As we all now know, former President Donald Trump has been indicted on 37 counts of willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements after a special counsel investigation. However, was the president set up by the federal government?
That is a possible defense that floated into a letter to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in April by Trump's attorneys, in which they allege the National Archives and Records Administration "has become overtly political and declined to provide archival assistance to President Trump's transition team" -- the first such incidence of this to happen in 40 years.
And there's a reason why NARA usually aids presidents in the transition. As The Associated Press noted in a January piece about the Presidential Records Act, the Classified Information Procedures Act and other statutes in question here, Trump is "hardly the first president to mishandle classified information."
For instance, while the Presidential Records Act was signed by President Jimmy Carter, it didn't apply to his administration. The AP reported Carter "found classified materials at his home in Plains, Georgia, on at least one occasion and returned them to the National Archives, according to the same person who spoke of regular occurrences of mishandled documents. The person did not provide details on the timing of the discovery.
"An aide to the Carter Center provided no details when asked about that account of Carter discovering documents at his home after leaving office in 1981. It’s notable that Carter signed the Presidential Records Act in 1978 but it did not apply to records of his administration, taking effect years later when Ronald Reagan was inaugurated," the AP's account continued.
"Before Reagan, presidential records were generally considered the private property of the president individually. Nonetheless, Carter invited federal archivists to assist his White House in organizing his records in preparation for their eventual repository at his presidential library in Georgia."
In a letter to House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio in April, former Trump lawyer Timothy C. Parlatore argued that NARA's cooperation with the outgoing Trump administration differed starkly with what the agency had done with every president since Carter.
"When President Trump left office, there was little time to prepare for the outgoing transition from the presidency. Unlike his three predecessors, each of whom had over four years to prepare for their departure upon completion of their second term, President Trump had a much shorter time to wind up his administration," Parlatore wrote.
"White House staffers and General Service Administration ('GSA') employees quickly packed everything into boxes and shipped them to Florida. This was a stark change from the standard preparations made by GSA and National Archives and Records Administration ('NARA') for prior administrations."
As NARA acknowledged in a news release it issued on October 11, 2022: "The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), in accordance with the Presidential Records Act, assumed physical and legal custody of the Presidential records from the administrations of Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan, when those Presidents left office. NARA securely moved these records to temporary facilities that NARA leased from the General Services Administration (GSA), near the locations of the future Presidential Libraries that former Presidents built for NARA. All such temporary facilities met strict archival and security standards, and have been managed and staffed exclusively by NARA employees."
Why the change? Playing politics, according to the former president's ex-attorney:
"NARA unfortunately has become overtly political and declined to provide archival assistance to President Trump’s transition team. Interestingly, in its Press Statement NARA cites every recent President after Jimmy Carter as having received the same assistance with 'archival and security standards,'" Parlatore wrote.
"Yet, President Carter, the last President before President Trump to not receive archival assistance found documents with classification markings in his home, which he returned to NARA (though apparently without an accompanying DOJ criminal probe)."
Parlatore stepped aside in May amid differences with another one of Trump's advisers, Boris Epshteyn, according to The New York Times.
The paper said the president's ex-lawyer "described how Mr. Epshteyn had hindered him and other lawyers from getting information to Mr. Trump, leaving the former president’s legal team at a disadvantage in dealing with the Justice Department, which is scrutinizing Mr. Trump’s handling of classified documents after leaving office and his efforts to remain in office after losing the 2020 election."
The Times also reported that "Mr. Parlatore singled out Mr. Epshteyn as trying to keep the team from conducting additional searches of Mr. Trump’s properties after the F.B.I. executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s private club and residence in Florida, and discovered more than 100 additional classified documents."
“As I said at the time, it had nothing to do with the case itself or the client,” Parlatore told the Times. “There are certain individuals that made defending the president much harder than it needed to be.”
Now, whether those dots can be connected or not is anyone's guess. Parlatore himself has been silent on his Twitter account, with the last action being a retweet announcing his June 4 appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" before the indictment.
TOMORROW: @Sen_JoeManchin (https://t.co/A9qEVDhA58.) and @SenatorRounds (R-S.D.) join #MTP.
Plus, an exclusive interview with former Trump attorney @timparlatore. #IfItsSunday pic.twitter.com/TFdtpQkKzU
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) June 3, 2023
[firefly_poll] However, in an appearance on CNN after the charges were announced, Parlatore said "the indictment has a lot in it, a lot of stuff I wasn't aware of ... specific allegations about moving boxes before the search ... there are things in here that, if they have backup for, are certainly problematic."
Furthermore, what we do now know is that feuds on the former president's legal team go far beyond a spat between Epsteyn and Parlatore. Jim Trusty and John Rowley, two lawyers who represented Trump in the classified documents case, quit his team one day after the 37-count indictment was handed down.
