The following is the opening satirical monologue from “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1132-the-biggest-lie-of-all" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Andrew Klavan Show</a>.“
Witless New York City Mayor Eric Witless Adams, who made history in January of last year by becoming the city’s first entirely witless black mayor since David Dinkins, has announced his new witless plan to control the city’s swiftly spreading plague of shoplifting by not controlling the city’s swiftly spreading plague of shoplifting. The plan — entitled the Witless Plan to Stop Shoplifting by Not Stopping Shoplifting — includes such witless innovations as giving first-time offenders intervention programs instead of prosecution, and installing kiosks in stores that would connect thieves with social service programs. Mayor Adams announced the plan to reporters in order to distract them while his aides stole their cameras, microphones, and other expensive equipment.
Now I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “Oh, Klavan, you colossal cascade of curmudgeonly comedy, only you could dream up a Democrat response to crime so insanely ineffective it causes us to laugh ho-ho-ho like Santa Claus right up until the moment we’re gunned down by six youths speeding by in a Trans Am who are then charged with misdemeanor reckless driving and released without bail so they can get back to their day job, which is shoplifting.”
But no, I am not making this up. Mayor Witless called the new witless anti-shoplifting Plan a crackdown, possibly because he was downing crack when he designed the plan. The plan includes giving store employees de-escalation training. And you may ask: what the flying fiddle-de-de is de-escalation training, and how will it not stop shoplifting? Good question. Shoplifting de-escalation training trains store employees so that whenever they see a shoplifter, they get on the escalator and de-escalate to the basement until shoplifters are finished cleaning out the first floor. When the shoplifters leave, the store employees can re-escalate to the first floor and relax by standing in the break room because all the chairs have been shoplifted.
The Witless Plan also includes installing kiosks that connect thieves with social service programs, so the thieves can contact the programs and say, “Hey, look at this cool new kiosk I put up in my apartment after I shoplifted it from the store.”
Another part of the Witless Plan — and I’m still not making any of this up, by the way, so help me — is to establish neighborhood retail watch groups so neighbors can get together and watch retail stores get shoplifted, which is cheaper than going to the movies, so you can use the money you save to buy some t-shirts, which have all been shoplifted, so you can save even more money.
The Witless Plan to Stop Shoplifting by Not Stopping Shoplifting has already been so effective in Not Stopping Shoplifting that witless Mayor Witless is planning to introduce another witless plan to not stop murders. Portions of the plan have already been leaked to reporters by inscribing the details on the sides of bullets and then firing into a crowd of reporters. The Witless Murder Plan includes a new Buddy System in which New Yorkers travel in pairs so that when someone witnesses a murder he can turn to his buddy and say, “Hey, look, that guy just got murdered.” There will also be kiosks erected on street corners where you can apply for a New Buddy when your last Buddy got murdered and you have no one to tell about it.
Witless Mayor Witless says he eventually hopes to put all his witless anti-crime crackdown plans together into one big crackdown plan that will crack down on all crimes by not cracking down on any crimes at all. Under the new Witless Umbrella Anti-Crime Crime Plan, criminals will be able to rob a store, kill a passerby, and assault multiple women and then bring all those crimes to one kiosk and contact an all-purpose social worker, beat him senseless, and steal his wallet. Left-wing critics of the mayor say this plan puts an undue burden on criminals by forcing them to steal wallets when they don’t need wallets because they can shoplift things for free.
Though some people have criticized witless Mayor Witless’s witless plan because it’s witless, Billionaire Evildoer George Soros says he endorses the plan, because he’s evil. Journalists immediately attacked Soros for saying Soros was evil, accusing Soros of being antisemitic, although they praised him for being evil, because they’re evil.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Andrew Klavan</a> is the host of The Andrew Klavan Show at The Daily Wire. A popular political satirist and Hollywood screenwriter, Klavan is also an award-winning novelist. His newest novel is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Strange-Habit-Mind-Cameron-Mysteries/dp/1613163517/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr=" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Strange Habit of Mind</a>, book two in the Cameron Winter Mystery series.
The views expressed in this satirical article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Fighting Shoplifting.

NYC Mayor Plans To Stop Crime By Not Stopping It At All

Andrew Klavan

Crime

Looting

New York City

Readers Pass

Satire

shoplifting

Theft

Fans of Chip and Joanna Gaines are making some strong demands as the culture war reaches a fever pitch. Though “silence is violence” has always been the rallying cry for progressives, it seems now conservatives are embracing a similar stance when it comes to the multi-millionaire renovation experts. 
In 2017, the couple debuted their Hearth &amp; Hand with Magnolia home product line at Target. It’s been massively successful ever since. This partnership inspired fans of the Christian couple to demand they cut ties with the retailer. 
They say if Chip and Jo don’t cut ties with Target, or at the very least denounce the company’s  over-the-top pride collection for 2023, they are in effect saying they condone it. And those fans? They’re not happy about it.
Pride month collections featured front and center at Target locations nationwide are nothing new. But this year things are a little different, which has in turn prompted a strong response from consumers.
First, some of the items being advertised go beyond run-of-the mill pride flag tank tops. Some of the most controversial items for sale were from a collection of “chest binders” and “tuck-friendly” female swimwear specifically targeted to anyone who identified as transgender — items positioned in areas of the store clearly visible to shoppers of all ages.
There are also baby-sized items with pride messages, a board book called “Bye Bye Binary,” and even rainbow merchandise for pets. And that’s not all.
Another item of concern for Target customers is the background of one pride collection designer. Erik Carnell partnered with the retailer to make a mini messenger bag with the slogan “We Belong Everywhere,” a tote bag with the phrase “Too Queer For Here,” and a sweatshirt with “Cure Transphobia, Not Trans People” to sell in Target’s pride collection this year. 
Boycott advocates were furious to discover that Carnell’s Etsy shop also features designs that say, “Satan Respects Pronouns” and “Trans Witches For Abortion,” per a previous Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/target-partner-who-sells-satan-respects-pronouns-art-sees-sales-soar-after-backlash" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a>.
Through this all Chip and Joanna have remained silent even as the boycott gains traction. Target reported a $6 billion decrease in its market capitalization since the controversy began. This, coupled with the successful boycott of Bud Light for partnering with trans activist Dylan Mulvaney, has conservatives demanding the Gaineses to take a side. 
Joanna Gaines has comments turned off on Instagram, though it&#8217;s unclear exactly when or why she made that change. This has fans flocking to Chip Gaines’s Instagram page and to their Magnolia page to demand answers.
“As a father of small children, I am appalled that you would continue to be associated with [Target],” one commenter wrote. “Joanna has turned her comments off, which is totally an act of cowardice. Take a stand. You can take the financial loss. God will bless you 10 fold. Stand up!!!”
“This is a spiritual battle against families! Do the right thing! Doing nothing is speaking volumes,” another person wrote.
“Get out of Target. Please, for the love of children, take a stand,” a third follower echoed.
“SILENCE SPEAKS LOUDLY!! Especially when it comes to the indoctrination and sexualization of our children… and the glorification of Satan. Very disappointed,” another person said. “Money is not everything… morality, character and ethics are of true value. My money counts and I will not be spending it in Target, nor anyone who does not speak up and out!”
There were plenty of people in the comments who pointed out how the Gaineses partnered with Target long after the company became controversial for conservatives. They argued that the retailer made its position known in April of 2016 when it changed its bathroom policy from having female-only bathrooms and male-only bathrooms to a “gender-inclusive” policy. Since Chip and Joanna launched their collection a full year later, these followers claim there’s little chance of them cutting ties now.
This is not the first time the Gaineses got embroiled in controversy, though it is the first time they angered their conservative fans.
Leftist critics tried to cancel the Gaineses for attending a church that promoted traditional marriage between one man and one woman. <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/kateaurthur/chip-and-joanna-gaines-church-same-sex-marriage">BuzzFeed</a> published an investigation into Antioch Community Church and its pastor, Jimmy Seibert, after he referred to the Gaineses as his “good friends” in 2016.
“This is a clear biblical admonition. So if someone were to say, ‘Marriage is defined in a different way,’ let me just say: They are wrong,” Seibert said in his sermon following the Obergefell v. Hodges decision which mandated all states to recognize same-sex marriage. “God defined marriage, not you and I. God defined masculine and feminine, male and female, not you and I.” 
In that situation, the Gaineses addressed the cancel mob with a vague statement. 
“Joanna and I have personal convictions,” Chip wrote in a now-deleted <a href="https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/news/a47563/chip-joanna-gaines-controversies/">blog post</a>. “One of them is this: we care about you for the simple fact that you are a person, our neighbor on planet earth. It’s not about what color your skin is, how much money you have in the bank, your political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender, nationality or faith.” 
Joanna referenced that scandal and accusations of racism during a 2021 <a href="https://www.today.com/popculture/chip-joanna-gaines-respond-claims-racism-anti-lgbtq-bias-t224251">interview</a>. “The accusations that get thrown at you, like you’re a racist or you don’t like people in the LGBTQ community, that’s the stuff that really eats my lunch — because it’s so far from who we really are,” the biracial mom of five said.
The Gaineses got into hot water again for allegedly donating $1,000 to Chip’s sister, Shannon Braun, who was running for her local school board with an anti-CRT campaign.
Despite these situations, the Gaineses have remained relatively uncontroversial and appear to have both conservative and progressive fans. The latest Target scandal could be the catalyst to make a more definitive statement and finally admit which side they’re really on.

