After 9/11‚ dozens of state-run “Fusion Centers” popped up all over the country. Now there are roughly 79 of them in operation‚ and they exist in virtually every state. The point of these centers is supposedly to facilitate cooperation between the federal government and the states in order to gather intelligence and prevent terrorist attacks and other serious threats to the homeland. But here’s the strange thing: They don’t appear to be doing that. A couple years ago‚ investigative reporters at The Nation found that the Fusion Center in Central Florida was investigating‚ “Criminal and Violent Extremist Use of Emojis.” The Fort Worth Fusion Center‚ meanwhile‚ was preoccupied with a plot to break the Netflix star Joe Exotic out of prison‚ while the Capital Region Fusion Center was busy looking into viral TikTok challenges. The Washington State Fusion Center‚ for its part‚ opened an investigation into a report ‚ “concerning a homeowner working on cars in his driveway and letting oil run down the street into Mission Creek in Olympia.” In any other context‚ this would be considered fraud. These state governments are taking money to fight terrorism‚ but they’re not remotely attempting to do that. In fact‚ they don’t appear to be doing anything of consequence whatsoever‚ which in this context is especially strange. Normally‚ when federal and state governments give themselves vast powers of surveillance and lofty new mandates‚ they don’t waste their time chasing down homeowners who are being a little sloppy while they work on their cars. They usually start using their expanded powers as quickly as possible. One of two things is happening here: Either these Fusion Centers are a massive and long-standing fraud‚ or there’s something else going on. For a while now‚ there have been signs that the latter explanation is the more plausible one. In their investigation‚ the Nation obtained documentation indicating that one area of focus for these Fusion Centers is‚ “First Amendment-Protected Events.” But the journalists weren’t able to provide much more clarity‚ probably because the government redacted information on their investigations in this area. So‚ we learned all about the TikTok investigations at these Fusion Centers‚ but not so much about their crackdown on the First Amendment. And that’s where things have stood for the past several years. WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show But yesterday‚ thanks to a report by Mary Margaret Olohan at The Daily Signal‚ we have some indication of the actual mission of these Fusion Centers‚ and what “First Amendment-protected events” they might be interested in. The Daily Signal obtained an email sent in February of 2023 by the Anti-Defamation League (or ADL) to the Washington State Fusion Center. That’s the same Fusion Center that was looking into that homeowner working on his car. Here’s the subject line: “White Supremacist Fight Clubs‚ Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate.” In the body of the email‚ the ADL warns about “online amplifiers of LGBTQ+ Hate” promoting “false narratives‚ escalating harassment of LGBTQ+ individuals.” This alleged hate includes‚ “the vilification of drag shows” and “baseless claims of ‘child grooming’ by LGBTQ+ people.” According to the ADL’s email to this Washington state counterterrorism center‚ this vilification‚ “further endangered and isolated an already at-risk community.”  According to the Daily Signal‚ the email then appears to link to an ADL blog post‚ which identifies the purveyors of this supposedly dangerous hatred as Libs of TikTok‚ Gays Against Groomers‚ Blaze Media‚ Christopher Rufo‚ and of course that infamous international terrorist who goes by the name Matt Walsh. The post states‚ “The ADL is advocating for government partners to strengthen laws against perpetrators of online hate‚ as well as consulting with law enforcement partners to act on online hate speech that incites violence and/or credible threats.” The ADL says it’s teamed up with GLAAD as well‚ and they’re all apparently working with law enforcement. In other words‚ the ADL told a counterterrorism agency to investigate journalists and political commentators because we’re saying things they don’t like. They don’t even claim we violated any law. Instead‚ they’re saying that because we oppose the chemical and physical castration of children‚ and because we believe in biology‚ therefore we’re “inciting violence.” So they call on law enforcement to “act.” The Daily Signal reached out to the Washington State Patrol about this. They’re one of the state agencies that participates in this “Fusion Center.” They indicated they take emails from the ADL and various other interest groups under advisement‚ but they denied opening any investigation on the basis of the ADL’s email. Obviously we have no idea whether that’s true or not. It would certainly be strange for the ADL to send an email like this to a counterterrorism center‚ if they thought it would just be ignored. We also have no idea how many similar emails the ADL has sent to this particular Fusion Center. What we do know is the ADL has a very long history of not simply advising law enforcement agencies‚ but participating directly in law enforcement functions. This is a from a speech that James Comey‚ who was the FBI director at the time‚ delivered to the ADL’s leadership summit back in 2014. “The FBI works with the ADL to host civil rights and hate crime training for our state and local counterparts through a number of programs. … And the ADL‚ of course‚ has even greater reach; you trained more than 12‚000 law enforcement personnel last year alone‚ and I want to thank you for that.” So this is not a typical political nonprofit we’re talking about here. The ADL is conducting training for law enforcement agencies‚ including the FBI. And these partnerships have only accelerated in recent years‚ post-BLM. As the ADL states on its website‚ “In 2020 alone‚ ADL’s Center on Extremism provided law enforcement with critical intelligence about extremism over 1‚000 times and tracked over 5‚000 new incidents of hate on our online‚ interactive H.E.A.T. Map.” In other words‚ the ADL — which supposedly was founded to combat “antisemitism” — is now a de facto intelligence agency for federal and state law enforcement. This is the organization that’s now advising the Washington Fusion Center to investigate me and several other commentators for having offensive opinions. If you know anything about the history of the ADL‚ this probably doesn’t surprise you. The ADL has a long and well-documented history of working with law enforcement — even going so far as to actively participate in law enforcement investigations. One of the more famous cases took place in the 1960s‚ when an ADL director raised money for the FBI to pay some klansmen $36‚000 in an effort to set up other klansmen. That incident led to a shootout and the death of one klan member. Whatever you make of that operation‚ journalists noted at the time that it was obviously a little strange for a private‚ tax-exempt organization to be involved in it. The ACLU called for an investigation. But in the end‚ no one seemed to mind. The ADL adopted a pseudo-law enforcement assistant role‚ which they’ve retained ever since. CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP I’ve focused on the ADL so far‚ mainly because they’re the group that’s trying to have me investigated. But there are many other organizations like the ADL doing the same thing. Maybe the most notable is the Southern Poverty Law Center‚ or SPLC. You might remember that the FBI cited the SPLC in its infamous memo claiming that “Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology” is a significant terror threat. The FBI tried to hide that memo but a whistleblower came forward and released it. The SPLC is a completely discredited group; they’ve even had to pay out defamation settlements for some of their more egregious hack jobs. And the bureau knows that‚ according to the whistleblower. But the FBI tried to cite them anyway‚ in order to justify the targeted surveillance of Catholics on the basis of their religious beliefs. We’ve seen many examples of similar misconduct in recent years‚ in which the government partners with some supposedly independent‚ private entity in order to lend some legitimacy to its obviously illegitimate investigations. During the Trump campaign‚ the FBI effectively teamed up with the Washington Post in order to obtain secret surveillance warrants against the Trump team. The FBI even copy-pasted from a debunked Washington Post editorial in its FISA warrant application against Carter Page. More recently‚ the DOJ has been investigating Doctor Eithan Haim because he blew the whistle on Texas Children’s Hospital‚ which claimed to stop butchering children but kept doing it in secret. That got the attention of trans activists and their various advocacy groups‚ which in turn led the DOJ to knock on Haim’s door. They know they don’t have a legal case against him. They know it’s not a violation of patient privacy to disclose the existence of unlawful and unethical procedures‚ without disclosing patient identities. But they’re harassing him anyway. They want to send him to prison and take away his medical license. It’s not hard to see where this leads. As I told the Daily Signal‚ I have no doubt that if Biden wins another term‚ we will actually see prominent conservative commentators arrested on hate crime and terrorism charges. They are laying the groundwork right now. First they open investigations and start surveillance. And then‚ once that’s normalized‚ they escalate things. I recently wrote about slippery slopes in relation to trans ideology. This is yet another slippery slope that we’re on. The ADL is telling government counterterrorism centers to suppress political dissent. Unless they pay a price for this — and unless law enforcement agencies stop taking marching orders from these compromised activist groups — then they will continue to make these demands. And eventually they’ll get what they want. At that point‚ if it gets that far‚ the only real question will be which of us do they hit first and try to make an example out of.