Part of the question, then, becomes whether or not NARA deliberately withheld assistance in transitioning presidential records securely and whether his legal representation was pursuing the potential of a set-up strongly enough.
Whatever the case may be, don't believe that this is an open-and-shut case, no matter what the media tells you. The indictment may indeed be problematic, but even more problematic is the potential that government agencies set the former president -- and the de facto political opposition -- up to fail however they could.
It's the kind of evidence that, when you read it -- well, let's just put it this way: After chancing upon this letter, my editor literally said, "I hate to sound conspiratorial, but ..." However, when coincidences mount, it's not conspiracy theory. It's legitimate suspicion, and don't let anyone in the media talk you out of believing otherwise.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
In 2021, the left-leaning Roll Call published an article about the lack of proper protective gear for Capitol police during the violence on Jan. 6.
According to the article, "Most officers who fought that day did so without helmets, face shields or gas masks that would have better protected them from chemical irritants and blunt force imposed by the rioters."
Setting aside the fact that the only chemical irritants the officers had to deal with were the ones they released themselves, the article raised an important question: Why were the Capitol Police officers, who are part of one of the most expansive and well-financed law enforcement agencies with a budget surpassing $460 million, not properly equipped with helmets?
A new Epoch Times article revealed the answer.
According to the article, days before the violence erupted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Captain Ben Smith, a U.S. Capitol Police officer, ordered former Capitol Police Lt. Tarik K. Johnson to confiscate "20 to 30" riot helmets from officers.
Johnson told The Epoch Times that he received this order without the knowledge of Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund. Although he was not given a specific reason for the confiscation, Johnson assumed it was because the helmets had expired because "if they were perfectly good helmets, why would you take them?"
This was an order that violated equipment protocols on multiple levels. Receiving the order to collect helmets, Johnson was told to have his officers bring them to his office. Johnson said in his 23 years on the force, he had never experienced this.https://t.co/hDy5a47JAr
— Steve Baker - TPC (@TPC4USA) June 8, 2023
During roll call, Johnson had sergeants announce the helmet collection, and officers brought their helmets to his office as instructed.
Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, who was forced to resign on Jan. 7, 2021, told The Epoch Times that he was not aware of helmets being taken back and questioned the urgency and timing of the confiscation.
Sund said that they had just received a shipment of 104 helmets on Jan. 4 and that he had actually been trying to get those helmets out. "To hear TK [Johnson] say they're pulling helmets back and not doing a one-for-one [exchange], that's very concerning," he said.
The disclosure about the helmet confiscation by Officer Johnson only adds fuel to the ever-growing controversy surrounding the USCP's actions on Jan. 6.
Johnson previously stated that he repeatedly requested permission to evacuate the U.S. Senate via police radio just before 2:30 p.m. on that day. However, he received no response from commanders and proceeded with the evacuation independently.
An unreleased Capitol security video reviewed by The Epoch Times showed that as senators and staff rushed down the stairs, a large crowd of protesters was approaching the Senate in a nearby hallway. The timing of the evacuation left only seconds to spare before the protesters arrived. Johnson expressed concern that any further delay could have trapped senators inside the chamber. He attributed the radio silence to Yogananda Pittman, who was the assistant chief at the time.
“Tarik Johnson blamed radio silence from the USCP Command Center on Yogananda Pittman, then the assistant chief later acting police chief. Johnson has pushed in recent wks for Congress to subpoena Pittman for questioning…” https://t.co/ZxMliTFTjo
— Katrina Ski (@MtRushmore2016) June 11, 2023
Yogananda Pittman, who eventually became the acting police chief, started a new position as the chief of police at the University of California-Berkeley in February.
Taken separately, each of these "things that make you go hmm" and the hundreds more that have come out since the fated day can be attributed to bad timing, miscommunication, lack of coordination, mismanagement, or just bad luck.
But put all together, the mountain of evidence seems to grow taller every time you look at it, and it makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.
“The government is likely denying hundreds of January 6 defendants important exculpatory evidence.”
The #DOJ withheld over 8,000 hours of #Jan6 security video, leaving defendants without access to over 60% of the footage turned over to the #FBI. https://t.co/QGcuVzMR32
— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) June 5, 2023
There's an old adage that goes, "The more you repeat it, the more people believe it."
The left, hand in glove with most of the media, has done a remarkable job of perpetuating the lies about Jan. 6 through a campaign of propaganda and the suppression of any line of questioning that goes against the approved narrative.
Thankfully, there are still some in the media that continue to dig for the truth.
Their work is crucial and must continue.
There are still too many unanswered questions about Jan. 6, and those whose lives have been destroyed by the media narrative deserve the truth.
