Religious liberty is not supposed to disappear the moment an American enters a federal office, applies for a grant or deals with a government regulator. President Trump’s Justice Department just issued a government-wide reminder: faith is not a private hobby that bureaucrats may tolerate only when convenient. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche released sweeping updated guidance Thursday directing every executive department and agency to account for religious liberty in federal employment, contracting, grants, rulemaking and enforcement. It is the first major rewrite of the department’s religious-liberty guidance since 2017. That alone makes this bigger than a routine legal memo. The rules Washington agencies write can reach a worker’s schedule, a ministry’s eligibility for public funds, a parent’s authority and even a church’s internal decisions. Blanche is telling the executive branch that the Constitution still applies in every one of those places. IN GOD WE TRUST: President Trump's Department of Justice expands religious liberty protections across the federal government, directing all executive agencies to give greater weight to faith-based rights when writing regulations, enforcing law, and accommodating employees'… pic.twitter.com/c7TGr7pE5W — Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) July 23, 2026 The Justice Department said the memorandum incorporates nine years of Supreme Court decisions and requires agencies to comply with the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and other federal protections. The department stressed that religious exercise includes daily conduct as well as private belief and formal worship. Under the new framework, agencies must consider religious-liberty consequences while policies are still being developed. They are instructed to appoint officers who can review regulatory proposals, examine enforcement plans and raise compliance concerns before a federal action is finalized. The guidance also requires agencies to take religious-liberty objections seriously when citizens submit them during public comment periods. In the federal workplace, it points officials toward lawful accommodations involving schedules, religious expression and other practices that can come into conflict with an employee’s duties. Religious organizations receive their own protections. Agencies may not force a ministry to surrender its religious character or lawful hiring rights as the price of participating in a federal program, and faith-based groups must be allowed to compete for grants and contracts on equal footing with secular organizations. The memo reaches two other areas where government pressure can become deeply personal. It reaffirms that parents have a constitutional interest in directing the religious upbringing of their children. It also warns agencies against interfering with church autonomy, including a religious body’s control over internal governance and certain employment decisions. Those are not abstract disputes for the people caught inside them. A denied accommodation can cost someone a job. A biased grant rule can shut a faith-based charity out of a program. Government intrusion into a church’s leadership can strike at the institution’s ability to remain a church at all. The most important change may be one of timing. Too often, religious liberty becomes a federal concern only after a citizen has hired a lawyer and spent years fighting an agency in court. This guidance orders agencies to ask the constitutional question before they impose the burden. Fox News reported that the update draws on major Supreme Court victories that changed how officials must evaluate religious exercise. One is Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, where the Court protected a public high school football coach who prayed after games. Another is Groff v. DeJoy, a workplace-accommodation case involving a Christian postal employee who sought Sundays off. The Court rejected the weak standard many employers had used to deny religious accommodations and required them to show a substantial burden in the overall context of their business. First Liberty Institute President Kelly Shackelford said the new guidance should help ensure that the federal government respects religious-liberty rights while carrying out President Trump’s policies. His organization was involved in both of those Supreme Court cases. Together, the rulings make the government’s obligation harder to evade. Officials cannot treat religious expression as presumptively suspicious, and employers cannot deny an accommodation simply because honoring it would create a minor inconvenience. The response from religious-liberty advocates came quickly. Today, the DOJ announced the release of updated guidance on federal protections for religious liberty. We are grateful for this administrations’ commitment to safeguarding the constitutional rights of religious individuals and organizations.https://t.co/MsSYx2LjVd — Concerned Women for America LAC (@CWforA) July 23, 2026 A guidance document is not a magic wand. It will not eliminate every dispute, and it does not guarantee that every requested accommodation must be granted. The law still allows the government to defend a genuine compelling interest and employers to reject accommodations that create a substantial hardship. But the default posture matters. Federal officials are now being instructed to look for ways to protect religious exercise, not reasons to dismiss it. That standard applies to people of every faith. It protects the popular belief and the unpopular one, the large denomination and the small congregation, the federal employee and the ministry seeking to serve its community. Blanche put the principle plainly: Americans must be free to live out their faith in daily life, including when they interact with their own government. For years, too many officials treated religious liberty as something that belonged inside a home or house of worship and nowhere else. The First Amendment never said that. Now the Justice Department is putting the entire executive branch on notice. The federal government works under the Constitution. The Constitution does not work around the convenience of federal bureaucrats. This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here. The post DOJ Just Put Federal Agencies On Notice Over Religious Liberty appeared first on 100PercentFedUp.com.

