Penny PressNevada, USA Volume 17 Number 43 JULY 2, 2020

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THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 2, 2020 PAGE 2

By JON MILTIMORESpecial to the Penny Press

In 1963, Bob Dylan was a fresh-faced kid probably unrecognizable to most Americans, but he showed he was already an old soul when

he delivered a speech in the Grand Ballroom of New York City’s American Hotel that December.

It was about two weeks before Christmas, and Dylan was on hand to receive the Tom Paine Award, bestowed annually by the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee to honor individuals for service in the fight for civil liberty.

It was a period of change, and Dylan had risen to fame in

large part because of his protest songs of the period—such as the 1962 hit “Blowin’ in the Wind”—that touched on themes related to the civil rights and anti-war movements.

Dylan’s address that night was not what America was expecting, however. In a short, rambling, unscripted monologue, the young folk singer touched on Woody Guthrie, Lee Harvey Oswald, race, baldness, and the strange gifts he received from fans. Dylan even suggested that the young people in the audience would be better off somewhere else.

“I’m proud that I’m young. And I only wish that all you people who are sitting out here today or tonight weren’t here,” said Dylan. “Because you people should be at the beach. You should be out there and you should be swimming and

you should be just relaxing in the time you have to relax.”

Many have written about Dylan’s speech that night—including Dylan himself, who days later penned a poetic explanation attempting to explain his thought process and the tumult of feelings he was experiencing.

Whatever intent lay behind his words, the award speech is generally seen as the first signs of Dylan’s disillusionment with the 1960s folk protest movement. The following year, in a wide-ranging interview with Nat Hentoff published in The New Yorker, Dylan explained that he was done with “finger-pointing” songs.

“Those records I’ve already made, I’ll stand behind them, but some of that was jumping into the scene to be heard and a lot of it was because I didn’t see anybody else

doing that kind of thing,” Dylan told Hentoff. “Now a lot of people are doing finger-pointing songs. You know—pointing to all the things that are wrong. Me, I don’t want to write for people anymore. You know—be a spokesman.”

Dylan didn’t stop there, however. Ever the artist, he expressed his disenchantment in one of the last songs he recorded for his 1964 album Another Side of Bob Dylan: “My Back Pages.”

A lovely but mournful tune, “My Back Pages” is a coming of age song that expressed doubts about the songwriter’s earlier zeal. Historians say the song left many diehard Dylan fans confused and even horrified for its seeming refutation of the Jester’s earlier protest ballads.

“No song on Another Side

Penny PressNEVADA USA 16 PAGES VOLUME 17 NUMBER 43 JULY 2, 2020

Penny WisdomI believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don’t believe in giving author-ity and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people. —John Wayne

The Conservative Weekly Voice Of NevadaInside:America Is JustNot That Stupid

See Editorial Page 6

RON KNECHT PAGE 5FRED WEINBERG PAGE 6ROBERT RINGER PAGE 7DOUG FRENCH PAGE 9TODD STARNES PAGE 10ROBERT ROMANO PAGE 11CHUCK MUTH PAGE 14

The Dylan Song That Can Guide a Generation

Commentary

Continued on page4

THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 2, 2020 PAGE 4

distressed Dylan’s friends in the movement more than ‘My Back Pages’ in which he transmutes the rude incoherence of his ECLC rant into the organized density of art,” author Mike Marqusee writes in Chimes of Freedom. “The lilting refrain ... must be one of the most lyrical expressions of political apostasy ever penned. It is a recantation, in every sense of the word.”

Below are the lyrics to “My Back Pages,” which readers can analyze for themselves. (After reading the lyrics, check out the live performance of “My Back Pages” Dylan performed with music legends Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Tom Petty, Neil Young, and Roger McGuinn of the Byrds at the 30th Anniversary Concert in Madison Square Garden in 1994.)

Crimson flames tied through my ears, rollin’ high and mighty trapsPounced with fire on flaming roads using ideas as my maps

“We’ll meet on edges, soon, “ said I, proud ‘neath heated browAh, but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now

Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth, “rip down all hate,” I screamedLies that life is black and white spoke from my skull, I dreamed

Romantic facts of musketeers foundationed deep, somehowAh, but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now

Girls’ faces formed the forward path from phony jealousyTo memorizing politics of ancient history

Flung down by corpse evangelists, unthought of, though somehowAh, but I was so much older then. I’m younger than that now

A self-ordained professor’s tongue too serious to foolSpouted out that liberty is just equality in school“Equality,” I spoke the word as if a wedding vow

Ah, but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that nowIn a soldier’s stance, I aimed my hand at the mongrel dogs who teach

Fearing not that I’d become my enemy in the instant that I preachMy existence led by confusion boats, mutiny from stern to bowAh, but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now

Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats too noble to neglectDeceived me into thinking I had something to protect

Good and bad, I define these terms quite clear, no doubt, somehowAh, but I was so much older then I’m younger than that now

Dissecting art to harvest meaning is a tricky business, but there’s little doubt that “My Back Pages” is a reflection on Dylan’s earlier protest songs.

