Dr. Fauci: The Doc Who Couldn't Shoot Straight

He has been praised as a "national treasure." He wears the title of America's doctor.  His popularity ranks highest among government figures, including the president. His words carry more weight than any global health expert. However, most Americans know little about the grandfatherly Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Dr. Fauci has been anointed the nation's "top infectious disease expert" by an adoring media. He is a Presidential Medal of Honor recipient and one of the most cited living researchers, according to Google. He holds the American Association of Immunologist Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dr. Fauci earned his medical degree from Cornell in 1966.  He started his career at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1968.  In 1984, he ascended to head the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services.

That means Dr. Fauci is a 52-year career federal government employee.  That is not a knock on the doctor, just a fact.  He is an immunologist, a speciality that treats health issues brought on by immune system problems.  Epidemiologists focus on epidemics and other health-related diseases. 

Dr. Fauci, despite his spry demeanor, is 80-years old.  He earns more than the president. He is the government's top paid official with an annual salary of $417,608 in 2019.  The president makes $400,000. Federal executive-level employees salaries are generally capped at $172,500.

For all his credentials, Dr. Fauci has been less than a straight shooter with the American public on the Coronavirus. The Brooklyn native has admitted publicly withholding information from Americans, moving the goalposts on herd immunity and obfuscating when the situation called for clarity.

His Coronavirus public advice began last year on January 21, when he told Americans they did not need to worry about the virus coming to our shores.  Less than a month later on February 8, America's COVID expert down-played the danger of the virus, labeling the chances of infection as very small.

The same month on the 29th, Dr. Fauci appeared on the Today Show and assured American there was "no need" to change their behavior as the pandemic spread.  His streak continued on March 9 when he recommended taking a cruise, telling Forbes Magazine if "you're healthy, cruise ships are safe."

For Fauci-defenders, this may sound like Monday Morning Quarterbacking.  Very little was known about the virus and the doctor was basing his counsel on the best available data, his protectors argue.  But that's the point.  There was virtually no scientific data or research on the novel COVID 19.  

Didn't Dr. Fauci have a responsibility as the COVID Czar to caution Americans that his advice was predicated on precious little scientific evidence?  No political figure could have escaped media scorn for treating public health pronouncements so callously.  Exactness matters during widespread panic. 

However, it is not only sacrilegious to critique Dr. Fauci but social media platforms will censor you for questioning any of his Coronavirus health advisories.  No fair person can defend his reluctance to admit publicly he was wrong or that scientists were befuddled, especially early in the pandemic.  

Perhaps, his most ignominious pronouncement came in March on the television show "60 Minutes" when he uttered the following:

"Right now, in the United States, people should not be walking around with masks," he said.  "There no reason to be walking around with a mask."  He went on to reiterate that masks should largely be reserved for health care providers.  

In April, Dr. Fauci pivoted, advising Americans to don masks.  His change of direction sounded contradictory to average Americans.  In his defense, the actual scientific evidence about the protection offered by cloth masks for COVID was nonexistent.  But he obviously believed masks were needed.

Months later on July 16, Dr. Fauci in an interview with CBS News defended his earlier decision, surprisingly admitting he doesn't regret his counsel against wearing masks.  His defense exposed his lack of faith in the intelligence of Americans.  This elitist approach continued throughout the pandemic.  

"I don't regret anything I said then because in the context of the time in which I said it, it was correct.  We were told in our task force meeting that we had a serious problem with lack of PPE's (Personal Protective Equipment) and masks for health providers who were putting themselves in harm's way every day to take care of sick people," he told news anchor Norah O'Donnell.

A fair interpretation of his remarks clearly shows Dr. Fauci purposefully avoided telling people to wear masks because he feared Americans would run out and purchase the products making it more difficult for health workers to obtain masks.  Why not just say that? Speak the truth.  

A few scientists had the temerity to suggest perhaps Dr. Fauci should have been more forthcoming, including UC San Francisco epidemiologist George Rutherford.  He chided the doctor's concern for nuanced messaging when he should have been warning Americans to don masks.

"We should have told people to wear cloth masks right off the bat," he said.  Chances are you have never read this is your legacy media.  

An example of Dr. Fauci's  penchant for moving the goalposts arose during the pandemic when he cited an estimate of 60-to-70 estimate of herd immunity as the measurement desired for the country returning to "normal."  Then this March, he shifted to 70-to-75%. Days later the estimate flipped to 75-to-80%.

In a telephone interview. Dr. Fauci acknowledged that he had slowly but deliberately been shifting the goalposts.  He said it was partly based on new science and "partly on his gut feeling" that the country is finally ready to have access to what he really believes is the ideal herd immunity figure.  

