Standing Up To Goliath: An Interview with Rebecca Friedrichs

Several weeks ago, I was watching the Tamara Scott Show which airs on Frank Speech https://frankspeech.com/shows/tamara-scott-show. with her guest Rebecca Friedrichs.  Rebecca sounded like my late friend Sam Blumenfeld.   Tamara gave me her contact info and last week, I had the opportunity to interview her.

This is her bio from her website  https://www.forkidsandcountry.org/rebecca-friedrichs/#none

Rebecca Friedrichs, a twenty-eight-year public school teacher, was forced to fund state and national teachers’ unions whose politics and divisive tactics degraded her profession, our schools, and our national character. Her lawsuit, Friedrichs v California Teachers’ Association, which sought to free teachers from forced unionism, was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016, and blazed the trail for ending forced unionism for teachers and all government employees. Rebecca continues the fight to stop so-called teachers’ unions from destroying our schools and American values. She authored Standing Up to Goliath, an expose of bully unions told through dozens of powerful personal accounts. She’s a Prager University host and founded For Kids and Country a national movement of citizens uniting to restore our schools and culture.

A link to our interview;   https://catchingfire.news/2022/10/26/the-so-called-teachers-union-the-only-reason-schools-are-corrupt/

And a link to an audio version:

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/shurtleffhal/episodes/2022-10-26T15_22_39-07_00

 

The Constitutional Minute #8 Enumerated Powers of the Judiciary

 

“Judicial Power” refers to a court’s power to hear and decide cases. Art. III, Sec. 2, U.S. Constitution, lists the cases which federal courts are permitted to hear. They may hear only these cases:

  1. a) Arising under the Constitution, or the Laws of the United States, or Treaties made under the Authority of the United States
  2. b) Affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers & Consuls; cases of admiralty & maritime Jurisdiction; or cases in which the U.S. is a Party;
  3. c) Between two or more States; between a State & Citizens of another State; between Citizens of different States; between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States; or between a State (or Citizens thereof) & foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.”

These are the ONLY cases which federal courts have constitutional authority to hear! Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist No. 83, 8th para:

“…the judicial authority of the federal judicatures is declared by the Constitution to comprehend certain cases particularly specified. The expression of those cases marks the precise limits beyond which the federal courts cannot extend their jurisdiction, because the objects of their cognizance being enumerated, the specification would be nugatory if it did not exclude all ideas of more extensive authority. “[emphasis added]

Is “abortion” within the above “precise limits”? Where? Which Article, Section, and clause? How about gay marriage, prostitution, child sex, or drugs”? Nope, nope, nope, nope, and nope!

But the federal courts have evaded the constitutional limits on their power to hear cases by fabricating individual “constitutional rights” so that they can then pretend that the cases “arise under the Constitution”!

Roe v. Wade (1973) is a good example.  Some of this can be confusing, but for study purposes, please go here: https://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/category/enumerated-powers-of-federal-courts/

Bob Hilliard

wethepeoplehandbook@gmail.com

 

 

Happy United Nations Day

 

Today, October 24 marks United Nations Day.  Students in government schools and many private schools around the United States and the world will be told how wonderful and glorious the United Nations is, and how it was founded to be Mankind’s last and best hope for peace. In other words, they will be lied too.  They won’t learn the true history of the United Nations.  They won’t learn that the U.N.’s first acting secretary and co-author of its charter was Alger Hiss, a Soviet Agent.  They won’t learn that its “peacekeepers” have been involved in child trafficking, torture and murder.  They won’t learn about the U.N.’s support for terrorist organizations, and they won’t learn the United Nations was created to build what George H.W. Bush called “The New World Order. The best way to celebrate U.N. Day is to expose its sordid founding and history.

