This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

There have been “monstrous tragedies” in world history that have cost “a couple hundred million lives.”

Those include Lenin’s Soviet Union and Stalin’s Iron Curtain, Hitler’s Germany, Mao’s China, and Pol Pot’s Cambodia.

It IS the story of Kim’s North Korea, and the ayatollahs of Iran.

”For over a century, humanity has endured one form of barbarous totalitarianism after the next. It slithers into unsuspecting countries — often hiding behind the mask of democratic elections. It misrepresents itself as just one political party of many before announcing itself as the only party for all. It seeks to eliminate opponents in stages: first, it proselytizes, then it intimidates, and finally, it murders,” explained a commentary by J.B. Shurk at The American Thinker.

”It is a governing philosophy that specializes in mass executions, dank prison cells, killing fields, and concentration camps. Totalitarianism infiltrates society with lies and builds nothing but the machinery of death,” he said.

And his warning is blunt: “With the Earth still wet from so much blood, Western governments now seek to turn the twenty-first century into the twentieth century’s even bloodier reflection.

”It is humbling to realize that we humans repeat so many mistakes through the course of history. It is infuriating, however, to watch today’s political leaders push humanity down the same paths that led to such monstrous tragedies in the recent past. When will the lesson be learned that censorship of opposing points of view leads to irreparable social division? When will governments grasp that coercion only intensifies the human desire to be free? When will courts realize that two-tiered justice and political persecution ensure the rule of law’s demise? How many more lives must be lost before those who exercise power understand that tyranny always leads to terror?”

He described the looming “totalitarianism as the “warm bath in which civilization slits its wrists. It envelops the people with petty rules, strange dogmas, immoral duties, and forced sacrifices. It warms its victims with intoxicating promises of the government’s false love. It leaves the citizen naked — stripped first of his free will, then the thoughts in his head, and finally anything he once called his own.”

He warned destruction comes through a “party” that says it is just one of many, “before announcing itself as the only party for all.”

Then it uses mass executions, killing fields and more to build “nothing but the machinery of death.”

Totalitarianism triggered World War II, the Cold War, and the Nazi ideology.

”If any nation of people should have learned the harsh repercussions of totalitarianism, it is Germany,” he wrote. “Instead, today’s German leaders seek to ban opposition political parties and silence dissent. They micromanage economic activity under the dangerous propaganda campaign of ‘climate change.’ They disrupt social cohesion and cultural unity by opening Germany’s borders to illegal aliens from unassimilable civilizations. They use the horrors of their past to slander political protesters as ‘fascists.’ Nearly a century ago, German Nazis rose to power by dehumanizing much of Europe. Now their ideological descendants dehumanize those who oppose growing German totalitarianism by ironically branding them as Nazis. “

In this setting, “German Klaus Schwab has built the World Economic Forum as an engine for making oppressive government universal,” he charged.

”It is a strange sight to see Western nations send their parliamentary leaders, foreign ministers, military generals, and prominent business executives to Schwab’s WEF powwows, where they may organize how best to dominate and manipulate their respective national populations without even the pretense of a democratic mandate or constitutional legitimacy.”

He concluded the “most pungent indicator that Western totalitarianism has returned” is the WEF’s insistence that it is battling “threats” to democracy.

”There is nothing ‘democratic’ about labeling dissent as ‘disinformation.’ There is nothing ‘democratic’ about conspiring with tech companies to censor public debate as ‘hate speech.’ There is nothing ‘democratic’ about imposing top-down ‘climate change’ regulations that do nothing other than strip private property rights and centralize economic control. There is nothing ‘democratic’ about mandating what farmers may grow, what meats may be eaten, what people may own, what words can be said, or what experimental ‘vaccines’ are required to work,” he warned.

He called WEF a “totalitarian machine” that undermines the West and offers an “existential threat to human rights.

