The Phyllis Schlafly Report
By John and Andy Schlafly
Statewide lockdowns are not the way to fight the Chinese coronavirus. The vast majority of the counties, small towns and medium-sized cities across America are not at significant risk for COVID-19, and the millions of Americans who live there are needlessly suffering the consequences of an induced economic coma.
“Our people want to return to work,” Trump tweeted this morning. “The cure cannot be worse (by far) than the problem!”
Widespread unemployment lasting more than a few weeks would be a social catastrophe far greater than even a worst-case scenario that might result from the coronavirus pandemic. Civil society breaks down quickly when ordinary people are prevented from earning a living, supporting their families, and paying their bills.
Yet a handful of big-city-dwelling governors have implemented a “one size fits all” approach by shutting down places of business which are not responsible for spreading the virus. In several states, regulators have even interfered with the use of hydroxychloroquine, the drug which shows great promise to prevent and treat this new disease.
New York Governor Cuomo could have focused his lockdown on the densely populated urban area where the coronavirus was actually spreading. Instead, he imposed a complete shutdown on every farm, village, township and county across the Empire State, in regions where residents are at low risk.
Illinois Governor Pritzker shut down his entire state to address an issue that primarily affects Chicago, even though 80 of the state’s 102 counties have yet to report a single case of the virus and most other counties are in the single digits. California Governor Newsom closed the vast interior of his state based on an outbreak in its coastal cities.
Pennsylvania is mostly open space, farms, forests, mountains and two big cities, yet its Democratic Governor Wolf closed all “non-life-sustaining businesses” across the entire state. He then ruled that stores selling guns and ammunition were “non-life-sustaining businesses,” although their thousands of customers obviously disagree.
On Monday a divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the forced closing of a gun store, handing gun-grabbers a victory they could not have otherwise obtained. The court provided no explanation for upholding Pennsylvania’s sweeping shutdown of nearly every business there.
This misguided one-size-fits-all approach crippled our economy and torpedoed our stock market. Not even the largest federal stimulus in history can replace the private economies of our largest states.
Meanwhile, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi exploited the crisis with a bill to impose a nationwide mandate for 15 days of early voting, which favors Democratic ballot harvesting by a political machine. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC), who was instrumental in making Joe Biden the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, declared that the virus crisis is “a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.”
Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer delayed passage of the Republican stimulus bill in the Senate to give time for Pelosi to present her House version, which could alter elections for years to come. She introduced the 1,400-page Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act, filled with pork including a multi-billion-dollar down payment on the Green New Deal.
Ironically, studies suggest that the oncoming warm weather may cause the coronavirus to subside, just as it has not spread so much in our warmer southern states or the southern hemisphere. Along with effective medical treatments, warmer weather could bring the crisis under control sooner, as President Trump predicts.
Anthony Fauci, a career bureaucrat who gushed in an email released by Wikileaks that a speech by Hillary Clinton once brought him to “tears” in support, misleadingly disparaged successful uses of the anti-malaria treatment as merely “anecdotal.” In fact, a French study supports use of that medication, and innovation with other safe medications should be encouraged.
Another leaked email reveals that Dr. Fauci was an enthusiastic admirer of Hillary Clinton in 2016, when she was running against Trump for president. It’s time to show Fauci the door and stop deferring to him.
At a cost of merely $6 billion, every American could be given the anti-malaria medication to protect against contracting the disease. This pales in comparison to the trillions of dollars in damage being inflicted against our economy.
In India, where U.S. drug makers have offshored much of their production, the government is arranging for its health care workers to receive the anti-malaria medication as a precaution. But in our country, pharmacy regulators in four states have mysteriously prohibited that salutary use.
Meanwhile, Pelosi’s bill seizes the crisis to try to tilt future elections in her favor by mandating early voting, mail-in voting, ballot harvesting (which is ballot collection by paid activists), online voter registration, and no-excuse absentee ballots in every state. President Trump is right to speak against Pelosi’s bill and call for a quick end to economic shutdowns by Democratic governors.
John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work. These columns are also posted on pseagles.com.
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
End the Economic Shutdown
The Phyllis Schlafly Report
By John and Andy Schlafly
Statewide lockdowns are not the way to fight the Chinese coronavirus. The vast majority of the counties, small towns and medium-sized cities across America are not at significant risk for COVID-19, and the millions of Americans who live there are needlessly suffering the consequences of an induced economic coma.
“Our people want to return to work,” Trump tweeted this morning. “The cure cannot be worse (by far) than the problem!”
