(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) An American tourist faces up to 12 years in prison because he carried a bag of ammunition in his luggage while visiting Turks and Caicos on vacation, CBS reported.
Ryan Watson, an American tourist brought hunting ammunition with him in his carry-on bag earlier this month. After airport security found the ammunition, he was jailed on the island and faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 12 years in prison.
“We were trying to pack board shorts and flip flops,” Watson told the news station. “Packing ammunition was not at all our intent.”
He said that their tropical getaway “went from what was supposed to be a dream vacation to a nightmare.”
His wife, Valerie, was allowed to return home on Sunday after she was initially detained as well. After hugging her two children, she said tearfully, “just getting to hold them again, it just filled my mamma heart.”
Still, Ryan Watson feared the prospect that he would miss out on such an opportunity until his kids were adults.
“I can’t even begin to think that this very innocent, regrettable mistake would prevent me from being able to, you know, watch my son graduate or teach him to shave or take my daughter to dances,” he said, his voice quivering.
“It’s just unfathomable,” he added. “I do not—I can’t process it.”
Up until recently, visitors who were carrying ammunition could be subject to a fine. But in February, a Turks and Caicos court issued a February ruling that would mean a lengthy prison sentence for those carrying ammunition or possessing a firearm.
Even tourists in the process of leaving the country are now subject to prison time.
As a result, the Watsons are not alone. Bryan Hagerich, a Pennsylvanian, is currently awaiting trial in Turks and Caicos for the same reason.
According to Hagerich, the eight nights he spent in their local jail were “some of the darkest, hardest times of my life, quite frankly.”
He has been waiting over two months to find out his fate.
“These last 70 days have been kind of a roller coaster, just the pain and suffering of having your family at home and I’m here,” he added.
According to Michael Grim, another American tourist from Indiana who was previously imprisoned for six months in Turks and Caicos, the prison conditions are unpleasant, with “no clean running water” and a high risk of “tropical illnesses.”
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The Biden administration’s leftist partisan tendencies have once again come under scrutiny as officials face scathing accusations of engaging in political activities, in violation of federal law.
A complaint lodged by watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) with the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) alleges that several Biden administration officials, including those at the White House and the Small Business Administration (SBA), have repeatedly breached the Hatch Act.
The act prohibits public workers from conducting political activities at the expense of American taxpayers.
PPT Director Michael Chamberlain minced no words when speaking to the Daily Caller, the outlet first to report on the complaint. “The intent of the Hatch Act is pretty straightforward: If you’re part of the current government, you can’t engage in political speech in the course of your official duties,” Chamberlain said.
Expanding on his remarks, Chamberlain emphasized, “And OSC’s directives against using campaign slogans are pretty clear. But, as Karine Jean-Pierre’s multiple violations show — and these incidents from the White House and SBA appear to provide more evidence of — it seems that these requirements escape some members of the Biden administration.”
The complaint originates from uncovered emails from White House Senior Communications Assistant Brianna Stonick to SBA employees.
In one email, titled “Talking Points: House Republican MAGA Economic Plan” and dated Jan. 18, 2023, Stonick seemingly directed the SBS on how to communicate, including a fact sheet. Notably, these documents have been redacted.
A similar email sent in March 2023 featured a heavily partisan headline: “Talking Points: President Biden’s Veto of Extreme MAGA Republican Bill.”
Associate SBA Administrator Mark Madrid was not to be outdone, forwarding an email in March 2023 to two colleagues that included a passage stating, “[W]hat’s at stake if MAGA Republicans in Congress get their way and repeal the Inflation Reduction Act and slash funding for manufacturing, research, and innovation.”
Chamberlain rebuked the potential use of taxpayer funds to endorse political messaging.
“The American public expects their tax dollars will not be used for politicking and that the officials who serve them in government won’t be using their positions to engage in partisan electioneering. Unfortunately, those seem to be hard lessons for too many executive branch inhabitants to learn,” he told the Daily Caller.
