‘F**king Idiots’: Sheila Jackson Lee Accused of Verbal Abuse in Leaked Audio

Luis Cornelio
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‘F**king Idiots’: Sheila Jackson Lee Accused of Verbal Abuse in Leaked Audio

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, faced intense scrutiny after an alleged audio recording surfaced, capturing a curse-laden exchange between her and a staffer.  

The leaked audio, lasting for a minute and 27 seconds, has caused a stir as Lee continues her bid for the mayoral position in Houston. With a congressional career spanning back to 1995, her alleged erratic behavior has cast a shadow over her political image.

According to the leaked audio, which was initially shared by the RNC Research page and posted by Current Revolt, Lee is heard berating a staff member over a perceived lack of preparedness.

“F**king idiots serve no goddamn purpose,” the voice attributed to Lee can be heard saying. “Nobody gives a shit about what you’re doing and you ain’t doing shit.”

The recording continues with Lee’s alleged tirade escalating as the staffer attempts to remedy the situation. 

“I don’t want you to do a goddamn thing. I want you to have a fucking brain,” she purportedly snapped. “I want you to have read it. I want you to say ‘Congresswoman, it was such and such date.’ That’s what I want. That’s the kind of staff I want to have.” 

Lee’s purported verbal assault did not end there, as the recording suggests further use of derogatory language and insults directed at her staffers. 

“So if some stupid other motherfucker did it. … If boo-boo did it, if shit-ass did it, fuck-face did it and nobody knows a god damn thing in my office. K? Nobody. I gave it to you. Your job was to get it on a calendar,” she allegedly added.

“When I called Jerome, he only sit up there like a fat ass, just an idiot, talking about what the fuck he doesn’t know. Both of y’all are fuck-ups. This is the worst shit I could’ve ever had put together. Two goddamn big-ass children. Fucking idiots, serve no goddamn purpose,” Lee remarked, according to Current Revolt.

While Lee did not directly validate the authenticity of the leaked audio, her campaign team swiftly responded by pointing fingers at conservative entities, as reported by the Houston Chronicle.

“This is a low handed political tactic meant to discredit a thriving mayoral campaign and distract voters ahead of the early voting period,” Lee’s campaign said. “It’s unsurprising that these attacks have originated from extremely conservative blogs and political operatives backing John Whitmire.” 

Federal Judge Strikes Down California ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban, Bonta Appeals

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Federal Judge Strikes Down California ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban, Bonta Appeals

(Kenneth Schrupp, The Center Square) – Federal judge Roger Benitez overturned California‘s ban on semi-automatic rifles, pistols or shotguns with certain cosmetic or ergonomic features that make them defined as “assault weapons.”

“Today’s radical ruling — comparing an assault rifle to a bowie knife — is a direct insult to every victim of a mass shooting and their families,” said California governor Gavin Newsom in a statement denouncing the decision. “Californians’ elected representatives decided almost 35 years ago that weapons of war have no place in our communities. Today, Judge Benitez decided that he knows better, public safety be damned.”

Most guns today are variations of semi-automatic firearms that fire single bullets of varying sizes with single pulls of the trigger. California’s “assault weapons” ban focuses on cosmetic and ergonomic features of firearms such as barrel lengths allowed for certain weapons, and bans on different types of weapon grips, threaded barrels that can accept attachments, and adjustable weapons stocks that can make a firearm more comfortable for users of diverse sizes.

Benitez found the ban on these features as unconstitutional under the Bruen test, a new legal doctrine from the Supreme Court that requires the government must “justify its regulation by demonstrating that it is consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation,” and also “assess whether modern firearms regulations are consistent with the Second Amendment’s text and historical understanding.”

Applying the Bruen test, Benitez found the “State’s ban on modern semi- automatics has no historical pedigree,” and that “because a law criminalizing mere possession of a firearm in one’s home kept for self-defense, like California’s Assault Weapon Control Act, is so extreme, it would be very important if the State could at least point to a historical tradition of banning the simple possession of any kind of firearm.”

