Category: The American Spectator
Graham Platner Solicits Donations for Maine Anti-ICE Group Led By Accused Somali Fraudsters
Senate candidate Graham Platner (D., Maine) urged supporters to donate to an anti-ICE group led by several Somalis tied to a nonprofit under congressional investigation for allegedly defrauding the state of millions of dollars in Medicaid payments. The day after ICE launched a statewide operation targeting illegal aliens in Maine, Platner promoted the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition (MIRC), a taxpayer-funded nonprofit that touted its “ICE Watch Hotline” earlier this month. Its board has included Deqa Dhalac and Nathan Davis, who have been named persons of interest in a congressional probe over their leadership roles at Gateway Community Services Maine.
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Liberal reporter frustrates American tennis stars by asking the same tired question
The Australian Open has become about politics instead of tennis, thanks to one reporter’s questions.
As men and women have won matches at the tournament in Melbourne, Australia, a male reporter has consistently popped up to ask players about their feelings about current U.S. politics.
‘We are very diverse, we are a home of immigrants.’
“I’ve been asking a lot of the American players just how it feels to play under the American flag right now. And I’m curious how you feel,” the man asked No.4-ranked Amanda Anisimova on Wednesday, with noted vocal fry.
Anisimova was praised for shutting the questions down, but it turns out the same reporter has asked the same divisive question to at least four other American tennis players.
The Women’s Tennis Association’s No.6-ranked Jessica Pegula faced almost the same question on Wednesday, though more specifically about living in Florida.
Pegula’s answer likely won’t please nationalists as much as Anisimova’s did.
“Personally Florida’s been, I think, OK. I think Florida, there’s a big melting pot of different people from all over, in Florida,” the 31-year-old went on. “So I feel like especially me being in South Florida, near Miami, I mean, there’s people of all over the country that come to move to Florida, and there’s a lot of international people that are there. I don’t know if that’s maybe why you kind of get a lot of different cultural differences in a good way honestly.”
The reporter, who is alleged by several outlets such as Breitbart and Yahoo to likely be the Athletic’s Owen Lewis, has not publicly confirmed he has asked the questions despite sharing that he has been in Australia covering the event.
Next up was men’s No.9-ranked Taylor Fritz from California, who on Thursday had just completed a second-round win. Fritz buried his head in his hands as he answered the question, albeit reluctantly.
“Not sure what we’re, like, specifically talking about, but there is a lot going on in the U.S., and I don’t know, I feel like whatever I say here is going to get put in a headline, and it’s going to get taken out of context,” he groaned. “So I’d really rather not do something that’s going to cause a big distraction for me in the middle of the tournament.”
On Thursday, No.9-ranked female Madison Keys from Illinois faced the reporter. Her reaction was much more progressive than her compatriots, saying, “I’m not a fan of divisiveness, and I think the beauty of the U.S. is we are a mixing pot.”
“We are very diverse, we are a home of immigrants. And I hope that we can get back to those values,” she added.
No.3-ranked woman and Florida native Coco Gauff took it a step further by bringing race politics into the mix with her response.
Gauff initially said she feels “a bit fatigued talking about it.”
She then claimed, “It is hard, also I think, being a black woman in this country and having to experience things, even online.”
She argued that “marginalized communities” are being affected, and the only thing she can do is “donate and speak out.”
Gauff then cited the fact that she posted a Martin Luther King Jr. video online recently and said, “We must keep moving forward,” as an example of her activism.
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‘Sparkle Beach Ken’ Is Too Kind To Gavin Newsom
The California governor correctly figures that if he stays on offense, his own dismal record will be ignored — even if that offense is odd.
‘Flagrant violation’: GOP lawmaker grills Jack Smith for ‘spying’ on former House speaker
Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) confronted ex-special counsel Jack Smith during a House committee hearing, accusing him and the Justice Department of secretly surveilling members of Congress and stomping on constitutional protections while investigating President Donald Trump.
