Oct 21, 2020 | Liberty Articles
By Harold Pease, Ph.D.
Big tech outlets Twitter and Facebook are presently “actively interfering in this election in a way that has no precedent in the history of our country.” So said Senator Ted Cruz of the Senate Judiciary Committee, October 15 after thousands of incriminating documents were released by the New York Post the previous day showing Joe Bidden knew a great deal about the corruption of his son Hunter with Burisma in the Ukraine , despite his insistence that he didn’t. This looks to be the biggest case for influence peddling for money and election interference, in U.S. History.
This story was immediately blocked by both Twitter and Facebook. The New York Post, the fourth largest newspaper in the nation, itself faced censorship of Its own story, when it attempted to cover the newly released documents “Never before have we seen active censorship of a major press publication, with serious allegations of corruption of one of the two candidates for president.” Senator Cruz had tried to share the story with others and was himself blocked by Twitter (Ted Cruz EXPLODES On Big Tech Censorship, C-Span Senate Judiciary Committee, October 15, 2020).
The same paper broke a second Biden scandal story in China the next day revealing “the Biden family receiving millions of dollars from Communist China government officials.” Neither of these stories is new. But the thousands of documents suggesting influence peddling and the amount of money, millions, coming to the Biden family with it, including to “the big guy,” Joe, is new, powerful, damning and can’t be ignored outside censorship. The Hunter Biden trove of laptop documents also implicate Hunter’s Uncle James Biden and James’ wife, Sara Biden (“Emails reveal how Hunter Biden tried to cash in big on behalf of family with Chinese firm,” by Emma-Jo Morris and Gabrielle Fonrouge, New York Post, October 15, 2020. View also New York Post first story “Biden Secret E-Mails”, October 14, 2020).
Two emails that popped up early, of the estimated 40,000 emails, were particularly interesting. One with Chinese billionaire Ye Jianming, chairman of the CEFC China Energy Co., China’s largest private energy company, during Joe Biden’s vice presidency. In it Hunter demanded “a $10 million annual fee” for three consecutive years for “introductions alone” to his father Joe Biden.
A second email entitled “Expectations” sent to Hunter in a proposed related business venture divided the resultant equity profit into six “remuneration packages.” Strangely only first names were identified and recipients only by initials. Of the six recipients Hunter was to receive 20% and another 10% was to be held by Hunter for “the big guy,” presumably his father Joe Biden (Ibid.).
When pieces of the story began to emerge last year, Joe Biden denied any wrongdoing and that he knew of any of the business dealings of his son Hunter. The documents from Hunter’s own laptop show otherwise. Democratic Party news outlets never ask him about this, then or now—and never will. Since the avalanche of documents went public October 14, Joe’s only comment is that it is a smear. Otherwise he refuses any question on it and has cancelled all public appearances until after the coming debate, October 22. Unless Donald Trump can find a way to bring it up, it will be censored by Democrats then as well.
Biden’s defenders first attacked the repair shop owner, then disinformation, then the discredited Russian collision—again, and now Rudy Giuliani—each failing in turn. They do not deny any specific allegation, nor that the documents are not real, nor that they didn’t come from Hunter’s own laptop. With thousands of text messages and emails they know they can’t. So they have resorted to censorship.
Thus the rush by the Democratic Party billionaire CEO’s Jack Dorsey, of Twitter, and Mark Zuckerberg, of Facebook to censor the story away so Americans cannot see the blatant evidence—at least not before November 3rd. Presumably if Joe Biden is elected president this all goes away.
Hunter Biden never returned for his laptop. Eventually, in December 2019, the repair shop turned it over to the FBI which admits having it in their possession. It, with all the incriminating evidence, exists! Why they sat on it for most of a year has yet to be explained,
As a result of what appears to be both a contribution in kind and election interference by Twitter and Facebook, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Lindsey Graham, is calling for billionaire CEO’s Jack Dorsey, of Twitter, and Mark Zuckerberg, of Facebook, to testify before his committee October 23, The accusation “contribution in kind” is because no amount of money contributed can equal the power dealt the opposing side by the censorship of the probable coverup of allegations of corruption.
