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Year: 2024

You’ve been elected to Congress. Now what? Freshman Republican reveals what it’s like to enter office

You’ve been elected to Congress. Now what? Freshman Republican reveals what it’s like to enter office

Rep.-elect Ryan Mackenzie, R-Penn., says entering office is like a “whirlwind” as Republican leadership prepare the freshman class of lawmakers to hit the ground running in January. Mackenzie, who ousted Democratic incumbent Rep. Susan Wild to gain his seat, told Fox News Digital in an interview that his experience from multiple terms in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives has proven invaluable in these opening weeks. Incoming House members of both parties – this cycle it’s 57 new members – visit Washington barely a week after winning their elections for a freshman orientation that Mackenzie says makes it seem “just like it’s any other job.” “You go through ethics training, HR training, cybersecurity training to make sure that you’re gonna protect your information and the data that is so critical and sensitive for ourselves and our constituents and everybody else,” Mackenzie said. HOUSE ETHICS COMMITTEE TO MEET WITH VOTE ON RELEASING GAETZ REPORT LOOMING Mackenzie said new lawmakers also have to get up to speed on legislation passing through Congress or legislation that soon will be, all while setting up and staffing their Capitol Hill offices. “Some people have called it that you’re building a small business when you’re running a congressional staff and office networked across your district and in Washington, D.C., but you’re building that in a very short period of time,” he said. DEM REP. NADLER PICTURED WITH HEAD DOWN, EYES CLOSED DURING TESTIMONY FROM OTHERS OF MIGRANT CRIME VICTIMS Mackenzie also offered a look at the Republican game plan for when they take over Congress in January, saying the party is set to be far more effective than the opening months of the first Trump administration. Republican lawmakers heard from both their congressional leadership and President-elect Trump about what the party’s priorities will be come January. “With the House, the Senate and the White House all lined up, we have a great opportunity, but it’s still incredibly difficult to get things done,” Mackenzie said, noting that lawmakers have to come to an agreement on the specific solutions to the campaign issues they ran on, namely lowering the cost of living and stemming the flow of illegal immigration. END OF DEFUND POLICE ERA? CRIME, PROSECUTORIAL CRACKDOWN IN BLUE AND PURPLE STATES SIGNALS SHIFT, EXPERTS SAY “I feel very confident that we’re going to hit the ground running in those first 30–100 days in Congress,” he said. “It’s not going to be like it was the first time when Donald Trump came into office and people were maybe shocked and didn’t really have their act together. It’s much different this time around.” Mackenzie went on to argue that handling the issues of cost of living and illegal immigration “go hand-in-hand in a lot of ways.” He stated that mass illegal immigration drives up the cost of housing and health care. He nevertheless noted that lowering costs was consistently the top priority for voters in polls, followed closely by the border crisis. “We need to make sure we’re addressing these things in tandem,” he said. “It’s about how can we best get both of these things actually across the goal line and through a House, a Senate and signed into law by the president.”

‘ANTIFA Baby Onesie’: Podcast group founded by former Obama staffers sells ANTIFA gear for babies, toddlers

‘ANTIFA Baby Onesie’: Podcast group founded by former Obama staffers sells ANTIFA gear for babies, toddlers

A progressive political media group founded by former Obama administration staffers is selling “ANTIFA” onesies for babies and other anti-fascist-themed clothing for both kids and adults.    The items can be bought via a digital merchandise store run by Crooked Media, which was co-founded in 2017 by former Obama staffers Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett and Tommy Vietor. Oftentimes referred to as the “Obama bros,” the three communications professionals co-host “Pod Save America,” one of the most listened-to political podcasts in the nation, per Apple Podcasts U.S. rankings. ‘DANGEROUS’ SUSPECTED ANTIFA SYMPATHIZER PLEADS GUILTY TO DETONATING NAIL-FILLED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE In addition to the “ANTIFA” onesie for babies, a T-shirt with the same bold “ANTIFA” text written across it can be purchased for toddlers via the Crooked Media merch store. An “ANTIFA Dad Hat” is also for sale.  “ANTIFA” is a common term used to refer to far-left “anti-fascists” who were at the forefront of the George Floyd protests during the summer of 2020. Many of those protests devolved into violent riots, even resulting in the deaths of dozens of people and billions of dollars in property damage because of the unrest. Following that summer, ANTIFA continued to deploy violent tactics.   A spokesperson for Crooked Media told Fox News Digital that the clothes it has listed on its website “are not a joke,” but also quipped that “all toddlers are antifa until their souls are broken by capitalism.” JOURNALIST ATTACKED ON CAMPUS BY ANTIFA RECOGNIZES ATTACKERS FROM 2020 BLM RIOTS: ‘THESE ARE PROFESSIONALS’ In addition to the “ANTIFA”-branded clothing for babies and toddlers, the Crooked Media merch store also carries other items, such as a onesie that reads “WOKE MOB” across the front and another that simply reads “BIRTH CONTROL” in big, bold lettering. One onesie for sale displays the word “ILLUMINATI” on the front. They come in T-shirts, too.  Crooked Media produces a number of podcasts, but “POD SAVE AMERICA” gets most of the group’s attention with nearly 1,000 episodes recorded, far surpassing any of its other programs, according to Crooked’s website. Fox News reporter Brooke Singman contributed to this story.

