Who Gets To Wear A Mask?

On Thursday, Legal Insurrection posted an article about the recent practice by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) agents of wearing masks. The are not protecting themselves from Covid–they are protecting themselves from doxing. 

The article reports:

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and other Democratic figures are calling for the exposure of ICE agents, demanding that their masks be removed so they can be identified. Members of ICE wear masks because they are facing death threats against them and their families. Democrats are putting their lives at risk over this.

Of course, Democrats have never called for members of Antifa or the anti-Israel campus radicals to be unmasked. Curious, isn’t it?

From The Daily Wire:

Jeffries seemed unconcerned with the real reason that ICE agents had opted to cover their faces, and instead claimed that their efforts to enforce federal immigration law were “engaged in … aggressive overreach” and suggested the masks were simply an effort to avoid being held accountable for that.

“Every single ICE agent who’s engaged in this aggressive overreach and are trying to hide their identities from the American people will be unsuccessful in doing that,” Jeffries said. “This is America. This is not the Soviet Union. We’re not behind the Iron Curtain. This is not the 1930s. And every single one of them, no matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes, will, of course, be identified.”

The Democrats in Congress are siding with violent protestors who broke the law and desiring to put the the people who are asked to enforce the law in danger. How does that make any sense?

When did the Democrat party become a party that advocates lawlessness?

Prescription Prices Are A Problem For All Americans

On Monday, The Daily Wire posted an article about President Trump’s plan to lower prescription drug prices.

The article reports:

Americans have waited long enough, and now real relief from sky-high prescription drug prices is finally here. Recently, President Donald J. Trump signed a landmark Executive Order to end the decades-long injustice that has forced American families — especially Hispanic households — to pay more for lifesaving medications than almost anyone else in the world.

Hispanics, who are more likely to be uninsured or underinsured compared to other groups, are disproportionately burdened by high out-of-pocket prescription costs. In fact, according to the CDC, nearly one in four Hispanic adults report not taking prescribed medications due to cost, compared to just 13% of non-Hispanic White adults. This Executive Order directly addresses that disparity by demanding lower drug prices and making medications more affordable and accessible for millions of working families across the country.

The article notes:

For many Americans across the U.S., especially those economically impacted by high healthcare costs, this Executive Order is a game changer. Families working long hours, often balancing multiple jobs, should not have to choose between buying insulin for their children or groceries for the week. President Trump’s directive ensures that low-income patients, seniors, and working-class Americans will now have direct access to the same steep discounts that pharmaceutical companies give to patients overseas through government-negotiated prices.

That means bypassing the costly middlemen and securing medicines at “most-favored-nation” prices that reflect the best deal given to any other country in the world. If drug manufacturers refuse, the Order empowers the Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to act decisively: impose these pricing standards through regulation and take additional aggressive steps to drive costs down. This is what America First leadership looks like.

The article concludes:

In an era where politicians too often offer empty promises and soaring rhetoric, President Trump delivers. His commitment to reforming healthcare pricing is not just about economics—it’s about justice. And make no mistake: justice is exactly what millions of Americans, especially those in underserved communities, have been demanding for years.

President Trump said it best: “Our citizens pay massively higher prices than other nations pay for the same exact pill, from the same factory.” That ends now.

This is more than an Executive Order. It’s a promise fulfilled, a burden lifted, and another bold move in President Trump’s mission to restore prosperity, fairness, and dignity to the American people.

Even with medical insurance and medicare supplement policies, some commonly prescribed drugs are very expensive.

The Fentanyl Tariffs

On Thursday, The Daily Wire posted an article about President Trump’s attempt to use tariffs as a bargaining chip in the war against fentanyl.

The article reports:

We’ve been trending in this direction for some time now, but after yesterday’s ruling by a three-judge panel on the United States Court of International Trade in Manhattan — which struck down all of the Trump administration’s tariffs — it’s now official: We don’t need any more rulings from federal judges about what the president of the United States isn’t allowed to do. Those are completely pointless. Instead, what we need, in our alleged first-world democracy, is a ruling from some federal court explaining, in as much detail as possible, what exactly the president of the United States does have the authority to do while in office. That would be the most efficient way forward, at this point.

In just the past five months, federal courts have held that the Trump administration has no authority to do the following:

  • Change federal government websites
  • Fire any Executive Branch employees
  • Ban mentally disturbed individuals from joining the armed forces 
  • Eliminate slush funds for corrupt NGOs
  • Stop funneling billions of dollars of taxpayer money to anti-white universities like Harvard
  • Eliminate wasteful “administrative spending” that’s tacked onto every single scientific grant
  • Deport illegal alien gang members — even the wife-beaters and terrorists
  • Cut federal funding to child castration services for children

When I read this list, I wonder exactly what the courts are willing to allow the President to do!

On May 30th, The India Times reported:

The tariffs in question were put in place to encourage the countries behind the fentanyl crisis in America to crack down on the manufacture and transport of the drug. Admittedly, the drug comes into America because there is a market for it here, but it would be nice if we could all work together to solve the problem.
The courts have wandered far out of their lane. It’s time the Supreme Court stepped in and stopped this nonsense. However, I am beginning to wonder how many of the Supreme Court Justices are interested in following the Constitution rather than their political or personal leanings.

Guarding The Taxpayers’ Purse

On Friday, The Daily Wire posted an article about Congressional trips to El Salvador.

The article reports:

Republican leaders in the House have denied requests by Democrats to approve congressional trips to check on deportees at a mega prison in El Salvador.

With a post to X on Friday, House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) revealed a letter in which he told a pair of Democrats that he was rejecting their demand for authorization of a Congressional Member Delegation (CODEL) to visit the Terrorism Confinement Center or CECOT.