Chairman Graham explained, “These social media platforms have a dominance in our lives: their newspapers, their TV stations, their radio stations, their publishers. And this to me crystallizes the problem better than anything I could think of for the American people. You may be a Democrat, saying I don't want to hear the New York Post,[but] it could be you tomorrow.” Adding, “So the point is that the power behind these platforms have been taken to a level that truly is dangerous” (Ted Cruz EXPLODES On Big Tech Censorship).
He could have added, “They are the public square. Without them the opposition has no access to the public square. Thus there exists no freedom of the press.” Freedom of speech is denied soon thereafter.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
Oct 21, 2020 | Liberty Articles
By Harold Pease, Ph.D.
“The fundamental problem in this country is the power that the billionaire class has over the economic and political life of this country….One person, one vote, not billionaires buying elections,” Bernie Sanders told fellow contestants in the Democratic Presidential debates. Elizabeth Warren agreed, “I don’t think any billionaire ought to be able to buy an election. We’ve got billionaires who think they can just buy an election; case in point, Michael Bloomberg.”
They recognized the harm to America when they themselves faced the billionaires. Last December candidate Bloomberg flooded the airways with millions in television adds. He could not buy the nomination because Democratic Party media news outlets told us he was trying to do so and America resisted.
But when Warren added, “And I don’t think people who suck up to billionaires in order to fund their campaigns ought to do it,” they turned on each other like raving wolves. “The mayor just recently had a fundraiser that was held in a wine cave full of crystals and served $900 a bottle wine. Billionaires in wine caves should not pick the next president of the United States.”
Pete Buttigieg fired back, “This is the problem with issuing purity tests you cannot yourself pass. Senator your net worth is 100 times mine.” To which Warren sniped back, identifying precisely the problem, they all seek to be purchased by the rich. “I do not sell access to my time. I don’t do call time with millionaires and billionaires” (Tucker Carlson Tonight, Sept. 22, 2020. Hereafter cited TCT). They all dance before the rich to be purchased like slaves on the auction block and they all know it. Moreover, after one is selected all forever remain silent thereafter. They might want to sell themselves again.
Their collective admission should shock America. How long have billionaires picked the candidates? Are the voters also being purchased? The millionaire / billionaire club does not simply disappear. They have selected the primary winners in both major political parties since William McKinley until Donald Trump, who funded his own primary and thus bypassed them and their control. They hate Trump for it.
Deeply frustrated in 2016 because they lost control of the Republican Party and could not in 2020 find a candidate that could beat Trump, even with all their money, two billionaires, Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg, offered themselves late in the presidential primary. Failing to gain traction, even after spending small fortunes, they settled on Joe Biden who was willing to accept the Bernie Sanders socialist political platform complete with the Green New Deal.
So are these billionaires still buying this election and are you helping them? “Michael Bloomberg has promised to spend more than 100 million dollars to make Joe Biden president. One man spending 100 million dollars in a single presidential election.” This attempt to purchase the office of president, that he could not himself win, should offend every American. “Bloomberg is also spending 10s of millions of dollars to elect Democrats to the House of Representatives” (TCT). Remember, he bragged in the debates about his money having “bought” 21 new members of the House of Representatives giving the House to the Democrats and leadership to Nancy Pelosi (Dan Merica, “Bloomberg catches himself from saying he ‘bought’ House races in 2018,” CNN, February 25, 2020).
The story is the same respecting Tom Steyer who “spent more than $230 million since 2014 on his own efforts to influence policy and elections, and has said he will pour at least $100 million into his campaign (Tom Steyer’s mega-millions debate gambit flops: The wealthy Democratic presidential candidate wasn't able to spend his way into the DNC's September debate, By Maggie Severns and Steven Shepard, 08/29/2019, POLITICO).
