6/03/2023

Positive Change in Antarctic ice shelf area from 2009 to 2019

June 3, 2023

New study reports the Antarctic ice shelf area has grown by 5,305 square kilometers between 2009-2019. What's actually melting: The climate hoax narrative.

Antarctic ice shelves provide buttressing support to the ice sheet, stabilising the flow of grounded ice and its contribution to global sea levels. Over the past 50 years, satellite observations have shown ice shelves collapse, thin, and retreat; however, there are few measurements of the Antarctic-wide change in ice shelf area. Here, we use MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) satellite data to measure the change in ice shelf calving front position and area on 34 ice shelves in Antarctica from 2009 to 2019. Over the last decade, a reduction in the area on the Antarctic Peninsula (6693 km2) and West Antarctica (5563 km2) has been outweighed by area growth in East Antarctica (3532 km2) and the large Ross and Ronne–Filchner ice shelves (14 028 km2). The largest retreat was observed on the Larsen C Ice Shelf, where 5917 km2 of ice was lost during an individual calving event in 2017, and the largest area increase was observed on Ronne Ice Shelf in East Antarctica, where a gradual advance over the past decade (535 km2 yr−1) led to a 5889 km2 area gain from 2009 to 2019. Overall, the Antarctic ice shelf area has grown by 5305 km2 since 2009, with 18 ice shelves retreating and 16 larger shelves growing in area. Our observations show that Antarctic ice shelves gained 661 Gt of ice mass over the past decade, whereas the steady-state approach would estimate substantial ice loss over the same period, demonstrating the importance of using time-variable calving flux observations to measure change.

Biden’s CIA Director — who employed CCP members in past gig — took secret trip to China: Report

June 3, 2023

CIA Director William Burns made a covert trip to China in May for meetings with officials in a bid to restore deteriorating relations between Washington and Beijing, the Financial Times reported, citing five anonymous officials familiar with the situation.

The visit to China is Burns’ first and the most senior by any Biden administration official, underscoring how concerned the president is over deepening rifts in official communication between the competing countries, the FT reported. Yet, experts have raised concerns about the CIA director’s vulnerability to malign political influence from Beijing since the Daily Caller News Foundation revealed he formerly headed a Washington-based think tank employing undisclosed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members.

He may have met with Chinese intelligence officials, according to the FT’s sources.

“Last month, director Burns traveled to Beijing where he met with Chinese counterparts and emphasized the importance of maintaining open lines of communications in intelligence channels,” a U.S. official told the FT, suggesting Burns met with Chinese intelligence officials.

President Joe Biden often dispatches Burns to carry out sensitive overseas missions on a parallel track to official diplomatic initiatives, according to the FT. He communicated the Biden administration’s opposition to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan in August that severely angered China, the FT reported, citing several people familiar with the situation.

Burns’ visit took place the same month National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi in Vienna, according to the FT. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin hoped to meet with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the annual Asia-based Shangri-La defense summit this week but received a terse denial days before the event began.

Discovery of a Chinese spy balloon that transited across the continental U.S. collecting data on sensitive military sites fractured relations between Xi Jinping’s China and the Biden administration.

But in May, sometime after Burns completed his trip, Biden said he expected an imminent “thaw” in relations, according to the FT.

Paul Haenle, the director of the Carnegie China think tank, which Burns previously oversaw, told the FT Biden may have selected Burns because he has earned respect among Democrats and Republicans and is well-known to Chinese officials.

“They know him as a trusted interlocutor. They would welcome the opportunity to engage him quietly behind the scenes,” Haenle told the FT. “They will see a quiet discreet engagement with Burns as a perfect opportunity.”

The CIA did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Doctored evidence? Democrat-led J6 panel added audio to silent security video for primetime hearings

June 3, 2023

J6 Unmasked: Silent Capitol Police security footage altered by adding audio from another source during a montage that aired at the select committee's first primetime hearing last June.

The Democrat-led House Select Committee to Investigate Jan. 6 doctored a key piece of its evidence, adding audio to silent U.S. Capitol Police security footage used to create a dramatic video montage for the opening of its primetime hearings last summer, according to a Just the News review of the original raw footage and interviews.

