Month: July 2025

The Old World

Posted on by patriotsheart
Culture

The Old World

Looking back is the only way forward.

Tim Pope

I can’t stop listening to the Cure. Never thought I’d say that. Growing up, I couldn’t understand them. Robert Smith? The makeup? The glam? The eternal sadness? It’s cringeworthy, right? I mean, what the hell is so wrong with the modern world that this pale freak with his big hair and his red makeup would want to cry for nearly two hours on a soundstage in Somerset, England about “a forest?” But you get old enough and you watch enough Fox News and it starts to make sense. How much can one human ingest Greg Gutfeld’s “jokes” before their entire, self-inflicted BioDome ruptures?

I feel sincerely poisoned by the internet. There’s nothing to be done about it. Even talking about it is “fake and ghey.” It has completely and radically torn our lives to shreds. I guess I could ditch it, but what good would that do? Tried it once: got a flip phone at the height of social media. Didn’t last two months. When I visited Naples in 2017 there was a beautiful, old pizzeria carved right into the city’s walls. Its oven was a hundred years old. Sitting across from our table was an Italian family—glued to their phones. The small child was zoned in on an iPad. Here, across all the oceans, in the buried city I was instructed to avoid while sightseeing in the North. Zombies. Stuck. Watching. Eating. Consuming. No different than any other place. No different from me. And I realized in that moment, there’s no getting away. 

So, thanks, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and Steve Ballmer. Speaking of Ballmer, are the Clippers just meant to lose? Eternally? I think so. That’s their narrative, right? F***ing loser Clippers. That doesn’t mean the rest of the NBA sucks. Quite the opposite, in fact. The NBA playoffs were high drama this spring; sorry if Charlie Kirk convinced you otherwise. Small-market teams cutting down the big giants. Jalen Brunson single-handedly revived the Knicks. LeBron passed the torch (unwillingly). Tyrese Halliburton led his Indiana team to improbable comeback after improbable comeback only to tear his achilles in the Game 7 finals. Poetry. The NBA playoffs this year were poetry. Or in the words of Kirk, “unwatchable.”  

I’ve been thinking about Donald J. Trump a lot lately. Haven’t we all? My favorite Trump is the OG Trump when he told Coca-Cola to eat s*** and then said he’d still drink their “garbage Coca-Cola.” Isn’t that America? Isn’t that my America? Can’t you feel it? No president has ever been so abruptly singular. So dreadfully I-40. All west. Power train. Sunsetting. Sleepless Texas. Forever Oklahoma. Et al. Forever. 

Almost 40 now and I still believe in myself. It’s fractured, and it’s far, but sure, I think the life was (mostly) worth living and the people were (mostly) worth meeting and some of it, especially the simple things, like trees and family and deer and God and apples, make it all worthwhile. But the rest? The rest has been a real flat circle, if you know what I mean. War everywhere. It’s how the money gets made. The big money. It’s really that simple. Do you think the people who run the New World care about life? Your life? My life? About Miles Davis? About soft-serve ice cream? About Manhattan in the fall? About the aliens who built Chaco Canyon? No. It’s all just about money. The people who run this world only care about their blood-stained money. The long stretches of prairie land that fan out like warm, glowing comets across Middle America means nothing for these people. It’s just war, and money, and war. Ghouls. Our war-loving, American ghouls. 

I don’t want to be such a downer, so let’s change the topic. The Cure played two encores at Glastonbury Music Festival in 1990. No cell phones back then. A grainy, VHS tape of the event is all we have to prove it happened. Everyone, from the band to the thousands of fans below, lost in a complete, delirious, sincere, destined trance. It’s getting harder to meet people. To know them, too. Pretty sure it was designed that way. Lonely, black boxes swirling in the night. There was a fierce debate on the internet the other day about fireflies. The dopamine hounds were all in agreement—they’ve vanished. But then I was driving out in the country the other night, listening to a Merle Haggard CD with the windows down. The sun had just set and as I rounded a bend a whole group of fireflies were pulsing in the night. Not unlike us, but they were together. 

A couple stories from this week in our America. Kohberger won. He took a plea. Sure, he’ll have to spend the rest of his miserable, psychotic life in a cell, but he was spared the needle (or bullet, if the state couldn’t get the chemicals). Judge Hippler only required him to admit his guilt for the slaughter of four innocent college students: Xana, Ethan, Madison, and Kaylee. What happened to the murder weapon? We’ll never know. Kohberger’s intent? Probably released in a tell-all book in the years to come. The mystery continues. The answers, fleeting. In the end, Kohberger got exactly what he wanted: control. In New York, Diddy got off. Black women danced outside the court on Wednesday as men armed with baby oil doused their bodies with the fluid. The group surrounding the pair chanted “It’s not RICO, it’s FREAKO.” Classy country we’ve got going on. 

