National Stew

 What is qualified immunity?  Qualified immunity is a legal doctrine that shields government officials from liability for civil damages in cases where they violate someone's constitutional rights. The doctrine was created by the Supreme Court in the 1960s, and it has been used to protect police officers, prison guards, and other government officials from being held accountable for their actions. Why We Should End Qualified Immunity. There are a number of reasons why we should end qualified immunity. First, the doctrine allows government officials to violate people's rights with impunity. If a government official violates someone's constitutional rights, they can simply claim qualified immunity and avoid any legal consequences. This means that there is no real accountability for government officials who abuse their power. Second, qualified immunity allows government officials to get away with even the most egregious acts of misconduct. In recent years, there have been numero...

 Let's come back to reality again. The real issue is reform, and how open the law should be. I think that immigration should be open as it has been for most of our history, and particularly the most prosperous points in our history.  I suspect that many of you would want something more constricting, like only Nobel Prize winners who have been neutered and would work for free and still pay taxes. The Trump system was working toward and had the effect of zero legal immigration and that is insanity.  Immigration prohibition like all forms of prohibition, produces bad results: You still have immigration, and you are likely to get a higher concentration of more desperate people using much more risky methods of entry. If restrictions are few, no one will hire a coyote to get them across, and that business model dies! The same was true of alcohol prohibition and is true of drug prohibition. I can see an immigration policy that allows anyone to come in and apply for citizenship i...

 What is the True Crime Related to TikTok? What should concern us about TikTok? Chinese intelligence gathering? The corruption of our youth? Or, stay with me here, the one actual crime: The Congressional usurpation of your right of free expression? Why Congress Banning TikTok is a Violation of the First Amendment Amendment 1 "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech , or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances ." Congress should not be making laws limiting ( abridging ) free speech by limiting our use of platforms! Congress can not tell you which soapboxes you can stand on to deliver your message or dissent! The First Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees freedom of speech. This means that the government cannot restrict what people say, write, or publish. A ban on TikTok wou...

    Iran and Saudi Arabia Restore Ties Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed on Wednesday to restore diplomatic ties seven years after severing them, a landmark deal brokered by China that could have major implications for the Middle East. The agreement, announced by the Iranian and Saudi foreign ministers in a joint statement, came after months of secret talks between the two countries. It is a significant step toward ending a long-running proxy war between the two regional rivals that has fueled the conflict in Yemen and contributed to the rise of the Islamic State. The deal includes a commitment by Iran to end its support for Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition for more than six years. It also includes a pledge by Saudi Arabia to end its boycott of Iranian goods and services. The agreement is a major coup for China, which has been seeking to expand its influence in the Middle East. The deal could also help to ease tensions between the United States a...

 We don't have workers to fill all the available jobs in the United states.  Some politicians on both sides want to use big government to bring jobs back from other countries.  Anyone see an issue here? There are actually several. First, perhaps, we should allow workers from other countries in to fill the jobs we have.  This would accomplish a lot more than we see at the surface level.  It would solve the immigration issue and the inflation issue for starters.  First immigration and labor: A lot of folks are trying to get into the country for work, and a lot of jobs are looking for workers. What a great opportunity to solve both problems at the same time! Second, inflation: we have inflation for the same reason we always have inflation. There are too many dollars chasing too few goods. That is the classic definition of inflation. The Fed answer to inflation is to slow down the money by increasing interest rates. Wouldn't it be much smarter to increase the n...

  Tucker Carlson's Questionable Connections to Viktor Orbán Tucker Carlson, an American conservative nationalist political commentator, and Viktor Orbán, the Prime Minister of Hungary, have a controversial relationship that has garnered attention from both sides of the political spectrum. Carlson has been accused of having ties to Orbán and being sympathetic to his far-right policies, while Orbán has been accused of cracking down on democratic institutions in Hungary. Tucker Carlson is the host of "Tucker Carlson Tonight," a popular Fox News show that often features conservative commentary and controversial guests. Carlson has been known for his criticism of immigration and globalism, as well as his support for President Donald Trump. In recent years, Carlson has also been accused of promoting far-right and white nationalist rhetoric on his show, which has led to boycotts and calls for his firing. Viktor Orbán, on the other hand, is a Hungarian politician who has been the...

  National Conservatism Movement: A Definition National Conservatism is a political and social movement that seeks to promote traditional values and national identity, while also advocating for economic nationalism and a stronger role for the state in the economy. It is a relatively new term and has gained momentum in recent years, particularly in Europe and the United States. The movement is often associated with a rejection of globalization, immigration, and multiculturalism, and it seeks to preserve the cultural and national identity of a country. It also often emphasizes the importance of strong families, local communities, and traditional gender roles. National Conservatives typically support protectionist economic policies and state intervention in the economy to promote domestic industries and protect jobs. They also tend to be skeptical of international institutions and agreements, and may support policies that prioritize national sovereignty over international cooperation....

