ABLECHILD: The Real Copycat in Child Murders is Psychiatric Drugs

The Real Copycat in Child Murders is Psychiatric Drugs

Republished with permission from AbleChild.

The ink on Lindsay Clancy’s mistrial was still wet when hysterical podcasters, like a crazed lynch mob, claimed the lack of a guilty verdict of Clancy would lead to “copycat” murders.

Along with well-followed podcasters like Matt Walsh of The Daily Wire, Members of Congress, lawyers and even judges on social media concluded the worst… the murder of innocent children would get out of control. And according to a completely unhinged South Carolina Congresswoman, Nancy Mace, “anyone diagnosed with it (postpartum) should lose custody of their kids.”

Why stop at postpartum Congresswoman? Why not take kids from all parents who are diagnosed with any mental illness? Why single out postpartum? Truth be told, by your standards, there are lots of alleged mental disorders that are “treated” with mind-altering drugs that could qualify for ripping babes from the arms of parents, but postpartum is NOT a psychiatric mental disorder.

Postpartum is a physiological transition period after the birth of a child. Not every mother experiences adverse postpartum symptoms, but for some unknown reason, for those who do, the medical establishment has opted to have psychiatry “treat” postpartum with serious, deadly mind-altering drugs.

It doesn’t matter that the psychiatric drugs don’t “treat” any known abnormality that is involved in postpartum symptoms like serious hormone and vitamin deficiencies. A simple blood test would determine those levels…not psychiatric drugs. And psychiatric drugs don’t correct the hormone and vitamin deficiencies but, rather, make it worse, even causing psychiatric symptoms.

No sooner had it been reported that Illinois mother, 40-year-old Corie Walsh, allegedly hanged her 2-year-old son, Barrett, in the family’s basement, when the ah-ha moment clowns started taking credit for being so insightful about “copycat” killings. “It was just a matter of time,” they said. Really? Let’s consider this nonsense for a moment.

The only thing that Lindsay Clancy and Corie Walsh have in common is that they killed their children while being “treated” with cocktails of psychiatric drugs. We know what Clancy’s drug cocktails consisted of and each of the drugs carried side effects that include hallucinations, delirium, mania, psychosis, abnormal dreams and behavior, depersonalization, hostility and suicidal ideation to name a few. Each psychiatric drug carries these possible side effects now add those adverse effects thirteen times in the Clancy case.

Copycat” killings require the same circumstances, and Corie Walsh was not postpartum. As is typical, it has yet to be made public when Walsh was first diagnosed with a mental disorder and when she was first drugged and what were the psychiatric drugs she had been prescribed leading up to her reported psychotic break? By all accounts, like Clancy, Walsh was an amazing mother. Then, how do those “copycat” vigilantes make sense of Illinois father, Matthew Schleier, murdering his 5-year-old son? Certainly, Schleier did not suffer from postpartum.

In April of this year, Schleier was found not guilty by reason of insanity after strangling his 5-year-old son, Jack. While the court case did not reveal each of the psychiatric drugs that had been prescribed to Schleier, the trial did reveal that the psychotic father had been prescribed several psychiatric drugs, including antipsychotics and at the time of the murder, his medications had been tweaked. Sound familiar?  Just like Clancy.

Schleier, like Clancy, suffered from anxiety and depression. While it’s anyone’s guess how many psychiatric drugs Schleier or Walsh had been prescribed, what is known is that neither Clancy, Walsh nor Schleier hurt anyone until they received psychiatric help.

Further, it seems clear that it makes little difference what alleged mental disorder is being diagnosed. The same mind-altering drugs that are prescribed for symptoms of postpartum are the same drugs prescribed for depression, anxiety or the alleged bi-polar disorder. Here’s the kicker, none of these mind-alerting drugs have been approved as cocktails.

Lindsay Clancy’s psychiatrist or doctor or whatever, could not guarantee to Clancy that any of the drug cocktails she was prescribed treated any alleged abnormality. Unfortunately, in the Clancy case, her attorney Kevin Reddington, chose to focus on Clancy’s postpartum psychosis. Like most of these cases, the prescribed drugs rarely, if ever, are the focus of the defense.

Schleier’s case was focused on his psychosis. What caused Schleier’s psychosis? Could the psychosis have been caused by the cocktails of drugs being prescribed? Yes. Why the possibility that the drugs caused the violent, deadly behavior is never the focus of these cases is criminal.

In fact, let’s consider this, if Clancy was suffering from anxiety and insomnia, why would the mental health “professionals” prescribe psychiatric drugs that have known side effects that cause those very behaviors? Why didn’t Reddington ask those questions? Twenty percent of the people who take the antidepressant Zoloft experience insomnia. What drug was first prescribed to “treat” Clancy’s insomnia? Zoloft! Hmmm…Lindsay didn’t get better, but she did get more drugged.

