02a U.S. Politics – Conservative

Blurb:

 

A Democrat faces possible expulsion from Congress after federal prosecutors alleged that she stole millions in federal funds and used that money to finance her campaign.

The House Ethics Committee will host a public trial for Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) on Thursday in connection with the allegations. According to reports, such public trials are rare and signal that Cherfilus-McCormick may be in deep trouble.

The defendants ‘conspired to steal that $5 million and routed it through multiple accounts to disguise its source,’ the DOJ alleged.

Indeed, she is already under federal indictment.

Back in November, the Department of Justice announced that Cherfilus-McCormick, her brother Edwin Cherfilus, and other co-defendants had been charged after they allegedly bilked millions from a FEMA-funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract.

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Once again, academic freedom is suddenly a concern. Funny how this is never a worry when it affects conservatives.

Campus Reform reports:

Princeton professors discuss resisting Trump administration’s anti-DEI policies at panel

Faculty at Princeton University are organizing opposition to the Trump administration’s efforts to eliminate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, with panelists warning that the policies could affect academic freedom on campus.

About 30 professors gathered for a recent American Association of University Professors (AAUP) panel to discuss how faculty should respond to the Department of Education under President Donald Trump, as the group reportedly increased its meeting frequency in response to federal actions targeting DEI initiatives.

The panel featured Princeton professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and Institute for Advanced Study professor emerita Joan W. Scott, who argued that recent federal policies reflect a broader effort to influence higher education. Taylor said at the meeting as reported by The Daily Princetonian that the changes have “created conditions of fear, intimidation, and repression on college campuses.”

Speakers also pointed to organizations such as the Heritage Foundation as influential in policy discussions surrounding higher education reform and DEI programs.

Blurb:

A new poll from Quantus Insights — one of the most accurate pollsters of the 2024 presidential election — found Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton leading longtime Senator John Cornyn in the runoff election for the state’s Republican U.S. Senate primary.

The poll, which surveyed 1,217 likely voters between March 22-23, found Paxton leading with 48.8 percent of the vote to Cornyn’s 41.3 percent. An additional 9.9 percent of respondents indicated that they remain undecided.

When asked about their likelihood of voting in the runoff, 89 percent said they were certain to vote, 8.9 percent said they probably would vote, and 2.1 percent said it was 50-50. When asked to recall their vote in the initial March 3 primary, 40 percent of respondents said they voted for Cornyn, 38.6 percent for Paxton and 10.6 percent for U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt.

Blurb:

Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked a Democrat-led effort to halt U.S. military involvement in Iran, defeating a war powers resolution for the third time since the conflict began nearly a month ago.

The measure, introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), sought to require President Donald Trump to seek congressional authorization before continuing military operations against Iran.

Blurb:

“We expect the defendant to remain detained and be deported following sentencing, due to the felony conviction.”

An illegal immigrant who identifies as transgender has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy inside a Manhattan bodega last year, but will not serve additional jail time beyond the six months already spent in custody.

According to the New York Post, Nicol Alexandra Contreras-Suarez, a 31-year-old Colombian national, was admitted to Manhattan Supreme Court on Tuesday for charges of second-degree rape stemming from a February 2025 incident in East Harlem. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Contreras-Suarez was sentenced to six months behind bars.

As a result, Contreras-Suarez is expected to be released following formal sentencing on April 27. Federal immigration authorities may take Contreras-Suarez into custody at that time for potential deportation, though officials have not confirmed their plans.

Blurb:

Democrats have spent the past year calling ICE agents the nazi secret police, disappearing random brown people off the streets. I know that you know that I know that you know their real concern was all the undocumented democrats Trump was deporting, but that’s besides the point. They lied about ICE agents, then held Homeland Security funding hostage until Republicans reformed (defunded) ICE based on those lies.

Chaos was caused at airports. Americans were made to suffer on behalf of the Democrat Party agenda. Trump sent ICE agents to the airports to help. Democrats said they were going to shoot passengers. It was going to be a disaster.

Congrats to Chuck Schumer and Temu Obama. You just played yourself.

Blurb:

Monday’s edition of Amanpour & Co., airing on PBS (and CNN International) showcased eponymous host Christiane Amanpour assenting to the radical view of her guest, Yale University professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Also ahead, “White Supremacy in Donald Trump’s White House.” Princeton Professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor speaks to Michel Martin about Trump’s war on DEI.

The above shows the host quoting a featured article by her guest. But Amanpour was also comfortable straight-up saying Trump’s White House was a “white supremacist” house.

