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Biden DOJ ‘Fears’ Those Who Pray, Sing Outside Abortion Clinics, Tucker Carlson Says

The Daily Signal -

Tucker Carlson Network founder Tucker Carlson has accused President Joe Biden’s administration of targeting a pro-life father for praying and singing outside of an abortion clinic, warning that the administration “fears” that type of activity.

Carlson interviewed Paul Vaughn, the Tennessee father of 11 children who was arrested by the FBI in October 2022 and charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. During an interview with The Daily Signal at the time of his arrest, Vaughn said that the FBI came to his home, “guns pointed at the door, banging on the house, yelling and screaming, ‘Open up! FBI.’”

“I had kids in the yard walking out to get in the car to go to school. I was about to take them to school, and other kids in the house,” he told The Daily Signal at the time. “So, seeing that the easiest path to de-escalation was me in handcuffs, I stepped outside and put an end to the ranting and the banging and the yelling.”

Carlson asked why exactly the Biden Justice Department would arrest Vaughn in such a dramatic manner.

“The question is,” the former Fox News Channel host asked, “what exactly did he do? Was he a terrorist, a serial killer? Was he trying to invade the country? No. Paul Vaughn, the father of 11 children, had dared to pray and sing hymns in the hallway of an abortion clinic.

“In other words, he did what the Biden administration really fears,” Carlson continued. “He prayed. And for doing that, he faces 11 years in prison.”

Video provided to The Daily Signal by Vaughn, taken by his wife, shows FBI agents outside the family’s home. Vaughn’s wife follows them, videotaping their conversation.

“I want to know why you were banging on my door with a gun,” she says. “Are you not going to tell me anything?”

“No, we are not,” one agent replies, while another says, “I tried.”

“No, you didn’t!” she shouts back. “You did not try.”

Carlson asked Vaughn whether he had ever thought that praying would be a federal crime with a penalty of 11 years in prison.

“I always thought praying for our nation is what we were instructed to do,” the pro-life father responded. “I thought that was what was required for freedom. And liberty is to beseech the favors of God on our land and to reach out to him. And, of course, we’re praying because our nation has allowed the sinful, atrocious action of abortion and killing unborn children. So, that’s ultimately what the Biden DOJ doesn’t like.”

Vaughn said that he believes the Biden DOJ’s intent with its “heavy-handed raid” was to “strike fear into Christians in the nation.”

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“It’s an act of war against religious people,” he said. “And so that was their intent. Fortunately, God is gracious and kind, and his grace has been poured out upon our family, in ways we never could have experienced. And my children are growing up seeing a level of persecution that strengthens them, that provides a meaning in a foundation for their faith.”

He says he sees two ways of responding to these events.

“We can be bitter and upset and angry,” Vaughn said, “or we can be gracious, and we can be forgiving to the enemies. And trusting God is a God of justice, and he will work this out. And that’s the message that I’m telling my children. And I see them growing in this and understanding this.”

Vaughn praised the Christians all over the United States who have reached out to him to let him know they were praying for him. Asked by Carlson whether high-profile Christian leaders had drawn attention to his case, he said that he had not experienced much support from Christian leaders.

“It really is a moment for the church,” Carlson reflected. “If you’re an American Christian leader and you’re standing by without saying anything as a man faces 11 years in prison for saying prayers, I think it’s time to assess yourself.”

“Yep,” Vaughn replied, “I would absolutely agree. I would call on them to actually do that … we tend to divide the spiritual and material, and we either make it all one or the other, and we don’t do a good job as the American church of understanding that it’s both.”

Vaughn’s arrest came amid the Biden DOJ’s targeting of pro-life activists with the FACE Act. The FACE Act protects not only abortion clinics, but also pregnancy resource centers and houses of worship, but the Biden DOJ has largely used it to prosecute pro-life individuals.

Since 2022, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division has charged dozens of pro-life individuals with FACE Act violations. In 2023, the DOJ charged four individuals with FACE Act violations related to attacks on pregnancy resource centers in Florida, though pro-abortion vandals have attacked at least 88 such centers and 218 churches since the May 2022 leak of the Supreme Court draft opinion indicating that Roe v. Wade would be overturned, according to CatholicVote.

