Over two dozen Republican attorneys general are defending President Donald Trump&#8217;s moves to keep women from being housed alongside transgender-identifying men in federal prisons.
Led by Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador, a group of 26 states filed an amicus brief on Friday in support of Trump&#8217;s executive order requiring prisoners to be housed by sex and halting funds for transgender procedures for prisoners. Trump&#8217;s actions to rid prisons of gender ideology currently sit before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit after being blocked by lower federal courts.
“Truth matters — and it’s under attack in our culture today,” Labrador told The Daily Wire on Wednesday. “We’re standing up for biological reality, lawful executive authority, and the dignity and safety of women. If government policy or court rulings deny basic truth, it threatens both public trust and the rights of individuals.”
In February, a federal judge blocked the Trump&#8217;s directive to move transgender-identifying male prisoners out of a female prison, arguing that it violates the Eight Amendment&#8217;s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Two other judges have also blocked the order, including provisions ending funding of transgender procedures for prisoners.
Led by Labrador and Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, the Republican attorneys general argued Friday that Trump&#8217;s actions to keep men out of women&#8217;s prisons are not bound by the Eighth Amendment.
&#8220;The federal government is charged with preserving the safety of all prisoners in its care, and it has determined that placing transgender-identifying male prisoners in female housing intolerably jeopardizes female prisoners’ well-being,&#8221; they wrote in their legal brief. &#8220;So far as the Eighth Amendment is concerned,  the federal government is free to decide, as it has, that the best and safest solution is to house trans-identifying male prisoners with non-violent male offenders.&#8221;
The Republican officials also noted that there is a great danger that could be posed to women who are forced to shower and bunk alongside males.
&#8220;Housing transgender-identifying males with female prisoners presents its own set of risks. Those risks inure to the harm of female inmates, who  (1) have their rights to privacy and dignity compromised by having to sleep and shower with men, (2) are exposed to elevated possibilities of violence or sexual assault, and (3) will be pressured or coerced into using speech reflecting a belief that conflicts with  biological reality,&#8221; they wrote. 
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/obama-trump-youth-prisons-transgender-house-young-girls?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Despite+Trump+Orders%2C+Juvenile+Prisons+Still+Have+To+House+‘Trans’+Men+With+Young+Girls" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: Despite Trump Orders, Juvenile Prisons Still Have To House ‘Trans’ Men With Young Girls</a>
They also argue that the Trump administration should be allowed to deny transgender procedures to prisoners because of the well-documented risks of gender medical interventions.
&#8220;Politically accountable policy makers are better positioned and constitutionally  empowered to decide if, when, and how those treatments should be administered, and the need for deference to the politically accountable branches is particularly high in light  of the medical uncertainty regarding the treatments’ efficacy,&#8221; they wrote. 
<div id="attachment_923535" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-923535" class="size-full wp-image-923535" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-2149418788.jpg" alt="WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 24: Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador speaks outside the Supreme Court on April 24, 2024 in Washington, DC. The Supreme Court hears oral arguments today on Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States to decide if Idaho emergency rooms can provide abortions to pregnant women during an emergency using a federal law known as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act to supersede a state law that criminalizes most abortions in Idaho." width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-2149418788.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-2149418788-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-2149418788-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-2149418788-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Labrador at the Supreme Court/ Credit: Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images.</div>
The brief was signed by the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming.
Risks to women being housed alongside males are not abstract and are currently the subject of multiple lawsuits across the country. A California man named Tremaine Carrol faces multiple rape charges after he was housed in a woman&#8217;s facility. In Washington, former prisoner Mozzy Clark has sued the state saying it subjected her to multiple sexual assaults because they housed a man in her cell.
The issue is not isolated to the adult prisons as Obama-era regulations states could be required to house boys in all-girl youth prisons as well. As The Daily Wire previously reported, states must consider housing a juvenile male who identifies as a female at a women&#8217;s facility on a case by case basis or risk the loss of federal funding.

Criminal wearing handcuffs in prison

Republican AGs Blast Federal Judges For Keeping Men In Women’s Prisons

Courts

Donald Trump

gender ideology

Idaho

Prison

Transgender

Ten prison inmates, at least four of them charged with murder or attempted murder, have escaped from prison in New Orleans, Louisiana.
On Friday morning at roughly 9:30 a.m., it was discovered that the men were missing from Orleans Parish Justice Center.
“Photos released by the sheriff&#8217;s office show the inside of a cell where the escape is believed to have happened. A large hole was cut behind a toilet with phrases such as ‘We Innocent’ and ‘Too Easy LOL’ written above it,” NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/louisiana-orleans-inmates-escape-rcna207232">reported</a>.
Sheriff Susan Hutson revealed the inmates had the help of people “inside of our department.”
“Someone clearly dropped the ball and there’s no excuse for this,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill wrote. “I’m in communication with Troop NOLA and @LAStatePolice Superintendent Colonel Hodges. It’s all hands on deck. The first priority in any escape must be the immediate capture of the inmates and coordination with state and local law enforcement — but that effort cannot come at the expense of timely notification to the public, which is also critical to keeping communities safe. My office will do whatever it takes to determine how this happened and make sure that it won’t happen again. I am calling for a full investigation &#8211; This is beyond unacceptable, and once these offenders are back in custody, there must be real accountability.”
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Someone clearly dropped the ball and there’s no excuse for this. I’m in communication with Troop NOLA and <a href="https://twitter.com/LAStatePolice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LAStatePolice</a> Superintendent Colonel Hodges. It’s all hands on deck. The first priority in any escape must be the immediate capture of the inmates and coordination with… <a href="https://t.co/APXD9Gj7UE">pic.twitter.com/APXD9Gj7UE</a>
&mdash; Attorney General Liz Murrill (@AGLizMurrill) <a href="https://twitter.com/AGLizMurrill/status/1923441108731953641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
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According to Deputy Chief of Field Operations Bureau Christopher Goodly, the men should be considered armed and dangerous.
Not only have four of the escapees been charged with murder or attempted murder, others have been charged with aggravated assault with a firearm, armed robbery with a firearm, armed false imprisonment, or battery and drug offenses.
One man has been caught. Kendall Myles was discovered hiding under a car in the Hotel Monteleone parking garage in the French Quarter.
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Troop NOLA Troopers located escapee Kendall Myles in the French Quarter this morning. After a brief foot pursuit, he was apprehended on Royal Street. Troopers continue working with partners to locate the remaining escapees and ensure public safety. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/troopnola?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#troopnola</a> <a href="https://t.co/ef5FM55YRS">pic.twitter.com/ef5FM55YRS</a>
&mdash; LA State Police (@LAStatePolice) <a href="https://twitter.com/LAStatePolice/status/1923423245044257185?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“Thank you to Troop NOLA for their diligence and speed in apprehending the first escapee,” Gov. Jeff Landry posted on X. “To the other 10: YOU ARE NEXT! @OrleansParishSO and @SheriffHutson must be working in total conjunction with Troop NOLA. There is no time to waste!”
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Thank you to Troop NOLA for their diligence and speed in apprehending the first escapee. 
To the other 10: YOU ARE NEXT! <a href="https://twitter.com/OrleansParishSO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OrleansParishSO</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/SheriffHutson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SheriffHutson</a> must be working in total conjunction with Troop NOLA. There is no time to waste! <a href="https://t.co/4YZzcSlWDa">https://t.co/4YZzcSlWDa</a>
&mdash; Governor Jeff Landry (@LAGovJeffLandry) <a href="https://twitter.com/LAGovJeffLandry/status/1923423965554327670?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;

