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“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

 - Luke 2:14

Department of Education Moves to Strip ABA’s Law School Accreditation Amid DEI Criticism

The Daily Signal - Fri, 08/21/2026 - 11:15

The Department of Education has begun the process of removing the American Bar Association’s ability to accredit law schools, though the ABA Accreditation Council emphasizes the move represents only one step in the process.

“After reviewing the ABA’s accreditation standards, department staff found the accreditor out of compliance with the agency’s accreditation regulations and recognition standards,” a Department of Education spokesperson told the Daily Signal in a statement Friday, confirming The Wall Street Journal’s earlier reporting.

“We will not comment on details as the process is ongoing and involves multiple stages of review, including by an independent, bipartisan advisory committee in September,” the spokesperson added.

The Education Department recognizes outside accrediting bodies, such as the ABA, requiring schools to obtain their approval to participate in some federal student aid programs. ABA-accredited law schools provide the standard path to bar admission in most states, giving the association a powerful gatekeeping role in America’s legal infrastructure.

President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have accused the ABA of using its accrediting authority to pressure law schools to adopt diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.

When reached for comment, the ABA referred the Daily Signal to the ABA’s Accreditation Council, emphasizing that the association and the council are separate entities.

Melissa Hart, the former Colorado Supreme Court justice who chairs the ABA’s Accreditation Council, emphasized that Friday’s move represents merely the first step in a longer process and expressed confidence that the council will prevail.

“The council is confident it complies with the Higher Education Act and with the department’s requirements for accreditors,” Hart told the Daily Signal in a statement Friday. “We look forward to the opportunity to address any misconceptions and clarify the record at our upcoming hearing before the [National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity] next month.”

The Department of Education staff recommendation “represents one step in the regular recognition process that the council and other accreditors periodically complete. A hearing with NACIQI is the next step in that process, and we’re confident the council will address any concerns the department may have at that hearing.”

While the Education Department has recognized the ABA’s accrediting power since 1952, its report recommends removing it next month when its federal recognition comes up for review, due to alleged conflicts of interest. The department last approved the association’s accreditation authority in 2021.

The department published a nearly 500-page report asserting that the ABA’s accreditation wing isn’t sufficiently independent of its profession. Accreditation entities must maintain independence in order to focus on education quality. The ABA also functions as a trade association for lawyers and judges, in addition to its role as an accreditor for law schools.

“We have said many times that accreditation, in general, operates like a cartel,” David Barker, assistant secretary of education, told the Journal. “When there’s no competition, accreditors feel free to inject their own political preferences, their own ideologies into the work that they do.”

In an April 2025 executive order, the president ordered the Department of Education to investigate and hold accountable “accreditors who fail to meet the applicable recognition criteria or otherwise violate federal law, including by requiring institutions seeking accreditation to engage in unlawful discrimination in accreditation-related activity under the guise of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ initiatives.”

The ABA’s accreditation council previously required law schools to “demonstrate by concrete action a commitment to diversity and inclusion” by committing to having a student body and faculty “that is diverse with respect to gender, race, and ethnicity.” The council moved to revise the requirements this May, replacing lists of demographic categories with commitments not to discriminate.

Critics have warned that moves to pull accreditation power will politicize the accreditation process, though Trump has claimed groups such as the ABA had already done so.

Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, said the association had been “ideologically captured by radical leftists” and has “continuously pursued discriminatory DEI practices.”

Ex-University of Kentucky Cheerleader Laken Snelling Pleads Guilty to Killing Newborn Son

Breitbart - Fri, 08/21/2026 - 11:12

Former University of Kentucky cheerleader Laken Snelling pleading guilty to manslaughter charges for killing her newborn baby boy and stuffing him in a trash bag.

The post Ex-University of Kentucky Cheerleader Laken Snelling Pleads Guilty to Killing Newborn Son appeared first on Breitbart.

Chicago Threw $640M in Tax Dollars at Illegal Migrants Over Two Years

Breitbart - Fri, 08/21/2026 - 11:07

According to city records, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson threw $639.6 million in tax dollars at illegal migrants between 2022 and 2024.

The post Chicago Threw $640M in Tax Dollars at Illegal Migrants Over Two Years appeared first on Breitbart.

Judicial Watch: Federal Court Orders Justice Department to Answer Records Questions on FBI ‘Burn Bag...