In at least two instances identified by Just the News, the panel's sizzle reel that aired live and on C-SPAN last June failed to identify that it had overdubbed audio from another, unidentified source onto the silent footage. Multiple current and former Capitol Police officials as well as key lawmakers and congressional aides confirmed that the closed-circuit cameras that captured the video do not record sound and that it was added afterwards.

Choir Director Tells Gateway Pundit After US Capitol Police Incident – “This is Not Over – They Should Invite Us Back at Their Expense and Let Us Sing”

June 3, 2023

On Friday, The Gateway Pundit reported earlier that the Rushingbrook Children’s Choir was stopped mid-performance while singing the National Anthem at the US Capitol because it is considered a “demonstration.”

The children, part of the esteemed Rushingbrook Children’s Choir, had traveled to Washington, D.C. from South Carolina last Friday, May 26th, for a scheduled Capitol tour and had received prior approval to sing a short set of patriotic songs inside the historic Statuary Hall.

“We set it up, email was approved in the Speaker’s office with three Congressional offices,” said Micah Rea, founder and principal of The Rea Group and organizer of the trip.

Confirmed: Fusion GPS Withheld 1,500 Documents from Durham Investigation on the Origins of the Trump-Russia Hoax – And Durham Did Not Take Legal Action

June 3, 2023

Special Counsel John Durham released his final report concluding the FBI had no verified intel when it opened the Crossfire Hurricane investigation into Trump in 2016.

In July of 2016, Peter Strzok opened a counterintel investigation into Trump’s camp dubbed “Crossfire Hurricane” on suspicions (based on no evidence) that the Russians had infiltrated Trump’s circle.

The CI investigation was based on lies conjured up by Hillary Clinton and her paid-for fake Russia dossier.

6/01/2023

Is the Sleeping Conservative Dragon Finally Waking Up?

June 1, 2023

Victor Davis Hanson
American Greatness

Conservatives and traditionalists are often exasperated at the ongoing woke cultural revolution in their midst.

How can America be turned upside down, as it is, when there is little public support for the things happening around us?

They don’t see much backing for the current wide-open borders and unchecked illegal immigration, yet it continues.

Conservatives feel that most Americans reject the trend of biological men dominating female sporting events.

They fear American jurisprudence has become now vastly weaponized and warped.

Supreme Court: Yes, the IRS Can Secretly Obtain Your Bank Records

June 1, 2023

The Supreme Court has sided with the IRS in a case that involves owing the IRS money, bank records, taxpayer privacy, and notice.

The IRS has scored a win at the U.S. Supreme Court. last Thursday, the court released its ruling in Polselli v. IRS, involving whether the agency can access bank records of a taxpayer’s relatives or associates — without notice — to help with tax collection efforts. The Supreme Court’s answer is yes. Under an existing statute, the IRS can secretly probe your bank records and potentially your relatives’ bank records without notice.

“The question presented is whether the exception to the notice requirement applies only where a delinquent taxpayer has a legal interest in accounts or records summoned by the IRS under Section 7602(a). A straightforward reading of the statutory text supplies a ready answer: The notice exception does not contain such a limitation,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote in the unanimous opinion.

What does this mean for taxpayers in non-legal terms?

U.S. Supreme Court Balances Power Between Employers and Unions in Latest Ruling

June 1, 2023

Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters concerned the limits of the protections granted by the NLRA

NFIB applauds today’s decision in the case Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters at the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court determined that the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) does not immunize the intentional destruction of an employer’s property. NFIB filed an amicus brief in the case arguing that the NLRA does not preempt suits similar to the one presented in this case.

“Today’s decision reaffirms the established balance of power between labor unions and employers,” said Beth Milito, Executive Director of NFIB’s Small Business Legal Center. “The NLRA does not preempt legal action when employers are facing harassment and vandalism. Small business owners have the right to seek a remedy when their property and livelihoods are intentionally damaged.”