The new complaint adds another layer of controversy plaguing the Biden White House’s year-long violations of the Hatch Act.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, former HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge, former Press Secretary Jen Psaki (now an MSNBC host), and former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain have violated the Hatch Act.
“The job is hard, the job is hard,” Jean–Pierre repeated during her appearance Tuesday on the TV show Sherri, during a segment titled “She’s a Boss,” while emphasizing the difficulties she and her coworkers face in setting the White House’s preferred narrative.
“It’s not just for me, but for all of my colleagues,” she continued. “It’s a difficult job.”
The press secretary, who has vaunted her lesbian and immigrant status in the past, claimed that she works for the American people, but that to do so well, she has to “have a little bit of fun” at the same time.
“What we’re trying to do on behalf of the American people, for this president,” she said, once more emphasizing the challenges of her work. “It is not easy, and so sometimes we try to have a little bit of fun.”
In his own commentary on Jean–Pierre’s interview, Ateba mocked her, writing, “Karine Jean–Pierre complains that her job is very, really hard. May God forgive you.”
Ateba, a reporter for Today News Africa, has a history of conflict with Jean–Pierre.
The reporter was previously muzzled by the White House due to his “frequent interruptions,” in what was perceived as an attempt to shut down uncomfortable questions about the Biden regime.
Ateba was reportedly not allowed to ask questions, and so was left with no choice but to interrupt. Eventually, the White House revoked his press conference credentials.
Soon thereafter, Ateba sued the White House to fight for the freedom of the press after the administration stripped the hard-pass press credentials from him and hundreds of other reporters.
BREAKING: After years of discrimination and targeting, I just filed my First Amendment Rights lawsuit against @whitehouse and the @PressSec Karine Jean-Pierre.https://t.co/89S0rULZL1
The lawsuit is about “maintaining a free press and holding those in power accountable,” according to Ateba. “No President should have the authority to decide who covers them.”
The clash took place at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington, D.C. Though not officially confirmed by the Secret Service, several sources within the community identified the attacker as Michelle Herczeg.
A statement from Anthony Guglielmi, the chief of communications for the Secret Service, said that the agent “began displaying behavior their colleagues found distressing.”
Herczeg reportedly took her colleague’s personal phones and deleted apps, mumbled to herself, hid behind curtains and threw items at other agents.
She also told her co-workers that they were “going to burn in hell and needed to listen to God.”
Herczeg became aggressive after a supervisor told her to relax. The agent attacked the special agent in charge of the vice president, getting on top of and punching him.
Her colleagues put her in handcuffs, took her firearm and called medical personnel to remove her.
Reports indicated that other agents expressed relief that she did not shoot the special agent in charge.
According to RealClearPolitics White House Correspondent Susan Crabtree, Herczeg may have been a diversity hire.
“I’m also told there are DEI concerns among the USSS [Secret Service] community about the hiring of this agent,” Crabtree said in a post on Twitter.
“Other agents and officers within the USSS are asking questions about the agent’s hiring process, whether the USSS did enough to look into the agent’s background and monitor the agent’s mental well-being because there have been widespread concerns about other strange behavior before this incident,” she added.
BREAKING: Sources within the Secret Service community tell me the agent assigned to VP Kamala Harris was armed during the fight – that the gun was secured in the agent's holster until other agents physically restrained the agent and took the gun from the agent's possession. I'm… https://t.co/kxLLOlFy4b
Herczeg attempted to sue the Dallas Police Department, her previous employer, in a gender discrimination lawsuit in 2016. She claimed a male superior assaulted her and requested more than $1 million in damages. A trial court dismissed the suit.
Herczeg’s hiring raised some questions about slipping standards within the U.S. Secret Service.
Harris, who was on her way to New York City for an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, still left on time despite the fight.
On Apr. 25, 2024, before walking into his business records trial, Trump stuck to campaign messaging by announcing that he plans to hold historic rallies in the Bronx and at Madison Square Garden, Breitbart reported.
The news source also reported that the last time the Bronx was the center of a Republican presidential campaign was in 1984 when Ronald Reagan won by a landslide.
