President Trump’s firing spree of independent agency leaders is running into a 90-year-old Supreme Court case that judges have used to block many of those ousters. Now Mr. Trump’s allies are looking to the Supreme Court to overturn the case, or at least carve out new exceptions to justify the president’s house cleaning. The case, known as Humphrey’s Executor, saw the high court in 1935 shoot down an attempt by President Franklin Roosevelt to fire a...

If you were to look at Megan Montgomery's Instagram account, you'd see a beautiful, smiling woman in the prime of her life, her youth and fitness the envy of women the world over. You'd even see some photos of her with her husband (#datenight), with comments saying things like "Aww, gorgeous couple!"But beneath her picture-perfect feed was the story of a woman in an abusive relationship with her husband—one that would start with his arrest shortly after they got married, and end 10 months later with him shooting her to death in a parking lot. In a Facebook post, one of the people who was out with Megan the night of her murder detailed how her estranged husband had come to their table, put his hand on her neck and shoulder, and escorted her out of the building.She went with him willingly, but anyone familiar with abusive relationships knows that "willingly" is a subjective term. He had reportedly threatened mass violence before. Perhaps she was trying to protect the people she was with. Perhaps staying felt more dangerous to her than going with him.The couple reportedly had a volatile relationship from the start, and at one point both had restraining orders against the other. Regardless, she was killed by the man who had claimed to love her, an ex-cop who had been arrested for domestic violence and had been bailed out multiple times prior to that evening.In April of 2021, McIntosh, pleaded guilty to murdering Montgomery. As part of the plea deal, he received a 30-year prison sentence."Megan began dying on July 23, 2017, on their first date," her mother, Susann Montgomery-Clark, said in court. "Like a frog in a pot of boiling water, you gradually turn up the heat to boiling and the frog doesn't know they're dying. That's what happened to Megan. That's what domestic violence does. Anyone who met her after their first date didn't know the real Megan that he destroyed long before he killed her."Jason Bragg McIntosh, 46, pleaded guilty to the murder of Megan Louise Montgomery on Wednesday, December 2019. Montgomery was found face down withmultiple bullet wounds in an underground parking lothttps://t.co/CQMlKHjtvW pic.twitter.com/XyL99lK1f0— Wikitrusted (@Wikitrusted1) April 1, 2021 Feminist News wrote the gist of Megan's story on Facebook, sharing photos from the couple's wedding to illustrate how invisible domestic violence can be to those outside of it. "THIS is the face of domestic violence," they wrote.But what was perhaps most striking about the post was the deluge of comments from women describing their own experiences with domestic violence. Comment after comment explaining how a partner always made them think the abuse was their fault, how restraining orders were repeatedly violated, how they were charmed and loved into questioning whether the verbal abuse or physical violence was really that bad. Story after story of how they didn't see it coming, how slowly and insidiously it escalated, how terrifying it was to try to leave.Those of us who have not been in abusive relationships don't always understand why people don't leave them. But the dynamics of abuse—the emotional manipulation, the gaslighting, the self-esteem destruction, the fear and shame—are well documented.Unfortunately, those dynamics can prove deadly. Domestic violence murders have been on the rise in recent years, going up 19% between 2014 and 2017. And sadly, our justice system does not protect domestic violence survivors as well as it should.Part of the challenge of prosecuting in domestic violence cases is that victims are not always willing to cooperate, either out of fear or shame or embarrassment, or unhealthy loyalty. According to some estimates, domestic violence victims recant their testimony up to 70% of the time. That's why some are pushing for evidence-based prosecution without requiring victim testimony, much like we try murder cases. A woman afraid for her life.via Canva/PhotosBut some, like University of Maryland law professor Leah Goodmark, argue that pushing for more law enforcement hasn't proven to reduce domestic violence rates. Addressing issues of poverty, childhood trauma, attitudes toward gender equality, and other risk factors for domestic violence may be more effective by stopping violence before it starts.While abuse happens to both men and women, women are more likely to be victims and much more likely to be murdered by a partner. Thankfully, there are many resources for domestic violence survivors to seek help, whether you're trying to determine if your relationship is abusive or trying to figure out if, when, and how to leave. The National Domestic Violence Hotline (www.thehotline.org or call 1−800−799−7233) has a wealth of information on domestic violence and what to do about it. The website even has a live chat where you can get your questions answered and receive assistance making a safety plan for you and your family.If you are afraid of your partner or other loved one, there's something wrong. No one should live in fear of the people who are supposed to love them the most.This article originally appeared six years ago.

