Black business owners are now saying that they have not benefited much from diversity efforts intended to help them, and are largely unfazed by the Trump administration rolling back DEI programs nationwide, Reuters reported on Tuesday. The report comes amid President Donald Trump’s ongoing efforts to crack down on DEI initiatives in the U.S., including in universities and across the federal government.

“DEI isn’t for us,” one black business owner, Casey Cooper, told Reuters. “It looks good on paper, but that money doesn’t go to us anyway.”

President of the National Association of Minority Contractors Wendell Stemley told Reuters that there was a false narrative surrounding the effectiveness of DEI efforts aimed at helping minority contractors. (RELATED: FCC Launches Probe Into DEI Policies At One Of Corporate Media’s Largest Strongholds)

“People want you to believe that, oh, the government got this big minority business program to give Blacks these multitude of contracts,” Stemley told the outlet. “That’s just not the way it works.” […]

— Read More: dailycaller.com

Oregon officials are referring three cases of alleged noncitizen voters to the state Department of Justice, following revelations the state’s “motor voter” system registered more than 1,600 potential noncitizens. But last fall, Democrat state House Majority Leader Ben Bowman admitted the state’s adoption of motor voter and mail-in ballots enabled noncitizens to vote.

“They voted as a result of a government mistake,” Bowman said in a September hearing. “They didn’t ask to be registered to vote, but they were by their government. Their government sent them ballots, we all talked about the importance of voting, and then they voted.”

Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read forwarded three cases of alleged noncitizen voters to the state Department of Justice in early February, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.

State officials discovered hundreds of potential noncitizens on the rolls in September, following an inquiry from the leftist Institute for Responsive Government, as The Federalist previously reported. After examining limited data, officials found more than 1,600 potential ineligible voters on the rolls. Out of this number, 10 cast ballots, the Oregon Capital Chronicle reported. While the Oregon DOJ is considering investigating three of these cases, according to OPB, the secretary of state’s office is “still looking into” the rest. […]

— Read More: thefederalist.com

A survey by the American Bar Association — certainly no bastion of conservatism — found that 63% of Americans believe the general public is not informed about how our democracy works. But at the same time, more than a third (37%) said the public is primarily responsible for safeguarding our democracy. It’s hard to safeguard something if you don’t know how it works.

These various surveys help explain why former President Biden’s mantra that “we must save democracy” got so little traction: most people had no idea what he was talking about.

Similarly, a survey rolled out by the Chamber of Commerce revealed that 70% of Americans failed a basic civic literacy quiz. Commenting on the results, Hilary Crow, head of the Chamber Foundation’s The Civic Trust, said, “Without reversing these deficiencies in understanding how our government works, we are risking the long-term health of our civic culture and democracy itself.”

This deficiency is not accidental. You can’t uphold what you don’t understand, nor protect what you don’t know, which means our government can be transformed into something it was never intended to be. That is by the Left’s design. Case in point is the terminology used in these surveys themselves: America is not a pure democracy; we are a constitutional republic. There’s a huge difference. […]

— Read More: harbingersdaily.com

And she takes guff from no one, as she has repeatedly proven. She did it again Tuesday when she sliced and diced Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for his depraved take on the Toronto jet crash, which was terrifying but miraculously led to no deaths.

It’s Trump’s fault, the clueless septuagenarian senator who has haunted the halls of Congress for almost three decades opined on social media:

To those asking whether it matters that the plane’s destination was in Canada:

The flight took off from Minneapolis. The FAA was still responsible for inspecting the aviation equipment, and Trump just let go of FAA safety specialists. https://t.co/uCpjHtqLnd

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) February 18, 2025

What a despicable take. First of all, the accident just happened Monday, and investigations are ongoing. It certainly doesn’t look like it had anything to do with air traffic controllers—it appears as if the plane simply came in too hard, and as RedState’s Bonchie noted, failed to flare upon landing. In any case, we don’t know the facts yet, and to imply that a U.S. president is responsible for a crash on foreign soil when he hasn’t even been in office for a month is beyond the pale.

Leavitt let him have it during an interview on Fox News’ “America Reports” Tuesday:

“It’s incredibly irresponsible for Chuck Schumer to say such a thing when the investigation is still underway,” Leavitt said.

Leavitt repeatedly pushed back against the senator and dissected his claims. She began by noting that Canadian air-traffic controllers were responsible for directing the plane at the time of the crash. […]

— Read More: redstate.com

.@elonmusk: They say that what we’re doing is unconstitutional, but what THEY are doing is unconstitutional! They’re guilty of the crime of which they accuse us. pic.twitter.com/tnyjJUu5VP

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 19, 2025

.@elonmusk: The average taxpaying American should be MAD AS HELL, because their tax money is being poorly spent…We’re giving money to the Taliban! Like a lot! pic.twitter.com/Qc3fSKGWZ0

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 19, 2025

So far DOGE has visited the Treasury Department, IRS, USAID and EPA with its technology and now, billions of dollars sent to Ukraine under the Biden administration is on the list for scrutiny. Musk posted on X that “kickbacks” are involved.

Kickbacks

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 19, 2025

Elon Musk hints they will be auditing US funds sent to Ukraine pic.twitter.com/yg3BIcvXMv

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) February 19, 2025

In 2024, the Pentagon admitted at least $2 billion in Ukraine funding is unaccounted for and Ukraine President Zelensky admits much of it has been lost.

