Mixing politics with baseball is un-American

By William Haupt III | The Center Square contributor

 Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred – Photo by LM Otero | AP file photo

  “There is no place in baseball for politics and no place in politics for baseball.”

– Branch Rickey

Considered America's National Pastime, baseball has helped to reshape this nation. From the Civil War to civil rights and beyond, the game of baseball has always reflected the positive aspects of American life. It has set national trends, influenced our culture and improved our economies. It has inspired movements, instilled pride and united us during wars. It has healed our social wounds and built American cities. Most importantly, it broke the color barrier for integrating professional sports.

In 1942, former baseball player Branch Rickey became president of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Rickey was only an average player, but he was the greatest asset to the game he loved. He devoted his life to protecting and improving America’s pastime. He did more than anyone to preserve the ethics and principles of an institution that made America a unique and insightful nation. In the baseball world, he set the bar for all future executives for promoting good will within the baseball community.

Rickey was a man of character with deeply religious convictions. He sowed the seeds of baseball much the same as Johnny Appleseed introduced apple trees to large parts of America.

He was all American and often attacked communism and socialism. He was fearlessly intelligent, well read, and thoughtful. His favorite book was the Bible, which he often quoted chapter and verse.

“Baseball is slow to change and accept new ideas. Sometimes it takes years.”

– Branch Rickey

Rickey, who had fought in the trenches during World War I with Black Americans, was eager to get them into Major League Baseball. In 1945, he founded a league for Black players to scout ballplayers. He was determined to find the best Black ballplayer to convince owners to desegregate baseball. He said, ''I may not be able to end racism in every sport, but I can do it here in baseball.''

In October 1945, he signed Jackie Robinson, a fellow GI and graduate of UCLA. After a stint with the Dodgers' minor league team in Montreal, Robinson made his debut in Major League Baseball in 1947. This bold move broke the league's color barrier. Robinson and Rickey formed a lasting bond. They worked the rest of their careers on improving the lives of all Black Americans. 

Photo: Wesley Branch Rickey (R) (December 20, 1881 – December 9, 1965),  an American baseball player and sports executive. Rickey was instrumental in breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier by signing Black player Jackie Robinson (L). Getty Images

Rickey's determination to desegregate Major League Baseball was born out of a combination of his religious beliefs and patriotism. He felt segregation violated the Christian faith and the GIs that had fought for America and world freedom should never be treated like second class citizens. Branch Rickey not only ended segregation in baseball, but he opened the door to end it in all major sports.

“I needed to win, so I promoted Jackie Robinson for his skills, just not his race.”

– Branch Rickey

Rickey was Mr. Baseball, but he did more for professional sports than just open the door for Black Americans in the major leagues. Shortly after Jackie Robinson stole his first base, fellow UCLA grad Kenny Washington became the first Black player to sign with an NFL franchise in 1947.

Baseball ended segregation in professional sports, yet Commissioner Rob Manfred moved the All-Star game this year from Atlanta to Colorado because of Georgia’s new voting laws. This was a slap in the face of all those who worked to desegregate professional sports. Politics and baseball don’t mix! Manfred had no right to bow to progressives and let leftist politics influence an American tradition.

President Joe Biden claims Georgia’s election reform bill is “Jim Crow in a suit and tie.” He falsely claims it prohibits family members from dropping off absentee ballots, restricts early voting, and limits voting hours. And the media and corporate America are helping to perpetrate this hoax. Yet every change in Georgia’s election law was made simply to prevent more problems like there were last election.

“This election bill is nothing more than a dog whistle to disenfranchise minority voters.”

– Joe Biden

Matthew Weil, of the Bipartisan Policy Center, claims this helps voters. It allows voters to obtain ballots without an excuse. Voters can also vote on Sunday. Counties must have drop boxes. It extended early voting three additional days. Voters can request a ballot 11 weeks in advance. The only change, which most Americans support, is you must show “any form of ID”, even a utility bill, to vote.

