A new Daily Mail and J.L. Partners poll released on Thursday showed that First Lady Melania Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lead the pack with the highest favorability ratings in the Trump administration.
Melania Trump had a 45% very or somewhat favorable rating in the poll, while only 32% had a very or somewhat unfavorable rating. That's a +13 in the poll.
A few points behind her was Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who had similar favorable ratings of 45% combined, but had higher unfavorable ratings of 39% for a +6 rating.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt both had +3 ratings in the poll, but all the other officials and administration members included had negative numbers, including the president himself.
Vice President J.D. Vance had -1 and Trump had -5 in the survey of 1006 registered voters--both were underwater in their ratings.
Even further underwater were Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at -9 and DOGE head Elon Musk with -15. Musk will soon be mostly leaving the administration to devote himself to Tesla and other projects, but will still work with Trump one to two days a week.
The only figure with a lower rating than Musk in the poll was Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had a -59.
DOGE has been a controversial addition to the government in that it has seemed to cut government spending with a machete rather than a scalpel.
Thousands of federal employees have been laid off or offered early retirement, and most everyone knows of something they don't think should have been cut.
There is also resentment at Musk and Trump, both billionaires, cutting funding for some of the most needy in society, like Medicare, drug treatment, and mental health treatment grants and funding.
Cutting the wasteful and unnecessary spending in the government was at first popular with voters, but the extent of the cuts or temporary budget freezes has alarmed many.
DOGE claimed that it cut $160 billion from the annual budget in its first 100 days, but almost $100 billion of that is not itemized on the DOGE website, so it's hard to say what the real figures are.
Musk originally pledged to cut $2 trillion from the annual budget, but that has not materialized as planned.
Still, any cuts are better than the automatic and exponential increases we have gotten from the last few administrations, including Trump's first term.
President Donald Trump has nominated Mike Waltz to serve as the ambassador to the United Nations, Fox News reported. The president removed Waltz from an advisory role on the National Security Council following the Signal debacle.
Trump took to his Truth Social on Thursday to announce the switch. "I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States Ambassador to the United Nations," Trump said in his post.
"From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our Nation’s Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role," Trump added.
"In the interim, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as National Security Advisor, while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department. Together, we will continue to fight tirelessly to Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" Trump wrote.
Trump seamlessly made the switch on the same day for Waltz, who posted Trump's statement captioned with a message of his regards. "I'm deeply honored to continue my service to President Trump and our great nation," Waltz wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.
I’m deeply honored to continue my service to President Trump and our great nation. pic.twitter.com/FFTPjnIYkI
— Mike Waltz (@MikeWaltz47) May 1, 2025
Waltz was rumored to be on the outs after a group chat in Signal accidentally included The Atlantic's editor-in-chief. High-ranking administration officials, including Vice President J.D. Vance, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, were also on the chat.
According to USA Today, when the news broke, Waltz quickly took "full responsibility" for the "embarrassing" fiasco during an appearance on Fox News with Laura Ingraham. "We're going to get to the bottom of it," Waltz told the host.
Because the leak was a discussion about a forthcoming military attack, many believed heads would have to roll. However, the administration has continually downplayed the nature of the chat while Trump continues to back his officials, including Waltz.
Although this is undoubtedly a vote of confidence for Waltz, Trump's pick is also a result of limited options. With the margins in Congress so tight, Trump was forced to back down from one of his key choices in New York GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik.
After originally nominating her in November, Stefanik withdrew her name over concerns about the balance of power. "It was a combination of the New York corruption that we're seeing under Kathy Hochul, special elections, and the House margin," Stefanik explained.
"I've been in the House. It's tough to count these votes every day. And we are going to continue to defy the political prognosticators and deliver, deliver victory on behalf of President Trump and, importantly, the voters across this country," Stefanik promised in March during an appearance on Fox News' Hannity.
"The president knows that. He and I had multiple conversations today, and we are committed to delivering results on behalf of the American people. And as always, I'm committed to delivering results on behalf of my constituents," she added.
The second Trump administration is experiencing growing pains, but Trump is loyal to the people who support him. Waltz will serve honorably in his new role, while those who wanted him out at his original post are also appeased.
