A Republican senator is sounding the alarm on what he believes is a back-door citizenship scheme, demanding a federal investigation into whether thousands of children born to foreign diplomats have illegally obtained U.S. passports and Social Security numbers.
In a <a href="https://www.schmitt.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/7.16.2026-DHS-DOS-Diplomats-Letter.pdf">letter</a> to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) said the practice violates the Constitution and poses national security risks.
&#8220;We cannot allow [American citizenship] to be cheapened into a mere bureaucratic status to be usurped by diplomats and foreign functionaries who owe their allegiance to other countries,&#8221; Schmitt, Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, wrote.
Citizens must be &#8220;subject to the jurisdiction&#8221; of the United States, according to the Constitution. Schmitt argued that foreign diplomats, who remain under the jurisdiction of their home governments, fall outside that category, meaning their children are not entitled to birthright citizenship. Even the Supreme Court’s controversial Trump v. Barbara ruling, which preserved birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants, agreed that diplomats&#8217; kids are flat-out excluded.
According to Schmitt, state birth certificates don’t even include a box to indicate whether a parent is a foreign diplomat. Hospitals don&#8217;t ask, and the Social Security Administration doesn&#8217;t care. Foreign VIPs get their babies standard U.S. birth certificates and Social Security numbers, allowing them to function as &#8220;citizens&#8221; for life.
Schmitt blamed the Obama and Biden administrations for fueling the chaos. Under Obama, clear rules banning diplomats’ kids from citizenship were replaced with “guidance.&#8221; Meanwhile, Biden&#8217;s State Department stopped publishing the &#8220;Blue List&#8221; and &#8220;White List&#8221; of official diplomats, making verification more difficult.
“Allowing diplomats’ children to claim birthright citizenship violates the Constitution, statutory law, and decades of judicial and administrative practice,” he wrote. “We cannot allow it to be cheapened into a mere bureaucratic status to be usurped by diplomats and foreign functionaries who owe their allegiance to other countries.”
The letter comes as Schmitt leads a congressional charge to overhaul birthright citizenship entirely, introducing a new bill and a <a href="https://www.schmitt.senate.gov/media/press-releases/senator-schmitt-to-introduce-constitutional-amendment-putting-americans-first-reining-in-birthright-citizenship/">constitutional amendment</a> to shut down &#8220;birth tourism&#8221; and put Americans first.

Trump Says Gala Attack Shows Security Need For His Ballroom

GOP Senator Sounds Alarm: Are Diplomats’ Children Illegally Receiving U.S. Citizenship?

birthright citizenship

Congress

Eric Schmitt

Missouri

Politics

Former Democratic lawmaker Cori Bush posed during a campaign event alongside a communist streamer who once said he would “execute” a political rival and suggested that landlords should be shot.
Bush, running to win back the St. Louis-area congressional seat she lost in 2024, posted a picture last week with Christopher Winston, a self-described Maoist streamer who goes by the name “BlackRedGuard.” Winston has a history of violent rhetoric and has argued the United States needs to be overthrown through revolution.
The photo, <a href="https://x.com/thestustustudio/status/2076903066251448821?s=46">flagged</a> by Manhattan Institute investigative reporter Stu Smith, shows Bush meeting with members of the St. Louis Democratic Socialists of America on July 8. Winston can be seen standing next to Bush with a shirt reading “armed minorities.” Sharing the photo, Winston <a href="https://x.com/OGBlackRedGuard/status/2074971746860470320">said</a> &#8220;comrades.&#8221;
“I’m so proud to have DSA by my side, united in our fight against price gouging, big real estate, and billionaires influencing our politics,” she said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I’m so proud to have DSA by my side, united in our fight against price gouging, big real estate, and billionaires influencing our politics.
Let’s win this on August 4th! <a href="https://t.co/0ZMAEpaRCx">pic.twitter.com/0ZMAEpaRCx</a>
— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) <a href="https://x.com/CoriBush/status/2074952681114812503?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 8, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Bush, a former member of the far-Left “Squad,” is seeking to unseat incumbent Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO), a St. Louis County prosecutor who defeated her in the August 2024 Democratic primary.
Her campaign is backed by Winston, a <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/democratic-socialists-of-america-national-political-committee-maoist">member</a> of the radical Democratic Socialists of America Liberation Caucus with a long history of violent rhetoric.
During a stream in March 2024, Winston <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/McYzsLYYYNA?t=1773s">said</a> that “we’re going to execute you after the revolution” in response to a video leftist activist Shaun King made discussing fraud accusations. Winston said that he hoped that cancer “eats” King’s “a**hole out” and called him an “albino snake.”
In other appearances, Winston argued that “burning a Waymo is not political violence” and argued that landlords should be greeted by “a strongly worded letter in the form of a very hot piece of metal.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Christopher “We’re going to execute you after the revolution” Winston, aka BlackRedGuard, is standing next to Cori Bush in this recent campaign photo.
Watch this compilation of his insane comments. His landlord may want to hear what he says at the end.<a href="https://t.co/XANkJXjDUM">pic.twitter.com/XANkJXjDUM</a> <a href="https://t.co/Z96QKeKC2u">https://t.co/Z96QKeKC2u</a>
— Stu Smith (@thestustustudio) <a href="https://x.com/thestustustudio/status/2076903066251448821?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Daily Wire reached out to Bush to ask if she agreed with Winston, who has made numerous posts supporting her campaign. In response, her campaign sent a <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/joy-behar-defends-democratic-socialism-claims-social-security-first-responders-prove-works">link</a> to a Fox News article of the View co-host Joy Behar defending democratic socialism, saying the clip should &#8220;clear up any questions about the DSA.&#8221;
Winston, who has over 22,000 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpYZYH_1VTB9q8Leg0TrROA">subscribers</a> on YouTube, wrote a book called “Blood Red River: Writings of A Black Maoist in Saint Louis Post 2014.” The book’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Red-River-Writings-Maoist-ebook/dp/B07DFKYRCK">description</a> says that it “demonstrates how youth come to Communism through bitter experience and disappointment with reformism and other non-revolutionary paths for change.”
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1135849" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-9.35.22-AM.png" alt="" width="1617" height="402" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-9.35.22-AM.png 1617w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-9.35.22-AM-300x75.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-9.35.22-AM-1024x255.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-9.35.22-AM-768x191.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-9.35.22-AM-1536x382.png 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1617px) 100vw, 1617px" /></div>
In other statements, Winston pledged to seize homes from landowners and <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/democratic-socialists-of-america-national-political-committee-maoist">argued</a> that “the ultimate form of international solidarity is to make revolution in the United States.”
“Communists don’t want to take away your house. We’ll cancel your mortgage. You can have one house, not a dozen. Excess properties will be taken from landlords and distributed to actual families to live in,” he <a href="https://x.com/OGBlackRedGuard/status/2074724336481513732">said</a> in one recent post.
Efforts by some within the DSA organization to keep Winston off of a commission set to train “unarmed community defense” failed earlier this year, the Manhattan Institute <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/democratic-socialists-of-america-national-political-committee-maoist">reported</a>.
Like other leftist candidates across the country, Bush has made a central focus of her campaign “solidarity with the Palestinian people” and attacking the more pro-Israel stance taken by Bell. Her campaign is backed by a cadre of radical groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) PAC, the Democratic Socialists of America, and Abortion Action Missouri.

