Kamala Harris' Unhinged Speech; UPDATE: Trump Responds

Exhausted: New Harris/Forbes Poll Puts Kamala Down Eight In Battleground States

Nate Silver: It's a 50-50 Race but My Gut Says Trump

The United Nations, of all groups, is surprisingly standing up for female athletes. Well, at least one of their representatives is. A recent UN report titled “Violence Against Women” reveals female athletes have lost nearly 900 medals to men competing in women's sporting categories. “According to information received, by 30 March 2024, over 600 female athletes in more than 400 competitions have lost more than 890 medals in 29 different sports,” the report, covered by the New York Post, added. “That is just the number that has been reported and accounted for,” Women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines reacted in an interview with Fox & Friends Wednesday morning.  Despite the number being “shocking to your average person,” Gaines told Fox even just “one girl” cheated in her sport by a biological male is “one girl too many.” She highlighted females “being exploited in locker rooms,” and “injured in their sport.” Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls who complied the report agrees.   She considers “any country that allows biological men to compete in women’s sports is allowing violence against women.” “Women and girls already have many odds stacked against them that impede their equal and effective participation in sports,” Alsalem, who presented her report to the UN General Assembly, said. She added that “their ability to play sport in conditions of safety, dignity and fairness has been further eroded by the intrusion of males who identify as female in female-only sports and related spaces.” It doesn’t matter that some sport federations limit the testosterone levels of men competing against women, Alsalem asserts. This “will not eliminate the set of comparative performance advantages they have already acquired,” she explained.

ABC’s Good Morning America went full bore against half the country on Wednesday, going all out with over 10 minutes (10:28) of hyperbolic tailspins eagerly touting as fact wild claims from former White House chief of staff John Kelly that Donald Trump is a fascist, danger to democracy and the American people, and enthralled with Adolf Hitler. In turn, they hurled nothing but venom toward Trump and his supporters as they were calmly soothed by Vice President Harris’s camp. Co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos — who views defeating Trump as a duty — gushed over the “truly extraordinary breaking news this morning” of Kelly “speaking out with things you have never heard before from someone who has served a president.” “He says Donald Trump fits the definition of a fascist. He says Donald Trump praised Adolf Hitler, demeaned American war heroes, calls Donald Trump a man who would govern like a dictator if allowed,” he added. Fact-check: Pants on fire. A simple internet search would reveal Kelly first leveled these claims in August 2022 in a book for liberal elitist snobs Peter Baker and Susan Glasser and doubled down in March 2024 to CNN tool and former Obama official Jim Sciutto.     Correspondent Rachel Scott — who has a idolatrous level of hate for Trump — eagerly shared that Kelly has “paint[ed] a picture of a former President and Republican nominee who has no regard for the Constitution or rule of law, warning that he would rule as a dictator if he could” and a “fascist”. Scott not only invoked Kelly’s tall tales about Hitler, but implied Trump is pining for a genocide: “Kelly describing how Trump would praise Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, who orchestrated the systematic murder of six million Jews and caused World War II.” Scott left no stone unturned, playing one soundbite after another from Kelly’s phone conversations with The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg and The New York Times’s Michael Schmidt (who’s married to MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace) and gave zero time to anything Trump said Tuesday about the 2024 race (click “expand”): KELLY: He commented more than once that, you know, that Hitler did some of those things, too. SCOTT: Kelly’s on-the-record, first-hand accounts following similar reporting in The Atlantic, including a private conversation at the White House where, according to Kelly, Trump asked why his generals couldn’t “be more like” Hitler’s generals. KELLY: Well, I would tell him that, sir, you know, first of all you should never say that. But if you knew what Hitler was all about, from the beginning to the end, everything he did was in support of this racist, fascist, life, you know — the — you know, philosophy, so that nothing he did you could argue was good. SCOTT: The Trump campaign calling that an outrageous lie. Just as The New York Times published their interview with Kelly, Trump was on stage in Greensboro, North Carolina praising authoritarian leaders like Chinese President Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin. TRUMP: He’s smart. He’s a smart man. He’s a fierce man. I got along with him very well. Putin, these are people that are tough people. SCOTT: Kelly insisting to The Times, if given the chance, Trump would rule as a dictator himself. KELLY: Oh, I think he’d, you know, love to be just like he was in business. He could tell people to do things and they would do it and not really bother too much about whether — what the legalities were. SCOTT: Kelly also says Trump often questioned why people would serve the country in uniform and referred to service members who were injured or killed as losers and suckers multiple times, something the former President has repeatedly denied. KELLY: His not wanting to be seen with amputees — amputees that lost their limbs in defense of this country fighting for