Former President Barack Obama has inserted himself in New Jersey's gubernatorial race in an effort to bolster Rep. Mikie Sherrill's chances of victory in a surprisingly close contest, Fox News reported. However, New Jersey Republicans called out Obama for what they're saying is a "Hail Mary" pass as the clock runs out in order to drum up "fake excitement" for the candidate.
There was a time when Obama was a superstar of the Democratic Party and absolutely untouchable. Now, people see him for the political hack that he is, especially those who were formerly his base of voters, and are on to their tricks.
During a Turning Point Action rally on Monday in Medford, New Jersey, attendee and New Jersey voter Shawn Crump laid out the problem with Democrats placing their hopes in Obama. "I'll say this as an African-American, we're done hearing Barack Obama try to tell us how we're supposed to vote," Crump said
"Because, full disclosure, I was a Democrat," Crump confessed. "I worked on his campaign in 2008, and he just let us down. He let this country down, but he especially let down a lot of African-Americans. So we really don't want to hear him tell us how we were supposed to go," Crump added.
On Saturday night, Obama attended a rally for Sherrill in Newark, New Jersey, to urge the Garden State to vote for the Democrat once again. "New Jersey, I remember just a year ago, just a year ago, I remember talking to folks who would tell me, this election doesn’t matter," Obama claimed, referring to President Donald Trump's glorious 2024 victory.
"These are simple, educated, bright people. They say, 'Whoever the next president ends up being, it’s not going to affect me.' That’s what they would say," the former president went on. "If nothing else, the last nine months should have cured us of that idea, because the stakes are now clear," Obama went on.
"We don’t need to speculate about the dangers to our democracy. They’re here. We don’t need to wonder if harm is going to be done to vulnerable people, or whether the public conversation will become meaner and coarser. We’re witnessing it. Elections matter, and they matter to you, and they matter to your family. We are being tested, and what is remarkable about America is that it gives us the power, as citizens, to change this country," he said.
"We all have more power than we sometimes imagine. We’ve just got to use it. So, if you believe in that better story of America, you cannot sit this one out," Obama implored the audience. He shared a clip of his remarks in a post to X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday.
If nothing else, the last nine months should have made it clear that elections matter. But what’s remarkable about America is that we have the power, as citizens, to change this country by voting. Go to https://t.co/NKXRGNgbZX. pic.twitter.com/pg2KD4qsg2
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 4, 2025
Far from the optimism of his hope and change campaign, Obama's words smacked of desperation. "Let's face it, our country and our politics are in a pretty dark place right now," Obama said earlier in his speech, stirring up the anti-Trump hysteria.
"It's hard to know where to start, because every day this White House offers up a fresh batch of lawlessness and carelessness and mean-spiritedness. And just plain old craziness," Obama added. Although New Jersey is typically a reliably Democratic state, it also voted in former GOP Gov. Chris Christie in 2013 and went for George H.W. Bush in the 1988 presidential election against Democrat Michael Dukakis.
Trump nearly succeeded in flipping the state in 2024, losing by only six points but securing five counties for Republicans, which could explain why the Democratic Party appears to be in a state of panic. Burlington County Young Republicans' Joe Sereday told Fox News Digital that voters are coming out in droves for Ciattarelli, as Democrats seem to be throwing everything they can at this race.
"I think it's kind of old news now. Usually, when the Democrats roll in these big names — Obama, who else was here, Andy Kim, Cory Booker — usually that means they're in trouble," Sereday pointed out.
The dynamics of this election and the Democrats' response seem to indicate a severe lack of confidence. However, the true measure of their worries won't be known until Election Day results roll in, and it's anybody's game until then.
The federal government has prevented a total of 6,525 known or suspected terrorists (KSTs) from coming into the United States since the fiscal year began in July, according to the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC).
This number is three times higher than the previous high number of 1,903 KSTs apprehended during the entire Joe Biden administration, and twice the more than 3,000 KSTs apprehended during fiscal year 2025.
The probable reason for the unusually high number of KSTs is the designation of Tren de Aragua, MS-13, other transnational criminal organizations and cartels as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) when Trump took office in January.
The NCTC identified nearly 1,200 KSTs inside the U.S. in the first 100 days of Trump's second administration, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said at the time.
Of that number, 750 were identified with MS-13, Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa Cartel and others, according to reporting by The Center Square.
As of October, NCTC identified more than 35,000 KSTs and added them to the federal Terrorist Screening Dataset (TSDS), NCTC director Joe Kent said.
That action was key in preventing the 6,525 KSTs from entering.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. We're doing this and more every day,” he said, noting that the Biden administration would have let those KSTs in.
CBP, Border Patrol agents, and multiple other law enforcement agencies receive biographical and biometric data for all KSTs listed in the TSDS.
Most KSTs had previously been apprehended at the Northern border with Canada, but the latest figures show that the largest number, 2,782, were apprehended at the Southern border.
The difference is Trump's designation of the drug cartels as FTOs.
KSTs identified at land ports of entry “are most commonly found inadmissible to our country and immediately repatriated or removed,” CBP says. “They may also be turned over to another government agency for subsequent detention and law enforcement action.”
If they are identified between ports of entry, they are typically detained and removed by Border Patrol or turned over to other agencies for detention and/or law enforcement action.
At a White House event last week, Gabbard said some high profile arrests have been made, including Sinaloa cartel leaders, money launderers and cocaine traffickers, and a CJNG cartel affiliated baby trafficker, “La Diabla” (“the devil”).
Throughout his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump made improvements in energy and infrastructure key pillars of his Make America Great Platform.
Now that he is in office for a second term, Trump -- through his Department of Energy (DOE) -- is endeavoring to invest upwards of $100 million in the restoration of coal plants across the country, and reverse damaging Biden-era priorities, as the Daily Caller reports.
It was on Friday that the DOE issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity in this particular strategic realm.
According to the announcement, the effort is meant to support “practical, high-impact projects that improve efficiency, plant lifetimes, and performance of coal and natural gas use.”
The DOE noted the administration’s hope that the projects would help turn the tide away from harmful policies undertaken by Trump’s predecessors.
“For years,the Biden and Obama administrations relentlessly targeted America’s coal industry and workers, resulting in the closure of reliable power plants and higher electricity costs,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated.
He continued, “Thankfully, President Trump has ended the war on American coal and is restoring common sense energy policies that put Americans first. These projects will help keep America’s coal plants operating and ensure the United States has the reliable and affordable power it needs to keep the light on and power our future.”
The Energy Department added that the Notice of Opportunity seeks applications from those capable of launching projects that will “design, implement, test, and validate three strategic opportunities for refurbishment and retrofit of existing American coal power plans to make them operate more efficiently, reliably, and affordably.
One such opportunity area is the “development, engineering, and implementation of advanced wastewater management systems capable of cost-effective water recovery and other value-added byproducts from wastewater streams.”
Another involves the “engineering, design and implementation of retrofit systems that enable fuel switching between coal and natural gas without compromising critical operational parameters.”
The last realm of opportunity is the “deployment, engineering, and implementation of advanced coal-natural gas co-firing systems and system components, including highly fuel-flexible burner designs and advanced control systems, to maximize gas co-firing capacity to provide a low cost retrofit option for coal plants while minimizing efficiency penalties.”
The DOE’s push could not come at a better time, given the administration’s recent release of a report documenting the risk of grid failure currently plaguing the nation.
This summer, the DOE report revealed that “blackouts could increase by 100 times in 2023 if the U.S. continues to shutter reliable power sources and fails to add additional firm capacity."
As such, the DOE's Friday announcement underscores not just the urgent energy challenges facing America, but also Trump’s willingness to address them.
Ronald Holmes III has left his position as national finance director for the campaign of U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner of Maine, WMTW-TV reported. Holmes announced that he was leaving the campaign because his "standards as a campaign professional no longer fully aligned with those of the campaign."
Platner, an oyster farmer, has positioned himself in the Democratic primary but has already hit some snags. The latest comes after Holmes abruptly announced that he was leaving the "Graham for Maine" campaign in a post to the professional networking site LinkedIn.
