The Senate will vote again Thursday on a border bill that Republicans say would do more harm than good.  The bill “is not a border bill, and it is not a border security bill,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said at a press conference on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. “This is an election-year political stunt designed to give our Democratic colleagues the appearance of doing something about the problem without doing anything at all.”   The border bill at hand previously failed in the Senate in February, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., says he’s bringing the bill back to the floor a second time because “Democrats’ commitment to act never waned.”  Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla.; Chris Murphy, D-Conn.; and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., originally negotiated the text of the bill. Blackburn slammed Democrats for being a “party of open borders,” adding that the political Left and Right mean two very different things when they speak of “border security.”   “The Left means release and resettle,” Blackburn said, but “When Republicans talk about border security, we mean deny and deport.”  .@SenSchumer’s partisan open border legislation is really a feeble attempt to make illegal immigration legal.WATCH ?? pic.twitter.com/aeSLizGh35— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) May 22, 2024 The contested bill would allow up to 5,000 illegal aliens to enter the U.S. daily—meaning up to 1.8 million illegal immigrants could still cross the border annually if the bill became law.   Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., was one of seven GOP senators to join Blackburn’s press conference Wednesday. Johnson criticized the bill that, if passed, would provide “$20 billion to not security border, but to more efficiently encounter, process, and disperse illegal migrants.”  The text of the bill “codifies an industrial-scale mass-release program,” Mike Howell, director of The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, told “The Daily Signal Podcast” in February. Howell noted that the bill is “full of giveaways, codifying—basically—amnesty practices into law; visa giveaways; money to sanctuary cities; far-left, dark money nonprofits, etc.” (Heritage founded The Daily Signal in 2014.) Following the bill’s failure three months ago, Schumer accused former President Donald Trump of having “demanded congressional Republicans kill the legislation.”    But Johnson said the bill’s failure was not because of Trump. “It failed because it’s an awful bill,” the Wisconsin Republican said. The only reason the bill is back on the floor to begin with, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said at the press conference, is because “poll numbers are showing [Democrats] that, after months and months of throwing the border open to anyone who wants to come in, that the public doesn’t like the policy.”  Gallup polling data reports that immigration is the No. 1 issue not specifically related to the economy on the minds of American voters right now.   “And now, all of a sudden, six months before an election, Chuck Schumer and the Democrats have got religion on border security,” said Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio.   Sen @JDVance1 on Schumer’s border bill:“Six months before an election, Chuck Schumer and the Democrats have got religion on border security…It doesn’t even pass the smell test. Joe Biden opened the southern border, he can close the southern border. It’s really that simple.”? pic.twitter.com/a4XGQ5PO8D— Senator Vance Press Office (@SenVancePress) May 22, 2024 If Senate “Democrats were serious” about stopping the flow of illegal immigration, Schumer would take up the border security bill known as H.R. 2, which the House passed a year ago, said Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan. If passed into law, HR 2 would end “catch and release,” restart construction of the border wall, and reinstate the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy.  On Tuesday night, Marshall and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, spoke on the Senate floor and called for the Senate to pass H.R. 2 by unanimous consent. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., reserved the right to object and blocked the bill.    More than 10 million illegal aliens have entered the U.S. under the Biden administration, according to Customs and Border Protection data. On President Joe Biden’s first day in office on Jan. 20, 2021, he stopped construction of the Trump administration’s wall at the southern border, signed an executive order “revoking a Trump Executive Order that directed harsh and extreme immigration enforcement,” and strategically undid many of the Trump administration’s other border security policies.    Rather than bring the border bill back to the Senate floor for a vote, Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said “if Chuck Schumer wanted to be useful with his time, which he’s not good at, he would spend that time over at the White House begging Joe Biden to undo the madness that he created.”   The bill is expected to fail in the Senate, but even if it manages to pass, GOP House leadership says the bill is “dead on arrival” in the lower chamber.   The post GOP Senators Slam Schumer, Call Border Bill Revote an ‘Election Year Political Stunt’ appeared first on The Daily Signal.

