Republicans in Congress slammed Judge Arthur Engoron for not delaying former President Donald Trump’s trial Wednesday in wake of former First Lady Melania Trump’s mother’s death. Both Republicans in the House and Senate heavily criticized Engoron for not delaying the case after the death of Melania’s mother‚ Amalija Knavs. New York Attorney General Letitia James […]

'This is a very sad day for my team and everyone here'

This isn't the only grant the State Department has paid out

Former UNLV quarterback Jayden Maiava flipped his transfer commitment from the University of Georgia to the University of Southern California (USC) less than 24 hours after committing to Georgia‚ according to a report from ESPN. Maiava‚ who according to his agents will be USC’s first Polynesian-born QB‚ originally committed to Georgia‚ his father told ESPN […]

Republican lawmakers insisted Wednesday that continuing to fund the government without securing the southern border in effect subsidizes modern-day slavery and a national security threat. “Law enforcement officials down on the southern border no longer call this an immigration problem. They call it a slave trade problem‚” Rep. Matt Rosendale‚ R-Mont.‚ said at a Capitol Hill press conference.  “I’ve talked to them personally‚” Rosendale said. “Every single person that comes to this country illegally has a financial obligation to pay to the cartel‚ and they are being forced into slavery and servitude for years to come.” Fellow Republicans from the House and Senate joined Rosendale‚ dubbing the press conference “Shut Down the Border or Shut Down the Government.” Rosendale also talked about 100‚000 U.S. deaths per year from the drug fentanyl coming across the southern border. “It boils down to about 350 people a day‚” he said. “If we had a large jet go down with 350 victims inside‚ the United States government would ground those airplanes.” House Speaker Mike Johnson‚ R-La.‚ reached a deal with congressional Democrats on a spending framework for fiscal year 2024 that other Republicans complain won’t advance the goal of securing the border.  “It’s nothing short of terrifying that during this administration‚ 279 known terrorists have been admitted into this country‚ along with the 10 million illegal aliens who have come here‚” Sen. Mike Lee‚ R-Utah‚ said.  “The Biden administration will brag that it has deported 5‚193 illegal immigrants‚” Lee said. “It sounds really impressive until you do the math and you realize they release 99.7% of everyone coming into this country. Don’t tell me this is for want of federal legislation. This is utter‚ defiant‚ lawless refusal to enforce the law.” For leverage‚ Congress should link demands for border security to priorities of the Biden administration‚ Sen. Rick Scott‚ R-Fla.‚ said. “We have to take every opportunity we can to say‚ ‘We are not going to pass additional legislation‚ whether it’s funding‚ whether it’s Ukraine aid‚ whatever it is‚ until we get this border secure‚” Scott said. “The only way we are going to get [the] border secure‚ because we’ve got a lawless administration‚ is we’ve got to tie what the administration wants—whether it’s Ukraine aid for funding—to a real secure border.” Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post Conservative Lawmakers Demand Border Security to Fight Slavery‚ Fentanyl‚ and Terrorism appeared first on The Daily Signal.