And so do the American people.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
Well, here's something you don't see every day: President Joe Biden managed to make a mistake and be completely accurate on accident.
As you well know, it's "pride" month. Corporate logos go rainbow all month -- unless customers start making a stink, then they get quietly reverted. Money is donated to LGBT-centric organizations. Media releases are full of stilted, meaningless jargon involving sexuality, gender, equality, equity, inclusion, safe spaces, values, etc., are churned out like ChatGPT was working overtime writing them.
And naturally, our somewhat-glitchier president -- who is indeed artificial, but lacking the intelligence -- got in on the action, holding a pride celebration on the South Lawn of the White House on Saturday.
"We’re gathered here today to honor the extraordinary -- and I’m not being solicitous -- the extraordinary courage and contributions of the LGBTQ community, to celebrate their legacy and their progress," Biden said, according to the White House transcript.
"And we welcome to the largest pride month celebration ever held at the White House. But just the beginning."
They say pride cometh before the fall. But this is the White House, so pride cometh before the gaffe. (The fall came during the president's appearance at the U.S. Air Force Academy's commencement ceremony, remember?)
BIDEN: "I was proud to have ended the ban on transjester Americans — transgender Americans — serving in the United States military" pic.twitter.com/GhVYmrAtxn
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 10, 2023
"As commander-in-chief, I was proud to have ended the ban on transjester Americans -- transgender Americans serving in the United States military," Biden said.
"I signed historic executive orders strengthening civil rights protections for --" Biden continued, before being distracted by something. "He’s running from me; I don’t know where he is going," the president said. "Do that again, man. You’re a sprinter. I can -- you can -- I don’t know if he’s running to something or from something. I don’t know."
It's unclear what that was all about, but apparently "pride" month is very important and urgent until the president sees a squirrel or something. Maybe a chipmunk. Further bulletins as events warrant.
It's worth noting that the White House's official transcript spelled the president's gaffe as "transgester." Social media users weren't so kind, but somewhat more accurate:
Watch: Biden accidentally coins legendary news phrase “Transjester”pic.twitter.com/LlNr6oY8XA
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) June 10, 2023
Not only that, they gave him attire to match:
BIDEN: “Transjester" https://t.co/Yqhikk1hAa pic.twitter.com/1E8TdB4RyZ
— NautPoso 🇮🇪☘️ (@NautPoso) June 10, 2023
“Transjester Americans.” pic.twitter.com/7WCBYRZV26
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) June 11, 2023
The transjester of the Oval Office pic.twitter.com/VydypZYERO
— Lady V 💃🏻🌹 (@V_Hawtmess1) June 10, 2023
So, is "transjester" a new pronoun? Will Biden put it on his social media profiles? "POTUS (transjester/gaffe-prone)." This is why the whole world is laughing at our leader.
[firefly_poll] It's funny, of course, because there's more than a kernel of truth in the error. Just like every corporation's clumsy attempt to pay fealty to the idea that anyone's gender is what they say it is, the White House has made a fool of itself in June -- and before this, for that matter.
Consider, after all, that Biden's Air Force celebrated "pride" month with a graphic showing a service member saluting not the American flag but the LGBT pride standard:
June is #PrideMonth! The Department of the Air Force proudly recognizes and celebrates generations of LGBTQI+ service members and their contributions to our #AirForce & #SpaceForce. pic.twitter.com/lQi9lH5sdr
— U.S. Air Force (@usairforce) June 7, 2023
And then we have drag shows on military bases, drag "digital ambassadors" trying to recruit people into the Navy, and a ship named after slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk, who was discharged from the service because, at that time, homosexuality was against military regulations, among other performative sops to the LGBT community the White House has thrown via the military alone.
Today we christened the USNS Harvey Milk (T-AO 206)! This great ship honors #NavyDiver & #CivilRights activist Harvey Milk who was forced out of the service due to unfair policies. Because of him, today our #LGBTQ #Sailors & #Marines serve honorably as their genuine selves. pic.twitter.com/HvOgpmQAVL
— Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro (@SECNAV) November 6, 2021
No matter what you think about gays in the military, naming ships after sailors who received "other than honorable" discharges because they broke the rules as they were when they enlisted under their own volition -- yes, Milk wasn't drafted and he wasn't trying to pull a Corporal Klinger here -- isn't exactly setting a great precedent for the chain of command or respect for authority. But it's setting a great example for the rainbow hued keyboard warriors who don't care about military readiness or the long-term effects of puberty blockers or anything that contradicts their worldview.
To all those transjesters, the White House salutes you, if only accidentally. This is your month. Unless, of course, swing-state voters start noticing, then this is all going to turn down significantly. After all, you don't want Joe Biden joining that Bud Light VP behind the Mulvaney campaign on the unemployment lines, now, do you?
