Tag Archive for: Texas

Elon Musk’s X Sues Media Matters

X, formerly known as Twitter, sued Media Matters for America in federal court for defamation Monday.

The social media site accuses the left-wing media watchdog of manufacturing images showing advertisements from major corporations alongside posts made by white supremacists and neo-Nazis in the 15-page complaint filed in the United States District court for the Northern District of Texas. Musk threatened to sue Media Matters in a Saturday post on X, following the group’s Thursday release of a report that prompted an exodus of advertisers, including Disney, Apple, Paramount and IBM.

“Looking to portray X’s social networking platform as being dominated by ‘white nationalist and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories,’ Media Matters knowingly and maliciously manufactured side-by-side images depicting advertisers’ posts on X Corp.’s social media platform beside Neo-Nazi and white-nationalist fringe content and then portrayed these manufactured images as if they were what typical X users experience on the platform,” the lawsuit says.

X detailed how it believed the left-wing non-profit got the screenshots used in the report in the lawsuit.

“Media Matters accessed accounts that had been active for at least 30 days, bypassing X’s ad filter for new users,” the lawsuit says. “Media Matters then exclusively followed a small subset of users consisting entirely of accounts in one of two categories: those known to produce extreme, fringe content, and accounts owned by X’s big-name advertisers. The end result was a feed precision-designed by Media Matters for a single purpose: to produce side-by-side ad/content placements that it could screenshot in an effort to alienate advertisers. But this activity still was not enough to create the pairings of advertisements and content that Media Matters aimed to produce.”

“Media Matters therefore resorted to endlessly scrolling and refreshing its unrepresentative, hand-selected feed, generating between 13 and 15 times more advertisements per hour than viewed by the average X user repeating this inauthentic activity until it finally received pages containing the result it wanted: controversial content next to X’s largest advertisers’ paid posts,” the lawsuit continued.

Journalist Michael Shellenberger, who previously reported on the Twitter files, said in a Monday afternoon post that he was unable to replicate what Media Matters claimed it observed on Twitter.

“Public attempted to reproduce Media Matters’ methods to see if we found ads next to the content in question. We created an account and followed eleven of the neo-Nazi accounts in Media Matters’ report starting yesterday, November 19,” Shellenberger posted. “After refreshing both X’s “For You” page and “Following” page more than ten times and scrolling through the timeline each time, we did not observe ads next to white nationalist or pro-Nazi content.”

“We followed more extremist accounts and repeated this process after following thirty accounts. Still, we did not find ads on the timeline,” Shellenberger continued. “We also opened each account’s page and did not observe ads there. Nor did we find ads under the replies to their posts.”

Chris Pavlovski, CEO of Rumble, a free-speech competitor to YouTube, spoke out Monday.

“X is not alone,” Pavlovski posted on X. “I can also confirm that Media Matters has purposely misrepresented Rumble. Their dishonesty warrants an immediate investigation at the highest levels (hint, @SpeakerJohnson
& @Jim_Jordan), and I’ll bring the receipts.”

Pavlovski attached an image with a lengthier statement to the post on X.

Media Matters did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

AUTHOR

HAROLD HUTCHISON

Reporter.

RELATED VIDEO: TAKE A STAND!

POST ON X:

RELATED ARTICLE: ‘Did You Approve Hidden State Censorship?’: Musk Calls Out Schiff Over Twitter Files Revelations

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.


All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Texas AG Ken Paxton Acquitted In Impeachment Trial

The impeachment trial of Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton came to an end Saturday, with the eligible state senators voting not to remove him from office.

The GOP-held state House voted to impeach the attorney general in late May over alleged corruption, bribery, obstruction and other charges related to the FBI’s investigation into real estate developer and Paxton donor, Nate Paul. The senators acting as the jury did not sustain the 16 articles of impeachment, and voted to acquit Paxton, according to the trial livestream.

The senators voted to acquit Paxton on the first ten articles of impeachment, as well as articles 15 – 20, according to the trial livestream. Two-thirds of the 30 eligible senators had to have voted to sustain at least one of the 16 articles in order for Paxton to have been convicted and removed from office.

The four articles that the Senate previously voted to be deliberated on at a later date, articles 11 – 14, were dismissed via a motion following Paxton’s acquittal, according to the trial livestream. Paxton’s wife, Angela, a Republican state senator, was not permitted to take part in the vote, but was still required to attend the proceedings.

Paxton pleaded not guilty to the 16 articles on the first day of the trial, and his defense attempted to discredit the prosecution’s arguments through evidence. The impeachment trial centered around testimony from former Paxton staffers, whistleblowers, current employees and other key witnesses.

