This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
When a school in Wisconsin allowed a fiasco to develop in its shower rooms – an adult male allegedly showered nude with several young girls – the situation was bad.
But it got worse when the district demanded $11,000 from those seeking access to public records about the situation.
It is the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty that wanted the records.
It said the case involved "an adult biological male" who "showered naked with four freshman girls."
It requested information about the school's locker room policy and related documents, only to face the demand for $11,000 in payments.
"While schools may charge some small fees known as 'location costs' (and many schools waive these fees), the district is illegally charging exorbitant fees as a way to hide public records," WILL reported.
WILL lawyer Dan Lennington said, "The law demands more, and the district’s embrace of secrecy is an embarrassment. Students, parents, and taxpayers deserve transparency and accountability."
Reports documented that after the man allegedly was allowed to violate the privacy rights of four young female students, WILL wrote to the Sun Prairie Area School District charging the school failed to adequately address the violation.
It sought the school's records.
The letter explained four Sun Prairie East High School freshmen girls were disturbed when the "undressed" man, 18, got into the shower with the girls.
Fox News Digital said it had an email from the principal that admitted an incident occurred.
But the school said no information was being released without the payment, which would include $934 hourly rate for officials to start gathering the documents.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A unanimous Supreme Court on Thursday dealt a massive blow to a practice that is common around the nation – governments taking a property for unpaid taxes, selling it, and keeping ALL the proceeds.
That offends, the court ruled, the Takings Clause of the United States Constitution.
The fight at hand involved a condominium formerly owned by Geraldine Tyler in Hennepin County, Minnesota, but the same facts have played out over and over across the nation in recent years. In fact, some state laws authorized this specific action.
In this case, Tyler owed about $15,000 in unpaid taxes and penalties, so the county "seized the condo and sold it for $40,000, keeping the $25,000 excess over Tyler's tax debt for itself," the court said.
She sued, charge the county unconstitutionally retained the excess value of her home in violation of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment and the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment.
Lower courts dismissed her charges.
But the court's ruling said Tyler plausibly charged the retention of the excess value above her debt violated the Constitution.
The ruling said that the excess value of confiscated property protected by the clause "depends on state law," but state law "cannot be the only one because otherwise a state could 'sidestep the Takings Clause by disavowing traditional property interests' in assets it wishes to appropriate."
"History and precedent dictate that, while the county had the power to sell Tyler's home to recover the unpaid property taxes, it could not use the tax debt to confiscate more property than was due. Doing so effected a 'classic taking in which the government directly appropriates private property for its own use.'"
Such a concept, the justices schooled Minnesota authorities, "can trace it s origins at least as far back as the Magna Carta."
The ruling noted that "most states" today "require excess value to be returned to the taxpayer whose property is sold to satisfy outstanding tax debt."
Minnesota, however, set up its process to provide "no opportunity for the taxpayer to recover the excess value from the state."
"Significantly, Minnesota law itself recognizes in many other contexts that a property owner is entitled to the surplus in excess of her debt. If a bank forecloses on a mortgaged property, state law entitles the homeowner to the surplus from the sale. And in collecting past due taxes on income or personal property, Minnesota protects the taxpayers' right to surplus.
"Minnesota may not extinguish a property interest that it recognizes everywhere else to avoid paying just compensation when the state does the taking," the ruling said.
The court rejected outright the county's claim that Tyler "constructively abandoned" her home.
Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the opinion of the court.
Tyler, now 94, had purchased the condo in 1999 and lived there for years.
Then she decided it would be safer for her in a senior community, and moved. But nobody continued paying the property taxes and soon the county added $13,000 in interest and penalties.
Roberts explained Tyler sustained "a classic pocketbook injury sufficient to give her standing."
"The taxpayer must render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, but no more," he said.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A self-described "truth teller," New York Post columnist Miranda Devine, has schooled First Lady Jill Biden, on social media, why her "applause line" during a recent speech, fell with a thud.
It's because her "happy talk" about "unity" is "garbage."
The situation developed when Biden was giving a speech at the Reagan Institute Summit on Education recently.
Twitchy related her words, "I’ve visited red states and blue states and I’ve found that the common values that unite us are deeper than our divisions."
She paused, and there was complete silence.
