Rightwinggranny is adding some guest writers to the website this year. The opinions expressed by these writers are not necessarily the opinions of rightwinggranny.
Let’s Pass This Bill In The House Of Representatives
Reply
On Thursday, The Epoch Times posted an article about Senate Bill S.4009, the Falun Gong and Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting Protection Act.
The article reports:
A bill tackling systematic forced organ harvesting in China is now headed to the House after getting the Senate green light on Sept. 28.
S.4009, with support from 12 bipartisan sponsors, passed the Senate with unanimous consent.
Dubbed the Falun Gong and Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting Protection Act, the bill addresses an issue that is gaining growing attention in the United States.
In the past, I have written three articles about China’s practice of taking organs from unwilling donors (here, here, and here). The practice has been going on for some time, and it is encouraging that the American Congress may actually take a stand against it.
The article notes:
As early as 2006, whistleblowers raised the alarm about the abuses taking place in China under Beijing’s auspices.
In 2019, the London-based China Tribunal concluded a year-long investigation into the issue. Forced organ harvesting, it found, had taken place in the country for years “on a significant scale.” A major victim group is practitioners of Falun Gong, according to the tribunal ruling.
The tribunal also said Uyghur Muslims were at risk while being detained in “re-education camps” in China’s Xinjiang. More than 1 million Muslims have been held in internment camps in the region, the U.S. government said.
Falun Gong, a spiritual practice with meditative exercises based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, drew an estimated following of 70 million to 100 million people in China during the 1990s. It has faced harsh suppression since 1999, when the Chinese Communist Party initiated a nationwide persecution in 1999 to wipe it out.
Survivors from both campaigns have recounted arbitrary arrests, forced labor, and grueling torture in prison.
Meanwhile, China’s organ transplant industry continues to grow, drawing patients from all over the world with waiting times as short as days—compared with possibly years in the West.
The article explains what the bill does:
The bill would sanction foreign individuals for carrying out or facilitating the abuse, barring them from entering the United States and blocking them from having U.S. transactions. Those violating the sanctions risk facing up to $250,000 for a civil offense, or $1 million and 20 years in prison in criminal penalties.
It also directs the State Department to conduct an investigation with input from the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, the director of the National Institutes of Health, and the relevant heads of the intelligence community.
Within a year of the bill’s passage, the secretary of state would report to Congress about China’s organ transplantation practices and policies. The report would assess whether the Chinese regime conducts systematic forced organ harvesting and look into where the organs are from, how fast they are obtained, and whether that timetable is practical in the country.
This is a bill that needs to be passed quickly.
We Need To Protect Our Northern Border As Well As Our Southern Border
On September 25, Front Page Magazine posted an article about Muslims transporting kidnapped teenagers across the Canadian border with America.
The article reports:
There’s been a great deal of focus on our border with Mexico, less so on the Canadian border, in part because of the sheer size of it and also because it hasn’t been as ‘hot’. But many of the incidents that we’ve had on the border have involved Muslims including two plots, one of which targeted LAX airport, and there seems to be a growing number of cases of Muslims transporting kidnapped teens across the border.
Sault Ste. Marie Police say two men are facing kidnapping charges after Canada Border Services Agency officers caught them attempting to cross back into Canada with a 15-year-old they had refused to let go.
Police say 40-year-old Sahan Alam of Sault Ste. Marie and 29-year-old Hasan Al-Mamun of Sudbury were arrested the night of September 19 after CBSA officers at the Sault Ste. Marie port of entry noticed the teenager in their vehicle and flagged it as a suspected kidnapping. Officers were called to the border crossing just after 10:15 p.m. and took both men into custody.
According to the official police release, “on September 19, 2026, detectives with Investigation Services charged 40-year-old Sahan Alam of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and 29-year-old Hasan Al-Mamun of Sudbury, Ontario, with kidnapping after an interception by Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers. An investigation revealed the two accused had picked up the youth earlier that day and would not allow them to leave the vehicle.”
…While the police are claiming that this was an isolated incident, except there seems to have been another recent incident involving an Afghan.
We need to make sure that the people we are bringing into America share the values of western culture. The corruption and sexual perversion that goes on in Muslim countries does not need to be imported into America.
Forgetting The Lessons Of Economic History
On Thursday, Issues & Insights posted an article about a Wall Street Journal survey that indicates that Americans have not yet learned the economic lessons of the past.
The article reports:
A new poll shows widespread support for a return to 1970s-style stagflation. Well, not exactly. But most people these days support the very policies that produced the wreckage of that decade.
George Santayana was right. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Unfortunately, this group now includes people such as the current vice president who claim to be conservative.
A new Wall Street Journal survey finds that “Americans in both parties back government-imposed price caps and other market interventions to make life more affordable.”
Significant majorities (more than 70%) also support caps on prescription drugs, credit card interest rates, and child care costs. Sixty-one percent back a wealth tax on millionaires, nearly 60% favor socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders’ government takeover of healthcare, known as “Medicare for all,” and 57% want to raise the minimum wage to $20 an hour.
Our own I&I/TIPP survey found a shockingly high number of adults support the idea of the government owning key industries. (See: “POLL SHOCKER: Socialism Is Infecting The GOP As Well.”)
The article concludes:
But now we have nationalist “conservatives” and party leaders like JD Vance, the putative successor to Donald Trump, treating the free market as an evil that must be tamed, and extolling the virtues of government interventions, also “for the greater good.” Vance has even taken to bashing Milton Friedman (saying it’s a good thing his ideas aren’t driving economic policy these days) and Margaret Thatcher, while praising Sen. Huey Long, “who advocated socialist policies and ran Louisiana as his authoritarian fiefdom,” in the words of Unleash Prosperity.
