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Rescuing Our Children When Will We Hold Them Using the Climate to The Rising Tide Censoring the Web:
American children are to Their Oath? Transform the World Against Liberalism Who’s Next?
progressively doing Upon taking office, all At the United Nations Liberalism seems set to America’s Big Tech
worse in math, reading, congressmen swear an oath COP24 climate summit in dominate the political social-media organs
and other subjects, while stating that they will uphold Poland, attendees worked scene, but its viciousness, have declared war on
being indoctrinated with the U.S. Constitution, but toward transforming illogic, and hypocrisy are conservatives, trying
leftist pablum — the most have every intention the world to bring beginning to take a toll. to exile them from the
cause and the prognosis. of breaking that oath. about global socialism. (December 24, 2018, Internet. But several
(February 4, 2019, 48pp) Their excuses; our reply. (January 7, 2019, 48pp) 48pp) TNA181224 possible routes exist to
TNA190204 (January 21, 2019, 48pp) TNA190107 fight back. (September
TNA190121 17, 2018, 48pp) TNA180917
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Reviews
4.5 ★★★★★
INFLUENCE
praise for this very unique organization
Allen Banks
★★★★★ March 30, 2016
THEIR FUTURE?
They have always told the truth and have
in almost every prediction been right on the
money with world events
Cover Story
WORLD
10 China’s New Aggression on the World Stage
Features
CULTURE 17
17 The Crime of Being Christian, White, Male, and
Pro-life, and Wearing MAGA Hats
by Selwyn Duke — When teens from Covington Catholic High
School went to the March for Life in Washington, D.C., they were
accosted by leftist radicals, then framed as bigots.
POLITICS
21 Trump vs. Deep State
by Troy Anderson — Now that Democrats control the House, it is
YouTube
likely that they and segments of the Deep State will pull out all the
stops to impeach Trump, predetermine elections, and aid globalists.
BOOK REVIEW 21
29 Dissecting Officer-involved Shootings
by Robin Kinderman — With hate against police officers growing
with every officer-involved shooting that gains traction on TV, one
cop looks at numerous shootings to explain what happened — and
why.
Departments
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Publisher & Editor
Gary Benoit Miffed by Movie Review conceal its desire for economic control of
Senior Editor To comment on the movie review by Steve the Southern states.”
William F. Jasper Byas about Dinesh D’Souza’s movie Death The actions of Lincoln were controver-
of a Nation by The New American (Sep- sial at home, controversial in the South,
Managing Editor
tember 17, 2018 issue) — in which D’Souza and controversial abroad. He initiated an
Kurt Williamsen
lauds Abraham Lincoln and attacks Demo- unpopular war and relied upon immigrant
Web Editor crats — let me first bring up a historical soldiers to invade and conquer the South.
John T. Larabell quote: “The workingmen of Europe feel sure In addition to the support from the “Father
that, as the American War of Independence of Communism,” Lincoln and the Radical
Foreign Correspondent initiated a new era of ascendancy for the Republican Party received support from the
Alex Newman
middle class, so the American Antislavery failed socialist revolutionaries of 1848 who
Contributors war will do for the working classes. They immigrated to the United States of America
Bob Adelmann • Dennis Behreandt consider it an earnest of the epoch to come and started rifle clubs and the Wide Awake
Steve Byas • Raven Clabough that it fell to the lot of Abraham Lincoln, organizations.
Selwyn Duke • Brian Farmer the single-minded son of the working class Why did Lincoln receive such support
Christian Gomez • Larry Greenley to lead his country through the matchless from the successors of socialists and the
Gregory A. Hession, J.D. struggle for the rescue of an enchained race predecessors of the communists? He central-
Ed Hiserodt • William P. Hoar and the reconstruction of the social world.” ized the United States, destroying the vol-
R. Cort Kirkwood • Patrick Krey, J.D. This is mighty high praise given President untary aspect of the Constitution as a com-
Warren Mass • John F. McManus Lincoln after his reelection victory in 1864. pact. Much like the history of the European
James Murphy • Dr. Duke Pesta If not clear enough, the writer begins his Union, or the warnings this magazine issues
Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. open letter to President Lincoln, “We con- regarding the United Nations, Lincoln made
C. Mitchell Shaw • Michael Tennant gratulate the American people upon your re- union involuntary and forced the states to
Rebecca Terrell • Fr. James Thornton election by a large majority.” surrender their sovereignty. The South, and
Laurence M. Vance • Joe Wolverton II, J.D.
Who is this mystery writer congratulating every other state in the Union, suffers to this
Creative Director Lincoln while beating the war drums against day under the weight of the leviathan created
Joseph W. Kelly slavery and casting the American war in by Lincoln.
terms of class warfare? It’s none other than D’Souza’s most recent movie, Death of
Senior Graphic Designer the “Father of Communism,” Karl Marx. a Nation, does not chronicle the forceful
Katie Bradley Such praise was not new from Marx. As destruction of the Constitutional Republic
Research early as 1861, he proclaimed, “It ought to be created by our ancestors in 1789, but glori-
Bonnie M. Gillis remembered that it was not the North, but the fies the Republican Party and the abandon-
South, which undertook this war; the former ment of the Constitution using an end-justi-
Chief Strategy Officer acting only on the defense.” fies-the-means logic. The storyline sold by
Bill Hahn His statement, of course, was far from ac- D’Souza is the same “fake news narrative”
Advertising/Circulation Manager curate. It was the North that twice sent hos- pushed by Lincoln and his socialist backers
Julie DuFrane tile ships into a Southern port to reinforce a in their quest to subvert the federal govern-
fort against the wishes of the host state. It ment and conquer the states.
was President Lincoln who warned the South There is enough material from current
in his inaugural address that “the power con- events and recent history to criticize the
fided to me will be used to ... collect the du- Democrat party without repeating the so-
ties and imposts; but, beyond what may be cialist “fake news” of the 19th century. I
Printed in the U.S.A. • ISSN 0885-6540
necessary for these objects, there will be no am disappointed that this magazine would
P.O. Box 8040 • Appleton, WI 54912 invasion.” And it was Lincoln who, without promote such shallow thinking, glorifying
920-749-3784 • 920-749-3785 (fax) declaration from Congress, called for an a significant achievement of the conspiracy
www.thenewamerican.com
editorial@thenewamerican.com
army to invade the South and “collect the and communism.
Rates are $49 per year (Canada, add $9;
duties and imposts.” For the sake of our nation, I pray that
foreign, add $27) Copyright ©2019 by More-honest contemporary foreigners D’Souza is wrong and that President Trump
American Opinion Publishing, Inc. Periodicals objected to the “fake news” from Marx. is not another Abraham Lincoln.
postage paid at Appleton, WI and additional
mailing offices. Postmaster: Send any address
“Union means so many millions [of dol- Robert K. Merting
changes to The New American, P.O. Box 8040, lars] lost to the South; secession means the Greenville, South Carolina
Appleton, WI 54912. loss of the same millions to the North....
T he N ew A merican is
The quarrel between North and South is Author responds: The movie was reviewed
published twice monthly ... solely a fiscal quarrel.” So said Charles favorably despite, not because of, D’Souza’s
by American Opinion Dickens. He continued: “The Northern strong praise of Lincoln. I thought I indi-
Publishing Inc., a wholly
owned subsidiary of The John Birch Society.
onslaught upon slavery was no more than cated that fact in the review — perhaps not
a piece of specious humbug designed to strongly enough.
AP Images
Thirty-five Percent of Transgender Youth Have Attempted Suicide
likely than non-transgender students to use cocaine, heroin,
methamphetamines, and prescription opioids, as well.
