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Federal Court Hands DeSantis a Win Over His ‘Stop Woke Act’

By
Madeleine Jackson
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1
Ron DeSantis via Gage Skidmore Flickr

A federal judge in Florida handed Governor Ron DeSantis a substantial win after ruling that the governor’s administration did not violate a court order regarding the state’s “Stop WOKE Act,” which prohibits colleges from teaching Critical Race Theory and other woke concepts. 

According to Townhall, plaintiffs attempted to argue that Gov. DeSantis failed to comply with a preliminary injunction that prevents the enforcement of some parts of the law, citing a memo sent out by Florida’s chief of the Office of Policy and Budget, Chris Spencer, asking universities to provide a list of all staff, programs and campus activities related to diversity, equity and inclusion, and critical race theory.

“Although this court would not hesitate to compel compliance with its preliminary injunction, this court finds there has been no violation of the injunction at this time,” U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker wrote in her decision. 

Judge Walker previously called the law “positively dystopian” while issuing a temporary injunction. 

In November, Walker wrote, “our professors are critical to a healthy democracy, and the State of Florida’s decision to choose which viewpoints are worthy of illumination and which must remain in the shadows has implications for us all…if our ‘priests of democracy’ are not allowed to shed light on challenging ideas, then democracy will die in darkness.”

DeSantis’s press secretary Bryan Griffin defended the law, asserting the administration is fulfilling its duty to protect students against overt indoctrination attempts.

“The governor, as chief executive of the state, has every right to ask how public dollars are being spent by public state entities, like state colleges and universities. In fact, that is good government,” Griffin said. 

Biden’s Classified Materials Scandal Part of ‘Dark Money’ Nightmare – Will Dems Finally Turn on Him?

By
Paul Crespo
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10
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 – The separate disclosures of highly classified materials found in three different locations tied to Joe Biden, and his delay in making public the first discovery in November seem to be souring even the most ardent Bidenistas.

Per the New York Post, Biden’s loyal lap dog, Attorney General Garland, “solidifying his reputation as a bitter partisan hack, kept secret the first Biden document finding of Nov. 2 until after the midterm elections and seemed to be hiding each new finding until it was forced into the open.” 

Biden’s prior harsh words about Trump “how could anyone be that irresponsible?” with classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago in August are now coming back to haunt him.

And the president’s responses to questions about the documents, like dismissing the risk to national security, because, you know, they were in a locked garage next to his prized Corvette, have only made things worse.

And so has his press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, whose avoidance, refusal to answer, dissembling, and nonsensical doublespeak, has become a serious sore spot among White House correspondents, not to mention the public at large.

The New York Post reports:

When reports emerged last Monday that multiple classified documents were found in an office Biden used after leaving the White House as vice president, the propaganda media circled the wagons around him by insisting he’s no Donald Trump. They had a point — up to a point. 

But when reports two days later said a second batch of supposedly secret papers was found in Biden’s Delaware garage, the wall of media protection showed some cracks as the differences between the presidents’ cases narrowed. And when an additional classified page was found in Biden’s Delaware library, and a special prosecutor was appointed Thursday to investigate him, the defenders made a hasty retreat. 

What makes this far more than just a mishandled classified documents scandal though, is the two locations where the materials were found. 

Both connect to far bigger scandals — Chinese influence on the Biden family, corruption, pay-to-play schemes, and Hunter Biden.

One – The Penn Biden Center – (well a closet in an office at this Center’s office space). This is the essentially made-up entity created to pay Biden $900,000 for doing almost nothing after leaving the White House as VP in 2017.

But beyond the sleaziness of that deal, the University of Pennsylvania got $54.6 million in donations from Communist China from 2014 through June 2019, including $23.1 million in anonymous gifts starting in 2016.

The Post reported: “The Penn Biden Center is a dark-money, revolving-door nightmare where foreign competitors like China donated millions of dollars to the university so that they could have access to future high-ranking officials,” said Tom Anderson, director of the Government Integrity Project at the Virginia-based National Legal and Policy Center.