Rep. Nancy Mace on debt ceiling bill: ‘The American people were spoon-fed a bed of lies’

June 1, 2023

South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace joined Steve Bannon on War Room to express dismay over the latest debt deal facing a vote in Congress. Mace told Bannon ‘The American people were spoon-fed a bed of lies’. The legislation heads to the house floor today for debate and a final passage vote. If it passes, the bill moves to the Senate.

How a declining birthrate could impact every American

June 1, 2023

Teen births hit historic low; birthrates overall well below replacement, according to provisional CDC data

Births to teenagers hit a new low in 2022, following a decades-old trend that began in 1991, despite brief increases in 2006 and 2007. And the birthrate for young women, ages 20-24, also reached a record low.

But not all birth declines are being hailed as good news. Demographic experts say reports on fertility rates are not just an interesting look at numbers. Fertility is a roadmap to aspects of the future that have great bearing on most people’s lives in one way or another, though they may not recognize it.

Population change impacts schools, economies and social programs, they say. It can impact whether you can cash out the equity in your house or how many holes the social safety net might have as you grow old.

Senate votes 52-46 to overturn Biden's student debt relief program

June 1, 2023

Democrats expressed outrage after the resolution passed.

The Senate voted 52-46 on Thursday to block President Joe Biden's student loan relief program.

The legislation would repeal Biden's debt relief program and resume federal student loan debt payments, which the administration had on pause. Moderate senators, including Democrat Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana as well as independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, voted with Republicans to pass the bill.

"With prices on the rise and our debt crisis getting worse by the day, the last thing we need is yet another debt-financed spending spree, this one to pay off someone else’s student loans," Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) tweeted after the resolution passed.

Cost Of Pentagon’s Most Expensive Weapons Program Is Spiraling Out Of Control, Watchdog Finds

June 1, 2023

The cost of the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons program has skyrocketed $183 billion above initial cost estimates as production hurdles mount, a government watchdog found in a Tuesday report.

An engine cooling issue is the latest setback to the Pentagon’s $1.7 trillion F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter weapons program, which is now more than 10 years behind schedule and racked with multiple unexpected cost increases, the Government Accountability Office found in its annual report on the program. Meanwhile, the Department of Defense (DOD) hasn’t accounted to Congress for the cost increases or made a good-faith effort to look into a variety of options for upgrading the advanced aircraft engines.

Wait for Me, Daddy: The True Story Behind the Iconic World War II Photo

June 1, 2023

The Wait for Me, Daddy photograph became one of the most famous images to come out of Canada during the Second World War. A seemingly heart-felt image of a young boy running to his soldier father as he prepares for his deployment overseas, the story behind the photo is much more complicated.

Gambling on college sports — what could possibly go wrong?

June 1, 2023

A new survey by the NCAA reveals how pervasive gambling has become on college campuses, and it affects athletes, as well

It ought to be obvious.

If you dance around a swamp too much, you’re going to fall in and get muddy. If you get your kicks jumping over fires, prepare to get burned. If you keep poking a hornet’s nest … well, you get the idea.

We all understand the analogies. So, why do Americans think they can wholeheartedly embrace sports gambling and not see more betting scandals and more lives ruined?

The NCAA released a survey this week that it hopes will establish a “new baseline of sports betting activity,” according to a news release. Among other things, it found that 67% of college students who live on campus place bets on sporting events.

Of all college students, including those who live off campus, 41.2% bet on their school’s team, and 34.7% use a bookmaker who is a fellow student.

For Catholics, June Isn’t ‘Pride Month,’ It’s Dedicated To The Sacred Heart Of Jesus

June 1, 2023

It’s time for Catholics, and all Christians, to reassert devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus over and against ‘Pride Month.’

Unless you live in a cave, you’ve probably noticed that June is “Pride Month,” when corporate America and nearly every public institution in the country swap out their logos for rainbow flags and engage in an appalling spectacle of empty, hypocritical virtue-signaling.

Already in the first week of June we’ve had the Brooklyn Net’s insane pride flag graphic, the U.S. Marine Corps tweet with the rainbow-colored bullets, and FIFA’s tweet boasting about its embrace of Pride Month in the same breath as it promotes the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar, where homosexuality is a crime punishable by death.