Former President Donald Trump rushed to Paxton’s defense ahead of the verdict on Thursday, which the attorney general touted on social media.

“Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was easily re-elected last November, but now establishment RINOS are trying to undo that Election with a shameful impeachment of him,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Who would replace Paxton, one of the TOUGHEST & BEST Attorney Generals in the Country? Could it be a Democrat, or even worse, a RINO? The voters have decided who they want! Democrats are feeling very good right now as they watch, as usual, the Republicans fight & eat away at each other. It’s a SAD day in the Great State of Texas!”

Paxton served in both chambers of the state legislature before being elected as attorney general in 2014, according to Ballotpedia. The attorney general was reelected in 2018 by 3.6 points and in 2022 by nearly 10 points.

The attorney general announced Wednesday that he will sit down with Daily Caller News Foundation co-founder Tucker Carlson next week for an interview about the impeachment trial.

AUTHOR

MARY LOU MASTERS

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.


All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Stop the Silence

We need to start by taking a truthful accounting of how power has slipped out of the people’s hands and think more genuinely about how we can—and cannot—put the people back in control.

The Preamble of the U.S. Constitution has given us all we need to have:

“We, the people of the United States, to form a perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.”

It is no secret. Time after time, in every election, many politicians promise everything and deliver very little or nothing once elected. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been a welcome exception.

Texas Attorney General Paxton has been doing everything possible to protect Texas since he became the Texas Attorney General in January 2015. General Paxton, like President Trump, is a fighter:

“We stand on the side of right, and we will never stop fighting to protect this state and the people who proudly call it home,” said Paxton.

You, the Texas voters, must step up to the plate and say no to the Uniparty and the sham impeachment. You elected him, and you need to protect him.

I believe Paxton should receive the Medal of Honor for public service, the nation’s highest award for bravery, when he singlehandedly filed a lawsuit against Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin in the United States Supreme Court for ignoring federal and state election laws and unlawfully enacting last-minute changes, thus skewing the results of the 2020 General Election.

“Trust in the integrity of our election processes is sacrosanct and binds our citizenry and the States in this Union together. Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin destroyed that trust and compromised the security and integrity of the 2020 election. The states violated statutes enacted by their duly elected legislatures, violating the Constitution. By ignoring state and federal law, these states have tainted the integrity of their citizens’ vote, but of Texas and every other state that held lawful elections,” said Attorney General Paxton.

“Their failure to abide by the rule of law casts a dark shadow of doubt over the outcome of the entire election. We now ask that the Supreme Court correct this egregious error.”

This effort by General Paxton will seal his name forever in history books. At the same time, those elected officials who betrayed our trust and were certified an imposter will go to the history books as traitors.

This nation of all nations, America, is bleeding under the dark cloak of oppressive leftism and now UniParty. Texans cannot afford to relinquish the office of the Texas Attorney General to the Socialist-Fascist Party responsible for America’s decline.

Most of us know that the Bush family has left an indelible mark on American politics, stretching back four generations. Enough!

The House UniParty rush to impeach Attorney General Paxton, with 20 articles adopted within a mere two days, raises concerns about the integrity and fairness of the process. Such haste, combined with the lack of compelling evidence, undermines the credibility of the impeachment effort and threatens the foundations of our democratic institutions.

The impeachment against General Paxton is nothing short of a political witch hunt driven by partisan motives rather than genuine concerns of wrongdoing. The burden of proof for impeachment lies with those making the allegations, and we must adhere to this fundamental principle of justice to protect the integrity of our democratic processes.

It is the duty of every Texan who elected General Paxton to stand up and support him. If you remain silent, you will be next.

©2023. Amil Imani. All rights reserved.

Drone Video of Illegal Aliens on Rio Grande Setting up Camps Before Biden Ended Title 42

I wish to thank the Texas Department of Public Safety for the drone footage contained in the below article. May I further thank each and every law enforcement officer, National Guardsman and fireman/medic standing post along what use to be America’s southern Border. The southern Border of the United States which helps define the national sovereignty of this exceptional nation, has, by all accounts, collapsed. This has been the plan, written and spoken about by Obama when he declared that he would “forever change America.” The well-stated and written plan is to collapse the United States into the New-World Order, a global community where nations no longer have sovereign status but are part and parcel of the global community which is divided into ten regions world wide.