Many young people who identify as “transgender” have not
had surgery but remain biologically the same as before, while
Vladimir Zapletin/iStock/GettyImagesPlus
AP Images
Koch organization after Charles Koch suggested that the network Charles
might begin to support Democrats. “Some groups who claim to Koch
support conservatives forgo their commitment when they decide
their business interests are more important than those of the coun- a more permanent answer for illegal immigrants who came here
try or Party. This is unacceptable,” said the letter. The same letter as children, known colloquially as “Dreamers.”
claimed that the GOP had “been prepared for this for years.” President Trump proved in 2016 that he didn’t need the Kochs or
In a January 2 e-mail to donors, the Koch network laid out the baggage that comes with their support. One of the main reasons
its policy priorities for 2019, many of which sound as if they that voters chose Trump is that they saw him as a person with his
were written by Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. own money, who didn’t owe donors such as the Kochs anything.
Among those priorities are income inequality, education initia- Even though their funds and their support could help in 2020, it’s
tives, overhauling the criminal-justice system, and searching for for the best that the president doesn’t become beholden to them.
www.TheNewAmerican.com 7
Extended Inside Track
Another Step Toward Auditing the Federal Reserve
R
epresentative Thomas Mas
sie kicked off the legislative
new year on January 3 with
H.R. 24, the Federal Reserve Trans-
parency Act. This bill is the latest
in a series of bills introduced by the Thomas
likes of Massie and former Congress- Massie
man Ron Paul calling for a congres-
sional audit of the Federal Reserve,
an event that has never taken place
in the Fed’s 105-year history. Once
politically unthinkable, the drive to
audit the Fed has gained considerable
momentum in recent years as many
Democrats and even some influential
far-left progressives, such as Bernie
Sanders, have signaled their support.
With a president in the White House
AP Images
who has made no secret of his dislike
for the Fed, there is a real possibil-
ity that Massie’s bill — should it ever
pass the House and Senate — could become law. of the organization. After all, the Fed is charged with managing
“Now is the time,” Massie told Breitbart News, “because I America’s money supply — the very money that is issued by
believe the president would sign an Audit the Fed bill. This bill the federal government in the first place.
has passed through the House with a veto-proof majority. This The real reason for the reticence of Fed officials is to preserve
last Congress it passed out of committee, but the Speaker [Paul the mystery and obscurity of central banking operations, which
Ryan] did not pick it up. I believe if we can get it on the floor in few in Congress — let alone the American general public —
the House and to the Senate, it would pass with a large majority; understand. They rightly fear that, should the public and their
we wouldn’t even have to worry about a veto-proof majority congressional representatives come to understand how the Fed
because I believe this president would sign it.” Of course, with truly operates, with its network of privileged primary dealers,
the House now controlled by ultra-liberal establishmentarians its shady currency trading, and its obvious ties to and preference
such as Nancy Pelosi, who are determined to avoid any legisla- for large banks and financial firms, pressure would be brought
tive matters that might resonate with a president they detest, to bear to get rid of the Fed altogether.
Massie’s assessment of the bill’s political prospects may be This, of course, is the desired outcome by those pushing
overly optimistic. But the fact that a majority of congressmen the bill. For more than a century, the Fed’s monetary policies
in the last Congress supported a similar bill bodes well for the have systematically enriched the well-connected few (such as
movement’s eventual success. the bankers and traders who work at the Fed’s primary deal-
The Fed and its supporters, for their part, remain staunchly ers) at the expense of the many (the rest of us, whose sav-
opposed to any congressional audit. For more than a century, ings are gradually depleted by the Fed’s program of incessant
they have argued that the Fed, in order to function free of po- inflation). The Federal Reserve System has fundamentally
litical bias or attachment to special interests, must be able to transformed the American economic and cultural landscape
operate completely independent of congressional oversight — by creating a financial climate in which savers are punished
which of course would include any type of audit carried out (by inflation) and profligacy is rewarded (by unnaturally
by lawmakers. Were the Fed truly a private corporation, such low interest rates and easy money that incentivize borrowing
arguments would have merit. But the Fed was created by an and spending). Whereas living within one’s means and sav-
act of Congress, and from its inception has had a long history ing money for old age was once considered prudent conduct,
of aligning its policies with the will of powerful politicians nowadays risky home purchases, online currency trading, and
such as Senator Nelson Aldrich, its political sire, and Treasury other high-risk activities are regarded as the height of financial
officials, whose debt issues the Fed buys and sells as a chief sophistication. And all because of generations of Fed-fueled
means of controlling the money supply. To argue that the Fed, inflation.
its chairman, and its Board of Governors are beholden to no It is long past time to end the Fed. Congressman Massie’s bill
political interests is to willfully ignore the nature and purpose is a much-needed step in the right direction. n
Flicker/George Skidmore
authored a bitterly critical characterization of President Trump for the
Washington Post. Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican
National Committee and a close relative of the senator, responded with
Ronna
an appropriate scolding. McDaniel
Flicker/Gage Skidmore
Mendoza launched “Angel Families” to promote the need for a bor-
der wall.
Mary
New York State Government Mendoza
Makes College Aid Available to Illegals
“How am I supposed to tell families in my Senate district that adequate state aid to help afford college
isn’t available for them, but it is available for others who are in this country illegally?”
Governor Andrew Cuomo, a hard-core Democrat, indicated that he will sign a bill to provide college
aid to illegals. Republican State Senator James Seward immediately asked a good question, but he
received no satisfactory answer from Governor Cuomo or the Democrats who preside over both houses
of the state legislature.
China has long used Western capital to challenge the might of the West. Now it is moving
forcefully, making demands of companies and countries, expanding its influence.
by Charles Scaliger Communist Party of Nepal, with the not- In 2006, the communists laid down
I
so-covert backing of the Chinese, waged a their arms in exchange for a peace treaty
n 2015, the most overlooked commu- bitter civil war against the Nepalese gov- granting them the right to participate in
nist revolution in history took place. ernment, seeking to overthrow the monar- Nepalese politics. At the time, it was esti-
That was the year that communists chy and replace it with a People’s Repub- mated that the communists controlled 80
seized power in the Himalayan nation lic. The insurgency included a number of percent of rural Nepal. And in 2015, after
of Nepal via ballot-box revolution. For attacks on foreign trekkers in the popular nine years of electoral agitation, the Nep-
a decade, from 1996 to 2006, the Maoist mountaineering and hiking destination. alese Communists, led by longtime revo-
aims to dominate the globe — as a com- Communist-socialist resurgence: As in the West, young adults in Nepal celebrate the first steps
munist power. At home, China is not only toward the implementation of strict socialism, raising signs for communist Prime Minister Khadga
presently retrenching socially — crack- Prasad Sharma Oli. They believe the Siren calls for better lives despite socialism’s many failures.
www.TheNewAmerican.com 11
WORLD
began a slow but steady movement back Making itself necessary: China has been increasing sales to Europe, sending about 6,000 freight
toward its totalitarian past. Crackdowns, trains with goods to Europe in 2018 — nearly double the trips made the previous year. China is
arrests, and imprisonments soared in the using its economic muscle not only to enrich itself, but to expand its influence over the world.
But the communist government is prov- Totalitarianism in the digital age: China is using technology that was largely stolen or co-opted
ing itself extremely adroit at diverting the from Western companies to keep an eye on Chinese citizens. Citizens will soon be ranked by the
vast talents and resources of its citizens to government on their loyalty to the Communist Party.
www.TheNewAmerican.com 15
WORLD
I
them. Phillips, billed as a “Vietnam vet- witnessing all of this.… As this kept on
t’s certainly not surprising that people eran,” later said that the boys surrounded going on and escalating, it just got to a
who’d kill the young in the womb him, Sandmann prevented his egress, point where you do something or you walk
would kill them in the media — espe- and he feared for his safety. Phillips also away, you know?” “These young men
cially when political dissent can be killed claimed he heard the students saying were beastly and these old black individu-
in the process. But this is precisely what “build the wall, build that wall!” als was their prey,” he added, “and I stood
happened when video emerged of the Jan- So the story was simple: A bunch of in between them and so they needed their
uary 18 schoolboys-and-Indians affair at “racist,” white, Christian, Middle Ameri- pounds of flesh and they were looking at
the Lincoln Memorial. can, MAGA-hatted kids were taunting a me for that,” the paper also related.
