Conservative groups are pushing Speaker Johnson to reform controversial spy program FISA
FIRST ON FOX: A group of conservative policy organizations are urging House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to not reauthorize the controversial surveillance program Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and are pushing the Republican leader to oppose including reforms in any upcoming must-pass legislative vehicles such as a continuing resolution or omnibus package. In a letter to Johnson sent Thursday, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), FreedomWorks, Taxpayers Protection Alliance and Conservative Partnership Institute said “it is critical that Congress does not attempt to force a reauthorization of this authority into a must-pass legislative vehicle, and once and for all finally have a standalone vote on this topic.” “A standalone vote on Section 702 ensures focused scrutiny and accountability, safeguarding Americans’ privacy and maintaining the country’s national security. Shoving it into a must-pass continuing resolution avoids a transparent and open process on how to reform a deeply flawed program,” AFP’s senior policy analyst James Czerniawski told Fox News Digital. Earlier this month, the House Rules Committee was set to vote on the measure to renew Section 702 of FISA, which would have advanced it to the House floor for a possible vote later in the week, but Johnson pushed that vote. HOUSE INTEL CHAIR TURNER WARNS OF ‘SERIOUS NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT,’ URGES BIDEN TO DECLASSIFY In the letter, the groups slammed the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) for allegedly negotiating in “bad faith” after it and the House Judiciary Committee “agreed to a floor process the week of Feb. 12th to consider a base reauthorization bill, but with the opportunity for both committees to offer amendments, the contours of which were understood by both parties.” The letter also claims that on the eve of the Rules Committee hearing, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, “inexplicably released a cryptic Dear Colleague claiming a serious and urgent threat to national security requiring review by Members of the House in a classified setting.” That warning, reportedly, was the intelligence related to Russian nuclear capabilities in space which could threaten satellites, including potentially knocking out U.S. military communications and reconnaissance. On Feb. 13, HPSCI voted 23-1 to make information about a destabilizing foreign military capability available to Members of Congress. Turner and Ranking Member Jim Himes, D-Conn., issued a bipartisan notification — what’s known as “a Dear Colleague letter” — urging their colleagues to review this classified information in the secured room on Feb. 13. The language of the Dear Colleague letter was cleared by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. On Feb. 14, reports of the Dear Colleague letter surfaced, which prompted Turner to issue a statement around 11:30 a.m. about a “serious national security threat.” In an interview with “Meet the Press,” Turner emphasized that he believed that the Biden administration was sleepwalking its way into an international crisis. FIGHT OVER GREENLIGHTING CONTROVERSIAL SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM UNITES PROGRESSIVES, CONSERVATIVES IN CONGRESS The letter criticized Turner’s disclosure, adding that “both the White House and Senate Intelligence Committee have made statements suggesting serious concerns regarding the risk of disclosure of sources and methods because of Chairman Turner’s Dear Colleague and subsequent press release.” The groups asserted that “the reauthorization of Section 702 has been top of mind for Members of Congress for over a year now and HPSCI’s sole focus and engagement on this issue during this time is evident. It is highly suspect that as the House was on the verge of considering a vehicle for reauthorization, rather than helping to facilitate a carefully negotiated floor process for considering a powerful surveillance tool, HPSCI instead spent its efforts on a non-urgent matter and in the process may ultimately have jeopardized national security.” But a spokesperson for HPSCI told Fox News Digital that Turner “does not play politics with national security.” Section 702 of FISA has been both credited with preventing terror attacks on U.S. soil and accused of being a vehicle for spying on U.S. citizens. REP. MIKE TURNER SAYS BIDEN ADMIN WAS ‘SLEEPWALKING’ ON RUSSIAN NUCLEAR THREAT BEFORE HIS SURPRISE DISCLOSURE It lets the government keep tabs on specific foreign nationals outside the country without first obtaining a warrant to do so, even if the party on the other side of those communications is an American on U.S. soil. Turner has also advocated for FISA reforms and put forth his own reforms. But the groups told Johnson in its letter Thursday that while the genesis of HPSCI was originally intended to rein in and provide oversight of an unaccountable Intelligence Community found to be violating Americans’ rights, they claim it has “unfortunately morphed into merely a rubber stamp” of Intelligence Community activities, “unwilling to even have a debate on how to hold the Intelligence Community accountable for their rampant and repeated abuses of the Section 702 authority.” “It is critical that Congress does not attempt to force a reauthorization of this authority into a must-pass legislative vehicle, and once and for all finally have a standalone vote on this topic. We stand ready to work with Congress to advance a solution that accomplishes the security and Americans’ civil liberties,” they said.
