This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Citing Joe Biden's complaint, delivered while he was issuing a massive pardon to his son Hunter for crimes committed, about unfair prosecutions, lawyers for President-elect Donald Trump pointed to that very factor in a case involving the president-elect before New York Judge Juan Merchan and insisted it be dismissed immediately.

The case was brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and concerned business records from years ago. Those apparent violations would have been misdemeanors had they been brought before the statute of limitations expired.

But they weren't, so Bragg claimed they were felonies because they were in pursuit of another unidentified crime. It's described as the "hush money" case because it involved payments to a porn star for keeping claims of an affair private.

A report from Fox News said lawyers for Trump have demanded the case be dismissed "immediately."

"President Donald J. Trump respectfully submits this motion to dismiss the Indictment and vacate the jury's verdicts…," the lawyers wrote. "The Presidential immunity doctrine, the Presidential Transition Act, and the Supremacy Clause all require that result, and they require it immediately."

They noted Biden's claim that Hunter was prosecuted "unfairly" for his crimes, including gun charges on which he was convicted and tax violations to which he pleaded guilty.

"Yesterday, in issuing a 10-year pardon to Hunter Biden that covers any crimes whether charged or uncharged, President Biden asserted that his son was 'selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,' and 'treated differently.' President Biden argued that 'raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.'"

In reality, the charged, it was this "same DOJ that coordinated and oversaw the politically-motivated, election-interference witch hunts targeting President Trump by disgraced Special Counsel Jack Smith, the other biased prosecutors in Smith's Special Counsel's Office ("SCO"), and others. This is the same DOJ that sent Matthew Colangelo to DA Bragg to help unfairly target President Trump in this empty and lawless case. Since DA Bragg took office, he has engaged in 'precisely the type of political theater' that President Biden condemned."

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung charged, "President Trump and his legal team have filed a powerhouse motion to dismiss once and for all the unconstitutional and politically motivated Manhattan DA Hoax. This lawless case should have never been brought, and the Constitution demands that it be immediately dismissed, as President Trump must be allowed to continue the Presidential Transition process, and execute the vital duties of the presidency, unobstructed by the remains of this, or any other, Witch Hunt."

The case proved to have one scandal after another, as Merchan repeatedly ruled against Trump as the judge's daughter was working with Democrats, raising money on the rulings her father made in the courtroom.

Further, the judge was known to have donated money to Democrats, and he refused to recuse himself despite the apparent conflicts of interest present in the case.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A historic counterrevolution in public education is occurring in Texas. In an 8-7 vote, with three Republican members voting no, the Texas State Board of Education approved a new reading/language arts curriculum that jettisons Marxist ideology and returns to the traditional model that was highly successful in educating our ancestors and founders. Dubbed Bluebonnet Learning, the printed curriculum for grades K-5 is integrated with history, science, literature, art, culture, and religion as a foundational tool for history and literature.

For decades a quiet American revolution has been waged with education as a primary change agent. Public schools gradually dumbed down the curricula, normalized radical sex, discredited the family, banned all religious expression that supposedly violates the principle of "separation of church and state," discredited our founders, discouraged the teaching of American history,y and discredited American culture. The result has been ignorant, violent, and mentally destabilized students who loathe America and support socialism.

The communist attack on public education has had a devastating effect on academic achievement. From colonials who were the most literate people in the world, today our workforce is the dumbest in the industrialized world. In Texas, 19% of adults are lacking in literacy skills, placing the state at 46th out of 50. Nationally, 21% of Americans are lacking in literacy skills. The low literacy rate has impacted personal lives and income while annually costing our national economy $2.2 trillion.

Critics argue that Bluebonnet is too rigorous. With the dumbing down of academic content has come lowered public – including teacher – expectations for student achievement. Critics claim Bluebonnet's engaging stories in listening, spelling, and reading lessons are not age appropriate – 7 and 8-year-old children apparently should be reading about "puppies, kitties and birds." Compare this low level of expectation for public school students with private classical schools in Texas where children begin the study of Latin at age 6.