by Aaron Gentzler You remember the summer of 2020. Boarded-up storefronts. City blocks burning on the evening news. Police precincts overrun. All told… America saw $2 billion in damage. With at least 19 people dead. CNN called it “fiery but peaceful protests.” But Jim Rickards — a former advisor to the CIA, Pentagon, and four White House administrations — remembers it differently. He says these riots were engineered. And the same machine is firing up again right now — aimed squarely at Donald Trump. Only this time, he says, it’s far worse. “America is facing a Mid-Term Meltdown unlike any we’ve seen before.” And the damage won’t stop at boarded-up storefronts — it could reach the retirement account you’ve spent your whole life building. He laid the whole thing out on camera — who’s driving it, what they’re really after, and the moves he’s making to protect his own family before it breaks. You can watch it, free of charge, right here. (Note: Thank you for supporting businesses like the one presenting a sponsored message in this article and ordering through the included links, which benefits WLTReport. We appreciate your support!  MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!) This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here. The post The People Who Burned Cities to Beat Trump are Back and They’re FURIOUS appeared first on 100PercentFedUp.com.

People put money in a church offering believing it will keep the ministry running, help families and serve the community. A federal jury has now found that Louisiana pastor Dale Sanders used church money for gambling, dining and his own living expenses—and that he tried to obstruct the investigation when federal authorities came looking. Sanders, 56, of Kenner, was convicted July 17 on 25 counts involving wire fraud, access device fraud and obstruction of a federal investigation. The verdict followed a five-day trial before U.S. District Judge Brandon S. Long. This was not an accusation announced at a press conference. It was a verdict returned by a jury after hearing the evidence. CASE UPDATE: After hearing FBI New Orleans' case, the jury finds 56-year-old Dale Sanders guilty of stealing church funds to pay for his own gambling, dining, and living expenses. Now the pastor faces up to 20 years in prison. The @EDLANews press release details the case:… pic.twitter.com/Ae5HCDeQIX — FBI New Orleans (@FBINewOrleans) July 21, 2026 The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana said the evidence showed Sanders defrauded two congregations identified in the federal release as Church A and Church B. Prosecutors proved that he withdrew church funds and transferred money from a church bank account into accounts he controlled. The scheme relied on false promises and representations, according to the government. Sanders also used a church debit card for unauthorized personal transactions, giving him another route into money that had been entrusted to the congregation. Altogether, the government said Sanders received more than $340,000 in cash, goods and services that did not belong to him. The destination of that money makes the betrayal even uglier: gambling, dining and ordinary living expenses. Money entrusted for ministry was treated like private income. The jury also convicted Sanders of obstruction after prosecutors showed that he supplied a falsified record in response to a federal grand jury subpoena. So this did not end with unauthorized charges and transfers. When the investigation reached the document stage, the jury found that Sanders answered with a false record. MinistryWatch identified the churches when Sanders was indicted in the spring as Fifth African Baptist Church in New Orleans and Second New Guide Missionary Baptist Church in Metairie. The outlet reported that he served as pastor of both congregations. The original federal indictment focused on alleged debit-card transactions between April 2020 and April 2024. It also sought forfeiture of approximately $343,293 and accused Sanders of falsifying a 2023 contribution statement to interfere with the federal inquiry. At the indictment stage, Sanders denied stealing from either church. He argued in a public video that Second New Guide had experienced financial-management problems, that his salary had been cut and that another unnamed individual was behind the accusations. He was entitled to make that defense. Then the case went to trial, prosecutors presented the records, and the jury convicted him. A video montage posted Thursday paired images of Sanders with footage of him preaching from a pulpit. The sermon footage was left undated. The contrast is difficult to miss. Louisiana pastor Dale Sanders found guilty of stealing over $340K from churches and using it to gamble and fund a lavish lifestyle. Now, as he faces up to 20 years in prison, he told his congregants to “pray for me and my enemies, and ask god to work for him” pic.twitter.com/GSOXdFqucc — My Mixtapez (@mymixtapez) July 23, 2026 WDSU reported that sentencing is set for October 13. Sanders faces a statutory maximum of up to 20 years in prison, along with a potential fine, supervised release and mandatory assessments. The potential fine is $250,000 or the greater of twice the gross gain or twice the gross loss. The court may also impose up to three years of supervised release after imprisonment and a $100 mandatory assessment for every count of conviction. FBI New Orleans investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathryn McHugh and Tracey Knight of the Financial Crimes Unit prosecuted it. That 20-year figure is the statutory ceiling, not a prediction of the sentence Judge Long will impose. The punishment will come after the court reviews the federal sentencing rules, Sanders’ history, the financial harm and the arguments presented by both