Former President Donald Trump is back on the attack against his chief Republican 2024 rival - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) - this time criticizing DeSantis for making payments to the conservative satire site The Babylon Bee.
Trump targeted DeSantis in a message that he posted to his social media site, Truth Social, on Friday.
The message reads:
Why is Ron DeSanctimonious paying The Babylon Bee, a non-entity, $5,000 a month, so far $21,500, if he’s not running for President? Just because his Poll Numbers are tanking, probably because of his desire to cut Social Security and Medicare, doesn’t allow him to campaign without an announcement! You don’t spend that much money on The Babylon Bee if you’re running for Governor, in fact, you don’t spend money on The Babylon Bee if you’re running for anything!
Trump, in his message, left out what might be a key detail about DeSantis's arrangement with the Babylon Bee.
The Washington Examiner reports, "all of the payments from DeSantis were made between August 2021 and March 2022, before the governor was considering a run for president."
"An April 2022 Miami Herald investigation showed DeSantis had made payments to the site for “services related to online fundraising, according to state campaign finance records," the outlet adds.
These details would appear to undermine much of the criticism that Trump directs towards DeSantis in the message.
At the time of this writing, Trump has not issued a follow up message on the matter, and DeSantis has not responded to Trump's criticism.
One question that you may have is, "what does Trump have against the Babylon Bee?"
For many years, the answer was "nothing." The outlet, throughout Trump's presidency, posted positive articles on Trump - it even defended Trump following the Capitol protest of Jan. 6, 2021.
But, according to the Examiner, things recently went south between Trump and the Babylon Bee, particularly after the midterm elections of 2022, when the outlet seemed to join in with those who blamed the Republicans' lackluster results in the 2022 midterm elections on Trump. Since then, the Babylon Bee appears to have gotten on the DeSantis bandwagon.
This likely explains why it is that Trump is not happy with the Babylon Bee. But, Trump has not indicated as much. And so, to some extent this is all speculation.
But, there is little doubt about the fact that Trump is ramping up his attacks on DeSantis in view of a likely matchup in the 2024 Republican primary.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Abortion is heading back to the Supreme Court.
There, justices last year abandoned the faulty 1973 ruling that created a national right to abortion, letting states resume regulating the nation's abortion industry state by state.
But there still remain unresolved fights.
And one of them is over the 2015 undercover videos obtained by the Center for Medical Progress that revealed abortionists' profit motive for destroying the unborn.
One infamously said she wanted to be paid more for the body parts because she wanted a Lamborghini.
Now it is the American Center for Law and Justice that explained it is returning to the high court.
It as been representing Troy Newman, who was a board member of the CMP at the time, since 2016, when Planned Parenthood sued.
"The abortion giant sued after CMP had released videos from its undercover investigation that exposed some of Planned Parenthood’s horrendous abortion practices. The videos led to congressional investigations and congressional referrals for criminal prosecutions over the sale of aborted babies’ body parts," the ACLJ reported.
The case was in the trial court for years, where evidence "included an abortion doctor admitting the use of specific techniques during abortion procedures to keep certain baby organs intact, and another stating that she 'wanted a Lamborghini' during discussion of prices for the sale of those organs," the ACLJ said.
The trial court, however, run by a judge who participated in a community center that supported an abortion business, told the jury to ignore significant evidence.
"The court instead instructed the jury to focus only on defendants’ investigative techniques and methods. The jury ultimately found the defendants liable to Planned Parenthood and returned a verdict of more than $2 million in damages, even though the truth of the videos was not challenged and Planned Parenthood did not assert a defamation claim."
The ACLJ said, "The jury’s verdict and various rulings issued by the trial court are contrary to the law and the evidence. The ACLJ appealed the unjust verdict to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on behalf of our client. Over the last couple of years, we have filed appellate briefs advancing our client’s claims and responding to Planned Parenthood’s arguments. Multiple friend-of-the-court briefs (amicus briefs) were filed in support of the arguments that we and the other defendants have made. Oral argument was held in the case last spring."
A panel at that court initially ruled for Planned Parenthood, despite being presented with information about the lower court's "absurd finding" that undercover investigators interviewing abortionists were a "racketeering enterprise."
Now the appeals court has rejected a request for a rehearing, so the next step is a request to the Supreme Court for review.
