Britain’s High Court effectively executed a sick 8-month-old girl early Monday morning.
Dean Gregory and Claire Staniforth of Derbyshire fought desperately in recent weeks to see that their daughter, Indi Gregory, would continue receiving treatment for her mitochondrial disorder or potentially undergo experimental treatment abroad so that they could spend more time with her.
Hope came in the form of support from Italy, not just from the Vatican but from the government, which gave Gregory citizenship and paved the way for her to be treated at the Vatican’s Bambino Gesu Children’s Hospital in Rome.
Despite international pressure, a fully comped alternative, and the parents’ desperate pleas, England’s High Court determined that Gregory would be better off dead sooner rather than later.
In a statement released by #IndiGregory 's father, Dean Gregory, during the night, he said:
"Indi's life ended at 01.45am. Claire and I are angry heartbroken and ashamed. The NHS and the Courts not only took away her chance to live a longer life, but they also took away Indi's… pic.twitter.com/IdbJRuzI2k
Indi Gregory was born on February 24 with a rare degenerative mitochondrial disease that saps energy.
The staff at Queen’s Medical Center in Nottingham recently decided to give up on helping the girl and sought to take her off life support, noting that death was in the girl’s best interests, reported the BBC.
High Court Justice Robert Peel granted the medical center’s application to stop life support in October, suggesting that despite the parents’ moving “belief in Indi’s resilience, courage, and fortitude,” the medical evidence justifying termination was “unanimous and clear.”
Peel’s ruling cleared the way for the physicians’ plan to wean the girl off of intubation and let her die, “at home or at a hospice.”
Gregory’s parents were evidently unwilling to let a London judge and some masked strangers determine the fate of their daughter.
“The doctors painted a terribly bleak and negative picture of Indi’s condition during court proceedings,” said the girl’s father. “Indi can definitely experience happiness. She cries like a normal baby. … We know she is disabled, but you don’t just let disabled people die. We just want to give her a chance.”
With the backing of the British advocacy group Christian Concern, Gregory and Staniforth made repeated attempts to have their little girl moved to a hospital that might actually try to keep her alive. The parents attempted to persuade Court of Appeal judges in London as well as judges at the European Court of Human Rights in France to overturn the fatal decision, reported the Telegraph.
Italy ultimately intervened, granting Gregory citizenship on Nov. 6 and agreeing to cover the cost of Indi’s medical treatment at the Vatican’s pediatric hospital. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni pledged to do what she could to “defend her life” and pressured Britain’s lord chancellor to help facilitate the girl’s transfer to Rome.
Simone Pillon, a lawyer and former senator who helped secure a spot for Indi Gregory at the Vatican hospital, said in a statement, “A place is ready and waiting for Indi at a leading paediatric hospital, which will be funded by the Italian government. I hope there will be no further delay in the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust cooperating with the specialist Air Ambulance Service and to work with the family rather than cruelly denying them this chance.”
On Thursday, the girl’s Italian guardian, the consul in Manchester, Matteo Corradini, reportedly made a plea to the U.K. High Court, calling on Justice Robert Peel to cede the case to him under Article Article 9§2 of the 1996 Hague Convention.
The next day, the High Court ruled that the Italian efforts to save the child from the British health care system were “wholly misconceived” and that the baby’s life support had to be removed “immediately,” reported the Catholic News Agency.
Dean Gregory responded to the ruling, saying, “Claire and I are again disgusted by another one-sided decision from the judges and the Trust. The whole world is watching and is shocked at how we have been treated.”
“This feels like the latest kick in the teeth, and we will not give up fighting for our daughter’s chance to live until the end,” added Gregory.
Justices Peter Jackson, Eleanor King, and Andrew Moylan all denied the distraught parents the ability to appeal the ruling, thereby sealing Indi Gregory’s fate.
On Sunday, Christian Concern indicated that the baby had been transferred from Queen’s Medical Care Center to a hospice, apparently with a security escort and police presence.
Indi had been moved to a hospice as opposed to home because Justice Peel reneged on his earlier order last Wednesday.
“Indi’s life ended at 01:45. Claire and I are angry, heartbroken and ashamed,” said Dean Gregory. “The NHS and the courts not only took away her chance to live a longer life, but they also took away Indi’s dignity to pass away in the family home where she belonged.”
“They did succeed in taking Indi’s body and dignity, but they can never take her soul. They tried to get rid of Indi without anybody knowing, but we made sure she would be remembered forever. I knew she was special from the day she was born,” added Gregory.
The grieving father indicated that Indi ultimately passed in her mother’s arms.
While not religious, Dean Gregory had Indi baptized in September, telling an Italian newspaper, “When I was in court, I felt as if hell pulled at me.”
“I thought that if hell exists, then heaven must exist too,” said the father, noting he wanted his daughter to go to heaven.
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For the last seven months, many wondered why the Covenant School shooter’s manifesto remained hidden. On March 27, a trans shooter massacred six people at a Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, including three 9-year-old children.
After several pages from the manifesto were leaked on Monday, those who suggested that politics were at play are feeling vindicated. The shooter ranted and raved about the “white privilege” of the students and referred to them as “crackers,” a racist term used to describe whites. It would be a miraculous coincidence if these details were unrelated to the Herculean effort to hide the manifesto from the public.
Although we only have a few pages, it doesn’t really matter what else the shooter wrote. Even if the shooter went on a racist rant against another demographic, she ultimately targeted white children for execution and did so based on their skin color.
War on ‘Whiteness’
This is yet another example of violence originating from the demonization of what the left calls “whiteness.” The Democratic Party suffers from a case of tunnel vision that causes them to deduce all the world’s problems from a single premise: “Whiteness” is evil. What was once an obscure social theory has proliferated into a belief system that has consumed all positions of authority on the left, including in politics, media, corporate America, and the academy. Everyone who voted for President Joe Biden doesn’t hate white people, obviously, but attacks on so-called “whiteness” are working well with a growing percentage of the left’s voters.
Hatred of “whiteness” has helped Democrats form unlikely alliances among their constituents. Consider the recent anti-Israel protests that were well attended by trans and abortion activists. By supporting abortion, transgenderism, and Palestine, they are embracing diametrically opposed worldviews. The left’s cultural agenda is deeply unpopular in the Muslim world.
Trans activists aren’t going to cozy up with militant Muslims because of shared views on the capital gains tax rate, and the left knows this. Uniting what should be warring political sects requires a powerful narrative. The left found the common enemy it needed in “whiteness.” Israel is considered whiter than Palestine, and Israelis are “colonizers.” Therefore, Israel is bad, and Palestine is good. It’s that simple for these people.
Some will suggest that anti-capitalist attitudes, radical gender ideology, abortion, or perhaps climate change are the issues that unite the left today. But that’s true only on the surface. Those issues are now inextricably linked to the supposed oppression of nonwhites at the behest of whites. To illustrate, let’s consider a handful of issues that galvanize the left.
Abortion and White Supremacy
According to the ACLU, pro-life attitudes are “rooted in white supremacy.” Media outlets allege that pro-life policies are racist because of the high rate of abortion among black women. They claim, therefore, that white men wish to exert control over black women through abortion restrictions. It never occurred to the legacy press that perhaps actual racists might instead prefer to limit the size of the black population through abortion.
Climate Racism
This issue is now discussed almost exclusively in terms of “climate justice,” “climate reparations” and “climate racism.” Not much else needs to be said here other than giving due consideration to the breakneck speed with which the left racialized this issue.
Capitalism and White Oppressors
Overthrowing meritocratic systems of “whiteness,” especially capitalism, is the linchpin of critical race theory and other offshoots of Marxism. Having failed to topple capitalism through class warfare, the left has intertwined its anti-capitalist attitude with its hatred of whites. Racial groups are innately more tribal than income brackets. Socioeconomic status is often transient, but skin color is not. The temptation to engage in race-based resentment is more alluring than class-based resentment. By combining the two, the left stands to gain at the expense of our social fabric as race relations rapidly deteriorate.
In discussing the state of black Americans under capitalism, Vox expresses a widely held belief on the left. It claims that “no amount of money can insulate them from marginalization or the everyday exhaustion of navigating America as a Black person.” This claim amounts to an unfalsifiable theory more absurd than any conspiracy ever embraced by anyone on the right.
Even black billionaires are “victims” who are “marginalized” through the vast conspiracy perpetrated by their “white oppressors.” The left ultimately uses these arguments as justification for ditching merit-based market economies in exchange for race-based transfers of wealth and other centrally planned economic hierarchies. In the new economic system, fashionable in-groups are rewarded through punitive taxes levied on unfashionable out-groups.
Replacing Whites Through Immigration
The intent behind the left’s policies on illegal and legal immigration is to dilute the power of undesirable voters who are most likely to elect Republicans, especially white men and married white women. This is so obvious it’s stunning that anyone could question it. For decades, the left has openly bragged about using demographic change as an electoral strategy. For some strange reason, however, the Southern Poverty Law Center thinks you’re racist if you’ve noticed their explicitly stated goal.
White Racism in Health Care
Virtually all differences in health outcomes are now blamed on white racism. The CDC echoes this sentiment on its website with long-winded and incoherent diatribes about “racism and health.” Cringeworthy banalities such as “health equity” represent the left’s latest rehashing of tired buzz phrases as they blame everyone’s health issues on white Americans and “structural racism.” The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is on board with this initiative, as you might imagine.
Gender Ideology and Oppressive Whites
Do a search for any variation of “transphobia and white supremacy.” You’ll lose a few IQ points by reading the articles, but the results speak for themselves. The male-female binary is being attributed not to one of the most basic facts of human biology but to “oppressive structures created by whites.”
Transwomen become angry and wish D_eath on Transphobic people. They need to up the dose of hormones on this one. 😱 🔉 pic.twitter.com/Uos14nLgHc
These sophomoric theories masquerading as insights might be amusing if only the attitudes weren’t incredibly dangerous. The left now uses “white supremacy,” a term once used to describe the ideology of small neo-Nazi groups, to describe what it sees as a vast network of oppressive systems in which all white people are complicit.
Laying the world’s problems at the feet of one group of people is how genocidal urges originate. For anyone suggesting that this is hyperbole, consider that climate change is described as an existential threat to the very existence of human beings. We are told that our physical and mental health are subject to the racist structures built by whites. In other words, according to the left, your survival, and the very survival of humanity itself, is largely dependent on “correcting whiteness.” There could be no characterization of a race more damning than this.
Historically Unparalleled Racism
The scope of this anti-white sentiment surpasses that of previous theories that gave rise to wholesale discrimination and violence throughout history. After all, has any race of people ever been blamed for making Earth uninhabitable? Has any race of people ever been blamed for everything from heat waves to heart attacks?
There’s another strange characteristic that sets this movement apart. Whites are participating in their own indictment in proportions previously unseen. In fact, whites themselves are largely responsible for creating these attitudes — both because self-loathing personalities are prevalent on the left and because white Democrats believe this strategy will secure the nonwhite vote in perpetuity. Suffice it to say that they haven’t given much thought to the long-term consequences.
Escalating Toward Violence
The left claims all of this is a “racist conspiracy theory.” They’ll continue to blame white Americans for every problem under the sun, then cry foul when you notice. If this environment is not a catalyst for future violence, then please tell me what is. There are no problems left to blame on whites — the left cannot escalate the accusations. Future escalations can come only by way of penalties for these imaginary misdeeds, and we know how that story goes.
Rank-and-file voters of the Democratic Party will determine whether this anti-white sentiment continues to thrive. If they continue to reward politicians for this repulsive and incendiary behavior, widespread violence is inevitable. It’s just a matter of time.
B.L Hahn is a freelance writer covering topics including culture, politics and economics.
The National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) is helping tech developers build artificial intelligence programs that suppress digital speech by starving online companies of ad revenue and isolating them from the financial system.
As part of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program’s second phase, the Massachusetts-based Automated Controversy Detection, Inc. (AuCoDe) received just over $940,000 for a project titled “A Controversy Detection Signal for Finance.” The company received $225,000 during the first phase of the program for the same project, for a total just under $1.2 million. AuCoDe received this money over a span of four years, from 2018 to 2022.
According to LinkedIn, AuCoDe is an “NSF backed company that aims to make online communication more productive and less dangerous.” Its now-defunct website states that AuCoDe “use[d] state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms to stop the spread of misinformation online.”
Let’s all say it together. “Who is responsible to determining what is, and is not, misinformation, or disinformation?” The wrong answer is Socialism.
The company developed artificial intelligence programs to identify “opposing sentiment,” “misinformation and disinformation,” “fairness and bias issues,” and “bot activity and its correlation with disinformation campaigns.” It used similar methods to “gain insight into sentiment and beliefs.”
Along these lines, the NSF-funded project’s goal was to develop technology that can “automatically detect controversy and disinformation, providing a means for financial institutions to reduce risk exposure” amid the increase of “public attention and political concern” being paid to disinformation.
Second phase SBIR grant money funded the “development of novel algorithms that automatically detect controversy in social media, news, and other outlets.” AuCoDe’s used this money to attempt the creation of “artificial intelligence and machine learning” programs that combat “the growing noise of controversy, mis- and dis-information, and toxic speech.”
According to the grant’s project outcomes report, AuCoDe developed several such “technologies.” The company created the “Squint,” controversy detection dashboard, and “Squabble, a proprietary controversy detection model.”
Squint and Squabble, “enable users to learn the controversy and toxicity levels of social media content, together with the stance score of an individual or company.” AuCoDe also created a free Chrome extension called “DETOXIFY” that enables users to blacklist and blur topics from their social media feeds.
Squint and Squabble are unavailable for public use.
AuCoDe also used this grant money to launch a YouTube channel where company members discuss “current controversies.” The channel boasts three total subscribers, and the most recent of its nine videos was uploaded eight months ago.
A paper, co-authored by AuCoDe staff members Shiri Dori-Hacohen, Keen Sung, Jengyu Chou, and Julian Lustig-Gonzalez, produced as a result of this grant detailed how “detecting information disorders and deploying novel, real-world content moderation tools is crucial in promoting empathy in social networks” like Parler and Reddit.
A supplemental video provided by the authors discussed the “cost of disinformation” both before and after Covid — partially AI-generated results “conservatively” estimated to be upward of $230 billion — and relied upon a report from the Global Disinformation Index to substantiate that brands like Amazon, Petco, and UPS “inadvertently funded disinformation stories leading up to the 2020 election.”
Below is a teacher (yes, a schoolteacher, teaching children as we speak). It is safe to assume that a person this him would be used to determine what is, and is not, misinformation, disinformation, et., al.
Ontario parents, this man says you’re a snowflake if you don’t want him teaching Marxism, queer theory, intersectionality, anti-racism, etc.
He says it’s all curriculum-related and he can teach whatever he wants.
The Global Disinformation Index, of course, is a formerly State Department-backed British organization that provided advertising companies with blacklists to starve companies accused that were accused spreading disinformation of revenue. AuCoDe’s research was aimed at helping the federal government further this goal through the algorithmic curation of digital speech.
In January 2021, using research gathered from these grants, the company published a piece titled “Misinformation drives calls for action on Parler: preliminary insights into 672k comments from 291k Parler users.” The company said it was “investigating the nature of accounts on alt-tech networks, with an eye toward who is spreading misinformation” and suggested that the platform’s very nature enabled users to circulate and engage with “mis- and dis-information.”
“In conclusion, our first look at our collection of Parler data finds a plethora of misinformation driving a desire for action,” the company wrote. “We also discovered that in addition to highly permissive content moderation, there is a lack of moderation around bots, leaving enormous potential for disinformation campaigns to be carried out on these networks — something we will be keenly exploring in the coming weeks.”
The reality is that AuCoDe interfered with Americans’ right to free speech because it didn’t align with the left-wing consensus and used federal tax dollars to run cover for Big Tech oligarchs. If the company was actually dogmatically concerned with “misinformation,” it would have gone after Facebook, which played a much larger role in hosting Jan. 6 discourse.
A source close to the company told The Federalist that AuCoDe closed in May 2023. More than $1 million in taxpayer money went to a government-backed start-up specifically focused on attacking the First Amendment rights of Americans and sabotaging businesses that deviate from left-wing orthodoxy.
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 @smlenett.
Politics absolutely, positively had no bearing on the Hunter Biden investigation, Delaware U.S. Attorney-turned-Special Counsel David Weiss assured the House Judiciary Committee last week. Yet Weiss also acknowledged it would be a “problem” if someone had warned Joe Biden’s transition team of FBI agents’ impending plan to interview the president-elect’s son, as whistleblowers say occurred. Weiss just didn’t bother to ask anyone about the leak or any other concerns of political favoritism, showing the federal prosecutor has opted for willful blindness over oversight of the Hunter Biden criminal probe — even after his appointment as special counsel.
On Tuesday, Weiss sat for an interview before the House Judiciary Committee. A transcript of Weiss’s testimony, which The Federalist has reviewed, shows the special counsel faced several questions about claims that political favoritism infected the Hunter Biden investigation.
But even before the questioning began, in a brief opening statement, Weiss declared that “political considerations played no part in our decision making.” Rather, the Delaware U.S. attorney, doing double duty as special counsel, assured the committee that “throughout this investigation, career prosecutors on my team and I have made decisions based on the facts and the law.”
Weiss repeated that mantra several times during questioning about specific steps his team took — or didn’t take — in the Hunter Biden investigation. “Again, I’m not going to comment on any aspect of the investigation or a prosecution, and from my perspective, the prosecutors who participated in this case followed the law and the facts. That was the motivation.”
Of course, that was Weiss’s “perspective” because, even after the IRS whistleblowers provided concrete examples of the politicization of the Hunter Biden investigation, the U.S. attorney buried his head in the sand rather than inquire about the veracity of the claims. The totality of Weiss’s testimony confirms this reality, but it is best exemplified in an exchange about the warning given to President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team that agents intended to interview Hunter Biden.
IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley had previously testified that the day before their Dec. 8, 2020 “day of action,” when agents planned to interview a host of relevant witnesses, he learned someone had tipped off Joe Biden’s transition team of the plans to interview Hunter Biden and another 10-plus witnesses. “This essentially tipped off a group of people very close to President Biden and Hunter Biden and gave this group an opportunity to obstruct the approach on the witnesses,” Shapley told the House Ways and Means Committee.
The House Judiciary Committee asked Weiss if he knew “who made the decision to tip off the presidential transition team about the day of action, and that the investigators wanted to try to speak with Hunter Biden.” Weiss initially responded that it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to comment on the matter but that he would address the question in his special counsel report.
A Concerning Connection
However, additional questioning soon reviewed a concerning connection between the Delaware U.S. attorney’s office and the Biden transition team, in the person of Alexander Mackler, whom Weiss acknowledged had been one of his assistant U.S. attorneys from 2016 through about mid-2019. According to the committee’s questioning, Mackler had at one point served as Joe Biden’s press secretary, had been Beau Biden’s campaign manager during his reelection campaign, and from 2014-2016 served as deputy counsel to then-Vice President Biden. While Weiss testified, he knew Mackler had worked for Biden, he said he didn’t know many of those specifics. However, Weiss acknowledged learning that Mackler had been named to Biden’s transition team, although he said he couldn’t remember when or how he had learned of that fact.
The House Judiciary Committee then pushed Weiss on whether he or anyone else from his office had any communications with Mackler while he was working with the transition team. While Weiss stated he was “very confident” he “had no conversations” with Mackler about the latter’s work on the transition team or about the Hunter Biden case, Weiss said he had “no idea whether anyone else has spoken to Alex Mackler period or about the case.”
