TheAmericanCitizen.org

Part 4 (Conclusion)
Destroying Ashli

October 15, 2023October 11, 2023 by The American Citizen

(CONCLUSION of a 4 Part Report)

**WARNING** The screenshots at the end of this report of Ashli Babbitt after she was fatally shot are graphic. They are included because they visually convey the horror of a homicide for which there were zero repercussions.

“I tried to wait as long as I could. I hoped and prayed no one tried to enter through those doors. But their failure to comply required me to take the appropriate action to save the lives of members of Congress and myself and my fellow officers” — Lt. Michael Byrd speaking to NBC’s Lester Holt.

In the conclusion of this analysis (Part 4) we’ll examine in detail the last seconds of Ashli Babbitt’s life and how the Department of Justice’s investigation was predetermined from the start.

It would have been impossible to even consider allowing a Trump-supporting, Capitol trespassing, January 6th insurrectionist to become the sympathetic victim and a veteran African-American Capitol police officer to be tainted as the villain in this story.

The evidence strongly suggests that immediately after the homicide, a D.C. narrative quickly evolved that the shooter was the good guy and the deceased victim got what she deserved.

Destroying Ashli

Part 3
Destroying Ashli

January 6, 2024September 5, 2023 by The American Citizen

(PART 3 of a 4 Part Report)

When Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed on January 6, 2021, the only member of Congress still in the House Chamber was Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma) who refused to leave. When interviewed by the Wall Street Journal three weeks after the shooting, he stated that Lt. Michael Byrd “did what (he) had to do” and that by killing Babbitt he “saved a lot of people’s lives that day.”

On February 1, 2021 the Wall Street Journal article said investigators had already made a “preliminary determination” that the U.S. Capitol Police officer who shot Babbitt “shouldn’t be charged with any crimes in connection with her death…”

This determination was apparently made even before interviewing and getting statements from the three USCP uniformed officers who were guarding the eastern Speakers Lobby doorway until less than a minute before Babbitt was shot.

Given the lack of timeliness in conducting vitally important interviews, leading questions to seemingly pave the way to a predetermined outcome and a stunning disregard for available evidence (as contained in this report), it appears the fix was in.

Destroying Ashli

Part 2
Destroying Ashli

October 20, 2023August 15, 2023 by The American Citizen

(PART 2 of a 4 Part Report)

Of the thousands of protesters on January 6, 2021 only one person was shot to death on this infamous day of “Insurrection.”

Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt was the picture of enthusiasm as she walked from the White House to the Capitol as shown in this screenshot from the self-video she took during the walk. Her outrage at the inexcusable damage caused by some of her fellow protesters, an inability to remain passive and an act of apparent desperation to escape a violent retaliatory act — caused her to move directly into the sights of a U.S. Capitol Police Lieutenant who without hesitation fired a 40-caliber round into her upper chest.

As this report will make clear, it wasn’t enough that Babbitt was shot and killed. Her reputation and legacy had to be destroyed as well. In order to justify the shooting, she had to be portrayed as just another violent insurrectionist who got what she deserved.

Destroying Ashli

Part 1
Destroying Ashli

October 20, 2023August 1, 2023 by The American Citizen

(PART 1 of a 4 Part Report)

As the smiling, exuberant former Air Force veteran marched to the Capitol from the White House on January 6, 2021 to protest the national vote confirming Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States, little did Ashli Babbitt know when she took this self-video that she had begun the last hour of her life.

The only person shot and killed by police during the infamous riot at the Capitol was a 5’2″ 110 lb. unarmed woman who died shortly after physically trying to stop one of the day’s most violent rioters.

Her execution apparently wasn’t sufficient for the Department of Justice and police investigators. In order to provide some justification for the shooting, they had to portray her as one of the violent protesters who ultimately got what she deserved. Her reputation had to be destroyed as well.

Destroying Ashli

A Tribute to Fathers

October 26, 2023June 16, 2023 by The American Citizen

(This tribute was originally posted in June 2021 and will be republished every Father’s Day as long as I’m alive.)

The root cause for virtually every cultural problem in the United States is the number of children growing up without fathers in their homes.

This is not the case within my own family. I am fortunate to have four sons (two sons, Mike and Matt and two sons-in-law, Dustin and Patrick) who are loving and dedicated fathers to their children. My grandchildren are all very young, very blessed and just assume that having dad at home is the way it is with kids everywhere. We know it is not.

This Sunday is the nation’s 113th celebration of the value of fathers. My effort here is to personalize this day by publicly thanking these men who are raising my grandchildren to let them know how valuable they and fathers like them are in the lives of their kids, their wives and society at large.

Golf’s Real Major Battle

February 7, 2023July 14, 2022 by Tom McGinley

Given that many golf tour professionals make millions each year, it’s hard to grasp that they could be underpaid. But relative to the extraordinary growth of compensation contracts in other pro sports, PGA golfers have for the most part been left behind.

Last (full) year, Jon Rahm was the leading money earner on the PGA Tour (not including the FedEx Cup) with $7.7 million in winnings. He was top dog among the best golfers on the planet. As much as this amount is, it paled in comparison to what professional athletes make in other sports.

According to Spotrac, there were 150 National Basketball Association players, 170 Major League Baseball players and 254 National Football League athletes who made more than Rahm.

A Tribute to Fathers

June 19, 2022June 14, 2022 by Tom McGinley

(This tribute was originally posted in June 2021 and will be republished every Father’s Day as long as I’m alive.)

The root cause for virtually every cultural problem in the United States is the number of children growing up without fathers in their homes.

Liberal comedian Bill Maher on the risks of treating kids as transgendered

May 27, 2022 by The American Citizen

Two minute video of President Biden and his administration on the use of sanctions as a deterrence

May 27, 2022March 26, 2022 by The American Citizen

Cop Who Killed Ashli Babbitt Never Interviewed By Investigators, Now Back In Charge Of House Security

January 12, 2022January 12, 2022 by Paul Sperry

When U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd went on “NBC Nightly News” to tell his side of shooting and killing unarmed Jan. 6 rioter Ashli Babbitt, he made a point to note he’d been investigated by several agencies and exonerated for his actions that day.

“There’s an investigative process [and] I was cleared by the DOJ [Department of Justice], and FBI and [the D.C.] Metropolitan Police,” he told NBC News anchor Lester Holt in August, adding that the Capitol Police also cleared him of wrongdoing and decided not to discipline or demote him for the shooting.

Byrd then answered a series of questions by Holt about the shooting, but what he told the friendly journalist he likely never told investigators. That’s because he refused to answer their questions, according to several sources and documents reviewed by RealClearInvestigations.

The Execution of Ashli Babbitt

October 10, 2023July 14, 2021 by Tom McGinley

On January 6, 2021 an out-of-control group of (mostly, but not all) supporters of President Trump “stormed the Capitol” building in Washington, D.C. And though Democrats and the media falsely claimed that a Capitol police officer was mercilessly bludgeoned to death, only one person died that day on the Capitol grounds as a result of a homicide — 14-year Air Force veteran, Ashli Babbitt. There has been virtually no outrage over the shooting death of this 5’2″ 110 pound, unarmed woman by a U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) lieutenant.

For the last six months, the name of the USCP officer who shot Babbitt has been unknown except to Congressional leadership, law enforcement and some in the media. New information has surfaced within the last few weeks regarding the (public) identity of her killer which still remains formally withheld by the USCP.

Paul Sperry of Real Clear Investigations has recently publicized the name of the officer who fired the fatal shot. This article will say who he likely, not confirmed, is but mostly focus on what transpired at the scene in the seconds leading up to her unjust death along with inconsistencies in the shooter’s story.

Ashli Babbitt was the victim of a personally fatal decision to raid the Capitol, extremely poor judgement on the part of the shooter, poor communication within the USCP and very unlucky timing.

Some of the many questions that need answers: Was the lethal action legally justified or was it pure negligence? Did the officer who shot Babbitt follow training protocols or did he act improperly and impulsively?

One fact will be made very clear. Though some USCP officers were clearly wired for inter-organization communication, an astonishing lack of coordination between the shooter and other officers within just a few feet of Babbitt contributed enormously to her death.

And finally, one major question cannot be ignored. Given our highly politicized and now “racialized” culture that permeates every aspect of society since the murder of George Floyd, was there a racial component to prosecutors’ decision not to criminally charge the officer?

A Tribute to Fathers

June 18, 2021June 17, 2021 by Tom McGinley

The root cause for virtually every cultural problem in the United States is the number of children growing up without fathers in their homes.

This Sunday is the nation’s 112th celebration of the value of fathers. My effort here is to personalize this day by publicly thanking these men who are raising my grandchildren to let them know how valuable they and fathers like them are in the lives of their kids, their wives and society at large.

