A federal judge in Texas granted a victory Friday to American Airlines pilots suing the company for sacrificing the profitability of their 401(k) fund to pursue liberal causes.

It’s a potentially major blow in a long battle against political investing, called ESG (or environmental, social, and governance). And it paves the way for battles against BlackRock and other globe-dominating businesses that funnel trillions of Americans’ retirement and investment dollars toward left-wing causes. More, it demonstrates how the political catastrophe that has befallen corporate governance these past five years can be undone — by the same tool with which it was made.

We stumbled into this morass through risk aversion at the top. By risk aversion it must be undone.

The judge found that American Airlines violated its fiduciary duty of loyalty to the pilots. It comes on the heels of the same judge deciding that the class action can include every pilot who joined the 401(k) since 2017. That’s more than 100,000 people. The judge also found that American Airlines acted within the industry standards at the time, meaning the company did not violate its fiduciary duty of prudence.

“Industry standard” indeed. BlackRock, the firm American Airlines allowed to manage its $26 billion plan, essentially dominates the retirement plan industry, managing $11.5 trillion in assets globally. It is one of the most powerful firms on the planet, but that doesn’t mean the company is a friend of the American dream. These are the guys literally buying up every affordable starter house across the country they can, turning would-be owners into permanent renters. The company says it doesn’t buy individual family homes, which is true — it buys the companies that do. While BlackRock isn’t named as a plaintiff in the Texas case, the implications are clear.

The surest way to defeat and destroy woke corporate politics is through litigation and the threat of litigation. We stumbled into this morass through risk aversion at the top. By risk aversion it must be undone.

Attorney General Bill Barr understood this well. In the final days of the first Trump administration, his Department of Justice issued memoranda warning corporations that that weighing race in their decisions could run afoul of the Civil Rights Act. In other words, you can’t punish people for being white, no matter how popular it is at the moment.

This was a real problem. If you believe the statistics from the peak woke years, white men made up only 6% of corporate hires. That’s overt discrimination in hiring practices.

Legal routes are so much more effective than shame, because human resources departments and others completely dominated by 20- and 30-something left-wing activists are hard to manage, even for top company executives. Few things are more ominous than being accused of racism, sexism, or anti-LGBT bias in corporate America, a fear even corporate directors share. Those directors need a way to say “no” loudly and clearly the next time they’re told to stop hiring white men.

Do you know what changes their calculus? Lawyers, lawsuits, and money. Few things would turn the tide quicker than a Justice Department punishing anti-white-male bias for four-plus years, along with an anonymous tip line bringing the force of investigation down on corporations. If the directors won’t shut down the left-wing crusaders in their midst, litigation will.

That’s why the Texas decision is so noteworthy. There’s plenty of road left for the pilots’ class action (and others), but the implications are clear. ESG investing is no longer a safe space. Corporate directors and state officials looking to invest their 401(k)s will all be looking at their own vulnerability — and pushing back on companies like BlackRock that expose them to potential liability. The real battle is going to be in employment, but that’s still big news, even if it isn’t over.

Bedford, July 2021: Corporations like BlackRock are steamrolling small business, buying up homes, and crushing the dream, but we can fight back

Federalist Radio Hour: Can we rescue the American dream from bully corporations?

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THE FIRE RISES

CITY JOURNAL: Trump should abolish the federal mental health agency

People have a habit of assuming the changes all around us are naturally occurring. We grumble when there’s a sudden and clear increase in drug-addicted and mentally ill homeless menacing commuters and taking over public spaces, but we rarely wonder, “Is someone actively doing this? Is someone paying for this outcome because they want it? Am I paying for this outcome?” Sometimes it is just natural. But this one is not. Carolyn D. Gorman reports:

…The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the federal mental health agency … was created in 1992 to “reduce the impact of … mental illness on America’s communities” and to target services to people “most in need.” The agency has failed on both counts. People with serious mental illnesses, like schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, remain disproportionately represented among the homeless, incarcerated, and violent criminal populations. Mental illness has been a factor in nearly all of the deadliest mass shootings, including Sandy Hook, Viriginia Tech, Parkland, Aurora, Uvalde, El Paso, Sutherland Springs, Charleston, Oregon, Navy Yard, Binghamton, Killeen, Lewiston, Austin, Edmond, Pittsburgh, Santa Fe, Boulder, Dayton, Omaha, and Indianapolis — to name only a few.