The immunologist clarified that he hesitated to publicly raise his herd estimate because Americans seemed reluctant about getting vaccinated.  Wide adoption of vaccines were required in order for the country to achieve herd immunity.  How does fudging on herd immunity encourage vaccinations?

Herd immunity may never be obtained, if national polling can be believed.  A Gallup survey in December found 42% of Americans do not want to be vaccinated. As of March 25, just 13.8% of Americans were fully vaccinated, making herd immunity a faint possibility by end of year. 

In the latest epidemiological dust-up, Sen. Rand Paul, an ophthalmologist, challenged some of Dr. Fauci's assertions about masks and vaccine immunity during a Senate Committee hearing on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions recently.  

The Kentucky senator bore in on Dr. Fauci's insistence that those fully vaccinated must continue to wear masks.  Paul cited statistics that out of nearly 30 million Americans vaccinated, there were only five confirmed cases of re-infection.  He demanded to know what was the science behind the mask mandate.

Dr. Fauci answered the masks were "protective."  Paul pressed for scientific studies showing that those vaccinated needed to continue to wear masks.  Dr. Fauci could produce no science to prove masks should be worn after vaccination. 

Before the hearing, Dr. Fauci was photographed wearing two masks. He told the media two masks were better than one for protection. Based on what scientific evidence?  Name a study?   The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has made no such public recommendation.

If two masks are better, what about three or four? Show us the science.

Asked how long Americans needed to mask up, Dr. Fauci has vacillated.  In interviews he predicted a return to normality by summer, an indication masks might not be required.  Now he is equivocating.  His advice in an interview on CNN on February 21 when asked if masks would be required in 2022:

"You know, I think it is possible that that's the case, and again, it really depends on what you mean by normality," he answered. Wearing a mask is not normal for Americans.  Normality, for most, is freedom of movement, association and no masks.  That was life pre-pandemic.  

As with so many of his pronouncements, this just adds to people's confusion.  Worse, it erodes public confidence in health advice, making Americans leery about following his directives.  No surprise that a Kaiser Family Foundation poll found trust in Dr. Fauci and the CDC is rapidly declining.

It begs the question: When you demand that people follow science, whose science should they embrace? Throughout the pandemic, some of the world's brightest and best epidemiologists have presented findings shining new light on the virus thus rendering past advice and knowledge obsolete.  

In these cases, who is right?  Who decides the science?  

Scientists need to admit when new evidence contradicts their previous advice and fully explain it to the public.  No one expects scientists to be 100% right 100% of the time.  Just own up to the obvious. That will increase credibility instead of corroding it in the eyes of the public.  

For those ready to crucify anyone who critiques Dr. Fauci, let's add this disclaimer.  He had the weight of a novel Coronavirus on his shoulders and did his very best to steer the country through the pandemic safely.  Let's stipulate no one could have done it better, certainly not this writer.

That still does not absolve Dr. Fauci of his responsibility to speak plainly to the American public.  Every crisis demands transparency and the truth, even if it unsettles people.  Americans are supportive when they believe they are getting straight answers.  You shouldn't treat Americans as nincompoops.

When you do that, you should not be surprised when Americans either ignore or give less credence to your health mandates.          

Governor Cuomo: America's Scummiest Leader

Unfortunately it required revelations of toxic sexual misconduct from eight women to finally expose New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as a noxious, political charlatan. The charges expunged the fasctitoiusly nurtured veneer maintained by America's most pompous, narcissistic state leader. 

The cheeky governor brushed aside the allegations with repugnant claims his casual flirtations were misinterpreted by the women.  This is the same lout who once clamored that every woman's assertion of sexual misconduct deserved to be believed.  Cuomo has evolved from #MeToo to #MisogynistInChief.

As a chorus of women echoed allegations, Cuomo issued a baneful statement saying he "teased people about their personal lives, their relationships, about getting married or not married," but didn't mean to offend anyone.  He is a member of the Party of Woke.  This is cloddish Neanderthal behavior.

Sources told The New York Times that Cuomo had the hutzpah to author a letter for his inner circle to distribute to former staffers aimed at tarnishing the credibility of one of his chief accusers.  The maneuver speaks to the character of a ruthless, bullying politician.   

The governor counted on a coddling media to allow him to escape unscathed.  Instead the news cheerleaders were forced by the allegations to chisel the governor's facade.  Many insiders, including the duplicitous media, had known for years about Cuomo's peccadilloes. 

Media coverage of the sexual allegations dwarfed previous press reporting on the extent of his deadly nursing home scandal.  The fawning media was determined to downplay the nursing home disaster to aid the governor's attempt to dodge responsibility, but the misconduct charges opened Pandora's box.  