Not only are approximately 1 million illegals from 160 countries coming into America commencing with the abolishment of Title 42, but you need to add the approximate 6 million illegals already here. These numbers are law enforcement and threat assessment close working estimates, minus the “get aways” who could not be interdicted, recorded, checked or even detained. It is well known that hardened criminals and gang members along with military age Chinese males have made their way across the border already, NOT counting what is now crossing. The danger being allowed into America is beyond comprehension. May 6th at the Douglas, Arizona border crossing, US Customs discovered and IED (explosive device) being smuggled into our country. Cartels and Chinese military have been sending weapons and munitions for many months securing them in storage lockers at various locations across America.

Another dimension not even discussed is the medical crisis looming. My national show ARIZONA TODAY will have a presentation on this sobering and alarming dimension shortly. I already did two shows on this subject, but as I write this report one of my nationally recognized medical specialists contacted me with updated medical concerns of a serious nature now landing on our lands.

Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and each elected office holder who has not vigorously fought to protect and defend the sovereignty of the United States should be impeached or arrested for treason. Deliberately, publicly and consistently pushing to weaken our national sovereignty is a High Crime and Misdemeanor – Treason as outlined in our Constitution. Such acts are far and above political rhetoric or grandstanding. Very shortly, within days even, Americans will witness, firsthand, the effects of said treason as 1 million pour into America. Do your very best to get ready…an ugly human tidal wave is about to become reality, and quite possibly in your city or community as they are deliberately transported across America, especially into historically conservative communities and regions. That is the well thought out plan to bring disruption and even chaos to America.

Drone footage shows makeshift camps built along Rio Grande by migrants waiting for Title 42 to end

Drone footage taken along Rio Grande, the river that serves as the natural border between most of Mexico and the United States, shows sprawling tent encampments stretching out all over the border.

Hundreds of people reside in a massive camp made of tents and other dwellings with thin blue plastic sheets acting as roofs right outside of Brownsville, near the southern tip of Texas. (Related: Thousands of migrants set to flood the US once Title 42 expires this week.)

The drone footage also shows an “enormous line” of illegal immigrants who recently crossed into Brownsville. Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin, who shared the footage, noted that a large majority of the illegals are single adults.

Nonstop flow of illegal crossings here in Brownsville. Working on scripts in my car and look at the window and see another large group gathering for processing after crossing over,” wrote Melugin on his Twitter account. “Border Patrol buses have been coming and going constantly. It’s going to be a very busy week.”

Brownsville is one of the key spots along the border where officials have noted that the illegal immigrants are congregating in the thousands in order to cross, with the other notable crossing points being El Paso, Texas and Yuma, Arizona. But similar situations are developing and getting worse all along the nearly 2,000 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.

[ … ]

Watch this clip of Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Lt. Chris Olivarez talking about the illegal crossings along the Rio Grande.

Read more.

©2023 Lyle J. Rapacki, Ph.D. All rights reserved.

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Mass Fentanyl Poisoning In One State Leaves Three Children Dead

Children have been poisoned by fentanyl for weeks, resulting in three deaths and even more hospitalizations in one area of Texas, according to The Dallas Morning News.

Three young students attending Carrollton-Farmers Branch schools near Dallas are dead and six others have been hospitalized as a result of fentanyl exposure linked to one home in the area, where minors picked up drugs to later sell to their peers at school, according to The Dallas Morning News, which obtained a criminal complaint. Fentanyl, which is made mainly by the Mexican drug cartels using chemicals from China, is largely responsible for the more than 100,000 overdose deaths that happened in 2021, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data.

“To deal fentanyl is to knowingly imperil lives. To deal fentanyl to minors — naïve middle and high school students — is to shatter futures,” U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton told The Dallas Morning News.

One of the victims was a 14-year-old girl, who overdosed and almost died twice on an “M30” tablet, which can mimic oxycodone, hydrocodone, alprazolam (Xanax) and Adderall, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. A 13-year-old is also one of the nine victims.

The young girl overdosed first on Christmas Eve, when she was taken to the hospital, and later on Jan. 16 when she was temporarily paralyzed from the incident, according to The Dallas Morning News.

Law enforcement pursued the case with surveillance at the supplier’s home, where a student was dealt drugs, according to The Dallas Morning News. A school resource officer later detained a student after hearing them “making a ‘snorting sound’” in the bathroom.

Fentanyl continues to threaten young Americans, including babies who are sometimes exposed in utero and in their early years, experts recently told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“The country has never experienced anything like this and we need a greater sense of urgency to cut off the supply from the Mexican Cartels,” former head of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Special Operations Division Derek Maltz told the DCNF.

AUTHOR

JENNIE TAER

Investigative reporter.

