**** ECONOMY / POLITICS / SCIENCE / HEALTH -- Amid unprecedented levels of spending and National Debt, "true" Conservatives rise up in GOP backlash against "Liberal" incumbents in 2024 GOP Primary season: With surprising new endorsements for challengers, Barbosa & Judge, Central Florida's Dist.15 Congressional Race is becoming the most contested GOP Primary in Florida (Mon.19 Aug. 2024) ** Local news media give varying coverage of this new development ** SCIENCE / HEALTH: Are some people able to detect earthquakes, solar flares due to fluctuations in earth's geomagnetic field or LF (low frequency) sounds? (Mon.19 Aug. 2024) As the American economy experiences unprecedented levels of spending -- which drive record levels of national debt (the U.S, goes another trillion dollars in debt every 90--100 days, according to many leading experts, and as reported by CNBC, Forbes, Yahoo! Finance, and confirmed by a basic Google search) -- Jennifer Barbosa and James Judge, both of whom "answered the call" from former president, Donald Trump, to challenge GOP congresswoman, Laurel Lee, as we previously reported, have accused Lee, the incumbent, of being "Liberal" on a number of fronts. Even after Trump reversed course, and eventually endorsed Lee, the backlash by "true" Conservatives against so-called tax/spend RINOS (Republicans in Name Only) has only picked up steam: ** James Judge, a U.S. Coast Guard veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, was recently endorsed by the Winter Haven (Fla.) 9-12 Project (LINKS: -1- ** -2- ** -3- ** -4- ** -5-) Moreover, as reported by Dr. Ed Shoemaker, Republican Party of Florida State Committeeman, for Polk County, Fla.: "The only variance as far as Polk County Republican Liberty Caucus is concerned as it relates to the WH912 Voter Guide is that The State Republican Liberty Caucus endorsed Amilee Stuckey for State House Dist 48," meaning they, also, endorse Judge (instead of Lee) for the GOP Primary in CD-FL-15. (LINKS: -1- ** -2- ** -3- ** -4- ** -5-) Lastly, although The Tampa Bay Times didn't endorse Judge this time, when challenging Lee (LINKS: -1- ** -2- ** -3-), nonetheless, the "U.S. House of Representatives: The Times Editorial Board recommendations," published 7/27/2022, last election cycle, recommended Judge, in the GOP Primary, when he ran for Congress is Florida's 14th Congressional District. (LINKS: -1- ** -2- ** -3-) ** Not to be outdone, Jennifer Barbosa, the Plant City, FL paralegal, who ran for Congress in a long-shot bid to unseat powerful Democrat Congressman, Adam Schiff, when she lived in California, has picked up heavyweight endorsements Pastor Don Hazen, the 82-year-old founder of United Pastors of America, famous for writing about the moral decline of our nation (Official Page ** Facebook) has endorsed Barbosa: (-1: Video- ** Screenshots: -2- ** -3- ** -4- ** -5-) Moreover, while not necessarily formally endorsing Barbosa, as much is implied when world-famous pastor, Dr. Rodney Howard Browne, introduces her when she visited his Tampa, Florida church: (-1: Video- ** Screenshots: -2- ** -3- ** -4- ** -5-) Lastly, as reported by both The Ledger (LINKS: -1- ** -2- ** -3-) and Lkld Now -- Non-profit & independent Lakeland, Fla. news, a project of a Lakeland 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, Linking Community Now Inc. (LINKS: -1- ** -2- ** -3- ** -4- ** -5- **), Sheriff Richard Mack, Founder and President of Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) has endorsed Barbosa. ** Furthermore -- besides this newfound energy to defeat the well-funded Lee, in spite of Trump's flip-flop "reversal" -- many Conservative watchdog groups are now giving Lee low marks -- which suggest that the concerns/complaints made by Judge, Barbosa, and their supporters is not isolated, but part of a larger "revolt" against Lee, and other so-called RINO's, for their refusal to address key "Conservative" issues, such as irresponsible spending and soaring national debt -- which devalue currency and threaten a crash of the dollar: ** FreedomIndex gives Lee a score of 53 for adherence to The Constitution (limited government, fiscal responsibility, etc.). By contrast, Matt Gaetz is ranked 85, Anna Paulina Luna, 96, and Scott Franklin, another lawmakers often criticised as a 'RINO' by watchdogs —clocked in at only at only 70. (LINKS: -1- ** -2- ** -3- ** -4- ** -5-) ** Lee has a lifetime score of only 55% from The John Birch Society. By contrast, Luna is ranked 100%, Greg Steube, 86%, but Franklin only scores 73%. (LINKS: -1- ** -2- ** -3- ** -4- ** -5-) ** Moreover, Club for Growth, a Conservative watchdog, focused on limited government and conservative economic policy, scores Laurel Lee, R-FL-15 at 66% and her colleague in the district "next door," Congressman Scott Franklin, R-FL-18, at 81%. By contrast, Florida representatives Byron Donalds, Cory