Category: Opinion

The big news right now is the discovery of several items thought to belong to Brian Laundrie as well as unconfirmed partial human remains at the Florida Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park. It definitely could be a huge break in the case and everyone who is anyone is down there trying to get the scoop.

Everyone, that is, except Dog the Bounty Hunter.

Dog hasn’t given up the search but a stroke of bad luck sent him home to Colorado to mend his injured ankle.

He might be down and on the mend at the moment, but that doesn’t mean Dog is out of the fight — we’re told he still has reason to believe BL is alive … and will continue filtering through tips.

Speaking of those … we’re told that since he’s been back in the Rockies, Dog’s received upwards of 4,000 possible leads — through which he’s sifting for one that might be legit. As you can imagine, it’s a daunting task — but DTBH is up for it.

Consider this as well … Dog was roughing it in the Sunshine State — which our sources say took a toll on him. The guy was seen wading through marshy swamps in the area — but even beyond that … we’re told he’d been putting in 20-hour days, and sustained injuries that he hasn’t really made public … leaving him cut up and bloodied.

Now, as to whether Dog will return to Florida, his rep says only time will tell. If these bones turn out to be those of the missing Brian Laundrie the search will be over and Dog will have no reason to travel back down south.

On the bright side, this experience has given the bounty hunter a new purpose utilizing his skills to help families find their missing loved ones.

Paring down his “build back better” plans, President Joe Biden presented a more restrictive vision to Democrats on Tuesday of a $2 trillion government-overhaul package with at least $500 billion to be allotted for climate change and middle-class concerns such as child tax credits, paid family leaves, healthcare, and free pre-kindergarten.

The president met privately with nearly 20 centrist and progressive lawmakers as Democrats seemed to be ready to discard what had been a $3.5 trillion package for a less expensive proposal that could unite the party and pass in Congress. Most likely to be eliminated or cut back are plans for tuition-free community colleges, a path to legal status for immigrants in the U.S. without documentation, and a specific clean energy plan that was the pinnacle of Biden’s strategy for fighting climate change.

Biden felt “more confident” after the meetings, press secretary Jen Psaki said.

“There was broad agreement that there is urgency in moving forward over the next several days and that the window for finalizing a package is closing,” said Psaki.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a progressive caucus member, said Biden rushed the lawmakers to “get something done now” to establish U.S. leadership on climate change on the global stage.

“He really believes in American leadership, American prestige is on the line,” Khanna said.

In Tuesday’s meetings, Biden focused on providing at least $500 billion in tax credits, grants, and loans to fight climate change, including tax breaks for energy producers that reach emission-reduction goals.

The policy has been touted for providing cash to families most in need. Democrats want to extend the credit for years. At this time the credit is to be phased out for single-parent households earning more than $75,000 per year or $150,000 per year for couples, though those income thresholds could be lowered to meet the demands of Manchin and more conservative Democrats.

“It’s not the robust vision the president wants or that we wanted,” Khanna said.

With Republicans fully opposed to Biden’s plans, the president needs all Democrats in the 50-50 split Senate for passage and can only spare a few votes in the House.

Congress has set an Oct. 31 deadline for passage.

Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz introduced legislation Tuesday that would establish processing centers for illegal immigrants to places such as Martha’s Vineyard and other Democrat-led communities during the ongoing border crisis.

“For the past ten months, President Biden and his administration have willingly surrendered the United States’ southern border to dangerous criminal cartels, with no thought given to the South Texas border communities like McAllen and Del Rio, which are running low on resources from dealing with this massive influx of illegal immigrants,” Cruz said in a statement prior to introducing the legislation.

“That’s why today I am introducing this crucial legislation to alleviate the massive overload at the southern border by establishing new ports of entry in Democrat-led communities such as North Hero, Vermont, where Bernie Sanders spends his summers, and Martha’s Vineyard, where Democrat elites host their cocktail parties,” Cruz added.

The legislation would establish new ports of entry in 13 communities across the U.S. and would require all illegal immigrants caught at Border Patrol Sectors in Texas to be transferred to one of the 13 new ports for processing.

“Local Border Patrol Sectors in Texas continue to be overwhelmed by the volume of illegal aliens at the border. The Texas government has been forced to declare a state of disaster and provide its law enforcement and fiscal resources to address the crisis,” Cruz said in a press release.

Cruz said that when he visited the border in March he personally encountered human traffickers and cartel members. “That’s Mexico and you can see there are three smugglers right there standing on the Mexican side looking at us,” he said in a video taken at that time.

There have probably been thousands of tips called in claiming to have seen Brian Laundrie from all over the country. However, there are a few hotspots where the possibility is a bit more likely.

