The FBI isn’t commenting after several of the law enforcement agency’s employees participated in an LGBTQ ”Pride” parade in West Hollywood, California.  At least a dozen uniformed FBI agents, some carrying handguns, marched Sunday in the city’s annual “Pride” parade, according to video posted on X.  The FBI employees waved LGBTQ rainbow flags or the pink and blue flag of the transgender movement. One wore a shirt emblazoned with a rainbow-colored version of the letters spelling FBI.  Individual FBI employees have participated in Pride parades before in the past five or more years in California.  FBI agents with their guns pic.twitter.com/F3de4DMHPC— Kate Burns (@Katerqburns) June 2, 2024 The Daily Signal asked the FBI to comment on its policy regarding employees’ political advocacy and whether it is concerned about alienating some Americans. The law enforcement agency didn’t respond to the request before publication.  One authority on executive branch policy said the FBI agents’ behavior is “an abuse of their positions.” “Socially liberal priorities, especially on sexuality and gender, are deeply divisive and irrelevant to the mission of the FBI,” said GianCarlo Canaparo, a senior legal fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies. Although federal law allows FBI agents to advocate some causes, that doesn’t make it a wise move, Canaparo argued.  “The reason that these agents wore their FBI gear to the parade is to identify their employer with their political views, as if the FBI favors their views over others’ views,” the legal scholar told The Daily Signal. “That’s an abuse of their positions, and it further blemishes the FBI’s already tarnished reputation for neutrality.”  “To begin the process of restoring its muddied reputation, the FBI should forbid its employees from dragging its name into divisive political disputes,” Canaparo said.  Bureau employees joined California’s Pride celebrations in the past, including in July 2019 in San Diego and during Pride Month in 2023 in San Francisco.  Participation by FBI employees Sunday comes after President Joe Biden’s administration warned of possible security threats for LGBTQ events ahead of Pride Month this June.  The FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and State Department all posted statements last month urging the public to safeguard against violence or “foreign terrorist” activity directed at LGBTQ-related gatherings.  The post FBI Agents March, Wave LGBTQ Flags at California ‘Pride’ Parade appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Imagine opening your home and your heart to orphans and other children who need shelter, only to find the government demanding that you stop, not because you’d be a threat to the kids, but because you don’t believe the state religion. That’s not a hypothetical—it actually happened in Vermont, to two Christian families who foster children in their homes, while daring to disagree with the state’s new established religion, transgender orthodoxy. As my colleague Mary Margaret Olohan exclusively reported, Brian and Kaitlyn Wuoti and Michael and Rebecca Gantt sued the Vermont Department for Children and Families on Tuesday, because the state agency gave them an ultimatum: Endorse our religion or give up fostering. The Christian religious freedom law firm Alliance Defending Freedom is representing them. These families have adopted five children between them, but Vermont ruled them unfit to continue giving shelter to the most vulnerable young people, all because they disagree with transgender orthodoxy. They’re suing, alleging that Vermont is violating the First Amendment by discriminating on the basis of religion and by abridging the families’ rights to free speech and free association. The licensing rules for foster homes in Vermont state that applicants and foster parents “shall exhibit … respect for the worth of all individuals, regardless of race, color, national origin, ancestry, culture, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual identity, and physical or mental ability.” Christians like the Wuotis and the Gantts do respect people regardless of claimed gender identity. They just disagree with the gender identity. The rules also bar foster parents from “engaging in any form of discrimination against a foster child based on race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, or disability,” and they state that “foster parents shall support children in wearing hairstyles, clothing, and accessories affirming of the child’s racial, cultural, tribal, religious, or gender identity.” Vermont-DCF-Foster-RegsDownload These rules require foster parents to adopt transgender orthodoxy, and the Vermont Department of Children and Families has used them to apply a religious litmus test. The department presented both families with a questionnaire about whether they would “affirm” a hypothetical transgender identity of a hypothetical transgender child. They responded by stating their faith, and the department revoked their foster care licenses. “Gender identity” is a euphemistic term for the religious idea that, in addition to a physical body, each person has a quasi-spiritual identity that should be considered more real than that person’s biological sex. Unlike biological sex, for which there is a tremendous amount of scientific and material evidence, there is no evidence for this “gender identity.” At best, it is a metaphysical concept taken on faith, much like promises of life after death. At worst, it is an excuse for predatory