CFIF often highlights how the Biden Administration's bizarre decision to resurrect failed Title II "…
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Image of the Day: U.S. Internet Speeds Skyrocketed After Ending Failed Title II "Net Neutrality" Experiment

CFIF often highlights how the Biden Administration's bizarre decision to resurrect failed Title II "Net Neutrality" internet regulation, which caused private broadband investment to decline for the first time ever outside of a recession during its brief experiment at the end of the Obama Administration, is a terrible idea that will only punish consumers if allowed to take effect.

Here's what happened after that brief experiment was repealed under the Trump Administration and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai - internet speeds skyrocketed despite late-night comedians' and left-wing activists' warnings that the internet was doomed:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="515"] Internet Speeds Post-"Net Neutrality"[/caption]

 …[more]

April 19, 2024 • 09:51 AM

Liberty Update

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Notable Quotes
 
On Hunter Biden's Plea Deal with Federal Prosecutors:
 
 

"Hunter Biden's plea deal with federal prosecutors shields him from prison and other serious legal consequences if the judge accepts it, riling conservatives and even independent legal experts who saw it as fresh evidence of a dual system of justice. But it also opens a new chapter of political peril for his father.

"Joe Biden can no longer claim everything was legal in the family business now that his son is admitting to willful tax evasion. His administration also faces fewer excuses to withhold evidence of an alleged coverup in the Justice Department pursuit of the first son now that the case is wrapped up.

"And legal experts say Hunter Biden also may be compelled to testify before Congress and lose the right to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

"'His own lawyer is saying this deal shields him from any further legal liability and that creates a reasonable basis to say his liability is over,' famed Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz told Just the News on Tuesday. 'He may still try to claim he has some unknown peril but it creates a situation where he can be forced to testify.'

"But well before any testimony from Hunter Biden, other bombshells await President Joe Biden."

Read the entire article here.

 
 
— John Solomon, Chief Executive Officer and Editor in Chief of Just the News
— John Solomon, Chief Executive Officer and Editor in Chief of Just the News
Posted June 21, 2023 • 08:36 AM
 
 
Reporting On a Newly Declassified Report Confirming the Buying of Americans' Personal Data by Intelligence and Law Enforcement Agencies:
 
 

"A newly declassified report confirms U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies have been buying up personal data on American citizens, raising bipartisan alarm about privacy and civil liberties.

The report compiled by a panel advising the Director of National Intelligence was completed back in January 2022 but was classified before being requested to be made public this month by Democrat Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden.

The report details how U.S. agencies have been buying massive datasets on Americans. The Internal Revenue Service purchased access to a database that stored the location data of millions of Americans’ phones to try to catch tax cheats, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Similar phone location data was obtained and used by Homeland Security for immigration purposes."

Read the entire article here.

 
 
— Charlotte Hazard, Just the News
— Charlotte Hazard, Just the News
Posted June 20, 2023 • 08:32 AM
 
 
On the Origins of Covid-19:
 
 

"Evidence that COVID came from a Chinese lab mounted toward a conclusive level last week: Multiple government sources' say the very first people infected by the bug were Wuhan Institute of Virology researchers, a new report reveals.

More, they were allegedly modifying a close relative of the virus with a key feature unique to it.

The report -- by Michael Shellenberger, Matt Taibbi and Alex Gutentag, posted on the outlet Public -- names Ben Hu, Yu Ping and Yan Zhu as WIV scientists who developed COVID symptoms as early as November 2019, a month before the world even heard of the outbreak, and who now appear to be 'patients zero.'

A source said officials were '100%' certain these three were the ones who developed the symptoms."

Read the entire article here.

 
 
— New York Post Editorial Board
— New York Post Editorial Board
Posted June 19, 2023 • 07:53 AM
 
 
On President Biden's Iran 'Deal':
 
 

"According to news reports, Biden is prepared to authorize billions of dollars in payments to Iran in exchange for the release of U.S. prisoners, a halt to militia attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, a moratorium on ballistic missile sales to Russia, and a freeze on uranium enrichment at 60 percent (90 percent enriched uranium is considered weapons-grade). Biden will say this perverse arrangement is necessary to free innocents and prevent the outbreak of war. What he won't be able to do is call it a deal.

"Biden can't call the agreement a deal because he wants to avoid congressional review. The Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 forbids the president from relieving nuclear-related sanctions on the Islamic Republic without congressional approval. The administration's end-run around the law is clever. It is also pathetic.

"This deal that dare not speak its name will have no force. It will rely entirely on the goodwill of the 84-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a grizzled trickster and ally of Vladimir Putin. The New York Times reports that Khamenei has authorized the deal because it leaves Iran's nuclear infrastructure in place. The second Biden begins to doubt the wisdom of paying further ransom money, Khamenei will start spinning his centrifuges once more. And if paramilitaries controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fire mortars on Americans -- well, he could say the bloodshed came from militants over whom he exercises no control."

Read the entire article here.

 
 
— Matthew Continetti, Founding Editor at Washington Free Beacon and a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute
— Matthew Continetti, Founding Editor at Washington Free Beacon and a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute
Posted June 16, 2023 • 07:52 AM
 
 
Reporting On the Sharp Increase in Medicaid Emergency Spending for Illegal Migrants:
 
 

"Medicaid emergency spending for illegal immigrants more than doubled from fiscal year 2020 to fiscal year 2021, according to House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green.

