‘Blueprint for Reform’ Gives Desperately Needed Guidance to Washington

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The barbaric attack in Nice, the slaughter of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, and Hillary Clinton’s umpteenth legal cakewalk leave many Americans feeling angry and powerless—and understandably so. The social contract seems to have been shredded by the mayhem that envelops us.

But the upcoming election and change of administration offer Americans an opportunity to demand a return to principles that can keep the nation free and strong—if embraced.

These principles—free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense—underlie the dozens of policy recommendations detailed in The Heritage Foundation’s new “Blueprint for Reform: A Comprehensive Policy Agenda.” Released last week, the publication is the latest in a series of “Mandate for Leadership” books that debuted in 1981 to guide the incoming Reagan administration.

Washington desperately needs the guidance, of course.

As noted in “Blueprint for Reform,” excessive spending has nearly doubled the federal debt in recent years, from $9.9 trillion at the close of 2008 to $19.2 trillion in May 2016. There also has been an unparalleled expansion of regulation, with some 20,000 rules issued by the Obama administration and an increase in annual regulatory costs of more than $108 billion (according to the regulatory agencies’ own numbers). The loss of individual freedom is incalculable.

Meanwhile, the $1 trillion that Americans spend each year on means-tested welfare programs isn’t buying much self-sufficiency for the needy among us. And U.S. military capabilities have languished.

In its first six chapters, “Blueprint for Reform” summarizes the state of the economy; taxes; entitlements; regulation; energy and natural resources; and foreign policy and defense. The second half features analyses by Heritage experts of the missions, operations, and budgets of 15 Cabinet departments and eight other agencies, along with a detailed policy agenda “to allow Americans to build for themselves a stronger economy, a stronger society, and a stronger defense.”

On taxes, for example, the plan reveals that the federal government expects to collect $42.1 trillion in revenues between 2017 and 2026, and spend $51.4 trillion. Doing so will increase the total gross debt from $19.2 trillion in May 2016 to an estimated $29.1 trillion by September 2026.

As noted by Heritage Foundation experts, a more rational tax system would feature a low, flat rate applied on a base of wages, salaries, and limited number of other forms of income. And the rate would be set to collect no more revenue than is necessary to fund government’s core constitutional functions.

Exercising Power of the Purse

“Blueprint for Reform” also prescribes a variety of regulatory reforms to curtail the vast administrative state that has eroded the fundamental character of America. Chief among them is returning accountability to Congress by requiring lawmakers to approve all major regulations before they are allowed to take effect.

The plan calls on Congress to exercise the power of the purse by withholding appropriations from ruinous regulations such as the Obama administration’s so-called Clean Power Plan, among others.

Indeed, President Barack Obama’s crackdown on coal and petroleum has been particularly punishing by prohibiting access to natural resource exploration, subsidizing politically preferred energy sources, and implementing burdensome regulations that distort markets and provide little environmental benefit.

“Blueprint for Reform” recommends greater access to resource development and trade in energy resources, the elimination of subsidies, favoritism, and shifting more regulatory authority to the states. As noted by Heritage analysts:

Freely importing and exporting energy and energy technologies would yield tremendous economic benefits, providing Americans with more opportunities to sell products to more customers and to buy cheaper goods and services from abroad. Free trade in energy also bolsters national security by increasing supply diversity and providing choices for allies; it will have beneficial geopolitical implications for every region of the world.

Reducing Regulations and Entitlements

The hundreds of regulations imposed on the financial sector under the Dodd-Frank Act likewise have increased costs, reduced access to credit, and inhibited economic growth. Advocates evidently fail to grasp that banks and other financial institutions actually promote prosperity by allocating capital.

But as Heritage experts point out, Dodd-Frank actually has eroded financial stability by inciting industry concentration, which harms investors and consumers. To reverse this trend, “Blueprint for Reform” recommends repeal of Dodd-Frank and a return to regulation focused on deterring and punishing fraud and fostering reasonable, scaled disclosure of material information.

Major reforms also are necessary to rationalize America’s entitlement programs, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare, which accounted for more than half of all tax revenues in 2015.

