DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—The border crisis could reach new heights or largely remain unchanged if Vice President Kamala Harris ends up winning the presidential election on Nov. 5, border hawks warn. President Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race Sunday and immediately endorsed Harris, making her the leading contender to snag the party’s delegates and the nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August. Harris’ past voting record in the Senate, comments she’s made about federal immigration authorities, and recent actions taken in the White House all signal a sharp pivot left if she were to win the election by defeating former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio. “I would say more of the same or potentially even worse,” Eric Ruark, research director for NumbersUSA, a group that works toward limiting illegal immigration, said in a conversation with the Daily Caller News Foundation about possible border policy changes if Harris were to replace Biden. “Biden had a history of being at least rhetorically against illegal immigration.” “Harris has yet to come out and say, ‘It’s a crime and we need to enforce the law,’” Ruark said. “Clearly, she was tasked with addressing the border crisis by President Biden, and her approach was basically to say, ‘Don’t come.’ That was the extent of her policy approach.” NumbersUSA publishes “report cards” on every lawmaker in Congress, evaluating how each performs on immigration and other border security issues. During her short time in the Senate representing California before leaving for the White House, Harris earned a grade of F-, the lowest possible score. The then-senator earned failing grades for votes on immigration-related issues such as border security, interior enforcement, refugee management, and amnesty, according to NumbersUSA. NumbersUSA highlighted Harris’ 2019 co-sponsorship of the RAIDER Act, which would have blocked Trump’s construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall, and her 2019 co-sponsorship of the FACE Act, which would have made it more difficult for Trump to continue to build the wall. The organization also graded her vote against the Secure and Protect Act which, it argues, would have positively reformed the so-called Flores Settlement Agreement. Other border hawks expressed trepidation over Harris’ enforcement record related to illegal immigration through U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “Kamala Harris wasn’t just Biden’s Border Czar, she was his Abolish ICE Director—directing the agency in charge of enforcing our immigration laws to willfully violate them,” RJ Hauman, president of the National Immigration Center for Enforcement, said. “Now that Biden is out of the picture, she is sure to return to some of the most insane anti-enforcement positions that we’ve ever seen from an elected official.” As illegal border crossings quickly climbed early in the Biden administration’s tenure, the president tapped Kamala to lead an effort to address the root causes of unlawful migration from Central America, a position many described as “border czar.” However, Border Patrol encounters with illegal aliens at the southern border went on to reach recording-setting levels, according to the latest U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. [Both ICE and CBP are part of the Department of Homeland Security.] Enforcement experts have noted that the root causes of illegal immigration remain unaddressed and lawmakers in Congress have sought to hold Harris specifically responsible for the ongoing border crisis. Harris also was heavily criticized for taking so long to visit the southern border. “The choice in November will now be even more clear—mass deportation or mass release of illegal aliens and violent criminals into American communities,” Hauman said. Harris compared ICE, a government agency, to the Ku Klux Klan during a November 2018 Senate confirmation hearing. She asked Ron Vitiello, then Trump’s nominee to lead the agency, if he knew there was a “perception” among Latino immigrants that ICE agents operate like Klan members. As a California senator, Harris also suggested during a June 2018 media interview that ICE essentially should be abolished and rebuilt again “from scratch.” Upon election to the White House, the Biden-Harris administration oversaw a monumental overhaul of Trump policies that beefed up border and interior enforcement. Biden took 89 executive actions that specifically reversed or began the process of reversing Trump’s immigration policies, according to an analysis by the Migration Policy Institute. The White House immediately halted construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall and shuttered Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” program, which had largely eliminated asylum fraud by keeping asylum-seekers in Mexico while their cases were adjudicated. The administration also attempted to enforce a 100-day moratorium on all deportations. To be successful in his reelection bid, Ruark said, the Republican nominee would need to do more than offer criticisms of Harris and instead put forward a policy platform on how his new administration would hit the ground running on Day One to “undo the damage” the Biden administration did to border security. In his Republican National Convention speech last week, Trump promised the “largest deportation operation” in the country’s history, completed construction of the border wall, and other hardline approaches to border security. One local leader near the southern border noted the incredible burden that Biden’s border crisis has placed on the district he represents. “Under Biden with the open border, we had over 150,000 people dropped in the streets here in San Diego County from a period of about eight or nine months,” San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond, a Republican, said Monday. “It put pressure on our law enforcement, put pressure on our hospitals and shelters, and we bore all the burden of these people just freely and willingly able to cross the border,” Desmond said, noting that Biden had assigned Harris to address the crisis. “She has failed us on the border.” Desmond noted that the border crisis isn’t a “red or blue” issue, but something that’s been affecting everyone in his district, particularly those with homes near the border who’ve had to deal with a constant flow of asylum-seekers passing through their property. Since Biden withdrew from the race Sunday and endorsed Harris, a growing number of Democrat leaders have gotten in line behind the vice president’s fledgling candidacy, establishing her as the presumptive nominee before the DNC convenes Aug. 19 in Chicago. “What we’ve seen from her career in the Senate and the public statements she’s made, it would only get worse,” Ruark said of the border situation. “As bad as things are, they can get worse, and that’s something we should all realize.” The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation. Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation The post America’s Border Crisis Could Get Whole Lot Worse Under Kamala Harris, Experts Say appeared first on The Daily Signal.