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
A new poll published after former GOP President Donald Trump's indictment last week showed him with an "insurmountable" lead at this point in the 2024 nominating process.
The I&I/TIPP poll released Monday found Trump at 55 percent support in the Republican presidential primary followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 19 percent, so a 36-point spread between the two.
The next closest is former Vice President Mike Pence, who formally launched his candidacy last week, at 6 percent support and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott, also from the Palmetto State each at 3 percent.
TIPP POLL: Trump holds 36-point lead for Republican Nomination
• Trump — 55% (+36)
• DeSantis — 19%
• Pence — 6%
• Haley — 3%
• T. Scott — 3%
• Ramaswamy — 2%
• Sununu — 2%TIPP (A-) | May 31-June 2 | 482 RVhttps://t.co/AsH7BNCXkc pic.twitter.com/XmZ3iBNrYV
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) June 12, 2023
"So Trump’s edge, when it comes to his own party, again appears insurmountable at this early stage of the nominating process," Terry Jones, editor of "Issues and Insights," argued in a piece reporting the results.
The online nationwide poll of 1,230 voters was conducted from May 31 to June 2 with a margin of error of +/- 4.6 percentage points.
The survey was finished before both Trump's federal indictment on mishandling of classified documents charges or Pence officially entering the race.
But given the rally-to-the-flag effect on view when Trump's polling support among Republicans rose after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted him in late March on falsifying business records allegations, it seems likely the 45th president's support will stay the same or grow.
On Monday, the RealClearPolitics polling average showed Trump ahead of DeSantis, by 33 percentage points, so in line with the I&I/TIPP poll results.
Looking back at the polls that make up the RCP average, several of them found Trump with single-digit or low double-digit leads throughout much of March.
However, following Bragg's March 31 indictment announcement, Trump's lead shot up to the 30-plus percentage point range in most of the polls.
Trump is also slightly ahead of President Joe Biden in the RCP average at 1.8 percent.
Speaking to a Georgia Republican Party convention over the weekend, Trump called the 37-count indictment the Department of Justice unsealed Friday a “joke” and a “horrible thing for this country.”
“I mean, the only good thing about it is it’s driven my poll numbers way up. Can you believe this?” Trump asked.
He argued if he were not doing so well in the polls, “There’d be no witch hunt. There’d be no indictment.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy offered a masterclass in regard to how to deal with hostile reporters on Monday when he obliterated one of them from CNN.
The California Republican’s argument was one that CNN and its partisan coverage of the federal indictment of former President Donald Trump over his handling of classified documents is disingenuous.
CNN anchors, contributors and guests routinely feign outrage at Trump by portraying him as playing loose with national security.
But the network also platforms a classified documents leaker in former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe and one who abused his power in 2020 in former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
That wasn’t lost on the speaker in the Capitol on Monday when a CNN reporter asked him about Trump’s indictment.
McCarthy said he was concerned the government was being “weaponized” by the Biden administration for political purposes and that he and other Republicans are working to ensure there is not a two-tiered justice system in the country.
McCarthy just LIT UP this CNN reporter about them hiring McCabe and Clapper after they leaked classified information and interfered in 2020 pic.twitter.com/JyZg171M0z
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) June 12, 2023
“You’re with CNN, right?” McCarthy asked the CNN reporter during an interview in which she interrupted him repeatedly.
After the reporter confirmed her affiliation, the speaker grinned and pointed out that it was only appropriate to speak about the two CNN contributors.
When he invoked the name McCabe, the reporter cut in and made a perilous attempt to redirect the conversation.
She asked the speaker about topics such as defunding the FBI and defending Trump.
McCarthy ignored every word she said and hit her with his own line of questioning. It took him all but one minute to put her on the defensive.
“Are you prepared to defend your network, CNN?” he asked.
After a number of interruptions, McCarthy then took command of the conversation and lit CNN up.
“You can’t put words in my mouth, even though your network hired Andrew McCabe, who was fired from the FBI for leaking classified documents,” he said.
McCarthy followed up, “Did you remove him from your network? No, you continue to put him on to give judgment against President Trump.”
In spite of multiple interruptions, McCarthy continued his criticism of the beleaguered network:
“So your network hires Clapper, who literally lied to the American public -- one of 51 other individuals that had briefings -- and used it politically to tell the American public that a laptop was Russian collusion, even though it had all this other information about the Biden administration.”
He then asked, “Are you prepared to get rid of those people from your network?"
After he received no answer to his question, he laid into CNN for weaponizing information in the same manner Clapper and McCabe weaponized their access to intel.
“My concern as a policymaker is that when you weaponize government and now you’re weaponizing networks, that is wrong,” he said.
He concluded, “I have a real problem that your network actually pays people who [used] classified information and then lied to the American public to try to influence a presidential election, and then you put him on your network to try to give an opinion about a president.”