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon – Season 10

Conservative Fans Demand Answers: Will Chip And Joanna Gaines Side With Target, Or Against?

Entertainment

Joanna Gaines

LGBTQ

Pride

Target

Woke Culture

On July 13, 1966, a man broke into a Chicago, Illinois townhouse where nursing students lived. Inside, he found three nurses, and, using a gun and a knife, forced them into a bedroom where three other nurses already were.
The man used torn strips from bedsheets to tie up the six women’s hands and feet, using nautical knots. By midnight, three more nurses returned home and were tied up as well, <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/a-mass-murderer-leaves-eight-women-dead" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the History Channel</a>. 
In the early hours of the morning on July 14, the man robbed the women and began taking them one by one into different rooms of the house, where he stabbed and strangled them to death. One woman was raped before she was killed. The other women, still scared and tied up in one of the bedrooms, could hear the muffled screams of their roommates as they were murdered.
One student, Corazon Amurao, hid under a bed, and was lucky to survive when the murderer lost track of how many women remained in the house. She waited until 6 a.m. before coming out from under the bed, and then crawled onto a second-story ledge and called for help. When police arrived, Amurao provided a detailed description of the attacker, and by the next morning, the sketch of the man believed responsible was on the front page of every local newspaper.
<div id="attachment_558723" style="width: 875px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-558723" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-558723" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-515500786-865x576.jpg" alt="" width="865" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-515500786-865x576.jpg 865w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-515500786-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-515500786-768x511.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-515500786-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-515500786-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-515500786-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-515500786-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 865px) 100vw, 865px" />(Original Caption) The body of one of the eight student nurses found slain in the living quarters of the South Chicago Community Hospital is shown being placed in an ambulance for removal to the morgue. Bettmann / Contributor. Getty Images.</div>
On the night of July 15, Richard Speck was drinking with a drifter named Claude Lunsford and another man near the Starr Hotel, where Speck and Lunsford were staying at the time. The next day, Lunsford saw the sketch in the newspaper and recognized Speck. So, he called the police, but the police didn’t respond.
Speck, apparently seeing his own face in the newspapers, slashed his right wrist and left elbow on July 16 in an attempt to kill himself. The hotel desk clerk called in an emergency around midnight that night, and Spec was taken to Cook County Hospital in the wee hours of July 17. There, Dr. LeRoy Smith recognized Speck from his “Born To Raise Hell” tattoo described in the newspapers about the killings. The police arrived and arrested Speck.
At the time Speck was arrested, the landmark <a href="https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/facts-and-case-summary-miranda-v-arizona" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Miranda</a> decision had just been made, with law enforcement offices across the country unsure how to proceed. Because of this, Speck wasn’t questioned until three weeks after his arrest.
Speck had a lengthy criminal record prior to the murders of eight nurses in Chicago, beginning in Dallas, Texas. He started drinking at the age of 12, and was first arrested in 1955 at the age of 13 for trespassing. Over the next eight years, he racked up dozens more arrests for misdemeanors. He was in jail for disturbing the peace when his daughter, Robbie Lyn Speck, was born in 1962.
In 1963, when Speck was 21, he was sentenced to three years in prison for forgery and burglary, but he was paroled 16 months later in 1965. He immediately returned to committing crimes, getting arrested a week after his release for attacking a woman with a carving knife, but ran away when the woman screamed. He was convicted this time of aggravated assault and sentenced to 16 months to run concurrently with his parole violation.
Six months later, an error led to Speck being released early, and he managed to work three months as a truck driver for a meat company before getting fired. In January 1966, Speck’s estranged wife, whom he married when she was 16 after knowing her for three weeks, filed for divorce. Also in January, Speck stabbed a man during a fight at a bar. His aggravated assault charge was reduced to disturbing the peace, allowing him to pay a $10 fine and spend three days in jail for failing to pay it.
In March 1966, Speck bought an old car and robbed a grocery store for 70 cartons of cigarettes. He sold the cigarettes out of the trunk of the car in the grocery store’s parking lot before abandoning the vehicle. A warrant was issued for his arrest, but Speck’s sister took him to the bus station to board a train for Chicago, Illinois.
He bounced around between family members in the early days of his life in Chicago, before moving across the state into a hotel in Monmouth, IL. While bar hopping in nearby Gulfport, Speck and some acquaintances were detained after Speck allegedly threatened a man in a bar with a knife.
In early April 1966, a 65-year-old woman was raped and robbed and a 32-year-old woman was found dead in an empty hog house behind Frank’s Place, a tavern owned by Speck’s brother-in-law. Speck was briefly questioned by police and he was asked to stay in Monmouth for further questioning, but when police showed up to question him again, he was gone. They found items stolen from the 65-year-old woman’s house and two other burglaries.
<div id="attachment_558729" style="width: 395px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-558729" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-558729 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-515501958-1-385x576.jpg" alt="" width="385" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-515501958-1-385x576.jpg 385w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-515501958-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-515501958-1-768x1150.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-515501958-1-1026x1536.jpg 1026w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-515501958-1-1367x2048.jpg 1367w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-515501958-1-scaled.jpg 1709w" sizes="(max-width: 385px) 100vw, 385px" />(Original Caption) Richard Speck, accused of the murder of eight Chicago Nurses. Bettmann / Contributor. Getty Images.</div>
Speck then moved in with his sister in Northwest Chicago and began working as a Merchant Marine, but his first voyage was cut short after he developed appendicitis. When he was released from the hospital, he returned to working on a ship until he was dismissed after fighting with one of the boat’s officers.
After failing to find work on another ship, Speck left his sister’s house and moved into a hotel on July 13, 1966, where he began drinking. After drinking at several bars, he attacked a 53-year-old woman at knifepoint before taking her to his room, raping her, and robbing her. Among the items he stole was a handgun. He left her house and ate dinner, returning to drink at the hotel bar until 10:20 p.m. before walking to the nurses’ townhouse and murdering Gloria Davy, Suzanne Farris, Merlita Gargullo, Mary Ann Jordan, Patricia Matusek, Valentina Pasion, Nina Jo Schmale, and Pamela Wilkening.
Speck claimed he didn’t remember killing the nursing students, but he had previously confessed to the crime while he was in the Cook County Hospital following his suicide attempt. The doctor to whom he confessed, however, couldn’t testify because Speck had been sedated when he made the statements.
Speck’s trial began on April 3, 1967. Corazon Amurao, the surviving nursing student, identified Speck as the killer, and fingerprints found at the scene were matched to Speck. After just 49 minutes of deliberation, a jury found Speck guilty and recommended the death penalty.
<div id="attachment_558719" style="width: 425px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-558719" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-558719 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-517318924-415x576.jpg" alt="" width="415" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-517318924-415x576.jpg 415w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-517318924-216x300.jpg 216w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-517318924-768x1067.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-517318924-1105x1536.jpg 1105w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-517318924-1474x2048.jpg 1474w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-517318924-scaled.jpg 1842w" sizes="(max-width: 415px) 100vw, 415px" />(Original Caption) Corazon Amarao, 23, Philippine exchange student and lone survivor of mass murder in which 8 other student nurses were slain. Bettmann / Contributor. Getty Images.</div>
On June 28, 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Speck’s death penalty due to jurors being excluded who did not support capital punishment. Speck was resentenced to eight consecutive sentenced of 50 to 150 years for a total of 400 to 1,200 years in prison.
In 1978, Speck publicly confessed to the murders while speaking to a columnist for the Chicago Tribune.
In 1991, he died of a heart attack at the age of 49.