Was some of that money siphoned off to pay Joe? Was this a result of payoffs tied to Hunter’s Chinese business deals? And, did China gain access to the documents found there, or others ones not found?

Two – Biden’s beach house. Hunter lives in the Delaware house, raising concerns he might have seen the documents, which were not secured beyond being in a locked garage next to Joe’s Corvette, while others were apparently found in the house itself.

Did Hunter have access to these highly classified documents? Did he disclose the contents to his Chinese colleagues?

We may soon have answers to these important questions. Especially since they have resurfaced now just the aggressive new GOP-led house begins its investigations into the Bidens.

The timing could not be worse for Biden.

As the POST writes: “Long before the document bombshells, GOP leaders vowed to follow the millions upon millions of dollars that Hunter Biden and Jim Biden, Joe’s brother, got abroad from selling access to Joe. Based on the contents of Hunter’s laptop, it’s certain that Joe benefited from foreign payments.” 

As Rep. James Comer of Kentucky put it, “We’re not investigating Hunter Biden. We’re investigating Joe Biden.” 

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

GOP Governor Stops Short of Endorsing Donald Trump

By
Madeleine Jackson
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6
Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Despite Donald Trump’s early entrance to the 2024 presidential campaign, some Republicans are dedicated to taking the “wait and see” approach to the next election.

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who also previously served as Trump’s press secretary, told Fox News’s Shannon Bream that she isn’t focused on 2024 yet and declined to endorse her old boss publicly.

According to The Daily Wire, Bream asked the newly sworn-in governor, “Your bio, on your official page as Governor, describes you as a ‘trusted confidant of President Trump. Have you talked to him about his ’24 run? Will you endorse him in that?”

“I love the president, have a great relationship with him,” Sanders responded. “I know our country would be infinitely better off if he was in office right now instead of Joe Biden. But right now, my focus isn’t 2024. It’s focusing here in Arkansas and doing what we can to empower the people of this state, and make sure that I’m delivering on the promises that I laid out over the course of the last two years.”

“My focus isn’t on 2024,” Sanders answered. “It’s on what we can deliver in this legislative session. I’m not going to set an arbitrary timeline. I’m not really focused on that at all.”

Bream also pressed Sanders on her own ambitions.

“I feel the pressure of delivering this legislative session,” Sanders said. “That’s the only thing that our team, and that I am focused on, is delivering on what we laid out to do.”

Sander’s refusal to outwardly endorse Trump underscores speculation that Republicans are preparing to steer away from the former president and support another candidate in the 2024 election. Numerous polls have reported Trump trailing behind other potential contenders such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Biden Stashed Highly Classified Docs at Beach Home Garage, Next to ‘Corvette TS/SCI’

By
Paul Crespo
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Joe Biden via Gage Skidmore Flickr

ANALYSIS – Yes, Donald Trump took scores of highly classified materials to his home at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, but at least he didn’t stash them next to his old sports car in a garage.  

Mar-a-Lago is also protected by the Secret Service.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden may be the only POTUS to own a very sweet, racing green, 1967 Chevy Corvette Stingray – TS/SCI Edition.

Who knows what’s in the glove compartment?

The latest find by government investigators has shown former Vice President Biden apparently took a second batch of highly classified materials after leaving office in 2017 and stashed them in his Delaware beach home’s garage.

The first batch found in a closet of a private office in DC Biden used relating to his shady relationship with the Penn Biden Center, including Top Secret/SCI (Sensitive Compartmented Information) which requires extraordinary security measures to protect.

In fact, since they include intelligence sources and methods (people and processes) they must only be viewed, used, or discussed in a highly secure Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF).

As far as we know, Biden’s garage where he keeps his Corvette is not a SCIF.

But that didn’t keep Biden from arguing his garage was still somehow secure, because, well, it is locked.

