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DOJ Approves Firing Squads for Federal Death Penalty Cases

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has authorized firing squads, electrocution, and gassing as a means of execution in federal cases.

In a press release on April 24, the department said it was directing the Bureau of Prisons to expand its execution protocol to include firing squads, lethal injection with pentobarbital, and other methods. It’s part of a broader report on the death penalty following President Donald Trump’s executive order to reinstate capital punishment at the federal level.

President Joe Biden had instituted a moratorium on executions and commuted the death sentences of almost all federal death-row inmates before he left office.

One of the first actions to be taken is to readopt the lethal injection protocol used during the first Trump administration. Trump also rescinded Biden administration policies the press release describes as “efforts to erode the death penalty.”

In addition to establishing a moratorium on federal death penalties and commuting the death sentences of 37 inmates on federal death row, the Biden administration discontinued lethal injection because it carried the risk of “unnecessary pain and suffering.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which opposes capital punishment, did not respond to a request for comment on this story. However, on its website it stated its opposition to Trump’s plans.

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Ilhan Omar Given May 5th Deadline to Produce Documents on Massive Feeding Our Future Fraud Scandal After Refusing to Appear at Minnesota House Hearing

The Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Oversight Committee has given Rep. Ilhan Omar a firm May 5th deadline to turn over all records and communications related to her possible involvement in the infamous Feeding Our Future scandal.

The demand follows Omar’s refusal to appear at a scheduled committee hearing earlier this week, despite being formally invited.

Committee Chair Rep. Kristin Robbins, a Republican, confirmed the congresswoman “ghosted” the panel and failed to respond to multiple outreach attempts.

“The fact that she ghosted us — she would not even respond to multiple inquiries to a state legislature where she used to serve,” Robbins said, according to a report from NewsNation. “I think it shows disdain for Minnesota taxpayers that she’s unwilling to even answer these questions.”

In a formal letter sent to Omar on April 22, Chair Robbins is now requiring:

  • All written and electronic communications between Omar’s office and the convicted owners/operators of Safari Restaurant in Minneapolis (a key Feeding Our Future site where Omar held multiple campaign events).
  • Communications with more than a dozen individuals who have already been convicted in the massive fraud case.
  • Records related to Omar’s sponsorship of the MEALS Act — the 2020 federal legislation that dramatically loosened eligibility rules for child nutrition programs during COVID, which prosecutors say directly enabled the fraud.

If Omar fails to comply, the committee has signaled it will explore further legislative and congressional options, though state lawmakers have limited direct enforcement power over a member of Congress.

The Feeding Our Future case involved the theft of more than $250 million in federal child nutrition funds meant for meals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prosecutors have described it as one of the largest fraud schemes in American history.

Much of the money went to luxury cars, jewelry, real estate, and even overseas accounts, primarily funneled through Minnesota-based nonprofit organizations tied to the local Somali community.

Safari Restaurant was identified as a major “meal site” that submitted millions in fraudulent claims. Omar has long had public ties to the restaurant, including holding campaign events there and appearing there to promote related programs.

The Minnesota House committee has repeatedly accused Omar of helping enable the fraud through her sponsorship of the MEALS Act, which removed key guardrails on reimbursements for meal providers.

“She created the conditions that allowed all these bad actors to come in and bill for thousands of meals a day,” Robbins said. “One little tiny restaurant serving 5,000 meals a day, seven days a week — it was incomprehensible numbers.”

Omar has not publicly responded to the committee’s deadline or her refusal to appear at the hearing.

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‘Our candidates are fat Jewish Zionists!’ Trump aide Paul Ingrassia under fire again as leaked group chat reveals slur-filled rant targeting fellow Republican with vile AI-altered photo

A Trump administration official with a history of inflammatory remarks is once again under fire after newly leaked texts appear to show him ranting about fellow Republicans for supporting ‘fat Jewish Zionists’, the Daily Mail can exclusively reveal.

In the explosive messages obtained by the Daily Mail, Paul Ingrassia, the then White House liaison to the Department of Homeland Security, lashes out in a group chat with other Trump aides, titled ‘Team DOJ/DHS/WH’.

The exchange – which took place around April 2025 – escalated after a Justice Department employee sent a text fuming: ‘How the f**k are we losing Wisconsin‘, before adding: ‘Republicans are so stupid and lazy.’ 

