Category Archives: Federalist

Democrat Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, who has often spoken out against racial injustice in the United States, shrugged off questions from a local news outlet about his familys membership in an all-white exclusive beach club in Rhode Island this weekend.

When asked by GoLocalProv whether white-only exclusive clubs such as Baileys Beach Club, which is part of the Spouting Rock Beach Association, should continue to exist, Whitehouse refused to offer a straight answer and merely stated that its a long tradition in the state.

Its a long tradition in Rhode Island and there are many of them, and we just need to work our way through the issues, Whitehouse said.

According to the report, both Whitehouse and his wife Sandra as well as their families have been members of the club for decades where they are now one of the largest shareholders in the all-white club.

I think the people who are running the place are still working on that, and Im sorry it hasnt happened yet, Whitehouse said.

Even after the Democrat was confronted in 2017 over the clubs alleged dedication to keeping the club free of minority groups, he and his family continue to frequent the establishment on most summer days without a hitch.

I think it would be nice if they [Baileys Beach Club] changed a little bit, but its not my position, Whitehouse said in 2017 before offering a loose pledge to take up diversity concerns with the club in private.

Whitehouse is one of the many Democrat legislators who are often quick to jump on the race-driven agenda bandwagon. Not only has he pledged his support to Black Lives Matter via Twitter, but he also claimed he is working with his colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee to bring lasting change on racial injustice.

Last summer, Whitehouse promised to bring attention to the injustices that Black Americans still face every day by celebrating Juneteenth, which the Democrats led by President Joe Biden have turned into a political football to forward their race agenda despite Americans hesitancy to make it a federal holiday. He also said the United States needs to root out systemic racism in its many forms and meet Americas full promise of justice for all.

Jordan Davidson is a staff writer at The Federalist. She graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism.

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Democrat Sen. Whitehouse Says His All-White Exclusive Beach Club Is 'Tradition' - The Federalist

Two top House Republicans among big techs thorniest adversaries in Washington remain starkly divided on how to rein in Silicon Valleys empire.

Earlier this month, a group of bipartisan lawmakers led by Rhode Island Democrat Rep. David Cicilline and Colorado Republican Ken Buck who serve as chair and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committees Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law, respectively unveiled a broad package of antitrust legislation to break up corporate tech monopolies.

Big Tech has abused its dominance in the marketplace to crush competitors, censor speech, and control how we see and understand the world, Buck said in a statement announcing the series of five bills proposed after the subcommittee completed an 18-month bipartisan probe into big tech influence.The nations antitrust laws have not seen significant reform in nearly 100 years, according to Bucks office.

The sweeping package includes new powers and funding for the Justice Department (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to enhance oversight with greater ability to sue platforms found to dominate online marketplaces. Each agency for example, would designate companies that generate $600 billion in revenue with at least 500,000 U.S. users as covered platforms subject to a new layer of regulations on data, acquisitions, and corporate conduct.

One bill, the Ending Platform Monopolies Act, sponsored by Buck, with Republicans Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, Lance Gooden of Texas, and Democrat Pramila Jayapal of Washington, prohibits dominant platforms from giving their products preference in their own search engines. That would bar Amazon from promoting Amazon products above all others on its colossal online retail store, for example.

Another bill requires online platforms to establish avenues for consumers to transfer data from one service to another, just as one would carry a cell phone number from Verizon to Sprint.

While Bucks legislative package has drawn endorsements across the political aisle from former House Democrat impeachment managers to Republicans Matt Gaetz of Florida and Burgess Owens of Utah, its also drawn scrutiny from many others on the right, including in GOP leadership and Ohio Republican Jim Jordan.

In an interview with The Federalist, Jordan characterized the legislation as a trap that would empower tech elites to conspire with bureaucrats who share sympathy for a monopoly on truth through conservative censorship.

This is going to let big tech companies collude with big tech companies to do further harm to conservatives, Jordan said. He faulted the legislative package put forward by a staunch ally in the conservative Freedom Caucus for its absence of anything to do with censorship. Out of the five bills proposed, none deal with Twitter or online suppression of dissident views.

Jordan centered on the expansion of the FTCs authority in particular, now led by Lina Khan, who was sworn in Tuesday last week.

These bills give power to the FTC, the new commissioner we all know is radically left, Jordan said, highlighting Khans prior work for congressional Democrats. I dont really think it breaks up big tech and I dont think it gives a remedy to people who are censored.

While branded as big tech sympathizer, however, Khan has been a longtime antagonist of the Silicon Valley elite. Her confirmation was supported by Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, a chief crusader against big tech influence.