Judicial Watch - Fri, 08/21/2026 - 11:04

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that a federal judge ordered the U.S. Department of Justice to provide answers about nearly 2 million pages of FBI records discovered in a “hidden room” at FBI headquarters, including whether the records have already been reviewed in response to other Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and whether the newly uncovered records had been stored in other government record systems: 

Upon consideration of the parties’ Joint Status Report and as discussed at [the August 3, 2026] status conference, it is ORDERED that the parties shall file a joint status report on or before September 4, 2026. In addition to updating the Court on the parties’ progress in narrowing the issues, the joint status report shall include the government’s responses to the following: (1) Whether the legacy and/or recent records at issue in this FOIA request have previously been considered or reviewed in response to other FOIA requests; and (2) Whether the legacy and/or recent records at issue in this FOIA request are contained in any other systems of records or indices. The government shall also determine whether it can provide additional information regarding the nature of the two investigations it represents are reflected in the legacy files.

The order comes in Judicial Watch’s November 2025 FOIA lawsuit filed after the FBI failed to respond to a June 2025 request for all records stored in the room. Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino disclosed in May 2025 that FBI officials had discovered a large volume of records in the room that had not been properly processed or digitized. The FBI subsequently told the court that the room contains 20 five-drawer filing cabinets holding an estimated 950,000 to 1.9 million pages of records (Judicial Watch v U.S. Department of Justice (No.1:25-cv-04047)).

In July 2026, the Justice Department told the court that, at a rate of 500 pages a month, processing records from the “hidden room” at FBI Headquarters would take approximately 158 years. The room — now dubbed the “burn bag room” — holds over 2 million pages of records, according to the FBI’s own filing. There is one safe, believed to contain “legacy files,” that is yet to be accessed.

Bongino said in May 2025 that some of the records were found stashed “in bags:”

There was a room [in FBI Headquarters], and we found stuff. A lot of stuff … hidden from us at least and not mentioned to us. And then found stuff in there. A lot is from the Comey era. We are working … right now to declassify. And just so you know, because I get the public—I totally understand people saying “well do it now.” The process is: not all of the information is ours to declassify. Some is other intelligence agencies’…. We literally can’t do it. Once that gets done … and you read some of the stuff we found—that, by the way, was not processed through the normal procedure, digitizing and putting in FBI records. We found it in bags, hiding under Jim Comey’s FBI. You’re going to be stunned.

 Judicial Watch previously uncovered that the room is a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) containing several safes—now identified as 20 file cabinets—holding between roughly 950,000 and 1,900,000 pages of records, split into two categories: “legacy files,” older records mostly tied to two closed historical investigations and more recent files tied to active investigations and prior Special Counsel records, reportedly including material connected to Special Counsel Jack Smith.  

More than a year after Judicial Watch submitted its FOIA request, the FBI has yet to begin processing the records sought. The parties must report to Judge Friedrich by September 4, 2026, on their progress and provide the specific information demanded by the court.

“American citizens should be outraged that the FBI has told a federal judge it could take 158 years to process the records in its secret ‘burn bag’ room,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Now the court is demanding answers about whether these records were previously searched, whether they are stored in records systems as federal law requires, and what two mysterious investigations are represented in the “legacy” files. It is urgent the American people receive all the details on how the FBI was used as a political weapon against Donald Trump and other Americans. The Justice Department and FBI should stop the stonewalling and get these records out.”

This is the latest in a series of Judicial Watch investigations targeting shady FBI weaponization and abuse of power.

In August 2025, Judicial Watch sued the Justice Department for all records regarding the FBI, under then-Director James Comey, initiating an investigation of then-2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump.

In May 2020, Judicial Watch uncovered the FBI “EC”—the electronic communication that officially launched the counterintelligence investigation, termed “Crossfire Hurricane,” of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. The document was written by former FBI official Peter Strzok and was obtained as the result of a Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuit for: “The Electronic Communication that initiated the counterintelligence investigation of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.”

In August 2019, Judicial Watch uncovered “302” report material from FBI interviews with Bruce Ohr, who was removed from his position as U.S. Associate Deputy Attorney General in December 2017.

In March 2019, Judicial Watch received heavily redacted records from the Justice Department that reveal that Ohr remained in regular contact with former British spy and Fusion GPS contractor Christopher Steele after Steele was terminated by the FBI in November 2016 for revealing to the media his position as an FBI confidential informant.

In December 2018, Judicial Watch uncovered U.S. State Department documents showing classified information was researched and disseminated to multiple U.S. Senators by the Obama administration immediately prior to Trump’s inauguration. The documents reveal that among those receiving the classified documents were Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Sen. Robert Corker (R-TN). Judicial Watch obtained the documents through a FOIA lawsuit for records of the Obama State Department’s last-minute efforts to share classified information about Russia election interference issues with Cardin.

