Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via DailyReckoning.com,

It was a strange experience watching the House hearing in which Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was testifying.

The topic was censorship and how and to what extent federal government agencies under two administrations muscled social media companies to take down posts, ban users and throttle content. The majority made its case.

What was strange was the minority reaction throughout.

They tried to shut down RFK. They moved to go to executive session so that the public could not hear the proceedings. The effort failed. Then they shouted over his words when they were questioning him.

They wildly smeared him and defamed him. They even began with an attempt to block him from speaking at all, and eight Democrats voted to support that.

This was a hearing on censorship and they were trying to censor him. Just think about that for a second.

It only made the point.

It’s in the First Amendment for a Reason

It became so awful that RFK was compelled to give a short tutorial on the importance of free speech as an essential right, without which all other rights and freedoms are in jeopardy. Even those words he could barely speak given the rancor in the room.

It’s fair to say that free speech, even as a core principle, is in grave trouble. We cannot even get a consensus on the basics.

It seemed to viewers that RFK was the adult in the room. Put other ways, he was the preacher of fidelity in the brothel, the keeper of memory in a room full of amnesiacs, the practitioner of sanity in the sanatorium, or, as H.L. Mencken might have said, the hurler of a dead cat into the temple.

It was oddly strange to hear the voice of wise statesmen in that hothouse culture of infantile corruption: It reminded the public just how far things have fallen. Notably, it was he and not the people who wanted him gagged who was citing scientific papers.

The protests against his statements were shrill and shocking. They moved quickly from “Censorship didn’t happen” to “It was necessary and wonderful” to “We need more of it.”

Reporting on the spectacle, The New York Times said these are “thorny questions”:

“Is misinformation protected by the First Amendment? When is it appropriate for the federal government to seek to tamp down the spread of falsehoods?”

These are not thorny questions.

The real issue concerns who is to be the arbiter of truth?

Attacks on Free Speech Aren’t New

Such attacks on free speech do have precedent in American history. The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 led to a complete political upheaval that swept Thomas Jefferson into the White House. There were two additional bouts of censorship folly in the 20th century. Both followed great wars and an explosion in government size and reach.

The first came with the Red Scare (1917-1920) following the Great War (WWI). The Bolshevik Revolution and political instability in Europe led to a wild bout of political paranoia in the U.S. that the communists, anarchists and labor movement were plotting a takeover of the U.S. government. The result was an imposition of censorship along with strict laws concerning political loyalty.

The Espionage Act of 1917 was one result. It is still in force and being deployed today, most recently against former President Trump. Many states passed censorship laws. The feds deported many people suspected of sedition and treason. Suspected communists were hauled in front of Congress and grilled.

The second bout occurred after the Second World War with the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and the Army-McCarthy hearings that led to blacklists and media smears of every sort.

The result was a chilling of free speech across American industry that hit media particularly hard. That incident later became legendary due to the exaggerations and disregard for the First Amendment.

COVID Put U.S. on War Footing

How does the COVID-era censorship fit into this historical context? I’ve compared the wild COVID response to a wartime footing that caused as much trauma on the homeland as previous world wars.

Three years of research, documents and reporting have established that the lockdowns and all that followed were not directed by public health authorities. They were the veneer for the national security state, which took charge in the month of February 2020 and deployed the full takeover of both government and society in mid-March.

This is one reason that it’s been so difficult getting information on how and why all of this happened to us: It’s been mostly classified under the guise of national security.

In other words, this was war and the nation was ruled for a time (and maybe still is) by what amounts to quasi-martial law. Indeed, it felt like that. No one knew for sure who was in charge and who was making all these wild decisions for our lives and work.

It was never clear what the penalties would be for noncompliance. The rules and edicts seemed arbitrary, having no real connection to the goal; indeed no one really knew what the goal was besides more and more control.

There was no real exit strategy or endgame.

“Shut up!” They Explained

As with the two previous bouts of censorship in the last century, there commenced a closure of public debate. It began almost immediately as the lockdowns edict were issued. They tightened over the months and years.

Elites sought to plug every leak in the official narrative through every means possible. They invaded every space. Those they could not get to (like Parler) were simply unplugged. Amazon rejected books. YouTube deleted millions of posts. Twitter was brutal, while once-friendly Facebook became the enforcer of regime propaganda.

The hunt for dissenters took strange forms. Those who held gatherings were shamed. People who did not socially distance were called disease spreaders. Walking outside without a mask one day, a man shouted out to me in anger that “masks are socially recommended.”