Recently we published the impact of Trump hater George Soros’ money on the 2016, 2018 and 2020 elections. He spent $17 million since 2015 alone trying to buy district attorneys, undermining justice in six states by 2016 and 17 states by 2018 creating a revolving door for criminals. “Criminals commit crimes, police arrest them, Soros backed DA’s release them” the next day in time for a repeat performance the next evening. Another billionaire all in for Biden.
In this Bloomberg has joined forces with Soros. Bloomberg recently contributed “$16 million
to pay the court fines for 32,000 Hispanic and Black Florida voters and apparently choosing them by race from felony conviction.” Why? The most obvious reason “it immediately activates 10s of thousands of voters who are predisposed to vote for Joe Biden.” (TCT).
The billionaires of Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube assist by censoring most, if not all of the above information, closing their platforms by creating algorithms to suppress any information that is harmful to their political interests. They too are all in for Biden.
Tucker Carlson said it best, America “is making a tiny group of people richer than anyone has ever been in human history. Those people suddenly run everything, including our elections. They are subverting our political system, far more brazenly, and with much greater effect than that dastardly Vladimir Putin ever dreamed of doing. Our billionaire class is the real threat to democracy… we're in a moment now, where a tiny group of the richest people in history are having a widely disproportionate effect on this race” (TCT).
So all the democratic candidates, and Republicans in previous presidential elections as well, “suck up to billionaires in order to fund their campaigns,” as Elizabeth Warren said. The only exception in the last hundred years was Donald Trump who financed his own primary allowing him to vault over the control of the billionaire elite. They hate him because he took power from them and they will do ANYTHING to get it back. Have the billionaires bought your vote too?
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
Oct 12, 2020 | Constitution, Liberty Articles
By Harold Pease, Ph.D.
The most difficult thing for me to watch in the decline of freedom in America is the rise of censorship. Not that censorship has not existed to some degree for decades, it has. None of the networks reveal the power of the Council on Foreign Relations or the Bilderbergers over America today, but censorship has become blatant, more especially from the rich on the Left.
Apparently talk of the insurrectionist activities of George Soros are nearing forbidden. The Left never cover George Soros’ manipulation of elections, especially his buy up of district attorneys in big cities who then do not punish those arrested for pillage and arson turning them free the next day to do the same that evening. Most news organizations appear intimidated into silence on the subject.
FOX News recently demonstrated Soros influence over their show Outnumbered in Harris Faulkner’s interview of Newt Gingrich September 17, she said, “Speaker Gingrich, I know you have a final thought for us.”
Gingrich responded, “The number one problem in almost all the cities is George Soros-elected, left-wing, antipolice pro-criminal district attorneys who refuse to keep people locked up. Just yesterday they put somebody back on the street that is wanted for two different murders in New York City….Progressive district attorneys are anti-police, pro-criminal, and overwhelmingly elected with George Soros's money, and they're a major cause of the violence we're seeing because they keep putting the violent criminals back on the street.”
To which co-host Melissa Francis injected, "I'm not sure we need to bring George Soros into this.”
Gingrich argued, ”He paid for it!! I mean, why can't we discuss the fact that millions of dollars he spent.” To which co-host Marie Harf abruptly cut him off, "No, he didn't. I agree with Melissa. George Soros doesn't need to be a part of this conversation.”
Gingrich responds, ”OK! [pause] So it's verboten,” German for forbidden. [Long awkward silence, then cut.]
That George Soros hates Donald Trump and is motivated to inject his influence in the election to get rid of him is clear. At the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in 2020, January 21-24 he told those attending, “Clearly I consider the Trump Administration a danger to the world. But I regard it as a purely temporary phenomenon that will disappear in 2020.” (George Soros, Davos 2018. Donald Trump and the Davos Connection, From the Editors Desk, Michael J. Matt).
Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri spoke of Soros’ influence. “He spent $17 million since 2015 alone trying to buy district attorneys. And he's had tremendous success in my home state of Missouri in St. Louis, in Philadelphia, Florida, Texas, look all around the country” (Tucker Carlson Tonight, Sept. 22).
Who are some of these county district attorneys funded by the $17 million Soros money? Bill O’Reilly identified Diana Becton from Oakland, California as having received $275,000. She “will not prosecute looters if you’r poor. She says…its okay if they break into stores if they need…what they’re stealing.” Chicago DA Kim Fox, of Jessey Smollett fame, received two million dollars. Kimberly Gardner, $68,000, famed for trying to prosecute the couple protecting their home with a gun in St Louis from those who broke into their gated community and threatened violence on them (Bill O’Reilly on Fox News’ Awkward George Soros, Sept. 18).
Tucker Carlson added Mike Schmidt of Portland, Oregon who was given $20,000 by Soros, He “announced he won't prosecute any of the rioters, who've turned Portland into a war zone. He's already dismissed charges against rioting suspects, hundreds of them. In fact, at one point Schmidt said the unrest in Portland was “beautiful.” In 2017 Soros spent roughly $1.7 million in Philadelphia, getting DA candidate Larry Krasner elected. He has a reputation for letting everybody out—even criminals (Tucker Carlson Tonight, Sept. 22).
Soros has vested money in DA races in 17 states over the past few years these include: Florida, California, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia. Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Louisiana, Missouri, Illinois, Mississippi, Georgia, and New York (Soros’ Prosecutorial Power Grab, https://youtu.be/q1k1gvPOxSo). Just how many of these big city DA’s are needed to bring down America with pillage, vandalism, assault and arson nobody is saying especially not Democrat news outlets and now some Fox News shows refuse to talk about the Soros buyout of DA’s promoting anarchy.
For Tucker Carlson revealing this destroy America plot, “Criminals commit crimes, police arrest them, Soros backed DA’s release them,” to the attention of Americans, “Twitter slapped a warning label on our video. They claimed it contained sensitive content.”
Let us be clear!! The above information documents Leftist George Soros as the number one insurrectionist in America today. His efforts to burn down American cities by financing Democrats who open our jails destroys justice and makes him an enemy to all who love liberty.
Apparently now even Fox News is afraid of him.
In 2016 George Soros influenced justice in six states, in 2020 it amplified to seventeen states. If Fox News is now censored or afraid to tell America of the Soros’ insurrectionist activities, who will, and with censorship how long can America stand?
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
Oct 5, 2020 | Globalism, Liberty Articles
Harold Pease, Ph.D.
We are coming to the end of an election year where the “hunger games,” having gone on every four years for well over a century since William McKinley, is finalizing. The “game” part of the process is how it is done by the mega rich through their super packs and media outlets causing the people to believe that they actually choose their president. This, at least until 2016 when America rejected their anointed candidates.
For years I told my students that the quickest way to understand our political system is to watch the movie “The Hunger Games.” The strategy is to herd all voters into their two camps called Republicans and Democrats excluding all other political parties, where there exist few real differences on foreign policy and where the super rich have agreement. Since they own all major media outlets, information for or against those they allowed elevated is managed.
The few astute enough to figure this out and learn of other choices are easily brought back into the fold by the siren call that they are throwing away their vote if going outside the “ordained” two parties. Those disaffiliated with both establishment political parties, about 40 percent, called independents, are returned to the fold at election time still forced to choose from the existing approved candidates. And thus only candidate names change every four years.
I suppose that as a political scientist by profession, this is more easily understood to me. I write the Federal Elections Commission every Fall of every election year to find out who is running for president, which I have done since the early 1990’s. Never has the list of serious candidates for president been less than 200 and never has the list of serious political parties, most offering a presidential candidate, been less than 20.
So who are the excluded (deplatformed) candidates on the ballot in 2020. “As of September 21, 2020, 1,202 candidates have filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to run for president” (https://ballotpedia.org/List_of_registered_2020_presidential_candidates. This site lists candidate names and party affiliation).