The lyrics suggest the young songwriter had changed or grown in some way. That he’d become aware of his own “half-wracked prejudice” that caused him to scream “rip down all hate.” That liberty and equality are perhaps not what he thought. That the world actually might be gray, and claims that it is “black and white” are “lies.”

The tune’s wonderful refrain—”Ah, but I was so much older then/I’m younger than that now”—is not a senseless paradox but a reflection of a similar idea. It suggests that the young songwriter had obtained the Socratic wisdom that true knowledge is realized by grasping how little we truly know.

This is not to say Dylan had doubts about the causes he championed. He makes it clear in interviews that he did not. What he appears to have opposed was the lack of individualism he saw in the mass protest movement.

“I am sick so sick at hearin ‘we all share the blame’ for every church bombing, gun battle, mine disaster, poverty explosion, an president killing that comes about,” Dylan wrote following his speech. “it is so easy t say ‘we’ an bow our heads together I must say ‘I’ alone an bow my head alone for it is I alone who is livin my life.”

While Dylan appeared uncomfortable with the idea of collective guilt (an idea on the rise today), his ECLC speech reveals he saw individuals capable of great evil. In perhaps the most bizarre part of the address, Dylan compared himself to Lee Harvey Oswald, who the previous month had assassinated John F. Kennedy.

“I have to be to be honest, I just got to be, as I got to admit that the man who shot President Kennedy, Lee Oswald, I don’t know exactly where—what he thought he was doing, but I got to admit honestly that I too—I saw some of myself in him,” Dylan said. “I don’t think it would have gone—I don’t think it could go that far. But I got to stand up and say I saw things that he felt, in me.”

Dylan was self-aware and honest enough to recognize that hate can consume even the best of us. In a moment of candor in an unscripted speech, he shared an apparent realization: that within himself he recognized the seed of the same righteous anger that sparked assassinations, wars, and turmoil.

To be sure, there’s nothing inherently wrong with protesting. Few would deny that many issues in America—in the 1960s and today—are worthy of protest.

And yet much of the protesting we see today looks much like the “half-wracked prejudice” described by Dylan. Many protesters seem bent on tearing down every symbol that offends them, whether it be a monument to Christopher Columbus, George Washington, US Grant, or Thomas Jefferson. We see protesters physically taking control of a portion of a major US city and making demands. We see rioters attacking innocent people in streets and burning businesses that sustain our communities.

Injustice has always existed and always will. There is nothing wrong with seeking to make the world a better place, but we should remember that moral righteousness divorced from self-awareness, humility, and empathy for political adversaries can lead to the same fanaticism that tore France apart in 1789 and China in the 1960s.

The danger is that in our righteous zeal we might come to believe we possess the knowledge and ability to shape the world in our own image, never realizing that each of us carries the potential to do evil as well as good.

“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart,” Solzhenitsyn wrote in his masterpiece The Gulag Archipelago. “And even in the best of all hearts, there remains…an uprooted small corner of evil.”

Fifteen years before publication of Solzhenitsyn’s most famous work, a 22-year-old Bob Dylan appears to have gleaned this startling truth about good and evil.

Young people today would do well to emulate Dylan, who as a young man remained faithful to his ideals but made a conscious decision to reject inhumane zealotry.Jonathan Miltimore is the Managing Editor of FEE.org. This originally appeared at fee.org.

There’s Nothing Inherently Wrong With ProtestingContinued from page 3

My Brother Thomas Wayne Knecht, 1950-2020

My beloved brother Tom died and was buried last week. An edited version of the eulogy by his second son Cody follows:

I once read, “If there is any immortality to be had among human beings, it is only in the love that we leave behind.” We come together to remember a unique loving life that bridged the world and broadened our horizons. Dad lived life as an enduring independent spirit and left a legacy showing us how to

navigate waters both rough and still.

To the world, he was a father. To our family, he was the world.

Thomas Knecht was born May 22, 1950 in Belleville, Illinois to Wayne and Lela Knecht. He led an uncommon life.