The agency has not only failed to reduce the impact of mental illness in American life but also has undermined proven solutions by derailing resources from high-quality, intensive psychiatric treatment and advocating against involuntary commitment. Consider SAMHSA’s Protection and Advocacy (PAIMI) Program. The agency claims the program “is intended to protect and advocate for the rights” for people with serious mental illness, but in practice, it often directs funds to lawyers seeking to prevent needed hospitalizations. This can have disastrous results, as it did in 2006, when a mentally ill man named William Bruce killed his mother with a hatchet after SAMHSA-funded lawyers reportedly coached him on how to avoid involuntary treatment.

The federal mental health agency is also a hub for progressive activism. Seemingly any left-wing priority can win SAMHSA support if proponents claim that addressing it would reduce “trauma” or improve “mental well-being.” Billions of taxpayer dollars have been hijacked for things like “non-traditional holistic support” for “LGBTQI+” families; “affirming, comprehensive care” for “unhoused LGBTQ+ youth”; employee trainings and agency publications on “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, [and] Accessibility”; bulletins on the behavioral health effects of climate change; “Keep it Safe but Sexy” harm-reduction sessions for the “incarcerated and post-incarcerated socially disenfranchised”; and pop psychology-inspired social-emotional learning programs …

​Opinion & analysis, Politics, Blackrock, American airlines, Woke capital 

Pittsburgh Steelers fans lashed out at wide receiver George Pickens after an uncomfortable postgame interview following their playoff loss.

The Steelers lost their Wild Card game to the Baltimore Ravens Saturday, losing 28-14 in a game that was not as close as the scoreboard suggested.

At a postgame press conference, Pickens gave an unorthodox answer about the direction of the team.

“George, you’ve been with this offense for three years, have you seen signs of growth?” a reporter asked.

“Yeah, I’ve seen signs of growth, for sure. From the first year I’ve been here, just way more growth, for sure,” the 23-year-old replied.

The reporter followed up, “Does that make you optimistic going forward?”

“Uh, nah,” Pickens quickly replied.

‘George was confused by the question.’

This sent fans into an obvious frenzy, who then mocked the receiver and asked how soon he could be kicked out of town.

The most popular response by far from fans was to suggest that Pickens didn’t understand what he was being asked.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t know what that meant,” a Cleveland fan wrote.

“George was confused by the question, not trying to be negative,” another fan replied.

Yet another fan thought, “There’s an outside chance he doesn’t know what optimism is.”

Many other fans said Pickens hasn’t lived up to expectations, with one disappointed supporter saying Pickens hasn’t “grown up” or improved “where it counts.”

While the Steelers’ passing game didn’t perform horribly on paper, the team went scoreless in the first half and found themselves in an awful game of catch-up to start the third quarter.

Quarterback Russell Wilson finished with 270 yards and two touchdowns but still struggled, as he did for several games leading into the playoffs.

“It’s time for a serious change in Pittsburgh,” one viewer suggested. “Starting with the coach and starting QB. Russell Wilson is washed up. They should have switched to Justin Fields by the second quarter.”

The overall fan sentiment seemed to be that Pickens isn’t giving it his all on the field. Fans accused him of giving up on plays and not finishing routes, along with having a horrible attitude.

One thing appeared certain going into the off-season, however; Pickens’ response coupled with the Steelers’ quarterback situation will have fans tearing each other apart.

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​Nfl, Fearless, Steelers, Football, Sports 

Infamous NeverTrumper Jennifer Rubin has parted ways with the Washington Post, an outlet that has hemorrhaged readers since Joe Biden took office four years ago.

Rubin, who spent 14 years writing for the opinion section at WaPo, resigned from the publication, CNN reported on Monday, claiming that it and other mainstream media outlets have “failed spectacularly at a moment that we most need a robust, aggressive free press.”

“I fear that things are going from bad to worse at the Post,” she added.

