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Christian NBA player Jonathan Isaac launches UNITUS, an apparel company that stands for faith, family, and freedom

August 2, 2023

By: ALEX NITZBERG | August 01, 2023

NBA player Jonathan Isaac, who made headlines in 2020 when he remained standing during the national anthem even as other players kneeled, has launched an apparel company that aims to celebrate faith, family, and freedom.

“UNITUS brings people together around stylish, high-quality apparel that champions faith, family, and freedom. Together, we’re redefining greatness,” the company’s website states. “UNITUS is a movement—one that starts with U and ends with US.”

During the brand’s launch event in Orlando, Florida, on Saturday night, Isaac, who is outspoken about his Christian faith, explained that “true greatness is found in none other than Jesus Christ.” Isaac said that UNITUS has “hopes of aligning ourselves with value-aligned athletes from all sports.” He also noted that the company does not have any links to the nation of China.

UNITUS Launch Event LIVE From Orlandowww.youtube.com

Later that night, during a brief interview with TheBlaze, Isaac said that he is a “Bible-believing Christian” and noted that his actions, including “standing in the [NBA] bubble” and opting not to take the COVID-19 vaccine, have “been motivated by my desire to please Christ.”

.@JJudahIsaac talks to @theblaze about his new apparel company @weareunitus: pic.twitter.com/FSK6vzyIjr
— Alex Nitzberg (@alexnitzberg) August 1, 2023

Some of the people who showed their support by attending the UNITUS launch event included former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Paula Scanlan, and Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, who is a fellow and director of the Program in Bioethics and American Democracy at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

Former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, a biological man who made waves while competing against women, tied with Gaines for fifth place in the 200 freestyle final at the NCAA Women’s Championships in 2022, according to swimmingworldmagazine.com. Gaines has been an outspoken in opposing the practice of permitting men to compete in women’s sports. Scanlan, who was on the University of Pennsylvania swim team with Thomas, has also been speaking out about the issue.

At the UNITUS event on Saturday, Gaines told TheBlaze that Isaac had previously reached out to her and expressed his support. Gaines said that she believes people desire “an alternative to put their money towards that aligns with their values” and that Isaac and UNITUS are such an alternative.

.@Riley_Gaines_ spoke to @theblaze about @JJudahIsaac and his new apparel company @weareunitus: pic.twitter.com/0E1oSILaEt
— Alex Nitzberg (@alexnitzberg) August 1, 2023

Dr. Kheriaty called Isaac “an exemplary man,” describing the athlete as a person “of tremendous courage, and integrity, and faith.”

.@akheriaty spoke to @theblaze about @JJudahIsaac and @weareunitus: pic.twitter.com/ugvHmxa9Bd
— Alex Nitzberg (@alexnitzberg) August 1, 2023

The pro-faith, family, and freedom ethos of the UNITUS brand stands in stark contrast to other major companies that promote woke agendas, such as Nike, which, for example, previously tapped transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, a man who identifies as a woman, to advertise a bra and leggings.

The UNITUS website features items for sale, including hoodies, T-shirts, sweatpants, crewnecks, a cap, a track jacket, and track shorts. Isaac noted during remarks at the launch event that the company plans to expand its offerings to include “more technical sportswear,” which involves items such as a sports bra, leggings, and men’s tank top. “This upcoming season I will be debuting the UNITUS Judah 1 basketball sneaker,” Isaac noted.

Seen that evening… pic.twitter.com/vhIVsrf2AD
— Matthew J. Peterson (@docMJP) July 31, 2023

Blaze Media editor in chief Matthew Peterson also attended the company’s launch event on Saturday.

“Succeed or fail, Isaac’s Unitus is one of the most significant examples we’ve seen yet of a growing commercial-cultural movement that’s rising up throughout the nation,” Peterson said in a written statement. “Mainstream media outlets are not paying attention, but most Americans are very interested. And we’re going to ramp up our coverage of it for them.”

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Education, Family, LGBTQ+ AND TRANSGENDER

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Mom Fights School District for Hiding Script Read to Students About Teacher’s Gender Transition

BY: EVITA DUFFY-ALFONSO | AUGUST 02, 2023

The Eau Claire Area Wisconsin School District is actively hiding a script read to students about a teacher’s upcoming gender transition, and one mom is fighting back to protect her kids and parental rights.

In early June, several elementary, middle, and high school classrooms in the Eau Claire Area School District were read a statement informing students that the orchestra teacher, Jacob Puccio, would be undergoing a gender transition.

Additionally, middle school orchestra students were reportedly subjected to a discussion with Puccio and the District’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion director, Dang Yang. Students were apparently instructed to refer to Mr. Puccio as Ms. Puccio from now on, and Puccio informed the students that from a young age, he was traumatized by his parents and friends, who did not accept he was female. Puccio also allegedly made reference to a transgender medical procedure that he would undergo in the future.

Leah Buchman, who has a child in elementary school, twins in middle school, and a teen in high school, learned about the middle school discussion and scripted announcements from her kids. Buchman said she was completely taken off guard, as the district never asked for parental consent, nor did it notify parents.

“If my daughter needs to take an aspirin or if they need to go on a field trip, I need to sign a consent form,” Buchman told The Federalist. “I was really frustrated because my daughter especially had lots of questions, and I had no idea what was said, so it was really hard to walk her through this.”

Buchman promptly contacted the school to request a copy of the script but was denied. She then filed an open records request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) but was denied again. “It feels like the school district is pushing parents out and having secrets with my children, and that’s wrong,” said Buchman.

The school claims that the “document could not be disclosed because an investigation was underway into whether any employee acted improperly,” but Buchman isn’t buying it. Last Monday, she sued the district for violating the open records law.

According to Buchman’s representation, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, the district has not disclosed the start date of its investigation or who was being investigated. “At this point in time, I don’t really trust my school district,” said Buchman. “To me, it almost makes it almost seem like they’re trying to hide something.”

Buchman explained to The Federalist that part of the problem is many parents are not even aware of the middle school transgender discussion or the scripted announcements. Some students never told their parents, so many parents only learned about what took place because of Buchman’s lawsuit. “People are extremely frustrated with the lack of transparency our district has with parents,” said Buchman.

“One thing that we really want to get across is that if this is happening in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, it’s happening all over the country,” Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty Associate Counsel Cory Brewer told The Federalist.

Likewise, Buchman said that while she has accumulated many silent supporters, she wants to encourage others to speak up. “I don’t mind putting my name out there and being that person advocating for our kids’ rights,” said Buchman, but she also wants more parents “around the country to not be afraid to speak up, be heard, and get engaged in the process.”

“You have options, you can push back, you don’t have to accept the status quo,” Buchman insisted.

Evita Duffy-Alfonso is a staff writer to The Federalist and the co-founder of the Chicago Thinker. She loves the Midwest, lumberjack sports, writing, and her family. Follow her on Twitter at @evitaduffy_1 or contact her at evita@thefederalist.com.

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Devon Archer: Joe’s Speakerphone Calls With Hunter’s Business Associates Were ‘An Abuse Of Soft Power’

BY: JORDAN BOYD | AUGUST 02, 2023

Devon Archer interview with Tucker Carlson — Former Biden business associate Devon Archer

JORDAN BOYD

VISIT ON TWITTER@JORDANBOYDTX

President Joe Biden abused his vice-presidential authority by joining speakerphone calls with his son’s business associates, former Biden business associate Devon Archer confirmed to Tucker Carlson in an interview on Wednesday.

In an attempt to build what Archer called “the Biden brand” and sell access to the then-vice president, Hunter Biden put his dad on speakerphone two dozen times in the presence of his various financial partners. Democrat Rep. Dan Goldman claimed mere minutes after House GOP investigators heard Archer’s testimony on Tuesday that Joe simply phoned into his son’s business meetings to discuss the “weather.” This proved to be a strong pivot from Democrats’ insistence that Joe, as he repeated in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023, had nothing to do with Hunter’s foreign business dealings. Goldman’s claims were also strongly contradicted by Archer’s confirmation that Joe’s phone calls did influence the people in Hunter’s meetings.

“To be completely clear on the calls, I don’t know if it was an orchestrated call or not. It certainly was powerful, though, because if you’re sitting with a foreign business person and you hear the vice president’s voice, that’s prized enough. That’s pretty impactful stuff for anyone,” Archer confessed.

Ep. 12 Part 1. Devon Archer pic.twitter.com/ElEzAZtBcA
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 2, 2023

At the time, Archer appreciated the leg up he and Hunter’s company had because of its close relationship with the VP. But he later admitted that “In the rearview, it’s an abuse of soft power.”

“The power to have that access in that conversation, and it’s not in a scheduled conference call, and it’s a part of your family, that’s like the pinnacle of power in DC,” Archer said.

Phone calls weren’t the only means Joe used to contact Biden family associates. In addition to meeting Archer at least “20 times,” Joe penned the businessman a letter thanking him for partnering with Hunter.

“He was thanking me and thanking Hunter, I think, at the end of the day for bringing this idea of this government regulatory, strategic advisory business into the private equity world,” Archer said. “I think he was excited about the prospects for Hunter, and he was just thanking me; I think it was a nice gesture.”

“It was a nice gesture, for sure. Very polite,” Carlson said. “It gets a 10 on the etiquette scale. But he’s the vice president United States, and he’s talking about foreign business deals with you and thanking you for that.”

Archer admitted that “at the time, I think I hit the jackpot in finding the regulatory environment or company that can navigate right to the top” but eventually recognized the problems with the arrangement.

“Being a little bit too close to the sun ends up burning you,” Archer continued.

According to Archer, Hunter entered the world of influence peddling under the guise of private equity, a “complex business that takes years of training,” and “regulatory issues that you might have at the corporate level.” Hunter may not have personally had experience in this field, but Archer assured Carlson that “he led a team that had a sophisticated understanding of regulation.”

“You’ve got to be an expert in knowing the guy, and he was the guy that was the expert in knowing the guy,” Archer said, noting Hunter’s “brother, his father, some of his father’s siblings” made that list.

Archer admitted that it didn’t matter whether Hunter had experience in the field or not because “the brand of Biden adds a lot of power when your dad’s vice president.”

Carlson explained that Washington D.C., where Hunter often operated, is not known as a “money town” but a “selling access” city.

“That’s what it looked like to me,” Archer agreed. “I think that’s one of the core misconceptions. I mean, it seems like understanding a regulatory environment means selling access at the end of the day. That’s how I interpreted it. I think that’s how most people in Wall Street, whether they admit it or not, interpreted it.”

Archer said Hunter’s vast interconnectedness with government officials did benefit their company significantly.

“There are very like tactical elements that are regulatory and compliance and governance that you have to go through, and you’ve got to know the guy that worked at the old agency that now has a lobbying firm that can go back to the agency and get things put to the front of the line,” Archer explained.

“At the end of the day, he had the best advantage to do that because of where he was,” Archer added.

Hutner’s wheeling and dealing under the Biden brand, Archer admitted, was a sweet deal but deserved scrutiny.

“There are people that maybe were sons or relatives or brother-in-law’s of other high-ranking officials, but I think what we ran into and with what Hunter ran into was almost like an Icarus issue,” Archer explained. “He got a little, it was too close to the sun. It was too good to be true. And the connections were too close and the scrutiny too much. And it ended up destroying, left a wake of a lot of destruction and business over a number of years.”

Carlson said he understands why a business guy like Archer would “use every advantage” to advance financial goals but explained that the Bidens “are not business guys.”

“This is the vice president United States. He’s not allowed to be working on businesses with foreign governments while he’s vice president, I don’t think,” Carlson concluded.

“Not that I know of,” Archer replied.

Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and co-producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @jordanboydtx.

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Alexandra York Op-ed: Why Masculine Men Matter

a cartoon heart with a handlebar mustache — (Dreamstime)

By Alexandra York | Tuesday, 01 August 2023 11:32 AM EDT

Current | Bio | Archive

In today’s increasingly muddled and manipulated world of sexuality, it may be worthwhile to stand back and ask anew “What is a masculine man?”

Next, we can ask if women need masculine men as protectors, if children need masculine men as a parent, and if men need masculine men as comrades? Finally, we can ask “If so, then why?”

This subject has been approached and analyzed by psychologists, anthropologists, biologists, theologians, and philosophers for centuries, but along with other gender preoccupations like Feminists’ demonization of “toxic” (masculine) men it happens to be a hot emotional subject right now. All the more reason a fresh rational look at the subject in the American-led Western civilizations’ current sex-obsessed context is important. If for no other reason, it is important because innocent girls and boys — the future of the human species — are being thrust into a confusing environment of sexuality before they are mentally or physically developed enough to understand the meaning and consequences of premature awareness and possible actions that can permanently alter their lives in a damaging fashion.

At the outset, we must stipulate that a “masculine” man is not an “Alpha” male who (like primates) establishes physical dominance and territorial dominion over all others under his control. We are addressing humans not animals, and although this analogy between humans and primates has been both promoted and denigrated for decades it can be laid aside as irrelevant. Evolution is significant but does not pertain to the contemporary state of humanity. For present purposes, we also confine ourselves to human males who have passed through childhood and achieved adult physical maturity as men.

Masculinity (as with femininity), however, is not a physical state alone. These terms are used to describe the physical, mental, and behavioral state of human adults, and the descriptions have changed throughout the ages as knowledge and understanding of human nature progresses. Even so, basic physical biological facts are demonstrably and scientifically established beyond all other attributes of males and females.

Finally, we must in no way dismiss validity for any and all individual behavioral preferences or practices by adults. “To each his own” is applicable here as it is with all personal choices in life.

What we can ask at this moment in time is an as-accurate-as-possible-description of a masculine man now. And, once described, does he matter and to whom and why?

We start with aforementioned biology. All males are structured to have more and stronger muscle mass than females; they also have a penetrating sexual organ. This means they can overpower women, children, and vulnerable men, putting themselves in a position of superior physical power over others when and if desired or needed. A masculine man does not use this power unless it is desired for rational reasons (defense) or needed (to assist another valued being). We notice men who seem naturally protective of physically smaller and weaker creatures from women and children to puppies and kittens.

Which brings us immediately to psychology and the values a man may hold that guide him toward defense or assistance, both of which primarily affect masculinity because they require mental judgment. Psychologically, a masculine man will be self-confident in the abilities and fitness of his biological body and mental acuity. He will enjoy the efficaciousness of his achievements as a problem solver and capabilities as a “builder” or “fixer” of things.

Even male toddlers exhibit these traits, demonstrating that they are embedded in the male DNA. Later in development if rational values (principles to guide action consonant with reality) are chosen, he will enjoy taking responsibilities, being dependable and courageous in action, unwavering in integrity, and consistent in reliability. He will stand strongly for personal values but be sensitive to opinions of others. He will enjoy camaraderie with other efficacious (masculine) men as witnessed in sports and on the battlefield because fully developed men need to respect, support, and rely on each other as equals in expertise and mutual loyalty to succeed in their endeavors when there are goals to be reached only by cooperative group action.

He also will be emotionally sensitive and sharing with intimates. Above all, he will be a “protector” of his loved ones, his chosen woman, and his children (if he has them).

Children — both boys and girls — are clearly susceptible both physically and mentally to domination by any male or female adult, and on some visceral level — admitted or not — every female knows she is defenseless against physical assault by men. All need protection. Equally important, he will be a good role model for boys, whether his own sons or those he nurtures as a Scout leader or teacher, trains as a sports coach, or the like. It is a statistical fact that young boys without fathers turn to older boys for guidance, often “bad” older boys who may lead them into drugs or crime.

American Feminists have long attempted to emasculate men in order to dominate them — “toxic” is only the latest derogatory term — just as elites now try to do by promoting notions that some boys may be happier if they mutilate their bodies to become pseudo “women” — easier to dominate.

Adult men, secure in their biologically given and individually achieved masculinity, are needed today more than ever before to stand firm against authoritarian-lustful governmental-social elites who would control not only global resources but also the world’s populace. Women can fight courageously and successfully against oppression, but genuinely masculine men exude a distinctive aura of unrelenting power sensed by all, an inner stability that causes pause on the part of predators. Thus, it is likely that masculine men are needed to lead the fight against wannabe dictators like schoolboard members, doctors, federal-state-local legislators, bureaucrats, and elites who would rob us of liberty and individual agency.

In America’s present cultural malaise, it would seem we need more masculine men in a world where it seems there are fewer.

Alexandra York is an author and founding president of the American Renaissance for the Twenty-first Century (ART) a New-York-City-based nonprofit educational arts and culture foundation. She has written for many publications, including “Reader’s Digest” and The New York Times. She is the author of “Crosspoints A Novel of Choice.” Her most recent book is “Soul Celebrations and Spiritual Snacks.” For more on Alexandra York — Go Here Now.

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Brig Gen (ret) Blaine Holt Rick Gates Op-ed: Our Freedom Depends on How Well We Fight the D.C. Swamp

we the people washington dc the capitol us capital

(Paul Hakimata/Dreamstime.com)

By Brig Gen (ret) Blaine Holt Rick Gates | Wednesday, 02 August 2023 10:46 AM EDT Current | Bio | Archive

We’re at war.

We’ve been at war for years and we’re losing miserably.

Don’t wait for President Joe Biden to tell you from the Resolute desk at the White House.

Congress has not issued a declaration either. Don’t assure yourself that all’s well until we see another country’s soldiers attacking on our soil.

For decades we’ve refused to acknowledge that we are in a “hybrid” or “fifth generation” war.

No bazillion dollar bomber or UFO-inspired jet fighter will keep you safe.

In this war, community and knowledge may give us our best chance.

Civil War?

Yes, absolutely, but describing it is difficult and that’s entirely by design.

To understand the players, look beyond the simple Democrat versus Republican construct that the mainstream media marinates you in daily.

Start to focus on a more complex description of the belligerents.

We have a very real cesspool of corrupt Washington D.C. bureaucrats and insiders.

It’s the “Uniparty” Marxists comprised of Democrats and RINOS versus We the People and a handful of brave elected, supported by a scant few whistleblowers.

We see the two-tier “lawfare” system play out daily and although many of the crimes against our Constitution and people are in full view, accountability seems virtually non-existent.

“Get Trump” is their religion, the latest being an unprecedent four count, 45-page criminal indictment to attack the former president’s First Amendment rights.

We are a nation in decline.

We watch the destruction of our culture and values, our wealth and savings, our sovereignty and most importantly, our liberty. If you think President Biden or Leader McConnell want what’s best for this nation, read no further.

“The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”?

Whether coopted, compromised, or simply forgetful, Biden — after taking the oath to the Constitution — has weakened this nation by administrative measures and executive orders.

When the Lion is weak, the hyenas and jackals see opportunity, and so it is with the Four Horseman of World War III: China, Russia, North Korea and Iran.

Not only are these four in league with each other but are also hell-bent on destroying the power of the dollar in maintaining the current world order.

Look at African nations like Niger spiraling out of control while famine sets in and economy-saving energy projects that would save Europe disintegrate.

Team (Victoria) Nuland is on the case, demanding that Egypt send weapons to Ukraine or else. Super. Nuland is Biden’s under-secretary of state for political affairs

In Cairo they are looking soberingly at the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars and access to IMF support when food and energy cost 3x.

Behold, the wages of the failed Nuland doctrine.

China looks like the winner in the group so far, bankrolling Vladimir Putin’s war in Europe to weaken the West. First, economically and militarily, but ultimately with the objective to destroy American democracy.

That said, Xi and the CCP dynasty of Mao Zedong are on the edge of failure.

The second cultural revolution may be a hard sell with today’s Chinese, who had a taste of freedom and prosperity for a fleeting moment.

At least Xi can depend on his relationships in the U.S.

His investments (alleged) in the Biden administration bear fruit every day.

Sovereignty?

The border and airspace breaches provide the answer. Killing Americans?

Over 100,000 per year with the fentanyl program. Farmland? We’ll take yours.

Wall Street? We paid them off. We are in 143 of your K-12 schools. We have police stations and biolabs in your country.

Whether it’s a Feng Feng for a congressman or 10% for the “big guy,” Xi has paid in full.

Who Is or Are the Real Enemy?

CCP ally, Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum (WEF) comprise the globalists who seek to control every aspect of your life. Climate Change is meant to serve as a forcing function, accelerating globalist control to get you vaccinated, eating bugs, and tracked through FASTT pay and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

The foie gras eating, private jet flying, oceanfront mansion crowd want one world government that means more for them and less of you.

The five hundred million allowed to live survive by eating bugs — don’t believe us?

Caution on pushing back.

Schwab’s associates, Yuval Harari wants anyone challenging the elites to be “disappeared.“

The only thing stopping them?

America.

We’re in the way.

Our Constitution, our faith and our inalienable rights are in the way.

You, are in the way.

Evil, well-heeled, smart people have designs on you. America as we knew it needs to collapse to make their dreams come true. Watch soon as CBDC “Worldcoin” is rolled out.

Will you turn in your biometric data for a few crypto-bucks? (Hint: avoid the “Orb.”)

America, we are not done . . . yet.

However, we need to wake up and fight Washington D.C. like our freedom depends on it.

It does.

The views presented are those solely of the authors.

Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt (retired) is a co-founder of Restore Liberty, a former deputy representative to NATO, a lifetime member on the Council on Foreign Relations, and a Newsmax contributor. The views presented are those of the author and do not represent the views of the U.S. government, U.S.Department of Defense, or its components. Read Gen. Holt’s reports — More Here.

Rick Gates is a political analyst and co-founder of America First Policies. He is a Newsmax Contributor and the author of “Wicked Game: An Insider’s Story on How Trump Won, Mueller Failed and America Lost.”