What’s next? Calls to re-regulate the airline industry? Slapping price controls on oil and gas? The return of wage and price controls? The rebirth of New Deal programs and FDR’s economically ruinous “bold, persistent experimentation”? Once you give up on the free market, there is no end to the mischief.
We know where this all leads. And it’s not a road that makes America great again. Just ask anyone who still can remember what times were like when Jimmy Carter was president.
Those of us who remember Jimmy Carter don’t EVER want to do that again.
Milton Friedman once said, “If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there’d be a shortage of sand.” If you want the economy to grow, keep the government out of it as much as possible.
They Are Doing Their Job
On Wednesday, Breitbart posted an article about some of what the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been doing under the Trump administration.
The article reports:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Recovery Asset Team has denied more than $1 billion in attempted cyber theft since January 2025, which is a 16 percent increase over the same period under the previous administration, the bureau told Breitbart News on Thursday.
The article notes:
The intelligence chief said older Americans make up the bulk of the victims. The bureau has referred 99 victims for suicide intervention, seized 584 scam websites, and sent 7,670 fraudulent accounts to private companies for action, according to Fox News Digital.
In May, the bureau reported a then-record $8 billion cryptocurrency seizure and 275 arrests in Dubai, where authorities said nine raided compounds each generated about $6 million a year in fraud. An August raid at Cambodia’s roughly 200-acre O’Smach Resort compound involved searches of 28 buildings over three days.
The announcement follows earlier FBI cyber actions Patel has detailed in his weekly updates. In June, the bureau reported that FBI Cleveland disrupted a Chinese phishing platform linked to nearly $1.9 billion in losses worldwide under Operation Riptide. In April, the FBI and Justice Department announced a scam-center takedown charging two Chinese nationals, restraining about $700 million in cryptocurrency, and seizing 503 websites.
Americans filed more than one million cybercrime complaints in 2025 for the first time in the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center’s history, reporting $20.9 billion in losses, with adults 60 and older accounting for $7.7 billion.
This article should serve as a warning to those of us who lived most of their lives before the cyber age. Never give out any personal or banking information to anyone unless you are sure the person you are talking to or texting actually works for the company they claim to represent. If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. It has taken the elderly their whole lives to accumulate whatever wealth they have; they need to protect it by listening to their local law enforcement scam alerts and by thinking carefully before giving any personal information to anyone.
From my friends at Power Line Blog:
A Deal That Makes Sense
On Thursday, Just the News posted an article about a steel mill to be built in southeast Iowa. The article explains that “Iron ore from the company’s newly opened mine near Nashwauk, Minnesota — described by the administration as the first new U.S. iron ore mine in 50 years — would move downriver and be turned into finished steel in Iowa.” America controls the manufacturing plant and the mine that supplies the material–brilliant!
That article reports:
Trump, standing in the Oval Office with Essar executives and Iowa Republicans, cast the deal as proof that raising the cost of imported metal is pulling plants onto American soil, an important message for lower and middle income Americans who have lower consumer confidence due in part to perceived high gas prices. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index fell by 6.7 points to 81.9 (1985=100) in September, down from 88.6 in August.
References to prices, the high cost of goods and services, and oil and gas prices in particular, rose to new heights, reflecting September’s surge in fuel costs.
The article notes:
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick did not treat the mill as a coincidence. He tied it directly to the administration’s Section 232 steel duties, which Trump raised to a staggering 50% last year. Under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, Lutnick initiated investigations to determine the effects of imports on national security.
“These are your 232 tariffs, the steel tariffs at work. Without those tariffs, this mine and steel plant doesn’t get built,” Lutnick said, arguing the United States has leaned too long on imported pellets, including from Brazil. “Now we are unleashing the Iron Range in Minnesota. You go right down the Mississippi to Iowa, where they get to build a $15 billion integrated steel plant.”
Trump made the same case in plainer language, saying the domestic industry is “roaring back to life” because companies “don’t want to pay tariffs.” The administration’s theory is straightforward: if imported steel is more expensive, the math for building a mine-to-mill chain inside the United States starts to work. Lutnick said that is “exactly your plan, because you’re driving steel to America.”
The tariffs are bringing manufacturing back to America. They are also putting large amounts of money into the Treasury. The courts need to be quiet–they are standing in the way of making America fiscally secure.
Misleading, But Informative
On Wednesday, The Daily Signal posted an article about the Senate voting down a bill that would have banned insider trading by Congressmen. They gave various excuses for voting down the bill, but voting down the bill had nothing to do with insider trading–but the bill was combined with a nationwide voter ID mandate. That is what the Senate Democrats really were voting against.
The article reports:
The bill failed 53-to-47 along party lines. The bill, which originated in the House and was sponsored by Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., would prohibit members of Congress and their spouses and dependent children from purchasing stocks. The measure would also require public notice before these individuals could sell stocks.
In July, HR 7008 passed the House 232-198, with 218 Republicans and 13 Democrats voting “yes,” along with one independent. A total of 198 Democrats voted “no.” Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., did not cast a vote.
The act was bound to fail in the Senate due to its being combined with a nationwide voter ID mandate, which Democrats vehemently opposed. Rep. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., described the voter ID provision as a “poison pill” during the House debate, arguing that it would suppress millions of voters by imposing unnecessary restrictions.
After the vote, Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., wrote on X, “Senate Democrats blocked a bill to stop any sort of insider trading by government officials and to require legal ID to vote. North Dakotans overwhelmingly support both these measures, yet when it came time to vote, Democrats said no.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., also posted on X following the vote, saying, “EVERY Senate Democrat just joined EVERY House Democrat in voting AGAINST banning congressional stock trading. @RepBryanSteil’s Stop Insider Trading Act is the accountability the American people demand. But every Democrat blocked it from becoming law.”