A federal judge has blocked local law enforcement officials in Florida from enforcing a new state immigration law, Breitbart reported. The local law was enacted to pursue illegal immigrants who enter the Sunshine State.
Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law in February. His state attempted to work in conjunction with President Donald Trump's hard line against illegal immigration, which was a priority since the president's first term.
However, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams imposed a preliminary injunction on the new law and extended the stay as of Tuesday. So far, 15 arrests have been made under the statute.
After the initial strike down, Florida Attorney General James Ulthmeier told police officers to ignore Williams' injunction, which did not sit well with the judge. "What I am offended by is someone suggesting you don’t have to follow my order, that it’s not legitimate," the judge said.
According to a Feb. 19 news release from the governor's office, DeSantis gave Florida authorities the ability to enforce immigration law. He signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to further Trump's agenda.
It allowed law enforcement to perform duties such as questioning immigration status, making arrests based on federal immigration law, and collecting statements and data from suspects. DeSantis touted it as a framework for other states to follow.
"Florida is setting the example for states in combating illegal immigration and working with the Trump Administration to restore the rule of law. By allowing our state agents and law enforcement officers to be trained and approved by ICE, Florida will now have more enforcement personnel deputized to assist federal partners," DeSantis said at the time.
"That means deportations can be carried out more efficiently, making our communities safer as illegal aliens are removed," the governor added. DeSantis also set aside $298 million for the cause, including hiring at least 50 new officers to carry out immigration enforcement as well as funding for training, equipment, and facilities required, the Associated Press reported.
One of the more controversial provisions allowed for the death penalty for illegal aliens who commit crimes such as murder. Opponents, including Democratic politicians and civil rights groups, said that this was unconstitutional.
This recent attack on the Florida law is part of a larger trend of judges attempting to block Trump's agenda. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. opened the door for a class action lawsuit against the administration for applying the Alien Enemies Act against Venezuelans, Fox News reported.
Trump had signed the executive order "Invocation of the Alien Enemies Act Regarding the Invasion of the United States by Tren De Aragua" on March 14. On the very next day, the administration deported 137 Venezuelans as families protested that those targeted were not members of the crime organization.
Rodriguez granted the plaintiffs "class certification" in a lawsuit in the Southern District of Texas. "The unusual circumstances of this case present a compelling justification to utilize a procedure equivalent to a class action authorized by Rule 23," Rodriguez, a Trump appointee, wrote.
The problem of illegal immigration has persisted because many officials are squeamish about enforcing the law. Several of Trump's provisions have faced challenges before liberal judges, who have struck them down.
Florida should have the ability to enforce immigration laws because the federal government has been unable or unwilling to do so for a long time. Instead, the courts continue to resist while the states are left to clean up the damage.
Residents in South Chicago are up in arms over plans to build a luxury hotel near Barack Obama's presidential center, as locals fear being priced out by soaring rents.
The 26-story hotel would be located a short distance from the Obama Presidential Center - and right next to an affordable housing complex.
The development plans have poor tenants in South Shore and Wood Lawn worried about getting squeezed out by gentrification.
“When you got people’s rent going from $850 to $1,300. You’re telling people you don’t want them in the neighborhood,” said Dixon Romeo, an organizer with the Obama Community Benefits Agreement Coalition.
Obama - a former "community organizer" - has long fought to build a monument to his ego in the city where he launched his political career. His plans have plodded forward over the objections of local community groups concerned about displacement.
After years in limbo, the Obama Presidential Center is due to finally open in 2026. But the worst fears of the locals are already coming true.
One man who attended a protest Tuesday, Philon Green, said he was forced to move after rent nearly doubled.
"The rent went from $850 or $835 to $850 to now $1,300; that ain't right. That ain't right for really to upgrade in the apartment itself," the former Woodlawn resident said.
The investment firm behind the hotel, Aquinnah Investment Trust, wants to put it next to Island Terrace, an affordable housing complex. The hotel would have up to 250 rooms, retail and office space, 118 parking spaces, and 12 bicycle spaces, according to documents filed with the city.
The developer submitted an application in March to rezone the area, which is currently a shopping center.