Cori Bush Sept 12

Ousted ‘Squad’ Member Poses With Left-Wing Revolutionary Lunatic

Cori Bush

Democratic Socialists Of America

Political Violence

St. Louis

A 10-year-old Missouri boy has been charged with murder after allegedly fatally shooting a 7-month-old baby girl, while the infant&#8217;s 19-year-old father is also facing felony charges after police say he left the firearm accessible to children inside the home.
The shooting occurred shortly after 4 p.m. on June 26 at a residence in the 8400 block of North Broadway in St. Louis. According to the <a href="https://slmpd.org/infant-dies-in-baden-shooting/">St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department</a>, officers responded to reports of a shooting and found 7-month-old Kiyomi Parker suffering from a gunshot wound inside the home. Officers rushed the infant to a nearby hospital in a patrol SUV, but despite lifesaving efforts by officers and medical personnel, she died.
Homicide detectives and child abuse detectives launched a joint investigation, which police say determined that a 10-year-old boy was responsible for the shooting. The boy was taken into custody and has since been charged with first-degree murder in juvenile court. According to <a href="https://www.firstalert4.com/2026/06/28/father-7-month-old-killed-charged-with-2nd-degree-murder/">local reporting</a>, he is believed to be the youngest person ever charged with murder in Missouri.
Police have not publicly identified the child because he is a juvenile. Authorities also arrested the infant&#8217;s father, 19-year-old Ca&#8217;Marion Pawnell, after investigators determined the gun used in the shooting belonged to him.
Pawnell has been charged with one count of second-degree felony murder, one count of endangering the welfare of a child resulting in death, and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child creating a substantial risk.
<div id="attachment_1126935" style="width: 233px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1126935" class="size-medium wp-image-1126935" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/st-louis-19-year-old-132703961.jpg-223x300.webp" alt="" width="223" height="300" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/st-louis-19-year-old-132703961.jpg-223x300.webp 223w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/st-louis-19-year-old-132703961.jpg-429x576.webp 429w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/st-louis-19-year-old-132703961.jpg-768x1031.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/st-louis-19-year-old-132703961.jpg-1144x1536.webp 1144w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/st-louis-19-year-old-132703961.jpg.webp 1525w" sizes=" (max-width: 223px) 100vw, 223px" />Ca&#8217;Marion Pawnell, 19.                      St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department</div>
According to court documents, witnesses told investigators that the 10-year-old picked up the gun and fired it while a 7-month-old child was also inside the home.
Investigators said the 10-year-old told police he knew the gun was hidden underneath a mattress in a bedroom, had been aware of its location for an extended period of time, and had previously removed and handled the weapon.
Court documents state that Pawnell admitted the firearm belonged to him and acknowledged that he had stored it beneath the mattress where the child described finding it.
Police have not publicly explained the relationship between Pawnell and the 10-year-old. Pawnell is being held without bond.
Prosecutors allege Pawnell&#8217;s decision to leave a loaded gun accessible to children contributed to his daughter&#8217;s death.
The investigation remains ongoing.

St. Louis Cityscapes And City Views

10-Year-Old Charged With Murder After Fatal Shooting Of Infant

Crime

U.S.

The Missouri Supreme Court on Wednesday <a href="https://themissouritimes.com/breaking-missouri-supreme-court-upholds-states-new-congressional-map/#:~:text=The%20Missouri%20Supreme%20Court%20on,requirements%20under%20the%20Missouri%20Constitution">upheld</a> the state&#8217;s new congressional map, handing Republicans a significant legal victory ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Two groups of voters had sued to stop the map, arguing that the newly drawn voting districts were not properly shaped, did not make sense geographically, and did not have equal populations. However, the high court agreed with a lower court&#8217;s decision, ruling that the challengers failed to present sufficient evidence to overturn a map drawn by lawmakers.
The decision came the same day Florida Republicans <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-stops-the-lefts-effort-to-cause-redistricting-chaos-in-republican-state">won</a> a similar legal battle. In that state, a judge rejected a last-minute attempt by liberal groups to block Florida’s new congressional map before the 2026 elections.
The dispute in Missouri was over a 2025 law called House Bill 1, which replaced the state&#8217;s older voting map with a new one. The critics argued that the new map violated state constitutional rules, which require that voting districts be tightly packed and equal in population.
Most of the fighting was about Districts 4, 5, and 6 around Kansas City. Critics—including Kansas City Democratic Mayor Quinton Lucas—argued that the map unfairly split the city and cut neighborly communities apart.
The Missouri Supreme Court, however, made it clear that its role was limited to determining whether the map complied with constitutional requirements, not whether it was politically fair. The lawsuit did not allege partisan gerrymandering.
During a four-day trial, experts used math formulas to measure how tightly packed the districts were. The data showed that the new map was actually shaped just as well as, or better than, Missouri&#8217;s older maps from 2012 and 2022. In fact, the new map kept local areas together better by splitting up fewer counties and cities than the previous map.
Ultimately, the judges reviewed all the evidence—including population figures, local history, and expert opinions—and concluded that the map complied with the rules.
The Florida win could give the GOP four additional seats; the Missouri win could provide another one.

