The purpose of the “Back to Center” advice column is to provide perspectives for personal realignment and empowered living in the COVID era. Sarah encourages you to reach out to her with requests for advice about self-development and emotional and mental well-being in these complicated times. Please send your questions to&nbsp;<a href="mailto:advice@aflds.org">advice@aflds.org</a>. Looking forward to hearing from you!For all other inquiries, please direct your questions to <a href="mailto:info@aflds.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">info@aflds.org</a>.&nbsp;I am being required to get the jab to keep my job…Should I fight this? Can I fight this? Or should I just quietly move on?No jab for me—EVER!Thank you for your question. I love the total clarity you have on your decision not to get the shot, even though your job is at stake! You strike me as a strong person; let’s see how we can channel your strength into a decision about what to do next.Something I notice about your message is that there are a couple of “should” questions. I’d like to suggest that you try replacing “should” with “Do I want…?” That boils it down to:“Do I want to fight this?” and “Do I want to just quietly move on?”When you ask yourself these “What do I want?” questions, what comes up for you? Do you like your job enough to fight for it? Do you feel so strongly about the injustice of what’s going on that you want to make a stand, regardless of whether it saves your job or not? Or would you really rather use this as an opportunity to let go and move on to something better?&nbsp;To me, “should” carries a heavy weight with it. It has a connotation of obligation, pressure, and maybe even some guilt. “Should” is about other people’s advice and expectations. But “want” is about you. It puts you in the driver’s seat. When you decide what you want, you can choose your path according to what’s most important to you.About your “Can I fight this?” question - I assume what you mean is: “Do I have any chance of winning if I fight this?” There are ways of fighting back, such as seeking a medical or religious exemption from the shot, if either of those apply to you. If you decide that fighting this is what you want to do, the only way to know what’s possible is to try. Whatever the outcome, you’ll be able to know that you bravely stood up for yourself and others who share your position.&nbsp;May you have clarity and confidence as you decide what next steps are best for you!****I am very sad to say that I took the vaccine a while back. My family and friends were all getting it – it seemed like everybody was – and I didn’t ask many questions or really look into it. But now I know much more. I’ve learned about what this “vaccine” really is and possible adverse effects, and I’m scared to death over what I may have done to my body. I carry this fear around with me all the time, obsessing over what might be going on inside of me, and what it’s going to mean long-term. I feel such deep regret. What can I do??What a heavy burden you are carrying. Thank you for sharing it with me. Let’s just take a moment to breathe together, a couple of deep breaths in and out…Okay. I hope that what follows will be helpful to you.Now, I’m not able to speak to the medical aspects of your decision, so I recommend finding a doctor you can trust to consult about the best way to care for your body post-vaccine.What I can talk with you about is what’s going on in your emotional world.&nbsp;I want to start off by encouraging you to give yourself some compassion. The last few years have been a crazy, confusing time. There have been so many factors at play – media sources giving conflicting information, social and governmental pressure to be vaccinated and follow all the COVID mandates, mental health mayhem caused by lockdowns and ever-changing rules about how we’re allowed to live…You made a decision that seemed good to you at the time, based on what you knew at that point. Try to release any blame you may feel toward yourself. We all make decisions we later look back on with perfect hindsight and wish we could change. What’s past is past. Now, your job is to focus on the moment you are in and ask, “What can I do to help myself now?”Let’s talk about the fear. Whenever you feel that fear rise up, I want you to stop and breathe, just like we did above. Fear thrives on lack of air, so flood it with a healthy dose of oxygen, and you should feel some calm return.Fear also loves the unknown. Anytime you “obsess about what might be going on inside” of you, fear has a field day. The truth is you can’t really know what your decision to take the vaccine means for you. You can’t know what’s going to happen. It’s the same with anything in life. We create elaborate projections into the future within our minds, and they can feel so real that we start to accept them as fact and reality.&nbsp;The antidote to that fear of the future (and by the way, all fear is future-based) is to return to the moment. What do you know to be true about your life in this present moment? What is beautiful about this moment? What do you love about your life in this moment? Those are the things you can be sure of.I want to recommend that you do some writing about all this. Write down your fears as they come up, and then come back to the moment and write down all the things you’re grateful for. Let that gratitude connect you to the present, the only reality that is actually happening.I truly hope that a doctor can recommend some good ways to care for yourself physically. Please know that a calm, peaceful, happy state of mind is also amazing medicine.&nbsp;Last, you now have a very powerful, personal way to help others, if you choose. If you know or have a way to connect with other people who are considering the vaccine, consider telling them your story. Encourage them to think twice, to do their research, and point them to sources you’ve found valuable and true. It would be an incredible gift to offer if it resonates with you to do so.I truly hope that you will choose to transform your regret and fear into peace and presence. To your health!****It seems like COVID might be dying down somewhat, with some places in the world starting to lift restrictions. I feel hopeful, but at the same time hesitant to believe it fully. The past few years have been such a rollercoaster ride…what if things get bad again in a few months, and we’re hit with a whole new wave of mandates? I want to fly overseas to see my family later this spring, but it feels so hard to make plans. It feels like something bad could happen at any moment, and everything could be turned upside down again. How can I handle the uncertainty?Yes – these past few years, uncertainty has certainly been the name of the game. I hear you; we desperately want to hope that we could be near the end of all this insanity, but we’ve hoped and been disappointed before. How do we move forward?You know, it’s funny: When I think back to life before COVID, the first mental images I get give me a rosy feeling of certainty, dependability, predictability…That was back when all was right with the world, when I knew what was going on in life, when things were stable and normal.But when I look a little harder at pre-COVID life, I find that my rose-colored glasses fall off. I remember that actually, life then was also unpredictable, uncertain, surprising, upside down at times…just in different ways. There was no global pandemic to speak of, but my life still contained struggles, things I didn’t always know how to handle, and events that would blindside me out of nowhere.The bottom line is this: COVID or not, we never know what’s going to happen tomorrow…or later today…or in the next hour…or in the next minute.&nbsp;Before COVID, you might have made plans to visit your family, and the flight could have been cancelled due to weather, an airline strike, a natural disaster, or any number of things. Plans, even though we may have felt much more secure in making them in the past, are always tentative.But should we stop making plans? Should we say, “Things are so uncertain right now, why should I even bother?”? Is that the way we want to live?I encourage you to allow yourself to feel the hope. That hope doesn’t have to be based on knowing what’s going to happen; it can be about choosing to live even though you don’t know what’s going to happen.