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Yes, you read the title correctly. We now live in a world where people – without ever even knowing exactly what they’re talking about – can do whatever they want so long as they FEEL as though something is bigoted and/or hateful.
I have known Kevin and Janelle Batts for many, many years – since maybe 2012….? Kevin was writing the Red River Chronicle at the time and he found the ROPE blog and messaged me. From then on, we’d share stories back and forth, promoting each other’s work. But it goes beyond that.
Back in 2019, when I was writing frequently for The Federalist, I wrote a piece that stemmed from several encounters my daughter had with football players on the team for which she was a manager, “The Worst Racism My Children Have Experienced Came From Black Peers“. Holy MOLY! You would have thought I tried to murder someone.
Literally, I had to close my Twitter account and get off the platform altogether. Why? Because I was called EVERYTHING in the progressive-social-justice-racial-politics playbook including a ‘colonizer’ – I didn’t even know what the HEdoubletoothpicks that meant – and the name calling was SO RELENTLESS that there wasn’t a day that went by without my name coming up on the internet as a bigot, etc.
Thousands and thousands of people read that article – it pretty much went viral.
One day, I got a text from Kevin asking if he and Janelle could call. They’d read the article and spent over an hour with me on the phone consoling me and offering their support. I mean, I’m a big girl and I knew “words could never hurt me”, but that was a slam from the cheap seats I hadn’t seen coming – a big ‘ol fat sucker punch that it was taking me a bit to get over. Having them come alongside me and shore me up after such a big blowup was incalculably helpful – but that’s just who the Batts are – some of the best people I’ve ever known.
Today, they own Red River Creative Media and provide all kinds of film services to anyone wanting people who can produce excellent work with an outstanding attitude, but I was so excited when the Batts began their documentary career with “Saving Clayton“, an award-winning movie about the Wooley family in the Tulsa area who lost their grandson to Oklahoma DHS and have not been able to return him to the household. These two are exceptionally gifted storytellers and cinematographers – RIGHT HERE IN OKLAHOMA!
The Batts’ new documentary is called Trans.Oklahoma – a hopeful, but tough account of several Oklahomans detransitioning from sex reassignment surgeries and/or hormone treatments.
The premier of the film was going to be held on the 28th of June at Rodeo Cinema in the Stockyards of Oklahoma City. In the clip below, Janelle tells us what happened and why Trans.Oklahoma never got the premiere screening the Batts intended. Suffice it to say, how anyone can label a movie they’ve NEVER EVEN SEEN as hateful or bigoted is flat crazy and something I’m never going to understand.
Later on in our full interview with the Batts, which can be found on our YouTube and Rumble channels, Janelle talked about the spiritual component that runs through all the Trans.Oklahoma stories. That discussion led us to discuss our current culture and how careful parents must be with ANYTHING they let their children see. Social media is often a cesspool of group think that can lead down dark roads without really great parental guidance.
Please go to the Trans.Oklahoma website to find times and showings – which are now being held in churches and other venues hosted by the many supporters of the work the Batts do. They have been blessed to show the film in many areas of the state, so chances are, you’ll find a showing near you, OR, you could always reach out to them and offer a venue of your own!
I know there are always LOTS of causes to dip into our purses for – heck we ask you for money too – but I believe it’s SO IMPORTANT to support the work of LOCAL OKLAHOMANS – the people right here in our communities. Please consider making a donation to the Batts to help them continue their work. You can do so at their GiveSendGo campaign!
Wednesday, July 3rd, Wendi Montgomery Dial joined Michael and I for our regular Wednesday live podcast.
For some time we’ve been hearing from people in Lawton about a company called Westwin Elements – a company whose business model centers around refining mined elements important in todays technology such as cobalt and nickel. This is no small thing. There are very few elemental mines or refineries in America thanks to EPA regulations and no cobalt refineries at all. In fact, most cobalt is refined in China, a[nother] significant American infrastructure/security issue that shouldn’t be.
