Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) wants the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to defend its decision to drop its traditional mission statement of “Duty, Honor, Country,&#8221; according to a letter obtained by The Daily Wire.
Blackburn questioned the academy&#8217;s superintendent on its decision to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/west-point-removes-duty-honor-country-from-mission-statement-replaces-with-army-values">replace the old statement</a> with the phrase &#8220;Army values,&#8221; which she said “represents a vague subjective that can be changed time and again based on cultural and personal preference.”
“The mission statement of West Point has long been a beacon of inspiration for many prospective officers, reflecting the Academy&#8217;s commitment to producing leaders of character who are called to serve our nation,” the Senator from Tennessee wrote in a letter to Lt. Gen Steve Gilland. “Cadets have long been inspired by the notion of &#8216;Duty, Honor, Country,&#8217; a phrase that has become synonymous with the Academy itself.”
“Our military institutions should always have one goal – developing principled leaders and lethal warriors,” Blackburn asserted. “The principles that have led generations of soldiers should not be erased to appeal to the cultural moment.”
Blackburn went on to note that the military has become sidetracked by the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agenda while foreign adversaries plot against America. “More, as Russia, China, Iran and North Korea continue to test the will of the United States, West Point recently held its largest diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) conference. While the U.S. military has been focused on DEI initiatives, our adversaries are plotting against us.”
The Senator’s letter comes as the military has doubled down on DEI initiatives, with the Air Force Academy recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/air-force-academy-highlights-transgender-officer-at-leadership-summit">hosting</a> a transgender military member who pushed a “transgender day of visibility” in the military.
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WATCH🎥: The U.S. Air Force Academy hosted a transgender Pentagon official for a symposium on inclusion. Our military is focused on transgender dogma while wars rage on two continents. 
Here he is at a pride celebration calling for &quot;intentional inclusivity&quot; in the military 🧵 <a href="https://t.co/6BAbEwrS4j">pic.twitter.com/6BAbEwrS4j</a>
&mdash; Spencer Lindquist 🇺🇸 (@SpencerLndqst) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpencerLndqst/status/1763327970893254985?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 29, 2024</a></blockquote>
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The Pentagon has spent as much as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-pentagon-slated-to-spend-nearly-270-million-on-diversity-agenda">$270 million on the DEI agenda</a> under the Biden administration, while the country’s most powerful intelligence agencies have pushed <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-leaked-nsa-doc-reveals-massive-woke-glossary-pushing-critical-race-theory-gender-ideology-on-govt-employees">Critical Race Theory</a> and leftwing beliefs on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-top-intelligence-agency-says-crossdressing-makes-man-better-intelligence-officer-internal-docs-show">gender</a>.
Blackburn also posed a number of questions to Lt. Gen Steve Gilland, requesting that he respond no later than April 1st. “Who are you referring to when you say you worked with ‘external stakeholders’ on this change?” she asked, as well as “What do you say to those concerned that ‘Army Values’ can be broadly interpreted to fit the ever-changing cultural climate?”
“In your view, how does the updated mission statement better align with the timeless principles and values that West Point has upheld for generations?” she went on to ask.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn

EXCLUSIVE: Blackburn Drills West Point For Ditching ‘Duty, Honor, Country’ In Mission Statement

