Texas Lt Gov Patrick Wants to Buy Construction Materials Auctioned by DHS, Donate Them to Trump

Border Wall

Texas GOP Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says he want to buy border-construction material being auctioned by the Department of Homeland and give it to President-elect Donald Trump.

“Joe Biden is now hauling off the border wall that’s been lying down for years and he wants to auction it off starting at five dollars a piece,” Patrick told Fox News opinion-show host Laura Ingraham on Thursday. “Message to the White House right now: I will bid on all of that wall and we will buy it in Texas and we will give it to Donald Trump.”

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Wisconsin Rep. Says Loopholes That Allow Foreign Billionaires to Influence Elections Have to End

Bryan Steil

Congressman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., said Thursday that loopholes that allow foreign billionaires to influence U.S. elections need to be shut down.

“In particular, we’ve identified a loophole that allows foreign billionaires to transfer money into United States charities, 501C 3’s,” Steil said on the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show. “Forty percent of those funds can … under current law, be transferred into a super PAC to run political ads.”

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Michigan State Legislature Considers Election Bills Undermining Election Integrity, Critics Warn

Voters

The Michigan state legislature is considering several election bills which would undermine election integrity if enacted, according to election integrity proponents.

The election bills that are being considered for passage by the lame-duck session of the state legislature are the Michigan Voting Rights Act, National Popular Vote legislation, and restrictions on voter roll transparency and election challengers. Election integrity advocates are concerned about the negative impact these bills will have on elections, from creating a “lawfare state” to changing how the state will allocate its electoral votes.

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Minnesota Attorney General Sues Glock over Criminals Illegally Modifying Guns

Keith Ellison

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced on Thursday that he’s suing Glock, Inc., an Austrian firearms manufacturer, for “knowingly manufacturing and selling handguns that can easily be converted into machine guns,” he said in a livestream press conference and subsequent press release.

Although Glock does not manufacture the aftermarket add-on devices called auto sears or “switches,” which can convert Glock handguns to fire automatically and are generally illegal to possess in the United States, the attorney general accused Glock of “refus[ing] to make design changes to discourage this conversion and promotes ‘fun’ of machine guns.”

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Commentary: America Must Stay Out of the Crisis in Syria

Trump Syria

After the sudden overthrow of Syria’s brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad, there has been plenty of media commentary expressing optimism about the likely new Syrian government led by the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Although this group is a former al Qaeda offshoot, it claims to have reformed, intends to establish a moderate and tolerant government, and plans to hold elections.

The Biden administration appears ready to give a new HTS government the benefit of the doubt. Biden officials have said they will recognize and support a new government in Syria if it makes certain commitments to the U.S., including renouncing terrorism and destroying chemical weapons in the country. The Biden administration also is considering lifting U.S. terrorist designations from the HTS and its leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani.

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Virginia Immigrant Group Opposing Youngkin’s Sanctuary City Proposal Lost $1.5 Million over Lip Balm, Fidget Toy Purchases

Glenn Youngkin

The immigrant group that opposes the proposal by Governor Glenn Youngkin to strip funding from so-called sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), was denied federal funding by the Prince William County commission in February after it reportedly filed nearly $200,000 in expenses that are unfit for federal dollars distributed by the county.

Youngkin on Thursday unveiled a budget plan that includes a “No Sanctuary Cities” proposal that would require local law enforcement agencies to coordinate with ICE or lose funding.

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Biden Lifts Sentence for Former Ohio Dem Official Convicted of Taking Bribes, Corruption

Jimmy Dimora

President Joe Biden granted clemency Thursday to a former Ohio Democratic official who was convicted on charges related to taking bribes for nearly a decade.

Former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora took over $166,000 worth of bribes, which included “cash, home improvements, lavish meals at high-end restaurants, services from prostitutes, gambling trips to Las Vegas and Canada, and other items,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio.

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Arizonans Could Decide Fate of Death Penalty in 2026

Patty Contreras

An Arizona Democratic lawmaker is seeking to let voters decide if the death penalty could be legal in 2026.

Rep. Patty Contreras, D-Phoenix, filed House Concurrent Resolution 2001 for the upcoming legislative session, which would ask voters if a ban on capital punishment be placed in the state constitution. The resolution would need to pass both chambers of the Republican-majority legislature in order to make it onto the ballot.

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More Details Emerging About the City of Tucson’s ‘Shocking’ Criminal Speeding Charges Against Conservative State Senator

State Sen Justine Wadsack

State Senator Justine Wadsack (R-Tucson) is suing the City of Tucson for charging her with criminal speeding months after she was pulled over by a police officer and not given a ticket. Wadsack and her attorney Brad Miller, who is the incoming Pinal County Attorney, spoke to radio host Garrett Lewis last week during an interview about some new developments in the situation. Lewis asked Miller and Wadsack a series of questions about the “mythical speeding ticket that never existed.” 

The City of Tucson has been unable to provide any proof that Wadsack was speeding, neither from a radar gun nor the officer’s pacing, Miller said. A city attorney admitted they had no evidence. Miller conducted an interview with the Tucson Police officer who pulled Wadsack over and discovered that the officers “don’t provide any type of printout or scientific way to show that the radar guns are, first of all, working, and second, they cannot provide those to any alleged defendants at all.” Additionally, officers do not include everything they do in their reports, “so he purposely kept out pieces of information.” 

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Businesses Report Inflation Is Taking Wrench to Their Cash-Strapped Customers

Grocery Shopper

Dollar stores are reporting softened demand and increased financial stress among their lower-income consumers, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Some businesses say their customers are spending less money toward the end of the month and more focused on purchasing from cheap store brands, according to the WSJ. Dollar General said in a December earnings call that its best-performing category in its last quarter was its “value valley” aisle, which offers $1 products, the WSJ reported.

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