Others in House Republican leadership remain skeptical of Bucks proposals for similar reasons to those Jordan raised, putting too much faith in the un-elected administrative state to effectively regulate without tackling the issue of censorship.

Big Tech censors conservatives and silences views not rubber-stamped by the Washington elite, an unnamed source complained to Fox News. Giving Washington bureaucrats in the Biden Administration this kind of immense power will not fix Big Techs problems.

Mark Bednar, a spokesperson for House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, aired a similar claim in the Wall Street Journal.

The House Republican plan to confront big tech wont be influenced by anything other than the commitment to free speech and free enterprise, Bednar said.

Jordan pointed to recent revelations from Dr. Anthony Faucis published emails that exposed the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director working with Facebook to dictate coronavirus information on the platform as reason to be concerned about a forged allyship between the federal bureaucracy and big tech.

Buck rejected the criticisms in a separate interview with The Federalist Monday.

In my view the only way to address censorship is by breaking up monopolies, Buck said, arguing new antitrust regulation is a prerequisite to protecting an open marketplace of ideas. Big government caused this problem. They gave big tech an antitrust amnesty for years and the result is that we have a serious problem with monopolies.

Buck said his proposals seek to provoke a consumer response to increase competition, whereas the absence of government involvement fostered the environment that exists today.

These bills arent big government coming in and causing harm to any company, Buck told The Federalist.

Jordan said any proposals to curb Silicon Valleys accelerating influence have to do both, targeting monopoly market power and online censorship in the 21st-century digital public square.

Buck emphasized hes open to any proposal dealing with big tech censorship that may emerge from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, but maintained the answer is to address the monopoly situation. Then, Buck said, third-party liability protections afforded to todays tech giants under Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act would lose its relevance in the presence of online variety.

The two power-player allies in the House Freedom Caucus have sparred on the solutions to big tech influence before.Last fall, the two Republicans previewed the legislative debate playing out today when each released competing reports at the conclusion of the Judiciary Committees investigation into Silicon Valleys empire.

The Democrats majority report focused on anti-competitive market practices and privacy violations, Jordans report honed in on censorship, and Bucks third-way report prescribed antitrust laws as the priority over new rules to target viewpoint suppression.

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Reps. Jordan, Buck Illustrate Conservative Divide On Tech - The Federalist

Transgender BMX freestyle riderChelsea Wolfesaid last year that he wants to win in the Olympics sohe can burn a US flag on the podium. It appears his dream might actually become a reality, since Wolfe, a biological male, qualified on Monday as an alternatefor Team USAs womens BMX freestyle event at the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo.

My goal is to win the Olympics so I can burn a US flag on the podium. This is what they focus on during a pandemic. Hurting trans children, Wolfe wrote on Facebook in March 2020, along with a link to a PinkNews story about the Trump administrations stance on males in female sports.

Wolfe told Fox News that anyone who thinks that I dont care about the United States is sorely mistaken, arguing that his mere presence at the Olympics would prove to the world that the United States has morals and values. He also said his dedication to tak[ing] a stand against fascism proves he cares for the United States. Wolfe did not say, however, whether he still plans to burn the American flag if he makes it to the podium.

Anyone who thinks that I dont care about the United States is sorely mistaken. One of the reasons why I work so hard to represent the United States in international competition is to show the world that this country has morals and values, that its not all of the bad things that were known for.I take a stand against fascism because I care about this country and Im not going to let it fall into the hands of fascists after so many people have fought and sacrificed to prevent fascism from taking hold abroad. As a citizen who wants to be proud of my home country, Im sure as hell not going to let it take hold here.

In addition to fantasizing about burning the U.S. flag in front of the world, Wolfe made comments in the replies of his Facebook post suggesting that then-President Donald Trump should be assassinated, according to Ian Miles Cheong, who first reported on the story.

Wolfe later clarified his comments, writing in the replies, I would never say that someone should explode the head of the president. That would be illegal. But I will say with dynamite. Because thats just a sentence fragment and doesnt actually mean anything. Its not necessarily related to the sentence that came before it.

This year marks the first Olympic Games in which transgender athletes will compete, with Laurel Hubbard, a 43-year-old biological male, representing New Zealand in womens weightlifting.

In 2015, the International Olympic Committee began allowing biological males to compete in womens sports so long as their testosterone level is shown to be 10 nanomoles per liter or less for at least a year before competition. That criteria is 5 to 33 percent higher than the average testosterone levels in biological females, which is considered to be between 0.3 and 2.4 nanomoles per liter, wrote The Federalists Maggie Hroncich. The rules also let males compete without undergoing surgery to remove their testes.