Why are the Democrats so strongly against voter ID laws? In today’s computerized society, everyone needs an ID to do anything–bank, board an airplane, buy beer, buy cigarettes, etc. Also, states with voter ID offer free ID’s for people who may not have a driver’s license or other form of ID.
The only reason for opposing voter ID is to make it easier to cheat. Do you still trust the Democrats to support election integrity?
The Unemployment Numbers
Although somehow the media is neglecting to report it, the Trump economy is doing very well.
On Thursday, Just the News posted an article about the unemployment numbers for the week ending September 26.
The article reports:
The number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level since mid-July, according to the latest data from the Labor Department.
For the week ending Sept. 26, the seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims fell to 197,000, a drop of 1,000 from the previous week.
The four-week moving average was 200,000, which was a decrease of 2,500 from the previous week’s revised average, the Labor Department said.
Unemployment claims are a proxy indicator for layoffs, and they signal to economists where the job market is headed. So far this year, claims have remained below 220,000, which is a historic low.
According to AI, “in 2024, the GDP of the United States is projected to grow at an annual rate of approximately 2.4 percent, reflecting a robust economic performance despite global challenges.” The predicted Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for the third quarter of 2026 is 2.8 percent. Why did 2.4 percent reflect a robust economic performance while the media is suspiciously quiet about 2.8 percent growth?
Much of the media is reporting that consumer confidence is down in September. Might that be the result of the fact that the mainstream media is not reporting the successes of the Trump economy? The media plays a major role in how people perceive the economy. If the media reporting is favorable, people believe the country is doing well. If the media reporting is favorable and someone gets laid off, they assume that their situation is unique. If the reporting is negative and a person has a good job, they assume that they are the exception rather than the rule. It’s time Americans stopped listening to the mainstream media reports of the economy–the mainstream media is manipulating–not reporting.
An Interesting Legal Question
On Thursday, The Federalist posted an article about a lawsuit that is going to have an impact for beyond the state it is filed in.
The article reports:
On Sept. 17, the American Freedom Law Center filed a landmark lawsuit on behalf of a Dearborn, Michigan, resident, alleging that the Arab-majority Detroit suburb, led by Muslim officials, has promoted Islam and discriminated against and fostered hostility towards Christians and Jews — in violation of the Constitution’s establishment clause.
The details of the case brought by my courageous colleague, Federalist Senior Legal Correspondent Margot Cleveland, are shocking. She alleges that Dearborn’s leaders have endorsed glitzy Ramadan displays and advertised an iftar dinner with public funds. Conversely, they have allegedly ignored Cleveland’s requests for comparable commemorations for Christian and Jewish holidays and sidestepped concerns over public rallies glorifying jihadism. They have also berated a Christian pastor and fellow constituent. Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud called Pastor Ted Barham a “bigot” and “Islamophobe” who “is not welcome here” when he questioned the city’s renaming of a city street for an avowed Hamas and Hezbollah supporter.
The complaint cites past instances where courts have found the city to have discriminated against non-Muslims.
The article notes:
The suit claims that “acts, customs, policies, practices, and/or procedures that favor Muslims and discriminate against Christians and Jews” reflect the mayor’s “message … that Christians and Jews are not welcome … and are, indeed, second-class citizens.” [Emphasis added.]
Islam is a proselytizing religion. To bring the world under Allah’s command, it calls for employing means including persuasion, subversion, coercion, and violent jihad. Allah’s rule takes the form of sharia law, governing not only religious practices but all aspects of life, public and private. Sharia abides neither freedom of religion nor speech, brooks no dissent, subjugates women and minorities, and imposes a host of illiberal rules.
Islam does not preach coexistence with non-Muslims. It preaches subjugation. The tenets of Islam, such as Sharia Law, are incompatible with America’s Constitution. One of the basic tenets of Islam is that non-Muslims should either be killed or relegated to being second-class citizens who pay a yearly tax to live. This is NOT a religion–it is a political movement, and it is a mistake to give Islam a foothold anywhere in America.
The Company You Keep…
On Wednesday, Legal Insurrection posted an article about a recent appearance by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand at a Muslim event.
The article quotes The Washington Free Beacon:
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand wore a hijab during a visit last week to a Bronx mosque where the powerful New York Democrat sat alongside a cleric who once celebrated Hamas for “causing so much trouble for the Jews” and has hailed Osama bin Laden’s spiritual mentor.
Gillibrand, who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, appeared at the Bronx Muslim Center, located in New York City’s “Little Yemen,” on Sept. 21, according to photos posted by the center’s outreach director. The photos show Gillibrand wearing a pink headscarf and seated next to Hamud Alsilwi, a Yemeni cleric who has led the Bronx Muslim Center since 1998.
…The Bronx mosque is a branch of the Muslim American Society, which federal prosecutors have described as an “overt arm” of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States.
Alsilwi has praised Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and hailed Sheikh Abdul Majeed al-Zindani, an influential Islamic scholar designated as a terrorist over his ties to bin Laden.
The article notes:
As noted earlier, Gillibrand is far from the only prominent elected female Democrat in New York who has taken this approach. We also saw this from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) during a May event designed “to celebrate the start of Eid al-Adha (the Muslim religious holiday that honors the importance of unwavering faith, submission, and charity).” With a heavy emphasis for women in particular on “submission,” no doubt.
Wearing a hijab is not simply a courteous or religious act. It is giving credence to the idea that women are inferior creatures with no rights. It is a visual representation of the subservience of women in Islam. At some point, Americans need to realize that the goal of Islam is not to coexist within America–it is to conquer America and put in place Sharia Law. I guess the feminist movement has somehow failed to notice what the role of women is in an Islamic society.