“Blueprint for Reform” eliminates any excuse for hand-wringing among members of Congress by providing specific reforms, such as:

Raising the Social Security and Medicare retirement ages to account for increased life expectancies and work capacities.

Transitioning to a flat, anti-poverty benefit for Social Security and Disability Insurance.

Reducing the payroll tax to allow individuals to save more for retirement and disability.

Defending the Nation

And then there is defense. It is all too apparent that America is unprepared and ill-equipped to confront Russian adventurism in Eastern Europe, Chinese expansion in the South China Sea, and Islamist terrorists streaming across swaths of Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa.

“Blueprint for Reform” recommends reprioritizing defense spending while maintaining the aggregate spending levels for discretionary programs under the Budget Control Act. Resources should be shifted to restoring capacity, particularly of U.S. ground forces; accelerating readiness; and updating nuclear weapons and missile defense systems, among other changes.

Improving the efficiency of the Defense Department also should be a priority, according to Heritage experts, including cutting excessive bureaucracy and modernizing acquisition system.

A great many other policy corrections fill the 152-page “Blueprint for Reform” that should be required reading for every policymaker and elected official—in Washington and beyond. It also offers citizens an inside look at the inner workings of the executive branch and experts’ guidance on making America once again the land of the free and the home of the brave. (For more from the author of “‘Blueprint for Reform’ Gives Desperately Needed Guidance to Washington” please click HERE)

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Baton Rouge Cop-Killer in Nation of Islam, Part of “Remote Mind Control” Group

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By WND. The shooter who gunned down three Baton Rouge law-enforcement officers and injured three more has ties with the Nation of Islam.

Gavin Eugene Long of Kansas City, Missouri apparently coincided his 29th birthday – July 17, 1987 – with his rampage. In his extensive online presence, which included tweets, self-published books, YouTube videos and a website, he said he was once a member of Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam, but said he had no affiliations with outside groups.

“Yeah, I also was a Nation of Islam member. Don’t affiliate me with it. Don’t affiliate me with anything,” he said in one video. “I thought my own thoughts. I made my own decisions. I’m the one who’s got to listen the judgment. That’s it. And my heart is pure.”

Long made a video stating he went to Dallas after the police shootings and called killer Micah Johnson “one of us” . . .

Long was wearing black with his face covered when he began shooting “indiscriminately” as officers responded to a call about a man with an “assault rifle.” Long was killed at the scene. Officers initially thought two additional gunmen were involved, but later said there were no active shooters were in the city. (Read more from “Baton Rouge Cop-Killer in Nation of Islam” HERE)

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CNN: Cop Killer Claimed Membership in Group for Those “Abused by Remote Brain Experimentation”

By Joshua Berlinger. Long followed several conspiracy groups devoted to government surveillance and monitoring. An email address linked to him showed that he was a member of a support group in an organization called Freedom from Covert Harassment and Surveillance.

The group’s mission is to help those “marginalized and abused by … remote brain experimentation, remote neural monitoring of an entire humans body.”

On that site he’s identified as a “Buddy” representing other “targets” of government surveillance.

The FBI is vetting the claim Long made on YouTube that he was a member of the Nation of Islam. An official said the belief is that Long identified as being associated with the black separatist movement in some capacity but there is no indication he was directed by it. The law enforcement official said the FBI has no indication any black separatist or other domestic terrorist groups are supporting or sending people to kill cops. (Read more about killer’s affiliation with Nation of Islam, other groups HERE)

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Baton Rouge Cop Shootings Epitomize Obama’s Failed Legacy

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Here we are again mourning the deaths of three more police officers, this time in Baton Rouge, who were executed by the mass movement of inner city insurrection legitimized by the media and political class, starting with the president himself. Much like the real possibility of weekly Islamic terror attacks has become the new normal, so have attacks on police officers by domestic terrorists.

One of Obama’s enduring legacies will be the collapse of law and order at three levels: 1) on an international level with the mass Muslim Brotherhood uprisings throughout the Middle East, leading to the proliferation of Islamic terrorism 2) the collapse of our sovereignty with the entrance and release of tens of thousands of dangerous criminal aliens into our communities and 3) the rise of domestic insurrection against the civil society under the cloak of battling the police, which has jeopardized law enforcement throughout the country and those they are supposed to protect.