Richard Hasen, an election law expert at the University of California, said that many of the things this bill does is in line with what other states already do. It is confusing why the reworking of voting rights laws for the right reason is illegal, particularly when it is not as strict as many other states. He added, “There is little data that shows increasing ID requirements affects participation at all.”

Manfred claims he made the decision to move the All-Star game from Atlanta to Colorado under pressure from the Black Players Alliance, an organization of black players formed after the death of George Floyd. They also pressured Coke, Delta Airlines and American Express to support them.

The All-Star Game would have been a huge opportunity for Georgia’s large minority-owned small business community. They’re now left paying the price for leftist politics. These identity groups hurt the people this would have helped by perpetrating a false narrative with the help of the media.

“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.”

– Thomas Sowell

Plato told us in 400 BC, “Don’t confuse me with facts.” Apparently, facts are not a strong suit for progressive politicians, baseball identity groups, and corporate America. If the left does not like a policy, they rally everyone in their camp to go into attack mode and cancel out any group, policy or individual they disagree with. This is dangerous and antithetical to the values of our great republic.

Not so long ago, American baseball was a great equalizer. It provided a place for political activists of all stripes and colors, professionals, blue color workers, the wealthy and the poor to forget their differences, and enjoy a game together. They’d “catch” a bag of peanuts from a wandering vendor and share them. They only fought each other over who could catch and retrieve a prized foul ball.

You can’t escape woke politics today, especially in America’s once great pastime, baseball. The baseball stadium was once our “national neutral zone.” Now it’s been violated by woke partisan politics. It is shameful that America’s Pastime is not only being influenced by identity groups and progressives but it is perpetrating false political narratives supported by American companies.

Rickey was recognized by the NAACP and numerous Civil Rights groups as the man who desegregated professional sports. Rickey and Jackie Robinson worked together for years to end segregation in major leagues and amateur sports. It is a shame that the very sport and the very two men that spent their lives fighting segregation are disgraced by progressive politicians and identity groups at an event honoring them and America's Pastime.

“Some day I'm going to have to stand before God, and if He asks me why, I didn't let that [Jackie] Robinson fellow play ball, I don't think saying 'because of the color of his skin' would be a good enough answer.”

– Branch Rickey

https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/op-ed-mixing-politics-with-baseball-is-un-american/article_cba92e3e-9e24-11eb-bd8a-3bf7b7e21798.html

Woke Democracy In Corporate America

By William Haupt III / Tennessee Watchdog Journalist, Columnist, Author, and Citizen Legislator 

Photo: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi - Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore / CC

“Woke-ism, has distorted our history and has made a mockery out of Democracy.” —Mike Pompeo

Speaker Pelosi’s top priority is to turn America into a progressive one-party nation ruled by the far left. Her latest effort is HR 1. It trashes the U.S. Constitution and rigs the system to make it virtually impossible to elect a Republican president or Congressperson ever again. It’s an unconstitutional power grab. It is a blatant slap in the face of every voter in America and every independent state. 

Our founders worried that an all-powerful central government would seize control of presidential and congressional elections utilizing unorthodox tactics like those included in HR 1. That is why they took the selection of federal officers totally out of the hands of the central government.

Article II, Sec. 1 of the U.S. Constitution clearly states that “only state legislatures have the power to determine how federal representatives are chosen.” There are no national rules. But Pelosi has no problem ignoring the Constitution to give her party total control over government and eliminate anyone from getting elected to federal office that does not support far left democratic socialism.   

Twenty Republican state attorney generals have expressed grave concerns that HR1, the “For the People Act,” which barely passed the U.S. House last month is unconstitutional and is a violation of states’ rights. They have vowed to fight it all of the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if it passes. 

Progressives in the Senate are vigorously trying to pass their form of HR 1, the For the People Act of 2021. They too plan to suppress the autonomy of our states to control their own elections. They are spreading propaganda much like Lenin did when he terrorized socialist Russia, to convince the people, that federalizing state elections, and violating their 10^th Amendment rights is best for them.

