But then the host of the virtual event, Rich “Trigger” Bontrager, talked about using SteadyStraps from his personal perspective as he introduced Larry Walters and Rich made me think again, “Maybe I need to buy one to check it out.”
So just as I was looking at which one strap to buy and try out, you know, to see if it was too good to be true… my name was called in a special giveaway drawing for the attendees of virtual FreedomFest. It pleased me greatly for I had not yet placed my order. I had won not one but THREE PATRIOTIC SteadyStraps!
Yayeee for Me!
Definitely worth purchasing three! You save 10% and they are so easy to change out for different occasions!
Anyway, knowing I had three free straps coming I thought, “Hey, it would be nice to share my good fortune and support a fellow entreprneur by purchasing three straps to give to friends.”
So I did. However, it was a little difficult to choose from the many great collections offered. If my budget would have allowed it I would have purchased twelve! (Seriously. I want more.)
SteadyStraps are exactly what they say they are, from ease of installation to quality of the brand. The fabric is as soft, the stitching is very sturdy, and the color process used is as they say it is. It is an amazingly simple product that does not skimp on quality.
The SteadyStraps are easily, easily, easily adjustable. My husand is 6 foot tall and he has pretty big hands but the SteadyStrap works perfectly for him. My hands are average sized. Adjusting the strap to get it just perfect for me and trying to see how tight I could get was absolutely easy-peasy.
Shipping is included in the price of the item and I got mine within a few days of ordering them. I asked if I could order three and have my winning three shipped together and it was done as asked so customer service is fabulous and top notch! What is so cool is the SteadyStraps fit into a number 10 envelope so shipping is a breeze actually.
Honestly, SteadyStraps is the most useful item you need and did not know it until you purchased one, two, I mean three!
The Congressional Pork Map is a project of the Center for Renewing America and the American Accountability Foundation to educate the American People about the size and scope of Congressional earmarks in their community. It is also a tool to allow citizens to use their unique knowledge of their communities to exercise oversight on their Members of Congress.
Before we take a look at these spending requests, who is asking for what and discover their networks and agendas, let’s take a minute to review the United States Constitution:
Spending Clause
ARTICLE I, SECTION 8, CLAUSE 1
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States….
As a matter of original meaning, there is reason to doubt whether the federal spending power flows from this clause. On its face, the clause grants only the power to tax, and any inference of a spending power from the clause’s language about the “general Welfare” leaves unexplained where Congress obtains the power to spend borrowed money or the proceeds from land sales. It is more plausible to locate the federal spending power in the Necessary and Proper Clause, or perhaps even the Territories and Property Clauses of Article IV. Nonetheless, modern law has settled on the Taxation Clause as the source of federal spending authority, though a more accurate description would be to entitle the clause as “The General Welfare Clause.”
You can read more about discussions on this subject at Heritage Foundation’s GUIDE TO THE CONSTITUTION.
Now let us begin to review why these projects are worth considering as #PorkSpending. As you critically think through, perhaps even researching information for yourself regarding taxation, ask yourself about the character of the people requesting the money. Ask if these unrealistic burdens are being placed upon taxpayers in these redistribution of wealth schemes for personal reasons, like connections, pay offs, or part of a great reset in the culture of the organizations.
Who will get the money?
How will it be distributed?
What is the person or company track record?
How will the person or company benefit from these taxpayer dollars?
What is the profit margin for the person or business?
What does the requestor benefit from or gain from supporting these requests?
How does the requestor pay off supporters with these requests or how is the requestor connected to the beneficiaries of these requests?
How do these requests fit into the boundaries of the FEDERAL SPENDING CLAUSE and the examples given whereby these types of things were not approved of in the early days of our nation?
Salt River Project
6150 W. Thunderbird Rd., Glendale, AZ 85306-4001 Member Requesting: Greg Stanton Amount: $1,125,000 Description: These funds, requested by Salt River Project, would support a feasibility study to evaluate the impact of sedimentation accumulation in the Verde River Basin and help identify new ways to restore water storage capacity. The accumulation of natural sedimentation in the Verde River Basin has significantly curtailed the water storage capacity of Horseshoe Reservoir – one of SRP’s seven federally owned reservoirs. SRP expects higher temperatures and less predictable precipitation on the Verde River
Learn more about Sediment and Suspended Sediment here. And then ask why over a million dollars for a feasibility study because this problem is nothing new and surely they can do it all for way less money.
32nd Street and Thomas Road Intersection Safety Improvements
200 West Washington Street, 12th Floor, Phoenix, AZ 85003 Member Requesting: Greg Stanton Amount: $960,000 Description: These funds, requested by the City of Phoenix, would make critical safety improvement to this high-priority intersection, including traffic signal rebuild, crosswalk enhancements, street lighting and ADA upgrades. This intersection is ranked as the 39th most dangerous intersection in the region by the Maricopa Association of Governments.