&nbsp;The act of making choices and plans is inherently hopeful. And when you choose to live and act despite uncertainty, it can create opportunities that wouldn’t have been possible if you had decided to wait until everything was “certain.”So, hope, act, and be open and flexible with what comes your way. I hope with all my heart that you get to see your family this spring, and that you choose to live joyfully and bravely in this uncertain world!****Before COVID, my wife and I used to go out on a date once a week. It was a really special part of our relationship that we both looked forward to. But then COVID hit, and we stopped going out. Now that restrictions have lifted more in our area, I feel eager to start up our weekly dates again, but my wife is hesitant, still worried about being around too many people. I’m having a really hard time with the fact that she doesn’t want to go out, especially since it’s one of the only ways we can get time alone together, away from our kids. What can I do?&nbsp;It's wonderful to hear that you and your wife had set aside such special, consistent time to spend together! It’s a rare thing to see a couple prioritize their relationship so strongly these days. With that kind of precedent, I feel confident that you’ll be able to work through this current challenge you’re facing.So, you want to go out, she wants to stay in. Let’s see if we can find a way to make spending time together special and comfortable for both of you.When you think about how things used to be, what aspects of going out together felt most important to you? Was it the chance to be alone, without the kids? Being able to talk uninterrupted and really connect with each other? The change of scenery? Trying fun, new things together? Relaxing and getting away from the cares of the week? When you feel the lack of those weekly nights out, what part of the experience do you miss the most?&nbsp;Now, how you could recreate those aspects in a way that works for both of you? It’s going to take some redefining of what “going out” means. If a highlight for you in the past was enjoying a great restaurant experience together, maybe you could pick up take out for the two of you and find a beautiful place outside to dine. If simply having uninterrupted, kid-free time was high priority, try getting a babysitter who will take the kids to a park for a few hours while the two of you stay in. If you loved having a change of scenery, taking a private drive together through a scenic area could be lovely. With some imagination, you can create experiences together that, while different from the past, can still nurture your relationship in similar ways.&nbsp;A final note: I encourage you to do your best to be patient with your wife’s hesitations. Even though things seem to be shifting with COVID, it’s not easy for some people to “unsee” the experiences we’ve all been through the past few years. The world is different now and may continue to be different going forward. If we can be flexible and roll with the idea of being creative and trying new ways to do things, we’ll be a lot happier. And if you don’t let the memory of “how things used to be” weigh you down, your relationship will continue to grow and thrive. Wishing you many happy times together!****I’ve been thinking about participating in a protest against the way my government is handling COVID. I really care about standing up for freedom for myself and my fellow citizens, but at the same time, I feel apprehensive. What if I’m arrested or face other negative consequences for being involved? What will friends and family members who have a different perspective on the situation think of me? Will it even make a difference if I’m there or not? &nbsp;I really feel afraid and unsure, and yet…I feel like I can’t not do this. I’m looking for some clarity…thank you!I consider anyone who is even thinking about speaking up against today’s injustices to be brave. It would be so much easier to just give in and go along with the game. You should feel proud of yourself for thinking these things through!The first thing I want you to know is it’s okay that you’re feeling afraid and unsure. Any time we think about doing something big, something that stretches us beyond anything we’ve done before, we are going to feel uncomfortable. And sometimes the experience of feeling afraid generates even more fear. You can start to wonder if the fear is a sign that you shouldn’t do the thing you’re thinking about doing, that maybe you’re going off track, that maybe something’s wrong with you, that maybe you’re not so brave after all…Just know that the fear is there to tell you you’re onto something big…that if you decide to follow the voice inside that’s calling you to speak up, you’re going to expand to a whole new level of who you are.&nbsp;There could be consequences for getting involved. And yes, family and friends might raise eyebrows or have something to say to you about this bold action on your part. Ask yourself: Would the personal payoff of doing something you believe in outweigh the actions or reactions of others?&nbsp;You asked if it will make a difference if you’re there or not. In my opinion, yes – every person and every voice in this battle makes a huge difference. But as with anything in life, you need to matter to yourself first. Will it make a difference to you if you’re there or not? How would you look at yourself afterward if you choose to protest? How would you look at yourself if you decide not to?The end of your message is so powerful: “I feel like I can’t not do this.” It sounds to me like you have your answer right there. You’re feeling the pull to stand up, to speak out so strongly, that it’s almost like there’s no other option but to act, despite your fears. When you get that feeling, take it seriously. Your inner wisdom is guiding you.Stay strong!&nbsp;Previous columns:<ul style="list-style-type:initial;"><li><a href="https://aflds.org/news/post/back-to-center-married-39-years-and-i-thought-we-were-on-the-same-page-when-it-came-to-things-that-mattered-most/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">'Married 39 years and I thought we were on the same page when it came to things that mattered most'</a></li><li><a href="https://aflds.org/news/post/back-to-center-how-do-i-repair-this-relationship-or-accept-that-i-may-never-see-my-son-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">‘How do I repair this relationship or accept that I may never see my son again?’</a></li><li>‘<a href="https://aflds.org/news/post/back-to-center-how-can-i-stop-fear-from-controlling-my-every-thought-and-ruining-my-dreams/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">How can I stop fear from controlling my every thought and ruining my dreams?’</a></li><li><a href="https://aflds.org/news/post/how-can-i-pursue-my-dream-to-find-the-person-to-marry-when-its-so-hard-to-connect-with-new-people-because-of-covid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">'How can I pursue my dream to find the person to marry, when it's so hard to connect with new people because of COVID?'</a></li><li><a href="https://www.americasfrontlinedoctors.org/news/post/how-can-i-feel-safe-these-days/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">'How can I feel safe these days?'</a></li><li><a href="https://americasfrontlinedoctors.org/news/post/advice-column-premier-back-to-center/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Advice column premier: Back to Center</a></li></ul>Sarah encourages you to reach out to her with requests for advice! Please send your questions to <a href="mailto:advice@aflds.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">advice@aflds.org</a><figure class="image image-style-align-left image_resized" style="width:428px;"><img src="https://aflds.rbrdigital.app/uploads/image_def5830ec1.jpeg"></figure>Sarah Perron is a Certified Transformational Life Coach. Her passion is to help people create a powerful vision for their lives, identify and eliminate anything that holds them back, and step into their own unique greatness and mission in the world. She believes deeply in the power of coaching to bring fresh perspectives, ideas, and motivation to anyone who wants to thrive in life. Sarah works with clients one-on-one and in group coaching programs and presents exciting workshops on self-development topics. You can follow her on her YouTube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTlPdMbwe8QAfP5NUR3GRRQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Find Your Fire</a>.&nbsp;