Elements such as nickel, zinc and cobalt have become important components of batteries and ‘green’ technologies, causing the federal government to dole out money for both new refineries and mining in the last several years.
Enter Westwin Elements, a business created to refine cobalt, nickel and other earth elements. Westwin approached the City of Lawton (OK), in the southern part of the state to build their plant there.
An under-30, single mother, who has previously run political campaigns and raised money for PACS, is the founder and CEO. She admits that she’s used her political clout to make headway in her business, but maintains that her vision for the company is altruistic in nature.
Certainly, the City of Lawton has created an immense – for the size of their town – incentive package for Westwin Elements to do business there including $24 million dollars in various monetary incentives, but also a gift of 480 acres and over 7 million dollars in infrastructure, including water and sewer lines.
These are taxpayer funds and several people have reported to us that they do not believe the Lawton City Council is being transparent enough with the project – a grave concern.
In the clip below, Wendi talks about the jobs of City Councilors and it’s not to partner with business using taxpayer dollars.
Wendi, a geologist by education and training, has done some IMPRESSIVE digging into a nexus among cartel activity, election integrity and mining for rare earth metals. In fact, she’s done a four part series. Please take the time to read them. It is FASCINATING stuff! And stay tuned, we’ll have more on the City of Lawton and Westwin Elements soon.
Elections, Cartels, Green Energy, and the World Economic Forum Agenda, Part 1
Part 2 – The Minerals and the Green Agenda
Part 3 – Coal…Revealing the American Kleptocracy
Part 4 – Mineral Rights
Yes, I’m a registered Republican. No, I’m not changing the title of this blog. Unfortunately, we now live in UPSIDE DOWN WORLD. Maddeningly, our Republican Governor – Kevin Stitt – and the Republican SUPERMAJORITY Oklahoma legislature, is going Big Business for $1000 Alec.
Oklahoma, once considered to be the reddest state in the 50, is now Tyrannyville thanks to the economic development mantra of the group that used to be for ‘the people’; the property owners, those who had worked hard for a living and wanted to protect their investment/s – the Republicans. Nope, not any more.
Friday, May 24th, ROPE Report hosted Whitney Mullica and Kelly Wilson of PikeOffOTA (Citizens For Responsible Transportation) to talk about how the Oklahoma Transportation Authority – the pseudogovernmental agency peopled with unelected bureaucrats unaccountable to the public – work with members of the business development community to develop tolled roads that, not only must the citizens of Oklahoma pay to use, but that removes their property from them using the force of the state.
You can find the full video on our Rumble and YouTube channels. I suggest you watch the whole thing – it is very informative when hearing all the information at once – but until you have the time, watch the very short pieces I’ve clipped from the whole, below.
Though many people do eventually cut a deal with the OTA for the ‘sale’ of their house and property to the Authority, many people refuse. It doesn’t matter, however, because the state kicks them off the property anyway only to wait – in some cases – over A YEAR to have the issue settled by the court. This is OUTRAGEOUS and citizens of Oklahoma simply shouldn’t tolerate this kind of nonsense.
Here, Kelly shows that, while eminent domain is used to remove property owners from their property, the ‘surplus’ land ‘left over’ after the turnpike has been created, is then sold to the public. Many times, the purchasers of the land are people who benefitted in some way through the OTA turnpike process in the first place. While this is not illegal, personally benefitting from the process of removing the property of a citizen using the force of the state is ethically and morally wrong. If people can’t police themselves along moral and ethical lines, why is the state not protecting citizens by preventing this kind of behavior?
Could it be that ‘the state’ would rather have the money afforded it by the rich and powerful – especially when it comes time to be re-elected?
Below is the most important video you’ll see if you really want to know the way citizens are being tyrannized by Oklahoma’s governmental bureaucracy because this video connects all the dots. Suffice it to say, ‘the people’ simply don’t matter in the face of business interests that want to enrich themselves.
Here, Kelly provides THE CIRCLE OF GOVERNMENT INTERESTS – the ways in which the rich just keep getting richer off the backs of those whose property is seized by eminent domain to create roads they’ll be forced to pay to use. Rinse and repeat. It’s like shampooing your hair.
