This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has picked his state attorney general, Ashley Moody, already known for defending Americans against the leftist ideologies of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, to replace Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to be the secretary of State.
The Gateway Pundit reported Moody already is known as being tough on crime, having warned potential looters as the state experienced Hurricane Idalia that "We are a law and order state."
"Today I am proud to announce that I am selecting our attorney general, Ashley Moody, to serve as our next U.S. senator," DeSantis explained. "These are always significant appointments, but I think right now appointments like these are more significant than ever."
He said, "This is a time for action and a time for Washington, D.C., to deliver results for the American people."
The 49-year-old Moody has been the state's AG since 2019, following the then-term limited Pam Bondi, who now is Trump's nominee for U.S. attorney general.
Rubio's seat is expected to open as he is confirmed, and under Florida law, the governor appoints a replacement to serve until the next statewide election.
DeSantis pointed out Moody wants Mexican drug cartels classified as terrorists and has demanded the impeachment of Biden's officials who were assigned to protect Americans with a secure border, but haven't.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A legal team from the Thomas More Society has asked the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump to pardon a number of pro-life advocates who were prosecuted – and jailed – by the outgoing officials of the Joe Biden regime.
The requests are for 21 individuals, and the documentation that was submitted outlines the specific facts of each case, including affirmations of their "upstanding personal and moral character."
Included, too, are the reasons for the request, with an explanation about how the Biden Department of Justice weaponized the federal law, using the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act and a "Conspiracy Against Rights" provision to attack pro-lifers.
"With these requests for presidential pardons for 21 peaceful pro-life advocates, we urge President Trump to right the grievous wrongs of the Biden administration's weaponization of the Department of Justice," explained the organization's senior counsel, Steve Crampton.
"These 21 peaceful pro-lifers, many of whom are currently imprisoned for bravely standing up for unborn life, are upstanding citizens and pillars of their communities. Through full and unconditional pardons for these pro-life advocates, President Trump has the chance to remedy the harm done to them and their families, deliver on his campaign promises, and repair trust in our constitutional order."
The society reported noted the 21 include: Joan Bell, Coleman Boyd, Joel Curry, Jonathan Darnel, Eva Edl, Chester Gallagher, William Goodman, Dennis Green, Lauren Handy, Paulette Harlow, John Hinshaw, Heather Idoni, Jean Marshall, Fr. Fidelis Moscinski, Justin Phillips, Paul Place, Paul Vaughn, Bevelyn Beatty Williams, Calvin Zastrow, Eva Zastrow, and James Zastrow.
"We are hopeful that the second Trump administration will spell a new day for pro-life advocates who have faced FBI raids, federal prosecutions, and severe punishment for peacefully and courageously witnessing for life," explained Peter Breen, the organization's head of litigation.
"By acting on the requested presidential pardons, President Trump has a golden opportunity to not only stop the lawfare against peaceful pro-lifers, but to also undo some of the unprecedented damage of the Biden administration. Inside and outside the courtroom, Thomas More Society attorneys have seen up close the harm inflicted by the Biden DOJ's weaponization the FACE Act. Today, we call on President Trump to pardon these peaceful pro-lifers and put an end to this government overreach."
The report noted that Trump has, on several occasions already, "signaled his intent to pardon the pro-life advocates.
One comment was from a little over a year ago when he said he would review the cases "of every political prisoner who's been unjustly persecuted by the Biden administration."
Joe Biden has used the power of the presidential pardon liberally in just the past few weeks, prominently giving a get-out-of-jail free card to his son, Hunter, for any and all crimes he committed over the past 11 years.
Hunter Biden already had been convicted of multiple gun charges, and had pleaded guilty to a long list of tax evasion charges.
Joe Biden also has commuted the death sentences of dozens of convicted murderers, and some 1,500 other criminal case convicts.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
President-elect Donald Trump, to be inaugurated and take office on Monday, has announced a new "External Revenue Service" that he says will start making those "who make money off of us" pay into the revenue stream for the nation.
"For far too long, we have relied on taxing our Great People using the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Through soft and pathetically weak Trade agreements, the American Economy has delivered growth and prosperity to the World, while taxing ourselves," he wrote on his Truth Social website.