The Federal Elections Commission requires that anyone running for president that spends or collects $5,000 or more on his/her candidacy for president file with them. Obviously the number of presidential candidates and political parties has escalated far beyond that in the past. I went through the list and found forty political parties, doubling the number of political parties previously.
We used to assess the seriousness of a candidate by the $5,000 expenditure and how many states allowed his/her candidacy in their state. States decide who qualifies for their ballots and who do not. Since the Federal Election Commission has not yet published by state this information, as is common in past elections, it is difficult to know this number, but we can assume, as in past presidential elections, that it exceeds 20 political parties most offering a presidential candidate.
The Federal Election Commission has six commissioners but it requires four votes to accomplish anything thus many important votes end tied at 3-3. The president can only appoint three from his own political party so, in the most partisan time in American History since 1861, Democrat members have resigned and since August 31, 2019 the FEC has not had a quorum to function (Wikipedia, the Federal Election Commission).
So what other political parties offer choices for president on the ballot this year, absent the FEC state list and given the traditional non-coverage by the establishment media? They follow:The two strongest are the Libertarian Party with (Jo Jorgensen) and Green Party, with Howie Hawkins. Others that commonly provide a presidential candidates include: American Independent Party, Independent American Party, Constitution Party, Reform Party, Socialist Party, Peace and Freedom Party, and the Socialist Workers Party. For most of the last century the Communist Party U.S.A nominated Gus Hall but that stopped when they concluded that more gains were coming through the Democratic Party than they could achieve under their party label.
The Libertarian Party has offered a presidential candidate and convention in every election for decades and normally is on the ballot in every state of the union, but are never invited to the “big debates.” The same could be said of the Green Party and a few others. Certainly they feel excluded. One may argue, “but they do not have enough voter strength to warrant inclusion,” but in fact, they do not have sufficient voter strength because the establishment media does not cover them. Liberty Under Fire argues for debate inclusion for any candidate on the ballot of forty or more states.
In political science we learn that the first election is the medias. They vote first by their collective exclusion of those not registered as Democrat or Republican. The people get to choose from those the media have not excluded. The wisest, most experienced, most gifted and most honest person in America could not be president of the United States unless he/she were a Democrat or Republican.
Media corporate owners have required media collusion and, as we have said in other columns, they are overwhelmingly also globalist and Council on Foreign Relations members. In 2016 Trump survived this media filter by running as a Republican, and vaulted over the establishment by funding his own primary campaign enabling him to say things as he saw them and win over Americans who have also felt something amiss in Washington DC. That is why they hate him. He threatens their continued power.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
Sep 28, 2020 | Constitution, Economy, Globalism, Immigration, Liberty Articles
Harold Pease Ph.D.
An amazing event happened September 8, 2020 in a Donald Trump campaign rally in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The huge crowd broke into spontaneous “We love you” chants for the president. He was noticeably affected.
It happened again two days later in Freeland, Michigan, Sept. 10. Ten chants in a row broke out 30 minuets into the speech after his comments about helping stop the violence in Minneapolis and his threat to use federal agents in Seattle if violence did not stop there. He thanked the crowd after the first two chants but they would not stop until after another eight—“We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you.” He interrupted, “Don’t say that, I’ll start to cry [pause] and that wouldn’t be good for my image. You don’t want to see me cry. I’ll start to cry.” This tender moment was followed by another five “We love you” chants before he was permitted to continue.
Why is this a big story, two reasons? First, because I do not recall any politician getting that chant in the history of this country. Not even George Washington, Andrew Jackson, or Franklin Delano Roosevelt, presidents said to be among the most popular. Second, in almost five years, I have yet to hear one favorable comment from Democrat news outlets. Because of this I am certain half of America, so influenced by the constant “hate Trump” spew, will never know that they lived through the administration of perhaps America’s most popular president. No public office holder has drawn the crowd sizes he consistently gets.
