Cancel Globalism – Embrace Peace, Prosperity & Sovereignty

Newsletter | July 6, 2023

If you’re following the news of riots in France that some fear may be a prelude to civil war, it has special meaning for Americans. And that’s not just because France is one of our oldest allies and because its writers, philosophers, warriors, and chefs make it one of the pillars of Western civilization. At the core of the riots are two crucial problems destabilizing America, too: massive immigration from the third world, and a ruling party at war with the citizenry.

The protests started after French police shot a 17-year-old boy of North African descent who fled a traffic stop in the vehicle he was driving. At first, family, friends, and neighbors took to the streets in the Paris suburb where the boy was raised, then other neighborhoods joined in, and then entire cities around France were in flames. With apartment buildings and stores burned to the ground, the damage is extensive and costly, certainly in the billions of dollars already. Video reports show protestors pushing cars out of elevated parking lots to the ground stories below.

As France burned, President Emmanuel Macron was partying at a concert, confirming for the French middle class that their leadership had left them to fend for themselves. Accordingly, young Frenchmen rallied in the streets to protect their families, homes, and businesses from the violence the police could not stop. There were a few confrontations between the patriots and the rioters, and it appeared there was more to come.

Maybe there have been pitched battles, but we don’t know because Macron shut down large parts of the internet. The purpose was partly to stem the contagion of social media — the rioters used cell phones to identify their targets and call in support. But stemming the flow of information was also to shield the government from embarrassment, for the riots are evidence of its failures.

Most of the rioters are originally from the Middle East and Africa, and their attacks on French cities are evidence they have not assimilated into French society. Many blame racism, but the problem isn’t French society. Rather, it’s with a government more beholden to globalist agenda items, like climate change, than cultivating peace and prosperity at home. Sound familiar?

It’s bad enough the current American administration has opened our borders to millions of illegal aliens. But compound that with the fact that the ruling establishment teaches contempt for America, its history and its values, even its anthems and holidays, and you have a recipe for civil unrest. On one side are traditional Americans determined to protect their country, not only from invading masses who scoff at our laws but also from a government equally disdainful of hard-working middle-class Americans.

Once again, we Americans find ourselves allied with French patriots, like the Marquis de Lafayette, who fought alongside Washington and his Continental Army to light the torch of liberty in the newly liberated colonies. When U.S. forces landed in Europe in 1917 to fight alongside France in WWI, an American military delegation honored Lafayette with a visit to his gravesite. Colonel Charles E. Stanton, aide to General John J. Pershing, the commander of the American Expeditionary Force, turned towards the grave, raised his arm, and dramatically exclaimed, “Lafayette, we are here!”

French patriots, your fight is ours, too — for liberty, brotherhood, and equality. We stand with you. We are here.

Please participate in our Reader’s Survey. Your insights and thoughts are important as we learn what is on the minds and in the hearts of our fellow Americans. We read them all and share some of them Mondays at 9 a.m. during America’s Future live broadcasts with our Executive Director Mary O’Neill on America’s Mondays With Mary. Thank You!

Mike Howell is the Director of the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, utilizing world-class issue area experts to inform strategic records requests, targeted litigation, and innovative investigations. He worked previously in the Donald Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security, where in the Office of the General Counsel, he was the Chief Legal Point of Contact for the department’s 3,000-lawyer office for all congressional oversight and investigations. Before that, he worked on Capitol Hill for five years as an attorney for both the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the House Oversight Committee, leading national security investigations into various Obama administration controversies, including security failures at the U.S. Secret Service, corruption at the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General, and the handling of overseas terrorism incidents. We spoke with Mike recently to ask what Congress needs to do to protect our liberties and keep America strong and secure.

A federal judge recently prohibited government officials from contacting social media platforms to censor speech. With the 2024 elections upcoming, do you think this will stop the Biden administration from trying to shut down its opponents?

Absolutely not, they are already appealing and finding loopholes. Also, it’s not just the Biden Administration proper that wants to censor. The left occupies seats of power throughout all institutions. Tech and media don’t always need an order or request from the Biden Administration to censor, they are more than happy to do it themselves.

Since the Justice Department let Hunter Biden off the hook, is there a way for Congress to hold him accountable?

Congress doesn’t have handcuffs so they can’t arrest him, but they do have subpoena power and should be using it aggressively to demonstrate to the American people that this plea deal is garbage. The DOJ and FBI, particularly, should be the targets for deep reforms.

What oversight investigation(s) should Republicans focus on before 2024?

The goal of oversight should be de-weaponizing the government. A matter of top concern is making the environment as difficult as possible for them to continue to interfere in elections.