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Judge Releases Hunter Biden Plea Deal

By Charlie McCarthy | Wednesday, 02 August 2023 01:23 PM EDT

The federal judge who rejected Hunter Biden’s plea deal released the proposed settlement publicly on Wednesday.

Judge Maryellen Noreika granted a request by NBC reporter Tom Winter for the full Hunter Biden plea deal to be released, The Messenger reported. Neither Biden’s lawyers nor prosecutors objected. A leaked version of the proposed plea deal was widely shared in the media last week.

Large portions of the plea deal were read in court on July 26, when Hunter Biden’s proposed deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to tax charges and avoid a gun charge hit a snag when Noreika said she needed more time to review the agreement.

“Those agreements should be publicly docketed given that they were discussed in open court and played a role in Your Honor’s decision on the proposed plea deal,” Winter wrote in his request.

Noreika also released the diversion agreement, which included that the U.S. agreed to “not criminally prosecute Biden, outside of the terms of this Agreement, or any federal crimes encompassed by the attached Statement of Facts (Attachment A) and the Statement of Facts attached as Exhibit 1 to the Memorandum of Plea Agreement filed this same day.”

Hunter Biden initially had agreed to plead guilty to two tax evasion charges and minor gun charges, much to the protest of Republican lawmakers.

After Noreika rejected the deal, the first son pleaded not guilty to charges of failing to pay taxes on more than $1.5 million in income in 2017 and 2018 despite owing more than $100,000, prosecutors allege.

The Republican heads of three House committees on Monday announced in a letter they will investigate the circumstances surrounding Biden’s failed plea deal, the New York Post reported.

The letter, signed by Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., and Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith, R-Mo., was sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland less than one week after Noreika rejected the plea deal after describing it as “not standard” and questioning the deal’s diversion agreement.

Noreika ordered attorneys Friday to raise issues with her chambers, not the court clerk.

The order came two days after an employee at a law firm representing Biden allegedly misrepresented her identity to the clerk’s office during a phone call.

Reuters contributed to this story.

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Elise McCue Op-ed: LA Times Columnist Tries Desperately to Lionize Lying Kamala Harris

Elise McCue / August 02, 2023

Kamala Harris stands at a podium outdoors to give a speech — Vice President Kamala Harris — flanked by President Joe Biden and Michelle Duster, great-granddaughter of civil rights pioneer Ida B. Wells — speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House on March 29, 2022, after Biden signed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act. Los Angeles Times columnist Jackie Calmes last week disingenuously embraced Harris’ baseless implication that Republicans don’t want students to be taught about Till’s brutal 1955 murder. (Photo: Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

One of the most annoying ploys of liberal journalists is to advise Republicans that the truly wise path in politics is to surrender to liberals on everything, and the dumbest path is to oppose them emphatically.

The latest flagrant example of this is a column in The Los Angeles Times with the provocative headline “Republican racism has finally weaponized Kamala Harris.”

The columnist, Jackie Calmes, was falsely categorized for decades as an “objective journalist.” Moving over to the opinion pages isn’t really a significant change. Calmes begins by acknowledging Vice President Harris is deeply unpopular. But, shazam! Republicans “keep doing stupid stuff underscoring their racial insensitivity” — like Gov. Ron DeSantis and his government in Florida claiming a “silver lining to slavery” in their new African American history standards for schools.

It doesn’t matter that the Florida standards explicitly demand slavery be presented to students as a dehumanizing horror. It doesn’t matter that the original standards that DeSantis criticized also had a passage about a so-called “silver lining to slavery.” It doesn’t matter that the “silver lining” for slaves came after slavery ended or after they escaped slavery. What matters is trying to construct a spin that makes Harris less of a liability for Democrats.

Calmes touted how Harris had a “pretty good week” as “she’s put the lie to the claim that the Left is forcing a guilt trip on white children by fully teaching them about the nation’s sins as well as its triumphs.”

Calmes used to work at The New York Times, the originator of the fact-mangling “1619 Project” that forces a guilt trip on all Americans with the supposition that America hasn’t really changed much since African Americans were held in bondage as subhuman chattel.

If you want to know where identity politics leads, look no further than a stadium of South Africans calling for the murder of their fellow white countrymen.

If you want to see a majority group calling for the slaughter of a minority group.

Stay Woke.
pic.twitter.com/bvsadAGGqB
— Laurence Fox (@LozzaFox) August 1, 2023

🤣 🤣 🤣
This is black privilege!
— AquaEng (@DuncanKiyingi) August 2, 2023

That project was aggressively promoted to schools across America as a curriculum. Then the liberal media pretended no one was teaching critical race theory in schools.

Harris is championed as the opponent of “perilous ignorance,” as conservatives insert “both-sidesism” into teaching the history of American slavery. This sounds just like liberals finding it perilously ignorant to allow both sides of an argument in your newspaper articles. Liberals are always trying to win by intimidating anyone out of dissent.

Calmes quoted Harris asking how could anyone suggest “that there was any benefit to be subjected to this level of dehumanization.” This is why liberals mock “alternative facts.” Disagreeable facts should be shamed out of public discourse.

Calmes also embraced Harris wrapping Emmett Till into this message, that somehow the Republicans won’t teach the children about that brutal murder, or advocate that everyone forget about it. “The vice president — call her [President Joe] Biden’s attack dog, as some accounts have, or simply a truth-teller — is not going to dissuade Republicans from their attempt to rewrite history. Yet even if she’s preaching to the choir, hers is a message that must go out. Maybe she’s finally found her niche.”

When they accidentally let the agenda slip. 🫢 https://t.co/AThal8dpW1
— ZUBY: (@ZubyMusic) July 15, 2023

It’s not “Republican racism” to oppose left-wing propaganda standards in our schools. It’s not “truth-telling” to proclaim that Republicans want to teach American history without a substantive focus on slavery and segregation and lynching and the Ku Klux Klan.

But Democrats and their media allies eternally try to hold on to voters of color by arguing that the Republicans are all undeniable racists, and never mind that inescapable historical fact that the Democratic Party was the staunchest party behind slavery and segregation.

The Daily Signal publishes a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Heritage Foundation.

COMMENTARY BY Elise McCue

Elise McCue is a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation.

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Kamala Harris

Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon by A.F. Branco

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Truth is Out There

A.F. BRANCO | on August 2, 2023 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-truth-is-out-there/

Whether it’s UfOs or more Trump indictments, they’re all to deflect you away from Biden’s pay-to-play scandals.

UFO’s and the Biden Scandals — Cartoon by A.F. Branco.

DONATE to A.F.Branco Cartoons – Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 – $5.00 – $25.00 – $50.00 – $100 – it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. Also Venmo @AFBranco – Also Zelle (brancozelle@gmail.com) – THANK YOU!

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A Humorous Look at Kamala Harris Quotes as Motivational Posters, To Help You Be Unburdened by Your Brain Cells: Part 3

August 1, 2023

BY: ELLE PURNELL | AUGUST 01, 2023

Author Elle Purnell profile

ELLE PURNELL

VISIT ON TWITTER@_ETREYNOLDS

It’s that time of year again, folks. Kids are enjoying long summer days, blissfully unaware of the impending school year. Front porches creak under the burden of sluggish rocking chairs, sweat drips off of lemonade tumblers, and the list of new motivational Kamala Harris quotes we at The Federalist send around every so often to inspire greatness is getting unmanageably long, so it’s time to share them with you all.

First, we brought you our inaugural set of printable motivational posters with stirring sentiments from the woman whose ascent to the vice presidency got in the way of what could have been a promising career in naming nail polish colors.

Just a few months later, the Venn diagram aficionado proved so prolific we had to publish another set of inspirational prints with her best quotes, reminding us all to believe what we believed we believe.

Now, she’s back and better than ever, just in time to get you through the end-of-summer slump.

At the 2023 Essence Festival of Culture in early July, Harris enlightened her listeners about the meaning of “culture,” tying it back to her favorite themes about moments, time, and moments in time.

In March, Harris summarized a meeting with Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo, letting listening journalists know that “we have had today, this afternoon, a wide-ranging discussion,” before expounding on the importance of the important topics they discussed.

After Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg let American infrastructure crumble while he weirdly posed in a hospital bed for the kind of photo mothers take after giving birth, Vice President Harris valiantly stepped in and fixed transportation once and for all.

In addition to helpfully defining her terms — “This issue of transportation is fundamentally about just making sure that people have the ability to get where they need to go,” she explained recently — Harris has broken down the transportation crisis in easy-to-understand language.

There’s been a lot in the news lately about AI and its dangers. If you’re struggling to comprehend this emergent technology, you’re in luck — Kamala Harris is here to help.

“AI is kind of a fancy thing. First of all, it’s two letters. It means artificial intelligence,” Harris helpfully explained at an event on the White House campus a few weeks ago.

During a recent visit to Arizona’s Gila River Indian Community, Harris invoked a version of her all-time favorite phrase, reminding all of us not to be burdened by things like basic English competence or the Constitution.

If you thought being vice president and Vogue cover girl was enough to keep our favorite girlboss-in-chief busy — you know, when she’s not totally fixing the border crisis or whatever — you’d be wrong. In true entrepreneurial spirit, she’s considering launching her own Converse line.

Asked, “Will we ever get a Madam VP Converse line?” Harris showed her flair for fashion.

“I’d probably want like a ‘Freedom’ line, you know? Right? Can you see that? Freedom would be on the Converse,” she proposed.

“Freedom to be. I am free. Free to march, Free to walk my talk!”

It’s worth watching the whole clip:

Kamala Harris says if she had her own Converse line, she'd "probably want like a 'freedom' line, you know?"

"Freedom to be. I am free. Free to march. Free to… to… to… walk my talk!" pic.twitter.com/xpMxJ8ezmR
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 27, 2023

At an April event, Harris made the case for understanding where and in what time we are all existing — something her presidential boss has shown some confusion about in the past.

And just to drive her point home, a few months later, she reiterated the importance of taking stock of our present circumstances (unless, of course, those circumstances are a border crisis, a government censorship regime, inflation, entanglement in foreign wars, and a president implicated in a foreign pay-for-play scheme — then it would probably be appreciated if you do not pay quite as much attention, please).

Kamala is also totally a woman of the people, a champion of small business owners. She understands that small business owners are “community leaders and are so much a part of the community’s cultural fabric,” and that small businesses rely on “community banks, which are banks that are in the community who understand the community.” (Community is very important to her, as it should be to all of us.)

She also understands that part of what makes a small business so integral to that community is that “it spans the generations, in addition to being intergenerational.”

Remember when John F. Kennedy inspired us all to “ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country”? Harris had her own Camelot moment while campaigning for Pennsylvania Democrat Josh Shapiro in 2022. As she urged her listeners, may we all do what we do — and what we have been doing, every day, in the present moment, together.

Elle Purnell is an assistant editor at The Federalist, and received her B.A. in government from Patrick Henry College with a minor in journalism. Follow her work on Twitter @_etreynolds.

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HUMOR, Political

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Republicans Deserve a Senate Leader Willing to Defend Their Interests Over Democrats’

BY: TRISTAN JUSTICE | AUGUST 01, 2023

While the Biden administration faces escalating calls for impeachment, either of the homeland security secretary, the attorney general, or even the president himself as evidence mounts over myriad scandals, Republicans’ top Senate lawmaker is distracted.

Instead of directing his ire at President Joe Biden for his influence-peddling schemes with corrupt overseas actors, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell piled onto the media onslaught against a freshman representative from Wisconsin who cussed out some teenagers at the Capitol. GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden stirred up controversy last week when he went on a tirade against some interns with the Senate page program who were lying in the Capitol rotunda, which the congressman says he considered disrespectful.

“Wake the fuck up you little sh-ts. … What the f-ck are you all doing? Get the f-ck out of here,” Van Orden said, telling the group they were “defiling the space,” according to one page’s recollection of the incident. The Wisconsin lawmaker was defiant, explaining on a local radio show, “The people who have brought this up are not serious people.”

Nor are the Republicans who have remained silent on the administration’s series of scandals but have been quick to get behind the Democrats’ latest outrage circus.

The Van Orden outburst drew swift condemnation from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. “I was shocked when I heard about it, and I am further shocked at his refusal to apologize to these young people,” Schumer said.

McConnell didn’t hesitate to make the outrage bipartisan. According to Politico, McConnell was clear to “associate myself with the remarks of the majority leader.”

“Everybody on this side of the aisle feels exactly the same way,” McConnell added.

If only Republicans had a leader in the upper chamber who dared stand up for Republicans. The problem is not that Van Orden’s eruption at a couple of teenagers is excusable. The problem is McConnell’s regular participation in Democrats’ smear campaigns against other Republicans while the GOP Senate leader remains silent on the administration’s corruption scandals. Last week, McConnell declined to comment at all on House Republicans’ impeachment push.

It’s far from the first time the Republican Senate leader has peddled the Democrats’ latest political narratives. In March, McConnell condemned Fox News for the network airing the Jan. 6 tapes presented by Tucker Carlson. The tapes undermined the Democrats’ narratives of a “deadly insurrection,” the basis for their snap impeachment of outgoing President Donald Trump.

“With regard to the presentation on Fox News last night, I want to associate myself entirely with the opinion of the chief of the Capitol Police about what happened on Jan. 6,” McConnell told reporters on Capitol Hill following Carlson’s first installment of the J6 tapes. Hours earlier, Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger had sent a memo to his department that called Carlson’s coverage “filled with offensive and misleading conclusions.”

The comments led even Elon Musk to begin to question whether McConnell was actually a Republican. “I keep forgetting which party he belongs to,” Musk wrote on Twitter.

After the FBI raid of former President Donald Trump’s Florida residence at Mar-a-Lago, McConnell didn’t condemn the weaponization of federal law enforcement. Instead, the Republican Senate leader endorsed more funding for the federal bureau. This followed the octogenarian lawmaker sabotaging Republicans’ midterm efforts to reclaim the Senate. McConnell was more interested in maintaining an establishment minority he could control than in achieving a GOP majority that aligned more with Trump’s vision for the party.

Republicans have a right to expect far better from their No. 1 leader in the Senate. Considering McConnell’s recent health problems, new leadership could come sooner rather than later. His successor would be wise to adopt a new approach that puts voters first.

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.

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Evidence Of Biden Burisma Corruption Is Overwhelming

BY: MOLLIE HEMINGWAY | AUGUST 01, 2023

Author Mollie Hemingway profile

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY

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A key associate of Hunter Biden reluctantly admitted details about how the Biden family business was run — and those details are shocking.

Devon Archer, a longtime business partner and close friend of Hunter Biden’s, told congressional investigators Monday that at a meeting in Dubai on Dec. 4, 2015, top executives of Ukrainian energy concern Burisma asked Hunter Biden and himself for help from D.C. At the time of the meeting, Hunter Biden’s dad, Joe Biden, was serving as Barack Obama’s vice president as well as his point person on Ukraine. Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner of Burisma, and Vadym Pozharski, a Burisma executive, wanted to get Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin fired as he was investigating the company for corruption, Archer told members of Congress.

Hunter Biden put Zlochevsky and Pozharski on a call with “D.C.,” Archer said, noting he was not part of the phone call so couldn’t possibly know who exactly was on the other end of the line. Joe Biden did meet and speak more than 20 times with various business associates who were paying for access to the Biden family, Archer admitted.

In this case, Burisma was paying Archer and Hunter Biden as much as $83,000 a month to serve on the Ukrainian energy concern’s board, despite the fact that neither man had relevant experience or expertise for the job outside of their frequent meetings and contact with the then-vice president. The two were hired the same month that the U.K. had opened an investigation into company officials. The money was well spent.

A mere five days after the Dubai meeting and phone call, Vice President Joe Biden gave a speech to the Ukrainian Rada, its parliament in Kyiv, attempting to lay the groundwork for firing Shokin.

It took just a few short months before Shokin was fired. Joe Biden bragged in a public speech in January 2018 that he was personally responsible for getting that firing accomplished so quickly. In fact, he claimed he had bullied the Ukrainian government into firing the investigator by threatening to withhold a billion-dollar loan guarantee unless he got what he wanted. Seriously:

And I was supposed to announce that there was another billion-dollar loan guarantee. And I had gotten a commitment from Poroshenko and from Yatsenyuk that they would take action against the state prosecutor. And they didn’t. So they said they had — they were walking out to a press conference. I said, nah, I’m not going to — or, we’re not going to give you the billion dollars. They said, you have no authority. You’re not the president. The president said — I said, call him. (Laughter.) I said, I’m telling you, you’re not getting the billion dollars. I said, you’re not getting the billion. I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch. (Laughter.) He got fired.

What an amazing series of events that led to Joe Biden personally fulfilling what Burisma was paying Hunter Biden to accomplish. What are the odds?

Not the Weather

After Archer’s transcribed interview, Rep. Dan Goldman, a Democrat from New York who previously ran some of the Russia-collusion hoax as a congressional staffer, ran to the cameras to cushion the blow of the explosive new information.

For years, the corporate press and other Democrats had uncritically accepted Biden’s preposterous claim that he had never spoken with his son or his son’s business partners about the Biden family business. Even when Biden business associate Tony Bobulinski described — in detail, on the record, and with supporting evidence — how Joe Biden served as the “chairman” of the family business, the media largely ignored the explosive claims. With Archer echoing Bobulinski’s claims, and further noting that the business wouldn’t have worked without Joe Biden’s “brand,” Goldman and others like him had to concede that Biden did in fact speak with Hunter’s business associates. In fact, they had to admit he spoke with them frequently. However, Goldman claimed, they were only talking about the weather.

While no one actually thinks Joe Biden has a secret interest in meteorology that he only shares with corrupt foreign oligarchs who happen to be in business with his son, the claim is ridiculous for another reason.

As conservative broadcaster Larry O’Connor wrote, “Understand this: Hunter getting Joe on speakerphone WAS THE DELIVERABLE. It literally doesn’t matter what was discussed. Showing that he could get the Vice President of the United States on the phone was all Hunter had to show his clients to seal the deal. He was selling ACCESS not policy. Getting The Big Guy to pick up the phone demonstrated his ability to deliver that access. Case closed. Impeach.”

Otherwise, why would Joe Biden get on the phone with his business associates at all? Why would Barack Obama’s point man in Ukraine be talking to Ukrainian officials under suspicion of massive corruption who were paying large sums of money to his son? What was the point, exactly, if not as chairman of the family business?

We know Burisma was paying Biden family members for help getting powerful people in D.C. to get investigators off its back. We know Biden was the top official in D.C. related to Ukraine. Five days after Burisma made the request, Biden was laying the groundwork for the firing. And he has publicly bragged about getting the prosecutor fired.

n 2019, President Donald Trump was impeached for raising the issue of a potential corruption scandal involving Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and Burisma. At that time, scores of corporate media and other Democrat activists asserted without evidence that Shokin was not investigating Burisma and that it was a lie to suggest otherwise. For instance, Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post wrote in 2019, “Trump has falsely claimed that Biden in 2015 pressured the Ukrainian government to fire Viktor Shokin, the top Ukrainian prosecutor, because he was investigating Ukraine’s largest private gas company, Burisma, which had added Biden’s son, Hunter, to its board in 2014. There are two big problems with this claim: One, Shokin was not investigating Burisma or Hunter Biden, and two, Shokin’s ouster was considered a diplomatic victory.”

Since that false “fact” “check,” investigators in the House and Senate have shown that the Biden family business involves oligarchs and other powerful figures from Russia, Romania, China, and even France and other countries. Joe Biden reportedly met and spoke with his son’s employers from across the globe. The corporate press and other Democrats will fight disclosure about the Biden family business every step of the way, but Archer’s transcribed interview shows how important it is to reveal the truth of that business to the American people.

Mollie Ziegler Hemingway is the Editor-in-Chief of The Federalist. She is Senior Journalism Fellow at Hillsdale College and a Fox News contributor. She is the co-author of Justice on Trial: The Kavanaugh Confirmation and the Future of the Supreme Court. She is the author of “Rigged: How the Media, Big Tech, and the Democrats Seized Our Elections.” Reach her at mzhemingway@thefederalist.com

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COUNTRY BOYS WILL SURVIVE THE WOKE WARRIORS

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Woke culture has pushed this mom too far

By Abby Johnson | Fox News | Published August 1, 2023 2:00am EDT

How far can you push someone before they have had enough of rampant wokeness and completely revolt? That’s the question businesses, movie makers and department stores are rightly grappling with. I can answer the question: If their target market is American families, conservative men and women who are just trying to make ends meet, the answer is that they have absolutely had enough. The silent majority is speaking, and they are doing so loudly.

When a man who claims he’s a woman is plastered onto America’s former best-selling beer, regular Joes across the country en masse stopped buying Bud Light. They’ve lost a whopping $27 billion and have been replaced as the country’s top beer seller.

When Target decided to partner with a Satanic artist and threw their pride-promoting clothing into the faces of parents shopping in the children’s section, they lost $15.7 billion and counting.

When Disney decided to push woke movie concepts on trusting parents with the likes of the films “Lightyear” and “Elemental,” they lost $890 million over their past eight films.

On the other hand, when Jim Caviezel produced a movie about a hero who rescued children from trafficking, the“Sound of Freedom”became a 2023 summer hit film with more than $125 million in revenue, outperforming films with mega budgets like “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.”

When country music singer Jason Aldean pulled no punches in his newly released single, “Try That In A Small Town,” it quickly shot to the No. 1 song on iTunes despite the woke crowd slamming it for promoting violence – when it uses actual news footage that many in the leftist woke crowd did not speak out against.

The silent majority – those families who just want to go to the store without being accosted by inappropriate messages, who just want to spend their money on wholesome entertainment, and who are more than willing to support those who stand up for truth – have spoken.

We have had enough.