TONIGHT on “The Tony Kinnett Cast,” we dive into the half-hearted attempts to revivify Vice President Kamala Harris into a leader, instead of the deeply controversial and lackluster prosecutor, senator, and vice president her legacy has defined. U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigns before an expected bipartisan impeachment vote in the Senate—could Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas be next? Jim Pfaff, president of The Conservative Caucus, joins us to deliver his thoughts on the viability of a Harris presidential campaign and his advice for the Trump/Vance campaign. We air our interview from the floor of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee with Attorney General Todd Rokita of Indiana delving into his record and how liberal media outlets covered it. Lastly, we cut through the weedy nightmare of breaking news and faking news in the modern era of “social media first” coverage with news aggregator RawsAlerts.Catch the LIVE radio show and livestream weeknights at 7 p.m. ET on The Daily Signal’s YouTube, X, or Facebook. The post WATCH: ‘Cringemala Harris’ – The Tony Kinnett Cast Ep. 142 appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The United States is a republic with decision-making power held by elected legislators representing the people. Yet many of the biggest decisions affecting the lives of Americans are made by unelected bureaucrats.In recent years, we have seen the administrative state going to levels never seen before, making decisions that Congress never told bureaucrats to make. This includes the Biden administration continuing its student loan forgiveness efforts, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s nationwide eviction moratorium, and the Environmental Protection Agency’s final rule to help kill off gas-powered cars. The EPA car rule helps illustrate the extent of the problems. It’s a shocking attack on freedom to try and limit what cars people can drive, and it’s ludicrously expensive. The agency’s projected compliance cost of the rule is a whopping $760 billion. To put this cost in context, the projected cost of the 2009 stimulus bill, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, was $787 billion.Therefore, the EPA, without Congress speaking on whether it wants the agency to impose such a major change in policy, is imposing compliance costs in this one rule roughly equivalent to the cost of one of the biggest pieces of legislation passed by Congress in our history. The modern administrative state has been a serious problem long before the Biden administration, though. It has undermined our republican form of government with executive branch bureaucrats often serving as the prime decision-makers rather than our elected representatives. Early 20th-century progressive leaders like President Woodrow Wilson who helped assemble the administrative state were bent on advancing executive branch expertise and power. In fact, Wilson himself had a shocking disdain for voters and specific groups of citizens.Our country is looking more like the nation envisioned by Wilson and less like the republic envisioned by the Framers of the U.S. Constitution. Therefore, we must restore representative government. And reform must start with Congress, which created the agencies and the rulemaking process in the first place.Reform is never easy. Plenty of people want to keep power within the agencies and give them a blank regulatory check to aid the ideological ambitions of those who seek greater governmental control. However, one important solution isn’t difficult: Congress should establish in law some boundaries for agency power. For example, Congress should prohibit agencies from issuing rules outside their demonstrated regulatory expertise, unless clearly authorized to do so. After all, one of the biggest justifications for agency rulemaking is the alleged expertise of agencies. If they don’t have the expertise on certain issues, then it follows that Congress didn’t want them to promulgate rules on those matters.That’s common sense, as are many other boundaries. For example, absent clear authority from Congress, it would be absurd to think lawmakers wanted agencies to equate shutting down businesses with regulating them, as the EPA is doing with its new power plant rule. The rule is creating infeasible requirements that necessarily will lead to plant closures.It would also defy common sense to think Congress, without saying so clearly, is OK with an agency banning or limiting the availability of certain types of goods, such as cars; reshaping an entire industry; or doing an end-run around Congress because it’s tired of waiting on legislators to pass a law. Therefore, legislators should make it clear that such rules are prohibited unless clearly authorized by law. It’s helpful that the judicial branch has recently put some limits on agency rulemaking power. In Loper Bright v. Raimondo, the Supreme Court got rid of what was known as the Chevron doctrine, which was a judicial creation that required courts to give deference to agencies’ often expansive interpretations of ambiguous laws they administer. This helped to make it easier for