How can the House and Senate make their oversight investigations more effective?

They need to elevate it above other functions of Congress. There’s no reason to only have a few staff and a few Chairmen responsible for oversight of the entire federal government. They need to ramp up in a major way, like we saw with the Church Committee in the 1970s. I’m talking hundreds of investigators, seasoned attorneys, academics, etc.

What is your prayer for America?

Revitalization of our civic institutions and, most importantly, the family. Government will not fix the problems, and in large part, its shortcomings are the results of the deterioration of American values in the body politic.

Awareness Leads To Action

Every Child Needs You To Get In The Fight

By all accounts, the Sound of Freedom is raising awareness about the crisis of child trafficking that is destroying the innocent lives of children. Theatres are reporting packed houses, and the public is posting nonstop on social media encouraging others to see the movie, a true story featuring actor Jim Caviezel who portrays Tim Ballard, a former federal agent who quit his job in order to complete a dangerous mission rescuing a young girl from sex slavery.

America’s Future applauds Angel Studios and all those involved in the movie’s production and release and urges people to learn more about the horrors of child exploitation and trafficking and take action in their own communities to end the war on children.

To help educate and continue to raise awareness in states across the country, America’s Future has set up a Get In The Fight nationwide campaign as part of its Project Defend & Protect Our Children (PDPC) program, and will kick off its first summit and series of training programs for parents and professionals in the State of Florida on August 17, 2023, in Sarasota.

Award-winning, investigative journalist Lara Logan, America’s Future Board Director and member of the PDPC Advisory Board will lead the summit panel discussion with Tara Lee Rodas, HHS whistleblower who exposed government-sponsored, taxpayer-funded child trafficking at the southern border, Bazzel Baz, founder and president of the Association for the Recovery of Children (ARC), Tina Baz, ARC Human Trafficking Program Director, and Silvia Almond, President of S.O.A.P. (Save Our Adolescents From Prostitution).

General Mike Flynn, America’s Future Board Chair, will offer his insight and participate in a post-event networking opportunity that will follow the summit. Attendees will have a chance to ask questions and gain more knowledge from other experts in the prevention, rescue, and recovery of victims with PDPC advisors, Liz Crokin, investigative journalist, author, and producer, Lynze Piper-Loomis, overcomer and author of I Am Silent No More, Mike Smith, film producer and director of Out of Shadows, Brian Gamble, CIO of O’Keefe Media Group, and Attorneys Ben Moore, Alicia Kutzer, and William “Bill” J. Olson. The summit will be held at the Sarasota Fairgrounds Potter Building, 3000 Ringling Blvd, Sarasota, FL 34237.

To learn more and to register, visit GET IN THE FIGHT – Florida Summit. If your organization is interested in arranging a Get In The Fight campaign in your state, please email Lisa MacDonald, Director of Strategic Planning and Development, at [email protected].

Free Speech Rights Celebrated With Independence Day Court Order

July 4th was a good day for freedom as word spread that U.S. District Court Judge for the Western District of Louisiana Hon. Terry A. Doughty granted the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction in Missouri, et al. v Biden, et al., Dkt. 3:22-cv-01213 at (July 4, 2023). Injunctive relief was ordered, in part, because Judge Doughty determined the plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits or, as he put it, “[the plaintiffs] can likely prove that White House defendants engaged in coercion to induce social-media companies to suppress free speech.” With the order, Judge Doughty laid out his reasoning and directives in a 155-page memorandum.

“The Court has granted our motion to BLOCK top officials in the federal government from violating the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans. What a way to celebrate Independence Day,” tweeted Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who, along with Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and five individuals, sued the federal government for violating the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.

For many years now, conservative voices on social media platforms have been censored, suppressed, and silenced. Those are known facts, proven and underscored by the reporting of journalists given access to Twitter’s archive files by Twitter owner, Elon Musk. As the plaintiffs’ discovery process moved along in this case, more and more evidence of government violations of First Amendment rights came to light regarding suppression of conservative-leaning voices about the Hunter Biden laptop story, Covid-19’s “origin…efficiency of masks and lockdown,” the 2020 election, and other issues of public importance.

In granting the injunction, Judge Doughty acknowledges the expansive free speech violations by the government in the ruling, noting that “the present case arguably involves the most massive attack against free speech in United States’ history. In their attempts to suppress alleged disinformation, the Federal Government, and particularly the Defendants named here, are alleged to have blatantly ignored the First Amendment’s right to free speech.”