When I think about the Old World, the one from before, I can’t help but wonder what exactly we did. We played outside. A lot. We remembered a few important phone numbers and looked forward to an evening chat. When we finally did get the internet, it was dial-up and sporadic. There was nothing to do on it. Chat? With whom? We already had friends. We had cousins and brothers and sisters too. The internet was a bizarre place, something for wonks and nerds and weirdos. For a while there, real people in the real world just shrugged. And then the wonks took over. Now they run everything. You can feel it. The New World is adrift. It’s completely off axis. The great internal crisis of faith in the Old World was Heaven and Hell. In the New World, Trump gets mad and Apple scrambles shiploads of aluminum and screens across the big sea.

Before I forget: It’s July 4th weekend. I bought a couple ribeyes for me and the family. Gonna listen to “Friday I’m in Love.” Should be fun. Hope you have something planned for the day as well. Here’s to the New World, warts and all. Cheers.

The post The Old World appeared first on The American Conservative.

A Big, Beautiful Financial Weapon Against Illegal Immigration

Posted on by patriotsheart
Politics

A Big, Beautiful Financial Weapon Against Illegal Immigration

The U.S. is finally poised to take advantage of remittances.

Cuenca,,Ecuador,-,December,23,,2023:,Western,Union,Office,In

Buried in the Big, Beautiful Bill is a weapon Trump can use against illegal immigration, disincentivizing working illegally in the United States while at the same time cutting into money laundering by Mexican and other drug cartels.

The weapon is a one percent remittance tax on money sent by aliens in the U.S. home to their country. Small change? By the end of 2023, remittances sent by workers in the U.S., many illegal, to other countries reached approximately $93 billion dollars—about 14 percent of total remittances across the globe. Main recipient countries include India, Mexico, Guatemala, and Venezuela. Mexico currently receives money tax-free. U.S. law makes that possible, and it needs to be changed. The tax is expected to collect $10 billion for the U.S. in revenues.

“Directo a México” is the official remittance program of the Federal Reserve Bank, facilitated through the FedGlobal service, which allows illegal immigrants to transfer money to Mexico’s central bank at no additional fee. Since 2003, after an agreement was signed by George W. Bush, users of U.S. financial institutions subscribed to Directo a México can send payments to any bank account in Mexico at no cost. New Yorkers can see such services advertised in Spanish on the subway; in smaller cities the transfer work is done by Wells Fargo, Moneygram, and check-cashing storefronts. States with large populations of illegal Mexicans, such as California and Texas, rank highest in remittance outflows.

It is a well-used system—in 2022, Mexico received $56 billion in remittances from the U.S., establishing the country’s position as the second-largest destination for such funds worldwide. Remittances from abroad accounted for roughly 4.5 percent of Mexico’s total GDP in 2022 (in some poorer Mexican states remittances comprised 15 percent or more of their GDP) and form the largest single source of foreign income for Mexico, outstripping the income brought in by any other source, including foreign direct investment from the United States, tourism, and manufacturing exports. The total value of remittances increased by roughly 32 percent between 2019 and 2023, rising by an average of five percent per year. Mexico does not just send hundreds of thousands of illegal workers to the U.S.; its domestic economy outright depends on them working in el Norte. Much the same for the other leading countries, such as India, though much of its remittances come from H1-B visa holders.

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum knows the value of the program and showed just how desperately her country relies on these remittance payments in a statement that “fanned the flames of the LA riots.”

“Mexican citizens in America work hard to pay their bills. We don’t want this tax to affect the remittances of our countrymen,” Sheinbaum said. “If necessary, we will mobilize. We will not allow them to punish those who help the least fortunate.”

Sheinbaum may be focused on more than the “least fortunate of her country.” According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), 

The expanding volume of remittance transactions provides more than economic benefits to regular Mexicans; it also presents ample opportunity for exploitation. Criminal organizations take advantage of the small-increment nature of remittance transactions to evade oversight regulations and launder money related to drug trafficking and other illicit income streams, a practice which has increased in frequency since the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted cross-border movement and the associated traditional methods of bulk cash smuggling.

As the fentanyl crisis, illegal immigration, and cartel-related violence become increasingly prominent flash points in the United States-Mexico relationship, the expanding flow of remittances between the two countries should face increasing scrutiny from policymakers. Mexican cartels are awash in cash from U.S. sales of fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines, and marijuana. Presently, up to 10 percent of all Mexico-bound remittances may be drug money moved by criminal organizations like the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, according to Reuters. A report by the Mexican think tank Signos Vitales estimated at least $4.4 billion in remittances sent to Mexico last year could come from illegal activity.

Sadly, from 2017 to 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice successfully prosecuted only seven drug trafficking cases involving misuse of remittances. Yet taken together, even those handful of cases still involved the laundering of more than $100 million. Cases typically involved criminals owning a crucial element of the supply chain, the remittance storefronts.

What can be done to slow the flow of remittances, maybe the profits of drug cartels, into Mexico? One bill, a proposal by Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK) and then-Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) sought to impose a 10 percent fee on remittances sent abroad. This initiative, entitled the Withholding Illegal Revenue Entering Drug Markets (WIRED) Act, was used as a guide for the text in the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act to add a one percent tax on remittances into Mexico.