RELATED ARTICLE: ‘Devastating’: How The Drug Crisis Is Hurting America’s Youngest People

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Texas Republicans Ask All School Districts To Immediately Leave Texas Association Of School Boards

Several members of the Texas legislature sent a letter to every school district in the state asking them to immediately leave the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB).

Texas state Representatives, led by GOP Rep. Brian Harrison, are asking school districts to leave the TASB, claiming recent decisions the association made regarding school board protests and transgender students prove to Texas parents that the TASB “work[s] against their values and potentially place[s] their children in harm’s way,” according to the letter shared exclusively with the Daily Caller.

The nine signatories — GOP Reps. Brian Harrison, Briscoe Cain, Richard Hayes, Terri Leo-Wilson, Matt Schaefer, Nate Schatzline, Bryan Slaton, Mark Dorazio and Tony Tinderholt — said that although they “appreciate” that TASB left the National School Boards Association in May 2022, the amount of time the decision took to make was troubling.

January Letter to School Board Presidents Re TASB Vf-2 by Mary Rooke on Scribd

“We were shocked last year that it took the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) almost an entire year to leave the National School Boards Association (NSBA) after it sent an indefensible letter equating parental involvement at school board meetings to ‘heinous actions’ which ‘could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism’ and called on federal law enforcement to potentially target parents,” the letter stated.

The Texas lawmakers also took issue with TASB’s “radically pro-transgender” guidance released in January, which they claim undermines parental rights and violates Texas law.

“This dangerous legal advisory appears to encourage school districts to refrain from reporting child abuse and to obscure information regarding children exhibiting gender dysphoria from their parents,” the letter stated. “In the guidance, TASB also may be encouraging schools to violate Texas’s recent law, the ‘Save Girls’ Sports Act,’ and allow biological males to participate in girls’ sports. We feel duty bound to make sure all elected officials charged with overseeing the education of Texas student[s] are aware of this.”

Harrison told the Daily Caller that Texas parents shouldn’t be responsible for funding “woke ideology” with their tax dollars.

“It’s bad enough that harmful woke ideology is being pushed on Texas students over the objection of their parents, but worse that local elected officials are forcing those same parents to fund it with their tax dollars,” Harrison told the Caller. “That must end. I appreciate my colleagues joining me in fighting to stop the continued weaponization of our constituents’ tax dollars against them.”

Texas school districts are not required to be part of TASB or any school board organization. The representatives have directed their offices to help provide school districts with alternatives for the services TASB currently handles.

AUTHOR

MARY ROOKE

Commentary and analysis reporter.

RELATED ARTICLE: Texas Representatives Demand Review Of ‘Radically Pro-Transgender’ State School Board Guidance

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Migrant Encounters At The Southern Border Hit New All-Time Record

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) migrant encounters at the southern border surpassed 250,000 for the month of December, the highest ever recorded, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) source, who requested anonymity as they weren’t authorized to speak publicly, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The new total surpasses May 2022’s more than 241,000 migrant encounters, which was the highest DHS ever recorded before December 2022. The total encounters include Border Patrol and Office of Field Operations encounters of migrants both at and between U.S. ports of entry.

Fox News first reported the new record.

In December, Republican states and the Biden administration fought over whether or not to scrap Title 42, the Trump-era public health order used to quickly expel illegal migrants to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Illegal immigration surged during that time period in places like El Paso, Texas, where hundreds of migrants crossed into the area in a matter of days in anticipation of Title 42 expiring on Dec. 21 due to a previous court ruling that the Supreme Court quickly paused.

The influx in El Paso drew the attention of President Joe Biden, who visited the area Jan. 8 in his first border visit.

Biden’s tenure in office has been marked by years of record migrant encounters. In fiscal year 2022, CBP encountered another record of more than 2.3 million at the southern border.

Biden announced Jan. 5 new efforts to expel illegal migrants from Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua to Mexico. The plan also means that migrants from those countries who don’t cross illegally will have the opportunity to apply for asylum at U.S. ports of entry if they have a U.S. sponsor.

CBP didn’t respond to a request for comment.

AUTHOR

JENNIE TAER

Investigative reporter.

RELATED VIDEO: CA Rep: Legal Immigrants Are FURIOUS With Illegal Migrants Cutting The Line

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

EXCLUSIVE TEXAS VIDEO: 600 illegal migrants cross the border into the U.S. in three hours

Biden actually told voters during the  2020 presidential campaign “that the choice between him and Donald Trump was between the lawful and the lawless.” So here’s what’s happening now on the Southern border, where illegal, unvetted migrants are invading.

The Commander-in-Chief of the American Army and Navy and the leader of the free world (once upon a time) has abandoned all concern for national security and the American economy. And everyone knows what he did to Americans in Afghanistan.