Who’s going to protect the citizen now when all the people whose job it is to PROTECT THE RIGHTS AND PROPERTY OF THE CITIZEN are essentially in on the deal to benefit from government contracts and government planning and government’s support of private business and public/private partnerships…..
We’ll never get our liberty back until we figure out a way to get a tire iron in this wagon wheel right here!
So…PLEASE SHARE WIDELY!! Help us educate all Oklahomans about what’s happening right under their feet!
This morning (Wednesday, May 22nd), Michael and I had our friend Julianne Romanello on the podcast to talk about “land grabs” – ways in which the government (federal or state) is working to get their hands on your land. Though I had gone into the interview with one idea – that we’d talk about our last several podcasts (solar, wind, biosludge) and weave those together so that everyone got the idea of how they intertwined (which we did – check out 24:26 on the full video where Michael pretty much brings it all home) – the way the interview unfolded kind of shocked me. And that’s pretty dang hard to do!
In the clip below, Julianne is explaining how requirements being placed on us, like those for insurance, for example, are leading us down yet another pathway into the arms of government control. Think on this; what if the government mandates insurance, but the only insurance provider is the government… You have to take the few minutes to watch this. I swear it will open your eyes – if they’re not open already – and certainly give you yet another thing to have to think about if they are.
In all honesty – this has to stop – but if we can’t get people to CARE ABOUT WHAT’S GOING ON and make intelligent votes, we’re screwed.
In fact, in the clip below, Julianne shares with us her vision on how all this one-world-government garbage is finally going to be installed. Trust me when I say, it won’t be in one fell swoop, it will be little things year after year – like the frog in the boiling pot scenario – just like what has been happening at a rapid pace since Obama took office.
Sincerely, please share these videos, or share this blog – do what you can to wake up those around you – because if you don’t, this will continue unabated and THEN it will be too late.
Don’t forget to tune in to our live podcast on Wednesdays and Fridays at 9am in the morning on our X, Rumble, YouTube, LinkdIn and Facebook accounts – though starting the first week in June, we will be doing only a Wednesday podcast through summer. We’ll return to our two-broadcast-a-week schedule the 3rd week in August.
Friday, April 26th, ROPE Report Live interviewed Ric Moore – a Canadian County election official – about something interesting that had happened to him during the last election. Wendi Montgomery Dial and Amber Evans also joined us for a continued discussion about what happened to Ric AND the interesting Contest of Candidacy held by the Oklahoma State Election Board at the state capitol on Thursday, April 18th between sitting Representative Clay Staires and Libertarian candidate, Kenneth Blevins.
The ENTIRE live video can be found on both our Rumble and YouTube channels, but I’ve broken the live video down into several short videos so you can watch them as you have time because THEY ARE VERY IMPORTANT.
Here is Ric Moore explaining what happened to him when he took a picture of the back of his car, which contained all the items he had picked up from the Canadian County Election Board the Monday evening before the Tuesday election. He posted the photo to a group chat on Telegram (a messaging app) and noted how unsecured all the election paraphernalia is after it’s picked up from the election board. Wendi then picked up the photo and posted it to one of her social media accounts. When Ric drops off his machine at the Canadian County Election Board after the election was over, he was confronted with Wendi’s post and ushered into a meeting with Canadian County election officials and a Sheriff’s deputy.
The edit is a bit choppy, but I tried to pick the parts of the conversation that explain everything that happened and knit them together for the shortest possible time commitment!
Later on in the conversation, Wendi and Amber Evans, Michael and I, discussed the Contest of Candidacy brought by sitting Representative Clay Staires against Libertarian candidate Kenneth Blevins.
In order to be a candidate in Oklahoma, you either pay a filing fee to the Oklahoma State Election Board, or file a petition signed by 4% of the registered voters eligible to vote for the candidate in the election determined by using the latest voter registration report. Blevins elected to collect signatures rather than pay the $500 fee. Consequently, the Contest of Candidacy hearing centered on whether or not Blevins collected enough ACCURATE signatures to be considered a ballot candidate.
