Surprise: FBI Finds Nothing at Biden Beach House after Scheduling Raid

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) Unsurprisingly, when the FBI conducted a search of President Joe Biden’s Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, home on Wednesday after scheduling the “raid” with Biden’s lawyers, they didn’t find any documents with classified markings.

“Bob Bauer, Biden’s attorney, did say the FBI took with them handwritten notes and some materials for further review. The search took three-and-a-half hours,” CNN said.

“Bauer said that like last month’s search of Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, agents ‘took for further review some materials and handwritten notes that appear to relate to his time as Vice President.’”

“Bauer confirmed earlier in the morning that investigators were searching the home. The search was planned and had the ‘full support and cooperation’ of Biden, Bauer said,” CNN added.

Bauer confirmed the information presented by CNN.

“The DOJ’s planned search of the President’s Rehoboth residences, conducted in coordination and cooperation with the President’s attorneys, has concluded. The search was conducted from 8:30 AM to noon,” he said.

“Under DOJ’s standard procedures, in the interests of operational security and integrity, it sought to do this work without advance public notice, and we agreed to cooperate.”

“The search today is a further step in a thorough and timely DOJ process we will continue to fully support and facilitate. We will have further information at the conclusion of today’s search,” he added.

On Tuesday, it was reported that the FBI conducted a search of the Penn Biden Center way earlier than it was previously known or disclosed by the White House, according to the Conservative Brief.

The search happened in November after Biden’s team contacted the National Archives to tell them that they have found classified documents at the center.

According to an anonymous official for the Department of Justice, there was no search warrant and the November search was done with the cooperation of Biden’s legal team.

“The White House and Biden’s legal team did not previously disclose the FBI’s November search, in contrast to a search conducted by the bureau earlier this month at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware,” CNN reported.

“This latest revelation raises additional questions about how transparent the White House and Biden’s legal team have been about the government’s investigation into the president’s handling of classified documents, which is now being overseen by special counsel Robert Hur.”

Woke EA Video Games Add Double Mastectomy Scars, Chest Binders to Sims 4

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) The woke publisher, Electronic Arts, and developer, Maxis, of the video game Sims 4, a part of the famous video game series for kids 12 and older, decided on Tuesday to allow players to add “top surgery” scars that come from breast removal and chest binders to be the characters they play, receiving both backlash and praise.

Libs of TikTok broke the news in its classic fashion, using the Left’s own absurdity to expose its subversive agendas and ridiculous dogmas.

People on Twitter criticized the decision, according to the Daily Mail.

“God this sucks,” political commentator Ian Miles Cheong responded, while America First Legal President Stephen Miller criticized the move as “Atrocious.”

The founder of Wrong Speak Publishing and a columnist at Human Events, Adam B. Coleman, also pointed out the trend of normalization of a deviation from the norm.

“The normalization of mutilation.”

Some people decided to boycott EA, Maxis and the video game series by deleting the game from their computers and video game consoles.

“Just deleted the app and telling all my family and friends to do the same. Bye,” one user said, according to the Daily Mail.

Another user agreed with the strategy.

“I am uninstalling @TheSims and I will never play it or any of their products ever again. And I recommend you do the same. This is pure evil.”

However, the woke video game industry and journalists supported the decision of EA and Maxis.

“Vadish, we love it!” Xbox, a video game platform that belongs to Microsoft wrote, referring to the made-up language that characters in the Sims universe use. In “Simlish,” “Vadish” means “thank you.”

Journalists praised the decision, too.

“It’s an exciting addition for transgender and disabled fans,” Mashable wrote.

Gaming website Kotaku also approved the decision by saying that it reaches out to disabled people who like to play the game.

“There are also medical wearables, such as glucose monitors and hearing aids, which makes The Sims 4 all more inclusive for the disability community as well. It’s good s***.”

This is not the first time when EA and Maxis decided to show their crazy political ideology. In May 2022, they announced that the game will allow its players to use they/them pronouns.

Back in 2014, the game also allowed players to have so-called same-sex marriages and relationships.

Taxation by Citation: States w/ Highest Fines, Fees Assessed

(Glenn Minnis, The Center Square) Local governments across the country pocketed nearly $9 billion in fines and fees in 2020 with residents in New York, Illinois, Texas and Georgia all paying out more than $35 each on average per capita, a new Reason Foundation study reports.

With 2020 being the most recent year for which data was available, researchers found the states of New York ($1.4 billion), California ($1.26 billion) and Texas ($1.17 billion) collected well over one-third of the cumulative windfall. In all, 20 states saw their local governments bring in more than $100 million in fines and fees over that time.

“Overall, the data tell us that state and local governments are using fines and fees as revenue generators that fund and grow the size of government while undermining individual liberty,” Reason Foundation Director of Criminal Justice Policy and study co-author Vittorio Nastasi told The Center Square. “This taxation by citation is unfair, especially to low-income families, and it creates troubling conflicts of interest in the criminal justice and court system.”

With data for the study obtained from the Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances, more researchers note that local governments are using fines and fees as a significant source of revenue, with at least 482 local governments across the country generating at least 10% of their general revenue from fines and fees as recently as in 2017.

In addition, some 42 municipalities generated at least 50% of their general revenues from fines, fees and forfeits over that same year. Nastasi argues it all can add up to a grossly unfair and unjust system.

“Particularly when local governments rely on fines and fees for a substantial portion of their budgets, it can create bad incentives for police agencies and courts,” he said. “When incentives are misaligned, police departments and court systems become more concerned with “taxation by citation” than carrying out their core functions. For instance, police agencies might dedicate their resources toward traffic enforcement rather than dealing with more serious public safety concerns. Such conflicts of interest also serve to undermine the legitimacy of the justice system among the public.

Nastasi said he would like to see more alternatives to some of the growing list of monetary sanctions.

“Fines and fees are often regressive in their impacts, meaning that they disproportionately burden low-income individuals relative to wealthier people,” he said. “This is because fines and fees are rarely scaled to account for a person’s ability to pay.”

In the end, Nastasi said he worries such a system can end up causing more harm than good.

“When financial penalties impose significant burdens on individuals, they inhibit their ability to act as productive members of society,” he added. “Failure to pay outstanding fines and fees can result in driver’s license suspensions, revocation of voting rights, and even incarceration. Such penalties make it even more difficult for individuals to pay off their debts, reduce access to housing and employment, and create additional administrative costs for governments.”

Bill Would Bar Chinese Interests from American Farmland

(Timothy Schumann, The Center Square) Two politicians representing almost the entirety of Washington east of the Cascades in Congress want to stop a particular group of foreign nationals from owning, controlling, or profiting from American agricultural land.

U.S. Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, and Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, have introduced the “Prohibition of Agricultural Land for the People’s Republic of China Act” in the House of Representatives aimed at keeping members of the Chinese Communist Party from owning American agricultural real estate.

“Agriculture is Eastern Washington’s number one industry. We simply cannot allow companies from China to lock down our resources and undermine our farmers and ranchers’ ability to feed the world,” said Rep. McMorris Rogers in a statement. “Americans should not be forced to rely on China for the food they put on the table. Prohibiting the Chinese Communist Party from purchasing farmland in the United States is a no-brainer that will support domestic food production and decrease our dangerous dependence on foreign adversaries.”

The text of the bill calls on the president to “take such actions as may be necessary to prohibit participation in programs administered by the Secretary of Agriculture by nonresident aliens, foreign businesses, or any agent, trustee, or fiduciary associated with the Government of the People’s Republic of China.”

The wording is broad and aimed at preventing not just CCP members, but all affiliated persons and entities from meddling in the free market of American agriculture.

It also bans the same entities and individuals from participating in any United States Department of Agriculture program, with the notable exception of food safety inspections.

If adopted into law, the bill could have significant repercussions.

A recent report, from the FDA entitled “Foreign Holdings of U.S. Agricultural Land” notes that by the beginning of 2020, China already owns or indirectly controls nearly $2 billion in US agricultural land.

Another report from the USDA notes that in the previous decade Chinese investment in agriculture has risen by over 1000% outside its own borders.

Currently only six states – Hawaii, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Dakota, and Oklahoma – have some form of legislation on the books banning foreign nationals from owning agricultural land. The bill would extend those protections to the rest of the nation.

“The Chinese Communist Party is a threat to American democracy,” co-sponsor Rep. Newhouse said. “The United States is engaged in a great power struggle with the CCP, and we must respond with tough policies that will protect our farmland and food supply chain.”

The bill is worded to prevent future purchases. It is unclear how, if enacted, this legislation would affect current holdings by CCP-affiliated entities

Wisc. Judge Touts Handling of Waukesha Killer in High-Stakes Bid for Supreme Court

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article mistakenly named Tim Walz as Wisconsin governor. Walz, also a Democrat, is governor of Minnesota.

(Headline USA) A conservative candidate in a pivotal race for Wisconsin Supreme Court is using video images of an SUV that drove through a Christmas parade in suburban Milwaukee, killing six people, in her first television ad of the race released Thursday.

Waukesha County Circuit Judge Jennifer Dorow gained national attention for presiding over the trial of Darrell Brooks, whom a jury convicted of six homicide counts. Dorow sentenced Brooks to life in prison with no chance of release and launched her candidacy for Supreme Court two weeks later.

A key storyline to emerge from the case was the fact that Brooks had long benefited from loopholes in the justice system that allowed him to remain at large, despite a long history of violent crime and red flags concerning his mental health.

John Chisholm, the leftist district attorney overseeing the region, notoriously let Brooks walk free on $1,000 bail just weeks before the massacre even though the crime was for running over the mother of his child with an SUV.

Dorow is one of four candidates—and one of two conservatives—in the race for an open state Supreme Court seat that will determine whether the court remains under conservative control.

Both sides see the race as crucial because of the court’s role as the final word in battleground Wisconsin, where the Legislature is controlled by Republicans and the governor, radical leftist Tony Evers, recently signed a law permitting abortion up until the moment of birth.

Whoever wins the April 4 election will determine majority control for the next two years. That period includes the 2024 presidential election.

The state Supreme Court ruled against former President Donald Trump in a lawsuit he brought after the 2020 election in which Trump tried to challenge the outcome while pointing to substantial evidence of vote fraud in Milwaukee and at least four other major cities.

A Feb. 21 primary will narrow the Supreme Court race to the top two vote-getters.

The contours of the court race, which is nonpartisan in name only, are shaping up much like the midterm elections. Conservative candidates are rallying around criminal justice issues, experience and backing from law enforcement while leftists are focusing on abortion and talking about issues like redistricting.

In her first ad released last week, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz promised to the state’s extreme abortion laws.

The state Supreme Court is expected to eventually decide a pending legal challenge to Wisconsin’s 1849 law banning abortions, which went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. That would leave Evers’s new pro-infanticide policy as the governing law.

The other two candidates are former conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly and liberal Dane County Circuit Judge Everett Mitchell. Neither of them has released television ads with the primary less than three weeks away.

None of the other three candidates immediately responded to emails seeking comment on the Dorow ad.

Dorow’s spot begins with a video of Brooks’s red SUV driving into the path of a marching band during the Waukesha parade in November 2021. Her ad does not show the vehicle hitting people, but she does include video that shows the response as people run and police respond.

“Judge Jennifer Dorow ensured justice was served,” the narrator says over images of Dorow in the courtroom, Brooks starting at her and of him shirtless during a court hearing.

Brooks was often disruptive during the trial, and Dorow’s handling of his behavior during the nationally broadcast trial won her praise and her office was flooded with gifts and congratulatory emails.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Senate Installs New Technology for Cognitively Impaired Fetterman

(Headline USA) The Senate installed new technology this month to aid cognitively impaired Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who has struggled to put together coherent sentences and follow questions he’s asked since suffering a stroke early last year.

The closed-caption technology allows Fetterman to read typed closed-captions as individuals speak. It has been installed in the Senate chamber and in Fetterman’s office, according to Fox News.

The technology will also assist Fetterman if he delivers speeches on the floor, which has strict rules prohibiting the use of other technologies, including cell phones.

Fetterman has not released his full medical records since his stroke, which had him in the hospital for several weeks. His limited public appearances on the campaign trail, however, made it clear Fetterman struggled to speak clearly and process questions.

Even when using closed-caption technology on the debate stage against Republican opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz, Fetterman could barely communicate.

An adviser for Fetterman warned the press back in November that Fetterman would not be able to answer questions normally.

“Two things we need to get out of the way,” Rebecca Katz wrote on Twitter, “1) John Fetterman has a suit and will wear it to the Capitol. 2) He is still recovering from a stroke and has lingering auditory processing challenges. The way Hill reporters are used to yelling questions at Senators will not work here.”

Conservative commentator Derek Hunter joked that Fetterman’s wife, Gisele, will end up doing his job for him.

“All questions are to be written down & submitted in advance. They will be returned once his wife has had time to answer them. No way @giselefetterman doesn’t end up on the Senate payroll. When you’re doing all the work, and in on the scam, you milk it for all the money possible,” he tweeted.

Does the FBI Have Spies in Congress?

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) House Republicans vow to pull no punches when investigating the FBI this session of Congress. The bureau may be monitoring them in return.

This is according to attorney Jesse Trentadue, who about a decade ago uncovered the FBI’s “sensitive informant program.” He said the bureau uses it to embed informants in the media, congressional offices, churches, defense teams and other “sensitive” institutions.

Trentadue never found direct evidence of FBI informants operating in Congress—but that’s because a federal court struck down his lawsuit seeking records about such activity in 2015.

Nearly eight years later, Trentadue told Headline USA that he hopes the newly formed House select subcommittee to investigate the weaponization of the federal government will resume what his lawsuit started. Doing so would be in Congress’s best interest, he said.

Trentadue first caught wind of the sensitive informant program in 2011, while prepping for a separate lawsuit. His friend and fellow investigator, Roger Charles, had discovered an FBI memo showing that a journalist at ABC News was also doubling as a federal informant.

“The journalist, whose name is not disclosed in the document labeled ‘secret,’ not only cooperated but provided the identity of a confidential source, according to the FBI memo—a possible breach of journalistic ethics if he or she did not have the source’s permission,” the Center for Public Integrity wrote in April 2011 about the finding.

While the story moved through the news cycle quickly with little impact, it prompted Trentadue to file records requests with the FBI to see if the bureau had other informants in the media, as well as places such as congressional offices, courts, churches, other government agencies and even the White House.

“I thought they’d come back and say, ‘We would never do that because that would be illegal and unconstitutional,’” he said. “Instead, they came back and said, ‘Yeah, we do that. We have manuals on that, but you can’t have them because of national security.’”

Trentadue filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit over the matter in 2012, seeking unredacted copies of the FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide, the FBI Confidential Human Source Validation Standards Manual, the FBI Confidential Human Source Policy Manual and the FBI Confidential Human Source Policy Implementation Guide.

After about two years of litigation, the FBI moved for a summary judgment in April 2014, arguing that it should be allowed to exercise FOIA’s national security exemptions to keep the manuals secret.

Included with the FBI’s motion was a sworn declaration from Eric Velez–Villar, the assistant director of the FBI’s Directorate of Intelligence at the time, who told the court that Trentadue’s lawsuit threatened to “disclose critical tools utilized by the FBI in its investigations and intelligence gathering efforts.”

The head of the CIA’s litigation support unit, Martha Lutz, also submitted a sworn statement, telling the court that disclosing the FBI manuals could compromise CIA sources.

Trentadue opposed the FBI’s motion for summary judgment and the two parties argued at a November 2014 hearing. But after reviewing the unredacted manuals in private, Judge Kimball said the FBI could keep the manuals secret.

Kimball noted that government agencies are “entitled to considerable deference” when they exercise national security or law enforcement exemptions—unless there’s evidence of bad faith by government actors. Then, he said, the courts have no power to make government agencies disclose secret information.

Kimball ordered the case closed on June 9, 2015.

While some might defend the FBI’s sensitive informant program as necessary for national security, Trentadue said the records he’s uncovered—such as the FBI memo revealing its informant at ABC News—show that the bureau has far overstepped its boundaries.

With recent disclosures like the Twitter Files having shed more light on the agency’s role in partisan censorship campaigns and election-meddling, others might agree.

“This isn’t the case of the FBI investigating corruption,” Trentadue said. “The bureau is recruiting spies in an effort to infiltrate and influence.”

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

Leftists Slam New CNN Host Bill Maher for Being Too ‘Right-Wing’

(Headline USA) After CNN announced this week that it would add late night host Bill Maher’s show to its Friday night line-up, leftists slammed Maher as “too right-wing.”

Maher, a liberal, has been openly critical of the cultural Left, especially on issues like the COVID-19 pandemic and transgenderism. As a result, he’s now a “right-winger,” according to progressives.

“Bill Maher is actually perfect for CNN to be honest. False equivalencies, propping up right-wing culture war talking points, fighting for the status quo and that smug face. [Jake] Tapper might get jealous because he might be outsmugged,” Cenk Uygur, leftist host of the Young Turks show, claimed on Twitter.

MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan agreed and even accused Maher of being a closet racist.

“Hmm. Bill Maher is obsessed with this idea that ‘cancel culture is out of control.’ Yet Maher himself just got a new CNN gig, despite saying outrageous things about Muslims, Arabs, and trans people; making crass jokes about Asians; & using the N-word on TV. Cancel culture? Ok,” Hassan wrote.

Self-described journalist Chuck Nodi said anyone who “is not a right-winger” should “drop” Maher, whom he called a “clown.”

Media Matters hack Eric Hananoki claimed Maher’s show is a “big middle finger” to CNN’s Muslim employees.

CNN, however, clearly thinks Maher can help the network crawl out of its current ratings slump. In fact, CNN logged the worst week of ratings it’s had in nine years between Jan. 16-22. Only 93,000 viewers in the coveted 25-54 demographic tuned into CNN that week, and only 444,000 total viewers watched its primetime shows.

NN has considered introducing its own late-night comedy show to help bring back some viewers. Possible hosts for the late-night show include Maher, Jon Stewart, Trevor Noah and Arsenio Hall.

However, CNN CEO Chris Licht said such a show won’t be coming to the network any time in the near future.

“I worked on a comedy show. And it took over 200 people to produce an actual comedy show,” he said in an interview. “So no, I would not be so foolish as to, in one fell swoop, hurt the brand of comedy and news by trying to do a comedy show on CNN.”

Swamp Turtle Mitch McConnell Punishes GOP Critics by Yanking Committee Posts

(Headline USA) Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., kicked off two Republican senators who had been critical of his leadership from the powerful Senate Commerce Committee this week.

Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, were booted from the committee, which oversees issues regarding commerce, science and technology, transportation, and other things. Scott said the decision to remove him from the committee was political.

According to Scott, McConnell informed him of the decision via text message.

“This is what happens when you challenge leadership,” he said on Wednesday.

Scott noted the decision makes no sense, since he has experience handling commerce as the former governor of Florida. 

“It was McConnell’s decision to remove someone who has actually run businesses and ran the third-largest state from a committee I’ve served on for four years. You’ll have to ask him why,” he said.

Scott challenged McConnell for leadership of the Senate GOP shortly after the midterm elections. Lee supported Scott’s challenge, giving a nominating speech for Scott’s bid. However, McConnell kept his leadership position, with 37 Republican senators casting their votes for him and only 10 voting for Scott.

McConnell insisted last year that he wasn’t “offended” by the challenge.

“I’m not in any way offended by having an opponent or having a few votes in opposition,” he said after his re-election. “I’m pretty proud of 37 to 10.”   

Scott said he is “not going to back down” and that he believes he “did the right thing” by challenging McConnell, arguing the Senate GOP conference “needs to change.”

“We have to stop giving in to the Democrats,” Scott said.

Lee declined to comment on his removal from the committee.

Conservative radio host Mark Levin slammed McConnell over the move, calling the leader a “petty, power-hungry RINO.”

DC Comics Teases New Transgender Superhero

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) DC Comics has created a new transgender superhero whose strip, titled “Lazarus Planet: Dark Fate,” will be released this Valentine’s Day despite plummeting sales in the midst of their hard Left turn, Fox News reported.

The transgender hero, called “Circuit Breaker,” has an alter ego by the name of Jules Jourdain, who has been described as “non-binary,” going by the pronouns “he/they.”

The official synopsis for the comic did not mention the transgenderism, but instead only outlined the premise of the new “hero’s” story.

“NEW THREATS WILL RISE! When the Lazarus storm touches down, people from every walk of life stand to be affected. People who are kind, people who are good…and people who are evil. This epic issue will spotlight the…disastrous new villains created by the Lazarus event and the heroes who stand ready to stop them from doing harm…”

DC Comics editor Andre Shea credited Kaplan for “breath[ing] life into Jules Jourdain’s first adventure this February, in which our new hero is blessed (or cursed?) with the dreaded Still Force during Lazarus Planet: Dark Fate.”

Cartoonist Alan Kaplan described his new character as “Trans, but not super into the binary,” while Shea called the new superhero “the prettiest and most fabulous cowboy.”

Although DC Comics’s shameless LGBT virtue-signaling has been widely rebuffed by audiences, the iconic media company continues to double-down.

Last month, for example, the Joker became the latest character to be added to the LGBT spectrum by getting pregnant and giving birth.

“What they are, as the story goes, is going to sort of change and evolve—but they’re very strange backup stories is what I can say,” writer Matthew Rosenberg said of his pregnant Joker story. “They’re funny and weird, and they tonally feel very different from what we’re doing.”