Meanwhile, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) wanted to increase the remittance tax in the Big, Beautiful Bill to 15 percent following Sheinbaum’s threats. “I’m introducing legislation to quadruple the proposed remittance tax. America is not the world’s piggy bank. And we don’t take kindly to threats,” Schmitt said on X. “As I’ve said many times before: America isn’t an economic zone. It isn’t an airport with a shopping mall attached. It’s our country.”

Given the involvement of the Mexican drug cartels, it is clear more than a tax is needed. President Trump must immediately empower the Department of Justice to aggressively investigate remittances into Mexico. The Department should also look into the storefront remittance centers in America which are the source of much of the money flowing southward. According to CSIS, in several of earlier indictments, individuals indicted “systematically opened several branches of remittance providers to be able to process the high volume of remittances necessary to launder money.”

While handling such volume single-handedly would be a daunting task, collectively, these networks facilitated the movement of illicit money without raising any alarms.” Tighter background checks on potential branch owners could be a first step. Identification requirements for transfers are currently more relaxed than those needed to set up a formal bank account or to wire significant sums of money. Reuters interviewed two dozen Mexico residents who said they had been paid by the Sinaloa Cartel to act as conduits for remittances, turning the money over to cartel operatives after receiving it.

“Follow the money,” says the old adage, and following the flow of cash into Mexico is a twofer: make it less profitable for illegal aliens to work in the U.S. while at the same time cutting into the money laundering networks set up right under American authorities’ noses. This represents a natural next move in Trump’s immigration crackdown, and another justification for the Big, Beautiful Bill.

The post A Big, Beautiful Financial Weapon Against Illegal Immigration appeared first on The American Conservative.

Far-Left German Greens Demand Ice Cream Price Controls for Poor Kids, Ignore Effect of Leftist Policies on Prices

Posted on by patriotsheart

In yet another embarrassing showcase of how little the modern left understands supply, demand, and basic economic reality, the Berlin Green Party has proposed a price cap on ice cream.

This time, the target of their virtue-signaling crusade is the average frozen dessert stand, where Berlin’s eco-socialist politicians have decided are charging too much, as noted by Substack publication “Eugyppius.”

The plan? They want every ice cream shop in Berlin to offer at least one flavor for a rock-bottom per-scoop price of €0.50 ($0.54) but only for “children and young people from poorer families.”

At a time when energy prices in Germany are sky-high thanks to the same Green Party’s reckless push to shut down nuclear power, abandon cheap Russian gas, and throw the economy at the feet of a dysfunctional “energy transition,” ice cream, like nearly everything else, has become more expensive.

In Germany, household electricity prices are among the highest in the world. Germany ranks fifth globally in terms of electricity costs for consumers. The Green Party has insisted on using only ‘renewable’ energy for 80% of its electricity by 2030, and 100% by 2035. Greens have also refused to accept nuclear energy as an option, and have been shutting down Germany’s nuclear power plants.

24 U.S. states have followed the same disastrous anti-science policies and have set 100% renewable energy goals, including large states such as California, which set the political target of 100% from renewables by 2045, and even rust belt states like Michigan, which has set in law to have 100% of the state’s electricity generation from renewables by 2040.

These policies are political targets, and economists say, will lead to financial ruin and blackouts.

It also leads to higher ice cream costs. Germany currently has high ice cream costs.

And when costs go up, central planners panic because there’s no simple way to bring them down, so they resort to the coercive power of the state to set prices.

According to German media outlet BILD, a scoop of ice cream in Berlin now costs over €1.50 ($1.62) on average, and in some places as much as €2.90 ($3.13). In Munich and Hamburg, prices have reached €4 ($4.32) per scoop—more than most working families can justify for a few licks of frozen dairy. The national average is €1.81 ($1.96) per scoop.

That’s too much, cry the Berlin Greens. 64% of the public are angry about ice cream costs, so they want to find a policy to bring prices down.

Their solution: mandates and price controls.

Instead of looking in the mirror at their own failed energy policies, Green legislators Benedikt Lux, Tuba Bozkurt, and Marianne Burkert-Eulitz are demanding that ice cream shop owners eat the losses and offer “affordable scoops” to the city’s children, without any subsidy, compensation, or plan to cover the costs.

They’ve formally submitted their demands to DEHOGA, the German Hotel and Restaurant Association, right now calling on the private sector to “do their part” and ‘voluntarily’ cap prices. Of course, in practice, when the government or a powerful and aggressive politician asks a business for something, it is arguably never “voluntary.”

It’s a microcosm of the entire Green agenda: command economics by press release, where economic laws are treated as mere obstacles to be legislated away. Want something to cost less? Just tell businesses to charge less.

However the policy is likely to worsen the effect on prices. As a forced political subsidy to one flavor, designated for ‘poor kids’, will likely raise prices on other flavors in order to continue paying the subsidy. This is known as “price control distortion” and “cost-shifting behavior.”

Typically price ceilings result in shortages since supply falls and demand rises. This then causes reduced profitability for producers who then cut quality, quantity, or availability and convenience.

When producers can’t charge market rates due to government intervention, they often raise prices on other, non-regulated goods to make up for the lost margins, this is “cost shifting.”