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: 600 Migrants Cross Border in 3 Hours into Texas Border Town

by Bob Price and Randy Clark, Breitbart, December 28, 2022:

EAGLE PASS, Texas — Breitbart Texas posted along the Rio Grande south of town and observed a single group of nearly 300 migrants emerge from the riverbank and surrender to Texas National Guardsmen and Border Patrol agents Wednesday. Two large groups of nearly 600 crossed the Rio Grande in the early morning.

The first group of migrants consisted mainly of single adult male and female migrants from Colombia, Cuba, and Nicaragua. Scattered within the group were a few family units with small children and several elderly migrants. This was the first of two large migrant groups that would cross within three hours.

The large migrant groups have shifted their crossing points near Eagle Pass from just outside the north side of the city to a more remote crossing far south of the heart of the city.

The video shows the migrants emerging from the riverbank and being guided to a gap in a ranch fence on the edge of a nearby roadway. Once guided around the ranch fence, the migrants are interviewed by awaiting Border Patrol agents. The migrants are then sorted by nationality and gender and prioritized for transportation to a nearby processing center.

The group crossed shortly after 2:00 am as Breitbart Texas posted at several busy migrant crossing points. The large migrant group would not be the last for a weary shift of Border Patrol agents and Texas National Guard soldiers stationed in the area.

Another large group of 278 migrants crossed the Rio Grande at about 4:30 a.m. just north of the first group, according to a source operating under the umbrella of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The group crossed onto private property located about two miles from the Camino Real Port of Entry in Eagle Pass. The crossing point is near the south edge of a border wall built under orders of Governor Greg Abbott.

Within three hours, more than 600 migrants had crossed the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass.

Agents scrambled to that area about two miles away and repeated the process. The migrants crossing into the area are from countries not amenable to a speedy return to their home country under the CDC Title 42 emergency COVID-19 authority. According to a source within CBP, not authorized to speak to the media, the migrants crossing in Wednesday’s groups will be released into the United States to pursue asylum claims. The Supreme Court voted on Tuesday to leave Title 42 in place until it rules on the lawsuit filed by 19 states, Breitbart reported.

Once processed, the migrants will be taken to a charity shelter in the Eagle Pass and later transferred to a larger charity shelter in San Antonio, Texas. Many will depart San Antonio for other parts of the United States.

On Tuesday, nearly 1,100 migrants crossed the Rio Grande in just five hours in the same area south of the city…..

AUTHOR

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

59 Years Ago Today, This Young Couple Was Waiting to See the President

Going through a box of memorabilia from family and friends recently, I found two letters. (The story you’re about to read is true; the names have been changed to protect the innocent.) On the morning of Nov. 22, 1963, a young married professional in Dallas wrote to his parents. After discussing some recently purchased furniture, he added off-handedly:

In about three hours from now the President and his party will pass in front of our office. It is raining and the city is out with street washers washing it off and people out in the rain picking up paper. It is really comical. Laura has a Doctor’s appointment this morning and then she is coming by here and we are going to lunch. Aaron is going to meet us for lunch. Laura wants to go over to the Trade Mart for lunch so that she can see Jackie. I don’t know how much we will be able to see but I guess we will go over.

If it had kept raining, the 35th president of the United States would not have been riding in an open car. But the skies cleared up, and the program went on as planned.

This young man followed up with another letter on Nov. 23, 1963:

Dear Mother and Dad:

I am sure that you as well as we and the rest of the country find it hard to believe what happened yesterday.

Laura and I had gone to the Marriott Motel across from the Trade Mart to have a sandwich before going over to the Trade Mart to hear Kennedy. We had just paid the check and were walking out when we saw the two Presidential limousines pass the front of the Trade Mart. This was the route that they were to take and he was to enter the side door of the Trade Mart. I told Laura that they certainly were going pretty fast. We actually could not tell what had happened or if anything was wrong.

We went into the Trade Mart and most of the people were seated for the banquet. A friend of mine came up to me and told me the President had been shot. As most people would have thought we took it as a joke. We began to tell that he was serious and then someone came up with a radio. The people in the banquet area still had not heard the news and they were still playing music. We had been informed by a policeman that we would not be able to leave until the President left. I told Laura at the time that this was the time to get out before they announced it to the crowd. We got out and headed for the car.

There is more. Read the rest here.

AUTHOR

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

U.S. State GDPs Compared to Entire Countries

It’s pretty difficult to even comprehend how ridiculously large the US economy is.


Click here to view the U.S. State GDPs Compared to Entire Countries map.