In the White House’s South Court Auditorium, Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked the president, “Classified materials next to your Corvette? What were you thinking?”

“My Corvette’s in a locked garage, OK? So, it’s not like they’re sitting out on the street,” Biden responded. 

“People know I take classified documents and classified materials seriously.”

Ummm… LOL. 

Of course, you do, Joe. And we take you seriously as well.

Continuing the patterns denial and obfuscation, on Wednesday, Doocy, along with other White House correspondents, had a tense encounter with White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about the classified documents. 

“On these documents, how could anyone be that irresponsible?,” Doocy asks, reiterating Biden’s question about Donald Trump after boxes of classified documents were found in former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort last year.

Despite the barrage of intense questions about the documents over the past two days, Jean-Pierre has frustrated reporters by repeatedly dodging the questions.

The Blaze reported:

CBS anchors Errol Barnett and Lana Zak slammed Jean-Pierre for having “not answered a single question” about the discovery of the documents.

“For a second straight day now, the White House struggling to answer any questions related to classified documents discovered at locations associated with President Biden, citing Karine Jean-Pierre, the press secretary, simply reading a statement, where she says the president was surprised by the discovery, takes this matter very seriously, the documents were inadvertently misplaced, and he doesn’t know what’s in them,” Barnett began.

“She has not answered a single question outside of a prewritten statement by the president’s lawyers,” he said.

Thankfully, reporters are now directly questioning Team Biden’s narrative about being “transparent” and forthcoming about the classified documents.

One big question that also remains unanswered is why Biden failed until now, to disclose the finding of the first batch of his mishandled classified documents, which occurred not long after the unprecedented August FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, and only days before the 2022 midterm election in November.

Hopefully, many other unanswered questions, such as did Biden use any of this classified material while writing his 2017 book, “Promise Me, Dad,” will be addressed soon.

According to an order signed by the attorney general, Merrick Garland has appointed Robert K. Hur as special counsel, a veteran prosecutor, to examine “the possible unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or other records discovered” at Mr. Biden’s think tank in Washington and his residence in Wilmington, Del. 

But this independent counsel should not preclude the media and the GOP-led House from continuing to push for the full truth on this issue.

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

NYT, Scientists and Journalists’ Failed Miserably on C*VID Lab Leak Story: National Security Experts

By
Paul Crespo
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1
Haxorjoe, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

ANALYSIS – Thankfully the pressure continues to build on the establishment media and scientific community for its massive failure and cover-up of the C*VID-19 lab leak origin theory. 

From day one of the C*VID outbreak in Wuhan, China, I argued that it would be dereliction of duty for any intelligence analyst worth his/her salt, or any journalist or expert, to ignore the elephant in the room – that there was a rare Chinese government Level 4 Biosafety Lab (BSL-4) within a few miles of the alleged ground zero for the virus.

Compounding this fact with the understanding that China has a robust bioweapons research effort, and shoddy safety protocols at the relatively new lab in Wuhan, it should have been a no-brainer, everyone should have been all over this scenario.

But sure enough, for partisan, ideological, and just plain stupid, reasons the establishment mob quickly dismissed that possibility outright, calling it a conspiracy theory and even worse, racist. 

Many of these players wanted to stay on the good side of China, some had vested interests in keeping a lid on it, others instinctively rebuked anything President Trump proposed, and others simply wanted to obsessively focus on how Trump was allegedly failing on COVID rather than on where this deadly virus originated.

Meanwhile, Big Tech social media platforms openly censored any views, including mine on LinkedIn, that simply reported on and explored the facts and available intelligence on the Wuhan lab and its potential relation to C*VID.

Over time however, this subpar reporting, and the massive effort bordering on a conspiracy to suppress the truth on C*VID’s origins, began to crumble.

The June 9 World Health Organization Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens report, and various other serious investigations, concluded that deliberate human involvement, or at least human error, may ultimately have been at the root of the pandemic that has killed over 15 million people worldwide.

