CEOs who were described as Trumpish came away from a meeting with the ex-president concerned that he was meandering and couldn’t keep a straight thought.
CNBC reported, “I will say I was surprised. I spoke to a number of CEOs who, I would say, walked into the meeting being Trump supporter-ish, or thinking that they might be leaning that direction, who said that he was remarkably meandering, could not keep a straight thought, was all over the map, and that they, which may be not surprising, but was interesting to me because these were people who I think might have been actually predisposed to him and actually walked out of the room Less predisposed to, I’m actually predisposed to thinking this is not necessarily, as one person said, this may not be any different or better than a Biden thought, if you’re thinking that way.”
Video:
Interesting from Andrew Sorkin – CEOs who were “Trump supporter-ish” and met with Trump yesterday came away concerned, because he was “remarkably meandering” and “could not keep a straight thought.” pic.twitter.com/bNdxZL262Y
Conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court have decided that more Americans must die in mass shootings because they have a quibble over the word “function.”
In striking down the 2018 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) regulation banning bump stocks, which effectively turn semiautomatic rifles into machine guns, the court’s six conservative justices not only put their ideological preconceptions ahead of rational policymaking. They also privileged an arrogant, misplaced confidence in their own technical expertise over a federal agency’s thoughtful effort to prevent the grotesque slaughter of innocents.
Will this ruling allow demented killers to fire more than 1,000 rounds in 10 minutes? Not our problem, said the six conservatives. We know how guns work, and we consulted several dictionaries about what words mean.
The Supreme Court sided with the federal government on Friday in a dispute over what information immigration officials must provide migrants about their deportation hearings.
In a 5-to-4 decision, the majority upheld the current requirements, which can mean that basic information about a deportation hearing is missing.
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote the majority opinion, joined by four of the court’s other conservatives.
He cautioned that the decision “does not mean that the government is free of its obligation” to provide immigrants with notice of deportation hearings. Rather, he wrote, it blocked immigrants from seeking to challenge removal orders “in perpetuity based on arguments they could have raised in a hearing that they chose to skip.”
We both joke about and lament the bias in the traditional mainstream press. Left-wing bias in the media is at least as old as the old “muckraker” days when crusading journalists sought to expose the problems in our nation. Those writers almost always approached society’s ills from a socialist worldview.
A few years ago, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran an ad campaign highlighting how “balanced” the paper was. It wasn’t. Ever since the two papers merged into one hyphenate news outlet, the left-wing voices won out. A television news station here in Atlanta used the slogan “holding the powerful accountable” a couple of years ago. They didn’t hold people like Fani Willis or Keisha Lance-Bottoms accountable; no, these reporters aimed their cameras at the more conservative leaders in the metro area.
When a media outlet recognizes its leftward bias, it’s shocking, but it can be refreshing, especially if it prompts change. A recent op-ed in the Dallas Morning News is encouraging and should give us some hope. Public editor Stephen Buckley bravely admitted that his newspaper isn’t living up to its promise of fair coverage.
The Department of Justice has notified Speaker Mike Johnson that it won’t prosecute Attorney General Merrick Garland for contempt of Congress because Garland didn’t commit a crime.
Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte, wrote to Johnson, “Consistent with this longstanding position and uniform practice, the Department has determined that the responses by Attorney General Garland to the subpoenas issued by the Committees did not constitute a crime, and accordingly the Department will not bring the congressional contempt citation before a grand jury or take any other action to prosecute the Attorney General.”
House Republicans have learned nothing from the bogus Mayorkas impeachment, as they tried tp get the Attorney General prosecuted for non-criminal activity because they want the tapes of the interview that Special Counsel Robert Hur did with President Biden.
Biden asserted executive privilege over the tapes, which means that even if Garland wanted to release them, he couldn’t.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas came under fire Thursday as a Senate Judiciary Committee investigation uncovered more luxury trips the justice took with real estate magnate Harlan Crow without disclosing them, the latest in a string of recent ethics issues the court has faced that have ramped up criticism of the court and sparked cries for a binding code of ethics from lawmakers and legal experts.
The Supreme Court’s lack of an ethics code has become a growing source of controversy in recent … [+] years
WASHINGTON – Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and his wife were captured in secret recordings that featured the justice discussing the country’s left-right divide, while Martha-Ann Alito implied she would take revenge on media outlets that reported on controversial flags flown at Alito family homes.
