Access to safe and clean water is essential to every household. However, not everyone is aware of the contaminants that might be found in their water sources. Tap water, whether from municipal sources or wells, can often contain contaminants that not only affect taste and quality but also can increase the risk for disease. Because […]

'A federal remedy'

'We don't have no problem having Trump here'

'Worst attack on the Court'

A post shared on Facebook claims that actor Mark Wahlberg denied an opportunity to be part of a $2 billion Disney project. Verdict: False A viral meme shared on Facebook with the same claim is labeled as satire. No reputable sources have reported on this claim. Fact Check: Social media users have been claiming that […]

Our Top 10 Rita Coolidge Songs list looks back at the songs of a brilliant female vocalist who specialized in her own interpretations of classic songs across all musical genres. Covering songs written by artists such as Neil Young, Carole King, Boz Scaggs, and so many others, Rita Coolidge has enjoyed a very successful musical career since the early 1970s. Rita Coolidge is a Grammy Award-winning artist and one of a few select who have had the privilege of singing a James Bond theme song. An honor usually reserved for the hot artist at the time of release. Before she enjoyed The post Top 10 Rita Coolidge Songs appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

Did New York Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat and former police captain, accept foreign bribes and foreign campaign contributions? That’s the key issue in the federal indictment of New York’s mayor just handed down by a federal grand jury led by Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. The indictment charges Adams with five felonies under federal law that could result in his spending a long time in prison, including wire fraud, solicitation and receipt of campaign contributions from a foreign national, and outright bribery.  The indictment claims that when Adams became Brooklyn borough president in 2014, he “sought and accepted … valuable benefits, such as luxury international travel” from  “wealthy foreign businesspeople including at least one Turkish government official seeking to gain influence over him.”  In 2018, when Adams made public his plan to run for mayor, the indictment alleges that he “not only accepted but sought illegal campaign contributions to his 2021 mayoral campaign, as well as other things of value, from foreign nationals.” As Adams’ “prominence and power grew” and it became clear that he was going to become mayor of the Big Apple, those “foreign-national benefactors sought to cash in on the corrupt relationship,” the indictment alleges. It claims that Adams agreed, “providing favorable treatment” and “granting requests” from them. The indictment describes an elaborate scheme to hide illegal foreign campaign contributions as well as corporate donations and individual donations exceeding the legal limits.  “Overseas contributors” used “straw donors,” U.S. nationals who falsely claimed they were making the donations that actually were from foreign nationals. Businesses evaded a ban on corporate contributions by using their employees to make those contributions, reimbursing the employees through corporate accounts. And “wealthy individuals” also used straw donors to evade laws “restricting the amount any one person can donate to a candidate,” the indictment says. Adams also is accused of defrauding the City of New York through its public funding program for political campaigns.  The city has a program that “matches small-dollar contributions from individual city residents with up to eight times their amount in public funds.”  The indictment claims that Adams applied for matching funds for the straw donor contributions he received, despite knowing they were fraudulent donations. The result?  Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign received $10 million in public funds that he shouldn’t have gotten. The indictment says that the same Turkish government official who funneled illegal campaign contributions to Adams, referred to in the indictment as a “senior official in the Turkish diplomatic establishment,” also arranged “free or discounted travel on Turkey’s national airline.” The official also arranged “free rooms at opulent hotels, free meals at high-end restaurants, and free luxurious entertainment” for Adams “and his companions” in Turkey, the indictment says.  Adams’ passport must have quite a number of U.S. Customs stamps in it, since the “free or discounted” travel apparently included trips to “France, China, Sri Lanka, India, Hungary, and Turkey itself.” To illustrate the “opulent hotels,” the indictment contains photos of some of the hotels Adams stayed in, including two photos of the Bentley Suite bedroom and bathroom at the St. Regis Hotel in Istanbul.  Adams paid less than $600 for a suite that normally costs $7,000 for two nights, the indictment alleges. An essential part of the government’s prosecution is the claim that Adams not only knew about all of this, but that he “and others working at his direction, repeatedly took steps to shield his solicitation and acceptance of these benefits from public scrutiny.”  Those efforts, the indictment alleges, included not disclosing the travel benefits he received on the city’s required annual financial disclosure form as well as creating “fake paper trails, falsely suggesting he had paid” for the travel benefits his generous overseas benefactor financed.  The mayor also was apparently diligent in deleting “messages with others involved in his misconduct” to destroy evidence, although the indictment is replete with email and text messages captured by government investigators. Part of the quid pro quo for all of these benefits, according to the indictment, was the Turkish official telling Adams that he had to override the New York Fire Department in order “to facilitate the opening of a new Turkish consular building” without a fire inspection “in time for a high-profile visit by Turkey’s president.”  “Adams did as instructed,” the indictment says, and the responsible fire official “was told that he would lose his job if he failed to acquiesce.”  The building was allowed to open. If the scheme had not worked, the indictment alleges, the “building would have failed an FDNY inspection.”  The indictment also alleges that Adams successfully intervened on behalf of others who illegally funneled money to him, such as a businessman who wanted help with the city’s “Department of Buildings.” The five criminal counts against Adams allege violations of 18 U.S.C. §1342 and §1343; 52 U.S.C. §30121 and §30109; and 18 U.S.C. §2 and §666. These federal statutes cover conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, federal program bribery, soliciting and receiving campaign donations from foreign nationals, and plain, old-fashioned bribery. If you’re wondering how a federal prosecutor has jurisdiction over campaign contributions being made to a local mayoral campaign, it is because 52 U.S.C. §30121 bans all political contributions by foreigners in federal, state, and local elections.  Congress has the constitutional authority for this because of its power over foreign aliens and immigration, which includes the ability to keep them out of all of our elections, not just federal elections. In the final paragraph of the indictment, the government asks for forfeiture by Adams of “all property, real and personal, that constitutes or is derived from proceeds traceable to the commission” of his misdeeds. That means that in addition to long jail time, Adams—if convicted—could be on the hook for millions of dollars in criminal forfeiture and civil penalties. No one should doubt that these are very serious, very substantial charges, although Adams is presumed to be innocent until he is found guilty or decides to plead guilty. But all of the information in the indictment seems to indicate that federal prosecutors and agents conducted an in-depth, thorough investigation. If Adams decides to fight the charges instead of trying to negotiate a plea deal with the government, we may be looking at a very long, very expensive process before the case is resolved. The post Did New York’s Mayor Accept Foreign Bribes and Campaign Contributions? appeared first on The Daily Signal.