As 2023 drew to a close‚ millions of peaceable Americans geared up for a new year that will bring with it many new limitations on their constitutional right to keep and bear arms. In California‚ for example‚ Jan. 1 was the date to ring in the state’s plethora of new restrictions on carrying concealed firearms in public‚ courtesy of SB 2‚ a law passed in the wake of New York State Rifle &; Pistol Association v. Bruen to punish concealed carry permit holders for having their rights vindicated by the Supreme Court. This legislation spitefully limits the scope of lawful concealed carry to little more than empty public sidewalks‚ in effect telling ordinary Californians that while they can now obtain a concealed carry permit‚ those permits are functionally useless. In Illinois‚ meanwhile‚ the new year brought with it the deadline for registering so-called assault weapons with the government—the final act of the state’s ban on new purchases of some of the nation’s most commonly owned semi-automatic firearms. Despite these onerous new gun control laws and many others like them‚ in December‚ ordinary gun owners around the country were busy proving to gun control activists just how much their new restrictions miss the mark. Overwhelmingly‚ lawful gun owners are not the driving force behind criminal gun violence. On the contrary‚ as the stories below show‚ they are often their own best (or only) defense against criminal actors who are rarely deterred by restrictive gun laws. Almost every major study has found that Americans use their firearms in self-defense between 500‚000 and 3 million times annually‚ as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has acknowledged. In 2021‚ the most comprehensive study ever conducted on the issue concluded that roughly 1.6 million defensive gun uses occur in the United States every year. For this reason‚ The Daily Signal publishes a monthly article highlighting some of the previous month’s many news stories on defensive gun use that you may have missed—or that might not have made it to the national spotlight in the first place. (Read other accounts here from past months and years. You also may follow @DailyDGU on X‚ formerly Twitter‚ for daily highlights of defensive gun uses.) The examples below represent only a small portion of the news stories on defensive gun use that we found in December. You may explore more using The Heritage Foundation’s interactive Defensive Gun Use Database. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s multimedia news organization.) Dec. 1‚ Sanford‚ Maine: Prior to a town holiday parade and tree lighting event‚ a knife-wielding man began threatening motorists. The owner of a local food truck confronted the man and tried to de-escalate the situation‚ but the man threatened to kill him. Fearing for his life and the lives of his wife and four daughters—who were watching a Christmas movie inside the food truck—the owner drew his firearm‚ shooting and wounding the man before he could make good on his threats. Dec. 6‚ Miami‚ Florida: A resident of an apartment complex saw two would-be catalytic converter thieves underneath his car with power tools‚ armed himself‚ and confronted them. The thieves initially walked away‚ but quickly returned to retrieve their power tools. This time‚ the thieves shot at the resident‚ who took cover behind a wall and returned fire‚ sending them fleeing for good. Dec. 11‚ Hoffman‚ North Carolina: A woman shot and wounded her husband after he—allegedly intoxicated—hit her in the face multiples times‚ locked her in a bedroom‚ and continued to assault her. After defending herself with her firearm and shooting him in leg‚ the woman was able to run to a neighbor’s house for help. Her husband now faces criminal charges. Dec. 12‚ Commerce City‚ Colorado: Police say that after a woman’s adult son threw her to the ground‚ poured gasoline on her‚ and tried to light her on fire‚ her life was saved by the intervention of a legally armed good Samaritan‚ who confronted the son and held him at gunpoint until police arrived. Dec. 15‚ Charlotte‚ North Carolina: Three smash-and-grab burglars entered a jewelry store‚ smashed display cases with a sledgehammer‚ and stole $100‚000 worth of merchandise. The incident could’ve been much more devastating to the business had the owner not immediately drawn his handgun on the burglars‚ sending them fleeing just seconds into their crime. Dec. 17‚ Wasilla‚ Alaska: A stranger broke into a married couple’s home and stabbed the husband in his arm during a physical confrontation‚ prompting his wife to grab a gun and fatally shoot the intruder in defense of her husband. The husband received treatment for a non-life-threatening injury.  Dec. 20‚ Houston‚ Texas: The manager of a Dollar General fatally shot an armed robber who demanded at gunpoint that employees open the store safe. After being shot‚ the robber initially fled the scene in a car. He didn’t make it far‚ however‚ before crashing into a city bus and succumbing to his wounds. Dec. 21‚ Seattle‚ Washington: When four intruders tried to break into his home with a sledgehammer‚ a homeowner grabbed his rifle and exchanged gunfire with them. The would-be intruders fled once confronted with armed resistance. Police noted that this attempted home invasion followed a similar pattern to a string of crimes committed earlier in the year‚ where black assailants specifically targeted Asian victims. Dec. 26‚ Soso‚ Mississippi: A man armed with an AR-15 fatally shot his sister’s estranged husband after the husband showed up to her home in the middle of the night in violation of a protection order‚ refused to leave‚ and reached for a handgun during the ensuing confrontation. The estranged husband had a history of violent behavior and had recently been ordered to undergo a mental health assessment.  