As a child, he was intrepid and undaunted. One episode involved the Mississippi River, a small boat, and almost being run over by a huge barge. At seven, he suffered a serious injury that almost sent him home early. Nonetheless, he endured and excelled in life, and graduated from Belleville Township High School West.

It was 1968, a time of global conflicts and cultural revolutions. His next adventure was joining the US Air Force, leaving his parents

and siblings Ron, Kathy, Lisa and Brent. After basic training and tech school, he was stationed at Clarke Air Force Base in the Philippines – about as far as you can get from the Midwest.

Mark Twain once said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow mindedness. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

Immersed in a totally different land and culture, he served his country, made friends, attended the University of the Philippines, and met the woman with whom he would later have a family. The path he took to “bridge the world.” Dad bridged two cultures in creating his family. Doing so, he expanded the views of his and our lives.

Among the writings he kept was this: “It is said that branches draw their life from the vine. Each is separate and yet all are one, as they share one main stem.”

Dad honored tradition and had a strong sense of duty. He and mom often cooked traditional German and Filipino foods. We grew up observing American and Filipino traditions. He blessed us with servant leadership to his family.

He believed persistence and a good work ethic brings fulfillment of goals.

Tom was a jack of all trades. He could build a house, fix your car, cook a mean steak, write well, survive outdoors, talk philosophy, and much more. He taught his children and others these invaluable skills.

He passed to us technical and problem-solving skills. He also

taught us to be critical thinkers and have an independent, objective view of life and current events. Dad believed possessions are not the key to happiness, but he taught us to value things we had earned or were given.

In good times and bad, he was as consistent as the tide. He never burdened us with the stress of financial or relational uncertainty. He endeavored through life changes, taking things in stride.

He lived life on his terms and never lost his adventurous spirit. He traveled and explored, taking many photos. And he continued to develop the built environment and world around him. He stayed busy, always on the move. Project after project, his hands were never idle.

As his own children became parents, he enthusiastically became grandpa. He loved his grandchildren Brandon, Lacey, Evelyn, Benjamin, Lela, Jacob and Joshua with every fiber of his being. He also loved his many nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, parents and siblings.

Later, health issues arose. He got treatment and was cautiously optimistic. He kept high spirits and weathered the storm. At a low point, he was blessed with a transplant three years ago. We are forever grateful to the person who allowed us more time with him.

Then cancer gripped him. Everyone knows he fought and endured this menace. He didn’t give up. On Sunday June 21, Father’s Day, Thomas Knecht passed on. Dad went peacefully with dignity. That day will always have an extra special meaning to us.

THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 2, 2020 PAGE 5

The Penny Press Tips Its Cap To:The Supreme Court which ruled that states can’t exclude church schools from programs benefit-ing their private, nonsectarian counterparts, bolstering a conservative drive to expand public support for religious education. “A State need not subsidize private education. But once a State decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by fellow conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

Carl Reiner, the entertainer whose sense of the absurd helped define comedy for the first genera-tion to grow up with TV sets, died of natural causes Monday night at the age of 98. An American life well lived.

The Penny Press Sends A Bronx Cheer And A Bouquet of Weeds To:The morons in New York who pulled $1,000,000,000 from the New York Police Department. Who are these liberal Democrat idiots going to call when they get mugged? Ghostbusters? It’ll happen sooner than they might think. Will they chalk the increased violent crime up to systemic idiocy? www.pennypressnv.com

Tips Of Our Cap and

Bronx Cheers

RON KNECHT

Commentary: Ron Knecht

So tell me. How stupid does the left think Middle America—that’s me and my neighbors, you and I—is?

Do you really think we’ll put up with mayhem in Seattle, Chicago and New York?

With police officers being shot and killed in Tulsa?

With a St. Louis family finding it necessary to bring out their guns to defend themselves and their house from a mob and then hear from a District Attorney that she is considering bringing charges not against the mob but the property owners?

And, oh yeah, Road Kill Joe Biden saying that if he were to accidentally get his senile old ass elected President that he would sign an executive order making masks mandatory?

Really?

In the words of the Chicago Police officers on T Shirts at the Democrat National Convention in 1996, “We kicked your father’s ass in 1968 . . . Wait ‘til you see what we do to you.”

How much of the hard left’s cave to Black Lives Matter and other assorted anarchists is going to be accepted by us until President Trump decides that it’s time to strike back and restore law and order. My educated guess is that we’re behind him 100%.

This isn’t about the 2020 election—not for us, anyway.