It was once said that “all is fair in love and war and politics” and the Democrats have proven this. They know once people read between the lines of this unconstitutional monstrosity, they will demand that it is put out of its misery and sent to the legislative graveyard and buried 6 ft. under. 

So the left has taken out prime time ads on local and national TV and cable networks to pitch this. These ads are being paid for by the Democratic Party and by corporate America—believe it or not. 

There was a time not so long ago that American big business supported the GOP because they knew that, as government grows so does the amount of tax dollars it takes to support it. It was a simple matter of self-preservation to back the GOP and a smaller less regulated government. Then why are so many major U.S. companies turning “woke” and shooting themselves in both feet? 

With the election of Barack Obama and the love affair that the media had with him, corporate America quickly found out; if they did not buy into this hype, it could hurt their sales and profits. They were also concerned, if they fell from grace with his administration he would pass anti-corporate legislation since he had campaigned to punish the rich and redistribute wealth. 

Big business loved the policies of Donald Trump and the way he protected their interests at home and on the international stage with China and other nations. For the most part, they tried to remain out of the political arena and count their profits. But like all good things, that came to an end with the pandemic and they changed their stripes quicker than a flea can jump on a Tennessee hound. 

As the 2020 general election unfolded it was clear that there was no way that progressives, socialists and the media would allow Trump to be reelected. And one by one U.S. companies fell prey to the identity politics of the left as they gathered groups like BLM, Antifa, professional sports unions and outspoken super star athletics into their anti-Trump and GOP election camps. 

They saw the writing on the boardroom wall when Joe Biden eked out a victory over Donald Trump-- due to voter fraud in Democrat-controlled districts located in key battleground states. And today they are turning “woke” faster than Barack Obama can say, “Change!” 

Top executives of some of the largest corporations on the world business stage released a collaborative statement Wednesday claiming that they support “democracy”–or what they conceive as democracy in today’s “woke world”–disregarding we are a Constitutional republic. 

This is a generic statement that grew out of a “supposed summit” of over 100 CEOs, CBOs and other top executives that attended this meeting in person or by proxy. The summit was convened in response to the passage of Georgia’s updated election-integrity law and similar legislation in other states that only addresses fixing the issues of concern that transpired during the last election.

This was a collaborative corporate statement that was released as a paid ad which appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications.

This ad reveals their deceptive view of “woke democracy”: 

“A government of the people, by the people. A beautifully American ideal, but a reality denied to many for much of this nation’s history. As Americans, we know that in our democracy we should not expect to agree on everything. However, regardless of our political affiliations, we believe the very foundation of our political process rests upon the ability of each of us to cast our ballots for the candidates of our choice.

For American democracy to work, we must ensure the right to vote for all of us. We should all feel a responsibility to defend the right to vote and to oppose any discriminatory legislation or measures that restrict or prevent any eligible voter from having an equal and fair opportunity to cast a ballot.

Voting is the lifeblood of democracy, and we call upon all Americans to join us in taking a nonpartisan stand for this most basic and fundamental right of all Americans.”

A total of 107 corporations were involved in this!

You will notice that the two most vocal companies that lobbied to have the Baseball All Star Game removed from Atlanta, Coke and Delta Airlines, did not sign on to this.