escape from prison cell

10 Inmates, Some Charged With Murder, Escape From Louisiana Jail

Crime

escape

Louisiana

New Orleans

U.S.

The 27-year-old New Jersey man who was convicted in February of stabbing and partially blinding famed novelist Salman Rushdie was hit with the maximum sentence of 25 years in prison on Friday.
Hadi Matar was convicted of second-degree attempted murder for the August 2022 <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-famed-author-salman-rushdie-target-of-iran-death-sentence-stabbed-on-stage-in-new-york?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=BREAKING%3A+Famed+Author+Salman+Rushdie%2C+Target+Of+Iran+Death+Sentence%2C+Stabbed+On+Stage+In+New+York" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stabbing attack</a> that also injured the event&#8217;s moderator, Henry Reese, the co-founder of Pittsburgh&#8217;s City of Asylum, which helps exiled writers, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/assailant-who-stabbed-author-salman-rushdie-sentenced-25-years-2025-05-16/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Rushdie — who sparked the ire of the Iranian regime with his 1988 novel, &#8220;The Satanic Verses&#8221; — was stabbed by Matar between 10 and 15 times in the head, neck, torso, and left hand at a New York arts institute. After the book was published, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, calling for Rushdie&#8217;s assassination.
Video captured Matar rushing the stage where Rushdie spoke during a writers&#8217; event focused on protecting exiled writers. During the trial, a trauma surgeon testified that without immediate medical intervention, Rushdie would have died, ABC News <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/salman-rushdie-stabbing-sentencing-attempted-murder-hadi-matar/story?id=121844226" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The jury took just two hours to reach a verdict. Matar was also sentenced to seven years for second-degree assault in the stabbing of Reese, but that sentence will run concurrently with the longer one.
Before the trial began in Chautauqua County Court, Matar rejected a plea deal. Shortly after the jury reached its verdict, his defense attorney, Nathaniel Barone, said Matar plans to appeal the conviction. Matar has also been charged by the federal government with an act of terrorism. He will face those charges at a separate trial in Buffalo, according to Reuters.
Rushdie was born into a non-practicing Muslim family in British India, and now identifies as an atheist. “The Satanic Verses,&#8221; which was labeled as blasphemous by hardline Islamists, refers to verses of the Quran that Rushdie claimed had been removed. Rushdie said that his book is not blasphemous against Islam, adding, “I doubt very much Khomeini or anyone else in Iran has read this book or anything more than selected extracts taken out of context.”
After the sentencing hearing, Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said that the stabbing attack still haunts the 77-year-old author.
&#8220;He&#8217;s traumatized. He has nightmares about what he experienced,&#8221; Schmidt said. &#8220;Obviously this is a major setback for an individual that was starting to emerge in his very later years of life into society after going into hiding after the fatwa.&#8221;

