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Rep. Richard Hudson

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Disinformation Board

HUDSON: Defending freedoms and our border

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“The constitutional freedom of religion is the most inalienable and sacred of all human rights.”

This quote by President Thomas Jefferson underscores the importance of freedom of religion to the soul of our nation. The right to practice one’s religion free of government interference is the most fundamental tenant of our democracy. However, this most basic right has been attacked repeatedly over the course of our history, and still today.

Last week, the Supreme Court began hearing arguments in the case of Joe Kennedy. An eighteen-year Marine veteran, Kennedy was an assistant football coach at Bremerton High School in Washington. After each game, Kennedy would kneel, and offer a brief, quiet, personal prayer. While he did not actively encourage students to join him, many voluntarily decided to participate over time. Eventually, the school district ordered Coach Kennedy to stop praying with students. He then requested an exemption to continue his personal prayer but was denied. Instead, the school district imposed a ban prohibiting Kennedy and any employee from engaging in religious activity either silently or audibly. Coach Kennedy refused to back down, and after kneeling on the 50-yard line for a 15-second prayer, he was placed on administrative leave and barred from coaching.

Seven years since being fired, Coach Kennedy’s case has finally reached the Supreme Court where hopefully he will receive the justice he deserves. I have been a supporter of Kennedy’s fight for many years and have signed two amicus briefs in support of his case. Additionally, I had the privilege of meeting with him personally on the first day of arguments last Monday. I admire people like Coach Kennedy who boldly live out their faith and are not afraid to take a stand. I will continue to stand by Coach Kennedy and work to protect your right to express your faith.

People like Coach Kennedy make me optimistic for our future and inspire me to keep fighting for our values. And like freedom of religion, freedom of speech is another essential right that has fallen under attack.

For too long, big tech platforms have silenced free speech, even that of the President of the United States. I was personally censored for the second time this year when I attempted to share an article from Fox News detailing a Department of Justice filing by John Durham on President Trump’s election. Many pushed disinformation about Trump’s ties to Russia to divide our nation, waste millions of tax dollars, and attack the sitting President of the United States. Big tech was only too happy to promote these lies. Yet social media censored me for trying to share this story.

The internet is the town square of the 21st century and Congress must work to ensure that its rules are consistent and allow for the peaceful freedom of expression – be it a progressive or conservative point of view. I will continue to fight to preserve your right to free speech and to make sure those who infringe upon this right are held accountable. 

This fight for accountability does not stop with our first amendment – rather, it extends to all situations that undermine the freedom and safety of the American people. Last week, Biden’s Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was on Capitol Hill to discuss the ongoing crisis at our border. Under his watch, we have lost operational control of our southern border, with over 221,000 migrant encounters being recorded in March alone – the highest on record. If the Biden administration’s plans are carried out, the repeal of Title 42 border protections will only make this crisis worse.

The Secretary told Congress the Biden administration has “effectively managed” the border. I completely disagree. That’s why last week, I demanded Sectary Mayorkas enact real changes to secure our border including finishing the border wall, increasing funding to border patrol, and maintaining Title 42 protections. I will not back down because the impacts of the border crisis – and the record amount of deadly fentanyl coming into the country – affect every community in America.

Our government exists to serve the American people and to protect your God-given rights. Whether it’s defending your freedoms or securing our borders, rest assured I will continue to fight every day to make sure it does just that.

Richard Hudson is serving his fifth term representing North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He currently serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee and in House leadership as the Republican Conference Secretary.

Biden

HARSANYI: Biden’s Ministry of Truth

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A federal speech czar? Just as the Founders imagined it, no doubt.

Earlier this week, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told Congress that his agency is creating a “Disinformation Governance Board” to combat “misinformation” coming from Russia as we near this year’s midterm elections. The Biden administration’s new Committee on Public Information will be led by Nina Jankowicz, “a disinformation fellow” who, perfectly enough, comes to the administration from a think tank named after Woodrow Wilson. Like Wilson, Mayorkas, himself a font of untruths, does not explain under what constitutional power he proposes to oversee speech.