Widespread unemployment lasting more than a few weeks would be a social catastrophe far greater than even a worst-case scenario that might result from the coronavirus pandemic. Civil society breaks down quickly when ordinary people are prevented from earning a living, supporting their families, and paying their bills.
Yet a handful of big-city-dwelling governors have implemented a “one size fits all” approach by shutting down places of business which are not responsible for spreading the virus. In several states, regulators have even interfered with the use of hydroxychloroquine, the drug which shows great promise to prevent and treat this new disease.
New York Governor Cuomo could have focused his lockdown on the densely populated urban area where the coronavirus was actually spreading. Instead, he imposed a complete shutdown on every farm, village, township and county across the Empire State, in regions where residents are at low risk.
Illinois Governor Pritzker shut down his entire state to address an issue that primarily affects Chicago, even though 80 of the state’s 102 counties have yet to report a single case of the virus and most other counties are in the single digits. California Governor Newsom closed the vast interior of his state based on an outbreak in its coastal cities.
Pennsylvania is mostly open space, farms, forests, mountains and two big cities, yet its Democratic Governor Wolf closed all “non-life-sustaining businesses” across the entire state. He then ruled that stores selling guns and ammunition were “non-life-sustaining businesses,” although their thousands of customers obviously disagree.
On Monday a divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the forced closing of a gun store, handing gun-grabbers a victory they could not have otherwise obtained. The court provided no explanation for upholding Pennsylvania’s sweeping shutdown of nearly every business there.
This misguided one-size-fits-all approach crippled our economy and torpedoed our stock market. Not even the largest federal stimulus in history can replace the private economies of our largest states.
Meanwhile, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi exploited the crisis with a bill to impose a nationwide mandate for 15 days of early voting, which favors Democratic ballot harvesting by a political machine. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC), who was instrumental in making Joe Biden the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, declared that the virus crisis is “a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.”
Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer delayed passage of the Republican stimulus bill in the Senate to give time for Pelosi to present her House version, which could alter elections for years to come. She introduced the 1,400-page Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act, filled with pork including a multi-billion-dollar down payment on the Green New Deal.
Ironically, studies suggest that the oncoming warm weather may cause the coronavirus to subside, just as it has not spread so much in our warmer southern states or the southern hemisphere. Along with effective medical treatments, warmer weather could bring the crisis under control sooner, as President Trump predicts.
Anthony Fauci, a career bureaucrat who gushed in an email released by Wikileaks that a speech by Hillary Clinton once brought him to “tears” in support, misleadingly disparaged successful uses of the anti-malaria treatment as merely “anecdotal.” In fact, a French study supports use of that medication, and innovation with other safe medications should be encouraged.
Another leaked email reveals that Dr. Fauci was an enthusiastic admirer of Hillary Clinton in 2016, when she was running against Trump for president. It’s time to show Fauci the door and stop deferring to him.
At a cost of merely $6 billion, every American could be given the anti-malaria medication to protect against contracting the disease. This pales in comparison to the trillions of dollars in damage being inflicted against our economy.
In India, where U.S. drug makers have offshored much of their production, the government is arranging for its health care workers to receive the anti-malaria medication as a precaution. But in our country, pharmacy regulators in four states have mysteriously prohibited that salutary use.
Meanwhile, Pelosi’s bill seizes the crisis to try to tilt future elections in her favor by mandating early voting, mail-in voting, ballot harvesting (which is ballot collection by paid activists), online voter registration, and no-excuse absentee ballots in every state. President Trump is right to speak against Pelosi’s bill and call for a quick end to economic shutdowns by Democratic governors.
John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work. These columns are also posted on pseagles.com.
By John and Andy Schlafly
Statewide lockdowns are not the way to fight the Chinese coronavirus. The vast majority of the counties, small towns and medium-sized cities across America are not at significant risk for COVID-19, and the millions of Americans who live there are needlessly suffering the consequences of an induced economic coma.
“Our people want to return to work,” Trump tweeted this morning. “The cure cannot be worse (by far) than the problem!”
Widespread unemployment lasting more than a few weeks would be a social catastrophe far greater than even a worst-case scenario that might result from the coronavirus pandemic. Civil society breaks down quickly when ordinary people are prevented from earning a living, supporting their families, and paying their bills.
Yet a handful of big-city-dwelling governors have implemented a “one size fits all” approach by shutting down places of business which are not responsible for spreading the virus. In several states, regulators have even interfered with the use of hydroxychloroquine, the drug which shows great promise to prevent and treat this new disease.
