A grim reaper speaks

President Biden’s first speech to Congress last night hit all the pandemic hot buttons. Even though most members of Congress are vaccinated, all of the 200 attendees in the Capitol were required to wear masks and “socially distance.” The Hill reports that the “imagery will underscore how the pandemic is still gripping the nation despite the availability of vaccines and hope for inching back toward a semblance of normalcy.”

Article by James Bovard from AIER.

But the speech looked as sparsely attended as a Biden campaign rally or perhaps a Saturday morning Kiwanis breakfast in Hogstooth, Arkansas. As Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) quipped, “If Biden is going to take credit for vaccines and defeating the virus, why is he speaking to a practically empty chamber with everyone except him wearing a mask?”

A Washington Post headline aptly summarized Biden’s message last night: “Government is good.” Biden portrayed himself as the heroic conqueror of Covid and quoted a nurse who told him: “Every [vaccination] shot is giving a dose of hope.” Shots had a redemptive effect in part because people were terrified after Biden repeatedly vastly exaggerated the number of Covid fatalities during his presidential campaign. Biden got a two-fer: first he fanned irrational fears to win the presidency, and then he got credit when dread subsided thanks in part to a vaccine program propelled by the Trump administration.

Like an astute career politician, Biden found other fears to fan. He told Congress, “One hundred days ago, America’s house was on fire.” Biden described the January 6 clash at the Capitol between Trump supporters and police as “the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War” that was “an existential crisis—a test of whether our democracy could survive.” Biden rhapsodized: “We have stared into an abyss of insurrection and autocracy.” As a recent Inspector General report concluded, Capitol Police and other officials did a dreadful job of preparing for and responding to angry protestors, some of whom became violent and damaged property. Biden’s attempt to exploit that ruckus to railroad a domestic terrorism law through Congress seems to be faltering.

The only unifying thread in Biden’s spiel was that it was written by the same White House speechwriting team. Biden boasted that the economy would grow by 6% this year – but insisted that a massive new jobs program was necessary. Biden claimed that extending schooling would greatly benefit children at the same time that his administration continues to undermine parents’ efforts to get public schools reopened five days a week.

Biden talked of crises being opportunities, and he is working hard to see how many more trillions of dollars of government spending he can squeeze out of the Covid emergency. A Washington Post headline captured the administration’s presumptions: “Biden’s big bet: That he can remake economy with no bad side effects” such as “less incentive to work.” But the extension of bonus payments for unemployment recipients is already whipsawing the labor market as employers find no applicants. There are plenty of warning signs that inflation could be readying to rocket. It is unclear if Biden’s team assumes that federal debt can be piled up forever with no consequence or merely with no catastrophes until after the next election.

After rattling off a long wish list of vast expansions of handouts and other programs, Biden assured listeners everything could be financed “without increasing deficits.” Biden portrayed tax boosts on “corporate America and the wealthiest 1% of Americans,” along with closing “loopholes,” as a cornucopia to finance all of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s fantasies. But the real windfall may be from Biden’s plan to vastly increase the IRS budget to set agents loose squeezing affluent people and corporations across the nation. As Slate reported, “Biden wants to fund a massive upgrade to the American welfare state by making the IRS great at audits again.” IRS crackdowns will be in lieu of reforming the tax code to make it less mind-boggling if not hellishly confusing. A Politico headline summarized the speech: “Biden embraces his inner Robin Hood.” Biden never explained how forcibly transferring money from private owners to the federal treasury would magically create “millions of jobs.”

Biden is capitalizing on public opinion which seems to have become increasingly oblivious to government failures. In 2015, 47 percent of Americans thought government should do more to solve problems. By last summer, that number had leaped to 57%. The poll showed only “39 percent said government is doing too many things best left to businesses and individuals.” With “cancel culture” run amok these days, perhaps the most surprising victim is all recollections of past political abuses and government failures in U.S. history.

Instead, boundless faith in rulers – at least progressive ones – is the order of the day. A 2017 tweet by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) perfectly captured the spirit of Biden’s expansive proposals: “There is no anxiety or sadness or fear you feel right now that cannot be cured by political action.” Biden portrayed government spending as a panacea for practically anything that ails America. In a pitch for more spending for the National Institutes for Health, Biden declared, “Let’s end cancer as we know it. It’s within our power … to do it!” Congressional Democrats applauded almost as fervently as they had a dozen years earlier when President Barack Obama announced that he was launching “a new effort… seeking a cure for cancer in our time.”