In December, reports The Blaze, Republicans on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence also concluded in their interim report that it was “plausible” that Ch*nese military researchers possessed the C*VID-19 virus “as part of bioweapons research” prior to its release into the world as a consequence of a safety incident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Many of the obtuse big media outlets, colluding with Big Tech, and the misguided science experts have begun to retract and recant. Some even quietly admitting they may have been wrong on the lab leak origin theory.

But that isn’t enough. Far from it.

As reported by The Blaze:

A group of national security experts published a letter this week denouncing those in the mainstream media who downplayed, ignored, or outright denied the possibility that the C*VID-19 virus originated in a Chinese c*mmunist l*b in Wuhan.

The January 11 letter addressed to the editors of the Lancet, Nature Medicine, the New York Times, and Time magazine, was signed by forty-three national security experts, including House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas), former Defense Intelligence Agency acting Director David Shedd, former national security adviser Robert O’Brien, and numerous former State Department and National Security Council officials. 

The Blaze continues:

The letter implicates news outlets like the New York Times and scientific journals such as the Lancet in an apparent campaign to censor or displace dissenting voices around the pandemic’s origins.

Not only was journalists’ and editors’ failure to entertain the possibility that the W*han Institute of Vir*logy — controlled by the genocidal Chinese regime and notorious for performing gain-of-function experiments on coronaviruses — a dereliction of duty, it “served to hamper national and international policy discussions about how to mitigate against future pandemics of any origin — natural, accidental, or deliberate.”

Their letter calls for those who intentionally or not helped absolve the Chinese c*mmunist regime of any guilt in originating and spreading the deadly C*VID virus to be held accountable. 

The authors also called on major news organizations “to carry out deeper investigations into the pandemic’s origins, particularly by examining all credible origins hypotheses.”

This is the minimum they should do.

As the letter states, American security and prosperity depend upon “rigorous scientific debate, research, and scholarship, as well as an intrepid and independent news media.”

And all these media outlets, scientific journals, and individual journalists and experts “failed in their duty.”

They should all be called out and shamed publicly, and they should provide the nation, and the world a very public apology.

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

Jim Jordan Launches First Investigation as Judiciary chair

By
Madeleine Jackson
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10
Jim Jordan via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Jim Jordan’s (R-Ohio) first investigation as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee will examine President Biden’s “mishandling” of classified documents and the Justice Department’s investigation.

“We are conducting oversight of the Justice Department’s actions with respect to former Vice President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, including the apparently unauthorized possession of classified material at a Washington, D.C., private office and in the garage of his Wilmington, Delaware, residence,” Jordan and Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., wrote in a letter sent Friday to Garland.

“On January 12, 2023, you appointed Robert Hur as Special Counsel to investigate these matters,” they wrote. “The circumstances of this appointment raise fundamental oversight questions that the Committee routinely examines. We expect your complete cooperation with our inquiry.”

“It is unclear when the Department first came to learn about the existence of these documents, and whether it actively concealed this information from the public on the eve of the 2022 elections,” Jordan wrote. “It is also unclear what interactions, if any, the Department had with President Biden or his representatives about his mishandling of classified material. The Department’s actions here appear to depart from how it acted in similar circumstances.”

“In fact, on August 8, 2022, despite the publicly available evidence of President Trump’s voluntary cooperation, you personally approved the decision to seek a warrant for excessive and unprecedented access to his private residence. On August 15, 2022, Committee Republicans wrote to you and FBI Director Christopher Wray requesting documents and information related to the FBI’s raid of President Trump’s residence,” the letter said.

Rep. Jordan’s investigation comes one day after Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to examine the matter, former U.S. attorney Robert Hur. The DOJ escalated the matter to a special counsel investigation from a mere review after a second stash of classified documents was found inside the garage of Biden’s Delaware home. The first batch of documents were found inside the D.C., offices of the Penn Biden Center think tank.