The core policies driving price inflation are likely the country’s exploding cost of energy. But as long as the party line is to shutter nuclear plants, banning coal, blocking natural gas imports, and insisting on wind and solar that can’t meet base demand, energy prices are going to keep rising. These choices raised costs for every producer, transporter, and seller in the economy.

As well, the continued costs of the failed and lost war in the Ukraine continues to sap the German economy. Germany’s ongoing support of Ukraine has cost the country at least $48 billion in social and military aid since the Russian invasion in February 2022. Other estimates say that the war cost Germany $171 billion by the end of 2023.

Germany announced it’s going to build 1,000 tanks, spending even more tens of billions, as a way to try and intimidate Russia.

The militant left’s priorities in Germany while driving economic policy into the ground, supporting failed wars with billions, shutting down viable energy plants, is also prioritizing silencing conservatives who want to privately talk to one another on cruise ships.

The post Far-Left German Greens Demand Ice Cream Price Controls for Poor Kids, Ignore Effect of Leftist Policies on Prices appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Wait, What? If There Was No Epstein Client List Then Why Did NY Courts Refuse The Gateway Pundit’s Request for the List Based on an Anonymous ‘John Doe’ Who Was On the List?

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Why did the courts deny The Gateway Pundit a copy of Epstein’s client list based on an anonymous John Doe who was on the list?

On Sunday night the Department of Justice and FBI released a document that concluded that notorious child predator Jeffrey Epstein did not have a “client list” and that he was not murdered but committed suicide.

The FBI released a video that shows an empty hallway in what they insist proves Epstein committed suicide.

The FBI memo says there is no evidence that Epstein blackmailed powerful political figures.

Additionally, the memo suggests that no further Epstein records will be released.

Here is a copy of the letter that was released by the DOJ and FBI on Sunday night.

page 1

page 2

This latest development in the Epstein case came as a complete shock to millions of Americans who have been following the story of this notorious ped0file of the rich and famous.

But this is a completely different story we were told by the courts back in 2022.

In July 2022, The Gateway Pundit reported on our legal efforts to unseal the list of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex clients – the men and women with whom Epstein traded sex with minors for favors or money or both.

Stunningly, at that time in 2022, no media outlet in the country had petitioned the Court to unseal the identities of Epstein’s Clients.

It was almost like corporate media was protecting the disgusting sexual abusers, simply because the victims alleged Epstein’s clients consisted of powerful businessmen, politicians, former presidents and prime ministers, and other world leaders.

Back in July 2022, The Gateway Pundit lawyers Marc Randazza and Jay Wolman of the Randazza Legal Group, along with GP General Counsel John Burns filed a motion to intervene in the Guiffre v. Maxwell case in the United States District Court for the District of New York.

GP asked the Court to unseal all records identifying Epstein’s sex clients. 

TGP lawyers moved to intervene in the Ghislaine Maxwell case in the Southern District of New York.

However, in August 2022, something truly bizarre and unexpected happened.

An anonymous John Doe—literally styled by his lawyer as “John Doe”—filed an objection to TGP unsealing the sex client list … and the Court SIDED WITH THE JOHN DOE over the interests of the press and public to know what happened in one of the most remarkable court cases in US history.

What possible reason could John Doe have for not wanting the Epstein Sex Client List exposed?

We were very curious about Mr. John Doe.  Who is this person and why is he the lone person fighting to keep the Epstein client list hidden from public view?  What is his connection to Epstein?  Why did the court side with this anonymous and powerful power player?

We were unsuccessful in our appeal and further attempts to gain access of the Epstein client list.

This brings us to today… How can the courts deny our request for the Epstein client list in 2022 based on the wishes of an anonymous John Doe and then today the DOJ tells us there is no Epstein client list?

Something is not adding up!

 

The post Wait, What? If There Was No Epstein Client List Then Why Did NY Courts Refuse The Gateway Pundit’s Request for the List Based on an Anonymous ‘John Doe’ Who Was On the List? appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

BREAKING: New FBI Memo Concludes Jeffrey Epstein Did Not Have a “Client List ” – and Committed Suicide – with Video of Jail Cell

Posted on by patriotsheart

A new FBI, DOJ memo obtained by Axios concludes Jeffrey Epstein did not have a client list that he used for blackmail. The FBI also determined that Epstein did commit suicide in August 2019.

In May, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino ignited a firestorm across conservative circles after publicly backing the official narrative that Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide.

The FBI memo says there is no evidence that Epstein blackmailed powerful political figures.

Additionally, the memo suggests that no further Epstein records will be released.

“The DOJ and FBI say in the memo that no “further disclosure” of Epstein-related material “would be appropriate or warranted,”” Axios reported.

Axios reported:

President Trump’s Justice Department and FBI have concluded they have no evidence that convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein blackmailed powerful figures, kept a “client list” or was murdered, according to a memo detailing the findings obtained by Axios.

The administration is releasing a video — in both raw and “enhanced” versions — that it says indicates no one entered the area of the Manhattan prison where Epstein was held the night he died in 2019.

The video supports a medical examiner’s finding that Epstein committed suicide, the two-page memo claims.