Accenture, AIG, Airbnb, Alphabet, Amazon, American Airlines, American Express, Apple Bain & Company, Bank of America, Berkshire Partners, Best Buy, BlackRock, Biogen, BMC Software Boston Consulting Group, Broadridge Financial Solutions, Cambridge Associates, Cisco, Civic Entertainment Group, Climb Credit, CODAworx, Cowboy Ventures, Creative Artists Agency, Dell Technologies, Deloitte, Discover Financial Services, Dropbox, Eaton, Emerson Collective, Estee Lauder, Eventbrite, EY, Facebook, Ferrara, FirstMark Capital, Ford Motor Co, General Motors, Goldman Sachs, Harry’s, Hess, IBM, Insight Partners Leadership, Instacart, Intelligentsia Coffee, Johnson & Johnson, Jazz Lincoln Center, JetBlue, Khosla Ventures, Levi Strauss & Co, Live Nation Entertainment, Loop Capital Markets, Lyft, M&T Bank, MasterCard, McKinsey & Company, Merck, Microsoft, Mondelez International, Nordstrom, Netflix, Newell Brands, Otherwise Inc., Paper Source, PayPal, Peloton, Pinterest, Plaid, Predxion Bio, PwC, Reddit, REI Co-op Richer Poorer, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Seventh Generation, Slow Ventures, Smith & Company Sodexo USA, SodexoMAGIC, Sonos, Sound Ventures, Spark Capital, Square, Starbucks, Steelcase, SurveyMonkey, Sweetgreen, Synchrony, T. Rowe Price, Target, Tripadvisor, Tory Burch, Twilio, Twitter, Under Armour, United Airlines, United Talent Agency, Vanguard, VMware, ViacomCBS, Warburg Pincus, Warby Parker, Wells Fargo, Zendesk and Zola. 

Now you are aware, if you are “un-woke,” you might want to think twice before you patronize any of these companies. It must be noted that even trying to avoid them might be near impossible, given the vastness of their entanglement in our daily lives. 

How else can we fight back? The best way is with our votes when we have free and fair elections ensured by voter reform laws, such as the one enacted by Georgia.

“Wokeness is the product of censorship and political correctness and it all points in one direction— liberal authoritarianism, cloaked around moral righteousness.” —Mike Pompeo

https://tennesseeconservativenews.com/woke-democracy-in-corporate-america/

BREAKING: Jury Delivers Verdict in Derek Chauvin Case

BY TYLER O'NEIL| PJ Media 

In this image from video, defense attorney Eric Nelson gives closing arguments as Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill presides Monday, April 19, 2021, in the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis. Chauvin is charged in the May 25, 2020 death of George Floyd. (Court TV via AP, Pool)

The jury found Derek Chauvin guilty of unintentional second-degree murder. The jury found him guilty of third-degree murder. The jury also found him guilty of second-degree manslaughter. All charges referred to Chauvin’s role in the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020.

The Associated Press reported that the jury has reached a verdict, which the judge read just after 5 p.m. Eastern.

Black Lives Matter and antifa activists are likely to protest and even engage in violent rioting regardless of the guilty verdict. On Monday night, after the case was handed to the jury, protesters marched and a church was set on fire, although the cause of the fire remains unclear. Last week, after a police-involved shooting, riots broke out in a city nearby, illustrating just how much of a powder keg Minneapolis is.

Cities are preparing for another wave of unrest similar to the riots following the death of George Floyd. Those riots damaged no fewer than 700 buildings in Minneapolis last year — with twelve structures “wholly destroyed,” i.e. burnt to the ground. Tragically, the riots ostensibly aimed at combatting racism destroyed black lives, black livelihoods, and black monuments.

While Americans should hope and pray for impartial justice, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) demanded a guilty verdict, encouraging protesters to “get more confrontational” if Chauvin is acquitted. President Joe Biden said he is “praying that the verdict is the right verdict.”

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/tyler-o-neil/2021/04/20/imminent-jury-delivers-verdict-in-derek-chauvin-case-n1441396?utm_source=breakingemail

Biden Set to Push Critical Race Theory on U.S. Schools

By STANLEY KURTZ| National Review 

President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the White House, Washington, D.C., on April 14, 2021. (Andrew Harnik/Reuters)

The woke revolution in the classroom is about to go federal. In an early but revelatory move, President Biden’s Department of Education has signaled its intent to impose the most radical forms of Critical Race Theory on America’s schools, very much including the 1619 Project and the so-called anti-racism of Ibram X. Kendi. (Kendi’s “anti-racism” — which advocates a massive and indefinite expansion of reverse discrimination — is more like neo-racism.) Biden is obviously co-opting conservatives’ interest in reviving traditional U.S. history and civics to deliver its perfect opposite — federal imposition of the very ideas conservatives aim to combat.

