On Sunday, Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly defended his proposal saying he thinks it’s “only fitting” to name a federal prison after former President Trump
“Well, there’s a nice federal penitentiary right near Mar-a-Lago. And I just thought for a guy who’s now got 88 criminal indictments pending, criminal — plus two major civil penalty trials that have already been resolved, costing him about a half a billion dollars,” Connolly told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart.
“I think it’s only fitting that if Republicans really want to honor Donald Trump, the most appropriate way to do that is to name a federal prison he might be visiting soon, after Donald J. Trump,” Connolly added.
Connolly was one of three Democrats to introduce a bill Friday to change the name of the Miami Federal Correctional Institution in Florida to “Donald J. Trump Federal Correctional Institution.”
Connolly was joined by Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) and John Garamendi (D-Calif.).
The proposal came in response to a Republican push to rename Washington Dulles International Airport after Trump.
Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The U.S. border is on red alert.
A report from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is revealing concerns about an overwhelming number of migrants from Venezuela flooding the border due to an incorrect understanding of U.S. immigration policy.
According to an internal DHS memo obtained by the Daily Caller, some factors leading to the impending swell at the border could be political changes, new visa requirements, a lack of resources due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and poor economic conditions in Latin American countries Venezuelans fled to.
The report also noted confusion regarding Temporary Protected Status (TPS) policies for Venezuelans is also another factor leading to the increase in migration.
“Deteriorating opportunities for Venezuelans in Latin America coupled with changing immigration policies will likely increase Venezuelans’ decision to travel to the U.S. southwest border (SWB) via the Darien Gap and Mexico,” the memo stated. “Venezuelans may also be pulled to the United States by the perception that once they reach the border, they have a greater chance of remaining in the United States, based on a misunderstood perception of temporary protected status.”
TPS is currently granted to Venezuelans who were in the U.S. as of March 8, 2021. However, in July the DHS announced an 18-month extension for those already in the program to renew their statuses.
Cato Associate Director of Immigration Studies David Bier previously told the DCNF a primary reason many Venezuelans aren’t sent back under Title 42 is because the U.S. doesn’t have diplomatic relations with Venezuela, which refuses to allow for deportation flights.
“This is true for deportations from Mexico as well,” Bier said. “The Trump administration also put a flight ban in effect for Venezuela, meaning no flights are allowed to go there. Nonetheless, some expulsions are still happening via third countries, but it’s much more difficult.”
Of the more than 5 million Venezuelan refugees in Latin America approximately 3.7 million of them live in Colombia and Peru, where they face “violence, hate, abuse, sexual and labor exploitation, and discrimination,” according to the memo.
“An exodus from these two countries alone would be a major concern as it could potentially signal larger waves of Venezuelan migrants to emigrate to the United States,” the memo said.
Nearly 150,000 Venezuelans are in Panama, however these refugees are close to losing their “pathways to residency” because of legislation that is set to expire, making their best option to come to the U.S. illegally.
“Without access to legal status, migrants cannot apply for work permits and are forced to seek jobs in the informal market, making them vulnerable to exploitation,” the memo said. “For those qualified to renew their regularization status, the 2,600 USD smuggling fee is cheaper than paying regularization costs in Panama.”
According to Customs and Border Patrol, the number of Venezuelan migrants encountered in fiscal year 2022 is over triple the number encountered the previous fiscal year, when 1,270 Venezuelans were expelled under Title 42.
CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy says staffers in the network’s ranks have lost faith in CEO Chris Licht who has been at the center of controversy in recent weeks.
“There are a wide range of emotions coursing through the halls of CNN. Some staffers are frustrated. Others are angry. Many are sad about the awful state of affairs that has taken hold of an organization they love,” Darcy wrote in his Reliable Sources media newsletter late Monday. “There is one near-universal sentiment, however, that has been communicated to me: Licht has lost the room.”
On Monday, Lichet reportedly apologized to CNN staffers during the outlet’s morning editorial call over the negative press attention that has followed the publication of a lengthy profile of him.
In the piece, published Friday by The Atlantic, Licht was critical of the network’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic under the leadership of former top executive Jeff Zucker and discussed his ner vision for the network that focuses on facts rather than sensationalism.
“In the eyes of so many at CNN, there isn’t anything Licht can do at this point to win over their support,” Darcy wrote. “They’ve hit the wall with him. As one anchor texted me, in reference to Licht’s announcement on Monday that he will relocate his office to a newsroom floor at Hudson Yards: ‘We don’t want his office relocated to the 18th floor, we want it relocated out of the building’.”
Since taking the reigns at CNN, Licht has made a number of programming changes which say some of the network’s mainstays exit.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) Michael J. McCord provide testimony at a Senate Armed Services Committee budget hearing, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., March 28, 2023. (DoD photo by Chad J. McNeeley)
ANALYSIS – ‘Gold Star’ families of U.S. troops killed in the August 2021 Abbey Gate bombing at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan, are blasting Team Biden excuses over the disastrous retreat. Saturday marked the two-year anniversary of the terrorist attack during Joe Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from the country.