sides. The verdict, however, is already in. Church fraud carries a wound that an ordinary balance sheet cannot show. A congregation is held together by trust. Members give because they believe the person standing behind the pulpit understands that every dollar represents sacrifice—sometimes from people who have very little to spare. When that trust is exploited, the damage does not stop at the bank account. It reaches the elderly member who gave faithfully, the family that believed it was supporting ministry and every honest pastor forced to answer for another man’s conduct. Sanders alone is responsible for Sanders’ conduct. His conviction is no excuse to smear every church or every minister. A title, a collar and a pulpit cannot become shields against scrutiny. Churches need receipts, independent review, multiple sets of eyes on accounts and leaders willing to ask hard questions before hundreds of thousands of dollars disappear. Faith does not require financial blindness. Sanders asked two congregations to trust him with spiritual authority and access to their money. A federal jury found that he abused both. Sentencing will determine how much time he serves. The verdict has already exposed where the money went—and what that betrayal cost. This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here. The post Louisiana Pastor Convicted In $340,000 Church Fraud Scheme — Here’s Where The Money Went appeared first on 100PercentFedUp.com.

A Secret Service agent assigned to Vice President JD Vance’s protective detail has reportedly been pulled from duty over a suspected leak to the press. The agency has opened an internal investigation, and a criminal inquiry could follow. This goes far beyond an ordinary personnel dispute. The allegation strikes at the trust required between a protectee and the people given access to his movements, family and security operation. When that trust breaks, the consequences can be deadly. The Associated Press and CBS News report that the Secret Service has confirmed an internal investigation involving a member of Vance’s security team. Agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the allegations concern compromised operational and information security. Guglielmi also disclosed that the matter could become a criminal inquiry. The Secret Service has not publicly identified the person under investigation or explained precisely what information was allegedly disclosed. The agency nevertheless made the stakes unmistakable. It said conduct that could threaten the safety of a protectee will not be tolerated, a warning that moves this well beyond office gossip or an embarrassing complaint. Vance’s office referred questions back to the Secret Service. That is the proper line while investigators determine whether a trusted member of the detail actually exposed information that should have remained inside the protective operation. A Secret Service agent on VP @JDVance’s security detail has been put on administrative leave after a suspected leak, CNN reports. — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) July 22, 2026 There is an important distinction here: the Secret Service officially confirmed an investigation involving a member of the detail, while the administrative-leave detail comes from news reporting. CNN reports that the individual is an agent who was placed on administrative leave after being suspected of leaking information for a story about Vance’s travel. A source familiar with the matter said the story included details tied to the vice president’s movements. The investigation is connected to a July 15 report claiming that some agents privately complained about last-minute travel requests involving Vance and his family. Whether those complaints were fair is separate from whether protected operational information was improperly handed to a reporter. CNN said the publication of operational details raised alarms inside the Secret Service, the White House and among FBI officials. Those alarms prove nothing by themselves, but they explain why the response has been swift and serious. No criminal charge has been announced, and administrative leave is not a finding that the allegation is true. The investigation now has to establish what was shared, who shared it and whether any disclosure created a real security vulnerability. Vance Security-Team Member Faces Potential Criminal Inquiry Over News Leak — NewsLooks (@Newslooks2) July 23, 2026 Protective agents inevitably witness private moments, abrupt schedule changes and decisions that frustrate them. Their job demands discretion precisely because that access is so extensive. If an agent believes government resources are being misused, lawful oversight channels exist. An inspector general, supervisors and congressional oversight are available without exposing operational details to the public. Some leaks are not crimes, and the person under investigation remains entitled to due process. Anyone entrusted with the safety of the vice president and his family cannot treat sensitive travel or security information as material for a press narrative. A protective detail cannot function if its members become anonymous sources against the people they are assigned to protect. The Secret Service has endured enough hard lessons about communication failures, security gaps and accountability. It must follow the evidence wherever it leads and disclose the outcome without compromising the very information at issue. If the allegation is substantiated, a quiet transfer will not be enough. Compromising operational security around the vice president demands real accountability. This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here. The post Secret Service Agent on VP Vance’s Detail Benched — Criminal Investigation Could Be Next appeared first on 100PercentFedUp.com.