Dec. 27‚ Chicago‚ Illinois: A concealed carry permit holder returned fire at four would-be carjackers who shot at him and his female passenger—a co-worker whom he’d just picked up after she experienced a flat tire on the way to work. The suspects fled. Both victims sustained gunshot wounds but were released from the hospital that same day. The woman’s family credited her armed co-worker with saving her life. Dec. 31‚ Denver‚ Colorado: An armed father exchanged gunfire with two men who tried to rob him at gunpoint as he and his family exited their car after parking in the lot of a popular downtown museum. The robbers fled‚ and no members of the family were injured. One of the suspected robbers was soon dropped off at a nearby hospital with gunshot wounds. He now faces four counts of attempted murder. If gun control activists had their way‚ many of these ordinary Americans would be treated just as harshly as the criminals against whom they protected themselves and others. This isn’t hyperbole. Under California’s new carry laws‚ if the incident in the museum parking lot in Denver had happened in California‚ the armed father would have faced criminal charges for defending himself with a firearm in a “parking area under the control of a zoo or museum.” And the heroic concealed carry permit holder in Chicago might well have been dissuaded from carrying his firearm to and from his job at an airport—another place where‚ as of Jan. 1‚ California banned the possession of firearms‚ unless kept inaccessible in a locked box. So‚ too‚ would the man who defended his sister in Soso‚ Mississippi‚ with an AR-15—he would be facing criminal charges in restrictive states like California and Illinois—not because his actions weren’t self-evidently justified as self-defense‚ but because he used a type of firearm that is irrationally (and ironically) condemned by gun control activists as “not useful for lawful civilian purposes.” 2023 ended as a year in which lawful gun owners proved time and again that the right to keep and bear arms remains as important today as it was when the Second Amendment was ratified. Here’s to a new year and a renewed resolve to protect Americans’ right to armed self-defense. Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post Gun Owners End 2023 Proving Gun Control Advocates Wrong appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A cat with big paws became the most gentle soul when kind people saved his life. Now‚ he's living like a true prince. Barnabe the catCelineCromA 4-year-old polydactyl cat with curled ears was brought into a veterinary clinic when his owners no longer wanted him. He had trouble pottying due to a urinary obstruction. When the veterinarian suggested surgery‚ the owners refused.Jade‚ a veterinary technician‚ offered to take him on‚ and the owners agreed to surrender the cat. The staff got right to work and were able to pinpoint the issues and start treating him.Hoping to find the cat the best care‚ Jade contacted Chatons Orphelins Montreal‚ an animal rescue‚ for help. He was rescued by a veterinary teamChatonsOrphelins MontrealThe rescue immediately arranged for medical care and a foster family to look after the cat. "Jade volunteered to bring him to us in Montreal on a 2-hour drive. We named him Barnabe‚" Celine Crom of the rescue shared.Barnabe had a heart murmur and had been on a poor diet for a long time. With his blockage resolved‚ his life was spared‚ and he was finally pain-free and could start using the litter box again as he healed. CelineCromHe was put on a new diet and settled into a comfortable‚ quiet room where he could nap all day. "It took a village to make this all possible."After two weeks of recovery‚ Barnabe was like a new cat with improved appetite and increased energy levels. Barnabe received proper treatment which saved his lifeCelineCrom"He was timid around other cats and would stay in a corner to hide from them. He likes to be the only prince in the house and the center of attention."Barnabe is a gentle soul with large mittens. He likes to take his time in everything he does. He has large paws‚ extra toes‚ and curled earsCelineCromEven after everything he's endured‚ Barnabe continues to be sweet-natured and has started to enjoy the little things in life."He is a big boy but fragile and needs a special diet to help him stay on track. His life will be filled with love and joy from here on out." CelineCromBarnabe relishes the quietness of his home and the company of his people when lounging on a comfy couch."He likes to watch everything we do and look us in the eye like a little inspector. He needs some encouragement when he plays‚ such as toys with catnip." He likes his new catnip infused toyCelineCrom"If we are late to his