Let’s face it, women in the US are drugged at twice the rate of men. More than 20% of US women take psychiatric drugs. Is it any wonder that women are becoming violent when the go-to “treatment” is mind-altering drugs. This is not a question about whether the drugs can cause a person to become violent, it is a question about why there is obvious suppression of information about the dangers associated with psychiatry’s drug “treatments.”

These are facts for all the know-it-alls like Congresswoman Mace. Any murders that occur after the Clancy case have no connection, except psychiatric prescription drugs. There is no abnormality in the brain that is any alleged psychiatric disorder and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the federal drug approval agency, has no idea how these drugs “work” as “treatment.”

One in six American adults take at least one psychiatric drug. How many more people must die before the drugs are implicated in violent, deadly behavior. So far, the only thing connecting three loving parents of murder is psychiatric drugs.

AbleChild is a 501(3) C nonprofit organization that has recently co-written landmark legislation in Tennessee, setting a national precedent for transparency and accountability in the intersection of mental health, pharmaceutical practices, and public safety.

What you can do.  Sign the Petition calling for federal hearings!

Donate! Every dollar you give is a powerful statement, a resounding declaration that the struggles of these families will no longer be ignored. Your generosity today will echo through generations, ensuring that the rights and well-being of children are fiercely guarded. Don’t let another family navigate this journey alone. Donate now and join us in creating a world where every child’s mind is nurtured, respected, and given the opportunity to thrive.  As a 501(c)3 organization, your donation to AbleChild is not only an investment in the well-being of vulnerable children but also a tax-deductible contribution to a cause that transcends individual lives

The post ABLECHILD: The Real Copycat in Child Murders is Psychiatric Drugs appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

JUST IN: GiveSendGo for Doxxed Clancy Holdout Juror Raises Over $115,000 Amid Smear Campaign by Feminist Jurors and Leftwing Media

GiveSendGo created for lone Clancy holdout juror

As the lone holdout juror in the Lindsay Clancy trial faces a targeted campaign to expose and discredit him by the mainstream media, supporters of his now-heroic stand against the injustice of murdering children are coming to his aid.

A GiveSendGo page to help the juror with security, attorneys, and lost work when the Fem Nazi mob comes for him has already raised over $115,000 as of Monday morning.

The fundraiser was created by an X user who goes by Tom Hennesey on September 4, the day a mistrial was declared. As of Saturday, the fundraiser had only raised about $22,000, but nearly $100,000 has been contributed since!

The juror was relentlessly smeared in the media by his co-jurors, who shared details of his identity and incited opposition to his position that Clancy committed a crime when she strangled her three young children. The female jurors called him “arrogant” and complained that he could not get past the fact that Clancy had “viciously killed her children.” One female juror said the holdout stood on the way of their attempt to “change something to make it better for other women.”

News of the holdout juror’s race and age was broken on CBS Mornings on Friday in an interview with juror Paula Devlin. Host Gayle King, a black woman, was stunned to learn of his skin color.

“A black man is a holdout juror,” King said. “Well, I have to sit with that for just a second.”

“I’m very fascinated by the holdout juror, learning that he’s a black man today,” she later said, expressing even more shock upon learning that he was in his 30s.

Then, NBC Boston began harassing the juror, attempting to contact him at his home, combing through his background, and broadcasting that he had illegally lied on his juror questionnaire, the Gateway Pundit reported. The outlet points to dismissed domestic violence allegations, a restraining order, and a pending eviction case to sow doubt in the fairness of the trial and discredit the juror’s decision.

The media is enraged that he was allowed to serve on the jury and that his vote resulted in a mistrial for the child killer. NBC courtroom insider Sue O’Connell was outraged, suggesting that the jurors were not properly vetted.

Via NBC Boston:

The Gateway Pundit reported on the GiveSendGo page created to help the lone holdout juror amid the doxxing campaign.

GiveSendGo Created After Lone Black Holdout Juror in Clancy Murder Case DOXXED Amid Harassment Campaign Spearheaded by NBC Boston

The post JUST IN: GiveSendGo for Doxxed Clancy Holdout Juror Raises Over $115,000 Amid Smear Campaign by Feminist Jurors and Leftwing Media appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

WATCH: Newly Declassified Video Shows Rescue of Air Force Pilots After Crashing in Iran

Declassified footage shows the rescue of two US Air Force F-15 pilots in Iran

Newly declassified footage has been released, showing the historic rescue mission for two US Air Force F-15 pilots who were downed in Iran earlier this year. 

