Fire Hydrant of Freedom

"Don’t let the practical gum up the elegant, damn you! "

 

"If there was a will a way would be found" 

Well?

 

NYT Scoop: Alito Is an 'Insurrectionist'
The Supreme Court justice has faced attacks over a couple of flag displays at his homes.

Nate Jackson


Democrats need to delegitimize the Supreme Court so they can eventually pack it with loyal leftists. Keep that in mind every time they attack Clarence Thomas over a vacation or Samuel Alito over a flag.

The latter justice has been the subject of leftist consternation for the last week or so, ever since The New York Times put a team of crack journalists on the case of a couple of flags flown by the Alito family.

First up was a breathless story drawing a straight line from Justice Alito to January 6. "At Justice Alito's House, a 'Stop the Steal' Symbol on Display," read the Times headline, followed by the teaser, "An upside-down flag, adopted by Trump supporters contesting the Biden victory, flew over the justice's front lawn as the Supreme Court was considering an election case."

The story didn't use the word "insurrectionists" (or, as Joe Biden recently called them, "erectionists"), but the Times insists the connection was clear: "The upside-down flag was aloft on Jan. 17, 2021, the images showed. President Donald J. Trump's supporters, including some brandishing the same symbol, had rioted at the Capitol a little over a week before."

Never mind that Alito was on the losing side of that election case, meaning the flag had no bearing on the outcome of the case.

More importantly, "I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag," Justice Alito said in an emailed statement to The Times. "It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor's use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs."

Shannon Bream of Fox News shares what the Times didn't tell you:

I spoke directly with Justice Alito about the flag story in the NYT. In addition to what's in the story, he told me a neighbor on their street had a "F*** Trump" sign that was within 50 feet of where children await the school bus in Jan 21. Mrs. Alito brought this up with the neighbor. According to Justice Alito, things escalated and the neighbor put up a sign personally addressing Mrs. Alito and blaming her for the Jan 6th attacks.

So, where did the "Stop the Steal" connection come from? An "expert" cited by the Times called an upside-down flag "the equivalent of putting a 'Stop the Steal' sign in your yard."

Oh, so it's a dog whistle for "experts."

The truth is that an upside-down flag has long been understood as a sign of distress.

A few days later, the Times put three journalists on another story about a "provocative flag" flown by the Alitos: "The justice's beach house displayed an 'Appeal to Heaven' flag, a symbol carried on Jan. 6 and associated with a push for a more Christian-minded government." The Times spends much of its word count in both articles discussing ethics rules for jurists, though none of those rules apply to spouses.

This flag appeared at the Long Beach Island house in 2023, but it, too, sounded the same dog whistle for "Stop the Steal."

Senator Dick Durbin called it part of "the Court's ongoing ethical crisis." Senator Mazie Hirono wailed, "We have an out-of-control Supreme Court majority." Clearly, the real game here is to delegitimize the Court. Senator Jeff Merkley literally said it: "Frustration with the Court in the sense that it is illegitimate is extremely high."

The long-term objective is delegitimizing the Court, but the short-term aim is winning a couple of cases. "Alito must recuse himself immediately from cases related to the 2020 election and the January 6th insurrection," Durbin insisted. He didn't say it, but these hit pieces are also retribution for Alito having written the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

The Democrats attempt to smear and discredit every originalist, and they have been doing so since Ted Kennedy made a sick sport out of "borking" nominees to the bench. Alito was the victim of that same vile tactic in 2006, which left Mrs. Alito in tears at the time.

Furthermore, call me crazy, but it's pretty rich for leftists to be outraged about flags. They burn the American flag, for one thing, in addition to kneeling instead of saluting it during the national anthem. Spare me the outrage over flying it upside down.

They also plaster rainbow flags over almost literally everything (including the American flag) for large parts of the year, especially "Pride Month," which — I appeal to heaven! — starts in a few days. Last year in June, Joe Biden flew the garish transgender flag from the White House itself — while some dude flashed his prosthetic breasts on the lawn, I might add. Biden's State Department flies the rainbow flag at its facilities all over the world (except in Muslim countries).

"The Constitution provides that the government shall not establish any official religion," opined Senator Brian Schatz, but the rainbow flag is arguably a symbol of the Left's state religion. But the Times reporters have their knickers in a twist over a Revolutionary-era flag.

The "Appeal to Heaven" flag, by the way, originates with an important American named George Washington. Maybe the Times reporters have heard of him. He specifically commissioned it in 1775, and it was designed by his personal secretary, Colonel Joseph Reed. In a sense, it was the symbol of a real insurrection — the one against the British tyrants who overtaxed and tried to disarm American colonists. Come to think of it, that sounds familiar...

Note the Navajo Funeral Montage on our front page at the moment, then watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKc3w1Y17XQ&t=46s

The Fight for Election Integrity

 

A critical bill to protect our federal elections will soon receive a vote on the House floor – the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which I am a proudly cosponsoring.

 

Only Americans should vote in our federal elections. This should be simple, noncontroversial, and enforced rigorously. Sadly, that’s not currently the case. While current law makes it illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections, states are not required to verify U.S. citizenship before an individual registers to vote.

 

Essentially, our federal elections are run on the honor system, trusting that illegal immigrants will not simply check a box when registering to vote saying they are U.S. citizens. Even the Associated Press admitted this week that illegal aliens have been found voting in our elections. Many jurisdictions, including Washington D.C., want to explicitly allow them to vote in local elections so they can then use that as a launching pad to allow it on the federal level.

