January 25th, 2025
Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.
1 Peter 3:13-17
As most of you know, I prefer to focus my attention on local news and information, particularly within Missouri. However, there has been a LOT of activity recently that is having a local impact, or will have, very soon. The Boss is back at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and there is a fire in his belly! SO, I’ll be touching on things this week that may, or may not, have been brought to your attention.
Side Note: The Federalist has been on it lately:
Trump Brings Life Back To The White House
‘More Babies In The United States Of America’: Trump, Vance Signal New Era At March For Life
Birthright Citizenship Is A Pernicious Lie That’s Destroying America
Restore Sound Money in Missouri
Missouri still needs to recognize gold and silver as money, and our legislators are hard at work trying to make that happen this session. Learn more, and how you can help push these bills forward at the link below:
Restore Sound Money in Missouri with SB 25, HB 433, SB 194, and HB 630
Restore Missouri Sovereignty
SB 198 would create formal processes for reviewing the constitutionality of federal actions and rejecting those found unconstitutional, expressly authorizing the General Assembly and state courts to nullify unconstitutional federal laws. If you would like to help push this bill, click the link below:
Restore Missouri Sovereignty With Nullification Bill SB 198
REPACCMO Training in February
Our friends at REPACCMO will be conducting a training session in February, in Jefferson City, that is designed to empower grassroots activists to be more efficient and effective in making a difference in Missouri. If you have not been through this training, please consider attending. It is very valuable, and helped me personally to be a better activist.
PLEASE NOTE: There is a $20 suggested donation to attend this training.
The Banning of Red Dye No. 3 Is Nothing to Celebrate
On January 15, 2025, the FDA issued an order stating it will no longer allow for the use of FD&C Red No. 3 in food and ingested drugs. As soon as this decision was announced, media pundits, social media influencers, and the internet in general began waving their hands and celebrating. Woohoo, AmIRight!
Eh, not-so-fast. What, exactly, is worthy of celebration? Let’s consider this for a few moments, and ask some logical questions before breaking out the Dom1 and dancing the night away.
Why is FD&C Red No. 3 being banned? When I reviewed the order in question, it does not appear to indicate why it is being banned. When I reviewed the FDA article on this product, it states:
The FDA is revoking the authorization for the use of FD&C Red No. 3 based on the Delaney Clause of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act). The Delaney Clause, enacted in 1960 as part of the Color Additives Amendment to the FD&C Act, prohibits FDA authorization of a food additive or color additive if it has been found to induce cancer in humans or animals.
The FDA determined that the data presented in a 2022 color additive petition show that this ingredient causes cancer in male laboratory rats exposed to high levels of FD&C Red No. 3 because of a hormonal mechanism that occurs in male rats. Studies in other animals or in humans did not show the same effect and there is no evidence showing FD&C Red No. 3 causes cancer in humans.
If that sounds confusing to you, it did to me as well. So, I did some digging, and it turns out, the studies used to submit the “color additive petition” in 2022 go back to the 1980’s. So, the FDA is banning a substance in 2027 (foods) and 2028 (drugs), that was shown to violate the FD&C Act back in the 80s, even though “there is no evidence showing FD&C Red No. 3 causes cancer in humans”. This prompts several other questions.
IF the claim that studies showing rats got cancer from ingesting large amounts of this stuff go back to the 1980’s, and IF the rule says that if it causes cancer in humans or animals, it should be prohibited, why was the authorization not revoked until now? For that matter, if it’s not safe, why is it still allowed until 2027/2028? Why not ban it in 2025? If they know, definitively, that it does not cause cancer in humans, why are they banning it at all?
Steve Milloy, who goes by the handle @junkscience on X, claims in a video that when the color additive petition says, “studies”, what they actually mean is a single study that did not actually prove anything related to humans. That’s interesting, but really beside the point, because if you review the Delaney Clause above, if a substance causes cancer in humans or animals, it is subject to being banned. News flash… if I pump enough of just about any substance into a rat, it will likely die. If not from cancer, from something else. I am not an expert, but the Delaney Clause seems arbitrary and nonsensical, but it is one of the “rules” that must be followed, because the government says so.
As you can see, the problems in the FDA go much deeper than the decision to ban, or not ban, a single additive. This is simply a small example of a larger issue regarding the administrative state, which has become the fourth branch of the federal government. In my opinion, this was a decision made in the name of self-preservation (in other words, people at the FDA are afraid of losing their jobs now that there is a new Sheriff in town). This decision was not based on extensive scientific research in order to protect the public health.
Now, does that mean that I am opposed to the banning of FD&C Red No. 3? Certainly not. I am simply opposed to gargantuan government, because it creates situations like this, where common sense is thrown out the window in favor of bureaucratic nonsense, produced by a thousand paper pushers in succession, until products that are not likely dangerous are banned, and products that are likely dangerous are left on the market for years, if not decades. This article does a pretty good job of outlining my thoughts on a conservative position for this particular additive.
Why A Federal Ban On Red Dye No. 3 Is Actually Conservative
When you consider the common sense question of “why” this additive is in our food, the industry answer is generally because it allows them to make their products more attractive to kids. That’s it. Not for flavor. Not a binding agent, or some other vital ingredient. The only thing this creeper brings to the party is color. It is used because it is brighter and cheaper than other, natural, ingredients. SO, I’m ok with banning it, as long as we do not lose sight of the fact that this does no more than pop a pimple on a much larger administrative gorilla that needs to be put down and replaced with a capuchin monkey that obeys when it’s master calls (that’s us).