Biden’s Department of Education has just released the text of a proposed new rule establishing priorities for grants in American History and Civics Education programs. That rule gives priority to grant “projects that incorporate racially, ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse perspectives.” The rule goes on to cite and praise the New York Times’ “landmark” 1619 Project, as well as the work of Critical Race Theorist Kendi, as leading examples of the sort of ideas the Biden administration wants to spread.

The programs immediately targeted by Biden’s new priority criteria for American history and civics grants are small. Once in place, however, those criteria will undoubtedly influence the much larger and vastly more dangerous “Civics Secures Democracy Act.” That bill would appropriate $1 billion a year, for six years, for history and civic education. Support for leftist “action civics” is already written into the priority criteria of the bill itself. I have argued that additional anodyne-sounding priority criteria in the Civics Secures Democracy Act — criteria favoring grants targeted to “underserved” populations and the mitigation of various racial, ethnic, and linguistic achievement gaps — would be interpreted by the Biden administration as a green light to fund Critical Race Theory in the schools. The new draft federal rule for grant priority in American history and civics education makes it clear that this is indeed the Biden administration’s intent.

The Biden administration’s interest in pushing Critical Race Theory on America’s schools could already be gleaned from the president’s repeated endorsement of the notion that America is “systemically racist.” Biden’s statements to that effect are actually cited in the new federal rule. It’s of interest as well that the new rule explicitly endorses the wave of woke Critical Race Theory currently sweeping through America’s schools. Biden’s new American history and civics rule also expresses support for “Culturally Responsive Teaching,” the ultra-woke and utterly politicized pedagogy derived from Critical Race Theory that was recently imposed on teachers in Illinois.

At this point, the sprinkling of congressional Republicans and conservative education establishment figures who have foolishly bought into bogus “bipartisan” efforts to revive the teaching of American history and civics need to repudiate their misbegotten alliances. We needn’t wait to see how the Biden administration will implement federal efforts to support American history and civics. This new rule tells us all we need to know. We are set for a huge showdown over federal efforts to press leftist action civics and Critical Race Theory on the states. Here is what needs to be done.

Above all, the federal “Civics Secures Democracy Act” must be stopped. Just as a combination of Obama’s Race to the Top grant program and federal regulations managed to impose the abysmal Common Core standards in math and English on nearly every state, the Civics Secures Democracy Act is designed to impose leftist action civics and Critical Race Theory on even red states. The state-level grant money is large enough that the leftist education bureaucrats who dominate even in red states will have a clear field to apply for federal funding. If conservative governors push back against grants that commit an entire state’s education system to action civics and Critical Race Theory, they will be slammed by Democrats, the education establishment, and the media for refusing badly needed federal dollars. Former Texas governor Rick Perry managed to hold off Common Core by refusing to apply for Race to the Top grants, but he was mercilessly pummeled by critics for turning down that money. Few red-state politicians will have the guts to stand up to such pounding.

That is why it is urgently necessary for states to pass laws barring action civics and Critical Race Theory from the K-12 curriculum and teacher training. Without such laws in place, it will be almost impossible to resist the carrots and sticks soon to be deployed by the Biden Education Department with the aim of forcing action civics and Critical Race Theory onto America’s schools.

I have offered model state-level legislation published with the National Association of Scholars that would bar action civics and Critical Race Theory training for K-12 teachers. Some legislators in Texas have taken up that proposal and added a bar on Critical Race Theory in the K-12 curriculum.

There are some legitimate concerns about barring the core ideas of Critical Race Theory from the K-12 curriculum. It is a mistake, however, to see such proposals as interfering with free speech or academic freedom. Barring advocacy of Critical Race Theory from courses in public universities would indeed violate academic freedom and freedom of speech. I oppose such state-level moves, although I do think it’s possible to bar Critical Race Theory-based training outside of the classroom for faculty, staff, and students at public universities. At the K-12 level, however, states and school districts enjoy considerable authority over curriculum. K-12 teachers have very limited free-speech rights when carrying out their classroom responsibilities, at which time they are rightly charged with teaching from the approved curriculum.