In a segment on 60 Minutes, host Norah O’Donnell spoke to Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Caine, who walked her through footage of the rescues of Dude 44 Alpha, the first pilot recovered, and Dude 44 Bravo, the second.

“Anytime you go behind enemy lines in daylight, it’s going to be dicey. We would much rather go at night,” Caine said, discussing the rescue of Alpha, where the US sent over 20 aircraft behind enemy lines in broad daylight. “Given the threat to 44 Alpha, the decision was taken to boldly go behind enemy lines in daylight to make sure that we could get to him before anybody else could.”

Video from Bravo’s rescue shows US strikes against Iranian forces in the area before a US helicopter locates him atop a hill. The Iranians can be seen running away before being disintegrated.

Two special forces troops jump out of a helicopter, grab Bravo, and carry him home.

The mission remains so secretive that the military blurred the helicopter in the declassified footage in case “the United States ever needs to use them again,” Caine said. “I don’t want you to know what kind of helicopter that is. Yeah, because we retain, we want to retain our most bespoke capabilities.”

When asked about Bravo scaling the mountain to an elevation of about 7,000 feet, despite being seriously injured in the ejection from his F-15, Caine explained, “You want to get to the high ground. You want to isolate the threat below you, so that you can see and observe anybody that’s coming to get you, and make a decision on what you’re going to do to evade them.”

Via CBS:

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, an F-15E was shot down over Iran on April 3. A search and rescue operation quickly began to find the two pilots, one of whom spent roughly two days in enemy territory, hiding from Iranian fighters.

After a nearly 48-hour search and rescue effort, the pilot of a downed F-15E Strike Eagle was rescued from inside Iran.

One crew member was initially rescued on Friday after the crash, US officials say.

“WE GOT HIM!” President Trump announced following the rescue, describing the mission as “one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History.”

“This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour, but was never truly alone because his Commander in Chief, Secretary of War, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and fellow Warfighters were monitoring his location 24 hours a day, and diligently planning for his rescue,” Trump said.

It was later revealed that the US military and Central Intelligence Agency used “Ghost Murmer” technology to trace the electromagnetic fingerprint of the pilot’s heartbeat and locate him in the massive desert.

The post WATCH: Newly Declassified Video Shows Rescue of Air Force Pilots After Crashing in Iran appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

President Trump Releases Latest Rendition Drawings from Inside Trump White House Ballroom – And It’s Big, Beautiful and Spectacular!

President Trump released the latest photos from inside the Trump White House Ballroom on Truth on Sunday – TRUTH Social photo.

President Donald Trump released the latest rendition drawings from inside the Trump White House Ballroom, which is currently under construction.

And, who better to build an elegant ballroom than a real estate billionaire of high-end properties than President Donald Trump?

President Trump raised private donations to pay for this magnificent structure without costing American taxpayers a dime.

The White House Ballroom will have a drone port on top of the structure for self-defense and an underground bunker. This project was desperately needed in this day and age of missile and drone warfare.

In Auguest the Supreme Court allowed President Trump to proceed with the White House Ballroom construction in a 5-4 vote.

 Chief Justice John Roberts dissented. The liberal justices joined Roberts’ dissent.

This was after a fierce legal battle with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

DOJ Solicitor General John Sauer argued that the White House Ballroom acts as a military asset because it has a subterranean bunker and rooftop drone port.

President Trump shared these latest drawings on TRUTH Social.

The spectacular hallway at the Trump White House Ballroom – Trump TRUTH photo.

 

This appears to be the hallway outside of the main ballroom at the Trump White House Ballroom – TRUTH Social photo.

President Trump also posted a photo of the White House Ballroom drone port.

How could anyone in their right mind believe this was not a worthwhile project?

 

The post President Trump Releases Latest Rendition Drawings from Inside Trump White House Ballroom – And It’s Big, Beautiful and Spectacular! appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The Untold Story of the Organized and Massive Rescue of Innocent J6 Political Prisoners Following President Trump’s Pardons in January 2025

The grassroots efforts to rescue the imprisoned J6ers on President Trump’s Pardon Day was a well-organized national effort.

Guest post by Lydia Sorrow

God was there that day.

We were surrounded by unseen help that came from every direction. Prayers were being answered. Our heroes were coming home, and I was allowed the privilege of being there to help in any way possible. God was leading the way.

Having been part of the J6 family of supporters for over 5 years, I knew firsthand the horrors and trials these amazing patriots endured. I knew the gut-wrenching hardships that were designed to crush them and their families. I had received 100’s of letters from the J6 Political Prisoners over the years. History must know the truth. Our own government, political leaders, businesses, and their cronies in the media did the unspeakable act of stealing an election, then destroying lives to let their lie continue.