“If Democrats wish to travel to El Salvador and meet with a foreign illegal MS-13 gang member, they can spend their own money to do so,” Comer said in his social media post that showed a screenshot of the letter. “I will not approve a single dime of Oversight Committee taxpayer funds for use on the excursion Democrats have requested.”

The article concludes:

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), similarly rebuffed multiple Democrats pushing for a visit with Abrego Garcia.

“There is no excuse for Democrats to waste taxpayer dollars visiting and defending a transnational gang member and reported domestic abuser,” Green said in a statement on Thursday. “If Democrats care so much about defending this individual, they can use their own personal credit cards — not taxpayers’ money — to virtue-signal to their radical base.”

Yet another committee leader, House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO), recently shared photos of a trip he took to CECOT.

“Thanks to President Trump, the CECOT prison in El Salvador, which is home to some of the country’s most vicious criminals, now includes illegal immigrants who broke into our country and committed violent acts against Americans,” Smith said. “It is unconscionable that Democrats in Congress are urging the release of more foreign criminals back into our country.”

The people in this prison are NOT American citizens. They are people who came into our country and committed crimes. Why haven’t I seen this amount of concern for the American hostages held by Hamas?

Dealing With The Leaks

The first Trump administration had a major problem with people in the administration leaking to the press. Generally these were not leaks that in any way helped the administration. Many of them were quite damaging. It seems as if the second Trump administration has learned some lessons from the first Trump administration.

On Tuesday, The Daily Wire reported:

Dan Caldwell, adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has been placed on leave pending an ongoing investigation into leaks in the Defense Department, The Daily Wire has confirmed.

An official within the Defense Department confirmed the report to Daily Wire White House Correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan on Tuesday.

…Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has employed polygraph testing in her efforts to root out suspected leakers within the DHS. Tricia McLaughlin, DHS’ assistant secretary for public affairs, issued a statement to Fox News Digital on that initiative, saying, “Under Secretary Noem’s leadership, DHS is unapologetic about its efforts to root out leakers that undermine national security. We are agnostic about your standing, tenure, political appointment or status as a career civil servant – we will track down leakers and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.”

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has also taken a hardline stance on potential leakers in the intelligence community, saying in a statement, “Politically motivated leaks undermine our national security and the trust of the American people and will not be tolerated. Unfortunately, such leaks have become commonplace with no investigation or accountability. That ends now. We know of and are aggressively pursuing recent leakers from within the Intelligence Community and will hold them accountable.”

If you hold an important position in the government, you should not be leaking to the press. It is unprofessional and undermines the administration. There should be a more severe penalty than just losing your job.

Does Anyone Believe Her?

On Friday, The Daily Wire posted an article about the  Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which passed the House of Representatives on Friday. The SAVE Act requires proof of American citizenship to vote and that all non-citizens be removed from the voting roles. The documents required to prove citizenship are listed in the bill.

Some of the documents listed include:

A form of identification issued consistent with the requirements of the REAL ID Act of 2005 that indicates the applicant is a citizen of the United States.

A valid United States passport.

The applicant’s official United States military identification card, together with a United States military record of service showing that the applicant’s place of birth was in the United States.

A valid government-issued photo identification card issued by a Federal, State or Tribal government showing that the applicant’s place of birth was in the United States.

Most people have at least one of these things. However, Hillary Clinton has declared that the bill will make it hard for married women to vote.

The article reports:

On Thursday, failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton faced blowback for claiming a GOP bill “threatens” voting access for millions of married women.

Clinton, who is also a former United States senator and first lady, reacted to the House passing the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which aims to require individuals to show proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in elections for federal office.

“Update: The House just passed the Republican voter suppression measure that threatens voting access for millions of Americans, including 69 million women whose married names don’t match their birth certificates,” Clinton said. “Make sure your senators know you expect them to stand against it.”

The article notes:

“Hillary Clinton argues that the SAVE Act ‘threatens voting access’ for ’69 million women whose married names don’t match their birth certificates,’” said Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), who introduced a companion version of the bill in the Senate.

“If that were true — and it’s definitely not — the same women would be unemployable as they’d be unable to complete an I-9, which requires proof of citizenship,” he added. “Her argument proves too much, is refuted by the plain text of the bill, and cannot withstand review.”

With a post of his own, Roy alluded to how four Democrats voted in support of the bill and said, “Just show an ID. Why would you not want to verify citizenship?”

The only reason to oppose this bill is that it might limit cheating. Most married women know how to change their name on the appropriate documents when they get married.

Remember When Children Were Allowed To Be Innocent?

On Monday, The Daily Wire posted an article about a child between the ages of 3 and 4 being suspended from nursery school for being “transphobic.”

The article notes:

“Department for Education (DfE) data show the child, aged either three or four, was suspended from a state school in the 2022-23 academic year for ‘abuse against sexual orientation and gender identity,’” The Telegraph reported.

…“Worse still, this is not an isolated case,” she continued. “Apparently, 13 four and five-year-olds were suspended or permanently excluded from school for the same reason. Teachers and school leaders involved in this insanity should be ashamed of themselves for projecting adult concepts and beliefs onto such young children. It’s unforgivable for children’s vital early education to be so traumatically disrupted by school leaders who prioritize activists’ demands over their charges’ wellbeing.”

Although the article does not cite the specifics of the incident, it notes:

“In 2022, a Church of England school in the Isle of Wight warned a six-year-old boy’s parents that he might be deemed ‘transphobic’ if he were to question another pupil wearing a dress,” The Daily Mail pointed out.

I can easily picture a three-year-old boy walking up to another three-year-old boy and asking him why he is wearing a dress. That is not transphobic–that is a normal childhood question from a child that is probably too young to have the proper social graces.

