We’re all on our own.  The mainstream is brimming with stories of people who decided to wait and see what the side effects of the “vaccines” were, and are now suffering in some ICU unit.  One study indicates that the hospitalized cases are roughly split between people who are “fully vaccinated” and those who aren’t.  What are we to believe, especially when those giving advice don’t have a very good record for being truthful?  So the vaccinated are worrying that they’ll be infected with some variant carried by the un-vaccinated, and they’re none too pleased.

They’ve just applied the word “breakthrough” to the cases of the “vaccinated.”  Still, they tell us as if in unison, the shot will lessen the chance you’ll be sick unto death.  That’s reassuring.  Word is that the “vaccines” are about to be approved by the FDA.  That will take away the arguments all over the Internet that claim mandating an unapproved shot is a violation of the Nuremberg treaty that dates back to 1947.  Can you imagine the legal repercussions if the shots being pushed by every government entity and most of the private sector were not approved?  So the FDA has no choice but to approve the vaccines, then the mandates from on high will be legitimate from a legal standpoint.

Panic has spread like wildfire (again) as reports of new infections come from every quarter.  We all have it ringing in our ears, “Get the shot!”  People are wearing masks again, and this time it’s genuine fear, and not just virtue signaling.  No doubt, the sickness has spread and “health authorities” are telling everybody what to do.  Maybe the government can’t mandate vaccination, yet, and if the shots touted don’t fit the definition of the word, the definition can simply be changed.  The powers that be have the authority to change the definitions of words, and they’ve been doing it for some time.

It was last December when Governor Cuomo told Dr. Fauci that they were just like the movie stars Di Niro and Pacino.  They had a good laugh as they reveled in how famous they’d become.  Cuomo told Fauci he could pick which movie star he wanted to be.  They might have sealed their fates.   Pride cometh before a fall, says the Proverb, obviously still in effect after all these centuries.  Some truths are everlasting.  It looks like both of them tempted fate when they decided to flaunt their fame and supposed importance.  Lately they’ve probably both lost sleep, deservedly.

Fauci, worries that he’ll eventually be blamed for the “gain of function” research that he insisted was so important, even if it did cost lives. Lots of them.  The very suggestion causes him to act out in ways unbecoming the amiable saintly demeanor with which we’re so familiar.  Cuomo’s not laughing anymore as he’s busy trying to defend against all manner of “me too” accusations, and maybe even facing criminal charges.  It seems a little incongruous that Cuomo’s name now opens many a news segment for getting a little frisky with the help.  Never mind that he ordered sick and elderly corona virus patients into nursing homes, with many dead to show for it.  Officials can’t be bothered about that.  Nobody died as a result of his inappropriate behavior, and he’s reminding us he’s Italian.  We wouldn’t understand, hard as we might try.

Meanwhile the Taliban is taking over Afghanistan and the summer fires are raging in California, but then… freedom is banned in the Western world with newfound authority from “health officials.”  There’s trouble in the Gulf of Oman, with Iran suspected of tampering electronically with passing vessels.  Israel has a new Prime Minister, Naftali Bennet, who wants to cooperate with the White House, but worries that Iran is closer to a nuclear warhead than ever before.  It could get scary.

In sports, they’re celebrating so-called transsexuals, even at the Olympics.  These dudes could never pass for women, never.  But we’ve got bearded men kissing on the mouth in commercials, as if the news wasn’t bad enough.  We’re assailed with conflicting information and many don’t know who or what to believe, having been lied to so routinely.

Our trust has been squandered on a host of subjects, ranging from the global-warming scam to the Fauci flu.  We’re being lied to on a host of subjects, and we know it.  Our trust lies outside the cacophony of nonsense spilling from every device.  The mainstream has bought into too much clap trap, and cried wolf too often.  They’ve lost all credibility and can’t believe that we can’t just be herded around with their bogus “facts.”  Sorry.

Mark

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 6 August 2021 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

                                                                                                                 The “R” Stands for “Reliability”

Surely this ERCOT outfit will have to change its name, at a bare minimum.  It seems that the government has been “subsidizing” these giant wind farms over the past decade or so, and that relieved Texas of the need for coal and natural gas power plants.  It was enough to get off the radar of the “green” idiots while at the same time adding to Texas’ ability to claim that a “sizable percentage” of the grid was made up of “renewable energy.”  Just makes you feel warm all over, doesn’t it?