“When you can fast-track a luxury hotel — while everyone around that hotel lives in blight, knowing that that’ll raise the price to push them out — you’re intentionally trying to gentrify a neighborhood,” Romeo said.
The hotel hasn't been approved by the city yet, but the developer has a powerful connection. Allison Davis, the head of Aquinnah Investment Trust, was Obama’s first boss out of Harvard Law School.
Obam, who now owns multiple homes - including one in Hyde Park, Chicago - has long presented himself as a champion of social justice and fairness for the poor.
But those ideals have proven to be quite shallow indeed, as the former president's notorious vanity takes precedence.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
It's the great mystery of our time.
On the one hand, it's been rabidly undermining America's culture, government, morality, religious faith and core sanity for decades – from championing the mass amputation of healthy body parts of children, to justifying the importation of vast armies of convicted murderers, rapists, drug dealers, sex traffickers and terrorists, to insisting everyone from surgeons to airplane pilots to vice presidents be hired not based on their merit or experience, but on their skin pigment, gender or sexual preferences.
Insane, yes. But when attempting to justify these catastrophic, civilization-destroying forces – and why skin color and sex/gender should trump common sense and reality – virtually all defenders speaks in strange, largely indecipherable code.
You see, they continually assure Americans, it's all because of the absolute necessity of "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion" or "DEI," along with "Intersectionality," based on "Critical Race Theory" – which achieves "Social Justice" for "Marginalized Communities," because "Trans Lives Matter." All championed by "The Left" and "Progressives," who are "Woke." Oh, and who champion "Democracy!"
What on earth do these and other intentionally opaque terms actually mean? Almost never are they stripped down to their core reality. Let's find out why.
By now, most Americans realize an increasingly dark and destructive transformation has been ripping their beloved country apart in a thousand different ways.
For example, after a shocking string of plane crashes, Americans recently learned that the Federal Aviation Administration, tasked with the profoundly vital job of safeguarding all civilian air travel within the United States, announced during the "woke," "DEI"-obsessed Biden administration its brand-new "special emphasis in recruitment and hiring." Incredibly, the FAA – which hires virtually all U.S. air traffic controllers, who in turn single-handedly prevent, or fail to prevent, deadly aircraft catastrophes – initiated a hiring mandate with a strong preference for people with disabilities, specifically to include "hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism."
As the saying goes: What could possibly go wrong?
Obviously, such a policy is both deranged and suicidal. One could even argue homicidal.
In light of all the nation-corrupting, soul-destroying insanity already ravaging so much that Americans hold dear, it's time to leave behind the comfortable, familiar and intentionally evasive code words and phrases designed to anesthetize everyone to the total revolution that has taken place in America, and instead to dive directly into the nuclear core of the matter.
A full-blown religious cult
"Wokeism" is quite literally a cult. Not "cult-like" – but the full-blown, mandatory, heretics-will-be-destroyed, exalted religion of "The Left."
And what is "The Left"? In contrast to traditional liberals, "The Left" is code for today's full-blown Marxists and communists (Marxism being the ideology and communism its implementation).
Since most cults have an "outer circle" for the unwashed masses and one or two inner circles populated by the power-obsessed elites, where the cult's true but hidden agenda becomes apparent, let's start with the outer realm of the Cult of Wokeism and then delve inward.
On the surface, Wokeism worships "Diversity," the first element of the DEI trinity.
"Diverse" literally means … "different." That's it – check your dictionary. But how, you ask, can being "different" become the basis for hiring an air traffic controller, doctor, policeman or president? What if the candidate is different ("diverse") because he or she is insane, or a total idiot, or a criminal sex maniac, or perhaps just totally unfit for the job? Don't laugh: This is precisely what "diversity" has come to mean in today's "Woke" America.
A few recent, high-profile, real-life examples:
* What if a "nonbinary," "they-them"-pronoun-using, dress-wearing, lipstick-using, mustache-and-goatee-sporting "biological man" who specializes in repeatedly stealing women's luggage at airports so he can revel in their underwear – yes, really – suppose that person were elevated to a critical position in the federal government's Office of Nuclear Energy?
That's Sam Brinton, the disgraced Biden-appointed executive who was chosen for this sensitive and important federal leadership role because of, not in spite of, his obviously deranged appearance, activities and personality. That's "diversity."