agencies to achieve their policy objectives by favoring bureaucrats over the people challenging the agencies in court.Now that this favoritism is gone, it should make it tougher for agencies. However, make no mistake, it won’t stop sweeping and egregious rules, in part because legislation often provides vague or general authority to agencies that they can take advantage of, even if it is obviously inconsistent with congressional intent.More relevant to putting a stop to sweeping rules is the “major questions” doctrine. The Supreme Court has said there are “extraordinary cases … in which the ‘history and the breadth of the authority that [the agency] has asserted,’ and the ‘economic and political significance’ of that assertion, provide a ‘reason to hesitate before concluding that Congress’ meant to confer such authority.” In these instances, an agency must have a “‘clear congressional authorization’ for the power it claims.” Even with the existence of the major questions doctrine, new legislation from Congress is required because a congressionally passed law can provide clear prohibitions of agency actions and far more comprehensive protection from agency abuses than the judicial branch. Statutory language should serve as a first line of defense against agencies ignoring the will of Congress and, thereby, the will of the voters. When asked what kind of nation the Framers of the Constitution created, Benjamin Franklin answered, “A republic, if you can keep it.”If we are going to keep our republic, then we need Congress to step up with major reforms to stop the abuses of the administrative state. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post The Overreaching Power of the Bureaucracy Is Destroying Our Representative Government appeared first on The Daily Signal.

While Americans attempt to grapple with the ongoing chaos of the 2024 election, House Republicans have been quietly doing the work of putting together and passing spending bills for the next fiscal year. What the endgame for those bills will be remains an open and important question—one that could last into next year. With the gross national debt rapidly approaching $35 trillion and the Biden-Harris administration misusing tax dollars on a massive scale, it’s vitally important for Congress to show fiscal restraint and rein in the out-of-control executive branch. Although the bills working their way to the House floor haven’t been perfect, they contain many significant policy wins for conservatives, including: Defunding identity-obsessed Equity Action Plans implemented across the federal government by the current administration.  Blocking the administration’s abortion promotion at the Department of Defense. Placing commonsense rules on earmark spending requests to stop most wasteful and inappropriate items. Stopping the administration’s “climate disclosure rule” that would use financial regulation as a backdoor to a massive environmental power grab. Defunding contributions to the corrupt United Nations, including the pro-abortion Population Fund and the pro-Hamas U.N. Relief and Works Agency. Blocking grants that provide direct support to migrant caravans in Central and South America working their way to the southern border. Ending costly and illegal student loan write-off schemes. Protecting workers’ rights by blocking the administration’s attempt to blow up independent contracting. Defunding the administration’s use of “special envoys” to push leftist ideology overseas. Derailing support for California’s bullet train boondoggle. On the spending side, it’s no secret that the annual process is usually a vehicle for fraudulent gimmicks and deals that are good for Washington, but bad for taxpayers. The House Appropriations Committee has stepped up with a number of judicious reductions to federal bloat, such as: A 31% cut to the Economic Development Administration, which involves government picking winners and losers. A $1.5 billion cut to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, which promotes “green” energy and imposes regulations on consumer appliances. Reducing Environmental Protection Agency state and local grants by $749 million. Under the Biden-Harris administration, these grants promote “environmental justice” and climate schemes. Taking $11 billion from the federal Department of Education, which is a bastion of leftist power and control. Shrinking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by $1.7 billion, striking a blow against the increasingly politicized Big Science complex. Defunding the Title X family planning program and stopping any taxpayer support for abortion providers, such as Planned Parenthood. A 30% cut to foreign “development assistance.” Reducing excessive subsidies to mass transit agencies by $1.3 billion. Cutting the Department of Housing and Urban Development (which is primarily a welfare agency) by $5.2 billion. However, putting the policy gains and spending reductions in House legislation into law could prove nearly impossible under current circumstances. Despite the economic damage caused by high levels of inflationary deficit spending and surging interest payments on the national debt, the Senate is