In February, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, urged the DOJ to comply with Republican demands to release FACE Act data. Though he had called on the DOJ in October 2022 to disclose FACE Act prosecution data, the DOJ didn’t release that data (even though the DOJ’s Kristen Clarke told Roy that she would ensure that he received the requested data in December).

Roy, who chairs the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, warned that “DOJ’s failure to produce FACE Act prosecution data is particularly troubling in light of the apparent disparity between prosecutions targeting pro-life protesters and pro-abortion attacks on places of worship and pregnancy resource centers.”

“DOJ’s refusal to comply with this request hampers the committee’s constitutional duty to conduct oversight over the Department and the Civil Rights Division,” he said in the February letter, first obtained by The Daily Signal. “DOJ must return to its core mission of protecting all Americans, not simply those that it favors.”

“The Civil Rights Division continues to use the FACE Act to unfairly target pro-life advocates,” Roy wrote. “On January 30, 2024, six pro-life advocates were found guilty of violating the FACE Act, and they now face up to [10-1/2] years in prison, three years of supervised release, and fines of up to $260,000.”

Roy specifically mentioned pro-life activist Mark Houck, another father with a large family.

“These prosecutions come after DOJ conducted an aggressive raid on the home of pro-life advocate Mark Houck to arrest him on an overzealous FACE Act charge stemming from Mr. Houck’s earlier encounter with a belligerent abortion activist who attacked his young son,” Roy said. “A Pennsylvania jury rightly acquitted [him] in January 2023.”

Houck and his wife, Ryan-Marie Houck, previously told The Daily Signal that they were targeted by the Biden DOJ in an effort to intimidate, silence, and scare the family for their pro-life work—praying outside abortion clinics for the women headed inside to abort their unborn babies. 

In November, the Houcks sued the Biden administration for “malicious and retaliatory prosecution.”

The post Biden DOJ ‘Fears’ Those Who Pray, Sing Outside Abortion Clinics, Tucker Carlson Says appeared first on The Daily Signal.

‘America Would Be A Less Safe Place’ If China Invades Taiwan, Heritage Foundation President Says

The Daily Signal -

The U.S. “would be a less safe place” if China were to invade the self-governing democratic island of Taiwan, according to Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts.

Roberts, who led a Heritage Foundation delegation to Taiwan and Japan in February, made the remarks during a Thursday event at Heritage titled, “The American Case for Taiwan.”

Jeff Smith, director of the foundation’s Asian Studies Center, moderated the event. (The Daily Signal is the news arm of The Heritage Foundation.)

“Since returning from Taiwan, I have heard you use the word ‘indispensable’ to describe Taiwan and its centrality to U.S. security and economic interests,” Smith said. “I don’t recall you using that word prior to the trip. Something must have changed your mind.”

“Yes, the value of seeing first hand what the world would be like, what the United States would be like, if, God forbid, Taiwan were invaded,” Roberts responded.

“And again, just with my parochial hat on as an American, which, of course, is totally appropriate. People from certain countries need to place as the top priority the needs of their nation state,” Roberts said. “If Taiwan were invaded, America would be a poorer place.”

During their trip to Taiwan, Roberts and the Heritage delegation met with both the outgoing Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and the incoming Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te.

“America would be a less safe place. But also there would be a chain reaction,” Roberts continued. “During the first Cold War, we’re in the second one with China, we operated with a thesis of a domino effect, which was real. The Soviet Union initiated that.”

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has repeatedly called for the “reunification” of mainland China with the sovereign nation of Taiwan, though the island was never ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. 

“Make no mistake: the Chinese saber-rattling toward Taiwan is born out of the same saber-rattling they do to us in the United States,” Roberts added. “And if I may be really blunt, Jeff, Taiwan is indispensable if something like that scenario were to happen.”

“But it’s also indispensable if hopefully that doesn’t happen, it causes us in the United States to realize the number one enemy in the world, in the history of this great country, the United States, is the Chinese Communist Party,” Roberts said, adding:

As awful as the Soviet Union was, as awful as Nazi Germany was, as much as we dislike the United Kingdom in the 1770s and 1780s, the Chinese Communist Party is the gravest threat to this country and to free people ever in the history of this country. Taiwan helps us remember that what’s at stake if something happens to them.