"I joined this campaign because I believed in building something different — a campaign of fresh energy, integrity, and reform-minded thinking in a political system that often resists exactly those things. Somewhere along the way, I began to feel that my professional standards as a campaign professional no longer fully aligned with those of the campaign," Holmes said in his post.
"I'm proud of the people who showed up with good hearts and clear purpose and the lessons that came with the work," he added. Losing Holmes is just the tip of the iceberg of problems Platner is facing.
Holmes is only the latest insider to abandon what appears to be a sinking ship. On Oct. 17, former Maine Rep. Genevieve McDonald left her job as the political director for the campaign following resurfaced Reddit posts crafted by Platner that attacked rural White Americans and slammed police.
As Politico reported, this trouble triggered the campaign to send out non-disclosure agreements to staffers, including McDonald. “The campaign offered me $15,000 to sign an NDA. I did not accept the offer. I certainly could have used the money. I quit my job to work on Platner’s campaign, believing it was something different than it is," McDonald told Politico.
This explaination from McDonald sounds shoickingly similar to the way Holmes described their parting. Unfortunately, the scandal has grown after additional posts came to light that he ridiculed the tipping culture of Black Americans and downplayed sexual assaults in the military.
Platner continued to experience personnel issues as recently as last Tuesday. His campaign manager, Kevin Brown, left his post after discovering that he and his wife were expecting a child, though the issues surrounding the campaign couldn't have helped. Prior to leaving, Brown had only served in the campaign position for a week.
As difficult as these changes have been for the campaign, arguably the worst scandal has to do with Platner's tattoo that contains a Nazi symbol. He has tried to explain it away as a drunken impulse, but the scandal is far from over.
According to Fox News, the controversy about Platner's tattoo erupted after old social media posts revealed the skull and crossbones design that was used by Nazi officers. The candidate said that he didn't know the origin of the design when he got the tattoo in Croatia in 2007, following a "night of drinking" while he was in the Marine Corps.
"We thought it looked cool," Platner claimed. He said he's "lived a life dedicated to anti-fascism, anti-racism and anti-Nazism" and was therefore "appalled" to find out its true origin. Platner shared the story in a video uploaded to X, formerly Twitter, on Oct. 22.
"Years ago I got a skull and crossbones tattoo with my buddies in the Marine Corps. I was appalled to learn it closely resembled a Nazi symbol. I altered it yesterday, into something that isn't deeply offensive to my core beliefs. I am very sorry to all of you who had to contemplate a symbol of hate over the past 48 hours," Platner explained in the caption.
Years ago I got a skull and crossbones tattoo with my buddies in the Marine Corps.
I was appalled to learn it closely resembled a Nazi symbol. I altered it yesterday, into something that isn't deeply offensive to my core beliefs.
I am very sorry to all of you who had to… pic.twitter.com/RQSiRsrTiC
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) October 22, 2025
Democrats have largely been silent on this controversy, but it seems Platner is unable to stop the momentum, even with the establishment remaining silent. Only time will tell whether Platner can ride this out, but it isn't looking good, and certainly won't serve him if he makes it to the general election.
James Carville criticized Hunter Biden for speaking publicly about anything, given the disgrace he has brought to his family, the Daily Caller reported. The famed Democratic strategist excoriated the son of former President Joe Biden on the "Politics War Room" podcast released on Thursday, telling him to "shut the f--k up."
The impetus for this tirade came from a revelation in a new book, Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign That Changed America by ABC News's Jonathan Karl. In it, he claimed that Biden was angry over an incident that happened at a 2024 fundraiser where his father appeared with former President Barack Obama.
Joe Biden had one of his moments on stage, and Obama took him by the wrist to lead him off, which outraged the younger Biden. When Carville's co-host Al Hunt brought up the topic, Carville laid into the former president's son for being a grifter and embarrassing his family.
Carville pulled no punches when it came to the former president's son. "In terms of Hunter Biden, look — he did some really stupid g-----n things," Carville stated.