Would You Support This?

A lot of questionable things have happened as a result of the transgender movement. For me, the bottom line is that there are certain places that should be reserved for biological women only–restrooms and locker rooms are an example of these. Men pretending to be women do not belong in women’s sports–that is not a level playing field. Men cannot become women–gender is determined by x and y chromosomes. Anything else is the result of major surgery and continuous drug use. One of the more egregious things the transgender movement has resulted in is teenage boys in teenage girls’ locker rooms at school.

On Monday, The Daily Wire reported:

The mother of a girl attending an Illinois middle school said that after her daughter refused to change her clothes in front of a biological boy who identified as a transgender girl, school officials stepped in and forced her to do so.

Nicole Georgas told the story of what she said happened to her 13-year-old daughter and other girls at Shepard Middle School while speaking at a Deerfield School District 109 School Board meeting on Thursday, National Review reported. Deerfield is a suburb of Chicago. Georgas said her daughter came home upset on February 5, saying a boy was using the girl’s bathroom.

According to Georgas, the girl was then told by school administrators that the boy was allowed to use the girl’s locker room and bathroom because he identified as a girl, and the school’s “inclusive” bathroom policy allowed him to use whichever locker room he wanted. Georgas said she spoke to school administrators and told them they were violating President Donald Trump’s executive order that prohibited males from using female locker rooms and participating in girls’ sports. The school stood its ground, citing the district’s legal counsel.

After this exchange, Georgas said Thursday, “the situation went from bad to worse.”

“A few days later, the male student was present in the girl’s locker room. Feeling violated, the girls made the choice not to change into their PE clothes with the biological male student present,” Georgas said.

The mother said that school administrators then supervised the girls’ locker room to make sure that the girls changed their clothes in front of the transgender-identifying boy without protest. She identified the district’s assistant superintendent for student services, the school’s assistant principal, and the director for student services as the administrators who forced the girls to change in front of the boy, according to the Lake County Gazette.

The article concludes:

Georgas said she filed a civil rights complaint with the Justice Department.

This is sick.

What Was In The Truck?

On January 1st, a Tesla Cybertruck caught fire and exploded in front of Trump Tower in Las Vegas. Las Vegas police investigated and discovered that the fire and the explosion were not accidental.

On Wednesday, The Daily Wire reported:

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) said during a press conference on Wednesday night that the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded in front of Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas earlier in the day was carrying a variety of explosive materials.

Police said that the vehicle pulled up in front of the hotel moments before it detonated, killing the driver, who police are not identifying until they are 100% certain of their identity.

Investigators found that “the truck’s bed contained gasoline tanks, camping fuel, and large firework mortars” when the vehicle exploded.

Police said that the truck was rented in Colorado through Turo and that Tesla was able to trace the route it took through its charging stations.

“No suspect information will be released until confirmed,” police said. “This is a joint investigation with federal, state, and local authorities.”

Investigators were working to determine if the intentional detonation was “an act of terrorism,” but they believed that it was an isolated incident and not part of a larger plan.

The article includes the following video:

https://x.com/kaaaassuu/status/1874506594425381133?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1874506594425381133%7Ctwgr%5E6af26de1b89cd9c6559d1486f09c0370fbb5036e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywire.com%2Fnews%2Flas-vegas-police-reveal-what-cybertruck-was-carrying-when-it-exploded

You can hear the explosions as the explosive material inside the Tesla catches fire, but because of the strength of the side panels in the Tesla, the explosion is directed upward and the doors on the hotel are not impacted despite the closeness of the vehicle. I personally think the cybertrucks are ugly, but there is something to be said for driving around with that kind of safety protection on the sides of your vehicle. It is interesting that the suspected person who blew up the cybertruck is an explosives expert. Obviously, he was not familiar with the structure of the cybertruck (assuming he wanted to do maximum damage to the area around it).

Planting Minefields For The Incoming Administration

President Trump has stated that he will close our southern border to illegal immigration. Obviously, that will include finishing the parts of the border wall that were left unfinished when he left office. Evidently President Biden does not want the wall finished (at least he does not want it finished quickly).

On Thursday, The Daily Wire reported:

The Biden administration is using its final weeks to haul a massive amount of border wall materials away from the southern border to be sold off in a government auction, an apparent effort to hinder President-elect Donald Trump’s effort to secure the border, The Daily Wire has learned.

Videos obtained exclusively by The Daily Wire from a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent show unused sections of the wall being hauled away on the back of flatbed trucks from a section of the border just south of Tucson, a hotspot for illegal crossings during the Biden administration. The agent estimates that up to half a mile per day of unused border wall is being moved.

“They are taking it from three stations: Nogales, Tucson, and Three Points,” the border patrol agent, who was granted anonymity to speak freely, told The Daily Wire. “The goal is to move all of it off the border before Christmas.”

The article notes:

Video of the GovPlanet auction site where the material is being taken shows seemingly endless piles of unused border wall material. Another video, taken from one of the construction sites on the border, shows DP Trucking LLC trucks passing through with the same style of unused border wall stacked up the back of their flatbeds.

The auction website shows that sales occurred as recently as December 4 for precisely the types of materials being pulled off the border. GovPlanet has online auctions set for Dec. 11 and Dec. 18 for more of the border wall material, which is listed on the company’s website as “32.91’ X 7.91’ Steel Bollard Wall Sections w/Grout.”

The bidding for each section of wall panels is set to begin at only $5.00, according to the website.

The taxpayers will pay for buying the supplies to replace the supplies that the Biden administration sold. What total disrespect for taxpayer dollars. The sale needs to be stopped immediately.