leaning into the worst habits of the swamp. Senators are set to include $34 billion of phony “emergency” spending and have almost no guardrails on pork barrel spending requests. With Democrats controlling the Senate and the White House, there will be little incentive to agree to the reforms and savings passed by House Republicans. Most years, initial bickering between the parties leads to missed deadlines, but results in a multi-thousand-page “omnibus” package loaded with goodies for political insiders. It’s clear that President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., want to continue the status quo of a federal government that spends too much and uses the nation’s institutions to promote leftist ideology. An omnibus package would maintain that through September 2025, which should be considered unacceptable. Instead, the House should consider aiming for an extension of current spending (known as a continuing resolution) that would go beyond the postelection “lame duck” session and last into early 2025. That would ensure retiring and defeated lawmakers and an unaccountable president are not controlling the outcome of federal funding priorities for time they are not elected to represent their constituencies. The November elections could yield a conservative governing majority, which would make it possible to enact and even build on the current House bills. That would be an important first step toward restoring sanity in the nation’s capital. The post House Spending Bills Bring Conservative Wins, But Face Thorny Path Ahead appeared first on The Daily Signal.

DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Listeners to “The Breakfast Club” radio show and podcast called in Tuesday to criticize Democrats and Vice President Kamala Harris over policies they said are “destroying” black Americans. President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race Sunday and endorsed Harris to take his place atop the Democratic ticket after consistently dismal polling and doubts about his mental fitness. Back-to-back callers to “The Breakfast Club,” a popular hip-hop show, expressed concern that Democrat policies are harming black Americans, suggesting Harris wouldn’t be a significant improvement over Biden. WATCH: 'They're Ruining Our Country': Callers Trash Dems, Kamala Harris On Popular Hip-Hop Show pic.twitter.com/dmOHkMoVGs— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 23, 2024 “OK, so first let me say I’m so happy to see a woman running for president and I’m grateful for that,” a caller named Iris said. “However, I was on the fence even with Biden running again because everyone talks about, ‘Oh, let’s get the black vote, let’s get the black vote.’ And they get the black vote and nothing changes. When I say nothing, I mean our education system. Our children are suffering in New York City public schools.” “And let’s talk about services. My brother is a paraplegic; he got hit by a drunk driver. Very hard for him to get services,” Iris continued before touching on illegal immigration. “And I understand that they allow the migrants to come in, but they come in and they just overwhelm them with services, and they forget about the people that are already here. So what’s going to change with that?” “What are they going to do with the black agenda to help our children that are struggling in New York City public schools?” Iris asked. “They’re not even on the same level as other kids in other countries, and that’s what my concern is. So is something going to change because Kamala is running instead of Biden? Like help me out, we’re confused here.” The border crisis could worsen under Harris if she becomes president as her past voting record in the Senate, remarks she has made about federal immigration authorities, and moves she has made while vice president indicate a sharp move to the left, border hawks told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Monday. “I don’t think America is ready for a female president. You know what, I’m a black man and I absolutely do not want another Democratic president in there,” a caller named Cali said. “I think we should give the Republicans another try. There’s a lot of agendas that the Democratic Party has kind of put into place that I don’t support. I think they’re destroying the black man, they’re destroying the black family, I think they’re ruining our country. If you’re living in New York like I am, man, this place is a financial nightmare, not to mention crime.” “I think if we put Trump back in there, man, it’s going to be amazing. Kamala cannot do what he’s going to do to bring this country back to where it needs to be,” Cali added. “And this is not a race thing because that’s the No. 1 thing they like to say when they talk about Trump and how he’s a criminal and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I don’t think any of that matters. His policy is what we need to focus on, and he’s going to get us back where we need to go. Kamala is not ready.” Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation The post ‘They’re Ruining Our Country’: Callers Trash Dems, Kamala Harris on Popular Hip-Hop Show appeared first on The Daily Signal.