“The State argues that the prohibited firearms, designed and configured as they are, are somehow not suitable for self-defense.It has already been determined in the initial decision that the prohibited firearm configurations are well suited for self-defense and they are well-suited for militia use,” continued Benitez. “Even so, if a firearm is not unusual, it is protected. Government simply does not have the authority to dictate a list of firearms or configurations that it finds “suitable” for citizen self-defense, hunting, target practice, militia use, or some other lawful use.”

“Weapons of war have no place on California’s streets,” retorted Attorney General Bonta in a statement announcing his appeal of the ruling. “This has been state law in California for decades, and we will continue to fight for our authority to keep our citizens safe from firearms that cause mass casualties.”

Benitez recently also overturned the state’s ban on standard-capacity firearm magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds, drawing similar ire from the governor and attorney general.

As with the magazine-ban ruling, Benitez gave the state 10 days to receive a stay on the ruling as the case is appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court. Benitez had previously issued a similar ruling overturning California’s “assault weapons” ban in 2021 that was quickly stayed while an appeals process could be pursued by the state. This ruling was vacated in 2022 in the aftermath of Bruen and remanded back to Benitez for this current ruling.

Poll: New Jersey Democrats Vulnerable to Parental Rights Issues

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Poll: New Jersey Democrats Vulnerable to Parental Rights Issues

(Christian Wade, The Center Square) — New Jersey Democrats are vulnerable to voter concerns about parental control in public schools and it could hurt them in the next election, according to a new poll.

A new poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University found that the issue of parental control makes New Jersey voters six points more likely to say that they’ll support the Republican candidate in the next election and nine points less likely to support the Democratic candidate.

“I’ve been running survey experiments in NJ political polls for almost 20 years, and we’ve never gotten an effect as big as we see from asking about parental control of schools,” FDU professor and poll director Dan Cassino posted on social media. “This issue is just devastating for Democrats on the generic ballot.”

In November, all 80 seats in the New Jersey General Assembly and the 40 seats in the State Senate will be up for election, the pollsters noted.

In the 2021 elections, Republicans gained six seats in the General Assembly, and even though that ballot also featured a gubernatorial election, only 40% of eligible voters cast a ballot. In the 2019 race, the last time an election was headlined by state legislative elections, turnout was just 27%.

“This issue is doing a lot to move independents into the Republican column,” Cassino. “The question, though, is whether those independent voters can be mobilized in what’s normally a very low turnout election.”

New Jersey Republicans have been hammering away at Democrats over the issue of parental rights, with the state’s Democratic Attorney General fighting in court with schools over transgender curriculums and other thorny social issues.

They seized on the poll’s findings, claiming it shows that Democrats are out of touch with the majority of the state’s voters on the issue of parental rights.

“This poll reaffirms what Republicans have been advocating for all along and supports the reforms that we have sponsored to address the desire of parents to have a say in their children’s education,” Senate Republican Leader Anthony Bucco. “Trenton Democrats have provided nothing but lip service on these issues.”

In the poll, Cassino said Republican attacks on parental control cut into Democrat’s margins substantially, potentially putting their control of the General Assembly at risk.

“Republican candidates are using these attacks because they work,” he said. “If voters are thinking about parental control of schools when they go to the ballot box, Democrats are in real trouble.”

But Cassino said the poll findings isn’t all bad news for New Jersey Democrats. Gov. Phil Murphy’s job approval has remained stable since a May poll, with 44% of residents — including 73% of Democrats — saying they approve of the job he’s doing as chief executive, up from a 40% approval rating a year ago.

Backlog of Pending Immigration Cases Continues to Grow

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Backlog of Pending Immigration Cases Continues to Grow

(Brett Rowland, Center Square) The backlog of immigration cases is growing as U.S. lawmakers evaluate plans to address the problem.

The Executive Office for Immigration Review, which handles immigration cases, has 69 immigration courts, 597 courtrooms and 659 immigration judges throughout the U.S. It faced a backlog of nearly 2.2 million pending cases as of July, according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. That’s more than four times the number of pending cases at the start of fiscal year 2017.

“It’s clear that our immigration court system is in desperate need of reform,” U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said at the outset of a subcommittee hearing on the issue Wednesday. “Addressing challenges at our southern border, of course, has to be part of that solution, but it is not the whole solution.”