Biden admin finalizes enviromental regulations targeting clothes washers, dryers
The Biden administration finalized energy efficiency regulations targeting residential clothes washers and dryers in an effort to curb carbon emissions, as part of its broad climate agenda. The Department of Energy (DOE) announced the final rules, which it projected will collectively save American households $2.2 billion per year on utility bills while reducing nearly 71 million metric tons of “dangerous carbon dioxide emissions” over the next three decades. DOE’s regulations targeting the popular home appliances are slightly scaled down compared to the agency’s draft proposal issued a year ago. “For decades, DOE’s appliance standards actions for clothes washers and dryers have provided loads of savings for American families while also decreasing harmful carbon emissions,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement. “With strong support from industry leaders and consumer advocates, DOE will continue to roll out innovative appliance solutions throughout 2024 to lower costs for the American people —continuing the cycle of household savings that are the backbone of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda,” she continued. BIDEN ADMIN LAUNCHED AN AGGRESSIVE CAMPAIGN TARGETING HOME APPLIANCES WITH ECO REGULATIONS IN 2023 Under the regulations, certain less-efficient models of washers and dryers will be barred from being sold, according to DOE. The clothes washers rule will lead to 30-year energy savings of 0.7 quadrillion British thermal units, a savings of 3% compared to the profile of models currently on the market. And the dryers rule will lead to 30-year energy savings of 2.7 quadrillion British thermal units, a savings of 11% compared to products on the market now. BIDEN ADMIN BACKS OFF GAS STOVE CRACKDOWN AFTER WIDESPREAD PUSHBACK DOE said the regulations largely reflect an agreement issued in September by environmental groups and industry associations. “Standards at these levels will significantly reduce household energy bills and planet-warming emissions, period,” Andrew deLaski, the executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, said after the agreement was reached at the time. “Swiftly establishing standards at these strong levels will allow the Department of Energy to continue to make progress with the highly successful efficiency standards program — which already saves the average household $500 annually on their energy bills,” added Natural Resources Defense Council staff attorney Joe Vukovich. BIDEN ADMIN’S WAR ON HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES WILL CAUSE HIGHER PRICES, DIRTIER CLOTHES AND DISHES, EXPERTS WARN The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) — which heavily criticized DOE’s original proposal last year on washers and dryers — also signed onto the agreement. AHAM CEO Kelly Mariotti said in September that the compromise regulations would allow “manufacturers to continue to offer a complete range of energy-efficient products.” “What we’re learning is that the government ought to get out of the business of doing these regulations,” Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “And not try to just float really extreme ones and then come up with something that’s less extreme.” “The main concern with these negotiated rulemakings is that it mostly involves the manufacturers and the energy efficiency activists,” he added. “One wonders how much the interests of consumers are taken into account during this process.” The new standards for washers and dryers, meanwhile, are the latest in a long string of energy efficiency regulations unveiled by DOE over the last 12 months. Climate activists have argued such regulations are necessary to combat global warming, noting that the commercial and residential sector accounts for the largest share of total end-use carbon emissions of any sector in the U.S. However, Republican lawmakers and free market advocates have argued the rules restrict consumer choice and lead to increased upfront costs. “DOE should be looking for ways to address the problems caused by the existing washing machine regulations rather than making things worse with tougher new regulations,” Lieberman told Fox News Digital.