Weiss further testified that he was actually unaware of whether the transition team had been tipped off, as IRS whistleblowers claimed. But if so, Weiss confirmed it would be “a concern” and “a problem” and that “it shouldn’t happen.” Yet when pushed on what he would do to address the problem if he “found out that something like that did occur,” Weiss refused to answer the question, saying it was “a hypothetical” that he would not “speculate on” other than saying that “as a general matter, it’s problematic.”
Willful Blindness
On first blush, Weiss’s non-answers about the tip-off to the transition team seem like inconsequential, unhelpful responses that merely lead to a dead end. But Weiss’s acknowledged ignorance is explosive news: The man that Attorney General Merrick Garland named as special counsel to supposedly ensure independence in the investigation and prosecution of the president’s son failed to inquire of his team about whether someone had leaked to the transition team details about the impending questioning of Hunter Biden. In fact, according to Weiss, he didn’t even bother to confirm the tip-off had occurred — much less seek to determine who bore responsibility for the leak — even though he knew that a former Delaware assistant U.S. attorney served on the Biden transition team.
Weiss’s failure in this regard was not an aberration. Rather, throughout his House Judiciary Committee testimony last week, Weiss confirmed he has ignored the whistleblowers’ claims of politicization. For instance, when asked whether “any of the attorneys on your team, whether it’s a Special Counsel team or before the Special Counsel team was stood up, have any ties which you would consider close to the Biden family,” Weiss said he doesn’t “delve into those kinds of things,” but that he is “unaware of any such thing.”
Weiss’s failure to inquire about his staff’s relationship with the Biden family may have made sense initially but given the two whistleblowers’ detailed allegations of political favoritism, not asking some basic questions to ensure an unbiased staff is inexcusable.
Weiss’s failures extend much further, however, with his Tuesday testimony confirming he has not reviewed his staff’s handling of the investigation in light of the whistleblowers’ testimony that there were “politically-motivated decisions made in the Hunter Biden case.” Specifically, while Weiss acknowledged the whistleblowers’ claims, his responses to questions show he disregarded the claims without any inquiry. For instance, when asked, “If an investigator or prosecutor makes what is believed to be a politically-motivated statement or decision, how is that reviewed in your office?” Weiss responded that he was “not aware of such a situation.”
The House committee pushed the special counsel more on this point, asking: “For example, on the Hunter Biden case, if one of your assistant United States attorneys was exhibiting favoritism towards the Biden family or towards Hunter Biden, and that was brought to your attention, what would be the process to sort that out?”
“My office has no process or protocol for dealing with something like that. It’s not something we have engaged in, participated in, or that I have experienced,” Weiss countered. Weiss held firm under additional questioning, stating he was “not aware of any such reviews.”
“I’ve told you. I have no such process. We haven’t experienced it in our office,” Weiss insisted.
Head in the Sand
This testimony establishes that Weiss has done nothing to review his team’s handling of the Hunter Biden investigation for possible political bias, notwithstanding the whistleblowers’ detailed claims of such favoritism. No wonder then that Weiss can say he has confidence in his prosecutors and believes they acted “in a professional and unbiased manner without partisan or political considerations.”
Ironically, if this were a criminal case in which federal prosecutors needed to establish the defendant’s knowledge of some sort of “shady dealings,” the U.S. attorney’s office would seek what is collegially called the “ostrich instruction.” The “ostrich instruction” informs the jury that a deliberate effort “to avoid guilty knowledge is all the guilty knowledge the law requires,” and that a defendant who knows or strongly suspects “he is involved in shady dealings” cannot avoid criminal liability by making sure “he does not acquire full or exact knowledge of the nature and extent of those dealings.”
While there is no suggestion that Weiss is a co-conspirator in some criminal enterprise, he is similarly burying his head in the sand when it comes to the politicization of the Biden investigation exposed by the IRS whistleblowers and congressional oversight committees. Thus, his assurances that “political considerations played no part in our decision making” are meaningless.
Margot Cleveland is an investigative journalist and legal analyst and serves as The Federalist’s senior legal correspondent. Margot’s work has been published at The Wall Street Journal, The American Spectator, the New Criterion (forthcoming), National Review Online, Townhall.com, the Daily Signal, USA Today, and the Detroit Free Press. She is also a regular guest on nationally syndicated radio programs and on Fox News, Fox Business, and Newsmax. Cleveland is a lawyer and a graduate of the Notre Dame Law School, where she earned the Hoynes Prive—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. Cleveland is also of counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance. Cleveland is on Twitter at @ProfMJCleveland where you can read more about her greatest accomplishments—her dear husband and dear son. The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.
California Democrats hastily cleaned up San Francisco last week ahead of the upcoming state visit between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping. On Friday, The New York Times described the scene in the city as one of “teenagers frantically cleaning up after a house party with their parents on the way home.”
“On Market Street, the city’s main thoroughfare, maintenance workers resurfaced uneven sidewalks and installed plywood over empty tree wells,” the Times reported. “Nearby, a crew gave a long-derelict plaza a makeover by turning it into a skateboard park and outdoor cafe with pingpong tables, chess boards and scores of potted plants. Elsewhere, workers painted decorative crosswalks and new murals, wiped away graffiti, picked up piles of trash and removed scaffolding to show off a refurbished clock tower at the Ferry Building.”
Why the sudden clean up after years of decay? Xi will be arriving Wednesday. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, which began Saturday, will draw 21 world leaders from Pacific nations along with 30,000 people to the Golden City. Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom admitted last week the quick cleanup effort was provoked by “fancy leaders” who are “coming to town.”
“That’s true,” Newsom said.
Gavin Newsom just admitted that they only cleaned up the streets of San Fran because "fancy leaders" were coming to town.
The reality: They were always capable of this but they don’t care about your safety. They care about the safety of the elite. You’re expendable to them. pic.twitter.com/BPedyEjn3q
As government officials work to power wash transit stations and clear homeless encampments in major areas, residents openly wondered what took leaders so long to clean up one of California’s largest cities.
“What about the people who are here year-round?” Marc Savino asked a local Fox affiliate.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed pledged cleanup efforts will continue even after the conference closes.
“We will continue to do everything we can to maintain cleanliness in our streets,” Breed said at a press conference.
There is not enough discussion about this.
They managed to clean up San Francisco using existing budgets in just a matter of days to prepare for Xi’s visit. No one can explain why they couldn’t have done this a long time ago.
For years, deteriorating health and safety conditions in California’s fourth-largest city have made San Francisco an emblem of American decline. Rampant crime and homelessness have left residents exposed to safety hazards while the jewel city of the West Coast remains prohibitively expensive to live in. Instead of implementing aggressive efforts to clean up, as residents saw last week ahead of visits from foreign leaders, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors prioritized leftist activism. In March, San Francisco leadership moved forward with a plan to hand out slavery reparations for $5 million per person to people who never were slaves, paid for by residents who never owned slaves.
In August, The Wall Street Journal published a feature on San Francisco’s downward spiral, openly wondering in the headline, “Can San Francisco Save Itself From the Doom Loop?”
“Downtown San Francisco now trails nearly every other major urban center in economic health,” the paper reported. “Retailers like Nordstrom and Banana Republic have announced in the past few months that they are closing their downtown San Francisco stores. The owner of the city’s biggest mall, located downtown, is handing it back to the lender rather than continue to make debt payments.”
Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of Social Justice Redux, a conservative newsletter on culture, health, and wellness. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com. Sign up for Tristan’s email newsletter here.
The Supreme Court on Monday issued a new “Code of Conduct” following months of heightened scrutiny from Senate Judiciary Democrats pushing for new ethics laws for the high court.
“The undersigned Justices are promulgating this Code of Conduct to set out succinctly and gather in one place the ethics rules and principles that guide the conduct of the Members of the Court,” the announcement Monday read.
“For the most part these rules and principles are not new: The Court has long had the equivalent of common law ethics rules, that is, a body of rules derived from a variety of sources, including statutory provisions, the code that applies to other members of the federal judiciary, ethics advisory opinions issued by the Judicial Conference Committee on Codes of Conduct, and historic practice,” the statement reads.
“The absence of a Code, however, has led in recent years to the misunderstanding that the Justices of this Court, unlike all other jurists in this country, regard themselves as unrestricted by any ethics rules. To dispel this misunderstanding, we are issuing this Code, which largely represents a codification of principles that we have long regarded as governing our conduct,” it says.
The Supreme Court on Monday issued a new “Code of Conduct” following months of heightened scrutiny from Senate Judiciary Democrats. (Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States via Getty Images)
The Code is a set of five “canons,” including two new canons that appear to be in response to reports over travel arrangements for private trips taken by Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas paid by others, and use of Court staff for book promotion — referring to a recent report on that staff of Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s staff urged colleges and libraries to buy her latest book.
“A Justice should not to any substantial degree use judicial chambers, resources, or staff to engage in activities that do not materially support official functions or other activities permitted under these Canons,” the code states.
The Surpeme Court on Monday adopted a new Code of Ethics amid pressure from Senate Democrats (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
“A Justice may accept reasonable compensation and reimbursement of expenses for permitted activities if the source of the payments does not give the appearance of influencing the Justice’s official duties or otherwise appear improper,” the rules say.
To dispel this misunderstanding, we are issuing this Code, which largely represents a codification of principles that we have long regarded as governing our conduct,” the statement from the justices’ said. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“Expense reimbursement should be limited to the actual or reasonably estimated costs of travel, food, and lodging reasonably incurred by the Justice and, where appropriate to the occasion, by the Justice’s spouse or relative,” the new code says.
The Code also states that, “For some time, all Justices have agreed to comply with the statute governing financial disclosure, and the undersigned Members of the Court each individually reaffirm that commitment.”
Fox News has learned that the Court has been meeting privately for months on how to structure a new ethics code, one that would address public concerns over ethics without abdicating what the Chief Justice in particular had said was the court’s independence on such matters from congressional oversight.
Justices Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett in recent weeks had all publicly voiced support for a new ethics code. Chief Justice Roberts in May issued a statement signed by all nine members of the court saying there was more work for the court to do to “adhere to the highest ethical standards.”
Members of the Supreme Court sit for a group photo following the recent addition of Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, at the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill on Friday, Oct 07, 2022 in Washington, DC. Bottom row, from left, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, and Associate Justice Samuel Alito. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee had mounted relentless pressure on the high court after reports that Justices Thomas and Alito went on luxury vacations paid for by friends. Ranking Member Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. accused his Democratic counterparts of launching “a concentrated effort” to delegitimize the conservative majority Supreme Court.
“This is not about trying to update the ability of the court to be more transparent, it’s about an effort to destroy the legitimacy of this conservative court,” Graham said in May.
Republican Senator John Kennedy, R-La., called the Democrat-sponsored legislation – the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency (SCERT) Act – a “court-killing machine” that was both “dangerous” and “unserious.”
It’s unclear whether Committee Democrats will continue to push for their reforms in light of the Supreme Court’s announcement Monday.
Brianna Herlihy is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
The attempts to blame former President Donald Trump for the Jan. 6 protest is a function of “corrupt DOJ talking points” and “neuro linguistic programming” for “critical factor bypass” by anti-Trump “mockingbird media,” the infamous Jan. 6 “Shaman” Jacob Chansley told Newsmax in an exclusive interview Monday.
“No, I do not” blame Trump, Chansley told “National Report.” “And I think that any attempt to try to paint anything that happened on that day onto the president or try to paint him with that broad brush is just mockingbird media and corrupt DOJ talking points, because the fact of the matter is the man said peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
Chansley was giving his first national TV interview since his imprisonment for having taken part in the Capitol protest that had him convicted for the obstruction of an official congressional proceeding. He spent the time researching, studying, and even teaching inmates as he prepares for a 2024 libertarian campaign in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District.
“What we’re talking about here is optics, and based on the mockingbird media and neuro linguistic programming, based on critical factor bypass, and all that kind of psychological warfare, basically, you can paint anybody to be anything,” Chansley said.
“So you could choose to look at me as a felon. I’ve heard people call me a traitor that’s a threat to democracy. Or you could choose to look at me as I am a person that was maligned and skewered by a corrupt system — as so many hundreds of thousands of people have been in the United States, as so many Jan. 6ers have been in the United States, and as Donald Trump has been in the United States of America.”
Chansley turned his attention back to the question on Trump, convinced Trump bears no responsibility for the Jan. 6 protest.
“I don’t see the former president as responsible at all,” Chansley said. “Nobody can make me do anything, and that’s why I should go to D.C., because I’m not going to be beholden to the NGOs [non-governmental organizations]. I’m not going to be beholden to lobbyists. I’m not going to be beholden to the deep-state puppet strings.
“I will represent the American people the way they deserve to be represented.”
Chansley says he won’t accept campaign donations, because it would be hypocritical to be against the establishment in politics and then participate in it.
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Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., told Newsmax on Monday that the recently opened investigation into alleged terrorist group contributions by American Muslims for Palestine, while also donating to Democrats, including members of the “Squad,” show just how “embedded” the left is with antisemitic organizations.
“I think what it really shows is how embedded on the left anti-Israel and antisemitic organizations have become,” Steil said on “Newsline.” “I’m incredibly concerned about the funding structure that Hamas has. This administration has not done enough to limit the funds that are going, in particular, from Iran into Hamas.
“We have legislation that we’re going to be working on to move forward this week, in particular, as it relates to that, but broadly speaking, I think it really shows how the radicalized left his really driven forward an agenda that’s anti-Israel. It’s not surprising to me that those individuals are funding Democratic members of Congress.”
Virginia Attorney General Jason S. Miyares’ office announced Oct. 31 that it was investigating the AJP Educational Foundation, Inc., which is also known as American Muslims for Palestine, for possibly violating Virginia’s charitable solicitation laws by asking for contributions without being registered with the state and using those contributions “for impermissible purpose” like funding terrorists.
The organization put out a statement denying the allegations and accused Miyares of “smearing” them and inciting hate.
“Instead of working to protect the people of Virginia from the wave of Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian hate sweeping across our nation, Jason Miyares is contributing to the hate with tired Islamophobic tropes and promises of a witch hunt straight from the McCarthy-era,” the organization’s statement read. “American Muslims for Palestine is a duly registered non-profit organization that has stood up for justice here and abroad for over a decade in compliance with the law.”
Newsmax reported that the organization donated money to all four Democratic Squad members: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., but Steil said he is more concerned about President Joe Biden’s administration not clamping down on overall terrorist funding.
“This administration needs to do far more than they currently are to limit the access to funds to Hamas and other terrorist organizations across the globe,” Steil said. “The fact that this administration allowed millions and billions of dollars to be transferred from South Korea to a bank account in Qatar shows you the lack of concern this administration has as it relates to funding for terrorists.”
Three would-be thieves attempted to break into a “parked and unoccupied government vehicle” in Georgetown late Sunday night, and at least one Secret Service agent assigned to protect a presidential grandaughter fired at them. (Photo: Getty Images)
A Secret Service agent protecting one of President Joe Biden’s five granddaughters shot at three unidentified individuals who were trying to break into a government-owned car in Washington, D.C., just before midnight.
The Secret Service agent was part of a detail assigned to Naomi Biden Neal, 29, who is presidential son Hunter Biden’s oldest daughter and was married at the White House in November.
The three would-be thieves attempted to break into a “parked and unoccupied government vehicle” in the Georgetown neighborhood of Northwest Washington late Sunday night, the Secret Service said in a written statement on the incident. The government vehicle is one used by the Secret Service detail assigned to Naomi Biden Neal. At least one Secret Service agent reported firing at the offenders, although he said he believes “no one was struck.” All three offenders bolted from the scene in a red vehicle, and agents began coordinating a “regional lookout” for them.
The attempted car theft is part of a pandemic of carjackings and car break-ins in the nation’s capital. The Washington Examiner reported that carjackings and other car-related crime increased nearly 250% in the past five years. Such criminal incidents are up 102% since October last year, according to statistics from the Metropolitan Police Department.
The incident involving the Secret Service wasn’t the only such vehicle-related D.C. crime in the past few days. A white Ford F-250 pickup truck with government tags was carjacked at 6 a.m. Monday, less than two miles from the U.S. Capitol building.
Alan Henney, who tweets about D.C. crime, reported that guns were stolen from two different vehicles in Penn Quarter and Chinatown, near Ford’s Theatre and the National Portrait Gallery. He also reported that four people were shot Sunday, one during a carjacking, in Northwest Washington.
Police officers are taking numerous reports of THEFTS FROM AUTOS in #DowntownDC in the past few hours.
This includes: 900 blk H St NW, 800 I St NW, 600 F St NW, 600 E St NW, 600 Mass Ave NW, 600 H St NW.
The drivers of two different Uber vehicles, a Toyota Corolla and a BMW, were carjacked over the weekend. In early October, Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, was carjacked near his home in DC by three men brandishing guns.
The D.C. Council has promoted “soft-on-crime” policies over the past few years, critics argue. In January, the 13-member council passed legislation called the Revised Criminal Code Act to reduce maximum sentences, eliminate most mandatory minimum sentences, and expand “rights to jury trials” for those accused of misdemeanors.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, vetoed the bill. But the council, made up of Democrats except for two independents, overrode it within a week. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, a Democrat, said the bill would “improve public safety and provide long overdue clarity and fairness in our justice system.”
In early March, the U.S. Senate voted to overturn the changes to the D.C. criminal code, with all Republicans and 33 Democrats supporting that. Biden then signed that override into law. Since then, the mayor’s office has begun providing Apple Air Tags, a remote tracking device, to D.C. residents so they could track their car in the event of a carjacking. One victim later told The Washington Post that police officers refused to do anything with the tracking data as her car was being stolen; officers told her, “We can’t pursue.”
D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson told Congress in March that, despite the public’s “perception” that the city is unsafe, “there is not a crime crisis” in the nation’s capital.
After Cuellar was attacked, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, posted that it was “Time to invoke Article I, Section 8, Clause 17” of the U.S. Constitution. The clause gives Congress unilateral authority over the District of Columbia. Lee elaborated, writing: “D.C. is dangerous. Something’s gone terribly wrong here—for far too long. Congress has the sole power to make D.C.’s laws, and must intervene.”
A Heritage Foundation report by legal fellows Zack Smith and Cully Stimson found that the District of Columbia’s effort to rewrite its criminal code benefited criminals at the expense of victims and public safety. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s news outlet.)
Heritage’s July 12 report called on Congress to “enact commonsense solutions” such as those that helped “drive down crime rates in the 1990s.”
Minnesota Teachers Alliance candidates are getting big wins over Teachers Union candidates because MTA is focused on children’s education over teachers’ benefits. Minnesota Parents Alliance touts wins in key school board races.
Despite going up against one of the most powerful political organizations in the state, Minnesota Parents Alliance-backed school board candidates still claimed key victories in Tuesday night’s elections.
Minnesota Parents Alliance (MPA) caught Education Minnesota off guard last election cycle, according to Cristine Trooien, executive director of MPA. MPA-backed candidates won 49 school board seats statewide in 2022.
“They were ready for us this time, and we still won seats in key districts,” she said.
Systemic Racism is something you hear thrown around a lot lately, used mainly to bully society into subverting the Constitution and attacking meritocracy without little evidence that it actually exists.
A Black president elected twice, countless Black police officers and state and local Black officials hired across America beg to differ with that hypothesis.
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 Trump.
REPORT: The San Francisco homeless population has "miraculously" gone missing as President Biden & Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to meet in the liberal city.