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'My family and friends were all getting it – it seemed like everybody was – and I didn’t ask many questions or really look into it. But now I know much more'

Back to Center: 'I deeply regret taking the vaccine'

<h2>Smartphones dangerous for children</h2>A new book by NYU social psychologist Jonathan Haidt may confirm what many parents have already deduced and may be eye-opening to others — the harmful effects of smartphones on children and youth. His book, "<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/729231/the-anxious-generation-by-jonathan-haidt/">The Anxious Generation</a>: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness," is “downright alarming” according to John Sundholm <a href="https://www.yourtango.com/self/psychologist-urges-parents-end-phone-based-childhood?utm_medium=amp-mid-recent-block" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">writing</a> for Your Tango. Haidt says that smartphones, social media, and helicopter parenting have altered childhood for Gen-Z and Gen-Alpha, resulting in greater mental illness, social ineptness, and declining academic achievement.<hr><blockquote>According to <a href="https://www.today.com/specials/generation-z/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Today</a> teens:Gen Z was born between 1997 and 2012 and is considered the first generation to have largely grown up using the internet, modern technology and social media. Members of Gen Z are sometimes known as zoomers.Alex Doyle, a 20-year-old Gen Z’er from South Carolina, says she thinks the relationship with technology is what distinguishes Gen Z from the other generations.“I feel like it’s unique how we know the world before social media but also have seen how it can be useful, whereas the generations before us are more averse to that and Gen Alpha are iPad kids and, like, can’t read,” Doyle said.Gen Alpha is the youngest generation to date, encompassing those born from 2011 to 2024. This generation is known for being digital natives, even more so than Gen Z, having been born into a world that is fully integrated with technology, social media and global connection.</blockquote><hr>Haidt's research, based on many studies and CDC statistics, showed that rates of depression and anxiety, which had been stable during the 2000s, increased by over 50% during the 2010s. Worse still are the rates of suicide which have increased by 48% for children from 10-19 years and by 131% for girls from 10-14 years of age. Haidt documented the increased loneliness and friendlessness among teens and plunging academic achievement.&nbsp;Gen-Z adults, he said, have more problems with mental illness and difficulty integrating into society than previous generations, as Sundholm reported:<blockquote>It's well known that Gen Z adults have much <a href="https://www.yourtango.com/news/study-finds-gen-z-struggles-more-mental-health-previous-generations">higher rates of mental illness</a> than other generations, and Haidt pointed&nbsp;to data showing they are also <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37104750/">more shy and&nbsp;risk-averse</a>, more socially isolated,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-03/young-adults-less-sex-gen-z-millennials-generations-parents-grandparents">especially with respect to dating</a>, less confident, less successful — the list goes on and on.</blockquote>Haidt discusses his book on MSNBC's Morning Joe in the video below:<div class="raw-html-embed"><iframe width="964" height="542" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yrL_ksihP3w" title="How a phone-based childhood is having disastrous effects" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><h2>Not exclusive to U.S.</h2>The phenomena noted by Haidt are not exclusive to American youth but are found in countries around the world and point to two universal issues, he said. The first issue is the advent of smartphones and social media, “the neurological, psychological, and developmental harms of which are well established by myriad scientific studies.”The other issue he identified as “helicopter parenting,” which began in the 1980's:<blockquote>Second, the loss of independence and exploration for kids due to parenting changes since the 1980s (like so-called "helicopter parenting")."In the 1990s, American parents began pulling their children indoors or insisting that afternoons be spent in adult-run enrichment activities," he wrote in The Atlantic. "Free play, independent exploration, and teen hangout time declined."</blockquote><h2>“The entire internet in their pockets”</h2>Sundholm quoted Haidt, further, noting that the internet completely changed childhood:<blockquote>"Once young people began carrying the entire internet in their pockets, available to them day and night, it altered their daily experiences and developmental pathways across the board," he went on to say. "Friendship, dating, sexuality, exercise, sleep, academics, politics, family dynamics, identity — all were affected."</blockquote><h2>“The Great rewiring of childhood” &nbsp;&nbsp;</h2>During an interview about Gen-Alpha smartphone addiction at the ARC (Alliance for Responsible Citizenship) November 2023 conference, as seen in the video below (5:06-6:40), Haidt <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1SyCZwMqfY&amp;t=400s" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">describes</a> some of the significant changes in childhood development brought about by smartphones, particularly the end of &nbsp;in person, play-based childhood:<blockquote>Childhood is about building up your brain and you do that through play. Anyone who had a puppy knows it's all about play. So we had play-based childhoods up until around 2010. . . . Kids used to actually see each other in person and once they all got phones and loaded with social media for the girls, it's video games for the boys, childhood stops being play-based, which is what a mammal brain needs to wire up properly.&nbsp;It stops being play-based, it becomes phone-based where phone includes video game consoles all the stuff that makes your social interactions virtual, often asynchronous, disembodied, transitory. So it's a complete what I'm calling it “The Great rewiring of childhood.” &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</blockquote>&nbsp;<div class="raw-html-embed"><iframe width="964" height="542" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/k1SyCZwMqfY" title="Smartphone Addiction and Gen Alpha | Jonathan Haidt, Social Psychologist" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>&nbsp;<h2>The remedy - smartphone-free children</h2>To combat these phenomena, Haidt makes several suggestions including giving children simple flip-phones until high school just so parents can remain in contact with their children, removing phones from school, and giving children more independence and responsibility:<ol><li>No smartphones before high school, suggesting&nbsp;parents&nbsp;opt for simple flip phones in order to remain in contact with kids.</li><li>No social media before the age of 16.</li><li>Phone-free schools, which Haidt discussed, tend&nbsp;to have myriad positive benefits in schools, with even some students saying they prefer a phone-free experience.</li><li>More independence, free play, and responsibility in the real world.</li></ol><h2>15-year-olds reading like 8-year olds &nbsp;</h2>Removing smartphones from children and adolescents may be what's needed to turn things around as the experience of this New Jersey high school teacher shows. She is considering quitting, as Lauren Reams <a href="https://www.yourtango.com/self/teacher-considers-quitting-because-high-school-students-cant-read" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a> for Your Tango. Her 10th-grade students, she realized, were reading on a second- to third-grade level.&nbsp;<blockquote>The teacher in New Jersey shared in a Reddit post that the past couple of years have been very stressful for her, but the straw that broke the camel's back was when she realized her 10th-grade students could not read at their grade level. In fact, they could barely read at all.She explained that instead of reading books at a high school level, these sophomores are reading 2nd and 3rd-grade books like "Charlotte's Web" and "The Bridge to Terabithia."&nbsp;</blockquote>Her experience is not unique, Reams wrote. Other teachers she turned to had the same experience:<blockquote>In absolute shock, she turned to fellow teachers in her school for advice. As it turns out, her experience wasn't limited to her classroom, but many teachers observed that students homeschooled during the pandemic, versus students exposed to the virtual classroom, were much more advanced.</blockquote><blockquote>The parents are mad because the kids are failing, but there's not much she can do,&nbsp;especially when it comes to their behavior&nbsp;which she categorized as “rude, always on their phones, destructive.”</blockquote>