Gill pressed Smith on his office using secret subpoenas and nondisclosure orders to obtain phone “toll records” from lawmakers, including then-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), without notifying them or the public.
‘Nobody’s going to sue. … So who cares? We’re going to do it anyway.’
“In January of 2023, did you subpoena then-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy’s toll records?” Gill asked.
“Yes, sir, we did,” Smith replied.
RELATED: GOP senator to sue Jack Smith after his lawyers try gaslighting on Biden FBI surveillance
SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
Gill pushed back, claiming Smith abused executive power to secretly collect phone data on Republican leadership.
“Collecting months’ worth of phone data on the Republican speaker of the House — the leader of the opposition — right after he got sworn in as speaker, all around the time of a major vote — that sounds like a flagrant violation of the Speech or Debate Clause to me,” Gill said.
The confrontation ramped up as Gill questioned Smith about the nondisclosure orders used to prevent McCarthy from learning that his records had been subpoenaed.
“At the time you secured those nondisclosure orders, was Speaker McCarthy a flight risk?” Gill asked.
“He was not,” Smith answered.
“Then why did your nondisclosure order refer to him as a flight risk?” Gill pressed. Gill then cited language in the court filing stating that disclosure could result in “flight from prosecution.”
“You think the speaker of the House is … going to hop on a plane and leave the country?” Gill asked.
“No,” Smith said, arguing that the language was not meant to apply personally to McCarthy but to general investigative risks.
Gill rejected that explanation.
RELATED: House Republican seeks criminal investigation into Jack Smith’s alleged surveillance scheme
Photo by Ricky Carioti/Washington Post/Getty Images
“This is clearly in reference to Speaker McCarthy,” Gill said. “You were using clearly false information to secure a nondisclosure order to hide from Speaker McCarthy and from the American people the fact that you were spying on his toll records.”
Gill also revealed that Smith’s office issued additional secret subpoenas in May 2023 for the toll records of nine U.S. senators and another House member, along with more nondisclosure orders.
“So again, nobody would know what you were doing,” Gill said. “The senators wouldn’t. The representatives wouldn’t. The American people wouldn’t.”
Gill then read from an internal DOJ email warning of “litigation risk” tied to compelling disclosure of lawmakers’ phone records due to Speech or Debate Clause concerns.
“As you are aware, there are some litigation risks regarding whether compelled disclosure of toll records of a member’s legislative calls violates the Speech or Debate Clause,” Gill read.
Gill emphasized another line from the same analysis, saying that because of “the low likelihood that any of the members listed below would be charged, the litigation risk should be minimal here.”
“In other words,” Gill said, “You’re using a novel legal theory. … You’re not charging any of these members. Nobody’s going to know about it because you issued NDOs. Nobody’s going to sue. … So who cares? We’re going to do it anyway.”
“You walked all over the Constitution throughout this entire process,” Gill added.
“It’s absolutely disgraceful.”
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Iranian Regime Claims It Tested a Long-Range Missile That Can Hit US Eastern Seaboard
Iran claimed this week to have successfully tested its first long-range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), a capability that would enable Tehran to strike the eastern seaboard of the United States, according to regime-controlled outlets.
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In Greenland, Trump’s Tariff Logic Falls Apart
What constitutes a “national emergency”? It’s a question at the heart of the Supreme Court’s upcoming decision on tariffs and…
California’s Love of Taxes is Backfiring
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — National news stories have recently discussed Crazy California’s effort to impose an “emergency” wealth tax of 5 percent on…
The Fred Phelps Left Invades the Churches
A Pew poll released about a year ago noted that just 37 percent of American liberals identify as Christians, versus…
The Spectacle Ep. 318: DEI Ruined Universities. Conservatives Need to Save Them.
The University of Kansas caught backlash for offering a course called “Angry White Male Studies” — yet another example of…
Being Gay Isn’t So Hot Anymore
Humanity has a rather unfortunate habit of getting things wrong. Kids figure this out fairly quickly. One day they discover…