It gets tedious to point this out, but you can vividly imagine the thermonuclear meltdown the country would be (rightly) subjected to if a Republican president assembled a government panel tasked with weeding out “disinformation.” To our technocrats’ dismay, this isn’t Europe, where the state can dictate allowable speech and sometimes arrests those who don’t abide. Here, citizens are the ones who call out the state for peddling misinformation, not the other way around.

The pro-censorship Left, which is to say the vast majority of contemporary Democrats, now have Barack Obama on board as well. The one-time neoliberal champion of free speech — a freedom he employed aggressively to mislead the American people when it served his partisan interests — alleged during a recent Stanford University speech that “people are dying” from misinformation. And, you know, if censorship can save one life …

Indeed, these arbiters of truth not only happen to be some of the same people who ran around repeating ludicrous conspiracies about foreign interference for five years; they’re also the same people who used the menace of “Russian disinformation” to lie and suppress news that undermined their electoral prospects, as they did with the Hunter Biden laptop story. (That crew, you’ll be surprised to learn, includes Czarina Jankowicz.)

Setting aside such a cynical use of “disinformation,” are we really supposed to believe that an administration that tells us with a straight face that a $3.5 trillion spending bill “costs zero dollars” or that showing an ID is tantamount to Jim Crow 2.0 or that your sex relies entirely on your perception is going to sort out the accuracy of rhetoric? Jankowicz was hired by a man who for the past 50 years has been one of our most entertaining fabulists.

Most tech companies do not offer unencumbered free-association rights. They spend tens of millions each year in Washington rent-seeking and lobbying for favorable regulations and are highly susceptible to state intimidation and threats. Recall that press secretary Jen Psaki informed the media not long ago that the White House was “flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation.” Or that White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield was arguing that social media companies “should be held accountable” for the ideas of those who use their platforms. Or U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy saying “we” must “root out” misleading speech. What government claims is a conspiracy theory can be a plausible possibility, as we learned when Facebook, at the behest of government officials, banned stories on the Chinese origins of COVID. 

While the state putting an imprimatur on “truth” is dangerous to freedom, it is also laughable in practice. As a person passing judgment on truth, Jankowicz has shown to be completely inadequate for the job. From treating the Steele dossier (Russian misinformation, as it turns out) as fact (not to mention getting the basics about the story wrong) to repeatedly using her position as disinformation “expert” to dismiss the Hunter Biden story as a “Kremlin” concoction, she is no better, it seems, than the average leftist partisan on CNN.

Of course, getting to the truth is not the point of all this. It is by any liberal ideal of open discourse preferable to allow lies to seep into the information stream than to allow a panel nomenklatura to start dictating the veracity of what we read and hear. First, and foremost, because it’s authoritarian. Second, because those who take the job can’t be trusted.

David Harsanyi is a senior writer at National Review and author of “Eurotrash: Why America Must Reject the Failed Ideas of a Dying Continent.” 

COLLEGENOTES-04

College Notes: Maness tabbed for All-SAC team

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Former Southwestern Randolph softball standout Heaven Maness of Wingate added to her accolades by being named to the All-South Atlantic Conference first team.

Maness is a first-team pick for the second year in a row. She posted a .361 batting average during the regular season while belting nine home runs and a team-best 12 doubles.

The third baseman also went 20-for-20 in stolen bases.

She was the 2021 SAC Freshman of the Year.

Hill notches another honor

Uwharrie Charter Academy alum Hunter Hill picked up USA South Conference honors for the second time.

He was named Rookie Pitch of the Week for baseball as North Carolina Wesleyan clinched the USA South’s East Division title. 

Hill’s effort involved throwing six shutout innings of relief in the Battling Bishops’ 19-7 victory against Methodist. He gave up three hits and four walks while striking out two to improve his record to 2-0.

N.C. Wesleyan took a 25-15 record into this week’s conference tournament.