men to victimize women in private spaces, to win an edge over women in sports, or to confuse children about sex and make them more vulnerable to abuse. Adopting this view isn’t just a matter of decency and respect like calling a man “sir.” It’s a statement of faith in a metaphysical realm. When the state says you must refer to a man as a woman, it’s forcing its worldview upon you, and the Wuotis and the Gantts had the gall to say no. Vermont’s Department of Children and Families didn’t insist that these families adopt this worldview in order to serve a particular child the Wuotis and the Gantts wanted to foster or adopt. Rather, it treats gender ideology as the basic statement of faith required for all foster families. Any dissenters must be purged. Vermont isn’t exactly awash in potential foster parents. The department told a local CBS affiliate in May 2023 that there are typically about 1,060 children in state custody, and approximately 900 licensed foster families. Rather than helping the vulnerable, it seems the Department of Children and Families is prioritizing its religious commitment to gender ideology. Alliance Defending Freedom, writing the legal complaint on behalf of the Christian families, wrote, “Vermont would prefer children have no home than to place them with families of faith with these views.” That’s chilling, but it also seems quite accurate. Indeed, Vermont’s policy would not just prevent conservative Christians who believe that God made humans male and female from fostering or adopting children—it would prevent any family that dares to dissent from gender ideology from doing so. That would include traditional Jews, traditional Muslims, and atheists who adopt the scientific view that sex is binary. 2024.6.3-Wuoti-Complaint-scrubbedDownload This isn’t just anti-Christian discrimination—it’s a religious test applied to the foster care system. Sadly, this logic extends far beyond Vermont. Under President Joe Biden, the Department of Health and Human Services adopted a rule barring foster parents who refuse to “affirm” kids’ transgender identities, comparing a lack of “affirmation” to child abuse. This state religion threatens parental rights even outside the foster care context. California has become a “sanctuary state” for “gender-affirming care,” giving California courts custody of a child if someone takes that child away from his or her parents for the purpose of mutilating that child’s body to make him or her resemble the opposite sex. Meanwhile, at least one lawmaker in Virginia has proposed a bill redefining child abuse to include situations where parents might inflict “mental injury on the basis of the child’s gender identity.” Transgender advocates may see these moves as helpful attempts to protect children, but they represent a government endorsement of a religion—a religion at odds not only with traditional forms of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and other faiths, but also with biology itself. This intrusion into matters of faith deserves loud condemnation, and the Wuotis and the Gantts deserve praise for taking this issue to the courts. The post MASK OFF: Vermont Foster Care Rule Reveals the Left’s Terrifying New State Religion appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Minneapolis Public Schools passed a new “Gender Inclusion” policy allowing boys who identify as girls to share restrooms, locker rooms, and overnight-trip hotel rooms with females.   The School Board unanimously adopted a policy stating that “gender-expansive” students can use facilities and participate in programs consistent with their “gender identity” at an April 23 meeting reviewed by The Daily Signal.  The Minnesota district stated priorities in determining transgender students’ preferred facilities are maximizing the transgender students’ “social integration” and “comfort,” and “minimizing stigmatization,” rather than protecting the safety of female students in restrooms, locker rooms, and other facilities.   The district, comprising 97 schools and more than 36,000 students, will “in no case” require transgender students to use a restroom or locker room that conflicts with the gender they identify with, according to the policy.   “Transgender” is defined as “people whose gender identity or expression is different from that traditionally associated with an assigned sex at birth” in the resolution.   Minneapolis Public Schools will never require a transgender student to use a single-stall restroom, meaning any boy who identifies as a girl can enter the girls’ restroom. The district will work with “transgender and gender-expansive student[s] to determine which restrooms are most comfortable for the student.”  Minneapolis Public Schools did not respond to The Daily Signal’s questions about whether it would take any measures to protect the safety of girls in bathrooms, locker rooms, and other sex-segregated spaces.  This comes after a Virginia judge found a transgender-identifying biological male guilty of sexually assaulting a girl in a girls’ restroom in Loudoun County in 2021.  Girls could have to share a bedroom with a male on overnight school trips under the new policy.   “All students shall be permitted to participate in all school trips in a manner that corresponds with their gender identity,” the policy says. “In planning school trips, staff is expected to assess the student’s needs in collaboration with the student and/or the student’s parent(s)/guardian(s) and make reasonable efforts to provide an acceptable accommodation to the student.”  