From my friends at Lucianne.com:
I Guess Fox News Is Now Part Of The Mainstream Media
On Tuesday, Just the News posted an article about a recent hire at Fox News.
The article reports:
Fox News has hired a former aide of Andrew Cuomo who admitted to covering up deaths at nursing homes in New York state during the COVID pandemic.
Melissa DeRosa will be a contributor and co-host of a new podcast, “The Girls,” set to air beginning Oct. 1., according to a Fox News Media press release.
DeRosa worked for Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration. She admitted on a conference call with Democratic lawmakers that the Cuomo administration hid the number of deaths at nursing homes, fearing it would be politicized by Cuomo’s political opponents, including President Donald Trump, the Daily Caller reported.
This was not just some casual cover-up–this was a cover-up that had to do with the life and death of the people involved. For whatever reason, Governor Cuomo has never been held responsible for the deaths that resulted in moving people supposedly recovered from Covid into nursing homes. We also remember that Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Rachel Levine faced scrutiny when she moved her mother out of a personal care facility shortly after she implemented a policy directing Pennsylvania’s nursing homes and certain care facilities to admit recovered COVID-19 patients who were treated at nearby hospitals. It seems that the people in power were aware of the danger. There was very little information concerning the point where a person who had had Covid was no longer contagious, and extreme caution would have been appropriate.
I question the wisdom of hiring someone to co-host a podcast who has a history of hiding important information from the media.
Why No One Should Vote For Democrats In The Mid-Term Elections
Usually when a political party is out of power and running in an election to gain power, they lay out their plan to make the country and everyone in it more successful. The out-of-power party gives us a positive reason to elect them. That is not the case in this November’s election.
On Monday, Townhall posted an article detailing some of the Democrat’s plans if they retake Congress. Nothing they plan will actually benefit the American people.
The article reports:
Democrats have given a glimpse of what they plan if they win back control of either chamber of Congress.
Other than launching another impeachment attempt against President Donald Trump, it appears Democrats also plan to renew their lawfare against Trump and his family. They plan to investigate the president’s family business to find something they can use against him.
The article quotes the U.K. Independent:
If Democrats win a majority in either the House or Senate in November’s midterm elections, corporate contributors funding President Donald Trump’s ballroom and participants in Trump family business transactions could face immediate congressional scrutiny, according to several lawmakers, legal experts, and Capitol Hill aides.
Securing command of either chamber would give Democrats subpoena authority and the financial resources to expand oversight staff. This would allow inquiries to begin as early as February, likely triggering prolonged legal disputes that would bring the Trump family’s business holdings into sharp focus.
Such congressional inquiries could define the second half of Trump’s term, following two years during which his family ventured into artificial intelligence, prediction markets, drones, and cryptocurrency, while the president’s personal wealth expanded by an estimated $2.2 billion.
“I don’t think the Democrats are going to have patience. They’re going to expect documents pretty quickly. You’re not going to play the old run-out-the-clock game,” noted Ashley Callen, an attorney at Jenner & Block and former general counsel to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Speaking to reporters on September 17, US House of Representatives Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York stated: “We’re going to hold the crooks accountable, beginning on day one.”
Much of President Trump’s worth is in real estate, which has increased in value during the past two years. I suspect that his other investments in Truth Social and other things have also paid off. President Trump was a shrewd businessman before becoming President. Why would that change? I would also like to point out that in America people are innocent until proven guilty. We also prosecute crime. We do not go after people searching for crime. We do not need two years of witch hunts–we need two more years of moving forward. Despite the fact that the mainstream media chooses not to report it, the Trump economy is doing very well. According to AI, the predicted third quarter growth of the American economy is 4.3%, significantly exceeding earlier forecasts. Let’s keep moving in that direction.
The article at Townhall concludes:
If they (the Democrat party) regain control of either chamber of Congress, not only are they going to launch impeachment proceedings against Trump, but they are going to pick up where they left off before they lost control of the House.
Of course, this strategy has two purposes. Attack Trump and distract from the fact that they won’t actually have any real solutions to the problems Americans face.
We Are Leaving
U.S. Central Command posted the following on X today:
TAMPA, Fla. — U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) completed the orderly departure of U.S. forces and equipment from Erbil Air Base, Sept. 30, marking the end of the Operation Inherent Resolve mission in Iraq.
The move from Iraq is part of a planned transition to a U.S.-Iraq bilateral defense relationship. Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) remains operational and is now headquartered in Jordan as U.S. forces continue the counter-ISIS mission in Syria alongside Coalition partners and the Syrian government.
CJTF-OIR has advised, assisted, and enabled partner forces in the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria since CENTCOM established the unit in 2014.
“Job well done to the tens of thousands of American service members, diplomats, and civilian personnel who answered the call in Iraq,” said Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander. “Because of your grit, sacrifice and professionalism, ISIS no longer poses a systemic threat to Iraq’s national security and Iraqi security forces, including the Peshmerga and other Iraqi Kurdistan Region security forces, now possess the capacity, leadership, and operational independence to unilaterally manage threats to their homeland.”
American and Coalition forces began departing federal Iraq last October as part of a transition that culminated into the removal of personnel and equipment from Erbil Air Base in September.
Located in northern Iraq, Erbil Air Base served as the main operational hub for CJTF-OIR and hosted most of the 1,500 American and Coalition forces supporting counter-ISIS operations.
“As we step back and hand full primary responsibility for Iraq’s security to the Government of Iraq and the brave people of Iraq, U.S. and Coalition forces stationed across the region will remain ready to respond to any ISIS threats that arise,” said Cooper. “Maintaining our vigilance and readiness is essential to protecting the U.S. homeland and strengthening regional security.”