AMANPOUR: Since the start of his second term, President Trump has signed a number of executive orders targeting DEI policies, uttered rhetoric deemed racist at immigrants and is generally eroding the, quote, “melting pot identity” the U.S. once prided itself on. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is a Princeton professor of African American studies and she’s the co-founder of the black politics and culture magazine Hammer & Hope. In her recent piece, she describes a white supremacy in Donald Trump’s White House and joins Michel Martin to discuss the rollback of civil rights.

Blurb:

The terrorist group that claimed responsibility for the attacks on Jewish ambulances in London issued a threat to the West, saying it would carry out more similar attacks on civilians.

The new organization, called The Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Righteous, has carried out terrorist attacks in other nations, including Greece and the Netherlands. It seeks to get revenge for wars in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran, according to a statement it gave to CBS News:

A group that has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks targeting Jewish institutions across Europe told CBS News it will continue targeting U.S. and Israeli interests a day after three men were captured by security cameras torching ambulances used by a global Jewish medical organization in London.

Hours later, the little-known group claimed responsibility for another attack, in which a car was burned in a Jewish neighborhood in Antwerp, Belgium.

“We’ll keep threatening U.S. and Israeli interests worldwide until we’ve avenged every child in Gaza, Iran, Lebanon, and the resistance nations,” a person representing the Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia group (which translates as: The Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Righteous) told CBS News late Monday. “We urge people to stay away from Zionist and American interests and individuals to keep themselves safe.”

Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia first announced its existence in early March, after the U.S. and Israel launched the ongoing war on Iran. In the 25 days since, it has claimed a series of antisemitic attacks across Europe. The group’s channel on the Telegram messaging app, where it has published a series of propaganda videos, was created just last week.

Blurb:

Democrats have once again refused to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which has been subjected to a lengthy 39 day shut down due to their unwillingness to come to the bargaining table.

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The following is the prepared testimony of The Federalist’s Senior Legal Correspondent Margot Cleveland for a March 24 hearing titled “Arctic Frost: A Modern Watergatebefore the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights.

Chairman Cruz, Ranking Member Whitehouse, and Members of the Subcommittee,

Thank you for the opportunity to testify concerning the grave constitutional violations inflicted as part of the Arctic Frost investigation.

After the 2020 election, an anti-Trump FBI agent named Tim Thibault attempted to use the justice department to destroy the President. Thibault’s efforts led to the launch of Arctic Frost. Soon after, Merrick Garland tapped Jack Smith, a “hyper-aggressive prosecutor,” known to “overstretch the meaning and intent of the law,” to serve as Special Counsel.

Smith proved himself true to form, indicting Trump for allegedly violating a statute enacted in the aftermath of Enron, based in part on a theory of criminal liability the Supreme Court would later hold invalid. The Supreme Court would later halt Smith’s efforts to prosecute Trump for actions that fell within the President’s official duties.

Blurb:

 

Republican House Oversight Committee members announced that the committee had launched an investigation into claims of hospice fraud in California.

“Despite clear red flags, it appears California leaders have enabled hospice providers to DEFRAUD hardworking American taxpayers,” Chairman James Comer wrote on X. “The House Oversight Committee is moving to protect taxpayer funds from waste, fraud, and abuse.”

The outrage started in January when Dr. Mehmet Oz, the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), said California owed over $1 billion in Medicaid funds improperly used for health care for illegal aliens.

Then Leslie wrote about the hospice fraud last week, citing investigations from CBS News and Nick Shirley.

Blurb:

In a stunning turn of events, Virginia Democrats are discovering that their effort to gerrymander their state could blow up in their faces.

The April 21 special election referendum is one month away, and Democrats who once crusaded against partisan map-rigging are sweating bullets, because it looks as if voters won’t approve their plan to eliminate four Republican-held seats and make Virginia one of the most heavily gerrymandered states in the country. They assumed this would be easy.

Even Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed on to the effort, despite her past opposition to gerrymandering. Back in 2019, she said, “gerrymandering is detrimental to our democracy, and it weakens the individual voices that form our electorates,” and insisted that “opposing gerrymandering should be a bipartisan priority.”

That quote hasn’t aged particularly well, and it could prove to be her major defeat as governor.

“Some supporters of the Virginia referendum acknowledge the challenge of convincing voters to back a gerrymandered map when Democrats, who several years ago backed the formation of the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission, have criticized Republicans for similar moves,” NBC News reports. “Virginia voters are also not accustomed to going to the polls in April, when Democrats scheduled the special election, making turnout particularly unpredictable.”

Blurb:

While the Supreme Court on Monday expressed skepticism about states accepting mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, an overwhelming majority of voters have already decided against the practice, according to a recent poll conducted just days before the high court heard oral arguments in Watson v. RNC.

