Author: Frank V. Vernuccio, Jr.

If a presidential administration intentionally set out to harm the United States, what would it have done differently than the current occupant 0f 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?

The White House has adopted an economic philosophy that is spending the nation and its citizens into bankruptcy, an immigration program that has devastated whole portions of states including major cities, and a foreign policy that ignores threats.  Almost daily, it disdains approximately half the citizenry with pejorative phrases. Racial discord is apparently encouraged. Overwhelming crime is largely ignored, with support given to irrational bail policies. The maladministration of a once proud educational system is encouraged. Biden pushes an energy policy that has destroyed American energy independence and caused deeply painful and utterly unnecessary inflation.

Consider each of these issues singularly.

Federal bankruptcy: Fitch as downgraded America’s credit rating as a result of Biden’s policies. The nonpartisan Citizens Against Government Waste noted that President Biden’s fiscal year (FY) 2023 budget “[was] a disaster for America’s fiscal and physical security.  The plan exemplifies everything that is wrong with Washington by doubling down on the idea that every problem can be solved with more spending.  Under the president’s proposal, the budget deficit will increase from $1.15 trillion in FY 2023 to $1.78 trillion in FY 2032, and cumulatively total $14.4 trillion over that period.  The national debt held by the public will reach $39.5 trillion in FY 2032.”

 As noted by House GOP members in the months after Biden took office, “Biden supported the highest sustained tax burden in American history, proposing $55 trillion of taxes. He asked for A 16% INCREASE for federal agencies, but a 0% increase in Homeland Security funding for ’22 even though border crossings are at a 20 year high $1+ trillion deficits every year, resulting in $17 trillion in new debt over the next 10 years.

Immigration: Both the humanitarian and economic results of the White House’s refusal to secure the border or enforce immigration law are crushing. The Federation for American Immigration Reform reports that: At the start of 2023, the net cost of illegal immigration for the United States – at the federal, state, and local levels – was at least $150.7 billion. In 2017, the estimated net cost of illegal migration was approximately $116 billion. In just 5 years, the cost to Americans has increased by nearly $35 billion. Illegal immigration costs each American taxpayer $1,156 per year ($957 after factoring in taxes paid by illegal aliens). Each illegal alien or U.S.-born child of illegal aliens costs the U.S. $8,776 annually.

That’s just the dollars. There is an incalculable cost of human trafficking of women and children resulting from the open border, the massive increase in fentanyl use, and the infiltration of criminal cartels and terrorists must also be considered.  Even Democrat mayors have begged the White House for relief.

Economy:  For the American consumer, gas and food prices remain very high, largely as a result of Biden energy policies. Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) writing in The Hill notes: “Small businesses, families and seniors are suffering from self-imposed, self-inflicted, and anti-energy policies of the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress.”

Crime: As noted in a myjournalcourier commentary, “The crime rate has increased in almost every major city in the United States, with violent crime leading the statistics. From a law enforcement perspective, it is clear that a large percentage of violent crime is driven by the unwillingness of district attorneys and judges to hold people accountable.” The soft-on-crime policies supported by the progressive cadre in the White House and implemented in “blue” cities and states have turned America’s major metropolises into nightmare abysses of lawlessness.

Education: The Biden Administration has unleashed its Justice department on parents protesting the abuse of educational dollars for leftwing propaganda and bizarre practices, including sexually explicit programs aimed at the youngest students.  A New York Post study found that “ Americans’ ​confidence in the US public school system has fallen…Overall, 28% of Americans say they have a “great deal/quite a lot” of confidence in the country’s school systems…Trust has been on a downward slide…”

Foreign Affairs: In August, a joint Chinese/Russian naval fleet threatened the coastline of Alaska. A Chinese spy balloon traversed America unmolested until it completed its mission.   Beijing continues to purchase vast amounts of American farmland, particularly in areas near military installations. China’s already massive armed forces continue to outpace their American counterpart. Beijing’s navy is larger than that of the U.S.  Russia’s nuclear force is larger than America’s. North Korea’s ICBM arsenal is developing rapidly. The Biden Administration, following in the footsteps of the Obama presidency, continues to pursue appeasement rather than substantive measures to deter the nation that pledges “death to America.” Biden has ended policies designed to attack Beijing’s espionage within the U.S. Additionally, despite all of these dangerous conditions, the Biden Administration defense budget requests have been so inadequate that even members of his own party have been forced to vote for increases.

