Tag: hypocrisy

Virginia Democrats Are Now Trying to TRIPLE Their Own Pay – After Abigail Spanberger Ran on Affordability

Virginia’s new governor, Abigail Spanberger, ran on a campaign focused on affordability, so did other Virginia Democrats.

It is now becoming increasingly apparent that this was a lie.

These people have been in office for just a matter of weeks and they are already trying to triple their own pay. Things will certainly be more affordable for them if they get away with this.

FOX News reports:

Virginia Democrats talk affordability — and vote to nearly triple their own pay

The Virginia State Senate and its Democratic majority may have voted to nearly triple their pay if a provision inserted into their final budget survives the House reconciliation process and reaches Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk.

The development comes as Spanberger has centered her campaign on “affordability,” with Richmond Democrats echoing that they are working to improve their constituents’ personal finances.

Virginia’s legislature itself was founded as a part-time, gentleman’s chamber, where lawmakers would return to their day jobs when Richmond wasn’t holding session.

Proponents of raising the current 1988-established salary of $18,000 for senators and $17,640 for delegates say the structure restricts who can afford to serve as a lawmaker today. Lawmakers also qualify for a $237 per diem, mileage reimbursements, and coverage of office, meeting and other expenses.

Senators’ new salary would be $50,000.

Republicans were quick to criticize the final budget, with the Virginia Senate Minority Caucus saying in a statement that “teachers got a 3% raise, but Democrats give themselves 300%.” The actual increase would be closer to 178%, though one could say the new salary would be 300% of the original.

Law professor Jonathan Turley points out that these Democrats are going to need a salary increase in order to afford all of the new taxes they are proposing.

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GOP Rep. Tim Burchett Reminds Democrats That Obama Bombed Eight Countries Without Congressional Approval

Republican Congressman Tim Burchett of Tennessee appeared on NewsNation tonight and provided a reminder for all of the Democrats who are suddenly claiming that Trump can’t act on Iran without congressional approval.

Burchett points out that Obama bombed eight different countries without congressional approval.

Democrats think no one remembers anything. When Obama was president, he could pretty much do anything he wanted with zero pushback from his party or the media. He could do no wrong in their eyes.

Partial transcript via Overton News:

BURCHETT: “President Obama bombed 8 countries without Congressional approval.”

“So I think it’s a little disingenuous for the Democrats start saying this is unprecedented and you’ve got the most stable regime, outside of probably the Chinese, in the whole right now.”

“And they’ve killed Americans within recent memory.”

“Is this the revenge tour? Maybe be a little bit. But you poke the bear you get it.”

“Or you poke the bull, you get the horns and the horns.”

“And the horns right now are Donald J. Trump.”

“And he’s letting an enemy of this country know how we feel about them.”

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Dems Silent After New Revelations About Jack Smith’s Spying Ops On Political Enemies

The people who cheered on Jack Smith’s corrupt investigations into Donald Trump and his allies are suddenly silent after a bombshell report detailing the Biden FBI’s politically-charged spying ops.

Reuters this week reported the Democrat-led FBI subpoenaed records of phone calls made by current FBI Director Kash Patel and Susie Wiles, Trump’s campaign manager who now serves as his White House chief of Staff, in 2022 and 2023 when they were private citizens. Two anonymous FBI officials told the publication that the agency “recorded a phone call between Wiles and her attorney” in 2023. 

Patel told Reuters that the clandestine, taxpayer-funded operation “extended into Wiles’ time as Trump’s co-campaign manager.” 

Special Counsel Jack’s Smith’s “indiscriminate” election case against Trump, as Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has described it, was drenched in partisan politics and constitutional transgressions, not the least of which is that Smith acted without without lawful authority. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ruled in July 2024 that Smith’s appointment was unlawful. 

Smith, appointed in 2022 by Democrat hatchet man, Attorney General Merrick Garland, was charged with investigating Trump on allegations that the president schemed to “overturn” the results of the rigged 2020 election in which Democrat Joe Biden claimed victory. The antecedent of that probe was “Arctic Frost,” the Biden FBI’s vendetta investigation targeting Republicans in Trump’s orbit, The Federalist’s Margot Cleveland has reported.

Patel called the latest revelations of the agency’s wider spying operations “outrageous and deeply alarming.” He told Reuters in a statement that previous FBI leadership used “flimsy pretexts” and buried the process in “prohibited case files designed to evade all oversight.” 

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Mamdani Twists Himself Into a Pretzel as He Defends Requiring ID to Shovel Snow in New York City 

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani actually defended the ID requirement to shovel snow in New York City.