Specifically, Rubin took issue with WaPo owner Jeff Bezos nixing an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris in October. She also noted that another Bezos business, Amazon, made a $1 million contribution to Trump’s inaugural fund.

Rubin will now join forces with former Obama official and Trump impeachment attorney Norm Eisen for a Substack entitled the Contrarian. Rubin will serve as editor in chief, Eisen as publisher.

With the tagline “Not owned by anybody,” the Contrarian promises to feature “pro-democracy” voices, especially those that once excoriated voters and officials who dared question the 2020 election or anyone who took an unauthorized pass through the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The Substack will offer some free content beginning on Monday but will eventually charge subscribers $7 per month for full access.

“Our goal is to combat, with every fiber of our being, the authoritarian threat that we face,” Rubin told CNN, adding that far too many reporters have lately “bent the knee” to President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office again in a matter of days.

“The voices we’ll be featuring are diverse across parties and generations,” Eisen said in a statement, “connected by the shared belief that we need an unshackled media in order to meet this moment, as we face an existential threat to American democracy.”

‘Our industry is in the middle of a major transformation.’

Rubin won’t be the only one to leave the Post. The outlet is planning to lay off 100 people, approximately 4% of its workforce, though the newsroom will not be affected, the Wall Street Journal reported. This latest round of layoffs comes after the outlet cut 240 journalists in October 2023.

Staff reductions are hardly surprising considering the tremendous loss in readership in recent years. In January 2021, WaPo website traffic soared to a high-water mark of 22.5 million daily active users, according to Semafor. By the middle of 2024, that number had tanked to an average of just 2.5 or 3 million.

Notably, 250,000 WaPo readers canceled their subscriptions after learning about the snafu regarding the Harris endorsement, though a source told the WSJ that many of those subscribers have since returned.

Revenue at WaPo has also dwindled. The outlet lost $77 million in 2023 alone and another $100 million last year. Ad dollars also fell from $190 million in 2023 to just $174 million in 2024.

“Our industry is in the middle of a major transformation,” a spokeswoman told the WSJ. “The Post is committed to innovating, creating, and leading the way forward to reach all Americans with nonpartisan news and thought-provoking reported views.”

H/T: The Post Millennial

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​Washington post, Jeff bezos, Jennifer rubin, Joe biden, Wapo, Norm eisen, Politics, Media 

Well before the New Orleans terrorist attack that killed 14 people on New Year’s Day, former CIA targeter Sarah Adams was sounding the alarm. She warned that trained ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and other Islamic jihadists are currently hiding in plain sight in the United States ready to carry out coordinated terrorist attacks against the American people — especially in 2025.

In the wake of the Bourbon Street attack, Adams is being hailed as a forecaster of sorts.

Now, Liz Wheeler interviews Adams about how Donald Trump can stop more of these attacks from happening.

Adams told Liz she anticipates that some of these Muslim radicals intend to target airplanes.

“Do you feel that our air travel security here in the United States … [is] adequate to prevent this?” Liz asks.

The short answer is no.

“We should make it mandatory that everybody in the airport goes through the millimeter wave scanner. That’s the one where you put your hands up,” says Adams. “Until that’s implemented, I don’t think our airports are safe right now from the bomb that Al-Qaeda says they created.”

According to Adams, Al-Qaeda’s revolutionary bomb, which the group has carefully crafted over the course of “20 years,” can sneak through “the regular metal detector,” like the ones often used in TSA PreCheck, and cannot be detected by dogs.

Unfortunately, our government doesn’t seem to be taking this seriously.

In fact, when Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen branch of the Al-Qaeda network, “put out a video about this [bomb] threat,” provided instructions regarding “how to make an invisible bomb,” and even “[named] specific Airlines” in the U.S. and Europe, “the government immediately took it down,” and TSA issued a dismissive alert calling the video “aspirational.”

Adams says that as far as she knows, TSA was never given access to the video.

“I’ve checked with the Federal Air Marshals,” says Adams. “They didn’t even know there was a video; they don’t have a copy of the video.”