” WEF-ers such as Bill Gates, Al Gore, and John Kerry think so little of ordinary people that they terrorize them with scientifically fraudulent warnings of a looming ‘climate change’ apocalypse built around the preposterous notion that poor and middle-class communities can be saved only if they hand over their private property, live in tiny cubicle apartments in fifteen-minute cities, abandon any fondness for personal freedom, and subsist on a diet of bugs,” he charged.

But people will rebel, he warned.

”Because Klaus Schwab’s evil club has effectively disenfranchised the people, there is now a growing popular revolt throughout the West that could easily combust into an anti-Establishment ‘Reign of Terror.’”

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Actor and political activist James Woods is getting a viral reaction to a photo he posted early Sunday morning on X.

The image merely displays a cheerful Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York greeting Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, apparently at a University of Louisville event.

Woods' electrifying caption reads: "Everything that's wrong with our government in one photo ... '

"When James Woods is right, he's very right," noted J.D. Rucker of the Liberty Daily.

"The level of comfort between 'opponents' in the UniParty Swamp is not a good thing. Proponents of 'bipartisanship' have yet to learn what that really means. Anything that Democrats can accept as a 'concession' has about a 3% chance of being beneficial for Americans. Meanwhile, the negatives they bring to the table are untenable.

"This is why it's a great thing that people like President Donald Trump are hated by Democrats. Any Republican who can 'reach across the aisle' and work with Democrats to make things happen is a member of the UniParty Swamp and should never be trusted."

Other reactions to Woods' message, which had nearly half a million views Sunday afternoon, include:

"Two of the most powerful politicians in the country and neither one of them could take out a bag of kitchen trash by themselves, let that sink in."

"It would be nice if law enforcement would come in and arrest every one of these people."

"They're probably laughing how they both stabbed Trump in the back."

"This is the picture to use for term limits legislation."

"Why people think Dems and Republicans are different I'll never understand. The Dems will just take you down faster."

"Say it with me James, u-n-i-p-a-r-t-y."

"Actually what's wrong with our government is that people are rejecting the obviousness of what this actually means."

"As much as I despise Pelosi, Schiff, Schumer, etc – if I could prosecute only one politician it would definitely be Mitch McConnell."

 

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Good News Clubs is the name of a well-known and long-established Supreme Court precedent that says schools cannot restrict clubs' access to their facilities because of the content of material used.

But there are some schools that apparently still haven't figured it out.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The Institute for Justice has announced a new lawsuit against Spartanburg County, South Carolina, and its sheriff's office, over a "policing for profit" scheme that the sheriff insists on keeping secret.

"Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright calls a news conference each year to announce the results of Operation Rolling Thunder," says Daryl James, a writer with the Institute for Justice who filed the initial public records request on October 11, 2022. "But he only provides information favorable to his agency."

The institute reported such lack of transparency lets the county "control the narrative surrounding Operation Rolling Thunder while hiding possible abuses of power."

"The sheriff spoon-feeds information to the public," charged Rob Johnson, a senior lawyer with the institute. "People have a right to know what is going on behind the press conference podium. If the government can pick and choose what facts to release, then anything abusive or unflattering will stay hidden."

The lawsuit is to force the county to release public records about the operation.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Staunch Democrat Sen. John Fetterman off Pennsylvania says progressives have left him and he doesn't recognize them anymore because of their failure to address, or even see, the disaster that Joe Biden has made of the nation's southern border.

One report on Fetterman's dissatisfaction with the "progressives" in his party pointed out that he "once boasted about being a progressive. Now he doesn’t recognize them anymore."

"It’s not so much that I left the title, the title left me," charged Fetterman, who when he was elected in 2022 vowed that "progressive values” were the heart of his political identity.

According to a report in the Daily Mail, Fetterman is breaking with his party because he believes "the border crisis is threatening to destroy the American dream as another 300,000 people approached the southern border in hopes of crossing into the U.S."

He recently, on a television interview, insisted on a "secure border," explaining, "I honestly don't understand why" that is controversial.

"And [what] I think about immigration is, we want to provide the American Dream for any migrant. However, it seems very difficult when you have 300,000 people showing up, encountered at our border, to achieve that," he explained.

