November 24, 2024
Happy Thanksgiving!
Today, we take for granted our Thanksgiving holiday.
But we would not have this holiday without the efforts of Sarah Josepha Hale. Hale used her persuasive writings to support the creation of Thanksgiving as a national holiday. Beginning in 1846 she charged the president and other leading politicians to push for the national celebration of Thanksgiving.
Her requests for recognition were largely ignored by politicians until 1863, when in the middle of the Civil War, President Lincoln signed into action “A National Day of Thanksgiving and Praise.” Hale’s letter to Lincoln is often cited as the main factor in his decision.
While Lincoln set the holiday as the last Thursday in November, President Roosevelt moved it a week earlier with the hope it would result in a longer shopping season. President Roosevelt faced opposition so in 1941 he moved it back to the original date set by Lincoln.
As for eating turkey, obviously turkey was readily available to early Americans. However, Benjamin Franklin thought the bird was not just for eating. He thought the turkey should be the national bird, rather than the bald eagle. "I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country; his is a bird of bad moral character," he once wrote. Franklin noted that the turkey was a "much more respectable bird."
Whether you like turkey for Thanksgiving, we can all agree that we are so blessed to live in an amazing country that protects our life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. As you gather with friends and family this holiday season, Maude and I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃🦃
Update: I Was Wrong! VP Harris Paid Oprah $2.5 Million
I have a confession: last week, I reported in my newsletter that Vice President Kamala Harris paid Oprah $1 million to appear at town hall during the presidential campaign. I was wrong, the amount paid was more than double the amount initially reported. It turns out that Kamala’s campaign paid Oprah Winfrey’s production company nearly $2.5 million, according to the latest news reports. Winfrey continues to argue that she did not pocket any of the money and used it to pay her team….sure, and Joe Biden "ended cancer as we know it."
Russia – Ukraine War Rages On, With America’s Help
This week, the senseless Russia-Ukraine War reached a sad milestone, marking 1,000 days of violence and taking the lives of hundreds of thousands. Also, this week Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied missiles to strike deeper inside Russia. This is reckless and irresponsible, and it could put us on the path to World War Three. But it gets worse, the Biden-Harris Administration also announced it would provide Ukraine with another $275 million in military aid as it burns through as much taxpayer money as it can before President-elect Trump takes office. Wait, there’s more. The Biden administration announced this week it would forgive nearly $5 billion in U.S. loans to Ukraine. I warned about this back in April, when Congress passed a $61 billion bill to continue funding the war in Ukraine. In order to get the votes needed to pass, the legislation was sold as a “loan” that Ukraine would pay back. But that was never going to happen, you and I both knew that. At the time, I noted in my newsletter that I joined 112 Republicans in voting against the phony loan to send another $61 billion to Ukraine. Unfortunately, 210 Democrats joined 101 Republicans in voting in favor, and they all knew Ukraine would never pay back the loan. They just hoped Americans would forget. Since the beginning of this war, I have opposed every single penny of American taxpayer funds for Ukraine. America is in a ditch and too many in Congress refuse to find the will to address the long list of issues ailing our nation. But forgive billions of dollars to Ukraine? No problem.
Congress Holds Hearing Demanding Answers from FEMA
As I mentioned in last week’s newsletter, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability on which I serve held a congressional hearing this week with Biden’s FEMA Administrator, Deanne Criswell, to answer questions regarding her employees instructing relief workers to bypass hurricane-impacted homes displaying signs for President Trump. At the hearing, I questioned Administrator Criswell about the growing list of reports from within FEMA about the discriminatory guidance provided to its employees to avoid homes and withhold relief based on political affiliations of disaster survivors. Administrator Criswell testified that discrimination against Trump supporters in Florida was an isolated incident, but the Oversight Committee has received credible allegations of widespread discrimination against individuals displaying Trump campaign signs on their property. I found her testimony along with FEMA’s practices to be unacceptable and reprehensible. Click here to watch the full hearing.
It’s Mail Time!