every American to — him included, to protect him, but didn’t want to be seen with them. SCOTT: Kelly, a retired four star marine general, who spent 45 years in uniform, lost his own son to combat in Afghanistan. He was handpicked by Trump to lead the Department of Homeland Security before serving as his longest chief of staff. TRUMP: General Kelly will go down, in terms of the position of chief of staff, one of the great ever. SCOTT: He says he made the decision to speak out now after Trump talked about using the military against what he calls the enemy within. TRUMP [on FNC’s Sunday Morning Futures, on 10/13/24]: I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think they’re the — should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard or, if really necessary, by the military. SCOTT: In a statement, the Trump campaign writing, “John Kelly has totally beclowned himself,” calling the stories “fabricated,” and adding “Trump has always honored the service and sacrifice of all of our military men and women.” Scott ended with a laughably absurd claim from Kelly: ABC’s Rachel Scott: “John Kelly insists he is not trying to tell people how to vote, but he is asking this country to consider character over policy, George.” George Stephanopoulos: “And that all comes from someone who served former President Trump.” pic.twitter.com/1bOV1a9gvC — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 23, 2024 After the two hurled more invective (this time about rumored Attorney General candidates) at a man who’s been nearly assassinated twice, ABC gave a few moments to the fluff the pillows of Harris’s campaign. Of course, Mary Bruce obliged: Here was as sample of how ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ covered the Kamala Harris campaign in between its two opening segments oozing over John Kelly. Mary Bruce -- Disney's in-house North Korean news lady for Kamala Harris -- was on the case, fawning over Harris being “focused… pic.twitter.com/7vftsgobhR — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 23, 2024 Bruce was so predictable that she had to end with celebrities, cheering the Obamas and Bruce Springsteen. Stephanopoulos took back control of what would be nearly 10 minutes straight of campaign coverage and brought in three-time anti-Trump author Jonathan Karl for more fear-mongering. “One of the things you’ve reported in your books. I have reported it in my book as well. We’ve seen it again today: some of the most damning critiques of Donald Trump’s character and competence come from those who served in these top national security positions,” Stephanopoulos solemnly huffed. Karl has more money to bank in book sales to Resistance liberals, so he needs more grist to keep readers hiding under their covers and lamented “[t]he most damning critiques of Donald Trump and the most dire warnings about what it would mean if he came back into the White House came from people who served him closest in his administration in the most sensitive and important positions.” He even came with a graphic of former officials who’ve, at a minimum, voiced dismay with Trump.     For good measure, Karl trotted out another anonymous source who believes Trump is guilty of treason. Karl obviously ignored how the implication of that would be such a crime would be punishable by death (click “expand”): Let me just go through a few of them. I’ve written them down so I don’t leave any out, but I’m going to leave some out because there are a lot. Obviously, there are his former Vice President. There’s Rex Tillerson, who was his secretary of state, Bill Barr, who was attorney general, John Kelly, Mark Milley, Mark Esper, who was his defense secretary, Jim Mattis, who was his earlier defense secretary, Dan Coats who was in charge of the national intelligence. All of these people have come out to issue dire warnings about Donald Trump. And, George, it — I have to say, it’s not just the people who have come out publicly. A lot of others, and you can see they are not endorsing Trump, but they’re not speaking publicly. They are worried about feed back. Let just me read something that — an anonymous, very top official who spent every day time with Donald Trump, served many years in the administration, told me about Donald Trump: “Trump lacks any shred of any decency, humility, or caring. He is traitor and a malignancy on our nation and represents a clear and present danger to our democracy and rule of law.” Again, that is somebody who, just like Jon Kelly, who was with Trump every day for more than a year in the White House. Stephanopoulos had more anxiety to cause among his superficial audience, which ended with him telling Karl that, if Trump were to become president, “[t]he guardrails” of our democracy in these former officials would “be gone” (click “expand”): STEPHANOPOULOS: Traitor. Let’s put that graphic back up there cause I want to make a point here of when see that graphic of all the people who have surrounded Donald Trump, these are people who were in The Situation Room during the times of crisis. If Donald Trump is election [sic] again, none of those people will be there? KARL: Well, I have spoken to Trump many times about some of the people that have crossed him and I asked him what his next administration would be like. What he told me is he didn’t know anybody. He had to rely on advice to hire people last time. Now he knows people. He will put people in who are loyal to him. He will put people that will carry out his orders. STEPHANOPOULOS: The guardrails will be gone. Jon Karl, thanks very much. Robin. ROBERTS: Thank you, both. For good measure, Stephanopoulos reiterated the topline talking points in a news brief to begin the second half-hour and, for the second hour, he brought Scott and Bruce for more pom-pom waving. To see the relevant ABC transcript from October 23, click here.

