Author: J.P. Knowles

Democratic lawmakers that represent the people of Texas fled from the state on Monday in a dramatic fashion on privately owned planes as they continue to subvert democracy by denying the legislature the quorum needed to approve bills in Governor Greg Abbott’s special session agenda.

“Private planes carrying more than 50 Democrats left Austin for Dulles International Airport midafternoon, skipping town just days before the Texas House of Representatives was expected to give early approval to sweeping new” voter integrity laws in the special legislative session, The Associated Press reported. “The numbers meant the House would not have enough lawmakers in attendance to conduct business and could not, at least for now, vote on the bill.”

And this is not even the first time that Texas Democrats have bolted from the state to stop measures from becoming law because they have ran out of options “to permanently block the voting measures, or a list of other contentious GOP-backed proposals up for debate.”

Abbott instructed Texas lawmakers to also consider bills that would protect girls from having to compete against biological males in sports, fund arrests of illegal aliens, clampdown on abortion, and crack down on racist Critical Race Theory being taught in schools.

National Review added:

One measure on the table was the Lone Star state’s version of an elections bill, known as Senate Bill 7, which more closely regulates the rights of poll-watchers and the conditions under which they can be excluded from polls, bans 24-hour and drive-thru voting, and cracks down on paid “ballot harvesting” as well as mass mail-in ballot distributions.

To block the pending legislation, the Democratic lawmakers will need to stay out of the capitol in Austin through the end of the special session, which can last a maximum of 30 days under the state’s constitution. While they’re not in the chamber to conduct business, the legislators technically risk arrest, as state Republicans can authorize law enforcement to bring them back to the state for session.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki absurdly claimed on Monday that Republican election integrity laws were “the worst challenge to our democracy since the Civil War.”

“He’ll lay out the moral case for why denying the right to vote is a form of suppression and a form of silencing and how he will use, he will redouble his commitment to using every tool at his disposal to continue to fight to protect the fundamental rights of Americans to vote against the onslaught of voter suppression laws,” Psaki claimed, adding that Biden would highlight that the last election was certified after judges threw out multiple lawsuits.

“He’ll also decry efforts to strip the right to vote as authoritarian and anti-American and stand up against the notion that politicians should be allowed to choose their voters or to subvert our system by replacing independent election authorities with partisan ones,” Psaki claimed. “And he will highlight the work of the administration against this, the necessity of passing the For The People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and how we need to work together with civil rights organizations to build as broad a turnout and voter education system to overcome the worst challenge to our democracy since the Civil War.”

Over the weekend, many anti-government protests broke out across Cuba with citizens pleading for their freedom and demanding the country’s communist dictatorship be disbanded.

You would think that some of our government’s most outspoken and self-proclaimed socialists would be front and center for this historic event taking place just miles from Florida’s coast but Democrats at the White House appear to have turned their backs on Cuba. 

Thousands of Cubans marched on Havana’s Malecon promenade and elsewhere to protest food shortages, high prices and the coronavirus outbreak in one of the biggest anti-government demonstrations in the country ever.

Police initially trailed behind as protesters chanted “Freedom,” “Enough” and “Unite.” One motorcyclist pulled out a U.S. flag, but it was snatched from him by others.

Critics jumped on social media to slam the Biden administration for appearing to have dropped the ball in response to the protests.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla, took the State Department to task over a tweet that blamed the protest on concerns over COVID-19 and not the worsening economic situation or the fact that protesters chanted, “We Want Liberty.”

“People in Cuba are protesting 62 years of socialism, lies, tyranny & misery not ‘expressing concern about rising COVID-19 cases/deaths. Why is it so hard for @Potus & the people in his administration to say that?” Rubio tweeted.

Critics will likely say that these Democratic socialists are remaining quiet in the early stages of the protests because there are so many unknowns. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who heads the Communist Party, has already called on the country’s revolutionaries to counter the demonstrators.

Meanwhile, Republicans have been very vocal in backing protesters’ efforts in Cuba. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, the son of a Cuban immigrant, showed his support for thousands of Cubans in a Twitter post writing, “The American people stand squarely with the men & women of Cuba and their noble fight for liberty.”

By far, the most anticipated part of the three-day Conservative Political Action Conference this weekend in Texas was the straw poll results. Former President Donald Trump picked up the victory for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination by an overwhelming majority.

Trump, who has hinted at giving it another shot in 2024, won 70% of the ballots cast in the anonymous straw poll from conservative activists and leaders across the country.