This is about driving down Michigan Avenue in Chicago and not getting shot. Or living in Seattle and not having your property stolen—by a mob. Or not getting murdered in New York.

And if the lefties who are the so-called leadership in every city which is out of control cannot fix it, it’s time for the President to send in the troops. At some point the Federal Government will have reason to declare the above actions

what they are—violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The same Middle America—the silent majority—which elected Richard Nixon in 1968 will happily send President Trump back for another four years.

And if we don’t—well, we will deserve what we get.

I have been around and in the media for a long time. I have an abiding respect for the judgment and good will of my fellow Americans. Have we made mistakes? Of course.

But the pendulum usually swings back to the middle.

Joe Biden, however is not out of the question because he is old. I’m old. Trump is old. Old is not inherently bad. In fact, usually, if old is accompanied by good health, it is MUCH better than the alternative.

No, Biden is out of the question because he is mentally feeble and completely out of touch with reality.

He has forgotten, as an example, that he made his son Hunter rich by being a sleazbag—if not a felon—when he was Vice President.

He has forgotten his position on things like law enforcement (he was for it) so he could, maybe, get elected.

Sorry, Democrats.

America is just not that stupid.

And if I’m wrong, it can look forward to four years of the last 25 days.

FRED WEINBERG

THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 2, 2020 PAGE 6

OPINIONFrom The Publisher...

America Is Just Not As Stupid As the Left Thinks

THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 2, 2020 PAGE 7

Time for the Scary TruthI’m rarely surprised by anything that happens in the squalid, corrupt

world of politics, but I have to admit that President Trump caught me off guard with his embarrassing vaudeville act in Tulsa ten days ago. I’m not a big Trump fan, per se, but I do support most of his freedom and free-market policies.

Also, even though he often fails to back up his threats with action, I believe he has displayed far more courage than any other Republican president in my lifetime. Ronald Reagan was pretty good at hitting back, at least during his early years in office, but not as good as Trump. All the other Republican presidents — the Bushes, Nixon, Ford, et al — have been nothing more than enablers for depraved Democratic behavior. More succinctly, they were unprincipled cowards who desperately wanted to convince their Democratic “colleagues” that they were liberals at heart.

Which brings me back to Trump’s Tulsa fiasco. I’m at a loss to understand what he was trying to prove with his longwinded, childish story about the media’s coverage of his slow walk down a ramp at West Point, followed by an equally frivolous anecdote about not spilling water on his tie. He came across more like a defensive middle schooler than the “leader of the free world,” and, unfortunately, people are not known to vote for defensive middle schoolers.

I realize that Rule No. 1 of the president’s base is “let Trump be Trump,” and I agree that it would be a mistake to try to mold him into something he is not. But when you see him preparing to do a swan dive off a 100-foot cliff into shark-infested waters, it seems to me you have a moral obligation to try to save him — especially when saving the country happens to be at stake as well.

I guess a little comic relief is okay now and then, but the focus of an election campaign — especially for a weird election like this one — should be on scaring people out of their wits with the truth. That’s right, skip the comedy and chest pounding, and focus instead on relentlessly hammering home to voters what will happen if Joe Biden and the Dirty Dems run the table in November.

What, exactly, is the scary truth? How about AOC heading up the Department of Energy? Or Beto O’Rourke calling the shots at the Environmental Protection Agency? Or Cory Booker being appointed Secretary of State? Or Keith Ellison succeeding Bill Barr as Attorney General? Even worse, if Democrats gain control of the Senate, they will have the power to appoint Supreme Court justices. How would you like to see Eric Holder, Andrew Weissman, or the infamous Michael Flynn judge, Emmet Sullivan, on the Supreme Court? Now that is what you call scary.

Another scary truth is that if Biden were to win the election, he would be nothing more than a puppet. He might be president of the Delaware Basement Dwellers Society, but that’s about it. The real president would be the woman his puppet masters anoint to be his running mate. Can you

imagine moronic Kamala Harris or serial liar Susan Rice as president of the United States?

Of course, the real power behind Biden and his VP would be Comrade Barry. That’s right, the nightmare of all nightmares would come to life — an Obama third term — and this time you can be certain he would finish the job of fundamentally transforming the United States of America.

Voters may be fed up with Trump’s verbiage, chest-pounding, and hyperbole, but I don’t think they’re ready for the dismantling of the foundations of their country by Radical Left Democrats and their Antifa/Black Lives Matter enforcers. Even so, you can’t assume voters are consciously thinking about these things when their minds are filled with job insecurity, financial problems, their family’s safety, and the China virus.