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Marsha Blackburn

Military

Pentagon

It was one year ago, on February 11, 2023, that Dylan Mulvaney, the transgender-identifying social media influencer, posted a video of himself drinking Bud Light in a bathtub — paid promotion that permanently altered not only Bud Light’s reputation, but now also the ad standards for the entire beer industry.
While Bud Light dealt with the public outcry and a nationwide boycott over its partnership with Mulvaney, it fought a less high-profile legal battle over whether the promotion of beer by Mulvaney — who often presents on social media as an entertainer for kids — was compliant with industry standards that ban marketing alcohol to minors.
U.S. Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), both members of the Commerce Committee, wrote a letter on May 17, 2023, that sparked a <a href="https://www.beerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/CCRB-Dylan-Mulvaney-Complaint-Packet-with-Decisions-7.18.23.pdf">formal review</a> by the beer industry’s self-regulating body, the Beer Institute, into whether Bud Light was targeting minors through its ads with Mulvaney.
Mulvaney posted just twice as a Bud Light partner, first on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CoiTxPFjU2N/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">February 11</a> in the bathtub timed with last year&#8217;s Super Bowl and then again on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CqgTftujqZc/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">April 1</a> for March Madness, with the latter post generating the outrage that cost the company billions of dollars. The company first reviewed the possibility of hiring Mulvaney in December 2022 and went on to pay him a reported <a href="https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/dylan-mulvaney-bud-light-payout" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$185,000</a> for the two posts.
The senators in their letter state that Mulvaney was brought on as part of Bud Light’s strategy to “<a href="https://nypost.com/2023/04/10/bud-lights-marketing-vp-was-inspired-to-update-fratty-out-of-touch-branding/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">attract young drinkers</a>” and pointed to his several posts aimed at children, including <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@dylanmulvaney/video/7212043896430415147?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one</a> in March, right in the middle of his two posts for Bud Light, in which he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trans-activist-dylan-mulvaney-dressed-as-6-year-old-book-character-eloise-sparks-big-reaction-on-twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posed as a 6-year-old children’s book character</a> named Eloise.
<blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@dylanmulvaney/video/7212043896430415147" data-video-id="7212043896430415147" data-embed-from="oembed" style="max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;" >
<section> <a target="_blank" title="@dylanmulvaney" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@dylanmulvaney?refer=embed">@dylanmulvaney</a> 
Childhood dream unlocked ✔️ <a title="eloise" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/eloise?refer=embed">#eloise</a> <a title="plazahotel" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/plazahotel?refer=embed">#plazahotel</a> 
 <a target="_blank" title="♬ Eloise - Emily Christine Peterson" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/Eloise-7024186847911840517?refer=embed">♬ Eloise &#8211; Emily Christine Peterson</a> </section>
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The charge was reviewed by the Beer Institute’s “Code Compliance Review Board,” which in a July decision found that Bud Light did not violate its Advertising and Marketing Code. But just two months later that code was quietly revised — the <a href="https://www.beerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Beer-Institute-Advertising-and-Marketing-Code-Updated-Sept2023.pdf">Advertising and Marketing Code</a> that beer companies are required to adhere to now includes new language on social media influencers that would appear to forbid any brewer from working with Mulvaney.
The guidelines also appear to mandate that Bud Light go back and reassess the Mulvaney posts based on the new standards.
The updated standards state that a brewer must conduct “after-the-fact audits” at least twice a year of all its influencer placements. “If a Brewer learns that an advertising placement did not meet the Code’s audience demographic standard,” the Beer Institute states, recommended steps include having the post removed.
The standards at the time of the initial review made no mention of influencers, and Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch, used that to say it wasn’t responsible for reviewing influencer posts, and didn’t with Mulvaney. The company told the review board that influencer campaigns are “unique” because the content is “not controlled by the brewer,” but rather the “influencers develop their own content and post it on their own page.”
That’s no longer an acceptable process. The new standards, which were announced in a September 28, 2023, <a href="https://www.beerinstitute.org/press-releases/member-alert-beer-institute-updates-advertising-and-marketing-code/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a> but received no media attention, say that social media influencer content needs to be held to the same standard as other ads.
The standards were updated just weeks after Cruz urged action in an <a href="https://www.commerce.senate.gov/services/files/7A0CBD95-24A3-4A6C-B299-490F36D90564" target="_blank" rel="noopener">August 15 letter</a> in which he bemoaned the lack of standards for social media posts. “It is concerning, for example, that brewers do not prescreen branded content by social media influencers,” Cruz wrote, noting Bud Light’s initial defense that influencer posts were “unique.”
The guidelines state that social media posts can only be placed where at least 73.8% of the audience is of legal drinking age — the same standard as for traditional advertisements — and that “age-gating measures” must be used if available.
Not only do independent analyses of Mulvaney’s audience call into question whether his audience is sufficiently composed of drinking-aged adults, but there is no indication that Mulvaney is using Instagram’s <a href="https://help.instagram.com/316932422966736" target="_blank" rel="noopener">age restriction tools</a>. The Daily Wire signed up for an Instagram account stating that it was underage and was able to access his Bud Light promotion.
While Anheuser-Busch stated in its initial defense of the Mulvaney posts that it conducted an “audience composition study” and found that roughly 80% of his audience was 21 or older, its review appears to be insufficient. The company conducted a single analysis when it first engaged with Mulvaney in December 2022 and used it to justify both posts in the coming months.
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<script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script> 
Beer companies are required, however, to continually analyze the audience of their influencers. If Bud Light had, it would have likely learned that Mulvaney wasn&#8217;t an acceptable option.
An <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/02/modash-report-dylanmulvaney-Feb-11-2024.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">independent analysis conducted</a> on the publication date of this story by The Daily Wire using Modash, a leading influencer analysis products, found that over half of Mulvaney’s followers are 24 or under — 7.95% are aged 13-17, and 45.32% are aged 18-24. It is impossible to know the exact composition of his followers based on Instagram’s data because the cutoff date for alcohol, 21 years old, is right in the middle of the 18-24 segment. But if just half of the 18-24 portion were under 21, then Mulvaney would fall below the acceptable threshold.
Cruz, in his August letter that appears to have prompted the updated standards, cast serious doubt about assumptions made by Bud Light in its audience review. One complaint stated by the Texas senator is that Bud Light guessed the proportion of 18-24-year-olds that were actually over 21 based on an assumption that users are evenly distributed by age — it only counts 42% of that group as underage — even though there is no evidence to suggest that’s the case.
It’s likely the case that there are far more young people on Instagram than its data suggests. The social media platform relies on the honesty of users to determine their age, with little to no age verification tools. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/instagram-tests-child-age-verification-but-falls-short-of-full-id-checks-11655953547" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Surveys show</a> that minors regularly lie about their age to obtain social media profiles. It is therefore likely that the studies overstate the number of users who are adults.
It is unclear whether Anheuser-Busch has conducted a single analysis of Mulvaney’s audience since its initial review before the posts, even though the new standards require it to.
Anheuser-Busch did not respond to a request for comment on the Mulvaney posts, and whether it has reviewed them since the updated standards were released. Mulvaney also did not respond to inquiries.
The Beer Institute declined to comment on whether any action has been taken regarding Mulvaney’s posts since the standards were updated, and whether any action is required.
“The Code Compliance Review Board, an independent review board convened by the Beer Institute, has already carefully assessed the posts and determined that there was no violation of the Beer Institute Advertising and Marketing Code,” a Beer Institute spokesman told The Daily Wire, a statement that disregards the fact that the Advertising and Marketing Code was amended after the review.
Cruz warned the Beer Institute in his August letter that a failure to take his concerns seriously would force him to legislate away the industry’s self-governing situation.
“There are currently no federal laws against advertising alcohol to minors, in part because of the beer industry’s professed commitment to self-regulation,” Cruz wrote. “As Ranking Member on the Commerce Committee, it is my duty to ensure that the Beer Institute’s private regulatory regime is working; if it is not, then our Committee may be forced to consider legislating to protect consumers, including impressionable children.”
Cruz made clear in his latest letter on the topic that the Beer Institute’s absolvement of Bud Light doesn’t mean his inquiries will end. The industry trade group’s <a href="https://www.beerinstitute.org/about-us/leadership/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">board of directors</a>, after all, is currently chaired by Brendan Whitworth, the CEO of Anheuser-Busch.
Bud Light has continued to grapple with its reputation in the year since affiliating its brand with the transgender influencer. It is reportedly using this year’s Super Bowl as an opportunity for a “<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/bud-light-plotting-brand-revival-in-new-super-bowl-ad-203908677724" target="_blank" rel="noopener">brand revival</a>.”
Both of Mulvaney’s posts tagged with “#budlightpartner” remain unaltered on Instagram.
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Dylan Mulvaney Bud Light

