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DeSantis Shares Ideas for Military, Student Loans During Iowa Campaign Stops

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is shedding more light on his policy ideas as he makes campaign stops in Iowa.

    On Wednesday, the White House hopeful announced his plans to address the country’s massive student debt- which currently stands at a whopping $1.6 trillion according to CNN and his plan to boost military morale.

    While speaking in Salix, Iowa, DeSantis declared that universities should have to pick up the tab if a former student can’t pay back their loans.

    “If somebody defaults, the university should pick it up,” he said. “If they were on the hook for it, they would make sure the curriculum was designed to produce people that can be very productive. You’d have a heck of a lot less gender studies going on.”

    DeSantis added that “we do believe in universities, but they got to be done in a good way,” meaning “rooted in the traditional mission of the university classical education.”

    During another stop in Council Bluffs, the Florida Governor said that if elected he would offer back pay to veterans who reenlist after leaving the military due to Covid-19 vaccine requirements.

    Later in the day, while touting his time in the US Navy as a JAG officer, DeSantis argued the US military is “indulging woke ideology” that negatively impacts recruitment.

    “They’ve driven off some of our greatest warriors not just through that culture, but also through dumb policies like forcing m-RNA Covid shots on our service members,” DeSantis said.

    “Why would you want to drive them off by doing things like forcing them to take a shot that they don’t want and sure enough, many people left,” DeSantis said at the second of four stops across Iowa. “As president, we will restore everybody back who wants to come back and we will give them back pay as a result.”

    In January, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin rescinded the military’s Covid-19 vaccination mandate for troops after the shot was made mandatory in 2021.

    Report: Ex-GOP Candidate Indicted in Shootings at Lawmakers’ Homes

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    2
    Police image via Pixabay free images

    A former Republican candidate for the state House in New Mexico has been indicted on numerous federal charges over his alleged involvement in a series of drive-by shootings.

    The 11-count indictment in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico accuses Solomon Peña of organizing a series of four shootings that happened at four Democratic officials’ homes between December and January. 

    gov.uscourts.nmd_.488531.33.0Download

    “SOLOMON PENA ran for the New Mexico House of Representatives and lost by nearly 50 percentage points in November 2022. Refusing to accept his electoral defeat, PENA organized a shooting spree that targeted the homes of four elected officials and their families,” the indictment reads. 

    The shootings happened at the homes of two Bernalillo County commissioners, one state senator and the Speaker of the state House. 

    Peña was originally arrested in January, with Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina saying at the time he “masterminded” all the attacks. 

    The charges Peña is facing include conspiracy, interference with federally protected activities and using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, and possessing a firearm in furtherance of the crime. 

    Peña lost his race to incumbent Democrat Miguel Garcia in the state’s 14th District in November. 

    The indictment charges Peña and two of his alleged accomplices. No one was injured in the attacks, but bullets passed through the bedroom of the state senator’s 10-year-old daughter. 

    This is a breaking news story. Click refresh for the latest updates.

    Woke Banks Under Fire from Congress for Helping FBI Illicitly Spy on Gun Owners

    By
    Donny Ferguson
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    3
    Image via Pixabay images

    Amid reports that Wall Street banks have been illicitly spying on customers and reporting gun buyers to the FBI, despite no probable cause or court-issued warrants.

    In response, Congressman Rep. Alex X. Mooney (R-WV) has introduced H.R. 3021, The Protecting the Second Amendment in Financial Services Act to “expressly prohibit financial institutions and credit card companies from using a merchant category code that separately categorizes gun and ammunition transactions.”

    The revelation and legislation come as the FBI finds itself under fire for widespread civil rights abuses and its role in making false claims about President Donald Trump in an apparent attempt to remove a legally-elected president.

    Under the latest-revealed scheme, purchases made at gun dealers were flagged with a secret code and referred to the FBI for recording and possible investigation, despite the fact the purchases were legal and no criminal activity suspected.

    Some believe the scheme was an effort to get around federal laws prohibiting the federal government from assembling its own national registry of gun owners by having banks record the data – after audits of the Justice Department revealed officials had been illicitly retaining records of gun sales reported to the federal government’s National Instant Check System.

