American Authoritarianism

Emmett Tyrrell

If there was one dominant theme to President Joe Biden's inaugural address, it was unity. All Americans -- left, right and middle-of-the-road -- are to come together in unity, Joe said. On his theme of unity, Joe was emphatic, and the media cheered him on. Yet shortly thereafter, his perfumed rhetoric evaporated in the wintry air, and reality intruded. It began with Joe's executive orders.

One of them rescinded President Donald Trump's August ban on mandatory anti-bias training throughout the federal government. Now we are going back to the Obama-era period of racial indoctrination according to the diktats of critical race theory, one of which is that all white people are racists by virtue of their birth. Black people are apparently immune to being born racists -- and probably Chinese Americans, too -- but white people are born with racism in their DNA. It is, for them, a second original sin.

Yet now they can be liberated from the sin of being born white, thanks to Critical Race Theory. If you think this contradicts Joe's belief in unity, I think you have a point, but be careful how you make that point because there are people out there who will call you a racist, and they are experts on the subject.

One of them is an attorney named M.E. Hart, who leads diversity sessions for corporate clients and the federal government. He told The Washington Post recently: "These classes have been very powerful in allowing people to do that (I think he means take more of his 'classes'), and we need them more than ever. There's danger here." You will perceive a note of desperation in his voice, but now he is back in business by virtue of Joe's contradictory call for unity and diversity classes. Possibly, Hart will be leading the diversity programs for the whole federal government. Now that we are free from the Trump curse, diversity courses are going to flood into our government and poof, racism is going to disappear from the scene. Moreover, the M.E. Harts of this world are going to make a killing.

The ultimate point of Hart's diversity sessions is to get young people in grammar school and older people in the federal government -- say, at the National Security Council -- to admit after lengthy (and expensive!) sessions that they have benefited from their white culture but they now will ... well, what? What are you supposed to do about being born white? On that point, I do not quite understand Hart's swindle. Perhaps we shall have to wait until it is all thrashed out in a court of law, which is what another lawyer, Christopher Rufo, has in mind.

Rufo is the head of Stop Critical Race Theory, a coalition of lawyers who are going to take their case to court. "Critical-race-theory training programs have become commonplace in academia, government and corporate life, where they have sought to advance the ideology through cultlike indoctrination, intimidation and harassment," Rufo told the Washington Times last week.

It appears Rufo has a broad coalition reflecting how other countries have been haunted by reeducation programs such as critical race theory, for instance, the Cultural Revolution of Mao's China and the Sovietized nations behind the Iron Curtain.

David Pivtorak, an attorney in Los Angeles, was born in Ukraine and has joined Rufo's coalition. He says, "I think at root what we are seeing is something that my parents and grandparents have been warning me about since I was a little kid." He has become a coalition director and plans to lead his team in a lawsuit against the California wildlife department that could land in the Supreme Court. I shall watch the progress of his case and the others begun by Rufo's coalition with avidity.

Looking back over the history of this country, nothing like critical race theory has ever been tried. It is utterly foreign to the American spirit. Those who are its adepts are bringing an authoritarian project into a country that refers to itself as "the land of the free" and "the home of the brave." One has to wonder how Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden could countenance such alien ideas.

What is more, when one thinks about the areas of American life that that critical race theory is aimed at -- the corporate world, the educational world, the federal government -- what kind of people populate these areas? Are they as balmy as Hart?

https://townhall.com/columnists/emmetttyrrell/2021/01/28/american-authoritarianism-n2583808

Congress Has Finally Acted on Surprise Medical Billing: It’s a Start

The Left's Ongoing Campaign to Denigrate Trump Supporters
One of the most significant problems facing patients and their access to quality healthcare is the threat of a surprise medical bill or balance billing. Between 2018 and 2020, 41 percent of insured Americans received an unexpected medical bill with two-thirds of Americans worrying they will be unable to afford an unexpected medical expense. Recognizing that the existence of surprise medical bills prevents people from receiving quality care as well as plunges patients into medical debt, the U.S. Congress has finally taken the first steps toward protecting patients from a market failure both Democrats and Republicans agree needs correcting.

In its simplest form, surprise medical bills are the difference between what an out-of-network provider's fees exceed and what an individual's health insurance is willing to cover. Between 2014 and 2017, it is estimated the average surprise medical bill could be anywhere from $220 to $628. The problem is particularly pronounced in emergency care and surgeries as surprise bills reach an average of $19,600 and insured patients are often unable to select a provider.

Recognizing the serious problem surprise medical billing presents to patients, the federal government finally enacted the No Surprises Act to take the first step toward ending the practice. The No Surprises Act prohibited out of network providers from billing patients out of network rates at in-network hospitals unless the patient is informed and consents, and the act also prevents air ambulances from charging more than in-network charges.

While the No Surprises Act does offer comprehensive protections to patients, and further legislation needs to be passed to eradicate the practice, the bill marks an important step forward for consumers and patients. The failure of Congress to act earlier on surprise medical billing is particularly perplexing given its issue that enjoys broad bipartisan support.