"I had these enormous ambitions".

The essential starting points.

While he died far too young, he inspired generations with his sound and unique style.

While he died far too young, he inspired generations with his sound and unique style.

Rumors are swirling that Republicans are weighing a tax hike on $1 million-plus earners. This would create a brand new top rate of 40 percent or even higher. Such a GOP-sponsored tax increase would be an excellent tool — provided that Republicans wish to splinter their ranks, sink President Donald J. Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill, slow the economy, and sandbag themselves in the 2026 midterm elections. Aside from that, this is a brilliant idea. “Terrible idea,” says Larry Kudlow, a veteran free-market advocate and host of Fox Business Network’s Kudlow program. Trump 45’s chief economic advisor also told me: “Trump should reward, not punish, success. Small businesses would be hurt badly by such a tax hike. The Laffer Curve shows that revenues will decline, not rise, due to tax avoidance. The top 1 percent already pays 45 percent of income taxes.” Steve Moore, co-founder and chairman of Unleash Prosperity, warns, “This would be a total GOP betrayal.” The co-architect of 2017’s Trump/Republican Tax Cuts and Jobs Act added: “Almost all of the GOP members of Congress signed a pledge never to raise tax rates. Now, some of them sound like Bernie Sanders: ‘Sock it to the rich!’” Chart: Unleash Prosperity. Data: Tax Policy Center Unleash Prosperity’s recent chart shows that if Republicans hiked the top rate to 40 percent-plus, they would take a bigger bite out of taxpayers’ hides than Democrats Bill Clinton, Obama, and Joe Biden ever did. What a shameful distinction for Republicans to hold or even contemplate. Parroting The Squad’s “eat the rich” talking points will buy Republicans no love on the Left. And on the Right, the ensuing rebellion among the overwhelming majority of Republicans (who understand that God created the GOP to cut taxes) would shatter the fragile unity required to navigate the Big, Beautiful Bill through each congressional chamber’s three-seat Republican majority. (RELATED: Keeping the Tax Cuts and Rebooting the Tax Code) President Trump, who justifiably prides himself on making promises and keeping them, pledged this to taxpayers while campaigning last year: “I’ll give you a Trump middle class, upper class, lower class, business class, big tax cut.” There is nothing there about tax hikes on millionaires — or anyone else. It would be bad enough if Democrats controlled the White House and Senate, and the Republican House reluctantly agreed to raise the top tax rate as a firewall against an even broader tax onslaught. But Republicans are not at the mercy of Democrats. At last check, the GOP governs the Oval Office, the Senate floor, and the House speaker’s gavel. So, with command of these three levers of power, why the hell is any Republican letting the phrase “tax increase” cross his mind — even fleetingly? Imagine if, God forbid, Kamala Harris won the White House, Chuck Schumer (D–New York) ruled the Senate, and a Speaker Hakeem Jeffries (D–New York) led the House. Under those conditions, would the wind carry whispers that Democrats were pondering a bill to limit abortions to women over age 21? This would not happen. Full stop. And yet, under equal-but-opposite circumstances, tax fighters have had to devote precious time and finite energy to explain the case against tax hikes, for the 10,000th time — but now, to convince fellow Republicans that this approach is idiotic. “President Trump campaigned on his commitment to cut every American’s tax rates and to extend those lower rates into the future,” Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) President and Founder Grover Norquist told me. “Kamala Harris promised to raise the top rate back up to Obama levels. It is disgusting that some White House staffers think they are more important than President Trump. They are not. Trump is right to fight to extend his tax cuts for all Americans.” “I’ve been monitoring talk radio, and not one conservative likes this idea,” said John Kartch, ATR’s communications director. “No Republican senator or congressman ran for office promising a tax-rate hike.” Kartch continued: “The tax-rate hike to 40 percent is an idea proposed by Kamala Harris last year. President Trump defeated Kamala Harris in the election, and President Trump rightly criticized her for the 40 percent tax rate idea. There is no reason to adopt Kamala’s tax policy.” “Putting a hike in the top income tax rate into what everybody thought would be the Trump tax CUT bill is absolute madness,” American Commitment President Phil Kerpen argued via X. “Not only would it destroy the Republican brand, but it