Hadi Matar

Sentence Is In For American Who Stabbed Novelist Salman Rushdie

attack

Iran

New Jersey

New York

Politics

Salman Rushdie

Stabbing

When President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that he planned to reopen Alcatraz — the notorious island prison located just a little over a mile off the California coast near San Francisco — critics began to question just how &#8220;inescapable&#8221; it really was.
From 1934 to 1963, there were 14 documented escape attempts from <a href="https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/gsa-regions/region-9-pacific-rim/region-9-newsroom/feature-stories/the-captivating-history-of-alcatraz-island-from-military-fort-to-national-historic-landmark-05182020" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alcatraz</a> involving 36 inmates. Not all of those who attempted to escape even made it to the shoreline. Some who did make it into the water gave up and turned back after encountering the strong currents and frigid temperatures. Two were confirmed to have drowned, and another five were officially declared &#8220;missing and presumed drowned.&#8221;
The only prisoner known to have survived the swim was John Paul Scott, who made it to Fort Point under the Golden Gate Bridge in 1962 before he collapsed from hypothermia and exhaustion. He was found there, unconscious, and returned to the island prison after being treated at a nearby hospital.
But following Trump&#8217;s announcement, some noted that people now swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco on a fairly regular basis. There are even annually scheduled triathlons that include a swim from The Rock to shore, suggesting that maybe escaping the prison through the San Francisco Bay wouldn&#8217;t be as formidable to prisoners in the 21st century as it had been in years past.
Any prisoner who attempted to make that swim to freedom would have to survive about a mile and a half — or more, if the currents pushed them off course — of choppy water that typically registers between 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit, and they&#8217;d have to do it without the benefit of a wetsuit. With water at those temperatures, hypothermia can begin to set in within 30-60 minutes.
But as the critics say, people do it every year: people who have the luxury of weeks or even months of in-water training and coaching to learn how to maximize each movement and breathe efficiently. And, more importantly, people who have access to wetsuits and even a quick rescue if things go sideways.
An average swimmer can complete a one-mile swim in about 30 minutes, about two-thirds of the distance from Alcatraz to the shore. But that&#8217;s with regular training, and prisoners on the island would have no ability to train in the water. People who have made that swim assured The Daily Wire that it was not something to be undertaken lightly.
Former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines swam from Alcatraz to shore with a group of Navy SEALs in July of 2024, and she told The Daily Wire that she prepared by swimming in the bay the day before without a wetsuit.
&#8220;FREEZING. And this was in the middle of July. No way you&#8217;d survive in the colder months.&#8221;
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Successfully swam Alcatraz with a handful of the most impressive Navy Seals &amp; combat veterans.
It was such a fun (and cold) way to honor those who risk their lives for our great nation. God bless our troops!🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/kuwkaAXUNs">pic.twitter.com/kuwkaAXUNs</a>
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/1811907603297108373?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 12, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Gaines said that in addition to the cold — even with a wetsuit for the full swim — she had to contend with &#8220;swimming directly into massive waves, major currents that change (sometimes they help, sometimes you&#8217;re swimming in place).&#8221;
&#8220;I had lots of seals and sea lions who were basically playing with me the entire time,&#8221; Gaines added. &#8220;They were so curious what I was doing they&#8217;d come up and nudge me. I swam with a pod of dolphins, maybe 15 to 20 or so. It was a good sign no sharks were around.&#8221;
Avid triathlete and fitness trainer Daniela Lavender participated in the &#8220;Escape from Alcatraz&#8221; triathlon in 2018, and she too mentioned the water temperature and the lengths to which athletes prepare for the experience. &#8220;Besides the wetsuits, we had neoprene caps and booties,&#8221; she said.
But one of the most important things, Lavender told The Daily Wire, was the fact that participants had kayakers with them to help guide them through the choppy waters — and redirect them if they started to stray from the best course to shore.
&#8220;You have to hit the current just right to have it shoot you in toward the shore,&#8221; she explained. &#8220;If you don&#8217;t hit it just right, it will sweep you out into the bay. It&#8217;s a hard thing to do because you really do have to hit that tide just right. They show you a building on the shore to aim for, but if the water is rough and the waves are big, that building is hard to see.&#8221;
&#8220;The depth of the water is a little bit stressful too,&#8221; Lavender added. &#8220;And of course the great whites are there. Not so much when we were there because they try to schedule the events around seasonal surges in the shark population, but they are there so you don&#8217;t want to get separated from the crowd. Don&#8217;t be first or last, I guess.&#8221;
Tarrant County Republican Party Chairman Bo French completed two triathlons at Alcatraz in the early 2000s, and he agreed that the water was frigid. Beyond that, he questioned whether anyone would be able to complete such a swim without the benefit of training.
&#8220;I was swimming maybe 5,000 to 7,000 yards, three times a week at the time,&#8221; he said. &#8220;[Without training] I don’t think it could be done. Swimming is 90% technique. You have to have that feel from training. It’s something you have to develop.&#8221;
French also noted that swimming in a large group with nearly 1,000 others competing in the triathlon actually eased any anxiety he might have had about running into the great white sharks that frequent the area: &#8220;In terms of the sharks, I figured if I was one of a thousand, my odds were pretty good.&#8221;
On a general note, French said that he was in favor of reopening the notorious prison. &#8220;I’m old enough to remember when Alcatraz had this mystique about it,&#8221; he explained.
&#8220;Love this. I actually swam Alcatraz twice (with a wetsuit of course). That place has an eerie feel to it. This will strike fear into criminals. More winning,&#8221; he posted on X.
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Love this. I actually swam Alcatraz twice (with a wetsuit of course). That place has an eerie feel to it. This will strike fear into criminals. More winning. <a href="https://t.co/4wT4ilT0pa">https://t.co/4wT4ilT0pa</a>
— Bo French (@BoFrenchTX) <a href="https://twitter.com/BoFrenchTX/status/1919172465130910073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;For me, I was like, this is amazing, this American institution is coming back — I think it is really going to send a message,&#8221; he said.
Rep. John McGuire (R-VA) also lauded Trump&#8217;s plan to reopen Alcatraz, calling it &#8220;a symbol of tough American justice&#8221; and a throwback to a &#8220;Golden Age&#8221; where criminals were met with swift justice and accountability rather than being sent right back to the streets by progressive prosecutors and judges.
That message hit home for him, and he referenced one criminal illegal alien who was released from jail four times in Virginia, after which he raped a teenage girl. &#8220;I&#8217;m a small government guy, but we have to keep our people safe,&#8221; he said.
McGuire, a veteran Navy SEAL (the sixth in Congress), swam from Alcatraz to shore with a group of SEALs for a charity several years ago, and he said that even for those in the best physical shape and whose training was &#8220;water-centric,&#8221; the support they got from kayakers in the water with them was of the utmost importance.
<div id="attachment_917881" style="width: 442px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-917881" class="wp-image-917881 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/IMG_1910-432x576.jpeg" alt="Photo courtesy of Rep. John McGuire" width="432" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/IMG_1910-432x576.jpeg 432w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/IMG_1910-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/IMG_1910.jpeg 720w" sizes="(max-width: 432px) 100vw, 432px" />Photo courtesy of Rep. John McGuire</div>
&#8220;We had experts helping us to predict the currents and kayakers in the water who got updates over radios,&#8221; he said, noting that there were times when they had to change course in ways that seemed counterintuitive to avoid dangerous currents that could have swept them out to sea. &#8220;We had to swim in the opposite direction of where we wanted to go.&#8221;
&#8220;You can be super fit, but if you don&#8217;t have the right information [about the currents], you still won&#8217;t make it,&#8221; McGuire said. &#8220;If you swim at the wrong angle for even five minutes, you won&#8217;t make it.&#8221;
McGuire stressed the mental, emotional, and physical toughness that is ingrained into Navy SEALs during training, saying that all of those things were employed as they worked to combat the rough water, the freezing temperatures, and the grueling physical stress of the swim. He noted that the pace changed with the currents, and they had to know when to go all out and when they could back off in order to hit those currents just right.
The realization of how dangerous the swim was didn&#8217;t truly hit McGuire until he got out of the water, when he said a local approached and asked whether they were aware of just how many great white shark attacks happened in the area.
&#8220;They were local, so I figured they would know better about that than I would, coming from the east coast,&#8221; he said, and then he added the real kicker: &#8220;When we got to the beach, one of the kayakers told us that the biggest great white dorsal fin he&#8217;d ever seen went right by us right when we started the swim. Of course, we didn&#8217;t know that until we got out of the water, but it definitely added a little excitement.&#8221;