Aside from protecting patients from unexpected bills, the passage of the No Surprises Act could benefit the wider economy by lowering the federal deficit. In its economic impact assessment of H.R. 5826 and HR.5800, previous iterations of the No Surprises Act, the Congressional Budget Office estimated reforming surprise billing could reduce the federal deficit between $17.8 billion or $23.9 billion over 10 years. Economic studies also suggested reforming surprise billing could save Americans between 0.5 percent and 1 percent on their insurance premiums.

According to American Action Forum, much of these savings will occur because “providers would be expected to move toward the median in-network rate under the legislation and away from the average overall payment, which is higher generally.”

While the U.S. Congress was slow to enact reform on surprise medical billing, several states have enacted legislation to reform the practice. Washington state, for example, recently enacted the Balance Billing Protection Act that prohibits patients from being billed out of network provider costs for receiving emergency care at an in-network facility.

New Mexico enacted the Surprise Billing Protection Act that requires insurance companies “pay for all out-of-network emergency services necessary to evaluate and stabilize the patient,” requires insurers to fully reimburse for out-of-network care provided at an in-network facility, and requires providers notify patients if they are out of network for non-emergency care.

While some states have taken steps toward ending surprise billing at a faster rate than the federal government, not all have followed suit. Currently, 13 states do not protect patients from surprise medical bills, leaving millions of consumers liable for unexpected medical bills. The failure of these 13 states to pass protections also serves to highlight the need for further federal action on surprise billing to ensure a baseline of protection that is not dictated by a patient's residency.

For consumers and patients, the passage of the No Surprises Act will go a long way to ensure they are protected from expensive unexpected medical bills and ensuring the healthcare market works for patients, providers, and insurance companies. Despite this laudable effort, it is also important to recognize more needs to be done at both the state and federal level to protect patients and ensure they are able to access critical and routine care without the threat of bankruptcy.

https://townhall.com/columnists/edwardlonge/2021/01/27/congress-has-finally-acted-on-surprise-medical-billing-its-a-start-n2583795

Nazis Everywhere

Americans have a shockingly low history IQ, with a low percentage of adults not possessing even basic knowledge of the country and its founding. One would be hard-pressed to find a person on the street who can name the country's first president. Or who fought in World War II. Or who won it, for that matter. But everyone seems to know a lot about Nazis.

Former President Donald Trump and the people who voted for him are routinely labeled as Nazis in the American media. It has become a charge that is repeated so often that it's hardly even challenged anymore. Leftmedia apparatchiks like Jonathan Chait post fabricated chronicles about how Trump introduced Nazism into the Republican Party, and those who don't know better are left to simply believe his supposition unquestioned. Trump brought Nazis into the Republican Party? Of course not. But few are questioning that this actually took place. They merely ponder how he supposedly did it.

Even our current president, Joe Biden, Mr. Unity himself, has labeled Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley as "part of the big lie." That's an implicit reference to a statement attributed to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels that people will believe a lie, no matter how big, if you tell it often enough. This is ironic considering how the Left is throwing around the terms Nazi and fascist lately.

There are a couple of big lies being floated in the American media, but neither has anything to do with how the Republican Party was supposedly hijacked by Nazis, or how Trump was supposedly the second coming of Adolf Hitler.

The first big lie is about fascism itself, and it's based on a completely false view of the political spectrum. This view, embraced by a vast majority of pundits and educators, is that fascism is a far-right ideology, while communism is on the far left. According to this view, totalitarian control lays at both ends of the spectrum, with humble Liberty-loving folks in the center. This is not true. On the real political spectrum, the far left is dominated by totalitarian control, regardless of how it's packaged. The far right is a complete absence of control (anarchy). Responsible self-government exists somewhere in between.

How is it that so many people have a completely erroneous view of the political spectrum? It started before World War II, when communist apologists in the Western media searched for a way to create daylight between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in order to engender sympathy for the latter and derision for the former. In reality, there was no big difference between Joseph Stalin and Hitler or how they ran their countries. They both ruled over their citizens with an iron fist, maintained complete control over their economies and industries, and sought to expand their power through military means. The only difference was in how they conducted their parades.

Theirs was a turf war, not an ideological one.

Yet the lie about fascism being a far-right ideology has stuck ever since, and now it's being used to bolster another big lie — that Donald Trump and his followers are fascists. Follow the twisted logic for a moment. Republicans are on the right side of the political spectrum, therefore rabid Republicans must be fascists, because fascists are on the extreme right.

Wrong. Republicans and conservatives are on the right side of the political spectrum because they want constitutionally limited government, not unbridled government. Fascists want total government control of approved private enterprise. If Trump were a true fascist, then he's the worst fascist in modern history. He cut hundreds of government regulations to shrink the reach of the federal bureaucracy. He's the first president in recent memory to go through an entire term without bringing America into a new war. And he spent much of his foreign policy capital fostering peace treaties and trade deals with other nations.