New York Governor Cuomo could have focused his lockdown on the densely populated urban area where the coronavirus was actually spreading. Instead, he imposed a complete shutdown on every farm, village, township and county across the Empire State, in regions where residents are at low risk.
Illinois Governor Pritzker shut down his entire state to address an issue that primarily affects Chicago, even though 80 of the state’s 102 counties have yet to report a single case of the virus and most other counties are in the single digits. California Governor Newsom closed the vast interior of his state based on an outbreak in its coastal cities.
Pennsylvania is mostly open space, farms, forests, mountains and two big cities, yet its Democratic Governor Wolf closed all “non-life-sustaining businesses” across the entire state. He then ruled that stores selling guns and ammunition were “non-life-sustaining businesses,” although their thousands of customers obviously disagree.
On Monday a divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the forced closing of a gun store, handing gun-grabbers a victory they could not have otherwise obtained. The court provided no explanation for upholding Pennsylvania’s sweeping shutdown of nearly every business there.
This misguided one-size-fits-all approach crippled our economy and torpedoed our stock market. Not even the largest federal stimulus in history can replace the private economies of our largest states.
Meanwhile, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi exploited the crisis with a bill to impose a nationwide mandate for 15 days of early voting, which favors Democratic ballot harvesting by a political machine. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC), who was instrumental in making Joe Biden the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, declared that the virus crisis is “a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.”
Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer delayed passage of the Republican stimulus bill in the Senate to give time for Pelosi to present her House version, which could alter elections for years to come. She introduced the 1,400-page Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act, filled with pork including a multi-billion-dollar down payment on the Green New Deal.
Ironically, studies suggest that the oncoming warm weather may cause the coronavirus to subside, just as it has not spread so much in our warmer southern states or the southern hemisphere. Along with effective medical treatments, warmer weather could bring the crisis under control sooner, as President Trump predicts.
Anthony Fauci, a career bureaucrat who gushed in an email released by Wikileaks that a speech by Hillary Clinton once brought him to “tears” in support, misleadingly disparaged successful uses of the anti-malaria treatment as merely “anecdotal.” In fact, a French study supports use of that medication, and innovation with other safe medications should be encouraged.
Another leaked email reveals that Dr. Fauci was an enthusiastic admirer of Hillary Clinton in 2016, when she was running against Trump for president. It’s time to show Fauci the door and stop deferring to him.
At a cost of merely $6 billion, every American could be given the anti-malaria medication to protect against contracting the disease. This pales in comparison to the trillions of dollars in damage being inflicted against our economy.
In India, where U.S. drug makers have offshored much of their production, the government is arranging for its health care workers to receive the anti-malaria medication as a precaution. But in our country, pharmacy regulators in four states have mysteriously prohibited that salutary use.
Meanwhile, Pelosi’s bill seizes the crisis to try to tilt future elections in her favor by mandating early voting, mail-in voting, ballot harvesting (which is ballot collection by paid activists), online voter registration, and no-excuse absentee ballots in every state. President Trump is right to speak against Pelosi’s bill and call for a quick end to economic shutdowns by Democratic governors.
John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work. These columns are also posted on pseagles.com.
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Countering Biden’s Gender Play
The Phyllis Schlafly Report
By John and Andy Schlafly
At CNN’s Democratic debate on Sunday night, even the moderators were stunned when Joe Biden, out of the blue, pledged to pick a woman as his running mate. It was a calculated move designed to put President Trump in a box, while embarrassing Bernie Sanders for his reluctance to do likewise.
Biden is vulnerable with women voters, with videos documenting his groping of women and girls. But his female running mate will try to deflect this issue by going on the offensive, as Senators Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, and Amy Klobuchar proved they are capable of doing.
Biden hopes to make gender a top issue in the presidential race this fall, even more so than last time. In addition to picking a woman for vice president, Biden also promised to appoint “the first black woman” to the Supreme Court.
Upcoming High Court rulings on three major gender-related issues no doubt influenced Biden’s strategy to play the gender card. Each case could yield a 5-4 decision that will drop like a bombshell in the presidential campaign.
In one case, the Court will decide whether states can require abortionists to comply with basic standards requiring them to be available for follow-up on their complications. Oral argument two weeks ago did not go as well as feminists hoped, and a divided ruling could inject abortion into the fall presidential debates.
In another case, the Court will decide whether the federal law that bans discrimination “on account of sex” should also prohibit discrimination on account of sexual preference. In a third case, the Court will decide if “sex” means biological sex, as everyone thought it did when Congress passed the law, or whether sex now includes gender expression or transition to the opposite sex.