If we want to be properly prepared, Adams says, “We need to start going some different ways at getting this information because the traditional pipelines aren’t working because we gave up 99% of our intelligence collection in Afghanistan.”

“What are the first three things that [Trump] should do when he takes office to address this?” Liz asks.

One: “You bomb the command and control of the homeland attack. It’s based in Afghanistan.”

Two: “You target the terrorist who’s masterminding. His name is Saif al-Adel.”

Three: “You make some real changes to the security system situation at U.S. airports.”

To hear more of the conversation, watch the clip above.

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​The liz wheeler show, Liz wheeler, Blazetv, Blaze media, Sarah adams, Cia, New orleans attack, Al-qaeda, Terrorism, Terrorist attack 

Special counsel Jack Smith resigned from the Department of Justice on January 10, according to court documents.

Smith, who was expected to submit his resignation before Inauguration Day, led two prosecutions against President-elect Donald Trump, neither of which made it to trial. One federal case accused Trump of attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election and the other accused him of mishandling classified documents. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges.

‘Why would Deranged Jack Smith be allowed to issue a “report” on a complete and total Witch Hunt against me.’

While both cases against the president-elect were ultimately dropped, Trump’s former co-defendants in the classified documents case, longtime aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira, remain ongoing.

On his way out the door, Smith took one final swipe at Trump, submitting a two-volume report to Attorney General Merrick Garland detailing his investigations into the president-elect.

Attorneys for Nauta and De Oliveira filed an emergency motion with a United States appeals court to block the DOJ from publicly releasing the report; however, their bid was rejected on Thursday.

The DOJ has stated that it plans to release the first volume of the report, which relates to the alleged election interference case. The second volume, which covers the classified documents investigation, would be made available only to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees at this time, the DOJ said.

Mark Freeman of the DOJ’s Civil Division wrote that Garland would not publicly release the second volume “to avoid any risk of prejudice to defendants Nauta and De Oliveira” while their proceedings remain ongoing.

“This limited disclosure will further the public interest in keeping congressional leadership apprised of a significant matter within the Department while safeguarding defendants’ interests,” Freeman said.

Trump addressed the DOJ’s plan to release the report.

He wrote in a post on Truth Social, “Why would Deranged Jack Smith be allowed to issue a ‘report’ on a complete and total Witch Hunt against me, strictly for political purposes, when he was thrown off the case and ultimately dismissed by the DOJ. Therefore, to put it nicely, he was illegitimately involved in this political persecution, and all of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent by our hapless government were, simply put, wasted! He has already [filed] thousands of rejected statements and documents against me, which were a ‘joke,’ and the public just voted for me, in a landslide, to be their President!”

South Florida U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon temporarily blocked the DOJ from disclosing the report. Her order expires on Monday evening. Nauta and De Oliveira have asked for an extension of the injunction, but Cannon has not yet ruled on their request as of Monday morning.

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​News, Courts, Donald trump, Trump, Jack smith, Department of justice, Doj, Merrick garland, Aileen cannon, Trump tracking, Trump cases, Politics 

Four females — ages 13 to 15 — were arrested after they beat and tried to rob a 71-year-old woman in a Brooklyn subway while she was on her way to church, police told the New York Post.

One 13-year-old, one 14-year-old, and two 15-year-olds were taken into custody on Wednesday and Thursday, the paper said, adding that they each face charges of robbery, assault, and harassment in connection with the New Year’s Day incident.

‘She punched me in my face, and I have my glasses on, and I have a cut on my nose. When she punched me in my face, my glasses flew to the floor.’

One of the 15-year-olds was arrested in September for allegedly attacking a police officer in Queens to prevent the cop from arresting another person, law enforcement sources told the Post, adding that the other three females “had no prior brushes with the law.”

The elderly victim fought back

Linda Rosa — a retired Metropolitan Transportation Authority computer operation worker who lives in East New York – got off a No. 3 train at Hoyt Street just after 6 p.m. and had just passed through a turnstile when one of the four females tried to grab her purse, she recounted to the Post in an initial story.

Rosa told the paper her inner reaction was, “Oh, no, this is not going to happen today.” Another female also tried to grab Rosa’s purse and actually asked her, “Oh, you want to fight?” But Rosa wouldn’t let go of her property.