* Or what about Admiral Rachel Levine, the biological male (born Richard Levine) who was chosen by Joe Biden to be U.S. assistant secretary for Health after being promoted to the rank of admiral, and put in charge of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps? Why choose a ridiculous-looking "transgender" person whose very appearance and speech are profoundly off-putting, disturbing – and to the vast majority of Americans, laughter-inducing? Because of "diversity."
* And just recently, the Hollywood Bowl announced that in its upcoming new stage production of "Jesus Christ Superstar," Jesus, the Savior of the world, will be portrayed by Cynthia Erivo, a bald, black, hyper-radical, "queer and bisexual" woman with a nose ring. How "diverse" of Hollywood.
Yet these examples barely scratch the surface of how the Woke religious tenet of "diversity" plays out every day in American society.
Communism, American-style
One of the most prominent "diversity hires" in American history was Kamala Harris – whom Joe Biden chose as his vice presidential running mate (and who later became the Democrats' 2024 presidential candidate) specifically because she is a so-called "woman of color."
In late April 2020, as National Public Radio reported at the time, "more than 200 black women who are leaders and activists within the Democratic party signed an open letter to the presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden calling on him to select a black woman as his running mate."
"It is a fact," said the letter, "that the road to the White House is powered by Black women and Black women are the key to a Democratic victory in 2020."
Biden had already vowed the previous month to choose a woman as his running mate – so that was set in stone – but the pressure to pick a woman "of color" was mounting throughout the Democratic Party. Indeed, a Politico/Morning Consult survey taken in June 2020 found that nearly half of all Democrats – 46% – insisted it was "important for Biden to choose a candidate of color as his running mate." So that's how America got Kamala Harris, widely viewed today as both the most radical and least competent major-party presidential candidate in U.S. history.
All of which brings us to "Equity," the second member of the Woke cult trinity. Harris herself explained – repeatedly and with crystal clarity – exactly what "equity" is really all about.
It's about communism.
Indeed, as Elon Musk asserted explicitly during 2024's presidential campaign season, "Kamala is quite literally a communist. She wants not merely equal opportunity, but equal outcomes." Musk posted a brief video compilation on X, in which Harris, daughter of prominent Marxist economist Donald J. Harris, repeatedly offers a textbook communist explanation of "equity" – not equality of opportunity, as Americans might think, but equality of "results." "Everybody should end up in the same place," Harris repeatedly insists. That's communism.
What about "Inclusion," the third member of Wokeism's trinity? Most definitions, at least in the context of DEI, describe "Inclusion" as "diversity in practice. It's the act of welcoming, supporting, respecting and valuing all individuals and groups." All individuals and groups – which, judging by four years of Biden-Harris immigration policy, includes illegal-alien rape gangs like the Satan-worshipping MS-13, and radical Islamists and terrorists, as well as just plain home-grown Antifa-type, America-detesting communist radicals who live to riot. They all need "Inclusion" too, because their "Diversity" from the norm requires they reach "Equity."
Any questions?
Meanwhile, anyone who disagrees with the DEI agenda is routinely characterized by the Democratic elites and their propaganda ministry (the "mainstream media") as a "bigot," "racist," "white supremacist" or possibly worse. (Biden publicly referred to tens of millions of Trump voters as "semi-fascists" and "garbage.")
But remember, Wokeism is not merely crazy – it's a full-blown cult, which explains, among other things, why so many millions of people at least appear to believe in it: For though most "believers" don't actually buy the sacred doctrine that, for example, men can menstruate, get pregnant and give birth to babies, they pretend to believe it out of self-preservation. In short, they wish to escape persecution, so they go along with the state's official religion out of fear. As with all merciless false faiths, intimidation and bullying constitute the Woke Cult's primary evangelists.
As famed Stanford historian Victor Davis Hanson puts it, "Wokeism is a cruel cult – created by and for the careerist benefit of the privileged."
Religion, real and false
The essence of true religion – or at least, of the truest of all religions, Christianity – is the miraculous cleansing of a person's sin and guilt by means of genuine heartfelt repentance and the grateful embrace of God's redeeming gift of grace and eternal life, all made possible by the sacrificial death – and resurrection – of His beloved Son Jesus.