Remarkable!
The typical drug addicts & homeless who wander the city like zombies have disappeared as 20,000… pic.twitter.com/2iDpl4FHCG
In memoriam: On November 10 Amanda Blackburn, who was 3 mths pregnant, was at home w/ her sleeping son when a group of 3 men who were burglarizing houses arrived at Amanda's home. Larry Taylor shot Amanda twice in the upper body & then in the head. She was found by her husband. pic.twitter.com/SHrPSUjYhx
SEE IT: Just last July, @SpeakerJohnson said, "The evidence now shows that the first family is hopelessly corrupt. The facts are truly ALARMING." Now, he's singing a different song. WATCH pic.twitter.com/t4gkVEvrQF
Every Person In America Needs To Watch This Video ‼️ On The Record Testimonies That Our Elections Are Being Stolen. Two Affidavits Provided To Congress “Work to change the results of the United States election” Audio Evidence Acquired From Inside The CIA & State Department
Palestinian grandmother on Hamas TV says Jihad against Jews is the top priority of the Palestinian people. She is ready to sacrifice all her 17 children and 65 grandchildren as martyrs for the cause of killing Jews and taking over Jewish land. pic.twitter.com/JgoITt3Hl8
Insurrection: Hamas supporters occupied Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s Capitol office longer than the J6 protesters – are any of them in jail? pic.twitter.com/AtEW3LToJa
I've deployed 3 times to the war zones in the Middle East/Africa. I know how serious the threat from Islamist jihadists is. The Dem elite not only don’t care, they’ve become apologists for Islamist jihadists. They leave our borders open which we know are being exploited by these… pic.twitter.com/86hlE6cHFv
Must see: This is how Hamas places its ammunition and rockets inside schools 👇
It's not that they don't care about their children; they intentionally do want those children to get killed, to blame Israel 🤯 pic.twitter.com/BYWPyZvkPL
VICE just ran this piece celebrating a 6-year-old drag queen. His parents claim he knew since he was 4 that he wanted to do this adult themed entertainment.
He was taught as a toddler to dress up as a girl and perform provocatively for adults as they hand him cash tips. pic.twitter.com/bDhKZGeQID
BREAKING: Arrests have been made in a high-profile s*x ring that involved government contractors, professors, military officers, executives at pharmaceutical companies and more.
Will they be protected like Jeffrey Epstein's clients?
🔥🚨EXCLUSIVE: On June 6, 2023, Diana Álvarez Ramíre uploaded this video of this secret tunnel under her hotel room through her closet. Many viewers claim that it could have been used for spying or human trafficking.
🔥🚨EXCLUSIVE: On June 11, 2022, this man uploaded this video of a secret underground tunnel inside his Miami Days Inn hotel room to TikTok.
On July 12, 2023 it was announced that several hotels were being sued for their connections to human trafficking. Days inn was one of… pic.twitter.com/nHuBoIKl5v
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) November 5, 2023
Important video on the history of the people you know as “Palestinians” being kicked out of Arabic nations.
Democrats have slowly changed what we consider normal in America. They have allowed for those that would need mental help to roam free under the disguise of being ‘bold’ and ‘different’ Democrats created the ideology that being different is independence. There is power in having… pic.twitter.com/Gok6Hk35qK
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) October 26, 2023
An unsettling video shows the moment that a Florida man mowed down two deputies in an alleged “ambush” attack, according to police. The cops were critically injured, and one officer may need to have his leg amputated.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office stated that officers responded to a 911 call from a mother who said she was in fear of her son being violent. The mother allegedly told police that her son, Ralph Bouzy, was suffering from a mental health crisis.
Shortly before 8 a.m. on Thursday, officers arrived at the residence in Brandon, Florida. Deputies encountered Bouzy in the driver’s seat of a car in the driveway of his home, according to a news release from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. Officers reportedly assured the 28-year-old Florida man that they were there to help. However, Bouzy refused to speak to the police and quickly drove away.
Bouzy drove back to the scene just minutes later in a Nissan Altima. Two deputies were standing beside a police SUV, and video shows Bouzy barrel into the deputies – pinning them to the patrol vehicle.
As the deputies were strewn on the pavement after suffering excruciating injuries, Bouzy calmly got out of his vehicle and walked toward another officer who was not hit by the vehicle. Police bodycam video shows Bouzy refusing to adhere to commands from the officers.
Police bodycam footage shows a deputy deploy a Taser on Bouzy, which causes him to fall to the pavement. Another officer apprehended the suspect while he was on the ground.
Bouzy was arrested and charged with three counts of attempted murder on a law enforcement officer.
Law enforcement noted that Bouzy has an extensive criminal history, with three felonies and 14 misdemeanors. In 2017, Bouzy was involved in a hit-and-run in which he punched a deputy in the face, according to WFLA.
“There is no other way to describe this other than an ambush,” said Sheriff Chad Chronister. “Our deputies put their lives on the line every day to protect this community and what happened today makes me absolutely sick.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that he and his wife, Casey, are “praying for the deputies who were seriously injured during this ambush in Brandon.”
“We don’t tolerate attacks on our law enforcement officers in Florida,” DeSantis declared. “The coward who brutally attacked these deputies will be punished.”
Corporal Carlos Brito, 39, and Deputy Manuel Santos, 31, suffered critical injuries and are receiving medical treatment at Tampa General Hospital. Santos has a bilateral break in his leg with extensive ligament damage that will require surgery.
Brito’s injuries are so severe that his leg might have to be amputated. Brito’s leg was crushed in between the two vehicles to the point that a piece of his femur bone was stuck in the car. A surgeon requested that the bone be dislodged from the vehicle and brought to the hospital to help save his leg.
Chronister said, “Deputy Brito is awake and surrounded by his family. The surgeons are monitoring his progress and continue to do everything possible to save his leg.”
“Corporal Brito and Deputy Santos came to work today committed to making a difference in their community,” Chronister added. “Because of this man’s deliberate and intentional actions, their lives, and their family’s lives are changed forever.”
(WARNING: Graphic video)
𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆: 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐂 𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎#teamHCSO is releasing surveillance and body camera footage from today's ambush of two deputies in Brandon. Both deputies are currently at Tampa General Hospital undergoing surgery for critical injuries.
Top Stories • Appeals Court Rules Hospital Can Yank Baby Girl’s Life Support Without Parents’ Consent • Joe Biden Confronted With Pictures of Babies Killed in Abortions • Donald Trump Slams Democrats on Abortion: “They Support Killing Babies in the Ninth Month” • Abortion Activists Spent $67 Million Buying Ohio Vote, Had 3-1 Advantage on TV Ads
More Pro-Life News • Ohio Senator J.D. Vance: Keep Fighting Abortion, “Giving Up on the Unborn is Not an Option” • Speaker Mike Johnson Celebrates His Christian Faith, Helps Him Lead Congress • Veterans Support Tommy Tuberville’s Battle to Stop Joe Biden’s Military Abortion Funding • She Was in the Middle of the Abortion But Changed Her Mind and Save Her Baby’s Life • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
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Last week in Denver, several hundred people gathered in person for the Genspect conference, “The Bigger Picture,” while many more from all over the world joined online. Genspect’s founder, Stella O’Malley, has the intentional strategy of hosting their annual conference at the same time and in the same location as the annual World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) meeting.
Last year they gathered in Killarney, Ireland, when WPATH met there, and next year they will host their gathering in Lisbon, Portugal, piggybacking off of the WPATH dates and location. It’s an interesting strategy offering WPATH attendees to come to Genspect’s sessions for free whereby they can engage with a different perspective, as well as putting WPATH on notice that there is a growing movement of those who want to offer a “healthy approach to sex and gender.”
I was unable to attend their gathering last year in Ireland, but when O’Malley invited me to speak at the Denver conference, I was happy to accept. The speaker’s list was a who’s who of those fighting gender ideology, some for many years.
On the Front Lines of the Gender Wars
Michael Shellenberger opened the conference with a bold claim that time is up for WPATH and that soon he would release his “WPATH files” on his Substack, where he will show the receipts he has on the pseudoscientific standards of care and practices of WPATH. Amid robust applauses, attendees were encouraged to post on X using #TimesUpWPATH. A lifelong member of the Democrat Party, he lamented how far the left has fallen from the principles that drew him to that party.
Highlights for me were hearing from the brilliant Leor Sapir on “Institutional Capture (How gender ideology has been embedded within America).” Sapir chronicled Obama’s 2010 anti-bullying initiative, which was at first sex-based directed, and then expanded in 2011 to include gender language in the antibullying initiative.
Following this was the 2015 letter from James Ferg Cadima in the Office of Civil Rights, stating, “The Department’s Title IX regulations permit schools to provide sex-segregated restrooms, locker rooms, shower facilities, housing, athletic teams, and single-sex classes under certain circumstances. When a school elects to separate or treat students differently on the basis of sex in those situations, a school generally must treat transgender students consistent with their gender identity.”
Wonder how America got to this place? Perhaps a well-intentioned initiative to combat bullying quickly led us down the path where boys can have access to spaces that were once protected for girls.
Evolutionary biologist Colin Wright and scientist Heather Heying did an excellent job, patiently and thoroughly stating the obvious, that there remain only two sexes no matter what others assert. They marveled at the fact that even once-trusted scientific journals are now claiming that “The idea of two sexes is overly simplistic.”
Two mothers, January Littlejohn and Erin Friday, gave impassioned speeches about their daughters who believed the lie that they were born in the wrong body. Littlejohn spoke about her daughter’s middle school working behind their back to encourage this idea and talked about her decision to bring forth a lawsuit, restoring rights and protections to parents over their own children.
Friday, an attorney by training who works with Our Duty, had many in tears using Hans Christian Anderson’s story of “The Snow Queen” to parallel her own efforts to save her daughter from the evils of gender ideology. She is a force in the state of California, fighting laws passed by Gov. Gavin Newsom while trying to raise funds to get initiatives on the ballot to put before voters which will protect children and parental rights. She appealed to the audience that if the transing of children can be stopped in California this will have an enormous positive effect across the whole country.
Stories of Destransitioning and Whistleblowers
Any conference like the one hosted by Genspect naturally needs to include the voices of those most harmed by “gender affirmation therapy,” those who transitioned and have now detransitioned once they realized their decision to transition didn’t fix any of their mental health issues, and as is often the case, made things worse. Chloe Cole and Prisha Mosley both spoke about their deeply personal experiences. Many other detransitioners attended the conference as well. It was wonderful to see how their tragic stories have brought them together in the spirit of camaraderie.
And who doesn’t love a good whistleblower story like Jamie Reed? Reed blew up the internet back in February with her expose, “I thought I was Saving Trans Kids. Now I’m Blowing the Whistle.”
Since 2018, Reed served as a case manager at Washington University, in their Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, until she came to the realization that she could no longer condone the treatment children were receiving. Her remarks at Genspect were a rallying cry for the political left to wake up and stop harming children. As a lifelong leftist, she implored the audience not to give up on the left, but to help them return to principles.
The title of my own talk — “Transgender Assisted Reproduction: where is this going?” — was a convergence on my years of work in assisted reproductive technology and how this technology will most likely be needed by trans-identifying people, especially children who are fast-tracked to puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries.
When I first found out that children were being offered fertility preservation procedures, knowing
that “gender affirmation care” harms natural and normal fertility, I began speaking up and producing documentary films about the lack of medical ethics and evidence-based medicine supporting these practices. Pre-puberty, children are offered to cryopreserve their ovarian or testicular tissue because their gametes, (ova and sperm) are not yet mature. Post-puberty, the child will have mature ova and sperm, so they are offered to freeze and bank their gametes.
The data is clear. Most assisted reproductive technology cycles fail. Data is coming out about the harms and risks to children being created by these technologies. The maxim, “First, Do No Harm” is being ignored in offering hope of future children, when in fact this is considered an experimental procedure with no data on this population. From the audience’s reactions and comments, it was clear that this is a whole new level of doubling down on harming children to advance an ideology that ignores biological reality, evidence-based medicine, and medical ethics.
Times up, WPATH.
Jennifer Lahl, MA, BSN, RN, is a filmmaker and founder of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network. She is on X @JenniferLahl
Harvard Law professor emeritus and author Alan Dershowitz harshly criticizes former President Barack Obama and college students for their anti-Israel comments and sentiments. Expressing outrage over former President Barack Obama’s call for an end to Israeli “occupation,” Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz expanded on why he’s never talking to the Democratic president again.
“I think he always had a deep hatred of Israel in his heart. He hid it very well. He called me to the Oval Office and he said to me, ‘Alan, you’ve known me for a long time. You know I have Israel’s back.’ I didn’t realize he meant to paint a target on it,” Dershowitz said Friday on “Mornings with Maria.”
“He’s never been supportive of Israel. And finally, his true feelings have come out now that he’s no longer president and doesn’t have to be elected,” the professor continued. “He has contributed enormously to the problem because he is respected among young people. And if he says the occupation is unbearable and that anything can be done to stop it, he is encouraging people to engage in their antisemitic, anti-Israel and anti-American attitudes. He should be ashamed of himself. He should apologize, but he won’t.”
Dershowitz’s commentary comes after he claimed Thursday that any relationship with Obama is “over” following the 44th president’s onstage statements about the Israel-Hamas war.
Obama spoke at the Obama Foundation’s Democracy Forum last Thursday, where he called for a two-state solution and an end to the “occupation,” while not clarifying what occupation he meant.
Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz, left, called for former President Barack Obama to apologize for his Israeli occupation comments on “Mornings with Maria.” (Fox News)
“All of this is taking place against the backdrop of decades of failure to achieve a durable peace for both Israelis and Palestinians,” the former president told the forum audience.
He continued: “One that is based on genuine security for Israel, a recognition of its right to exist, and a peace that is based on an end of the occupation and the creation of a viable state and self-determination for the Palestinian people.”
Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz and political activist Cornel West join ‘Hannity’ to sound off on major disagreements.
The Harvard professor on Friday accused Obama of lying “through his teeth” about what the former president called an “unbearable” occupation of Gaza.
“To compare those disputed claims with the rapes, beheadings, burnings, kidnappings, it’s just obscene and despicable,” Dershowitz said. “And what it does is it lends support to those students basically, who are saying, ‘Well, what Hamas really did was not so bad… It was in response to the occupation.’”
“Although he said that the attacks by Hamas are not justifiable,” Dershowitz added, “he made them justifiable because if life really is unbearable, as it’s not, then you can do anything you want.”
Harvard University graduate student Shabbos Kestenbaum calls for a ‘moral reckoning’ across college campuses and the U.S.
Obama is further “pouring gas on the fire” of a serious matter, the Harvard professor argued, which could fuel more antisemitic sentiment nationwide.
“What he did was contribute to the risks to not only Israelis, but Americans, because it’s coming to a theater near you,” Dershowitz told host Maria Bartiromo. “If Hamas is not stopped in its tracks from doing the terrorist acts, they will bring them to the United States.”
The Obama Foundation did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The No. 3 House Republican leader is wading into the dramatic New York civil trial of former President Donald Trump, accusing the judge involved of exhibiting “bias” and “bizarre behavior” in the courtroom. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., filed an ethics complaint against Judge Arthur Engoron on Friday morning in a letter to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct.
“I write today to express my serious concerns about the inappropriate bias and judicial intemperance shown by Judge Arthur F. Engoron in New York’s lawsuit against President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization,” Stefanik said in her letter.
“This judge’s bizarre behavior has no place in our judicial system, where Judge Engoron is not honoring the defendant’s rights to due process and a fair trial,” the letter continued.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., is going after New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron via an ethics complaint.
“These serious concerns are exacerbated by the fact that the defendant is the leading candidate for President of the United States, and it appears the judicial system is being politicized to affect the outcome of the campaign,” Stefanik wrote.
This historic trial over whether the Trump Organization and its top officials knowingly misrepresented the value of multiple real estate holdings over the years has seen Trump and his three adult children all testify in a downtown New York City courtroom this month.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James brought the civil case, which is now in non-jury trial in Engoron’s court. Trump allies have accused Engoron of acting with bias from the beginning of the trial, when cameras caught him smiling when they were allowed into the courtroom in those initial moments.
New York Attorney General Letitia James brought a civil case against the Trump Organization. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Stefanik cited that and other reported incidents in her Friday letter, as well as a limited gag order Engoron imposed on Trump and his lawyers, citing a deluge of threats to himself and his staff since the trial started.
“Judge Engoron has gone on to gag and fine President Trump for merely criticizing Judge Engoron’s law clerk, which is core political speech protected by the First Amendment,” Stefanik said. “If anyone in America must have the constitutional right to speak out against the judge, his staff, the witnesses, or the process, it’s a defendant going through a process he believes is politicized and weaponized against him.”
She also lashed out at him for valuing Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida “between $18 and 27.6 million,” a number Stefanik and the ex-president’s allies have called implausibly low.
Former President Donald Trump was in court in downtown Manhattan earlier this month.
“This is yet another example why Judge Engoron demonstrated bad judgment by keeping this case, instead of sending it to the expert judges in the Commercial Division where it belongs,” she said. “Judge Engoron’s bizarre and biased behavior is making New York’s judicial system a laughingstock.”
Trump himself has attacked Engoron on his social media app Truth Social, most recently accusing him of colluding with James against him.
When asked for comment on Stefanik’s letter, Commission Administrator Robert H. Tembeckjian said: “All matters before the Commission on Judicial Conduct are confidential according to law, unless and until a judge is found to have committed ethical misconduct, and a decision to that effect is issued.”
Fox News Digital also reached out to the New York State Unified Court System for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Elizabeth Elkind is a reporter for Fox News Digital focused on Congress as well as the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and politics. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
The third Republican presidential primary debate, hosted by NBC News, witnessed a dramatic viewership decline with just over 6 million viewers tuning in, marking the lowest audience turnout of the current campaign season and a 45% drop in viewers from the first debate. The drop in Wednesday’s debate was blamed on RNC chair Ronna McDaniel, with GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy criticizing her handling of the forums and calling for her to resign.
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“We’ve got [NBC’s] Kristen Welker here,” Ramaswamy said during the debate.
“Do you think the Democrats would actually hire [Fox News host] Greg Gutfeld to host a Democratic debate? They wouldn’t do it.”
McDaniel organized the presidential debates and reportedly offended former President Donald Trump by giving Fox News control over the first two forums. She has awarded the primary debate hosting position for the third and fourth debates to liberal media outlets, including NBC. Ramaswamy made waves challenging McDaniels during the debate.
“For that matter, Ronna, if you want to come on stage tonight, you want to look the GOP voters in the eye and tell them you resign, I will turn over [and] yield my time to you,” he said.
“Think about who’s moderating this debate. This should be Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, and Elon Musk. We’d have 10 times the viewership asking questions that GOP primary voters actually care about.”
NBC’s debate attracted 6.8 million viewers on linear television, with 1.3 million falling within the 25-54 age demographic, according to Nielsen Media Research. Wednesday night’s audience figure was lower than the 9 million viewers who tuned in for the second GOP presidential primary debate in September, which was broadcast on Fox Business and Fox News.
The third GOP debate was also significantly lower than the nearly 12.8 million who watched the inaugural debate on Fox News back in August — as that event saw a 50% decline in ratings from the first debate of the 2016 campaign.
With then-candidate Trump attending, the Fox News 2015 prime-time GOP debate drew a record 24 million viewers.
Ramaswamy urged McDaniel to step down during this week’s GOP debate, blaming her for recent party losses.