One Father who has the Courage to Publicly Take on the “Woke” Establishment

April 20, 2021 by The American Citizen

As “wokeness” runs rampant in America’s public schools (and especially college campuses), most wealthy private K-12 schools had remained focused on classical education to the approval and support of parents paying their children’s tab.

But gradually this national infection has been invading those schools as well. Traditional, inclusive education where students are exposed to a variety of concepts and taught to actually think with some depth is under an insidious attack.

It is being replaced by an insidious “woke” mentality in which all of humanity (can never be aligned with common purpose or goals but) must be divided into two groups that can never be permitted to come together: victims and oppressors.

One parent at the $54,000 per year Brearley School in New York City had enough of the changes and proceeded to write one of the most powerful letters you’ll ever read. It was initially posted here and reported in the New York Post. We’ve decided to post it below in its entirety. It is absolutely brilliant and I urge you to read it.

Politics Over Science (An Exposé)
The political war against Hydroxychloroquine — that has likely cost thousands of lives.

March 20, 2021February 21, 2021 by Tom McGinley

Former Obama chief of staff and Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel famously said in 2008: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. …it’s an opportunity to do things that you think you could not before.”

Well, outside of war, America has had few national crises worse than this COVID-19 pandemic. And unfortunately, few have provided a greater opportunity for those who crave power to vastly expand it.

The pandemic has now resulted in the deaths of over 500,000 Americans and economically impacted nearly every family and small business. As bad as this has been, there is another enormous issue for the American people: The failure of those we rely on and entrust to prevent such catastrophes — or at least mitigate their damage. And perhaps even more alarming is the possibility that this failure is not due to incompetence — but intent.

I believe this saga to be one of the greatest medical scandals in American history. Perhaps like the New York state nursing home scandal, this saga will eventually receive the national media attention it deserves but until then it remains largely ignored.

The political war against Hydroxychloroquine — that has likely cost thousands of lives.

Doctors Testify
Americans Dying While Bureaucrats Nap – (Part 2)

December 19, 2020December 19, 2020 by The American Citizen

(Part 2 of 2)

This is the second part of the summary of testimony heard by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on December 8, 2020. It was the second recent hearing on the current progress with early out-patient treatment for COVID-19 and the successes that many front line physicians have had using inexpensive, repurposed drugs.

The previous testimony dealt mostly with the frustrations shared by these doctors trying to fight the war while the “generals,” well-removed from the front lines of the battle field, are making the wrong life-and-death decisions or occasionally the correct ones but at a snail’s pace.

Part one covered most of the opening statements by the six physicians giving testimony. This article deals with the responses the doctors gave to questions from the few committee members in attendance. It appeared only Republican senators Johnson, Paul and Hawley attended leaving senators Portman, Scott, Enzi, Lankford and Romney absent. On the Democrat side, only Senator Peters was initially present but he left immediately after his opening remarks never hearing any of the testimony. Democrat senators absent were Wood Hassen, Carper, Sinema, Harris and Rosen.

Americans Dying While Bureaucrats Nap – (Part 2)

Doctors Testify
Americans Dying While Bureaucrats Nap – (Part 1)

December 20, 2020December 18, 2020 by The American Citizen

(Part 1 of 2)

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held its second recent hearing on the current progress with early out-patient treatment for the COVID-19 virus.

Six highly respected physicians from various specialties testified that they are frustrated with the snail’s pace of Washington’s COVID oversight bureaucracy’s response to rapidly changing information. They are also fed up with what appears to be a lack of urgency while Americans continue to die, needlessly in many cases.

In attendance at the Senate hearing were Drs. Armand Balboni, M.D., Ph.D., CEO of Appili Therapeutics, Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D. Professor of Medicine at Stanford University, Pierre Kory, M.D., Pulmonologist and Professor of Medicine at St. Luke’s Aurora Medical Center, Jane Orient, M.D., Executive Director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Ramin Oskoui, M.D., Cardiologist and CEO of Foxhall Cardiology and Jean-Jacques Rajter, M.D., Pulmonologist at Broward Health Medical Center.

There was absolutely stunning testimony about how little has changed for at-home or early out-patient treatment. The overarching theme was that now with over 300,000 Americans dead from COVID-19 there is still a decided lack of urgency with the federal healthcare bureaucracies. The traditionally, slow, methodical, double-blind studies are clearly thorough and wholly embraced by Dr. Fauci et.al. But when innovative therapies that have shown great successes on the front lines of the battle with this great enemy, are arrogantly dismissed by the bureaucracy, it is more than irresponsible, it is unethical.

And these physicians appear to have had enough of it.

Americans Dying While Bureaucrats Nap – (Part 1)

Was the Presidential Election STOLEN? Why I think it was.

January 6, 2021December 8, 2020 by Tom McGinley

According to a Rasmussen poll conducted November 17-18, 47% of all voters or 73 million Americans (155 million votes counted so far) believe the November 3^rd presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump.

This total includes 70% of Republicans who don’t believe it was a “free and fair election” and a stunning 30% of Democrats.

Many of us have been paying close attention to the attempts by Trump’s legal team to fight the “official” results in the courts. We believe Democrats fraudulently produced enough Biden votes (or eliminated Trump votes) in just a handful of counties in key battleground states to give those states and their electoral votes to the Democrat.

We know fraud occurred. There are now literally hundreds of evidential eyewitness testimonies and sworn affidavits showing illegal votes were cast and/or votes fraudulently tallied.

What I don’t know is — was that corruption widespread enough to flip the election to Trump.

I can only speak for myself so I’ll try to present the case why I have seen enough anecdotal or circumstantial evidence up to this point to conclude that — until I see information to the contrary — the presidential election was stolen from an incumbent president and that we are witnessing a (so far) bloodless coup.

Doctors Testify:
Government May Cause “Massive Mortality”

December 4, 2020November 26, 2020 by The American Citizen

On November 19, 2020, four physicians testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee chaired by Senator Ron Johnson (R.,WI).

Testifying were Peter McCullough, MD, vice chair of Internal Medicine at Baylor University Medical Center and a professor of medicine at Texas A&M College of Medicine; Dr. George Fareed, MD, a Family Medicine Specialist who graduated from Harvard Medical School where he was a professor and also at the UCLA School of Medicine; Harvey A. Risch, MD, PhD., is Professor of Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health; Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH Professor of Health Services, Policy, and Practice Dean of the School of Public Health Brown University.

Dr. McCullough opened his remarks by saying that with this new surge in cases, hospitals are not yet at capacity but could be eventually overwhelmed (as flu season is just getting underway) if there isn’t early at-home intervention. He urged government officials to be more helpful in assisting primary care physicians with early COVID-19 treatments. Dr. McCullough stated unequivocally that “we prevent hospitalization and death.”

Government May Cause “Massive Mortality”

The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization
Part 11: The Birth of Science and Rise of the Arts

November 12, 2020November 12, 2020 by The American Citizen

(Part 11 of a multi-part series on The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization.)

Why did science (along with capitalism) originate in Europe and not somewhere else? Certainly there were brilliant people in other cultures. The answer has everything to do with the people’s image of God.

For over a century, secular intellectuals have quickly and enthusiastically “credited” Christianity for Western colonialism. They maintain that fundamentalist Christian imperialistic societies embarked on a worldwide mission to destroy peaceful, indigenous cultures wherever they traveled. However, these same intellectuals are not so quick to credit Christianity with the wealth generated for these explorations by capitalism; or that it also led to many other human advancements like scientific discoveries and achievements in the arts.

Even today it would be out of character for these “enlightened” intellectuals to acknowledge that not only has there never been a separation between science and (Christian) religion, it was actually the Christian scholastics who were the authors of true science. Secularists contend that science developed in spite of the superstitious medieval beliefs they associate with Christianity — not because of it.

Part 11: The Birth of Science and Rise of the Arts

The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization
Part 10: The Growth of Capitalism

November 8, 2020October 30, 2020 by The American Citizen

(Part 10 of a multi-part series on The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization.)

Until the dawn of capitalism in Christian Europe, all previous (dominant) cultures had “command” economies: Markets and labor are “commanded” or coerced rather than allowed to function freely and voluntarily.

Before the dawn of capitalism, much of ancient wealth took the form of buildings —monuments really— like the pyramids in Egypt, the Parthenon in Greece and others. Although impressive, these structures had no productive value and were built mostly by slave labor.

Similar to people living in command economies, those living under the constant threat of marauders or arbitrary confiscation also live with the perpetual risk that their wealth will be forcibly taken at any time so most of their efforts are focused on just keeping and protecting wealth, not productively investing it for growth.

Command economies never produce much wealth. They ignore the most basic of all economic facts that “all wealth derives from production.”¹ (For wealth to be created something must be mined, hunted, fished, grown, made or manufactured.)