The problem of Texas illiteracy can be reversed by the rigorous lessons in Bluebonnet Learning. As Texas goes, so goes the nation. With 22 states already having expressed an interest in the free open source curriculum, America again can become a highly literate nation – critical if we are to Make America Great Again.

The most intense opposition to the new curriculum has been over the inclusion of religion. Critics charge that the lessons violate the "separation clause" of the Constitution, except that the phrase does not exist, only a ban on an official state-sponsored church.

Under U.S. law, public schools cannot endorse a specific religion or provide religious instruction, but they can teach religion in the context of history and other related subjects. Under Texas law, school districts must teach "religious literature, including the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and New Testament, and its impact on history and literature."

Opponents claim that lessons proselytize for Christianity and devote more time to it than to other faiths. They ignore that America's founding documents were Judeo-Christian. Do they believe that countries, where Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, or Islam are predominant, would allow Christianity to be included in their school curriculum?

Although critics claim the "Bible-infused" lessons are unconstitutional, they miss the point that the Bible is the most widely read book in the world with the English language and Western thought and culture infused with concepts, phrases, and allusions directly from the Bible.

Even Ivy League professors who tend leftward admit that, without some knowledge of the Bible as a foundational text, students are at a great disadvantage in comprehending Western and American literature. Learning to read is more complicated than whether phonics or whole language is employed. If students are to comprehend what they are reading, they must possess some background knowledge and context of the reading passage. People of all faiths daily use biblical references – see eye to eye, sour grapes, feet of clay, writing is on the wall, go the extra mile, to cast pearls before swine, straight and narrow, wolves in sheep's clothing, a house divided against itself cannot stand, salt of the earth, fall by the wayside, the blind leading the blind, flesh and blood, sign of the times and many others.

Although the fight over religious curriculum is supposed to be a constitutional violation, advocates of "religious freedom" are saying out loud what they fear most – that a conservative Christian movement is sweeping the nation. Texas was the first state to allow public schools to hire religious chaplains as school counselors. The Republican-controlled legislature has tried to require public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments and likely will try again.

At the national level, the conservative Christian coalition will have power at the highest levels of all three branches of government. Alongside Trump in the White House, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, a Catholic, will elevate the traditionalist vision of family life. In Congress, House Speaker Mike Johnson's political vision is through an evangelical lens. The Supreme Court, with Trump's three nominees, is expected to further strengthen religious rights.

To understand why revolutionaries for the overthrow of the U.S. have targeted education and religion, one must consider the vision of our founders. John Adams thought that education was vital for the preservation of rights and liberties. Thomas Jefferson held that the surest prevention of tyranny was to educate the masses. With Bluebonnet Learning, students will learn about our founding – that "all men are created equal," found in our Declaration of Independence, is related to the Magna Carta that was inspired by Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. They will learn why the Sermon on the Mount is the key building block of Western civilization.

John Adams said, "Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people." Through classroom activities and biblical stories about the Golden Rule, the Good Samaritan, and the Sermon on the Mount, students are taught moral values and positive character traits.

Those who clamor for the downfall of America have much to fear with Bluebonnet Learning and the rigorous traditional education it will restore to our public schools.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

One of the big projects President-elect Donald Trump has taken on in his landslide campaign victory to Make America Great Again is the wasteful, even fraudulent, spending that goes on in the government every year.

Estimates are that it costs American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, and Trump already has tasked billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy with the work.

Now Congress is lining up to help.

A report from Fox News explains a Republican lawmaker has launched a new congressional caucus "aimed at working hand-in-hand with President-elect Trump's soon-to-be DOGE – Department of Government Efficiency."

It is U.S. Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., who has confirmed he's written to House colleagues seeking others to join in the work.

"Taking on Crazytown is no easy task," he said.

The report noted already two have already joined, Reps. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey and Ralph Norman of South Carolina.