When men like Lia Thomas are allowed to compete in women’s sports and an actual female athlete, Riley Gaines, stands up for herself because literally no one else will – not her school, not the NCAA – parents of female athletes can’t help but pay attention. They are smart enough to see that the future of their own daughters in the world of sports are being wiped out and erased all because of some “inclusivity” wokeness.

When they see men and boys allowed in women’s locker rooms and restrooms, they see the safety of their daughters compromised like the horrible sexual assault in Loudon County, Virginia, where a boy forcibly assaulted a teenage girl in the girls’ bathroom. He was allowed in because he identified as a girl.

Parents are paying attention and we’re fed up. We’re fed up with gender ideology, wokeness and all the other colors of the rainbow being shoved down our throats in the name of tolerance.

I’m raising my eight children to be kind, compassionate, caring and loving individuals. I’m also teaching them right from wrong and amazingly, using science to back up a lot of biological arguments, something the woke crowd loves to ignore.

How dare they call my family and my kids intolerant bigots because we follow science and speak the truth? Not our truth, the truth. There are absolutes in this world no matter how much some people want to live in a fantasy world of their own making.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM ABBY JOHNSON

I am more than happy the silent majority is standing up for what we hold so dearly and doing so where it hits the pocketbooks because, unfortunately, that’s the only way to get the attention of companies who think they can carelessly shove these kinds of inane values and morals at us and think will take it.

We won’t and we aren’t.

And you know what? We are teaching the next generation not to take it either.

Abby Johnson is CEO and founder of And Then There Were None and author of “Unplanned.”

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Culture, Political

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Woke Culture

Gallup Poll: Confidence in Military Lowest in 2 Decades

By Fran Beyer | Tuesday, 01 August 2023 02:19 PM EDT

Americans’ confidence in the U.S. military is at the lowest point in two decades, new data from Gallup has found. When asked how much confidence they had in the military, 60% said they had a great deal or quite a lot. The last time confidence in the military was this low was in 1997, and it hasn’t been lower since 1988, when 58% were confident, according to Gallup.

Republicans have been the most likely to express confidence in the military, though the rate has declined by over 20 percentage points in three years, from 91% to 68%, Gallup reported.

Independents’ confidence has dropped nearly as much — by 13 points, from 68% to 55%. Democrats’ confidence rating rose after President Joe Biden assumed office, but the gains to 68% have disappeared in the past year, and now stand at 62%, the pollster found.

“Public perceptions of the U.S. military have fluctuated dramatically over the past five decades,” Gallup’s Mohamed Younis wrote in an analysis of the findings.

“The aftermaths of the Gulf War and 9/11 were followed by resounding upticks in confidence in the military,” he added. “The latter of these surges ushered in an era of elevated confidence lasting nearly two decades.

“Now that the U.S. has completely withdrawn from both Iraq and Afghanistan … confidence in the military has continued to decline among the public.”

According to Gallup, from the late 1970s to the early 1980s — during the Cold War and amid threats to U.S. power, including the Iran hostage crisis — between 50% and 58% of Americans were confident in the military. Confidence generally improved during Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s. It then surged after the Gulf War victory to a record-high 85% in 1991, and again after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

Confidence generally held above 70% for the next two decades, until dipping to 69% in 2021 and declining since then after the United States’ disastrous exit from Afghanistan. The military had retained public trust — despite its decline — even as other institutions like the police, public schools, and organized religion saw steep drops, according to Gallup.

The margin of error in the Gallup Poll Social Series was not released.

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Comer on Archer Testimony: Today Was a ‘Bombshell’

By Jeffrey Rodack | Tuesday, 01 August 2023 09:36 AM EDT

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., told Newsmax the congressional testimony of a former associate of Hunter Biden was a “bombshell” and said the “walls are closing in” on President Joe Biden and his family. Comer is chair of the House Oversight Committee, where Devon Archer testified on Monday. The congressman made his comments during an interview on “Greg Kelly Reports.“

Asked what he thought about Archer, Comer said: “I think that he was under a lot of pressure today. We know that the Biden attorneys have threatened him and intimidated him. We know the Department of Justice sent him two letters over the weekend, which is unheard of. But despite that, I think he answered a lot of questions that needed to be answered, specifically that Joe Biden did in fact talk to numerous people that his son was receiving wires from while Joe Biden was vice president.

“And that is something that Joe Biden has consistently lied about. That’s what the Democrats have consistently taken Joe Biden’s positions saying he never spoke with anyone Hunter Biden was doing business with. But yet we learned today that over 20 times, in fact, Joe Biden, while he was vice president, spoke with people who were sending the Biden family members these suspicious wires that the banks, or anyone else in America, knew what the purpose of the wires were for.

“Another thing that Devon Archer testified today was the Biden family, in fact, was influenced peddling. We know that Devon Archer has violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act. That’s a very serious law.”

Comer said Archer’s testimony calls into question whether Joe Biden violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act “because his family was receiving millions of millions of dollars from these foreign nationals.”

“None of these people that he [Hunter] put his dad on the phone with are reputable businesspeople,” Comer said. “They all are under some type of investigation or on the flee in the countries where they originate from. The people that Hunter Biden was putting on speakerphone with his sitting vice president father were some of the worst people on the planet, but yet they were paying the Biden family millions of millions of dollars.

“Every day, we get more and more evidence that points to Joe Biden directly. All roads lead to Joe Biden. And today, we’ve learned without a shadow of a doubt that Joe Biden has been lying to the American people when he said he never spoke with anyone his son was receiving money from.

“Devon Archer testified that the owners of Burisma were pressuring Hunter to call Washington to get [Viktor] Shokin, the Ukrainian prosecutor, fired. And we know because we’ve seen on video — Joe Biden bragged, in fact — firing the prosecutor in Ukraine that was investigating his son’s corrupt energy company, and he wasn’t going to give them our tax dollars our foreign aid unless the Ukrainian president fired the prosecutor.

“And that’s what Devon Archer said that those guys were pressuring Hunter to do —call Washington, get this Shokin fired. I mean, this was a bombshell today. This is more evidence that points directly to Joe Biden. I mean the amount the number of crimes that the Biden family has committed continues to grow. And more and more evidence shows that Joe Biden knew exactly what was going on.”

Comer maintained “the walls are closing in on the Bidens.”

“We’re going to continue to bring more associates in. We’re going to continue to publish more bank records, and we’re going to continue to move forward. I think the evidence will continue to mount. This is a snowball. It’s rolling downhill. It’s not going to stop.”

Asked about a possible impeachment of Biden, he replied: “Well, I know how I would vote. But again, that’s a decision for Speaker [Kevin] McCarthy. But, I’ll tell you this, right before I came on the show, McCarthy called me, and I gave him a rundown of what was said today, and we talked about steps moving forward.

“So, you know, stay tuned.”

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Rasmussen Poll: Most Suspect Biden Covered for Son

By Peter Malbin | Tuesday, 01 August 2023 12:43 PM EDT

Devon Archer testified to Congress on Monday that he was on a speakerphone multiple times with Hunter Biden and President Joe Biden when the latter was vice president. But Archer, Hunter Biden’s former business partner, said they only discussed pleasantries, not business dealings involving Ukraine and China. Archer testified that Joe Biden was put on the phone to help Hunter Biden sell what he called “the brand,” according to Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.

According to reports, Hunter Biden was paid millions of dollars as a consultant to Ukraine gas company Burisma and other entities overseas, allegedly to gain access to the vice president.

According to the latest Rasmussen Reports poll taken just before Archer’s closed-door testimony to the House Oversight Committe, 60% of likely voters say Joe Biden has been part of an illegal cover-up to hide his involvement in his son’s foreign business deals; 45% think such a cover-up is very likely; 34% say it’s not likely Biden has illegally covered up his role in his son’s foreign business, including 18% who believe it is not at all likely.

Joe Biden has said he never discussed Hunter’s business affairs with him.

Archer’s testimony “confirms Joe Biden lied to the American people when he said he had no knowledge about his son’s business dealings and was not involved,” said Comer, the The Wall Street Journal reported.

In the Rasmussen poll, 61% of voters think this is a serious scandal, including 44% who say it’s very serious. But 29% don’t believe Biden’s involvement in Hunter’s foreign business is a serious scandal, including 13% who believe it is not at all serious.

Last week, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Biden had done “something we have not seen since Richard Nixon: Use the weaponization of government to benefit his family and deny Congress the ability to have the oversight.”

Over half — 58% — of voters agree with McCarthy’s statement, including 43% who strongly agree; 35% disagree, including 26% who strongly disagree.

Democrats are far less likely than other voters to view the president’s purposted involvement in his son’s foreign business deals as scandalous. Just 20% of Democrats believe that this is a very serious scandal, compared to 66% of Republicans and 49% of voters not affiliated with either major party.

Similarly, only 18% of Democrats say they strongly agree with McCarthy comparing Biden to Nixon, whereas 69% of Republicans and 46% of unaffiliated voters strongly agree.

While 69% of Republicans and 48% of unaffiliated think it’s very likely that the president has been part of an illegal cover-up to hide his involvement in his son’s foreign business deals, just 20% of Democrats believe such a cover-up is very likely.

By race, 63% of white people, 56% of Black people, and 62% of other minorities think Biden’s reported involvement in his son’s foreign business deals is at least a somewhat serious scandal. Fewer black voters (27%) than white (49%) or other minorities (42%) believe it’s very likely that the president has been part of an illegal cover-up.

More men (67%) than women voters (57%) say Biden’s involvement in Hunter’s business deals is at least a somewhat serious scandal.

Older voters are much more likely than those under 40 to deem the Biden scandal very serious, and to strongly agree with McCarthy comparing Biden to Nixon.

Only 30% of self-identified liberal voters think Biden’s reported involvement in his son’s foreign business deal is at least a somewhat serious scandal, compared to 54% of moderates and 87% of conservatives.

In terms of income categories, voters earning between $30,000 and $50,000 a year are most likely to say Biden is facing a very serious scandal.

The survey of 1,027 U.S. likely voters was conducted on July 26-27 and July 30 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is plus/minus percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.

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Franklin Graham warns Christian broadcasters of ‘coming storm’

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor | TUESDAY, MAY 23, 2023

The Rev. Franklin Graham speaks at the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Orlando, Florida, on Monday, May 22, 2023. | Mark Barber

The Rev. Franklin Graham warned members of Christian news media organizations and others about the “coming storm” headed toward churches and ministries in the United States. Graham, who serves as president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and head of Samaritan’s Purse, gave the keynote speech Monday evening at the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Orlando, Florida.

“I believe there is a coming storm that we all need to be ready for,” Graham said. “The world has deteriorated so quickly. We cannot be deceived, and we can’t be fooled. We need to get ready and be prepared.”

Graham said believers in the United States are “living in a cancel culture that wants to destroy Christian organizations,” adding that “we cannot back up, we can’t retreat, don’t apologize for the Gospel — just declare it, just preach it.”

“They want us to shut our mouths, they don’t want to hear from us. If you’re not going to preach the Gospel, you don’t have anything to worry about,” he said.

“If you’re not going to talk about sin, you’re not going to have anything to worry about; but if you’re going to proclaim the Gospel, they’re going to try to shut you up.”

NRB describes itself as “the world’s largest gathering of Christian communicators and ministry professionals,” adding that it “is where everyone gets together under one roof to talk about advancing the gospel.”

“Countless partnerships and important connections have been formed at NRB Conventions over the years,” said NRB. “As the largest marketplace dedicated to Christian media professionals, the NRB Exposition is filled with resources and connections to help expand and grow your organization or ministry.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a likely Republican presidential primary candidate, was also in attendance and gave remarks before the Christian media and ministries gathering.

“Had a great discussion at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention on the importance of supporting families, protecting children and defending religious liberty,” DeSantis posted to Facebook later on.

Earlier this month, Graham gave the keynote address at the commencement ceremony for graduates of Liberty University, the prominent Evangelical academic institution based in Lynchburg, Virginia. In his remarks to graduates, Graham said that he was praying that “this class will stand for truth,” giving a warning that “our world is changing” for the worse.

“It has changed so much, just in the time since you set foot on this campus a few years ago,” said Graham. “Think how much it has changed. The increase in violence, the moral decline.”

“I can’t help but think that the heart of God is grieved as He looks at our world today. Our country. Oh, I love our country, but it’s in a downward spiral morally, spiritually, economically, politically.”

Follow Michael Gryboski on Twitter or Facebook

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Political, Spiritual

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Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon by A.F. Branco

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Art of the Scam

A.F. BRANCO | on August 1, 2023 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-art-of-the-scam/

Big Guy Biden is now using Hunder’s finger paintings in an all-new pay-to-play scheme for political appointments.

01 BiddenMob DT 1080a — Cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2023.

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Exclusive: Poll Shows Majority of Americans Support Voter ID, Limited Mail-in Voting

July 31, 2023

BY: SHAWN FLEETWOOD | JULY 31, 2023

New polling provided exclusively to The Federalist shows a vast majority of U.S. voters support election integrity initiatives such as voter ID requirements and limitations on the use of mail-in voting.

Conducted by the Honest Elections Project (HEP) from July 13-16, the survey reveals widespread support among the American electorate for common-sense election integrity policies. According to the poll, 88 percent of Americans support laws mandating voters show a form of ID in order to cast their ballot, including the vast majority of black (82 percent) and Hispanic voters (83 percent). Only 9 percent of those polled opposed ID requirements.

The survey’s findings paint a vastly different picture than the one crafted by legacy media and Democrat politicians, who for years have maliciously smeared voter ID laws as Republican-sponsored tools designed to “suppress” the votes of racial minorities. Two years ago, for example, Democrats and their propaganda press allies used this tactic to smear Georgia’s passage of an election integrity law that contained a provision mandating voter ID for absentee voting. President Joe Biden went so far as to label the bill “Jim Crow on steroids.”

Not only did Georgia experience record early voter turnout ahead of its Nov. 8 general election and Dec. 6 Senate runoff, but a poll conducted after the 2022 midterms revealed zero percent of black Georgia voters said they had a “poor” experience voting in the elections.

The HEP survey also found overwhelming opposition to noncitizens and minors voting in U.S. elections. In recent years, Democrat-controlled cities such as Washington, D.C., have passed measures permitting foreign nationals to vote in their respective municipal elections. Meanwhile, blue localities in states such as Maryland and California have passed measures allowing kids as young as 16 to vote in local elections.

According to HEP’s polling data, 89 percent of voters “think that American elections should only be for American citizens, including 82% of Democrats, 80% of Black voters, and 78% of Hispanic voters.” The survey also found 72 percent of voters oppose dropping the voting age to 16.

But it’s not just voter ID and eligibility where Democrats are out of touch with voters. Among the poll’s notable findings is support for limiting the use of mail-in voting.

In the lead-up to the 2020 election, numerous states used the Covid lockdowns as a pretext for expanding the use of vote-by-mail and other nonsecure election practices. Attempts by GOP-led states to return their respective elections to pre-Covid election rules have predictably been met with pushback from Democrats, who have falsely accused Republicans of “rolling back” so-called voting rights.

Contrary to Democrat claims, HEP’s survey shows over three-fourths (76 percent) of voters believe “voting in person is better than voting by mail.” The data also reveals that 73 percent of Americans “reject automatically sending ballots without a voter’s request,” and 74 percent think practices such as ballot harvesting “should be illegal.” Meanwhile, 89 percent think “every ballot should be received by Election Day.”

The data also indicates two-thirds of voters (66 percent) support terminating no-excuse mail voting “as long as states offer two weeks of early in-person voting, including weekends.” This includes 69 percent of Hispanic voters and 55 percent of black voters, who support limiting the use of mail-in voting to groups such as people with disabilities, elderly citizens, people serving in the military, and those who “will be absent on Election Day.”

The poll additionally found widespread opposition to foreign nationals influencing U.S. elections and support for transparency in the elections process.

“Despite what the far left and many in the mainstream media would have you believe, election integrity measures continue to boast wide support among the American public,” HEP Executive Director Jason Snead said in a statement. “When it comes down to it, election integrity measures that make it easy to vote and hard to cheat are just common sense.”

The HEP survey was conducted among 1,600 registered voters and has a margin of error of 2.45 percent.

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

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Are The DOJ And Hunter Biden Attempting to Commit Fraud in Federal Court?

BY: MARGOT CLEVELAND | JULY 31, 2023

Author Margot Cleveland profile

MARGOT CLEVELAND

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One sentence — 13 words — out of the thousands spoken last Wednesday over the course of the three hours that federal prosecutors, defense attorneys, Hunter Biden, and Judge Maryellen Noreika discussed the president’s son’s plea agreement suggests the Department of Justice and Hunter Biden are attempting to commit fraud on a federal court.

On Wednesday, Hunter Biden appeared before a federal court in Delaware prepared to enter a guilty plea on two misdemeanor tax counts. The hearing, however, did not go as planned when Judge Noreika, rather than rubberstamping the sweetheart deal the Biden administration had entered into with the president’s son, quizzed the attorneys and Hunter Biden on the terms of the agreement and their respective understanding of the government’s promise not to further prosecute Hunter.

When Noreika questioned Hunter Biden about the $1 million Patrick Ho paid Owasco LLC on March 22, 2018, purportedly for legal representation, the president’s son was cornered. With the government and the defendant both telling the court that money represented fees for legal services, Hunter Biden had to explain how: “I think Owasco PC acted as a law firm entity, yeah.” That’s how Hunter replied initially, but then immediately equivocated: “I believe that’s the case, but I don’t know that for a fact.”

Hunter’s hedge was a tell that what he had just told the court was not the truth. But it was imperative that the president’s son caveat his prior statement that his law firm entity was retained to provide legal services for Ho because the judge had made clear that Hunter Biden was under oath and that “any false answers may be used against [him] in a separate prosecution for perjury.”

While Hunter’s backtracking may have saved his backside from a perjury conviction, it may well blow up his plea deal because it highlighted that the “Statement of Facts” the government incorporated into the plea agreement contained a near-certain false representation: that the $1 million Patrick Ho transferred to Hunter Biden was “payment for legal fees.”

Statement of Facts?

While the government did not file the plea agreement or the exhibits incorporated into that deal on the public docket, during last week’s hearing the prosecutor and the court read excerpts on the record. Among other things, in the plea agreement, Hunter Biden “admits to the information contained in the Statement of Facts,” which was attached as Exhibit 1. And the Statement of Facts, as read by the prosecution, declared:

On or about March 22, 2018, Biden received a $1 million payment into his Owasco, LLC bank account as payment for legal fees for Patrick Ho, and $939,000 remained available as of tax day. Over the next six months Biden would spend almost the entirety of this balance on personal expenses, including large cash withdrawals, transfers to his personal account, travel, and entertainment.

After commenting that having the U.S. attorney’s office read the Statement of Facts “into the record” “is not common in my experience,” Judge Noreika proceeded to question Hunter Biden on the facts to which he was admitting, engaging in this colloquy:

COURT: All right. In the third paragraph, which is actually the second full paragraph, it says on or about March 22, 2018, you received a million-dollar payment into your Owasco bank account as payment for legal fees for Patrick Ho.

DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.

COURT: Who is that payment received from, was that the law firm?

DEFENDANT: Received from Patrick Ho, Your Honor.

COURT: Mr. Ho himself?

DEFENDANT: Yes.

COURT: Were you doing legal work for him separate and apart from the law firm?

DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor. Well —

MR. CLARK: That wasn’t through Boies Schiller, Your Honor, Mr. Biden was engaged as an attorney.

COURT: Right. So that’s why I asked. You were doing work for him —

DEFENDANT: My own law firm, not as counsel.

COURT: So you had your own law firm as well?

DEFENDANT: I think Owasco PC acted as a law firm entity, yeah.

COURT: OK.

DEFENDANT: I believe that’s the case, but I don’t know that for a fact.

The court then moved on to the next section of the Statement of Facts, and the hearing continued. It shouldn’t have, however. Rather, Judge Noreika should have questioned Hunter Biden more fully to ensure the representation attested to by both the government and the defendant and incorporated into the plea agreement — that Ho paid Hunter $1 million as payments for legal fees — was true. For the overwhelming evidence indicates that was a lie and that the money, at best, represented payment for influence peddling and, at worst, was a bribe.

Doesn’t Add Up

Of course, President Biden’s DOJ didn’t tell that to Judge Noreika nor provide her any evidence related to the $1 million payment. Instead, the DOJ declared the payment was for “legal fees,” and Hunter’s legal team enthusiastically nodded. But that’s not what the evidence indicates.

First, there’s the problem that the $1 million payment on March 22, 2018, was made not to Hunter Biden’s law firm, Owasco PC, but to Owasco LLC. And if you are going to pay $1 million for legal representation, you kinda want to pay the law firm supposedly providing those services.

Second, not only did Ho not pay Hunter’s law firm, Owasco PC, Ho didn’t even pay Owasco LLC. Rather, Ho paid Hudson West III LLC $1 million on Nov. 2, 2017 — mere weeks before federal prosecutors charged Ho with bribing foreign officials to advantage the Chinese communist energy company CEFC. Then on March 22, 2018, Hudson West III LLC transferred that $1 million to Owasco LLC with a notation that it was for “Dr Patrick Ho Chi Ping Representation.”

According to a U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs finance report, Hunter “Biden stated that the incoming wire amounting to $1MM on 11/2/2017 from CEFC Limited foundation should have gone to Owasco LLC, however, he provided the wrong wire instructions, and due to the large amount the transaction was not corrected until 3/22/2018, which consisted of an outgoing wire for the same amount benefiting Owasco LLC.”