Thus far, “the Court is only examining it in terms of Plaintiffs’ likelihood of success on the merits, the evidence produced thus far depicts an almost dystopian scenario,” the Judge explained in his memorandum. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, a period perhaps best characterized by widespread doubt and uncertainty, the United States Government seems to have assumed a role similar to an Orwellian ‘Ministry of Truth.’” The court’s reference to the “Ministry of Truth” is explained in footnote 721 as “the concept presented in George Orwell’s dystopian novel, ‘1984.’ In the novel, the Ministry of Truth is a governmental institution responsible for altering historical records and disseminating propaganda to manipulate and control public perception.”

The plaintiffs’ initiated this lawsuit on May 5, 2022. To access free court filings from the docket in this case, click here. Yesterday, July 5, 2023, the Department of Justice filed a Notice of Appeal, however, the Judge’s order “shall remain in effect pending the final resolution of this case or until further orders issue from this Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, or the Supreme Court of the United States.”

America’s Future urges readers to pay close attention to this case and speak up against those who violate citizens’ First Amendment rights. As George Washington said, and Judge Doughty quotes in his ruling, “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the free acts of speech.”

SCOTUS Ends Term Siding with America’s Future in First Amendment Case and Strikes Down Biden’s Student Loan Program

On June 30, 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) formally closed out its October Term 2022, publishing resolutions in three cases. One of the three final SCOTUS opinions solidifies our First Amendment right to speak freely, which inherently includes our right to remain silent. With exceptions, if any, few and far between, government is forbidden from compelling its citizens to support or condemn a particular viewpoint through speech. Writing for the majority in 303 Creative LLC v Elenis, a 6-3 decision, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch explains why government is barred from compelling speech:

[Government is prohibited from forcing] an individual to speak in ways that align with its views but defy her conscience about a matter of major significance…that is enough, more than enough, to represent an impermissible abridgment of the First Amendment’s right to speak freely.

America’s Future has long stood with the plaintiff, Ms. Lorie Smith, in this case. On June 2, 2022, America’s Future filed an Amicus brief in support of Ms. Smith, demonstrating the importance of religious freedom, especially where it intersects with free speech. More about America’s Future’s position on this case, including its Amicus brief can be found here.

As for the final two SCOTUS opinions from the October Term 2022, they arise out of two related cases, and once again, the Supreme Court is called upon to rein in President Biden, prohibiting him, administrative agencies, and executive branch operatives from exacting powers conferred not to him or them or the executive branch at all, but powers conferred by our Constitution to the Congress, the legislative branch.

Writing for the majority in a 6-3 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts prevented the executive branch from further overstepping its authority and bridled the administrative overreach that appears to be the calling card of the current administration. The Court, in Nebraska v Biden, struck down what has become known as the Biden “student loan forgiveness program” (the “Program”) stating,

Congress opted to make debt forgiveness available only in a few particular exigent circumstances; the power to modify does not permit the Secretary to convert that approach into its opposite by creating a new program affecting 43 million Americans and $430 billion in federal debt.

The Court went on to explain,

…this is a case about one branch of government arrogating to itself power belonging to another…the Executive seizing the power of the Legislature. The Secretary’s assertion of administrative authority has ‘conveniently enabled [him] to enact a program’ that Congress has chosen not to enact itself.

Here, the Court proscribed the usurpation of authority constitutionally conferred to the legislature by the President and his branch. This case makes certain the Court recognizes and rebukes Biden’s proclivity to reimagine statutory language and redefine plain everyday words in a sorry attempt to fit square pegs into round holes.

June 30, 2023, closed out another historic term of our highest Court. Readers can access this term’s case highlights and rulings on our website here. To access the SCOTUS website for more information, please visit www.supremecourt.gov.

Bringing Back Impoundment to Defund Endless Wars

This is the eleventh entry in our IN FOCUS section highlighting some of the most abusive and oppressive federal agencies and programs that House Republicans should target for ending. Readers will find the previous articles of the series here.

The Constitution vests in Congress the power to appropriate funds. U.S. CONST. Art. I, Section 9, cl. 7. This provision clearly limits the amount of money the Executive Branch may expend each year, but it raises an interesting question: Does the amount of money appropriated operate only a cap on expenditures, or does it carry with it the requirement that the money be spent, making it both a floor and a cap on spending? Simply put, is the Executive Branch obligated to expend all the funds appropriated by Congress?