Bean explained that Musk and Ramaswamy "will need partners in Congress to accomplish many of the cuts necessary to rein in the unelected bureaucrats who have had unchecked power for far too long."

The letter cited America's $36 trillion debt, including massive amounts acquired during the reign of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Among the profligate government actions under the Democrats was the trillion-dollar spending package called the Inflation Reduction Act, which actually has been documented to be causing inflation to go up.

"We must take action to avoid diving headfirst off the cliff of fiscal ruin… Our DOGE Caucus will work closely with the Department of Government Efficiency to help rein in reckless spending and stop the abuse of taxpayer dollars," he said.

He noted that the Biden-Harris administration has been borrowing $6 billion a day.

"Republicans must live up to our principle of fiscal responsibility by reining in the spending that is driving both inflation and our unsustainable debt. The DOGE Caucus will bring together members from across our conference who are ready to rein in unelected bureaucrats and end the over-regulation that has crippled American Main Street," he said.

Musk already has started the work:

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

President-elect Donald Trump returned to the White House Wednesday, holding a meeting with Joe Biden as the two discussed plans for a peaceful transition of power.

Biden greeted Trump, saying: "Mr. President-elect and former President, Donald, congratulations and looking forward to having a, like we said, a smooth transition.

"[We'll] do everything we can to make sure you are accommodated and what you need and we're gonna get a chance to talk about some of that today. Welcome. Welcome back."

"Politics is tough and it's in many cases not a nice world," Trump told Biden after the two shook hands.

"It is a nice world today and I appreciate very much a transition that's so smooth. It'll be as smooth as it can get and I very much appreciate that, Joe."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

JERUSALEM – The election of Donald Trump as the presumptive 47th president of the United States has led to a raft of recent headlines about this being a catalyst for the resumption of an Israeli push to announce annexation over Judea and Samaria.

Whether the daylight which existed between Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over this matter has closed, is yet to be seen, however, some on Israel's Right are sensing an opportunity to put their case. Indeed, the nomination of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee – who has gone on the record to say there are no Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria, merely Jewish communities, as U.S. ambassador to Israel could be a sign of which way the wind is blowing inside the putative second Trump administration.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionist Party is one of the figures at the forefront of these calls, and a recent press tour to the region, which the movement Regavim organized, (which he along with two others established in 2006, but with which he is no longer involved) – provided an opportunity to see the issues up-close and attempt to get a firmer grip on the reality on the ground.

When opponents of the so-called "Two State Solution" to the Israel-Palestine issue say Israel is only some 9 miles wide at its narrowest point, it takes a vantage point on the roof of a Rosh Ha'ayin apartment block to bring this point home.

When opponents of the so-called "Two State Solution" to the Israel-Palestine issue say Israel is only some 9 miles wide at its narrowest point, it takes a vantage point on the roof of a Rosh Ha'ayin apartment block to bring this point home.

"We are living in one of the largest neighborhoods in all of Israel," said Moriah Tzafar, talking about Psagot Afek, which by 2025 year's end is supposed to have some 50,000 residents. "As you can see, it abuts the Green Line, and over the other side is a[n IDF] firing zone [203]. It stretches until the nearby Palestinian villages; Deir Balut, Rafat, and Zahawiya," she said.

"We see a lot of suspicious activity that is concerning. It is supposed to be an area where the IDF carries out training, but we see vehicles all the time. There is no road here for workers, no agriculture or shops, so what are they doing here? It is a hostile population and the question we have to ask is why are they encroaching so close to the fence? After Oct. 7, it reminds us of the female observers who pointed out the dangers in the south – and also reports from the north [of residents who heard suspicious noises]; we point these things out to the authorities; flashlights visible at night-time, and people approaching the fence on foot, who are scoping the situation out. Given what we know, how are we still relying on a fence and ignoring the concerns of residents?" she asked plaintively.

According to Naomi Kahn, director of Regavim's International Division, one of the key aims of the movement is to lobby Israel's government to acknowledge how "land use policy is the most basic expression of national sovereignty."