Arianna Lovingwood-Smith 2022AOTW

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Arianna Lovingood-Smith

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Asheboro  |  track and field 

Lovingood-Smith won three individual events as the Blue Comets were overwhelming winners in the Mid-Piedmont Conference championship last week at Oak Grove.

Lovingood-Smith, a senior, won the high jump with an effort of 4 feet, 8 inches, claimed the long jump at 15-7 and captured the triple jump at 36-6.

This was all part of Asheboro’s title effort. The Blue Comets rang up 157 points compared to runner-up Central Davidson’s 93.

Asheboro also had an individual winner in the shot put with Morgan Williams’ toss of 29-4½. 

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Randolph Community College, state honors Shackleford’s influence, passion

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ASHEBORO — Outgoing Randolph Community College president Dr. Robert Shackleford Jr. is leaving with more distinctions.

Shackleford was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine on April 27.

That came as part of the ribbon cutting for the Dr. Robert S. Shackleford Allied Health Center.

Members of the Board of Trustees and the Foundation Board, faculty, staff, students, state legislators, and members of the Randolph County community were on hand on the front lawn and in the lobby of the Center.

“When (Board of Trustees Chair Mac Sherrill) announced they were going to name it the Robert Shackleford Jr. Allied Health Center, that was such a shock,” Shackleford said. “This whole thing has been a dream.” 

Sherrill said it was appropriate to recognize Shackleford in many ways.

“This is such a great day of celebration,” Sherrill said. “We’re finally celebrating the opening of this beautiful new building. We’re celebrating the great career of our president and friend, Dr. Robert Shackleford. So, it only seems fitting that we add one more reason to celebrate. It is a great honor that, on behalf of the Governor, I present you the Long Leaf Pine award to Dr. Robert Shackleford for all his years of service to Randolph Community College, the citizens of Randolph County, and the state of North Carolina.” 

Darrell Frye, who’s chair of the Randolph County Board of Commissioners, said Shackleford promoted the college and backed that up with pushing for initiatives that helped RCC grow.

“His legacy will live on here long after any of us,” Frye said. “Not because his name is on the building, but because of what happens inside of this building. The teachers that work here are going to produce people that come out and save lives and change lives. When you take the work ethic of the Randolph County people and you couple that with the teaching that comes out of this campus, you’ve got a workforce that’s second to none.” 

The Center houses the College’s Associate Degree Nursing, Radiography, Medical Assisting, and Emergency Medical Services programs. The building has a two-story feature wall — a digital screen created by marketing agency Union that changes depending on the time of day and combines medical themes with RCC visuals. 

“You will never find a president more committed to the mission of the North Carolina Community College System than Dr. Shackleford,” said Suzanne Rohrbaugh, RCC’s vice president for instructional services. “It is about creating opportunities and about changing lives. That means something to him. He doesn’t take that lightly. You won’t find anybody that’s more willing to serve this county, this community, the region, and the state. And that’s really evident today as we celebrate this building.” 

North Carolina Community College System President Thomas Stith III and various legislators and school officials also spoke.

Here are comments from some of the other speakers:

* State Sen. Dave Craven: “We’re here today for workforce development. That’s what this building’s about. This is what our community colleges do across the state. Any company that you talk to now is short on labor. It’s facilities like this that train our medical professionals to be future leaders in this area, our region, and our great state.” 

* State Rep. Pat Hurley: “This building should be a shining example for everybody in North Carolina. They spent our money wisely. Dr. Shackleford went out as a one-man advocate for this tax because he didn’t want the taxes to go up for the people. … Everything that goes on at RCC — it is a bridge to success.” 

* State Rep. Allen McNeill: “The last 15 years have eclipsed the other 45 years. You have done a wonderful job. You took a good community college and made it great.” 

* RCC vice president for administrative services Daffie Garris: “It truly takes an army for a project like this. We kept the goals of creating a building that reflects our college’s commitment to student success. That’s truly what we thought about all the time as we were building this building. It’s more than fitting that this building is named after Dr. Robert S. Shackleford Jr.” 