"It is time for that to change. I am today announcing that I will create the EXTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE to collect our Tariffs, Duties, and all Revenue that come from Foreign sources. We will begin charging those that make money off of us with Trade, and they will start paying, FINALLY, their fair share. January 20, 2025, will be the birth date of the External Revenue Service. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
The Hill reported Trump had pledged during the 2024 campaign to create taxes of 10% to 20% on foreign goods, with rates of up to 60% for Chinese goods.
In his statement, he specifically mentioned tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico, too."
In fact, those tariffs could appear beginning Monday, when he takes office.
The report said collecting tariffs now is the responsibility of Customs and Border Protection, within the Department of Homeland Security.
"Under the current system, CBP collects tariffs from U.S.-based importers of foreign goods subject to import taxes. The importer — not the foreign country or company from which the product was exported — must pay the tax to CBP," the report said.
"In his first term in office, Trump imposed tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum, including from Canada and Mexico, and compelled both countries to renegotiate the North American free trade agreement with terms meant to boost U.S. manufacturing and improve compliance with labor laws."
According to the Gateway Pundit, Trump has discussed relacing the revenue from the income taxes paid by Americans, but it was unclear if the announcement directly would affect the Internal Revenue Service, which does that collection.
However, that agency already is scheduled for an audit, under Trump, according to Elon Musk, who is working with Trump's plans for a Department of Government Efficiency.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Hollywood actor James Woods, whose Pacific Palisades home was miraculously spared by the fires ravaging Los Angeles, is now calling for criminal indictments for officials responsible for the lack of water to fight the deadly infernos.
"This is not simply negligence. This is criminal negligence," Woods said on X.
"The DEI vermin responsible for this travesty must be indicted for a catastrophic failure of unimaginable magnitude."
Woods attached a video of Austyn Jeffs of the Free Press who was documenting the scandal of the Santa Ynez Reservoir, which should hold 117 million gallons of water, being dry as the fires broke out last week.
"So how long has this reservoir been empty for?" Jeffs asked out loud. "Since February of last year."
"There was no communication from the Department of Water and Power to LAFD that there was a water supply issue. The firefighters, when they started fighting the fires, no one informed them that the reservoir was empty."
Woods is not the only high-profile voice chiming in about the problems in the Los Angeles government.
Author and journalist Maria Shriver, the ex-wife of Hollywood superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger, said on X: "LA cannot go forward with the status quo. LA is no longer what it was. It has to be different. It has to prioritize the safety of its citizens, police, fire, and schools. LA residents deserve better.
"Chief Crowley is saying LA cannot sustain itself. It needs more help. Chief Crowley says she rang the bell. The mayoral race presented a clear choice last time around. Moving forward, LA residents have to decide what's important and what's not.
"Right now what's important is getting this fire under control, getting firefighters the support they need, getting our neighbors the support they need. Once that happens it's time to rethink what is and imagine what can be."
Shriver attached a video of Los Angeles Fire Chief and LGBT activist Kristin Crowley who criticized Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for cutting the department's budget by $17 million.
"Let me be clear. The $17 million budget cut and elimination of our civilian positions like our mechanics did and has and will continue to severely impact our ability to repair our apparatus," Crowley told CNN's Jake Tapper.
"Over the last three years, we have been clear that the fire department needs help. We can no longer sustain where we are."
"I have also requested multiple interim budgets … to show how understaffed, under-resourced, and underfunded the LAFD is."
Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., said Friday: "I am calling for an independent investigation into the loss of water pressure to local fire hydrants and the reported unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
President-elect Donald Trump has blasted the judge and his lawfare case in New York, in which Trump today was sentenced to an "unconditional discharge," as a waste of taxpayers' money and a "witch hunt" by Democrats against him.
It is Juan Merchan, a judge who allowed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to bring his politicized charges against Trump, who announced Friday Trump's sentence, no jail, no fines and no probation.
"The Radical Democrats have lost another pathetic, unAmerican Witch Hunt. After spending tens of millions of dollars, wasting over 6 years of obsessive work that should have been spent on protecting New Yorkers from violent, rampant crime that is destroying the City and State, coordinating with the Biden/Harris Department of Injustice in lawless Weaponization, and bringing completely baseless, illegal, and fake charges against your 45th and 47th President, ME, I was given an UNCONDITIONAL DISCHARGE," Trump wrote on social media.
"That result alone proves that, as all Legal Scholars and Experts have said, THERE IS NO CASE, THERE WAS NEVER A CASE, and this whole Scam fully deserves to be DISMISSED. The real Jury, the American People, have spoken, by Re-Electing me with an overwhelming MANDATE in one of the most consequential Elections in History. As the American People have seen, this 'case' had no crime, no damages, no proof, no facts, no Law, only a highly conflicted Judge, a star witness who is a disbarred, disgraced, serial perjurer, and criminal Election Interference.