Cuomo should have been ousted months ago after his disastrous directive to ship COVID patients into the state's nursing homes, a decision that led to deaths of 14,500 elderly residents. As a result of the imbecilic decision, 37% of all Coronavirus fatalities in New York state occurred in  nursing homes.

During the darkest days of the scourge, Cuomo spent most of his time puffing up his image for managing the health crisis. He authored a media-acclaimed book, "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons During the COVID-19 Pandemic." He presented himself as New York's savior in the best-seller.

In November, that bastion of progressive sycophancy, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, awarded Cuomo an Emmy "in recognition of his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic and his masterful use of TV to inform and calm people around the world."

What a charade.  Cuomo's media performances were orchestrated to burnish his reputation while promoting his presidential ambitions. He yammered about how President Trump had failed the nation, while he, Cuomo, was a model of following science to implement life-saving, effective solutions. 

After the nursing home fiasco, how could any leader claim he was following science as Cuomo often bragged?  If Cuomo understood science, he would have made protecting the elderly, the most vulnerable to the virus, his top priority.  Instead he left them defenseless against an insidious virus.

Cuomo's state Health Department last March issued a pernicious advisory requiring nursing homes to accept "the expedited receipt of residents returning from packed hospitals "if the patients were deemed medically stable." The document blessed by Cuomo also directed the following:

"No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the (nursing home) solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19. (Nursing homes) are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or re-admission."

To make it clear, the governor not only forced nursing homes to accept COVID patients, but his health department's order forbade the facilities to even test other incoming patients for the virus.  This did not apply to hospitals, only to nursing homes.  It is an unconscionable act of a detached political emperor.    

His lethal mistake was unmasked when the New York State Attorney General Letitia James rocked Cuomo's political dynasty with a report faulting his administration for undercounting the Coronavirus deaths in nursing homes, suggesting a politically-motivated cover-up. 

Cuomo's top aide Melissa DeRosa admitted the state withheld nursing home data from the state legislature because the governor was worried about a possible federal Department of Justice investigation into how Team Cuomo dealt with the crisis. 

The New York Times, normally a reliable guardian of Cuomo's image, reported Cuomo and his team rewrote a report, removing the fact that more than 9,000 nursing home residents had died by June.  The Times found the state health department's data was approximately 50% higher than public figures 

While infected patients were whisked to nursing homes, the administration surely knew the facilities were ill-equipped to deal with protecting their own patients in the early stages of the outbreak. The attorney general's report tried to cover for Cuomo by blaming nursing homes for their unpreparedness. 

This heartless decision set the stage for an epidemiological disaster of epic proportions. 

As news of the catastrophe broke, Governor Cuomo created limited immunity provisions for health care professionals shielding them from the potential liability for their actions or omissions.  The immunity covers nursing home owners.  This is Cuomo at his sleaziest best.  

According to campaign finance records, Cuomo accepted at least $126,000 from the Greater New York Hospital Association, other industry groups and their lobbyists in the months prior to his decision to grant legal protections from lawsuits and criminal prosecutions.

The legal shelter was stuffed at the eleventh hour in the annual state budget bill.  Democrat Assemblyman Ron Kim made his feelings clear. "You can't put a toxic bill (amendment) like that in the budget without having full access to the governor's office," Kim pointed out.

At the time, New York media yawned.  Nothing to see here.

Throughout the COVID emergency, Cuomo bellyached about the need for aid, citing the overcrowding at New York hospitals.  President Trump dispatched the Mercy, a 1,000 bed floating Navy hospital, to New York Harbor.  The federal government also erected 1,000 beds in the Javits Convention Center.

After his badgering, the conceited Cuomo thumbed his nose at the assistance, while the bodies of dead COVID victims were piled into refrigerated trucks.  As far as can be determined, less than 100 patients ever set foot in either the Navy ship or the makeshift hospital at the convention center.  

Classic Cuomo.  Blame someone else for your mismanagement.  Then stick them with the bill.

Lockdown Andrew's measures to staunch the spread of the virus were among the most extreme of any state.  He virtually shutdown the state and shamed New Yorkers if they refused his regal dictates.  So how did that all turn out for New York?  Was the state safer under Cuomo's lockdown regime?

The data clearly illustrates Cuomo reigned over a stupendous failure. New York led all states in the number of fatalities per 100,000 population with 248.  By comparison, Texas fatalities were 156 per 100,000; Florida, 148; and California, 137.  Those three states are all larger than New York. 

New York also suffered the worst economic toll.  Pew Research Center estimates 126,00 New York residents fled the state between February of last year until December.  The state lost 1,058,000 jobs during the crisis, second only to California.  Texas and Florida lost half that many jobs.

