Mayor Bowser Decides D.C.'s Gonna Stand for 'Don't Come'

Ahead of anchor Lester Holt’s final sign off from NBC Nightly News later that evening, NBC’s Today put on a special segment to bid their friend farewell as he left to host Dateline full time. But amid all their gooey praise and tribute video showing highlights of his career from presidential debates to mass shooting to the COVID pandemic, Holt’s more infamous moments where obviously omitted. The segment had solemn intro as co-hosts Craig Melvin and Savannah Guthrie mourned Holt’s leaving: MELVIN: And welcome back. Well, tonight Lester Holt will anchor his final broadcast of NBC Nightly News, stepping away from the daily grind of the evening to for more full time focus on Dateline. GUTHRIE: But before he passes the baton to Tom Llamas, we wanted to do a little look back at our dear friend and proud Today show alum. “You are just a class act and so unflappable and such a leader for this news division,” Guthrie gushed following a sappy tribute video. “And we're just going to miss you at Nightly News so much. But this is a wonderful new chapter that you're opening.” During said tribute video, NBC tried to portray Holt as a fair journalist who held both sides to account equally and yet trusted to host a Republican presidential debate (Click "expand"): HOLT: You haven’t been to the border? VP KAMALA HARRIS: And I haven't been to Europe. GUTHRIE: But won't let answers go unchallenged. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I was going to fire Comey. There’s no good time to do it, by the way. HOLT: Because in your letter you said ‘I accepted their recommendation.’ You had already made the decision. TRUMP: Oh, I was going to fire regardless. GUTHRIE: A voice trusted on the biggest night. HOLT: Good evening everyone! I’m Lester Holt. We welcome you to the Republican presidential debate.     But in reality, Holt despised fairness as a journalist virtue. While accepting a Murrow Award in 2021, Holt came out against being fair. “The unprecedented attacks on the press in this period I’m sure will fill plenty of books....But I have a few early observations I’ll share about where this moment brings us and what we can learn…Number one is, I think it’s become clearer that fairness is overrated,” he proclaimed. When asked about his pandemic-era sign off “Please take care of yourself and each other,” Holt explained that it came from a place of trying to reassure the audience with a positive message: GUTHRIE: Well, you are such a voice of calm and reason. You never let anybody see you sweat. And you started kind of having this tag line at the end. I thought it really -- it just goes with your personality. How does that come to be? HOLT: You know, it – Again, I was anchoring from home during the pandemic. And these were dark days. We're telling stories of freezer trucks on the streets of New York, you know, with the remains of people. And I thought, ‘you know, I need to have some kind of a signal or some message to the audience that, hey, I get it. We're all in this together and this is tough.’ And so I started saying, “take care of yourself and each other.” But not so fast. As NewsBusters had previously documented, NBC Nightly News under Holt was despair porn. They would constantly push for ineffective lockdowns while also lamenting and gawking at their harmful effects. Even as late as February 2022, Holt was fearful that for many people the pandemic “feels like it’s over.”

On Friday, PBS followed NPR’s lead and sued President Trump over his executive order telling the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to stop funding PBS and NPR. PBS filed suit along side Lakeland PBS, which operates PBS stations in Bemidji and Brainerd, Minnesota. In a statement, PBS proclaimed its “independence,” when it’s obvious they are dependent on federal funding. "After careful deliberation, PBS reached the conclusion that it was necessary to take legal action to safeguard public television's editorial independence, and to protect the autonomy of PBS member stations."  “Autonomy” and “editorial independence” are code words for “as liberal as we wanna be.” The lawsuit argues: "The EO makes no attempt to hide the fact that it is cutting off the flow of funds to PBS because of the content of PBS programming and out of a desire to alter the content of speech. That is blatant viewpoint discrimination and an infringement of PBS and PBS Member Stations' private editorial discretion." Here we go again – they want “private editorial expression” with public money. White House spokesman Harrison Fields spoke for the Republican view, that CPB is "creating media to support a particular political party on the taxpayers' dime." "Therefore, the President is exercising his lawful authority to limit funding to NPR and PBS," Fields said in a statement. "The President was elected with a mandate to ensure efficient use of taxpayer dollars, and he will continue to use his lawful authority to achieve that objective." The public television court filings say PBS would lose $81 million per year in federal grants and "a substantial portion" of the $227 million that public TV stations pay it in order to run programs from children's shows to politically loaded Frontline documentaries.  How biased is PBS? On Monday, Clay Waters published his latest study of the guest count on PBS News Hour. From January 20 through May 19, liberal-Democratic leaning guests outnumbered conservative-Republican leaning guests by 173 to 41, a ratio of 4.2 to 1.  PBS naturally tilts to the Democrats. Objecting to that is somehow an affront to their "independence." They should be truly independent and go on without involuntary taxpayer support. 