I kept turning that phrase around in my mind because it made no sense. The mask, no matter how obviously ineffective, was imposed as a tactic of humiliation and an exclusionary measure that targeted the incredulous. It was also a symbol: stop talking because your voice does not matter. Your speech will be muffled.

The vaccine of course came next: deployed as a tool to purge the military, public sector, academia, and the corporate world. The moment the New York Times reported that vaccine uptake was lower in states that supported Trump, the Biden administration had its talking points and agenda. The shot would be deployed to purge.

Indeed, five cities briefly segregated themselves to exclude the unvaccinated from public spaces. The continued spread of the virus itself was blamed on the noncompliant.

Those who decried the trajectory could hardly find a voice much less assemble a social network. The idea was to make us all feel isolated even if we might have been the overwhelming majority.

We just couldn’t tell either way.

War and Censorship Go Hand in Hand

War and censorship go together because it is wartime that allows ruling elites to declare that ideas alone are dangerous to the goal of defeating the enemy. “Loose lips sink ships” is a clever phrase but it applies across the board in wartime.

The goal is always to whip up the public in a frenzy of hate against the foreign enemy (“The Kaiser!”) and ferret out the rebels, the traitors, the subversives, and promoters of unrest. There is a reason that the protestors on January 6 were called “insurrectionists.” It is because it happened in wartime.

The war, however, was of domestic origin and targeted at Americans themselves. That’s why the precedent of 20th century censorship holds in this case. The war on Covid was in many ways an action of the national security state, something akin to a military operation prompted and administered by intelligence services in close cooperation with the administrative state.

And they want to make the protocols that governed us over these years permanent. Already, European governments are issuing stay-at-home recommendations for the heat.

If you had told me that this was the essence of what was happening in 2020 or 2021, I would have rolled my eyes in disbelief. But all evidence I’ve gathered since then has shown exactly that. In this case, the censorship was a predictable part of the mix.

The Red Scare mutated a century later to become the virus scare in which the real pathogen they tried to kill was your willingness to think for yourself.

Iconic wine retailer Sherry-Lehmann was raided by the FBI last week as part of an ongoing criminal investigation by the Justice Department. 

The 89 year old retailer’s store on Park Avenue was searched by authorities last week as part of an ongoing investigation stemming from “lawsuits from customers for alleged failure to deliver prepaid wine” as well as nearly $3 million in unpaid taxes, Bloomberg reported.

The company had stated in January that it “expects the delayed wines to be bought and delivered in 2023.” But it appears those ambitions may be too little, too late at this point. 

The store received a cease-and-desist order from regulators, forcing it to shut down, the report says. The order was for selling liquor without a license. On Tuesday of last week FBI investigators were seen outside the Park Avenue location. 

The New York Times had previously reported that witnesses were asked to show up to a federal grand jury last month. 

The store has been browsed and visited by a host of celebrities, Bloomberg noted, including Andy Warhol, Greta Garbo, Mick Jagger and Harrison Ford. The store was known for carrying an luxurious selection and is was referred to as making the decision of which brands the city’s “elite” drank.

The owners also ran a business that allowed people to rent space and store the expensive bottles they had purchased. The New York Times has reported that employees of the company believed it improperly sold stored bottles to other customers. 

The FBI confirmed that officers were carrying out “an enforcement action”, while owners Shyda Gilmer and Kris Green didn’t return comment to Bloomberg. 

Google has reportedly been testing an AI-powered technology that will automate the production of news content, and probably put thousands of NPC journalists out of a job.

Known internally as “Genesis,” the new project aims to collaborate with organizations such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and News Corp, according to the NY Times, citing three sources familiar with the matter.

The Genesis AI tool possesses the capability to assimilate vast amounts of data, including current events and intricate details, and generate comprehensive news articles, the sources revealed. This development has ignited fervent debates over the future of journalism and the role of AI technology in shaping the news landscape.

Industry insiders who witnessed Google’s Genesis pitch have voiced a sense of unease, particularly over the potential for the tool to disrupt the tireless efforts of journalists in crafting authentic, compelling, and meticulously fact-checked stories.

Google says Genesis will be a boon for journalists, however, and has framed it as more of a personal assistant that can automate certain tasks, leaving journalists with more time to conduct more in-depth reporting.