Mamdani came under fire after the last ‘Snowpocalypse’ in New York City left piles of dirty snow on the streets for weeks.

Another blizzard is expected to dump approximately two feet of snow in New York City and this time Mamdani urged New Yorkers to help shovel the snow.

However, they must show two forms of ID!

Mayor Zohran Mamdani said during a press conference on Saturday that the city is preparing for what could be its most significant snowfall in nearly a decade.

“For those who want to do more to help their neighbors and earn some extra cash, you too can become an emergency snow shoveler,” Mamdani said.

”Just show up at your local sanitation garage between 8 am and 1 pm tomorrow with your paperwork,” he added.

The Department of Sanitation said shovelers are paid $19.14 per hour, with overtime at $28.71 per hour after 40 hours – but multiple forms of ID must be presented in order to qualify to be a shoveler!

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Mayor Mamdani Urges New Yorkers to Help Shovel Snow — But They Must Show Two Forms of ID!

New York City officials are looking to hire 1,000 emergency snow shovelers as a major winter storm moves toward the region.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani said during a press conference on Saturday that the city is preparing for what could be its most significant snowfall in nearly a decade.

“For those who want to do more to help their neighbors and earn some extra cash, you too can become an emergency snow shoveler,” Mamdani said.

”Just show up at your local sanitation garage between 8 am and 1 pm tomorrow with your paperwork,” he added.

Workers will be transported by vans and buses beginning Sunday night to clear bus stops, crosswalks, fire hydrants, and other public areas.

The Department of Sanitation said shovelers are paid $19.14 per hour, with overtime at $28.71 per hour after 40 hours.

However, netizens pointed out that applicants are required to present two forms of identification, despite Mamdani and the Democratic Party’s fervent opposition to Republican-backed voter ID mandates.

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Hakeem Jeffries Suddenly Discovers Border Security as 2026 Panic Sets In 

In a visit to Laredo, Texas, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries attempted to rebrand himself as a supporter of “strong, safe, and secure borders.”

The messaging shift was striking, not because border security is controversial, but because it conflicts with years of Democrat resistance to enforcement policies that would meaningfully achieve that goal.

Standing alongside Henry Cuellar, Jeffries emphasized the importance of U.S.–Mexico trade, the renewal of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, and the economic harm caused by tariffs and ICE enforcement actions at worksites.

Laredo’s mayor highlighted the city’s role as a major port of entry and a central hub in the bilateral commercial relationship.

Jeffries followed with familiar Democrat language about “shared prosperity,” humane enforcement, and the need for stability and certainty.

The rhetorical pivot came when Jeffries declared support for “strong, safe, and secure borders.” That phrase has been a cornerstone of Republican messaging for years, particularly under President Donald Trump, who built his first and second administrations around border enforcement, physical barriers, and expanded deportations.

For much of the Biden administration, Democrat leadership dismissed those policies as excessive, unnecessary, or politically motivated.

Now, facing public frustration over record encounters at the southern border and mounting pressure in swing districts, Democrat leaders appear eager to sound like moderates.

The substance, however, tells a different story. Jeffries criticized ICE for conducting worksite enforcement operations and suggested that agents were targeting “law-abiding immigrant families.”

He called for independent investigations and argued that the Department of Justice could not be trusted to oversee enforcement actions fairly. The mayor echoed opposition to a border wall, stating that the focus should be on “bridges” rather than barriers.

This approach reflects the core tension within the Democrat position. Leaders publicly endorse border security while opposing the very tools required to enforce immigration law at scale.

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EU Defends Censorship Law While Commission Staff Shift to Auto-Deleting Signal Messages

A senior European Union official responsible for enforcing online speech rules is objecting to what he describes as intimidation by Washington, even as his own agency advances policies that expand state involvement in digital expression and private communications.

Speaking Monday at the University of Amsterdam, Prabhat Agarwal, who leads enforcement of the Digital Services Act at the European Commission, urged regulators and civil society groups not to retreat under pressure from the United States. His remarks followed the February 3 release of a report by the US House Judiciary Committee that included the names and email addresses of staff involved in enforcing and promoting Europe’s censorship laws.

“Don’t let yourself be scared. We at the Commission stand by the European civil society organizations that have been threatened, and we stand by our teams as well,” Agarwal said, as reported by Politico.

The report’s publication came shortly after Washington barred a former senior EU official and two civil society representatives from entering the United States. European officials interpreted those moves as an effort to deter implementation of the DSA, the bloc’s flagship content regulation framework governing large online platforms.

