Month: June 2024

The Federalist President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) sued a small Texas county for drawing its district map in a way that eradicated a sole Democrat-held county seat, arguing the map violates the Voting Rights Act (VRA). But the DOJ’s decision to sue the county could backfire and potentially flip Democrat-held congressional seats after the county called its bluff and went to court over so-called “coalition districts.”  Galveston County’s Precinct 3 is held by Democrat Stephen Holmes and has long been a Democrat stronghold. Until recently, the county lines had been drawn in such a way that they created a “coalition district,” according to Paul Ready, general counsel for Galveston County. A “coalition district” is a district in which no minority group could be a majority, but multiple minority groups are then combined to form a majority-minority district to increase the chances of electing a candidate preferred by the minority groups — often a Democrat, Ready explained to The Federalist. Galveston County’s brief to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, obtained by The Federalist, alleges that coalition districts “present political, not racial, alliances.” READ THE FULL STORY 

Washington Times Senate Republicans rejected another Democratic election-year messaging bill on reproductive issues Thursday, this one focused on protecting access to in vitro fertilization. The text vote failed 48-47, a similar margin to last week’s unsuccessful Senate vote to begin debate on a bill to codify the right to contraception. Both measures required 60 votes to survive. Republicans say there are no serious efforts underway to strip away the right to contraception or in vitro fertilization (IVF) and Democrats are just trying to create a wedge issue for political purposes.  READ THE FULL STORY 

Breitbart Elon Musk’s X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has announced plans to hide all users’ “likes” in an effort to “better protect your privacy,” a move that has sparked concerns about potential blackmail, abuse, and the inability to validate post engagement — making it easier than ever for bots to distort and disrupt the platform. The Register reports that the decision to make “likes” private, which was initially available only to Premium users last year, will now be applied to all X/Twitter users. The platform’s engineering team shared the news on their account, stating that the change would be implemented sometime this week. Once the switch is flipped, the Likes tab on user profiles will disappear, though users will still be able to see a list of posts they have personally “liked.” This change means that X/Twitter users will no longer be able to see who has liked a specific post or what posts a particular person has liked. However, users will still have access to metrics from their own posts and a full list of people who have liked their content. READ THE FULL STORY         

Axios The White House on Wednesday did not rule out a possible presidential commutation for Hunter Biden after he was found guilty on all three charges in his federal gun trial. President Biden has ruled out a pardon for Hunter Biden, but a commutation could reduce any sentence that the president’s son faces while allowing his conviction to stand. Hunter Biden, convicted on Tuesday in his federal trial, faces up to 25 years in prison and a fine of up to $750,000, although it’s unlikely he would receive the maximum sentence as a first-time offender. READ THE FULL STORY                     

Washington Examiner President Joe Biden‘s average net approval rating hit a new low this week, five months before the 2024 election. Biden’s average approval equaled an administration low of 37.4% last weekend and on Wednesday, according to FiveThirtyEight. But his disapproval reached a new peak of 56.8% on Wednesday, leaving him with a net negative approval rating of 19.4 percentage points. “Biden just hit a new all-time low in approval (37.4%) at 538,” FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver posted on social media Monday. “Dropping out would be a big risk. But there’s some threshold below which continuing to run is a bigger risk. Are we there yet? I don’t know. But it’s more than fair to ask.” READ THE FULL STORY                   

Breitbart The First Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against a middle school student who wore a T-shirt displaying the message, “There are only two genders.” As Breitbart News reported last year, middle schooler Liam Morrison of Nichols Middle School in Middleborough was asked to remove his “There are only two genders” shirt. The incident first occurred on March 5 when Liam Morrison was pulled from gym class and asked to remove his shirt because other students were allegedly complaining and did not feel safe, as first reported by WPDE. The seventh grader was told by a staff member that his shirt was “targeting a protected class.”  Morrison said he would not change his shirt, and the school called his father to pick him up. During a Middleborough Public Schools board meeting on April 13, Morrison shared his experience with the intention that the school district should show more support for students’ First Amendment rights. The video was picked up by Libs of TikTok and received more than 127,000 likes on Twitter. READ THE FULL STORY                   

New York Post Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas failed in her challenge against rules that stop her from competing in elite women’s races because judges ruled she did not have standing to bring the case. The Court of Arbitration for Sport panel of three judges dismissed Thomas’ request for arbitration with the World Aquatics governing body, in a ruling released Wednesday. World Aquatics banned transgender women who have been through male puberty from competing in women’s races. It also created an “open” category for which transgender athletes would be eligible. READ THE FULL STORY