Missouri Welcome Sign

Missouri Supreme Court Hands GOP Another Victory

Florida

Redistricting

Sadly, the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 revealed how woefully unprepared the pro-life movement was to engage and win at the state level. Decades of focus on advocacy at the federal level left the movement flat-footed and unequipped for the post-Roe landscape. While conservatives celebrated the Dobbs decision and disengaged, progressive activists got to work enacting their social policies in state capitols across the United States.
Missouri represents the first real chance for the pro-life movement, and social conservatism writ large, to find its footing in the post-Roe world. A victory in Missouri would show pro-family activists and donors in states like Kansas and Ohio that radical progressive amendments can be repealed and replaced. Polling shows that <a href="https://www.searchlightinstitute.org/research/the-path-forward-for-transgender-rights/">over 70% of Americans</a> oppose transgender surgeries for minors, and <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/321143/americans-stand-abortion.aspx">approximately the same amount oppose late-term abortion</a>. Missouri now stands as Ground Zero in the fight to protect the unborn and safeguard minors from irreversible harm.
In the coming months, Missourians will vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to protect the unborn and ban transgender surgeries for minors. If <a href="https://documents.house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills251/hlrbillspdf/2454H.05T.pdf">Amendment 3</a> passes, it will be a watershed moment for the pro-family movement and provide a roadmap for other states across the country.
In 2024, Missouri passed a constitutional amendment to guarantee <a href="https://www.sos.mo.gov/cmsimages/Elections/Petitions/2024-086.pdf">nearly unlimited access to abortion</a> in a state that Donald Trump won by almost 18%. Not only that, but the amendment expressly prohibited the government from interfering with any “reproductive health care,” opening a Pandora&#8217;s box to nightmares such as transgender surgeries and puberty blockers for minors without the consent of their parents.
The risks that the procedures pose to minors are well-documented. According to a peer-reviewed <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/hhs-releases-peer-reviewed-report-discrediting-pediatric-sex-rejecting-procedures.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com">study released by the Department of HHS</a>: &#8220;The risks of pediatric medical transition include infertility/sterility, sexual dysfunction, impaired bone density accrual, adverse cognitive impacts, cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders, psychiatric disorders, surgical complications, and regret.” Even the <a href="https://www.plasticsurgery.org/for-medical-professionals/health-policy/position-statements">American Society of Plastic Surgeons recommends</a> that “surgeons delay gender-related breast/chest, genital, and facial surgery until a patient is at least 19 years old.&#8221;
Due to several factors, including misleading ballot language, disjointed opposition, and fundraising disparities, the amendment narrowly passed the required 50% threshold with 51.6% of the vote. Almost overnight, one of the most conservative states in the union suddenly looked more like California or New York.
Amendment 3 would repeal the destructive 2024 law and replace it with constitutional protections for the unborn, and explicitly ban transgender surgeries and puberty blockers for minors. If the amendment passes, Missouri will become the first state in the union to repeal a pro-abortion constitutional amendment and the first state to constitutionally ban transgender surgeries and puberty blockers for minors.
Recognizing the importance of protecting Missouri’s women and children, groups such as the <a href="https://www.herhealthherfuture.com/">Her Health Her Future PAC</a> have worked diligently to set the record straight on the dangers of the 2024 amendment and replace it with protections for mothers, minors, and babies. With the full backing of Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe and First Lady Claudia Kehoe, who serves as the organization’s treasurer, the group has seen early success in its efforts. According to a <a href="https://www.slu.edu/news/2026/march/slu-poll.php">February poll by St. Louis University and YouGov</a>, a plurality of Missouri voters (47%) support the new Amendment 3, while 40% oppose it.
A victory in Missouri would provide a much-needed roadmap for other conservative states that have seen progressive activists rewrite and reinterpret their state constitutions. In 2022, <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/08/the-lessons-of-kansas/">Kansas affirmed the state supreme court’s determination</a> that the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness includes the right to abortion. Similarly, in 2023, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pro-life-group-what-went-wrong-ohio-abortion-vote-how-to-respond-2024">Ohio voters approved an amendment</a> to create a right to abortion in the state constitution. These are states that Donald Trump won in 2024 by 16% and 11%, respectively.
A victory for Amendment 3 would not only reverse a radical mistake but energize the pro-family movement across the heartland and beyond.
***
Dan Harre serves as the community engagement manager for Coalition Life, a St. Louis-based nonprofit dedicated to ending abortion in the U.S. peacefully and prayerfully.
Michael Hafner serves as general consultant to Her Health, Her Future PAC, and is president of Parabellum Strategies, a Missouri-based political consulting firm specializing in campaign management, issue advocacy, and strategic communications.

US-NEWS-ELN-MO-ABORTION-KC

The Show Me State Could Set A Pro-Life, Pro-Kids Precedent For The Nation

Amendment 3

DW Opinion

Pro-Life Movement

As President Donald Trump deploys the National Guard to crime-ridden cities like Memphis and Portland, Republican lawmakers across the country say they would like the president to send troops into their cities next.
Two cities that could be the next targets for Trump’s crime crackdown are the notoriously violent Midwest cities of St. Louis and Chicago. These Democrat-controlled cities have been crippled by crime for decades and have been ground zero for the implementation of soft-on-crime policies from leftist prosecutors.
“It is dystopian. You can&#8217;t even believe you&#8217;re in an American city in some parts of it. You cannot even believe it,” Missouri state Rep. Justin Sparks told The Daily Wire of St. Louis. “Like the streets are crumbling. The infrastructure is crumbling. Electricity, trash, piles of trash in alleys, like animals running freely.”
St. Louis consistently <a href="https://usafacts.org/articles/which-cities-have-the-highest-murder-rates/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ranks</a> as one of the worst cities in America for murders, and prosecution in the blue city was recently led by leftist Kim Gardner, who was bankrolled by George Soros. Gardner resigned in 2023 amid pressure from Republicans.
Still, state lawmakers tell The Daily Wire that the city has a massive crime problem.
“You cannot take your families to a ballgame or to a sporting event … because the drug problem is so bad and they don’t do anything about it,” Republican Rep. Holly Jones told The Daily Wire.
Republican State Senator Nick Schroer said that Trump should work with Governor Mike Kehoe to clean up the city.
“If Trump is able to work with the Kehoe administration and get some troops in there to kind of clean it up, we could expedite this thing and be on the right course within two to three years,” he said.
Schroer said that a recently passed <a href="https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB495&amp;year=2025&amp;code=R" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crime bill</a>, which shifts control of police out of the hands of Democratic officials in cities like St. Louis and Kansas City, should help address the problem, but that more aid from the Trump administration would be welcome.
The lawmakers said the best way to fight crime was to surge law enforcement, including federal troops, to crime-ridden cities.
“That’s what will work at every urban decaying hellhole in our country, flood the zone, and take the bad guys and actually charge them with crimes and hold them down,” Sparks said.
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On Sunday, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D) stated that Trump was about to deploy 400 National Guard troops to Chicago. Pritzker, who has long downplayed the Windy City’s crime problem, claimed the mobilization would be an “invasion.”
Prior to Pritzker’s latest lament, Illinois state lawmakers told The Daily Wire that they would support Trump sending the National Guard to Chicago.
“I think it would restore order. I think just the threat of the National Guard has the radical left scared and they&#8217;re probably going to let the police do a little bit better of a job,” Republican Rep. Adam Niemerg said.
Rep. Chris Miller, the husband of Congresswoman Mary Miller, said he would “absolutely” support the National Guard being sent into Chicago.
“When I look at what’s going on with JB Pritzker and [Chicago Mayor] Brandon Johnson, they are missing a golden opportunity to be heroes in the state of Illinois. If they would cooperate with ICE, if they would cooperate with President Trump, Illinois could begin to enjoy the Golden Age of America that everybody else is enjoying, that are embracing the policies and what Trump’s trying to do.”
Miller said that Pritzker needed an “ICR” — inner-cranial rectal removal — saying that the governor and Johnson needed “to get their head out of their ass.”
The Illinois Republican said that they should look at the template of Trump’s Washington, D.C., crime crackdown and get Chicago under control in a couple of weeks.

