Category: Politics

Like so many Americanos, I’m spending more time than I should listening to news out of Manhattan, where the local prosecutor there has charged the leading Republican candidate for president with 34 felony counts of being Donald Trump. I challenge anyone to find more than this in the charges and specifications. I really should ration myself on trial news. I could even take a day off. I’m beginning to know how Bill Murray’s character in Groundhog Day must have felt as though the news out of the trial is pretty much the same from day to day.

Democrats Out-Fundraising Republicans in 2024 Election Cycle Despite Biden’s Poor Polling Numbers

May 9, 2024 Just the News

Despite President Biden’s poor polling numbers, Democrats are out-fundraising Republicans in the 2024 election cycle where the GOP could retake the White House and Senate.

The Republican Party is significantly behind the Democratic Party in fundraising as former President Donald Trump is facing criminal charges on state and federal levels and Biden is viewed very unfavorably by Americans. However, the new Republican National Committee chairman is hopeful for the 2024 election as donations are starting to pour in amid Trump’s trials.

California Mayor Cites Surge in Border Encounters as Evidence of Federal Enforcement Failure

Republican El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells cited a surge in border encounters as proof of federal enforcement failures, Newsweek reported.

Wells pointed out the concerning surge in border encounters within San Diego County, noting a major shift in migration patterns and federal border enforcement efforts. He stated that San Diego County experienced an unprecedented 37,370 border encounters in April, exceeding the figures in sectors like Tucson, El Paso, and Del Rio for the first time in over two decades. Wells expressed astonishment and concern over the escalating border encounter numbers, according to Newsweek.

CNN’s Elie Honig Says Stormy Daniels’ Responses Were ‘Disastrous’ for Alvin Bragg’s Case

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said porn star Stormy Daniels’ responses to attorneys for former President Donald Trump were “disastrous” for the prosecution’s case.

Daniels testified Tuesday about her alleged relationship with Trump, providing salacious and irrelevant details that prompted Trump’s attorneys to move for a mistrial, which New York Judge Juan Merchan rejected. Honig said that the cross-examination of Daniels by Trump’s attorneys “went poorly” for Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Commentary: If Republicans Want Better Legislative Outcomes, Trump Needs to Win Greater Majorities by Playing for the Popular Vote

Since 1960, Democrats have won the popular vote in 10 out of the last 16 presidential elections, and thanks to a combination of historical realignment (beginning during the 1930s), presidential coattails and the incumbency advantage, have also won U.S. House majorities in 11 out of those 16 contests, oftentimes with super majorities.

The modern story over U.S. House control, and therefore legislatively shaping the society of laws we live in presently, begins in 1932 when Franklin Roosevelt and Democrats utterly crushed Herbert Hoover’s reelection bid, winning 57.4 percent of the popular vote and 42 states to Hoover’s meager 39.6 percent and 6 states.

House Tables Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Effort to Oust Mike Johnson as Speaker

May 8, 2024May 8, 2024 Just the News

The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to table Georgia firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s petition to remove Mike Johnson on Wednesday.

Judge in Trump Classified Docs Case Indefinitely Postpones Trial Date

May 8, 2024 Admin

The judge presiding over the case against former President Donald Trump involving allegations surrounding classified documents indefinitely postponed the trial date Tuesday.

Alvin Bragg’s Team Produced Docs at Center of Case Against Trump But Fail to Establish Direct Link

Prosecutors finally displayed the documents at the heart of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against former President Donald Trump on Monday, but have yet to establish a direct link to demonstrate Trump’s culpability.

Until Monday, prosecutors had been focused on setting up other pieces of their case: the context for the $130,000 payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about claims of a sexual encounter and the broader “conspiracy” to influence the 2016 election they allege Trump was involved in. Monday’s witnesses — former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney and Trump Organization accounts payable supervisor Deborah Tarasoff — offered starkly different testimony than earlier witnesses like David Pecker and Keith Davidson, providing no salacious celebrity stories and an almost exclusive focus on accounting.