As The Federalist’s Shawn Fleetwood reported, Watsondeals with a challenge to a Mississippi law authorizing absentee ballots to be accepted up to five days after Election Day so long as they are postmarked before or on the day of the contest.”

A survey of 1,600 likely voters conducted on behalf of the Honest Elections Project earlier this month found that 93 percent of Republicans, 83 percent of Independents, and 74 percent of Democrats agree ballots “should be received by Election Day.” While overall, 83 percent of those surveyed agree with this deadline, a significant majority — 57 percent — “strongly agree.”

The survey also found that 60 percent of likely voters agree officials should not count mail-in ballots if they are “received after polls close on Election Day.” This includes 80 percent of Republicans and, although not a majority, a significant 42 percent of Democrats.

A majority of respondents indicated that counting ballots received after Election Day polls are closed “endanger[s] public trust in elections.” Sixty percent total, including 79 percent of Republicans and 44 percent of Democrats, think this practice “makes it easier to cheat” in elections. However, an overwhelming 90 percent of Republicans and 68 percent of Democrats say requiring ballots to be received “by the end of Election Day makes elections more secure.”

Blurb:

 

More details and responses have emerged after tragedy struck New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Sunday night.

Blaze News previously reported that an Air Canada Express CRJ-900 plane operated by regional partner Jazz Aviation struck a Port Authority Airport Rescue and Firefighting vehicle that was responding to a separate incident.

‘I feel like the pilots saved our lives.’

The incident, which occurred between approximately 11:40 p.m. and 11:47 p.m. on Sunday, according to multiple official sources, was likely caused by “multiple failures,” according to a lead investigator.

An air traffic controller could be heard saying, “I messed up,” shortly after the incident, which killed both pilots and hospitalized 41 other people, including the two workers in the emergency vehicle involved in the collision.

RELATED: ‘I messed up’: LaGuardia Airport shut down after deadly collision

The air traffic controller was coordinating the response to another, unrelated issue with a United Airlines flight across the tarmac. There were reports of a strange odor.

Blurb:

The Trump administration has taken a significant step toward shutting down the Department of Education by transferring one of its largest responsibilities, student loan operations, to the Treasury Department.

The move signals what officials describe as the most substantial phase yet in a broader effort to wind down the federal agency.

Major Shift in Student Loan Control

The Department of Education announced an interagency agreement with the Treasury Department that will transfer responsibility for collecting defaulted federal student loan debt.

Under the agreement, Treasury will “assume operational responsibility for collecting on defaulted Federal student loan debt and provide operational support to ED’s efforts to return borrowers to repayment,” the department said.

Nicholas Kent, Undersecretary of Education, described the move as part of a larger strategy:

“I think we’ve been very clear about this last week that this is a multiphase process.”

Blurb:

The possibility of a showdown between the United States and Russia is looming as a Russian tanker laden with oil steams toward Cuba and a U.S. blockade.

The Anatoly Kolodkin has 730,000 barrels of oil aboard, according to Politico, and is heading for the Cuban port of Matanzas. It could arrive in two to three days, Michelle Wiese Bockmann, a senior maritime intelligence analyst at Windward AI, said.

The Kolodkin was escorted through the English Channel by the Russian navy, but since then the tanker has been on its own.

Politico reported that former Trump administration officials expect the tanker to be stopped, but that current administration officials are keeping quiet about what the U.S. will do.

Russia has not said for certain that it plans to test the blockade and create the biggest showdown since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, preferring to drop hints wrapped in bland statements of support for Cuba, which has been under an oil blockade ever since American forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. Cuba relied on Venezuelan oil, which has been cut off since January.

Blurb:

The global Jeffrey Epstein scandal is detonating again as French financial prosecutors have launched raids on the prominent Roshchild banking family as part of the escalating investigations into the explosive revelations buried in the late child predator’s files.

Authorities confirmed searches were carried out across multiple locations, including the Paris branch of Swiss private bank Edmond de Rothschild, as part of a widening investigation into potential corruption linked to Jeffrey Epstein’s network.

The investigations are being led by France’s anti-corruption and financial crimes unit.

Blurb:

A horrific explosion at a Texas crude oil refinery prompted an immediate shelter-in-place order.

The blast occurred at the Valero Refinery in Port Arthur, Texas.

“At this time, numerous emergency crews are on the scene following a major explosion at a Valero refinery. Large flames are visible, with heavy smoke rising and seen for miles. Multiple witnesses reported feeling the ground shake at the time of the blast,” Rawsalerts wrote.

“A shelter-in-place order has been issued for nearby residents as a precaution while crews work to contain the situation. The cause of the explosion remains unknown and is currently under investigation,” the post added.