Mills, Anna Paulina Luna, Greg Steube, Bill Posey, and Michael Waltz all score a perfect 100%. (LINKS: -1- ** -2- ** -3- ** -4- ** -5-) ** Lastly, Heritage Action, which was founded in 2010 to fight for conservative policies in State and Federal legislation, scores both Lee and Franklin at a modest 71%. By contrast, Donalds and Luna both score 98%, and Corey Mills 100% (LINKS: -1- ** -2- ** -3- ** -4- ** -5- ** -6-) ** In addition, The Register's independent investigation found that -- even being generous with definitions -- only 8.14% of all GOP lawmakers even attempt to comply with key planks in the official Republican Party platform, which prohibit taxpayer dollars from funding student loan originations for higher education (as is done in public education -- where, for example, you don't have 5TH graders with student loans -- but rather direct funding and cost controls) -- a finding which is in agreement with other complaints made against GOP lawmakers. (LINKS: -1- ** -2- ** -3- ** -4-) ** Another Conservative Watchdog, OpenTheBooks, confirms this new trend of excess spending among GOP lawmakers: They found that the GOP-led “Freedom Caucus” earmarked far more than the Democrat-led “Squad” ($23.1 million/member vs. $13.9 million for the average Squad member), which supports our findings above and our assessment that we are nearing a crash of the dollar. (LINKS: -1- ** -2- ** -3-) Besides the widespread consensus, above, of failures of at least 91.86% of all Republican lawmakers to keep their word to obey their platform (which says: “The federal government should not be in the business of originating [making] student loans.,” p.35 Official GOP Platform) The Register's investigation also found that only about 18.1% of all Democrat lawmakers make a genuine attempt to obey their Democrat Party's platform on a similar plank (“Democrats will also empower the CFPB to take action against exploitative lenders and will work with Congress to allow student debt to be discharged during bankruptcy,” p.71, par.1, sentence 2, official Democrat Platform). (LINKS: -1- ** -2- ** -3- ** -4-) A widespread failure of all lawmakers in both parties to keep their word to obey their own party platforms (8.14% compliance rate for GOP and 18.1% for Democrat lawmakers by our audit) is thought to play a role in the dismal approval ratings Congress now enjoys: Pew Research reports that: “About seven-in-ten Americans (72%) say they have an unfavorable view of Congress, with 26% saying they have a favorable view,” a very low approval rating. (LINKS: -1- ** -2- ** -3-) In spite of record lows in approval ratings Congress enjoys, Americans continue to reelect incumbent politicians to office: Balletopedia reports that “Congressional incumbents had a 98% win rate. Forty-one states had a 100% win rate in congressional races.” (LINKS: -1- ** -2- ** -3-) Besides the many large outside watchdogs which offer an objective overview of the rising anger and frustration among Americans with Congress, Register editor, Gordon Watts, occasionally tries to do his fair share to address critical needs by seeking help of "larger" news media, locally. After our press inquiry to the candidates, this past June 11, 2024, Congresswoman Laurel Lee (R-FL-15), the incumbent, and one of the recipients, did not respond. (LINKS: -1- ** -2- ** -3- ** -4-) Watts, as a result of the lack of responsiveness by Lee, his member of Congress, wrote a letter to The Ledger, critical of Trump's endorsement of Lee, based on her 'Liberal RINO' spending record, which published June 30 of this year, in their Sunday edition, both online and in print. (LINKS: -1- ** -2- ** -3- ** -4-) Concurrently, Watts submitted numerous letters to the editor and guest column submissions to The Tampa Bay Times: Guest column submission (7/23/2024) ** Letter (7/25/2024) ** 3 letter submissions & a column (8/12/2024) ** a 5th letter (8/14/2024). Besides unnamed sources inside The Times, which confirmed Watts' submissions were received and reviewed, our review of the situation finds copious forensic evidence, as well: A letter submitted through The Times' online portal was confirmed as received. Additionally, Jim Verhulst, the letters editor, acknowledged response by auto responder to both Watts' submission via Gmail and from Watts' work email. Moreover, email sent to Times CEO, Conan Gallaty, was received and read in a timely manner. Lastly, Gallaty's long-time Executive Assistant, Anicca Keeler confirmed receipt. (Archives of these files: CWA2 ** Archive Today ** Wayback Machine) As of press time, it appears that Watts' letter, taking Lee to task, has not published in The Times, and Watts is critical of the paper for not hearing all views. Watts' concern is not alone: GOP Candidate, James Judge, mentioned earlier in our coverage, has this to say in a guest column to Tampa Free Press: "In response to The