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Supreme Court: Children of Illegal Aliens or Tourists are not U.S. Citizens

On the very day Donald Trump became president again, he signed an executive order prospectively eliminating birthright citizenship for children born to aliens unlawfully present in the United States.

Immediately, lawsuits were filed in a half-dozen jurisdictions across the country challenging this order.

The groups bringing these suits claim the order disrupts long-standing legal norms governing citizenship. Yet, in fact, Trump’s contention — that birthright citizenship is not possessed by children of illegal aliens under the “correct interpretation of the law” — is exactly right.

Birthright citizenship is conventionally understood to apply to any child born in the United States, regardless of the immigration status of that child’s parents. This view is based on the common law principle of jus soli (“right of soil”), which is said to be incorporated in the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This understanding of the Citizenship Clause, however, despite its prevalence in academia and political commentary, is based on a mistaken and incomplete reading of controlling Supreme Court precedent.

In fact, birthright citizenship, as provided for in the Citizenship Clause, as that clause has been authoritatively construed by the Supreme Court, is possessed only by children born in the United States to at least one parent who is lawfully residing in the United States.

Ratified in the aftermath of the Civil War with the aim of remedying the injustices of the Dred Scott decision, the Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to “all persons born … in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” This latter phrase has been wrongly equated with “subject to the laws thereof,” and thus to entail that all persons born in the United States are U.S. citizens, with only a few narrow exceptions, such as children born to diplomats.

Yet the Supreme Court has construed the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction” more narrowly, most notably in seminal cases that have been taught — well or ill — in law schools ever since.

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Fox News Notches Big Win Against Smartmatic as Appeals Court Grants Access to Damning Insider Info

Fox News lawyers fighting off a defamation lawsuit from Smartmatic Voting Systems have been granted access to new ammunition.

Last week, Fox was granted access to materials connected with a 2024 federal bribery indictment concerning company co-founder and president Roger Piñate and other company executives, according to The Wrap.

The Justice Department has alleged that more than $1 million in bribes went from company executives to a Philippine official in an attempt to influence which voting machines were used in the nation’s 2016 elections, according to a Justice Department news release.

Those charged have pleaded not guilty.

Fox claimed that the charges are relevant to its defense because Smartmatic was suffering for reasons other than Fox’s coverage of the 2020 election, according to The Wrap.

“We are pleased with the Court’s ruling that materials about Smartmatic executives’ indictments are ‘plainly relevant’ to its lack of damages. The factual evidence shows that Smartmatic’s business and reputation were badly suffering long before any claims by President Trump’s lawyers on Fox News,” Fox said in a statement.

In a separate filing calling for summary judgment in its favor, Fox argued that Smartmatic’s sales had “cratered” before the 2020 election.

Fox  sought to undercut Smartmatic’s claim that it was damaged by saying that the company’s books show “no profit record to serve as a basis for projecting millions of dollars in future profits.”

Smartmatic fired back against Fox News in a separate filing, according to CNN.

The company alleged in court documents that Fox “orchestrated the destruction of text messages across all levels of their corporate hierarchy … despite a clear duty to preserve evidence.”

Smartmatic claimed Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch “deleted their texts” in an “extensive and willful” fashion.

Fox said the allegation was a “desperate attempt to distract” from the ruling in Fox’s favor.

“Smartmatic weakly attempts to resurrect stale, baseless discovery issues that actually were disclosed by Fox and resolved two years ago,” a Fox representative said.

“These issues have no bearing on the merits of Smartmatic’s case, which has fallen apart at every turn,” the Fox representative said.

As noted by The Wrap. Smartmatic is seeking $2.7 billion from Fox.

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Chilling moment Elias Rodriguez screams ‘Free Palestine’ after shooting Israeli diplomat couple dead

A pro-Palestinian gunman suspected of shooting a young Jewish diplomatic couple dead was filmed manically screaming ‘Free Palestine‘ as he was hauled into custody.

Footage emerged overnight of 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez as he was taken into custody after two Israeli embassy staffers were gunned down outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington DC.

Yaron Lischinsky and his girlfriend Sarah Milgrim were identified as the victims in the vile attack that was condemned by President Donald Trump.

The couple, who were set to get engaged next week, had attended a Young Diplomats event before they were shot.

In one image, Rodriguez is seen sitting calmly at a bench with one leg crossed over the other, while separate footage captures the moment he is hysterically hauled away while shouting.

‘Free, free Palestine,’ he shouts repeatedly as he squirms against the officers’ grip.

The haunting pictures and images surfaced as witnesses described seeing Rodriguez ‘pacing back and forth’ outside the museum cocktail reception.

He then approached a group of people that included Lischinsky and Milgrim and then shot them at ‘close range’ with a handgun, the Israeli Embassy said. 

Moments later, he casually walked into the museum. Yoni Kalin told Fox 5 News  Rodriguez was allowed inside by well-meaning security guards who assumed he was a victim.

