Vice President Kamala Harris sidestepped a question on Friday regarding the indictment of former President Donald Trump, but the president of Zambia chose to address the issue. Harris and Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema held a joint press conference on Friday as the vice president begins wrapping up her travel on the African continent. The pair were asked for their reactions to news that the 2024 Republican presidential candidate was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on Thursday after a years-long investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday said she would not comment on the indictment of former President Donald Trump. (Pool/Fox News)
Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff arrive at Kenneth Kuanda International Airport in Lusaka, Zambia, on Friday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
“I am not going to comment on an ongoing criminal case as it relates to the former president,” Harris told the reporter.
However, Hichilema took the question and attempted to explain his feelings on the matter from the perspective of the Zambian government.
“The indictment of President Trump — what does that mean to the rule of law? Let’s remove names from your question,” Hichilema told the reporter. “Let’s put what we decided we would do to govern ourselves in an orderly manner. [We] passed our constitutions — bedrock law. Then, secondary laws, other regulations create a platform or framework around which we agreed either as Americans or as Zambians to govern ourselves and so to live within those confines.”
Zambia President Hakainde Hichilema on Friday reacted to former President Donald Trump’s indictment, saying, “When there’s transgression against law, it does not matter who is involved.” (Pool/Fox News)
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema cuts the ribbon when attending the commissioning ceremony for the fifth generator at the Kafue Gorge Lower Hydropower Station in Southern Province, Zambia, on March 24, 2023. (Peng Lijun/Xinhua via Getty Images)
“And when there’s transgression against law, it does not matter who is involved. I think that is what the rule of law means. This is universal,” he continued.
Hichilema went on to compare the Trump indictment and partisan tensions to corruption in his own nation.
“And here, Vice President, we have a scenario now when we fight against corruption which has taken away resources from children and the sick — sometimes names are thrown into it and perceptions are created that are totally inappropriate,” he said. “Because transgressions against the law, if you take what belongs to the public, you have offended the law and the name does not matter.”
Vice President Kamala Harris shakes hand with Tanzania’s Vice President, Dr. Philip Mpango, upon her arrival at the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam to depart to Lusaka, Zambia, at the end of her visit to Tanzania on Friday. (ERICKY BONIPHACE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump was indicted as part of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s years-long investigation, possibly for hush money payments. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been investigating Trump for hush money payments made leading up to the 2016 presidential election. These include the $130,000 payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and the $150,000 payment made to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, Fox News Digital has learned.
Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff disembark from Air Force Two at Kenneth Kuanda International Airport in Lusaka, Zambia, on Friday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Hush money payments made to both McDougal and Daniels were revealed and reported by Fox News in 2018. Those payments had been investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York and by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted out of charging Trump related to the Daniels payment in 2019, even as former Trump attorney Michael Cohen implicated him as part of his plea deal to federal charges, including tax evasion, lying to Congress and campaign finance violations. The FEC also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.
Timothy Nerozzi is a writer for Fox News Digital. You can follow him on Twitter @timothynerozzi and can email him at timothy.nerozzi@fox.com
America’s two-tiered justice system status was solidified on Thursday after a Manhattan grand jury voted to hit former President Donald Trump with a felony indictment and the threat of imprisonment. Cue the chorus of Democrats and corporate media mouthpieces who spent all of Thursday night on Twitter condescendingly warning: “no one is above the law, not even the former president.”
In addition to suggesting that Trump is not “above the law,” former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi claimed that the former president has the opportunity to “prove innocence” in court. Of course, the law, smugly touted by Pelosi, dictates that defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty- not the other way around.
Whether Pelosi’s “innocence” comment was a Freudian slip or a genuine assertion, we may never know. What we do know is that for years, Democrats have operated under the belief that their party members and their partisan allies are above the law.
1. The Criminals Alvin Bragg Refused To Prosecute
While Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was busy searching for ways to indict Trump, violent criminals were taking over New York City streets.
During Bragg’s first year in office, major crime in New York City increased by 22 percent. Since then, the DA has made a career out of reducing charges for armed robbers, freeing cop-beaters, relaxing bail, and letting violent antisemites off.
Bragg’s soft-on-crime policies may have earned him left-wing billionaire financier George Soros’ favor and dollars, but even Democrat-voting New Yorkers know that he’s no stranger to giving better treatment to convicts than law-abiding people like this bodega owner who defended himself against a murderous criminal.
If Democrats truly cared about campaign finance law violations, they would have already prosecuted several members of their party, including Hillary Clinton.
In 2022, the Federal Elections Commission fined Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign for falsely attributing the money that the Democrat used to orchestrate the Russian collusion hoax. If Trump is guilty of intent to conceal a campaign finance crime, a motivated prosecutor might look at the DNC and Clinton campaign’s efforts to hide their involvement in the so-called Steele “dossier” and find they were guilty of the same crime.
In addition to her election meddling, Clinton and her staff mishandled highly classified information, which resulted in at least 91 security violations. Instead of raiding her house and asking the DOJ to prosecute her, the FBI “inexplicably agreed to destroy [Clinton staffers Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson’s] laptops knowing that the contents were the subject of Congressional subpoenas and preservation letters.”
Clinton also played a central role in the decision to abandon four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, where they were murdered by terrorists.
3. Barack Obama
Before Clinton was forced to pay for her scheming, President Barack Obama faced “one of the largest fees ever levied against a presidential campaign,” $375,000, for “campaign reporting violations.” Instead of facing calls for prison time, Obama received years of protection from the corporate media and fake fact-checkers who repeatedly downplayed his violation as a proportionally small infraction compared to the billion dollars he raised on the campaign trail.
4. Election Law-Breakers Like Marc Elias
Marc Elias has repeatedly tried to undermine U.S. elections. He has such a reputation for meddling and manipulating elections that even a federal judge reprimanded him for it. Unlike Douglass Mackey, who was charged by the DOJ for posting a meme encouraging Hillary voters to “text” their votes, however, Elias has not faced any charges or unannounced raids.
The president’s son isn’t just a walking liability for the Biden family name, he’s a glaring national security threat with a long, infamous history of using illicit drugs, engaging in possibly criminal sexual escapades with foreign women, and selling access to his dad under the guise of doing business with foreign oligarchs from places like China.
Speaking of communist China, Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell canoodling with a known spy for the nation’s No. 1 enemy seems like a pretty serious offense. Instead of a member of the House Intelligence Committee facing consequences for giving foreign spies access to key U.S. government offices and information, Swalwell is still comfortably rage-tweeting about Trump and MAGA supporters and appearing as a guest on corrupt corporate media programs.
8. Eric Holder
Former Attorney General Eric Holder misled Congress during its investigation of the Obama-era “Fast and Furious” gun-running scandal, which used taxpayer dollars to put guns into the hands of Mexican drug lords. Holder was held in contempt, but that’s pretty much the only punishment he received for intentionally dodging subpoenas and hiding documents from congressional oversight.
9. Susan Rice
President Barack Obama’s National Security Adviser, Susan Rice, unmasked members of the Trump transition team and then lied about it. Unmasking may be a legitimate and legal process for those with the authority, but covering up an attempt to target the political enemies of the regime is an abuse of power that deserves examination.
Instead, it was yet another action taken by the U.S. intelligence apparatus to justify spying on American citizens.
10. The Pelosi Family
Suspected insider trading deserves at least a second glance by federal investigators, but it looks like, so far, Nancy Pelosi and her husband Paul have gotten away with conveniently timing their stock purchases and sales to massively grow their wealth.
The same people who love lording “no one is above the law” over Americans are the ones who think they are above any semblance of oversight or law, or constitutionality. If Democrats truly valued rule of law, illegal border crossers, Russia hoaxers, Jeffrey Epstein’s clients, pro-abortion vandals, rioters, and the people who run corrupt government agencies like the Department of Justice, the FBI, the NSA, and the Manhattan DA’s office would be the ones standing in court next week, not Trump.
Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and co-producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @jordanboydtx.
A Manhattan grand jury has indicted former President Donald Trump, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office confirmed following late-Thursday media leaks. While the indictment remains under seal, one thing seems certain: America has now entered the era of “show me the man and I’ll show you the crime” politics.
The Democrat district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, breathed new life into the infamous boast of Joseph Stalin’s secret police chief, Lavrentiy Beria, when the Manhattan prosecutor targeted the former president in connection to a 2016 payment made to Stormy Daniels. Bragg’s decision to push for an indictment against Trump, presumably for falsifying business records, promises to herald in a new political age — one in which local prosecutors will target partisan enemies, big and small, making a mockery of the criminal justice system in the process.
The fact that news of the charges leaked to the left’s favorite scribes at The New York Times, while the indictment remained still under seal, punctuates perfectly the Sovietesque times in which we live: The legacy media may not be state-run, but they peddle propaganda, nonetheless.
Guesswork
Until the indictment is unsealed, any discussion of the charges requires some guesswork, and with sources late Thursday reportedly telling CNN the grand jury charged Trump with more than 30 counts, the prognostication is much more difficult. But from earlier reports, it appears the D.A.’s criminal case against Trump revolves around Sections 175.05 and 175.10 of the New York penal code.
Both sections define the state crime of “falsifying business records,” with Section 175.05 providing “a person is guilty of falsifying business records in the second degree when, with the intent to defraud, he makes or causes a false entry in the business records of an enterprise.” Section 175.10 converts the “second degree” misdemeanor to a felony if the person falsified business records with the “intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission” of another crime.
The factual theory for charging the former president with falsifying business records seems to rest on “Trump allegedly causing the Trump Organization to falsely report payments made to Michael Cohen in 2017 as ‘legal expenses,’ when the money instead reimbursed (and then some) Cohen for the $130,000 payment he made to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to keep the porn star from publicly claiming she had sex a decade earlier.” The Trump Organization then reportedly paid Cohen $35,000 a month for “legal services” in 2017, while Cohen never provided any legal work for the business.
Legal pundits believe the indictment will ratchet up the alleged falsifying of “legal expenses” offense to a felony by charging Trump with lying about the payments to Cohen to conceal a violation of federal election law. Cohen has already admitted to paying off Daniels to advance Trump’s electoral chances, and he appears poised to be a star witness against Trump. Another possibility, however, is that the Manhattan D.A.’s indictment accuses Trump of falsifying the organization’s “legal expenses” to aid in tax fraud.
The U.S. attorney has already declined to charge Trump with federal election law violations, making any attempt by Bragg to tie the federal offense to the state charge of falsifying business records reek of political payback.
Bragg’s expected use of Trump’s physical absence from New York — ironically because he was serving as commander-in-chief in D.C. — to sidestep the five-year statute of limitations that applies to a felony of falsifying business records, will also add to the stench of the case. And a public that watched Trump hounded since he first announced his candidacy for president isn’t likely to focus on the legal technicalities of the statute of limitations. Rather, the average American will consider the delayed charging of Trump to be a desperate ploy to concoct a crime.
Trump himself was quick to advance this theory, opening his press release by calling the indictment “political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history.” “From the time I came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower,” the former president continued, the “Radical Left Democrats … have been engaged in a Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement.”
“You remember it just like I do,” Trump stressed, ticking off the attacks: “Russia, Russia, Russia; the Mueller Hoax; Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine; Impeachment Hoax 1; Impeachment Hoax 2; the illegal and unconstitutional Mar-a-Lago raid; and now this.”
30-Count Craziness
Trump will reportedly appear in a Manhattan court on Tuesday for his arraignment. Whether the indictment is unsealed before then is unknown. But the leaks continue, including, as noted above, news that the grand jury reportedly charged Trump with more than 30 criminal counts.
Unless Bragg has uncovered something much beyond the details already reported about the Daniels payment, the Manhattan prosecutor will have only made matters worse by pushing for an indictment of the former president on more than 30 criminal counts. Given the lack of leaks about anything new, the most likely scenario is that the grand jury got to 30-plus counts by charging Trump with separate counts for each of the monthly payments made to Cohen in 2017. Then, the grand jury could add additional counts for each month Trump allegedly made the payment to “aid or conceal the commission” of another crime.
With this approach, it isn’t hard to see how easily the grand jury could convert one hush-money payment into some 30 crimes. And while the left and the Never Trump right might see a lengthy indictment as further proof of Trump’s malfeasance, if the indictment contains no new details, the piling on to reach the reported 33 counts against the former president doesn’t make Trump look more guilty — it makes Bragg look more like Beria.
Margot Cleveland is The Federalist’s senior legal correspondent. She is also a contributor to National Review Online, the Washington Examiner, Aleteia, and Townhall.com, and has been published in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. Cleveland is a lawyer and a graduate of the Notre Dame Law School, where she earned the Hoynes Prize—the law school’s highest honor. She later served for nearly 25 years as a permanent law clerk for a federal appellate judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Cleveland is a former full-time university faculty member and now teaches as an adjunct from time to time. As a stay-at-home homeschooling mom of a young son with cystic fibrosis, Cleveland frequently writes on cultural issues related to parenting and special-needs children. Cleveland is on Twitter at @ProfMJCleveland. The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.
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“Justice is indiscriminately due to all, without regard to numbers, wealth, or rank.” ~John Jay, in Georgia v. Brailsford, 1794
The die is cast. The political persecutions have been happening against average conservative citizens for several years, but it took the indictment of Trump to finally get people’s attention. We no longer have equality under the law. It’s quite evident that a conservative living in a blue state or being prosecuted by the feds in D.C. will never get a fair shake from the prosecutor, judge, or jury. Nothing will change that. The question is whether red states will make their states sanctuaries for liberty and as unhospitable to their political enemies as blue states are to our people.
It wasn’t always this way. We’ve been an extremely divided and polarized nation for quite some time. Sure, in the realm of court decisions or the legal process affecting broad political issues, the political bias of the judges was always quite apparent. But when it came to an individual criminal case, it was always the law that governed. As recently as 2016, a unanimous Supreme Court vacated the conviction of former Republican Governor Bob McDonnell for bribery because they all clearly understood that the governor’s hosting of a company he benefited from, while reeking of sleaze, is endemic of both sides of the political divide and clearly did not meet the definition of bribery under the Hobbs Act.
We no longer live in a world of equal justice under the law. We’ve witnessed how in the same capitol city where violent criminals are released or not prosecuted, Army veterans with clean records were held pretrial and denied due process up and down the legal system on what was, at most, non-violent misdemeanors, and at worst government provocation and entrapment. All of this is taking place while the worst Antifa rioters can take over city streets for weeks with brutal violence. Aside from Elizabeth Warren’s isolated moment of intellectual honesty decrying solitary confinement for J6 defendants, we’ve seen no such outcry for equal treatment. Those perpetrating this believe we are subhuman and not afforded equal protection under the law.
Some countries are open and anarchic like places in the Third World; others are very authoritarian like Singapore, where everyone is punished pretty severely for relatively minor infractions. But what we have here is a two-tiered justice system that is tantamount to targeted and systemic persecution. This is how we wind up with D.C. U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves refusing to prosecute 67% of all arrests, including 52% of all felonies, but announcing 1,200 new prosecutions of J6 protesters, many of individuals who didn’t even violate minor trespassing laws. This is how you have endless Antifa and BLM riots where the most violent people who beat, maimed, looted, and burned police stations to the ground got less punishment than the most innocuous J6 suspects.
We cannot share a country with people who don’t fundamentally believe in equality under the law. This was self-evident before the Trump indictment, and frankly, it’s shameful that so many conservative voices didn’t respond emphatically to this emergency until it affected their man. Nonetheless, if this is what it takes to unite behind a forward-looking agenda, we’ll be better for it. Thus, the only answer is to militarize the legal system of red states just as emphatically as blue states. To that end, red state governors and legislatures should do the following:
1) Fund legal defense of persecuted individuals: The first step is defense. Obviously, Trump has a war chest, but most of his supporters being persecuted or pro-life activists being targeted for praying outside abortion clinics don’t have money. It’s also extremely hard to even get a lawyer willing to fight the system. I personally had trouble finding people lawyers when fighting January 6 charges or businessmen being prosecuted for the “crime” of opening their stores during COVID. Red states should set up a legal defense fund to contribute to the legal defense of those the state AG determines are being targeted with unequal treatment based on political, religious, or social beliefs. The AG’s office can also marshal pro bono lawyers willing to help who know that they will get moral support from the state rather than being targeted as pariahs in their profession for representing such clients.
2) Refuse to extradite: Gov. DeSantis just set a precedent that Florida will not assist with extradition of those politically targeted. Other red-state governors should refuse to extradite people being accused of non-violent crimes when there is compelling evidence that other people accused of similar actions are not targeted with the same level prosecution. In the case of Trump, because he is protected by the Secret Service, there was never a chance that the NYPD would somehow be able to nab him in Florida. But for ordinary citizens, it’s important for red states to make the statement that they will serve as constitutional sanctuaries for equality under the law. This will be harder to pull off in the face of a federal prosecution, but the time has clearly come to tell the blue states to shove it. Every red-state legislature should empower its state AG to block extradition if he determines it is for political reasons.
3) Slash the ABA monopoly: Connected to the previous point, it’s time for state legislatures to require their state judiciaries to recognize alternatives to the American Bar Association, which has unlawfully claimed a monopoly on the entire legal profession to the point where people cannot obtain legal representation over the ABA’s veto. The ABA is sanctioning people like Rudy Giuliani and Professor John Eastman for simply offering their view on constitutional questions.
4) Refuse cooperation with rogue federal agencies: Red states need to pull out of all joint training, sharing of information, and help with logistics or intel to any federal law enforcement agency that continues to target people for their political beliefs.
5) Prosecute the left more zealously: It’s time to fight fire with fire. Just this week, there was a left-wing insurrection at the Tennessee Capitol. We’re not asking red-state prosecutors to take minor misdemeanors and hold people pretrial for two years as the left has done with J6 defendants. However, they should more aggressively use catch-all felony statutes to throw the book at people who legitimately act violent or Democrat politicians and outside groups that legitimately violate laws.
Even though they don’t control the federal government, Republicans control half the states and can easily make these changes today. That’s why the primary focus should be interposing on behalf of the people’s liberties at the state level. However, given the federal tyranny, there is a need to at least push for legal reforms against political targeting with legislation in the House.
6) Pass the “Political Targeting Prosecution Act”: Defendants can theoretically assert an Equal Protection Clause violation; however, practically, the courts have made it almost impossible to succeed in a claim of a selective prosecution defense under the Equal Protection Clause. As such, Congress should pass the Political Targeting Prosecution Act, which would accord defendants the opportunity to present evidence of political targeting based on animus for the individual’s religious or political beliefs. For example, if defendants could show how no BLM rioter who was much more violent was charged with obstructing law enforcement during a public disturbance (18 USC 231(a)(3)), it would trigger a motion to dismiss based on unequal treatment.
7) Fair jury pools: With a country more divided than during the Civil War, it’s self-evident that conservatives cannot get a fair trial in liberal jurisdictions. This has rendered the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee to a trial by a jury of one’s peers irrelevant. In order to restore the spirit of that right in this era, Congress must demand that a conservative defendant charged in D.C. can move the trial to the federal jurisdiction where the defendant resides. There should also be a federal right to request an expanded jury pool 20-30 miles outside a major city to obtain a more “equitable” share of like-minded people composing the jury in criminal cases. So for example, whenever Democrats control the Justice Department, by definition, any political opponent will be charged in D.C. with a 95% Democrat jury pool. The new law would prescribe that the individual is tried either in his home state or, if he resides in D.C., he could request a jury pool to rope in parts of Maryland, Virginia, and the West Virginia panhandle to achieve more balance.Trump fans are absolutely correct in asserting that this is about much more than Trump. Indeed, the political persecutions have been going on for quite some time before this indictment. So let’s make our response about more than Trump and more than just promoting talking points. It’s time for action. Let’s systemically combat the weaponization of the justice system against those who have no voice, money, or legal help.
Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Legal scholar Alan Dershowitz explained why he believes the indictment against former President Donald Trump will be quickly tossed from court. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg confirmed on Thursday that a grand jury has indicted Trump over allegations related to an alleged hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels. The indictment, however, remains under seal, and the exact charges will not be publicized until Trump is arraigned, which is expected to take place next week.
Reacting to the unprecedented news, the Harvard Law School emeritus professor predicted a judge will toss the case on statute of limitations grounds.
“I think the most important thing is they indicted him when he was out of New York, and that means they could have indicted him within the statute of limitations when he was out of New York. The statute of limitations is way expired,” Dershowitz explained on Newsmax. “They claimed they couldn’t have indicted him because he was outside of New York, but now they’ve indicted him when he’s not in New York.”
Dershowitz added that Bragg made a “foolish, foolish decision, which will cause the case to be thrown out, I think, on statute of limitations grounds.”
A scholar of American criminal law, Dershowitz predicted Trump’s attorneys will file an immediate motion to dismiss the case based on statute of limitations grounds.
.@AlanDersh on Trump indictment: "They've made a foolish, foolish decision which will cause the case to be thrown out, I think, on statute of limitations grounds." pic.twitter.com/Cipbv3DBnV
Bragg reportedly investigated Trump for falsifying business records over allegations that money he claimed went to Michael Cohen for legal services actually went to Daniels. In New York, the crime of falsifying business records is generally a misdemeanor — for which the statute of limitations is two years — but it can be a Class E felony if the crime occurred “to conceal another crime.” The statute of limitations in that case is five years. It is not yet known what second crime prosecutors allege Trump committed to elevate the charge to a felony, though it is believed that prosecutors will argue the hush-money payment constituted a violation of campaign finance laws.
At the center of the statute of limitations concern is whether they were triggered in 2017 — when the payments to Cohen were allegedly made — or in 2018 on the basis of bookkeeping implications.
As former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy explained:
Assuming the statute of limitations was thus triggered in 2018, the five-year period would lapse sometime this year. That, at least in part, explains the frenetic investigative activity that has gone on the last few weeks: If the state doesn’t indict soon, the case would be time-barred. Or . . . it could be time-barred already.
A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including NewsMax, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Rep. Devin Nunes, Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Chris Salcedo, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and Presiden
Image composite of Twitter videos, @ReduxxMag and @icons_women
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Ann Andres is a biological male who claims to be a woman. He has placed first in multiple women’s weightlifting competitions in Canada and holds the record for women’s bench in the province of Alberta. He has gone so far in recent months as to ridicule the real women who compete against him.
Team Canada’s male powerlifting coach Avi Silverberg has evidently had enough of noncompetitive men migrating to women’s sports and gender self-identification policies in powerlifting. Over the weekend, he temporarily identified as a transgender and demolished Andres’ record. Andres is technically Alberta’s powerlift record holder for bench and deadlifts in the women’s category.
According to Open Powerlifting, Andres’ personal bests are 440.9 pounds for squat; 275.5 pounds for bench; and 545.6 pounds for deadlift. The transsexual athlete has won eight out of the nine female competitions he has entered since 2019.
The Independent Council on Women’s Sports, an advocacy group seeking to protect women’s sports from male infiltrators, indicated that outrage mounted after Andres added insult to injury, having denigrated his competitors and claiming women’s bench is “so bad.” Andres said in a video posted to Instagram, “Why is women’s bench so bad? I mean, not compared to me, we all know that I’m a tranny freak so that doesn’t count. And no, we’re not talking about Mackenzie Lee, she’s got little T-rex arms and she’s like 400 pounds of chest muscle apparently.”
“Standard bench in powerlifting competition for women, I literally don’t know why it’s so bad,” Andres reiterated. “My son, he weighs 45 pounds. His max bench is like 33, I’m legit seeing some women in competition who are doing something like 50 pounds, and I just don’t understand it.”
🏋️Trans identifying male, Anne Andres is Alberta Canada's women's powerlifting record holder in bench 🚨competes next month in women's category at the 2023 CPU National Championships
🚩Recognizes no understanding of upper body strength differences btw males & females 🧵 pic.twitter.com/DYEyEWZTLr
Avi Silverberg serves as head coach for Team Canada Powerlifting, beginning in 2012. He has since coached over 4,500 attempts in international competitions. On March 25, Silverberg decided to temporarily identify as a woman — not to remedy possible dysphoria but as a means of protest. The newly minted transgender then attended the Heroes Classic Powerlifting Meet in Lethbridge, Alberta. The meet reportedly adhered to the Canadian Powerlifting Union’s gender self-identification policy, announced earlier this year.
The policy states, “Individuals participating in development and recreational sport … should be able to participate in the gender with which they identify and not be subject to requirements for disclosure of personal information beyond those required of cisgender athletes. Nor should there be any requirement for hormonal therapy or surgery.”
“Hormone therapy should not be required for an individual to participate in high-performance sport,” added the document. “Individuals should not be required to disclose their trans identity or history to the sport organization in order to participate in high-performance sport.”
Silverberg exploited this gender policy as Andres had, then tested the transsexual athlete’s record with him watching. Not only did the male coach beat Andres’ record, he cleared it by nearly 100 pounds. Andres had previously lifted 275 pounds. Silverberg casually pressed 370 pounds. The Independent Council on Women’s Sports noted on Twitter that “Avi Silverberg just broke the Alberta WOMEN’s bench press record in the 84+ kg category at the ‘Heroes Classic.'”
ICONS told the feminist publication Reduxx, “What Avi so obviously points out is that policies allowing men access to women’s sports completely remove any integrity in women’s competitions.”
“It doesn’t matter how Avi expresses himself or perceives himself. He clearly does not belong in women’s sport, and neither does any other male regardless of their motivation for wanting to participate,” added the women’s advocacy group.
A male powerlifting coach self-identified as a woman and broke a women's benchpress record in protest of gender self-identification in sport.
Avi Silverberg performed the defiant act while the current record holder, a transgender male, watched.
Canadian weightlifter and YouTuber Greg Doucette lauded Silverberg’s weighty protest, stating, “How long before the powers that be suddenly wake up and smell the coffee and understand that if you’re born a female, you’re not going to be as powerful, as strong, as tall, as big … as if you were born a male.”
“To me, the answer is simple: We add a separate category, a new category, the trans category,” said Doucette.
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Composite screenshot of Fox News YouTube video (Featured: Jacob Chansley, aka the QAnon Shaman)
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Jacob Chansley, better known as the QAnon Shaman, who entered the Capitol on January 6, 2021, wearing patriot-themed face paint and horns but no shirt, has been released from prison early.
As of Thursday, reports from the Bureau of Prisons indicate that Chansley, 35, has been moved from federal prison to a halfway house in Phoenix, Arizona. In September 2021, Chansley pled guilty to civil disorder and violent entry to the Capitol. He and his attorney even signed a statement claiming that he entered the building through a broken door, that he “was not lawfully authorized to enter or remain in the building,” and that he “entered the Gallery of the Senate alone.”
However, Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy recently released tens of thousands of hours of unedited footage of the events of January 6 to Fox News host Tucker Carlson. In turn, Carlson aired just a brief portion of that footage a few weeks ago. That footage contradicted the claim that Chansley violently entered the Capitol and that he entered the gallery alone. Rather, Capitol police appeared to escort the unarmed Chansley throughout his time in the Capitol. When Chansley eventually entered the Gallery of the Senate, he prayed for the police who “allowed” them into “this building.”
Now, just weeks after that footage was released to the public through Tucker Carlson’s program, Chansley has been released from federal prison after serving 27 months in prison, 11 of them in solitary confinement. His attorney, Albert S. Watkins, praised the decision to release Chansley, who had been sentenced to serve three and a half years behind bars.
“After serving eleven months in solitary prior to his sentence being imposed, and only 16 months of his sentence thereafter, it is appropriate this gentle and intelligent young man be permitted to move forward with the next stage of what undoubtedly will be a law abiding and enriching life,” Watkins said in a statement.
Though the announcement of Chansley’s release to a halfway house came just weeks after Carlson aired what he described as “clearly exculpatory” footage of Chansley in the Capitol, others claim that the timing is merely coincidental.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with media [or] public pressure,” said former federal prosecutor Neama Ramani, who is not affiliated with the case. “Despite the violent nature of the Capitol riots, most of the rioters had little to no criminal history.”
According to the Daily Mail, federal inmates may be given a 15% reduction in their sentences at the discretion of the BOP. They can also be transferred to a halfway house for the final 12 months of their sentence. The BOP did not respond to requests for comment from several outlets.
Chansley, who is from Arizona, is scheduled to be released from the halfway house on May 25.
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Suppose a troubled teen girl “identifies” as a boy and wants to change her body to match it. Most people balk at the thought of pumping her with testosterone or cutting off her healthy breasts. But many of these same people think using puberty blockers isn’t so bad for even younger kids. In fact, activist groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics suggest drugs like Lupron can “pause” puberty without harm.
Even some conservative lawmakers, such as Georgia state Sen. Carden Summers, have bought this claim. As a result, the bill he sponsored, just signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp, partially restricts “gender-affirming” hormones and surgeries for minors but says nothing about puberty blockers.
Is it really safe to give these drugs to kids? Mounting evidence says “no.” And even some on the left are starting to sound the alarm.
Last month, a stunning report in the British Medical Journal, written by a former editor of Ms. Magazine, argued that only a contrived medical consensus, not scientific evidence, props up wrongly named “gender-affirming care” for minors. That’s the protocol that starts with social transition, moves on to puberty blockers, then wrong-sex hormones, and finally surgery. The article pointed to disagreement within the medical community about how to best treat kids with gender dysphoria. Indeed, the publication of such an article, in a major medical journal, is itself evidence of such disagreement.
Two weeks earlier, Jamie Reed, a self-identified “queer socialist” married to a “transman,” blew the whistle on the work of the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. She confirmed what critics have long been saying: These treatments are uncontrolled experiments with children as subjects.
“These treatments are uncontrolled experiments with children as subjects. “
Lupron
Consider Lupron. First approved by the FDA to treat prostate cancer, doctors later used the drug to chemically castrate sex offenders and stop early-onset puberty.
Today, it’s the primary “off-label” drug used to “block” puberty. Lupron stops the body’s normal hormonal process, including the development of ovaries and testes, by “blocking” the brain’s ability to communicate with the pituitary gland. The pituitary controls the release of hormones. Without it, the sex hormones can’t direct puberty as they otherwise would.
Lupron’s side effects are so severe that doctors tend not to prescribe it for even mild (non-metastatic) cases of prostate cancer. Would you be shocked to learn it might not be great for young girls, either? In fact, after taking the drug, girls may develop osteoporosis and osteopenia, problems that mostly afflict older women. Many doctors found that Lupron decreased minors’ bone density so much that they could no longer recommend it.
Not Reversible
Some gender-activist doctors will admit their guidance is not based on long-term studies. Rather, they claim it’s based on expert consensus.
But that consensus is highly stage-managed. Because of the known dangers and lack of long-term data, the Finnish, French, and Swedish governments have either banned or limited Lupron’s use for minors. Similarly, the British National Health Service now urges caution, and argues most gender-confused minors are going through a “transient phase.”
The report in the British Medical Journal shows this regimen for minors is not based on sound science. The Endocrine Society found that little evidence supports its own guidance regarding Lupron. The Swedish government confirms Lupron does not help these minors. In fact, it “may lead to a deteriorating of health and quality of life,” and can cause irreversible harm.
When used for minors with gender distress, over 95 percent will move on to cross-sex hormones and never go through natural puberty. Even when puberty blockers are discontinued, their dangers to a child’s development don’t disappear. After all, no one can reverse time. It’s no surprise New Zealand’s ministry of health recently scrubbed the words “reversible” from its online discussion of puberty blockers.
Jamie Reed’s firsthand testimony is damning. Patients in Reed’s clinic could access hormone blockers after only one meeting with a therapist. Some of these minors had severe mental illnesses that went untreated. Instead, they were fast-tracked with transgender drugs toward transition surgeries.
States Start to Respond
Fortunately, the word is getting out. Some states are now restricting these weapons in the “gender-affirming” arsenal. Since 2022, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Mississippi, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Iowa have passed legislation to restrict Lupron as a puberty blocker. (Alabama and Arkansas’ bans are on hold in federal district court.) Several more states will likely do so in the coming weeks.
Florida followed another path to ban this use of Lupron. The state’s medical boards reviewed the literature and found these transition procedures lacked a solid scientific basis. The legislature is now working to secure their boards’ judgment in law.
Other states should follow Florida’s lead and pass health policies and laws that follow scientific evidence, not the activists’ spin. Until this happens, troubled children will continue to be sacrificed on the altar of toxic ideology.
Samuel Silvestro is a member of The Heritage Foundation’s Young Leadership Program. Jay W. Richards is the director of Heritage’s DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family.
Mere days after a shooter killed three 9-year-old students and three staff members at a private Christian school in Nashville, Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee introduced a new bill that would funnel $900 million worth of taxpayer dollars to both public and private schools to hire armed security and “harden” classrooms with enhanced physical defenses.
The Securing Aid for Every (SAFE) School Act, if passed, will give states financial leverage to establish training and licensing programs for veterans and former law enforcement officers to protect private and public schoolchildren from threats like shooters. It will also offer grants to schools to install surveillance cameras, metal detectors, alarm systems, and locks in hallways and classrooms.
“Schools should be places where children are safe to learn, play, and be children. And every parent should have the confidence that when they send their children off to school, they will return home safely. We must work together to protect our children at school and that means increasing security,” Blackburn said.
Unlike government schools which already receive taxpayer dollars to harden their buildings, private schools are often left to find and fund school resource officers (SROs) on their own. Historically speaking, that means schools like Covenant, which did not have an armed security guard at the time of the tragedy, are the kinds of soft targets murderous shooters seek.
Yet, both public and private Christian schools have difficulty affording and retaining school resource officers.
More and more states including Tennessee want to mandate that schools hire armed guards to patrol campus during educational hours but Democrats have repeatedlyrejectedlegislation designed to sponsor and codify security overhauls that would keep American students from being sitting ducks. Their activist allies, similarly, say no one including teachers should carry in the classroom.
Proponents of hardening schools say Congress should act swiftly to pass this legislation so that lives across the nation will be saved from future tragedies.
“We can’t predict where or when the next school shooting will happen, but we know how it will be stopped: by a security officer with a gun,” Andrew Pollack, father of Parkland victim Meadow Pollack, said. “The police reacted bravely in Nashville, but in a shooting every second matters and the SAFE School Act will save lives by ensuring that more schools are guarded by armed security officers.”
Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and co-producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @jordanboydtx.
Following the Twitter censorship of Federalist CEO Sean Davis, several journalists, and a sitting member of Congress who all reported on the “Trans Day Of Vengeance” after the Nashville Shooting, the Media Research Center (MRC) published a shocking study about “free speech” on Twitter. Despite many claims to the contrary, the MRC found the company has become moreoppressive since Elon Musk acquired the platform.
According to data from the MRC’s Free Speech America’s CensorTrack.org database, there have been 293 cases of documented censorship since Musk took over from Nov. 4, 2022, through Mar. 4, 2023. This is 67 more cases than the 226 instances reported by CensorTrack.org from pre-Musk Twitter during the same time last year.
The Media Research Center also found Twitter’s methods of censorship recently became more severe. “In 245 of the 293 (84%) documented cases of censorship on CensorTrack.org, Twitter locked users’ accounts, and in nearly all cases users were required to delete the content to regain access to their accounts,” reports the MRC. “Under the old Twitter regime, by contrast, only 136 of the 226 (60%) documented cases of censorship consisted of locked accounts.”
An astounding 62 percent of the censorship cases under Musk’s leadership involved tweets critical of transgenderism. “At least 182 of the 293 (62%) documented cases of censorship recorded in the CensorTrack.org database for Twitter under Musk involved users being censored for speech critical of the left’s woke ‘transgender’ narrative,” writes the MRC.
On Tuesday, Federalist CEO Sean Davis, other journalists, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene were locked out of Twitter for reporting on the “Trans Day Of Vengeance” following the deaths of three children and three staff members at a Christian school in Tennessee at the hands of a transgender shooter.
Twitter claimed Davis’ objectively true tweet reporting on the panned “Trans Day Of Vengeance” violated the app’s rules “against violent speech.” Not only did Twitter lock Davis out of his account, but it also defamed him by falsely claiming he had “threatened, incited, glorified, or expressed a desire for violence.” “Twitter has a right to ban me for whatever reason it wants, but it doesn’t have a right to viciously lie about me,” Davis wrote, addressing the ban.
Davis has also been subjected to Twitter’s insidious shadow banning that carried over from the platform’s previous regime. And Federalist Senior Editor John Davidson has been locked out of his account for a full year because he tweeted the biological fact that Rachel Levine, the Biden administration’s transgender assistant secretary for health, is a man. Both Davis and Davidson have made appeals since Musk purchased the company over, but both remain censored on Twitter.
A year ago, Musk claimed he saw Twitter as the “de facto town square” and that “failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy.” Unfortunately, as the anecdotal evidence and data from MRC show, Musk’s “free speech absolutist” Twitter rebrand has failed to live up to the hype.
“No amount of lofty rhetoric or grandiose plans from Musk about his love of free speech and facts can compete with the cold, hard reality that the service he owns doesn’t just oppose free speech; Twitter detests it,” wrote Davis.
Evita Duffy-Alfonso is a staff writer to The Federalist and the co-founder of the Chicago Thinker. She loves the Midwest, lumberjack sports, writing, and her family. Follow her on Twitter at @evitaduffy_1 or contact her at evita@thefederalist.com.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., stormed off after being accused of lying by Libs of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik in the Capitol on Thursday, calling her “super transphobic” for good measure. Raichik had just filed an ethics complaint at the congresswoman’s office, saying the “Squad” member had defamed her during a Feb. 8 House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing.
The Libs of TikTok creator then spotted the Democrat walking through the Capitol and seized the opportunity to confront her. Raichik apparently had not yet revealed her identity. After cozying up to take an apparent picture, Raichik told Ocasio-Cortez who she was.
BREAKING: I served @AOC with an ethics complaint after she lied about me in a committee hearing. AOC wasn’t in her office but then I bumped into her as I was leaving the Capitol!
“I just delivered an ethics complaint to your office because you lied about me in a committee hearing,” Raichik said.
Ocasio-Cortez immediately backed away and said, “I actually didn’t, because you’re actually super transphobic and I never want to share a space with you. Thank you!”
She then walked away.
The Democrat claimed that Raichik lied in a 2022 tweet when she said Boston Children’s Hospital was “now offering ‘gender-affirming hysterectomies’ for young girls.” Raichik had shared videos from the children’s hospital where doctors said they offered “gender-affirming hysterectomies.”
“Are you aware… that from August 11th to August 16th that account posted false information about Boston Children’s Hospital claiming that they were providing hysterectomies to children?” Ocasio-Cortez asked a former Twitter executive about that tweet.
Libs of TikTok Twitter account creator Chaya Raichik visits the office of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. (Heritage Foundation Twitter/Screenshot)
Last week, Raichik was unsuccessful at finding the Democrat at her Capitol Hill office to confront her.
The Heritage Foundation asked the Office of Congressional Ethics this week to open an investigation into the Democrat on Raichik’s behalf for “falsely accusing” and “defaming” the creator of the Libs of TikTok Twitter account. The nine-page complaint defends Raichik’s view that Boston Children’s Hospital performs gender-affirming hysterectomies on young girls.
