The SAFE Act - Protecting Election Integrity

Washington, D.C. - July 6, 2019 - (The Ponder News) -- The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Securing America’s Federal Elections (SAFE) Act of 2019 (H.R. 2722), legislation to guard against foreign interference in our democracy.

This bill would provide funding to states to replace outdated and vulnerable voting equipment, mandate paper ballot voting systems and risk-limiting post-election audits, and mandate strict cybersecurity requirements for both election technology vendors and for voting systems.

The SAFE Act is supported by organizations including Common Cause, People for the American Way, End Citizens United Action Fund, Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, NAACP, and Public Citizen.
The SAFE Act:

Authorizes $600 million in Voting System Security Improvement Grants for states to modernize and secure their election infrastructure, which was appropriated by the FY 2020 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill that the House passed on Wednesday.

Authorizes $175 million every two years to states to maintain the state’s election infrastructure.

Mandates that voting systems use individual, durable, voter-verified paper ballots – a widely agreed upon reform to protect our elections from manipulation.

Requires states to conduct post-election risk-limiting audits to ensure election integrity; whether it is a programming error or a cyber-attack, these audits help detect inaccuracies.

Sets strict cybersecurity standards for both election technology vendors and for voting systems.

Fosters accountability for election technology vendors, creating a “qualified election infrastructure vendor” designation.

Bans Internet accessibility or connectivity for devices on which ballots are marked or counted.

Requires voting machines to be manufactured in the United States.

Opinion on the Citizenship Question

By Shonda Ponder

Several Senators are calling for the Census paperwork to start printing without the "politically motivated" citizenship question.

Here is my personal opinion:

It doesn't matter whether the citizenship question is "politically motivated" or not. What matters is, IS IT A VALID QUESTION!

The answer is yes.

If we have people being counted on the census, we need to know if they are citizens. If they are not, we need to know why they are not. Are they permanent legal residents? Are they temporary workers or visitors? Are they here legally? WE NEED TO KNOW ALL THAT!

Yes. That information is important.

If the census can ask us whether we are black, white, Native American or Hispanic, then it should be able to ask us if we are a citizen.

Citizenship Question not Allowed in Census

The United States Supreme Court's decision in Department of Commerce v. New York sends the Citizenship question back to the Commerce Department. The Liberals are claiming victory, but nothing is decided officially yet.

Ridiculous – Supreme Court Punts on Census Citizenship Question – Sending Issue Back to Commerce Dept….
Source: The Conservative Treehouse
June 27, 2019
The legacy of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is a legacy of abject shame. Today the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to send the issue of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census back to the Commerce Department. The justices did not decide the question was unconstitutional, quite the opposite, they indicated the question was entirely up to the Dept. of Commerce, but disputed the motive behind the Commerce dept. position.

Read more...

Introducing Center for Security Policy

Led by Frank Gaffney, a former Reagan Pentagon official and aide to Senator Scoop Jackson, the Reagan national security veterans turned the Center into a unique, non-partisan, educational public policy organization with a single overarching mission: To secure freedom for American citizens of today and tomorrow.

Learn more by visiting their website

Check out their latest post:

Latest News Reports Remind Us of the Jihadist Threat on the Southern Border
June 28, 2019
This week in the news, three stories surfaced from different news agencies which illustrate that the threat from jihad through Latin America persists:

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Apple Threatened to Kick Parler Off App Store Unless They Banned “Certain” Individuals

Source: Todd Starnes

Matze said they were told they had to change their community guidelines so they reflected Apple’s. They were also told to remove certain kinds of individuals.

Read more...

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Introducing Free Republic

Free Republic is a mixture of social media and Conservative News platform. It is one of the oldest online Conservative places to be. It is where everyone who is anyone in the Conservative arena is likely to be found.

"Established in 1996, Free Republic is one of the earliest and largest online gathering places for independent, grass-roots conservatism on the web. We're working to roll back decades of governmental largesse, to root out political fraud and corruption, and to champion causes which further conservatism in America. And we always have fun doing it. Hoo-yah!"

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Bill Demands Facebook, Twitter Be Vetted for Political Bias

Source: PC Magazine
June 19, 2019
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) calls for top internet companies to undergo external audits to vet whether their content moderation systems are free of political bias.

Read more...

Check out the Bill HERE

Conservative Digital-Media Guru Battles Facebook ‘Censorship’

Source: Daily Beast
June 20, 2019
A large conservative digital-media company has taken a novel step in efforts to beat back what the right considers politically motivated censorship by major social-media platforms: It’s hired a lobbyist.

Read more...

Donald Trump and Free Speech

Open Letter to Whom It May Concern:

Donald Trump is running again (no surprise) for President. In his campaign speech, he said he was fighting for all of our rights. He placed emphasis on our beloved 2nd Amendment.

The crowd cheered.

While I agree and applaud also, I also see the real danger that our 1st Amendment is in. Our Freedom of Speech, especially. Without our Freedom of Speech, our voices are silenced. All of our other freedoms are endangered. We cannot allow this to continue.

I ask, along with my peers, that special attention be placed on our Freedom of Speech. Censored posts on public platforms across the internet need to be re-evaluated. Our options to create our own financial freedom on the internet (and off) need to be protected and encouraged. We need to treat the internet as an opportunity, not a playground.

Please help us. Do something soon to put those protections in place and sanction those who would violate our freedoms on public platforms such as the internet.

Without Freedom of Speech we cannot be expected to teach our progeny the importance and value of all our freedoms. If we do not educate because we are silenced and financially broken, then we lose.

I want to "WIN, WIN, WIN"

Keeping America Great means keeping our God-given Constitutional rights.

Thank you,
Shonda Ponder, editor

Introducing The American Majority

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