Never Surrender

Newsletter | August 31, 2023

Out of the bitter mouths of the media and the political establishment, Big Tech oligarchs and Hollywood celebrities, we’ve heard so much about threats to “Our Democracy,” it comes as no surprise ordinary Americans are suspicious every time U.S. elites use the word democracy. After all, their actions tell us that they don’t really believe in democracy.

Take voting, for instance, the cornerstone of our representative democracy, our Constitutional Republic. According to the supreme law of the land, every eligible citizen gets to vote — right? But that’s not how the ruling classes see it.

If you’re voting for candidates who promised to take on the establishment, you might not get to vote. In places like Maricopa County, Arizona, there might be problems with voting machines on election day, so your vote might not be registered. At the polls in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, they might run out of paper again, and you’ll be turned away. In other polling places, the electricity might go out, in which case you don’t get to vote at all.

Or maybe your vote will be nullified. For instance, when Democratic Party election officials mail out loads of ballots, even to people who didn’t ask for them, even to people who aren’t registered to vote, or even to people who are no longer alive, they send their operatives out to collect those ballots and sometimes fill them out themselves. If the candidate you voted for is beating the establishment’s choice, they might use all those unsigned and unverifiable ballots to put their man or woman over the top, illegally.

Maybe the establishment is preventing you from choosing your candidate by interfering in an election. It’s targeted your candidate by bringing all sorts of phony legal cases, federal and state, against him, so he has to spend time and money defending himself rather than campaigning. That’s called election interference — and right now, the Justice Department is engaged in its third consecutive election interference campaign to prevent Donald Trump from winning the White House.

In 2016, the DOJ spied on Trump’s campaign and alleged he was a Russian agent. In 2020, it censored the internet to shield Joe Biden from evidence of his and his family’s rampant corruption. This time around, it’s all out in the open — Biden’s prosecutors have their daggers drawn and their allies in the court system are in on it. Washington, D.C. Judge Tanya Chutkan aims to put Trump on trial just as the primary season kicks into full gear with Super Tuesday in March. The purpose is to keep him off the campaign and silence him. But it won’t work.

Ever since Trump first announced he was running for president, the political establishment, both Democrats and Republicans, has warned that “our democracy” is under threat. It’s now clear it’s not democracy they wanted to protect. Rather, they were keen to defend their privileges and prerogatives against those with whom they share the country — us.

They don’t believe in democracy, which is why the word democracy sounds so shrill coming out of their mouths. They imagine they’re aristocrats, our overlords, who dictate terms to us. And that’s evidence they don’t understand America or the Americans they’re trying to subjugate and control. But it’s our country, it’s in our hands, given to us by our founders to protect, fought for by those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for freedom. We stand on their shoulders to pass the torch of freedom forward. It is our turn, and we’re grateful to be here for this fight. Never surrender.

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!

Matthew Perna was a 37-year-old American who went to Washington, DC January 6, 2021, to protest on behalf of President Donald Trump and also, more importantly, to exercise his constitutional rights. He was later charged by the Justice Department even though he hurt no one, never raised his hand in anger that day, nor did he steal or break anything. After Perna pled guilty to phony charges that would’ve put him in prison for up to a year, the DOJ threatened with a terrorism enhancement that would have kept him in jail for six years. Instead, on February 25, 2022, Matt took his own life.

In his memory, his Aunt Geri has organized the Annual Matthew Perna Freedom 5K Run, to be held this year on September 23, in Sharpsville, PA. We spoke with Geri about her beloved nephew.

Why did you choose a run to celebrate the life of your nephew, Matthew Perna?

Matt was an avid trail runner. He ran races all over the country, and after his death, we went inside his house to get his best suit for his funeral. As I was standing in his bedroom, I was looking at this wooden map of the USA that had a hook in each state with medals hanging from several states. The longest race he ran was 100K in Zion, Utah. His goal was to run a race in every state. We gave the map to his best friend Marcus, hoping that he will complete the map someday.