But in the religion of Wokeism, newfound innocence and redemption – or rather, their illusion – are attained simply by identifying with, and championing, any of an ever-expanding kaleidoscope of "oppressed" classes of people – "people of color," Muslims, illegal aliens, transgenders, homosexuals, the disabled, the homeless – basically, anyone and everyone other than middle-class heterosexual white people. But here's where the merciful and expansive "grace" of Woke religion manifests: Even a member of the cursed oppressor class can attain "imputed righteousness" and absolution – in other words, innocence – by identifying as an "ally" of any of the many oppressed classes, which mercifully allows them into the tent of redemption as well.
This, of course, is classic Marxism/communism, wherein society is divided into the evil "oppressors" and the righteous "oppressed." There is no god in communism: Oppressors represent evil, while the oppressed constitute the good, and government – well, government is the god of communism, charged with meting out justice and mercy … and retribution and death.
Thus, the secular religion that has long been infecting American culture, education, business and government has not merely been insane. It has been a modern variant of 20th century communism, which from the Russian revolution of 1917 through China's Cultural Revolution led by Mao Zedong and the Cambodian "Killing Fields" of Pol Pot and dozens of other communist revolutions, has brought about more human suffering and death than any other factor in human history.
Today, only the identities of the "oppressors" and "oppressed" have changed with the times. Everything else is essentially the same. The Religion of Wokeism, a modern retread of cruel and inhuman Marxism, is a reliable formula for the total destruction of a once-great nation.
Fortunately, thanks in large part to the bold efforts of the new Trump administration, the spell is starting to break. But there is still a very long and difficult road ahead before everyone truly wakes up, forsakes Wokeism as the bizarre and destructive cult it really is, and embraces once again the Judeo-Christian values that once formed the very foundation and substance of American society.
The insane cult of Wokeism is explored – and clearly exposed as perhaps never before – in the May 2025 edition of WND's acclaimed Whistleblower magazine, in an issue headlined "DEFEATING THE WOKE MIND VIRUS: Why Americans are finally rejecting Marxist 'DEI' madness."
Highlights of "DEFEATING THE WOKE MIND VIRUS" include:
* "Freeing America from the destructive and utterly insane Cult of Wokeism" by David Kupelian
* "'Killed by the woke mind virus': Elon Musk opens up about his eldest son coming out as trans
"It's incredibly evil, and the people promoting this should go to prison. So I was tricked into doing this" by Hailey Gomez
* "On Day 1, Trump orders total and rapid end to all forms of 'illegal and immoral' government DEI programs"
* "Here's why Obama created DEI: 'These people are trying to divide us into a Marxist binary between victimizers and victims'" by Victor Davis Hanson
* "Secret Service agent confirms DEI contributed to near-killing of Trump: 'What I've seen with the United States is a different set of standards based on gender'" by Susan Crabtree
* "JD Vance unloads on Obama/Biden's denial of white air-traffic controllers 'because of the color of their skin': 'It means we don't have the best and the brightest sometimes in these positions. But even more importantly than that, even when we do get really good people, they're going to be way overstressed'" by Joe Kovacs
* "Under Biden, FAA demanded 'special emphasis in recruitment and hiring' of people with disabilities, including 'hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism': Trump orders immediate review of perverse FAA diversity hiring agenda and demands problems be corrected now" by Bob Unruh
* "FAA turned away 1,000 job applicants because of its DEI rules despite staff shortages, claims lawsuit"
* "DEI recruiting nightmare: 'We spent $1 million to get 1 kid in the Army': 'If you're a white male, you're not really a welcome person in the Army right now'" by J.M. Phelps
* "The history of DEI in the military: 'Blacks and women are advantaged by DEI policies only if they happen to be LGBT'" by Scott Lively
* "To stop wildfires, burn wokeism and manage the forests! 'Leftist politicians are trying to distract the public from their own incompetence'" by Victor Joecks
* "DEI must DIE for students to succeed: Leadership's 'priorities' to blame for today's system being is 'so poor' at teaching children" by Rhyen Staley
* "Trump goes to war with the education mafia: 'Harvard, through affirmative action, has denied some of the brightest minds in the land an entrance into its hallowed halls because they had white skin'" by Carole Hornsby Haynes
* "Walmart abandons trans products for kids as corporate world sheds 'woke mind virus': Likewise with Bud Light, Ford, Stanley Black & Decker, Lowe's, Target and others, amid widespread boycotts and plunging stock values" by Ireland Owens
* "A SIGN OF THE TIMES: In surprise move, Google cuts Pride Month from calendar app" by Jim Hoft
* "DEI goes underground: Rooting out woke Marxist madness in education, corporations and government requires more than executive orders" by Ed Thompson
* "How Donald Trump is defeating a communist revolution … right here in America: 'The counterrevolution to the American Revolution is in full force. And it can no longer be dismissed or ignored, for it is devouring our society and culture'" by David Kupelian.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Factory workers across China are responding to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs program with what essentially amounts to rioting.