“I think we have a good chance of winning here and we’re gonna give it a big plan. We’re going to the South Bronx to do a rally. We’re going to be doing a rally at Madison Square Garden, we believe,” he said.
The focus of the rallies will be police officers, firemen and teachers.
“We’ll be honoring the people that make New York work. It’ll be very exciting, but we think we have a really good chance of winning,” Trump said.
He also attacked Joe Biden’s bad economy, wide open borders and the anti-Israel protests around America’s far-left colleges and universities.
“[Police] would like to be at the colleges” to secure the campuses “because what’s happening at the colleges is a disgrace,” he said.
Trump also compared the police guarding the Manhattan courthouse and the college campuses.
“This courthouse is locked down and there’s not a person within five blocks. They have more police here,” he said.
Trump then continued talking about the horrible state of the United States under Biden.
“This is the worst-run country right now. All you have to do is look at the millions of people coming in from prisons, from mental institutions — coming in at levels we’ve never seen before,” he said.
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) In New York City, a construction worker delivered a blunt but concise message to President Joe Biden, the gaffe-laden Democrat seeking re-election in 2024.
During a Thursday Newsmax segment covering former President Donald Trump’s enthusiastic visit to a Manhattan construction site, a reporter inquired of a union construction worker whether the strong support for Trump surprised him.
“What’s it like seeing so many Republicans in Manhattan, so many Trump supporters in Manhattan—does that surprise you?” the reporter asked.
“No, not at all. He’s turning it now. Trump’s turning it now,” the construction worker replied.
The reporter pressed further, asking, “What’s your message to Joe Biden?”
“F**k you,” the worker promptly responded, the audio censored.
The video initially aired during The Chris Salcedo Show on Newsmax.
Responding to the clip, Newsmax host Chris Salcedo remarked, “Well—but MSNBS says Joe Biden is so loved, how could that be?” with laughter, referring to MSNBC, the left-leaning news outlet.
Trump’s surprise visit to the construction site garnered cheers and support from bystanders and workers, as captured in various videos shared on Twitter by outlet RSBN.
As Trump emerged from his Secret Service vehicle, the workers erupted in chants of “We love Trump! We love Trump!”
HAPPENING NOW: President Trump greeted with chants of “WE LOVE TRUMP” at surprise early morning stop with union workers in New York City pic.twitter.com/Ron0WYihKD
In an interview with the New York Post, some workers voiced their unwavering support for Trump, including Darren Gould, a 58-year-old carpenter, who asserted that Trump is “gonna come back” to “get this country back on its feet.”
Gould added, “Trump got a great reception. They say unions aren’t big for Trump — well they are. Maybe the top union brass aren’t but when you talk to the men on the construction site, they’re all about Trump.”
The former president is confined to New York City, where he faces widely criticized criminal charges brought forth by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Bragg, a far-left Democrat, campaigned for District Attorney in 2020, promising to indict Trump.
On Apr. 23, 2024, the Popular Front, a U.S.-designated terror group, released a statement, in which it supported “our students at American universities,” the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Additionally, the terrorist group called for “the escalation of their struggle,” condemned university administrators for implementing “policies biased with the occupation” and praised the protests of the far-left students at both Columbia and Yale University.
The group’s statement coincided with a separate statement from a senior Hamas political leader, Izzat Al-Rishq, published on Apr. 24, 2024, by the Resistance News Network (RNN). In his statement, Al-Rishq likened Israel to Nazi Germany and declared support for American student protesters.
The Anti-Defamation League previously reported that the RNN frequently releases English translations of communiques from U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations located in Palestinian-controlled territories.
“Today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders,” Al-Rishq stated.
The support of the terrorists for the student protests came as tensions at Columbia have remained high, with the university administrators struggling to put an end to the unsanctioned tent encampment, the Free Beacon reported.
It was also previously reported that more than 100 students were arrested on campus.
Jewish students at the university have indicated they do not feel safe on their campus due to anti-Semitic chants and at least one pro-Israel individual being assaulted.
Some of the students decided to flee the campus, with a rabbi who heads Columbia’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus recommending to Jewish students that they leave campus due to the anti-Israel agitators.