Remember this is the same presidential candidate who just four years ago was “piled on” seemingly by everyone: the establishment media, establishment Democrats, establishment Republicans, establishment bankers and corporations. Added to this was the globalist establishment special interest groups the Council on Foreign Relations and the Bilderbergers. No president has endured more opposition than he—perhaps all put together. Imagine thousands now chanting “We love you” in unison to a politician in appreciation. This has never happened.
So why is he so popular with the American people? I’ll not dwell on the greatest economy in over a century, the highest employment rate for Africans, Hispanics, Asians, women and youth in my lifetime. The lowest taxes for the middle class in decades. These are not even disputed by the left in the 2020 election.
He is loved because he took on the globalists who were turning this country into the military arm of what they call the New World Order. He started no new wars, ended nation building in foreign lands, and is pulling out of the no-win wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. Our soldiers will no longer dye in foreign lands for globalist causes.
Veterans love him because he treated them with dignity. He signed the VA Choice Act and VA Accountability Act, expanded VA health services, walk-in-clinics, and same-day urgent primary and mental health care.
Until the Chinese Wuhan Virus he lifted nearly 4 million Americans off food stamps. Against the advice of his opponents he shut down immigration from China early in the virus. He teamed with the CDC with daily reports and projected confidence by not overreacting to the virus by a nation-wide shut-down of the economy. He is viewed as most likely to restore his previous booming economy.
He gave America energy independence by encouraging fracking, opening ANWR and approving the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines. These blocked by his predecessor.
Border law enforcement agents love him because he is finally building a wall to stop illegal immigration that undermines the salaries of the American worker. It also slows drug trafficking that is killing Americans and greatly restricts the activities of drug gangs like MS-13 and other criminals. Trump has done more than any other president to stop wide spread sex trafficking, especially with underaged girls.
Those who value the Constitution love him because he protects it as written, with two appointments to the Supreme Court and 214 Article III judge confirmations. He is viewed as most likely to hold to the restraints of the Constitution, especially the 2nd Amendment and 1st Amendment rights of free speech, assembly, and religion. Also he is most likely to do away with the double standard in justice including the probability of treason in high places.
Most Christians love him because, more than any predecessor for a lifetime, he values and protects religion. He is the most “Right to Life” president in American history. Stopping the annual killing of hundreds of thousands of America’s unborn babies is widely supported by Christians.
Americans love him because he is perceived as being the most likely to stop the spread of socialism in the United States now fully embraced by the Democrat Party. Historically it has brought only universal poverty and misery.
Americans love him because he is most likely to deal with anarchists in our cities and arsonists in our forests. Most view these as insurrectionist attempting to remove their president and destroy the greatest most prosperous, for those willing to work, nation on earth. Safety is a human right.
But mostly he is loved because they trust him and believe that he really cares about them. He is the only second term president in decades that can run on “Promises Made, Promises Kept.”
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
Sep 21, 2020 | Liberty Articles
Harold Pease Ph.D.
Fires engulf western states: California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana etc. Read the headlines, 29 fires in California, 35 dead, and at least 90 fires currently in western states.
Fox News Jeff Paul, reported Sept. 11, 2020, “California is one of the hardest hit with a record breaking 3 million acres burned and nearly 4000 homes and buildings lost so far…. The fires also taking a toll in Washington state where more than 100 homes are gone… and in Oregon, more than 35 fires are burning with at least five small towns destroyed.”
This fire destruction is unprecedented. It’s like Anarchists’ street destruction were not getting the media attention they demanded and President Trump had shown moderation by not sending national guard forces into places against the will of mayors and governors seemingly looking to bait escalation as in Kent State May 4, 1970. Seattle, Milwaukee, and Portland no longer drew the viewership it held mid-summer, so anarchists turned to Western forests.