During a congressional hearing Wednesday on Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas' job performance, Green said more people have entered the U.S. illegally under his roughly two-year tenure 'than in the 12 years of the Obama and Trump administrations combined.' ...

The Tennessee Republican said that Medicaid spending on emergency medical services for illegal immigrants went from roughly $3 billion in fiscal year 2020 to over $7 billion in fiscal year 2021."

Read the entire article here.

 
 
— Nicholas Ballasy, Just the News
— Nicholas Ballasy, Just the News
Posted June 15, 2023 • 08:06 AM
 
 
On the Economy, the Deficit and Federal Tax Revenues:
 
 

"President Joe Biden loves to brag about the masterful job he's doing managing the nation's economy, as he did on Tuesday when cheering the latest inflation news -- which saw food prices up almost 7% from last year -- and 'our historic economic progress.'

"The day before that, the Treasury Department released its monthly financial statement, which shows that the federal deficit for this fiscal year has already topped $1 trillion and that a big factor behind this is a sharp reduction in federal tax revenues from last year.

"Wait, you say. If the economy is 'strong' and 'historic' as Biden claims, why are revenues cratering and deficits exploding?"

Read the entire article here.

 
 
— Issues & Insights Editorial Board
— Issues & Insights Editorial Board
Posted June 14, 2023 • 07:58 AM
 
 
Reporting On Housing Affordability:
 
 

"Owning a home has long been seen as a pillar of the American dream. But a new report highlights just how far many Americans remain from achieving it.

"Middle-income households, or those with annual earnings of up to $75,000, can afford only 23% of the homes listed for sale in the U.S., according to recent data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). In a more balanced market, almost half of listings should be affordable to buyers of average income, the group said.

"In fact, the housing market has a deficit of about 320,000 affordable homes, NAR found, which for moderate-income families ranges up to about $256,000. The median price for all homes is $388,000."

Read the entire article here.

 
 
— Sanvi Bangalore, MoneyWatch
— Sanvi Bangalore, MoneyWatch
Posted June 13, 2023 • 08:17 AM
 
 
Fact-Checking President Biden on His Economic Record:
 
 

"There he goes again, again! The 'he' is President Joe Biden. At 1 pm today, the Wall Street Journal posted a new Biden op-ed piece on the economy, and it's chock-full of Pinocchios and other related untruths, as per usual.

"The one I want to tackle, first and really foremost, is his assertion that, since he took office, our economy has somehow created more than 13 million jobs. This is a gigantic cherry-picked exaggeration. The vast bulk of those jobs were COVID replacement, not new jobs. That's point number one.

"Point number two: If you look at the broadest measure of employment, which is total civilian employment, the household survey, adjusted for population changes, that number through May is 160.7 million jobs. Now, pre-pandemic in January 2020, that number was 159.6 million. So, actually, the household employment gain is a grand total of 1.1 million from the pre-COVID baseline, which means, in effect, Mr. Biden hadn't created any new jobs at all."

Read the enitre article here.

 
 
— Larry Kudlow, Fox Business
— Larry Kudlow, Fox Business
Posted June 09, 2023 • 08:31 AM
 
 
Reporting on the Continuing 'Great Migration' from High-Tax States to Low-Tax States:
 
 

"The exodus from high-tax states continues.

"A growing number of Americans are migrating from predominantly blue states with steep taxes like California and New York to red states with lower taxes like Florida and Texas, according to a Bank of America analyst note that is based on aggregated and anonymous internal customer data.

"'We constructed near real-time estimates of domestic migration flows and found that pandemic migration trends are not reversing,' the analysis said. Since the first quarter of 2023, the data 'suggests that cities that saw a large influx of people during the pandemic have still been growing faster than other cities in recent quarters.' ...

"'This population shift paints a clear picture,' said Janelle Fritts, a policy analyst at the nonpartisan Tax Foundation. 'People left high-tax, high-cost states for lower-tax, lower-cost alternatives.'"

Read the entire article here.

 
 
— Megan Henney, Fox Business
— Megan Henney, Fox Business
Posted June 07, 2023 • 08:50 AM
 
 
On the Attacks Against Capitalism:
 
 

"By now, much of the country has heard or read about the City University of New York law school graduate who was allowed to unspool a spiteful tirade as the school's commencement speaker. She made a number of vile statements, but her call to 'fight against capitalism' stood out to us. She and her fellow travelers know what few casual observers are aware of, that is, an attack on capitalism is an attack on liberty.

"Condemning capitalism is nothing new in this country. We've heard the angry criticisms all of our lives, and they weren't novel when we were young. It's tragic, really, that so many in the West see the tension between 'capitalists' and their ideological opponents as merely a conflict between ideas about which economic system we should have.

"But it's more than that. It's a battle between freedom and subjugation."

Read the entire article here.

 
 
— Issues & Insights Editorial Board
— Issues & Insights Editorial Board
Posted June 06, 2023 • 08:54 AM
 
Notable Quote   
 
"'San Diego is the new epicenter for migrants and illegal immigration,' San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond said again this week as record numbers of illegal border crossers continue to pour into California.He made a similar claim two weeks ago when the county was overwhelmed by thousands of illegal border crossers being dropped off on street corners after a U.S. Customs and Border Protection…[more]
 
 
— Bethany Blankley, The Center Square
 
Liberty Poll   

Would you hire, for any job, anyone who as a college student participated in pro-Hamas demonstrations in violation of university rules and/or basic laws?