UPDATE:

It has been reported that Texas plans to buy the supplies and donate them to the Trump administration. I can’t confirm that, but it’s a great idea.

Why The Census Matters

The  Census matters. It impacts our elections by determining the number of electors a state gets in the Electoral College. If non-citizens are included in the census, certain states will get more Electoral College votes (and more representatives in the House of Representatives) than they are actually entitled to.

On Friday, The Daily Wire posted an article explaining how the census impacted the 2024 presidential election.

The article reports:

There is no doubt that President-elect Donald Trump has won a sweeping victory, becoming only the second U.S. president to be elected to a second, non-consecutive term in one of the most remarkable political comeback stories in American history. But his victory in the Electoral College would’ve been even bigger if two factors hadn’t cheated him out of the additional votes he should have received. 

Why do I say this? Because of the jarring errors the Census Bureau admitted it made in its population numbers for multiple states, and its unfair inclusion of aliens in the population used for congressional apportionment. That inclusion dilutes the votes of U.S. citizens, distorting representation in the U.S. House of Representatives and in the Electoral College.

The article notes:

First, the costly errors. In 2022, the Census Bureau issued a report in which it announced that a post-census survey revealed that its count was wrong in 14 states. It undercounted the populations of Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas, while overcounting the populations of Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Utah. The errors ranged from a low of 1.49% to a high of 6.79%. 

I realize that this is just an incredible coincidence, but only one of the under-counted states, Illinois, voted for Vice-President Kamala Harris, and only two of the over-counted states, Ohio and Utah, voted for President Trump.

The article notes:

The final result with these corrections? As this article was being written, Trump had 295 Electoral College votes to Harris’s 226, with Arizona and Nevada still outstanding. But adjusting for the errors and inclusion of aliens means that Trump actually should have won 304 votes and Harris should only have 220 (not including Arizona’s 11 votes and Nevada’s 6 votes). In a close election, even those numbers could make a difference. 

This fundamental injustice ought to be fixed. There is no excuse for what happened at the Census Bureau. It needs a major review of its personnel, procedures and policies, to determine the cause of its mistakes. It did not make this large a substantive error in the 2010 Census, in which the Bureau’s post-census survey disclosed a mere 0.01 percent overcount. 

We need to require a more accurate census. Also, the census needs to include only American citizens. Our government should not be representing people who are not citizens.

When Our Justice Department Is Unjust

On Monday, The Daily Wire posted an article reporting information about the Fani Willis case obtained by the House Judiciary Committee.

The article reports:

Nathan Wade, the Georgia lawyer tapped to prosecute former President Donald Trump by his onetime lover, Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis, had extensive communications with the Biden-Harris White House, new records show.

Wade billed the Fulton County office for hours of meetings with the White House, the congressional January 6 committee, and other D.C. officials, according to records obtained by the House Judiciary Committee and released Monday.

The committee released a transcript of an interview with Wade, which was compelled by subpoena, in which he said that Willis was preparing to prosecute Trump even before she took office, and that she put Wade on a “search committee” to find a prosecutor, which ultimately chose him for the job.

On May 23, 2022, Wade billed the Fulton office for eight hours of travel and “Conf with White House Counsel.” Wade said he could not remember who from the White House was involved, or even where the meeting took place.

On November 18, 2022, he billed eight hours for “Interview with DC/White House,” but under oath claimed he didn’t remember the meeting and couldn’t even say whether it was online or in-person.

…Wade’s congressional testimony raises questions about whether Willis gave him a special prosecutor job knowing he lacked the relevant experience, in order to benefit him as a lover. Wade acknowledged to Congress that he had no relevant experience to be a special prosecutor, and that he took classes to learn how after taking the job.

U.S. Marshalls attempting to serve Wade with a subpoena could not locate him for days. Wade claimed he had turned his phone off because he was preparing for a trial, and also because he was on pain medication from hurting his ankle playing basketball.

What we have witnessed in the past three-plus years, is the weaponization of the American Justice Department against the political foes of the person in power. Unfortunately, if Kamala Harris is elected, this trend will continue. There are a lot of people in the Biden administration who have totally ignored their oath to uphold the Constitution. All of them need to be held accountable if President Trump is elected. That will not be going after political enemies–it will simply be requiring the Democrats to adhere to the rules of the game.

The Truth About Censorship

On Monday, The Daily Wire posted an article about some recent statements by Mark Zuckerberg regarding censorship under the Biden-Harris administration.

The article reports:

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a letter on Monday that the Biden-Harris administration repeatedly pressured his company — which includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and more —  to censor content that is protected free speech.

Zuckerberg made the admission in a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) this week in which he said that his goal moving forward was to “be neutral and not play a role one way or another” for either any political party or ideology. He said he doesn’t even want the appearance of playing a role and will not be making political contributions.

“In 2021, senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn’t agree,” he said in the letter. “Ultimately, it was our decision whether or not to take content down, and we own our decisions, including COVID-19-related changes we made to our enforcement in the wake of this pressure.”

The censorship during Covid probably resulted in people unnecessarily dying from the disease. We now know that there are some serious risks associated with the vaccine–that was kept quiet. We now that ivermectin used correctly can be an effective weapon against the disease–that information was suppressed. We now know that Hunter’s laptop was real–that information was censored. How much information about the current Democrat party candidates for President and Vice-President is being censored?

The article notes:

He (Zuckerberg) said that the company made a mistake by temporarily demoting a New York Post story during the 2020 election about Hunter Biden’s laptop after officials falsely suggested that it was part of a “Russian disinformation operation.”

“It’s since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story,” he said. “We’ve changed our policies and processes to make sure this doesn’t happen again – for instance, we no longer temporarily demote things in the U.S while waiting for fact-checkers.”