Part 10: The Growth of Capitalism

The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization
Part 9 – The Dawn and Moral Foundations of Capitalism

October 30, 2020October 23, 2020 by The American Citizen

(Part 9 of a multi-part series on The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization.)

Thomas Aquinas was born during the same time period that Genghis Khan was ravaging western Asia. Aquinas became one of the most important figures in the development of Western Civilization, especially in reconciling the brilliant (but pagan) philosophy of the ancient Greeks with historical Christian theology.

In his landmark book, Summa Theologica, Aquinas brought together Biblical revelation with human reason; in particular the philosophy of Aristotle, whom he considered the greatest of the newly rediscovered Greek philosophers. Recall that most of the works of the ancient Greeks had only been recently found mostly through cooperation with the Islamic world from about the mid-12th to the mid-13th centuries.

Aquinas is considered one of Western Civilization’s greatest philosophers for proclaiming that reason was a gift from God instilled in humans to be used to understand, explain and enjoy His creation.
Both Augustine and Aquinas applied reason to God’s Word. Aquinas argued that faith must precede reason which had to be used with humility — the understanding that our intelligence and knowledge as humans is limited.

Part 9 – The Dawn and Moral Foundations of Capitalism

The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization
Part 8 – The Impact of the Crusaders and Mongols on the Islamic World

October 30, 2020October 11, 2020 by The American Citizen

(Part 8 of a multi-part series on The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization.)

While the European continent was finally beginning to settle down in the 11th century, nothing was settled in the Islamic world. Muslim expansion was militant and continuous. Muslim Arabs waged war against the coastal areas of France and Italy and occupied Sicily.

Jerusalem was originally captured by caliph Umar from the Christians in the 7th century who weren’t significantly impacted for a few centuries. But by the 11th century the zealous Fatimid caliph, Hakim, was persecuting Christians and “despoiled” the Holy Sepulcher (the church built by Emperor Constantine’s mother in 330 A.D.). The Holy Sepulcher commemorated the hill of crucifixion and Christ’s burial tomb. Hakim had the 700 year-old church destroyed right down to the bedrock.

By the late 11th century, Byzantine Emperor Alexius I, who had been threatened by the (Muslim) Seljuk Turks appealed to the West (Rome) for help. In 1095 Pope Urban II exhorted the church council at Clermont, France to go to Jerusalem to take back the tomb of Christ from Islamic control.

Part 8 – The Impact of the Crusaders and Mongols on the Islamic World

The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization
Part 7: The Christian Transformation of Europe

October 30, 2020October 1, 2020 by The American Citizen

(Part 7 of a multi-part series on The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization.)

Charlemagne’s empire didn’t last long after his death in 814 as a new wave of pagan barbarians waged war against Christendom in the 9th century. Among the most well-known were the Magyars (migrants from central Asia), called Hungarians in Latin. They settled in the middle Danube region around 900.

Other barbaric Germanic tribes originating in Scandinavia called the Vikings (a.k.a. the Norsemen or Danes) burst out in virtually all directions. They went as far as Kiev (Russia) in 864, founded Iceland in 874 and even reached North America around 1000. They remained and settled in places like England and Normandy (France).

Gradually, most of this second wave of barbaric tribes were also assimilated into the Christian faith and became ‘civilized’ and were accepted into local villages.

Part 7: The Christian Transformation of Europe

The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization
Part 6: A Tale of Two Cultures – Muhammad in Arabia and Charlemagne in Europe

October 30, 2020September 24, 2020 by The American Citizen

(Part 6 of a multi-part series on The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization.)

It is widely known in Judeo-Christian teachings that Abraham (with his wife, Sarah) was the father of Isaac (who, in turn, was the father of Jacob who fathered twelve sons that became the twelve tribes of Israel). Many don’t realize that Abraham is the ancestral father of the Islamic world as well.

14 years before Isaac was born, an aging Abraham didn’t trust that God would ever give him a son with elderly Sarah, so he fathered a boy with Sarah’s servant, Hagar. An angel told Hagar to name her son, Ishmael, and said to her: (Gen. 16:12. “…his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward[b] all his brothers.”

God didn’t want the birth of his nation of Israel created by an extramarital relationship. He told Abraham (Gen. 17:16) that it was Sarah who had to be “the mother of nations,” not Hagar — completely leaving Ishmael out of this legacy. But after hearing Abraham’s pleas to bless his son, Ishmael, God said (Gen. 17:20), “I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.”

It clearly happened. Both Jewish and Muslim histories agrees that Ishmael is the father of the Arab nations.

Part 6: A Tale of Two Cultures – Muhammad in Arabia and Charlemagne in Europe

The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization
Part 5: The Barbarians

October 30, 2020September 18, 2020 by The American Citizen

(Part 5 of a multi-part series on The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization.)

At the same time the Roman Empire ruled the greater Mediterranean region, in North America the metropolis of Teotihuacan (named much later by the Aztecs) near modern day Mexico City was the largest city in the Western Hemisphere before the 15th century. It is most widely identified by its iconic pyramids: Its Pyramid of the Sun is the third tallest in the world; a wonder at 216′ tall.

The culture lasted for as many as seven centuries but no one knows how it started, how it came to great power and why it collapsed. There are no records. It has no lasting legacy. Even its name: “Teotihuacan” was given by the Aztecs (“City of the Gods”) seven centuries after its collapse so we don’t even know what this thriving culture called itself.1

Part 5: The Barbarians

The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization
Part 4: Rome’s Impact and the Ascension of Christianity

September 24, 2020September 4, 2020 by The American Citizen

(Part 4 of a multi-part series on The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization.)

No one knew it was year One in Rome when it arrived. In fact, it wasn’t even considered to be year One until over 500 years later when a sixth-century monk convinced the pope that the birth year of Christ was the greatest in history and that all years prior to that should be “B.C.” or before Christ and those after should be “Anno Domini” or A.D. meaning “year of our lord.”1

At its peak, the Roman Empire covered enormous territory. Virtually all lands west of Persia were part of the empire including Egypt, Greece, Asia Minor, Syria and (now the nations of) Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, and England.

Part 4: Rome’s Impact and the Ascension of Christianity

Fort McHenry and the Star Spangled Banner

August 28, 2020August 28, 2020 by Tom McGinley

I wrote this essay that was originally published by the American Thinker on September 14, 2014, the 200th anniversary of Francis Scott Key’s writing of the Star Spangled Banner.

Given that Vice-President Pence gave his Republican VP nomination acceptance speech at Fort McHenry last evening, the site of the famed battle with the British Navy in Baltimore Harbor late in the War of 1812, I thought I’d re-publish the article and the story behind Key’s inspired poem.

* * *

Two hundred years, on September 14th, it was the unlikely convergence of a physician and a lawyer that produced the most recited poem in American history. Its inspiration occurred just a few miles from Fort McHenry, located in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, the site of one of our nation’s most important military conflicts.

The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization
Part 3: Christianity’s Surprising Growth during the Bloody Roman Persecutions

September 24, 2020August 26, 2020 by The American Citizen

(Part 3 of a multi-part series on The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization.)

In the first century, the Israelites were a relatively small ethnic group held captive by the Romans but in possession of one of the keys for unlocking humanity’s advancement. Their Jewish Bible contained the “secrets” for progress but was largely unknown beyond a tiny region in the Middle East.

For the Jews, the way in which their Bible was introduced to the word was the unlikeliest of situations: It was the followers of a man they did not believe was the long-awaited messiah who ultimately took their sacred scriptures to the world.

No human in history has had the impact of that Jewish carpenter from Nazareth whose public ministry only lasted for a few years. It was the birth, ministry, death and – for believers – the resurrection of Jesus Christ that changed the world.

Part 3: Christianity’s Surprising Growth during the Bloody Roman Persecutions

The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization
Part 2: God, Greeks and the First Sexual Revolution

September 24, 2020August 21, 2020 by The American Citizen

(Part 2 of a multi-part series on The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization.)

The greatest surprise for European explorers, especially those like Columbus, was the backwardness of the people they came upon. They were stunned by the tremendous technological superiority they had. It made proud, brave peoples like the Mayans, Aztecs and Incas virtually and ultimately helpless in their defenses.

Even the highly regarded civilizations of the East like China, India and the Muslim world were quite backward by comparison with 15th century Europe.

Why had Europeans (for centuries) been the only people to “possess eyeglasses, chimneys, reliable clocks, heavy cavalry, or a system of music notation?”1 Why did the Europeans blow the rest of the world away when it came to things like “metallurgy, shipbuilding and farming?”2

Part 2: God, Greeks and the First Sexual Revolution

The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization
Part 1: America and Western Civilization Under Attack

September 24, 2020August 20, 2020 by The American Citizen

(Part 1 of a multi-part series on The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization.)