Alcatraz Swim

How Hard Would It Be To Swim From Alcatraz To Freedom? We Asked People Who’ve Done It.

How Hard Would It Be To Swim From Alcatraz To Freedom? We Asked People Who've Done It.

Criminal Justice

Riley Gaines

President Donald Trump announced early Sunday evening that he was directing his administration to rebuild and reopen the notorious island prison Alcatraz, located just over a mile off the California coast near San Francisco.
Trump delivered the announcement in a post to his Truth Social platform, saying in part that he wanted to use the prison — once it was renovated and expanded — to help house criminal illegal aliens if the Democrats&#8217; carefully-shopped district court judges continue to block his efforts to deport them.
&#8220;REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!&#8221; Trump&#8217;s post began. &#8220;For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering.&#8221;
&#8220;When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That’s the way it’s supposed to be,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;No longer will we tolerate these Serial Offenders who spread filth, bloodshed, and mayhem on our streets. That is why, today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.&#8221;
&#8220;We will no longer be held hostage to criminals, thugs, and Judges that are afraid to do their job and allow us to remove criminals, who came into our Country illegally,&#8221; Trump concluded. &#8220;The reopening of ALCATRAZ will serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE. We will, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!&#8221;
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<a href="https://t.co/3g4G1rHNQn">pic.twitter.com/3g4G1rHNQn</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1919167527466266857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Trump followed that with a photo of the island prison — known as &#8220;The Rock&#8221; — in its heyday.
The United States gained control of <a href="https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/gsa-regions/region-9-pacific-rim/region-9-newsroom/feature-stories/the-captivating-history-of-alcatraz-island-from-military-fort-to-national-historic-landmark-05182020" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alcatraz</a> in 1848, and it was initially commissioned as a military installation by President Millard Fillmore. The construction of Fort Alcatraz was completed by 1858, and for 76 years, it was used primarily to house prisoners of war. From 1910 to 1912, prisoners rebuilt the entire prison — which was initially constructed out of wood — in concrete, at which point it was renamed &#8220;the Pacific Branch, U.S. Disciplinary Barracks for the U.S. Army.&#8221;
In 1933, the prison was transferred from the military to the Federal Bureau of Prisons — and from 1934-1963, &#8220;The Rock&#8221; was home to worst of the worst. Al Capone, “the Birdman of Alcatraz” (Robert Franklin Stroud), and George “Machinegun” Kelly were among those who spent time behind its walls.
In the 29 years that it was a functioning federal prison, 34 inmates attempted to escape. Of those, six were shot, 23 were captured, and 2 were confirmed to have drowned in the attempt. Five more were lost at sea and presumed to have drowned. Only one prisoner — John Paul Scott, in 1962 — successfully completed the swim to shore, but he collapsed under the Golden Gate Bridge due to hypothermia and was quickly recaptured.
President John F. Kennedy closed Alcatraz in 1963, arguing that it was too expensive to keep it open.

Alcatraz Island in San Francisco

Trump Announces Plan To ‘REBUILD And OPEN’ Notorious Prison In Bid To Undercut Activist Judges

Trump Announces Plan To 'REBUILD And OPEN' Notorious Prison In Bid To Undercut Activist Judges

Illegal Immigration

Judges

The Justice Department has pulled all nonessential federal funding from Maine&#8217;s Department of Corrections over a trans-identifying man who is being housed in a women&#8217;s prison, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday.
Andrew Balcer, 26, a trans-identifying <a href="https://www.mainepublic.org/courts-and-crime/2018-12-04/winthrop-teen-who-killed-parents-dog-to-be-sentenced" target="_blank" rel="noopener">convicted</a> double murderer is currently <a href="https://apps1.web.maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/correctionssearch/detail.pl?mdoc_number1=156589" target="_blank" rel="noopener">housed</a> in a women&#8217;s prison in Maine.
&#8220;We pulled all nonessential funding from the Department of Corrections in Maine because they were allowing a man in a women&#8217;s prison,&#8221; Bondi said Tuesday. &#8220;A giant, 6-foot-1, 245-pound guy, who committed a double murder with a knife, stabbed his parents to death and the family dog, and he identified as a woman, so they were letting him be housed in a female prison.&#8221;
&#8220;No longer,&#8221; she added. &#8220;We will pull your funding. We will protect women in prison.&#8221;
Maine&#8217;s Department of Corrections is slated to lose more than $1 million in federal grants.
In February, Bondi sent a letter to Maine officials warning them to stop allowing trans-identifying males in women&#8217;s sports or face legal action. She sent similar letters to California and Minnesota.
“We will leverage every legal option necessary to ensure state compliance with federal law and President Trump’s executive order protecting women’s sports,” Bondi <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-pamela-bondi-urges-states-comply-federal-law-keeping-men-out-womens-sports" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> at the time.
Bondi&#8217;s letter came just after President Donald Trump had a tense back and forth with Maine Governor Janet Mills, a Democrat, at a White House dinner. Trump warned Mills that her state would lose federal funding if it refused to comply with his executive order protecting women&#8217;s sports.
&#8220;You better do it because you&#8217;re not gonna get any federal funding,&#8221; Trump told Mills. &#8220;Your population doesn&#8217;t want men playing in women&#8217;s sports.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Stunning moment Trump goes back and forth with Maine governor on women&#39;s sports
TRUMP: &quot;You better do it because you&#39;re not gonna get any federal funding &#8230; your population doesn&#39;t want men playing in women&#39;s sports.&quot;<a href="https://t.co/UrqDl65nLx">pic.twitter.com/UrqDl65nLx</a>
&mdash; Mairead Elordi (@JohnsonHildy) <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnsonHildy/status/1893026795491864862?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Since then, Maine is facing federal action on other fronts over gender ideology as well.
The federal Department of Agriculture froze Maine&#8217;s funds over the state continuing to allow trans-identifying males to play in women&#8217;s sports. Maine&#8217;s attorney general responded by suing the Department of Agriculture over the funding freeze.
Meanwhile, the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services have <a href="https://mainemorningstar.com/briefs/u-s-justice-department-cuts-maine-corrections-grants-allegedly-over-transgender-policy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that Maine&#8217;s transgender sports policies violate Title IX.
The Education Department has given Maine until April 11 to submit a solution before the situation is referred to the Justice Department.
Also last week, the Education Department launched a new task force targeting the &#8220;staggering&#8221; number of Title IX complaints the administration is receiving. Investigators and Justice Department attorneys will look into potential violations.
Trans-identifying males in women&#8217;s prisons have become increasingly common. One trans-identifying male prisoner in New Jersey who was convicted of manslaughter was only <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/nj-trans-prisoner-impregnated-2-inmates-transferred-mens-facility-rcna38947" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transferred</a> out of a women&#8217;s prison after he impregnated two female inmates.

