Month: April 2024

The COVID-19 pandemic, which placed unprecedented demands on federal financial assistance programs, also presented ripe opportunities for fraudsters and swindlers to exploit the system.

A report released by the Department of Justice (DOJ) COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force uncovered a shocking scope of fraud during the pandemic, with over $400 billion in emergency funding either stolen or misappropriated.

According to the report, fraudulent claims and schemes targeted various pandemic relief efforts, including unemployment insurance benefits, Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs), among others.

These included fraudulent claims filed using stolen identities, inflated payroll expenses, doctored bank statements, and false tax forms.

The report reveals that fraudsters and swindlers may have stolen upwards of $280 billion in emergency funding, with an additional $123 billion lost or misappropriated, totaling more than $400 billion in funds intended to aid Americans during one of the most challenging times in recent history, The Politics Brief reported.

Here are some examples of COVID-19 fraud cases:

A defendant was sentenced to seven years in federal prison for committing PPP, EIDL, and UI fraud, with actual losses of more than $1 million and attempted losses of $3 million. When the government executed search warrants in the case, agents recovered stolen identifying information and ghost guns, including one modified to function as a machine gun.

A defendant pleaded guilty to submitting more than $3.5 million in fraudulent COVID-19 PPP and EIDL applications and using fraudulently obtained funds to pay for a vacation, a Mercedes-Benz, jewelry, and luxury goods, including items from Luis Vuitton, Neiman Marcus, Dior, Cartier, Gucci, Chanel, and Hermes.

The SDFL indicted 17 employees of the Broward Sheriff’s Office were charged with obtaining fraudulent PPP/ EIDL loans. One former deputy was recently convicted at trial, several employees have pleaded guilty, and other defendants’ cases are still pending.

A defendant was sentenced to 71 months in prison for fraudulently obtaining PPP and EIDL loans and Shuttered Venue Operator Grants (SVOG), using the stolen funds to buy two Tesla S models, a Lamborghini, a Porsche, a diamond Audemars Piguet watch, a rose gold and diamond pendant with his company’s logo, a half-kilogram gold chain with 70 carats of diamonds, and a 1-kilogram gold chain.

A former contract detention officer at the federal Krome Detention facility who was the leader of a PPP fraud ring was sentenced to 32 months in prison for preparing fraudulent PPP applications in return for kickbacks.

A defendant was sentenced to 70 months in prison for laundering the over $2 million in fraudulently obtained PPP and EIDL loans and using the funds to gamble and to pay for cosmetic surgery, a Cadillac Escalade, and a Pomeranian puppy.

In the Southern District of Georgia, a Florida-based attorney was convicted at trial of conspiracy to fraudulently obtain almost $800,000 in Economic Injury Disaster Loans for herself and others.

In the Western District of Washington, the ringleader of a $6.8 million pandemic fraud ring was sentenced to five years in prison for fraudulently seeking funds from various relief programs.

In the Eastern District of Washington, an Arkansas-based business owner pleaded guilty to fraudulently receiving more than $16.5 million in SBApandemic relief funds for himself and others.

In the Eastern District of Virginia, a former VA nurse was sentenced to 18 years in prison for conspiring to fraudulently obtain more than $3.5 million in UI benefits from at least five states. She and her co-conspirators filed more than 220 false applications for unemployment insurance benefits using stolen identities and the identities of state and federal prison inmates.

In the Middle District of Florida, a defendant was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison for obtaining more than $7.2 million in PPP loan funds, which he used to purchase Maserati and Mercedes-Benz cars and buy a 12-acre estate.

The District of Minnesota has brought charges against more than 50 individuals for their respective roles in a $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the Eastern District of Michigan, a man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role as the ringleader of conspiracies to use stolen identities to fraudulently obtain $2.1 million in unemployment insurance benefits from multiple states and to traffic in methamphetamine.

Read more here.

The DOJ’s COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force has made significant strides in combating this fraud, with over 3,500 defendants criminally charged with more than $1.4 billion in fraudulently obtained CARES Act funds seized or forfeited and more than 400 civil settlements and judgments.

However, the sheer magnitude of the fraud indicates that much work remains to be done.

