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GOP-led House bill allows for future vaccine and mask mandates, international emergency powers

Published

8 hours ago

11 minute read

From LifeSiteNews

By Doug Mainwaring

‘Have we learned NOTHING from the horrific abuses the government imposed during COVID?’ Republican Rep. Greg Steube asked. ‘These same overreaching policies are being set up to control us again.’

Less than 24 hours after the GOP-led U.S. House of Representatives published its monstrous 1,500-page Continuing Resolution to fund the government of the United States, a remarkable shift in power became evident, showing to be true what the November presidential election had hinted at: The MAGA movement now appears to be in the driver’s seat in D.C.

GOP leadership on the Hill waited to publish the bill and hand it out to members of the House until just 60 hours before the measure was to be voted on, hoping no one would be able to do a deep dive into its contents, while simultaneously strong-arming members to quickly vote in favor of the Continuing Resolution in order to avoid a government shutdown on Friday.

House leadership’s approach to producing the massive bill without allowing time to thoroughly study and comment on it echoed Nancy Pelosi’s appalling 2010 elitist pronouncement to the nation and fellow members of Congress concerning the even more monstrous 2,000+ page healthcare legislation: “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”

“The worst part is,” Vivek Ramaswamy said, “they (House leadership) didn’t want you to know about any of it. That’s why they made this a last-minute jam job.”

By Wednesday morning, alert members of the new, rising online conservative media had combed through the contents, uncovering deeply disturbing provisions antithetical to the ideals of the burgeoning America First movement that just last month had handed over control of the House, Senate, and White House to Republicans.

Chief among the alarming provisions was the intended expansion of the “Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act” that allows for vaccine and mask mandates, vaccine passports, international emergency powers, and gain of function research, according to investigative reporter Natalie Winters, who unearthed the troubling insertion.

Winters, who co-hosts Steve Bannon’s War Room, further pointed out that the document also mandates the establishment of no fewer than 12 new bio containment labs.

It also sought to extend funding for the Global Engagement Center, an organization embedded within the U.S. Department of State that actively seeks to censor populist and conservative voices online.

“Have we learned NOTHING from the horrific abuses the government imposed during COVID?” asked Republican Rep. Greg Steube of Florida, expressing the bewilderment and disgust of many.

Just as disturbing is the massive increase in spending, which many suggested to be the House GOP leadership snatching defeat from the jaws of its recent electoral victory.

“The more we learn about this criminal bill they are trying to pass today, the worse it gets!!” said Elon Musk, co-head of the soon-to-be launched Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in response to the revelations.

“ALL government spending is taxation,” Musk said in a subsequent post. “The government either taxes you directly or, by increasing the money supply, taxes you through inflation.”

“The American people just delivered President Trump and congressional Republicans a decisive mandate,” Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia said. “So why did our House Republican leadership negotiate the spending bill like we lost?”

“This omnibus is the very thing the incoming Department of Government Efficiency is trying to put an end to,” Republican Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri said. “A vote for this monstrosity is a vote against DOGE.”

“Another lump of coal for the American people courtesy of the Swamp,” Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin wrote.

“I’m a NO on the massive 1,500+ page omnibus,” Tiffany declared. “The American people voted to stop runaway spending, and I stand with them.”

Utah Senator Mike Lee has been on fire since the contents of the 1,547-page document began coming to light.

“You know what’s *not* leadership?” Lee asked on X. “Writing a 1,500-page spending bill in secret, hiding it from most lawmakers until days before Christmas, giving them no chance to identify & fix serious problems with it, using threats to make colleagues vote for it, and justifying all of this by saying you ‘have to get the votes.’”

“No, that’s not leadership,” Lee fumed. “It’s legislative thuggery.”

“These are the disgraceful methods of The Firm™,” he added.

By 4 p.m. Wednesday, Fox News was reporting that Musk’s many posts on X decrying the bill had “sent shockwaves through the Capitol, forcing them to likely kill the spending bill.”

By evening, Torsten Prochnow declared, “The fight against the bloated Continuing Resolution marked a pivotal moment for America, securing a major victory for Donald Trump’s MAGA movement and the American people.”

He offered a brilliant analysis, pointing out seven major takeaways from yesterday’s unfolding Capitol Hill drama, shown here in full:

  1. The Age of AI is here: Today demonstrated the transformative power of AI in politics. Teams working with Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and countless X commentators and X citizen journalists dissected the monstrous 1,500+ page Continuing Resolution bill. Using tools like GROK and ChatGPT, they broke the bill into manageable sections, analyzed it in detail, and revealed the outrageous hidden spending. Without AI, exposing such concealed pork barrel policies within the limited 24-hour window provided to Congress would have been impossible.
  1. The end of legislative tricks: The era of burying pork barrel policies in enormous, incomprehensible bills is over. Today marked the beginning of an age of transparency where such deceptive practices are destined to fail. No longer can lawmakers hide egregious spending within massive CRs, hoping that nobody reads them. This monumental shift signals accountability moving forward.
  1. The swamp is bipartisan: Shockingly, today exposed just how deeply intertwined the swamp is on both sides of the aisle. Both GOP and Democrat representatives actively contributed to crafting this bill and were delighted by its hidden provisions, including a $70,000 pay raise for themselves. None of this was scrutinized by legacy media, which ignored these scandals entirely. Without X, none of this would have come to light.
  1. Trump’s leadership shines: Donald Trump, alongside Vice President-Elect J.D. Vance, displayed remarkable composure today. Trump allowed his MAGA movement to take charge of the battle and refrained from engaging in the trench warfare until the fight was nearly won. Only then did he deliver the final blow to the CR, demonstrating a level of leadership and restraint that is rarely seen. His timing was impeccable and speaks volumes about his strategic vision.
  1. The power of X: Today underscored how underrated X remains. The platform proved to be a powerful democratic tool that amplifies the voice of the people. Elon Musk’s posts gained strength from his followers and Trump-aligned commentators and citizen journalists, turning X into the ultimate platform of empowerment. X stands as the embodiment of the phrase “We the People,” holding the government accountable in ways legacy media utterly fails to do.
  1. The irrelevance of legacy media: The day revealed the growing insignificance of legacy media, particularly the leftist outlets. They ignored the CR entirely, failing to investigate, analyze, or expose the hidden pork barrel spending. The transparency and investigative journalism that legacy media once championed are now delivered by X. Legacy media has devolved into leftist propaganda arms of partisan organizations, while X carries the torch of truth and transparency.

“Today we witnessed the demise of a tyrannical cartel — known as The Law Firm of Schumer, McConnell, Johnson & Jeffries™,” Senator Lee wrote late Wednesday night.

“May The Firm™ and its despotic ways never return to power,” the senator prayed.

As of this writing on Thursday morning, the fate of the bill remains unclear, while the universal condemnation by America First voters of this legislative atrocity and those who produced it has become crystal clear.

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Alberta

Ford and Trudeau are playing checkers. Trump and Smith are playing chess

Published on December 19, 2024

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By Dan McTeague

 

Ford’s calls for national unity – “We need to stand united as Canadians!” – in context feels like an endorsement of fellow Electric Vehicle fanatic Trudeau. And you do wonder if that issue has something to do with it. After all, the two have worked together to pump billions in taxpayer dollars into the EV industry.

There’s no doubt about it: Donald Trump’s threat of a blanket 25% tariff on Canadian goods (to be established if the Canadian government fails to take sufficient action to combat drug trafficking and illegal crossings over our southern border) would be catastrophic for our nation’s economy. More than $3 billion in goods move between the U.S. and Canada on a daily basis. If enacted, the Trump tariff would likely result in a full-blown recession.

It falls upon Canada’s leaders to prevent that from happening. That’s why Justin Trudeau flew to Florida two weeks ago to point out to the president-elect that the trade relationship between our countries is mutually beneficial.

This is true, but Trudeau isn’t the best person to make that case to Trump, since he has been trashing the once and future president, and his supporters, both in public and private, for years. He did so again at an appearance just the other day, in which he implied that American voters were sexist for once again failing to elect the nation’s first female president, and said that Trump’s election amounted to an assault on women’s rights.

Consequently, the meeting with Trump didn’t go well.

But Trudeau isn’t Canada’s only politician, and in recent days we’ve seen some contrasting approaches to this serious matter from our provincial leaders.

First up was Doug Ford, who followed up a phone call with Trudeau earlier this week by saying that Canadians have to prepare for a trade war. “Folks, this is coming, it’s not ‘if,’ it is — it’s coming… and we need to be prepared.”

Ford said that he’s working with Liberal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to put together a retaliatory tariff list. Spokesmen for his government floated the idea of banning the LCBO from buying American alcohol, and restricting the export of critical minerals needed for electric vehicle batteries (I’m sure Trump is terrified about that last one).

But Ford’s most dramatic threat was his announcement that Ontario is prepared to shut down energy exports to the U.S., specifically to Michigan, New York, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, if Trump follows through with his plan. “We’re sending a message to the U.S. You come and attack Ontario, you attack the livelihoods of Ontario and Canadians, we’re going to use every tool in our toolbox to defend Ontarians and Canadians across the border,” Ford said.

Now, unfortunately, all of this chest-thumping rings hollow. Ontario does almost $500 billion per year in trade with the U.S., and the province’s supply chains are highly integrated with America’s. The idea of just cutting off the power, as if you could just flip a switch, is actually impossible. It’s a bluff, and Trump has already called him on it. When told about Ford’s threat by a reporter this week, Trump replied “That’s okay if he does that. That’s fine.”

And Ford’s calls for national unity – “We need to stand united as Canadians!” – in context feels like an endorsement of fellow Electric Vehicle fanatic Trudeau. And you do wonder if that issue has something to do with it. After all, the two have worked together to pump billions in taxpayer dollars into the EV industry. Just over the past year Ford and Trudeau have been seen side by side announcing their $5 billion commitment to Honda, or their $28.2 billion in subsidies for new Stellantis and Volkswagen electric vehicle battery plants.