“Let’s speak the truth,” Ramaswamy said. “Since Ronna McDaniel took over as chairwoman of the RNC in 2017, we have lost in 2018, 2020, 2022, no red wave that never came. We got trounced last night in 2023. And I think that we have to have accountability in our party.”
Ramaswamy’s call for McDaniel’s resignation drew strong grassroots support.
“What, exactly, does Ronna McDaniel do besides lose? The only thing she SHOULD do is RESIGN. Effective immediately,” media contributor Monica Crowley wrote on social media platform X on Tuesday.
“If Matt Gaetz can vacate Kevin McCarthy, I think it’s time for President Trump to vacate Ronna McDaniel,” social media maven Rogan O’Handley wrote on his DC_Draino X account Wednesday. “Only he has the power to do it at this point.”
The fourth GOP primary debate is scheduled for Dec. 6 in Alabama, shifting from mainstream media to liberal cable.
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
“Hamas has been hit hard; it is taking blow after blow,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told reporters on Thursday night.
“Our soldiers are progressing and succeeding in their missions. I will repeat this again tonight — there will be no ceasefire without the return of hostages. We will take any action necessary for this,” said Gallant.
“Right now, there are [Israeli] children in Gaza. Some of them saw their own parents die in front of their eyes. Savages have kidnapped them and are holding them hostage. We will not stop fighting until we bring our children home. As a father, I wish to ask the whole world — what kind of father would stop searching for his children? I see these children as my own. I will not stop fighting, and I will not stop searching for them until I reach them,” added the defense minister.
Earlier Thursday, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Israel had agreed to observe daily four-hour “humanitarian pauses” in its operation against Hamas terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip. Gallant noted that the Israel Defense Forces are currently operating “in the heart of Gaza City. They are on the outskirts of Shati; they are near the Shifa Hospital; they are very close to the Gaza port.
“The terrorists located in the basements of Shifa [Hospital] tonight, can hear the thundering sound of our tanks and bulldozers. They [terrorists] hear it underground; they hear it and tremble with fear,” said Gallant.
The minister revealed that the military has started employing new methods to reach Hamas terrorists located in attack tunnels, as well as to eliminate the subterranean passageways.
“This will continue and improve in the coming days,” Gallant said. “Our forces are working to find unique solutions for these missions, they are working and succeeding. I repeat: We will reach every person who has acted against the citizens of Israel — anyone who kidnapped and harmed women and children. We will get to them all, whether it takes a week, a month, a year, and if necessary, even years. We will not let anyone go. We will eliminate them [terrorists] all, they have no place under the sun.”
Gallant then pivoted to the north, where Hezbollah “tries to harm the citizens of Israel, it tries and takes blow after blow. Our forces in the northern arena are prepared, the pilots are sitting in the cockpits, ready for any command, prepared and facing the north.
“This is the most justified and righteous war that the people of Israel have experienced since the establishment of the state 75 years ago,” said Gallant. “We are fighting against evil; we are fighting against an enemy who is trying to harm us; we are fighting against those who wanted to show murder and brutality in order to deter us.”
House Republicans want President Joe Biden to “challenge Beijing” when he meets Chinese President Xi Jinping next week in San Francisco. The White House confirmed Friday that Biden and Xi will meet Wednesday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. During their first meeting in nearly a year, they will discuss trade, Taiwan, and managing fraught U.S.-Chinese relations.
Republicans on the House Select Committee on China sent Biden a letter Wednesday urging the president to “challenge Beijing” to prove that it wants to improve relations with the U.S., according to multiple media reports.
The items, in the letter, that Biden should demand from Xi included:
Release all U.S. citizens deemed wrongly detained in China.
Cease all military operations in Taiwan’s air space.
Establish know-your-customer requirements on shipments of fentanyl ingredients.
Release and drop charges against Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai and others held by China.
End near-collisions between Chinese and U.S. warships.
“If Xi fails to deliver, your administration must end its pursuit of zombie engagement and shift gears to a more assertive posture in order to defend American interests and values,” committee Chair Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., wrote, NBC News reported.
“Despite repeated concessions from Washington over the past year, Beijing has made none and continues to threaten core U.S. interests,” Gallagher said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“At this week’s meeting, the administration should walk away from the table if the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] proves unwilling to address even the most basic issues in the relationship, such as immediately releasing all Americans wrongfully detained in the PRC [People’s Republic of China], ceasing dangerous and unjustifiable intercepts of American forces, and halting operations in Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone east of the Median Line.”
GOP members on the China committee said they agree with the administration’s “desire to deter a devastating conflict” with China but expressed concerns that the U.S. has made too many concessions while not demanding enough. Republicans criticized Biden for not sanctioning Chinese officials for the “erosion of Hong Kong’s authority” or for its treatment of Uyghur Muslims.
Biden and Xi last met in November 2022 in Bali, Indonesia, at a summit of the Group of 20 economies.
Covenant School shooter Audrey Hale’s manifesto suggests she may have taken testosterone ahead of the March 27 shooting at the Presbyterian school in Nashville. Pictured: A screen grab captured from a video shows a heavily armed Hale, 28, a former student there, as she enters the school that day. (Photo: Metropolitan Nashville Police Department/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
The vast majority of mass shooters are male, and male biochemistry helps to explain why. Yet the person who opened fire at Nashville’s Covenant School was biologically female.
Higher amounts of the hormone testosterone give men larger muscles, more significant skeletal muscle, and a higher percentage of red blood cells. Testosterone also tends to give men unwarranted self-confidence and aggression, a dangerous cocktail for unmoored youth.
According to the Justice Department’s research, published in February 2022, 97.7% of mass shooters in the U.S. have been male. Thankfully, the Justice Department seems to have acknowledged the biological truth—at least for now—despite President Joe Biden’s radical advocacy of transgender ideology.
On March 27, however, a 28-year-old female by the name of Audrey Elizabeth Hale opened fire at The Covenant School, a Presbyterian school in Nashville. Before police shot and killed her, Hale killed three children and three adults—Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, all 9; Cynthia Peak, 61; Katherine Koonce, 60; and Mike Hill, 61, according to Fox News.
What explains this female mass shooter? News reports give some indication, although three pages of her manifesto, recently revealed, also shine a light on the situation. Although Hale was female, she reportedly identified as male and went by the name Aiden.
Police discovered a manifesto at the scene of the shooting, but unlike in so many other mass shootings where authorities publish a shooter’s white nationalist screeds almost immediately, authorities sought to keep Hale’s manifesto secret.
Nashville Police Chief John Drake begrudgingly confirmed that the three pages published Monday by commentator Stephen Crowder did indeed come from Hale’s manifesto.
“I am greatly disturbed by today’s unauthorized release of three pages of writings from the Covenant shooter,” Drake wrote. The police chief announced an investigation into the leak, noting that the court system has control of the shooter’s journals due to pending litigation.
The three pages revealed the sick mind of a mass shooter. In them, Hale expresses hatred for white people, whom she refers to as “crackers.”
“Kill those kids!!! Those crackers. Going to private fancy schools with those fancy khakis and sports backpacks with their daddies mustangs and convertibles. F— you little shits,” she wrote. “I wish to shoot your weak ass d—s with your mop yellow hair, wanna kill all you little crackers!!! Bunch of little faggots with your white privileges. F— you faggots.”
These remarks echo the Left’s ideological talking points on “white privilege” and reveal a disdain for others based on their skin color. This hatred of white people echoes the Marxist claim that America is institutionally racist, so justice demands stripping whites of their “privilege” and elevating racial minorities rather than securing a level playing field for all races. Other statements reveal the shooter’s emotional state—a steely determination despite strong anxiety.
“Can’t believe I’m doing this, but I’m ready … I hope my victims aren’t,” she wrote. “God let my wrath take over my anxiety.”
This anger, resolve, and hatred hint at something the coroner would not confirm—it seems likely that Audrey Hale had taken cross-sex hormones, probably testosterone, before the shooting.
Although female mass shooters are extremely rare, if a female who thinks of herself as male takes testosterone, it likely will embolden her. This drug does not excuse her evil massacre, but it can help explain why a female would commit such heinous murders.
It also should open up a debate about the wisdom of prescribing these experimental, life-altering drugs based on a person’s claimed gender identity. After all, the Food and Drug Administration hasn’t approved so-called puberty-blocking drugs for minors or cross-sex hormones for adults for “treating” gender dysphoria (the persistent and painful condition of identifying with the gender opposite one’s biological sex), due to the lack of adequate data on their effects.
The medical industry has rushed to endorse these experimental treatments for adults and for children, who arguably cannot give informed consent to interventions that may sterilize them and will put them on a path to mutilating their bodies. Some who went under the knife to “affirm” a transgender identity later have rejected that identity, become detransitioners, and filed lawsuits against the doctors who led them to mutilate their bodies.
Many European countries have moved away from such interventions for young people. Florida has begun developing standards of care that emphasize biological sex over gender identity. Biden and much of the American medical establishment continue to advocate transgender interventions, however.
Although young men struggle to control themselves with increased testosterone during puberty (and after it, if we’re being honest), it stands to reason that young women who suddenly receive higher concentrations of the hormone would face a different kind of struggle. Does increased testosterone make women more likely to lash out violently?
It seems America’s elites want to silence any debate on these drugs before it begins. Perhaps that explains why we still don’t know, eight months after the shooting, whether Audrey Hale was on testosterone.
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The world is asking for a cease-fire. We had a cease-fire until the Palestinians slaughtered 1400 innocent Israeli citizens in a barbaric, unprovoked sneak attack.
All people, including Israel, have the right to defend themselves despite what the woke communist brainwashed left in America. How anyone can think this bloodbath of innocent men, women, and children is justified is mind-blowing to any reasonable human being.
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 Trump.
Pressure is mounting on Democrats to sideline President Joe Biden as a candidate and bring in new blood ahead of the 2024 election. After all, confidence in the octogenarian president’s ability to lead continues to plumb new lows. A New York Times/Siena Poll published Sunday revealed that 71% of respondents agreed he is too old; 54% of 2020 Biden voters similarly indicated he should pack it in, having likely taken note of his mobility troubles, apparent difficulty completing sentences, and tendency to repeat himself.
The trouble for Democrats is that the individual widely regarded to be a viable stand-in for Biden is apparently also deeply unpopular. A new UC Berkeley Institute of Government Studies poll co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times revealed Tuesday that California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s approval dropped to an all-time low last month: 49% of the 6,342 California registered voters polled said they disapproved of Newsom’s performance as governor.
Newsom’s approval rating was 44%, down 11 points from February.
By way of comparison, the latest Economist/YouGov poll had Biden’s approval rating at 43% and his disapproval rating at 54%.
“He’s kind of taking on a new persona,” Mike DiCamillo, director of the Berkeley poll, told the Times. “He’s no longer just the governor of California. He’s a spokesperson for the national party and basically voters are being asked to react to that.”
Newsom has long been suspected of harboring ambitions of taking the White House in 2024 despite his public denial and rhetorical support for Biden. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.) suggested this week that Newsom is running a shadow campaign, even if he doesn’t have the “guts” to admit as much. The 56-year-old Democrat has ostensibly been working to elevate his national profile in recent months. In addition to renting billboards in red states criticizing conservatives’ support for the unborn and the Second Amendment, he has been making noise about climate change and glad-handing with foreign dignitaries, including the dictatorial leader of the world’s greatest national polluter.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Newsom has seen a drop in popularity among every major voter category. Whereas 12% of Democrats disapproved of his performance in February, 25% of Democrats have now soured on him.
While Newsom may have chased away some support by flouting his own draconian pandemic restrictions during the pandemic, dining out at a fancy restaurant while masked Californians struggled to make do, Republican political consultant Rob Stutzman told the Times that concerns about the economy, crime, and homelessness are likely the major drivers of Newsom’s growing unpopularity.
Whereas FBI crime statistics for 2022 showed violent crime dropping nationwide, it spiked sharply in California, reported the Center Square. The violent crime rate per 100,000 jumped from 481.2 to 499.5 under Newsom’s watch, whereas it dropped from 387 to 380.7 nationwide.
According to Neighborhood Scout, the likelihood of becoming a victim of a property crime in Newsom’s California is 1 in 43 and the chances of falling victim to a violent crime are 1 in 227. In the cities, the outlook is far bleaker. The chances of becoming a victim of a violent crime in Sacramento are 1 in 148; in Los Angeles, 1 in 135; in San Francisco, 1 in 186; and in Oakland, 1 in 80.
California streets are not only dangerous, but often crowded by homeless encampments. Despite spending $17.5 billion to combat homelessness between 2018 and 2022, the state’s homeless population grew, such that there are now over 170,000 homeless people on the streets, reported CNN.
As for economic concerns, the unemployment rate in California as of July was roughly 4.6%, leaving Newsom’s state ranked 49th in the country.
“I think the real wake-up call is how dramatically Democrat voters seem to be shifting underneath him,” Stutzman told the Times. “I’m not surprised his numbers are down. I’m surprised his numbers are down that far. He’s clearly upside down.”
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School buses with children arrive at Woodmont Baptist Church to be reunited with their families after a mass shooting at The Covenant School on March 27, 2023, in Nashville, Tennessee. According to initial reports, three students and three adults were killed by a trans-identified 28-year-old woman. The shooter was killed by police responding to the scene. | Seth Herald/Getty Images
The Nashville Police Department has suspended seven detectives amid an ongoing investigation into the unauthorized disclosure of documents written by Nashville Christian school shooter Audrey Hale in which she vowed to “kill those kids.”
Department representative Don Aaron told the outlet that the move is solely to preserve the integrity of the investigation and is not a punitive action; the names of the detectives have not been disclosed.
“Seven individuals are on administrative assignment (absolutely non-punitive) to protect the integrity of the active, progressing investigation. All seven have full police power. We are not identifying any of the seven by name. Not fair to them,” Aaron said Wednesday afternoon.
The writings have been sealed since the March 27 attack when 28-year-old Hale, a trans-identifying individual, opened fire at The Covenant School in Green Hills, killing Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all 9 years old, and Cynthia Peak, 61; Katherine Koonce, 60; and Mike Hill, 61. Hale was shot and killed by police just minutes after launching her attack.
An anonymous source reportedly approached Crowder’s investigative team, offering a glimpse at Hale’s writings through a text conversation that purportedly involved a Nashville detective. After verification, Crowder released the writings.
Hale’s writings expressed a strong bias against white individuals, particularly those seen as privileged, and left a detailed schedule of the day of the shooting.
“Kill those kids!!!” a leaked page of the manifesto reads. “Those cr*ckers going to private fancy schools with those fancy khakis and sports backpacks, with their daddies [sic] Mustangs and convertibles. F*** you little sh**s. I wish to shoot you weaka** d***s w/your mop yellow hair. Wanna kill all you little cr*ckers!!! Bunch of little f***ots with your white privileges. F*** you f***ots.”
The pages also contained passages like “I can’t believe I’m doing this, but I’m ready. I hope my victims aren’t” and “It’s gonna go quick … I hope I have a high death county.”
The Nashville police had previously indicated they would publish Hale’s writings post-investigation but have postponed due to legal challenges. The three leaked pages of the manifesto would only represent a tiny portion of Hale’s writings; the shooter reportedly left behind at least 20 journals, a suicide note and a memoir, according to court filings, which were recovered at the crime scene and at her parents’ home.
Responses to the leak have been polarizing, with some, including presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, applauding its release.
“Crowder has done a service in breaking the Nashville shooter’s manifesto. It simply cannot be that every time a mass shooter’s manifesto boosts favored media narratives, the manifesto is released — and that when it doesn’t, as here, it gets buried,” Shapiro wrote on Twitter.
“If the shooter had targeted black children based on white supremacy, the manifesto would have leaked immediately. But the shooter targeted the school because of ‘white privilege.’ So they tried to memory-hole the whole incident, and retcon the narrative to ‘gun violence.’”
Others, including parents of Covenant School students and local politicians, criticized the move.
Brent Leatherwood, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, and a parent of three children who attend The Covenant School, slammed Crowder for releasing the pages.
“The community, the school, [the] families who have already suffered so much, were left yet again to deal with this terror,” he said on Monday, according NBC affiliate WSMV.
Leatherwood called the individual who leaked the pages to Crowder, someone he said was likely a law enforcement member, a “viper.”
Shortly after the pages were released, Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell said he directed Metro Nashville Law Director Wally Dietz “to initiate an investigation into how these images could have been released.”
“I am deeply concerned with the safety, security, and well-being of the Covenant families and all Nashvillians who are grieving,” O’Connell said in a statement.
The chair of the House Oversight Committee issued a slew of subpoenas on Wednesday, including to Hunter Biden and James Biden. Additional subpoenas, as well as requests for transcribed interviews, were served on other Biden family members and business associates. These investigative steps are solid, but the House committees charged with the Joe Biden impeachment inquiry need to issue subpoenas for the witnesses and documents Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, not-so-subtly suggested late last month.
“I’ve obtained the names of 25 DOJ and FBI personnel to interview at a future date,” Grassley wrote in a late-October letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray concerning the latest details the Iowa senator uncovered related to obstruction of the Biden-family corruption investigation. While the House Oversight Committee is understandably focused on unraveling the extent of foreign influence-peddling, the House should not ignore the second half of the scandal: the DOJ, FBI, and now the Biden administration’s cover-up of the scandal and their cover-up of the cover-up.
Grassley has been focused on that aspect of the scandal for several years, raising concerns “about political considerations infecting the decision-making process at the Justice Department and FBI.” Having heard from several whistleblowers about the scope of the obstruction, Grassley has said that if their allegations are true, it would establish the DOJ and FBI have been “institutionally corrupted to their very core.”
The House has followed several leads Grassley developed. The most significant was related to the FD-1023 summary of a “highly credible” confidential human source’s (CHS) reporting that Burisma paid Hunter and Joe Biden each $5 million in bribes, which Grassley released earlier this year.
More recently, Grassley revealed that the Foreign Influence Task Force used an assessment opened by FBI Supervisory Intelligence Analyst Brian Auten to mine FBI field offices for derogatory information related to the Bidens. The FBI then falsely branded the derogatory information as Russian disinformation, closing out the sources. That revelation was but one of many contained in the seven-page letter the Iowa senator penned to the AG and FBI director on Oct. 24, noting he had a list of some 20-plus agents to interview.
The House committees charged with overseeing the impeachment inquiry need to dissect that letter for leads relevant to the investigation into Biden-family corruption and also to unravel the DOJ and FBI’s corruption.
Foreign Influence Task Force
Among other things, that letter revealed the complicity of the Foreign Influence Task Force in falsely branding the reporting of confidential human sources from several different field offices as Russian disinformation. As Grassley noted, it was also the Foreign Influence Task Force that “improperly briefed” him and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., about their investigation into the Biden family. That briefing served solely as a precursor to a media leak to spin the Republican senators’ investigation as contaminated by foreign disinformation.
Every member of the Foreign Influence Task Force should be questioned by the House, and every communication between the Foreign Influence Task Force, Brian Auten, and the various FBI offices involved in wrongly closing out sources should be subpoenaed. The House should likewise subpoena the materials made part of that assessment and especially any sources or reporting closed out as Russian disinformation.
FBI Field Offices
Here, Grassley helpfully highlighted in his letter several relevant field offices. In noting that the FBI tried to improperly shut down the FD-1023, Grassley emphasized that the claim that the CHS’s bribery report was Russian disinformation was “highly suspect and is contradicted by other documents my office has been told exist within the Foreign Influence Task Force, FBI Seattle Field Office, FBI Baltimore Field Office, and FBI HQ holdings.”