The Gateway Pundit previously reported that Paul Pelosi, who has an 8.1 percent share of restaurant company EDI Associates, received loans of more than $1.7 million from the federal government, which won’t have to be repaid.

This one holds a special place in my @SpeakerPelosi ‘s husband Paul Pelosi took some PPP loans as well even though him and his wife do absolutely excellent in the stock market and both also have two full time careers. Clearly they needed it… pic.twitter.com/lMVDb6HpwL

— . ‍ (@RealDotFren) August 21, 2022

EDI Associates was given two loans – one for $711,708 and the other for $996,392.

As the database shows, both loans have been forgiven. As noted by the Daily Mail, the decision to forgive a loan is based upon a formula that takes into account the number of employees retained and their wages.

The news about the husband of the House speaker raised eyebrows on social media.

Paul Pelosi has a net worth of over 120 Million and took a 1,709,100 dollar PPP loan that was then forgiven. But they need 87,000 IRS agents to look into your finances.

— Joey – Master of Wit and Sarcasm (@jjstyx) August 17, 2022

Paul Pelosi and Hollywood Crooks have millions of loans forgiven https://t.co/xHYAZrEnXT

— K. Bitterman Gross (@KBittermanGross) August 19, 2022

You can read the full report from the DOJ below:

The post DOJ Releases Shocking Report on Widespread COVID-19 Fraud During Pandemic — Over $400 Billion Stolen or Misused appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

In a surprising turn of events, President Joe Biden faces a significant hurdle in his 2024 reelection campaign, potentially being excluded from the ballots in both Alabama and Ohio due to scheduling conflicts between the Democratic National Convention (DNC) and the states’ candidate certification deadlines. This development has sparked discussions across political circles, highlighting the intricate balance between electoral procedures and party conventions.

Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen has raised concerns that the DNC’s scheduled date, August 19, 2024, falls after Alabama’s statutory deadline of August 15 for political parties to submit their presidential and vice-presidential nominees. This discrepancy could lead to President Biden’s absence from the Alabama ballot, a situation that underscores the importance of adhering to state electoral laws and timelines.

Alabama secretary of state says Biden may not appear on the state’s ballot because the DNC is after the registration deadline.

This is also the case in Ohio, where the DNC is being held days after the final date to sign up for the general election.

Follow: @AFpost pic.twitter.com/60a9fSullV

— AF Post (@AFpost) April 10, 2024

The issue is not isolated to Alabama. Ohio faces a similar predicament, with Secretary of State Frank LaRose warning that the late DNC could result in Biden missing the state’s certification deadline for presidential candidates. Ohio’s legislature is under pressure to act by May 9, 2024, to either adjust the law or find an alternative solution to accommodate the DNC’s timing.

These potential ballot exclusions highlight a procedural oversight that could have far-reaching implications for the Democratic Party and its chances in the 2024 presidential election. The DNC’s scheduling conflict with state deadlines poses a logistical challenge that requires immediate attention and resolution to ensure President Biden’s presence on ballots across all states.

Since ‘Ashley Biden’ is trending: pic.twitter.com/NjwSI2i5mg

— Alabama Coastie (@AlabamaCoastie) April 4, 2024

The situation also brings to light the broader issue of election preparedness and the need for political parties to closely coordinate with state election officials. Ensuring that nomination conventions align with state certification deadlines is crucial for the smooth functioning of the electoral process and the upholding of democratic principles.

Critics argue that this oversight could have been avoided with better planning and communication between the DNC and state election offices. The potential exclusion of a sitting president from state ballots due to a scheduling conflict is unprecedented and raises questions about the DNC’s organizational capabilities.

As the Democratic Party scrambles to address this issue, the Republican Party watches closely, aware that any advantage in key battleground states like Ohio could be pivotal in a closely contested election. The outcome of these discussions and any subsequent changes to convention dates or state laws will be closely monitored by political analysts and voters alike.

In conclusion, the 2024 election cycle has already presented a unique challenge for President Biden and the Democratic Party. How they navigate this obstacle will not only impact their electoral strategy but also set a precedent for future elections. The importance of meticulous planning and adherence to electoral laws has never been more evident, as the democratic process hinges on the participation of all eligible candidates on the ballot.

What do you think about Joe Biden and the Alabama ballot?