feeding‚ he will make little meows to remind us of the time and do it so gentlemanly."Barnabe loves his scratching pad‚ exercising his large paws (and thumbs) and rubbing his face against it. CelineCromWith a comfortable home‚ loving humans‚ and great care‚ Barnabe has finally become his true self.He hops on furniture and explores new heights with his newfound confidence. He has taken a real liking to his "feline entertainment system" by the window. Barnabe loves his princely throneCelineCrom"A large cat tree or a basket by the window brings him great joy. He likes to spy on birds and neighbors out the window like a little owl."Barnabe has found a few of his favorite vantage points around the house‚ surveying his kingdom like a true prince. He's become a true princeCelineCromThanks to the veterinary staff that never gave up on him‚ Barnabe gets to kick back and relax on his throne‚ watching the day go by. CelineCromShare this story with your friends. More on Barnabe and Chatons Orphelins Montreal on Instagram and Facebook.Related story: Family and Their Cat Change Everything for Little 4-week-old Kitten in a World He Cannot See

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This year‚ 2024‚ marks the 60th anniversary of the signing into law of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act. Soon we observe the national day set aside to note and honor the leader of the movement that led to that act becoming law: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We must ask how‚ after 60 years‚ with vast changes in the world‚ with developments in technology unimaginable 60 years ago‚ that we remain obsessed with race. How is it that claims of racism‚ injustice and unfairness persist like nothing happened? Indeed‚ data suggest that Black Americans‚ on average‚ still lag behind economically. The Federal Reserve recently published its Survey of Consumer Finances showing that average Black family income is 43% that of white families. In 1989‚ it was 42%. Average Black household net worth now is 15.6% that of white households. In 1989‚ it was 17.8%. The deterioration of traditional religious values in the country has taken a toll on all American families. But proportionally more on Black families. Per the U.S. Department of Justice‚ Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention‚ in 2022‚ 43% of Black children lived in a two-parent home — down 26.5% from 1970. Among white children‚ 75.6% lived in a two-parent home‚ down 15.5% from 1970. America today is a far different country than the one where King led the Civil Rights Movement. The language that King used to lead and animate his movement was the language of the Bible. He spoke as a pastor. But in 1965‚ according to Gallup‚ 70% of Americans said religion is “very important” in their life. In 2023‚ 45% of Americans say religion is “very important” in their life. 20 Most Expensive Watches in the World: $11 Million and Higher In the last speech of his life in 1968‚ in Memphis‚ Tennessee‚ King spoke about “injustice‚” that “we are God’s children.” He spoke about not being afraid of death‚ that “I just want to do God’s will‚” and then spoke those famous words that he’d been “to the mountain top” and that he’d seen “the promised land.” “I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” Can anyone imagine a leader of a major political or social movement today speaking this way? Over these 60 years since the Civil Rights Act became law‚ courts took the Bible and prayer out of public schools‚ legalized abortion and changed our legal understanding of what defines marriage. The godless socialism of DEI — diversity‚ equity‚ inclusion — has replaced good and evil as our perspective on social justice. As we have purged religion and replaced it with politics‚ we have lost the core of a religious world view. There is good and evil‚ and the Creator gave free choice and personal responsibility to choose to each individual. Without this‚ the freedom we allegedly care so much about has little meaning. Government has become our new religion. In 1964‚ federal spending took 17.3% of our GDP. Today it takes 24.4%. In 1964‚ gross federal debt equaled 46.2% of our GDP. Today it equals 119.8%. It is an unfortunate quirk of history that the Civil Rights Movement‚ led by a Black Christian pastor‚ reached its peak at the moment when Americans decided to start banishing the Bible from our culture. A movement informed by good and evil and personal responsibility has been replaced by politics‚ interest groups and victimhood. The community most hurt by the purge of personal responsibility that defines individual freedom is the one that started out the weakest and the greatest victim of our moral failures. Without a new birth of faith‚ we for sure will not have a new birth of freedom in America. The whole nation and our future are in danger. And the weakest‚ those whom the socialists claim to care the most about‚ will suffer the most. Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and host of the weekly television show “Cure America with Star Parker.” Her recent book‚ “What Is the CURE for America?” is available now. To find out more about Star Parker and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists‚ visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.