Children’s Health or Big Ag
With Robert F. Kennedy Jr. taking over the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), you can bet he will be hard charging to “Make America Healthy Again”, as he has insisted he would do. The question will become, how he intends to do so. As with most things in Washington D.C., “fixing” anything is never easy or simple. There are always conflicting interests scratching and clawing for dominance, because there is lots and lots of money involved in everything the federal government does. This article from the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) highlights one such issue.
What RFK Jr. Should Do to Battle High-Fructose Corn Syrup
Farming subsidies and sugar tariffs are one example of big government ideas that infiltrated the Republican party a long time ago, even though the very concept is not conservative in any way, and virtually all of the money goes to “Big Ag” corporations, not the small farmers the special interests love to put in political ads. What does that have to do with making America healthy again? If you read the article above, you will see that corn subsidies and sugar tariffs have artificially lowered the cost of making corn syrup for decades, making it cheaper to use that garbage than natural cane sugar. This is one example of hundreds where economic winners and losers are not chosen by the free market, where health conscious consumers are allowed to make choices based on the natural market prices for products they consider healthy. Winners are chosen by crony corporatists, using government intervention, through political donations to politicians and PACs.
President Trump has used the threat of tariffs in general as a negotiation tactic many times, and as a short term tool, in a much larger foreign policy plan, he has been very successful with them. I get that, and I give him credit for their use in these negotiations. However, over the long term, tariffs have proven to never really solve problems. They simply increase prices for everyone, including Americans. RFJ Jr., and the HHS has the opportunity to do something meaningful for the health of Americans, by removing big government’s boot from the scales to allow the free market to play its proper role in the economy. Let’s pray that is the direction they go, and we don’t end up with just more government intervention.
Senator Brattin Capitol Report
Here is MO state Senator Rick Brattin’s latest Capitol Report.
The Missouri 82 Alliance
Our friends at Freedom Principle MO - Missouri First PAC is launching a new PAC campaign called The Missouri 82 Alliance for the specific purpose of electing more conservative Republicans to the Missouri House.
“The problem in the [Missouri] House of Representatives is while we have a super majority of Republicans, we don’t have a supermajority of conservative Republicans.”
Byron Keelin, President of the Freedom Principle MO
See the full press release from this week below:
Freedom Principle MO - Missouri First PAC Launches New PAC Campaign Called The Missouri 82 Alliance
(January 16, 2025 – St. Louis, MO)
The Freedom Principle MO – Missouri First PAC is launching a new PAC campaign called The Missouri 82 Alliance to help elect more conservative Republicans to the Missouri House of Representatives. “The Missouri 82 Alliance is a direct result of the Speaker of the House election,” said Byron Keelin, President of the Freedom Principle MO. “The problem in the House of Representatives is while we have a super majority of Republicans, we don’t have a supermajority of conservative Republicans.”
“The Speaker of the House election was a wake-up call for Missourians,” said Keelin. “The only way we can elect conservative leadership is to elect more conservatives.” The Missouri House of Representatives has some great conservative legislators in the House, but they need reinforcements.
The Missouri 82 Alliance will identify key open House races and work to recruit, train, and fund constitutional conservatives to win their primary elections. “Our goal with the Missouri 82 Alliance is to unite conservatives throughout Missouri and transform the Missouri political landscape,” said Keelin. “We will be working to elect the next generation of true conservatives in the Missouri House of Representatives who will defend and safeguard the traditional family, businesses, and schools and implement policies that will grow and prosper our state.”
The Missouri 82 Alliance is needed because Missouri Republicans will have at least 29 Republican seats open in 2026. According to the American Conservative Union, 18 Republicans have a “C” rating of less than 80%. “The problem we have in passing conservative legislation is because we don’t have the strength in numbers to pass conservative policies,” said Keelin. “Right now, the moderate Republicans outnumber the conservatives, and they block or water down these policies.”
The House Republican Campaign Committee (HRCC) is only concerned about electing a quantity of Republicans and not quality. Additionally, the HRCC only supports Republicans in the general election. The Missouri 82 Alliance will be focused on supporting Republican primary candidates who pledge to support the Republican platform and Republican values and put the people, not special interest groups first.”
The Freedom Principle MO – Missouri First PAC is the official PAC of the Freedom Principle MO. The Freedom Principle MO is a pro-citizen, pro-Missouri First organization. We are a membership-based 501(c)4 organization, acting locally and state-wide, to protect our families and our constitutionally protected liberties. We are fighting for America. We are fighting for Missouri. We are fighting for you. For more information about the Freedom Principle MO visit our website at www.freedomprinciplemo.org.
# # #
Contact Information
Byron Keelin
President, Freedom Principle MO
Email: freedomprinciplemo@protonmail.com
Freedom Principle Priorities For 2025
Freedom Principle MO has produced an infographic of their top legislative priorities for 2025, which line up with what I would consider mine as well.
Are you a member of Freedom Principle MO? If not, I highly recommend you join, and add your voice to the community of grassroots activists seeking to make change in our state!