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Category Archives: Federalist

Reconciliation Bill Makes the Case for Federalism | Opinion | villanovan.com – Villanovan

Posted: November 11, 2021 at 6:25 pm

Looking to cement his legacy as a transformational president, President Joe Biden has poured most of his legislative priorities into one omnibus spending bill known as the Build Back Better plan. Initially proposed with a whopping $3.5 trillion price tag, progressive Democrats have had to compromise with the more moderate faction of their caucus, whittling the bill down to a meager $1.75 trillion framework.

Democrats hold a three seat majority in the House, and with Independent Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine caucusing with the Democrats, the Senate is essentially split 50/50 between Democrats and Republicans with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking a tie. Since it is eligible to be passed in the Senate under reconciliation, Republicans cannot block a vote with the filibuster, enabling Senate Democrats to pass the measure with a simple majority and no Republican support.While Democrats work to craft a passable bill, considerable negotiating effort has been spent attempting to bridge the gap between progressive and moderate members of the Democratic Caucus. Such negotiations highlight the virtue of an overlooked yet fundamental principle of American government: federalism. In a country of more than 330 million people, it is nearly impossible to arrive at policy considerations that are acceptable to a broad swath of Americans, and it often feels impossible to create consensus between the national representatives of the American people. Such struggles are a feature of the American system, not a bug. House Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) summed up House progressives attitudes towards the Build Back Better plan when asked about the state of negotiations: there is too much at stake for working families and our communities to settle for something that can be later misunderstood, amended or abandoned altogether.

I do not doubt that communities in Representative Jayapals district care deeply about the elements of Build Back Better. After all, they ostensibly elected her to represent their interests. Fortunately, the American system already consists of governing bodies that legislate issues of concern to particular communities, namely the states. Members of communities elect legislators who are intimately aware of their concerns and who rule not in Washington, but in their own backyards. Negotiations do not take place between legislators representing vastly different economies nearly unrecognizable to one another but between those representing neighboring counties. This is not to suggest that all states are homogenous, but there is certainly more homogeneity within states than between them. State legislators are empowered to institute programs desired by the citizens within their jurisdictions. If citizens do not like the laws and programs of their state, they can move to another state that has not instituted such laws or programs.

The Constitution of the United States is a remarkable document that requires major decisions to take place at the most local level possible. It grants specific powers and jurisdictions to the federal government, leaving other powers to states and municipalities. Under the American system, if the community members from Representative Jayapals district want 12 weeks of paid family leave, they can elect state legislators and a governor who would institute such a plan, drawing taxes from and bestowing benefits upon those who support the proposal. If citizens living in Senator Manchins state of West Virginia do not want the same plans that Representative Jayapals constituents do, they are under no obligation to institute such plans.

During the 2012 presidential election, Republican nominee Mitt Romney was criticized for opposing health care regulation at the federal level that he supported at the state level while governor of Massachusetts. Far from contradictory, Romneys position demonstrated an understanding of the beauty of the American federalist system. States do what the federal government cannot and should not do. Rather than ram life-altering legislation through a 50/50 senate, Democrat senators should return to their states and encourage their constituents to contact their city counselors, state legislators and governors. If citizens of Vermont want government subsidies for hearing, dental and vision care, there is no reason that they should demand Alabama citizens follow in their footsteps. Vermonts government is perfectly competent enough to institute such subsidies at the state level.

Federalism allows for the needs of individuals and communities to be met by the legislators beholden to those individuals and communities. Instead of trying to negotiate a broad spending package acceptable to both New York and Nebraska, the federal government should allow each respective state to legislate themselves as it sees fit. Everyday life experience demonstrates that consensus is more easily arrived at among small groups than among large conglomerates. States and localities are better equipped to meet the needs of their citizens than 538 egotistic politicians in Washington, D.C. who represent economically and culturally diverse constituencies. If Biden wants to leave a positive legacy, he should praise the constitutional system rather than spend four years trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole.

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Reconciliation Bill Makes the Case for Federalism | Opinion | villanovan.com - Villanovan

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Democrats Will Raise Taxes On The Middle Class, Both Now And Later – The Federalist

Posted: at 6:25 pm

Democrats know they will have to come back to raise taxes on the middle class later, and want to prevent people from paying taxes on their retirement balances at todays lower rates.