The House should focus its investigative efforts there first. The FBI Seattle field office is a new thread to pull, as it has not been previously raised as relevant to the Biden investigation. A review of the underlying FD-1023 also suggests the Cleveland FBI field office merits attention, as the CHS who reported on the alleged bribes to the Bidens noted that he was introduced to the Burisma executives by Alexander Ostapenko. And the FD-1023 included a notation that the CHS’s reporting on Ostapenko was maintained at the Cleveland field office.
In seeking materials from these field offices and the Foreign Influence Task Force, the House should ask for all records using the terms “Russian disinformation” or “foreign disinformation” from January 2019 to the present. Why? Because that is what Grassley asked the AG and FBI director to provide. And when the Iowa Republican asks for something, he usually knows precisely what the DOJ has secreted away.
DOJ and FBI Documents
Likewise, the House should seek the other documents Grassley identified in his October 2023 letter because the Republican-led House can follow up with subpoenas if the DOJ refuses to comply, whereas Grassley can’t. In total, the Iowa senator named 15 different categories of materials he sought from the DOJ and FBI, and the House should mirror those requests.
Of particular importance are the communications between the U.S. attorneys’ offices for the Western District of Pennsylvania and the Eastern District of New York relating to Hunter Biden, James Biden, Joe Biden, and the FD-1023, as the Eastern District of New York had apparently concluded the FD-1023 did not match any known Russian disinformation. Subpoenaing FBI reports dating to Jan. 1, 2014, and referencing Mykola Zlochevsky, Hunter Biden, James Biden, or Joe Biden will likely also turn up relevant information.
Naming Names
In addition to subpoenaing these witnesses and the related documents, Grassley’s letter provides the names of several other individuals deserving of questioning. Significantly, the letter indicates that the individuals named had knowledge of Joe Biden’s potential complicity in his son’s money-laundering scheme. But Grassley also named individuals from FBI headquarters, the Washington field office, the Baltimore field office, Delaware FBI agents, and FBI management personnel.
Finally, the House should take note of Grassley’s repeated references to Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault and the various documents he requested that connect to Thibault. Those references should give House investigators pause because Grassley’s apparent focus on Thibault strikes an odd note given the tune Thibault played in his transcribed interview: that he was new to the job and was only on the periphery of decisions to close out sources.
Why then, would Grassley seek “[a]ll records derived from reporting on derogatory information linked to Hunter Biden, James Biden, Joe Biden, and their foreign business relationships that was overseen under the approval, guidance, and purview of ASAC Thibault from January 1, 2020, to his last day at the FBI”? And why would Grassley ask for a copy of “[a]ll opened and closed cases initiated by the Washington Field Office under the purview of ASAC Thibault that were ordered closed by ASAC Thibault and/or denied for opening by the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, and/or the United States Attorney Offices in the District of Columbia and Eastern District of Virginia”?
Grassley may not be able to force the DOJ and FBI to provide answers or those documents, but the House can — and it should, stat.
Margot Cleveland is an investigative journalist and legal analyst and serves as The Federalist’s senior legal correspondent. Margot’s work has been published at The Wall Street Journal, The American Spectator, the New Criterion (forthcoming), National Review Online, Townhall.com, the Daily Signal, USA Today, and the Detroit Free Press. She is also a regular guest on nationally syndicated radio programs and on Fox News, Fox Business, and Newsmax. Cleveland is a lawyer and a graduate of the Notre Dame Law School, where she earned the Hoynes Prive—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. Cleveland is also of counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance. Cleveland is on Twitter at @ProfMJCleveland where you can read more about her greatest accomplishments—her dear husband and dear son. The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.
Tens of thousands of migrants are expected to flee south from Gaza City in the coming days as Israel continues its campaign against Hamas. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claims more than 10,300 Gazans have been killed in the fighting.
The Israeli military continues to tighten its grip on Gaza, working to root out Hamas terrorists in the maze of tunnels beneath Gaza city.
The U.S. says Israel has agreed to daily pauses in fighting to allow aid into Gaza, but both the U.S. and Israel oppose a cease-fire.
There remain roughly 240 Hamas hostages in Gaza, and 10 of them are believed to be Americans. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claims more than 10,300 Gazans have been killed in the fighting, though they do not distinguish between Palestinian civilians and Hamas terrorists.
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Netanyahu-addresses ‘pause’ in fighting in Israel-Hamas war
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News’ Bret Baier in a “Special Report” exclusive interview about the pauses in fighting planned to help civilians in Gaza.
When asked if he was surprised by by all the pushback happening across the world, Netanyahu did not hold back.
“Well, the river to the sea, from the river to the sea means there’s no Israel, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean, which is a tiny area, by the way, that encompasses Israel. There is no Israel. And so what this congresswoman is calling for is Palestine and genocide, the elimination of the Jewish state, the one and only Jewish state of the Jewish people,” said Netanyahu. “That’s absurd. And I salute the Congress for censuring her. But it’s beyond that. I think the protest that you’re seeing, I’m sure it includes some naive people, but there are a lot of people who know exactly what they’re saying.”
FOX News Channel’s chief political anchor Bret Baier will present an exclusive interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Special Report (weekdays, 6 PM/ET) on Thursday, November 9th. The pre-taped interview will cover the latest on the Israel-Hamas war, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s relationship with President Biden, the potential of ceasefire and global pressure on Israel, among other topics.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained the reasoning behind sending troops into Gaza and calls for humanitarian pauses from other world leaders in an interview with Bret Baier.
“We don’t want to seek to govern Gaza. We don’t seek to occupy, but we seek to give it and us a better future in the entire Middle East. And that requires defeating Hamas. I’ve set goals. I didn’t set a timetable because, you know, it can take more time,” said Netanyahu.
When asked about the United States and how firm the push has been by President Biden and his administration for the humanitarian pauses, Netanyahu says he has not agreed with everything.
“Well, one thing we haven’t agreed to is a cease fire. A cease fire with Hamas means surrender to Hamas, surrender to terror and the victory of Iran’s axis of terror. So there won’t be a cease fire without the release of Israeli hostages,” said Netanyahu.
Netanyahu further addressed the pause pushed by the Biden administration to allow for hostages to safely exit Gaza.
“The fighting continues against the Hamas enemy, the Hamas terrorists, but in specific locations for a given period, a few hours here, a few hours there, we want to facilitate a safe passage of civilians away from the zone of fighting. And we’re doing that,” said Netanyahu.
FOX News Channel’s chief political anchor Bret Baier will present an exclusive interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Special Report (weekdays, 6 PM/ET) on Thursday, November 9th. The pre-taped interview will cover the latest on the Israel-Hamas war, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s relationship with President Biden, the potential of ceasefire and global pressure on Israel, among other topics.
Two Ivy League students have called out their colleges and are demanding them to stop accepting the hate speech they say is running rampant on their campuses.
“The past few weeks have been incredibly difficult. It started with, you know, the usual, the chants and the terrorist sympathies,” Talia Draw, a junior at Cornell University told Fox News.
Draw says those chants have now become death threats.
“Jewish students were truly afraid to go on campus. Students began using pepper spray to defend themselves, not being able to go to classes. People started doing classes from Zoom. I mean, it’s absurd that Jewish students right now feel like they can’t be part of the campus community,” said Draw.
Gabriel Diamond, a senior at Yale University echoed Draw’s concerns on college campuses across the U.S.
“Everywhere on campus, there are signs that say Israel is committing genocide and it says ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’, calling for the elimination of the Jewish state,” said Diamond. “Students are, in some cases, afraid to go to classes. And overall, there’s a really, really bad sense in the air that these campuses are not safe spaces.”
Draw added what’s even worse is that it’s not just students spear heading the hate — it’s also coming from professors.
“When you have professors using their captive audience, professors telling their students these biased narratives and shouting out all of these buzzwords without giving any of the context, they are indoctrinating their students,” says Draw. “Why are we having these professors in our Ivy League institutions? This is absurd. We are having anti-Semites in our classrooms indoctrinating our students. And not only that, we’re paying a fortune for it.”
Diamond and Draw say overall, it’s a tough time on campus, a hostile environment, and many students do not feel safe right now.
“It’s time that universities really step up to the challenge and that they take action, not just issue statements, because it’s long past time for doing that and that we restore our campuses to a sense of civility and decency,” said Diamond.
The Islamic Jihad released two hostage videos showing an elderly Israeli woman and a young boy both kidnaped and taken into Gaza on Oct. 7 where they’ve been held ever since.
Richard Hecht, the lieutenant colonel and a spokesman for the Israeli military said this is psychological terrorism.
“Hamas and Islamic Jihad are trying to basically bend the arm of Israel into getting a cease fire. But we understand that it will be incredibly difficult because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says they’re going to push forward with operations inside Gaza until they destroy Hamas leadership and get rid of all of the weapons inside the strip.”
On the West Bank, the Israelis were seen operating in the city of Jenin and claim they have killed ten militants in different cells that are currently fighting inside the West Bank.
When it comes to the hostages, there is some progress taking place in Doha as Qatari negotiators are meeting with the head of Mossad and also CIA director William Burns.
An official with knowledge of that visit says the talks have been progressing well toward a deal.
As the operations continue on the ground and the fighting inside Gaza escalates, Israel is facing other fronts, and that includes a drone attack and a ballistic missile attack today from Yemen.
The Israelis say the arrow defense system was able to intercept one of those missiles that was trying to target the southern city of Bin Laden.
In his recent briefing, Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel will not back down.
“We will not stop the fighting until we bring the hostages back. We will do what ever it takes,” said Gallant. “As a father I want to ask the world, “I see those kids as my kids, I will not stop the fighting and I will not stop looking for them until I find them,” Gallant emphasized.
Gallant added that the IDF started using new tactics for dealing with Hamas’ tunnels and said those efforts will improve in the coming days.
“We are fighting against evil, we are fighting against an enemy who tries to harm us. We want all Palestinian out of Gaza. This is important in order for us to have freedom of action, we do not want to harm them,” said Gallant.
Gallant said that Israel shares the same goal as America: to eliminate Hamas.
“This phenomenon should stop from exist here and anywhere else. As much as the pressure on Hamas increase, the better the chances we will succeed to release hostages and bring them back home,” said Gallant.
Turkey’s Erdogan, on Israel-Hamas war, says West is ‘too weak to even call for a cease-fire’
Turkey’s Erdogan, on Israel-Hamas war, says West is ‘too weak to even call for a cease-fire’
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is accusing the West Thursday of being “too weak to even call for a cease-fire” in the Israel-Hamas war, a report says.
Erdogan, who previously has called Israel a “war criminal” for its military actions against Hamas, made the comment during a meeting of the 10-member Economic Cooperation Organization in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, according to The Associated Press.
Erdogan said Western nations and organizations are observing these “massacres by Israel” from afar but are “too weak to even call for a cease-fire, let alone criticize child murderers.”
“If we, the Economic Cooperation Organization, as Muslims, are not going to raise our voices today… when will we raise our voices?” he added.
The Economic Cooperation Organization consists of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Erdogan ripped the West on the same day the White House announced the Israeli military has agreed to honor four-hour daily pauses in fighting to allow humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the new Israeli policy began “today.”
Pentagon confirms four new attacks on US forces in Iraq, Syria following airstrike
Pentagon confirms four new attacks on US forces in Iraq, Syria following airstrike
The Pentagon say U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria have faced four attacks in the hours after the U.S. carried out a retaliatory airstrike on a weapons depot in Syria.
The four new incidents bring the total for attacks on U.S. forces since October 17 to 46, the U.S. military says. Three of the attacks occurred in Syria, with two involving rockets and another being a drone attack. The attack in Iraq used drones, the Pentagon says.
The U.S. reported three minor injuries in one of the Syria attacks, but the other three attacks caused no injuries and no damage to infrastructure. The three servicemembers injured have already returned to duty.
The U.S. sough to deter Iran from entering Israel’s war on Hamas, deploying considerable assets to the region. Critics argue the dozens of attacks indicate that the operation is failing, however.
Squad Dem says humanitarian pause in Gaza not enough: ‘Ethnic cleansing’ happening ‘before our eyes’
Squad Dem says humanitarian pause in Gaza not enough: ‘Ethnic cleansing’ happening ‘before our eyes’
Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., held a press conference demanding a cease-fire in Gaza on Thursday, saying “humanitarian pauses” are not enough.
Bush railed against Israel for allegedly commiting “ethnic cleansing” against Palestinians in Gaza.
“The idea that we get a break for 4 hours, a break so that we can have food–I saw someone spoke about it and they said, “thank you for giving us raisins for a few hours.” And then do we go back to bombing?” Bush said. “I never personally called for humanitarian pause, and I’m not going to call for a humanitarian pause, and I don’t want to see even though that is what’s happening. A four hour a day humanitarian pause because what we need is to stop the bombing. What we need is what does that what is that mental anguish when you know? Well, we get a break for 4 hours, but as soon as that 4 hours is over, then what? How dare we treat humans in that way?”
The White House says Israel agreed to a 4-hour daily pause in fighting to allow humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza on Thursday. Nevertheless, both Israel and the U.S. continue to dismiss the idea of a full cease-fire.
CNN’s Van Jones praises GOP for defending ‘Jewish kids’ on campuses, claims Dems in ‘disarray’
CNN’s Van Jones praises GOP for defending ‘Jewish kids’ on campuses, claims Dems in ‘disarray’
CNN’s Van Jones praised the Republican Party for sticking up for “Jewish kids” on college campuses amid the rash of antisemitism that cropped up after Hamas’ attack on Israel last month.
During his commentary on the third GOP presidential primary debate on Wednesday night, the CNN political contributor remarked that Republicans “forcefully” defended Jewish students while claiming that Democrats found themselves in “disarray” over the issue.
Jones made the comments after complimenting former South Carolina governor and 2024 presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s performance on the debate stage that evening.
He began, “I thought Nikki Haley gave a masterclass on foreign policy. I thought she gave a masterclass on abortion. If you just took those two clips, you could teach a course on political communication, conversation. She’s a force. She’s a force.”
He began, “I thought Nikki Haley gave a masterclass on foreign policy. I thought she gave a masterclass on abortion. If you just took those two clips, you could teach a course on political communication, conversation. She’s a force. She’s a force.”
The commentator noted that members of the GOP “came very, very forcefully, saying Jewish kids shouldn’t be scared to leave their dorm rooms in this country.”
“I thought that was an important development in the conversation overall,” he added.
House Republican campaign arm accuses Dems of fueling antisemitism: ‘Cause and Effect’
House Republican campaign arm accuses Dems of fueling antisemitism: ‘Cause and Effect’
The House Republican campaign arm is accusing Democrats of fueling “Jewish hate” and antisemitism in a new ad in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent protests in the U.S.
“Extreme House Democrats’ words promoted hate,” the new ad by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) says.
The video includes quotes from ‘Sqaud’ Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., in addition to top progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., about the Israel conflict, which began after a brutal terrorist attack by Hamas early last month.
Those Democrats, and others, have been supportive of Palestinians and critical of Israel’s military response and have called for a ceasefire. The video shows Omar standing by remarks in which she accuses Israel of committing “acts of terror.”
Meanwhile, the video references a statement by Jayapal in which she said Israel is a “racist state.” She later issued a lengthy statement clarifying those remarks, saying she doesn’t believe “the idea of Israel as a nation is racist” but that the country’s “extreme right-wing government” has engaged in racist policies.
Separately it quotes Tlaib saying that progressives cannot back Israel’s “apartheid government.”
Gen Z House Democrat says he regrets not voting to condemn Hamas support on college campuses
Gen Z House Democrat says he regrets not voting to condemn Hamas support on college campuses
Freshman Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., admitted that he should not have voted against a resolution condemning support for Hamas on college and university campuses.
“After days of reflection, multiple conversations with my constituents and local leaders, and a difficult, but important listening session with students at UCF Hillel’s chapter — I have come to realize that I should have voted differently on H.Res. 798, to send a clear message that I stand against antisemitism,” Frost said in a statement earlier this week.
The resolution, a symbolic piece of legislation, criticized “the support of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations at institutions of higher education, which may lead to the creation of a hostile environment for Jewish students, faculty and staff.”
It overwhelmingly passed in a bipartisan 396-to-23 vote last week. Only 22 Democrats, including Frost, and one Republican voted against it.
Frost said he was wary of “a few of the falsehoods” he said were in the Republican resolution and that he was hoping to be able to “vote on the Senate resolution condemning antisemitism, that passed unanimously, but didn’t include those falsehoods.”
“I truly worried that this would open the door for Republicans to infringe on the free speech of students and young people. Which is why I chose to support and co-sponsor the House version of that same Senate resolution,” Frost said.
Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report
Hamas adviser tells NY Times he hopes war with Israel is ‘permanent’
Hamas adviser tells NY Times he hopes war with Israel is ‘permanent’
The Hamas terror group told The New York Times that it hopes the war with Israel will “become permanent on all the borders” and the Oct. 7 massacre “succeeded in putting the Palestinian issue back on the table, and now no one in the region is experiencing calm.”
A Times report headlined, “Behind Hamas’s Bloody Gambit to Create a ‘Permanent’ State of War,” featured a subhead that “Hamas leaders say they waged their Oct. 7 attack on Israel because they believed the Palestinian cause was slipping away, and that only violence could revive it.”
The terror group achieved violence, killing at least 1,400 civilians including women, children and the elderly while kidnapping hundreds of civilian hostages. Israel has responded with force, and the Times reported that “carnage is not the regrettable outcome of a big miscalculation” but instead a “necessary cost of a great accomplishment — the shattering of the status quo and the opening of a new, more volatile chapter in their fight against Israel.”
The Times spoke with Khalil al-Hayya, a member of Hamas’s top leadership body, who told the paper that the terror group “succeeded in putting the Palestinian issue back on the table, and now no one in the region is experiencing calm.”
Actress Gal Gadot’s private screening of disturbing film detailing the crimes in Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack in Israel caused brawls outside the venue on Wednesday.
Pro- and anti-Israel demonstrators clashed outside the screening, which was held at Los Angeles’ Museum of Tolerance. The audience at Gadot’s private screening included multiple Hollywood executives.
The film, which has been shared with the press in Israel and in New York City, is roughly 47 minutes long. It is a compilation of footage from security cameras, cellphones and Hamas’ own recordings showing the brutal atrocities committed on October 7.
White House: Israel expected to begin ‘4-hour pauses’ daily in northern Gaza
White House: Israel expected to begin ‘4-hour pauses’ daily in northern Gaza
The Israeli military has agreed to honor 4-hour daily pauses in fighting to allow humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza, the White house said Thursday.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby announced the move on Thursday. He said the new Israeli policy began “today.”
“We understand that Israel will begin to implement 4-hour pauses in areas of northern Gaza each day, with an announcement to be made three hours beforehand,” Kirby said. “There will be no military operations in these areas for the duration of these pauses.”
The agreement comes after the directors of both the CIA and Mossad met in Qatar for negotiations surrounding such pauses. CIA Director William Burns and Mossad Director David Barnea were in talks with the Qataris for multiple days, an official with knowledge of the visit told Fox News.
Pentagon confirms ‘multi-rocket attack’ on US forces near Baghdad embassy
Pentagon confirms ‘multi-rocket attack’ on US forces near Baghdad embassy
Pentagon officials confirmed that a “multi-rocket attack” targeted U.S. and coalition forces near the U.S. embassy complex in Baghdad, Iraq on Thursday.