We want to hear from you! Please share your perspective by commenting below.

The post The 2024 Ballot Dilemma: President Biden’s Potential Exclusion from Alabama and Ohio appeared first on The Conservative Brief.

It has been widely reported that there were chants of ‘death to America’ at a recent event in Michigan. It’s the sort of thing we’re used to hearing from Iran but not in our own country.

During The Five on FOX News this week, Greg Gutfeld talked about this issue and where he sees this going. He suggests that the problem is going to get worse as left-leaning cities will be come mini-Gazas throughout the country.

He also asks why we are putting up with it.

Transcript via Real Clear Politics:

I get the impression with the “Death To America” stuff that we are on a slow roll toward our own little Gazas. These little islands of unrest in the country. These were places that were sacrificed to leftism. Leftisms, where laws were discarded. Identity and division became the currency. Look at Minneapolis since George Floyd. It’s never been the same. It’s all these enclaves.

We were supposed to be a melting pot. But that requires melting. And instead what we are seeing is a hardening. It is a hardening. And we are always accused of xenophobia if we exalt our country’s awesomeness or make fun of another country’s customs. Fair enough. I get it. But it’s a two-way street. If you come here and reject assimilation, free speech, cooperation with people different than you.

Those are our values and if you reject them, you are xenophobic, you are anti-American. It’s not illegal, I guess. But why are we respecting it and why are we encouraging it? Leftism encourages this sort of behavior. It’s time for the adults to enter the room and basically change the conversation or these cities are gone.

Watch the video below:

Gutfeld: “I get the impression with the ‘Death to America’ stuff that we are on a slow roll toward our own little Gazas” pic.twitter.com/4qkJj24B6s

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) April 8, 2024

Americans are very tolerant people but everyone is losing their patience with the radical left.

The post Greg Gutfeld On ‘Death To America’ Chants in Michigan: Why Are We Respecting Anti-American Behavior? (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Now that Republicans are moving forward in an effort to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Democrats have adopted a very different view of the subject.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said this week that impeachment shouldn’t be used to settle policy disagreements.

That will be big news to President Trump and his supporters. What changed?

The Washington Times reports:

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer said Tuesday that Democrats will move to derail an impeachment trial for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, saying the charges against him are bogus.

Mr. Schumer did not say exactly what method Democrats will use, but other senators said it could involve either tabling or moving to dismiss the case, which could be done through a majority vote.

Republicans decried the expected move that would be the first time in history the Senate shirked a duty to conduct a trial after the House impeached an official.

But Mr. Schumer said he considers the case against Mr. Mayorkas to be illegitimate, and he seemed confident of having the votes to succeed.

“We’re going to try and resolve this issue as quickly as possible,” Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat, told reporters. “Impeachment should never be used to settle policy disagreements.”

See the video below:

POT, MEET KETTLE: Chuck Schumer says “impeachment should never be used to settle policy disagreements!” pic.twitter.com/XIB3d3cjw2

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 9, 2024

People have thoughts about this.

Good! Because this isn’t a mere policy difference.
It’s a brazen violation of existing federal immigration law & an illegal state sanctioned invasion.
So get on with a full trial to ditch Mayorkas. https://t.co/sZWaI8NY0I

— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellUSA) April 10, 2024

Schumer calls letting 11 million criminal illegals into our country a policy disagreement.

Tell that to the families of all of the murdered American families that these criminal illegals murdered that Mayorkas let into our country illegally. https://t.co/dT2wjhb4He

— Wendy Patterson (@wendyp4545) April 9, 2024

That’s RICH coming from him and his party that IMPEACHED Trump “just because” https://t.co/3IxvbXsYeH

— Just meCassie (@browneyegirl400) April 9, 2024

Mayorkas deserves to be impeached. So does Biden.

The post SAY WHAT? Chuck Schumer Says ‘Impeachment Should Never be Used to Settle Policy Disagreements’ (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

On Monday, the wife and I piled our kids into the Subaru and drove three hours to northern New Hampshire to see the eclipse at 100 percent totality. Aside from all the unwelcome visitors from Massachusetts and Rhode Island, it was a very pleasant trip. Passing beneath the White Mountains brought tears to my eyes, as it always does. Growing up in farm country, all I knew were fields and forests. Mountains I only knew from books—in particular my favorite book, Lost Horizon. I tried to imagine what they would look like (“hills, only four hundred stories tall”). Still, I knew that once I saw a real mountain all my fantasies would be put to shame. And so they were.