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Technology

Technocracy

Medical

'Neurological, psychological, and developmental harms are well established by myriad scientific studies'

Mental illness and suicide in children and adolescents linked to smartphones

By Alex NewmanSheriffs have the power and the duty to stand for the U.S. Constitution they swore an oath to uphold, and to protect the rights of the people in their counties, regardless of what state or federal authorities might do, explained a wide range of speakers including sheriffs, media personalities, victims of political persecution, businessmen, and military leaders.Respect for the oath of office to the U.S. Constitution was one of the clear messages from the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association’s (CSPOA) “Resist the Temptation” conference on April 17. That constitutional mandate applies to everything from elections and immigration to free speech and even the protection of order from lawlessness, the lawmen and their allies heard.The event made headlines worldwide and was broadcasted globally by FrankSpeech, reportedly being seen live by more than 50,000 people. Videos from the event continue to circulate widely on social media and beyond. &nbsp;Organized by CSPOA founder Sheriff Richard Mack and CEO Sam Bushman, a syndicated radio host, the summit brought together an impressive array of Trump insiders, lawmen, elected officials, and experts. Each had unique insights and perspectives to share. Taken together, the speakers offered a long list of action items for the law-enforcement community and for citizen activists concerned about America.Sheriff Mack, who served two terms as sheriff in Arizona, sued the Clinton administration in the ’90s over a gun-control bill that he refused to enforce. The case eventually made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of sheriffs and against the Clinton gun-control scheme.In the landmark decision,&nbsp;Printz v. United States, the Supreme Court, citing the 10th Amendment and more, ruled once again that the federal government could not “commandeer” state or local governments. Known as the “anti-commandeering doctrine,” the case upholds the Constitution’s reservation of powers not delegated to the federal government to states and the people. &nbsp;Numerous speakers at the event touted the ruling as key, not just for sheriffs but also for state and local governments. Hundreds of sheriffs nationwide are members of CSPOA and have been trained on their authority under the U.S. Constitution and common law, as well as the details of the 1997 ruling.Unsurprisingly, federal supremacists and totalitarians seeking to centralize coercive power in Washington, D.C., are on the warpath against Mack and CSPOA. And the dishonest attacks by the media offered fresh evidence that constitutional sheriffs are a major thorn in the side of those who would run roughshod over the rights of Americans. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Several sheriffs offered ideas for their colleagues in other counties. One of the lawmen who spoke at the conference, Klickitat County, Washington, Sheriff Bob Songer, explained how sheriffs across the nation could deputize citizens and form a posse. Sheriff Songer, whose posse includes some 150 carefully screened citizens, even offered his department’s policy manuals and guidelines for other sheriffs across the nation who may wish to set up their own.In an interview with&nbsp;The New American&nbsp;magazine, Sheriff Songer noted that the radical left was furious about his decision to supplement his department’s ranks with everyday citizens. However, considering the savings to taxpayers and the need for more manpower in everything from search and rescue to dealing with potential threats to the community, Songer said creating a posse could be helpful to law-enforcement nationwide.Another chief law-enforcement officer (CLEO) with experience deputizing citizens was Sheriff Glenn Hamilton of Sierra County, New Mexico, who went on stage with Pastor Caleb Cooper of New Hope Revival Church. When state authorities demanded lockdowns and claimed churches were not essential during Covid, Cooper knew he could not close his doors.The only thing worse than having somebody die from Covid because his church stayed open, Cooper told state police, would be having somebody die of Covid without having heard the Gospel and ending up in hell. “We just could not close our church,” Cooper told&nbsp;The New American&nbsp;magazine, emphasizing the importance of the Church continuing to shine the light in dark times. “We&nbsp;are&nbsp;essential.”Cooper and Sheriff Hamilton devised a plan. Because law enforcement was considered essential and was therefore not subject to the lockdown orders, Sheriff Hamilton went to New Hope Revival Church right before Resurrection Sunday and deputized the entire congregation. “I would have deputized every man, woman, and child in my county if that is what it took,” Sheriff Hamilton told&nbsp;The New American&nbsp;in an interview.The whole saga was featured prominently in the documentary&nbsp;Non-Compliant 2&nbsp;by KrisAnne Hall. It was contrasted with the outrageous behavior of an anti-constitutional sheriff in Florida, who arrested a pastor for refusing to shut his church before Governor Ron DeSantis shut down the rogue sheriff by declaring churches essential. As Sheriff Hamilton explained, almost all New Mexico sheriffs also resisted unconstitutional abuses against gun rights in the state. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A third lawman who spoke at the summit, Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf, offered details of his ongoing investigations into irregularities in the 2020 election. Upon being given evidence of alleged criminal acts, Sheriff Leaf said he had a duty to investigate. And yet, instead of helping get to the bottom of it, state officials including the far-left attorney general responded by waging war on Sheriff Leaf and his efforts. &nbsp;“It’s been nothing but walls and having to knock down walls to get to the information that I need to get to,” Leaf told&nbsp;The New American&nbsp;in an interview before his talk. “The walls being put up are probably the most frustrating — and walls put up by people you’d think would be helping you out in an investigation, like the attorney general’s office and the secretary of state.”Considering the enormity of the crimes being alleged and the significance of them, Sheriff Leaf told&nbsp;The New American&nbsp;that there should have been a task force of local, state, and federal law enforcement investigating. “Everybody should have been involved in it,” he said. “There’s a lot to this. I think we would have had this all resolved by now if we had done that.”