September 2018 - TheAmericanCitizen.org

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.”