Both Amber and Wendi watched the video of the hearing posted by the Oklahoma State Election Board (see timestamp 4:59:15) and explained what happened and what concerned them about the hearing. According to both women, Oklahoma should archive the current voter records and re-register everyone in Oklahoma again to make sure the rolls contain actual Oklahoma electors. This was a fascinating conversation that truly MUST be watched – especially if you’re like me and don’t really understand as much about our election system as Wendi and Amber!
This final section is a bit longer, but it was just too important not to add – of course you can always just watch the full video – but in this section of the video toward the end, all four of us began talking about what is happening in Oklahoma. We have so few people voting and we’ve elected people who are becoming tyrants. For example, why were Cheryl Williams and I fired for pointing out that the Oklahoma County Election Board wasn’t following the law? Why couldn’t election officials have gotten together and worked WITH us to find a solution? Why yell at us and fire us and then sic the Attorney General AND District Attorney on us to investigate us? You’d think we’d have committed election fraud – or worse!
But it’s not just election officials in this state, it’s so many other NON-ELECTED bureaucrats! We shouldn’t even have unelected bureaucrats, why should they also attack the citizens they are appointed to SERVE? When we really got to talking about it, we all agree – we’re in trouble here in little ol’ Bible Belt, Conservative, Red State, Oklahoma…
Jenni White, 4.12.24
After our interview with Julianne Romanello Wednesday morning, I felt it would be helpful to add a few links to allow people to further explore the premise of Rights-Based vs Value-Based governance.
At the outset of the podcast, we talked about property taxes and how, once the government taxes our property, we don’t own it anymore. This was arguably one of Jefferson’s biggest issue, which he delineated in the Declaration of Independence by the word ‘happiness’ in the phrase, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. Why equate property with happiness?
One of the reasons the pilgrims left England for lands undiscovered, was the very difficult ability to hold property in a monarchical system. If property rights had not been previously prescribed and legally noted, the King was often considered the owner of all empty lands because he was King by right of God and God provided him the land. This land could be (and was) given to various title-holding individuals depending upon the monarch at the time, usually consisting of Lords, Bishops, Barons, etc., while all non-title-holders were forced to rent land from the King (or the closest title-holder). In fact, even if you were found hunting on the King’s land, you could be fined or otherwise punished. It mattered not if your children were starving and you were unable to find food, all the game on the King’s property was the King’s, end of discussion.
If the King created another Baron in the place of the previous, a renter could be thrown off the property so it could be bequeathed to a new ‘owner’. Obviously, this kind of instability for the vast majority of the English population did NOT create happiness. Thus, one of the rights among men that the Founders desired to enshrine in the Constitution, was the right to own property for oneself; not merely rent it from the Crown, OR ANOTHER GOVERNMENTAL FORM. This stability then, could create happiness of the kind that provided safety and security as the phrase, “A man’s home is his castle” was meant to convey.
Today, however, Oklahomans – like so many other citizens of so many other states – no longer own their own property, but rent it from the King (state), placing us right back where we were when we started.
Why would I say such a thing? Because, as McClain County Assessor Kendal Sacchieri told us – property taxes MUST be paid, or we’ll be thrown off ‘our’ property so that ‘our’ property can be sold to the highest bidder and the taxes paid to the King (state).
What creates property taxes? Look at the illustration below prepared by Larry Stein, Oklahoma County Assessor. It can be found here, with more explanation for the expenditure of County property tax dollars.
You’re property is not your own because nearly 60% of it goes to government schools – government schools who also receive appropriations from the legislature, monies from parimutuel betting, the lottery AND MORE! As I’ve asked perpetually since 2010 – HOW MUCH MONEY IS ENOUGH FOR SCHOOLS TO HAVE – especially when their results are dismal and rare few pupils educated in public schools can read or do math! Here are a few of the other ways public schools get money from an 1889 Institute paper on School Finance.