Georgia Governor Quietly Mulling 2026 Senate Run

By
Madeleine Jackson
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4
Georgia National Guard from United States, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp could be quietly positioning himself for a future Senate campaign or even a bid for the White House as his political profile continues to rise.

Kemp, who earned the ire of former President Trump after the 2020 election, just began his second term as governor in the Peach State after handily defeating Democrat Stacey Abrams for a second time.

The Georgia Governor is attracting attention after successfully surviving Trump’s best attempts to exact revenge for refusing to meddle in the 2020 presidential election. According to The Washington Examiner, Kemp was able to turn Trump’s taunts in his favor, managing to win credibility with centrists and independent voters who have become increasingly skeptical of Trump’s evidence surrounding the 2020 election results.

Democratic state Rep. Al Williams told reporters ahead of Thursday’s inauguration that Kemp is “at the height of his powers” heading into his second term. He also credited him with a number of conservative policy wins including permitless firearm carry legislation, as well as tougher restrictions on state election rules and abortion. Kemp also curried favor with voters by fanning out billions of dollars in COVID-19 federal relief funds across the state.

“He spent it very effectively and spread the net wide,” Williams said.

In November, Kemp filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to create Hardworking Americans, a political action committee that could set him up for a federal run. Having a federal PAC not only helps Kemp keep his name out there but also allows him to influence elections and donate money to candidates.

“The runoff for U.S. Senate gave Brian Kemp an excuse to open a federal PAC,” Democratic strategist David McLaughlin told the Washington Examiner. “Kemp could say he was using it to support the woefully underqualified Herschel Walker, but it likely is a means to get an early start on a 2026 bid against Jon Ossoff who will be up for reelection. People should keep in mind Kemp has never run for federal office and Ossoff will be a full-term incumbent and running as a ‘family man’ for the first time in his career.”

However, Kemp’s rising profile could make him a formidable opponent for the Senate seat. A potential Senate seat would likely propel Kemp to be considered a future presidential contender.

Trump Organization Fined in Tax Fraud Case

By
Madeleine Jackson
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2
Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

On Friday, the Trump Organization was fined $1.6 million following its conviction last month for criminal tax fraud.

It was the maximum penalty former President Trump’s sprawling business organization could face for what prosecutors have described as a long-running scheme to evade taxes by providing perks to company executives.

Earlier this week, former Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg was sentenced to fives months in prison as well as pay nearly $2 million in taxes, penalties, and interest, and serve five years of probation for his role in the 15-year tax scheme.

As Great America News Desk previously reported:

Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer for the Trump Organization, is expected to be sent to Rikers Island jail in New York after receiving his sentence for his participation in a tax fraud scheme.

Wesselberg, along with other top executives, pled guilty to running the scheme for the past 15 years where he and others received bonuses and other kickbacks designed to save the real estate company money.

On Tuesday, the CFO was sentenced to five months in jail as well as pay nearly $2 million in taxes, penalties, and interest, and serve five years of probation.

Rikers Island is one of New York’s most well-known jails and has become notorious for violence and drug use.

This story is developing. Click refresh for the latest details.

House Speaker Signals Interest in Expunging Trump Impeachment

By
Madeleine Jackson
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8
Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Congressional Republicans are hitting the road running.

On Thursday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy signaled to reporters that he would consider expunging one or both of former President Trump’s impeachments, according to The Hill.

“I would understand why members would want to bring that forward,” McCarthy said in response to a question at a press conference on Thursday, before listing off several other key priorities for House Republicans. 

“But I understand why individuals want to do it, and we’d look at it,” he added.

Republicans have attempted to expunge the former President’s impeachments before.

In the last Congress, a group of more than 30 House Republicans led by Rep. Markwayne Mullin (Okla.) put forward a resolution to expunge Trump’s second impeachment.