Theatre of Violence: The ICC’s landmark trial of a former child soldier

Theatre of Violence: The ICC’s landmark trial of a former child soldier

A Ugandan defence lawyer asks whether the International Criminal Court (ICC) is imposing a new form of colonialism. Krispus Ayena is appointed defence lawyer in The Hague to defend the first former child soldier to be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). His client, Dominic Ongwen, was nine years old when he became one of at least 20,000 children abducted by rebel leader Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda. He is charged with 70 counts of different war crimes, including torture, rape and murder. But Ayena wants him acquitted, raising vital questions about accountability when someone is both victim and perpetrator, and what justice means when prosecuted in an international court far away from the crime scene. Theatre of Violence is a documentary film by Lukasz Konopa and Emil Langballe. Adblock test (Why?)

GOP senators ‘very impressed’ with Musk, Ramaswamy DOGE framework amid meetings on Capitol Hill

GOP senators ‘very impressed’ with Musk, Ramaswamy DOGE framework amid meetings on Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Lawmakers told Fox News Digital they are “very impressed” with President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) framework amid meetings on Capitol Hill with agency appointees Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. In November, Trump tapped Tesla CEO Musk and former presidential candidate Ramaswamy to co-lead DOGE under his administration — a new federal department that will aim to reduce government waste and slash costs.  Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa., chair of the Senate’s DOGE Caucus, led a meeting with senators Thursday to unveil a 60-page cost-cutting proposal. Ramawasy was present at the meeting, while Musk simultaneously sat down with incoming Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune of South Dakota. “I’m very impressed with what Elon and Vivek want to accomplish,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital after leaving the DOGE Caucus meeting. “I can’t talk about what they are going to be proposing, but I’ve known them for a long time, and I think they’re going to do a great job.” DOGE CHIEF MUSK BASHES MASSIVE GOVERNMENT SPENDING ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS: ‘BOGGLES THE MIND!’ While senators who attended the meeting would not reveal specifically where DOGE intends to cut costs, they all agreed that the conversation was productive. “It showed a lot of us are on the same page,” Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., said of Thursday’s chat. “We need to make government serve people again.” Budd added that he believes Musk and Ramaswamy are “the right people for the moment” to cut government costs. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., told Fox News Digital that DOGE is rolling out “hundreds of ideas” aimed towards achieving a “balanced budget.” “It was just a great conversation,” Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said after leaving the meeting. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said, “We talked about a lot of things. This is the very beginning of a process that, if we do it right, will be ongoing. So right now, we are just talking about the art of the possible.”  Tillis added that he believes Democrats will come on board with DOGE.  Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Arkansas said his top priority in addressing costs is fixing “the regulatory burden and litigation abuse to do anything in America.” SENATE DOGE LEADER ERNST TO TAKE ON GOVERNMENT TELEWORK ABUSE AT FIRST MEETING WITH MUSK, RAMASWAMY Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine also told reporters that it was a “good meeting.” During Thursday’s DOGE caucus meeting, Ernst proposed the federal government relocate Washington’s workforce across the country, and for Congress to set a goal for all federal government agencies to achieve a 60% daily occupancy at their headquarters. Ernst’s report found that only 6% of workers currently report in-person on a full-time basis, with nearly one-third working remotely, according to a copy shared with Fox News Digital. Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

Selling Americans a ‘lie’: How election integrity attorneys battled left-wing efforts to upend voting laws

Selling Americans a ‘lie’: How election integrity attorneys battled left-wing efforts to upend voting laws