WPATH Said Trans Treatments Were 'Medically Necessary' Just to Get Insurance Coverage

Megalodon was slightly faster than a great white according to a new study that looked at sharks’ denticles as an indicator of their hunting speed. Despite the significant difference between the enormous estimated size of megalodon and its comparatively smaller extant relative, both were estimated to hunt at a pace comparable to that of an average human jogger – so you’d have quite the upper hand if they tried pursuing you on land.You may have heard the old adage that dolphins are smooth like olives while a shark is a bit like velvet, smooth one way and coarse the other. This is a reference to their bizarre skin that’s covered in dermal denticles: V-shaped structures that are more comparable to teeth than scales.Swimming around with modified teeth for skin is thought to decrease drag and turbulence for sharks, meaning they can glide through the water faster and without creating as much noise. Given that different species exhibit different denticles, that got scientists wondering if the denticles themselves could be an indicator of hunting speed in sharks. And if you’re going to study shark hunting speeds from their tooth skin, why stop at the ones still alive today?The researchers looked at previous studies that have estimated the size and spacing of Otodus megalodon denticles, which found them to be similar to that of the extant great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias. They were then able to take this data, and denticle data from several modern shark species, to estimate speed by focusing on ridge spacing and the drag reduction efficiency of each species’ denticle structure, as well as the sharks’ body lengths.The results showed that megalodon was likely hunting at speeds of 5.9 meters (19.4 feet) per second, meanwhile the extant great white swims at a close second of 5.7 meters (18.7 feet) per second. So, in a race of megalodon Vs great white, megalodon would be the winner – but only just. However, both behemoths were bested by the shortfin mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus) that, by their denticle estimations, is theoretically clocking hunting speeds of 10.5 meters (34.4 feet) per second. Zoomin'.The study marks a scientific first in using X-ray CT to reveal the detailed three-dimensional surface morphology of white shark denticles, and it’s hoped this information could inspire new riblets – a type of structure used to reduce drag in fluid dynamics – that can be adapted to perform at a wide range of speeds. It also welcomes a new approach for estimating the swimming speeds of sharks that can be applied even to extinct species, meaning the theoretical animal Olympics just got even wilder.The study is published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

The liberal media were in full spin mode Tuesday as they ramped up their full-throated support for Vice President Kamala Harris, trying desperately to make her appealing to voters. While CNN had tried to use Gen Z slang to woo younger voters, ABC’s The View was insisting that she was somehow a “moderate,” with no evidence nor explanation. Ignoring the fact that President Biden had picked a running mate on how well she would help sure up the liberal base (since he was framed as the moderate Democrat) – as well as on the basis of her being a diversity hire, pretend independent co-host Sara Haines scoffed that “the big attack” on her, “in addition to the dirty things, are ‘she's too liberal. She's too liberal.’” She thought it was “very rich” for people to call Harris far-left because former President Trump picked Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) to be his running mate: That is a very rich comment on her right now, because what Trump did was name J.D. Vance and – as you said – he's further right. He’s Project 2025. He is the Heritage Foundation. He is the MAGA agenda. He had a chance to do something else and said here the convention was just a doubling down on extreme agenda.     Haines proceeded to gush about how Harris was supposedly speaking to independents like her: Vice President Harris is really – and this is my -- I don't have input but what I'm seeing only looking at moderate beloved Democrats and what that says to me is, for the person saying you're too extreme, she's the only one that's actually checking in with the American public. 43 percent of this country identifies as independents. They are more moderate than the minority extremes would like you to think. By minority I mean partisan extremes. But the country is in the middle. She's saying, ‘I see you as voters.’ So, it’s not just political strategy. I feel like she's thinking about people like me when she's picking her vice presidential candidate. “Well, to be clear, she's pretty moderate also. She's pretty moderate also,” staunchly racist and anti-Semitic co-host Sunny Hostin (the descendant of slave owners) chimed in. Hostin also tried to throw herself in there by suggesting “former prosecutors aren’t leftist.” Faux conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin only lightly opposed her fellow cast members. “And for what it's worth, I think moderate probably on the left-wing side,” she said. “I don't think any Republicans see her as moderate.” “But I do think it’s a very wise idea to find a moderate vice president to open it to the biggest voting bloc,” Farah Griffin commended. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: ABC’s The View July 23, 2024 11:08:02 a.m. Eastern (…) SARA HAINES: One thing I also really love is, right now, the big attack for her, in addition to the dirty things, are ‘she's too liberal. She's too liberal.’ That is a very rich comment on her right now, because what Trump did was name J.D. Vance and – as you said – he's further right. He’s Project 2025. He is the Heritage Foundation. He is the MAGA agenda. He had a chance to do something else and said here the convention was just a doubling down on extreme agenda. Vice President Harris is really – and this is my -- I don't have input but what I'm seeing only looking at moderate beloved Democrats and what that says to me is, for the person saying you're too extreme, she's the only one that's actually checking in with the American public. 43 percent of this country identifies as independents. They are more moderate than the minority extremes would like you to think. By minority I mean partisan extremes. But the country is in the middle. She's saying, ‘I see you as voters.’ So, it’s not just political strategy. I feel like she's thinking about people like me when she's picking her vice presidential candidate. SONNY HOSTIN: Well, to be clear, she's pretty moderate also. She's pretty moderate also. HAINES: Yeah, but I’m saying that doesn't hold water when you look at what she’s doing. HOSTIN: Yeah, but former prosecutors aren’t leftist. ALYSSA AFRAH GRIFFIN: And for what it's worth, I think moderate probably on the left-wing side. I don't think any Republicans see her as moderate. But I do think it’s a very wise idea to find a moderate vice president to open it to the biggest voting bloc. (…)

Elon Musk believes that his estranged transgender child was "killed by the woke mind virus" after undergoing so-called gender-affirming treatments.Musk's child came out as transgender at age 16. The billionaire's 20-year-old biological son — born Xavier Musk — has transitioned to Vivian Jenna Wilson. Wilson dropped Musk's last name in favor of using the last name of the Tesla CEO's ex-wife, Justine Wilson. Musk's child legally changed names in 2022. 'They strive to give an answer, but they are trained to be politically correct, and the woke mind virus is woven throughout them.'Musk — who is the father of 12 children — said in 2023 that he “made many overtures” to connect with his estranged child, “but she doesn’t want to spend time with me.”In a recent interview with psychologist and conservative commentator Dr. Jordan Peterson, Musk explained the challenges of his child transitioning.“I was essentially tricked into signing documents for one of my older boys,” Musk explained. “This was really before I had any understanding of what was going on, and we had COVID going on, so there was a lot of confusion and I was told Xavier might commit suicide if he doesn’t.”Musk added, “It’s incredibly evil, and I agree with you that the people that have been promoting this should go to prison.”The 53-year-old SpaceX founder said his child was figuratively killed by the "woke mind virus." “I lost my son, essentially,“ Musk stated. “They call it ‘deadnaming’ for a reason. The reason they call it ‘deadnaming’ is because your son is dead. My son Xavier is dead — killed by the woke mind virus.” Musk proclaimed, “I vowed to destroy the woke mind virus after that. And we’re making some progress.”Earlier this month, Musk vowed to move the headquarters of two of his major companies out of California in reaction to new gender identity legislation for students in the Golden State.California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1955, which prohibits school districts from having policies that require parents to be notified if their child identifies as transgender.Musk wrote on his X social media platform, "This is the final straw. Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas."He also proclaimed that the San Francisco headquarters for X will be relocated to Austin, Texas.Also in the interview, Musk declared that he would create a better artificial intelligence that is free of the "woke mind virus."Speaking on the topic of AI, Musk said he would attempt to create an artificial intelligence that was "better, to some degree, than what others are doing." The world's richest individual — who has a net worth of nearly $250 billion — said he would strive to avoid some of the "pitfalls" that other artificial intelligence companies have experienced. He noted that other AI companies "do not strive for truth." Peterson asked, "What do they strive for?" Musk replied, "They strive to give an answer, but they are trained to be politically correct, and the woke mind virus is woven throughout them." As previously reported on Blaze News, Musk told Peterson in the interview that he is a "big believer in the principles of Christianity" and considers himself a "cultural Christian."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The abrupt resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle a day after her disastrous appearance before a U.S. House committee has only increased calls for deep-dive investigations into the attempted assassination of former President Donald J. Trump.Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, predicted “there will be more accountability to come” through a “full accounting of how these security failures happened.”