Nothing in history has benefited the human race like the ascendancy and dominance of Western Civilization. In this multi-part series we’ll prove it.

Many think of Europe when Western Civilization is mentioned but Europeans got a very late start toward civility. “Half of man’s recorded history had passed before anyone in Europe could read or write.”1

When the Roman Empire officially ended in 476, the European continent was a wasteland of crumbled “roads” and barbarian marauders. How then was it possible, that this disorganized, illiterate, unconnected region would come to dominate the world over the next millennium?

This is the first of an occasional series on the unlikely miracle of Western Civilization. Much to the dismay of multiculturalists, modern civilization grew and matured in Europe due to an amazing confluence of events unquestionably directed by a very patient God.

Part 1: America and Western Civilization Under Attack

COVID-19: Maybe More Contagious — But Far Less Deadly

May 9, 2020May 7, 2020 by Tom McGinley

One of the earliest alerts that the COVID-19 virus was not the death sentence that most scientists in the mainstream made it out to be was by Stanford School of Medicine professor, Dr. John Ioannidis. He is ranked by Google Scholar as “one of the world’s 100 most-cited scientists” and is the publisher of more than a thousand studies.

Dr. Ioannidis looked at one of the first places of known infection, the Diamond Princess cruise ship, that was quarantined by Japanese officials on February 4. 700 passengers and crew were infected and 9 died.

By examining the demographic make-up of those infected on-board, Dr. Ioannidis concluded that the fatality rate in the U.S. would be nowhere near the early predictions of one to two million deaths. He thought at worst it would be comparable to annual influenza deaths.

Burn the American flag? No problem. Burn the LGBTQ flag? Get 15 years in prison.

December 19, 2019December 19, 2019 by The American Citizen

An Iowa man, Adolfo Martinez, 30, was just sentenced to 30 days in jail for “third-degree harassment” and one year for “reckless use of fire” when he stole an LGBTQ flag from a local “church.” That doesn’t sound so bad but what sets this case apart is Martinez was sentenced to another 15 years on a hate crime charge.

Martinez may have thought this act could be no worse than if he had burned the American flag since the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Texas v. Johnson (1989) that (American) flag burning was protected speech under the First Amendment.

The hypocrisy of the Yankees and the cowardice of the Flyers in the Kate Smith controversy

April 25, 2019April 24, 2019 by The American Citizen

Partially covered statue of Kate Smith at the Philadelphia Sports Complex. (Photo: NY Post)

This week the New York Yankees stopped using a recorded version of Kate Smith’s “God Bless America” that had been played during the seventh inning of each home game since 9/11.

Just a day later, the Philadelphia Flyers announced they were removing the Kate Smith statue next to its sports complex that was erected as a tribute to the deceased singer whom the team had adopted as its good luck charm after it won the Stanley Cup in 1974.

The Flyers released this statement: “While Kate Smith’s performance of ‘God Bless America’ cannot be erased from its place in Flyers history, that rendition will no longer be featured in our game presentations. And to ensure the sentiments stirred this week are no longer echoed, earlier today we completed the removal of the Kate Smith statue from its former location outside of our arena.”

The media said this was the face of an intimidating bigot. How wrong they were.

January 27, 2019January 26, 2019 by The American Citizen

Photo: (Screen shot) NBC Today program. Nick Sandmann

Behold the face of a cocky, intimidating bully. Obviously an all-American bigot. A man, err, boy who needed to be summarily condemned by many of the most powerful media organizations in the country. And all this long before the 15-year-old grows his first whisker.

The mainstream media’s portrayal of the incident in Washington, D.C. on Friday, January 18th was far worse than the incident itself. It was deliberately caused by a well-traveled activist, whose background the media conveniently chose to ignore or not even look into. (See tweets at the end of this article.)

News organizations and reporters just didn’t get it wrong, they rapidly jumped to their desired conclusion by overlooking tons of evidence to the contrary right in front of their biased noses. They WANTED this Catholic kid to be a bigot; they NEEDED the kid to be a bigot. He just fit the narrative too perfectly.

Why? Mostly because he had a red MAGA hat on and was coming from an anti-abortion rally. But also because he is white, male, Christian (and Catholic to boot).

One example of the deception of the mainstream media

January 15, 2019January 14, 2019 by The American Citizen

Screen shot of the Washington Post website.

A few weeks ago, the Washington Post published an article criticizing President Trump for lying when he said that former President Obama had built a 10 foot wall around his home in Washington, D.C.

The headline read, “Trump claims there’s a 10-foot wall around the Obamas’ D.C. home. He is wrong.”

Though it appears the article is technically correct (the barrier around most of the home appears to be slightly less than 10 feet), it is enormously deceptive and another great example of the Deep State media closely examining and using any Trump statement to undermine his credibility with the American public.

D.C. can’t fund border security but it can sure waste plenty of taxpayer dollars

January 3, 2019 by The American Citizen

Senator Rand Paul annually publishes a look into some of the federal government’s unbelievably wasteful programs and how the Deep State squanders taxpayers’ money.

In what he calls, “Chairman Rand Paul’s Festivus Report” he picks out some of the worst examples of “pork” totaling nearly $115 million. Though some might consider this to be minor in cost and scope relative to the entire federal budget, few listed here are things our national government should have any involvement with. (Keep in mind that the average taxpayer pays a little over $8,000 annually in federal taxes, so this sum represents the hard earn income taxes paid of about 14,000 households.)

VIDEO: Build the wall! The best 2-minute argument you’ll hear.

December 24, 2018December 23, 2018 by The American Citizen

Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA have produced a short video in which Kirk explains in just about two minutes why we need a wall to effectively secure our southern border.

httpsss://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QurcAFMNAWs

The entrapment of Lt. General Michael T. Flynn

December 20, 2018December 18, 2018 by The American Citizen

(Second of two parts)

The political prosecution of Lt. General Michael Flynn began on January 24, 2017, just the second business day following the inauguration of Donald Trump. He was set up by then FBI Director James Comey and his second in command, Andrew McCabe.

They sent two FBI agents, Peter Strzok and Joe Pientka, to conduct what McCabe said was part of “an FBI training session.” The training session was obviously real-time practice on how to get a high ranking Trump official to perjure himself.

One of these two wasn’t just any FBI agent. Peter Strzok was the No. 2 official in the FBI’s counterintelligence division before joining Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team of investigators. Strzok became famous last year after he was fired by Mueller after the publication of his strongly anti-Trump texts to his extramarital girlfriend, FBI lawyer Lisa Page.

The unjust political prosecution of Lt. General Michael Flynn

December 17, 2018December 17, 2018 by The American Citizen

Gen. Michael Flynn (center) and Gen. Stanley McChrystal (right)

(First of two parts)

About a year ago, an American hero, Army Ranger and retired 3-star general, Michael Flynn, was forced to list his Alexandria, Virginia home for sale to help pay his legal fees to combat one of the most egregious political prosecutions in the nation’s history.

Former General Flynn is not a wealthy man having spent three decades in the Army. This prosecution has destroyed his ability to seek employment or acquire speaking engagements.

Tomorrow (Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018), he is scheduled to be sentenced by District Judge (for the District of Columbia) Emmet Sullivan for pleading guilty to one count of lying to federal agents.

The former general’s plight is an American abomination. It is an appalling episode in our history which every justice-loving citizen should despise.

New Jersey could have one million new felons next week

December 20, 2018December 6, 2018 by The American Citizen

(UPDATE: The Bergen County prosecutor has issued a letter of warning to its police officers that this new law places them at risk to be charged with a felony if they carry a firearm, off duty, that contains more than 10 rounds. Insane.)

Next Tuesday, December 11, New Jersey could intentionally convert as many as one million of its citizens into felons.

Governor, Phil Murphy recently received an early Christmas present when a federal appeals court ruled 2-1 that his new (anti-) gun law banning virtually any magazine that can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition is constitutional.

The court said that the law does not violate the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment’s “Takings Clause” because the high capacity magazines do not have to be turned in, just modified to prevent their containing more than 10 rounds.

The New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs had sought an injunction to prevent the law from taking effect.

The law was signed on June 13, 2018 with the stipulation that owners of these so-called “high capacity” magazines had to turn them over or modify them within the 180 day “grace” period. This means that the one million or so gun owners in the state, most of whom may be owners of magazines containing more than 10 rounds will be considered criminals of the fourth degree, a felony that could result in a sentence of 18 months in a New Jersey state prison.

Oh how I miss my home state.

In just two years, six-year-old James might face chemical castration. Can he be saved?

November 29, 2018November 29, 2018 by The American Citizen

There is a tragic story coming out of Dallas, Texas published in The Federalist about a 6-year-old boy named James who is caught in a life-changing, ideological tug-of-war between his divorced parents.