    “Leftist activists have been clear that they intend to use merchant category codes to further surveil the constitutional firearm purchases of law-abiding citizens,” said Mooney. 

    “The only rationale to implement a new merchant category code is to appease anti-Second Amendment activists. I am unwavering in my support of the Second Amendment, and I am proud to introduce this common-sense legislation to protect it,” said Mooney.

    “Merchant category codes (MCCs) are four-digit codes that enable payment processors and banks to categorize, monitor, and collect data on various types of transactions,” a statement from Mooney explains.

    “On September 9, 2022, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) approved a Merchant Category Code (MCC) for firearm retailers. Amalgamated Bank, a left-wing U.S. bank, led the charge in pressuring the ISO to adopt the new MCC. The ISO rejected Amalgamated Bank’s initial July 2021 application for the new MCC but approved it on the second application for reasons that remain unclear,” the statement reads.

    “Amalgamated Bank and progressive Members of Congress have been open that they intend to use this new MCC to track and report lawful firearm transactions to law enforcement under the guise of ‘suspicious activity’. In other words, this MCC is the Left’s attempt to create a backdoor gun registry to further curtail the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans.

    While American Express, Mastercard, Visa, and Discover have announced a temporary pause in the implementation of this new MCC, there has been no formal request to withdraw the MCC. Legislation is needed to ensure this is never implemented,” the statement concludes.

    This legislation is endorsed by the National Rifle Association and Gun Owners of America.

    “GOA thanks Rep. Mooney for leading the fight to protect American gun owners from the anti-gun actions of the International Standards Organization. The U.S. government cannot sit idly by while a foreign entity pressures banks, payment card networks, and other American corporations to infringe on the Constitutional rights of the American people. This legislation empowers U.S. financial institutions to stand up to this foreign influence by categorically rejecting this anti-gun ‘merchant code,’” said Aidan Johnston, GOA’s Director of Federal Affairs

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    FBI Director’s ‘Contempt of Congress’ is Part of Bigger Problem

    By
    Paul Crespo
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    9

    ANALYSIS – FBI Director Christopher Wray has steadfastly refused to provide the House Oversight and Accountability Committee an internal Bureau document that alleges Joe Biden took a $5 million bribe from Chinese sources. 

    The committee issued a subpoena for it a while ago. Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has said he learned about the allegations from a whistleblower whom he declined to identify but has described as “very credible.”

    With the committee’s deadline passing yesterday, Comer has said he will seek to hold Wray in contempt of Congress, rejecting Wray’s offer to allow lawmakers to view the FD-1023 form in a secure location instead of handing over the document.

    A contempt vote would be the most significant confrontation between House Republicans and federal law enforcement since the GOP took control of Congress in January.

    Wray insists that the FD-1023 form contains unverified claims from a single confidential human source (CHS), and that turning it over is irresponsible. Sources need to know their identities will be protected. 

    And allegations shouldn’t be publicized without being corroborated.

    Wray is right. 

    In the past, neither party would push much on an issue like this because they understood that need. But they also trusted the Bureau to be nonpartisan.

    As the National Review notes:

    …the mere fact that a CHS may have alleged that Biden took part in a bribery scheme doesn’t mean it happened. It can’t be dismissed out of hand — there’s too much indication of Biden’s sleazy self-dealing and outright lying for that. But people in positions of authority get falsely accused of wrongdoing all the time. The FBI rightly keeps such allegations under wraps because those people are presumed innocent and the bureau can’t investigate without being discrete. Congress has traditionally given the FBI a wide berth because lawmakers know secrecy is a necessity for competent investigations — and it has assumed that the FBI is competent and non-partisan.

    Unfortunately, those days are gone, and the FBI director can’t decide what part of a Congressional subpoena to honor or reject. Wray has no legal basis to keep it hidden.

    And due to the recent history of partisanship and politicization at the Bureau, most egregiously the Trump-Russiagate hoax, this is only part of a much bigger problem.

