Harrison Ruffin Tyler — the grandson of President John Tyler, who served in the White House from 1841 to 1845 — died earlier this week, his family said on Wednesday. He was 96.
Tyler, born in 1928, was so close in his family tree to President Tyler, who was born in 1790, due to two generations of second marriages to much younger wives, CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/harrison-ruffin-tyler-grandson-president-john-tyler-dies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Tyler&#8217;s father, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, had two sons with his second wife, Sue Ruffin Tyler, when he was in his 70s. Similarly, Lyon Gardiner Tyler&#8217;s father, President John Tyler, had multiple children with his much younger second wife when he was in his 50s and 60s. President Tyler fathered 15 children, with Lyon being the 13th child born to him.
Tyler grew up in poverty during the Great Depression and World War II. His father died when Tyler was just 7 years old, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/05/29/harrison-ruffin-tyler-grandson-president/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Washington Post</a>. Tyler was also related to Pocahontas and President William Henry Harrison, whom his grandfather replaced as president after Harrison died just one month after his inauguration in 1841.
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The last living grandson of President John Tyler has died. 
Harrison Ruffin Tyler was born in 1928 and died in 2025. 
His grandfather, the 10th President of the United States, was born in 1790 and died in 1862. <a href="https://t.co/MIBD1u71EM">pic.twitter.com/MIBD1u71EM</a>
&mdash; Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1927798344664948948?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
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John Tyler faced unprecedented challenges, being the first vice president to succeed a president who died while in office. Near the end of his life, John Tyler, a Virginia Democrat, sided with the Confederacy and served as a member of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States. He died in 1862, shortly after the start of the Civil War.
The grandson of the 10th president became fascinated with history, and to preserve some of his family&#8217;s legacy, he purchased President Tyler&#8217;s Sherwood Forest plantation in 1975 and Fort Pocahontas, a Civil War fortification, in 1996. Both historical sites are in Virginia, where the Tyler family lived for generations. Harrison Tyler and his wife, Frances Payne Bouknight Tyler, spent $250,000 to restore the Sherwood Forest house to its original state and open it to the public. Thanks to Tyler&#8217;s preservation, people can <a href="http://www.sherwoodforest.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tour</a> the plantation home in Charles City, Virginia.
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&#8220;He will be remembered for his considerable charm, generosity and unfailing good humor by all who knew him,&#8221; said Annique Dunning, executive director of Sherwood Forest.
Much of Tyler&#8217;s efforts to preserve history were made possible by his successful and lucrative career. He graduated from the College of William &amp; Mary in 1949 with a degree in chemistry. In 1968, he co-founded ChemTreat, an industrial water treatment company, which was sold to the Danahar Corporation in 2007 for $435 million, according to the Post.
Tyler suffered mini strokes in 2012, which landed him in a nursing home in Virginia, where he lived the final years of his life. His wife died in 2019, and his last remaining sibling, Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr., died in 2020. Tyler and his wife, who married in 1957, had three <a href="https://people.com/grandson-of-10th-united-states-president-john-tyler-dies-at-96-11744091" target="_blank" rel="noopener">children</a> and eight grandchildren.

President John Tyler

Last Living Grandson Of America’s 10th President, John Tyler, Dies At 96

American History

Death

General

U.S.

Virginia

President Donald Trump announced Monday that he was pardoning a Virginia sheriff sentenced to 10 years in prison on bribery charges, saying the Biden administration had politically targeted the former law enforcement officer. 
In a Truth Social post, Trump said he was issuing a full pardon to former Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins, who was convicted in December 2024 on charges that he handed out auxiliary deputy positions for money. Jenkins, who was set to report to prison on Tuesday, disputed the accusation and conviction, saying the prosecution was motivated by his conservative views. 
“Sheriff Scott Jenkins, his wife Patricia, and their family have been dragged through HELL by a Corrupt and Weaponized Biden DOJ. In fact, during his trial, when Sheriff Jenkins tried to offer exculpatory evidence to support himself, the Biden Judge, Robert Ballou, refused to allow it, shut him down, and then went on a tirade,” Trump wrote. “As we have seen, in Federal, City, and State Courts, Radical Left or Liberal Judges allow into evidence what they feel like, not what is mandated under the Constitution and Rules of Evidence.” 
“This Sheriff is a victim of an overzealous Biden Department of Justice, and doesn’t deserve to spend a single day in jail. He is a wonderful person, who was persecuted by the Radical Left ‘monsters,’ and ‘left for dead.’ This is why I, as President of the United States, see fit to end his unfair sentence, and grant Sheriff Jenkins a FULL and Unconditional Pardon. He will NOT be going to jail tomorrow, but instead will have a wonderful and productive life,” Trump added. 
Jenkins first made national headlines back in 2019 when he promised to deputize thousands of Culpeper residents if the Democrat-controlled Virginia legislature moved forward with strict gun control measures. 
“Every Sheriff and Commonwealth Attorney in Virginia will see the consequences if our General Assembly passes further unnecessary gun restrictions,” Jenkins <a href="https://wset.com/news/local/culpeper-sheriff-says-hell-deputize-residents-if-gun-laws-pass-in-virginia?utm_source=chatgpt.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> on Facebook at the time. “I plan to properly screen and deputize thousands of our law-abiding citizens to protect their constitutional right to own firearms.”
He also later <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/04/17/law-enforcement-rallies-around-virginia-sheriff-caught-sting-operation-defying-democrats/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">participated</a> in a phone call with other sheriffs discussing potential charges against Hunter Biden based on revelations from the laptop showing his drug use and questionable business dealings. 
After that call, Jenkins was wrapped up in a sting operation where federal prosecutors <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdva/pr/former-culpeper-sheriff-sentenced-10-years-federal-bribery-charges" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that he accepted cash bribes in the form of campaign contributions, including from two undercover FBI agents, in exchange for becoming auxiliary deputy sheriffs. 
In December 2024, Jenkins was convicted by a jury that found he took $75,000 in campaign donations in exchange for handing out auxiliary deputy badges. According to the Justice Department, those who bribed Jenkins were not trained or vetted and did not do legitimate law enforcement work. He was sentenced in March to 10 years in prison. 
“Scott Jenkins violated his oath of office and the faith the citizens of Culpeper County placed in him when he engaged in a cash-for-badges scheme,” Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia Zachary Lee said at the time. “We hold our elected law enforcement officials to a higher standard of conduct and this case proves that when those officials use their authority for unjust personal enrichment, the Department of Justice will hold them accountable.”
After the trial, Jenkins maintained his innocence and said that he wasn’t given the opportunity to give his side of the story. 
&#8220;I truly believe if I could get an hour of time with someone in the administration and lay out some facts with my attorney and I really believe if they could hear the other side which I couldn&#8217;t get in front of the jury – I believe whole heartedly in the president,&#8221; he said during a video call. &#8220;I believe if he heard the information, I know he would help if he knew my story.&#8221;

Gun Rights Advocates From Across U.S. Rally In Virginia’s Capital Against Gun Control Legislation