“We’re in the earliest stages of exploring ideas to potentially provide A.I.-enabled tools to help their journalists with their work. Quite simply, these tools are not intended to, and cannot, replace the essential role journalists have in reporting, creating, and fact-checking their articles. Instead, they could provide options for headlines and other writing styles,” said Google spokeswoman, Jenn Crider.

Some experts aren’t so sure, such as journalism professor Jeff Jarvis, who says that if the technology can deliver factual and reliable information, it could be a valuable resource for journalists, but that it has the potential for misuse – including the fact that certain topics require nuance and cultural understanding that might get lost in translation.

The use of AI in newsrooms has become a central issue for news organizations worldwide. Many have already embraced the technology, such as the Times, NPR and Insider, all of which have told journalists to explore potential use cases.

Google Genesis, however, adds another layer of complexity to the debate, as concerns arise over potential misinformation and its impact on the perception of traditionally written news stories.

Meanwhile, governments worldwide have intensified calls for tech companies like Google to share advertising revenue with news outlets. Google, in response, has forged partnerships with various news organizations in an attempt to address the issue.

Authored by Linda Chavez via RealClear Wire,

Ron DeSantis seems to believe that his best chance of becoming the GOP presidential nominee is to be more extreme than the guy he needs to defeat, Donald Trump. And what better issue to flex his MAGA bona fides than immigration?

Florida’s draconian new immigration restrictions, signed into law by DeSantis two months ago, are now taking effect. They will have a devastating impact on at least two of the state’s major industries: agriculture and construction.

The new law imposes tough penalties on both undocumented employees and the employers who hire them. A job applicant who presents a false Social Security number or other documentation during the hiring process will be subject to a third-degree felony and could serve five years in jail. The statute also requires employers with more than 25 workers to use the federal E-Verify system, which has a documented history of both rejecting legitimate workers and clearing those who aren’t authorized.  If employers hire unauthorized workers, they could end up losing their business licenses.

Workers are apparently fleeing the state in response – and not just those who are in the country illegally. Many immigrant families have mixed status: an undocumented parent or spouse and legal immigrants or U.S. citizens in the same household. One 2017 study estimated that more than 900,000 Floridians lived in mixed-status households, and when a family member faces the risk of becoming a felon, they may decide that staying in Florida isn’t worth the risk.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that in Miami’s booming construction industry, between 25% and 50% of local construction workers have already disappeared from job sites. The owner of a large farming and packaging company told the WSJ that he’d lost half of his employees because of the law.

Construction and agriculture depend heavily on unauthorized workers nationally and in Florida. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation analysis estimates that almost 40% of agricultural workers in the state are noncitizen immigrants (most of whom are also undocumented), as are 23% percent of its construction workers. These employees are not easily replaceable – and certainly not with American workers. Florida’s economy will take a dramatic hit because of DeSantis’ efforts to woo the MAGA base with anti-immigrant measures.

Yet DeSantis has been touting Florida’s economy as a reason Republican voters should support him. And it’s true that Florida is first in a recent ranking that measures which states were most successful in attracting talent. The governor noted in a press release about the rankings, “Florida is leading the nation in net migration and talent attraction. As other states continue to struggle at the hands of poor leadership, people and businesses are flocking to Florida.”

The governor’s statement also boasts about the 388,000 new residents added to the state between 2016-2020. What he doesn’t say is how many of those new residents were immigrants, legal and illegal. A whopping 21% of Florida’s population is foreign-born, including about 775,000 who are undocumented.  Immigrants are well represented across various occupations in the state, including 32% of service occupations and 23% of management, business, and science occupations. But the state’s tough new law may end up making Florida a much less attractive state in which to work or establish a business – certainly in industries that rely on immigrant workers.

What is ironic about DeSantis’ move is that Florida’s illegal immigration problem has improved over the years, despite influxes of newcomers from Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America.  According to the Pew Research Center, which provides one of the best historical analyses of immigration trends available, there were more than 1 million undocumented people living in Florida in 2007. 

DeSantis is struggling to gain support, which won’t happen if he keeps being a poor imitation of the other prominent Florida-based candidate running for president. DeSantis should be trying to convince voters that he’s been a job creator in Florida and he will do the same for the country.

Making it more difficult to hire people to do essential jobs tarnishes his credentials. He ought to be telling Republicans that we need to make it easier for people whose skills we need to come to the United States legally, and that he’ll push for necessary reform of our immigration laws when he becomes president. He understands that workforce growth means more for everyone, not just individual workers and their families but the communities in which they live and spend their money. DeSantis says the 2024 election is about the future – and he’s right. But the future is not about building walls or driving workers away but welcoming them. It’s not about protecting jobs but creating them.