Twenty-five Republican governors from across the country released a joint statement Thursday afternoon expressing support for the state of Texas as it fights to secure its border with Mexico. The statement comes as the Biden administration is fighting to stop Texas from securing its borders and preventing millions of illegal aliens from flooding into the state. “President Biden and his Administration have left Americans and our country completely vulnerable to unprecedented illegal immigration pouring across the Southern border‚” the statement‚ signed by 25 governors‚ said. “Instead of upholding the rule of law and securing the border‚ the Biden Administration has attacked and sued Texas for stepping up to protect American citizens from historic levels of illegal immigrants‚ deadly drugs like fentanyl‚ and terrorists entering our country.” “We stand in solidarity with our fellow Governor‚ Greg Abbott‚ and the State of Texas in utilizing every tool and strategy‚ including razor wire fences‚ to secure the border‚” the statement continued. “We do it in part because the Biden Administration is refusing to enforce immigration laws already on the books and is illegally allowing mass parole across America of migrants who entered our country illegally.” The governors said that the U.S. Constitution clearly says that states have a right of self defense and that since the Biden administration has “abdicated its constitutional compact duties to the states‚ Texas has every legal justification to protect the sovereignty of our states and our nation.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP Signatories on the statement include: Governor Ron DeSantis (FL)‚ Governor Brian Kemp (GA)‚ Governor Kevin Stitt (OK)‚ Governor Greg Gianforte (MT)‚ Governor Joe Lombardo (NV)‚ Governor Kim Reynolds (IA)‚ Governor Chris Sununu (NH)‚ Governor Kay Ivey (AL)‚ Governor Mike Dunleavy (AK)‚ Governor Sarah Sanders (AR)‚ Governor Brad Little (ID)‚ Governor Eric Holcomb (IN)‚ Governor Jeff Landry (LA)‚ Governor Tate Reeves (MS)‚ Governor Mike Parson (MO)‚ Governor Jim Pillen (NE)‚ Governor Doug Burgum (ND)‚ Governor Mike DeWine (OH)‚ Governor Henry McMaster (SC)‚ Governor Kristi Noem (SD)‚ Governor Bill Lee (TN)‚ Governor Spencer Cox (UT)‚ Governor Glenn Youngkin (VA)‚ Governor Jim Justice (WV)‚ and Governor Mark Gordon (WY). The only Republican governor in the country not to cosign the statement was Vermont’s Phil Scott.