“You’re talking about, potentially, the greatest fraud ever committed in the world — committed on the American people,” added Sheriff Leaf. &nbsp;&nbsp;Numerous other sheriffs have also opened investigations into widespread reports of voter fraud and election crimes. In fact, at a previous CSPOA event in Las Vegas, this writer interviewed more than half-a-dozen sheriffs for&nbsp;The New American&nbsp;who were trying to get to the bottom of it all, only to be viciously attacked by the far-left media, the Democratic Party, and their allies.Other highlights of the conference included a speech by former National Security Advisor General Mike Flynn (Ret.), who also served as a top intelligence official responsible for coordinating federal, state, local, tribal, and international intelligence. Among other topics, Flynn discussed his new documentary,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Flynn-Michael/dp/B0CT9JVB4F">Flynn</a>, exposing how and why the Deep State targeted him as the first one of Trump’s key officials. In an interview with&nbsp;The New American, he noted that the DVD was number one in Amazon’s “Special Interests” category. “Remember, local action for national impact,” Flynn told the crowd. &nbsp;Pointing to the open border and the ongoing invasion of hostile military and terrorist forces, veteran Boone Cutler, an associate of Flynn’s who helped write the book on Fifth Generation Warfare, announced a new training program for law enforcement on irregular warfare. Saxon Aerospace founder John Ferguson also offered resources to help law enforcement prepare for tough times ahead, later telling&nbsp;The New American&nbsp;that the nation might already be lost. &nbsp;Also speaking was MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, a leading voice calling for election reforms to restore confidence and integrity to voting. In an interview with&nbsp;The New American, he called for citizens to sign the petition at&nbsp;<a href="https://lindelloffensefund.org/">LindellOffenseFund.org</a>&nbsp;for paper ballots and hand counting in elections. Especially urgent: getting rid of the machines that can be hacked.Popular radio host Wayne Allyn Root enthusiastically called on Americans to get involved in the freedom fight, too.Former Mesa County, Colorado, Clerk Tina Peters, who uncovered serious problems with the election and has been ruthlessly persecuted for speaking out, gave an update on her efforts. And former Arizona Representative Mark Finchem, who is running for state Senate and is endorsed by Donald Trump, also gave an update on his lawsuits against election fraud.Dr. Richard Fleming, a medical doctor, attorney, and physicist, discussed the bioweapon attack on humanity in the form of the Covid injections. He urged viewers to contact their state attorneys general with a letter demanding action.FreeAndEqual.org chief Christina Tobin, who is seeking to provide a platform for candidates outside the two-party duopoly, spoke on how the establishment seeks to keep Americans trapped in either the Republican or Democratic parties.Several victims of the January 6 persecution by the Biden Department of Justice, including Casey Cusick and Tom Hamner, spoke about the horrors they endured, and yet offered a message of hope.Also speaking were two congressmen targeted by the Deep State for speaking out, Steve Stockman of Texas and Steve King of Iowa.Former Congressman Stockman explained how the Obama administration went after him with a vengeance, squandering over $20 million in tax dollars and going through multiple grand juries until they could find one willing to help in the persecution. He was eventually jailed in federal prison and treated terribly until Trump commuted his sentence. He urged Americans to pray for and write to former Arkansas State Senator Jon Woods, who was also persecuted by the same forces and remains behind bars in atrocious conditions. &nbsp;Former Congressman King of Iowa, meanwhile, was smeared by the far-left media with fake allegations of racism until he was run out of office. During his talk, he exposed the “carbon capture” scam, the ongoing attack on private-property rights, the globalist undermining of national sovereignty, and more.South Dakota farmer Jared Bossly, a victim of the “carbon capture” scheme, shared details of what is happening in his state and beyond. &nbsp;&nbsp;Entrepreneur Patrick Byrne, former CEO of Overstock.com, gave a detailed presentation on Deep State activities and how to fight back.This writer, who served as the emcee, also spoke on the importance of the oath of office and the biblical foundations of law and resistance to tyranny.Estimates cited in news reports suggest about 10 percent of the nation’s sheriffs are members of CSPOA.As always happens when influential conservatives gather to effectively oppose tyranny and globalism, the establishment media, which was crawling all over the event, pretended to be outraged. The far-left U.K.&nbsp;Guardian, for instance, ran a propaganda piece demonizing the event before it even happened under the headline “‘Danger to our democracy’: fears over Trump allies’ summit with far-right sheriffs.”Shortly after the conference finished, fringe left-wing activist Brandy Zadrozny, who repeatedly cackled as political prisoners shared horrifying details of abuse in federal prison, ran a vicious hit piece attacking the gathering. “<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/constitutional-sheriffs-las-vegas-conference-rcna147487">A sheriff, a felon and a conspiracy theorist walk into a hotel. They’re there for the same conference</a>,” screamed the headline. “The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association is urging lawmen to form posses, seize voting machines and investigate baseless claims of voter fraud.”Virtually all of the attack pieces masquerading as journalism misrepresented the CSPOA and what it teaches its members, the public, and the nation’s sheriffs. The NBC “News” report by Zadrozny, who several attendees said has a reputation for lying and dishonesty, offered a representative example of the lie: “The group sees sheriffs as the highest authority in the U.S., more powerful than the federal government.”Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Not one person at the summit or at CSPOA has ever claimed that a sheriff has more power than the federal government. However, it is a fact that sheriffs are the chief law-enforcement officers in&nbsp;their&nbsp;jurisdiction, that they are not accountable to or employed by the federal government, and that they all have an obligation to obey their oath of office to the U.S. Constitution and their state’s constitution — not enforce federal regulations and statutes. &nbsp;Virtually all of the establishment media left before the press conference, when they would have had the opportunity to ask most of the speakers anything they wanted. Instead, they simply lied or distorted what the speakers said and what the CSPOA and its members stand for.<a href="https://libertysentinel.org/author/admin/">Alex Newman</a> is an award-winning international journalist, educator, author, and consultant who co-wrote the book “Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America’s Children.” He writes for diverse publications in the United States and abroadRead more at <a href="https://thenewamerican.com/featured/constitutional-sheriffs-event-offers-solutions-fake-media-loses-it/">The New American.</a>