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—After President Joe Biden signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to work with private organizations to mobilize voters, senior White House officials asked agencies for “bold ideas” and explained plans to coordinate with “stakeholders.”  One message from the White House, obtained by The Daily Signal, said: “We look forward to working with you to”—but the rest of the content is blacked out by a redaction.  The specifics of those “bold ideas” and “stakeholders” isn’t knowable right now because “upon the advice of the White House Counsel’s Office, the information is being withheld under the presidential communications privilege,” according to a cover letter to The Daily Signal from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  The letter accompanied 99 pages that The Daily Signal obtained from USDA through a request under the Freedom of Information Act. Since Biden signed his executive order on elections in March 2021, members of Congress, the press, and watchdog groups have struggled to get basic information on how the administration is implementing the order. Some details have trickled out through FOIA law, which requires that basic information from the government be available to the public.  Earlier this month, two House committees intensified their investigations of Biden’s order on turning out voters.  Although records obtained previously by The Daily Signal under FOIA requests contained redactions and cited exemptions, the responses didn’t refer to “presidential communication privilege.” “The presidential communications privilege protects communications among the president and his advisors,” the cover letter to the released but redacted documents says.  “The records being withheld here consist of email communications concerning President Biden’s Executive Order 14019 and attached records that were solicited and received by the president or his immediate White House advisers who have broad and significant responsibility for investigating and formulating the advice to be given to the president,” says the letter signed by Alexis R. Graves, director of the USDA’s Office of Information Affairs.  Other exemptions to disclosure cited in Graves’ cover letter include the deliberative process privilege and attorney-client privilege. Critics of Biden’s executive order, some of whom refer to it as “Bidenbucks,” argue that its implementation could cause bureaucrats to violate the Hatch Act, a law that prohibits political activity using resources of the federal government. Critics also say the order may violate the Antideficiency Act, which prohibits agencies from spending taxpayers’ money for reasons not approved by Congress.  Separately, the Justice Department has invoked presidential privilege to shield documents about Biden’s order in a public records lawsuit brought by the Foundation for Government Accountability, a watchdog group. “In recent years, the presidential communications privilege has become an increasingly common excuse used by federal agencies to sidestep their disclosure obligations under federal law,” Stewart Whitson, senior director of federal affairs at the Foundation for Government Accountability, told The Daily Signal.  “During the current administration, federal agencies have shown an increasing willingness to stretch the presidential communications privilege well beyond what is allowed under current law—documents or other materials that reflect presidential decision making and deliberations that the president believes should remain confidential—to any and all documents received by White House advisers and their staff,” Whitson said. “If allowed to persist, federal agencies and the politically appointed bureaucrats leading these agencies will gradually render the FOIA law meaningless. Government transparency and our very democracy are under threat,” he said. USDA-3-EO14019-2022-OSEC-02115-F-final-response_Redacted-1Download Stephonn O. Alcorn, then the associate director of racial justice and equity at the White House, sent an April 1, 2021, email to all federal agencies that is heavily redacted in the released version.  Alcorn’s email was about an interagency meeting to be convened eight days later, on April 9, by the White House Counsel’s Office and the Domestic Policy Counsel. The agenda is completely redacted.   Alcorn notified agencies that taking the White House lead on Biden’s election executive order would be Justin Vail, special assistant to the president for democracy and civic participation with the Domestic Policy Council, and Larry Schwartztol, an associate White House counsel. In September 2021, Kumar Chandran, senior adviser for nutrition to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, notified Vail of a change of plans for how the USDA wanted to implement Biden’s order. In the released record, however, the change is blacked out from public view.  “After input from Sec. Vilsack this week, we are considering a change to one of our proposed actions, which would result in [redacted],” Chandran wrote.  “We need to do some further diligence to determine if it is viable, but if it is, we think it might be more meaningful,” he added. A White House press release that month gave a broad overview of how the USDA would implement Biden’s order on mobilizing voters.  “The Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service will encourage the provision of nonpartisan voter information through its borrowers and guaranteed lenders, who interface with thousands of residents in the process of changing their voting address every year,” the White House press release said. “In addition, Rural Development agencies—which are spread throughout field offices across the country where rural Americans can apply for housing, facilities, or business assistance—will take steps to promote access to voter registration forms and other pertinent nonpartisan election information among their patrons.” Getting to the point of how the USDA would push Americans to vote appears to be a tedious process, based on what’s discernible from the released records.  Some messages were more heavily redacted than others. For example, a September 2021 message from USDA Deputy Undersecretary for Rural Development Farah Ahmad says only “This is” before the text is blacked out.  A June 2021 email from Vail to Chandran was about the “interim report template.”  “At this point,” Vail’s message began, followed by several lines of redacted information. He continued: “We just want to ensure that all agencies are taking steps to generate bold ideas and begin to flesh out those ideas; it will also allow the opportunity for us to provide feedback.” This statement is followed by more heavy redactions.  White House official Devontae Freeland, special assistant to the racial justice and equity team, notified agencies on July 2, 2021, about an upcoming conference with “stakeholders” on Biden’s executive order.  