The Senate report further explained that Biden had stated that “Boies Schiller Flexner is co-counsel for Dr. Patrick Ho’s case. Hudson West III LLC has no involvement with Patrick Ho Chi Ping[’s] case and won[’t] expect further transaction related to Dr. Patrick Ho Chi Ping trail [sic] for Hudson West III LLC. Owasco LLC and co-Counsel Boies Schiller Flexner will represent Dr. Patrick Ho Chi Ping [at] trial.”

But again, Owasco LLC was not Hunter Biden’s law firm; Owasco PC was. And even in hedging to the court last week, Hunter Biden claimed, “Owasco PC acted as a law firm entity.”

Saying he made a mistake during last week’s plea hearing and that it was actually Owasco LLC that acted as the law firm, however, won’t extricate Hunter Biden from the mess. As the president’s son stated in response to the court’s question of whether he was “doing work for [Ho]”: “My own law firm, not as counsel.”

So, who was part of Hunter Biden’s Owasco LLC law firm at the time, if Hunter did not serve as counsel? And how did Owasco LLC pay its lawyers given that the government said over the next six months Biden would spend almost the entirety of the $1 million “on personal expenses, including large cash withdrawals, transfers to his personal account, travel, and entertainment?”

Then there is the Attorney Engagement Letter reportedly recovered from Hunter Biden’s laptop, dated September 2017, between Patrick Ho and Hunter Biden, which provided for a $1 million retainer for legal representation. Significantly, this agreement was not entered into between Ho and any of the Owasco entities, but with Hunter Biden personally. Yet on Wednesday, Biden told Judge Noreika his law firm was doing the work for Ho. But what law firm that was, Biden seemed not to know.

Of course, Hunter didn’t know because no “legal” representation was provided to Ho and none was expected. Yet that’s precisely what the government and Hunter Biden represent as true in the Statement of Facts, and they may have gotten away with the deception had Judge Noreika accepted the plea agreement without question. But she didn’t.

Instead, the judge asked the parties to brief the issue of whether the government could include its promise not to prosecute Hunter Biden for other crimes in a side diversion agreement, stressing she needed to make sure the plea agreement got Hunter Biden what he believed it got him, but also to make “sure that I do justice as I’m required to do in this court.”

There will be no justice, however, if the court allows the government and Hunter Biden to pretend the $1 million payment from Ho was for legal representation. At the next hearing, Judge Noreika must question both Hunter Biden and the government on this representation — because if it is false, as the overwhelming evidence indicates, it would be a fraud on the court and the country to accept the plea agreement.

In advance of that hearing, the House of Representatives should consider filing a supplemental brief detailing the above evidence because the U.S. attorney’s office has proven itself unwilling to provide an honest assessment of the evidence to the court. While neither the legislative nor the judicial branch has the power to force the executive branch to charge Hunter Biden with any specific crimes, the executive branch also lacks the power to force the judicial branch to blindly accept a false plea agreement.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated since publication

Margot Cleveland is The Federalist’s senior legal correspondent. She is also a contributor to National Review Online, the Washington Examiner, Aleteia, and Townhall.com, and has been published in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. Cleveland is a lawyer and a graduate of the Notre Dame Law School, where she earned the Hoynes Prize—the law school’s highest honor. She later served for nearly 25 years as a permanent law clerk for a federal appellate judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Cleveland is a former full-time university faculty member and now teaches as an adjunct from time to time. As a stay-at-home homeschooling mom of a young son with cystic fibrosis, Cleveland frequently writes on cultural issues related to parenting and special-needs children. Cleveland is on Twitter at @ProfMJCleveland. The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.

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Law, Political

ITALY’S MELONI DRAWS COMPARISON TO LEGENDARY EUROPEAN LEADER AHEAD OF VISIT WITH BIDEN

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Italy’s Meloni reacts to NYT opinion piece blasting her right-wing policies: ‘Respond with … results’

By Taylor Penley FOXBusiness | Published July 31, 2023 12:32pm EDT

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni sits down for part two of an exclusive interview with FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo to discuss her country’s success and speculations that conservatism is growing in Europe.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she prefers to let her actions speak louder than words when asked how she responds to a New York Times opinion piece that blasted her policies, particularly what’s happening in Italy overall.

“There is nothing I want to tell to those who criticize me. I think it is a right they have,” she told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo in an exclusive interview. “The only way I like to respond is with results, so I react. I do what I think is right for my nation, for the interests of my nation, and I think that what is happening in Italy is the only thing that really can give an answer or not.”

She cited Italy’s economic success, her vow to Italian companies that “we [the government] will not disturb you” and her hope that she can make the people of her nation believe that they can do better without the state “creating problems” for them.

Giorgia Meloni Italian Prime Minister — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni releases statements to the press at the end of the meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on June 8, 2023, in Rome. (Simona Granati / Corbis via / Getty Images)

She said government should work with the people to allow the country to thrive.

“We want to create richness,” she said. “You will have a state, you will have institutions able to work with you, near you. That doesn’t mean that we don’t have rules. We have it, and we are quite strict on it, but we want them to believe there is nothing the institutions can do if the people do not answer. So, we have to go all in the same direction. We have to do it together, and that was my first message.”

Meloni, since taking power last year, has amassed criticism from more left-wing voices across the media, some of which openly compared her to fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

In the New York Times guest essay, about which Bartiromo asked Meloni during the interview, author David Broder expressed concern that Meloni’s Italy is taking too many steps in the wrong direction – calling out accusations that minorities are “undermining the triad of God, nation and family,” adding that the implication has “dire practical consequences for migrants, nongovernmental organizations and same-sex parents.”

MSNBC HOST BLASTS ‘LIBERAL MEDIA’ ‘PLAYING DOWN’ ITALIAN PM’S ‘FASCISM’

Giorgia Meloni Biden meeting — President Biden meets Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, in the Oval Office on July 27, 2023. (Yuri Gripas / Abaca/Bloomberg via / Getty Images)

“Ahead of Italy’s election last fall, Giorgia Meloni was widely depicted as a menace. By this summer, everything — her youthful admiration for Benito Mussolini, her party’s links to neofascists, her often extreme rhetoric — had been forgiven,” he wrote.

Among other grievances laid out in the essay, Broder mentioned “efforts to weaken anti-torture legislation, stack the public broadcaster with loyalists and rewrite Italy’s postwar constitution to increase executive power …”

“Ms. Meloni’s government isn’t just nativist but has a harsh authoritarian streak, too,” he said.

Among other concerns, he said, is that the ideology is spreading.

But not everyone agrees that Meloni’s approach is alarming – at least concerning the economy. Weighing in after the segment, Fox News contributor Liz Peek praised the Italian prime minister for offering a different solution to economic problems in European nations.

MELONI, MACRON TALK MIGRANT CRISIS, UKRAINE AT FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL PALACE

Kevin McCarthy and Giorgia Meloni — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy speak to reporters after a meeting at the Capitol on July 27, 2023. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)

“Italy is the third-largest economy in Europe. If she can show the EU that lower taxes, less regulation and inspiring people to work can cause growth in your economy, can begin to solve some of the problems that are endemic in European countries, bully for her,” she said. “They are going to oppose it just like the New York Times is opposing it. They hate capitalism. It interferes with their creeping socialism in Europe, where politicians and bureaucrats take more and more power. I say bully for her and long live the republic.”

Michael Lee, founder of Michael Lee Strategy, also sat down with Peek and FOX Business’ Cheryl Casone, who sat in as guest host for “Mornings with Maria” on Monday.

“Italy’s got real problems, and there are some advantages to the EU, but this is why I was in favor of Brexit,” he said. “Like, once you have the ‘death harness,’ I call it, of the EU weighing down upon you and telling you how you can again run your country, it becomes very, very difficult. So, I wish Italy the best, but I’m skeptical.”

video

Human traffickers are becoming more powerful: Meloni

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni discusses Italy’s relations with China and the conservative movement’s growing influence in Europe. While speaking with Bartiromo, Meloni touted Italy’s accomplishments, including that its economy is growing more than others in Europe, higher job rates and workforce optimism.

“Things are going well,” she said. “I think I see also in the Italian economy that people now believe that things can change, that things can get better, so they do more, and that’s what, in my opinion, can make the difference.”

For more Culture, Media, Education, Opinion, and channel coverage, visit foxnews.com/media.

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Devon Archer interview ‘very productive’ in Biden family probe, Jordan says

By Jessica Chasmar , Houston Keene , Elizabeth Elkind | Fox News | Published July 31, 2023 2:11pm EDT

Devon Archer arrived Monday morning for a closed-door, transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee, where he was expected to expose details about Hunter Biden’s business dealings and then-Vice President Biden’s alleged involvement. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told reporters Monday that the House Oversight Committee’s hearing with Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s longtime friend and fellow Burisma board member, was “very productive.” Jordan said during a lunch recess that he looked forward to discussing the revelations of the hearing with the committee’s chairman, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky.

The congressman also said, “Yep,” when asked if he heard any new information from Archer.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) — Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, arrives for closed-door testimony with Devon Archer, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, before the House Oversight Committee at the O’Neill House Office Building on July 31, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)

Devon Archer, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, arrives for closed-door testimony — Devon Archer, center, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, arrives for closed-door testimony before the House Oversight Committee at the O’Neill House Office Building on July 31, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)

Archer, who co-founded Hunter Biden’s now-dissolved investment firm, Rosemont Seneca Partners, ignored questions from reporters upon entering the hearing Monday morning. Archer smiled as he was peppered with several questions upon entering the O’Neill House Office Building, where he was expected to sit down for an interview before the House Oversight Committee on President Biden’s involvement with Hunter Biden’s business deals, including that he sat in on more than two dozen business calls with his son as vice president.

Devon Archer gets into an elevator — Devon Archer, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, gets into an elevator as he arrives for closed-door testimony before the House Oversight Committee at the O’Neill House Office Building on July 31, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)

Miranda Devine, a New York Post columnist and Fox News contributor, recently reported that Archer is expected to tell committee members that Hunter Biden would routinely introduce his father to foreign business partners and prospective investors.

The Republican-led committee invited Archer to attend the interview – he was sentenced last year to one year in prison for his role in a $60 million bond fraud involving various clients.

At least three previously planned appearances before the committee were canceled by Archer for personal reasons.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York on Saturday wrote to U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams, requesting her to schedule a date for Archer to report to prison. However, a DOJ letter says Archer’s counsel argued it was “premature” to set a sentencing date, citing Archer mulling further appeals.

Archer was sentenced in 2022 to one year behind bars, but the sentence has been repeatedly postponed amid a series of appeals.

Fox News’ Landon Mion contributed to this report.

Jessica Chasmar is a digital writer on the politics team for Fox News and Fox Business. Story tips can be sent to Jessica.Chasmar@fox.com.

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RESEARCHERS HORRIFIED, DECRY RISE OF ‘FASCISM’ AS STUDENTS SEND MOCKING RESPONSES TO WOKE SURVEY

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Jay P. Greene Op-ed: Supreme Court Justice Jackson’s second error reveals another industry gone woke

Jay P. Greene | Fox News | Published July 31, 2023 4:00am EDT

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s defense of racial discrimination is falling apart. It’s now well known that Jackson repeated an embarrassing falsehood while defending affirmative action in college admissions. In her Students for Fair Admissions dissent, she asserted that matching Black physicians with Black patients doubles survival rates for newborns, a claim that’s equally unbelievable and factually unsupported.

But this is not the only mistake Jackson made. Her second error shows the diversity-industrial complex’s deep corruption of medicine – and its threat to Americans’ health.

Jackson wrote, “research shows that Black physicians are more likely to accurately assess Black patients’ pain tolerance and treat them accordingly,” for instance, “prescribing them appropriate amounts of pain medication.” A footnote refers to an amicus brief from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the same source that led to Jackson’s first mistake.

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was unable to define the word “woman” when asked at her confirmation hearing last year, made a telling error during her affirmation action decision. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

The AAMC brief refers to four studies in support of this claim. Yet none of them examine whether Black doctors are better at treating the pain of Black patients. All four document Black patients’ problems with pain management, but crucially, not one examines the efficacy of doctors of different races. The AAMC either failed to read the research or deliberately created this claim out of whole cloth.

It’s unfortunate that Jackson and her elite-trained clerks were led astray by yet another falsehood. But it’s unconscionable that the Association of American Medical Colleges got the facts so wrong in such a high-stakes case. Most concerning of all, it’s unsurprising for this once prestigious yet still powerful organization. The AAMC, which represents every accredited medical school in the U.S. and Canada, has elevated diversity to an absurd level. It holds, as an article of faith, that medical schools must recruit more Black students, even if that means discriminating against students of other races and lowering standards for admission.

Not only does the AAMC brook no arguments to the contrary, but it also misreads research and perhaps manufactures evidence to support its position. These are the actions of a radicalized organization – one that puts political demands above its stated goal of improving medical education. The AAMC’s faulty justification of race-based admissions, seen in its amicus brief, is bad enough. Yet the association’s extremist turn doesn’t end there.

The AAMC has quietly graded its member schools’ commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. Through freedom of information reports, we have found reports from 34 medical schools, detailing their implementation of 89 AAMC-approved DEI initiatives. The list includes hiring and promoting professors based on DEI metrics, creating a permanent DEI bureaucracy, lobbying for DEI policies at every level of government and making DEI a “key learning outcome.” The average medical school has complied with 85% of the AAMC’s wishes.

It’s unfortunate that Jackson and her elite-trained clerks were led astray by yet another falsehood. But it’s unconscionable that the Association of American Medical Colleges got the facts so wrong in such a high-stakes case. Most concerning of all, it’s unsurprising for this once prestigious yet still powerful organization.

The corruption of curriculum is especially concerning. Last summer, the AAMC released new “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Competencies,” which effectively dictate what medical schools teach. Future physicians must now master “intersectionality,” describing “how each identity may result in varied and multiple forms of oppression or privilege related to clinical decisions and practice.” Other mandatory topics include “colonization, white supremacy, acculturation, [and] assimilation.” The AAMC sponsors medical schools’ accrediting body, so institutions that don’t teach these medical divisive concepts risk losing their ability to issue degrees.

The AAMC’s actions are lowering, not raising, the quality of medical education, which in turn lowers the quality of future medical care. By repeating the organization’s false claims about racial preferences in college admissions, Justice Jackson has shined a light on the deeper danger that DEI poses to Americans’ health and well-being.

Jay P. Greene is a Senior Fellow at Do No Harm.

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Sarah Palin to Newsmax: House Must Act on Archer Testimony

By Charlie McCarthy | Monday, 31 July 2023 02:14 PM EDT

Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin told Newsmax that the importance of whistleblower Devon Archer’s testimony about the Bidens will be superseded by lawmakers’ response.

Archer, Hunter Biden’s former business partner, appeared Monday before the House Oversight Committee in a closed-door session. Sources close to the whistleblower said Archer will tell Congress that on at least two dozen occasions, Hunter Biden had then-Vice President Joe Biden on speakerphone at his meetings with foreign potential business partners, including from Ukraine and Romania, implying Joe Biden’s alleged involvement in his son’s deals.

“The real game changer will be any kind of commitment from Congress, from those who hold the strings of what happens next in terms of holding anybody accountable,” Palin told co-host Bianca de la Garza on “John Bachman Now.”

“When there’s action taken that shows that people are serious about this and that there are consequences for the misdeeds that I believe are going to be very, very apparent, very clear.

“The game changer is going to be what happens after this testimony. Where’s the commitment to hold those accountable.”

Palin was asked about Joe Biden on Friday joking about getting impeached while touting falling inflation and “Bidenomics.”

“I think any reasonable and responsible American is beyond patient when it comes to the flippant comments and the flippant attitudes coming from the Biden family and from those in his circle of influence because we know that there is corruption, there is misdeeds,” Palin told de la Garza.

“The FBI has had Hunter’s laptop for four years now and sat on it with clear evidence of criminality, Hunter’s. And then we have his father, Joe, saying he has nothing to do with, say, the unethical business practices of Hunter’s. And yet, go to the tape. There’s photos of President Biden with Hunter and those business partners.”

After saying it has been “lie after lie” with the Bidens, Palin added that the president’s reputation has been known since he was in the U.S. Senate.

“He’s been known for the plagiarism, for the lies, for the exaggerations and yet the left and the media, they let him get away with it,” Palin said.

The former Alaska governor, who was Sen. John McCain’s running mate in 2008, also was asked about Biden and the first lady acknowledging their seventh grandchild, who was at the center of a paternity dispute between Hunter Biden and mother Lunden Roberts.

“They’re missing out on their seventh grandchild not having the involvement that hopefully, henceforth, they will start having,” Palin said.

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Democrat Lawmaker: Joe Biden Took Part in Hunter’s Calls

By Charlie McCarthy | Monday, 31 July 2023 02:35 PM EDT

Rep. Daniel Goldman, D-N.Y., who served as lead majority counsel in the first impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump, says President Joe Biden took part in phone calls involving Hunter Biden and foreign business partners. Goldman spoke after whistleblower Devon Archer’s appearance Monday before the House Oversight Committee in a closed-door session. Archer is Hunter Biden’s former business partner.

“Democrat Rep. Dan Goldman says Hunter Biden did, in fact, frequently put his dad on speakerphone for his business partners — but they were only talking about the weather,” RNC Research posted on X.

“Democrat Rep. Dan Goldman says Joe Biden spoke with Hunter’s business partners, but they spoke about stuff like the weather not business deals,” The Post Millennial posted on X.

Goldman conceded that Archer had testified that Joe Biden was placed on phone calls with Hunter Biden’s associates perhaps twice a year over the 10 years that Archer was associated with the first son. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a member of the House panel, took to social media after Archer’s early testimony.

“Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s former best friend and business associate, asked Hunter why appointees from the Obama/Biden Admin arrested him,” Greene posted on X.

“Hunter explained, ‘It’s democracy … every presidents family is held to a higher standard … it’s the price of being the most powerful group of people in the world … the unfairness to us allows for the greater good.'”

“Hunter continued, ‘Every great family is persecuted prosecuted in the us — you are part of a great family — not a side show not deserted by them even in your darkest moments. Thats the way Bidens are different and you are a Biden. Its the price of power. and the people questioning you truly have none whereas you do through perseverance and poise.’

“Archer’s arrest was just par for the course for Hunter,” Greene posted. “Hunter didn’t just peddle his family’s influence to secure business deals that would otherwise be unattainable, he knew he and his associates would largely be shielded from the scales of justice because of his last name: Biden.”

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House Spending Bills Have Welcome Cuts but Still Leave Billions in Potential Savings on the Table

By: David Ditch / @davidaditch / July 31, 2023

House Freedom Caucus Members Speak To The Press outside US Capitol — The U.S. House has 12 spending bills to fund the government for the upcoming fiscal year. With the national debt at $32 trillion, interest rates at a 22-year high, and ongoing inflation, Congress must pass some serious cuts. Pictured: Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., speaks at a House Freedom Caucus-held the news conference with other members of the caucus outside the U.S. Capitol Building on July 25, 2023. (Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The U.S. House of Representatives left Washington July 27 for its lengthy summer recess having only passed 1 of 12 spending bills required to fund the government for the upcoming fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. While all 12 bills have welcome reductions, they lack the more substantial cuts necessary to trim the deficit and stop the rampant inflation being caused by excessive government spending.

While funding for the Veterans Administration passed on party lines, House leadership canceled an expected vote on funding for the Department of Agriculture due to a lack of consensus within the GOP caucus. This same dynamic affects the other 10 spending bills as well. The debate over spending levels will likely be the central legislative battleground for the next few months, and it’s vital for Americans to understand what’s at stake.

There has been an ongoing back-and-forth between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus over where to set spending levels for fiscal year 2024. The Freedom Caucus has pushed for a reduction to 2022 levels, which Republicans agreed to in passing the Limit, Save, Grow Act this spring. Unfortunately, the flawed bipartisan debt limit deal supplanted Limit, Save, Grow, and in the process, set up tens of billions of dollars in budget gimmicks. This meant that not only would there not be the type of spending cuts needed to help fight inflationary deficit spending, but there could very well be a spending increase when all is said and done.

The House Appropriations Committee has now produced initial versions of all 12 of the annual spending bills. In response, members of the Freedom Caucus have demanded lower spending levels through a combination of dumping fraudulent gimmicks and imposing stronger spending cuts on the swampy federal bureaucracy. There’s no agreement yet between House leadership and the conservatives, meaning it’s unclear what will happen in the fall when Congress resumes work on the spending bills.

The spending bills as they currently stand provide plenty of details to inform congressional negotiators and the public about the worthwhile spending reductions already in the bills and the vital opportunities for further cuts that remain on the table.

Praiseworthy spending reductions in the House bills include:

A 15% cut to the Department of Education, which is irredeemably captured by the Left.
A 12% cut to housing programs, which are an often-overlooked part of the welfare state.
An over 40% cut to Environmental Protection Agency grants to states, many of which are done in service to the Green New Deal.
An over 30% reduction for U.S. Agency for International Development “development assistance,” recognizing that handouts from the U.S. to poor countries are neither effective nor affordable.
Eliminating wasteful spending by entirely defunding programs such as the Endowments for the Arts and Humanities, the duplicative Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the long-failed Job Corps.

However, there are many areas where the Appropriations Committee either increased funding or gave minor haircuts rather than doing the cutting that’s necessary for the sake of responsible budgeting. Examples include:

Cutting less than 10% of the National Institutes of Health budget, which has been badly discredited as the public learns more about the corruption surrounding Dr. Anthony Fauci and handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the agency’s funding has exploded in recent decades, and it has suffered from a variety of dysfunctions even before the pandemic.
Retaining the vast majority of funding for the Community Development Fund, a slush fund that Congress uses to dole out pork spending.
Increasing spending on the National Science Foundation, which is part of the Big Science/Big Education complex that helps fund the infrastructure of the Left.
Placing tens of billions into the Disaster Relief Fund. While there is understandable sympathy for people suffering from disasters such as hurricanes, a handful of states receive the vast majority of disaster funds. This means adding to the federal debt to give handouts to these states at a time when Uncle Sam is going broke and states are passing tax cuts.
Retaining almost all Department of Energy spending on “efficiency and renewable energy” and the Office of Science. The Department of Energy provides a handful of worthwhile services but spends far too much in support of the Left’s environmental agenda.
Failing to account for faster-than-inflation spending hikes that dozens of nondefense bureaus and programs have received since the end of the Obama administration.