Here’s Why Trump Says He’s Pardoning A Virginia Sheriff Convicted Of Bribery

Biden Administration

Bribery

Crime

Donald Trump

Executive

Pardon

Politics

Police in Fairfax County, Virginia, released body-cam footage on Friday of a police-involved shooting in April that resulted in the death of a 36-year-old man.
The Fairfax County Police Department <a href="https://fcpdnews.wordpress.com/2025/05/23/chief-kevin-davis-releases-body-camera-footage-from-attempted-murder-of-officers-in-fair-oaks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> the shooting an “attempted murder.” Footage showed a traffic stop in Fair Oaks from April 23 that quickly deteriorated into a firefight that involved Virginia resident Jamal Wali and three police officers.
The encounter began when a police officer pulled Wali over for speeding and having an expired inspection sticker. After the officer signaled for Wali to pull over, Wali slammed on the brakes. The officer, who was close behind, exclaimed “Jesus Christ!” as he braked to avoid hitting Wali’s car.
Wali noted he had a gun before asking why he was pulled over. From there, the situation became chaotic quickly as Wali, who said he worked as an interpreter for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, began to argue over how he has been treated since coming to the United States. Wali refused to give his name and said he had no driver’s licence or vehicle registration.
“You f***ing people brought me to this goddamn country, and I’m dying every f***ing single day,” Wali told the officer. At one point, he said he “should have served with f***ing Taliban” while the officer attempted to deescalate the situation.
The officer called for backup, noting that Wali was argumentative and appeared to reach for a weapon at several points. Two more officers arrived on the scene within minutes. After the third officer walked up, Wali grabbed his gun and fired at two police officers on the driver’s side of his vehicle, hitting both. A third officer who was on the passenger’s side of Wali’s car fired back at Wali.
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Additional emergency personnel arrived at the scene. Wali was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead. Two officers were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Police in Fairfax, Va. have released the footage showing an armed Afghan migrant trying to kill police on April 23.
Jamal Wali, who was given refuge in the U.S. and has four children, made racist anti-white statements against the police, showed his firearm, and said he wished he… <a href="https://t.co/bWU35FBP7L">pic.twitter.com/bWU35FBP7L</a>
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) <a href="https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1926119231449387500?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
Fairfax County police chief Kevin Davis in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsAMhiTG6xA&amp;rco=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press conference</a> on Friday confirmed that Wali, as he repeatedly said throughout the traffic stop, was married and had four children.
“The impact on those children is unimaginable, and they’ll carry that with them the rest of their lives,” Davis said.
“We are very fortunate that we didn’t have two police funerals,” Davis said, adding that “it was thanks to some strategic thinking, actions by our police officer who you see on the passenger side of the car, his actions his deployment of that deadly force saved the lives of the two officers on the driver’s side of the car. There’s no doubt about that.”

Traffic stop of Jamal Wali

Police Body-Cam Footage Shows Chaotic Traffic Stop Become Deadly Shooting: ‘F***ing Taliban’

Law Enforcement

Police

Security Guards at the CIA&#8217;s headquarters in McLean, Virginia, shot and wounded a woman on Thursday morning after she failed to stop at the gate, CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/woman-shot-cia-headquarters-gate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
The woman was transported to the hospital with what law enforcement officials described as a non-fatal gunshot wound to her upper body. The woman who crashed into the gate was identified as 27-year-old Monia Spadaro, according to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/security-incident-cia-headquarters-virginia-rcna208468" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBC News</a>. In 2021, Spadaro was found guilty of driving under the influence.
“There was a security incident that law enforcement responded to outside CIA Headquarters,” a CIA spokesperson told NBC News. “The main gate is currently closed, employees should seek alternative routes. Additional details will be made available as appropriate.”
The shooting came just hours after two Israeli Embassy staffers were <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/israeli-embassy-staff-murdered-by-unidentified-shooter-outside-capitol-jewish-museum?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Kassy+Akiva&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Two+Israeli+Embassy+Staffers+Murdered+By+Keffiyeh-Wearing+Man+Shouting+%E2%80%98Free+Palestine%E2%80%99+In+DC" target="_blank" rel="noopener">murdered</a> by a man shouting &#8220;Free Palestine&#8221; outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night. The CIA headquarters in McLean is just over 12 miles northeast of the Capital Jewish Museum, but there is currently no evidence that the two shootings are related. According to police, the shooting at the CIA headquarters was &#8220;non-fatal,&#8221; NBC 4 Washington <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/northern-virginia/person-shot-and-wounded-on-cia-property/3919563/?_osource=SocialFlowTwt_DCBrand" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
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Fairfax County Police responded to help the CIA with traffic control at around 4:00 a.m. ET following the shooting.
In March, a man was <a href="https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/crime/man-arrested-cia-headquarters-shot-at-building-court-documents-affidavit/65-4182cc05-07cc-4c5b-8195-2f846207665d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arrested</a> following an hours-long standoff at the CIA headquarters. According to court documents, Robert Scofield, 28, fired several shots at a CIA building and then pointed the gun at himself. Scofield, a convicted felon, eventually surrendered after police negotiators arrived on the scene.
This is a developing story; refresh the page for updates.

Woman Shot By Security Guards After Failing To Stop At Gate At CIA Headquarters

Shooting

Washington D.C.

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), 75, who staved off a challenge from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to lead Democrats on House Oversight Committee, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/21/gerry-connolly-dies-cancer.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">died</a> on Wednesday from esophageal cancer.
Connolly had served as the representative for Virginia’s 11th congressional district —which contains nearly all of Fairfax County — since 2009. The home of federal workers, the 11th district was the wealthiest congressional district in the nation from 2003 to 2013. Prior to that he had served as Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors since 2003. According to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210423141050/https:/projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-congress-votes/house/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fivethirtyeight</a>, he voted 100% of the time with former President Joe Biden. He won decisively in every congressional election except in 2010, when he narrowly defeated his GOP opponent.
“It is with immense sadness that we share that our devoted and loving father, husband, brother, friend, and public servant, Congressman Gerald E. Connolly, passed away peacefully at his home this morning surrounded by family,” read a statement from Connolly&#8217;s family.
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<a href="https://t.co/jpWKyDUzEN">pic.twitter.com/jpWKyDUzEN</a>
&mdash; Rep. Gerry Connolly (@GerryConnolly) <a href="https://twitter.com/GerryConnolly/status/1925166359983358136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Connolly, as a top Democrat on the Oversight committee, became well-known for his outspoken opposition to President Donald Trump.
In April 2019, Connelly <a href="https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/sitroom/date/2019-04-25/segment/02" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spoke</a> on CNN’s “The Situation Room” with host Wolf Blitzer. He called President Trump “the soulless occupant of the Oval Office,” then referred to the “amoral narcissistic kind of tendencies coming out of that office.” Meanwhile, he said of Joe Biden, “You can give him a complex subject and he get to the heart of it faster than anybody I know. The idea that he is not an intelligent man is simply false. And Mr. Trump is going to learn that the hard way.”
In December 2019, Connolly voted to impeach President Trump, <a href="https://connolly.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=3724" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying:</a>
<blockquote>To extort a foreign country to investigate your political opponent is an unconstitutional abuse of power. To solicit foreign interference in an American election is an unconstitutional abuse of power. &#8230; The delicate balance of power that underpins our democracy is threatened when a President disregards the Constitution by obstructing Congress to cover up illegal behavior. In doing that, President Trump violated his oath.</blockquote>
In April 2024, when some Republicans considered the idea of renaming Dulles Airport in Washington D.C. after Trump, Connolly reacted, “Donald Trump is facing 91 felony charges. If Republicans want to name something after him, I&#8217;d suggest they find a federal prison.”
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Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Democrat who reps part of Dulles, weighs in on GOP bill to rename the airport after Trump.
&quot;Donald Trump is facing 91 felony charges. If Republicans want to name something after him, I&#39;d suggest they find a federal prison.&quot;<a href="https://twitter.com/axios?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Axios</a> <a href="https://t.co/GGYFT8qJnv">https://t.co/GGYFT8qJnv</a>
&mdash; Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) <a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1775170142474735718?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2024</a></blockquote>
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His family says that his contributions to his community, including his fight for the extension of DC&#8217;s train system to the airport, will be his legacy.
“As a county supervisor, Mr. Connolly was one of the earliest proponents of extending Metrorail’s Silver Line from the inner suburbs to Washington Dulles International Airport. Elected to Congress in 2008, he helped secure additional funding for 23.2 miles of Silver Line expansion,” the Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/05/21/gerry-connolly-virginia-congressman-dead-obituary/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a>.