Divorce scars a child of any age but recent actions by the adults supposedly operating with the child’s best interests at heart may take the permanent damage to a much higher level.

We don’t know how it began but his mother, a pediatrician, took young James to “counseling” with an outwardly pro-LGBT therapist who diagnosed the boy with gender dysphoria. She advised his mother that he should be raised as a girl.

James’ mother enrolled him in first grade using the name, “Luna,” while dressing him as a little girl.

The diagnosis is tremendously critical for young James because he may be required to undergo life-altering physical changes — sterilization — in just two years when he is only eight years old.

Charles Schulz a racist? Absolutely not!

November 25, 2018 by The American Citizen

One of the most prevalent concepts on college campuses today is something called, “implicit bias.” It could be defined as being outwardly inclusive but inwardly or subconsciously bigoted.

For example, from Harvard to UCLA, you’ll find “implicit bias” training or mandatory courses for faculty and incoming freshman (freshpersons?). (See here, here and here).

It could be argued that searching for bigotry is now America’s favorite national pastime. To support the premise that all minorities are victims of a white male orchestrated society, virtually every aspect of everyday life is examined closely for even the slightest hint of racial prejudice.

Now, we find that Charlie Brown is accused of being a bigot — or rather his creator and animator, the late Charles Schulz.

This screen shot from “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving,” that aired on ABC just before Thanksgiving was cited by many in the Twitter universe as an example of Schulz’s explicit bias by having Charlie’s black friend, Franklin, seated by himself on the opposite side of the table from Sally, Charlie, Peppermint Patty and Snoopy. Linus and Marcie are at the ends.

New York Times’ deceptive video on health care in China

November 21, 2018November 21, 2018 by The American Citizen

The New York Times has produced a propaganda video entitled, “How Capitalism Ruined China’s Health Care System.” It is intended to show how capitalistic changes in recent decades have nearly destroyed what the Times implies was the formerly great socialist health care system originally started by Mao Zedong.

The video is an incredibly deceptive production and untrue according to the writer who lives there and actually had her appendix expertly removed at one of the private hospitals in Shanghai. The Times video is clearly intended to use the trust people have in the news organization to indoctrinate a large segment of the American public that is currently leaning toward a socialist medical system.

An American expat living in Shanghai, Sarah Lilly, has written a critique of the Times video for The Foundation for Economic Education. She writes that there are many false statements and nearly all of its images are misleading.

VIDEO: Socialism’s damage from people who’ve actually seen its destruction

November 19, 2018November 19, 2018 by The American Citizen

John Stossel and Reason Magazine have produced a short lesson by Gloria Alvarez that should be viewed in every school in America. And oh yes, in the U.S. Congress as well.

httpsss://youtu.be/ACXTTfE4GxM

Medicare for All – One of the worst ideas in the nation’s history

September 5, 2020November 16, 2018 by Tom McGinley

(FINAL of a seven-part series: Medicare for All – Quality and Accessible Care for None)

The core belief of the Medicare for All advocates is that only a government-run, bureaucratic “Deep State” can solve the problems with medical care in America.

These socialists (after all, they are advocating adoption of one of the most socialized systems in the world) can’t even fathom that it is the unelected, unaccountable bureaucracy, and more recently the unaffordable Affordable Care Act, that have further damaged an already flawed medical payment system.

One only has to look at the Veterans Affairs (VA) system to get a glimpse of how national, government-run health care would (not) function. This authentic single-payer system has let our veterans down for years. A VA investigation in 2016 found that over 100 vets died just in Los Angeles County alone over a 9-month period while awaiting treatment. And this despite a $15 billion reform package that passed in 2014 supposedly to clean things up.

It is essential to recognized that even with all of our payment or insurance issues, actual medical care in America is second to none.

California wildfires: Due to climate change or government mismanagement?

November 13, 2018November 13, 2018 by The American Citizen

“300,000 acres and thousands of structures have burned in three enormous wildfires in California this week. Governor Jerry Brown has blamed fossil fuels and climate change.”

Most would think this news story was from this week but it is actually from September 2017.

This is the problem now in California: Nothing changes when it comes to radical “green” ideology overriding environmentally-conscious forest management.

Though the current fires in Northern California don’t yet make the all-time top three in terms of acres burned at 200,000, this one is the most deadly. And two of those top three all occurred within the last 12 months.

The current “Camp” fire is now the single deadliest in California history with over 40 dead, nearly all from one town, Paradise. Last year’s combined Napa and Sonoma wildfires that killed a total of 44 were the highest death toll from wildfires in a combined area.

The case of Aasia Bibi: Another example of Islamic “tolerance”

November 13, 2018November 12, 2018 by The American Citizen

A supreme court decision to acquit Asia Bibi prompted days of protests from some religious parties in Pakistan. Credit: AFP

Pakistan recently acquitted 54-year-old Christian farm worker and mother of five, Aasia Bibi, for blasphemy, a crime that called for the death penalty in that Islamic nation.She had been on death row there since 2010.

In June 2009, a quarrel ensued between Bibi, who had retrieved water for other workers during a scorching day, and two Muslim women who said they refused to drink from the same container a Christian had. The women subsequently accused Bibi of insulting Muhammad to one of the village’s mullahs. This was sufficient to get her charged by the government and sentenced to death.

Health care options for America

September 5, 2020November 7, 2018 by Tom McGinley

(Sixth in a seven-part series: Medicare for All – Quality and Accessible Care for None)

Few Americans are satisfied with the current health care system. But actual medical care in America is not the problem, it’s second to none. What needs fixing is how we pay for it.

The health care payment system in the United States is clearly in need of major reform. Our challenge as a prosperous society is to compassionately provide necessary medical care to those who have difficulty affording it but also to ethically relieve those now burdened with the cost of care of others through considerably higher medical bills or insurance premiums.

One of out of every five Americans don’t pay anything for their care – but somebody does. Doctors and nurses don’t work for free. The people who pay for this care are the “neighbors” of those who got it free or subsidized. What makes this so unethical is that those “neighbors” who end up paying more than what they legitimately owe are mostly being charged extra without their knowledge.

When people don’t pay the cost of a service or product, they want all of it they can get. It’s not a criticism of them, it’s simply human nature. Demand skyrockets when something desirable is free. I’ve had ER physicians tell me they’ve often seen the same people, on Medicaid or without any insurance at all, show up in ER routinely for the most minor of injuries or ailments. Everyone should pay something even if its nominal. It would discourage frivolous use.

The better solution is to move toward a market-oriented system that still benevolently provides care for the truly needy but doesn’t allow others to abuse the system by showing up in ER every two weeks with the sniffles.

Medicare for All: Socialist destruction of American health care

September 5, 2020November 4, 2018 by Tom McGinley

(Fifth in a seven-part series: Medicare for All – Quality and Accessible Care for None)

If the Democrats win the House on Tuesday, the first bill they may pass is “Medicare for All” since it already has over 120 co-sponsors. These now admitted socialists would destroy the world’s greatest health care system due to their arrogance and addiction to political power.

Nearly all previous socialist efforts to destroy the free market have started with the same premise: The current system is so bad, so troubling that government must step in to take remedial action by imposing itself into the marketplace. Phrases like “single-payer,” “universal health care” or the current favorite, “Medicare for All,” are attractive marketing phrases designed to promote expanded government power. In reality, “restricted health care,” “shared shortages,” or “inaccessible care” would be more accurate when describing such concepts.

To socialists, the free market can’t be trusted because it’s just not fair the way it uses merit to produce winners and losers. It’s why government and academia are so closely ideologically aligned. Many have never worked one day of their lives dealing with free market competition. They just know they’re smarter and have better ideas better than those less intelligent simpletons who are out there actually doing the work.

The economic results are in: Trumponomics works!

November 2, 2018November 2, 2018 by The American Citizen

In less than two years, the policies passed by the Republican congress as pushed by President Trump have proved to be wildly successful in energizing the American economy.

The core principles of Trumponomics: low tax rates, rollback of (productivity-destroying) regulations and fair international trade has again made the United States the world’s strongest economic engine.

Even in the face of some of these trade skirmishes (not yet wars) and rapidly rising interest rates by the Federal Reserve, this week we had proof — surging real income, soaring productivity, high job creation and record low unemployment.

Over the last 12 months, wages and salaries (not including benefits) increased by 3.1%, considerably above the 2.3% growth in inflation (Consumer Price Index), illustrating that we have real income gains.

Productivity has now surged over 2% (2.2% in Q3) for two consecutive quarters. This is about double the annual productivity growth during the Obama years.

Jobs increased by 250,000 in October well above the 190,000 that were forecasted. Such recent growth in jobs has reduced the unemployment rate to just 3.7%, the lowest rate since 1969 or nearly 50 years.