"That $50,000 a month from a Ukrainian energy company — I mean, if he cared so much about his father, it looks like he wouldn’t have done so much s--t to embarrass him. Getting him on the phone and whatever," Carville said.
Burisma employed Hunter Biden despite his lack of experience and education in the energy industry. There were also accusations that Hunter Biden was engaged in influence peddling and profiting from his famous name.
According to PBS News, Hunter Biden's former business partner, Devon Archer, accused him of using his famous father's influence to make a favorable impression. There were numerous shady dealings between Hunter Biden, his father, and business associates; however, Joe Biden pardoned his son on his way out of office.
"And I don’t criticize [former] President [Joe] Biden for pardoning his own son. I think he was a target of malicious prosecution, but I think he was guilty of some s--t. Okay?" Carville added. "He wasn’t like Chelsea Clinton or the Obama children or anything like that. He traded on his family name. But it would look like after you’ve gone through all of that, you would do the simple thing and just shut the f--k up.”
Carville is correct that Hunter Biden appeared to be intent on embarrassing his father, considering the abandoned laptop that would have become a career-ending scandal, had Big Tech not suppressed the New York Post's report. Still, the humiliating details of his alleged drug-fueled life of debauchery will never go away.
There were photos of Hunter Biden allegedly doing drugs, engaging with prostitutes, and all sorts of other activities. Rather than being discreet about it, Hunter Biden allegedly left behind this hard drive containing a trove of damning evidence at a Delaware repair shop.
Still, Hunter Biden continues to downplay the findings on the laptop and its origins. "So number one, there’s really never a laptop," Hunter Biden claimed.
"But there was a hard drive, and that hard drive became just a dumping ground for things that were hacked, stolen, fabricated, manipulated, real. Lot of — vast majority of things that are real," Hunter Biden said.
Joe Biden was no choir boy by any means, but his son seems to have surpassed him in the ways he could allegedly break the law and misbehave. If Hunter Biden had any sense, he never would have done those things, but he can't even manage to keep his mouth shut about it.
Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and other large donors are looking to unseat Zohran Mamdani from his spot as frontrunner in the Big Apple's mayoral race, Breitbart reported. The Democratic socialist is far ahead of his closest contender, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, which has establishment Democrats panicking.
The Democratic Party is attempting to raise big money to counteract the Mamdani effect. The large donors have been coalescing behind Cuomo in the hopes that "business elites" follow through on their promise to drop a cool $100 million to "knock out" Mamdani from the lead before Election Day.
Part of this strategy includes Bloomberg's continued endorsement of Cuomo, who recommitted his support for the former governor on a post to X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday. Bloomberg, who served as mayor from 2002 to 2013, also donated $1.5 million to the "Fix the City" Super PAC.
Four months ago I endorsed @AndrewCuomo because I thought his management experience and government know-how made him the best choice for New Yorkers. I still do. And today, with early voting underway, I wanted to reiterate my support for Andrew Cuomo. Being Mayor of New York City… pic.twitter.com/4yWYcKAXXt
— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) October 29, 2025
The former mayor and media mogul used his experience to explain why Cuomo would be a good fit for the job. "Four months ago I endorsed @AndrewCuomo because I thought his management experience and government know-how made him the best choice for New Yorkers. I still do," Bloomberg said.
"And today, with early voting underway, I wanted to reiterate my support for Andrew Cuomo. Being Mayor of New York City is the second toughest job in America, and the next mayor will face immense challenges," he went on.
"Andrew Cuomo has the experience and toughness to stand up for New Yorkers and get things done. I hope you will join me in supporting him," Bloomberg concluded.
Prior to this year, Bloomberg and Cuomo had "feuded" back when Cuomo was the governor. Now that he and Mamdani "have starker differences," it seems Bloomberg is willing to let go of whatever disagreements the two had for the sake of the city.
As early voting is already underway, a Quinnipiac University poll conducted from October 23 to 27 showed that Mamdani was the frontrunner with 43% of the vote. The rest was split between Cuomo at 33% and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, who received 14%.