SPAIN-NATO-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY-SUMMIT

Longtime Virginia Congressman Who Derided Trump As ‘Soulless’ Dead At 75

Democrat

U.S. House of Representatives

A Virginia school district official conspired to “skirt” restrictions on transgender ideology in schools, prompting a Title IX &#8220;expert&#8221; to praise her &#8220;clever&#8221; workaround, emails shared with The Daily Wire reveal.
On January 22, 2025, Leah Bressler, Montgomery County Public Schools&#8217; Title IX compliance officer, corresponded with the Association of Title IX Administrators about ways to respond to Trump&#8217;s expected executive actions on transgender ideology. In the email exchange, obtained by Speech First and shared with The Daily Wire, Bressler proposed altering the district&#8217;s code of conduct in a way to keep its current “gender identity protections” in place. 
In response, Brett Sokolow, the chair of the advisory board for the Association of Title IX Administrators, said that he didn’t know if Bressler’s proposal would successfully “skirt” executive action, but that it may be worth it to “go down fighting.” 
The exchange, with the subject line “Implications of EO,” occurred two days after Trump’s inauguration. 
“This is just a brainstorm&#8230;.What if the system just moved to a code of conduct that provided the Title IX framework to any allegation for any reason that violated the Davis standard?&#8221; Bressler wrote. &#8220;With support services, monitoring, documentation as required in Title IX — but open the gate to entire conduct policy? Our jurisdiction has protections in our policy manual for gender identity &#8211; if the policies applied to everything equally across the board- couldn&#8217;t the system maintain the protections?”
The Davis Standard refers to federal guidelines that stipulate schools can only be held liable for sexual harassment and violations of Title IX if they have knowledge of, and are indifferent to, sexual harassment.
In response, Sokolow said that Bressler may have come up with a “clever” way to get past Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s (R) Department of Education, which holds that Title IX allows schools to restrict bathroom use by sex. 
“This is too state-specific for me to really be able to opine on, Leah. It&#8217;s clever, but I have no idea if it would work to skirt the limitations that VA is enacting. My suspicion is that state legislatures will punish cleverness, in the long run (see Texas). Meaning, that if school officials like you find legit ways to work around the state limitations, the state will learn from this and respond by tightening its limitations,” Sokolow replied. 
“This might be a viable strategy for you, or at least a good delaying tactic, but I don&#8217;t think it has legs in the long term. I think if it walks like a Title IX duck, it&#8217;s not going to matter what container we place it in. But, fight the good fight. I&#8217;m just giving you thoughts on whether your idea is a winner&#8230;but it might be good to go down fighting,” he added. 
That email came two days after Trump signed an executive order on “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism,” which rescinded the Biden administration&#8217;s application of Title IX to gender identity. He later signed an executive order that directed federal funding away from schools that push gender ideology on students. 
Current Montgomery County Public Schools <a href="https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/mcps/Board.nsf/goto?open&amp;id=BX9PB26040F9#" target="_blank" rel="noopener">policies</a> stipulate that students are allowed to use the bathroom or locker room of their choice based on their gender identity, meaning that males are allowed into female restrooms and changing areas.
When asked by The Daily Wire if it consults on bypassing federal regulations, the Association of Title IX Administrators said that it does “not provide legal advice.” 
“ATIXA often discusses with members the challenges of competing and unclear federal, state, and court standards, and we encourage our members to explore the contours of these challenges fully to best assess how their schools, districts, and institutions should respond to a dynamic legal environment related to sex discrimination,” the organization said. 
A similar dynamic has played out across the country as liberal school officials have resisted Trump’s efforts to purge leftist ideology from federally funded schools and empower parents concerned about political indoctrination.  
Speech First Acting Executive Director Nicole Neily called for Congress to step into the fight over Title IX.
&#8220;It&#8217;s appalling — albeit unsurprising — that Title IX administrators seem to be determined to circumvent the very laws they&#8217;re supposed to be enforcing,” Neily said. “America&#8217;s girls are little more than collateral damage in these activists&#8217; larger political war, which is why it&#8217;s imperative that Congress steps in to provide certainty and clarity and end these games.&#8221;

President-Elect Trump Meets With Republican Governors At Mar-A-Lago

‘Go Down Fighting’: Emails Reveal School Official Plotting To ‘Skirt’ Trump Trans Guidance

