The jokes seemed to write themselves last week after the Biden administration announced Vice President Kamala Harris, known for her vapid word salad speeches and obvious gaslighting, would now run point on artificial intelligence. Even I jumped in on the action, noting on FOX Business that Harris was more associated with the word “artificial” than the word “intelligence.”
All joking aside, the future of AI technology is a serious issue. With her approval ratings in the toilet and President Biden showing obvious signs of age-related decline, Kamala Harris (and by that I mean the Democratic Party) urgently needs a way to rehabilitate her historically unpopular image ahead of the 2024 presidential race. This is not the way.
On this issue, like so many before it, Harris is out of her depth. Her past attempts to talk about complicated policy issues often sound like they’ve been dumbed down for a kindergarten audience. Her incoherent speeches have repeatedly gone viral. It’s not just Greg Gutfeld getting mileage out of Harris’ viral gaffes and ramblings.
Kamala Harris urgently needs a way to rehabilitate her historically unpopular image ahead of the 2024 presidential race. (Reuters/Hannah Beier)
Her poll numbers reflect voter concerns that she simply hasn’t performed well in her job. Having already fared poorly in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, earning zero delegate support, Harris is even less popular now. She has a net negative favorability rating as vice president. Her home state newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, reported last week that 53% of voters have an unfavorable opinion of Harris, for a net negative of -12 percentage points.
Beyond concerns about her lack of depth are even more serious questions about her integrity. The American people simply do not trust her. Beyond the revolving door of unhappy Harris staffers and allegations of a negative work environment, Harris’ dishonest assessment of the border problem is still fresh on voters’ minds.
In September 2022, as a record 2 million people were crossing our borders and drug cartels were expanding their profitable trafficking and fentanyl operations, Harris twice told an incredulous Chuck Todd on NBC that, “the border is secure.” Of course, at that point, she hadn’t bothered to even go there.
Border security is a problem that has gotten exponentially worse on her watch. But given that a Biden victory may very well depend on raising Harris’ poll numbers, it’s safe to assume this latest assignment is simply a political move intended to boost her popularity.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during the Democratic National Committee Women’s Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 30, 2022. (Leigh Vogel/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Just last month, Bloomberg’s Julianna Goldman offered a helpful suggestion published in the administration-friendly Washington Post. “One way to boost Harris would be through her policy portfolio, to put her in charge of an important issue beyond immigration or abortion,” Goldman wrote, referencing Democratic strategists who suggested Harris would need to “own it” and “show some progress.”
It looks like the Biden administration reached the same conclusion. They seem to believe all of Harris’ problems with the public are simply a reflection of voters’ inherent racism and sexism, as former Biden chief of staff Ron Klain has claimed. Or that she just hasn’t gotten credit for the things she’s done.
But Biden may rue the day he tapped Harris for this important responsibility. Like the albatross of her failure as the nation’s border czar, this assignment is fraught with risk, not just for voters, but for the administration.
The complexity and the stakes involved in this rapidly advancing technology call for a deep thinker, not a party loyalist. The president needs to treat this like the important issue that it is. The American people deserve more than the perfunctory lip service and agenda-driven gaslighting Harris is likely to give it.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris during a campaign event on Aug. 12, 2020, at Alexis Dupont High School in Wilmington, Delaware. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
Artificial intelligence technology poses serious risks to the economy. It is a threat to cybersecurity. It may force fundamental change to our business models and job markets. It’s not an artificial election-year ornament to be draped around the person whose poll numbers need a boost.
By shining this light on Harris, the administration hopes to convince a skeptical public that Harris is ready to take over for the oldest president in history if needed. But if these attempts to make Harris look intelligent actually are artificial, they risk proving just the opposite.
A 20-year veteran Chicago prosecutor quit his job and wrote a blistering letter to his colleagues on his way out Friday, blasting the city’s “stupid” leaders and declaring they set the city “on a course to disaster”
Jason Poje, a felony trial attorney, put in his two weeks’ notice with the city at the end of April. Before he left, however, he sent a goodbye letter to 85 colleagues to explain that the city’s insistence on following a “popular political agenda” has made Chicago more dangerous for everyone.
“The simple fact is that this State and County have set themselves on a course to disaster. And the worst part is that the agency for whom I work has backed literally every policy change that had the predicable, and predicted, outcome of more crime and more people getting hurt,” Poje wrote, referring to the office of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.
“Bond reform designed to make sure no one stays in jail while their cases are pending with no safety net to handle more criminals on the streets, shorter parole periods, lower sentences for repeat offenders, the malicious and unnecessary prosecution of law enforcement officers, overuse of diversion programs, intentionally not pursuing prosecutions for crimes lawfully on the books after being passed by our legislature and signed by a governor, all of these so-called reforms have had a direct negative impact, with consequences that will last for a generation,” he continued.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who recently lost her reelection bid, was extremely unpopular among police and law enforcement groups. (Kamil Krzaczynski / File)
Chicago police vehicles arrive at a crime scene. (FOX32 Chicago WFLD / File)
While Poje’s letter did not mention Foxx by name, it did reference “stupid State’s Attorney policies.” Foxx’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Poje also remarked on how he respected his colleagues who were willing to stay in the city despite the difficulties. Poje said he needed to leave for the sake of his family’s safety.
“Many years ago, my family found a nice quiet corner of the suburbs. Now my son, who is only 5, hears gunfire while playing at our neighborhood park, and a drug dealer is open-air selling behind my house (the second one in two years),” Poje wrote.
“I will not raise my son here. I am fortunate enough to have the means to escape, so my entire family is leaving the State of Illinois. I grew up here, my family and friends are here, and yet my own employer has turned it into a place from which I am no longer proud to be, and in which my son is not safe,” he added.
State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has lost several prosecutors over her policies. “I have zero confidence in leadership,” one wrote.
“I wish I could stay,” he wrote in July 2022 “However, I can no longer work for this Administration. I have zero confidence in leadership.”
Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to Anders.Hagstrom@Fox.com, or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday ruled out the possibility of a short-term debt ceiling extension until the end of this fiscal year, narrowing the options available to President Joe Biden and Congress as they look for a way to increase the federal borrowing limit before the government runs out of money to pay its bills. McCarthy, R-Calif., gave reporters a firm “no” at the U.S. Capitol when asked whether he’d agree to such a measure Tuesday at his White House meeting, which would line up debt ceiling talks with negotiations over next year’s spending levels.
“We shouldn’t kick the vote. Let’s just get this done now,” the speaker said.
It comes hours before he is set to meet with Biden and other House and Senate leaders on the debt ceiling. Last week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that the U.S. government is projected to run out of cash to pay its bills as early as June 1.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is rejecting a short-term delay on the debt ceiling and says that Congress and the White House need to find an answer in the next few weeks. (Alex Wong) (Getty Images)
“I hope it’s different than it’s been for the last 97 days,” McCarthy told reporters, noting how long it had been since his last formal sit-down with Biden on the debt limit. “On Feb. 1, I went to see the president and sat down with him, saying we should work on the debt ceiling so we wouldn’t get to this point.”
No concrete solutions are expected to come out of Tuesday’s meeting, but Wall Street and other financial sectors are anxiously watching to see if the five principals can agree to keep working on some kind of deal that allows the government to keep paying its current obligations.
Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have led Democrats in opposing a compromise on lifting the debt limit while enacting future spending cuts, something Republicans have demanded.
President Joe Biden (Evan Vucci / File / AP Newsroom)
The GOP House majority and their counterparts in the Senate have coalesced around McCarthy’s Limit, Save, Grow Act, which passed the lower chamber along party lines and is now being put forward as Republicans’ starting point in negotiations. But Democrats argue that a “clean” debt ceiling increase is an obligation of the federal government rather than a bargaining chip. They’ve also attacked Republicans’ spending cut proposals as a non-starter, accusing the GOP of holding the country “hostage.”
“We’re going to stay focused on what Congress needs to do here, their congressional duty, which is to prevent a default,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during her briefing on Tuesday when asked about the upcoming meeting.
“If House Republicans get their way, it could also … trigger a recession. And we’ve listed over and over again what this could be, if they continue to hold the American economy hostage. That’s going to be our focus. That’s going to be the president’s focus today, to make that clear to the leaders … that they have to do their congressional duty. And that’s what’s expected.”
A 46-year-old man was fatally shot by a fellow campaign staffer while handing out flyers for a progressive political group in Philadelphia ahead of the city’s upcoming mayoral race.
The death on the campaign trail occurred late Monday afternoon in East Germantown in the 2000 block of Church Lane when two staffers reportedly ran into one another on the street around 4 p.m. Both staffers, who remain unidentified by police, were carrying guns when they crossed paths. According to police, the two got into an argument on the street that quickly turned deadly when the 22-year-old drew his gun and shot the 46-year-old canvasser. The unnamed 46-year-old victim was not pronounced dead until 4:24 p.m., when he reached Albert Einstein Medical Center to be treated for a gunshot wound in the left armpit, according to police.
Police investigate the scene of Monday’s fatal shooting. (Fox Philadelphia)
Philadelphia Police Staff Inspector Ernest Ransom, recently appointed head of the Homicide Unit, suggested this was not the staffers’ first meeting, telling the Philadelphia Inquirer they “had always had a beef.” Police are investigating the shooting and whether self-defense was involved. The alleged shooter, who at the time was legally carrying a firearm, was immediately taken in for questioning and has reportedly been fully cooperative with police.
One PA, a progressive political group in Pennsylvania, confirmed the victim was one of its staffers.
The unnamed victim was reportedly handing out campaign flyers for a progressive political group at the time of the shooting. (Fox News)
“Today, a One PA team member tragically lost their life,” OnePA Executive Director Steve Paul said in a statement released after the incident. “We are mourning this senseless loss and continuing to gather the facts and investigate what happened.”
The fatal shooting occurred just days before the city’s May 16 Democratic mayoral primary election with issues of public safety are top of mind among candidates vying for the nomination.
I was devastated to hear about the tragic death of a canvasser today. My thoughts are with the family of the victim, the One PA community, and everyone impacted by this irrevocable loss. Though the canvasser was not part of our campaign, this loss is deeply felt by all of us.
“I was devastated to hear about the tragic death of a canvasser today. My thoughts are with the family of the victim, the One PA community, and everyone impacted by this irrevocable loss,” Gym wrote. “Though the canvasser was not part of our campaign, this loss is deeply felt by all of us.”
Aubrie Spady is a Freelance Production Assistant for Fox News Digital.
The anti-abortion activist group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America came out of a meeting with former President Donald Trump Tuesday praising him for his anti-abortion positions despite a falling out last month over his affirmation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision reversing the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that allowed abortions nationwide, reverting it back to the states to decide individually.
“This afternoon I joined Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Tony Perkins for a terrific meeting with President Trump. His presidency was the most consequential in American history for the pro-life cause,” SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement Tuesday. “During the meeting, President Trump reiterated his opposition to the extreme Democratic position of abortion on demand, up until the moment of birth, paid for by taxpayers — and even in some cases after the child is born.
“President Trump believes such a position is unworthy of a great nation and believes the American people will rebel against such a radical position that aligns us with China and North Korea.”
The organization said it is a “network of more than 1 million pro-life Americans nationwide” that is dedicated to ending abortion by electing national leaders and advocating for laws that save lives.”
“President Trump knows the vast majority of Americans oppose brutal late-term abortions when the child can feel pain and suck their thumbs,” she said in the statement. “President Trump reiterated that any federal legislation protecting these children would need to include the exceptions for life of the mother and in cases of rape and incest.
“Protecting unborn children capable of feeling pain would align America with the civilized world and with 47 out of 50 European nations.”
While speaking positively about the meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, calling it “terrific,” Dannenfelser said she was also speaking with other GOP candidates about their positions, The Associated Press reported.
“I am not aligning with Trump,” Dannenfelser said in the report. “I’ve had similar conversations with all other GOP presidential hopefuls.”
The meeting comes two weeks after the organization expressed displeasure with Trump’s stance on the Dobbs decision, claiming the court “got it right” by allowing the states to decide the issue individually.
According to the AP report, she said Trump held a “morally indefensible position for a self-proclaimed pro-life presidential candidate.”
“Saying that the issue should only be decided at the states is an endorsement of abortion up until the moment of birth, even brutal late-term abortions in states like California, Illinois, New York and New Jersey,” she said in a statement April 20. “The only way to save these children is through federal protections, such as a 15-week federal minimum standard when the unborn child can feel excruciating pain.
“We will oppose any presidential candidate who refuses to embrace at a minimum a 15-week national standard to stop painful late-term abortions while allowing states to enact further protections.”
The White House blocked the New York Post from covering a Monday public event with President Joe Biden, according to the paper, a sign the president’s team is increasingly sensitive to coverage of the president’s son, Hunter Biden, and could be cracking down on media access after the launch of his reelection campaign.
The Post, which first revealed the existence of Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop in October of 2020, said the White House rejected its request to attend Biden’s press event discussing airline policies with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The decision comes as federal prosecutors are wrapping up a tax investigation into Hunter Biden, which could result in criminal charges in the coming days.
Photos from the event show there were about 20 empty media seats, undermining the explanation from the White House press office for the decision to block the Post.
“We are unable to accommodate your credential request to attend the Investing in Airline Accountability Remarks on 5/8,” the White House press office told the Post. “The remarks will be live-streamed and can be viewed at WH.gov. Thank you for understanding. We will let you know if a credential becomes available.”
Biden—who has held the fewest press availabilities of any president in two decades—in February blew up at a Post reporter after the reporter asked during a similar media event about the first family’s financial dealings with China. “Give me a break, man,” Biden said, ignoring the question. “You can come to my office and ask a question when you have more polite people with you.”
Steven Nelson, the Post reporter who was denied access, told the Washington Free Beacon that Biden’s staff are “setting an anti-press freedom precedent by prescreening journalists allowed to attend large indoor events. These spaces were open to all reporters on White House grounds in the past.”
He noted that White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre promised last July to end a much-criticized COVID-era screening process that gave Biden’s press office control over which reporters were allowed to attend presidential remarks. Reporters accused the White House of arbitrarily enforcing the policy, saying it was “done without any transparent process into how reporters are selected to cover these events” in a letter last June.
“The White House Correspondents’ Association also has called on the administration to restore large indoor spaces to their historical status as open to all,” added Nelson. “If the Biden White House continues to discriminate against large outlets such as the New York Post, future administrations can do the same to other newspapers. It should end now.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House Correspondents’ Association also did not respond to a request for comment.
Update 5:34 p.m.: This piece has been updated since publication.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed Monday there have been more than 200 mass shootings in the United States this year alone. Not only did Jean-Pierre claim there has been more than one mass shooting per day, but she blamed Republicans for gun violence.
“Today is Monday, May 8. That mean it is the 128th day of 2023. And yesterday, according to leading accounts, we witnessed the 201st mass shooting in this country this year,” she claimed.
“That means we are averaging more than one a day. More than 200 mass shootings in 128 days. Credible estimates show that more than 14,000 people have died this year from gun violence,” she added. “This is a crisis. It is a crisis that the Republicans in Congress are refusing to address. We are talking about the number-one killer of kids in America, and Republicans in Congress are saying there is nothing that we can do about it.”
05/08/23: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre www.youtube.com
Unfortunately, Jean-Pierre did not elaborate on what “leading sources” she used to derive her figure, nor did she define what constitutes a “mass shooting.”
Around the same time Jean-Pierre made the shocking claim, the Associated Press published a story reporting a much lower number of mass killings this year.
From the AP:
Over the first four months and six days of this year, 115 people have died in 22 mass killings — an average of one mass killing a week. That includes the bloodshed Saturday at a Dallas-area mall where eight people were fatally shot.
Every death is tragic. Still, nuance is necessary, because the White House is using the most recent atrocity to advance its agenda on firearms. For example, the AP explained that the perpetrator in some of those 22 incidents used weapons other than firearms, and the contexts of the mass atrocities are different, “from family and neighborhood disputes to school and workplace shootings to explosions of gunfire in public spaces,” the AP reported. Even murder-suicides compose a fraction of the numbers.
The way that Jean-Pierre presented her figure, its validity notwithstanding, suggested that every mass killing happens the same way with the same motive: one deranged perpetrator randomly mowing down innocent people. But, as the AP reported, that simply isn’t true.
While it remains unclear where Jean-Pierre got the number, Mathew Littman, executive director of pro-gun reform organization 97Percent, went on CNN early Monday and claimed that there have been more than 200 mass shootings in 2023. That calculation includes incidents in which no one died.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including NewsMax, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Rep. Devin Nunes, Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Chris Salcedo, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and Presiden
Contrary to misleading headlines, none of the eight electors granted immunity in Fulton County’s anti-Trump war ‘said anything … incriminating to themselves or anyone else.’
“At Least Eight Trump Electors Have Accepted Immunity in Georgia Investigation,” headlines uniformlyblared on Friday. The legacy outlets echoing that narrative, however, buried the lead, which is that Fulton County’s get-Trump district attorney can’t even find incriminating evidence against the former president when she grants immunity to targets of her criminal investigation. A strong secondary story, also ignored or downplayed by the left-wing media, reveals multiple incidents of alleged misconduct by the D.A.’s office.
The attorney representing eight Republicans targeted by the Fulton County D.A. filed a scathing response on Friday to the D.A. office’s motion to disqualify her from continued representation of her clients. Kimberly Debrow’s 28-page response detailed several previously unknown instances of questionable conduct by prosecutors targeting Donald Trump, his lawyers, and several high-profile Georgia Republicans. And contrary to the misleading headlines of the last several days, Debrow revealed that none of the eight individuals granted immunity “said anything in any of their interviews that was incriminating to themselves or anyone else.”
How We Got Here
Debrow’s response began by providing an important backdrop to Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis’ motion to disqualify Debrow from the still-ongoing probe into supposed “coordinated attempts to unlawfully alter the outcome of the 2020 elections in this state.” Willis’ probe began in earnest in January of 2022, when she obtained permission from the chief judge of Fulton County to impanel a “special grand jury.” While the “special grand jury” lacked the authority to indict anyone, it had subpoena power and was also charged with issuing a report making “recommendations concerning criminal prosecution.”
The special purpose grand jury issued its report earlier this year. Although much of the report remains under seal, in February a state court judge authorized the release of limited excerpts, including the grand jury’s conclusion “that perjury may have been committed by one or more witnesses testifying before it.” However, as I detailed when the story broke, that conclusion is meaningless without context, and the context makes clear that Willis misrepresented to the grand jury — and the American public — the substance of then-President Trump’s telephone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021.
Specifically, Willis falsely portrayed Trump as asking Raffensperger to “‘find 11,780 votes’ in the former President’s favor.” As the transcript of Trump’s conversation with Raffensperger established, however, the then-president did nothing of the sort. Instead, during the call, Trump’s lawyer explained to Raffensperger that “the court is not acting on our petition,” and sought an investigation into several categories of votes that appeared cast in violation of Georgia law.
While Willis branded Trump’s call to Raffensperger a “central focus” of her investigation, as Friday’s court filing reveals, the Fulton County D.A. also targeted Republicans named as “Trump electors” from the 2020 presidential election. Initially, the D.A.’s office told those electors, all 11 of whom were jointly represented by Debrow and fellow attorney Holly Pierson, they were “solely witnesses in the investigation.” Under those circumstances, they voluntarily agreed to be interviewed by Willis’ team. In late April 2022, Nathan Wade, a “private attorney” Willis hired to be special prosecutor, interviewed two electors and then canceled a third interview before unexpectedly subpoenaing the Republicans to testify before the grand jury.
A legal dispute between Wade and the defense attorneys ensued over the extent to which the Fifth Amendment’s right against self-incrimination protected the electors from being forced to respond to questions before the grand jury. Before the court had a chance to rule on the matter, however, Wade informed the court that the D.A.’s office intended to offer immunity to one or more of the electors.
Immunity Talk
While not identifying which of the 11 electors the D.A. would offer immunity to, Wade represented that the D.A. was prepared to offer “full immunity from prosecution for any acts taken related to the December 14, 2020, meeting at the Georgia State Capitol to execute purported electoral college votes in favor of former President Donald J. Trump and former Vice President Michael R. Pence.”
In response, Pierson and Debrow wrote to each of their clients, explained the existence and implications of the potential immunity offers, and noted whether a conflict of interest existed because the lawyers represented all 11 electors, but the D.A. would only be offering some of them immunity. The defense attorneys gave their clients a follow-up 13-page, single-spaced memo that comprehensively detailed the issues and then spoke with each client individually. All 11 electors opted to continue with joint representation and rejected the D.A.’s suggestion of immunity.
At the time, the defense attorneys informed both the court and the D.A.’s office of their clients’ decision, noting first their fundamental distrust of “the motives and intentions of the DA and the investigative team in this case,” and “their perception that this investigation into their lawful conduct is not based on (or even interested in) the facts or the law but instead is politically motivated.”
The defense counsel further noted their clients had “grave concerns” that if they testified truthfully “that neither they nor the other electors committed any illegal act or engaged in any sort of conspiracy with regard to the 2020 election the DA and your team would not accept that truth…” The electors thus feared prosecutors would “charge them with perjury or false statements to law enforcement officials or similar after their truthful, immunized testimony merely because the immunized witness is not in a position to tell the DA’s Office or the grand jury the story they want to hear.”
After the electors rejected the prosecutors’ overtures, the D.A.’s office responded by filing a motion to disqualify Pierson and Debrow, which would force the electors to hire new attorneys. In late November 2022, the court held that joint representation was permissible for 10 of the electors but that a conflict of interest required Chairman David Shafer to be separately represented. The electors and their attorneys then decided Pierson would represent Shafer and Debrow would represent the 10 remaining electors, and the court ruled such representation was permissible, over the D.A.’s objections.