Hamas-supporting students at Yale and other universities have formed similar encampments in solidarity with the protesters at Columbia.
Columbia released a statement on Apr. 24, 2024, indicating it was “making important progress” in its negotiations with student protesters, adding it had “committed to dismantling and removing a significant number of tents.”
The blasphemous act came while Biden was listening to Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried criticize her state’s law that makes it harder to murder unborn babies, Catholic Vote reported.
“And then we come back here to [the] state of Florida. Where… 15 weeks wasn’t good enough so we had to go to six weeks,” Fried said, referring to the gestational limit up until abortion is allowed under state law.
As soon as Fried said “wasn’t good enough,” Biden began to make a slow Sign of the Cross.
Biden has been calling himself a Catholic for a while, despite all of his words and actions completely opposing the teachings of both the Scripture and the Catholic Church. One of these actions was his pro-abortion speech that he gave moments after he made the gesture to mock Christianity, in general, and Catholicism, in particular.
“This. Is. VILE! You cannot be Catholic and support abortion! You cannot invoke GOD and promote Death!” CatholicVote wrote.
This. Is. VILE!
President Biden makes the Sign of the Cross at an abortion rally in Florida!
The Catholic organization also criticized Biden in another post.
“Biden’s decision to make the Sign of the Cross in support of abortion extremism is a despicable charade that attempts to co-opt a sacred practice in support of his new abortion religion,” CatholicVote President Brian Burch said.
Burch then added that the gesture was also a sign of mockery of Christianity.
“His gesture openly mocks the Christian belief in the sanctity of life. There is no divine support for destroying the lives of innocent children, and he should know better. Biden’s gesture suggests he is either terribly naive… senile or callously indifferent to the foundational beliefs of millions of Christians in America,” he wrote.
"Biden’s decision to make the Sign of the Cross in support of abortion extremism is a despicable charade that attempts to co-opt a sacred practice in support of his new abortion religion.
His gesture openly mocks the Christian belief in the sanctity of life. There is no divine…
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Disgraced former FBI attorney Lisa Page has accused the bureau of neglecting to shield her from a man who pleaded guilty to stalking her, according to news report.
The stalker, identified as veteran John C. Perez, entered a plea deal for a federal misdemeanor charge of stalking. He is currently prohibited from visiting Washington for the next six months and has been mandated to attend therapy sessions.
“The F.B.I. knew about his fixation on me since September, and they said nothing,” Page claimed during the sentencing hearing on Thursday, as reported by the liberal New York Times. “Three months later, he was on my doorstep.”
Page rose to infamy following the revelation of her anti-Donald Trump text messages exchanged with her then-lover and equally disgraced former FBI official, Peter Strzok.
Both Page and Strzok resigned from their positions amid revelations of biased targeting of the then-president over unsubstantiated claims of Russian collusion.
Continuing to attract media attention, Page is currently suing against the FBI for the 2018 disclosure of her disturbing text messages, which exposed the duo’s bias against Trump, who was the sitting president at the time.
The stalking ordeal reached a crescendo in December when Perez appeared at Page’s residence on four separate occasions.
During one encounter, Perez accused Page of witnessing his childhood sexual abuse, despite the two never meeting, as reported by The Times.
Page begged the presiding Judge, Robert I. Richter, for a harsher sentence, despite Perez’s lack of past criminal record and military records indicating his struggle with mental illness.
Disagreeing with Page’s request, Ritcher responded, “I don’t know that I disagree with you. But it’s hard for me to find better options. It’s not like we can put him away forever.”
The judge admonished Perez to “stop this nonsense,” to which the man replied, “I’m going to cooperate.”
According to The Times, Perez was discharged from the Marines in May 2023 following his expression of concerning statements regarding Page, as well as discussions about mass shootings and child sex abuse.
The Marines subsequently alerted the FBI, which promptly conducted an interview with Perez. In February, the Metropolitan Police Department issued an arrest warrant for him.
Although Perez resides in California, he voluntarily traveled to Washington, where he was apprehended.