Ocasio-Cortez’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Samuel Corum/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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Former President Donald Trump founded and funded the U.S. Space Force as the sixth arm of the military in 2019, noting that “American superiority in space is absolutely vital.” The current administration evidently agrees with Trump on at least this: To deter aggression in this present age, America will need to “control the ultimate high ground.”
Earlier this month, the Biden administration submitted to Congress a 2024 budget request of $842 billion for the Department of Defense, representing a $26 billion increase over the fiscal year 2023 budget and $100 billion more than in FY 2022. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin noted in a March 13 statement that the “FY 2024 budget is the most strategy-driven request we’ve ever produced from the Department of Defense.”
“As our National Defense Strategy makes clear, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is our pacing challenge,” said Austin.
“This budget seeks to meet this critical challenge today, tomorrow, and into the future by providing the resources today to continue to implement our National Defense Strategy and keep our nation safe while delivering a combat credible Joint Force that is the most lethal, resilient, agile, and responsive in the world,” added Austin.
With the nearly $842 billion, the DOD hopes to defend the homeland and keep up with the “multi-domain threat” posed by communist China; deter strategic attacks against the U.S., its allies, and its partners; deter aggression, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region; and build a resilient joint force and defense ecosystem.
Extra to modernizing military equipment, locking down a full complement of hypersonic missiles, and ensuring traditional forces are ready for a showdown with a possible Sino-Russo military alliance, the DOD wants over $30 billion for Space Force — roughly $3.9 billion over what it received in FY 2023. According to Austin, this is will cover “vital space capabilities, resilient architectures, and enhanced space command and control.”
The Pentagon wants an additional $3.3 billion (an 11% increase of FY 2023) to ensure Space Force core readiness. To this end, the spending request includes plans to train the Space Force’s Guardians, ensuring they are ready for battle, reported the Wall Street Journal.
The Journal noted “training will be critical. The physics and the mechanics of steering objects through space at more than 17,000 miles an hour give attackers the advantage they lack on the ground.”
$350 million has been requested for simulators and other facilities so that Guardians can hone their skills waging cosmic battles remotely. Readiness will ultimately mean the capacity to handle both threats from space and threats to space assets.
Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman told the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 15, “Both China and Russia continue to develop, field, and deploy a range of weapons aimed at U.S. space capabilities.”
“The spectrum of threats to U.S. space capabilities includes cyber warfare activities, electronic attack platforms, directed energy lasers designed to blind or damage satellite sensors, ground-to-orbit missiles to destroy satellites, and space-to-space orbital engagement systems that can attack U.S. satellites in space,” Saltzman added.
China has launched dozens of spacecraft to target U.S. forces in recent years, reported the New York Post.
The DOD’s budget overview notes that the U.S. also faces a threat from the anti-satellite weapon capabilities that “have made a resurgence in the past decade, with a number of different Russian military ‘Cosmos’ satellites believed to be designed to kinetically kill satellites in low Earth orbit.” To provide American forces and equipment protection on Earth and beyond, Saltzman said, “we are accelerating the pivot towards resilient satellite constellations, ground stations, networks and data links.”
While the U.S. presently has the advantage in space, its superiority is not guaranteed. According to a 2022 Defense Intelligence Agency report entitled, “Challenges to Security in Space,” the combined operational space fleets of China and Russia grew by roughly 70% between 2019 and 2021.
“China and Russia … are developing various means to exploit the perceived U.S. reliance on space-based systems and challenge the U.S. position in the space domain,” said the report. “Beijing and Moscow seek to position themselves as leading space powers., intent on creating new global space norms. Through the use of space and counterspace capabilities, they aspire to undercut U.S. global leadership.”
China’s 2020 “Science of Military Strategy” document from the country’s National Defense University stated, “Space has already become a new domain of modern military struggle; it is a critical factor for deciding military transformation; and it has an extremely important influence on the evolution of future form-states, modes, and rules of war. Therefore, following with interest the military struggle circumstance of space and strengthening the study of the space military struggle problem is a very important topic we are currently facing.”
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Talk about bad luck! What are the odds of the Nashville school shooter being a transgendered person who is ALSO mentally ill?
Arguably, there were hints.
In a form of modern Lysenkoism, young transgenders overwhelmingly come from homes with signs that say: “In This House, We Believe: Black Lives Matter, Women’s Rights Are Human Rights, No Human Is Illegal, Science Is Real, Love Is Love, Kindness Is Everything.”
Specifically, a study of adolescent and young adult transgenders found that the adults in the home who identify as “parents” were 91.4% white; 70.9% had a bachelor’s degree or higher and 85.9% favored gay marriage. Parent respondents were 91.7% female.
This is a weirdly specific profile. Only about a third of Americans have B.A.s; a third of the population is white and female, and about a third supported gay marriage (until it was made a capital offense to oppose it — changing even Barack Obama’s mind!)
How many other biological conditions are correlated with political ideology?
I guess there’s “long-haulCOVID.” So there are two biological FACTS where the main vector is: Liberal White Women. And of course, innumerable studies have shown that mental illness is far more prevalent in liberals than conservatives, which may be the umbrella condition.
On the other hand, counterfactual self-identifications are popping up all over. For example, the media are currently self-identifying as purveyors of information, and Trump is self-identifying as a bad-ass tough guy who can get the job done.
For nearly two weeks now, the media have produced wall-to-wall coverage of … a rumor started by Trump himself. On March 18, he posted on his social media site: “THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK. PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!”
Tuesday came and went without his supposed antagonist, New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, making any arrest, but the media can’t stop talking about Trump. (You ever get the impression that Trump and the media are working together?)
In response to the press’s flood-the-zone coverage of a rumor started by someone they call a liar, Trump has been self-identifying as a total stud, the hero who built the wall and kept the country open while others quaked in the face of COVID!
Last week, he posted a picture of himself — carefully selected for its bad-assedness — swinging a baseball bat next to a photo of Bragg.
What justifies this tough-guy image?
I agree 100% with the issues Trump ran on in 2016, but this is the guy who claimed to have a bone spur in his foot to avoid actual military service.
The complete opposite of his image on “The Apprentice,” barking “You’re fired!” at hapless employees, the real Trump couldn’t fire anyone. He asked former campaign aide-turned-lobbyist Corey Lewandowski to fire his attorney general, Jeff Sessions.
A slew of other Trump administration employees were fired by tweet — just the way George Patton did! These include: White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. He fired his FBI director, James Comey, by handing the dismissal letter to the White House press corps before telling Comey, who found out by watching TV (in this one case, style points to Trump).
Sitting with Democrats and Republicans at the White House, Trump wimped out on the Second Amendment, announcing that he supported a whole laundry list of anti-gun proposals, including taking arms away without due process. He even mocked Republicans for being “afraid of the NRA” — unlike him, the tough guy willing to swing a baseball bat at a photo. The NRA, he said, has “power over you people, but they have less power with me.”
A few days later, the NRA stopped by the Oval Office — and Trump retracted it all, tweeting out his unwavering support for the Second Amendment.
He released prisoners because Kim Kardashian told him to, bombed Syria because his daughter told him to, and shut down the country because a scaredy-cat cable news host told him to.
This is the guy who sells superhero NFTs of himself? Where does he get the idea that people see him as a macho fighter, as opposed to a spaghetti-spined nitwit who couldn’t stand up to girls like Ivanka and Paul Ryan? (Hey, whatever happened to that wall?)
As soon as there was blowback on the ridiculous baseball bat meme, here was Trump, backpedaling as fast as his bone-spurred feet would let him. He told some cockamamie story about how he never even noticed the picture! (Because Trump isn’t at all obsessed with his own image.)
I’m not allowed to offer a professional opinion without conducting an examination, but based on the symptoms, there’s a good chance that Trump is a liberal white woman.
A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including NewsMax, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Rep. Devin Nunes, Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Chris Salcedo, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and Presiden
If we’ve learned anything from all the various impacts that COVID-19 brought to our shores, it’s that America must secure our critical supply chains. Instead, we continue to be reliant on hostile nations, and especially our biggest adversary, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Perhaps most disturbing is our self-imposed continued reliance on Chinese minerals needed for infrastructure, national security, and everyday life.
Unfortunately, the Biden administration, as part of their war on American energy, has moved to limit domestic mining and increase our reliance on the CCP for critical minerals.
This same administration is forcing a radical energy transition which will both increase the demand for minerals, making the United States even more reliant on the CCP, and increase the threat to our energy and national security. However, our House Republican majority’s top priority is to pass meaningful permitting reform to secure our domestic critical mineral supply chains and regain our energy dominance.
Minerals such as copper, nickel and cobalt are used in everyday life by Americans and are key components for our defense and energy industries. Cobalt, for example, is used in batteries for smartphones and electric vehicles. Other minerals are used in fighter jets, weapons, and other instruments vital for our national defense.
The Chinese Communist Party controls the minerals market needed for American fighter jets, lifesaving medical devices and for so many items we use daily to live and work. What happens when our biggest foreign adversary turns that faucet off?
Critical minerals power wind turbines, electric vehicles, and solar panels, all three of which are cornerstones of Biden’s contradictory energy policy. Global demand for critical minerals is skyrocketing, including cobalt demand which is expected to double this decade and increase nearly 500% by 2050.
Americans want to use our own, vast domestic reserves to secure our mineral future. In northern Minnesota alone, we are blessed with 95% of America’s nickel, nearly 90% of our cobalt, 51% of our platinum, and more than a third of our copper. However, President Biden and his cabinet have chosen politics over production, and continue to stymie domestic mineral development, and therefore our national security.
The list of anti-domestic mining actions taken by this administration is long. From Arizona and Alaska to Minnesota and South Dakota, the Biden administration is siding with radical activists to slow and kill domestic mining projects, keeping our much-needed resources in the ground.
Perhaps most egregious is the Biden administration making a purely political decision to cancel two long-held mineral leases and declare a moratorium on mining in part of the Duluth Complex in northern Minnesota. Furthermore, another project in northern Minnesota, is currently stuck in over 20 years of permitting due to activist politicians and frivolous lawsuits.
It should be alarming that the CCP controls the global supply chain for the development, processing, and manufacturing of minerals. Specifically, the Democratic Republic of the Congo currently supplies around 70% of the global cobalt supply, and China controls 15 of the 19 industrial mines in the country.
Further, conditions at these mines are abysmal, immoral, and inhumane as environmental standards lack enforcement and child labor remains rampant. Overall, the United States is over 50% reliant on foreign sources for 51 nonfuel mineral commodities, with 26 of these coming from China and 6 from Russia.
And, despite the clear, documented evidence of child forced slave labor, the Biden administration elected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Congo that will further expand our reliance on Chinese-derived cobalt. This administration has chosen to prioritize supply chains in the Congo, while working to curb domestic mining at every turn here in America. It is insulting to every hardworking American out there.
Consider this: the CCP controls the minerals market needed for American fighter jets, lifesaving medical devices and for so many items we use daily to live and work. What happens when our biggest foreign adversary turns that faucet off?
Instead, we need a smart, pro-development domestic energy policy to access the minerals we currently have underfoot for those needs.
We have an abundance of mineral reserves that we can tap into which can create American jobs, increase American competitiveness, end our mineral reliance on Communist China, and produce resources using American technology under strict labor and environmental standards.
The good news is Republicans have a solution. H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act, provides a wholesale update to our broken permitting process, including domestic mining. By creating certainty with provisions like implementing review timelines and limiting frivolous lawsuits, this legislation will remove barriers to get shovels in the ground, invest in American energy technology, and shore up our supply chains to strengthen our energy and national security.
The United States has the best workforce, the best technology, and the best environmental and labor standards in the world. Let’s get politics out of the way, pass H.R. 1, start domestic mining, and unleash the full potential of American resources. Only then can we hold the CCP accountable and secure our future.
Republican Pete Stauber represents Minnesota in the United States House of Representatives where he serves as chairman of the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee.
Republican Mike Gallagher represents Wisconsin’s Eighth Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives where he serves as chairman of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the U.S. and the Chinese Communist Party.
Daniel A. Varela/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
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Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) proposed expanding Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill as the legislation approaches the first anniversary of its signing, National Review reported.
“Parents have the right and God-given responsibility to guide their children’s upbringing,” Florida Sen. Clay Yarborough (R-Jacksonville) said during a committee hearing Monday.
“They should not have to worry their students are receiving classroom instruction on topics and materials parents feel are not age-appropriate,” Yarborough also said.
If successful, the legislation that now prohibits teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through third grade would be expanded to cover students through twelfth grade.
In addition to the curriculum-based prohibitions, the bill’s prescriptive component requires school districts to notify parents if there is a change in their child’s mental, emotional, or physical health. A child suddenly claiming to be the opposite of his or her biological sex — a girl saying she is now a boy, for example — could be among the changes schools would be required to report to parents. In addition, GOP lawmakers want to prohibit school employees from using pronouns for students that differ from the student’s biological sex, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
The text of the proposed rule in the Florida Administrative Register states that Florida educators “shall not intentionally provide classroom instruction in grades 4 through 12 on sexual orientation or gender identity unless such instruction is either expressly required by state academic standards … or is part of a reproductive health course or health lesson for which a student’s parent has the option to have his or her student not attend.”
Pinellas teachers’ union president Nancy Velardi, quoted by the Tampa Bay Times, predicated that “children are going to die. … It is not a question. It’s a definite.”
Velardi was among the people who wrongly called the original bill the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The word “gay” does not appear in the legislation, and the preposterous claim has been rightly and thoroughly debunked.
“As far as the ‘Don’t Say Gay Bill,’ that is predominantly focused on the younger grades. And again, those things were not happening in classrooms,” Velardi said on WMNF’s Tuesday Cafe in August 2022.
“Parents’ rights have been increasingly under assault around the nation, but in Florida we stand up for the rights of parents and the fundamental role they play in the education of their children,” DeSantis said as he signed House Bill 1557.
“Parents have every right to be informed about services offered to their child at school, and should be protected from schools using classroom instruction to sexualize their kids as young as 5 years old.” he also said.
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Shortly before police bravely closed in on Audrey Hale, the apparently transgender shooter who killed six people, including three children, at a Nashville Christian school on Monday, another hero was already heading toward the murderer.
Katherine Koonce, head of The Covenant School, rushed to protect her students from Hale after the sound of gunfire interrupted a Zoom call she was on, according to Nashville City Councilman Russ Pulley. “It is my understanding from a witness at the school that Katherine Koonce was on a Zoom call when she heard the first shot. She immediately ended the call, got up and headed straight for the shooter,” Pulley told Fox News.
“Dr. Koonce, upon hearing the first shots, ran toward the danger,” he added in a Facebook post.
Koonce, 60, was murdered by Hale, alongside fellow staff members Cynthia Peak and Michael Hill, and 9-year-old students Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney.
Pulley also noted that Koonce had previously implemented active shooter drills at the grade school, which he credited with saving lives on Monday.
“She prepared the school by seeking advanced-level active-shooter training,” he said, “and from witnesses at the scene, this protocol – details of which I cannot provide – saved countless lives.”
Nashville Metropolitan Police Chief John Drake confirmed that Koonce had had a confrontation with the shooter.
“She was in the hallway by herself,” he said in a press conference on Tuesday. “There was a confrontation, I’m sure — you can tell the way she was lying in the hallway.”
In a letter to members of Koonce’s church, West End Community Church, Pastor John Bourgeois told members that Koonce “gave her life in defense of the children under her care.”
“She loved God and she loved people, so it doesn’t surprise me at all that she died protecting people,” said Stephana Greene, a Covenant mom. Greene also noted Koonce’s personal devotion to her students and their families. “You could come to the school 15-20 minutes early and pop a squat and have a pick-up talk with her, and she would be willing to either pray with you, she would be willing to either lead you in scripture,” she told a local news station.
Barrett Severance, a former student of Koonce’s, told another station that “there was a lot of times I felt like giving up, and so she would fight for us.”
“She was very much a champion for her students, she fought for all of them, oftentimes after we quit fighting for ourselves.”
Elle Purnell is an assistant editor at The Federalist, and received her B.A. in government from Patrick Henry College with a minor in journalism. Follow her work on Twitter @_etreynolds.
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The 28-year-old transsexual shooter who shot up a Christian elementary school on Monday was ultimately put down by Nashville’s finest; however, that was not her first encounter with heroes that day.
A 9-year-old girl attempted to alert teachers and other children to the threat before being cut down in the Covenant School. She is now being hailed as a hero.
Evelyn Dieckhaus, described by her family as a “shining light,” desperately tried to pull the fire alarm as the shooter stalked the halls of the Christian school, reported the Daily Mail.
Clay Stauffer, senior minister of Woodmont Christian Church, which is next door to the school, told WTVF, “These are the types of situations in life where it does cause us to question and doubt our faith. But I also tell them in these situations, as horrible as they are, I believe God shows up in the community.”
Stauffer intimated that Dieckhaus made God’s presence known in her apparent love for her peers and corresponding effort to alert them to danger.
“Evelyn made an impact on this world, and she will continue to,” he said.
The minister noted that while the 9-year-old’s parents, Mike and Katie Dickhaus, are devastated, “They’re being surrounded by their family and friends.”
Dieckhaus’ grieving sister, a fifth-grader set to be baptized in a few weeks, said, “I don’t want to be an only child.”
“Their daughter Evelyn was a shining light and an amazing person. She was loved not only by her family, not just by her church. We’re surrounding them and picking them up — helping them move forward,” added Stauffer.
Dieckhaus and the two other 9-year-old victims were in the school’s chapel prior to the attack, learning about “life in Kenya and what it means to be a missionary.” Missionary Britney Grayson provided this instruction, having been invited to speak at chapel and visit with the students.
Grayson noted on Twitter that the victims had just learned the Swahili word “jambo” (i.e., “hello”) and “all the verses of Amazing Grace to sing for grandparents day next week.”
UPDATE- 3 children are confirmed dead. 3 children who learned the word "Jambo" this morning from us in chapel. 3 children who were learning all the verses of Amazing Grace to sing for grandparents day next week. 3 children who didn't have to die. Lord be with us. Lord, be with us
— Britney Grayson, MD, PhD (@britneygrayson) March 27, 2023
Grayson evidently paid no mind to leftist news-reader David Pakman’s denigration of prayer, imploring everyone to: “Please join me in praying for healing for these children. … Pray for all the little hearts that weren’t physically wounded but who will never be the same. Pray. Pray. PRAY.”
William Kinney and Hallie Scruggs were the two other children who sang “Amazing Grace” with the departed hero before being murdered.
Hallie Scruggs was the daughter of the pastor of Covenant Presbyterian, which shares a location with the school.
Pastor Chad Scruggs told ABC News in a statement, “Through tears we trust that she is in the arms of Jesus, who will raise her to life once again.”
William Kinney was described by a family friend, Rachael Freitas, as an “unfailingly kind” boy with an “unflappable spirit,” reported the Tennessean.
“He loved his sisters, adored his parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles and was always excited to host friends of every age. Sweet Will knew no strangers, and our hearts are broken for his family as they try to find their way forward,” said Freitas.
The transsexual shooter also claimed the lives of Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61.
Parents Mourn Nashville School Shooting Victims youtu.be
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Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
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The spokesperson for Democrat Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs appeared to call for gun violence against “transphobes” in a Twitter post just hours after Monday’s Nashville church school massacre.
Hobbs’ spokesperson Josselyn Berry late Monday posted an image on the social media platform from the 1980 movie “Gloria” depicting a woman holding a gun in each hand and pointing the firearms forward; the caption reads, “Us when we see transphobes,” the Arizona Republic reported.
Berry’s tweets are protected as of Wednesday morning, but screenshots of her tweet in question are circulating:
The Press Secretary for the illegitimate Arizona Governor posted a meme calling for violence against “transphobes”, which is just a blanket term used against conservatives
She tweeted this just a day after a trans terrorist killed Christians in school
The Nashville shooter — who was fatally shot by police — identified as transgender. A theory from the left is that the shooter may have acted out of anger against Christians and conservatives for stances against trans and LBGTQ lifestyles — as well as against recently enacted Tennessee laws banning drag shows outside age-restricted venues and banning puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and gender-related surgeries for children.