No matter how the Court rules in these cases, Joe Biden will use them to invoke feminist theories about gender. But misusing the courts to change the meaning of our written law is the essence of judicial activism, which Republicans rightly oppose.
Biden may even toss in his support for the failed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which also contains the loaded phrase “on account of sex.” A president has no role in amending the Constitution, but ERA was the final point of contention between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter during their only debate in 1980.
Reagan was fully prepared to address this issue, and defended his opposition to ERA well. Rather than amend the Constitution, Reagan said, ERA supporters could have worked on revising any discriminatory laws.
In fact, ERA would invalidate the Violence Against Women Act which Joe Biden brags that he wrote and passed in 1994. Gender distinctions would not be allowed in any federal or state law if ERA were to become part of the Constitution, as Biden seeks.
In 2000 the Supreme Court invalidated as unconstitutional Biden’s handiwork in trying to extend federal jurisdiction, in United States v. Morrison. But ERA would vastly expand federal mischief over gender.
Biden himself was the vice president for eight years, and before that he was in the U.S. Senate for decades. While there he cast many votes which are totally out of sync with today’s progressive Democratic party, not to mention the populist coalition that elected President Trump.
Joe Biden presided over the Clarence Thomas hearings, and it was Biden himself who voted to send the nomination to the floor of the Senate without a recommendation. Justice Thomas has served with distinction for nearly three decades ever since, yet Biden has never apologized for allowing that proceeding to become a “high-tech lynching” as Thomas accurately described it.
Biden’s reputation as a moderate is undeserved, and can be easily debunked after he gets the Democratic nomination. He supports sanctuary cities and opposes President Trump’s policy of deporting criminal aliens, which would prevent many of the horrific crimes by illegal aliens against women and girls.
Among numerous other examples, Trump or his running mate could cite the brutal kidnapping, rape, and murder of a 16-year-old girl in Texas by an illegal alien, Humberto Leal Garcia. Garcia was tried and sentenced to death, but the Obama Administration, with Biden as Vice President, attempted to intervene for Garcia.
Justice was then delayed for 17 years as the Obama-Biden Administration tried to prevent the execution of the illegal alien Garcia for brutally raping and killing the young girl. Her nude body was found next to a massive rock used to smash her face to death, and a stick protruded from her dead body.
Garcia denied his guilt until he was strapped to the gurney in a Texas death chamber, after the state ultimately overcame the obstruction by the Obama-Biden Administration. The illegal alien Garcia then admitted his guilt and apologized, a minute before he was justly given the lethal injection.
John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work. These columns are also posted on pseagles.com.
By John and Andy Schlafly
At CNN’s Democratic debate on Sunday night, even the moderators were stunned when Joe Biden, out of the blue, pledged to pick a woman as his running mate. It was a calculated move designed to put President Trump in a box, while embarrassing Bernie Sanders for his reluctance to do likewise.
Biden is vulnerable with women voters, with videos documenting his groping of women and girls. But his female running mate will try to deflect this issue by going on the offensive, as Senators Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, and Amy Klobuchar proved they are capable of doing.
Biden hopes to make gender a top issue in the presidential race this fall, even more so than last time. In addition to picking a woman for vice president, Biden also promised to appoint “the first black woman” to the Supreme Court.
Upcoming High Court rulings on three major gender-related issues no doubt influenced Biden’s strategy to play the gender card. Each case could yield a 5-4 decision that will drop like a bombshell in the presidential campaign.
In one case, the Court will decide whether states can require abortionists to comply with basic standards requiring them to be available for follow-up on their complications. Oral argument two weeks ago did not go as well as feminists hoped, and a divided ruling could inject abortion into the fall presidential debates.
In another case, the Court will decide whether the federal law that bans discrimination “on account of sex” should also prohibit discrimination on account of sexual preference. In a third case, the Court will decide if “sex” means biological sex, as everyone thought it did when Congress passed the law, or whether sex now includes gender expression or transition to the opposite sex.
No matter how the Court rules in these cases, Joe Biden will use them to invoke feminist theories about gender. But misusing the courts to change the meaning of our written law is the essence of judicial activism, which Republicans rightly oppose.
Biden may even toss in his support for the failed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which also contains the loaded phrase “on account of sex.” A president has no role in amending the Constitution, but ERA was the final point of contention between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter during their only debate in 1980.
Reagan was fully prepared to address this issue, and defended his opposition to ERA well. Rather than amend the Constitution, Reagan said, ERA supporters could have worked on revising any discriminatory laws.