“The first person kept fighting,” Rosa recalled to the Post. “She punched me in my face, and I have my glasses on, and I have a cut on my nose. When she punched me in my face, my glasses flew to the floor.”

She continued to the paper, “Meanwhile, the other young lady was still trying to distract me to get my pocketbook or go into my purse, to snatch something out of my purse.” Rosa told the Post one of the attackers grabbed a pocket pouch containing her ID and medical records, after which Rosa upped the intensity of her self-defense.

“I was still wrestling with the first person,” Rosa told the paper. “Then I was trying to kick her in between her legs, but my leg wouldn’t stretch far enough, so I believe that’s when I fell … and then she stomped on me.”

One might assume she would have simply covered up and hoped the attack would end soon — but the opposite happened.

“I got an impression in me that she was going to stomp me again, but she was going to aim towards my head,” Rosa explained to the Post. “So I got up right away, and with that, I grabbed her braids and twirled them around my right hand, and then I pulled her down. She had her head down. Then the other young lady said, ‘Let her go.’ And I said, ‘Oh, no, I’m not letting her go.’”

The paper said Rosa yelled for help — and the teen who grabbed her pocket pouch dropped it and came at her. But Rosa told the Post she pulled off the same move on the second female with her free hand: “I grabbed her hair and twisted it around my left hand. So I had them both facedown … [like] rams when they’re getting ready to fight.”

The other females repeatedly screamed at Rosa to “Let them go! Let them go!” but the Post said Rosa refused and again yelled for help: “I need assistance! I need assistance!”

Finally, she let go of the two attackers and began picking up her belongings from the floor, the paper said. Then the defeated crew ran up the subway steps as Rosa told them she was going to call the police, the paper reported.

More from the Post:

Rosa — who retired from the MTA in 2016 after working for the agency for about 42 years — then headed to the nearby Brooklyn Tabernacle Church, where the staff tended to her and called 911.

She was taken to the Brooklyn Hospital Center for treatment.

Rosa said she is thankful she wasn’t hurt worse.

“Thank God they didn’t have no weapons,” she noted to the paper. “I thank God I didn’t have a heart attack and a stroke and die!”

You can view a video here showing the suspects going through the subway station turnstile.

‘I forgive them’

Rosa added to the Post, “I forgive them. They do not know what they do. They don’t know what they did. It’s just teenagers acting foolish.”

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​Arrest, Brooklyn, New york city, Female teens arrested, Elderly woman, Subway, Church, Crime 

Trump critic and convicted fraudster Michael Cohen demanded on MSNBC’s “The Weekend” Saturday that President Joe Biden give him the full Hunter Biden treatment.

Cohen, the star witness in President-elect Donald Trump’s hush-money trial who has yet to make good on his vow to leave the country over his former client’s re-election, told Symone Sanders-Townsend and her fellow MSNBC talking heads, “I put in the application for a presidential pardon because I believe that Joe Biden has the same responsibility to me that he had to his own son.”

After promising he would not do so, Biden issued a “full and unconditional” pardon for son Hunter Biden on Dec. 1, giving his felonious son a pass on any crimes committed between Jan. 1, 2014, and Dec. 1, 2024, including his felony conviction on gun charges and for his felony tax offenses. Blaze News previously noted that the timeline specified in the blanket pardon neatly matched up with the Biden family’s dealings with the Ukrainian company Burisma as well as with the communist state-linked organization CEFC China Energy.

According to the 82-year-old Democratic president, his son — who had an affair with his dead brother’s wife, refused to acknowledge and then attempted to avoid paying child support for the daughter he sired with a former stripper, and allegedly engaged in an international influence-peddling scheme with his father — was a victim of a “miscarriage of justice.”

‘You’re not the president’s son.’

Cohen, who was sentenced in 2018 to three years in prison for tax evasion, making false statements to a federally insured bank, and campaign finance violations, apparently also thinks himself a victim, telling the talking heads, “I would expect that the same exact pardon that he gave his son has to go to me and to anybody else that’s on that enemies list, whether they want it or not, because I assure you, solitary confinement, where I did 51 days, sucks.”