Please, someone explain to me why our PROPERTY is being attached for government education that already is funded via the appropriation mechanism?
Career Tech and College Tech Centers are also appropriated funds by the legislature. Here are their budget requests for 2020.
PLEASE, someone explain to me why our PROPERTY is being attached for MORE government education that is funded via the appropriation mechanism?
County government gets the next piece. To me, this is actually legitimate government expense. The County provides road repair and many other SERVICES from which taxpayers benefit. This, could be paid directly to the County as a tax – much like the taxes paid to the state – instead of attaching our property.
Cities and towns should be funded via their own taxes – like those on delivered merchandize (Amazon, etc.) and sales taxes collected within their boundaries (which they already get!) – your property SHOULD NOT BE TAXED TO RUN CITIES AND TOWNS.
The City/County Library should be funded via voluntary donations. Period. Yes, it is important to have repositories of knowledge, but large corporations are welcome to donate these facilities – as are citizens. Our PROPERTY SHOULD NOT BE TAXED to provide disgusting books to minors – which they do.
The City/County Health Department is another item that should be funded privately. There are many indigent clinics run by non-profits. Healthcare is NOT a function of government, it is a function of private economy whether you like that idea or not. The main function of government in America is THE PROTECTION OF INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS. Healthcare is not an individual right and has never been throughout history until the last several generations. Additionally, we all know that government-sponsored healthcare systems became armies of tyranny during COVID. I don’t want my tax dollars used to support tyranny in any form and I certainly don’t want my property seized to pay taxes to a group of people who want to force me to bow to healthcare mandates we’ve since learned DID NOTHING or killed us.
TIFs are a type of property tax that indebt property owners for economic development. You can read more on that here. There is no way property owners should allow ANY form of ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT to attach their property. Back in the ‘old days’ developers shouldered the risk of their developments – but they also owned all the rewards. Today, the PUBLIC is made to shoulder the risk of PRIVATE development, yet our property is taxed without us getting any REWARD at all. In many cases, the TIFF is for an office building or industrial park. Not only do the taxed property owners not reap any reward from this development, but they don’t even get to USE the property they are financing. Most TIFFs are sold to the public as – here, we’ll develop this area to bring in businesses from which you can possibly get a job. WHAT? Not only is there NO REWARD for the taxation of our property, but we might not even be able to become employed by the businesses being brought in through the development? Who in their right mind would give someone on the street the use of their car for the PROMISE that they’ll put gas in it when (if) they bring it back, yet people in cities and towns across Oklahoma actually fall for this scheme and accept the taxation of their property through a TIFF consistently. WAKE UP! STOP IT!
And so, to wrap up my most extensive piece ever on property taxes, please read this twice or three times. Once you understand the argument – because I believe you will – share it with friends AND your legislators. Property taxes are INHERENTLY wrong and must be stopped if Americans (Oklahomans) are to have true freedom.
There was a wonderful monograph written in 1867 by Davy Crocket, who was serving in Congress at that time. It’s called, “Not Yours To Give” and it beautifully details why he argued AGAINST a bill introduced in Congress to appropriate money to a young widow of Naval officer. I URGE YOU TO READ THIS. It is very short, but in just a few pages, Crocket makes the case for why GOVERNMENT has no business giving away our tax dollars – NO MATTER HOW GOOD IT MAKES US FEEL – for items and issues which are NOT a function of government – things that don’t protect our liberty and don’t benefit the MAJORITY of taxpayers.
Below, I’ve pasted in the screenshots of just a FEW of the press releases that have come through my email account this year. Please note the amount of TAX DOLLARS that are being given away just in the few I’ve pasted in here – and this doesn’t even begin to touch the number of tax credits for businesses that our legislature dolls out.
But before we go there, let me start here.
I remember sitting in the Senate gallery in 2022. I was SHOCKED when a bill was run by Senator Jessica Garvin that would have tax dollars pay for tampons for women who couldn’t afford them.