A University of New Hampshire report on Gross Domestic Product, a measurement of economic activity, revealed that New York performance was far behind other states of similar size.  From the fourth quarter of 2019 to the third quarter of 2020, here are the GDP figures for four states:

• New York -6.1%
• California -3.7%
• Texas  -3.6%
• Florida -2.9%

In spite of his sorry performance, insolent Governor Cuomo almost broke both hands patting himself on the back in public without a hint of shame.  If you are wondering how Cuomo survived such ignominious failure, look no further than an ingratiating media not interested in facts.

Thanks to eight courageous women, and counting, the impudent governor's true character can no longer be hidden.  The fact the governor continues to swat away the allegations as just delusions by the accusers is testament to his pomposity.  If he were a Republican, he would be gone from office.

Faced with mounting pressure from fellow Democrats, Cuomo finally acquiesced and agreed to appoint an "independent" probe.  He named fellow Democrat state Attorney General James to head the investigation. She is hardly an independent public officer. Expect Cuomo to receive a wrist slap.

There is also open discussion of impeachment but Cuomo is a Democrat governor in a heavily partisan Democrat state.  He is likely to ride out that storm, too.  In New York, the Cuomo name is a golden calf to be worshiped by the political class.  Few dare to challenge the vengeful governor. 

That's a shame because Governor Andrew Cuomo should have been forced to resign months ago for the trail of bodies left in the wake of his political boosterism. Now the sexual harassment charges are an overriding reason to throw the bum out of office. Just do it, New York Democrats.  

Stimulus: More Pork Than A Jimmy Dean Sausage

A 5,593-page bill, cleverly disguised as COVID relief package, is officially the porkiest bill in Congressional history.  This nearly $2 trillion spending boondoggle comes on the heels of a $2.3 trillion pandemic assistance bill approved in December. That's $4 trillion in tax dollars in less than four months.

Early estimates are the spending spree will increase the nation's debt by $2 trillion over a decade.  The current national debt is a mind-numbing $27.4 trillion (as of March 13).  Since 2000, your federal government has added $25.4 trillion in debt.  That is a 1,150% increase in a little more than 20 years.

A review of the stimulus monstrosity reveals Congress stealthily inserted scores of non-Coronavirus items in the bill to keep Americans clueless.  The parasite media trumpeted the $1,400 stimulus checks, but glossed over the billions of dollars earmarked for special-interest, pork barrel projects.

National Public Radio (NPR) gushed: "Life Changing Stimulus Checks Go Out."  The Washington Post and USA Today deemed the stimulus a lifeline to a nation in an economic crisis. Yet government data confirms companies are hiring, unemployment is dipping and businesses are reopening.  

The bill, shrewdly named the American Rescue Plan Act, carries an official price tag of $1.9 trillion for what the drafters boast is a measure combining the "full resources of the federal government to protect the health and well-being of all Americans."  What a crock. This bill is a gusher for big government.

To start, those media-ballyhooed $1,400 stimulus checks represent a measly $413 billion in cash payments directly to Americans making less than $75,000.  The remaining $1.48 trillion of the budget-buster flows to virtually every government agency and a raft of progressive, liberal goodies.

If the Biden administration believes jobs are the top issue, then why so little of the $1.9 trillion went to Americans who are out-of-work? No matter how many times Biden's mouthpieces brand this a jobs bill, the piddling amount dedicated to payments to unemployed is a sign of duplicity. 

As part of its propaganda willingly echoed by the legacy media, the bills proponents championed the spending on vaccines, testing and other pandemic medical supplies. The actual dollar figure for these projects is $75 billion, a mere pittance of the $1.9 trillion. 

The lion's share of the fountain of money is being showered on a laundry list of non-Coronavirus earmarks.  

A revolting $350 billion is rained on blue-states and local governments, including a $42.2 billion bail out for California.  That is a gift from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to her home state. California is expected to end the fiscal year with a $10 billion surplus.  How can anyone justify this largess?

Feeding the federal agencies and departments in The Swamp was a priority for Democrats, who own this engorged spending orgy since not one single Republican voted for this big government wish-list. Here are a few examples:

• $9.5 billion for Department of Agriculture
• $1.886 billion for the Department of Commerce
• $1 billion for the Department of Justice
• $10.5 billion for the Department of Defense
• $295.15 million for the General Services Administration
• $45.9 billion for Homeland Security
• $2.04 billion for the Interior, Environment and related agencies
• $30.9 billion for the Department of Education
• $93.1 million for the Legislative Branch, including the Senate and House
• $31.1 billion for the Department of Transportation
• $674 million for the Department of State
• $70.8 million to the U.S. Forrest Service
• $20.6 million to the Department of Interior/Bureau of Reclamation

In each of these line-item expenditures, the bill's Democrat authors added language about the pandemic in a thinly veiled attempt to justify the mammoth spending on departments and agencies already funded through the annual Congressional budget.  More money equals bigger government.  