Cohen was reportedly moved from a minimum-security camp of the Otisville Federal Correctional Institution northwest of New York City to a disciplinary section of the prison in 2020 following an alleged altercation over his internet use.

After stating she believes “wholeheartedly” that Cohen’s solitary confinement was a “terrible experience” and that his point about the supposed enemies list “is a good one,” Sanders-Townsend, a former adviser for Kamala Harris, asked, “Have you heard anything back from the administration?”

Sanders-Townsend occupied the space of an answer with blather about Biden’s unwillingness to issue pardons to those who don’t want them, then suggested that Cohen’s invocation of Hunter Biden was a losing strategy.

The talking head said she was struck by Cohen’s comparison of himself to the first son and noted, “I wonder if — well, I’m just going to tell you, Michael Cohen, because we’re on national TV, we’re having the conversation — I don’t necessarily think that’s your best way to go get a pardon. I mean, Hunter Biden is the president’s last surviving son.”

“I’m somebody’s son also, by the way,” responded Cohen, apparently missing the point.

“Agreed,” said Sanders-Townsend. “You are somebody’s son, but, I mean, to be very clear, you’re not the president’s son.”

Cohen, who emphasized to MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Friday that there was “nothing wrong with” pursuing the pardon. If successful, the former Trump attorney who was disbarred in New York would join the ranks of thousands of other convicts to whom Biden has granted clemency, including a child-raping serial killer, a city-impoverishing fraudster, and other predators.

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​Michael cohen, Pardon, Donald trump, Joe biden, Clemency, Hunter biden, Politics 

Lt. Col. Tulsi Gabbard has changed her position on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the warrantless surveillance authority that was used to spy on the 2016 Trump campaign and was
exploited by the FBI hundreds of thousands of times to spy on American citizens.

Gabbard told Punchbowl News last week that she will support the controversial act if confirmed as President-elect Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence.

Section 702 allows the government to spy on foreign nationals outside the U.S. with the compelled aid of electronic communication service providers. While supposedly outward-facing, if an American contacts or is contacted by a foreign national over email, social media, or the phone, the American’s communications could potentially be tapped, searched, and stored without a warrant.

Blaze News
previously reported that the FBI has admitted that there were at least 278,000 “unintentional” backdoor search queries of the 702 database for the private communications of Americans between 2020 and 2021 alone. Among those citizens swept up into the warrantless 702 searches were Jan. 6 protesters, congressional campaign donors, and BLM protesters.

‘Politicians talk a good game about civil liberties.’

In her final days as congresswoman for Hawaii, Gabbard joined Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) in
advancing a bill that would have repealed the Patriot Act and killed nearly all provisions of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008.

Gabbard
said in a video at the time:

The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution very specifically prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures without a warrant based on probable cause. But over the last two decades, in part because of information revealed by Edward Snowden, we now know that there have been ongoing breaches of our civil liberties through programs that were instituted through the Patriot Act and the FISA Amendments Act, which basically allowed agencies within our government to conduct mass illegal surveillance on Americans without a warrant or probable cause.

Years later, Gabbard, still apparently a critic of Section 702,
noted in a speech at CPAC, “Too many politicians talk a good game about civil liberties, but when it comes time to cast that vote on things like getting rid of secret FISA courts and protecting our Fourth Amendment rights to privacy, they vote on the side of the power elite and against liberty.”

In an apparent effort to win over elements of the power elite in the U.S. Senate, Gabbard has adopted a new view on the spying authority.

Gabbard
confirmed her flip-flop in a statement to CNN on Friday, noting, “Section 702, unlike other FISA authorities, is crucial for gathering foreign intelligence on non-U.S. persons abroad. This unique capability cannot be replicated and must be safeguarded to protect our nation while ensuring the civil liberties of Americans.”

“My prior concerns about FISA were based on insufficient protections for civil liberties, particularly regarding the FBI’s misuse of warrantless search powers on American citizens,” continued Gabbard, who Trump previously
indicated would champion Americans’ constitutional rights in the role. “Significant FISA reforms have been enacted since my time in Congress to address these issues. If confirmed as DNI, I will uphold Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights while maintaining vital national security tools like Section 702 to ensure the safety and freedom of the American people.”