That is not to say that barring the advocacy of certain theories or ideas from the K-12 curriculum by state law is free of danger. For one thing, it’s important to give due deference to local control over curriculum. The best way to live with our differences is to keep curricular decisions at the local level to the greatest extent possible.

One of the problems with the new, ultra-woke Illinois teaching standards mentioned earlier is that they impose Chicago’s radicalism on conservative districts downstate. That speaks for local control. Yet the Illinois example cuts both ways. Given that state education bureaucrats have gone far beyond what state law actually authorizes and have cooked up an overreaching rule imposing Critical Race Theory on an entire state, it’s clear that legislatures across the country must now consider defensive measures lest state education bureaucrats (almost invariably far more left-leaning than voters) impose Critical Race Theory via statewide standards or regulations.

Another risk of barring certain concepts from the curriculum is that the prohibition could create martyrs; messy enforcement situations with he said/she said accusations between students, parents, and teachers; and a “banned in Boston” glow for ideas that are barred.

Against these risks, however, is the fact that we are talking about teaching young children to feel guilt and anguish simply because of the color of their skin. While I worry about the expansion and abuse of “hostile environment” law, forcing confessions of guilt based on skin color onto a captive audience of public school children really does seem to represent a hostile educational environment in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

And now, between the massive grant-giving machine authorized by the Civics Secures Democracy Act and the new federal rule boosting American history and civics grants that promote the most radical forms of Critical Race Theory, states would be foolish not to protect their schools from the coming onslaught. States must now adopt laws barring both action civics and Critical Race Theory from K-12 education. With the federal juggernaut bearing down, what choice do states have but to defend themselves?

STANLEY KURTZ is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/biden-set-to-push-critical-race-theory-on-u-s-schools/

The 10 Worst Epidemics In History

The bacteria yersinia pestis was responsible for the Bubonic Plague, or the Black Plague.

• Despite popular belief the black plague is only the second largest epidemic by death rate.
• HIV/AID is one of the largest epidemics ongoing that does not have a vaccine.
• More often than not, epidemics begin in animals that are then transmitted to humans.

OVERVIEW:  10 Worst Epidemics In History

1. Plague of Justinian (Years: 541-542); Number of deaths: 100 million

2. Black Plague (Years: 1346-1350); Number of deaths: 50 million

3. HIV/AIDS (Years: 1960-present); Number of deaths: 39 million

4. Spanish Flu (Years: 1918-1920); Number of deaths: 20 million

5. Modern Plague (Years: 1894-1903); Number of deaths: 10 million

6. Asian Flu (Years: 1957-1958); Number of deaths: 2 million

7. The Sixth Cholera Pandemic (Years: 1899-1923; Number of deaths: 1.5 million

8. Russian Flu (Years: 1889-1890); Number of deaths: 1 million

9. Hong Kong Flu Years: 1968-1969; Number of deaths: 1 million

10. The Fifth Cholera Pandemic (Years: 1881-1896); Number of deaths: 981,899

Throughout history, epidemics have been responsible for hundreds of thousands of lives lost. The reason epidemics have claimed so many lives is that they are usually highly communicable diseases which reach large populations in very short times. The number of cases of the disease quickly exceeds what would normally be expected within the population. These diseases could be viral, bacterial, or other health events (like obesity). Some epidemics have been so great that they left a permanent impact on the population at the time. Some of the worst of these can be found below.

Epidemics With The Highest Number Of Deaths

Plague Of Justinian (Byzantine Empire, 541 - 750) 

The Plague of Justinian hit humanity between 541 and 542 AD. It was responsible for the highest number of lives lost in an epidemic in history. Estimates believe 100 million people died during this time, which was half the world population. This plague was able to spread so quickly because it was carried on the backs of rodents, whose fleas were infected with the bacteria. These rats traveled all over the world on trading ships and helped spread the infection from China to Northern Africa and all over the Mediterranean. The Plague of Justinian is attributed with having weakened the Byzantine Empire in several ways. The military lost power and was no longer able to fend off intruders. Farmers became sick, and agricultural production declined. With a smaller agricultural base, income taxes fell. Thousands of people died daily at the height of the destructive plague.