WATCH: Border Patrol union chief explodes on Biden in fiery press conference, says agents ‘p—-d’ at policies
The head of the union that represents Border Patrol agents across the country exploded on President Biden during a Thursday press conference, declaring agents were “mad as hell,” and “p—-d” over his policies that allowed the situation at the border to deteriorate so badly. National Border Patrol Council (NBCP) President Brandon Judd appeared alongside former President Donald Trump in Eagle Pass, Texas, which he described as the “epicenter” of the border crisis, as Biden held a dueling event a few hundred miles away at the less affected Brownsville, Texas. “Sir, I want you to know your agents, my agents, they’re mad as hell — absolutely mad that President Biden went to Brownsville, Texas, rather than going to Arizona, rather than going to San Diego, California, rather than coming to Eagle Pass, Texas, which has been the epicenter,” Judd said after Trump invited him to the microphone to speak. PROGRESSIVE HOUSE DEMS MADE SECRET ‘HUMAN RIGHTS’ TRIP TO CUBA AMID WORSENING BORDER CRISIS AT HOME Judd said the trip allowed Trump to see how his policies worked compared to those implemented by the Biden administration, and that he had the clarity on how to expand them should he be elected president in November. “Your agents … they are pissed. Border patrol agents are upset that we cannot get the proper policy that is necessary to protect human life, to protect American citizens, to protect the people that are crossing the border illegally,” Judd said. “We can’t do that because President Biden’s policies continue to invite people to cross here.” “Thank goodness we have a governor like Governor Abbott. Thank goodness we have somebody that’s willing to run for President of the United States, forego everything else he’s been doing to serve the American people. Mr. President, thank you,” he added. TIM SCOTT RIPS ‘TWO-TIERED STANDARD” BETWEEN TREATMENT OF TRUMP, BIDEN ON BORDER EXECUTIVE ACTION: VIDEO Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment. Earlier in the day, the NBCP issued a fiery warning to Biden, telling him to “keep our name out of your mouth,” hours before the president was due to meet with officials at the border and urge passage of a Senate border bill. The union also issued a statement earlier this week, calling the visit “too little, too late.” Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
Hunter Biden admits he put his father on speakerphone, invited him to meetings, but denies ‘involvement’
Hunter Biden admitted during his deposition Wednesday that he put his father, Joe Biden, on speakerphone with his business associates, and invited him to drop by business lunches, while maintaining that his father was never involved in his business dealings, a transcript of his testimony reviewed by Fox News Digital reveals. Fox News Digital obtained the transcript of Hunter Biden’s highly-anticipated testimony. The first son sat for a deposition on Capitol Hill Wednesday for more than seven hours as part of the impeachment inquiry against his father. During his deposition, Hunter Biden testified repeatedly that his father was not involved in his business dealings. When pressed about testimony from his ex-business associates like Devon Archer and Rob Walker — both of whom claimed Hunter Biden put his father on speakerphone when doing business and attended business lunches and meetings — Hunter Biden testified that it was normal behavior, as he was speaking to his father, and spending time with his father. Archer testified before the House Oversight Committee last year that Hunter Biden put his father on speakerphone at least 20 times with business associates. When asked if he ever placed his father on speakerphone with his business associates, Hunter Biden testified that “certainly my dad has called me.” “My dad calls me like I’m sure a lot of your parents do or a lot of you do with your children, and if I’m with people that are friends of mine, I’ll have him say hi,” he testified. “I’m surprised my dad hasn’t called me right now, and if he did, I would put him on speakerphone to say hi to you and to Congressman Raskin and everybody else in the room,” Hunter Biden said. “It is nothing nefarious literally.” The first son detailed his relationship with his family, describing that when the president was 29 years old, “he woke up one day, went to work, and got a phone call and lost his wife and his daughter. And, in that same accident, he also lost almost my brother and myself. And then, when I was 46 years old, my 47-year-old brother died.” “And in our family, when you have a call from — I call him or he calls me or I call one of my — his grandkids or one of my children, you always pick up the phone,” Hunter Biden said. “It’s something that we always do. And you can ask anybody that I know; it does not have to do with Devon.” He added: “If my dad calls me and I’m in the middle of something, I either get up from the table or I answer the phone at the table if it’s with people that I have a long-term relationship with.” As