 
This is shameful and un-American. Combatting this nefarious practice is more important than ever, as Biden has orchestrated a mass invasion of our borders. Millions of illegal aliens have entered, with more arriving daily. It’s long past time that we stop this madness. The SAVE Act will require individuals to prove citizenship when registering to vote and ensuring states remove non-citizens from their existing voter rolls.

Geopolitical Futures
May 24, 2024
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The State of Argentina’s ‘Transformation’
Milei’s government has been more pragmatic than it said it would be.
By: Allison Fedirka
Argentine President Javier Milei will not be commemorating his country’s revolution on May 25 as originally planned. At the beginning of the year, he intended to use the holiday as an occasion to sign the Pacto de Mayo, a 10-point declaration meant to establish a new social contract and economic order for the country, one that he hoped would receive the support of political leaders from all parties and provinces. Instead, he will be in the city of Cordoba to give his state of the union address and oversee more modest ceremonial celebrations.

The government still has every intention to pursue the Pacto de Mayo, but Milei publicly pre-conditioned the deal’s signing on the passage of the Bases Law and certain tax reforms. These have been passed by the lower house of the Argentine legislature but still need to be approved by the upper. Put simply, Milei’s reforms are not advancing as quickly as he would like, pitting him against growing social pressure amid difficult economic conditions. Yet his government has proved more pragmatic than expected, so Milei may have more time to execute his changes.

One of the public’s biggest complaints is the decline of purchasing power, which owes to inflation brought on by the government’s decision to lift market controls. Private employees fared significantly better than public employees, with respective decreases of 11.2 percent and 21.3 percent. More concerning is that in the past six months, the country’s minimum wage has lost 29 percent of its purchasing power, pushing more people into poverty. Argentina’s Pontifical Catholic University estimates that the poverty rate now stands at 57 percent. While better insulated from economic shock, even the country’s upper class has started to feel the pinch as inflation outpaces favorable exchange rates and a sharp decline in disposable income.

Purchasing Power Decline
(click to enlarge)

Despite the Milei government’s extreme adherence to libertarian economic principles, it has shown a willingness to be less rigid in strategic moments and fairly responsive to social pressure. At the beginning of his term, for example, Milei allowed prices on all items to rise unchecked, only to later slow inflation by reducing the rate of subsidy cuts and putting price caps on certain items amid public backlash. In April, university students – a demographic that strongly supported Milei’s presidential candidacy – protested against what they saw as insufficient government funding and resources; weeks later, the government raised the functional budget for national universities by 270 percent. One of Milei’s first acts as president was to present a series of decrees meant to overhaul the economy and political system. When met with fierce opposition in the legislature and the judiciary, the government toned down its proposals in the more palatable Bases Law proposal currently making its way through the legislature. (The new version would still enable Milei to move forward with many of his desired reforms but requires less political sacrifice.)

Monthly and Annual Inflation Rates
(click to enlarge)

In fact, the Bases Law shows that the administration is capable of taking its time to advance reforms if doing so translates to more political support. Major components of the proposal call for the partial-to-full privatization of a handful of state-run companies and the scaling down of private companies to make them more efficient. Naturally, this upset Argentine unions, so the government is studying each case and entering negotiations with corresponding unions to make the proposal more palatable.

By insisting that the Pacto de Mayo remains on the agenda, the Milei administration has signaled its near-term plans to continue with reforms once the Bases Law is passed. Among the pact’s priorities are the schemes through which Buenos Aires funds the provinces, a renewed interest in provincial commitment to promote resource extraction, and the opening of the economy to international trade and commerce. The government also plans to reduce taxes on foreign currency exchanges, agriculture exports and financial transactions. It believes it will benefit from the planned cuts. The forex tax will support the elimination of the parallel exchange market, and the export tax will encourage exports and win favor among farmers, a large and influential group in the country. Unlike with the Pacto de Mayo, however, the government conditioned these moves on a resumption of economic growth rather than a particular deadline, thereby reducing the risk of embarrassing itself for taking longer than expected to deliver on plans.

Argentina | Exchange Rates
(click to enlarge)

Critics of Milei argue that the government is touting false progress and that deteriorating economic conditions are just the beginning of the country’s troubles. The government has trumpeted its success in no longer running a public deficit and reducing monthly inflation to a single digit. The counterargument is that annual inflation remains high, and recession and lower purchasing power abated inflation, not the government. Critics also argue that it’s easy to reduce a deficit when the government simply stops spending any money – a charge that isn’t without merit. Other concerns are the reforms’ knockoff effects, which include potentially increased unemployment and security problems. Emerging anecdotal evidence – such as construction workers being laid off due to less government-funded public works projects and a police strike in Misiones province – feed these concerns.

Argentina's Public Spending
(click to enlarge)

The problem with Milei’s approach to reform – which he has called “shock therapy” – is that it assumes and plans for the economy to get worse before it gets better. It is predicated on high risk and high reward. The Argentine economy appears in worse shape now than when Milei took office. However, under the shock therapy strategy, the economy would look this bad as a matter of course – even if it were successful.

At this point, economic health alone isn’t a reliable indicator of the potential success or failure of Milei’s planned overhaul. A more subtle look at the government’s response to political and social pressures shows that it may be adept enough to keep reforms moving forward. If that’s the case, the next big challenge will be fine-tuning the new economic model so that the changes stick.