TY baker…sorry someone shit your dough though.
Senate Budget Panel Advances Vought for Confirmation
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/senate-omb-confirmation/2025/01/30/id/1197185/
The Senate Budget Committee on Thursday advanced Russell Vought's nomination to be President Donald Trump's budget chief.
The panel voted 11-0 to move Vought's nomination to be Office of Management and Budget director to the Senate floor for confirmation, Politico reported.
Only Republicans voted. Democrats boycotted the panel's meeting.
Little more than an hour before the noon meeting, Democrats on the committee posted on X that they would boycott the vote.
"Budget Committee Democrats are protesting the committee vote on Russell Vought's nomination to OMB to send a clear message: Vought is dangerously unfit for office," ranking member Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., posted alongside video of Democrats criticizing Vought.
On Wednesday, Democrats pressed Vought on what they said were Trump's "illegal" executive orders pausing certain funding under the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
The committee's Democrats had called for a delay in the proceedings to confirm Vought.
"The Senate Budget Committee will proceed with Mr. Vought's nomination as scheduled," the spokesperson for the committee's Republican chair, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in a statement Tuesday.
OMB acting Director Matthew J. Vaeth said that the funding pause was meant to give time to determine if the programs fall in line with Trump's executive orders on foreign aid and climate change as well as the reversal of "woke gender ideology" and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
On Wednesday, a White House spokesperson said the federal funding freeze remains in effect despite media reports it had been rescinded.
Vought also drew anger from Democrats for saying the 2020 presidential election was rigged.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/01/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-expands-educational-opportunities-for-american-families/
US Ban on Gun Sales to Adults Under Age 21 Is Unconstitutional, Court Rules
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/gun-sales-constitution-firearms/2025/01/30/id/1197207/
A decades-old U.S. government ban on federally licensed firearms dealers selling handguns to adults under the age of 21 is unconstitutional, a U.S. appeals court held on Thursday, citing recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings expanding gun rights.
The ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals marked the first time a federal appeals court has held that the prohibition violated the right to keep and bear arms enshrined in the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment.
The appeals court had previously upheld that same ban in 2012. But that was before the 6-3 conservative majority U.S. Supreme Court handed down a landmark ruling in 2022 that established a new test for assessing modern firearms laws.
In New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, the Supreme Court held that modern gun restrictions were required to be "consistent with this nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation."
The federal ban on sales to people under 21 was first adopted by Congress in 1968 as part of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act.
A group of individuals between the ages of 18 and 20 along with the gun rights groups the Firearms Policy Coalition and the Second Amendment Foundation challenged the ban in 2020 and was appealing a lower-court judge's decision upholding the statutes.
U.S. Circuit Judge Edith Jones, writing for Thursday's three-judge panel, said that decision was wrong, as the statutes were "unconstitutional in light of our Nation's historic tradition of firearm regulation."
The U.S. Department of Justice during Democratic former President Joe Biden's tenure had defended the ban. But Jones said it put forth "scant" evidence to show that the gun rights of adults ages 18 to 20 were similarly restricted during the nation's founding era in the 1700s.
"Ultimately, the text of the Second Amendment includes eighteen-to-twenty-year-old individuals among “the people” whose right to keep and bear arms is protected," wrote Jones, who like the other panel members was appointed by a Republican president.
Brandon Combs, the Firearms Policy Coalition's president, in a statement called the ruling a victory against "an immoral and unconstitutional age-based gun ban."
The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
KEK! Go Woke Go Broke has competition now!
Civil Rights Activists Call for Target Boycott After Retailer Backs Off DEI
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/target-diversity-equity-inclusion-minneapolis-civil-rights/2025/01/30/id/1197213/
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Civil rights activists gathered outside the headquarters of Target Corp. on Thursday to call for a national boycott of the retailing giant over its decision to phase out its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Target announced last Friday that it would join competitor Walmart and a number of other prominent American brands in scaling back their DEI initiatives, which have come under attack from conservatives and the new White House of President Donald Trump.
Nekima Levy Armstrong, a veteran civil rights lawyer in Minneapolis and founder of the Racial Justice Network, joined other local activists and their supporters at a news conference to urge people to begin the boycott on Saturday, the first day of Black History Month. Many of the participants were regular Target shoppers until now, she said.