And let there be no misunderstanding, this is not a conflict between the “Black Lives Matter” movement and the police; this is a war against the civil society itself. The cops are an easy scapegoat. They have no major lobby or constituency. They have no uniform and personal agenda or vendetta other than carrying out the law of their local governments duly elected by the people. It would be much easier for them to not enforce law and order. Who needs the headaches? Who needs the constant target on their backs? Who needs to be caught refereeing a riot in middle of the night with war-like risks and dangers but without the tools and rules of war?

This is the lesson of the Baltimore basket case. I’ve lived near the Baltimore City/Baltimore County border all my life and have never seen crime this bad, even during the pre-Giuliani era. After seeing fellow officers accused and charged with murder for doing basic police work, city cops have simply made the decision that it is easier to not do their jobs than risk being punished for doing so. Baltimore experienced the sharpest increase in murders per capita of any city in 2015. Even in the middle class neighborhoods, there are endless burglaries, often at night. A man was stabbed in his home at night during a home invasion about a mile from me last month. It is a well-known secret in the area that if a crime occurs on the city side of the border, the Baltimore police will often give the case over to the county cops because they know city cops are de facto prohibited from taking action.

Thus, what some in the media believe is a conflict with cops is ultimately a conflict with the broader society officers are charged to protect. As targeted murder of police becomes the new normal, so too does rising crime in major metropolitan areas.

This is all rooted in a lack of moral clarity. Out of hundreds of thousands of law enforcement operations every day, one can always find a YouTube video of a handful of incidents in which the cops made questionable moves or where one individual officer downright buckled under pressure and wrongly shot a suspect. Buoyed by social media and an already-existing anarchist-minded political party, movement, and media, it’s easy to portray this as a systemic problem – part of an agenda to just randomly kill people, particularly blacks. It has led to a phony narrative, even from many Republicans, to promote “criminal justice reform” as if there is a valid premise of an out-of-control police culture in the country. Paul Ryan recently set up a Congressional panel to study the problems between cops and black citizens, implying there is some inherent problem with police across the country.

In reality, the root of the problem is an out-of-control society particularly in inner cities that has led to a culture of violence. Sure, under increasing stress from protecting the broader society from this violence, one can find individual cops who make mistakes in reacting to the problem. But they are not the source of the problem.

There is no moral equivalence here. The moral relativists are always determined to manufacture two morally equal sides in a conflict and often repeat the empty mantra of “both sides need to stop the cycle of violence.”. This is the same nonsense we hear between Israel and the Palestinian terrorists. Sure, moral relativists will always have an incident or two or a YouTube clip or two at the ready to show an Israeli genuinely doing something wrong in reaction to the systemic terror. But for every one of those incidents there are dozens more in which Israelis act excessively restrained and endanger their society in order not to pursue the terrorists with vigor. Moreover, these individuals are not the source of the problem, even if one disagrees with their reaction or tactics at a given moment. As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu likes to say, as a way of cutting through the man-made moral fog, “if Palestinians were to lay down their guns tomorrow, there would be no war. If Israel were to lay down theirs, there would be no Israel.”

The same truism applies domestically between the cops and predominantly young black male criminals. For every instance in which a cop is found to use excessive or inexcusable force, there are countless cases where they endanger themselves and others by declining to use force, particularly with black suspects because they are scared of the blow back. For every young black male that some might feel is sitting in prison for too long, there are countless others that are never caught or never convicted. The source of the problem is the leadership and values in these communities, not the reaction to it. If people were to look inward as a community and reform their entire lifestyle, there would be safety and security in our cities, and most importantly, in their own neighborhoods. If the cops just decided to lay down their weapons … well … America would look just like Baltimore. And unfortunately, with Obama downright validating the civil insurrection that places cops in untenable situations, we might not have to wait too long for that to happen. (For more from the author of “Baton Rouge Cop Shootings Epitomize Obama’s Failed Legacy” please click HERE)

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The Attempted Coup Reveals Turkey’s Instability. That’s Bad News for the US.

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An attempted military coup in NATO member Turkey was foiled over the weekend.

At the time of writing, at least 265 people have been killed and another 1,400 wounded. Thousands of judges have been dismissed or arrested. Tanks shelled the parliament in Ankara and at one point President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was forced to address the nation using FaceTime.