Had McCarthy been holding a microphone, an appropriate measure would have been to drop it and then walk away.
The corporate media has been up in arms about Trump and his relationship to classified information since the FBI raided his home last summer.
The same people have not been concerned by the fact then-Vice President Joe Biden made off with classified documents -- none of which he was authorized to declassify -- when he left office in 2017.
Clapper’s signature on a letter that falsely portrayed the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop as Russian disinformation also never bothered anyone at CNN.
Nor did the fact McCabe was fired from the FBI in 2018 for leaking classified information to the media.
The answer to the discrepancies here are obvious: the establishment media mostly exists to protect the Democratic Party and its interests and to target people such as McCarthy -- the most powerful Republican in the country.
While the speaker is often maligned by people on both sides of the aisle, he can’t be accused of being dull.
Not one person at CNN has the privilege of speaking about Trump’s classified documents case from any position of moral authority.
McCarthy was savvy enough to know that and to turn what could have become a hit job on him into a referendum on the blatant bias in media.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
This was one battle a Revolutionary War hero couldn't win -- but the war is far from lost.
In the run-up to Flag Day this week and the Fourth of July next month, the Democratic-dominated city government of New York state's capital on Saturday showed just how much scorn the modern left has for the men who helped lead the American colonies to independence.
And it was the "pride" flags that flew on city hall as silent witnesses that really told the story of warped priorities.
BREAKING: #Albany @MayorSheehan talks to workers as the statue of Gen. Philip Schuyler is loaded onto a trailer in front of City Hall https://t.co/3GppP2jZuU pic.twitter.com/SsrcUDpTuh
— WNYT NewsChannel 13 (@WNYT) June 10, 2023
According to WNYT-TV in Albany, a work crew showed up Saturday at City Hall to remove the statue of Continental Army Gen. Philip Schuyler.
The statue had stood for nearly a century to honor a general who was a friend of George Washington and one of the planners of the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, a victory for the Continental Army that was so important it moved the Continental Congress issued a proclamation for a "national day of Thanksgiving," the first of its kind in American history.
But as an 18th-century hero of his country, Schuyler simply isn't acceptable by the standards of the first quarter of the 21st century because, as WNYT points out, he was one of the largest slaveowners in the state of New York during his lifetime.
So, in the lifetimes of modern Americans, that makes him about as welcome as Emmanuel Goldstein to an Oceania barbecue.
WNYT anchor Subrina Dhammi posted video of the action to Twitter.
Breaking - statue of Gen Philip Schuyler removed from outside Albany City Hall and driven away to be put into storage @WNYT pic.twitter.com/AXqZBYcpCY
— Subrina Dhammi (@SubrinaDhammi) June 10, 2023
The work took place three years after Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan ordered the statue removed during the national insanity that followed the death of accused counterfeiter George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis, Minnesota, police, according to the Albany Times-Union.
The Times-Union reported that the Saturday morning move was deliberately timed to make sure few members of the public -- the kind of Americans who ostensibly control their government -- would not be around to notice.
"Sheehan acknowledged the strong emotions on both sides of the issue and said it was one reason for removing the statue at a time when few were out of bed, let alone in downtown Albany," the newspaper reported.
But was left behind? Visible in the background of the statue's move, flying from city hall itself, were flags symbolizing the message of Albany's new commitment -- to the choice of sex partners, choice of sex lifestyle, and the unquestionably deranged "choice" of an individual to pretend that the body at birth does not determine gender for life.
Pride flags fly high while NYC removes a statue of Revolutionary War hero General Philip Schuyler. pic.twitter.com/3XXRjbxYKM
— Addison Smith (@AddisonSmithTV) June 11, 2023
To get the obvious out of the way, Schuyler was not a perfect man -- perfection is not the hallmark of humans, after all. He wasn't even a perfect military man, since he was actually court-martialed for incompetence after the British retook the critical Fort Ticonderoga in July 1777, a defeat that made the Continental victory at Saratoga all the more important three months later. (He was acquitted in the court-martial.)
But to bring in the more obvious question: How is it that a Revolutionary War hero is displaced from an American state capital because he owned slaves -- something that was perfectly legal in his own day -- even if it is morally reprehensible to modern sensibilities? Are progressive Americans so sure that generations of the future won't look back with equal horror to what is commonly accepted today, like the monstrosity of legalized abortion, or the mutilation of children?
Meanwhile, the flags of "pride" month -- which denote no patriotic service, no commitment to God and country, nothing more than a determination to either act out the desires of the flesh or the psychoses of the mind (the mental illness men who claim to be women; women who claim to be men) -- are elevated to the status of icons on the very city hall that has rejected one of the Founding generation.