In fact, ERA would invalidate the Violence Against Women Act which Joe Biden brags that he wrote and passed in 1994. Gender distinctions would not be allowed in any federal or state law if ERA were to become part of the Constitution, as Biden seeks.
In 2000 the Supreme Court invalidated as unconstitutional Biden’s handiwork in trying to extend federal jurisdiction, in United States v. Morrison. But ERA would vastly expand federal mischief over gender.
Biden himself was the vice president for eight years, and before that he was in the U.S. Senate for decades. While there he cast many votes which are totally out of sync with today’s progressive Democratic party, not to mention the populist coalition that elected President Trump.
Joe Biden presided over the Clarence Thomas hearings, and it was Biden himself who voted to send the nomination to the floor of the Senate without a recommendation. Justice Thomas has served with distinction for nearly three decades ever since, yet Biden has never apologized for allowing that proceeding to become a “high-tech lynching” as Thomas accurately described it.
Biden’s reputation as a moderate is undeserved, and can be easily debunked after he gets the Democratic nomination. He supports sanctuary cities and opposes President Trump’s policy of deporting criminal aliens, which would prevent many of the horrific crimes by illegal aliens against women and girls.
Among numerous other examples, Trump or his running mate could cite the brutal kidnapping, rape, and murder of a 16-year-old girl in Texas by an illegal alien, Humberto Leal Garcia. Garcia was tried and sentenced to death, but the Obama Administration, with Biden as Vice President, attempted to intervene for Garcia.
Justice was then delayed for 17 years as the Obama-Biden Administration tried to prevent the execution of the illegal alien Garcia for brutally raping and killing the young girl. Her nude body was found next to a massive rock used to smash her face to death, and a stick protruded from her dead body.
Garcia denied his guilt until he was strapped to the gurney in a Texas death chamber, after the state ultimately overcame the obstruction by the Obama-Biden Administration. The illegal alien Garcia then admitted his guilt and apologized, a minute before he was justly given the lethal injection.
John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work. These columns are also posted on pseagles.com.
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
Virginia Liberals Embrace Gambling and Gun Control
The Phyllis Schlafly Report
By John and Andy Schlafly
Boosted by pro-gun-control millions in donations by Mike Bloomberg in the last election, newly empowered liberals in Virginia extended their legislative session this past weekend. They enacted sweeping gun control and also broad expansions of gambling, which is backwards from what would help enhance prosperity and freedom.
It will soon be legal in Virginia to bet on football games and other sporting events, except for contests involving Virginia college teams. This unleashes a new, costly addiction for the millions of sports fans in the state who can soon waste their family savings in addition to their precious time.
A misguided ruling by the Supreme Court in 2018 opened the floodgates to the legalization of sports gambling by states, but many states have wisely declined the invitation. Studies have shown that the poor are most hurt by legalized gambling, and they are the least able to afford it.
A total of 15 states currently allow some form of sports gambling, and five other states plus the District of Columbia have passed laws to legalize it. There appears to be a race to the bottom as states compete with each other in facilitating the massive waste of time and money by their residents which such gambling entails.
The Supreme Court ruling in Murphy v. NCAA ignored the obvious vices of legalized sports gambling, which range from corrupting the games to causing people to lose their savings. While justice is supposed to be blind, it should not be blind to the immense harm caused by decisions like this one.
The Court observed that “gambling was largely banned throughout the country” by the end of the 19th century, but then omitted the reasons why. Its corruption of politics was one reason, and gambling will surely corrupt sports too.
For this reason the NCAA, which governs college sports, has long opposed gambling on its games. “The NCAA opposes all forms of legal and illegal sports wagering, which has the potential to undermine the integrity of sports contests and jeopardizes the student-athletes and the intercollegiate athletics community.”
Families, already fed up with how Thanksgiving Day and Christmas have become rituals of senseless watching of football games, can expect financial losses now too. In California, Indian tribes are gathering signatures on petitions to put sports gambling at tribal casinos throughout the state on its ballot in November.
Professional sports leagues used to be strongly opposed to allowing gambling on their games, but greed has led them to search for more sources of revenue, and gambling has that allure. People who bet on games are more likely to watch them, and that may help stem the general decline in television ratings.
The scandal of the Houston Astros’ stealing signs to help them win the World Series a few years back should be sobering enough. Yet Major League Baseball stands now with the NFL and NBA in wanting people gambling on their games.