This does appear to be an emotional appeal for money that is a LOCAL problem, not worthy of a #RedistributionOfWealth request. Why doesn’t the City of Phoenix pay for their own solution? It seems highly inappropriate to ask for federal funds when the City of Phoenix should be taking care of their own problems with their own tax and spend money confiscated from local taxpayers.
Or maybe the City of Phoenix can host their own #FundMe account to raise the money locally for a local solution? Here’s a list of the TOP 10 resources to get the City of Phoenix started: #FundYourself
Pork Man Stanton’s running total: $2,085,000.00
Growing BIPOC Micromanufacturing Entrepreneurs
31 East 5th Street, Tempe, AZ 85281 Member Requesting: Greg Stanton Amount: $500,000 Description: These funds would support the City of Tempe’s efforts to lift up local entrepreneurs—with a focus on BIPOC entrepreneurs—and help them overcome the most significant obstacles to start-up manufacturing through grants to cover the cost of space, start-up raw materials and equipment necessary for micromanufacturing. The funds would also support Tempe’s effort to train and coach entrepreneurs.
Uh, this is not the federal responsibility, to fund and lift up entrepreneurs in Arizona. This is not the Federal Government’s job to support or pick winners and losers. And to use taxpayer money to create and train coaches? Uh NO! This is a horrible request and an abuse of working class taxpayers resources that ought be used for things like #DefendTheBorder.
Pork Man Stanton’s running total: $2,585,000.00
Downtown Small Business Revitalization and Rehabilitation Program
20 E. Main Street, Mesa, AZ 85201 Member Requesting: Greg Stanton Amount: $300,000 Description: These funds would assist small businesses in downtown Mesa with façade improvements, including new or refurbished business signage, colonnade rehabilitation or removal, and small- to medium-sized façade design and construction projects. Downtown Mesa is a federally designated Opportunity Zone and locally designated Redevelopment Area.
Uh again, not worthy of Federal Taxpayer Dollars. This is a Mesa problem not a national problem and certainly not worthy of a redistribution of wealth request.
Pork Man Stanton’s running total: $2,885,000.00
Café Stapley
111 South Stapley Dr., Mesa, AZ 85204 Member Requesting: Greg Stanton Amount: $600,000 Description: These funds would help renovate 5,500 square feet of existing space to build out Café (Children, Adolescents, and Families Empowered) Stapley to create a model apartment for high-risk and at-risk youth, ages 12 to 17, in Arizona communities to support teaching day-to-day skills and relationships. This model of care holds promise to reduce costs of health care related to emergency care, residential treatment and other societal costs realized in the justice system.
Notice the use of the language to make you feel emotionally attached to the Mesa Arizona problem. Ask yourself:
Is this a state funded civil religious order?
Is this state funded religious order to be more respected than the tenants taught in Judeo-Christian values?
How is this designed to replace family as the fundamental unit of society?
What does “holds promise” mean?
What will be paid back to the taxpayers if this civil religion does not meet measurements?
And more importantly, why is this not being funded out of Local Taxpayer dollars, where locals have vested interest in watching this program to hold it accountable?
By the way, how many generations of state funded programs does this program trace back through these “children”?
In other words, how many people going back in their family lines have been recipients of state welfare assistance?
Are these children of children and or parents who have received welfare assistance back how many generations?
Pork Man Stanton’s running total: #3,485,000.00
Equitable Pathways Program
1809 S. Dobson Rd., Ste. 214, Mesa, Arizona 85202 Member Requesting: Greg Stanton Amount: $300,000 Description: These funds would support the Aliento Education Fund’s efforts to boost first-generation immigrant and Latino students through social-emotional programming. These programs include paid student fellowships and internships; building the capacity of educators, counselors and school leaders through professional development on college access and post-secondary pathways; and supporting collaboration with cross-sector partnerships such as school districts, community colleges, universities, businesses,
Reyna was born in Tijuana, Mexico and migrated to Arizona in 2003 fleeing violence. She is a DACAmented social entrepreneur, community organizer, educator, and dancer. She is a 2016 Soros Justice Fellow, which enabled her to start Aliento. She is also a founding member of the first Teach For America DACA Advisory Board. Reyna holds bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and Transborder Studies and a Dance minor from Arizona State University; she also holds an M.Ed in Secondary Education from Grand Canyon University. She recently completed an executive education program from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She has engaged in local, statewide and national platforms to advance justice for immigrant communities. In 2013, she was the lead organizer, who prevented an immigration bus of undocumented immigrants from deportation in Phoenix, AZ for the first time in the nation’s history. In the same year, with the help of the community, she stopped her father’s deportation. She was also recognized as 2017 #NBCLatino20 and the Muhammad Ali Center as the 2018 Humanitarian Recipient for Spirituality. She hopes to share her talents and skills with the community to co-create healing spaces, political change, and leadership development of our immigrant youth and mixed-status families. In her volunteer time, she also serves as a member of the Leadership Council for ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation and is a Board Member at Chicanos Por la Causa (CPLC). She enjoys going on long walks, reading, and spending time with her two fur babies!