Military officials say the attack occurred on Wednesday and no injuries or damage to infrastructure has been reported. It was the 42nd attack on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 17.
Iran-backed terrorist groups have ramped up aggression toward U.S. forces in the region amid Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza. The U.S. has transfered considerable assets to the region in an effort to deter Iran and its terror proxies from joining the conflict.x new
Israeli brigade kills 50 Hamas terrorists in Gaza City operation: IDF
Israeli brigade kills 50 Hamas terrorists in Gaza City operation: IDF
Israeli Defense Forces say a brigade of Israeli soldiers killed 50 Hamas terrorists during an operation in the heart of Gaza City on Thursday.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari says the Israeli division has been operating in Gaza city for several days. The city is the both the heart of the Gaza Strip and a key command structure for Hamas.
“Division 162 has been operating in recent days in the center of Gaza City in the area of the security quarter of the Hamas organization,” Hagari said in a statement. “Givati Brigade combat team forces eliminated over 50 terrorists.”
In addition to the 50 terrorists, Israel says “intelligence documents were found and a number of significant tunnel shafts, factories for the production of anti-tank missiles, and anti-aircraft launchers were destroyed.”
The IDF says Gaza City played host to Hamas’ central intelligence headquarters as well as its air defense headquarters.
MI couple recounts fearful escape from Gaza during war outbreak
MI couple recounts fearful escape from Gaza during war outbreak
A Detroit-area couple trapped in Gaza like hundreds of other U.S. citizens described the roar of bombs and the fear of not making it home after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
Unable to leave, Zakaria and Laila Alarayshi hunkered down.
“I was crying,” Zakaria Alarayshi, 62, told reporters Wednesday at the Arab American Civil Rights League offices in Dearborn, Michigan. “Everyone was scared. Bombs everywhere. When I go to sleep, we cannot sleep. Maybe I’ll sleep in a chair for 30 minutes a day.”
He feared the bombs eventually would find them.
“If I’m going to die, OK, I don’t care. Die, die,” he said.
The Alarayshis were among the U.S. residents who were able to evacuate from Gaza following the Oct. 7 Hamas militant group surprise attack on southern Israel and the subsequent Israeli bombing campaign and ground invasion.
Some 500 to 600 U.S. citizens had been trapped in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the White House. President Joe Biden said 74 Americans with dual citizenship were evacuated on Nov. 2.
Iran launched waves of cyber attacks against key Israeli companies after Oct. 7 massacre: Report
Iran launched waves of cyber attacks against key Israeli companies after Oct. 7 massacre: Report
Iranian hacking groups launched cyber attacks against key Israeli companies in the wake of the October 7 massacre by Hamas last month, according to a new report.
Hackers linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeted Israeli companies with ties to transporation, logistics and technology, according to a Thursday report from the Messenger. The hacks have largely taken the form of site outages, but they have also attempted to wipe data from Israeli computers.
The hacking efforts have yet to yield any major successes for Iran, but it is yet another threat posted by the Middle East power.
The U.S. has sought to deter Iran and its proxy terrorist organizations from joining Israel’s war against Hamas, deploying an array of assets to the Eastern Mediterranean and Iraq and Syria.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton rejected calls for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war on “The View” Wednesday, instead throwing her support behind “humanitarian pauses.”
“Remember, there was a ceasefire on Oct. 6 that Hamas broke by their barbaric assault on peaceful civilians and their kidnapping, their killing, their beheading, their terrible, inhumane savagery,” Clinton said.
“It did not hold because Hamas chose to break it,” she added.
“Hamas is a terrorist organization,” she said, adding that Hamas has “consistently broken cease-fires over a number of years.”
Also important, Clinton emphasized, was that “Israel should conduct itself by the laws of war and do everything it can to prevent and limit civilian casualties.”
Clinton also argued that a cease-fire would not uphold the laws of war.
“But a cease-fire done prematurely benefits those who do not abide by any laws, by any rules, by any human character value about the value of life,” she said.
Fox News’ Jeffrey Clark contributed to this report
Germany marks 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht with pledge to protect Jews amid antisemitism surge
Germany marks 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht with pledge to protect Jews amid antisemitism surge
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz marked the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht on Thursday, pledging to protect Jews against the current surge in antisemitism.
Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, was the anti-Jewish pogrom that preceeded the Holocaust in Germany. Scholz stated in a speech that the time to make good on the promise of “Never Again” is now, according to the Agence France-Presse.
“This is about keeping the promise given again and again in the decades since 1945,” Scholz said.
He then went on to address the rising antisemitism in Germany and the world, saying “It outrages and shames me deeply.”
The U.S. military says it destroyed an Iran-linked weapons depot with an airstrike in Syria on Thursday.
The Pentagon says Iran-backed terrorist organizations in the region had used the depot to carry out attacks on U.S. bases in Syria. Since October 17th, U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria have been attacked 42 times.
Houthi rebels in Yemen shot down a U.S. MQ-9 reaper drone in Yemen on Wednesday, the Pentagon says.
The U.S. military has carried out multiple airstrikes in Syria in retaliation against drone attacks on U.S. bases as well as attacks on Israel. The drone is believed to have been on an intelligence-gathering mission when it was shot down.
US reaper drone shot down near coast of Yemen
Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have harried Israel’s war against Hamas alongside Hezbollah.
The U.S. has warned Iran and its proxy terrorist groups not to intervene in the conflict.
Israel says it has no plans to ‘reoccupy’ Gaza after Hamas war
Israel says it has no plans to ‘reoccupy’ Gaza after Hamas war
Israel says it does not plan to “reoccupy” Gaza nor control it for long following the end of its war against Hamas.
A senior Israeli official made the comments to reporters on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“We assess that our current operations are effective and successful, and we’ll continue to push,” the Israeli official said. “It’s not unlimited or forever.”
“It’s not Israel’s intention to reoccupy Gaza or control it for a long time. The idea behind Israel going in militarily is to destroy Hamas’ ability to threaten us,” the official added. “We understand that will take time and that, even if we complete this phase of our military operation, we’ll still have to take some action against their remaining military infrastructure.”
The statement comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised eyebrows earlier thiis week by stating that Israel would control Gaza’s security for an “indefinite period” following the war.
President Biden had previously warned that a full reoccupation of Gaza would be a “mistake.”
The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday soldiers found a Hamas-operated weapons production and storage facility inside a residential building next to a child’s bedroom.
The facility was used to produce and store unmanned aerial vehicles and weapons, the IDF said, and was located inside a residential building near schools in the center of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in northern Gaza.
Explosives and operational plans were found right next to a bedroom that belonged to children, according to the force.
Fox News Digital’s Yael Rotem-Kuriel contributed to this report.
Head of Hamas’ anti-tank missile unit killed in Israeli fighter jet strike: IDF
Head of Hamas’ anti-tank missile unit killed in Israeli fighter jet strike: IDF
Ibrahim Abu-Maghsib, the head of Hamas’ anti-tank missile unit in the Central Camps Brigade, was killed in a fighter jet strike Thursday, Israeli officials announced.
The terrorist is accused of directing and carrying out “many anti-tank attacks” against Israeli citizens and military members, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Intelligence with the IDF and the Israel Securities Authority determined Abu-Maghsib was killed in the strike.
The Israeli Navy also struck Hamas anti-tank missile launching posts used to attack IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip as part of the assistance offered to forces on the ground.
As crude oil approaches $100 a barrel amid turmoil in the Middle East, the Biden administration continues its war on fossil fuels by hamstringing federal offshore drilling leases to the bare minimum required by law. Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and other adversarial oil producers are the only winners of such a nonsensical decision, while the biggest loser may be America’s energy security.
The Interior Department’s five-year plan for offshore oil and gas leasing includes a mere three auctions in the Gulf of Mexico over the next five years — by far the lowest since World War II. In comparison, the Trump administration proposed a plan in 2018 for 47 lease sales, located in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Alaska. Even the Obama administration held two auctions most years.
After the plan was announced, Sen. Murkowski, R-Alaska, rightly pointed out, “The Biden administration’s long-delayed five-year plan for offshore oil and gas has no lease sales in Alaska waters – even though they acknowledge that will result in higher energy prices and higher emissions.”
This decision is not surprising given the president’s campaign promise to fully ban new oil and gas leases on public lands. President Biden has consistently bowed to radical environmental groups that want to ban all fossil fuels, and this decision was a clear signal that he’s trying his best to comply with their demands after courts rejected prior attempts.
In fact, the Biden administration was obligated by law to offer this bare minimum as a prerequisite for holding offshore wind auctions – a deal Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., negotiated before signing off on the Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”). Manchin didn’t mince words in response to this newest development:
“To be clear – three lease sales is more than the zero we would have gotten had it not been for the IRA. But it makes no sense at all to actively be limiting our energy production while our adversaries are weaponizing energy around the world. This is a failure of leadership, and I will continue to do everything in my power to hold this Administration accountable.”
While Interior Secretary Haaland boasted about the plan being the “smallest number of oil and gas lease sales in history,” she had nothing to say about the fate of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (“LWCF”), which is fully funded from offshore oil and gas leasing.
Since Congress created the LWCF in 1965, it has provided $5.2 billion for roughly 45,000 conservation projects across the country. It funds everything from maintaining national parks to local trails to wildlife refuges. Still, the LWCF estimates a backlog of conservation projects totaling upwards of $57 billion. A recent study estimated that if no lease sales occurred over the next five years, we’d expect LWCF funding to decrease by 28 percent by 2036. As a result, we should expect the backlogs to keep piling up.
Katmai National Park in Alaska, United States (Jean-Erick PASQUIER/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
Draining LWCF funding will be catastrophic to our public lands, yet “environmental” organizations are adamant we cancel its funding source. I’m not surprised, frankly. Opposition groups like the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, and Just Stop Oil have long proven their dogmatism toward their preferred technologies blinds them from actually caring about the planet.
Covering large swaths of the Mojave desert with solar panels is more important than the rich habitat and Indigenous sites which occupy them. But if there’s an opportunity to mine uranium or drill for oil, Biden’s Interior Department will squash it and green NGOs will applaud.
Just last year, President Biden urged oil companies to drill more. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm correctly asserted that it’s “not a binary choice” between increasing reliable energy supply to global markets and deploying new clean energy. So American oil and gas stepped up and delivered when the world needed it.
Republicans who control the U.S. House of Representatives had to delay another fiscal 2024 government funding bill on Thursday, as their slim majority struggled to overcome internal differences on spending levels and so-called “culture war” policies a week ahead of a possible government shutdown.
The delay on a bill to fund the White House, Treasury and other agencies poses a headache for new House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is expected to unveil over the next two days a stopgap spending measure aimed at keeping federal agencies open after current funding expires on Nov. 17.
Lawmakers said they expect the Louisiana Republican to unveil a continuing resolution or “CR” to avert a partial government shutdown as late as Saturday. A House vote is tentatively expected on Tuesday.
“I wish the House would just get to work,” President Joe Biden told reporters as he departed Washington on Thursday.
“The idea we’re playing games with a shutdown at this moment is bizarre,” Biden added. “There’s no need for any of this.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer took a procedural step to allow his Democrat-led chamber to pass its own stopgap measure to avert a shutdown.
Johnson can afford to lose no more than four Republican votes from his slim 221-212 House majority on legislation opposed by Democrats. But he is under pressure from staunch Republican conservatives to address spending cuts and policy riders Democrats uniformly reject.
“If there’s any kind of CR, there has to be spending reductions,” Rep. Chip Roy, a prominent conservative, told reporters.
But Rep. Tom Cole warned that Johnson may need a “clean” CR at current funding levels to steer well clear of a shutdown.
“We don’t have a lot of time to fool around with failure,” Cole said. “You may stumble into a shutdown without meaning to do it at all.”
Hardline demands for steep spending cuts and policy riders including abortion restrictions have split Republicans for much of 2023, with Republican centrists pushing for a more bipartisan approach that can win support in the Senate.
House Republicans are trying to pass a full slate of 12 appropriations bills for fiscal 2024, which began on Oct. 1. They have succeeded on seven, but the remaining five have proven to be problematic.
Johnson had to pull a Thursday vote on legislation to fund the White House, Treasury, Internal Revenue Service and market regulators after as many as eight centrists objected to language denying the District of Columbia funding over a local law that bans employer discrimination against women who seek abortion or contraception.
“We’ve got a handful of members that have some concerns,” said Rep. Steve Womack, who had shepherded the bill through the House Appropriations Committee.
Republican infighting has already led the House to reject an appropriations bill for agriculture, rural development and the Food and Drug Administration in September. In recent days, Johnson also pulled a vote on legislation to fund transportation, housing and urban development after several Republican centrists objected to an absence of funding for the U.S. passenger rail service Amtrak.
Biden and then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in May set a $1.59 trillion discretionary spending budget Congress passed as part of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, or FRA. Hardline Republicans, who later removed McCarthy as speaker, had been pushing for an additional $120 billion in cuts.
But on Thursday, hardliners said they had abandoned their $1.47 trillion top-line number.
“That’s out the window. I would like that. It’s probably going to go to $1.52 (trillion) or $1.58 (trillion) or something like that,” said Rep. Ralph Norman, a member of the House Freedom Caucus.
Supporters of Palestinians demonstrate near the Israeli Consulate on May 18, 2021, in Houston. Hundreds of protesters chanted slogans of “Free, free Palestine. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” (Photo: Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle/Getty Images)
Left-wing American Jews feel betrayed by the Left.
It’s the Left that remains anti-Israel even after the greatest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, and even though most Palestinians and their supporters explicitly call for the destruction of the Jewish state: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Progressive American Jews are shocked by their fellow progressives. But the only thing that is shocking is their shock. Here’s why:
The Left has been calling for an economic boycott of Israel for decades and has labeled Israel an “apartheid” state.
The Left labels America, the most tolerant, multiethnic society in history, “systemically racist.”
The Left called for “defunding the police,” supports attorneys general who abolish bail for violent criminals, and praised demonstrations against America—including many that included vandalism and violence—for more than half a year.
The Left supports all-black dorms and all-black graduations on college campuses. The Left has almost destroyed every liberal ideal regarding race. The University of California, among many other left-wing institutions, has labeled “racist” the liberal ideal of being colorblind, and labeled “racist” the beautiful anti-racist sentiment “There is only one race, the human race.”
The Left—specifically, schools of education and teachers unions—has ruined elementary schools and high schools. And it has destroyed universities as institutions that allow open dialogue.
The Left affirms the lie that men can become women and women can become men, and it
works to crush the life and career of anyone who denies that people can become the other sex. The Left supports the demise of women’s sports by fighting to allow any man who says he is a woman to compete in women’s sports. The Left supports putting children who say they are the other sex on hormone-blocking drugs and supports allowing girls under the age of 21 (and sometimes under 18) who say they are boys to have their breasts surgically removed.
The Left has been waging the most successful war against free speech in American history. As a result, almost half of America’s young people say they believe in free speech but not for “hate speech,” which, of course, means they do not believe in free speech.
The Left asserts that the human fetus at any stage of development is, literally, worthless, certainly worth less than a dog, if the woman carrying it wants an abortion.
The Left has essentially destroyed mainstream journalism. Mainstream media no longer hold truth as an ideal. They promoted the lie for nearly two years that Russia colluded with the Trump presidential campaign in 2016. (Many still do.) They continue to promote the lie that having to present an ID when voting is “racist.”
The Left has poisoned American medicine. The American Medical Association has announced that birth certificates should no longer list the sex of a child. Medical boards threaten to suspend or even revoke the medical licenses of physicians who question the efficacy of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine or prescribe hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin to patients in the early stages of COVID-19.
The Left has enthusiastically supported the America-hating and Israel-hating Black Lives Matter organization and the flag-defaming athletes who refused to stand for the national anthem.
The Left has promulgated the racist doctrine in most American schools and businesses that all whites are racist.
The Left teaches schoolchildren that they should be ashamed of their past and that their future is awful (due to carbon emissions), and that capitalism is bad and socialism good.
The Left, in short, hates the West, the most decent civilization ever created, and hates America, the most decent country ever created.
The Left, for decades, has declared Zionism racist—meaning that Israel’s existence is inherently immoral—and has charged Israel with “genocide” against the Palestinians.
Yet, now Jews on the Left are simply shocked that the people who hold all these contemptible positions either morally equate Hamas with Israel or actually support those who chant “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which is in fact a call to genocide. Specifically, genocide of the Jews.
Unlike the liberal Jew, the left-wing Jew—the professor, the columnist, the teacher—is a destructive fool. But the liberal Jew is inexcusably naive about the Left, nearly all of whose positions have nothing in common with liberalism, not to mention with the Torah.
Top Stories • Pro-Life Groups Respond to Ohio Vote: We Will Keep Fighting to Protect Babies • Court Orders Baby’s Life Support Removed Without Her Parents’ Consent • Pro-Life Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves Wins Re-Election After Signing Pro-Life Bill That Overturned Roe • Pro-Life Advocate Mark Houck Sues Biden’s DOJ for “Malicious and Retaliatory Prosecution”
More Pro-Life News • No Matter What Happened in Ohio, We Have to Keep Fighting to Protect Babies From Abortion • Pro-Life States Sue Joe Biden to Stop Mail-Order Abortions • Even CNN Confirms Donald Trump Would Beat Joe Biden • Thousands of Pro-Life People Stand Against Abortion in Michigan • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
Looking for an inspiring and motivating speaker for your pro-life event? Don’t have much to spend on a high-priced speaker costing several thousand dollars? Contact news@lifenews.com about having LifeNews Editor Steven Ertelt speak at your event.
Looking for an inspiring and motivating speaker for your pro-life event? Don’t have much to spend on a high-priced speaker costing several thousand dollars? Contact news@lifenews.com about having LifeNews Editor Steven Ertelt speak at your event.
Comments or questions? Email us at news@lifenews.com. Copyright 2003-2023 LifeNews.com. All rights reserved. For information on advertising or reprinting news from LifeNews.com, email us.
A teammate of the Massachusetts high school field hockey player who was hospitalized last week after a male opponent fired a high-powered shot into her face said it’s time for changes to rules that allow males to play on female teams, WFTX-TV reported.
Dighton-Rehoboth team captain Kelsey Bain wrote in a letter to the state’s lnterscholastic Athletic Association that “boys do not belong in girls’ sports,” the station said.
During Thursday’s playoff game against Swampscott High School, the male Swampscott player fired a shot toward the goal, but the ball instead hit a Dighton-Rehoboth player hard in her face. The ball ricocheted far from the point of impact, and the injured player fell to her knees and cried out — as did her teammates. A number of them turned their faces away after coming to her aid, and play was halted while the injured female player was treated.
It's reported that male player (#2 for Swampscott) knocked the teeth out of female player. Males are allowed to play on female teams in MA because of the "equal play act"
“The shrieks and screams of fear and pain that projected from her after being hit filled the stadium,” Bain added in her letter, according to WFTX. “The looks of horror and shock on the faces of the girls surrounding her were also chilling.”
Massachusetts scholastic rules allow males to play sports with females if there’s no male team for that sport available — and vice versa.
But Bain said enough is enough.
“We all witnessed the substantial damage that a male has the ability to cause against a female during a game,” she added in her letter, according to the station. “How much longer does the MIAA plan on using girls as statistical data points before they realize that boys do not belong in girls’ sports?”