We’d planned on camping out somewhere in the town of Lancaster, which was directly in the eclipse’s pathway. But even before we met the highway, we saw that hundreds of our fellow looky-loos were simply pulling over on the highway and camping out there. Friends of ours had made reservations to stay in Lancaster the night before; they texted to warn us that traffic was gridlocked when they drove up on Sunday afternoon, a good twenty-four hours before the eclipse even began. A little patch of gravel next to the highway was probably the best we could hope for. So, we snagged the first spot we saw. This was about half an hour before the eclipse began.

We hiked up the road a bit and found a field where folks were setting up folding chairs, flying drones, and fidgeting with their ultra-stylish eclipse glasses. The mood was ebullient. There was a rumor that the Town of Lancaster would be setting off fireworks. Folks were playing music and toying around with drones. Children were playing tag in the field. It was like the tailgate at a Patriots game. Everyone was brought together in that field by a common purpose, and that gave us a sense of camaraderie.

Then, about twenty minutes before 100 percent totality, it became noticeably darker—and colder. I had expected both, but it was a bit like the mountains: Nothing in my imagination prepared me for the real thing. 

For those who don’t know, the darkness of an eclipse is nothing like the darkness of nightfall. Partially it’s because it becomes so dark so quickly. But I think it’s also because the sun isn’t setting in the West. The shadows don’t lengthen. It doesn’t give off a few last warm, golden rays before dropping behind the horizon. It just… turns off. 

What little light remained was gray, almost sickly. My wife said, “It’s like when you edit a photo and turn ‘saturation’ all the way down.” That’s exactly right. The rational part of my brain knew I wasn’t going blind, but I couldn’t quite drive away that fear. And it quickly became clear that the same fear was creeping over our 3-year-old, Beatrice. She started looking around and rubbing her eyes. A look came over her face, half-sad, half-panicked. She looked at me, silently pleading for me to comfort her, clearly hoping that if she didn’t say that she was scared, it would all go away quickly. 

It didn’t—not for her, not for me, and not for anyone else. As the darkness grew, everyone in the field slowly went silent. Hundreds of strangers were gradually overcome by fear and awe. A group of girls to our right started talking about the Rapture. A man to our right whispered to his wife, “It’s the end of the world.”

Some folks had driven three or four hours to witness a 30-second event—and yet, as soon as it began, it was clear that everyone wanted it to be over. Nobody was having fun. All the children stood riveted to the earth in fright or burst into tears. The grown-ups looked around nervously. Obviously, we all half-expected something else to happen. What that something is (the Rapture or the Apocalypse or what) was almost beside the point. It felt like a portent, like it was pointing to something else. 

Imagine you’re at a crowded beach reading in the sun or splashing in the waves, and suddenly you hear the blast of a huge trumpet come from somewhere across the sea. Everyone on the beach might have a different theory about what the trumpet means, but everyone would agree that it means something. The trumpet doesn’t want your attention: it wants you to be still and silent, attentive to whatever comes next. This horrible mood of anticipation was thick in the air on Monday at 3:30 p.m. in Lancaster, New Hampshire. 

When the eclipse ended and the light returned, I found myself holding my prayer rope and whispering, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” There was a palpable sense of relief, bewilderment, and shame in our field. Everyone packed up, quietly and quickly, and hit the road. There were a few tear-stained cheeks and quite a lot of nervous smiles. Some folks tried to make small talk. I said to my wife, “No one liked it.” 

Let me state for the record that I had no particular interest in the eclipse. For me, it was an excuse to take the day off and spend time with my family; I certainly wasn’t expecting article-fodder. My wife was quite excited, as was everyone else gathering on the side of the highway. And I really don’t think a single one of us left that field without a deep, nameless dread in our hearts. But how many of us would tell the local reporter hunting for a human-interest story? How many would post about it on Facebook or Instagram? How many would tell our families? How many would admit it to ourselves?