Soon after, Debrow emailed the D.A.’s team to discuss a potential immunity deal, but it was not until April 4, 2023, that prosecutors responded. On April 7, 2023, Wade, the attorney Willis hired to be special prosecutor, provided draft immunity agreements for eight of the 10 electors. The two not offered immunity opted to obtain new legal representation, and Debrow’s remaining eight clients then accepted the revised immunity offers. Thereafter, seven of the eight electors sat for recorded interviews with Wade questioning them on behalf of the D.A.’s office and with Debrow representing them. The final elector was out of the country and thus has not yet been interviewed.
Manipulation and Intimidation
During Wade’s questioning, Debrow claims he attempted to mislead and confuse her clients by suggesting the D.A.’s office had previously made an actual offer of immunity in late 2022, as opposed to merely floating the potential for an immunity deal. In one case, Debrow detailed how, when she attempted to clarify for her client Wade’s misleading questions, the prosecutor threatened to leave, rip up the immunity agreement, and indict the elector.
The D.A.’s office then filed a second motion to disqualify Debrow, falsely representing to the court that “some of the electors represented by Ms. Debrow told members of the investigation team that no potential offer of immunity was ever brought to them in 2022.” The Fulton County D.A. knew that representation was false, Debrow stressed in her response, highlighting the evidence previously presented to both the court and prosecutors that detailed the extensive discussions Debrow had with her clients about the initial immunity outreach.
Willis also sought to force Debrow off the case by arguing some of her clients “stated that another elector represented by Ms. Debrow committed acts that are violations of Georgia law.”
“This statement is categorically false, and provably so,” Debrow countered. Here, Debrow first detailed her extensive legal experience, including her service as an assistant district attorney in three Georgia counties, before stressing she was present for every interview and would have recognized any such incriminating testimony. “Nothing even similar to any such statements were made by any of the interviewed electors,” Debrow said, adding that the transcripts confirmed her representation.
Significantly, Debrow told the court that “none of the interviewed electors said anything in any of their interviews that was incriminating to themselves or anyone else,” meaning they also had not implicated Trump, his lawyers, or any of the other potential targets of Willis’ criminal investigation. That fact was lost on the reporters, however, who since Friday have focused instead on the mere fact that the eight electors had accepted immunity agreements — implying that meant they had dirt to dish.
Ignoring the Real Story
The corporate media were likewise content to ignore the allegations of serious misconduct. Those included Willis’ misrepresentation to the court about whether the electors’ attorney had informed them of the prior immunity discussion and Wade’s alleged attempt to mislead and intimidate one of the witnesses by threatening to indict him.
Wade’s involvement here is particularly ironic given that a Fulton County judge held the special prosecution team could no longer investigate one of the electors, then-state Sen. Burt Jones, because Willis had hosted and headlined a fundraiser for Charlie Bailey — a Democrat seeking to challenge Jones in the general election for lieutenant governor. Wade, like Willis, had donated to Bailey’s campaign.
Noteworthy too is Wade’s work with Willis, as Wade was a private attorney whom Willis specifically hired to work on 2020 election investigation. Willis bringing on a pit bull to further her get-Trump efforts smells disgustingly similar to Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg’s use of outside “special assistant district attorneys,” including three from a high-powered, Democrat-connected law firm, to help find a way to indict Trump.
Also appalling is the attempt by Willis’ office to force Debrow off the case — a tactic sadly seen sometimes when a prosecutor proves unable to manipulate a witness into saying what the government wants.
The trial court has yet to rule on the Fulton County D.A.’s motion to disqualify Debrow, and maybe there will be something more of concern that the prosecutor omitted from the motion. But the detailed excerpts included in Debrow’s response brief appear to doom Willis’ attempt to force the electors to hire new attorneys. And if, as Debrow’s represented, the electors said nothing “incriminating to themselves or anyone else,” much more of the Fulton County D.A.’s case is likely doomed too.
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.
If the veteran who restrained the homeless man is prosecuted, it will establish a right to terrorize subway passengers and help revive the ‘anti-racist’ assault on justice.
Daniel Penny is not going quietly to the slaughter. The 24-year-old Marine Corps veteran who took action when fellow subway passengers were being threatened by a maniacal homeless person has lawyered up and will need all the legal help he can get if he hopes to avoid spending decades in prison.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has assigned Joshua Steinglass, a veteran prosecutor who led the trial team in the case that prosecuted former President Donald Trump’s family business, to conduct the probe that will determine whether Penny will be put on trial for killing Jordan Neely. But the decision won’t be made in a vacuum. The liberal commentariat is already damning Penny as the civilian version of Derek Chauvin. Leftist politicians such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., are accusing him of having committed a “murder” and Democrat and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is saying Penny’s actions were unjustified and demanding that “justice” be given Neely’s family.
Neely, the 30-year-old homeless person who died during an incident on a New York City subway train on May 1, had a record of mental illness. He had been arrested 44 times for criminal conduct and had an outstanding warrant for felony assault. On an F train stopped at the Broadway-Lafayette Street subway station in Manhattan, he allegedly began acting in a threatening manner to other passengers. It was at that point that Penny restrained him and put him in what appears on a cell phone video of part of the incident to be a chokehold.
In doing so, it could well be argued that he prevented Neely from committing another crime against a fellow passenger. Video released Sunday also seems to show Penny put Neely in a recovery position after Neely was subdued and appeared to be OK.
But the reason this case is already a cause Celebre, leading to leftist demonstrations in the subways and an endless stream of articles in corporate media, is that Neely’s fate is blamed on the supposed indifference of the public to the lives of the homeless.
Broader Racial Ramifications
Penny’s fate will, as Peachy Keenan wrote in The Federalist, be a test of whether young American men should dare to act courageously when others are in peril. But there’s even more at stake in this case. With Neely being anointed as the new George Floyd, the questions of whether Penny was right to restrain Neely or if he used inappropriate force to do so are merely sidebars to a broader narrative about American racism.
Floyd’s death became a metaphor for a myth about systemic police racism. Floyd’s actions the night of his death, his criminal record, and the fact that his body was full of what might have been a lethal dose of fentanyl were dismissed as irrelevant. The only thing that mattered was that he was a black man and that the cop who had, in an act of undoubted callous brutality, snuffed out his life was white. In the name of a belief, however mistaken, that Floyd’s death was just one of countless incidents in which blacks were being slaughtered with impunity, millions took to the streets in “mostly peaceful” riots that shook the nation.
More than that, it set off a moral panic in virtually every sector of American life that elevated the woke catechism of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to a new secular religion — since accepted by the Biden administration as mandatory for every government agency and department — that treats color-blind policies and even the goal of equal opportunity as forms of racism that must be eradicated.
Parallels to 1984 Case
Penny’s actions might, for those with a long memory of controversial New York subway criminal controversies, have more in common with those of Bernhard Goetz than of Chauvin. In 1984, Goetz opened fire on four black teenagers he said were trying to mug him on a No. 2 train. In an era of rampant crime, Goetz was largely supported by public opinion and acquitted of attempted murder, though he was fined and sentenced to six months in prison for illegal weapons possession. One of the people he shot, who was paralyzed in the incident, later won a $43 million civil judgment against Goetz that, as late as 2017, still hadn’t been paid.
As racially charged as that incident was, nearly 40 years later, we are living in a very different post-Black Lives Matter world. Any New Yorker who rides the subways knows how dangerous they have been made by authorities’ willingness to tolerate the presence of threatening people. But someone who isn’t a “person of color” is always going to be assumed to be in the wrong in any violent confrontation today, when the claim that America is an irredeemably racist nation is treated as inarguable by the chattering classes.
The prosecutor in the Kyle Rittenhouse case told him that “everybody takes a beating sometimes” and that he had no right to defend himself against lethal threats from armed BLM rioters in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Penny’s chances of winning a trial in a New York City courtroom in 2023 are immeasurably lower than were Goetz’s.
Leftist Campaign Against Justice
As such, and regardless of the facts of the case, the campaign against Penny must be viewed as merely the next stage in a long-running leftist campaign against the justice system in which pro-criminal prosecutors like Bragg, elected with the help of leftist billionaire George Soros, are in the forefront. The sympathy for Neely, which is framed as compassion for the homeless, is akin to the so-called decarceration movement that takes it as a given that too many nonwhite people are being jailed for crimes and calls to defund the police.
The prosecution of the ex-Marine will not just establish a precedent that there is a “right” of a deranged, drug-addicted person to terrorize others with impunity. It will also, like Floyd’s death or that of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, or a dozen other equally dubious cases, be routinely cited from now on as proof of American racism and a reason for doubling down on woke policies that will further divide and racialize the nation.
Talk about our indifference to the lives of the homeless is gaslighting, since it is the policies of the political left that have allowed such persons to camp out on streets or in subway cars rather than be taken by police to shelters and hospitals. The freedom for the homeless that has been established in New York — where the “broken windows” policing of the administrations of Mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg has been abandoned — means the rights of other citizens to a livable city are abrogated. When people like Neely can harass people into buying their safety with donations in honor of performances like his Michael Jackson imitations or violent rants, then the rule of law is dead.
Leftists believe that, like Floyd, Neely died for our sins as a racist nation. That is why he is now being elevated to the status of secular saint regardless of or perhaps even because of his dysfunction and willingness to threaten others. The Floyd case led to de-policing throughout the country as cops, the only defense minority communities have against the black-on-black crime that afflicts their neighborhoods, have backed down in the face of prosecutions and demonization.
Penny’s prosecution will now pump new life into the BLM movement and ensure that public discourse about race and crime will continue to ignore the facts in favor of ideological myths that will send America’s cities into even greater squalor, violence, and racial conflict.
Jonathan S. Tobin is a senior contributor to The Federalist, editor in chief of JNS.org, and a columnist for Newsweek. Follow him on Twitter at @jonathans_tobin.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday announced a new Texas Tactical Border Force ahead of the expiration of the Title 42 public health order, which helped block migrants from entering the U.S. In response to “Joe Biden’s reckless border policies,” the Texas National Guard is loading Black Hawk helicopters and C-130s to deploy specially trained National Guard members to “hotspots along the border to intercept, to repel and to turn back migrants who are trying to enter Texas illegally,” Abbott said at a press conference from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
In a statement, the Texas National Guard said it activated 545 more service members at locations around the state Monday to “reinforce the border mission in anticipation of the end of Title 42 immigration restrictions.”
Gov. Greg Abbott shakes hands with members of the Texas National Guard as they prepare to deploy to the border in Austin, Texas, Monday, May 8, 2023. The Title 42 policy is set to expire Thursday. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
“These additional forces will bolster the thousands of Texas National Guard service members already assisting local and state law enforcement agencies to secure the border; stop the smuggling of drugs, weapons and people into Texas; and prevent, detect, and interdict transnational criminal behavior between the ports of entry,” the Texas National Guard said in a statement Monday. “We have expanded our capabilities to include boat teams that patrol hundreds of river miles, drones and helicopters that detect illicit activity from the air, and brush teams, security points and roving patrols that block and interdict illegal smuggling (drugs, weapons and people) into Texas.”
Abbott was joined by Texas Border Czar Mike Banks, Texas National Guard Adjunct Gen. Thomas Suelzer and Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw in making the announcement.
Members of the Texas National Guard install barbed wire on the border between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, on May 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)
“President [Joe] Biden is laying down a welcome mat to people across the entire world saying that the United States border is wide open, and it will lead to an incredible amount of people coming across the border illegally. President Biden’s open border policies is going to cause a catastrophic disaster in the United States,” Abbott said.
“According to the Biden administration itself, they anticipate about 13,000 people coming across the border illegally every single day,” the governor added. “If you extend that out over the course of a year, it means it will be about 4,700,000 people coming across the border a year. That will mean there will be more people coming across the border illegally than there are residents of the massive city of Chicago.”
Gov. Greg Abbott holds a news conference as members of the Texas National Guard prepare to deploy to the border. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
The Texas Tactical Border Force is meant to bolster Operation Lone Star, which Abbott said has turned back 37,000 people who already came across the border illegally, arrested about 27,000 dangerous criminals, including “cartel gang members” who are wanted for crimes like murder, and seized “enough fentanyl that would have been enough to kill every man, woman and child in the United States.”
Danielle Wallace is a reporter for Fox News Digital covering politics, crime, police and more. Story tips can be sent to danielle.wallace@fox.com and on Twitter: @danimwallace.
Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis officially signed a trio of bills Monday to stop Chinese Communist Party influence in his state. The bills limit Chinese-tied land buys of farmland, near military bases, or critical infrastructure, protect against Chinese forced technology transfer, and prohibit funding tied to China for education institutions in the state.
“Florida is taking action to stand against the United States’ greatest geopolitical threat — the Chinese Communist Party,” DeSantis said Monday.
“I’m proud to sign this legislation to stop the purchase of our farmland and land near our military bases and critical infrastructure by Chinese agents, to stop sensitive digital data from being stored in China, and to stop CCP influence in our education system from grade school to grad school.
“We are following through on our commitment to crack down on communist China.”
In a Friday interview with Newsmax‘s John Bachman, DeSantis hailed the Florida Legislature GOP supermajorities for being able to get an aggressive agenda passed to root out Chinese influence in his state.
“This is trailblazing for the nation,” DeSantis told Bachman in an interview that aired on “Eric Bolling The Balance.” “Certainly, when you talk about CCP, they made a concerted effort to buy farmland, and so we’re very cognizant of that. We’re not going to let that happen in Florida, but we’ve gone even farther and said we don’t want them near any critical infrastructure.”
Interests of Foreign Countries (SB 264) restricts governmental entities from contracting with foreign countries and entities of concern and restricts conveyances of agricultural lands and other interests in real property to foreign principals, the People’s Republic of China, and other entities and persons that are affiliated with them. It also amends certain electronic health record statutes to ensure that health records are physically stored in the continental U.S., U.S. territories, or Canada.
“Food security is national security, and we have a responsibility to ensure Floridians have access to a safe, affordable, and abundant food supply,” Commissioner Wilton Simpson said Monday. “China and other hostile foreign nations control hundreds of thousands of acres of critical agricultural lands in the U.S., leaving our food supply and our national security interests at risk.
“Restricting China and other hostile foreign nations from controlling Florida’s agricultural land lands near critical infrastructure facilities protects our state, provides long-term stability, and preserves our economic freedom. This bill is long overdue.”
Agreements of Educational Entities with Foreign Entities (SB 846) prohibits state colleges and universities and their officials from soliciting or accepting any gift from a college or university based in a foreign country of concern. It also prohibits state colleges and universities from accepting any grant from or participating in any agreement or partnership with any college or university based in a foreign country of concern. The bill also prohibits the ownership or operation of any private school participating in the state’s school choice scholarship program by a person or entity domiciled in, owned by, or in any way controlled by a foreign country of concern.
Prohibited Applications on Government-issued Devices (SB 258) requires the Department of Management Services to create a list of prohibited applications owned by a foreign principal or foreign countries of concern, including China, which present a cybersecurity and data privacy risk.
The bill requires government and educational institution to block access to prohibited applications on all government servers and devices in Florida and requires public employers to retain the ability to remotely wipe and uninstall these dangerous applications from government issued devices.
Arizona’s largest elementary school district has shifted course, voting to allow students from a Christian university to teach there once again, Alliance Defending Freedom announced Thursday.
“This is a complete vindication of the rights of our students to be able to participate as student-teachers in a public school district without fear of religious discrimination” said Arizona Christian University President Len Munsil in a statement.
The Washington Elementary School District voted 5-0 March 9 to end an arrangement in which ACU students completed their student teaching and practical coursework at WESD, as TheBlaze reported. Board members at the time cited ACU’s stance on lifelong, monogamous, heterosexual marriage as presenting an “unsafe” condition.
After Alliance Defending Freedom sued WESD, the board apparently saw the error of its ways, with four of its five members voting at Wednesday night’s meeting to enter a new agreement with ACU. The district was slapped with $25,000 in attorneys’ fees as part of the settlement.
Wearing cat ears to a February 23 WESD meeting, board member Tamillia Valenzuela expressed her opposition to ACU students helping mitigate the national teaching shortage and recruitment difficulties.
“At some point, we need get real with ourselves and take a look at who we’re making legal contracts with and the message that is sending to our community. Because that makes me feel like I could not be safe in this school district,” Valenzuela said.
Valenzuela was referring to ACU’s promotion of “Biblically-informed values that are foundational to Western civilization, including the centrality of family, traditional sexual morality, and lifelong marriage between one man and one woman.”
Another WESD board member, Kyle Clayton, alleged at the February meeting that “proselytizing is embedded into how they teach.”
“There are plenty of Christian denominations that are LGBTQ friendly,” Governing Board President Nikkie Gomez-Whaley said prior to ADF’s lawsuit, adding that for her, “this is not a concern about Christianity.”
Wait, wait, wait. What kind of person feels “not safe” in a school just because Christian university students are teaching children? What worldview these university students have, are NOT being taught in the grade schools. They are just teaching the basics, not the woke indoctrination of the LGBTQ+ agenda.
What does this say about the woke culture today? Is the LGBTQ+ agenda so important, that dumbing down our children is of no concern?
One lawsuit and two months later, WESD is singing a markely different tune.
“We obtained everything we wanted in this new agreement, without any sacrifice or compromise to our beliefs and our university’s religious purpose. We look forward to a continued beneficial partnership that serves ACU student-teachers and the students, faculty, and staff of the WESD,” ACU President Munsil also said.
“By discriminating against Arizona Christian University and denying it an opportunity to participate in the student-teacher program because of its religious status and beliefs, the school district was in blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution, not to mention state law that protects ACU’s religious freedom,” said ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman.
WESD released a statement to KNXV-TV on having “mutually agreed to resolve their dispute.”
“We are pleased that the case against the WESD has been dismissed. We look forward to continuing the work of creating welcoming and accessible education spaces that meet the needs of our students, staff, and community,” Governing Board President Nikkie Gomez-Whaley said in the statement.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Actor Richard Dreyfuss lambasted Hollywood’s diversity standards and America’s failures in civics education on PBS’s “Firing Line” Friday.
“They make me vomit,” Dreyfuss said of representation and inclusion standards put in place by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Oscars eligibility in the Best Picture category.
“This is an art form … no one should be telling me as an artist that I have to give in to the latest, most current idea of what morality is … I don’t think that there is a minority or a majority in the country that has to be catered to like that.”
The standards require a certain percentage of cast and crew come from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, are women, are non-heterosexual, or have cognitive or physical disabilities.
“Firing Line” host Margaret Hoover also asked the Oscar winner about whether he thinks there is is a difference between representation in general who is allowed to represent other groups, including the use of blackface.
“There shouldn’t be … Because it’s patronizing. Because it says that we’re so fragile that we can’t have our feelings hurt,” Dreyfuss answered, in part.
Moving to the topic of civics education, Dreyfuss was equally blunt.
Dreyfuss told Hoover a story of his own education in civics. He explained that his mother, a “communist, and she wasn’t kidding” raised him in a very leftist community. His mother and one of his middle grade teachers, a Republican who “never tried to keep her GOP atmosphere away from her teaching,” would debate American history.
Dreyfess identified “the honor of dissent” as a pivotal missing element in today’s civics education.
“The idea that you sought the truth in history and you didn’t fool around about it. You told the truth. Period. And that was that. You don’t stop at the water’s edge and not commit to critical analysis,” he said.
Dreyfuss developed his Dreyfuss Civics Initiative curriculum in 2006. On DCI’s website, Dreyfess explains why he believes prioritizing civics education is crucial.
“Teach our kids how to run our country, before they are called upon to run our country … if we don’t, someone else will run our country.”
Dreyfuss and Hoover delved deeper into his concerns about both civics education and civility generally.
“People confuse being exposed to an opposing view on any subject with being a traitor or with being a subversive. And that’s a kind of nonsense that is so immature that it’s beyond the immaturity of normal adults,” he said.
“I think we’re cowards … the idea that a parent would walk into a public school and say, ‘I don’t want my children exposed to opposing views,’ That’s wrong. That’s wrong of the parent.”
“I think we’re in the endgame right now,” Dreyfuss also said.
“I think that we could let slip the greatest idea for governance ever devised, and we won’t even know that it happened.”
Watch Margaret Hoover’s interview with Richard Dreyfuss on PBS’s “Firing Line” below.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including NewsMax, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Rep. Devin Nunes, Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Chris Salcedo, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and Presiden
A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including NewsMax, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Rep. Devin Nunes, Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Chris Salcedo, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and Presiden
Remember when we all went around saying “it takes a village to raise a child”? I do.
I remember hearing Whitney Houston belt it out—
I believe the children are our are future Teach them well and let them lead the way Show them all the beauty they possess inside Give them a sense of pride to make it easier Let the children’s laughter remind us how we used to be Everybody searching for a hero People need someone to look up to….
I grew up on that message. And you can bet your bottom dollar I tried to raise my kids as part of a village that loves and supports them. But instead of learning basic human goodness, leftists have decided to use education to destroy our children.
CRT, unicorns, and other works of fiction.
It’s bad enough that CRT infiltrates public schools with its revisionist history and racist undertones. But leftists just had to add unicorns and gender benders. It’s a terrible web that traps the masses.
Critical race theory is an idea that originated in universities and law schools under the name “critical theory”. Its supporters added “race” in the 1970s, clever scoundrels that they were.