Education

Glenn Youngkin

Title IX

Transgender

Mexico rejects President Donald Trump’s offer to fight drug cartels with the U.S. military, Trump wants to bring movie production back to Hollywood, and Virginia Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin signs a law limiting social media use for children.
It’s Tuesday, May 6, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
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<h2>Mexico Rejects Offer For U.S. Troops To Fight Cartels</h2>
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Topline: Mexico refuses President Trump’s offer to “send in the troops” to battle drug cartels.
Trump confirmed to journalists this week that he asked Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, if the United States military could be sent across the southern border to fight the cartels during a phone call with her on April 16th. Trump added that the cartels “are horrible people who’ve been killing people left and right” and addressed their role in both the fentanyl crisis and illegal immigration into the United States.
Sheinbaum rejected that offer, stating that the two countries can collaborate, but “with you in your territory and us in ours.”
This all comes as Mexico has struggled with ongoing turf wars between the cartels. One <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mexico-shootout-gunmen-killed-guanajuato-state-cartels/">gunfight</a> between cartel members earlier this year resulted in three police officers being injured and the death of ten cartel gunmen.
There have been reports that the administration was considering military action for months now. In the first few weeks of his presidency, Trump’s State Department designated eight different cartels and gangs, including the Sinaloa and New Generation cartels, as foreign terror organizations. NBC <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-administration-weighs-drone-strikes-mexican-cartels-rcna198930">reported</a> last month that administration officials were exploring the possibility of using drone strikes against the cartels to take out their leadership or knock out their logistics sites. That report said the administration had not ruled out taking unilateral action against the cartels without the support of the Mexican government.
The Trump administration has already begun flying <a href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-us-trump-drones-cia-13af9277fbbbf6ff4dfd470efc9cb647">surveillance drones</a> over Mexico, at the request of Sheinbaum. The New York Times reported that the CIA was conducting the surveillance flights with the intention of locating fentanyl labs.
<h2>Trump Floats Tariffs To Protect Tinsel Town</h2>
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Topline: Can Trump &#8216;Make Hollywood Work Again?&#8217; Or will his plan to “revive” the film industry end up on the cutting room floor?
President Trump made waves in Hollywood on Monday after announcing plans to impose a 100% tariff on all foreign-made films. The president says this move will revive a “dying” American movie industry.
Trump argued that countries like Australia, the U.K., and Canada are luring American productions away with generous tax incentives. He also said that these foreign films often contain propaganda, which he described as a “national security threat.”
Essentially, Trump said that foreign interests have destroyed Hollywood, and imposing tariffs would encourage domestic production. However, the details of how this would be implemented are murky at this point.
Context: 40% fewer films and TV shows are now shot in the U.S. compared to before the actors’ and writers’ strikes of 2023. Last year, Los Angeles saw its worst on-location filming rate in history, with the exception of 2020, when productions were shut down because of the COVID pandemic. Of all the TV shows and feature films that Americans watch, only 20% are now made in California.
The Motion Picture Association, which represents major studios, has declined to comment. But industry scuttlebutt is that studios don’t like the proposed tariff because it would make filming more expensive, while workers in crew positions and technical roles generally back the idea. There’s also concern about retaliation—China has already reduced U.S. film quotas in its market, and Europe, where U.S. films dominate, could impose tit-for-tat tariffs, crippling Hollywood’s $15.3 billion trade surplus.
<h2>Virginia Restricts Social Media Access For Kids</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-916271" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/3-2.jpeg" alt="" width="640" height="360" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/3-2.jpeg 640w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/3-2-300x169.jpeg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></div>
Topline: Virginia severely cuts social media use for kids, restricting children to one hour of social media per day.
Virginia passed a first-of-its-kind bill to limit social media time for minors. Under the “Consumer Data Protection Act,” Virginia residents under the age of 16 will have a one-hour default time limit on their social media scrolling. However, if a parent wants to override that default setting, they’ll be able to do so.
Virginia Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin signed the bill into law on Friday. The bill garnered broad support from Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the state. Youngkin wanted the bill to go further: he pushed for it to extend to residents under 18 years old, and also wanted the legislation to limit addictive features like autoplay on videos and infinite scrolling.
“Our children are losing the chance to cultivate essential social skills,” Youngkin <a href="https://x.com/TeamYoungkin/status/1735411843789910372">said</a>. “They are encountering cyberbullying and they’re isolated. There’s substantial distractions in schools, escalating depression, and sleep disorders. Tech companies promised to give people the power to build communities and bring the world closer together, but children are more lonely than ever.”
Other states have enacted similar legislation:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">In California, Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed a bill in 2024 that prohibits platforms from providing &#8220;addictive” social media feeds to minors without parental consent. It also restricts companies from sending notifications to minors during certain hours, like late-night hours on a school night.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed a bill requiring social media companies to verify the age of users, and terminate accounts of kids under the age of 14. Fourteen and 15-year-olds can have accounts on social media if they have parental consent. If a company is found violating that law, it could face fines of up to $50,000 per violation.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Utah enforces a &#8220;social media curfew.” Minors there can’t access social media between 10:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m., unless a parent overrides that default setting.</li>
</ul>

050625 MorningWire Thumbnail V2

Morning Brief: Mexico Shields Cartels And Trump Tariffs Hollywood

Drug Cartels

Hollywood

Media

Mexico

Morning Wire

Social Media

Tariffs

Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a bill into law on Friday to limit the social media use of minors under the age of 16 to one hour per day.
The Consumer Data Protection Act, supported by both Republican and Democrat state lawmakers, will require social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, to limit minors&#8217; time on such platforms.
Platforms will use &#8220;neutral age screen mechanisms&#8221; to determine the age of users and then limit their screen-time accordingly, Wavy.com <a href="https://www.wavy.com/news/politics/virginia-politics/is-time-up-for-youth-on-tiktok-gov-youngkin-seems-to-think-so/?utm_source=chatgpt.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Parents, per the law, will be required to give &#8220;verifiable&#8221; consent if they want their child&#8217;s time on such apps increased or decreased.
The Consumer Data Protection Act will take effect next year, on January 1, 2026.
Youngkin has long voiced his concerns about children&#8217;s exposure to social media. In November, for example, the governor <a href="https://www.governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/news-releases/2024/november/name-1036768-en.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed</a> an executive order addressing the &#8220;youth mental health crisis driven by the effects of unrestricted cell phone use and addictive social media platforms.&#8221;
“While social media and the internet have brought many positives to our society, there is a growing consensus that social media is having severe — severe and persistent — negative impacts on our kids,” the governor <a href="https://www.wavy.com/news/politics/virginia-politics/is-time-up-for-youth-on-tiktok-gov-youngkin-seems-to-think-so/?utm_source=chatgpt.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> back in 2023.
“Children spend on average nearly five hours daily on social media; recent studies have suggested that children who spend more than a few hours per day on social media have double the risk of poor mental health,” Youngkin&#8217;s website said at the time. “Through budget proposals, legislation and executive action the youth mental health strategy will address critical components and harmful aspects of social media on our youth.”
Notably, Youngkin actually wanted the Consumer Data Protection Act to go further, restricting social media use daily to one hour for all those under 18 years old. The bill, though, landed at age 16.
The issues with social media have also been recognized by the federal government. In 2023, Biden-era U.S. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/surgeon-general" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Surgeon General</a> Vivek Murthy issued an <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/health" target="_blank" rel="noopener">advisory</a> warning that <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/social-media" target="_blank" rel="noopener">social media</a> use among minors can severely damage <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mental-health" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mental health</a>.
“The most common question parents ask me is, ‘is social media safe for my kids.’ The answer is that we don’t have enough evidence to say it’s safe, and in fact, there is growing evidence that social media use is associated with harm to young people’s mental health,” Murthy said.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-surgeon-general-issues-advisory-about-kids-use-of-social-media" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. Surgeon General Issues Advisory About Kids’ Use Of Social Media</a>