Biden portrayed his presidency thus far as a resurrection of political faith: “In our first 100 Days together, we have acted to restore the people’s faith in our democracy to deliver… real results people can see and feel in their own lives.” He stressed that his Americans Families Plan Puts “up to $7,200 in your pocket” – reminiscent of Biden’s earlier boasting about the Covid stimulus checks shotgunned out. Handouts legitimize democracy and somehow prove that our system is better than any other form of government. But Biden’s derisive comments on autocratic regimes last night did not deter him from issuing a blizzard of executive order decrees in his first months in office.

Biden wrapped up his long speech with an FDR theme: “It’s time we remembered that We the People are the government. You and I. Not some force in a distant capital. Not some powerful force we have no control over.” But the Capitol where Biden spoke was walled off by fences and surrounded by thousands of National Guard troops. Until recently, those fences were topped by razor wire that made the “Temple of Democracy” look like a Beirut bunker. For Biden’s speech, roads were closed and few people were allowed to get anywhere near the president or his entourage. But at least commoners were permitted to watch the television broadcast of the Great Leader boasting how he had saved them.

‘The Purge’ by Big Tech targets conservatives, including us

Just when we thought the Covid-19 lockdowns were ending and our ability to stay afloat was improving, censorship reared its ugly head.

For the last few months, NOQ Report, Conservative Playbook, and the American Conservative Movement have appealed to our readers for assistance in staying afloat through Covid-19 lockdowns. The downturn in the economy has limited our ability to generate proper ad revenue just as our traffic was skyrocketing. We had our first sustained stretch of three months with over a million visitors in November, December, and January, but February saw a dip.

It wasn’t just the shortened month. We expected that. We also expected the continuation of dropping traffic from “woke” Big Tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter, but it has actually been much worse than anticipated. Our Twitter account was banned. Both of our YouTube accounts were banned. Facebook “fact-checks” everything we post. Spotify canceled us. Medium canceled us. Apple canceled us. Why? Because we believe in the truth prevailing, and that means we will continue to discuss “taboo” topics.

The 2020 presidential election was stolen. You can’t say that on Big Tech platforms without risking cancellation, but we’d rather get cancelled for telling the truth rather than staying around to repeat mainstream media’s lies. They have been covering it up since before the election and they’ve convinced the vast majority of conservative news outlets that they will be harmed if they continue to discuss voter fraud. We refuse to back down. The truth is the truth.

The lies associated with Covid-19 are only slightly more prevalent than the suppression of valid scientific information that runs counter to the prescribed narrative. We should be allowed to ask questions about the vaccines, for example, as there is ample evidence for concern. One does not have to be an “anti-vaxxer” in order to want answers about vaccines that are still considered experimental and that have a track record in a short period of time of having side-effects, including death. One of our stories about the Johnson & Johnson “vaccine” causing blood clots was “fact-checked” and removed one day before the government hit the brakes on it. These questions and news items are not allowed on Big Tech which is just another reason we are getting canceled.

There are more topics that they refuse to allow. In turn, we refuse to stop discussing them. This is why we desperately need your help. The best way NOQ, CP, and ACM readers can help is to donate. Our Giving Fuel page makes it easy to donate one-time or monthly. Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal as well. We are on track to be short by about $4100 per month in order to maintain operations.

The second way to help is to become a partner. We’ve strongly considered seeking angel investors in the past but because we were paying the bills, it didn’t seem necessary. Now, we’re struggling to pay the bills. We had 5,657,724 sessions on our website from November, 2020, through February, 2021. Our intention is to elevate that to higher levels this year by focusing on a strategy that relies on free speech rather than being beholden to progressive Big Tech companies.

During that four-month stretch, Twitter and Facebook accounted for about 20% of our traffic. We are actively working on operating as if that traffic is zero, replacing it with platforms that operate more freely such as Gab, Parler, and others. While we were never as dependent on Big Tech as most conservative sites, we’d like to be completely free from them. That doesn’t mean we will block them, but we refuse to be beholden to companies that absolutely despise us simply because of our political ideology.

We’re heading in the right direction and we believe we’re ready talk to patriotic investors who want to not only “get in on the action” but more importantly who want to help America hear the truth. Interested investors should contact me directly with the contact button above.

As the world spirals towards radical progressivism, the need for truthful journalism has never been greater. But in these times, we need as many conservative media voices as possible. Please help keep NOQ Report going.

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