A senior career official inside the Department of the Navy was recorded saying he wanted to outlast President Trump’s administration and use his influence to reverse its policies once the political winds changed. The Navy’s response came within hours. Undercover footage released Wednesday identifies the man as Brandon Newsom, described in the report as a director of business operations in the Office of the Secretary of the Navy and a 16-year employee. In the recording, Newsom speaks openly about waiting for another election and undoing administration decisions from inside the federal bureaucracy. He concedes that he lacks formal authority, then says, “I have the influence” and “I can undo whatever’s been done.” He also describes Washington as a place where people do not reveal everything they know. Political disagreement is one thing. Presenting bureaucratic longevity as a tool to reverse the choice voters made is something far more serious. Original undercover footage documenting the senior Navy official’s statements. — James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) July 22, 2026 The recording covers several administration policies that Newsom opposes. The most consequential portion, however, is his stated intent to remain in place and use his influence after a future election rather than his list of political grievances. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management explains that Schedule Policy/Career covers a limited set of confidential or policy-influencing career positions. Those jobs remain merit-based, while the framework changes adverse-action procedures for poor performance or misconduct and preserves protections against whistleblower retaliation, discrimination and other prohibited personnel practices. In the recording, Newsom says his position had been placed under the new framework. His frustration provides a blunt example of the accountability problem President Trump’s order was designed to confront: employees in policy-influencing roles who may view protected career status as insulation from elected leadership. Career civil servants can hold political beliefs of their own. They are still entrusted to carry out lawful orders and administer policy faithfully, and an announced intention to wait out one administration and reverse its work goes straight at that trust. No evidence released so far shows that Newsom sabotaged an order or committed a crime. The video documents a troubling statement on its own: a senior employee describing official influence as an instrument for future political reversal. Hours after the footage appeared, the Navy’s official account responded directly. The department said the statements and apparent intent to leverage a government position against the direction of elected leaders were incompatible with the standards expected of its personnel. The Department of the Navy’s official response to the undercover footage. — Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao (@SECNAV) July 22, 2026 The department placed the individual on administrative leave effective immediately. It said the review would determine the next steps needed for accountability and the integrity of the Navy’s mission. Administrative leave is not a firing, and the Navy has announced no final misconduct finding or criminal charge. The review now has to determine whether Newsom’s words reflected private venting or an intent that crossed into his official duties. Removing him from duty while that question is examined was the right first move. A senior employee cannot openly describe his government influence as a political weapon and expect the chain of command to shrug. Americans elect presidents to set lawful executive-branch policy. Career service provides continuity and expertise; it does not create a private veto over the voters or a license to turn government authority against the administration in power. This episode shows exactly why accountability inside the permanent bureaucracy matters. Senior officials entrusted with influence must answer to the Constitution, the law and the lawful chain of command, regardless of who occupies the White House. If the Navy confirms that these statements represented a genuine intent to undermine President Trump’s lawful agenda from within, administrative leave should be the beginning of the accountability process. This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here. The post Senior Navy Official Caught On Camera Vowing To Undo President Trump’s Agenda — Then The Navy Stepped In appeared first on 100PercentFedUp.com.