I dont earn $400,000 per year. In fact, Ive never reported an adjusted gross income of even $200,000 on my federal tax return, yet Democrats want to raise my taxes. And the reason Democrats could raise my taxes now explains why they will almost certainly raise everyones taxes later.

The issue involves a decision I made shortly after President Trumps tax relief act passed at the end of 2017. Rather than using the laws rate reductions to lower my annual tax bill, I chose to put that money to use. I rolled over my old Thrift Savings Planthe version of a 401(k) for federal employeesinto an Individual Retirement Account, and began converting the funds in that pre-tax IRA into an after-tax Roth IRA.

But Democrats would effectively ban me from making this move going forward. Section 138311 of House Democrats reconciliation bill would prohibit individuals from converting their IRA balances to after-tax Roth IRAs if any portion of the distribution comes from a non-deductible IRAregardless of that persons income.

Because my income slightly exceeded Roth contribution limits in a few years, I made contributions to a non-deductible IRA instead. Now, Democrats reconciliation bill would prohibit people like me from converting those fundsand any rollover IRA dollars I commingled with those fundsto a Roth IRA, even though my income never approached the $400,000 threshold below which Joe Biden promised to hold Americans harmless from tax increases.

When I found out Democrats had proposed this provision in September, with an effective date at the end of this year, I accelerated my plans. I completed converting my IRA rollover account to a Roth in early October, even though recognizing all the income this year, as opposed to spreading the conversion out over several more years, could push me into a higher tax bracket for 2021.

Despite a potential higher tax bill this year, I view the conversion as necessary to stave off the tax increases Democrats immense welfare state will bestow on all Americans in the future. In fact, I began converting my Thrift Savings Plan balances into a Roth IRA in 2018 precisely because I knew taxes would eventually rise, and I view todays tax rates as discounted compared to future levels.

In poker terms, Section 138311 of the reconciliation bill represents a tell. Democrats know they will have to come back to raise taxes on the middle class later, and want to prevent people from paying taxes on their retirement balances at todays lower rates. Voters should therefore pay much less attention to what politicians say than what they do, Section 138311 being a prime example.

The president recently claimed that I give you my word as a Biden: If you make under $400,000 a year, Ill never raise your taxes one cent. But the politician who went on to claim that Im going to make those at the top start to pay their share in taxes himself dodged nearly $517,000 in Medicare and Obamacare taxes.

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This Veteran Has Served Our Country In Amazing Ways His Entire Life – The Federalist

Posted: at 6:25 pm

There wont be any speeches, awards, or special recognition for veteran David Baldwin on November 11. Despite a 17-year career in the Armed Forces four in the Army and 13 in the Air Force, including sending classified communications satellites into space at Cape Canaveral and installing classified communication systems on Air Force bases in the Middle East during Desert Shield and Desert Storm Veterans Day will be like any other for the active septuagenarian living in rural Alabama.

There will be lots of phone calls from his flock hes pastor of the 132-year-old Mt. Zion Baptist Church and many from his business associates and family.

Flags fly on the light poles in downtown Camden (population 2,200) and flowers bloom at the tiny veterans park across the street from True Value hardware store. A few phone calls and a look at the local weekly newspaper doesnt show any special services Thursday, but Baldwin could get a discount if he goes to the zoo in Montgomery or a free sandwich at Zaxbys in Selma.

Like most veterans, Baldwin is quietly going about his life, despite his remarkable military service that took him around the world on top-secret assignments, some of which he still cannot talk about today. He also will hobble into the Comprehensive Wound Center in Birmingham Thursday, as doctors continue to treat the wound on his foot caused by the only thing that has slowed him down in 70 years a rusty nail, something even a bite from a brown recluse spider couldnt do during his fishing trip two years ago.

Baldwin was born in 1951 in a tin-roofed shack in Pebble Hill, Alabama, to a dirt-poor, hardworking family, the second of 10 children. His father worked long hours at a lumber mill and spent Sundays circuit preaching at churches in Pine Level, Macedonia, Arkadelphia, and Boiling Springs.