The move wasn't nearly as popular as leftists would want to pretend:
Absolute disgrace to judge an American Revolutionary War hero by today's standards.
— The Libertarian Trap (@LibertarianTrap) June 10, 2023
If the US can’t commemorate those who built the nation, who can they?
— Craig Bruce Smith (@craigbrucesmith) June 10, 2023
Erasing history.
This is what communists do.— Lora for Liberty (@lora_liberty) June 11, 2023
There's no doubt that leftists think they're winning the war against American history, and against the idea of a natural, unchangeable creation of men and women.
After all, they have every establishment news media outlet, the educational establishment, the leftist political structure, and the world of entertainment under lock and key.
But a poll released only last week, according to NBC News, shows a solid majority of Americans -- 65 percent -- still understand the reality that human beings have known for millennia: That the species is made up of men and women. (The other 35 percent are either lying or lunatics.)
The left's attempts to erase the nation's history and its heroes is seeing a dismal high point, as evidenced by the removal of the Schuyler statue, but the fact that it had to be done deliberately at a time when most people wouldn't be around to witness it, shows just how insecure the American left is in pushing its propaganda.
Meanwhile, the Empire State still has both a Schuyler County and Schuylerville, a village named in Schuyler's honor (which wants the statue if Albany doesn't, according to NBC). Don't expect them to be disappearing any time soon.
Progressives aren't succeeding in erasing the fundamental realities of life or American history -- no matter how many fraudulent flags it can fly.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
The dark coalition between the transgender movement and the left-wing anti-family ideology continues, with yet another blow to parental rights.
According to a Washington Free Beacon report, a California bill, A.B. 957, regarding custody disputes involving children, has been modified to punish parents who do not support their child's "self-identified" gender.
The bill, introduced by Assemblywoman Lori Wilson and co-authored by the far-left state Senator Scott Wiener, has passed the State Assembly and is now under review in the Senate.
According to the new changes, judges must prioritize the parent who supports and acknowledges the child's "self-identified" gender.
The newly updated version includes a specific definition of "the health, safety, and welfare" of a child to include "a parent's affirmation of the child's gender identity."
Simply put, if a divorced or separated couple has a custody dispute, the court will prioritize the rights of the parent who wants to help the child mutilate his or her body parts. Which, come to think of it, may have been the reason for the divorce or separation in the first place.
#AB957 is a dangerous precedent for the nation not just California. You have to read the language. It’s straight up strong arming parents with threat of removal if they don’t affirm their child’s gender pic.twitter.com/vzcgrYIDuK
— Denise Aguilar (@InformedMama209) June 9, 2023
A California bill AB957 was just amended to add "a parent's affirmation of the child's gender identity" as part of the "health, safety, and welfare of the child" in the state's Family Code.
If parents disapprove of their child's gender transition, and say a teacher or lgbt… pic.twitter.com/YyaHLoSHFk
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) June 9, 2023
The continuous introduction and passing of new legislation in leftist states makes it infinitely clear that there is a sinister agenda at work -- an agenda bent on destroying the family unit and increasing state control over our nation's most precious treasure -- our children.
[firefly_poll]
Last month, Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington signed into law SB5599, more appropriately referred to as "The Kidnapping Bill." It allows schools to hide minor children whose parents do not affirm their "self-identified" gender in shelters, without the parents' knowledge or permission, before referring them to doctors for gender transition. It also allows these agencies to harbor minors seeking abortions.
In a Facebook post, Washington State GOP representative candidate Jerrod Sessler called it a " life-altering, family-destroying crime."
"Once at the shelter," Sessler explained, "the student will meet their next groomer who will inform them of their rights under the law. Because the student is upset at their parents, which happens at times in every family, they volunteer for the bondage disguised as false-freedom. Meanwhile, parents are left to their own agony not knowing where [their] child is and having zero rights to retrieve him/her. Within days, the student will be injected with big pharma products that will alter their mental state as they continue to listen to the whispered lies from the string of groomers leading them into hell on earth."
School boards across the country continue to update their curriculums with materials designed to turn children away from their parents, offering a way out to confused young men and women by brainwashing them into believing that changing their genitalia will fix the empty void in their hearts.
Using tactics that originated in the Garden of Eden, the transgender agenda's primary motive is to destroy everything that is God-affirming and replace it with "self-affirming."
Ronald Reagan once called for "an America of wisdom that honors the family, knowing that if the family goes, so goes our civilization."
Anti-democratic factions of our society understand this and are relentlessly working to break down this most vital pillar of our civilization.
Immigrant parents understand this, too, and are willing to fight for their families and for safety of their children in the country they now call home.
WARNING: The following video contains violent content that the viewer may find disturbing.