Times’ “six recommendations for U.S. House candidates” in Florida, I have my own recommendation to those reading this piece: you’d be better off lining your birdcages with the Times, which has become the Tampa version of Pravda." "James Judge: Tampa Bay Times Misleads Audience, Fawns Over Establishment RINO," by James Judge, Opinion, TAMPA FREE PRESS, July 28, 2024, LINKS: -1- ** -2- ** -3- ** -4- ** -5- As a result of the many complaints that The Times has a 'Liberal' bias, The Register conducted our own audit of The Tampa Bay Times' Letters to the Editor section, for the last two (2) election cycles. We found that, for the 2022 Primary Election cycle (from 7/27/2022 when The Times published its recommendations to 8/23/2022, Primary Election day), of the total 64 letters published, 29 leaned Democrat, 8 Republican, and 27 were neither, with a metric of 362.5% as many Democrat-leaning letters published, objective proof of a clear bias. We also found that, for this, 2024 Primary Election cycle (from 7/24/2024 when The Times published its recommendations today, Monday, 8/19/2022, one day before Primary Election day), of the total 96 letters published, 41 leaned Democrat, 13 Republican, and 42 were neither, with a metric of 315.4% as many Democrat-leaning letters published, more evidence to support claims of a 'Liberal' of bias. We note that The Times, published 50% more letters thus far, even though they no longer publish every day, a cost-cutting measure due to decreased demand for their product: Nowadays, The Times usually only publishes an "in print" edition on Sundays and Wednesdays, and online only on Fridays. Their expansion of their letters sections seems to be an attempt to compensate for less days published. (LINKS: -1- ** -2- ** -3- ** -4-) Political pundits are closely watching central Florida's District 15 Congressional race due to the thin margin this newly-redrawn district gives each side, making it a very competitive and hotly contested race -- both for the Primary and the General Election. Pundits and experts are keeping an eye, more broadly, on national races this election season, and watching closely to see whether the record lows in "approval ratings" for Congress will translate into voting out the incumbents -- or, whether American voters will continue to reelect incumbent politicians with "a 98% win rate," as Balletopedia reports. SCIENCE / HEALTH -- “The Charlotte King Effect – Real or Imagined?” Does earthquake, volcano, & solar weather researcher, Charlotte King, have an ability to sense LF (low frequency), VLF (very low frequency), and ULF (ultra low frequency) sound and EMF / Radio waves, and fluctuations in earth's geomagnetic field to detect earthquakes and other phenomena?(Mon.19 Aug. 2024) Earthquake researcher, Charlotte King, has been featured in many news reports and studied extensively by the scientific community, and is most notably famous for her accurate prediction of the famous Mount St. Helen's eruption, in SW WASHINGTON STATE, which erupted at 8:32 A.M., on May 18, 1980, and taking the lives of 57 people. Subsequent news coverage of King reports that “Charlotte King's first claim to fame is that she predicted the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helen's with 12 minutes.” Source: “Fun With Predictions: The Bryant Park Project,” by Laura Conaway, NPR, 03 January 2008, 1:26 PM (ET), LINKS: -1- ** -2- ** -3- SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH: It is well-known that many animals can sense magnetic direction to navigate and can see and hear above and below the range of humans. If people can sense this, perhaps they can detect or predict solar flares, earthquakes and other phenomenon. Scientific research shows that LF and VLF sounds do predict earthquakes. LINKS: Academia.edu ** Mirror 1 ** Mirror 2 ** Archive Today ** Wayback Related: "Probability estimation of a catastrophic Carrington-like geomagnetic storm: Re-evaluated in new light of upcoming Maunder Minimum and recent decreases in geomagnetic field, after recent studies came to conflicting conclusions; Proposed solutions for citizens and lawmakers" Academia.edu ** Mirror 1 ** Mirror 2 ** Archive Today ** Wayback PERMA-LINK 1: https://GordonWatts.com/#Economy_Politics_ScienceAug2024 ** PERMA-LINK 2: https://GordonWayneWatts.com/#Economy_Politics_ScienceAug2024

**** POLITICS -- Central Florida's Dist.15 Congressional Race Heating Up (Thr.20 June 2024) Congresswoman Laurel Lee (R-FL-15), who has been repeatedly criticised both by The Register and constituents on her social media for -- among other things -- refusing to file legislation to attempt to cut spending excesses -- finally drew the ire of former President Trump, who called on fellow-Republicans to defeat her in her upcoming GOP primary, according to Politico, apparently because Lee was the lone Florida lawmaker to support