One thing that I find particularly offensive from the keyboard warriors on social media is that Matt is labeled a weak man who used suicide to avoid a prison sentence. Trail running is not easy. It is extremely strenuous, and Matt often ran these races barefoot, one race in particular was 14 miles long. His feet were bloody and raw afterward, but he always finished the run. So, he was very strong, and running was his passion. He ran with a group of trail runners, and at his funeral, they asked me about having a 5k run in his memory. So, we decided to make it our annual fundraiser for The Matthew Lawrence Perna Foundation.

What do you most want people to know about him?

Matt was the most kindhearted, generous person I’ve ever known. He helped countless people through the years, and we are still learning about the random acts of kindness he did for people he barely knew. Matt made an excellent living, but he did not have a large estate when he died. He gave to people in need, regardless of race, religion, or beliefs. Matt taught English in South Korea, and about three months ago, a friend he had made there learned of his death on Twitter. He messaged me in disbelief and told me that Matt had changed his view of life and significantly impacted him. I asked him how. He told me this story about how shopping for clothes in South Korea was complicated because Matt was well over 6 feet tall, and clothing that fit was challenging to find. So, they were walking through a market, and Matt bought clothing from this old Korean woman, knowing that the sleeves and pantlegs weren’t long enough. So his friend asked him why he didn’t buy his clothes at the mall with larger sizes. Matt responded: If I buy those clothes at the mall, who am I helping? The corporation that owns the stores? But, if I buy them from the old lady at the market, I can see her smile. I know that she will appreciate the sale, and she definitely needs it more than the stores in the mall. He told me that he now purchases his clothing at the local markets, and his view of life is kinder and more sympathetic, and he learned this from spending time with Matt.

How can Americans help other January 6 defendants?

January 6, and how the defendants have been treated has placed fear in the American public, which is clearly our government’s intention. The defendants desperately need financial help for their family’s everyday expenses, attorney fees, healthcare, etc. There are foundations such as Patriot Freedom Project that are assisting many families. Each defendant also has a givesendgo fundraiser, and many have received very few donations.

However, aside from helping them financially, Americans need to stand up and speak out! They should be enraged at the lack of concern from our Republicans AND DEMOCRATS in office! This is not the country we grew up in, and the longer people sit back and stay silent, the more our freedoms disappear. People have to make it their business to call their representatives EVERY DAY and express their total disgust that their Constitutional rights are being ignored. They must attend council and school board meetings and express their concerns vocally. They are sadly mistaken if they think this can never happen to them. When a former President of the United States can be arrested multiple times for bogus charges, everyone is open game.

What do you want Americans to understand about our justice system today?

We have a very corrupt Department of Justice. The people who run it and many judges are no longer interested in truth or justice. It is a two-tier system, and it works against the conservatives in our country. In the name of social injustice, people who have burned, looted, and destroyed entire cities went utterly unpunished. In contrast, others who express their freedom of speech are prosecuted and given excessive prison sentences. Our justice department needs a complete overhaul before we are completely living in a communist country.

What is your prayer for America?

If there is one thing that I have realized since the tragic suicide of my nephew is, the level of hatred in our society is beyond my comprehension. Matt hanged himself at 37 years old. He reached the point of hopelessness that was so great that life was not worth facing another day. The media and the keyboard warriors on social media made his life a living hell. I would have thought the hatred would subside after the news of him killing himself. I was mistaken. I still receive some of the most hateful messages via social media, my website, and email. They call me every name under the sun, and how they ridicule Matt even now tells me that evil runs through their veins and they are soulless. He is dead, yet in some way, they feel he cheated them out of watching him rot in prison.