Kevin Spacey announced that he will appear at his first ever comic book fan event after being acquitted in his sexual assault trial last year. The 64-year-old actor said‚ in a video posted on Instagram‚ that he’s looking forward to meeting fans at the Mad Monster comic book convention in North Carolina next month — the first comic book convention ever for “The Usual Suspects” star. The actor also took a moment to thank his fans for “all your support through all these years. It’s meant so much to me. And I hope you can make it because it would be nice to meet in person.” The “House of Cards” and “American Beauty” star’s photo appeared in promotional material about the event and he’s listed as being among the stars who will be on hand throughout the three-day event to take pictures with fans and be available for signing autographs‚ the Hollywood Reporter noted.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Mad Monster (@madmonster) “Kevin Spacey is one of the most sought after actors in the celebrity appearance space‚” the Mad Monster event told THR. “We couldn’t be more excited to be the first to bring him to a show.” Other than appearing in a few strange videos posted via social media‚ Spacey has largely avoided being in the spotlight over the last several years following sexual misconduct and assault allegations. In October‚ he received a standing ovation when he performed a Shakespearean scene in Oxford — his first stage appearance following the sexual assault trial last year. Earlier that month‚ he also made an appearance at a film festival in Uzbekistan.  In July‚ the “Superman Returns” star was acquitted on all nine of the sexual assault charges against him in the United Kingdom. In the courtroom‚ Spacey reportedly wept after Justice Mark Wall said he was cleared of all charges and concluded that the “defendant may be discharged‚” the Hollywood Reporter noted. Spacey previously pleaded not guilty to nine counts stemming from allegations that he had sexually assaulted four men between 2004 and 2013 in London‚ Reuters noted. The allegations ranged from unwanted touching to aggressive fondling — and‚ in one case‚ performing oral sex on an unconscious actor. The actor was one of the most prominent figures accused of sexual misconduct during the start of the #MeToo era. In November of 2017‚ Spacey was fired from the hugely popular Netflix series “House of Cards” following a string of sexual misconduct allegations against him. One such accusation came from “Star Trek: Discovery” star Anthony Rapp‚ who accused Spacey of making a sexual advance toward him at a party in 1986 — when Rapp was just 14. Spacey denied the allegations. Rapp brought a civil lawsuit against Spacey but lost the case in 2022 when the actor was found not liable for battery‚ the New York Times noted.