Separate document releases show that a Zoom conference the following July 12 involved Biden administration officials and numerous far-left political organizations, among them unions. The groups included the Southern Poverty Law Center, Demos, the American Civil Liberties Union, the George Soros-funded Open Society Foundations, the Stacey Abrams-founded Fair Fight Action, and the Al Sharpton-founded National Action Network.  “As you know, we’re coordinating some input from stakeholders, including what we hope you found to be an informative session yesterday afternoon with state and local election officials,” Freeland wrote.  “We’ve also planned a session for nonpartisan nonprofit organizations engaged in voting rights advocacy to provide their recommendations and thoughts on best practices; we will follow up shortly with an additional session from nonprofit organizations with substantial expertise in reaching out to and engaging particular populations of voters who may be more difficult to reach. We hope that each of these sessions will provide helpful feedback,” he wrote, before more redactions blacked out the text.  In another heavily redacted message, Vail wrote USDA officials in late September 2021 with the subject line “Voting EO/Follow up items.” On Oct. 6, 2021, Vail wrote to agencies about meeting on Biden’s executive order in coming days.  “We look forward to working with you to [redacted],” he wrote.  The next interagency meeting would be Oct. 20, Vail wrote.  Spokespersons for the White House and the Agriculture Department didn’t respond to The Daily Signal’s inquiries about this report before publication. USDA-3-PresidentialPrivilege-1Download The post ‘PRIVILEGE’: What the White House Doesn’t Think You Should Know About Biden’s Order on Mobilizing Voters appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Another Conspiracy Theory Win; It's Getting Depressing

Well Done: Sen. Ted Cruz Grills Sec. of State Blinken Over Treatment of Iran, Israel

British BBC classic "Doctor Who" continued to plummet in the ratings as viewers catch wind of its ultraprogressive content.Lead actor and Doctor Who character Ncuti Gatwa already had the second-worst premiere for a season of "Doctor Who" in December 2023's Christmas special titled, "The Church on Ruby Road." That episode had 4.7 million overnight viewers.Then, after Gatwa told critical viewers that they shouldn't watch, the numbers dropped again."Don't watch. Turn off the TV. Go and touch grass, please, for God's sake," he told Variety. "As the world darkens — and I do think the world is darkening around queer rights — there is a joy and a celebration, and there’s a community," he continued.Episode one, "Space Babies," along with episode two, "The Devil's Chord," significantly dropped off from the Christmas special, losing almost half its viewership with just 2.6 million and 2.4 million overnight viewers, respectively.Episode three dropped another near-400,000 viewers, marking an even sharper decline in ratings than the previous episode. This created a brand-new low for the series with just 2.04 million overnight views.As news circulates of the star, producer, and former lead actor professing their desire to push progressive sexual agendas, strange scenes from the television show have begun to emerge.BlazeTV's Lauren Chen reviewed some of the irregular scenes from the Christmas special, an episode she said took just four minutes to introduce its first transgender character."Not only were we very quickly presented as viewers with a trans singer, but for some reason, the show’s writers also thought it would be appropriate and fun to portray this iteration of the Doctor as someone who, you know, likes to get down at gay dance clubs," Chen explained.The Doctor Who character not only dances his heart out at a gay bar but also engages in a musical number, following a mention of a gay encounter with Harry Houdini."I spent a long, hot summer with Harry Houdini," Gatwa's character said after he's asked how he escaped being tied up so easily."I find the notion, 'get woke go broke' a bit cringe and boomer-esque. However it's undeniable that this is just another example of this outcome," said English commentator Lewis Brackpool."Without a fan base, the franchise dies. From 'Star Wars' to 'Doctor Who' and soon to be 'Romeo and Juliet,' it’s important to listen to them. It was only a few weeks back that David Tennant told fans to stop complaining, it was inevitable that this would happen."Brackpool was referencing former "Doctor Who" lead actor David Tennant, who told critics of gender ideology to, "F*** off, and let people be!""It's that sense of just wanting people to be allowed to exist," the actor continued. "I think that there are now ways of expressing gender, identity, sexuality that are more nuanced than they once were. And that only seems to be positive. If that helps people to know who they are and say who they are and communicate to the world who they are ... that's just common sense, really."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Despite Joe Biden’s horrific stance in the polls, constant stream of senile gaffes, and inability to address any emergency — let alone the American people, properly — the left still goes to bat for him. Host of "Stu Does America," Stu Burguiere, calls it the left's “Biden-copium,” and a recent New York Times op-ed by Ezra Klein illustrates his phrase perfectly. The article details a series of different liberal theories as to why Joe Biden is losing and what he should do about it. While Klein is a liberal himself, Stu finds himself agreeing with his opinions on these liberal theories. Theory number one is that “the polls are wrong,” which Klein says is wrong not because polls aren’t wrong but because they’re biased.“To the extent polls have been wrong in recent presidential elections, they’ve been wrong because they’ve been biased toward Democrats. Trump ran stronger in 2016 and 2020 than polls predicted. Sure, the polls could be wrong. But that could mean Trump is stronger, not weaker, than he looks,” Klein writes. “This is totally accurate,” Stu comments. “The polls have been, generally speaking, relatively accurate, and I say those words specifically because what they are not is accurate. They are never accurate. They’re not accurate because they aren’t designed to tell us exactly what we want to know.” Stu doesn’t find the next theory agreeable at all — which is essentially that the media is being too kind to Donald Trump. “I don’t think it’s the mainstream media’s fault if you’re worried about Joe Biden winning. They’re doing everything they can to make this happen. The question really is: Will it be enough right now?” Stu says. Stu believes the most “idiotic of all” of the theories is theory number three: “It’s a bad time to be an incumbent.” “Polls are not showing an anti-incumbent mood. They’re showing an anti-Biden mood,” Klein writes. “Yeah, look. The incumbency is your most powerful weapon. The only reason this is close at all is because Joe Biden is an incumbent,” Stu says.