In addition to the civil judgment orchestrated by a Planned Parenthood-linked judge, the state of California, through its then-attorney general, Xavier Becerra, has accused the journalists, David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, of being criminals.
Those claims have been described as "unprecedented for citizen journalists."
The trial in district court in the case was handled by William Orrick, a judge appointed by the radically pro-abortion Barack Obama.
"Both Orrick and his wife are longtime donors to San Francisco’s Good Samaritan Family Resource Center (GSFRC), where Orrick was a board member and helped fund and open a Planned Parenthood clinic on its site. That clinic sold fetal tissue to StemExpress, a for-profit wholesaler exposed by CMP’s videos and reporting," The Federalist has reported.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Consumers responding to the Biden administration's invitation to comment on plans to ban most gas stoves often are polite, describing how they've used those units without problems, sometimes for years.
But some aren't.
"Stay the [blank] out of this issue, jackasses," said one irate participant in the discussion.
The Washington Free Beacon reported of the hundreds of people who have commented to the Consumer Product Safety Commission on the issue, "roughly 99% of those comments … express opposition to new gas stove regulations."
The report explained other comments suggested actions that were impossible, physically.
It all got started when Biden-backed commissioner Richard Trumpka Jr. wildly claimed that a total ban on gas stoves was possible, since "products that can't be made safe can be banned."
It appears to be part of the Biden agenda to eliminate fossil fuels in all situations for Americans, in pursuit of a "green agenda," even though even that action would have little to no impact on the world's use of those fuels.
In fact, some of Biden's immediate actions when he took office were to cancel oil drilling projects, kill pipeline projects, and more. The result has been obvious to consumers, skyrocketing energy costs, gasoline for cars costing $6 a gallon in some cities, and overall inflation that peaked at more than 9% last summer.
While the president claimed to not support a ban, his administration actually began moving immediately to target them through the CPSC and Energy Department.
The DOE said its new rules would ban half of all gas stoves on the U.S. market.
The Free Beacon explained Trumka's threat came after a Colorado-based green energy group, the Rocky Mountain Institute, which works openly to remove oil and gas from the American economy, claimed that 13% of U.S. childhood asthma cases were linked to gas stoves.
Its claims have been criticized for the methodology on which they are based, as well as for being linked to the organization's bias.
WND had reported only days earlier that Biden's agenda now includes putting a bull's eye on washing machines.
It seems the bureaucrats in Washington are insisting they use less water, have longer cycles, and make detergents cost more for clothes that don't get as clean.
Biden also has plans for new rules for refrigerators, coming as soon as 2027.
All of these agenda points appear to be linked to Biden's war on fossil fuels.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Americans are not able, any longer, to look to the government to protect their rights.
It's the government, in fact, that has "shredded" them, according to Pete Hoekstra, who was U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands during the Trump administration, after he served 18 years in the U.S. House.
Now a distinguished senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute, he has written there on the huge task facing the newly assembled U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.
He explains the group, led by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, needs to look into several major areas, including the extent of information that federal agencies now collect, any restrictions that actually protect the rights of citizens, and evidence that government bureaucrats actually violated policy to "target" individuals.
He wrote, "The evidence seems overwhelming. Law enforcement has acted in a way that enhances its capabilities and erodes the rights of American citizens."
He cited cases where the FBI used a scheme to obtain secret court orders for business records.
It was the Electronic Frontier Foundation that pointed out the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court must issue the order if the FBI so certifies, "even when there are no facts to back it up."
Then, too, the FBI can use "National Security Letters," issued without court orders, to grab information.
"In 2000, about 8,500 NSLs were issued. From 2003-2006 that number increased to 192,000. 'Sneak and peek' warrants are also now being used more extensively. Without any notification, these allow law enforcement to raid and search someone's home and computers, among other private property," he noted.
It happened during the FBI's collusion with Democrats to create the "Russiagate" conspiracy theory against President Trump, he explained.
It was Glenn Greenwald who explained then, "In sum, the IG Report documents multiple instances in which the FBI – in order to convince a FISA court to allow it spy on former Trump campaign operative Carter Page during the 2016 election – manipulated documents, concealed crucial exonerating evidence, and touted what it knew were unreliable if not outright false claims."
Hoekstra noted, "In an investigation involving conservative attorney Victoria Toensing, the FBI used the sneak and peek authorization to gain access to personal records without notifying her, even though she was not a target of any investigation. After 18 months, the Justice Department notified her the case was being closed without ever identifying who was being investigated or even what the issue being investigated was."