All told, there are tens of billions of dollars in potential savings still on the table.

A complicating factor in spending discussions is that the House Appropriations Committee is touting cuts to things passed by Democrats in recent years, such as the hiring spree for the IRS, in an attempt to “balance” the lack of meaningful reduction to overall spending levels. On one hand, such cuts would be an excellent idea in isolation. On the other hand, the committee is using this approach to shield much of the federal bureaucracy from the sort of dramatic cuts that would actually drain the swamp.

The bottom line: With the national debt at $32.6 trillion, the Federal Reserve raising interest rates to a 22-year high as inflation remains above pre-pandemic levels, and the Biden administration pushing a radical agenda thanks in part to the excessive size and scope of the government, it’s long past time for Congress to pass serious deficit reduction and combat federal bloat.

While the House Appropriations Committee has done some good work, conservatives are right to push for more.

COMMENTARY BY David Ditch @davidaditch

David Ditch is a policy analyst specializing in budget and transportation policy in the Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget at The Heritage Foundation.

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Today’s THREE Politically INCORRECT Cartoons by A.F. Branco

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Light Em’ Up

A.F. BRANCO | on July 29, 2023 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-catoon-light-em-up/

Jason Aldean makes the left’s woke mind explode with his hit that goes number one, “Small Town”.

Try That in A Small Town — Cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2023.

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Schooling Schools

A.F. BRANCO | on July 30, 2023 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-schooling-schools/

Minnesota parents outraged at school board meetings about porn in school libraries.

Get Porn Out Of Schools — Cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2023.

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Dress Code

A.F. BRANCO | on July 31, 2023 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-dress-code/

The U.S. woke Military is becoming all that our enemies could hope for, weak and stupid.

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SUMMING UP THE WEEK OF JULY 29, 2023

July 29, 2023

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Democratic Leaders Tell Biden NYC at ‘Breaking Point’ After Receiving More Than 90,000 Illegal Aliens

July 28, 2023

By: Virginia Allen / @Virginia_Allen5 / July 28, 2023

Illegal Aliens sleep on the streets of New York City. — New York City is “at a breaking point” after more than 90,000 illegal aliens have arrived in the city since last spring, according to city leadership. Pictured: Venezuelan migrants sleep on the streets of New York City, Jan. 30. (Photo: Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis/Getty Images)

New York City is “at a breaking point” after more than 90,000 illegal aliens have arrived in the city since last spring, according to city leadership. A group of 54 NYC Democratic elected officials, including state senators and assembly members, sent a letter to President Joe Biden Wednesday asking him for “help.”

“Our City is experiencing an unprecedented migrant influx, with a surge of asylum seekers arriving here in numbers never seen before in history,” the letter reads.

“We take pride in New York being a beacon of hope for immigrants, but the influx of migrants is so great that the city is running out of resources,” the Democrats told Biden. “New York City is being forced to reduce services to its people.”

You make a big deal in the media about being a “Sanctuary City” and now that they’ve been taken up on that on that claim, they’re screaming, “no fair”. Maybe the other so-called sanctuary cities will follow suit.

BREAKING: 54 Elected Officials in NYC have signed my letter calling on President Biden to address the migrant influx. We are calling on @POTUS to declare a state of emergency, expedite work permits, and lead an urgent response at the southern border. pic.twitter.com/VFf4A89y5w
— Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar (@JeniferRajkumar) July 26, 2023

The New York City officials ask Biden to declare a federal state of emergency in response to the influx of migrants, expedite work authorization for migrants, “distribute migrants fairly” across the country, and provide the city with more federal funding to “manage the tens of thousands of asylum seekers we are hosting.”

The state officials told the president they “take pride in welcoming immigrants” but added that “the current unstructured state of immigration policy and response needs to end.”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams met with Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas Thursday to discuss the city’s immigrant crisis. The New York Post reports the meeting resulted in an agreement from Mayorkas to provide NYC with a liaison to “strengthen ‘communication’ between City Hall and the Biden administration.”

NOW THAT OUGHT TO CUT DOWN ON THE PROBLEMS OF HOUSING, FEEDING, AND CARING FOR THESE PEOPLE WHO BIDEN LET INTO AMERICA ILLEGALLY. BETTER COMMUNICATION. That should do the job.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries were present for the meeting, which is reported to have lasted about an hour.

After the meeting, Adams said he appreciated “Secretary Mayorkas’ commitment to visiting the city and designating someone at DHS to serve as a point-person on our asylum seeker needs. We look forward to his visit and learning more about DHS’ plans for how this role will operate.”

According to Adams, NYC continues to “do more than any other city in the nation, but we need additional support from our federal and state partners.”

Adams’ meeting with Mayorkas comes about a week after the mayor announced that NYC will begin distributing flyers at the U.S. southern border asking illegal aliens to “consider another city” besides the Big Apple.

The bright yellow flyers, which are also written in Spanish, tell illegal aliens “Housing in NYC is very expensive,” and “There is no guarantee we will be able to provide shelter and services to new arrivals.”

In an effort to create shelter space for families with children, Adams announced last week that the city will give “60 days’ notice to adult asylum seekers already in our care to find alternative housing.”

The Center for Immigration Studies released a report in April claiming that the Biden administration has released 2,020,522 illegal aliens into the U.S. The report added that an additional “1.3 million known got-aways” have entered the U.S. interior during the Biden presidency.

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Today’s Politically INCORRCT Cartoon by A.F. Branco

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Ignorance Is Bliss

A.F. BRANCO | on July 28, 2023 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-ignorance-is-bliss-2/

Hard-core Biden fans are willing to ignore the obvious pay-to-play bribing scandals to continue supporting him.

Bitter Biden Clinger — Cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2023.

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Human trafficking investigation results in arrest of 62 smugglers exploiting ‘vulnerable Cubans’

July 27, 2023

By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter | THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2023

An international law enforcement investigation has led to the arrest of over 60 people involved in an intercontinental criminal network that, in some cases, transferred female Cuban migrants to criminal groups for sexual exploitation.

According to Europol, the law enforcement agency of the European Union, the criminal network smuggled over 5,000 Cuban nationals into the EU, earning a profit of the equivalent of nearly $50 million. The migrant smuggling network advertised its services to Cubans via a messaging application, organizing their journey to Europe and giving them false documentation. The smugglers flew the migrants from Cuba to Serbia and then Greece before flying them to Spain or Italy.

The network focused on Cubans in “vulnerable situations,” charging them the equivalent of nearly $10,000 for its services. By working with authorities in Germany, Greece, North Macedonia, Spain and Serbia, Europol’s investigation led to the arrest of 62 smugglers, 25 of which were Cuban nationals.

In its statement published Monday, Europol outlined its role in organizing operational meetings and deploying its analysts and a specialist to Spain, Greece and Serbia to offer support on the ground. Europol also provided guidance to the deployed personnel on the day of action in June. The investigation uncovered a “complex criminal infrastructure” set up in major cities across Spain, Greece and Serbia.

“On the action day in June 2023, police officers from all three countries seized a variety of criminal assets including hundreds of forged documents and forgery equipment,” Europol’s statement reads. “In total, 18 pieces of real estate, 33 vehicles and 144 bank accounts, alongside vast sums of cash in various currencies, were seized.”

The investigation began in October 2021 after authorities from Serbia, Greece, North Macedonia and Finland noticed an increase in the number of Cuban migrants seeking to enter Europe with false documentation, according to Europol. In January 2023, Europol, the European Union Agency for Asylum and Frontex issued a joint intelligence notification, which had a subject reading “Cuban nationals smuggled into the EU: shifting routes and modi operandi in a changed geo-political landscape.”

The report noted that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, has impacted Cuban smuggling routes. While Cuban nationals were previously flown to Russia, they are now flown to Serbia through an airport in Germany, where smugglers arrange for them to enter North Macedonia and Greece.

“Using a variety of routes, the smugglers would direct large groups of migrants and make them walk in the dark without supplies for hours,” Europol explained. “In addition to these arduous conditions, the criminals would take advantage of the most vulnerable migrants, including minors, and subject them to scams, robberies, and extortion. In some cases, women were transferred to other criminal groups for sexual exploitation.”

Migrants would apply for asylum in Greece, or the smugglers would arrange their travel to other EU counties by providing them with forged documents, according to the agency. Sometimes, members of the criminal network used the “lookalike” method to make it possible for migrants to travel in the EU. The method involves stealing documents and giving them to a migrant who resembles the victim of the theft.

Investigations into the smuggling of human beings have become increasingly relevant following the summer release of the film “The Sound of Freedom.” The movie, which has surpassed $100 million at the box office at the time of reporting, depicts a real-life operation to rescue children from sex traffickers in Colombia. The film follows Tim Ballard, a former government agent who left his job and successfully helped facilitate the rescue of 123 individuals, including 55 children.

Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman

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Benevolent Tyranny: US Senator Announces New Epidemic, Nanny State Solution

By Norman Leahy | July 26, 2023

Portrait of stress young woman covering her face with hands and crying.

The federal government has a long, expensive habit of trying to be our national nanny. From dictates on how much water flows through our showers, toilets and dishwashers, to how much meat we should eat and steps we should take, there are few areas of life where government doesn’t butt-in to make matters worse for everyone.

Which brings us to Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy‘s proposal to do something about the “loneliness epidemic.”

Yes, the government believes loneliness is a public health crisis in need of attention. But at least the Surgeon General’s office doesn’t call for legislation and spending to addressing the problem. Instead, it suggests a series of cost-free (to taxpayers) options for individuals:

Make time to share a meal. Listen without the distraction of your phone. Perform an act of service. Express yourself authentically.

Setting aside what, exactly, that last item means, Sen. Murphy is determined to side steps the warm fuzzies, and make this a government matter:

The National Strategy for Social Connection Act would create an Office of Social Connection Policy within the White House to work across federal agencies to develop effective strategies for improved social infrastructure and issue national guidelines for social connection similar to existing guidelines on sleep, nutrition, and physical activity. It would also provide funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to better understand the epidemic of social isolation and loneliness.

Considering government’s track record for making sure we all eat, sleep and exercise right, the only possible outcome of a loneliness czar will be…a loneliness plague.

Underlying Murphy’s thesis for state action, however, is a disturbing embrace of collectivism over individual achievement. As Murphy and Harvard’s Richard Weissbourd wrote in Time Magazine, the big bad behind the loneliness epidemic is…too much individualism:

Much has been written about why we tipped toward ourselves over the last several decades. The villains in this story include declines in religious participation and social outings and clubs, fueled in part by television, which keeps us at home. Workplaces also became more focused on profit than on employee well-being and solidarity, and we started lionizing those who stepped over others to get ahead. While those people always existed in society, they were usually identified and treated as outliers that needed to be constrained, not as examples of American greatness.

“Outliers that needed to be constrained…” Sorry, Og: this so-called “wheel” you’ve invented is just too dangerous to the health and well-being of our cozy cave dwelling community. Into the pit with you…

And as for what government power can do to reknit the fabric of American life, Murphy and Weissbourd wrote that the state should, once it’s finished roughing-up the social media companies, dragoon the young into service:

Expand..national service programs…bringing young people together from various backgrounds to work on common causes, creating ties across the usual divides and strengthening young people’s commitment to their country.

In other words, bring back a version of the old military draft. Because noting says “togetherness” like sacrificing your time and talent to government. On pain of fines and imprisonment for not cheerfully agreeing to do so.

I would suggest Murphy and his fellow nannies stick to their knitting: addressing the federal budget, finding ways to deal with the debt and deficit, and keeping a close eye on world events. And leave the rest of us alone to sort out friendship, family and community on our own terms.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Norman Leahy

Norman Leahy has written about national and Virginia politics for more than 30 years with outlets ranging from The Washington Post to BearingDrift.com. A consulting writer, editor, recovering think tank executive and campaign operative, Norman lives in Virginia.

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Kentucky nurses ‘required’ to complete ‘implicit bias’ class on ‘history of racism in healthcare’ or they may not be able to renew license: Report

By: CANDACE HATHAWAY | July 27, 2023

Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Nurses in Kentucky were “required” to complete a “mandatory” “implicit bias” class on the “history of racism in healthcare” or risk facing possible loss of license, the Washington Examiner recently reported.

According to the outlet, the Kentucky Board of Nursing, a government agency, threatened to “discipline” health care workers who failed to complete the “mandatory continuing education” training course by July 1.

The class, created by the Kentucky Nurses Association, was presented by KNA Board of Directors Treasurer Arica Brandford and KNA CEO Delanor Manson. In a comment to the Washington Examiner, Manson stated, “Perhaps it would be of value to research the effects of implicit bias in healthcare and the definition of implicit bias.”

“I recommend you take [an] implicit bias class as required by the KBN and then ask questions,” she added. “All of your efforts could be enlightening.”

Nurses were told that “best intentions will not solve implicit bias in healthcare” and “in order to lead to meaningful change,” they must explore “much larger conversations on racism and bias,” the presentation stated.

The outlet reported that one of the presentation’s slides included a picture of Ku Klux Klan members burning a cross. Nurses were shown a diagram of “overt racism” and “covert racism.”

“Overt racism” included examples such as lynching, swastikas, and “public harassment of [persons of color] speaking other than English.” The presentation provided a long list of examples of “covert racism,” including “white silence,” “denying institutional racism,” denying white privilege, “claiming ‘reverse racism,'” and ‘excusing/’white-splaining’ racism.”

The outlet reported that medical professionals were told that racism could lead to many health risks, such as hypertension, low birth weight and prematurity, heart disease, diabetes, increased body mass index, depression, anxiety, and stress.

Laura Morgan, the program manager for the medical advocacy group Do No Harm and former nurse, told the Washington Examiner, “In states that require continuing education hours to maintain licensure, the nurse who fails to do so will not have his or her license renewed.”

“Kentucky is no exception to this. The words ‘mandatory’ and ‘required’ are very well defined,” Morgan added.

The KBN told the Washington Examiner that nurses would not have their licenses revoked if they failed to complete the class. However, it also noted that “failure to do it could result in a civil sanction or discipline.” The license renewal period coincided with the training course, which by Kentucky law, was “a prerequisite for license renewal.”

“No licensee will be denied licensure for failing to meet mandatory CE requirements. Most failures to meet CE requirements result in a non-disciplinary settlement. However, failing to obtain CEs may result in a written reprimand,” KBN told the outlet. The agency refused to explain further what the reprimand could entail.

This does NOT sound like training. It sounds more like INDOCRINATION.

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Christian Coach Fired for Stating Views on Obvious Sex Differences

BY: KIYAN KASSAM | JULY 27, 2023

Snowboarder walking up a snowy hill holding snowboard behind his back.

KIYAN KASSAM

A former high school snowboarding coach filed a federal lawsuit last week alleging his First Amendment rights were violated when he was fired for expressing his views on transgender-identifying athletes. The 31-page complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) — a faith-based legal advocacy group — on behalf of David Bloch, along with a motion for preliminary injunction seeking Bloch’s immediate reinstatement.

“On February 8, 2023, Coach Bloch and his team were waiting in the lodge for a competition to start. That day, his team was to compete against a team that had a male snowboarder who identifies as a female and competes against females,” the lawsuit states. While in the lodge, Bloch says he overheard a conversation between two of his student-athletes and briefly joined in.

Bloch “affirmed that as a matter of biology, males and females have different DNA, which causes males to develop differently from females and have different physical characteristics.” He added that “biological differences generally give males competitive advantages in athletic events” — something you must pretend is deeply controversial, despite the fact that a large majority of Americans agree.

According to a new Gallup survey released in June, nearly 70 percent of U.S. adults believe transgender-identifying athletes “should only be allowed to compete on sports teams that conform with their birth gender” as opposed to their “current gender identity.” Meanwhile, a Pew Research Center study from last year found that 6 in 10 Americans “say a person’s gender is determined by their sex assigned at birth.”

“The conversation was respectful among all parties and lasted no more than three minutes. It took place entirely outside the presence of the transgender-identifying snowboarder,” the lawsuit states. “Coach Bloch’s team and the team with the male who identifies as a female competed without incident. After the competition, the two teams and their coaches, including Coach Bloch, shared a bus home.”

But it didn’t matter. Bloch had committed wrong-think.

The coach was allegedly handed a notice of termination the very next day by Windsor Central Supervisory Union Superintendent Sherry Sousa. He was accused of violating the school district’s harassment, hazing, and bullying (HHB) policy as well as a related policy of the Vermont Principals’ Association (VPA), which oversees high school sports in the state. Bloch was also “barred from future employment” with the district.

“No one should lose their job for speaking the truth. The First Amendment protects the rights of all Americans to peacefully share their beliefs without fear of government punishment. This means that government officials cannot terminate an employee simply because he expresses a belief that they do not like,” ADF said in a statement.

Specifically, the lawsuit argues that the HBB and VPA policies, as well as a Vermont statute requiring school boards to adopt such policies, “contain content and viewpoint discriminatory, overbroad, and unconstitutionally vague definitions of harassment that … censor protected speech.”

The complaint notes that Bloch is “a practicing Roman Catholic who believes that God creates males and females with immutable sex. His understanding of science complements his religious beliefs. Coach Bloch believes, based on scientific evidence, that there are only two sexes, which are male and female, and that sex is determined by a person’s chromosomes.”

Views like these terrify elites and the corporate press. In a May article, The Washington Post bemoaned that “Most Americans don’t believe it’s even possible to be a gender that differs from that assigned at birth” and worried that (God forbid) some in the country “have become more conservative on these questions.”

It’s worth highlighting the irony that those requiring you to deny the reality of sex today are often the very same people who spent the past three years demanding you “follow the science!”

Suffice to say, these are not good-faith actors; they’re liars and propagandists interested only in advancing a political agenda. Regard them as such.

Kiyan Kassam is a conservative writer. Follow him on Twitter at @kiyankassam.

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Education, LGBTQ+ AND TRANSGENDER, Political, Sports

Rad more at https://thefederalist.com/2023/07/27/hunter-bidens-plea-deal-wasnt-supposed-to-protect-him-it-was-supposed-to-protect-joe/

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Hunter Biden’s Plea Deal Wasn’t Supposed to Protect Him, It Was Supposed to Protect Joe

BY: JOHN DANIEL DAVIDSON | JULY 27, 2023

Author John Daniel Davidson profile

JOHN DANIEL DAVIDSON

VISIT ON TWITTER@JOHNDDAVIDSON

The twists and turns of Hunter Biden’s sweetheart plea deal have been hard to follow, but it’s been clear from the outset that, like his business ventures in Ukraine, the deal was thoroughly corrupt. It’s now clear that the agreement was never meant primarily to shield Hunter from future prosecution, but to protect President Joe Biden.

In a Delaware federal court on Wednesday, Hunter’s lawyers ended up rejecting a plea deal once it became clear the deal would not confer broad immunity on the president’s son. Although the language of the plea deal has not been released, it was supposed to have Hunter plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax, as well as enter a pretrial diversion agreement for illegal possession of a firearm. The deal fell apart, however, once the federal judge overseeing the case, Maryellen Noreika, started asking questions. Here’s how The New York Times reported it:

The hearing appeared to be going smoothly before Judge Noreika questioned whether the agreement meant that Mr. Biden would be immune from prosecution for other possible crimes — including violations related to representing foreign governments — in perpetuity. When a top prosecutor in the case said it would not, Chris Clark, Mr. Biden’s lead lawyer, initially hesitated and then said the government’s position would make the agreement “null and void.”

After a recess during which the lawyers for both sides scrambled to hash out an agreement, Judge Noreika, who earlier had said she felt she was being asked to “rubber stamp” the agreement, said she could not accept the plea deal. Hunter Biden then pled not guilty to the tax charges and the hearing was over.

What to make of this? The most obvious explanation is that Hunter’s lawyers know what most Americans know: He was involved in complex foreign bribery schemes that implicate his father, President Biden. They were hoping to strike a plea agreement with the Justice Department that would protect him from future prosecution related to corrupt foreign business deals in Ukraine and China that involved trading on his family name, but once it became clear that the judge was not going to sign off on such an agreement, they backed out of the deal.

Why would they want such a deal in the first place? Maybe because they know the Republicans in Congress continue to amass evidence that Joe Biden and his son took millions in bribe money from Ukrainian oligarchs for protection against prosecution. Hunter’s plea deal, in other words, wasn’t meant to shield Hunter from future prosecution, it was meant to protect Joe. A plea agreement granting Hunter broad immunity would make it harder to dig into his murky overseas business deals — deals which increasingly appear to have involved his father.

As we have detailed here in recent days, the Biden bribery scheme in Ukraine is shaping up to be the great political scandal in American history. If it’s true, it would mean the end of Biden’s presidency, either by impeachment and conviction or by abandonment by the Democrat Party establishment ahead of the 2024 election.

Consider what’s come out just recently. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, last week released an unclassified FBI document detailing reports from a “highly credible” informant who says the founder and CEO of Burisma, Mykola Zlochevsky, bragged about paying the Bidens $10 million to make the oil and gas company’s legal problems disappear. Specifically, Zlochevsky wanted Ukrainian authorities to fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma.