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US News

Sheriffs not accountable to federal government; have obligation to obey oath of office to state and federal constitutions

Constitutional sheriffs event offers solutions

<h1>Correct, now go to the principal's office</h1>North Carolina high school student Christian McGhee was suspended for asking his teacher which of two possible meanings was intended by the word “alien” included on a vocabulary list the class was instructed to learn. Law Enforcement Today <a href="https://lawenforcementtoday.com/debate-ignites-free-speech-vs-cultural-sensitivity-at-central-davidson-high" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">recorded</a> the teen's question, as relayed by his mother:<blockquote>Christian McGhee’s teacher assigned vocabulary words during class last Tuesday, including the word "alien." According to his mother, Leah McGhee, Christian responded to his teacher, asking, “Like space aliens or illegal aliens without green cards?” [Emphasis added].</blockquote><div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">NEW: North Carolina high school student Christian McGhee was suspended from school for saying "illegal alien" in the classroom. Calling an illegal alien and illegal alien is not offensive, it's just a fact. McGhee was suspended for three days after doing an assignment in… <a href="https://t.co/TUPX0sRmtg">pic.twitter.com/TUPX0sRmtg</a>— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) <a href="https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1780341543439602050?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><h2>&nbsp;</h2><h2>Threaten fellow student - get him suspended</h2>The teacher might have been expected to be impressed with the 16-year-old student, as he demonstrated a familiarity with both possibilities for the word's definition. Perhaps the teacher would have been, had it not been for another student who “took offense to the question and threatened physical violence against Christian.”At that point, one might assume that the teacher would refer the student who threatened Christian for administrative action. But it was Christian who, after being sent to the assistant principal, received a three-day suspension, prompting concern from his mother that he may lose out on college scholarship opportunities with an infraction for racist language now on his record.<h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>It's OK when the government does it</h3>Christian argued that he did not anticipate his question being objectionable since, “‘illegal alien’ is an actual term that I hear on the news and can find in the dictionary.” X users bolstered his argument, noting that the federal government refers to migrants from foreign nations as "aliens,” and suggested that he file a lawsuit that would get him at least as much as a scholarship would offer.<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">Hey Christian McGhee’s Mama… Stop worrying. Sue them. It’s a term used in our DHS handbooks. Your boy may have just gotten his tuition covered This is one screen shot with alien throughout — head to the website, and it’s like a treasure trove of the word “ALIEN” … <a href="https://t.co/X5NNz9Qpv6">pic.twitter.com/X5NNz9Qpv6</a>— Heatherheather007 (@LibertyValkyrie) <a href="https://twitter.com/LibertyValkyrie/status/1780344554949951962?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>Let's get political</h3>Education is a hot issue with voters and Christian's punishment for using vocabulary accurately could make it easy for politicians to score points in an election year. One presidential candidate appears to have weighed in already on the controversy:&nbsp;<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Donald Trump invited Christian McGhee and his family to join him yesterday at his rally! Hate it had to happen this way but glad to see the support for this family. This was the student suspended for using the term "illegal alien". <a href="https://t.co/tki3WXUyJO">pic.twitter.com/tki3WXUyJO</a>— Haley Kennington (@ladykennington) <a href="https://twitter.com/ladykennington/status/1782056146548695419?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 21, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><h2>&nbsp;</h2><h2>Been there</h2>Christian is not the first to suffer censorship and punishment for perfectly appropriate use of language. In 1999, David Howard, an aide to the then mayor of Washington, D.C., was pressured to resign when other city employees were <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/williams/williams020499.htm?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_14" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">offended</a> that he “used the word ‘niggardly’ in describing how he would have to manage a fund's tight budget.” &nbsp;[Emphasis added].<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Bill Maher: Remember David Howard fired for using the word "niggardly", which means stingy. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DeathByPC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DeathByPC</a> <a href="https://t.co/tw146Zs4fh">pic.twitter.com/tw146Zs4fh</a>— Butch Mailhot (@ButchMailhot) <a href="https://twitter.com/ButchMailhot/status/871024582140076032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 3, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div>The word has caused a problems for others as well, despite both its meaning and its use having nothing to do with race. The word is thought to have developed in northern Europe in a <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/niggardly" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">homogeneous</a> racial environment with reference <a href="https://twitter.com/mikacooper/status/1105964911618912259" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">only</a> to the use of money.<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">Niggardly As in the manner many people are paid. <a href="https://t.co/t03L7AvF9x">pic.twitter.com/t03L7AvF9x</a>— Джим Робинсон (@528i) <a href="https://twitter.com/528i/status/1780737096334119359?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div>And in 2002, an elementary school teacher from the same state as Christian wound up with a <a href="https://www.johnderbyshire.com/Opinions/Culture/niggardly.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reprimand </a>and mandatory retraining after a parent complained about her use of the word to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120117090222/https://www.starnewsonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article/?ArtNo=209040302&amp;Category=NEWS&amp;Date=20020904&amp;Profile=1004&amp;Ref=AR&amp;Site=WM&amp;template=printart" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">describe </a>a literary character:<blockquote>Stephanie Bell, a fourth-grade teacher in Wilmington, North Carolina, has been reprimanded for using that word in a classroom discussion about literary characters. A parent, one Akwana Walker, declared herself offended by the usage. Ms. Bell has been hustled off to “sensitivity training”… [Emphasis added].</blockquote><h2>&nbsp;</h2><h2>Pushback</h2>Not all such “infractions” have ended in punishment, however. A University of Wisconsin professor guilty of using the same word in 1999 escaped punitive action and even inspired <a href="https://www.badgerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Still8.1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">resistance</a> to the attempt to censor him:<blockquote>A junior enrolled in Professor Standish Henning’s class on English literature, [Amelia] Rideau came to the Faculty Senate to complain of his use of the word “niggardly” — which means stingy or miserly — in a classroom discussion about Geoffrey Chaucer’s medieval classic, “The Canterbury Tales…Rather than chalk it up as a lesson in mistaken homophony (also not an offensive term, by the way), Rideau took the classroom incident to another level. She brought three black friends to her next class with Henning for “support,” and then cited her experience to the Faculty Senate … [Emphasis added].</blockquote>A backlash ensued that included editorials in local papers supporting the professor:<blockquote>“So, what other words are to be purged from our vocabulary because they sound like words that may offend?” wrote history professor John Sharpless in a Wisconsin State Journal “guest column” a few days later. “Thespian? Philatelist? Tips? Peanuts? Homogenous?”</blockquote>&nbsp;<h4>You knew, and you're still offended?</h4>&nbsp;It didn't help Rideau's case that she informed the Faculty Senate that she knew what the word meant.<blockquote>But wait, it got better: Rideau said she knew what niggardly means but was upset that too many people associate that word with the slur. She did not claim ignorance as a defense. Rather, she was upset that some classmates spelled the word as “niggerly” in their notes. In the real world outside the Madison campus, this produced a curious reaction.&nbsp;Shouldn’t taxpayers be upset that students in a fairly sophisticated UW-Madison class on English literature have never heard the word “niggardly” or, at least, cannot spell it? &nbsp;… [Emphasis added].</blockquote>&nbsp;<h4>Victory</h4>Rideau had hoped to use the incident to make the university's existing faculty speech code more stringent so that it would cover even unintentional offenses. Instead, the university cancelled the speech code altogether:<blockquote>In a matter of days, protectors of the code were in a retreat that would lead to its virtual repeal within a month. The same university that had been the first in the nation to adopt a faculty speech code in 1981 would soon become the first to abandon it — a remarkable step away from the “politics of identity” that threatens to ruin some of America’s finest colleges and universities.Whatever may be the limitations which trammel inquiry elsewhere, we believe that the great state University of Wisconsin should encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found. [Emphasis added].</blockquote>&nbsp;<h4>Related Article:</h4><ol><li><a href="https://frontline.news/post/homeschoolers-top-government-schooled-children-in-everything">Homeschoolers top government-schooled children in … everything</a></li><li><a href="https://frontline.news/post/reagan-and-trumps-vows-to-defund-government-education">Reagan's and Trump’s vows to defund government education . . .</a></li><li><a href="https://frontline.news/post/pay-twice-to-escape-government-education">Pay twice to escape government education?</a></li><li><a href="http://frontline.news/post/fox-censoring-tucker">Who's behind Fox censoring Tucker? Third rail issues blocked</a></li></ol>