Why it matters: The findings represent the first time Trump’s administration has officially contradicted conspiracy theories about Epstein’s activities and his death — theories that had been pushed by the FBI’s top two officials before Trump appointed them to the bureau.

The DOJ has 11 hours of video of Epstein’s jail cell proving that no one entered the cell the night he died.

In 2023, the Justice Department Inspector General determined in its report that Epstein’s death was a ‘suicide.’

The DOJ IG blamed Epstein’s suicide on the jail guard’s negligence and misconduct.

“The Medical Examiner who performed the autopsy detailed for the OIG [Office of Inspector General] why Epstein’s injuries were more consistent with, and indicative of, a suicide by hanging rather than a homicide by strangulation,” the report said. “The Medical Examiner also told the OIG that the ligature furrow was too broad to have been caused by the electrical cord of the medical device in Epstein’s cell and that blood toxicology tests revealed no medications or illegal substances were in Epstein’s system. The Medical Examiner also noted the absence of debris under Epstein’s fingernails, marks on his hands, contusions to his knuckles, or bruises on his body that would have indicated Epstein had been a struggle, which would be expected if Epstein’s death had been a homicide by strangulation.”

Noted pedophile of the rich and powerful Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his prison cell in Manhattan in August 2019, one week after he supposedly attempted suicide in July.

The 66-year-old financier and convicted pedophile was found dead in his prison cell and the medical examiner ruled his death a suicide by hanging.

Epstein, who was 6 feet tall, reportedly secured the bedsheet on the bunk bed and wrapped the sheet around his neck.

Epstein had a broken hyoid bone in his neck which is consistent with strangulation in homicides, not suicides.

The autopsy photos sure looked like a wire was used to strangle Epstein.

In January 2020, prosecutors told a judge that the ‘missing‘ surveillance footage outside of Epstein’s prison cell on the night of his suicide attempt in July had been found.

Prosecutors then told the judge the surveillance video had been destroyed due to a “record-keeping error.”

Many people don’t believe Epstein killed himself after several strange coincidences and inconsistencies were revealed following his death.

The post BREAKING: New FBI Memo Concludes Jeffrey Epstein Did Not Have a “Client List ” – and Committed Suicide – with Video of Jail Cell appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The Constitutional Case That DESTROYS Liberal Claims About Trump’s Immigration Authority

Posted on by patriotsheart

President Trump and the border Patrol. Photo courtesy of The White House

Liberal politicians and mainstream media outlets have repeatedly claimed that President Trump lacks the authority to enforce immigration law or deploy ICE agents to remove illegal aliens.

These claims are completely demolished by over 130 years of constitutional law, Supreme Court precedent, and explicit congressional authorization.

The Constitution provides MULTIPLE sources of authority for immigration enforcement. Article I, Section 8, Clause 4, known as the Naturalization Clause, states, “The Congress shall have Power… to establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization…” and the Supreme Court has ruled this gives Congress sweeping power over immigration policy, which the President must then enforce. Article I, Section 8, Clause 18, the Necessary and Proper Clause, declares “To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers…”

This enables Congress to pass laws necessary to enforce immigration authority, including creating ICE and authorizing enforcement operations! Article II, Section 1 vests ALL “executive power” in the President, and the Supreme Court has repeatedly confirmed this includes immigration enforcement as a core executive function that cannot be stripped away by liberal resistance.

Article II, Section 3 contains the “Take Care Clause,” which doesn’t just allow but REQUIRES that the President “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”

This is a constitutional command, not a suggestion. When Congress passes immigration laws, the President has a constitutional duty to enforce them.

In Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that the Take Care Clause requires the President to enforce congressional statutes “and repudiates any notion that he may dispense with the law’s execution,” as President Biden did. Every immigration law passed by Congress MUST be enforced, period.

The Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed that immigration control is an inherent sovereign power. In Nishimura Ekiu v. United States from 1892, the Court declared, “It is an accepted maxim of international law that every sovereign nation has the power, as inherent in sovereignty, and essential to self-preservation, to forbid the entrance of foreigners within its dominions.”

In Harisiades v. Shaughnessy from 1952, the Court ruled that the “traditional power of the Nation over the alien” is “a power inherent in every sovereign state.”

Most recently, in Trump v. Hawaii from 2018, the Court reaffirmed that “For more than a century, this Court has recognized that the admission and exclusion of foreign nationals is a ‘fundamental sovereign attribute exercised by the Government’s political departments.’”

Article VI establishes federal supremacy in immigration matters. The Supreme Court has held that states cannot independently regulate immigration because it is exclusively a federal power.

This same principle means that federal immigration enforcement, when conducted pursuant to federal law, supersedes any conflicting state or local policies.

The Immigration and Nationality Act, passed by Congress and signed into law, gives immigration officers sweeping powers. Section 287(a) gives ICE agents the power to interrogate any alien about their legal status, arrest without a warrant for immigration violations, patrol borders and conduct searches, and serve administrative warrants.