Their assumption was that the U.S. would be a major market for Canadian EVs. Remember that “vehicles are the second largest Canadian export by value, at $51 billion in 2023 of which 93% was exported to the U.S.,”according to the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association, and “Auto is Ontario’s top export at 28.9% of all exports (2023).”

But Trump ran on abolishing the Biden administration’s de facto EV mandate. Now that he’s back in the White House, the market for those EVs that Trudeau and Ford invested in so heavily is going to be much softer. Perhaps they’d like to be able to blame Trump’s tariffs for the coming downturn rather than their own misjudgment.

In any event, Ford’s tactic stands in stark contrast to the response from Alberta, Canada’s true energy superpower. Premier Danielle Smith made it clear that her province “will not support cutting off our Alberta energy exports to the U.S., nor will we support a tariff war with our largest trading partner and closest ally.”

Smith spoke about this topic at length at an event announcing a new $29-million border patrol team charged with combatting drug trafficking, at which said that Trudeau’s criticisms of the president-elect were, “not helpful.” Her deputy premier Mike Ellis was quoted as saying, “The concerns that president-elect Trump has expressed regarding fentanyl are, quite frankly, the same concerns that I and the premier have had.” Smith and Ellis also criticized Ottawa’s progressively lenient approach to drug crimes.

(For what it’s worth, a recent Léger poll found that “Just 29 per cent of [Canadians] believe Trump’s concerns about illegal immigration and drug trafficking from Canada to the U.S. are unwarranted.” Perhaps that’s why some recent polls have found that Trudeau is currently less popular in Canada than Trump at the moment.)

Smith said that Trudeau’s criticisms of the president-elect were, “not helpful.” And on X/Twitter she said, “Now is the time to… reach out to our friends and allies in the U.S. to remind them just how much Americans and Canadians mutually benefit from our trade relationship – and what we can do to grow that partnership further,” adding, “Tariffs just hurt Americans and Canadians on both sides of the border. Let’s make sure they don’t happen.”

This is exactly the right approach. Smith knows there is a lot at stake in this fight, and is not willing to step into the ring in a fight that Canada simply can’t win, and will cause a great deal of hardship for all involved along the way.

While Trudeau indulges in virtue signaling and Ford in sabre rattling, Danielle Smith is engaging in true statesmanship. That’s something that is in short supply in our country these days.

As I’ve written before, Trump is playing chess while Justin Trudeau and Doug Ford are playing checkers. They should take note of Smith’s strategy. Honey will attract more than vinegar, and if the long history of our two countries tell us anything, it’s that diplomacy is more effective than idle threats.

Dan McTeague is President of Canadians for Affordable Energy.

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Business

Report Reveals Push to Weaponize AI for Censorship

Published on December 19, 2024

By

By Didi Rankovic

New US report highlights federal attempts to regulate AI for censorship, proposing free speech-focused legislation to protect open innovation.

For a while now, emerging AI has been treated by the Biden-Harris administration, but also the EU, the UK, Canada, the UN, etc., as a scourge that powers dangerous forms of “disinformation” – and should be dealt with accordingly.

According to those governments/entities, the only “positive use” for AI as far as social media and online discourse go, would be to power more effective censorship (“moderation”).

A new report from the US House Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government puts the emphasis on the push to use this technology for censorship as the explanation for the often disproportionate alarm over its role in “disinformation.”

We obtained a copy of the report for you here.

If you’re tired of censorship and surveillance, subscribe to Reclaim The Net.

The interim report’s name spells out its authors’ views on this quite clearly: the document is called, “Censorship’s Next Frontier: The Federal Government’s Attempt to Control Artificial Intelligence to Suppress Free Speech.”

The report’s main premise is well-known – that AI is now being funded, developed, and used by the government and third parties to add speed and scale to their censorship, and that the outgoing administration has been putting pressure on AI developers to build censorship into their models.

What’s new are the proposed steps to remedy this situation and make sure that future federal governments are not using AI for censorship. To this end, the Committee wants to see new legislation passed in Congress, AI development that respects the First Amendment and is open, decentralized, and “pro-freedom.”

The report recommends legislation along four principles, focused on preserving American’s right to free speech. The first is that the government cannot be involved when decisions are made in private algorithms or datasets regarding “misinformation” or “bias.”

The government should also be prohibited from funding censorship-related research or collaboration with foreign entities on AI regulation that leads to censorship.

Lastly, “Avoid needless AI regulation that gives the government coercive leverage,” the document recommends.

The Committee notes the current state of affairs where the Biden-Harris administration made a number of direct moves to regulate the space to its political satisfaction via executive orders, but also by pushing its policy through by giving out grants via the National Science Foundation, once again, aimed at building AI tools that “combat misinformation.”

But – “If allowed to develop in a free and open manner, AI could dramatically expand Americans’ capacity to create knowledge and express themselves,” the report states.
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