Earlier this month, Wolfe wrote on Instagram that he deserve[s] a place to exist in the world, presumably meaning he deserves to participate in womens sports.

I searched for so long trying to find out if there had ever been a professional trans bmx rider to show me that who I am would be okay and unfortunately I found no one, Wolfe wrote on Instagram on June 12. Eventually I started to meet some amazing women who helped me accept that I am a woman just like any other and that I deserve a place to exist in the world just like everyone else.

Whether Wolfe will indeed burn the American flag on the world stage if he competes in the Olympic Games against women has yet to be seen.

Evita Duffy is an intern at The Federalist and a junior at the University of Chicago, where she studies American History. She loves the Midwest, lumberjack sports, writing, & her family. Follow her on Twitter at @evitaduffy_1

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Trans Athlete's Goal Is To Win Olympics 'So I Can Burn A US Flag On The Podium' - The Federalist

The first Fathers Day celebrations in the United States were held over 100 years ago in communities on opposite coasts: one for coal miners in West Virginia in 1908, another for a Civil War veteran in Spokane, Washington in 1910. But despite interest from impassioned daughters and compassionate presidents of both parties, the holiday wasnt officially placed on the calendar until 1972, almost 58 years after the creation of Mothers Day.

The celebration in the small town of Monongah, West Virginia followed the worst coal mining disaster in American history. Some 360 men were killed on December 6, 1907, when two mines of the Fairmont Coal Company exploded. The disaster left 1,000 children fatherless and the town in deep mourning. The cause of the explosion was never discovered. In its aftermath, local Grace Golden Clayton urged her pastor to commemorate the miners.

A church organist whose own father had died a few years earlier, Clayton was burdened by the disaster and the loss of so many fathers. She asked her pastor to remember the men of the mine including immigrants from Italy, Poland, Russia, Austria, and Turkey with a special commemoration of fathers who had died providing for their families. The Fathers Day service was held at Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church in Fairmont, West Virginia on July 5, 1908. The altar was decorated with sheaves of ripened wheat, a symbol of resurrection.

It was partly the explosion that set me to think how important and loved most fathers are, Clayton recalled to a newspaper. All those lonely children and the heartbroken wives and mothers made orphans and widows in a matter of a few minutes. Oh, how sad and frightening to have no father, no husband, to turn to at such a sad time.

The celebration may have been influenced by the first Mothers Day service celebrated just two months earlier, at a church less than 20 miles away. Anna Jarvis held the first celebration recognizing mothers at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church on May 10, 1908, in Grafton, West Virginia.

While the Andrews Methodist church became a shrine to mothers, the church where fathers were first celebrated in 1908 now Central United Methodist just bears a plaque stating, First Fathers Day Service, Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, South, July 5, 1908.

This West Virginia service didnt immediately cause the holiday to catch on. Instead, Sonora Smart Dodd an impassioned daughter of a widowed Civil War veteran is recognized as the Mother of Fathers Day.

In appreciation of her father William Jackson Smart, who lovingly raised his children alone, Dodd asked the local ministerial association in Spokane, Washington, to honor fathers. A Fathers Day celebration was held on June 19, 1910, at the Spokane YMCA.

Six years later, President Woodrow Wilson who had made Mothers Day official in 1914 joined the Spokane celebration, but failed to get Congress to pass legislation creating a national holiday for dads.

There are several theories for why it took so long to adopt a national Fathers Day. Congress may have been concerned it would become too commercial. Others suggested fathers did not have the same sentimental appeal as mothers, and finally, some fathers apparently protested lavish gifts because they thought they would foot the bill.

Historian Timothy Marr suggested men scoffed at the holidays sentimental attempts to domesticate manliness with flowers and gift-giving, or they derided the proliferation of such holidays as a commercial gimmick to sell more products often paid for by the father himself.

Despite the setbacks, Dodd continued advocating for the holiday, even while studying at the Chicago Art Institute, writing poetry, and publishing a childrens book. Her mother died when she was 16, leaving her father to raise six children as young as six years old. Dodd recalls her father as a great home person, a man who exemplified fatherly love and protection.

I remember everything about him. He was both father and mother to me and my brothers and sisters, she told a Spokane newspaper.

It was the second time Smart had been widowed. His first wife died in 1878, leaving Smart to raise their children alone. Two years later he married Ellen Victoria, a widow who brought three children to the marriage, and together they had six more children. In 1898, they sold their coal farm in Arkansas and moved to the Northwest.