When Joe Biden took office, he extinguished virtually all of the border security measures assembled by President Donald Trump, such as the remain-in-Mexico practice and construction of the border wall.

Since then, literally millions of illegal aliens have breached the American border and moved into the country, taking welfare and other benefits that are costing the American taxpayers billions.

The report noted Fetterman's wife arrived in the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant at the age of 7, and he wants migration, but legal migration.

"I've been very clear, in fact, that was weaponized against me [by] Republicans in my race, that I'm very much a strong supporter of immigration, and you know, my wife's family, that's the origin story about that," he said.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A legal team that leads the nation in litigating abusive fees and fines is condemning a California county for its draconian punishment it wants to impose on a landowner for allowing a needy family to live on his property.

And for the agenda that would, if followed as the county wishes, force that family into a situation of living on the streets.

The situation has developed in Santa Clara County, according to a report from the Institute for Justice.

It explained the county is imposing "outrageous, unconstitutional fines" on the owner of a winery.

His offense? "As they were losing their housing in 2014, Marcelino Martinez went to his boss Michael Ballard to ask if he and his family could stay at Michael’s vineyard. Marcelino has been a valued employee and family friend of Michael’s for two decades, so Michael was happy to allow Marcelino to stay at Savannah-Chanelle Vineyards. As a result, Marcelino purchased a trailer and settled it into a secluded part of Michael’s 60-acre vineyard."

For three years there were no problems. Then in 2017 the county simply said the family was in violation of their county requirements and started fines against Ballard of $250 a day.

"As fines mounted, county staff declined to help Michael acquire the proper permits. County officials refused to negotiate with Michael over his non-compliance and pushed him to evict the Martinez family, which he refused to do.

Now, because of his act of kindness, Michael faces hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and legal fees, the IJ confirmed.

"My longtime vineyard manager asked me to help his family by allowing them to locate their trailer on our 60-acre vineyard property. They could not find affordable housing anywhere else. We didn’t hesitate to help," Ballard explained in the IJ report.

"Then, after years of their enjoyment of assisted, cost-free housing, Santa Clara County, unprovoked, came on our property demanding the trailer be removed. They did this knowing it would force a family onto the streets."

He stood his ground, insisting he will not allow the county to hurt the family.

The IJ explained, "The U.S. Constitution protects Americans from excessive fines like the ones Michael currently faces. The fines Santa Clara County imposed upon Michael are grossly disproportionate to the gravity of his offense. What Michael did keep a family off the streets during a historic affordable housing crisis in California.

"Santa Clara County is among the least affordable housing markets in the country. Every night thousands of Santa Clarans go to sleep on the streets, two-thirds of whom have no shelter, leaving them at risk."

Bill Maurer, chief of the IJ's fines and fees division, explained, "The Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution requires government fines to be proportionate to the harm caused. Here, there was no harm, as evidenced by the fact that such living arrangements are common in California and across the country. In fact, this supposed violation probably helped keep these folks from becoming homeless."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

In the secret thinking of America’s ruling elites, dominated as they are by today’s ever-more deranged and totalitarian Democratic Party, absolutely nothing is more valuable, indispensable, and life-giving to their great cause than the Jan. 6, 2021 “armed insurrection” at the U.S. Capitol.

It’s irrelevant to them that the events didn’t come remotely close to constituting an actual “insurrection” by any legal or historical definition, nor was a single demonstrator inside the Capitol armed with a firearm.

Rather, what has become clear over the last three years is that a group of Trump supporters, convinced for very good reason that the recent election – and therefore their country – had just been stolen from them, gathered outside the Capitol to protest. Also in the crowd, it turns out, were a large number of undercover FBI assets, informants, and agent provocateurs – at least 200, according to House Homeland Security Committee member Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana, who has seen all the evidence. Some of these “undercover assets,” reveals Higgins, were dressed up as Trump supporters and positioned within the Capitol building before any demonstrators were allowed in. Proof, says Higgins, of epic “entrapment” by the Deep State, since the FBI could have just left the Capitol doors shut instead of opening them wide and waving in Trump supporters, hundreds of whom would later be arrested, prosecuted, and imprisoned.