for business lunches, Hunter Biden said: “Would you call it involvement if my dad was in New York City at the same time I was in New York City and I was having lunch with some of my business associates, and I said, Hey, dad, come by for lunch?” “Who wouldn’t do that? Are you saying that you wouldn’t do that with your father if he was in town at the same time?” Hunter Biden asked investigators. The first son was asked explicitly about his business deals with Chinese energy company CEFC, which has been said to be linked to the Chinese Communist Party. Hunter Biden testified that he began his work with CEFC in the spring of 2017, and admitted that he had received money from working with CEFC, but maintained that his father was not involved. “I received money from a Chinese company,” he said. “I don’t know the exact amount, but I know that it was all completely legal, it was incredibly ethical…And I do know this: is that my father never received any money or any benefit from any of the businesses that I’ve ever done.” Biden’s ex-business associate Rob Walker testified that Joe Biden met the chairman of CEFC, Ye Jianming, but Hunter Biden could not recall the meeting. “I do not recall the date of the meeting,” he said. “And so number one is this: is that my business with CEFC, which was completely legitimate and completely, 100 percent in line with my experience and my abilities, was done when my father wasn’t even in office. He was out of office. It had nothing to do with my father.” He added: “My father never benefited from my business. My father never made any decisions as it related to my business to benefit me. My father was never financially, nor any other way, of benefit of my business. And the business that you’re talking about now wasn’t even when he was in office.” Meanwhile, the infamous email, from Hunter Biden’s ex-business associate James Gilliar, was presented to him during the deposition, which states: “10 held by H for the big guy?” That email was in reference to a renumeration package breakdown for associates involved in the joint-venture between Hunter Biden’s company and CEFC. That failed joint-venture was known as SinoHawk Holdings. Hunter Biden testified that he “never” called his father “the big guy,” and stressed that his father was not involved. “I truly don’t know what the hell that James was talking about,” he said. “All I know is that what actually happened. All I know is that what was executed in the agreement, and the agreement didn’t have anything to do with my father. My father’s never been involved with my business. He’s never benefited from my business, and he’s never taken an action to benefit me or any of my business.” When asked why Gilliar would draft something apparently referencing the president, Hunter Biden testified: “Because I think that it was just as Rob Walker said. I think that it was pie in the sky. Like Joe Biden’s out of the office. Maybe we’ll be able to get him involved,” he said. “Remember, again, is that Joe Biden, for first time in 48 years, is not an elected
Missouri House passes property tax cut, aiming to ease burden of surging vehicle values
Missouri residents could see a roughly $138 million tax break under legislation passed Thursday by the House in an attempt to offset a recent surge in local tax collections caused by higher vehicle values. The legislation changing the way Missouri’s personal property tax collections are calculated comes as lawmakers in numerous states this year are considering ways to reduce property taxes charged on homes, real estate and other property. Home values have risen at a faster-than-normal pace in recent years. Vehicle values typically decline as cars and trucks get older, but used vehicle values also rose during the coronavirus pandemic because of supply shortages. That resulted in higher tax bills for many people in states that allow property taxes on vehicles. MISSOURI LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS SHOT IN NORTHEAST INDEPENDENCE: POLICE Republican state Rep. Mike McGirl said his Missouri legislation, which now goes to the Senate, would return to taxpayers about a quarter of the “windfall” that local governments received from the surge in vehicle values. Legislative analysts said that could amount to about $138 million, effective in 2026. The bill “will ultimately mean less tax revenue for our schools (and) for public safety,” said Democratic Rep. Peter Merideth, who opposed the measure. The Tax Foundation, a nonprofit group that researches taxes, has said property taxes are likely to be the biggest tax issue in many state legislatures this year. Several states already have enacted property tax cuts. West Virginia last year passed a credit for personal property taxes that residents pay annually on vehicles, at an estimated cost of $157 million to the state. Colorado lawmakers meeting in a November special session approved legislation increasing residential deductions for property tax purposes and decreasing the property tax assessment rate. In Texas, voters in November approved a plan cutting property taxes by $18 billion.