📫 I receive thousands of letters each month and I appreciate hearing from everyone. Here are a few of those who wrote in this week:
📨 Michael O. from Surprise, AZ wrote in:
I oppose confirming RFK Jr, Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth, Kristi Noem, and Linda McMahon for any government positions. While the incoming president has a right to nominate his cabinet, the nominees should be competent and qualified for the cabinet position sought.
✍ Michael, I am not about to take being lectured by leftists regarding President-elect Trump’s nominations for his cabinet considering the number of unqualified and corrupt individuals serving in Joe Biden’s administration including Sam Brinkman, Rachel Levine, Pete Buttigieg, Alejandro Mayorkas and Antony Blinken. I could go on and on.
On the contrary, this is an exciting time for America. As President Trump reveals his picks for top White House roles, state media outlets are losing their minds. Patriots who voted for him, on the other hand, find themselves elated at just how committed to advancing the People’s mandate his appointees appear to be.
For example, Tom Homan will return as President Trump’s Border Czar, supplanting Mayorkas’ and Harris’ deliberate and malevolent negligence with tough, common sense, America-First immigration enforcement. When asked how much defending our border would cost by a CBS reporter, Homan calmly responded: “What price do you put on national security? Is it worth it?” I like his attitude. The cardinal virtue of a successful second Trump administration will be courage: we must act like the consequences of inaction are life and death for the nation we serve, because they are. Bending to the petty and often fabricated concerns of our enemies, used as smoke screens to induce self-doubt and paralysis, will not a great America make. Tom gets it.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s appointment to Secretary of Health & Human Services (HHS) has ruffled the same feathers for the same reasons: he will do what he has been promising to do, namely, to gut our incestuous medical industrial complex of its legal immunity, focus its resources on the chronic disease pandemic, and rout corruption from the health establishment that has presided over the tragic and demoralizing death spiral that public health has taken in this once-beautiful nation. RFK recently endorsed my bill, H.R. 9828, the End the Vaccine Carveout Act, which would strip vaccine manufacturers of their immunity from the damages inflicted by the experimental chemical cocktails they peddle. RFK’s position on vaccines is clear: if a vaccine is safe to go to market, it should be tested and proven so. He has not promised to ban vaccines. He has, however, committed to rigorously vetting the hormone-disrupting, carcinogenic, obesogenic, and sterilizing compounds with which our food supply is rife. Large corporations such as Pfizer and Coca-Cola are not too happy with Trump’s pick for HHS right now. But I suspect that mothers who are concerned about the food that goes into their children’s mouths and the chemicals they are forced to inject into their bloodstreams to go to school are secretly jumping for joy inside, even if they cannot shout it from the rooftops without getting labeled as “anti-science.” What struck me as far more offensively “anti-science” was Biden’s selection of Admiral Richard “Rachel” L. Levine, MD as Assistant Secretary for Health. Look at a picture of Levine and then tell me that you think that he is more capable of evaluating and prescribing proper dietary practices than RFK, Jr.
Tulsi Gabbard, who cosponsored several of my bills while we worked together in Congress, will make an excellent Director of National Intelligence. Many are saying that she has no background in the so-called “intelligence community” that was famously responsible for quashing the Hunter Biden laptop story, fabricating Russia-Gate, replacing Ukraine’s government in 2014, launching a false flag operation on a U.S. naval vessel in coordination with the Israeli government in 1967, perpetrating the Bay of Pigs fiasco, and perhaps even killing President John F. Kennedy. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged President Trump not to release the JFK assassination files during his previous administration. I suspect that Tulsi Gabbard, who has never been a friend to the war-hungry and subversive deep-state intelligence apparatus, will not make the same pleas to Trump. Instead, she will restore integrity to the office because of the very thing that her detractors in the “community” despise her for: Tulsi is not one of them. Forever wars, color revolutions, false flags, psyops, and macabre displays of reckless force on behalf of the American hegemon have left our country morally bankrupt, resource-depleted, and in need of friends abroad. National Intelligence needs a good house cleaning, and vocal antiwar advocate Tulsi Gabbard is the woman for the job.