The Department of Homeland Security has reportedly identified more than 600 immigrants currently in the United States who have possible ties to Tren de Aragua, a violent Venezuelan gang.According to data obtained and released by NBC News on Wednesday, approximately 100 of the individuals have been designated as “subjects of interest” after they were found to be confirmed gang members. The DHS advised the FBI to place those individuals on its watch list, officials told the news outlet. 'Almost disturbingly low.'It noted that after further review, the rest of the 500 immigrants may be gang members themselves or victims and witnesses linked to the gang.The DHS data obtained by NBC News also revealed that TDA has confirmed activity in at least 15 states and may have a presence in another eight. A spokesperson for the department told the news outlet, “DHS has an ongoing operation to crack down on gang members through re-screening certain individuals previously encountered, in addition to the rigorous screening and vetting at the border.”“All individuals confirmed or suspected to be gang members are referred for criminal prosecution or detained and placed into expedited removal,” the spokesperson added.However, the data revealed that fewer than 5% of the 600 individuals identified by the DHS are in federal custody with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.A DHS official told NBC News that ICE has not yet detained some of the individuals because they are currently in custody with other law enforcement agencies, or ICE may not know where the individuals are located. The official also stated that the federal government may still be confirming the individuals’ connections to the gang or to crimes.According to the DHS official, TDA “prey[s] first and foremost on Venezuelans.”“We know that they control human smuggling routes out of Venezuela and into Colombia and into Panama. And they are controlling more of these passages as individuals move north through Mexico,” the official said.Frank Figliuzzi, a former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence and an NBC News contributor, called the DHS’ discovery of 600 immigrants with possible ties to TDA “almost disturbingly low.”“It should be higher,” he added.Ammon Blair, a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and former Border Patrol agent, told NBC News that the federal government does not know the full extent of TDA’s presence in the U.S.“When you look at the process, unfortunately, they’re just steamrolled through,” Blair stated. “The Border Patrol has created a conveyor belt, an automated system to process them and release them as fast as possible into the United States. We were not asking questions.”Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

During a hearing earlier this month, Tim Ballard's attorney, Mark Eisenhut, offered a startling theory about semen found on the skirt of one of Ballard's accusers. Eisenhut indicated that Ballard may have masturbated onto the skirt in response to a meeting with a "high-end escort" named Juli. Celeste Borys has accused Ballard of sexual misconduct while the two worked together at Operation Underground Railroad from October 2022 until September 2023. According to Borys and her attorney, Suzette Rasmussen, Ballard sexually assaulted Borys 30 times during that 11-month period, as Blaze News previously reported. 'So when he masturbated, your position is that it got on the skirt?' One such alleged assault occurred on Jan. 8, 2023, when Borys and Ballard flew to Mexico for a supposed operation. Borys later stuffed a leather skirt she had been wearing that day into a drawer. DNA from semen was later extracted from the skirt. A Utah County detective confirmed that "the DNA was a 100% match of Ballard’s DNA" and that Borys' husband had been excluded, Borys and her attorney asserted in court documents. A Utah state crime lab has yet to confirm the results of the DNA test. At an Oct. 3 hearing regarding a sexual violence protective order against Ballard, Eisenhut claimed to court commissioner Kim Luhn that while his team had yet to examine "the skirt, the semen, or the test results," his client did apparently ejaculate on Borys' skirt after returning with Juli to his Ritz-Carlton hotel room in Mexico in the hopes of getting information from her. "He actually gets the information out of her," Eisenhut said of Ballard and Juli, "but the problem is, she now wants to have sex." Eisenhut then went on a tangent, discussing prostitutes in seedy areas who are often ready and willing to sell their services — and Ballard's determination to remain faithful to his wife and family. After some time, Commissioner Luhn interjected and asked: "So when he masturbated, your position is that it got on the skirt?" "He was in her room," Eisenhut replied, now referring to Ballard and Borys. "He used her skirt to do it, and that's the excuse he used with the prostitute." In other words, Eisenhut suggested Ballard may have masturbated as an "excuse" not to have sex with Juli. Eisenhut reiterated that this alleged semen deposit "could have and probably did happen." Luhn ultimately