The 2024 election cycle was rife with repeated legal battles to protect the voting processes from left-wing attorneys leveraging the courts to strip election safeguards, the chief of an election integrity nonprofit who saw a string of legal wins told Fox News Digital.  “They’ve been selling American people a lie,” Restoring Integrity & Trust in Elections (RITE) President Derek Lyons told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview, referring to left-wing efforts to undermine election laws. “And I think that these past two election cycles, where people have said ‘No, voting is very easy and millions, hundreds of millions of people have been doing it,’ have shown that what they’re doing is misleading, at the very least.” RITE is a non-profit organization founded in 2022 following voters’ concern over the security of the 2020 election during the COVID-19 pandemic. The group was co-founded by Fox News contributor Karl Rove and includes board members such as former Attorney General Bill Barr and Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy. The organization hit the ground running in 2022 to ensure its “mission of protecting the rule of law in the qualifications for, administration of, and tabulation of voting in the United States,” according to the group’s website.  Lyons spoke to Fox News Digital just less than a month after Election Day, when he took a victory lap for his team’s battles against efforts to reportedly undermine election integrity, detailing the top legal tactics left-wing activists took during the election season.  POLITICAL HEAVYWEIGHTS LAUNCH EFFORT TO RESTORE INTEGRITY AND TRUST IN ELECTIONS Lyons, an attorney and former White House staff secretary and counselor to the president under President-elect Donald Trump’s first term, explained that Democrat activists were hyper-focused throughout the election on decrying efforts put forth by state legislatures to ensure safe elections, such as voter ID laws, frequently claiming such a policy would disenfranchise voters.  “​​The main thing they do is anytime anybody puts up any sort of election integrity measure, whether that’s voter I.D., voter photo I.D., whether that’s rationalization of cure periods – the ability of people to fix errors in their ballots sort of after the election – ballot receipt deadlines, so that we can know the result of the election quickly … they attack it and say, this is disenfranchising,” he said.  ELECTION INTEGRITY IS ‘PARAMOUNT’ FOR 2024 RACE, SAYS FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR “‘This makes voting harder … this takes away people’s right to vote.’ …. They invoke federal voting rights laws that were meant to prevent the worst abuses of Jim Crow. They’re sort of shameless about it. They’ll throw any, any tactic at it,” he explained of Democratic efforts to change voting laws.  When groups such as RITE step in to challenge claims that such voting laws are legal and protect elections from illegal activity, Lyons said left-wing activists slam them in court as holding no standing.  “They try to kick us out on procedural grounds because, ultimately, a lot of times they don’t want to defend the merits of what election administrators are trying to do.” Lyons pointed to a successful case in Wisconsin back in 2022 when RITE challenged state officials from enabling what he called “re-voting” procedures, which entailed absentee voters who already submitted their ballots changing their votes mid-election. RITE challenged the practice and won to ensure that once a ballot is mailed, it cannot be changed.  “We were able to win that case on the grounds that once a ballot is put into the mail, received by the election officials, that’s the end of that person’s vote. There’s no fishing ballots back out and putting them back in, etc. Which obviously creates a risk of errors and double voting and all sorts of other problems. And so they tried to kick us out on standing. We were able to defeat that and secure that victory in Wisconsin,” he said.  ARIZONA BALLOT HARVESTING CASE LEADS TO 2 WOMEN BEING SENTENCED Pennsylvania was again the premier battleground state this year, with both Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris and a bevy of their respective surrogates criss-crossing the state to rally support ahead of Election Day. For RITE, the group has filed and taken part in 10 different election cases since 2022, including a case revolving around potential double votes.  “In Philadelphia, we just got them to admit that they had planned to eliminate a crucial check against double voting to make sure that people weren’t both voting in the mail and in person. So we had that in place for both elections [the 2022 midterms and 2024 election] to prevent that type of double voting, which does happen in Allegheny County,” he said of the double vote case.  WHY THE LEFT HATES ELECTION INTEGRITY AND THE SECRET BALLOT Lyons also celebrated a win in a case he described as the “crown​​ jewel” of Pennsylvania: ensuring undated and incorrectly dated mail-in ballots were not counted in the official tally.  The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in September that mail-in ballots without the correct dates on ballot envelopes cannot be counted in elections.  The ruling gained widespread attention following Nov. 5, when Democratic-led election boards bucked the state high court’s ruling and voted to include such ballots in a recount concerning longtime Democratic Sen. Bob Casey’s race against Sen.-elect Dave McCormick. Democrats in the state openly defied the ruling before the state Supreme Court ordered counties to not include undated ballots, and Democrats walked back their decision.  NEW ELECTION INTEGRITY GROUP WILL POUR MILLIONS INTO PAYING, PROTECTING WHISTLEBLOWERS ON ‘FRONT LINES’ “​​We took it to state court and got a declaration that this had to be done under state law,” Lyons said of RITE’s battle against Democratic activists over undated ballot envelopes. “They ran to federal court and said federal law prevents this. We won that case. They took it to the Court of Appeals. Democrat judges disagreed with them and said the date requirement does not violate federal law. They went back to state court and said, ‘well,