By the way, I don’t say that in judgment. I spend a lot of time thinking about religion and the “supernatural.” I’ve seen demons; I’ve witnessed miracles. But what I felt watching the eclipse was something else. It was as if Reality itself had cracked open, and we all saw something on the other side. 

I’m a proud and Orthodox Christian; I could give my particular theory about the nature of that something. We all had our expectations, and we were all wrong. The question is, what do we do now? Do we bury that feeling and rewrite the memory to seem more cheerful? Or do we go looking for that something whose darkness outshone the sun? 

This is one of those moments in life where the mundane world peels away like old wallpaper. We realize that our existence doesn’t work the way we thought it did. The first time you hold your firstborn is one example. The first time you watch someone die is another. I believe we’ll be judged on how we respond to such moments. It’s not so much about finding the right answers. It’s about having the courage to ask the right questions—the ones that are (literally) staring us in the face. Those who seek will find, but how many of us seek?

The post The Eclipse Was a Moment of Holy Dread appeared first on The American Conservative.

Former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels got laughed out of the 2012 Republican presidential primaries for proposing a “truce” on social issues.

More than a dozen years later, Daniels’s better dead than red (at least when it comes to ink) pitch looks even more out of step with a GOP that is today less focused on the national debt or size of the federal government than the culture war. Its ascendant intellectuals and new voters are more socially than economically conservative, perhaps for the first time since Richard Nixon was in office.

Except former President Donald Trump did bring about a truce of sorts on social issues, at least within his own coalition if not the country as a whole. His strongest supporters have ranged from transgendered tax-cutters to integralists. 

Whatever Trump’s libertine personal values, his arrival on the scene unleashed committed culture warriors who make the Religious Right of the 1990s look like country-club Republicans by comparison.

It’s therefore fitting that Trump has delivered more for the pro-life cause than Republicans with clearer anti-abortion bona fides while also being the first GOP nominee to defy most pro-life activists since Gerald Ford in 1976, before the parties sorted on abortion.

That doesn’t make it any less true that there has been a realignment of sorts on the right in which social conservatives are vying to be a bigger part of the furniture than one third of a three-legged stool.

These conservatives cannot help but notice that some of their fellow Republicans would stick out of principle to many positions that poll as badly as a ban on first-trimester abortions, ranging from opposing minimum-wage increases to cutting entitlement programs to fighting foreign wars after the public has turned against them, while heading for the tall grass on the life issue at the first opportunity.

Republicans campaigned for decades on overturning Roe v. Wade. They now seem to wish those promises had gone the way of repealing and replacing Obamacare. 

At the same time, social conservatives need more than political courage to be successful (though courage certainly helps). They have to think of how to effectively pursue their policy objectives and build political coalitions that can sustain their wins.

From the conservative perspective, it often seems as if social liberals are able to make the impossible inevitable overnight. It is true that social liberalism occupies the commanding heights of opinion-shaping, from the news media to Hollywood to academia to now even the corporate boardroom and certainly HR departments. 

But social liberals often proceed gradually, introducing concepts that most people agree on in the march toward making the impossible inevitable. Consider the advances of gay rights in the 1990s: Social liberals appealed to inclusion in the family, the military, the Boy Scouts, in basic middle-class values. If they had proceeded all the way to Dylan Mulvaney’s forebears in 1996, Bill Clinton would have dropped them more quickly than Bud Light did—just as he did on the issue of gay marriage that very year.

If you go back four years before that, when Clinton was first elected, gay marriage was not a public policy issue at all outside the margins. At the same time, Republicans were being counseled to get over their hang-ups about abortion, which Clinton pledged to keep “safe, legal, and rare.”

“November 1992 marks the end of the 20-year abortion wars,” the more-or-less conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer wrote at the time. “The principle has been settled, though some details remain. Never again will abortion be criminalized, though the question remains as to how far society may go to discourage abortion by creating such inconveniences as parental notification and 24-hour waiting periods.”

Krauthammer was referring to Casey v. Planned Parenthood, a Supreme Court case that year that was a major disappointment to conservatives and pro-lifers. Justices mainly appointed by pro-life Republican presidents failed to overturn Roe. But they did open the door to additional abortion restrictions, and for many years afterward there were incremental pro-life gains.

Thirty years later, the country had both gay marriage and a reversal of Roe. It can be difficult to predict the future, even as confident commentators proclaim we are already living in it.