Gov. DeSantis in his failed presidential bid. (Trump Tweet here) Consequently, two GOP challengers, Jennifer Barbosa and James Judge, answered the call and are challenging Lee. Not long after that, however, Trump did a "flip flop" and, according to Florida Politics and other news agencies, changed his mind and endorsed Lee. In the interim, The Register sent out a press inquiry to all four candidates (Barbosa, Judge, Kemp, and Lee), asking whether they support reinstatement of bankruptcy availability to student loans, and, if not, what was their explanation as to why the GOP has repeatedly failed to cut spending on student loan originations (for the GOP candidates) as the Republican Party Platform specifically requires --or, for the lone Democrat, why she would refuse to obey her Democrat platform (which promises to support reinstatement of bankruptcy availability). The Register was successfully able to convince 2 of the 3 GOP candidates that bankruptcy rights for student loans was necessary to operate as a Conservative Free Market "check" on excess and dangerous Dept of Ed lending using our tax dollars: Republican candidate, James Judge, responded publicly, on his Facebook (saved snapshot linked here), where he said: "When elected, I will work to abolish the U.S. Department of Education. Additionally, student loans should be allowed to be included in bankruptcy." A very lively discussion ensued. Subsequently, Republican candidate, Jennifer Barbosa responded to The Register's press inquiry with an emailed response, in which she stated that "I support reinstating bankruptcy for student debt," in addition to making allegations of misappropriation of campaign funds for one of her primary opponents. Previously, Barbosa -- like Judge -- had also reaffirmed her support for abolishing the U.S. Department of Education, a view held by many conservatives, where she responded: "Yes, Gordon, it’s nice to see more conservatives getting on board with abolishing the Department of Education, something I have been in favor of doing for years. It’s also nice to meet another sincere Christian. There are so many good, honest Christians in our district. We are blessed. Unfortunately in politics, there are also candidates who pose as pio[s] bearing false witness, engaging in adultery, stealing campaign donations..." As of press time, however, neither Pat Kemp (Democrat) nor Laurel Lee, Republican (incumbent) has responded to our press inquiry as to where they stand on legislation to reinstate bankruptcy rights to collegiate debt --or make use of bankruptcy to force Dept of Ed lending to tamp down and reduce loan limits to save trillions on spending when we currently have a debt crisis according to many experts. While The Register is withholding its formal endorsement on any candidate for this race, we have -- as previously reported -- disavowed Lee as a true Conservative for her repeated refusals to attempt spending cuts, but note that she is new and does not enjoy the benefit of a Republican Senate or President to aid any legislation she might file, unlike previous sessions of Congress where we document how both Republicans and Democrats refuse to file needed legislation that their own platform calls for -- even when they have "full control" of both houses and Oval Office -- a chief complaint of many Americans who have accused Congress of being afraid to act and address problems that they have promised to fix. -- and a likely cause of the low popularity ratings Congress enjoys. In the meantime, Barbosa and Judge have sparred over several issues in their GOP Primary race. After complaints made by Judge to various state officials that Barbosa committed fraud by lying on her Candidate Oath, the Central Florida Post reported that Barbosa's recent registration change to the Republican Party caused her filed Oath statement to be false regarding the requirements she be a Republican for at least 365 days. (LINK ** Archives: *1* ** *2* ** *3* **) The Register reached out to her for a response, and, among other things, Barbosa told The Register that: "Gordon, [] The answer to your question about my eligibility is very straightforward. [] I have exceeded all the qualifications to be on the ballot, including being a registered Republican for well over 365 days." Intrigued, The Register conducted our own investigation and determined that, indeed Barbosa had recently changed her voter registration, but, an official response from the LA RECORDER'S OFFICE said, in succinct part, that: "09/2015 to 01/2017: Republican Party," which would exceed the 365-day requirement, but not be immediately before as some have claimed is necessary. Subsequent news coverage by The Tampa Bay Times, which published on print only (not online) confirmed our investigation, but William March, writing for The Times went on to report that Barbosa, who relied on "an unusual