Police Chief Holds Up Wanted Killer Post

Crime Files: The 1966 Mass Murder Of Eight Chicago Nursing Students

Chicago

Murder

True Crime

Alison Anderson of Del Rio, Texas, wants what any good mother wants for her three young daughters — to have a safe and healthy childhood. But for Anderson, the wife of a Border Patrol agent, keeping her children safe means always keeping a gun within reach.
Her family lives within walking distance of the Rio Grande on a 20-acre &#8220;ranchito&#8221; covered in dense brush. It happens to be surrounded by several roads, making it a key strategic location for the types of illegal aliens who want to enter the country completely undetected, likely violent criminals and drug peddlers who’d risk deportation if they came through a port of entry.
In her household, the border crisis isn&#8217;t a blip on a news cycle — it’s a reality that governs the family&#8217;s day-to-day life. 
“We’ve had convicted rapists caught on their way to our property,” Anderson lamented. Criminals of all types, including people wanted for manslaughter and aggravated kidnapping of a minor, flocked to their previous property.
&#8220;I&#8217;m not heading out there without this,&#8221; Anderson said, motioning to the revolver in her right hand. “Out there” meant her own backyard, less than four miles from the southern border.
The constant danger has rattled her family, particularly her oldest daughter. At only seven years-old, she’s been confronted by the crisis of illegal immigration in ways that most Americans never will. One experience stands out in particular. 
Late one night after Anderson’s husband had left for a night shift, she tucked her children into bed. It wasn’t long before her daughter came bolting into the hallway, panicking while she cried “Mommy mommy, there’s bad guys at my window.” Anderson picked up a firearm, stepped outside, and confronted the group.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Border Patrol wife tells <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDailyWire</a> that an illegal immigrant knocked on her seven year-old daughter&#39;s window late at night. 
&quot;Mommy, mommy, there&#39;s bad guys at my window.&quot;
&quot;I grabbed my firearm and I went out and had to push a group of illegals off of our property.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/IHY8f6X8AS">pic.twitter.com/IHY8f6X8AS</a>
&mdash; Spencer Lindquist 🇺🇸 (@SpencerLndqst) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpencerLndqst/status/1661482689600581633?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
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The authorities took 38 minutes to arrive. The migrants were not caught. 
It wasn’t the first time Anderson was forced to grab her gun. “I had to put my baby down and grab my firearm,” she explained, describing the terror she felt as she had to set down her six-month-old to stop a break-in by a male migrant at her former property.
She can&#8217;t count on law enforcement to keep them safe. &#8220;We&#8217;ve had cases where law enforcement won&#8217;t even show up … because of how overwhelmed they are,” she lamented as the gravel of her two-track road crunched under our boots. &#8220;They are constantly now dealing with smuggling cases.&#8221;
With authorities overwhelmed, migrants are never apprehended on her property, which in turn means it is impossible to tell exactly who is hiding out on her land or crossing it in the middle of the night. Anderson can say, however, that she has never seen a family unit coming through the acreage. Rather, it’s almost exclusively used by fighting age men, particularly those who want to evade the authorities at the ports of entry.
She noticed a dramatic shift after the Biden administration took office. Anderson didn’t mince words when asked who she blames for the migrant crisis. “The Biden administration, 100%,” she exclaimed without hesitation.
As we walked along the same path that migrant smugglers walk along her property, she shed light on how migrants, unencumbered by the threat of consequence, had become emboldened over the past couple years. 
One night when she was out feeding the animals, she heard a woman yelling on her cellphone, complaining that her smuggler was late to pick her up.
Her neighbor saw the same audacity firsthand when he found migrant men hiding in his boat — and drinking beer they’d pilfered from his fridge. 
Anderson told The Daily Wire that after Biden was elected, “it was group after group after group that was coming through our property,” before adding “They realized that there were no consequences.”
It suddenly seemed as if the migrants didn’t even care whether they were detected as they made their trek into the United States and through Anderson’s property. “Usually you would see them at night,” but that wasn’t necessarily the case anymore. “Now it can be noon on a  Sunday and there will be dopers” coming through the property with large backpacks.
Changes in Washington had tangible consequences for those in Del Rio. “It really affects the families that are down here living on the border that are raising their kids down here on the border,” Anderson asserted. 
“The kids don’t deserve to be raised in this, having to worry about who’s going to walk out on them from their own backyard … or who is coming up knocking on their window in the middle of the night, trying to lure them to the window, she added.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Del Rio, TX, 4 miles from the Rio Grande — Wife of Border Patrol agent speaks out against Biden’s border policy:
“The kids don’t deserve to be raised in this … They shouldn’t have to worry about … who’s coming up knocking on their window in the middle of the night.” <a href="https://t.co/FHbNVPerue">pic.twitter.com/FHbNVPerue</a>
&mdash; Spencer Lindquist 🇺🇸 (@SpencerLndqst) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpencerLndqst/status/1661087488004243463?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2023</a></blockquote>
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It isn&#8217;t just her daughters, ages seven, five, and two, who she worries about. Her husband, a Border Patrol agent, works a dangerous profession that has only gotten riskier in the last two years. 
“Watching the increased risk that this administration is putting our agents in is a huge concern of mine,” Anderson remarked, adding that agents are now “seeing more combativeness than compliance.” “I remember when there were no assaults …  we’re empowering these illegals based on there not being any consequences.”
<a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/assaults-use-force">Assault and use of force cases</a> against the Border Patrol agents who work on the southern border — agents like Anderson’s husband — have surged since the Biden Administration took office.
While there were 439 assaults against Border Patrol agents on the border in fiscal year 2020, the number climbed to 548 in 2021 and 624 in 2022. Now in 2023, there have already been 305 recorded assault incidents. Weapon and ammunition seizures similarly <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/weapons-and-ammunition-seizures">increased on the border</a> from 2020 to 2021 and again from 2021 to 2022.
But it isn’t just the danger that bothers Anderson. It&#8217;s also what she sees as the fruitlessness of Border Patrol operations neutered by an unfriendly administration.  
“That general risk that always exists with them going to work as an agent is skyrocketing. And honestly at this point, for what? They can work all day in the heat, sweat through their uniforms, catch a group, bring them in, and watch them get processed and released.”
“I just don’t understand how this administration can literally throw our agents to the wolves and have a complete disregard for their safety,” the Border Patrol wife charged.
Our conversation was punctuated with an occasional “BAAAAA” from Mustachio, a sheep who owes his name to the kids. By turning a seemingly peaceful home into a thoroughfare for smugglers and criminals, the migrant crisis has taken a toll on Anderson too.
“I don’t sleep much,” she admitted candidly while walking along the meager remnants of her back fence. All that remained were worn out wooden posts. It wasn’t worth the time, money, or effort to repair a fence that’d just be cut through again, she explained.
Life on the border means living under “constant threat.” Simple tasks like feeding livestock can turn into life-or-death situations in a matter of seconds. She explained that in one instance on her former property, a migrant ran out of the brush and chased her. Anderson was able to kick open a gate to release her dog, buying herself just enough time to get back to the house where her daughters were sleeping.
It all led Anderson to an unfortunate conclusion: that her family had been betrayed, that the interests of illegal aliens had taken precedence over the safety and wellbeing of American citizens. 
“I can’t walk into an emergency room and have every ailment that I want to come up with assessed … without paying a dime. I can’t get free housing. I can’t get the same benefits as an American in this country that illegals are being given.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I ask: &quot;Do you believe illegal aliens are being prioritized over you, over your daughters, over American citizens?&quot;
Wife of Border Patrol agent responds: &quot;I do. I wholeheartedly do . . .  I don&#39;t understand how Americans aren&#39;t the priority.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/ahh49FdNjA">pic.twitter.com/ahh49FdNjA</a>
&mdash; Spencer Lindquist 🇺🇸 (@SpencerLndqst) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpencerLndqst/status/1661425579319492608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In Anderson’s eyes, the migrant crisis isn’t just a matter of personal safety. It’s a national crisis. “I don’t understand how Americans aren’t the priority.” She went on to warn “We can’t keep moving in the direction we’re moving in and expect to be the land of the free.”
What other Americans watch on a handful of news outlets, the Andersons witness firsthand. While other Americans hear about the migrant crisis from talking heads, Anderson’s seven-year-old daughter hears the migrant crisis tapping on her window. That which so many other Americans are unaware of, the Andersons know all too well.
But Alison has only a humble request for America. When asked what she wants our country to know about the migrant crisis on our southern border, she said simply: “That it’s real.” 
Alison Anderson’s interview will be featured in an upcoming mini-documentary from The Daily Wire, which will be posted on our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@DailyWirePlus">YouTube channel</a>.

Alison Anderson

‘Mommy There’s Bad Guys At My Window:’ Border Patrol Wife Describes Dangers, Chaos On Southern Border

'Mommy There's Bad Guys At My Window:' Border Patrol Wife Describes Dangers, Chaos On Southern Border