“Medicare for All” would destroy America’s great hospitals

September 5, 2020October 31, 2018 by Tom McGinley

(Fourth in a seven-part series: Medicare for All – Quality and Accessible Care for None)

First of all, it must be stated: Everyone in the United States has access to quality medical care regardless of ability to pay in America’s great hospitals.

It is a misconception, and a common cry with the “Medicare for All” crowd that that because many in America don’t have health insurance, they aren’t able to receive medical care. As virtually any Emergency Room physician or nurse will convey, that isn’t true. In most cases, hospitals would treat these uninsured patients anyway, but they must do so because of federal law.

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) was passed in 1986 as part of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA). It states that all hospitals under the CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) system, must examine and treat essentially anyone who walks into the waiting room.

As we as a nation seriously consider whether or not we want a socialized system for our medical care, many would be surprised to learn that our hospitals are not in very good financial shape. Yes, of course they see the expansions and exorbitant hospital bills and immediately assume our medical centers are overcharging for care and loaded with money. For some elite centers this may be true, but overall, hospitals are not in good financial condition and would be irreparably damaged by a single-payer, socialist, “Medicare for All” type system.

Democrats have always been soft on illegal immigration, right?

October 24, 2018 by The American Citizen

(Photo: Axios) Migrant caravan clashes with police on Mexican border.

Quiz: True or False? This week President Trump said, “We simply cannot allow people to pour into the U.S., undetected, undocumented, unchecked and circumventing the line of people who are waiting patiently, diligently, lawfully to become immigrants in this country.”

Answer: FALSE.

This quote in fact belong to former President Barack Obama who said in 2005:

“We are a generous and welcoming people here in the United States but those who enter the country illegally and those who employ them disrespect the rule of law and they are showing disregard for those following the law.
“We simply cannot allow people to pour into the U.S., undetected, undocumented, unchecked and circumventing the line of people who are waiting patiently, diligently, lawfully to become immigrants in this country.”

Health care in America: great medical care, poor payment system

September 5, 2020October 23, 2018 by Tom McGinley

(Third in a seven-part series: Medicare for All – Quality and Accessible Care for None)

Those touting the “Medicare for All” plan are using the phrase to entice those with just a surface awareness of what Medicare actually is into blindly jumping on board the bandwagon. In fact, the phrase is extremely disingenuous (albeit politically brilliant), designed to intentionally mislead the an public. (It is not so dissimilar from the deceptively named “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.”)

The goal is to seduce a mostly uninformed citizenry into supporting a concept that sounds like they’ll (1) never again have to pay anything for medical care; (2) such care will always be readily available when they want it and (3) medical care in the United States will remain top notch.

What Sen. Bernie Sanders and his supporters say they really want is a Canadian-style, government-, state- or bureaucratically-run health care system and not a plan similar to Medicare here in the U.S.

Transgender “women” in female sports: Let them compete or totally unfair to women and girls?

October 20, 2018October 18, 2018 by The American Citizen

Carolien Van Herrikhuyzen, Rachel McKinnon, Jennifer Wagner.

What do we, as a compassionate society, do with transgender “women” who are physically biological males competing in female sports?

What about an international women’s soccer team comprised of mostly men?

So what if competitive women or girls get pushed aside or are denied recognition or scholarships due to guys competing in their sports? If we already allow “girls” with their male genitalia still intact in girls locker rooms in middle and high schools, what’s the big deal about a “woman” with ‘nads competing in women’s sports?

Well, it is a big deal to some female athletes who are talented, hard working and want to compete against other women but not against dudes who are now “women” simply because they declare it.

Countries with socialized medical care and the misconception of “rights”

September 5, 2020October 16, 2018 by Tom McGinley

(Second in a seven-part series: Medicare for All – Quality and Accessible Care for None)

The core “moral” principle supporting the Medicare for All proposal is “health care is a right.” This is not so. Free health care is not a human right, no more than free food, clothing or shelter are human rights. An intrinsic right can only come from a transcendent being – God. Kings don’t have “divine rights,” they have “divinely gifted rights” – like all the rest of us do.

No human right can demand the involuntary servitude of another person – either by being forced to provide his or her medical expertise free of charge, or by having the state confiscate the private wealth of others to pay for the care of those who don’t pay. Intellectuals invoke the claim of “rights” even when they can cite no basis or reason. They just claim it, like saying everyone has the right to “affordable housing” or a “living wage.”

The two nations most prominently cited as the darling models of single-payer systems for the Medicare for All crowd are Canada and Great Britain.

Portland’s mayor allows “Antifa” to reign over his city

October 15, 2018 by The American Citizen

Portland Oregon’s Democratic mayor, Ted Wheeler, has chosen to subordinate rule of law and protection of his citizens to the fascist mobs that erroneously call themselves “Antifa.”

For over five weeks this summer, Antifa members camped out in an area next to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Portland. They trapped office workers inside by barricading exits. During the night, they blocked traffic on the street that was also a key route to a nearby hospital.

According to journalist Andy Ngo, writing in the Wall Street Journal, when workers made frantic calls to the local police for help, Portland’s police chief, Robert Day, said he was “denying their request…” It could have something to do with the fact that Mayor Wheeler is also the police commissioner.

Socialism’s Rebirth in America

September 5, 2020October 11, 2018 by Tom McGinley

(First in a seven-part series: Medicare for All – Quality and Accessible Care for None)

Socialism’s origins in America began 400 years ago, when the Pilgrims made a commitment to leave the Netherlands for the New World after forming a partnership with a group of merchants from London.

Britain granted this new jointly-owned company a plantation in the Virginia Colony in 1617. Of course, we know they missed their intended destination by hundreds of miles when they landed instead along the Massachusetts coast.

This contract was a socialist planner’s dream. It stated that each adult would acquire an equal share in the company; it meant that when they arrived in 1620 Plymouth Colony operated under the governing mandate that all production was owned by the collective. “Food for All” might have been the catchy, feel-good phrase used at the time.

This economic experiment produced disastrous, fatal results. During the very first winter alone, half of the new colonists perished.

Finally, in 1623, America’s first experiment with socialism was mercifully scrapped. Individual, private property rights were established for both land and production giving each settler the right to keep (eat or sell) the fruits of his labors.

Today, just when we thought it was dead (yet again), socialism is experiencing a strong political rebirth in the United States. Combine this sentiment with an increasing distrust/dislike for private insurance companies along with a collective misunderstanding of what defines a “human right” and it’s no surprise “single-payer” or “universal health care” or the attractively-named “Medicare for All” is a steamroller-like political movement.

Read moreSocialism’s Rebirth in America

Sen. Collins not only saved the Kavanaugh nomination but the #MeToo movement as well

October 8, 2018October 8, 2018 by The American Citizen

What Susan Collins did on Friday not only saved the Kavanaugh nomination to the Supreme Court. She also may have saved the #MeToo movement by her effort to keep it credible.

People who affirm signs like “We Believe All Survivors,” are delusional at best, bigoted at worst. Bigotry is defined as irrational prejudice. To believe all accusers, regardless of any corroborating evidence, is not rational. It is a religion-like, dogmatic embrace of a narrative: that women don’t ever lie about sexual assault.

With extraordinary sensitivity Collins said:

Every person-man or woman-who makes a charge of sexual assault deserves to be heard and treated with respect. The #MeToo movement is real. It matters. It is needed. And it is long overdue.
…
Since the hearing, I have listened to many survivors of sexual assault. Many were total strangers who told me their heart-wrenching stories for the first time in their lives. Some were friends I have known for decades, yet with the exception of one woman who had confided in me years ago, I had no idea that they had been the victims of sexual attacks.
Over the past few weeks, I have been emphatic that the Senate has an obligation to investigate and evaluate the serious allegations of sexual assault. I called for and supported the additional hearing to hear from both Professor Ford and Judge Kavanaugh. I also pushed for and supported the FBI supplemental background investigation.
…

And with unemotional rationality she said:

You (Democrats) have taken a survivor who was not only entitled to your respect, but who also trusted you to protect her – and you have sacrificed her well-being in a misguided attempt to win whatever political crusade you think you are fighting
Mr. President, we’ve heard a lot of charges and counter charges about Judge Kavanaugh. But as those who have known him best have attested, he has been an exemplary public servant, judge, teacher, coach, husband, and father
Despite the turbulent, bitter fight surrounding his nomination, my fervent hope is that Brett Kavanaugh will work to lessen the divisions in the Supreme Court so that we have far fewer 5-4 decisions and so that public confidence in our Judiciary and our highest court is restored. Mr. President, I will vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh.