On September 30, Townhall reported:
“The U.S. is also looking to the Iraqi Security Forces, including the Peshmerga and other Iraqi Kurdistan Region security forces, to lead in D-ISIS efforts as the OIR military missions winds down. A secure Iraq opens the door to strong commercial and defense cooperation,” Hegseth wrote at the time.
While Operation Inherent Resolve started in 2014, the U.S. has been in the country since 2003, when then-President George W. Bush moved to oust Saddam Hussein from power following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
Hopefully this is an indication that peace may be breaking out in the region.
When You Don’t Follow The Rules…
In November 2020, Flydubai announced that it would begin direct flights between Tel Aviv and Dubai. According to the Jerusalem News Syndicate (JNS), the aviation agreement between the two countries required that pilots flying to Israel must hold passports from countries that have diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. It appears that the agreement was not honored on a recent flight where a hijacking was attempted.
On September 30, JNS reported:
The pilot of a passenger plane flying to Israel was stabbed several times by his co-pilot in the cockpit early Wednesday, according to officials — causing the aircraft to plunge 18,000 feet in what was feared to be a “terrorist attack in mid-air.”
The FlyDubai Boeing 737 Max 8 plane flying to Tel Aviv from the United Arab Emirates was cruising at around 34,000 feet when one of the pilots tried to take control in what Israeli sources say was an attempted hijacking, the Jerusalem Post reported.
“One pilot stabbed the other and tried to do 9/11,” an official told Channel 12 of the horror that saw Israeli fighter jets scrambled as a precaution.
…The co-pilot apparently stabbed the captain several times before crew members and passengers managed to enter the cockpit door and overpower him, according to Segal (Israeli journalist Amit Segal).
“An extremely serious disaster was averted,” Segal quoted a senior Israeli official as saying.
The co-pilot was being questioned, as indications mounted that he intended to take control of the aircraft and crash it with the passengers on board, according to the official.
The article notes:
Israeli Transportation Minister Miri Regev demanded that all flydubai flights to Israel be suspended following the suspected terrorist attack aboard the Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight, according to Hebrew media reports.
Regev also asked the country’s Civil Aviation Authority to investigate whether the United Arab Emirates violated its aviation agreement with Israel. Under the agreement, pilots flying to Israel must hold passports from countries that have diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.
The co-pilot has been identified in unconfirmed reports as an Omani national. Israel does not have diplomatic relations with Oman.
Thank God there were two pilots who were traveling as passengers and were able to take control and stabilize the aircraft after the attacker was subdued.
Unbelievable Abuse Of Power
On Tuesday, American Greatness posted an article about the questionable activities of former Special Council Jack Smith during his investigation of President Trump.
The article reports:
Former special counsel Jack Smith and his team acquired at least 4,782 checks from Americans who had made mainly small donations to President Trump or Trump- aligned entities between September 2019 and August 2023, according to bombshell records provided to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) via legally protected whistleblower disclosures.
Smith subpoenaed the checks of thousands of Trump supporters across all 50 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, as part of its Smith’s “Arctic Frost” election case against President Trump. Checks for as little as $1.00 were obtained by the special counsel, providing anti-Trump investigators at the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with the home addresses, bank account, routing numbers and signatures of Trump supporters.
Whistleblower records show the checks were routed to former FBI Special Agent Walter Giardina, the anti-Trump agent who had allegedly begged to be on the Crossfire team and was involved in many cases against Republicans.
According to Grassley, Smith’s investigators also obtained records containing communications between 44 journalists and Trump administration officials after subpoenaing text-message records associated with dozens of White House phones during the federal election investigation into Trump.
The article concludes:
Additionally, Grassley revealed Tuesday that Smith’s classified documents case against Trump was based on a “non-criminal” referral that was initially dismissed by the FBI as a “spillage” issue with “little likelihood of being pursued as a criminal matter.”
“Jack Smith’s operation was a partisan weapon,” said Grassley. “He broke the rules, lied to the court and engaged in bad faith throughout. His operation has no credibility – only to the partisan media and Democrats who cheered him on,” Grassley said.
Please follow the link to read the entire article. It appears that he has lied to Congress as well as violated peoples’ civil rights. He should be referred for criminal charges. That is what would happen if he were a Republican.
Lowering Healthcare Costs
The hospital lobby is alive and well in America. In North Carolina they have so far successfully opposed the full repeal of Certificate of Needs (CON) Laws despite the matter being brought before the state legislature almost every year. I am sure we are going to hear from them about the latest rule change that President Trump has made to medical billing.
On Monday, The Daily Signal posted an article about a move by the Trump administration to lower healthcare costs.
The article reports:
Currently, doctors can charge Medicare recipients twice for exams during same-day services. The exam fee is called an “evaluation and management fee” and can cost more than $235.
For example, during a Medicare recipient’s standard dermatology exam, the doctor can charge the recipient twice for an exam of a mole if the removal service is performed on the same day. This is a common form of Medicare double billing among health care providers.
In a recent audit by the Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of the Inspector General found that 42% of Medicare beneficiaries were double-billed for intravitreal injections during eye exams, a recurring procedure. The same-day exam and procedure allowed the claims to bypass the system designed to prevent improper payments.
California and Florida are the top two states, with roughly 10 million Medicare beneficiaries combined, to benefit from this rule change. It is expected to take effect in January, just after the midterm election.
The proposed rule was announced in July and was open for public comment through mid-September. Now, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is evaluating the public comments and will soon announce the finalized rule.
The American Hospital Association is obviously opposing this move.
The article notes:
The proposed rule was announced in July and was open for public comment through mid-September. Now, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is evaluating the public comments and will soon announce the finalized rule.