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Latest institution to punish accurate use of language

Student suspended for asking whether 'alien' on vocabulary list means 'space aliens' or 'illegal aliens'

Joe Biden called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately after Iran <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-shows-remains-of-iranian-ballistic-missile-that-fell-in-dead-sea/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">fired</a> "500 ballistic and cruise missiles as well as attack drones” at Israel to “<a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/netanyahu-called-off-retaliatory-strike-on-iran-after-call-with-biden-new-york-times/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dissuade</a>" him from ”greenlighting an immediate retaliatory strike.”<h1>Let the Ayatollah be</h1>Axios provided more <a href=" https://www.axios.com/2024/04/14/biden-netanyahu-iran-israel-us-wont-support" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">details</a> on the White House pressure on Israel to drop pre-approved plans for retaliation:<blockquote>"You got a win. Take the win," Biden told Netanyahu, according to the official.&nbsp;The official said that when Biden told Netanyahu that the U.S. will not participate in any offensive operations against Iran and will not support such operations, Netanyahu said he understood.</blockquote>The Times of Israel <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/pm-shelved-pre-approved-plans-for-immediate-iran-reprisal-after-biden-call-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a> that plans for retaliation were pre-approved before the Biden call:<blockquote>Netanyahu shelved plans that had been prepared for retaliation against Iran’s weekend barrage after speaking with US President Joe Biden immediately following the attack…… the cabinet had already approved a series of possible responses depending on the scope of the Iranian attack, which were slated to be carried out immediately following the Iranian fusillade early Sunday.“The response won’t be what was planned any longer; diplomatic sensitivities won out,” a senior source was quoted as telling the broadcaster…The report noted the comments likely pointed to a weaker response than what had been approved. [Emphasis added.]</blockquote>That “weaker response” turned out to be, thus far, just <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/live-updates/israel-gaza-hamas-war/no-damage-to-irans-nuclear-sites-after-israeli-strike-iaea-109413374?id=108860743" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">three missiles</a> aimed at an air defense system in Iran <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/israel-strike-iran-limited-attack-143042469.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">after</a> “the Pentagon urged what amounted to what one senior U.S. official called a ‘signal, not a strike,’ with minimal chance of casualties.” [Emphasis added.]<h1>Good news for Khamenei; not for Iranians</h1>Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran since 1989, certainly welcomed the news, as Iranian dissidents had been hoping to capitalize on a major retaliatory strike by Israel to precipitate mass protests against the longest-serving head of state in the Middle East. This after already being disappointed by a lack of support from Biden during protests in 2022 that “raged across Iran despite the brutality of the government’s response,” according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/29/iran-protests-us-media-coverage-mahsa-amini" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Guardian</a>, which detailed that brutality:<blockquote>Over 400 people have been killed; an unknown number of journalists and demonstrators have been imprisoned or disappeared. Hundreds have been blinded by rubber bullets and metal pellets fired into crowds of protesters. [Emphasis added.]</blockquote><h4>Media in lockstep</h4>Biden's lack of support for the protestors against their despotic leaders led The Guardian to title their article, "Why are Americans ignoring the protests in Iran?" The article noted that, in addition to Biden's muted response, comprising but a short, ambiguous mention within his September 2022 UN speech mostly devoted to Ukrainians, mainstream media left Americans in the dark about the protests.<blockquote>Coverage of the uprising has been notably sporadic; we search our screens and front pages, mostly in vain.</blockquote>Even in the absence of mass protests, executions in the totalitarian terror state have continued, with Amnesty International <a href="https://amnesty.ca/human-rights-news/iran-executes-853-people-in-eight-year-high/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reporting</a>&nbsp;<s> </s>in 2023 that, “Iran executes 853 people in eight-year high amid relentless repression and renewed ‘war on drugs.’” &nbsp;<h2>Iranian hope</h2>Despite prior letdowns, many Iranians hoped that foreign powers would finally intervene to provide protests a chance at success this time around, even taking the risk of publicizing their hopes:<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Graffiti on a wall in Iran reads: Hit them, Israel Iranians are behind you <a href="https://t.co/JcW7ZPqSas">pic.twitter.com/JcW7ZPqSas</a>— 南洋辉叔 Uncle Hui (@alexcmhwee) <a href="https://twitter.com/alexcmhwee/status/1779845454655897802?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div>One Iranian even pleaded with Israel to directly attack Khamenei:<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Graffiti in Tehran: “Israel, strike the supreme leader's [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] house!” <a href="https://t.co/uQ7D7nN8vP">pic.twitter.com/uQ7D7nN8vP</a>— Adam Albilya - אדם אלביליה (@AdamAlbilya) <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamAlbilya/status/1781342418689835072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div>Support for Israeli attacks on Iran's dictators by America, the leader of the free world, would have particularly provided wind to the sails of Iranian dissidents.&nbsp;CarterThe State Department's failure to fully back dissidents in Iran is particularly noteworthy in light of the role of previous administrations in each of the revolutions that brought totalitarian leaders to power.Prior to the Iranian revolution of 1979, the nation was led by the popular Shah (King) Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.&nbsp;<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his wife Shahbanu Farah Diba She wears a green dress, a crown, and a diamond necklace set with emeralds. <a href="https://t.co/CKsJ6uZ5L3">pic.twitter.com/CKsJ6uZ5L3</a>— Il lupo Viaggiatore (@E_TaherAlbaghli) <a href="https://twitter.com/E_TaherAlbaghli/status/1599855051761385472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div>The New American <a href="https://thenewamerican.com/us/culture/history/iran-and-the-shah-what-really-happened/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">detailed</a> the lengths to which the Carter administration went to bring down the Shah:<blockquote>The Carter administration’s continuous demand upon the Shah: liberalize. On October 26, 1978, he freed 1,500 prisoners, but increased rioting followed. The Shah commented that “the more I liberalized, the worse the situation in Iran became. Every initiative I took was seen as proof of my own weakness and that of my government.” Revolutionaries equated liberalization with appeasement. “My greatest mistake,” the Shah recalled, “was in listening to the Americans on matters concerning the internal affairs of my kingdom.”Iran’s last hope: its well-trained military could still restore order. The Carter administration realized this. Du Berrier noted: “Air Force General Robert Huyser, deputy commander of U.S. forces in Europe, was sent to pressure Iran’s generals into giving in without a fight.” “Huyser directly threatened the military with a break in diplomatic relations and a cutoff of arms if they moved to support their monarch.”