He said, "The work ahead for the Select Subcommittee on Weaponization is huge. It seems the collection of data by our law enforcement and intelligence communities is massive, much larger than any of us would have imagined even just a few short years ago. With the advent of new technologies, and passage of legislation after 9/11 that possibly has not aged well, the legal framework protecting American citizens' rights has been shredded. It seems abundantly clear that our government at multiple levels likely abused its powers, and the Select Subcommittee on Weaponization has a tremendous opportunity to set things right."
He said the Deep State's data-collectors including the National Security Agency, FBI, Department of Justice, Homeland Security and IRS, "to name but a few."
"If the government has this massive treasure trove of information, what are the protections built into the systems regarding the legal rights of the American citizen?" he asked.
"It is time for Congress to fully update the laws surrounding data collection and privacy. This also would give us the ability to see what still works, determine best practices to protect American security and civil liberties, and to end the things that do not – especially those that leave open a backdoor for abuse."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
In a highly unusual move, two judges scheduled to be on a panel to hear the case of a woman pastoral assistant fired after she objected to the sex education program in her local school have been dismissed for bias.
According to a report from the Christian Legal Center, the head of the Employment Appeal Tribunal has released two panel members from the case involving Christian mother Kristie Higgs.
Her lawyers had appealed to the court pointing out the evidence of bias for Andrew Morris, one panel member, and a transgender activist, Edward Lord.
Lord "had made a series of public statements relating to key issues in Higgs' case," including comments about censoring those who speak out regarding LGBT activist, especially transgenderism.
The head of the tribunal, Judge Eady, said she would judge the case alone after Morris was removed.
He was "at the relevant time," part of a group where he was a senior official that campaigned on the same issues that Higgs had questioned.
"Whether or not he agreed, as a senior officer he associated with the views expressed by NEU [National Education Union]. Many unions express views on matters of current issues, but NEU took a particular interest in the issues in question," Eady concluded.
Higgs, a former pastoral assistant, was sacked for "raising concerns about how transgenderism and compulsory sex education was to be taught at her son’s Church of England (CofE) primary school in 2019."
She was punished for sharing a petition opposing the introduction of Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) in primary schools and an article criticizing certain books aimed a primary school aged children for promoting such ideas a "transgenderism" and "gender fluidity," the report said.
Higgs' lawyer, Richard O’Dair, said in court that Morris "was a high-ranking member of a very substantial institution which took a very clear stance on matters on which the claimant took a contrary view."
Just days ago, the government launched an urgent review into sex education in UK schools. Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, is said to be personally alarmed about government guidance produced in 2019, the year of Kristie’s dismissal, that was endorsed by LGBT charity Stonewall."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The governor of New York has gone back to court seeking permission to detain citizens of her state in quarantine camps – without notice, without rights, and for as long as some state-chosen health officials say is needed.
The fight arose during COVID-19 when state officials decided they would adopt a new rule giving the state exactly that power.
A lawsuit ensued, and the result was that the detention plan was ruled unconstitutional.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, through Attorney General Letitia James, now has appealed the court's rejection of her "Isolation and Quarantine Procedures" scheme, according to a report from lawyer Bobbie Anne Flower Cox at the Brownstone Institute.
She explained, "The case, Borrello v. Hochul, which we won last July, was brought against the governor and her Department of Health, on behalf of a group of NYS Legislators, Senator George Borrello, Assemblyman Chris Tague, Assemblyman (now Congressman) Mike Lawler, together with our citizens’ group, Uniting NYS. … The main premise of the case was a breach of Separation of Powers – meaning the governor and her Department of Health did not have the authority to make their dystopian 'Isolation and Quarantine Procedures' regulation."
The lawyer explained the rule "allowed the Department of Health to pick and choose which New Yorkers they could lock up or lockdown, with no proof that you were ever even exposed to, let alone actually sick with, a communicable disease. They could have locked you down in your home, or they could have removed you from your home and forced you to quarantine in a facility of their choosing."
There were no time limits, no appeal, no age limits, and no rights at all, the report explained.
"You could have received a knock at the door from your local police or sheriff telling you that you had to go with them… by order of the Health Department," she said. "Furthermore, the regulation had no procedure by which you could be released from quarantine, no way for you to try to negotiate your way out."