Indeed, there may be compelling cases to be made in Johnson’s defense, but the proof is in the eating of the pudding. With his predecessor’s Ukraine spending deal finally completed, “McCarthy Mike” is the more fitting label.
But many are left wondering, what must have gotten to him?
If Johnson—the most unassuming, mild-mannered, pro-Christian conservative—could be compromised into sending some $60+ billion to the country that appointed a “spirit cooking” witch as its minister of education, then clearly something rotten transpired.
THE INTEL SPIN
There is no shortage of reports from the Operation Mockingbird media that present the official narrative for how Johnson came to change his mind: lobbying from Volodymyr Zelenskyy, ex-CIA director Mike Pompeo, current CIA director Bill Burns, and his son’s acceptance into the U.S. Naval Academy.
“I really do believe the intel,” Johnson said, according to the New York Times account. “I think that Vladimir Putin would continue to march through Europe if he were allowed. I think he might go to the Baltics next. I think he might have a showdown with Poland or one of our NATO allies.”
When it comes to classified intelligence, of course, a baby-faced 21-year-old from Discord is now serving at least 11 years for leaking information that showed the Ukraine war is going worse than the government publicly let on, and that the U.S. has boots on the ground, among other things.
President Joe Biden, meanwhile, kept boxes of sensitive classified information, some of which was confirmed to involve matters impacting current national-security concerns, in his garage—and in office space shared with Hunter’s Chinese business partners.
And yet, somehow, the smoking-gun documents that would make the compelling case to the American public about Vladimir Putin’s true intentions remain under lock and key on a need-to-know basis.
‘INTENSE’ PERSUASION
According to the Times and other accounts, an “intense” February meeting at the White House was the turning point.
During that session—which included Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Burns and Johnson—the president reportedly pulled the House speaker aside for a private tête-à-tête.
Knowing the grace and tact with which Biden routinely conducts himself in public and private, that clearly was not the deciding factor. Unless this is what really happened:
Biden and Johnson step into the soundproof Lewinsky Anteroom beside the Oval Office.
Biden pulls off mask. Johnson: Obama? Obama: That’s right, Mike. Surprised? Johnson: Not really. Obama: Yeah, I get that. Joe’s been gone since 2015. Hillary didn’t take too kindly when he thought about entering the 2016 race. I tried to warn him… Beau found out and got a dart full of Uranium One. Johnson: Wow. So, are you planning to kill me? Obama: That’s not how I roll. Except for Breitbart. Couldn’t let those Weather Underground videos get out before the 2012 election. But generally, I prefer the power of persuasion. Johnson: Well, I’m sorry, but I came to Washington to serve the people. I could make a selfish decision and do something that’s different. But I’m doing here what I believe to be the right thing. Obama: Interesting. In my experience, everyone has a price. The person I represent has authorized me to allow you to name yours. Johnson: So if this person has unlimited funding, why doesn’t he just send money to Ukraine himself? Obama: Ah, there’s the rub. This whole thing isn’t actually about a war. Putin’s in on it too. The laundered money going to Ukraine as part of the unlimited supply printed by the Fed helps us to meet the ever-growing demands for kickbacks and bribes needed to run the world shadow-government. Johnson: Christ on a cracker! So all of this inflation is the result of greedy globalists? Sorry, but I would never be able to show my face in Shreveport if I caved—especially knowing all that. Obama: I thought you might say that. Which is why you might want to have a look at these screenshots that Five Eyes intercepted while monitoring social media for Chinese honeytraps. Johnson: Is that my son? Obama: Being catfished by a transgender Thaiboy, correct. Johnson: He just got accepted to Annapolis. This would destroy him. Obama: So do we have a deal? Johnson: How much? Obama: $95 billion for now. And you have to make sure the FISA reauthorization clears. Johnson: Only if we can ban TikTok…
NOTHING TO HIDE
Although the imagined scenario above may seem far-fetched, it is more plausible than the official explanation we’re being offered for why Johnson threw his constituents and the conservative base under the bus, considering they are the sole reason he is where he is, and that his only mandate was not doing what he did.