So, my prayer for America is that Jesus returns. We have crossed a line in this country. As much as we need Donald Trump as our President, the United States of America will never return to the country we once knew. I am no longer proud of our country. My flag is torn right now, and in the past, I would immediately replace it when it showed signs of wear. I don’t care about it now, and as it flies with frayed edges and holes, it reminds me that we are a country in distress and are likely to remain so for quite some time.

Editor’s Note: To read other Speaking With American Patriots interviews, please click here

America’s Future Files Amicus Brief With SCOTUS In Censorship Case

On Friday, August 25, 2023, America’s Future filed an Amicus brief with the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) in O’Handley v Weber, California Secretary of State, et al., Dkt. No. 22-1199, a case concerning politically-motivated online censorship effected by a state government agency in violation of the plaintiff’s First Amendment right to speak freely. America’s Future supports the petitioner-appellant’s request for relief and urges the SCOTUS to reverse the lower court’s orders and remand Mr. O’Handley’s case back to the trial court for a full, fair, and complete adjudication on the merits. The SCOTUS public docket of this case is located here. Nine other nonprofit organizations joined our brief.

Arising out of a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals judgment affirming a lower court’s dismissal of the case, the questions presented to the SCOTUS are, as follows:

Whether the complaint plausibly alleged that state officials acted under color of state law in violation of the First Amendment when a state agency, which exists to police online speech, singled out Petitioner’s disfavored political speech for Twitter to punish and Twitter complied; and
Whether the government speech doctrine empowers state officials to tell Twitter to remove political speech that the State deems false or misleading.

In 2018, California established a division of the Secretary of State Office dubbed the “Office of Elections Cybersecurity” (OEC). It was installed “[t]o monitor and counteract false or misleading information regarding the electoral process that is published online or on other platforms and that may suppress voter participation or cause confusion and disruption of the orderly and secure administration of elections.

Preceding the 2020 election, the OEC leveraged its “powers,” entering into a $35 million contract with consultants who were hired to troll social media platforms, looking for posts with content considered by California government officials to be “misinformation,” an obvious rouse to root out posts consisting of political dissent or viewpoints inconsistent with the state government’s official positions.

The First Amendment of our Constitution states, in part, “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech.” The Fourteenth Amendment incorporates our First Amendment rights and all other God-given rights such that limitations applied to the federal government are also applied to state and local governments. Therefore, all governments in America, albeit federal, state, or local, are prohibited from taking action that abridge, suppress, or censor our right to speak freely.

Here, California unlawfully exercised power when it interacted with Twitter to suppress Mr. O’Handley’s speech questioning the 2020 electoral process and identifying rampant nationwide election fraud. And in so doing, it likely violated the constitutional rights of Mr. O’Handley, an attorney and political commentator, for political purposes, under the color of law. As set forth in our brief, we explain.

Using these powers, California pressured Twitter to censor and deplatform Petitioner for five tweets challenging the integrity of recent elections. California claims to be acting based on the highest motives to preserve faith in elections by protecting the public from hearing false and misleading information.

The reality is that government officials censor to protect their power over the People — not to protect the People. In fact, the People would have greater faith in elections if California did not censor criticism about how those elections are being conducted. Censorship is counterproductive, since the act of censorship, once exposed, inspires distrust.

California assumes to itself the power to distinguish between truth and falsity, and to allow truth while censoring falsity — employing a power…that no government may have.

Social media platforms serve as our public square. As Americans, we have every right to discuss and debate issues that impact us, our families, and our communities. When government officials silence dissent, they demonstrate a fear of truth. As pointed out in our brief, in a 2012 SCOTUS decision, Justice Alito explains in plain language,

The First Amendment creates ‘an open marketplace’ in which differing ideas about political, economic, and social issues can compete freely for public acceptance without improper government interference…. The government may not prohibit the dissemination of ideas that it disfavors, nor compel the endorsement of ideas that it approves.

We, at America’s Future urges the SCOTUS to accept Mr. O’Handley’s petition for a writ of certiorari and issue a decision fully favorable to him and to all decent American’s who want to live in freedom and not just exist under tyranny.

