Journalist’s On-Air Meltdown Over Hezbollah Leader’s Death Goes Viral

Luis Cornelio
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Journalist’s On-Air Meltdown Over Hezbollah Leader’s Death Goes Viral

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A Lebanese journalist broke down live on air after learning of Hassan Nasrallah’s death, the leader and co-founder of Hezbollah, a foreign designated terrorist organization. 

Osman’s hysterical reaction occurred during a Saturday interview with RT, the Russia-owned channel. As Osman condemned the Israeli airstrikes against Hezbollah, RT anchor Nikki Aaron interrupted to inform viewers that Nasrallah was among the casualties. 

“Marwa, so sorry to interrupt. We do now have official confirmation from the Hezbollah group of the death of Hassan Nasrallah. What’s your response?” Aaron asked.

The screen shifted to Osman, who appeared too stunned to speak, raising her hands in disbelief. She then shook her head and waved her hands, likely signaling her inability to continue with the interview. 

“I’m so sorry, let’s end the interview,” told the show’s producer as Osman disconnected her camera from the screen. “We were talking to Marwa Osman, journalist and TV show host—clearly, physically shaking by the breaking news we’re bringing you right now.”

Osman took to X to share her thoughts about the death of Hezbollah’s leader, calling him her “father,” “brother” and “essence” of her soul.

At the time of the broadcast, Nasrallah’s death had not been officially confirmed. The deadly airstrikes followed Hezbollah’s vicious attacks against Israel, which has been at war with Hezbollah-backed Hamas since Oct. 7, 2023. 

Hezbollah is a political, militant and terrorist organization based in Lebanon, according to the National Counterterrorism Center, an office within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Hezbollah’s political arm, the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc, holds several seats in Parliament.

The group announced its support for the Hamas attacks, which resulted in the brutal deaths of approximately 1,200 individuals in southern Israel. 

In a press statement, President Joe Biden celebrated Nasrallah’s killing as a “measure of justice” for the countless American, Israeli and Lebanese victims of Hezbollah terrorism. 

“The strike that killed Nasrallah took place in the broader context of the conflict that began with Hamas’s massacre on October 7, 2023. Nasrallah, the next day, made the fateful decision to join hands with Hamas and open what he called a ‘northern front’ against Israel,” Biden affirmed.

AOC on Steroids? New Yorkers Sound Alarm Over Adams’s Unhinged Successor

Luis Cornelio
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AOC on Steroids? New Yorkers Sound Alarm Over Adams’s Unhinged Successor

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) New York City Republicans and conservative commentators are raising concerns about Jumaane Williams, the radical Democrat who will succeed Mayor Eric Adams, should Adams resign amid a federal indictment on bribery and corruption charges. 

The focus is on Jumaane Williams, New York City’s Public Advocate, who rose to power in 2019, following Letitia James, who became the state’s attorney general. He is an avid Defund the Police supporter and a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America Party. 

On X, critics warned that Williams represents a grave danger to the Big Apple’s future, labeling him a radical leftist who would further destroy public safety with his staunch anti-law enforcement agenda.

Republican activist Curtis Sliwa, Adams’ Republican opponent in 2022, warned that if Adams resigns, “the socialists win.” His calls came after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez demanded Adams to resign from office. 

Sliwa added, “Adams has put NYC in this devastating scenario. Remember, Jumaane Williams is dangerously worse. He will be the vote for DSA extremists in City Council to defund and abolish NYPD.” 

Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli, Williams’s 2019 opponent, questioned why concerns about Williams are only surfacing now. He shared a screenshot of the election results to point to his own loss, where Williams received 77.9% of the vote. 

Fox Business journalist and best-selling author Charles Gasparino echoed these concerns, painting a grim picture of what a Williams administration could mean for the city and the state. 