Corporate America, professional sports, Hollywood, and the entire executive branch of the federal government now claim June for the so-called “LGBTQIA+ community.” As far as they’re concerned, if you’re not sufficiently on board with “Pride Month,” you’re a bigot. Indeed, the whole concept of “Pride Month,” as my colleague Chris Bedford noted recently, has become less about inclusion and acceptance and more about “targeted campaigns to force submission to left-wing policies often far afield from even the radical goals of America’s first gay activists.”

Christians and conservatives don’t have to accept this. We can reclaim June. One way to do that is to return to the well of the Catholic faith and draw from its depths. For Catholics, the month of June isn’t “Pride Month,” it’s dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and has been for centuries.

The feast of the Sacred Heart has been celebrated by Catholics since the late seventeenth century, following a series of appearances Jesus made to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in the 1670s asking her to promote a feast in honor of His Sacred Heart. The feast falls on the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi, which means it always falls during the month of June. After the feast was officially recognized by the Catholic Church in 1856, the entire month of June became dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and His divine love for humanity, with Catholics engaging in a host of devotional practices leading up to the feast itself.

All of this might be unfamiliar to non-Catholic Christians, but there’s no reason they can’t celebrate and take part along with their Catholic brothers and sisters. Devotion to the Sacred Heart, unlike the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, doesn’t involve a Eucharistic procession through the streets with priests in full vestments and all the pomp and circumstance that non-Catholics sometimes find off-putting.

Rather, devotion to the Sacred Heart is a personal and private commitment to enthrone Jesus as king in one’s own heart and king over one’s own home or family. Evangelicals might call it a rededication to making Jesus one’s “personal Lord and Savior.” Whatever you call it, the idea is to mark out June as a month dedicated to following Jesus as your king, drawing close to Him in devotion, and recognizing Him as truly the king of all hearts, the king of all kings, and the Savior of the world.

This is something all Christians, regardless of denomination, could and should get behind. If we believe that Jesus Christ is king, let’s make Him the king over our private lives, over our families and homes, and order our days in the month of June to honor His kingship and draw near to Him in devotion.

By doing so, we’ll gain a new understanding of His profound love for us, and in turn we’ll gain a deeper love for one another — the kind of compassion and charity that “Pride Month” once claimed to foster but which it now actively undermines.

It should be obvious by now that unless Christians everywhere stand against corporate mass culture, our civilization will collapse. It’s time — long past time — to reassert devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus over and against “Pride Month,” and reclaim the month of June for the king of hearts.

The Medlock Post Ep. 156: The Debt Ceiling and Pornography

June 1, 2023

The Medlock Post Ep. 156: The Debt Ceiling and Pornography

Debt Ceiling Deal: "What is Mandatory Spending? Mandatory spending–simply put–is government spending that is required by law.

Discretionary government spending is spending that is not mandated by law and that Congress can choose to fund or not fund each year. It includes things like defense, infrastructure, education, and scientific research.

5/31/2023

Left, Right, and Center Agree Big Government Doesn’t Work

May 31, 2023

Conservatives must follow Reagan.

Government Executive public administration expert Donald F. Kettl has recently come to the painful conclusion that the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Mandate for Leadership 2025 proposal on government reform is “a thoughtful but piercing critique of the existing civil service system.”

Bipartisan Deal to Stop Stalling of Critical Natural Gas Pipeline “Infuriates” Climate Activists

May 31, 2023

This weekend, President Biden and House Republicans agreed to approve through the permitting process the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) as part of the debt ceiling deal, and climate activists are furious. This critical project will ship West Virginia natural gas to the East Coast, reducing sky-high energy costs for consumers and Europe’s dependence on Russia. As a result of the current lack of pipeline infrastructure, the Southeast has some of the highest gas prices in the country.

The Washington Post reports,

“MVP connects Marcellus shale sweet spots for EQT and other drillers in West Virginia to a hub for East Coast supplies in Virginia.”

