Author: J.P. Knowles

Protesting during sporting events isn’t exactly something new, but it has been a main topic of interest since Gwen Berry and our women’s national soccer team brought it to the forefront. Prior to the USWNT’s embarrassing loss to Sweden, several players from both teams took a knee while on the field “in solidarity with the equality movement and against the oppression of people of color.”

Former President Donald Trump isn’t a fan and disagreed with American Olympic athletes who are using this event to protest.

Well, the former president thinks athletes who protest while representing America are “disgraceful.”

“I think they’re disgraceful. I think woke is really a loser’s philosophy, and you take a look at what happened with the women’s soccer team. They lost to Sweden. Woke means lose, and that’s exactly what’s happening,” Trump said during a recent interview with Benny Johnson, who used to work with me back in 2018. 

My full one on one interview with President Trump on @Newsmax! Runaway Texas Democrats Fauci, Fraud, Melania, Vogue, Woke Olympics, CNN on fire, Joe or Kamala. We covered it all. WATCH pic.twitter.com/oMCKWirmDB

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 26, 2021

Athletes protesting while playing a game is not what fans want to see. No matter the sport, people pay to watch their teams and players do one thing, compete.

Clearly, some athletes just don’t agree with that.

The @iocmedia have banned images of athletes taking the knee from their official social media channels during the #Tokyo2020 games.
Here is a photo of two athletes taking a knee before today’s Sweden vs USA match. pic.twitter.com/hgao1mZm4c

— Martin JW Dixon (@MartinJWDixon) July 21, 2021

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) left the President’s Department of Justice speechless after berating them with questions on how they continued to allow communist China to initiate cyberattacks against targets within the United States.

Cruz made the same connection to the weak reaction from the administration regarding the cyberattacks linked to Russia earlier this year. The senator made the remarks during the Senate hearing earlier on Tuesday when he questioned Richard Downing, the U.S. Department of Justice Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division.

“China has repeatedly used ransomware and cyber-attacks to harm America,” Cruz said. “Not only has it attacked pipelines in an effort to cause physical damage, but just this year, hackers affiliated with the Chinese government attacked tens of thousands of computers across tens of thousands of organizations, including a significant number of small businesses, towns, cities, and local governments. Once again, unfortunately, the Biden administration responded to extreme threats with extreme weakness.”

“The Biden administration has not imposed any sanctions on China. Instead, the administration announced that it is dropping criminal cases against five Chinese scientists who, with the help of consular officials, hid their affiliations with China’s military in order to infiltrate our nation,” Cruz continued. “Mr. Downing, why is this administration refusing to prosecute Chinese scientists who lied about their ties to the Chinese military in order to come to this country and gain access to information?”

“I would have to say that from my position in the criminal division, I am not responsible for those decisions,” Downing responded. “However, it is something that I’d be happy to take back and get you an answer.”

“And let me ask anyone on the panel. Do you have an answer as to why the administration has not sanctioned China for repeated cyber-attacks over and over and over again against the United States?” Cruz pressed.

After several moments of silence, Cruz responded: “Well, I think that’s a question that the administration should answer. Showing weakness to China and weakness to Russia only invites more aggression and more cyber-attacks attacking our nation.”

Sen. Ted Cruz to DOJ, FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Secret Service: "Do you have an answer as to why the administration has not sanctioned China for repeated cyber attacks over and over and over again against the United States?"

Crickets in response. pic.twitter.com/hZCAdFdwCz

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) July 27, 2021

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a republican Arkansas gubernatorial candidate, made a public case for Arkansans and Americans alike to consider the COVID-19 vaccines, in which she credited President Donald Trump, due to the many lives that they have saved nationwide.

In the op-ed that Sanders wrote, she took her time deciding on whether to get vaccinated because she had to sort through all of the “misinformation thrown at me by politicians and the media during the pandemic.”

Here is what she had to say in her op-ed:

What I found was simple: Dr. Fauci and the “because science says so” crowd of arrogant, condescending politicians and bureaucrats were wrong about more than their mandates and shutdowns that have inflicted incalculable harm on our people and economy. They also misjudged the Trump vaccine plan, which rolled out just as safely, quickly, and effectively as the Trump administration promised.

When the Trump administration initiated Operation Warp Speed in May 2020, the president stated that a vaccine would become available by December of that year at the very latest. From the moment he made his announcement, the “expert” class tried to undermine those statements with baseless fear-mongering.

Sanders said it isn’t her place to tell people whether to take the vaccine. “But I also know that, like many others I’ve spoken with on the campaign trail, they are actively seeking information to help them make the decision that is right for them.”