Linda Chavez served in the Reagan White House and writes frequently on race, ethnicity and immigration.

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of second-degree murder in the kneeling death of George Floyd, will petition the US Supreme Court to review his conviction after the Minnesota state Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal.

At least four of the nine justices must vote to grant a petition for it to move forward to the oral argument stage. The USSC is expected to release orders in ongoing cases on July 24, Aug. 21 and Sept. 8, meaning the Court could act on Chauvin’s new case on one of those dates – or it could wait until the new term begins in October.

Chauvin’s petition was dismissed by the state supreme court on July 18 in a one-sentence order without explanation, denying the former cop an opportunity to overturn his 22.5-year sentence. He asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to take up the case in May after the state Court of Appeals rejected his claim that he received an unfair trial the month before.

Mr. Chauvin, a white man who was a member of the Minneapolis police department at the time of the incident in March 2020, reportedly kneeled on Mr. Floyd, a black man, for more than nine minutes while he was handcuffed in a prone position after being detained on suspicion of passing a counterfeit 20-dollar bill at a convenience store. A passer-by captured video footage of him complaining while detained that he couldn’t breathe, and the video went viral, leading to protests in the United States and around the world.

The death of Mr. Floyd led to widespread public revulsion and a violent nationwide backlash against police that continues to affect the nation’s politics, criminal justice system, and culture, as well as riots across the country that resulted in billions of dollars in damages. -Epoch Times

In 2021, prosecutors asked jurors to dismiss autopsy findings in the Floyd case.

As Jonathan Turley noted at the time;

• When called to the scene due to Floyd allegedly passing counterfeit money, Floyd denied using drugs but later said he was “hooping,” or taking drugs.

• The autopsy did not conclude that Floyd died from asphyxiation (though a family pathologist made that finding). Rather, it found “cardiopulmonary arrest while being restrained by law enforcement officer(s).” The state’s criminal complaint against Chauvin said the autopsy “revealed no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation. Mr. Floyd had underlying health conditions including coronary artery disease and hypertensive heart disease.” He also was COVID-19 positive.

• Andrew Baker, Hennepin County’s chief medical examiner, strongly suggested that the primary cause was a huge amount of fentanyl in Floyd’s system: “Fentanyl at 11 ng/ml — this is higher than (a) chronic pain patient. If he were found dead at home alone & no other apparent causes, this could be acceptable to call an OD (overdose). Deaths have been certified w/levels of 3.” Baker also told investigators that the autopsy revealed no physical evidence suggesting Floyd died of asphyxiation.

• The toxicology report on Floyd’s blood also noted that “in fatalities from fentanyl, blood concentrations are variable and have been reported as low as 3 ng/ml.” Floyd had almost four times the level of fentanyl considered potentially lethal.

• Floyd notably repeatedly said that he could not breathe while sitting in the police cruiser and before he was ever restrained on the ground. That is consistent with the level of fentanyl in his system that can cause “slowed or stopped breathing.”

• Floyd’s lungs were two to three times the normal size and filled with fluid. “Pulmonary edema is a condition caused by excess fluid in the lungs”  and it is symptomatic of an opioid overdose, according to Mayo Clinic.

• Finally, the restraint using an officer’s knee on an uncooperative suspect was part of the training of officers, and jurors will watch training videotapes employing the same type of restraint as official policy.

Will the Supreme Court entertain Chauvin’s request, risking more nationwide riots?

Authored by Andrew Thornebrooke via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The United States is warning that Russia could use its own sea mines in a false flag operation to justify the ongoing targeting of civilian grain vessels in the northern Black Sea.

White House National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on July 20 that the Biden administration felt it was necessary to issue a “warning” about Russian disinformation on the topic.

Moscow, he said, released a video late Wednesday alleging to demonstrate the seizure and detonation of a Ukrainian sea mine.

Despite the claim, Mr. Kirby said, Russia itself is currently placing sea mines at the entrances to Ukrainian ports and targeting civilian ships carrying food to and from the region.

“Our information indicates additional sea mines in the entrances to Ukrainian ports, and yesterday we observed Russia release a video of the detection and detonation of what they claim was a Ukrainian sea mine,” Mr. Kirby said.