We are living with the results of an election that was probably stolen in more then one way. Let’s not let that happen again.

A New Level Of Election Interference

The mainstream media is not a friend of Americans who love our Representative Republic. Currently the First Amendment is under attack in order to interfere with the November election. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has chosen to be part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

On Wednesday, The Daily Wire reported:

President Joe Biden and his administration have “made a mockery of the First Amendment,” according to George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, and the Supreme Court’s Wednesday decision in Murthy v. Missouri failed to put a stop to it.

Turley made an appearance on Wednesday on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom,” where he broke down the ruling and the case for anchor Dana Perino.

“You call yourself a free speech absolutist,” Perino began, asking Turley, “What does this mean?”

“Well, it’s very frustrating for the free speech community because standing is often used to block meritorious claims,” Turley replied. “This is one of the most fundamental issues that we are facing.”

“I wrote about this issue, this case, in my recent book,” Turley continued. “You have one of the largest censorship systems in our history — if not the largest — it’s been called Orwellian by lower court judges. And what the court is saying is that ‘we won’t hear you on this issue because you’re not the right litigant.’”

The article concludes:

Two Republican state officials and five conservative social media users brought the challenge in Murthy v. Missouri, claiming that the White House’s pressure campaigns on social media companies to remove what the Biden administration deems “misinformation” amounted to censorship by proxy.

The Daily Wire is suing the Biden administration in a separate social media censorship case, alleging that the U.S. State Department is engaging with and promoting censorship technology designed to bankrupt domestic media outlets with disfavored political opinions. Last month, a federal judge rejected the State Department’s attempt to get the censorship lawsuit dismissed. The Daily Wire is joined by The Federalist and the state of Texas as plaintiffs in the case.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

On Thursday, The Daily Wire posted an article about the amount of taxpayer money that goes to federal employees that actually work for the unions that represent federal employees rather than the government but are paid by the federal government.

The article reports:

The federal government pays more than $100 million a year to employees who aren’t doing their actual government jobs, but rather working for unions representing government employees against management — with taxpayers essentially funding both sides of the bargaining table. 

For decades, the government has tracked and reported those figures, but the Biden administration has removed the reports.

Under the policy known as “official time,” hundreds of nominal government employees haven’t done anything but full-time union work in years, yet remain on the federal payroll. Not only is the policy expensive to taxpayers, but it also props up the power of unions by subsidizing their activities, giving them resources even if employees don’t support them enough to pay dues. Those unions fight against the firing of employees accused of misconduct, and advocate for policies that sometimes pit the interests of employees over the interests of taxpayers, such as resisting a return to in-person work.

The Office of Personnel Management has historically kept track of and published how the program is being used, including during the Obama administration. But the data has not been updated since 2019 — when the government shelled out for 2.6 million hours, or nearly 300 years’ worth, of employee time that was actually spent on union business.

The Biden administration has even been secretive about its secrecy. In December, The Daily Wire asked OPM why the page listing the reports was missing, along with all historical reports except 2019, which can only be located via the search function. A spokesperson said, “Previous reports on official time are not currently available because OPM is reorganizing our website to improve navigation and customer experience.”

The article concludes:

In 2014, the Washington Examiner found more than 500 employees who did no or almost no work for their actual government jobs, despite drawing a full-time salary from taxpayers, because of official time. That includes 271 employees on full-time union release with the Department of Veterans Affairs, and 201 from the IRS.

Then-Sen. Tom Coburn said “I just don’t think the federal taxpayers ought to be paying for that… That’s what union dues are for. What’s irksome to me is that we are paying someone to be a pharmacist or a nurse, but they’re not doing that. They’re doing union work.”

Washington is due for a really good cleaning out!

Israel Lives In A Really Bad Neighborhood

On October 7th, Israel was attacked by Hamas. As a result of that attack, Israel has attempted to eliminate Hamas because it is an organization that foments terrorism against Israel. Israel seems to be doing a pretty good job despite opposition from people who are either unaware of the history and goals of Hamas or choose to ignore them. Unfortunately Hamas is not Israel’s only bad neighbor.

On Monday, The Daily Wire reported the following:

The Israel Defense Forces destroyed what it said were two large weapon depots belonging to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization inside Lebanon.

The strikes reportedly occurred near the coastal city of Sidon, which is roughly thirty miles north of the Israel-Lebanon border.

“IDF fighter jets struck two Hezbollah weapons storage facilities adjacent to the city of Sidon in Lebanon,” the IDF said in a statement. “The strike was carried out in response to the launch of a UAV toward the Lower Galilee in northern Israel.”

“An examination of the incident suggests that the UAV was most likely launched from Lebanon by the Hezbollah terrorist organization earlier today,” the statement continued. “The incident is under review. Furthermore, over the last few hours, IDF fighter jets struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in the areas of Meiss El Jabal and al-Adisa in Lebanon.”

I sincerely believe that we should celebrate the elimination of terrorists regardless of what country they choose to abide in. The article includes video of the IDF blowing up the storage facilities.

The article concludes:

Hezbollah is considered to be the most powerful and well armed terrorist group in the world thanks to receiving roughly $1 billion a year from Iran.

The group has 20,000 to 25,000 full-time fighters with tens of thousands more in reserves, according to the IDF.

How much of that $1 billion comes from American taxpayers?

Did Anyone Notice This At The Time?

On Saturday, The Daily Wire posted the following headline:

CCP Billionaire Secretly Bought 200,000 Acres Of U.S. Farmland

Why are we selling large tracts of farmland to people who want us destroyed?