The students, who’d attended this year’s hapless elderly Indian, there just to attend Oh, the humanity!
March for Life, never suspected the event an “Indigenous Peoples Rally” (held con- CNN had a slightly different take on the
would change their whole lives, that agita- currently with the March for Life). Sand- “four black individuals,” calling them the
tors on site and in media would viciously mann was the main bully, essentially hold- “African-American young men preaching
portray them as the very face of hate. ing Phillips hostage and smirking in silent about the Bible and oppression” whom the
But the boys from Covington Catholic mockery. It was the perfect metaphor for Catholic boys had clashed with early in the
High School (CCHS) in Park Hills, Ken- the Trump era. afternoon. (Emphasis added.) Chalk one
tucky, had to face the hate. A 60-second, But Phillips spoke with forked tongue. ( just one) up for CNN here. The men were
out-of-context video hit the news January More extensive video showed that as the Black Hebrew Israelites (BHIs), and,
19, showing a grinning, MAGA-hatted, the boys waited at the Lincoln Memo- hardly old, they appeared to be in their 20s
16-year-old Nick Sandmann face-to-face rial for buses to take them home, Phillips and 30s. All were vibrant, and the leader, a
with drum-beating Omaha tribal “elder” waded into their midst beating a drum, big, burly man, was not prey but predator.
Nathan Phillips while a throng of the stu- followed by an entourage recording what Phillips could have told you this, too, were
www.TheNewAmerican.com 19
CULTURE
AP Images
comparison. Note that video-recording de-
vices are ubiquitous today, and incidents
such as the Lincoln Memorial affair are Chief Osceola he ain’t: While the media happily accepted Nathan Phillips’ (untrue) victim
filmed by multiple people from multiple story, he is actually a radical left-wing activist with a sizable criminal record, and was the
angles. Were the boys guilty of anything aggressor in the Lincoln Memorial incident with the Covington students.
significant it would be on video some-
where. But there’s nothing — anywhere. vatives — anything that has influenced Phillips “to know that I was not going to
Yet despite video indicting the BHIs people or threatens to do so — is labeled become angry, intimidated or be provoked
and Phillips and vindicating the boys, the hateful. It’s the neutering of effective into a larger confrontation.” But even if
latter are still demonized. Sure, the eneme- opposition via socially enforced hate- Sandmann had at times been tickled by an
dia backtracked somewhat initially; some speech prohibitions against it. old man drumming in his face and uttering
commentators apologized for condemning Then there’s the neutering of the Left’s what some have described as not an Indian
the students, others just quietly deleted main demographic opposition (as voting language but gibberish, so what? The real
tweets, while yet others let their libels patterns prove): white men. Note here trespass was judging a mid-teen by one
stand. But they soon regrouped and went that Guthrie also told Sandmann, “There’s facial expression. In fact, “George Orwell
back on the offensive, albeit in a milder something aggressive about standing imagined a world like this 70 years ago, in
form. For example, the Today show’s Sa- there, standing your ground.” Staggering. his book 1984,” Fox News commentator
vannah Guthrie interviewed Sandmann Consider: What if a white man had con- Tucker Carlson explained on his show’s
January 23 and, echoing others, implied fronted a black teen, getting in his face, January 23 episode. “For the disfavored,
that his MAGA hat was the problem. Rep- and the media said the black kid should Orwell wrote, ‘The smallest thing could
resentative John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) had al- have backed down? What would be the give you away. A nervous tic, an uncon-
ready called for a ban on teens wearing reaction? scious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering
the hats. American Thinker noted the hy- Growing up, a well-raised child is usu- to yourself.... To wear an improper expres-
pocrisy the next day, writing, “According ally told that while we shouldn’t necessar- sion on your face ... was itself a punishable
to progressives, on the head of a female, a ily get aggressive when confronted, we offence. There was even a word for it ... :
pink p---- hat is a commendable accessory, should stand our ground. When it’s said FACECRIME.’” (Elipses added.)
while on the head of a male, a red MAGA that a member of a certain group has an Explaining the fatally slanted Coving-
cap is akin to Hester Prynne donning a obligation to back down, the message is ton-affair reporting, Carlson later stated
scarlet letter or analogous to a white hood that he’s subordinate and, by implication, that the media “haven’t watched the [full]
of the KKK.” that his group is subordinate. What’s next? video, and they don’t plan to. This isn’t
Yet there’s another factor here. The Will whites be expected to bow before an argument about facts and evidence and
demonization of “Build that wall!” and confrontational non-whites? truth. It’s an argument about identity. The
“MAGA” hats and utterances reflect an In contrast, Guthrie threw nothing but Kentucky students are being attacked for
effort to squelch dissent. Consider here softballs when interviewing Phillips on who they are, not what they did or didn’t
that powerful slogans and symbols are January 24; not only didn’t she ask about do.” Or as the Spectator put it three days
how you market your ideas; analogous to his many lies and contradictions — she prior, “The progressive media doesn’t care
this, this is why businesses use jingles, allowed him to repeat some of them and about what really happened when it has
slogans, and trademarks. Imagine how continue maligning the boys. white boys in MAGA caps to hate.”
marketing might be hobbled if McDon- Amazingly, all this got started with For sure. Why do you think politicians
ald’s, Geico, or Vaseline could no longer literally seconds of video, one snapshot, such as Senator Liz “Fauxcahontas” War-
use, respectively, its golden arch; talk- really, showing what Reza Aslan called, ren and Irish Bob (“Beto”) O’Rourke try
ing gecko; or, well, its name, Vaseline. again, Sandmann’s “punchable face.” The their best to feign minority status? They
What’s happening politically is that any- boy explained this in his statement, say- know that today, you’re guilty until proven
thing rhetorically effective for conser- ing he smiled at times because he wanted non-white. n
by Troy Anderson
I
n March 2018, New York Times best-
selling author and investigative jour-
nalist Jerome Corsi released his most
explosive book yet — Killing the Deep
State: The Fight to Save President Trump.
In searing detail, the book exposed
an alleged conspiracy by the Deep State
— the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
Central Intelligence Agency, National Se-
curity Agency, and other intelligence and
military agencies, along with the main-
stream media and globalist elite — to
topple the presidency of Donald Trump as
part of a goal to create a borderless, one-
world government and economic system.
Several months later, Corsi found him-
self summoned to an unmarked FBI build-
ing in southeast Washington, D.C., where AP Images
he was threatened with indictment by
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s pros- Pillorying people: Killing the Deep State author Jerome Corsi (left) speaks during a news
ecutorial team unless he testified “falsely conference as his lawyer, Larry Klayman, stands behind him outside the federal courthouse in
Washington, D.C. The Mueller investigation is charging people with crimes to get them to talk.
against [former Trump campaign advi-
sor] Roger Stone and/or President Donald
Trump,” Corsi’s attorney, Larry Klayman, In January, Klayman, a former pros- nection,” Corsi says. “They had a pre-
wrote in a voluminous complaint alleg- ecutor at the Department of Justice and determined theory of the case. They
ing Mueller and his team are engaged in founder of Judicial Watch, filed a $350 predetermined that there was a crime of
a “coup” to “overthrow the duly elected million lawsuit on Corsi’s behalf against Russian collusion even though nobody
President of the United States.” Mueller, the FBI, and intelligence agen- can tell you whether that is really a crime
“They ended up treating me like a crim- cies for alleged “illegal surveillance on or not.”