Sending additional resources to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement without providing additional funding for the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which handles immigration cases, will only increase the backlog, Padilla said.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said only so much can be done with President Joe Biden in charge of the nation’s immigration policies.

“The courts can only do so much when the Biden administration has opened the spigot at the border,” he said.

More than 255,000 foreign nationals were apprehended or reported evading capture after crossing the southwest border into the U.S. in September alone, according to preliminary Border Patrol data obtained by The Center Square. In August, the official data showed the number at more than 322,000, the most for a single month in U.S. history.

The Executive Office for Immigration Review had a budget of $860 million in 2023. Padilla compared that with the budget for CBP and ICE, which have a combined budget of $30 billion.

Executive Office for Immigration Review officials have said resource shortages and growing caseloads have contributed to the backlog.

Even though the Executive Office for Immigration Review completed a record high number of cases (about 376,000 in the first three-quarters of fiscal year 2023, the Department of Homeland Security initiated a record high number of new cases during that time (747,000).

“As a result, the backlog increased by about 371,000 cases in the first three-quarters of fiscal year 2023,” according to the GAO report. “The effects of the case backlog are significant and wide-ranging from some respondents waiting years to have their cases heard, to immigration judges being able to spend less time considering cases.”

15 U.S. House Members, 5 Senators Won’t Seek Reelection in 2024

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15 U.S. House Members, 5 Senators Won’t Seek Reelection in 2024

(Garcia de Paredes, Center Square) U.S. Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., is the 15th U.S. House member to announce he is not seeking reelection in 2024. Kim, in office since 2019, is retiring to run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.

Including Kim, 20 members of Congress – five senators and 15 representatives have announced they will not seek re-election in 2024 as of Oct. 16. This number doesn’t include Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who had announced her retirement but died on Sept. 29.

The 20 retiring members include 14 Democrats – three in the Senate and 11 in the House – as well as six Republicans – two in the Senate and four in the House.

The same number of U.S. Senators (5) had announced they were not running for re-election at this point in the 2022 election cycle. Four had announced at this point in the 2020 cycle, and one had announced at this point in the 2018 cycle.

The number of U.S. representatives who have announced they are not running for re-election in 2024 is currently below the average at this point for the three most recent cycles. Twenty-one House members had announced their retirements at this point in the 2022 cycle, 22 had announced their retirements at this point in the 2020 cycle, and 23 had announced at this point in the 2018 cycle.

According to the Brookings Institution, an average of 35 House members retired in every two-year cycle between 1946 and 2020. An average of six senators retired in that time period.

Of the senators not running for re-election, Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) are retiring from public office. U.S. Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) is running for governor of Indiana.

Eleven of the 15 U.S. House members not running for re-election – nine Democrats and two Republicans – are running for the U.S. Senate. These members include seven running for the open seats in California, Delaware, Maryland, Michigan, and Indiana, specifically:

  • Reps. Barbara Lee (D), Katie Porter (D), and Adam Schiff (D) are running to replace Feinstein;
  • Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D) is running to replace Carper;
  • Rep. David Trone (D) is running to replace Cardin;
  • Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D) is running to replace Stabenow; and,
  • Rep. Jim Banks (R) is running to replace Braun.

And four other House members are challenging incumbent senators:

  • Kim is running against Menendez in New Jersey;
  • Rep. Alex Mooney (R) is running against Sen. Joe Manchin (D) in West Virginia;
  • Rep. Rubén Gallego (D) is running against Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I) in Arizona; and,
  • Rep. Colin Allred (D) is running against Sen. Ted Cruz (R) in Texas.

Additionally, Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) is running for state attorney general in North Carolina.

Reps. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.), and Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) are the only House incumbents to have announced their retirement from public office.

Majority of Illegals Arrested in September from Socialist Venezuela

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Majority of Illegals Arrested in September from Socialist Venezuela

(Headline USA) Socialist Venezuela was home to the largest number of illegal immigrants arrested, replacing Mexicans for the first time on record, according to figures released Saturday that show September saw the second-highest number of arrests this year.

Venezuelans were arrested 54,833 times by the Border Patrol after entering from Mexico in September, more than double from 22,090 arrests in August and well above the previous monthly high of 33,749 arrests in September 2022.