As egregious as funneling more money to the government sounds, there are flagrant examples of special interest pay-offs stuffed into the omnibus bill, which most members of Congress didn't have the time or the inclination to read.  As Speaker Pelosi once crowed, "We have to pass the bill to see what's in it."

Hold your nose while you read these excesses funded by your taxpaying dollars:

• $14.25 billion for colleges to make up for lost revenues 
• $75 million for Public Broadcasting
• $5 million for Railroad Retirement Board
• $4 billion for homeless assistance 
• $3 million for Forrest and Rangeland Research
• $12.5 million for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
• $7.5 million for the Smithsonian Institution 
• $25 million for the Kennedy Center, currently closed
• $75 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
• $75 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities
• $13 million for Howard University
• $7 million for Gallaudet University
• $800 million in additional foreign food aid
• $1.5 million for the Seaway International Bridge connecting New York to Canada
• $100 million on construction of an underground rail linking San Francisco to Silicon Valley
• $86 billion to bail out 185 multi-employer pension plans for unions and industry

If your stomach is churning and your blood pressure is spiking, you may want to stop reading unless you have 9-1-1 on your speed dial. The spending outlined to this point is just the tip of an Antarctica iceberg.  Listed below are more glaring examples of preposterous spending in the name of COVID.

• $30 billion in transit grants through fiscal year 2024
• $1.5 billion to Amtrak, already sitting on $1 billion in unspent aid from previous relief bills
• $3.5 billion for Child Care grants to states to assist child care providers
• $600 million for additional paid leave for federal employees and postal workers
• $15 billion for airline payroll support
• Payroll Protection Plan (PPP) for labor unions
• Allows stimulus checks for the 387,642 so-called Dreamers (DACA) residents 
• $34 billion for subsidies for insurance premiums, the largest expansion of Obamacare
• Grants stimulus checks to mixed immigration status families, including if one parent is an illegal immigrant 
• $130 billion to schools, even if they remain closed (This is on top of the $110 billion granted in the December stimulus bill.)
• $3 billion in aid to supplement payroll costs for some aircraft manufacturers
• $40 million for Student Aid administration
• $65 million for housing opportunities for persons with HIV/AIDS 

The Democrat legislation is chocked with sleights of hand to avoid blowback from voters.  For example, there is a $50 million line item for family planning.  There is no mention of the recipient. No doubt the bestowal of cash will flow into the coffers of Planned Parenthood.

However, every fact checker from Politico to Snopes dutifully points out Planned Parenthood is not specifically named in the bill.  The abortion and reproductive health organization will be required to send a proposal to apply for the funds, the fact-checkers claim.  This is cover-up to quell public outrage.

It is fair to point out there was pork in the previous spending bills, including the December stimulus which included $10 million for gender studies in Pakistan.  The difference is the legacy media made it a major part of its reporting.  Not so under Mr. Biden.  Now it camouflages the pork. 

This pork-wrapped-in-a-stimulus breakfast taco, is an insult to Americans' intelligence.  The media and Democrats believe taxpayers--that's you dear reader--are too brainless to see through the waste and deceitfulness.  They are counting on your not to notice their dishonesty and to remain mum. 

Helping out those who have lost jobs during the pandemic business lockdown is a noble cause.  That's what this stimulus bill should have addressed and little else. Americans need to confront their elected officials and give them an earful.  Tell them to keep the pork in the Swamp's pig sty.     

Biden Amnesty For How Many Illegal Immigrants?

A plan to legalize an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the country is being hammered out by House Democrats. Nothing in the proposal addresses an accurate count of illegals in the U.S. or the inequity of the treatment for legal immigrants who wait years for citizenship.

The last time America paved the way for amnesty for immigrants living illegally in the country was 1986. The Immigration Reform and Control Act provided citizenship for three million non-citizens and made it illegal to hire undocumented immigrants while increasing funding for tightened border control.

Although the comprehensive details of the House bill are unknown, preliminary signs indicate the plan would provide illegal immigrants a five-year temporary citizenship status, after which they would be eligible to apply for a three-year green card and then citizenship following that period.  

When the topic of amnesty is raised, those who support the Biden plan virtually always cite the generally accepted figure of 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the U.S. However, there is no official government data on how many non-citizens are residing in the country at this moment.