Janet Mills and Donald Trump

Trump Yanks Funding From Maine’s Corrections Department For Putting Man In Women’s Prison

Department of Justice

Gender

Maine

Pam Bondi

Social Issues

A French court has now banned Marine Le Pen, who is highly likely to win the next election in France, from seeking public office for five years. The court convicted her of misusing European Union funds.
&#8220;The court ruled that Le Pen and other members of her party illegally used 4.4 million euros, equivalent to $4.8 million, in EU funding that was earmarked for assistants helping lawmakers in the European Parliament with their work,&#8221; The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/frances-marine-le-pen-found-guilty-of-embezzlement-b8c42dac" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. &#8220;Monday’s sentence bars Le Pen from seeking public office for the next five years, thrusting her far-right party into limbo. Le Pen also received a four-year prison sentence. Half of that term was suspended, judges said, adding that she could serve the remaining two years by using an electronic bracelet or other alternatives to jail time. The ruling takes Le Pen out of contention for the 2027 race, unless she can win a swift appeal. Le Pen had been expected to enter that contest as a front-runner as President Emmanuel Macron will be term limited and other prominent contenders have yet to emerge.&#8221;
This is crazy — but this is part and parcel of the broader attempt by Left-wing judiciary activists across the globe to stop “populist politicians” from being able to run.
We saw it with President Trump, where the DOJ went after him for supposed crimes, the same crimes for which they let Joe Biden off the hook. We saw it in New York, where a New York attorney general filed a civil fraud lawsuit in an attempt to stop then-candidate Trump.
We have seen it in Brazil, where the entire judicial apparatus has been brought down on the head of Jair Bolsonaro, the former president of Brazil, in favor of Lula da Silva, who was then freed by that same exact judiciary.
We&#8217;ve seen it in Romania, where Cǎlin Georgescu won the election in 2024 and then the judiciary decided the election had been rigged by the Russians and annulled it. 
We have seen it in Israel, where the attorney general of Israel has been targeting Benjamin Netanyahu on specious charges for literally years, and the judiciary keep saying that Netanyahu can&#8217;t perform the basic functions of an executive, such as fire his attorney general or fire anyone in the executive branch.
And now we are seeing it in France.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2169-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
It is absolutely amazing to watch these unelected officials going out of their way to thwart the will of the people in supposed democracies. It&#8217;s really insane.
You want to talk about undermining democracy itself? This undermines democracy because the reaction to this is, “Okay, what if we just overthrow the judicial institutions?”
Why do I feel like this is a put-up job? Because it takes effect immediately. The point is to get her out of the elections. Thus they&#8217;re suspending her jail sentence but they are not suspending her ban from running.
Le Pen had denied the charges, “testifying in court that it was appropriate for the assistants to perform other party-related work because they were political aides, not direct employees of the European Parliament,” the Journal noted.
In other words, if the European Parliament didn’t want them focused solely on party-related tasks, perhaps it should have hired them directly, rather than paying the party to handle some of its work. That sounds like a strong defense.
Is the idea here that Marine Le Pen desperately needed a couple of million euros in order to pay off her political party? I feel like she probably could have raised it. Her party&#8217;s pretty big in France.
This is just the latest NATO member to reject a populist candidate by some sort of judicial intervention.
If you want to talk about undermining the argument that democracy must flourish in Europe, this would be a great way to do it.