Innocent lives of sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, and grandparents. American Patriots who love our country, their families, and God, were devastated. The truth must come out. People need to hear and understand what our own government did to its own citizens. The government, media, and political leaders never wanted anyone to know the truth of that day. The abuse of power, force, and injustice done to hide the truth of the “Steal of the 2020 Election” is unmatched in our history.

January 6 patriot Dominic Pezzola with his family following his release from prison by America’s 45th and 47th president, Donald J. Trump.

The American Patriots that came together to help our J6 families is truly a miracle by itself. Weeks after the 2024 election, rumors were flying around that Trump would pardon the J6 Political Prisoners right after he was sworn into office, freeing them all from the nightmares they have been put through. In hearing these rumors, many J6er were scared to get their hopes up. Scared of another letdown.

Since 2021, many grassroots movements had sprung up among the patriots. By the Grace of God, many leaders courageously went into action.

Jim Hoft, with the Gateway Pundit, supported the J6ers by sharing their stories along with millions of readers and helping raise money.

Suzzanne Monk worked tirelessly on the pardon process.

John Parigi II, American Patriot Relief Executive Director, with the help of many amazing patriots, led the way by encouraging us to do what seemed impossible with Zoom meetings, emails, weather reports, flight patterns, and much more.

Amani Wood worked miracles with her amazing team organization skills. The outpouring of support was a powerful moment in history.

John would wisely remind us: “To God be all the Glory that none may boast.” We marched forward bravely to rescue our heroes from the horrific conditions they had been in.

Dominic Pezzola after his release from prison following President Trump’s pardon.

On Monday, January 20, 2025, we get the go signal. Time to roll. We have patriots to help rescue. Show them love, and respect. Be there for them. No man left behind. Little did we know that not all our patriots would receive a full pardon on that day.

So, all alone, but with an army of supporters and God’s Angels behind me, I started to make the 3-hour drive to a prison I had never been to before, to pick-up complete strangers I had only written to. Onward, I went forward. It would be dark before I reached FCC Butner in North Carolina, where I would meet up with other supporters who had driven miles to help me with the rescue.

One J6 mom was helping from home, organizing us, setting up phone groups, researching and helping in every way possible. Our focus was on seven J6 political prisoners in North Carolina spread between the Medium and Low facilities at FCC Butner.

There were support teams throughout the country doing similar things in all types of conditions. It was truly special that we were there for them on this historic day.

We had gathered food, clothing, and whatever else we could think of to help our heroes when they were finally released. We were all ready, ready for President Trump to sign and release the pardons.

At approximately 7:43 pm ET on January 20, 2025 – President Trump signed the Pardons.

Many J6 Political Prisoners later shared stories of when the pardons were announced – the jails erupted in cheers of support.

As I have learned through this unbelievable journey, our justice system is completely broken and there are many thousands of inmates unjustly serving time. With the pardons announced, getting the Political Prisoners out was not as easy as you would think. The prisons did not want to cooperate, claiming it was Martin Luther King Holiday, and the Political Prisoners would have to wait a day or two. We would have none of that nonsense. Phone calls were made all over the country and slowly the prisoners started to be released.

At approximately 5:00 am on January 21, 2025, I received a call from a J6 wife who had been waiting at the prison, that they were coming back to the hotel that we secured. I asked, do you have the men. She said, “Hell yeah! We have our men!”

So, a few minutes later, a group of shell-shocked and battered warriors started to arrive at the hotel. God works in such amazing ways. The hotel was basically empty. We were the only ones there and this was just perfect. Even the hotel staff knew this was a special beautiful moment.

Throughout this excitement, newly freed J6 Political Prisoner, Dominic Pezzola, was facing another battle. Why was he not fully pardoned? We were all surprised by this. What was going on? I will never forget the hurt and confusion in Dominic’s eyes as he asked me this question.

He said to me, “But we suffered, Lydia. We suffered for this man!”

This man was our, President Donald Trump. My heart hurt for him; I had no words except to share that I believed that President Trump knew Dominic was tough enough to take on this new challenge.

And take it on he did!

It was now time to get the patriots home to their families. Families scattered throughout the states. Some of our group drove home to Florida and other parts of the country. I had three patriots to get home by private jet, all organized by support groups.

I will never forget sitting with my group of newly released J6 Patriots, when the pilot, Gary Heavin, walked in.

Gary had his hands on his hips and with a Big Huge Smile, he said. “Let’s Get our Heroes Home!”

I am in tears as a share this beautiful memory. In a world so full of injustice, we have American Patriots ready to stand up for what is right and be there for each other, no matter the consequences.

This was the “Largest Prisoner Release Effort” in the history of our country.

Hundreds of volunteers came together to assist over 230 J6 Political Prisoners, spanning 80 facilities across 25 states.