“Look at me, look at me,” Martha-Ann Alito said. “I’m German, from Germany. My heritage is German. You come after me, I’m going to give it back to you.”
The recordings were made at a June 3 gala for the Supreme Court Historical Society by liberal activist Lauren Windsor and released Monday night.
On the day convicted felon Donald Trump made his triumphal (?) return to the US Capitol, which is still standing although his thugs ransacked it on January 6, CNN published a great story about all the terrible things Ohio Senator J.D. Vance said and promoted about Trump on social media and elsewhere before (and shortly after) Trump was elected. Vance, you might have heard, is reportedly on the short list to be Trump’s vice president.
OK, I know: These people can’t be shamed (e.g., Senators Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham; the list goes on). As long as you ultimately kiss the ring, you get total absolution in Trump world.
A long-standing, unwritten rule that evolved to avoid clogging up the criminal justice system could now work to sentence newly convicted felon Donald Trump to prison when he appears before a New York City judge next month.
The former president, legal experts say, has put himself on the wrong side of a process that rewards those who do not force the state to expend the time and money for a jury trial — and punishes those who do. Any normal defendant who pleaded not guilty and then lost their trial, these experts note, would likely see the harsher end of the sentencing range.
“If you spare the government the expenditure of resources and accept responsibility and plead guilty early in the process, you get some credit for that,” said Rebecca Roiphe, a former state prosecutor in Manhattan and now a professor at New York University School of Law. “Trump obviously didn’t do that.”
Trump also spent the entirety of the trial, from jury selection through his verdict and beyond, personally attacking the judge, the district attorney, the witnesses against him and the legitimacy of the entire nation’s justice system — something the vast majority of criminal defendants avoid doing.
Chicago, IL – Kelli Stump, President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), responded to today’s Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruling in Campos-Chaves v. Garland. The ruling today holds that someone can be removed in absentia, despite being initially served with a defective Notice to Appear (NTA) that does not provide them the date and time of their hearing.
“In 2018, in an 8-1 decision Justice Sonia Sotomayor stated that a NTA that does not inform a migrant ‘when and where to appear for removal proceedings is not a notice to appear.’ Five years later, in a 5-4 decision the Court has undermined this legal requirement. Rather than an independent immigration court holding the government to this basic responsibility, in our upside-down system, the judges are performing it for them. In no other court in America would we tolerate a judge acting as a prosecutor. This is yet another example of why we so desperately need an independent immigration court in order to have any chance of fairness and justice.”
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Blames COVID-19 Nursing Home Order on Unknown Staffer During Testimony to Congress
On June 11, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told Congress members that he was not responsible for an order requiring nursing homes to accept residents discharged from hospitals, even if they were still infected with COVID-19, according to lawmakers present in the room.
Mr. Cuomo did “tell us that he did not know that this directive existed, that he did not authorize it, that his Department of Health Commissioner did not authorize it, that somehow it just popped up from an unknown staff member,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) told reporters in a briefing after the closed-door hearing.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has announced plans to combat “conspiracy theories” surrounding the allegations the Justice Department is illegally working in collusion with the Democrat Party to overthrow the American republic. Garland used the DNC-CCP’s content marketing platform to pen an “opinion” piece that sets the DNC-CCP narrative on how to create a culture of fear to prevent whistleblowers and dissenters from publicly challenging the official party narrative.
The nature of Garland’s op-end is revealed in this statement by Garland: “The conspiracy theory that the recent jury verdict in New York state court was somehow controlled by the Department is not only false, it is irresponsible.” Calling a rightful opinion of a kangaroo court trial “irresponsible” is the first step towards criminalizing that same thought, as his critiques rightly point out.
Some might see US Attorney General Merrick Garland getting quite involved in campaigning ahead of the November election – albeit indirectly so, as a public servant whose primary concern is supposedly how to keep Department of Justice (DoJ) staff “safe.”
And, in the process, he brings up “conspiracy theorists” branding them as undermining the judicial process in the US – because they dare question the validity of a particular judicial process that aimed at former President Trump.
In an opinion piece published by the Washington Post, Garland used one instance that saw a man convicted for threatening a local FBI office to draw blanket and dramatic conclusions that DoJ staff have never operated in a more dangerous environment, where “threats of violence have become routine.”
It all circles back to the election, and Garland makes little effort to present himself as neutral. Other than “conspiracy theories,” his definition of a threat are calls to defund the department that was responsible for going after the former president.