Along the same lines, a journalist who has contributed to NBC News as well as the New York Times, Reuters, and the Washington Post appeared to suggest in now-deleted tweet that conservative news outlet the Daily Wire — which is headquartered in Nashville — is to blame for the massacre.
Republicans and noteworthy conservatives have been fuming over Berry’s tweet.
The Arizona Republic said the Arizona Freedom Caucus called for Berry’s dismissal, saying that “calling for violence like this is un-American & never acceptable.”
The leader of the caucus, Republican state Sen. Jake Hoffman, said Berry was “threatening to shoot people Democrats disagree with less than 12 hours after the Nashville shooting,” the paper added.
Other reactions:
“Now surely this wouldn’t be a post from Katie [Hobbs’] press secretary would it?” TheBlaze’s Chad Prather wondered sarcastically. “She better not have a job tomorrow.”
The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway said, “As Twitter bans anyone who does factual reporting about a planned Trans Day of Vengeance this week, note how it allows violent threats from Democrat Governor of Arizona Katie Hobbs’ press secretary against anyone who opposes radical gender ideology.”
Kari Lake, who lost to Hobbs for Arizona governor last fall, wrote that “if a conservative made light of a mass shooting & called for more violence, they’d be personally & professionally destroyed. But a member of Katie Hobbs’ staff did just that & the media is silent. We don’t partake in cancel culture — but the media’s bias has never been clearer.”
Berry did not respond to a phone call or text messages seeking comment Tuesday night from the Arizona Republic. The paper added that it was the same story with Murphy Hebert, Hobbs’ director of communications, and that an email request to the governor’s office elicited no response.
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A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including NewsMax, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Rep. Devin Nunes, Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Chris Salcedo, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and President Donald Trump.
Image source: YouTube video, House Judiciary GOP- Screenshot
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A prominent independent journalist who has worked doggedly to expose government overreach online received an unexpected visit from the Internal Revenue Service earlier this month. The IRS happened to darken Matt Taibbi’s doorstep the same day he testified before Congress about the weaponization of the federal government.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is demanding accountability as it pertains to this apparent statist “attempt to intimidate a witness before Congress.”
On March 9, Taibbi testified before the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. The purpose of the committee, according to its chairman, Rep. Jordan, is to investigate recent violations of Americans’ First Amendment rights by the federal government as well as the Biden administration’s apparent bias against conservatives.
Taibbi told the committee that whereas the “original promise of the internet was that it might democratize the exchange of information globally … what we found is in the [Twitter] files was a sweeping effort to reverse that promise and use machine learning and other tools to turn the internet into an instrument of censorship and social control. Unfortunately, our own government appears to be playing a lead role.”
TheBlaze previously reported that Democrats on the subcommittee were highly adversarial with Taibbi present. In addition to belittling Taibbi and intimating that he was involved in sexcapades with his peers, House Democrats, including Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas), pressured the journalist to reveal his sources.
While Democrats impotently attacked Taibbi during the hearing, other elements of the political establishment reportedly prepared to make their power known. According to Jordan, an IRS agent turned up at Taibbi’s New Jersey home on the day of the hearing, “unannounced and unprompted.” The agent reportedly left a note instructing Taibbi to call the IRS days later. When Taibbi spoke to the agent, he was told “that both his 2018 and 2021 tax returns had been rejected owing to concerns over identity theft.”
Taibbi reportedly provided the committee with evidence that his 2018 return had been electronically accepted and that there had previously been no word of trouble about his tax filings.
“When did the IRS start to dispatch agents for surprise house calls? Typically when the IRS challenges some part of a tax return, it sends a dunning letter. Or it might seek more information from the taxpayer or tax preparer. If the IRS wants to audit a return, it schedules a meeting at the agent’s office. It doesn’t drop by unannounced,” wrote the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board.
“The curious timing of this visit, on the heels of the FTC demand that Twitter turn over names of journalists, raises questions about potential intimidation,” the editorial board added.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk responded, noting, “That’s very odd.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) reckoned it was more than odd, tweeting, “This absolutely stinks to high heaven. The IRS has a troubling history of targeting the political enemies of Democrats. The IRS should NEVER be in the business of harassing the American people.”
Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, responded, “Gangster government.”
Rep. Jim Jordan penned a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel Monday demanding answers about what he indicated “could be interpreted as an attempt to intimidate a witness before Congress.”
Jordan noted that this interpretation may be apt in light of the “IRS’s history as a tool of government abuse” — citing its hounding of conservatives during the Obama administration” — and the “hostile reaction to Mr. Taibbi’s reporting among left-wing activists.”
The subcommittee chairman requested that Yellen and Werfel provide all IRS, Treasury, or executive branch documents and communications pertaining to the IRS’ field visit to Taibbi’s residence as well as to the journalist himself by April 10.
Concerning Jordan’s push for accountability concerning these “incredible” circumstances, the Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote, “Mr. Jordan is right to want to see documents and communications relating to the Taibbi visit. The fear of many Americans is that flush with its new $80 billion in funding from Congress, the IRS will unleash its fearsome power against political opponents. Mr. Taibbi deserves to know why the agency decided to pursue him with a very strange house call.”
Taibbi tweeted on Monday, “For those asking, I don’t want to comment on the IRS issue pending an answer to chairman @Jim_Jordan’s letter. I’m not worried for myself, but I did feel the Committee should be aware of the situation.”
Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government Hearing on the Twitter Files youtu.be
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House Republicans held a hearing on Tuesday, highlighting the failures of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, election officials in managing the locality’s 2022 election.
Republicans on the Committee on House Administration held a hearing Tuesday highlighting the failures by Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, election officials in managing the locality’s 2022 election.
“For years, several of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have claimed that states like Florida and Georgia — that have implemented voter integrity laws — are suppressing voters. … However, they have never produced a single voter who wanted to vote and was unable to,” said Chair and GOP Rep. Bryan Steil. “Contrast that with today, as we hold a hearing with evidence that voters who wanted to legally vote were turned away from the polls.”
On the morning of Election Day, numerous precincts throughout Luzerne County reported ballot paper shortages, leading to long wait lines and voters being turned away by election workers. In response, a local judge issued an order allowing polling places to stay open an additional two hours, or until 10 p.m. While Luzerne’s elections board originally declined to certify the election results (2-2-1), the board ultimately moved forward with certification following legal threats from left-wing law firms. Democrats, who often decry GOP-backed election integrity initiatives such as voter ID as “voter suppression,” have largely remained silent on the disenfranchisement of Luzerne voters.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Jim Bognet, the 2022 Republican candidate for Pennsylvania’s 8th congressional district — of which Luzerne is a part — referred to the Nov. 8 election in Luzerne as a “disaster” and criticized county election officials for their mismanagement of the contest and its aftermath.
“Luzerne County had to walk into court and admit that many polling places were effectively closed and had no paper to record votes on. In Luzerne County, the polls were closed on election day, disenfranchising voters,” Bognet said. “Voters across Luzerne County have called me and expressed their outrage that there has been no accountability or responsibility taken 4.5 months after the election, and officials still will not answer questions.”
Shortly after the election, Luzerne’s board of elections and registration asked the county district attorney to investigate the matter. Three Luzerne election officials declined the House committee’s invitation to testify on Tuesday after the county law office recommended they not attend due to the ongoing investigation.
In his remarks, Bognet accused Luzerne officials of using the investigation as a “shield” to avoid answering questions from constituents.
“My understanding is that the district attorney is doing a criminal investigation. Who knows if criminal activity occurred, he’ll investigate that. But what about gross incompetence? What about forgetting to order ballot paper?” he said.
During his remarks, Luzerne citizen Benjamin Herring echoed similar criticisms of county officials, noting “a complete lack of respect and understanding to what being a public servant is.”
“When does accountability and transparency become more than just a punch line or calculated posturing?” Herring asked. “I hold hope that the Luzerne County District Attorney will get to the bottom of this and present all of what is discovered to the citizens of Luzerne County. Anything less will be shameful, unacceptable, and would require more action on our part to hold the line on accountability.”
Predictably, Democrats on the committee used the hearing to play political games and advance trite talking points. During her allotted time, Alabama Democrat Rep. Terri Sewell argued that the federal government should provide more funding to states for elections. In her comments, she called on her colleagues to “look at the president’s budget,” specifically pointing to $5 billion allocated for the Election Assistance Commission “to provide grants” for state election administration.”
During the 2020 election, left-wing groups like the Center for Tech and Civic Life received hundreds of millions of dollars from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. These “Zuckbucks” were poured into local election offices in battleground states around the country to change how elections were administered, such as by expanding unsecured election protocols like mail-in voting and the use of ballot drop boxes. To make matters worse, the grants were heavily skewed towards Democrat-majority counties, essentially making it a massive Democrat get-out-the-vote operation.
While acknowledging the disaster in Luzerne, ranking member and New York Democrat Rep. Joe Morelle also decided to inject partisan politics into the hearing. After repeatedly questioning the need for the hearing, Morelle attempted to rehash the 2020 election by asking Bognet whether he believes Joe Biden won the contest.
Shawn Fleetwood is a Staff Writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
It’s no secret many on the left love to politicize tragedies, but the reaction from some to Monday’s deadly shooting at a Christian school in Nashville has reached a whole new level of malevolent. Local authorities have identified the shooter as Audrey Hale, a 28-year-old woman who pretended to be male and had reportedly attended the school years prior. After entering the Covenant School shortly after 10 a.m., the shooter killed six people before being gunned down and killed by police. Among the victims are three 9-year-old children and three school staff members.
Nashville Police Chief John Drake characterized the shooting as a “targeted attack” and said authorities discovered “a manifesto” and detailed maps of the school showing points of entry. Drake also confirmed “there is some theory” to the idea that Hale’s transgender identity contributed to her decision to target the school but that authorities are still investigating the motive. Police said Hale was considering “another location” to target, but after “a threat assessment by the suspect [and] too much security, [she] decided not to.”
Immediately following the attack, leftists began using the horrific tragedy as an opportunity to promote their radical agenda and spew insensitive remarks.
Joe Biden
During moments of crisis, Americans should be able to count on their president to put aside politics and bring the country together. But not when that president is Joe Biden. After talking about how much he loves chocolate chip ice cream on Monday, Biden used the Nashville shooting to push for more gun control.
“The shooter … reportedly had two assault weapons and a pistol. … So, I call on Congress again to pass my assault weapons ban,” Biden said.
Biden on Nashville shooting: "It's heartbreaking, a family's worst nightmare…we have to do more to stop gun violence…I call on Congress again to pass my assault weapons ban."pic.twitter.com/10sArjE8mC
During her remarks in Monday’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre not only used the shooting to call for increased gun control, but appeared to blame the tragedy on Republicans.
“How many more children have to be murdered before Republicans in Congress will step up and act to pass the assault-weapons ban?” she asked.
Jean-Pierre weighs in on school shooting in Nashville:
"How many more children have to be murdered before Republicans in Congress will step up and act to pass the assault weapons ban?pic.twitter.com/bQp6S3Q4nu
ABC News Senior National Correspondent Terry Moran wasted no time in seemingly tying the shooting to Tennessee Republicans, who recently passed legislation protecting minors from experimental transgender surgeries, wrong-sex hormones, and drag shows. After providing viewers with details on the shooting, Moran immediately segued into discussing the legislation Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee approved earlier this month.
IT BEGINS: ABC's Terry Moran ties the Nashville school shooting to Tennessee's recently-passed legislation banning the hormonization and mutilation of minors. The shooter was 28. pic.twitter.com/MfKdOpQZIf
Washington Post contributor and former New York Times columnist Mike Wise went out of his way to thank a Twitter user, who referred to Tennessee as “an intolerant state that brainwashes children through religious indoctrination.”
“This is as deep and real as it gets. Thank you,” Wise wrote.
A Washington Post contributor just thanked someone who posted that the Christian school in Nashville that was shot up today was a religious indoctrination center pic.twitter.com/U6hW9AP6C4
The Virginia Democrat blasted Republicans with an unserious and bad-faith attack, saying the GOP thinks drag shows pose a greater physical danger to children than guns do.
Benjamin Ryan
In a now-deleted tweet, independent reporter and NBC News contributor Benjamin Ryan attempted to correlate the shooting with the fact that The Daily Wire, a conservative news outlet, is based in Nashville.
“Nashville is home to the Daily Wire, a hub of anti-trans activity by @MattWalshBlog, @BenShapiro, and @MichaelJKnowles,” Ryan wrote.
Anna Skinner
Newsweek Senior Writer Anna Skinner spent her Monday afternoon writing an article titled, “Tennessee Republicans’ Ban on Drag Shows Mocked After Mass Shooting,” in which she spun the news to be about bashing Tennessee Republicans and lamented that so-called “assault weapons” are still legal in the state.
“Tennessee Republican legislators are getting slammed after at least three children and three adults were killed in a mass shooting at a Nashville private school on Monday,” Skinner wrote. “Twitter users assailed state GOP officials in the wake of the bloodshed.”
Kyle Griffin
MSNBC Executive Producer Kyle Griffin published a tweet evoking similar absurdity.
Hayes Brown
MSNBC Opinion Writer Hayes Brown took a page from Griffin’s playbook and politicize the tragedy. In his column, Hayes bizarrely argued that “much of [America’s] gun policy is presaged on the idea that guns are cool,” and “[t]hat was the unspoken understanding behind the rapid spread of the AR-15.”
Republicans “think that their toys, their totems of masculinity, their props for playing the hero, are more important than the lives lost,” he wrote.
While now titled, “The gap between GOP gun rights fantasy and Nashville’s reality,” the article originally displayed the headline, “6 are dead in Nashville. Let’s revisit how much the Tennessee GOP loves guns.”
— James Lindsay, ultra-low social credit (@ConceptualJames) March 27, 2023
Josephine Harvey
In a so-called “news” article titled, “Gun-Loving GOP Congressman From Nashville Torched For Response To School Shooting,” Huffington Post Senior Reporter Josephine Harvey attempted to create a controversy surrounding GOP Rep. Andy Ogles — who represents the district that includes the Covenant School — by bringing up a 2021 Christmas photo of Ogles’ family holding firearms.
In her article, Harvey claimed the picture is a “gun-glorifying Christmas photo” and went on to cite tweets from leftists attacking Ogles for posting it on Facebook well over a year ago.
Shawn Fleetwood is a Staff Writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
It’s difficult to fathom that several families started their day with one less precious child around the breakfast table this morning. It’s also hard to fathom responding to that reality — caused by a transgender mass shooter who left three 9-year-olds and several adults dead in a “targeted attack” at a Christian elementary school — by confessing you misgendered the murderer and blasting your political opponents over the same tired gun-control talking points.
But behind all the partisan smoke and mirrors of the Nashville story is an unmistakable and unavoidable reality: Our modern mental health crisis is out of control.
You don’t even have to dig into the glaring transgender element of the case to acknowledge this fact. No mentally healthy person blasts their way into a building of defenseless children to murder them in cold blood, much less devises a detailed plan literally mapping out how to make it happen. Transgender perpetrator or not, this sick pattern has repeated itself with unsettling frequency.
And though President Joe Biden, his press secretary, and other politicians disgustingly spun the attack to blame so-called “assault weapons” and imply conservatives are complicit in mass murder, the simple reality is that over the past handful of decades, firearms have changed very little. Meanwhile, mental illness has proliferated and our culture’s conception of it dangerously evolved.
That’s why the transgender identity of the shooter can’t be fully ignored — not for those who truly care to understand the gnarly roots of this violence. Despite the protestations of LGBT apologists, gender dysphoria and trans-related narcissism are inextricable from America’s broader mental health emergency.
A Celebration of Sickness
The psychological pendulum has swung woefully far: Illness that was once stigmatized, often to the unhelpful point of suppressing it instead of encouraging the sufferers to seek help, is now celebrated and socially encouraged. If it isn’t teachers brainwashing impressionable kids with sexual confusion and instructing them to keep it secret from their parents, it’s parents catechizing their own children in fallacies. Spend just a fewminutesonTikTok, and you’ll get a glimpse of the affected masses — self-loathing, split personalities, nonsensical pronouns and sexual identities, desperate androgyny, narcissism, bipolar outbursts, and more.
Examples of encouraged mental illness abound — even medical doctors fuel delusion by pretending sex is “assigned” and asking for patients’ preferred pronouns — but here’s one directly in response to the shooting. A group called the Trans Resistance Network made the shooter out to be a victim, blaming the “avalanche” of legislation seeking to protect minors from chemical and surgical castration and accusing conservatives of “nothing less than the genocidal eradication of trans people from society.” Many trans-identifying people suffer from “anxiety, depression, [and] thoughts of suicide,” the group correctly noted, but then associated these struggles not with broader mental unhealth but with “lack of acceptance” of gender dysphoria from “religious institutions.”
Note the group’s promotion of mental instability:
It is a testament to the inner strength and beauty of transgender people, that despite the … constant anti-trans bigotry and violence, so many of us continue to persevere, survive, and even thrive. We will not be eradicated or erased.
The same can’t be said for the innocent lives that were snuffed out in an instant in the Nashville shooting. Where derangement is considered “inner strength and beauty,” mental sickness thrives, and now children, not angry activists, are the ones who have been erased.
At least in part. There’s more to the story for these Christian families, who can cling to the assurance that for a follower of Jesus to be absent from his body is to be present with the Lord. This violent and sin-marred world is not our home, and it’s the closest to hell Christians will ever get. No religious hatred, mental affliction, or targeted attack can eradicate that sure hope.
A Call to Action
Those truths aren’t just a comfort for the broken-hearted, however. They’re a call to action for redeemed sinners. With a focus on eternity, we’re still sojourners here, surrounded by tormented souls with not only deep spiritual needs but physical and mental ones. And so we must fight.
We must fight against the spiritual forces that discourage us and tempt us to doubt and deny truth, and against agents of the devil who seduce our children with sexual fantasies. We must fight for the beauty and sacredness of human life. For the mental and physical health of those within our care. And for the glorious truth of the gospel and the immutable nature of the sexes that leads to human flourishing.
This fight requires compassion. But it also requires that we don’t forfeit the definition of that word to medical professionals who profit from carving up children, or to Marxist ideologues, or to a bad-faith press. Instead, follow the only perfect example: When Jesus saw the “helpless” crowds, “like sheep without a shepherd,” He was “movedwith compassion” toward them. He engaged. He healed.
May He be the source of our compassion as we engage our modern mental affliction, and may He provide the healing we desperately need.
Kylee Griswold is the editorial director of The Federalist. She previously worked as the copy editor for the Washington Examiner magazine and as an editor and producer at National Geographic. She holds a B.S. in Communication Arts/Speech and an A.S. in Criminal Justice and writes on topics including feminism and gender issues, religion, and the media. Follow her on Twitter @kyleezempel.
After a shooter killed three children and three staff members at a private Christian grade school in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday, some journalists, columnists, entertainers and activists turned their ire onto Christians and conservatives for banning drag shows for kids.
Left-wing sports writer Mike Wise seemed to agree with a tweet that sympathized with the transgender shooter, Audrey Hale, 28, whom police say attended the school as a child, for being a victim of “intolerant … brainwashing” through “religious indoctrination.”
Hale was gunned down by police during the shooting rampage at the Covenant School.
“I don’t condone Audrey Hale’s actions, though I understand their outrage against an intolerant state that brainwashes children through religious indoctrination. The reality is this human still identified as that child attending that school and carried that pain into adulthood,” a Twitter user named Kat Amarco wrote.