In a sane world, Mamdani would not be anywhere near the front of the pack, let alone leading it, because of his radical policies. For instance, Mamdani said in July 2020 that police officers "do not create safety" when they're called to domestic violence situations.
He instead believes that "mental health experts" should respond to calls rather than law enforcement. "There are so many responsibilities we’ve given to police that, frankly, should have nothing to do with their departments...there are so many different, different situations that would be far better handled by people trained to deal with those specific situations, as opposed to an individual with a gun," he claimed during a podcast interview.
Mamdani also famously supports city-run grocery stores. "As Mayor, Zohran will create a network of city-owned grocery stores focused on keeping prices low, not making a profit. Without having to pay rent or property taxes, they will reduce overhead and pass on savings to shoppers," Mamdani's campaign website claims.
"They will buy and sell at wholesale prices, centralize warehousing and distribution, and partner with local neighborhoods on products and sourcing." Other ridiculous ideas also include rent freezes and fare-free buses for all, both of which will make New York even more of a hellscape for the people living there.
Even with Mamdani's unflinching leftism and Bloomberg's backing for Cuomo, it almost seems this is a done deal for the socialist candidate. New York City is about to get what it deserves, but unfortunately, that will mean even those who didn't vote for him will have to live in the dystopia he'll create.
A story New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani shared about his aunt and her struggles to "feel safe in her hijab" after 9/11 hit a snag when it was revealed that he probably lied, Breitbart's John Nolte reported. The Democratic socialist frontrunner only has one aunt who does not wear a hijab and was not in New York City at the time.
"I want to speak to the memory of my aunt, who stopped taking the subway after September 11th because she did not feel safe in her hijab. In an era of ever-diminishing bipartisanship, it seems that Islamophobia has emerged as one of the few areas of agreement," Mamdani said. Nolte pointed out that the candidate fought through "fake tears" to make that revelation that turned out to be absolute nonsense.
Greg Price shared the clip to X, formerly Twitter, showing Mamdani stopping himself several times during the statement to appear as if he was choked up. "Zohran through tears: 'My aunt stopped taking the subway after 9/11 because she did not feel safe in her hijab.' Yes, she was the real victim of 9/11," Price captioned it.
Zohran through tears: “My aunt stopped taking the subway after 9/11 because she did not feel safe in her hijab.”
Yes, she was the real victim of 9/11
pic.twitter.com/aILr4JtVvF— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 24, 2025
Predictably, it now appears that Mamdani is another leftist liar who made up this story for clout. "The overall context was Mamdani defending himself against claims of anti-Semitism and an affection for Jew haters and Islamists," Nolte explained.
"Although all of that is true of Mamdani, what he’s doing here is pulling the trick perfected by Barry Obama, where you declare any criticism, even accurate and valid criticism, racist. Except…Mamdani lied," Nolte charged.
"Turns out Mamdani has only one aunt, a woman named Masuma Mamdani, who does not wear a hijab and who did not live in New York or even America during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks," Nolte pointed out. When confronted later, Mamdani tried to explain this away, saying he was "talking about his father’s cousin, a woman who is not his aunt and who cannot verify Mamdani’s tale of post-9/11 woe because she’s dead," Nolte said.
The leftist candidate tried then to pivot from the issue at hand. “I was speaking about my aunt, I was speaking about Zehra Fuhi — my father’s cousin, who sadly passed away a few years ago,” Mamdani said.
"For the takeaway, for my more than 10-minute address about Islamophobia in this race and this city, to be the question of my aunt tells you everything about Andrew Cuomo," Mamdani said, blaming his opponent, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Nolte sees this as yet another sign that "New York City is so screwed."
Nolte went on to explain that Mamdani is sure to get elected due to the city's "foreign-born population," whom he claims have "obviously not been assimilated thanks to the Democrat Party, and now New York will become Paris, Dublin, and London — an Islamized foreign country hostile to its host country," he warns. "What a shame. New York really was a great city at one time, probably the greatest in the world," Nolte added.
"This is how extreme the Democrat Party has become. They are alright with this and Nazi tattoos," Nolte said, referring to another radical leftist candidate, Graham Platner, who is running for U.S. Senate in Maine.