Blurb:

45,800.

That’s how many more ballots were counted than were cast in Riverside, California.

Let that sink in. If tens of thousands of ballots can appear out of nowhere in a single county, how many elections—local, state, even federal—have been compromised? How many outcomes were decided not by voters, but by a broken system no one wants to examine?

Passing the SAVE Act isn’t optional. It’s urgent. It’s the bare minimum to start restoring order to an election system that’s spiraling out of control.

ABC7: RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KABC) — Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco has launched an investigation into a potential discrepancy in the number of ballots cast in last year’s special election. On one hand, the Riverside County registrar of voters said the number of ballots counted by machines numbered more than 657,000. But an independent investigation by a group of concerned citizens shows the number of handwritten logs filled out by various elections officials and poll workers showed just more than 611,000 votes cast. “I’m not saying anyone is lying, or there’s a series of mistakes,” said Bianco at a news conference Friday morning. “I’m saying I don’t know.” “We’re not talking about ten, we’re not even talking about a thousand. We’re talking about the difference between having a perfect count, and a 45,800 vote difference. That’s massive,” he said. (ABC 7)

Blurb:

In real life, it turns out that you can’t stalk officials, dox their innocent families, or try to run them over with your car without getting into hot water.

What a difference a real DOJ makes! On Monday, the Maine District U.S. Attorney’s Office released the most delightful news brief:

A Thomaston resident pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Portland to assaulting a U.S. Border Patrol agent engaged in his official duties.

According to court records, in August 2025, a United States Border Patrol agent responded to a one-vehicle crash in Washington, Maine. As law enforcement conducted a roadside investigation, Olivia Wilkins, 24, came upon the scene in an automobile and parked close to officers. Wilkins voiced concerns regarding Border Patrol’s presence in the area, but was permitted to move the vehicle further back from the crash to continue observing law enforcement. As the Border Patrol agent took an individual on scene into custody and began moving the individual to a nearby Border Patrol vehicle, Wilkins quickly accelerated toward the agent, who pulled the individual off the roadside away from the oncoming vehicle. Wilkins stopped the vehicle without striking either the agent or the individual in custody before swerving back into the lane of travel and fleeing the scene. Maine State Police troopers were able to arrest Wilkins a short distance away.

Blurb:

Robert Clarke, a lawyer and the director of advocacy with ADF International was published in the Federalist on March 23, 2026 with his article: Around the World, Assisted Suicide Laws Are Losing Support. Clarke outlines how campaigns to legalize euthanasia and/or assisted suicide have lost their luster and a new direction has begun to begin rolling back laws that already exist.

Clarke writes:

Last week, Scotland resolutely rejected assisted suicide. Alberta announced major new legislation to protect individuals from the practice. And the clock is ticking in the United Kingdom’s House of Lords on a bill that would legalize the practice in England and Wales.

Blurb:

The Supreme Court gave Christian street preacher Gabriel Olivier of Mississippi the green light to proceed with a federal lawsuit after he was arrested for violating a city ordinance preventing him from ministering outside a public amphitheater.

This is a massive win for advocates of the First Amendment and religious liberty.

The 9-0 opinion, announced Friday, was authored by Justice Elena Kagan, an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama.

A unanimous opinion about religious freedom, written by a liberal justice? That should tell you everything.

In a world where the tentacles of partisan politics constantly creep into America’s courtrooms, this is a surprising outcome.

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Yes, that is exactly what the UK needs, more jihad. More sharia. More antisemitism. More Jewish ambulance burnings.

Robert Spencer: He will get his wish. But as the transfer of power takes place, and shattered, staggering, dhimmi Britain comes under Muslim rule, no Muslims will ever call for greater non-Muslim representation in parliament.

Blurb:

German former bishop Reinaldo Nann has come to the defense of Pope Leo XIV in light of his participation in a 1995 Pachamama-related ceremony, arguing his presence was only an “interreligious” cultural gesture to honor the “soul of the Earth.”

On March 22, Spanish language news outlet Religión Digital published a defense of Pope Leo XIV by Nann defending Leo XIV against accusations that he participated in an act of idolatry during a 1995 ecological and theological congress in Brazil, where then-missionary Father Robert Prevost was photographed kneeling in the context of a ceremony associated with Pachamama, a pagan goddess linked to Andean religious traditions.