Each of these crises individually would have been sufficient to bring down a presidency. But the hyper-partisan media has glossed over each of them.

Illustration: Library of Congress

There is much about the Russian invasion of Ukraine that both the Biden Administration and the media fail to report on.

Few care to recall that following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the newly independent nation of Ukraine became the world’s third largest nuclear power.

The Arms Control association notes that At the time of Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine held the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world, including an estimated 1,900 strategic warheads, 176 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and 44 strategic bombers.

On December 5, 1994 the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Britain, and the United States signed a memorandum to provide Ukraine with security assurances in connection with its accession to the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state.

By 1996, Ukraine had returned all of its nuclear warheads to Russia in exchange for economic aid and security assurances. In December 1994, Ukraine had became a non-nuclear weapon state-party to the 1968 nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). The last strategic nuclear delivery vehicle in Ukraine was eliminated in 2001 under the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). It took years of political maneuvering and diplomatic work, starting with the Lisbon Protocol in 1992, to remove the weapons and nuclear infrastructure from Ukraine.

America’s assistance to Ukraine isn’t an act of charity.  It is the fulfillment of a treaty obligation.

Rather than live up to its foreign obligations to deter international aggression, yhe Biden Administration has consistently projected weakness. His defense budgets, in the face of overwhelming threats from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea have barely kept up with the inflation he has created.  in dealing with global miscreants. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) aptly described the problem: “President Biden’s weak leadership and lack of foreign policy strategy have crippled the United States’ power and influence on the world stage. Afghanistan has fallen to the Taliban, China has ramped up its aggression against Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Uyghurs, and now, Russia has invaded Ukraine.”

On January 19 of 2022, Biden stated that he wouldn’t respond to a “minor incursion” by Russia into Ukraine.  Taken alone, that comment, as inept and harmful as it was, probably wouldn’t have been sufficient encouragement for th Kremlin to attack. Unfortunately, it came at a time when his administration was signaling weakness and ineptitude in foreign affairs.  The Heritage Foundation noted in 2022 that “In only his first year, he [Biden] and his team have bungled ending America’s involvement in Afghanistan; failed to impede Iran’s steady progress to acquiring a nuclear weapons capability, paid no attention to North Korea causing them to threaten to begin re-testing nuclear weapons, and has yet to deliver a strategy to counter China’s ever-menacing efforts to force Taiwan under Beijing’s control.”

An initial commitment to provide key weapons systems to Ukraine may have encouraged Putin to pull back from his adventure before his nation become too entrenched and invested in it.  But Biden slow-walked the delivery of tanks, planes, and other crucial military aid.

Beyond direct foreign policy or military preparedness, the Biden Administration’s environmental extremist policies essentially sounded the dinner bell for Putin’s wolfish ambition to restore the Soviet Empire. His vigorous limitation on domestic energy production (as did other a number of our allies) put Moscow in a position to exert influence that Putin believed would deter Western resistance.

An NBC analysis noted “Biden’s tunnel vision on oil and gas encouraged Putin’s invasion of Ukraine…By moving the U.S. economy away from the domestic oil industry and strengthening foreign oil businesses, Biden played a part in emboldening Russia… In just over a year, Biden buckled under pressure from domestic environmentalists to halt the Keystone XL pipeline, block new oil and gas leases and push through burdensome new, legally dubious Securities and Exchange Commission climate regulations. Biden also issued new greenhouse gas rules to expand how what is called the ‘social cost of carbon’  is calculated. The measure has been opposed in court by 10 Republican-led states in a lawsuit that argues that the methodology the administration relied on was flawed and points to possible violations of federal law during the rule-making process.”

Illustration: Pixabay

Stories about the war in Ukraine overwhelm the few articles written about Russia’s troubles in Armenia. One week ago on September 13, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, told the publication Asbarez that his country can no longer rely on Russia as a guarantor of its security. Few papers in the West covered the announcement outside of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty this week. Pashinyan’s statement is significant and follows the renewal of the heated conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, according to Emil Avdaliani of the Jamestown Foundation. Moscow’s influence in the South Caucasus is waning. The Central Asian states are developing their own identities and multi-faceted interests that do not include responding to the Kremlin’s disruptive influences. 

Putin’s war in Ukraine forms the demarcation point. It is changing trade relations and the geopolitical balance across the Central Asian states that were under the influence of Russia since the early 1800’s. Even the breakup of the Soviet Union did not alter Moscow’s strong influence as the region’s dominant outside power. Ukraine has emerged as a “long war” for Russia. It is draining the country’s resources, setting its economy and trade routes back years, and making it into a pariah nation unwelcome in the many capitals around the world. Where Russia once easily used a heavy hand with neighboring states, it now threads lightly as it seeks to maintain its position in the world. 