Black Plague (Mostly Europe, 1346 To 1350) 

The Black Plague claimed the lives of 50 million people from 1346 to 1350. The outbreak began in Asia and, once again, was carried throughout the world by rats covered with infected fleas. After its arrival in Europe, it spread death and destruction. Europe lost 60% of its population to the Black Death. Symptoms of this disease began with swelling of the lymph nodes, either in the groin, armpit, or neck. After 6 to 10 days of infection and sickness, 80% of infected people die. The virus was spread via blood and airborne particles. This epidemic changed the course of European history. The lack of understanding of the origin of the disease led the Christian population to blame the Jewish community of poisoning the water wells; as a result of this accusation, thousands of Jews were killed. Others believed it was punishment dealt from Heaven for leading sinful lives. The world saw agricultural shortages as in the Plague of Justinian, and malnutrition and hunger were rampant. After the ending of the Black Death, the decline in population resulted in increased wages and cheap land. The available area was used for animal husbandry and meat consumption throughout the region increased. 

HIV/AIDS (Worldwide, 1960- Present)

The HIV/AIDS epidemic began in 1960 and continues to the present day, although the scariest moments happened during the 1980s when the world became informed of its existence. So far, this virus has caused the death of 39 million people. By the 1980s, HIV was believed to infect somebody on every continent. Rare lung infections, rapidly advancing cancers, and unexplained immune deficiencies were rampant among gay men, and at the time, doctors believed it was caused by same-sex activity. A large number of Haitians were also carriers of the virus, which were not named until 1982. Cases were identified in Europe and Africa. In 1983, it was discovered that transmission occurred via heterosexual activities as well. Medicine for treatment was not available until 1987. Today, about 37 million people are living with HIV. For those individuals with access to antiretroviral medication, life expectancy has been extended. Currently, this virus is particularly aggressive in Sub-Saharan Africa, where at least 68% of all global HIV/AIDS infections are found. The reasons for this are many but stem from poor economic conditions and little to no sex education.

Other Epidemics

Other epidemics that have resulted in numerous deaths include the: 1918 Flu (20 million deaths); Modern Plague, 1894-1903 (10 million); Asian Flu, 1957-1958 (2 million); Sixth Cholera Pandemic, 1899-1923 (1.5 million); Russian Flu, 1889-1890 (1 million); Hong Kong Flu, 1968-1969 (1 million); and the Fifth Cholera Pandemic, 1881-1896 (981,899).

Future Epidemics

The next global epidemic is the fear of many public health professionals. Given the ease of mobility and absolute globalization of today, a rapidly spreading disease that could wipe out the population is easy to imagine. The likelihood that this epidemic would come from animals is very high. New infectious pathogens are being discovered every day. Large farms pose the greatest danger because of the constant contact between animals and people; the potential of cross-contagion is increased. It is important that governments and public health officials maintain a strong, vigilant network to prevent widespread diseases in the future.

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-10-worst-epidemics-in-history.html#:~:text=The%2010%20Worst%20Epidemics%20In%20History%20%20,%20%2020%2C000%2C000%20%206%20more%20rows%20

If Democrats Pack the Court

By The Editorial Board | The Wall Street Journal

Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), left, and U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), right, introduce the Judiciary Act of 2021 aimed at expanding the Supreme Court from nine to thirteen justices, outside the court in Washington, on April 15. - PHOTO: JAMES LAWLER DUGGAN/REUTERS

After they add Justices, the GOP could strip their jurisdiction.

 The media mostly treated President Biden’s announcement of his 36-member commission on the Supreme Court last week as a deft deflection of court packing. Well, not so fast. The Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and other Democrats introduced a bill this week to expand the Supreme Court to 13 Justices from nine.