Rev. L.V. Baldwin expected his sons to work hard too. In fact, his father wouldnt let him leave high school and go to college at age 15 because he needed him to pick beans, cotton, and black-eyed peas.But his humble beginnings, and the often terrorizing life for blacks in the segregated South, didnt limit Baldwins extraordinary life, which included a stint on the faculty of the National Cryptologic School run by the National Security Agency. (His oldest brother, Lewis, is professor emeritus at Vanderbilt University.)

Baldwin entered Talledega College in April 1968, at the age of 16, just days after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis. Baldwin and his brother had heard King speak in Camden in 1965 in support of civil rights marchers. They were deeply moved by his words: You are somebody. You matter to the world. During summers, Baldwin worked at an inner-city church in Atlanta and on campaigns for Andrew Young.

Baldwin attended Alabamas oldest historically black college on a full scholarship and graduated in 1972 with a bachelors degree in math and physics. He was accepted to Dartmouth Medical School and wanted to become a neurosurgeon, but discovered he didnt have the science background he needed.

After graduate studies in science at several prominent universities, he married and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1975, where he was trained as a combat medic. His overseas posting first was to the Battalion Medical Aid Station in Stuttgart, Germany. Later, he trained as a drug and alcohol abuse counselor and served at the Fifth U.S. Army Hospital, Bad Cannstatt, Germany.

When Baldwin returned stateside in 1979, he asked about his application to Officer Training School to become a commissioned officer, a fairly common assignment for college graduates. After searching, they found his application, with all the necessary signatures, hidden in a desk drawer of his supervisor, who was on leave, with a coffee mug stain covering his photograph.

He immediately switched his enlistment to the U.S. Air Force, doubled his salary, and was enrolled in Officer Training School, where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant, eventually becoming a major.

He switched fields from medicine to communications, becoming a specialist in classified communications systems installed at bases throughout the Pacific, including Japan, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia. He was serving in the Middle East during Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Later, he received a master of business administration-aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and worked alongside faculty at Stanford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology developing systems for satellites. He was sent to Cape Canaveral to watch one of the satellite launches. He helped prepare top secret packages that went into war zones and were placed on airplanes flown by the secretary of defense.

I loved serving in the military; you learn so much, it was like a university in itself, Baldwin told me.

Baldwin retired from the military in 1996 when his wife Linda got sick, and took math and science teaching positions at high schools and middle schools in her hometown of Greenville, North Carolina, and in his hometown of Camden. He wrote two math picture books for young students that underscore his interest in preparing young minds for higher-level math.

In 2008, while visiting his dying mother, Baldwin told her he felt called then to ministry. A woman of few words, she squeezed his hand, and he knew she was grateful he was following in the footsteps of his father, grandfather, and older brother.

At the urging of his siblings, Baldwin returned home to rural Wilcox County permanently in 2018, after his wife died. Four of the 10 Baldwin siblings live in the area. He lives in Camden, the county seat, and works on business ventures with family in Gees Bend and pastoring the flock at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in nearby Coy.

Not one to slow down, Baldwin was also tutoring at an afterschool program in the community of Vredenburgh, until a rusty nail took him out this summer. He was at his church inspecting some repairs when he stepped on it.

Baldwin preached that day despite the pain, and finally hobbled into the local medical center the next day. Loaded up with antibiotics and a tetanus shot, he thought he was on his way to recovery. He was not.

Another two medical interventions, including lancing the wound, failed. The bone was infected and he had to have surgery on his right foot at Grandview Hospital in Birmingham, in September, where he was hospitalized for 10 days. They also discovered he had diabetes, which had contributed to the festering wound.

Although he didnt think hed lose his foot, he said there were times it looked pretty grim.

Baldwin still keeps an eye on the renovation of the historic church, and continues to preach while they meet temporarily at another Baptist church.

On the ground next to the church building is a cement slab with plumbing already installed that will be the home of the Mt. Zion Family Resource Center. Pastor Baldwin envisions a community gathering place where people can come together for hot meals, tutoring, prayer, counseling, and learning from each other, one generation to the next, in a community marked by generational poverty.

Its a big task and expense for a small congregation to take on with a pastor in his 70s. But Pastor Baldwin has done the math. And he figures with the Lord, its possible:When the Lord gives you something to do, you just have to do it, regardless of your age.