“There’s no better gauge of how far far the ‘Empire State’ has fallen than the predicament we face now with Eric Adams, who did stuff that’s so dumb and sleazy he should resign,” Gasparino noted. “Yet consider the alternative: Jumaane Williams, the wacko defund the police progressive freak who is next in line to be mayor.”

X CEO Linda Yaccarino concurred with Gasparino’s points, replying, “Shameful state of affairs. Time for change New York!”

Gasparino also pointed out NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, next in line if Williams declines the office of mayor. The Fox Business journalist wrote that while Lander is the city’s top fiscal officer, he “seems to know very little about stocks,” referencing his upcoming book Go Woke Go Broke.

Williams did not respond to Headline USA’s request for comments or a phone interview before this article’s publication. In an interview with Fox 5, Williams said he is “ready” to follow the city’s charter line of succession if the situation warrants it.

In a statement, he claimed he shared the city’s “disbelief and indignation” about Adams’s indictment. “This is a painful time, and the looming unknowns and uncertainties only add to the confusion and chaos at City Hall in an untenable situation,” Williams wrote.

 

Israel Kills Top Hezbollah Terrorist Hassan Nasrallah in Airstrike

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Israel Kills Top Hezbollah Terrorist Hassan Nasrallah in Airstrike

(Headline USA) Lebanon’s Hezbollah group confirmed on Saturday that its leader and one of its founding members,Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a southern suburb of Beirut.

The killing of the powerful militant group’s longtime leader sent shockwaves throughout Lebanon and the Middle East, where he has been a dominant political and military figure for more than three decades.

Nasrallah, linked by Israel to numerous deadly attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets, has been on Israel’s kill list for decades. His assassination is by far the biggest and most consequential of Israel’s targeted killings in years, and significantly escalates the war in the Middle East. Hezbollah is backed by Iran, Israel’s chief regional rival.

The Israeli military said it carried out a precise airstrike on Friday while Hezbollah leaders were meeting at their headquarters in Dahiyeh, south of Beirut.

Immediately after the confirmation from Hezbollah, people starting firing in the air in Beirut and across Lebanon to mourn Nasrallah’s death.

“Wish it was our kids, not you, Sayyid!” said one woman, using an honorific title for Nasrallah, as she clutched her baby in the western city of Baabda.

In his first public remarks since the killing, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s targeting of Nasrallah was “an essential condition to achieving the goals we set.”

“He wasn’t another terrorist. He was the terrorist,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu said Nasrallah’s killing would help bring displaced Israelis back to their homes in the north and would pressure Hamas to free Israeli hostages held in Gaza. But with the threat of retaliation high, he warned the coming days would bring “significant challenges” and warned Iran against trying to strike.

“There is no place in Iran or in the Middle East that Israel’s long arm cannot reach. And today you know how much that is true,” he said.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said six people were killed and 91 injured in the strikes Friday that leveled six apartment buildings. Ali Karki, the commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, and other commanders were also killed, the Israeli military said.

A statement from Hezbollah said Nasrallah — who led the group for more than three decades — “has joined his fellow martyrs.” The group vowed to “continue the holy war against the enemy and in support of Palestine.”

Cross-border aggression

Hezbollah started firing rockets on Israel in support of Gaza on Oct. 8, a day after Hamas militants launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing some 1,200 people and abducting another 250. Since then, the two sides have been engaged in escalating cross-border strikes.

Israel has vowed to step up pressure on Hezbollah until it halts its attacks that have displaced tens of thousands of Israelis from communities near the Lebanese border. The recent fighting has also displaced more than 200,000 Lebanese in the past week, according to the United Nations.

Earlier this month, thousands of explosives hidden in pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah detonated, killing dozens of people and maiming thousands, including many civilians. Israel is widely believed to be behind the attack. Israel has killed several other top Hezbollah commanders in Beirut, especially in the past two weeks, in addition to the attack that killed Nasrallah.