Shackleford’s retirement is effective July 1. He has been in the position since 2007.

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Beard secures victory at Caraway

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SOPHIA – Coy Beard led for a large portion of the Late Models race on his way to victory Saturday night at Caraway Speedway.

Dean Fogleman was the runner-up, with Daniel Schadt in third place.

In the 30-lap Challengers race, the winner was Brian Rose in a wire-to-wire effort. Alan Vance placed second and Fletcher Whatley was third among nine entrants.

In the Mini Stocks, Jimmy Crigger was the winner for the second time this year. He topped the field in the 20-lap race, edging Alex Whatley.

A.J. Briscoe was sixth, a notable finish given it was his first appearance in the division this season. He was the track’s Mini Stocks runner-up in 2021.

In UCARs, Daniel Hughes emerged in the front of the 15-lap race. He pulled ahead of second-place Troy Ring and third-place Justin Smith.

In a Legends race, Justice Calabro claimed a victory in a 25-lap event.

The Bandolero feature went to Bryson Brinkley, who was followed by Phoenyx Kimball.

There’s no regular racing this weekend at Caraway Speedway. The next event is set for May 14 with the David “Lightning” Saunders Memorial the main event.

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Prep Notes: Wheatmore golfers claim PAC crown

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Asheboro’s David Elliott putts on the fourth green during a match at Asheboro Municipal Golf Course in March. (PJ Ward-Brown / Randolph Record)

Wheatmore was the overwhelming winner in the Piedmont Athletic Conference Tournament for boys’ golf last week at Colonial Country Club in Thomasville.

The Warriors posted a score of 324 for a 43-shot advantage on runner-up Providence Grove. Randleman (375) was third, followed by Trinity (376), Uwharrie Charter Academy (417) and Southwestern Randolph (453).

Eastern Randolph didn’t have enough entrants for a team score, but that didn’t stop the school from making an impact.

The individual champion was Connor Carter of Eastern Randolph with a 3-under-par 68. Wheatmore teammates Ryan Marshall (73) and Ryan Baynard (76) held the next two spots before fourth-place Jayden Moffitt (80) of Eastern Randolph.

Asheboro takes fourth

In the Mid-Piedmont Conference, Asheboro shot 362 in the championship tournament for fourth place at Winding Creek Golf Course in Thomasville.

The Blue Comets were led by David Elliott’s 79 for fifth place and Luke Payne’s 80 for a share of sixth place.

Track and field

Providence Grove’s girls and Trinity’s boys were PAC titlists in the championship meet last week at Wheatmore.

On the girls’ side, Providence Grove had 175 points for a comfortable margin on second-place Randleman, which had 120.

Among multiple champions in the girls’ meet was Eastern Randolph’s Brecken Snotherly, who captured the 400-, 1,500- and 3,200-meter runs. 

For the boys, Trinity compiled 147 points to easily win ahead of runner-up Providence Grove, which had 116. Randleman was third with 113.

For the boys, the highlights included Trinity’s Dylan Hodges as the winner of the 200, 400 and high jump and Wheatmore’s Zach Hazelwood as the first-place runner in the 1,600 and 3,200.

Baseball, softball

PAC Tournaments in both sports are taking place this week. Finals are slated for 7 p.m. Thursday at the home fields of the regular-season champions.

That means the baseball title game will be played at Randleman. The softball final will be contested at Providence Grove.

ERICKSON: The certitude of ineptitude

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I really am flummoxed by the ineptitude of President Joe Biden and his chief of staff, Ron Klain. Biden has been a Washington politician for half a century, including eight years as vice president and before that a senior senator. Klain is a consummate Washington insider, having worked for Janet Reno, Al Gore, Biden and others.

How are they this inept?

Last summer, the border got swamped with migrants. They sent Vice President Kamala Harris south of the border and the situation never improved. Activists accused border patrol agents of whipping refugees with horsewhips. The White House condemned the act. But an investigation recently revealed no immigrants were whipped. White House staff have declined to apologize for believing the allegation.