Arrests of all illegals entering from Mexico totaled 218,763 in September, up 21% from 181,084 in August and approaching an all-time high of 222,018 in December 2022, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Arrests for the government’s budget year that ended Sept. 30 topped 2 million for the second year in a row.

Venezuela’s socialist economy produced a political, economic and humanitarian crisis over the last decade, pushing more than 7 million people to leave.

These illegal victims of socialism began coming to the United States in the last three years, settling in New York, Chicago and other major cities.

Troy Miller, the acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, explained his department’s response to the surge of illegal socialists.

“We are continually engaging with domestic and foreign partners to address historic hemispheric migration, including large migrant groups traveling on freight trains, and to enforce consequences including by preparing for direct repatriations to Venezuela,” Miller said.

Mexicans were arrested 39,733 times crossing the border in September, well behind Venezuelans. Guatemalans, Hondurans and Colombians rounded out the top five.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

China Creates Global AI ‘Initiative’ to Control World’s Tech

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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China Creates Global AI ‘Initiative’ to Control World’s Tech

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) On Wednesday, China launched its “Global Artificial Intelligence Governance Initiative” at the Belt and Road Initiative [BRI] forum in Beijing.

Chinese propaganda outlet Global Times tried to sell the narrative that the AI initiative had an “open, inclusive, and fair approach” to AI development, but Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Taliban — international criminals — being present at the BRI forum indicated the true intentions of the Chinese Communist Party, Breitbart reported.

On Wednesday, the state-run publication also promoted the Global AI Governance Initiative as a “stark contrast to the U.S.’s restrictions and blockade aimed at preserving its hegemony,” referring to the U.S. and allied countries locking down sales of advanced computer technology to China last year.

The absence of any kind of ethical standards in the communist dictatorship allowed AI-driven surveillance, including research into AI facial recognition systems that would allow Beijing tyrants to track and monitor “troublesome” minority populations such as Tibetans and Uyghur Muslims.

Both the CIA and FBI expressed their concerns about China’s influence on AI development and its abuse of the technology to drive massive espionage, surveillance and influence campaigns, according to Breitbart.

In January, FBI Director Christopher Wray said that he was “deeply concerned” that China’s A.I. development is “not constrained by the rule of law,” while Lakshmi Raman, the CIA’s director for artificial intelligence, warned only a few weeks ago that China’s AI programs are “growing every which way,” posing threats to both the security and stability of free nations, the news source added.

“[Adversaries like China are] seeking to undermine trust in our government institutions, social cohesion and democratic processes are using AI to create more believable mis-, dis-, and malinformation campaigns,” the Department of Homeland Security said in September.

Microsoft uncovered an example of that menace the same month, which was a Chinese-controlled network of social media accounts that used AI software to “mimic U.S. voters” and generate content that was “more eye-catching than the awkward visuals used in previous campaigns by Chinese nation-state actors,” Breitbart wrote.

Did Biden Use China Bribes to Buy Rehoboth Beach House?

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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Did Biden Use China Bribes to Buy Rehoboth Beach House?

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) It was discovered that Joe Biden bought his Delaware home for slightly under $2.75 million in cash within weeks of his son, Hunter, threatening Runlong “Raymond” Zhao, an associate at Chinese oil giant CEFC, to seal a deal worth $10 million a year.

“I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled,” Hunter wrote to Zhao on WhatsApp on July 30, 2017, according to the Daily Mail.

After that, he threatened Zhao, whom he called Z during the interaction.

“Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand. And now means tonight,” he wrote at 9.45 a.m., referring to time in Beijing, China, which is 12 hours ahead.

Hunter then continued his threat by reminding Zhao that he could not tell anyone about that.

“And Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. OK, my friend – I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father. I sure hope whatever it is you are doing is very, very, very important,” he wrote.

Even though there is no proof that Joe was sitting next to his son, metadata from Hunter’s infamous abandoned laptop’s photos that were obtained by the Mail showed Hunter was at his father’s main house, his mansion in Wilmington, Del., the day the text was sent.

Joe’s six-bedroom second property was purchased on June 8, 2017, for $2,744,001 – just seven weeks before his son sent these threatening messages, according to property records.