The article reports:

Back in October, the Department of Agriculture estimated that Chinese entities owned around 400,000 acres of U.S. farmland, which translates to more than $2 billion dollars. Though it’s a fraction of foreign-owned farmland, the number has alarmed lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, since it’s been dramatically increasing over the past decade as China becomes more and more adversarial toward the U.S.

At the time, it was acknowledged that the 400,000 acre estimate was likely far lower than the real number. For one thing, there’s been an antiquated paper-based reporting system for foreign owned-land, and if someone owns less than 10 acres, it doesn’t have to be reported, nor does someone leasing land.

“Right now, we don’t know the full extent of the risk at hand,” Democrat Sen. Tammy Baldwin (WI) said. “Outdated reporting systems and a lack of auditing at both the state and federal level leave us with incomplete information and many questions.” 

Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik (NY) told the Post on Saturday that the Biden administration has “dropped the ball” when it comes to foreign adversaries goggling up American farmland.

“Communist China is purchasing US agricultural land to subvert our sovereignty, undermine our agriculture industry, encroach on our military installations, and upend America’s rural communities,” she said.

The article also notes:

It’s been estimated that some 31,000 Chinese nations were stopped by law enforcement at our border, a CNN report highlighted. According to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol data, the U.S. would typically only see around 1,500 Chinese nationals in a given year over the previous decade.

Is anyone in charge of national security paying attention?

Sometimes Congress Actually Does Something When It Directly Impacts Them!

On Tuesday, The Daily Wire posted an article about the Department of Justice’s spying on members of Congress.

The article reports:

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) announced on Tuesday that he subpoenaed Attorney General Merrick Garland for information on alleged efforts to surveil members of Congress and congressional staff — including during the Russiagate controversy that rocked former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and administration.

In a cover letter to Garland, which noted potential legislative reforms could follow, Jordan said his panel “must resort to compulsory process” because of the “inadequate response to date” by the Department of Justice (DOJ) following his request for details about the apparent use of subpoenas to obtain private communications of Legislative Branch employees.

The DOJ previously informed the committee that the legal process it used related to an investigation into the “unauthorized disclosure of classified information in a national media publication,” the letter said. Jordan cited news reporting that indicated the inquiry pertained to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) surveillance of one-time Trump campaign associate Carter Page, reliant on an effort to get FISA warrants that the DOJ inspector general heavily criticized and the DOJ itself later conceded had relied on “insufficient predication” to last as long as it did.

The article concludes:

The Executive Branch appears to have used its “immense law-enforcement authority to gather and search the private communications of multiple Legislative Branch employees who were conducting Constitutional oversight of the Department’s investigative actions — actions that were later found to be unlawful,” Jordan wrote.

“Because the Department has not complied in full with our requests, we cannot independently determine whether the Department sought to alleviate the heightened separation-of-powers sensitivities involved or whether the Department first sought the information through other means before resorting to legal process,” Jordan added. “The Committee also has concerns that aspects of the Department’s investigation may have been a pretext to justify piercing the Legislative Branch’s deliberative process and improperly access data from Members and staff involved in conducting oversight of the Department.”

After watching the Department of Justice in recent years, I have concluded that the upper management of the Department has very little respect for the rule of law. They need to be replaced.

A Second Chance?

The elections last week did not go well for Republicans. There were a lot of reasons for this, some real and some made up by non-Republicans. One state that had disappointing results was Virginia–the Democrats retained control of the Senate and retook the House of Delegates. Well, that may not be the end of the story.

On Saturday, Townhall reported:

We have reports that some funny business with a Virginia Democratic state senator might give control of the upper chamber to the Republicans. The Daily Wire’s Luke Rosiak wrote that there might be serious questions regarding the validity of Sen. Ghazala Hashmi’s residency. You must live in the district you’re representing, and multiple sources say Hashmi’s paperwork is inaccurate. Hashmi represented Senate District 10 but opted to run for the 15th district this cycle post-redistricting. The reason is apparent: this is a slam-dunk blue district encompassing parts of Richmond and Chesterfield County

On Saturday, The Daily Wire reported:

…Hashmi filed candidacy paperwork saying she lived in an apartment on Boulder Lake Drive in North Chesterfield in Senate District 15.

But four neighbors filed a complaint saying she actually lives outside the district on Bosham Lane in Midlothian, and they provided a spreadsheet saying they had driven by the house 62 times during the month of October to document her residency. The notes include her car being there late at night and early in the morning, and her leaving the house shortly after 8 a.m. It also includes photographic evidence.

Putting Hashmi in a particular bind, if she did live in the Chesterfield apartment, then she may have committed a felony by concealing her ownership of the Midlothian home on sworn election forms.

The Certificate of Candidacy Qualification, which she signed March 14, 2023, says, “I now reside at the address shown below in the district in which I seek office,” under which she listed the North Chesterfield apartment.

The form also asks, “Do you or a member of your immediately family, separately or together, hold an interest valued at more than $5,000 in real property? DO NOT INCLUDE your principal residence.” She checked “no,” and did not list the Midlothian home. Real estate records show that she and her husband have owned that — worth nearly $600,000 — since 1999.

Stay tuned.

 

There Seems To Be Some Confusion Here

On Thursday, The Daily Wire reported the following:

UPDATE: Israel Refutes White House Claim About ‘Humanitarian Pauses’

The article reports:

On Thursday morning, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that starting today Israel will implement daily, four-hour humanitarian pauses in its attack on the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza. However, following the widely reported claim that Israel had agreed to four-hour humanitarian pauses beginning today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office dismissed the White House’s statement.