“Moscow has become ever-more unpredictable in its foreign policy,” says Avdaliani. He points out that Putin has been more patient recently, in particular, with Azerbaijan as Baku holds a key position in Russia’s plan to expand the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC). In June, Yunis Sharifli wrote in the Eurasia Daily monitor that “The INSTC is a multi-modal network of shipping, rail and road routes for moving freight between India, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe. As two of the most sanctioned countries in the world, both Russia and Iran are interested in finding alternative routes to diversify their export and import routes as well as circumvent Western sanctions.” In the Armenian capital, officials suggest that it cannot rely on the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization to keep peace in the region. 

In Georgia, Putin’s pushed the government in Tbilisi to try to enact a Russian style “foreign agent” bill aimed at levying barriers to international organizations registering and trying to work inside Russia. Widespread protests stopped its passage from official consideration in March. When Russia attempted to resume direct flights to Tbilisi, massive protests erupted in Georgia in May despite the Georgian government’s support of the arrivals. According to analysts familiar with the region, Turkish influence in both Baku and Tbilisi is expanding and intensifying in recent months. Ankara, says Avdaliani, is emerging as a central player in the advancement of the Middle Corridor. This area is a strategic region linking Asia and Europe. It runs through the Black Sea and eastern Turkey, connecting the Caspian Sea to Central Asia. 

Iran is also becoming more active in the South Caucasus, further reducing Russia’s regional influence.  Al Jazeera attributes the change to the regional power vacuum that developed at the end of the Second Karabakh War. It gave Tehran the ability to re-assert itself in Armenian affairs, while also providing Iran increased leverage with Azerbaijan in halting the further expansion of the Zangezur Corridor. This area is part of a strategic transportation route extending from Baku to Kars in eastern Turkey and passing through Armenian territory near the Iranian border. China is also making moves in the region and recently signed a strategic partnership agreement with Tbilisi to improve its access to Black Sea transit and trade. Beijing already was active in the construction of the strategic port of Anaklia in Georgia, among other infrastructure projects. 

Russia is also losing prestige to Western states operating in Central Asia. The European Union (EU) is supporting Georgia’s European leanings and last December agreed to participate in a proposed project to run an electric cable along the bottom of the Black Sea, according to the EU. At the same time Brussels signed a new gas agreement with Azerbaijan and is now mediating the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks. With outside actors taking on more and important regional roles, Moscow’s once dominant influence is seen as dissipating not in the Central Asian states but also with its traditional allies like Armenia. As Russia vies for space in the now multi-aligned geopolitical space, and while in a weakened position, regional competition can be expected to expand to include serious challenges from China and Turkey. The impact of the war in Ukraine is being felt throughout the region and Putin is left with few choices about how to improve Moscow’s standing. 

Daria Novak served in the U.S. State Dept.

Biden’s IRA is now shutting African countries out of supply chains for critical minerals, according to a Foreign Policy report. This follow s a move made in January, when Biden announced a 20-year moratorium on mining in Northern Minnesota.

The Western Congressional Caucus Chairman Dan Newhouse (WA-04) has been sharply critical, noting ““The United States is the number one consumer of critical minerals, yet it continues to rely on importing them from foreign sources—who often use slave labor to extract from the Earth. By trying to shut down domestic mining, the Biden Administration is forcing us to source these raw materials from countries with little to no environmental standards—many of whom are not our allies. is an attack on our way of life,” said Western Caucus Vice Chair Pete Stauber (MN-08). “Joe Biden banned mining in 225,000 acres of Minnesota’s Iron Range, and locked up development of taconite, copper, nickel, cobalt, platinum-group elements, and more. Unfortunately, this harm to our country and our future has become the norm, as this president’s goal is to put America last. Not even one month ago, Joe Biden signed an agreement to fund mining projects in Chinese-owned mines in the Congo, where over 40,000 children work as slaves in forced labor and inhumane conditions with no environmental protections. Meanwhile today’s mining ban nullifies a Project Labor Agreement with the local building and construction trade unions. America needs to develop our vast mineral wealth, right here at home, with high-wage, union protected jobs instead of continuing to send American taxpayer dollars to countries like the Congo that use child slave labor. The only winner here is China, as Joe Biden continues to hand our foreign adversaries every advantage possible. I can assure you that this administration, from the president to the Forest Service, to the Interior Department, will answer for the pain they elected to cause my constituents today.”