(U.N. “Peacekeepers” torturing and murdering in Somalia)

Camp Constitution instructor John McManus conducted a class on the subject at our 2019 family camp:

 

 

Camp Constitution recommends several excellent books on the subject available from our on-line shop:

   Inside the U.N:  A Critical Look at the U.N by Steve Bonta.  https://campconstitution.net/product/inside-the-united-nations-a-critical-look-at-the-un-by-steve-bonta/

The United Nations Conspiracy by Robert Lee

https://campconstitution.net/product/the-united-nations-conspiracy-by-robert-w-lee/

And, America and the United Nations: : https://campconstitution.net/product/america-and-the-united-
nations/

The Weekly Sam: Rudolph Flesch and Sam Blumenfeld

 

In the early 1960s, when Sam Blumenfeld was an editor for Grosset and Dunlop, New York City Attorney and Tennis Hall of  Fame member Watson Washburn asked hin to join his newly former reading reform organization.  Sam confessed to Mr. Washburn that he had no idea that any reading problems existed.  After all, he reasoned, learning how to read was simple.   Mr. Washburn urged Sam to read Rudolph’s book Why Johnny Can’t Read And What You Cam Do About It to help him understand why the U.S. had a reading problem.   Sam read the book, joined Mr. Washburn’s organization, and within a few years, dedicated his life to promote intensive phonics and expose the deliberate dumbing down of America’s children.

Sam became friends with Flesch.  This is a link to their correspondence:

http://blumenfeld.campconstitution.net/Other/Rudolf%20Flesh%20-%20American%20Literacy.pdf

Sam left us an incredible legacy and much of it can be found on his archives:  https://campconstitution.net/sam-blumenfeld-archive/ 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Constitutional Minute #7   Enumerated Powers of the President

Contrary to popular belief, the powers of the President are “carefully limited” and precisely defined by our Constitution.

In Federalist Paper No. 71 (last para), Alexander Hamilton asks,

“…what would be … feared from an elective magistrate of four years’ duration, with the confined authorities of a President of the United States?…” [emphasis added]

The answer to Hamilton’s question is this: There would be nothing to fear if Presidents obeyed the Constitution. But they don’t obey it because the dolts in Congress don’t make them obey it…and we keep electing those same members of Congress anyway.

The granting of the “executive Power” to the President is not a blank check giving him power to do whatever he wants.

The “executive Power” is merely the power to put into effect – to implement – those Acts of Congress which are within Congress’ enumerated powers.

In Federalist No. 75 (3rd para), Hamilton says,

“…The essence of the legislative authority is to enact laws, or, in other words, to prescribe rules for the regulation of the society; while the execution of the laws, and the employment of the common strength, either for this purpose or for the common defense, seem to comprise all the functions of the executive magistrate…” [emphasis added]

Thus, if Congress establishes a “uniform Rule of Naturalization” (as authorized by Art. I, Sec. 8, cl. 4), it is the President’s duty to implement and enforce the authorized laws Congress makes. The President is to carry out – to execute – lawful acts of Congress, not make up his own or to execute unconstitutional laws.

A thorough explanation of the President’s powers, including executive orders, is in this paper:

https://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/category/enumerated-powers-of-the-president/ Folks, these short articles (and internet links) represent a serious study on a serious subject. Please do not take lightly. Study like your future depends on it, because it does!

wethepeoplehandbook@gmail.com

www.buildingblocksforliberty.org

 

The Weekly Sam: Let the Counter-Revolution Begin!

Let the Counter-Revolution Begin!
Implementing the Tea Party Agenda
By Samuel L. Blumenfeld

The first American Revolution officially began on July 4th, 1776, when the Thirteen
Colonies declared their independence from Great Britain. And it didn’t end until 1781,
when General Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, and the Treaty of Paris was signed
with Great Britain in 1783. In other words it took seven years of hard struggle before
the colonists could become the free and sovereign United States of America.
At first the new government was ruled by the Articles of Confederation, ratified by the
states in 1781, which provided virtually no power to the central government. The leaders
of the new confederation then decided to construct a more efficient and viable form of
government under a new Constitution. The result was a Federal Republic in which power
was effectively separated into three branches: the Executive headed by a President, the
Legislative composed of a Congress with a Senate and a House of Representatives, and
the Judiciary, a federal court system headed by the Supreme Court.