Section 287(g) DESTROYS Sanctuary City Arguments by explicitly authorizing ICE to partner with state and local law enforcement. As of July 2025, ICE has 777 active agreements with agencies across 40 states, and that number keeps growing.

For over 130 years, the Supreme Court has made one thing clear: immigration is an exclusive federal power.

In U.S. v. Curtiss-Wright (1936), the Court recognized the president’s inherent authority over foreign affairs and borders, no act of Congress needed.

In Arizona v. United States (2012), the Court ruled that federal law preempts state immigration laws because immigration is a sovereign federal function. This appears to invalidate the concept of sanctuary cities and states.

The Court created the “plenary power doctrine,” giving Congress full authority over immigration. In Kleindienst v. Mandel (1972), the Court upheld Congress’s unlimited power to regulate alien entry.

In Demore v. Kim (2003), it ruled that immigration laws can treat aliens differently than citizens, so standard constitutional challenges don’t apply.

Congress just approved $170 billion for immigration enforcement in 2025. That includes $45B for detention, $29.9B for ICE operations, $46.5B for the wall, and $13.5B for state/local reimbursements. You don’t get record funding for something that’s illegal.

This isn’t new. Clinton demanded stronger enforcement in his 1995 State of the Union. The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act had bipartisan support.

So did the Secure Fence Act of 2006. Immigration enforcement has always been American policy. Trump’s just the first to actually enforce it.

Liberal legal arguments collapse under basic facts. Due process applies to how removal is done, not whether ICE can arrest or detain.

Many illegal aliens can be removed through expedited procedures without full hearings, including those who overstay visas, are caught at the border, arrive without proper documentation, or have been previously deported and returned illegally.

Immigration is a federal matter. Article VI’s Supremacy Clause makes that law binding nationwide. Liberals keep suing, and losing. Courts have upheld ICE’s authority, executive enforcement, detention, and removal.

Section 287(g) allows voluntary state cooperation, but the federal government doesn’t need it. States can’t block ICE. Local officials don’t have veto power over federal law.

The post The Constitutional Case That DESTROYS Liberal Claims About Trump’s Immigration Authority appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

If Jeffrey Epstein Had No Client List Then Why Did AG Pam Bondi Tell Reporters the List “Is Sitting on My Desk Right Now to Review – That’s in the Process of Being Reviewed” (VIDEO)

Posted on by patriotsheart

Credit: U.S. Department of Justice

The Swamp wants you to believe—once and for all—that Jeffrey Epstein was nothing more than a lone-wolf pervert who conveniently “killed himself” in a filthy Manhattan jail cell.

Axios dropped a two-page memo this weekend, from President Trump’s DOJ and the newly installed FBI leadership of Director Kash Patel and Deputy Dan Bongino, asserting that:

  • Epstein definitively died by suicide;
  • No “client list” exists;
  • And there is “no evidence” he ever blackmailed the powerful.

The memo reads:

As part of our commitment to transparency, the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have conducted an exhaustive review of investigative holdings relating to Jeffrey Epstein. To ensure that the review was thorough, the FBI conducted digital searches of its databases, hard drives, and network drives as well as physical searches of squad areas, locked cabinets, desks, elosets, and other areas where responsive material may have been stored. These searches uncovered a significant amount of material, including more than 300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence.

The files relating to Epstein include a large volume of images of Epstein, images and videos of victims who are either minors or appear to be minors, and over ten thousand downloaded videos and images of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography. Teams of agents, analysts, attorneys, and privacy and civil liberties experts combed through the digital and documentary evidence with the aim of providing as much information as possible to the public while simultaneously protecting victims. Much of the material is subject to court-ordered sealing. Only a fraction of this material would have been aired publicly had Epstein gone to trial, as the seal served only to protect victims and did not expose any additional third-parties to allegations of illegal wrongdoing. Through this review, we found no basis to revisit the disclosure of those materials and will not permit the release of child pornography.

This systematic review revealed no incriminating “client list.” There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.

Consistent with prior disclosures, this review confirmed that Epstein harmed over one thousand victims. Each suffered unique trauma. Sensitive information relating to these victims is intertwined throughout the materials. This includes specific details such as victim names and likenesses, physical descriptions, places of birth, associates, and employment history.

One of our highest priorities is combatting child exploitation and bringing justice to victims. Perpetuating unfounded theories about Epstein serves neither of those ends.

To that end, while we have labored to provide the public with maximum information regarding Epstein and ensured examination of any evidence in the government’s possession, it is the determination of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation that no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.

After a thorough investigation, FBI investigators concluded that Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City on August 10, 2019.

This conclusion is consistent with previous findings, including the August 19, 2019 autopsy findings of the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the November 2019 position of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York in connection with the investigation of federal correctional officers responsible for guarding Epstein, and the June 2023 conclusions of DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General.

The conclusion that Epstein died by suicide is further supported by video footage from the common area of the Special Housing Unit (SHU) where Epstein was housed at the time of his death. As DOJ’s Inspector General explained in 2023, anyone entering or attempting to enter the tier where Epstein’s cell was located from the SHU common area would have been captured by this footage. The FBI’s independent review of this footage confirmed that from the time Epstein was locked in his cell at around 10:40 pm on August 9, 2019, until around 6:30 am the next morning, nobody entered any of the tiers in the SHU.