Levy Armstrong said they were “stunned” that Target, which increased its commitment to building a more diverse workforce in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis in 2020, backed away from its support of racial equity.
“We thought that they would hold the line. We thought that they would continue to stand for the values that we all hold dear,” she said. "But instead they acted cowardly, and they made the decision to bow down to the Trump administration. Well, we are here today saying we will not bow down. We will not step back, and we will not turn around.”
Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on Islamic-American Relations, said that as a company based in the city where Floyd's murder sparked a national reckoning with racial injustice, Target must be called out.
“We here in Minneapolis today, the good people of the state, are saying to our friends all over the country, ‘If you were moved to do something good after the murder of George Floyd, it is time for you to stand up and boycott Target,’” Hussein said.
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The organizers of the boycott include local Black Lives Matter groups. During the boycott announcement, some speakers cut up their distinctive red Target charge cards, while others called on DEI supporters to shop at Costco, which reaffirmed its commitment to DEI last week.
Despite the anger with Target, the news conference-turned-rally took on a festive atmosphere, with a New Orleans-style brass band playing protest songs like Bob Marley's “Get Up, Stand Up.” Participants circled up for a prayer before the speeches began.
Target, which long was viewed as a strong advocate for the rights of Black and LGBTQ+ people, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday on the call for a boycott. But in a memo to employees last week, Kiera Fernandez, Target’s chief community impact and equity officer, described the company's decision to retire its diversity goals as a “next chapter” in the company’s human resource and customer engagement strategy.
“And as a retailer that serves millions of consumers every day, we understand the importance of staying in step with the evolving external landscape, now and in the future,” she wrote.
Levy Armstrong said Target has not reached out to her or other local Black leaders. She said they expected more from Target, and now feel like everything it had done in support of people of color was just window dressing. The starting point for any conversation, she said, would be for the company reverse its decision immediately.
“Target knows what its presence and its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion means to this community," Levy Armstrong said. “So that is why we are focusing on Target first. But that does not mean that those other businesses should not also be held accountable. All of those businesses should be held accountable, and they should not have access to our dollars.”
Speakers also called on long-established civil rights groups that have benefited from Target’s philanthropy, such as the NAACP and the Urban League, to join the opposition to Target’s decision. Levy Armstrong and Hussein said they plan to partner with other national organizations to get the word out about the boycott and to take other steps they were not yet ready to share publicly.
Ever since calls for a boycott began circulating on social media, the founders of several Black-owned businesses that sell their products in Target stores or through the company's online platforms have expressed concern that a broad boycott might hurt them. They included the owners of hair care brands The Doux and Camille Rose, and the cosmetics brand Lip Bar.
The Minneapolis organizers said Black consumers and their white allies can continue to support those companies while cutting Target out.
“We are asking people to go on their websites and buy directly from those Black companies, because Target will not see a single one of our Black dollars,” Levy Armstrong said.
Sen. Ron Johnson Subpoenas Fauci Records
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/biden-covid-subpoena/2025/01/30/id/1197197/
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., announced this week that he has issued a subpoena to obtain records kept by former White House COVID response director Dr. Anthony Fauci, including emails and safety data, that he claims were withheld by the Biden administration.
In a press release, Johnson said, "In the waning days of the Biden administration and after years of obstructing my oversight efforts, I warned [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services] officials that when I become chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, I will subpoena records and data on the COVID-19 pandemic that have been inappropriately withheld from Congress and the American people for far too long."
He added, "Yesterday, I subpoenaed HHS for documents on the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic — including a subset of Dr. Fauci's emails — and the development and safety of the COVID-19 vaccines. Many of these records should have been turned over to me years ago, but the Biden administration opted to keep Congress and the public in the dark."
According to the press release, the subpoena demands "heavily redacted communications about the pandemic," including emails sent and received by Fauci, safety data on COVID-19 vaccines, and records about side effects experienced by some vaccinated people.
Gabbard at DNI Hearing: Dems Upset 'I Refuse to Be Their Puppet'
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/dni-tulsi-gabbard-senate/2025/01/30/id/1197129/
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Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump's pick to be director of national intelligence, faced sharp criticism from Democrats on Thursday during a fiery confirmation hearing focused on her past comments sympathetic to Russia, her meeting with Syria's now-deposed leader and her past support for government leaker Edward Snowden.