“It was therefore necessary,” the Shah wrote, “to neutralize the Iranian army. It was clearly for this reason that General Huyser had come to Teheran.”</blockquote>The White House did not even try to hide the purpose of sending a top general to Iran during the protests:<blockquote>Huyser only paid the Shah a cursory visit, but had three meetings with Iran’s revolutionary leaders — one lasting 10 hours. Huyser, of course, had no authority to interfere with a foreign nation’s sovereign affairs.Prior to execution later by Khomeini, General Amir Hossein Rabbi, commander-in-chief of the Iranian Air Force, stated: “General Huyser threw the Shah out of the country like a dead mouse.”</blockquote>The Shah finishes the story in his own words:<blockquote>U.S. officials pressed the Shah to leave Iran. He reflected:You cannot imagine the pressure the Americans were putting on me, and in the end it became an order …. How could I stay when the Americans had sent a general, Huyser, to force me out? How could I stand alone against Henry Precht [the State Department Director for Iran] and the entire State Department? [Emphasis added.]</blockquote><h3>&nbsp;</h3><h2>Keep Khamenei for stability?</h2>The White House has justified its calls for almost no retaliation against Iran with claims that strong strikes could widen Israel's war and destabilize the region with the conflict “<a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/biden-endeavors-to-prevent-spread-of-conflict-after-iran-attack/ar-BB1lFk8Z" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">escalating</a>."In fact, Iran has already destabilized the region, using Hamas terrorists in Gaza and the West Bank, Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon and Syria, and Houthi terrorists in South Yemen to attack Israel on five fronts. The NY Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/04/15/world-news/iranian-american-lawyer-blasts-supporters-of-islamic-regime-calling-for-war-with-israel-we-want-peace/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">covered</a> Elica Le Bon, a British-born, American-educated lawyer and popular TikToker of Iranian descent, making this very point:<blockquote>Le Bon further argued that far from being the victim, Iran was the aggressor responsible for creating Hamas and Hezbollah, as well&nbsp;as the Houthis in Yemen, for the sole purpose of destabilizing the region. [Emphasis added.]</blockquote>Le Bon emphasized this point to her 300,000 followers:<blockquote>How about the terror proxies that the Islamic Republic has created to foster regional instability … What did you think Hezbollah was there for … , Hamas, Houthis. Their miliita groups in Iraq and Syria.&nbsp;Did you think they were there to instigate a system of public schooling, education, to feed the poor, house the unhoused? … Are the rockets that Hamas fires into Israel on a near daily basis an act of war?</blockquote>She also clarified the difference between the regime and the population they rule:&nbsp;<blockquote>First of all, you're not talking about Iran, you're talking about the Islamic Republic…Iranians don't want war with Israel. We want peace with Israel. Iranian people inside of Iran have come out and said this over and over and over again. It's you [the regime] that wants war with Israel.</blockquote>The NY Post also notes Le Bon's complaint that the regime's oppression of Iranians is ignored by Hamas supporters:<blockquote>“When we were screaming that they were killing Iranian women for not wearing a hijab, where were you?” Le Bon demands to know in the video, which has gone viral with more than 1 million views.“When they were lynching Iranian men from cranes for protesting, where were you? When we were explaining that it’s a terrorist occupying force, where were you?” &nbsp;</blockquote><div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">WATCH An Iranian in the UK responds with "BS" to those who claim that "Iran has the right to defend itself." Via <a href="https://twitter.com/elicalebon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@elicalebon</a> <a href="https://t.co/o90RoF4taw">pic.twitter.com/o90RoF4taw</a>— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) <a href="https://twitter.com/Osint613/status/1779767681471721564?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><h4>Gazans too</h4>Hamas supporters not only fail to show concern for Iranians oppressed by dictators — they also fail to show concern for those <a href="https://frontline.news/post/globalists-cremate-care-for-gaza-refugees" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">suffering</a> under tyrannical Hamas terrorists. While <a href="https://cis.org/Bensman/Government-Admission-Biden-Parole-Flights-Create-Security-Vulnerabilities-US-Airports" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">flying </a>thousands of illegal adult, male migrants into the U.S. from nations at peace, Secretary of State Antony Blinken labeled the relocation of even women and children in Gazan war zones a “<a href="https://twitter.com/TheEconomist/status/1714301727782871512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1714301727782871512%7Ctwgr%5E76189453f9bc921d7260794b364a8ab4877de088%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ffrontline.news%2Fpost%2Fglobalists-cremate-care-for-gaza-refugees" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">non-starter</a>.”<h2>Future Shah?</h2>Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the oldest son of the last Shah of Iran and the last heir-apparent to the throne of the Imperial State of Iran, currently in exile in the United States, advocates for Middle East stability through the removal of Iran's leaders and a restored peace with Israel, as he writes on X:<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">For years I have said the fates of Iranians and Israelis are uniquely intertwined. We have common hopes for peace, but are denied it by a common enemy: the Islamic Republic. This regime poses an existential threat to both Iran and Israel that will continue as long as this regime…— Reza Pahlavi (@PahlaviReza) <a href="https://twitter.com/PahlaviReza/status/1779310516273332273?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 14, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div>An Iran ruled by Pahlavi would be expected to immediately defund Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis and bring stability to the region.See our additional coverage of the Middle East:<ol><li><a href="https://frontline.news/post/hamas-long-term-strategy-revealed">Hamas' long term strategy revealed</a></li><li><a href="https://frontline.news/post/what-was-hamas-thinking">What was Hamas thinking?</a></li><li><a href="https://frontline.news/post/how-to-spot-a-fake-uprising-and-keep-america-out-analysis">How to spot a fake uprising - and keep America out - analysis</a></li><li><a href="https://frontline.news/post/pallywood-palestinian-hollywood-generating-fake-anti-israel-videos">'Pallywood': Palestinian Hollywood generating fake anti-Israel videos</a></li><li><a href="https://frontline.news/post/5-gazans-crushed-by-airdropped-food-packages-as-helicopters-try-to-avoid-hamas-rockets">5 Gazans crushed by airdropped food packages as helicopters try to avoid Hamas rocket</a></li></ol>

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