Clearly, the problem that Republicans face goes beyond the character of those elected. The problem is what they are going up against in a technocracy so powerful that no elected leader is beyond coercion.
A government that has the unlimited capability to spy on its citizens is bound to collect some form of compromising material that it can use against its elected leaders. Even those who are above reproach will have a weak link somewhere in their family.
Thus, as long as our feckless leaders continue to authorize unlimited domestic spying, the future of politics will increasingly revolve around those who have something to hide.
For Republicans, this means political destruction—a hostile environment that is all but unsurvivable considering the lawfare attacks and other bureaucratic weapons being wielded against them.
For Democrats, the system may rally to protect them, but the selection of leaders will continue to be clownish, shameless and lacking all moral scruples since it is clear they are beholden to a higher authority—and not a religious one.
Only those hand-picked and groomed by the deep state, such as Obama, will appear unscathed since they are the most unscrupulous of all, and there is no perceptible difference between their agenda and the globalist institutions they represent. Eventually, as the technocracy gains more and more power and our collective memories of reality fade, all politicians will be conditioned to fit in this mold, and there will be no further need to gather dirt.
FORGED IN THE FISHBOWL
Both Biden and former President Donald Trump have been public figures since the 1970s and have spent the majority of their lives in a fishbowl. Moreover, both have proven to be impervious to the threats of blackmail that might bring down ordinary individuals.
Biden lost his own wife and daughter in a horrific car crash. His surviving sons spent months in traction, and Hunter was likely scarred for life emotionally.
And yet, when his brother Frank ran over a man in a drunk-driving incident that made two young girls orphans—and then refused to pay the $1 million court-ordered restitution—Joe Biden simply shrugged it off as being none of his business.
Only a true sociopath can pull off that level of compartmentalization.
As for Trump, his greatest political victory, in a sense, may have been what some regard as his lowest moment: the notorious Access Hollywood recording from 2005.
The video is now resurfacing as part of Trump’s Manhattan trial concerning Stormy Daniels’s allegations about a sexual relationship around the same time.
Both cast a dark pall over his first years of marriage to Melania—whom he wed on Jan. 22, 2005—and cast Trump as a bit of a cad during that time. However, that should come as a surprise to exactly nobody, considering that was the persona he had openly spent decades cultivating.
Melania, who had posed nude in photoshoots before marrying Trump, undoubtedly was less surprised by his dalliances with Playboy bunnies and porn stars than with her sudden ascension into history books as the first lady.
Nonetheless, she rose to the occasion to become the classiest and most graceful first lady in modern memory, reshaping the role to fit her many glamourous attributes.
Meanwhile, the former first lady who thought she had found her gotcha moment, courtesy of Jeb Bush’s cousin Billy, was in for a rude awakening.
Hillary Clinton’s attempt to smear Trump for sexual lewdness only revealed the stark contrast with her willingness to turn a blind eye toward her own hubby during his presidential scandals.
The Left’s shock of seeing that October surprise fail likely set in motion the much-needed #MeToo house-cleaning that temporarily held predators like Harvey Weinstein accountable. Even Bill Clinton saw his influence within the Democratic Party greatly diminished for a time.
As for Trump, though, it was a trial by fire, from which he emerged all the stronger.
Had he withered and crumbled then, apologizing for the error of his ways and insisting it was not who he was in his heart of hearts, Hillary would have prevailed.
But by taking ownership of it, absorbing it all into the broader picture, he gave Republicans the confidence they needed to hold their noses and vote. The episode itself had not revealed anything new about him, but his handling of it surely did.
It was a lesson, too, to Democrats—that they could not count on their old playbooks, expecting Republicans to vote on their morals and punish leaders at the first sign of scandal.
As counterintuitive as it may seem, the path forward may not be selecting the most morally upright leaders and trusting that their integrity will be their watchword in the bowels of the swamp.
Rather, we must find those with absolutely nothing to lose, whose sole commitment is to the America First agenda, and instill in them the confidence that if they put themselves and their dignity and livelihood on the line, we will stand behind them all the way.