Students can also participate in physical education classes, health classes, and school sports in accordance with their preferred gender identity, though biological males are dominating girls’ high school sports across the country.   Sophomore Aayden Gallagher, who identifies as female, beat seven girls in the 200-meter dash at an Oregon state meet on May 18. Lizzy Cohen Bidwell, a Connecticut resident whose name at birth was Lucas, qualified in mid-March for the national meet by taking first place in the girls’ high jump in a regional competition.    The purpose of the so-called Gender Inclusion policy is to address the “inequities some students, including intersex, transgender, two-spirit, gender expansive, non-binary, and gender-questioning students, confront as they navigate a system designed using a gender binary model,” according to the resolution. “The students and staff of Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) deserve respectful and inclusive learning environments that value students’ gender identity and gender expression,” the policy reads.   That policy defines “gender expansive” as an “umbrella term that is used to describe individuals whose gender expression, gender identity, or gender role is fluid and/or may differ from gender norms associated with their sex assigned at birth.”  A student “in any grade” who requests to be referred to by a name or gender different from his legal ones has “the right to be referred to at school by a name and pronouns that align with their gender identity” in the district after the policy’s adoption.  Gender is a social construct, according to the district’s policy, while “gender identity” is a person’s “sense or psychological knowledge” of their gender, which can differ from “sex or gender assigned at birth.”  The district’s superintendent, Ed Graff, is responsible for providing training on the “Gender Inclusion” policy and establishing additional regulations. He did not respond to the question of whether he would promulgate a rule to protect girls from the potential dangers associated with males sharing their private spaces.   “It is disappointing, but not surprising, to see the Minneapolis School Board’s activism and willingness to put the rights and safety of some students over others in order to advance a very narrow social agenda,” Minnesota homeschooling mother of three and founder of the Minnesota Parents’ Alliance Cristine Trooien told The Daily Signal. The district already compromises student and teacher safety with its “ideologically driven approach to addressing student conduct, discipline, and incident reporting,” she said. “Unfortunately for the families they serve, [Minneapolis Public Schools are] getting very little right when it comes to policymaking. Their misguided priorities, irresponsible decisions, and unaccountable leadership [have] resulted in dramatic declines in achievement and skyrocketing absenteeism, violence, and disorder in the buildings, as well as a $115 million deficit,” Trooien said. The post ‘Gender Inclusion’ Policy in Minneapolis Schools Allows Boys in Girls’ Restrooms, Locker Rooms   appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The FBI has reinstated the security clearance of a whistleblower who questioned the narrative about confidential informants and the Capitol riot, and who said that Director Christopher Wray was not truthful.  Marcus Allen, an FBI staff operations specialist who was suspended without pay for two years, dropped his retaliation complaint against the FBI in a letter Tuesday to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz.  But Allen asked Horowitz to release additional information for Congress to review.  Allen testified in May 2023 before the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.  The news comes days after a settlement in which Allen resigned and the FBI agreed to reinstate his security clearance and allow back pay during his suspension.  During the suspension, the FBI had refused to provide him with the documentation necessary for other employment, Allen testified to House lawmakers.  “This is a total vindication for Marcus [Allen]. In what appears to be an unprecedented move, the FBI has completely backed down and provided everything that we had asked for on behalf of Marcus,” Tristan Leavitt, president of Empower Oversight, a whistleblower advocacy group that representsAllen, said in a written statement. Empower Oversight filed Allen’s appeal in October 2023 based on evidence contradicting the FBI’s claims from its own files.  “Right finally won one, and we couldn’t be happier for Marcus and his family,” Leavitt said. “They have seen the worst side of our federal government and have come out on the other side. It’s a testament to Marcus, his belief that right would eventually prevail, and the unwavering support of his family and friends.”  In a letter Tuesday to the DOJ’s Horowitz, Leavitt called the bureau’s May 31 decision to reinstate Allen’s security clearance a vindication. “However, some members of Congress uncritically repeated those accusations, and the press widely amplified them at the time,” Leavitt’s letter says. “Your inquiry has undoubtedly gathered additional important context to help set the record straight, so Mr. Allen respectfully requests that you release that information in the interests of transparency and accountability.”  Allen said he is grateful to friends and family who helped him.  “While I feel vindicated now in getting back my security clearance, it is sad that in the country I fought for as a Marine, the FBI was allowed to lie about my loyalty to the U.S. for two years,” Allen said in a public statement.  “Unless there is accountability, it will keep happening to others,” he said. “Better oversight and changes to security clearance laws are key to stop abuses suffered by whistleblowers like me.”  In a report made public last month, the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General determined that the FBI doesn’t provide a way for employees to appeal a suspended security clearance that complies with an updated 2022 regulation and failed to give employees a means to remain on the payroll.  “Existing DOJ practice is inconsistent with the intent of the federal statute,” the inspector general’s office announced. It also said it received complaints from “employees alleging that their security clearances were suspended in retaliation for protected whistleblowing activity.” The House panel investigating weaponization of federal government agencies released a report last year that notes: “The FBI retaliated against Marcus Allen, a decorated Marine and former FBI staff operations specialist in the Charlotte Field Office, for simply performing the duties of his job.” The report further details:  While reading open-source news articles and watching open-source opinion videos concerning the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Allen testified that he sent around links to these articles for his squad’s ‘situational awareness’ related to the FBI’s investigation. Because these open-source articles questioned the FBI’s handling of the violence at the Capitol, the FBI suspended Allen for ‘conspiratorial views in regards to the events of Jan. 6 … .’ However, Allen testified that passing along such articles was ‘part of [his] job.’ The FBI’s website describes a staff operations specialist as “an entry-level position that provides direct support to special agents and intelligence analysts.”  Allen was the 2019 employee of the year in the FBI’s field office in Charlotte, North Carolina. During congressional testimony in 2022, Wray was less than clear about whether confidential informants mingled with rioters who breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “I was not in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, I played no part in the events of Jan. 6, and I condemn all criminal activity that occurred,” Allen testified to the House weaponization of government panel last year. “Instead, it appears that I was retaliated against because I forwarded information to my superiors that questioned the official narrative of the events of Jan. 6. As a result, I was accused of promoting conspiratorial views and unreliable information.” During the hearing, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., asked Allen: “Is it your belief that you were retaliated against because you shared an email that questioned the truthfulness of FBI Director Christopher Wray?”  Allen replied, “Yes, sir.” Leavitt’s letter Tuesday to DOJ’s inspector general details the hardship created for Allen when the FBI blocked other employment. “For 27 months, Mr. Allen and his family had to survive on early withdrawals from their retirement accounts in order to continue administratively challenging the FBI’s improper revocation of his security clearance,” Leavitt wrote.  “For 13 of those months Mr. Allen also waited on your office to complete and report on its investigation into the FBI’s abuse of the security clearance process to retaliate against him,” he continued, adding: While waiting for your office to complete its work and for the FBI to consider our appeal of his clearance revocation, the bureau denied Mr. Allen’s request to accept other employment and even argued that his family could not accept charitable donations from the public because he was technically still subject to gift rules—although he had no pay and no official duties for more than two years. On May 31, FBI Assistant Director for Human Resources Timothy Dunham wrote to Allen, saying: “I am reinstating your top secret (TS) security clearance effective upon the receipt of this letter.”  “My decision to reinstate your security clearance is based upon a determination that the original security concerns have been investigated and have been sufficiently mitigated,” Dunham wrote to Allen. The FBI did not immediately respond to The Daily Signal’s request to comment on this report. The post ‘VINDICATION’: FBI Reinstates Jan. 6 Whistleblower’s Top Secret Security Clearance appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A forest is the perfect setting for a peaceful cycle ride. However, the serene forest can quickly turn into a scene of distress. For one cyclist, this tranquil environment quickly turned into an unexpected rescue mission. The cyclist came upon a ram, desperately struggling as its horns were entangled in a tree. This moment, captured... The post Cyclists spring into action to save distressed ram and capture it all on film appeared first on Animal Channel.

A forest is the perfect setting for a peaceful cycle ride. However, the serene forest can quickly turn into a scene of distress. For one cyclist, this tranquil environment quickly turned into an unexpected rescue mission. The cyclist came upon a ram, desperately struggling as its horns were entangled in a tree. This moment, captured... The post Cyclists come across bizarre sight in the woods and swiftly take action to save a life appeared first on Animal Channel.

