Wednesday morning, Michael and I welcomed Trenton Rippey of Young Americans for Liberty to the program. We had a great conversation – not only about what YAL does – but about what we should all be doing if we’re going to turn American around from the brink of economic and social destruction. You can find the entire interview on our Rumble and YouTube channels. I definitely suggest watching the entire interview and then passing it on to young people you know.
It was so great to listen to someone younger talk about the problems they are seeing in the country, what they are doing to try and solve those and how important it is to involve others in changing the system.
In the clip below, Trenton talks about how sometimes, all younger people need is to know there are people out there who think like them. Because college campuses are usually bastions of unfree thought that propagandize leftist ideals, it helps for young, conservative people to find a community of likeminded people and YAL can be that.
He also talks about the fact that his generation is finally realizing that no one (human) person is coming to save them and that they have to do it themselves.
In the clip below, Trenton talks about how hard it is to find out about true economic liberty – the free market economy – on college campuses because of the way it’s taught – or should I say ISN’T taught.
It was great to have Trenton on and to hear him talk about the power of following principles over politics – that saving the country isn’t Red or Blue, it’s about the principles of liberty.
In the first video above, he also talks about how YAL members aren’t accepting compromise on liberty issues anymore. For examples, property taxes are WRONG according to the Constitution of the US and the ideals of our Founders, and so are income taxes. They don’t want a percentage reduction in either tax – they want them abolished period. And who doesn’t really, it’s just that we’ve been putting up for too long with the idea that we have to compromise to get what we want.
Trenton makes us remember that our elected officials are not Kings and Queens to be genuflected to with a kiss on their ring. Elected officials are elected TO WORK FOR THE PEOPLE – to be SERVANTS of the people – not corporations with well-funded lobbyists.
Again, it was refreshing to hear a younger person understand the principles of liberty and have a desire to see those expressed – the way they should be – in our government of The People, by The People and for The People! Help a young person get connected to YAL TODAY!
Wednesday, April 30th, during the regular ROPE Report podcast, Jenni and Michael discussed Senator Kendal Sacchieri’s Senate Resolution 18.
Here is the Introduction: A Resolution affirming Oklahoma’s right to opt out of the federal REAL ID system; supporting the state’s obligation to offer residents a meaningful choice between REAL ID-compliant and -noncompliant identification; and opposing unwarranted collection and sharing of personal data.
As a person who has been VERY CONCERNED about the religious aspects of the REAL ID, I’ve also been angered that Oklahoma did away with the protections offered citizens in legislation from 2007 that would have delayed REAL ID implementation for Oklahomans. Unfortunately, our legislature sold us out to the feds in 2017 with a bill former Congresswoman, Governor Mary Fallin (R?), was only too happy to sign so that Oklahomans ‘could’ fly.
Though we have a law currently on the books (47 OK Stat § 6-110.3) that says essentially the same thing as the resolution put forth by Sacchieri, it is my hope that this is the first step in moving the legislature toward a RELIGIOUS EXEMPTION FOR ANY BIOMETRIC DATA OF ANY KIND.
NO American citizen should have to provide biometric ID to the government for ANYTHING, let alone travel. If you don’t know anything about REAL ID, please tune in to our podcast, Friday, May 16th (at 9am) as we welcome REAL ID expert, Twila Brase from the Citizens Council for Health Freedom. In the meantime, CALL YOUR SENATOR AND ASK THEM TO HEAR THIS RESOLUTION!
Friday, March 21st, former Oklahoma Representative Jason Murphy came on with Michael and I to talk about legislation making its way through the Oklahoma legislature. I would really urge you to watch this particular FULL video (Rumble or YouTube) because we talked about a number of bills. Here, in this synopsis, I’ll touch on the ones we felt were most important.
HB2289 is the one Jason calls, “the thin-skinned congressman bill” because it sounds like one of our elected congressional whiners (that would be all of them but Josh Brecheen and Kevin Hern ) made it up and asked leadership to run it. It basically gives an entire list of things you can’t do/say about our elected federal officials. Bad. And NO. Please contact your Senators at this point and ask them to watch for this crappy bill. Here’s Jason talking about it.
Feel free to go directly to this video clip on YouTube and share to friends and Senators from there.
Another thing Jason wanted to stress, is that the grassroots is rising. More and more people in Oklahoma are paying attention to the games being played at 23rd and Lincoln and who holds power and why. This is such a great thing because it will allow us to finally get our LIBERTY back – finally control our destinies a bit as our forefathers expected us to do. So many of us – like Jason and ROPE – are creating Substacks and media channels that tell the public what is actually going on and not what the legacy media is telling us is going on. The spread of this kind of information is VITAL to an educated populace, so SUBSCRIBE to as many new media authors as you can stand, get educated, educate others and stand up against the global mindset that wants to subjugate us!
As I said, check out the full video where we talk about what happened with new Representative Jim Shaw – absolutely ZERO of his bills were heard in the House this year as payback for beating out entrenched RINO Kevin Wallace – and other bills that weren’t heard, as well as those that were heard but voted down. He even had a few GOOD ones in the mix, like HB1162 – to allow raw milk sales – and HB1515 – the one by new Rep Molly Jenkins that would have allowed absentee voting for only those Oklahomans who had a reason to vote absentee. Interestingly a number of conservatives voted against the bill.