In a recent survey that has sent ripples across the nation‚ America’s wealthiest individuals and Ivy League graduates have expressed opinions that starkly contrast with those of the average voter. The findings reveal a significant divide in perspectives on personal freedom‚ climate change‚ and trust in government. The poll‚ which focused on affluent city dwellers with postgraduate degrees and incomes exceeding $150‚000‚ uncovered a startling preference among the elite for rationing food and electricity as a means to combat climate change. This group‚ which makes up the top 1% of earners‚ is advocating for measures that would significantly alter the daily lives of Americans. THERE IS A REASON WHY MANY BILLIONAIRES AND CELEBRITIES ARE ALL OF THE SUDDEN RUSHING TO BUILD BUNKERS IN 2024 pic.twitter.com/1kpETZSlfl — 𝕏 (@AlertChannel) January 19‚ 2024 While the general populace cherishes their individual freedoms‚ nearly six in ten of the elite believe there is an excess of such liberties in the United States. This sentiment aligns with their support for banning modern conveniences like gas stoves‚ air conditioners‚ and non-essential air travel‚ all in the name of reducing emissions of planet-heating gases. The survey also highlighted a deep trust within this group towards federal officials‚ with 70% expressing confidence in the government to ‘do the right thing most of the time’—a figure more than double the national average. Their approval extends to the current administration‚ with President Joe Biden receiving an 84% job approval rating from the elite‚ approximately twice that of the general public’s view. Serious question….. Is anyone concerned‚ and if so‚ why are all of the millionaires and billionaires building underground bunkers? I’m prepared for nearly every scenario except needing an underground bunker. Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/VVPm678yic — Carissa (@njoyzgrl81) January 20‚ 2024 This trust in government is further reflected in their attitudes towards education. Two-thirds of the elite believe that schoolteachers should dictate the curriculum‚ a stance that diverges from regular voters who tend to favor parental input‚ especially given recent concerns over politicized content in classrooms. The survey’s findings also suggest that the elite hold more favorable views of professions often associated with influence and policymaking‚ such as lawyers‚ lobbyists‚ politicians‚ and journalists. In contrast‚ regular voters exhibit cooler or even negative attitudes towards these ‘talking professions.’ The Committee to Unleash Prosperity‚ which led the poll‚ has described the elite as living in a “bubble of their own construction.” Steve Moore‚ a member of the committee‚ remarked that understanding the disparity in viewpoints between the elite and the rest of the country is key to grasping the current political divide. As populist sentiments continue to rise‚ crossing political lines and uniting diverse groups against the perceived out-of-touch elite‚ the debate intensifies. The question remains: how will America reconcile these differing visions for its future‚ and what implications will this have for the nation’s approach to climate change and the cherished principle of personal freedom? The post Elite 1% Push for Rationing Measures in Name of Climate Change‚ Igniting Debate on Freedom and Governance appeared first on The Conservative Brief.