The lawsuit was filed in April 2022, and Judge Ronald Ploetz responded weeks later that the strategy didn't meet the requirements of the Constitution.
"Interestingly, they did not file their appeal to try to overturn this horrific regulation before that crucial election," the lawyer said.
The plaintiffs in the case released a statement expressing their disappointment in the state's pursuit of such an extreme plan.
"The constitutional separation of powers and the right of due process are principles that cannot be compromised," the statement said.
"This case has been on solid ground from the start and Judge Plotez's ruling only confirmed that. The notion that a state agency could unilaterally adopt a policy that mandates authoritarian-style isolation and quarantine procedures would have been unimaginable a few short years ago.
"The unconstitutional power grab must be stopped in its tracks.'
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Actor Kirk Cameron has been holding storytime hours for children in libraries across America to read to children from his children's book, which features biblical values.
Many libraries, where officials long have promoted drag queen story hours for children, have not been thrilled by his program, but have allowed it.
One recent event was in Hendersonville, Tennessee, where Cameron was joined by "Duck Dynasty" star Missy Robertson, who also has written a children's book.
She noted after the event, the apparent opposition from library staff.
She described the "pushback" there, to include staff being "disruptive as she and Cameron attempted to film marketing videos for their books."
She described how staff members made loud noises and played music from behind the front desk after they had asked for about a minute of quiet to record their videos, WND reported.
"Robertson said, "[The lady at the front desk of the library] said, 'We're just trying to look for things to deal with our stress.' Stre— ... what stress? ... We're just standing there with a camera doing a marketing video. That's when I turned my phone on. I started recording. I was like, 'This is blatant and ridiculous.'"
Now a report from the Blaze has an updated report on those events.
The report noted the Sumner County Library Board voted 4-3 to remove Allan Morales as library director.
The Blaze reported, "Last month, Cameron, 'Duck Dynasty' star Missy Robertson, and women's sports advocate Riley Gaines joined forces for a children's story time event at Hendersonville Library, about 20 miles northeast of downtown Nashville, Tennessee. Cameron, Robertson, and professional female surfer Bethany Hamilton have each written children's books published by patriotic and God-centered publishing company Brave Books, which sponsored the event. Gaines, a former elite college swimmer, attended the event on behalf of Hamilton, who had a scheduling conflict."
It noted Robertson's concerns over "employees" of the library "banging books, kicking cabinets, and blaring music…"
Morales, in a statement after the vote, said," I just have chosen not to say anything. I don’t want to add to all this. I’m hoping now that they have fired me that the community can move on. There’s not much of a point to giving my side. At end of the day, I don’t hate anybody."
Vice President Kamala Harris showed up to cheer on her alma mater Howard University in Des Moines, Iowa on Thursday, but the audience booed her when she was featured on the big screen.
Kamala Harris was booed by the crowd at a surprise March Madness appearance in Iowa as she watched her alma mater Howard University fall to Kansas, according to the AP. 😂 pic.twitter.com/gnZakJOhXa
— Julia 🇺🇸 (@Jules31415) March 17, 2023
Harris and husband Doug Emhoff were briefly featured on the big screen, but showed sour expressions when boos erupted.
The team lost to Kansas, and video later surfaced on social media of Harris giving a postgame speech to the team.
"You made all us Bison so proud." ❤️@VP Kamala Harris delivered a postgame message to @HUMensBB 👏 #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/zwQFcwlWYX
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 16, 2023
"You played hard. You played to the very last second. You made all us Bison proud," she said. "You are smart. You are disciplined. You put everything you had into the game. You guys did not stop, and that is so inspiring. So you keep playing with chin up and shoulders back because you showed the world who Bison are."
"So I know you may not be feeling great right now, OK, but know who you are," she added. "You are excellence. You are hard work. You are powerful, and you are winners."
If Harris's handlers thought this was going to help her image, however, they probably regretted the decision, as the speech was soundly mocked by commenters.
California Wager said, "Every team that loses should have to listen to this as punishment."
Clayton Keirns said, "You can literally hear the cringe in the room. I'm speechless."
Patrick Parsons said, "There is something very wrong with this woman."
Caleb Parke said, "Why does it always sound like she's talking to second-graders? So condescending."
To see this kind of display shows that the public really, really doesn't like Harris; even her own alma mater doesn't show her the most basic respect.