“We believe that this is rather a coordinated effort to justify any attacks against civilian ships in the Black Sea and then blame them on Ukraine in what we would consider… a false flag operation.”

Russian Military Targets Civilian Grain Ships

Mr. Kirby’s comments come just days after Moscow announced it would not renew the Black Sea Grain Initiative. That deal allowed ships to carry grain to and from Ukraine, provided they were inspected by a third party to ensure they were not being used to smuggle weapons.

Ukraine is the world’s fifth largest exporter of wheat, delivering more than 18 tons of food to the world’s nations every year.

Since the deal ended, Mr. Kirby said, Russia has begun targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukrainian port cities in an apparent effort to destroy Ukraine’s food supply, including its capacity to import and export grain. Russian forces are also placing sea mines around Ukrainian ports, he said.

“Russia has already announced publicly that all ships proceeding to Ukrainian ports in Black Sea waters will be considered potential carriers of military cargo, even though they are simply trying to pick up food that will feed people around the world,” Mr. Kirby said.

At least 27 people were reported hurt in Russian air strikes on Ukrainian ports this week, which set buildings ablaze and even damaged China’s consulate in Odesa.

In addition to targeting civilian grain ships, Moscow has also declared it will track any such ships entering Ukrainian ports and their flag countries as parties to the war on the Ukrainian side

To that end, Mr. Kirby said the White House was “watching very, very closely” for any sign of a Russian false flag operation that might justify increased attacks against civilian infrastructure, further jeopardizing the world’s food supply.

Likewise, he said, the Biden administration is issuing sanctions against nearly 120 entities it says are responsible for helping Russia obtain access to international finance and military technologies.

“We’re taking additional steps to hold Russia accountable for its illegal war against Ukraine,” Mr. Kirby said.

Ukraine’s Counteroffensive Stalls

Russia’s refusal to renew the Black Sea Grain Initiative comes as both Moscow and Kyiv contend increasingly narrow pathways to ensure victory in the ongoing war.

Read more here…

The Chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, James Comer (R-KY), says he plans to file “between six and 10 criminal referrals” against Hunter Biden once his committee finishes its investigation into the Biden family’s business dealings.

According to the NY Post, the charges would include sex trafficking a woman across state lines for prostitution.

“The Democrats kept saying, ‘Oh, we don’t have any evidence. You don’t have any evidence.‘ Well, [Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene] showed them evidence,” Comer told Fox Business in an interview, referring to a sexually graphic image printed on a poster from Hunter Biden’s laptop, in which he’s stuffing his manhood into a prostitute’s mouth who was allegedly paid for with company funds.

“She showed them evidence of the president’s son committing a crime, violating the Mann Act,” said Comer, adding “She showed the plane tickets, she showed the pictures, she showed the evidence. You know, there’s no question he violated it. That’s another thing that he could have been charged with.”

Comer also said that the referrals could include violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

“He was money laundering,” said Comer. “He was racketeering. He committed wire fraud. He violated the Mann Act. The list goes on and on and on.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) on Thursday released an unclassified FBI document in which a confidential human source lays out an alleged bribery scheme involving Joe and Hunter Biden, in which a Ukrainian gas giant, Burisma, hired Hunter to gain access to his then-VP father.

The House Oversight Committee previously issued a subpoena to obtain the document, with which FBI Director Christopher Wray did not comply. Though he ultimately permitted the committee members to view the FD-1023 in a secure location, the contents remained unpublished until Grassley’s Thursday release.

The document shows that the bureau had a trusted source privy to Burisma’s efforts to quash a probe from then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin and its plans to expand to the U.S. and secure a company for IPO purposes. -Just the News

To that end, Just the News has compiled major bombshells from the FD-1023 document, as compiled by journalist KanekoaTheGreat:

1. In 2014, Burisma Holdings hired Hunter Biden to influence his father, VP Joe Biden, in handling Ukraine’s chief prosecutor investigating the company for corruption. Joe Biden successfully had the prosecutor fired by threatening to withhold $1 billion in loan guarantees.

2. Burisma informed the FBI informant that the Biden bribe money had illicit intentions or was part of a criminal scheme.

3. Burisma’s CEO believed he was “coerced” to hire Hunter Biden and considered it a package deal involving VP Joe Biden’s assistance. The total payment required was $10 million.