After finally landing at Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport, a serious, if not slightly shaken, Erdogan declared on national TV: “This uprising is a gift from God to us because this will be a reason to cleanse our army.”

He isn’t wasting any time. Since those words were uttered thousands of military personnel have been arrested, including several senior generals.

This weekend’s coup was the fourth since 1960 (the fifth if you count the so-called “post-modern coup” in 1997). In each previous case the military had been successful and democracy was returned to the people.

The Turkish military considers itself to be the guardian of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s (the founder of the Republic of Turkey) legacy of a Turkey based on secularism and Western orientation. Consequently, military coups have been a peculiar feature of the Turkish Republic when the country strays from these founding principles.

It is still not clear what motived the coup plotters, but some reasonable assumptions can be made.

It’s only logical that many in the military are increasingly worried that Erdogan has embraced a more conservative brand of Islam at the expense of state secularism. Recent crackdowns on press freedom by the government have not gone unnoticed either.

Erdogan has also been accused of flirting with Sunni Islamists for too long in Syria. The increase in Islamic State terror attacks across Turkey, and the seemingly reluctance of Erdogan to respond in a meaningful way, could have played a role in driving the coup.

The recent rapprochement with Russia could have tipped the military over the edge. It has been reported that the Turkish fighter pilot who shot down the Russian jet after illegally entering Turkey’s airspace last year was a participant in the coup.

In many ways this coup was doomed to fail from the beginning. It was a nameless coup with no public leader or mandate. Instead of protecting the citizens and the country’s democratic institutions, the coup plotters attacked civilians and shelled the parliament building. No major military base came under the full control of the plotters and no senior leader of the government was captured. There was no reason for the average Turk to get behind such shambles, and unsurprisingly very few did.

Paradoxically, the coup demonstrated how resilient democracy is in Turkey, at least for now. Like him or not, Erdogan is a democratically elected leader. All the major political parties, including the opposition, signed a joint letter condemning the attempted coup. Many Turks who protested in Istanbul’s Gezi Park in 2013 against Erdogan’s rule were there this weekend protesting against the coup plotters trying to overthrow Erdogan.

Under Erdogan, Turkey has been a contentious partner for the U.S., but it remains an important ally and NATO member. It is in America’s interests for Turkey to remain stable and become a productive leader in the region and beyond.

The fact that an attempted coup took place shows that Turkey is anything but stable. Instead of being a leader in the region, Erdogan will focus a lot of resources and energy at home bringing the plotters to justice. This invites Russia and ISIS, for example, to take advantage of the situation. This would be bad for Turkey and the U.S.

The coup might not have lasted long, but the fallout will be felt for years. Erdogan will use the coup to consolidate even more power. The political landscape in Turkey will be fundamentally changed. But if Erdogan responds to the coup by completely abandoning Turkey’s democratic principles, he will be planting the seed for the next coup.

The choices Erdogan makes now will impact Turkey for a generation. (For more from the author of “The Attempted Coup Reveals Turkey’s Instability. That’s Bad News for the US.” please click HERE)

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Obama Admin. Under Fire for Scheme to Disarm Seniors

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A legal team already fighting the Veterans Administration over bureaucratic procedures that arbitrarily deprive veterans of their Second Amendment rights now is warning the Social Security Administration, which is proposing the same process, that it still isn’t constitutional.

“As is the case with the VA’s so-called ‘adjudication process’ the proposed SSA regulations contain confusing and ambiguous definitions of who constitutes a ‘representative payee,’ the criteria for appointing such a payee, and why the appointment of such a payee automatically classifies a Social Security Disability Insurance beneficiary as mentally defective for the purpose of NICS,” said a comment letter submitted to the SSA.

It comes from Michael Connelly of the United States Justice Foundation.

“It also appears that the adjudication of a recipient as being mentally defective can be made by any federal bureaucrat working for the SSA, and they can make the decision without any medical professional being involved. The often vague and sometimes generalized criteria for this adjudication process described in the proposed regulations clearly denies the basic elements of due process to the affected social security beneficiaries.