Smart also served in the Civil War, for which he received a Union pension of $12 a month in 1907. Smart is thought to have enlisted in the Confederate Army from Arkansas early in the war. Captured in the Battle of Pea Ridge in 1862, Smart opted to join the northern cause rather than become a prisoner of war. (His daughter was a member of both the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Daughters of Union Veterans.) Smart served in the 1st Arkansas Volunteer Light Artillery and ended the war as a sergeant.

Sonora Smart Dodd was 90 years old when Fathers Day was made official by presidential proclamation in 1972. Her veteran father was long gone, but her love and appreciation for him never faltered. Her dedication to his memory helped create a day celebrating the exceptional importance of fathers surely seen in the faces of those children who stood at the Monongah mine, waiting for fathers who never came home.

Christine Weerts, author of "Heroes of Faith: Rosa J. Young," is a researcher with the Alabama Black Lutheran Heritage Association. She won a commendation from the Concordia Historical Institute in 2020 for her historical writing on race. A freelance writer, she has degrees in music (BA) and religion (MA).

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Mining Tragedy And A Civil War Vet: The History Of Father's Day - The Federalist

On the eve of Fathers Day, a young dad named Gyovanni Arzuaga was allegedly executed in the middle of a Chicago city street. He was 24 years old.

According to CBS 2 Chicago, the crime was live-streamed on Facebook by an unidentified individual. The live stream depicts Arzuaga and his girlfriend, Yasmin Perez, being forcibly removed from their vehicle by a group of individuals, during a celebration for Puerto Rican Peoples Day. Arzuaga and Perez had two children together.

In the video, the group of individuals appears to pull Arzuaga and Perez out of their car, before scattering. As Arzuaga and Perez lay on the concrete, a man appears to approach them and [shoot] them at point blank range.

The shooting reportedly occurred at around 9:00 p.m. Saturday in Humboldt Park. Both victims were taken to the hospital, at which point Arzuaga was pronounced dead.

Perez suffered from a shot to the neck and arrived at the hospital in critical condition.

The Daily Caller reports, A police spokeswoman could not confirm whether the [live-streamed] video which has been circulated across social media, shows the shooting. And details concerning the violent exchange remain to be uncovered.

When reflecting on Arzuagas sudden demise, his friend, Jae Pacheco, noted Arzuagas sweet personality: He was just there to have a good time and go back home. He was such an amazing friend. He was really caring. Pacheco continued: He was just about being around good vibes, being around good people.

On Sunday, a memorial in Arzuagas honor was organized at the site of the shooting, with balloons, flowers, and signs saying Happy Fathers Day and RIP Gy0. AGoFundMe for Arzuaga and Perez has already surpassed its initial goal of reaching $10,000. The raised funds will go toward Arzuagas funeral and Perezs medical bills.

Arzuagas death continues to garner media attention and outrage, but the tragedy is sadly one of many. At least 49 individuals were shot in Chicago over the weekend. At least five of these shootings were fatal. As of June 14, 1,587 people have been shot in Chicago this year already. The Chicago Tribune notes that this is 195 more than 2020.

As Chicagoans suffer from increasingly violent crime, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot recently declared racism to be a public health crisis. She is focusing her time and energy on improving anti-racist policies.

No one is in custody yet for the shootings of Arzuaga and Perez.

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Young Father Allegedly Forced Out Of His Car And Executed In Chicago Street - The Federalist

On Monday, Colorado police officer Gordon Beesley was ambushed and shot by 59-year old Ronald Troyke, who had expressed hatred of police officers, according to Arvada Police Department Chief Link Strate. Forty-year-old John Hurley, who confronted the gunman, was also fatally shot.

According to the department, police were notified of a disturbance near Arvada Library in Olde Town Square around 1:15 p.m. on Monday. About 15 minutes after Beesley responded to the call, the department received reports that multiple shots had been fired and an officer was hit. The gunman was pronounced dead at the scene.

While not much is known about the confirmed gunman, Strate said the shooting was fueled by disdain for police officers.

I can tell you that Gordon was targeted because he was wearing an Arvada police uniform and a badge, he said.

Communities need to understand and know what they ask of their police officers the sacrifices they make, the cost to them to protect your safety. This was a deliberate act of violence, Strate said.

Strate identified the second victim John Hurley as a good Samaritan who likely disrupted what could have been a larger loss of life.

Hurley was shopping at the Arvada Army Navy Surplus store where eyewitness Bill Troyanos works, Denver7 reported. Troyanos said when gunshots rang from outside, Hurley pulled his concealed carry-on gun from its holster and ran toward them.