JOHN SOLOMON:

“Back in 2019, I got to interview Victor Shokin. And he was completely unaware of what the FBI was saying, but here’s what he told me. When President Poroshenko came to him, he said Joe Biden wants me to fire you. I don’t really have a reason, but I’m going to have to do it.

He’s upset that you won’t stop investigating Burisma. Just think about that. That was mocked at the time, but now the FBI was being told something exactly the same and it wasn’t getting it from Shokin, but it was getting it from the owner of Burisma, Mykola Zlochevsky, and his top lieutenant.

This was in the Fall of 2019 before the impeachment of Donald Trump. Keep in mind Donald Trump got impeached for asking Ukraine to investigate the things that the FBI now should have investigated. It’s pretty remarkable.”  

4. The FBI informant confirmed that Burisma officials referred to Joe Biden as the “Big Guy,” supporting claims later made by Tony Bobulinski in 2020.

5. Burisma was concerned that the corruption probe into the company by Prosecutor Shokin would jeopardize their plans to acquire a US oil and gas firm and go public in America.

6. Burisma’s CEO and top official, Vadym Pozharskyi, acknowledged Hunter Biden’s lack of experience in the energy sector and were not impressed by his work, saying that he “was not smart.”

7. Burisma’s CEO boasted that tracking the $10 million payment to the Bidens would be extremely difficult and could take up to ten years to find the records.

JOHN SOLOMON:

“Finally, the FBI started receiving concerning information from this source about the Bidens and Burisma back on March 1, 2017, less than two months after Donald Trump had taken the presidency. Think about that.

We were all kept in the dark and when 2019 came around and people who reported on this were called conspiracy theorists, the FBI knew all along they had this sitting in their files. I think the most troubling thing even the agents who were supposed to investigate this case at the IRS weren’t told about this.

Just think about that. Even the people who were investigating this were kept in the dark and if it weren’t for Chuck Grassley, we wouldn’t have known about it even today.”

QUESTIONS:

Has the FBI investigated the Biden corruption allegations since March 2017?

Why wasn’t the FBI source document given to the IRS agents investigating the Bidens?

What actions did the FBI take during Donald Trump’s impeachment proceedings, considering the relevance of this information to the case?

Why did Burisma pay Hunter millions if they thought he was inexperienced, not smart, and unimpressive in his work?

Were the millions paid to Hunter by Burisma part of the bribe?

John Solomon and Amanda Head break down the top 7 Biden-Burisma bombshells from the FBI source document:

1. In 2014, Burisma Holdings hired Hunter Biden to influence his father, VP Joe Biden, in handling Ukraine’s chief prosecutor investigating the company for corruption. Joe… pic.twitter.com/V0eBe693DI

— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) July 21, 2023

The last word goes to Comer:

House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY): “I think that Joe Biden has been selling access to our enemies for decades.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX): “What’s your basis for that?”

Comer: “If you study Joe Biden like I have, he’s always been cash-strapped.” pic.twitter.com/Lhq6WRTX9E

— The Recount (@therecount) July 21, 2023

Authored by Brad Jones via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

California has expanded its travel ban to three states that restricted transgender students from participating in school sports teams that don’t align with their biological sex.

State Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on July 14 that California will restrict state-funded travel to Missouri, Nebraska, and Wyoming because of recently passed legislation in those states, bringing the total number of ban-affected states to 26.

Mr. Bonta stated in a press release that legislation targeting the transgender community is part of a “concerning trend of discriminatory practices in states across the country, aiming to roll back hard-won protections.”

California lawmakers imposed the initial travel ban in 2016 with the passage of Assembly Bill 1887, a law that prohibits state agencies from requiring employees to travel to any state that has enacted laws California deems discriminatory on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. It also prohibits state-funded or state-sponsored travel to states on the list.

The law, authored by Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell), requires the California attorney general to post and update the list of states that have been targeted under the ban. Mr. Low is one of 13 members of California’s LGBTQ Caucus who have authored and pushed gender ideology-related legislation in recent years.

The press release also stated that such laws “specifically target and marginalize transgender youth by preventing them from participating in sports in accordance with their gender identity, as well as restricting access to critical gender-affirming healthcare services.”

Mr. Bonta claimed that laws in these three states are not only discriminatory but constitute government overreach. However, opposition groups such as Our Duty, an international group that opposes transgender ideology, disagree with his assessment.

Erin Friday, co-leader of Our Duty western region, told The Epoch Times that California is instead “flexing its muscles” and “infringing on other states’ rights,” to comply with an extremist agenda.