‘He was clearly in trauma, he was in shock. Some of the people at the event sat him down, brought him water, asked if he was okay, and he was like ”call the cops”.’

Ten minutes later when authorities arrived, Rodriguez allegedly admitted to carrying out the shooting.

‘He grabbed a red kaffiyeh out of his pocket and started a “Free Palestine” chant: “There’s only one solution, Intifada revolution,” Kalin said. ‘Thank God he left the gun in the bushes outside.’

Kalin, still in shock himself and unsure of what had happened, noticed that the red kaffiyeh had fallen on to the ground and tried to offer it to Rodriguez as he was hauled away, the video revealed. 

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Canada in talks with the US about joining its ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense system, Carney says

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday his government is talking to the U.S. about joining President Donald Trump’s future Golden Dome missile defense program.

The multilayered, $175 billion system would for the first time put U.S. weapons in space. Trump said the previous day he expected the system to be fully operational by the end of his term in 2029.

“Is it a good idea for Canada? Yes, it is a good to have protections in place for Canadians,” Carney said.

Carney confirmed he’s had talks with Trump about it and said there are discussions with senior officials. Trump said the Canadian government had contacted his administration indicating it wants to join the program and that he will work with Ottawa to ensure it contributes its “fair share.”

Golden Dome is envisioned to include ground- and space-based capabilities to detect and stop missiles at all four major stages of a potential attack: detecting and destroying them before a launch, intercepting them in their earliest stage of flight, stopping them midcourse in the air, or halting them in the final minutes as they descend toward a target.

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‘Ambush’: Watch network interrupt live footage of Trump airing montage of South Africans calling for genocide against whites

CNN cut away from live footage of President Donald Trump airing footage of South Africans calling for violence against white people during his Wednesday Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

During his meeting with the South African president, Trump aired a montage of the minority party in South Africa calling to kill the Boers, a term that refers to white farmers, by shooting them and “cutting their throat[s].” While the video played, CNN cut away so viewers could only hear “Inside Politics” host Dana Bash and her panelists react to Trump forcing Ramaphosa to watch the video.

“[The video] is obviously playing right now and our understanding is that the point of this video is to back up some of the claims that Trump has made about South Africa. It seems this is clearly a well orchestrated effort. They brought screens, there’s not usually TVs in the Oval Office. And they were prepared to do this,” one panelist said. Another panelist called this act an “ambush.”

The moment the video ended, the network returned to airing the meeting live so viewers could hear Ramaphosa’s response, where he stated that the utterances made in the video are not “government policy.” The South African president and members of his government all maintained that there is no genocide against white people happening in their country, which Trump firmly disagreed with.

Besides the opposition party calling to kill white farmers, other parts of the video showed burial sites where white farmers are said to be laid to rest. While the montage played, Ramaphosa spent much of his time facing forward or glancing at Trump rather than watching the video.

“Burial sites. Right here. Burial sites. Over a thousand white farmers and those cars are lined up to pay love on a Sunday morning. Each one of those white things you see is a cross. And there is approximately a thousand of them. They are all white farmers, the family of white farmers. And those cars aren’t driving. They are stopped there to pay respects to their family member who was killed,” Trump said during the video.

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DeSantis Signs Bill Increasing Penalties for ‘Swatting’ into Florida Law

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Wednesday that will increase penalties on people who make false 911 calls, commonly referred to as “swatting.”

The governor signed the bill, HB 279, at a high school in Winter Haven. Rep. Bill Partington (R-Ormond Beach) sponsored the legislation in the House, while Sen. Blaise Ingoglia (R-Spring Hill) led the Senate bill.

“If you swat, you are going to get hit with serious criminal offenses,” DeSantis said at a press conference.

Swatting calls are particularly dangerous, as police responding to a supposedly emergency incident are not aware that the call is bogus. Often targeted at a specific residence, the swatter will sometimes say a person is dangerous or someone is in danger, and a gun is present.

The false report can sometimes lead to someone being killed. It can also strain police manpower and resources away from serious emergency calls.

Under the bill, a person who makes a swatting call that leads to death will be charged with a second-degree felony. A person who makes a false report that leads to serious injury will be charged with a third-degree felony.

The bill also increases penalties for repeat offenders. Moreover, a swatter will be mandated by the court to pay restitution to public safety officials and victims for any damages that occur from the false report.

DeSantis signed a bill establishing swatting penalties in 2021.

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Democrats Now Planning to Spend Millions of Dollars Trying to Find ‘Their Own Joe Rogan’

Democrats are increasingly convinced that one of the reasons they lost the 2024 election is because they didn’t have their own Joe Rogan. It never seems to dawn on them that they used to have their own Joe Rogan. His name is Joe Rogan. Rogan has always been a man of the center-left, but he walked away in this cycle because the left basically drove him away.