The addition of RACE bastardized a 1930s European theory birthed by communist academics. They knew that RACE would SELL this nonsensical concept. Further, they knew that Blacks in America would readily buy the concept.
The communists of the time targeted Blacks due to our LEGITIMATE grievances. Because Blacks during this time were treated as second-class citizens. That treatment led to angst in the Black community. Thus, many Blacks succumbed to the communist ideology. They believed we would all be treated equally; that’s the lie communism proposes.
The objective of Critical Race Theory was to tear down, even erase the history of ideas that created Western culture. Particularly American Western culture.
America was too good for its own good, the communists believed. Too good to be true. So they put her to the test. For decades, America proved that capitalism and free markets work; moreover, Marxism and Communism fail.
Tenets of CRT reject ideas such as a “color-blindness” and even advancement based on meritocracy. Black people aren’t successful in America because they work hard and dismiss the noise of the Left. They succeed by pure luck.
In other words, CRT doesn’t value people by the content of their character, nor does CRT value hard work. Ibram X. Kendi wrote: “The language of color blindness … is a mask to hide racism.”
Unbelievably, CRT openly criticizes the Civil Rights movement; a movement that created millions of successful Blacks in America.
While CRT acknowledges the success of individual Blacks in America, ironically, it criticizes successful Blacks for joining the system. The theory puts Blacks in a no-win situation. CRT supporter Derrick Bell alludes that successful Blacks “are passing” as whites. Because being successful according to Bell, is succumbing to the white man’s orthodoxy.
We could try to ignore the inconsistencies and idiocy of the flawed concepts of CRT. However, we do so at our peril. Because CRT impacts all areas of society. CRT demoralizes K-12 students. And if it hasn’t sunk in by the end of K-12, CRT attacks in college, polarizing higher ed students.
Post-college, CRT guilts working Americans and condones “cancel culture”. In the end, CRT stokes grievances with the purpose of creating victims.
A proponent of Critical Theory, Herbert Marcuse, famously wrote, “All liberation depends on the consciousness of servitude”. And like a cult, the CRT revolution enslaves the minds of the people who adopt it. And the concept is blatantly and unapologetically racist.
When racism wasn’t enough to divide America, leftists brought in the unicorn.
Parents are no longer the ultimate authority when teaching their children about race, sexual preference, or even gender. Instead, our kids are taught to ditch their God given pronouns and choose their gender.
If a kid feels saddled with a penis they don’t really like, the school is willing to step-in and help the child obtain hormone therapy in preparation for a sex change. No parental consultation necessary. Yet, you need to sign a permission slip for your kid to go the zoo or a museum. Seriously folks! How are these asinine hypocrisies not glaringly evident to those who put these leftists in charge of our schools? I’m not even going to dive into the boys playing girls’ sports– we’ll just save that for another day. Because today, I stumbled across a headline that literally made me want to throw up.
This morning, the Fox News website had this to say:
West Virginia teacher who raped freshman kept ‘Top 10’ list of most attractive students: lawsuit
Lawyers said Ronald Paul Harris may have sexually abused other victims, and the school district allegedly “turned a blind eye”.
A now-convicted pedophile raped a freshman while he was a teacher in a West Virginia school district. That district and the school’s former principal are now facing a lawsuit for allegedly “turned a blind eye” to the ongoing abuse.
Ronald Paul Harris, who is now 63, admitted in criminal court to molesting a 14-year-old student while he was a history teacher and basketball coach at Oak Glen Middle School in Hancock County, West Virginia.
…
“This case is a parent’s worst nightmare,” said Mary Pat Statler, who’s representing E.H. (the victim) and her parents, along with P. Zachary Stewart.
“To learn that your child was groomed and sexually abused by a teacher is beyond awful. It’s made even more terrible knowing that the administrator at the time of the abuse was in a position to stop the abuse or prevent future instances of abuse and instead turned a blind eye.”
Harris pleaded guilty last September in criminal court to sexual abuse by a person in a position of trust and is serving a 10- to-20-year prison sentence and must register as a sex offender. As part of the deal, five other felony charges were dropped.
The details are so disturbing, I feel the need to warn you.
Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley is demanding transparency from an agency with no interest in transparency.
On Thursday, the Iowa lawmaker went to the Senate floor to demand FBI compliance with a congressional subpoena compelling documents related to a criminal scheme involving the president and a “foreign national.” Grassley joined House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer in issuing the subpoena Wednesday.
“We believe the FBI possesses an unclassified internal document that includes very serious and detailed allegations implicating the current President of the United States,” Grassley wrote. “What we don’t know is what, if anything, the FBI has done to verify these claims or investigate further. The FBI’s recent history of botching politically charged investigations demands close congressional oversight.”
In his Thursday floor speech, Grassley spoke about his tenure conducting constitutional oversight of federal law enforcement agencies.
“In many of those floor speeches, I’ve discussed legally protected and unclassified whistleblower disclosures made to my office relating to the Hunter Biden criminal investigation,” Grassley said. “Those disclosures have a very common theme: the Justice Department and FBI have allowed political infection to take root within each agency’s decision-making process. Such an infection is an existential threat to any government agency.”
The latest whistleblower cited in Republican lawmakers’ demands to the FBI on Wednesday alleges President Biden engaged in bribery while serving in the Obama administration.
“The allegations my office has received are very precise, very direct, and very consistent. Accordingly, they’re highly credible,” Grassley said Thursday. “Not once – let me emphasize that again – not once has the Justice Department or FBI substantively disputed the whistleblower allegations that I’ve made public.”
“Simply put, did the Justice Department and FBI treat this information like they would if we, the people, were implicated, or did they sweep it under the rug to protect then-candidate Biden and President Biden now?” Grassley added. “If the Justice Department and FBI have any hope of redeeming their once-trusted position with the American people, Attorney General Garland and Director Wray must answer. Their credibility is on the line.”
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.
By describing woke ideologies and their fruits at face value, conservatives felled the left’s self-conferred monopoly on how, when, and where the term could be used.
The Associated Press Stylebook, a once-respected linguistic guide for journalists, conceded the definition of the word “woke” to conservatives on Thursday, in an update instructing writers to “use quotes around the slang term.”
“Woke” was originally popularized by left-wing proponents of identity politics to flatteringly refer to their own “enlightenment or awakening about issues of racial and other forms of social justice,” as the AP explains. Conservatives have used it to describe those same people and their ideas.
Those ideas more often than not, demand revolutionary social changes that prejudge people based on their secondary physical characteristics. If, like the vast majority of America until about five seconds ago, you think such identarian prejudices are a bad thing, you might use the word “woke” in a less than fawning manner. Apparently, the AP’s staff can’t handle that.
AP’s concession of the word is hilariously thin-skinned, but it’s also a rare win for conservatives in the war of words. Just by describing woke behavior as such, we’ve held a bit of ground against the unhinged language police who are mad that the right is using their terminology against them. Unintentionally, it seems we’ve ended up with command of the word altogether, if left-wing outlets like the AP are henceforth refusing to use it.
While there are times individual ideologies require a more specific description — queer theory, or socialism, for example — “woke” is a completely fair and often helpful term to use when speaking generally about the coalition of people on the left who want to see meritocracy replaced by identity politics. As my colleague Samuel Mangold-Lenett noted recently in these pages, “what other slogany-sounding word really works as a catch-all for what leftism has become?”
“They lost complete control of the English language,” he added, “and the word they used to indicate their radicalism to one another is being used to expose that radicalism to the rest of the world.”
The apparatus of left-wing media outlets, cultural celebrities, and tech platforms that drives our modern discourse has a majority share in defining the language we use. From headlines to search engines to literal dictionaries, activists manipulate the tools of debate. In any debate, the first step is defining your terms — if your definitions are off, you’ve already lost.
That’s why it’s incumbent upon conservatives to be intentional, honest, and straightforward with the words we use. That includes defending the legitimacy of disfavored-but-accurate terms (like “woke,” or “woman”) and refusing to use inaccurate language.
Take the nonsense phrase “gender-affirming care,” for example. The diction dictators have effectively standardized the term, to the point where even people who disapprove of such procedures will glibly repeat it. But nothing about the phrase is tethered to reality.
The whole idea that people have “genders” beyond their natural sex is pseudo-science crafted to further an ideology. Procedures that attempt to inhibit or reverse the physical realities of a person’s sex are not “affirming” that sex, but actively rejecting it. And deformative surgeries that involve amputating healthy body parts and creating Frankenstein-esque “penises” and “vaginas” with scraps of carved-up skin are certainly not “care.”
To use the phrase “gender-affirming care” is to give up the entire argument before it’s even begun. Or, as George Orwell put it, such nonsense terms “construct your thoughts for you,” and “perform the important service of partially concealing your meaning even from yourself.”
The same goes for using improper pronouns to describe sexually confused people: calling a man “she” or a woman “he.” Doing so indulges a delusion. Having physical reality on your side does little good if you concede it away by the very words you use.
Concurrent with the effort to mainstream invented euphemisms such as “gender-affirming care” is an effort to cannibalize established English vocabulary. Other victims of the AP Stylebook’s recent crusades include “riot,” “mistress,” “crazy,” and “pro-life.” Proper grammar is also a victim, with the redefinition of the plural pronoun “they” to refer to individuals who are in denial of their natural sex.
Tech monopolies such as Google instruct their employees to avoid terms like “man hours” and “blacklist.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has nixed “criminal” and “foreigner.” From journalism to medicine, terms such as “mother” and “woman” are replaced by dehumanizing lingo like “birthing parent” and “person who menstruates.” Merriam-Webster has redefined “anti-vaxxer,” “sexual preference,” and “assault rifle” to further the editors’ ideological ends.
By describing woke ideologies and their fruits at face value, conservatives felled the left’s self-conferred monopoly on how, when, and where the term could be used. But the same people policing the word “woke” are appointing themselves the arbiters of the rest of the English language, too.
For those of us who prefer our words to reflect reality, there is nothing to be gained by good-naturedly going along with linguistic charades. On the other hand, there is the entire discourse to be lost.
“The worst thing one can do with words is to surrender them,” George Orwell wrote in his 1946 essay, “Politics and the English Language.” Orwell protested not just sloppy use of language, but intentional misuse of language for political purposes.
“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable,” he said. “Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness.”
Politicians and dishonest media propagandists today use inaccurate language to frame narratives and foster a leftist perspective. Inadvertently, even well-meaning audiences sometimes internalize this language and end up propagating the very ideas and framing they fundamentally reject. Don’t let that be you.
In every debate, it’s vital to start by defining your terms. If conservatives want to counter the radical left’s agenda, we have to begin by using words that accurately reflect what we mean — not words that actively mean the opposite. Here are just 10.
1. ‘Mainstream Media’
The public communication cartel headed by The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, CBS, and MSNBC does not represent mainstream Americans. Earlier this year, Axios (another culprit of heavy-handed political spin) reported that 56 percent of Americans believe “Journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations.”
Big Media has engaged in deception through false and misleading “reporting” on Georgia’s election laws, the trespass and unrest at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, and more. Embracing “Russiagate” and the allegations of the Steele dossier against President Trump was one indicator of crumbling credibility. The cover-up of the Hunter Biden laptop story just before the 2020 presidential election was another.
Even more recently, CBS’s “60 Minutes” invented a scandal about Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, while giving minuscule coverage to New York Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s cover-up of COVID-19 nursing home deaths his policies caused.
Leftist propaganda outlets who are running cover for Democrats and spreading inaccurate opposition research on conservatives don’t deserve to be called mainstream. Instead, use “Big Media,” “corporate media,” or — as DeSantis says — “smear merchants.”
2. ‘Gender,’ When You Mean ‘Sex’
Words have gender; people are one sex or another. For Latin and in many of the languages that have grown out of it, gender is a linguistic term indicating which word endings a term should possess. Gender is either feminine, masculine, or neuter. The phrase “la boulangerie,” for example, is French for “the bakery,” and its gender is feminine.
Male and female, on the other hand, refer to sex. Sex is a biological category that reflects a person’s physical characteristics and reproductive systems, and also manifests in certain broad behavioral differences that distinguish men and women.
3. ‘Sex-Reassignment Surgery’
Further, sex is not assigned, at birth or ever. If it is not “assigned,” it cannot be reassigned. Surgical procedures that remove or conceal the outward appearance of a woman or man’s reproductive organs, are most accurately described as genital mutilation or amputation.
4. ‘Democracy,’ When You Mean ‘Republic’
A democracy is direct rule by the supreme will of the people: the highest law is that of the loudest mob. Derived from the Greek “demos” (people) and “kratia” (power), democracy involves no higher law than popular consensus, and subjects the majority will to no checks and balances but itself.
In Book VIII of “The Republic,” Plato lists democracy as the social structure directly followed by tyranny. Democracy, Plato theorized, “comes into being when the poor, winning the victory, put to death some of the other party, drive out others, and grant the rest of the citizens an equal share in both citizenship and offices.” He continued, “that is the constitution of democracy alike whether it is established by force of arms or by terrorism.”
The American system was established as a constitutional republic. The highest law of the land is the U.S. Constitution, to which all public servants are (or should be) accountable. Additional laws are made by elected representatives of the people. Further, the American system is a federal republic, meaning power is divided between federal, state, and local governments, all of whom serve as the guarantors of the people’s sovereignty and rights.
5. ‘Abortion Doctors’ and ‘Abortion Clinics’
Doctors protect life; they don’t willfully take it. The Hippocratic Oath, written by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates and long respected as a noble description of a doctor’s vocation, includes a commitment to “not give to a woman an abortive remedy.” Doctors are also obligated to, as far as it is in their power, “do no harm.” (This phrase is commonly attributed to the Hippocratic Oath, but actually comes from another work of Hippocrates, his book, “Of the Epidemics.”)
Similarly, clinics are medical facilities where people receive help and care. We do not call the room in which a prisoner on death row is executed a “clinic,” and neither should we use the term to describe the place where preborn babies are killed and dismembered. Call abortionists and abortion facilities what they are.
6. ‘Antidiscrimination’
Often, “antidiscrimination” policies actually refer to legal preferences based on sex, race, socioeconomic status, or some other category. The Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, for example, released an “Antiracist Agenda For Medicine” earlier this month that would provide “preferential care based on race” for black and Latino patients.
In another example of discrimination under the name of its opposite, Yale University unlawfully discriminated against white and Asian students, according to a two-year Department of Justice investigation. Instead of using the leftist buzzword “antidiscrimination” to describe these policies, call them legalized preferences, or simply the discrimination they are.
7. ‘Undocumented Immigrant’
“Undocumented” is the term used by people who don’t want to call breaking immigration laws “illegal.” However, most illegal immigrants have identification documents from their home governments. Further, 16 states — California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Washington — as well as Washington, D.C., issue drivers licenses to illegal aliens, giving them U.S. documents as well.
8. ‘Equity’ Or ‘Equality,’ When You Mean The Other
Equity and equality sound similar, but have widely different implications today. Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary defines “equality” as “The same degree of dignity or claims; as the equality of men in the scale of being … an equality of rights.” The Declaration of Independence’s assertion that “all men are created equal” recognizes this equal value and dignity in personhood of each human being.
Equity has traditionally been a common legal term, referring to civil remedies; it can also mean the “impartial distribution of justice.” But in the jargon of identity politics, equity describes a policy that “recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.” See the above entry for “antidiscrimination” for an example of how equity-driven policies usually work.
9. ‘Cisgender’
Cisgender is an unnecessary word and assumes that sex is a result of human choice. A cisgender man is a man; a cisgender woman is a woman. Only added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2015, “cisgender” was invented to represent the opposite of “transgender” in the 1990s.
10. ‘Pro-Choice’
“Pro-choice” is a euphemism to get around having to call yourself pro-abortion. But just as we don’t use “pro-choice” to describe supporting a person’s decision to murder another, we shouldn’t use it here. Abortion denies giving the unborn baby the choice to live; in that sense, it is violently anti-choice.
“This invasion of one’s mind by ready-made phrases,” Orwell continued, “can only be prevented if one is constantly on guard against them.” Sloppy, inaccurate phrases will “construct your thoughts for you,” he says, and “perform the important service of partially concealing your meaning even from yourself.”
Don’t let corrupt media and politicians design your words and supplant your meaning. To win the culture debate, you better first define your terms.
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.
Parents in a Texas school district are demanding answers from school officials after first-graders allegedly forced their 6-year-old classmate to perform a sex act while they filmed it despite a teacher being in the classroom.
Parents and community members angered by the situation at Plainview South Elementary School in Plainview gathered outside the administrative office of the Plainview Independent School District (ISD) on Monday, according to the Plainview Herald, which noted the protest swelled to as many as 30 people throughout the day.
Family members of the girl involved are planning another protest at 6 p.m. Friday at local Broadway Park, local NBC affiliate KCBD reported.
“A 6-year-old was exposed to things that even adults would have a hard time overcoming,” a protesting parent of another student at the elementary school told the Herald. “This is trauma at its worst, and it is a trickle-down effect because it affects everyone around them.”
Parents and community members angered by the situation at Plainview South Elementary School in in Plainview, Texas, are demanding answers from school officials. (Google Maps)
Parents who were protesting Monday reportedly learned about the alleged April 19 incident after the school district called the parent of the first-grade girl. After receiving the call from the district, the child reportedly told her family that another student had pressured her to perform a sex act.
Heather Gonzales, an older cousin of the 6-year-old girl, told KCBD that the girl’s family noticed a sudden change in her behavior amid indications of distress and complaints of a stomach ache.
The girl reportedly revealed that a boy had exposed himself to her in the school lunch line and that she had also been pulled under a desk and pressured to perform a sex act while another student recorded with a district-issued iPad.
“She said she was hitting him with the poetry book,” said Gonzales, noting that the video showed her cousin did her best to fight back. The girl reportedly claimed the incident did not stop “until they let me go.”
Students play outside Plainview South Elementary School in Plainview, Texas. (Plainview South Elementary School/Facebook)
Gonzales claimed the school district has not provided adequate answers.
“Everything was ‘no comment, I cannot tell you, no comment,’” Gonzales said. “So, you mean to tell me abuse has been happening for a week and a half and these kids are still at the same desk? My cousin is still at a desk with all boys, having to see her abusers every day?”
The students have reportedly since been moved to separate classrooms.
Plainview ISD Superintendent H.T. Sanchez told KCBD that the school made a report and contacted Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) when school officials discovered video of the incident a day after it happened. He said a state investigator came to Plainview the next week and has been working with local law enforcement.
“He had asked that we hold confidentiality because he wanted to be sure that he was able to get the full story from each of the students, the minors, that were involved,” Sanchez said. “All of the steps that we’re required to take, we took.”
The district also released an extensive statement explaining that because minors are involved, “the school system must be very careful in the information it provides,” according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
The statement assured that Sanchez, assistant superintendent Yesinia Pardo and South Elementary principal Jennifer Hughey “have visited with the parents/guardians of families involved in a recent incident at South Elementary that is under Child Protective Services and law enforcement investigation.”
The statement also noted that the alleged incident “occurred away from the full vision of the teacher” while she was working with other students.
When the teacher collected the students’ iPads the next day, she noticed one of them had been locked with a password and took the device to the campus administrator. “Inappropriate content was discovered” on the iPad after a tech from the technology department unlocked it, according to the district.
The teacher involved has since been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, the district said.
“My daughter comes home with bruises and rashes if she doesn’t participate in these little boys’ sick games.”— Plainview South Elementary School parent
Parents who spoke to the Herald during the Monday protest outside the school district’s administrative office claimed the incident with the 6-year-old is not an isolated one.
“There have been multiple moms coming out about stuff that has been happening all year and nothing is being done about it,” one parent said. “It’s hit its peak and that’s why we’re here today, to get answers.”
“My daughter comes home with bruises and rashes if she doesn’t participate in these little boys’ sick games,” another parent at the protest said. “They will punch her, give her Indian burns, they’ll call her names and cuss at her.”
Other parents at Plainview South Elementary claimed the alleged incident with the 6-year-old girl is not an isolated one. (iStock)
“You can’t have your kids in a classroom like that,” one parent said. “You’re worried about the education they are receiving and what they are being exposed to. A lot of parents have parental controls on what their kid is able to watch and see at this age, and we do all of that just for them to go to school and be exposed to stuff they should’ve never seen.”
A spokesperson for Plainview ISD told Fox News Digital that “CPS is continuing its investigation, and we continue to cooperate with CPS and law enforcement, by their request we are not able to comment any further than we have shared.”
Jon Brown is a writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to jon.brown@fox.com.
A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including NewsMax, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Rep. Devin Nunes, Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Chris Salcedo, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and President.
A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including NewsMax, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Rep. Devin Nunes, Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Chris Salcedo, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and Presiden
New York Daily News / Contributor, Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images
Jordan Neely’s dad abandoned him in childhood. Neely’s stepfather strangled and disposed of his mother when Neely was just 14 years old. According to people who knew Neely, the murder of his mother and the abandonment by his father caused Jordan Neely to fall into depression and mental illness. With his family support erased, in recent years Neely became a schizophrenic, homeless nuisance terrorizing the streets and subways of New York.
Neely’s life ended in inevitable tragedy Monday afternoon. He menaced the wrong group of New York subway riders. A former Marine wrestled Neely to the ground from behind and applied a choke hold to restrain him, and at least one other passenger helped subdue Neely. The 30-year-old vagrant lost consciousness and died.
On Wednesday, the medical examiner’s office ruled Neely’s death a homicide, stating neck compression as the cause of death.