granted Borys the sexual violence protective order against Ballard, which compels him to remain at least 250 feet from her and avoid all contact with her. The order is set to expire in October 2027. "We commend the court for its careful examination of the full context surrounding this case. By taking the time to understand the grooming, manipulation, and threats and dangers faced by the victim, the court has demonstrated a commitment to justice and safety," Rasmussen said in a statement to Blaze News. "This decision not only protects the victim, but also reinforces the importance of a judicial system that prioritizes safety and accountability." In response to a request for comment, Ballard spokesperson Chad Kolton told Blaze News: "The commissioner's decision in the [Borys] PO matter is considered a recommendation. The judge will make a final ruling." Neither Ballard nor Borys still works at Operation Underground Railroad. OUR did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News. Editor's note: This article has been updated to note that the hearing was held before Commissioner Kim Luhn, not Judge Kristine Johnson. A previous version of this article attributed comments to Judge Johnson that were actually made by Commissioner Luhn. We regret the error. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

One of the first orders of business for President Joe Biden (D) when he took office was to immediately undo former President Donald Trump's immigration policies, which included halting construction of the border wall. In fact, within his first year, Biden took nearly 300 immigration-related executive actions that have ultimately led to the nation's current unprecedented immigration crisis. Perhaps even more damaging than leaving the nation's doors open to illegal immigration, Biden, along with his vice president and now the Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, spent the past three and a half years using the administration's executive powers to circumvent Congress and rapidly expand "lawful pathways," including parole programs, Temporary Protected Status, and the CBP One app. The Biden-Harris administration has rolled out these executive actions under the guise of curbing illegal crossings by incentivizing foreign nationals to pursue so-called legal routes instead. However, while their measures may have slightly reduced southern border encounter numbers in recent months, they have ramped up questionably legal immigration nationwide. As far as the current administration is concerned, these expanded immigration pathways have granted millions of foreign nationals legal status in the U.S. However, with election season in full swing and immigration a top concern for a vast number of voters, the Biden-Harris turned Harris-Walz campaign is attempting to appear more moderate on immigration issues and distancing itself from its self-inflicted crisis by, among other things, touting its lowered border encounter stats while glossing over how its expanded pathways have allowed millions of lightly vetted foreign nationals to enter the country. Background on pathway expansion Until May 2023, Title 42 allowed the federal government to quickly expel illegal immigrants who had recently been in a country where COVID-19 was present. With the expulsion program set to end, the administration anticipated a significant spike in border crossings. As a way to mitigate that increase and "discourage irregular migration," the Biden-Harris administration's Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice issued "a final rule to incentivize the use of lawful pathways." The administration sold its expanded pathways firstly as a "lawful" process that encouraged "safe" and "orderly" immigration into the U.S. With the number of illegal border crossings over the first three years of Biden's presidency exceeding nine million, the expanded pathway measures provided ways for the administration to continue allowing foreign nationals to enter the country in large numbers while potentially reducing eye-popping encounter stats at the southwest border. 'CHNV program, which allows inadmissible Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans to fly in.' In the summer of 2023, the Biden-Harris administration listed the ways it planned to increase so-called legal migration, including by "establishing country-specific and other available processes to seek parole for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit; expanding opportunities to enter for seasonal employment; putting in place a mechanism for migrants to schedule a time and place to arrive in a safe, orderly, and lawful manner at ports of entry via use of the CBP One mobile app; and expanding refugee processing in the Western Hemisphere." Jessica Vaughan, the director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, told Blaze News, "The most consequential, and unlawful, 'lawful pathway' used by the Biden administration has been the use of parole to allow about 5 million inadmissible migrants into the country who would not otherwise qualify either for asylum or a legal visa." She noted that the administration's