“Recent data demonstrates that those Arkansans who are not vaccinated are at significantly greater risk for serious illness from covid. In fact, 98 percent of covid patients currently hospitalized in our state and 99 percent of recent covid deaths were people who were not vaccinated. It’s clear that the Trump vaccine works and is saving lives,” wrote Sanders.

“The benefits of getting vaccinated extend beyond protection from covid. Many of our hospitals are now dangerously close to maximum capacity due to rising covid cases. Our heroic doctors and nurses who have stood on the front lines of the pandemic need the ability to treat patients with other serious illnesses and emergencies as well,” she added.

She concluded: “So to anyone still considering the merits of vaccination, I leave you with this encouragement: Pray about it, discuss it with your family and your doctor. Filter out the noise and fear-mongering and condescension, and make the best, most informed decision you can that helps your family, community, and our great state be its very best.”

The remarks come amid low vaccination rates in Arkansas and the spread of the delta variant, which accounts for roughly 83% of sequenced COVID-19 cases in the United States.

According to data from the CDC, the Delta variant, first detected in India, has been largely responsible for the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. Arkansas has the highest 7-day average of new cases since early February; the 7-day average for hospitalizations is similar. For deaths, the average is where it was at the end of March.

But if the vaccines worked, then why are Americans still getting COVID-19?

California Governor Gavin Newsom appeared on “MSNBC Reports” to talk about the imminent recall election.

Host Ayman Mohyldin began discussing Newsom’s COVID-19 policies which he agreed were the main point of focus behind the recall. But Newsom disagreed and poured all the blame on Republicans and the conservative media.

“Let’s talk about the intersection, if we can, of COVID and politics for a moment. You’re handling of the coronavirus, sir, has been a driving force behind the recall effort,” Mohyeldin said. “And what do you attribute those 25% that have remained unvaccinated. What do you attribute that to in your state?”

Newsom blamed the number of unvaccinated citizens primarily on “overwhelming majority of misinformation by right-wing pundits.” However, he also added that these pundits are the same people behind the recall efforts in California.

“Well, overwhelming majority of misinformation by right-wing pundits, period, full stop. Time to be a little bit more specific…There’s been a right-wing talking point here and it’s overwhelmingly coming from certain networks and it’s having an impact on getting this disease behind us…And including, by the way, the folks that are behind this damn recall in California,” Newsom said. “These are the exact same people describing mask covering to the equivalency of the Holocaust, it’s the same folks. So, look, you’re right, those things are connected, at least in this state.”

The recall campaign against Newsom first began in June 2020. The recall efforts against Newsom gained momentum after photos emerged of the governor attending a lunch at the French Laundry restaurant which was in violation of his own strict coronavirus lockdown policies.

The recall became official just last month after gaining more than 1.7 million signatures. The recall election is set for September 14.

Politicians always spend absurd amounts of money during their campaigns whether it be on television commercials, billboards, rallies, or some other form of family-friendly advertising. Some other politicians find it better to get creative to save a buck

For example, Michigan State Representative Jewell Jones reported spending $221 in campaign funds at a gentlemen’s club claiming the cash was used for a “constituent meeting” to discuss “potential economic projects.”

The third-term Democratic lawmaker described the venue, Pantheion Club, as a “lounge” he was uncertain functioned as a strip club before he arrived, in a phone interview with the Detroit News, before the call disconnected.

“We have (to) meet people where they’re at some times … #HOLLA,” Jones said in a text message to the Detroit News after the interview, while including the club had “great lambchops.”

Jones was previously in the spotlight for being arrested April 6 after his black Chevy Tahoe swerved in and out of its lane before crashing into a ditch. His blood alcohol content was 0.19, over the state’s 0.08 legal limit, the Detroit News reported.

He was also accused of struggling with troopers, threatening to call the governor and claiming he had oversight on the Michigan State Police budget, the Detroit News reported.

Jones was ordered to pay $1,000 in fines just last week for failing to keep up with payments on his alcohol tether, a device which measures alcohol levels through an individual’s sweat. The judge warned Jones he would “be looking at jail” if he stepped out of line again.

The Republican Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives signed a civil warrant for the arrest of a Texas Democrat state representative who fled the state earlier last week to break the quorum needed in the House to stop the Texas GOP from passing voting bills after the democrat returned to Austin from Washington, D.C.