Rep. Steagall and I have been arguing back and forth most of the day over the bill – though it’s too late for this session. My argument is that we KNOW – certainly in Edmond – that absentee ballots have changed election results. Having absentee ballots sent out in the mail indiscriminately (which has happened) allows nefarious people to use the ballots toward their end. In addition, having as many absentee ballots as are used now, over the days that they are allowed to turn them in, poses real issues for chain of custody. It used to be that, unless you had an excuse as to why you couldn’t turn up at the poll, you had to turn up at the poll.
Rep Steagall believes that it’s no one’s business why anyone votes absentee and that it’s a security risk to the family of the deployed to have to disclose that they are not in the country or otherwise deployed. We’re still arguing…LOL.
The bottom line here is that this session – certainly in the House – has been very difficult to follow with the ‘new’ (old) committee system of ‘oversight’ committees (that didn’t work the last time they were used) and that leadership still seems to have the same lock on legislation – cutting out “we the people” – that they always have. We’ll continue to ask Jason back to give us updates when he’s able. In the meantime, make sure you’re following people who are following legislation and follow Jason’s substack at OklahomaStateCapitol.substack.com! We’re only half-way through the session.
Wednesday, March 12th, among other things, Dr. Randy Grellnar spoke with us about his thoughts on SB569 and the House companion bill (HB2298) which would allow nurses an expanded scope of practice to include prescribing medication. You can find the full video on our YouTube and Rumble channels.
Dr. Grellnar and I started speaking about the scope of practice bills at about 13 minutes. I suggest you tune in if possible. It is a very interesting topic. We neglected to mention (I think) that one of the ways we know that leadership (not the people) want a bill is that the bill is introduced as BOTH a House Bill and a Senate Bill. This is kind of a bet hedge. If the bill falls in the Senate, it could pass in the House and if it passes in the House, then Senate leadership will get the caucus on board so it’ll pass the second time around. Yes, it’s gross, but this game is played quite consistently with bills leadership wants to pass.
I wonder if the Oklahoma Medical Association is behind this bill. They are a huge lobby at the Capitol and leadership tend to push the bills lobbyists want. Who knows – but this is a bad bill. Here are just a couple reasons why:
Governor Stitt vetoed the bill last year, why bring it up again?
The authors are asking for the ability of nurses to give Schedule II drugs – which are opioids – with no oversight. Didn’t we just try to stop the opioid crisis in our state, and stop pill mills. If this bill passes, overnight there will be hundreds more prescribers.
The bill’s authors also ask for nurses to be able to prescribe schedule III-V drugs as well.
some of these can kill unborn babies
ARNP’s and certified midwives will have to carry 3 million in malpractice coverage per year at 1 million/incident because in 2019 the Supreme Court found unconstitutional the 350K cap on pain and suffering adjudicated during Oklahoma’s torte reform legislation. What nurses can afford that?
Why have a State Medical Board if the legislature is just going to pass laws for doctors to follow? This bill usurps local control of health care.
Please, tell your Senator and your Representative to vote NO on these bills.
Dr. Grellnar also gave us some great, conservative thoughts during the podcast that more legislators at the state capitol should share.
This was my favorite – check it out – “the only way to protect freedom is to choke off the government”. YES!
Here, Dr. Grellnar talks about how important it is to take PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR HEALTH, but people aren’t because, well, ‘science’. Today, so many Americans treat science as if it’s a God. How many times during COVID did you hear something stupid like, “respect the science”? Here, Dr. Grellnar talks about that.
Don’t forget to call your Senator and Representative about these bills and keep watching…we’re almost halfway through the session already!
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?
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.
The relationship between the parent and child is a fundamental building block of society. As we teach and guide our children, we are investing in the future of our family and the nation. The job we do today will be reflected in the quality of life our children enjoy tomorrow.
That is why our rights as parents are so important to understand. We know that we have the right to bear arms and most of us would defend that right with our lives. We have the right to privacy, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of association. But what about the right to raise our children as we see fit? What about our right to make medical decisions for our kids without interference by the government, DHS, or doctors we disagree with? What about the right to decide that our children are not ready for certain controversial lessons at school and to request that our child be exempted from those lessons?
In a lot of states, your ability to make those choices without restriction is limited. But, in Oklahoma, we are very fortunate because those rights are codified into state law and therefore protected. The Parent’s Bill of Rights secures these rights for every parent, trusting parents to know what is best for their children.
As a parent, you are in the best position to know what is best for your children. By knowing your rights and exercising them, you ensure that decisions made regarding your kids are made by you, not a bureaucrat, doctor or social worker.
And that protects your children.
I hope to blog at least weekly on topics to educate parents about their rights. I will be discussing the law and how it affects us and when legislation is pending that affects Parental Rights. I will keep you informed so you can help protect your fundamental parental rights. If you have any comments or would like more information feel free to contact me at parentalrightsok@gmail.com.