At least 183 people were killed in the attack, including the 13 U.S. service members (12 Marines and a sailor).
Shamefully, Biden allowed the Taliban to retake the country almost 20 years to the day of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on Washington, DC, and New York City.
AND HERE, TWO YEARS AFTER THE AFGHAN COLLAPSE, WE STILL DON’T HAVE ANSWERS, AND NO ONE HAS BEEN HELD ACCOUNTABLE.
As I wrote about earlier, senior Biden defense officials spent the days before and after the deadly 2021 attack in Kabul obsessing on getting Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to sign off on their Climate Change plan rather than focus on the chaos and death in Afghanistan.
Now, several of these Gold Star families spoke at a House Foreign Affairs Committee roundtable where they expressed their anger at the Biden administration, including Chairman of the Chiefs Mark Milley, who they blame, in part, for the bombing that killed 13 service members.
As the hearing was about to commence, Milley released a statement in which he said the U.S. owes Gold Star families “everything.”
“We owe them transparency, we owe them honesty, we owe them accountability. We owe them the truth about what happened to their loved ones,” Milley said.
But the families didn’t appear impressed. Instead, they were angry about the “excuses” and misinformation they received.
Fox News reported on their justified anger and venting. Kelly Barnett, the mother of Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Taylor Hoover, said “I don’t want to hear lies, I don’t want to hear excuses from Joe Biden, from the administration.”
Hoover’s father, Darin Hoover, called on top Pentagon brass to resign.
He poignantly noted: “Today is the date, two years ago, that we received our kids home at Dover. Two years ago today, where we were disrespected with stories of Biden’s son and him looking at his watch. And today, here we sit as their families, begging you two years later, to find these answers.”
Christy Shamblin, mother-in-law of Marine Corps Sergeant Nicole Gee, who was pictured prominently with an Afghan baby in her arms prior to her death, asked why credible warnings were ignored in the days leading up to the attack.
Some even accused the Pentagon of giving them ‘made-up stories’ about their loved ones in the aftermath of the attack.
…[in a Fox interview] Cheryl Rex, whose son, Lance Corporal Dylan Merola, was killed in the Kabul airport attack in 2021 reacted to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley saying that he believes military briefers gave all the information to the families of those killed in the bombing all the information they could by stating that the briefing on her son was completely inaccurate…
…[When Rex was asked] “Do you believe that all the information was there, or do you agree with other families that it wasn’t about the information, it was about the warnings that were ignored?”
Rex answered, “Me personally, he did not — the brief report was not correct. They changed my son’s location a couple of times. They were trying to accommodate his wounds that were not even in the right spots of his body according to his autopsy report. He did not — the brief report is nothing [like] what we were actually told… I feel it was made-up stories that they were trying to cover up the wounds.”
These Gold Star families deserve answers and accountability. And so do the American people.
Elvert Barnes, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Jacob Chansley, the Capitol rioter who came to be known as the “QAnon Shaman,” has reportedly filed paperwork signaling his interest in running for the Arizona congressional seat being vacated by Debbie Lesko (R).
The Arizona Republic reported that a candidate statement of interest was signed by Jacob Angeli-Chansley and filed with the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office on Thursday, indicating he would seek to run as a Libertarian. He has also been known to go by Jacob Angeli.
Chansley, 35, gained notoriety for his horned fur hat, bare chest and face paint that made him one of the more recognizable Jan. 6 rioters. He pleaded guilty to a charge of obstructing an official proceeding and sentenced to 41 months in prison. Chansley, who grew up in Phoenix, served 27 of those months before being released to a halfway house this past March.
The Associated Press reported that while the Constitution does not bar felons from running for Congress, Arizona law prevents them from voting in elections until they complete their sentence and have the right restored.
Former Republican Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters has also jumped into the race for Lesko’s seat.
“I’m running for Congress, to fight for Arizona’s 8th,” Masters said on X, formerly Twitter. “Biden has failed. We need Trump back. We need to stop inflation, Build the Wall, avoid WW3, and secure Arizona’s water future. We need to fight for our families.”
Despite how hard Pennsylvania Democrat Senate candidate John Fetterman tries to convince Americans he’s ready to serve as a U.S. Senator medical professionals are sounding the alarm.
A Washington, D.C. federal judge ruled Sunday that a jury will hear and decide a case to determine how much ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani owes two Georgia poll workers for falsely claiming they helped steal the 2020 election from former President Trump.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell denied Giuliani’s request to hold a bench trial instead of a jury trial, meaning the judge would decide the case instead of a jury. In her ruling, she chided him for the “significantly tardy” motion, having set an October deadline for all pre-trial motions, according to The Hill.