Dade Phelan, the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, issued the civil warrant for the arrest of Phillip Cortez from San Antonio. In the document, Phelan wrote:

To the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives of the State of Texas, or any officer appointed by him: you are hereby commanded to take The Honorable Philip Cortez, a Member of the House of Representatives of the State of Texas, who is now absent from the House, wherever said Member may be found in the State, into your custody and safekeeping and bring said Member before the bar of the House instanter, this writ being issued under a duly-adopted order of the House pursuant to Article III, Section 10, Texas Constitution, made in exercise of its lawful powers to compel the attendance of absent members in the manner provided under the House Rules of Procedure. Herein fail not, but make due return hereof to this House.

Article III, Section 10 of the Texas state constitution states, “QUORUM; ADJOURNMENTS FROM DAY TO DAY; COMPELLING ATTENDANCE. Two-thirds of each House shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each House may provide.”

New: Here's a copy of the civil arrest warrant for @CortezPhilip signed by @DadePhelan yesterday after he returned to DC. #txlege pic.twitter.com/oqbQtQ86vN

— Brad Johnson (@bradj_TX) July 26, 2021

Cortez returned to Washington, D.C., on Sunday; he “returned to Austin from Washington in what he said was an attempt to engage in ‘good faith dialogue’ about House Bill 3, the election legislation,” The Texas Tribune reported, adding, “Other Democrats criticized Cortez’s move, saying the lawmaker did not first consult with them before returning to Austin.”

“Rep. Cortez returned to the Texas Capitol of his own volition and represented to me and his fellow members that he wanted to work on policy and find solutions to bring his colleagues back to Texas,” Phelan said, as KVUE reported. “As a condition of being granted permission to temporarily leave the House floor, Rep. Cortez promised his House colleagues that he would return. Instead, he fled the state and has irrevocably broken my trust and the trust of this chamber.”

Looks like some of the Democrats who fled the state to circumvent the process of democracy could face some serious charges upon their return to Texas.

Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is standing her ground on the controversial decision to not allow White reporters to cover her events, claiming the underwhelming number of the journalists of color covering her was “unacceptable.” She also said she wasn’t sorry for her opinions and would say it again if need be.

Lightfoot incited criticism when she declared she would only allow Black and Brown reporters one-on-one interviews while scolding the Chicago media for its “overwhelming Whiteness.”

“I would absolutely do it again. I’m unapologetic about it because it spurred a very important conversation, a conversation that needed to happen, that should have happened a long time ago,” Lightfoot Kara Swisher, host of “Sway,” during an interview.

“Here is the bottom line for me, to state the obvious, I’m a Black woman mayor. I’m the mayor of the third-largest city in the country, obviously I have a platform, and it’s important to me to advocate on things that I believe are important,” she said. “Going back to why I ran, to disrupt the status quo. The media is critically important to our democracy … the media is in a time of incredible upheaval and disruption but our City hall press corps looks like it’s 1950 or 1970.”

Lightfoot argued that reporters who typically show up to her events are “invariably overwhelmingly White” and pressured media organizations to change their approach.

“People that make the hiring decisions have to be focused on diversity,” said the mayor. “In Chicago, we have a huge amount of diverse media talent. We’ve got schools that are of journalism that are best in class across the country, and I would say, really, across the world. So the absence of journalists of color, covering the mayor of the third-largest city in a country is absolutely unacceptable. And so I decided to say something about it.”

Swisher recognized diversity as an issue but opposed to politicians choosing the individual covering them.

“No, it’s not about me choosing who covers me, right? I gave exclusive interviews. And we do get to choose who we talk to in exclusives. I gave exclusive interviews with journalists of color, right? One 24-hour period and it was like people’s heads exploded. I had journalists saying, ‘Does the mayor think I’m racist?’ No, it’s not about individuals,” she said. “It’s about systemic racism.”

Lightfoot insisted she was simply telling it like it was.

A single mother of five children was convicted of fatally stabbing her elderly neighbor after learning he had a habit of abusing young boys and her son had become one of the pedophile’s victims.

Sarah Sands, 38, stabbed 77-year-old Michael Pleasted in his apartment soon after she realized she was living every parent’s worst nightmare. Sands was charged with manslaughter and sentenced to three and a half years of hard time but due to an appellate court actually ended up with seven and a half years.

It did not even matter that Pleasted had 24 prior convictions for sex offenses dating back over thirty years.

“I did what any mother would do because he did this to my son Bradley, my little boy,” Sands, who spent almost four years in the slammer before being released, told the Sun.

“I never dreamt I’d be capable. I have no pride in it but at least I know he can’t hurt anyone else. I’m not a bad person but I know I did a bad thing. I’ve never denied that and I’ve been punished,” she said.

“I’d never kill again. I don’t see myself as a murderer, but I don’t regret what I did. I was a mom desperate to protect my children,” Sands continued.