The MIAA told WFTX it stands by the Equal Rights Amendment: “We respect and understand the complexity and concerns that exist regarding student safety. However, student safety has not been a successful defense to excluding students of one gender from participating on teams of the opposite gender.”
When play resumed following the injury to the Dighton-Rehoboth player, the male Swampscott player quickly scored a goal. In fact, he scored both goals for Swampscott, giving his team a 2-0 victory and eliminating Dighton-Rehoboth from the tournament.
It won’t come as a shock that the male Swampscott player is reportedly a Northeastern Conference All-Star. He’s also a four-year varsity player and team co-captain, WCVB-TV reported, citing Swampscott Public Schools Athletic Director Kelly Wolff.
Dighton-Rehoboth Superintendent Bill Runey said the injured female player was released from the hospital Friday but suffered “significant facial and dental injuries,” the Sun Chronicle reported.
Mark Fisher, a co-founder of a Black Lives Matter chapter in Rhode Island and founder of a new BLM-related organization, is on a media tour advocating for Donald Trump to be president in 2024.
“Everybody else sucks,” Fisher told host Kim Iversen in a recent interview.
After Iversen asked if he thought Trump was simply the best of the worst and “not that great either,” Fisher clarified his views.
“I like Trump, you know. Personally, and I think right now who we have sitting in the Oval Office is just a deep disappointment, you know? I deeply have disdain for him, and I really dislike the vice president, as well.”
Fisher was the co-founder of BLM Rhode Island but has appeared to hold the same views in his new role as the founder of Black Lives Matter, Inc. In January 2022, he told a black business association website that his vision was “to see a world where Black people are no longer subjugated to and oppressed by a white supremacist ideology in any form or facet and at any level, and wherever it may rear its ugly head that it be swiftly eradicated.”
For his new company, the about page lists a nearly identical vision. In the text, the term “black people” is simply replaced by “African American people.”
“We want to create wealth,” Fisher told Iversen. “We want to gain wealth, leave something for our children, you know.”
Being anti-capitalist wasn’t Fisher’s only reasoning for condemning Democrats. He also said their stance on abortion went “against the laws of nature” and the “laws of procreation.” Fisher also claimed that black Americans have been “mental slaves” to the Democratic Party, who have “abused” them for so long. He added that Trump is “the opposite.”
“He’s gonna tell you how it is. He’s gonna give it to you straight. He’s not gonna [be a] hypocrite and stab you in the back like the Democratic Party loves to do.”
At the same time, Fisher recently made headlines for defending those who were jailed following the events of January 6, 2021.
“They’re lambs led to slaughter to be sacrificed as an example for all who might want to dissent in the future,” Fisher told the Epoch Times. “This is what the government does to those who express independent thought and want to stand up for what they believe.”
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House Republicans on the Oversight Committee issued subpoenas for members of the Biden family and several of the family’s business associates. As part of the committee’s investigation into the family’s influence-peddling operations, GOP Oversight Chairman James Comer of Kentucky announced subpoenas for President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, and the president’s brother, James, on Wednesday.
“The House Oversight Committee has followed the money and built a record of evidence revealing how Joe Biden knew, was involved, and benefited from his family’s influence peddling schemes,” Comer said in a statement. “Now, the House Oversight Committee is going to bring in members of the Biden family and their associates to question them on this record of evidence.”
House Republicans officially opened an impeachment inquiry into the president in September following months of controversy over the family’s corporate ventures with new evidence implicating Joe Biden in a criminal bribery scheme. In addition to Hunter and James Biden subpoenaed Wednesday, House Republicans are also seeking testimony from James Biden’s wife, Sara, Joe Biden’s widowed daughter-in-law, Hallie, and former Biden family business partners Rob Walker and Tony Bobulinski. Hallie’s older sister, Elizabeth Secundy and Hunter Biden’s wife, Melissa Cohen, were also asked to answer questions from House lawmakers. Only Walker, Hunter Biden, and James Biden were given formal subpoenas.
Financial records reviewed by the House Oversight Committee show the Biden family laundered money through more than 20 shell companies, most of which were established while Joe Biden was vice president.
“Unlike the many lies President Biden told the American people about his family’s business schemes, bank records don’t lie,” Comer said Wednesday. “These records reveal how the Bidens sold Joe Biden around to the world to benefit the Biden family, including Joe Biden himself, to the detriment of U.S. interests.”
House Republicans held their first impeachment hearing at the end of September, just before the lower chamber came to a weeks-long standstill to elect a new speaker.
“So far, the evidence suggests the Biden family ‘business’ is exactly what it appears to be: an influence-peddling scheme on a scale never before seen in American history,” reported Federalist Senior Editor John Davidson.
Based on what we already know, it’s hard to see how Joe Biden couldn’t have been involved or couldn’t have benefited from his son’s corrupt dealings. Consider just a few items of evidence mentioned during Thursday’s hearing. In one text exchange with his uncle in June 2017, Hunter refers to his father as his “family’s brand” and “only asset.” That echoes something Devon Archer, Hunter’s former business partner, said in his July testimony to the House Oversight Committee, that the value of adding Hunter to the board of the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma was “the brand” — clearly a reference to then-Vice President Joe Biden. (Hunter had no experience in the energy sector and brought no value to the company other than access to his father.)
Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of Social Justice Redux, a conservative newsletter on culture, health, and wellness. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com. Sign up for Tristan’s email newsletter here.
Texas voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot proposition Tuesday establishing a billion-dollar state-managed energy fund to bolster natural gas power plant infrastructure.
Proposition 7 to create the so-called Texas Energy Fund passed in a 65% to 35% vote with more than 2.5 million ballots cast, according to the latest data compiled by the Texas Secretary of State’s office. The ballot measure — which was supported by the energy industry, but opposed by environmentalists — sets aside $5 billion to guarantee low interest loans for new dispatchable power generation in the state.
“TXOGA is pleased to see infrastructure propositions to expand water, electricity and broadband pass with overwhelming support from voters,” Todd Staples, the president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association, said in a statement Tuesday evening. “By voting to approve these propositions, Texans are ensuring that the Lone Star State continues to be the best place to live, work, play and raise a family.”
He added that Proposition 7 will help “strengthen the reliability of our electric grid by ensuring it performs no matter the weather as well as increase the supply of electricity by encouraging additional generation.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation teeing up the vote Tuesday. After the measure passed, he applauded the action, saying it will “strengthen our state power grid.” (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
The measure is the final step to enact Senate Bill 2627, which Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law in July.
Under the bill, loans financed by the Texas Energy Fund must have a 20-year term and interest rate of 3%, and can be used either to upgrade existing dispatchable power generation increasing capacity by at least 100 megawatts (MW) or to construct new power generation with a capacity of at least 100 MW. A natural gas power plant with a capacity of 100 MW can power tens of thousands of homes.
The effort to create incentives for power companies to expand natural gas power generation was designed to address growing concerns that the state’s power sector doesn’t have an adequate energy generation that can be quickly dispatched to provide electricity during emergency peak periods.
According to former Public Utility Commission Chair Peter Lake, the state’s dispatchable power supply grew only 1.5% between 2008 and 2020, while, in that same timeframe, the Texas population grew 24%, meaning demand is outpacing supply. The concern is particularly elevated because of Texas’ growing reliance on green energy sources like wind and solar, which aren’t dispatachable, and are intermittent, meaning they are reliant on weather conditions.
A power generating station near Austin, Texas, on July 11, 2022. (Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“The urgency to move forward with meaningful electric market reforms that will incentivize the development of dispatchable generation remains extremely high,” Pablo Vegas, the current president and CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, said earlier this year.
In 2022, Texas generated 26% of all U.S. wind-generated electricity and has led the nation in that category for 17 consecutive years, federal data showed. Natural gas, though, still produces by far the largest share of electricity generation in the state.
In addition to the Texas Oil and Gas Association, ConocoPhillips, Texas Association of Manufacturers, Texas Pipeline Association and Valero Energy Corporation supported Proposition 7. The Sierra Club, Environment Texas, Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance and Texas Consumer Association opposed it.
“We need, and Texans want, more clean energy, not less. There is strong support for more wind and solar energy, more battery storage, more energy efficiency, and more interconnection with the national grid,” said Luke Metzger, the executive director of Environment Texas. “Unfortunately, the Legislature ignored these solutions to strengthen our electric grid while protecting consumers and the environment.”
Thomas Catenacci is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
“I self-censored,” says 23-year-old Rikki Schlott about how she handled being a right-leaning libertarian at New York University. Pictured: People walk past NYU on Oct. 30, 2023, in New York City. (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
“I was not genuine in my own beliefs,” says 23-year-old Rikki Schlott in my new video. “I self-censored.”
Why? What did this college student believe that was so unacceptable that she felt she had to hide it?
The fact that she’s a right-leaning libertarian.
“I was afraid to have Thomas Sowell and Jordan Peterson books on my bookshelf.”
If her classmates at NYU saw that, she says, she might have been “verbally attacked on social media, maligned as whatever ‘ist’ or ‘ism’ people might attack me with.”
So Schlott kept her mouth shut, eventually dropping out of NYU.
I ask her, “If you were doing it again, you’d speak out?”
“I did speak out! Here I am!” She responds.
By “here,” she means my TV studio, where I interviewed her about a new book she co-wrote titled, “The Canceling of the American Mind.” It details how cancel culture grew into a serious problem on campuses.
Examples:
A teacher in Virginia lost his job for calling a transgender student “she.”
At Hamline University, an art history lecturer lost her job simply for showing a painting of Muhammad.
A University of Virginia med student was banished from campus for merely questioning the importance of “microaggressions.”
Then such idiocy spread beyond campuses.
A Levi Strauss executive felt she had to resign because employees objected to her tweets criticizing COVID-19 school closures and mask mandates for children.
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s top editor was forced to resign after approving an article titled “Buildings Matter Too,” after Black Lives Matter rioters burned down buildings. Some at the paper called his headline “extremely inappropriate” and “tone-deaf.”
And so on.
Now some want to punish people who defend Hamas. Others want to silence Israel’s defenders.
Schlott argues that America needs more free speech, even if it’s hateful. “Being a true free speech champion does require that you defend speech that even you disagree with.”
Schlott’s co-author on “The Canceling of the American Mind” works for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. FIRE argues that everything can be said, as long as it’s not direct incitement of violence, willful negligence, or defamation.
Schlott tells me, “You are well within your First Amendment rights to cancel people and to malign them on social media. But the question is, ‘Do we want to live in a culture where that is our first reaction?’”
She points out that her generation started tweeting when they were kids, and many posted stupid things.
“Young people need to be able to screw up.”
Maybe. But based on what I see on my news feeds, it’s people her age who are most eager to “cancel” people.
“It is true that younger Americans tend to be more pro-cancel culture,” she replies. “Millennials have the most positive view, and as you get older, it goes lower and lower. But Gen Z (ages 11 to 26) completely switches that around. Only 8% have a positive view of it. That’s because if you’re a young person who grows up in a graceless society, you’re always looking behind your back. You see friends torn down on social media. You’re not going to want to live in a world like that.”
I push back. “But they perpetuate a world like that!”
“It’s a tyranny of the minority,” she replies. “One squeaky wheel scares the life out of everyone else. Then we self-censor.”
She did that in college.
Students like her kept their mouths shut because they didn’t want to be reported as “biased.” NYU officials, like the secret police in East Germany, even encouraged students to report on others.
She tells me, “When I got to NYU, the first thing I had to do was go pick up my ID card. I found on the back the emergency number, in case you’re in danger, and a bias response hotline in case you’re offended. The university itself sanctioned the idea that you can snitch on your peers.”
She says it’s time for students to push back against school censorship.
“We need to say we want to live in a free speech culture. … Courage is contagious. As soon as I spoke out at NYU, people came out of the woodwork to say, ‘Thank you for saying that! I completely agree with you.’”
Top Stories • Ohio Passes Issue 1 to Allow Killing Babies in Abortions Up to Birth • Ohio Exit Poll on Abortion Way Out of Step With National Polling Data • Trump Leads Biden in Polls Despite Biden Spending Millions on TV Ads • Glenn Youngkin Slams Democrats for Promoting Abortions Up to Birth
More Pro-Life News • Mom Offered Abortion as She Went Into Labor Says No, Her Daughter is Doing Great Now • Thank You Tommy Tuberville for Standing Against Joe Biden’s Abortion Funding • Leftists Claim Christians Can Support Abortion, But the Bible Tells Us to “Choose Life” • CDC Confirms Women’s Mental Health Figures Improving After Roe Overturned • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
Looking for an inspiring and motivating speaker for your pro-life event? Don’t have much to spend on a high-priced speaker costing several thousand dollars? Contact news@lifenews.com about having LifeNews Editor Steven Ertelt speak at your event.
Looking for an inspiring and motivating speaker for your pro-life event? Don’t have much to spend on a high-priced speaker costing several thousand dollars? Contact news@lifenews.com about having LifeNews Editor Steven Ertelt speak at your event.
Comments or questions? Email us at news@lifenews.com. Copyright 2003-2023 LifeNews.com. All rights reserved. For information on advertising or reprinting news from LifeNews.com, email us.
For the past three years, Biden has been beating the “white-supremacy-is-the-greatest-threat-to-our-Homeland” drum with virtually no evidence that it’s happening. While ignoring Black-on-Black crime and murder, and multiple threats and assaults on Jews, etc.
Though Biden tried to sound strong on the side of Israel, but in typical Biden fashion, he appears to be waffling toward a cease-fire and pushing for humanitarian aid that will eventually be spent on more weapons to be used to kill more innocent Israelis.
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 Trump.
More than 100 years ago, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes observed that popular catchwords can stunt critical thinking for 50 years or more. In his latest book, Social Justice Fallacies, revered economist and scholar Thomas Sowell confirms Holmes’ observation by examining the buzzwords that self-described “social justice” proponents commonly use today. He shows that, despite many years — and in some cases even centuries or more — of evidence revealing these words to be nonsense, our media and cultural elites continue touting them in utter defiance of facts.
Social Justice’s False Premise
Consider, for example, the very term “social justice.” It is predicated on the assumption that institutional discrimination is the primary reason for differences among groups of people, whether among races, economic classes, or even between the sexes. It assumes that were it not for such discrimination, all races, groups, and classes would be equally represented in all human endeavors. In other words, human beings are equal not only in their nature and capacities but in theirability todevelop those capacities.
As Sowell documents, however, this assumption is rarely tested empirically. In fact, both the historical record and everyday experience regularly contradict it. For example, not only have homogenous societies had unequal representation among groups of people in various endeavors, but even twin siblings who are raised under the same roof and by the same set of parents show vast differences in aptitude, performance, and cognitive ability. This is because factors beyond both our knowledge and our control — including factors that begin long before birth — heavily influence the development of human capabilities, including intelligence.
Culture and Competence
Some cultural traditions, for example, go back centuries or even millennia and thus continue to orient the developmental capacities of the people living in these cultures today. For instance, Sowell notes that the Germans have been brewing beer for thousands of years, far longer than most other cultures. It is, therefore, no surprise that they tend to be superior at making beer nowadays. Likewise, for reasons that need not concern us here, Jewish people have historically been significantly involved in matters of finance, where they continue to excel to this day.
It is simply folly, however, to believe that government decree could circumvent these longstanding cultural traditions without major catastrophe. Moreover, these “reciprocal inequalities,” as Sowell calls them, rarely amount to one group dominating all fields of human achievement. “Even highly successful groups,” he writes, “have seldom been highly successful in all endeavors. Asian Americans and Jewish Americans are seldom found among the leading athletic stars or German Americans among charismatic politicians.”
Cultural Inequalities Aren’t Fair
Of course, Sowell quickly adds that this does not mean that life is fair for all groups of people, much less to all individuals, or that there is nothing that can be done about injustices in the world. It does mean, however, that we ought to be humble about the limits of both our knowledge and our power to improve things rather than make them worse. As he points out, “We might agree that ‘equal chances for all’ would be desirable. But that in no way guarantees that we have either the knowledge or the power required to make that goal attainable, without ruinous sacrifices of other desirable goals, ranging from freedom to survival.”
Sowell spends several chapters documenting the negative consequences that have followed from decades of government policymakers ignoring the limits of their knowledge. He describes the unintended consequences of minimum wage policies, tax legislation, rent control laws, and policies related to race and sex as well as to welfare, housing, and education.
Affirmative Action and Welfare Backfire
Take, for instance, the issue of affirmative action in education. Sowell exposes the harm these policies have done first and foremost to the recipients themselves. Minority students who gain acceptance to elite schools for which they are not academically prepared often struggle to keep up with the rigorous pace and demanding workload. As a result, they end up either failing or dropping out.
On the other hand, Sowell highlights the positive results that followed from the abolition of affirmative-action policies in California (as decided by voters). “The number of black and Hispanic students graduating from the University of California system as a whole rose by more than a thousand students over a four-year span,” he observes. “There was also an increase of 63 percent in the number graduating in four years with a grade point average of 3.5 or higher.”
A similar trend followed the growth of the welfare state in the 1960s when both crime rates and out-of-wedlock birth rates exploded in minority communities. The two decades prior to the ’60s, however, saw declining crimes. Out-of-wedlock birth rates were lower among minority groups than among the majority white population. Nevertheless, laments Sowell, “intellectual elites, politicians, activists and ‘leaders’ — who took credit for the black progress that supposedly all began in the early 1960s — took no responsibility for the painful retrogressions that demonstrably did begin in the 1960s.”
Beware Man’s Ignorance
All this history and much more is packed into this short but critical book, whose single most important insight may be how little we know about the lives of others. We must, therefore, be careful when making policy decisions that have the potential to affect many people — and possibly even whole societies.
As Sowell warns, “Stupid people can create problems, but it often takes brilliant people to create a real catastrophe. They have already done that enough times — and in enough different ways — for us to reconsider, before joining their latest stampedes, led by self-congratulatory elites, deaf to argument and immune to evidence.”
David Weinberger is a freelance writer and book reviewer on topics related to philosophy, culture, history and economics. Follow him on Twitter @DWeinberger03. Email him at davidweinberger916@gmail.com.
In its latest attempt to interfere in state and local elections, the Biden administration is deploying federal agents to monitor polling places in several states during Tuesday’s off-year elections.
The U.S. Constitution charges states — not the federal government — with primary oversight and administration of elections. But according to the highly politicized Department of Justice, state and local election officials can’t be trusted to uphold the law. Thus, the agency has decided to forcibly inject itself into the process.
According to a Monday press release, the DOJ is dispatching federal observers from its Civil Rights Division to “monitor for compliance with the federal voting rights laws” in numerous jurisdictions throughout the country. Among those listed are Union County, New Jersey; Pawtucket and Woonsocket, Rhode Island; Madison County and Panola County, Mississippi; and Prince William County, Virginia.
Regarding Union County, a U.S. district court approved a consent decree proposed by the DOJ earlier this year that forces local election officials to provide “a comprehensive Spanish-language election program for voters” during the state’s Nov. 7 elections. The consent decree — which also authorized federal observers to monitor polling places throughout the county — was filed in conjunction with a DOJ lawsuit, which claimed that a failure by Union County officials to provide such materials constituted a violation of the Voting Rights Act.
“The Civil Rights Division enforces the federal voting rights laws that protect the rights of all citizens to access the ballot,” the DOJ claimed. “The division regularly deploys its staff to monitor for compliance with the federal civil rights laws in elections in communities all across the country.”
Okay, I’ll say it. This is the closest we, as a nation, have come to pure Socialism.