The map above (click to view and enlarge) matches the economic output (Gross Domestic Product) for each US state (and the District of Columbia) in 2018 to a foreign country with a comparable nominal GDP last year, using data from the BEA for GDP by US state (average of Q2 and Q3 state GDP, since Q4 data aren’t yet available) and data for GDP by country from the International Monetary Fund. Like in past years, for each US state (and the District of Columbia), I’ve identified the country closest in economic size in 2018 (measured by nominal GDP) and those matching countries are displayed in the map above and in the table below. Obviously, in some cases, the closest match was a country that produced slightly more, or slightly less, economic output in 2018 than a given US state.

It’s pretty difficult to even comprehend how ridiculously large the US economy is, and the map above helps put America’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $20.5 trillion ($20,500,000,000,000) in 2018 into perspective by comparing the economic size (GDP) of individual US states to other country’s entire national output. For example:

  1. America’s largest state economy is California, which produced nearly $3 trillion of economic output in 2018, more than the United Kingdom’s GDP last year of $2.8 trillion. Consider this: California has a labor force of 19.6 million compared to the labor force in the UK of 34 million (World Bank data here). Amazingly, it required a labor force 75% larger (and 14.5 million more people) in the UK to produce the same economic output last year as California! That’s a testament to the superior, world-class productivity of the American worker. Further, California as a separate country would have been the 5th largest economy in the world last year, ahead of the UK ($2.81 trillion), France ($2.79 trillion) and India ($2.61 trillion).
  2. America’s second largest state economy—Texas—produced nearly $1.8 trillion of economic output in 2018, which would have ranked the Lone Star State as the world’s 10th largest economy last year. GDP in Texas was slightly higher than Canada’s GDP last year of $1.73 trillion. However, to produce about the same amount of economic output as Texas required a labor force in Canada (20.1 million) that was nearly 50% larger than the labor force in the state of Texas (13.9 million). That is, it required a labor force of 6.2 million more workers in Canada to produce roughly the same output as Texas last year. Another example of the world-class productivity of the American workforce.
  3. America’s third largest state economy—New York with a GDP in 2018 of $1.68 trillion—produced slightly more economic output last year than South Korea ($1.65 trillion). As a separate country, New York would have ranked as the world’s 11th largest economy last year, ahead of No. 12 South Korea, No. 13 Russia ($1.57 trillion) and No. 14 Spain ($1.43 trillion). Amazingly, it required a labor force in South Korea of 28 million that was nearly three times larger than New York’s (9.7 million) to produce roughly the same amount of economic output last year! More evidence of the world-class productivity of American workers.
  4. Other comparisons: Florida (about $1 trillion) produced almost the same amount of GDP in 2018 as Mexico ($1.19  trillion), even though Florida’s labor force of 10.2 million less than 20% of the size of Mexico’s workforce of 59 million.
  5. Even with all of its oil wealth, Saudi Arabia’s GDP in 2018 at $683 billion was below the GDP of US states like Pennsylvania ($793 billion) and Illinois ($863 billion).

Overall, the US produced 24.3% of world GDP in 2017, with only about 4.3% of the world’s population. Four of America’s states (California, Texas, New York and Florida) produced more than $1 trillion in output and as separate countries would have ranked in the world’s top 16 largest economies last year. Together, those four US states produced nearly $7.5 trillion in economic output last year, and as a separate country would have ranked as the world’s third-largest economy.

Adjusted for the size of the workforce, there might not be any country in the world that produces as much output per worker as the US, thanks to the world-class productivity of the American workforce. The map above and the statistics summarized here help remind us of the enormity of the economic powerhouse we live and work in.

So let’s not lose sight of how ridiculously large and powerful the US economy is, and how much wealth, output, and prosperity is being created every day in the largest economic engine there has ever been in human history. This comparison is also a reminder that it was largely free markets, free trade, and capitalism that propelled the US from a minor British colony in the 1700s into a global economic superpower and the world’s largest economy, with individual US states producing the equivalent economic output of entire countries.

This article is reprinted with permission from The American Enterprise Institute.

AUTHOR

Mark J. Perry

Mark J. Perry is a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a professor of economics and finance at the University of Michigan’s Flint campus.

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Federal Court Upholds Texas Social Media Bill, Rules Corporations Do Not Have ‘Right’ To Censor

The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals preserved Texas state law Friday that would stop large social media platforms from restricting particular opinions.

Texas’ HB 20 was signed last year and generally prohibits platforms with over 50 million monthly U.S. users from censoring them based on their viewpoints. The Computer Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and the NetChoice organization, representing social media companies, argued that aspects of the law were unconstitutional but failed to convince the court.