National Guard To Be Deployed In Portland, Oregon

These Lawmakers Want Trump To Send The National Guard To Their ‘Dystopian’ Cities Next

Chicago

Donald Trump

Illinois

JB Pritzker

National Guard

A coronavirus-era housing bailout program spent $10 billion paying Americans&#8217; mortgages and homeowner association dues. But explicit racial preferences steered nearly half of the funds to black Americans, who make up just 12% of the population, a Daily Wire analysis found.
The <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/coronavirus/assistance-for-state-local-and-tribal-governments/homeowner-assistance-fund" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Homeowner Assistance Fund</a> is one of the largest race-based government wealth transfers in history. It has largely escaped scrutiny since it launched amid a global pandemic and a stream of other federal bailouts. But now, white residents in several states have filed lawsuits alleging that they were illegally discriminated against.
The lawsuits target Republican-led states that the plaintiffs say went along with the program in Joe Biden&#8217;s American Rescue Plan, even though it was up to each state to implement its own rules, and the Biden administration offered racial criteria only as non-binding suggestions.
In Georgia, for example, 82% of the funds — made up of payments for up to $50,000 — went to blacks. Only 13% went to whites, and 4% went to Hispanics. The lawsuit argues that this can&#8217;t be due to income disparities alone, given the high rate of poverty among white people in the state.
&#8220;This dramatic difference cannot be explained by income disparities or other race-independent reasons,&#8221; a <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.gasd.107818/gov.uscourts.gasd.107818.1.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a> filed in January says. &#8220;For example, comparing census and poverty rate data, about 50.5% of Georgia citizens below the poverty line are black and 45.6% are white.&#8221;
The lawsuit is against the state&#8217;s Department of Community Affairs, whose leaders are appointed by Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican who has led the state since 2019. It alleges that the $354 million plan submitted by Georgia, and approved in January 2022, to use the funds included plans for a public awareness campaign that would send text messages to residents in &#8220;30 out of Georgia’s 152 counties&#8221; that were selected based on, among other things, “minority population.”
The state also &#8220;approved applications from applicants of its preferred racial and ethnic groups at a higher rate than those from white applicants. Out of all non-white applicants, about 20.04% of applicants were approved while out of all white applicants, about 12.74% of applicants were approved,&#8221; the suit says.
The federal program <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/HAF-Guidance.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">required</a> that each state allocate at least 60% of the funds to homeowners with incomes below the median. People with higher-than-average incomes could get the remaining money, but that portion &#8220;must be prioritized for assistance to socially disadvantaged individuals, with funds remaining after such prioritization being made available for other eligible homeowners.&#8221;
In other words, poor people of all races could always qualify for the grant, but certain other groups could also get it because they&#8217;re &#8220;disadvantaged,&#8221; even though they actually had more money than most.
The lawsuit stated that Congress had not defined &#8220;socially disadvantaged individuals.&#8221; But in April 2021, the Biden administration &#8220;provided a recommended definition&#8221; that said &#8220;Socially disadvantaged individuals are those who have been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias &#8230; There is a rebuttable presumption that the following individuals are socially disadvantaged: Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.&#8221;
Georgia, Missouri, and Oklahoma are being sued after the deep-red states chose to adopt that definition, even though it was optional, unlike other states. Deep-blue California, for example, administered the housing-cost bailout by <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/HAFP-0108-California-Salesforce-Submission.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defining</a> socially disadvantaged as residents who live in Census tracts where the <a href="https://knowledge.luskin.ucla.edu/ca-covid-19-owner-vulnerability/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ratio</a> of housing costs to available income has historically made residents most vulnerable to foreclosure. <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/HAFP-0096-Texas-SalesforceSubmission.pdf">Texas</a> defined it as people who &#8220;reside in a Persistent Poverty County.&#8221;
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-968057 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/haf-race.png" alt="" width="1113" height="1636" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/haf-race.png 1113w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/haf-race-204x300.png 204w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/haf-race-392x576.png 392w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/haf-race-768x1129.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/haf-race-1045x1536.png 1045w" sizes=" (max-width: 1113px) 100vw, 1113px" /></div>
Kemp spokesman Carter Chapman declined to discuss why Georgia adopted the race-based definition, instead saying he has a record of &#8220;fighting DEI in our state,&#8221; including signing bills restricting childhood gender transitions. The state&#8217;s Department of Community Affairs did not return a request for comment.
Georgia Attorney General Christopher M. Carr is seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed, filing a motion in June that stated the state&#8217;s use of race was &#8220;entirely consistent with the Treasury’s definitions.&#8221;
&#8220;The Treasury’s and DCA’s definition of socially disadvantaged individuals included, but was not limited to, people who had been subject to racial prejudice, and it also included those who have been subject to cultural bias, which is not a racial classification,&#8221; Carr says.
&#8220;The program allowed white applicants to be considered socially disadvantaged merely by submitting an affidavit stating that they &#8216;identify as a Socially Disadvantaged Individual,'&#8221; he wrote.
Carr is a Republican who has held his position since 2016 and has criticized DEI policies elsewhere, including at Costco and the American Bar Association. Carr spokeswoman Kara Murray told The Daily Wire that &#8220;Attorney General Carr had no involvement in the implementation of this program in Georgia. Once the lawsuit was filed, our office’s role was to defend the State in court, and that’s what we have done.&#8221;
In Missouri, the program was implemented by the Missouri Housing Development Commission, a <a href="https://mhdc.com/about-us/commissioners/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">10-person board</a> that includes the state&#8217;s governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer, and attorney general — all of whom are Republicans.