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin

GOP Gov Signs Law That Would Set Daily Time Limit For Kids On Social Media

Big Tech

Mental Health

Editor’s note: This is the third installment of a six-part series by pollster Brent Buchanan on the politics of the American South. Last week, Buchanan explored the shifting priorities of minority voters in the South — and why Democrats shouldn’t take those voters for granted. This week, he breaks down the unique features, and critical importance, of the Southern suburbs.
We hope you enjoy.
—
Few things embody American culture and consumerism better than the suburbs.
Both a subject of generational aspiration and comedic ridicule, America’s suburbs remain a bridge to a nostalgic past and the ideal archetype of the “American Dream,” where home ownership, good schools, and safe neighborhoods still represent the opportunity of upward mobility and a prosperous future.
It&#8217;s fitting, then, with backyard barbecue season approaching, that, in part three of this series, we examine why the suburbs in America’s South have been politically stagnant.
While many of the country’s suburbs are rapidly shifting, voting behavior and partisanship in Southern suburbs are remarkably stable. This “stuck in neutral” dynamic is shaping the political battlegrounds of tomorrow — and it’s not necessarily a disadvantage for Republicans. If Democrats keep choosing the 20 percent side of 80/20 issues — like men in women’s sports, deporting illegals, or prioritizing the rights of nefarious illegal immigrants over crime victims — they’ll lose votes to Republicans or drive their own voters to stay home in the 2026 midterm elections.
That would be good news for Republicans. But our analysis of the South suggests its suburbs are much more hardened than its northern or western counterparts. Too often, mostly on Election Night, pundits and analysts rush to describe the country’s suburbs as hotly contested areas with high concentrations of swing voters.
While this is true for suburban pockets elsewhere in America, it is not the case in the South.
“As we mentioned in part one of this series, when we described the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-rise-of-the-south-is-not-what-you-think-why-it-holds-the-keys-to-political-control" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sweet Tea Suburbs</a>, their inelasticity reflects a unique dynamic that poses a significant challenge for Republicans,” says Nicholas Valdiviez, Cygnal’s Sampling Lead for this exclusive Daily Wire project. “The GOP could seek to strengthen its performance in other areas to offset suburban stagnation, or they could try to crack through some of these areas, though the payoff would be incremental and likely extend beyond 2026.”
<h3>The Faux South: A Case Study in Suburban Inelasticity</h3>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-911457" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/DW-The-Faux-South-1.png" alt="" width="690" height="535" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/DW-The-Faux-South-1.png 690w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/DW-The-Faux-South-1-300x233.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 690px) 100vw, 690px" /></div>
The word faux is not used as a negative slight toward any of the great people or communities of this region, nor to detract from their “southernness.” In fact, as an important descriptor for this far-reaching analysis of America’s South, the term illustrates the region’s distinct and historically vital role as a sprawling gateway to the southern heartlands shaped more by commerce and trade routes than agriculture, combined with its geographical position along the borderlands of our nation’s capital.
Voters here, especially in Virginia, will tell you they are absolutely Southern — with the exception of those hard-left-leaning folks living in the DC-Maryland-Virginia (DMV) nexus along the Potomac River. Surrounding the ineffectual machinations of DC, the Faux South covers all of Maryland, most of West Virginia through the Alleghany Mountains, throughout middle and southeastern Virginia, extending down to coastal and near-inland North Carolina.
From 2016 to 2020, the Faux South saw the largest surge in Democratic turnout in the Southern United States — a 48% increase — but Republican turnout also jumped by 27%, marking the biggest regional year-over-year turnout shift in the last 16 years. At face value, that would signal some tailwinds for Republicans as the Faux South mixes most frequently with the Trumpian Highlands, another southern transitionary region. But it is the presence of the Sweet Tea Suburbs that serves as a sort of counteractive ingredient to such tailwinds.
Examining Virginia and North Carolina as the dominant states of the Faux South, we measured a strong voter disenfranchisement for elected officials at all levels, more than any other region in the South. Even our latest National Voter Trends (NVT) <a href="https://www.cygn.al/poll-democrats-continue-to-struggle-as-trump-maintains-strong-approval-even-in-light-of-tariffs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">poll</a> bears this out: voters in this region had high mistrust of their elected officials from local positions like mayor and city council up to their Member of Congress. The Faux South’s approval of their congressional representatives falls nearly four standard deviations below the average (18-point approval vs. the average of 29%, or the high of 36%). Even approval of their state legislators is 10 points below the average, and five points below the average of mayors and/or village presidents.
While the numbers are net positive in our latest NVT and across all regions in the South, they&#8217;re markedly lower here than in the other regions. And despite surges in turnout, this sentiment influences how voters in the Faux South differ from the other regions’ more rightward leanings, making them more likely to disengage altogether or maintain the status quo.
Yet, as entrenched as this region can be, there are some silver linings for Republicans. Since Virginia governors are limited to two nonconsecutive terms, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears shows the most <a href="https://www.cygn.al/virginia-governor-race-poll-sears-positioned-for-strong-showing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">promising </a>signs to galvanize a broad base of support and carry on the progress of widely popular outgoing Governor Glenn Youngkin. How the battles for Republican control of state legislative seats, particularly in suburban districts, with Sears atop the ticket, will indicate how well Republicans have begun to crack the Faux South.
North Carolina is a tougher story for Republicans. Though the state saw a shift rightward from 2020 to 2024, the tension lies in this portion of the Faux South’s proximity to the Sweet Tea Suburbs. The &#8220;Research Triangle,&#8221; the area between Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, is central to scattered pockets of Sweet Tea Suburbs, which we described earlier as nearly immovable (split in 2020 and only R+3 in 2024), upper middle-class neighborhoods with high economic mobility. The confluence of these regions, combined with large areas of Trumpian Highlands in the western parts of the state, makes North Carolina more resistant to significant Republican gains.
<h3>Influence of Cities</h3>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-911459" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/DW-part-III-four-cities-652x576.png" alt="" width="652" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/DW-part-III-four-cities-652x576.png 652w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/DW-part-III-four-cities-300x265.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/DW-part-III-four-cities-768x678.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/DW-part-III-four-cities.png 798w" sizes="(max-width: 652px) 100vw, 652px" /></div>
The overall trend remains one of inelasticity, with only a modest Republican recovery and little evidence of the dramatic swings seen elsewhere. But the hardening of the South&#8217;s suburbs is also heavily influenced by the region&#8217;s cities. Some are burgeoning hubs of economic revitalization, while others are still stuck in neutral themselves and struggle to keep pace with the South’s rising political prominence.
The most salient point to describe the odd relationship between Southern cities and suburbs is that voters in the ‘burbs tend to be more woke and believe in Leftist virtue signaling as a way to prove their solidarity with the more economically-stratified and depressed conditions of largely-minority city dwellers. &#8220;Normies,&#8221; as Ben Shapiro might call them, chalk this up to the same old political pandering we’ve seen from highly educated suburbanite Democrats. But the political symbiosis of Southern cities and many of their surrounding suburbs has created a concrete structure for social and political acceptance of the status quo.
Compounding this disjointed interdependency is the high rate of disenfranchisement among city dwellers, especially among minority voters, who tend to view these strongholds of Democratic leadership as a matter of course — years of broken and empty promises have led less to an embrace of Republicans and more to full-on disengagement. Contrast this with cities like Chicago, where more minority communities are starting to push back against entrenched and corrupt Democratic leadership.
What makes so many of the South’s suburbs hardened to political swings, especially in Republicans’ favor, is this symbiotic relationship with many of its cities.
In recent elections, we saw the opposite happen in northern states like Ohio, where suburbs like those outside Columbus and Cleveland helped turn that state from a closely-watched swing state in presidential election years to a reliably red state. Southern cities like Memphis, meanwhile, mix heavily with the Big Sky South and Soulful South, keeping it politically stagnant and resistant to major partisan shifts.
We see something similar in Huntsville, where explosive population and economic growth have made the area more influential within Alabama. With a heavy dose of Trumpian Highlands to mix with, the surrounding suburbs continue to reflect consistent voting patterns year after year.
Similarly, Birmingham and Charleston’s suburbs have not experienced significant partisan shifts. Even as their urban cores evolve, their suburbs have not experienced significant political swings, despite some of the prevailing Soulful South trends we noted in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-end-of-democratic-assumptions-how-minority-voters-are-reshaping-southern-politics?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Brent+Buchanan&amp;category=News+and+Analysis&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=The+End+of+Democratic+Assumptions%3A+How+Minority+Voters+Are+Reshaping+Southern+Politics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">part two</a> of this series.
This persistent inelasticity underscores how deeply-rooted disenfranchisement and longstanding racial and cultural undercurrents keep these Southern cities and their surrounding suburbs in a perpetual state of tension, making them the most resistant to the nationwide political and generational realignment that has accelerated in the Trump era.
For Republicans, the challenge is to find incremental gains in both the suburbs and cities or look beyond these gridlocked areas for more growth in regions like the Big Hat Bloc or among the Republican Resettlers. In those two regions, <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2023/12/07/hispanics-in-the-rio-grande-valley-are-now-swing-voters/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hispanic populations</a> in particular are ripe for additional Republican gains.
For Democrats, the risk of alienating moderate voters or encouraging disengagement is more real than ever. If they continue to champion positions out of step with the suburban mainstream, Republicans can capitalize. This gives credence to the strategy of letting your opponents make unforced errors.
As the South continues to grow in population and political influence, the lesson is clear: state lines and national narratives rarely capture the true dynamics at play. The inelasticity of Southern suburbs is less a sign of stagnation than a testament to the encroaching fallout from the national political realignment.
COMING UP NEXT: All eyes are on Georgia and North Carolina ahead of the 2026 midterms. As two of the most prominent Democratic holdouts in the South, parts four and five of this series will delve into the extent of their influence and whether they’ll remain regional hegemons or embrace the coming red wave of longstanding conservative control.