Thus, was formed a government of limited powers in which the basic freedoms of
American citizens were constitutionally protected against encroachment by any branch of
government. All of this worked fairly well until the turn of the last century when
socialists began a long-range conspiracy to change America from a Constitutional
Republic with limited powers into a European style Social Democracy with unlimited
powers, thus abolishing our God-given individual liberties. This was done through
incremental steps that expanded the power of the federal government in all areas
Which brings us to the present. The socialists finally took complete legislative power in
Washington with the election of Barack Obama as President and a Democrat controlled
Congress. Their plan was to end our Constitutional Republic. But what the socialists
didn’t count on was the rising up of the majority of the American people in opposition to
their scheme. That uprising became the Tea Party Movement, made up of ordinary and
extraordinary Americans who are determined to restore America’s form of government to
what the Founding Fathers gave us.

And in November 2010 the Tea Partiers gained control of the House of Representatives,
marking the beginning of their Counter-Revolution. But the socialist revolutionaries
used the lame-duck Congress to push through as much of their agenda as possible.
What should the Tea Partiers do when they take their seats in Congress in January of
2011? First, they must repeal all of the socialist legislation that virtually ended our
Constitutional Republic. This initial effort may be vetoed by our Alinsky-trained
President. But in 1012 the Tea Partiers may be able to get rid of this Marxist
revolutionary at the top. Next, they must begin to dismantle all of those federal
departments and bureaucracies created by previous liberal administrations to expand the
control of government over the lives and activities of the American people. But where
to start? A good place to start is by abolishing the U.S. Department of Education, created
by Jimmy Carter in 1979 via the Department of Education Organization Act, approved by
a liberal Congress.

Actually, a Department of Education had been created in 1867, but a year later was
reduced to a mere Office collecting education statistics, a minor bureau in the Department
of the Interior. In 1939, the bureau was transferred to the Federal Security Agency where
it became known as the Office of Education.
Upgrading the Office of Education into a cabinet level department was opposed by
Republicans who saw the Department as unconstitutional since the Constitution didn’t
even mention education. But when Ronald Reagan became President in 1981 and tried
to abolish the Department, he was prevented by a Democrat dominated House of
Representatives. He was also sabotaged by his own RINO statists.
During the 1980s, the abolition of the ED, as it is now called, was part of the Republican
Party platform, but President George H. W. Bush declined to implement the idea. In
1996, the Republican Party made abolition of the Department a cornerstone of their
campaign promises, calling it an unconstitutional federal intrusion into local, state, and
family affairs.

The GOP platform stated:
“The Federal government has no constitutional authority to be involved in school
curricula or to control jobs in the market place. This is why we will abolish the
Department of Education, end federal meddling in our schools, and promote family
choice at all levels of learning.”

During Bob Dole’s run for the presidency in 1996, he promised to abolish the ED. And
in 2000, the Republican Liberty Caucus passed a resolution to abolish the Department.
But when George W. Bush became President, instead of initiating an effort to abolish the
Department, he joined with liberal Democrat Ted Kennedy to enact the No Child Left
Behind act, which reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965
passed by Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society administration.

It was George W. Bush’s big government Republicanism which disillusioned many
conservatives with the GOP and led to the election of Barack Obama. But what makes
the abolition of the Department of Education much more possible now are two things: the
huge federal debt and the need to cut the cost and size of government; and the fact that
the Department has not improved education. In fact, it has made it worse.
Indeed, it was Charlotte Iserbyt, a former Senior Policy Advisor in the Department of
Education during the Reagan years, who blew the whistle on the ED’s nefarious activities
by writing the Deliberate Dumbing Down of the American People, based on
documentation she found in the Department‘s own files. In her expose she proved that the
Department was financing the dumbing down of Americans through grants to socialist
academics in our universities. In other words, the Department of Education had become
destructive of the American mind, and therefore should have long been abolished for that
reason alone. (Iserbyt’s book can now be downloaded free of charge on the Internet.)
So there is now more than enough evidence that the Department of Education is a
destructive force with power to dictate what goes on in American schools. The sooner it
is gotten rid of, the sooner Americans will be able to achieve one of the Tea Party’s chief
goals: a free nation, enjoying the benefits of educational freedom, without federal control
over our schools.