It's because the tariffs have cut so deeply into China's exports to the United States factories are being shut down without notice and workers laid off without pay.
A report from Reuters documents that China's factory activity plunged "at the fastest pace in 16 months" in April.
Chinese officials repeatedly have claimed that their economy can withstand any shocks that may develop from Trump's tariffs, which are intended to equalize international trade.
As part of that move, Trump imposed a long list of tariffs on countries that export to the United States, with the intention of reaching fair trade agreements with them. Dozens of nations already have contacted the administration about just that, and several dozen have agreements in the works.
Reuters reported, "China's official purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to 49.0 in April versus 50.5 in March, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the lowest reading since December 2023 and missing a median forecast of 49.8 in a Reuters poll."
The result "suggests that China's economy is coming under pressure as external demand cools," explained, Zichun Huang, who is the China economist for Capital Economics.
"Although the government is stepping up fiscal support, this is unlikely to fully offset the drag, and we expect the economy to expand just 3.5% this year."
The "export orders index" has plunged, too, the report said.
"Beijing has largely relied on exports to shore up the fragile economic recovery since the end of the pandemic and only began to take steps to boost domestic demand more earnestly late last year," the report said.
A report from Daily Caller News Foundation said the results of Trump's tariffs have left "workers throughout China … flooding the streets in revolt."
"From the cramped streets of Sichuan in the southwest to the cold outskirts of Inner Mongolia in the northeast, furious workers are demanding back pay and protesting mass layoffs as factories shutter under pressure from Trump's tariffs," the report said.
Workers at a Shanghai LED plan were shouting at managers over unpaid wages and there was a "similar scene" at a sporting goods store in Dao County, the report said.
Some circumstances were getting extreme: "In the northeast city of Tongliao, construction workers climbed onto rooftops and threatened to jump if their wages were not paid."
Goldman Sachs estimated that up to 16 million Chinese jobs could be erased because of the pressure from the tariffs.
Trump's comment? "They were making from us a trillion dollars a year. They were ripping us off like nobody's ever ripped us off. They're not doing that anymore."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Officials in an Illinois town have been accused of adopting an "unwritten policy: Pro-life voices are not welcome in public spaces."
And they'll face a court judgment for their "unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination," according to the American Center for Law and Justice.
The lawsuit against Carbondale, Illinois, alleges the city has gone into unconstitutional territory by censoring residents' speech in their signs.
"We argue that the city's ordinance is unconstitutionally vague and arbitrarily enforced. Worse still, the city is applying the law in a discriminatory fashion to silence religious and pro-life speech," the ACLJ explained.
Their client "wasn't just threatened with enforcement – he was outright denied the ability to even apply for a permit that the ordinance specifically allows for nonprofits like his. This is a textbook case of unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination, enforcing a policy in one way for some people and another way for others."
The legal team said the dispute arose over efforts by a pastor and his parishioners who were being targeted with criminal citations by police "just for having pro-life signs."
The ACLJ said it de-escalated that, and followed up with a letter, which the city "completely ignored."
"That is why we have now filed a federal lawsuit to protect the constitutional rights of Brandon – a sidewalk counselor who believes his mission field is to proclaim the Gospel and minister to women in crisis pregnancies – who was threatened with a citation and possible arrest for having pro-life signs on public property outside of an abortion clinic."