New Bill Would Replace Travel Ban With LGBT Promotion in Other States

Ms. Friday, an attorney, also questioned why—given California’s budget shortfalls, declining economy, and exodus of businesses from the state—some Democrat lawmakers want to use state funds to promote transgenderism in other states under proposed legislation Senate Bill (SB) 447.

The office of Sen. Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), who authored the bill, said in a press release on July 14 that SB 447 would lift the travel ban to states with “anti-LGBTQ+ policies” and replace it with “a non-partisan outreach campaign to encourage acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community.”

According to the Senate appropriations committee, the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) would incur annual staffing costs of $583,000 to implement the program, and while the proposal expects the advertising funds will be covered through donations, the committee warned that should sufficient donations fail to materialize, the bill would result in a cost pressure to fund the shortfall, the magnitude of which is “unknown, but potentially significant.”

“We are in a budget crisis, the surplus is gone, and they’re going to spend more than half a million dollars to … advertise in other states?” Ms. Friday asked.

SB 447 passed the Senate Floor on May 24 with a 31-8 vote along party lines. The Assembly jobs, economic development, and the economy committee also passed the bill on July 11 with a 6-1 vote, moving it further along in the legislative process.

Nicole Pearson, attorney and founder constitutional law firm Facts Law Truth Justice, told The Epoch Times that California legislators have overstepped their bounds.

“California has gone from passive-aggressively forcing its pro-abortion and gender-affirming-care agenda by banning travel, to actively pushing it on other states with other legislation including SB 447,” Ms. Pearson said.

While she hasn’t thoroughly researched all the potential legal ramifications of SB 447, she said it smacks of unconstitutionality and is unfair to taxpayers and people, including minors, who will be the subject of “social and medical experiments.”

California is essentially promoting “abortion and gender-affirming care tourism,” she said. “It’s unreal what’s happening. I don’t think it’s ethical, and I know it’s not legal.”

Meanwhile, the expanded travel ban, she said, shows Gov. Newsom’s “complete-and-utter brazen disregard” for the United States Constitution, particularly the Full Faith and Credit Clause which requires state courts to respect the laws and judgments of other states’ courts.

“I’ve seen over the last three, going on four years now since he has been in office, and certainly since 2020, the complete dismantling of some of the most important, underlying principles of our country, including separation of powers, federalism and hierarchy of laws,” she said. “Gov. Newsom, as he gears up for his presidential run, is demonstrating to the country that he does not respect the U.S. Constitution, the supreme law of the land and that and he is going to do whatever he wants to push whatever agenda he has at the moment.”

California’s trans sanctuary state law, Senate Bill 107, authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) which took effect this year is another example of government overreach, she said.

Ms. Pearson recently testified against Senate Bill 345 at an Assembly Public Safety committee hearing on July 11 against proposed legislation by Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) that would prevent criminal and civil investigations and boards from suspending or revoking the medical licenses of doctors who perform illegal abortions or “gender-affirming care” in other states.

“I don’t even know where to start with this bill, it is so unconstitutional and illegal on its face,” she said.

Democrat lawmakers in California have not only chastised red states for passing legislation opposing or restricting so-called gender-affirming care—including the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and even gender transition surgery on minors—but are now insulating Californians to commit crimes in other states, Ms. Pearson said.

“This lack of respect for democratic political and legislative processes is undermining and jeopardizing America’s status as a constitutional republic,” she said.

A Ukrainian attack on Crimea has resulted in an ammunition depot exploding, releasing a huge plume of thick smoke into the area as the facility remains on fire Saturday, and follow-up blasts continuing.

It’s being widely reported that it was a drone strike, with international outlets citing AP to report that “the Ukrainian military appeared to confirm it had launched the drone strike, claiming through its press service that it had destroyed an oil depot and Russian arms warehouses in the Krasnohvardiiske area, although without specifying what weapons were used.” It marks the second major military depot blast in Crimea this week in the central region of the peninsula which is home to many Russian military bases and assets.

Several social media posts from the region suggested there may have been multiple drones targeting an oil depot and airstrip. Other reports indicate Storm Shadow missiles might have been used.

Loud follow-up blasts were also heard in the region (likely ammo detonating), and at one point amid the inbound attack road traffic on the Kerch Strait Bridge was briefly suspended.