God found a way.
God Bless all my beloved J6ers.
God Bless their families that suffered so.
God Bless all the beautiful patriots that stood by them.
God Bless President Trump and…
God Bless America!

The post The Untold Story of the Organized and Massive Rescue of Innocent J6 Political Prisoners Following President Trump’s Pardons in January 2025 appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

California Democrat Ex-Mayor Found Liable for Sexually Assaulting Seven Women — Jury Hits Him With $13 Million Bill After State AG Rob Bonta Refused to Charge Him

Former Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli was found civilly liable for sexually assaulting seven women and ordered to pay approximately $13 million in damages.

A Sonoma County jury on Friday delivered a unanimous civil verdict against former Windsor, California, Mayor Dominic Foppoli, finding him liable for sexually assaulting seven women and ordering him to pay more than $13 million in compensatory damages.

According to Fox News, the awards ranged from roughly $6,000 to $4.65 million per plaintiff. Jane Doe 7 received about $4.65 million. Jane Doe 1 received about $3.8 million.

The jury also found the Santa Rosa chapter of the all-male Active 20-30 Club liable in one of the cases and ordered an additional $2 million.

Punitive damages have not been decided. That phase was set to begin this week after jurors found clear and convincing evidence that Foppoli acted with oppression, fraud, or malice.

Foppoli, 44, has never been criminally charged. That is the part California’s political class would prefer you not dwell on.

The allegations first exploded in April 2021, when the San Francisco Chronicle published accounts from four women. By the end of that spring, 13 women had accused the Wine Country politician of sexual assault or misconduct spanning nearly two decades. Foppoli resigned as mayor in May 2021.

Seven of those women filed a joint civil lawsuit in 2022. The trial that just ended ran about eight weeks.

In 2024, Democrat Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office suspended the criminal investigation. A spokesperson said prosecutors did not have “enough evidence to warrant filing charges on the cases not barred by the statute of limitations,” while claiming the matter remained open.

No charges. No trial. No criminal accountability.

A civil jury needed only a lower burden of proof. Twelve jurors sided with every plaintiff.

Foppoli’s lawyer, Andrew Watters, said the defense was “extremely disappointed,” plans to seek a mistrial, and will evaluate an appeal. Foppoli has denied the allegations from the beginning. After the verdict he maintained he did not assault the women who sued him.

According to Fox News, he has also said he was “a terrible boyfriend and partner, cheating, selfish and egotistical,” but insisted he did not commit the acts alleged in court.

More from the news outlet:

According to the lawsuit, the woman alleged Foppoli sexually assaulted her during the national Active 20-30 convention in Reno, Nevada, in June 2012. She also accused the organization of failing to investigate complaints she made to its leaders.

Traci Carrillo, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told Fox News Digital that the initial San Francisco Chronicle story “gave some of our clients a voice that no local news agency wanted to touch because it accused a powerful and connected local politician of crimes and sexual misconduct.”

“It took over 5 years to get them justice, which was always about accountability. Their trauma was real, and they were believed, not shamed or silenced in the courtroom,” Carrillo added. “They feel vindicated and will now focus on the much-needed healing the jury has provided for them.”

[…]

Foppoli, speaking at a press conference outside the courthouse Friday, said his accusers “are trying to crucify me for a cause I’m not responsible for,” adding that they were motivated by the $13 million payout.

Foppoli still faces a separate lawsuit from Farrah Abraham, a social media influencer and former reality television personality who claims the ex-politician raped her in March 2021 at a house party in Florida. That civil case is expected to go to trial next year, according to court records.

The post California Democrat Ex-Mayor Found Liable for Sexually Assaulting Seven Women — Jury Hits Him With $13 Million Bill After State AG Rob Bonta Refused to Charge Him appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

TWO WEEKS TO GO!… Come See Rudy Giuliani, Gen. Michael Flynn, Lara Logan, J-6 Victims, and Several Other Special Guests – at the “American Martyrs” Premiere in West Palm Beach on Sept. 26

For years now, The Gateway Pundit (TGP) has made it our mission to support those American heroes who were unjustly persecuted by the Washington, DC Deep State, including former Trump officials, January 6 political prisoners, Trump associates, pro-Life activists, devout Catholics, and others.

TGP frequently reported on the horrific persecution of American heroes like General Michael Flynn, America’s Mayor Rudy GiulianiLara Logan, Dr. Simone Gold, J-6ersPresident Donald Trump and others.

We ALWAYS knew they were innocent. We knew they were being targeted ruthlessly like we were at The Gateway Pundit.

Later this month, The Gateway Pundit will premiere our first movie project: “American Martyrs.”

You are all cordially invited to attend. There are still tickets remaining.

The movie tells the story of the Deep State’s criminal acts to destroy five innocent Americans.