And of course, that’s just what happened — after then-Vice President Joe Biden, by his own admission, threatened to withhold aid to Ukraine unless Shokin was fired.

This same informant says top Burisma executives admitted that the only reason they hired Hunter to sit on their board (for a jaw-dropping $83,000 a month) was “to protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems.”

The FBI, for its part, tried to hide this document from IRS investigators and Congress, and the corporate media have done their best to ignore the story altogether. But ignoring it won’t make it go away. Indeed, the story keeps growing. As Margot Cleveland reported in these pages earlier this week, the Pittsburgh FBI office told the Delaware U.S. attorney’s office it had corroborated multiple aspects of the informant’s claims, including travel records confirming the informant had indeed traveled to the locales detailed in the document during the relevant time period.

We also know the FBI and Justice Department not only prevented a pair of IRS whistleblowers from learning of the document but also kept hidden portions of the materials found on Hunter’s laptop. That’s no small thing. One of those whistleblowers suggested the FBI informant’s claims could corroborate other evidence the IRS special agents had gathered during their investigation.

As this story develops, it’s becoming obvious that the point of the FBI and DOJ’s obstruction is to protect the president and suppress further evidence of the Biden bribery scheme. That’s why a special counsel won’t cut it. The deep state isn’t going to get to the bottom of this, and the corporate press is going to keep aggressively ignoring it. If the federal courtroom circus on Wednesday demonstrated anything, it’s that we’re going to need an impeachment inquiry to find out the truth about President Biden’s corruption.

John Daniel Davidson is a senior editor at The Federalist. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Claremont Review of Books, The New York Post, and elsewhere. Follow him on Twitter, @johnddavidson.

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SUPREME COURT FACES INCREASED PRESSURE FROM CONGRESS TO REINSTATE MASSIVE PIPELINE

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Supreme Court reinstates major gas pipeline in blow to environmental groups

‘This decision to let construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline move forward again is the correct one,’ Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said

By Thomas Catenacci | Fox News | Published July 27, 2023 11:36am EDT

The Supreme Court struck down a lower court ruling from earlier this month that blocked construction of the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from proceeding. In a short, unsigned order issued Thursday morning, the Supreme Court vacated the July 10 stay orders from the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, in which the lower court sided with plaintiffs — environmental groups Wilderness Society and Appalachian Voices, which had sued to stop the pipeline construction. The 4th Circuit ruling was opposed by the Biden administration, bipartisan lawmakers and the fossil fuel industry.

“Whatever benefit respondents or the court of appeals might believe would be gained by having the agencies again reconsider the challenged actions, Congress has determined that further reconsideration is unwarranted and has prioritized MVP’s ‘timely’ completion over interests addressed by any other federal statutes,” the Department of Justice wrote in an amicus brief to the Supreme Court last week.

“That judgment is for Congress alone,” the brief continued.

BENT MOUNTAIN, VIRGINIA - AUGUST 31: Sections of 42 diameter sections of steel pipe of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, MVP, lie on wooden blocks, August 31, 2022 in Bent Mountain, Virginia. The MVP will transport natural gas through 303 miles of West Virginia and Virginia. Public opposition has centered on challenging MVPs permitting through wetlands and national forests. The original budget of $3.5 billion is now estimated to be $6.2 billion. The Federal Energy Regulatory Control agency, FERC, has recently granted MVP another 4-years to complete. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)

In June, President Biden signed the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which fast-tracked federal permits for the Mountain Valley Pipeline and shifted judicial review jurisdiction away from the 4th Circuit. Eco groups have loudly opposed the project. (Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)

The Department of Justice brief was one of numerous briefs filed in the case. Opponents of the 4th Circuit ruling pointed to the Fiscal Responsibility Act, the recent bipartisan debt limit bill President Biden signed in early June, which green-lighted all permits for the MVP project. The debt limit bill also shifted judicial review jurisdiction from the 4th Circuit, which has a lengthy track record of siding with environmental groups, to the U.S. District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals.

Days after the lower court ruling, on July 14, the pipeline’s developer asked the Supreme Court to vacate the stay. The high court gave plaintiffs until Tuesday to file a response.

JOE MANCHIN CALLS ‘BULLS—‘ ON GOP TAKING CREDIT FOR GAS PIPELINE IN DEBT CEILING DEAL

“The Fourth Circuit judges are not supreme rulers and lawful orders issued by the legislative and executive branches must be followed,” GOP Chief Deputy Whip Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., told Fox News Digital on July 19. “Congress was well within its power to restart the Mountain Valley Pipeline construction and usher in a new era of energy independence for the region.”

“Instead of halting the pipeline, I urge the Supreme Court to plug up the ludicrous activism seeping out of the lower court so American families can enjoy lower energy costs, substantial land royalties, and most importantly — law and order in America,” he added.

Joe Biden looks to his right with an American flag behind him

The Biden administration filed a brief with the Supreme Court in support of the pipeline’s developer last week. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Reschenthaler led a group of seven fellow representatives and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va, in filing a brief in support of the MVP project’s permits. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who played a role in securing the pipeline in the Fiscal Responsibility Act, filed his own amicus brief in the case on July 18.

“The Supreme Court has spoken and this decision to let construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline move forward again is the correct one. I am relieved that the highest court in the land has upheld the law Congress passed and the President signed,” Manchin said in a statement Thursday.

The Laborers’ International Union of North America, a large labor union; GOP West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice; American Gas Association; American Petroleum Institute; Chamber of Commerce; and counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives all filed briefs in support of the pipeline.

According to Equitrans Midstream, the pipeline’s developer, MVP will transport about 2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas from West Virginia to consumers in the Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic. The pipeline is projected to generate $40 million in new tax revenue for West Virginia, $10 million in new tax revenue for Virginia and up to $250 million in royalties for West Virginia landowners.

Thomas Catenacci is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

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Law

‘FACEBOOK RECEIPTS’ PROJECT AIMS TO REVEAL META’S ABILITY TO INFLUENCE CONGRESS THROUGH HIGH-POWERED LOBBYISTS

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‘Smoking-gun documents’ prove Facebook censored Americans on behalf of White House, Jim Jordan says

Jordan shared documents that ‘prove’ Facebook changed content after ‘unconstitutional pressure’ from White House

By Brian Flood | Fox News | Published July 27, 2023 2:28pm EDT

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Thursday shared what he called “smoking-gun documents” proving Facebook censored Americans on behalf of the Biden administration in a lengthy social media thread.

Jordan wrote the all-caps message, “THE FACEBOOK FILES, PART 1: SMOKING-GUN DOCS PROVE FACEBOOK CENSORED AMERICANS BECAUSE OF BIDEN WHITE HOUSE PRESSURE,” before diving into the lengthy thread reminiscent of the so-called “Twitter Files” used earlier this year to disclose once-internal documents given to journalists once Elon Musk bought the social media platform.

“Never-before-released internal documents subpoenaed by the Judiciary Committee PROVE that Facebook and Instagram censored posts and changed their content moderation policies because of unconstitutional pressure from the Biden White House,” Jordan wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“During the first half of 2021, social media companies like Facebook faced tremendous pressure from the Biden White House—both publicly and privately—to crack down on alleged ‘misinformation,’” he continued. “In April 2021, a Facebook employee circulated an email for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg, writing: ‘We are facing continued pressure from external stakeholders, including the [Biden] White House’ to remove posts.”

Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, shared what he calls “smoking-gun documents” proving Facebook censored Americans on behalf of the White House. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

THE FACEBOOK FILES, PART 1: SMOKING-GUN DOCS PROVE FACEBOOK CENSORED AMERICANS BECAUSE OF BIDEN WHITE HOUSE PRESSURE

🧵 Thread:
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 27, 2023

Never-before-released internal documents subpoenaed by the Judiciary Committee PROVE that Facebook and Instagram censored posts and changed their content moderation policies because of unconstitutional pressure from the Biden White House.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 27, 2023

During the first half of 2021, social media companies like Facebook faced tremendous pressure from the Biden White House—both publicly and privately—to crack down on alleged “misinformation."
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 27, 2023

In April 2021, a Facebook employee circulated an email for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg, writing: “We are facing continued pressure from external stakeholders, including the [Biden] White House” to remove posts. pic.twitter.com/iDRV3Kk2oO
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 27, 2023

Jordan then wrote that an April 2021 email revealed that a Facebook executive informed his team that a Biden administration senior advisor was “outraged” that Facebook did not remove a particular post. The post, according to Jordan, was a meme of actor Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at a TV with the caption, “10 years from now you will be watching TV and hear… Did you or a loved one take the COVID vaccine? You may be entitled to…”

In another April 2021 email, Nick Clegg, Facebook’s president for global affairs, informed his team at Facebook that Andy Slavitt, a Senior Advisor to President Biden, was “outraged . . . that [Facebook] did not remove” a particular post. pic.twitter.com/5muflAQjcx
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 27, 2023

What did the Biden White House want removed?

A meme.

That’s right, even memes weren’t spared from the Biden White House’s censorship efforts. pic.twitter.com/6BhDxTHsUi
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 27, 2023

AOC SAYS FACEBOOK ‘SHOULD BE BROKEN UP,’ ‘SUBJECT TO ANTITRUST ACTIVITY’

Facebook noted that “removing content like that would represent a significant incursion into traditional boundaries of free expression in the US,” but Andy Slavitt, the Biden senior advisor who was worked up over the meme, “disregarded the warning and the First Amendment,” according to Jordan.

“What happened next? Facebook panicked,” Jordan wrote. “In another April 2021 email, Brian Rice, Facebook’s VP of public policy, raised the concern that Slavitt’s challenge felt ‘very much like a crossroads for us with the [Biden] White House in these early days.’”

Jordan noted that “Facebook wanted to repair its relationship with the White House to avoid adverse action,” and provided a document in which someone who appears to be a Facebook staffer wrote, “Given what is at stake here, it would also be a good idea if we could regroup and take stock of where we are in our relations with the [White House], and our internal methods too,” in an internal document.

“This wasn’t the first time that the Biden White House was angry that Facebook didn’t censor more,” Jordan wrote before listing other examples.

“In July 2021, President Biden publicly denounced Facebook and other social media platforms, claiming they were ‘killing people’ by not censoring alleged ‘misinformation,’” Jordan wrote. “On August 2, 2021, Facebook admitted it was going to change its policies because of pressure from the Biden White House.”

BIG TECH BACKLASH: APPLE, GOOGLE, FACEBOOK, AMAZON CEOS GRILLED ON CAPITOL HILL

Facebook is accused of censoring Americans on behalf of the White House. ((Photo Illustration by Thiago Prudencio/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images))

Jordan then wrote that “it wasn’t just the White House,” because “Facebook also changed its policies in direct response to pressure from Biden’s Surgeon General, censoring members of the ‘disinformation dozen'” for sharing claims about COVID.

But it wasn't just the White House.

Facebook also changed its policies in direct response to pressure from Biden's Surgeon General, censoring members of the “disinformation dozen.” pic.twitter.com/FvGuoqUlns
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 27, 2023

“These documents, AND OTHERS that were just produced to the Committee, prove that the Biden Admin abused its powers to coerce Facebook into censoring Americans, preventing free and open discourse on issues of critical public importance,” Jordan wrote.

TOP BIDEN OFFICIAL RAISES EYEBROWS BY ‘LOBBYING’ FORMER AGENCY AFTER LEAVING GOVERNMENT, WATCHDOG SAYS

“Only after the Committee announced its intention to hold Mark Zuckerberg in contempt did Facebook produce ANY internal documents to the Committee, including these documents, which PROVE that government pressure was directly responsible for censorship on Facebook,” he continued. “Based on Facebook’s newfound commitment to fully cooperate with the Committee’s investigation, the Committee has decided to hold contempt in abeyance. For now. To be clear, contempt is still on the table and WILL be used if Facebook fails to cooperate in FULL.”

Jordan ended his thread with, “To be continued…”

Facebook and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

For more Culture, Media, Education, Opinion, and channel coverage, visit foxnews.com/media

Brian Flood is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to brian.flood@fox.com and on Twitter: @briansflood.

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Ted Cruz: Trump Indictment Is Election Tampering for 2024

By Sandy Fitzgerald | Thursday, 27 July 2023 08:59 AM EDT

Democrats “hate democracy” and are “deathly afraid” that voters will elect former President Donald Trump to return to the White House, so they are pushing for him to be indicted on various charges to keep that from happening, Sen. Ted Cruz tells Newsmax.

“They are trying to use the machinery of law enforcement to prosecute him,” the Texas Republican said on Newsmax’s “Eric Bolling The Balance” on Wednesday night. “I think these indictments are a disgrace.”

Trump last week said he got a letter from special counsel Jack Smith to inform him that he is the target of the federal investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 events at the Capitol. The letter comes after Trump was charged and pleaded not guilty in June to a 37-count federal indictment in connection with his handling of presidential documents. Trump also pleaded not guilty in April to a 34-count indictment filed in New York through Democrat Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

The former president, now a front-runner in the campaign for the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination, is also under investigation in Georgia concerning allegations that he tried to overturn the state’s results in the 2020 presidential election.

Cruz told Bolling that he not only believes indicting Trump in connection with the Jan. 6 protests would be an “abuse of power,” but he thinks “each of the Trump indictments we’ve seen so far are abuses of power.”

“They are politicizing the Justice Department,” the senator said. “This Department of Justice, this attorney general, this FBI is the most politicized and weaponized we’ve ever seen.”

Further, Cruz called for Attorney Merrick Garland’s impeachment and removal from office “for allowing the Department of Justice to be turned into a partisan hammer to attack the political enemies of the White House.”

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White House Says There Is No Possibility Biden Would Pardon His Son

NEWSMAX : Thursday, 27 July 2023 03:00 PM EDT

The White House said on Thursday there was no possibility President Joe Biden would pardon his son Hunter, who is facing charges of failing to pay taxes on more than $1.5 million in income in 2017 and 2018.

Asked whether Biden might issue such a pardon, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told a briefing, “No.”

The younger Biden was supposed to plead guilty Wednesday to misdemeanor charges for failing to pay taxes. But U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika in Delaware put the brakes on the guilty plea after raising concerns during an hours long hearing about the structure and terms of the agreement and another deal that allow him to avoid prosecution on a gun charge if he meets certain conditions.

Plea deals are carefully negotiated between defense lawyers and prosecutors over the course of weeks or months and it’s unusual — especially in high-profile cases — for judges to not sign off on them. But Wednesday’s hearing revealed that the two sides apparently did not see eye to eye on the scope of the agreement around a non-prosecution clause for crimes outside of the gun charge.

Here’s a look at what happens now in the criminal case and what’s next for the Biden investigations in Congress:

Noreika — an appointee of former President Donald Trump — told both sides to file written briefs addressing her concerns within 30 days. Among other things, Noreika took issue with a provision in the agreement on the gun charge that she said would have created a role for her where she would determine if he violated the terms. The lawyers said they wanted her to serve as a neutral fact finder in determining if a violation happened, but Noreika said that is the Justice Department’s job — not the judge’s.

Hunter Biden’s lawyers and the Justice Department also disagreed on the extent to which the agreement gave him immunity from future prosecution. A prosecutor said Wednesday their investigation was ongoing, and that the agreement protecting him from other potential charges was limited only to certain offenses over a certain time frame. Hunter Biden’s lawyers said it was broader than that. After intense courtroom negotiations, the two sides appeared to agree to a more narrow non-prosecution clause.

Biden’s lawyers and prosecutors will now continue negotiations to see if they can salvage the agreement in a way that satisfies the judge.

“They are going to have to go back and figure out how they can come to an agreement terms of the plea and they have to come to a meeting of the minds, which is clear they don’t have here,” said Jessica Tillipman, associate dean for government procurement law studies at George Washington University Law School. “So I think what you’ll see is a renewed effort — or it’s just going to collapse.”

The judge may ultimately accept the deal that was proposed or reject it. If the deal totally falls apart, Hunter Biden could eventually face a trial.

Even if the judge ultimately accepts the plea agreement, she will have the final say on whether he serves any time behind bars. Prosecutors have said that they will recommend probation, but the judge can decide not to follow that. The two tax charges carry up to a year in prison. And the judge suggested on Wednesday that it was too soon to say whether she’s willing to sign off on probation.

“I can’t predict for you today whether that is an appropriate sentence or not,” Noreika said. “I can’t say that I will accept the sentence recommendation or whether a different sentence would be more appropriate.”

The collapse of the younger Biden’s plea deal Wednesday came as joyful news to House Republicans vying to connect him and his questionable business dealings to his father. Republicans had already slammed the agreement as a “sweetheart deal.”

“The judge did the obvious thing, they put a pause on the plea deal, so I think that was progress,” Rep. James Comer, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said Wednesday. “I think it adds credibility to what we’re doing.” He added that this will only propel their investigation to get answers “as to what the family did, and what level of involvement the president had.”

Comer has been investigating Hunter Biden’s financial ties and transactions since gaining the gavel in January. The Kentucky lawmaker has obtained thousands of pages of financial records from various members of the Biden family through subpoenas to the Treasury Department and various financial institutions.

Last month, shortly after Hunter Biden reached an agreement with the government, Comer joined forces with two chairmen of powerful committees to launch a larger investigation into claims by two IRS agents who claimed the Justice Department improperly interfered in the yearslong case.

IRS supervisory special agent Greg Shapley and a second agent, Joe Ziegler, testified before Congress last week that there was a pattern of “slow-walking investigative steps” into Hunter Biden, including during the Trump administration in the months before the 2020 election that Biden won.

One of the most detailed claims was that U.S. Attorney David Weiss in Delaware, the federal prosecutor who led the investigation, asked for special counsel status in order to bring the tax cases against Hunter Biden in jurisdictions outside Delaware, including the District of Columbia and California, but was denied.

Weiss and the Justice Department have denied that, saying he had “full authority” and never sought to bring charges in other states. Despite the denials, Republicans are moving forward with their probes, asking Weiss to come in and testify about the case directly. The Justice Department has offered to have the prosecutor come before lawmakers after the August recess.

The Associated Presss contributed to this story.

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Law, Political

LGBTQ+ AND TRANSGENDER, Political

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Sexual Assault Survivor Describes Trauma of Sharing Locker Room With Lia Thomas

Daily Signal Staff / July 27, 2023

COMMENTARY BY Daily Signal Staff

Paula Scanlan, who swam on the University of Pennsylvania’s women swimming team with transgender athlete Lia Thomas, testified before a House subcommittee Thursday about her experience. Watch the video above or read a lightly edited transcript of her remarks below:

Good morning, Chairman Johnson and Ranking Member Scanlon and members of the subcommittee. I am Paula Scanlan, a spokeswoman and advisor for the Independent Women’s Forum, and a former NCAA athlete. I am here today to share my personal story. I started swimming at a very young age, and by age eight I was swimming competitively, and by late middle school I was devoting at least 20 hours per week to swimming.

I gave up countless Christmas holidays, weekends, and social events to work towards my goal of swimming Division I. A dream that came true when I began swimming for the University of Pennsylvania. While I am not an NCAA champion, I hold the New England Independent School League record in the 400 yard freestyle relay, a record that has stood since March of 2017.

In September of 2021, Lia Thomas began participating as a member of the Penn women’s team. Lia, formerly Will, had personal best times in every freestyle event that were faster than the women’s world records. Once the season began, Thomas was leading the country in multiple events, while only placing in the top 500 in those events on the men’s team.

Thomas later became an NCAA champion in the 500 yard freestyle. The first NCAA champion in our women’s team history program. While many of you already know this, what you do not know is the experiences of the women on the University of Pennsylvania swim team. My teammates and I were forced to undress in the presence of Lia, a 6’4 tall biological male, fully intact with male genitalia, eighteen times per week.

Some girls opted to change in bathroom stalls and others used the family bathroom to avoid this. When we tried to voice our concerns to the Athletic Department, we were told that Lia’s swimming and being in our locker room was a nonnegotiable and we were offered psychological services to attempt to reeducate us to become comfortable with the idea of undressing in front of a male.

To sum up the university’s response, we, the women, were the problem, not the victims. We were expected to conform, to move over, and shut up. Our feelings didn’t matter. The university was gaslighting and fearmongering women to validate the feelings and identity of a male. As an attempt to voice my concern about the situation we were forced into, revealing the unjust and unfair treatment, I wrote an op-ed for the Daily Pennsylvanian, the student run newspaper.

I approached this from a scientific— scientific, statistical perspective where I use my engineering background to discuss how Y chromosomes cannot be changed by any surgical procedure or systemic therapy. This biological fact lends itself to athletic advantages that cannot be mitigated by lowering testosterone levels, which are readily apparent in sports competitions and locker rooms.

The Daily Pennsylvanian published my article on the evening of February 10th, 2022. Only a few hours later, my piece was retracted. I was given no notice nor reasoning. Again, I was silenced for my dissenting viewpoint and felt my First Amendment rights were denied by my university. This is representative of a greater issue, the destruction of free speech.

Today, any discussion maintaining the sanctity of women’s faces is labeled transphobic, bigoted, and hateful. What’s bigoted and hateful is the discrimination against women and the efforts to erase women and our equal opportunities, dignity, and safe spaces. One might ask, why do I speak so passionately about issues that seem hypothetical?

Or some may perceive as only impacting a small number of women? This is not hypothetical. This is real. I know women who have lost roster spots and spots on the podium. I know of women with sexual trauma who are adversely impacted by having biological males in their locker room without their consent. I know this because I am one of these women.

I was sexually assaulted on June 3rd of 2016. I was only 16 years old. I was able to forgive my attacker, but violence against women still exists. Let us not forget the viral Me Too movement that empowered female victims to speak up. It casts a spotlight on the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and abuse, including in scholarly and educational institutions.