Influential Liberal Donor Organizes Massive Coalition to Throw Cash Behind Voter Mobilization

An influential left-of-center donor’s charity launched an initiative compelling other philanthropies to pour money into voter mobilization efforts ahead of the 2024 elections.

Democracy Fund, which was founded and is funded by liberal philanthropist Pierre Omidyar, has rallied a group of 174 organizations and individuals pledging to expedite their disbursement of grants related to efforts including get-out-the-vote operations. The pledge calls on its signatories to either make the bulk of their election-related donations by the end of April, to “move up” disbursements scheduled for later in the year or to streamline their grant approval processes.

Commentary: A Government Unrepresentative of the People

We are in the midst of a presidential campaign year. It’s supposed to be the Super Bowl for political junkies like me. But it feels strange and muted, and, so far, its vibe is uncomfortably similar to 2020.

The 2020 election was strange because of COVID, which became a pretext to change the rules in order to rig the outcome. This time, there is no such excuse for a “basement campaign.” It’s true that Biden is old, feeble, and unpopular. And Trump has been sidelined, quite deliberately, by a malicious New York judge who won’t allow him to travel and conduct his signature rallies. The problem, however, now infects all electoral politics.

Chairman Jordan Presses Wray for Data on FBI’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Hiring Practices

May 8, 2024 Just the News

“We understand that the FBI has struggled with attracting enough qualified applicants from all desired target groups to sustain its mission This is likely due to the FBI re-focusing its recruitment efforts on DEI statistics,” Jordan wrote in the letter to Wray.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is pressing Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray for more information surrounding the bureau’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) hiring practices and other initiatives.

Commentary: Mammas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Police Officers

Four law enforcement officers were shot dead in Charlotte, North Carolina, last week. On hearing the news, I was reminded of my mother’s frequent warnings about police work. Her message? Steer clear. With her husband and her brother patrolling the mean streets of Newark, she didn’t need the added anxiety of having her sons do the same. Today, for the children and spouses of police officers, that anxiety must be unbearable — and not just because of the obvious danger.

You may not have heard of the Charlotte shooting. It vanished from the national news in a flash. Despite the magnitude of the offense, within two or three days the national media had dropped the story cold.

Former Biden DOJ Official Prosecuting Trump Received Thousands of Dollars From DNC

The lead prosecutor for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against former President Donald Trump received thousands of dollars from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in 2018, Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show.

Matthew Colangelo, who was President Joe Biden’s acting associate attorney general and spent two years in the current president’s Department of Justice (DOJ), joined the Manhattan District Attorney’s office as senior counsel in December 2022. The lawyer received $12,000 from the DNC in 2018 for “political consulting” in two payments of $6,000 on Jan. 31 of that year, FEC records show.

House Republicans Seek Transparency on Number of Foreign Nationals in U.S. Illegally

May 8, 2024 The Center Square

A group of 17 Congressional Republicans led by U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, is calling on Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to provide information on “the total number of illegal aliens currently residing within the United States.”

In a letter to Mayorkas, whom they voted to impeach in February, the Republican lawmakers argue, “The American people deserve an exact accounting of the number of illegal aliens residing in the country, especially if the federal government’s policies have caused that number to surge since the previous estimate.”

Anti-Israel Activists Behind Columbia University Protests Trained in Cuba for Years

May 7, 2024 ADN America

Some of the anti-Israel protests taking place at U.S. college campuses, including the recent demonstrations at Columbia University, have been supported by organizations that traveled to communist Cuba to receive resistance training, an ADN investigation has uncovered.

‘May Be Problematic’: New Study Highlights Another Potential Roadblock for Biden’s Offshore Wind Push

A new study has identified a potentially massive problem for offshore wind developments that could further hinder the Biden administration’s push for the technology.