He did not hesitate; he didnt stand there and think about it. He totally heard the gunfire, went to the door, saw the shooter, and immediately ran in that direction, Troyanos said. I just want to make sure his family knows how heroic he was.

According to more eyewitness reports, Hurley urged bystanders to safety. Although police have not released information on who shot Hurley or the gunman, Troyanos said he witnessed Hurley confront and shoot the gunman.

According to Hurleys friend Brian Romero, who organized a GoFundMe for the Hurley family, Hurley is survived by his loving parents and sister.

[Johns] story is not making national news as the officer involved was a 19 year veteran and beloved community member, Romero wrote. Johnny was also a victim of senseless violence all too prevalent in todays society.

The APD is conducting an ongoing criminal investigation to monitor the case, but authorities said the shooting appears to be an isolated incident.

My thoughts are with the family and friends of the officer who was tragically killed in the line of duty while swiftly and bravely responding to protect civilians in the area, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement.

Haley Strack is an intern at The Federalist and a student at Hillsdale College studying politics and journalism.

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Colorado Police Officer Killed 'Because He Was Wearing A Uniform And A Badge' - The Federalist

President Joe Biden continued to follow through on his campaign pledge to enact leftist environmentalism this month when he suspended oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

The decision was cheered by leftist environmental groups as a victory for wildlife and social justice, supposedly protecting indigenous tribes from the alleged devastation of oil and gas drilling hundreds of miles from their homes.Biden Climate Adviser Gina McCarthy celebrated the move as an important step forward fulfilling President Bidens promise to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The Trump administration had opened the door to drill on the Refuges coastal plain, a nearly 1.6 million-acre stretch on Alaskas north coast. The 1.6 million-acre patch along the north slope is less than 10 percent of the total refuge that stretches 19.6 million acres across northeast Alaska, a total about the size of South Carolina.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that below the surface of the north slopes 1.6 million acres temporarily opened for leasing, known as the 1002 Area, lie between 4.3 and 11.8 billion barrels of recoverable oil. If opened for operations, it could become the most productive oil field in the country at a time gas prices are soaring to seven-year highs under the new administration.

Yet on June 1, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland signed an order to bring leases to a halt, claiming inadequate study of the drillings impact by the prior administration.The Secretary shall review the program and, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, conduct a new, comprehensive analysis of the potential environmental impacts of the oil and gas program, the order reads.

The Gwichin Tribe, who live south of the massive wildlife refuge, claimed Bidens decision to reverse course was a win for their tribal sovereignty by protecting the primary caribou herd in the region, a key regional food source.

The Gwichin Nation is grateful and heartened by the news that the Biden administration has acted again on its commitment to protecting sacred lands and the Gwichin way of life, said Gwichin Steering Committee Executive Director Bernadette Demientieff on the heels of Haalands order. After fighting so hard to protect these lands and the Porcupine caribou herd, trusting the guidance of our ancestors and elders, and the allyship of people around the world, we can now look for further action by the administration and to Congress to repeal the leasing program.

The Gwichin have played a prominent role in keeping ANWR free of development, partnering with leftist groups to keep these millions of acres of U.S. land unused indefinitely.Writing in The Hill, Finis Dunaway, a history professor at Trent University and author of Defending the Arctic Refuge, summed up the Gwichins more than four-decade crusade to ensure the absence of development on one of the nations last known major reserves of oil and natural gas.

The Gwichin Steering Committee founded by Gwichin from Alaska and Canada in 1988 reframed public perceptions of the refuge, helping grassroots audiences to see the Arctic coastal plain as vital to Indigenous food security and cultural survival. Their leadership and advocacy widened support for protection of the refuge, encouraging religious and faith organization, humans rights groups and many others to fight for Indigenous rights and environmental justice. These unlikely alliances fostered grassroots involvement that proved critical to the numerous close calls and impossibly narrow victories that followed.

In other words, the Gwichin have been fundamental to preventing of any sort of development on the nearly 20 million acres of pristine wilderness in the name of environmental justice since 1988.Yet only four years earlier, that the same tribe, which in fact lives outside the refuge, tried to lease their own lands within the habitat of the Porcupine caribou for oil exploration.

In the early 1980s, the Gwichin tribe sought to lease the last inch of every acre it owned in the Alaskan Venetie Reserve to oil companies seeking to drill for potentially lucrative reserves.

The letter below dated April 1984 shows the tribe authorizing oil leases on the Venetie Indian Reservation, located just outside ANWR boundaries, 400 miles south of the area on Alaskas north slope where developers have more recently sought to drill.

The Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government hereby gives formal notice of intention to offer lands for competitive oil and gas sales, the letter reads. This request for proposals involves any or all of the lands and waters of the Venetie Indian Reservation Bidders awarded leases at this sale will acquire the right to explore for, develop and produce the oil and gas that may be discovered within the leased area.

According to a 1991 article in the Christian Science Monitor, however, Exxons exploration came up short in finding any lucrative reserves under the surface of Gwichin land.

Much to the dismay of the villagers, I was the poor guy who had to go around and tell them we werent going to drill a well, Stuart Gustafson, an exploration representative, told the paper at the time.

By 1985, the tribe had changed their tune on Alaskan drilling, and had become vehemently opposed to oil and gas exploration at all costs after their own lands turned up no profitable deposits. By the end of the decade, as Dunaway outlined, the tribe had teamed with leftist environmental groups to prohibit drilling in ANWR just to the north.

The ensuing decades-long struggle is yet another clear-cut illustration in whats become routine among leftists: the left finds a group they declare oppressed, then amplify and exploit their alleged grievances for political objectives.

At the heart of Gwichin objections to drilling in ANWR are claims development could decimate the coastal plains caribou herd area that tribes rely on, including the Gwichin and the Iupiat. The Iupiat are the only Alaskan tribe with communities residing entirely in the refuge, and they have lobbied in favor of oil and gas extraction in conflict with the Gwichin for years.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), an estimated 219,000 caribou between the Porcupine Herd and the Central Arctic Herd migrate in and around ANWR and provide sustenance for the local tribes. The FWS map of the herd territory is below.

Oil and gas production in Prudhoe Bay has shown no adverse effects on the Central Arctic Herd in the area.In fact, the herds numbers have continued to rise and fall within its natural cycle, reaching 70,000 in 2010, according to FWS, and back to 22,000 in 2016. The caribou in the region were estimated at fewer than 20,000 in 1997. Drilling operations were active at Prudhoe Bay for decades prior.

The map below from ANWR.org, edited to include a red oval where the Venetie village is located, shows the bays proximity to ANWR, just 60 miles west, located squarely within where the Central Arctic Herd calls home.

The Gwichin-offered leases offered scant provisions for the protection of the caribou shared by the Iupiat tribe hundreds of miles north. According to the Christian Science Monitor, leases with the Venetie Gwichin offered two sentences dealing with the animals welfare in the 20-page lease agreement signed.

The Gwichin claim drilling hundreds of miles north of where they live is an infringement on their way of life. Yet the Iupiat tribe is the only tribal nation with land claims within the nearly 20 million-acre ANWR itself, let alone inside the 1.6 million-acre stretch where drilling has been proposed.

The Iupiat locate home on Kaktovik Island, otherwise known as Barter Island for its trade significance in the early days of European exploration and migration. The island resides in the 1002 area in the map shown again below, also edited to highlight its location with a green oval east of Pt. Thompson. The red oval again shows where the Gwichin reside, far outside of the refuge in which the tribe demands no development. The dotted blue line represents an entire mountain range between the two Indian nations.

The Iupiat has fought a losing battle for years to lease its own lands for oil and gas exploration, only to be hampered by the Gwichin tribes campaign allied with big-megaphoned progressive environmentalists. The Gwichin went as far as the submit testimony to allege human rights abuses at the United Nations (UN) last year.

The fact the Gwichin Steering Committee finds itself speaking at the U.N., in corporate boardrooms and other high-profile locations is only due to the fact theyve been co-opted by ENGOs and eco-ideologues to portray victims in a narrative of fear, Rick Whitbeck, the Alaska state director for the non-profit energy group Power the Future, told The Federalist.

To reclaim their voice, representatives of the Iupiat have testified before Congress to advocate opening the refuge for drilling and have sent letters to Capitol Hill demanding it reclaim the rights to issue leases.In 2019, the Iupiat tribe sent a letter to California Democrat Jared Huffman, who has repeatedly introduced legislation to keep the refuge off-limits to development at the Gwichins behest.

The views of the Iupiat who call ANWR home are frequently ignored, and your bill reinforces the perception that the wishes of people who live in and around the Coastal Plain are less important than those who live hundreds and thousands of miles away, the tribe wrote.

Still, Huffman has remained one of Washingtons staunchest opponents to drilling in ANWR, reintroducing legislation again in February to permanently ban the region from oil and gas development, citing Gwichin concerns.

The Gwichin Nation, living in Alaska and Canada and 9,000 strong, make their home on or near the migratory route of the Porcupine caribou herd, Huffman wrote, and have depended on this herd for their subsistence and culture for thousands of years.