Structures, that do not belong to the IDF, nor any Israeli – and at the moment they would not receive permission to build on this territory – are popping up in what is supposed to be an area the army controls, however "the Palestinians build, and the IDF retreats," according to Kahn.

"The Oslo Accords were supposed to pull the two sides apart, and here the evidence on the ground is de facto pushing them closer together."

The Arabs who are illegally attempting to settle on land that does not belong to them, and is in fact, illegal according to the Oslo Accords and international law, are acting rationally according to a power vacuum that exists, and are attempting to create facts on the ground. Both sides of this issue are working on different levels of understanding; meaning both Palestinians and Israelis saw how long it took for the IDF to wrest control of southern Israel back from Hamas terrorists following the Oct. 7 attack.

Israel's long internal border with Jordan, which stretches roughly along the 1949 Armistice Line from the Gilboa area in the north down to Ein Gedi near the Dead Sea, is dangerously porous – and where several infiltrations have already taken place – and difficult to defend.

Kahn also pointed out that some 65% of the area given over to the Palestinian Authority to control has no construction on it. If we accept this is the case, why, if their intentions are allegedly peaceful, would they permit building within a literal stone's throw distance from Israeli neighborhoods? Not only does the question practically answer itself, it is astonishing any Israeli government would countenance continuing to permit it given the catastrophic results of ignoring similar activity along the Gaza border. Regavim claims the Israeli government has not prevented Palestinians from building on state land and encroaching onto Israel's state land, including the construction of some 90,000 edifices of different kinds.

Even from the point of view of the Oslo Accords, the construction is difficult to legitimize, given they were supposed to enforce a 500-meter buffer from the border fence, which would require permits (which again would never be given to any Israeli to build on), and were intended to distance Arabs from Israeli bureaucracy. They were supposed to pull the two sides apart, and here the evidence on the ground is de facto pushing them closer together.

The danger is not theoretical, it is very real. While it doesn't get overly mentioned much in the international press, and it has not been given an official title, the third intifada effectively started in about June 2021. It has largely centered around Iranian efforts to transfer increasingly powerful weaponry to Islamists in Judea and Samaria, principally through holes in Israel's security apparatus via Jordan. This movement of men and materiel has picked up in speed and intensity over the last year or so, especially as access from Gaza and across the Lebanese border is now significantly more challenging. At least the IDF has acknowledged this threat and for several months has aggressively targeted terrorist leaders and their so-called battalion commanders in Judea and Samaria.

The emotional power of the olive tree

A typical image of the countryside in Judea and Samaria is one of the often craggy rocks interspersed with olive trees. The assumption – particularly in the Western imagination – is that these trees are centuries old and have been nurtured for all that time by ancient and noble Palestinian families. The truth, however, is more complex.

As part of their attempts to annex the land, Palestinians have taken to planting copious amounts of these trees, which provide them with dual use. They are used as cover for ongoing surveillance of the neighboring Israeli communities, and they can be utilized as a symbol of their supposed ownership of the land.

"These people are just like Hamas or Hezbollah," said Rani Gavriel, head of an auxiliary police unit, which is designed to be a fast response to reports of infiltrations – of which there have already been many – as well as fence cutting and other suspicious activity. "They openly say that Rosh Ha'Ayin is theirs," he added.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Joe Biden has used dozens, probably hundreds, of executive orders from the desk of the White House to try to install in America a biased election system, using federal agencies to recruit supporters, "diversity" agendas around the world, and much more to which Americans, by and large, object.

Expect them to vanish on Jan. 20.

That's the day that President-elect Donald Trump is scheduled to be inaugurated, and analysts are advising there will be numerous changes that day.

The Washington Examiner predicted Trump "will waste no time working to undo the efforts of his predecessor, President Joe Biden when he retakes office next January. Much of what Trump is expected to do will simply be undoing what Biden did to him upon winning the White House four years ago."