The Democrat-controlled Virginia legislature also authorized casinos for nearly a half-dozen cities in Virginia, including its state capital of Richmond, provided their residents approve in local referenda. With gambling interests vastly outspending the opposition, it will be difficult for pro-family groups to keep the casinos out of these Virginia towns.
No one keeps statistics about how many young men drop out of school or quit their jobs due to a gambling addiction. But enough of them apparently are for a frequent question to a professional poker player to be something like “I want to quit my job (or school) to become a pro poker player, and I seek advice how.”
Elections do have consequences, and harmful ones to the people of Virginia. The historic city of Richmond, also the seat of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, will be invaded by slot machines and roulette wheels thanks to the Democrats who swept in last November.
Meanwhile, the Democrats pushed through irrational gun control, placing a limit of one handgun purchase per 30 days even by law-abiding citizens. In addition, background checks are extended to include all gun sales, except between family members.
Earlier the same legislature passed a so-called red-flag law to authorize a judge or magistrate to seize anyone’s guns based on allegations about instability of the owner. Second Amendment rights are secure in Virginia now only to the extent the judicial system allows it for an individual.
More than 100 towns in Virginia have responded to the liberal push for gun control there by announcing that they will not comply with the unconstitutional provisions. There has even been talk of rural areas breaking away from the Deep State-controlled northern Virginia, where many of the residents either work for the federal government or make big money lobbying it.
John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work. These columns are also posted on pseagles.com.
By John and Andy Schlafly
Boosted by pro-gun-control millions in donations by Mike Bloomberg in the last election, newly empowered liberals in Virginia extended their legislative session this past weekend. They enacted sweeping gun control and also broad expansions of gambling, which is backwards from what would help enhance prosperity and freedom.
It will soon be legal in Virginia to bet on football games and other sporting events, except for contests involving Virginia college teams. This unleashes a new, costly addiction for the millions of sports fans in the state who can soon waste their family savings in addition to their precious time.
A misguided ruling by the Supreme Court in 2018 opened the floodgates to the legalization of sports gambling by states, but many states have wisely declined the invitation. Studies have shown that the poor are most hurt by legalized gambling, and they are the least able to afford it.
A total of 15 states currently allow some form of sports gambling, and five other states plus the District of Columbia have passed laws to legalize it. There appears to be a race to the bottom as states compete with each other in facilitating the massive waste of time and money by their residents which such gambling entails.
The Supreme Court ruling in Murphy v. NCAA ignored the obvious vices of legalized sports gambling, which range from corrupting the games to causing people to lose their savings. While justice is supposed to be blind, it should not be blind to the immense harm caused by decisions like this one.
The Court observed that “gambling was largely banned throughout the country” by the end of the 19th century, but then omitted the reasons why. Its corruption of politics was one reason, and gambling will surely corrupt sports too.
For this reason the NCAA, which governs college sports, has long opposed gambling on its games. “The NCAA opposes all forms of legal and illegal sports wagering, which has the potential to undermine the integrity of sports contests and jeopardizes the student-athletes and the intercollegiate athletics community.”
Families, already fed up with how Thanksgiving Day and Christmas have become rituals of senseless watching of football games, can expect financial losses now too. In California, Indian tribes are gathering signatures on petitions to put sports gambling at tribal casinos throughout the state on its ballot in November.
Professional sports leagues used to be strongly opposed to allowing gambling on their games, but greed has led them to search for more sources of revenue, and gambling has that allure. People who bet on games are more likely to watch them, and that may help stem the general decline in television ratings.
The scandal of the Houston Astros’ stealing signs to help them win the World Series a few years back should be sobering enough. Yet Major League Baseball stands now with the NFL and NBA in wanting people gambling on their games.
The Democrat-controlled Virginia legislature also authorized casinos for nearly a half-dozen cities in Virginia, including its state capital of Richmond, provided their residents approve in local referenda. With gambling interests vastly outspending the opposition, it will be difficult for pro-family groups to keep the casinos out of these Virginia towns.
No one keeps statistics about how many young men drop out of school or quit their jobs due to a gambling addiction. But enough of them apparently are for a frequent question to a professional poker player to be something like “I want to quit my job (or school) to become a pro poker player, and I seek advice how.”
Elections do have consequences, and harmful ones to the people of Virginia. The historic city of Richmond, also the seat of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, will be invaded by slot machines and roulette wheels thanks to the Democrats who swept in last November.
Meanwhile, the Democrats pushed through irrational gun control, placing a limit of one handgun purchase per 30 days even by law-abiding citizens. In addition, background checks are extended to include all gun sales, except between family members.