After previously supporting sanctuary city policies for illegal aliens, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser has completely reversed course and supported police participation in deportation proceedings. Bowser has been cooperating with the Trump administration since the inauguration and has even appeared with the president at a press conference at the White House. She has agreed to get rid of the "Black Lives Matter" mural and plaza in her district in March. The budget will ultimately be decided upon by the DC City Council. A local ban prevented law enforcement officers from cooperating with immigration officials during deportation proceedings. It also barred them from asking about a suspect's immigration status or from releasing them to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Bowser tried to sneak a provision to end the ban into her budget bill, but it was discovered by journalist Martin Austermuhle. The budget will ultimately be decided upon by the D.C. City Council. Axios said Bowser did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the report. The mayor has proudly pronounced D.C. a sanctuary city since 2016. She has also called the city the "gayest" in the world. RELATED: DC mayor sued over massive 'Black Lives Matter' mural on street to White House Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images Bowser had unveiled the massive "Black Lives Matter" mural spanning two blocks on 16th Street NW in June 2020. It was made permanent in Oct. 2021, until she ordered its removal nearly four years later. “The mural inspired millions of people and helped our city through a very painful period, but now we can’t afford to be distracted by meaningless congressional interference," read her statement at the time. CNN had reported that the mural was so large that it could be seen from space. "The devastating impacts of the federal job cuts must be our number one concern," she added. "Our focus is on economic growth, public safety, and supporting our residents affected by these cuts.”Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

President Donald Trump's administration, supercharged by Florida's strong partnership, achieved a significant victory on Thursday in the nation's ongoing effort to address former President Joe Biden's illegal immigration crisis.Immigration and Customs Enforcement nabbed over 100 illegal aliens from construction worksites in Tallahassee, according to an agency press release.'State law enforcement making a huge impact on immigration enforcement efforts.'The operation involved several federal and state agencies, including the Florida Highway Patrol, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Internal Revenue Service. It also included ICE's Homeland Security Investigations and Enforcement and Removal Operations.One suspect was accused of resisting arrest, and another allegedly pulled a weapon on officers during the intense raids, ICE stated.RELATED: The DeSantis admin's plans to help President Trump expand capacity for deportations Photographer: Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesA social media bulletin from HSI Tampa noted that some of the individuals who were detained had previously been deported or had criminal histories. Among those arrested were foreign nationals from Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Colombia, and Honduras.While the federal agency did not specify where the worksite raids occurred, HSI Tampa stated that one of the locations was a "major construction site."Nicholas Ingegno, the assistant special agent in charge at HSI Tallahassee, stated, "These types of enforcement actions aim to eliminate illegal employment, holding employers accountable and protecting employment opportunities for America's lawful workforce.""HSI Tallahassee, working alongside our state, local, and federal partners, will continue protecting public safety by enforcing the immigration laws of our nation," Ingegno said.Florida's partnership set a model for Republican-led states to boost federal immigration enforcement efforts.Governor Ron DeSantis (R), who has pledged to support the Trump administration's deportation efforts, called the operation a "major bust.""State law enforcement making a huge impact on immigration enforcement efforts," he wrote in a post on social media. In a separate post, he added that the federal government is "pursuing the subcontractor responsible for hiring the illegal alien workers."RELATED: ICE, Florida officers nab nearly 800 illegal aliens in ‘tidal wave’ dragnet Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesThe Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles announced its support for the recent ICE operation."Florida leads the way," it stated. "We will not tolerate illegal immigration."The recent operation delivered on border czar Tom Homan's December promise that the Trump administration would significantly increase ICE's worksite raids to clamp down on illegal immigration."We haven't really worked out the plan for worksite enforcement," he said at the time, adding, "We know that employers are going to be upset."On Thursday, border czar Homan told "Face the Nation" that ICE will arrest illegal aliens in the community and at worksites, particularly when federal immigration authorities are blocked from accessing local jails. When reached for comment, DeSantis' office referred Blaze News to the governor's posts on social media.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

A nonprofit group is calling on the Department of Education to investigate Oregon for violating Title IX protections for female students. The America First Policy Institute submitted a formal complaint to the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights accusing the Oregon Department of Education and the Oregon School Activities Association of violating the rights of female student athletes. 'Girls have already been edged out of the competition. It needs to end NOW.' “Every girl deserves a fair shot — on the field, on the podium, and in life,” said AFPI’s Executive General Counsel Jessica Hart Steinmann. “When state institutions knowingly force young women to compete against biological males, they’re violating federal law and sending a devastating message to female athletes across the country.” The complaint included firsthand accounts from Oregon high school athletes describing the competitive and emotional harm from the policies. The accounts claimed that athletes were robbed of medals and had their rankings skewed. They also claimed the policies had a "chilling effect" on those speaking out about the competition policies, according to AFPI. In April, a biological male won first place in the high jump at the Portland Interscholastic League Varsity Relays against female competitors. That same athlete had come in last place in the junior varsity category in 2023 against other males.Later, a group of four high school female athletes took a knee and forfeited rather than compete against the biological male at the Therapeutic Associates Chehalem Classic. RELATED: Male athlete wins girls' high jump competition despite finishing dead last when competing against boys Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images "We’re demanding a federal investigation, and the pressure can't come soon enough — State Track & Field championships begin tomorrow," said Leigh Ann O'Neill, the nonprofit's chief of staff, on social media. "Girls have already been edged out of the competition. It needs to end NOW," she added. The institute added that the Oregon school policies are also in violation of President Donald Trump's executive order protecting female athletes from male competition. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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