Biden, for example, signed 24 executive orders during his first eight days in office, sparking charges of hypocrisy from Republicans who pointed out Biden had claimed executive orders should be limited "unless you're a dictator."

Trump already has indicated there will be action that day.

Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt explained that at least "tens" of orders are imminent.

"We know that he promised to sign an executive order to secure the southern border, something the Harris-Biden administration has refused to do. We know that, on Day One, he's going to launch the largest mass deportation operation of illegal immigrants in American history."

The "Remain in Mexico" practice might come back that same way.

CATO Institute scholar Andrew Gillen said the Biden-Harris regime's demand to promote the transgender ideology also won't stand long, especially with women's sports.

"The cultural stuff is what I think we'll see on Day One. Fighting against what Trump calls wokeness and being anti-DEI. I wouldn't be surprised to see executive action on those," Gillen said.

Trump also has confirmed plans to work on the Deep State, and expected is an order called Schedule F, which, the report said, "would allow him to fire some federal employees who previously enjoyed job protections."

Trump had begun that process in his first term, only to have Biden reverse it and Deep State employees then finalize a rule against reclassifying workers. Trump wanted that ability because, during his first term, there were several instances of federal workers openly defying and opposing the president's work. The new rule means it might take him longer to move in that direction.

The report explained Republican strategist John Feehery suggests Trump do as much as possible.

"He should reverse every single Biden EO, especially the ones regarding immigration, the border, and crime. Then he needs to reverse every executive order that has anything to do with COVID-19 and education. Then he needs to dive deep into any of the transgender stuff. I think he needs to be as aggressive as legally possible. The election was a mandate, and Congress will move too slow for the American people."

Trump himself, has promised, "Many things will be done on day one. Your head will spin when you see what's going to happen."

Trump also has suggested that many of those J6 protesters, in jail sometimes for years for offenses as dire as trespassing, maybe get pardons.

He's also talked about halting the propaganda being used in schools to promote "critical race theory or transgender insanity."

One firing that is expected, if he does not quit first, would be special counsel Jack Smith, who has handled multiple lawfare claims against Trump as part of Biden's weaponized Department of Justice.

Smith already reportedly is considering ways to back down on his "insurrection" and "classified documents" claims.

Trump also has promised to take action on inflation, which has been a stunning 22% plus since Biden and Harris took office.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The question of abortion rights was on the ballot in ten states in the 2024 election, with voters being given the choice to decide whether or not their respective state enshrines them. While some initiatives asked voters to decide if abortion bans would stay in place, others sought to amend their respective state's constitution to secure already existing abortion rights.

Arizona

Arizona banned abortion after 15 weeks of gestation in October 2022. Included on its ballot was a yes vote on the citizen initiative that would amend the state constitution, and allow abortion rights until the baby was deemed "viable," or around 23 weeks gestation.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

At least three Alabama voting sites were experiencing problems with voting Tuesday morning, reports the Montgomery Advertiser.

According to the paper, two Jefferson County polling places, along with the entirety of St. Clair County, reported issues at the polls.

The ACLU of Alabama said two tabulators were broken at the Hawkins Park Recreation Center in Birmingham, delaying voting, and one tabulator had been replaced by mid-morning. Officials were unsure if or when the second machine would also be replaced.

In the same county, the Center Point Community Center also reported that two of its voting machines were broken.

In St. Clair County, the Advertiser reported, voting had been delayed due to misprinted ballots, which were missing a statewide amendment and a local one.

"This was not an oversight on our part," said Judge Andrew Weathington, probate judge of St. Clair County. "It's not something that was not checked, and we proved all these ballots months ago."

Weathington told the paper that the ballots are "in the process of being corrected" and will be distributed as soon as possible.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

JERUSALEM – The failure of nearly four years of U.S. President Joe Biden's foreign policy looks as though it was being brought into sharp relief Sunday, as a combination of direct verbal Iranian threats, as well as the initial signals of preparations for a ballistic missile strike being detected, brought the Middle East one step closer to an all-out regional war.