“The burden of proving they are competent and/or not mentally defective falls squarely on the Social Security beneficiary. This means the bottom line for Social Security recipients is the same as that for veterans. They are being denied their right to keep and bear arms protected by the Second Amendment without due process of law. (Read more from “U.S. Under Fire for Scheme to Disarm Seniors” HERE)

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Obamas Spent $79.6 Million on Travel Expenses So Far

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New information obtained from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) brings the grand total of known travel expenses of President Obama and his family to $79,630,433.93, Judicial Watch reported Wednesday.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton called President Obama’s travel spending a “scandal” and an “abuse of the office.”

“Taxpayers should be incensed that the Secret Service’s resources [are] wasted to provide security for endless golf excursions, political fundraisers, and luxury vacations,” Fitton said.

The non-profit government watchdog organization obtained new information on Secret Service spending on hotel and travel expenses for seven presidential trips in 2014 and 2015, which were mostly for pleasure and fundraising, through a November 2015 lawsuit it filed against DHS because the agency “had failed to respond to 19 FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] requests” since July 2014.

The priciest of the seven trips – to Seattle and Los Angeles to raise money for Democratic congressional candidates in July 2014 – cost taxpayers $237,731.05 on hotels, $19,888.70 on rental cars, $1,451.40 on air and rail travel, and $2,425,085.50 on Air Force expenses, for a grand total of $2,684,156.60, according to the released records. (Read more from “Obamas Spent $79.6 Million on Travel Expenses So Far” HERE)

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Target Transgender Voyeur Had Recorded Other Girls Undressing

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The transgender male arrested for recording a young girl changing in a Target changing room admitted it was not the first time he made videos of women changing, court documents say.

On Monday, an 18-year-old woman said that 43-year-old Sean Patrick Smith recorded her changing into swimwear in the changing room of a Target store in the small town of Ammon, Idaho.

The young girl said she saw Smith – who identifies as a transgender woman and goes by the name Shauna Patricia Smith – holding a cell phone over the partition between stalls. Her mother confronted Smith, whom she described as a man wearing a dress and a blonde wig, and Smith fled.

On Tuesday, Detective Zeb Graham of the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office tracked down Smith via his license plate number. Graham says Smith confessed that the offense was not his first.

Smith “eventually admitted to me that [he] had made videos in the past of women undressing,” Det. Graham wrote in a court affidavit obtained by local media. (Read more from “Target Transgender Voyeur Had Recorded Other Girls Undressing” HERE)

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What Pokémon Go Teaches Us About Job Creation

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The zombie apocalypse has arrived. Just look around. Our streets and neighborhoods appear as though we are living a scene from the Walking Dead. People everywhere are aimlessly limbering around without any clear destination.

But fear not. Those people are not zombies—just addicted to a new Nintendo game called Pokémon Go. It’s a game that is played only your smartphone by downloading an app. After you’ve downloaded the app, you’ll find yourself on an endless quest to hunt virtual creatures that appear in your actual surroundings.

Having been blessed with a serious case of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), I recently decided to see what everyone was raving about. I downloaded the app on my iPhone, and before long I was in a zombie-like trance chasing after cartoon creatures that leapt, hopped and flew down sidewalks, alleys and parks. In short order, I had bagged a Squirtle.

I may be a new devotee of the game, but I’m not alone – the game has more than 65 million users worldwide.

While the game’s success has captured the news, perhaps the more fascinating aspect of this new game is the impact it’s having on small businesses.

Unlike other Nintendo games, this game requires a lot of walking. You have to walk to catch Pokémon, but told you also want to hatch eggs (some of which require 10 kilometers – 6 miles – of walking to incubate) and collect Pokéballs (used to catch Pokémon), which are found at various locations. It’s these Pokéstops that have caught the attention of small businesses.

As Fortune writes, “Many shops are attracting customers by advertising themselves as ‘Pokestops,’ a place where gamers can grab new Pokémon balls and increase their level of power within the app.”

The in-app purchases are also catnip for business. “Lures,” which can be purchased within the game, allow a business to set themselves up as a stop that attracts Pokémon to its location. Take for example the now-viral story of Tom Blaze, founder of L’Inizio Pizza Bar in New York City, who purchased a “lure” from Pokémon Go for $10. The result has been a swell of new customers. As Blaze says, “[business has been] unbelievable.” Since he began to use Pokémon Go to attract customers, his bar has seen more than a 75 percent increase in business over the past few days.