Google continues to bury former President Donald Trump’s campaign website after a Manhattan, New York jury came down with a guilty verdict in the dubious case filed by George Soros-backed prosecutor Alvin Bragg.  MRC Free Speech America analyzed Google search results for the eight presidential candidates still in the race Friday. Despite his donation website crashing due to the overwhelming number of visitors following the verdict Thursday, former President Trump was the only candidate whose campaign website did not appear on the first page of search results a day later. All seven other candidates’ websites, including those of President Joe Biden and even Robert F. Kennedy Jr, appeared in the first 10 results when researchers searched for each candidate’s name and the phrase “presidential race 2024.”  “There you go again,” said MRC Free Speech America & MRC Business Director Michael Morris. “Google is up to its old censorship antics in an all-important election season. Just like it did in 2022, burying Republican campaign websites in key Senate races, burying its biggest critics and burying the GOP candidate in the Georgia runoff races, Google is burying the leading GOP challenger in the 2024 presidential race from the first page of results.” The chasmic disparity is alarming, considering that less than one percent of Google searchers click on links that are not on the first page of results, according to Brian Dean, a search engine optimization expert for Backlinko.com. Google’s latest episode of election interference is especially damning.  Both WinRed and donaldjtrump.com were nowhere to be found on the first page of Google Search results even as Trump’s donation page on WinRed was experiencing use overload.  While one might have expected the news of Trump’s guilty conviction last Thursday to flood Google Search results with anything but his website, only three of the top ten results were related to the verdict. The other seven included Trump’s Wikipedia page, the 2024 presidential election Ballotpedia page and various older news articles introducing the candidates. President Biden and Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign websites appeared fourth in individual search results. Constitution Party candidate Randall Terry’s website similarly appeared fourth.  Democrat candidate Marianne Williamson’s website once again appeared near the top as it has in past MRC Free Speech America studies. Williamson and Green Party candidate Cornell West were the only two candidates whose websites appeared as the first search result. Williamson’s campaign website even appeared a second and third time as the eighth and 23rd results. This is reminiscent of when Williamson’s website appeared in individual searches for Democrat, Republican and Independent presidential campaign websites last November.  Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver’s website appeared tenth, and Green Party Candidate Jill Stein’s website ranked second on the first page of results. The disappearance of Trump’s websites from page one Google search results is alarming as the importance of where a link ranks in a Google search cannot be overstated. Not only is Google the go-to search engine for most people, holding a market share of nearly 92 percent worldwide, but the higher a search result appears, the more likely a user will click on a particular result, according to Brian Dean, a search engine optimization expert. Dean conducted a study analyzing how often users click on various rankings of Google search results. His blog, Backlinko, reported in May 2023 that “The #1 Result In Google Gets 27.6% of All Clicks” and it has a “10x higher [Click Through Rate] compared to the #10 result.” Astoundingly, less than one percent (.63%) of users click through to the second page of search results, underscoring the importance of positioning on the first page of search results. Other studies, like one conducted in 2020 by Sistrix, show similar results. Methodology For this report, MRC Free Speech America analyzed the May 31 Google search results of “joe biden presidential race 2024,” “marianne williamson presidential race 2024,” “donald trump presidential race 2024,” “robert f. kennedy jr. presidential race 2024,” “jill stein presidential race 2024,” “cornel west presidential race 2024,” “randall terry presidential race 2024,” and “chase oliver presidential race 2024.” MRC Free Speech America created an algorithm to automate this process in a clean environment. A “clean environment” allows for organic search to populate results without the influence of prior search history and tracking cookies. To determine bias, our researchers looked at Google’s results and recorded the rank(s) of each candidate’s campaign website on the first page of results. Conservatives are under attack. Contact Google at 650-253-0000 and demand it be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