Editor’s Note: To read all of our Amicus briefs, please visit our Law & Policy page.

Thousands of concerned citizens attended or watched the live stream of America’s Future launch of its Get In The Fight campaign in Sarasota, Florida, earlier this month to bring awareness and training to communities across the country to help end child exploitation and trafficking. As Executive Director Mary O’Neill said during her remarks, “There is no time to waste…no higher cause to fight for…and frankly, no excuse to make. Tonight, the journey begins our walk to the light – fearless, with purpose, and united as one powerful force against the evil and suffering of our children.”

Her comments encouraged hundreds of people to sign up for training programs offered by America’s Future as part of the campaign. Seats are still available for America’s Future training program dedicated to informing parents, grandparents, and other caring adults about grooming, the traits of groomers, behavioral changes to watch for if you suspect your child is being groomed, and how to raise a responsible digital citizen. The training program is scheduled for Thursday, October 5th, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

The next day, October 6th, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., America’s Future will be hosting a training program called, “Pitfalls of Pornography,” where attendees will learn vital information about the causes and solutions of sexual exploitation, the dangers of pornography including how it functions as a chief entry point for child predators, and why normalizing beliefs about pornography serves as a driving factor leading men to feel free when it comes to the unlawful purchase of sex.

In November, from the 6th through the 11th, and in collaboration with the Association for the Recovery of Children, a comprehensive program is scheduled to equip participants with the knowledge and skills to combat sex trafficking effectively in the areas of prevention, intervention, rescue, advocacy, and direct services to victims/survivors.

All of the training programs will be held at the Sarasota Fairgrounds Ken Clark Building, 3000 Ringling Blvd, Sarasota, FL 34237. To learn more and to register, visit Get In The Fight. Plans are in progress for several other state-specific campaigns, which will be announced in the near future. If you or an organization you are affiliated with are interested in coordinating a Get In The Fight campaign in your state, please email Lisa MacDonald, America’s Future Director of Strategic Planning and Development, at [email protected].

Editor’s Note: Get In The Fight panelists pictured above (left to right): Tara Lee Rodas, HHS whistleblower; Silvia Almond, President of S.O.A.P.; Lara Logan, investigative journalist, and panel moderator; Tina Baz, Association for the Recovery of Children (ARC) Human Trafficking Program Director, and Bazzel Baz, ARC founder and president. All panelists are advisors to America’s Future Project Defend & Protect Our Children. Lara is also an America’s Future Board Director. Click here to watch the Florida Get In The Fight Summit.

How to Begin a Presidential Impeachment

This is the third entry in our IN FOCUS section examining the impeachment power to help give readers a historical and constitutional context to this political process. To access previous articles, please click here.

Finally, House Republicans seem to be moving, ever so cautiously, toward the impeachment of President Biden. But that process has been far too slow for most Republicans. With every new revelation about Biden family finances, rank-and-file Republicans have grown not just frustrated, but increasingly hostile to House GOP leadership. Some predict that if House Republicans do not move decisively toward impeachment right after the August break, they will (and should) lose next year’s elections.

One House Republican ran out of patience two months ago and decided to take action on her own. On June 13, 2023, Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (R-CO) filed a House Resolution that would have impeached Biden for leaving open the nation’s Southern Border. On June 20, 2023, she exercised her right to demand a floor vote. When the Boebert resolution came before the House on June 22, 2023, the matter was deferred by being referred to Committee — actually two Committees (Homeland Security and the Judiciary) — on a party line vote, 219-208. If the resolution had passed, that would have been it — the House would have impeached Biden, sending the matter to the Senate for trial. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) agrees that impeachment could occur by passage of a resolution — such as the Boebert resolution — but the normal process normally involves an investigation by the Judiciary Committee, which then reports back to the House.