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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Obama Speech In Glasgow Is A Reminder Of How Badly He Governed – The Federalist

Posted: November 9, 2021 at 2:23 pm

Former President Barack Obama attempted to relitigate his administrations climate policies Monday in a speech to the COP26 global summit on climate change.

Some of our progress stalled when my successor decided to unilaterally pull out of the Paris Agreement in his first year in office, Obama said in Glasgow.

The direct shot at former President Donald Trump for withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accords is a reminder of how Obama sought to govern: without voter approval.

The American signature on the Paris Agreement was unilateral to begin with, signed under President Obama without a legislative mandate. President Joe Biden adopted the same standard on his first day in office with unilateral U.S. recommitment to the Paris pledge reducing emissions.

The goals of the agreement seek to keep global temperatures well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) compared to preindustrial levels, with under 1.5 degrees set as the preferential target. The planet has already warmed 1.1 degrees Celsius since theLittle Ice Age century of the 1800s, coinciding with the greatest rise in standards of living humans have ever experienced.

President Obamas record is a record of a country run on executive order, with 276 issued over an eight-year tenure. While not the most of any president, Obama pursued unilateral action to implement sweeping policy changes on major issues, from orders on climate change to mass amnesty welcoming unchecked immigration. Then the president would go on to blame Republicans over the administrations failures.

The same routine repeated itself in Scotland on Monday.

Both of us, Obama said in reference to himself and Biden, have been constrained in large part by the fact that one of our two major parties has decided not only to sit on the sidelines, but express active hostility towards climate science, and make climate change a partisan issue.

Obama was stripped of a Democrat Congress for the rest of his presidency in 2010 after an avalanche of far-left policies provoked a conservative uprising in form of the Tea Party movement. Rather than moderate his agenda to unite the country and court moderate support, President Obama pursued an alternative route through executive action.

Even with Democrat majorities in both legislative chambers, President Biden has already demonstrated a fondness for the pen, with more executive orders signed within his first 100 days than every predecessor in the same timeframe back to Franklin Roosevelt.

Last weeks elections in Virginia, New Jersey, and school boards across the country show once again, history is poised to repeat itself. Republicans swept Virginias top three offices in the first statewide wins in a state gone blue since 2009 while nearly capturing the New Jersey governors mansion.

The Biden White House, however, after redefining what it means to run a progressive presidency, has shown no signs of moderating. Its expressed frustration at a pair of moderate senators in a 50-50 chamber thats forced the party to trim down colossal spending packages pushed by leftist Democrats. The decline of the country has led to a drop in Bidens approval rating to George W. Bush-era lows hovered around 43 percent in the Real Clear aggregate.

After Bidens appearance in Glasgow last week was an advertisement for Chinese coal and Russian gas, Obamas was a reminder of Democrats strategy on climate change, giving advantage to overseas adversaries while forgoing the congressional go-ahead.

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Why Politicians And Bureaucrats Are So Threatened By COVID Survivors – The Federalist

Posted: at 2:23 pm

Of all the intrusions on Americans civil liberties during the COVID-19 pandemic, mandates forcing those who have already had the virus to vaccinate anyway are the hardest to understand. By now, what has been known for centuries that survival confers immunity on the survivor has been borne out in numerous well-regarded studies on COVID-19 recovery. Yet government officials continue to disregard them, insisting COVID-19 survivors get the shot like everyone else.

In September, the Biden Administration announced a mandatory vaccine policy that fails to recognize natural immunity. Notwithstanding his early assurances that vaccines would not be mandatory, President Biden ordered a vaccine mandate for federal workers. And he said that a similar rule for employees at large private companies would be forthcoming from the Department of Labor. That rule was released on Thursday, November 4th, when the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued an emergency temporary standard (ETS) detailing the vaccination requirements. Many private companies had already begun to comply, issuing their own workplace mandates.

State and local governments are also requiring the vaccine. In the coming months, The Wall Street Journal reported, [t]ens of thousands of U.S. workers across industries from healthcare to education to airlines and the military face dismissal if they fail to get vaccinated. Among the workers facing the loss of their jobs are those who have already had the virus and recovered.

Why is the government doubling down on COVID-19 survivors?