Gabbard's opening statement went all-in on critics opposed to her nomination because she asks tough questions and does not always follow Washington dogma.
"The fact is what truly unsettles my political opponents is that I refuse to be their puppet," she said.
Gabbard started her hearing by telling lawmakers that big changes are needed to address years of failures of America's intelligence service. She said too often intelligence has been false or politicized, leading to wars, foreign policy failures and the misuse of espionage. And she said those lapses have continued as the U.S. faces renewed threats from Russia and China.
"The bottom line is this must end. President Trump's reelection is a clear mandate from the American people to break this cycle of failure and the weaponization and politicization of the intelligence community," Gabbard told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Gabbard promised to be objective and noted her military service, saying she would bring the same sense of duty and responsibility to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees and coordinates the work of 18 intelligence agencies.
Gabbard, a former Democrat congresswoman from Hawaii, is a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard who deployed twice to the Middle East and ran for president in 2020. She has no formal intelligence experience, however, and has never run a government agency or department.
It is Gabbard's comments, however, that have posed the biggest challenge to her confirmation. Gabbard has repeatedly echoed Russian propaganda used to justify the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine and criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a corrupt autocrat.
She has been accused of spreading Russian disinformation by Republican lawmakers and has even won praise in Russian state-controlled media. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., asked Gabbard on Thursday whether Russia would "get a pass" from her.
"Senator I'm offended by the question," Gabbard responded. "Because my sole focus, commitment and responsibility is about our own nation, our own security and the interests of the American people."
A 2017 visit with Syrian President Bashar Assad is another point of contention. Assad was recently deposed as his country's leader following a brutal civil war in which he was accused of using chemical weapons. Following her visit, Gabbard faced criticism that she was legitimizing a dictator and then more questions when she said she was skeptical that Assad had used chemical weapons.
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"I just do not understand show you can blame NATO for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine, and when Assad used chemical weapons against his own people, you didn't condemn him," said the committee's senior Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia.
Gabbard defended her meeting with Assad, saying she used the opportunity to press the Syrian leader on his human rights record.
"I asked him tough questions about his own regime's actions," Gabbard said.
In a back-and-forth that at times grew heated, lawmakers from both parties raised concerns about her past statements supportive of Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who fled to Russia after he was charged with revealing classified information about surveillance programs.
Gabbard said, while Snowden revealed important facts about surveillance programs she believes are unconstitutional, he violated rules about protecting classified secrets.
"Edward Snowden broke the law," she said.
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., repeatedly pressed Gabbard on whether she believed Snowden is a traitor. "Yes or no, is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America?"
Gabbard responded directly.
"As someone who has served in uniform in combat, I understand how critical our national security is," she said before Bennet cut her off, saying "Apparently, you don't."
As a lawmaker, Gabbard sponsored legislation that would have repealed a key surveillance program known as Section 702, which allows authorities to collect the communications of suspected terrorists overseas.
Gabbard argued then that the program could be violating the rights of Americans whose communications are swept up inadvertently, but national security officials say the program has saved lives.
She now says she supports the program, noting new safeguards designed to protect Americans' privacy.Gabbard defended her change of opinion.
While lawmakers from both parties have raised concerns about Gabbard's nomination, Republicans have increasingly come to support her. Given thin Republican margins in the Senate, she will need almost all GOP senators to vote yes in order to win confirmation.
Sen. Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, supports Gabbard's nomination and said at the start of Thursday's hearing that he hopes she can rein in an office that he said has grown too large and bureaucratic.
Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, noted the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is now larger, in terms of staffing, than any of the agencies it was created to oversee.
"Look at where conventional thinking has got us. Maybe Washington could use a little more unconventional thinking," Cotton said. "Ms. Gabbard, I submit that, if confirmed, the measure of your success will largely depend on whether you can return the ODNI to its original size, scope, and mission."
This is part of the reason the feds are holding up money.
Why does the senate get to do a confirmation hearing, when it's the president hiring someone for a post under his admin?
They are working for the president, not the congress.