The study, published in a scientific journal called Wind Energy Science and authored by researchers from the University of Colorado and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), focuses on what happens when the presence of nearby wind turbines reduces wind speeds for other turbines and their ability to produce power. The researchers project that the “wake effect,” the technical name for the phenomenon, could lead to a loss of up to 38 percent of power generation at one East Coast offshore wind development.

Hakeem Jeffries Boasts About Dems ‘Effectively’ Running House — Despite GOP Majority

Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York claimed that Democrats were “governing as a majority” in the House of Representatives even with nominal Republican control during an interview that aired Sunday.

Jeffries noted that Democrats provided over twice as many votes than Republicans in passing HR 8035, the Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act in April during the interview with Norah O’Donnell of CBS News that aired on “60 Minutes.” Jeffries boasted of Democratic successes in the GOP-controlled House during the interview, saying that Dems “get things done.”

Democrats Outnumber Republicans as Commencement Speakers – Again

Democrats will again outnumber Republicans as commencement speakers this spring, according to an analysis from The College Fix.

The Fix found similar results last year, after reviewing public statements, news articles, and political donations to determine party affiliation. The Fix reviewed the main graduation speakers at the Southeastern Conference, the Ivy League, and the Big Ten.

Commentary: Are Trump’s Polls Understating His Lead?

During the two months since President Biden delivered his State of the Union address, a wide variety of legacy news outlets have been at pains to portray an infinitesimal improvement in his polling as a shift of momentum in the presidential race. Last week, for example, USA Today breathlessly reported that “Trump and Biden are ‘darn near even’ in the 2024 election.” If this was meant to provide moral sustenance for worried Democrats it was thin gruel indeed. Biden is an incumbent president struggling to keep up with a challenger most of whose time and money has been devoted to fighting off a ruthless lawfare campaign. Moreover, if history is any guide, it’s probable that the polls understate the strength of Trump’s support.

Federal Government Working With Left-Wing Groups to Implement ‘Bidenbucks:’ Public Records Show

May 7, 2024 Just the News

The federal government is working with left-wing organizations to implement “Bidenbucks,” which is President Biden’s executive order to turn as many federal agencies as possible into get-out-the-vote (GOTV) centers across all states.

The Department of Justice worked with left-wing organizations to determine how to implement Biden’s executive order to use the federal government to register voters, which began after one of those groups aided the Biden administration with creating the executive order.

Commentary: The End of Old Left-Wing Mythologies

The current radical and often violent protests on mostly blue-state, supposedly elite campuses have exposed in toxic fashion what the left has become. And yet, in a paradoxical fashion, the campus insanity has offered the nation some moral clarity.

What’s surprising is not that the demonstrators are violent and nihilist, but that they are, on the one hand, so openly and crudely anti-Semitic, racist, and anti-American, and yet on the other hand, so passive-aggressive, narcissistic, and weepy.

Congress to Leverage ‘Power of the Purse,’ Taking Aim at Big Education Amid Ugly Campus Riots

May 7, 2024 Just the News

Claudia Tenney and James Comer (composite image)

The debate in Congress over federal funding of education dates to the days of Thomas Jefferson, but for the first time since Jimmy Carter created the U.S. Education Department a large number of lawmakers are now openly discussing cutting funding and changing the tax code to punish universities that have failed to quell anti-Israel riots and force a shift from the far-left ideologies that have taken root on most campuses.

“I think that the American people are pretty outraged about this, and they expect the Republicans in Congress to respond in kind with the power of the purse,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer told the “Just the News, No Noise” television show last week after visiting the protest-wracked George Washington University campus.

Independents Have Little Trust, but Pick Trump Over Biden on Economy

May 7, 2024 The Center Square

Newly released polling data spells bad news for President Joe Biden this election year.

Gallup released new polling data that showed independent voters trust former President Donald Trump more than Biden when it comes to the economy. About 34 percent of independents say they trust Biden to do the right thing for the economy, compared to 45 percent who trust Trump.

Former Columnist Exposes Scientific American’s Sudden Descent Into Left-Wing Ideology