Biden Administration

Border

Illegal Immigration

Immigration

migration

Southern Border

It has not been a great year so far for beer giant Anheuser-Busch or its conservative customers. Bud Light, one of the company&#8217;s flagship brands, ignited a national firestorm after it partnered with transgender activist and social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney back in April. Since the boycott began, Anheuser-Busch has reportedly lost almost $16 billion in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/anheuser-busch-inbev-market-value-has-plunged-staggering-15-7-billion-since-mulvaney-fiasco-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">market value</a> as cases upon cases of the once-iconic beer languish on store shelves across the country. The situation is so bad that the company is practically <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/05/23/bud-light-giving-away-free-beer-for-memorial-day-following-dylan-mulvaney-disaster/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">giving away</a> 15-packs for Memorial Day in an effort to unload product.
Molson Coors, the producer of brands such as Miller Lite and Coors Lite, has profited significantly from Anheuser-Busch&#8217;s plummeting sales, but the company also suffered backlash after a feminist commercial, released in March to honor Women&#8217;s History Month, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/miller-lite-responds-to-backlash-over-woke-feminist-beer-commercial-appreciate-the-humor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resurfaced</a> online.
In response, many conservatives have switched to a less publicly woke brand of beer such as Yuengling, the nation&#8217;s oldest operating brewery, or to a different kind of alcoholic beverage entirely — liquor.
Anheuser-Busch&#8217;s parent company, AB InBev, and Molson Coors own the top 10 best-selling beer brands in the country, and a similar situation exists in the liquor market. You may see hundreds of different brands on display if you walk into a relatively large liquor store, but odds are the vast majority of them are owned by five companies.
And, perhaps unsurprisingly at this point, the biggest liquor companies in the world have used their brands to push transgender ideology and promote drag queens.
<h2>Diageo</h2>
Diageo, a British company created in 1997 by the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan, is the largest liquor company in the world not owned by the Chinese Communist Party. It produces 40% of the world&#8217;s Scotch whiskey and owns the world&#8217;s best-selling vodka (Smirnoff) and liqueur (Baileys Irish Cream).
One of Diageo&#8217;s top scotch brands, J&amp;B, <a href="https://www.out.com/transgender/2022/12/21/whiskey-viral-commercial-trans-acceptance-video-watch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a> an ad in Spain around Christmastime last year featuring an elderly man who secretly learns how to apply makeup. He then uses his newfound skills to make up his trans-identifying grandchild. The grandfather then shows off the now-feminine grandchild to the rest of the family, who happily embrace the two and celebrate by imbibing J&amp;B.
A message in Spanish at the end of the commercial read, &#8220;The magic is not only in Christmas. It&#8217;s also in us.&#8221;
Another massive Diageo brand, Smirnoff, bragged about its &#8220;decades of commitment to the LGBTQUIA+ community&#8221; when it <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/smirnoff-calls-on-kings-queens-and-every-drag-performer-in-between-to-show-up-for-its-most-inclusive-drag-celebration-ever-301577247.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> its &#8220;Show Up. Show Off!&#8221; drag queen competition in June 2022. Shea Couleé, described by Smirnoff as &#8220;drag royalty,&#8221; kicked off the competition in Chicago, and the winner received a $50,000 talent contract with the brand as well as an invitation to serve as an ambassador at Smirnoff Pride 2023, according to the press release.
One participant in that competition, drag queen and transgender activist Maxine St. James LaQueene, <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/05/09/smirnoff-drag-queen-partner-flashes-bystanders-at-texas-capitol/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">protested</a> in the Texas state capitol earlier this month against a bill that would ban transgender surgeries for minors. LaQueene allegedly exposed his backside and genitals to bystanders as he was being taken into custody for disrupting the legislature. Smirnoff <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/smirnoff-vodka-partners-trans-woman-recently-disrupted-texas-legislature-anti-trans-bill" target="_blank" rel="noopener">denied</a> any official partnership with LaQueene in an email to Fox News.
Transgender actor Laverne Cox has also <a href="https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/laverne-cox-smirnoff-womens-history-month/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appeared</a> in multiple Smirnoff ads over the years.
Diageo also <a href="https://www.diageo.com/en/news-and-media/stories/2022/baileys-puts-inclusivity-at-the-heart-of-a-global-campaign" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hired</a> &#8220;three of the UK’s most popular drag queens&#8221; as part of a Halloween ad campaign for Baileys Irish Cream.
Some of Diageo&#8217;s <a href="https://www.eater.com/drinks/2016/1/26/10830410/liquor-brands-hierarchy-diageo-beam-suntory-pernod-ricard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">best-known brands</a> include:
<ul>
<li>Whiskey: Johnnie Walker scotch, J&amp;B scotch, and Crown Royal Canadian whiskey</li>
<li>Vodka: Smirnoff, Ketel One, and Cîroc</li>
<li>Rum: Captain Morgan</li>
<li>Tequila: Don Julio</li>
<li>Gin: Aviation Gin, Gordon&#8217;s, and Tanqueray</li>
<li>Liqueur: Baileys Irish Cream</li>
</ul>
<h2>Pernod Ricard</h2>
Pernod Ricard is a French company founded in 1975 and second only behind Diageo based on overall production. Its premium vodka brand, Absolut, has frequently partnered with drag queens, including an annual event in Canada called Empire&#8217;s Ball <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/absolut-empire-s-ball-celebrates-toronto-pride-with-showstopping-grand-finale-881403065.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">featuring</a> drag queens from around the country. In the press release for the 2022 Empire&#8217;s Ball, the Absolut brand was described as a &#8220;long standing LGBTQ2S+ ally,&#8221; and the brand promised to donate money to LGBT organizations.
Pernod Ricard even <a href="https://www.just-drinks.com/news/pernod-ricard-releases-drag-queen-documentary-for-absolut-vodka/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">produced</a> a documentary film in 2021 about the drag queen ball, entitled &#8220;Underneath the Empire.&#8221;
Absolut also collaborated with &#8220;drag icon&#8221; Tayce for a fashion campaign designed to create &#8220;a world where what you wear isn’t tied to the binds of gender, seasonal trends, religious expression, or function,&#8221; <a href="https://www.pernod-ricard.com/en/locations/uk/media/fashion-trio-serve-first-borntomix-collaboration-absolut" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to a press release from Pernod Ricard.
Absolut has also <a href="https://toronadosd.com/absolut-vodkas-surprising-decision-to-stop-sponsoring-rupauls-drag-race/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sponsored</a> several seasons of the popular drag queen competition show &#8220;RuPaul&#8217;s Drag Race.&#8221;
Some of Pernod Ricard&#8217;s best-known brands include:
<ul>
<li>Whiskey: Chivas Regal scotch, Glenlivet scotch, Jameson Irish whiskey, Redbreast Irish whiskey, and Jefferson&#8217;s bourbon</li>
<li>Vodka: Absolut</li>
<li>Gin: Beefeater and Seagram&#8217;s</li>
<li>Rum: Malibu and Havana Club</li>
<li>Liqueur: Kahlúa coffee liqueur</li>
</ul>
<h2>Beam Suntory</h2>
Johannes &#8220;Jacob&#8221; Beam began selling his homemade whiskey in 1795 and became one of the earliest bourbon distillers in the U.S. The whiskey brand went through several names until it settled on Jim Beam in 1943 in honor of James Beauregard Beam — who led the company through Prohibition. Meanwhile, Suntory was founded in Japan as a wine shop before its founder opened the country&#8217;s first malt whiskey distillery in 1923. Beam Suntory was created after Suntory Holdings purchased Beam Inc. in 2011.
In 2020, Jim Beam <a href="https://www.iheartradio.ca/virginradio/kelowna/contests/bring-it-to-the-ballroom-1.13871131" target="_blank" rel="noopener">advertised</a> an event called &#8220;Bring It To The Ballroom!&#8221; that featured several drag queens, including &#8220;Jimbo the Drag Clown,&#8221; according to a post from iHeart Radio. The event was ultimately postponed due to concerns over COVID.
Beam Suntory brand Hornitos tequila <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lgbtq-activists-awarded-grants-from-hornitos-tequila-to-amplify-advocacy-work-301573280.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">awarded</a> a series of grants to LGBT activists in June 2022, including one to Maria Louise Roman-Taylorson of the TransLatin Coalition. Each of the grantees received $10,000, and Hornitos noted that it had already given over $100,000 to the LGBT advocacy group GLAAD.
Suntory hosts several Pride events around the world every year for Pride month, <a href="https://www.suntory.com/topics/2022/08/007901.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">including</a> Drag Trivia Quizzes in its Auckland, New Zealand, and Sydney, Australia, offices last year.
Some of Beam Suntory&#8217;s best-known brands include:
<ul>
<li>Whiskey: Jim Beam bourbon, Maker&#8217;s Mark bourbon, Old Crow bourbon, Basil Hayden&#8217;s bourbon, Knob Creek bourbon, Ardmore scotch, Laphroiag scotch, Suntory brand Japanese whiskeys, and Canadian Club whiskey</li>
<li>Tequila: Sauza and Hornitos</li>
<li>Vodka: Pinnacle</li>
</ul>
<h2>Bacardi</h2>
Bacardi is the largest family-owned liquor company in the world. Founded in Cuba in 1862, Bacardi fled the country after communist guerrillas led by Fidel Castro overthrew the government in 1959. The executive of the company at the time, Jose Bosch, became an ardent <a href="https://businessinsider.mx/57-bacardi-and-the-long-fight-for-cuba/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opponen</a>t of the Castro regime.
Nevertheless, the company has become the proud sponsor of leftist social policies in recent years.
Chris Cabrera, a transgender activist and bartender who also identifies as nonbinary, <a href="https://www.liquor.com/inclusive-space-award-2022-6363120" target="_blank" rel="noopener">became</a> the New York City brand ambassador for Grey Goose vodka, owned by Bacardi, in 2018. Cabrera facilitated Grey Goose&#8217;s sponsorship of the annual drag queen pageant at the Stonewall Inn in 2019 — the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. Bacardi then promoted Cabrera to the position of national LGBTQ+ ambassador in 2020.
Bacardi <a href="https://bacardilgfevents.com/e/bacard%C3%AD-inaugural-drag-ball" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hosted</a> its inaugural drag ball in New Orleans in July of last year, and the company <a href="https://m.facebook.com/events/582366663403012/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hosted</a> another drag queen event in Canada back in February dubbed &#8220;Cowboys Bacardi Carnival.&#8221;
Bacardi, along with Diageo, is one of the biggest <a href="https://www.drinkstrade.com.au/bacardi-diageo-proud-supporters-of-sydneys-big-gay-celebration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sponsors</a> of Sydney&#8217;s annual Pride celebration, with the main Bacardi brand and the company&#8217;s gin brand, Bombay Sapphire, hosting several drag queen events.
Some of Bacardi&#8217;s best-known brands include:
<ul>
<li>Rum: Bacardi and the U.S. rights to Havana Club</li>
<li>Whiskey: Dewar&#8217;s scotch</li>
<li>Tequila: Patrón</li>
<li>Gin: Bombay Sapphire</li>
<li>Vodka: Grey Goose</li>
</ul>
<h2>Brown-Forman</h2>
The Brown-Forman Corporation was founded as a whiskey company in 1870, but only became one of the world&#8217;s largest liquor companies after it acquired Jack Daniel&#8217;s Tennessee whiskey in 1956. More than the other companies in this article, Brown-Forman depends on a single brand for its high position in the liquor market — Jack Daniel&#8217;s is the second best-selling whiskey in the world after Diageo&#8217;s Johnnie Walker.
However, the company received increased scrutiny after a Jack Daniel&#8217;s ad campaign <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jack-daniels-drag-queen-campaign-faces-renewed-backlash-after-bud-light-and-dylan-mulvaney-brand-deal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">featuring</a> drag queens resurfaced in the wake of Bud Light&#8217;s Dylan Mulvaney debacle. Two years ago, the whiskey brand partnered with three drag queens for a series of videos promoting its Tennessee Fire brand. The partnership, referred to as “Drag Queen Summer Glamp,” showed the drag queens plan a Pride celebration.
“Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire is honored to partner with Bebe, Trinity, and Manila on a campaign that reaffirms our commitment to the LGBTQ+ community,” Jack Fire Brand Manager Lauren Richmond said in a <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jack-daniels-tennessee-fire-and-rupauls-drag-race-alums-celebrate-pride-301314390.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>. “This series demonstrates our brand’s holistic approach to engaging the consumers we serve through culture and unexpected partnerships.”
One of the drag queens, who performs under the moniker Trinity the Tuck, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/jack-daniels-whiskey-boycott-calls-lgbt-campaign-1792890" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, &#8220;Jack Daniel&#8217;s gets drag culture—which is all about celebrating individuality and inviting others to accept you as you are.&#8221;
Jack Daniel&#8217;s Canadian branch also partnered with a drag queen to promote its apple-flavored whiskey.
Brown-Forman&#8217;s vodka brand, Finlandia, <a href="https://louisvilledowntown.org/event/drag-queens-on-ice-december-4th-7-to-9-p-m/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sponsored</a> a December 2022 event in Louisville, Kentucky titled &#8220;Drag Queens on Ice,&#8221; according to the Louisville Downtown Partnership.
Some of Brown-Forman&#8217;s best-known brands include:
<ul>
<li>Whiskey: Jack Daniel&#8217;s Tennessee whiskey, Woodford Reserve bourbon, Old Forester bourbon, and GlenDronach scotch</li>
<li>Vodka: Finlandia</li>
</ul>
These are by no means exhaustive lists of the brands owned by these companies or the trans- and drag queen-themed events they&#8217;ve sponsored. Well over 100 different brands are owned by these five companies combined.
There is slightly more competition in the liquor market compared to the beer market — just two companies own the top 10 best-selling beer brands in the country — but it is evident that there is no ideological competition in the alcohol industry. Practically every major company has expressed its support for transgender ideology and hosted drag queen events through one or more of its brands.
And while discerning consumers can turn to microbreweries as a non-woke substitute for corporate beer, the home production of liquor is still strictly illegal <a href="https://www.ttb.gov/distilled-spirits/penalties-for-illegal-distilling#:~:text=While%20individuals%20of%20legal%20drinking,26%20United%20States%20Code%20(U.S.C.)" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Treasury Department&#8217;s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Producing your own liquor can result in a prison sentence of up to five years and a hefty fine.
The dominance of the liquor companies by a handful of firms ensures that consumers have only the illusion of choice in the market and that their dollars will go to supporting leftist social policies.