Yet read the Constitution and you discover a document that carefully creates a national
government with limited and enumerated powers. In contrast to state governments,
federal authority is constrained. Washington does not have general jurisdiction, or the
so-called police power, authorizing it to intervene in any matter not explicitly barred by
law or constitution.

None of the 27 amendments expanded federal power in this regard. The 13th, 14th, and
15th Amendments, passed in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, did transform
federal-state relations: the United States went from being a plural aggregation to a single
unit. National power expanded insofar as it protected individual liberty in the states. The
constitutional changes did not expand Washington’s authority to infringe the liberty of the
same individuals.

John McManus writes:

“For decades, our federal government has annually poured tens of billions into education
and the product continues to worsen. The same elected geniuses started a Department of
Energy when imports totaled 30 percent. The import total is now 70 percent. Federal
housing policies convinced many Americans they could own a home with little or no
down payment and the resulting housing crisis ushered in the current recession. Other
geniuses started providing food stamps for several hundred thousand in the 1960s while
assuring everyone that the number of recipients would never grow larger. Now, over 40
million — one in seven Americans — are on this form of handout. We could go on. But it
has to be obvious that whatever the Federal government undertakes beyond its
constitutionally authorized powers turns out to be a bust.”

What Shall We Cut?

Abortion may soon be more readily available than ever before, thanks to a new
requirement from Planned Parenthood that more of its centers nationwide offer the
service. At least one local chapter so far has decided to withdraw from the network rather
than comply.
A local office of Planned Parenthood in South Texas is dropping out of the nationwide
network of “America’s most trusted provider of reproductive health care” starting
January 1.
According to local news reports, Planned Parenthood is planning on standardizing all of
its agencies, which includes requiring that every single one offer abortion services. The
CEO of the Coastal Bend office, however, said in a media interview that her center has
never provided abortions in the past, and doing so now is unnecessary.
“Our position is that if that is a need in your community, fine,” said CEO Amanda
Stukenberg. “There are far greater needs in our area than abortion. We feel that women
here have options. We don’t need to duplicate services.”
When contacted by The Daily Caller, Lisa David, senior vice president of Health
Services Support for Planned Parenthood, said that the organization is implementing a
broad “new patient services initiative.”
“From well-woman exams to lifesaving breast and cervical cancer screenings, more
patients will now have access to the full range of Planned Parenthood services,” said
David in a statement. “To meet the needs of our patients, Planned Parenthood affiliates
will now offer a unified set of core preventive services.”

In the next year, according to David, Planned Parenthood will expand immediate access
to testing for HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STI’s). During the next two years,
all Planned Parenthood centers will begin to “provide the full range of birth control
method options, such as the IUD, in addition to well-woman exams including critical
cancer prevention screenings.”
She went on to say that abortion services will be offered in at least one clinic per affiliate.
However, a waiver may be obtained in the case of “unique local circumstances.”
Some, however, argue that the expansion of abortion services is more about lining
pockets than making women feel safe and secure. “Planned Parenthood claims they’re
concerned with women’s health and family planning,” a spokesperson for the Family
Research Council, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that advances “faith, family and
freedom,” told TheDC.

“We’ve been hearing rhetoric lately that abortion should be safe, legal and rare, but [with
this requirement] we can see the writing on the wall. The bottom line is there is no place
in the U.S. where a woman would have difficulty getting abortion if they want to.”
The spokesperson went on to say, “This is about expanding services and bringing in more
money…they try to create a public image where everything focuses on STD’s, family
planning, etc, but abortion is a profitable endeavor.”
Right now, Planned Parenthood has 817 health clinics throughout the U.S. One hundred
seventy-three of those already perform surgical abortions, and 131 perform chemical
abortions. The Planned Parenthood network is made up of 87 locally-government
regional centers, which then oversee hundreds of other clinics.
Earlier this month, Planned Parenthood released its 2008-2009 Annual Report, revealing
that it received $363 million in federal funding that fiscal year.