Democratic news outlets blame global warming and say nothing of the avalanche of arsonists. Republican outlets say little of global warming blaming instead decades of kindling matter left by poor forest management. Both use the same arguments used in the 1980’s when forest fires became more common, global warming or poor forest management, neither address the amplified fire increase the last four weeks. In Oregon “half a million residents have been forced to evacuate their homes. That is one of every ten people in their entire state” (Tucker Carlson Tonight, Sept. 11, 2020).
Michael Shellenberger, author of Apocalypse Never and president of Environmental Progress explained why fires, especially hot ones, are more frequent than in previous years. In researching for his book, he interviewed most of the major scientists in California that deal with forestry. He found general agreement in that “we have five times more wood fuel in our forests than we did about 100 years ago and it's really saturated. That's what's driving the intensity of these fires. It's not climate change.” Adding, “if there weren't climate change and the forests were still saturated with this wood fuel we would probably still be having these really intense fires…. So management is the key to saving us.”
Two points were especially convincing. One, “forests that have been surrounded by these high intensity fires, but were well managed …were spared those really hot, high fires and the fires of dropping down to the ground.” Second, if climate change were the main factor causing these fires, then all the forests would be on fire and they're not. We're seeing these well managed forests, these healthy forests are surviving these really severe mega fires” (Shannon Bream, Fox News Tonight, Sept. 14, 2020).
So back to the arsonists. The following 22 persons with ages listed have been arrested for intentionally starting recent fires, some in multiple places: Jedidiah Fulton 39, Alberto Vincent Acosta, Kevin Carle, 37, Ivan Geronimo Gomez 30, Guadalupe Molina-Pacheco, Julian Draper, Demarco Covey 24, Wesley James Bergman 37, Elias Pendergrass 44, Anita Esquivel 37, Vanya Hummel 24, John Davies 55, Christine Comello 36, Alesander Bradford Smith 26, Jesse Peterson 30, Jeffrey Accord 36, Milton Loice Moran 48, Anthony Travis Bodda 21, Alexander Jones 36, Michael Jarrod Bakkeia 41, Jonathan Maas 44 and Sammy Scott Piatt (https://youtu.be/94.JR9dBEo8).
Accused is not conviction and we hope all get a fair trial but the latter takes months, sometimes years. Our point, probably many of these fires are not acts of nature. Manti, Utah has had “14 confirmed arson hot spots” in a national forest near by. No suspects have yet been arrested.
An Oregon Board of Commissioners meeting in Oregon City, Clackamas County met to consider the request of the Sheriff’s Department for a 10:00 p.m. curfew. Captain John Smith informed the board of a significant recent increase in looting and burglaries all over the county. Some extreme groups were “staging gas cans for later destruction,” presumably to start fires. His department was receiving “reports and sightings of people armed with chainsaws, and the goal was to fall telephone poles in hopes of starting further fires.”
One person reported on Facebook, “Some of you still think we’re not being under attack. I found this individual walking in my property as I was driving in, all he had were some matches in his hand. Walked him out of my property at gunpoint and then when we got to some asphalt ground on the main road made him lay down while the cops arrived…. He has got multiple warrants one of them being assaulting a police officer” (https://youtu.be/rfRh3ngn80).
Democrat media outlets want to keep the narrative on climate change rather than arson. This logic allows them to attach the destruction to Trump and followers who do not believe science supports global warming. They believe the anarchy in the cities, and now in the forests, is instead designed to frighten voters to vote for Joe Biden. Biden inferred such, "Climate change is already here, and we're witnessing its devastating effects every single day. We have to get President Trump out of the White House."
Two preceding Democratic presidential candidates agree. Hillary Clinton, “None of this is normal, and confronting climate change is on the ballot this year. Vote as early as you can, for a habitable planet.” Barack Obama, “The fires across the West Coast are just the latest examples of the very real ways our changing climate is changing our communities. Protecting our planet is on the ballot. Vote like your life depends on it—because it does” (Tucker Carson Tonight, Sept. 11, 2020). Protecting us from anarchists and arsonists is also on the ballot.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
