Secret Service Blamed for ‘Security Failures on Multiple Fronts’ in Attempted Trump Assassination Task Force Hearing

Mike Kelly

Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA-16) on Thursday said the U.S. Secret Service was responsible for “multiple security failures” that preceded the July 13 attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump in the first hearing of the House task force investigating both assassination attempts against the former president.

Members of the task force investigating the assassination attempts against Trump during their inaugural hearing, led by Kelly, lauded the performance of local law enforcement while warning that Secret Service failed to adequately protect Trump and attendees of his rally in Butler on July 13, when Thomas Crooks killed Corey Comperatore, shot the former president in the ear, and injured other Trump supporters in attendance.

Read the full story

Feds Urged Biden to Give Aid to Ukraine Before He Held Back to Force Burisma Prosecutor’s Firing

Just weeks before then-Vice President Joe Biden took the opposite action in late 2015, a task force of State, Treasury, and Justice Department officials declared that Ukraine had made adequate progress on anti-corruption reforms and deserved a new $1 billion U.S. loan guarantee, according to government memos that conflict with the narrative Democrats have sustained since the 2019 impeachment scandal.

Read the full story

Commentary: Dogma, Not Facts, Risks the Navy’s Readiness to Defend the Nation

Airplanes in the air above Navy ships

After the 2020 summer of riots, the U.S. Navy’s Chief of Naval Operations stood up Task Force One Navy (TF1N) on July 1, 2020. After a six-month effort, the final 142-page report was submitted on January 28, 2021 Its two operating assumptions are, first, that the Navy, as an institution, is systemically racist, and, second, that “Mission readiness is stronger when diverse strengths are used and differing perspectives are applied.” Notwithstanding several key military principles—such as unit cohesion, strict discipline across the chain of command, and, well, uniforms—the Navy is now ideologically committed to the mantra that “diversity is strength.”

Not surprisingly, considering the key entering assumptions, the task force report identified problems with Navy systems, climate, and culture; and submitted almost 60 recommendations aligned with four lines of inquiry: Recruiting, Talent Management/Retention, Professional Development, and Innovation and STEM (as well as a fifth line for miscellaneous recommendations).

One should be skeptical, however, about the entire exercise and the recommendations that flow from it. It inaccurately depicts the proud institution of the United States Navy as systemically racist—a slander that has more potential to undermine morale, good order, discipline, and military effectiveness than any geostrategic adversary. 

Read the full story

University of Minnesota Pays Former Obama Task Force Member $25k Per Month for ‘Consulting’

The University of Minnesota paid a consulting firm headed by a former Obama task force member $25,000 per month for a “comprehensive review” of the school’s police force, according to documents obtained exclusively by Campus Reform.

Cedric Alexander’s consulting firm, CL Alexander Consulting, was hired by the University of Minnesota on August 12, 2020, after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

According to a university spokesperson, the contract was in effect until early February, meaning that the University of Minnesota spent at least $134,000 on the police review.

Read the full story

Michigan Governor Signs Executive Order Creating ‘Task Force on Women in Sports’

  Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order Monday establishing a new Task Force on Women in Sports. “Multiple studies have documented that women who play sports are more likely to seek and fill leadership roles in other sectors. Yet even with the enactment of Title IX nearly fifty years ago, opportunities for girls and women in sports, while improved, remain severely limited,” the executive order states. In the executive order, Whitmer suggests that “limitations” on female athletes “intersect with what is now a pivotal moment for gender equality and opportunity in Michigan.” “Female athletes defy gender stereotypes, serve as role models, and widen perspectives,” the executive order continues. “This inequity in access and opportunity prevents girls and women in this state from fully accessing the benefits in leadership development that sports can provide—to the detriment of not only these girls and women, but also this state, which stands to gain from their leadership.” The executive order establishes the “creation of the Task Force on Women in Sports,” which will be overseen by Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. The task force is charged with assessing “the history of and current landscape for girls and women in sports in…

Read the full story

Governor DeWine Creates Task Force to Tackle the Over 300,000 Open-Warrants Issued in Ohio

Thursday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed Executive Order 2019-10D and officially established the Governor’s Warrant Task Force. The special committee has a wide mandate to investigate, analyze, and suggest solutions to Ohio’s deeply burdened and onerous open-warrant backlog. The move is the first step to fulfilling one of DeWine’s campaign promises. According to a recent study by the Columbus Dispatch, Ohio has more than 300,000 open arrest warrants. of these, 23,000 involve some form of violent act or weapons abuse. These numbers are so overwhelming that there is no effective way to analyze or, more importantly, prioritize which warrants should take the highest priority. This means that the most dangerous repeat violent offenders are buried beneath more ubiquitous and benign repeat parking offenders. The governor noted in his statement: New warrants are issued every day in this state, piling on top of a growing backlog of old unserved warrants. It is simply impossible for law enforcement to keep up, which threatens the safety of our residents and communities. I’m asking members of this task force to take a good look at this problem and identify options for improving this overwhelmed system. The task force is comprised of more than twenty members from a wide array of disciplines,…

Read the full story

Buckeye Institute Legal Fellow to Lead Ohio Task Force to Fix ‘Broken’ Prison Bail System

Friday, the Buckeye Institute announced that Daniel J. Dew, a legal fellow with the institute, would lead an Ohio Supreme Court Task Force, focused on reforming the bail system throughout Ohio. Dew has done some of the most extensive research and analysis on the state’s current bail system and his findings are rather shocking. He notes; The traditional cash bail system allows accused murderers, child rapists, armed robbers, and dangerous gang members to be arrested and released into our communities to await trial. Meanwhile, otherwise law-abiding, harmless citizens sit in jail for days, weeks, or even months for drunken jaywalking, violating dress-codes, or failing to pay traffic tickets. These absurd incongruities stem from a pretrial release system rooted in money rather than a careful, scientific assessment of the risks that the accused pose to our neighborhoods. One of the most tragic examples featured in his work; “Money Bail: Making Ohio a More Dangerous Place to Live,” tells the story of Dragan Sekulic. In 2015, he was charged with domestic violence, “felonious assault, domestic violence, and, and operating a vehicle while intoxicated,” all directed at his ex-wife. After posting a $100,000 bond, he left jail as a free man until his trial. He…

Read the full story