Notes and Quotes from Dr. Karlyn Borysenko/ June 16, 2021 video:
THE DEFINITION OF CRITICAL RACE THEORY:
1/ Critical Race Theory is an ideology started in academia in the 70’s that says racism exists everywhere – in every person and system – and the job of the critical race theorist is to assess HOW (not if) racism occured in any circumstance.
2/ Another way to think of critical race theory is this: It’s the opposite of what Martin Luther King preached. It is the idea that we should judge people on the basis of their race, that someone’s race is the only thing that matters about them, not the content of their character.
CRT PROBLEM: CONFIRMATION BIAS
1/ When you start with the conclusion that racism has occured and work your way back from that conclusion that is confirmation bias. You will only look for information that supports your conclusion.
2/ If you are looking for racism in everything then you will inevitably find racism in everything. You will misconstrue the most innocent thing as being a symbol of racism. You will also ignore data that contradicts your point so your are not showing the full spectrum of information.
3/ All that leads to the conclusion being confirmed and anyone who disagrees with you or points out all of the information you ignored is fragile. When you start with the conclusion you leave no room for the theory to develop.
“The slavery of the present is a more subtle thing. It grips the mind more tightly than the body. It still remembers that men enslave themselves best. It knows also that true power comes from making all complicit in its crimes so that they are also complicit in their own degradation. The system only asks that each man enslave himself and kill his own children. And once he has done that, he will only feel it right to demand that everyone else do likewise.” ~ Daniel Greenfield
Another of my favorite reads is, the late, Neal A. Maxwell. In 1974 he gave a fabulous sermon on ETERNALISM VS. SECULARISM. Says he:
Eternalism focuses on the individual and on those processes in which the individual is taught correct principles and then is given optimum opportunity to govern himself. Indeed, nowhere does the contrast appear to be more stark between the basic approaches to man’s problems than in the focus of eternalism on the individual as the basic human reality (and next the family). Where reform and desirable change are concerned, eternalism opts for conditions that facilitate true individual growth, letting the consequences of any successes ripple outward. Secularism tends to want to deal increasingly with systems, governments, labels, groups, etc.—with adjustments in the things outside man, apparently hoping that, somehow, changing the external scenery will change the things inside man. Of this latter approach, it was a wise Edmund Burke who warned:
“… society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more of it there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.” (Leo Rosten, A Trumpet for Reason, Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1970.)
For those of us who see the human condition as one in which there is more stupidity than cupidity, more apathy than conspiracy, there is no real place to begin but with ourselves!
How simply profound. “…men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.
Russ Vought, the former Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for the Trump Administration, is a long time acquaintance since his days at Heritage Action. Russ ran the OMB with the utmost integrity. He is an amazing individual and he is the reason for my post today.
Now aligned with the work Russ is doing at The Center for American Restoration and the activity arm, American Restoration Action (ARA), you are invited to learn more about ARA. Especially, I invite you to join in on the Thursday Calls to be enlightened on important issues that should drive the Constitutional agenda to Restore America.
It has taken me some time to post this in response to your annual recollection of a horrible day for you. So there is absolutely no confusion, I am thrilled for your recovery and #resilience of the last 10 years. However, I am a bit less thrilled with what could be seen as a sanctimonious pander play to promote your party platform of #Control. So after weeks of holding this post to truly ponder my personal thoughts and feelings, I am ready to suggest that you should #FrameTheDebate, not use emotional rhetoric to further explain your thinking.
First of all the man who took the shots at you was a suffering schizophrenic and there were plenty of warning signs that he was unstable and in need of care. His story well illustrates why, as Daniel Greenfield discusses, We Need Crazy and Criminal Control. It is a fascinating thing that there is not more of an expressive concern, more compassion and forgiveness from you about him or about how to move forward in helping disturbed or disabled people like him in light of what happened 10 years ago.
Why is it you seem to assault law abiding citizens instead of offering help for the crazies? And where do stand on the suppression of the criminal? Do you #BackTheBlue? Are you all in to fully fund and support the excellent police force that is filled with honest and good cops? Why do you seem to make good people look evil when the crazy and criminal element is the real issue?