Then Biden instructed the audience, "And, um, I thought you might clap for that."
Devine explained, "They didn't applaud because even the most partisan audience knows that her happy talk about 'unity' is garbage and that all her spiteful insecure husband has done since he was sworn in is deliberately divide this country."
In fact, Joe Biden has prioritized agenda points like transgenderism, abortion, massive spending, climate ideology and "equity" beliefs on which there not only is no agreement, but there is unlikely to be agreement on any time soon.
Other, anonymous, commenters on social media noted, "He is not only dividing the country, he is absolutely wrecking it."
And, "A sitcom laugh track is more appropriate."
And, "How's the weather on Pluto today?"
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Vivek Ramaswamy, one of several candidates for the GOP nomination for president in 2024, is warning about the dangers of censorship from a coalition of government and corporate interests after his LinkedIn account was shut down over his opinions on Joe Biden and climate change.
The Washington Examiner later reported a LinkedIn official said the account was "restricted in error" and was restored.
But the candidate said the situation is a warning to Americans.
He explains he was told by LinkedIn that his account was restricted for "sharing content that contains misleading or inaccurate information."
Cited by LinkedIn were his opinions about climate change, China and Joe Biden.
One comment was that "China has weaponized the woke pandemic to stay one step ahead and it's working."
Another was that the "CCP is playing the Biden administration like a Chinese mandolin."
All a bit confrontational, but clearly opinion, which is protected by the First Amendment.
"This is staggering," Ramaswamy said because LinkedIn cited its bans on "hate speech," "misinformation" and "violence."
"If they can do it to me, they can really do it to anybody," he warned.
He noted that Microsoft owns LinkedIn and as a corporation is "doing the work of the government through the back door" to censor opinions that the Biden administration opposes.
He said it is "corporate power and state power doing what neither one could do on their own."
It's a symptom of "how deep this cancer has run in our country."
In fact, WND previously reported on the government influencing private corporations to censor unwanted opinions and even facts. During recent elections, it has used a pathway that leads from various government offices through various foundations to lobby social media companies for censorship.
A prime example is the FBI's lobbying social media companies to suppress accurate reporting during the 2020 election about evidence, documented as real, about the Biden family's scandalous international business dealings contained in a laptop computer abandoned by Hunter Biden at a repair shop.
That situation has escalated by now to open accusations from whistleblowers that Biden took bribes from foreign interests, accepting a purported $5 million while vice president in exchange for policy decisions beneficial to the foreign interest.
The Examiner report said, "Ramaswamy called on Satya Nadella, CEO and chairman of Microsoft, to make a statement that would 'publicly condemn' LinkedIn for restricting his account 'or else this is just the beginning of 2024 election interference.'"
In a statement to supporters, Ramaswamy said, "Big Tech election interference has begun. LinkedIn locked my account and censored me this week for posting videos where I expressed fact-based views as a presidential candidate about climate policy and Biden's relationships with China. They said it violated their policies relating to 'misinformation, hate speech, and violence.'"
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Prescribing assisted suicide is just fine, for large numbers of Canada's citizens, if the person is afflicted with homelessness.
Or poverty.
The stunning results are being reported at the National Post, which said more than one-quarter of those responding confirmed they were fine with "approving" "medical-assistance-in-dying," or MAID, for those "whose only affliction was poverty" or being homeless.
The results come from the polling by Research Co. on the topic of having the government help people kill themselves.
The nation joined the few world countries who have legalize assisted suicide where a patient does not have a terminal illness back in 2021.
Since then the radical "treatment" is allowed for nothing more than having a "grievous medical condition."
The report explained, "If a Canadian’s only affliction was 'poverty,' 27% said they would be fine with legalizing that person’s access to MAID. Another 28% pegged 'homelessness' as an appropriate bar to qualify for MAID."
In fact, 20% said they were comfortable with the assisted for anyone "for any reason."
The report noted, "One of the more controversial aspects of MAID has been a number of high-profile cases in which Canadians with serious illnesses opted for death only after years of failing to obtain proper medical care. The Research Co. poll found a slim majority of respondents who were fine with this, too; 51%t endorsed 'inability to receive medical treatment' as sufficient reason for an assisted death."