Constitutional Minute #6 Enumerated Powers of the U.S. Congress

With the U.S. Constitution, We The People created the federal government.  It is our “creature” and has no powers other than those We delegated to it in Our Constitution. None!!

The federal government has three branches:

  1. Article I of the Constitution creates the Legislative Branch (Congress) and lists its powers;
  2. Article II creates the Executive Branch (President) and lists its powers;
  3. Article III creates the Judicial Branch (federal courts) and lists its powers.

In this short “minute”, we will consider only the enumerated powers of Congress. But the powers of the other two branches are likewise strictly limited and enumerated. Congress is NOT authorized to pass any law on any subject just because majorities in Congress think the law is a good idea! 

Article 1, Sec. 8 of the US Constitution listed (enumerated) the only powers we delegated to Congress for the country at large. In a nutshell, those powers fall into four categories:

♠ International relations, commerce and war;

♠ Control immigration by restricting who may come to these United States, and establish a uniform rule of naturalization of new citizens;

♠ Domestically, to establish a uniform commercial system: weights and measures, patents and copyrights, a monetary system based on gold and silver, bankruptcy law, a [limited] power over interstate commerce, and mail delivery.

♠And, in some of the amendments, to protect certain civil and certain voting rights.

As you can see, there is nothing included above about “abortion”, “energy”, “minimum wage”, “housing”, “internet”, etc.

Those are powers retained by the States or the People.

If you would care for a more detailed explanation, go here: https://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/category/enumerated-powers-of-congress/

wethepeoplehandbook@gmail.com

www.buildingblocksforliberty.org

Columbus Day Celebration and Flag Raising Westford, MA Common

Rev. Steve Craft and I were honored to participate in the Columbus Day Celebration which ended in the raising of the Columbus flag on Westford, MA Common Monday October 10, 2022.  The event was organized by Mrs. Kathy Lynch, a Republican State Committeewoman and Camp Constitution family camp attendee.

Anthony DiLeo was the MC of this event. Speakers were Robert Malnati, Deputy Grand Knight of the Westford/Littleton/Chelmsford Knights of Columbus; Virginia Papa Gardner, National Chapter President of Italian American Alliance; Francesca Nice, Sons and Daughters of Italy Ladies Lodge 2026; Philip Guadagno, Italian American Immigrant; Alexandra Gonzalez, Westford Resident and classical educator; yours truly, director of Camp Constitution. and Rev. Steve Craft, Chaplain of Camp Constitution, and Pastor of Christian Citizenship Ministries.

Camp Constitution’s Third Quarter Report for 2022

 Camp Constitution in the News:

On May 2, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in favor of our Christian flag lawsuit   https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-1800_7lho.pdf  and, on August 3, we finally raised the Christian flag on Boston’s City Hall Plaza.  In the past nine months, we received hundreds of articles, interviews, and editorials from major daily newspapers like Washington Post and New York Times and networks like ABC, NBC, Fox News and Newsmax. The decision continues to have an impact as towns and cities around the country either ban the flying of all third-party flags or allow the Christian flag to fly.

YouTube and Rumble Channels: 

We are receiving an average of 4,000 views per month on our YouTube channel. We have close to 7,000 subscribers. Since we started our channel in 2010, we have received 1.5 million views. Our Rumble channel continues as we received 6,000 views this year. A link to our Rumble Channel:  https://rumble.com/account/content?type=all

 The Sam Blumenfeld Archive:

566,114 views, 11,444 downloads of “Alpha-Phonics” 6,786 downloads of the “Alpha-Phonics” instructional manual. I think our late friend and mentor would be gratified to know that the homeschool movement is flourishing, and that hundreds of thousands of people are using his “Alpha-Phonics.” If you are not a member of the Blumenfeld Archives, please sign up and share his vital work. Membership is free:  https://campconstitution.net/sam-blumenfeld-archive/

Camp Constitution Radio on Podomatic:

We are still in the top ten most days for the conservative category with 5358 downloads of shows and 891 hundred plays. Guests over the last three months include Tamara Scott, who hosts a show on Mike Lindell TV, homeschool author Cathy Duffy, Scott Newman of the Christian Flag Project, and best-selling author Vince Ellison.

