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Partnered To Harm - Bullies, Big Tech & Big Mouths

Newsletter | July 28, 2022

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The poisonous condition of the press is one of the central factors polluting our country and our public speech and thoughts, and how we live together as Americans. This week, we continue our series on the media and address the toxic partnership between the press, social media empires, and extremist political activists.

You may remember the heady early days of the Internet, when tech entrepreneurs and politicians from across the political spectrum promised a new world of enlightenment available to all. The world wide web wasn’t just a digital super-highway for big corporate brands to sell their goods. No, the Internet was going to be a global public sphere where the free exchange of ideas and information would give voice to the voiceless and bring together strangers around the world.

A new age was dawning, one that would increase our understanding of one another and bring world peace. Few imagined the dangers ahead.

But several decades on, here we are. For many Americans, the technological advances of the late 20th and early 21st centuries have brought less free speech and less freedom. Rather, the sinister confederation joining big tech, big government, and legacy media have deployed their mighty tools to mischaracterize many as enemies of the state. They’ve silenced their dissenters to advance their own politics and causes. They’ve weaponized free speech to punish resisters, forcing challengers from places of work, schools, and communities. This selective silencing represents one of the gravest dangers to our Republic.

Remember: the former president of the United States was banned from one social media platform, Twitter — but not the Islamic extremist who heads the world’s leading sponsor of terror. No, the Supreme Leader of Iran is free to disseminate his anti-American and antisemitic threats as he likes.

And it wasn’t just political figures who were banned from social media. Medical experts offering useful and factual information about treating COVID-19 were banished from social media at the behest of government officials who now admit that they have been smudging the truth about the pandemic since it began.

Recently, our own government sought to undermine our First Amendment right to speak freely by fashioning an officially-sanctioned form of censorship — thinly veiled as a “disinformation board.” It doesn’t take an expert in political warfare to figure out which speech was to be labeled “disinformation” and then censored.

How did this happen — and so quickly at that?

Because we forgot how fragile our liberties are. We forgot that our Founding Fathers fought tyranny for the right to speak freely and decide how best to conduct public affairs. We came to take our God-given rights for granted.

That’s the bad news. Here’s the good news — regardless of political persuasion, Americans are awakened. We know what the struggle ahead entails. First, speak the truth. Say it and let it guide your actions. The future of our nation, the country we want to pass down to our children as it was handed down to us by our parents, is at stake. America’s Future stands firm in the fight for freedom and liberty for all. Stand with us.

Love of country and the demise of the media have caused passionate comments in our readers’ surveys the last two week since we started our featured series on the press. Please continue to participate and take this week’s Reader’s Survey. And listen to America’s Mondays With Mary every Monday at 9 a.m. (ET) when Mary O’Neill, America’s Future Executive Director, shares insights and answers from survey-takers.

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The breadth and scope of the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments set us apart from other sovereign nations.  The full weight and force of these legal doctrines cannot be understated.

Equal Protection under the law means precisely that – No government official, entity, or political institution under the jurisdiction of the United States shall be permitted to treat any individual in a manner disparate to others in similar settings and circumstances. Due Process recognizes a bundle of rights set forth to protect against arbitrary or malicious deprivation of a citizen’s “life, liberty, or property.”

This bundle includes the right to receive notice, the right be heard and the right to receive a decision by an independent uncorrupted adjudicator.  In 1975, the renowned Judge Henry Friendly delivered a speech, later memorialized and expanded by him in a published Law Review article in which he enumerated 10 requirements that represent “best practices” to mitigate the risk a person’s procedural Due Process rights will be violated.

While the following list is not binding on a court, Judge Friendly’s article is cited by courts across the nation and the content remains highly prominent guidelines for judges to follow when defendants to a criminal matter raise due process violations in court.

  1. An unbiased tribunal. 
  2. Notice of the proposed action and the grounds asserted for it. 
  3. Opportunity to present reasons why the proposed action should not be taken. 
  4. The right to present evidence, including the right to call witnesses. 
  5. The right to know opposing evidence. 
  6. The right to cross-examine adverse witnesses. 
  7. A decision based exclusively on the evidence presented. 
  8. Opportunity to be represented by counsel. 
  9. Requirement that the tribunal prepare a record of the evidence presented. 
  10. Requirement that the tribunal prepare written findings of fact and reasons for its decision.  

The prized doctrines of Equal Protection and Due Process unite to ward off tyranny and to combat both malicious prosecution and vindictive enforcement of laws by officials who abuse their authority under the color of law.

Just last month, in NY State Rifle & Pistol Assn. v Bruen, the Supreme Court of the United States, (SCOTUS) reminded us that each and every citizen is entitled to the “full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings concerning personal liberty [and] personal security.” 