"Today's event was a despicable charade, and now that it is over, we will appeal this Hoax, which has no merit, and restore the trust of Americans in our once great System of Justice. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
Legal experts have suggested the case lacks any merit and eventually the conviction will be thrown out. In fact, federal prosecutors reviewed the facts earlier, and decided there were no grounds for charges against Trump.
Merchan, who has a record of financially supporting Democrat candidates and whose daughter was making money from Democrats while her father was ruling against Trump in his courtroom, announced the sentence in the case labeled "hush money" by legacy media.
In it, Bragg claimed business reporting errata by Trump's companies amounted to felonies, even though they ordinarily would have been misdemeanors for which the statute of limitations had expired.
Bragg said they were felonies because they were in pursuit of some other, unidentified, crime. In fact, jurors failed to identify that crime, and Merchan inexplicably said their verdict didn't have to be unanimous in the case that was just one prong of Democrats' multi-jurisdiction lawfare campaign, a failed effort to use various created civil and criminal cases to keep him from running for president again.
Bragg brought to court, and Merchan allowed, salacious testimony from a former porn star and a discredited lawyer in order to convince jurors in the leftist enclave of Manhattan, which repeatedly has voted by vast majorities against Trump, to convicted Trump of 34 counts.
The issue was that Trump's lawyer paid the porn star for silence about an alleged affair both denied happened. The payments made to the lawyer were labeled as legal expenses.
George Washington University law professor, and constitutional expert, Jonathan Turley, said the case will "will cement the image of Trump for many in the country as a 'victim of lawfare.'"
Merchan, who analysts have suggested is thumbing his nose at the Supreme Court's recent immunity ruling regarding the Trump cases, recently assumed the pulpit to lecture Trump over his "disdain for the third branch of government."
He accused Trump of going to "great lengths to broadcast on social media and other forums his lack of respect for judges, juries, grand juries and the justice system as a whole."
That "disdain" from Trump followed a years-long series of lawfare cases assembled by Democrats who appeared to be trying to jail him to keep him from running for the White House again.
For example, multiple charges were filed over the government documents Trump held after he left the presidency. However, federal prosecutors found Joe Biden liable for the same offense, but gave him a free pass for his actions. One jurisdiction even claimed an "organized crime" conspiracy involved Trump.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A judge in New York has used Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's lawfare case against President-elect Donald Trump to sentence the 45th, and soon-to-be 47th president, to a "discharge."
The sentence is a penalty without jail time or probation, but a move to keep the conviction on Trump's record, a conviction that a long list of constitutional experts expect eventually will be thrown out.
The judge claimed the unconditional discharge ruling was the only legal sentence he had available.
Trump told the judge he was completely innocent, and had done nothing wrong.
The actual appeal process has not been able to start yet because of the lack of a final sentencing from the lower court.
It is Juan Merchan, who has a record of financially supporting Democrat candidates and whose daughter was making money from Democrats while her father was ruling against Trump in his courtroom, who announced the sentence in the case labeled "hush money" by legacy media.
In it, Bragg claimed business reporting errata by Trump's companies amounted to felonies, even though they ordinarily would have been misdemeanors for which the statute of limitations had expired.
Bragg said they were felonies because they were in pursuit of some other, unidentified, crime. In fact, jurors failed to identify that crime, and Merchan inexplicably said their verdict didn't have to be unanimous in the case that was just one prong of Democrats' multi-jurisdiction lawfare campaign, a failed effort to use various created civil and criminal cases to keep him from running for president again.
Bragg brought to court, and Merchan allowed, salacious testimony from a former porn star and a discredited lawyer in order to convince jurors in the leftist enclave of Manhattan, which repeatedly has voted by vast majorities against Trump, to convicted Trump of 34 counts.
The issue was that Trump's lawyer paid the porn star for silence about an alleged affair both denied happened. The payments made to the lawyer were labeled as legal expenses.
The Supreme Court just hours earlier had allowed the sentencing to move forward, on a narrow 5-4 vote. Trump had urged the justices to halt the court date, as his pending appeal will "ultimately result in the dismissal of the District Attorney's politically motivated prosecution that was flawed from the very beginning, centered around the wrongful actions and false claims of a disgraced, disbarred serial-liar former attorney, violated President Trump's due process rights, and had no merit."