The 11 million figure has its origins in studies done by the non-partisan Pew Research Center as early as 2005.  In 2014, Pew raised the figure to 11.1 million, then lowered it to 10.5 million in its 2017 study.  Estimates are based on modeling data and Census Bureau studies. These are not facts but guesses.

Pew's figures are extrapolated from the Census Bureau's annual American Community survey, a  method used for at least three decades by most demographers.  Assuming the estimate is accurate, granting citizenship to 11 million individuals is the equivalent of adding a state the size of Georgia.

There are recent studies that cast doubt on the 11 million number. In fact, research based on new modeling techniques indicate the 11 million number is a gross underestimate. The number matters because these undocumented immigrants would be eligible for federal and other benefits.

Is the 11 million figure accurate?

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a non-partisan, public interest group, estimated there are approximately 14.3 million illegal immigrant residing in America.  Their estimate, using more sophisticated modeling than Pew Research, was published in 2019.

In 2018, the Migration Policy Institute released a study that found there were 19 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.  Nearly one-half of all undocumented immigrants live in three states (listed with percentage of nation's total): California, 24%; Texas, 16%; and New York, 8%.

A Yale School of Management study in 2018, employing yet another methodology, suggests the actual figure for the undocumented immigrant population may be more than 22 million. The Yale researchers used mathematical modeling on a wide range of demographic and immigration data.  

Even employing parameters aimed at producing an extremely conservative measurement, the Yale study placed the low end estimate of illegal immigrants at 16.7 million.  After running 1 million simulations of the model, the 95% probability range is 16-to-29 million with 22.1 million the mean. 

A Bear Stearns report issued in 2005 estimated there were 20 million illegal immigrants residing in the country, roughly the population of New York state.  Moreover, the analysts asserted between 12 and 15 million jobs in the country were held by illegal immigrants, representing 8% of the workforce.

Bottom line: the 11 million number is most likely off by millions.  For those who support amnesty, it improves chances of public support for their position to deliberately downplay the figure as well as the costs of adding millions to the citizenship rolls.

Whatever the accurate data, it is well to remember that those who receive amnesty could then sponsor the lawful immigration of family members who still live abroad.  According to federal records, each immigrant, on average, sponsors three-to-four additional family members for green cards.

A green card means the individual obtains permanent residence permission allowing the person to live and work in the U.S.  The immigrant still must go through the legal process to become a citizen.

If you believe the number is 22 million that theoretically means legalization could potentially open the door for 66-to-88 million immigrants. Of course, the U.S. establishes annual limits on immigration.  However, the Biden plan apparently includes increasing the ceiling to allow more immigration. 

In the debate over immigration, reformers point to an Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimate that illegal immigrants contribute $11.74 billion to state and local economies.  However, at least 26 states currently pay these immigrants benefits ranging from food assistance to healthcare.  

In Arizona, it adds up to about $1.6 billion annually in benefits. California and New York, two of the countries largest states, offer illegal immigrants healthcare access, food assistance and cash benefits.  Providing citizenship to millions of undocumented immigrants will hike federal and state benefit costs.

Undocumented immigrants, including 387,642 so-called DACA dreamers, are currently ineligible to receive most federal public benefits.

Legal Immigration Works, So How Do You Justify Citizenship For Illegals?

In the rush for amnesty, the media owes it to Americans to inform them our country has more legal immigrants than any country on Earth: 44.9 million.  That is the largest number of immigrants living in America since census record-keeping began. Since 1965, the number of immigrants has quadrupled.  

The next closest country is Germany with 12 million immigrants.  We are anything but a xenophobic nation.

Those 44.9 million legal immigrants waited an average of one to one-and-half years before becoming naturalized citizens.  The entire process, from gaining permission to enter the country to acquiring citizenship, can take from three to five years, according to government records.  

The 16-to-22 million undocumented  immigrants did not enter the country legally, a fact the media glosses over in its reporting about the Biden plan.  In effect, they will gain citizenship without the hardships and costs endured by those who played by the rules and immigrated legally to the U.S.

Another media tactic is to demagogue the illegal immigrant issue by raising the specter mass deportation. Legacy media conjures up images of millions of immigrants being frog-marched and sardined into buses and planes to be swiftly deported under the cover of darkness.

No one is proposing this, but it paints amnesty critics as heartless Neanderthals, a favorite Biden term.  

Legalizing current undocumented immigrants will not staunch the flow of illegals across the U.S.-Mexico border.  In 2018, Customs and Border Protection apprehended 369,579 people illegally crossing into the U.S. By 2019, the number had spiraled to 851,509.  It plummeted to 458,088 in 2020.