One Year Later: How Bud Light’s Dylan Mulvaney Fiasco Pushed Beer Industry To Rewrite Its Ad Standards

Bud Light

Dylan Mulvaney

Super Bowl

Ted Cruz

Today, five CEOs of Big Tech companies — Meta, X, TikTok, Snap, and Discord — will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee and make excuses for the failure of their platforms to protect children online from harmful content, dangerous algorithms, and child predators.
One thing is certain: These CEOs have a lot to answer for.
Every day, new evidence comes to light showing just how far Big Tech is willing to go to put profit over safety.
Just this month, newly released <a href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/children-on-instagram-and-facebook-were-frequent-targets-of-sexual-harassment-state-says-68401b07" target="_blank" rel="noopener">internal documents</a> about Meta’s child safety policies revealed that in 2021 an estimated 100,000 minors received sexually abusive content from adults on Facebook and Instagram — each day. Although employees warned top executives that Meta’s algorithm connected minors with potential child predators, the company ignored their warnings and did nothing about the abuse on their platforms.
The new information, revealed through a lawsuit brought by the New Mexico Attorney General against the tech giant, corroborates testimony from Facebook whistleblower Arturo Bejar, who testified before the Judiciary Committee last November.
Bejar, a former engineering director at Facebook, told us that Meta executives knew that millions of teens face bullying, eating disorder content, and sexual exploitation on their platforms. Yet Meta <a href="https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2023/11/blackburn-blumenthal-statement-on-facebook-whistleblower-disclosures" target="_blank" rel="noopener">withheld this information</a> from congressional oversight, rolled back safety tools, and dismantled teams responsible for children’s safety.
Unfortunately, Meta isn’t the only tech giant that is endangering children.
Across the board we’ve seen social media platforms — including Snapchat, Chinese-owned TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook — become <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/health/pills-fentanyl-social-media.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">open drug markets</a> where dealers connect with children and selling them illicit drugs, including fentanyl. Just as dealers and drug traffickers have built their distribution networks through these sites, fentanyl has become the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45, claiming the lives of <a href="https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates#:~:text=Overall%2C%20drug%20overdose%20deaths%20rose,overdose%20deaths%20reported%20in%202021." target="_blank" rel="noopener">70,000</a> people each year.
Perhaps most disturbing, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/instagram-vast-pedophile-network-4ab7189" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a> continue to emerge showing how human traffickers and predators exploit Big Tech platforms to lure underage victims, entice American youth to participate in their smuggling operations, and traffick women and children.
As hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants enter our country each month, cartels are reportedly offering <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/10/13/cartels-using-tiktok-snapchat-to-recruit-human-smugglers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">thousands of dollars</a> in cash payments on TikTok and Snapchat to recruit Americans to come to the Southern border and traffick migrants into the United States.
On X, formerly known as Twitter, users have <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/musk-twitter-elon-child-abuse-material-rcna63621" target="_blank" rel="noopener">advertised</a> the sale of child sexual abuse material.
And on Discord, a messaging platform popular among minors, predators have exchanged child sexual abuse material, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/discord-child-safety-social-platform-challenges-rcna89769" target="_blank" rel="noopener">groomed</a> children for abduction, and extorted children after enticing them to share sexual images of themselves. In one case just last year, a predator <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/discord-child-safety-social-platform-challenges-rcna89769" target="_blank" rel="noopener">abducted</a> a 13-year-old girl from Texas, raped her, and left her locked in a backyard shed after connecting with her on the messaging site.
This is every parent’s worst nightmare. And for years, my colleagues and I on the Senate Judiciary Committee have heard similar stories from countless parents who lost their children after they connected with a drug dealer, sex trafficker, or pedophile on a social media site.
In response, Big Tech executives have made excuse after excuse over their failure to stop the rampant abuse, malicious content, and criminality on their platforms. But nothing has changed.
If Big Tech won’t act, Congress must step in.
That’s why Senator Blumenthal (D-CT) and I have introduced the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/1409/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kids Online Safety Act</a>, which would provide parents and children with the tools, safeguards, and transparency they need to protect against online harms.
This bipartisan legislation includes crucial provisions to hold Big Tech companies accountable: requirements that platforms give minors the option to protect their personal information and opt out of algorithmic recommendations by default; new controls for parents to identify harmful behavior and report abuse directly to social media sites; and mandatory audits to ensure that platforms are mitigating harms to children.
Alongside Senator Ossoff (D-GA), I’ve also led the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/474" target="_blank" rel="noopener">REPORT Act</a>, which would provide the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and law enforcement with the tools they need to crack down on online child sex abuse material and child trafficking.
Along with many other important measures, the bill, which unanimously passed the Senate last month, would make the reporting of child trafficking and enticement mandatory for online platforms, incurring fines of up to $1 million for each offense.
Without real and enforceable reforms, social media companies will only continue to pay lip service to the issue of protecting children — while putting profits over their safety. These important pieces of legislation will help bring this charade to an end.
* * *
U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn represents the state of Tennessee and serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

GOP Senate Judiciary Members Hold Press Conference On The Supreme Court

Big Tech Is Putting Profit Over The Safety Of Kids Online. It’s Time to Hold Them Accountable.