Biden and Trump border visits highlight immigration as election issue
US President Joe Biden to visit border town of Brownsville, Texas as Donald Trump heads to Eagle Pass, Texas. US President Joe Biden and Donald Trump, his likely Republican opponent in the November election, will make separate visits to the US-Mexico border on Thursday as immigration has become a key issue for voters. Biden, who has been on the defensive on the issue in recent months, will use a visit to the border town of Brownsville, Texas, to highlight how Republican lawmakers rejected a bipartisan effort to toughen immigration policies on Trump’s orders. Biden will meet border patrol agents and customs and law enforcement officials and deliver remarks on Thursday. “He is going because it’s important to highlight that Republicans are getting in the way here,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Biden took office in 2021 promising to reverse the hardline immigration policies of Trump, but has since toughened his own approach. Under pressure from Republicans who accuse him of failing to control the border, Biden called on Congress last year to provide more enforcement funding and said he would “shut down the border” if given new authority to turn back migrants. Biden will be joined by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whom Republican legislators earlier this month narrowly voted to impeach over his handling of the border. The Democratic-led Senate, however, is unlikely to vote to remove Mayorkas from office. A member of the National Guard directs a vehicle at the gate to Shelby Park along the Rio Grande, in Eagle Pass, Texas [Eric Gay/AP Photo] Trump, who as president from 2017 to early 2021 considered a tough border stance to be a signature issue for him, has accused Biden of bungling border issues. He will visit Eagle Pass, Texas, where arrivals have posed a problem for authorities in recent months. Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for the Trump campaign, called the border a “crime scene” in a statement and said the former president on the visit will outline a plan to “secure the border immediately upon taking office”. A Reuters-Ipsos poll from January 31 found rising concern among Americans about immigration, with 17 percent of respondents listing it as the most important problem facing the US today, up sharply from 11 percent in December. It was the top concern of Republican respondents, with 36 percent citing it as their main worry, above the 29 percent who cited the economy. Trump will be joined by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, whose administration has been building a military “base camp” at Eagle Pass to deter migrants. Eagle Pass remains a flashpoint in a heated partisan debate over border security even though the number of migrants caught crossing without papers into both there and Brownsville dropped sharply in January and February. The number of migrants caught crossing the US-Mexico border without papers hit a monthly record of 250,000 in December, but dropped by half in January, a trend US officials attribute to increased Mexican enforcement and seasonal trends. Abbott, a Republican, has deployed thousands of National Guard troops and laid concertina wire and river buoys to deter illegal immigration through a program called Operation Lone Star. Immigration enforcement historically has been the purview of the federal government, and Abbott’s actions have sparked legal and political standoffs with the Biden administration and immigrant rights activists. Adblock test (Why?)
Far right makes gains in Israeli municipal elections
Occupied East Jerusalem – Far-right and ultra-orthodox Zionist parties made significant gains in Israel’s municipal elections this week, raising fears among secular Israelis and Palestinians in Israel. Analysts believe that liberal freedoms could be threatened in some cities and that discrimination against Palestinians – already having risen acutely following Hamas’s October 7 attack – could grow even more. Jerusalem saw one of the largest victories for Israel’s far right, which captured a majority of local municipal seats. Centrist mayor Moshe Leon won a landslide victory to remain mayor. But Leon will be at the mercy of the far-right bloc in the municipality, which could lead to significant tension with Jerusalem’s roughly 362,000 Palestinian residents. “The municipal results are highly significant in disclosing ongoing trends,” said Daniel Seidmann, an Israeli attorney who specialises in legal and public issues in Jerusalem. “Indeed, the ultra-orthodox or extreme right wing won a majority, but they pretty much ran things [in Jerusalem] already.” The majority of Palestinian residents in Jerusalem live on the east side of the city. The global community has considered East Jerusalem occupied territory ever since Israel annexed the city after capturing Arab lands in 1967. Since then, Palestinians in East Jerusalem have been permitted to participate in local elections, but not in a national vote. However, most Palestinians in East Jerusalem boycotted the municipal elections to protest the occupation, as they have traditionally done in the past. Liberal strongholds In Tel Aviv, residents re-elected Ron Huldai for another term as mayor. Huldai has been the city’s chief executive for more than two decades, indicating that most voters were looking to protect liberal norms and spaces, according to Oren Ziv, an Israeli commentator and journalist. In December 2022, Huldai was one of several mayors who opposed the decision of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to give far-right politician Avi Maoz authority over Israeli school curriculums. At the time, Huldai vowed not to let homophobia into the school curriculum and warned that