Glendale (CA) police rush in and save #Antifa & far-left protesters during a fight against Armenian-Americans outside a school board meeting. Many parents of immigrant background disapprove of the schools celebrating pride events. pic.twitter.com/i1L2P1aBxt
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) June 7, 2023
It's time for the rest of America to wake up and take back the reins of our families, our children, and the very foundation of our civilization before there is nothing left but a mind-controlled generation that cannot even be sure what gender they are.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
Most prospective GOP primary voters are unfazed by the federal indictments leveled against former President Donald Trump, as 76 percent of respondents in a new poll said they are more concerned the charges are politically motivated than they are about any national security risk posed by Trump's handling of classified government material.
Last week, the Biden administration's Justice Department announced a 37-count indictment against Trump that included 31 counts of “willful retention of national defense information."
For its latest poll, CBS News/YouGov interviewed 2,480 U.S. adults between Wednesday and Saturday and recontacted 1,798 respondents on Friday and Saturday after the former president's indictment was unsealed.
The survey found the charges did not hurt Trump's chances to win the 2024 Republican primary election.
If anything, the move galvanized many Republicans, who believe the case was concocted to damage his presidential campaign.
When surveyed before the indictments were unsealed, 61 percent of likely GOP primary voters said any charges brought against the billionaire would not affect their view of him.
Moreover, 14 percent said the indictments would make them like Trump even more.
The Justice Department's case has so little credibility among Republicans that 80 percent of respondents in the CBS News/YouGov poll said Trump should still be able to be president even if he were convicted.
[firefly_poll]
The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 5.5 points for likely Republican primary voters and plus or minus 2.7 points for the overall sample. For the recontacted group, it was plus or minus 3.3 points overall and 6.6 points for likely GOP voters.
"Every time they go after Trump he goes up 10 pts," Human Events senior editor Jack Posobiec observed as he shared the findings.
Every time they go after Trump he goes up 10pts https://t.co/hQ2FSeL9YE
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) June 12, 2023
Despite the left's relentless attack on the 45th president, he remains the overwhelming frontrunner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
And if Trump were not the nominee, 74 percent of likely Republican voters said they want a candidate who's similar to him, according to the full survey.
The economy remains the top priority among GOP voters, as 90 percent said it's "very important" that the party's nominee have a plan to reduce inflation, which has surged under President Joe Biden.
This sentiment was shared along party lines, as 63 percent of all poll respondents believe the economy is doing badly.
Moreover, 64 percent disapprove of the way Biden is handling the economy. So it's not just Republicans who are dissatisfied with the crushing inflation that has metastasized under this administration.
cbsnews_20230611_1 by Caroline Linton
In another sharp rebuke of Biden's dumpster-fire presidency, 70 percent of respondents said things are going badly in the nation, with 34 percent saying "very badly."
This is a sad and sobering reflection of the state of affairs in America today.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
As the left-wing establishment once again seeks to "get" Donald Trump, a senior FBI official has testified that the first try was fraught with improprieties which makes the raid on Mar-a-Lago look like a political hit job, not justice.
In recent testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, senior FBI official Steven D’Antuono testified that there were a number of violations of procedure that taint the August 2022 raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago home that was supposedly meant to reclaim classified documents.
D’Antuono said he has "strong concerns" over the broken rules made by FBI officers during the raid. D’Antuono is a former Assistant Director of the FBI's Washington Field Office, according to Just the News.
The official's concerns were detailed in a letter sent by House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.
In his letter, Jordan noted that D’Antuono "noted several unusual features in the Department’s handling" of the raid on Mar-a-Lago.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) June 9, 2023
"Mr. D’Antuono, who had over two decades of FBI experience, noted his frustration that the FBI was going to be ‘left holding the bag again’ with respect to the search of President Trump’s residence," Jordan added.
The former FBI agent saw "several abnormalities" with the Bureau leading up to the raid, even as the same agency seems unconcerned by piles of classified documents found in now-President Joe Biden's garage.
Firstly, D’Antuono could not understand why the raid was assigned to the Washington Field Office instead of the Miami office in Florida near where Mar-a-Lago is located. That right there made the raid seem political, instead of a matter of law enforcement.
Jordan also noted that D’Antuono said the Bureau never got any consent to search Trump's home before getting the search warrant and also didn't wait for Trump's attorney to get on site before cutting locks and barging in.
Furthermore, the U.S. Justice Dept. neglected to assign a U.S. Attorney to the case to oversee the FBI's raid. Why was the DOJ so oddly left out of the process, the official wondered.
The purpose of Jordan's letter was to seek answers for these breaches of protocol from Garland's office. And the Congressman asked for all documents on the Mar-a-Lago raid.
"Please provide this information as soon as possible but not later than 5:00 p.m. on June 16, 2023," Jordan's letter concluded.