Bottles of Scotch Whisky brand, J&B, rare blend label seen

Trade Bud Light For Bourbon? Well, Odds Are Your Favorite Liquor Brands Also Support Trans Activists, Drag Queens

Bud Light

Drag Queens

Dylan Mulvaney

Social Issues

Transgender

U.S.

Whiskey

An early scene in the new comedy “About My Father” speaks volumes about both the film and the patriarch in question.
Sebastian Maniscalco, playing a fictionalized version of himself, notes how his Italian father expected him to work, and work hard, every hour possible as a young boy. So we see a flashback of the lad washing his father’s car at an age when most boys would be driving a Tonka truck over a mound of dirt.
The snippet is played for laughs, another sign of his pappy’s immigrant mindset. The moment comes back early and often, ultimately part of an homage to his father’s commendable work ethic that allowed his son to thrive.
Hard work. Sacrifice. Family. Loyalty. Respect. And, of course, a ripe sense of humor to balance all of the above.
“About My Father” packs all of the above into its crisp running time, and the comedian’s intentions couldn’t be more clear.
It’s Maniscalco’s biggest screen role to date, arriving at a time when theatrical comedies are few and far between. And the comic co-wrote the film and narrates those early scenes, making it as close to his voice as the big screen will allow.
For Maniscalco, hard work is in his DNA thanks to his immigrant father, Salvo, brought to life in the film by Oscar-winner Robert De Niro.
<div id="attachment_558303" style="width: 873px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-558303" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-558303" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1488699106-863x576.jpg" alt="" width="863" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1488699106-863x576.jpg 863w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1488699106-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1488699106-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1488699106-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1488699106-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1488699106-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1488699106-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 863px) 100vw, 863px" />Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images</div>
The actor certainly lives up to his dad’s life lessons off screen. He not only tours the country as a major stand-up attraction, is making his debut as a leading man and co-hosts “The Pete &amp; Sebastian Show” podcast (or ‘cast to long-time listeners) but will be seen in a new HBO series later this year.
“How to Be a Bookie,” from prolific showrunner Chuck Lorre (“Two and a Half Men”), finds him playing a bookie balancing life, family and the legalization of sports gambling.
That’s on top of minor roles in films like “Green Book,” “The Irishman” and this Spring’s “Somewhere in Queens.”
“About My Father” is his bid to transcend character parts to films where his name is above the title. And, in doing so, he’s brought significant segments of his biography to the screen, hoping his fans will see his stand-up brand in every sequence.
Chances are, even those new to Maniscalco’s humor will bond with the material in play. That’s even more true for conservatives, who rarely see their values embodied on screens large or small.
Maniscalco plays a hotel employee eager to find the right moment to propose to his girlfriend Ellie Collins (Leslie Bibb). That chance arrives when her uber-wealthy family invites him to their July 4th gala. As plot devices would have it, Sebastian’s father Salvo (De Niro) tags along, setting up a culture clash for the ages.
Salvo insists on paying his own way whenever possible, squirms at the family’s exorbitant wealth and worries his son might not fit into the curious clan.
We know where everything is headed, but “About My Father” keeps select themes front and center.
Sebastian cringes at his father’s old-school ways, but he understands those curious antics shaped his career and sense of honor.
Mild story spoilers ahead:
Even the rich Collins clan, mocked without the venom aimed at the affluent in 2022 films like “The Menu” and “Triangle of Sadness,” get a measure of humanity for putting family first. The parents think dropping a few meaty checks can make their daughter, and her art career, afloat.
And they’re wrong.
Ellie bristles at their forced generosity. Sebastian, cut from the same moral cloth, thinks twice about the Collins’ significant offer to boost his hotelier career.
The “Fast &amp; Furious” franchise is all about family, too, but that saga cares as much about car chases as it does those blood ties.
“About My Father” honors family at every step without sugarcoating the inevitable results. Parents can embarrass us at times. Children, especially the fully-grown kind, forget the value of gratitude.
None of this would matter if “About My Father” failed to make us laugh. Maniscalco proves he can anchor the material without falling back on his exaggerated comic shtick. Instead, he leans into the story’s grace notes, like how he sprays cologne into the air and gently wades into the mist … just like his Pappy taught him.
Immigrants are often in the news for all the wrong reasons, flooding the southern border insisting we make way for them. Many are hard-working, others not so much.
“About My Father” isn’t a Culture War treatise. Maniscalco’s stage routine is mostly clean and apolitical, and he’s not about to change that now. Nor does he throw a single sucker punch at Heartland USA, assuming you forgive a throwaway moment set at a same-sex wedding proposal.
Maniscalco knows he wouldn’t be where he is today, professionally or personally, if not for his real-life pa, a Chicago-based hairdresser. Hard work pays off, especially for immigrants hungry for the American dream. 
It might even make you the star of your own life story.