In addition to New Jersey, Virginia, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, and several other states will decide the outcome of critically important elections on Tuesday.
This is hardly the first time the DOJ has concocted this type of election meddling. In fact, the agency carried out this same scheme during last year’s midterm elections. As Victoria Marshall wrote in these pages, most of the 64 jurisdictions the DOJ “monitored” during the 2022 elections are “Democrat strongholds or swing districts in states with key midterm contests such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada.”
Much like last year, the jurisdictions being surveilled by the DOJ on Tuesday are mostly Democrat strongholds. During Virginia’s 2021 gubernatorial race, for example, Democrat candidate Terry McAuliffe won Prince William County by nearly 15 points over now-Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican. Similarly, Union, Pawtucket, and Woonsocket Counties all went to Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election.
The DOJ’s increasing efforts to “monitor” local and state elections appear to be aimed at curtailing GOP poll watchers’ legitimate right to oversee U.S. election administration. After it became clear more conservatives were going to partake in this legal form of election oversight, legacy media began running hit pieces leading up to the 2022 midterms warning that so-called “election denying” MAGA Republicans volunteering as poll watchers were plotting to disrupt elections throughout the country.
While the left’s doomsday predictions (unsurprisingly) never came true, that hasn’t stopped regime-approved media from furthering the lie that election workers are under constant threat from Republicans. Even the Biden DOJ’s own data shows that there is no widespread threat to election workers. Nonetheless, so-called “journalists” continue to parrot their Democrat allies’ falsehoods without a second thought.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served 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 Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway and Sean Davis were among several prominent conservatives targeted by a federal censorship operation carried out during the 2020 election, according to a new bombshell congressional report.
Released by the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government on Monday, the interim report documents how the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Global Engagement Center (GEC), which fall within the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department, respectively, colluded with Stanford University to pressure Big Tech companies into censoring what they claimed to be “disinformation” during the 2020 election.
According to the analysis, this operation aimed to censor “true information, jokes and satire, and political opinions,” with prominent conservatives such as Hemingway and Davis being among the prime targets. Other notable targets include the social media accounts of former President Donald Trump, Newsmax, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Harmeet Dhillon, and Charlie Kirk, to name a few.
As The Federalist previously reported, CISA, which is often called the “nerve center” of the federal government’s censorship operation, “facilitated meetings between Big Tech companies, and national security and law enforcement agencies to address ‘mis-, dis-, and mal-information’ on social media platforms.” Ahead of the 2020 contest, the agency ramped up its censorship efforts by flagging posts for Big Tech companies it claimed were worthy of being censored, some of which called into question the security of voting practices such as mass, unsupervised mail-in voting.
Meanwhile, as The Federalist’s Margot Cleveland reported, GEC “funded the development of censorship tools and used ‘government employees to act as sales reps pitching the censorship products to Big Tech.’” One of these GEC-funded nongovernmental entities is the Global Disinformation Index, a so-called “disinformation” tracking organization “working to blacklist and defund conservative news sites,” including The Federalist.
At the heart of the federal government’s censorship apparatus, however, was the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP), “a consortium of ‘disinformation’ academics led by Stanford University’s Stanford Internet Observatory” that coordinated with DHS and GEC “to monitor and censor Americans’ online speech in advance of the 2020 presidential election.” According to House Republicans’ Monday report, the initiative was developed “at the request” of CISA during the summer of 2020 and effectively allowed federal officials to “launder [their] censorship activities in hopes of bypassing both the First Amendment and public scrutiny.”
During the 2020 election, federal agencies and government-funded entities submitted so-called “misinformation reports” to EIP. Once acquired, EIP misinformation “analysts” would take posts flagged by the aforementioned entities, find similar examples on other Big Tech platforms, compile them into reports, and forward them to these same platforms “with specific recommendations on how [they] should censor the posts.” These EIP reports, which were known as “Jira tickets,” were hidden from the public and “accessible only to select parties, including federal agencies, universities, and Big Tech,” according to the report.
Among the posts flagged by EIP is a Nov. 4, 2020, tweet from Hemingway, in which The Federalist editor-in-chief reported claims from Georgia insiders who said it was “ridiculous [the] media are refusing to admit Trump has won the state.” The tweet also included a link to an Insider Advantage article calling Georgia for Trump. Another Hemingway post classified as “misinformation” by EIP is a Nov. 8, 2020, tweet linking to a Federalist article titled, “America Won’t Trust Elections Until The Voter Fraud Is Investigated.”
Meanwhile, EIP flagged a Nov. 4, 2020, tweet thread by Davis reporting how Pennsylvania’s Democrat-controlled Supreme Court “gave Pennsylvania Democrats a license to print post-election ballots, fill them out for Biden over the next three days, and record them without a postmark.” The censors also flagged another Nov. 4, 2020, tweet, in which Davis claimed “The absolute best evidence right now that Democrats, media, and Big Tech are conspiring to steal the election is Big Tech censoring anyone and everyone who observes that Big Tech is using corrupt censorship to steal the election for Democrats.”
But it’s not just reporting and claims about the 2020 election that EIP censors were flagging as so-called “misinformation.” Several examples highlighted in House Republicans’ report demonstrate the willingness of federal officials to censor users posting other truthful or satirical information.
In one instance, EIP analysts requested that Twitter, which has since been rebranded as X, censor a Nov. 4, 2020, tweet from Tillis thanking his supporters for propelling him to victory because EIP “deemed his declaration of victory to be premature” despite Tillis winning reelection. In another case, EIP censors flagged an Oct. 24, 2020, tweet from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who jokingly claimed he filled out and submitted mail-in ballots on behalf of his deceased relatives.
“The suppression of conservative politicians and media resulting from this censorship operation deprived countless American voters from exposure to a range of perspectives on the most important political issues in the days and weeks surrounding a general election,” the report reads. “Critically, the EIP conducted its censorship operation at the direction of, in collaboration with CISA, a federal government agency actively seeking to undermine free expression and the sitting President. The significance of these facts cannot be overstated.”
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served 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
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joined “The Faulkner Focus” Tuesday to call out the State Department under the Biden administration, stressing that there is a “wing” of officials aligned with pro-Palestinian “Squad” Democrats. On Monday, a leaked memo showed State Department staffers blasting the administration’s policies toward Israel.
MIKE POMPEO: I wish I could tell you I’m surprised, but having led that organization, the State Department, this is the AOC, Rashida Tlaib wing of the State Department. These are classic appeasers who don’t understand that the Israelis are acting in self-defense. They are taking out a terror threat that killed 1,400 of their citizens. They have not only the right to do it, but an obligation to do it. And so, I saw this at the State Department during my thousand days as Secretary of State. There is a progressive element that sits inside that organization that pulls and pulls and pulls. And we’ve already seen apparently one senior person quit. You know, frankly, I hope folks who don’t understand how to act in America’s interests, I hope they’ll all decide that they no longer want to be part of an important institution, the United States diplomatic corps.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the 2023 Munich Security Conference on Feb. 18, 2023 in Munich. (Photo by Johannes Simon/Getty Images)
State Department staffers wrote a scathing internal memo urging the Biden administration to change its public stance toward Israel and support a ceasefire, Politico has reported. The leaked memo was submitted to the department’s Dissent Channel, where employees are invited to express policy disagreements, the outlet said. It is the latest incident showing internal strife within the department over the U.S. support for its closest ally in the Middle East.
The message reportedly demands the U.S. support a ceasefire and be willing to publicly criticize “Israeli military tactics and treatments of Palestinians,” the outlet reported.
Fox News’ Kristine Parks contributed to this report
For more Culture, Media, Education, Opinion, and channel coverage, visit foxnews.com/media
Finger-wagging Dem voter loses it on GOP poll worker, Matthew Hurtt, in curse-laden rant where he accuses Hurtt of stealing the election, supporting lynching, and being a religious bigot. CREDIT: Matthew Hurtt
Unhinged! Who wants to bet he has a “Hate Has No Home Here” sign in his yard? 95 percent chance. https://t.co/AsRY81Wf6q
A Virginia Democrat accosted and cursed out a Republican poll greeter in an “unhinged” Election Day confrontation that has gone viral. Video footage shows a progressive voter approaching Matthew Hurtt, a poll worker and director of professional services at the Leadership Institute, in Arlington, Virginia, on Tuesday.
“You guys tried to overturn the election, you might as well have been walking up to my head on the way to the polling station and putting a gun to my head and try to tell me not to vote,” an unidentified man wearing an “I voted” sticker said.
Voter in Arlington curses out GOP poll greeter. (Matthew Hurtt)
The unhinged individual then accused the GOP poll worker of “trying to overthrow elections with violence” as he greeted people on their way to vote.
“You try to steal my vote next year, I’m going to f—ing remember you personally,” he said, before pulling his phone out and taking a photo of the Republican greeter.
The GOP greeter continued to film the man as he welcomed passersby, racking up over 5 million views in a viral video on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Democrat voter in Arlington confronts polling greeter. (Matthew Hurtt)
The Democrat then approached a bystander and advised him not to be “buddy, buddy with these people because they put on a face of a good neighbor” before accusing Hurtt of being racist, supporting lynching, and being ” f—ing Bible-beating bigots and freaks.”
“And they’re not good neighbors,” the man said as he finally walked away from the scene toward his Prius.
“The guy started before he went in, and I assumed he would keep it going when he came out… so I hit record,” Hurt said in response to a reply on his video.
Voters are casting ballots in Mississippi, Kentucky and Virginia on Tuesday, in several key races that could make a huge impact that reverberates into next year’s presidential election cycle. Voters in Virginia will determine which political party controls its state legislature in elections experiencing record amounts of cash that could serve as a barometer for the 2024 presidential contest.
Republicans currently hold a slim 52-48 majority in Virginia’s House of Delegates, while Democrats control its Senate 22-17. Voters will decide all 40 of the state’s Senate races and all 100 delegate contests in Tuesday’s elections.
Fox News’ Matteo Cina and Joe Schoffstall contributed to this report.
Aubrie Spady is a Freelance Production Assistant for Fox News Digital.
Ask people why they’re leaving blue states like California, and they’ll give you a lot of answers: more freedom, a lower cost of living, a more family-friendly quality of life. But a lot of them are just tired. Tired of the lockdowns, tired of the crime, tired of the preening politicians who won’t do anything to address the real issues they’re facing.
As governor of Arkansas, I’ve had my chance to ask that question a lot of times. That’s because our state has received a steady influx of new residents for years. Today, there are thousands of California refugees – and thousands more from other states – in our state.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (Getty Images)
This year alone, about 32,000 new people moved to Arkansas, about 10% of them from California. Arkansas is now one of the top five states for inbound migration. And the flow isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
That’s because my administration is focused on the reforms that will make Arkansas the best state in the country to live, work and raise a family.
Just in my first few months in office, we passed the boldest education reforms in the country, including universal school choice, cut taxes not once, but twice, and are making historic investments in outdoor recreation. We’re cracking down on crime, getting woke nonsense out of our schools, and keeping kids safe online.
I think these changes will be the icing on the cake for those who are already looking at how good we have it in Arkansas. Take our cost of living, for example. It’s nearly 40% cheaper to live in Little Rock than in Los Angeles. Housing is about 60% less expensive; health care is 15% cheaper. Imagine a family struggling to eke it out in California. For $500,000 – no small sum – they could afford a tiny fixer-upper in East LA. With that money in Little Rock, you could get a modern, 4,000-square-foot, custom-built home in one of our best neighborhoods.
Taxes are another way we beat our coastal competition. Already this year, we cut the top individual income tax rate twice and built the groundwork to phase out the state income tax entirely. Our tax rate is about a third of that in California and going down.
We’re able to slash taxes so heavily because our economy is booming, creating billion-dollar surpluses. As taxes continue to fall, our economy will continue to rise – the opposite of the Left Coast’s downward spiral.
But moving to Arkansas isn’t just a pocketbook decision – it’s about quality of life as well. As 48 million people discovered for themselves in 2022, Arkansas is, for good reason, the Natural State. From world-class duck hunting to fly-fishing, there are outdoor adventures for everyone – many of which are located just minutes from our urban centers.
Arkansas’ 52 state parks are free to residents and visitors alike and offer a host of outdoor opportunities right at your doorstep. Four of Arkansas’ state parks – Mount Nebo State Park, Hobbs State Park, Pinnacle Mountain State Park, and Devil’s Den State Park – host a collection of world-class mountain biking trails known as the Monument Trails that Outside Magazine just named the best in America.
Arkansas is God’s country. I firmly believe that you haven’t lived until you float the clear, free-flowing waters of the Buffalo River through the Ozark Mountains or watch a sunrise on a duck hunt in flooded timber.
Arkansas is also the land of opportunity, where Sam Walton grew a little five-and-dime store into the most successful business on the face of the earth.
Arkansas is the home of legends like Al Green and Johnny Cash who pioneered a new American sound. It’s where Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine struck a blow against racism and blazed a trail for civil rights.
Arkansas is my home, and we’d love to welcome you here too, as a tourist, as an investor, and even as our newest neighbor. Come and see what we have to offer. I promise you won’t regret it.
President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a call on Monday that a three-day fighting pause could help secure the release of some hostages, Axios reported on Tuesday, citing two U.S. and Israeli officials. Citing the U.S. official, Axios reported that under a proposal being discussed between the U.S., Israel and Qatar, Hamas would release 10-15 hostages and use the pause to verify the identities of all the hostages and deliver a list of names of the people it is holding.
In a statement on Monday, the White House said Biden and Netanyahu discussed “the possibility of tactical pauses to provide civilians with opportunities to safely depart from areas of ongoing fighting, to ensure assistance is reaching civilians in need, and to enable potential hostage releases.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Axios report.
Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked a Republican effort to win quick approval for a bill providing emergency aid to Israel that passed the House of Representatives last week, but that provides no assistance for Ukraine’s war against Russia.
Republican Senator Roger Marshall said: “Time is of the essence and it’s imperative that the Senate not delay delivering this crucial aid to Israel another day,” he said.
Democrats objected, stressing the importance of providing aid to Ukraine as well as Israel, in addition to humanitarian aid, border security funding and money to push back against China in the Indo-Pacific that was in a $106 billion funding request President Joe Biden sent to Congress last month. They also accused House Republicans of playing politics with the crisis in Israel, delaying aid for the Jewish State by tying support to cutting funding for the Internal Revenue Service, a favorite target for Republicans, rather than writing a bipartisan bill.
The House bill would provide $14.3 billion for Israel as it responds to a deadly Oct. 7 attack by Islamist Hamas militants, but also cut the same amount of money from the IRS. The funds would include $4 billion for procurement of Israel’s Iron Dome and David’s Sling defense systems to counter short-range rocket threats as well as some transfers of equipment from U.S. stocks.
“Our allies in Ukraine can no more afford a delay than our allies in Israel,” said Senator Patty Murray, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The House vote was largely along party lines. Democrats called the proposed IRS cuts a politically motivated “poison pill” that would increase the U.S. budget deficit by cutting back on tax collection. They also said it was essential to continue to support Ukraine.
To become law, legislation must pass the Democratic-controlled Senate as well as the Republican-majority House, and be signed into law by Biden, a Democrat. The White House had said Biden would veto the House bill.
Senate leaders are writing their own supplemental funding bill and hope to introduce it as soon as this week.
“The federal government, disinformation ‘experts’ at universities, Big Tech, and others worked together through the Election Integrity Partnership to monitor & censor Americans’ speech,” Rep. Jim Jordan, pictured Oct. 20, posted on X. (Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The federal government coordinated with an array of entities to censor Americans’ speech online, a newly released report from the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government shows. In particular, the report shows that the Department of Homeland Security worked with Stanford University and the Global Engagement Center, which works across agencies but sits under the State Department, to create a streamlined process for identifying and censoring posts.
These groups formed the Election Integrity Partnership, which the report shows worked to censor and limit certain posts going into the 2020 presidential election. The report argues the federal government was “heavy handed” with universities and social media companies and censored conservative viewpoints far more often than liberal points of view under the guise of combating disinformation.
“Created in the summer of 2020 ‘at the request’ of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the EIP provided a way for the federal government to launder its censorship activities in hopes of bypassing both the First Amendment and public scrutiny,” the report said.
The report lays out how EIP analysts searched social media sites for undesirable content.
From the report:
The EIP’s misinformation ‘analysts’ next scoured the internet for additional examples for censorship. If the submitted report flagged a Facebook post, for example, the EIP analysts searched for similar content on Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, and other major social media platforms. Once all of the offending links were compiled, the EIP sent the most significant ones directly to Big Tech with specific recommendations on how the social media platforms should censor the posts, such as reducing the posts’ ‘discoverability,’ ‘suspending [an account’s] ability to continue tweeting for 12 hours,’ ‘monitoring if any of the tagged influencer accounts retweet’ a particular user, and, of course, removing thousands of Americans’ posts.
This report is the latest in a series of reports, including the “Twitter Files,” which show the federal government pressured private and nonprofit organizations to quiet certain viewpoints. Much of this push for censorship was fueled by concerns that former President Donald Trump was propelled to the White House by misleading news and content on social media sites.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sparked headlines last month when he said that Twitter was an “FBI subsidiary” before billionaire Elon Musk took over. Johnson raised concerns again after this latest report.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., pointed to the report as well, pushing for his legislation, the Free Speech Protection Act. Paul said that under this legislation, which he co-wrote with Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the government “will be stripped of its ability to shroud its actions in secrecy and infringe upon the First Amendment rights of the American people.”
This latest report includes documents obtained from Standard that show examples of the censorship and the coordination between federal and private entities.
“The American people deserve to know if they were targeted by their own government and so-called ‘disinformation’ experts,” Jordan, who leads the weaponization committee, wrote on X.
Top Stories • Ohio Governor Mike DeWine: Vote No on Issue 1, Abortion Up to Birth is Too “Radical” • Kentucky Abortions Drop to 0 as Abortion Ban Starts Saving Babies • Joe Biden Fights in Court to Turn Emergency Rooms Into Abortion Centers • Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin: Protecting Babies From Abortion is “Reasonable”
More Pro-Life News • OBGYN: I’ve Never Met a Woman Who Regretted Giving Birth, I’ve Met Many Who Regretted Abortions • Tommy Tuberville’s Pro-Life Holds Stop Promotion of Woke Military Leaders • Former Football Player Ben Watson: Oppose Issue 1, Don’t Abort Viable Babies • Pro-Life Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron Can Beat Pro-Abortion Gov. Andy Beshear • Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories
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Cartoon – Obama is trying to play the middle in the Hamas-Israeli conflict by taking a position that seems to give leniency to Hamas in spite of their subhuman bloody attacks on innocent Israeli citizens. Obama has a lot of blood on his hand from when he gave Iran pallets of cash to Iran in an effort to get a ridiculous nuclear deal that has quite possibly been used in this attack or ones similar to this. At least when Trump eluded that there are “Very fine people on both sides,” he wasn’t referring to the Nazis or white supremacists’ part of the crowd and made that very clear. However, the media leaves that part out.
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 Trump.
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American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon, who was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, at the time. Since 1977, AFA has been on the frontlines of Ame
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American Family Association
American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon, who was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, at the time. Since 1977, AFA has been on the frontlines of Ame
American Family Association
American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon, who was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, at the time. Since 1977, AFA has been on the frontlines of Ame
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American Family Association
American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon, who was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, at the time. Since 1977, AFA has been on the frontlines of Ame
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American Family Association
American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon, who was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, at the time. Since 1977, AFA has been on the frontlines of Ame
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