Yet when the federal government asked Missouri how it would define &#8220;socially disadvantaged individual,&#8221; it <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/HAFP-0080-Missouri-SalesforceSubmission.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> it would adopt &#8220;Treasury’s definition of socially disadvantaged individuals,&#8221; and use software that would flag people as disadvantaged in part based on which box they checked when asked about race and ethnicity.
A lawsuit said that &#8220;In marketing and advertising its program to inform Missouri citizens about the availability of funds and how to apply, MHDC targeted outreach to racial minorities,&#8221; including partnering with the Black Chamber of Commerce and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Forty-four percent of the loan money went to black residents, who make up less than 12% of the population.
Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe was a member of the housing commission during the program&#8217;s inception, serving in his then-role as lieutenant governor. Kehoe spokeswoman Gabby Picard said &#8220;As this is pending litigation, we are not able to comment on the specifics of this case,&#8221; but that &#8220;Kehoe has been a strong advocate for removing DEI within state government,&#8221; signing an executive order &#8220;directing all Missouri state agencies to eliminate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and ensure compliance with the constitutional principle of equal protection under the law.&#8221;
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, a Republican, was not a member of the housing commission when the state decided how to implement the federal program because he took office in 2023. But Bailey responded to the lawsuit in court papers in May, <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.moed.213696/gov.uscourts.moed.213696.64.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writing</a> that &#8220;Defendants were merely administering a federal program in accordance with federal mandates, rules, guidelines, regulations, and/or applicable laws &#8230; The Defendants applied neutral criteria when administering the program. Defendants acted in good faith reliance on Treasury and federal guidance, and had no reason to believe the program would have a discriminatory impact.&#8221;
Bailey joined the Trump administration last month as co-deputy director of the FBI. A spokeswoman for his old office, Abigail Bergmann, told The Daily Wire that &#8220;the Biden Administration applied pressure to states to adopt these policies, and Missouri’s program was established before Attorney General Bailey was elected to office. As Attorney General, it is his statutory duty to represent MHDC in court. But thanks to his leadership, MHDC today has been stripped of the Biden-era racist policies that Missourians should never have been subjected to in the first place.”
In Oklahoma, five white residents who did not receive housing assistance, including a massage therapist who lost her job due to the pandemic and her disabled-veteran husband, <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.okwd.129299/gov.uscourts.okwd.129299.1.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sued</a> the Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency. &#8220;On the front page of its Oklahoma Homeowner Assistance Fund program website, OHFA stated that a homeowner is a socially disadvantaged individual if the homeowner is a “[m]ember of a group that has been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias within American Society: African American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American, LGBTQ+,” the suit said.
That <a href="https://perma.cc/Y6VR-EQ4C" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a> says residents of &#8220;minority-majority census tracts&#8221; are also among the &#8220;socially disadvantaged&#8221; who &#8220;are eligible to receive a one-time grant award up to a maximum of $35,000.&#8221; It states that applications were accepted until March 2024. The state allocated $87 million, and 26% of it went to black residents, despite their making up only 7% of the state&#8217;s population.
The lawsuit said &#8220;Because of this race-based classification, a white or Asian homeowner with household size of 3 in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, could not apply for relief in 2023 if the homeowner’s income was greater than $96,200 (100% AMI) unless he or she could otherwise qualify as socially disadvantaged, but a black or Latino homeowner with the same household size could apply with an income of up to $116,110 (150% AMI). This is just one of many ways in which OHFA’s race-based program discriminated against white and Asian homeowners.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_542577" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-542577" class="size-large wp-image-542577" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1242358048-864x576.jpg" alt="DALLAS, TEXAS, UNITED STATES - 2022/08/05: Governor of Oklahoma Kevin Stitt speaks during CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) Texas 2022 conference at Hilton Anatole in Dallas." width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1242358048-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1242358048-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1242358048-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1242358048.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt speaks during CPAC (Photo by Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)</div>
It said OHFA worked with the African Methodist Episcopal Church to market the program.
&#8220;OHFA specifically informed socially disadvantaged individuals about the program and assisted those individuals through the application process but did not do the same for white or Asian homeowners. This made it more likely that individuals deemed socially disadvantaged based on race would receive funding at the expense of white and Asian homeowners who were eligible to receive funding but to whom OHFA did not provide the same information or assistance,&#8221; the suit said.
&#8220;OHFA could have administered its program in a race-neutral way. Instead, it discriminated against white and Asian homeowners in favor of homeowners from preferred racial groups. But COVID-19 did not discriminate. Oklahoma homeowners of all races needed assistance. OHFA’s racial discrimination is plainly unlawful,&#8221; it said.
All of Oklahoma&#8217;s top officials are Republican, and a board appointed by the governor runs the Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency. The housing board&#8217;s chair, Michael Buehl, was appointed in 2019 to a five-year term by Governor Kevin Stitt. Stitt then re-appointed him in 2024, after Buehl oversaw the race-based program. Stitt did not return a request for comment.
The housing agency is currently vigorously defending the program, hiring private lawyers who <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.okwd.129299/gov.uscourts.okwd.129299.41.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filed</a> a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in March. The motion said that according to the Attorney General, OHFA is classified as a &#8220;state beneficiary public trust&#8221; that is &#8220;separate and distinct from&#8221; the state.
A spokesman for Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who has publicly opposed DEI and stated in 2023 that one of his priorities was investigating the misuse of COVID funds, did not respond to questions.