Big Tech

Children

Readers Pass

Tennessee

TikTok

Twitter

U.S. Senate

A group of Republican senators led by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) introduced a bill on Thursday that would ensure that illegal immigrants are not included in the population count for the Electoral College or congressional districts. 
The bill, titled the “<a href="https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/services/files/E691A0D4-087A-443C-A338-235A1C98CC4A" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Equal Representation Act</a>,” would require the Census Bureau to ask a citizenship question so that Electoral College votes would only be apportioned based on U.S. citizens living in the state. Former President Donald Trump attempted to have the question added to the 2020 census but was blocked after he faced a bevy of lawsuits from Left-leaning groups. 
“It is unconscionable that illegal immigrants and non-citizens are counted toward congressional district apportionment and our electoral map. While people continue to flee Democrat-run cities, desperate Democrats are back-filling the mass exodus with illegal immigrants so that they do not lose their seats in Congress or their electoral votes for the presidency, hence artificially boosting their political power and in turn diluting the power of other Americans’ votes,” Hagerty said. 
According to a draft of the legislation, the bill would require a citizenship question to be asked during the decennial census, and it would ensure that representatives would be designated based on the number of citizens living in a state and not the total population. 
“Blue states may be losing citizens over their liberal policies, but they’re making up for it by welcoming illegal immigrants. Democrats have admitted the quiet part out loud as they continue to justify their open border policies: they just need a higher headcount to help them acquire more seats in Congress and more dollars from the federal government. This is wrong and un-American,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a co-sponsor of the bill, <a href="https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2024/1/blackburn-hagerty-colleagues-introduce-legislation-to-end-counting-of-illegal-immigrants-in-determining-electoral-college-votes-and-congressional-district-apportionment">said</a>. 
In 2019, the Supreme Court blocked Trump&#8217;s efforts to add a citizenship question to the census in a 5-4 decision after groups claimed that the question was discriminatory.
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Other co-sponsors of the bill included Sens. Mike Braun (R-IN), Katie Britt (R-AL), Ted Budd (R-NC), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Steve Daines (R-MT), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), James Lankford (R-OK.), Mike Lee (R-UT), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Pete Ricketts (R-NB), Jim Risch (R-ID), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), John Thune (R-SD), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), and J.D. Vance (R-OH).
The legislation comes as a record number of illegal immigrants have crossed the southern border under President Joe Biden.

Congressional Lawmakers React To The Expiration Of The Title 42 Border Policy

Tennessee Senator Introduces Bill To End Counting Of Illegal Immigrants For Electoral College

Census Bureau

Illegal Immigration

Politics

A federal judge has ordered that documents containing the names of some of the associates of deceased financier and pedophile <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jeffrey-epstein" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jeffrey Epstein</a> be released in 2024. 
The documents to be released come from a 2017 civil trial brought by Virginia Giuffre, who said that Ghislaine Maxwell facilitated Epstein’s sex trafficking of her. The names of roughly 150 associates are <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/federal-judge-orders-documents-naming-jeffrey-epsteins-associates/story?id=105779882#:~:text=More%20than%20150%20people%20are%20expected%20to%20be%20identified%20in%20early%20January.&amp;text=A%20federal%20judge%20in%20New,scores%20of%20Jeffrey%20Epstein's%20associates." target="_blank" rel="noopener">expected</a> to be revealed, although New York Judge Loretta Preska has given the individuals 14 days to object to the release of their names.
“The Court stays its order for fourteen days to permit any impacted Doe the opportunity to appeal, after which counsel are asked to confer, prepare the documents for unsealing pursuant to this order, and post the documents on the docket,” Preska <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706.1315.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> on Monday. 
Preska listed multiple reasons to unseal the documents, including the fact that several individuals whose names have been kept hidden previously gave interviews to the media. Several individuals have not objected to the release of their names, according to Preska’s order. 
The well-connected Epstein died in a Manhattan prison cell in August 2019 awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after being <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jeffrey-epsteins-ex-girlfriend-ghislaine-maxwell-sentenced-to-prison" target="_blank" rel="noopener">convicted</a> of sex trafficking children. 
The decision to release the documents brought on celebration from some and speculation by others on whose names will be found in the documents. 
“The names of over 170 of Jeffrey Epstein’s high-profile associates are to be released in the first week of 2024,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarshaBlackburn/status/1737146827185569863" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Tuesday in a post on X. “Accountability is coming.”
Blackburn <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sen-blackburn-says-democrat-led-senate-committee-chair-blocked-epstein-flight-logs-subpoena" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has moved</a> in recent weeks to get the Senate Judiciary Committee to subpoena Epstein&#8217;s flight records, but has said that Sen. Dick Durban (D-IL) has so far blocked her. 
It was previously reported that Epstein owned at least three jets, including a Gulfstream II sold in November 2013, a Gulfstream IV sold before his arrest, and a Boeing 727 nicknamed the “Lolita Express,” which allegedly transported prominent individuals and girls all around the world.
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The so-called &#8220;Lolita Express&#8221; private jet has been the subject of controversy amid the accusations brought against Epstein and, in particular, the flight records connected to the plane that supposedly include the names of those who traveled with him.
Victims of Epstein and at least one of his pilots have since come out and claimed that public figures, including Bill Gates, Prince Andrew, and Donald Trump, had traveled with the disgraced financier.