Political opportunists and corporate and social media appear ready to turn Neely into the next George Floyd, a heroic martyr and symbol of American unfairness, an excuse to riot and loot.
Say his name! Jordan Neely.
According to social media pundits, the Marine and the black man who helped subdue Neely maimed and lynched innocent Jordan Neely, a Michael Jackson impersonator, a young man with a bright future, had white supremacy not reared its ugly head.
After hours of careful Twitter deliberation, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted her verdict. “Jordan Neely was murdered,” she wrote. “But [because] Jordan was houseless and crying for food in a time when the city is raising rents and stripping services to militarize itself while many in power demonize the poor, the murderer gets protected [with] passive headlines + no charges. It’s disgusting.”
AOC is a lawmaker, sworn to uphold the constitution and our agreed-upon laws. She does not believe in our “innocent until proven guilty” standard of law. What she sees on Twitter is more than enough to prove murder.
For the record, homicide and murder are two different things. There is justifiable and legal homicide. Murder can’t be justified. Murder is always a crime. Homicide is not.
We’ve murdered truth and nuance.
Jordan Neely is not the second coming of Emmett Till. He’s a victim of the widespread destruction of family. Not just his family, but the destruction of the American family.
New York is a lawless hellhole captured by the demons created by the breakdown of family and attack on authority. Unparented children and adults control the Big Apple’s streets and subways. Neely’s untreated mental illness made him a ticking time bomb in a city where law enforcement has retreated and chaos and disorder have escalated.
Vigilante justice is a natural outgrowth when law enforcement retreats to safety. Untrained, frustrated citizens will make mistakes. Opportunists will capitalize on those mistakes.
More than likely, the white Marine will be sacrificed so that politicians, corporate media, activists, clergy, and Neely’s own family do not have to deal with their role in his tragic life and death. We all played a role in cultivating the toxic, anti-family culture that killed Jordan Neely. The people most passionately seeking to punish the Marine are the most guilty.
AOC participated in the defund-the-police insanity. She helped loose the criminal lunacy torturing NYC. Black Lives Matter conspired with New York’s Democratic politicians and prosecutors to prioritize the welfare of criminals above law-abiding citizens. The black church centered racial justice and government assistance over preservation and promotion of the family. Corporate media rewards and revels in racial controversy.
Jordan Neely’s father unleashed the first deadly strike to Jordan’s soul when he abandoned his son. Neely’s stepfather fired the fatal shot when he killed Neely’s mother. Jordan Neely’s been in a coma for 16 years. The white Marine pulled the plug.
Had the former Marine been black, all the people feigning outrage would treat Jordan’s death as a merciful abortion. No one would care. And I mean no one.
Black gang members will kill men no different from Jordan Neely across America today. None of it will make national news. There will be no protests. No calls for justice. Most of the murders will go unsolved. No-snitch culture will protect the killers.
No one has truly cared about Jordan Neely since his mother died 16 years ago. No one cares today. People care about the color of the former Marine who choked Jordan Neely.
Black life does not matter. White perpetrators of black death are what really matter. They’re scarce and valuable. Political opportunists and social media clout chasers pounce on these situations regardless of circumstance. It’s political gold.
Lawyers chase ambulances. Liberals chase coroners, hoping to find a dead black body killed by whites. They bribe the coroner investigating the death and hire a media mortician who can make the body look as angelic as possible. Al Sharpton performs the eulogy, and Ben Crump passes the collection plate.
The opportunists have no interest in a solution. Solutions would undermine their ability to profit from the deaths of black men killed by white men.
Charging the white Marine with murder won’t solve or improve anything. It will make the wannabe hero just another victim of America’s broken family structure. Restoring the family is the only hope for America.
I recently wrote about the current wave of rainbow-flavored “insurrections” sweeping through America’s red statehouses. I called them part of a color revolution. Color revolutions, you will recall, are traditionally “popular uprisings against authoritarian regimes, such as those that took place in former Soviet countries such as Ukraine and Georgia in the early and mid-2000s.”
In our American color revolution, the script has flipped. Here, red states are the only rebels standing strong in the face of increasingly authoritarian central power — wrapped, of course, in the rainbow flag.
Tennessee recently made a star out of State Rep. Justin Pearson, the code-switching preacher man with the afro who just a few years ago was a repp tie-wearing prep at Colgate, but this year led an invasion of screaming gun-control protesters into the Tennessee Capitol, shut it down, and got himself expelled (temporarily, of course. Plot twist: The lead characters on this show always win in the end!)
We’ve now seen color revolutionaries take to state capitols in Tennessee, Montana, Kansas, Kentucky, Florida, Oklahoma, and Missouri. This week, the color revolution came to Texas. The radicals are on top. And (if you will excuse my French), thanks to their total effete ineffectuality, red states are getting bottomed, hard.
The Best Little Statehouse in Texas
Showrunners set this week’s episode of “Transurrection” in Texas. Why? They can’t turn Texas blue, right? …Right?
Twitter soon filled up with clips of the state Capitol in Austin getting overrun by a shrieking mob of LGBT cuckoos waving transgender flags and shutting down voting on an important bill. They’ve been keeping Austin weird for years, biding their time, and it finally paid off.
A Texas Republican state delegate on the scene tweeted a video of the mob and reported, “Trans activists are losing their minds, shoving signs into [a Texas conservative’s] face, and allowing spit to spew from their mouths while they scream ‘no place for hate.’” You have to admire their shamelessness, frankly. “No place for hate!” they scream, as they bludgeon their enemies.
The “hate” bill in question, naturally, would ban genital mutilation of children statewide. As we know by now, the idea of not being permitted to permanently sterilize and castrate kids makes sterilized and castrated adults very, very mad. How dare you not let us ritually initiate your son into our family-friendly extreme body modification cult!
A local newspaper reported on the action: “More than one hundred protesters rallied at the Capitol in opposition to the bill Tuesday in anticipation of the floor debate, engaging in chants including, “Protect Trans Kids!” and holding signs reading, “Let Trans Kids Grow Up.”
Am I the only one who notices the irony here? They want to “let trans kids grow up” — by putting them on irreversible puberty blockers that literally stop them from growing up. Logic — like charm, charisma, and good looks — is not this group’s strong suit.
But, as always, their ugly tactics work. “As protesters were removed from the House gallery, Democrats in the House on Tuesday successfully delayed debate on Senate Bill 14, which would ban certain gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender minors. Using a procedural tactic … the bill was sent back to the House Committee on Public Health, then voted out of the committee again Tuesday evening,” the paper reported, emphasis mine.
They may still lose in the end, but they survived the day.
I feel like I’m watching a new streaming docudrama show on Netflix: “Game of Throngs.” “The Transmandalorian.” “Sex Reassignment in the City.”
Last week’s episode was set in Montana and guest-starred an unknown man in a dress, an impish scamp named Zooey Zephyr. Zooey is not your typical social media starlet; he’s got a strong jawline, a prominent Adam’s apple, and a deep voice. His script, however, follows the Tennessee storyline virtually line for line. Zooey led his “transurrection” over a new Montana bill that would outlaw transgender interventions for children. Just like in Tennessee, he broke the rules, caused a riot, got ejected, and then used the ejection as a battering ram to take down the Republican leadership. Here’s how Fox reported it:
‘The only thing I will say is if you vote yes on this bill and yes on these amendments, I hope the next time there’s an invocation when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands,’ Zephyr said when debating SB99. Critics demanded an apology. However, after refusing to do so, Republicans led the chamber in a 68-32 vote last week to bar Zephyr from accessing the House floor. Zephyr cannot enter the anteroom or gallery but can vote remotely. (Emphasis mine)
Even when they lose they win!
How many times can they run this same storyline? Answer: At least 50 times, one for each state that requires it.
I seem to remember some other event a few years back, when protesters holding flags entered a capitol to stop lawmakers from voting on something. If I recall correctly, a lot of them were sentenced to years in prison for daring to block a vote. I will pray none of the nonbinary furries in the Texas Capitol suffer the same fate! They don’t look like they could last five seconds away from their cats.
The foundation of modern American democracy is that all Americans deserve some kind of representation in the rooms where law and policy are made. Not content to control those rooms in states where they dominate the political scene, some Republicans have said, in essence, that representation is a privilege for communities whose chosen lawmakers don’t offend their sensibilities. (Emphasis mine)
I like to picture flustered Republicans hitting the smelling salts and the fainting couch, like Scarlett’s Aunt Pittypat, when the winsome Zoey Zephyr and his merry band of rebels made a bit of noise during working hours.
Hilariously, the title of Bouie’s column is “A Sinister New Page in the Republican Playbook.” Maybe I shouldn’t say this out loud, but: The Republicans don’t have a playbook.
I wish they had a sinister playbook! How can we get them a sinister playbook and teach them how to use it? Because they absolutely do not know what to do in the face of mob rule. They are off balance. Unprepared. And it will only get worse.
One of these was an almost-10-year-old Cassandra Robinson, who in the photos looks like a muscular little boy with long hair dyed green, and wore “a T-shirt that read: ‘inspired by the STRONG WOMEN in my life.’” There is no 10-year-old on Earth who would dream up a sentence like that and want it on a T-shirt. Is his name a cry for help?
End Game
So, what’s the end goal? This is not just about gun control, or the “right” to castrate 8-year-olds.
Here’s what I think it’s obviously about: performing a radical mutilation surgery on the Constitution. Neutering it, for good — irreversibly even. This is the ultimate prize. Of course, it’s incredibly hard to change the Constitution, with good reason. That’s why it’s rarely been done in our history.
There are a few ways to rewrite the Constitution, but all the paths go through the states. You need three-fourths of states to ratify a new amendment. Insurmountable? Democrats already have 20 to 22 blue and purple states. They need 37, and that means the South is the juiciest prize, especially with its rapidly changing demographics.
Even in red states like Tennessee, they’d only need to flip 10 percent of the voters to win the state house. Age and heart disease will take care of the boomer-aged bitter clingers. College indoctrination will take care of the rest. Every four years a new crop of teenage voters arrives ready to make their “voices heard.” Time is on their side, not ours. And they’ve got all the time in the world.
Well, color me reacquainted! “Our Constitution is one of the most difficult in the world to amend. … But the remoteness of the possibility of formal constitutional change today may be as much a product of constitutional culture as constitutional structure: Several generations of Americans have lost the habit and muscle memory of seeking formal constitutional change.” (Emphasis mine)
Got that? The color revolutionaries are developing new muscle memory they will get to flex again and again as they continue dominating us in their weight class. Meanwhile, hordes of radicals are greedily gnawing through the country’s aging superstructure.
The Color of Money
The “tranissaries” of the revolution are obviously well-funded and blessed with a loyal army of loudmouth fanatics willing to win by any means necessary.
Are you?
I don’t know exactly who is directing and funding the revolutionaries. But it’s clear the country’s largest foundations and NGOs have these unsuspecting states in their sights. They have arrayed the full might of their billions squarely at “voting rights” and “defending democracy.” In other words, they are the architects behind activist mobs and the skilled ballot harvesters that have so far netted them win after win — including the White House.
The Macarthur Foundation and Ford Foundation, which funds dozens of grassroots activist groups including something called the “Texas Civil Rights Project,” are on the case with their billions. The Carnegie Foundation is doing its part for the cause, too. And there are many others. These massive bloodless megaliths are cleverly wrapping themselves in the cozy civil rights issue of the day — poor little trans kids (or election overhauls favored by candidates who love that issue) — and winning enormous popular support.
The wealth of America’s greatest old families is being used to systematically strip the place bare, and they’re looting it of everything that’s not nailed down. Including any stray toddlers. Viva la rainbow revoluçion!
It’s time to build a counterrevolution, fast.
Peachy Keenan is a contributing editor and regular essayist for The American Mind, a publication of The Claremont Institute. She is the author of “Domestic Extremist: A Practical Guide to Winning the Culture War” (coming June 6th from Regnery). She also writes at peachykeenan.substack.com , and you can always find her on Twitter @keenanpeachy, at least until she is canceled.
Evidence is mounting that both the Biden campaign and the federal governmentinterfered in the 2020 election by running an info op to convince voters the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation. Missouri and Louisiana have unearthed some of the most damning evidence in their First Amendment lawsuit against the Biden administration, but a close analysis of the court filings suggests the FBI is not being forthright in identifying the players involved.
As part of the lawsuit Missouri and Louisiana’s attorneys general initiated, the states obtained limited initial discovery. Among other things, the plaintiffs obtained a list of government officials who communicated with Twitter about so-called content moderation and the deposition testimony of Elvis Chan, the assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Francisco Cyber Branch.
In his deposition, Chan testified that he is one of the “primary” FBI agents who communicates with social media companies about so-called disinformation. During the 2020 election cycle, Chan coordinated meetings between the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) and at least seven of the major tech giants, including Meta/Facebook, Twitter, Google/YouTube, Yahoo!/Verizon Media, and Microsoft/LinkedIn. Those meetings occurred at first quarterly and then monthly and weekly as the election neared.
In questioning Chan, attorneys representing Missouri and Louisiana pushed him on several points related to the censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop. The lawyers succeeded in eliciting testimony from Chan that the FBI regularly raised the possibility of “hack and dump” operations with senior officials at the various tech companies. Those discussions included the FBI warning the companies of a potential hack-and-leak occurring shortly before the 2020 election, like the Democratic National Committee hack and WikiLeaks that occurred in 2016.
The plaintiffs also quizzed Chan on the names of any government officials who discussed “hack-and-dump Russian operations” with the tech giants. Chan mentioned Section Chief Laura Dehmlow, “among others.” But Chan then danced around who those others were, saying he couldn’t recollect. Chan eventually identified four FBI officials that attended Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) meetings at which the FBI discussed the risk of hack-and-leak operations. These officials were Brady Olson, William Cone, Judy Chock, and Luke Giannini.
Regarding whether anyone within the FBI suggested Chan should raise the possibility of Russian hack-and-dump operations with the tech giants in 2020, Chan repeatedly said he could “not recall,” but at one point acknowledged, “They may have, but I don’t recollect at this time.”
The plaintiffs in Missouri v. Biden claim Chan’s “I do not recall,” is not credible. They say it is “facially implausible that Chan does not recall whether other federal officials discussed warning platforms about ‘hack-and-leak’ operations during 2020, especially after the fiasco of censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story.” Furthermore, the plaintiffs added, “the only aspect of [Chan’s] internal discussions with the FBI about hack-and-leak operations that he does not recall is whether someone from the FBI suggested or directed him to raise the issue with social-media platforms.”
Uncovering whether someone — and if so, who — directed Chan or other FBI agents to warn tech companies about a potential hack-and-leak operation is necessary to unravel the extent of the government’s info ops. Did FBI agents with knowledge of either the Hunter Biden laptop or the existence of damaging communications possessed by other governments, such as Ukraine or China, prompt Chan and others to warn of an impending hack-and-leak to protect the Biden family from any fallout?
Chan also appeared less than forthcoming when questioned about whether he had discussed the 2020 election with any of the people involved in the DNC hack. Here, an unnoticed tidbit from Chan’s deposition proves interesting: Chan testified that he served as the supervisor for the Russian cyber squad that investigated the DNC server before the San Francisco office handed it off to FBI headquarters.
When asked whether “subsequent to the 2016 investigation of the hack of the DNC server,” he had “any communications with anyone involved in that investigation about the possibility that a hack-and-leak operation” could happen prior to the 2020 election, Chan initially provided a misleading response, saying he did “not remember discussing the potential for a 2020 election with any of the FBI personnel because they had moved on to different roles.”
Catching Chan’s narrowing of the question from “anyone” to “FBI personnel,” the plaintiffs’ attorney quickly queried, “and people outside the FBI?” Chan then noted he would have discussed national security cyber investigations involving Russian matters with Sean Newell, a deputy chief at the DOJ National Security Division who also worked on the DNC hack. But Chan refused to say whether Newell or anyone else who worked on the DNC hack had raised the issue of a 2020 hack-and-release repeat.
Chan’s reticence raises red flags. But piecing together two exhibits filed in the Missouri v. Biden case reveals a thread to pull to start getting some answers.
Exhibit 23 used during Chan’s deposition includes a series of emails related to the DNC hack that were filed in the special counsel’s criminal prosecution of former Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann. In addition to Chan and Newell, the emails include names of about another dozen government agents.
When those names are cross-checked against the names of the federal officials with whom Twitter “had meetings or discussions” about so-called content moderation issues — a list Twitter provided the plaintiffs in Missouri v. Biden in response to a third-party subpoena — two names overlap: Chan and Jonathan Sills.
Sills, an attorney with the FBI’s Office of General Counsel, appeared in several emails in which Sussmann and the FBI discussed logistical details for conveying a copy of the DNC server data to the FBI. Given Sills was only added to the email threads when they discussed whether the FBI would pay CrowdStrike to make a copy of the data, it seems unlikely Sills had a broader involvement in the DNC hack-and-release investigation.
But why then was Sills communicating with Twitter about so-called content moderation issues? Was it about payments to Twitter? Or something else?
Recall we still don’t know the identities of the “folks in the Baltimore field office and at HQ that are just doing keyword searches for violations,” as then-Twitter legal executive Stacia Cardille complained in a Nov. 3, 2020, email to Jim Baker, the then-deputy general counsel for Twitter. “This is probably the 10th request I have dealt with in the last 5 days,” Cardille noted.
Remember also that the FBI’s Baltimore field office provided coverage to the Delaware U.S. attorney’s office out of which the Hunter Biden investigation was being run — to the extent FBI headquarters allowed.
When reached by phone in his D.C. office, Sills told The Federalist he was not authorized to comment on the matter, which is unfortunate because the people who can comment seem not to recollect the most pertinent points. A follow-up email to Sills went unanswered.
Eventually, though, these threads will all be pulled when discovery occurs in Missouri v. Biden. While some will lead nowhere, as the initial discovery proves, there is much to learn about the government’s involvement in the Hunter Biden info ops and its role in censoring speech on social media.
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.
Republican official Amy Drake cited the FBI’s definition of domestic terrorism: ‘Appearing to be intended to influence the policy of government by intimidation or coercion.’
A South Bend, Indiana, branch of the NAACP held a press conference Thursday at 6:30 a.m. outside the house of Republican County Councilwoman Amy Drake to protest her criticism of Indiana’s public health bureaucracy. A May 1 press release and social media posts proclaimed the group’s intent to protest outside Drake’s home, where she lives with her husband and seven children.
South Bend NAACP Chairwoman Trina Robinson told The Federalist Wednesday that after internal pushback she decided to switch the “peaceful demonstration” to a press conference, still outside the Drakes’ home at 6:30 a.m. Drake, who has written opinion articles for The Federalist, told The Federalist that holding any demonstrations outside her home is a form of “domestic terrorism” intended to influence her votes by harassing and threatening her family.
Drake cited the FBI’s definition of domestic terrorism: “Appearing to be intended to influence the policy of government by intimidation or coercion.” She and her husband spent three days before the event calling police, fielding calls from constituents and friends, and making plans to ensure their children’s safety.
“There is no such thing as a peaceful protest in front of a person’s home. Protests in front of homes are designed to intimidate and frighten,” Drake said in a press release.
Robinson told The Federalist the goal of visiting Drake’s home was indeed to put pressure on her and express displeasure at Drake’s public record, since their public comments at city council meetings did not move Drake to vote as the group wants. “The NAACP are not here to make people uncomfortable,” she said this morning on the sidewalk across from the Drakes’ home while a school bus picked up children in the background.
Drake ran for office in 2022, motivated by Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb’s extensive lockdowns and their associated public health fiascos. She has been an integral part of increasing the fundraising and effectiveness of the local Republican Party, bringing in conservative energy, volunteers, and ideas. That has made her a top target of local Democrats and the public health bureaucracy.
South Bend is where Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was mayor from 2012 to 2020. Buttigieg’s parents were professors at Notre Dame University.
The demonstration fits a pattern of confrontational political actions against conservatives and Republicans, including mob action in the state capitols of Tennessee, Texas, Montana, Kentucky, Kansas, Florida, Oklahoma, and Missouri. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito told The Wall Street Journal this week that the five constitutional justices remain under constant threat of assassination.
Robinson says she considers showing up at a public official’s home a form of “free speech” and said local police told her the group could show up at Drake’s home so long as they stayed on the sidewalk. Drake says she asked for police presence to ensure everyone’s safety and was told they might send an unmarked car. On Thursday morning, Drake said she couldn’t see any police outside as the press conference commenced.
The Saint Joseph County Police Department’s communications officer did not respond to two voicemails requesting comment Wednesday. Sheriff William Redman’s official bio says he is a “Westside Democratic Club Lifetime Member.”
According to a live-streamed video on Facebook, about 10 people showed up to support the South Bend demonstration. Two were black, including Robinson, and eight were white. One appeared to be local Democrat Party Vice Chairman Don Westerhausen, according to on-site sources. The demonstrators held signs stating: “Amy Drake voted no $$$ for -behavioral crisis center -Motels4Now -Portage Manor,” “Lead Testing Protects Children,” and “We Support Opioid Crisis Relief Funding.”
Jonah Bryson, associate press secretary for the national NAACP organization, took The Federalist’s comment request at 3 p.m. ET Wednesday but failed to return comment on whether NAACP as an organization supports demonstrations outside politicians’ homes.
With her toddler grandson’s coos in the background, Robinson explained to The Federalist on Wednesday her thinking behind demonstrating outside Drake’s home.
“When you take on responsibilities to be a leader of a community, sometimes people are not going to agree with you. That pretty much comes with the territory,” Robinson said. “We’re not wanting to disrupt her children or anything, we would never disrupt her family.”