In August 2018, Judicial Watch announced that in response to a its FOIA lawsuit, the Justice Department admitted in a court filing that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court held no hearings on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) spy warrant applications targeting Carter Page, a former Trump campaign part-time advisor who was the subject of four controversial FISA warrants.

Also in August, Judicial Watch forced the release of heavily redacted records about Christopher Steele, the former British spy, hired with Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee funds, who authored the infamous dossier targeting Trump during last year’s presidential campaign. The documents show that Steele was cut off as a “Confidential Human Source” (CHS) after he disclosed his relationship with the FBI to a third party. The documents also show at least 11 FBI payments to Steele in 2016 and document that he was admonished for unknown reasons in February 2016.

In July 2018, Judicial Watch released documents about FISA warrants targeting Carter Page, who had been a Trump campaign adviser.

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The post Judicial Watch: Federal Court Orders Justice Department to Answer Records Questions on FBI ‘Burn Bag... appeared first on Judicial Watch.

Accused Drug Trafficker Resumes Work As Sinaloa Governor Despite Being Wanted by USDOJ

Breitbart - Fri, 08/21/2026 - 11:01

An accused drug trafficker has resumed his post as governor of Sinaloa in Mexico, despite being a wanted fugitive of the U.S. Department of Justice. The move comes as tensions continue to rise between the U.S. Government and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has been actively defending the politician.

The post Accused Drug Trafficker Resumes Work As Sinaloa Governor Despite Being Wanted by USDOJ appeared first on Breitbart.

U.S. Assistant Attorney Found Dead in San Diego Federal Office: 'He Was a Beacon of Light'

Breitbart - Fri, 08/21/2026 - 10:57

Forty-eight-year-old U.S. Assistant Attorney Andrew Haden was found dead Wednesday in a federal building in San Diego, California.

The post U.S. Assistant Attorney Found Dead in San Diego Federal Office: ‘He Was a Beacon of Light’ appeared first on Breitbart.

Trump Warns Liberal Think Tank With $5 Billion Lawsuit

NewsMax - America feed - Fri, 08/21/2026 - 10:57
President Donald Trump has threatened a liberal think tank with a $5 billion defamation lawsuit over a report concluding that his National Guard deployments have had little effect on reducing violent crime.

Nolte: Nepo-Senator Lisa Murkowski’s Office Responds to James O’Keefe Journalism with Legal Threats

Breitbart - Fri, 08/21/2026 - 10:50

Useless Nepo-Senator Lisa Murkowski (RINO-AK) is threatening James O’Keefe with legal action for committing an act of journalism.

The post Nolte: Nepo-Senator Lisa Murkowski’s Office Responds to James O’Keefe Journalism with Legal Threats appeared first on Breitbart.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Calls on California AG Rob Bonta to Settle Lawsuit with Paramount

Breitbart - Fri, 08/21/2026 - 10:47

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has called upon California Attorney General Rob Bonta to "find common ground" with Paramount in the hopes of settling his lawsuit against the studio's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

The post Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Calls on California AG Rob Bonta to Settle Lawsuit with Paramount appeared first on Breitbart.

England Welcomes Meghan Markle Back With Mandatory Burqa

The Babylon Bee - Fri, 08/21/2026 - 10:46

LONDON — The Duchess of Sussex was welcomed back to England with open arms and a legally mandated burqa on Friday, according to sources.

Trump Admin Starts Breaking American Bar Association’s Left-Wing Monopoly On Law School Accreditation

The Federalist - Fri, 08/21/2026 - 10:39
Secretary Linda McMahon. - first day in the officeThe Trump administration announced Friday it is moving forward with dismantling the American Bar Association’s (ABA) stranglehold on U.S. law schools, which allowed the organization to force left-wing ideologies on legal education at the threat of revoking accreditation. Department of Education staff recommended that the ABA lose its status as the only officially recognized accreditor […]

Philanthropist Nancy Kissinger, Wife of Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Dies at 92

NewsMax - America feed - Fri, 08/21/2026 - 10:30
Philanthropist Nancy Kissinger, onetime foreign policy researcher and wife of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, has died. She was 92. She died Thursday at her home in Kent, Connecticut..

Ending the Welfare State as We Know It

The Daily Signal - Fri, 08/21/2026 - 10:30

President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, otherwise known as welfare reform, into law 30 years ago on Aug. 22, 1996. The following is an excerpt from Lee Edwards’ book “The Power of Ideas”. Edwards served as a distinguished fellow at The Heritage Foundation and died in 2024.

In the spring of 1994, President Clinton having done almost nothing to redeem his campaign pledge on welfare, Heritage senior analyst Robert Rector proposed a comprehensive reform of the federal welfare system that would end government subsidization of “self-destructive behavior” and reinforce “moral and cultural renewal.”