In his Nobel-prize winning book, Crowds and Power, Elias Canetti suggests the answer. Survivors, he argues, whether of battle or disease, are a symbol of strength. He presents the reader with the profile of the epidemic survivor famously recounted by Thucydides:

[T]hose who had the plague themselves and had recovered from it knew what it was like and at the same time felt themselves to be safe, for no-one caught the disease twice, or, if he did, the second attack was never fatal. Such people were congratulated on all sides, and they themselves were so elated at the time of their recovery that they fondly imagined that they could never die of any other disease in the future.

Survivors of the plague, in other words, were better off than if they had never gotten sick at all. What hadnt killed them made them stronger, both in their own eyes and the eyes of others.

Thucydidess understanding of natural immunity has stood the test of time. Writing for the Brownstone Institute, Harvard Medical School professor Martin Kulldorff observes that has been the case with other coronaviruses found in the population, We also have natural immunity after Covid-19 disease, as there have been exceedingly few reinfections with serious illness or death, despite a widely circulating virus. That natural immunity actually provides better immunity than a vaccine, he concludes, referencing a widely cited Israeli study.

Another outspoken critic of imposing vaccine mandates on COVID-19 survivors is Dr. Marty Makary. He faults our public health institutions for failing to come forward with good information on COVID-19 in general and on natural immunity in particular, especially compared to the caliber of studies coming out of highly vaccinated countries like Israel. The dearth of data on naturally acquired immunity makes no sense in a country like the United States that spends lavishly on health care.

It does, however, give cover to obfuscating public health officials when they are asked to explain why they disregard naturally acquired immunity.

Equivocal messaging from the White House chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has compounded public uncertainty. As early as April of last year, The New York Times reported Fauci as saying he was really confident that people who recover are protected against re-infection.

But this past September, when asked whether the case could be made to COVID-19 survivors that they should get a vaccine notwithstanding natural immunity, Fauci replied, I dont have a really firm answer for you on that. Finally, last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that according to Fauci, vaccines are still the recommendation [over natural immunity] because there has been more precise research into vaccine-based immunity.

Kulldorff argues that Faucis approach undermines the legitimacy of naturally acquired immunity from contracting COVID-19. He calls the medical establishments questioning of it stunning.

The answer to Kulldorffs astonishment lies not in science, however, but in history and politics. For as soon as the COVID-19 pandemic began, the power-grabbing ensued, on every level. From governors never-ending executive lockdown decrees, to self-appointed experts and COVID-19 task forces, down to the neighborhood mask police, all who feared missing out on a good crisis seized control of what they could.

Vaccine mandates are the latest manifestation of the ongoing breakdown in the rule of law and the deprivation of civil liberties. As our public health authoritarians now toy with boosters in perpetuity, there is no end in sight to the amount of power they will seize if allowed.

This is why the public health establishment wont talk about, much less abide, natural immunity. They have no use for it. Indeed, it stands in the way. Those who have it dont need the government to force the vaccine on them. They can survive on their own power.

That unique power is a poke in the eye to rulers who presume complete control. Despots, Canetti explains, regard survival as their prerogative and are therefore especially hostile to the challenge presented by survivors. To the health care despots who seek the ultimate power over others, the COVID-19 survivors natural immunity represents the greatest threat of all: the power of the individual.

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Where In The World Is Gavin Newsom? – The Federalist

Posted: at 2:23 pm

California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom hasnt appeared in public since Oct. 27, when the governor received a coronavirus booster shot nearly two weeks ago.

Two days later, Newsom canceled his trip to the COP26 global summit on climate change in Scotland. After the announcement said Newsom would participate virtually, the governor was left off the California delegations schedule entirely, and replaced by Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis in his stead, according to the Associated Press. The only statement from the governors office explained the sudden absence as a consequence of unspecified family obligations.

On Sunday, California First Lady Jennifer Siebel Newsom defended her husbands break from public view in a since-deleted tweet. The tweet was screenshotted by Sacramento Bee politics reporter Sophia Bollag reposted to Twitter.

Its funny how certain folks cant handle truth, the first lady wrote. When someone cancels something, maybe theyre just in the office working; maybe in their free time theyre at home with their family, at their kids sports matches, or dining out with their wife. Please stop hating and get a life.