pathways have "taken several forms," including "catch-and-release at the border, the CBP One app to enable unqualified people from anywhere in the world to make an appointment to cross the border, and the CHNV program, which allows inadmissible Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans to fly in and settle where ever they like, and in the case of the Cubans and Haitians, immediately apply for welfare programs and enroll their kids in public schools at taxpayer expense." CBP One mobile app The Biden-Harris administration has significantly expanded Customs and Border Protection's CBP One application, which allows foreign nationals located in certain parts of Mexico to schedule an appointment at a port of entry to make an asylum claim. The catch-and-release policies under the current administration mean that applicants undergo a quick and abbreviated vetting process before they are released into the interior of the U.S. and provided with years-out court dates to later review the legitimacy of their asylum claims. Under the Biden-Harris leadership, the mobile app has expanded eligibility territory, allowing foreign nationals to apply from Northern, Central, and some parts of Southern Mexico, thereby incentivizing individuals worldwide to travel to Mexico to schedule an appointment. CBP schedules 1,450 appointments per day. A recent report from the DHS' Office of Inspector General revealed that the application lacks some capabilities to assist with vetting foreign nationals. The application's limited vetting ability, coupled with overwhelmed federal immigration agents at the border forced to expedite the release of those requesting asylum, has allowed gang members and criminals to enter the country. In just one recent example, two young men suspected to be members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua were recently busted in Aurora, Colorado, for alleged ties to a shooting. According to reports, the men used the CBP One app to enter the U.S. in August. The CHNV pathway The administration's CHNV program allows 30,000 individuals per month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to immigrate to the U.S. and receive a two-year work permit. It is worth noting that CHNV beneficiaries are being flown into the U.S. not necessarily from their country of origin. In fact, the CIS discovered that individuals have been flown from 77 countries into 45 international U.S. airports. In recent weeks, the program has stirred up a firestorm of controversy after a report by the Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate uncovered fraud among sponsors' applications. Foreign national beneficiaries must have a U.S.-based sponsor, also called a supporter — individual or entity — to be eligible for the program. 'The president and his border czar play a massive shell game.' Those currently in the country on Temporary Protected Status or asylum can serve as supporters to CHNV beneficiaries, according to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services' website. In other words, beneficiaries do not require an American citizen sponsor to enter the country through this program, leaving it vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. The report found that some supporters had used the same Social Security numbers, addresses, and phone numbers hundreds of times. Additionally, approximately 3,000 sponsors had filed more than 100,000 forms. Some of those forms included phone numbers belonging to deceased individuals, addresses of storage units, and fake zip codes. While news of the discovered fraud did not break until early August, the DHS reportedly paused the CHNV program in mid-July while investigating the findings. Roughly a month and a half later, the Biden-Harris administration announced that it was rebooting the program, with the DHS claiming that it would conduct "additional vetting" of sponsors moving forward. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) urged the federal government to end the "clearly flawed" and "unlawful" program. "The CHNV program, along with the use of the CBP One app at the Southwest border, has helped the president and his border czar play a massive shell game, encouraging otherwise inadmissible aliens to simply cross at ports of entry instead of between them," he stated following the administration's announcement. A group of senators led by Ted Cruz (R-Texas) recently penned a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas also calling for the program's termination. Cruz accused the DHS of continuing the program after implementing "stop-gap marginal improvements" that would not "solve the fundamental fraud, failure, and illegality of the CHNV program." "This fundamentally flawed program must be permanently dismantled. The program has not only facilitated widespread fraud, but has also exposed serious vulnerabilities in our immigration system, leading to dire consequences for public safety. The tragic sexual assault and murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray by two Venezuelan illegal aliens indicates the dangers posed by the Biden-Harris administration's immigration policies," Cruz wrote in the letter. The senators linked the CHNV program and the administration's expansion of TPS for Venezuelans to the "troubling rise in crime" and the increased presence of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang now operating in some areas of the U.S. Furthermore, they accused the Biden-Harris administration of "creat[ing] a parallel immigration system without congressional approval." 