Bartlesville City Council Recall

By David Arnett

NEOKgrassroots.org is organizing an effort to recall three Bartlesville City Councilors. This is the direct result of Council approval of public drag-shows contrary to expressed community outrage over such events being held at public venues (first in a public park in the center of the city). Public Votes have consequences.

NEOKgrassroots organizer Sarah Burnett wrote further on Facebook, “We live in a conservative small town, yet last year, a drag show took place on public property. Even though municipal code dictates that “[anyone who] lewdly exposes his person or genitals in any public place….shall be guilty…of a felony,” this event was allowed to take place, with many children in attendance.”

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Historically high natural gas prices

By David Arnett

After a hurried two months of stops and starts, and last-minute changes delivered less than two hours before the meeting Thursday, Corporation Commissioners Todd Hiett and Kim David approved orders declaring more than $6 billion of OG&E, ONG and PSO’s fuel procurement costs and expenses for 2021 to be “fair, just, reasonable and prudent” – costs and expenses that include the historically high natural gas prices paid during the February 2021 Winter Storm. Commissioner Bob Anthony disagreed.

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OK taxpayer’s return on investment

By Mike Mazzei

Analysis: What do you think taxpayers deserve for an investment in a public company – 5%, 10%, 15%? In the world of Wall Street, the return on investment for a large capital expenditure is generally a minimum of 8%. Why would you put shareholder money at risk for anything less?

Well, you the taxpayers– the shareholders of the State of Oklahoma, if you will– should be asking what the expected return on investment is if state leaders give Panasonic $950 million to put a battery plant for electric vehicles in Pryor. That’s apparently the new Panasonic request, upping the previous incentive of $700 million by another $250 million!

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Rep. Hern introduces anti-woke legislation

By David Arnett

In a release today, Republican Study Committee (RSC) Chairman Kevin Hern (OK-01) announced the Work Not Woke Act.

Hern’s bill is part of RSC’s anti-woke initiative, co-led by Anti-Woke Caucus Chairman Jim Banks (IN-03). The bill combats radical woke policies in the federal government wasting taxpayer money and preventing federal workers from performing their jobs effectively and efficiently.

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Are Americans Safe from ‘the Law’?

By Jane M. Orient, M.D.

Opinion: The triumphant anti-Trump crowd loves to say, “No one is above the law.”

Most Americans have, however, felt safe from the dreaded knock on the door from the Gestapo or the KGB, from the “show me the man, and I’ll find you the crime” principle of Lavrentiy Beria, Stalin’s secret police chief.        

Law-abiding Americans assume that since they have not assaulted or robbed anyone or deliberately disobeyed a regulation they will never come in contact with the criminal justice system. After all, a mens rea—criminal intent—is required, they are presumed innocent until proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and they have a right to a prompt trial before an unbiased judge and jury.

But those are constitutional rights, and our “archaic” Constitution is being rewritten. Ordinary Americans, especially doctors who prescribe pain relief, have experienced the reality of politicized prosecutions for many years. But the Russian proverb has applied: “You’ll know it’s true when it happens to you.”

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