    The Bureau can no longer be trusted to be fair and apolitical. As the National Review explains:

    [The FBI] is a contented cog of the progressive administrative state. In the Obama years, it was put in the service of the Democratic Party. It marched to President Obama’s beat, whitewashed and abetted Hillary Clinton’s malevolence, undertook to destroy Donald Trump’s presidency, spent years covering its tracks, and insulated his 2020 opponent from scrutiny. It has spent the Biden years helping Democrats craft a political narrative of a nation besieged by white-supremacist domestic terrorism — all the while slow-walking the investigation of the Biden family’s influence-peddling business.

    National Review continues:

    [FBI] abuses have proceeded under Wray’s stewardship — the FBI’s (a) illegal surveillance under FISA; (b) general participation in the suppression of political speech on social media; (c) specific complicity in the Democrats’ and the intelligence community’s suppression of the Biden influence-peddling scandal; (d) collaboration in the Democrats’ crafting of a political narrative that the country is overrun by white-supremacist domestic terrorists; and (e) retaliation against whistleblower agents who’ve reported to Congress about some of these issues (at least according to three of those agents, who testified under oath at a recent House hearing).

    So, while normally, I would be understanding of the director’s arguments and attempts to limit dissemination of a form that could expose investigative sources and methods, in this case, the FBI simply can’t be trusted.

    It needs to turn over the document to the committee, with minimal redactions, or Wray should be held in contempt. This is about a much bigger problem.

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    Woke Disney Executives Back Out of Meeting with Victims of Communist Chinese Genocide

    By
    Donny Ferguson
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    5
    Jrobertiko, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

    Executives from the liberal Disney corporation are now under fire from Congress for backing out of a meeting with victims of Communist China’s brutal dictatorship, with whom Disney has partnered and is increasingly changing corporate policies to please.

    Disney had initially agreed to meet with and listen to members of the ethnic and religious Uyghur community, who are targets of a brutal campaign of genocide by Beijing leaders.  The meeting came after Disney was loudly criticized for ignoring and glossing over Chinese human rights abuses while promoting the film “Mulan,”

    U.S. House Select Committee on China Member Jim Banks (R-IN) is now hammering Disney CEO Bob Iger after Disney representatives for cut-off communications with Uyghur advocates and genocide victims and backed out of a promised on-the-record meeting.

    “Disney executives pulled out of an off-the-record meeting with Uyghur genocide victims. It couldn’t have been to protect Disney’s public image or bottom line, so maybe the executives were just worried about a good night’s sleep,” said Banks.

    “Whatever the reason, Disney publicly praised Chinese Communist Party agencies committing genocide and then privately scorned their victims. It’s time for Disney to own up to its mistakes and make amends,” said Banks.

    “In September 2020, U.S. lawmakers and human rights groups from around the world condemned Disney for its decision to film a live-action remake of Mulan in the Xinjiang Uyghur

    Autonomous Region (XUAR), the center of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) ongoing

    genocide against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim groups,” a letter from Banks to Iger begins.

    “While filming, Disney cooperated with Chinese security and propaganda authorities active in the XUAR, including ones complicit in Beijing’s human rights atrocities,” Banks reveals.

    “(I)n Mulan’s credits, your company thanked several Chinese government agencies

    participating in the genocide, including the Public Security Bureau of Turpan, which then President Trump placed on the Commerce Department’s Entity List in 2019 for ‘human rights

    violations and abuses’ against Uyghurs and other ethnic groups,” Banks continues.

    “Disney’s credits also expressed gratitude to the ‘Publicity Department of CPC Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Committee,’ the CCP propaganda arm charged with covering up the abuses,” Banks writes.

    “Disney never apologized for partnering with and praising Chinese Communist Party agencies

    actively engaged in genocide,” Banks adds. 

    In response to the initial 2020 criticism, Disney agreed to meet with advocates for Uyghur victims.

    Communist China opposes such a meeting, and Disney has now backed out.

    “We are writing to request a meeting between you, other Disney executives, and a representative from the Uyghur American Association and the Uyghur Human Rights Project,” Banks writes.