Republican Candidate For Governor Brian Kemp Attends Election Night Event In Athens, Georgia

How A Biden Housing Bailout Steered Billions Based On Race — With Red State Help

Coronavirus

Georgia

Oklahoma

Red States

Missouri Republicans sent a new congressional district map to the desk of Governor Mike Kehoe on Friday.
The map is expected to create one more Republican-favored congressional district in the deep red state. The Senate passed the map 21-11 on Friday after the House passed the same map earlier in the week. President Donald Trump praised Missouri lawmakers for passing the map.
“Thank you very much to the Great State of Missouri for the redistricting, which will, hopefully, give us an additional Seat in Congress! A new, much fairer, and much improved, Congressional Map, has now overwhelmingly passed both Chambers of the Missouri Legislature,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Trump added that the map “will help send an additional MAGA Republican to Congress in the 2026 Midterm Elections. It is wonderful to see Republicans in the &#8216;Show Me State&#8217; standing up to Save our Country, and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”
The map is expected to yield a 7-1 congressional seat advantage for Republicans as opposed to the current 6-2 map.
Senator Nick Schroer, a Republican and member of the state’s conservative Freedom Caucus, told The Daily Wire that Republicans previously created a special carve-out district for Kansas City area Democrat Rep. Emanuel Cleaver last time the maps were passed. The new maps will not split St. Charles County or Warren County like the current map does.
“So by way of keeping these counties back together, creating a map that is compact and contiguous, in essence, it&#8217;s making that seat more competitive,” Schroer told The Daily Wire.
While Democrats accused Trump of meddling in the state’s politics, Republican lawmakers praised him for his advocacy for new maps in the state.
“To that point, this has been absolutely refreshing to have a president that is so involved and communicates so well to state legislatures,” Rep. Holly Jones told The Daily Wire. “That has been amazing that the administration wants to work with us so closely.”
That sentiment was echoed by Rep. Justin Sparks.
“Having a presidential administration recognize that in order to get his mandate and his agenda passed that he has to work with the state legislatures to get that accomplished has been refreshing and very effective, and we&#8217;ve been very happy to help,” Sparks told The Daily Wire.
Texas passed new maps earlier this year that are expected to create five more Republican-favored seats.

US-NEWS-MO-BUDGET-KC

Missouri Republicans Pass Map To Send ‘Additional MAGA Republican To Congress’

Election

Elections

The Justice Department announced Monday that Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey will step into the Trump administration as co-deputy director of the FBI, a move that reshapes bureau leadership amid reported internal disputes.
Bailey, who stepped down from his role as attorney general effective September 8, will hold his newly-created position alongside current FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino and serve under FBI Director Kash Patel.
“I am thrilled to welcome Andrew Bailey as Co-Deputy Director of the FBI. He has served as a distinguished attorney general for Missouri and is a decorated war veteran, bringing expertise and dedication to service,” Attorney General Pam Bondi <a href="https://ago.mo.gov/missouri-attorney-general-andrew-bailey-announces-resignation-in-order-to-accept-federal-position/">said</a>. “His leadership and commitment to country will be a tremendous asset as we work together to advance President Trump’s mission. While we know this is undoubtedly a great loss for Missouri, it is a tremendous gain for America.”
Bongino, who has reportedly clashed with Bondi over her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, welcomed Bailey to the FBI in a social media post. After the reported tension, President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hes-in-good-shape-trump-speaks-with-bongino-after-flare-up-with-bondi?author=Daniel+Chaitin&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=‘He’s+In+Good+Shape’%3A+Trump+Speaks+With+Bongino+After+Flare-Up+With+Bondi">said</a> that Bongino was in “good shape” and that he had complete faith in Bondi.
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Welcome. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/nui5E7nWAt">https://t.co/nui5E7nWAt</a>
— Dan Bongino (@FBIDDBongino) <a href="https://twitter.com/FBIDDBongino/status/1957572352889283039?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Bailey, who has served as Missouri&#8217;s attorney general since 2023, reflected on his role in a post on X.
“To Missouri, thank you. My tenure as Attorney General has been the honor of my professional career, but what has made it truly meaningful has been the opportunity to serve my home state,” Bailey <a href="https://x.com/AGAndrewBailey/status/1957574008381272245">wrote</a>. “Together, we have defended the rule of law and safeguarded our freedoms. I am forever grateful.”
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Bailey will not need to be confirmed by the Senate to take the role. Missouri Republican Governor Mike Kehoe will appoint Bailey&#8217;s replacement in the coming weeks. 
During his time as Missouri&#8217;s attorney general, Bailey challenged the Biden administration and filed a variety of culture war suits. For example, he sued multiple companies like International Business Machines (<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/missouri-attorney-general-sues-tech-giant-ibm-alleging-discrimination-against-whites-asians-men">IBM</a>) and <a href="https://ago.mo.gov/attorney-general-bailey-files-suit-against-starbucks-for-race-and-sex-based-discrimination/">Starbucks</a> over diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. He also launched an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/missouri-attorney-general-launches-investigation-into-trans-center-for-harming-hundreds-of-children">investigation</a> into the Pediatric Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and <a href="https://ago.mo.gov/attorney-general-bailey-demands-millions-in-suit-against-national-planned-parenthood-for-deceiving-women-about-the-dangers-of-the-abortion-drug/">sued</a> Planned Parenthood over its promotion of the abortion drug mifepristone. Bailey also sued to stop the student loan cancellation plan pushed by the Biden administration and sued the Department of Homeland Security for data on whether illegal immigrants were being relocated to Missouri.