More important to pro-lifers than any election result this year is ensuring that Dobbs v. Women’s Health Organization is not the pyrrhic victory that Casey ultimately was for our political opponents.

That’s going to require prudence as well as principle and courage.

The post Trump’s Abortion Approach is Prudent appeared first on The American Conservative.

Down deep, in keeping with his background in business and marketing, Donald Trump is a popularist. That being the term, uh, popularized by Democratic political analyst David Shor. It can be summed up easily enough: hug the middle, avoid being tagged as an extremist.  

In fact, on a host of issues—he’s in favor of tax cuts, Social Security, and infrastructure, and against illegal immigration, crime, and most trade with China—Trump holds positions that rate as majoritarian. By contrast, many of Joe Biden’s positions—open borders, electric-vehicle mandates, energy export pauses, transgenderism—count as minoritarian.  

(Yes, one could dispute every one of these assertions, but electoral politics is about themes and, okay, about optics. For instance, there might be a good reason—or no good reason at all—why the Bidenites chose to celebrate Transgender Day of Visibility on Easter, but they did it, and Trump has made them own it.) 

The goal of the pragmatic politico is to play popularist while framing his opponent as an extremist. We might think of it as the electoral equivalent of the children’s game of “pin the tail on the donkey.” Only now, it’s pin the extremist tail on the partisan donkey, the Democrats. Or, of course, pin it on the elephant, the Republicans.  

Just last month here at The American Conservative, this author wrote of Trump, “For all his personal vehemence, he is something of a popularist.” I specifically cited the abortion issue, which Trump has long tried to downplay, as part of a middle-muddle strategy.

Now Trump’s April 8 campaign video eliminates all doubt: He’s a center-hugging popularist. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision—which overturned Roe v. Wade, reverting the abortion issue to the states—Trump actually wants to vindicate that position. In that video, he reminded viewers that his three Supreme Court picks all voted for Dobbs. But Dobbs, of course, didn’t ban anything but federal overreach. In the wake of Dobbs, each state must decide; Trump knows pro-life states will restrict and ban abortion, while pro-choice states will not. The result will be a muddle red-blue checkerboard on the map; for instance, Iowa and Indiana pro-life, Illinois, in between, pro-choice.  

Is such a piebald outcome satisfactory to either of the respective hard cores on abortion? Of course not. But the problem for the voter-minded pol is that both polarities of the debate, Planned Parenthood (PP), and the Right to Lifers (RTL), can be dubbed, fairly or unfairly, as extremist. 

PP’s extremism is well known: In keeping with its tacit reality as a front for abortion doctors (anti-natalist zealots and profit-maximizers, both) it supports abortion up to nine months—and it doesn’t even hide it. Such ne plus ultra, which a former Democratic senator compared to infanticide, would be an anti-popularist loser were it not for one thing: It’s mirrored, even masked, by the perceived extremism of the RTL side, which emerged in the wake of Dobbs. 

Put simply, the general RTL goal of a six-week limit on abortion is too much for most Americans. In the meantime, various Republican proposals for the death penalty for abortion, however marginal to the main RTL effort, are duly played up by the MSM and made to look like they’re coming from the GOP establishment. 

This author counts himself as pro-life, but it’s been sobering to see the pro-life position getting pummeled these last two years, even in right-of-center states such as Kansas and Ohio. Indeed, the Republican fizzle in the 2022 midterms was attributable, in no small part, to the backlash against the Dobbs decision.  

Or, more precisely, the backlash against the way some GOPers acted in the wake of that decision, seeking to nationalize what could have been, post-Dobbs, a state-by-state issue. In September 2022, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, put the issue of a federal ban at 15 weeks on the national agenda; that legislation had no chance of passing, and yet it caused a tremor, signaling to pro-choicers that the pro-lifers were coming for them, even in their pro-abortion bastions.  

In fact, the unpopularity of this non-popularism has been pronounced. Hence this Fox News headline from March 27: “Fox News Poll: Record number say abortion should be legal.”

So now comes Trump, seeking a middle path, aiming to let some of the steam out of this pressure cooker—and of course, seeking to aid his own re-election campaign.  