In Canada, assisted suicide can be approved and administered by nurse practitioners with a notable lack of checks and balances.
There were 2,838 such deaths in the first year, in 2016, but that ballooned to 10,064 by 2021.
The Gateway Pundit bluntly warned, "Canadistan is out of control."
"The culture of death is creeping in many countries of the world. One of the most disturbing manifestations of this culture, along with abortion, is the rapid spread of euthanasia and 'assisted suicide' in the last decade," it warned. "Nowhere is the lunacy of such policies showing its true face than Canada. The Justin Trudeau regime is taking the country right into a dystopian situation that is normalizing policies that allow (and encourage) people to make recourse of 'Medical Assistance in Dying' not because they have a terminal and painful disease or medical condition, but simply because they are poor and homeless."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
There have been payments to Biden family members from Russia interests.
And from Chinese interests, with a reference to 10% held by "H" for the "big guy."
And from Romania's interests.
And of course all those payments to Hunter Biden from Ukraine's Burisma gas company, which was suspected of corruption.
And there's Joe Biden's response to that situation – he traveled there as vice president and threatened to withhold $1 billion in American aid if Ukrainian officials didn't fire the prosecutor investigating the company – and potentially Hunter Biden.
Soon there may be a lot more details coming out.
It's because government watchdog Judicial Watch has sued, under the Freedom of Information Act, for Biden family records and communications.
The issue is that the National Archives is concealing some 1,567 emails, 2,501 electronic files, and 445 pages of potentially responsive records, Judicial Watch said.
The action came about after the archives failed to produce "any records."
Judicial Watch has wanted "communications" involving Joe Biden, Robert Hunter Biden, James Brian Biden, Francis William "Frank" Biden, or Sara Jones Biden. from 2009 to 2017.
Sought were details about "any international or domestic financial activity, including but not limited to banking and financial institutions, overseas bank accounts, credit card companies, bills, invoices, fees, agreements, financial arrangements, payments, wire transfers, contracts, QuickBooks, financial spreadsheets, business proposals, office or residential leases, rent payments, real estate transactions."
Other targets of the request for communications included Devon Archer, JiaQi Bao, Tony Bobulinski, and dozens more, including a long list of companies.
The U.S. House already has released a report revealing that multiple members of the Biden family accepted $10 million from various foreign interests while Joe Biden was vice president to Barack Obama.
Since there were no apparent deliveries of any goods or services, the information has prompted concerns that the payments were for access to Joe Biden.
"Judicial Watch explained to the court that in a March letter the National Archives acknowledged receiving the FOIA request, assigned it a case number, and claimed it had identified 'approximately 1,567 emails, 2,501 electronic files, and 445 pages of potentially responsive records that must be processed in order to respond to your request,'" the watchdog said.
It was House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer who released records of the Biden family showing "millions of dollars flowed from China and other foreign sources through a labyrinth of Biden family companies."
The report said, "The financial records also reveal how the Bidens used complicated transactions to hide payments from foreign nationals, including CCP-linked associates, and provide clear indications of influence peddling schemes during then-Vice President Biden’s tenure."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
An arrest was made shortly after a driver barreled a U-Haul truck into some barricades at the White House Monday night, but that did almost nothing to squelch concerns that the stunt was a set-up.
A report from Revolver News explained, "We deserve better false flags. It’s as if the FBI isn’t even trying anymore. That’s the consensus from most conservatives, who are calling 'BS' on the latest 'Nazi' stunt that unfolded in D.C., and is calling it just another poorly-orchestrated FBI psyop."
What is being reported is that the Secret Service officers detained the driver of a U-Haul box truck after the vehicle hit a White House barrier.
No injuries were claimed. And the investigation continues.
A spokesman said it appears the driver intentionally hit the security barriers, and charges are pending.
"And right on cue, a Nazi flag was pulled from the cab of the truck and perfectly laid out on the ground for everyone to see," the Revolver report said.
The driver was identified later as Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, from St. Louis and a native of India.
Revolver's report includes a comment, "Let me get this straight… so you are telling me a guy with a Nazi flag in an empty U-Haul truck randomly plowed into a White House barricade at low speeds, then gave up immediately and got arrested, and the FBI laid out the flag in front of the truck for the perfect photo op?"