Neat line of suburban houses in Fairfax, Virginia

Beyond The Swing: Why Southern Suburbs Refuse To Budge 

2026 Midterms

Suburbs

Voting

If you talk to any experienced and honest teacher these days, from elementary school on up, one of the first things they will tell you is how quickly gender ideology has taken hold. Virtually overnight, students began adopting fake pronouns and made-up genders.
To call this phenomenon &#8220;unnatural&#8221; would be a vast understatement. It&#8217;s obviously engineered. Teachers and school boards are pushing this nonsense on children who are far too young to know any better. The public school system has committed itself to indoctrinating children, in many cases without their parents&#8217; knowledge or consent. But after what happened yesterday at the Supreme Court, it&#8217;s very clear that accountability is finally coming for these ghouls.
After many years of spewing LGBT propaganda with total impunity, school districts will soon face major new restrictions on their ability to pollute the minds of elementary-school-age children. Based on how the justices acted during oral arguments yesterday, “Mahmoud v. Taylor” could easily turn out to be one of the most significant Supreme Court rulings of this generation.
Before we review the oral arguments, here is some background. The case began after Montgomery County Public Schools, the largest school district in Maryland — introduced a new &#8220;gender and sexuality curriculum.&#8221; Initially, students (or their parents) could opt out of this curriculum for any reason. But after a short period of time, the school district claimed that it wasn&#8217;t feasible to continue allowing opt outs. So it&#8217;s mandatory now. To give you an idea of what exactly this curriculum entails, here&#8217;s an image from one book that children are introduced to.
<div id="attachment_911559" style="width: 690px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-911559" class="wp-image-911559 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GpJWV7kX0AE7j3U.jpeg" alt="Screenshot: What Are Your Words?" width="680" height="446" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GpJWV7kX0AE7j3U.jpeg 680w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GpJWV7kX0AE7j3U-300x197.jpeg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" />Screenshot: What Are Your Words?</div>
This is what&#8217;s apparently known as an &#8220;LGBT storybook.&#8221; This one&#8217;s called, “What Are Your Words?” As you can see, one line of dialogue reads, “My pronouns are like the weather. They change depending on how I feel.”
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is a nonprofit, reported on some other books that were included in this <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/will-scotus-back-parents-when-it-comes-to-lgbtq-storybooks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new curriculum</a>:
<blockquote>[O]ne book tasks three and four-year-olds to search for images from a word list that includes &#8216;intersex flag,&#8217; &#8216;drag queen,&#8217; &#8216;underwear,&#8217; &#8216;leather,&#8217; and the name of a celebrated LGBTQ activist and sex worker. Another book advocates a child-knows-best approach to gender transitioning, telling students that a decision to transition doesn’t have to &#8216;make sense.&#8217; Teachers are instructed to say doctors only &#8216;guess&#8217; when identifying a newborn’s sex anyway.</blockquote>
When parents of varying religious faiths — including Muslims and Christians — objected to the idea that their 5-year-olds needed to be taught about &#8220;sex work&#8221; and &#8220;gender transitioning&#8221; by Left-wing activists posing as teachers, the school district told them they had no recourse. In fact, the district slandered the parents as bigots. All these parents were seeking was the ability to opt out of this indoctrination. They didn&#8217;t even demand that the classes be removed from the curriculum. But the school district denied their request. So the parents sued.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mws-ep-1581-member-exclusive?elementPosition=3&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
Which brings us to yesterday&#8217;s oral arguments. I want to begin with this question from Justice Alito, because it gets to the core of the issue. Alito wants to know why the school district is so hell-bent on forcing children to read books about homosexuality, transgenderism and so on. (To be clear, that&#8217;s what the school district is doing. They&#8217;re not merely providing these books in the school library. Teachers are actively telling students to read the books as part of class.) The truthful answer to Justice Alito&#8217;s question is simple: The Left understands that, if the LGBT movement is going to survive, it needs to indoctrinate new members at a very young age.
But the school district can&#8217;t say that out loud, of course. So instead, the lawyer representing the Montgomery school district&#8217;s superintendent, a man named Alan Schoenfeld, starts talking in circles about how impossible it would be, at a practical level, for the school district to allow students to opt out of this curriculum. But nothing he says actually makes sense. It gets so bad that, at the end of his rambling non-answer, Justice Kavanaugh chimes in to confirm that indeed, no one has any idea what the hell this guy is talking about. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="005 alito, whats the big deal" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q118nmS1g2s?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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As best I can tell, the lawyer for the school district is claiming that, because students might talk among themselves about certain LGBT books that are discussed in this curriculum, it&#8217;s therefore impossible to allow students to opt out of this kind of curriculum. In other words, whether or not students opt out, there&#8217;s a chance that they&#8217;ll hear about the materials that are discussed in these gay adventure books.
But this ignores a couple of obvious points.The big one is that, when a teacher is communicating a lesson to a class, it has a very different effect, as compared to one student talking to another student about a book during recess or whatever. The teacher is in a position of authority. It&#8217;s much easier for a 5-year-old to discount something another 5-year-old says, than it is to discount the wisdom of a 40-year-old teacher he&#8217;s told to trust. If this is an argument for anything, it&#8217;s an argument for not having these materials in the school to begin with. Which of course is the correct answer. But either way, it is not an argument against allowing parents to opt out.
The lawyer for the school district knows this but he can&#8217;t admit it. So he ends up confusing everyone in the room with a bunch of doublespeak. This kept happening throughout the oral arguments. Listen to this moment where Justice Gorsuch points out that, in Montgomery County, teachers are told to actively correct students who dare to suggest that men can&#8217;t become women. Gorsuch then asks the lawyer for Montgomery County whether this could constitute &#8220;coercion.&#8221; The obvious answer is yes. But instead of saying that, here&#8217;s the gibberish that the attorney comes back with:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="006 gorsuch, coercion, correcting himself" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x3sWOLDR4Q0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Justice Gorsuch gives an example where a student says, &#8220;a boy can&#8217;t be a girl.&#8221; And then the lawyer states that it&#8217;s not &#8220;coercive,&#8221; in any way, for the teacher to correct the student&#8217;s comment, in front of the entire class. He then changes his mind and says the opposite.
Even when he&#8217;s not contradicting himself, the school district&#8217;s lawyer managed to make a mockery of the entire case. 
Here&#8217;s his opening statement, for example:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="007 beginning with mr shonfeld" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xkw27dw9T5g?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
Yes, according to this attorney for the school district, there&#8217;s no difference between teaching elementary-school students about wars, and teaching them that boys can become girls. Telling students about the War of 1812 is just like telling them that it&#8217;s totally reasonable to chemically castrate minors.
One of the ways we know this isn&#8217;t true, aside from using basic common sense, is that there&#8217;s no army of parents demanding that schools stop teaching students about wars. That&#8217;s because it&#8217;s understood that teaching students about wars is not a general endorsement of violence. Additionally, everyone agrees that history is important and useful because it&#8217;s grounded in reality. On the other hand, gender ideology is just that — ideological.
This lawyer was not the only person to embarrass himself yesterday. That&#8217;s a given. After all, Ketanji Brown Jackson was also in attendance at the hearing. And as you&#8217;d expect, she did not disappoint. Single-handedly, she dropped the collective IQ in the room by about 10 points, just by opening her mouth. And of course, she opened her mouth on the side of indoctrinating children, because she takes the Left&#8217;s position on every issue. Behold, Ketanji Brown Jackson&#8217;s argument in favor of mandatory indoctrination in public schools:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="008 can just go to private school" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y-FJrhGbwrw?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Yes, you can homeschool, says Ketanji Brown Jackson. You can pay for an expensive private school. Therefore, there&#8217;s no &#8220;burden&#8221; on these parents, apparently. It&#8217;s not a &#8220;burden&#8221; to have to pay more money, and change your child&#8217;s school, because Montgomery County decided to teach LGBT propaganda. And then the lawyer representing the parents responds, and points out that she&#8217;s completely wrong, and many other cases demonstrate why she&#8217;s wrong. And then she goes quiet and they move on.
Here’s one more clip from these arguments, involving Justice Alito questioning the school board&#8217;s lawyer. He follows up on this logic, about how the parents can supposedly just go to a private school. He begins by talking from the perspective of one of these parents:
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This is what it looks like in the Supreme Court when &#8220;sparks fly,&#8221; so to speak. Alito is making his disdain for the school district&#8217;s argument extremely clear, which is exactly what he should do. They&#8217;re trying to force-feed gender ideology to children, and instead of owning it, they&#8217;re lying and telling the parents to pay more money to find a private school that won&#8217;t interfere with their religious liberties. But the Constitution doesn&#8217;t work that way. And it appears the Montgomery County school district, and school districts all over the country, are about to discover that.
This is not a close case. That&#8217;s why even the far-Left outlet Vox <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20250422191725/https://www.vox.com/scotus/409921/supreme-court-dont-say-gay-mahmoud-taylor">reported</a>: 
<blockquote>The Supreme Court’s &#8216;Don’t Say Gay&#8217; argument went disastrously for public schools.</blockquote>
At the moment, the most likely outcome is that, when very young children are involved, parents will retain the right to opt out of curriculums involving gender ideology, or any other extreme ideology that conflicts with their established religion. Everyone can see this coming.
And just to underscore that, yesterday Randi Weingarten, the head of one of the largest teachers&#8217; unions in the country, went on Fox News. And she admitted, right away, that she wouldn&#8217;t read these books in the classroom. Watch:
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We all know that Randi Weingarten isn&#8217;t saying this because she believes it. She&#8217;s maybe the most calculating political operative in the country, after Nancy Pelosi. But Weingarten understands when the Left is overplaying its hand. She knows that they&#8217;re on the cusp of yet another crushing defeat in their efforts to indoctrinate children, and she&#8217;s trying to soften that blow when it inevitably comes.
Unfortunately for Weingarten, the truth is, there&#8217;s no way to accomplish that. Gender ideology and LGBT activists, as we&#8217;ve discussed many times, are now extremely unpopular. They have alienated the entire country, to the point that they may have cost Democrats the last election. The only way an ideology like this can survive is by targeting children before they&#8217;re able to develop their cognitive abilities. That&#8217;s their only viable play. And in a few short months, after this case is inevitably decided against the public school system of Montgomery County, it&#8217;ll be much, much harder for these people to accomplish that.