Indeed, as this author has argued here at TAC in the past, the divisions in America, red and blue, RTL and PP, are so strong as to defy any consensus; the best answer is legal devolution, such that red RTL and blue PP are both safe in their respective domains. That’s an outcome not satisfactory to any purist, but the possible alternative, civil war, is a good deal worse. 

In the meantime, RTL isn’t happy with Trump. “We are deeply disappointed,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. Yet as POLITICO noted, “The group reiterated its commitment to ‘defeat President Biden’ and congressional Democrats.” After all, if Biden is re-elected, his judicial nominees—including, potentially, for SCOTUS—will be PP true believers; if they could, they would reimpose Roe—and more.  

Still, the same Lindsey Graham “respectfully” opposed Trump on the abortion issue. Whereupon the 45th president responded, citing “the 10th Amendment and State’s rights.” With those principles in mind, he continued, RTLers in and out of Congress should “proudly get on with helping Republicans to WIN ELECTIONS, rather than making it impossible for them to do so.” Hard to be more popularist than that.

Trump-type popularists can say: Republicans have a moderate position on abortion, letting the states sort it out  So what of Democrats? Do they wish to be extremist? Out in public with their anytime pro-abort bloodiness while Republicans are moderate in their Constitution-minded goals? Bring it on.

The post Abortion Shows Us Donald Trump’s Popularist Essence appeared first on The American Conservative.

Screenshot: The View/Youtube

Just when you thought The View couldn’t get any dumber.

On Monday’s episode of ABC’s ‘The View,’ co-host Sunny Hostin was fact-checked by her co-hosts after she suggested that a range of unrelated natural phenomena were indicators of climate change.

The segment began with co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin, former White House communications director and current co-host, referencing the rare occurrence of a solar eclipse and a recent earthquake in New York City, noting that these events had sparked a flurry of end-of-the-world conspiracies online.

“So, what’s kind of crazy is with the earthquake on Friday and then the eclipse today, people are having all sorts of conspiracies about the end of the world,” said Griffin.

“And then I read online that the earthquake epicenter was actually at Bedminster in New Jersey. Fun fact – it originated with Trump.”

Sunny Hostin then shared a personal story about her studio makeup artist’s reaction to the earthquake, saying, “Jesus is coming” and “the rapture is here,” humorously noting the panic it had caused backstage.

Hostin added, “The cicadas are on their way,” articulating the term as ‘sick-ah-duhs.’ Goldberg corrected her, “Cicadas,” opting for the pronunciation ‘sick-cay-duhs.’

“This is the first occurrence in nearly a century,” Hostin added, seeking to validate her statement.

“No, no, no. There are two different kinds of cicadas. It happens every 17 years,” Goldberg interjected.

Despite the hiccup, Hostin attempted to connect the emergence of cicadas, the solar eclipse, and the earthquake to climate change.

“All those things together, would maybe lead one to believe that either climate change exists, or something is really going on,” Hostin said. 

Co-host Joy Behar directly challenged Hostin’s linking of the earthquake to climate change, emphasizing that seismic activity occurs underground and is unrelated to the planet’s climate.

“Except earthquakes are not at the mercy of climate change. It’s underground. It can’t,” Behar said.

“No, it happens,” Goldberg said. “And the eclipse, they’ve known about the eclipse coming because eclipses happen, and they actually can say when these things are going to happen.”

“All these folks who are saying that it’s a sign from God… God doesn’t give you warning. Do you think he gave people at the Tower of Babel a warning? Like, ‘Oh, I’m about to jack you all up’?” Goldberg added.

WATCH:

 

 

The post Sunny Hostin Gets Fact-check from ‘The View’ Co-hosts After Linking Solar Eclipse and Earthquake to Climate Change: ‘Earthquakes Occur Underground, It Can’t Be Climate Change’ (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Ashley Biden and Joe Biden attend Gilt x Livelihood Launch Event at 6 St. John’s Lane on February 7, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Aurora Rose/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

Aimee Harris, 41, was sentenced by Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) to prison, followed by a period of home confinement for her role in the alleged theft and distribution of a diary belonging to Ashley Biden.