Eating snow is a time-honored tradition passed down from generation to generation since time began. Granted‚ there is more pollution now‚ so snow is not as clean as it was 200 years ago. But still… kids eat snow every winter‚ and none of them have perished from the experience. So why are Reese Witherspoon fans having conniption fits over her recent post about making a snow-based coffee slushy? If you missed the ensuing hilarity‚ let us fill you in. They had a significant snowfall at her home. Reese posted a video with the caption‚ “Snow days were made for Chococinnos.” The video opens with her using two large coffee mugs to retrieve freshly fallen snow off the side of a vehicle. Image from TikTok. From there‚ Reese leveled out the snow in each mug so she had two equal portions. Then‚ it was time for a few additions. Thinking that she enjoyed the melding of salted caramel and chocolate‚ Reese used syrups to flavor her snow. Then‚ for a little kick and added flavor‚ she put in a splash or three of cold brew coffee. This sounds amazing to me so far. Image from TikTok. And then there was the taste test. Reese thought the concoction was amazing. The face she made spoke volumes. Her eyes almost rolled back in her head with pleasure as she exclaimed‚ “Ohhhh‚ this is soooo good!” She continued gulping down her snow slushy while trying to decide on a name for this unique new taste sensation. Image from TikTok. And That Is When The Backlash Began… Apparently‚ you shouldn’t eat snow because it’s “dirty” and not made to eat. Supposedly‚ it can make you seriously sick. One fan wanted Reese to put some snow in a clear cup and let it melt to see how dirty it was. She did that‚ and it was quite clear. Some fans thought she should filter snow before eating it. We are unsure how that would work as it would melt and be water‚ so would you have to drink it? Another fan mentioned that snow is dirty‚ but “you only live once‚” and she remembers eating snow as a child. @reesewitherspoon Replying to @Mel ♬ original sound – Reese Witherspoon Reese Witherspoon treated the backlash in a comical fashion. It isn’t the first time she has played fan rodeo. She couldn’t help but wonder where people came up with all these odd ideas about the horrible act of eating freshly fallen snow. While it is true that you should not eat snow that has been sitting on the ground for days. And you should definitely steer clear of yellow snow cones offered up by the abominable snowman. Don’t scoop up the pile after shoveling your driveway… If your snow looks like this‚ please don’t eat it. Image supplied by author – used with permission. If you would like to follow the ongoing saga of snow-eating adventures‚ pop over to Reese Witherspoon’s TikTok channel and give it a “follow.” We don’t think the fans are done with this yet. In her responses to each of the concerned fans‚ Reese used a blend of common sense and humor to let her fans know she heard them. We agree with the one person‚ though; you only live once‚ so eat the snow! If you enjoyed this visit with absurdity‚ please share it with a friend who needs a wintertime laugh while they shovel themselves out. And yes‚ you can eat snow. @reesewitherspoon Snow days were made for Chococinnos ♬ Let’s go – Official Sound Studio You can find the source of this story’s featured image here. The post Reese Witherspoon Eats Snow And Fans Hilariously Lose Their Minds. appeared first on InspireMore.

'It was a wig! It was a lot. They did a lot to me!'

"The lawless southern border threatens the lives of all Americans"

'Ought never to be manipulated for personal or political profit'

What a top-flight idea from Coach Prime

'Complete and utter breakdown of boundaries‚ mental health‚ ego‚ entitlement'