When asked whether Robinson was aware that Drake and her husband were alarmed for their children’s safety and they’d said so publicly on Facebook, Robinson said she was not: “I am not friends with her on Facebook.” Robinson also emphatically denied any desire to provoke violence, saying she was concerned the Drakes might respond to the demonstration outside their home with violence.
“Just because people disagree with you doesn’t necessarily mean they come to do bodily harm,” Robinson said.
Drake told The Federalist she and her husband decided against any kind of counter-demonstration to avoid “escalating.” They also adamantly opposed violence of any kind. But they considered the local activists’ decision to personalize politics by showing up at their home at the time their children go to school to be an act of hostility.
The Federalist asked Robinson about that several times. She said protesting on a public sidewalk is an American right, and that people in South Bend have protested at local representatives’ homes before.
“This isn’t Germany, this isn’t Russia,” she said. “We’re Americans, we can speak out. That’s a right we have.”
Robinson then directed her focus to the desperation she and others feel at many South Bend residents’ tragic conditions. Like many other American cities, South Bend has highly visible homeless, generational poverty, and drug problems. For years, visitors and residents have seen shocking scenes on the many emaciated streets of South Bend, common to cities across the United States. Trillions of taxpayer and private dollars poured into these problems since the 1950s have not improved conditions in most cities. In many cities, things are worse: dirtier, filled with even more homeless people and addicts, more violent, and uglier. Robinson equated Drake’s opposition to expanding ineffective government bureaucracy with leaving desperate citizens without the resources to make better lives.
“You can’t say you oppose a mental health crisis unit when here in South Bend a man in a mental health crisis was gunned down in front of his mom. And we don’t need a mental health crisis unit?” Robinson said. “We have homeless in this town. If you don’t have another solution for them, why are you opposing them being where they are? At least they’re not on the street downtown in tents.”
When asked if she had ever talked with Drake about these concerns one on one, Robinson replied: “No, we haven’t had a conversation. I spoke at the council meetings. She has never come up to me. I haven’t approached her either, so that goes both ways. So, we’re both to blame for that. I’ll take responsibility for that.”
Robinson said she would be willing to go out to lunch or coffee with Drake. She invited Drake to call her and said if Drake didn’t want to do that, she’d call Drake.
When The Federalist asked Drake her response, she discussed it with her husband and sent back this via text: “[Robinson] needs to admit domestic terrorism is wrong. She needs to apologize for creating fear in my family and causing us to interrupt our lives to put protective measures in place. After a month cooling off period, we can have a civil discussion.”
After the recent collapses of regional banks amid rising interest rates and inflationary pressure, about half of Americans are worried about the safety of their deposits in banks, according to the latest Gallup Poll released Thursday. The findings in the poll are similar to the concerns expressed during the 2008 financial crisis, as 19% are very worried and 29% are moderately worried, a combined 48% concerned.
That’s worse than the 2008 Great Recession. Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy in 2008 was the largest in U.S. history, at which time Gallup found 45% of U.S. adults said they were very or moderately worried about the safety of their money.
The new poll was conducted before the third bank collapse this year had First Republic Bank being taken over by JPMorgan Chase. First Republic Bank is the largest bank failure since 2008. Like Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank that had collapsed in President Joe Biden’s economy, First Republic Bank was a California specialty lender catering to “rich coastal Americans, enticing them with low-rate mortgages in exchange for leaving cash at the bank,” CNBC reported.
“After several recent high-profile bank failures in the U.S., about half of Americans are concerned about the safety of the money they have in banks or other financial institutions,” Gallup Poll’s Megan Brenan wrote in the analysis’ “bottom line.” “This is on par with the level of worry measured during the financial crisis in 2008 when financial institutions previously believed to be ‘too big to fail’ collapsed.
“And while Gallup has not measured this during calmer times for the banking industry, the December 2008 reading showed slightly diminished concern after the crisis had been addressed, suggesting high worry about the security of deposits may not be the norm for Americans.”
The concern is not level across party affiliation. A majority of Republicans (55%) and independents (51%) are at least moderately worried, while just 36% of Democrats are. That’s the inverse at the beginning of the 2008 financial crisis under then-President George Bush, when 55% of Democrats were at least moderately worried compared to 34% of Republicans.
The Gallup Poll was conducted April 3-24 among 1,013 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
From some of the world’s most iconic views to offering poop maps, San Francisco now disappoints on a Herculean level.
Check out San Francisco now.
Arguably the most beautiful big city in America looks more and more like a ghost town as San Francisco learns yet another painful real estate lesson.
The Wall Street Journal reported on a “fire sale” on the 22-story office tower known as Union Bank. The retail cost of this building should be around $300 million. However, the building will likely sell for about one-fifth; as little as $60 million.
Tenant vacancies have caused the commercial real-estate triage in the City by the Bay. But there is more to the story.
This particular building located at 350 California is 75 percent vacant. Moreover, renovation costs could exceed $50 million. Still a bargain if you could get occupants. Sadly, San Francisco’s government is pushing tenants away rather than attracting them.
“We’re all really on the edge of our seats to see the first office trade in San Francisco,” real estate services executive J.D. Lumpkin told the WSJ. A real estate lawyer warned the paper that the 350 California fire sale could prove “a bellwether for the value destruction in the urban office market nationally,” and not just for San Francisco’s (formerly?) ritzy Financial District.
To blame are high-cost structures based on pre-pandemic valuations, the local tech industry’s embrace of remote work, and what some people euphemistically call “quality-of-life issues.” That’s what honest people call “aggressive panhandlers, violent crime, and open-air drug sales and abuse.” Oh, and sidewalks festooned with poop and dirty syringes.
As I mention on my radio show from time to time, the last time I was in San Francisco, I had about $1000 worth of equipment stolen from my car along with a leather jacket I purchased earlier that day. When I went to the police station to file a report, the officer said “What do you expect me to do? Look for a well-dressed bum taking pictures?!”
I couldn’t help but laugh. But I made that chump fill out my report. I would be damned if they didn’t log the crime against me.
While admittedly the scamdemic caused some problems in commercial real-estate, this bubble burst was expected long before work-from-home hit.
The article continues,
According to the Journal, nearly “$80 billion worth of loans backed by U.S. office buildings come due this year,” and “most will need to be refinanced, at a time of higher interest rates and lower occupancy, threatening lenders with losses.”
City governments have been driving corporations out for decades. Homeless and drug addicts swarm formerly iconic downtowns. There was a time when city leaders kept the riff-raff from these areas. Now they condone it.
Corporate America responded.
Many corporations either have abandoned these cities or they plan to. And who could blame them? Clearly, a state without respect for law and order is no place for corporations to plant their valuable investments, i.e.. headquarters. As we see in San Francisco and elsewhere, when corporations leave, cities begin their death spiral.
Add these corporate losses to the loss of private citizens and it’s a one-two punch that could stop Gavin Newsom’s presidential run before it even gets started.
Remember, I recently predicted Newsom plans to run in 2024? Which is why he’s suddenly vested in the fate of San Francisco.
Operation De-Leftization
Things are so far-gone in SF, Newsom deployed the National Guard to assist in the policing and cleanup efforts.
Newsom unveiled the unprecedented collaboration between the California Highway Patrol (CHP), California National Guard (CalGuard), San Francisco Police Department (SFPD), and the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office (SFDA) to combat the escalating fentanyl crisis in the city. This move comes as a dramatic response to the severity of the situation, highlighting the urgency with which the state government is addressing the issue.
Newsom said his administration will focus on “dismantling fentanyl trafficking and disrupting the supply of the deadly drug in the city by holding the operators of large-scale drug trafficking operations accountable.”
“Two truths can coexist at the same time: San Francisco’s violent crime rate is below comparably sized cities like Jacksonville and Fort Worth—and there is also more we must do to address public safety concerns, especially the fentanyl crisis,” Newsom said.
“We’re taking action. Through this new collaborative partnership, we are providing more law enforcement resources and personnel to crack down on crime linked to the fentanyl crisis, holding the poison peddlers accountable, and increasing law enforcement presence to improve public safety and public confidence in San Francisco,” he added.
Newsom understands that Leftist Democrats look bad, particularly on drugs and crime.
“The San Francisco Police Department has been working hard to stop drug trafficking by making countless arrests and narcotics seizures,” said San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott.
“Despite our ongoing work and close collaboration with the District Attorney, the fentanyl crisis has contributed to hundreds of drug overdose-related deaths.
“We welcome the support of our state partners because when we work together we can make a significant difference to make our city safer.”
“The CalGuard is seeing significant success supporting multiagency task forces interdicting fentanyl across our state,” said Major General Matthew P. Beevers of the California National Guard.
“We expect to achieve the same success working with our partners in San Francisco,” he added.
Currently, the carnage of San Francisco rests squarely on the shoulders of Democrats. However, one or two more conservative-like initiatives and Newsom will be ready to throw his rainbow hat into the ring, If nothing else, reviving the city will give Newsom an actual accomplishment, something Joe Biden STILL doesn’t have. Of course, if Newsom fails, his campaign will be a “no go” at launch.
Having failed to destroy Clarence Thomas 32 years ago with preposterous sexual harassment charges (disbelieved at the time by 60% of Americans), now the left is resorting to attacking the ethics of a man vastly more honorable than the collection of degenerates reviling him.
The sole purpose of the media’s sudden fixation on the Supreme Court’s “ethics” is to morally intimidate conservative justices by reminding them that the left controls the culture. Since they lost abortion, liberals have been in a panic that the court will junk other liberal sacraments, like gay marriage and affirmative action, too. That’s the reason for the stream of calumnies directed at the justices.
As usual, the main target of the left’s rage is Thomas. We’re supposed to be appalled that Thomas’ billionaire friend Harlan Crow took the justice and his wife on a vacation that (the media claim) would have cost Thomas more than $500,000!!!
Well, yeah, but Thomas and his wife, Ginny, weren’t going alone. They hadn’t just won a cruise sweepstakes. They were joining Crow on a vacation he was taking anyway. Cost to donor: a few extra chicken cutlets and string beans.
Crow sounds like a great guy, but when you’re going on vacation with a benefactor, it isn’t like he’s handing you an expensive bauble. You are the expensive bauble.
We went on a cruise on my private yacht in Indonesia and served Jeroboam of Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1945.[Meh.]
We went on a cruise on my private yacht in Indonesia and Justice Clarence Thomas was our guest. WINNER!!!!
Cui bono? Everybody!
The media want us to believe that generosity from personal friends is an ethical issue, but that’s because that’s not how liberals bribe government officials. They bombard their targets with the sort of public adoration that money can’t buy — or the sort of public hate that money can’t block. Your choice: Be beloved from every corner of society or be subjected to nonstop ridicule.
Adored: Anthony Fauci, BLM, Michelle Obama, Trevor Noah, transgenders, Ukraine, black people, pot, Elon Musk (pre-Twitter), Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Hated: Ron DeSantis, the Proud Boys, Melania Trump, Dave Chappelle, Christians, Russia, white people, cigarettes, Elon Musk (post-Twitter), Clarence Thomas.
Thus, during her quarter-century on the court, Ginsburg was showered with alms from the media, Hollywood, universities, television, publishing, the music industry, museums, clothing manufacturers, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Post Office and an array of nonprofits.
It’s a miracle she ever had time to write opinions with the constant procession of awards, retrospectives, portraits and honors — the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture; the LBJ Foundation’s Liberty & Justice for All Award; the World Peace & Liberty Award; a lifetime achievement award from Diane von Furstenberg’s foundation; the 2020 Liberty Medal by the National Constitution Center; and the World Peace & Liberty Award from the World Jurist Association and the World Law Foundation.
I would wager that most people would prefer ceaseless public praise to a cruise, no matter how nice the yacht.
The U.S. Postal Service produced an RBG “Forever” stamp; the U.S. Navy named an oiler the “Ruth Bader Ginsburg”; Los Angeles’ Skirball Cultural Center put on a large-scale exhibition on her life; the Cleveland Museum of Natural History named a species of praying mantis after her; she was slobberingly interviewed by Stephen Colbert; a Sam Adams beer was named in her honor; and she received honorary degrees from literally dozens upon dozens of universities.
Say, did any of these outfits have an interest in cases that might come before the court? Perhaps MSNBC could look into that.
It’s curious that the very cultural institutions bestowing all these goodies on liberals don’t see them as “gifts” at all. There are no somber invocations of “ethics” when the Sundance Film Festival features a North Korean-style documentary about Ginsburg. Nor when The New York Times gushes that Ginsburg was “a trailblazing feminist … [continuing] to point the way toward greater equality … she never wavered in her commitment to the court as a vehicle for a more just and more equal America. She was a dogged, tireless fighter … [gag, gag, gag].”
Try to imagine that string of accolades being given to Thomas, much less the Tiger Beat worship — the coloring books, documentaries, bobbleheads, and so on.
It’s inconceivable. In fact, the “honors and recognition” section on Thomas’ Wikipedia page contains a single item: “In 2012, Thomas received an honorary degree from the College of the Holy Cross, his alma mater.”
The only reward a conservative titan like Thomas will receive in this lifetime will be his friends spending their own money to enjoy his company. So the media have decided that’s a conflict of interest. Fawning media coverage worth millions of dollars: not a conflict of interest.
Let’s compare!
Value of private supporters’ gifts to Justice Thomas over the years: Maybe a few million dollars — and that’s according to liberals, although the donor was going on these vacations with or without Thomas, so the cost to him was minimal.
Value of liberal institutions’ gifts to Justice Ginsburg over the years: approximately $3 trillion.
It’s been a long time coming, but we finally have a Supreme Court that isn’t dying to impose faddish liberal ideas on the country by claiming to discover never-before-seen constitutional rights. If anything, the Dobbs opinion should have calmed lefties. Abortion is no longer a “constitutional right,” so now it’s up to the states. And guess what, liberals? Americans are voting to allow abortion!
But Democrats are mostly neurotic women, so “calm” is not their middle name.
Contrary to the left’s self-advertisements as huge fans of democracy — Democracy Dies in Darkness! — the last thing they want is people voting on their crazy ideas. That’s why they’ve got to discredit the current court.
If all goes according to plan, Trump will lose another election for the GOP next year, handing Democrats super-majorities in Congress, whereupon they will pack the court. Finally, liberals will have their magical Supreme Court back! How much is that penumbra worth to you, New York Times?
A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including NewsMax, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Rep. Devin Nunes, Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Chris Salcedo, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and Presiden
Students and faculty walk through an open area outside the School of Medicine on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on August 18, 2020, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. | Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images
The University of North Carolina has seemingly scrubbed multiple pages of information from its website offering transgender consultations and other so-called treatments for children as young as 4 years old. An archived page for the UNC Department of Psychiatry’s Gender Equality Psychiatry Clinic stated that the clinic serves patients ages 4 to 30 years old who are “undergoing or exploring all forms of “gender affirming care,” an industry euphemism for chemical and surgical castration and double mastectomies for young girls, among other irreversible procedures.
However, as of Tuesday, the UNC Psychiatry site no longer serves the link for the page with “child/adolescent patient care” under its apparently defunct Gender Equality Psychiatry Clinic, which also has a broken link.
Wayback Machine/UNC Psychiatry
Both pages result in a “404” or “not found” message reading, “Sorry, but the page you were trying to view does not exist.”
Likewise, Google results for the psychiatry school’s “UNC Gender Diverse Programs” and “About Our Team” pages — which state the Gender Equality Psychiatry Clinic “provides gender-affirming services to children, adolescents, young adults, and families” — also resulted in broken links.
A screenshot of a page on the University of North Carolina’s School of Medicine which formerly linked to a child/adolescent “gender equality” page. | Screenshot/UNC.edu
Through a student-run “gender affirming care clinic,” UNC also offers “free, culturally humble, gender-affirming care” once a month, including prescriptions for hormone therapy, letters of support for surgery, and other resources.
UNC’s Campus Health services also offer opposite-sex hormones using an informed consent protocol, meaning students are not required to present a letter from a mental health professional to begin so-called hormone therapy or other procedures, such as puberty blockers, according to the school’s website.
It was not clear whether these links were taken down or moved to another location on the UNC website.
As of Tuesday evening, The Christian Post was awaiting a response to a request for comment from UNC. This article will be updated once a response is received.
Last month, following a Democratic state lawmaker’s move to join the Republican Party, North Carolina Republicans looked to capitalize on their new supermajority with several pieces of new legislation aimed at banning sex-change procedures for minors, according to The Associated Press.
Some psychologists, including Dr. Michael J. Bailey of Northwestern University, have argued that one form of gender dysphoria, known as child onset dysphoria, may lead to some young children expressing a desire to identify as the opposite sex. According to Bailey, these children typically outgrow this confusion.
Despite Bailey’s conclusion, proponents of allowing children to socially transition have questioned the validity of the research into this phenomenon, asserting that there’s no need to delay a child’s social transition.
In October, the United Kingdom’s National Health Service proposed new guidelines for health professionals, advising them to be cautious about encouraging gender dysphoric children to socially transition by changing their names or pronouns.
The NHS warned healthcare professionals that these children might be going through a “transient phase,” and it recommends taking a more watchful approach.
Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy confronted the Biden administration on Tuesday over its claim that illegal immigration has decreased by more than 90%.
On Monday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed that under President Joe Biden’s leadership, illegal immigration has declined sharply — by “more than 90%.”
“When it comes to illegal migration, you’ve seen it come down by more than 90%, and that’s because of the actions that this president has taken,” she claimed.
The “more than 90%” claim received a lot of attention, but no follow-up at Monday’s press briefing. So on Tuesday, Doocy took it upon himself to ask Jean-Pierre exactly from where she derived that figure.
“Where did that number come from?” he asked, noting that Customs and Border Protection says that illegal migration has increasedcompared to last year.
Jean-Pierre began speaking over Doocy, then chided him, saying, “If the dramatics could come down a little bit.”
“What’s dramatic about asking a question about —” Doocy shot back, when Jean-Pierre interrupted him again.
“I was speaking to the parolee program,” she said. “As you know, the president put in place a parolee program to deal with certain countries on ways that we can limit illegal migration. And the data has shown us that it has gone down by more than 90%. That was what I was speaking to.”
When Doocy attempted to respond, Jean-Pierre refused to let him speak and moved to a different reporter.
DOOCY: "You said yesterday that when it comes to illegal migration, you've seen it come down by more than 90%. Where did that number come from?"
JEAN-PIERRE: "If the dramatics could come down a little bit…"
It’s true, according to Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin, that immigration numbers from countries in the parolee program improved — but that improvement was offset by increasing migration from countries not in the program.
“There was a window of time earlier this year where encounters with Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, and Cubans did temporarily dip 90% after a policy change, but other countries, like China, shot up over 800%. Illegal crossings, including Venezuelans, back at peak highs now,” Melugin explained.
In fact, when Biden announced the parolee program about four months ago, Melugin predicted the Biden administration would use the program control the optics of the border crisis while simultaneously exacerbating it.
“This new policy will almost certainly reduce *recorded* monthly border crossing numbers because these nationalities are crossing in massive numbers,” he explained in January. “However, migrants not eligible for parole will have no incentive to turn themselves in now, & will evade as ‘gotaways’.”
Indeed, on the same day that Jean-Pierre claimed immigration had improved, the Border Patrol announced that more than 22,000 migrants had been apprehended in the previous 72 hours.
05/02/23: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre www.youtube.com
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Every day a new hatchet job aimed at justices, judges, and the conservative legal movement appears in the corporate media. The purpose of this coordinated campaign, as we saw today during the Senate’s judiciary hearings, is to provide more fodder to delegitimize the court and intimidate jurists.
Now, activist groups have always shopped oppo research to journalists. Most of it is so absurdly unpersuasive that no self-respecting writer, partisan or not, would take ownership of it. These days, though, with little quality control and virtually no consequences for spreading false partisan attacks, a person without journalistic ethics can probably build a career on the stuff.
Which brings me to Heidi Przybyla’s new piece at Politico: “Leonard Leo used Federalist Society contact to obtain $1.6 billion donation.” This is her second hit piece in a week — in the first, she couldn’t decipher/purposely misrepresented Neil Gorsuch’s financial disclosure form.
This one begins like so:
“Leonard Leo, who helped to choose judicial nominees for former President Donald Trump, obtained a historic $1.6 billion gift for his conservative legal network via an introduction through the Federalist Society, whose tax status forbids political activism.”
It’s difficult to untangle the accusation being leveled here. The three chilling components of the tale — “Donald Trump,” the “$1.6 billion gift,” and the “Federalist Society” — all make for good conspiratorial copy, but they have nothing to do with each other in the context of this story.
Basically, a well-known Washington operative named Leonard Leo was introduced to a prospective donor by his old Federalist Society coworker. According to the piece, which is thin on specifics, it looks like Leo, who had helped Trump with his originalist judicial nominees, convinced Barre Seid to give him funding instead of the Federalist Society, which he promised to disseminate more effectively. That’s it.
Who knows, maybe Przybyla is under the impression that it’s illegal for one-time employees of 501(c)(3)s to interact with any prospective political donors they meet through old acquaintances. Maybe she thinks prospective donors to tax-exempt groups are forever prohibited from speaking or giving to any political operatives. Maybe she thinks there are a special set of rules only conservatives must follow. But dropping the words “tax status forbids political activism” at the top of the story is clearly meant to insinuate that some unscrupulous behavior will be exposed.