“If Democrats were serious about developing renewable energy sources and breaking China’s stranglehold on the global market, they would be flinging open the doors to responsible mineral development here in the U.S.,” said House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman and Western Caucus Vice Chair Bruce Westerman (AR-04). “We cannot have a future of renewable energy without minerals, period – not to mention their necessity to our defense systems, satellites, cellphones and virtually every other advanced technology. While Democrats play political ping pong with American industries, China and Russia are laughing straight to the bank. The administration’s decision to withdraw this mineral-rich area – blatantly targeting one of our country’s most promising mines – is short-sighted, foolish and completely unscientific. Unfortunately, President Biden doesn’t seem to mind if Minnesota mining communities and the entire American economy pay the price.”

The U.S. Energy Information Administration notes that The market for minerals that help power electric vehicles, wind turbines, solar panels and other technologies key to the clean energy transition has doubled in size over the past five years, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency.

Media reports have sharply criticized the White House  policy. In March, the New York Post noted that “President Joe Biden claims he wants America to lead in “clean energy” production, but he’s again blocking American producers from developing the critical, rare-earth minerals to make it happen…The federal government owns huge chunks of America’s West, home to critical minerals like lithium essential to technologies like electric-vehicle batteries — yet Biden blocks their development beneath federal lands.”

Earlier this year, a furious Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) noted how Biden’s energy policy has helped China while harming America. “Time and again, Joe Biden’s energy policies have hurt America and have helped China. On Joe Biden’s first day in office, he shut down the Keystone XL Pipeline, and I think he did it for spite. “It would have brought 800,000 barrels of oil to this country every single day. “Joe Biden then stopped all new energy leases on federal land, and in Wyoming we have a lot of federal land. “He did it in a way that was blatantly illegal. A federal judge actually ordered Joe Biden to follow the law, to sell energy leases. Follow the law.”

Oliver Mcpherson-Smith, writing for The Hill,  summarizes the issue succinctly: “President Joe Biden prioritizes fossil fuel extraction in foreign dictatorships rather than on American shores. Unfortunately, this energy NIMBY-ism isn’t limited to the oil and gas industries. Recently released data reveals how the president’s opposition to domestic mining maintains China’s supply chain domination of the critical minerals needed for renewable energy technology.”

Photo: Pixabay

According to a deeply troubling  study by Parents Defending Education American education at all levels  is still being deeply influenced by Communist China.

The report, entitled Little Red Classrooms, follows up on 2022 research from the National Association of Scholars

Confucius Institutes, funded with $10 billion from Beijing, essentially spread pro-China propaganda. Since 2004, the Chinese government planted about 100 Confucius Institutes in the United States. “These Institutes avoid Chinese political history and human rights abuses, portray Taiwan and Tibet as undisputed territories of China, and educate a generation of American students to know nothing more of China than the regime’s official history. “

The reality that Confucius Institutes and Beijing’s other efforts to influence American youth are propaganda efforts was outlined in a report by a Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations analysis.  “Confucius Institute funding comes with strings that can compromise academic freedom. The Chinese government approves all teachers, events, and speakers. Some U.S. schools contractually agree that both Chinese and U.S. laws will apply. The Chinese teachers sign contracts with the Chinese government pledging they will not damage the national interests of China. Such limitations attempt to export China’s censorship of political debate and prevent discussion of potentially politically sensitive topics. Indeed, U.S. school officials told the Subcommittee that Confucius Institutes were not the place to discuss controversial topics like the independence of Taiwan or the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. As one U.S. school administrator explained to the Subcommittee, when something is ‘funded by the Chinese government, you know what you’re getting.’”

After outrage from the U.S. public, many of these sites were forced to close.  But Parents Defending Education has uncovered contracts that show Confucius Classrooms, or other Chinese government backed programing, are still in operation at a variety of sites. It was found that:Three of the nation’s top science and technology high schools have ties to Chinese government affiliated programs.

In March, Parents Defending Education uncovered that a nonprofit linked to a major tech school had received more than $1 million in financial aid from Chinese government-affiliated entities over the course of a decade.  Further research reveals the People’s Republic of China fostered relationships with American K-12 schools through grants, sister school partnerships, and other programming since at least 2009. Parents Defending Education tracked affiliations in 143 schools across 34 states and Washington, D.C.—and at least seven are still active. Financial exchanges between K-12 schools and the Chinese government range from a few thousand dollars to, more than a million dollars. Disturbingly, the Chinese government’s ties appear to target school districts near 20 American military bases. 