An illegal immigrant accused of causing the car crash that killed a Washington state trooper has had his bail drastically reduced, thanks in part to his defense team, which argued he isn't a flight risk.The case involves Raul Benitez Santana, a 33-year-old Mexican national who has been living in the U.S. illegally for more than a decade. On March 2, Santana drove the vehicle that slammed into a patrol vehicle parked on the shoulder of southbound I-5 near Marysville, Washington, about 40 miles north of Seattle.Gadd's widow, Cammryn Gadd, countered that reducing Santana's bail 'would not only undermine the severity of the crime but also inflict further anguish and distress upon me, our child, and the rest of our family.'Trooper Christopher Gadd, 27, a two-year veteran of the Washington State Patrol, was sitting inside the police vehicle at the time of the crash. He was pronounced dead at the scene, leaving behind a wife and a 2-year-old daughter, Blaze News previously reported.Santana has a series of traffic-related misdemeanor convictions, including driving on a suspended license. In the hours following the crash that killed Gadd, Santana admitted that he had smoked marijuana and consumed two beers the previous evening. Evidence also suggests that he was driving erratically and was speeding along at 112 mph seconds before striking Gadd's vehicle.An attorney for Santana previously argued that the crash was a tragic accident that occurred because Gadd was sitting in a vehicle with no lights on.Santana was arrested and charged with vehicular homicide and vehicular assault. He was then booked into Snohomish County Jail and assessed a bail of $1 million.Last week, however, Emily Hancock and Tiffany Mecca, Santana's attorneys, filed motions to reduce their client's bail. They argued that Santana has three children and steady employment as a mechanic. They also noted that he has the support of other family members who live elsewhere in the state."If released, his parents will welcome him back into their home," the attorneys wrote. "He is not a flight risk."Gadd's widow, Cammryn Gadd, countered that reducing Santana's bail "would not only undermine the severity of the crime but also inflict further anguish and distress upon me, our child, and the rest of our family."On Friday, Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Richard Okrent sided with the defense and agreed to reduce Santana's bail to $100,000, just a tenth of the original amount. Deputy prosecutor Tobin Darrow soon afterward claimed to be "very disappointed" with that decision.Hancock and Mecca, on the other hand, cheered it. "Mr. Benitez-Santana is a long-time member of our community, and Washington State is undeniably his home," they wrote in an email statement. "The court did the right thing when it upheld the laws and policies of the State of Washington and lowered bail in this case."Hancock and Mecca do harbor one concern though. After Santana's arrest, ICE issued an immigration detainer for him. Should Santana pay bail and be released, they fear that federal immigration agents might detain him and perhaps even deport him back to Mexico."The United States and Washington State Constitutions unequivocally guarantee all individuals in our country the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial. It is imperative that no government entity, including [U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service], be allowed to circumvent these fundamental rights," they said.Darrow told HeraldNet he hopes that, even with the immigration detainer, federal agents would permit Santana to face justice in Snohomish County.As of Wednesday afternoon, Santana remains in custody at the county jail.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The settlement includes a $2 million payment to the victims’ families and a permanent memorial in remembrance of the victims.

Republicans are introducing legislation to protect IVF and joining Trump in praising the procedure every chance they get.

Miranda Devine Thread Dives Into New IRS Whistleblower Docs (Hint: 'Hunter Biden Lied Repeatedly')