Sorry. All we learn after reading the 1700-word piece is that a bunch of normal Washington, D.C. fundraising stuff is happening and that no one broke any law or did anything unethical. The point of the piece, as it is with the recent spate of these stories, is to create the impression of unethical behavior. Specifics aren’t important. That’s why the story is padded with journalistic-sounding red herrings and a string of scary words like “dark money” — a term favored by activist journalists who want to make completely legal and ethical contributions to completely legitimate political causes sound creepy, illicit, ominous, and unsavory.
According to Przybyla, for example, the pro-court packing smear outfit Demand Justice is a “progressive judicial group.” Leo, on the other hand, helms a “dark money vehicle,” a “dark money group,” and even a “dark money network,” all phrases that appear in this one Politico piece. “Dark money” is mentioned seven times in case you miss its first six appearances.
In the end, the real crimes here are that conservatives are raising money and that a “conservative” legal movement has experienced some success and stands in the way of unconstitutional, progressive policy goals. That makes leftists angry. That’s the story.
A whistleblower is alleging that the FBI and the Justice Department are in possession of a document that describes a criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and Sen. Chuck Grassley said Wednesday.
Comer, R-Ky., and Grassley, R-Iowa, said the whistleblower claims the document “includes a precise description of how the alleged criminal scheme was employed as well as its purpose.”
President Biden is seen in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 1, 2022. (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The document, an FBI-generated FD-1023 form, allegedly details an arrangement involving an exchange of money for policy decisions.
Comer issued a subpoena Wednesday following legally protected disclosures to Grassley’s office.
“We believe the FBI possesses an unclassified internal document that includes very serious and detailed allegations implicating the current President of the United States,” Grassley said. “What we don’t know is what, if anything, the FBI has done to verify these claims or investigate further. The FBI’s recent history of botching politically charged investigations demands close congressional oversight.”
House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Comer added that the information “raises concerns that then-Vice President Biden allegedly engaged in a bribery scheme with a foreign national.”
“The American people need to know if President Biden sold out the United States of America to make money for himself,” Comer said. “Senator Grassley and I will seek the truth to ensure accountability for the American people.”
Comer and Grassley notified FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday of the “legally protected and highly credible unclassified whistleblower disclosures.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Based on those disclosures, it has come to our attention that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) possess an unclassified FD-1023 form that describes an alleged criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions,” they wrote, adding that the whistleblower alleged that the document “includes a precise description of how the alleged criminal scheme was employed as well as its purpose.”
Comer and Grassley said that based on “the alleged specificity within the document, it would appear that the DOJ and the FBI have enough information to determine the truth and accuracy of the information contained within it.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
“However, it remains unclear what steps, if any, were taken to investigate the matter,” they wrote, adding that the “significant public interest in assessing the FBI’s response to this information, as well as growing concern about the DOJ and the FBI’s track record of allowing political bias to infect their decision-making process, necessitate exacting congressional oversight.”
“The DOJ and the FBI appear to have valuable, verifiable information that you have failed to disclose to the American people,” they added, notifying them that Congress “will proceed to conduct an independent and objective review of this matter, free from those agencies’ influence.”
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland delivers remarks at the U.S. Justice Department. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“Transparency brings accountability,” they wrote.
Comer’s committee has been investigating Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, how the Biden family has been involved, and whether President Biden has been involved in those foreign business dealings. Comer has warned the business ventures with individuals in China, Ukraine and more pose a national security risk.
In the Senate, since 2019, Grassley has been investigating Hunter Biden’s business dealings and any alleged involvement by the elder Biden.
The White House has maintained that the president never spoke to his son about his business dealings, and has continued to say that the president was never involved in them. Officials also say the president has never discussed investigations into members of his family with the Justice Department.
White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, Ian Sams, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that for “going on five years now, Republicans in Congress have been lobbing unfounded, unproven, politically-motivated attacks against the President and his family without offering evidence for their claims or evidence of decisions influenced by anything other than U.S. interests.”
“That’s because they prefer floating anonymous innuendo, amplified by the megaphone of their allies in rightwing media, to get attention and try to distract and deflect from their own unpopular ideas and lack of solutions to the issues the American people actually care about,” Sams said. “When it comes to President Biden’s personal finances, anybody can take a look: he has offered an unprecedented level of transparency, releasing a total of 25 years of tax returns to the American public.”
Does any of this sound familiar? Somebody play all the video of the Left with all their comments around the multiple investigations into President Trump.
President Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, step off Air Force One at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, N.Y., on Feb. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Hunter Biden has been under federal investigation since 2018. The federal investigation into his “tax affairs” began amid the discovery of suspicious activity reports (SARs) regarding funds from “China and other foreign nations.”
The FBI confirmed it had received the letter, adding, “We don’t have any additional comment.”
Fox News’ Kelly Phares and Jake Gibson 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.
The members of the Election Integrity Partnership and Virality Project conspired with state, local, and federal government officials to violate the First Amendment rights of social media users, a class-action lawsuit filed on Tuesday in a Louisiana federal court alleged.
Over the course of the 88-page complaint, the named plaintiffs, Gateway Pundit founder Jim Hoft and Co-Director of Health Freedom Louisiana Jill Hines, detailed extensive direct and indirect government involvement with the defendants’ censorship activities, allegedly making the private entities and individuals “state actors” for purposes of the Constitution.
Here are the highlights of the government’s alleged connection to the defendants’ censorship activities.
A Bit About the Defendants
Formed in 2020, the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) describes itself as a partnership “between four of the nation’s leading institutions focused on understanding misinformation and disinformation in the social media landscape: the Stanford Internet Observatory, the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, Graphika, and the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab.” In early 2021, the same four entities expanded their focus to address supposed Covid-19 “misinformation” on social media, calling the effort the “Virality Project.”
In both the run-up to the 2020 election and since then, EIP and the Virality Project pushed Big Tech companies to censor speech. Excepting the University of Washington, which was not named in the class-action lawsuit, the institutions involved in the EIP and Virality Project are private entities, and the individuals running those institutions are non-governmental actors. Thus, without more, the censorship efforts would not implicate the First Amendment.
The Alleged Conspiracy
But there was more — much more — a conspiracy between the defendants, according to the complaint. Those defendants include the Stanford Internet Observatory and the Leland Stanford Junior University and its board of trustees, the latter two of which are allegedly legally responsible for the observatory’s conduct; Alex Stamos, the director of the Stanford Internet Observatory; Renée DiResta, the Stanford Internet Observatory’s research manager; the Atlantic Council; the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab; and Graham Brookie, the senior director of the Atlantic Council’s DFRLab.
In support of the alleged conspiracy, the plaintiffs quoted at length the defendants’ own words, much of it culled from the EIP’s post-election report, but also pulled from interviews and its webpage. Here we see the EIP boast of its “coalition” that exchanged information with “election officials, government agencies,” and “social media platforms.” “The work carried out by the EIP and its partners during the 2020 U.S. election,” the defendants stressed, “united government, academia, civil society, and industry, analyzing across platforms, to address misinformation in real time.”
The united goal, according to the complaint, was censorship. This is clear from Stamos’ Aug. 26, 2020, comment to The New York Times, when the Stanford Observatory director explained that the EIP sought to collaborate with Big Tech to remove “disinformation.” The EIP further explained that it saw itself filling the “critical gap” of monitoring supposed election “misinformation” inside the United States — a gap the EIP recognized existed because the First Amendment prevents the government from censoring speech.
But the EIP did not act alone. In fact, the EIP was created “in consultation” with the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, with the idea for the EIP allegedly originating from CISA interns who were Stanford students. The CISA then assisted Stanford as it sought to “figure out what the gap was” the EIP needed to address. Two weeks before EIP officially launched, Stanford also met “with CISA to present EIP concept.”
Government Collaboration with EIP
The government continued to work with EIP after its formation. Both federal and state-level government officials submitted “tickets” or reports of supposed misinformation to EIP, which would then submit them to the social media companies for censorship. EIP’s post-election report identified government partners who submitted tips of misinformation, including CISA, the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC), and the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center, the last of which received reports of disinformation from state and local government officials. EIP would then forward the complaints to the social media companies for censorship.
CISA also helped EIP by connecting it with election-official groups, such as the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors, both of which represent state and local government officials. CISA facilitated meetings between EIP and those groups as well, leading to censorship requests fed to the EIP and then forwarded to social media companies.
The government’s entanglement with the censorship efforts of EIP was more pronounced when it came to the Center for Internet Security because CISA both funded the Center for Internet Security and directed state and local election officials to report supposed misinformation to it. CISA further connected the Center for Internet Security to EIP, resulting in the former feeding the latter a substantial number of misinformation tickets. EIP then pushed those censorship requests to social media companies.
Later, as the 2020 election neared, CISA coordinated with the Center for Internet Security and EIP “to establish a joint reporting process,” with the three organizations agreeing to “let each other know what they were reporting to platforms like Twitter.”
Overlapping Personnel
The individuals responsible for EIP, including Stamos, DiResta, and Kate Starbird, all “have or had formal roles in CISA.” Both Stamos and Starbird are members of CISA’s Cybersecurity Advisory Committee, while DiResta is a “Subject Matter Expert” for a CISA subcommittee.
Additionally, two of the six CISA members who “took shifts” in reporting supposed misinformation to Big Tech companies apparently worked simultaneously as interns for CISA and at the Stanford Internet Observatory and EIP, reporting “misinformation” to the social media companies on behalf of both CISA and EIP. In fact, the two interns reported “misinformation” to platforms on behalf of CISA by using “EIP ticket numbers.” One of the CISA interns also forwarded a detailed report of supposed “misinformation” from the Election Integrity Partnership to social media companies using CISA’s reporting system.
Coordination with Virality Project
As noted above, after the 2020 election, the Election Integrity Project replicated its censorship efforts to combat so-called Covid “misinformation” through the Virality Project. The Virality Project used the foundations established with the government’s assistance for the EIP and continued to collaborate with government officials and Big Tech.
The Virality Project boasted of its “strong ties with several federal government agencies, most notably the Office of the Surgeon General (OSG) and the CDC.” The Virality Project also identified “federal health agencies” and “state and local public health officials” as “stakeholders” who “provided tips, feedback and requests to assess specific incidents and narratives.” And as was the case with the Election Integrity Project, the Virality Project flagged content for censorship by social media companies, including Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, through a ticket system.
While it was those private platforms that censored Hoft, Hines, and an untold number of other Americans, the class-action complaint establishes it was the government that initiated and pushed for that censorship, while hiding behind EIP and other organizations. And because EIP allegedly conspired with the government to silence the plaintiffs’ speech, the class-action lawsuit seeks to hold it liable too.
The defendants have some time before responding. When they do, they’ll likely seek to have the lawsuit tossed, arguing they aren’t the government and thus could not violate the First Amendment. The detailed allegations of collaboration with the government make it unlikely they will succeed on a motion to dismiss, however, which will mean the plaintiffs will be entitled to discovery — and that’s where we’ll likely see the real evidence of a conspiracy.
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.
Venezuelan and Haitian migrants wait to be registered at Canaan Membrillo village, the first border control of the Darien Province in Panama, on October 13, 2022. – The clandestine journey through the Darien Gap usually lasts five or six days at the mercy of all kinds of bad weather: snakes, swamps and drug traffickers who use these routes to take cocaine to Central America. | LUIS ACOSTA/AFP via Getty Images
A growing number of Chinese migrants are journeying through a dangerous mountain jungle in Necoclí, Colombia, an area that has become a “breeding ground” for illegal migration, drug trafficking, rapes and robberies to get to the United States, according to a recent report. Chinese migrants now comprise the fourth-largest people group making the trek through 66 miles of the Darién Gap, a region between the borders of Colombia and Panama, to reach the U.S.-Mexico border. Unlike the incalculable number of migrants from countries like Haiti, Venezuela, Cuba, Indonesia and elsewhere, the Chinese migrants have money, a lot of money, and stay in luxury hotels.
“That’s one of the big changes that we’re seeing now,” said Newsmax war correspondent Chuck Holton in an interview with Greta Van Susteren during her recent trip to Panama to investigate the U.S. border crisis and surge in illegal immigration.
“There are a tremendous number of Chinese coming through that we haven’t seen until recently,” Holton said. “They’re now the fourth-largest group of people coming through the Darién Gap. That’s very strange because the majority of the people you see here are destitute. … The people coming from China pay up to $30,000 a person for the same crossing. They have tons of money, and they’re staying in luxury hotels and they have iPhones.
“Some of them tell me that it’s because of the extreme COVID measures in China. They just can’t take being welded inside their house anymore,” he added. “But talking to some of the merchants here … they have told me that many of the Chinese were prisoners” sent away with money.
According to Holton, in Panama, many of the Chinese are indentured servants who get their money from the Chinese mafia. Once they reach Panama or wherever else the mafia wants them to go, they work for the rest of their life to pay off their debts. “So, it looks like they have a lot of money, but in reality, that money is debt that they have taken on to get here,” he added.
In April, the Biden administration, alongside government officials representing Panama and Colombia, announced a campaign to end the illegal movement of goods and people through the Darién Gap and into the United States. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Panamanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Janaina Tewaney and Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs Álvaro Leyva Durán led the delegation in Panama City.
Holden elaborated on the government officials’ plans to close for 60 days the part of the Darién Gap migrants have been trekking through. The war correspondent noted that the area is a jungle, and many migrants can work around this plan by journeying through a different part of it.
While some migrants opt to stay in Ecuador, Holden said the reason most migrants are choosing to cross the border now is because they’ve heard from people they know who live in the U.S. that entering the country and finding a job will be easy. The correspondent also speculated that with Title 42 set to expire on May 11, that is another reason why many migrants are heading to the U.S. border.
In October, the Biden administration used Title 42 to remove most Venezuelan asylum seekers from the U.S. While the Department of Homeland Security policy gave some Venezuelans a pathway to stay in the U.S., others were ordered to remain in Mexico until their asylum claims were heard.
According to Voice of America, there were nearly 90,000 illegal crossings through the Darién Gap in the first three months of 2023. Holden, who started reporting on the issue in 2012, noted that at the time, 45,000 people attempted to use the route. Last year, however, that number reached nearly 250,000.
One group that takes advantage of the flow of migrants, Holden added, is drug traffickers. These traffickers disguise themselves as migrants seeking asylum and carry backpacks full of cocaine. In October, the Panamanian news outlet Nex Noticias reported that authorities had arrested over a dozen people in Darién for their involvement in drug trafficking.
“I think it’s very instructive to Americans to understand what a gap there is in our thinking, in our way of life and what our expectations are from life and what theirs are,” he said. “Because so many people you talk to here, you ask them about facing the dangers of the Darién Gap, and they say it can’t be any harder than where I just came from. It can’t be any harder than living in Haiti or living in Venezuela or Cuba. And they are inured to that kind of hardship.”
According to VOA, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol reported that 4,366 migrants from China encountered border agents from October 2022 to February 2023 after illegally crossing the southern border.
You would think with all the money Hunter and the Bidens made from selling influence to China, they could afford child support for his daughter Navy Joan.
A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including NewsMax, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Rep. Devin Nunes, Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Chris Salcedo, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and Presiden
A far-left transgender reporter was mocked and ridiculed after she inadvertently proved critics of Chelsea Clinton right after she criticized restrictions on controversial LGBTQ books in public schools. Clinton waded into the contentious debate over inappropriate books about gender and sexuality in libraries meant for children, and a reporter from Media Matters for America came to her rescue.
“Over 50% of the attempted book bans last year involved books with LGBTQ+ characters & themes. Books are a vital way that children, adolescents and adults learn about themselves and our world. Bans such as these are nothing but harmful,” Clinton tweeted with an article about the book restrictions.
Over 50% of the attempted book bans last year involved books with LGBTQ+ characters & themes. Books are a vital way that children, adolescents and adults learn about themselves and our world. Bans such as these are nothing but harmful: https://t.co/eblRSU7tZk
In the thumbnail of the image was prominently displayed a controversial book entitled, “Gender Queer,” a book that has been targeted by those opposing inappropriate LGBTQ books for children. The book is described in the NBC News article as a chronicle of “nonbinary author Maia Kobabe’s journey of self-identity,” but it doesn’t mention a very graphic scene of oral sex in the book, a graphic novel.
The article does quote Kobabe as saying that the book’s message is “vital” and “lifesaving” for some children, even though Kobabe admits that some parts are not appropriate for grade school children. When Clinton was called out by Seth Dillon of the Babylon Bee, the Media Matters LGBTQ director reflexively defended her.
“Chelsea Clinton has come out in favor of porn for kids,” tweeted Dillon.
“Weird way to tell us you’re yanking it to children’s books, Seth,” responded Ari Drennen.
Dillon then posted a page of the very graphic sexual imagery from the book that Chelsea Clinton was supporting, and Drennen called it out for what it was.
“Imagine how sick and depraved you have to be to call this a children’s book,” replied Dillon.
“Hey Seth I think you meant this for my DMs, you just sent me an unsolicited drawing of a blowjob,” Drennen tweeted.
“So, your position is that you’re sexually harassing another man and you think *that* will go over better with your audience? Stop sending me this stuff Seth, it’s creepy,” Drennen said in another tweet.
In 2021, the book was targeted by critics after it was found at the library of the Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia. The author defended the book by citing ancient Greek poetry and pottery art.
Here’s more about the LGBTQ book controversy:
11-Year-Old SILENCES School Board As He Reads From DISTURBING Book Found In School Library www.youtube.com
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
PATRICK PLEUL / Contributor, Astrid Stawiarz / Stringer | Getty Images
Bill Maher is the Dr. Fauci of the “woke mind virus.”
For more than two decades, Maher’s HBO laboratory, “Real Time,” sponsored the gain-of-function research that led to the nationwide outbreak of the woke mindset and its primary variant, critical race theory.
While building a brand as the most virtuous, Barack Obama-supporting white liberal in America, Maher hosted panel discussions featuring all the properly credentialed racial, climate, and feminist scientists elite academia produced.
Maher’s lab thumbed its nose at the working class, preferring multimillionaire Michael Moore’s perspective on people living check to check. When Donald Trump rose to power speaking directly to and for the very people Maher and elites ignored, the liberal comedian told his audience to wear a MAGA-canceling mask and watch MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes as a vaccine and booster.
Maher created the religion of woke. It’s disconcerting watching him disavow and distance himself from the virus his lab leaked with countless batsh*t conversations.
This past Friday, Maher interviewed billionaire serial entrepreneur Elon Musk on “Real Time.” The gist of their exchange dealt with the now-obvious danger of the woke mind virus. Maher, the creator of it, has spent much of the last two years positioning himself as a woke whistleblower. He relentlessly attacks the woke without ever addressing his lab’s role in spreading the virus.
Maher’s Friday show highlighted a level of cognitive dissonance that is well beneath his intellect. It’s quite similar to the cognitive dissonance displayed by Fauci and others when they continue to promote Big Pharma’s experimental medical trials, aka vaccines.
Let me be clear. I like Bill Maher. I’ve watched his HBO show for years. I appreciate that he criticizes the woke. I’m just disappointed he won’t discuss the root cause of wokeness. Elon Musk gave Maher every opportunity to address the root cause when, at the behest of Maher, Musk defined the woke mind virus.
“I think we have to be very cautious about anything that is anti-meritocratic and anything that results in the suppression of free speech,” Musk said. “Those are two aspects of the woke mind virus that I think are very dangerous.”
Musk, the new owner of Twitter, explained that Americans must be vigilant in their protection of free speech, especially speech we do not like.
What is Donald Trump’s primary sin? Publicly stating things people find inappropriate or do not want to hear. Trump’s oral and written behavior justified banning him from all social media platforms. That’s a woke mindset. The woke desperately try to control what people think and say. They’re quicker to forgive violent criminal behavior than a thought crime.
Maher’s Trump derangement made him an ally and supporter of the enemies of the First Amendment.
A little later in the interview, Musk told a story about a friend’s high school daughter who knew next to nothing about the accomplishments of George Washington. All she knew about the first president was that he owned slaves.
“The amount of indoctrination that’s happening in schools and universities is far beyond what parents realize,” Musk complained. “I came to realize this somewhat late. The experience we had in high school and college is not the experience that kids today are having, and it hasn’t been for 10 years, maybe 20 years.”
Those same indoctrination tactics are played out across corporate media. Donald Trump has been reduced to his irreverent and inappropriate tweets. Like George Washington, Trump has been reduced to his bad behavior. There’s virtually no discussion of his policies and what they produced or intended to produce.
I like Trump because of his America First agenda, a pledge and a set of policies designed to bring manufacturing jobs back to America. My parents were check-to-check union factory workers. When I hear the slogan “Make America Great Again,” that’s what I think of and desire.
President Joe Biden – at least publicly – is relatively well behaved. He doesn’t say or tweet mean things. That’s nice. But I’m frustrated with what his policies and agenda produce.
Biden’s obsession with racial, gender, and sexual identity produces an attack on free speech and a merit-based work culture. Democrats are the leaders promoting censorship and limiting free speech. Democrats are the leaders naming vice presidents, press secretaries, supreme court justices, secretaries of transportation, and assistant secretaries of health based on race, sexual orientation, and gender ideology.
Kamala Harris, Karine Jean-Pierre, Kentanji Brown Jackson, Pete Buttigieg, and Rachel Levine didn’t earn their positions. They were installed to make a statement about how virtuous Biden and Democrats are.
It’s a level of narcissism that far exceeds Trump’s. The American agenda takes a back seat to Biden’s reputation and the Democratic Party brand.
The woke mind is narcissistic. It prioritizes itself above country. Maher can see it in Trump. Maher can’t see it in himself or apparently any leftist.