Be a genuine patriot: Read our founding documents! There is a lot of false patriotism out there from people supporting unpatriotic ideas! The counter to that is to feed your mind and soul on the greatness of our "Glorious Liberty Documents" and pass that on to others! Have you ever wanted to see what the Constitution, or the Declaration says about an issue, only to find that your source is filled with commentary and explanation, in other words, DISTRACTIONS from the text itself? We can help!  We have "clean" copies of our most cherished national documents, the primary documents of our founding, for your immediate use with no extras added and no commentary! Read the real thing for yourself and decide for yourself what it means. Declaration Articles Of Confederation Constitution Bill Of Rights Constitutional Amendments Proposed Amendments To The Constitution State Constitutions If you want to know what the Constitution says, read the Constitu...

News media neutrality is a myth! We have tools to help! Everyone has opinions. Those opinions don't go away even if the news people attempt neutrality. Opinions enter into the equation even in such tasks as what stories to cover and what interviews to do. There is always some suppression at some point and exaggeration at another, whether or not it is conscious. We can, however, get closer than the popular media. News sources exist which are closer to the events they write about than others. These are the same sources that popular media uses to get their news, and using these sources will get you closer to the truth and neutrality. Al Jazeera Associated Press BBC C-Span Reuters United Press International These sources are about as close to "straight" news as you can get, short of being everywhere all the time and seeing it for yourself! They are not perfect, nor are they completely neutral but they will, if used together, offer you the news from up cl...

Twitter Files: What do They Tell Us About FBI Coercion? Opinion. The setting:   C-SPAN: MARCH 9, 2023 Hearing on Twitter Documents About Content Moderation Decisions. Senator Goldman: Mr. Shellenberger in all of the emails that you reviewed, did the FBI ever direct Twitter to take down any accounts or remove any posts?  Mr Shellenberger: Yes. They direct. Yes I think that's an accurate use of the word "direct". Senator Goldman: They said these may violate your terms of service. So you think that the saying that they violate your terms and conditins is the same as directing them to take it down? Senator Goldman went on to note that this understanding of “this may violate your terms of service” was the FBI “directing” Twitter to remove a post was very revealing. Taibi and Schellenberger and the House and Senate Republicans have absolutely nothing, unless you count the complete lack of anything as something! Plus, they are in need of a dictionary! The witnesses, journalists ...

Trade And Tariff Facts Tariffs are taxes on the end user. Trade is between individuals or companies. Trade is voluntary and will not happen if both sides are not happy with the outcome, whether one side or the other has tariffs or not. How trade and tariffs work Sure, suppliers pay them at the port, but it would be foolish to think that the seller is going to absorb that cost. Such costs are regained by increasing prices to the consumer. A country decides to place tariffs on products from another country. Products from manufacturers from that country are charged a tax, that is, a tariff. The manufacturer raises prices to cover the cost of the tariff, thus passing it onto the receiving countries' buyers. Thus, the tariff is a tax on the people of the country who levies it. What if the other country has tariffs on your country's products? Much is made of trade deficits and other countries "beating" us on tariffs when they place them on our products. Realize t...

  TikTok, Data and Rock and Indescribable Danger! Opinion The US House and Senate have voted to vote shortly to outlaw TikTok in the US because they think the Chinese are using it to gather data about and from the American people. This is a straw man. They could gather any data that could be gathered from a TikTok user in the US more efficiently from a thousand other sources. Fear of propaganda seems to be the paranoia du jour. It is an ironic twist that the world leader in free speech and free expression would be considering such a draconian anti expression step to deal with the world leader in censorship. They also think that TikTok is a bad influence on the youth of our nation in the social arena, you know, like Comic Books and like Rock and roll, which caused dancing with people of other colors and depression among teenage girls! It is a world endingly dreadful thing! Florida Senator Marco Rubio called TikTok an “indescribable danger”. I think he is right. The “danger” from Tik...

Hunter Biden’s laptop or is it!? A lesson in provenance. Opinion We know nothing about the hot-button issues of the day! The example of the century: What do we know? We know that someone dropped off a laptop at a repair shop, maybe. We know it eventually passed the laptop on to Rudy Giuliani, maybe. WE know that Giuliani eventually surrendered it to the FBI, maybe. We know the FBI possibly tried to prevent it from being made public, maybe. Does anyone see the problem here? Anyone? Anyone at all? We don’t know diddly squat! Why? Well, provenance! Stage 1 First, we do not know whether Hunter Biden owned the particular laptop in question or if he did, whether he dropped it off as assumed. We do not even know if a laptop was even dropped off at that location at all. If not, where did it come from and who created its content? Stage 2 Even if a laptop was delivered to that location, and the laptop did belong to Hunter Biden, and it was indeed he who delivered it, we hav...