inal from day one,” Corsi, 72, told The him, his family, friends and legal counsel, “And then they’ve got a ‘criminal,’
New American. “It was this 40-hours. It without probable cause in violation of the namely the president, that they want to
was such a grueling experience. I think it Fourth Amendment, and related alleged impeach. And they are looking for fac-
is so counter to American justice as I un- illegalities.” tors that fit their predetermined theory. I
derstand it. It’s more like a Gestapo inter- Corsi alleges he’s being improperly don’t consider this to be a fair or honest
rogation — KGB — and I thought I was pressured by Mueller’s team to sign a plea investigation at all. I mean they wanted me
going to go off to the gulag next.” deal, which he says he won’t sign. Muel- to establish that I had contact with Julian
In response, Corsi wrote a new book, ler’s team wants him to admit that he acted Assange so they could connect the dots
Silent No More: How I Became a Political as a liaison between Stone, WikiLeaks from Roger Stone to me. Of all people, I
Prisoner of Mueller’s “Witch Hunt.” founder Julian Assange, and the Trump became the linchpin of this whole Russian
“I wrote it as [the interrogations took campaign regarding the release of hacked collusion theory.”
place], so it’s first-person,” he says. “I e-mails from the Democratic National But Corsi, the former Washington
think you’ll feel my emotions and my hor- Committee, according to Corsi’s com- bureau chief of Infowars, who holds a
ror at this process as it unfolded for what plaint. In November, Corsi rejected a deal Ph.D. from Harvard University, says he
I feel is a politically-motivated investiga- offered by Mueller to plead guilty to one had nothing to do with the release of the
tion that was engaging in criminal pros- count of perjury. WikiLeaks e-mails that damaged Hillary
ecutorial misconduct.” “They wanted me to establish a con- Clinton’s White House bid.
Riding the wave, the March issue of the Burned while Democrats walk: President Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty
The Atlantic magazine features a call for in federal court to making false statements to Congress and was sentenced to prison, though
the president’s impeachment on its cover. liberals such as Hillary Clinton have lied to Congress with impunity.
www.TheNewAmerican.com 23
POLITICS
vich says. “It’s going to take a very fo- Government control of everything: Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has
cused demand on the part of Congress to proposed the Green New Deal, a measure that would raise the tax rate as high as 70 percent.
require that Mueller and his investigative Critics call it a “Trojan Horse for socialism.”
WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE USMCA? • transfers oversight to international bodies such as the UN
• builds unaccountable bureaucracy • ratifies the UN’s Law of the Sea Treaty
• furthers North American integration • copies portions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership word-
• delegates congressional responsibilities to foreign entities for-word
• codifies international regulations from WTO • receives high praise from globalists
DISSECTING
OFFICER-INVOLVED SHOOTINGS
With hate against police officers growing with every officer-involved shooting that gains
traction on TV, one cop looks at numerous shootings to explain what happened — and why.
Shots Fired is written by Joseph Lough- porters of police have about the incidents
lin, a police veteran of 30 years who held covered, such as, why did the officer fire
every sworn rank in the Portland, Mary- so many times? Why didn’t he shoot to
land, Police Department. In the introduc- wound? Why did he shoot an unarmed
tion, he writes that he was inspired to person? Why didn’t he use his Taser first?
write the book after the events in Fergu- And, in general, why did the officer react
son, Missouri, in 2014. the way he did?
“I wanted to foster a better understand- All of these questions and more are ad-
ing of the human beings behind the badge, dressed by officers recounting events in
and of real-world policing in the worst of which they had to shoot a suspect. Lough-
police experiences: deadly force events. lin interviews the officers involved in each
This book is the result.” incident, to let the reader see what hap-
Loughlin goes on to explain that the pened from their perspective.
blame for the current stigma associated The book moves along quickly, and it is
with police officers isn’t on just the media attention-grabbing. It was very interesting
or Black Lives Matter. He cites our cur- to follow the different types of situations
rent situation as a “culmination of a sense officers were put in, and how they dealt
of injustice and loss of dignity… not just with them. At times, especially in Lough-
at the hands of police but by a social sys- lin’s recap of each chapter, the book did
tem that has let many people down.” He occasionally smack of repetitiveness, but
explains that cops don’t just write traffic it seems this was simply because Loughlin
tickets and respond to robberies; they deal wanted to drive home the fact that officers
with “society’s ills,” as he calls them: pov- are humans asked to perform inhuman
Shots Fired: The Misunderstandings, erty, domestic abuse, child abuse, mental tasks.
Misconceptions, and Myths, About Po- illness, drugs and alcohol, violence, people Besides the specifics of each encounter,
lice Shootings, by Joseph K. Loughlin and who are inherently evil, and death. They Loughlin also addresses other factors that
Kate Clark Flora, New York: Skyhorse see what we don’t see, what we don’t want play into deadly-force situations, such as
Publishing, 2017, 344 pages, hardcover. to see — what we expect them to keep us officer training and mental health. Thanks
shielded from. The purpose of his book to Hollywood, many people (even those of
by Robin Kinderman is to get us to understand why officers do us with good intentions) are of the opin-
M
what they do — what happened in certain ion that all officers receive adequate train-
any of us are not strangers to scenarios to cause them to use their guns. ing and that they spend lots of time at the
the misconceptions of police He does this in the best way possible: shooting range (and they’re all excellent
perpetuated by social media first-hand accounts. Loughlin starts with shots because of this). Not true. Loughlin
and the news, such as the false “hands up, officers he worked with and expands from points out that because of mandatory train-
don’t shoot” narrative. And many have there. He focuses on the East Coast to keep ing on issues such as domestic disturbanc-
undoubtedly debated with friends and the examples few enough to be manage- es, mental health, and — thanks to our PC
colleagues about what an officer “coulda, able. The book is 16 chapters long and in- culture today — gender issues, little time
woulda, shoulda” done in a situation in- cludes two to three cases per chapter. and money is left for training on use of
volving lethal force. But even for those of Loughlin breaks the book up into four force. Yes, all officers receive basic train-
us who know that we should make sure of sections: “Myths and Misconceptions,” ing at the academy, but beyond that, it’s up
our facts before critiquing police officers’ “Training and De-escalation,” “Stopping to each individual department as to how
deadly encounters, the book Shots Fired is the Threat,” and “Loss and Redemption.” often and how much training their officers
an eye-opening look into the real world of The chapters within each section address receive. This is all dependent on budgets,
law enforcement. the questions and doubts that even sup- equipment, and manpower.
Blue Line Bears just further developing Blue Line Bears.” cards and letters from strangers in all 50
Florida teen Megan O’Grady, 16, has “Part of the reason that I started this was states and across 10 countries.
started a nonprofit organization that is because there’s such a negativity towards Sherman and his daughter were over-
sure to put smiles on the faces of the police.... It has really lifted my spirits whelmed by the response. “Well, I’ll have
families of fallen police officers: Blue knowing that there are so many people out a hell of a time reading them,” Sherman
Line Bears. there who really care about police.” joked in a video featured on KCBSTV.
Blue Line Bears makes stuffed bears The U.K. Daily Mail reported that while
out of the uniform shirts of fallen offi- O’Grady relies on donations and other
cers. O’Grady herself sews and stuffs the contributions, she never asks for money Heroes Saving Heroes
bears and creates miniature versions of the from the families she has supported with When Starbucks barista Nicole McNeil
uniforms, including the officers’ names, her bears. of DuPont, Washington, learned that one
badge numbers, and departments, ABC O’Grady says that the “thin blue line of her regular customers, an Army veteran,
News reported. It takes O’Grady up to two community is stronger than any commu- had an incurable genetic condition that re-
days to complete each bear. nity out there.” She is hopeful that her quired him to have a kidney transplant,
What’s more, O’Grady actually delivers contribution is a reminder that there are a she and her husband stepped up to be the
the bears to the families in person! At the lot of people who care for and support law heroes the man needed.
start of the new year, O’Grady and her par- enforcement. Vince Villano had not been himself dur-
ents traveled to Denver to deliver the bears ing his regular visits to the local Starbucks,
that she made for the family of Adams and in January 2017, McNeil finally asked
County Sheriff’s Deputy Heath Gumm, A Birthday to Remember him what had him down.
32, who was killed in January 2018 while When WWII veteran Duane Sherman “She’s a genuine, caring, inquisitive
on duty. She then posts photos of her with was preparing to turn 96 on December person,” Villano told Inside Edition. “She
the families to whom she delivers bears on 30, 2018, he was saddened by the fact just said, ‘Hey, what’s going on? You look
Blue Line Bears’ Facebook page. that he had so few friends with whom to like [you’re] having a bad day.’”