‘IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS.’

This consequential about-face may improve Gabbard’s chances of confirmation in the U.S. Senate. Her embrace of Section 702 has already won over Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford (R), a
longtime supporter of the controversial spying power, who told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” Sunday that Gabbard’s flip-flop “was a very important piece.”

“She
voted against that in the House when she was a member of the House of Representatives and had said she wanted changes,” said Lankford. “She’s now coming and saying, ‘Those changes have been done,’ because even since she was in Congress, there have been quite a few changes that we’ve made in Congress to make sure we’re protecting the civil rights of Americans.”

Lankford previously
suggested in a Wall Street Journal podcast on Wednesday that Gabbard should abandon her opposition to the 702 program.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, similarly appears pleased by Gabbard’s change of heart, telling Punchbowl News on Thursday, “Tulsi Gabbard has assured me in our conversations that she supports Section 702 as recently amended and that she will follow the law and support its reauthorization as DNI.”

Trump
implored Republicans to “KILL FISA” as it was nearing its expiration date last year, noting, “IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS. THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN.”

To the
great satisfaction of the Biden White House, the Republican-controlled House voted 273-147 in favor of reauthorizing the surveillance bill on April 12, 2024.

Despite the rejection of multiple proposed amendments that might have protected American citizens’ privacy from the spying authority Gabbard now supports, Republican Sens. Lankford, John Barrasso (Wyo.), John Boozman (Ark.), Katie Britt (Ala.), Ted Budd (N.C.), Bill Cassidy (La.), Susan Collins (Maine), John Cornyn (Texas), Tom Cotton (Ark.), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Deb Fischer (Neb.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Cindy Hyde-Smith (Miss.), John Kennedy (La.), Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Jerry Moran (Kan.), Markwayne Mullin (Okla.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Pete Ricketts (Neb.), Mike Rounds (S.D.), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Dan Sullivan (Alaska), John Thune (S.D.), Thom Tillis (N.C.), Roger Wicker (Miss.), and Todd Young (Ind.) and former Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) joined forces with Democrats to ensure its reauthorization.

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​Tulsi gabbard, Gabbard, Section 702, Surveillance, Fourth amendment, 4th amendment, Privacy, Freedom, Private, Fisa, Donald trump, Trump, Politics 

Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede announced Friday that he is “ready to talk” with President-elect Donald Trump, who has expressed interest in acquiring the island.

At a joint press conference in Copenhagen with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Egede stated that he had not yet spoken with Trump but that he wants to have “discussions about what unites us.”

“Cooperation is about dialogue. Cooperation means that you will work towards solutions,” Egede said.

Frederiksen also demonstrated a willingness to discuss Greenland with Trump, stating, “The U.S. is our closest ally, and we will do everything to continue a strong cooperation.”

She also indicated that Trump’s interest in Greenland speaks to its value on the international stage. “The debate on Greenlandic independence and the latest announcements from the U.S. show us the large interest in Greenland,” she said, “events which set in motion a lot of thoughts and feelings with many in Greenland and Denmark.”

Greenland had been a Danish colony from the 18th century until the 1950s, when it became a self-governing Danish territory. In 2009, the island nation won the right to declare independence if its 57,000 or so residents ever voted to do so.

‘We do not want to be American. We want to be Greenlandic.’

While Egede expressed interest in speaking with Trump and noted that Greenland is “a place that the Americans see as part of their world,” he reiterated that he and his fellow countrymen do not want to become part of the U.S.

“We have a desire for independence, a desire to be the master of our own house. … This is something everyone should respect,” he explained. “Greenland is for the Greenlandic people. We do not want to be Danish. We do not want to be American. We want to be Greenlandic.”

The U.S. already has a small stake in Greenland: Pituffik Space Base, America’s northernmost military installation. Ice locks the area in nine months out of the year, but it remains operational year round.