Trump might have been found guilty in the hush money trial, but that doesn’t spell the end of his campaign. Not only did Trump raise more than $50 million after the news of his conviction hit the media, but the Supreme Court is going to rule on the former president’s immunity in the D.C. case. Steve Deace believes Trump needs to start preparing immediately. “I’d have my running mate ready to go right after that ruling, no matter how it goes. If they rule against me, then I immediately have this running mate here right now,” Deace explains. “If I’m Trump, and they rule against me, between the appeals in New York and the D.C. case, I’m spending the rest of this year in a courtroom until the election basically.” “So, I need a running mate who can be essentially the face of the campaign around the country right away. I can’t lose anymore time,” he adds. Deace believes this person needs to be “someone people like.” “So I can send them out to the ‘normies’ and make me appear more likable. And then if they rule for me, I just do the exact same thing by pivoting to the campaign right away,” he explains. BlazeTV host Auron MacIntyre agrees. “I think that’s largely right. I mean, ultimately what we’re looking at here is of course unprecedented, and so the strategy needs to be as well,” he says. “But I think when you look at the condition of the country, you look at the average person, most people don’t like Joe Biden. Even people on the left don’t like Joe Biden.” This is why he’s less worried about the voters and more worried about the voting process. “I do think that how the votes are going to be cast and the process of the election are probably far more important than the messaging of the election to be honest,” MacIntyre explains. “I do agree that you probably want to make sure that you have somebody who’s relatively young, relatively competent, well liked. Somebody who can go ahead and take over that position right away. I do like somebody like a J.D. Vance in the slot,” he adds. Want more from Auron MacIntyre?To enjoy more of this YouTuber and recovering journalist's commentary on culture and politics, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

The Biden administration issued a set of executive actions that would temporarily suspend entry for noncitizens if the southern border sees a certain number of illegal crossers in a seven-day period.The long-awaited action of course comes just months before the 2024 election and implements rules that would still likely total a higher number of encounters at the southwest land border than in any year under President Trump."These actions will be in effect when the southern border is overwhelmed, and they will make it easier for immigration officers to quickly remove individuals who do not have a legal basis to remain in the United States," the White House said in a press release.If the average number of border encounters exceeds 2,500 in a seven-day period, entry to noncitizens would be suspended until 14 days after a seven-day average of 1,500 border encounters.'These actions are not permanent.'According to Fox News, in the 24 hours before the White House's declaration, the border saw 5,200 encounters and has averaged 5,000 per day for a week.Per U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, the 30-day average from April 2024 was 5,990 encounters per day.Under Biden's new rules, if the border saw 2,499 daily encounters (right below the threshold), without any suspensions, that would total over 912,000 encounters in a year. That number, while significantly lower than any figure achieved by the Biden administration, would still be higher than any year under President Trump.The Biden order does not apply to visa holders, unaccompanied children, those with a medical emergency or imminent threat to their life, or victims of a "severe form" of trafficking. It also does not apply to those who use the CBP One app, which is used by about 1,500 people per day.For fiscal year 2024 the Biden administration is averaging 217,214 southwest land border encounters per month. That means the estimated total for FY 2024 is over 2.6 million, which would be another record-setting year for the Biden administration, which saw 2.475 million in FY 2023 and 2.3 million in FY 2022. For comparison, the border was seeing between 70,000 and 80,000 encounters per month when Biden first took office. That number quickly exploded in the first six months of his presidency."These actions are not permanent. They will be discontinued when the number of migrants who cross the border between ports of entry is low enough for America’s system to safely and effectively manage border operations," the Biden administration wrote.The White House boasted that the Department of State has imposed visa restrictions on several Colombian transportation companies that have been profiting from smuggling migrants. The administration's press release also said that the Department of Homeland Security has removed or returned more than 750,000 people, which it said was more than in every fiscal year since 2010.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Judging from the opening statements in Hunter Biden's federal gun case, it appears as though Ashley Biden's troubling diary may no longer be the heaviest piece of familial baggage President Joe Biden has to lug into the November election. The Democratic president and gun control advocate's son faces three counts related to his alleged unlawful possession of a handgun: lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on a federal firearms application, and possession of an illegally obtained gun. If convicted of all three counts, Biden could land up to 25 years in prison as well as fines up to $750,000. It will also amount to a black eye for the White House, which has made significant hay out in recent days of former President Donald Trump's conviction. Prior to hearing opening statements from prosecutors and the defense, Trump-appointed Judge Maryellen Noreika of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware expressed a willingness to permit the jury — comprising four black men, three black women, two white men, and three