The proposed rule suggested cutting the initial exam fee to 50% from 100% and keeping the final exam and procedure fee at the standard 100% charge. While the Trump administration has supported the rule change, Medicare providers and beneficiary associations have opposed the rule, claiming it would cause “fragmented care and reduced access for patients.”
It’s time to consider the consumer as well as the provider. Keep in mind that the more money that flows through government agencies, the greater chance of corruption.
If People Are Paying Attention, This Should Impact The Mid-Terms
On Thursday, One America News posted an article about the latest unemployment figures.
The article reports:
Fewer people applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, as U.S. jobless claims remain at historically low levels and most Americans enjoy job security.
The Labor Department said Thursday that 197,000 people applied for unemployment checks last week, the fewest since mid-July and down from a revised 198,000 the week before. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week ups and downs, fell to 202,250 last week from 204,000.
Claims for jobless benefits are a proxy for layoffs, and economists watch them because they can be a sign of where the job market is headed. So far this year, claims have mostly stayed below 220,000 — historically low.
The American job market has remained sturdy despite higher energy prices that have squeezed businesses and consumers since the fighting with Iran began Feb. 28.
The article concludes:
So far this year, employers — companies, government agencies and nonprofits — have been adding an average of 80,000 jobs a month, including a surprising 162,000 in August. That is an improvement on a dismal 2025 when monthly job creation averaged 9,700 as high interest rates and President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policies discouraged hiring.
The Labor Department will release the jobs report for September next week. It’s expected to show that employers added 52,500 jobs and that the unemployment rate remained low at 4.1%, according to a survey of forecasters by the data firm FactSet.
Hiring remains well below the 166,000 monthly jobs created, on average, in 2023 and 2024, and the 491,000 a month recorded during the 2021-2022 hiring boom that followed COVID-19 lockdowns.
Generally speaking, the economy is doing much better than the mainstream media’s reporting indicates. See article here.
A Welcome Change
On Monday, Red State posted an article about changes President Trump is making to Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.
The article reports:
On Monday, it became official: the Trump administration has rolled back the draconian Biden-era Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards from 50.4 miles per gallon (mpg) to 34.9 mpg. It’s not clear why 34.9 and not just 35, which would presumably make the math a little easier, but then, government isn’t always known for doing things the easy way.
When the standard of 50.4 miles per gallon was announced in 2024, the Department of Transportation claimed that the standards would save car owners more than $600 in gasoline costs over the lifetime of their vehicle. The problem with this number is that under the 2024 rules, car would costs $1,300 more. The math simply does not add up.
The article concludes:
There is, of course, a good argument to be made that the federal government has no authority, under the Constitution, to regulate something like gas mileage standards for cars and trucks. There is no enumerated power in the Constitution that allows Congress or the Executive Branch to do this at all, and therefore, under the Tenth Amendment, it should rightly be prohibited to them. But that ship would seem to have sailed, right around 1860, in fact: so since this is the plate we’ve been handed, at least we have a larger cut of beef on it now.
These choices should rightly be made by consumers, not government. Now, at least, this move takes us a little closer to that; that is, until a Democrat administration takes control and reverses the whole thing. Remember that in November. Remember that in 2028.
Theoretically, the change in the CAFE standards should result in lower car prices for Americans.
Bringing Sanity Back To Women’s Sports
On Monday, The Daily Signal posted an article about the Department of Education rescinding the Biden-era ruling concerning Title IX and gender identity.
The article reports:
Supporters of women’s sports and sex-based protections have reason to celebrate. The Department of Education announced Sept. 28 that it is formally rescinding the Biden administration’s 2024 Title IX rule and reinstating the 2020 Title IX regulations promulgated under the first Trump administration.
Ongoing litigation has prevented the Trump administration from being able to formally rescind the illegal 2024 Biden regulations from the Code of Federal Regulations, even though the Education Department has been following the 2020 Trump-era Title IX regulations since January of last year.
In April 2024, the Biden administration issued final regulations rewriting the more than 50-year-old civil rights law, Title IX, to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Essentially, it allowed boys who claim to identify as girls to participate in girls and women’s sports at schools that receive federal funding.
Women’s sports advocate and former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines said at the time, “Fifty-two years of progress and sex-based protections have been erased with the stroke of a pen.” She was right. Thankfully, many states agreed, and seven circuit courts temporarily blocked the Title IX rewrite, preventing it from taking effect in 26 states.
The article concludes:
Advocates for child protection must still work from state to state, however. As our Heritage Foundation colleague Laura Hanford explains, child-welfare workers are classifying parents as “abusive” if they treat a child according to his or her sex instead of self-proclaimed “gender.” Social science research has found that affirming a child who claims to have been born in the wrong body does not resolve mental health issues underlying a child’s sexual confusion. Adults who do not caution a child confused about his or her sex could be neglecting that child—and failing to address the true reasons for the child’s distress. Conditions such as anxiety and depression can go untreated or worsen when adults focus on advocating “gender affirmation.”
So-called gender advocates claim that children will become suicidal if adults do not affirm their children. Yet no scientific evidence supports this claim, as even the ACLU acknowledged before the Supreme Court. And contrary to activist statements, new findings from the research and advocacy organization Do No Harm show that laws banning “gender-affirming care” do not increase suicide rates.
Nevertheless, Hanford explains that some courts are removing children from their homes even when there is no evidence of actual abuse. Social workers in the foster care system, meanwhile, are affirming children’s confusion about their sex.
The Department of Education’s rule change should bolster families and state officials protecting children from making irreversible medical decisions they may come to regret. In the states, policymakers must remain vigilant.
The Need To Educate Our Students
On Sunday, The New York Post posted an article about a recent Democrat event called “Students vs. Billionaires” town hall in downtown Ithaca Sunday. Obviously, ‘students vs. billionaires’ is the kind of class warfare used by Marxists to push their agenda.