Crimean Governor Sergey Aksyonov said on Saturday that initially there doesn’t appear to have been any casualties, with Russian media citing the the following:

Writing on Telegram, Aksyonov said the detonation had taken place in the Krasnogvardeysky district. “A decision has been made to evacuate the population within a 5km radius from the site of the emergency and place them in temporary accommodation facilities,“ he added.

Crimean authorities have since confirmed the evacuation of civilians within a 5km radius of the blast zone, regional media says.

Huge detonations are currently happening in the center of Crimea after the Ukrainian strikes

Reportedly, several drones & possibly Storm Shadow missiles were involved. Fleet ammunition depot & railway connection were hit in Octiabrskoe. https://t.co/KABqXo3wdd pic.twitter.com/lFfocTddgi

— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) July 22, 2023

This large-scale attack follows the sea drone stroke on the Crimean Bridge on Monday, which killed two Russian civilians and injured their 14-year old daughter. The couple had reportedly been on vacation.

The Kremlin promptly declared it a ‘terror attack’ while at the same time a Ukrainian official claimed responsibility for the major strike, according to a CNN interview.

Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) has yet to issue court summons for about 82 percent of the illegal immigrants it allowed into the United States after a federal court ordered a halt on a Biden administration immigration parole program.

In May, Judge T. Kent Wetherell II of Florida’s Northern federal court district issued a temporary restraining order (TRO), blocking the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from releasing noncitizens into the United States through the Biden administration’s “Parole with Conditions” (PWC) policy. The PWC policy allowed for illegal immigrants to be paroled into the United States under the expectation that they’d check in with ICE within 60 days and receive a Notice to Appear (NTA), which would initiate court proceedings for them to be removed from the United States.

The state of Florida sued to block the PWC policy, likening it to an immigration “honor system” that doesn’t do enough to follow up with those released into the United States. Despite Judge Wetherell’s restraining order against the policy, DHS officials proceeded to release more than 2,500 of these illegal immigrants into the United States, justifying the decision by saying that these people had already been processed into the PWC system before Judge Wetherell issued his TRO.

Judge Wetherell responded to this release of illegal immigrants with an order for ICE to provide statistics on how many people ultimately received their NTAs to begin removal proceedings. According to court records (pdf) filed in response, ICE revealed that a group of 2,572 illegal immigrants was released after the TRO, and that 1,065 (about 41.4 percent) of them never actually checked in within 60 days to receive their court summons and initiate their removal proceedings.

Of the 1,507 illegal immigrants who did check in with ICE, the agency said it only issued NTAs for 464 individuals (about 18 percent). In total, 2,108 (about 82 percent) of these immigration parolees are either awaiting their NTAs after 60 days or their whereabouts are unknown.

“These statistics are troubling to say the least,” Judge Wetherell wrote on Tuesday (pdf), in response to ICE’s court filings.

DHS Lacks Plan To Track Down Missing Illegal Immigrants: Judge

Judge Wetherell said DHS lacks any apparent plan to track down the approximately 41 percent of PWC parolees who failed to check in with ICE after being released subsequent to his TRO.

“The Court is skeptical that DHS is serious about tracking down the aliens who did not check in as directed or that it will take any action against them if it ever finds them,” Judge Wetherell wrote.

The Judge noted that ICE had similarly failed to provide any commitments to track down PWC parolees who did not report back to begin their removal proceedings. In addition to providing its tracking statistics for the 2,572 illegal immigrants DHS released, an ICE official said the agency “may take an enforcement action against those noncitizens” including issuing arrest warrants for those individuals, placing them in detention, and initiating their removal proceedings.

“Given that the initiation of removal proceedings is what was supposed to happen if the alien had checked in as directed, it is hard to understand why DHS thinks that aliens will take any of its directives seriously if their ‘punishment’ for not doing so ends up being the same thing that would have happened if they complied,” Judge Wetherell wrote.

The PWC program does not include specific measures for tracking its participants. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody had previously challenged an immigration parole program known as Parole Plus Alternatives to Detention (Parole + ATD), which actually included tracking parolees with a variety of body-worn GPS monitors. Judge Wetherell had vacated the Parole + ATD program in March, finding (pdf) that the policy conflicted with requirements in the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Act that illegal immigrants be detained from when they are apprehended to when their removal proceedings are finalized.

NTD News reached out to the DHS for comment about if and how it intends to keep track of the 2,108 illegal immigrants who have yet to receive their court summons to begin their removal proceedings. The department did not respond by the time this article was published.

Read more here…