Last year the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau made 103,603 arrests of illegal immigrants.  Of those arrested, nine-in-ten had criminal convictions on their record.  Those immigrants had a total of more than 374,000 convictions and charges, an average of four per person.  

Immigration officials deported 185,000 migrants attempting to cross into the country illegally in 2020.  By comparison, during President Obama's eight-year tenure 1.5 million undocumented immigrants were deported, including a record 409,000 in 2012.  

Amnesty will encourage, not discourage, more illegal crossing. Thousands of Central Americana, including residents of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, have trekked through Mexico to reach the U.S. in the last five years.

Right now there are thousands more illegal immigrants clustered on the Mexico-U.S. border, wearing campaign-style tee shirts reading: "Biden: Please Let Us In!"  As soon as Mr. Biden nodded agreement to halt border-wall construction, illegal immigrants began flocking through the unfinished areas.  

The escalating influx, has spurred Mr. Biden to dispatch senior administration members to the border to report back on the situation. Leaked Health and Human Services documents show Customs and Border Protection is referring an average of 321 illegal immigrant children every day.

The promise of amnesty is exacerbating the problem at the border forcing law enforcement in Arizona and Texas to deal with this federal problem.  Amnesty acts as a magnet to lure increasing numbers of immigrants willing to breech the border to skulk into the U.S.   

Before Congress approves any amnesty plan, it should obtain an accurate count of undocumented immigrants in the country.  The federal budget agency also should be required to provide an estimate on the expected costs to states and American taxpayers of adding 16-to-22 million new citizens.

Republicans must insist the new law contain funding to continue to harden the U.S.-Mexico border to shut off the flow of illegals into our country.  If that isn't done, in another decade to two, the country will be considering yet another amnesty plan for more than 40 million undocumented immigrants.  

Lawmakers need all the facts before they take a vote on the Biden plan.  Those who argue it is too difficult to get the data are making an excuse to avoid finding the truth. Lack of transparency breaks faith with all Americans, especially those 44.9 million immigrants who entered the country legally.   

America's Version of Ethnic Cleansing

Ethnic cleansing, an attempt to rid a society of unwanted groups, is being appropriated and redefined by leftists to purge the nation of conservatives, Republicans or any American who opposes progressive orthodoxies. To achieve their goal, the plotters are muzzling free speech through systemic censorship.  

The Capitol riot emboldened virtually every social media platform to ban Mr. Trump and a host of his allies, including MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, lawyer Sidney Powell and retired General Michael Flynn. Then conservatives fled to newly-hatched platform Parler, with 15 million users.

Big Tech fumed, determined to bring Parler under its jackboot.

Goggle and Apple jerked Parler from their app stores. A day later, Amazon severed its contract to host Parler on its cloud computing servers. Parler lodged an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon. Coincidentally after the filing, Parler reopened its platform, albeit with technical difficulties and fewer accounts.

Tech monopolists, however, are guilty of double standards.  Antifa used Twitter to stoke riots in cities during the summer.  Twitter has allowed violent hashtags like #KillDonaldTrump and #HangMikePence. Russian dissident Alexei Navalny tweeted about the hypocrisy: 

"I get death threats here (on Twitter) every day for many years, and Twitter doesn't ban anyone."

The assault on free speech spread like a contagion to individuals and groups considered dissidents.  LifeSiteNews, a pro-life group, was banned from YouTube.  One of the reasons: The organization posted a "subversive" video entitled, "Catholic Christian Traditions to Instill Faith in Your Kids." 

More than 70,000 accounts on Twitter were expunged in a single day. The social media censors at Twitter claimed the accounts were linked to QAnon, a "far right, extremist conspiracy" group.  Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was banned without explanation from Facebook for anti-vaccine "conspiracy" theories. 

Project Veritas was permanently removed from Twitter and YouTube. The social platforms labeled the news group "far right extremists." ProjectVeritas exposed some of the more heinous practices of Planned Parenthood in undercover videos.  In the current environment, that is considered "dangerous." 

Amazon purged conservative scholar Ryan Anderson's 2018 book, "When Harry Became Sally" from its online bookstore because it challenges progressive ideas about gender.  In particular, the book questions the wisdom of sex change procedures in children. Can book burnings be far behind?

Publisher Simon and Schuster cancelled a book deal by Trump ally Senator Josh Hawley, tying their decision to the "insurrection" in Washington.  America's disinformation media cheered the censorship, despite the protections the press enjoys under the First Amendment guarantee of free speech.

Liberal-funded activist organizations painted a bullseye on Fox News, hectoring advertisers to abandon the conservative media outlet or face retribution.  In response, Fox let go (a corporate euphemism for "fire") several of its long-time news hosts for their on-air support of former President Trump.