Many border patrol agents are Hispanic. The criticisms of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the border patrol by the left are criticisms of Hispanic voters and their families — a constituency the Democrats are losing. But the White House seems openly hostile to both.

Now, having seen what monsoon of migrants the summer brought last year, the Biden administration is preparing for the expiration of Title 42. The pandemic is receding. Title 42 can be deployed as a health care power so long as the pandemic is at the forefront. It allows the surgeon general to keep people from entering the United States due to a health care crisis. With a receding pandemic, Title 42 has to go away. It’s only a matter of time before some enterprising Trump judge scraps it to exacerbate the political problems for Biden.

Here’s the thing: How are we in April of 2022 in a midterm election and the White House clearly has no plan to deal with the surge of illegal immigrants and expiration of Title 42? Their own polling shows this issue is pushing Hispanic voters to the GOP and they’ve got nothing. They have had plenty of time to prepare and did nothing to prepare.

How are they this inept?

The Biden administration was caught flat-footed on Ukraine too. They knew the Russians would invade. They chose to provide Ukraine help but have constantly scaled back their original offers. The administration has slow-walked intelligence to Ukraine, putting the Republicans in a more pro-Ukraine position than Biden. Biden has accused Russia of genocide and then taken no actions equal to the accusation. Just last week, the United States promised helicopters on a Thursday and walked back the promise that same Friday.

How are they this inept?

Then there is the mask issue. They could have let it expire a few weeks ago and taken the credit. Instead, a federal judge in Florida threw it out. Then Joe Biden himself said people should have the choice whether they want to wear a mask or not. Less than six hours later, his administration decided to appeal to get the mask mandate reinstated. But they are not going to ask for its immediate reinstatement. Instead, they’re going to ask for the authority to be able to reimpose it in the future.

So, in other words, Biden could have canceled the mask mandate a few weeks ago, rendered the court case moot, preserved the power to reimpose it and taken credit for its end. But Biden and Klain did not. Instead, they will now ask a court to preserve power for the organization that insists you not eat raw cookie dough and cook your steak to an internal temperature of 145 F.

How are they this inept?

Between the border, Ukraine and the masks, they really have no plans for governing. They have just decided to perpetuate the status quo of their own making in the hope that something shakes out. They are careening from crisis to crisis, two clowns in bumper cars colliding with crises of their own creation.

The best they have going now are their pundit partisans lamenting that really Biden is a victim of circumstance unable to control anything. And that is not much of a defense.

Some might say this is all part of some elaborate plan, but the Republicans are about to wipe them out. That is most assuredly not part of the plan. 

How are they this inept?

Biden Drones

White House seeks more power to counter use of drones in US

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The Biden administration is calling on Congress to expand authority for federal and local governments to take action to counter the nefarious use in the U.S. of drones, which are becoming a growing security concern and nuisance.

The White House on Monday released an action plan that calls for expanding the number of agencies that can track and monitor drones flying in their airspace. It calls for establishing a list of U.S. government-authorized detection equipment that federal and local authorities can purchase, and creating a national training center on countering the malicious use of drones.

The White House in a statement said it was critical that Congress “adopt legislation to close critical gaps in existing law and policy that currently impede government and law enforcement from protecting the American people and our vital security interests.”

The federal-government-wide focus comes as the Federal Aviation Administration projects that more than 2 million drones will be in circulation in the U.S. by 2024 and as availability of detection and mitigation technologies — including jamming systems — are limited under current law.

The White House plan calls for expanding existing counter-drone authorities for the departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Defense, Energy, as well as the Central Intelligence Agency and NASA in limited situations. The proposal also seeks to expand drone detection authorities for state, local, territorial and tribal law enforcement agencies and critical infrastructure owners and operators.

The proposal also calls for establishing a six-year pilot program for a small number of state, local, territorial and tribal law enforcement agencies to take part in a drone detection and mitigation operations under supervision of the Justice Department and Homeland Security.