It was not just another paper but the culmination of years of thought and study by the veteran expert on welfare and family issues. Rector’s seminal study, running 28 pages and 10,000 words, would serve as a model for future work in the area of cultural policy studies by Patrick Fagan and other Heritage analysts.

Rector pointed out that more than 10,000 days—dating back to the mid-1960s—had passed since President Lyndon B. Johnson told the nation that “the days of the dole are numbered.” Now, nearly 30 years later, the War on Poverty had cost American taxpayers more than $4.9 trillion (repeat, trillion) on antipoverty programs, about $305 billion in the last year alone.

But instead of eliminating poverty, the Heritage analyst reported, the welfare system had actually “bribe[d] individuals into behavior-such as not marrying and having children out of wed-lock— which is self-defeating to the individual, a tragic handicap for children, and … increasingly a threat to society.”

What was needed, Rector insisted, was “a complete reversal of existing policies.”

A true welfare reform strategy would be based on three principles: promoting individual responsibility by requiring welfare recipients to give something in return for benefits; controlling welfare costs; and dramatically reducing the illegitimate birth rate by increasing the marriage rate. These principles were embodied in pledge number three of the 1994 Contract with America—the Personal Responsibility Act.”

Specific reforms proposed by Rector included establishing “serious workfare,” denying additional payments to mothers who had more children while on welfare, and putting a 3.5% cap on welfare spending growth.

All these ideas were included in the welfare reform legislation of 1996, which won Rector’s praise as “historic … the largest change in welfare since the early days of the War on Poverty.”

The Heritage analyst, frequently consulted by members of Congress as they wrote the bill, pointed out that the growth of welfare spending would be slowed, albeit by a 4.5% growth limit rather than the 3.5% recommended by Heritage. Illegitimacy would be reduced by three provisions, including extra funding to states that lowered the number of illegimate births without increasing abortions. And a specified percentage of AFDC recipients would be required to take private-sector jobs or to perform “community service work in exchange for benefits.

DOJ Charges ‘Foundation’ Members in $12M Medicaid Fraud Scheme Tied to Drugs, Violence

The Daily Signal - Fri, 08/21/2026 - 10:28

The Justice Department announced a nine-count indictment against four New York men for an alleged $12 million Medicaid fraud conspiracy that includes racketeering charges.

The alleged scheme includes charges of violence in aid of racketeering, firearms, fraud, narcotics, and money laundering offenses, the Justice Department said Thursday. The arrests come as the Trump administration ramps up anti-fraud investigations.

“Today’s allegations underscore the troubling connection between benefits fraud and violent criminal networks,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division in a public statement.

“As charged, the defendants are accused of targeting vulnerable patients, defrauding a critical healthcare program, and turning to violence to protect their fraudulent scheme,” McDonald continued.

Three of the suspects—Louis Trejo, Kenneth Garner, and Erihk Belis—were arrested and arraigned Thursday in the Southern District of New York. The fourth, Harold Stevenson, remains at large.

The defendants were members of the “War Room,” a Bronx-based racketeering organization that operated under the guise of a charity called the Forward Foundation, according to the Justice Department.

They allegedly logged fake rides for Medicaid patients to and from methadone clinics; paid recurring kickbacks to Medicaid patients in cash and drugs; and laundered millions of dollars in fraud proceeds.

The indictment says that from 2023 through 2025, the defendants operated the War Room as a criminal enterprise that recruited Medicaid-eligible patients to sign up for reimbursable medical transportation rides.

They entered the patients’ names and information into cellphones equipped with a ride-tracking application, logging rides for the patients without providing any actual transportation. They then used a GPS-spoofing application to falsify the GPS coordinates associated with the pickup and drop-off locations, generating data for hundreds of fake rides in New York.

The DOJ says other fraud rings competed for the same patients at the same methadone clinics. The War Room members allegedly committed a home invasion robbery against the leader of a rival Medicaid fraud ring on Jan. 12, 2024 in Teaneck, New Jersey. War Room members entered his home in the belief that he kept millions of dollars in fraud proceeds and drugs inside the residence, but they fled with only about $25,000 in cash and other assorted items.

President Donald Trump appointed Vice President JD Vance to lead the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud. This was prompted by the Feeding Our Future scam out of Minnesota.

In June, the Justice Department charged 460 people in a national health care fraud investigation worth $6.5 billion in alleged fraud.

This One Insane Graph Explains The Lindsay Clancy Defender Dynamic

The Federalist - Fri, 08/21/2026 - 10:24
rally in support of Lindsay ClancyMore than half of all leftist white women younger than 30 have been told by a medical provider that they have a mental health issue.

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