Supreme Court Hears Arguments On Parental Rights Regarding LGBTQ Books In Schools

The Lawyers Promoting Child Indoctrination To SCOTUS Were Absolutely Humiliated

Books

Brett Kavanaugh

Children's Books

Elementary Schools

gender ideology

Ketanji Brown Jackson

LGBTQ

Matt Walsh

Neil Gorsuch

Opinion

Parents rights

Samuel Alito

SCOTUS

Supreme Court

The budget chair of a beleaguered $4 billion school system spent years pulling off a premeditated con to steal two airplanes worth $1.5 million, a new lawsuit filing alleges.
Kyle McDaniel, a member of Virginia&#8217;s Fairfax County School Board, was accused by his private-sector employer of using corporate credit cards to spend $150,000 on personal expenses, strip clubs, and his school board campaign, according to a lawsuit first reported by The Daily Wire earlier this month.
Now, that employer, Blue Label Aviation, added in <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25903024-kylemcdanielamended/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">court documents obtained</a> by The Daily Wire that it has since discovered that McDaniel’s alleged fraud was significantly worse. It outlined methodical, years-long financial fraud that raises questions about how the all-Democrat school board could continue to let McDaniel oversee the finances of one of America’s largest school systems.
FCPS this month resorted to enlisting children to beg for more money, telling them the school system is in a <a href="https://www.fcps.edu/news/fcps-superintendent-warns-students-possible-cuts-budget-deadline-looms">financial crisis</a>, has already cut all non-essential services, and that if the county doesn’t steer unprecedented amounts of money to the schools, children will suffer. It gave them an activist <a href="https://www.fcps.edu/crossroads" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“toolkit”</a> to pressure the leaders who disburse funding to the school system.
The amended complaint said that McDaniel owned an aviation company called Commonwealth Aviation Services. In March 2023, McDaniel struck a deal with the owner of another company, Aero Elite, to merge them into a new company called Blue Label. Virtually all of Commonwealth’s value came from the fact that it owned two planes, leading it to be valued at $1.5 million for purposes of the merger. But just before the deal went through, McDaniel secretly stripped its assets, changing the ownership of the planes to a different entity and essentially selling Blue Label an empty shell, the complaint says.
“As a direct and proximate result of McDaniel’s fraud in the inducement, the shareholders of Aero Elite, now shareholders of the Plaintiff, were duped into issuing stock to McDaniel and his father for essentially nothing, and the plaintiff was therefore damaged in the amount of $1,500,000.00,” the amended complaint said.
“McDaniel made fraudulent misrepresentations about the ownership of the aircraft which was a material fact and formed the basis of the merger. McDaniel secretly re-registered the aircraft into phony companies while negotiating the terms of the merger, knowing that the FAA registration process would take many months to complete and be listed on the FAA registry,” it continued.
Just before the deal went through, McDaniel used the Federal Aviation Administration&#8217;s database to re-register two Piper Archer airplanes to entities called N1463T LLC and N555AZ LLC – companies that did not even exist, it said. More than a year later, after Blue Label executives confronted McDaniel for separately allegedly using his corporate credit cards for huge sums of personal luxuries, McDaniel retroactively formed the LLCs “to match the names of the phony entities that he had registered the said aircraft to” and “listed his home address as the registered address.”
According to Virginia records, the LLCs were incorporated on February 9, 2025, shortly before the lawsuit was filed and just after Blue Label CEO Timothy Fisher confronted McDaniel on January 22, at which point &#8220;the defendant confessed&#8221; and said he &#8220;wanted a week&#8221; to have a lawyer review whether he would accept Fisher&#8217;s demands that he resign and turn over his corporate credit cards.
“McDaniel then started attempting to sell the aircraft to unknowing third parties. McDaniel’s actions constitute multiple acts of fraud, conversion of company assets and fraudulent misrepresentations,” it said.
Last week, Blue Label made a motion for a temporary injunction preventing McDaniel “from selling, transferring, conveying, re-registering, pledging, or encumbering the aircraft assets until a trial.”
<div id="attachment_903623" style="width: 877px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-903623" class="size-large wp-image-903623" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/mcdaniel2-867x576.jpg" alt="Kyle McDaniel" width="867" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/mcdaniel2-867x576.jpg 867w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/mcdaniel2-300x199.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/mcdaniel2-768x510.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/mcdaniel2.jpg 1030w" sizes="(max-width: 867px) 100vw, 867px" />Kyle McDaniel</div>
McDaniel ran with the endorsement from the Democratic Party, which he secured after claiming to be bisexual and attracting an early endorsement by a gay-rights group — despite being married to a woman and having children. He previously positioned himself as a Republican, and also knocked a Republican off the school board by running as an &#8220;independent,&#8221; serving as a spoiler.
He told voters that his aviation work was directly relevant to the school board job, answering the question, “Why should voters trust you?” with, “In my career field, aviation, there is zero tolerance for dishonesty because it can get people hurt. I bring this same approach to public service: I do not tolerate dishonesty.” He did not return a request for comment for this story.
McDaniel is an at-large member of the school board, representing 1.6 million people — twice as many as a congressman. He came in third in the race for three at-large seats in 2023.
Saundra Davis, a Republican now running for the Virginia House of Delegates, came in fourth in the school board race, meaning she would have been on the school board if McDaniel were not in the race. Davis told The Daily Wire that “it’s clear that this situation goes far beyond a personal or business dispute. If the details are accurate, they indicate a deliberate effort to mislead others in a high-stakes transaction, which is deeply troubling.&#8221;
She said one-party rule gave rise to a lack of accountability.
&#8220;At a minimum, Kyle McDaniel should be removed as chair of the $4 billion Fairfax County public school budget committee — though I’m not holding my breath, she said. “It is imperative that voters in Fairfax County begin to apply logic over emotion when choosing their elected officials. Blindly voting straight down a sample ballot is not the path to meaningful change in our county.”
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fairfax-school-board-member-embezzled-strip-clubs">initial lawsuit</a> said McDaniel was repeatedly caught billing personal expenses totaling more than $150,000 to his corporate credit card, including a local strip club, a strip club in New Orleans — where the school board traveled for a National School Board Association conference — and campaign expenses.
It said McDaniel confessed and repaid part of the funds, then did it again, only to admit it again and then do it again. The company’s board met to approve his resignation, but McDaniel refused to cooperate with removing his name from corporate bank accounts, the suit said. McDaniel also deleted all of his work emails and performed other “suspicious activity,” it added.