Bob Casey Requests Taxpayer Funds for LGBT Center That Offers ‘Wide Array of Services’ to Children as Young as Seven
Democratic senator Bob Casey (Pa.) requested hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds this month for an LGBT center that offers a “wide array of services” to children as young as seven years old.
Casey seeks $565,000 for the LGBT Center of Greater Reading to “support access to mental health care for underserved populations,” according to his June 5 earmark request to a Senate appropriations subcommittee.
The LGBT Center of Greater Reading, which lists Casey as a “proud supporter,” has hosted “Drag Queen Story Hour” events for children and provides referral letters for clients seeking “top surgery” and “bottom surgery,” procedures that reconstruct breasts and genitals, respectively.
What’s more, the director of the center’s wellness clinic, which provides mental health services like those identified in Casey’s request, performs gender reassignment surgeries on adults and minors at a nearby hospital. The physician, Ashley Brandt, has posted photos on social media from the operating room after performing vaginoplasties and breast-removal procedures on transgender adults and filling “testicular implants” in preparation for surgery. Brandt has said she performs surgeries only on post-pubescent children and said that “we all take surgeries on minors very seriously.”
Casey’s funding request could pose a political liability for the Pennsylvania Democrat, considered one of the most vulnerable incumbents in the upcoming election. A majority of Americans oppose many of the services offered by the LGBT Center. According to a 2022 poll, 60 percent of adults think “Drag Queen Story Hour,” in which drag queens read story books to kids, is inappropriate. The LGBT Center of Greater Reading has hosted that kind of event since at least 2019, according to its social media pages. It held “Out in the Park” in October 2022, in which children under 10 years old were admitted free to an event that featured a “Drag Queen Story Hour,” a “large kids area,” and free HIV testing.
The request also marks an emerging pattern for Casey, who will face Republican businessman Dave McCormick in November. Casey requested $1 million in funding for the William Way LGBT Center last year, but he pulled the request after revelations that the center hosted BDSM and “kink” parties.
The three-term incumbent recently touted a $400,000 earmark for the Mazzoni Center, which, like the LGBT Center of Greater Reading, offers referrals for clients seeking sex-change procedures.
While the LGBT Center of Greater Reading offers its “wide array” of services to children, it is unclear if those services include referrals for surgical procedures and controversial hormone treatments such as puberty blockers.
But Brandt, who hosted a “Gender Affirming Surgery 101” seminar at the center in April 2023, acknowledges performing surgeries on minors, though only those who have gone through puberty and have parental consent and consultation with mental health professionals.
“This idea that we’re operating on minors, that we’re doing irreversible procedures on minors, is not a new idea,” said Brandt, who in a July 2023 interview compared sex-change surgeries to cosmetic surgeries or bariatric procedures. “There are surgeries done on minors all across the board … that require these very intense discussions.”
Casey’s office and the LGBT Center of Greater Reading did not respond to requests for comment.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in a 3-2 decision that public schools do not have a right to determine the type of material that can go into their libraries, that the “rights” of trans and gay kids to have access to trans and gay books trump’s the library’s right to determine what is or is not appropriate for kids to read.
Two of the three judges voting for this limited the books the libraries must return to those without explicit sexual content, while one judge would have forced libraries to put these books backs on their shelves as well. Judge Jacques Wiener, Jr. wrote in the ruling, “[A] book may not be removed for the sole—or a substantial— reason that the decisionmaker does not wish patrons to be able to access the book’s viewpoint or message. . . . [A] book by a former Grand Wizard of the K.K.K., which hasn’t been checked out in years and is discovered by a librarian during routine weeding, could be removed based on lack of interest and poor circulation history.”
One of the dissenting justices, Judge Stuart Duncan, countered, “A public library’s choice of some books for its collection, and its rejection of others, is government speech… This conclusion is supported by a long line of Supreme Court precedent, as well as authority from our sister circuits. It means the Free Speech Clause does not constrain a public library’s collection decisions.”
An appeals court issued a First Amendment decision on June 6, ordering the return of controversial books to public library shelves in the children’s section. The highly fractured court opinion requires libraries in Texas to restock books on trangenderism but not those depicting nudity and sex.
The case arose after community members objected to “pornographic and overtly sexual books in the library’s children’s section,” and libraries removed the objectionable materials in response. Several community members sued.