'Keeping Families Together' program In addition to implementing more pathways for foreign nationals to enter the U.S., the Biden-Harris administration has also promoted mass amnesty processes for those already in the country seeking permanent legal status. The DHS announced the "Keeping Families Together" program in mid-August, calling it "a step toward ... Biden's commitment to promoting family unity in the immigration system." If permitted to move forward, it would allow some illegal immigrants to "request parole in place under existing statutory authority." Those eligible for the program include spouses and stepchildren of American citizens. Spousal applicants must have lived in the U.S. since June 2014 and have been married to a citizen since June 2024. Stepchildren applicants must be under 21 years old and unmarried, have resided in the country since June 2024, and have an illegal alien parent married to a citizen. 'The Biden-Harris-Mayorkas schemes were deliberately created to circumvent the immigration laws.' As part of the program, eligible individuals would be granted parole in place, allowing them to remain in the country while they request an adjustment of status. USCIS' website states, "If granted parole, and if otherwise eligible, these noncitizens may apply for adjustment of status to that of a lawful permanent resident without being required to leave the United States and be processed by a U.S. consulate overseas." "DHS estimates that 500,000 noncitizen spouses of U.S. citizens could be eligible to access Keeping Families Together; on average, these noncitizens have resided in the United States for 23 years," it continues. "In addition, approximately 50,000 noncitizen stepchildren of U.S. citizens are estimated to be eligible to seek parole under Keeping Families Together." Critics have called it a mass amnesty program. Shortly after it was announced, 16 Republican-led states filed a lawsuit against the Biden-Harris administration to prevent the program from moving forward. The complaint claimed that the administration's estimate that it would extend legal status to up to 550,000 illegal aliens is "likely a significant underestimate," arguing that the number could be as high as 1.3 million. The lawsuit, filed in partnership with America First Legal, read, "DHS has announced the creation of a program that effectively provides a new pathway to a green card and eventual citizenship ... to circumvent the process established by Congress to apply for permanent residency." It stated, "This action incentivizes illegal immigration and will irreparably harm the Plaintiff States," which included Texas, Idaho, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Wyoming. In response to the suit, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas granted a stay order, preventing the federal government from implementing the program at least until September 23 while the case is pending. USCIS noted that it is still accepting applications for its "Keeping Families Together" program, including scheduling biometric appointments for applicants, but it is not currently granting any parole-in-place requests due to the ongoing lawsuit. Final thoughts The most troubling aspect of the Biden-Harris administration's open-borders policies has been the limited vetting processes that have allowed criminals from all over the world to slip into the country. "Besides the huge expense to taxpayers, there is a human cost as well, as some of these individuals are violent gang members, deviants, and human traffickers, and they have caused incalculable harm in a number of communities around the country, from New York City to Aurora, Colorado, to Springfield, Ohio, to Nashville, Tennessee," Vaughan told Blaze News. Despite the federal government's claims that every foreign national granted asylum or other form of parole has been thoroughly vetted, law enforcement officials' ability to access an individual's criminal background is extremely limited. Immigration officials tasked with performing background checks on foreign nationals making asylum claims at the border are limited to U.S.