Mark Fitzgibbons Commentary: Violencing Politics, Speech, and Religion

by Mark Fitzgibbons   In a recent appearance on the Tucker Carlson Show, I discussed the troubling legal ethics of attorney Lisa Bloom’s attempt to funnel money from undisclosed sources to women to accuse President Trump of sexual harassment. The timing in October and November of 2016 appeared clearly designed to influence the 2016 presidential election. Legal ethics prohibit payments to fact witnesses except for a limited number of purposes, such as travelling to testify; otherwise the offer of money would tempt people to lie. That would create chaos in our legal system. Ms. Bloom’s explanation was that she was acting as a conduit of funds to help protect the safety of the accusers. Protecting any honest accuser from violent retribution is a worthy cause. I remarked to friends that such “private witness protection programs” would have been needed had Hillary been elected president instead of Donald Trump. It is noticeable that the left has promoted the use of violence and physical retribution for political purposes. In March 2016, Peter Beinart of The Atlantic wrote: What will happen to American politics if, as now appears likely, the Republican Party nominates Donald Trump? Here’s one bet: It will get more violent. *** The…

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Tied Delegate Race in Virginia to be Settled with a Drawing of Names

The tied race in Virginia is now moving to a random draw this week after a judge ruled Wednesday that the court will not reconsider its ruling on a disputed ballot. Democrat Shelly Simonds tried to get the court to reconsider the disputed ballot that originally gave her a single-vote victory in the state’s 94th district. A review, however, found the ballot to be in favor of Republican incumbent David Yancey making the race an exact tie.

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Abortion, Not Birth Control, is Pushing U.S. Pregnancy Rates Down

Legalized abortion is a bigger factor than broader access to birth control in the declining U.S. birthrate and steadily shrinking family sizes, according to new research by a Middlebury College professor. “The results suggest that policies governing access to the pill had little, if any effect, on the average probabilities of marrying and giving birth at a young age,”Middlebury College Professor Caitlin Knowles Myers wrote in The Journal of Political Economy in a that received little notice in the mainstream media.

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DOJ Showed ‘Double Standard’ by Favoring Clinton, Abedin, Says Former Navy Sailor Kristian Saucier

Former U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Kristian Saucier blasted the Justice Department on Fox News Tuesday night for exhibiting a glaring “double standard.” He said it set “an example” through his own case of the mishandling of sensitive information while giving former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her aides a pass for using private email servers to conduct sensitive government business.

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Teachers Union Money and Support May Be Toxic in GOP Legislative Primaries

With a huge number of vacancies in State House and Senate seats in 2018, many due to retirements and others due to Members accepting political appointments or seeking other offices, there will be a historic number of contested seats in the August, 2018 Republican primary election. Republicans currently enjoy supermajorities in both the House and Senate, so the primary elections are tantamount to winning the seat in many cases. In recent years the Tennessee Education Association (TEA) has recognized the political realities in the state and started moving from previously supporting only Democrats in state legislative races to putting increasingly significant resources into both the Republican caucuses and individual campaigns.  However, a new Tennessee Star poll reveals that accepting TEA money and support may come at a high cost for candidates in Republican primaries. The Tennessee Star Poll was conducted by Triton Polling December 12-18, 2017 and included 1000 likely GOP Primary voters from across the state. Respondents were asked: The Tennessee Education Association and National Education Association are unions that use Tennessee teachers’ dues to oppose the Second Amendment, support Planned Parenthood, and attempt to elect political candidates like Hillary Clinton. Would you be more likely or less likely…

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