What a Shame: China's Newest Nuclear Submarine Sank

The Brainwashing of Democrat Kids Is Frightening

The Dallas Observer — a digital site with a weekly print edition — published an item Tuesday hilariously claiming two ads (here and here) by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) were misleading in claims about his Democratic opponent and Congressman Colin Allred’s (D-TX) support for men being allowed in girls’ bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports. The piece broke down in two parts. The first fixated on an ad with the announcer stating “Colin Allred opposed protecting women’s sports,” and “Colin Allred voted to allow boys in girls’ sports.” In a section entitled “THE FACTS,” news editor Kelly Dearmore noted these claims were made with footnotes below for a House Republican-led bill in 2023: In the commercial, House Resolution 734 from 2023 is noted under both of these claims. Named “The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023,” HR 734 passed the House of Representatives along a party line vote of 219 Republican “yeas” to 203 Democratic “nays.” The bill aimed to place a ban on transgender students from participating on a team based on their current gender identity. Of course, he noted this “was roundly opposed by Democratic officials and progressive advocacy groups,” but gave a cartoonish explanation for why. He argued it failed to “tak[e] into account competitive levels, grade levels or particular sports” and that President Biden would veto it. After a Hummer-sized paragraph touting the White House statement opposing it on the grounds of it exacerbating “a nationwide mental health crisis” for “transgender youth” and thus push many already “seriously consider[ing] suicide.” Ah, yes. The tiresome excuse of supporting men taking over women’s sports out of a fear of mass suicides. But, wait, there was more. Dearmore did what liberal journalists so often do in explaining away far left position in being weirdly obtuse: “Allred hasn’t stated on the record that he does not want to protect women’s sports or that he wants to allow boys into girls sports. He voted against HR 734 and its sweeping ban, something that more than 200 other Democrats in the U.S. House did as well.” The second part unfolded in the same manner. An ad’s narrator said “Colin Allred voted to allow boys in girls’ bathrooms,” and “Colin Allred voted to allow boys in girls’ locker rooms.” As per our friends at National Review, the Equality Act would have, in fact, done just that, but Dearmore chose not to mention that. Dearmore acknowledged the Cruz ad was bolstered by a footnote of Allred’s yes vote for the House Democrat-shepherded Equality Act in 2021. He again gave a long runway for a charitable reading of the bill: “This bill prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in areas including public accommodations and facilities, education, federal funding, employment, housing, credit, and the jury system,” reads a summary of the act on Congress’s official website. “Specifically, the bill defines and includes sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity among the prohibited categories of discrimination or segregation.” Conservatives decried the passage as an attack on religious freedom and far too sweeping in favor of transgender citizens. Earth to Dearmore: What do you think “public accommodations and facilities” mean? Noting Allred was “an original co-sponsor,” Dearmore added Allred said in a statement he supported the bill not to put men in girls’ bathrooms, changing rooms, and sports, but rather so that “no American” could “be discriminated against because of who they are or who they love” and “LGBTQ Americans” being able to “live” with “protections under federal law.” What Dearmore conveniently left out was Allred’s support of The Transgender Bill of Rights resolution, which would give transgender students the right to choose without any discussion the locker room and teams of their choosing. Dearmore saved the dumbest line for last: In short, Allred didn’t vote to “allow boys into girls’ sports” or to “allow boys into girls’ locker rooms,” but rather to secure civil rights protections for LGBTQ citizens, according to his on-record statements regarding the bill. Is Dearmore sore? He must be from the grossly painful contortions he twisted himself into for this logic to pan out.