Press Secretary on Maternity Leave

Karoline Leavitt Announces Maternity Leave: ‘Ready to Have a Baby Any Minute’

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Friday that she is stepping away for maternity leave as she prepares to welcome her second child, a girl. 

Her departure sets up a temporary shake-up in the White House briefing room as the administration maps out who will speak in her place.

Leavitt also joked that reporters would not be short on news while she is gone.

“I know you’ll be in very good hands with my team here at the White House,” she said.

“And I know all of you have the president’s phone number personally, so I have no doubt that you will have a shortage of statements and news from this building while I am gone,” she added.

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California Fraud

Evening Sky 4-24-26

Impeachment failed. Raiding Mar-a-Lago failed. Lawfare failed. Assassination failed. Now President Trump is winning on foreign policy and Barack Obama is furious. He is doing all he can to save Iran as his hopes of a Marxist-Muslim coalition conquering the world fade with every missile that lands on the IRGC.

Obama still has a phone and a pen. He knows the number to No. 10 Downing Street in London as well as the number to the cellphone of every other puppet head in Europe. The Vatican has a pope from Chicago who also is a promoter of this Axis of Vile. David Axelrod very publicly briefed him—likely after secret meetings.

President Trump winning in Iran grates Obama for 3 reasons:

• First, it denies Iran the atom bomb.
• Second, it hinders Marxists (including Red China) and Muslims from dominating the world.
• Third, it is personal for Obama because for 35 years he has treated Trump as a mortal enemy—long before they met. [Don Surber]

Good Night, Patriots!

Mojtaba Khamenei with serious injuries

Iran's new Supreme Leader reportedly needs plastic surgery after Israeli airstrikes left him severely disfigured

Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's new Supreme Leader, has not appeared in public or released a single audio or video message since assuming power, and now a New York Times report explains why.

The 56-year-old ayatollah's face and lips were severely burned in the February 28 Israeli airstrikes that killed his father, and he reportedly requires plastic surgery and a prosthetic leg before he can show himself to his own people, let alone the world.

The injuries are not cosmetic inconveniences. One of Khamenei's legs has been operated on three times and is expected to be replaced with a prosthetic, the New York Post reported. He reportedly struggles to speak.

Four Iranian officials told the Times that Khamenei does not want to appear vulnerable or sound weak, so instead, he has vanished from view entirely.

That vanishing act has real consequences. U.S.-Iran peace talks have stalled, and the White House says the reason is simple: nobody in Tehran can speak with authority for a regime whose leader communicates through handwritten messages ferried by couriers.

Read more about Mojtaba Khamenei

NYC Democrat Socialist Council member arrested

NYC Council member Chi Ossé arrested while blocking lawful eviction in Brooklyn

New York City Council Member Chi Ossé was thrown to the ground and arrested by NYPD officers in Brooklyn on Wednesday after he physically blocked law enforcement from carrying out a court-ordered eviction, according to police and video footage of the incident.

The 28-year-old democratic socialist, a close ally of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, now faces charges of obstruction of governmental administration and disorderly conduct.

The arrest, captured on video that spread quickly across social media, drew immediate support from Mamdani and other city Democrats.

But the NYPD's account of the confrontation tells a different story than the one Ossé and his allies are selling, one in which a sitting elected official pushed past officers, defied repeated warnings, and physically resisted arrest while marshals tried to execute a signed judicial order. [AmericanAlmanac.com]

From $30 Million to $95,000 After Congress Came Knocking

Top Oversight Official Puts Felony Question in Play Over Ilhan Omar’s Finances

Ilhan Omar spent years lecturing Americans about greed, corruption, and the rigged system protecting the powerful.

Now her own financial records are under federal scrutiny.

What Comer found in her amended disclosure is what's putting her in serious legal jeopardy. The facts are not in dispute.

Omar's 2024 congressional financial disclosure listed her and husband Tim Mynett with assets between $6 million and $30 million.

After the Office of Congressional Conduct requested additional information earlier this year, Omar filed an amended disclosure. The new number: between $18,004 and $95,000.

Twenty-nine million dollars – gone. Accounting error, her office said.

Read about Omar

Jamie Brown jerked around for way too long

Lake Worth Beach interim city manager resigns amid ongoing search for permanent leader

Jamie Brown will return to his role as public works director while Troy Perry takes over as interim city manager

"Tonight will be my final night as the interim city manager. I think it’s the right time," Brown said. "We’ve still got a lot of work to do and I am hopeful the next person up here is ready to work."

Some city leaders have voiced over the last few months that they'd like to see Brown be offered the full-time position. However, after months of discussion and differing opinions among commissioners, Brown said he was not going to apply.

"When it was brought up last week that there could be internal candidates, now that the position has been posted and I am not going to be applying obviously, I've been pretty vocal about that, if there are other possibilities, I obviously don't want to stand in the way of that," Brown said.