Censorship storm troopers, masquerading as members of Congress, took aim at other news providers and streaming platforms.  Democrat Representatives Anna G. Eshoo and Jerry McNerney of California wrote a chilling letter to these firms about the "spread of dangerous disinformation."

The letter brazenly inquired: "Are you planning to continue carrying Fox News, OANN and Newsmax on your platform now and beyond the renewal date.  If so, why?" This was no polite request but a shakedown of those outlets offering carriage to conservative news outlets.

Firms receiving the demagogic warning included Comcast, AT&T, Spectrum, Dish, Verizon, Cox, Roku, Amazon, Apple, Goggle and Hulu. The letter was sent in advance of a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on "Fanning the Flames: Disinformation and Extremism in the Media."

Partisan media dismissed Republicans' complaints about censorship by dutifully reporting Democrat talking points. "There is no evidence of any bias," Democrat Rep. David Cicilline huffed.  "The evidence is anecdotal so far, we don't operate on anecdotes, we operate on facts and data."

No offense, Rep Cicilline, but wrench your head out of the sand and look at the censorship facts. 

Media sycophants dredged up a New Your University report from its Stern Center For Business dismissing conservative claims of bias as a "falsehood with no reliable evidence to support it." This was an effort to deflect criticism of censorship and support the censors.  

If you read the NYU study, you will find the report bases its conclusion on the fact that conservatives still dominate many social platforms. That ignores the fact that hundreds and perhaps thousands of conservatives have been booted off for alleged violations of often vague rules applied unevenly.  

Many constitutional lawyers confirm Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms have no First Amendment obligation to protect freedom of speech. The amendment to the Constitution prohibits the government from abridging freedom of speech. Private firms are under no such constraint.

However, Twitter and Facebook have become so pervasive they are essentially the public square for Americans to air their views. Facebook and Twitter have 75% of the social media market. Shutting off differing viewpoints turns the platforms into propaganda outlets for progressive ideology.

Never in America's history, including during the era of McCarthyism, has the country witnessed such an orchestrated plot to extinguish speech that offends the ruling government.  This sort of censorship is a central pillar of China's war on truth, which allows the Communist Party to control its people.  

Taking a page from China's strategy, Big Tech monopolists are erasing any speech about voter fraud during the 2020 election. Their reaction reeks of hypocrisy.  For nearly four years, social and news media granted free reign to false claims Mr. Trump colluded with Russia to steal the election. 

As censorship blitzkrieg escalated, the House of Representatives under the iron fisted control of Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a memorandum which read in part: 

"Despite criticism, many traditional media outlets continue to allow for disinformation in an attempt to follow journalistic standards and present multiple viewpoints on a story." 

The message is clear to the news media: "Your news coverage better follow the progressive narrative and support our orthodoxy or we will silence you.  Stick to one viewpoint.  Ours.  Is that clear?"  Regardless of political affiliation, all Americans should be terrified by this threat to a free press. 

Mirroring China's tactics, the anarchists are using government propaganda to support censorship.  The decision after January 6 to erect a barrier around the Capitol was calculated to reenforce the propaganda of an America under unrelenting attack from domestic terrorists. 

A seven-foot, non-scalable, fence topped with concertina razor wire was hastily thrown up around the Capitol days after the riot. Concrete barricades were erected. More than 1,000 heavily-armed National Guard troops were summoned to man the ramparts.  This is optical propaganda.  

The nation's Capitol today resembles a third-world government fortress.  The pretext used to justify the bastille-like facade is to prevent another insurrection, according to law enforcement. More than a month has lapsed with no sign of trouble. Even some Democrats are embarrassed by the optics.

"I believe we can keep members, press, staff, my constituents, and all those who work here safe without walling off the symbol of our democracy.  It's the People's House--let's keep it that way," tweeted Virginia Democrat congresswoman Jennifer Wexton.

The country is entering a new and dangerous era where the definition of free speech is now "approved speech."  Progressive insurgents, a handful of Big Tech oligarchs and a cabal of media elitists are determining what is "disinformation" by their standards. This is a tactic of every global despot.  

Silencing public speech is unAmerican.  Regardless of your political affiliation, the current scheme to control all forms of communication, should be frightening.  Benjamin Franklin, one of America's founding fathers and a fierce advocate of democracy, once cautioned:

"Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech."

America ignores his warning at its own peril.  

No political party, tech company or activist group should be sanctioned to curb freedom of expression, even if it clashes with the prevailing dogma, Woke tenets or some political catechism.  Once Americans lose free speech, our democracy will disintegrate, replaced by a totalitarian government.