Jeffrey Epstein Appears In Manhattan Federal Court On Sex Trafficking Charges

‘Accountability Is Coming’: Epstein Associates To Be Named After Judge Orders Documents Released

Ghislaine Maxwell

Jeffrey Epstein

New York

Sex Crimes

Planned Parenthood and other abortion advocacy organizations received nearly $2 billion in federal funding over a three year span, according to a new government report.
The Government Accountability Office disclosed in a <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/GAO-Report-on-Federal-Abortion-Funding-for-FY2019-%E2%80%93-FY2021.pdf">Tuesday report</a> that $1.89 billion in federal dollars was allocated to multiple different pro-abortion organizations, including those that perform abortion, over the three year period from 2019 to 2021. Planned Parenthood received the overwhelming bulk of the sum, a whopping $1.78 billion, during the three-year period, all while it performed 1.11 million abortions.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who <a href="https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2022/1/blackburn-hartzler-smith-colleagues-request-gao-report-on-federal-funding-for-abortion-advocacy-groups">requested</a> in January 2022 that GAO produce this report, told The Daily Wire that the staggering amount of funding should shock Americans, whether they support abortion or not.
&#8220;We regularly hear from people — whether they&#8217;re pro-choice or pro-abortion — they don&#8217;t think taxpayer dollars should be used for this,&#8221; Blackburn said in a Monday interview. &#8220;You&#8217;re looking at close to 600 million federal dollars that are going into abortion every single year.&#8221;
The revelations come as poll numbers suggest that Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to federal funding of abortion. Three out of five Americans said they are opposed to using tax dollars to pay for a woman’s abortion, according to a <a href="https://www.kofc.org/en/resources/communications/polls/2023-kofc-marist-poll-presentation.pdf">January 2023 Marist poll</a>.
While the <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12167">Hyde Amendment</a> bars the use of federal funds for most abortions, it does not prevent organizations like Planned Parenthood, America&#8217;s largest provider of abortions, from receiving those funds if they are earmarked for other purposes.
The report exhibits the limits of executive action when it comes to separating the abortion industry from federal dollars. The Trump administration attempted to end federal funding of pro-abortion organizations in 2017 by establishing the <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/guidance/document/trump-administration-actions-protect-life-and-conscience">Protect Life Rule</a>, which mandated that all organizations receiving funding through Title X grants <a href="https://opa.hhs.gov/grant-programs/title-x-service-grants">intended to assist family planning services</a> must agree to refrain from offering referrals for abortions, and must also maintain both physical and financial separation from abortion providers.
Planned Parenthood refused to comply with the new rule and forfeited the Title X funding, which was the abortion group&#8217;s second largest source of federal funding behind Medicaid reimbursements. The GAO report found that Planned Parenthood’s refusal “led almost all affiliates to discontinue using family planning grants under Title X” in both 2020 and 2021. The Biden administration, however, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/us/politics/abortion-biden-trump.html#:~:text=%E2%80%9COur%20nation%27s%20family%20planning%20clinics,health%20and%20human%20services%20secretary">rescinded</a> the Trump administration’s Protect Life Rule in 2021.
In addition to the federal dollars that went to Planned Parenthood, another $2.03 million went to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). The international organization <a href="https://www.ippf.org/about-us">operates</a> in 146 different countries and works alongside 150 <a href="https://www.ippf.org/about-us/member-associations">member associations</a>. The IPPF <a href="https://www.ippf.org/resource/2022-annual-performance-report">brags</a> that in 2022 alone, it provided 5 million “abortion services,” an increase of 11% since 2021. The figure includes 14,000 chemical abortions that were facilitated by the federation.
MSI Reproductive Choices, an organization that works in 37 countries and <a href="http://www.msichoices.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/msi-annual-report-2021.pdf">bragged</a> in 2021 that “4 million clients accessed an abortion or post-abortion care with MSI,” received $1.35 million in taxpayer funds. MSI states that by 2030, it hopes to provide a third of abortions in the areas it operates. The organization laid out this goal in a <a href="https://www.msichoices.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/msi-2030-external-strategy-11112020.pdf">strategy document</a> that says MSI intends to ensure “1 in 3 women who have an abortion will access it from a safe MSI or MSI-supported product or service.”
The report found that another $107.74 million went to “four domestic regional organizations,” which remained unnamed and were identified only as “privately-owned providers of health related services within various regions of the United States.” The report also noted that the groups “operated in a total of eight states during the time frame of this study” and that “the services they provide include sexual and reproductive health-related service.”
The report found that a large chunk of the money sent to Planned Parenthood was &#8220;illegally&#8221; taken from the Paycheck Protection Program, which was intended for small businesses to keep people employed as the government responded to the COVID pandemic.
&#8220;While small businesses struggled to make ends meet during the pandemic, Planned Parenthood illegally siphoned over $90 million from the Paycheck Protection Program,” Blackburn said, noting that the program was “specifically designed to help our mom and pop shops keep their doors open.”
Blackburn was joined by 141 other Republicans in Congress in January 2022 when she requested that the GAO produce a report detailing federal funding of abortion advocacy organizations.

Planned Parenthood Logo

Feds Sent Nearly $2 Billion To Planned Parenthood And Other Pro-Abortion Groups, Gov’t Report Finds