Considering that no mortgage was registered with the sale, it means that Joe paid all cash for his second home.

New Details Put Obama at Scene of Paddleboat Death

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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New Details Put Obama at Scene of Paddleboat Death

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) It was revealed that Barack Obama was physically present at the scene of the drowning death of his chef, Tafari Campbell.

“The Massachusetts State Police [MSP] responded to our [Freedom of Information Act] request and released their report, with some redactions. According to the report, Obama was on the scene shortly after Campbell went missing. The report also states an unmanned female staffer jumped into the water when Tafari fell off his board,” Jesse Watters of Fox News said.

Watters then added that her jumping into the water didn’t help because it was already too late since Campbell already drowned.

“We also now know that the Secret Service has surveillance footage of Campbell from Obama’s compound moments before he entered the water,” he said.

Judicial Watch also asked the MSP for information regarding the tragic death of Obama’s cook and, eventually, received 40 pages of records.

“[The records] indicate the presence of Barack Obama for a witness interview in the death investigation of the Obama’s chef Tafari Campbell. The records, which are heavily redacted, indicate Barack Obama and a direct witness to Campbell’s drowning arrived at the emergency response scene via motorcade,” Judicial Watch wrote on Friday.

The news source also added that Obama was present during the interviews of eyewitnesses.

“The next morning, the eyewitness was interviewed in the Obama residence, again with Barack Obama present,” Judicial Watch wrote.

It was also indicated in the records obtained by the news source that there is a video of Campbell and his paddleboarding companion entering the water.

“The records also detail the existence of a Secret Service video of Campbell and his paddleboarding companion entering the water, and the Secret Service emergency response in the immediate aftermath of the drowning. The State Police records show they concluded ‘no foul play’ in Campbell’s ‘accidental’ death,” Judicial Watch wrote.

In its report, Judicial Watch also added that Campbell has been taking swimming lessons in 2019 but described his ability as “not a great swimmer,” according to his family.

McClintock Mocks ‘Gaetz Eight’ in Snarky, Unhinged Letter: ‘We Don’t Deserve You’

Luis Cornelio
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McClintock Mocks ‘Gaetz Eight’ in Snarky, Unhinged Letter: ‘We Don’t Deserve You’

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., took a sharp jab at the “Gaetz Eight,” the group that voted to oust McCarthy as House speaker and attempted to sway votes for Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, in exchange for their own expulsion. 

In what was described as a mocking letter, McClintock openly derided the actions of the group, expressing a sarcastic appreciation for their bargaining, calling the offer “perhaps the most selfless act in American history.”

McClintock did not mince his words in the two-page letter. “Your letter of October 20, in which you graciously offer to martyr yourselves as long as you can get way, is perhaps the most selfless act in American history,” he said.

“I was certain our Republican colleagues ‘who refuse to vote’ within the Republican majority would have been inspired by your stirring example of party discipline and loyalty to ‘vote with the team,’ as you so eloquently phrased it,” McClintock declared.

The “Gaetz Eight” had proposed a bargain, stating they would face any form of censure or removal from the Conference if the House conference supported Jordan’s bid. 

“If the holdouts who refuse to vote for Speaker-Designate Jordan would be willing to ‘vote with the team’ and elect him the 56th House Speaker, we are prepared to accept censure, suspension, or removal from the Conference to accomplish this objective,” the seven lawmakers claimed in a letter.

However, McClintock’s retort did not hold back. “We should have appreciated how you (and 206 House Democrats) saved us from a Republican Speaker. We truly don’t deserve you,” he added in a mocking tone. 

“But your sacrifice is not in vain. You have succeeded in replacing the outdated concept of majority rule with an exciting new standard that a Speaker must be elected by 98.2 percent of the Republican conference,” McClintock stated, adding, “Someday, a messiah will be born unto us who can achieve this miraculous threshold, and on that day your judgement will be vindicated and you will be hailed as the geniuses that you are.”

The bargain letter was initially signed by Reps. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., Eli Crane, R-Ariz., Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., Bob Good, R-Va., Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Matt Rosendale, R-Mont.

Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., voted to oust McCarthy but refused to sign the letter as he opposed Jordan’s speaker’s bid.

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