In Beirut’s southern suburbs, smoke rose and the streets were empty Saturday after the area was pummeled overnight by heavy Israeli airstrikes. Shelters were overflowing with displaced people. Many families slept in public squares, on beaches or in their cars. On the roads leading to the mountains above the capital, hundreds of people could be seen fleeing on foot, holding infants and whatever belongings they could carry.

Hezbollah’s allies mourn

The Palestinian militant group Hamas sent condolences to its ally, Hezbollah, and said “assassinations will only increase the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine in determination and resolve.”

Iran’s supreme leader announced five days of public mourning and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Nasrallah “the flag-bearer of resistance” in the region.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Tehran, waving Hezbollah flags and chanting “Death to Israel” and “Death to Netanyahu the murderer.”

Thomas Juneau, a professor at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, said Iran will be under significant pressure to respond to Nasrallah’s killing without escalating violence in the region.

“Iran understands that its military options are limited, given the conventional military superiority of Israel and the U.S.” Juneau told The Associated Press.

Israel vows to keep up attacks on Hezbollah

Israel’s Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said Saturday that the killing of Nasrallah was “not the end of our toolbox,” indicating that more strikes were planned. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called it “the most important targeted strike since the founding of the State of Israel.” Late Saturday, Gallant’s office said he was meeting with top army commanders to discuss the expansion of military activities along Israel’s northern front.

The military said Saturday it was mobilizing three more battalions of reserve soldiers to serve across the country. It already sent two brigades to northern Israel to prepare for a possible ground invasion.

Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said Israel has inflicted heavy damage on Hezbollah’s capabilities over the past week by targeting immediate threats and strategic weapons, such as larger, guided missiles. But he said much of Hezbollah’s arsenal remains intact and that Israel would continue to target the group.

Air raid sirens sounded across central Israel on Saturday afternoon, including at the Tel Aviv international airport, shortly after Netanyahu returned from a trip to the U.S.

The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen. Houthi rebels based in Yemen later said they were behind the attack targeting Ben Gurion Airport.

The Israeli military updated guidelines for Israeli citizens, canceling gatherings of more than 1,000 people due to the threat.

Approximately 60,000 Israelis have been evacuated from their homes along the Lebanese border for almost a year. This month, Israel’s government said halting Hezbollah’s attacks in the country’s north to allow residents to return to their homes is an official goal.

Continuing strikes on both sides of the border

On Saturday morning, the Israeli military carried out more than 140 airstrikes in southern Beirut and eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, including targeting a storage facility for anti-ship missiles in Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh. Israel said the missiles were stored beneath civilian apartment buildings. Hezbollah launched dozens of projectiles across northern and central Israel and deep into the Israel-occupied West Bank, damaging some buildings in the northern town of Safed.

The Israeli army again warned Lebanese residents to stay away from Hezbollah combat equipment and facilities, including in the southern suburbs of Beirut and southern Lebanon. The U.S. State Department issued an alert urging American citizens to leave the country.

A total of 1,030 people — including 156 women and 87 children — have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon in less than two weeks, the country’s health minister said Saturday.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

CNN’s Fluff Questions to Kids About Kamala Backfire: She’s a ‘Liar’

Luis Cornelio
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CNN’s Fluff Questions to Kids About Kamala Backfire: She’s a ‘Liar’

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Several children minced no words when asked by CNN about Vice President Kamala Harris.

Their brutal responses included calling Harris a “liar” and expressing support for President Donald Trump, as shown in a video clip recorded by the network for a study analyzing children’s thoughts on the upcoming election. 

One girl said, “It’d be good for us to have a black woman as president for the first time in history, but my vote’s kind of still on Trump.” 

Arizona State Professor Asheley Landrum, contracted by CNN to conduct the study, asked a fourth grader about Harris, who delivered a scathing response. 

“What’s the first word that pops into your head when you hear the name Kamala Harris?” Landrum asked. 

“Liar,” the student replied. 