Abortion

Planned Parenthood

A group of Republican senators is pushing President Joe Biden to take a stronger stance on China and Iran with legislation that would aim to drive a wedge between the two countries.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) plans to lead a group of eight senators in introducing the Iran China Accountability Act on Tuesday. The bill would restrict Iran from striking a new nuclear deal with the United States unless Tehran distances itself from Beijing, according to a summary of the bill obtained by The Daily Wire.
The seven GOP co-sponsors are Sens. Kevin Cramer and John Hoeven of North Dakota, Ted Cruz of Texas, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott of Florida, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
“Iran would love nothing more than to enter into another nuclear deal that props up their terrorist activity and also benefits their fellow New Axis of Evil partner — Communist China,” Blackburn told The Daily Wire in a statement. “As Iran and the CCP commit egregious human rights abuses against their own citizens and Iran-backed Hamas enacts horrific violence against Israel, it has become increasingly critical that the Biden administration holds the Iranian regime fully accountable.&#8221;
“There must be no nuclear deal until we can ensure our national security interests are protected,” she said.
A version of the bill has <a href="https://good.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-good-introduces-iran-china-accountability-act" target="_blank" rel="noopener">been</a> <a href="https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2022/5/blackburn-leads-legislation-calling-out-iran-china-ties" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduced</a> by Republican lawmakers to the House or Senate every year since 2021. The legislation has received renewed support from GOP lawmakers following the terror attack by Hamas, an Iranian-backed group, on Israel on October 7.
The Iran China Accountability Act would require a two-thirds majority in the Senate to approve any new nuclear deal in that body. It would also freeze a nuclear deal unless Iran and China met a number of benchmarks, such as terminating security and military partnerships between the two and China releasing imprisoned Uyghurs. Iran would also have to verify the destruction of all chemical weapons and the material and infrastructure used to construct them.
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The legislation also condemns the terror group Hamas for attacks on Israel.
Striking a new nuclear deal with Iran has been a top foreign policy priority for the Biden administration. In October, the Senate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-confirms-iran-nuclear-deal-architect-jack-lew-for-ambassador-to-israel-despite-gop-criticism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">approved</a> the White House’s preferred diplomat to handle U.S. relations with Israel, Jack Lew, the architect of the Iran nuclear deal. Israel opposed the Iran nuclear deal when it was first struck under former President Barack Obama and has been skeptical of Biden’s efforts to revive the agreement.
Earlier this year, Washington agreed to a prisoner swap with Tehran that included the release of $6 billion in frozen Iranian oil money. The House last week passed a bill that would freeze those funds with significant bipartisan support, setting up a potentially embarrassing setback for the White House and its goals with Iran.
A group of 26 Republican senators <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gop-senators-warn-that-biden-is-bypassing-congress-to-enter-nuclear-deal-with-iran" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warned</a> the White House in August against attempting to bypass Congress with any new nuclear deal.
“We are also worried that your administration is attempting to sidestep Congress and pursue other pathways to financially compensate Iran in an attempt to renegotiate a successor to the ill-fated 2015 nuclear deal,” the senators said in a letter. “Any agreement with the Iranian regime that entails financial reward for malign behavior is wholly unacceptable.”

Ebrahim Raisi, Xi Jinping

GOP Senators Push Bill To Block Iran Nuclear Deal Until Tehran Severs Ties With China

China

Congress

Executive

Iran

Joe Biden

A subpoena request filed in Congress to grant lawmakers access to the flight logs connected to deceased financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was allegedly blocked last week by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL).
Durbin, who leads the Senate Judiciary Committee, reportedly rejected the request brought forward by Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn in early November. She accused Durbin of standing in the way of certifying the request after a contentious committee meeting on Thursday.
“What are Democrats trying to hide?” Blackburn said in a post on X.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/SenatorDurbin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenatorDurbin</a> BLOCKED my request to subpoena Jeffrey Epstein’s flight logs.
What are Democrats trying to hide?
&mdash; Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarshaBlackburn/status/1730275853748126138?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
During a committee hearing last month surrounding Durbin’s attempts to investigate Supreme Court ethics issues, Blackburn filed the request in the upper chamber of Congress. Amid a fiery exchange between the two lawmakers, Blackburn announced a series of subpoena requests — including one against against Epstein’s estate to identify everyone listed on the flight records that have been said to include several high-profile figures worldwide.
An aide for the Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/jeffrey-epstein-flight-logs-denied-democrat-led-senate-judiciary-committee-blackburn-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Fox News Digital in a statement that Durbin would have stayed in the panel on Thursday to allow Republicans to offer and debate the 177 filed amendments, noting the committee would vote on authorizing the subpoena after. But Republican lawmakers on the committee allegedly began to filibuster during the hearing and didn’t allow Blackburn to offer the first amendment to the authorization, the Democratic committee aide claimed.
Blackburn <a href="https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2023/11/breaking-judiciary-chair-durbin-blocks-senator-blackburn-s-request-to-subpoena-sotomayor-staff-epstein-flight-logs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> the hearing a &#8220;sad day in the history of the prestigious Judiciary Committee and further underscores the Left’s two tiers of justice crusade.&#8221;
“They also don’t want to have a conversation about the estate of Jeffrey Epstein to find out the names of every person who participated in Jeffrey Epstein’s human trafficking ring,” she added.
Epstein died in his New York prison cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges that involved running a “vast network” of underage girls for sex. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges before his death at 66 years old.
Insider previously reported that Epstein had owned at least three jets, including a Gulfstream II sold in November 2013, a Gulfstream IV sold before his arrest, and a Boeing 727 nicknamed the “Lolita Express,” which allegedly transported prominent individuals and girls all around the world.
The so-called Lolita Express private jet has been the subject of controversy amid the accusations brought against Epstein and, in particular, the flight records connected to the plane that supposedly include the names of those who traveled with him.
Victims of Epstein and at least one of his pilots have since come out and claimed that public figures, including Bill Gates, Prince Andrew, and Donald Trump, had traveled with the disgraced financier.
In December 2021, prosecutors reportedly released thousands of flight records in the sex-trafficking trial of his alleged accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, who also pleaded not guilty but was ultimately convicted.
Insider reported flight manifests unsealed in a defamation case against Maxwell showed that some names listed included former President Bill Clinton, supermodel Naomi Campbell, and the astronaut John Glenn.