That’s a boost from the 55% support he won in the hypothetical 2024 Republican primary matchup straw poll at CPAC Orlando in late February.

“I want to personally thank each and every one of you for your incredible support,” Trump said as he gave the Dallas event’s keynote address minutes later.

Trump’s strong performance comes as no surprise. CPAC, long the largest and most influential gathering of conservatives, has become a Trump-fest since his 2016 presidential election victory.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came in a distant second, at 21%. No one else among the 19 potential 2024 Republican White House contenders topped 1%.

For his resistance to lockdowns and COVID restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic, DeSantis topped the question for the 2024 ballot.

DeSantis grabbed 68% support on that question, with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at 5%. Donald Trump Jr. and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas were both at 4%, with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem at 3%. No one else topped 2%.

Overall, DeSantis finished in second place with 21% support and was the only other Republican who scored in the double digits. Of the 1,525 CPAC attendees who participated, 88% said they “strongly approved” of Trump’s job in the White House with another 10% “somewhat approving.”

Synnex, a contractor for the Republican Party, announced earlier this week that they were allegedly hacked by the Russian military late last week which apparently is the latest attack on U.S. entities by Russia during the Biden era.

Synnex confirmed that the hackers were not able to hack into the Republican Party’s system. This is just one of the multiple instances where Russian hackers attempted to launch cyberattacks against the RNC and failed.

Russian hackers have succeeded in infiltrating and cyber attacking the Democrat National Committee in the past.

“Early indications were that the culprit was Russia’s S.V.R. intelligence agency,” The New York Times reported. “The R.N.C. attack was the second of apparent Russian origin to become public in the last few days, and it was unclear late Tuesday whether the two were related.”

RNC chief of staff Richard Walters informed The Daily Wire in a statement that no data was accessed by the hackers and that the party is working with federal law enforcement officials on the matter.

“Over the weekend, we were informed that Synnex, a third-party provider, had been breached,” Walters said. “We immediately blocked all access from Synnex accounts to our cloud environment. Our team worked with Microsoft to conduct a review of our systems and after a thorough investigation, no RNC data was accessed. We will continue to work with Microsoft, as well as federal law enforcement officials on this matter.”

The New York Times added:

The twin attacks are a test for Mr. Biden just three weeks after he, in his first meeting as president with Mr. Putin, demanded that the Russian leader rein in ransomware activities against the United States. At the meeting, Mr. Biden said later, he presented Mr. Putin with a list of 16 critical sectors of the American economy that, if attacked, would provoke a response — though he was cagey about what that response would be. …

The newest attacks appeared to cross many lines that Mr. Biden has said he would no longer tolerate. On the campaign trail last year, he put Russia “on notice” that, as president, he would respond aggressively to counter any interference in American elections. Then in April, he called Mr. Putin to warn him about impending economic sanctions in response to the SolarWinds breach.

Biden has avoided answering any questions about the attacks on U.S. entities that have occurred on his watch..

“I can tell you a couple things. I received an update from my national security team this morning,” Biden told reporters on Tuesday when pressed about the latest hacks. “It appears to have caused minimal damage to U.S. businesses, but we’re still gathering information to the full extent of the attack. And I’m gonna have more to say about this. In the next several days, we’re getting more detailed information. That’s what I can tell you now, and I feel good about our ability to, ugh…”

Biden then turned and left the press conference and did not answer questions on whether Russian President Vladimir Putin was testing him.

After dropping several hints that it might drop the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract with Microsoft the Pentagon finally severed their ties. According to the DOD, JEDI is no longer relevant what with all the “evolving requirements, increased cloud conversancy, and industry advances.”

The contract was given to Microsoft in 2019 after a brutal battle between the two business giants. Everyone thought Amazon had the $10 billion contract in the bag, so when they were passed over they turned around and filed a lawsuit against the Pentagon.

But none of that matters now because the Pentagon dropped Microsoft to explore and reconsider its options. 

The JEDI contract, which aimed to give the military better access to data from remote locations using cloud technology, was initially expected to go to Amazon before the Defense Department decided to give the award to Microsoft in October of 2019, prompting a lawsuit from Amazon.

“JEDI was developed at a time when the Department’s needs were different and both the [cloud service provider] technology and our cloud conversancy was less mature,” acting DOD Chief Information Officer John Sherman said in a Tuesday statement.