Which is why they have to be constantly reminded of what will happen if the Democrats get hold of the reins of power. They have to be constantly reminded that the cities with the highest violent-crime rates have been controlled by Democrats for decades. They have to be constantly reminded of how Democrats wasted tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on the baseless Russia-collusion and Ukraine witch hunts, and are hellbent on starting as many new hoax-based investigations as possible.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t for a second believe the polls that show Sleepy Joe 10-15 points ahead of the president, but I do believe that if Trump is not able to get a grip on his personality disorder, the Dirty Dems could actually achieve the unthinkable and win the House, the Senate, and the White House. Very, very scary.

On the bright side of things, when push comes to shove, how many voters really want to see America overrun by a mob of vicious psychopaths who are intent on abolishing the police, tearing down historical statues, and burning American cities to the ground? Not many, I would wager, which is why Trump needs to constantly remind voters what will happen if the Dirty Dems sweep into power on November 3.

Let’s hope Trump’s campaign team can turn things around in the next four months, because if they can’t, the United States of Armageddon will be the result. On the other hand, if Trump is able to put aside the nonsensical rhetoric and focus on what’s at stake in this election, the Democrats are almost certain to win it for him by once again overplaying their hand with their malicious, insane rhetoric and actions.

What voters need to hear from this point on is the scary truth, not the president’s personal grievances. ROBERT RINGERRobert Ringer (© 2020)is a New York Times #1 bestselling author who has appeared on numerous national radio and television shows, including The Tonight Show, Today, The Dennis Miller Show, Good Morning America, ABC Nightline, The Charlie Rose Show, as well as Fox News and Fox Business. To sign up for a free subscription to his mind-expanding daily insights, visit www.robertringer.com.

www.pennypressnv.com

Commentary: Robert Ringer

THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 2, 2020 PAGE 8

Time Preference v. Covid-19Nevada governor Steve Sisolak issued the order that everyone wear

a mask in public as of midnight this morning. A friend called first thing claiming the governor’s edict is what the Nazis did in Germany.

At least one tourist in town was more thoughtful, “You’d still have fun (with a mask). It’s not like they’re asking you to wear a hazmat suit,” said Tracy Lawson, of Ontario, Canada.

Lawson was in town on June 6th and plans to return July 26th. “It kind of just made me angry. … Obviously the virus is a real thing, and they’re not bothering (to stop it from spreading),” Lawson told the Las Vegas Review Journal over the phone. “They want everything open, (but they don’t want to wear a mask). You can’t have it both ways.”

Forced mask wearing is the latest hill to die on as Covid-19 ravages the south and southwest U.S.A. as well as countries in the southern hemisphere. In a piece for Lewrockwell.com, Becky Akres rants about “Masked Morons” and feels the need to provide “ammo in our war to remain (somewhat) free.”

The ammo she provides is the work of Lisa M Brosseau, ScD, and Margaret Sietsema, PhD who together wrote “COMMENTARY: Masks-for-all for COVID-19 not based on sound data” which was posted on the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research on April 1st.

As you can tell from the title, the authors contend masks won’t do any good in stopping the spread of the virus. Drs. Brosseau and Sietsema argue:

We do not recommend requiring the general public who do not have symptoms of COVID-19-like illness to routinely wear cloth or surgical masks because:

There is no scientific evidence they are effective in reducing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission

Their use may result in those wearing the masks to relax other distancing efforts because they have a sense of protection

We need to preserve the supply of surgical masks for at-risk healthcare workers.

Sietsema and Brosseau conclude, “Leaving aside the fact that they are ineffective, telling the public to wear cloth or surgical masks could be interpreted by some to mean that people are safe to stop isolating at home. It’s too late now for anything but stopping as much person-to-person interaction as possible.” (emphasis added)

In other words, forget the mask, stay home. Isolation is the only solution. But, after a couple of months of being cooped up at home, many Americans can’t handle it. One wonders why? The answer lies in Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s groundbreaking “Democracy The God That Failed.”

Staying at home requires frugality, savings, and patience. One must be a responsible adult to stay home and stay safe. But, as Hoppe points out, democracy, with its continuous property-rights violations leads to “decivilization: formerly provident providers will be turned into drunks or daydreamers, adults into children, civilized men into barbarians, and producers into criminals.”

Hoppe points out that the young and the old tend to have high time preferences. In other words, they live for today, seeking immediate gratification. Savings and safety are the last things on their minds. Spring breaker Brian Sluder famously said, “If I get corona, I get corona. At the end of the day, I’m not gonna let it stop me from partying.”