As previously reported by The Gateway Pundit, Ashley Biden, Joe Biden’s youngest daughter, left her diary under a mattress at the Palm Beach rehab home following a stay at a treatment facility. Two individuals who found Ashley Biden’s diary at a halfway house later sold the diary to James O’Keefe and Project Veritas.

In a January 2019 entry, Ashley Biden recalled how she used to shower with her father, Joe Biden, and suggested it may have contributed to a sex addiction.

The diary describes Ashley and her father, Joe Biden, taking showers together at an inappropriate age.

“I have always been boy crazy,’ Ashley wrote. ‘Hyper-sexualized @ a young age … I remember somewhat being sexualized with [a family member]; I remember having sex with friends @ a young age; showers w/ my dad (probably not appropriate),’ she wrote in a January 2019 entry, according to the Daily Mail.

James O’Keefe was later the victim of a late-night FBI raid and was arrested by the Biden regime.

In 2022, Aimee Harris and co-defendant Robert Kurlanderwho, who found Ashley Biden’s diary at a halfway house, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property.

In an emotional court appearance, a remorseful Harris expressed regret over her actions, emphasizing her difficult personal circumstances, including surviving domestic abuse and sexual trauma, the New York Post reported.

Despite Harris’s personal plea and her defense attorney’s appeal for leniency based on her traumatic past and responsibilities as a mother, the prosecution highlighted Harris’s pattern of disrespect for the law.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Sobelman claimed that Harris’s actions were not only unlawful but were intended to harm the Biden family and influence the political landscape.

Chief US District Judge Laura Taylor Swain described the act of selling the diary as “despicable,” highlighting the privacy invasion and the potential political motivations behind the sale.

Harris was ordered to serve a one-month prison sentence, pay a $20,000 fine, and undergo three years of probation.

Harris is set to begin serving her prison term in July, while Kurlander’s sentencing is pending.

The post Biden’s DOJ Sentence Aimee Harris to Prison for Allegedly Stealing Ashley Biden’s Diary that Revealed Old Joe’s Perverted Acts appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Certain groups are already calling for the Francis Scott Key Bridge, claiming that Key is a racist figure.

This was predicted by people on social media the instant the bridge collapsed. Lots of people were saying that Democrats would want to rename it for Rep. Elijah Cummings, but that’s not who is being floated as a replacement name.

The left just can’t help themselves in a situation like this. Any time they see an opening, they feel compelled to move.

FOX News reports:

African American groups call for ditching ‘racist’ Francis Scott Key, naming new bridge after late congressman

A coalition of African American groups in Maryland is pushing for Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge to be renamed once reconstructed over what they say is racism connected to Key’s legacy.

The Caucus of African American Leaders of Anne Arundel County recently voted unanimously to call for changing the names of two bridges in Maryland, including the Key Bridge, and will lobby Democratic Gov. Wes Moore and the state’s Democrat-controlled General Assembly on the proposal, the Baltimore Banner first reported Tuesday. The bridge collapsed in late March when a cargo ship struck a support beam.

The coalition includes groups such as an NAACP chapter and the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, which wants the replacement bridge to be renamed in honor of the late Rep. Parren Mitchell, the first African American elected to the U.S. House from the state of Maryland. Mitchell was also a civil rights pioneer as the first Black graduate student admitted to the University of Maryland.

When asked about the proposal, Moore told Fox News Digital that he remains “laser-focused on providing closure to these families, clearing the channel, and rebuilding the bridge.”

Lots of people saw this coming.

I called that they’d want to rename the Key Bridge the morning of.

Shitlib religion 101 – never pass up an opportunity to demoralize https://t.co/uj6BrcjXHw

— Disaffected Scientist (@DisaffectedSci) April 9, 2024

In predictably related news, they want to rename the new Key bridge.https://t.co/CN9tgTVPjm https://t.co/YevGyFCZ0Y pic.twitter.com/hmAXrzDvsH

— Sean Nienow (@SNienow) April 9, 2024

Never let a good tragedy go to waste.

Wonder what the woke want to rename this rebuilt bridge. pic.twitter.com/94X4mbP4zo

— Freecanuck; I Stand with Canadian Freedoms (@Freecanuck1) April 9, 2024

The left is so predictable.

The post PREDICTABLE: Groups Call for Renaming of ‘Racist’ Francis Scott Key Bridge appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.