Sen. Blackburn Says Democrat-Led Senate Committee Chair Blocked Epstein Flight Logs Subpoena

Dick Durbin

Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn <a href="https://twitter.com/MarshaBlackburn/status/1722763300629266562?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">asked</a> Senate lawmakers on Thursday to approve a subpoena against the estate of deceased wealthy financier and convicted sex offender <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jeffrey-epstein" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jeffrey Epstein</a>, demanding Congress gains access to flight logs from his private plane.
&#8220;Given the numerous allegations of human trafficking and abuse surrounding Mr. Epstein, we&#8217;ve got to identify everyone who could have participated in his horrific conduct,&#8221; Blackburn said in a <a href="https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2023/11/democrats-sham-hearing-abruptly-ends-shortly-after-blackburn-pushes-subpoenas-on-justice-sotomayor-staff-epstein-flight-logs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">news release</a>.
Blackburn announced she filed the request during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing surrounding Sen. Dick Durbin&#8217;s (D-IL) attempts to investigate Supreme Court ethics issues. Amid a fiery exchange between the two lawmakers, Blackburn announced a series of subpoenas, including the one against Epstein&#8217;s estate.
&#8220;I think it is very important that we identify everybody that was on that plane, and how many trips they took on that plane and the destinations to which they arrived,&#8221; she said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
JUST IN &#8211; U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn has filed a subpoena to obtain Jeffrey Epstein&#39;s flight logs.<a href="https://t.co/gWcK8PtMOj">pic.twitter.com/gWcK8PtMOj</a>
&mdash; Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) <a href="https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1722716829628465257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Epstein died in his New York prison cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges that involved running a &#8220;vast network&#8221; of underage girls for sex. He pleaded not guilty to the charges prior to his death at 66 years old.
Insider previously <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/faa-accidentally-released-jeffrey-epsteins-flight-records-2021-10?_gl=1*qc1121*_ga*MTk2NDUxOTI1NS4xNjk5NTc5NTE1*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTY5OTU3OTUxNC4xLjEuMTY5OTU4MTMzOC42MC4wLjA." target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Epstein had owned at least three jets, including a Gulfstream II sold in November 2013, a Gulfstream IV sold before his arrest, and a Boeing 727 nicknamed the &#8220;Lolita Express,&#8221; which infamously transported prominent individuals and girls all around the world.
The so-called Lolita Express private jet has been the subject of controversy amid the accusations brought against Epstein and, in particular, the flight records connected to the plane that supposedly include the names of those who traveled with him.
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In December 2021, prosecutors <a href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-trial-jeffrey-epstein-private-jet-flight-records-revealed-2021-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> released thousands of flight records in the sex-trafficking trial of his alleged accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, who pleaded not guilty but was ultimately convicted.
In addition to who flew on the plane, the 118-page collection of flight logs reportedly contains other information such as dates, points of departure and arrival, number of landings, and the pilot&#8217;s signature.
Victims of Epstein, and one of his pilots, have since come out and claimed that public figures, including Bill Gates, Prince Andrew, and Donald Trump, traveled with the disgraced financier.
Insider reported flight manifests unsealed in a defamation case against Maxwell included former President Bill Clinton, supermodel Naomi Campbell, and the astronaut John Glenn.
FAA records obtained by Insider found Epstein&#8217;s jets flew mainly between his former primary residences in New York and Palm Beach and his estates in Paris, New Mexico, and the Virgin Islands.

Senate Republicans Hold Capitol Hill Press Conference On Border Security

Sen. Blackburn Requests Subpoena Of Jeffrey Epstein’s Estate, Demanding Infamous Flight Logs

Sen. Blackburn Subpoenas Jeffrey Epstein's Estate Demanding Infamous Flight Logs

Crime

Sex Trafficking

U.S.

Senator <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/marsha-blackburn" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marsha Blackburn</a> (R-TN) is calling on the U.S. to &#8220;stand with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/israel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Israel&#8221;</a> in a new video documenting the violence committed by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/hamas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hamas</a> terrorists on Israeli civilians. 
In the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgMWHPOBCe0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video</a>, called “The Reality of Hamas’ Terrorist Attacks on Israel,” Blackburn shows the atrocities by Hamas since Saturday when the terror group launched a surprise attack on Israel, which included the murder and kidnapping of women and children. 
“When you look at the numbers that have been killed, the massacre, the slaughter, when you look at what Hamas has done, when you look at Iran’s participation in this,” Blackburn said in the video first obtained by The Daily Wire. “Israel has the right to defend itself. The United States must stand with Israel.” 
More than 1,300 Israelis have been killed and 3,000 wounded by Hamas terrorists who entered southern Israel from the Gaza Strip.
The video by Blackburn shows Israelis hiding from rocket fire, blood-stained floors and beds, walls covered with bullet holes, and homes that had been reduced to rubble by explosions. It also showed Hamas terrorists seizing and dragging women through the streets. 
“Amid waves of antisemitism rolling throughout the nation as the left-wing media portrays Israel as the aggressor in these attacks, we must show the American people and the world the truth about Hamas’ brutality,&#8221; Blackburn said in a statement to The Daily Wire. &#8220;These Iran-backed terrorists have one goal — to wipe the Jewish state of Israel off the face of the earth. They have beheaded infants, raped and paraded murdered women through Gaza, and burned Israelis alive. This is the worst massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust, and the United States must stand together and declare with steadfast commitment: Never again.&#8221;
It is estimated that Hamas has taken up to 150 people hostage, including some Americans. At least 27 Americans were killed during the attacks, a number that has gradually increased as reporting continues to trickle in. 
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The Hamas terrorists were reportedly backed by Iran, leading many in Congress, including Blackburn, to urge that the $6 billion in oil money unfrozen by the Biden administration in exchange for Americans who were being held by Iran be frozen again. 
“Biden knows the $6 billion transfer served as a catalyst for the Iran-backed terrorist attacks. We need a formal agreement to freeze the funds — not a leak to the media. Biden should follow the lead of myself and my colleagues who called on the admin to freeze the payment,” Blackburn <a href="https://twitter.com/MarshaBlackburn/status/1712504539931164881" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> on X.
The Tennessee Republican was responding to a report from CBS News that the U.S. and Qatar had a “quiet understanding” that the $6 billion in oil money would not be released yet. 
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-slams-biden-demands-he-immediately-freeze-6b-handed-to-iran">Trump Slams Biden, Demands He Immediately Freeze $6B Handed To Iran</a>