George Washington University law professor, and constitutional expert, Jonathan Turley, explained Merchan had orchestrated a tight timeline that gave Trump minimal options to challenge his courtroom antics.
"This is what some of us predicted when the appeals just began. Merchan really played this perfectly, and I say that not as a compliment. He knew that he was giving President-elect Trump very little runway by which to take an appeal off," Turley told Laura Ingraham on Fox. "He also knew that appellate courts generally prefer for sentences to be finalized to review the case as a whole, and he played those two cards to guarantee that he'll be able to sentence President Trump…"
He said the situation will cement the image of Trump for many in the country as a "victim of lawfare."
Turley said the Supreme Court vote shows "how troubling the case is overall. That what this trial-level judge has done in Manhattan is to hold a presidential candidate first, now a president-elect, to his courtroom on a short leash. This is the same judge that gagged the leading candidate for president in a campaign where his case was one of the issues of most concern with voters. And it obviously is an equal concern among at least four justices," Turley said.
WND has reported the case is being handled by a "deeply conflicted" Merchan.
Merchan, who analysts have suggested is thumbing his nose at the Supreme Court's recent immunity ruling regarding the Trump cases, recently assumed the pulpit to lecture Trump over his "disdain for the third branch of government."
He accused Trump of going to "great lengths to broadcast on social media and other forums his lack of respect for judges, juries, grand juries and the justice system as a whole."
That "disdain" from Trump followed a years-long series of lawfare cases assembled by Democrats who appeared to be trying to jail him to keep him from running for the White House again.
For example, multiple charges were filed over the government documents Trump held after he left the presidency. However, federal prosecutors found Joe Biden liable for the same offense, but gave him a free pass for his actions. One jurisdiction even claimed an "organized crime" conspiracy involved Trump.
Experts have noted the Merchan trial itself was "replete with layers of reversible error."
Federal authorities earlier had looked at the same evidence Bragg used, and had decided there was no basis for any charges against Trump.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg previously has admitted in a letter to Congress that the Joe Biden administration pushed and coerced his company in order to get ideas the leftist Democrats didn't like censored.
And he's said he regretted his company didn't push back harder on censorship schemes that attacked Americans' First Amendment rights to discuss alternative COVID-19 treatments, their doubts about the integrity of the 2020 presidential election and much more.
Now he's confirmed in an interview that Biden administration officials screamed and swore at his employees in order to bully and bludgeon them into complying with Biden's agenda.
The Daily Mail reported details about the horrific behavior of Biden officials was detailed in Zuckerberg's interview with Joe Rogan.
Zuckerberg, chief of Meta which is the parent company of Facebook, said he "was stunned" when the White House contacted Facebook "to demand a photo of Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at a TV in his movie 'Once Upon A Time in Hollywood' was taken down."
The Democrats, he explained, were upset by the caption, which said, "10 years from now you're going to see an ad that says if you took a Covid vaccine you'd be eligible for a payment."
Zuckerberg has moved away, politically, from the Democrats in recent weeks, with the admission about the coercion from the White House, followed by his decision to eliminate the team of left-leaning "fact-checkers" his company long has used, and replace them with a "community notes" option to enhance free speech.
He also confirmed that Biden's staff "would demand the platform censor information that was accurate, including that COVID vaccines can cause side effects."
Biden's staff "pushed us super hard to take down things that were honestly true," he confirmed.
In fact, the mRNA shots mandated by many governments and corporations during the pandemic do, in fact, have the possibility of causing side effects, up to and including death through myocarditis and more.
Zuckerberg said a "turning point for his approach to censorship under Biden came when the president publicly said social media memes combatting his pandemic narrative were 'killing people.'" He said "all these different agencies and branches" of government started investigating him.
Zuckerberg questioned whether the Biden threats were legal.
The Washington Examiner reported Zuckerberg noted he wasn't on the receiving end of the coercion directly, as the calls went to his company.
But he confirmed Biden staff members would call Meta workers and "scream at them and curse."
Meta's decision to stop content moderation is not supported by the First Amendment.
But it is a threat to our democracy and a dangerous capitulation to an authoritarian President.