Lake Worth Beach has not had a permanent city manager since December 2023, a span of more than two years.

The permanent position will pay between $285,000 to $345,000 a year, making it one of the highest-paid city manager jobs in Palm Beach County.

Read about it...

Florida ranks first in Economic Performance

Florida ranks as one of strongest state economies in new report

Florida ranked as one of the country’s highest-performing state economies in the latest “Rich States, Poor States” report, placing first in the report’s backward-looking Economic Performance Ranking and 10th in its forward-looking Economic Outlook Ranking.

Published by the American Legislative Exchange Council, the report measures economic performance using three indicators over the past decade: state gross domestic product growth, non-farm payroll employment growth and absolute domestic migration.

On the backward-looking measure, Florida finished first overall. The state ranked first in absolute domestic migration with a net gain of 2,512,566 residents, third in cumulative state GDP growth at 98.30% and fourth in cumulative non-farm payroll employment growth at 24.49%.

Those results put Florida ahead of Arizona, which ranked second overall, Idaho, which ranked third, Utah, which ranked fourth, and Nevada, which ranked fifth in the performance index.

The report’s data suggests Florida’s top overall finish was driven by strength across all three categories rather than by a single outlier metric, with especially strong in-migration figures distinguishing it from most other states.

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SPLC’s Ben Carson on their Extremist File List

SPLC’s Ben Carson Blunder Resurfaces

The Southern Poverty Law Center’s old decision to place Dr. Ben Carson on its “Extremist File” is back in the spotlight. The move, made in 2014, sparked a wave of criticism at the time and still stands out as one of the group’s most controversial calls.

Carson was not some fringe political agitator. He was a widely known pediatric neurosurgeon with a long medical career and a strong public reputation. That is part of why the label hit so many people the wrong way. To a lot of observers, calling him an extremist seemed wildly out of step with reality.

After the backlash grew, the SPLC pulled the profile down. It also issued an apology and said the entry did not meet its standards. The group said it had reviewed the file and decided it should not have been posted.

Even so, it still suggested that Carson’s views should be watched closely.

Read about Ben...

Iran the Pinocchio for peace

Spanberger

Evening Sky 4-23-26

This is déjà vu—but it’s also a blueprint.

When Democrats don’t like the scoreboard, they rewrite the rules.

Mid-cycle redistricting, ballot language games, “independent” commissions neutered after the fact—it’s all part of the same playbook. Dress it up as “fairness,” sell it with slick summaries, then ram through maps that predetermine outcomes.

That’s not governance—that’s engineering the electorate. And every time they pull it off, they push the system a little further from legitimacy. Because elections aren’t just about votes—they’re about trust. And once trust is gamed, the damage doesn’t stay local. It spreads. [Luthmann]

Good Night, Patriots!

The New White House ballroom

Federal Appeals Court Just Overruled the Judge Who Tried to Stop Trump’s White House Ballroom

Judge Richard Leon blocked it Thursday night. The DC Circuit put his order on hold Friday night.

And construction resumed before most people even knew it had stopped.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed suit in December to stop the ballroom – arguing Trump needed congressional approval before breaking ground.

The organization suing the president is legally required to seat his own Attorney General on its board.

Trump called them "a Radical Left Group of Lunatics."

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Zany Tim Walz

Minnesota Gov. Walz’s ‘Small Town PAC’ Draws Mockery Amid Fraud Scandal, Foreign Criticism

There’s an old rule in small-town America: if a man burns your barn down, you don’t let him bid on the rebuild. Somebody should pass that along to Tim Walz.

It’s been a rough stretch for Minnesota’s governor — though “rough” might be generous. The former high school football coach turned congressman turned 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee has spent the last year and a half watching his political brand curdle in real time. The massive fraud scandal on his watch — billions in taxpayer dollars siphoned through sham daycare operations — eventually forced him to abandon his re-election bid.

When Minnesota Republicans tried to impeach him and Attorney General Keith Ellison over it, Democratic legislators closed ranks and killed the effort. So much for accountability.

Then came the overseas tour. Just weeks ago, Walz appeared at a leftist political forum in Spain and called President Trump a “feeble-minded, trigger-happy president” who “plunged us into a war where no threat was present.” He labeled the Iran conflict “fascist-curious.”

This while American servicemembers were actively deployed. There was a time when politicians understood you don’t trash a sitting commander-in-chief on foreign soil during military operations. Walz apparently missed that day in class.

So what does a governor with collapsing rural approval ratings, a fraud scandal around his neck, a state that fought federal immigration enforcement at every turn, and a fresh reputation for badmouthing his country abroad do next? He launches a political action committee called the “Small Town PAC.”

You read that correctly. The man whose progressive policies drove rural Minnesota voters away in historic numbers now wants to be the Democrat Party’s ambassador to small-town America.