“He wouldn’t listen to me. He was cold. A different man to the one who’d been my friendly neighbor,” Sands said.

“I had no idea who he really was. How could I? He had lied and changed his name so he could attack kids,” Sands told the Sun.

No one was aware of Pleasted’s criminal past because he had his name changed and his horrendous crimes predated the sex offenders register.

Texas Democrats staged a walkout late last week to prevent the state’s House of Representatives without a quorum to pass the bill. The walk-out, however, does not provide Democrats the ability to permanently block the legislation.

“Today, Texas House Democrats stand united in our decision to break quorum and refuse to let the Republican-led legislature force through dangerous legislation that would trample on Texans’ freedom to vote,” a handful of Texas lawmakers said in a statement Monday.

“We are now taking the fight to our nation’s Capital,” they added. “We are living on borrowed time in Texas. We need Congress to act now to pass the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act to protect Texans – and all Americans – from the Trump Republicans’ nationwide war on democracy.”

So is COVID nonexistent on a plane if it’s filled with Democrats abandoning their jobs? https://t.co/fkGqGgxG2c

— Rep. Mark Green (@RepMarkGreen) July 13, 2021

Now they have decided to up the ante and claim that some of the Democrats have tested positive for Covid-19 after images of them flying in a private jet with no masks have surfaced.

Texas State. Rep. Briscoe Cain slammed the dozens of Democrats who fled the state capital earlier this week and claimed that the positive COVID-19 tests are just a “gimmick” to avoid doing any “work.”

Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor? #getwellsoon https://t.co/uzkbkn80AS

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 17, 2021

“It’s disingenuous, they’re lying and they are playing games with the people of Texas,” Cain, a Republican and chair of the House Elections Committee, told Fox News.

“I say prove it,” Cain said. “I think it’s an excuse to avoid coming back. They want a reason to do a 14-day quarantine; they don’t want to come back and do their jobs. If they really have it, prove it.”

“Anyone that reads it,” Cain said about the controversial voting rights bill that prompted the lawmakers to flee to Washington, D.C. earlier this week citing claims that the bill would suppress voting rights, “realizes it doesn’t criminalize mistakes, it expands voting access, it expands hours, and protects our elections. That’s it.”

Cain said that ultimately Democrats will have no choice but to return to Texas and because of their “bad faith” actions there is “no reason to negotiate with them” and he hopes the legislature can pass an even stronger bill when they return.

Cain claimed that at least three of the fleeing lawmakers privately admitted that there was no voter suppression in the bill but left the capital anyway and publicly stated that there was.

It is unclear when the group of Democrats is planning to return to Texas amid growing frustration from Republicans. Earlier this week, Texas’ Republican House Speaker, Dade Phelan, announced he was chartering a plane in Washington in order for Democrats to return.

“I am demanding all of our colleagues in D.C. to contact my staff immediately in order to secure their seat on the plane and return to Austin in order to do the state’s business,” Speaker Dade Phelan said in a statement. “The State of Texas is waiting.”

A group of panelists on the Friday episode of Fox News’ “Gutfeld!” discussed what would happen if the United States broke up into smaller regions after a recent poll that indicated that a massive amount of Americans support such a measure.

The YouGov/BrightLineWatch poll released last week showed two in three Republicans and half of independents in the South want to secede from the Union. According to the same poll, 47% of Democrats in Pacific coastal states, including Hawaii and Alaska, would be open to breaking off.

“You know, I’m probably going to get myself in trouble for this, but would it be the worst thing?” asked Fox News contributor Lisa Boothe regarding secession. “I don’t know, I’m sick and tired of people who hate this country, I’m sick and tired of [those] who say the flag is some sort of sign of evilness or oppression, who despise the country we live in. I’m tired of the government now, you know, people like Biden want to weaponize the government against people who supported Trump.”

“So I don’t know, would it be the worst thing?” Boothe reiterated, adding that she would want any national divorce to be peaceful.

“I would take a little different view than Lisa on this because, you know, we did try this once and it didn’t end well,” said Bahnsen Group founder David Bahnsen. “This is what I would say. It is not one of the enumerated powers in the Constitution that — those of us on the Right care about the Bill of Rights — the states are in, they joined, and I have a bigger problem with the states that act like they already have seceded, that don’t care about flyover country, don’t care about rural America[.]”

Bahnsen went on to explain that any modern-day secession would be very complicated because the divide does not fall along state lines as it did during the Civil War. “Secession doesn’t work because we don’t have a country divided red-state and blue-state. We have blue cities, so even within the states you would have to have mini-secessions.”

Gutfeld went on to jokingly suggest that rural Americans could wall up the cities.