During this review, the FBI enhanced the relevant footage by increasing its contrast, balancing the color, and improving its sharpness for greater clarity and viewability.

The document Axios obtained practically drips with CYA language, assuring readers there’s no “evidence” of blackmail.

Remember, that’s the same FBI whose agents “lost” laptops, shredded notes on the Russia hoax, and still can’t explain how the cameras in Epstein’s corridor “malfunctioned” at the precise hour he allegedly tied a makeshift noose out of bed sheets the night after his cellmate was abruptly transferred.

But back in February, Attorney General Pam Bondi told FOX and Friends host Steve Doocy that the list was sitting on her desk and in the process of being reviewed.

Steve Doocy:  I saw your appearance at CPAC with Bannon and Ted Cruz and one of the things you’ve alluded to, and this is something Donald Trump has talked about, the DOJ may be releasing the list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients? Will that really happen?

Attorney General Pam Bondi:  It’s sitting on my desk right now to review. That’s been a directive by President Trump.  I’m reviewing that. I’m reviewing the JFK files, the MLK files. That’s all in the process of being reviewed.

And she didn’t stop there. Bondi also confirmed a truckload of evidence from New York had just been received by her office.

The post If Jeffrey Epstein Had No Client List Then Why Did AG Pam Bondi Tell Reporters the List “Is Sitting on My Desk Right Now to Review – That’s in the Process of Being Reviewed” (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

ICONIC! White House Captures Breathtaking Photos of President Trump on July 4th

Posted on by patriotsheart

Screen Image: @JackPosobiec/X

On Friday, July 4, the White House captured multiple historic and breathtaking images of President Trump and First Lady Melania.

In President Trump’s most widely circulated photo taken on Independence Day, our rightful three term president magnanimously outstretched his open arms so as to welcome true freedom back into our land.

Perfectly complimenting President Trump’s empowered stance, scarlet and white light showers the land as in “the rocket’s red glare; the bombs bursting in air!” from “The Star Spangled Banner.”

Could this light signify God’s grace again being poured out upon our land?

Evidently, a deep sense of national and spiritual renewal appears to be embracing the American people afresh, granting newfound security to the United States.

For First Lady Melania Trump, who has generally been more reserved in the public eye, this 4th of July, the First Lady served as the ultimate embodiment of newfound liberty, as she joined President Trump in his celebratory dance on the White House balcony.

Watch as the President and First Lady share euphorically in the “Trump Dance” in the presence of White House staff and supporters.

The Gateway Pundit reported that President Trump and First Lady Melania shared multiple tender kisses on the White House balcony, as well.

In an evening that began with President Trump’s historic signing of the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” an astounding fireworks show capped off America’s 249th birthday in the spirit of national unity.

The White compiled 17 photos which best memorialize our renewed national spirit.

By contrast to our renewed national spirit, American patriots shuddered in 2024 as former “President” Joe Biden appeared shirtless and discombobulated on last year’s Independence Day.

This weekend, Joe Biden again humiliated himself on the beach by demonstrating his inability to so much as unfold a beach chair.

Although Joe Biden may not be able to unfold a beach chair, under President Trump, Americans are clearly in good hands.

The post ICONIC! White House Captures Breathtaking Photos of President Trump on July 4th appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Flaws in 150 Years of Global Temperature Data Blow Holes in Global Warming Narrative

Posted on by patriotsheart

Photo: U.S. Forest Service firefighters battle a California wildfire. Text added by Antonio Graceffo. Original image in the public domain.

 

As justification for their climate crisis hysteria, liberals keep insisting that average global temperatures have risen, with the most commonly cited figure being a 1.1°C to 1.3°C (2.0°F to 2.3°F) increase since the pre-industrial era (1850–1900). The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), however, begins its “reliable” records in 1880 and reports an increase of about 1.1°C (2.0°F) since then. Even NOAA acknowledges the limitations of early data, stating, “Earth’s surface temperature has risen about 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the start of the NOAA record in 1850.”

But these claims rest on flawed foundations. Ninety-six percent of U.S. temperature stations fail to meet NOAA’s own siting standards and are often surrounded by development, resulting in inflated readings from the urban heat island effect. The transition from mercury thermometers to digital sensors between the 1980s and 2000s introduced discontinuities in the data, right during the period of supposed accelerated warming. Early measurements were geographically concentrated in Europe and North America, ignoring vast regions, especially the 71% of the planet covered by oceans.

Measurement errors of ±0.5°C often exceed the very climate signals being used to justify sweeping policy changes. Worse still, much of the raw data has been adjusted or “homogenized” using subjective assumptions that can introduce as much bias as the trends being studied. These problems, taken together, undermine the precision required to detect the small temperature changes that underpin today’s aggressive climate agenda.

Approximately 96 percent of temperature stations used to measure climate change fail to meet the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s own standards for “acceptable” and uncorrupted placement. This finding comes from Anthony Watts’ Surface Stations Project, documented in multiple studies including “Corrupted Climate Stations: The Official U.S. Surface Temperature Record Remains Fatally Flawed.”

