Next 4Cs Meeting THIS Coming Thursday, 02/08/2024
Club For Growth Names Our Own Rick Brattin To 2024 Fellowship Class
Our own State Senator Rick Brattin was named to the Club For Growth Fellows for 2024! He will be speaking to us at the 4Cs meeting this week, so make sure and congratulate him.
https://clubforgrowthfoundation.org/club-for-growth-foundation-announces-2024-fellowship-class/
“I’m honored & humbled to be named one of the 2024 Club for Growth Fellows! The fellowship program unites free-market oriented leaders from across sectors, creating a nationwide network on behalf of free-market ideas, principles, and policies.” - Senator Rick Brattin
Below is Senator Brattin’s Weekly Capital Report, with links to his legislative website and contact information:
Another Big Week for IP Reform and the MO Freedom Caucus
The MO Freedom Caucus rally at the state capitol on Tuesday was a resounding success! Hundreds of Missouri patri0ts lined the halls of power in Jefferson City, making their voices heard in support of real IP Reform and the Missouri Freedom Caucus. Here are a couple of videos that highlight the sense of excitement and determination in the Capitol building that day:
A Snippet of "God Bless America"
A Snippet of Senator Bill Eigel Firing Up the Patri0ts
(The above videos were captured by Jodi Grace of the Missouri Freedom Foundation)
These are just a couple of the videos, pictures, and posts from various social media accounts of Missouri conservatives who showed up to support the MO Freedom Caucus.
After all that, you may be asking yourself, “So, did it work? Where is IP Reform now?” Here is a link to State Senator Denny Hoskins’ breakdown of where we are now, as of late Thursday evening:
Denny Hoskins Update of IP Reform Status
I’m sure everyone that was able to make it out to the Rally will remember it for many years to come, and it will likely be a milestone in may people’s lives.
Cass County Commission Declines To Participate in PDMP
For those who might not know, the PDMP, or Prescription Drug Monitoring Program of Missouri, was created, in theory, to attempt to “reduce the abuse and misuse of controlled substances such as opioids by making dispensation information for such substances available to prescribers, dispensers, and health care providers”. But, as with many things the government attempts to do, it comes at a cost. In this case, a loss of your privacy. The image below is from the FAQ page of the PDMP website, and outlines the personal data that is captured as part of this program when you are prescribed a schedule II, III, or IV controlled substance.
The information in numbers 6 and 7 are what is called, “Personally Identifiable Information”, and even though the capture, storage, and transfer of this type of data is regulated by federal HIPAA laws, corporations find easy ways around these laws to use your specific data to their benefit. Whether or not it is to your benefit is arguable at best. As an example, the PDMP will not be managed in-house, meaning the government has contracted with a vendor (Bamboo Health) to administer this program for them. Why does this matter? There is nothing stopping these corporations from finding new and clever uses for this data, and I said before, to benefit them, at your expense. Here is an example of what I mean.
Artificial Intelligence May Influence Whether You Can Get Pain Medication
It just so happens that Bamboo Health’s flagship product, NarxCare, uses this very type of AI, and has come under fire due to lack of oversight on its proprietary (meaning confidential intellectual property that no one outside the company gets to see) software and algorithms. Now, I am the LAST person to suggest the world needs more government regulation as a whole. BUT, there is good reason to question doctors relying on proprietary software to decide how to manage patient pain simply on corporate assurances.
As important as these details are, why does it matter right now? It matters now, because the Cass County Commission has declined to participate in the PDMP, largely because of privacy concerns, and I, for one, think they deserve a “Thank you”.
The Receipts: The Deep State Conspired Against President Trump in 2020
Millie Weaver, who I had never heard of before this, has been called a “conspiracy theorist” along the lines of Alex Jones. Personally, I believe many of the conspiracy theorists have been vindicated over the last 4 years, especially when compared to the Mainstream (Ministry of Truth) Media. These days, I look for supporting evidence in everything, and take nothing for granted.
That said, Millie Weaver has done extensive research into a zoom call that happened days before the November 2020 election. I present her article here as an example, with supporting evidence, of the “deep state” or “administrative state” that many, even in the Republican party, deny exists. Even I was surprised at the length and breadth of government employees on this one call, and the formal organization of the players. This article is long, because she breaks down the entire 2 hour zoom call, piece by piece. She also provides the entire zoom call, so there can be no credible accusations of “cherry-picking”. In my opinion, this is nothing short of mind-blowing.
Beyond replacing politicians, we have to have a plan for determining who has prosecutorial authority for this type of activity, and how we get action on this long term. Considering how compromised all federal law enforcement agencies are, this is going to be a significant challenge.
News Articles of Interest
Caveat Lector: The following links are to news articles published by local mainstream media outlets, which are produced and reviewed by the Ministry of Truth, and have likely been cleansed of “misinformation”, and edited to ensure an appropriate level of “wokeness” and leftist perspective, while ensuring the safety of the reader.
Missouri House committee hears testimony on landfill legislation
Book Recommendation
My reading this week has me fired up about the COVID pandemic (that wasn’t) all over again. When you learn about the history of both pandemics, and how the US has handled them in the past, if will anger you all over again as well. COVID was not the first time the government tried to force people to get questionable vaccines, nor was it the first time the government planned on locking people down.
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Pandemics covers both the history of pandemics, including the fact that most of the worst pandemics in history came from China, as well as a solid review of how things went down during COVID. This is a book we need to teach to our children and grandchildren to make sure we never let this happen again.