He added that with the Pentagon’s newer initiatives including the Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) and the Artificial Intelligence and Data Acceleration (ADA) initiative, “the evolution of the cloud ecosystem within DOD, and changes in user requirements to leverage multiple cloud environments to execute mission,” the department’s “landscape has advanced and a new way-ahead is warranted to achieve dominance in both traditional and non-traditional war-fighting domains.”

“We understand the DoD’s rationale, and we support them and every military member who needs the mission-critical 21st century technology JEDI would have provided,” Microsoft President of U.S. Regulated Industries Toni Townes-Whitley said in a Tuesday blog post responding to the news. “The DoD faced a difficult choice: Continue with what could be a years-long litigation battle or find another path forward.”

Townes-Whitley then aimed criticism at Amazon, saying that “when one company can delay, for years, critical technology upgrades for those who defend our nation, the protest process needs reform.

Amazon Web Services took the Pentagon to court accusing their processes of being flawed and unfair and even tried to blame former President Donald Trump’s hatred toward the company for losing the contract.

Country legend Toby Keith is a well-known patriot with multiple hits such as “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue,” “American Soldier,” and “Made in America ” which are pro-America. Keith released a long-awaited single to celebrate Independence Day and show some light on the issues we have ongoing within our beautiful nation.

Titled “Happy Birthday America,” the ballad takes a bittersweet look at the turbulent months that have followed since the explosion of racial violence across the country, which Keith previously described as a “screwed-up 18 months.”

“Happy birthday America,” the song begins. “It’s the 4th of July.”

Keith immediately began the ballad referencing the “drowning” anti-American sentiment that is occurring all over the nation it seems.

“Seems like everybody’s pissin’ on the red, white, and blue,” Keith says. “Happy birthday America, whatever’s left of you.”

The country music star then points out that despite being the “darlin’ when you saved the world” from fascism, adding that “France would just be part of Germany now if it hadn’t been for you,” Keith notes that “Now your children want to turn you into something other than yourself. They burn your flag in their city streets more than anybody else.”

He then continues to argue that, without the United States, there would be no one to heed future calls.

“Who are they gonna count on when you’re not there to take their call?” he asks. “Will the world keep right on spinnin’ without the greatest of them all?”

Keith then speaks of the post-America movement, saying, “Without the helping hand of God, your days are numbered, my old friend. We’re sure gonna miss you girl. You were the best that’s ever been.”

Keith’s lyrics then become overtly political. He blames “broken-down cities” on the Democratic Party, saying that they are collapsing “by the Left’s design.” However, he adds that “the Right can’t seem to get it right most of the time.”

Keith also noted the “lesser of two evils” decision many voters face on election day, saying he comes home “with the blues” every time “I go to town and vote.”

“It had been a screwed up 18 months,” Keith said in a statement, as reported by Rolling Stone. “I was seeing both sides having concern over the end of democracy. We’ve fought and divided almost to the point it’s only about power and winning. Charlie Daniels had a song saying ‘God save us all from religion.’ And I’m thinking, God, save us all from politicians.”

“I live in the heartland and it just feels like everybody you talk to has the same worries,” he said. “It just feels like the politicians aren’t getting the job done on either side and it just feels like the democracy is in danger.”

A Kansas City Royals baseball fan shocked everyone watching when he lit a fire in front of the cameras seemingly out of thin air. The act was later posted on Twitter and the internet went crazy.

After coming back from a commercial break during the Royals TV broadcast, an average-looking guy sporting a t-shirt with his favorite team’s logo whip out his wallet for the camera. When he flipped the wallet open flames appeared to shoot out of it. Then he shut the wallet, the flames disappeared and the man nonchalantly puts the wallet back in his pocket.

Sports reporter Harold Kuntz of FOX News 4 Kansas City responded to the video by sharing it on Twitter with the caption, “Wait, what?”

Fans were right there with him.

“Um ..@royals.. can we get him in the Post Game Zoom?!?! I’m going to need an explanation,”said one user.

https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1412214968246837251?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1412214968246837251%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Flifestyle%2Fkansas-city-fan-flaming-wallet

The internet was quick to react to the video with pro-athletes like Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes II tweeting out the shocked face with exploding head emoji. 🤯

Former professional basketball player Rex Chapman joked, “What kind of sorcery is this?”

Another fan just didnt share the man’s sence of humer and responded with a link to a trick wallet for sale online for $24.99.

Others, meanwhile, hit some real homeruns with the jokes: “literally what happens to your wallet at any sporting event.”

Former actor Bill Cosby’s release from prison last week has set a dangerous precedent that attorneys in similar cases would use to get their clients released as well. Despite the fact he admitted to drugging and sexually assaulting multiple women Cosby has been released from prison on a technicality.