Kyle McDaniel / X

School Board Budget Chair Accused Of Scheming To Steal $1.5M Airplanes As District Pleads Poverty

A school board member for one of the largest school districts in America allegedly embezzled $175,000 from a company where he worked, and spent the money on luxuries, including strip clubs, as well as to subsidize his campaign for office, a lawsuit alleges.
Democrat Kyle McDaniel is the budget chair for Fairfax County (Virginia) Public Schools (FCPS), which has a $4 billion budget.
A previously-unreported <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25880075-kyle-mcdaniel-lawsuit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a> filed March 13 in Loudoun County court by his employer, flight school Blue Label Aviation, said that McDaniel abused his position as Secretary and Treasurer of the company, with access to its credit cards and bank accounts, to charge “personal expenses related to to personal travel, meals, entertainment and even expenses related to the defendant’s political campaign for the Fairfax County School Board.”
In June 2024, Blue Label’s CEO, Timothy Fischer, confronted him about $120,000 in improper charges, and “the defendant confessed and agreed to pay back the misappropriated funds,” ultimately paying back $50,000.
But in December 2024, Fischer “discovered that, not only had the defendant not ceased misappropriating the company’s funds for his personal use, he had vastly expanded his use of the company’s credit cards and bank accounts for his personal expenses,” charging $160,000 “for everything from vacations with his family, to meals, charges at a local strip club and a strip club in New Orleans, groceries and personal household expenses.”
The Fairfax County School Board <a href="https://community.nsba.org/events/event-description?CalendarEventKey=e3072f16-d5d0-4c4d-b1ed-018796089e8e&amp;Home=%2Fhome" target="_blank" rel="noopener">traveled to New Orleans</a> in April of that year to attend the National School Board Association conference, with expenses reimbursed by taxpayers.
On January 22, McDaniel was confronted and allegedly confessed again, and Fischer gave him the opportunity to resign without paying the money back in exchange for relinquishing his shares in the company and turning over its credit cards, the lawsuit said. McDaniel said he wanted time to consult a lawyer, but within days, Fischer allegedly saw even more unauthorized charges, and terminated him. “Fischer thereafter continued to observe that new, non-business-related charges were being made to the company credit card,” it said.
The company’s board met to approve his resignation, but McDaniel refused to cooperate with removing his name from corporate bank accounts, the suit said. McDaniel also deleted all of his work emails and performed other “suspicious activity,” it added.
The suit alleges embezzlement and misappropriation and says the company &#8220;has been injured in the amount of&#8221; $175,000. It seeks that amount, as well as punitive damages of $350,000, on top of requiring him to turn over his corporate credit cards and remove himself from its bank accounts.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-903623" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/mcdaniel2-867x576.jpg" alt="Kyle McDaniel" width="867" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/mcdaniel2-867x576.jpg 867w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/mcdaniel2-300x199.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/mcdaniel2-768x510.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/mcdaniel2.jpg 1030w" sizes="(max-width: 867px) 100vw, 867px" /></div>
The lawsuit said that McDaniel had owned a company called Commonwealth Aviation, which in March 2023 became a subsidiary of Blue Label. According to <a href="https://www.vpap.org/candidates/332131/top_donors/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">campaign finance</a> records, Commonwealth Aviation was his school board campaign’s third-highest funder, at $15,369, all spent during or after March 2023.
McDaniel did not return a request for comment.
McDaniel won an election representing the entire 1.4 million-person county as an at-large member on the all-Democrat board. His school board <a href="https://www.fcps.edu/staff/kyle-mcdaniel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bio</a> says: “Kyle McDaniel (he/him) began his term as a Member At-Large on January 1, 2024 … [He] started two companies with his family. As a result of the COVID pandemic, both companies were closed in early 2020. With a newborn at home, he quickly pivoted to aviation and became a professional pilot.”
McDaniel, a white man who is married with children, was elected with help from a national group, the LGBTQ Victory Fund, after claiming he is <a href="https://watermarkonline.com/2023/11/06/more-than-a-dozen-lgbtq-candidates-are-on-the-ballot-in-virginia/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bisexual</a>.
His top donor was the Democratic Party, and his second-highest donor was school board chair <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/school-board-member-sworn-in-on-stack-of-gay-porn-instead-of-bible" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Karl Frisch</a>, a gay man with no children who held a campaign fundraiser at a drag show, followed hardcore pornography accounts on social media, and was sworn in on a copy of &#8220;Gender Queer&#8221; instead of a Bible.
McDaniel chairs the school board&#8217;s budget committee. The Fairfax County government is facing a $300 million budget shortfall after FCPS spent nearly <a href="https://www.fairus.org/blog/2024/06/03/fairfax-county-virginia-public-schools-limited-english-proficiency-and-opportunity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$142 million</a> on English as a Second Language in 2024.
This story has been updated.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/virginias-largest-school-district-put-a-kink-affirming-bondage-specialist-in-charge-of-reviewing-parent-complaints-about-books">Virginia’s Largest School District Put A ‘Kink-Affirming’ Bondage Specialist In Charge Of Reviewing Parent Complaints About Books</a>

Fairfax County School Board Member Embezzled Corporate Funds For Strip Clubs And Campaign, Lawsuit Says

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