“In urging such sweeping relief, the platforms offer a rather odd inversion of the First Amendment,” the court’s majority decision said. “That Amendment, of course, protects every person’s right to ‘the freedom of speech.’ But the platforms argue that buried somewhere in the person’s enumerated right to free speech lies a corporation’s unenumerated right to muzzle speech.”

The appeals court must give the district court that previously decided the case written instructions for the law to become effective, according to Politico. A 5-4 May U.S. Supreme Court ruling had halted the law from going into force after an emergency request by the CCIA and NetChoice.

Appealing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton celebrated the circuit court’s decision Friday, tweeting, “#BigTech CANNOT censor the political voices of ANY Texan! The 5th Circuit ‘reject[s] the idea that corporations have a freewheeling First Amendment right to censor what people say.”

CCIA President Matt Schruers decried the ruling, stating, “Forcing private companies to give equal treatment to all viewpoints on their platforms places foreign propaganda and extremism on equal footing with decent Internet users, and places Americans at risk,” according to The Hill.

The Supreme Court could still be asked to directly consider the law’s validity, the outlet reported.

In May, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a block on enforcing parts of Florida Senate Bill 7072, which would require social media platforms to explain the reasons for individual acts of supposed censorship, deplatforming and shadow banning and stop them from censoring a “journalistic enterprise based on the content of its publication or broadcast,” according to The National Law Review.

“We are disappointed that the Fifth Circuit’s split decision undermines First Amendment protections and creates a circuit split with the unanimous decision of the Eleventh Circuit,” NetChoice Vice President and General Counsel Carl Szabo said in a Friday press release. “We remain convinced that when the U.S. Supreme Court hears one of our cases, it will uphold the First Amendment rights of websites, platforms, and apps.”

NetChoice declined the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment. The CCIA did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

AUTHOR

TREVOR SCHAKOHL

Legal reporter. 

RELATED ARTICLE: Facebook Spied On Conservative Users’ Private Messages, Fed ‘Leads’ To The FBI: REPORT

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$2.1 Million Worth Of Meth Seized At Texas Border Crossing

Texas border patrol agents seized $2.1 million worth of liquid methamphetamine from a vehicle attempting to enter the U.S. from Mexico, according to authorities.

The seizure took place at the Rio Grande City Port of Entry, and the total weight of the liquid drug amounted to 110 pounds, CNN reported.

The bust allegedly occurred last Sunday after a 2012 Dodge was stopped by federal officials for further inspection while attempting to cross the border.

Federal agents at the entrance point unveiled the hidden stash via “non-intrusive inspection system” technology and brought in K-9 units as well, according to New York Daily News.

The alleged driver of the vehicle was an unidentified 41-year-old American citizen, the outlet added.

Both the drugs and the driver were handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for additional investigation.

Earlier this month, San Diego County, California, experienced one of the biggest drug busts in U.S. history.

Officials followed a suspicious commercial-sized truck that crossed the border from Mexico, seized five thousand pounds of meth and arrested four men that hailed from Tijuana, Mexico.

AUTHOR

ALEXANDER PEASE

Contributor.

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The Next Generation of Jihad Suicide Bombers is Being Trained at an Islamic School in Houston, Texas

Americans have gotten very comfortable thinking that 9/11 is in the rearview mirror and that after Afghanistan and Iraq, we’ve done enough and we don’t have to think about it anymore. Islamic terrorist plots keep happening and migration is changing the country’s demographics. Mehmet Oz’s GOP/MAGA Senate nomination in PA has been a political game changer that has mostly flown under the radar. Gitmo is being emptied. We think we’ve won when actually we’re losing. Badly.

Here’s a little preview of what’s coming.

The lines include, “I make an oath…one day when you need me, I will be your martyr.”

Here’s a little background.

The Islamic Education Center of Houston, Texas, is organizing a “group recitation” — sung by children as young as four — of a new Iranian anthem saluting Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.

“The song Salam Farmande is an expression of one’s love for the Imam of our age,” says the center.

And a little more.

Iran has marked the 33rd anniversary of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s death with a new revolutionary anthem sung by boys and girls segregated in town squares, mosques and stadiums across the country.

In order to convey to the young generations the zeal of the 1979 revolutionary days, the regime has resorted to making multiple music videos of children born in the last decade, singing the anthem, “Salute Commander.” They give a military salute, pledging their unswerving loyalty to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The original Persian lyrics of the anthem are heavily ideological: “In spite of my small size, when the time comes I will rise up for you … I am a child but the life of my family and I belong to you.”