As the child of a police officer, O’Grady celebrate. But all that changed when his He told her that he had life-threatening
was inspired to make the bears two years daughter, Sue Morse, took to social media polycystic kidney disease and needed a
ago after learning of the attack in Dallas asking strangers to brighten her father’s transplant or he would require a lifetime
that killed five police officers and wound- special day. of dialysis.
ed 12 others. Newsweek reported that Sherman looks McNeil, a mother of three children, was
“I want them to be able to kind of hold forward to the mail every day, so when saddened by Villano’s story and could not
a piece of their loved one again,” she said, December rolled around, he began asking stop thinking about it the rest of her day.
“because the shirts are obviously the most his daughter what came in the mail, hop- She went home and recounted the story to
personal part of the job other than the ing he had received some birthday cards. her husband, Justin, whose response was
badge itself.” “Every day he said, ‘Oh have you likely a shock. “I’ve got a kidney, you
O’Grady told CBS Denver that she checked the mail?’” said his daughter in a know, we could do this. I think I’m will-
decided to make bears because children report by KCAL9 in Los Angeles. “To get ing to do that,” Justin told his wife.
love them and they are “ageless.” She something in the mail … that, for him … Justin immediately volunteered to be
elaborated, “People still love them when that’s special.” tested and was found to be a good match
they’re like 80-something, so I wanted to But sadly, many of Sherman’s friends for Villano. The men began spending a lot
do [what] people of all ages could love and have passed away over the years, and so of time together and learned they had a lot
hold.” day after day, he was disappointed to find in common besides being donor matches
Following the death of a police officer, nothing in the mail. — they were both Army veterans and en-
O’Grady collects the officer’s shirt from “All my friends are gone,” Sherman said. joyed the outdoors.
his or her department and begins working Morse decided to post something on so- In December of 2018, the men under-
on a bear. O’Grady has made 454 bears cial media in the hopes that it would bring went surgery and the transplant was a suc-
and delivered them to 36 states. in some birthday cards. She mentioned her cess.
“It has been an amazing year for not father’s military service and that he was a Villano remains stunned by the couple’s
only me personally but for the develop- Purple Heart recipient. generosity and is thrilled with the budding
ment of Blue Line Bears,” she said in “We should all be very proud of their friendship that he shares with them. “In
a Facebook post on New Year’s Eve. service and honor them in any way that we general, having them as friends, family, I
“I’ve been able to help so many families can,” she wrote. wouldn’t want it to not be this way,” Vil-
this year and just really push Blue Line Apparently, readers agreed. Morse’s lano told KIRO. “I can’t imagine not hav-
Bears to be the best that it can be. I really post was shared, and before long, Sher- ing them in my life.” n
look forward to this upcoming year and man had received more than 50,000 — Raven Clabough
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n December 1965, Federal Reserve Martin was shocked to find himself being nothing to diminish this fact. Aldrich, re-
Chairman William McChesney Mar- physically shoved around the living room lated by marriage to the Rockefeller dy-
tin was summoned to the ranch of and against the wall by a furious Lyndon nasty, was wholly beholden to the secre-
President Lyndon Johnson for a dressing- Johnson, who kept screaming at him, tive cabal of international bankers who
down. President Johnson, a believer in the “Boys are dying in Vietnam, and Bill planned the Federal Reserve at the infa-
fiscal stimulus programs enacted by his Martin doesn’t care!” President Johnson mous top-secret meeting at the Rockefell-
predecessor, John F. Kennedy, wanted to had apparently never gotten the memo on ers’ Jekyll Island estate in 1910. Aldrich
cut taxes further, and expected the Fed to the supposed independence of the Federal loaned his personal train car to enable the
do its part by keeping interest rates low. Reserve from political influences. Cowed bankers to ride in secret down to Jekyll
Martin, however, was of the opinion that by the president’s belligerence, the Fed Island, on the southern Georgia coast,
interest rates should be raised, arousing chairman maintained interest rates very without being detected by the press or the
the ire of the volatile president. low that year and the next, putting the general public. To this secret meeting Al-
Banking Becoming Like Europe For the wealthy from the beginning: Representatives of the world’s most powerful banking
institutions met at the Jekyll Island Clubhouse, with the Rockefeller Cottage nearby, to plan how
According to standard accounts, the
to get the United States to implement a central bank that would be controlled by them.
American and European financial systems
at the time were in stark contrast. The
American system, goes the official ver- The drama of those few tumultuous weeks — 12 in all — in major cities across the
sion, was plagued by instability because saw a number of powerful American finan- country, which represented 12 districts,
American banks typically loaned out their cial institutions ruined and the city of New each of which theoretically wielded the
reserves to stock speculators in large cit- York itself teetering on the brink of bank- same amount of power as any of the oth-
ies during boom times, making those re- ruptcy. The situation was saved when J. ers. Also, the Fed was presided over by
serves difficult to access during times of P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller, along a board of governors, which supposedly
crisis. Moreover, American banks did not with a number of America’s wealthiest made decisions deliberatively and inde-
operate overseas and also had great dif- citizens, came together and used parts of pendent of all political or private financial
ficulty clearing checks and other forms of their vast fortunes to shore up America’s interests that might be brought to bear.
money transfer between cities or regions. teetering finances. As is nearly always the In reality, the early Federal Reserve was
Finally, the American monetary system case in a free market economy, they were completely dominated by the New York
was strictly tied to gold, making it difficult acting primarily out of self-interest; they branch and by its energetic governor, Ben-
to meet market demand for looser credit knew that the financial hurricane that had jamin Strong, who enjoyed many ties to
(i.e., more money) during certain times of brought down the likes of Knickerbocker the New York financial and banking com-
the year, like harvest time. All of these al- Trust might eventually engulf their own munity and generally acted in their interest
leged deficiencies of the American system concerns if they failed to act. But after — not the interest of bankers in San Fran-
had been solved by the Europeans, whose so doing, they resolved never to do so cisco, Chicago, or other parts of the United
banks tended to loan money directly to again; in the future, they expected some States. Strong, as we have seen, was tied to
merchants and manufacturers, thereby government entity, funded ultimately by Bankers Trust, one of the largest players in
guaranteeing ready access to collateral in American taxpayers, to be the guarantor New York finance. It was he who in effect
the case of default or crisis. With greater of financial stability. dictated Fed policy, which the board of
power to create money not backed by as- The result was the creation of the Fed- governors was expected to rubber-stamp.
sets, European powers fancied themselves eral Reserve in 1913, America’s first mod- Strong enjoyed ascendancy over the other
more flexible in responding to financial ern central bank, which has lasted up to the Federal Reserve branches because, in ad-
crises. That Paul Warburg believed all of present day. dition to his and the New York Fed’s close
this is borne out by an article he published When the Federal Reserve was first set ties to the New York banking and finan-
in the New York Times in 1907, in which up, its structure was slightly different from cial establishment (and their colleagues
he averred that the United States’ financial what it is today. For one thing, the domi- in Europe), the New York Fed became
system at the time was “at about the same nant figure in the early Federal Reserve the chosen repository for a lion’s share of
point that had been reached by Europe at was not its chairman but the governor of the Fed’s gold reserves, a state of affairs
the time of the Medicis, and by Asia, in the New York branch of the Federal Re- that persists to this day. It was also cho-
all likelihood, at the time of Hammurabi.” serve. The organization was structured at sen, as we shall see, as the center of the
Warburg’s snide appraisal seemed to be its inception to create the illusion of decen- Fed’s open market operations. Thus from
vindicated in the great Panic of 1907 that tralized power; unlike European central its inception, the Fed was wholly a cre-
erupted scant months after its publication. banks, the Fed had a number of branches ation of New York financial insiders, their
www.TheNewAmerican.com 35
HISTORY
— PAST AND PERSPECTIVE
Library of Congress
created inflationary instability and re-
quired robust action on the part of the Fed
to counteract.