It is unacceptable for the U.S. government to treat people disparately under the law, that is to engage in selective prosecution or vindictive enforcement of our laws.  That is not what America stands for and not who we are.  There are certainly bad apples in our political institutions, but we must ensure, through our votes and voices, that the bad apples are the exception and not the rule.

Our country is navigating dangerous waters right now in nearly all aspects.  To get through these troubling times with our nation intact, equal justice for all must prevail.  The Executive Branch must carry out its duty without engaging in tactics tantamount to selective and malicious prosecutions, political persecutions or bad faith enforcement of laws.  The Legislative Branch must be mindful of precedent they are setting and mitigate any scope creep or encroachment into the tempting realms of the other branches.  And the Judicial Branch must keep within its constitutional bounds and apply law to fact fairly, dutifully, and without delay.

No person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States should be treated differently from others, by any official or institution deriving power from our branches of government, based upon bad faith, secret agendas, abuses of power, or out of evil motives – political, monetary, retaliatory, vexatious, or any other kind whatsoever.

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Keeping You Informed

Sputtering Economy Powers Up American Voices & Votes

As the economy plummets, prices rise and anxiety grows, Americans are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. Families across the nation are destabilized economically with higher costs for essential items like food, clothing, gas and housing. Rising prices and less purchasing power means Americans are feeling the impact of inflation. However defined by the never-ending line-up of the opinions of pundits, Americans know when they spend more at the grocery store for the same bag of groceries.

Yesterday, July 27, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point for a second straight time, making it harder for consumers and businesses to get credit and thereby slowing the economy. This means that so far this year, the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates by 2.25 percentage points, the most during one year since 1994.

And earlier today, our Commerce Department confirmed our gross domestic product (GDP), a measurement of economic activity understood broadly to mean all goods and services produced across our economy, “shrank by 0.9% on an annualized basis in the three-month period from April through June.” The takeaway is that the economy has, in fact, contracted for a second consecutive quarter and by this standardized time-tested measure, the U.S. economy has officially entered into a recession.

Regardless of terms, confidence in the U.S. economy by the American consumer is eroding. Only two months ago, PEW Research Center reported that “seven-in-ten Americans view inflation as a very big problem for the country.” Indeed, polls continue to illustrate drastic upticks insofar as Americans voicing their economic frustration.

Great weight is now placed on the state of our economy when it comes to our political decisions. Americans hold the power in the end with their voices and vote. Time will tell whether the policymakers and politicians take heed of their constituents concerns and fears caused by the shocking reductions in spending power they are experiencing. At this point, however, political spin, catchy phrases and clever hashtags are no longer going to cut it. Americans deserve better. On November 8, vote like our country depends on it because it does.

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The continuing tidal wave of unknown illegal aliens unlawfully flooding into the country at our southern border impacts every state in the nation. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced that during FY2021 nearly two million aliens entered our nation by way of the US-Mexican border. Drug cartels are running rampant, bringing vast amounts of cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl and other deadly drugs into our nation’s neighborhoods and states.

America’s national security is at stake. Every family is in harm’s way.

The gravity of this unprecedented crisis and invasion requires an all-hands-on-deck response and tenable solutions. America’s Future Board Chair, General Michael Flynn and our Board Member Lara Logan are scheduled to speak at an upcoming event, “Border 911,” on August 27, 2022 in Houston, Texas. The day-long event is sponsored by The America Project, a 501c(4) nonprofit. America’s Future encourages the public to get involved and register to attend the event to stay informed. For further information and to register, please click here.

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Reminders & Updates

APPLY: The application review cycle for America’s Future 2023 Scholarship Award For Excellence begins August 1. Eligible high school seniors are encouraged to apply for one of five scholarship awards of $1,000 each. Find out more and apply online at Scholarship Program.

MUST SEE: America’s Future urges all Americans to get involved and never quit the fight for freedom. Please watch the video  and heed our Board Chair, General Michael Flynn’s question: “What am I going to do to help my country, to help my family, to help my community?”

RAISE THE FLAG. SAY THE PLEDGE: Because every day is “flag day” in the USA, America’s Future teamed up with Colonial Flag to offer an assortment of discount-priced flags along with a beautifully-designed Pledge of Allegiance insert and a free pocket-size U.S. Constitution signed by our Board Chair, General Michael Flynn. Click here and choose the perfect flag for your home and business today!

AMERICA’S MONDAYS WITH MARY: Tune in every Monday morning at 9 a.m. (ET) to watch our Executive Director Mary O’Neill report out on the comments and insights submitted via our weekly Reader Survey and listen to updates about America’s Future activities and what’s ahead at America’s Mondays With Mary.

STAY CONNECTED: You’ll find America’s Future on your favorite social media platforms. Thank you for remembering to follow us and please share our posts.

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