So too have the Iupiat, however, and their wishes to lease their tribal lands for drilling have been hampered by a rival tribe partnered with leftist interests for political purposes.

Originally posted here:

How The Left Is Exploiting Tribal Hypocrisy On Oil Leases In ANWR - The Federalist

The New York Times published an article brushing over the historical inaccuracies present in the 1619 Project to fawn over Nikole Hannah-Jones and her fight to be awarded tenure at the University of North Carolina.

The Times glossed over the fact that the paper has issued major corrections to Hannah-Joness 1619 Project, describing it as an ambitious series that reframed the history of the United States through the lens of slavery.

The 1619 Project, whose name is derived from the year that enslaved Africans were brought to the English colony of Virginia, drew early criticism from five prominent historians. The series became the center of a cultural debate partly because of a series of 1619 Projectschool lesson plans developed by the Pulitzer Center and offered on its website, the Times article stated, noting the projects permeance into the critical race theory battle in schools around the nation.

Nowhere in the article does the author mention that the 1619 Project is littered with corrections. Instead, the author amplifies Hannah-Joness refusal to join the universitys faculty as planned next month unless she is granted tenure and her threats to possibly file a discrimination suit over the boards failure to approve tenure.

The 1619 Project, lead by Hannah-Jones, seeks to portray America as a racist nation founded for the sole reason of oppressing black people. In its early days, the project claimed that the desire to protect slavery was held by all of the colonists who fought in the Revolutionary War. The Times was later forced to issue an update revising the allegation to only some of the colonists.

While embroiled in disputes with respectedhistorians about the projects historical inaccuracies, the corporate media outlet also quietly omitted the controversial founding claim understanding 1619 as our true founding from the description of the project sometime after August 2019. At the time of this revisions discovery, Hannah-Jones tried to defend her comments as rhetorical without acknowledging the long list of previous instances where she made the same exact claim that Americas true founding occurred in 1619 when the first African slaves arrived in Virginia, as opposed to 1776.

Hannah-Jones was originally hired to teach at UNC-Chapel Hills Hussman School of Journalism in Media starting next month as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism but her legal team is insistent that she will not begin employment with the university without the protection and security of tenure.

Jordan Davidson is a staff writer at The Federalist. She graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism.

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New York Times Looks Over 1619 Project Falsities To Amplify Nikole Hannah-Jones' Whining About Tenure - The Federalist

The Portland Police Bureau tried to fend off an angry mob of rioters on Thursday by disclosing that a man shot in an officer confrontation was white.

There is erroneous information being circulated on social media regarding in the officer involved shooting in the Lloyd district. We can confirm that the subject involved is an adult white male. No one else was injured, Portland Police tweeted on Thursday night.

Chief of Police Chuck Lovell said that preliminary information suggests officer encountered a very difficult and dynamic situation that no officer wants to face, but that did not stop a crowd of protestors from forming at the scene shortly after the man who was shot was taken to the hospital.

As the night went on, reports suggest that the crowd went from protesting to rioting.

Police said people in the crowd threw objects and that someone grabbed an officers baton. Another officer intervened and was sprayed with a chemical, a local news outlet reported.

The unrest sparked a response from the citys police department which has struggled to manage riots over the last year and recently experienced a mass exodus of officers over a fellow officers indictment and dangerous mob situations.

An Oregon newspaper used the same attention-shifting tactic in April when it included the race of a white man who was fatally shot by police in its coverage. The Oregonian later clarified that they included the mans race because it was important in light of social unrest prompted by police shootings of Black people.

Recent shootings include Daunte Wright, who was killed by police in a Minneapolis suburb earlier this week, and two killings in Clark County in recent months, the publication explained, nodding to the fact that those fatal shootings sparked rioting, looting, and other destruction.

Jordan Davidson is a staff writer at The Federalist. She graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism.

Originally posted here:

Portland Police Try To Fend Off Angry Mob By Disclosing The Man They Shot Is White - The Federalist

FAIRHAVEN Wearing a bright red Hawaiian shirt, Eddie Gonet IV stepped up to the podium and campaigned for the position of Governor at the American Legion Boys' State program.

"Everyone said I'm like Bernie Sanders," Gonet said of his speech style.

Gonet, a Fairhaven resident andrising senior at Old Rochester Regional High School through school choice, along with six other students in his class attended the annual Boys and Girls State programs. Based on a selection process through teachers, a few students from each school around the state were invited to attend the program. Because the convention-style program was not held last year due to COVID-19, more spots were made available to students this year. Gonet was joined by Samuel Harris, John Kassabian and Tyler Trudeau for Boys State. American Legion Auxiliary sponsoredGirls State.