Jordan's letter reveals that there were serious lapses in the process during the raid, all of which seem to point to a political motive, not any questions of law.
There are many other serious questions about that 2022 raid, as well.
For instance, in April it was learned that Biden and the White House lied when it said that it had no involvement in the raid on Trump's Florida home.
For nearly a year, Biden maintained that he had no notice and didn't have any part in the raid. But a Freedom of Information Act request conducted by America First Legal found that Biden's White House did interact with the FBI and tried to instigate the raid with a "special access request."
The group said that the records show that "Biden officials in the Executive Office of the President and the Department of Justice unlawfully abused their power and then lied about it to the American people."
There is also a concern over the fact that the FBI visited Trump's home over the same documents two months before the raid and many wonder why they didn't just take the documents then?
In addition, why didn’t the FBI mount armed raids of Mike Pence, Joe Biden, or Barack Obama’s homes after documents were reported in their possession? Only Trump was raided in a full circus show.
Regardless, Trump seems to be preparing to face this head-on. His lawyer recently advised against taking a plea deal, Fox News reported Sunday, signaling that they are ready to go the distance with the case.
There are a lot of questionable actions on behalf of the government here, not the least of which is the DOJ's complete lack of interest in the many decades of the same behavior from Biden, Pence, and Obama, that Garland claims is such a tremendous crime in Trump's case.
It certainly looks like an effort by the president of the United States to use the powers of law enforcement to destroy his political opponent in a coming election as opposed to any effort to uphold the law.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
Mom's home cooking is something every son yearns for.
That melancholic statement of fact is something any good son can relate to, and if you can relate to that sentiment, congratulations -- you officially have something in common with former President Donald Trump.
While Trump's deep connections to his father, Fred Trump, is well-documented territory, what's not brought up nearly as much was just how close Trump was with his mother, Mary Anne Trump.
And that closeness and fondness with his mother is never on greater display than when mention is made of Trump's mother's meatloaf recipe.
Take a look at this clip from conservative journalist Raheem Kassam, showing Trump as he was getting ready to leave after a sudden visit to a Georgia Waffle House on Saturday:
Someone made Trump’s mother’s meat loaf recipe to give to him. Ruth Ann’s restaurant down the street. pic.twitter.com/iJwE1LOdga
— Raheem. (@RaheemKassam) June 10, 2023
Just as Trump had appeared to give his final goodbyes for the event and was thanking all those who showed up, a woman can be heard through the understandable cacophony of noise.
"Mr. Trump, we made your mother's meatloaf for you," she is heard saying.
And, again, despite appearing fully prepared to vacate the premises, the mere mention of "mother's meatloaf" causes the former president to completely forget (and not in a Joe Biden kind of way) that he was about to leave.
"Oh!" Trump responded. "I like that."
The former president then goes to approach the faceless voice (with Secret Service detail obviously making sure nothing untoward was happening) and appears genuinely touched and excited that someone had bothered to recreate his mother's iconic meatloaf for him.
"Can you take it on the plane?" asks the lady.
"Yup," Trump responded without missing a beat. "Bring that on the plane."
And if you needed any further proof that Trump appreciated this gesture, look at his response when he learns that Mary Anne Trump's meatloaf recipe was recreated by a local eatery known as "Ruth Ann's Restaurant."
"Say it again, what's the name [of the restaurant]?" Trump asked.
"Ruth Ann's Restaurant," the lady reiterated.
"Ruth Ann's Restaurant!" Trump shouted, for all of the Waffle House visitors to hear. "I'll bet it's good. It's going to get very crowded now."
Food blog "One for the Table" actually broke down what goes inside the Trump family recipe:
Donald Trump has had nearly 23 years to grapple with his mother's passing (she died August 7, 2000) but, speaking as a fellow son, that gaping hole left by mom is one of the few wounds that time cannot heal.
So to best deal with that, you take the memories and nostalgia where you can, and few blasts from the pasts trigger as many senses as food does.
On a human level, this is just a cool thing to see from the former president. For all of his bravado and machismo, Donald Trump, not unlike every other son out there, will always be his mother's son. It's a raw, human side of Trump that you would never see from the establishment media.
But on a political level, Mary Anne Trump's meatloaf recipe should scare the ever-living daylights out of leftists and Democrats.
Think about it: By many indications, Trump just had the most chaotic and tumultuous week of his political career (which is saying something), as he was indicted on a whopping 37 charges by the Justice Department.
Two days later, instead of hunkering down in a PR war room somewhere, the former president was hitting the streets like a man of the people. There was no fear and trepidation there (heck, the most emotional Trump got was probably over the meatloaf).
These are not the actions or mannerisms of a man who is worried about his political future.
If anything, the man seemed far more concerned about how to get his mother's meatloaf reincarnate onto his plane.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