Thursday’s event came just one day after the release of Michael Cunningham’s special report, also titled “The American Case for Taiwan.” Cunningham, who also spoke at the event, is a research fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center.

The report highlights how U.S. national security could be impacted should China take over Taiwan. 

Specifically, Cunningham explores how the U.S. might not be able to remain neutral in the event of a war over Taiwan, noting that tens of thousands of U.S. citizens living on the island would be directly impacted. He also discusses the U.S.’ involvement in respect to its treaty allies, the Philippines and Japan.

Cunningham’s report also addresses the potentially devastating impact a Chinese takeover of Taiwan could have on both the global and U.S. economy, and presents five recommendations for Washington with the goal of keeping Taiwan secure and free from the Chinese Communist Party’s control. 

Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email letters@DailySignal.com, and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.

The post ‘America Would Be A Less Safe Place’ If China Invades Taiwan, Heritage Foundation President Says appeared first on The Daily Signal.

‘Just as illegal as the old plan’: Biden hit with lawsuit over latest student loan debt ‘forgiveness’ program

The Blaze -



Eleven states, led by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach (R), filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the Biden administration after the White House announced last week yet another round of federal student loan debt “forgiveness,” Fox Business reported.

The lawsuit reads, “A coalition of States sues Defendant Biden, as well as co-defendants the Department of Education and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, to stop a second attempt to avoid Congress and pass an illegal student debt forgiveness. Last time Defendants tried this the Supreme Court said that this action was illegal. Nothing since then has changed.”

Since the Supreme Court’s June decision to strike down the Biden administration’s plan to enact sweeping, unilateral debt cancellations, the White House has ultimately ignored the court’s ruling and unveiled numerous smaller programs that meet the same ends. Biden’s original failed cancellation program would have eliminated $10,000 of federal student loan debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 per year and married couples earning less than $250,000 per year. If the program had been allowed to move forward, the administration would have laid approximately $430 billion of unpaid student loan debt at the feet of American taxpayers.

The Biden administration has bragged about his new plan to cancel debt for 4 million Americans totaling at least $143.6 billion.

“In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision on my Administration’s original student debt relief plan, we are continuing to pursue an alternative path to deliver student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible as quickly as possible,” Biden stated.

Last week, the White House announced that student loan borrowers working in the public service sector, including teachers, nurses, and firefighters, will see $6 billion of student loan debt canceled.

Kansas AG Kobach, along with Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah, sued Biden for rolling out the so-called debt forgiveness programs.

Kobach told Fox News Digital, “Not since the Civil War has a president told the Supreme Court, ‘Yeah you blocked me, but I’m gonna do it anyway.’”

“Biden is trying to twist federal law once again, and his new plan is just as illegal as the old plan,” he declared.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said that the state also intends to sue the administration for the debt cancellations, noting that Arkansas would join as well.

“Between our two coalitions of states, we will get this matter in front of a judge even more quickly to deliver a win for the American people. The Supreme Court sided with Missouri on this matter the first time. I look forward to bringing home yet another win for the Constitution and the rule of law,” Bailey stated.

The White House did not respond to Fox Business' request for comment.

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The “Mystery Illness” That Has Been Spreading Among Cattle In Texas, Kansas And New Mexico Has Been Identified, And It Isn’t Good News

The Economic Collapse Blog -

Officials had been greatly puzzled by a “mystery disease” that has been making dairy cattle in Texas, Kansas and New Mexico very sluggish and has been causing them to produce much less milk.  So they decided to do some testing, and we now have the results.  It turns out that the mystery illness is actually “the same strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) that’s been in the U.S. for two years”

A mystery illness that’s impacted dairy herds in the Texas Panhandle, New Mexico and Kansas now has a diagnosis: Influenza A. USDA says genetic sequencing revealed it’s the same strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) that’s been in the U.S. for two years.

APHIS says the “National Veterinary Services Laboratories” detected Influenza “A” in samples from several impacted herds in Texas, Kansas and New Mexico. The virus is carried by wild waterfowl, which experts think is how the illness is spreading.

The experts did not think that bird flu would be a threat to dairy cattle.

Unfortunately, the experts were wrong.