The situation happened when the founder of a pro-life sidewalk counseling ministry "was peacefully advocating for life outside an abortion clinic in Carbondale. He was joined by other pro-life advocates. They carried small yard signs offering free baby supplies and life-affirming messages such as 'We will adopt your baby' and 'Love your preborn neighbor as yourself.'
That's when the trouble began."
The city's lawyer ordered another city official to tell Brandon that "all signs" were prohibited.
That's even though the city's own ordinance allows them.
"Brandon was informed that unless he removed the signs immediately, the police would be called, and he could face a citation and the confiscation of his property. When Brandon asserted that he had the right to demonstrate against abortion under the First Amendment, the city's representative flippantly told him, 'No, you don't.'"
When Brandon applied for a permit, under the city's own requirements, he was refused again.
The demand letter, the ACLJ said, "made it clear that Brandon's speech was constitutionally protected, the city's ordinance was unconstitutionally vague and chilled First Amendment speech when applied, and the city's treatment of our client amounted to viewpoint discrimination."
From the city? Nothing.
"Their silence speaks volumes. Carbondale's officials have effectively adopted an unwritten policy: Pro-life voices are not welcome in public spaces," the ACLJ said.
So it has filed a federal lawsuit against the city, its lawyer and others, seeking to protect Brandon's constitutional rights.
"This is a textbook case of unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination, enforcing a policy in one way for some people and another way for others," the legal team said.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Fentanyl, methamphetamine and heroin supplies are being shipped into the United States … on drones.
A new report from Judicial Watch reveals that confirmation has come in 14 pages of records the government watchdog obtained from U.S. Customers and Border Protection.
The lethal drugs are coming in across both the southern and northern borders.
Judicial Watch launched a Freedom of Information documents request that sought all details of "drones recovered or seized along the United States and Mexico Border" as well as information on the type and quantity of any illegal drugs seized, the locations and any arrests or convictions that resulted.
The results include confirmation of criminal activity in New York. There, the government confirmed, "At approximately 0200hrs on 09/21/22, Agents of [redacted] Station in conjunction with [redacted] were notified that [redacted] identified a DJI M300 drone originating in the United States had entered Canada. The drone landed and spent approximately 10 minutes in Canada. The drone returned to the United States to [redacted] NY where agents were waiting and observed the drone and an attached package, land in the back yard."
Federal agents contacted the pilot and others on the scene, who fled into a home.
"Agents in hot pursuit, entered the house and took the pilot into custody. An unknown number of subjects absconded from the house into the surrounding neighborhood and 2 additional subjects were later taken into custody."
All the suspects were Chinese nationals who claimed they held U.S. citizenship.
In that case, nearly seven pounds of MDMA was found, and the case was continuing.
Another situation, in California, was described to include a drone "incursion" in which a "white powder substance" was dropped.
"The white powder was tested and determined to be methamphetamine with a weight of .26 kilograms [over ½ lb] and a street value of $1500."
Another situation was in Arizona, where Border Patrol agents found a downed drone from which more than a pound and a half of meth was recovered.
Another Arizona incident saw agents recover nearly seven pounds of heroin from a drone that was forced down.
"These documents dramatically confirm that the Biden administration allowed the drug cartels, which the Trump administration has correctly identified as terrorist threats, to engage military-like drone campaigns against the United States from abroad," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
Judicial Watch earlier had reported in its Corruption Chronicles how Mexican drug cartels conducted more than 9,000 drone flights in U.S. airspace in a single year. Some of those flights were to spy on police operations, others were to "gain intelligence information."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A federal judge has claimed that President Donald Trump didn't meet the requirements to cite the Alien Enemies Act to deport members of a violent criminal gang that has been linked to the Venezuelan government.
The judge, Fernando Rodriquez, said, among other things, that Trump did not show that Tren de Aragua members were moving into the U.S. at the behest of the Venezuelan government, a needed condition.
Yet published reports have documented that, "The FBI assesses that some Venezuelan government officials 'likely facilitate' the migration of members of the violent gang Tren de Aragua from Venezuela to the United States to advance the Maduro regime's objective of undermining public safety in the U.S."