Socialist Bernie Sanders wants to make low-income people harder to hire

October 8, 2018October 5, 2018 by The American Citizen

Senator Bernie Sanders (Ind. – Vt.) wants to tax corporations (more than 500 employees) 100% for each employee who works at the company but receives any low-income government benefit: section 8 housing, food stamps, Medicaid, children in school lunch program, etc.

At first this seems entirely reasonable. Sanders says that because the company is not paying the employee a high enough wage, taxpayers have to supplement this low wage to allow the person (or household) to stay above the poverty level.

But because most socialists are economic illiterates or poisoned by their own ideological beliefs, they can’t grasp how such proposals work in real life with real human behavior.

First of all most Americans would agree that (1) self-sufficiency is a good thing and (2) that the path to self-sufficiency is to have a job. But to get a job, the person must provide the employer with greater value than what the employer will have to pay in compensation. Any company that adds a job and hurts itself financially won’t be around very long.

This means that the most impoverished person, the individual who is receiving the greatest number of low-income programs would now, under the Sanders’ plan, be the most expensive person for the employer to hire. His or her cost to the employer would not only be the compensation paid, but would include 100% of every government benefit that person continues to receive.

Democrats delaying tactics have already made an impact at SCOTUS

October 4, 2018 by The American Citizen

One of the successes of the Democrats strategy of delaying the final vote and potential installation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court is that beginning on October 1, cases are now being heard with just eight justices. This means that any ruling in a lower court that is deemed favorable to the political left, will likely stand with a 4 – 4 final decision.

The first case on the docket in this term for SCOTUS was Weyerhaeuser v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This case has major constitutional implications as a family’s primary asset was essentially confiscated by the bureaucracy with no compensation in apparent violation of the 5th Amendment.

This is Edward Poitevent’s last chance is to keep the U.S. government from simply taking his 1,500 acre tree farm for its own specific use. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) ruled that the land in St. Tammany Parish, La. was a “potential backup habitat” for the Mississippi gopher frog” or as FWS calls it now that it wants Louisiana land, the “dusky gopher frog,” which on the Endangered Species list.

This land is very valuable, worth about $34 million according to Investor’s Business Daily, but the federal government won’t have to pay the Poitevent family anything for it.

Some strong women do not believe Christine Blasey Ford

October 3, 2018October 3, 2018 by The American Citizen

Though the majority of American women appear to believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s sexual assault accusation against Brett Kavanaugh, the news media are surprised that a considerable number of women find her presentation both unbelievable and embarrassing.

Octogenarian Doris O’Brien, writing in the American Thinker says Ford has “belittled” all women by appearing meek and fragile at the Senate Judiciary hearing last week. She says that if such an encounter (assault by Kavanaugh) actually occurred, by Ford’s own admission, there was no penetration, no physical harm or disability, only psychologically trauma. It should not have subsequently dominated her life.

O’Brien says that by speaking with no one about the alleged incident — close friends, family member(s) or trusted adults — she would have potentially become complicit in any future violent acts against other women by Kavanaugh. Ford says she even left her good friend, Leland Keyser, at the party completely unaware that she was now alone with four guys, two of whom had just tried to rape Ford. Some friend.

Orwell’s “1984” coming soon to China and it’s not fiction — it’s real life

October 3, 2018October 2, 2018 by The American Citizen

Unless we’re politically diligent, we could experience here in the U.S. what citizens of other major socialist nations around the world face in an increasingly surveilled daily environment.

The Communist government of China will shortly make full use of its extraordinary digital capabilities to monitor the actions and behavior of its people. Cameras are everywhere and many police officers have so-called smart glasses that can provide instant facial recognition.

In 2020, China will introduce a national monitoring system that ranks all of its 1.4 billion citizens based on their “social credit” or how the government wants them to act. Each person will have to participate in this national point-system program that will reward or punish people based on actions the authoritarians in power determine are good or bad.

Sex crimes prosecutor Mitchell says evidence is nonexistent

October 2, 2018October 1, 2018 by The American Citizen

Career sex-crimes prosecutor, Rachel Mitchell, has issued her final report (memorandum) on her conclusions from the Senate Judiciary hearing last Thursday.

Here is what she has specifically detailed to justify her position that Dr. Ford’s allegation does not rise to the level where “a reasonable prosecutor would bring a case.”

1. “Dr. Ford has not offered a consistent account of when the alleged assault happened.”

Ford originally said that the alleged incident occurred in the “mid-1980s,” but this recollection was later amended to the “early 80s.” More recently it was narrowed down to the “summer of 1982” in the September 16 Washington Post article.

The Post article also stated that notes from a 2013 individual therapy session had her saying she was in her “late teens” at the time of the alleged assault.

The questions that should have been asked of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford

October 1, 2018September 30, 2018 by The American Citizen

For many Americans who watched the extraordinary Senate Judiciary hearing that was held on Thursday, the questions asked by Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchell of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford were perhaps not what one might have considered penetrating enough to determine the truth about her allegations of sexual misconduct by Brett Kavanaugh when he was seventeen.

I acknowledge that hard-edged questions directed toward a woman who may have been psychologically traumatized by an alleged event 36 years ago would be perceived to be both politically and ethically insensitive. But the overall destructive magnitude of the charge is so great that I believe Ms. Mitchell’s questions should have been more probing of the alleged event itself.

The American people have a right to know as much as possible about that evening and at this point, only Dr. Christine Blasey Ford can give us any information at all about what took place in or around the Bethesda, Maryland area one evening in, what she believes, was the summer of 1982.

These fictional questions (in color and italicized) are interspersed with Dr. Ford’s actual testimony or between actual questions from the hearing participants.

So let us begin.

Do schools’ “zero tolerance” policies = zero common sense?

September 27, 2018September 26, 2018 by The American Citizen

Most school districts across the country have variations of what are commonly known as “zero tolerance” policies. (The name makes little sense given that we’re supposed to place a high value on tolerance.)

In an effort to avoid any accusation of discrimination, “zero tolerance” policies are favored since they eliminate human judgment or discretion.

In some cases and for some offenses, this policy has gone so far that school districts literally don’t care who is the perpetrator of the offense or the victim. Administrators just give out blanket punishments.

Consider the case of a 14 year-old, Sacramento, California boy with both mental and physical disabilities who was suspended for five days for defending himself. Yes, that’s right. Defending himself.

Google bows to Chinese government by censoring free information there but torpedoes assistance to the U.S. military

September 25, 2018September 25, 2018 by The American Citizen

Like many radical environmentalists who target 99% of their protests and political activity toward the United States, companies like giant Google, are quick to direct their moral outrage at America but also apparently fast to bow to the totalitarian dictates of Communist China.

After about 4,000 Google employees wrote their management demanding the company stop all research and assistance to the U.S. Department of Defense in developing artificial intelligence to improve military drone accuracy, the company acceded to their wishes and announced in June that it would not renew its contract with the DOD.

But in China, Google capitulated to its government by tearing up its previous commitment to be the “champion of free expression” by agreeing to censor information provided by its search engine based solely on the demands of the Chinese government.

Socialists’ plans to control America’s schools

September 25, 2018September 25, 2018 by The American Citizen

The recent surge in socialism’s popularity has emboldened organizations like the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) to become even more active in the education (indoctrination really) of our children.

Campus Reform reports that YDSA along with the Democratic Socialist Labor Commission have authored an 11-page pamphlet how young socialists can acquire a job in public education.

Their path to success apparently begins with teachers’ unions. Though it hasn’t been considerably pleased with these unions in the past, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) believes it is now in a position to strengthen its “‘presence in them, to help shape, the militancy and political ideology of those unions.'”

The Left will do anything to stop the Kavanaugh nomination

September 25, 2018September 25, 2018 by The American Citizen

New unsubstantiated allegations surfaced this weekend in the New Yorker by reporters Jane Mayer and Ronan Farrow of #MeToo fame. The article accuses Brett Kavanaugh of exposing himself to a drunk classmate when they were both law students at Yale.

Although Kavanaugh’s former classmate Deborah Ramirez was “reluctant to characterize Kavanaugh’s role in the alleged incident with certainty,” in early discussions with the New Yorker she subsequently became certain and formally made the incendiary claim to the reporters after, as she describes it in the article, “six days of carefully assessing her memories and consulting with her attorney.” (Good to know that 6 days with your lawyer can clear up 35 years with a confused memory. And I’m still not sure what “assessing your memory” means.)

Have the Kaepernick and NFL protests resulted in more innocent black lives lost?

September 21, 2018September 21, 2018 by The American Citizen

Would Nike have chose Colin Kaepernick for its ad campaign if a case could be made that because of his efforts more innocent black lives have been lost?

$39 million man Kaepernick’s protests (beginning in August 2016) and today’s NFL kneelers have given considerable political support to the Black Lives Matter movement under the belief that America’s police officers are unjustly targeting blacks to shoot and kill. If their goal was to truly to save black lives, they are not just failing but are potentially the criminals’ enablers.