The complaint was likely referring to Wisconsin’s 2025 Supreme Court election, in which liberal circuit judge Susan Crawford defeated Catholic, Republican circuit judge and former state attorney general Brad Schimel.

Ingrassia, a 30-year-old attorney and Trump loyalist, then chimed in with an anti-Semitic comment taking aim at Florida congressman Randy Fine, a pro-Israel Republican who had been elected that same day. 

‘It’s because our candidates are fat Jewish Zionist f**ks,’ Ingrassia replied, after sending an altered, unflattering image of Fine speaking at an event. 

The photo showed Fine, a proudly Jewish candidate, addressing a crowd with a grotesquely bulging stomach and baggy jeans.

‘That’s our candidate?!?’ the DOJ staffer replied incredulously, apparently not recognizing the newly elected congressman representing Florida’s 6th congressional district. 

Ingrassia’s lawyer Edward Andrew Paltzik said: ‘These accusations against Mr. Ingrassia are false and fabricated. No such group chat called ‘Team DOJ/DHS/WH’ exists on his phone.’

The Daily Mail has verified that the original photo of Fine was taken at an RNC meeting in Marion County, Florida in January 2025, but had been altered with AI to make him appear significantly larger. 

In a statement to the Daily Mail, Fine said: ‘I hope these text messages are fake. But if they are not, I know President Trump has a zero tolerance for antisemitism and will fire those involved immediately.’ 

Ingrassia’s text tirade, leaked to the Daily Mail, is not the first example of Ingrassia getting embroiled in controversy over his remarks.

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Speaker Johnson Addresses ‘Missing’ GOP Lawmaker Who Hasn’t Cast a Vote Since Early March

House Speaker Johnson on Friday provided an update to a GOP lawmaker who hasn’t voted in more than a month.

Rep. Thomas Kean (R-NJ) has missed more than 50 roll call votes.

Speaker Johnson told ABC News that Rep. Kean is dealing with personal health matters.

“I was happy to speak to Tom Kean, Jr. this afternoon by phone. He is attending to a personal health matter and expects to be back to 100% very soon,” Johnson told ABC News.

“Tom is one of the most dedicated and hardest-working Members of Congress, and I am grateful for all he does and will continue to do to serve New Jerseyans and our country,” Johnson said.

ABC News reported:

Republican Rep. Thomas Kean Jr. of New Jersey has missed votes in the House for more than a month without personally providing his constituents with an explanation.

Kean, 57, cast his last vote on March 5. Since then, he’s missed 50 roll call votes.

As House Speaker Mike Johnson navigates a narrow majority, a Republican member’s prolonged absence could impact the ability to move must-pass legislation and President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Johnson is currently trying to pass Department of Homeland Security funding, a long-term extension of FISA and the farm bill — all relying on Republican votes. Johnson can only afford to lose two votes on any party-line bill, and that’s if all members are present and voting.

Speaker Johnson said in a statement provided to ABC News that he spoke to Kean by phone on Thursday, and that he is dealing with an unspecified “personal health matter.”

In 2024, a Republican Congresswoman who had been “missing” for six months was finally found in a dementia care home.

Rep. Kay Granger, 81, had served as the representative for Texas’s 12th Congressional District since 1997.

However, she suddenly disappeared from the public eye in July 2024, when she cast her final vote against an amendment to reduce the salary of Deputy Assistant Administrator for Pesticide Programs to $1.

A curious reporter at the local Dallas Express newspaper did some digging on Granger’s whereabouts and has finally been able to give her constituents some answers.

The reporter learned that Granger was residing at an assisted living facility specializing in memory care.

Granger retired from Congress in January 2025.

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Trump Administration Seeks Pause Of Lawsuit Challenging Vaccine Recommendations

Trump administration lawyers on April 23 said they are still considering whether to appeal a ruling that blocked the rollback of guidance on some vaccines.

The lawyers said in a filing that pausing the litigation over the guidance pending the resolution of any appeal that is filed would “promote judicial economy and avoid burdens on government agencies that may be rendered unnecessary by a decision on any appeal.”

For instance, if an appeal is filed, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit may dismiss some or all of the claims by plaintiffs in the case, which would eliminate the need for the government to produce records sought by plaintiffs, the lawyers told U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in a motion to stay proceedings pending resolution of any appeal.

“At a minimum, a First Circuit decision on any appeal could narrow the issues in dispute and provide guidance on how to resolve any remaining issues,” the motion stated. “If Defendants continue producing administrative records and the parties start briefing cross-motions for summary judgment before Defendants’ time to appeal has run and before the First Circuit has an opportunity to weigh in on any appeal, there is a significant potential for wasted time and resources.”