Scientists were able to confirm the presence of the bird flu by testing samples of milk from sick cows…

According to USDA, as of March 25, unpasteurized, clinical samples of milk from sick cattle collected from two dairy farms in Kansas and one in Texas, as well as an oropharyngeal swab from another dairy in Texas, have tested positive for the virus.

Now that bird flu has been identified as the culprit, dairy farmers are being urged to strictly implement “all standard biosecurity measures”

Officials are strongly advising dairy producers to use all standard biosecurity measures. They note it’s important for producers to clean and disinfect all livestock watering devices and isolate drinking water where it might be contaminated by waterfowl. Farmers are also being asked to notify their herd veterinarian if they suspect any cattle within their herd are displaying symptoms of this condition.

I was quite shocked to learn that this was happening right here in our own country.

The good news is that all milk from sick cows is being kept out of the food chain

“Also, routine testing and well-established protocols for U.S. dairy will continue to ensure that only safe milk enters the food supply. In keeping with the federal Grade ‘A’ Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO), milk from sick cows must be collected separately and is not allowed to enter the food supply chain. This means affected dairy cows are segregated, as is normal practice with any animal health concern, and their milk does not enter the food supply. Consumers in the United States and around the world can remain confident in the safety and quality of U.S. dairy,” the statement said.

Will we eventually get to a point where entire herds of dairy cows have to be killed in order to prevent the spread of the disease?

Let’s hope not.

Earlier this month, we learned that a goat in Minnesota has also tested positive for bird flu

A goat in Stevens County, Minnesota, has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), becoming the first U.S. detection of HPAI in a domestic ruminant. The goat contracted the virus after a poultry flock on the same premises was depopulated in February due to the virus. Following the confirmation of HPAI in the goat, the Minnesota Board of Animal Health quarantined all other species on the premises. The Board said is working with USDA to investigate the transmission of the virus in this case.

It appears to be just a matter of time before the bird flu starts becoming a significant threat to humans as well.

According to Dr. Chris Walzer, “dozens of mammalian species” have already been infected…

In January, Dr Chris Walzer, the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Executive Director of Health, in a statement, said: “It (H5N1) has infected over 150 wild and domestic avian species around the globe as well as dozens of mammalian species. The bird flu outbreak is the worst globally and also in US history, with hundreds-of-millions of birds dead since it first turned up in domestic waterfowl in China in 1996.”

We better hope that the bird flu does not mutate into a form that can spread very easily among humans.

Because according to the NIH, bird flu can have a death rate of more than 50 percent in humans…

As of November 2022, 240 cases of human avian influenza A (H5N1) virus have been confirmed from the Western Pacific Region since 2003 with a case fatality rate of 56%.

A global bird flu crisis would be far worse than anything that we have experienced during the past several years.

Just try to imagine the panic that would ensue if H5N1 were to start killing millions of people around the world.

Hopefully that will not happen any time soon.

Earlier today, I did come across an article about a 21-year-old student in Vietnam that was just killed by H5N1

A student in Vietnam has died of H5N1 bird flu, according to the country’s Department of Preventive Medicine.

The 21-year-old man developed symptoms of fever and a cough on March 11. A week later, he presented at Ninh Hoa Medical Center in Vietnam’s eastern Khanh Hoa province, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia and transferred to Khanh Hoa General Hospital.

The student tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza on March 20, and further tests conducted two days later at the Nha Trang Pasteur Institute showed the patient was infected with the H5N1 subtype.

Let us pray that this was just an isolated incident.

Meanwhile, other pestilences continue to spread all over the planet.

For example, dengue fever has become a major problem in Brazil, and now government officials in Puerto Rico have declared a dengue fever epidemic

On Monday, government leaders in Puerto Rico declared a dengue epidemic after a spike in cases of the mosquito-borne disease hit the island.

From the start of the year through March 10, there were 549 cases, including 341 hospitalizations and 29 severe cases, according to the most recent data provide by the Puerto Rico Department of Health. Cases are concentrated in cities including San Juan, Bayamon, Guaynabo and Carolina.

I have been repeatedly warning my readers that global pestilences would be one of the major themes of the next several years.

Bird flu has already killed hundreds of millions of birds, and now it is spreading in mammals.