While week-long absences are not uncommon among high-profile public-facing figures, they are usually explained. Newsoms office however, has kept the public in the dark on the circumstances of Newsoms whereabouts despite media inquiries, including from the Associated Press. Newsoms office did not immediately respond to The Federalists request for comment.

In 2009, former South Carolina Republican Gov. Mark Sanford went missing in South America with an Argentine mistress while his office claimed the governor was hiking the Appalachian Trail. A decade later, President Donald Trump awarded Sanford the nickname Mr. Appalachian Trail as the former governor and House member challenged the incumbent president in a short-lived primary.

In the summer of 2018, CNNs Brian Stelter ran a CNN discussion on then-First Lady Melania Trumps whereabouts after she receded from the public spotlight.

While Stelters visual alleged the first lady had not been between May 10 and June 3, she was spotted in the West Wing by a CNBC reporter on May 29th.

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Why Does Michigan Still Have 25,000 Dead People On Its Voter Rolls? – The Federalist

Posted: at 2:23 pm

On Wednesday, a federal lawsuit filed against the Michigan secretary of state revealed the states voter rolls potentially include more than 25,000 dead people, including names of more than 20,000 individuals who have been dead for more than a decade.

In the lawsuit filed by the Public Interest Legal Foundation, or PILF, a nonprofit law firm dedicated to election integrity, the group alleges that the Michigan Secretary of States Office, headed by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, violated Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. That federal law requires states to conduct a general program that makes a reasonable effort to remove the names of voters who have died.

In its 20-page complaint, the PILF detailed efforts it had made beginning in the run-up to the 2020 election to ensure Michigan voter rolls did not include deceased individuals. After obtaining data from the state in early 2020 and then hiring a data analysis expert who cross-checked the data against commercial databases and information obtained from the Social Security Administration, the PILF determined the current Michigan rolls included approximately tens of thousands of individuals who appeared deceased.

After providing that information to the Michigan secretary of state, the PILF re-ran the data at several junctions to determine if Benson had addressed the problem, but 94 percent of the individuals identified remain on the official rolls. Yet when the PILF sought to inspect the states records under the provisions of the National Voter Registration Act, Michigans secretary of state refused them access.

Further investigation by the PILF revealed evidence indicating 334 individuals had registered to vote after their deaths. Without further inquiry, the nonprofits claim says, there is no way to know for certain whether these post-death registrations are the result of identity theft, data input error, or for some other reasons.

The PILFs discovery merits investigation and action, the plaintiff alleged, noting that the same issue arose in Pennsylvania shortly before the November 2020 election. Also later, in early 2021, a Pennsylvania widower was indicted for allegedly impersonating his wife by registering to vote after she died and requesting an absentee ballot. The deceased wife in that case was one of the 100 names the PILF had discovered and provided to Pennsylvania officials.

It will be some time before last weeks lawsuit filed by the PILF against Michigan will result in concrete steps to ensure the voting rolls do not include dead people. But that is just the skin of the problem, as demonstrated by a press release Michigans secretary of state issued in January 2021. In it, she wrote of an additional 177,000 voter registrations slated for cancellation because the individuals appeared to have moved from their registration address.

How many of those individuals voted illegally in 2020? Given what has been discovered in Georgia since last Novembers presidential electionthat enough illegal votes were cast in the state to reach Joe Bidens margin of victoryit seems likely that some portion of those 177,000 votes were also cast illegally.

The problem over our election system does not begin and end, however, with inflated and inaccurate voting rolls, which permit untold illegal and fraudulent voting. Rather, as Michigans next-door neighbor Wisconsin exposed over the last two weeks, the problem runs bone-deepall the way to the election officials charged with ensuring fair and honest elections.

There, the Racine County Sheriffs Office revealed for the nation that the Wisconsin Election Commission illegally (and possibly criminally) directed municipalities to violate the election codes mandate that special voting deputies conduct elections at residential facilities, such as nursing homes. Also last week, after Wisconsins attorney general refused to investigate that blatant violation of state law, the sheriff referred charges to the Racine County district attorney.

Rather than address the crisis of confidence facing our countrys electoral system, as demonstrated by the situations in Racine and Georgia, as well as the recent case filed in Michigan, corporate media and self-interested politicians stay silentor instead sell the lie that the real problem Americans face is voter suppression.