Pokémon Go is perhaps the most positive news resonating from the small business community in a while. Small businesses are the pillar of the U.S. economy. The 28 million small businesses in America make up more than 50 percent of all sales, they employ 55 percent of workers; and have created 66 percent of all new jobs since the 1970s.

The birth of small businesses in America is on the rise after a slump during the Great Recession. Yet, as the engine of the U.S. economy, they are not growing fast enough. One culprit for this malaise is the Obama administration’s desire to make doing business harder than ever. Consider how Obamacare unleashed a myriad of unaffordable healthcare mandates—on top of 674 federal regulations that businesses must comply with today.

According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, it costs small businesses (50 employees or less), $11,724 to comply with federal regulations – per employee. Of that amount, 30 percent of that costs results from environmental regulations.

Since small businesses are the most prolific job creator, their growth is instrumental in a healthy economy. But while Obama’s small business numbers appear on the rise, they are falling well behind a level needed to create jobs that keeps up with the growth in the population.

The population has grown at a far quicker pace, particularly for those entering the workforce. As you can see from the chart, the job market has left millions without the opportunity to find work since Obama has been in office. Those figures are reflected in the employment to population ratio, which today is at its lowest levels compared to recent history.

Obamas Job Creation Failed to Catch Population Growth

It’s telling that the most recent surge in small business growth hasn’t come from the government, but is instead the result of innovation and creativity in the private sector. It’s also a sad commentary on the state of small business in America that we’re excited about the recent economic prospects that comes from virtual creatures named Pidgeotto, Diglett and Poliwag. Here’s hoping the next president powers up in the name of small business. (For more from the author of “What Pokémon Go Teaches Us About Job Creation” please click HERE)

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The Intolerant Left: This Dem Senator Wants to Censor Climate Change Skeptics

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According to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. (F, 4%), you shouldn’t be reading this commentary.

A polemic he’s written for the Columbia Journalism Review makes that clear. Why? Because I, along with several others whom the senator identifies, am a “persistent climate denier.” Anything I write questioning the attacks on the First Amendment rights of those who have their doubts about global warming is nothing more than “clever, made-to-order, industrial-scale dissemination of industry propaganda.”

Whitehouse suggests that editorial boards should refrain from publishing articles and letters containing what he calls “phony ‘opinion’ writing” about the climate change debate.

Whitehouse is unapologetic, of course, about urging censorship and supporting government-run investigations of anyone on the wrong side of what he considers to be an undisputable fact – the existence of man-induced, catastrophic global warming. Never mind that this is an unproven, scientific theory over which there is vigorous, persistent and educated debate by reputable researchers, scientists and meteorologists. Whitehouse refuses to distinguish between what are facts and what is opinion.

He refers to the “fossil fuel industry’s climate denial operation,” even though there is no proof any such widespread, systematic “conspiracy” exists. This unsubstantiated allegation apparently justifies, in his mind, either a civil or criminal investigation under RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. He faults me and others for not distinguishing between civil and criminal RICO investigations, as if a civil RICO investigation by the government of a company (or anyone else) is somehow less onerous or less serious than a criminal investigation.

The state attorneys general who have launched these investigations have been hazy on whether they are conducting civil or potential criminal investigations. But it doesn’t really matter. Any type of investigation that attempts to criminalize scientific dissent or impose civil penalties for such dissent is an abuse of government power and a violation of fundamental First Amendment rights.

Whitehouse says that fraud trumps the First Amendment. But as I pointed out recently in a letter to The Washington Post, the U.S. Supreme Court said in 2003 in Illinois ex rel Madigan v. Telemarketing Assocs., Inc. that “simply labeling an action one for ‘fraud’ does not carry the day.”

What “fraud” has been committed? According to Whitehouse, it is the sponsorship by companies such as ExxonMobil of “phony science” supporting climate denial. What “phony science” is he talking about? In a 2006 Corporate Citizenship Report, ExxonMobil (seemingly the main target of this series of investigations) acknowledged that “the risk to society and ecosystems from rising greenhouse gas emissions could be significant” and that “strategies that address the risk need to be developed and implemented.” That doesn’t sound like a denial to me.