The questions were part of a study commissioned for Anderson Cooper 360 to assess children’s opinions on the presidential race. 

After the study’s publication, CNN issued an editor’s note to mention that Landrum is a supporter and donor of Harris.

Some conservatives shared clips focused on Harris from the nearly 10-minute segment on social media, garnering millions of views at times.

Conducted in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Texas, the study revealed that children had pointed opinions about both Harris and Trump. 

Children in Texas split their support for both candidates evenly. By contrast, children in Pennsylvania and New Jersey generally favored Harris and disliked Trump. 

In Texas, the child who rebuked Harris as a “liar” was asked who was more likely to do bad things. 

“Convicted felon against a liar. Uhm. Who do I pick?” the child asked himself. 

Another child responded affirmatively when asked if Trump should be allowed to be president again.

The study indicated that many of the children repeated false statements about both Harris and Trump, with the former president receiving the most misleading comments, the study found.

Virginia on the Verge of Turning Red for 1st Time in 20 Years

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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Virginia on the Verge of Turning Red for 1st Time in 20 Years

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) A recent poll revealed that Virginia could become a red state for the first time in two decades.

According to the University of Mary Washington’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies Fall 2024 poll, Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, R-Va., the leading candidates for the state’s gubernatorial race, have the same approval rating.

When asked who they would vote for “if the election were held today,” 39% of Virginians said they would vote for Spanberger, and 39% said they would vote for Earle-Sears.

When the pollsters asked 1,000 respondents who they would vote for, Spanberger and Attorney General Jason Miyares, R-Va., people responded almost the same, with 40% supporting Spanberger and 39% supporting Miyares.

Regarding this year’s presidential election, 47% said they would support Kamala Harris, and 46% said they would support Donald Trump. Since 1% is a margin of error, Trump could easily win the state in this election.

Aside from the Biden-Harris administration making sure that people all around the country and in Virginia, in particular, would vote for Republicans this year, another reason why Trump and other conservatives would be able to win this election was that Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R-Va., announced that the state would be using paper ballots only.

Headline USA reported that Youngkin issued Executive Order 35 on Aug. 7, 2024, to “protect legal voters and accurate counts,” which includes “stringent ballot security, complete and thorough counting machine testing” and “best-in-the-nation voter list maintenance.”

“The Virginia model for election security works. This isn’t a Democrat or Republican issue. It’s an American and Virginian issue. Every legal vote deserves to be counted without being watered down by illegal votes or inaccurate machines. In Virginia, we don’t play games and our model for election security is working,” the governor said.

Headline USA previously wrote about how Virginia could become a battleground state, if not a solid red state.

Is Bird Flu Another ‘October Surprise?’

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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Is Bird Flu Another ‘October Surprise?’

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) It’s Sept. 28, 2024, so October will be very soon, which means that conservatives should expect an “October surprise,” or maybe even more than one. 

Based on different news reports from this year, some people assumed that bird flu would be one of the month’s surprises. According to the Brownstone Institute, this could be the case.

Even though the institute claimed that “bird flu seems to have been put on the back burner by the authorities” and replaced by monkeypox, it warned people not to forget about it.

“‘Fear porn’ is a real psychological weapon and one that is being used against us on a daily basis. As we painfully learned during [COVID-19], a terrified population is easily manipulated, controlled, and exploited. As free citizens, we must remain mindful and knowledgeable, rather than fearful, about the flood of information and propaganda that is hurled at us,” the institute wrote.

The institute also wrote about how the bird flu could be weaponized to change the outcome of the 2024 election, using multiple biological labs in the United States and other countries being present, the “International Bird Flu Summit” and the infrastructure being ready for another “pandemic” as the evidence.

“We, as citizens, must remain vigilant to this threat to our electoral process. We should contact our local and state officials before anything is attempted and express our absolute insistence on fair, legal, and regular elections. We should share this information widely with others so that all are aware of what might be attempted,” the institute wrote, adding that Americans should never allow the government to repeat what it did in 2020.