Everybody knows what happened, but that’s not quite the same as having lived through the experience.  It would be good to have heat in your house when the temperature goes to zero Fahrenheit, and stays there for a couple of days.  Now they’re holding hearings where the engineers try to bamboozle the public by talking over everybody’s head.  We can hardly wait for their conclusions, but their excuses are mostly meaningless now.  We’ll be surprised if the families of the dead don’t sue the “reliable” energy corporation out of existence.

There are a lot of problems with these idolatrous monstrosities.  They are an icon of lunacy, romanticized in countless advertisements over the years.  Mostly children or dogs staring wondrously out the car window as they drive by the green miracle.  But they’re 240 feet tall.  You know what happens when they get hit by lightning?  That’s not a rare occurrence.  They’ve got a “brain” full of electronics, which don’t do so well when fried.

Another thing, small though it may be, is that they don’t pay for themselves during their expected lifetime. You’ll probably be banned for life if you repeat that anywhere, as with anything that disputes the “conventional wisdom.”

London learned that the windmills freeze up and cease to work.  There were unforgettable photographs of them at sea, encased in ice, with giant icebergs descending from their blades.  But that never happens in Texas, until it does.  It did, and it lasted nearly a week.  We’d almost forgotten the cold and heavy snow of 1983, and that’s probably because no one froze to death, or was killed by carbon monoxide poisoning trying to survive.  If you’re making something hot to drink and the TV is on, it’s not so bad.

Just like “green energy” for big cities, nothing else makes much sense either.  We’re being lectured, scolded and warned around the clock.  They’re coming up with punishments for whoever refuses to fall into line.  The so-called “Equality Act” has already passed the House, and thankfully won’t (we hope) become law.  It’s the freak show for girls’ sports and public facilities everywhere, and as usual, they named it something it’s not.  It seems the depths of left-wing depravity know few bounds.

Everything we moaned over for the past decade is brand new again, and the self-destruction of the United States is back on track.  Do you think for one minute that the Middle East peace arrangement will be spared?  Probably not.  After all, that rude, brash, America-loving President they blindly hated brought it about.  No, they’re working overtime to get us back in the Iran Nuclear Deal, the Paris Climate Accords, and every international body out to hurt the United States.

The news anchors are breathing easier now that unaccompanied minors are streaming across the border, and the new (supposed) administration says they can’t be sent back, even to wait for adjudication.  Six thousand last week, according to the happy reports.  What’s that about?

We bet you’re starving for some hint of good news, and we are too.  Maybe they won’t get everything they want.  Maybe there’s some strain of sanity that remains in high places, not much, mind you.  Maybe they’ll start to turn on each other, as they have with Cuomo and Brylcreem of California.  Or, though it seems impossible, maybe the fraudulent election will get looked at, but let’s not get carried away.

Mark

PS:  It should have been in last week’s update, but things were a little hairy around here. We’re just completing another run of 21^st Century WATCH ads on One America News.  It is producing results, but it seems we’ll never reach the cost-effectiveness of my Dad’s television shows from years past.  A lot has changed since then.  Too much.  But we’re not quitting, and we’re certainly not about to lie down for this onslaught of nonsense, no matter what they (the government, the corporations, academia and big tech) threaten.

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 26 February 2021 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

“Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state wants to live at the expense of everyone.”– Frederic Bastiat

There have always been differences of opinions about illegal immigration in the United States, but never more so than in the past few decades. Republicans see illegal immigration as a critical threat to American security. They feel it exposes us to serious health ailments and sabotages our safety network. They support tougher enforcement of immigration laws with increased border security. They also want more federal agents to stop unwelcome migrants from entering our nation illegally.

Many Democrats, on the other hand, do not consider illegal immigration a threat, and in fact welcome all illegal immigrants that wish to come to America. They claim they do jobs Americans do not wish to do. They say the U.S. benefits from their labor. And since we need to replenish our nation with new younger workers and more “Democratic voters,” naturally they welcome all who can make their way across the border. They believe they are entitled to welfare, health care and even the right to vote.

The GOP’s stand on illegal immigration is shared by most Americans since these laws are in place to protect us as a nation. On the other hand, the left has been justifying their position on illegal immigrants for decades. They claim since they work here and pay taxes they are entitled to the same benefits as citizens. This tired argument that the left has used for decades to increase members of their party is deceiving and is only half the truth and even worse.