Read more about the Goofball

What Chip Roy's MAMDANI Act Does to Socialist Immigrants

Chip Roy Just Introduced a Bill to Deport Zohran Mamdani and Everyone Like Him

Zohran Mamdani posted photos with an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

That socialist is now the sitting mayor of New York City.

Chip Roy just introduced a bill to make sure that never happens again. The legislation is called the MAMDANI Act, and the name is not subtle.

Roy's bill amends existing immigration law to bar admission, naturalization, and permanent residency to any alien who advocates for, belongs to, or is affiliated with a communist party, socialist party, Chinese communist party, Islamic fundamentalist party, or any organization promoting Marxism, socialism, communism, or Islamic fundamentalism.

It doesn't stop there

Southern Poverty Law Center Indicted on 11 Counts

'MASSIVE!' Feds indict SPLC for using donor money to pay white supremacists to stage 'hate crimes'

'Was not dismantling these groups. It was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred'

A federal grand jury in Alabama has delivered an 11-count indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center, the now-scandal ridden activist group that came to fame by suing Ku Klux Klan organizations into bankruptcy.

Its next agenda was to incorrectly describe those with beliefs it disliked, Christians with pro-life and traditional marriage views, as "hate" organizations.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced indictment against Southern Poverty Law Center ("SPLC"). The indictment alleges SPLC secretly funneled MORE THAN $3 MILLION in funds to members of white supremacist and extremist groups.

"The SPLC is a nonprofit entity that purports to fight white supremacy and racial hatred by reporting on extremist groups and conducting research to inform law enforcement groups with the goal of dismantling these groups," Todd Blanche, acting attorney general, confirmed.

Read about the real "hate" group

"The SPLC was not dismantling these groups. It was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred." The charges include six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy.

FBI Severed Ties: In October 2025, FBI Director Kash Patel severed ties with the SPLC, labeling it a "partisan smear machine" that used its "hate map" to defame mainstream groups. The SPLC lists Act for America as a hate group.

Guilty on 25 out of 27 Ethics Violations

Indicted Democrat Cherfilus-McCormick resigns from Congress minutes before ethics hearing

Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick quit the House on Tuesday afternoon, minutes before a House Ethics Committee hearing was set to recommend sanctions against her and days before a near-certain expulsion vote.

The Florida Democrat, facing a 15-count federal criminal indictment over an alleged $5 million FEMA fraud scheme, posted her resignation on social media and was not on the House floor when it was read aloud.

Her exit marks the third congressional resignation in a single week--Democrat Eric Swalwell and Republican Tony Gonzales, and ends a saga that saw bipartisan calls for her removal, a grand jury indictment, and an ethics panel finding that she committed 25 of 27 alleged violations. The timing, just before the committee could formally act, stripped the panel of jurisdiction and spared Cherfilus-McCormick a public sanctions hearing.

House Ethics Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., confirmed the committee lost its authority the moment she resigned.

"In light of Ms. McCormick's resignation earlier today, the Committee on Ethics has now lost jurisdiction on this matter. There will not be a sanctions hearing."

The ethics case against Cherfilus-McCormick stretched more than two years. Committee staff reviewed tens of thousands of documents before the panel found in March what it called "clear and convincing evidence" that the congresswoman misused federal disaster relief money improperly paid to her family's healthcare company.

Federal prosecutors allege she stole $5 million in FEMA relief funds through the company and used some of the money to support her 2022 special election campaign.

A special House Ethics Committee panel ultimately found her guilty on 25 of 27 ethics violations after a lengthy investigation, including campaign finance-related misconduct tied to millions of dollars routed through businesses and family members.

Read about this Democrat

She won in a special election to fill Alcee Hastings seat.

Early Morn 4-23-26

A few minutes later--

Judge Blocks Virginia's Referendum - Republicans Celebrate Court Win

Virginia Court Rules Democrat Redistricting Vote Unconstitutional in Major GOP Win

President Trump scored a major victory in Virginia after a judge blocked Democrats’ newly approved redistricting referendum, stopping a map that could have gutted Republican House strength in the state.

The ruling handed Republicans an immediate legal win and threw Democrats’ sweeping power play into chaos just hours after voters approved it.

Virginia Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley ruled Wednesday that the redistricting referendum was unconstitutional. The decision came one day after voters approved the Democrat-backed measure. Hurley found that all votes for or against the proposed amendment were invalid because the referendum did not meet required legal standards.

The ruling immediately froze Democrats’ effort to move the new map forward. It also showed that the legal fight over the referendum is far from over.

Republicans quickly hailed the ruling as a major breakthrough and Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced that the court had blocked certification of the election. “The Tazewell Circuit Court just ruled the referendum unconstitutional,” Cuccinelli wrote on X.

Read about it...

Iran's Peace Process