My full statement below pic.twitter.com/7n1qzxYlD9
— Rep. Dan Goldman (@RepDanGoldman) January 9, 2025
The confirmation was coming from Zuckerberg just as Rep. Dan Goldman, a Democrat from New York, wildly claimed that allowing free speech on Facebook violated the Constitution's First Amendment.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
President-elect Donald Trump has made it clear, over and over, that he's intending to make changes in government as soon as he's inaugurated.
That same day. Jan. 20.
After all, Trump repeatedly has pointed out the failings in the Joe Biden border policies, his economic policies, his transgender politics, his foreign affairs policies and much, much more.
For some changes, he'll need congressional action. For others, he will use his executive order authority to change some of Biden's executive order actions.
Now a report from the Washington Examiner says Trump and his advisers have informed Republican senators there is work being done on 100 orders for action as soon as he is sworn in.
"The orders will focus on immigration, a topic Trump has been adamant about fixing while campaigning for the presidency," the report documented.
"He says he has almost 100 executive orders that will go a long way to securing the border again and also put the energy sector back in play," Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said Thursday on a Fox network broadcast.
The senator did say some of the orders will need congressional action eventually, so they cannot later be reversed.
"I'd like reconciliation so we can start making this up into legislation, so we can move forward," the senator said.
Among actions that are expected are the restoration of Title 42, a Trump plan to expel migrants arriving at the southern border. Trump used this during his first administration, but the national security action was abandoned by Joe Biden.
Also expected to return is Trump's "Remain in Mexico" plan.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A handful of Colorado Republicans in the state legislature have registered a protest vote by refusing to join the certification of the 2024 election.
According to Denver Gazette, Reps. Ken DeGraaf and Scott Bottoms of Colorado Springs, Brandi Bradley of Littleton, Stephanie Luck of Penrose, Ron Weinberg of Loveland, and Representative-elect Larry Don Suckla of Cortez refused to join the majority in the state House in certifying the results.
They explained a problem created by the state secretary of state's office made it impossible to determine whether the results were accurate.
Secretary of State Jen Griswold admitted that some passwords to the state's voting machines were posted online for weeks in a spreadsheet.
The calamity came to the attention of the public when Republicans noticed the problem and called out Griswold.
She blamed an office employee.
And while an investigation was sought, the local prosecutor refused to bring any charges for the violation of election protocol.
A Democrat, Andrew Boesenecker, from Fort Collins, said in the report a law firm's investigation found there was no tampering with the voting machines.
A majority of the House members, and the Senate unanimously, adopted the results.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A federal judge has blocked Jack Smith, who acted as a federal special counsel even though he never was confirmed by the Senate, from releasing his final arguments and rantings against President-elect Donald Trump, at least temporarily.
Smith was in charge of two fronts of the Democrats' lawfare against Trump: the dispute over Trump's possession of certain documents after his presidency and his opinions about the failings of the 2020 presidential election tabulation.
It is Just the News that explained it is Judge Aileen Cannon who said Smith could not release his "final report" on his attacks on Trump for now.
"Cannon delayed the release until the court has time to review an emergency motion Monday that made such a request from two Trump co-defendants," the report said.
At issue are Smith's already-widely publicized opinions about Trumps actions and comments about the 2020 election and his possession of classified documents.
Smith had planned to release his opinions just as Trump is preparing to resume occupancy of the White House on Jan. 20.
Trump's lawyers also told Attorney General Merrick Garland that the decision should be left to the incoming administration. Also, Trump co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira said Smith does not have the authority to serve as special counsel and should not have access to the materials in the report.
That's based on the fact that Smith was in private practice before suddenly being named special counsel, a position that needs confirmation from the Senate, which he never got.
Both cases have been suspended and essentially are dead, given presidential immunity rulings and precedents, leaving Smith, who is expected to leave his post soon, without options other than to try to lobby the public through his claims against Trump.
To prevent "harm," Cannon, a judge in Florida, ruled that Smith is "temporarily enjoined" from "releasing, sharing, or transmitting the Final Report or any drafts of such Report outside the Justice Department."
Typically special counsels report to the attorney general, not necessarily the public, anyway.
Cannon's decision remains in effect until three days after a resolution is announced from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
A report in Forbes said Smith, in preparation for his departure, drafted a "final report" regarding his opinions about Trump.
The report said Trump's lawyers told Merrick the report should remain private, or it should be left to Trump's incoming DOJ.
The report noted most of Smith's claims about Trump have been publicized already, including in multiple court filings just before the election, when any information that might have been damaging would have had the highest level of impact.