-based background checks and Interpol. Vaughan explained, "There is no meaningful vetting process. The only vetting that the immigration officers can do is to check if the migrant has a record here in the United States, and most of them have never been here before. We have next to no information on their background." Vaughan confirmed to Blaze News that potential lawsuits against the administration's expanded pathways could have legal standing. "The Biden-Harris-Mayorkas schemes were deliberately created to circumvent the immigration laws as Congress wrote them, and especially the numerical limits," she said. "The law explicitly prohibits using parole to allow defined categories of migrants to enter without a visa or after crossing illegally; it is permissible only on a case-by-case individual basis and only if it can be justified as a significant public benefit." The administration's expanded pathways and asylum programs refer to 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(5), which states that the attorney general may "parole" a foreign national into the country "temporarily" but "only on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit." However, it notes, "Such parole of such alien shall not be regarded as an admission of the alien and when the purposes of such parole shall, in the opinion of the Attorney General, have been served the alien shall forthwith return or be returned to the custody from which he was paroled and thereafter his case shall continue to be dealt with in the same manner as that of any other applicant for admission to the United States." Vaughan noted, "A lot of people are asking what possible public benefit has come from these policies, especially the families of people harmed by illegal migrants, or taxpayers seeing their hard-earned money spent on hotel rooms, Uber rides, pizza dinners, health care, schooling, and sometimes prosecution and incarceration of people who have no interest and no prospect of contributing to their community." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Mark Hamill decided to make the tragic death of his "Star Wars" co-star Carrie Fisher into a pro-Democrat advertisement, and some fans online didn't appreciate it much. Hamill has been more vocal about his left-wing beliefs, but he took them to a new level on Monday in a post on social media. He said he was doing so for Fisher's birthday. 'Using a dead friend as a political token is disrespectful.' "For those wondering how she would vote in this election: one of the last (of many) arguments we had was who hated the Orange Atrocity more. After half an hour, we had to agree to disagree," he posted, adding a hashtag for "Carrie on Forever." Few cast aspersions on the veracity of the story since Fisher had frequently made her liberal beliefs known, but many excoriated Hamill for politicizing her birthday after her death. "Using a dead friend as a political prop to hate Trump is disgusting," read one popular response. "I hope one day once you become sane again you can look back and realize using a dead friend as a political token is disrespectful," replied another social media user. "This is disgraceful to Carrie Fisher’s memory, Mark Hamill of all people should understand that using a dead friend for political bs is disgusting. Just another example to never meet your heroes," said another critic. The tweet garnered more than 3.5 million views, many of them critical. Fisher would have been 68 years old on Monday. She died in 2016 at the age of 60 from cardiac arrest, but her daughter said that Fisher's lifelong battle with addiction and mental illness was the underlying cause of her early death. The famed "Princess Leia" actress was honored with a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood in 2023. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

While the left is gearing up to “pull their shenanigans” in swing states in a last-ditch effort to win the election, Donald Trump took a different approach. In the critical swing state of Pennsylvania, Trump took a jab at Kamala Harris’ unverified claims that she worked at McDonald's by actually working at McDonald's for an afternoon. And per usual, he was a huge hit. “There's a reason that Donald Trump's McDonald's visit and the photograph of Donald Trump looking out of the drive-through window at McDonald's has instantly become a global phenomenon,” says Liz Wheeler. However, the reason that these things “have resonated with so many people” is not what Liz expected. “The reason that it resonated with so many people was not because it was just a gotcha on Kamala Harris,” says Liz. “The reason that it resonated with so many people is because Donald Trump is not the working man. Donald Trump actually is one of the elite.” Working at McDonald’s shows that he is “actively making an effort to understand the working man's plight” and that he acknowledges the “dignity in all work.” “He's saying, ‘Yeah, I want to do this with you; I want to stand next to you; I want to use my position in power, my position of wealth, my position of prosperity, my position as an owner of businesses that employ people just like you. I want to listen to you, and I want to be your champion,”’ says Liz. Unlike Harris, who is denying her station as “a San Francisco elitist” in an effort to pander to the commoner, Trump has adopted the position of “I use my position knowing the dirty tactics that my peers, the elitists, use against you to be your champion,” Liz explains. To hear more of her commentary, including on what election fraud we need to be on the lookout for, watch the episode above. Want more from Liz Wheeler?To enjoy more of Liz’s based commentary, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.