It was a story we covered here at The Gateway Pundit, and now we’ve made it into a movie!

Our goal is to inform the American public to what the mainstream media refuses to cover. This is a heart-wrenching story. And I am very proud to release this project.

The premiere for “American Martyrs” will be held at the Cohen Pavilion in West Palm Beach, Florida, on September 26th.

And I am so pleased to announce we have several special guests attending, including Rudy Giuliani, Lara Logan, General Michael Flynn, Attorney Peter Tickton, Gina Loudon, US lawmakers, and several more to be announced!

There will be an open bar from 7-8, Hors d’Oeuvres, and a movie premiere.

** Please purchase your tickets here at AmericanMartyrs.com.

** You can also purchase the book of the same name at Amazon.com.

American Martyrs book cover

The post TWO WEEKS TO GO!… Come See Rudy Giuliani, Gen. Michael Flynn, Lara Logan, J-6 Victims, and Several Other Special Guests – at the “American Martyrs” Premiere in West Palm Beach on Sept. 26 appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Netflix’s 9/11 Documentary Is Too Big for its Runtime

Netflix’s 9/11 Documentary Is Too Big for its Runtime

Turning Point never settles on what it’s actually arguing.

Attack on New York City

Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Much of the director Brian Knappenberger’s new Netflix film, Turning Point: Generation 9/11, attempts to explain the reaction to the terrorist attacks. Though Knappenberger does a fair job laying out a cursory view of the varied consequences that emanated from that fateful day, his documentary struggles to find its footing while hastily considering a myriad of concerns that fail to amount to a key thesis.

Knappenberger’s film is a follow-up to his 2021 five-part series, Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror. This new companion piece, released days before the anniversary of 9/11, fails precisely because it attempts to cram 25 years of history into a 97-minute runtime. It is a historical review eager to sort through the chaotic vestiges of memory, the transformation of the country, and the haunting specter of one of the gravest days in the history of the United States. But by stuffing so much content into such a short window, Knappenberger fails to define one single thread in his attempt to ultimately argue that 9/11 crystallized long-simmering anxieties that were then used to pursue some of the worst foreign and domestic policies of the 21st century. 

Knappenberger begins at the start: on September 11. Through amateur videos and archived newsreels, the documentary does well to situate time and place, confidently leveraging the emotional weight of the attacks to establish the motivations that influenced the political and cultural manifestations of America over the last quarter-century. For older Americans who lived through the attacks, much of this is well-trodden territory, but for the younger generation, at whom the film is directed, the first third of the documentary does its best to revive the horror and explain just how impactful the attacks were on the psyche of America and its people. Though it’s ham-handed in its delivery, here the film succeeds because it knows exactly what it’s attempting to accomplish: pure emotion. 

We hear from firemen who heroically worked to save those they could before the towers collapsed around them. Knappenberger also interviews people who lost loved ones on that harrowing day. Again, for those who were too young to remember or were born after 9/11, this section does heavy lifting. It clearly explains why, as the rubble was still being cleared at Ground Zero, America’s politicians were already seeking revenge and pushing forward narratives about terrorism and security threats that have been used to expand the security state in the U.S. to this day.

The next hour of the film is dedicated to the missteps that occurred across multiple presidencies as a result of the attacks. It attempts to follow the chaotic strategy employed first by President George W. Bush, whose promise to rid the world of terror created an endless march of death and chaos across the Middle East and beyond. Oona Hathaway, special counsel to the general counsel at the U.S. Department of Defense from 2014 to 2015, expresses her discontent with the years that followed 9/11, arguing that the attacks were used to expand executive power while neutering Congress. 

“The Constitution was written to really constrain the president’s authority to use military force,” Hathaway tells Netflix. “The idea was we didn’t want to have a king, we didn’t want to have one person who could just launch the country into war. So, the Constitution very carefully separates out those powers. It’s Congress that gets to declare war. The 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force was enacted without a lot of time for careful deliberation and careful reflection.”

Hathaway’s interview is immediately followed by a soundbite of CNN host Wolf Blitzer citing a post-9/11 poll in which, he tells viewers, 66 percent of Americans said they “would be willing to give up some” of their liberties. This all leads to a long section on the 2001 AUMF, which the documentary accurately calls the “foundation stone” that provided a legal framework to fight forever wars, to detain enemies, and to organize black sites abroad.

But instead of using the rest of the runtime to focus on the permanent destructive effects of the 2001 AUMF—how it led to nearly two sprawling decades of war while creating onramps for President Donald Trump and future presidents to invoke its language to launch wars without Congressional authorization—Knappenberger scatters the lens between Middle East terrorist groups and anti-Muslim fervor in the U.S. 