“This is as deep and real as it gets. Thank you,” Wise wrote in response.
Sports columnist Mike Wise tweet on Nashville shooting (Twitter / Screenshot)
A police officer walks by an entrance to the Covenant School after a shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday, March 27, 2023. (AP Photo / John Amis)
Others attacked Covenant School and those praying for victims of the tragedy.
Progressive talk show host David Pakman mocked the Christian school for not “praying enough.”
“Very surprising that there would be a mass shooting at a Christian school, given that lack of prayer is often blamed for these horrible events. Is it possible they weren’t praying enough, or correctly, despite being a Christian school?” he asked in a since-deleted tweet.
Progressive talk show host David Pakman tweeted about the Nashville shooting.
Gun control activist Shannon Watts of Moms Demand Action also seemed to blame the victims as well in her tweet.
“If prayers alone worked there wouldn’t have been a mass shooting at a school where they pray. DO YOUR F—ING JOB,” she tweeted.
Television show writer Lee Aronsohn scoffed at prayer while ridiculing the state’s move against drag shows.
“Dead, Maimed Children = Thoughts & Prayers™ Drag Queen Story Hour = Impassioned Condemnation and Priority Legislation The thing is, if we gave an assault rifle to every drag queen the GOP would make Story Hour a national holiday,” he tweeted.
ABC News journalist Terry Moran was accused of blaming Christians and Republicans after he highlighted how Tennessee “banned transgender medical care for minors as well as a law that prohibited adult entertainment including male and female impersonators after a series of drag show controversies in that state” during his report on the school shooting.
With a rhetorical wink and nudge, ABC senior national correspondent Terry Moran blames Tennessee Republicans and Christians for six of their own being murdered today by a transgender former student pic.twitter.com/od1qEP7gAj
Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake identified the two officers who fatally shot Audrey Hale at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023. (Metro Nashville Police Department)
A rifle allegedly used by Nashville school shooter Audrey Hale. (Nashville Police Department)
Civil rights attorney and Harvard law clinical instructor Alejandra Caraballo mocked, “Thank god Tennessee protected the children from the so-called horrors of drag and gender affirming care so they can be shot up at school by an AR-15 instead.”
YouTube talk show host Brian Tyler Cohen agreed, writing, “In light of three children getting killed in a school shooting in Nashville, remember that Tennessee Republicans have squandered their time in office banning drag shows under the pretense of keeping kids safe.”
Thank god Tennessee protected the children from the so-called horrors of drag and gender affirming care so they can be shot up at school by an AR-15 instead. https://t.co/AH0Zh8ghgQ
— Alejandra Caraballo is on Threads/Bluesky (@Esqueer_) March 27, 2023
Kristine Parks is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Read more.
Karine Jean-Pierre calls out “Republicans in Congress” following the deadly mass shooting in Nashville, Tennessee.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., slammed White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre for placing blame on Republican lawmakers for the Covenant School shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday, when a 28-year-old transgender former student allegedly gunned down three 9-year-olds and three adults.
“It doesn’t get much lower than blaming Republicans in Congress for a transgender killer who targeted a Christian school. Shameful,” Cotton wrote Tuesday in response to an appearance by Jean-Pierre on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Jean-Pierre said, “What I will say to Republicans in Congress is: ‘What are you going to say to these parents? What are you going to say to these family members?’ … We cannot sit around to allow this anymore.”
It doesn't get much lower than blaming Republicans in Congress for a transgender killer who targeted a Christian school.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre (Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images | Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
“It’s enough. Enough. Enough,” she said. “This president has taken more executive actions on gun violence safety than any president before him, and he’s done that in two years.”
“But guess what? As we’re seeing, we need to do more,” she continued. “And I’ve heard this theme throughout the show this morning, which is courage. We need Republicans in Congress to show some courage. This is what they owe these parents. This is what they owe these family members who are losing their loved ones. They need to show courage.”
“We need gun safety laws, comprehensive gun safety laws. We need to ban assault rifles. Those weapons of war do not belong in our streets. They do not belong in schools,” she added.
A mourner visits a makeshift memorial Tuesday outside the Covenant School for the six victims who were killed in a mass shooting at the school in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday. (KR / Mega for Fox News Digital)
Bodycam footage shows Nashville Police Department officers responding to the Covenant School in Nashville after 28-year-old Audrey Hale opened fire. (Metropolitan Nashville Police Department)
How about we begin holding schools criminally responsible for NOT securing their schools when they’ve had all the opportunity to use multiple measurers to protect the children.
Nashville school shooter Audrey Hale, a 28-year-old transgender artist and former student, legally purchased the arsenal used in the attack behind the family’s back despite serious emotional issues that required a doctor’s attention, according to authorities.
Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake also told reporters Tuesday that a motive in the attack remains unknown, and that the shooter had targeted the school but not any individual victims specifically.
“We’ve interviewed the parents of Audrey Hale, and we’ve determined that Audrey bought seven firearms from five different local gun stores here legally,” Drake said during a news briefing. “They were legally purchased. Three of those weapons were used yesterday during the horrific tragedy.”
Hale’s parents told police they were only aware of one firearm, which they believed Hale had previously sold, he said.
Audrey Hale was identified by police as the gunman who opened fire at the Covenant School on Monday morning, killing six people. (FOX NEWS)
“They were under the impression that when she sold the weapon, she did not own any more,” he said. “As it turned out she was hiding several weapons inside the house.”
He said the shooter was under a doctor’s care for an unspecified emotional disorder but was previously unknown to law enforcement.
“Her parents felt she should not own weapons,” he said. But Hale secretly had collected an arsenal.
WATCH: Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake’s full news briefing
In addition to the three guns recovered at the scene, police took a sawed-off shotgun and another shotgun from the family home. It was not immediately clear what the remaining two guns were.
nextImage 1 of 3Nashville police recovered two rifles and a handgun at the scene Monday, following a mass shooting at the Covenant School, a Christian elementary school. Suspect Audrey Hale, 28, was killed at the scene. (Nashville Police Department )
Hale killed six people Monday, three 9-year-old students, including the pastor’s daughter, and three adults.
Hale rolled up Monday around 10:15 a.m. in a Honda Fit, where police discovered the manifesto.
Police also recovered diagrams of the school layout, with possible entry points highlighted, as well as drawing depicting Hale in the same outfit worn during the attack, Drake said.
Covenant School shooter Audrey Hale, 28, pictured in a driver’s license photo and on school surveillance video released by Nashville police. Hale killed three 9-year-olds and three adults Monday morning at a private school linked to a church. (Metro Nashville Police Department)
Within 15 minutes, responding officers took down the shooter, who was killed at the scene following an exchange of gunfire.
Police said Hale opened fire on responding officers from a second-story window, before a team inside the building, including Officers Rex Engelbert and Michael Collazo, put an end to the carnage.
The victims were found spread out around the building and were not located in a common area, Drake told reporters.
The first victim, 61-year-old janitor Michael Hill, was found dead near the entrance where Hale shot through a glass door to get inside, he said. According to a GoFundMe for his family, Hill was a father of eight.
Three of the six Covenant School victims. From left: Mike Hill, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Hallie Scruggs, 9, were killed in the Nashville school shooting, Monday, March 27, 2023. (Fox News)
School Head Katherine Koonce, 60, was located in a hallway near the office, he said.
The school is part of the Covenant Presbyterian Church, and victims included the pastor’s daughter, Hallie Scruggs, as well as Evelyn Dieckhaus and William Kinney, all 9. Cynthia Peak, 61, a substitute teacher, was also killed.
Police said Hale had attended the Covenant School at some point in the past. Records show the shooter went on to graduate high school eight years ago and graduated from the Nossi College of Art last year.
Michael Ruiz is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to michael.ruiz@fox.com and on Twitter: @mikerreports
A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including NewsMax, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Rep. Devin Nunes, Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Chris Salcedo, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and President Donald Trump.
If Americans are concerned about our enemies getting bolder in their bid to disrupt the U.S.-led world order, they should thank President Joe Biden. Last week, Chinese dictator Xi Jinping traveled to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. During the meeting, the leaders outlined plans to enhance bilateral ties on issues such as trade, energy, and military cooperation. Xi and Putin furthermore agreed to support one another’s “fundamental interests,” specifically on matters concerning “sovereignty, territorial integrity, security and development.”
Most notable in the joint statement released by Beijing and Moscow, however, is the expressed goal of creating a “multipolar world order.” “The Parties confirm a willingness to … oppose all forms [of] hegemony, unilateralism and power politics, against cold war thinking, bloc confrontation and the creation of narrow formats against certain countries,” a joint statement released after the meeting reads.
The move signifies a stark challenge to the U.S., which, since the end of the Cold War, has been the world’s sole superpower. Under this unipolar system, the U.S. has utilized its economic, military, and cultural power to fashion a global community centered around Western values.
The three-day meeting between Xi and Putin comes amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Last month, Beijing made headlines after calling for a cease-fire between the two nations. As part of its 12-point peace plan, China has called for all parties involved to abandon “the Cold War mentality” and “stopping unilateral sanctions.” As noted by The Wall Street Journal, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials “routinely” use such language “to criticize the U.S. and other Western powers for their response to Russia’s invasion — including the supply of arms to Ukraine and the use of wide-ranging economic tools to pressure Moscow.”
But it’s not just eastern Europe where the Chinese government is looking to play dealmaker. Two weeks ago, Beijing brokered a peace agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, two Middle Eastern nations with a historically antagonistic relationship. According to a separate Journal report, Tehran and Riyadh have agreed to “re-establish diplomatic relations” after seven years of estrangement, which includes commitments to “reopen their embassies and missions on each other’s soil within two months.” The deal comes amid a breakdown in U.S.-Saudi relations — for which Biden bears the blame.
Beijing’s growing global influence is also apparent in Latin America. On Sunday, Honduras — a long-time ally of Taiwan — switched its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing. As a prerequisite for establishing ties with its government, China has mandated nations to sever formal ties with Taiwan. Such a requirement is part of the CCP’s strategy to politically isolate Taiwan on the world stage.
Biden Cripples America
Red China’s bid to establish itself as a global power isn’t surprising. Since Xi’s ascension to party leader in 2012, he has sought to further China’s economic and military prowess as a means of expanding its influence throughout the world.
Biden’s presidency has ushered in an era of American weakness Beijing seeks to exploit. His administration threw the U.S.’ longstanding record as a buffer against the CCP’s global ambitions into the garbage. Rather than pursue policies strengthening America’s economic security and military readiness, Biden and his administration have implemented measures achieving the exact opposite.
On the economic front, Biden’s monetary policy — which includes spending trillions of taxpayer dollars on useless Democrat pet projects — resulted in decades-high inflation, causing everyday Americans to struggle to afford basic necessities such as gas and groceries. Rather than curb federal spending or increase domestic energy production, the Biden administration spends its time championing expensive electric vehicles made with Chinese batteries.
The situation isn’t any better on the national security front, either. Up until January, the administration depleted U.S. military ranks by removing servicemembers who didn’t receive the experimental Covid jab. Despite the shot’s inability to stop viral transmission and its significant risks, the Defense Department denied the vast majority of religious and medical exemptions filed by un-jabbed soldiers. Combined with forcing servicemembers to undergo racist DEI training, it’s no surprise the military is facing major recruiting problems.
Biden’s open border policies are also exacerbating national security concerns at the U.S.-Mexico border, where Border Patrol officials are facing unprecedented levels of illegal immigration. From Jan. 2021 to Oct. 2022, an estimated 5.5 million illegal aliens were apprehended by Customs and Border Protection. These figures don’t even include the millions of “gotaways” who evaded capture.
Don’t worry, though. When it comes to foreign policy, Biden’s team of “experts” surely has “confront the growing threat of the CCP” at the top of their to-do list. Right?
If the U.S. had a mentally-sound president who prioritized the success of his country, it’s not crazy to imagine that the CCP would be more hesitant in pursuing its global ambitions. Under Biden’s empty-suit presidency, however, Xi smells opportunity.
With Biden crippling the U.S.’ economic and military readiness from within, China is able to methodically expand its influence throughout the world nearly unchallenged. Whether it’s securing peace agreements between rivaling powers or fostering ties with strategically important countries, the CCP isn’t slowing down in its aim to usher in a world order devoid of American hegemony.
If Biden and co. had any interest in stymying Red China’s growing influence and maintaining U.S. global dominance, they’d reverse course and implement policies that further American success. Doing so would greatly benefit the American people.
Shawn Fleetwood is a Staff Writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
The culture of free speech that for so long characterized American academia is dead. Increasingly, struggle sessions and violent eruptions are how the nation’s best and brightest choose to handle the ideas, individuals, and situations that make them uncomfortable.
Earlier this month, Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Kyle Duncan was invited by the Stanford Federalist Society to their law school to give a talk titled “Covid, Guns, and Twitter.” What ensued is what has become the norm. A coalition of the dysgenic and well-dressed filled a lecture hall to shout down and demean a federal judge while a school diversity administrator chastised him with prepared remarks.
Disagreement is OK and clearly would have been welcomed by Duncan, but when students feel emboldened to tell a federal judge, “We hope your daughters get raped,” as one individual allegedly did, a course correction is desperately needed.
“This is a talk about another talk,” Duncan quipped to inform those in the audience who were unaware that he would be, in part, discussing the incident at Stanford.
In a general defense of student protests, Duncan stated, “It’s a great country where you can harshly criticize federal judges and nothing bad will happen to you. … The students at Stanford and other elite law schools swim in an ocean of free speech. … Has any group of people ever been so privileged?”
Continuing, the judge referenced a memo published on March 22 by the dean of Stanford Law, Jenny Martinez, in which she condemned the disruptions and “threatening messages directed at members of [the Stanford Law] community” and pledged to adopt stricter policies regarding event disruption.
Martinez’s memo specifically contrasts student protests with malicious disruptions, noting that universities, as institutions, have unique obligations to curtail the latter in the pursuit of academic freedom through the enforcement of conduct codes and administrative policies. And as Duncan noted, a rigid commitment to the cause of academic freedom is absolutely vital to both the preservation of the university system and American society.
The universities that, at one point in time, were renowned for their unyielding commitment to free speech and the relentless pursuit of excellence in all things, to this day — despite the diminishing quality of graduates — still churn out leaders in every single sector.
Noting the undeniable trend of woke radicalization among young people in elite universities and the threat it poses to the maintenance of civil order and liberal democracy, Duncan asked, “What would happen if the cast of mind in that Stanford classroom becomes the norm in legislatures, in courts, in universities, in boardrooms, in business, in churches?”
“We must resist this at all costs,” Duncan continued. “Otherwise, we will cease to have [the] rule of law.”
Toward the end of her memo, Martinez also ruled out disciplining the individuals who disrupted Duncan’s lecture at Stanford Law, as it would be onerous to discern which students “crossed the line into disruptive heckling while others engaged in constitutionally protected non-disruptive protest” and that university administrators sent “conflicting signals about whether what was happening was acceptable or not.”
Instead, the offending students — along with the rest of the law school’s student body — will be required to attend a “mandatory half-day session in spring quarter for all students on the topic of freedom of speech and the norms of the legal profession.”
In the final moments of his speech at Notre Dame, Duncan mentioned he was “cautiously encouraged” by this measure as it indicated Stanford Law’s leadership was in some form committed to fighting for the foundational principles of American academia. He also noted that the point of the struggle session wasn’t purely to intimidate or dissuade him. After all, he’s a federal judge — he has life tenure; his future is secure.
The point of heckling Duncan, denying him a chance to make his case, and even wishing rape upon his children was to make an example out of him and to intimidate the students who invited him to speak. The disruptors want to destroy what is left of American civil society and replace it with an even more omnipresent woke authoritarianism, further preventing the dissemination of dissent. In order to accomplish this, they need future generations of leaders — their classmates — to be afraid, so they jeer and they threaten.
This ethos, one that is undeniably a well-established, if not the dominant, worldview on American campuses, cannot be remedied through scolding. Half-day sessions “on the topic of freedom of speech and the norms of the legal profession” might knock some sense into a couple of dozen Stanford Law students, but what about every other campus in the U.S.?
Days after the incident at Stanford Law, militant Antifa groups descended upon the University of California, Davis, in an attempt to prevent Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative student organization Turning Point USA, from speaking on campus. Prior to the event, Gary May, the chancellor of UC Davis, circulated a video claiming Kirk “advocated for violence against transgender individuals.” Ultimately, the militants were unsuccessful in their attempts, but unlike at Stanford, the disruptors attempted violence and destroyed public property in the pursuit of denying an individual’s right to free speech.
NEW VIDEO: Violent leftwing agitators just smashed through windows outside of the event venue here at UC Davis. Reports are that some of this group made their way into the building before police successfully removed them. Pray for peace and safety for all involved. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/IbZd2v9pRn
How much longer can we continue to delude ourselves about free speech? There are, to be sure, legal protections for speech, but the leftists who control the institutions where these protections are most needed (academia, Big Tech, et al.) actively eschew and chip away at them in collaboration with the federal government.
A more muscular approach to protect the speech of Americans is needed.
In 2019, President Donald Trump issued an executive order requiring American universities “to foster environments that promote open, intellectually engaging, and diverse debate [ ] through compliance with the First Amendment” in order to access specific federal funds.
But even this, as we can see, didn’t — rather, it couldn’t — address the underlying ideological issues at play.
Sure, threatening to cut off federal grants might encourage university administrators to be more vigilant in their defense of (or less hostile in their attacks on) free speech. But, at the end of the day, the left controls these institutions and interprets “free speech” in a way that is fundamentally at odds with the American founding and the First Amendment; speech must be contained within their preferred paradigm, or else it and anything descending from it is an affront to their very existence and must be eradicated.
Back at Stanford Law, Tirien Steinbach, the diversity administrator who chastised Duncan, has been put on leave, and per Martinez’s memo, an explicit role of other Stanford Law administrators moving forward “will be to ensure that university rules on disruption of events will be followed, and all staff will receive additional training in that regard.”
So perhaps Duncan is right to be somewhat optimistic.
Samuel Mangold-Lenett is a staff editor at The Federalist. His writing has been featured in the Daily Wire, Townhall, The American Spectator, and other outlets. He is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. Follow him on Twitter @Mangold_Lenett.
A “Mornings with Maria” panel says the American public should be “rightly concerned” with the Biden family’s financial relations with China. As more confirmations come forth regarding the Biden family’s business dealings in China, Americans are calling on President Joe Biden to address the “significant and important” financial connection.
“When you see this kind of a connection between a sitting president, his son and the Chinese government, when people just don’t trust this and know that it’s one of the biggest threats facing us right now, that’s a really big issue that needs to be addressed,” Maslansky + Partners President Lee Carter said on “Mornings with Maria” on Monday.
Her comments come on the heels of Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., revealing Sunday to host Maria Bartiromo that Chinese-American-owned Cathay Bank disclosed Biden family bank records that match U.S. regulator records.
“A bank from China, let’s face it, the Communist Party controls those types of institutions; they willingly gave us the documents that backed up the Treasury records,” Johnson said on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Sen.-elect Joe Biden and wife Neilia cut his 30th birthday cake at a party in Wilmington, Delaware, on Nov. 20, 1972. His son, Hunter, waits for the first piece. | Getty Images
While Cathay Bank was founded in the U.S. in 1962 and is currently headquartered in Chinatown, Los Angeles, they also house representative offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Taipei, according to its website. It also claims to be America’s oldest operating bank founded by Chinese Americans.
Despite Biden denying in recent weeks that his son, Hunter Biden, brother Jim, and Hallie Biden, the widow of his son, Beau, received split payments of $1 million from Hunter’s business associate, Rob Walker, Johnson claimed the new Cathay Bank records solidify the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into the family’s international business ventures.