Moreover, in the countersuit filed by the Competitive Enterprise Institute after it was served with a subpoena issued by the U.S. Virgin Islands attorney general for all of its research on climate change, CEI noted that the AG could only come up with two statements made by ExxonMobil that he claimed were supposedly fraudulent:

“International accords and underlying regional and national regulations for greenhouse gas reduction are evolving with uncertain timing and outcome, making it difficult to predict their business impact.”

“Current scientific understanding provides limited guidance on the likelihood, magnitude, and timeframe of physical risks such as sea level rise, extreme weather events, temperature extremes, and precipitation.”

These statements simply express the uncertainty that exists over the scope, causes and pace of climate change and about appropriate climate policy. The view that these are, or even could be construed as, fraudulent statements that can form the basis of a governmental investigation lacks both common sense and a basic understanding of the legal standards that apply not just to government investigations, but to protected First Amendment activity.

Also alarming is the fact that these nascent investigations appear to target not only ExxonMobil, but scientists and academic scholars who question the accepted wisdom of those who want to declare the debate about climate change is over. How else can one explain why a think tank, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, was targeted with a subpoena in a climate change investigation? Or why another subpoena served on ExxonMobil targeted its communications with almost a hundred different think tanks, universities, and individual scientists, professors and researchers?

Whitehouse and others have tried to compare these investigations to the lawsuits filed against the tobacco industry for misleading the public about the health effects of tobacco. But that comparison fails to distinguish between proven facts and unproven theory. When those lawsuits were filed, we had decades’ worth of tests, observation, research and experimentation showing that tobacco contains carcinogens that cause cancer, and that nicotine is a highly addictive drug.

On the other hand, there are many problems with the theory of man-induced, catastrophic climate change, from computer models that have over-predicted warming to data sets that disagree on whether the earth is warming or whether temperatures have plateaued. And it is a matter of great dispute — and vigorous debate — over how much of our climate is influenced by man-made events, as opposed to natural occurrences such as sun flares.

The bottom line is that no fraud of any kind is being committed by anyone or any entity that questions the “science” behind climate change. Anyone who insists that those who question this should be investigated is violating basic free speech rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. Americans — and that includes corporate America, both profit and non-profit — have the right to speak their minds about public policy and issues involving science and technology — and that includes climate change. They should not be harassed, threated, investigated, silenced or bullied for doing so. (For more from the author of “The Intolerant Left: This Dem Senator Wants to Censor Climate Change Skeptics” please click HERE)

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Paul Ryan Speaks out on Trump’s Choice of Pence for VP

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House Speaker Paul Ryan fully supports Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s choice of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate.

Ryan said in a statement on Friday there is “no better choice for our vice presidential candidate.”

The speaker added that Pence “comes from the heart of the conservative movement — and the heart of America.”

“We need someone who is steady and secure in his principles, someone who can cut through the noise and make a compelling case for conservatism. Mike Pence is that man,” he continued.

“He will help bring real change to Washington, and so I will do everything I can between now and November to help our ticket and our party win a national majority.”

Florida senator and former presidential candidate Marco Rubio echoed Ryan’s sentiment.

As reported by Western Journalism, Ryan held off endorsing Trump for a month after he became the presumptive nominee out of concern that he did not support some core conservative principles.

“I think what a lot of Republicans want to see is that we have a standard bearer that bears our standards and unifies all wings of the Republican Party,” Ryan said in early May.

After meeting with Trump on multiple occasions, Ryan came around and in early June endorsed him, writing in an op-ed: “Through these conversations, I feel confident he would help us turn the ideas in this agenda into laws to help improve people’s lives. That’s why I’ll be voting for him this fall.”

Fox News’ chief political anchor Bret Baier said of Trump’s choice of Pence on Friday, “He brings stability. He brings outreach to both social conservatives and the establishment in the Republican Party. … I guess what he brings most is a contrast to Donald Trump in campaign style, how he talks about things.” (For more from the author of “Paul Ryan Speaks out on Trump’s Choice of Pence for VP” please click HERE)

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