Israel was becoming a fascist theocracy. Ziv told Al Jazeera that residents in Tel Aviv previously blamed Huldai for gentrifying the city, which has made it unaffordable for many. However, many people still supported him in this election to thwart the advance of the right-wing candidates. “Many people feel that the government or regime in Israel could affect Tel Aviv, and that Huldai is the only one that will stand up to them and to Netanyahu. People do worry how the right wing could affect issues like the education system and LGBTQ rights,” Ziv told Al Jazeera. The far right has been pushing to build more conservative schools. In Haifa, a northern city where Palestinian-Israeli relations are believed to be better than in other mixed cities, residents are waiting to find out who will be their new mayor. A run-off election between two relatively centrist candidates – former Mayor Yona Yahav and David Etzioni – is ongoing. But the results in Tel Aviv and Haifa appear to be exceptions to the broader gains of right-wing candidates enjoyed across Israel. Ziv said that many secular and left-wing Israelis did not vote because they were distracted by the ongoing war in Gaza, which has killed more than 30,000 people – the vast majority of them Palestinians – since the Palestinian group Hamas’s deadly attack on Israeli communities and military outposts on October 7. Hamas attacked communal villages in southern Israel, which were home to many left-leaning Israelis. Ziv said that the results reflect how right-wing Israelis were trying to advance policy agendas and mobilise supporters in the weeks after the attack, while more left-wing movements were still in shock. “The results reflect who turned out to vote and who didn’t,” Ziv told Al Jazeera. Boiling point? Israeli far-right Mayor Yair Revivo was elected as the mayor of the mixed Palestinian-Israeli city Lydd, or Lod in Hebrew. Palestinian citizens in Lydd say that Revivo has deliberately bulldozed Palestinian homes and overseen the immigration of far-right Jewish Israelis – including settlers from the West Bank. Revivo, in tandem with Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, has also armed Israeli civilians in Lydd with M16 rifles following Hamas’s October 7 attack, arguing that they need weapons for their protection. “There is no support for the Arabs in the city from the mayor. He only supports extreme Israeli settlers,” said Khaled Zabarka, a Palestinian lawyer and human rights activist from Lydd. Zabarka added that Palestinians fear Revivo will deliberately escalate tensions between Palestinian and Israeli residents in order to pressure Palestinians to leave the city, even though most are too poor to resettle elsewhere. Seidmann believes that Jerusalem is also a powder keg that could explode at any moment. He said that the results from the election suggest that Mayor Leon will not be able to stop far-right officials from bulldozing homes, provocatively marching through Palestinian quarters of Jerusalem or inciting hate crimes. “There will be times that the mayor will turn a blind and go along with acts that are absolutely reprehensible,” Seidmann told Al Jazeera. “It’s not because he is evil. It is because he is political. “There is no benefit for him to go out of his way to stop them.” Adblock test (Why?)
Canadian doctors call for world to ‘wake up’
NewsFeed Two Canadian doctors who spent over a week in February treating patients in Gaza say the world needs to wake up and put an end to Israel’s bombardment and blockade. They spoke to Al Jazeera about their time in Rafah and Khan Younis and their plans to use their experiences to pressure governments to call for a permanent ceasefire. Published On 29 Feb 202429 Feb 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Intel agency internal DEI training docs feature the ‘gender unicorn’ and ‘transgender terminology’
FIRST ON FOX – The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) “LGBTQIA + ally training” includes the “gender unicorn” and “transgender terminology index,” internal documents reveal. According to a slide deck obtained by the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, DCSA recruits are required to learn “basic concepts” of “inclusion and diversity,” including concepts like “sex is biological” and “gender is a social construct,” learning the LGBTQIA acronym, and “transgender terminology”. DCSA, an agency within the Department of Defense, calls itself “America’s gatekeeper” and is “the largest investigative service provider in the federal government supporting over 100 federal entities.” The training includes a section called “pride flag explained,” which explains how the word “progress” represents how “the Pride Flag evolved to include both new colors and a new shape.” MILITARY EXPERTS BLAME BIDEN’S DEI PUSH AS US MILITARY ENTERS 2024 WITH SMALLEST FIGHTING FORCE IN 80 YEARS The training deck also features a slide that includes a quote from Office of Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, saying, “Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility are the cornerstone of our mission. . . . The IC’s ability to leverage the talent and perspectives of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and viewpoints is critical in a rapidly changing global threat environment.” “Ensuring that we have an IC workforce who thinks differently, sees problems differently, and overcomes challenges differently is imperative. Their creativity ensures that our nation is secure against the array of adversaries and the foreign threats we face,” she said. The slide with Haines’ quote is labeled “mission imperative” in the agency’s deck. PENTAGON ASKS FOR $114M TO SPEND ON DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION AND ACCESSIBILITY IN 2024 It also