This doesn't bode well for her or for President Joe Biden, who is relying on voters to be comfortable with Harris as president if something happens to him during the next two to six years he tries to stay in office. Republicans should definitely highlight Harris's many gaffes and blunders during the upcoming campaign to remind America what awaits them if Biden's health gives out.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) says that the measures that U.S. President Joe Biden has taken to address the southern border crisis are not working.
The group tweeted on Thursday:
The Biden administration’s new “border enforcement measures” have not succeeded in curbing record levels of illegal immigration, they’ve just rerouted much of the flow through legal ports of entry.
According to FAIR's website, it is a non-partisan, public-interest organization that focuses on immigration policies.
"FAIR evaluates policies, seeking out solutions that help reduce the negative impact of uncontrolled immigration on the nation’s security, economy, workforce, education, healthcare, and environment," the group states.
FAIR supports its contention - that Biden's border new border measures are merely "rerouting . . . the flow" of illegal immigration - with the new immigration numbers that have just been released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
These numbers show that, in the month of February, the CBP had 212,266 total encounters with illegal aliens.
That's a huge figure which is in line with some of the biggest numbers on record. December 2022, for example, was the worst month on record with 251,487 encounters.
It is figures like these - and the negative press that he received as a result - that prompted Biden to finally take action to address the southern border crisis. He ostensibly did so by recently visiting the southern border for the first time in his presidency and by putting forth a plan to increase border enforcement.
Critics, at the time, argued that this plan was a shell game, designed to artificially deflate the illegal immigration numbers. And, FAIR is arguing that this is exactly what is going on.
In total, the CBP did have 212,266 total encounters with illegal aliens. But, thanks to Biden's new border measures, this figure is being artificially deflated to about 129,000.
Dan Stein, president of FAIR, explained the situation, saying:
While boasting that "only" 128,877 migrants were encountered by Border Patrol entering between ports of entry in February, OFO [Office of Field Operations] encountered 83,389 illegal aliens, and allowed many to enter the country under the administration’s expansive and illegal use of parole authority.
Accordingly, Stein referred to Biden's measures as a blatant attempt "to deceive the American public into believing they have illegal immigration under control."
In other words, it looks as though the critics were, once again, correct.
Biden's border measures were not meant to actually address the southern border crisis but to make it look as though Biden is addressing the southern border crisis. He's not.
U.S. President Joe Biden, in the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapse, is calling upon members of Congress to take action to "strengthen accountability" for senior bank executives.
Biden made the call in a statement that the White House released on Friday, Mar. 17.
"[T]he President believes Congress can and should do more to hold senior bank executives accountable," the statement reads.
It continues, "Congress must take action to strengthen the ability of the federal government to hold senior management accountable when their banks fail and enter FDIC [Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation] receivership."
In the remainder of the press release, the White House goes on to list specific actions that Biden would like to see members of Congress take in order to "strengthen accountability" for senior bank executives.
Biden, for one, is calling upon Congress to "expand the FDIC’s authority to claw back compensation – including gains from stock sales – from executives at failed banks like Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank."
Specifically, Biden wants to see the FDIC's "clawback authority" under the Dodd-Frank Act be extended such that the FDIC would also be able to exercise such authority over banks such as SVB.
Biden, next, calls upon Congress to "strengthen the FDIC’s authority to bar executives from holding jobs in the banking industry when their banks enter receivership."
Finally, Biden calls for Congress to "expand the FDIC’s authority to bring fines against executives of failed banks," specifically against "negligent executives of failed banks when their actions contribute to the failure of their firms."
This all comes after the SVB collapsed and was taken over by the FDIC.
It was the largest collapse in U.S. history since the collapse of Washington Mutual in 2008. And, overall, the SVB collapse was the second-largest collapse in U.S. history.
The federal government - through the Federal Reserve, Treasury Department, and FDIC - has taken steps to try to stabilize the situation and avoid further fallout from the collapse. This includes allowing SVB customers to access their funds.
Meanwhile, Biden is calling for "accountability for those responsible" for the collapse. Biden, in a statement of his own on Friday, said:
I’m firmly committed to accountability for those responsible for this mess. No one is above the law – and strengthening accountability is an important deterrent to prevent mismanagement in the future.
It remains to be seen whether members of Congress will heed Biden's call to "strengthen accountability."