The deal “infuriates” radical green groups who were engaged in a campaign to kill the project by bogging it down with frivolous lawsuits. MVP had already been through the permitting process three times over eight years and is already 96% complete but continued to be stalled.

Anti-ESG movement causing concerns and challenges, say ESG advocates.

May 31, 2023

Republican-Led Movement Against ESG Investing Under Fire at Environmental Conference

“I don’t think there’s any chance that the anti-ESG movement will win,” said Witold Henisz, a vice dean and faculty director of the ESG Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Federal Loneliness Advisory Sketches Blueprint For Regulating Everyone’s Private Life

May 31, 2023

The advisory foreshadows an unprecedented invasion of private spaces by the federal government that could completely undermine our most fundamental freedoms.

Google recently reported that a record number of internet searches reflect the depths of our loneliness epidemic. More than ever, people are seeking ways “to make friends,” and looking for places where they might find friends.

That report came on the heels of Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s special advisory on America’s loneliness epidemic. Glowing interviews and stories about Murthy’s 81-page report — titled “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation” — have been making the rounds in podcasts, medical journals, and “news” outlets. The reporting is peppered with friendly platitudes about bringing people together and “reaching out” to loved ones.

Don’t be taken in by that hype. This advisory and the strategy it proposes are fraught with threats to freedom. Keep this in mind: “Advisories are reserved for significant public health challenges that require the nation’s immediate awareness and action” (emphases added).

Biden Administration Demands Georgia Schools Show Pornography To Kids

May 31, 2023

‘This is about the federal government using bully tactics against our school system to indoctrinate our children into their LGBTQ ideology.

Bureaucrats in President Joe Biden’s Department of Education just put their thumb on the scale of a book dispute in Georgia by not only smearing parents’ concerns about sexually explicit books in schools but also leveraging their federal power to intimidate districts that have successfully purged porn from campuses.

In the Biden administration’s latest attempt to weaponize an arm of the federal government against parents, the DOE’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) wrote a letter to Forsyth County Schools Superintendent Jeff Bearden on May 19 outlining everything it deemed wrong with the district’s decision to pull several inappropriate books from school bookshelves.

Not only did the federal agency demand that the district offer “supportive measures to students who may have been impacted by the book removal process,” but the OCR also ordered the Georgia school district to administer a “climate survey” to middle and high school students so bureaucrats can “assess whether additional steps need to be taken.”

Homeowners in high-risk areas face insurance challenges

May 31, 2023

Insurances companies across the U.S. are increasing prices, particularly in high-risk areas.

In states like California and Florida, record-setting natural disasters and inflation are squeezing insurance companies, and they’re passing the prices to consumers, making it more challenging to receive coverage.

Insurance companies nationwide have said whether it’s a tornado, hurricane or fire, they know how much stress is on homeowners. More studies are showing that not only are these major weather events happening more but are also more severe, and for that reason, so many people are living in harm’s way.

“Not only do you have an increased frequency and severity of disasters, but you also have to look at it from the insurers’ perspective,” said Michael Barry, chief communications officer at the Insurance Information Institute. “They’re operating in, like the rest of the economy, a high inflation environment.”

After John Durham bombshell, judge breathes new life into Clinton Foundation whistleblower case

May 31, 2023

U.S. Tax Court asks for new motions this summer from whistleblowers, IRS in aftermath of precedent-setting rulings.

Just a few weeks after Special Counsel John Durham revealed significant failures to investigate allegations against Hillary Clinton’s family charity, a U.S. Tax Court judge has once again breathed new life into a years-long whistleblower case alleging IRS improprieties involving the controversial Clinton Foundation.

U.S. Tax Court Judge David Gustafson has already once before denied an IRS request to dismiss the whistleblower case, first brought in 2017. And three years ago, he ordered the tax agency to reveal whether it criminally investigated the foundation, citing a mysterious "gap" in its records.

The IRS filed a new motion to dismiss, and all parties filed arguments over the last year. But on Monday, Gustafson postponed ruling on those motions, instead asking for new arguments in light of three recent precedent-setting court rulings, once again frustrating IRS efforts to make the case go away.

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