Yet the media has condemned Trump as a fascist in the court of public opinion, and leftists everywhere are hoping that this second sham impeachment trial will finally prove it to the public for all time. Their lie has become so big that many Republicans have parroted this view, demonstrating more interest in saving their political hides than standing up against the tide of ignorance. Even former California Governor and sometime Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger bought the line about Trump as a Nazi. And Schwarzenegger's father actually was a Nazi. You'd think at least he'd know the difference.

Leftists had to defeat Donald Trump by any means necessary because he stood between them and greater power. They lied, cajoled, browbeat, stuffed ballot boxes, and engaged in all manner of dirty deeds to achieve that aim, because they insisted he was the fascist. The trouble is, their behavior is exactly what real fascists do.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/77330-nazis-everywhere-2021-01-28

Biden’s Gifts for Illegal Aliens

President Joe Biden is the illegal aliens’ best friend. He is asking Congress to provide a pathway to citizenship for the more than 11 million illegal aliens presently living in the United States. And to make the illegal aliens feel better about themselves, Biden is seeking a change in U.S. immigration laws to replace the phrase “illegal alien” with “noncitizen” to describe them.

Unless the Democrats eliminate the filibuster in the Senate, Biden is not likely to get his complete legislative package passed by Congress. “A mass amnesty with no safeguards and no strings attached is a nonstarter,” said Republican Senator Chuck Grassley.

However, Biden decided not to wait for Congress to act. He signed an executive order halting border wall construction. He also signed another executive order reversing the Trump administration’s “remain in Mexico” program for so-called asylum seekers waiting for U.S. hearings on their asylum pleas. “Remain in Mexico,” worked out with the cooperation of the Mexican government, was implemented as a practical solution to a vexing problem. It was designed as an alternative to either detaining the ostensible asylum-seekers in the United States until their amnesty applications could be heard by U.S. immigration judges or releasing them into communities across the country under the infamous “catch and release” policy of prior administrations. Biden’s executive order brings back the “catch and release” policy, endangering the safety of law-abiding Americans.

Open-borders President Joe Biden is creating through such executive orders and his pro-amnesty legislative agenda a super-strong magnet to pull many more illegal migrants into the United States.

Biden also signed an executive order that violates his presidential obligation under the Constitution to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” This order put in place a policy to unilaterally suspend removals of most illegal aliens for 100 days. It was a show of defiance against enforcing the immigration laws as written.

An advisory memorandum was issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on January 20th to guide the immigration agencies in carrying out Biden’s deportation suspension executive order. Couched dishonestly in the language of reprioritizing immigration law enforcement actions, the memorandum said that the immediate 100-day “pause on removals” would help "ensure we have a fair and effective immigration enforcement system focused on protecting national security, border security, and public safety."

Biden’s 100-day “pause on removals” does precisely the opposite. Even illegal aliens who were convicted of serious felonies and were already ordered to be removed from this country following a full and fair hearing would stand to benefit from the removal suspension.

Fortunately, a federal judge in Texas said not so fast, in response to a complaint filed by the state of Texas. U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton had the good sense and fidelity to the law to issue a temporary restraining order on Tuesday, blocking for now the implementation of Biden’s removal suspension edict nationwide for 14 days. Judge Tipton said that the Biden administration had failed “to provide any concrete, reasonable justification for a 100-day pause on deportations.” That’s an understatement.

The Biden DHS memorandum was so far out in left field that it refused to use the words “illegal alien,” which appear more than 30 times in U.S. immigration laws that the DHS is supposed to enforce. As far as the Biden administration is concerned, “illegal alien” is already expunged from the statute books even without any congressional action. Instead, the Biden DHS memorandum used the term “noncitizens.”

The DHS memorandum’s instructions on pausing compulsory removals of illegal aliens (apologies to the enforcers of political correctness for using the legally correct phrase ) did contain a few narrow exceptions. The pause did not apply to suspected terrorists, spies or others deemed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to pose a danger to the national security of the United States. Also, individuals illegally in the country who were “not physically present in the United States before November 1, 2020” would be out of luck under the DHS memorandum’s implementation guidelines. And there could be some scattered cases where an individualized determination is made that removal is absolutely required by law. But public safety is given short shrift.

Biden’s executive order suspending removals, along with the implementing DHS memorandum, contained no pause exception addressing generally the class of illegal aliens still in the United States who have been convicted of violent aggravated felonies such as murder or rape. Even many of those dangerous criminals already subject to removal orders issued prior to Biden’s executive deportation suspension would have been entitled to protection from immediate removal.

Judge Tipton has come to the rescue at least for now, temporarily stopping Biden’s deportation suspension from taking immediate effect. Judge Tipton needs to go further and stick a fork in Biden’s reckless deportation suspension executive order for good, which the Supreme Court will hopefully uphold.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/01/biden-pushes-forward-his-open-border-agenda-joseph-klein/

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My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com TONGUE-TIED)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://john-ray.blogspot.com (FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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