The leftist regime was previously spreading the propaganda of the bird flu by stating that some people had already gotten sick, with some people suggesting that the bird flu could be the now-infamous Disease X.

Headline USA also reported that another potential October surprise could be creating a new George Floyd-like figure to start a race war.

The Left previously used every opportunity to create October surprises. Some of the reported examples are coordinated and well-planned attacks on the Georgia senatorial candidate Herschel Walker, as well as the claims that Republicans incite violence.

CNN Tries to Save Face by Exposing Dems

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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CNN Tries to Save Face by Exposing Dems

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) CNN recently decided to present itself as a non-biased news source by criticizing Democrats because nobody, especially conservatives, watches what the network produces anymore.

According to the Midwesterner, on Sept. 22, 2024, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, D-Mich., was reluctant to condemn anti-Semitic comments directed at Attorney General Dana Nessel.

“Michigan Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who is Palestinian, called the charges from Nessel, who is Jewish, shameful, and Tlaib said, ‘it seems that the attorney general decided if the issue was Palestine, she was going to treat it differently, and that alone speaks volumes about possible biases within the agency she runs,’” CNN host Jake Tapper said.

Whitmer refused to condemn Tlaib but later released a statement condemning the leftist politician after receiving a pushback.

Another CNN host, Dana Bash, responded to the recent news by claiming that anti-Semitism is a “sad reality” and could come from both sides of the political spectrum.

To justify her claim that anti-Semitism comes from both Democrats and Republicans, Bash used Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., as an example of someone who refused to condemn anti-Semitism, which was the moment when the network couldn’t pretend to be a neutral news source any longer.

Cotton was asked about Donald Trump’s comments about how American Jews need to vote for him or they “should have their [heads] examined,” as reported by the Jewish Chronicle, and when he tried to respond by saying that Trump was talking about Joe Biden and other Democrats not supporting Israel, Tapper regularly interrupted him. CNN also cut the politician’s response multiple times.

CNN also attempted to show the viewers that the network doesn’t hate conservatives by releasing a report in which it portrayed children from blue states raised by Harris supporters as hateful and children from red states raised by Trump supporters as tolerant.

CNN also allowed to air one of the kids’ comments about how Harris is a “liar.” The clip became viral on Twitter.

CNN’s recent decision comes as the company tries to restore its image after spewing anti-Trump rhetoric for almost a decade. Headline USA reported that one of the latest examples of the network lying about Trump was when CNN used AI-generated photos of Trump and Laura Loomer, one of his followers.

CNN even implemented a paywall to fix the problem of people not consuming their content.

‘Defy Human Decency’: Border Agents Rescue Drugged, Smuggled Children

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‘Defy Human Decency’: Border Agents Rescue Drugged, Smuggled Children

(Bethany Blankley, The Center Square) Border Patrol agents continue to rescue young unaccompanied children smuggled into the country by cartel operatives, believing they have been drugged and abused.

“Sometimes we encounter criminal actions so horrendous they defy human decency,” El Centro Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino said in a recent social media post.

He described how Border Patrol agents rescued a young boy “from a trafficker who heavily dosed him w/ sleep aids to prevent him from talking to agents. Scarier still is the trafficker had birth certificates for more kids.” Bovino also posted photos of the child and multiple Arizona birth certificates they discovered.

“So sad for the innocents caught up in trafficking,” he said in another social media post, adding that within 48 hours they rescued two more minors. “This is sad, reprehensible, and evil.” In another post, he said, “We just caught another drugged child load within the past 48 hours that was just as bad. … This is terrible. Poor children.”

After another rescue, he posted additional photos saying two more children were rescued “from being exploited by smugglers. These criminals are not related to the children they smuggle. These traffickers go to extreme lengths to smuggle these children – giving them sleep aids to keep them quiet.”