Maher should watch his Friday show. In his opening monologue, he cracked a joke about Joe Biden’s intention to run for president again in 2024.
“Elections are all about getting your base excited,” Maher said. “[Biden] made the announcement in drag, wearing a mask, and drinking a Bud Light.”
According to Maher, Biden’s base is drag queens, wimps afraid of COVID, and transgenders such as Dylan Mulvaney, the 26-year-old trans actor Biden and Bud Light have been promoting.
Biden’s agenda and policies are catering to his base. And you wonder why the MAGA movement won’t go away?
MAGA is the woke vaccine. Bill Maher and the rest of the elite establishment – Democrats and Republicans – are the real anti-vaxxers. They’re uniparty. They hate the working class or anyone willing to challenge their authority.
Following revelations that he allegedly lied under oath to Congress, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is facing calls from Senate Republicans to turn over communication records related to Hunter Biden and his shady business engagements.
On Monday, Republican Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Chuck Grassley of Iowa sent a letter to Blinken demanding that he turn over any and all records “referring or relating to Hunter Biden, his business dealings, or his family’s business dealings” by May 15. The request comes as part of Senate Republicans’ investigation into the Biden family’s foreign business ventures.
In the letter, Johnson and Grassley document a series of emails revealing how Blinken seemingly lied under oath about his prior communications with Hunter. While testifying before Congress on Dec. 22, 2020, Blinken was asked if he had any means of correspondence —including phone calls, emails, or texts — with Hunter Biden during his time as President Barack Obama’s deputy secretary of state, to which Blinken replied, “No.”
Emails from Hunter’s laptop, however, appear to contradict Blinken’s December 2020 testimony. As documented in the Johnson-Grassley letter, Hunter emailed Blinken at his personal email address on May 22, 2015, asking if the then-deputy secretary of state was available to meet.
“I know you are impossibly busy but would like to get your advice on a couple of things,” Hunter wrote, to which Blinken replied, “Absolutely.”
Blinken sent another email to Hunter a few months later on July 22, indicating the two met in person.
“Great to… see you and catch up,” Blinken wrote. “You will love this: after you left, Marjorie, the wonderful african american woman who sits in my outer office (and used to be Colin Powell’s assistant) said to me :’He sure is pleasant on the eyes.’ Tell you wife.”
The Johnson-Grassley letter also raises questions regarding Blinken’s knowledge of Hunter’s role as a Burisma Holdings board member. Burisma Holdings is a Ukrainian gas company that paid Hunter $50,000 a month despite the president’s son having no prior energy experience. Joe Biden has claimed that while vice president, he threatened to withdraw U.S. aid if then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko “didn’t fire state prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma at the time.”
Despite Blinken claiming to have no knowledge of Hunter’s Burisma ties during his December 2020 testimony, emails from Hunter’s laptop reveal that Blinken’s wife, Evan Ryan, “corresponded directly with Hunter Biden (from her personal email address) in an apparent attempt to connect [Blinken] with representatives of Burisma’s U.S. lobbying firm, Blue Star Strategies.”
In what appears to be an email chain dated July 14, 2016, Hunter informed Ryan that “S” and “K” — who appear to be Sally Painter and Karen Tramontano, Blue Star Strategies’ Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer — told him “they called the State Department and left a message.” In her email to Hunter, Ryan appeared to reference Blinken, writing “He didn’t get the msg” and “He said if we can get him their numbers he can call them late afternoon DC time tmrw.”
While this specific email exchange doesn’t name Blinken, Johnson and Grassley noted that State Department documents obtained during their inquiry “make it clear that [Blinken was] concurrently trying to connect with representatives from Blue Star Strategies.”
“It seems highly unlikely that you had no idea of Hunter Biden’s association with Burisma while your wife was apparently coordinating with Hunter Biden to potentially connect you with Burisma’s U.S. representatives,” Johnson and Grassley wrote. “Because your testimony is inaccurate, Congress and the public must rely on your records as the source for information about your dealings with Hunter Biden.”
These revelations follow testimony from an ex-CIA official, who claimed that Blinken, during his time as a Biden campaign adviser, was the catalyst for the creation of a debunked letter from former intelligence officials that falsely claimed the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation.
Shawn Fleetwood is a Staff Writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
The concerted effort by the media and Democrats to delegitimize the Supreme Court is the most consequential attack on our institutions in memory. Make no mistake. Today’s “Supreme Court Ethics Reform” hearing is meant to discredit the high court and slander justices with innuendo. Nothing else. Democrats are angry because the court happens to occasionally uphold basic constitutional principles of American governance. Democrats are nervous that originalist justices are going to weaken the administrative state or hand power back to localities or protect religious liberty or gun rights.
The recent hit pieces on Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuchwere shoddy and transparently partisan. They did not uncover any conflict of interest nor corruption. They exist to give politicians fodder and hackish outlets like The Washington Post the freedom to contend that the Senate is “consider[ing] strengthening ethics rules for the Supreme Court in response to a cascade of revelations about unreported lavish travel and real estate deals.”
Most Post readers will, no doubt, be unaware that there has been no “unreported” lavish travel or real estate deals. There is one amended note in a financial disclosure by Thomas — who had no ethical or legal obligation to check in with Democrats whenever he travels. In Politico’s Gorsuch hit, the reporter didn’t even know how to read a basic disclosure form. Everything, including a real estate deal that Gorsuch was allegedly attempting to conceal, was reported.
The fact that the same histrionic coverage did not accompany Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s amended financial disclosures in 2022 nor Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s amended financial disclosures in 2021 nor Justice Stephen Breyer’s long-term travel arrangements, which were often reimbursed by the wealthy Pritzker family, is no accident.
The committee chair, Dick Durbin, contends he merely wants the justices to abide by the ethics rules that Congress has drafted for itself. If they did, it would mean a complete degradation of standards in the court.
Because while there has not been a scintilla of evidence offered by anyone that the originalist justices have altered their judicial philosophy or approach for personal benefit, one could not say that same thing about the leader of the delegitimization effort, Durbin, who, according to a 2014 Chicago Tribune investigation, used his office and power to help enrich his lobbyist wife:
Among the areas of overlap in the Durbins’ careers: her firm getting a one-year contract with a housing nonprofit group around the time the senator went to bat for the organization and others like it; a state university receiving funds earmarked by Durbin when his wife was its lobbyist; and Durbin arranging federal money for a public health nonprofit when his wife was seeking state support for the same group.
Durbin did not pay a fine or face any repercussions for this conflict of interest. Then again, do you know how many officials the Senate Select Committee on Ethics has issued disciplinary sanctions to since 2007? Zero.
Not Judiciary Committee member Dianne Feinstein, whose husband Richard Blum, an investment banker, made some amazingly prescient trades in the biotech sector during Covid-19.
Not Judiciary Committee member Richard Blumenthal, D-Stolen Valor, and his wife, who happened to trade shares of Robinhood before calling for an investigation and then lie, not surprisingly, about the family’s significant stock ownership.
Not Judiciary Committee member Sheldon Whitehouse, who not only traded health care stock through his and his family’s accounts while pushing to pass a medical bill directly related to that sector but also used his seat to prop up a green energy concern that supported his campaign.
Nor Judiciary Committee member Peter Welch, who was buying stock in a German coronavirus test producer after hearing intelligence briefings on the matter.
Nor Durbin himself, who unloaded investments right after a private meeting with the then-Treasury secretary and Federal Reserve chairman during the 2008 financial collapse.
Remember that Durbin has been a central figure in the corroding Senate decorum and public confidence in the court for decades. In 2003, for the first time in history, a filibuster was used to stop an appeals-court nomination. Miguel Estrada, a talented Honduran immigrant, was targeted for much the same reason Democrats have targeted Thomas: he refused to adhere to the left’s stereotypes. We know this because in leaked memos from Durbin’s office, Estrada is identified “as especially dangerous, because he has a minimal paper trail, he is Latino, and the White House seems to be grooming him for a Supreme Court appointment.”
Durbin supported Harry Reid’s efforts to get rid of the judicial filibuster. When it was gone, he demanded Republicans rubber stamp left-wing nominees. When unable to stop appointments with votes, Durbin engaged in ugly smear campaigns.
In 2017, it was Durbin who asked Amy Coney Barrett to answer for her Catholicism. The implication, of course, was that orthodox Catholics are unable to uphold the law. In 2020, he would announce his “no” vote on Coney Barrett’s SCOTUS nomination before ever meeting with her. During the Brett Kavanagh hearings, Durbin did his best to portray the nominee as a gang rapist.
After years of slandering members of the court for the purpose of delegitimizing them, Democrats will bring up the fact that the polls show a diminishing trust in the Supreme Court as if it happened in a vacuum or as if they did not intend for this to happen. This is their doing. They are the ones creating the perception of corruption where there is none. And why? Because the Constitution is a hindrance to their agenda. It’s that simple.
Durbin tried to get Chief Justice Roberts to participate in his partisan clown show, claiming it was time “for Congress to accept its responsibility to establish an enforceable code of ethics for the Supreme Court, the only agency of our government without it.” The Supreme Court is an equal branch of the government, not an agency for Durbin to bully. And, outside of impeaching someone, Congress has no power to dictate how it conducts business. If anything, Congress should be looking to the justices to learn how to act decently.
David Harsanyi is a senior editor at The Federalist, a nationally syndicated columnist, a Happy Warrior columnist at National Review, and author of five books—the most recent, Eurotrash: Why America Must Reject the Failed Ideas of a Dying Continent. He has appeared on Fox News, C-SPAN, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, ABC World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News and radio talk shows across the country. Follow him on Twitter, @davidharsanyi.
FIRST ON FOX:President Biden and his deputy chief of staff held a meeting with three of Hunter Biden’s business associates, at least one of whom was a foreign national, at the White House in the summer of 2011 when he was vice president, according to emails and White House visitor logs reviewed by Fox News Digital.
At the time of the meeting, Hunter was trying to secure a deal with those associates in bonds worth billions of dollars.
In June 2011, Hunter Biden and his business partner, Rosemont Seneca Partners (RSP) co-founder Devon Archer, were in talks with Sean Conlon, the future CNBC “The Deed” co-host and founder of Conlon & Co., about a potentially lucrative business opportunity if Hunter would be able to secure a meeting between his father and two of Conlon’s associates, Andre Lasserre and “Wang,” who is identified as Xi Wang in the visitor logs.
Earlier, energy executive David Gamperl had emailed Conlon a contract that was sent to him by Nagi Ghawi, chairman/president of since-dissolved Mercantile Investment Group in the West Indies, which Gamperl said had “a real business model here” and would help them make a “substantial profit.”
“Here is the current contract,” Gamperl told Conlon on June 22, 2011. “Proof of funds are in place and we may close this week. It has been a challenge in the management of procedures but I think we have it now. We will make substantial profit on this deal but market is between $230 to $380 million. I’m trying to close this bond immediately, as it opens up the flood gates on 29 other bonds that have less hair and much more value. I will also forward you copy of bond and verification from the perito (who is a government official who inspects the authenticity of the bond). Good stuff and I think we have a real business model here.”
On June 22, 2011, energy executive David Gamperl emailed Conlon a contract that was sent to him by Nagi Ghawi, president of since-dissolved Mercantile Investment Group, which Gamperl said would help them make a “substantial profit.” (Fox News Digital)
On June 22, 2011, Sean Conlon forwarded an email to Hunter Biden and Devon Archer “affirming the validity of the bond and his original report.” David Gamperl told Conlon they are “buttoned up” with this report. (Fox News Digital)
Despite forwarding this email to Hunter Biden and Devon Archer, Conlon said, “I know Absolutely nothing about that” in a Monday email to Fox News Digital. He did not respond to any of Fox News Digital’s other questions.
Conlon then forwarded Gamperl’s email to Hunter and Archer, writing, “This is why I am putting up with this carnival! We need to put our heads together on this.”
Later that morning, Ghawi emailed Conlon an “RSP – Mercantile Oil & Gas Corporation Proposal,” and appeared to suggest that a meeting with the vice president or his chief of staff would have to occur “ASAP” in order to access additional bonds worth billions of dollars through their “Andre Lasserre connection.”
Nagi Ghawi emailed Sean Conlon an “RSP – Mercantile Oil & Gas Corporation Proposal,” and he said a meeting with Vice President Joe Biden or his chief of staff would have to occur “ASAP” in order to access additional bonds worth billions of dollars.” (Fox News Digital)
“I would like to confirm that I accept this letter of engagement based on 7% fees + 3% fees as a bonus if the first structured instrument (LTN) is executed within 60 days,” Ghawi wrote to Conlon. “This fee should cover all intermediaries’ fee and any additional fee should come out from this one. We have access through Andre Lasserre connection to at least 10 LTN’s but if we do not perform on the said meeting ASAP, we may not be in a position to have those LTN’s at our disposal.”
The next day, on June 23, 2011, Conlon forwarded Ghawi’s email to Hunter and wrote, “Ok see below. Need to discuss.”
“Ok- what do we need to do moving forward?” Hunter asked.
“I will discuss,” Conlon replied. “I got letter. I need email about event and a promise about meeting next week.”
Minutes later, Conlon told Hunter that they had an engagement letter from Mercantile Investment, and that the company was stipulating that then-Vice President Biden had to “formally meet” with “these guys,” presumably Lasserre and Wang, in order for “more bonds to move.”
Sean Conlon of CNBC’s New Primetime Original Series “The Deed: Chicago” visits at NASDAQ on March 29, 2017, in New York City. (Photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images)
Sean Conlon of CNBC’s New Primetime Original Series “The Deed: Chicago” visits at NASDAQ on March 29, 2017, in New York City. (Photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images)
In a Tuesday email to Fox News Digital, Ghawi said he “asked Mr. Sean Conlon and Mr. David Gamperl as I knew them from Chicago, to organize a meeting with the VP Biden or President Obama,” claiming it was “in their role as representative of the United States of America and not in their personal capacity.”
“Mr. Sean Conlon and Mr. David Gamperl have good relation [sic] with Hunter Biden so it was easier for them to organize a meeting with the VP Biden,” he added.
“So, we have engagement letter if they get other 10 bonds they have a face value of 10b,” Conlon wrote in the June 2011 email. “While it is far fetched Devon said he talked to his professor and these get traded. We get 10% in fees. We need to get these guys to an event or something where they get to just formally meet your Dad. For follow on they can talk to Chief of Staff. Let me know how soon we can do that. [Very] brief. If Nagi gets that done we get more bonds to move.”
A few hours later, Gamperl emailed Conlon, Ghawi and Conlon’s business associate, Benjie Burford, saying, “the face value is over $21 billion, as each bond is worth over $2.1 billion (this could vary as it depends on each bonds series, etc…)”
On June 23, 2011, Sean Conlon told Hunter Biden that they had an engagement letter from Mercantile Investment, and that the company was stipulating that then-Vice President Biden had to “formally meet” with “these guys” in order for “more bonds to move.” (Fox News Digital)
“We can employ a couple of different strategies in generating profits, which would yield revenue of 22% to par of the face value,” Gamperl wrote. “A joint venture with a potential buyer is one likely methodology to which we would work together with a partner in achieving the highest value over a period of time. The other concept would be to sell a couple of bonds at a high discount and then deploy political capital and invest approximately $2 million per bond to provide full value to the bond.”
Conlon then forwarded Gamperl’s email to Hunter and Archer. At first, Hunter bristled at the suggestion that he set up a meeting between the men and his father, but that demeanor quickly changed when he offered to meet with them himself.
“WTF is he talking about. Mtg with JRB chief of staff????” Hunter said, replying to just Archer.
“I guess,” Archer responded. “I don’t think he understands how this works. I will advise him to stand down.”
“Tell him I’ll do the mtg,” Hunter said.
“Roger that,” Archer replied.
At first, Hunter bristled at the suggestion that he set up a meeting with Wang, Lasserre and his father. But that demeanor quickly changed when he offered to meet with them himself in a June 23, 2011 email. (Fox News Digital)
Responding to Conlon and Hunter, Archer said, “I can’t say this isn’t interesting. Still find it difficult to imagine working out but I’m in!”
“No, I agree,” Conlon wrote to Hunter and Archer. “I ignored them first few times they were introduced to me. Then my friend was holding the first Bond at his bank and he called me to verify it is real. Now that doesn’t mean we can get them sold but its a free look. I guess all we need to figure is a 5 min introduction not a meeting in the next week otherwise the guy who flew over from Paris for event in Chicago will not provide the rest of bonds as he is sulking!”
US President Joe Biden’s sister Valerie Biden (R), and son Hunter Biden (L), board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on April 11, 2023. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Later that morning, Ghawi sent an email to Conlon informing him that Lasserre and Wang were currently in Washington, D.C., and that it was “extremely crucial and extremely urgent” to set up a meeting with them and “the Chief of Staff or VP or Both.”
“Andre and Wang are in Washington this afternoon and tomorrow meeting the world bank representative for Latin America,” Ghawi wrote. “It is extremely crucial and extremely urgent to have meeting setup either late today or tomorrow morning with the Chief of Staff or VP or Both. This is the only possible outcome possible for all of us. Let us have a conference call to manage this.”
Conlon then forwarded Ghawi’s email, and minutes later, Hunter fired back saying there wasn’t a “chance in hell” for such a meeting on such short notice. In the email, Hunter appeared to refer to at least one of the men as being a “foreign national.”
Sean Conlon forwarded Nagi Ghawi’s email, and minutes later, Hunter Biden fired back saying there wasn’t a “chance in hell” for such a meeting on such short notice. In the email, Hunter appeared to refer to at least one of the men as being a “foreign national.” (Fox News Digital)
“Sorry buddy not a chance in hell either is happening,” Hunter wrote. “Give me more then hours notice then maybe- but they are in middle of debt ceiling negotiations (I.e. Fate of world economy), defending ‘Biden Afghanistan Policy’ and whatever else. Beyond thy anyone who enters WH for a meeting has to be vetted by Secret Service and WH legal team which typically takes about one week- longer for a foreign national. I can meet with them myself but the other is not happening.”
“Hey fair answer,” Conlon replied. “I am sitting in tuscany with Devon.! I will formally organize thru u. Enjoy your weekend.”
Robert Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden at Carlingford Castle, Co Louth, during his trip to the island of Ireland. on Wednesday April 12, 2023. (Photo by Brian Lawless/PA Images via Getty Images)
In the following days, Hunter and Gamperl emailed back and forth ahead of their meeting on June 26, 2011, at “Al Grocery 12 20 Long beach.” It appears they may have had a phone call the day prior to the meeting, and on June 28, Gamperl said, “please let me know if you can talk this afternoon or when? I would like to provide an update to Andre and Nagi.”
In the following days, Hunter Biden and David Gamperl emailed back and forth ahead of their meeting on June 26, 2011, at “Al Grocery 12 20 Long beach.” (Fox News Digital)
A week after Gamperl’s meeting with Hunter, Gamperl met with Alan Hoffman, who was Vice President Biden’s deputy chief of staff, on July 3, 2011, at an unknown location. Lasserre appears to have been present at the meeting also. In the days leading up to the meeting, Gamperl appeared to panic because Conlon allegedly told him he was “concerned that I may not have passed the vet test, I think he is kidding…. Might we have confirmation for Sunday’s meeting?”
Hunter replied that he was “working out the details.” The next day, Hunter told Gamperl he was “cc’d with Alan Hoffman” and to coordinate with him.
“We are set. Thank you,” Gamperl responded.
After David Gamperl’s meeting with Hunter Biden, Gamperl met with Alan Hoffman, who was Vice President Biden’s deputy chief of staff, on July 3, 2011 at an undisclosed location. In the days leading up to the meeting, Gamperl appeared to panic because Sean Conlon allegedly told him he was “concerned that I may not have passed the vet test.” (Fox News Digital)
A little over three weeks later on July 27, 2011, Hoffman met with Gamperl, Wang and Lasserre at the Old Executive Office Building (OEOB), according to White House visitor logs. The three business associates were at OEOB for about 30 minutes, arriving shortly before 5 p.m. and leaving shortly before 5:30 p.m., according to the logs, despite Conlon saying they only needed a “5 min introduction.”
Despite emphasizing the importance of the White House meeting in emails, Ghawi claimed the “discussion that occurred in the White House I was not informed nor I was briefed.” He also claimed, “No business and no transaction was done with Mr. Hunter Biden, nor the VP Biden” even though the emails talk about “substantial profit” and how a brief meeting with then-Vice President Biden and his top aide could help them move bonds.
About a year later, on July 30, 2012, Conor McKay, then-special assistant to Biden’s chief of staff, appeared to reference the meeting in an email to Hoffman and White House intern Sam Cohen saying he received a call from Ghawi seeking a follow-up.
“This guy just called back – his name is Nagi Ghawi, and he is the assistant for Mr. Andre Lasserre and a Mr. Wang,” McKay wrote. “You and the VP met with them at the White House last year? He said he has a message for you as a follow up to that meeting, and would like to talk to you about it.”
“He also said that if you have time while you are in Chicago that you could try to meet in person,” McKay added.
On July 30, 2012, Conor McKay, then-special assistant to Biden’s chief of staff, appeared to confirm the meeting with Joe Biden in an email to Alan Hoffman, who was Vice President Biden’s deputy chief of staff, and White House intern Sam Cohen saying he received a call from Nagi Ghawi seeking a follow-up. (Fox News Digital)
An intern who initially took the call said in the same email chain that Ghawi “said you’d met them at the White House last year and he wanted to send you a text with info you needed for the VP.”