Refocusing on New York City, the documentary interviews Mohammad Razvi, founder and CEO of the Council of Peoples Organization, whose father had emigrated to the U.S. and was one of the first business owners in a part of New York City colloquially referred to as Little Pakistan. Razvi speaks fondly of the years before 9/11. “I was living the American dream,” he tells Knappenberger. “Everybody, we all were immigrants, but we’re like Americans. I never felt my identity was negative.” 

Razvi expresses the emotional and psychological toll he felt while witnessing the attacks occur on 9/11. “I was working in this fabric store and my Italian paisans said ‘How could your people do this?’” Razvi recounts. “And I’m like, ‘These are not my people.’ What do you think the local people are going to do? They’re going to go to war on us. All of a sudden, I’m a foreigner.”

By the time Knappenberger reaches Razvi’s story, Generation 9/11 has already sprinted through the attacks, the invasions, the AUMF, and the slow-burning rot of executive overreach. Adding more layers about the Muslim experience and tying the 9/11 attacks into the formation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the end is too much. That’s the documentary’s fundamental problem. Every thread it follows, from the firemen who rushed toward the towers to Hathaway’s constitutional alarm to Razvi’s overnight transformation into a “foreigner” in his own Brooklyn neighborhood, deserves the kind of sustained attention Knappenberger gave the War on Terror across five hours in 2021. Here, each point receives only a few spare minutes before the film ploughs forward.

Newton’s third law promised an equal and opposite reaction to every action. What Turning Point: Generation 9/11 delivers instead is a smattering of small reactions, scattered in passing, never quite adding up to the reckoning the subject demands.

The post Netflix’s 9/11 Documentary Is Too Big for its Runtime appeared first on The American Conservative.

America Can Learn from Denmark on Good Government

America Can Learn from Denmark on Good Government

Conversations in Copenhagen revealed what a life without financial terror would be like.

2018_-_Christiansborg_from_the_Marble_Bridge
(Moahim/Wikimedia Commons/Creative Commons)

I was sitting in a coffee shop in Copenhagen, Denmark ruining my vacation. For about the hundredth time I found myself calculating how much the trip was costing, and whether, as a retiree, I had saved enough not to outlive my money. At the end of life, I was likely to face tens of thousands of nursing home expenses, with years of increasing medical expenses on the way down. Then there was inflation and the tottering Social Security and Medicare situations to worry about. My expensive coffee was getting cold.

I looked around the room full of Danes and realized something. No matter what else, not a single one of them could be worrying about anything close to what I was thinking about. Every Dane gets free universal health care, free public schools and universities, pensions, generous unemployment insurance, and more or less cost-free elder care. The mom looking at pastries enjoys heavily subsidized child care. The things that shadowed my life—such as paying for child care and then trying to figure out how to pay for my kids’ college without leaving them burdened with life-long student loans—were not a factor here. Was I going to doom myself to tax hell by withdrawing from the Roth IRA and traditional IRA in the wrong order? Do I have to pay someone to advise me on how to access my own money saved over a lifetime, decades in which I denied myself and my family so there would be something left over at the end? I was not a happy guy.

I approached the mom for someone to talk to. She was curious to meet a tourist, and like most people I met, friendly and open. The presumptions that govern a stranger approaching you in a big American city did not apply. I asked her if she was happy, and she replied that indeed she, and most Danes, were. I looked it up later; four of the five happiest nations on earth are Nordic countries, with Denmark at number two. (The U.S. is down at 24th, with Afghanistan understandably ranking globally as the unhappiest place.)

I wanted to know why Danes might be so happy. I turned the topic to one of my biggest worries, healthcare, attracting the attention of an older man nearby. (Of course everyone spoke English: Denmark consistently ranks among the world’s best non-native English-speaking countries, the product of an excellent public school system that starts foreign-language training in first grade). I practically had them in tears laughing as I tried to explain how healthcare works in America, with its HMOs, PPOs, Obamacare, Medicare, copays, deductibles, in- and out-of-network, and more. I told them that, after paying Medicare taxes all my working life, I still had to pay several hundred dollars more each month in retirement (plus a new form of income tax called IRMAA) for a health insurance system that covers most Americans so incompletely that those who can afford it have to buy private supplemental insurance, as well as paying copays for most doctor visits. And this is after you figure out the Medicare system itself, a complex mess that requires you to choose among Parts A–D. And if you don’t sign up for Medicare “on time,” you will have a penalty attached to your premiums for the rest of your life.

Then I tried to explain retirement. It starts with choosing when to start collecting your Social Security in America; if you take it at age 62 you get less money each month for more months, versus age 70 when you get more money but for fewer months, because you die. The cut-off age to balance the choices is somewhere around 80-something, so you have to make an irrevocable decision estimating your own death. There was a similar ghoulish calculation for my meager pension: I agreed to take less money each month betting I’ll die before my wife, leaving some for her as a widow.