Here’s the press release. It was literally titled, “Committee approves bill to fight period poverty“. Period poverty. Seriously. Worse even than the title, the bill would set up a revolving fund into which tax dollars would be deposited so that women who needed feminine hygiene products could have them paid for with tax dollars. She has run the bill each year since, with this bill asking for ONE MILLION DOLLARS in the revolving account.
Fortunately, it looks as though this bill will not get a hearing this year, but – knowing her history on the subject – we should expect to see it again next year; especially when there is a NATIONAL DRIVE to have tax dollars spent this way.
Why shouldn’t we fund tampons? Why shouldn’t we fund a rodeo, or brain tumor research, or the Oklahoma City National Memorial?
- Who complains about our horrible roads and the lack of pay for fire and police? Lots of Oklahomans. These are legitimate functions of government, yet, when we give millions of dollars away for a prison rodeo, these are the things that get short shrifted. And if they don’t, THEN THE GOVERNMENT IS TAKING TOO MANY OF OUR DOLLARS IN TAXES IN THE FIRST PLACE!
- Though brain tumors are horrible, so are all kinds of diseases – my son is a Type 1 (juvenile) diabetic – I’m not begging the legislature to give my tax dollars – AND MY NEIGHBORS – to fund diabetes research. I could give to PRIVATE RESEARCH centers if I wanted to. Private research centers raise money for ALL KINDS of research.
- Private organizations should be supplying women who need feminine hygiene products, feminine hygiene products – NOT PUBLIC TAX DOLLARS. Maybe churches should go in together to fund a ‘feminine hygiene pantry’ if that’s what’s needed.
- The MORE the STATE FUNDS, the poorer we ALL become. The MORE the STATE FUNDS, the less private organizations and churches do – why should they when the GOVERNMENT is doing it all for them?
- BUT, bottom line, the MORE the STATE FUNDS, the bigger IT gets and the LESS LIBERTY – and money – WE CITIZENS HAVE to control our own lives.
Guest post by Ann Kerr
School choice. Parental choice. It sounds good. It looks good. But, is it really all that it is cracked up to be?
A new Oklahoma law, hailed by Governor Stitt as a major victory for parents and
students in Oklahoma, is just about to move into action with the Tax Commission’s
adoption of an emergency rule this week.
While the text of the bill originally failed and faltered, it was “saved” by some resourceful legislators, who simply gutted another bill, pasted in the language, and ran it through under a different number.
The new law does two things. First, it provides families that are not in the public school
systems – either brick and mortar or virtual charter schools – with reimbursement for
certain educational expenses. Public money, potentially millions of dollars out of the
state budget, is promised to private schoolers and traditional homeschoolers, who up until
now have been completely private and parent-directed.
Second, the new law lays the groundwork to gather a wealth of information about private schoolers and traditional homeschoolers alike. Previously private information will now be public information shared between government agencies.
The law is not simply about school choice or parental choice. The “parental choice” law
results in government control and involvement. When eligible families seek
reimbursement, they will be required to give information to receive public funds.
Specifically, the reimbursement law necessitates that the Oklahoma Tax Commission
analyze requests for certain reimbursement of fees, curriculum and other educational
expenses and cross-reference requests with the Department of Education for validity. If
the Tax Commission reviews the information and finds that money was handed out
improperly, then the tax man will come back to families and “capture” what was lost.
Further, the Department of Education is required to create an online platform for the
exchange of information, ratings and reviews of educational providers. (Look out
Amazon)
These rich sources of unnecessary and intrusive information-gathering could obviously
be used by the state to paint a picture of the entire private and homeschool communities
and would likely lay the groundwork for future regulation. Opting out would no longer
be an option.
While private school and homeschool freedom has not been obliterated yet, the chain is
now placed around educational liberty – just as a choke chain is put around an animal‘s
neck – as a sign of warning and threat to obey.
When the government offers something “free,” it is never free. It appears that the chain
may only grow tighter and tighter, until parents have no educational choices at all. The
real losers will be the children.
Warning – homeschoolers and private schoolers. Look out for the knock on the door and the man on your porch, who says, “Hello, I am with the government, and I am here to help.”