“The Pentagon has found $2 billion worth of additional errors in its calculations for ammunition, missiles and other equipment sent to Ukraine, increasing the improperly valued material to a total of $8.2 billion, a U.S. government report revealed on Thursday,” Reuters reported. “The U.S. Department of Defense has faced challenges in accurately valuing defense articles sent to Ukraine due to unclear accounting definitions, a new Government Accountability Office report showed.” […]

— Read More: townhall.com

And here is the “early tranche” of Musk’s geniuses

• Edward Coristine: 19 years old (aka “Big Balls)
• Akash Bobba: 21 years old
• Ethan Shaotran: 22 years old
• Luke Farritor: 23 years old
• Gautier Cole Killian: 24 years old
• Gavin Kliger: 25 years old

It shows that Musk, in pulling these IT super brains, equipped with the latest in AI tools (er, Palantir??) to traverse all these govt databases, didn’t care about anything but meritocracy – those who had the smarts, wanted a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, could work around the clock, and not care what the Swamp (and its flying-monkey minions in the mainstream media) threw at them.

Including death threats,

And all one has to do in reminding the naysayers that Musk’s folks are accomplishing nothing, behold the amount of money since being “created and going operational (1/20/25 – the reincarnation of Obama’s US Digital Services that was, funny enough, to root out waste and fraud), is how much it has already saved US taxpayers (almost $50 billion – see DOGE Clock). Also, check the DOGE website (still waiting for Savings numbers to be filled in) and its ongoing actions on X. […]

— Read More: granitegrok.com

“I don’t listen to the ACLU—I listen to my district, how it feels on the ground,” Gonzalez told Politico.

Gonzalez, whose district borders Mexico, was boasting about how he voted for the high-profile Laken Riley Act—legislation that requires federal immigration authorities to detain illegal immigrants accused of theft, burglary, or assaulting a law enforcement officer—even though the ACLU opposed it. But Gonzalez has flip-flopped on border issues in ways that align with the liberal nonprofit: Just last week, he voted against another bipartisan border bill and criticized Texas governor Greg Abbott’s (R.) border security measures.

The ACLU gave Gonzalez a perfect grade on its most recent legislative scorecard. The ranking, from 2021, noted that “9 out of 9 votes matched ACLU positions.” Alongside the ACLU, the congressman supported statehood for Washington, D.C., the second articles of impeachment against Donald Trump, and the American Dream and Promise Act, a bill that would create a path to citizenship for more than 2.5 million Dreamers and other immigrants.

Gonzalez—who represents 1 of just 13 congressional districts that supported Trump for president and a Democrat for Congress—voted against the Agent Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act on Thursday. The bipartisan bill, named after a border patrol officer killed less than 15 miles from Vicente Gonzalez’s district while pursuing illegal immigrants, would make it a federal crime to flee from law enforcement. The ACLU said the legislation puts border residents, especially people of color, in danger of “vigilante attacks.” […]

— Read More: freebeacon.com

Many of the initiatives that the Trump administration seeks to undertake—such as constructing a wall along parts of the U.S. border with Mexico, removing illegal immigrants from the United States, and extending the lower income tax rates enacted in 2017—will require Congress to grant new funding.

Due to near-unanimous opposition from the Democratic Party, Republicans are seeking to use a budgetary process known as “reconciliation” to approve such funding, which would allow them to overcome procedural difficulties such as the Senate’s 60-vote cloture requirement that normally impedes most bills.

A reconciliation bill will only require a simple majority in both bodies of Congress to pass, which the Republicans currently hold.

“[The budget involves] securing the border, rebuilding our defense, and unleashing American energy. That starts this week with passing Chairman [Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)]’s budget,” wrote Thune on X, referring to the resolution sponsored by Graham, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee.

The reconciliation process requires each house of Congress to concurrently pass an identical “budget resolution” that establishes which areas of policy will see funding increases and, correspondingly, where spending will be cut. The Senate’s resolution calls for at least $325 billion in new spending on the U.S. military and homeland security matters, the latter of which includes immigration enforcement.

The reconciliation process cannot proceed unless either house capitulates and passes the other’s resolution, or a compromise is reached and a new resolution drafted.

Keilar asked Miller on CNN’s “News Central” about the Trump administration looking at “widespread fraud in the IRS data,” including illegal immigrants “who are getting child tax credits.”

“Are you looking for that information in the IRS data?” she asked.

“Any time a crime is committed, of course there should be an investigation,” Miller responded. “Is it your position that if somebody who is criminally stealing tax payer dollars–”

Keilar cut him off and asked: “Stephen, are you looking for that information in the IRS data?” […]

White House Deputy Chief of Staff @StephenM COOKS Fake News CNN’s Brianna Keilar:

“The federal government will find EVERY illegal alien who is stealing American taxpayer dollars — and that’s what Americans expect to happen. I don’t even fathom the premise of your question.” pic.twitter.com/urhbyRrPVz

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 18, 2025

— Read More: www.dailywire.com

Republican senators have expressed strong support for Patel, 44, citing his background as a prosecutor and national security aide in the first Trump administration. They have also praised his commitment to addressing concerns about political “weaponization” within the FBI and refocusing the agency on its core law enforcement responsibilities.

During Patel’s confirmation hearings, he vowed to end the weaponization of the FBI as well as censorship coming from the agency and said, “If confirmed I will work with congress to expose any corrupt activities the FBI has participated in, especially involved in the censorship of free speech.”

He also vowed to help expose the Epstein client list during the hearing, promising to Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) “I will do everything, if confirmed as FBI director, to make sure the American public knows the full weight of what happened in” the Epstein case, and “how we are going to countermand missing children and exploited children going forward.”

After Trump was elected, many in the GOP pushed him to nominate Patel for FBI Director, and when he announced the nomination, touted Patel’s experience, saying, “Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People. He played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution.”