Individuals on this committee have previously stated, violence against women is all too common. I am grateful for those members who have brought awareness to the violence against women in the past, but unfortunately, there’s still much to be done. As a sexual assault survivor, many policies pushed today completely ignore my experiences, and many women like me.

I ask the members of this committee, please consider this issue outside the lens of political affiliations, and understand the true impact of ignoring the realities of womanhood. Future generations depend on us. Thank you for the opportunity to speak here today.

This is a breaking news article and will be updated.

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LGBTQ+ AND TRANSGENDER, Political

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Detransitioner Pleads With Lawmakers: ‘Please Let Me Be Your Final Warning’

By: Mary Margaret Olohan / @MaryMargOlohan / July 27, 2023

Detransitioner Chloe Cole speaks on Capitol Hill to lawmakers about the dangers of so-called “gender affirming care.” (Photo: Screenshot, YouTube)

Detransitioner Chloe Cole pleaded with lawmakers Thursday on Capitol Hill to pay heed to the traumatic struggles she has already endured as a young person who sought to transition to become another gender. Cole spoke before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the “Dangers and Due Process Violations of ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ for Children,” a hearing pushed by Republicans and denounced by Democrats, who decried the need for such a hearing.

But Cole, who underwent an irreversible double mastectomy when she was only 15 years old, emphasized that her story of attempted transition, and then detransition, should serve as a warning to everyone who hears it.

WATCH:

"My childhood was ruined": listen to heartbreaking opening statement of detransitioner @ChoooCole pic.twitter.com/SZqwdFY0c2
— The Daily Signal (@DailySignal) July 27, 2023

She is now suing Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Permanente Medical Group, and the doctors who pushed her along the path to hormonal and surgical transgender procedures, alleging that her mental health issues were not properly taken into consideration, that she was not fully able to consent to such irreversible procedures, and that as a young teen, she had no concept of whether she might one day want to become a mother.

“This needs to stop,” she emotionally told the lawmakers on Thursday. “You alone can stop it. Enough children have already been victimized by this barbaric pseudoscience. Please let me be your final warning.”

WATCH:

Incredibly powerful plea from detransitioner @ChoooCole to the lawmakers seated before her: "This needs to stop. You alone can stop it. Enough children have already been victimized by this barbaric pseudoscience."

"Please let me be your final warning." pic.twitter.com/pdiOVyAHL1
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) July 27, 2023

Later on during the hearing, Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy pointed out that his Democratic colleagues had repeatedly emphasized the importance of protecting trans-identifying youth.

“I just want to make sure that you know, from our standpoint, that your life is worth it,” Roy said. “And that the people have gone through this, that your lives are worth it. I wonder if you would like to comment on the worth of your life, and the social pressures and the pressure placed on you to pursue a path that you now believe is the correct path.”

Cole emphasized that everyone has a right to happiness and that everyone’s life is worthy. She then asked to address another witness — Myriam Reynolds, the mother of a biologically female young person who identifies as a transgender male.

During the hearing, Reynolds had testified that her child was unhappy before receiving so-called “gender-affirming care,” but happier after receiving the treatment (it is not immediately clear what treatment her biologically female child underwent). Reynolds also claimed that this treatment was “life-saving” for her child, and pushed lawmakers to support parents who wish to transition their children.

“I understood that Mrs. Reynolds is scared for her child,” Cole said. “And I just want to set the record straight that I don’t hate her. I don’t think anyone in this room hates her.”

WATCH:

.@chiproytx emphasizes to detransitioner Chloe Cole and swimmer Paula Scanlon that their lives, too, are worth it, responding to his Democratic colleagues' outrage that the GOP would dare hold a hearing examining so-called "gender-affirming care." pic.twitter.com/gefJKPxSJY
— The Daily Signal (@DailySignal) July 27, 2023

“In fact,” Cole said, as she began to cry, “I see my own mother and my own father in her. And that clearly, she dearly loves her child. And she’s doing the best with what she’s been given. And unfortunately, its not much. And for that I’m sorry.”

Cole remained emotional as she continued: “I think every parent deserves the utmost grace and guidance with how to help their child. That being said, I don’t wish for her child to have the same result as I did. I don’t wish for anyone to regret transition or detransition, because it’s incredibly difficult. It comes with its own difficulties, and it’s not easy. I hope that her child gets to have a happy and fulfilling adulthood, whatever that may look like.”

WATCH:

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Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon by A.F. Branco

A.F. Branco Cartoon – By the Book

A.F. BRANCO | on July 27, 2023 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-by-the-book-3/

Biden and the Democrats always accuse their opponents of what they are doing.

Biden Deflection — Cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2023.

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Republican Lawmakers Call on SCOTUS To ‘Rein In’ The Administrative State

July 26, 2023

BY: TRISTAN JUSTICE | JULY 26, 2023

Dozens of congressional GOP lawmakers led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., are calling on the Supreme Court to curtail the administrative state’s power through a rollback of the 1984 Chevron decision.

On Monday, McCarthy filed an amicus brief by the House general counsel on behalf of the lower chamber supporting a legal challenge to the nearly 40-year precedent that gives federal agencies wide latitude to interpret congressional statutes.

“As part of our Commitment to America, House Republicans pledged to hold Washington accountable,” McCarthy said in a statement. “The Chevron framework makes it easier for unelected bureaucrats to weaponize federal regulations against the American people. The Court should rein in the power of unelected bureaucrats and restore the separation of powers.”

In May, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, setting the stage for a landmark decision that could narrow the scope of bureaucratic agencies to unilaterally impose burdensome rules and regulations. The conservative majority on the court led by Chief Justice John Roberts already signaled its willingness to “rein in” the administrative state last summer with its decision in EPA v. West Virginia. In that case, justices struck down the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, ruling the Constitution did not allow federal agencies to circumvent Congress by implementing broad regulations to wide effect.

In 1984, the Supreme Court established “Chevron deference” in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, broadly defined as allowing administrative agencies to substitute their own interpretation of congressional statutes when a particular issue is implicit. Justices on the current court have debated whether the 1984 case law has been properly interpreted. Regardless, Republicans say its application has been abused by a burgeoning administrative state run by unelected bureaucrats.

Three dozen lawmakers, led by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., filed another brief on Monday in support of a challenge to the Chevron ruling. The brief includes 18 total signatories from the upper chamber, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and 18 from the House.

“Decades of application of Chevron deference have facilitated the exercise of functions by the executive branch that more properly belong to the legislative and judicial branches,” the brief reads. “Agencies exploit general or broad terms in statutes to engage in policymaking functions of questionable legality with the assumption that courts will grant deference and not independently evaluate the lawfulness of those agency interpretations.”

The court will revisit the nearly four-decade-old doctrine in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, with New Jersey fishermen objecting to rules from the Commerce Department that would force commercial fishing vessels to pay federal observers. Such on-board monitoring could cost more than $700 a day and about a fifth of fishermen’s profits, according to the Cause of Action Institute, which is representing the plaintiffs.

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.

Author Tristan Justice profile

TRISTAN JUSTICE

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https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1175486006348460032?s=20

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Biden Family Scandals Are So Much Bigger Than Hunter’s Hookers And Burisma Bribery

BY: MARGOT CLEVELAND | JULY 26, 2023

Joe Biden at his desk talking on the phone in black and white

Author Margot Cleveland profile

MARGOT CLEVELAND

VISIT ON TWITTER@PROFMJCLEVELAND

When the New York Post broke the news that documents recovered from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop implicated Joe Biden in a pay-to-play scandal, the corporate media — to the extent they didn’t frame the story as Russian disinformation — pretended the reporting solely concerned Hunter Biden’s personal life. The scandal, however, was never about Hunter’s sordid sex life and history of drug abuse. Rather, it concerned Joe Biden’s abuse of power as vice president for financial gain. But now it reaches much further — including 10 distinct scandals.

Saturated in Scandal

1. The Many (Uncharged) Crimes of Hunter Biden

While the current scandals swirling around the laptop are unrelated to Hunter Biden’s sex life or drug abuse, the president’s son features in the first scandal: Evidence indicates Hunter Biden committed numerous crimes, including felonies. Evidence suggests Hunter Biden acted as an unregistered foreign agent for, at a minimum, Ukraine and China in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The confidential human source’s (CHS) reporting suggests Hunter also accepted bribes from Burisma or alternatively helped extort $10 million from the Ukrainian oil and gas company for himself and his father.

IRS whistleblowers and federal prosecutors also believed the evidence supported multiple felony tax counts. Lying on a federal firearm application is a serious felony as well.

The evidence that the president’s son likely engaged in extensive criminal conduct for over a decade is a huge scandal, but it also bred a separate scandal: the DOJ and FBI’s efforts to protect him, No. 7 below.

2. Joe Biden’s Business Lie

Hunter Biden’s laptop also exposed the reality that Joe Biden lied to the American public, dating back to September 2019. During a campaign stop, the then-Democrat presidential candidate snapped at Fox News’ Peter Doocy, claiming: “I’ve never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.”

More than two years later, after The Washington Post and New York Times belatedly confirmed the authenticity of the emails recovered from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop, Doocy asked then-White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki whether “President Biden still maintains he never discussed overseas business deals with his son Hunter,” to which Psaki replied, “Yes.”

While Biden and his team stuck with that lie for two-plus years, his current press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, is attempting to snuff out that scandal by reframing Biden’s denial. “I’ve been asked this question a million times. The answer is not going to change. The answer remains the same: The president was never in business with his son,” Jean-Pierre said on Monday.

Moving the goalposts won’t erase the lie.

3. Joe Biden’s Corruption

The much more serious scandal, however, concerns extensive evidence of Joe Biden’s widespread corruption. Bank and corporate records, suspicious activity reports, emails and text messages recovered from Hunter Biden’s laptop, travel records, reporting from a “highly credible” CHS, and testimony and expected testimony from Hunter Biden’s business partners indicate that Joe Biden, while vice president, exchanged political favors for payments to his family members — with a cut of the cash coming to the “Big Guy.”

People and/or organizations from Romania, Ukraine, Russia, and China, among others, all paid Biden-related business entities millions of dollars, with evidence indicating the now-president received a cut of the bribes. The evidence indicates that in exchange, the individuals received access to the then-vice president. In the case of Ukraine, Biden forced the firing of the prosecutor general who was investigating Burisma, the company where Hunter held a board seat and which allegedly paid Joe and Hunter Biden each $5 million in bribes.

The evidence of Joe Biden’s corruption is bad enough, but the scandal deepens when one considers the president has supplied Ukraine with cluster bombs and billions in American tax dollars.

Cover-Ups

While the first three scandals involve misconduct and likely criminality by Hunter and Joe Biden, there are at least twice as many distinct scandals that flow from cover-up efforts to protect the Bidens.

4. FBI’s Interference in the 2020 Election

By December 2019, the FBI had authenticated the laptop Hunter Biden abandoned at a computer repair shop in Wilmington, Delaware. Yet, knowing the laptop was real and contained spectacularly damaging details implicating Joe Biden in corruption, the FBI spent the months leading up to the November 2020 election grooming tech giants to believe a “hack-and-leak operation” was imminent. The FBI also pushed social media companies to change their terms of service to prohibit the posting of so-called hacked materials.

These combined efforts prompted social media companies to censor the New York Post’s Oct. 14, 2020 blockbuster article, “Smoking-Gun Email Reveals How Hunter Biden Introduced Ukrainian Businessman to VP Dad.” After the story broke and after initially confirming its authenticity to Twitter, the FBI refused to comment on whether the material had been hacked or was Russian disinformation, leading to its continued widespread censorship. Not only did the FBI improperly protect Joe Biden and prompt the censorship of true political speech, it interfered in the 2020 election and likely handed Biden the White House.

5. Intelligence Agencies’ Interference in the 2020 Election

Former and current members of intelligence agencies soon joined the FBI in interfering in the 2020 election. The House Intelligence and Weaponization Committees previously detailed evidence of that interference in their report titled, “How Senior Intelligence Community Officials and the Biden Campaign Worked to Mislead American Voters.”

That report established that the infamous October 2020 letter, which was signed by 51 former intelligence officials and falsely framed the Hunter Biden laptop as Russian disinformation, was concocted by Biden-campaign officials, including now-Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who served as a senior adviser to the Biden campaign. Then-candidate Joe Biden would cite that letter in his final debate with Donald Trump to lie to the American people (again), telling the country the laptop was Russian disinformation.

It is scandalous that scores of former intelligence officials would use their prior positions and reputations to deceive Americans in a way that likely affected the 2020 election. That any of those individuals retained security clearances adds to the scandal, as does the role of the Biden campaign and the involvement of at least one CIA employee in soliciting signatories for the statement.

6. Intel Agencies’ Failure to Protect America Against Foreign Influence

Not only did intelligence agencies interfere in the 2020 election, but in their efforts to protect Joe Biden, they likely also failed to provide necessary defensive briefings, putting Americans at risk.

To protect our country, intelligence officials must have frank discussions with leaders (and candidates) about the risks of foreign malign influence. Given how hard the FBI and intelligence agencies tried to bury the news of the laptop, it seems likely they omitted any reference to the laptop and details contained on it in briefings to then-President Trump, then-candidate Biden, and the Biden campaign.

To date, this scandal has been overlooked and merits further inquiry to determine whether the intelligence apparatus fulfilled its duty to the country or omitted inconvenient facts in briefings to protect Joe Biden. Of particular concern is whether intelligence agencies assessed and warned about the risk that the Russians had stolen a second Hunter Biden laptop that contain materials the Biden son believed rendered him susceptible to blackmail.

7. DOJ and FBI’s Handling of Biden Investigations

When it comes to how the DOJ and FBI handled investigations into Biden family corruption, the evidence of potential misconduct is overwhelming.

Broadly, this scandal includes conflicts of interest between Biden-appointed U.S. attorneys — including the Pennsylvania U.S. attorney handling an investigation into the Jim Biden-connected company Americorp, and the California and D.C. U.S. attorneys who reportedly refused to bring felony charges against Hunter Biden. Likewise, Attorney General Merrick Garland’s conflict of interest proves scandalous given the numerous efforts by the DOJ and FBI headquarters to interfere in the investigations.

Beyond conflicts of interest, the IRS whistleblowers and another whistleblower who’s provided information to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, have revealed numerous instances of DOJ and FBI procedural violations, the burying of evidence such as the FD-1023, the false labeling of derogatory evidence as disinformation, and limits on the investigative steps agents could take. Consequently, the DOJ charged Hunter Biden only with misdemeanors and one firearm felony that could be dropped, and to date it appears no investigation has occurred into Joe Biden or his brother, Jim Biden, on allegations of bribery and money laundering.

While Democrats counter the growing evidence of corruption by wrongly claiming it has not been corroborated, that fact does not vindicate the Bidens: It implicates the DOJ and FBI in a separate scandal.

Cover-Ups of the Cover-Ups

8. DOJ and FBI’s Cover-Up of Failure to Investigate Bidens

Once whistleblowers began exposing the Biden administration’s interference in the family’s pay-to-play investigation, the DOJ and FBI began to cover-up the cover-up. We saw this most clearly when Garland professed that there was no political interference in U.S. Attorney David Weiss’s investigation into Hunter Biden. Garland stressed that, as a Trump holdover, Americans could trust Weiss’s independence.

Garland’s testimony cannot be squared with the extensive interference coming from FBI headquarters and the limitations the DOJ placed on investigative techniques. When Grassley pushed on the point, Garland maintained that Weiss had ultimate charging authority. According to an IRS whistleblower, however, Weiss said otherwise, claiming he wasn’t the ultimate decision-maker.

Here, the cover-up of the cover-up began in earnest, with Garland and Weiss writing a series of letters and making public statements that attempted to obscure the ultimate question of whether Weiss had ultimate authority to charge Hunter Biden and whether DOJ or FBI headquarters interfered in the investigation. This scandal has yet to be unraveled. But on Monday, the DOJ sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee offering up Weiss to testify — indicating Biden’s Justice Department might be preparing to throw Weiss under the bus.

9. Democrats Lying to Protect Joe Biden

Many Democrats are also wrapped up in lying to protect Joe Biden. Some of these lies predate the election when they spun the laptop as Russian disinformation. But more recently, we saw Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin lying to the American public about the FD-1023 form. Had former Attorney General William Barr not gone on the record to correct Raskin’s falsehood, the public would have been none the wiser.

Seeking to protect Joe Biden from damning bribery claims, Raskin falsely claimed that Trump appointees Barr and U.S. Attorney Scott Brady had reviewed the CHS’s reporting contained in a June 2020 FD-1023 form and closed out the investigation. Raskin also portrayed the CHS’s reporting as connected to Rudy Giuliani.

But as The Federalist first reported, Barr unequivocally said that Raskin’s claim was “not true.” The investigation into the FD-1023 “wasn’t closed down.” “On the contrary,” Barr stressed, “it was sent to Delaware for further investigation.” Likewise, Barr explained the CHS’s reporting was unrelated to Giuliani.

10. Press Acting as Biden-Run Media

When the Post broke the laptop story, the legacy media either silenced it or framed it as Russian disinformation. Even two years later, after belatedly authenticating the material recovered from Hunter Biden’s computer, the corporate media refused to cover the implications — that the emails, documents, and texts indicated Joe Biden was involved in a massive corruption scandal. The corrupt press still refuses to cover the news fairly, opting instead to brand the evidence as a conspiracy theory.

The media’s refusal to seek and report the truth proves the most dire of all the scandals because without a free press checking government corruption, the corruption will only grow.

Margot Cleveland is The Federalist’s senior legal correspondent. She is also a contributor to National Review Online, the Washington Examiner, Aleteia, and Townhall.com, and has been published in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. Cleveland is a lawyer and a graduate of the Notre Dame Law School, where she earned the Hoynes Prize—the law school’s highest honor. She later served for nearly 25 years as a permanent law clerk for a federal appellate judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Cleveland is a former full-time university faculty member and now teaches as an adjunct from time to time. As a stay-at-home homeschooling mom of a young son with cystic fibrosis, Cleveland frequently writes on cultural issues related to parenting and special-needs children. Cleveland is on Twitter at @ProfMJCleveland. The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.

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Top Democrat Jeffries Refuses To Defend Right Of Congress To Pass Laws After Environmental Activists Take Other Side

BY: MOLLIE HEMINGWAY | JULY 21, 2023

Hakeem Jeffries — Democratic leadership refused to defend the legitimacy of the lower chamber at the behest of the environmental lobby.

Author Mollie Hemingway profile

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY

VISIT ON TWITTER@MZHEMINGWAY

The top two Democrats in the House of Representatives quietly voted last week against defending the right of Congress to pass laws. The sanctity of democracy and Congress itself has been a major political talking point for Democrat leaders in recent years. But the vote showed the difficulty Democrat Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other top Democrats have standing up to the intense pressure they face from left-wing billionaires and the environmental activist groups they run.

The vote dealt with litigation from left-wing environmental groups trying to stop provisions in the recently passed Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), which raised the debt limit. That bill, signed into law on June 5, 2023, contained provisions to ensure the completion of a 303-mile pipeline from natural gas fields in West Virginia to an existing pipeline in Southwest Virginia. Left-wing environmental groups funded by major Democrat donors and a foreign oligarch who finances much of the left’s “dark money” behemoth have fought the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline for years. While most of the pipeline has been constructed, the FRA directed expedited approval of the remaining permits, removal from any court the jurisdiction to review agency actions, and directing the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to oversee any claims challenging the pipeline.

Both Jeffries and Democrat Whip Katherine Clark voted for the legislation. Jeffries publicly stated he did so “without hesitation, reservation, or trepidation.” President Biden, the top Democrat in the country, signed it into law. His Department of Justice began implementing the law. But when the time came to defend both that legislation and the very right of Congress to pass laws, Jeffries and Clark refused.

The Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG), comprising the Speaker of the House and the leader and whip of each party, “speaks for, and articulates the institutional position of, the House in all litigation matters,” according to House rules. While it has at times been used in a partisan matter, most notably and aggressively under former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, it also routinely sees unanimous votes on key issues about the rights and powers of Congress.

Earlier this year, for example, all five members voted to intervene in an ongoing legal battle between the Department of Justice and Rep. Scott Perry, R-Penn., over the department’s aggressive efforts to access the conservative member’s phone.

The vote last week was divided on party lines, even though it dealt with an issue that the BLAG had previously worked on twice before and involved a law that both Democrat members had voted for only weeks prior.

Back Story

Blocking an energy pipeline in the region has been a top priority of left-wing activist groups for years. They had successfully asked the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to block and delay permits and approvals for the pipeline.

Once the debt limit bill passed, the Department of Justice moved to dismiss those cases. It argued that the bill had mooted the controversy by explicitly ratifying and approving all necessary permits and by changing the law governing the pipeline in such a way that it rendered meritless the claims put forth by the environmentalist groups.

The Wilderness Society and an array of other left-wing environmentalist groups opposed what the DOJ was doing and asked the Fourth Circuit to issue a stay. Left-wing Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss “has been a leading source of difficult-to-trace money to groups associated with Democrats,” according to an analysis from The New York Times. He serves on the board of governors of the Wilderness Society. That group argued the bill violated the separation of powers and that the Fourth Circuit remained the right court to hear their objections to the previous legislation. Without explaining its reasoning, a trio of judges on the Fourth Circuit that had previously ruled in favor of the environmental groups’ petitions issued a stay.

The pipeline company filed an emergency application at the Supreme Court to vacate the stays and have the Fourth Circuit dismiss the claims so the pipeline could be completed as directed by June’s legislation.

That’s why the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group voted on an amicus brief backing Congress’ own legislation and the right of Congress to pass legislation.