Now, just a week later, Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers are arguing that she should have her case thrown out on the same grounds, according to The Guardian.

Cosby was released because the prosecutor involved initially didn’t press any charges, and claimed that Cosby would not be facing any legal trouble, so when Cosby later confessed, his confession was called into question and no longer admissible in court. The judge also ruled that Cosby had no chance of a fair trial because evidence that was not admissible was so freely available in the media that the jury was unable to make a judgment without considering those facts.

Maxwell’s case is similar because the first time that Epstein was arrested for human trafficking, he was given a sweetheart deal by Alex Acosta, a friendly prosecutor. The deal helped Epstein avoid any serious jail time and also gave him and his associates legal protection from being held accountable for any future crimes.

Obviously, it is not possible to shield a criminal from the consequences of actions that they will take in the future, so Epstein was arrested again many years later after it was discovered that he continued his crimes long after his initial arrest. If Epstein and his friends did have any kind of immunity from that deal, it ended when they continued to commit crimes after the deal was made.

Still, Maxwell’s lawyers are optimistic after Cosby’s recent release.

“The government is trying to renege on its agreement and prosecute Ms. Maxwell over 25 years later for the exact same offenses for which she was granted immunity,” Maxwell’s lawyers wrote in a statement to Judge Alison Nathan.

Judge Alison Nathan has not responded to Maxwell’s request.

Some beachgoers were (un)lucky enough to get an extra dose of near-death experiences on the 4th of July when a large portion of their fireworks went up in flames creating chaos and confusion.

A truck delivering a load of fireworks in Ocean City accidentally set them off that Sunday AM, terrifying innocent bystanders who were in the area. Ultimately it merely served as a preview of what was to come.

Fireworks went off in Ocean City this morning on the beach, down by the inlet. Not sure if there are any injuries. Video taken by my sister-in-law. pic.twitter.com/m5MFcRtRUN

— Jessica Anderson (@janders5) July 4, 2021

The Ocean City Fire Dept. made a statement saying, “There was an unintentional discharge of fireworks that were being set up on the beach for the Town’s fireworks show.” They added, “During the unintentional discharge, employees of the fireworks company received minor injuries and refused transport to the hospital by Ocean City Paramedics.”

No serious injuries were reported but this really could have turned ugly fast.

This incident follows the LAPD bomb squad attempting to dispose of thousands of pounds of illegal fireworks but accidentally blew up a truck in a southside neighborhood instead.

LAPD detonated 5 tons of confiscated illegal fireworks in a South Central residential street, injuring 17.

They wouldn’t have tried this in Beverly Hills. pic.twitter.com/gSDmAqI0Dv

— Mexican Rug Dealer (@DealinRugs) July 1, 2021

Just remember to be extra careful around BBQ and explosives and leave blowing stuff up to the professionals.

After growing concerns of the Delta variant surging through multiple countries, Japan has declared a state of emergency that will go into effect on Monday and last through Aug. 22.

This means the Tokyo Olympics will be held under these extra emergency measures and without any spectators for this year. The state of emergency was issued aimed at containing the rapidly rising number of COVID-19 cases throughout Japan.

Marukawa said Olympic organizers came to the agreement to hold the games without fans, according to Reuters. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach met with organizers and officials in Japan.

“We have shown this responsibility since the day of the postponement,” Bach said via Kyodo News. “And we will also show it today, and we will support any measure which is necessary to have a safe and secure Olympic and Paralympic Games for the Japanese people and all the participants.

“Taking into consideration the impact of the delta strain, and in order to prevent the resurgence of infections from spreading across the country, we need to step up virus prevention measures,” Suga said.

Organizers previously allowed venues to be filled to 50% capacity but crowds not to exceed 10,000.

Athletes, media, and sponsors were the only type of foreigners allowed at the games.

The main focus of the most recent state of emergency is a request for bars, restaurants, and karaoke parlors serving alcohol to close. A ban on serving alcohol is a key step to tone down Olympic-related festivities and keep people from drinking and partying. Tokyo residents are expected to face stay-home requests and watch the games from home.

Tokyo reported 896 new coronavirus cases Thursday, up from 637 a week earlier.

About 11,000 Olympians and 4,400 Paralympians are set to enter Japan over the next few weeks with tens of thousands of officials, judges, administrators, sponsors, and media members. The IOC said more than 80% of residents of the Olympic Village will be vaccinated.