“Exploiting kids like this is terrible. In one of the events, when the child was finally woken up, he began yelling for his grandmother. Simply terrifying for all involved. … It’s our intention to stop this terrible practice.”

California has seen record numbers of illegal border crossers under the Biden-Harris administration. As Texas expanded border security efforts, illegal activity moved west, with record numbers of people and drugs pouring into California.

California now leads the U.S. in apprehensions but shares the smallest portion of the US-Mexico border, 137 miles. Its patrolled by Border Patrol agents in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection El Centro and San Diego sectors.

At a recent U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security hearing, retired San Diego Sector Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent Aaron Heitke testified to the chaos of the last 3.5 years.

U.S. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-NY, asked him about female victims “taken over by gangs and others trying to get them across the southern border,” referring to Heitke testifying that “it’s very common that female migrants are raped during the process. Most of them believe it’s just part of the payment” for being smuggled into the country.

Heitke described what they discovered after large numbers of unaccompanied minors were being brought in.

“We started to see recruiters in Mexico that would go around in the Tijuana area because the migrants would stage in Mexico before they came to the United States,” he said.

Cartel operatives would recruit teenage girls in Tijuana “and they would leave their families. Oftentimes, they had traveled to Tijuana with their families. They would leave their families behind, come to the United States, claim they were unaccompanied minors, and they would be put up in the facilities that the charities had set aside for them in San Diego.”

From there, they were trafficked into forced prostitution, Heitke said.

“Once they had been put up” at the charity facilities “they’re not held in detention. It’s just a room.” Their smugglers had given them a phone number to call. When they called, a recruiter “from Oakland or Los Angeles picked them up.” The teenagers were “then brought up and forced into prostitution, oftentimes in the Oakland and Los Angeles area, and other places in the country we had active cases going on.

“But because we did not have the resources, because we were inundated with so many people, we couldn’t follow up” on active human trafficking cases, Heitke said.

Border Patrol agents “deal with death, women and children that have been raped, abused, trafficked, bought and sold, families that have spent months in terrible conditions, sickness, and despair. If you look at the dramatic rise in the number of suicides within the Border Patrol it is directly correlated with the migrant surge. The agents have been pushed beyond their limit and this has greatly impacted their physical and mental health.”

Fixing the border crisis doesn’t require new legislation but enforcing existing law, he said.

At a U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux echoed similar sentiments. Current policies “caused a major crisis in California and in America. California is an open territory for the cartel to do whatever it wants,” he said. He’s also said he’s among many California sheriffs who don’t support Harris for president.

Former Immigration and Customs Enforcement chief Tom Homan agrees, saying Biden-Harris policies “are inhumane. They caused over 450,000 children to enter the country illegally who were separated from their families and out in the hands of criminal cartels and then they lost track of nearly 100,000 of them. HSI has found some children working in disgusting forced labor conditions and many being rented over and over again to the cartels to be used as pawns for single adults to claim a family unit,” he told The Center Square.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-IA, has led the charge to protect unaccompanied minors. His latest effort was blocked by one Democrat from Oregon, The Center Square reported.

Small Businesses Tell Congress to Stop Tax Hike

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Small Businesses Tell Congress to Stop Tax Hike

(Casey Harper, The Center Square) A coalition of small businesses are calling on Congress to make the 20% small business tax deduction permanent.

Small business leaders visited Washington, D.C. this week to call on lawmakers to pass the Main Street Tax Certainty Act, a bill that would prevent the expiration of a small business tax credit enacted by the 2017 Trump-era tax cuts.

“One of the problems in Washington, D.C., is introducing uncertainty based on expiring tax provisions, and that creates a lot of problems for businesses across America,” Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., said at the press conference Thursday. “They don’t know what D.C. is going to do. This is why it’s important that we make these tax provisions permanent so these small business owners behind me aren’t having to worry more about what’s going on in D.C.

“They have enough to worry about as it is,” he added. “Let’s not add Congress to their worry list.”