We saw this last week when, hours after the media called the Virginia governors race for Republican Glenn Youngkin, the left began pushing the voter suppression canard. They also immediately re-upped calls for passing H.R. 1, the so-called For the Peoples Act, which would gut many popular and necessary state election integrity laws, such as voter identification laws.

There was no voter suppression in Virginia, however, or anywhere else for that matter. What there was, though, was a repeat of 2020s blatant disregard for election law by state officials and with no consequence.

In Virginia, we saw that when Fairfax County election officials issued ballots for voters who failed to comply with the states legal requirement that they include the final four digits of their Social Security numbers on their applications for a mail-in or absentee ballot. While that violation of election law could not have been more clear, a state court refused to enjoin Fairfax County officials, finding that the nonprofit the Virginia Institute for Public Policy lacked standing, or the right to sue, over the violation.

With Youngkins victory capped by more than 70,000 votes, what election officials did in the states most populated countyand one that went 70-30 for Joe Biden and Democrat Sen. Mark Warnerappears moot. But it isnt: Election integrity matters, no matter which party wins and no matter the spread of the victory.

To prove that, Virginias newly elected attorney general, Republican Jason Miyares, should launch an investigation into the violations of state election law by Fairfax County officials. If he wont, dont be surprised when we see a repeat in 2022 and beyond. Dont be surprised, either, when the average citizen learns from the pros how to lie, cheat, and steal his way to polls, which wont be hard with the messy voting rolls in Michigan and elsewhere.

Margot Cleveland is a senior contributor to The Federalist. Cleveland served nearly 25 years as a permanent law clerk to a federal appellate judge and is a former full-time faculty member and adjunct instructor at the college of business at the University of Notre Dame.The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.

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There’s Nothing Wrong With Chris Pratt Celebrating His Newborn’s Health – The Federalist

Posted: at 2:23 pm

Woke mobs latest attempt at cancellation came last week, when a seemingly innocent Instagram post by Guardians of the Galaxy actor Chris Pratt prompted outrage on Twitter. In the post, Pratt celebrated his current wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, and the healthy, gorgeous daughter they had together.

In response to that post, readers remembered that Pratts first child, Jack, whom he fathered with his first wife, Anna Faris, arrived nine weeks prematurely, requiring several surgeries and leaving Jack with visual impairments and ongoing heart trouble. Given these circumstances, many viewed the reference to a healthy, gorgeous daughter as a slight towards both Pratts first son and his first spouse. Cue the manufactured and self-righteous outrage.

But celebrating the health of one child doesnt represent a slight on another, any more than celebrating one childs achievements in one areafor instance, an artistically gifted childdiminishes the talents of another with skills more suited to the classroom or sports field. Rather than spewing bile, hatred, and online shade, the people dragging Pratt on Twitter need some of the Christian grace that Pratt says he received with his unhealthy son Jack.

I used to get heartbroken when parents made a point to declare their newborn child healthy. It hurt because, by medical standards, my youngest daughter qualifies as unhealthy.

My daughter was born with meconium ileus, which meant thatlike Pratts son, Jackshe needed several surgeries as a newborn, and spent significant time in the NICU. While she thankfully recovered from those ailments, she still suffers from cystic fibrosis. That disease means she frequently contracts infections, often requires breathing treatments and regular check-ups, and could ultimately shorten her life span.

I will admit that, soon after the birth of my daughter, comments from other parents about their healthy children made me wince. Although I understood the emotions other parents experienced, I always felt as though my daughter should be celebrated equally. Then I realized that she is.

While individuals dont want to wish medical complications on anyone, a celebration of their childs health doesnt diminish the value of my daughters life. Regardless of our circumstances, we should all celebrate when a precious child does not face the pain and complications plaguing children like my daughter. That attitude reflects simple human compassion for the child, not to mention the mother and father.

Pratt has indeed shown compassion for his son over the years. In an interview conducted in 2016, Pratt gushed over Jack, calling him an extraordinarily intelligent [three]-year-oldnot the kind of language someone embarrassed by his child would use. He continued: Hes a smart and wildly cute, fun, and awesome kid.Theres nothing like it. I recommend anyone watching this who doesnt have childrengo have one.