"In their demented minds, anything is better than Donald Trump, who is basically a Bill Clinton-style Democrat in terms of policy. One great difference between America and the lost continent of Europe is that we have 50 mostly sovereign states, the First Amendment, the Electoral College, and two U.S. Senators representing each state regardless of population size," Nolte went on.
"Our Founding Fathers understood history and put together a brilliant system to hold tight to our republic. It’s not foolproof. Nothing is. But for now, at least, we can all watch New York burn from the comfort of MAGA America, which is already everything Democrats claim they want America to be: clean, safe, and tolerant," Nolte concluded.
Mamdani represents the worst of Democratic politicians in the fact that he's anti-American, pro-Communist, and a liar to boot. As Nolte and many others are predicting, Mamdani will likely become the next mayor of New York City, and the people there will get precisely what they voted for. RIP New York City.
California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has signaled that he will announce his run for president in 2028 following the 2026 midterm elections, Breitbart reported. Newsom said this during an interview that aired on CBS's Sunday Morning last weekend.
During his sitdown with Robert Costa, Newsom tried on his best aw-shucks persona in order to win over red-state voters. Costa gushed over the California Democrat who shut down the Golden State during the coronavirus pandemic and now makes a name for himself by insulting President Donald Trump.
When Costa asked whether Newsom was considering a run for 2028 after next year's midterms, Newsom contended that he'd be "lying otherwise" if he didn't admit it was on his radar. "I’d just be lying. And I’m not — I can’t do that," Newsom said.
The California governor is eyeing a presidential run after ruining California. He is term-limited and will therefore be without political power in 2027, just as Trump is heading into the last year of his term.
During COVID-19, Newsom bent over backwards to show how well he could cooperate with Trump, but that goodwill has since evaporated. Newsom has positioned himself as the anti-Trump candidate, and he has joined Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) in seeing how low he can sink in his insults of Trump.
However, Newsom has the added distinction of being an absolutely abysmal leader in a state like California, which should be flush with cash but isn't; instead, it is entering its second year of a budget deficit. Meanwhile, he's engaged in fights over congressional redistricting and bailed out Planned Parenthood to the tune of $140 million.
There can't be a worse candidate who is less appealing to sane people outside of California, but that hasn't stopped him from trying. During the interview, Costa said he first got an inkling that Newsom had presidential aspirations after seeing him pull a political stunt by working as a barista, once again showing himself to be at once slamming Trump and trying to be like him.
"When I saw you slinging shots behind the coffee bar, I thought this guy might run for president," Costa said to Newsom. Of course, Trump did it better when he briefly worked the McDonald's drive-thru in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, but Newsom is desperate.
Newsom's act continued with some false humility that's supposed to make him more appealing to people turned off by his California slickback and smooth talking. "The idea that a guy who got 960 on his SAT, that still struggles to read scripts, that was always in the back of the classroom, the idea that you would even throw that out is, in and of itself, extraordinary," Newsom said.
"Who the hell knows? I'm looking forward to who presents themselves in 2028 and who meets that moment. And that's the question for the American people," he added.
As if that wasn't ridiculous enough, Newsom spun a tale about his impoverished childhood despite being featured as one of the "Children of the Rich" as a young man. His father was an attorney for the Getty family, but Newsom said in a now-viral clip that he was "payin' the bills, man" and making "Wonder Bread and Mac and Cheese sandwiches" as a boy.
Hip Hop Gavin!
Here's California Gov. Gavin Newsom debuting his new "street" persona on an NBA podcast - even though his father was an attorney for the billionaire Getty family:
"It was about payin' the bills, man."
"Hustlin."
"I raised myself."
"Wonder bread and Mac… pic.twitter.com/Ov9jCfAvC3
— Conservative Brief (@ConservBrief) October 26, 2025
Newsom is a fraud and will say or do anything to obtain more political power. He likely will try to run for president in 2028, and the Democrats, who have no talent waiting in the wings, will likely be stuck with this prevaricating politician and his tall tales.
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has adopted new rules to ban illegal immigrant students from receiving in-state tuition rates, a move that was taken to comply with a court ruling compelling it to do so.