Trump previously described gaining greater control of Greenland as an “absolute necessity” and worked diligently during his first term to make further inroads there. Now on the verge of beginning his second term, Trump has recently revitalized discussions about Greenland, even sending his son Don Jr. and others on a trip to Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, to mingle with leaders and locals alike.

Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk, who joined Don Jr. on the trip to Greenland, recently explained to Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck the strategic advantages of acquiring Greenland.

“What does it have to offer? First of all, striking beauty,” Kirk told Beck on Wednesday. “I mean, you would love it. … The pictures don’t do it justice. I’m talking about untouched, serene beauty. That’s number one. Number two: incredible natural resources that the current Danish government who controls Greenland does not allow locals to exploit or use or take advantage of. I’m talking about resources we might not even be aware of.”

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The Los Angeles wildfires that have already razed 40,000 acres of the city, killed at least 24 people, and destroyed entire communities are still mostly uncontained. With the winds picking back up and the city’s limited water supply, the end seems nowhere in sight.

While Glenn Beck is not one to politicize a tragedy, he values the truth too much to let slide the egregious failures on the part of California authorities — from the city’s DEI-obsessed fire chief to Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom’s refusal to sign a water bill.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) is no exception. If anything, her list of failures is the longest. Not only did Bass, warned about the coming windstorms, choose to continue with her trip to Africa to celebrate the inauguration of Ghana’s president, leaving the city to burn in her absence, but she also slashed the L.A. Fire Department’s budget by millions of dollars.

“She gave the firefighting money to homeless NGOs [non-government organizations] who are fighting for the rights of illegal immigrants,” says Glenn, adding that, of course, “they’re packaging that as she gave money to fight homelessness.”

But the truth is L.A. has already “poured billions of dollars into solving this problem,” and the result has always been “tent cities, open-air drug markets, streets lined with garbage and human waste, [and] chaos,” he adds.

L.A. residents, Californians, and even Hollywood elites are ripping Mayor Bass for these failures, but should they really be surprised? A peek into her dark, radical history suggests that nobody should be surprised in the least.

“[Bass’] history is tied to radicalism, Marxism, and a dangerous ideology that bled from the fringes into the mainstream,” says Glenn.

In the 1970s, Bass traveled to Cuba “many, many times.” She was “a devoted participant in what’s called the Venceremos Brigade … a Marxist training program directly tied to Fidel Castro’s regime,” he explains. “You join because you’re a confirmed Marxist Leninist.”

According to one Los Angeles police investigator, Venceremos Brigade members are “trained in guerilla warfare, sabotage, and bomb-making. … These are not idealists; they’re insurgents in training.”

Bass “wasn’t just a participant,” either, says Glenn. “She was a leader” who “praised Fidel Castro, the dictator of Cuba, who was imprisoning dissenters [and] left a legacy of poverty and fear.”

On November 7, 1983, a domestic terrorist group called the May 19th Communist Organization bombed the U.S. Capitol building. The group “had direct ties to Cuba and the [Venceremos] Brigade,” in which Bass was “a leader.”

“I’m not saying Karen Bass planted the bomb or anything, but let’s be clear — she was part of exactly the same radical network,” says Glenn. “She called Fidel Castro charismatic; she praised the dictator who was brutalizing his people; she aligned herself with a movement that believed in revolutionary violence, including the bombing of the Capitol.”

“The ideology that fueled that bombing is alive and well and sitting in the mayor’s office in Los Angeles” because Bass “hasn’t reformed,” Glenn adds, explaining that her radicalization wasn’t just a phase of her youth.

In 2016, she “called [Castro’s] death a great loss to the people of Cuba,” and even though she “was considered a front-runner for the vice presidency under Joe Biden,” her record was” too “toxic” and “troubling” for even the Democrats.

“When your Marxist roots are too bad, too heavy for the Democrats, the progressives in Washington today, that says something,” says Glenn.

Today, “Karen bass is just using new words — she’s fighting for justice, for equity; she’s fighting for the people, but what has her leadership actually brought? Homeless encampments … fires burning out of control, [a] fire department stretched to its limits, millions are funneled to political pet projects, and all the while, the city is spiraling deeper and deeper into chaos.”

To hear more of Bass’ troubling past, watch the clip above.

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