Daines called for making the tax cut permanent. But currently that tax cut is set to expire next year.

National Federation of Independent Businesses President Brad Close echoed Daines’ comments at the press conference.

“They know that if Congress doesn’t act, it’s going to mean higher taxes and a much more difficult environment for them,” he said.

Small business owners have faced major economic challenges in recent years, from government-mandated pandemic closures that often did not apply to larger corporations in the same way, to the more than 20% increase in prices since President Joe Biden took office.

Whether the tax cut bill can pass this year remains to be seen, though who holds majorities next January could make all the difference.

Small businesses connected to NFIB also spoke at the press conference, asking lawmakers to cut them a break.

“If this Deduction goes away, and prices continue to climb, it can literally be the difference between a small business staying open or closing its doors forever,” Candice Price, co-owner of Home Team Auto Sales, said at the press conference.

Republicans Score Election Litigation Win

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Republicans Score Election Litigation Win

(Alan Wooten, The Center Square) – UNC Mobile One Card, a digital photo identification on the Chapel Hill campus of the University of North Carolina, will not be valid in North Carolina’s elections.

A temporary injunction was granted Friday afternoon by the North Carolina Court of Appeals, scoring a victory for Republicans at the state and national level against the State Board of Elections. The decision stays last week’s order by Judge Keith Gregory in Wake County Superior Court.

“Two battleground state wins for election integrity in one afternoon,” wrote Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley on social media, referring also to a win in Michigan. “This is just common sense. We refuse to give an inch when it comes to protecting Voter ID!”

The lawsuit was the seventh against the state board in 52 days when filed, four of which were in a three-week blitz by the Grand Old Party. According to an affidavit filed in the case, a 22-year-old used two free apps from Apple – Superimpose+ and Walletsmith – to forge a digital ID for UNC Chapel Hill. While it took him less than an hour, he said now knowing how would make the process much quicker.

State law, says plaintiffs, only allows ID in physical form. Gregory in his ruling had said for Carolina students to get the mobile ID, a valid form of photo identification is needed.

The state’s voters have multiple options to include military or veterans photo ID card issued by the U.S. government; ID card with photo issued by the U.S. or North Carolina government for a public assistance program; tribal enrollment card with photo issued by a tribe recognized by the state or federal government, which include the Cherokee-Eastern Band, Coharie, Haliwa-Saponi, Lumbee, Meherrin, Occaneechi-Saponi, Sappony and Waccamaw Siouan.

Additionally, there are 95 entities with approved student or government-employee photo IDs, or both.

Creating digital items, including through use of artificial intelligence, has been a subject of many polls this election cycle. A national poll from Elon University released in May said more than 3 in 4 Americans fear abuses of artificial intelligence will affect the 2024 presidential election, and many are not confident they can detect faked photos, videos or audio.

The state board was split in its decision. Chairman Alan Hirsch, Jeff Carmon and Siobhan Millan, all Democrats, voted for the mobile ID use; Republicans Stacy Eggers and Kevin Lewis were opposed. The board was named as defendants, along with Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell; plaintiffs were the North Carolina Republican Party and the Republican National Committee.

Absentee voting by mail is underway. Early in-person voting begins Oct. 17 and Election Day is Nov. 5. The voter registration deadline is Oct. 11, though same-day registration is available. Absentee ballots can be requested through Oct. 29.

Whatley, on the litigation win in Michigan, wrote, “Clerks were counting mail ballots without proof of signature verification, opening the door to fraud. The @GOP sued. Result? Ballots will now only be counted after proof that signatures are verified – a key win.”

North Carolina has more than 7.6 million registered voters, according to State Board of Elections data through Saturday. It is among the seven consensus battleground states representing 93 electoral college votes. The breakdown is Pennsylvania 19, North Carolina 16, Georgia 16, Michigan 15, Arizona 11, Wisconsin 10 and Nevada six.

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