“About My Father” New York Premiere

Sebastian Maniscalco’s ‘About My Father’ Is An Immigrant Love Letter 

Sebastian Maniscalco's ‘About My Father’ Is An Immigrant Love Letter 

Comedy

Movies

Robert de Niro

Sebastian Maniscalco

The American medical establishment markets itself as a champion for all patients’ dignity and pretends to be an ally of marginalized women. But in its passionate support of abortion, in the very arguments it uses to justify that support, the medical establishment is actually upholding a destructive, defeatist, and racist philosophy.
In the wake of the Dobbs decision that removed federal abortion protections and returned power to the states to make their own abortion laws, the president of the American Medical Association published a statement <a href="https://www.ama-assn.org/about/leadership/dobbs-ruling-assault-reproductive-health-safe-medical-practice">condemning</a> the Supreme Court decision as an immoral intrusion of government into the private affairs of patients and their physicians. In July of 2022, a few weeks after the Dobbs decision, the AMA published a follow-up <a href="https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/population-care/access-abortion-and-women-s-health-what-research-shows">article</a> on their website, arguing that abortion bans would have dire effects on women’s overall health. In October of that same year, the New England Journal of Medicine published an article calling abortion access a <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2209737">racial justice issue</a>. These publications from medical elites reveal a racist mentality and insidiously devalue human life, especially the lives of those facing genuine hardship.
In his statement, AMA President Jack Resneck called the Dobbs decision an “assault on reproductive health” and “safe medical practice.”
In one noteworthy section of his statement, the president asserted: “Access to legal reproductive care will be limited to those with the sufficient resources, circumstances, and financial means to do so—exacerbating health inequities by placing the heaviest burden on patients from Black, Latinx, Indigenous, low-income, rural and other historically disadvantaged communities that already face numerous structural and systemic barriers to accessing health care.”
In the AMA’s follow up article posted a couple weeks after Dr. Resneck gave his statement, AMA contributing news writer Tanya Albert Henry pointed to research conducted by University of California San Francisco faculty that suggests that women seeking abortions who are denied those abortions face worse health and economic outcomes than women not denied abortions. The San Francisco researchers conducted a five-year study of 956 women who wanted abortions, 231 of whom were prevented from getting abortions by state laws. While the study looked at multiple areas of life, including physical and mental health, Henry’s article placed much emphasis on the women’s economic situations. According to Henry, the study found that women who did not receive abortions were more likely to raise their children alone, “live in households that drop below the poverty level,” and “lack enough money to pay for food, housing and transportation.” Diana Greene Foster, the director of the research, said that “Access to abortion enables women to have children at a time when they have more resources – financial and emotional — to devote to their children.”
The heads of the AMA think they are promoting human rights and protecting their patients from injustice. But there’s just one problem. Ending a pregnancy ends a human life. Even if you reject the scientific fact that human life <a href="https://www.liveaction.org/news/first-trimester-babies-complex/?gad=1&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwgqejBhBAEiwAuWHioGNykDgEAOmIjrEViBsMinTWEapZVxIK2uPKBgcYeqjKEMd7ddWY-BoC0lkQAvD_BwE">begins</a> at fertilization, when an embryo with unique DNA is created, there is no denying that the pregnancy, without interference, will result in the birth of a new human being. With that indisputable fact in mind, the AMA’s pro-abortion arguments take on a morally ghoulish character.
President Resneck thinks it a travesty that “black, Latinx” and “low income”women cannot access abortion as easily with Roe reversed. Resneck believes the world would be a better place if fewer black, Latino, and poor children were born. For him, being black and living in poverty is such a hard, miserable existence with so much suffering involved that it would be better to be killed in the womb than to endure that horrible fate.
Diana Foster and the other University of California San Francisco researchers share President Resneck’s mindset when it comes to poverty. They think that if mothers struggle financially while trying to raise their children, resulting in those children not always having their needs met, it would be better for those children not to have a chance at life at all.
These medical experts believe so strongly that systematic oppression is embedded in this country and cannot be overcome. For them, racism is ubiquitous and unavoidable. Poverty is inescapable. Children who come from hard backgrounds can never rise above their past. Giving birth to them is dooming them to misery. The kind, humane thing to do is to cut their lives short. This thinking is hideous. Medical experts, who know abortion ends a life, should not be advocating for the termination of any woman’s pregnancy, no matter her race, no matter her situation. Every human being, from the moment of conception, deserves the same respect. Every human life, once created, has a right to exist. No matter how many studies they conduct, medical experts have no right to assert that black or brown children or children from poor families are any less capable of making a better future for themselves than any other children.
The authors who wrote the New England Journal of Medicine article linking abortion and racial justice make a different point, but it’s a point just as defeatist as the AMA’s arguments. They point out the high maternal mortality rate among black women and argue that abortion is safer for these women than carrying their babies to term. In other words, because there are parts of the country where certain black women do not have access to the potentially life-saving care they need during pregnancy, we need to ensure that they can abort their babies. Why is that the solution? Why not invest resources into researching and addressing the causes of pregnancy complications and maternal mortality among black women so that their lives and their babies’ lives can be saved?
The AMA and the New England Journal of Medicine are not wrong to point out the real hardships that many pregnant women face in this country. But their insistence that impoverished and marginalized women will be better off if they can abort their babies is racist and classist. These leading medical institutions should not be focusing an ounce of their energy on fighting the Dobbs decision. Instead, they should be working to improve maternal medicine so that pregnant women have better health outcomes. 
Emmie Lo is a writer and Latin teacher currently living in Jacksonville, Florida. You can read her personal blog at <a href="https://blindgirldreaming.blogspot.com/">blindgirldreaming.blogspot.com</a> and follow her on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/Teabooksgirl">@teabooksgirl</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Female doctor holding hands of her patient at hospital room

The Medical Establishment’s Racist, Classist Argument For Abortion 

The Medical Establishment’s Racist, Classist Argument for Abortion 

Abortion

American Medical Association

Dobbs

New England Journal of medicine

Poverty

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/desantis-releases-campaign-launch-video-twitter-launch-crashes-app-as-servers-strained" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> he will seek the nomination to be the Republican nominee for the United States presidency. The U.S. is the world’s superpower, both economically and militarily, with geopolitical interests throughout all continents and economic impact in most countries. As such, American elections garner a lot of attention, especially in Europe. 
For many reasons, Governor DeSantis has become the symbol of effective, strong conservative governance, and Florida is a blueprint for many center-Right governments in American states and European countries. The American support for his candidacy would in fact show that conservatives reject the cult of the individual, as they often have in the past, embracing instead the best common sense, conservative policies. For Europeans, it would mean a trusted and reliable partner that would strengthen the U.S. and the Western alliance in front of aggressions and hegemonic aspirations of our geopolitical adversaries and would present a model that works for bolstering the economy. 
DeSantis won the race for Congress in 2012 against all odds, going door-to-door together with his wife, Casey, and convincing people to choose an idealist who could get things done. Subsequently, he became one of the founders of the House Freedom Caucus, one of the most conservative groups in the United States Congress, advocating for fiscal responsibility, limited government, individual freedoms, less bureaucracy, and stronger national defense. Just as he managed to go into Harvard and Yale and come out more conservative than when he started his academic path, in Congress he managed to not only avoid becoming part of the swamp, but also stand up to it. Similarly, he successfully stood up to Fauci-ism and the worldwide infringements of human rights and came out victorious. 
In 2018, DeSantis won by a margin of 0.4% against Democratic candidate Andrew Gillum. Four years later, with a successful track record, he transformed the margin of victory into an almost 20% difference with his rival Charlie Crist, demonstrating that voters award competence, politicians that stick to their values and principles and policies that strengthen their freedoms and prosperity. 
It was the largest margin of any Florida Governor in 40 years, winning comfortably the vote of men (64%), women (53%), Hispanic (58%), White (65%), independent (53%), and Republican (97%) and reaching 13% with African-Americans and 5% with Democrats. He won Miami Dade, a Democrat stronghold, for the first time in two decades, and turned Palm Beach County Republican for the first time since 1986. Under him, Republicans won supermajorities in both chambers of the Florida Legislature and DeSantis used these victories to push for and sign laws based on what he actually promised when running for re-election. Mr. DeSantis showed that he can win even where Democrats think they have the upper hand. Fundamentally, he transformed a swing state into a reliable Republican stronghold, basically obliterating the Left from all positions of power. More importantly, he can win against President Biden, because he can win states such as Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and many others that other contenders cannot. Electability is one of his greatest advantages. 
The governor, immensely popular within his state, ensured a Red Wave in Florida in an otherwise surprisingly bad year for Republicans and helped secure the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. As an example of the efficiency of his governorship together with the House and Senate of the state, just in the recent legislature, they have created the largest school choice program in American history, banned abortion after six weeks, approved a $2 billion tax cut, strengthened gun rights, banned sex change operations from being performed on minors, barred woke initiatives in universities, cracked down on illegal immigration, expanded parental rights in education, protected the rights of individuals against the overreach of government in collusion with large corporations.
Moreover, he signed a digital bill of rights, to protect his citizens from the overreach of big tech, enhanced penalties for fentanyl dealing, fined credit card companies for tracking citizens’ gun purchases, made it easier to own a house, outlawed social credit scores, banning government from considering social, political or ideological beliefs when evaluating potential vendors, outlawed central bank digital currency and approved laws that fight antisemitism and any type of discrimination. All of these common sense and widely accepted ideas are transformed into law in a way that would make it difficult for the next governor to undo them. 
That is exactly the best feature of Governor DeSantis. He is a strategist that acts with a discipline and precision often lacking in other politicians, giving the reassuring feeling that the adults are now in charge. He has made sure that his governorship is a consequential one and more importantly, that his policies continue to improve and protect the freedoms and lives of his citizens even after he is gone. All of this has been done without increasing the size or degree of interference of government, expanding instead the liberties of citizens.
He has gathered a team that works competently towards their common goal, free of leaks and unnecessary drama. As president of the United States, his record proves that he would preside over a government that cuts bureaucracy, runs efficiently, and does not sabotage itself, while enabling individuals and families to prosper and unleash their economic potential. More importantly, he has shown an admirable knowledge of conservative philosophy and policies and a willingness to study and understand laws and proposals in depth. 
Under his leadership, Florida became home of the free, and beacon of liberty across the globe, incentivizing citizens, and businesses to move there from would–be socialist states that are high in crime and low in prosperity. Florida was number one in net migration, in new business formation, in education, and economic freedom. The crime rate fell to a 50-year record low level. 
Overall, he has pursued supply-side policies such as tax cuts, deregulation, incentivizing investments in key industries and technology, while keeping government expenditure low. In fact, Florida has a budget surplus, even though it has a lower budget than New York, which through its high taxes and massive spending often goes on the brink of bankruptcy. These policies have resulted in an unemployment rate of 2.6% as of April 2023, gross domestic product real rate of growth for the fourth quarter of 2022 of 3.7%, a budget surplus for FY 2021-22 of $21.8 billion, the highest in the state’s history, and a yearly private sector employment growth of 4.7%, as of March 2023, all metrics superior to the national ones. As a conservative, he understands the necessity to lower the deficits, maintain fiscal discipline, and encourage entrepreneurship and the true free market. 
DeSantis has combined these free market, supply-side policies with a higher focus on culture, tradition, and individual freedoms. This is the fusionism of the 21st century that all the West needs to strengthen the United States and Europe as the two pillars that will keep the balance of power in the West, just as President Reagan and Prime Minister Thatcher did in the eighties. Wokeism and cancel culture, higher government intervention and their collusion with corporations that in fact do not serve shareholders or customers but agendas imposed by fringe segments, are the modern manifestation of communism and fascism — precisely the policies DeSantis has been fighting.
He seems to be the only one who can unite a strong coalition of the spectrum of the Right, from social and fiscal conservatives to classical liberals whose philosophy stands at the foundation of the U.S.. Moderates, national conservatives, common sense libertarians and principled realism foreign policy advocates will also find him attractive. All of these different streams of the Right, which have conflicted often with one another in many aspects, have many things in common. To win and effectively address the challenges of our time, an alliance based on the common traits of all of them is needed. I have seen this Reaganite fusion during Governor DeSantis’ governance and that will be the key to winning the Presidency and governing successfully. 
American center-Right individuals of all streams and philosophies should endorse and join DeSantis and his alliance if they want their voices heard, concerns addressed and the country safer, stronger, and more prosperous. His election can serve as an incentive to his European counterparts and help strengthen the bond between the freedom-loving nations in front of the considerable challenges and threats ahead. 
Nikola Kedhi is an economic commentator, financial consultant and contributor to various media such as Fox News, Newsweek, the Daily Signal, Newsmax and Mises Institute. Kedhi is also a co-author of the Constitution of Center-Right Values of the Democratic Party of Albania. He can be reached on Twitter: @nikedhi95 and on <a href="https://nikolakedhi.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Substack.</a>
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