Litigation in the lower court, which issued a more expansive order to restock the books, continues after the appeal court’s decision and will determine whether the removals violated the First Amendment.
Two judges on the three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit agreed that books like Gabi, a Girl in Pieces, Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen, and They Call Themselves the K.K.K. must return to library shelves during the ligitation.
These books discuss sexuality and homosexuality, transgenderism, and “the history of racism in the United States,” respectively.
One judge would have ordered books like In the Night Kitchen and It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health to return to library shelves.
It’s Perfectly Normal, a book written for a 10-and-up audience, is replete with cartoons of people masturbating and having sex.
Judge Jacques Wiener, Jr., who would have ordered all books returned, accepted that libraries must engage in content-based curation, such as assessing what will be or is of interest to the community. Wiener, however, argued that the removal decisions were substantially motivated by a wish to deny patrons access to material the censor personally disagreed with instead of because of a lack of community interest:
[A] book may not be removed for the sole—or a substantial— reason that the decisionmaker does not wish patrons to be able to access the book’s viewpoint or message. . . . [A] book by a former Grand Wizard of the K.K.K., which hasn’t been checked out in years and is discovered by a librarian during routine weeding, could be removed based on lack of interest and poor circulation history.
Judge Leslie Southwick agreed in part with Wiener and wrote a partial concurrence. Southwick, however, argued that removing books like In the Night Kitchen and It’s Perfectly Normal was likely constitutional:
I would have no difficulty in allowing the removal of a book from the children’s section on the basis that it encourages children to engage in sexual activity with adults or includes sexually explicit content. At this stage of the case, I find ordering the return of such books to be error.
Judge Stuart Duncan dissented. Duncan chastised Wiener and Southwick for “appoint[ing] themselves co-chairs of every public library board across the Fifth Circuit” by “issu[ing] ‘rules’ for when librarians can remove books from the shelves and when they cannot.”
In Duncan’s view, public libraries’ curatorial decisions were government speech immune from the First Amendment:
A public library’s choice of some books for its collection, and its rejection of others, is government speech. . . . This conclusion is supported by a long line of Supreme Court precedent, as well as authority from our sister circuits. It means the Free Speech Clause does not constrain a public library’s collection decisions.
The state of Indiana has passed a bill to end the sale of land to the CCP, the Chinese Communist Party, a bill that was passed and signed after a CCP-connected company was caught trying to buy land. The company that was identified was Fufeng who had just attempted to purchase land in Grand Forks, North Dakota but had to exit the deal after the U.S. Air Force issued a memo referring to the company as a “significant threat to national security.”
The exposure led to more discoveries of CCP purchases of land in Indiana that seems to have resulted from an intentional concentration on the state by the CCP. The network of CCP-connected companies was built under the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, The website openly states it exists to connect Chinese American entrepreneurs with Chinese-owned businesses to come in partnership with one another.
Indiana’s speedy passage of House Bill 1183 in March, prohibiting certain land sales to companies from China and other adversarial countries, has halted a pending real estate deal with the China-owned company Fufeng, according to LaPorte County Assessor records. Fufeng was looking for real estate in Indiana after being booted out of Grand Forks, North Dakota, following a U.S. Air Force memo that called it a “significant threat to national security.”
Fufeng managed to implant itself in North Dakota with a land purchase before being tarred and feathered out of the state. Fortunately, it was legislated out of Indiana — for now.
Fufeng’s short-lived appearance in Indiana was a smoking gun. What else is going on? The Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), an unelected upgrade to the traditional commerce department, helps select and develop businesses in Indiana. The IEDC has set up many China-owned companies in the state, including 25 currently operational, according to the IEDC general counsel.
The trend of China-based companies in Indiana has not developed organically but through centralized planning with the help of a Chinese Communist Party-linked nonprofit. A contract on the IEDC’s website shows that it has been paying the America China Society of Indiana (ACSI) to facilitate deals with China-owned businesses. The contract outlines IEDC’s interest in “identifying and creating a pipeline of [foreign direct investment] prospects in China” and preparing trip itineraries, among other tasks.
A state contract to fill a requested “pipeline” of China-owned businesses wishing to engage in foreign direct investment, including the purchase of U.S. land, is concerning. The 2017 National Intelligence Law of the People’s Republic of China directs that “any organization or citizen shall support, assist, and cooperate with the state intelligence work” and “state intelligence work institutions shall collect and handle the acts or acts of foreign institutions, organizations, and individuals….”