In Denmark every person gets healthcare. They usually pay nothing. Some do buy supplemental insurance for faster access to specialists, but it is generally through a nonprofit organization. Old-age pensions are supported by a combination of taxes and mandatory occupational pension contributions. Together the entire multilevel retirement system typically replaces over 70 percent of former wages. In the U.S., the average worker sees roughly 40 percent replaced by Social Security, higher lifetime earners much lower. There are low rates of elderly poverty in Denmark. Significant retirement income comes from pre-funded, government-held occupational pension funds that you pay directly into while working, alleviating the burden on future taxpayers. This is wholly unlike the American system, which may soon run out of money or reduce benefits to stay solvent.

We pivoted to the big question of taxes. I’d read that if the U.S. tax code were made into an audiobook, it would take roughly 19 days of continuous listening to finish. The entire code and associated regulations is over 4 million words long. Americans spend hours doing their taxes themselves, usually with the aid of expensive software, or spend hundreds of dollars or more paying CPAs and tax professionals to do the task for them. For Danes, the tax agency prepares an annual tax assessment using the information it has already received from banks, mortgage companies, investment firms, and the like. Taxpayers log into the government’s online system and review the return, approving it electronically or, in rare cases, making changes. For most, the process takes only a few minutes and is stress-free. People, my tablemates told me, tend to trust their government, perhaps the most shocking thing I learned this day. Americans often don’t appreciate that trust itself can be an economic asset.

Like most Americans, I assumed the taxes must be crushing. I had to look up later how much Danes pay in taxes and try to compare it to the U.S. It is a complex question. But to try and bring some clarity to all this, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) calculations set the average tax wedge Americans pay at about 30 percent. For Denmark, the same OECD study shows a single worker earning an average wage faces a tax wedge of 36 percent. But in return, Danes receive all the benefits mentioned above and more. By contrast, Americans pay for all of those things after taxes—in addition to the anxiety of not knowing if things will work out. Most Danes also get five or more weeks of paid vacation per year. I think the Danes are getting a better deal, and that helps make them happy.

I was left angry about our system, our way of life actually, which places so much emphasis in the private sphere on making the right choices or personally suffering the consequences, and in the public sphere on paying much for the comparatively little that we get. It is easy to see why Americans carry such a high psychological burden, especially financial stress, right until our deaths relieve us. Most every financial decision seems to come with the possibility of ruining my future. That simply does not exist in the same way in places like Denmark, or the other Scandinavian countries, or to a lesser degree even in Canada or Japan. As our informal coffee club broke up, I wondered, why can’t we Americans live this way?

Walking back through rainy Copenhagen, I realized something. I hadn’t spent the afternoon envying Denmark’s architecture or museums or bicycle culture, all quite lovely. I envied something much simpler: the absence of constant financial fear. And one more thing: As I insisted on paying for my own coffee, I learned that tipping isn’t expected in Denmark. What a way to live.

The post America Can Learn from Denmark on Good Government appeared first on The American Conservative.

Crowd at Irish Open Roars as President Trump Announces He Is Removing All Tariffs on Irish Whiskey (VIDEO)

President Trump on Sunday presented the Irish Open trophy to winner and friend Shane Lowry and announced he is removing a 15% tariff on Irish whiskey.

Trump received a warm welcome as he arrived to the Irish Open at his Doonbeg Golf Club.

Attendees chanted “USA! USA!” as President Trump walked onto the green.

Trump awarded 39-year-old Shane Lowry the Irish Open trophy after delaying his trip back to the US.

“This was an honor, and Shane played unbelievable,” Trump said.

“I went back last night, and I was watching some of the news and they were showing him… nine putts in a row, and I thought that was his best stuff,” Trump added. “Just one putt after another. I guess it was nine in a row.”

“He also hit the ball really well, too, a lot of other things, but he’s a great guy, and what happened – I shouldn’t say this – but I was with Shane last night, and he’s got an infectious personality. We were talking, Rory was there, a lot of people were there,” Trump said.

“I said, ‘You know, I was supposed to leave this morning — I was supposed to be out of here this morning, but I’m gonna stay and watch Shane win,’” he added.

The crowd went wild after Trump announced he was dropping tariffs on Irish whiskey.

“Everybody’s been bugging me,” Trump said as he announced his decision to remove tariffs on Irish whiskey.

“On behalf of the United States of America, I am going to take the tariffs off of Irish whiskey!” Trump said to cheers.

WATCH:

The post Crowd at Irish Open Roars as President Trump Announces He Is Removing All Tariffs on Irish Whiskey (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.