On the eve of the re-opening of Las Vegas casinos, Dominick

Tarabokija told the Las Vegas Sun, “I’m a little worried about my wife but not for myself, I’m 72. What do I have to lose?”

Social media is full of whining about missed vacations, not being able to go to the gym or the bar. That should be the worst thing that happens to the high time preference crowd.

Hoppe doesn’t write about pandemics, but he does make the point, “actual and potential victims are permitted to defend, protect, and insure themselves against both social disasters such as crime as well as natural ones, the effect of these on time preference is temporary and unsystematic.” In a footnote, Hoppe explains that a natural disaster doesn’t “change a person’s character structure, i.e., a shift from a lower to a higher time-preference curve. Such a shift occurs in the presence of government disasters, however.”

There have been many pandemics through the ages. But never has a population and its various layers of government been as over indebted and bereft of savings to ride out a plague.

Because of this devolution, the government has resorted to ham-handed banana-republic measures such as money printing, denying property rights (foreclosure and eviction moratoriums), and spreading government largesse far and wide ($1.4 billion to people who have died).

Democracy’s decivilization has forced citizens to put their lives at risk to stay on the job while the Federal Reserve continues to dissolve the value of their savings--if they have any. Massive government budgets demand commerce, safe or unsafe, to generate precious tax revenue to keep bureaucrats employed.

Forced mask wearing may be annoying, but it’s the least of numerous government transgressions against liberty.

Remember, “Democracy is a sort of laughing gas,” H.L. Mencken wrote. “It will not cure anything, perhaps, but it unquestionably stops the pain.”

Grow up, stay home, and enjoy the show.

DOUG FRENCH

THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 2, 2020 PAGE 9

Commentary: Doug French

“We Can’t Do Anything, Ma’am.” No Help For Mom Terrorized by Street Mob

A distraught mother, who was caught up in a violent street mob in downtown Fredericksburg, Virginia, was told by 911 dispatchers that she was on her own.

“They’re on my car! They’re on my car right now,” the motorist told the dispatcher. “They are blocking streets.

The dispatcher told the woman their hands were tied because city leaders had sanctioned the protests. City Hall had given the protesters permission to block streets and impede traffic.

“They told our officers we can’t do anything about it,” the dispatcher told the frightened motorist. “Unless you’re hurt, our officers can’t intervene.”

The motorist told the dispatcher that her young daughter was in the car and they were both scared.

“Get out of my car,” the woman screamed at the protesters. “This is going to get dangerous. I’ve got a kid here. I’ve got a little girl in the car crying. Are you kidding me?”

The dispatcher warned the woman not to hit any of the people who were illegally blocking the roadways.

“I cannot get out of here,” she said weeping. “Get out of the way. They’re on my car. They’re on my car.”

The woman was eventually able to escape from the rampaging mob.The city of Fredericksburg responded to the horrifying call after it

was broadcast on Tucker Carlson’s television program.“The 911 Communications Officer informed the caller that the

protest was a City authorized event and officers were monitoring the activity from afar. When the caller stated a person jumped on her vehicle (exhibiting criminal behavior), the Communications Officer notified officers staged nearby of the situation,” they said in a statement.

“When officers arrived at the demonstration, the caller had vacated the area. A Patrol Division Sergeant followed up with the caller by phone the following day and began his investigation. Public safety for everyone is the number one priority of the Police Department and the Sergeant exhausted all available resources to identify the suspect who jumped on her vehicle. His investigation continues.” TODD STARNES

THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 2, 2020 PAGE 10

Commentary: Todd Starnes

Obama and Biden Knew FBI Was Investigating Flynn and Trump in Jan. 2017

A newly released hand-written note by former FBI agent Peter Strzok from early Jan. 2017 confirms knowledge and direction of the investigation of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn by former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden.

The note was submitted as evidence by Flynn’s lawyers Jesse Binnall and Sidney Powell on June 24 just as the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a rare writ of mandamus ordering Judge Emmet Sullivan to dismiss the case against Flynn.

Per Binnall and Powell, both Obama and Biden were aware there was nothing untoward about Flynn’s Dec. 2016 discussions with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, “Yesterday, the Government produced further stunning and exculpatory evidence, previously withheld from General Flynn, showing that Director Comey himself and the highest levels of the Obama Administration had the transcripts of Flynn’s phone calls with officials of other countries and knew General Flynn’s calls were lawful and proper.”