Hoffman forwarded McKay’s email to Hunter, adding, “This is the guy with the magic paper that you had me meet with.” It is unclear whether he is talking about Ghawi or one of the other associates mentioned in the email who visited the White House in July 2011.
Ghawi told Fox News Digital he reached out to the White House a year after the meeting as a “follow up on the meeting on the request of the President of the KUNLUN Family Mr. Xi Wang in order to know if the representative of United States of America in this case VP Biden reached a decision.” He did not clarify what that “decision” refers to.
“Never heard back of the decision all the people involved went radio silence,” he added.
“My Role in this matter was a coordinator for the President of the KUNLUN Family Mr. Xi Wang and Mr. Andre Lasserre,” Ghawi continued, providing a website that included zero references to what was discussed in the emails. “The purpose of the meeting was a humanitarian meeting involving the KUNLUN Family with the representative of United States of America. I enclose the official website of the KUNLUN Family.”
When pressed for clarification regarding the discrepancy between his explanation and the content of the emails, Ghawi did not immediately respond.
The White House, Hunter’s lawyer, Gamperl, McKay, and Hoffman did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment. It is unclear whether Hunter Biden and now-President Biden profited off the meeting.
U.S. President Joe Biden (L) and his son Hunter Biden (2nd L) attend the annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House on April 10, 2023, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Paul Kamenar, counsel to the National Legal and Policy Center NLPC), told Fox News Digital that the news could mean additional alleged violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), for which Hunter is currently being investigated in relation to his business dealings in Ukraine, China and others.
“If this person or persons met with Biden at the behest of his son, Hunter, and Hunter somehow was being paid directly or indirectly to arrange that meeting, then we would argue that, yes, he would have to register as a foreign agent of that foreign entity,” Kamenar said.
He said the emails provide “additional evidence to how the most serious charges of foreign agents registration problems are looming and need to be addressed.”
“It strains credulity to think that his dad is totally clueless of what his son’s up to,” he added.
U.S. President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden (L) attend the annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House on April 10, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
President Biden has repeatedly insisted he had no knowledge of son Hunter’s business dealings, despite meeting with over a dozen of his son’s business associates over the course of his vice presidency.
“I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings,” Biden said to Fox News reporter Peter Doocy as he jabbed his finger in his face on the campaign trail in Iowa in 2019. “You should be looking at Trump. Trump’s doing this because he knows I’ll beat him like a drum. … Everybody’s looked at it and said there’s nothing there. Ask the right question.”
“I don’t discuss business with my son,”Biden said again a month later in October 2019.
Fox News Digital reported last month that four business partners, a vice president and two assistants at Hunter’s now-defunct investment firm Rosemont Seneca Partners visited the White House more than 80 times when his father was vice president in the Obama administration.
Fox News’ Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this report.
Cameron Cawthorne is a politics editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Cameron.Cawthorne@Fox.com and on Twitter: @cam_cawthorne
Megyn Kelly is warning Tucker Carlson that Fox News’ head of public relations is running “an orchestrated hit job” to smear him. Kelly, a former Fox host, took to her podcast and said Fox’s PR department is working overtime to stop Carlson’s future employment and keep his 3.5 million viewers from following him to a new network.
“This is all an orchestrated hit job, in my opinion, and it’s not a subtle one,” Kelly claimed on Monday night’s “The Megyn Kelly Show.”
“It’s not enough to fire you,” Kelly said on her highly rated podcast.
“You must be destroyed, and it doesn’t matter how nice a guy you were, how many points you put on the board for the channel, that you brought us through the Trump years, that you were No. 1 in your time slot, that you haven’t said one negative word about us.”
Kelly laid the blame not at the feet of the company’s controlling shareholders, the Murdoch family, but Fox’s notorious public relations department headed by Irena Briganti, the network’s senior vice president for communication.
“You will be destroyed to settle some angry, bitter internal PR hack’s personal vendetta against you,” Kelly said. “And, if she managed to convince the bosses, the Murdochs, that he’s not good for them either, that he may have called them a name or two: So much the better.
“That’s what I think’s going on here.”
Carlson has already been hit with a barrage of leaks to tarnish his image, including a report in Fox’s sister company newspaper The Wall Street Journal claiming he was abusive and used crude language with his colleagues.
Another leak included a studio video of Carlson badmouthing Fox Nation, blasting the company for making them work “like animals” for an online product that “nobody watches” because the “site sucks.”
Kelly said she believes the leak of the video somewhat critical of their own network’s offering is clever, since it signals to future employers, including its fiercest rival Newsmax: “So, you see: He’s a hassle; he’s a difficult employee; he’s not a team player; he rips on you from the inside.”
Kelly added Fox’s smear campaign comes as its “basement, toilet numbers” have the network fearing another destination might not only get Carlson back in primetime but get all his 3.5 million viewers with him.
Kelly was once a Fox News prime-time host, still has contacts at the network, and now shares a lawyer with Carlson, Bryan Freedman. Reportedly Freedman is representing Carlson as the host negotiates the settlement of the remaining years on his Fox contract.
Kelly said it is getting ugly for Carlson because viewers are clearly fleeing the network, especially for Newsmax.
“It’s not going well for Fox News at 8 p.m., at all, which is the understatement of the year,” Kelly said.
Earlier in the show, Kelly suggested she knew the nexus of the anti-Carlson campaign at Fox News.
“So, they first leaked to The New York Times: This is my supposition, for the record, because it hasn’t been yet confirmed, but I know it’s them,” Kelly said.
“And I know it’s Irena Briganti, who runs coms and f*****g hates Tucker. Sorry. She hates his guts. And it’s mutual. He doesn’t like her, either. None of us do. Nobody likes Irena.”
Briganti has been one of the major executives to survive Roger Ailes leadership, as numerous women came forward to allege improprieties at the network only to find themselves being attacked in the press through “leaks.”
New York magazine reported shortly after Ailes 2016 ouster that “Fox anchors and producers live in fear of crossing Briganti, who is known for leaking damaging personal stories about Fox employees to journalists.
“Several Fox women told me that one of the reasons they did not speak up about sexual harassment in the past was that they were terrified Briganti would find out and smear them in the press,” New York magazine’s Gabriel Sherman wrote.
Newsmax reached out to Fox News’ Briganti via email for a request for comment but has not immediately heard back.
The Biden administration will send 1,500 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border ahead of an expected migrant surge following the end of coronavirus pandemic-era restrictions, a Pentagon spokesperson confirmed Tuesday.
“At the request of the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary [Lloyd] Austin approved a temporary Department of Defense (DoD) increase of an additional 1,500 military personnel to supplement U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) efforts on the U.S. Southwest Border,” Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement.
“For 90 days, these 1,500 military personnel will fill critical capability gaps, such as ground-based detection and monitoring, data entry, and warehouse support, until CBP can address these needs through contracted support. Military personnel will not directly participate in law enforcement activities. This deployment to the border is consistent with other forms of (?)”
It was unclear when the troops would be deployed.
The COVID-19 restrictions allowed U.S. officials to turn away tens of thousands of migrants crossing the southern border, but those restrictions will lift May 11, and border officials are bracing for an expected surge of migrants. Even amid the restrictions, the administration has seen record numbers of people crossing the border, and President Joe Biden has responded by cracking down on those who cross illegally and by creating new pathways meant to offer alternatives to a dangerous and often deadly journey.
Biden’s actions follow similar moves by then-President Donald Trump, who deployed active duty troops to the border to assist border patrol personnel in processing large migrant caravans, on top of National Guard forces that were already working in that capacity. There are already roughly 2,700 National Guard members at the border.
For Biden, a Democrat who announced his reelection campaign a week ago, the decision signals his administration is taking seriously an effort to tamp down the number of illegal crossings, a potent source of Republican attacks, and sends a message to potential border crossers not to attempt the journey. But it also draws potentially unwelcome comparisons to Biden’s Republican predecessor, whose policies Biden frequently criticized. Congress, meanwhile, has refused to take any substantial immigration-related actions.
It’s another line of defense in an effort to manage overcrowding and other possible issues that might arise as border officials move away from the COVID-19 restrictions. Last week, administration officials announced they would work to swiftly screen migrants seeking asylum at the border, quickly deport those deemed as not being qualified, and penalize people who cross illegally into the U.S. or illegally through another country on their way to the U.S. border.
They will also open centers outside the United States for people fleeing violence and poverty to apply to fly in legally and settle in the United States, Spain or Canada. The first processing centers will open in Guatemala and Colombia, with others expected to follow.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
President Joe Biden will not negotiate over the debt ceiling during his meeting with four top congressional leaders on May 9, though he does plan to discuss starting “a separate budget process” to talk about spending priorities, the White House said on Tuesday.
Biden on Monday summoned the four Senate and House of Representatives leaders — two fellow Democrats and two Republicans — to the White House next week, after the U.S. Treasury warned the government could run short of cash to pay its bills as soon as June 1.
“He is not going to negotiate on the debt ceiling,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. But the president “is willing to have a separate conversation about their spending, what they want to do with the budget.”
The debt limit was increased three times under Republican former President Donald Trump without an issue, she added.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is among those invited to the meeting, and plans ro attend. But on Tuesday, he also prodded Biden to be more flexible. He said Biden has a choice: Accept the bill passed by House of Representatives Republicans or negotiate a deal with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
McConnell also told reporters there is no solution to the debt ceiling problem in the Senate, while confirming he will attend the May 9 meeting.
History
The White House and Biden have previously asked Republicans for a clean debt ceiling hike and offered to discuss spending once the risk of default is off the table. Biden’s position to discuss spending reflects a subtle shift in the White House’s position to have discussions even as the risk of default looms.
Treasury’s June 1 estimate raised the risk that the United States could be headed into an unprecedented default that would shake the global economy, adding urgency to political calculations in Washington, where Democrats and Republicans were girding for a months-long standoff.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a letter to Congress that the agency will be unlikely to meet all U.S. government payment obligations “potentially as early as June 1” without action by Congress.
The White House knew Yellen’s letter would be released on Monday, Jean-Pierre said. The president thought it was a “good opportunity to remind Congressional leaders that we must not default,” she said.
Biden called Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Jerusalem, where he is on a diplomatic trip, to invite him to the May 9 White House meeting. The two leaders haven’t sat down to discuss the issue since February.
Jean-Pierre said “it is time for the speaker and the MAGA Republicans to stop the brinksmanship and act to prevent default.”
Biden also made calls to the minority leaders in the Senate and House, McConnell and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including NewsMax, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Rep. Devin Nunes, Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Chris Salcedo, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and Presiden
We all know what perverts like Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein think of young people. But did you know Bill Gates in among the sickest of the perverts in the land of leftists?
Several stories link Gates with Epstein, as do several mutual “friends,” or as I would call them, victims. Gates’ efforts in preserving eugenics is racist, infantile, and disturbing to say the least. Truly, I wasn’t sure Gates could do much worse than work towards “breeding the black” out of people. But I was wrong. This is definitely worse.
The evil on the left is so grotesque that those of us who have been smeared, defamed, libeled because of our opposition wear our ruin as a badge of honor. When the history books are written, we fought for the good against insurmountable evil.
Washington and California have both moved to allow state-sanctioned kidnapping to help confused kids transition
The UN says that minors can now consent to sex
Big Medicine advocates for genital mutilation of underage youth
Planned Parenthood ripped after approving ‘woke’ sex education
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donates millions annually to a nongovernmental organization which claims that children are born sexual and should learn about “commercial sex work” under 10 years of age.
The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) – a separate entity from the U.S. nonprofit – wields significant influence on global sex education. The NGO comprises 120 independent organizations in over 146 countries and has received – including its European network – over $80M from Gates. Other significant donors included the World Health Organization.
A toolkit released in 2017 showed an insight into how the NGO teaches sex education to children around the globe.
“Sexual activity may be part of different types of relationships, including dating, marriage or commercial sex work, among others,” IPPF said about children under 10 should be taught, which was first flagged by Nicole Solas of the Independent Women’s Forum.
Children under 10 should also be told “As you grow up, you might start to be interested in people with diverse gender identities,” the toolkit said. Bill Gates funded an organization which claimed children are born sexual.
The IPPF suggested in multiple instances that children are born sexual.
Children under 10 should be taught that “Sexuality is a part of you from the moment you are born. Your sexuality develops and changes throughout your life.”
“[S]ex positivity acknowledges that human beings, including adolescents and young people, are autonomous sexual beings.”
Sex educators, according to the NGO, should have an “Understanding of young people as sexual beings.”
A House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Wednesday will feature the testimony from a whistleblower who will warn lawmakers that the U.S. has become the “middleman” in a multi-billion dollar migrant child trafficking operation at the border.
The hearing, “The Biden Border Crisis: Exploitation of Unaccompanied Alien Children,” will be held by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security and Enforcement and will examine the surge in unaccompanied children (UACs) at the southern border.
According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics, the number of UACs who came to the border shot up from 33,239 in FY2020 to over 146,000 in FY 2021 and 152,000 in FY 2022. So far in FY 2023 there have been over 70,000 encounters of unaccompanied children.
When child migrants are encountered at the border, they are transferred into the custody of Health and Human Services (HHS) and then united with a sponsor — typically a parent or family member already in the U.S.
But the Biden administration has been rocked by a number of reports that officials have been unable to make contact with over 85,000 child migrants, and more recently that administration officials ignored signs of “explosive” growth in child labor. A number have been forced into indentured servitude to pay back smugglers and have worked in dire conditions.
Thank God for the Whistleblowers!
Otherwise, we might never know what our administration is willing to ignore.
The Wednesday hearing will hear from three witnesses: Tara Lee Rodas, a whistleblower and former employee at HHS; Sheena Rodriguez, founder and president of Alliance for a Safe Texas; and Jessica Vaughn, director of Policy Studies at the Center for Immigration Studies.
Rodas will warn of a problem that predates the administration, but that has increased significantly during the recent migrant crisis, according to a copy of her written testimony obtained by Fox News Digital.
“Today, children will work overnight shifts at slaughterhouses, factories, restaurants to pay their debts to smugglers and traffickers. Today, children will be sold for sex,” she will say. “Today, children will call a hotline to report they are being abused, neglected, and trafficked. For nearly a decade, unaccompanied children have been suffering in the shadows.”
She will talk about her volunteering at an emergency intake site in California to help HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) identify sponsors for minors who have come across the border.
“I thought I was going to help place children in loving homes. Instead, I discovered that children are being trafficked through a sophisticated network that begins with being recruited in their home country, smuggled to the U.S. border, and ends when ORR delivers a child to a sponsor – some sponsors are criminals and traffickers and members of Transnational Criminal Organizations. Some sponsors view children as commodities and assets to be used for earning income – this is why we are witnessing an explosion of labor trafficking,” she will say.
“Whether intentional or not, it can be argued that the U.S. Government has become the middleman in a large scale, multi-billion-dollar, child trafficking operation run by bad actors seeking to profit off the lives of children.”
These are real-life, modern day stories, happening right here, right now, under OUR watch.
This is not okay. Yet, this is what the Biden Administration is busy allowing, while pretending we have a worthy president deserving of a second term.
This right here should be the only thing we need to prove Biden doesn’t belong in public service. Of course, why would we expect more from a man that drove his daughter to addiction after their uncomfortable shower sessions together?
Rodriguez, of the Alliance for a Safe Texas, will share her experiences at the border encountering unaccompanied children, including teenage boys who she said told her that cartel cooperatives transported children through Mexico and held them at warehouses with armed guards. She will also call for the investigation of federal agencies responsible and for the ending of releasing migrants to sponsors.
“We can no longer turn a blind eye and pretend this isn’t happening. Congress has the power to stop this, which is why I am calling on you to do what is right,” her testimony says.
Vaughn will call too for congressional action, including the ending of legal loopholes that she says force the government to “to operate a massive catch and release program for illegally-arriving alien children.”
“They have been carelessly funneled through the custody of U.S. government agencies and contractors, and handed off to very lightly vetted sponsors (who are usually also here illegally) in our communities without regard to their safety and well-being,” she will say. “There is no question that the system for processing minors who cross illegally is dysfunctional, and has been for some time, and needs to be fixed.”
Wow. It’s only April, but I think we just got the understatement of the year.
Image source: Middleborough Educational Television YouTube channel screenshot
A middle school student who says he was sent home for wearing a T-shirt that said “there are only two genders,” bravely, brilliantly, and bluntly addressed the matter at a Middleborough Public Schools Committee meeting.
“I never thought that the shirt I wore to school … would lead me to speak with you today,” 12-year-old Liam Morrison said, having lowered the microphone to deliver his statement.
Young Liam is a seventh-grader at Nichols Middle School in Middleborough, Massachusetts, Fox News Digital reported.
Liam explained that he was taken out of gym class in March for what turned out to be a “very uncomfortable talk.” He said two adults told him the shirt he was wearing was making some people feel “unsafe” and that he would have to remove it to return to class.
The preteen said that though he was told he was not in trouble, it felt like he was.
When he said he did not want to remove his shirt, school officials called his father to pick him up, according to Liam’s account.
“Thankfully, my dad supported my decisions,” Liam said.
“What did my shirt say? Five simple words: There are only two genders. Nothing harmful, nothing threatening. Just a statement I believe to be a fact.”
Then Liam got to the heart of the matter, and the young, bespectacled gentleman held nothing back.
“I was told that my shirt was ‘targeting a protected class.’ Who is this protected class? Are their feelings more important than my rights?”
Liam said he didn’t complain when he saw diversity posters and pride flags in the school “because others have rights to their beliefs just as I do.”
Liam said no students or staff told him they were bothered by what he was wearing. To the contrary, he said. Some students said they supported him and wanted a similar T-shirt.
Despite being told his shirt was a “disruption to learning,” Liam said no one stormed out of class or burst into tears.
“I experience disruptions to my learning every day. Kids acting out in class are a disruption, yet nothing is done,” Liam said. “Why do rules apply to one but not another?”
“I feel like these adults were telling me it wasn’t OK for me to have an opposing view.“
“Their arguments were weak, in my opinion,” Liam said, briefly looking up from his papers, directing his gaze at the adults on stage.
“I have learned a lot in this experience. … I learned that adults don’t always do the right thing or make the right decisions.”
“I know I have the right to wear a shirt with those five words. Even at 12 years old, I have my own political opinions and I have a right to express those opinions, even at school. This right is called the First Amendment to the Constitution.”
“I hope you will speak up for the rest of us so we can express ourselves without being pulled out of class,” Liam concluded, thanking the committee for its time.
Watch 12-year-old Liam Morrison address the Middleborough Public Schools Committee meeting starting at 09:40 below.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy gave NBC News anchor Chuck Todd a basic lesson in biology on Sunday on the issue of biological sex. During an interview on “Meet the Press,” Todd questioned Ramaswamy on his position that affirming gender confusion in children and teenagers is not compassionate, but “cruelty.”
“What makes it compassionate to pass a law that denies a parent making their own health care decision for their kid?” Todd asked.
Pointing out that many that laws already exist limiting what minors can do with their bodies — such as purchasing and consuming tobacco — Ramaswamy told Todd, “I think it’s perfectly legitimate to say that we won’t allow genital mutilation or chemical castration through puberty blockers for the purpose of transition.”
That’s when Todd invoked biology.
“You’re calling it that. But how do you know it’s that? Are you confident that you know that gender is as binary as you’re describing it?” the NBC News anchor pressed.
“I am,” responded Ramaswamy.
“Are you confident that it isn’t a spectrum?” Todd followed up. “Do you know this as a scientist?”
Ramaswamy, in fact, stated that his confidence is rooted in his background as a scientist. He is a Harvard-education biologist and a Yale-educated lawyer.
“There’s two X chromosomes if you’re a woman. An X and a Y — that means you’re a man,” he said.
Full Ramaswamy: GOP has to ‘be the party of free speech and open debate’ youtu.be
In response, Todd claimed — without citing any actual evidence — that “there’s a lot of scientific research out there that says gender is a spectrum.”
Ramaswamy responded to Todd’s appeal to authority by appealing to an actual medical authority. He explained that the accepted handbook for mental disorders, the DSM-5, includes “gender dysphoria.”
“Gender dysphoria for most of our history, all the way through the DSM-5, has been characterized as a mental health disorder,” Ramaswamy told Todd.
“And I don’t think it’s compassionate to affirm that. I think that’s cruelty,” he added of the idea that gender is a spectrum. “When a kid is crying out for help … let’s be compassionate and get to the heart of that rather than playing this game as though we’re actually changing our medical understanding for the last 100 years.”
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
American Family Association
American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon, who was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, at the time. Since 1977, AFA has been on the frontlines of Ame
NEWSMAX
News, Opinion, Interviews, Research and discussion
Opinion
American Family Association
American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon, who was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, at the time. Since 1977, AFA has been on the frontlines of Ame
American Family Association
American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon, who was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, at the time. Since 1977, AFA has been on the frontlines of Ame
You Version
Bible Translations, Devotional Tools and Plans, BLOG, free mobile application; notes and more
Political
American Family Association
American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon, who was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, at the time. Since 1977, AFA has been on the frontlines of Ame
NEWSMAX
News, Opinion, Interviews, Research and discussion
Spiritual
American Family Association
American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon, who was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, at the time. Since 1977, AFA has been on the frontlines of Ame
Bible Gateway
The Bible Gateway is a tool for reading and researching scripture online — all in the language or translation of your choice! It provides advanced searching capabilities, which allow readers to find and compare particular passages in scripture based on
What Did You Say? 
You must be logged in to post a comment.