World War I, the first great test of the
The secret of the 12: The 12 regional banks that make up the Federal Reserve System foster the new Federal Reserve, showed beyond
illusion of a decentralized, federal arrangement, but the Fed’s power is very much concentrated in any doubt that the Fed had no intention of
the Board of Governors and in the New York branch of the Fed. being independent of political and other
special interests. As Allan Meltzer noted
States and abroad. This state of affairs lar with the taxpaying public. One of the in his monumental history of the Federal
alone puts the lie to the Fed’s claims of Fed’s first big roles was the financing of Reserve, “Independence was sacrificed
empyrean impartiality; the very existence America’s involvement in World War I, to maintain interest rates that lowered the
of open market operations guarantees a fi- a deeply unpopular and (as events turned Treasury’s cost of debt finance” during the
nancial oligarchy whose interests will al- out) feckless enterprise that accomplished war years.
ways be served first and foremost by Fed little more than set the stage for an even Much of the European gold that flowed
decision making. bigger war later in the century. Neverthe- into the United States during the war
When the Federal Reserve was set up, less, American involvement in the war was ended up in the Fed’s vaults, giving it vast
America remained on the gold standard, ardently desired by American bankers and new assets to use in its activities. During
and many early proponents of the Federal industrialists who stood to make a fortune the 1920s, as open market operations came
Reserve, including Benjamin Strong, be- manufacturing weapons and financing the into their own, the Fed used some of its
lieved in the need for an international gold combatants — and to lose a fortune if, as gold to amass government securities that
standard to maintain financial stability. As appeared likely would happen, the losing it then learned to use to micromanage the
a result, the Fed’s early inflationary activ- side (most notably the French) ended up money supply. The Fed also opened the
ities, including both open market opera- having to default on huge debts owed to money spigots substantially by keeping
tions and the use of the “discount window” the likes of J. P. Morgan. The problem interest rates low, especially later in the
to manipulate interest rates, were carried with war is the immense cost. The Revo- decade. Those low interest rates prompted
out in the context of a currency standard lutionary War bankrupted the fledgling banks and investors to borrow money to
that required currency to be redeemable in United States, and every war since has left purchase stocks in the infamous specula-
gold. In reality, of course, the Fed, thanks a trail of debt for succeeding generations tive frenzy that led up to the stock market
to its new “flexible” credit powers, was to pay. Wars financed by up-front taxation crash of 1929 and the Great Depression
able to pyramid fiat monetary assets on top are seldom politically viable. But wars fi- that followed.
of a fraction of its reserves kept in gold. nanced by inflationary means, using the In a 2002 speech honoring the 90th
legerdemain of modern central banking, birthday of economist Milton Friedman,
Financing Wars are a boon to politicians and moneymen then-Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke ad-
The Fed has consistently used those credit alike. Inflation is a form of taxation, too; mitted, in a rare moment of candor, that
powers to serve the interests of the power eventually, the piper has to be paid for the Federal Reserve had been largely re-
elite. One of the most important powers the debasement of currency occasioned sponsible for the Great Depression. “Re-
of a modern central bank, with its essen- by printing money. But the process is so garding the Great Depression … we [at
tially unlimited inflationary potential, is subtle that few people understand what is the Fed] did it. We’re very sorry…. We
to finance wars desired by political and happening, or who is to blame. won’t do it again,” Bernanke confessed.
financial elites, but which are unpopu- The Benjamin Strong-led Fed jumped What Bernanke was referring to were al-
Library of Congress
to do with errors in judgment than with
the fact that the entire premise of modern
central banking — that prosperity can be
produced by expanding the money sup- The cause of the Great Depression: Even former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke
ply — is completely false. In the midst admitted that the monetary shenanigans of the Federal Reserve caused the Great Depression,
of the turmoil of the global Great Depres- ironic since its main job was supposedly to prevent recessions and depressions.
sion, the United States and many other
Western countries went off the gold stan- Aside from Lyndon Johnson’s thuggish rectify the Fed’s fundamental flaws. No
dard completely, yet the alleged flexibil- tactics, few presidents have ventured to matter how ingenious central bankers
ity that this act should have conferred on criticize the central bank, and even in become, they will remain powerless to
central bankers to rectify the crisis only Congress, criticism of the Fed has been stop recessions and depressions, and in
made things worse. rare and usually muted (a notable excep- fact will generally be the cause of them.
From that time to the present day, the tion being the career of former congress- The financial sector — like the rest of the
saga of the Federal Reserve and of central man Ron Paul, who was Bernanke’s most economy — is simply too complex to be
banking in general has been one of banks vocal and unflinching adversary before, planned. What’s more, the perverse in-
amassing more and more power, operat- during, and after the Great Recession). centives associated with central banking
ing more and more in concert with po- For this reason, it is refreshing that, in and fiat money production will always
litical interests, in order to solve increas- President Trump, we have for the first ensure that central bankers will amass
ingly daunting problems that they have time in generations a president unafraid more and more power and wealth, along
created themselves. The early 1930s saw to criticize the Fed, and in Congress, a with their political and financial cronies,
a flurry of new bills that effectively trans- statesman in Thomas Massie who, in in- while impoverishing the rest of us. The
formed the banking system into an arm of troducing a bill to audit the Fed, has ef- inflation that has eroded the value of the
the federal government — the Banking fectively taken up Ron Paul’s mantle (see dollar — and people’s savings and asset
Act of 1932, the Banking Act of 1933, the Extended Inside Track). But it is unclear valuations into the bargain — over sev-
Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, the Gold Re- whether President Trump’s criticisms eral generations is wholly the fault of the
serve Act of 1934, and the Banking Act of the Fed are grounded in principled Federal Reserve System.
of 1935. And numerous other pieces of opposition to the moral outrage that is The only possible solution is the aboli-
legislation in the decades since have fur- modern central banking, with its money tion of the Fed and the entire modern fiat
ther consolidated the Fed monolith and spigots and special interest allegiances, money system along with it. Such an act
its ties to political interests. But none of or whether, like many economists who will of course be a shock to the moneyed
that prevented the great inflationary cri- support central banking in principle while interests, but will bring great relief for
sis of the 1970s, and numerous recessions deploring this or that Fed policy decision those lower on the economic ladder who
large and small, especially the Great Re- in hindsight, Trump is more interested in have been unable to save money for dec
cession of 2007-2009 and its worldwide reforming the organization. ades — in other words, most of the rest
aftermath, a crisis that Ben Bernanke, Since it is probably the latter, it bears of the American public, for whom lifelong
glib promises to the contrary, was pow- clarification that, commendable as any debt has become a dreary reality. The Fed
erless to prevent or palliate. criticisms of the Fed may be (and to the never has and never will be the benign,
Throughout its checkered history, the extent that they raise public awareness impartial arbiter of financial well-being it
Fed has been mostly immune to criticism of the organization’s deficiencies, they is portrayed as being, and it is long past
in the halls of power in Washington. certainly are), no amount of reform will time to dispose of it. n
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EXERCISING THE RIGHT “... the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
Murder at the IHOP IHOP, so it’s really hurt the family all the Onyebinachi even showed up in the
In a tragic story out of Hunstville, Alabama, way around, so anything that they can do to comment section for the ABC article re-
an irate customer opened fire at an Interna- help is greatly appreciated.” peating the claim that Turner wouldn’t
tional House of Pancakes (IHOP) chain res- Brown was also remembered by former have committed a violent crime, but an-
taurant and killed a much-cherished manag- employees, who had nothing but kind things other commenter chastised Onyebinachi
er. The Associated Press reported on January to say about him. Former IHOP employee for misrepresenting what happened. James
17 about the senseless crime in which the Megan Ingram told the local ABC affiliate Chaney of Huntsville responded directly
customer, who was described by friends as that Brown “was one of those managers that to Onyebinachi and wrote, “your comment
an “aspiring rapper,” lost his temper owing you would want to get up out of bed and makes no sense ... facts are facts…. He
to an issue he had with a carry-out order and work for every day.” Ingram also told ABC went to his car and got a gun. A building
began arguing with a restaurant employee. that Brown was a very special man whom full of people saw this…. He is guilty and
The customer, later identified as 25-year-old people truly loved. “He is missed and he is paid with his life.”