Heather MacDonald of the Manhattan Institute reported that in 2016 (the most recent year such statistics are available), 7,881 blacks were homicide victims. This was an increase of nearly 900 from 2015 which was an increase of about the same amount between 2014 and 2015. Appalling to say the least.

Were these nearly two thousand additional blacks killed by police officers? No. They were mostly killed by black criminals.

In 2016 police shot and killed 233 blacks, the overwhelming majority of whom were armed. How many unarmed blacks were killed by police in 2016? Just 16 according to the Washington Post.

A federal judge agrees. This person is neither male nor female

September 21, 2018September 21, 2018 by The American Citizen

A federal judge in Colorado ruled that a “non-binary” Navy veteran, Dana Zzyym, does not have to indicate whether he/she is either male or female on the passport application. The plaintiff said he/she is neither and didn’t want to state an untruth on the application because the penalty would be a perjury charge.

The judge said that under the Passport Act of 1926, the State Department did not have the authority to enforce a “binary-only gender policy.”

Zzyym’s lawsuit began four years ago under the Obama State Department and continued into the Trump administration.

Dershowitz says Kavanaugh’s accuser must testify under oath

September 21, 2018September 21, 2018 by The American Citizen

Longtime Harvard Law Professor and constitutional scholar, Alan Dershowitz said that Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s sexual assault accuser when they were teens, Christine Blasey Ford, has a constitutional duty to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

According to the Daily Caller, Dershowitz said, “Nobody should be referring to her as a victim and him as a perpetrator until we hear from both of them under oath, subject to cross-examination. … There is nothing more essential to American justice than the opportunity to cross-examine your accuser, to confront your accuser. It is in the Constitution.”

Deep State employees paid 80% more than private sector workers

September 19, 2018September 19, 2018 by The American Citizen

A couple of weeks ago there was uproar when President Trump announced he wanted to freeze the salaries of federal workers. Unfortunately he’s subsequently back off on the proposal.

What he ought to do is freeze federal (non-military) wages until they reach parity with private sector workers. He won’t do this of course because it would take years for the private sector to catch up.

After all, the five wealthiest counties in the country, based on median household income, all happen belong to the Deep State; all are surrounding counties of Washington, D.C.

Take home pay up considerably under new tax law

September 19, 2018September 19, 2018 by The American Citizen

When wage increases over the last year are combined with this year’s tax rate cuts, American workers are doing far better than they’ve done in years.

Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders says that because wages went up 2.7% in the last 12 months and inflation was up 2.9%, workers fell behind. Without others considerations he would be correct.

According to Andy Pudzer, former CEO and author of “The Capitalist Comeback: The Trump Boom and the Left’s Plot to Stop It,” there are other ways they’ve benefited to the extent that they’re now enjoying take-home pay increases not seen in years.

United States now #1 in oil production

September 18, 2018 by The American Citizen

The United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) has just published their most recent estimates that show America is number one in oil production.

For the first time in two decades the U.S. now exceeds the oil extracted in Saudi Arabia and Russia since 1999.

Much of the growth is the result of increased production in western Texas, eastern New Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico and of course, the Bakken region in Montana and North Dakota.

Sexualizing Sesame Street (Please let kids be kids!)

September 18, 2018September 18, 2018 by The American Citizen

Many in the LGBTQ community are celebrating today.

Why? Because one of the writers for Sesame Street has outed Bert and Ernie according to an article in the UK Sun.

Though Bert and Ernie have been a fixture on Sesame Street since 1969 and gay writer, Mark Saltzman joined the organization in 1984, he has modeled them after his relationship with his partner, Arnold Glassman.

Saltzman actually co-opted the beloved characters to fit his own personal relationship though it was 15 years after they were introduced. He told Queerty that he was Ernie and Glassman was Bert.

America’s 51st and most powerful state: the “Deep State”

September 19, 2018September 18, 2018 by The American Citizen

Project Veritas released an undercover video with State Department employee, Stuart Karaffa, who may be more representative of the Deep State (bureaucrats, career politicians, lobbyists, legal and consulting firms, D.C. media and other supporting services in and around the D.C. area).

He is a holdover from at least one previous administration and has nothing but disdain for the current one given that he is also a member of the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America.

When asked if he was worried being punished by the State Department for doing work for the Socialists on taxpayer time he said, “I have nothing to lose. It’s impossible to fire federal employees.”

Pennsylvania sticks it to home health care workers

September 18, 2018September 18, 2018 by The American Citizen

Pennsylvania’s governor stuck it to home health care workers when he issued an executive order stating that all of the state’s 20,000 caregivers would, for all practical purposes, have to join and contribute to the United Homecare Workers of Pennsylvania, a partnership of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

According to the article in National Review, AFSCME and SEIU were chosen exclusively after contributing more than $4 million to Tom Wolf’s campaigns since 2013.

TheAmericanCitizen.org – Introduction

September 18, 2018September 17, 2018 by The American Citizen

Introduction

Few Americans may know that this is a special day. Not so because this website is introduced today, but because it is Constitution Day, September 17th.

This site is intended to celebrate America — her recognition of our God-given human rights and our Constitution, given by our Founders, with its cherished provisions limiting our government’s powers.

U.S. Constitution: How can we protect it if we know so little about it?

September 18, 2018September 17, 2018 by The American Citizen

Most Americans say they love their rights formally acknowledged in the Constitution but shockingly, 40% of those surveyed by the Freedom Forum Institute could not even name one of the five freedoms stated and protected by the First Amendment.

Just one in eight could name two. And of the 1,009 Americans surveyed, just one person named all five (they are of course free exercise of religion, freedom of speech, freedom to assemble, freedom of the press, and freedom to petition the government).

Nike: Use a true American hero for your ad campaign!

September 18, 2018September 17, 2018 by The American Citizen

It might have been too much to ask of Nike: Use another former professional football player and true American hero for your ad campaign. And it isn’t Colin Kaepernick.

In 2002, with 9/11 still fresh in his mind, 27 year-old, Arizona Cardinals’ defensive back, Pat Tillman walked away from a $3.6 million contract to join the Army.

He was shot and killed by “friendly” fire in Afghanistan shortly after leading his Army Rangers up a hill toward the enemy after he and comrades came under fire. Because of much of his effort, none of his men became casualties.

In 2004 he was awarded the Silver Star posthumously for gallantry on the battlefield. According to the L.A. Times, the Army said he engaged the enemy “without regard for his personal safety” in presenting the award.

How the Deep State helped get Obamacare passed

September 18, 2018September 17, 2018 by The American Citizen

Never underestimate the power of the Deep State to affect American life.

The Department of Justice’s unethical and unlawful involvement in the 2008 senatorial election in Alaska, of all places, was arguably one of the most important factors in the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and its continuing impact.

Environmental disaster in Russia: One of socialism’s most destructive legacies

September 18, 2018September 17, 2018 by The American Citizen

Those Americans who desire a socialist state need to more closely examine the environmental dangers that can accompany such a goal.

History’s greatest socialist experiment was the former Soviet Union. The USSR also happened to contain of the world’s largest reserves of natural resources so it makes sense to look at how this enormous bureaucratic state managed the extraction and distribution of this national wealth.

Better not own property or rely on a public pension in NJ

September 17, 2018September 17, 2018 by The American Citizen

New Jersey is in very bad financial shape, mostly due to stunning mismanagement of its public pension system. Though it has promised the moon, it has chosen never to pay more than $1.9 billion in the plan in any year. Now it needs about three times that to keep the pension system solvent.

Governor Murphy knows he can raise the state income tax rate to levels where his state’s wealthiest residents would likely take their capital elsewhere. But they, like any other home or property owner in the state, cannot move their NJ real estate holdings. Private real property stays and that’s what will eventually get taxed heavily enough to likely reduce home values in the Garden State significantly.

Read the entire article from Steven Malanga of the Manhattan Institute here.

Rev. Jasper Williams taken to task at Aretha Franklin’s funeral for preaching personal responsibility

September 18, 2018September 17, 2018 by The American Citizen

It wasn’t the bigots in attendance like Louis Farrakhan and Al Sharpton who were criticized at Aretha Franklin’s funeral. No, it was Atlanta pastor Rev. Jasper Williams who had the audacity to preach a message of personal responsibility.

True nature lovers

September 23, 2018September 17, 2018 by The American Citizen

Well, you’re obviously quite naive if you thought that the 80 varieties of sexuality covered by Tumblr are all there are. Now another form of human sexual desire has blossomed on to the American scene.

Professor Lauran Whitworth of St. Mary’s College of Maryland has published an article in the journal, Feminist Theory, in which she talks about the apparently growing and arousing practice of “ecosexuality.”