In other words, China-owned companies operating in the United States are expected to collect intelligence on the United States. Further, most large Chinese companies, especially those allowed to expand into the United States, have CCP members or even party committees within them ensuring loyalty to the CCP’s goals.
Beyond the concerns with Chinese companies taking root in the United States, an organization such as ACSI introduces additional issues when attached to state-level government. ACSI has implemented a series of influence operations and public relations events that may have compromised state decision-making through pressure, gain, or both.
You Will Know Them by Their Fruits
ACSI’s 2018 board of directors paints a picture of the IEDC’s exposure to CCP influence.
A member of the IEDC is on the board, guaranteeing that the IEDC is not only aware of, but actively has influence in, ACSI’s activities.
Westfield Outdoors is one of the China-owned businesses that ACSI brought in as part of the “pipeline.” Westfield Outdoors, along with other China-owned businesses, is one of ACSI’s member sponsors, which in turn influence businesses ACSI recommends to Indiana.
Dr. Zao (Joe) Xu, founder of the Confucius Institute at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, was on the ACSI board until 2018. The U.S. government defunded Confucius Institutes (CI) following expert testimony identifying CI as part of a CCP influence operation. The Confucius Institute at IUPUI closed in 2019 along with nearly all others in the United States.
A board that convenes Indiana government representatives alongside CCP-linked influence operators and oversees a society whose members include China-owned businesses with an intel-gathering mission is a recipe for compromised decision-making.
The Deepening
In 2019, Indiana Governor and IEDC Board Chairman Eric Holcomb took a trip to China likely arranged by ACSI “to renew the Indiana-Zhejiang sister-state relationship” established back in 1987. The Indiana legislature has since banned sister-city agreements with China, so Holcomb had to sign a bill that deeply criticizes the same kind of agreement he celebrated just five years ago.
During that trip, Holcomb visited with the president of the China People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), known as the “‘public face’ of the CCP’s United Front Work Department.”
In contrast to ACSI’s description of CPAFFC as “focused on deepening international friendships,” the CPAFFC’s mission in its own words is “to make the foreign serve China.” This stunning whitewashing is readily available on Wikipedia.
Why did Indiana’s governor meet with the leader of the part of the CCP’s influence operation concerned with making other countries serve China? ACSI would have added the CPAFFC stop to the itinerary as part of its role arranging IEDC’s China-bound trips, at the direction of the CCP. It is possible that Holcomb thought he was innocently “deepened” by a nice lady with a panda plate. But from the CPAFFC’s and CCP’s point of view, he declared his subservience.
‘Mask Diplomacy’
During early Covid days, China hoarded masks while companies like MyPillow diverted production to manufacturing masks for donation. Then China decided it was time to share. ACSI worked diligently to ensure Indiana participated in the geopolitical phenomenon later coined “Mask Diplomacy.”
Mask diplomacy, the CCP’s effort to look generous and deflect suspicions that Covid came from the Wuhan Lab, involved distributing small quantities of masks for a photo op. Indiana was among the favored states and countries to receive the honor of free masks, per the July 2020 news story on ACSI’s website.
In reality, this publicity stunt was a favor the CCP called in, likely among those trusted partners who have pledged allegiance to the CCP’s head of foreign submission (the CPAFFC) and could be counted on to promote this effort. With both the general public and the carefully selected recipients, the self-serving “favor” was an investment that would be expected to produce a return.
To the recipients, it was likely a nuisance. In context, 100,000 masks is a very small number. The IEDC reported in 2020 with macabre glee that it took fiduciary charge of spending $49 million on 27 million masks for the state, the smallest order of which was 1 million masks. The Chinese gift came with a very detailed receipt — the only mention of this event on IEDC’s website:
The IEDC likely had little “desire” for such a small quantity of masks, other than to satisfy the CCP’s desire to give masks and take credit. But in doing so, the state of Indiana (through its contractor ACSI) accepted a public gift from the Zhejiang Provincial Government of the CCP with an approximate value of nearly $200,000. What are the odds that the CCP would parlay that “favor” into a return gesture?
Far-Flung Fufeng
These are some of the more interesting elements within a long pattern of CCP-linked business development activities, advertised little if at all by the IEDC. It may also explain why the IEDC accepted the disgraced Fufeng earlier this year after its Department of Defense-directed expulsion from North Dakota.