white women — to see images of the president's son in states of undress with illicit drug paraphernalia, reported the New York Times. After it became clear that damning images from the laptop long discounted by the liberal media and intelligence community would come to haunt the Biden family once again, and latecomers were seated, prosecutors and the defense delivered their opening statements to a packed courtroom. Once the two framings were established, the prosecution introduced a disembodied witness whose authoritative insights into Hunter Biden's bad choices and debauched lifestyle served to greatly undermine his defense. The prosecution's framing Prosecutor Derek Hines, a senior assistant special counsel, co-opted a statement recycled by Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland and other Democrats when speaking about former President Donald Trump's cases. Hines said that even in this case, "Nobody is above the law. It doesn't matter who you are, or what your name is." 'Nobody is allowed to lie, not even Hunter Biden.' While Hunter Biden dodged the legal consequences everyday Americans alternatively face over their use of illicit substances, Hines made clear he shouldn't be able to skate for lying on a federal gun application. "Nobody is allowed to lie, not even Hunter Biden," said Hines. The prosecutor made clear to jurors, some of whom self-identified during jury selection as having addicts in their respective personal orbits, that the president's son was not in court simply because he was a junkie. "Addiction may not be a choice, but lying and buying a gun is a choice," said Hines. NBC News noted the extent to which Hines' emphasized this theme. Hunter Biden "chose to illegally own a firearm" and "chose to lie," said the prosecutor. Hines later added that Hunter Biden also did not throw away the gun by choice. Rather, it was taken from him by a former lover, his brother's widow Hallie Biden, who ditched it in a trash can outside of a supermarket. Hines provided the jury and the country with a preview of what to expect. Gordon Cleveland, the man who sold Biden a gun at Starquest Shooters, is expected to testify about Biden's deception. Hallie Biden, granted an immunity agreement, "will testify about her own crack use" and potentially her disposal of Hunter Biden's gun. Zoe Kestan, one of Biden's sexual partners also granted immunity, will detail her observations on Biden's nonstop crack use. The jury will also hear from Biden's ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle; FBI agent Erika Jensen; Delaware State Police Corp. Joshua Marley; Delaware State Police Lt. Millard Greer; forensic chemist Dr. Jason Brewer; and potentially a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent. Extra to these witnesses, the prosecution will likely introduce textual communications and drug residue to prove Hunter Biden lied, reported the Times. The defense's framing Biden's defense attorney Abbe Lowell downplayed the severity of Biden's alleged crime; displaced blame, throwing Buhle and Cleveland under the bus; suggested Biden's drug use was not consistent, at least not enough to infer his use at the time of the gun's purchase; and intimated that Biden's drug-addled intentions at the time of purchase are unknowable. "Hunter bought a small handgun," said Lowell. "It was never loaded." Lowell stressed that Biden never used the Colt Cobra .38 Special revolver. Lowell indicated that it is incumbent upon prosecutors to demonstrate that Biden "knowingly violated the law." To do so, Lowell suggested they will have to show that the president's son entered the gun store with the intention to purchase a weapon while also recognizing himself as an addict. While the prosecution has a witness who will attest to seeing Hunter Biden smoke crack every 15-20 minutes and stop only when it came to sleep, Lowell suggested that intent will be impossible to prove. NBC News indicated that the defense may also attempt to defuse some of the prosecution's arguments about Hunter Biden's drug use and boozing around the time of the gun purchase by suggesting he routinely deceived Hallie Biden. Finally, Lowell indicated that the defense will attempt to shift blame onto the gun seller, Cleveland, insinuating that he skirted protocol to make the sale. First up to bat After a brief recess punctuated by a hysterical outburst by Biden's current wife, Melissa Cohen-Biden — who called a former Trump White House aide a "Nazi piece of s***" — the trial resumed, and Erika Jensen took the stand. Prosecutors played clips of Hunter Biden reading his memoir, "Beautiful Things," wherein he admitted to crack cocaine addiction for a four-year period leading up to a 2019 trip to California. Hunter Biden bought the gun in October 2018. The defense has suggested that contrary to Biden's autobiographical account of the four-year crack binge, he didn't know he was an addict when entering the gun store. In one of the passages heard by the court, Hunter Biden mentions his "superpower": locating crack wherever he goes. Jensen, an FBI agent of nearly 20 years who was assigned to Hunter Biden's case last year, authenticated ATM receipts, providing some additional context for Hunter Biden's possibly incriminating literary admissions, reported CNN. Prior to the court breaking for lunch, Hunter Biden did much of the leg work for the prosecution by way of his audio recording, which played to a captive audience, including first lady Jill Biden and Cohen-Biden. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!