One of those places is Florida since it is now very public knowledge that both Brian and Gabby’s parents reside in the sunshine state. While this extremely grainy footage could possibly show the missing suspected killer keep in mind the location is almost 200 miles away from his parent’s home.

Brian Laundrie might have been pedaling along a country road — purposely out of public view — on a rickety old bike … that is, if you buy what someone says they see in this video.

Check out this clip, obtained by TMZ, which one witness tells us was shot from a surveillance camera on the outskirts of his property on October 9 in Dunnellon, FL — a tiny town, about three hours north of Laundrie’s hometown of North Port, where his family resides.

We’re told there are several acres of rural land behind this guy’s property, which is apparently where this footage was taken … along what we’re told is a rugged sugar sand path that hardly anyone ever ventures down … on foot or anything else.

Add on the fact this mystery man — at least at first glance — appears to bear a passing resemblance to Laundrie in the face … and we might have a legit sighting on our hands.

The footage has been passed along to the FBI for official review. The sighting could pan out to nothing but it gives hope to authorities to know people have not given up searching for Gabby’s killer.

The Texas Senate passed legislation Friday that requires athletes to compete on teams that correspond to the one on their birth certificate.

House Bill 25 was introduced by Republican state Rep. Valoree Swanson and will now go to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.

In accordance with the bill, the only modified birth certificate that will be allowed is that which has been amended “to correct a clerical error.”

“This is all about girls and protecting them in our [University Interscholastic League] sports,” Swanson said. “I’m excited that we have the opportunity today to stand up for our daughters, granddaughters, and all our Texas girls.”

Human Rights Campaign Texas State Director Rebecca Marques criticized the bill after the Texas House passed it, saying, “Texas legislators seem to take pride in passing discriminatory bills without any concern for the impact on Texans and the state’s growing negative national reputation.”

“Transgender young people deserve the opportunity to play sports with their friends like any kid,” Marques continued. “Texas legislators are putting the second-largest LGBTQ+ population in the country at significant health and safety risk.

“Radical policies like the anti-transgender sports ban bill that target children for no reason other than to score political points, making the state less safe and desirable for families to live and work, putting businesses in the state at a competitive disadvantage,” Marques added.

Former Defense Sec. Robert Gates said Sunday that President Joe Biden has “been wrong” on most foreign policy and national security issues over the past four decades.

Gates, who served under former President Barack Obama, gave a recap of a portion of his 2014 memoir, “Duty: Memories of a Secretary at War,” he said that while Biden has integrity, he has been wrong on every single foreign policy and national security issue.

“I think he’s gotten a lot wrong,” Gates said, pointing out that Biden opposed “every one of Ronald Reagan’s military programs to contest the Soviet Union” and the Gulf War.

Gates said that Biden made a mistake in how he handled the Afghanistan withdrawal.

Gates said former President Donald Trump did not plan the withdrawal properly but that Biden definitely did not finish it correctly, stating that as soon as Biden set a “firm deadline date, that’s the point at which I think they should have begun bringing those people out.”

“You have to be pretty naive not to assume things were going to go downhill once that withdrawal was complete.”

Gates said the U.S. had helped build the Afghan military however it relied heavily on U.S. assistance and given that the Taliban was self-reliant, the fall of the Afghan army was unsurprising.

Biden described the withdrawal as an extraordinary success while White House press secretary Jen Psaki said no one could have predicted the Afghan government would collapse so quickly.

“I don’t think anyone assessed that they would collapse as quickly as they did. Anyone – anyone in this room, anyone anywhere in the world,” Psaki said in August. “If you have anyone who did I would be surprised.”

Biden blamed the Afghan military for failing to defend Afghanistan against the Taliban while at the same time he blamed Trump.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has effectively dissolved the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Abolishing the agency that catches and expels illegal immigrants has become the challenge of the far left and is accepted by rivals for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

Mayorkas’ first memo, Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law, issued on Sept. 30, outlines who, of the approximately 15 million illegal aliens living in the U.S., ICE agents may arrest and put into removal proceedings. Under the pretense of “setting priorities,” Mayorkas limits enforcement to three categories of illegal aliens: Those who are deemed to be threats to national security, such as terrorists and spies; violent criminals; and those who entered the country after Nov. 1, 2020.

According to the Cato Institute (a libertarian think tank that supports mass immigration), a total of 1,485 spies were arrested in the U.S. between 1990 and 2019, of whom 583 were native-born Americans. The Department of Justice reports that between Sept. 11, 2001, and Dec. 31, 2016, 402 foreign terrorists were arrested in the U.S.

When it comes to removing violent criminals, Mayorkas’ memo leaves plenty of room for some rather large exceptions. Violent criminals who are of “advanced or tender age,” have resided in the United States for a “lengthy” period of time, have a mental illness, or whose removal would leave dependents behind, are excluded for ICE agents. That makes ICE agents’ job finding a violent criminal, that is not too young and not too old, not mentally ill, and childless, nearly impossible.