Will the IEDC cancel its contract with ACSI for a “pipeline” of China-based companies in light of the HB 1183 restrictions? Do other states have similarly low-profile links to the CCP buried deep within unelected departments? The nearly two-thirds of all U.S. states currently advancing anti-China bills similar to HB 1183 may be doing so at odds with influence operations hidden within their own governments.
Vanessa Battaglia is a defense engineer with experience designing software, hardware, and airborne systems for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Special Operations Command, and the Federal Aviation Administration.
Following the retail apocalypse of 2023, 2024 is looking to be even worse, with the year-over-year comparison showing a 5.2 percent increase in store closures this year over last year.
The retail apocalypse of 2023 has continued in 2024, with thousands of stores across the United States set to shut their doors. Under President Joe Biden’s administration, the economic strain on the retail sector has only deepened, leading to a retail bloodbath.
Major retailers, including Macy’s, Walgreens, CVS, Family Dollar, Walmart, and 7-Eleven, have announced significant closures. A staggering 2,599 store closures are planned for this year, marking a 2.5% increase from the same period last year, according to the DailyMail. The closures reflect the persistent struggles brick-and-mortar stores face amid rising costs and shifting consumer habits.
Family Dollar and the bankrupt 99 Cents Only stores are among the hardest hit, with discount retailers particularly vulnerable in the current economic climate. The discount sector, often seen as a lifeline for low-income families, is reeling from the losses. The 99 Cents Only chain’s bankruptcy has already led to the planned shuttering of numerous stores, though a recent acquisition by Dollar Tree has saved 170 locations from closure.
Waterford, Pennsylvania, USA August 1, 2023 Two storefronts together, a Family Dollar and a Dollar Tree in a strip mall on a sunny summer day
Retail experts point to a variety of factors contributing to the closures, including increased competition from online retailers, rising operating costs, and changing consumer preferences. However, the Biden administration’s economic policies have exacerbated the situation, creating an environment where traditional retailers struggle to survive. The planned closures represent lost jobs, deserted shopping centers, and communities grappling with reduced access to essential goods and services. For many Americans, the closure of the stores is a reminder of the challenges facing the retail sector and the economy.
“A lot of this year’s closures are related to bankruptcies of chains that have been in trouble for a while, like Rite Aid and Rue21,” Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said to CBS. “We’re also seeing several retailers, like Family Dollar, take action to weed out underperforming locations.”
This year has already seen nearly 3,200 retail store closures, a 24% increase from last year, as reported by CoreSight, a firm that monitors retail activity in the U.S. In contrast, store openings are down by 4%, with many major chains holding back on expansion plans.
New Hartford, New York – Nov 23, 2023: Rite Aid Pharmacy storefront, is a well-known American pharmacy chain that provides a range of health and wellness products with over 2500 locations nationwide.
Driving these closures are several factors, including shifts in consumer behavior, management difficulties, and a spate of bankruptcies affecting companies like Rite Aid and Rue21. Notably, Dollar Tree announced the closure of over 600 Family Dollar stores, attributing the decision to inflationary pressures on shoppers and a rise in shoplifting incidents. While some retailers are still planning to open new locations, the overall trend points to a more cautious approach in the industry.
Amid the highest inflation rates seen in decades, many consumers have felt the financial squeeze. “Persistent inflation and reduced government benefits continue to pressure the lower-income consumers that comprise a sizable portion of Family Dollar’s” customer base, CEO Rick Dreiling said on a Wednesday call.
As the retail landscape continues to evolve, the impact of some closures could be felt across the country.
Biden moves to give mass amnesty to ‘paroled’ illegal immigrants married to US citizens
The Biden administration is moving to grant illegal immigrants who have come to the US under Biden’s “parole” authority mass amnesty if they are married to a US citizen.
The program is known as “parole in place,” according to CBS News. The program would also make it easier for illegal immigrants who came in under the parole program to receive amnesty and become American citizens. The move comes as the White House supposedly took steps in order to curb more illegal immigration with an executive order that would still allow at least 1.5 million illegal immigrants into the US every year.
White House spokesperson Angelo Hernandez Fernandez that the Biden administration is continuing “to explore a series of policy options, and we remain committed to taking action to address our broken immigration system.” CBS reports that about 1.1 million illegal immigrants are married to US citizens and stand to benefit from the program. Generally, illegal immigrants who are married to US citizens have to leave the country for a time and then come back in order to get a green card.