When the protesters were allowed inside, most proceeded to mill around the U.S. Capitol like tourists, take pictures, some even shaking hands with police, thanking them and praying for them – all captured on long-suppressed surveillance video. A small minority broke windows, damaged property, clashed with police, or trespassed into no-go areas. One protester, an unarmed Air Force veteran named Ashli Babbitt, was shot to death at close range and without provocation by a Capitol Hill policeman.

And yet, speaking for the Biden administration, Vice President Kamala Harris insisted with great pomp and solemnity that the minor riot that broke out on Jan. 6, 2021, was every bit as cataclysmic for the country as the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks that killed almost 3,000 innocent people and toppled the World Trade Center, as well as the Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that took over 2,400 American lives and thrust the U.S. into World War II.

Disgraced FBI agent Peter Strzok went even further than Harris, insisting, “9/11 is NOTHING compared to January 6!”

The Jan. 6 “insurrection” is exceedingly precious to the ruling elites. The question is WHY?

It’s not just because convicting, imprisoning, sometimes torturing, and destroying the lives of hundreds of supporters of Donald Trump is meant to terrify and intimidate into submission tens of millions of pro-Trump Americans. Indeed, many of these people did nothing wrong; one young man is just now being prosecuted three years later for having harmlessly ventured inside the Capitol building for a total of 6 seconds!

It’s also not just because activist judges and bureaucrats in state after state are trying to keep Trump off their state’s election ballots by citing the 14th Amendment’s prohibition against anyone holding elective office “who, having previously taken an oath … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same.” That provision, added to the Constitution one year after the end of the Civil War to bar Confederate rebels from holding federal office, has been absurdly weaponized against Trump in more than 30 states.

Now hit the pause button and zoom out to briefly consider the larger picture: These same ruling elites that cherish Jan. 6 are rapidly destroying the greatest, freest, and most successful nation in world history. They’re intentionally flooding the nation with millions of illegal alien invaders, including mental patients, criminals, and terrorists. They’re indoctrinating the next generation of Americans with poisonous Marxist ideologies, from preschool to graduate school. They’re driving violent crime rates to astronomical highs. They’re decimating the economy, crippling major industries from energy to automotive, and driving millions of families into serious financial hardship. And of course, they’re encouraging the grooming and recruitment of countless children too young to vote or drive, to have their breasts or sexual organs amputated, all in pursuit of a “gender ideology” that is both deranged and demonic.

To hold on to power, therefore, they feel compelled to turn their opponents into monsters – or at least convincingly portray them as such. Otherwise, they’ll almost certainly lose when voters who have suffered so grievously under their perverse rule have the opportunity to choose a different course.

However, “turning their opponents into monsters” doesn’t just mean calling Trump supporters, conservatives, and Christians “racists,” “white supremacists,” “radical extremists” and “domestic terrorists” as they do day in and day out. Talk is cheap. Much more is needed by America’s maniacally ambitious totalitarian class if they are to retain their precious power and privilege in these pivotal times.

Fortunately, a few of America’s bolder and more astute commentators are starting to talk about what appears to be coming.

Tucker Carlson, in his widely viewed August 23 interview with Donald Trump, asked the former president: “I’m looking at the trajectory since 2015, when you got into politics for real, and then won. It started with protests against you – massive protests, organized protests by the left. And then it moved to impeachment – twice. And now indictment. I mean, the next stage is violence. Are you worried that they’re going to try and kill you? Why wouldn’t they try and kill you? Honestly?”

“They’re savage animals,” responded Trump. “They are people that are sick, really sick. … These are people that, I think hate our country, [if] you want to know the truth. When you see open borders, when you see these policies that they have and so many other things, it’s so sad to see. We have a country that’s very fragile right now.”