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/shurtleffhal

The show also airs on numerous platforms including Amazon, Google, Spotify. Apple, and Podbean.

 Speaker’s Bureau:

We had over fifty engagements that we either hosted or were invited by other groups which included a speaking engagement at the Young Women for America’s convention in D.C, and a Constitution Day Celebration at Northpoint Bible College in Haverhill, MA, and after five years, a Christian Flag Raising Ceremony in Boston, MA, and a Christian Flag Raising in Revere, MA

 Camp Constitution’s Website:

The media coverage has generated much traffic to our website. We received over 53,000 views and posted 130 blogs. We added “The Constitutional Minute” written by author Bob Hiliard. https://www.campconstitution.net

 Camp Constitution Book Sales:                          

We have raised over $3000, from our book sales from Facebook, Amazon, and our on-line shop   https://campconstitution.net/shop/

Article V Convention: 

    In September, Tamara Scott who hosts a show on Frank Speech       interviewed us on the subject of an Article V Convention. We continue to work with national groups which oppose an Article V Convention sharing information and forwarding E-mail alerts. While the supporters of an Article V Convention did add a few new states, we had one state, Illinois rescind its Article V applications. and some key states voted against     Article V resolutions.

     Camp Constitution Press:

We have found a volunteer to help transcript the text in the pictures of the letters between Margaret Sanger and Dr. Clarence Gamble and hope to have a book ready by the end of the year. Numerous people have suggested that we author a book on our flag case. We are in the initial stages of the book.

Mass HOPE Home School Convention:

  For the first time since the unconstitutional Wuhan Virus lockdowns, we attended a homeschool convention. We have hosted an information table at the Massachusetts HOPE Homeschool Convention since 2011. While this year’s convention, held for the first time in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, had 50 percent fewer vendors, it was our most productive homeschool show we ever attended. A special thanks to Rev. Steve and Mrs. Edith Craft, and Alan Belanger.

 Catching Fire News:

  We have twenty-four shows in our archives. Our recent guest include homeschool author Cathy Duffy https://cathyduffyreviews.com/ and Tamara Scott  http://tamarascott.com/?page_id=36

 Please sign up with Catching Fire News. Membership is free:  https://catchingfire.news/

Social Media:

 We continue to enjoy steady growth on our Facebook page with over 3,000 followers. We also have a presence on MeWe, Gab, and Webtalk.

Special Events:

We had floats in two parades this year:  Boston’s Saint Patrick/Evacuation Day Parade and Alton, NH’s Old Home Week Parade where our float won first place.  We held three “Camp Constitution For A Day” events in Maine and we participated in a Christian flag raising event in Revere, MA.  Gina Castielle, the organizer of the event told us that we motivated her to hold the event.  In May, we held a clean-up on our two miles of highway on Rr 28 in Alton, NH.

Camp Constitution Ladies Group 

Camp Constitution ladies hosting their second annual ‘Spring Fling” in late April at the Singing Hills Christian Camp. Guest speaker was Mrs. Kathi Lear. We are awaiting the dates for the 2023 Spring Fling.

     

(Mrs. Edith Craft firing a .22 rifle)

 

Camp Constitution’s 14th Annual Family Camp:

Another successful annual family camp. Like last year, we had a full house. A link to videos of classes and activities https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GewYmAJX0Q8&list=PL7jnzBzBiNYD50pgoewisvDlj2fGxcIb3

Family Weekend Retreat:

We held our first weekend retreat at Camp Sentinel in Tuftonboro, NH. While our numbers were modest-thirty-five, it was a success. We were pleased to have a number of families new to Camp Constitution including a family from Florida. Next year’s weekend camp will run from Friday September 29 to October 1.