The Fox News report confirmed, "A senior administration official exclusively shared with Fox News Digital Wednesday unclassified portions of the FBI's classified intelligence assessment of the Venezuelan government's relationship with Tren de Aragua."
Trump already has designated TdA and other gangs as foreign terrorist organizations.
He cited the AEA in order to start deporting members of that gang.
Fox reported, "Fox News Digital has learned that the FBI assesses that some Venezuelan government officials are likely using Tren de Aragua members as proxies for the Maduro regime in an effort to destabilize Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and the United States."
However, the judge claimed, "Allowing the president to unilaterally define the conditions when he may invoke the AEA and then summarily declare that those conditions exist, would remove all limitations to the Executive Branch's authority under the AEA, and would strip the courts of their traditional role of interpreting congressional statutes to determine whether a government official has exceeded the statute's scope."
The Washington Examiner reported that the judge's ruling likely will be appealed, and likely will be overturned.
It may be of little import, ultimately, however.
It's because the judge ruled, "Trump could still deport Venezuelan migrants detained in southern Texas using other, more routine authorities."
The Trump administration has explained that the courts actually don't have the authority to weigh in on the president's decision to use the AEA.
The ruling came in a lawsuit from three Venezuelan nationals who are being protected by the American Civil Liberties Union, which said the three were wrongly accused of being gang members.
The fight is one of several that leftists have brought against Trump in his agenda to secure the nation's borders and remove illegal aliens, especially criminal illegal aliens, from within its borders.
The Examiner reported Art Arthur, resident fellow in law and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies, noted courts generally have given deference to executive decisions "when an invasion or threat exists."
"Most American press outlets don't really understand Tren de Aragua, or they put it in the same bucket as MS-13," Arthur said, noting the gang already has established strongholds in Colombia, Chile, and Brazil.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia bragged that he could kill his wife and never go to jail, according to a newly unearthed protective order.
The bombshell evidence supports President Trump's dark portrayal of the illegal alien from El Salvador, who has been widely described as a "Maryland man" in the press.
This is the second known protective order that was filed against Abrego Garcia over spousal abuse by his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura. A previously reported protective order from 2021 said Abrego Garcia punched, scratched, and grabbed her.
The 2020 protective order details numerous additional incidents of explosive violence, which included grabbing his wife by the hair in the car, smashing his kids' devices, pushing his wife against a wall, and threatening to kill her.
"I also have a [recording] that [he] told my ex-mother-in-law that even if he kills me no one can do anything to him,” Vasquez Sura wrote at the time.
The past reports of domestic abuse have come back to haunt Abrego Garcia, his wife - who is now advocating for his return to the U.S. - and Democrats who have rushed to defend the "Maryland father."
Trump and his White House team have described Abrego Garcia as a domestic abuser and criminal gang member. Police records from 2019 note that he was detained with suspected MS-13 members outside of a Home Depot, and officers interpreted his clothing as gang-affiliated. A police informant also identified him as a member of the gang.
Two immigration judges found the evidence of Abrego Garcia's gang ties persuasive, but he obtained limited relief from deportation back to El Salvador, where he claimed he was facing persecution by a rival gang of MS-13.
The Trump administration's decision to send him back to El Salvador - and Trump's refusal to bring him back - is at the heart of the current controversy.
The Trump administration has also pointed to a traffic stop in 2022 that led police to suspect Abrego Garcia was involved in human trafficking. Abrego Garcia was speeding in a truck owned by a convicted smuggler, and eight men were found in the vehicle with no luggage. But he was never charged over the incident.
The Supreme Court has said Trump must "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's return, but the justices also reeled in a lower court that ordered Trump in no uncertain language to "effectuate" Abrego Garcia's return.
Trump's critics say Abrego Garcia, and other alleged gang members removed under the Alien Enemies Act, have been deported without due process. But Trump has said he is doing what he was elected to do by swiftly cracking down on illegal immigration and crime.
"The media continues to call him [Abrego Garcia] a victim while ignoring the real victims: the women he battered, the children he terrorized, and the communities he endangered," DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said.
"Let us be crystal clear: Kilmar Abrego Garcia will never be on American streets again."