Murphy in March stayed the updates made to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine guidance under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., resulting in the guidance reverting to what had been in place in mid-2025.

Murphy concluded that Kennedy and other officials did not follow proper procedure in updating the guidance and appointing new members to the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee.

That stay would remain in effect even if Murphy approves the requested motion, administration lawyers said.

The lawyers did not say why no appeal has been lodged against Murphy’s decision. They asked him to stay proceedings in the case until whichever comes later: May 15 or the resolution of any appeal the defendants may file.

The deadline to appeal Murphy’s preliminary injunction is May 15.

Shortly after the injunction was issued, the Department of Health and Human Services said it would prevail in an appeal. The department has declined to answer questions about why an appeal has not yet been lodged.

“Unless officially announced by us, any assertions about what we are doing next is baseless speculation,” a department spokesperson told The Epoch Times in March.

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‘Invidious racial discrimination’: AMA color-based scholarships vanish from website after complaint

The American Medical Association Foundation website no longer includes listings for race-based scholarships after a medical watchdog suggested the foundation should lose its tax-exempt status for racial discrimination.

Do No Harm, a watchdog group of doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals, aims to expose racial discrimination, transgender ideology, and other divisive practices in medicine. Do No Harm sent a letter to the IRS earlier this month, noting that multiple AMA Foundation scholarships explicitly state that only students of certain races qualify.

Last week, the scholarships disappeared from the AMA Foundation’s website.

“The AMA Foundation appears to have removed the discriminatory scholarships at the heart of our IRS complaint—a tacit admission that our concerns were warranted,” Dr. Kurt Miceli, a psychiatrist and chief medical officer at Do No Harm, told The Daily Signal.

“However, we believe the government is still obligated to investigate to confirm that these programs have truly been eliminated and not simply rebranded and reconstituted,” Miceli added.

The AMA did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment by publication time.

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New York Times Portrays Fired USAID Staff as Victims — Reaction Is Not What They Expected

In July 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that USAID would no longer send foreign assistance across the globe.

Rubio noted that USAID had, for decades, failed to ensure the programs it funded actually supported America’s interests.

“Beyond creating a globe-spanning NGO industrial complex at taxpayer expense, USAID has little to show since the end of the Cold War. Development objectives have rarely been met, instability has often worsened, and anti-American sentiment has only grown,” Rubio wrote in a blog post, according to Fox News.

“This era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has officially come to an end. Under the Trump Administration, we will finally have a foreign funding mission in America that prioritizes our national interests. As of July 1st, USAID will officially cease to implement foreign assistance. Foreign assistance programs that align with administration policies—and which advance American interests—will be administered by the State Department, where they will be delivered with more accountability, strategy, and efficiency,” Rubio said.

During the summer of 2025, the DOGE team announced they had eliminated another $14.3 billion in bogus contracts, including international contracts tied to USAID.

Following the funding cuts, the agency went from roughly 10,000–16,000 direct employees (plus hundreds of thousands of contractors and local staff overseas) to under 300 remaining staff. Over 90–97% of USAID’s workforce was eliminated.

Elisabeth Bumiller and Eileen Sullivan wrote A Year After U.S.A.I.D.’s Death, Fired Workers Find Few Jobs and Much Loss for The New York Times, bemoaning the struggles of the laid-off workers, something thousands of Americans face each day without fawning coverage from the outlet.

The authors share the example of a USAID-funded senior VP,making $272,000, or roughly five times more than the median income of the average American worker.

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Trump Rules Out Use of Nuclear Weapons in Iran War

President Donald Trump on Thursday ruled out using a nuclear weapon in the war with Iran.

He told reporters in the Oval Office that the United States has already greatly weakened the Islamic Republic with conventional weapons, declaring that “a nuclear weapon should never be allowed to be used by anybody.”

PBS NewsHour correspondent Liz Landers asked the president whether nuclear weapons might be used in the war, which the president said was a “stupid” question. 

“Why would I use a nuclear weapon when we’ve totally and in a very conventional way decimated them without it?” Trump said. “I wouldn’t use it.”

Two days ago, Trump extended a two-week ceasefire with Tehran, calling the Iranian leadership “seriously fractured.” He also cited a request from Pakistan’s prime minister as another reason for extending the ceasefire. 