Roderick Turner, yelled at the IHOP staff loved, and I know he is at peace. I know Onyebinachi’s claims about Turner’s
and then got into a physical scuffle with one that God got an angel in heaven last night.” nonviolent nature also came into ques-
of the employees. Turner then went to his Another former employee, Josh Strange, tion when it was later revealed that the
car and retrieved a gun. told the ABC affiliate that Brown “was the deceased suspect had a long record of
When Turner returned to the store, the guy that everyone knew when they came violence. WHNT News 19 reported that
manager, who has worked in restaurant in. He would be the one behind the coun- Turner was involved in multiple violent
management for most of his adult life, ter, smiling and behind the grill, smiling no assaults, using a firearm against three dif-
intervened in an effort to de-escalate the matter how busy it was,” Strange said. ferent victims and even being accused of
situation. Fifty-six-year-old Roy Brown The CBS affiliate reported on January shooting at people on more than one oc-
tried to calm Turner down but his ef- 24 that the Huntsville Police Department casion! Madison County prosecutors ex-
forts failed, and Turner pulled out his gun completed its investigation into the shoot- plained that those cases never resulted in
and began shooting. Brown was fatally ing, and based on what they found, they any convictions because the victims and
wounded and his son, Jay Brown, who believe that the shooting of Turner was witnesses refused to testify. This is com-
was working with his father at the IHOP, justified. “We have used all investigative mon in high-crime communities that have
was shot in the arm. Fortunately the son material possible to reach our conclusion a culture that looks down on “snitching,”
had his carry permit and was carrying a that this was an act of self-defense.... which is a slang and derogatory term for
concealed handgun. The son pulled out The overwhelming majority of witnesses cooperating with criminal investigations.
his own gun and returned fire at Turner, in this case, including the surviving vic- The IHOP was reopened a few days
fatally wounding him. Police soon arrived, tim, all of their statements including the later, with customers returning in large
but both the suspect and the elder Brown physical [evidence] at the scene, mirror numbers. Employees and managers of the
were pronounced dead at the scene. The one another,” Lieutenant Michael John- IHOP decorated the doors of the restau-
son was taken to a nearby medical facility son, spokesman for the Huntsville Police rant with blue balloons to welcome cus-
for treatment for the injury to his arm and Department, told the CBS affiliate. tomers back, and IHOP’s corporate offices
was released after a few days. ABC also reported on the claims of a also let people know counseling services
Brown’s death was mourned by the friend of the deceased suspect who tried were available for people who either wit-
local community, who viewed him as a to cast doubt on the accusation that Turner nessed the violent crime or were mourning
dedicated family man who loved making killed Brown in cold blood. Turner’s friend Brown’s death. Customer Mary Warren
his customers happy. One Huntsville po- Kingsley Onyebinachi gave an interview to told the ABC affiliate that she was glad to
lice officer even began a GoFundMe page an ABC affiliate where he questioned what see so many customers there, but she was
to assist with funeral costs, since he was occurred and outright claimed that Turner most impressed by the IHOP employees.
touched by Brown’s hospitality. Huntsville wouldn’t have done what police are saying “They’re really brave…. They’re heroes
Police Officer James Andrew told the local he did. In a rambling and at times nonsensi- too for coming back.” It was an emotional
ABC affiliate that he and his fellow officers cal rant, Onyebinachi claimed the deceased experience as customers returned to the
ate at that IHOP multiple times and genu- suspect was a peaceful and loving man who restaurant and interacted with IHOP em-
inely liked Brown, who they said always wouldn’t hurt a fly. “We eat IHOP numer- ployees who had just lost a beloved co-
went out of his way to be kind. “We’re in ously. So for this to happen this time when worker. In no time at all, the restaurant
IHOP at least four or five nights a week. we ate here 20 times in the last few months was packed with customers and employ-
He always took real good care of us, so we … that sounds outrageous…. Knowing my ees were hard at work, so it seemed like
just thought we’d try to do something to friend for numerous of years, he has never everything was back to business as usual,
help the family…. The family is definitely had a problem with a carryout order. If any- which is what many believe Roy Brown
overwhelmed by all the support from the thing, he would have bought a whole other would have wanted. n
community…. All three sons worked for order,” Onyebinachi said. — Patrick Krey
AP Images
Their “newest idea would essentially
apply to any U.S. patent-protected brand-
name drug, whether or not government Economic illiteracy? Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Elijah Cummings want a law that
programs are bearing the cost.” would take a patent from any drug with prices higher than in several other countries, though that
Drugs, the AP continued, that were would likely mean that pharmaceutical companies would cut funds to finding new drugs.
“found to be ‘excessively priced’ by the
government could face generic competi- fact that their profits continue to far exceed an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute and
tion. A medication’s cost would be deemed spending on research and development.” a law professor at the University of Texas
‘excessive’ if its price in the U.S. was high- The group cites various increases of cer- at Austin; Hyman is an adjunct scholar at
er than the median, or midpoint, price in tain drugs ranging from 6.2 to 10 percent, Cato and a professor at the Georgetown
Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, pronouncing that “at a time when one in University Law Center. They rightfully
France and Japan. If the manufacturer four Americans can’t afford their medica- pointed a finger at the U.S. Food and Drug
was unwilling to cut its U.S. price, then tions, these price hikes are staggering.” Administration for “a backlog of pending
the government could allow generic com- Adds CSRxP: “It’s time for Congress to applications from generic drug manufac-
panies to make a more affordable version hold these companies accountable.” turers that want to enter the market.” The
of the medication.” Correction: We would be better off if writers urged Congress give the agency
Item: Massachusetts Democrat Senator there was less government in business and the resources needed “to process these ap-
Elizabeth Warren, reported the Intercept more business in government, preferably plications more quickly” and to give “pri-
on December 18, wants to establish a smaller, constitutional government. ority to applications for generics that have
“publicly run office to manufacture pre- This is not to say, of course, that certain experienced price hikes.”
scription drugs — to control the means of companies are without fault. There are When it comes to generic drugs, it is
production, so to speak.” indeed problems with pharmaceuticals. government policies that “allow big drug
The bill “would create an Office of Still, we might also grumble, for exam- companies to obtain long-term monopoly
Drug Manufacturing within the Depart- ple, that running shoes are “excessively protection by keeping their generic com-
ment of Health and Human Services. That priced” (thus hurting the well-being of petitors out of the marketplace,” as was
office would have the authority to manu- hard-pressed exercisers), but that does not noted by Dr. Ron Paul last year in a piece
facture generic versions of any drug for mean that the solution is establishing the for the Foundation for Economic Educa-
which the U.S. government has licensed a U.S. Office of Sneaker Manufacturing. tion. Too many drug companies, the for-
patent, whenever there is little or no com- As it is, we are not dealing with any- mer congressman wrote, do exploit
petition, critical shortages, or exorbitant thing approaching a free market with phar-
prices that restrict patient access.” maceutical drugs when one considers how the complexity of the post-patent
Item: The Campaign for Sustainable Rx deeply Washington is already involved, rules to make it very time-consuming
Pricing (CSRxP) — a project of the Na- including countless levels of regulations. and costly for competitors to enter the
tional Coalition on Health Care — decries Regulations cost in terms of both pro- marketplace. They can even withhold
on its website that “dozens of pharmaceuti- duction and delivery time for patients. supplies of their drugs from compa-
cal companies rang in the new year by in- This has been a challenge for some time, nies that — under Food and Drug
creasing hundreds of drug prices by up to as addressed last June in an analysis by Administration (FDA) rules — must
15 times the rate of inflation — despite the Charles Silver and David Hyman. Silver is obtain them to make sure they’re
PeopleImages/GettyImagesPlus
prices of prescription drugs for American
patients. Its report shows that “relative an-
nual price growth for prescription drugs
has slowed since January 2017, and esti-
mate that lower prices from new generic
drug products saved consumers $26 bil-
lion through July 2018.”