CPAC-DC-2024

Red State Attorney General Named FBI Co-Deputy Director Alongside Dan Bongino

Dan Bongino

Department of Justice

General

kash patel

Pam Bondi

A Jewish family in suburban St. Louis whose son has served in the Israel Defense Forces was targeted by a firebombing earlier this week, with three cars burned and a message, “Death to the IDF,” along with the name of the son, spray-painted on the street.
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BREAKING <a href="https://twitter.com/J_Insider?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@J_Insider</a> via <a href="https://twitter.com/marcrod97?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@marcrod97</a>: &quot;Fire-bombing targeting Jewish family, IDF veteran rocks St. Louis Jewish community&quot;
&quot;Missouri state Rep. George Hruza described the incident as ‘Jew-hatred violence’ and an ‘act of pure evil’&quot;<a href="https://t.co/EGNyKHm9Sd">https://t.co/EGNyKHm9Sd</a>
&mdash; Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoshKraushaar/status/1953230089103053008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Clayton, Missouri, where the family lives, has a significant Jewish population. According to Rabbi Jeffrey Abraham and Stacey Newman, director of the Missouri Alliance Network, the IDF veteran spoke publicly earlier this year about what he had witnessed in Israel and was targeted by a protest. That demonstration included a poster that called for “a powerful demonstration to oppose the Zionist military presence in our community and to demand accountability for those who help commit atrocities abroad,” <a href="https://jewishinsider.com/2025/08/st-louis-jewish-community-targeted-attack-idf-veteran-firebombing/">Jewish Insider</a> reported.
“Everybody’s worried about their kids,” Newman stated, adding that a family whose children had served in the IDF had asked police to monitor their area.
A <a href="https://x.com/ADLHeartland/status/1952832326846582934/photo/1">coalition of Jewish organizations</a> issued the following statement: “We condemn in the strongest terms the attack on members of our community last night. This is more than vandalism; it is a hateful act of intimidation and only the latest example of what happens when antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric are normalized,” the organizations said. “We are a resilient community, and we will not be deterred in our quest to uproot antisemitism and hatred, alone and with our partners. Antisemitism is a social ill that must be rejected by all of society.”
“This targeted attack against the Jewish community in St. Louis is horrific and must be met with full condemnation,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) wrote on X. “Antisemitism has no place in our society. Everyone involved in this awful attack must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
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This targeted attack against the Jewish community in St. Louis is horrific and must be met with full condemnation.
Antisemitism has no place in our society. Everyone involved in this awful attack must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. <a href="https://t.co/rzQqtNqWPd">https://t.co/rzQqtNqWPd</a>
&mdash; Senator Eric Schmitt (@SenEricSchmitt) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenEricSchmitt/status/1953165107988504890?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Leo Terrell, Chair of the DOJ Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, stated, “I am outraged. Antisemitic violence has no place in America, not in St. Louis and not anywhere. We will pursue every avenue to bring the perpetrators to justice. If you commit antisemitic hate crimes, you will be caught. And you will be held accountable.”
Missouri State Rep. George Hruza, whose father is a Holocaust survivor, declared the firebombing an “act of pure evil,” adding, “Nothing happening in the world at large can justify such a hateful act. This incident is antisemitism, plain and simple. This act did not arise in a vacuum. Since the mass murder, torture, rapes, and hostage-taking by the terrorist group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, antisemitic rhetoric has become commonplace in the United States. Tragically, with echoes of 1930s Germany, this rhetoric has fueled incitement to violence.”
“Clayton has dedicated extensive resources and brought in regional law enforcement partners, as well as the FBI, in order to find the individual responsible for this repulsive act,” Clayton Mayor Bridget McAndrew <a href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-courts/article_2de81bc8-5bc7-4159-bd63-b3f23c6e3d1b.html">stated</a>.
Cpl. Jenny Schwartz of Clayton police said no arrests have been made, but they have a suspect.

Aerial view of City of St. Louis skyline with Gateway Arch and Mississippi River, Missouri

‘Death To The IDF’: St. Louis Jewish Family Targeted In Firebombing Attack

antisemitism

firebombing

Israel Defense Forces (IDF)

Seven B-2 bombers that took off from an air base in Missouri early Saturday morning returned home just before noon on Sunday after conducting a bombing run over Iranian nuclear facilities.
The B-2 pilots touched back down at Whiteman Air Force Base after a roughly 36-hour flight to Iran and back. The mission, dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer, involved decoys and multiple in-flight refuelings for the strike team to get to Iran and back, Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine explained at a Sunday press conference.
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NEW VIDEO: B-2 bombers land back at Whiteman Air Force Base today in Knob Noster, Missouri, after about a 36-hour flight to strike targets in Iran. 
Seven B-2s took off from Whiteman just after 12 a.m. on Saturday. The first bombers back landed just before 12 p.m. Sunday. <a href="https://t.co/g7IbwWD6NH">pic.twitter.com/g7IbwWD6NH</a>
&mdash; Matt Evans (@MattEvansKMBC) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattEvansKMBC/status/1936858341910733208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2025</a></blockquote>
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As the bombers crossed the Atlantic and resumed flight over land, a team of fighters joined to cover the bombers on their entry into Iranian airspace.
“As the Operation Midnight Hammer strike package entered Iranian airspace, the U.S. employed several deception tactics, including decoys, as the 4th and 5th generation aircraft pushed out in front of the strike package at high altitude and high speed, sweeping in front of the package for enemy fighters and surface to air missile threats,” said Caine.
The bomber team appears to have entered Iranian airspace and reached their targets without alerting Iran’s military.
“As the strike package approached Fordo and Natanz, the US protection package employed high-speed suppression weapons to ensure safe passage of the strike package with fighter assets employing preemptive suppressing fires against any potential Iranian surface to air threats,” Caine continued. “We are currently unaware of any shots fired at the US strike package on the way in.”
The bomber struck targets at Fordo and Natanz beginning around 6:40 p.m. ET. Tomahawk missiles fired from a United States submarines hit Isfahan moments later. The entire attack took place within a 25-minute window between 6:40 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. ET.
“Following weapons release, the midnight hammer strike package exited Iranian airspace, and the package began its return home. We are unaware of any shots fired at the package on the way out. Iran&#8217;s fighters did not fly, and it appears that Iran&#8217;s surface-to-air missile systems did not see us. Throughout the mission, we retained the element of surprise,” Caine said.
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Chairman Caine just laid out the PERFECT execution of Operation MIDNIGHT HAMMER. <a href="https://t.co/11NpibQhbi">pic.twitter.com/11NpibQhbi</a>
&mdash; DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) <a href="https://twitter.com/DODResponse/status/1936768363306307763?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/warriors-read-hegseths-full-statement-to-america-regarding-strike-on-irans-nuclear-facilities?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=11&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=%E2%80%98Warriors%E2%80%99%3A+Read+Hegseth%E2%80%99s+Full+Statement+To+America+Regarding+Strike+On+Iran%E2%80%99s+Nuclear+Facilities">praised</a> the strike team and others involved in the operation after its success.
“I want to recognize pilots who flew those bombers; who flew those fighters; who flew those refuelers: Warriors. I want to recognize the sailors, on those destroyers, in those subs. on those carriers: Warriors. All of them. I want to recognize our soldiers doing air defense, base defense, QRF: Warriors. All of them,” Hegseth said in a statement after the strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. “Every American involved in this operation performed flawlessly.”