TOPSHOT-US-VOTE-ELECTION-FLORIDA-DESANTIS

Why A DeSantis Presidency Would Strengthen Our Bonds With Freedom-Loving European Nations

2024 Election

Europe

Florida

Opinion

Presidency

Ron DeSantis

This week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis decided to announce his 2024 presidential candidacy on Twitter Spaces, the newest feature on Elon Musk’s Twitter. Musk himself would be co-hosting the event, giving DeSantis access to Musk’s 141 million Twitter followers. Only after the Twitter launch will DeSantis begin the more typical campaigning, embarking on a series of campaign events across the nation.
DeSantis’ decision represents yet another blow to the power of the legacy media. Legacy media outlets have been fighting mad that DeSantis sees no purpose in granting them long-form interviews; while he’s happy to answer their questions – and to aggressively confront them – at press conferences, he simply does not trust that legacy media will ask decent questions or edit him fairly. Instead, DeSantis has merely ignored them.
That strategy has resulted in extraordinary hew and cry from our supposed journalistic establishment. This week, Tara Palmeri, senior political correspondent for Puck News, for example, attempted to confront DeSantis with a series of obtuse questions. “I am also Italian American like you,” she said, “if that makes any difference to you at all. Why are you against Disney characters? Which one is your favorite one?” When DeSantis declined to engage, she then called him a “paper tiger – a superficially perfect test-tube Republican candidate who, on closer inspection, is probably not ready for prime time.”
But perhaps primetime is entirely the problem. After all, it is primetime television that made glitz and glamour the center of our presidential politics, gave Donald Trump billions of dollars in free media coverage in 2016, then proceeded to label Trump a threat to the republic and a probable Russian asset. It was primetime television that elevated lies about covid, turning DeSantis into the Enemy of the People while championing disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as a hero; that endlessly trumpeted the false narrative that black Americans are at dire daily threat from police, resulting in billions of dollars of damage from race riots; that ceaselessly promotes the notion that boys can be girls and vice versa.
The same legacy media that pushed those lies now pushes a bottomless well of lies about DeSantis as well: that his wife Casey is like Lady Macbeth; that Florida has banned gay Americans by passing a “Don’t Say Gay” bill that, in reality, merely prevents the sexual indoctrination of children; that black Americans are at existential threat in the state; that books are being banned at scale.
Why, precisely, should a politician like DeSantis trust them?
He doesn’t. And now, thanks to the open forum provided by Musk, he doesn’t need to use them to promote his candidacy. He can simply go directly to the people. This is merely an extension of the strategy Donald Trump used so successfully in 2016 when his Twitter account became the most magnetic media property on the planet – only now Trump has relegated himself to Truth Social, even after Musk reinstated his Twitter account. 
In any case, the legacy media – instead of re-examining their own biases and asking just why candidates of the right refuse to appear on their air – have decided to target Musk and Twitter. They suggest that Musk is the newest threat to the republic – after all, if he weren’t, would DeSantis be using Twitter for his launch? 
Conservatives no longer need the approval of reporters at The New York Times. They no longer need to suffer the indignities of skewed grilling at the hands of partisan hacks who work for the alphabet networks. Times have changed. And DeSantis’ Twitter launch is just the latest evidence.

Ben Shapiro Transcript 3

Will Elon Musk Break The Legacy Media Stranglehold?

Ben Shapiro

Elon Musk

Legacy Media

Twitter

Sketch of the “Zodiac” Killer

True Crime: Zodiac Killer, The Most Famous Unknown Serial Killer

Crime Files: Zodiac Killer, The Most Famous Unknown Serial Killer

California

San Francisco

Serial Killers

U.S. inflation continues to dog both the American and, more importantly, the American consumer. The year-over-year inflation rate in April 2023 was 4.9%, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Statistics</a>. Many television economists and talking heads celebrated the slowing of inflation’s rate of growth. What these so-called experts fail to realize is that April’s inflation rate was 4.9% higher than the rate in <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/cpi_05112022.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">April 2022</a>, which was 8.3%. This means that the inflation rate was 13.2% when compared to April 2021 – hardly a number worth celebrating.
Journalists have written extensively about the impact of inflation on America’s collective pocketbook. Higher gas prices, higher food prices, and higher prices for items such as used cars and trucks have dominated the headlines. But there are hidden costs to inflation, inflicting pain on the middle class and poorest Americans.
The U.S. real estate market is already in a recession. Through the first quarter of 2023, “U.S. <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fannie-mae-housing-market-recession-172217493.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">housing</a> market activity as measured by private residential fixed investment has declined, on a nominal basis, for four straight quarters … Fannie Mae’s forecast model thinks declines in the U.S. housing market will spill over and help to push the U.S. economy into a recession.”  
The housing market is in a vicious cycle. <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/buckle-in-30-year-mortgage-rates-are-back-above-7-heres-how-many-extra-dollars-home-buyers-will-have-to-pay-6fe3101f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Interest rates</a> are above 7% for the third time this year. This is driving a lack of inventory as people with fixed rate mortgages below 5% are loath to sell their homes and purchase a new home at a higher interest rate. The lack of inventory is driving bidding wars in some areas, making first-time homeownership more difficult. It also makes it harder to recruit people to fill roles in companies that require relocation. Simply put, not many people want to venture into the housing market at this time.
It is not just housing. The U.S. auto market is quietly suffering, but not in a manner that many think. Prices are slowly <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/best-month-buy-car-2023-231008486.html#:~:text=There%20is%20good%20news%20on,is%20poised%20to%20keep%20easing." target="_blank" rel="noopener">dropping</a>, as supply chain issues are abated, with new car prices expected to fall 2.5 &#8211; 5% and used vehicle prices expected to decrease 10 &#8211; 20%.
However, the typical interest rate on a new car loan rose to 8.95% in March, up from 5.66% in March of 2022. For used cars, the rate was 11.3% in March, up from 7.7% a year ago. A one percentage point increase on an auto <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/auto-loan-interest-rate-march-2023/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">loan</a> “adds roughly $20 a month to a car note and thousands of dollars extra over the life of the loan.”
The higher interest rates for cars are not calculated in the inflation rate, just the drop in MSRP. The hidden cost is found in higher interest rates causing more drivers to fall behind on their car payments. In January 2023, the percentage of auto borrowers who were at least 60 days late on their bills climbed “2% from December and 20.4% from the previous year,&#8221; according to <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/money/car-debt-piles-up-more-americans-struggle-make-payments">Fox Business</a>. &#8220;The percentage of severe delinquencies surged to the highest level since 2006. Loan defaults increased 6.2% over the course of January 2023 and were up 33.5% from a year earlier. Car repossessions were up 11% in 2022.”
Another hidden cost of inflation is the grossly expanding credit card debt of American citizens. U.S. consumers now owe $986 billion on their credit cards, according to data from the <a href="https://www.newyorkfed.org/newsevents/news/research/2023/20230515">Federal Reserve Bank of New York.</a> That is a 17% increase from a year ago and a record high, as more households are forced to use their credit cards to pay monthly expenses such as food and utilities.
The final hidden cost of inflation is the increase in hardship withdrawals from retirement plans. In 2022, 401(k) <a href="https://money.usnews.com/money/retirement/401ks/articles/401k-hardship-withdrawals-hit-record-high#:~:text=Under%20the%20new%20rules%20related,usual%2010%25%20early%20withdrawal%20penalty." target="_blank" rel="noopener">hardship</a> withdrawals rose by 24%, not only demonstrating how people are struggling to make ends meet, but also signaling a pending retirement crisis, as people will have less money on which to depend during retirement.
Joe Biden’s inflation is destroying the American dream. At a time when 57% of <a href="https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/many-americans-cant-afford-cover-emergency-expense-with-savings-survey-shows/IFNMZQ5WFNEQTCZIPQVTW7UMWA/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Americans</a> cannot afford an emergency expense of $1,000 or more from their savings, Democrats want to not only increase the debt limit, but also raise taxes so they can spend more money, which will drive more inflation. Americans are hurting, and their pain is not covered in today’s financial headlines.
Jim Nelles is a Navy veteran and supply chain consultant based in Chicago. His articles have appeared in The Washington Examiner, Newsweek, Foxnews.com, and The Daily Wire. He has served as a chief procurement officer, chief supply chain officer, and chief operations officer for multiple companies.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Global financial crisis