“Egregious security failures leading up to and at the Butler, Pennsylvania, campaign rally resulted in the assassination attempt of President Trump, the murder of an innocent victim, and harm to others in the crowd,” Comer said.Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris added one big detail to the mystery on July 23 when he said would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks got off eight shots before he was killed by a counter-sniper.“Eight casings have been recovered," Paris told lawmakers during a hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security.Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), a former Navy SEAL and sniper, asked Paris whether Pennsylvania State Police teams conducted investigations at the Crooks home in Bethel Park.“I believe we had people that participated in that, securing of it,” Paris said. “There were bomb assets that we provided.”Crane also asked whether state police noticed “anything fishy” at the home, such as no silverware or trash present, or extreme cleanliness “almost like a medical lab?”“I wasn’t given any of those details,” Paris said.Cheatle’s four-hour appearance before Comer’s committee the day before shed almost no light on how Crooks came so close to executing a former president and a leading candidate in the 2024 presidential election. It highlighted in stark relief the volumes of information that Cheatle said she didn’t know about the July 13 tragedy — and also what she apparently did know but would not share with Congress.'There are some of us up here that don't have a lot of confidence in the FBI.'“The failed attempt on President Trump’s life demands urgent and comprehensive congressional oversight,” said U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security. “We must understand how it happened — and ensure changes are made — so this never happens again.”Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said he would introduce a bipartisan bill with Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) to require Senate confirmation of candidates for director of the U.S. Secret Service.“The Secret Service’s core mission is to protect the individuals entrusted to its care,” Grassley said in a statement.“President Trump’s brush with death was a Secret Service failure of epic proportions, and this mission failure must never be repeated,” Grassley said. “Our bill is a crucial step toward providing the transparency and accountability that Congress and the American people deserve from the Secret Service.”Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent turned radio and podcast host, said investigators will quickly discover the number of times the Trump campaign requested more protection from the Secret Service only to have the requests denied.“Folks, this thing is about to get so much worse," Bongino said on his July 23 podcast. "I’m telling you there is an email trail and white papers out there. A long email trail documenting multiple security enhancement requests for the DTD — Donald Trump protective detail — that were rebuffed and denied. Kim Cheatle is never, ever going to be able to hide from that."Appearing on "The Glenn Beck Program," Bongino said he was called a conspiracy theorist for the past year for warning that an attempt would be made on Trump's life.“All I'm telling you is the failure here was so apocalyptic, everyone on that advance team should have resigned the next day," Bongino said. "The director, the deputy director, all of them. How they still have jobs is incredible.”'What are you covering up?'Ten days out from the assassination attempt that took the life of a retired firefighter and seriously wounded two others, the picture of what happened at the Butler Farm Show Inc. fairground is not filling out nearly fast enough for lawmakers.Cheatle was asked repeatedly how many rifle shell casings were recovered from the roof of Building 6 at the American Glass Research complex from which Crooks staged his attack on Trump and the rally crowd. She deferred time and again to the FBI, which is handling the criminal investigation, but then let on she knew more than she was telling.“Did they share with you how many shell casings were on the roof?” asked Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.). When Cheatle began to answer, McClain cut her off and repeated the question.“Yes,” Cheatle replied.“So, they’ve shared the information with you,” McClain said. “You just don’t want to share the information with us, correct?”McClain then tried repeatedly to get Cheatle to reveal how many shell casings were recovered, but Cheatle didn’t budge.“If you’re supposed to be in charge, if the buck stops with you, how come you can’t share the answers?” McClain asked. “What are you covering up?” U.S. Secret Service agents swarm former President Donald J. Trump after he was shot by a would-be assassin at the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds in Butler, Pa., on July 13.