B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber

B-2 Bombers Arrive Back In Missouri After Hammering Iranian Nuclear Sites

Department of Defense

Iran

Pete Hegseth

United States

Both the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals made their homes in Missouri in the 1960s. The teams won a combined six titles in the decades that followed, making Kansas City one of the most successful “<a href="https://sports.betmgm.com/en/blog/mlb/smallest-cities-with-mlb-team-bm23/">small</a>” sports cities in the United States.
But there’s an economic fight brewing over the teams, a fight between two cities of the same name: Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas. 
The historic Kansas City sports franchises currently play in two of the oldest stadiums still used by professional sports teams. The Chiefs’ famed Arrowhead Stadium <a href="https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/oldest-nfl-stadiums">opened</a> in 1972, and the Royals’ Kauffman Stadium <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2025/05/31/oldest-stadiums-mlb-active-baseball/83964425007/">opened</a> a year later. But decades of the Chiefs and Royals playing at Arrowhead and Kauffman and calling Missouri home are at risk of coming to an end as plans have been drawn up for the teams to move just across the Missouri River to Kansas City, Kansas — and Kansas lawmakers are actively seeking to bring the teams across state lines. 
On Monday, what promises to be a heated special session began in the Missouri State Legislature. The special session will, in part, address ways to keep the teams in the state, such as funding for improvements to the Chiefs’ stadium and a potential new ballpark on the Missouri side of the border for the Royals. 
Missouri&#8217;s Republican Governor, Mike Kehoe, is fighting to keep both teams in Missouri, as their neighbors in Kansas have offered big stadium incentives for the Chiefs and Royals to move across the Missouri River.
But the Chiefs and Royals — and the stadiums that they call home — come with an eye-popping cost, a cost that requires help from government handouts. According to the <a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article307476771.html">Kansas City Star</a>, a new stadium for the Royals could cost over $1 billion, while renovations for Arrowhead could come with a pricetag of $800 million. 
The cost is worth it to the governor. According to Kehoe’s office, the Chiefs “contribute $575 million annually in economic value and over 4,500 jobs in Jackson County alone, bringing the State of Missouri nearly $30 million in annual tax revenue,” while a “new Royals ballpark district is expected to support 8,400 jobs and generate $1.2 billion in economic output annually.”  
In a statement to The Daily Wire, a Kehoe spokeswoman said that the governor “has been working for months to develop a competitive package to keep both the Kansas City Royals and Chiefs in Missouri where they belong.”
Conservative Republicans in the Missouri Freedom Caucus, however, don’t buy the governor’s economic estimations and don’t want to use taxpayer dollars for the benefit of billionaire owners. Instead, the Freedom Caucus Republicans argue that the state should focus on helping average Missourians with tax cuts. 
“I hate the thought of billions of taxpayer dollars going to fund bread and circuses, to be honest with you,” Republican State Senator Rick Brattin told The Daily Wire. “And that’s exactly what this is, especially when you see the Royals posting the ‘Pride’ stuff and totally disconnected from reality.” 
Brattin added that the Royals can “move to Kansas for all I care,” saying that the team’s games are “sparsely attended.”  
The state senator said his colleagues are prepared to negotiate with the governor to come to an agreement on tax cuts for all Missourians in exchange for stadium funding. He argued that incentives offered to the billionaire sports owners should be matched with tax cuts for average citizens. 
Some Democrats are also questioning the stadium funding, arguing that more money should be allotted for disaster relief after a major <a href="https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/wx/afos/p.php?pil=PNSLSX&amp;e=202505190006">tornado</a> struck St. Louis in May, killing five people and injuring dozens more. 
Paying for major stadium upgrades — or a new stadium — is a major cost for even the billionaire owners of sports franchises. In most cases, cities and states will chip in by offering government subsidies and tax incentives. The return on such a massive investment, however, is minimal for state and city governments, according to John C. Mozena, the president of the Center for Economic Accountability. 
Mozena told The Daily Wire in a phone interview that the economic projections on the stadiums touted by Kehoe’s office are “incredibly flawed.” 
“There is virtually nothing that economists agree on more than the idea that stadiums are terrible investments for governments and terrible economic development tools,” Mozena said. “The reason for that is really simple, it’s that stadiums spend almost their entire lives dark, empty, and silent. Most of the time, there’s nothing going on there.” 
Mozena added that a baseball stadium might draw up to three million people in a good season, which is “about what a single good-sized Walmart Supercenter might do.” 
“These are big facilities with a lot of infrastructure around them that barely ever get used and end up being economic black holes,” said Mozena.  
The stadium funding battle reignites a familiar fight, one that Missouri and Kansas once fought over Applebee&#8217;s. From the 1980s through the early 2000s, Applebee&#8217;s moved its headquarters from Missouri to Kansas and back to Missouri, lured by competing tax incentives. The economic “<a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/668790306">border war</a>” over Applebee&#8217;s ended when the restaurant chain moved to Southern California in 2023. 
The governor is positioning the war over the Chiefs and the Royals as another battle to keep jobs in the state. 
“Governor Kehoe views these efforts as important economic development retention projects, and believes Missouri’s proposal must be competitive to keep these major economic engines in the state, while also being a good deal for taxpayers,” his spokeswoman told The Daily Wire. 
Andy Roth, the president of the State Freedom Caucus Network, said the economic argument doesn’t add up.
“What’s particularly nuts about this whole thing is, by the governor’s own admission, they’re worried the Chiefs and the Royals are going to move 10 miles to the west,” Roth told The Daily Wire. “It’s not like they’re going to Seattle or Florida or New York. They’re literally just going across the road.”  
The economic border war over the two franchises likely won&#8217;t come to an end until at least the end of June as Missouri lawmakers seek to work out a deal with the governor. Kansas’ offer for the Chiefs and Royals is also coming off the table at the end of June, according to Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins, the Kansas City Star <a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article307452161.html">reported</a>. 
“If one of them wants to — or both — wants to come to Kansas, we’d love to have them,” Hawkins said. “We have the tools.”

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A Tale Of Two Kansas Cities: Chiefs And Royals Spark Political Battle With Potential Stadium Moves

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