His compassion stemmed in part from a deep and abiding faith. In 2014, Pratt told People magazine that he and his then-wife Faris prayed a lot in the weeks after Jacks birth, when their infant son lay in a NICU struggling for his life: It restored my faith in God, not that it needed to be restored, but it really redefined it.The baby was so beautiful to us, and I look back at the photos of him and it must have been jarring for other people to come in and see him, but to us he was so beautiful and perfect.

I dont know Pratt personally, so cant know his heart. But just because he celebrates the life of one of his children doesnt mean that he loves his son with health complications any less. I know that in my case, if I could trade places with my daughter and take on her diagnosis, I would. Id like to imagine that most parents, including Pratt, would do the same.

Instead of arriving at the snap judgments and hasty conclusions that our cultureobsessed with social media and hot takesdemands, we would do well to channel the Christian grace Pratt sought to channel during his sons illness. As the mother of an unhealthy daughter, I would suggest that we follow Christs advice and judge not, that we be not judged. Let compassion, not contempt, be the order of the day.

Mary Vought resides in Virginia with her husband and two children. You can follow her at @MaryVought.

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Global Investment Firm Forces Executives To Snub White Men In Light Of Race Hiring Quotas – The Federalist

Posted: at 2:23 pm

State Street Global Advisors, one of the largest investment firms in the world, is forcing its executives to snub white men in favor of hiring black, Asian, and other minority candidates to the company.

The decision comes as the company, whose head Boston-located parent company State Street Corporation employs 40,000 staff worldwide, strives to meet its 2023 goal of tripling the amount of racial and ethnic minorities in senior management positions. The new policy reportedly states that white men may only be hired after a panel of four or five people made up of at least one woman and people who arent white have evaluated a myriad of job candidates of all different races and ethnicities first.

According to The Times, executives in middle and senior management who do not comply with the race quotas will receive cuts to their bonuses.

This is now front and central for State Street its on every senior executives scorecard, Jess McNicholas, the companys head of inclusion, diversity and corporate citizenship in London told The Daily Mail. All of our leaders have to demonstrate at their annual appraisals what they have done to improve female representation and the number of colleagues from ethnic-minority backgrounds.

State Street denied that hiring teams needed special approval to hire white men but reaffirmed the companys goal of elevating certain races and ethnicities above others and hold ourselves accountable for strengthening black and Latinx owned businesses.

We work to ensure a level playing field for candidates of all backgrounds and ensure that our hiring decisions are well informed and not-biased in order to select the best candidate for every job, a spokesperson said in a statement. State Street is committed to inclusion diversity and equity, we believe it to be a critical component of our business success, as such; we expect our hiring managers to have the best possible slate of candidates for their open positions.

In 2017, State Street paid an advertising agency to erect the infamous Fearless Girl statue designed to stare down the iconic bull in front of the New York Stock Exchange and performatively suggest that more women should be hired to high corporate positions.

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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Poll: Only 28 Percent Of Americans Think Kamala Harris Is Doing A Good Job – The Federalist

Posted: at 2:23 pm

The American publics opinion of Vice President Kamala Harris and her track record as President Joe Bidens supposed right-hand woman is tanking, a new poll from USA Today and Suffolk University found.

According to the survey conducted over the phone Nov. 3-5, 51.2 percent of Americans disapprove of the job Kamala Harris has done as Vice President. While its been months since Harris relented after scandalously refusing to visit the southern U.S. border despite a raging crisis, voters still do not hold her in high esteem. Harriss approval rating is hovering at just 28 percent, which is 10 points lower than the publics view of the president.

Bidens approval is also backsliding at an alarming rate, as Democrats grow more concerned about their partys performance in the upcoming 2022 midterms. The same poll that exposed the publics low opinion of Harris also found that a majority of Americans, 59 percent, disapprove of the presidents track record 11 months into his tenure in the White House.

Of those surveyed, 46 percent, including 16 percent who cast a vote for the Democrat, say Biden has underperformed at his job since getting elected. Among independents, 44 percent agree that Biden has done a worse job in office than they expected.

Biden told reporters last week, I didnt run to determine how well Im going to do in the polls, but his words are not convincing a majority of Americans, 64 percent, who say they do not support Biden running for a second presidential term. Thats a higher number than the 58 percent opposed to former President Donald Trump running again. Of that 64 percent, 28 percent identify as Democrats.

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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