Binnall and Powell continued, “Strzok’s notes believed to be of January 4, 2017, reveal that former President Obama, James Comey, Sally Yates, Joe Biden, and apparently Susan Rice discussed the transcripts of Flynn’s calls and how to proceed against him. Mr. Obama himself directed that ‘the right people’ investigate General Flynn. This caused former FBI Director Comey to acknowledge the obvious: General Flynn’s phone calls with Ambassador Kislyak ‘appear legit.’ According to Strzok’s notes, it appears that Vice President Biden personally raised the idea of the Logan Act. That became the admitted pretext to investigate General Flynn.”

Turns out Comey was right. The now-released transcripts of his phone calls with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak on Dec. 23, 2016, Dec. 29, 2016 and Dec. 31, 2016 confirm that Flynn was engaging with Kislyak to stop a dangerous escalation in U.S.-Russian relations from occurring during the transition.

The investigation into whether Flynn was a Russian agent had been closed on Jan. 3, 2017, only to be reopened by Strzok based on the intercepted conversations between Flynn and Kislyak. This came at the time the Obama administration was levying sanctions against Russia and expelling many Russian diplomats from the U.S.

Flynn told Kislyak on Dec. 29, 2016 that “we need cool heads to prevail” and advised that Moscow only respond in a “reciprocal” fashion. By Dec. 31, 2016, Kislyak had reported that Moscow had received Flynn’s message and would only respond in reciprocal fashion.

Nothing much to that. Flynn was protecting U.S. national security and ensuring a smooth transition on U.S.-Russian relations headed into 2017. As Comey reportedly noted, the conversations “appear legit.”

The Strzok note, if dated correctly, came a day before the Jan. 5, 2017 meeting between former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, former FBI Director James Comey and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates than was shown a now fully declassified letter former National Security Advisor Susan Rice wrote to herself on Jan. 20, 2017, memorializing the meeting.

Per Rice’s summary “On January 5, following a briefing by IC leadership on Russian hacking during the 2016 Presidential election, President Obama had a brief follow-on conversation with FBI Director

Jim Comey and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates in the Oval Office. Vice President Biden and I were also present.”

This was the Russian interference into the 2016 election briefing given a day before then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper issued the joint intelligence assessment on the same.

However, the version that was given to former President Barack Obama and then-President-Elect Trump on Jan. 5, 2017 included some of the allegations leveled by former British spy Christopher Steele’s dossier, paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, that Trump was a Russian agent.

The allegations were eventually debunked by none other than Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who in his 2019 report stated, “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” and “the evidence does not establish that the President was involved in an underlying crime related to Russian election interference.”

After the core intel briefing on Jan. 5, 2017, in the conversation between Obama, Comey, Yates, Biden and Rice with Obama doing nothing to stop the investigation into the incoming administration: “President Obama began the conversation by stressing his continued commitment to ensuring that every aspect of this issue is handled by the Intelligence and law enforcement communities ‘by the book’. The President stressed that he is not asking about, initiating or instructing anything from a law enforcement perspective. He reiterated that our law enforcement team needs to proceed as it normally would by the book. From a national security perspective, however, President Obama said he wants to be sure that, as we engage with the incoming team, we are mindful to ascertain if there is any reason that we cannot share information fully as it relates to Russia.”

The memo continued, with Comey noting that no classified information had been passed along to Kislyak: “Director Comey affirmed that he is proceeding ‘by the book’ as it relates to law enforcement. From a national security perspective, Comey said he does have some concerns that incoming NSA Flynn is speaking frequently with Russian Ambassador Kislyak. Comey said that could be an issue as it relates to sharing sensitive information. President obama asked if Comey was saying that the NSC should not pas sensitive information related to Russia to Flynn. Comey replied, ‘potentially.’ He added that he has no indication thus far that Flynn has passed classified information to Kislyak, but he noted that ‘the level of communication is unusual.’”

Afterward, somebody leaked the Flynn call to the Washington Post on Jan. 12, 2017, and then the FBI was sent to ask Flynn about it on Jan. 24, 2017 in a perjury trap. The rest, as they say, is history, leading swiftly to Flynn’s firing, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal, Comey’s firing and then the appointment of Mueller.

It is possible that the Strzok note details the same Jan. 5, 2017 meeting in the Oval Office, and that Pannell and Powell have the date wrong, in which case it provides additional context to the conversation.

Either way, both the Rice memo and now the Strzok note show that Obama and Biden were fully aware of and directing the criminal investigation against Flynn and thus Trump. All at a time when the Trump campaign and then transition were already under active FISA Court-ordered surveillance based on the Steele dossier, spying on the opposition party in an election year for what turns out were false allegations of being Russian agents. This one goes all the way to the top — and Obama and Biden did nothing to stop it. ROBERT ROMANORobert Romano is the Vice President of Public Policy at Americans for Limited Government.

THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 2, 2020 PAGE 11

Commentary: Robert Romano

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Gang that Couldn’t Recall Straight Leaves Goodman Standing Tall

When it comes to the embodiment of the phrase “sound and fury signifying nothing,” you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better example than the stillborn effort to recall Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman.

As you may recall, Mayor Goodman properly called Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak’s statewide shutdown “total insanity” way back in mid-April.

She argued, accurately, that Nevada should start to do what Sisolak finally started doing two weeks ago: gradually reopening our economy. In a statement on April 24, the Mayor noted…

“I believe all of America loves Las Vegas and wants very much to see her survive. It therefore, behooves me to explain to Americans from the other forty-nine states just how perilous and unique our situation is if our hospitality industry doesn’t reopen soon. The Las Vegas the world knows and loves, simply won’t survive.

“My incontestable and incontrovertible responsibility is to see to it that this happens as soon as is possible while keeping our citizens and visitors as safe as is possible to do. Therefore, we must examine all the available data from every major city in the world and determine the safest path to reopening.”

Indeed, had we started dipping our toes back in the water two months ago we’d already be well beyond where we find ourselves today. Sisolak’s indecision and fiddling while our economy burned has succeeded in doing nothing more than make a bad situation worse.

As you’ll also recall, Mayor Goodman went on CNN to discuss her position on the matter and was sandbagged by Anderson “Pretty Boy” Cooper, who proceeded to twist and turn and take the Mayor’s words out of context.

He’s not known as the King of Fake News for nuthin’.And that interview resulted in left-wing goofballs (hello, Jon Ralston!)

and assorted Goodman haters coming out of the woodwork demanding her head on a pike.

One of them, a time-share kingpin named Steve “Clueless” Cloobeck, went on TV and had a red-faced, profanity-filled conniption…

“Once and for all, enough, Mayor! You have nothing to do with the Strip! It’s utter bullshit. Utter bullshit!”

So poetic.Another, a poker player named Doug Polk, announced - with much

social media pomp and circumstance - an effort to recall the Mayor.The press ate it up. After all, fights make news.Then the Clueless Boy Wonder threw gas on the fire, announcing he

would spend “whatever it takes” to make Mr. Polk’s recall fantasy come true.

“I know what it will cost to be successful, and have the funds set aside. I’m bringing my A-game to this fight. She’s violated the world-class respect of the state of Nevada, and more importantly, of the city of Las Vegas.”

But a funny thing happened on the way to the fight.

The dufus duo crashed and burned.Shea Johnson of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported this morning… “The group seeking to recall Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman

has not collected a single signature at the halfway mark, organizers told the city this week.

“The Committee to Recall Mayor Carolyn Goodman has until Aug. 4 to gather 6,745 valid signatures from registered voters who participated in last year’s municipal primary election. But none had been collected as of June 20, the midway point of the 90-day deadline.”

How embarrassing.In addition, Johnson reports that the recall committee “had not received

nor made any contributions or expenses of more than $100 during the first 45 days of the recall period.”

Which indicates Mr. “A-Game” was all talk and bravado for media attention, but then left the poor, hapless Mr. Polk holding a bag of nothing more than magic beans.

Money talks and Cloobeck walks. The fool and his money didn’t part.Carolyn Goodman was right. Then and now. She’s still the mayor. And will continue being so.Polk and Cloobeck huffed and puffed and…blew their own house

down.They rolled the dice and apparently crapped out.They’re gonna need more than a Sisolak-approved face diaper to wipe

that brontosaurus-sized egg off their faces!Beverly Hills Protest Mob Gets Rude Awakening(Chuck Muth) - According to an Associated Press report, 23 “protestors”

were arrested Friday night “after they ignored repeated orders to leave a neighborhood” in Beverly Hills, California.

Emboldened by the failure of police departments in other cities around the country to actually enforce dispersal orders, the Beverly Hills miscreants probably figured the Beverly Hills PD would turn a blind eye to their unlawful assembly as well.

They figured wrong.Not only were the 23 arrested, they weren’t handed get-out-of-jail-

free cards so they could immediately return to the streets and continue the carnage. Bail was set at $5,000. CHUCK MUTH

THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 2, 2020 PAGE 14

Commentary: Chuck Muth

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KNNR, KNNT, KAVB, KNVR, KPKK, KELY

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