FRANCE-POLITICS-JUSTICE-TRIAL-RN

Marine Le Pen Banned From Running

Ben Shapiro

Conservatives

Corruption

Europe

European Union

France

Judiciary

Leftists

Marine Le Pen

Opinion

Parliament

Populism

What if everything you were told about the trial of Derek Chauvin was a lie?
Like everyone else in America, I first saw the tape of Derek Chauvin and George Floyd on May 25, 2020, what appeared at the time to be nine minutes of a police officer&#8217;s knee on Floyd&#8217;s neck.
Given the tape alone, I drew the same conclusions as most Americans. I tweeted that the police officer&#8217;s behavior was abhorrent. I called for his prosecution. I said that nobody is defending the actions we all witness.
So, it&#8217;s not as though I was initially a believer in Chauvin&#8217;s innocence. But over time, new evidence emerged. A lot of new evidence. And I realized I had done something absolutely wrong. I had rushed to judgment as new information was released: the full body camera footage, the complete autopsy findings, the Minneapolis Police Department training materials.
My viewpoint changed, and it changed dramatically. But for most Americans, their only opinion on the case was formed in the hours after the original tape broke. They didn&#8217;t know about the new evidence, or they didn&#8217;t care. The legacy media were deeply complicit in this. They didn&#8217;t cover the details of the autopsy, the details of the complete body camera footage, and the defense presentation at trial.
They let that original impression sit in the minds of the American people for years, and they did that for a reason. They had a predetermined narrative of the race-based guilt of Chauvin and, according to the Left, of white people everywhere.
Taking stock of these larger forces at play helps to make sense of the bias that continues to this day. The George Floyd narrative was set.
A racist white police officer murdered a black man in cold blood? Case closed. Evidence to the contrary? Irrelevant. MPD training protocols dismissed? Toxicology report ignored? Medical examiner&#8217;s findings about contributing factors? Conspiracy theories.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2160" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: Episode 1 of &#8220;The Case for Derek Chauvin&#8221; on The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
Consider, for example, ESPN&#8217;s Stephen A. Smith, who last week dismissed my call to revisit the Chauvin trial by declaring on his show that he “doesn&#8217;t care about the autopsy,” effectively admitting he doesn&#8217;t care about the facts or the truth.
This cavalier dismissal of medical evidence perfectly encapsulates how much of America approaches this case.
“See, you&#8217;re trying to go down the lane I wasn&#8217;t trying to go down,” Smith declared. “I&#8217;m not going to let you take me there, which is why I turned down your invitation to appear on your show. We&#8217;re not getting into all of the science and what the doctor said and an autopsy report, even though I just read it to you to some degree. We don&#8217;t have to go there.”
A proper analysis of any case requires examining all the available evidence, not just the parts that confirm preexisting narratives based on the first available information. The media, the politicians, and the prosecutors had no interest in presenting the complete picture. Judging by their reaction to the announcement of this series, they still don&#8217;t.
You&#8217;re not going to hear it from CNN. You&#8217;re not going to hear it from MSNBC. You certainly won&#8217;t hear it from politicians who built their careers on the back of this case. But you&#8217;ll hear it here, because unlike those who rendered judgment and moved on, I believe truth emerges when we&#8217;re willing to revise our positions in light of new information.
On March 4, 2025, I launched a petition called <a href="http://pardonderek.com">pardonderek.com</a>, calling on President Trump to exercise his constitutional authority to pardon former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin from his federal convictions in the death of George Floyd.
This isn&#8217;t just about one man, though the unjust conviction of one man should be enough. This is also about restoring the rule of law after a disgraceful period of politically motivated race and identity obsessed weaponization of the justice system.
Since returning to office, President Trump has been taking historic action to dismantle the radical ideological framework infecting our institutions. In just six weeks, he has signed nearly 100 executive orders and taken over 400 executive actions, declaring that America will be woke no longer. He&#8217;s systematically dismantling DEI programs across the federal government. He&#8217;s targeting what he calls the tyranny of diversity and forced so-called inclusion in our institutions. He has banned men from women&#8217;s sports, returning education to a merit-based system, and declared there are only two genders in America.
But all of this will remain incomplete if we don&#8217;t address the original sin that kickstarted the entire woke revolution, the match that lit the powder keg of woke insanity and then spread through every American institution like wildfire.
President Trump&#8217;s war on wokeness cannot be considered complete unless he addresses the fundamental injustice that started it all. Pardoning Chauvin is about making a definitive statement that the rule of law matters more than mob justice — that America is finally ready to correct the catastrophic error that sent our country spiraling into years of racial division and leftist cultural supremacy.
Of course, I understand that this is politically radioactive. I get it. I understand the entire American Left will completely melt down if President Trump were to do this. I get that the media will lose their collective minds.
But frankly, I don&#8217;t care, because justice should matter more than political expediency.

Derek Chauvin

Recognizing Justice In The Derek Chauvin Case

Law Enforcement

Minneapolis

Minnesota

Pardon

Police

President Trump

Salvadoran Government Receives 238 Alleged Members Of Criminal Organizations ‘Tren De Aragua’ and ‘MS13’

Trump Just Played His Trump Card Against This Insane And Unlawful Judge

El Salvador

Federal Government

illegal immigrants

Judicial Branch

MS-13 Gang

Tren De Aragua

White House

Several counties in New York have moved to defy Governor Kathy Hochul&#8217;s order that bans the some 2,000 correctional officers she recently fired from ever working for the state again.
Hochul fired the officers for continuing to strike over the dangerous conditions inside understaffed prisons across the state. The following day, in a widely criticized move, she signed an executive order banning them from future work in New York, including even county governments.
Officials in Chemung County, Oneida County, and Rensselaer County have all indicated that they will outright defy the order or move to challenge it legally to regain control of their hiring processes.
Chemung County has issued a lawsuit this past week over the action, arguing that the order is unlawful. “We are taking this action to protect our ability to staff our jail with experienced personnel and to stand against unconstitutional overreach,” Sheriff William Schrom <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/chemung-county-sues-governor-hochul-192150636.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
In Oneida County, the Board of Legislators approved a resolution allowing them to sue New York state over Hochul&#8217;s order. County Executive Anthony Picente said the resolution was approved because lawmakers believe Hochul overstepped, Spectrum News <a href="https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/news/2025/03/12/county-accuses-hochul-of-overstepping-in-co-executive-order?utm_source=chatgpt.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
“Executive order no. 47.3 is an abuse of the governor&#8217;s authority and discretion, and unlawfully intrudes upon the county’s powers of home rule,” Picente said.
Steve McLaughlin, who serves as county executive for Rensselaer County, said he would outright defy the order, <a href="https://x.com/SteveMcNY/status/1899510158708838650" target="_blank" rel="noopener">calling</a> it “reprehensible and vicious.”
“Just when you think Hochul can’t get worse, she finds a way,” he posted to X, captioning the executive order signed by Hochul. “Preventing Corrections Officers from seeking employment with counties is reprehensible and vicious but that’s exactly who Kathy Hochul is.”
“Like I do with everything else regarding her idiotic statements and actions, I will ignore this as well,” he said. “I will hire as many as I can here in #RensselaerCounty and I dare you to sue me and the individual CO’s as they seek gainful employment Hochul.”
Hochul&#8217;s decision to fire these officers in the first place has raised alarm, considering the understaffing and low recruitment already plaguing New York prisons across the state. Even before the strike started last month, there were about 2,000 vacant positions inside the prison system.
Hochul has National Guard members &#8212; without proper training &#8212; helping to man the prisons, with no end-date in sight. The governor activated thousands of members on the second day of the strike, and their inclusion has been controversial from the start. In some cases, they’ve been sleeping on gym floors and members have leaked photos of their rough conditions.
Moreover, State Sen. Daniel Stec (R) said that these guardsmen were “activated on state orders,” which makes them ineligible for care from Veterans Affairs if they were to get injured.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/vindictive-tyrant-hochul-bars-corrections-officers-she-fired-from-ever-working-for-new-york-again" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘Vindictive Tyrant’: Hochul Bars Corrections Officers She Fired From Ever Working For New York Again</a>