The article reports:
Cornell University’s lefty crowd gave Democratic Socialist superstar Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a warm, hate-filled welcome by singing anti-Israel chants at a campaign event meant to gin up support for Democrats ahead of the midterms Sunday.
While warming up the standing-room-only crowd of roughly 2,000 people gathered for the congresswoman’s “Students vs. Billionaires” town hall in downtown Ithaca Sunday, Cornell University Young Democratic Socialists of America co-chairs Mina Petrova and Zoe Reisman led the crowd singing “from the river to the sea” and declaring “long live the student intifada.”
There are a few problems here. First of all, do the students understand that ‘from the river to the sea’ is a call for genocide of Jews? Secondly, do the students understand that an intifada is a holy war? Thirdly, do the Young Democratic Socialists know that after the communists helped elect the Mullahs in Iran, the Mullahs had all of the communists killed because they weren’t Muslim and they were a threat to the power of the Mullahs? Do they understand how Sharia Law treats women? Do they understand how Sharia Law treats homosexuality?
The article concludes:
The chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” however, was overwhelmingly ruled to be antisemitic by the US House of Representatives. Critics say the motto, which refers to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, is a call for the eradication of Israel and its people.
Ocasio-Cortez voted against the 2024 resolution declaring the phrase to be hateful.
The Bronx-Queens congresswoman, who rose to stardom by shockingly defeating Queens Democratic boss Joe Crowley during Democrats’ last midterm surge in 2018, was planning on appearing with Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier Sunday.
A spokesperson for the Governor’s office said Hochul backed out of a planned appearance with Ocasio-Cortez earlier in the day in Ithaca.
Her office said the cancellation was due to the nor’easter hitting New York City, though Hochul did not have any public events Sunday.
I think Governor Hochul was smart to stay away. Our college students need to learn history.
Remember This When You Vote
On Friday, The Federalist posted an article about comments made at the Sufaraa Center in McKinney, Texas.
The article reports:
Shaykh Uthman ibn Farooq laid out a vision for an Islamic America during a livestreamed event at the Sufaraa Center in McKinney, Texas, last week. Authentic Ilm Mission, which hosted the event, has plans for a 40,000-square-foot facility near Plano, Texas, and used the livestream featuring Farooq to fundraise for the multipurpose school and Islamic community center.
“We love this country,” Farooq said. “We want good for this country. And that’s why we want Islam for this country, ’cause we think that’s the best thing. And we’re not going to be ashamed of that.”
Islamic countries practice Sharia Law, which is incompatible with the U.S. Constitution. Women have very few rights under Sharia Law. The only way to institute Sharia Law is to overthrow the current government. Also keep in mind that there is a natural alliance between the Islamists and the Democratic Socialists. Both ideologies want to overthrow the current governmental system in America. What the Democratic Socialists don’t realize is that after the communists helped the Muslims gain power in Iran in 1979, the Muslims killed all of the communists because they felt the communists would be a threat to their power.
The article notes:
He went on to argue that Muslims are fully within their constitutional rights to adhere to Sharia law. “We’re Muslims. That’s our identity, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The Constitution of this country protects that. That’s our right to believe in the Sharia. Yes, I said it. That’s our right.”
“There’s communists that believe in communism and live in America,” Farooq continued. “The current mayor of New York is a socialist. Bernie Sanders is open socialist. … Our president — I don’t know what the, what he is actually. I don’t think he knows what he is. … But he has that right according to the Constitution. … There are Satanists. There’s a church of Satan. I’ve debated them.”
Farooq works with the One Message Foundation and is a viral social media influencer. His Instagram and YouTube pages boast 430,000 and 1.4 million followers, respectively. The One Message Foundation’s homepage says it, together with other groups, converted nearly 1,500 individuals to Islam during the World Cup. Farooq’s social media videos feature his commentary speaking of polygamy as legitimate and speculating that President Donald Trump may be an evil spirit.
The event host, Authentic Ilm Mission (AIM), which is led by Dr. Karim AbuZaid and Farooq, is fundraising for an expansive Islamic facility “in one of the most densely Muslim-populated areas between Richardson and Plano,” according to the group’s website. On the former site of a Christian church, the four-acre campus and its facilities — 40,000 square feet in total — will be used to host “Islamic K-12 education,” a seminary, and training in Da’wah, that is, Islamic proselytization.
Please follow the link to read the entire article. Consider this when you vote. We are responsible for preserving our Republic.
Saving American Taxpayer Money
On Friday, The Hill posted an article about about President Trump using the “pocket rescission” process to cancel almost $1 billion in federal funding. In the grand scheme of things $1 billion isn’t a great amount, but with the deficit being what it is, every little bit counts.
Here are some numbers that illustrate the history of the federal budget. In 2007, the federal budget for the United States was approximately $2.729 trillion. That is $4.41 trillion in today’s dollars. That reflects a cumulative inflation rate of about 61.95% since 2007. The current federal budget for the fiscal year 2025 is projected to be approximately $7 trillion with a deficit of $1.8 trillion, which was 5.8% of the GDP. That is not great, but it is moving in the right direction. The Republicans took control of Congress in 2024. Today’s high budget numbers are not solely due to inflation, they are due to runaway spending. In 2019, the federal budget was $4.4 trillion, with a deficit of about $984 billion, which represented 4.6% of the GDP. In 2020, the federal budget was $6.55 trillion, with a deficit of $3.1 trillion, which represented 14.9% of the GDP. In 2021, the federal budget was $6.8 trillion, with a deficit of $2.8 trillion, representing about 12.4% of the GDP. Theoretically, the House of Representatives controls spending. The Democrats controlled the House during the significant jump in spending in 2020 and deficit jumping to $3.1 trillion. If you want to stop runaway spending, don’t elect Democrats to the House of Representatives.