The Trump administration sued Texas to get the change, saying that parts of its education law conflicted with federal law pertaining to illegal immigrants.
“In direct and express conflict with federal law, Texas education law specifically allows an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States to qualify for in-state tuition based on residence within the state, while explicitly denying resident-based tuition rates to U.S. citizens that do not qualify as Texas residents,” the administration argued.
“No matter what a state says, if a state did not make U.S. citizens eligible, illegal aliens cannot be eligible,” the administration argued. The court agreed.
The state entered into a consent agreement in June to end in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, and the rule change will implement that agreement.
“Institutions are responsible for charging a person nonresident tuition beginning with the first academic term that begins after the date the institution discovers that the institution erroneously classified a person as a Texas resident,” the rule stated.
In some cases, it could mean that students will be retroactively charged out of state tuition rates on the Fall 2025 semester.
Immigration groups are, of course, largely opposed to the rule, particularly as it applies to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students, who have existed in a gray area between legal and illegal status for years.
But the board said it is “legally bound by the judgment, as an agency of the State of Texas” and “does not have the authority to permit any other person or institution that may be separately and independently bound by federal law and the Federal Order to delay or avoid compliance.”
The federal order repeatedly said that the Barack Obama-era DACA program is illegal, and can't be the basis for any relief from the new rules.
According to the board, "DACA recipients are not lawfully present and thus ineligible to receive the benefit of Texas resident tuition on that basis.”
Texas has been trying for years to end DACA, and has been joined by 19 other states in doing so.
The closest they have come is the 2023 ruling that vacated DACA and put a nationwide injunction on it.
At any rate, illegal immigrants will no longer be a drain on federal higher education resources in Texas, which is as it should be, DACA or no.
Despite Kamala Harris’ recent assertions that the 2024 presidential election was among the closest in American history, voters, in fact, overwhelmingly sent Donald Trump back to the White House for a second term.
Now, amid suggestions from Harris that she may mount yet another bid for the Oval Office, new polling indicates that even the likes of former wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson have a better chance of victory than she does, an embarrassing revelation she has done her best to downplay, as the Daily Mail reports.
The ex-vice president recently sat down for an interview with the BBC, offering insights into what her future might hold in the aftermath of last November’s loss.
Notably, Harris firmly declared, “I am not done, I’ve not decided yet what I will do in the future beyond what I am doing right now.”
She even went so far as to say that she could “possibly” be president someday, though it was in the context of that question that she was confronted with a very awkward truth.
When recent Polymarket predictions placing Johnson at a 3% likelihood of becoming the country’s next president and and Harris’ chances at just 2% were mentioned, the former VP did her best to minimize their relevance.
Harris replied, “I think there are all kinds of polls that will tell you a variety of things. I’ve never listened to polls, adding, “If I listen to polls I would not have run for my first office or my second office, and I certainly wouldn’t be sitting here in this interview.
Conservatives and others who tend to view Harris in an unfavorable light were quick to take aim at her comments in the BBC interview.
One online commentator expressed enthusiasm about a potential Harris’ presidential bid, saying, “Please let this be true, she will guarantee a JD [Vance] victory.”
Another mused, “Repeating the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Definition of insanity.”
Referencing the effectively undemocratic coronation that put Harris at the top of the Democratic Party ticket last summer after Joe Biden bowed out, another observer wrote, “Never won a primary election and never will. She’s done and incompetent to boot.”
Yet another netizen opined on the idea of a 2028 Harris run by stating bluntly, “Hahaha, I didn’t know she did comedy.”
However, it is not just Republicans who have scoffed at the prospect of Harris serving as her party’s standard-bearer, with Fox News reporting that Democratic Party donors recently declined involvement in a major fundraiser that was set to feature the former VP as its headliner.
A source close to the situation told the Wall Street Journal that after receiving an invitation, one potential contributor “replied with a profanity-laced rejection,” while others said they were withholding participation in such activities until the party “produced substantive plans to win elections,” something they apparently do not feel should include Harris, at least in a prominent role.