Second of all, you are right. There is no magic recovery, especially when the people, voters, taxpayers, have been abused for years by “alleged” corrupt politicians, politicians who make millions off their elected positions or find ways to make millions to get into a political position. And there is no magic recovery when many politicians appear to do so out of the taxpayer pockets.
There will never be a magic recovery for all those who have been silenced at the hand of Politicians, by #DeepState men and women, and the Mainstream Media for their tortuous treatment of people like Carter Page, General Flynn, KT McFarland, Sharyl Attkisson, James Rosen and others allegedly harrassed during the Obama years.
How do the disenfranchised grieve what is lost, stollen from them actually, but move on with determination? How do you suggest people reckon with the liars and deceivers in order to move forward while being continuously suppressed, oppressed, and plundered through excessive taxation and policies designed to keep them subjected to bureaucratic suppressors?
#COVID19 #Omnibus #Cromnibus #TaxBurdens
Yes. Revel in your joy and your successes from your amazing recovery BUT #NEVERFORGET, never forget to acknowledge the many people who do not have your financial support from millionaire donor friends or have your current living wage of between 9-27 Million dollars that your husband magically made. And never forget the lives silenced or the voices of the living being ignored and silenced, voices that could tell tales to truly move forward with their lives in a more optimistic fashion like you if they were granted media attention as you have been afforded.
New to Arizona and the politics of Arizona I have been working to chain information in order to get a picture of what is going on here. Apparently, it is far worse than I expected, anticipated, or even dreamed of for a western state.
Back in the late 1990’s I remember reading how the progressive left was making plans to move their people into communities to influence and turn communities away from conservative values towards socialism. The Progressives understood it would take time to make changes but someone, I have forgotten who, had the funds to physically begin moving progressive believers around the country to work for social change. That was their plan. Paid progressives, willing to do the bidding of a puppet master to physically move where needed to influence and flip cities and counties, and eventually take over a state. (Cultists anyone?)
Now add to that almost 20 years and here we are, gobsmacked with the Arizona Blues.
Mark Kelly, Astronaut and Millionare within 8 years time, really? How’d he get to be so wealthy?
Eight years later in 2019, Kelly had to file his first financial disclosures for his run against GOP Arizona Sen. Martha McSally. According to The Arizona Republic, his net worth was between $10 million and $27 million. (It’s now between $9 million and $27 million, the paper said, citing a financial disclosure report filed in August.)
This would, as The Republic reported, be “an amount that would make him among the wealthiest people in Congress at the time.”
Even at the low end, $9 million is more than quadruple what the couple was worth in 2011. And $27 million represents a nearly 13-fold increase from that $2.1 million figure.
World View, which received $22.1 million in investments from 2014 to 2016, did not disclose how much of that was from Tencent, whose CEO is listed as the wealthiest Chinese citizen.
When Pima County subsequently built a $15 million facility for World View, the firm’s leaders said they intended to transport tourists to the edge of space. However, no stratospheric tourists ever took those rides — although some individuals paid deposits on the $75,000 tickets.
Despite the failure of the company to produce the results it had promised, it has managed to maintain a positive relationship with county officials.
County officials signed a $2 million agreement in May with World View to produce surgical gowns “to aid in the protection during the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19.”
According to the “Master Agreement,” signed on May 8 by the county procurement officer, the unit price for each surgical gown to be made for the county is $3.25. The first year of the contract — which includes four more annual renewal options — is for $400,000.
A July 7 report by the Arizona Republic found that according to federal records, World View Enterprises took between $1 million and $2 million in PPP cash to preserve 38 jobs and return 17 employees from furlough. Arizona Democratic Senate candidate Mark Kelly, who cofounded the firm and remains an investor in it, previously criticized the program as being beholden to “big banks.”
Seriously, from balloon blow outs and non-existing stratospheric rides to surgical gowns and taxpayer bailouts. That’s what #DarkMoney and socialist voters are giving Arizona, America, and the Senate.
Soros has already effectively inserted himself into the criminal justice system by slowly transforming it—again through massive investment—via local district attorneys’ races. Since 2015, Soros has spent at least $17 million to swing district attorney races in states such as Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Arizona—key battlegrounds targeted by Democrats for takeover.
About eight to ten years ago Conservatives reigned the Twitterverse. That was until the Marxists came along with their little bots and haters and Twitter’s ability to censor Conservative thought. And it very much appears #BigTech is in lockstep. (link corrected)
So basically, it appears, the only the way the Leftists can win is to spew hate and employ censorship to shut down thoughts that counter their skewed thinking.
To the many trolls, no matter which social media platform they slime into, please watch and apply Dr. Jordan Peterson’s words of wisdom to yourself, not as a victim:
Additional Reading and Video:
Rachel Bovard’s testimony in the House Antitrust Subcommittee on the growing power of Big Tech: