Commentary: The Power of Courage

Donald Trump in front of the American Flag (composite image)

The iconic photo of Donald Trump standing tall and defiantly after an attempted assassination speaks volumes. It reminds the whole world that Trump is a fighter. In his case, it is more than a metaphor, as “fighter” is for most of the political class. He showed real physical courage, and this cannot fail to impress.

As society has gotten more modern and organized, physical courage has become less necessary and less valued. Physical ability in general, such as the brawn and endurance required to be a cowboy or coal miner, doesn’t have much to do with the ability to analyze Excel spreadsheets, run a cash register, or do any number of office jobs. Softer skills are in higher demand and are rewarded accordingly.

Read More

New Pre-Shooting Poll Shows Narrow Lead for Biden in Virginia

Joe Biden and Donald Trump

The New York Times/Siena College poll just released results from a voter survey taken before the Trump rally shooting, showing President Joe Biden leading former President Donald Trump by just a few percentage points.

The results are causing more chatter about the role Virginia could play in the upcoming election since Biden won Virginia by 10% in 2020. Prior to a May poll by Roanoke College that showed the presidential candidates tied 42%-42%, Virginia was considered reliably blue for Biden – due to his previous performance and to the fact that George W. Bush was the last Republican presidential candidate to win the commonwealth in 2004.

Read More

Music Spotlight: Danielia Cotton

Danielia Cotton has made a name for herself in the Americana/Roots Rock world. When I heard that voice, I knew exactly why. She has opened for Gregg Allman, Bon Jovi, Robert Cray, Robert Randolph, Cristone “Kingfish” Ingram, Derek Trucks Band, and Aimee Mann.

Cotton comes from a musical family. Her mother was one of ten children, four boys and six girls. The girls formed a capella band. (Her aunt Jeannie Brooks also has a remarkable jazz solo career and is quite popular in Philadelphia.)

Read More

Seismic Shift for Trump in 2024 Race as Democrats’ Rhetoric, Presidential Debate, Lawfare Backfire

Donald Trump and JD Vance at RNC

A seismic shift has occurred in the 2024 presidential race as the Democrats’ rhetoric, debate performance, and persistent lawfare against former President Donald Trump have appeared to backfire on them, with support for him continuing to increase, including after the assassination attempt.

Trump has been called a “threat to democracy” by Democrats, charged with numerous felony counts in federal and state cases, debated President Joe Biden with CNN moderators, and survived an assassination attempt, all of which have appeared to backfire on Democrats in the presidential race and increase the former president’s popularity as he runs to return to the White House.

Read More

Commentary: The Economics of Early Voting

After the recent assassination attempt on Donald J. Trump, some think the race is Trump’s to lose. I tend to agree that the race is in some ways Trump’s to lose, while at the same time feel very strongly that the left is not going to simply roll over and give up on trying to keep Trump from a second term.

So it’s important to not be over-exuberant; Trump is absolutely riding high right now, from the debacle of a debate for Biden to Judge Cannon dismissing the Jack Smith documents case to surviving an assassination attempt. But the right needs to focus on what takes place between now and November 5th, specifically on how every Republican and conservative can help Trump win by doing one simple thing: casting your ballot early.

Read More

Analysis: Trump Looks to Appeal to Reagan Democrats and Independents with Vance Pick, Convention Speakers

Donald Trump at RNC

Former President Donald Trump wants to engineer a landslide in 2024.

In 1972, 1980, 1984 and 1988, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush won monumental 49-state, 44-state, 49-state and 40-state landslides in their respective re-election and election bids.

Read More

Sibling Opposites: A Yearbook Profile of Pennsylvania Shooter Thomas Crooks and His Sister

Thomas Crooks and his sister Katherine Crooks graduated from the same high school only two years apart; however, their school yearbooks paint the attempted assassin as very different from his sister regarding school engagement.

Read More

Oversight Committee Says Homeland Security Refuses to Confirm a Secret Service Briefing Time

House Republican members on the Oversight Committee said Tuesday the Department of Homeland Security has taken over communications between the committee and the U.S. Secret Service and refuses to confirm a time for a briefing that was supposed to take place today. 

Read More

Secret Service Chief Says No Agents Placed on Building Trump Shooter Used Because Sloped Roof Deemed a ‘Safety’ Concern

Embattled U.S. Secret Service Chief Kimberly Cheatle said Tuesday that the reason there were no agents stationed on top of the building the gunman used to carry out his assassination attempt on Donald Trump is because the building’s slightly sloped roof  was deemed unsafe for agents to navigate.

Read More

U.S. Authorities Learned of Potential Iranian Assassination Plot Against Trump Weeks Before Deadly Shooting

The New York Post US authorities were warned about a potential assassination plot against former President Donald Trump by Iran weeks before the deadly shooting at Saturday’s rally — underscoring concerns about the level of protection that the presidential candidate was given, according to a report. Although there is no known connection between Thomas Matthew…

Read More

Secret Service in Crisis: Inflexible Protocols, Security Lapses in Spotlight

Inflexible Secret Service protocols, overworked special agents, and a decision against deploying more counter snipers to President Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania all contributed to creating the opening for a gunman to wound Trump, kill a bystander, and seriously injure two others, according to several sources in the Secret Service community.

Read More

Pennsylvania Shooter’s Neighbors Portray Detached, Reclusive Family

Conversations by The Pennsylvania Daily Star with around two dozen neighbors near the house where Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump, lived painted a picture of a family that mostly keeps to itself and a young man who had little interaction with the neighborhood.

Read More

Report: NFL Teams Earned $400 Million from NFL Revenue as Public Incentives Escalate

The National Football League earned more than $13 billion and distributed more than $400 million in 2023 to each team from national revenue, Sportico reported.

The record distribution comes as teams across the league continue to push for public incentives for new stadiums and renovations.

Read More

Amtrak Trains Keep Breaking Down Despite Massive Injection of Taxpayer Cash

Amtrak Train

Amtrak, the national passenger railroad company of the U.S., continues to have routine breakdowns despite receiving massive injections of taxpayer dollars from the Biden administration, according to data from the Department of Transportation (DOT).

Since 2021, there have been 333 Amtrak train incidents reported nationwide as of July 9, 2024, slightly less than the 397 incidents that occurred between 2016 and July 2020 during former President Trump’s tenure, according to the DOT. The Biden administration, as a part of an announced $66 billion for passenger rail in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, has dedicated huge amounts of taxpayer cash to Amtrak, including $4 billion being given to the rail company near the end of 2022, according to the White House.

Read More

Ted Cruz Unveils Bill Nixing Biden Regulation That’s Hamstringing Oil Development to Protect Tiny Lizard

Ted Cruz

Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz introduced a new bill to nix the Biden administration’s protections for a lizard species that critics argue will restrict oil and gas development.

Cruz unveiled his Congressional Review Act (CRA) bill to walk back the Biden administration’s decision to protect the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard, a species that is indigenous to parts of New Mexico and western Texas, under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Cruz and other critics of the designation have asserted that the lizard’s protections are more likely intended to complicate oil and gas development in the Permian Basin, an oil- and gas-rich region of western Texas and New Mexico.

Read More

‘Squad’ Democrat Heading for Bruising Primary Defeat, Poll Suggests

Cori Bush

Democratic Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri is facing a massive polling deficit behind her primary challenger, prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County, Wesley Bell, according to a poll obtained by the New York Post on Sunday.

Bush, who like other ‘squad’ members has been vocally anti-Israel, is now up against a 23-point deficit against Bell as her primary approaches on Aug. 6, according to the poll conducted by McLaughlin & Associates for the CCA Action Fund. In June, fellow ‘squad’ member Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York was also confronted with a massive polling disadvantage after being outspokenly anti-Israel, going on to eventually lose his primary against now Democratic nominee George Latimer on June 25.

Read More

Commentary: The Biden Titanic

Joe Biden

Joe Biden’s escalating dementia and the long media-political conspiracy to hide his senility from the public are the least of the Democrats’ current problems.

Biden’s track record as president may be more concerning than his cognitive decline. He has literally destroyed the U.S. border, deliberately allowing the entry of more than 10 million illegal aliens. His callous handlers’ agenda was to import abjectly poor constituencies in need of vast government services without regard for the current struggles of a battered American middle class and poor.

Read More

Mar-a-Lago Case Dismissal Could Spell the End of Smith’s D.C. Prosecution and Anti-Trump Lawfare

Mar-a-Lago Documents

After surviving an assassination attempt over the weekend, Trump began the week with good news in the form of Judge Aileen Cannon dismissing special counsel Jack Smith’s Mar-a-Lago case against him in a seismic ruling that could spell the end of his federal legal woes and build on his existing momentum in the national spotlight.

Smith had charged Trump in connection with his storage and retention of materials at his Mar-a-Lago estate, which the FBI raided in August of 2022. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith in late 2022 to pursue the case and he brought an initial indictment in 2023. Trump pleaded not guilty though Smith in July of that year brought a superseding indictment with additional charges. The former president has long maintained he was innocent of any wrongdoing and that the case was part of a broader political witch hunt designed to derail his 2024 bid for the White House.

Read More

Report Finds One Of Biden’s Favorite Green Industries to Miss 2030 Target by Years Despite Billions In Subsidies

Offshore Wind Farm

Offshore wind is likely to miss the Biden administration’s 2030 target for the industry despite receiving billions of dollars of subsidies, according to a Tuesday American Clean Power Association (ACP) report.

The administration has a stated goal of having the offshore wind industry provide 30 gigawatts (GW) of power by 2030, but the ACP report projects that capacity will only reach about 14 GW by then. The Biden administration has subsidized the industry to the tune of billions of dollars since assuming office in 2021, but those efforts appear unlikely to put the 2030 target in reach until at least 2033, per ACP’s analysis.

Read More

Commentary: Alarming Number of Americans Open to Electoral Cheating

People Voting

Based on all the accusations being hurled back and forth over the past eight years, if there’s one thing everyday Americans agree on, it’s the importance of maintaining faith in our elections.

Electoral integrity is a foundational block in our republic’s Jenga tower that, if pulled away, will topple it. Unfortunately, that may be just what a small but dangerous number of Americans are hoping for.

Read More

‘Headed For Obsolescence’: Chinese Automakers Could Be Poised to Wipe Out American Car Titans

BYD Chinese electric vehicle

American automakers will need to make major changes to their businesses if they want to remain competitive with Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) poised to flood the global market, according to analysis published by auto industry consultants.

U.S. manufacturers currently do tens of billions of dollars of business abroad, but Chinese competitors are poised to take over approximately one-third of the global market share by 2030 with particularly strong growth in Europe, South America and Asia driven by EVs and plug-in hybrids, AlixPartners projects in its report.

Read More

Warning Signs About Secret Service Emerged Months Before Trump Assassination Attempt

Secret Service

Driving Vice President-elect Kamala Harris by an undetected bomb. Refusing extra resources for a presidential candidate. Admitting an agent on a White House detail assaulted her supervisor.

Long before the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday night such focused a harsh light on the Secret Service, the presidential security agency was already facing difficult questions about its capability, training, recruitment and emphasis on diversity.

Read More

JD Vance Well-Received by Republican Leaders as Former President Trump’s 2024 Running Mate

Elected officials and leaders of the Republican Party expressed tremendous support for Ohio U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) after former President Donald Trump announced Vance as his running mate in the 2024 presidential election.

Read More

Congressman Who Introduced Bill to Strip Trump of Secret Service Detail Mum After Assassination Attempt

The office of Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS-02) was silent Monday when asked by The Tennessee Star whether Thompson, who introduced a bill that would have stripped former President Trump of his Secret Service detail, had reconsidered that bill in light of Trump’s near assassination on Saturday.

Read More

Pennsylvania Rally Attendee ‘We Thought the Shooter Was in the Crowd’

An attendee at former President Donald Trump’s Saturday rally in Butler, Pennsylvania told The Pennsylvania Daily Star that attendees feared the shooter stood among the crowd, and they felt relief only when Trump rose to his feet and raised his fist.

Read More

Pennsylvania Fire Captain Resigns After Celebrating Attempted Trump Assassination

Tony Bendele, a social media creator and trained firefighter in Pennsylvania, claimed he resigned his position as a captain in the Sunbury Fire Department on Monday after he expressed disappointment when an attempted assassin failed to kill former President Donald Trump at the Saturday rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Read More

Youngkin Orders U.S. and Virginia Flags ‘Flown at Half-Staff’ in Remembrance of Corey Comperatore

Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R-Va., ordered the U.S. and state flags to be “flown at half-staff'” on Monday in remembrance of Corey Comperatore, a volunteer fireman, was killed at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa. where Trump survived an assassination attempt.

Read More

Government Vehicles Spotted at JD Vance’s House Following Trump Assassination Attempt, Fueling VP Rumors

Troopers with the Ohio State Highway Patrol have reportedly been directed to provide security to U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) following the failed assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally on Saturday.

Read More

Secret Service Director: Agency Will ‘Participate Fully’ in Independent Review of Trump Shooting

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said in a statement released on Monday that her agency will fully participate in the “independent review” President Biden ordered of security surrounding former President Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa. where he was shot.

Read More

Navy’s Suicide Rate Soars to Record High in First Three Months of 2024

Navy Funeral

The Navy reported a record-high number of suicides in the first three months of 2024 amid previous reports of poor quality of life and high stress for members of the branch, according to new data from the Pentagon.

There have been 24 reported suicides among sailors in the first quarter of 2024, the highest quarterly sum the service has seen since 2018, which was the first year such data was made available, according to the Pentagon. A service wellness survey conducted in February by the Navy found that more than a third of sailors were suffering from “severe or extreme levels of stress” in 2023, up from roughly a quarter who reported so in 2019.

Read More

New Federal Rule Implemented to Protect Military Bases from Foreign Land Purchases

Camp Blaz

The United States Treasury Department is enacting a new federal rule that aims to combat the rise in foreign entities strategically purchasing American land in close proximity to military bases.

According to Fox News, the new regulation will utilize a law passed in 2018 to expand the ability of the Treasury’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to analyze the consequences of foreign purchases of real estate, in order to possibly exert control over such transactions or asset transfers.

Read More

Alaska Natives File Lawsuit Challenging Federal Overreach in Wake of SCOTUS ‘Chevron’ Ruling

Oil Drilling

Alaska Natives are fighting back against the Biden administration’s decision to shut down oil and gas development in northern Alaska, which they say is vital to the prosperity and well being of their communities. 

The Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat (VOICE), a nonprofit advocacy group for Native-American communities living on the state’s North Slope, filed a lawsuit Monday against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland over the final BLM’s final rule blocking 13 million acres in their region to oil and gas development.

Read More

Defense Department Hid DEI Relaunch in K-12 Schools, Emotionally Manipulates Students: Watchdog

Military school

As the Democrat-controlled Senate prepares to debate and consider amendments to the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, which already passed the GOP-led House with several amendments supported by Anti-Woke Caucus members, a transparency group is shining a light on the curriculum and vendors in the Pentagon’s 70,000-student school system.

The K-12 Department of Defense Education Activity, probed in a January hearing on “progressive ideologies in the U.S. military,” simply reshuffled its “radical” diversity, equity and inclusion programs and staff after reassigning DEI chief Kelisa Wing and deleting its DEI Division page, according to a report by OpenTheBooks.com published Thursday.

Read More

Report: Increase in Virginia Traffic Fatalities Reflective of National Trends

First reponders

Virginia’s traffic fatalities decreased last year for the first time since the pandemic and after a significant increase from 2020-2021 — but they’re still up by 24 percent since 2013.

These trends generally mirror national traffic trends, with traffic fatalities up 25 percent nationally during that same period, according to TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit. The U.S. saw a dramatic rise in traffic fatalities in 2021 and a “modest decrease” in 2022 and 2023. 

Read More

Commentary: Project 2025 and the Continued Democrat Meltdown

Project 2025

Tying Donald Trump to Project 2025 is the latest desperation tactic from Democrats. But it’s likely to backfire. It might actually create a new generation of Conservatives in the process.

Last year, the Heritage Foundation published the Mandate for Leadership as assembled by a consortium of people and think tanks called Project 2025. It is a compilation of long-standing recommended Conservative policies for the next Republican administration. The Project 2025 group claims the document is “the Conservative movement’s unified effort to be ready for the next Conservative administration to govern at noon, January 20, 2025.”

Read More

Shelters at Mexico’s Southern Border Overwhelmed as Migrant Housing Costs Triple Amid National Inflation

Mexico Migrant Shelter

Inflation and increased migratory flow are causing the cost of housing migrantsat Mexico’s southern border to triple, according to a calculation by theTapachula branch of the National Chamber of Commerce for Services and Tourism (CANACO) and reported by the EFE Spanish language News Agency on Wednesday.

CANACO are local chambers of commerce in Mexico that are represented on a national level by the National Confederation of the Chambers of Commerce, which reports concerns to the Mexican federal government.

Read More

Commentary: The Two Seconds That Define Donald Trump

Donald Trump

How many men have faced the crucible of a near-death experience and came out triumphant? America just watched Donald Trump’s great moment of testing and saw him prove his mettle.

When we tell our children about the assassination attempt on Trump’s lifein Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, we will remember the moment when a man, wounded and bloodied, raised his fist in the air and shouted, “Fight! Fight!”

Read More