“Is that the Chinese Communist Party, is that a shot across President Biden’s bow, saying, ‘Listen, this is some of the information we have. If you don’t toe the line, if you don’t do things that displease us, we’re going to even provide … more information,'” Johnson said. “So, we obviously have a multiple-tier system of justice.”
“This isn’t just a Chinese bank, this is an American bank that was founded by Chinese Americans,” Carter said. “After everything that we’ve been through with China, at this moment, only 15% of Americans trust China … the American people are rightly concerned. They deserve to have answers. And I think at a minimum, the president needs to make a statement and address people’s concerns because they’re valid.”
Financial services industry veteran Michael Lee also joined the conversation Monday, pointing out the coincidence of U.S. banks’ reluctance to provide Congress with information now that a Democrat holds office.
After further confirmation of the Biden family’s business dealings in China, Maslansky + Partners President Lee Carter called on President Biden to address possible collusion with “one of the biggest threats facing” America on “Mornings with Maria.” (FOX Business / Photo illustration / Fox News)
“Let’s just go back in time and remind everyone: Nobody gets [$1 million] sole mandate from the Chinese government to start a private equity firm, especially one that doesn’t have any private equity experience, especially someone that doesn’t have any private equity experience and has a debilitating crack habit,” Lee said.
“So, what type of influence did they buy as the Chinese Communist Party is running around with Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, setting up a new reserve currency to take out the United States of America?” he continued. “What did the Bidens give up and what is it doing to our national security?”
Three students and three adults were killed in the attack, according to Vanderbilt Medical Center. Police say officers engaged with and killed the shooter, identified as a 28-year-old female carrying two “assault-type rifles” and a handgun. The female, who has yet to be identified, killed three students and three adults before being killed by police just before 10:30 a.m. local time.
Police say the shooter entered the building through a side door before climbing stairs to the second floor, where she then opened fire.
Officials at the medical center say three young students were transported to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt with gunshot wounds. All three were pronounced dead after arrival. Three more adults were also pronounced dead following the attack. All three were staff at the school.
Law enforcement is working to contact the families of victims, none of whom have been publicly identified. Police have yet to establish any connection the shooter may have had with the school.
We are responding to an active aggressor at 33 Burton Hills Blvd Covenant School. We can confirm we have multiple patients. Parents coming to the school should go to 20 Burton Hills at this time. this is an active scene.
Nashville police respond to a shooting at Covenant School in Tennessee. (Metro Nashville Police Department)
Law enforcement officers lead children away from the scene of a shooting at The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville, Tenn., on Monday March 27, 2023. (Jozen Reodica via AP)
Police cordon off an area after reports of a shooting at The Covenant School, Nashville, Tennessee on Monday, March 27, 2023. (Emily Zanotti/Fox News Digital)
Covenant School is a private Christian institution for students up to 6th grade, according to its website.
“We are responding to an active aggressor at 33 Burton Hills Blvd Covenant School. We can confirm we have multiple patients,” the Nashville Fire Department said Monday. “Parents coming to the school should go to 20 Burton Hills at this time, this is an active scene,” the statement continued.
The Metro Nashville PD confirmed the shooter’s death in a statement, adding that the school was already working on reunifying parents and children a safe distance away from the Burton Hills Blvd the school is on.
“An active shooter event has taken place at Covenant School, Covenant Presbyterian Church, on Burton Hills Dr. The shooter was engaged by MNPD and is dead. Student reunification with parents is at Woodmont Baptist Church, 2100 Woodmont Blvd.,” the department wrote in a statement.
The only reported injury following the attack was an officer who suffered a glass wound to his hand.
The entrance to Covenant Presbyterian Church, which hosts the Covenant School, where police responded to a mass shooting. (Emily Zanotti/Fox News Digital)
Police cordon off an area after reports of a shooting at The Covenant School, Nashville, Tennessee on Monday, March 27, 2023. (Emily Zanotti/Fox News Digital)
An active shooter event has taken place at Covenant School, Covenant Presbyterian Church, on Burton Hills Dr. The shooter was engaged by MNPD and is dead. Student reunification with parents is at Woodmont Baptist Church, 2100 Woodmont Blvd. pic.twitter.com/vO8p9cj3vx
Police cordon off an area after reports of a shooting at The Covenant School, Nashville, Tennessee on Monday, March 27, 2023. (Emily Zanotti/Fox News Digital )
The Nashville branch of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) has also deployed agents to assist the MNPD in responding to the attack.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper released a statement regarding the attack on Monday.
“In a tragic morning, Nashville joined the dreaded, long list of communities to experience a school shooting,” he wrote. “My heart goes out to the families of the victims. Our entire city stands with you. As facts continue to emerge, I thank our first responders and medical professionals.”
Other Tennessee lawmakers were quick to offer their condolences and support following Monday’s attack. The state’s senators, Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, both released statements mourning the tragedy and praising law enforcement.
“Devastated and heartbroken about the tragic news at Covenant School,” Hagerty tweeted Monday. “I’m grateful to law enforcement and first responders for their heroic actions. I am monitoring the situation closely, and my office is in contact with local officials & available to anyone needing assistance.”
Police cordoned off the entrance to Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee on Monday following a mass shooting. (Emily Zanotti/Fox News Digital)
I am closely monitoring the tragic situation at Covenant, & the @TNDeptofSafety & @TNHighwayPatrol are assisting local law enforcement & first responders at the scene.
As we continue to respond, please join us in praying for the school, congregation & Nashville community.
“Chuck & I are heartbroken to hear about the shooting at Covenant School in Nashville. My office is in contact with federal, state, & local officials, & we stand ready to assist,” Blackburn wrote in a statement. “Thank you to the first responders working on site. Please join us in prayer for those affected.”
First Lady Jill Biden also responded to the attack later Monday, saying we “stand with Nashville in prayer.”
“I am truly without words and our children deserve better,” she added.
This is a developing story. Check back soon for updates.
Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to Anders.Hagstrom@Fox.com, or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.
A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including NewsMax, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Rep. Devin Nunes, Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Chris Salcedo, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and President Donald Trump.
Back in July 2022, Oath Keepers member Michael Greene was charged with four felonies and one misdemeanor despite the fact that he never entered the capitol. He was convicted on a misdemeanor charge. He was found innocent on three of the felonies, with a hung jury on the fourth felony.
Michael Greene was working security for the different Trump events on January 6th. Greene never went inside the Capitol and never engaged in ANY violence.
Stewart Rhodes claims the DOJ has indicted Greene because he is a witness for several Oath Keepers. So now the regime is going to intimidate and threaten Michael Greene hoping that he changes his testimony.
And the DOJ is lying about Greene’s case. Greene never ordered any Oath Keepers into the US Capitol on January 6th. There is no truth to that claim at all.
The Biden DOJ indicted Michael Greene a year-and-a-half after the protests for standing outside the US Capitol.
Greene was convicted of standing in the wrong place outside the Capitol, a misdemeanor, but found innocent on three other charges, One other felony he was charged with ended in a hung jury. It is the first time prosecutors were unable to get a conviction on a felony count even with an extremely biased jury pool.
He was represented by Britt Redden and William Shipley.
Shipley said in a statement:
“We’ve always believed Michael Greene was indicted in order to keep him from testifying on behalf of the Oath Keepers who were targeted by the government.”
Shipley also spoke out on Twitter.
The last count against Michael Greene — obstructing Congress — ended in a hung jury this afternoon. Convicted on one misdemeanor. Acquitted on 3 felonies. Hung jury on 1 felony. pic.twitter.com/4aN6QnyZTl
A federal judge declared a mistrial Tuesday after a jury deadlocked on the question of whether a U.S. Army veteran who served as the Oath Keepers’ operations leader on Jan. 6 obstructed the joint session of Congress.
Jurors deliberated for a week before returning guilty verdicts Monday on all counts against four Oath Keepers affiliates who entered the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6. The jury returned a mixed verdict, however, on two remaining defendants who did not: Bennie Parker, of Ohio, and Michael “Whip” Greene, of Indiana. The jury returned Tuesday and convicted Parker on the remaining count of obstruction.
Greene, a U.S. Army veteran who served as the Oath Keepers’ operations leader on Jan. 6, was acquitted of two counts of conspiracy and one count of tampering with evidence. Jurors found him guilty on a misdemeanor count of entering and remaining in a restricted grounds – but remained deadlocked Tuesday on a fifth count of obstruction of an official proceeding. After hearing about the impasse, U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta declared a mistrial on the remaining count against Greene.
Although other Jan. 6 defendants have been acquitted of charges – including one, Matthew Martin, who was acquitted outright by a judge last year – Tuesday was the first time the Justice Department has failed to secure a single felony conviction in one of its marquee conspiracy cases. Greene was not charged with the seditious conspiracy count that Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and another defendant were convicted of in November, but had been portrayed by prosecutors as a key element of the Oath Keepers’ plan on Jan. 6. In particular, prosecutors highlighted a three-way call between him, Rhodes and Kelly Meggs, a Florida Oath Keeper who was also convicted of seditious conspiracy, as precipitating the militia’s movement on the Capitol.
Author
Steven Ahle My investigation into a DHS program that instructed law enforcement to treat Christians as terrorists won me the 2014 CJN Journalist of the Year award. Here is a video of Glenn Beck reading my article on his program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y6asmOkdNE&t=282s I am a troll bridge. You can cross me, but you will pay a price. View all posts
After naming Richard/Rachel Levine, a man who parades around in ladyface, as one of its 2022 “Women of the Year,” USA Today is back to remind us that it doesn’t know — or doesn’t care — what a woman is.
Earlier this week, the outlet released its list of 2023 honorees, and the name getting the most attention is that of Minnesota state Rep. Leigh Finke, a pink-haired man who dresses like a woman and has been in office for less than 12 weeks.
Nothing says “we respect women” like elbowing them out of their own awards to laud a man who makes a mockery of womanhood. Finke isn’t the only man coopting the “woman of the year” pedestal. Here are eight other men who have displaced women at their own game.
Rachel Levine
Finke’s predecessor as USA Today’s token male Woman of the Year, Rachel (formerly known as Richard) Levine, failed upward into a cushy Biden administration gig after condemning thousands of nursing home residents to die of Covid in Pennsylvania.
The Federalist Senior Editor John Daniel Davidson is still locked out of Twitter for clearly acknowledging that Levine is a man.
Caitlyn Jenner
Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce, was a recipient of one of Glamour Magazine’s Women of the Year awards in 2015. Jenner, a 6’2” former Olympian who began going by “Caitlyn” in 2015, came away with the title of the magazine’s “Transgender Champion.” (One of Jenner’s co-recipients that year was the now-disgraced girlboss fraudster Elizabeth Holmes, whatever that says about the awards committee’s wisdom.)
After Glamour’s decision to name Jenner, a man, among its “women of the year,” James Smith, whose police officer wife was posthumously recognized by the magazine after she died rescuing people from the World Trade Center on 9/11, returned his wife’s award, calling Jenner’s recognition an “insult.”
“Was there no woman in America, or the rest of the world, more deserving than this man?” he asked in an open letter to the magazine.
Laverne Cox
The year before Jenner scored Glamour’s “Woman of the Year” title, the magazine handed it to another man: Roderick Laverne Cox, who now goes by “Laverne.”
Cox’s award from Glamour followed his June 2014 Time Magazine cover, a glowing profile that openly discussed the trans lobby’s attempt to coopt the gay rights movement and boasted about “Fixing Nature’s Mistake.”
MJ Rodriguez
Among Time Magazine’s “Women of the Year” in 2022 was MJ Rodriguez (born Michael Anthony Rodriguez Jr.), a male stage performer who “identifies as an AfroLatina trans woman,” according to Time.
Over the course of the same year, Rodriguez was lauded as the first transgender entertainer to receive a Golden Globe and an Emmy nomination for lead acting.
Laurel Hubbard
Before he began taking experimental hormones, Hubbard competed in men’s weightlifting. After he competed against women at the 2020 Olympics as part of New Zealand’s team, finishing dead last in the super-heavyweight category, Hubbard was nonetheless named “sportswoman of the year” by New Zealand’s University of Otago. The accolade has been around since 1908.
Ebony Harper
California’s Assembly District 7 named Ebony Harper, a man, as its 2021 Woman of the Year. This year, Harper also received a “California Woman Making History” recognition from Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis. He’s the executive director of a group called “California TRANScends.”
Cecilia Chung
Several years earlier, in 2014, another California district honored a man who goes by the name Cecilia Chung as its “Woman of the Year.” Phil Ting, San Francisco’s assemblyman, bestowed the award on him a year after Chung successfully pressured San Francisco officials to make their city the first in the country to pay for uninsured residents’ mutilative sex surgeries.
Bonus: Lia Thomas
Lia Thomas, a man who competed under his given name, William, through his sophomore year of college, was nominated by the University of Pennsylvania for the NCAA’s 2022 Woman of the Year award. While Thomas wasn’t ultimately selected for the national recognition, his nomination kept female Penn students from being tapped — just like his national championship in the women’s 500-yard freestyle a few months earlier displaced his female competitors from the top of the winners’ podium.
After the controversial championship, NBC News was caught doctoring Thomas’s face to look less masculine.
Elle Purnell is an assistant editor at The Federalist, and received her B.A. in government from Patrick Henry College with a minor in journalism. Follow her work on Twitter @_etreynolds.
The Black Lives Matter (BLM) riots of 2020 were the largest and most successful shakedown in American history. These “mostly peaceful protests” — which burned more than 200 American cities and wreaked more than $2 billion in damages — achieved more than anyone could have predicted: changes in laws, private sector policies, and perhaps most importantly, a historic transfer of wealth to racial and leftwing causes. As a result, American corporations gave or pledged more than $83 billion to either BLM or BLM-related causes.
We created a database tracking contributions and pledges made to the BLM movement and related causes, which we define as organizations and initiatives that advance one or more aspects of BLM’s agenda, and which were made in the wake of the BLM riots of 2020. To date, our data spans more than 400 companies and $83 billion in pledges and contributions.
The famed consulting firm McKinsey and Company thinks the number is far larger. They calculated that from May 2020 to October 2022 companies pledged about $340 billion “to racial equity, specifically for Black Americans after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020.” Our number is conservative by comparison. But unlike McKinsey, we provide details about the pledges and contributions of specific companies.
We are surprised at some of the incredulity in our calculations. So too is BLM, which suggests that objections to wealth transfers of this scale are rooted in “white supremacy,” and “a pathology that Black organizations don’t deserve to be funded.”
BLM called for reparations. In a sense, they succeeded, as these reparations were paid out to BLM itself (approximately $122 million) and to its vast NGO archipelago and other racialized causes and schemes under various names.
While the money was given or pledged in different ways, it was unmistakable for so-called “racial justice.” Sometimes this meant cash transfers to partners of BLM, like the Color of Change, the NAACP, the Equal Justice Initiative, and the ACLU.
Sometimes it meant cash or pledges to other “reparative” initiatives including race-based, discriminatory hiring programs; race-based, sub-prime lending; race-based scholarships; and partisan voter initiatives. Sometimes it meant Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, which are the polite versions of BLM calibrated to middle-class, middle-management tastes. The DEI ideology disagrees with BLM in few ways, if any.
DEI and BLM share one mission: to punish white America, through different means. The latter through riots and pressure campaigns, the former through preferential hiring and promotion of members of protected groups. Both aim to redistribute honor, privileges, and money to black Americans. Both are extorting special privileges and money by using white guilt.
Moreover, both are attempting to do so by cultural revolution, and both stand openly against meritocracy, the rule of law, freedom of speech, and individual rights. Correctly understood, DEI is an expression of BLM’s broader agenda.
We already know the exorbitant amount of money given or pledged by large banks like JPMorgan ($30 billion), Bank of America ($18 billion), and Silicon Valley Bank ($70 million) in the wake of the 2020 BLM riots to subsidized and sub-prime race-based lending, race-based investment targeting, supply chain diversity initiatives, and nonprofits advancing racial justice.
But BLM was so effective that even seemingly middle-America companies shelled out big. For example, Cargill, the Minnesota-based food producer, launched its “Black Farmer Equity Initiative,” a redistributive program that attributes declining numbers of black farmers to “the legacy of systemic racism” and seeks to “dismantle Anti-Black racism” and “operationalize equity across the food and agriculture system.” Cargill pledged $11 billion to the initiative through 2030.
Kroger, a ubiquitous neighborhood grocery chain, spent at least $13 million to advance racial division, including $5 million toward its “Framework for Action: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” initiative and a $500,000 contribution to LISC’s Black Economic Development Fund, a discriminatory investment fund that promotes BLM. Kroger also partnered with the discriminatory, race-based hiring platform OneTen, which aims to “hire, promote, and advance one million Black individuals who do not have a four-year degree into family-sustaining careers over the next ten years.”
Caterpillar, the producer of heavy equipment, donated $500,000 each to the NAACP and the Equal Justice Initiative. It too partnered with OneTen. John Deere donated $1 million to the NAACP, again, an official partner of BLM.
Defense contractors, traditionally neutral and dedicated to keeping America safe, also submitted to BLM’s demands. Northrop Grumman donated $1 million to the NAACP and an additional $1 million to organizations promoting social justice as part of an employee charitable gift matching program. It also partnered with OneTen.
Raytheon pledged $25 million over five years to “advance racial justice, empowerment, and career readiness in underserved communities.” The commitment includes donations to the NAACP, Equal Justice Initiative, and National Urban League; community outreach; public policy lobbying; and a supplier diversity initiative.
Boeing pledged a minimum of $25 million by 2023 toward racial “equity” and “social justice.” In 2020, it contributed $15.6 million to organizations addressing “racial inequity,” including $1 million to the Equal Justice Initiative.
The list goes on, and should be further explored by journalists in order to understand the full extent of the shakedown. By caving to BLM, American companies not only became the tools of radicals but also laid the groundwork for future violence and extortion.
The Center for the American Way of Life is a branch of The Claremont Institute. The mission of The Claremont Institute is to restore the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life.
The facts of life haven’t changed, but sex education is entirely different now from what you likely learned in school. Sex ed in middle school now includes graphic lessons on anal sex, oral sex, and masturbation, with stick figures to illustrate body positions. Supplemental reading in middle school libraries includes “Sex, Puberty, and All That Stuff,” a book explaining foreplay and how to rub the clitoris to produce pleasure. Massachusetts’ curriculum tells seventh graders how to use cling wrap as a dental dam around their teeth for safe oral sex.
A majority of states now require sex education be labeled as “comprehensive,” thanks to aggressive lobbying by activists. Planned Parenthood, the largest producer of sex ed curriculum for public schools, argues that children are entitled to know how to “experience different forms of sexual pleasure.”
Does it bother anyone else the Planned Parenthood is so wrapped up in sex ed, and transgenderism? Remember, they are the disciples of Margaret Sanger, who was the leader of the sect that warned about “world overpopulation”. She was the mother (founder) of Planned Parenthood with the determination to wipe out societies’ “undesirables”. That could be a reason they are behind transgenderism and the destruction of children’s bodies, neutering them.
Eugene, Oregon, high schoolers were recently assigned to write a sexual fantasy featuring massage oil, flavored syrup, a candle, music, feathers or a boa. How about teaching them math and English instead?
Nationwide, these racy lessons are outraging parents. Last week, protests forced the Gwinnett County, Georgia, school board to shelve voting on a proposed sex ed curriculum. Holly Terei, a parent, explained that it’s one thing to monitor social media and the movies kids watch, and it’s another to have to worry about “our children being exposed to curriculum that teaches them how to perform sexual acts.”
Sex ed is the most controversial issue in many school board elections. Contests are nominally nonpartisan, but generally, Republicans are demanding parental controls. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party is becoming the poster child for adolescent promiscuity.