The National Association of Scholars reports that the demise of Confucius Institutes (CIs), one of China’s most strategic beachheads in American higher education, has not deterred the Chinese government from seeking alternative means of influencing American colleges and universities. It has used an all-of-the-above approach to protecting its spheres of influence on American higher education, ranging from full-throated defenses of Confucius Institutes to threats. Among its most successful tactics, however, has been the effort to rebrand Confucius Institute-like programs under other names.

Many once-defunct Confucius Institutes have since reappeared in other forms. 28 institutions have replaced (and 12 have sought to replace) their closed Confucius Institute with a similar program. 58 have maintained (and 5 may have maintained) close relationships with their former CI partner. 5 have (and 3 may have) transferred their Confucius Institute to a new host, thereby keeping the CI alive. The single most popular reason institutions give when they close a CI is to replace it with a new Chinese partnership program. Institutions have entered new sister university agreements with Chinese universities, established “new” centers closely modeled on defunct Confucius Institutes, and even continued to receive funding from the same Chinese government agencies that funded the Confucius Institutes.

Photo: Pixabay

The evidence that the nation’s government officials are extensively separate from the concerns of the American people grows larger each day.

Review just a few recent examples. 

New York State is in a rapid downward spiral.  Stunning levels of crime, outrageous taxes, failing schools and a regulatory environment that destroys jobs and businesses large and small besiege the remaining residents of what was once known as the Empire State.  But you wouldn’t know that from the early 2023 actions of its government.  Facing a myriad of very real challenges, what did legislatures work on? Well, they gave themselves a pay raise.  They followed up that nonsense with a provision to approve human composting.  According to a published source,   “The practice is formally referred to as ‘natural organic reduction’ and is seen as a more environmentally friendly alternative to more traditional burials. New York is the sixth state to legalize human composting since 2019. The green burial process was legalized by Governor Kathy Hochul.”

Legislators got a raise and they use your body for composting. That solves everything, doesn’t it? That certainly explains the mass exodus from New York (those who follow science fiction movies will probably prefer the phrase “Escape from New York,” a 1981 flick starring Kurt Russell.)

Spectrum News reports that New York continues to lead the country in population loss and outmigration, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau. The Empire State saw the largest annual numeric and percent decline in its population between July 2021 and July 2022, dropping by 180,341 people. Overall, that’s a 0.9% decrease in people living in New York, the bureau reported. Net domestic migration accounted for much of the decline in the state’s population, with New York losing 299,557 to other states. New York in the last two years has seen a sharp drop in its population, losing more than 400,000 people during that time.”

New York is not alone.  As California contends with brownouts because they can’t produce enough electricity, and people across the once-golden state struggle to pay massively increased energy bills, the progressive legislature and governor are seeking to replace less costly natural gas with hyper-costly electricity. Claims that some uses of natural gas, such as that used for cooking, cause health problems are sheer nonsense, disproven by the simplest reviews of the ridiculous claims. The same culprits want to eliminate gas-driven cars, as well.

KTLA reports that The (California) “state’s population…continues to decline, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Figures released …showed California’s resident population at 39,029,342 in July 2022, a decline of more than 113-thousand since July 2021 and down more than a half-million people since July 2020.”

At first glance, engaging in actions that chase your population away, or that ignore real needs like crime control, inflation and runaway taxes, appear to be exceptionally absurd. Are these actions the results of ignorant leaders in Sacramento and Albany?   To understand their bizarre decisions, you have to understand their actual goals.  Those plans have nothing to do with the environment, public health, or safety. They have everything to do with control.  The distribution of electricity is a far easier action to control than other energy sources. If everyone, every business, every vehicle is wholly dependent on electricity, which can be limited at the flick of a few switches, big government has massive influence in every decision about everything. If starting or running a business is too expensive to engage in, then you must depend on government for your survival. 

While families contend with trying to pay higher bills and avoid being victimized by the criminals government elites let out onto the street thanks to lax law enforcement and the growing strength of criminal cartels let into America through Biden’s open southern border, Progressive officials and their media lackeys ignore those concerns.  They distract from it with overblown environmental allegations, and a whole litany of grievance issues that serve only to alienate different segments of the population from one another, a divide and conquer technique that strengthens their hand even further.

Illustration: Pixabay