interpretation of Florida election law," denied she broke the law. March went on to report that neither the Fla. statute nor the actual oath affidavit has the word "the" in front of "365 days," leaving open the possibility that the 365-day period not, necessarily, be "the" exact year immediately before filing, and an elections expert he consulted did not dispute Barbosa's interpretation or weigh on on it either way. Barbosa also had complaints of her own about Judge, where she accused him of misappropriation of campaign funds because he used his PR firm to do many tasks (flyers, website, etc.) instead of hiring outside help, where she writes that Judge "launders campaign donations to himself and his wife," and that "This is worse than Ilhan Omar. She was caught paying her brotherhusband’s consulting firm excessive fees from her campaign," according to her Facebook page (Cache here), where she cited FEC data to back her claim. There, also, a lively discussion ensued. Judge, in response, posted a link to a video, where he responded, and claimed that his PR firm could do the job for less, not more, and thus saved money in doing the job in-house. When we asked her to defend this claim in light of Judge's claims that he could save money by doing the PR work in-house, Barbosa gave us this written response, which said, in succinct part: "3rd parties don't save you money. They cost you money. [] Look at his receipts. [] He claims he paid $3000 for Koozies and that this was a special deal which could only happen if he ran it through his PR firm. No it isn't. That's a horrible deal and an affront to the "fiscal conservatism" he claims to support. [] We need Congresspeople who care about how they spend money since they control the nation's purse strings. [] Koozies are 1 penny each on Amazon. [] At $3000, that's 300,000 koozies. [] What is he doing with 300,000 koozies? [] We don't even have 300.000 Republicans in 2 Congressional districts combined. [] Is he the Mike Lindell of koozies? [] No, his PR firm overcharged his campaign for koozies so he could make a profit." (The [] denotes a line-break--Editor) We asked her for clarification: "Great answers, but he also claims to use contributions for both website, flyers, merch, etc," and Barbosa responded in succinct part that: "Yes, I just used the Koozies as one example. [] His PR firm overcharged his campaign for many things, not just koozies. [] Again, the idea that acting as a 3rd party saves money is absurd. Where's the savings. Those are horrible prices. He is not a fiscal conservative. [] We all use campaign donations for website, flyers, merch. [] The difference is, we don't overpay for them. We also don't invent excuses to pay ourselves and our spouses..." The Register was unable to determine, with any specificity, whether Judge over-paid or not -- but in any event, the FEC does not appear to be poised to levy a fine regarding for violations regarding use of campaign funds, so Barbosa's misappropriation complaint -- like Judge's oath-affidavit complaint -- seem to be lacking in any legal violations that would disqualify a candidate, and The Register takes no official stance in our editorial columns regarding this other than to say our legal analyses see not violations for either candidate, and that the voters will be the ultimate "judges" of these controversies. However, the refusals of Congresswoman Laurel M. Lee (R-FL-15) to make any attempts to file legislation to reduce or eliminate the student loan originations at the heart of the excess spending -- and which prompted our own investigation -- are of concern to economists everywhere as student debt is well-documented to be the largest area of discretionary spending, and thus, the low-hanging fruit and first target-choice of things to cut in the budget. As stated earlier, we are not optimistic for meaningful student loan bankruptcy or "pork" spending cuts being done by the "split Congress," due to gridlock prospects: if either party could not get their "signature" legislation done when they had "full control" (student loan bankruptcy legislation for DEMS and pork spending cuts to student loan originations for the GOP), what hope is there now with shared control of Congress (GOP in House and DEMS in Senate & Oval Office)? We, therefore, ask readers to contact lawmakers to stop infighting and return bankruptcy rights (LINK ; Mirror-1 ; Mirror-2 ; Archive Today ; Wayback) to student loans to avert economic disaster: Otherwise, there will be no sufficient Conservative Free Market check on irresponsible lending by Dept of Ed, to the tune of trillions = equals the needle the breaks the camel's back, collapses the U.S. economy, & crashes the dollar. PERMA-LINK 1: https://GordonWatts.com#Congress2024 ** PERMA-LINK 2: https://GordonWayneWatts.com#Congress2024

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