Message: The Democratic left is serious about this, and the Biden commission better not dismiss it. Oh, and pay attention, Justices. Congress will remake the Court if you issue rulings that offend progressives.

Republicans are rightly calling this out for the political intimidation it is. But here’s another message for the GOP and the commission to consider: If Democrats do turn the Court into another legislature by packing it, the GOP has the power to limit or strip its jurisdiction.

***

If that sounds radical, consider what Democrats are proposing. Merely because GOP appointees now hold a 6-3 majority on the High Court, progressives want to blow it up on a partisan Congressional vote. Adding Justices in this way would undermine the Court’s legitimacy with the American public, with perhaps lasting harm, as Justice Stephen Breyer warned in a timely speech last week.

Many Republicans respond by saying they’ll return the disfavor when they next have power and add more Justices. But this concedes the progressive view that the Court is merely another policy-making body. It would turn the Court into a de facto House of Lords, albeit with power, which would put an end to its traditional judicial role of applying the law to cases and controversies.

There’s a better response: Limit the Supreme Court’s ability to function as a super legislature. Congress can do this by limiting the appellate jurisdiction of the Court. This would limit a packed Court’s power by returning it to the original role of the judiciary under the Constitution’s separation of powers.

The Constitution explicitly gives Congress the power to determine the appellate jurisdiction of the federal courts in Article III, Section 2. The Supreme Court recognized this Congressional authority in the 1869 case, Ex Parte McCardle . Justice Antonin Scalia invoked McCardle’s view of jurisdiction in his 2006 dissent in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

Much would depend on how Congress chose to define jurisdiction to limit judicial policy-making on an expanded Court. One idea would strip jurisdiction over cases seeking to find rights not expressly mentioned in the Constitution. Progressives regularly ask the Justices to recognize new rights that are protected by the doctrine of “substantive due process,” as the right to abortion was. Congress could bar the Justices from hearing cases asking them to use that analysis to invent new rights such as a right to suicide or to a guaranteed income.

Another possibility would be cases that seek to restrict political free speech by regulating campaign contributions. A Court packed by Democrats would surely seek to overturn Citizens United v. FEC (2010), and a Republican Congress could deny the Court’s ability to hear such cases.

Stripping the discretion of courts over immigration decisions would return final authority to the federal agencies created by Congress. This would clear away the judicial interference that has bedeviled immigration policy and contributed to the mess on the Mexico-U.S. border.

Congress could also remove the Court’s ability to hear cases under the 1971 Bivens precedent that recognized implied cause of action in the absence of Congressional authorization. This gave the federal courts more power over federal and state policies, and Justice Thomas has said Bivens was wrongly decided.

Cases challenging the detention of enemy combatants could also get the heave-ho, as per Justice Scalia’s opinion in Hamdan. So could cases seeking national injunctions, which proliferated during the Trump Presidency. And don’t forget cases that challenge such fundamentally political decisions as Congressional redistricting or the Census.

***

We can think of others, but you get the idea. If Democrats want to turn the Court into a super legislature, then they would run the risk of having a future Congress circumscribe the Court’s writ to narrower and traditional judicial purposes.

It’s true that a packed Court could react to this by using its power to invalidate these jurisdictional limits. But if the Court did so, it would invite other retaliation by Congress using its power of the purse. Perhaps Congress would cease to fund law clerks and Court staff.

We want to be clear that we favor none of this, at least not now. But this scenario is a warning to the Biden court commission to be careful what you recommend. The political intrusion into the judiciary isn’t likely to end with the addition of two or four more Justices. Democrats are playing a dangerous game by toying with the judiciary, and the courts and the country would be the losers.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/if-democrats-pack-the-court-11618612227?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

Today's Pandemic Tyranny Predicted by Harry Vox in a 2014 video.

Investigative journalist Harry Vox unknowingly predicted the future, almost exactly what is going on today -- pandemic tyranny to control America!

Featured in this 2014 video is a chilling Rockefeller Foundation report.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS DISTURBING VIDEO.