Blurb:

“I don’t think we should make any deal with the Crazy, Country Destroying, Radical Left Democrats unless, and until, they Vote with Republicans to pass ‘THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,’” Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday night. “It is far more important than anything else we are doing in the Senate, and that includes giving these same terrible people, the Dems (who are to blame for this mess!), a Five Billion Dollar cut in ICE funding, a deal which, even when disguised as something else, is unacceptable to me and the American people – UNLESS it includes their approval of Voter I.D., (with picture!), Citizenship to Vote, No Mail-In Voting (with exceptions), All Paper Ballots, No Men In Women’s Sports, and No Transgender MUTILIZATION of our precious children.”

The president then urged Senate Republicans to combine all of those bills and amendments into one piece of legislation, eliminate the filibuster, and skip their two-week Easter recess, due to start at the end of this week, if needed to pass it.

Trump also warned Republicans against voting to strike down what is now slated to be a massive bill.

“Let Leader Thune clearly identify those few ‘Republicans’ that are Voting against AMERICA. They will never be elected again!” he added.

Blurb:

I know you’re going to be shocked at this, but CNN was just forced to admit that Trump was right.  Again.

After spending most of the day yesterday claiming that President Trump was lying when he said Iran reached out to initiate talks on Sunday night, now they’ve just gone on the air to reverse that story.

See here:

Longer clip here:

Blurb:

A bare majority of likely Republican voters say Israel has too much influence over U.S. foreign policy weeks into the Iran War, a poll shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation shows.

Just over half — 51% of Republicans — answered “yes” when asked “Does Israel have too much influence over American foreign policy?” compared to 43% who said “no,” according to a Democracy Institute national survey of U.S. likely voters released Monday. Meanwhile, 63% of all voters, including 74% of Democrats, agreed that Israel has too much influence.

The poll’s release came just under a month after the U.S. and Israel jointly launched strikes on Iran killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens of other officials of the Islamist regime.

The ongoing war in Iran has killed at least 13 U.S. service members and ranks among one of the least popular conflicts in modern U.S. history at its relative point in time. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released the day after the strikes found that only 27% of U.S. adults approved of them.

Blurb:

Lebanon kicked out Iran’s ambassador-designate Tuesday, making it the fourth Arab country in a week to oust Iranian officials as Tehran’s grip on the region rapidly weakens.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi announced on X that Mohammad Reza Shibani must leave the country by March 29. Beirut also ousted its Iranian ambassador Tuesday, the Washington Examiner reported.

Shibani took over the post earlier this year after his predecessor, Mojtaba Amani, suffered injuries during the September 2024 pager attack that devastated Hezbollah’s ranks. The Lebanese government had already banned Hezbollah military operations on March 2, Reuters reported. The government reportedly ordered the arrest of any IRGC members operating in the country days later.

Raggi appeared at a gathering of regional officials in Riyadh last week, where he accused Iran of exploiting Arab nations for its own strategic ends, the Jerusalem Post reported.

“By targeting Arab and Islamic countries, Iran is attempting to hijack their security and peace and trade them for its own opportunistic objectives,” Raggi said. Lebanon also voiced support for Kuwait and the UAE after both countries uncovered Hezbollah terror cells on their soil, the outlet reported.

Blurb:

Special Counsel Jack Smith’s targeting of Kash Patel and numerous congressional Republicans as part of his lawfare against Donald Trump was worse than originally thought, new records show.

Released Tuesday by Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the new documents demonstrate that Smith and his team’s efforts to acquire Patel’s phone records during his time as a private citizen were far more extensive than previously reported. The bid to acquire such information came as part of Smith’s Arctic Frost investigation, which ultimately became his elector lawfare against Trump.

Now-FBI Director Patel originally told Reuters last month that the Biden FBI had subpoenaed his phone records, as well as those of then-Trump confidant and now-White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. The subpoenas covered phone calls from 2022 and 2023, with Patel claiming that Smith’s collection of Wiles’ phone records “extended into [her] time as Trump’s co-campaign manager, though he did not say when exactly the record collection began or ended,” according to the outlet.

Blurb:

California Democrats are melting down after a viral video showed federal immigration authorities arresting two illegal aliens at San Francisco International Airport.

The footage shows one of the illegal aliens, a woman, wailing and dropping to the ground as plainclothes agents take her into custody while a child cries nearby.

In response to the footage, Democrats deceitfully described the woman as a “Sacramento mother.”

Democrats Condemn Arrest

Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA) responded by condemning the arrest and demanding answers from federal authorities.

“I am deeply angered by the video released of a Sacramento mother being forcibly detained by ICE in front of her young daughter at San Francisco International Airport this weekend,” Matsui said.

“This is our neighbor and a member of our community.

“This video showcases the cruelty we have come to expect from Trump’s ICE agents…

“I am demanding answers as to why ICE treated this Sacramentan so violently in front of her daughter.”