The report itself said, "There are countless legit reasons why conservatives don’t buy this incident, starting with the disgraced FBI’s involvement in orchestrating the Russia Hoax, suspicions surrounding FBI’s involvement on January 6th, and the FBI’s proven involvement in the sketchy 'Whitmer kidnapping' plot, just to name a few.
"In addition, Joe Biden, who was best buddies with a KKK Grand Dragon named Robert Byrd, just delivered yet another divisive speech, where he declared 'white supremacy' was the most dangerous threat facing the United States."
According to National File, Kandula was arrested but the key feature of images after the detention included claims the attack involved a "white supremacist," and a Nazi flag was displayed on the ground next to the wreck.
Charges against the suspect were reported to be "assault with a dangerous weapon, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, threatening to kill/kidnap/inflict harm on a president, vice president, or family member, destruction of federal property, and trespassing."
The Gateway Pundit said eyewitnesses reported as soon as police arrived and arrested the driver, they "laid out the flag on the sidewalk near the truck, apparently for the media to film…"
The report openly wondered: "Internet users immediately were suspect. The only thing they found in the truck was a Nazi flag? This was too convenient for Joe Biden and the FBI’s narrative of the dreaded white supremacist threat in America. It smelled like another fed operation."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The Washington Post is accused of scheming with a former employee of President Donald Trump's Truth Social media organization to falsely accuse the company of securities fraud and other wrongdoing.
The claim comes in a defamation lawsuit filed by TMTG, which is headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, against the publication.
The actions of the Post's "false criminal charges exposed TMTG to public ridicule, contempt and distrust, and injured TMTG's business and reputation," according to the filing, in the Circuit Court of the 12th Judicial Circuit in Sarasota.
Just the News explained, "The lawsuit by Trump Media and Technology Group, which owns the Truth Social platform, was filed Saturday night in Florida state court in Sarasota County and accuses one of America's most storied newspapers of publishing a story of libel and slander that the suit claims poses an 'existential threat' to the social media company."
A Post official declined to comment. But the report explained, "The legal action by the Trump firm comes just a few weeks after the Post won two Pulitzer Prize awards for its reporting last year and Fox News settled a $1.2 billion defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million."
The complaint explains the "former employee," who was "terminated for cause," worked with the Post on the publication's "years-long crusade against TMTG characterized by the concealment of relevant information in its possession – a bitterly ironic truth for a publication whose motto is 'Democracy dies in darkness.'"
The "latest defamation" had created an existential threat for TMTG, "causing enormous loss," the filing charges.
The case is intended to "recover special damages to its business and goodwill, actual injury to its name and reputation, and punitive damages for WaPo's gross misconduct."
The complaints note that the Guardian, in March, published an article that "contained false statements and defamatory implications, including the federal investigators, had examined TMTG 'for possible money laundering,'" and more.
The "source" of those claims was former employee Will Wilkerson, "who was fired for cause," the complaint states.
Wilkerson then, according to the complaint, "came up with yet another fake news story," and because he knew that the Post "eagerly published false stories about TMTG, its CEO, Devin Nunes and, of course, former President Donald Trump," he "contacted WaPo with a salacious story about a porn-friendly bank and securities fraud."
"Through a series of meetings and conversations with Wilkerson and his lawyers, WaPo undertook with Wilkerson to publish agreed false and defamatory statements to injury TMTG."
The report contained a long list of "false statements," including that "A Russian banker connected to the porn industry could have gained a stake in Trump's Truth Social according to documents," the complaint.
"WaPo was not content with the publication of the false statements to its 2,500,000 subscribers and republication to its 20,000,000 Twitter followers. The primary author of the WaPo article, Drew Harwell, republished the article to his 48,000 Twitter followers, which included correspondents at CNN, New York Times, NBC News, The Atlantic, Huffington Post, the Daily Beast, Business Insider, and the Guardian," the complaint charged.
The "smear" included statements about a "porn-friendly bank" and "an $8 million mystery loan," the filing said.
Then the claims moved into social media where "WaPo's frenzy and repeated concerted harassment evidence a knowing, deliberate, organized and systemic effort to promote the false and defamatory statements worldwide in order to inflict the greatest possible injury on TMTG."