Now, two months later, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) appears to be on the verge of taking a somewhat different approach toward impeachment. That step would be for the House to formally “authorize an impeachment inquiry.” Many support the House formally authorizing an “impeachment inquiry,” although it is not required by House rules. Indeed, three of the last five judicial impeachments did not involve a vote by the full House to formally authorize an impeachment inquiry.

Whichever approach is taken, a House Committee — typically the House Judiciary Committee — investigates, holds hearings, and then may recommend impeachment in the form of a report to the full House. That report would set out its recommended “articles of impeachment” — the equivalent of a grand jury indictment in a criminal case. Each article of the impeachment resolution would state an independent ground constituting a separate impeachable offense.

It’s worth reviewing the basics. The term impeachment is often misused, but it is not the same as removal from office. Article I of the Constitution vests the power of impeachment in Congress. Section 2 states the “[t]he House of Representatives shall … have the sole Power of Impeachment,” and Section 3 provides that “[t]he Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments.” Other than providing that the Chief Justice of the United States presides over impeachments of the President, the Constitution is essentially silent on procedure, allowing each House to decide its own rules for how to conduct impeachment trials. In Section 5, the Constitution provides: “[e]ach House may determine the rules of its proceedings” and this would include impeachments.

However, there are some established House practices — although not formal rules — which govern handling articles of impeachment, including the following:

Articles of impeachment reported by the Judiciary Committee are privileged for immediate consideration on the House floor;
Passage is by simple majority vote;
If the House approves one or more articles of impeachment, the House appoints members as “managers” — essentially House prosecutors — to present the case for impeachment at the ensuing trial in the Senate.

One of the reasons that some prefer a vote formally authorizing an official impeachment inquiry is that it could facilitate efforts by the House to require the Executive Branch to turn over more documents. In fact, a Congressional Research Service analysis explains that: “[d]uring the Nixon impeachment, the Judiciary Committee noted that ‘not one’ subject of nearly 70 prior impeachment investigations ‘challenged the power of the committee conducting the impeachment investigation to compel the production of evidence it deemed necessary.’” There are at least two reasons that the Executive Branch is more willing to provide documents in response to a House-authorized impeachment.

First, failure to turn over documents could cause the Judiciary Committee to add another Article of impeachment for failure to comply with a committee subpoena. This happened during both the Nixon and Clinton impeachment investigations.

Second, if the Executive Branch failed to turn over documents, the matter could wind up in court, and the pendency of an official House-approved inquiry may improve the likelihood of obtaining a court ordering committee access to subpoenaed materials and overcoming executive privilege assertions made in response to congressional subpoenas. President Biden has already begun asserting executive privilege in refusing to turn over documents on Hunter Biden’s business dealings.

Indeed, Speaker McCarthy has cited the Biden administration’s refusal to turn over documents as a key reason to authorize a formal impeachment inquiry. He has “demanded that the president furnish Congress with documents that demonstrate that he did not accept a $5 million bribe from Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner of Ukrainian gas company Burisma, as alleged by an FBI informant in June of 2020; talk to his son, Hunter Biden, about his overseas influence peddling operation; or accept foreign money from foreign nationals.” Since “the Biden administration still is resisting the sharing of information with the House,” legal scholar Jonathan Turley has argued that “there is little choice but to commence an impeachment inquiry. The authority of the House is at its apex when carrying out its duties under the impeachment clause.” McCarthy noted that “if they withhold the documents and fight like they have now to not provide to the American public what they deserve to know, we will move forward with impeachment inquiry when we come back into session.” We shall see.

The charges against President Biden are serious, and grow more serious every day. Only devoted partisans like Trump impeachment manager Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD) take the position that there is nothing to see here. Based on what is publicly known about President Biden, failure to launch an impeachment investigation could reveal Republicans to be feckless, jeopardizing their changes of being voted back into power next year.

Editor’s Note: To read the articles in this series, please click here.

Reminders & Updates

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