Sen. Blackburn Calls On America To ‘Stand With Israel’ Amid Hamas Atrocities

Hamas

Israel

Commerce Secretary <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/gina-raimondo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gina Raimondo</a> refused to support <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/taiwan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Taiwan</a>&#8216;s claims of independence from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">China</a> Wednesday while testifying on Capitol Hill.
Raimondo sat in front of the Senate Commerce Committee and in part fielded questions on her August trip to China and her interactions with Chinese heads of state. Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee grilled the secretary on whether she held the Chinese “to account” on human rights abuses and aggression.
“I was clear that there would be no negotiation on anything related to national security or export controls,” Raimondo told Blackburn, later adding that the Chinese were challenged directly on their treatment of Uyghur Muslims.
Raimondo demurred when asked about Taiwan, however. The Commerce secretary has yet to visit the island nation despite its importance as a supplier of semiconductors and other goods to the United States.
“I have had no reason to visit Taiwan,” Raimondo said when pressed by Blackburn.
When the Tennessee senator asked the secretary if she would recognize Taiwan as a country, Raimondo responded that “the administration’s policy is clear on Taiwan” and that Raimondo would “absolutely not” deviate from it.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Why did <a href="https://twitter.com/SecRaimondo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecRaimondo</a> refuse to acknowledge that Taiwan is a country? <a href="https://t.co/LvWj5IHUwa">pic.twitter.com/LvWj5IHUwa</a>
&mdash; Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarshaBlackburn/status/1709669307104285044?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 4, 2023</a></blockquote>
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“It has long been clear that the Biden administration is the pro-China administration,” Blackburn told The Daily Wire in a statement. “Today’s comments by Secretary Raimondo prove that the Biden administration is once again prioritizing Communist China over Taiwan. China is committing genocide against millions of Muslim Uyghurs, and this administration is willing to turn a blind eye to advance their radical climate agenda and Green New Deal.”
Taiwan has been a wedge issue between some of the United States’ top Democratic leaders. Last year, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled to Taiwan in a show of support for the island against Chinese threats and aggression. The former speaker <a href="https://apnews.com/article/taiwan-asia-beijing-nancy-pelosi-taipei-938933cfaea62b31e7577b0a2a4f7006" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> the United States commitment to Taiwan “ironclad.”
The Biden administration has adopted a more vague stance on the issue of Taiwanese independence, standing firmly on a position of “strategic ambiguity” that neither commits to Taiwan nor shuns it. The U.S. supports keeping the “status quo,” according to the State Department.
“The United States has a longstanding one China policy, which is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the three U.S.-China Joint Communiques, and the Six Assurances.  We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-Strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means,” a May 2022 <a href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-taiwan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a> from the Department of State says.

Gina Raimondo

Biden Commerce Secretary Demurs When Grilled On Whether Taiwan A Country

Department of Commerce

Taiwan

Washington D.C.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) sent a scathing letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Wednesday, asking the Biden administration to reverse course on its pending <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/god-will-make-a-way-christian-homeschool-family-holds-out-hope-after-biden-admin-moves-to-deport-it" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deportation of a German homeschool family</a> that has lived in the U.S. for 15 years. 
The Romeike family was caught off guard earlier this month when they were ordered to meet with an immigration agent and were told to prepare to self-deport. Uwe Romeike told The Daily Wire in an interview on Wednesday that the orders “came as a surprise,” but said that his family is &#8220;trust[ing] God to make a way for us to stay here.&#8221;
Blackburn blasted the Biden administration for applying “two standards of justice” in a letter to Mayorkas shared with The Daily Wire. Blackburn pointed to how the Biden administration has targeted the Romeike family while illegal immigrants flood across the southern border at <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-border-numbers-near-all-time-high" target="_blank" rel="noopener">record levels</a>. 
“I write today to express my disappointment with this administration’s misplaced priorities regarding the enforcement of our laws, as well as your blatant application of two standards of justice,” Blackburn wrote. “As millions of illegal immigrants flood across our southern border and disappear into our country, your immigration authorities have chosen to punish a family who has built their lives in Tennessee within the legal parameters of our immigration system.” 
Uwe Romeike and his wife moved their five children at the time to the United States after facing fines from the German government for pulling their children out of the public school system. Homeschooling is rarely permitted in Germany and only for medical reasons. When the Romeikes began homeschooling in 2006, the German government levied fines that amounted to around $9,000 and threatened to remove the Romeike children from the care of their parents, WBIR <a href="https://www.wbir.com/article/news/local/morristown-family-faces-deportation-homeschooling/51-2d3dd498-b8b0-4b4e-86af-e8c33dae0dbb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. 
The couple, who had two more children after moving to the United States, were granted permission by an immigration judge to live in the country. After the Obama administration’s Department of Justice fought the decision, the family took the fight to the courts, which ultimately ruled against them in 2013, arguing that the Romeikes did not prove that they faced persecution in Germany.
While the appeals court judge ruled against the Romeikes’ asylum claims, the family was allowed to remain in the United States indefinitely, and they checked in annually with an immigration agent, but that all changed earlier this month when the family was told to prepare for deportation even as the Biden administration continues to oversee record-breaking numbers of illegal immigrants crossing the southern border into the United States. 
“This enforcement action highlights the two standards of justice that have been a constant theme of President Biden’s first two and a half years in office,” Blackburn continued. “You are targeting a family who fled Germany in search of basic parental rights and has legally resided in the United States for years.” 
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“Simultaneously, you have allowed millions of illegal immigrants — some of whom have been identified as terrorists — to enter the country with abandon,” the Republican senator added. “I urge this administration to reverse course and allow the Romeike family to continue their lives in Morristown, Tennessee.”

‘Two Standards Of Justice’: Sen. Blackburn Calls For Biden Admin To Allow Christian Homeschool Family To Remain In U.S.

Sen. Blackburn Stands Up For Christian Homeschool Family, Asks Biden Admin To Allow It To Remain In U.S.

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