Earlier the same legislature passed a so-called red-flag law to authorize a judge or magistrate to seize anyone’s guns based on allegations about instability of the owner. Second Amendment rights are secure in Virginia now only to the extent the judicial system allows it for an individual.
More than 100 towns in Virginia have responded to the liberal push for gun control there by announcing that they will not comply with the unconstitutional provisions. There has even been talk of rural areas breaking away from the Deep State-controlled northern Virginia, where many of the residents either work for the federal government or make big money lobbying it.
John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work. These columns are also posted on pseagles.com.
Tuesday, March 3, 2020
Bernie Scares Even Liberal Dems
The Phyllis Schlafly Report
By John and Andy Schlafly
“Crazy Bernie,” President Trump calls the 78-year-old junior senator from tiny Vermont, and the nickname does not describe a harmless oddball. Senator Sanders’ success has frightened the financial kingmakers in the Democratic party.
When Bernie refused to apologize for praising the communist dictators of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, Democratic insiders got alarmed at the prospect of losing Florida, home to thousands of refugees from those countries. Since Bernie won by a landslide in Nevada, full panic has set in.
Two high-profile Democrat contenders pulled out within hours of each other after the South Carolina primary, to endorse Bernie’s rival, Joe Biden. That was not a mere coincidence, but the result of an apparent behind-the-scenes effort to stop Bernie from obtaining the nomination.
“Quid pro quo!” Trump bellowed at a rally in North Carolina in response. Rather than investigate non-existent collusion by Russia for Trump, someone should investigate what may have been promised to the other contenders to abruptly withdraw and endorse Biden.
But millions had already voted early, prior to this sudden transformation of the Democrat primary into a two-man race between Bernie and Biden. This may be too little, too late by the Democrat Establishment to derail Bernie’s candidacy as he attracts crowds surpassed only by Trump himself.
On Sunday Bernie drew audiences totaling 25,000 in California, which is rich in delegates and young voters who are enthusiastic about Bernie’s quasi-revolutionary message. In the state having an enormous gap between rich and poor, Bernie’s attacks on billionaires play exceptionally well.
Liberal Democrats have only themselves to blame for the pickle they find themselves in. They stoked the flames of class warfare to try to bring down Trump, and instead fomented a problem within their own party.
The rejection of Sanders by older black voters is the only impediment keeping him from locking up the nomination already. Sanders has had much greater success with Hispanics than with African Americans, and no one has fully explained why.
Pundits pretend that Biden inherits support by blacks for Obama, for whom Biden served as Vice President for eight years. But that was years ago and it is unlikely that many voters care for whom Biden carried water in the White House.
Instead, illegal immigration is probably a major reason for the immense divide in support for Sanders, both racially and geographically. Black voters in South Carolina are not likely to support Sanders’ agenda to open our southern border and let hordes of low-income workers come in.
Latinos are more enthusiastic about Bernie’s demand that driver’s licenses be given nationwide to illegal aliens, and that the spigot be turned on for more entitlements to flow to them. Bernie swept Nevada after pandering to illegals in a way that does not sell so well to Democrats of any race in the South.
More difficult to explain is why liberal elites in the Northeast have turned against Bernie, hammering him with disparaging comments. Bernie’s policies are what these other Leftists have themselves advocated for years.
But Bernie really means it, and that seems to alarm those who advocated similar policies merely to attract votes against Republicans. Bernie intends to go after billionaires and Wall Street and crony capitalism, from which many liberals derive their wealth.
The inability of billionaires to make a difference in the race may be disconcerting to the power-brokers behind the curtain. Tom Steyer spent over $250 million of his own fortune on his campaign and yet did not win a single delegate.
Bernie, in contrast, raised $34.5 Million in the fourth quarter, with an average donation of only $18.53, plus $25 million in January and another $46 million in February. The have-nots are fueling his candidacy, and the Democrat Establishment is running scared from them.
Bernie is openly contemptuous of the elites in the Democrat Party, and in the Senate he is an independent rather than a Democrat.
The most common occupation of Bernie’s donors is “teacher,” and the U.S. Postal Service is one of his donors’ most common employers. Wal-Mart, which has a non-unionized workforce thought to be conservative-leaning, is another common employer of Sanders donors.
The small average donation means that Sanders can raise far more from his same supporters if necessary. He has emphasized that the Democrat Party should not deny him the nomination if he wins merely a plurality rather than a majority of delegates.