That constitutional issue has been in dispute for almost as long as we have had our Constitution. The term used to describe a decision by the President not to spend all funds appropriated is “impoundment.” And, there are two types of “impoundments”: (i) “deferrals,” which only delay when appropriated funds are spent; and (ii) “rescissions,” when Presidents refuse to spend appropriated funds. In general, Presidents like the impoundment power; Congressmen and Senators (especially on the Appropriations Committees) don’t.

Congress limited the power of the President to impound appropriated funds with the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (ICA). That law severely restricts how and when appropriated funds can be left unexpended. Some believe that law to be unconstitutional because it restricts Executive authority by forcing Presidents to spend whatever is appropriated, regardless of whether they believe it wise to spend.

While President, Donald Trump only once attempted to defer spending in this manner.
The Trump Administration’s Office of Management and Budget deferred disbursement of $250 million in aid to Ukraine from July 2019 until September 2019, at which time it released the money. The Democrat Congress reacted savagely, including this “impoundment” among the many charges in Trump’s first House impeachment proceeding. Now as a candidate, Trump has announced that, if elected again, he will resurrect the presidential power of “impoundment.” Since Congress seems unable to stop spending on endless wars like Ukraine, it may be that Trump will need to bring back impoundment to restore peace to that part of the world.

Impoundment has been used by Presidents since Jefferson to stop unnecessary federal spending. Some excellent illustrations of the use of impoundment are in a law review article entitled “Checking the Purse: The President’s Limited Impoundment Power.

President Jefferson first exercised impoundment in 1803. After France closed the port of New Orleans, closing off the Mississippi River to American shipping, Congress appropriated funds to construct 15 gunboats. Fearing that this expenditure would antagonize France while negotiations were underway, Jefferson refused to spend the money. After the Louisiana Purchase was concluded and America obtained possession of New Orleans, Jefferson released the funds. Thus, Jefferson’s impoundment was a deferral, not a rescission. President James Buchanan impounded funds for an Illinois post office to punish the state’s congressional delegation.

There are other illustrations as well. In 1876, President Grant rescinded funds for a rivers and harbors bill he believed was “for works of purely private or local interest, in no sense national.” Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy all refused to make certain military expenditures approved by Congress, under their role as Commander in Chief of the military. In 1966, even big-spending Lyndon Johnson impounded some $5.3 billion in funds for highways, housing, and other domestic programs.

But the most significant use of impoundment came under President Nixon. Frustrated by a runaway Congress with no fiscal discipline, Nixon proclaimed in 1973 that “he would ‘not spend money if the Congress overspends [nor support] programs that will raise the taxes and put a bigger burden on the already overburdened American taxpayer.’” He impounded an estimated $18 billion in fiscal year 1973, asserting that Presidents have the Constitutional power to ensure preservation of the nation’s fiscal integrity, and therefore have the authority to refuse to spend funds if necessary to protect that fiscal integrity, and Congress may not mandate spending which jeopardizes it.

In the weeks before Nixon’s resignation, the Democrat-controlled Congress struck back against Nixon’s assertion of executive power, and overwhelmingly passed the ICA’s restrictions, which the damaged Nixon reluctantly signed. The Act allows a President to delay spending on a given appropriation for 45 days and must ask Congress to approve the rescission. But if Congress does not approve, the money must be expended after 45 days. In other words, there is limited power for deferrals, with the ultimate decision being up to Congress.

In 2010, Barack Obama proposed a bill to Congress entitled the “Reduce Unnecessary Spending Act of 2010.” Obama’s bill would have allowed the President to propose specific cuts in a congressionally passed bill, send the proposal to Congress, and be ensured an up-or-down vote on the proposed cuts without amendment. The bill never received a floor vote.

Now President Trump is campaigning against the Impoundment Control Act. “This constitutional power of the President should never have been curtailed, but I will get it back and will use it to stop inflation and bring federal spending under control,” Trump told Real Clear Politics in June. President Trump described his plans to challenge the ICA in court if he is re-elected, and if unsuccessful, seek reversal in Congress.

A President probably could make his strongest case for exercising an impoundment power with respect to his role as Commander in Chief. Given that Congress is hopelessly addicted to spending on endless wars, and still is beholden to “the Military-Industrial Complex” that President Eisenhower warned against, it may be time to consider giving the President the authority to do what Congress will not do — cut spending.

To read the articles in this series, please click here.

Reminders & Updates

Join hundreds of Americans who have signed up to be a part of America’s Future Project Defend & Protect Our Children(PDPC) nationwide network to help end child exploitation, abuse, and trafficking. Visit the Project’s web page here to read the PDPC Bulletin, watch multiple videos describing the initiative, and download our tips sheet for suggestions about what you can do to end the war on children in your community.

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