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul

NY Counties Defying Dem Governor After She Fired Corrections Officers

General

Kathy Hochul

Lawsuit

Every time a radical, out-of-control federal judge issues an outrageous opinion, you would think things couldn’t get any worse. But then someone like Richard Young comes along.
Young, a Clinton-appointed federal district court judge in Indiana, just ordered the state’s Department of Corrections to provide sex reassignment surgery to a man who wants to masquerade as a woman—a man who is in prison for murdering a baby.
That, shockingly, is what Young did in his <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trans-inmate-prison-killing-baby-must-get-gender-surgery-earliest-opportunity-judge.print">order</a> in Autumn Cordellione v. Indiana. Lest you be fooled by the name “Autumn” or the fact that Young refers to “Autumn” as “Ms.” and “her” throughout his disgraceful opinion, this criminal’s real name is Jonathan Richardson. He is in prison for strangling his 11-month-old stepdaughter to death in 2001.
Richardson, who the judge refers to in his order as the “individual” or the “incarcerated transgender person,” is being represented by the ACLU in this lawsuit, in which Richardson demands that he be provided with “gender-affirming surgery.” Really, how can anyone justify making contributions to the ACLU when it engages in this type of despicable litigation?
Indiana has already provided this male child killer with “panties, makeup, and form-fitting clothing” while in prison—a place that, if justice is served for this vicious crime, Richardson will never, ever leave. But as Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trans-inmate-prison-killing-baby-must-get-gender-surgery-earliest-opportunity-judge.print">says</a>, “Convicted murderers don’t get to demand that taxpayers foot the bill for expensive and controversial sex-change operations. It defies all common sense.”
Au contraire, according to Young. He says that Indiana’s failure to provide Richardson with the surgery necessary to cut off his penis and give him fake breasts violates the Eighth Amendment.
If this wasn’t a real order from a real federal judge, you’d think it was something written for The Babylon Bee or Mad magazine.
The Eighth Amendment prohibits the infliction of “cruel and unusual punishments.” As the Heritage Guide to the Constitution <a href="https://www.heritage.org/constitution/#!/amendments/8/essays/161/cruel-and-unusual-punishment">explains</a>, the amendment was included in order to prevent the type of “torturous punishments” often inflicted by the British Crown, like “pillorying, disemboweling, decapitation, and drawing and quartering.”
Yet for decades, opponents have tried to use the ban on “cruel and unusual punishments” to outlaw the death penalty altogether. The Supreme Court ended that in 1976 in <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1975/74-6257">Gregg v. Georgia</a>, when it held that the death penalty is not a per se violation of the Eighth Amendment.
The court has further held in a series of cases that under the Eighth Amendment, punishments cannot be disproportionate to the offense. But it also held just last year in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-175_19m2.pdf">City of Grants Pass v. Johnson</a>, a case illustrating the extremes to which those trying to misuse the Eighth Amendment will go, that public bans on camping in public parks are not “cruel and unusual punishment.” That claim was just as absurd as the ACLU’s claim in the Richardson case.
Young relies on his opinion in the guidelines on “gender dysphoria” issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, as well as some other so-called experts. WPATH’s <a href="https://can-sg.org/2024/06/28/scandalous-suppression-of-research-on-transgender-health/">work</a> and medical opinions have been severely criticized for bias and lack of scientific rigor. It has also been accused of suppressing research that contradicts its opinions.
Young dismissed the opinion of the treating psychologist at Richardson’s prison that Richardson has personality disorders, not “gender dysphoria,” that display “an established pattern of attention-seeking behavior.”
Richardson is certainly getting that attention with Young’s decision that not providing him with gender surgery is “cruel and unusual punishment.” But we shouldn’t be surprised. Young is the same judge who in 2018 struck down an Indiana law that required healthcare providers to report abortion complications to the state health department in <a href="https://www.aclu-in.org/sites/default/files/sea_340_decisoin.pdf">PPINK v. Indiana</a>.
In other words, when the health and lives of real women were endangered by botched abortions performed by incompetent physicians who committed malpractice, Young prevented state health authorities from being able to do anything about it. Young apparently believes in protecting only fake women, not real ones.
As this case demonstrates, it isn’t only the Trump administration that’s dealing with an arrogant, imperial judiciary that ignores the Constitution and the rule of law and acts far outside of its authority. State governments are also on the receiving end of outlandish and bizarre orders like this one.
The Supreme Court recently declined to intervene – at least for now &#8211; in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24a831_3135.pdf">Department of State v. AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition</a>, in which the Trump administration is dealing with another rogue judge who has ordered the government to distribute $2 billion of taxpayer money without examining the serious defenses raised by the government. In a dissent from the court’s refusal to hear the case, which was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh, Justice Samuel Alito wrote:
Does a single district-court judge who likely lacks jurisdiction have the unchecked power to compel the Government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever) $2 billion? The answer to that question should be an emphatic “No,” but a majority of this Court apparently thinks otherwise. I am stunned.
The taxpayers and residents of Indiana should also be stunned by the actions of Judge Richard Young who used his thus-far-unchecked power to force them to pay for a sex change operation for a child murderer, the worst of the worst.
Stunned indeed.
Hans von Spakovsky is a Senior Legal Fellow in the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Daily Wire.