The Department of Justice has determined that the head of their department, Attorney General Merrick Garland, cannot be charged with contempt of court because he had a good reason to ignore congress’ subpoenas. The claims come from a 57-page document issued by the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC).
The House passed the resolution along party lines, 208-207. Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) has already responded to the DOJ’s seeming defense of their department leader by vowing to force a vote on Merrick Garland’s arrest if the DOJ doesn’t follow the resolution in the same manner it did to GOP leaders like Steve Bannon, who even now is fighting an order to go to prison.
An internal Justice Department (DOJ) memo has argued that Attorney General Merrick Garland is above the law and immune to prosecution for contempt of Congress.
The 57-page document issued by the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), obtained by The Hill, explains why Garland did not surrender the embarrassing audio recording of Biden’s discussion with Special Counsel Robert Hur despite congressional demands.
… The memo states, “For nearly seven decades and across presidential administrations of both parties, the Executive Branch has taken the position that the criminal contempt of Congress statute … does not apply to Executive Branch officials who do not comply with a congressional subpoena based on a presidential assertion of executive privilege.”
“Consistent with this longstanding position, no U.S. Attorney has pursued criminal contempt charges against an Executive Branch official asserting the President’s claim of executive privilege,” the memo added.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna said she would force a vote on Merrick Garland’s arrest if the Justice Department doesn’t follow through after a contempt resolution.
A Hamas spokesman stated on Wednesday that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is “part of the problem, not the solution.” This comment came as Blinken urged the Palestinian militant group to agree to a ceasefire deal.
This week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been traveling in the Middle East following a United Nations Security Council resolution that endorsed the administration’s proposal for a ceasefire and hostage release. The U.S. administration announced that Israel had accepted this proposal.
Under U.S. pressure, Israel agreed to the proposal while emphasizing its goal of dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities. President Biden incorrectly claimed that the proposal originated from Israel, a statement that Israeli officials denied.
Russian Nuke Ships Are 90 Miles Away From Florida. What Could Go Wrong?
The ghost of the Cuban Missile Crisis has reared its ugly nuclear head roughly 60 years after JFK stared down the Soviets back in October 1962.
Four Russian ships, including one nuclear-armed frigate and a nuclear submarine, sailed into Havana harbor on Wednesday after cruising a mere 25 nautical miles from the coast of Florida.
One of the ships is an oil tanker, and the other is a tug. Russia’s newest frigate, called Admiral Gorshkov, can launch hypersonic missiles.
FACT-O-RAMA! Hypersonic missiles travel at a speed of roughly one mile per second and can allegedly carry nuclear warheads. This means Miami can be destroyed from Cuba in about 90 seconds, or in less than half a minute if launched from 25 miles away.
Vladimir Putin’s Ministry of Defense stated that the ships were conducting drills and dress rehearsals involving hitting targets more than 370 miles away as well as anti-aircraft maneuvers.
BREAKING:
🇷🇺🇨🇺 Russian ships and a nuclear submarine have arrived in Havana
After coming within a mere 25 miles of Florida, the Russian frigate “Admiral Gorshkov” entered the port of Havana, Cuba. pic.twitter.com/hdR7YN8KJn
Kevin Spacey Reveals He Was On Epstein’s Plane With Bill Clinton And ‘Young Girls’
In a candid conversation with Piers Morgan, Kevin Spacey shed light on his presence aboard Jeffrey Epstein’s plane alongside former President Bill Clinton, amidst allegations linking him to Epstein’s infamous activities. The veteran actor clarified his interactions and the nature of the missions he was involved in during the controversial flights.
“In 2015, I started seeing reports online, things on my Twitter account that I had flown to this guy, Jeffrey Epstein’s, island and I had abused young girls,” Spacey recounted. He added, “If you’d asked me in 2015, maybe even if you’d asked me in 2002, did I know a guy named Jeffrey Epstein… I have since learned who he is, and I have since been able to go back and find out that the airplane that we flew on for this humanitarian mission was owned by Jeffrey Epstein. And to then learn, oh, he was actually on some of those flights. And this Maxwell woman was on some of those flights.”