The article at The Hill reports:
President Trump cancelled almost $1 billion in federal funding Friday using the controversial “pocket rescission” process, which allows him to sidestep congressional approval.
Most of the cancellations targeted Health and Human Services (HHS) programs serving undocumented immigrants and unaccompanied children in court, as well as similar initiatives under the agency’s Minority Health office and the Department of Education’s Special Programs for Migrant Students.
“These funds previously went to pro-illegal immigration programs and Non-Governmental Organizations that provided services to refugees, asylees, and other non-citizens and put unaccompanied children in harm’s way,” the White House wrote in a press release.
The release continued, “Thanks to President Trump’s successful border policies, the illegal alien invasion is over and there are fewer people crossing our border than ever before.”
The White House went on to say the decrease in border crossings meant funding toward these programs became excessive, warranting their recission.
In Washington money equals power, so several Congressmen are not happy about the cuts. However, as a taxpayer, I am grateful that someone is taking action to trim the very bloated federal budget.
Why Are Diesel Prices So High?
On Friday, David Blackmon’s Energy Additions posted an article at Substack explaining why diesel prices are so high.
Here are some of the reasons:
The Shock: Two Wars Took Diesel off the World Market
…According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), net diesel exports from Russia and the Persian Gulf in August were 1.6 million barrels a day lower than in February. In February, those two regions accounted for almost 45 percent of the diesel traded by sea.
…But Why do These Wars Affect Diesel Prices in the United States, Especially Prices in the Midwest?
A similar question is: if the United States is the world’s largest producer of oil and we are currently a petroleum exporter, why are we seeing these high prices, especially high diesel prices? The answer is that oil markets are global. The diesel market is global, and with the loss of a substantial amount of diesel from Russia and the Middle East, global diesel prices are very high.
…But Why Now? Why are These Wars Increasing Prices Now and Not a Few Months Ago?
The blunt answer is that the world is running out of excess capacity and shock absorbers in the oil system.
Diesel prices jumped when the Iran war began, from $3.90 a gallon on March 2 to $5.64 on April 6, then eased to $4.58 by July 6 (EIA). Since then, they have climbed nearly $2.
The article concludes:
If You Want Sustainably Lower Diesel Prices, We Need Peace in Ukraine and the Middle East
Diesel prices will come down for good when the diesel the wars took off the market comes back: when Russia’s refineries are repaired and its exports resume, when tankers can move freely through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea, and when Gulf refineries are running again.
An export ban does not add a single barrel of diesel to the world market. It moves barrels from Rotterdam and Lima to Chicago, and it raises the world price that sets what Americans pay on the East and West Coasts.
Until peace comes, policymakers should focus on adding supply and moving it to where it is needed: keeping U.S. refineries running, and waiving the Jones Act so Gulf Coast diesel can reach the East Coast by ship. This crisis also shows the cost of letting the shock absorbers run down. The United States entered it with thin diesel stocks, a depleted Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and about 400,000 barrels a day less refining capacity than it had at the start of 2025.
The world needs peace and America needs refining capacity. Those two things will do more to bring diesel prices under control than anything else.
Don’t Let The Door Hit You On The Way Out
On Friday, The Gateway Pundit posted an article about the departure of 300 of the 400 Civil Rights Attorneys at the Justice Department. I am not going to accuse the Justice Department of becoming political, but I was somewhat amazed when under President Obama the Justice Department dropped the charges of voter intimidation against some members of the New Black Panthers.
This is a picture of a Philadelphia voting location in 2008:
The case of voter intimidation was dropped by the Obama Justice Department.
The Gateway Pundit reports:
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon just confirmed what every honest observer already knew: the old Civil Rights Division was a woke fortress inside Main Justice.
When President Trump’s team told those lawyers the American people had voted to end illegal DEI discrimination and scrub dirty voter rolls, about 300 of the division’s 400 attorneys walked out.
Dhillon did not mourn them. She called it what it was.
In an interview this week with Col. Kurt Schlichter filling in on the Hugh Hewitt Show, Dhillon said the Civil Rights Division is one of the largest shops at Main Justice in Washington.
When she arrived, it had about 400 attorneys. After her office made clear it would implement the president’s executive orders, “prioritizing getting rid of DEI and cleaning up voter rolls,” “eventually about 300 of those attorneys quit, and so they self-deported.”
Then she rebuilt.
“We then had the task of, while we had DOJ restrictions and budgetary constraints, building back the Civil Rights Division,” Dhillon said. “And I’m really happy to say that I recruited over 100 great legal professionals here to the DOJ.”
The article notes:
The numbers line up with other reporting. Bloomberg Law reported this month that more than 300 of the division’s 400-plus lawyers departed over the past 19 months as Dhillon redirected the office toward voter-roll enforcement, campus discrimination, and religious-liberty cases.
What did those lawyers refuse to do?
They refused to treat race discrimination as race discrimination when the victims were Asian students, white applicants, or anyone else locked out by DEI. They refused to help states stop illegal voting. They refused to treat dirty rolls — dead registrants, movers, duplicates, and noncitizens — as a civil-rights problem for actual American citizens.
The Gateway Pundit has documented that fight for months. TGP reported last December that a limited review of 47.5 million records turned up more than 260,000 dead people still on the rolls and thousands of noncitizens registered for federal elections.
In March, Dhillon said a review of 50 to 60 million records had found hundreds of thousands of ineligible registrations, including more than 300,000 dead voters still listed. The division has sued states that stonewalled the data and put election officials on notice that knowingly leaving noncitizens on the rolls can be a federal crime.
It’s good to have impartial justice return to the Department of Justice.