN ran the story "Florida legislature passes bill prohibiting some classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity," burying any mention that the children it involves are kindergarten to third grade age to the seventh paragraph, which quoted DeSantis' defense of the bill.

NPR offered the most context in its headline, "Florida Senate passes a controversial schools bill labeled 'Don't Say Gay' by critics," appearing to evolve from its previous coverage last month when it ran a story titled, "'Don't Say Gay' bill would limit discussion of sexuality and gender in Florida schools."

DeSantis press secretary Christina Pushaw told Fox News Digitial, "The fact that so many corporate media outlets are using the utterly false Dont say gay branding a Democrat epithet for the parental rights bill just proves they cannot defend their actual position. Most Floridians, whether gay or straight, support parental rights and do not want children to be exposed to sexually inappropriate content. This is not only common sense; its common decency."

Demonstrators protest inside the Florida State Capitol, Monday, March 7, 2022, in Tallahassee, Fla. Florida House Republicans advanced a bill, dubbed by opponents as the "Don't Say Gay" bill, to forbid discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, rejecting criticism from Democrats who said the proposal demonizes LGBTQ people. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

On Monday, DeSantis clashed with local reporter Evan Donovan at a press conference on "what critics call the Dont Say Gay' bill."

"Does it say that in the bill?" DeSantis asked. "Does it say that in the bill?"

As Donovan attempted to respond, DeSantis interjected, "I'm asking what's in the bill because you are pushing false narratives. It doesn't matter what critics say."

BIDEN: FLORIDA BILL ADDRESSING SEX, GENDER CONVERSATIONS IN CLASSROOMS IS 'HATEFUL ATTACK' ON GAY CHILDREN

Donovan then tried quoting the text of the bill, "It says Classroom instruction on sexual identity and gender orientation," but was pummeled further by the governor.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses a joint session of a legislative session, Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

"For who?" For grades pre-K through three, no five-year-olds, six-year-olds, seven-year-olds," DeSantis told the reporter. "And the idea that you wouldn't be honest about that and tell people what it actually says, it's why people don't trust people like you because you peddle false narratives. And so we just disabused you of those narratives."

"And we're going to make sure that parents are able to send their kid to kindergarten without having some of this stuff injected into their school curriculum," DeSantis added.

Last week, DeSantis had a similar exchange with another reporter where he elaborated on his support for the legislation.

"How many parents want their kindergarteners to have transgenderismor something injected into classroom instruction? AndsoI think those are very young kids. I think the legislature is basically trying to give parents assurance that theyregonnabe able to go and this stuff's notgonnabe there," DeSantis said.

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"But theres nothing in the billthat says anything about 'youcan'tsay' or this say. Itsbasically saying for our youngest students do you really want them to be taught aboutandthis is any sexual stuff, but I think clearly right now, we see a lot of focus on the transgenderism telling kids that they may be able to pick genders and all that. I dont think parents want that for these young kids,so I think thats what they were trying to do, and I think thats justifiable," he continued.

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AP, other outlets repeat liberal 'Don't Say Gay' talking point on Florida education bill as legislation passes - Fox News

This weeks Liberal Media Scream features a rare case of a news source pushing back against the bias of a big-shot news host, this time NBC anchor Lester Holts view that minorities are targeted by biased police.

Doing the pushing back was former President Donald Trumps attorney general, William Barr, who challenged Holts positive view of Black Lives Matter and rejected the liberal statement that police are racists.

In a special about Barr, who is pitching his new book, One Damn Thing After Another: Memoirs of an Attorney, the former attorney general was his typical matter-of-fact self, stopping Holt dead in his tracks when he said, Black men are the subject of three times as many traffic stops by police.

Barr responded, That sometimes is a function of where the police are. Police go where the crime is.

From the Sunday night NBC News special, "Bill Barr: In the Eye of the Storm":

LESTER HOLT: Can we talk about the "big lie"?

BILL BARR: Which one is that?

HOLT: Well, you write about the "big lie" being Black Lives Matter.

BARR: Yeah.

HOLT: What did you mean by that?

BARR: Black Lives Matter is based on the premise that the main threat to black welfare in the inner city are out-of-control police force that gratuitously kill African Americans. Thats simply not borne out by the facts.

HOLT, NARRATION: As the nations top law enforcement official, Bill Barr always had hard-line views on crime and how to fight it. In 1992, when Barr was attorney general the first time, he wrote a memo called The Case for More Incarceration the kind of tough, "lock em up" policy thats been cited as a leading cause of destabilizing black communities.

HOLT TO BARR: 1 in 3 black men will be incarcerated sometime in their lifetime, 1 in 17 for white men. Can you not see how that shapes the perception and makes people want to rally around the idea of Black Lives Matter?

BARR: Well, I understand the perception, and I think theres ambivalence. Thats what I have found on the one hand, there is a concern that, when they encounter police, theyre not given the benefit of the doubt and theyre treated as second-class citizens, and theres definitely that concern. On the other hand, I think they also understand that the police are there to try to make their community safer, that its a very tough job and they want more police.

CROWD: Black Lives Matter! No justice, no peace! No justice, no peace!

HOLT: In society, do you believe theres such a thing as systemic racism?

BARR: I actually think the whole idea is a cop-out. I think racism exists in peoples, individuals souls.

HOLT: By dismissing systematic racism, are you not dismissing the pain of African American families that have to sit down with their children and have the talk because theyre afraid a simple traffic stop could lead to their deaths?

BARR: No, I dont you know, I dont I dont ignore that

HOLT: "Dismiss" is the term I used.

BARR: I dont dismiss that as a reality. I dont think that police are racist and, as a general matter

HOLT: You dont see bias in police?

BARR: No, in every study of the situation that Im familiar with says there is no bias. The numbers are the product of the number of interactions police have.

HOLT: Yeah, and black men are the subject of three times as many traffic stops by police.

BARR: Right. And that sometimes is a function of where the police are. Police go where the crime is.

Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: Since it happens so rarely, its great to see an interviewee press back in real time against the loaded liberal premise pushed by a star TV journalist. Holt seemed baffled that someone wouldnt see the world through his liberal prism, where America is racist and police enforce that racism, and thus Black Lives Matter should be treated as a heroic cause.

RATING: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS.

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Liberal Media Scream: Lester Holt fights truth that police are where crime is - Washington Examiner

On March 8th, 2022, at approximately at 2:36pm, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) K9 Police Officer Nicholas Jackson (PO Jackson) conducted a traffic stop in Cibola County, New Mexico on Interstate 40, at the 107 mile marker, within the exterior boundaries of the Pueblo of Laguna on a 2017 Ford Explorer SUV bearing a Kansas license plate for failure to signal. Upon initial contact, Police Officer Jackson observed several drug paraphernalia items and one suspected blue colored fentanyl pill in plain view along with the odor of burnt marijuana. Officer Jackson later identified tradecraft associated with illegal smuggling activities during general conversations with the male driver and the female passenger as he issued a warning. The driver and passenger both later denied consent to search the SUV. Cibola County K9 Deputy Julian Armijo and US Homeland Security Special Agent responded to the scene for assistance. During the search, approximately 3 plastic parcels containing a multiple suspected Fentanyl imprinted with M-30 concealed under the center console within the factory void space. The pills were later field tested to be Fentanyl. The driver and passenger later confessed to transporting the Fentanyl from Phoenix, Arizona to Liberal, Kansas. Investigation continues by HSI Special Agents.Total Weight 473.437 Gross Grams or 1.04 Gross Pounds

Street Value $ 69,120.78

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Drugs Heading to Liberal Stopped in New Mexico - KSCB News.net