In an April 17 Truth Social post, Trump said that Iran had agreed to surrender enriched uranium buried by last summer’s strikes on an underground base. 

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Good News: Fifth Circuit Says Government’s Tax Power Is Not Designed to Control Behavior

A somewhat under-the-radar decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit earlier this month is, on its surface, focused on the issue of home alcohol distilling. But the appeals court’s reasoning could have a big impact on other businesses and various walks of life, including the energy industry.

In short, McNutt vs. U.S. Department of Justice focused on a federal law that banned – through the government’s taxation power – the private home distillation of alcohol. But the Fifth Circuit ruled that using the power to tax as a reason to ban something is an improper abuse of power. This line of constitutional thinking could have much larger implications.

Why? Because the ruling would erect new guardrails on how the government can use its authority to impose a tax in such a way that does not raise revenue but instead bans otherwise legal activity. When we consider all the ways the government has done this over the years, it’s clear that the energy industry has been a prime target for just such an abuse of power — especially in cases where the government used its taxing authority and “necessary and proper” constitutional reasoning to regulate activities.

As a Liskow law blog summarized it, “The case originated when a group of hobby distillers challenged an 1868 federal law that effectively criminalized the distillation of spirits in or near a private residence, even for personal use. The plaintiffs, including members of the Hobby Distillers Association, argued that the prohibition exceeded Congress’s constitutional powers, particularly where the activity was noncommercial and confined to the home.”

The analysis added, “The case underscores that the federal government’s broad federal taxing authority does have limits, particularly when it intersects with private, noncommercial conduct. As challenges to federal regulatory regimes continue, McNutt may serve as an important reference point in defining the boundary between taxation and regulation.”

For energy development, the McNutt decision provides a new avenue to challenge federal prohibition of development when such prohibition has been primarily based on the government’s taxing authority. In other words, is the ban really about taxation (raising revenue), or is it about using the power of taxation to achieve regulation? The Fifth Circuit determined that the latter avenue as a sole motivator is improper.

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Trump Orders Navy to Destroy Iranian Boats Mining Strait of Hormuz, Reposted Column That Advocates More Killing

President Donald Trump warned Iran today that the U.S. Navy would destroy boats that are laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

The threat comes after he announced an extension of the two-week ceasefire that was to end last night, as Pakistan attempted to persuade Iran to negotiate an end to the war. How well that effort can go is now open to question.

Multiple posts on X today reported that Iran’s chief negotiator, Parliament Speaker Bagher Ghalibaf, has resigned from Iran’s negotiating team, but an Iranian journalist called those reports “ridiculous.”

And Trump reposted on X a line from Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen, who argues that the Iranians need a deal and Trump doesn’t. Trump must therefore kill anti-peace deal officials.

Who’s the Leader?

Trump took to Truth Social this morning to unbosom himself of another threat, as is his custom.

“I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be (Their naval ships are ALL, 159 of them, at the bottom of the sea!), that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote:

There is to be no hesitation. Additionally, our mine “sweepers” are clearing the Strait right now. I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled up level! 

Trump followed that with another post about supposed infighting among Iranian officials over who is running the country, and a claim that the U.S. Navy has sealed the strait.

“Iran is having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is!” Trump continued:

They just don’t know! The infighting is between the “Hardliners,” who have been losing BADLY on the battlefield, and the “Moderates,” who are not very moderate at all (but gaining respect!), is CRAZY! We have total control over the Strait of Hormuz. No ship can enter or leave without the approval of the United States Navy. It is “Sealed up Tight,” until such time as Iran is able to make a DEAL!!!

A report from U.S. Central Command appears to confirm Trump’s claim.

“U.S. forces have directed 29 vessels to turn around or return to port as part of the U.S. blockade against Iran,” CENTCOM reported:

Over past 24 hours, media reports have alleged that several commercial ships evaded the blockade, citing M/V Hero II, M/V Hedy, and M/V Dorena as examples. These reports are inaccurate.

Hero II and Hedy did not sail past the blockade as part of a flotilla that “ferried” millions of barrels of oil to the market. In fact, the Iranian-flagged tankers are anchored in Chah Bahar, Iran, after being intercepted by U.S. forces earlier this week. Dorena has been under the escort of a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Indian Ocean after previously attempting to violate the blockade. 

On Tuesday, Trump claimed that the blockade had collapsed Iran’s economy, and that the nation was losing $500 million daily.

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