encourages employees to display an “I am an ally” poster “on your office door or cubicle so others know they are in a safe and inclusive space with you.” The deck includes hypothetical scenarios like, “You refer to your colleague using she/her pronouns. Your colleague corrects you, stating their pronouns are they/them,” and discussion questions like, “How should you respond when corrected? How can you be an ally to this person?” FAA’S DIVERSITY PUSH INCLUDES FOCUS ON HIRING PEOPLE WITH ‘SEVERE INTELLECTUAL’ AND ‘PSYCHIATRIC’ DISABILITIES The deck also includes a graphic of the “gender unicorn” which acts as a guide to the “gender orientation spectrum.” “Adversaries are capitalizing on the fact that the American bureaucracy imposes overhead costs on agencies with absurd mandated annual training that deviates so widely from agencies’ actual mission set,” Colin Aamot, an investigator for the Oversight Project told Fox News Digital. “This is part of a larger, systemic issue to move away from core agency priorities such as intelligence — towards indoctrination of leftist ideologies.” DCSA and ODNI did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Biden, during visit to overwhelmed border, urges Republicans to back Senate bill: ‘Time to act’
President Biden, in a visit to the southern border on Thursday, renewed his calls for Republicans to back a controversial, but bipartisan, Senate border agreement — as illegal immigration continues to be a major political headache for the administration and he seeks to shift blame to Republicans for the crisis. “It’s real simple, it’s time to act, it is long past time to act,” Biden said. “It’s time for us to move on this, we can’t wait any longer.” Biden spoke in Brownsville, Texas, after meeting with Border Patrol, law enforcement and local leaders. The visit, which coincided with former President Donald Trump’s visit to the border in Eagle Pass, Texas, comes as illegal immigration has become a major 2024 election issue and remains a thorny issue for the administration. The crisis, now into its third year, has smashed multiple records with more than 2.4 million encounters in FY 23 and over 300,000 in December alone — breaking the record for monthly encounters. Biden and his administration have sought to shift the blame for the crisis onto the shoulders of Republicans. The administration says that it is working in a broken system that needs significantly more funding and comprehensive immigration reform. It introduced a bill on its first day in office that included a mass amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants already in the U.S., which was immediately rejected by Republicans. Republicans in the House introduced and passed legislation of their own that would fund more Border Patrol agents, resume wall construction, restart the Remain-in-Mexico policy and severely limit the ability of migrants to claim asylum. After the White House made a supplemental funding request, including $20 billion for border funding in late 2023, Senate negotiators hashed out a deal that included additional staffing at the border and in asylum offices, an increased $1.4 billion in funding to cities and NGOs receiving migrants, took action to tackle fentanyl smuggling and would limit asylum claims. It would also increase detention beds to 50,000 and provide additional immigration judges. “Folks, the bipartisan border security bill is a win for the American people and a win for the people of Texas, and it’s fair for those who legitimately have a right to come here,” he said. “The U.S. Senate need to reconsider this bill and those senators who oppose it need to set politics aside and pass it on the merits, not on whether it’s going to benefit one party or another party,” he said, also calling for Speaker Mike Johnson to put it on the floor in the House. However, it has failed to gain enough support in the Senate, as conservative lawmakers have warned that a limiting mechanism that only comes into place after an average of 5,000 encounters a day would normalize already-high levels of illegal immigration. Biden said, however, that it was “the toughest set of border security reforms we’ve ever seen.” Republicans in the House, who have recently impeached DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, say Biden doesn’t need additional congressional action to secure the border and can do so with the tools his administration already has. Speaking to Fox News Digital ahead of the speech, GOP Whip Tom Emmer dismissed Biden’s trip as a photo op, and called it “another sign of Biden’s incompetence.” “It’s just going to be another cleaned up photo op. It’s not going to be any actual confrontation of the crisis that this guy created. Time and time again, he proves Joe Biden proves that he cares more about minimizing the political implications of this issue than actually addressing it. So I don’t expect much is going to come out of it, except the American people are going to realize once again that Joe Biden doesn’t really mean business when it comes to the border. Emmer said that to solve the crisis, Biden needs to tackle the five issues that were in the House GOP bill: end catch and release, reform parole authority, finish the wall, reform asylum and restore Remain-in-Mexico. He, like others in the House GOP caucus, was dismissive of the contents of the Senate bill Biden is promoting. “You’re going to make it law now that he can let in up to 5000 a day before it becomes a shutdown situation? Outrageous. And the fact that anybody even reports it as an option, I think is less than responsible,” he said. “You’ve got to do something in the five areas that the House has already addressed, but the bare minimum is to restore Remain in Mexico. This is a breaking news story; check back for updates.