“A half truth is a whole lie.” – Yiddish Proverb

Many illegal immigrants don’t pay taxes since they do “labor” for cash. Those who get a paycheck must have a Social Security number. These are either forged or the numbers of deceased citizens. Employers withhold taxes and report those earnings to the Social Security Administration. When the numbers don’t match up with the numbers issued by SSA, they go into an intangible file called the “Earnings Suspense File.” And that money vanishes into federal “never never land” never to be found again.

Since federal law requires non-citizens who work here to file a tax return, those who do not have a valid SSN obtain a Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) from the IRS and everything looks legal. And since those numbers look similar to an SSN, illegal immigrants use them to obtain American jobs. More than 9.8 million ITINs were issued between 2005 and 2015. And between 1985 and 2015 the SSA issued 13 million “non-work SSNs.” These cards clearly state “not for employment” but are used anyway.

“Undocumented workers’ rights are abused under capitalism.” – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

The federal government’s Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) denies illegal immigrants access to all government-funded programs. Since illegal aliens are considered criminals for being here without a green card, a work permit or a visa, they are not entitled to any federal or state benefits. Yet according to the Center on Immigration Studies, 63 percent of all illegal immigrants in America are enrolled in federal and state financial and health support systems.

While most new green card immigrants and temporary visitors are barred from welfare programs, as are illegal immigrants, these provisions have only a modest impact on non-citizen household use rates. According to Census Bureau data, despite these barriers designed to prevent welfare use for all of non-citizen populations, data show that the majority of non-citizen families’ access the welfare system almost twice as much as U.S. citizens for benefits for their U.S.-born children.

When Senate Republicans approved the COVID-19 federal stimulus plan, they included provisions to ensure illegal immigrants couldn’t get federal stimulus checks. But that has made little difference to Democratic governors and mayors. They have found ways to do an end run around our lawmakers.

“I think the federal government is obligated to help everyone regardless of status.”

– Gavin Newsom

By the time the first checks were sent out, Newsom said illegal immigrants will be able to draw on a $125 million public-private fund since they comprise 10 percent of the state workforce. In Minnesota, small businesses and employees, regardless of immigration status, will get millions in state assistance. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot extended COVID aid programs for housing and small businesses to illegal immigrants. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is working on a similar proposal right now.

These maneuvers by Democrats are an effort to discredit President Donald Trump and the GOP Senate for limiting eligibility to those that possess a Social Security number. The non-partisan Migration Policy Institute claims Congress acted according to Constitutional law limiting eligibility to those who have a Social Security number because you must be a citizen or a legal alien to qualify for federal benefits.

Rep. Lou Correa, D-California, just introduced a bill to extend eligibility to all illegal immigrants claiming they are the most vulnerable residents in his state. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, is proposing a similar bill. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio recently announced he formed a partnership with George Soros’s Open Society Foundations to create a $20 million emergency relief program for immigrant workers.

“There’s money available for everyone regardless of their legal status.” – Bill de Blasio

While every Democratic state governor is openly criticizing President Trump and the GOP Senate for excluding illegal immigrants from the stimulus bill, one blue state governor is actually being truthful. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said, “We are at a point financially where we have a $15 billion deficit. We have real financial problems right now and cannot afford to give any more money away now.”

Saul Alinsky wrote, “Confusion hides the truth.” With the vast number of illegal immigrants that already get state and federal assistance illegally, this controversy over federal stimulus funds is nothing more than another leftist attempt to poison the political waters for the GOP before the next election. People in this country illegally are not entitled to anything but a free ride back to where they came from.

Leftist politicians fueled the fires of COVID so “they did not let a crisis go to waste.” But they can’t justify their demands with a record number of Americans filing for unemployment without enough money to pay their bills. The left has been out-maneuvering the GOP since Trump became president. When they cry for more, the GOP gives in. Now the debt has ballooned, they blame the GOP? When will the GOP learn: “You can’t please a liberal unless you are more liberal than them.”

The Constitution guarantees every American the opportunity to catch their share of the American Dream if they wish. It does not make that guarantee to illegal immigrants. It is time for the GOP to move on and continue to govern within the law. They don’t need any more distractions in an election year. The new left will keep this chaos raging until the last vote is counted on Election Day. We better get used to this until the “fat lady sings” Election Eve.

“Anyone who studies the history of ideas should notice how much more people on the political left, more so than others, denigrate and demonize those who disagree with them, instead of answering their arguments.”