Under FDA Commissioner Scott Gott- The price of regulations: Generic drugs have been greatly reducing the costs of drugs for Americans,
lieb — as described in a November piece in but the government is sitting on many applications to create new generic drugs and hasn’t passed the
E21, the economics portal of the Manhattan CREATES Act, which would ease the ability of generic companies to formulate new drugs.
Institute for Policy Research — “the FDA
has slashed regulatory barriers to new and put it in a balanced, perceptive piece in the the system. And what government has de-
generic drug development, allowing the City Journal last year, “Developing a new formed, it could reform — either for the
FDA to approve a record number of new drug often takes more than a decade — an better or the worse. The Wall Street Jour-
drugs in FY18, beating the record they set eternity to a politician. Lowering prices for nal has looked, very dubiously, at some of
the previous year.” This is a positive step. today’s voters is far more appealing than the solutions that fall in the latter category.
But it is part of the progressive creed to saving the lives of voters in 2030.” Democrats in the House, the paper’s edi-
disdain business “greed” even while seek- The U.S. pharmaceutical industry is, as tors wrote on January 8,
ing to concentrate power with the central Tierney observed, “the most innovative in
government. Let’s concede that even well- the world and saves more lives than any are pushing a bill to let Medicare “ne-
intentioned capitalists are not generally other institution.” And it is denounced by gotiate” drug prices, an idea Presi-
altruistic saints. That said — and this is many in both political parties as a major dent Trump tossed around as a can-
assuredly not because the American phar- villain for profiteering. didate. The reality is that Medicare’s
maceutical industry is unselfish — this Tierney noted that even Donald Trump, prescription benefit known as Part D
country accounts for more than half of in a press conference as president, is run by commercial payers that al-
new “wonder drugs” developed in recent ready negotiate steep discounts. The
decades, according to the Milken Institute. accused drug companies of “getting real Democratic goal isn’t “better
The industry is not a charity. It has away with murder,” and Bernie San deals” but political control over what
major expenses and is sustained by prof- ders has called the industry’s greed a government pays for medicine. In
its. As explained by Chris Pope of the “public-health hazard to the American other words they want price controls,
Manhattan Institute: “The average cost people.” A central plank in the “Bet- which sap the incentive to innovate.
of developing a new drug, demonstrating ter Deal” that Democrats are promis-
its safety and efficacy, and bringing it to ing … is for the federal government There has also been an alignment, of
market has been estimated to be as high to “negotiate” drug prices, and some sorts, between socialist Bernie Sanders
as $2.9 billion. Patents allow drug firms progressives don’t even make that and Trump administration proposals. One
to recoup their investment by temporarily semantical pretense. They call for Sanders bill “would peg what the U.S.
restricting competition.” outright price controls, if not the “de- pays for drugs to what other industrial
At the same time, Big Pharma, as it has privatization” of the industry, on the countries pay — Canada, the United King-
been widely labeled, is an attractive target grounds that Big Pharma is too power- dom, Japan and so on. Earlier this year the
for populist attacks — in part because it is ful to be constrained by market forces. Health and Human Services Department
easy to blast someone for raising prices now proposed trying a similar model for drugs
rather than giving them credit for provid- Both parties say the industry needs re- in Medicare Part B.” Under the Sanders
ing cures down the road. As John Tierney forming because companies can game legislation, as the Journal’s editors wrote,
AP Images
oncology drugs, for instance. Some
drugs are denied approval on grounds
Government manufacturing: Presidential hopeful Senator Elizabeth Warren wants government to that they don’t produce results worth
actually manufacture drugs. Government would make drugs when it deems costs are high or there the cost, a judgment most American
are shortages or no competition. Of course, many such problems are caused by government. patients might prefer to make them-
selves. The Food and Drug Adminis-
the HHS secretary “could break the patent and wind up with more money at the expense tration doesn’t consider cost, at least
of any drug that is ‘excessively priced,’ of patients on both sides of the Atlantic. not explicitly.
which judging by the political pique would The history of those relying on govern-
include all of them.” ment price controls is a sad one (and not just As for Elizabeth Warren’s essential nation-
Warren, Sanders, and Trump admin- in Venezuela, though the shortages caused alization push of generic drugs, even the
istration officials, among others, have there should be instructive). Dr. Joel Zin- left-wing Washington Post sent up smoke
complained about (or looked jealously at) berg, a surgeon who is now on the White signals in warning — pointing out that it
what occurs in foreign countries, many House’s Council of Economic Advisers, is almost impossible to find a state-owned
with single-payer health systems. Some of previously summarized the effects of price enterprise that can really pursue innovation
those countries are apparently freeloading, controls imposed by European countries in and social welfare rather than profit. The
as critics complain, from American drug the 1980s. The doctor noted that in the mid- Post’s Megan McArdle called Warren’s idea
companies, and those companies have dle of that decade, “European drug R&D
been accepting the prices set there (and was 24% higher than in the U.S. After price particularly silly given that so many
making up by charging more in this coun- controls, European pharmaceutical R&D of the problems that make it harder
try). Economic columnist Stephen Moore, grew at half the U.S. rate” and substantially for generic drug-makers to enter the
who served as a senior economic advisor trailed American R&D by 2016. market are created by government
to the Trump campaign, says that HHS Yes, Americans do gripe about their regulations in the first place. Unless
Secretary Alex Azar has assured him the drug costs, but there are plenty of com- the government enterprise bypasses
administration’s plan “is designed to limit plaints in Europe too. We should not fall the regulatory hurdles constraining
the price controls in foreign countries and victim to the “grass is always greener on supply, it will face much the same
bring American drug prices down so they the other side” syndrome. Yes, there are difficulties that private firms do. And
are in line with other nations.” numerous individual horror stories about if the government is going to relax
One might hope so. Yet, as Moore the cost of prescription drugs in this coun- regulatory requirements, wouldn’t
cautions, if price controls are the prob- try, often related to innovative treatment. it make more sense to just retool the
lem, “effectively importing them to these Let’s assume each is true. How should we way the market works for everyone?
shores can’t also be the solution.” respond? After all, there are reasons for
There could also be unforeseen conse- the maxim that hard cases make bad law. Sure, but there’s an election coming. If you
quences. If, under political pressure, the On the one hand, we have politicians want to lead the Democrats into battle, you
prices in foreign nations for a certain drug pushing industry nationalization. On the need more than the DNA of a 1/1,024th
are forced up, that does not necessarily mean other hand, here are some actual statis- statist, you must display the headdress of
that Americans are going to pay less. Com- tics: The latest data from the Centers for a full-fledged socialist chief. n
panies might just pocket the foreign increase Medicare & Medicaid Services reveal — William P. Hoar
www.TheNewAmerican.com 43
THE LAST WORD
by William F. Jasper
Crimes of
Dangers and Threats: Common Core the Educators
Constitutional This video tells how a federal scheme to control schools’ cur- Crimes of the Educators by Samuel
Principles Booklet Set ricula unrolled without fanfare or opposition, though it generally
Blumenfeld and Alex Newman reveals
Three of the most important topics regarding the lowers education standards and morals for kids. Reproduced and
how the architects of America’s pub-
Constitution — the Electoral College, a Constitutional distributed by permission of FreedomProject Academy.
lic-schools disaster implemented a
Convention, and Article VI — are explained from a consti- Sleeved DVD (2013, 70 min, 1-10/$1.00ea; 11-20/$0.90ea;
plan to socialize the United States
tutionalist viewpoint in these three booklets. Understanding 21-49/$0.80ea; 50-99/$0.75ea; 100-999/$0.70ea; 1000+/$0.64ea)
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