A widespread bird flu outbreak among humans would have the potential to be absolutely catastrophic, and so we will want to watch this story very, very closely.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s extremely controversial new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written seven other books that are available on Amazon.com including “End Times”“7 Year Apocalypse”“Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”“The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse BlogEnd Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  You can connect with Michael on YouTubeFacebook and Twitter, and sharing his articles on your own social media accounts is definitely a great help.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post The “Mystery Illness” That Has Been Spreading Among Cattle In Texas, Kansas And New Mexico Has Been Identified, And It Isn’t Good News appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

Federal judge orders release of Jan. 6 defendant while condemning DOJ for 'fact-free approach'

The Blaze -



A judge has ordered that Jan. 6 defendant Kevin Seefried be released from prison pending the appeal of his conviction.

Last year, Seefried was sentenced to serve three years in federal prison for his role in Jan. 6 after being found guilty on five criminal charges, one felony and four misdemeanors.

Then, last December, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Fischer v. United States, a case concerning the proper application of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c), a felony statute that federal prosecutors are using against Jan. 6 for "obstruction of an official proceeding." If the Supreme Court rules the statute cannot be applied to Jan. 6 defendants, then Seefried and hundreds of others would have their felony convictions vacated, resulting in substantially lighter sentences.

In light of the Supreme Court agreeing to hear the case, Seefried asked a judge to release him from prison pending appeal.

On Jan. 8, U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves asked a judge not to release Seefried. Graves argued:

Seefried cannot establish by clear and convincing evidence that he does not pose a danger to the community/is not a flight risk; nor can he show that ... it is likely that the outcome in Fischer will result in a reduced sentence to a term of imprisonment less than the total of the time already served plus the expected duration of the appeal process.

But U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden strongly disagrees with the government.

"The riot on January 6th was the culmination of a unique — indeed, never-before-seen — confluence of events. The Government provides the Court no evidence suggesting that any of the events that led to that riot are reasonably likely to recur. Nor does it point to any evidence that Seefried would participate in another riot if they did," the judge wrote in his order on Tuesday.

"Instead, the Government invokes general atmospherics about a 'fiercely contested presidential election' and a 'political maelstrom.' It then leaves the Court to speculate that this 'maelstrom' will ultimately result in Seefried reoffending," he explained.

McFadden described the government's argument a "fact-free approach."

"Ultimately, none of the Government’s arguments involve any facts specific to Seefried. Instead, they are purely class-based," he condemned. "People who have already gone to prison, as a class, cannot be released. January 6th defendants, as a class, cannot be released during an election year."

"In the end, if specific facts about Seefried lead the Government to believe that he is imminently likely to engage in criminal conduct, options remain open to the Government. But without those facts, the Court cannot deprive a citizen of his liberty based on guesswork alone," McFadden explained. "Because the Government has presented no reason to believe that its previous concession about Seefried’s flight risk is no longer valid, the Court reaffirms its previous finding."

"By clear and convincing evidence, Seefried is not likely to flee the jurisdiction or pose a harm to the community during his release," McFadden declared.

McFadden ordered Seefried released from prison one year to the date of his surrender, which was May 31, 2023. That means he will be released in two months.

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Need a laugh? We got you. Introducing ‘Agua Donkeys’ – the best pool-maintenance-related comedy ever produced

The Blaze -



When wokeness entered the entertainment industry chat, it began trolling anything and everything it deemed unsuitable for the new progressive narrative — including comedy.

How long has it been since you’ve seen a genuinely good comedy film — one that had you laughing until your sides hurt?

For us at Blaze Media, it’s been too long. So, we’re doing something about it.

Last year, we brought you “Re-Opening,” a sidesplitting mockumentary about a theater company trying to reopen amid the pandemic.

And this year, we’re proud to present “Agua Donkeys,” the tale of two pool bros spending the summer chasing good vibes and the girl of their dreams — all at the expense of actually cleaning pools.

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Here’s what people are saying about “Agua Donkeys”:

Subscribe to BlazeTV+ to watch MP Cunningham and Jer Jackson as they try to get abs, get calves, and most importantly, get the untouchable Jackie to fall for one of them in the silkiest, sickest, and most buttery comedy film of the year.


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