The Hidden Costs Of Biden’s Inflation Are Destroying The American Dream

The Hidden Costs Of Biden's Inflation Are Destroying The American Dream

Automobiles

Banking

Federal Reserve

Gas Prices

Inflation

Interest Rates

Real estate

As red states have moved to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/here-are-the-states-with-restrictions-on-medical-child-sex-changes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shield children</a> from life-altering transgender procedures, several leftist legal groups have been working to block new laws protecting gender-confused young people from surgical and hormonal interventions.
Two of the most prominent groups leading the charge against the laws, the ACLU and Lambda Legal have ties to liberal foundations and are backed by powerful corporations, meaning that red state laws are facing the full power of Left-wing legal action.
Together Lambda, the ACLU, or Lambda and an ACLU affiliate, have challenged bans on child sex changes in states including <a href="https://lambdalegal.org/newsroom/walker_al_20220411_families-sue-over-felony-ban-on-gender-affirming-care-for-transgender-adolescents/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alabama</a>, <a href="https://www.aclu.org/cases/brandt-et-al-v-rutledge-et-al" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Arkansas</a>, <a href="https://www.losangelesblade.com/2023/05/02/aclu-lambda-legal-sue-oklahoma-over-trans-healthcare-ban/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oklahoma</a>, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3936335-aclu-sues-indiana-over-law-banning-transgender-care-for-youth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana</a>, and <a href="https://lambdalegal.org/newsroom/tn_20230420_lgbtq-advocates-sue-tennessee-to-block-dangerous-transgender-healthcare-ban/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tennessee</a>. 
Additionally, ACLU affiliates have promised to sue over similar laws in <a href="https://capitol-beat.org/2023/03/fight-over-medical-care-for-transgender-youth-moves-from-gold-dome-to-court/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Georgia</a>, <a href="https://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/law-justice/2023-04-05/aclu-of-idaho-says-it-will-sue-to-halt-transgender-healthcare-ban#:~:text=The%20ACLU%20of%20Idaho%20said,in%20a%20statement%20released%20Wednesday." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Idaho</a>, <a href="https://www.wdrb.com/news/aclu-of-kentucky-plans-lawsuit-over-new-law-banning-gender-transition-for-those-under-18/article_309a6fe0-d313-11ed-a557-4fbb76b4dc71.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kentucky</a>, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/montana-genderaffirming-care-trans-minors-b48aae69e2d46e7d59cab62a3ac72bc6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Montana</a>, <a href="https://www.deseret.com/utah/2023/1/30/23578529/transgender-gender-affirming-care-surgeries-lawsuit-aclu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Utah</a>.
<h2>Lambda Legal</h2>
Lambda Legal, which was founded in 1973, <a href="https://lambdalegal.org/staff-board/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">describes</a> its mission as working “to change laws, policies, and minds so that LGBTQ+ Americans and everyone living with HIV can live with full equality.”
Its current CEO is Kevin Jennings, who worked in the Obama administration as assistant secretary of education, and has been associated with several LGBT groups in the past. 
His leadership of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) brought controversy in 2000 after a Boston chapter of the network <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/mass-ed-dept-criticized-for-taped-session-on-gay-sex/2000/05" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hosted talks</a> like “Ask the Transsexuals” and “What They Didn’t Tell You About Queer Sex and Sexuality in Health Class,” which contained graphic descriptions of sex. 
“This was a politically motivated witch hunt,” Jennings said at the time. “This one workshop is being seen as typical and that is not the case.”
Also on the executive team is Marco Chan, who is the chief of planning and program management. Chan has previously worked as a consultant for the World Bank and worked as a policy adviser for a variety of positions in the Canadian government, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwtchan/details/experience/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to his LinkedIn page. 
Another member of the executive team, Jennifer Pizer, was instrumental in overturning state laws that defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman. She <a href="https://lambdalegal.org/staff-board/jennifer-c-pizer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">also</a> “co-authored a series of friend-of-the-court briefs explaining the threats to LGBT people of the religious challenges by Hobby Lobby.” 
Jim Ferg-Cadima, the <a href="https://www.illinois.gov/news/press-release.20201.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">child</a> of an illegal immigrant and deputy legal director for the group, was also an Obama administration alumni. He <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jferg-cadima2023/details/experience/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">worked</a> as the acting deputy assistant for policy for the Education Department before he became the chair of the Illinois Human Rights Commission by far-Left Governor J.B. Pritzker. 
Other management team members also have ties to Left-wing activism including <a href="https://lambdalegal.org/staff-board/kristine-kippins/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kristine Kippins</a> (tied to the radical pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Rights), <a href="https://lambdalegal.org/staff-board/michael-shutt/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michael Schutt</a> (starting LGBT and other diversity groups at Emory University and the University of Georgia), and <a href="https://lambdalegal.org/staff-board/camilla-taylor/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Camilla B. Taylor</a> (working to strike down state laws defining marriage as between one man and one woman). 
Lambda Legal also receives backing from major <a href="https://lambdalegal.org/sponsors/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">corporate sponsors</a>, including banking giant JPMorgan &amp; Chase, international law firm Kirkland &amp; Ellis, Mastercard, Paycom, The Financial Times, Comcast NBCUniversal, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Ron Klain-linked law firm O’Melveny, Clinton-linked law firm Perkins Coie, alcohol company Southern Glazer, and Toyota.
Though most of its donors are not publicly known, it appears  several Left-leaning organizations, including George Soros’ Open Society Foundation have backed Lambda. 
The Open Society Foundation has consistently given six-figure grants to the group, beginning in 2016, the most <a href="https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/past?filter_keyword=lambda+legal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent</a> being a$125,000 donation in 2021. 
Lambda has also been the beneficiary of large donations from the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, most recently <a href="https://www.haasjr.org/grants/search/all/2018/2023/any/any/Lambda" target="_blank" rel="noopener">receiving</a> $20,000 from the group in 2021 and generous donations from the <a href="https://www.overbrook.org/advancing-reproductive-and-gender-rights-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Overbrook Foundation</a> through its “Advancing Reproductive and Gender Rights” program. 
<h2>ACLU</h2>
Though no surprise, the other legal group leading the charge against bans on transgender procedures is the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and its state level affiliates. Founded in 1920, the ACLU <a href="https://www.aclu.org/about/aclu-history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a> that its purpose is to fight “government abuse and to vigorously defend individual freedoms including speech and religion, a woman’s right to choose, the right to due process, citizens’ rights to privacy.”
Well known cases brought by the ACLU include the 1925 Scopes trial which centered on the teaching of evolution in the classroom, Supreme Court cases in the early 2000s where the ACLU challenged restrictions on pornography, and cases of all sorts challenging religious actions at public schools. 
The organization has a <a href="https://www.aclu.org/report/aclu-2022-annual-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">massive budget</a>, with total net assets reaching well over $600 million in fiscal year 2022. The ACLU and its affiliates have also received the backing of large foundations like the Ford Foundation which gave a <a href="https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/?q=%22American%20Civil%20Liberties%20Union%20Foundation%20(ACLUF)%22&amp;p=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hefty $2,400,000 donation</a> this past April. At the state level, the Tawani Foundation — the foundation for the mega-wealthy Pritzker family — <a href="https://www.tawanifoundation.org/our-grants/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gave</a> the ACLU-TN $164,205 for the purpose of “legal work in TN to advance and defend justice for transgender individuals.”
The arguments from the ACLU generally say that the bans on trans surgeries for kids violate the constitutional rights of the students, arguing they are being denied equal treatment under the law.
“Politicians have no right to put themselves between patients and their doctors, and this law threatens the future of thousands of trans youth across the state,” <a href="https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/montana-health-care-providers-and-families-challenge-law-banning-gender-affirming-care-for-transgender-youth">said</a> ACLU staff attorney Malita Picasso, referencing a recent lawsuit filed in Montana with the assistance of attorney from the ACLU, the ACLU of Montana, Lambda Legal, and Perkins Coie. 
The judicial approach has worked in two states so far, with judges blocking bans on trans procedures for minors in both Alabama and Arkansas.
It remains to be seen how this approach will play out, especially with Biden’s Department of Justice filing suit against Tennessee on similar grounds. But like many issues in the past, from abortion to guns, the final call may go to the Supreme Court.

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