Kirby said the Israeli government stated they will suspend military operations during the four hours and they will announce three hours before the pause begins when it will start, CBS News reported, adding, “President Biden told reporters Thursday morning that he has asked Netanyahu for a pause even longer than three days for the release of hostages.” Israel has reportedly already been “implementing these pauses since Sunday, opening a daily four-hour humanitarian corridor on Salah a-Din road for Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza to its south,” The Times of Israel reported.

Following the announcement from the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement saying, “The fighting continues and there will be no ceasefire without the release of our hostages. Israel is allowing safe transit corridors from the north of the Gaza Strip to the south, as 50,000 Gazans did just yesterday. We once again call on the civilian population in Gaza to evacuate to the south.”

Israel has been under a tremendous amount of pressure both from the United States and the European Union to declare a ‘pause’ in the fighting in Gaza. Why in the world should Israel declare a ‘pause’ when Gaza has made no effort to release the hostages they are holding or to inform the world of the condition of the hostages?

The article concludes:

On Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met with the 252nd Sinai Division, which is operating in the northern Gaza Strip and was clear about Israel’s objectives.

“We must remember that in Beit Hanoun (city on the northeast edge of the Gaza Strip) is the battalion from which the terrorists came to murder and kidnap in Kibbutz Erez, Netiv Ha’Asara, and Sderot,” Gallant said, “This battle has meaning beyond the symbolic aspect. We need to ensure that all terrorist infrastructure in Beit Hanoun is destroyed. We will not stop, we will continue with all our might until we eradicate the Hamas organization – we will strike the entire chain of command, military depots, communications channels, tunnels, bunkers, and headquarters, everything.”

Referring to the horrific October 7 massacre executed by Hamas on the Israeli civilian population, he continued, “The answer to these brutal and barbaric acts is to wipe out Hamas. From here we will move on. If we don’t wipe out Hamas in Gaza, we will have ten more of these [massacres] from other places.”

The Israel government is the one who gets to determine how to handle the terrorists on its border. I can’t imagine any other country putting up with the terror attacks that Israel has put up with since it became a nation. Any other nation would have obliterated the Arabs who support terrorism by now.

A Temporary Victory For Free Speech

On Saturday, The Daily Wire reported that the gag order placed on President Trump regarding the federal 2020 election case has been paused.

The article reports:

A gag order against former President Donald Trump related to his federal 2020 election case has been paused by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals after Trump filed an emergency request on Thursday saying the order violated his First Amendment rights. 

The court issued an administrative stay, saying that the decision was made to give the judges more time to hear Trump’s arguments. The court said that the ruling “should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits.”

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, had imposed the gag order on Trump Sunday night after Trump criticized former chief of staff Mark Meadows. Chutkan is overseeing special counsel Jack Smith’s federal election case against Trump, who has denied any allegations of wrongdoing.

Imposing a gag order on a leading candidate for public office sets a scary precedent, and I hope it gets entirely removed. There really should be no question as to whether this gag order is unconstitutional, but our legal system has been turned on its head in order to ‘get Trump.’

Israel Aid?

On Thursday, The Daily Wire posted two articles relating to American aid to Israel.

The first article reported:

Twelve House Democrats joined with Republicans on Thursday to pass a White House-opposed plan offset $14.3 billion in aid for Israel by slashing the same amount of funds meant for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The GOP measure to provide emergency aid to Israel as it fights Hamas passed by a 226-196 vote, sending the legislation to the Democrat-led Senate where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has already vowed not to bring it up for consideration.

Instead, Schumer announced earlier in the day, the Senate would “work on our own bipartisan emergency aid package that includes funding for aid to Israel, Ukraine, humanitarian aid including for Gaza, and competition with the Chinese Government.”

But the passage of the GOP House plan has already proven to be bipartisan with a dozen Democrats voting in favor of it: Reps. Angie Craig (D-MN), Don Davis (D-NC), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Jared Golden (D-ME), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Darren Soto (D-FL), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Juan Vargas (D-CA), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), and Frederica Wilson (D-FL).

The second article reported on Senator Schumer’s reaction to the bill:

The Democrat-controlled Senate will refuse to consider the House GOP plan to send aid to Israel in its fight against Hamas, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced on Thursday, setting up a standoff with the Republican-led lower chamber.

Opting for a different path, Schumer said the Senate will move forward by working on legislation that combines Israel assistance with other national security matters — a strategy rejected by House conservatives, but favored by the Biden administration.

“Let me be clear: The Senate will not take up the House GOP’s deeply flawed proposal,” Schumer said in a post to X. “Instead we will work on our own bipartisan emergency aid package that includes funding for aid to Israel, Ukraine, humanitarian aid including for Gaza, and competition with the Chinese Government.”

The Democrats are allergic to spending cuts. Because of that, it is questionable whether any American aid will reach Israel. However, I suspect the Democrats will find a way to send more money to Ukraine. Maybe it’s not really about the spending cuts.

Is The Department of Homeland Security Secure?

On Wednesday, The Daily Wire reported that the Biden administration’s U.S. immigration enforcement agency has hired Nejwa Ali, a former spokeswoman for the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), as an “Asylum Officer,” where she is tasked with “applying immigration laws and regulations to asylum applications.” Wow. I wonder who she will be willing to let into America.

The article reports:

…Now the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officer is repeatedly posting pictures of Hamas terrorists parachuting in with guns and writing, “F*** Israel and any Jew who supports Israel,” a Daily Wire investigation found.

Nejwa Ali worked in 2016 and 2017 as a public affairs officer for the Palestinian Delegation to the U.S., which according to its own website, served as the “PLO office in D.C.” That office was expelled from the country by the Trump administration, but Ali landed on her feet, according to a screenshot of her LinkedIn profile, securing a job at DHS as an “Asylum Officer,” where she was tasked with “applying immigration laws and regulations to asylum applications.”