"It was nice to know a few people going into it, but we split up once we were there," Gonet said. "It gives you a taste of what college will be like. I had to make friends and I shook a lot of hands."

Seven students selected: Old Rochester students attend American Legion Boys & Girls State program

Divided into two political parties, Federalist versus Nationalist, over 200 students pitched themselves to each other running for various political positions for each of their towns. While each side didn't focus on traditional Federalist or Nationalist characterizations, the students created their own party platform advocating for bettering the environment and education.

The week-long program was filled with caucasus, pre-primaries, primaries and general elections. Gonet said there was "a whole lot of speech writing every night." Going into the program, Gonet wanted to secure a spot as town selectman. After consideration, he realized that he only gets to experience the opportunity once, so he decided to "just go for it" and ran for governor.

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In the campaigning process, Gonet wasn't even sure he'd make it past the primary election, but with every speech he got the crowd more excited.

"Everyone enjoys the speech and has a good time, nobody wants to be lectured," Gonet said. "It was a young audience and you had to cater toward them."

Counselors and head American Legionnairesobserved speeches and oversaw the campaigning process. Gonet said that one head legionnaire even approached him and said he was the most prepared candidate he had ever seen, with a list of talking points and a full cabinet ready upon election.

Going into debate, Gonet referenced his choices for cabinet, pointing them out in the crowd and their responsibilities, something that had never been seen before at Boys State. When asked about his plans for infrastructure, he replied that he has a team already working on it.

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While this was a mock election, the boys remained in character the entire week. Gonet recalled the emphasis on bipartisanship in his campaign, and even demonstrated it in the cafeteria when he and his party helped open sour cream packets for the other party, making a big deal out of the crossing paths. He said typically, there is no help exchanged between parties during the program, and he brought it up in a later speech to help pitch himself.

"If we all work together, we really are better off working together to achieve a greater goal,"Gonet said.

Harris, Kassabian and Trudeau were all elected selectmen of their towns. Harris ran for statewide office and went pretty far in the race, but dropped down to selectman. After Gonet was elected governor, he left his bedroom door open that night, only to be greeted with his entire party the next morning with, "Good morning Mr. Gov'na."

"Everyone got along so well," Gonet said. "The kids are all so supportive, even the bad speeches got applause."

Prior to the program, Gonet hadalways expressed an interest in politics and law. He said his parents were a little nervous, not knowing what would come out of the experience. Once he was elected governor, they thought that maybe he is good for politics.

After high school, he intends to pursue a career in corporate law, ashe previously believed "politics is more of a retirement job." After the weeklong program and his success in campaigning, he's thinking that he might try to run a little earlier in life.

Gonet is involved in student council and serves as the student representative on the ORR school committee. He said after this week, he plans to take a different approach with how he handles himself in front of an audience.

"I learned a lot about networking with people, catering to the audience and getting everyone excited," Gonet said. "I won't be as bland and boring."

Entering his senior year of high school, he hopes to attend the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, but he said he'll go wherever is the cheapest.

"As the quote goes, 'Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it, you'll land among the stars,'" Gonet said.

The program housed high school juniors on campus at Stonehill College for one week while students hashed out debates and elections. Attendees were required to either be fully vaccinated or show proof of a negative COVID-19 test. Masks were worn in large group settings. Gonet said there was a lot of hand shaking and hand sanitizer.

"It made the experience even better," Gonet said. "It was the first large event I've been to in a year-and-a-half, so it was nice seeing people having a good time."

Each student was sponsored by attorneys, mayors and other local political figures to cover the fees for the entire week, as the goal of the American Legion is to make the program free for everyone. Gonet was sponsored by the American Legion Florence Eastman Post 280 in Mattapoisett.

"Going into it, everyone said it would be a life-changing experience," Gonet said. "I said, 'no way,' but it definitely was. Lots of learning skills, communicating and ways to enhance your community."

According to the organization, American Legion Boys State is one of the most respected and selective educational programs of governmental instruction for high school students. Founded in 1935, the program attendees become part of the operation of local, county and state government where they learn the rights, privileges and responsibilities of franchised citizens.

Standard-Times staff writer Kerri Tallmancan be reached at ktallman@s-t.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ktallman_SCT for links to recent articles.

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'Good morning Mr. Gov'na': Fairhaven teen elected to top position of governmental program - SouthCoastToday.com