The amicus brief argues that the Fourth Circuit stays are at odds with Congress’s declaration that “the timely completion” of the pipeline “is required in the national interest.” It also notes that the House has twice prior defended the power of Congress to enact changes in law that affect the outcome of pending court cases, and the court upheld the constitutionality of doing so both times. Finally, it argues that the stays are erroneous; that nothing precludes Congress from changing laws simply because they end legal challenges to agency actions.

Jeffries and Clark are refusing to defend Congress, but their vote aligns them with the billionaire environmentalists. It does put them at odds with at least one Democrat lawmaker and the Laborers’ International Union of North America, the country’s “most progressive” union of construction workers.

“The jobs at stake are the exact type of jobs – blue collar jobs for skilled workers that provide good wages, health coverage, retirement security, and funding for training of current workers and new entrants to the industry – that are so badly needed in today’s economy,” the union wrote in its brief.

When Clark whipped for the bill she now refuses to defend, she praised Biden for “standing with our veterans, seniors, and working families” during the negotiations.

Neither Jeffries nor Clark responded to The Federalist’s request for comment.

Tristan Justice contributed to this reporting.

Mollie Ziegler Hemingway is the Editor-in-Chief of The Federalist. She is Senior Journalism Fellow at Hillsdale College and a Fox News contributor. She is the co-author of Justice on Trial: The Kavanaugh Confirmation and the Future of the Supreme Court. She is the author of “Rigged: How the Media, Big Tech, and the Democrats Seized Our Elections.” Reach her at mzhemingway@thefederalist.com

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REP JIM BANKS DEMANDS ANSWERS ON ‘INADEQUATE’ DOD CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE WAIVER GUIDANCE: ‘AGENTS’ OF THE CCP

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‘Alarming evidence’ links China’s Communist Party to American K-12 schools, anti-indoctrination group claims

Parents Defending Education says ‘Little Red Classrooms’ report should concern Americans

By Brian Flood | Fox News | Published July 26, 2023 10:28am EDT

FIRST ON FOX — Parents Defending Education (PDE), a grassroots organization dedicated to fighting indoctrination in the classroom, says it has uncovered disturbing evidence linking Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-sponsored financial entities to American K-12 schools. The findings are detailed in a new report dubbed “Little Red Classrooms,” which was sent to 34 governors, key lawmakers and committee chairs on Wednesday.

“The alarming evidence uncovered by our investigation should concern parents, educators, and policymakers alike. Families deserve to know who is influencing the American education system so that they can make informed choices about what their children are learning behind closed doors,” PDE president Nicole Neily told Fox News Digital.

“The Trump administration took steps to rein in Confucius Institutes at colleges and universities. It is frightening, however, that no such transparency mandate exists at the K-12 level,” Neily continued. “Accordingly, it is imperative that elected officials at both the federal and state levels take immediate action to gauge the extent of these programs in order to ensure that American schoolchildren receive a high-quality education free from undue foreign interference.”

chinausflags — Parents Defending Education, a grassroots organization dedicated to fighting indoctrination in the classroom, says it has uncovered disturbing evidence linking Chinese Communist Party-sponsored financial entities to American K-12 schools. (Getty)

Parents Defending Education bills itself as “a national grassroots organization working to reclaim our schools from activists imposing harmful agendas. PDE’s sister organization, PDE Action, sent the “alarming” results of its lengthy “Little Red Classrooms” investigation to House Education & Workforce Committee Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C.; House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala.; and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas.

According to the letters, which have been obtained by Fox News Digital, the investigation exposed how millions of dollars of China-linked funding has flowed into America’s K-12 classrooms. PDE believes American students are subject to CCP propaganda under the guise of Chinese language and culture programming.

“The fact the Chinese government had so much access to American classrooms, students, and curriculums should worry families,” PDE senior adviser Michele P. Exner wrote to McCaul.

The committee chairs were informed that through “records requests and publicly available information, it was discovered that 143 school districts across the United States have engaged in contracts to establish Confucius Institutes and Classrooms,” including in three of the nation’s top science and technology high schools, and several that are near 20 U.S. military bases. “Considering China’s adversarial relationship with the United States, this poses significant security risks that warrant immediate attention from your committee,” Exner wrote to Foxx.

“The Chinese government has long touted their Confucius programming as a way to advance their strategic goals around the world. In 2009, former Chinese Communist Party Senior Chairman Li Changchun admitted that Confucius Institutes were an ‘important part of China’s overseas propaganda set-up’ and in 2017 Chinese government officials lauded the programs as a way to push China’s Belt and Road initiative,” the Foxx letter continued. “Security concerns with these China-led courses in America’s schools are well documented.”

BILL LIMITING CHINA-BACKED CONFUCIUS INSTITUTES PASSED UNANIMOUSLY BY SENATE

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) arrives to a caucus meeting with House Republicans on Capitol Hill — House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, was notified of Parents Defending Education’s findings. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

PDE also listed “examples of the alarming relationships China’s government has established with American K-12 classrooms,” such as the Simpson County Board of Education in Kentucky entering into an agreement with the North China Electric Power University to develop the Confucius Institute of Western Kentucky.

“The North China Electric Power University works directly with the Chinese government’s energy sector to push China’s global energy initiatives. The Chinese International Education Foundation (CIEF) tasked the university with selecting more than 34 Chinese teachers to send to Simpson County Public Schools for the 2020-2021 school year,” Exner wrote.

PDE also pointed to a pair of Chinese nationals who taught Mandarin at Appoquinimink School District in Delaware during the 2012-2013 school year. “According to a district webpage, these teachers underwent a ‘rigorous selection process’ in China. This includes interviews with Chinese government officials ‘at the national level,’” according to Exner, who also serves as PDE Action’s director of federal affairs.

The letter to McCaul noted that “34 states and the District of Columbia have had schools that have engaged in financial exchanges with the Chinese government or affiliated entities ranging from a few thousand dollars to more than a million dollars per contract,” according to PDE findings.

“Since 2009, the Chinese government has used Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms to push their agenda in schools around the globe. Chinese Communist Party officials have openly stated how they are using these educational partnerships established under the guise of ‘cultural and language immersion programs’ to expand China’s overseas propaganda campaign,” Exner wrote.

“In a Chinese state media article from 2016, the Chinese Communist Party ‘lauded’ Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms for promoting its Belt and Road Initiative. Security concerns with these China-linked programs became so problematic that the State Department declared them a ‘foreign mission’ during the summer of 2020,” Exner continued. “These programs have created significant security vulnerabilities for the United States and gave the CCP unfettered access to curriculums and America’s classrooms. PDE uncovered at least two connections between U.S. and China schools tied to the Chinese military and energy operations.”

UNIVERSITY TO CUT TIES WITH CHINESE CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE AFTER GOP SCRUTINY ON $17M DOD GRANT

PDE also accused the CCP of openly using deceptive tactics to influence the next generation of Americans to advance their own self-serving agenda.

“We cannot allow this to happen. We urge the committee to take immediate action to investigate, expose, and hold hearings on the Chinese government’s involvement in America’s schools. PDE looks forward to working with you in protecting our students from the threats of the CCP,” Exner wrote to McCaul.

PDE informed Rogers that Confucius Institutes and Classrooms were operating in schools in the vicinity of the following U.S. military bases including U.S. Naval Academy, Buckley Air Force Base and Space Force, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Dover Air Force Base, Fort Bliss, Fort Liberty, Fort Knox, Naval Station Great Lakes, Hanscom Air Force Base, Hill Air Force Base, Lackland Air Force Base, Langley Air Force Base, Los Angeles Air Force Base, MacDill Air Force Base, McGuire Air Force Base, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Nellis Air Force Base, Naval Station Norfolk, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Naval Base San Diego.

“Allowing China to have unfettered access to America’s schools poses significant security risks to students and their families. It becomes even more dangerous when this is happening near sensitive locations containing information critical to our national security,” Exner wrote.

Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs — PDE sent a letter to Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs urging an investigation between Arizona’s public schools and Chinese government sponsored programs. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

WHAT CHINA IS DOING IN CUBA IS A BIG THREAT TO ALL OF US

PDE Action also wrote to several other influential lawmakers including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. The House China Select Committee, the Senate HELP Committee, the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are expected to be notified of “Little Red Classrooms” findings, too.

PDE Action political director Alex Nester also sent a letter, which has been obtained by Fox News Digital, to Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs.

“Documents uncovered via online searches and public records requests show that three schools in Arizona — Catalina Foothills School District and Tucson Unified School District, as well as the International School of Tucson — forged ties with Chinese government backed programs over the course of a decade,” Nester wrote.

“PDE Action respectfully requests the Office of the Governor of Arizona to investigate ties between Arizona’s public schools and Chinese government sponsored programs, such as Confucius Classrooms,” Nester continued. “While it’s vital for American students to have opportunities to learn world languages and cultures, public school districts should not give the Chinese government unfettered access to K-12 classrooms. This has the potential of posing significant security risks to students, families, and our national interests.”

A similar letter was sent to 33 additional governors on Wednesday morning, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

PDE’s “Little Red Classrooms” report details more examples that the group finds deeply concerning, breaking down the $17,967,565 spent across 143 school districts in 34 states plus the District of Columbia.

Brian Flood is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to brian.flood@fox.com and on Twitter: @briansflood.

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International Politics

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MSNBC guest mocked for floating 9/11-style response to right wing threats: ‘Utterly oblivious’

By Andrew Mark Miller | Fox News | Published July 26, 2023 10:32am EDT

A guest on an MSNBC panel Tuesday night drew criticism on social media for suggesting a 9/11-type response to right wing extremists, on the scale of things like the Patriot Act and the Department of Homeland Security.

“We’re in a battle for hearts and minds, and there are people who are on the fence, we’ve got to have leaders and messages and messengers and programs that get to those people, that bring them over to community organizing, into non-profit organizations and away from the Patriot Front and the Oath Keepers,” Army veteran and author Paul Rieckhoff told Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC Tuesday night.

“After 9/11, we created the Department of Homeland Security,” Rieckhoff said. “There was the Patriot Act. There was massive change in our entire society to face the number one threat, at least what was communicated as the number one threat.”

“I think we need the same kind of tectonic shift,” he said about how to deal with right wing extremists. “It’s got to be much more than ‘see something’ but maybe our laws need to change to respond to the fact that someone like Mike Flynn, the former national security director, is openly calling for violence consistently.”

Army veteran and author Paul Rieckhoff, left, and an Oath Keeper demonstrator. (Getty Images)

Rieckhoff ’s call for a bigger government response to conservative groups drew criticism from people who accused MSNBC of promoting a government crackdown on opinions that are not shared by liberal Democrats.

“Nicolle Wallace has been running segments like this virtually on a daily basis since 1/6; every day they’re complaining about how our terrorism laws need to be revamped to make it easier to orient our entire national security apparatus against enemies of the liberal establishment,” Grabien founder and journalist Tom Elliot posted on social media. He said the segment is an example of “ripping apart American society.”

“As they claim to be targeting extremism, they’re utterly oblivious to just how radicalized they themselves have become,” he said. “Every day I watch as they push each other a little further, constantly reminding each other how important they are & how dangerous are those who think differently.”

Protesters outside of the Capitol — Then-President Trump supporters occupy the West Front of the Capitol and the inauguration stands on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“In the battle to win hearts and minds, he wants a new PATRIOT Act and DHS,” Center for Renewing America fellow and author Steve Friend tweeted. “Grow government to shut down alternative political views.”

“Notice what he says about the aftermath of 9/11 and ‘what was communicated as the number one threat,’” columnist and author Derek Hunter tweeted. “That’s very telling about this guy…”

A demonstrator wears an Oath Keepers anti-government organization badge on a protective vest during a protest outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., U.S. (Getty Images)

President George W. Bush signed the Patriot Act into law in October 2001 which gave the government sweeping authority to investigate and prosecute terrorists which includes broad surveillance powers that many have argued amounts to a violation of personal freedoms.

Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com.

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Hunter Biden pleads ‘not guilty’ as plea deal falls apart during Delaware court appearance

DOJ prosecutors said Hunter Biden is currently under investigation

By Brooke Singman , Jake Gibson | Fox News | Published July 26, 2023 1:25pm EDT

Hunter Biden’s plea deal fell apart during his first court appearance Wednesday morning as he pleaded “not guilty” and federal prosecutors confirmed the president’s son is still under federal investigation. The president’s son was expected to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax, as part of plea deal to avoid jail time on a felony gun charge.

Hunter Biden walks into Federal court dressed in a suit — Hunter Biden arrives to a Federal Courthouse at the Caleb Boggs Federal Building in Wilmington, Delaware, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. President Joe Biden’s son is reportedly expected to plead guilty during the hearing to two federal crimes for not paying taxes on time. (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)

But Judge Maryellen Noreika did not accept the plea agreement, questioning the constitutionality–specifically the diversion clause and the immunity Hunter Biden would receive. Hunter Biden had been expected to enter into a pretrial diversion agreement regarding a separate felony charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.

The judge pressed federal prosecutors on the investigation and questioned whether there was the possibility for future charges, and asked prosecutors if Hunter Biden was currently under active investigation. Prosecutors said he was but would not answer specifically what the president’s son is under investigation for.

Prosecutors on Wednesday, though, said Hunter Biden pleading guilty to the two misdemeanor tax offenses would not immunize him from future charges. At one point, Noreika asked Justice Department prosecutor Leo Wise whether there is an “ongoing investigation here.”

“There is,” Wise said, adding that he could not tell the judge what the investigation was.

Noreika asked if the government could potentially bring a charge related to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), to which Wise replied: “Yes.”

At that point, the original plea deal broke down. Defense attorney Chris Clark said he did not agree with that.

“Then there’s no deal,” Wise said.

Clark countered, “As far as I’m concerned the plea deal is null and void.”

After that, both sides asked the judge for time to negotiate. Noreika left the courtroom for 20 minutes or so and allowed both sides to continue negotiations. Ultimately, Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty because Noreika could not accept the plea deal as it was constructed. She repeatedly expressed her concerns about the constitutionality of the diversion deal related to the felony gun charge, specifying that the main issue with the agreement was that if Hunter breached the deal, the judge would need to make a finding of fact on the matter before the government could bring charges.

Judge Noreika said she saw that as being “outside of my lane,” noting that if the diversion agreement might be unconstitutional, then the entire plea deal would be unconstitutional, meaning that Hunter Biden would not be getting the immunity he thought.

The judge apologized to Hunter Biden near the end of the hearing.

“Mr. Biden, I know you want to get this over with, and I’m sorry,” Noreika said. “But I need to get more information to do Justice as I’m required to do.”

The judge asked for briefings from both sides, but did not set a firm date.

Noreika questioned Hunter Biden on his sobriety and on his business dealings–specifically money that he received from foreign business partners, like Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings and his joint-venture with Chinese energy firm CEFC.

As Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre delivered a statement at the beginning of the daily briefing.

“Hunter Biden is a private citizen, and this was a personal matter for him. As we have said, the president, the first lady, they love their son and they support him as he continues to rebuild his life,” Jean-Pierre said. “This case was handled independently, as all of you know, by the Justice Department under the leadership of a prosecutor appointed by the former president, President Trump.”

She added: “So for anything further, as you know, and we’ve been very consistent from here, I’d refer you to the Department of Justice and to Hunter’s representatives who is his legal team, obviously, who can address any of your questions.”

The developments in the case Wednesday come after IRS whistleblower testimony revealed allegations of DOJ misconduct throughout the years-long investigation into the president’s son. IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler said politics influenced prosecutorial decisions throughout the investigation.

House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith filed an amicus brief to the court, requesting that testimony be considered ahead of accepting the planned plea deal, saying Hunter Biden “appears to have benefited from political interference which calls into question the propriety of the investigation of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”

“In the interest of full transparency and fairness for all citizens, it is critical for the Court to have this relevant information when evaluating the Plea Agreement,” Smith wrote in the brief.

Meanwhile, on the eve of the court appearance, the judge threatened to sanction Hunter Biden’s legal team after one of his attorneys allegedly lied about who she was while asking to remove IRS whistleblower testimony from the court docket.

The defense, though, denied the allegations and called the incident “an unfortunate and unintentional miscommunication.”

Fox News’ Griff Jenkins and Alexandra Rego contributed to this report.

Brooke Singman is a Fox News Digital politics reporter. You can reach her at Brooke.Singman@Fox.com or @BrookeSingman on Twitter.

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corruption, Crime, Law

LGBTQ+ AND TRANSGENDER, Political

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Put You ‘IN THE GROUND’: Grad Student Threatens State Senator Over Vote to Protect Kids From Trans Drugs

By: Tyler O’Neil / @Tyler2ONeil / July 26, 2023

Protester holds sign reading — A graduate student left a voicemail threatening a Louisiana state senator after he voted to override Gov. John Bel Edwards’ veto of a bill protecting minors from experimental “transgender” medical interventions. Pictured: A protester holds a sign reading “protect black trans women at all f—ing cost” at the Queer Liberation March in Manhattan, June 25. (Photo: Erik McGregor, LightRocket/Getty Images)

A Louisiana state senator says he is undeterred despite receiving a death threat after he voted to override a governor’s veto on a bill protecting children from experimental “transgender” medical interventions.

“No type of threat would ever stop me from trying to save children and keep them from being mutilated or from facing any other harm,” Sen. Michael “Big Mike” Fesi, a Republican representing southern Louisiana, told The Daily Signal in a phone interview Tuesday.

Fesi voted to override Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards’ June veto of House Bill 648, the “Stop Harming Our Kids Act.” The state House voted 76-23 on July 18 to override the veto, and the Senate voted 28-11 to override the veto the following day. After the vote, Fesi received a voicemail message expressing joy at the prospect of putting him “in the ground.”

“I can’t wait to read your name in the f—ing obituary,” a man, whom police later identified as Louisiana State University graduate student Marcus Venable, said in the message. “I will make a g–d–n martini made from the tears of butthurt conservatives when we put your f—ing a– in the ground.”

In the audio, which political commentator Greg Price posted to Twitter, Venable claimed that Fesi did not produce “any g–d–n evidence to support the claims you made about people being harmed by transgender care,” and he cited what he described as “tons of empirical evidence” about an “increased suicide risk” in the absence of such interventions.

UNHINGED: This is a voicemail that was sent to Louisiana State Senator @Sen_BigMikeFesi after he voted to override Gov. John Bel Edwards' veto on the bill to ban child sex changes in which @LSU Professor Marcus Venable calls him a "fat fucking piece of shit" and says "I can't… pic.twitter.com/IEKisCF6mg
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 20, 2023

Fesi told The Daily Signal that he called the police to report the threat. “When they talk about ‘put you in the ground,’ you absolutely call the police,” he said.

The senator has not received any apology from Venable. He said the police told him they directed the graduate student to refrain from contacting him.

Michael Fesi in a blue suit with a red tie and an American flag — Sen. Michael “Big Mike” Fesi, the Louisiana state senator who received a death threat for voting to protect children from so-called transgender procedures.

Louisiana State University condemned Venable’s actions and will bar him from teaching, local TV station KCBY reported.

“As a university, we foster open and respectful dialogue,” LSU spokeswoman Abbi Rocha Laymoun said. “Like everyone, graduate students with teaching assignments have the right to express their opinions, but this profanity-filled, threatening call crossed the line.”

“This does not exhibit the character we expect of someone given the privilege of teaching as part of their graduate assistantship,” she added. “The student will be allowed to continue their studies but will not be extended the opportunity to teach in the future.”

LSU did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment by publication time.

House Bill 648, which will take effect on Jan. 1, 2024, forbids health care professionals from engaging in specific acts “that attempt to alter a minor’s appearance in an attempt to validate a minor’s perception of the minor’s sex, if the minor’s perception is inconsistent with the minor’s sex.”

It bans various experimental medical interventions that transgender advocates euphemistically refer to as “gender-affirming care,” such as the off-label use of drugs like Lupron to forestall puberty, cross-sex hormones, sterilizing surgery, surgeries to construct facsimiles of organs belonging to the opposite sex, the removal of “any healthy or non-diseased body part or tissue,” and other procedures to alter secondary sex characteristics.

When the Louisiana Legislature overrode Edwards’ veto, the governor predicted that the courts would “throw out this unconstitutional bill,” which he said “needlessly harms a very small population of vulnerable children, their families, and their health care professionals.”

Fesi disputed Venable’s claim that the senator did not present any evidence to support his position.

“If you have to continue these drugs, you become a lifetime patient,” he said, warning that “the suicide rate after doing this thing really goes up.”

“You need to at least wait until you’re of age to make that decision,” Fesi said. “Children, they can’t drink alcohol until 21, they can’t drive until they’re 16.”

The state senator also urged people to focus on being “a good person.”

“As far as the threats and stuff go, you need to agree to disagree,” he said. “No one needs to cause hardship on anyone else just because of a disagreement. We need to learn to love one another no matter what.”

He pledged to continue to support legislation aimed at protecting children.

Fesi noted Senate Bill 64, “Ezekiel’s Law,” which unanimously passed the state Legislature and which Edwards signed on June 1. The law requires closer communication between law enforcement and child protection agencies after the death of 2-year-old Ezekiel J’sai Harry, whose body was found in a trash can.

“Two-year-old Ezekiel was [allegedly] beat to death by his mother’s boyfriend,” Fesi recalled. “He was supposed to be moved to his dad’s possession prior to his death.” Closer communication between law enforcement and child agencies will prevent such tragedies in the future, the senator said.

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T0day’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon by A.F. Branco

A.F. Branco Cartoon – A Father’s Love

A.F. BRANCO | on July 26, 2023 | https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-a-fatherss-love/

The Democrat media continues to play defense for President Biden’s bribery scandal with his son Hunter as the bagman.

Biden Loves His Son — A.F. Branco Cartoon ©2023.

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