“Perhaps Giuliani’s submission is titled a ‘Trial Brief,’ rather than a motion seeking to convert the scheduled jury trial to a hearing, in a fairly blatant effort to avoid being called out for filing an untimely pretrial motion,” Howell wrote in a footnote.
Following the 2020 election, Giuliani falsely claimed Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss committed election fraud by processing “suitcases” of illicit ballots in Georgia.
The two election workers sued Giuliani, and as their case proceeded, he failed to turn over evidence despite “repeated reminders” from the court. Howell in August found Giuliani civilly liable for Freeman and Moss’s claims of “defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, and punitive damage,” citing the longtime Trump ally’s “willful shirking of his discovery obligations” as reason.
In her Sunday opinion, Howell again cited Giuliani’s “discovery misconduct” as a reason to deny his request for a bench trial.
“This Court will not reward him for conduct that has ‘already resulted in significant prejudice to Plaintiffs,’” Howell wrote, quoting her earlier decision.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks in National Statuary Hall on the one-year anniversary of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Thursday, January 6, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Cameron Smith)
ANALYSIS – Joe Biden has made a bizarre habit of awkwardly and abruptly walking away from important events, often leaving other world leaders and important figures alone waiting for a handshake or photo.
Sometimes Biden also shakes hands with people who aren’t there or walks around dazed and confused.
But now he did this disrespectful walking away schtick at the White House to an elderly Vietnam War hero, Army Captain Larry L. Taylor, to whom Biden had just presented the Medal of Honor.
The heroic Taylor earned the medal by braving intense ground fire for 45 minutes while making low-level attack runs, strafing the enemy with bullets and aerial rockets while flying an AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter as a mass of Vietnamese insurgents surrounded a small U.S. Army patrol on the ground.
Running low on fuel and ammunition, Taylor eventually decided to extract the four men on his own with his two-man-only chopper.
As The Blaze reported: “Immediately after setting the Medal of Honor around Taylor’s neck and giving the tearful veteran a handshake, Biden abruptly bolted out of the East Room as if to beat the traffic.”
Biden abruptly walks out of the Medal of Honor ceremony, even before the closing benediction pic.twitter.com/Ck0i8EIf8Q
In the video of the ceremony, one reporter can be seen with a look of bewilderment at the sight of Biden hurrying out since the event was far from over.
Left standing alone next to the American flag, the uniformed 81-year-old Taylor remained stoically at his post, waiting for the closing benediction.
Referring to Biden, former Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan wrote on X, “Pardon my French… But what a f***ing idiot.”
Pardon my French… But what a f*cking idiot.
The continuous lack of respect Biden has for anyone is appalling.
Taylor, originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee, flew over 2,000 combat missions in UH-1 and Cobra helicopters, was engaged by enemy fire 340 times, and was forced down five times in Vietnam, according to the Army.
He had already received at least 50 combat decorations, including 43 Air Medals, a Bronze Star, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, and the Silver Star, before being awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest recognition for bravery in the U.S. military.
The actions that earned Taylor the award were courageous indeed. On the evening of June 18, 1968, a four-man Army long-range patrol (LRP) team was trapped and surrounded by a large Viet Cong force.
The team desperately called for fire support. And that’s when Taylor came to the rescue. The Blaze reported that Lt. Col. Ann Hughes detailed Taylor’s brave deeds near the village of Ap Go Cong, prior to Biden’s sudden departure from the stage:
Then-1st Lt. Taylor heard the call and came powering over at the command of a light fire team comprising two [two-man] Cobra helicopter gunships.
Upon arrival, Taylor “immediately requested illumination rounds and supporting artillery to assist with identifying the enemy positions,” even though the fulfillment of that order would make his aircraft similarly easier to see and target.
Hazarding “intense enemy groundfire” and flying “at a perilously low altitude,” Taylor fed the enemy encircling the patrol team a constant stream of hot lead and rockets, and he did so for 45 minutes.
As all good things come to an end, Taylor’s team began running low on ammunition. However, the Americans below were not yet out of harm’s way. The Tennessean appealed to light to stop the encroaching darkness in its tracks.
The outlet continued quoting Hughes, “using his chopper’s searchlight, Taylor began performing fake strafing runs on the enemy, thereby distracting them from the patrol team.”
Running low on fuel, Taylor and his wingman pushed the insurgents back using up their remaining minigun rounds, then “directed the patrol team to move 100 yards towards the extraction point, where First Lieutenant Taylor, still under enemy fire, landed his helicopter and instructed the patrol team to climb aboard anywhere they could.”
Lt. Col. Hughes stressed that an extraction on a Cobra gunship was a “feat never before accomplished.”
The narrow Cobra, an advanced version of which is still flown by the Marines, is a two-seat hotrod of a helicopter gunship made for fast attack, not troop carrying.
This is serious stuff, an award well deserved, but Biden just walked away after giving Taylor his medal.
Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas), an Army veteran who also flew helicopters, wrote, “At least he didn’t check his watch this time.”