By this point, you might be noticing a trend: the new Trump cabinet strikes fear into the heart of the beast not because these men and women are hiding skeletons in their closets, but because they promise to be exactly what they are. This terrifies our sickly, bloated, corrupt, and dishonest administrative state just as much as it frustrates the so-called “small government” conservatives who never seem to agree on so much as a one percent cut to the federal budget. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy promise to do so much more than that by ruthlessly applying their own proprietary blend of “agent orange” to the overgrown swamp through their new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). I look forward to watching them trim the fat that Republicans have hemmed and hawed about cutting for the better part of my lifetime. These two are men of action.
My chief concern with President Trump’s proposed cabinet is that they will not make it through the Senate confirmation process. If the RINOs refuse to fall in line and accept that this is the White House America voted for, recess appointments will have to be made. Senator Thune has said that he is amenable to this. He better be. Outside of this concern, and only time will tell as to whether it is valid, I say that the future is bright. America is back. I am looking forward to collaborating with this new Trump administration to make America safer, freer, healthier, more peaceful, more efficient, and greater than ever before.
📨 Jennifer C. from Kingman shares:
The Supreme Court ruling immunizing former President Donald Trump against any criminal responsibility for official acts in violation of criminal law is egregious. We cannot allow anyone elected president to commit crimes without criminal liability. A president who knows they can commit crimes with impunity is dangerous. We must be able to hold our elected officials accountable.
As your constituent, I'm calling on you – and all of Congress – to pass a constitutional amendment as quickly as possible restoring checks and balances to our government and reining in this extreme expansion of presidential power.
This ruling goes against everything our country's laws and constitution have ever represented. Without immediate action from Congress to overrule this ruling, we cannot truly claim to be in a democracy in which all are equal before the law.
✍ Jennifer, the Donald J. Trump v. United States opinion delivered by Chief Justice John Roberts says that the president "… may not be prosecuted for exercising his core constitutional powers, and he is entitled, at a minimum, to a presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts."
The Washington Post notes that the decision "… makes it highly unlikely that the 45th president will go to trial…" on charges that relate to the 2020 election. This is wonderful news! The illegitimate and sham attacks on President Trump in the aftermath of the highly questionable 2020 election must come to an end once and for all.
Despite any potential impacts this development has for President Trump, the decision is not partisan. In fact, the opinion delivered by Chief Justice Roberts also says that "… immunity applies equally to all occupants of the Oval Office, regardless of politics, policy, or party."
President Trump repeatedly said the American people, not Joe Biden's henchmen, will decide the November 5th election. I am glad this, in the end, was what happened.
Tweet of the Week:
Photo of the Week:
📸 Betsy Bailey from Phoenix, shares this photo of Old Glory she snapped from her cabin in Pine, AZ. Wonderful! Thanks for passing this along, Betsy. Have a blessed Thanksgiving.
Do you want the chance for your photograph to be featured as our "Picture of the Week?" If so, send your best shots along with a brief description to Anthony.foti@mail.house.gov. Remember to include your name and where you live.
Gosar in the News and Other Must-Read Stories:
📰 New York Post: Biden admin quietly loosening immigration policies before Trump takes office — including letting migrants skip ICE check-ins in NYC
🗞 New York Post: Weaponizing of DOJ was a hatchet job against the American people – and the new Trump admin must restore trust
📰 Reuters: Biden administration moves to forgive $4.7 billion of loans to Ukraine
🗞 Fox News: FEMA director vows to request IG investigation into order to avoid Trump supporters' houses
📰 AP News: Hungarian official criticizes Biden decision allowing Ukraine to use US weapons to strike Russia
⚠ Warning!! The Gosar Weekly Newsletter is meant for discerning readers with above-average intelligence. We link to interesting stories. We get stories a couple different ways: Google alerts, a third-party aggregator and sometimes readers send stuff. We don’t vouch for every publication or every author. If we link to a story, it is because of that story. The views expressed in any of the publications do not represent any promotion, endorsement or reflection of Congressman Gosar’s views. While we try our best, we cannot guarantee every news organization spouting hatred, animosity or divisiveness will be filtered from appearing in the Gosar Weekly Newsletter. We will endeavor to prevent that from happening by never linking to Fake News organizations including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Rolling Stone, the Arizona Republic, the Arizona Mirror, Media Matters or the New Republic. 🚨