The article also notes:

But a day after The Daily Wire asked the agency about Ali, she told The Daily Wire in a phone call that she still works for DHS, and was decidedly unchastened.

Asked if she disclosed her employment with the PLO to DHS, she said “That’s none of your f***ing business. Mind your business before I call the police. If I were you I’d respectfully hang up the phone right now.”

Asked if her views on Israel impacted her ability to work as an American government official, she said, “That does not affect the ability to do my job at all. You can mind your own business.”

The article concludes:

During the Obama administration, on social media she lobbied for it to “BOYCOTT ISRAEL” and “End AID 2 ISRAEL,” and during the 2016 election, she complained that “Republicans OBSESS over Israel” and called for “decolonization.”

“F*** APARTHEID Israel and any Israeli that supports that bulls***. F*** you, may allah forgive you,” she wrote, alongside pictures of violent leftist Americans Assata Shakur and Malcolm X. In 2017, she posted a picture of herself grinning in front of a statute of Che Guevara, the murderous Communist militant.

The United States is facing pressure from the political Left to welcome Palestinian refugees into the country amid Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It is officers like Ali who would be tasked with advising the government whether or not it would be safe to grant entry to an applicant.

Ali’s position on Israel goes squarely against the policy of the United States. President Joe Biden has said that his administration stands firmly with Israel, and has pledged to support it in its war against terrorists.

Hang on to your hats, I have a feeling that life in America is going to get ugly in the near future.

UPDATE:  Nejwa Ali has been placed on leave by the State Department. If her background had not been disclosed, would she still be working there?

 

 

When The Government Has Lost Its Mind

On Friday, The Daily Wire posted the following headline:

DOJ Warns Financial Institutions That They Can’t Reject Illegal Immigrants’ Credit Applications

I have a few problems with this. When I take out a loan, I have to provide my Social Security Number. Do illegals have Social Security Numbers? I have to provide a driver’s license and proof of car insurance. Do illegal immigrants have those documents?

The article reports:

The Department of Justice (DOJ) put financial institutions on notice for rejecting illegal immigrants’ credit applications.

The DOJ issued the warning in a joint statement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Thursday. The DOJ and CFPB said in a press release that illegal immigrants had filed complaints about credit application rejections.

“The Justice Department and CFPB are issuing this statement because consumers have reported being rejected for credit cards as well as for auto, student, personal and equipment loans because of their immigration status, even when they have strong credit histories and ties to the United States and are otherwise qualified to receive the loans,” stated the agencies.

The two agencies claimed that the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) protections for national origin and race extended to alienage, though they admitted that no such explicit provisions spelled out their interpretation. The agencies conceded that creditors could rely on immigration status to determine repayment ability, but then cautioned against “unnecessary or overbroad reliance” on immigration status.

What’s to stop an illegal from taking out the loan, not bothering to pay it, and disappearing either back to their original country or simply within America? If you are here illegally, you might not have the documents that would allow the government to find you if you chose not to be found. Citizens can be traced by their tax returns, employers, etc.

The article concludes:

Under the ECOA, the DOJ may sue those alleged to have engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination concerning race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in addition to national origin.

According to the DOJ’s latest annual fair lending report from 2021, there were five referrals involving claims of race or national origin discrimination. The 2022 report has yet to be issued.

CFPB’s latest fair lending report, from 2022, did mention prioritizing the financial needs of immigrants. CFPB issued four referrals involving discrimination on the basis of race and national origin in mortgage lending to the DOJ last year.

 

When do we begin to prioritize the financial needs of American citizens?

Ignoring The Root Of The Problem

On Saturday, The Daily Wire posted an article about Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s announcement of a partnership with a far-left non-profit to advance his proposal of a government-owned grocery store, which he argues is needed for the sake of “racial justice.”

The article reports:

Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a press release this month that the city-owned grocery store — which would be the largest of its kind in the U.S. — is needed to address the exit of corporate grocery stores and promote “food equity.”

“[F]ood access and security link directly to environmental and racial justice,” Johnson’s office said in a press release, adding that “37% of Black residents and 29% of Latine/x residents are food insecure, compared to 19% of residents overall.”

The mayor’s office argued that “historic disinvestment has led to inequitable access to food retail across Chicago,” and noted that “existing inequities have been exacerbated as at least six grocery stores closed on the South and West sides over the past two years.”

Indeed, as Chicago continues to reel with violent crime and large-scale theft, corporate grocery stores like Walmart and Amazon-owned Whole Foods have recently packed up and left Chicago.

There  is so much here that is totally backwards. Does anyone trust the city of Chicago to run a grocery store without major corruption? Has anyone noticed that the lack of grocery stores in some areas could be changed by enforcing laws that would prevent crime in those areas? How about leaving criminals in jail so that the citizens of Chicago are safe?

For example, Chicago has some of the toughest gun laws in America. However, in 2022, Chicago topped 600 homicides and 2,600 shootings in 2022, according to new Chicago Police Department data (source here). I suspect if Chicago dealt with the crime problem the lack-of-grocery-stores problem might solve itself.

The article concludes:

“We are not spending any taxpayer dollars, right?” she told CBS Chicago. “What we’re also going to be able to access is the funding that exists at the national level and the state level.”

Moreover, the mayor’s office has already acknowledged that this project, if completed, will also use economic grant money, which, too, comes from taxpayers.

Critics have said this grocery store proposal is akin to “Soviet-style central planning.” Detractors have also highlighted the city’s penchant for corruption and the city’s half-a-billion dollar deficit to question how the store could be efficient. There are also still questions about how prices would be set, how this would be superior to private grocery stores, and how it would affect private enterprise.

We all need to remember that grant money comes from taxpayers. There really is no free lunch!