would risk collapsing the bill and letting taxes go up on everyone. And for what? It would raise little or no revenue. It’s a trap.” Economic malpractice aside, turning the tax-cutting GOP into the tax-hiking Republican Party would be political hemlock. As former House Speaker Newt Gingrich reflected in the Daily Caller on, appropriately enough, April 15: “In 1988, then-Vice President George H.W. Bush pledged ‘Read my lips, no new taxes’ at the Republican National Convention (which earned huge applause). Yet, in 1990, President Bush allowed his senior staff and the Democrats to talk him into breaking his word. Bush’s tax increase was a catastrophic decision. It weakened the economy, split the Republican Party, and directly led to Bush’s defeat in 1992.” Seven years after Daddy Bush died, conservatives still refuse to forgive him for this politico-economic sin — nor should they. National Review perfectly encapsulated conservative revulsion at a potential GOP tax increase: “If this is a trial balloon, it doesn’t even deserve to achieve enough altitude to get properly shot down.” This repugnant tax-hike chatter might be fueled, in part, to find “pay fors,” so that the Congressional Budget Office’s static score of a final tax bill does not price it too high for passage. The answer here is not for the GOP to declare a War on Wealth. (RELATED: Budget Hawks v. Tax Cutters: The Republican Dilemma) Republicans should stop being so goddamn nice: If the head of the Congressional Budget Office insists on performing static analysis on tax bills — which ignores tax reduction’s supply-side, growth-fueling, and revenue-producing effects — sack him and hire a supply-side economist, already, to helm the CBO and deploy dynamic scoring. Unleash Prosperity co-founders Steve Forbes, Arthur Laffer, and Stephen Moore summarized the salutary impact of tax-rate reduction that dynamic scoring captures, as the trio wrote in Wednesday’s New York Post: History has shown time and again that reducing marginal tax rates — particularly on individuals, entrepreneurs and small businesses — unleashes economic growth, expands the tax base, and ultimately generates more government revenue, not less. Raising tax rates, on the other hand, nearly always has the same three consequences: less revenue than expected, slower economic growth, and reduced income taxes paid by the rich — as higher-income filers hire accountants to take advantage of loopholes and avoid those higher rates. If Republicans cannot — at long last — place a dynamic-scoring expert atop CBO, then who really commands Congress? Does anyone doubt for three seconds that Democrats would sack that same supply-sider if they regained the House and Senate in November 2026? No. This is exactly what they would do — swiftly and without flinching. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R–Louisiana) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R–South Dakota) should assign a dynamic scorer to direct the CBO right now, before the Big, Beautiful Bill arrives for valuation. Who cares how the Washington Post or Old Gray Lady would react? They despise Republicans. So, GOP leaders should stop worrying about them and get on with it. As for boosting the top rate even one basis point above its current 37 percent, free-marketeers must heap non-stop, red-hot scorn atop this rotten idea, from withering heights, until Trump, Johnson, and Thune very publicly drive stakes through its heart, string garlic buds around its neck, and wave crosses in its face until it spontaneously combusts. READ MORE from Deroy Murdock: Is Georgetown on the Verge of a Financial Breakdown? Randy Fine Is Right for Florida-6 US House Seat This Aspect of the Atlantic’s “Scoop” Is All Wet ​Deroy Murdock is a Manhattan-based Fox News Contributor. The post Down With GOP Tax-Hike Talk! appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

Evanescence’s “Afterlife” garnered over six million audio streams and over five million views of the lyric video in its first week. The song is also featured in Netflix’s adult animated urban fantasy action television series “Devil May Cry.“ “This is the first of many (new tracks),” stated Evanescence vocalist Amy Lee (pictured above) “We are working on a lot of songs right now for the new album, but this came up through Netflix, and we were just really excited to have an excuse to get in there right away.” The song was co-written by producer, songwriter and musician Alex Seaver, professionally known as Mako, and Lee. It was co-produced by Nick Raskulinecz and Seaver. ### The post Evanescence’s Performance Video For “Afterlife” appeared first on RockinTown.

Gang of Romanian women apprehended after reign of terror in NYC suburbs

from Redacted News: TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/