Carlson probed further: “Do you think we’re moving towards civil war? … Do you think it’s possible that there’s open conflict? We seem to be moving towards something.”

“I don’t know,” said Trump, then adding, “I can say this: There’s a level of passion that I’ve never seen. There’s a level of hatred that I’ve never seen, and that’s probably a bad combination.”

In December, Fox News’ Laura Ingraham picked up the theme: “What we are seeing in the courts, at the Department of Justice, and even in state attorneys generals’ offices – and given Democrats’ ‘Trump is Hitler’ rhetoric – is it not logical, even to consider, maybe to assume that some on the left are hoping to spark some type of civil unrest here?

“Which would be followed, of course, by a mass crackdown on civil liberties or the declaration of maybe a nationwide emergency, all as a way … to usher in, I don’t know, nationwide mail-in voting?” speculated Ingraham. “Remember, the left loved the lockdowns. They loved the 2020 riots, and they even loved the weapon that Jan. 6 gave them. And, of course, they really, really love the idea of universal mail-in or even internet voting.”

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The Christian Institute in the United Kingdom is reiterating its promise to go to court against the Scottish government if lawmakers there continue with their agenda of religious censorship through a ban on "so-called conversion therapy."

"We are particularly worried about the government’s plans for ‘civil protection orders’. The courts could impose draconian limits on the free speech of individuals based purely on activists’ speculation about what they might say to gay or trans people," explained Simon Calvert, the organization's deputy director for public affairs.

He warned as the the SNP/Green coalition publishes its consultation on the plans, the threat to freedom of speech becomes clear. It even could criminalize the conversations and opinions of parents and church leaders.

The Institute reported on the problem: "The Scottish government wants to outlaw 'practices' that seek to change, suppress or inhibit someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Activists are campaigning for this to cover 'casual conversations,' 'gentle, non-coercive prayer,' and even 'depending on your parents' 'consent'' to change gender."

The same fight has been building across the United States, too, with multiple demands by LGBT activists that comments, discussions and even prayer be censored if they address the scientific fact that people with unwanted same-sex attractions can be counseled to deal with them.

The agenda demands that counseling can be only one way: toward encouraging LGBT lifestyle choices. In the U.S., the fight has not yet gotten to the level of the Supreme Court.

Calvert explained about the Scottish fight, "We will be encouraging Christians to respond to the consultation and instructing a KC to look at the detail of the proposals. Our solicitors wrote to the government preparing the ground for judicial review in February 2022. If Parliament passes a law that tramples on basic freedom of speech and religion we are ready to go to court."

The report noted Jayne Ozanne is one of the campaigners who are insisting on censoring others' speech and even prayers. She contends even "gentle, non-coercive prayer" be banned.

Calvert said, "Gay and trans people are already protected, quite rightly, from verbal and physical abuse by existing law. Since those things are already illegal, what is it that this Bill seeks to criminalize? The activists are quite clear that they want it to target conversations and opinions they don’t like."

Leftists working on the LGBT campaign are demanding laws that are modeled on the anti-speech provisions now used in Victoria, Australia.

There, official guidance demands that "parents refusing to consent to their children going on puberty blockers are committing unlawful conversion therapy."

Calvert noted parents there are "now living in terror of being prosecuted for trying to protect their children from irreversible medical treatment."

He explained, "In a legal opinion we commissioned in 2022, top KC Aidan O’Neill warned the Scottish government that it will be exceeding its legislative powers if it pursues the Expert Advisory Group’s proposals. He also confirmed that such a far-reaching ban would criminalize innocent parents and preachers."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Anthony Fauci, the ex-chief of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and White House COVID adviser, told Congress this week dozens and dozens of times that he didn't remember key facts about his actions regarding the pandemic that came out of a China lab and circled the globe, killing millions.

And that prompted the Children's Health Defense organization to conclude he was evading providing answers about critical components of the nation's response, such as shot mandates, social distancing, and masks, developed under his guidance.