    “We have no doubt that such a meeting would prove educational for your company and would be

    a simple first step in clarifying to millions of Americans that Disney does, in fact, care about the

    Chinese Communist Party’s systematic extermination of minority ethnic groups,” Banks concludes.

    Representatives Mike Gallagher, John Moolenaar, Neal Dunn, and Ashley Hinson cosigned Rep. Banks’ letter.

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    Amanda Head: Debt Deal Is A Disaster!

    By
    Amanda Head
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    0

    Capitol Hill is in a frenzy over the latest debt deal reached between lawmakers.

    Watch Amanda explain the situation below:

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    Report: Mike Pence To Make White House Announcement Next Week

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    Mike Pence via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Former Vice President Mike Pence is gearing up to officially enter the Republican primary field.

    A source close to Pence informed The Hill that he is planning to announce his White House bid next week.

    The Hill has more:

    The source said Pence’s team is finalizing plans to launch his campaign for the White House, joining the expanding GOP primary field with a forward-looking announcement that makes the case for his candidacy. The former vice president is expected to put much of his focus on Iowa, which hosts the first caucus on the GOP primary calendar.

    Pence is scheduled to participate in a CNN town hall in Iowa next Wednesday, June 7, an event that was billed in one release as a “Presidential Town Hall.” Pence will celebrate his 64th birthday the same day.

    The former vice president was also originally scheduled to speak to the Georgia Republican Party at a June 9 event. But the party alerted supporters on Wednesday that Pence “has been forced to re-schedule because of a televised national town hall at which he will be making an announcement regarding his future plans,” in a message first reported by The Atlanta Journal Constitution.

    Pence has an uphill battle ahead of him in an already crowded primary field. Former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have largely dominated the polls thus far. Former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, tech mogul Vivek Ramaswamy, and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson have lagged behind in the polls.

    This is a breaking news story. Click refresh for the latest updates.

    Fox News Hosts Turn On Trump After Recent Tirade Targeting Former Press Sec.

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    0
    Kayleigh McEnany via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    The Fox News team is defending former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany after she became the subject of Trump’s

    “Kayleigh ‘Milktoast’ McEnany just gave out the wrong poll numbers on FoxNews,” Trump wrote in a Tuesday post on Truth Social, “I am 34 points up on DeSanctimonious, not 25 up. While 25 is great, it’s not 34”

    “She knew the number was corrected upwards by the group that did the poll,” he claimed. “The RINOS & Globalists can have her. FoxNews should only use REAL Stars!!!”

    Shortly before Trump’s post, McEnany — a co-host of Fox News’ Outnumbered — had appeared on Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime, where she said that Trump’s 2024 Republican primary rival Ron DeSantis appeared to be closing in on the former president in Iowa.

    “The DeSantis team would say, you know, ‘We just had polling come out that shows we closed the gap by 9 points since we announced in Iowa.’ Still, Trump’s hugely ahead, but they say they’re closing the gap. That’s their argument,” said McEnany, who served as Trump’s press secretary between April 2020 and January 2021.

    “If you look at the polling now, it was Trump 34 in Iowa, it’s now Trump 25,” she continued. “That’s double digits.”

    On Wednesday, Brian Kilmeade didn’t hold back from criticizing Trump’s decision to lash out at his former press secretary.

    “Three shots at common weaknesses of the president,” Kilmeade said while discussing “some subtle shots at Trump,” he saw the Florida Governor make during a Tuesday stump speech in Iowa.

    “They see you make things up. They say he’s he flies off the handle. For example, attacking Kayleigh McEnany is insane. She was one of the best press secretaries ever. Dana Perino, as Ari Fleischer watching to say she was fantastic, but she’s an analyst now. She doesn’t work for any campaign.”

    A number of Fox News officials also knocked Trump for his attack on McEnany.

    “This is pathetic. I don’t care who you are. This is unacceptable and unhinged,” reacted Blaze TV host Chad Prather. “[McEnany] took bullets for this man. We have a guy in the White House destroying the country and you go after her?!?!? It’s becoming an absolute joke.”