A smaller group, again led by Mullin, also introduced a resolution to expunge Trump’s December 2019 impeachment for allegedly attempting to withhold military aid from Ukraine in an effort to pressure the country to investigate the business dealings of President Biden’s son Hunter Biden.

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

GOP Bill Says Only US Flags Will Fly Over Our Embassies Abroad – But What About Fed Buildings at Home?

By
Paul Crespo
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2

ANALYSIS – As a former Marine Corps officer and military attaché who served at several embassies overseas in the 1990s, it has infuriated me to see partisans and ideologues impose their radical agendas on our foreign embassies during Joe Biden’s tenure at the White House.

Flying extremely divisive, and to many host countries, offensive, flags representing controversial sexual agendas (LGBTQ+), which includes the extreme ‘trans’ movement, and private groups which espouse hate toward one race and law enforcement (Black Lives Matter – BLM), has been an egregious abuse pushed hard by the Biden State Department since last year.

Our embassies and consulates are official extensions of the United States. They are even considered sovereign U.S. territory. 

They are there on behalf of the entire U.S. nation, as represented by our national flag, not sectarian views, or radical and controversial agendas. 

This is true, even when these same radical agendas are being forced on our executive branches of government. 

Thankfully, the new GOP House is proposing to quickly change that abuse.

The Old Glory Only Act, introduced Monday by South Carolina Republican Rep. Jeff Duncan would prohibit any flag other than the American flag to be flown over U.S. embassies and consulates.

Newsmax reported:

“Our beautiful flag, Old Glory, should be the only flag flying and representing our country over our diplomatic and consular posts worldwide,” Duncan said in a press release announcing the bill’s introduction in the House Monday. “The American flag is a beacon of liberty, and no other flag or symbol better portrays our shared values than the Stars and Stripes. It is important to ensure that Old Glory only is flown at American embassies to represent our ideals abroad.”

The New York Times previously reported that Biden Secretary of State Antony Blinken authorized U.S. embassies to fly ‘gay pride’ flags in April 2021, prior to May 17, which is the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, and to continue displaying the flag through the end of the month.

The push to fly the rainbow ‘gay pride’ flag actually began in 2014, under the Obama-Biden term. That flag has flown over U.S. embassies in more than a dozen countries since then, including Russia, Spain, Sweden and South Korea.

President Trump’s Secretary of State banned the ‘pride’ flags from being flown but his order was quickly  reversed by Blinken.

In May, another cable from Blinken’s State Department authorized flying Black Lives Matter flags at U.S. diplomatic facilities worldwide, Foreign Policy reported at the time.

The BLM flag has been flown at U.S. embassies in Brazil, Greece, Spain, Bosnia, Cambodia and South Korea, according to Duncan’s office.

This, even though violent BLM rioters had spent months attacking the federal courthouse in Portland and laying siege to dozens of cities nationwide just months earlier in 2020.

The BLM riots caused over $2 billion in property damage, more than any other similar event in U.S. history, injured over 2,000 local and federal police officers, and resulted in numerous deaths of civilians. 

According to the NYT, a cable from the State Department at the time gave the chiefs of missions (COMs), who lead our overseas diplomatic stations, a “blanket written authorization” to display the flags if it was “appropriate in light of local conditions.” 

While the Times noted this was an “authorization, not a requirement,” few COMs will ignore the pressure to follow the boss’ lead, and the more woke embassies and consulates quickly started flying these unofficial flags.

Republicans are optimistic the new GOP leadership will hold a vote on the bill since there is broad GOP support for the idea.

But why stop there? Why not ban these divisive flags from being flown over any federal buildings, period – including all of the ones here at home?

According to the General Services Administration (GSA), More than 40 federal buildings across the country opted to raise the Pride Flag to show their support of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” in the federal workforce.

What they are actually doing is flying the flags of exclusive, divisive and radical private groups on federal property paid for by the U.S. taxpayer.

This too must end. 

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

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