Expect this to be a defining issue in next year’s national elections. In Iowa last week, former President Donald Trump warned the crowd that schools “are focused on sexualizing our children.”
Most sex ed lessons are not published by textbook companies. Instead, sex ed has been hijacked by left-wing, well-funded groups with their own agendas. These include Sex Ed for Social Change, Advocates for Youth (an LGBTQ group) and the American Civil Liberties Union, which argues that children have sexual rights. They all press for Comprehensive Sexuality Education. The word “comprehensive” is misleading. What the curriculum stresses is pleasure.
Many Massachusetts districts use Planned Parenthood’s “Get Real” curriculum. The eighth grade teacher’s manual suggests discussing a hypothetical scenario about two middle school boys who “enjoy the sexual part of their relationship.”
In Florida, the Leon County School Board tabled voting on a sex ed curriculum early this month when parents like Brandi Andrews objected. She says a cartoon video of a laughing clitoris, part of the curriculum, would encourage young girls to be promiscuous.
Michigan parents protest school board over explicit books in school library. (Fox News)
Michigan parents protest school board over explicit books in school library. (Fox News)
Advocates for CSE argue that “how-to” information about sex keeps children safer. Don’t believe it. A review of 60 studies of sex education in U.S. schools, published in the scholarly journal Issues in Law and Medicine, found that comprehensive sex education more often resulted in more harm, including more unplanned pregnancies and STDs.
Those are physical harms. Kids can also suffer emotional and spiritual harm. Educators in Fairfax County, Virginia, want to teach middle school sex ed in coed classes. Parents know better — a staggering 84 percent oppose this. What about modesty? What about embarrassment for the kids who are developing the fastest?
The backlash against extreme sex ed is exploding. Proponents insist they just want to provide information. Nonsense. When lessons include more than biology, someone’s values are being imposed.
Comprehensive sex education is an ideology or religion, stressing gender fluidity, sexual experimentation and pleasure seeking, while repudiating parents’ roles and traditional values. Some families share those views, and many don’t.
Recently, hundreds of Muslim Americans protested a Dearborn, Michigan, school board meeting, holding signs with messages such as “Keep your porno to yourself.” Christians, Jews and Muslims have all been told they must keep their religious teachings out of public schools.
Allowing CSE in school is no different from entrusting sex education to a priest or a rabbi, to the exclusion of all other views.
Parents, it’s time to take control of what our kids are being taught.
Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths. Follow her on Twitter @Betsy_McCaughey.
The House voted to pass the Parents Bill of Rights Act on Friday over objections from Democrats who argued the bill is aimed at promoting “fascism” and “extreme” views of Republicans by making it easier for parents to ban books and out LBGTQ+ students.
The GOP bill is a response to growing anger across the country about access to information on everything from school curricula to safety and mask policies to the prevalence of gender ideology and critical race theory in the classroom. Parents’ anger over these issues at school board meetings led to an effort by the Biden administration’s Justice Department to examine the “disturbing trend” of violent threats against school officials.
House Republicans reacted by approving the Parents Bill of Rights Act, which would require school districts to give parents access to curriculum and reading lists and would require schools to inform parents if school staff begin encouraging or promoting their child’s gender transition.
The bill passed narrowly in a 213-208 vote that saw just a handful of Republicans vote against it, along with every Democrat.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., talk on the floor after Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., earlier this year. Democrats unanimously voted against a GOP bill aimed at giving parents access to information about their children’s schools. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Democrats blasted the bill during debate this week by accusing Republicans of attacking LGBTQ+ students.
“This Republican bill is asking the government to force the outing of LGBT people before they are ready,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., argued on the House floor. “When we talk about progressive values, I can say what my progressive value is, and that is freedom over fascism.”
Republicans rejected this argument by saying parents have a right to know what is happening to their children in school, especially if schools are promoting gender transition without their knowledge.
“The bill does not address a student’s identity or statements, but is solely focused on notifying parents about actions taken by school personnel to act on a gender transition, such as changing pronouns or switching locker rooms,” said Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., who chairs the Committee on Education & the Workforce.
The bill says parents have “the right to know if a school employee or contractor acts to… change a minor child’s gender markers, pronouns, or preferred name; or… allow a child to change the child’s sex-based accommodations, including locker rooms or bathrooms.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., called the GOP bill “fascism” during a House floor debate. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Democrats also accused Republicans of trying to make it easier to ban books at school, and several Democrats said Republicans are looking to ban books across the country on a range of topics.
“Extreme MAGA Republicans don’t want the children of America to learn about the Holocaust,” accused House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. “They want to ban a book called ‘Melissa,’ a book describing, in very personal terms, the experience of a trans girl beginning to understand her identity.”
“They want to ban books, they want to bully the LGBTQ+ community, they want to bring guns into classrooms, kindergarten and above. That’s their educational agenda,” he added.
Republicans dismissed those arguments by saying the bill does nothing to ban books but does give parents the right to see a list of books in school libraries and access to those books.
“Nowhere in this bill is it banning any books,” asserted Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who said the goal of the language is to make sure parents are aware of sexually explicit books in school libraries.
House Education Committee Chair Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., rejected Democrat arguments that the bill requires schools to out LGBTQ+ students, and others dismissed the idea that it bans books. (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Norman and others also argued that the books under attack in some states and communities are those that include explicit sexual content that they say is not appropriate for certain ages and is not a core educational requirement. Norman cited books that talk about kids who are “sexually active from the time I was 6,” or that include “explicit images of oral sex.”
“Parents, is this something you want your children to read?” Norman asked. “Parents, is this something that encourages academics and allows that child to compete in the 21st century?”
The bill passed by the House on Friday would also give parents notice if there are plans to eliminate gifted-and-talented programs for kids, alert them to any violent activity taking place at school and give them the right to speak at school board meetings.
It also provides that school districts “should welcome and encourage that engagement and consider that feedback when making decisions.”
Pete Kasperowicz is a politics editor at Fox News Digital.
The Biden administration announced its latest home appliance regulations this week, targeting air conditioners in an action it said would reduce the nation’s carbon emissions.
The regulations, unveiled Thursday by the Department of Energy (DOE), finalize energy efficiency standards for home air conditioning units, or window air conditioners, and portable air cleaners. The DOE said the move would cut air pollution and push consumer costs down by billions of dollars via energy savings.
“Today’s announcement builds on the historic actions President Biden took last year to strengthen outdated energy efficiency standards, which will help save on people’s energy bills and reduce our nation’s carbon footprint,”Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.
“DOE will continue to engage with our public and private sector partners to finalize additional proposals like today’s that lower household energy costs and deliver the safer, healthier communities that every American deserves,” she continued.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm speaks during a press briefing in May 2021. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
According to the DOE, the new energy efficiency standards will save Americans about $1.5 billion annually and curb carbon dioxide emissions by 106 million metric tons over three decades. The agency added that the regulations were part of President Biden’s efforts to promote innovation and lower costs for families “while tackling the climate crisis.”
The rules for air cleaners are scheduled to be implemented in 2024 and the rules for room air conditioners are slated for 2026.
Over the last several months, meanwhile, the DOE has introduced a series of energy efficiency regulations impacting various home appliances including gas stoves, ovens, clothes washers and refrigerators. Critics have blasted the rules as federal overreach and unnecessary given that the industry has improved technology without government intervention.
“What these mandates, what these standards, do is enforce a level of efficiency that doesn’t make sense,” Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told Fox News Digital in an interview last week. “And they compromise product quality. We’ve already seen this to an extent with cost of clothes washer standards.”
“That’s another problem — this is a regulatory program that’s very long in the tooth and you’re getting to the point where clothes washers — this might be the fifth time they’ve been regulated,” he continued. “So we’re really chasing after diminishing or nonexistent marginal returns.”
A former senior DOE official previously told Fox News Digital that the Biden administration’s actions would inevitably result in higher costs for consumers.
“Their philosophy is energy efficiency at all costs or energy efficiency no matter the cost,” the official said. “That means we are going to see, as a result of their efficiency standards, higher-priced appliances. It’s that simple.”
“The reality is that we are not talking about saving huge amounts of energy from these new regulations.”
And the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM), the leading U.S. trade group representing appliance makers and suppliers, has warned that the actions would particularly harm low-income households and decrease overall product quality.
Jill Notini, a spokesperson for AHAM, recently told Fox News Digital that, taking into account the higher costs of appliances, the estimated savings from the energy efficiency rules “don’t add up right now during this time of high inflation.” However, she said Friday that the group supports the air cleaner rule announced this week, but remained concerned about other actions.
“Our industry puts innovative and energy efficient appliances into every home,” Notini told Fox News Digital. “We worked to advance the air cleaner rule within DOE, but we remain concerned that DOE is going too far on other products without any real savings to consumers, at a time when people are looking for relief.”
On his first day in office in January 2021, President Biden signed an executive order requiring the DOE to make “major revisions” to current appliance regulation standards and standards set by the Trump administration. A month later, the agency began moving forward on more than a dozen energy efficiency rules, impacting a wide range of appliances.
Thomas Catenacci is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including NewsMax, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Rep. Devin Nunes, Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Chris Salcedo, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and President Donald Trump.
Nobody disagrees at this point that there is a plethora of excess deaths and a dearth of births, a trend that should be the number-one alarming public policy issue. Yet when any of us suggest that the gene therapy ubiquitously given to the world right around the time of the jump in these numbers might be responsible, people look at us like we are from Mars. However, it turns out, based on newly released FOIA documents from the CDC, that our government knew about and even anticipated massive reports of injuries from these shots from day one.
Throughout the past two years, the government and media have concocted a conspiracy theory that somehow the CDC’s own VAERS reporting is scammed with fraud by people who have nothing better to do with their lives but spend hours filling out fraudulent vaccine injury reports. They pretend it’s a sort of ex post facto anomaly that nobody expected and that has no credibility in their eyes. Except, as Hebrew University Professor Josh Guetzkow reveals, not only did the CDC know about the vaccine injuries blowing up VAERS at record levels (even before the general public had access to them), the agency contracted with defense contractor General Dynamics to handle the database in anticipation of record use. Then, when the vaccines were released, the CDC had to up the contract to account for even more entries, yet showed no moral qualms about continuing with the campaign without disclosing these revelations to the public.
Guetzkow, who has secured numerous FOIA’ed documents both in the U.S. and Israel throughout COVID, posted 69 pages of FOIA’ed documents and contracts from General Dynamics Information Technology to the CDC’s immunization safety office. Thanks to his work, we already know from the previous FOIA’ed documents that the CDC’s $9.45 million contract with General Dynamics in August 2020 stated that officials anticipated 1,000 adverse event reports a day, with 40% of them being serious. Yet, like a cold serial killer soullessly counting his casualty list, the CDC was completely fine with going through with this campaign, as if it were the price that had to be paid to worship the spirit of the age – the modern-day Moloch. However, this document shows that as early as Jan. 15 – when most people still could have avoided these shots – the CDC was aware of record-setting reports that crushed even the agency’s initial cold-hearted, morbid expectations.
As you can see from page 8 of the pdf, General Dynamics warned the CDC that VAERS had blown through the expected 1,000 cases per day and even reached a level above 4,500 – to the point that GD couldn’t process the data. Mind you, they were never concerned with the human toll, just the logistics of the contract labor. They predicted a need for “reforecasting of staffing needs” to process all these reports.
Already in December 2020, when the shots were only available for select people like doctors, there were over 19,000 reports and close to 344,000 website visits. It’s hard to see how this wasn’t organic from people genuinely in pain because there was no organized campaign in the United States to inform people of VAERS at the time. I myself (who obsessively focused on this) hadn’t heard of it until two months later.
By Feb. 15, General Dynamics reported a continued record-setting pace of reports and website visits, to the point that workers had to expand their VAERS ID reports to allow for seven digits instead of six. In April, officials reported that they had to hire an additional 200 staffers to deal with the backlog and continue to process 25,000 reports per week, well beyond the threshold they originally contracted for. As eligibility for the shots expanded for all age groups, they continued to process over 30,000 injury reports a week, yet the CDC never said a word about it. Not only did officials not take the products off the market, they began mandating them over late summer 2021, with some mandates that remain in place to this very day.
It’s nearly impossible to astroturf these sorts of injury reports. Clearly, our government saw how organic they were and how they coincided perfectly with the uptake of the vaccine. Indeed, the FDA had access to the infamous Pfizer document in Feb. 2021 – before almost any younger adult was vaccinated – showing that the shot killed over 1,200 people and was associated with over 1,400 categories of serious maladies that were chronicled in a list eight pages long.
Now, keep in mind that after the government observed all these adverse events, and after officials knew about the 7.7% clinical injury rate from the CDC’s own V-SAFE program, perfectly corroborating the VAERS data, they accelerated the approval of these shots for children and then the mandates for everyone. Emails released via FOIA show that in July 2021, when the shots should have been canceled, Peter Marks, head of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, pressured Marion Gruber, then head of the office of vaccines research and review, to truncate the already accelerated timeline to fully approve the Comirnaty shot (which is still not commercially available 2.5 years later).
A copy of the July 19 email response from Marion Gruber is below:
A week after the infamous Aug. 23 approval, which triggered the mandates, Gruber resigned from the agency in protest. But notice how even Gruber couched her reticence to approve this thing in terms of not undermining “confidence in the vaccine,” rather than expressing actual concern this was already killing and maiming people in droves.
We’re at the point where at a minimum, the government doesn’t care how many people die from this experimentation. Dr. Tom Merritt, who was part of the Oxford University team who developed the AstraZeneca vaccine, best summed up the sentiment of the biomedical state toward the people when he admitted that those injured by the gene therapy were “collateral damage to the bigger scheme.” He added: “Some tragically died, a number had their lives changed forever. They believed in vaccines; now they don’t.”It’s all a matter of what the bigger scheme really is.
This April marks 40 years since my therapist told me a “sex change” was the only answer to my persistent mental difficulties. Unfortunately, I followed his advice, obtained cross-sex hormones, and underwent surgery. As I learned through my painful experience, “gender-affirming treatment” (GAT), also known as “gender-affirming care,” is medical fraud and malpractice.
A person’s sex cannot be changed. I know. I lived and identified as a woman for eight years. Hormones and surgery didn’t change my sex. I was a man before surgery, and I remained a man after surgery, illustrating the truth of God’s perfect design — two separate and distinct sexes, male and female, innate and unchangeable.
Every step I took to identify as a female did not make me a female but devaluated me as a man, father, and husband. Each step dehumanized my male body and identity. So-called gender-affirming treatment destroyed my life and relationships, as well as those of my family.
The same thing is happening to people today, except at younger ages. I know. I get their emails.
In the decades following my surgery, instead of the “gender” industry dying out, it has run rampant — devaluing, dehumanizing, and destroying thousands of lives. When I fell for the scam, the patients were exclusively adult men. Today, the industry targets vulnerable adolescents of both sexes influenced by the emotional and physical throes of puberty, who can’t be expected to grasp the long-term consequences, such as infertility, bone density loss, and heart problems.
Parents are told their child will die by suicide if the child is denied medicalization, but it’s a myth. The Child and Parental Rights Campaign gathered the scientific evidence: “[T]here is no long-term evidence that puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones or ‘transition’ surgeries prevent suicide. On the contrary, the best long-term research shows that individuals who do go through medical transition kill themselves at a rate 19 times greater than the general population.”
A Path to Sterilization
GAT includes many destructive and devaluing procedures. With social transition, a person adopts a new name and pronouns that erase his original identity. Puberty blockers — drugs with severe, well-known side-effects that stop normal growth and maturation — are administered.
Those are followed by cross-sex hormones — powerful drugs with destructive, known medical side-effects that impose a cross-sex appearance. The final step is surgeries — invasive, destructive procedures to remove healthy breasts and wombs in girls and healthy genitalia in boys.
It’s a path to sterilization. Sperm and eggs don’t mature without going through puberty. When puberty blockers are followed by cross-sex hormones, the teen is permanently sterilized. Some refer to this as chemical castration. Furthermore, to state the obvious, surgically removing testicles or wombs ends any possibility of having biological children.
Affirming a child in the opposite sex is emotional and psychological child abuse. Experimenting on healthy children with powerful drugs and sterilizing surgery is the epitome of medical malpractice and horribly barbaric.
‘Regret Is Rare’
After living eight years identifying as a woman, I still experienced extreme emotional distress and made the decision to detransition, i.e., to go back to living and presenting as the man I am. When I told my gender therapist and sex change surgeon, they assured me I was the only one they had ever heard of who went back.
Curious how I could be the only case in which “sex change” failed to fix gender issues, I launched a website, SexChangeRegret.com, to reach out to others. It turns out my experience wasn’t rare. Over the last ten years, I have heard from hundreds, maybe thousands, of people like me who found that GAT wasn’t the answer.
Research tells a similar story. Regrettable outcomes made the headlines almost 20 years ago. In July 2004, The Guardian reported the results of a review of 100 medical studies in an article tellingly headlined “Sex Changes are Not Effective, Say Researchers.” The article summarized the findings: “There is no conclusive evidence that sex change operations improve the lives of transsexuals, with many people remaining severely distressed and even suicidal after the operation.”
A 2011 long-term follow-up study in Sweden concurs. People who underwent GAT were 19 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population.
Undeterred by the lack of evidence of benefits, enthusiastic “gender experts” in Europe and the United States expanded the dangerous practice to children and adolescents. Pediatric gender clinics sprang up, ignoring evidence that showed most children, if not affirmed as the opposite sex, reconciled their sex with biological reality by the time they reached adulthood. Instead, clinics promoted and offered only GAT.
Finally, in 2022, pediatric gender clinics in Sweden, Finland, and the UK objectively reviewed the evidence. They found the risks outweighed the potential benefits and officially ended the practice of GAT for minors, replacing it with good psychosocial care. Recently, Norway did the same.
Why the U.S. Continues as Others Stop
But in the United States, it’s a different story. The legacy medical establishment pushes radical, risky medicalization, sterilization, and removal of healthy body parts as the only effective treatment for youth — no counseling, no diagnosis and treatment of co-existing disorders, little discussion of the risks and harms, no waiting, no alternatives.
Hospitals apparently salivate over the money to be made by gender clinics, as seen in the video from Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Pediatric Transgender Clinic in Nashville, Tennessee, in which a doctor describes the surgeries as a “huge money maker” for the hospital.
Recently, a selfless whistleblower from Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital blew the cover off the lack of established protocols and frequency of harm, saying, “what is happening to them [children] is morally and medically appalling.”
Children and their parents need protection from this medical quackery, and they need it now. That’s why lawmakers in several states are pursuing legislation to protect children from harmful medicalization. Arkansas, Arizona, Alabama, Florida, and Texas enacted protections, and several other states are in process: Missouri, Utah, Montana, South Carolina, South Dakota, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Oklahoma.
The state of Florida commissioned a comprehensive evaluation of the benefits and harms of GAT for minors in 2022. The scientifically stringent review exposed a lack of quality evidence showing any benefit, and ample proof of harm. The analysis prompted the Florida medical boards to act and limit the widespread use of hormonal and surgical interventions for youth.
Encouraging Me to Cross-Dress Was Child Abuse
As a child, I was encouraged and affirmed by my grandmother to cross-dress in women’s clothing. She made me a purple chiffon evening dress when I was four years old. It was our secret, she said. Her repeated affirming and loving response to me in the dress proved devastating. It implanted the damaging idea that something must be wrong with me as a boy.
Think of the parallels to today. The public-school environment fosters the same perverse practice on children by teaching students (beginning in kindergarten) a disturbing curriculum that confuses children about their innate identity. Public schools have become indoctrination centers for “gender change” and de facto satellite gender clinics that practice medicine without training, a license, or, in many cases, parental permission.