“The gravity of an apprehension and removal on a noncitizen’s life, and potentially the life of family members and the community, warrants the dedication of investigative and evaluative effort,” Mayorkas explains.

Also under Mayorkas’ edict, any employers who “exploit” illegal alien workers will be subject to enforcement actions. Companies are now free to hire illegal aliens over American workers, providing they meet certain minimal employment standards – ironic as President Joe Biden himself claims to be an ally of working Americans, frequently citing his blue-collar upbringing and the struggles his own family faced.

Energy experts slammed President Joe Biden’s plan to build wind farms, pointing out that wind power is costly, inefficient and indirectly produces greenhouse gas emissions.

“It is amazing that they’re touting wind at the very time when the EU is going through an energy crisis, in which they’re shutting down factories, fertilizer production, agricultural processing because their wind isn’t working,” Dan Kish, a senior fellow at the Institute for Energy Research said.

Europe has had extreme increases in oil, natural gas, and coal prices, due largely to a rapid shift to renewable energies over the past decade.
Energy experts criticized President Joe Biden’s plan to build wind farms, pointing out that wind power is costly, inefficient and indirectly produces greenhouse gas emissions despite experts’ warnings of unreliability.

“Both wind and solar have Achilles heels in that they’re intermittent,” Dan Kish, a senior fellow at the Institute for Energy Research, said.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said Wednesday that the administration would back up to seven offshore wind farms across the country, which would have a total capacity of 30 gigawatts by 2030, sufficient energy for 10 million homes. It is one part of Biden’s promise to cut U.S. emissions by 50% by 2030 and have a 100% carbon-free electricity grid by 2035.

However, government data shows that offshore wind produces only 45% of its energy capacity due to its intermittent production capability.

“It is amazing that they’re touting wind at the very time when the EU is going through an energy crisis, in which they’re shutting down factories, fertilizer production, agricultural processing because their wind isn’t working,” Kish continued. “And it’s driven up the cost of energy to replace it.”

“That the Biden administration is out there touting it and we want to go in the same direction they’ve gone in, I don’t know, you can’t make this stuff up,” he said.

Lower than predicted wind gusts meant lower energy production which meant a swift shift back to fossil fuel. European utilities have even been going back to coal which is more carbon-intensive than either oil or natural gas.

“Often, you’re pairing clean energy from wind with dirty energy from natural gas in order to be able to allow the wind into the grid itself,” American Institute for Economic Research senior faculty Ryan Yonk said. “So we end up with strange outcomes where, as you add more wind, you have to add more fossil fuels in order to have a backup.”

The Department of Justice and White House press secretary Jen Psaki are cleaning up the mess after President Biden told reporters Friday evening that anyone who defies a congressional subpoena should be prosecuted.

The president’s comments come as the Jan. 6 select commission is amping up sending out subpoenas to former President Trump administration officials and others who may have information on Trump’s endeavor to investigate claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Biden told reporters in a South Lawn gaggle outside of Air Force One, “I hope the committee goes after them and holds accountable,” referring to individuals who do not comply with a congressional subpoena.

One reporter asked, “Should they be prosecuted?”

“I do, yes,” Biden answered.

DOJ spokesman Anthony Coley sternly responded to Biden last week saying, “The Department of Justice will make its own independent decisions in all prosecutions based solely on the facts and the law. Period. Full stop.”

Psaki attempted to clear up Biden’s statement on Twitter, saying that the president supports the “independent role” of DOJ’s prosecutorial decisions.

Former President Trump DOJ official Jeffrey Clark was subpoenaed by the commission earlier this week for testimony and documents. Former Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen had an interview with the commission on Wednesday as well.

Louisiana’s Audubon Zoo will be vaccinating its animals against COVID-19, the zoo announced Tuesday, according to CBS News.

Zoetis, the company which developed the vaccine for animals, donated more than 11,000 doses of the vaccine to zoos, conservatories, sanctuaries, and other organizations, according to a press release.

The Department of Agriculture has approved the vaccine for experimental use on a case-by-case basis.

Gorillas and orangutans will be the first to receive the vaccine. The zoo claims that all animals receiving the vaccine “voluntarily participate in their own health through positive reinforcement training.” The animals have been trained to sit, stand or present their bodies to staff, according to CBS News.

“It’s very important to us to protect our animals against Covid-19 and the Delta variant. We have been evaluating the scientific literature on animal susceptibility throughout the pandemic, and we are eager to protect our animals,” Senior Veterinarian Bob Maclean said in a statement. According to zoo officials, there have been no recorded cases of COVID-19 in any of their animals at this time.