“I didn’t know him. I’ve never spent any time with him. I was with the Clinton Foundation people. That’s who I was with,” Spacey explained. He noted that his primary interactions were with other high-profile business leaders introduced to him by President Clinton during his tenure at the Old Vic Theatre in London. Regarding the allegations and the presence of young girls on the flights, Spacey expressed his concern. “There were young girls on those flights,” he admitted, expressing a sense of discomfort about Epstein’s presence and the potential risks it posed.
“Do you know who I never asked for anything? Jeffrey Epstein. I didn’t want to be around this guy because I felt he put the president at risk on that trip to South Africa because there were these young girls and we were like, ‘who is this guy?’” Spacey elaborated, distancing himself from Epstein.
WATCH:
Kevin Spacey tells Piers Morgan how he ended up on Jeffrey Epstein’s planes while carrying out humanitarian work with Bill Clinton: “There were young girls on those flights.” pic.twitter.com/d98QgU1VCN
— Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) June 11, 2024
A top emergency medicine and disaster specialist is claiming the bird flu has been re-engineered in the lab to become transmittable to humans. Dr. Kelly made these claims on the YouTube podcast show “Redacted.”
She exclaimed, “We know that many scientific labs in the United States, not just in China, have been doing gain-of-function research specifically on this virus, bird flu. They have been manipulating this virus in the laboratory, what we call gain of function, which means taking a pathogen, could be a virus as it is in this case, or a bacterium or a fungus and manipulating it in the lab to make it stronger, more transmissible, more resistant to treatment, more capable of spreading for example between humans. That is what they are doing with this virus and they’ve been doing it for many years.”
A top doctor has spoken out to warn the public that bird flu has been weaponized in bioweapon labs to make the virus more transmissible between humans.
Dr. Kelly Victory, a leading emergency medicine and disaster specialist, says her studies have uncovered such conclusive evidence that she can “guarantee” that avian influenza was “manipulated in a laboratory.”
During a new interview on the podcast show “Redacted,” Dr. Victory explains that bird flu should not be able to be transmitted between humans.
However, she warns that scientists have “manipulated” the virus using gain-of-function research in biolabs.
This gain-of-function manipulation of the virus would create “significant human-to-human transmission with this most recent outbreak,” she asserts.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that 18.1 million new business applications have been filed since Biden took office, the biggest boom in 25 years.
Today, Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice in President Biden’s Cabinet for America’s more than 33 million small businesses, released a statement in response President Biden’s announcement that more than 18 million new business applications have been filed under the Biden-Harris administration.
It’s not yet November, so elections may not be the first thing on your mind—yet they happened Tuesday evening in a number of primaries and in a special contest in Ohio to replace GOP Rep. Bill Johnson, who retired to become president of Youngstown State University.
Republican Michael Rulli, an Ohio state senator and small business owner who touts himself as a “big natural gas guy,” won that contest, easily defeating Dem Michael Kripchak 55-45 to slightly increase the House GOP majority by one—at least until November, when another election will take place. It looks like Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) just found a little more breathing room:
Congratulations to our newest Republican U.S. House Representative from Ohio’s 6th district, Michael Rulli!
We look forward to Congressman-Elect Rulli providing needed backup for House conservatives fighting for our nation. pic.twitter.com/kXYvgKicbm
— Ohio College Republican Federation (@OhioCRs) June 12, 2024
Attorney General Merrick Garland called the increasing attacks against the Department of Justice “dangerous to our democracy” in a Washington Post op-ed published Tuesday morning.
In the piece, Garland defended the DOJ against recent threats made by allies of former President Donald Trump to defund the work of special counsel Jack Smith, who is prosecuting Trump on charges of amassing classified documents and blocking an investigation into the matter as well as attempting to overturn the 2020 election. Garland described a department that was facing conspiracy theories and threats of violence “like never before.”
“Continued unfounded attacks against the Justice Department’s employees are dangerous for people’s safety,” Garland writes. “… This must stop.”
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a prominent member of the Judiciary Committee, is raising questions about an interview Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito gave to The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page in July.
In that interview, the conservative justice argued that “no provision in the Constitution gives [Congress] the authority to regulate the Supreme Court — period.” He gave the interview shortly after the same publication allowed him to refute a then-unpublished ProPublica report that Alito accepted a luxury fishing trip to Alaska paid for by a prominent GOP donor.
“I note that the Supreme Court is the only place in all of government where issues of this nature have no place or means of investigation or resolution,” Whitehouse wrote in a letter to Alito released Monday. “So far, my questions regarding these events seem to have disappeared into a black hole of indifference.”