Currently, no state or local agencies have such authorization.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the administration’s legislative recommendations “are vital to enabling DHS and our partners to have the necessary authorities and tools to protect the public, the President and other senior officials, federal facilities, and U.S. critical infrastructure from threats posed by the malicious and illicit use” of drones.

In the U.S., drones have become increasingly ubiquitous and useful tools for law enforcement agencies, agricultural use, commercial photography as well as hobbyists. But there are growing concerns as well.

In January 2019, Newark Liberty International Airport halted all landings and diverted planes for over an hour after a potential drone sighting nearby. Smugglers have used drones to deliver illegal drugs into the country. And Major League Baseball has had several incidents since 2020 where games have been delayed after privately owned drones have been flown onto a playing field. In 2015, there were two separate incidents in which drones crashed on White House grounds.

Federal and local authorities say that drones have also been used to smuggle contraband, including cell phones and drugs, into prisons.

National security officials have also found the use of drones in last November’s unsuccessful assassination attempt against Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and an August 2018 attack on Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro “quite troubling,” according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity ahead of Monday’s formal announcement.

The counter-drone plan calls for establishing a mechanism to coordinate research, development, testing, and evaluation of detection and mitigation technology across the federal government.

The White House says it also wants to work with Congress to enact a criminal statute that sets standards for legal and illegal uses of drones, and bolster cooperation with other countries on counter-drone technologies.

Virus Outbreak Pennsylvania

HUDSON: End of mask mandates backed by science, will of the American people

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“Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.”

President Ronald Reagan warned us about the dangers of government overreach when he spoke these words back in 1981. Unfortunately, many of those in power today fail to heed them.

Last Monday, a federal judge in Florida struck down President Joe Biden’s travel mask mandate, effectively ending mandates on public transportation. This was a momentous decision and a major victory in the fight to end all mask mandates nationwide. The ruling was met with great excitement and numerous airlines, businesses, and localities lifted their mask requirements almost immediately. This includes places like Concord, which announced only a day later that face masks would no longer be required at Concord-Padgett Regional Airport, the Rider Transit Center, or while riding the bus. On some flights, some people even cheered loudly as the change was announced over the loudspeaker. 

This was a long-overdue decision backed by science and the will of the American people. However, as quick as the ruling came out, so did President Biden’s counterattack. 

Just three days after the mandate was revoked, Biden’s Justice Department announced it would appeal the decision on the grounds of protecting public health. However, this appeal would not do anything to improve American public health. 

I have been a vocal advocate for lifting unnecessary mask mandates for some time. In February, I led the successful fight against mask mandates on our children in Cumberland County schools. I also cosponsored the Unmask Our Kids Act to direct education funding only to school districts that provide in-person learning and optional masks. 

Despite insisting that mask mandates are still needed to protect American public health, Biden remains committed to repealing Title 42 public health protections at our southern border. Title 42 is a common sense regulation that gives government officials the authority to quickly turn around migrants at the southern border to protect health. Since its implementation in March 2020, it has played an integral role in stemming the flow of illegal migration. Repealing it now would only make the border crisis worse.

Last week, we learned there were 221,303 migrant encounters at our southern border in March. This is a 33% increase from the month prior and the highest monthly total of Biden’s presidency. Unfortunately, this is not a surprising trend, as illegal crossings have risen nearly every month since Biden took office. If Title 42 is revoked, the Department of Homeland Security estimates up to 18,000 migrants per day will illegally enter our country. This would overwhelm our border patrol agents, as well as deepen the humanitarian, national security, and public health crises we are already experiencing.

We need policies that actually protect the health and security of Americans. Securing our border is fundamental to this. We must also finish construction of the border wall, increase funding to border patrol, reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy, and maintain Title 42 protections.

Whether they are appealing or repealing, President Biden and Washington Democrats continue to promote a far-left agenda over the well-being of American families. Yet you deserve better. That’s why I will continue to work every day to ensure you and your family can live safely and free from needless government interference as our Founding Fathers intended.

Richard Hudson is serving his fifth term representing North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He currently serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee and in House leadership as the Republican Conference Secretary.

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