 

Our 15th Annual Family Camp:

We are taking applications for our 15th annual family camp to be held at the Singing Hill Christian Conference Center from Sunday July 16 to Friday July 21, 2023. A link to the on-line application  https://campconstitution.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/2023-Camp-Constitution-Registration-Form.pdf

 

 

How you can help Camp Constitution grow:

* Keep Camp Constitution and our nation in your prayers.

* Become a donor. Monthly and/or one-time donations can be made via our PayPal account accessed from our website https://www.campconstitution.net

* Host one of our speakers.

*  Introduce Camp Constitution to family and friends.

*Author an article for our camp blog.

* Share our posts, E-mails, and videos.

And attend our events and bring others with you.

 

God has mightily blessed us with people like you who help to make Camp Constitution possible, and successful. A special thanks to the folks at Liberty Counsel for their legal help and planning and promoting the prayer vigil, rally and Christian flag raising. Here is a link to a short video “Shurtleff v Boston:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALCm7HiIagc&t=32s

Hal Shurtleff, Director
Camp Constitution

The Coming Green Electricity Nightmare

 

Hundreds of billions in new subsidies will bring expensive, unreliable, eco-destructive power

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) wanted regulatory reform, in part to reverse some of the Biden Administration reversals of Trump era reforms intended to expedite permits for fossil fuel projects.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) needed Manchin’s vote in the 50-50 Senate to enact his latest spending extravaganza, the Inflation Reduction Act, which was primarily a massive climate and “green” energy subsidy arrangement. It gives Schumer allies some $370 billion in wind, solar, battery and other funding, tax credits and subsidies. In exchange, Schumer would offer a path for Manchin’s reform bill.

Manchin voted YEA, and promptly got bushwhacked. Once he’d helped enact the IRA, he had zero leverage. Schumer, he discovered, had promised an opportunity, maybe a vote, but not actual support. House and Senate members told him, we weren’t part of your secret negotiations with Schumer; we didn’t shake hands on any deal; we don’t want easier permitting for drilling, pipelines and LNG terminals that could help send US natural gas to Britain and Europe.

In the end, it’s probably a good thing Manchin’s bill went nowhere.

Yes, it provided some much needed and long overdue reforms to curb the paralysis by analysis and endless litigation that have plagued fossil fuel, highway, airport and countless other projects for decades.

But it also had Trojan horse provisions that would have unleashed hordes of newly subsidized wind, solar and transmission marauders on much of the Lower 48 USA, to send pseudo-clean electricity to mostly Democrat cities and states that don’t want even “renewable” power generation in their own backyards.

As the Wall Street Journal and energy analyst Robert Bryce observed, Manchin’s “reforms” would give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and other bureaucrats the power to issue permits and force multiple states to acquiesce to new transmission lines and 200-foot-tall towers across their scenic, habitat, agricultural and even residential lands – if the feds decide the lines are in the “national interest.” This could easily transform into federal powers of eminent domain, to take the needed acreage.

The feds could decree that thousands of miles of new transmission lines are in the “national interest” if, for instance, the lines “enhance the ability” of faraway wind and solar facilities to connect their intermittent, weather-dependent energy to an electric grid; or enable distant blue states to reach their renewable energy goals; or help achieve Biden Administration goals of stopping manmade climate change, “advancing environmental justice” and having “a net-zero economy” by 2050. Hopefully while avoiding blackout-a-week nightmares.

Populous states like New York could also work with FERC & Co. to have offshore wind turbines installed off less populated coasts, like Maine or North Carolina – and have the electricity delivered to the Empire State. New York’s peak summertime needs alone would require 2,500 monstrous 680-foot-tall 12-MW offshore turbines, operating 24/7 – when we’d be lucky if they generated electricity 40% of the year. (Imagine how many offshore … or 6-MW onshore … turbines we’d need to power the entire USA.)

Compounding the energy colonialism, the Manchin reform package would also give FERC authority to allocate and “socialize” transmission line costs, so that residents of states that don’t even get any of the electricity being sent along the newly imposed transmission lines would still have to help pay for them.