    Special Counsel Subpoenas Trump White House Aides Over Events Leading Up To Jan. 6

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    6
    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    The special counsel leading the investigation into former President Donald Trump‘s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results is taking a closer look at the firing of the then-president’s cybersecurity chief.

    The New York Times reports that Jack Smith’s team has interviewed former DHS Cybersecurity chief Chris Krebs, who was terminated by Trump after refuting his claims the election was wrought with fraud.

    “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes or was in any way compromised,” the statement from Krebs’s agency read nine days after the election.

    Less than a week later Trump tweeted that Mr. Krebs was “terminated” after releasing a “highly inaccurate” statement about the 2020 election.

    “The investigators appear focused on Mr. Trump’s state of mind around the firing of Mr. Krebs, as well as on establishing a timeline of events leading up to the attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6, 2021,” Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan reported. “The latest subpoenas, issued roughly two weeks ago, went to officials in the personnel office, according to the two people familiar with the matter.”

    Smith’s investigators seem to be asking witnesses about the efforts Trump and his allies took to evaluate the loyalty of federal officials working for the ex-president. John McEntee, a former Trump personal aide, was among those who had Krebs flagged for disloyalty and had developed a “loyalty test” to evaluate government hires under Trump. The Times notes that McEntee “was seen going into the grand jury in recent months.”

    Trump is facing numerous investigations regarding his actions while in the White House and after the election.

    Smith is also leading the investigation into Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents which were seized from his Mar-A-Lago estate in August. Earlier this month reports from The Times indicated the investigation is heating up after the Justice Department secured a “star witness” in the probe. (RELATED: Key Mar-a-Lago witness said to be former White House Employee)

    According to the report, the scope of the insider witness’s cooperation is not yet clear, nor is the timeline, but the witness reportedly gave investigators a picture of the storage room where some materials were held. 

    Biden Admin. Blasted for Attending Event with Wanted Terrorist Who Killed US Soldiers

    By
    Donny Ferguson
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    4
    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)

    Outraged members of Congress are demanding an explanation as to why senior Biden administration officials attended an event featuring a notorious and active Islamic terrorist who has killed dozens of American soldiers.

    U.S. Representatives Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Jim Banks (R-IN), Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), Ronny Jackson (R-TX), and Robert Wittman (R-VA), are demanding the Biden State Department explain why senior U.S. officials attended a forum alongside Qais Hadi Sayed Hasan al-Khazali, designated by the State Department as an active Islamic terrorist currently under U.S. government sanctions.

    “I am gravely concerned about the precedent this activity sets,” said Lamborn. “I insist the State Department take immediate action to ensure that its officials do not give credibility to events that feature enemies of the United States.”

    “Qais Hadi Sayed Hasan al-Khazali, the terrorist prominently featured at this event attended by high-ranking U.S. Department of State officials, has served in various terrorist organizations since at least 2003 and is responsible for the death of dozens of American soldiers. He is known to have directed and coordinated the attack on American forces in Karbala on January 20, 2007, that resulted in five American soldiers dead and three wounded,” a statement from Lamborn’s office reveals.

    “Qais al-Khazali is also responsible for the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on December 31, 2019. For these actions, among others, Qais al-Khazali was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department on December 6, 2019, for ‘involvement in serious human rights abuse in Iraq’ and designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on January 3, 2020,” the statement adds.

    Despite appearing at the same forum as Biden officials, Qais al-Khazali is still an active and designated terrorist and has been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department.

    “Currently, Qais al-Khazali is Secretary-General of Asa’id Ahl al-Haw (AAH), also known as the Khazali Network, a radical Iraqi Shi’a political party and paramilitary group that is funded, trained, and equipped by Iran’s Quds Force and Hezbollah. The AAH claimed responsibility for over 6,000 attacks on U.S.-led coalition forces between 2006 and 2011, including the roadside bomb that killed the last American soldier to die before the U.S. withdrawal in November 2011. This group was labeled a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) on January 3, 2020,” the statement concludes.

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

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