Watts and his team of volunteers found stations “located next to the exhaust fans of air conditioning units, surrounded by asphalt parking lots and roads, on blistering-hot rooftops, and near sidewalks and buildings that absorb and radiate heat.” Even more troubling, data from properly sited stations show “a rate of warming in the United States reduced by almost half compared to all stations.” This suggests that a significant portion of reported warming may be artificial, created by poor measurement practices rather than actual climate change.

One of the most persistent flaws in the temperature record is the urban heat island effect. Many weather stations originally placed in rural areas during the 1800s and early 1900s are now surrounded by urban development. Cities generate heat through concrete absorption, reduced vegetation, and dense human activity, producing temperature readings that are consistently 2–5°F warmer than nearby rural areas. This is not speculation, it’s basic physics.

Urban surfaces retain heat differently than natural landscapes, and as development grew around these stations, they began measuring the heat of human expansion rather than natural climate conditions. The result is an artificial warming trend unrelated to global climate change.

Economist Ross McKitrick’s peer-reviewed research, published in journals like Climate Dynamics, exposes another troubling trend: socioeconomic signals in temperature data. If these measurements were purely reflecting climate, no such patterns should exist. Instead, McKitrick found correlations between economic growth and recorded warming, indicating that long-term temperature trends may be partially driven by the development occurring around measurement sites, not by the climate itself.

Perhaps the most damning analysis comes from Stanford researcher Patrick Frank, whose statistical analysis reveals that “the average annual systematic measurement uncertainty is ±0.5°C, which completely vitiates centennial climate warming at the 95% confidence interval.” In practical terms, this means the measurement errors are larger than the climate changes being measured. Frank concludes that “we cannot reject the hypothesis that the world’s temperature has not changed at all.”

The transition from analog mercury thermometers to digital electronic sensors is one of the most significant discontinuities in the 150-year global temperature record. Before digitalization, temperatures were measured using mercury-in-glass thermometers, read manually by observers at specific times each day. In contrast, modern digital systems use electronic sensors that continuously sample temperatures, have different thermal response characteristics, and rely on automated data processing. This means the measurements taken with digital systems are dramatically more accurate and more complete than those collected manually using mercury thermometers.

In the United States, digital sensors began replacing analog instruments in the 1980s, rendering direct comparisons with earlier U.S. records unreliable. Globally, digital systems weren’t widely adopted until the 1990s and 2000s, making comparisons between U.S. and international temperature data invalid prior to full global standardization.

Early temperature records suffered from severe geographic bias. Measurements were heavily concentrated in Europe and North America, with vast regions including most oceans, polar areas, Africa, and Asia having sparse or no data. Ocean temperatures, covering 71% of Earth’s surface, were particularly poorly measured before the 1950s. This creates a fundamental sampling problem. Scientists attempting to calculate “global” temperature averages were actually working with data from a small fraction of the planet, then extrapolating to represent the entire Earth. The assumption that well-documented European and North American weather patterns represent global conditions is scientifically questionable.

To address acknowledged measurement problems, scientists apply extensive “corrections” and adjustments to raw temperature data through a process called homogenization. However, these adjustments involve assumptions and subjective decisions that can introduce their own biases.

Different research groups using different adjustment methods arrive at different temperature trends from the same raw data. The magnitude of these adjustments is often comparable to the climate signals being studied. When the corrections applied to data are as large as the trends being measured, the measurements lose all meaning.

Regardless of accusations that “climate deniers” are rejecting science, the implications of these flaws are serious. Trillions of dollars in policy decisions are being based on temperature records in which measurement errors exceed the very climate trends they claim to show.

The post Flaws in 150 Years of Global Temperature Data Blow Holes in Global Warming Narrative appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Caitlin Clark’s Teammate Sophie Cunningham Hammered in Clark’s Absence

Posted on by patriotsheart

Sophie Cunningham of the Indiana Pacers is now a target after protecting her teammate Caitlin Clark.

Sophie Cunningham’s social media went viral when she stood up for her teammate Caitlin Clark and destroyed an opponent who targeted Clark in a game a few weeks ago.

In a game in June, Caitlin Clark was hammered by two players on the opposing team. (Clark has missed 10 games this year due to injuries.)

Then with 47 seconds left on the clock, Clark’s teammate Sophie Cunningham gets slammed into by Jacy Sheldon and was having none of it. Cunningham slammed Sheldon to the floor and all hell broke loose. Cunningham, Sheldon and another Sun player were kicked out of the game.

Not only is Cunningham tough, she is also very pretty.

It’s well known that the refs in the WNBA are horrible. Their calls seem to always go against common sense and Caitlin Clark and her teammates.

In a game yesterday, Clark was out with an injury, so the opposing team targeted Cunningham. On this play Cunningham was jumped on and had her hair pulled. Fortunately, she jumped up laughing.

The post Caitlin Clark’s Teammate Sophie Cunningham Hammered in Clark’s Absence first appeared on Joe Hoft.

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