– Thomas Sowell

Source: https://www.thecentersquare.com/opinion/op-ed-liberal-governors-want-stimulus-funds-for-illegal-immigrants/article_d96306fa-e09a-11ea-8fdc-8bf64cfade77.html

The post Op-Ed: Liberal governors want stimulus funds for illegal immigrants first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

And an ethics watchdog anticipates more states could join.

“It is troubling that we have seen the government targeting individuals and organizations to silence them based on their political positions,” Kendra Arnold, executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), told Fox News.

She cited similarities to the 2016 discovery that state AGs were cooperating to target skeptics of climate change. In the latest case, FACT has filed freedom of information requests with 21 states including the four publicly targeting the NRA – New York, New Jersey, California and Washington state – in search of evidence that might show such coordination here.

The requests seek communications with “any other Attorney General, Governor, or state insurance official … that mention the ‘National Rifle Association’ … or ‘Carry Guard Insurance.’”

“Carry Guard” is an NRA-sponsored insurance policy for gun owners who use a firearm in self-defense but face civil or criminal liability expenses. State officials have specifically targeted the Overland Park, Kansas-based Lockton Affinity and the Chicago-based Illinois Union, a member of the Chubb group, which were involved in marketing and selling the NRA insurance plans. The New York Department of Financial Services in May levied a combined fine of more than $8 million against the two companies.

On Aug. 4, Cuomo said: “I am calling on states across the country to join New York to outlaw this absurd program that insures intentional criminal conduct. … If the NRA goes bankrupt because of the State of New York, they’ll be in my thoughts and prayers.”

The Democratic governor followed up in a letter to fellow governors requesting action against the NRA.

Cuomo is up for re-election in November, facing Republican opponent Marcus Molinaro, the Dutchess County executive.

Among his allies in this cause, Washington state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler commenced an investigation after issuing a cease-and-desist order in April against the NRA concerning Carry Guard.

“The Washington state Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) was in touch with the New York state Department of Financial Services after it sent a letter on Aug. 7 to our commissioner, Mike Kreidler,” Steve Valandra, a spokesman for the insurance commissioner, told Fox News in an email.

“We found the policies sold by the NRA Carry Guard program were done without an insurance producer license, a violation of Washington insurance law,” Valandra said. “That investigation began in 2017 following a consumer complaint. Our current investigation – following the cease-and-desist order – was prompted by concerns about whether the NRA Carry Guard program may have other consumer issues.”

Last month, the California Department of Insurance also issued a cease-and-desist order against the NRA insurance, alleging the NRA marketed the product without a license to do so in the state.

“The Department of Insurance is not working with any other authority regarding the NRA’s compliance issues with the sale of Carry Guard,” California Department of Insurance spokeswoman Nancy Kincaid told Fox News.

She said the state “insists on full compliance with the California law that requires persons who solicit the purchase of insurance in California must be appropriately licensed to do so.” Kincaid said the NRA has not complied with that requirement, which “led to the administrative action to address the illegal conduct in California.”

The New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance also is investigating the NRA, a probe that began in August after Cuomo’s invitation to other states. A spokesperson from the New Jersey department did not respond to inquiries from Fox News.

NRA lawyer William Brewer pushed back on the state claims, though, telling Fox News the NRA conducted reviews to ensure compliance with state laws where Carry Guard is sold.

The NRA filed a First Amendment lawsuit against New York state that claims the policy restricting financial activity with pro-gun organizations amounts to viewpoint discrimination. A U.S. Northern District of New York judge is mulling a motion to dismiss by the Cuomo administration. For now, the NRA is not focused on any other litigation beyond New York, Brewer said.

“Any state that makes an inquiry into the Carry Guard program, the NRA will be quick to provide information as required, unless we see the NRA’s constitutional rights being violated,” Brewer said.

Both the NRA and FACT, the ethics watchdog, want to see whether New York and other states have made a concerted effort to target NRA finances.

“We are interested in going into discovery in our case,” Brewer said. “You don’t have to look far to see Gov. Cuomo reaching out to other states asking them to take action against the NRA.”

Fred Lucas is the White House correspondent for the Daily Signal.

Source:  https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cuomos-campaign-to-bankrupt-nra-by-targeting-insurance-program-spreads-to-more-states

The post Cuomo’s campaign to ‘bankrupt’ NRA by targeting insurance program spreads to more states first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.