The children also raise their right arm and sing: “I make an oath to become your Qassem Soleimani when you need me,” and pledge to become Khamenei’s “nameless soldiers,” a reference to Iran’s intelligence operatives.

When the children in the UK sing “We wait under the flag of our leaders,” there should be no doubt that they refer not to the Queen, but to the Supreme Leader of Iran.

MEMRI had documented a previous effort by the Islamic Education Center of Houston.

On February 20, 2019, the Islamic Education Center of Houston, Texas uploaded to its YouTube channel a video of a February 17 ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of Iran’s Islamic Revolution. Morteza Kazemian, a tenth grader, spoke and said that the United States continues to sanction Iran because it is scared of it and that America’s two goals in the Middle East are to support Israel and Saudi Arabia. The audience chanted: “Away with the humiliation… Allah Akbar! Khamenei is our Leader!” In addition, young boys wearing scarves and green headbands sang a song that went: “We are your followers, you are our Leader… We are your soldiers, and together we can all be your power… May Allah always keep your hand upon us… A warrior just like the Battle of Khaybar… May you always be the light to our guidance.”

Khaybar notes the beginning of the Islamic ethnic cleansing of the Jews which originated the phrase, “Allahu Akbar”.

The real war at home is still coming.

AUTHOR

RELATED VIDEO: Muslim Kids in Houston Get Trained to Praise Islamic Iran’s Terrorism.

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Representative Elect Flores Obliterates Kamala Harris With Just Three Words

Republican Texas Rep.-elect Mayra Flores needed only three words when responding to Vice President Kamala Harris’s claim about “progress” being made at the southern border Thursday.

“She’s honestly useless,” Flores said. “I don’t know why she’s in that position. She hasn’t been here in south Texas to see what their policies are creating, the mess that they’re creating in our country, and that their policies are hurting real people.”

WATCH:

Flores defeated Democratic candidate Dan Sanchez in a special election Tuesday to fill a vacancy until January 2023, flipping a seat in a district that is 85% Hispanic. She avoided a runoff by picking up 51% of the vote and will face Democratic Rep. Vincente Gonzalez in a redrawn district in November.

The seat was formerly held by Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela, who resigned to become a lobbyist. Vela won his last election by 13 points in 2020, but Republicans have picked up support in the Rio Grande Valley and in Nevada, two formerly blue strongholds.

President Joe Biden appointed Harris as “border czar” in March 2021. Authorities encountered 239,416 migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in May after encountering over 234,000 migrants in April, United States Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) reported Wednesday.

The last event Harris held regarding immigration and border issues was a January meeting with Honduran president Xiomara Castro. During that meeting, Harris and Castro discussed “root causes” behind migration, according to a White House briefing.

Flores and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Daily Caller News Foundation.

AUTHOR

HAROLD HUTCHISON

Reporter.

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Republican Mayra Flores Wins South Texas District Democrats Carried By 13 Points In 2020

Republican Mayra Flores, a first-time candidate for elected office, won the special election in Texas’ 34th District to complete the term of former Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela, who resigned in March.

With more than 70% of votes counted, Flores held 51% support, and Democrat Dan Sanchez garnered 43.5%. Despite the presence of two other candidates on the ballot, one Democrat and one Republican, Flores was able to avoid a run-off. Several elections analysts called the race shortly after 10 pm Eastern Time.

The special election was spurred on by Vela’s resignation on March 31. The five-term moderate had announced in March 2021 that he would not seek re-election in 2022, and left the lower chamber on March 31 to take a job at the Washington, DC-based corporate law firm Akin Gump.

Vela won re-election by 13.6% in 2020, and Joe Biden won the district by four points.

Flores, who received endorsements from House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, won the primary on March 1 to run in November’s general election against Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez. Gonzalez will attempt to switch districts from the 15th, which was redistricted into a toss-up seat. That new 34th District will lean 17 points towards the Democrats, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Elected Democrats and party strategists have repeatedly expressed concern that Hispanic and Latino voters are swinging towards the Republican Party. Biden’s approval rating with Hispanic and Latino voters sits in the mid-20s, several recent polls have shown, the worst of any ethnic group. The 34th District is 85% Hispanic, the U.S. Census found in 2020, one of the most Hispanic congressional seats in the country.

The Republican National Committee and GOP members of Congress have expanded outreach in Hispanic and Latino communities. House Republicans announced the Hispanic Leadership Trust in May, and co-chairman and Texas Rep. Tony Gonzalez campaigned for Flores. The RNC opened several Hispanic outreach centers in South Texas in 2021.

AUTHOR

MICHAEL GINSBERG

Congressional reporter.

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