“The public-school environment fosters the same perverse practice on children by teaching students (beginning in kindergarten) a disturbing curriculum that confuses children about their innate identity. Public schools have become indoctrination centers for “gender change” and de facto satellite gender clinics that practice medicine without training, a license, or, in many cases, parental permission.”
Teachers groom children as early as kindergarten or first grade to think that “there are many genders” and they can choose one. When children seem upset or perplexed about whether they are a girl or a boy, school counselors and teachers stand ready to inappropriately diagnose them as trans and encourage them to take the next step: “Choose a new name and wardrobe for use at school. We’ll keep it a secret from your parents.” Unbeknownst to parents, many school districts prohibit staff from informing parents.
Protect your children from being corrupted and “transitioned.” Take them out of the public school system.
Trans Kids and Parents
As I discovered in my own life, and in the lives of parents and the detransitioners I have had the pleasure to work with, gender distress is a symptom, not a diagnosis. There are many factors driving youth to identify as trans, such as indoctrination and enabling in public schools, local peer group influence and social contagion, and autism or mental disorders.
Other factors are social media apps such as TikTok, sexually charged transgender gaming, and anime. Lastly, there are adverse childhood experiences, such as sexual abuse, emotional abuse, divorce of parents, exposure to pornography, bullying, and other perceived trauma.
Kids don’t need a “gender” therapist or hormones or to cut off healthy body parts. They need parents to shelter them from school indoctrination and peer group and social media influences. They may need a trauma therapist who can help them unearth and address underlying adverse childhood experiences or mental disorders.
My Adverse Childhood Experiences
I can only speculate as to why I wanted to cross-dress and pretend I was a girl. Certainly, my grandma’s obvious delight in me as a girl in the purple dress, not as the scruffy boy in blue jeans, damaged my male identity. Another leading contender was my relationship with my mother.
I never felt my mom, a young 20-year-old at my birth, ever wanted me, loved me, or accepted me. The feeling was confirmed years later, after I detransitioned, when she shared an alarming story with a friend of mine.
Without any shame or remorse, she revealed how she would grab my wrists and yank me up off the floor with one arm and hit my dangling body with a frying pan with the other. I have no memory of this. I must have been very young to be suspended with one hand.
I never hated my mom. I was always trying to win her approval and get her to love me. The sad truth is, at no time in my mom’s lifetime did she ever talk about how much she loved me. Shortly before she died, she revealed to me and my wife that when I was a toddler, she almost killed me by shaking me very hard.
With the benefit of hindsight, it’s easy to guess that a four-year-old boy would prefer being loved and appreciated at grandma’s wearing the purple dress than being yanked up by one arm and hit with a frying pan by an angry mom. My grandma’s affirming me as a girl started my overwhelming desire to change into a female, a longing reinforced by subsequent physical and sexual mistreatment.
The psychological and emotional abuse perpetrated on me as a child was so devaluing and so dehumanizing, I was convinced as an adult by doctors that the only way to heal was to load up on female hormones and let surgeons slice up my body and declare I was now a female. That was 40 years ago. Today, “gender-affirming care” for children is lucrative medical abuse that devalues, destroys, and dehumanizes boys and girls.
Sweden and other countries examined the evidence and ended it. Florida reviewed the high-quality evidence and as a result, Florida medical associations stopped it. The U.K. court reviewed evidence provided by the Tavistock clinic and called it experimental and not suitable for children.
Children need love, real care, and good psychosocial counseling, not a change of identity.
Walt Heyer is an accomplished author and public speaker with a passion for mentoring individuals whose lives have been torn apart by unnecessary gender-change surgery.
Regular viewers know that I am sicken by what is happening to America’s children. I have been asking for a long time, “Why is the political Left so hyper about transgenderism, and mutilating children?” I think I might have some (certainly not all) answers.
Could it be motivated by the “Over-Population” cabal?
The Democrat Party, and the rest of the whacky Left, have always embraced Margaret Sanger and her beliefs that the world is overpopulated. She fought for euthanizing certain people groups, especially black people. She wrote how she was a student of how Hitler killed the Jews.
The Left certainly knows that children that have these cross-sex hormones, surgeries, et., al., CANNOT REPRODUCE. (They also know the alarming amount of people, especially young people, are dying from Fentanyl poisoning, yet won’t close the southern border).
History is full of their manipulative means to control Americans. Could this be one more manipulation?
Republican Georgia and Iowa lawmakers sent bills banning sex-change procedures for minors to their governors’ desks this week. Iowa has passed its bill into law, while Georgia’s bill awaits Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature. Kemp has not said whether he’ll sign it.
Georgia Senate Bill 140, which passed along party lines, prohibits injecting children with hormones and surgically mutilating their bodies “for the treatment of gender dysphoria.” Doctors may still be able to prescribe puberty-blocking drugs, however, as the bill only blocks “irreversible procedures or therapies.” Puberty blockers do inflict irreversible physical damage, but their proponents claim otherwise.
Parental rights advocates still welcome the bill as a step in the right direction.
“This new measure will give Georgia children the legal protections they desperately need,” Kimberly Fletcher, founder and president of Moms For America, said in a press release. “Too many states continue to defend sexual mutilation of children by refusing to implement laws that would properly protect them. This must change.”
On Wednesday, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed SF538 into law, which states that Iowa medical professionals “shall not knowingly engage in or cause any” treatments “for the purpose of attempting to alter the appearance of, or affirm the minor’s perception of, the minor’s gender or sex, if that appearance or perception is inconsistent with the minor’s sex.” The law also prevents doctors from removing a healthy or non-diseased body part or tissue, as well as banning the prescription of hormone blockers to complicate puberty.
“Children should not be pushed to receive experimental medical treatments that can leave them permanently sterile and physically marred for life,” Jeff Edler, a Republican state senator, told The Des Moines Register. “Iowa has a duty to protect its citizens, especially our children.”
In addition to banning body mutilation surgeries for children, Reynolds also signed SF482, a law that would prevent transgender-identifying students from using the opposite sex’s public-school bathrooms.
“Denying the truth that we are either male or female hurts real people, especially vulnerable children,” Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Matt Sharp said in a press release. “By enacting this legislation, Iowa has taken critical steps to protect children from radical activists that peddle gender ideology and pressure children into life-altering, experimental procedures and drugs. Young people deserve to live in a society that doesn’t subject them to risky experiments to which they cannot effectively consent.”
Georgia and Iowa join eight other states that have passed protections for children from sex-change surgeries, including Mississippi, Florida, Utah, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, South Dakota, and Tennessee. Missouri and Kentucky’s legislatures have passed similar bills that are awaiting their governors’ signatures.
Victoria Marshall is a staff writer at The Federalist. Her writing has been featured in the New York Post, National Review, and Townhall. She graduated from Hillsdale College in May 2021 with a major in politics and a minor in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @vemrshll.
As the House Energy and Commerce Committee convenes on Thursday to explore the threat of TikTok this week, it will be faced with a daunting challenge — how to position U.S. policy over popular U.S. practice. In fact, when it comes to TikTok, the chasm between American foreign policy and American commercial interests could not be wider. On the one hand, Congress and the Biden administration are inching up to impose an outright ban on TikTok in the coming weeks if it does not sell to an American company.
The company itself is arguing that the U.S. should mend it but not end it.
On the other hand, American advertisers, brands, marketers, ad agencies and influencers are embracing TikTok like there’s no tomorrow. While U.S. policymakers are preparing to make history through an unprecedented ban on a social media app, U.S. companies are spending unprecedented sums on TikTok marketing, advertising and promotion. Not a week goes by without an announcement of seminars, conferences, webinars, and workshops by ad agencies and marketing experts on how to profit from TikTok.
Led by budding entrepreneurs and marquee names, TikTok tutorials have become a cottage industry. One ad exec who did not want to be identified, noted: “I have advised all my creative directors to find a way to get our clients on every social media app, beginning with TikTok and Instagram. If not, they are missing golden opportunities to engage with viewers for extended periods of time. We have a chance to reach over 885 million viewers and that number is growing.”
With the average TikTok user on the app for well over an hour and a half every day, it is a great marketing opportunity to be sure. These data show that America is a tale of two cities when it comes to popular social media.
Privacy activists caution against the lack of personal data protection on the one hand, and in the case of TikTok, serious national security implications. Yet social media mavens have come to rely on the app for their very livelihood and profitability.
Many of the leading brands in America (and indeed the world) are on TikTok.
For example,”TikTok was the fastest growing app in America, and brands are finally realizing the advertising opportunity. In fact, viewers who engage (share, like, or comment) on a brand’s video are 150% more likely to purchase their product or service. Even more convincing, 350% of engagers are more likely to visit the brand’s physical store and 40% are more likely to visit the brand’s website! These are conversion opportunities you do not want to miss out on!
Companies and brands such as Chipotle, Red Bull, The Washington Post, NBA, Taco Bell, Fortnite, Nickelodeon, Crocs, Netflix, the NFL, HP, ESPN, Vineyard Vines, Levi’s, WWE, Bentley Motors and others are using TikTok to bolster their sales and customer engagement.
And it is not just average brands, but major companies like Apple, Google and Microsoft that have joined the party.
“Google, Apple and Microsoft all have TikTok accounts, with over 8.5 million likes between the three. While Apple has more than 1.3 million fans on the platform, Google and Microsoft have 403,000 and 143,000, respectively. But unlike Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, or any social platform where these companies also have a presence, TikTok is being used to showcase the brands beyond traditional advertising.”
But there is yet another dimension to the debate which bears examination. According to Pew Research, 31 percent of American TikTok users are Hispanic and 30 percent are Black. These numbers reflect the growing embrace of social media expression by ethnic groups who use TikTok, Instagram and Facebook in higher proportions than others.
Former ad exec Sanford Moore pointed out the targeted marketing opportunities for brands in reaching Hispanic and Black consumers is “tremendous.” He noted that “while some advertisers overlook their demographic, Black and Hispanics over-index in consumption and brand loyalty. These consumers should not be taken for granted.”
All of this suggests not only a policy divergence, but a generational dichotomy as well.
It is clear that younger social media users can and will adapt to a new national policy. With new social media apps such as WeChat, QQ, Telegram and others, there are alternative outlets for TikTok users to segue if the U.S. imposes an outright ban.
The tough task for Congress is not convincing privacy activists and security stalwarts about the dangers of TikTok. Nor is it finding a way to mend it but not end it.
The enduring test for U.S. policy is educating and convincing the next generation of Americans — including brands, companies and marketers– that China, Russia and other sworn enemies will use any means necessary to compete and dominate.
And that includes a seemingly harmless, simple app that has us singing and dancing our way to data subversion. That is an infinitely more difficult challenge than legislating a ban on TikTok, but equally important to our national interests.
Adonis Hoffman is CEO of The Advisory Counsel LLC. He served in senior posts in Congress and at the FCC, was legal counsel to the American Association of Advertising Agencies, and adjunct professor at Georgetown University.
An aggressive move by the Mexican military to seize an American company’s property in Mexico has sparked a fresh diplomatic incident between the two countries — coming at the same time as tensions and finger-pointing have flared over the U.S. fentanyl crisis being facilitated by Mexican smugglers.
Vulcan Materials, a Birmingham, Alabama-based company that produces construction aggregates, had its quarry facility seized by the Mexican military and state police in the early hours of March 14. The company said officials forced the company to allow CEMEX, a Mexican-owned company, to unload a cement shipment from a ship in the port.
The company said the seizure was likely due to the breakdown of contract negotiations between it and CEMEX and ongoing tensions with the Mexican government over its mining operations. Mexican President Lopez Obrador had accused the company of trying to extract minerals from Mexico without the required permits and ship them to the U.S.
Vulcan previously leased land to and provided offloading and handling services for CEMEX at the site, but the agreement expired last December and talks for a renegotiated contract broke down.
This screenshot of a security video provided by Vulcan Materials shows Mexican police and military entering the company’s facility in Quintana Roo, Mexico on March 14, 2023. (Vulcan Materials)
The hostile move by Mexican authorities had diplomatic ramifications. A spokesperson for the State Department told Fox News Digital this week the administration was concerned about the treatment of American companies in Mexico, and that they speak regularly with Mexican officials about the expectation that they are treated fairly and in accordance with trade obligations.
The spokesperson noted that such obligations provide trade and investment certainty within Mexico, and said that cases like these have the potential to impact the ability of the U.S. to achieve its shared vision with the Mexican government for improving the livelihoods of the country’s economically disadvantaged regions.
Meanwhile, Republicans in both the House and Senate have called for a strong response from the U.S. in the face of the aggression by Mexico. In the Senate, Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., called it “unlawful and unacceptable.”
In the House, Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green took aim at Mexico and called on the Biden administration to “show strength” on the matter.
“Mexico’s unjustified seizure of a privately-owned American company’s facility is yet another appalling sign that the rule of law is completely absent in the country,” he said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Rather than working to stop the violent cartels and deadly fentanyl taking American lives, Mexico is using its military and law enforcement to occupy an American company’s property.”
“The perpetual weakness portrayed by the Biden administration is clearly emboldening Mexico,” he said. “I would advise President Biden to show strength on the world stage and immediately address the growingly strained relationship between our two countries.”
The incident comes amid already brewing tensions as Republicans and some in the administration have taken aim at Mexico over its handling of the smuggling of fentanyl by Mexican cartels into the U.S. Fentanyl, which kills over 70,000 Americans a year and is 50-100 times more potent than morphine, is being smuggled in across the land border after being made in Mexico using Chinese precursors.
Isn’t this akin to “aiding and abetting” these cartels? Is the Biden Administration culpable for their lake of border security? Are they being paid off by these drug cartels?
Attorney General Merrick Garland recently told lawmakers Mexico was helping the U.S. with the issue of fentanyl, but could still be doing more. He also said the epidemic is being “unleashed on purpose” by Mexico. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meanwhile, told lawmakers on Wednesday that parts of Mexico are controlled by the cartels.
Multiple Republicans have called for cartels, which conduct drug and human smuggling into the U.S., to be designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and have suggested the American military be sent to take out the drug labs.
“We’re going to unleash the fury and might of the United States against these cartels,” Graham said at a press conference earlier this month alongside Sen. John Kennedy, R-La.,. “We’re going to destroy their business model and their lifestyle because our national security and the security of the United States as a whole depends on us taking decisive action.”
The focus on the cartels was also renewed after the kidnappings of four Americans by cartel members earlier this month. Two of the Americans, who were caught in a shootout, were killed.
However, Lopez Obrador reacted angrily to the increased rhetoric from Washington and falsely claimed that fentanyl is not produced in Mexico as he attempted to shift the blame onto the U.S.
“Here, we do not produce fentanyl, and we do not have consumption of fentanyl,” López Obrador said. “Why don’t they [the United States] take care of their problem of social decay?”
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has pushed back against U.S. criticism of his handling of cartel violence and smuggling. ((AP Photo/Marco Ugarte))
He also threatened to meddle in U.S. elections by launching an “information campaign” against Republicans.
“And if they do not change their attitude and think that they are going to use Mexico for their propaganda, electoral and political purposes, we are going to call for them not to vote for that party, because it is interventionist, inhumane, hypocritical and corrupt,” López Obrador said, later adding that Mexico would be insisting that “not one vote” goes to Republicans from Mexicans and Hispanics.
This week, tensions rose further when a State Department report criticized the government’s human rights record.
Obrador responded by accusing the U.S. of trying to act like “the government of the world,” telling reporters on Tuesday that he believes his northern neighbor is “lying.”
Fox News’ Peter Aitken contributed to this report.
Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital, primarily covering immigration and border security.
Isn’t it great to have the media complaining about what a Republican is doing, instead of what he’s tweeting?
The New York Times recently did a major investigation into Gov. Ron DeSantis’ suspension last August of a Florida prosecutor for the flimsy reason that he’d publicly announced that he would not enforce state law on abortion.
The Florida legislature had just spent nearly two months banging out a compromise bill that allowed abortions up to 15 weeks — more liberal than most European countries — and included an exception for life of the mother. An abortionist would literally have to turn himself in to get prosecuted under this law.
What kind of showboating clown would sign a public “pledge” not to prosecute a case that had about a 1 in 10 billion chance of ever landing in his office?
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Florida state attorney Andrew H. Warren.
This wasn’t Warren’s first publicity stunt. Even a fawning profile on Warren in the Tampa Bay Times noted his penchant for going “out of his way to draw attention to himself,” setting him “apart from other elected prosecutors.”
During the pandemic, Warren held a press conference to announce that he was prosecuting a church pastor for violating the county’s stay-at-home order by holding services — a misdemeanor offense.
Days later, Gov. DeSantis issued an order expressly overriding the county’s shutdown rules — and Warren held a press conference to denounce the governor’s order. People will DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
He held a press conference a few months later, after dismissing criminal charges against 67 BLM protesters arrested by the police for unlawful assembly. (Luckily, congregating to worship George Floyd poses none of the health risks of congregating to worship Jesus.)
So when Warren held another press conference to announce his pledge not to prosecute abortion cases, DeSantis removed him from office. (Florida constitution: “the governor may suspend from office … any county officer, for malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty …”)
You wanted to be a hero, Andy? OK, you’re a hero! My conscience demands I sign this pledge. Here I stand. I can do no other. … HEY, WAIT! YOU CAN’T FIRE ME!
An accurate headline on this story would be something like, “Governor suspends public servant for refusing to do his job.” But The New York Times’ headline was: “Inside Ron DeSantis’s Politicized Removal of an Elected Prosecutor.” (My headline: “Inside The New York Times’ Politicized Report on a Republican Governor.”)
The reporters, junior psychologists, decided to go beyond the facts and reveal DeSantis’ secret motive. It seems that the real reason DeSantis fired an insolent prosecutor was because: He thought it would be popular with voters.
I know, disgusting, right?
Hey, New York Times, how about asking why firing this preening fruitcake might be well-received by voters?
[Frantically waving my hand.]
People are sick of taxpayer-supported government officials who expect standing ovations for not doing their jobs. It’s become something of a lifestyle choice for Democrats to run for office, then refuse to enforce any laws they disagree with.
President Obama announced that he would not enforce immigration laws against so-called “Dreamers,” despite passing an amnesty being Congress’ job. Obama even gave the illegals work permits, in open defiance of federal law.
Then Trump became president, and Democrats around the country announced that they, too, would refuse to abide by federal immigration laws, declaring themselves “sanctuary cities.”
In the last few years, we got a slew of George Soros-backed, BLM-supporting progressive prosecutors showily refusing to prosecute. Cook County (Illinois) State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, for example, said her goal in office was to fight “mass incarceration,” which is pretty much the exact opposite of her job description. She gave a free pass to most shoplifters, about half of drug traffickers, and gang members engaging in Wild West shootouts — which she described as “mutual combat.”
Instead of “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time,” how about: “Don’t run for the job if you have no intention of doing it”? (I’m still working on the rhyming part.) It would be like firemen and policemen who refused to respond to calls.
That’s why, yes, New York Times, DeSantis’ firing of Warren is probably going to be a hit with voters. He’s the first guy to take these comic book heroes at their word and remove them from the offices they openly disdain. Hiring DeSantis is a lot easier than having to keep organizing massive recall campaigns — as the residents of San Francisco recently did to get rid of their anti-prosecution prosecutor Chesa Boudin.
But isn’t it great to have the Times mad at a Republican for actually scoring a win — and not for posting obnoxious tweets? If it were Trump, they’d be criticizing him for tweeting something untoward about Andrew Warren’s face.
Everyone’s worried DeSantis won’t be as “exciting” as Trump on the campaign trail. After all-talk-no-action Trump, who cares about talk? This time, we want action.
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nextImage 1 of 3Nashville police recovered two rifles and a handgun at the scene Monday, following a mass shooting at the Covenant School, a Christian elementary school. Suspect Audrey Hale, 28, was killed at the scene. (Nashville Police Department )
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