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Thomas Massie, Who Loves to Talk About His ‘Principles,’ Just Made Quite the Admission to Politico

Thomas Massie gave an interview to Politico yesterday, in which the publication said he goes “toe-to-toe” with high-ranking members of the Trump administration including Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Attorney General Pam Bondi.

There was one passage that stood out among many conservatives, one that dealt a major blow to the claims that Massie is operating on principles. Namely, Massie’s vote was contingent on whether or not Speaker Mike Johnson would publicly praise him for releasing the Epstein files.

“One day, they needed my vote, and I offered to give them my vote if he would issue a press release thanking me for my good work on the Epstein Files Transparency Act. That’s all I required to get my vote. And I think he probably went and gave somebody else a bill to pass instead of doing the public statement,” Massie told Politico.

Wow.

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Senators Talk Digital Freedom for Iran While Expanding Surveillance at Home

Three US senators want federal funding to help Iranians bypass censorship and access VPNs. The same three senators have spent years supporting the surveillance systems that track Americans online.

We obtained a copy of their letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio for you here.

Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), James Lankford (R-OK), and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) are backing funding for anti-censorship technology and virtual private networks abroad.

Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), whose privacy record is largely clean, is also supporting the effort. The bipartisan coalition wants to help people circumvent government internet controls. Just not the American government’s internet controls.

Graham’s voting record reads like a blueprint for the surveillance state he claims to oppose overseas. He voted for the Patriot Act in 2001 and has supported every major expansion since. When Section 702 of FISA came up for reauthorization, Graham backed it. When Congress considered making Section 702 permanent in 2017 with no sunset clauses and no congressional review, Graham backed that too.

His encryption stance is just as consistent. Graham co-sponsored the EARN IT Act in 2020, which would pressure platforms to weaken encryption to avoid liability.

He also backed the Lawful Access to Encrypted Data (LAED) Act, a bill that would require companies to build backdoors into their security systems. VPNs work because of encryption. Graham has spent years trying to break it.

He’s also pushed to repeal Section 230 protections and supported requiring government licenses for companies offering AI tools. When surveillance mechanisms he championed caught his own communications, Graham complained. Privacy for senators. Mass surveillance for everyone else.

Lankford introduced the Free Speech Fairness Act, which removed restrictions on political speech by religious and nonprofit organizations. That same senator has backed the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which will likely require platforms to implement age verification and give regulators the power to pressure companies into removing content.

He called for Section 230 to be “ripped up” and backed a national strategy against antisemitism that includes government coordination on speech. When Edward Snowden revealed the scope of NSA surveillance, Lankford branded him a traitor for telling the public what their government was doing.

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Arizona Senators Take Up Bills To Criminalize ‘Excessive’ Marijuana Smoke, Even On Private Property

Arizona lawmakers are considering at a pair of measures that would make the act of creating “excessive” amounts of marijuana smoke a nuisance crime punishable by jail time, even if the person is using cannabis in compliance with state law in their own homes.

Sen. J.D. Mesnard (R) is sponsoring the two proposals—one that would amend state statute legislatively that would put the issue before voters at the ballot. Members of the Senate Judiciary and Elections Committee are set to consider the proposals this week.

The lawmaker said he decided to push the issue due to the smell of marijuana in his own neighborhood.

Both versions of Mesnard’s legislation stipulate that “it is presumed that a person who creates excessive marijuana smoke and odor causes a condition that endangers the safety or health of others.”

The reason behind having both a proposed bill and resolution is related to the potential legal challenges of lawmakers changing the voter-approved marijuana legalization law.

The legislation would establish “a presumption that the creation of excessive marijuana smoke and odor is injurious to health, indecent, offensive to the senses and an obstruction to the free use of property that interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property,” a summary of the proposal says.

If enacted, the loosely defined offense of creating “excessive” marijuana smoke under the bill and resolution would be considered a class 3 misdemeanor, punishable by up to 30 days in jail, a maximum $500 fine and up to one year of probation.

“I’m hearing from some people that, depending on their neighbor situation, they may not be able to have their kids go outside because the marijuana smoke is so potent,” Mesnard, the sponsor, said. “It can even creep into your own house or, in my case, into my garage.”

“But experiencing now what’s happened, even in my own neighborhood, is a pretty frustrating situation,” he told The Arizona Daily Star. “You should be responsible neighbors if you’re going to smoke pot… It can be a real issue for families, especially with kids.”

Asked about the seeming double standard given that no such nuisance offenses exist for smoking cigarettes or cigars on a private property, the senator said, “I’ll concede I hadn’t thought about it.”

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