In charging the statements were false, the case explains TMTG "did not conceal from or improperly fail to disclose " details from shareholders or the SEC.
"To this day, WaPo refuses to retract the false and defamatory statements," the lawsuit charges.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A longtime, honored volunteer in the parks system in Washington state has been "fired" for having an "inappropriate" bumper sticker on his private vehicle.
And a lawsuit now has been filed over the fight.
It seems officials in the state system were absolutely intolerant of the volunteer's pro-Trump sign.
The American Center for Law and Justice said the legal action is to defend the First Amendment rights of Gary Formhals.
He's a former U.S. Navy Chief who has volunteered for and been a part-time employee, in the park system for a decade.
Only three years ago, he was given an "Award of Excellence" for his service.
In nominating him, officials commended him "for his service above and beyond the call of duty, his integrity, and his courteous and kind manner with everyone who meets him."
But then a few weeks ago, he was ordered to remove – or cover – bumper stickers on his personal vehicle because of the park system's "Public Contact/Communication" policy.
The signs said "Trump 2020" and "2-TRUMP-4."
The ACLJ explained that while he was in uniform, on duty, he didn't share his religious beliefs or political perspectives.
"But he never thought he was prohibited from expressing his political opinions on his privately owned truck. In fact, park officials knew for years about Gary’s political bumper stickers," the ACLJ noted.
When he would not modify his private speech to comply with the bureaucrats' demands, he was "forced to leave the park system."
The ACLJ said the problem is that the First Amendment doesn't allow government officials to censor the speech of employees – except in rare circumstances that would impact the administration of their offices.
"Even though park officials knew about Gary’s political bumper stickers for years, they never did anything about them. It wasn’t until a visitor to the park voiced her outrage about Gary’s bumper stickers, which she described as 'insurrectionalist [sic],' that the park decided to give Gary an ultimatum: your speech or your job," the ACLJ said.
The lawsuit is in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington and challenges the state's actions.
The actual policy being challenged states: "Public service is the host’s highest priority. Be friendly, honest, courteous, and helpful in all interactions with the public. Be positive about the park, staff, and rules. Harassment, including sexual harassment, is inexcusable for both staff and volunteers. Do not express, display, broadcast, distribute or otherwise communicate to the public any personal opinions, messages, or points of view while performing host duties, wearing the host vest, or while occupying the host site. This includes the display of expressive items such as stickers, flags, signs, and clothing."
But the ACLJ explained, "If a park volunteer cannot convey 'any personal opinions, messages or points of view while performing host duties,' as the policy says, then a volunteer cannot engage in even normal chitchat with park visitors. Statements like 'It’s a beautiful day,' 'I love the Seattle Mariners,' or 'It’s right for the government to support public parks' are all forbidden."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A new plan from the Biden administration to update guidance regarding prayer in public schools means a crackdown on that activity, suggests a new report from Decision Magazine.
In fact, a lawyer for the ADF, which has fought multiple court cases regarding student speech in schools, warned the new Biden plan appears to be "suggesting that schools have to purge religious messages from any student speech if the school in any way controls the student’s speech."
He pointed out that Biden also plans to eliminate "two sections that protected the rights of students and teachers," including a provision allowing students to pray during lunch hours.
"This could lead to more violations of students’ rights to pray during free time, just like what happened to ADF client Chase Windebank in Windebank v. Academy School Dist. #20," he explained.
The report explained the ADF is one of two legal groups to have expressed concern about the Biden administration's "new guidance," called "Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer and Religious Express in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools."
It was released by the Biden administration just days ago.
"We respect that the Biden administration acknowledges the important religious liberty rights of public school employees as the Supreme Court declared in its Kennedy decision last year," explained Keisha Russell, counsel at the First Liberty Institute.
The problem is, however, that the new rules appear to be based on the now-defunct Lemon precedent in the Supreme Court, which has abandoned those standards.
They allowed the government to make decisions on religious issues "as long as that involvement served a secular purpose, did not inhibit or advance religion, and did not result in an excessive entanglement of church and state," the report said.
Decision reported Chaufen warned the Biden rules could lead to confusion, pointing out the plan removes a section "that ensured that student groups could choose group leaders that agree with the groups' mission."