In short, the feds would be able to ride roughshod over states, local communities and federalism.

Let me say it again: Wind and sunshine are free, clean, green, renewable and sustainable. But harnessing this diffuse, unreliable, weather-dependent energy to power civilization definitely is not. And every bit of “renewable” power must be backed up with other power – so double our cash and material investments.

The Green Lobby and its legislator and regulator friends really seem to think they can just pass laws and earmark subsidies, demanding energy transformations by 2050 – and it will just happen. The raw materials will just be there, perhaps with a little MAGIC: Materials Acquisition for Global Industrial Change. That is, they simply assume the necessary raw materials will also just be there.

Not one of these luminaries has given a moment’s thought to – much less attempted to calculate – what this net-zero transition would require:

How many millions of wind turbines, billions of solar panels, billions of EV and backup batteries, millions of transformers, thousands of miles of transmission lines – sprawling across how many millions of acres of wildlife habitat, scenic and agricultural lands, and people’s once-placid backyards?

How many billions of tons of copper, steel, aluminum, nickel, cobalt, lithium, concrete, rare earths, composite plastics and other materials? How many trillions of tons of ores and overburden? How many mines, across how many more acres – with how much fossil fuel energy to operate the enormous mining equipment, and how much toxic air and water pollution emitted in the process?  Where will it be done?

To cite just one example, just those 2,500 wind turbines for New York electricity (30,000 megawatts) would require nearly 110,000 tons of copper – which would require mining, crushing, processing and refining 25 million tons of copper ore … after removing some 40 million tons of overlying rock to reach the ore bodies. Multiply that times 50 states – and the entire world – plus transmission lines.

How many processing plants and factories would be needed? How much fossil fuel power to run those massive operations? How many thousands of square miles of toxic waste pits all over world under zero to minimal environmental standards, workplace safety standards, child and slave labor rules?

How many dead birds, bats, and endangered and other species would be killed off all across the USA and world – from mineral extraction activities, wind turbine blades, solar panels blanketing thousands of square miles of wildlife habitats, and transmission lines impacting still more land?

How many will survive hurricanes like Ian or Andrew? Where will we dump the green energy trash?

Not only do the luminaries and activists ignore these issues and refuse to address them. They actively suppress, cancel, censor and deplatform any questions and discussions about them. They collude with Big Tech companies and news agencies, which too often seem all too happy to assist.

The hard reality is, there are not, will not be, and cannot be, enough mines, metals and minerals on the entire planet – to reach any “net-zero” US economy by 2050, much less a global “green” economy.

Here’s another issue: electric vehicle and backup lithium-ion battery modules can erupt spontaneously into chemical-fueled infernos that cannot be extinguished by conventional fire-fighting means. That raises an important analog to rules Alec Baldwin should have kept uppermost in mind a year ago. Treat every firearm as if it is loaded. Never point your muzzle at anything you are not prepared to destroy.

In the Biden-Newsom-Kerry-IPCC energy arena: Treat every electric vehicle and backup battery system as if it is loaded and ready to ignite. Never park an EV, install a Power Wall or locate a backup power facility near anything you are not prepared to destroy.

That includes in your garage; near other vehicles; in parking garages under apartment and office buildings; in residential neighborhoods and highway tunnels; or on cargo ships like the Felicity Ace.

And yet we’re supposed to go along with Green Energy schemes – as we did with masks, school lockdowns and vaccinations to stop Covid – because our government, media and “public interest” groups insist that we “follow the science,” on which there can be no doubt (certainly none permitted) that we face a “manmade climate crisis” that threatens the very existence of humanity and “the only Earth we have.”

Because we have to destroy the planet (with green energy) in order to save it (from climate change).

It’s time to short-circuit this electricity nightmare, by asking these questions, demanding answers, and ending the notion that governments can simply issue edicts and compel reality to change in response.

Paul Driessen is senior policy advisor for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (www.CFACT.org) and author of books and articles on energy, environmental and human rights issues.

Contact me: pkdriessen@gmail.com