Fauci was summoned by Congress to answer questions about COVID and its toll on Americans by the House of Representatives' Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, explained, "Dr. Fauci’s testimony today uncovered drastic and systemic failures in America’s public health systems." But he noted Fauci apparently "had no idea what was happening under his own jurisdiction at NIAID."

The Hill reported that Fauci offered "his expertise on preparing for potential outbreaks in the future." But the Washington Times pointed out the 83-year-old "couldn’t remember many details about his advocacy of lockdowns, his flip-flopping on mask mandates and his decision to allow government funding of gain-of-function research in China that might have led to the pandemic."

In fact, a New York Post report explained Fauci claimed to "not recall" key COVID-19 details and conversations "more than 100 times."

The report documented how Fauci also "repeatedly played semantics with the definition of gain-of-function in an attempt to avoid conceding that NIH funded potentially dangerous research in China."

The Post said Wenstrup explained, "This is an opportunity for Dr. Fauci to explain his COVID-19 policy positions."

Wenstrup's subcommittee, the report explained, has focused in particular on efforts by Fauci and former National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins to censor voices that deviated from their theory that the virus leaked accidentally from the Wuhan, China, lab

The report noted the Government Accountability Office confirmed in 2023 that the NIH gave more than $1.4 million to Chinese research institutions between 2014 and 2019 despite serious biosafety concerns, including at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The Post noted the House members also are investigating the influence Fauci had over the U.S. intelligence community about the origin of the pandemic after a whistleblower charged that Fauci secretly visited CIA headquarters to "influence" analysts who subsequently claimed they could not say if the virus leaked from a lab or what.

The reporting also revealed Fauci confirmed that ideas like six feet of separation to limit COVID's spread "sort of just appeared" and lacked scientific standing.

Fauci confirmed those restrictions were likely weren't "based on scientific data."

The CHD reported Francis Boyle, a professor of international law in Illinois and a bioweapons expert, said in an interview with The Defender Fauci should be prosecuted.

"Fauci knew exactly what was going on at the Wuhan BSL4 [biosafety level 4] and the University of North Carolina BSL3 — he was paying for it,” Boyle said. “He has repeatedly perjured himself in testimony before Congress. This is just more of the same."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Yet another program, this one run by a state bar association, is coming under fire for being racist.

In fact, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty has announced a new lawsuit against an internship scheme run by the Wisconsin State Bar's "Diversity Clerkship Program," which is based on the racism involved in DEI practices.

"When the government discriminates based on race, it sows more divisions in our country and violates the Constitution in the process," explained Skylar Croy, an associate counsel for WILL. "WILL is standing up against discrimination and holding the state bar accountable to the rights of its dues-paying members."

The issue is that state bar dues are mandatory for Wisconsin lawyers, and the program blatantly discriminates based on race, which offends the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court precedent.

So WILL's client in the case is required to pay for "this internship program" and "other programs and communications that discriminate against him and thousands of other Wisconsin attorneys."

The client, Daniel Suhr, said, "Internships are competitive—as they should be. But when one group is given preferential treatment over the other to apply for these programs, the programs lose competitiveness and hurt all Americans. This also goes against my beliefs entirely. The state bar should do better and expand these opportunities to all Wisconsin law students."

WILL reported some that some of Wisconsin’s largest companies, law firms, and government agencies participate in the "Diversity Clerkship Program," including Fiserv, GE Healthcare, Northwestern Mutual Insurance, Stafford Rosenbaum LLP, Alliant Energy, Froedtert Health, Kohler Company, the City of Madison, and the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

The discrimination is run by the University of Wisconsin, "which has recently been involved in a public dispute with the legislature over its DEI program."

WILL said the program is in violation of the precedent set by the Supreme Court in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.

"Judge Carl Ashley, who has promoted the program on behalf of the bar, even stated that he was aware diversity programs like Diversity Clerkship Program could face legal challenges," WILL noted.

In the Supreme Court ruling, the justices said "colleges and universities may no longer use race as a factor in admissions. This practice, commonly called 'affirmative action,' was declared unconstitutional … "

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