Ever since Israel responded to Iran's Oct. 1 ballistic missile strike, in which 181 projectiles were fired at the Jewish state – with perhaps up to three dozen hitting Israeli territory – with a series of highly precise airstrikes on Iranian military and missile production targets, which involved anywhere between one-third and one-half of the Israel Air Force, the likelihood of any Iranian restraint was next to non-existent. On Saturday, the Islamic Republic's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei threatened Israel with a "crushing response."

"The enemies, whether the Zionist regime or the United States of America, will definitely receive a crushing response to what they are doing to Iran and the Iranian nation and to the resistance front," Khamenei said in a video released by Iranian state media, according to the Times of Israel.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Back in 2016, Douglass Mackey, known online as Ricky Vaughn, went to social media with a joke about voting for Hillary Clinton in that year's presidential election via text message.

It was, actually, just an updated version of an election meme that's been around for years. Depending on the political persuasion, it has appeared before as "Democrats vote on Tuesday, Republicans on Wednesday," or vice versa.

That one's comedic value obviously is that an election, for generations in America, has been on a Tuesday, so a Wednesday vote is valueless. Likewise with Mackey's, as there is no accepted process for voting "via text message."

A report at RedState explained, "While most people saw this particular meme and thought, 'Haha, can you imagine anybody being that stupid,' scolds at the Justice Department tightened up their britches and set about squashing the man."

Mackey was arrested, and charged with election interference, specifically., "conspiring with others in advance of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election to use various social media platforms to disseminate misinformation designed to deprive individuals of their constitutional right to vote."

The Deep State feds in Washington, the report said, held the premise that "somebody might have actually believed the meme and thus had their vote stolen away by trying to cast it as a text message."

Mackey was convicted and sentenced to seven months in prison, although he contested that at the appellate court level.

But, the report said, "Under that same premise, it must be assumed that Trump supporters might be duped by Kimmel's suggestion and attempt to vote on Thursday or Friday after Election Day. Thus, they would be deprived of their vote as well. Kimmel must be investigated and charged with the very same crime."

He begged his audience: "If you want to vote for Trump, vote late. Vote very late. Do your voting on Thursday or maybe Friday."

The Department of Justice, after trial, boasted, "Douglass Mackey, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Ann M. Donnelly to 7 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to interfere with potential voters' right to vote in the 2016 election for the Office of the President of the United States. Douglass Mackey, also known as 'Ricky Vaughn,' was previously convicted of the charge of Conspiracy Against Rights at trial by a federal jury in Brooklyn. Mackey was convicted of the charge in March 2023 following a three-week trial."

U.S. attorney Breon Peace, at the time, said, "One of the foundational rights we hold as Americans, a right that many fought so hard to obtain, is the right to vote. The defendant weaponized disinformation in a dangerous scheme to stop targeted groups, including black and brown people and women, from participating in our democracy. This groundbreaking prosecution demonstrates our commitment to prosecuting those who commit crimes that threaten our democracy and seek to deprive people of their constitutional right to vote."

The RedState report explained, "Now, there was a time when we could all sit back and hear that joke, chuckle a little bit, and move on. That time has passed. The DOJ is on record declaring that joking that people should vote after the election is a very serious and actionable crime."

The report continued, "The Department of Justice must immediately act upon this blatant criminal behavior. Kimmel, whose comedy has all the freshness of a bottle of Centrum Silver, used a 20-minute opening monologue to disparage former President Donald Trump and his supporters. The crux of his diatribe – Republicans should not vote for Trump."Unfortunately, his on-camera descent into madness culminated with a very specific criminal act. It was documented for everyone to see. On tape, archived forever."

RedState reported, "There's no gray area here at all. Kimmel did exactly what Mackey was arrested for. The Justice Department under Biden and Harris must, in their relentless pursuit to save democracy by combatting 'misinformation,' arrest Jimmy."