Sanders has raised much more from small donors than Joe Biden has from large ones. Meanwhile, Mike Bloomberg can use his personal wealth to vastly outspend Sanders, but that cannot translate into enough votes or delegates for Bloomberg.
The result is a delightful quandary from the perspective of Republicans, who expect that the nomination of Sanders would pave the way to a recapture of the House of Representatives by the GOP in November.
John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work. These columns are also posted on pseagles.com.
By John and Andy Schlafly
“Crazy Bernie,” President Trump calls the 78-year-old junior senator from tiny Vermont, and the nickname does not describe a harmless oddball. Senator Sanders’ success has frightened the financial kingmakers in the Democratic party.
When Bernie refused to apologize for praising the communist dictators of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, Democratic insiders got alarmed at the prospect of losing Florida, home to thousands of refugees from those countries. Since Bernie won by a landslide in Nevada, full panic has set in.
Two high-profile Democrat contenders pulled out within hours of each other after the South Carolina primary, to endorse Bernie’s rival, Joe Biden. That was not a mere coincidence, but the result of an apparent behind-the-scenes effort to stop Bernie from obtaining the nomination.
“Quid pro quo!” Trump bellowed at a rally in North Carolina in response. Rather than investigate non-existent collusion by Russia for Trump, someone should investigate what may have been promised to the other contenders to abruptly withdraw and endorse Biden.
But millions had already voted early, prior to this sudden transformation of the Democrat primary into a two-man race between Bernie and Biden. This may be too little, too late by the Democrat Establishment to derail Bernie’s candidacy as he attracts crowds surpassed only by Trump himself.
On Sunday Bernie drew audiences totaling 25,000 in California, which is rich in delegates and young voters who are enthusiastic about Bernie’s quasi-revolutionary message. In the state having an enormous gap between rich and poor, Bernie’s attacks on billionaires play exceptionally well.
Liberal Democrats have only themselves to blame for the pickle they find themselves in. They stoked the flames of class warfare to try to bring down Trump, and instead fomented a problem within their own party.
The rejection of Sanders by older black voters is the only impediment keeping him from locking up the nomination already. Sanders has had much greater success with Hispanics than with African Americans, and no one has fully explained why.
Pundits pretend that Biden inherits support by blacks for Obama, for whom Biden served as Vice President for eight years. But that was years ago and it is unlikely that many voters care for whom Biden carried water in the White House.
Instead, illegal immigration is probably a major reason for the immense divide in support for Sanders, both racially and geographically. Black voters in South Carolina are not likely to support Sanders’ agenda to open our southern border and let hordes of low-income workers come in.
Latinos are more enthusiastic about Bernie’s demand that driver’s licenses be given nationwide to illegal aliens, and that the spigot be turned on for more entitlements to flow to them. Bernie swept Nevada after pandering to illegals in a way that does not sell so well to Democrats of any race in the South.
More difficult to explain is why liberal elites in the Northeast have turned against Bernie, hammering him with disparaging comments. Bernie’s policies are what these other Leftists have themselves advocated for years.
But Bernie really means it, and that seems to alarm those who advocated similar policies merely to attract votes against Republicans. Bernie intends to go after billionaires and Wall Street and crony capitalism, from which many liberals derive their wealth.
The inability of billionaires to make a difference in the race may be disconcerting to the power-brokers behind the curtain. Tom Steyer spent over $250 million of his own fortune on his campaign and yet did not win a single delegate.
Bernie, in contrast, raised $34.5 Million in the fourth quarter, with an average donation of only $18.53, plus $25 million in January and another $46 million in February. The have-nots are fueling his candidacy, and the Democrat Establishment is running scared from them.
Bernie is openly contemptuous of the elites in the Democrat Party, and in the Senate he is an independent rather than a Democrat.
The most common occupation of Bernie’s donors is “teacher,” and the U.S. Postal Service is one of his donors’ most common employers. Wal-Mart, which has a non-unionized workforce thought to be conservative-leaning, is another common employer of Sanders donors.
The small average donation means that Sanders can raise far more from his same supporters if necessary. He has emphasized that the Democrat Party should not deny him the nomination if he wins merely a plurality rather than a majority of delegates.
Sanders has raised much more from small donors than Joe Biden has from large ones. Meanwhile, Mike Bloomberg can use his personal wealth to vastly outspend Sanders, but that cannot translate into enough votes or delegates for Bloomberg.
The result is a delightful quandary from the perspective of Republicans, who expect that the nomination of Sanders would pave the way to a recapture of the House of Representatives by the GOP in November.
John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work. These columns are also posted on pseagles.com.
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