Tyrants Of The Imperious Judiciary: Federal Judge Orders ‘Gender Reassignment’ For Child Killer

Heritage Foundation

Indiana

SCOTUS

A lot of people have been asking why I’ve focused on the pardon of Derek Chauvin. After all, he&#8217;s convicted on both federal charges as well as state charges.
There are a few reasons. 
The first and most obvious reason is that there is a likelihood he serves less time if the federal charges are relieved because federal inmates can&#8217;t earn good-time credit that reduces sentences. That happens at a much lower rate at the federal level than it happens at the state level. With Chauvin&#8217;s concurrent sentences, he has roughly a 22.5-year sentence on state charges and 21 years on federal charges.
But under Minnesota state sentencing structure, inmates usually serve about two-thirds of their sentence behind bars and one third under supervised release. So he would serve roughly 15 years of the 22.5-year state sentence in actual confinement under the state charges, thus less time in jail.
But the second reason I have focused on pardoning Chauvin is that when someone believed to be not guilty is languishing in prison, that is the time when the President of the United States ought to either commute his sentence or pardon him. 
Chauvin is the perfect example. It is immoral to allow a person whom you believe is innocent to languish in prison just because that person was made into the face of American racism. With no evidence of such a claim, Chauvin was made the face of American racism before his trial. Every media outlet in the country decided he was guilty. 
The governor of Minnesota decided he was guilty. The mayor of Minneapolis decided he was guilty. The presidential candidates on the Left side of the aisle at that time, including Joe Biden, decided he was guilty. Thus, it was necessary for the jury to convict him in order for an entire narrative structure to be created.
That was wrong.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2154-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
There are many people who object to all of this. One of those people is Steven A. Smith, a loud-mouth on ESPN. When I say loud-mouth, I mean the man does not have a volume that goes below eight on the spinal tap scale. I&#8217;m not sure that there is such a thing as a normal Stephen A. Smith voice, and I say this as a long-time viewer of ESPN. Every time Smith comes on the TV, you have to turn down your volume significantly.
Smith is very angry that I have suggested that Chauvin ought to be pardoned. He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5EhE8LcwNU">said</a> on his show, “Would you have taken that position if George Floyd was a Jewish person? A white Jewish person? If a black cop had his knee on a white Jewish person for over nine minutes, Ben Shapiro, would you have called for that individual to be pardoned?” 
First, let&#8217;s start with this: I don&#8217;t know why he believes that it would be important, even in his stupid example, for it to be a “white Jewish person” as opposed to just a Jewish person.
His claim is that I am a tribal identitarian; thus, I would be just fine with the wrongful prosecution of a cop if a Jew died under the knee of that cop — even if the cop was not responsible and the fact patterns were exactly the same — and George Floyd’s name had been Harold Bernstein (or something equivalent), and the cop had been named George Floyd, a black man.
That is intensely stupid. It&#8217;s intensely stupid for a variety of reasons. Why don&#8217;t we begin with the first? This would not have been a national news story if that were the case. The reason this entire story was national news is because of the race of the people involved. In fact, when black people were routinely beating up Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn, it was covered up by the New York Times. It was not a national story. 
The reality is that this was made a national story specifically because the media had a preexisting narrative of race in America, and this fulfilled their narrative, even if the facts didn&#8217;t match.
Second, if, in fact, the facts had matched, and this was a Jewish person who had been arrested for counterfeiting (for passing counterfeit bills), had been high on fentanyl with a preexisting heart condition, and then had died under the knee of a cop, would I have said that the cop was innocent?
Yes, because if the cop is innocent, the cop is innocent. That&#8217;s the way this works.
The race or religion of the pseudo-victim is irrelevant to the question of whether this person was in fact murdered or not.
Stephen A. Smith is one of the deepest racial identitarians in our society. He does it all the time. All the time. He does it when he talks about sports — all the time. If you&#8217;re talking about Nikola Jokić, the greatest basketball center of our generation, he&#8217;ll talk about how Jokić should not be included in conversations for MVP specifically because of his race.
The reason Smith makes these kinds of statements is because he is projecting. He is projecting a racial conversation where none exists. I’m a Boston Celtics fan, so the following example with Smith from just a couple of years ago springs to mind.
Danny Ainge was the chief of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics; then, Brad Stevens was elevated to fill his position. Stevens is a really good president of basketball operations. How do we know this? The Celtics won an NBA championship last year, and he&#8217;s been one of the most successful NBA executives in all the NBA over the course of his tenure.
But Smith was firmly convinced the only reason Stevens was elevated was because of his race, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/ESPN/comments/1dk2a26/from_3_years_ago_how_does_anyone_like_or_respect/">saying</a>, “It&#8217;s moments like this where I get on people&#8217;s nerves, particularly white America and the NBA community specifically, because I point out it&#8217;s beautiful to be a white guy. It&#8217;s just beautiful. You know, you&#8217;re a question mark as a coach in some people&#8217;s eyes, including in Boston. But somehow, someway, you’re moving upstairs.”
It’s worth noting that “it&#8217;s beautiful to be a white guy in America” has not precluded Smith from a five-year $100 million contract for ESPN, a failing network with plummeting ratings.
The reason that Smith is exercised over the George Floyd situation is specifically because of a racial narrative that is not predicated on facts. Now, he&#8217;s projecting that onto me as being some sort of racist for suggesting the racial narrative should not predominate. This is the whole reason that Black Lives Matter was such a mistake and failure, because it was racializing of a question that was not, in fact, racial.
This is just more evidence that what I&#8217;m saying about Chauvin is true, that the reason that Chauvin is in prison right now is because he was the wrong race and George Floyd was the wrong race. Because of that, Chauvin is in prison.
Here&#8217;s the dirty little secret: It never would have been a national news story if the races had been reversed, or if both people had been white or both people had been black.
And that means the officer would have been assessed on the facts of the situation rather than the racial narrative that people like Stephen Smith were propagating.

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