This is a common theme with Democrats. Years ago, they decided they needed their own Rush Limbaugh, which resulted in the failed Air America network. After losing the 2004 election, they decided they needed their own Drudge Report, which resulted in the creation of the Huffington Post. After they lost Congress in 2010, they decided they needed their own Tea Party, which brought us Occupy Wall Street.

Also, for all of their talk about wanting to get ‘big money’ out of politics, they’re certainly sparing no expense on this plan.

The New York Times reported:

Democrats Throw Money at a Problem: Countering G.O.P. Clout Online

Six months after the Democratic Party’s crushing 2024 defeat, the party’s megadonors are being inundated with overtures to spend tens of millions of dollars to develop an army of left-leaning online influencers.

At donor retreats and in pitch documents seen by The New York Times, liberal strategists are pushing the party’s rich backers to reopen their wallets for a cavalcade of projects to help Democrats, as the cliché now goes, “find the next Joe Rogan.” The proposals, the scope of which has not been previously reported, are meant to energize glum donors and persuade them that they can compete culturally with President Trump — if only they can throw enough money at the problem.

Democrats widely believe they must grow more creative in stoking online enthusiasm for their candidates, particularly in less outwardly political forms of media like sports or lifestyle podcasts…

“It needs to start with a legitimate investment,” said Marissa McBride, a Democratic strategist who leads a donor group called Mind the Gap. But she added, “There has to be something that is happening organically as well.”

The most hilarious part? The name for this initiative is ‘AND Media’ which stands for “Achieve Narrative Dominance.”

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Andrew Cuomo’s pandering to the vile teachers union sets a record for shamelessness

Even in a state packed with shameless politicians, ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo has long stood out — but his gyrations in wooing the United Federation of Teachers as he runs for mayor are still a marvel to behold.

To be clear: We’ve long had the impression that Cuomo privately despises New York’s teachers unions, whether on personal grounds or (conceivably!) the principled objections we share; it’s one of his most attractive qualities.

And he took on all the state’s teachers unions early in his first back term as governor, first by championing charter schools against an assault by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio and then by pushing for a rigorous-sounding statewide public-schoolteacher-evaluation process — a drive for which he declared himself “the students’ lobbyist.”

The unions hate charters, but saw the evaluations as an existential threat, since the point of them was to get incompetent teachers fired; they fought back, and beat him soundly.

But now the UFT could derail his comeback run, so Cuomo’s desperate to jump if he even thinks the union might’ve said “frog!”

At a cozy sitdown with UFT boss Michael Mulgrew and union activists last weekend, the ex-gov attacked his own past support for teacher evaluations and disowned the money-saving “Tier 6” public pension reforms he pushed through as gov.

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South Africa’s Julius Malema Responds to Trump’s Claim of ‘Genocide’ by Doubling Down: ‘Kill the Farmer!’

South African politician Julius Malema, the leader of the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, responded to President Donald Trump’s claims about “genocide” Wednesday by reiterating calls to kill white farmers.

Earlier that day, Trump had shown visiting South African President Cyril Ramaphosa video of Malema leading rally chants of “Kill the Boer!”, “Kill the farmer!”, “Shoot to kill!”, and other incendiary slogans.

Ramaphosa tried to argue that Malema’s rhetoric did not represent the government’s policies, but Trump countered that South Africa had passed a law allowing expropriation of land without compensation, that it had racially discriminatory laws, and that thousands of white farmers were attempting to leave to the U.S.

Malema reacted angrily on X, reiterating his commitment to expropriation without compensation.

His party later issued a statement in which it declared: “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer! Victory is Certain!”

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FDA Directs COVID-19 Vaccine Makers to Expand Heart Inflammation Warning

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has directed COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers to expand the warning for two forms of inflammation, according to letters made public on May 21.

The FDA told BioNTech, which produces a vaccine with Pfizer, and Moderna to update warnings regarding myocarditis—or heart inflammation—and the related condition pericarditis.

Richard Forshee, acting director of the FDA’s Office of Biostatistics and Pharmacovigilance, said that new information has emerged, including a 2024 FDA study that found that some myocarditis patients had signs of heart scarring months after vaccination.

The companies must update labels to state that following administration of the 2023–2024 versions of the vaccines, “the highest estimated incidence of myocarditis and/or pericarditis was in males 16 through 25 years of age,” Forshee said. The highest estimated incidence of the post-vaccination inflammation is about 38 cases per million doses for both vaccines, according to the proposed update.

The current warnings say that the highest observed risk after Moderna vaccination is in males aged 18 to 24 and that the highest risk after Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination is in males aged 12 to 17.

The companies were also directed to add new information summarizing the FDA study, including that “at a median follow-up of approximately 5 months post-vaccination, persistence of abnormal cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) findings that are a marker for myocardial injury was common.” The updates should also state that “it is not known if these heart MRI findings might predict long-term heart effects of myocarditis,” according to the letters.

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