(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)Under questioning by Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.), Cheatle said the Secret Service radio communications from the Trump rally were not recorded or preserved. “We do not have radio communications from that day,” she said.A shooting timeline assembled by U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) showed delays occurred between intelligence gathered by local police and it being sent to and received by the Secret Service. Photographs of Crooks taken by a local police counter-sniper at 5:14 p.m. — nearly an hour before the shooting — were not transmitted to the command center until 5:49 p.m. The command center, which included Secret Service personnel, didn’t acknowledge receipt of local police messages that they were seeking a suspicious person until 5:55 p.m. Crooks opened fire on Trump and the crowd just after 6:11 p.m.Secret Service communications problems have been a recurring theme in the agency’s recent history, according to sources on Capitol Hill. A forthcoming report from the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General is expected to identify Secret Service communication failures on Jan. 6, 2021, a senior congressional aide told Blaze News.'Joint terrorism task forces are almost exclusively focusing on anonymous tips about a ‘right-wing’ response to the failed assassination attempt.'Inspector General Joseph Cuffari learned in December 2021 that the Secret Service had erased phone text messages received and sent by its agents on Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, during a system migration. Cuffari was heavily criticized by House Democrats for failing to notify oversight committees in a timely manner.Serious questions have been raised about the behavior of Secret Service agents at the scene of a pipe bomb found next to the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C., the afternoon of Jan. 6. After a Capitol Police officer discovered a bomb near a park bench just outside the DNC building, security video showed agents sitting in vehicles in the driveway finishing their lunches before exiting the SUVs to investigate.About 90 minutes before that, a Secret Service protective detail brought Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to the DNC and drove into a garage just feet from the pipe bomb. The lack of urgency on the part of Secret Service agents and local police after the bomb discovery is being investigated by U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).Another key question that Cheatle did not answer at the July 22 hearing was whether her agency or the FBI had tracked Crooks’ whereabouts in the days and months leading up to the shooting.“We need to have confidence that if the FBI is leading this investigation, that they're leading a credible investigation, because there are some of us up here that don't have a lot of confidence in the FBI,” Comer said.Worry about the FBI probe of the Trump shooting prompted the Oversight Project at Heritage Foundation to launch its own assassination investigation. Some of the early results released July 22 showed that a cell phone that had visited Crooks’ home and work addresses also pinged from a Washington, D.C., mall and office building that includes offices of the FBI.The Oversight Project, using commercially available geolocation data, also found that a phone likely belonging to Crooks himself visited Butler, Pennsylvania, twice in the 10 days leading up to the Trump shooting.'The Biden/Harris administration did not properly protect me, and I was forced to take a bullet for Democracy.'Oversight’s report said a phone traveled from Crooks’ home address in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, to Butler, including a stop in the parking lot of a Home Depot store.The report issued by Sen. Johnson said Crooks visited a Home Depot in Butler the morning of the shooting, purchasing a 5.5-foot double aluminum ladder.The FBI seems more interested in pinning the political violence on domestic extremists than solving the criminal investigation of Crooks, according to former FBI special agent Steve Friend, a whistleblower who left the Bureau in February 2023 after being suspended for raising concerns about FBI tactics in Jan. 6 cases.“More of my @FBI moles are confirming. Their joint terrorism task forces are almost exclusively focusing on anonymous tips about a ‘right-wing’ response to the failed assassination attempt," Friend wrote on X. “There needs to be a parallel independent investigation.”The Oversight Project agreed, asking for the public's help with its investigation of the assassination attempt. Tips can be sent via email to tips.oversightproject@heritage.org.“This is part of the reason why we are conducting an independent investigation,” Oversight Project posted on X. “The system cannot investigate itself.”The FBI has not issued an update on its investigation in the past nine days.Trump took to social media with some new comments on the shooting.“The Biden/Harris Administration did not properly protect me, and I was forced to take a bullet for Democracy,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It was my great honor to do so!”Trump's former presidential physician, Ronny Jackson, expressed frustration with people minimizing the severity of Trump’s bullet wound.“People forget how serious this was. He was less than 2 centimeters away from having a bullet traveling at 3,300 feet per second, enter the back of his head,” Jackson told Fox News.“It irks me to no end how people are trying to minimize what happened,” said Jackson, who has examined Trump and reported the former president is “recovering well and is in good spirits.""By the grace of God, he was spared.”Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!